All the hard work has finally paid off today as the F112, the car with which HRT Formula 1 Team will compete this season, completed its first laps at the Circuit de Catalunya, in Barcelona.

Since the car passed the last crash test and was homologated, the team has carried out work shifts to cover 24 hours a day to make sure it could make it, for the first time in its history, to the first Grand Prix of the season having run previously.

The car was able to run after the team took advantage of one of the filming days available during the season.

The car made it to the circuit from Munich, Germany, just after one in the afternoon and the mechanics and engineers got straight down to business, working on relevant adjustments. It was a combined team effort, working against the clock, which saw its rewards four hours later when Narain Karthikeyan led the car out onto the track. Pedro de la Rosa, Dani Clos and Tonio Liuzzi were also present, as were Carlos Gracia, President of the Spanish Motorsports Federation and Salvador Servià, General Director of the Circuit de Catalunya.

The tests were carried out without any setbacks and the car carried out over ten laps. The team was able to check that the car functioned properly both from a mechanical and aerodynamic point of view as from a systems standpoint.

The team will prepare the necessary material in the upcoming days and head down under for the first Grand Prix of the season which will take place at Melbourne, Australia, in just two weeks.

Narain Karthikeyan: “Today was a shakedown of the F112 and I have had the honour to be the first driver to test it. The first impressions are quite good; it’s definitely a step up from last year. We couldn’t do any set-up work or stuff like that but everything seems to be working fine and there are no major problems so we can look forward to the season now. Everyone has worked hard and the new team management has put everything together in a very short period of time. They’ve done a proper job with the car and I’m sure that it’s a big step forward from last year, so hopefully we can take the competition to the teams we were fighting last year”.

Pedro de la Rosa: “Today has been a very special day because the car saw the light for the first time; Narain did some installation laps and then various times laps without any issues. This is very important, it might not seem like it, but any sort of mileage before Australia is vital to see that the car is in good conditions. From here it is our job to try and improve it and make it progress”.

Luis Péres-Sala, Team Principal: “I’m very satisfied today as it is a very important day for us because we were able to test some things out with the new car during this filming day. I’m very proud of each and every member of this team because everyone has contributed their little bit for this to be possible. Now we have to focus on Australia because we still have a lot ahead”.

AUSTIN, Texas — February 13, 2012— Circuit of The Americas is the newest member of the Green Sports Alliance, a non-profit organization made up of more than 40 professional and collegiate sports teams and nearly 90 sports venues with a mission to help sports teams, venues and leagues enhance their environmental performance. Circuit of The Americas will be the first Formula One™ racing facility to become a member of the Alliance.
“Circuit of The Americas and the City of Austin have taken a bold stand with their sustainability plan for the sports and entertainment complex,” said Martin Tull, executive director of the Green Sports Alliance. “We welcome Circuit of The Americas into the Alliance and look forward to working with them.”
The Green Sports Alliance is a unique coalition of sports teams and venues, professional sport leagues, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other environmental and green building experts.
“I applaud the Circuit’s commitment to setting a standard for sustainability in North American motorsports,” said Lucia Athens, chief sustainability officer for the City of Austin. “Joining forces with the Green Sports Alliance will increase their green horsepower and put Austin on the map yet again for its leadership and innovation. The Green Sports Alliance has been providing expert technical assistance to many of the sports leagues, and can now assist motorsports in achieving greener results.”
Members in the Green Sports Alliance share best practices to improve the environmental performance of their venues, saving millions of dollars through energy and water conservation, waste reduction, recycling and composting. By tracking environmental performance, sports facilities learn how they compare to their counterparts and how to maximize sustainability efforts. Alliance members have reported reductions as high as 30 percent in energy usage, 60 percent in natural gas use and more than 20 percent in water use.
“We are excited to be collaborating with the best minds in sustainable facility management,” said Edgar Farrera, sustainability director at Circuit of The Americas. “We look forward to developing new approaches to environmentally sustainable operations at our facility and sharing what we learn with organizations and companies around the world.”
About the Green Sports Alliance
The Green Sports Alliance is a non-profit organization with a mission to help sports teams, venues and leagues enhance their environmental performance. Less than a year since its public launch, the Alliance is made up of representatives from over 40 teams from 13 leagues and 90 sports venues, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Protection Agency, Bonneville Environmental Foundation and many other organizations.
Its second annual conference, the Green Sports Alliance Summit, will be held on Sept. 5-7, 2012 and will bring together hundreds of facility operators, team executives, league officials,
environmental experts and corporate partners to discuss innovations in environmental performance.
For more information about the Green Sports Alliance visit: www.greensportsalliance.org.
About Circuit of The Americas
Circuit of The Americas will be a world-class destination for performance, education and business. It will be the first purpose-built Grand Prix facility in the United States designed for any and all classes of racing, from motor power to human power, and be the U.S. home to the 2012 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX™ Nov. 16-18 and V8 SUPERCARS.
The Circuit of The Americas’ master plan features a variety of permanent structures designed for business, education, entertainment and race use. Its signature element will be a 3.4-mile circuit track with capacity for 120,000 fans. Other support buildings will include a medical facility, a conference center, a banquet hall as well as an expansive outdoor live music space. Future proposed amenities include a driving/riding experience, a motorsports driving club, kart track, grand plaza event center and tower, and a trackside recreational vehicle park.

