Almost exactly 2 years ago it looked like we will have full grid of 12 teams and 24 cars from 2008 season. On April 28, 2006 Prodrive were given the F1 entry. Max Mosley commented that “Prodrive have the best combination of financial backing, technical capability and motorsport experience.”

Almost exactly a year later, May 13, 2007, the new boys, Super Aguri, scored their first ever championship point after only 1 season and 4 races in Formula 1. Few months later, in August 2007, the news came out that the team’s title sponsor, SS United, does not pay. From then it was all downhill for Super Aguri …

In late November 2007, it became clear that we will not see 24 cars F1 grid in 2008. Prodrive have announced they will not enter Formula 1.

By the end of January 2008 Max Mosley expressed his doubts we will end the 2008 season with 11 teams. There were doubts whether Super Aguri will even make it for Australian GP. They just about made it to Melbourne for the season opener, but only 2 days later Dietrich Mateschitz announced he is putting his share in Toro Rosso up for sale …

Then came May 6, 2008 and the withdrawal of Super Aguri from Formula 1. This is all like the 2002 deja vu. Expectations of full grid for 2002 season thanks to Toyota’s entry to Formula only to see first Prost and then Arrows to disapear. The grid went from 11 teams down to 10 instead of up to 12 before the 2002 season was over …

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F1Wolf

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After Part 1 it is time for part 2 - Sebastien Bourdais and Jarno Trulli

Rookie no 2 - Sebastien Bourdais

Bourdais may be a F1 rookie but he ain’t no rookie driver. The F3000 title (2002), 4 consecutive Champ Car titles (2004 - 2007) is probably the best he could achieve in open wheel racing outside Formula 1. Few people can understand why it took so long for someone in F1 to bring him in…He himself was quite confident before the season about his racing abilities but expressed worries about qualifying form. The first couple of races pretty much confirmed that. He was outqualified by Vettel in Melbourne and in Malaysia. In Melbourne however his smooth drive, keeping out of trouble and great thinking (his and his pitwall crew) during the final safety car period elevated him as high up as 4th. Only a late engine failure meant DNF, but still 2 points for 7th place. Bahrain saw him for the first time to outqualify his team mate Sebastain Vettel. The new Toro Rosso car is due to arrive in Turkey and if it is as quick as the current Red Bull we may see some more points next to Bourdais’ name before the season comes to a close. Bourdais seems to be the quiet achiever next to a highly rated team mate … I did not know what to expect from Bourdais this season but I must say he has been quite impressive so far …

Veteran no 2 - Jarno Trulli

Jarno Trulli is one of the few drivers with no contract for 2009. His performances this season may well determine whether we will see him on the grid next year or not.

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F1Wolf

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The F1 teams kept radio silence for several day on the whole Max vs. NOTW issue. And then, not unlike in case of F1 news sites, several of them came out at the same time and made themselves heard:

BMW Sauber and McLaren-Mercedes

“The content of the publications is disgraceful. As a company, we strongly distance ourselves from it. This incident concerns Max Mosley both personally and as President of the FIA, the global umbrella organisation for motoring clubs. Its consequences therefore extend far beyond the motor sport industry. We await a response from the relevant FIA bodies.”

Mosley replied them in very weird manner:

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F1Wolf

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First two races, more than 10% of the season are behind us. Ron Dennis may claim that only Spanish GP will show the true form of the teams but why wait. Let’s look at who has been good and who has not so far.

The Good

BMW Sauber – They had worrying start to their winter tests with their new car but how they turned things around. Fernando Alonso considered them to be the dark horses of the 2008 season and it looks like he has been right. The team may not be yet ready to mount the title challenge. But they are surprisingly close to the pace of McLarens. It may not be impossible to score a race win on merit later on this season. And with the current reliability and Massa woes Ferrari are experiencing, the maiden win may not be too far.

Toyota – Surprise surprise. But looking back to team’s performance in the last winter test it perhaps should not be that unexpected. Jarno Trulli claims they are now 4th best team (same claim Rosberg has about Williams). I would not probably say that. But Toyota firmly claimed their place in stronger end of the midfield, along with Williams and Red Bull.

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F1Wolf

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Toyota is a prime example of the fact that huge budget only does not buy success. It did buy them the wrong Schumacher few years back . He however ”left” and has gone to try his luck in DTM, and so Toyota enters the 2008 season with a fresh face in the cockpit, Timo Glock, alongside the veteran Jarno Trulli.

Jarno Trulli - Italy
Born: 13 July 1974
In F1 since 1997 Minardi, 1998 - 1999 Prost, 2000 - 2001 Jordan, 2002 - 2004 Renault, 2004 - 2008 Toyota
Best Result: 6th in 2004
Career wins: 1
Pole positions: 3
Podium Finishes: 7

Jarno Trulli is one of the longest serving drivers on current F1 grid. He has been quite optimistic about the recent Toyota performance. But he somehow negated that optimism with his latest remark placing their car a full one second behind Ferrari. That would mean a position behind the midfield pack of BMW Sauber, Williams, Red Bull and Renault. Trulli’s strength has been the one lap qualifying, in 2007 he started only 3 races from outside the top 10 on the grid. To do that this year on regular basis will not be easy. Unfortunatelly for him, his race peformances lag behind his qualifying and way too often he casts himself into the role of moving chicane. It worked for him in 2004 in Monaco when he won the race. Will be inetersting to see if the removal of electronic driver aids will work for or against him.

Timo Glock - Germany
Born: 18 March 1982
In F1 since 2004 Jordan (test driver and 4 races), 2007 BMW Sauber (test driver, no races), 2008 Toyota
Best Result: 19th in 2004
Career wins: 0
Pole positions: 0
Point Finishes: 1 (7th place)

Timo Glock returns to F1 racing for the first time since his brief experience with Jordan in 2004. He spent the following years in Champ Cars (2005) and GP2 (2006-2007). He returned to F1 last year with BMW Sauber, as their driver. His biggest achievement so far is the GP2 title in 2007. Unlike his predecessor, 2006 GP2 champion Lewis Hamilton, he does not have the benefit of title contending car. His main target for his first full year in F1 therefore will be his team mate Jarno Trulli. To outscore Trulli however he will need to master the qualifying, on that turf Trulli is a formidable opponent.

F1Wolf’s prediction for Toyota drivers in 2008:
I see Trulli ahead of Glock thanks to his qualifying skills. Glock will eventually get close to Trulli later on in the season but if Trulli scores decent points early on in the season, we will stay ahead of Glock. Under normal race circumstances it is very unlikely any of these drivers will make it to podium this year.

2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Ferrari
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - McLaren
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - BMW Sauber
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Renault
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Williams
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Red Bull

F1Wolf

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Some teams will continue testing in private tests next week. Barcelona however was the last major test involving most of the teams. The results and times do not tell much. Few would conclude that Toyota is the fastest car just because Trulli clocked the the fastest lap yesterday . So what Formula 1 drivers and team bosses think after the last test of the season:

Ferrari:
Jean Todt:

“We have two excellent drivers and it looks like the car is good too. We are satisfied and the situation is encouraging. But we need to wait for the races, let’s hope for the best.”

Kimi Raikkonen:

“I think we have a strong package, but we don’t know how fast the others are. We will only see that in the race. We are quite happy with what we have done over the winter so we will see in Melbourne. I think we have good reliability. We had some small things last year that unfortunately stopped the car in the race but it can always happen. We have done everything we can and it will be nice to get back racing again. In Melbourne we will see who is fast or not, because you cannot say from the tests. The times look close. Somebody goes fast one day and another guy another day. We will wait for a couple of weeks and we will know in qualifying. But I think McLaren are for sure strong, so we need to see how good they are in the race.”

Felipe Massa:

“I feel really powerful this year. If we are lucky, we will have a stronger start of the season than last year’s. This year we aim for the same situation we had in 2007, Ferrari was the best team and both drivers were in equal positive conditions. I feel strong to fight for the championship.”

Sam Michael (Williams):

“Ferrari are about three of four tenths ahead of them (McLaren), and seven or eight tenths before the group including BMW, Renault, Red Bull and us.”

Fernando Alonso (Renault) on Kimi Raikkonen

“He has the self confidence and he is obviously very quick, so he has put himself in a very strong position.”

McLaren:
Lewis Hamilton:

“Winter testing has gone really smoothly. We have had steady reliability and the car is feeling good. We have had some great testing days, easily covering the mileage and getting confidence in the car. It has been a good week, in addition to the test development programme we have been working with the race team on getting back up to speed with activities such as pitstops. As I just said, the car is feeling good, but as always we still have work to do. A Formula One car is under continuous evolution, and when you look back at how far we have come since the MP4-23 first hit the track in January, it is encouraging. The work doesn’t stop for anyone just because testing has concluded.”

Heikki Kovalainen:

“We have improved the car, I have improved myself and I have gotten to know the team better. Everything has just very positive; there haven’t been any negative moments. Of course some days are more difficult than others but we are making progress all the time. So overall a very good winter and we have the pace to have a strong year.”

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F1Wolf

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The 2008 Formula 1 season is just around a corner, the gap between now and Australian GP is already smaller than the summer break between Hungarian and European Grands Prix.

I have been posting screensavers from 2007 Formula 1 season during the winter break and I just realized that 3 of them still did not make it. So as a final farewel to the last season here are all of the 2007 Formula 1 screensavers, including the missing ones - Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Toyota.

