Watch Sebastian Vettel get acquainted with the Ferrari engineers and technicians and then drives the F2012 around the Fiorano Test Track
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Ferrari Debut for Vettel “Really, really special”
Sebastian Vettel described his debut in a Ferrari F1 car as “really, really special” and said that it was like a fairy tale.
Vettel spent the past few days at Ferrari getting to know the team and engineers and also got to meet with the top brass at Ferrari and Fiat.
On Saturday, Vettel drove the F2012 around the Fiorano test track at Ferrari’s factory in Maranello emblazoned with his chosen #5 on the car. Incidentally, this was the same number Fernando Alonso drove with in 2012 when he lost the world championship to Vettel at the final race in Brazil. He spent Sunday in the simulator and met the senior team members which included recently appointed Ferrari Team Principal, Maurizio Arrivabene, and Technical Director James Allison. Ferrari and Fiat Chairman Sergio Marchionne was also there to meet the young German.
Vettel was quite emotional talking about is first time in a Ferrari.
“There are a lot of fairy tales about Ferrari and how it feels to drive a red car,” said Vettel
“In the end I can only confirm these fairy tales. It’s not just a story; it’s a true legend that exists.
“And it feels really, really special to become part of that and to be inside the car, to see the people coming, running to the track and trying to climb the walls to see the car.
The Ferrari engineers were very impressed with Vettel’s attention to detail. He apparently spent the whole day of Sunday from 10am till 6pm in the simulator breaking only for lunch.
Vettel will get a chance to drive the 2015 car at the Jerez test next year, but this gave him an opportunity to get his seating position and his seat fitted properly, get a sense of how the team works and to get acquainted with the different steering controls on the Ferrari.
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Caterham Allowed to Use 2014 Car Next Season
The Caterham F1 Team was given special dispensation by the FIA and the F1 Commission to use their 2014 car next season.
Although the team raced at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, they are still under administration and could make it to the race courtesy of a crowd-funding scheme after missing the United States and Brazilian Grands Prix.
The decision to allow the Leafield based team to use their 2014 car needs to be ratified at World Motorsport Council in Doha on 3 December 2014.
“The F1 Commission and FIA agreed if it would assist the weaker teams they can use the 2014 car next year, so giving them more time and options,” said Caterham administrator and Team Principal Finbarr O’Connell.
“That is of interest to all the parties I’m talking to because it gives them a choice, an easier start to get into F1 if they chose that route. It helps.”
O’Connell hopes that he will be able to find a buyer for the team before Christmas. Although there is not an urgent need to find a buyer before Christmas, it would be advantageous as it allows the teams to prepare for testing which is two months away.
According to O’Connell there are three potential buyers for the team, of the three, two have expressed greater interest and seem like “strong candidates”.
He does remain confident that the team can be sold.
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Mark Webber in horror crash at Interlagos WEC finale, escapes serious injury
Former F1 Red Bull Driver Mark Webber was incredibly lucky to escape serious injury in a horrror crash during the 2014 WEC season finale in Sao Paolo. The Australian is reported to be in a ‘satisfactory condition’.
Webber and Matteo Cressoni made contact in the final kink and both cars were sent hurtling into the safety barrier at Interlagos. Webber’s car went spinning onto the track and burst into flames.
You can view the video of the crash here.
Shortly after the crash his team tweeted, “Heavy crash for @AussieGrit in #porsche919hybrid no 20. Driver is ok.”
The Australian driver, who quit F1 for WEC at the end of the 2013 season, was the favourite for the race win having taken pole, however the late collision with Cressoni’s Ferrari 458 on the long run up the hill after the final corner ended his hopes of securing Porsche’s maiden win on its return to Sports Cars. The team did however get the maiden win with team mates Neel Jani, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas in the sister car, taking the victory.
Webber took an extremely long time to get out of his car but when he eventually emerged, he gave a thumbs-up to the crowd before being taken to the medical centre on a stretcher.
An official statement issued by the WEC read:
“At 18h33 local, during the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, an accident occurred between the no20 Porsche 919 hybrid of Mark Webber and no90 8Star Motorsport Ferrari of Matteo Cressoni.
Mark Webber is reported to be awake and alert and taken to the circuit’s medical centre for further examination. Matteo Cressoni was examined at the side of the track and did not go to the Medical Centre.
We will issue further updates as we get them.”
Interlagos has always been a special place for Webber and he was looking forward to returning to the track. Prior to the race he published on his website, “Interlagos has always been good to me, I won there twice and have been on the podium a few times so would it be great to finish my first season with Porsche in the WEC with another great result.
“It has always been one of my most favourite tracks because of the history with the drivers they’ve had; Senna, Piquet and Fittipaldi did a huge amount for the sport,” he added. “The Brazilians love motorsport and are very passionate about it, it’s got a great atmosphere and there’s always been a bit of drama as well with unpredictable weather.”
The Aussie suffered a major accident in the exact same spot at the very wet 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix – you can view the footage of that incredible accident here.
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Video: Mark Webber’s horror crash with Matteo Cressoni in 2014 WEC Sao Paolo Season Finale
The 2014 WEC season ended with a horrific crash during the final race as former Formula 1 driver Mark Webber, and Matteo Cressoni make contact in the final kink, sending both cars hard into the wall.
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Toro Rosso Secures Sainz Jr For 2015
The Toro Rosso Formula 1 team announced on Friday evening that Carlos Sainz Jr will drive for the team in 2015.
This comes two days after Jean-Eric Vergne announced on Twitter that he will not be driving for the team in 2015.
It also means that Toro Rosso have finalised their line up for 2015 after announcing earlier this year that Dutch rookie Max Verstappen will drive for them next year, which will make it a fresh new line-up for the Faenza based team.
