McLaren starts 50th anniversary with F1 launch

F1 News

Date: 31/January/2013

The McLaren F1 team kicked off its 50^th anniversary celebrations with a parade of some of its most famous machines, followed by the unveiling of this year’s 2013 F1 challenger.

Held at the futuristic McLaren Technology Centre, the parade included a 1970s M8D CanAm sportscar, Emerson Fittipaldi’s 1974 M23, Ayrton Senna’s 1988 MP4/4, the 1995 Le Mans-winning F1 GTR, Mika Hakkinen’s 1998 MP4-13 and Lewis Hamilton’s 2008 MP4-23.

Hamilton, of course, was not present, having cut his long McLaren links for a new challenge at Mercedes. In his place comes young Mexican star Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez, who will be partnering Jenson Button.

Team principal Martin Whitmarsh said:  “Today’s parade was a thrilling way to kick off our 50th anniversary celebrations and also our 2013 campaign - but it’s a reminder of the tremendous responsibility everyone within the McLaren Technology Centre shares to uphold the legacy began by Bruce McLaren and taken on by Teddy Mayer and Ron Dennis.

“For 2013, of course, we go racing to win. With Jenson and Checo, and this fantastic-looking new car, I believe we’re extremely well prepared for another competitive season.”

McLaren state that the main changes made for this year’s MP4-28, to give it its official name, are around the nose and front suspension, the sidepod profiles and the rear bodywork.

Former World Champion Button is preparing for his fourth season at McLaren. The Englishman took three wins on his way to fifth in last year’s Championship, and believes McLaren have learnt from the mistakes of 2012.

Button, 33, said: “We were extremely strong throughout the whole of the 2012 season, but, for one reason or another, we couldn’t quite pull it all together to challenge for the Championships.

“We’ll be working extremely hard during the pre-season to ensure we go to the first race with bulletproof reliability. Operationally, too, I think we’ve learned and developed from last year, and that will help us run a much smoother and stronger campaign.

“This year’s car is the best we’ve ever made - I know the engineers have left absolutely no stone unturned in wringing every ounce of performance from every available area.”

Perez, 23, arrives at McLaren with two years and three podiums under his belt at Sauber. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance which the Mexican is eager to make the most of.

Perez explained his priorities as follows: “Firstly, I’ll need to understand the different characteristics of the car; secondly, I’ll learn how to best work with my engineers to make the car suit my personal driving style. It’s going to be an interesting and exciting journey.

“But I’m more prepared than I’ve ever been for the start of a new season. I feel extremely fit, focused and refreshed – there’s still a lot to do, but my aims are to feel confident, comfortable and ready to race by the time I land in Australia in just a few weeks’ time.”

Confident Lotus kicks off F1 2013 with online launch

F1 News

Date: 29/January/2013

Lotus became the first team to unveil its 2013 F1 challenger in the form of a live online launch.

Drivers’ World Champions under the Benetton (Michael Schumacher) and then Renault (Fernando Alonso) banner, the Enstone-based outfit took on the Lotus moniker for 2011.

The team then secured a major coup by tempting former Champion Kimi Raikkonen out of retirement for 2012, the Finn seizing seven podiums - including one win - and third overall in his comeback season.

Raikkonen, 33, said “I’m feeling pretty good… I’m sure it will be an exciting season and I’m sure there’ll be lots to talk about. For me, I will continue to do the best I can; let’s see how good our car is, and how good the cars of the opposition are too.”

But while the potential of the new car is unknown, Raikkonen has no doubts about the quality of his team.

“It’s clear from working with them that they are racers, and you can see in their history that they’ve won championships,” declared the former Ferrari, McLaren and Sauber driver.

“Nothing I saw last year made me think that another championship was impossible in the future.

“Of course, there is some pretty tough competition and everyone wants to win. The team have beaten everyone before and there’s nothing to say they can’t do it again.”

Raikkonen will continue alongside Romain Grosjean.

The Frenchman, 26, delivered a fast but flawed first full season in F1, claiming three podiums but suffering numerous opening-lap incidents - leading to a ban from the Monza round.

Grosjean said: “I think everyone is waiting to see if I’m able to be consistent, which is where I was lacking a little bit last year. I know it and I’ll do everything I can to prove to people that I’m able to achieve this goal.”

The lack of any major technical rule changes means the new car looks very similar to last year’s design.

