John Booth sounds downbeat despite Virgin expecting to take a major step forward in Turkey early next month.
After the team’s new car only narrowly staved off the struggling HRTs recently, media reports said an upgrade package for Istanbul includes a higher nose, new floor, Red Bull-like exhaust, modified rear suspension and new wings.

Germany’s Speed Week is calling the upgraded version a ‘B’ model of the MVR-02, but team boss Booth is quoted as worrying about the development of the team in its second season.

“We have stagnated,” the German-language report quotes the Briton as saying.

“The new developments for the Turkish grand prix will eliminate many of our problems, but we will only then be where we wanted to be in Australia,” added Booth.

Norbert Haug has quietly praised Ferrari’s strategy in integrating a blown diffuser on its 2010 car.

Mercedes, McLaren and Renault have all had problems with the Red Bull-like layout at recent races.

But Ferrari, now the closest team in terms of pace to the championship leaders, introduced its version in several phases, beginning at Valencia in June.

Even in Hungary last weekend, the troublesomely hot exhaust gases were only being blown over the top of the Ferrari diffuser, with the full effect to only be seen at the next race at Spa.

“Perhaps it was not a bad decision of Ferrari’s not to rush,” Mercedes’ Haug is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

Meanwhile, Robert Kubica denied that Renault’s 2010 car is still suffering from a loss of engine power due to its initial blown floor efforts.

“This is now fixed,” the Pole said.  “We are back at our old efficiency.”

Jul.6 (GMM)  Williams will decide whether to race a Red Bull-like blown rear exhaust layout at Silverstone this weekend after Friday’s practice sessions.

With official confirmation on Tuesday, the British team will become the third team to emulate on track Red Bull’s low-exhaust concept, with engine gases diverted through the double diffuser to boost downforce.

“We’ll evaluate the exhaust during the practice sessions on Friday and will make a final decision as to whether we race it that night,” said technical director Sam Michael.

In the hands of Finnish test driver Valtteri Bottas, the new package made its debut on the runway at England’s Kemble airport on Tuesday.

Nico Rosberg has described the W01 as a “disaster”, as Mercedes moves closer to abandoning development of its 2010 car.

The 25-year-old German again outqualified his famous teammate Michael Schumacher at Valencia, but his prize was a mere twelfth on the grid.

He then scored no points in the race, despite the Brackley based team – winners of the 2009 world championship as Brawn GP – using a raft of improvements in Spain, including a Red Bull-like blown rear exhaust layout.

Rosberg was angry immediately after the race, and a week later has told the Cologne publication Express: “It’s a disaster.

“The problem with the tyres is well known to the team.  For weeks we have said we are coming to the front, but nothing happens — actually we go backwards.”

Rosberg admits he is “angry” with the situation.

“If you’re twelfth, behind both Williams – who two weeks ago were nowhere – what do you expect?  I went from Williams to Mercedes because I thought I would have a winning car.”

Boss Ross Brawn said the team will continue to work on the W01, but admitted the time will come for a new approach.

“We have not done a good enough job,” admitted the Briton.

“First we need to get our new aero package working properly, and depending on the result we will decide to what extent we then concentrate on next season,” added Brawn.
(GMM)

Red Bull’s Christian Horner this weekend accused a “naughty” Ferrari of breaching the “spirit” of the agreement by testing its new exhaust layout at Fiorano last week.

Ferrari argues that the run was allowed because “filming and promotional” activities were taking place, and FOTA chairman Martin Whitmarsh on Saturday said the teams association will react.

“I didn’t think they (the rules) needed clarification, but for some they clearly do,” he said.

“It isn’t ambiguous in my English interpretation of it, but others obviously thought it was.

“That’s why we have to remove that ambiguity, and I think we are going to do the correct and honourable thing.”

Whitmarsh made clear that, like Ferrari, teams including Mercedes and Renault have also made “some arguable decisions” with regards to the rules about in-season testing.

“Once one does it then everybody feels ‘well, if that’s how you are going to interpret something, then I’ll push it to the limit’,” said the Briton.

He made clear that when McLaren tries its Red Bull-like exhaust layout next week, it will do so with one of its allocation of straightline test days.

Whitmarsh also thinks it is time F1 relaxed its approach to in-season testing.

“We had to take significant measures given the crisis involving the economy and formula one,” he said.

“I think now, as we can see signs of the economy improving, we can go back to testing.”

Christian Horner on Friday accused a “naughty” Ferrari of breaching the “spirit” of the in-season testing ban.

The Italian team tested its new Red Bull-like low exhaust layout at its own Fiorano test circuit last week, under the guise of a “filming and promotional” day.

Indeed, Ferrari did distribute media photos of the event and even a video of Fernando Alonso driving the car with a camera mounted on his helmet.

“It was arguably within the letter of the laws but not within the spirit,” Horner, team principal of Red Bull Racing, told the Telegraph.

“You don’t just run these cars – there has to be a lot of planning – and it wasn’t by mistake that they happened to run on that day with the new exhaust system,” he added.

Horner suggested that if Ferrari was really just running the F10 for filming purposes, the car did not need to be fitted with its important Valencia update.

“They managed to have a look at it, and they’ve probably learned a bit.  I’m sure there will be a lively debate at the next team principals’ meeting,” he predicted.

“I think it’s something that needs to be tidied up, because it’s effectively a gentlemen’s agreement, and it’s important that that should be respected.”

But it is true that the Ferrari was running with Bridgestone’s ultra-hard promotional tyres, and Alonso said the runs had been of little competitive value.

“I was running behind a car with cameras at 60kph so it was very stable,” the Spaniard joked.

“We did some laps also with no car in front, and ten cameras on the car and on the helmet, so it was not very comfortable to drive, and it was also the first time driving a Ferrari F1 car at Fiorano,” insisted Alonso.

(GMM)

Jun.25 (GMM)  The first practice session of the 2010 European grand prix took place under sunny skies on Friday morning.

In Valencia, expected to remain fine for the whole weekend, Nico Rosberg ended the 90 minute session with the fastest time as Mercedes experimented with its new Red Bull-like exhaust layout and driver-adjustable F-duct.

He was faster than the McLarens, but Renault, Ferrari and Red Bull were all also within a second or so of the leading pace.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel clocked the sixth fastest time, amid breaking news his Montreal-spec gearbox has been repaired, meaning he will not move back five places on Sunday’s grid.

Robert Kubica on Thursday said he is reserving his judgement about a Red Bull-like exhaust layout that will debut on the Renault car this weekend.

Like Ferrari and Mercedes, the Enstone based team has also readied a ‘blown’ exhaust setup – as seen on Red Bull’s RB6 this year – in time for Valencia, opening up a bigger channel of air and also directing the engine fumes through the double diffuser.

But Pole Kubica, the highest-scoring runner in a car other than a McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari or Mercedes, told reporters about the update in Spain: “It’s quite a complex thing to make it work and it’s not so easy.

“So there might be some positive effect but also some negative effects, we’ll have to see.”

(GMM)

Renault and Mercedes will join Ferrari in debuting Red Bull-style ‘low exhausts’ at this weekend’s European grand prix.

We reported earlier this week that McLaren is also looking to emulate the unique rear layout of Red Bull’s impressive 2010 car design.

Ferrari’s F10 car is equipped with its heavily updated car for Valencia, while McLaren and Williams look more likely to be ready by Silverstone.

We reported on Monday that Mercedes’ W01 car might be running the Red Bull-like layout this weekend, and the news has now been confirmed by BBC Sport.

But referring to the layout, the report said the German team is “not expected to use theirs in the race”.

Earlier reports also said Renault has a similar upgrade in the works, and the BBC confirmed that the team has its own version of the exhausts “in Valencia”.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso denied he had learned much about the updated F10 during a filming and promotional test at Fiorano last week.

“I think tomorrow (at Valencia) we’ll have a better answer,” the Spaniard told reporters in the Spanish port city on Thursday.

“We expect some step in the car, a little bit quicker but all the other teams will bring new parts here,” added Alonso.

(GMM)

The next formula one team working hard on a Red Bull-style exhaust system for its 2010 car is Williams.

Ferrari will debut low-mounted exhausts, with gases directed through the double diffuser as seen on the impressive RB6, this weekend at Valencia.

McLaren, Mercedes and Renault will soon follow suit, and now it emerges that Williams is to adopt a similar layout for its Cosworth-powered FW32.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport said the new exhaust system will appear no later than the British grand prix in mid July.

The report said the package will include new wings and a bigger double diffuser.

“We are expecting a big step,” said Williams’ long-time engineering boss and co-owner Patrick Head.
(GMM)

Ferrari has confirmed that a new exhaust system is among the changes to its 2010 car to debut on the streets of Valencia this weekend.

It has been reported that the revised F10, tested by Fernando Alonso at Fiorano and seen on a fan video posted on the internet, features a Red Bull-like layout for the exhausts.

Ferrari also revealed that test driver Marc Gene was at the wheel of the car for an aerodynamic test at Vairano last week.

The low-mounted exhausts, located directly ahead of the double diffuser, are tipped to slice up to half a second off laptimes.

Maranello based Ferrari on Tuesday confirmed that the Valencia upgrade includes “several modifications and updates”, although “not quite as far-reaching or extensive as (the) reports have suggested!”

The team said: “The most significant feature is a new configuration for the exhaust system, aimed at improving the aerodynamic efficiency of the car.”
(GMM)

Jun.15 (GMM)  A feature of Ferrari’s heavily upgraded F10 car in Valencia next weekend will reportedly be Red Bull-style exhausts.

Rival teams initially thought an illegal ride-height control system was the secret of the RB6′s speed, but it is now believed that the layout of the rear of the car – including lowly-mounted exhausts – is the basis of the design.

Spain’s AS newspaper reports that the updated F10 will be between three and four tenths per lap quicker than the basic specification raced in Turkey and Canada.

The report also said the change represents a fundamentally new aerodynamic direction for the car, opening up a new avenue for subsequent development.

“The most important improvement in Valencia is not what we achieve there, but the way it opens us developments to be stronger for the remainder of the season,” Fernando Alonso is quoted as confirming.

As well as the lower exhausts, the ‘B’ car will feature modified rear suspension, AS continues to explain, in order to open a bigger channel of air “to double the downforce generated by the diffuser”.

“For Valencia, the focus has been on other areas of the car apart from the (F-duct) rear wing,” team boss Stefano Domenicali is quoted by Brazil’s Globo.

Meanwhile, McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh has revealed that the championship-leading MP4-25 will feature a “reasonably big upgrade” at the British grand prix next month.