Sainz made his single seat debut in 2010 in Formula BMW after starting out in karting. He moved up the ranks to Formula Renault 2.0, onto British Formula 3 and then to GP3 n 2013. This year Sainz became the youngest ever winner of the World Series by Renault 3.5 Championship. Sainz secured a test with the Red Bull Formula 1 team at Abu Dhabi which took place two days ago.
“I am really happy to have landed the drive with Scuderia Toro Rosso,” said the 20 year-old Spaniard.
“Ever since I have been part of Red Bull’s Young Driver Programme, this has been my aim and I want to thank Red Bull for putting their faith in me.
“I have had a very successful season in World Series by Renault this year and now I am looking forward to taking the step up to Formula 1.
“I tested for a day with Toro Rosso last year and I liked the atmosphere in the team. In the next few months I will be working hard on my preparation, ready to get in the cockpit in Jerez for the first test of next year. It will be nice to make my “official” debut as a Formula 1 driver in my home country!”
Team Principal Franz Tost had this to say about the rookie: “With Carlos Sainz joining Max Verstappen in our driver line-up next year, we continue the Toro Rosso tradition of providing youngsters from the Red Bull Junior Driver Programme with their first steps in Formula 1.”
“I have watched Carlos progress through the junior categories, always improving as he moved higher up the ladder, culminating in a well-deserved win in this year’s World Series.
“However, I also remember the day’s testing he did with us at Silverstone in 2013 in the STR8. He really surprised me and his engineers that day, with his mature approach and his speed.”
Photo Credit: Toro Rosso Formula 1 Team
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Hulkenberg to Compete in Le Mans 24 Hours
Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg announced today that he will driver for Porsche during the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Hulkenberg made the announcement on Twitter to his followers. In his tweet he also thanked Managing Director and Team Principal Vijay Mallya for allowing him to compete at Le Mans.
Hulkenberg becomes the first driver since 2009 when Sebastian Bourdais, who raced for Toro Rosso, also competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours with Peugeot.
He wont just climb into the Porsche WEC car and start racing. He has a program mapped out for him to follow which will involve him learning how to deal with the traffic of the the slower GT cars and most importantly he will have to get used to the conditions for driving at night.
“Porsche and Le Mans – this combination probably attracts every race driver,” said Hulkenberg.
“I’ve been a Porsche fan for a long time and have been watching their return to the LMP1 class closely.
“I am very pleased the 2015 Formula 1 calendar allows for it and I’m grateful to my Force India Formula 1 team’s generosity to let me go for it.
“Now it’s up to me to work hard to satisfy both commitments.”
The 24 Hours of Le Mans takes place on 13th-14th June 2015, right between the Canadian Grand Prix and the Austrian Grand Prix.
“Having caught the interest of another world class driver like Nico is validation for the job the entire Porsche LMP1 crew had done in our first WEC season,” said Porsche team principal Andreas Seidl.
“Having caught the interest of another world class driver like Nico is validation for the job the entire Porsche LMP1 crew had done in our first WEC season,” he added.
“Now we will prepare Nico for his new challenges such as dealing with the traffic of the slower GT cars and racing into the Le Mans night.
We’re looking forward to working with Nico and we want to thank the Sahara Force India F1 team and team principal Vijay Mallya for loaning him to us.”
Photo Credit: Sahara Force India Formula 1 Team
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Video: F1 2014 Awards
The BBC F1 Team announce their winners of the 2014 Formula 1 Awards. Winners include Daniel Ricciardo, Lewis Hamilton and a few more.
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Vergne Departs Toro Rosso
Jean-Eric Vergne announced this afternoon (26 November 2014), that he will not be driving for Toro Rosso in 2015.
The Frenchman made his announcement in a tweet this afternoon. “Despite a good season and 22 points, I’ll not drive any more for Toro Rosso in 2015,” read the tweet.
Although Toro Rosso have not finalised their driver line up for 2015, it is expected that Carlos Sainz Jr is tipped to be driving alongside 17 year-old Max Verstappen.
Vergne has not said anything about his future plans yet. As is stands, all the seats on the F1 grid are occupied. There has been ramblings about him joining Williams in a test driver capacity now that Felipe Nasr has a driver with Sauber. If nothing comes off for the Frenchman for 2015 in F1 he may have find something in another race series.
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F1 2014 Abu Dhabi Test: Day 2
Mercedes ended the second day of testing at Abu Dhabi on top of the timing sheets.
Test driver Pascal Wehrlein brought the Abu Dhabi test to a close with the fastest lap on the timing sheets. The 20-year-old official Mercedes test driver set a fastest time of 1:42:624 roughly half a second ahead of the pack.
McLaren’s newly minted Honda partnership underwent further teething problems today as Stoffel Vandoorne was only able to complete two laps. Vandoorne’s times were not timed and adds to a rather unspectacular first outing for the highly anticipated Honda hybrid power unit. The team discovered an electrical issue which severely compromised the team’s program. As Vandoorne finally emerged from the garage he grinded to a halt on track a few minutes later signalling the end of the testing session for the McLaren team.
Toro Rosso’s 2015 prospect Max Verstappen set the third fastest time of the day as Raffaele Marciello made his debut for Ferrari. Verstappen clocked a total of 78 laps before a power unit issue in the afternoon brought his running to an end.
Alex Lynn put the Lotus through its paces and managed the ninth fastest time of the day. Formula Three Champion Esteban Ocon took over the Lotus seat in the afternoon and set the tenth quickest lap with a total of 34 laps.
Unofficial Wednesday times from Abu Dhabi:
