 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Mar 04
As the sun set on the final day of pre-season testing late on Sunday, the words on everyone’s lips were Mercedes and Red Bull.
“Everyone is saying that this Mercedes is fast. Consistently fast,” said respected Auto Motor und Sport correspondent Michael Schmidt. Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko added: “(It is fast) at least on one lap. But at least we do have to take them really seriously.”
Feb 25
Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber’s new race driver, has given a less dramatic assessment of the tyre situation heading into the 2013 season.
Last season dubbed ‘the tyre whisperer’, Mexican Perez has subsequently switched to McLaren, where last week at Barcelona he said the degradation of Pirelli’s new compounds is “extreme”. Back at Sauber, however, fellow Mexican Gutierrez is less panicked.
Feb 19
Pat Fry has contradicted reports Ferrari is heading into the 2013 season with another fundamentally-flawed formula one car.
Last year, the famous Italian team had a memorably bad start to the championship with the F2012′s initial configuration. Felipe Massa, however, sounded much happier with the new F138 at Jerez recently, and he set the fastest lap of the entire test week, although some reports say his body-language gave away the real story of the car’s early potential.
Feb 19
Adrian Sutil is “very, very happy” Force India is giving him a chance to shine by his former team Force India at Barcelona this week.
“He’s very, very happy this is taking place,” the German’s manager Manfred Zimmermann is quoted by DPA news agency. Sutil, now 30, spent his entire five-year F1 career with the Silverstone based team until 2011, when he lost his seat at the end of the season in the wake of the Eric Lux assault affair.
Jan 24
Valencia’s F1 foray is apparently over, with a Spanish newspaper reporting that the street circuit is now falling into disrepair.
The chances the former European grand prix venue will return to the calendar therefore seem dim, as Marca newspaper publishes images that suggest the facility is no longer being even minimally maintained.
Jan 18
Felipe Massa insists he is not worried about the apparently ever-greater influence wrought by his teammate Fernando Alonso at Ferrari.
Brazilian Massa hit such a low-point in his career early last year that, this week, he admitted that as Ferrari considered who to replace him with, he thought about quitting the team and formula one.
Jan 08
Pastor Maldonado insists he has no intention of easing what he describes as an “extremely aggressive” driving style.
Like Romain Grosjean, Williams driver and 2012 Spanish grand prix winner Maldonado was heavily criticised last season for being involved in too many on-track incidents. One analysis showed he was the driver penalised most often by the FIA in 2012.
Jan 03
Pedro de la Rosa, HRT’s lead driver in 2012, has joined boss Luis Perez-Sala in admitting that the Spanish team has folded.
Spaniard de la Rosa, who was contracted to keep racing this year, has already said he is on the lookout for a new role elsewhere as test or reserve driver. “There has been no official announcement,” the 41-year-old told the Spanish sports daily Marca, “but we all feel that the project will end.
Dec 27
Pedro de la Rosa has acknowledged that, with HRT closing its doors, he is not expecting to simply stroll back into his job as McLaren’s reserve driver.
“No, that’s not true,” he told the Spanish sports newspaper Marca. “I took my road and I live with my decision, so I’m not going back to McLaren with their doors open wide, because I left twice.”
Dec 20
Barcelona’s decision to abandon plans to alternate its annual grand prix hosting rights has caught Valencia by surprise.
It was believed Barcelona, the regular host of the annual Spanish grand prix, had agreed with European GP venue Valencia to annually alternate a single spot on the schedule from now on.