“After a string of quite eventful rule changes and interpretations in the years since 2009 it looks as if 2013 is going to be a year of regulatory stability,” confirmed Technical Director James Allison.

The new Lotus still contains the ‘duck-bill’ nose and Allison believes most teams will turn down the new possibility of fitting a cover to hide the step.

“We will now be permitted to fit a non-structural ‘vanity panel’ on the upper surface of the nose as a means of avoiding the duck-bill style designs that we saw in 2012,” he confirmed.

“However, such a panel is optional and I would not be surprised if the majority of the grid chose not to make use of it. The panel will add a few grammes of weight and so is only likely to run on the car if a team can find a performance benefit for doing so.”

Allison added that the team always sets out to build the fastest car on the grid, but conceded that the official target is “a minimum of third place in the Constructors’ Championship.”

Lotus finished fourth in last year’s standings, one place higher than in 2011 but having scored three times as many points.

Team Principal Eric Boullier said Lotus is very much a team on the up.

“I think it is fair to say that great things are possible,” Boullier said. “The leap we made from 2011 to 2012 showed what we are capable of. Add to this the continuity and potential of our driver line-up and we have a very powerful cocktail for the season ahead.

“Our ambitious plan to turn ourselves into one of the top teams in Formula 1 is coming to fruition and now we need to harness this with strong and regular podium results.”

Although not unveiled at the launch, US manufacturing and technology company Honeywell continues to be linked with title sponsorship at Lotus this year.

Pedrosa ‘big title chance’, Marquez ‘fast from the beginning’

MotoGP News

Date: 24/January/2013

Repsol Honda presented its 2013 MotoGP rider line-up, and revised livery, at a launch ceremony in Madrid on Thursday.

Honda’s official team has retained the services of last year’s Championship runner-up Dani Pedrosa and signed exciting rookie Marc Marquez to take Casey Stoner’s place. 

27-year-old Pedrosa delivered his most successful premier-class season last year, winning seven races - more than any other rider and including six of the last eight races - to finish 18 points from Champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha).

Pedrosa’s 22 MotoGP wins, spread over seven seasons, make him the most successful rider yet to claim the top class title. Honda’s MotoGP boss Shuhei Nakamoto feels the Spaniard is still improving and will have another big chance in 2013.

Nakamoto said: “In the second half of last season Dani was so strong. He won seven races including in the rain, at Sepang, which had been a weakness. So Dani is still improving. We believe we can continue from last year’s results and have a big chance to win the Championship this year.”

Pedrosa insisted he does not feel deflated by finishing MotoGP runner-up for a third time.

“I'm starting this pre-season really keen,” he said. “I can't wait to get to Malaysia and have a few days to put the bike through its paces, enjoy myself and see which parts we are going to use for the opening race"

Despite Pedrosa’s position as a firm title favourite, much outside attention is sure to focus on young compatriot Marquez.

The 125 and Moto2 Champion’s move to MotoGP, along with Valentino Rossi’s return to Yamaha, is the main talking point heading into the new season.

Fast, aggressive and fearless, Marquez has wowed fans and infuriated rivals in equal measure, but few doubt he has what it takes to win in MotoGP.

Nakamoto believes Marquez, who will turn 20-years-old next month, could match the achievement of Lorenzo and Pedrosa in finishing on the podium in his first race.

Marquez was one-second slower than Pedrosa after his first day on a MotoGP bike, at Valencia, then quick enough to qualify eighth in October's Malaysian Grand Prix during a private test at Sepang.

Nakamoto said: “Everybody knows a fast rider is fast from the beginning. But Marquez is also a rookie and has to learn a lot about MotoGP, especially tyre management.

“To make one good lap time is not difficult for him, but he needs experience to manage the tyre and maintain the lap time. But I believe he has the possibility to finish on the podium at round one.”

Marquez, a winner of 26 grands prix, got a taste of the huge press attention he will receive this year during the team launch.

Marquez said: “Seeing the bike painted with the Repsol and HRC logos makes you realise what a dream-come-true it is. I'm like a kid with new shoes!

“I enjoyed the presentation and I was able to see that the press attention for MotoGP is light years ahead of that for Moto2. We'll adapt to this, little-by-little.

“In the end, the important thing is what happens on the track, so I can't wait for the Malaysia tests to start.”

Pedrosa and Marquez will take to the track for the first pre-season test at Sepang from February 5-7.

Pirelli: Long-life tyres easy, F1 wants uncertainty

F1 News

Date: 24/January/2013

Pirelli has dismissed criticism that its quick-wearing F1 tyres might be detrimental to the company’s image and revealed that the teams have requested a greater level of uncertainly for 2013.

During Pirelli’s official Motorsport launch in Milan, President and CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera said: “Everybody in this business knows that to make very long lasting tyres is the easiest job.

“We ourselves have shown in many races, such as F2 of F3, that our tyres can last the entire race. It is the easiest possible product.

“But to make safe F1 tyres that last in the range of 20-30 laps, at different racetracks around the world, and also create close competition between the different tyre compounds - this is the biggest challenge.”

Ex-Formula 1 star Jean Alesi, revealed as a Pirelli ambassador at the launch, added: “It is extremely difficult to make a tyre that lasts a few laps safety and as a driver you never know when the performance drop will come.

“That is why the first seven races of last year we saw strange scenarios, due to the different timing of the drop in performance from one car to another.

“The teams didn’t really know if they were able to make 18, 20 or 22 laps on each set of tyres and this two or three lap window was critical. But as the season went on they found out how to use the tyres.”

Tronchetti Provera agreed with that assessment and revealed that the F1 team managers themselves felt the tyres had become too predictable by the end of 2012.

“At the end of last season the team managers asked me, together with [F1 boss] Bernie Ecclestone, ‘Please do something, because everybody is too good now. They are using your tyres too correctly and there is less fun, less amusement and less competition’.”

Pirelli, whose tyres have been openly credited for improving the F1 show, took over the exclusive F1 contract from Bridgestone at the start of 2011. Pirelli’s contract expires at the end of this year, but they are keen to continue.

“We are obviously willing to continue this adventure,” said Tronchetti Provera. “The teams are satisfied so we think the partnership we have in Formula One is a win-win situation.

“For that reason, I am confident we will reach a new agreement, but nothing yet.”

Alonso: ‘No politics’, but Hamilton strongest rival

F1 News

Date: 18/January/2013

Ferrari’s 2012 F1 title runner-up Fernando Alonso has rebuffed Red Bull’s claim that he is ‘constantly involved in politics’.

Earlier this month, Red Bull F1 team advisor Dr. Helmut Marko stated: "Alonso is constantly involved in politics. Saying things like, 'I'm competing against Hamilton, not Vettel,' and 'I'm up against [Red Bull designer] Newey.”

But Alonso, who lost the World Championship to Sebastian Vettel by just three points, rejected the claim when quizzed on the issue during Ferrari’s Wrooom Press event in Italy.

“I don’t think I am good at politics, I just drive the car,” he said.

The Spaniard then taunted his critics by adding: “Some recent remarks have surprised me, but I can’t see the sense in them. Some say they don’t read them, don’t hear them and don’t see them, before adding that they are not influenced by them: so clearly they do read them, maybe at night…”

Alonso was also unrepentant in his claim that Hamilton, and not reigning triple Champion Vettel, is his toughest rival.

“Why do I say Hamilton is the strongest? Because it’s what I think, it’s my personal opinion and there is nothing political in that,” he declared.

“Lewis has always won races ever since he has been in F1, even in years like 2009, when he had started the season with a car that was two seconds off the quickest. When you look at what happens on track, you are well aware of what he is doing, that’s a fact.”

Hamilton, whose relationship with Alonso has been repaired since an acrimonious season as McLaren team-mates in 2007, is switching to Mercedes for 2013. Alonso backs the Englishman to win several races. 

“Last year, Rosberg won in China, therefore I expect that this year, Lewis in a Mercedes can win more than one race.”

Turning to Vettel, Alonso insisted he has never attempted to play down the young German’s achievements. But in something of a barbed compliment he said that Vettel was definitely the best driver in certain ‘periods’.

“I did not say that Vettel was not the strongest or that he did not deserve his three titles, There have been periods, like in 2011, when his performance level was fantastic and he was definitely the best.”

Looking broadly at F1, Alonso admitted that the relentless race schedule takes its toll and that he’d like to see the calendar shortened.

The double World Champion, a grand prix driver since 2001, said: “We had the last grand prix at the end of November and almost right up to Christmas, there were events I had to take part in.

“There’s only the end of year holiday when one can have a break and I’ll try to fit in a few more days between now and Melbourne to recharge my batteries.

“20 races is a lot and it’s not easy to maintain a maximum performance level, both physical and mental, for the whole year. Maybe it would be better to have one or two fewer races and a few more test sessions.”