The shark fins spread like a virus. Only Williams and BMW Sauber haven’t tried them yet. McLaren are the only team who tested them but does not run them in the races. All the other seven Formula 1 teams are sporting this rather weird looking structure.

The shark fin fashion was brought to us by Red Bull Racing, probably courtesy of their design guru Adrian Newey. The aero benefits are not very clear. Some teams running the fin say it helps to clean up the air flow over the rear wing, some others say it helps the balance of the car, some say it does not bring as much benefit as some other not that visible updates. One thing most people agree on however is that the fin shaped engine cover provides nice advertising space. Let’s have a look at the fins and how the ad space is used by the teams (you can enlarge the photos by clicking on the thumbnail):

Read the rest of this entry »

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here

Earlier this week Red Bull and Toro Rosso took their show cars for a ride alongside Lake Balaton in Hungary. Red Bull’s test driver Sebastien Buemi drove the Red Bull car, Toro Rosso’s team boss Gerhard Berger drove the Toro Rosso. Here is the video:

Find more videos like this on F1Wolf Club

Video also available at Dailymotion and F1Wolf Facebook Group

Check the rest of the post for picture gallery:

Read the rest of this entry »

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here

To make it even more difficult to keep the engine statistics up-to-date Red Bull team has decided to keep David Coulthard on the same Renault engine for the third race in a row in Hungary this weekend. Well on paper it is third race in a row but his British GP barely lasted a lap . Here are the reasons behind the unusual decision - Fabrice Lom, Renault, in charge of Red Bull engine supply:

“This is the first time we have taken this decision. First of all his V8 has not done too much running. Plus, having our two drivers out of synch on the engine cycle means that we won’t be putting all our eggs in the same basket. This decision will also help us in the second half of the season in terms of the logistical challenge. And finally, it means that David will not have to use the same engine in Spa and Monza, which are two of the toughest challenges on the calendar.”

In the early days of two race rule there were worries the teams may choose deliberately not to finish the race to be able to run with fresh engine in next one. It actually happened in 2005 when BAR retired both cars (Button and Sato) on the final lap of Australian GP and again in Australia in 2006 when Button stopped his smoking car meters from the finish line. Now we have a team choosing to use the same engine for third time .

Photo: Red Bull/GEPA

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here

The Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) is a part of 2009 Formula 1 regulations. and the also the top topic of these days. Forget for a while about its relevance to road car development. Let’s look instead how it may affect the Formula 1 teams. Events of past few days suggest that it may affect F1 significantly.

Several teams face obvious problems. Red Bull had to call the fire brigade and evacuate their Milton Keynes factory after KERS tests resulted in smoke and steam all over the place. Few days ago a BMW Sauber mechanic felt the KERS impact himself. He received electrical shock after touching the KERS testing F1 car during the pit stop in Jerez.Yesterday John Howett, Toyota team president, expressed his doubts that the KERS technology will be ready and safe to use when 2009 season begins. He suggested that most of the teams are struggling with KERS development. There have been even reports of a potentially extremely dangerous by-product of exploded KERS batteries - the arsenic poison.

Read the rest of this entry »

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here

Sebastian Vettel will race for Red Bull racing from 2009 season alongside Mark Webber. The announcement was made today, ahead of Vettel’s home Grand Prix. This is what Christian Horner had to say:

“We are delighted that Sebastian will be joining us next year. With David Coulthard announcing his retirement as a Formula One driver a fortnight ago at the British Grand Prix, after careful consideration, it seemed natural to announce his replacement here at Sebastian’s home race in Hockenheim. As he was already part of the Red Bull family, choosing Sebastian as Mark Webber’s team-mate was not a difficult decision. However, we have always stated that our aim is to have the strongest available driver line-up and Vettel’s selection also matches these criteria.”

And here is a video of the big happy Red Bull family having fun - it involves jumping motorbike, Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, David Coulthard, Franz Tost, few other faces and Hockenheim.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

If you have problems playing the video here you can see it also on Facebook and F1Wolf Club

These Red Bull guys keep coming up with interesting promo stunts…

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here

I am not sure why but for some reason I could not make the Williams pictures from Moscow to appear properly in the gallery in the original post yesterday. No matter what I tried they messed up the whole page . So here they come as Part 2 of Formula 1 in Moscow picture gallery:

Photos: Williams / LAT

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here

Williams and Red Bull rocked the Red Square last Sunday. Here are few pictures showing the cars, the square and the drivers - Nico Rosberg (Williams) and Mikhail Aleshin (Red Bull):

Mikhail Aleshin is Russian single seater driver currently racing in World Series by Renault with Carlin Motorsport (winner of Monza race in 2007).

Photos: Red Bull / GEPA

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here

It is obvious now that Adrian Newey has started a trend to follow. First it was the Red Bull during the Barcelona test back in February. In April, again in Barcelona, Renault came up with their version of finned engine cover and Toro Rosso introduced the Red Bull clone.

Force India were next to follow. Hoping to close the gap to the midfield they tested several aero updates 2 weeks ago at Silverstone. The fin was one of them. And yesterday we could see the first “finned” McLaren in action at the Hockenheim test… Half the grid has the fin now.

I am not sure how much advantage this thingy actually brings. But all the teams that have tested the weird looking engine cover went on racing with it. None of the teams has dropped it since. It looks like the shark fin is here to stay, at least till the end of the 2008 season.

Who will try it next ?

The “shark fin gallery” inside the post.

Read the rest of this entry »

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here

Interesting place to conduct an interview

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here

Heikki Kovalainen will start from pole position for the first time in his career. Mark Webber is another suprising name on the front row. Kimi Raikkonen and not too happy Lewis Hamilton will line up behind them. Great qualifying for Vettel - P8 !

The top 2 in drivers standings - Massa and Kubica will have to fight from back. Massa only managed P9, Kubica P10 after suffering some damage to his car during his first Q3 run. Looks like fun race tomorrow .

Both Honda and  Force India cars and Nico Rosberg were eliminated in Q1, both Toyotas, Coulthard, Nakajima and Bourdais ended their day in Q2.

2008 British GP Qualifying Results:

Read the rest of this entry »

F1Wolf

labels: plugin code here