Kimi Raikkonen 2007 Screensaver - 2007 Ferrari Screensaver - 2007 McLaren Screensaver - 2007 BMW Sauber F1 Screensaver - 2007 Renault F1 Screensaver - 2007 Williams F1 Screensaver - 2007 Red Bull F1 Screensaver - 2007 Toyota F1 Screensaver - 2007 Honda F1 Screensaver - 2007 Super Aguri Screensaver - 2007 Toro Rosso F1 Screensaver - 2007 Spyker F1 Screensaver

Bring on the 2008 F1 season !

F1Wolf

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If you expect this post to talk about Fernando Alonso’s views on the racism in F1 and the Lewis Hamilton abuse in Spain that made it to the media today, then you are wrong. I am going to talk about how Fernando Alonso sees the form of the teams ahead of the 2008 Formula 1 season .

Mark Gene, the Ferrari test driver, raised his suspicion few days ago, that Renault may be deliberately hiding their true performance. When reading what Alonso had to say, one either has to fully agree or fully disagree with Mark Gene… Make your pick:

“We are very far, very far. I think it’s looking like at the end of last year: two Ferraris, two McLarens and two BMWs, and if everything goes like that, you can almost only fight for seventh place. Thinking about the podium would be too optimistic right now, but then you arrive in the first grand prix, you start warming up in practice, your morale starts going up and you think you can be on the podium. But right now, thinking coldly, reaching the podium is a dream. In our current shape it will be hard to make it into Q3.”

He was also quoted saying:

“We are not in a position to do anything about McLaren, Ferrari or BMW. Ferrari are favourites but they’re not in a different world. We however belong more to the group including Williams and Red Bull.”

Another interesting observation for double world champ that I haven’t hear from anybody else yet refers to BMW Sauber:

“They are very fast with a lot of fuel. Sometimes you look at their times, and you see what they’ve done in stints of 25 or 30 laps. That is, with 60 or 70 kilos of fuel. They have surprised me the most in the last two or three tests.”

Now this needs some translation to fanspeak:

- Ferarri are the quickest but not as far ahead as it may seem
- McLaren and BMW Sauber are not far behind and it may actually be BMW Sauber sandbagging and not showing their true form yet.
- Alonso does not consider Williams to be the 3rd best as lots of fans do and many hope for.
- Renault, Red Bull and Williams form the strong midfield of six cars fighting for 4 spare places in Q3
- Without mentioning Honda and Toyota he sends them where most fans, bloggers and insiders send them too
- Toro Rosso, Force India and Super Aguri are not on his radar

I must say, that his predictions (translated by me) are almost identical to mine. Just it looks like I have more confidence in Renault than Fernando Alonso has . Or are the Renault guys really making these “we are very far” claims up ?

F1Wolf

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Few days back I spotted the predictions for the 2008 Formula 1 season made by the Swiss paper Blick based on the winter testing form of the teams. Here is how they predict the form of all 11 F1 teams for the coming season:

Blick has Ferrari and McLaren at the top followed by … Williams. Then follow Renault and BMW Sauber. Red Bull and Toro Rosso next, ahead of Toyota and Honda. Force India is closing the Blick’s top ten. The in-the-trouble Super Aguri is expected to be at the tail of the order.

Now let’s see how it compares with my 2008 F1 team form prediction

• F1 Wolf / Blick

1. Ferrari / Ferrari
2. Mclaren / McLaren
3. Renault / Williams
4. BMW Sauber / Renault
5. Williams / BMW Sauber
6. Red Bull / Red Bull
7. Toyota / Toro Rosso
8. Honda / Toyota
9. Toro Rosso / Honda
10. Force India / Force India
11. Super Aguri / Super Aguri

Blick’s prediction is not bad, but I am for the moment sticking with mine

F1Wolf

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It is just about a month to go and I am going to be silly enough to predict the team’s pecking order for 2008 season . The prediction comes with a preview of all 2008 liveries, as we know them now. Super Aguri is yet to display anything on or off the track…

1) Ferrari - Kimi is having a blast

2) McLaren - They are up there, but they do not have Kimi

3) Renault - The six tenths guy will make a difference

4) BMW - May be closer to Ferrari and McLaren on performance but Renault will re-enter the picture

5) Williams - More competitive than in 2007 but so will be others

Above is the winter livery. Williams will only reveal their racing one before the Aussie GP, but here is a sneak peak.

6) Red Bull - Solid midfielders with a shot at the podium once or twice

7) Toyota - The best of the Japanese brands on the grid (Bridgestone does not count )

8 ) Honda - Will start a further down but will gain few places during the season

9) Toro Rosso - They may have few decent finishes, but their points will not be good for better than 9th

10) Force India - They will be much more competitive than Spyker last year, but 10th will about as much as they can hope for. They would however score some points.

11) Super Aguri - They will probably survive the season despite Mosley’s worries, but at the back of the order and likely without any points.

Feel free to disagree and leave your order in the comments . And do not forget to join the 2008 Prediction Game !

F1Wolf

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