F1 Madness

Tag: maranello

  • F1 2020: Breaking News – F1 Calls Off Season-Opener

    F1 2020: Breaking News – F1 Calls Off Season-Opener

    Formula 1 has announced that it is calling off the opening round of the 2020 season.

    The first race of the new F1 season was scheduled to take place around Australia’s Albert Park circuit this weekend. Despite fears of the coronavirus pandemic F1 surged ahead with plans to kick of its season of racing while several other major sporting codes have called a halt to activities.

    Earlier on Thursday afternoon the McLaren team released a statement detailing their withdrawal from the race weekend due to a positive coronavirus test by a team member.

    Towards midnight on Thursday all team principals were huddled in a meeting to discuss the way forward. By three am Australian time no decision had been made despite several rumours running rampant that the season-opener was to be postponed. Fans and journalists alike waited seemingly in vain for an official update from the power that be but nothing was forthcoming. It wasn’t until several hours later than an announcement was made that a majority of the teams had decided against racing this weekend.

    “We appreciate this is very disappointing news for the thousands of fans due to attend the race” the official statement read. “All parties took into consideration the huge efforts of the AGPC [Australian Grand Prix Corporation], Motorsport Australia, staff and volunteers to stage the opening round of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship in Melbourne, however concluded that the safety of all members of the Formula 1 family and the wider community, as well as the fairness of the competition take priority”.

    Though there are several aspects that needed to have been considered the amount of time that was taken before an official announcement was forthcoming has not endeared F1 to the racing community of its fans.

    While Bahrain has already announced a race ‘behind closed doors’ it is difficult to imagine that it can go ahead. Similarly, the threat that Vietnam could soon be added to the postponement list, along with Australia and China, remains very real. The best-case scenario for F1 2020 is a season-opening race in Zandvoort. But even this remains up in the air.

  • F1 2017: Ferrari Launch SF-70H

    F1 2017: Ferrari Launch SF-70H

    The Ferrari Formula 1 team has launched its car for the 2017 Formula 1 season, the SF70-H.

    Ferrari is celebrating its 70th year which is commemorated in the naming of their latest Formula 1 challenger. The video, streamed live on Facebook and the team’s website, laster roughly five minutes. The start of the video depicted the assembly of the car at the team’s Marnello factory. Further, the video depicted every single seater racer car built by the Italian mark before lifting the garage door on the 2017 car at Fiorano. The livery reveals that Ferrari has chosen to return to all red livery in 2017.

    On hand at the presentation, decked out in the 2017 gear, were team principal Maurizio Arrivabene, chief technical officer Mattia Binotto, and race drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel.

    From the brief view of the car during the live stream, and the images released it appears as if Ferrari has opted to, initially, run with a type of thinner wing in front of the main rear wing. In addition, the Ferrari nose is also sporting a stub-nose design already seen on several other 2017 cars. Unlike Mercedes, Ferrari’s SF70-H has a prevalent shark-fin engine cover as well as narrow side pod air intakes.

    The car will hit the Fiorano circuit later today to complete a few laps as part of a filming day.

    The SF-70H: 

  • McLaren-Honda and Ferrari set to launch in late January

    McLaren-Honda and Ferrari set to launch in late January

    The McLaren Formula One Team looks set to launch its Honda powered 2015 car at an event at their Woking headquarters on 29 January. According to various international media sources, the new Ferrari will be presented either a day earlier, or a day later.

    While McLaren intend hosting an event to unveil their car, Ferrari’s launch is likely to only be a release of multimedia items on the internet, according to Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.

    Reports are in that the Ferrari livery will again be red and white with a dash of black carbon and the La Gazzetta report added that sources at Maranello are suggesting that the latest wind tunnel results are “encouraging”.

    “There is optimism that much of the aerodynamic deficit has been bridged,” La Gazzetta reported.

    “And combined with the political victory on the engine side that will improve performance and economy, there is a feeling of moderate optimism.”

    The report went on to say that the project, codenamed ‘666’ will be launched between the 28th and the 30th of January, with the exact date “depending on the assembly of the car”.

    Photo Credit: Mclaren-Honda

  • CONFIRMED: Stefano Domenicali Steps Down as Ferrari Team Principal

    CONFIRMED: Stefano Domenicali Steps Down as Ferrari Team Principal

    In a shock announcement that first did its rounds as a rumour on Twitter, Ferrari have announced that Stefano Domenicali has stepped down from his role as team principal at the Maranello based team..

    Domenicali who has been the team principal for Ferrari since 2008, handed in his resignation today. Ferrari Americas CEO and President, Marco Mattiacci, will take up the role as the new team principal for Ferrari’s F1 team. Mattiacci will take over with immediate effect.

    Although some would argue that Domenicali had it coming, the resignation comes as somewhat of a surprise.  Back in September last year, Ferrari President Luca Di Montezemolo was quoted as saying that Domenicali’s job was not on the line and that should he leave, he would be missed. He also indicated that narrowly losing the last two Drivers’ World Titles was no fault of Domenicali’s. “Over the past three years, we have lost two drivers’ world titles at the last race and it was not his fault,” di Montezemolo said at the time.

    This lead us to think that Domenicali was safe in his position. But it seems that things have been getting increasingly frustrating at the Scuderia with di Montezemolo’s patience wearing thin.

    Marco MatiacciOne cannot help but wonder whether Domenicali may have been pushed to resign by Ferrari President Luca Di Montezemolo. Since taking over as team principal for Ferrari, he has not had much success. He’s had a string of second place finishes in the Constructors’ Championship but no World Championship titles to boast about.

    Domenicali’s replacement, Marco Matiacci does not have much Formula 1 experience at all and seems a strange choice.

    Before his appointment as team principal, he was the President and CEO at Ferrari North America. It does seem a bit of a curious appointment as Matiacci’s field of expertise is business development, rather than technical F1 management.

    This could point toward the start of a bigger reshuffle at the Maranello based team, and all eyes will be on the Prancing Horse for future announcements.

     

     

  • Doubt over Fernando Alonso’s fitness for Austin GP

    Doubt over Fernando Alonso’s fitness for Austin GP

    There is a possibility that Fernando Alonso will not travel to the US for the Austin Grand Prix this coming weekend.

    Alonso needs to undergo another medical check today before being cleared to fly on Tuesday following the high G-force knock he took during the race in Abu Dhabi.

    Despite passing medical tests following the race, and Ferrari reporting that he was fit to race in Austin, the 28G impact suffered means he will need to undergo another test today before a final decision can be made.

    Highly respected correspondent for Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport, Pino Allievi, said that Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo “is not even remotely” contemplating the prospect of Alonso sitting out the race.

    However, following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Alonso had reported some back pain and his manager, Luis Garcia Abad tweeted a rather alarming photo of Alonso strapped to a spinal board, covered in shock foil blankets during the post-race hospital check. Ferrari were not very happy about the picture being tweeted according to Allievi despite Alonso stating at the Thursday press conference that the relationship between himself and Ferrari “was perfect, is perfect, and will be perfect”.

    Even if Alonso does travel to Austin on Tuesday, he would still need to pass the FIA’s own medical checks on Thursday before finally being cleared to race.

    Allievi has also said that if Alonso should fail his medical check today, Ferrari would most likely draft in Jules Bianchi, who races with Marussia but is part of the Ferrari young driver programme. Marussia are bound by contract to release Bianchi, should the call come from Ferrari. Their second choice reportedly, is Pedro de la Rosa.

    Word however from Spain and Maranello are that Alonso should be cleared fit to race.

    We will keep you posted as news becomes available.

    Photo credit: Photo tweeted by Alonso’s manager, Luis Garcia Abad on Twitter.