 Most Italians do not believe Sebastian Vettel will ever trouble Michael Schumacher’s record of seven world championships.
But a significant 45.4 per cent of respondents answered ‘yes’ when asked by La Gazzetta dello Sport if the Red Bull driver, the youngest ever back to back world champion, will smash Schumacher’s record eventually.

54.6 per cent of the almost 9000 survey respondents answered ‘no’.

In India last weekend, Vettel beat Nigel Mansell’s old record for the number of laps led in a single season.

“I love what I do,” said the German when told about the record. “I think we all do so it is great and in a way we don’t want this (season) to end.”

Renault is open to supplying one more team in formula one.
That is the claim of Carlos Tavares, who became the French carmaker’s new chief operating officer earlier this year.

For 2012, Renault is adding Williams to its customer roster, in addition to the existing engine deals with Red Bull, Lotus-Renault GP, and Team Lotus.

“Four teams, that’s fine,” Tavares told France’s Auto Hebdo in an exclusive interview. “Five? Why not? But no more than that.”

 Jenson Button’s new contract at McLaren is for three years, Martin Whitmarsh let slip last weekend.
Previously, the team and driver were willing only to divulge that they recently inked a new “multi year” agreement.

But, perhaps inadvertently, team boss Martin Whitmarsh said in India that the contract will see the 2009 world champion in a silver car through 2014.

During a television interview after Sunday’s race, he was asked about Button’s current run of good form.

“Let’s hope it continues like that as we have another three exciting years with him to go,” Whitmarsh is quoted as saying in German-language reports.

Jenson Button has admitted having a clear number 2 driver is the best approach for a formula one team.
Team orders are now legal in F1 and Eddie Irvine, Michael Schumacher’s clear supporting driver at Ferrari in the mid nineties, recently hailed Briton Button as the sport’s new “best number 2″.

Button, 31, is actually the only driver still in the running with Sebastian Vettel for the 2011 title, and 17 points ahead of his high profile teammate Lewis Hamilton.

He told Die Welt newspaper: “The best way for a team to win the world championship would probably be to have a number 1 driver and a number 2 who is happy to be the number two.

“That’s not what we have at McLaren,” insisted Button.

As for Irvine’s recent criticism, Button hit back with an apparent reference to 1999, when the Ulsterman came close to the championship in the wake of Schumacher’s broken leg.

“It’s (Irvine’s comments) very sweet,” the Briton told PA Sport recently. “All I can say is that it was fun winning the world championship, and I hope to do it again.”

McLaren on Wednesday would not confirm reports its F-duct innovation will be removed from the MP4-25 ahead of the forthcoming Italian grand prix.

It was reported that, because the concept is designed to boost straight-line speed by shedding rear wing drag on the straights, it will be inefficient at Monza due to the minimal downforce configuration of the cars there.

“I read that on Monday morning and there were a few of us raising our eyebrows,” McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale told reporters during a Vodafone teleconference.

“We have the option to either run it or not. I think at the moment we are just looking at all the options. It is incorrect to assume we can make any decisions (yet) as to whether we are (going to use the F-duct at Monza) or not,” he added.

Neale said a final decision will be made after studying data from this weekend’s Spa-Francorchamps event.

He also revealed that, after Red Bull dominated in Hungary amid the flexible wing saga, McLaren is still no closer to understanding the phenomena at the front of the RB6.

In a team preview, McLaren said it is “optimistic the bodywork rules clarification will close the gap” at Spa this weekend.

But Neale said on Wednesday: “I’ve read the trade magazines, I’ve seen the footage. We can’t explain, at McLaren, why the (flexing) cars operate in the way that they do.”

Lewis Hamilton swerved a conviction but not a $500 fine after a court hearing in Melbourne on Tuesday.

The 2008 world champion, who did not travel to Australia for the hearing, was arrested, charged and summonsed for driving dangerously near the Albert Park circuit during March’s grand prix weekend.

He was represented by a lawyer in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, who pleaded guilty on the 25-year-old Briton’s behalf.

Lawyer Sandip Mukerjea said the McLaren driver, who addressed two letters to the court, suffered “embarrassment, humiliation and distress” over the incident due to the widespread media coverage.

In one of the letters, Hamilton said the incident was due to a “momentary lapse of judgement” that had caused “immense” publicity that was a “form of punishment”.

He also insisted that he was “in control of the car at all times”.

His lawyer asked that a conviction not be recorded because it may impede Hamilton’s ability to travel internationally.

The FIA also provided the court with a character reference.

The magistrate said Hamilton escaped conviction because it was his first offense, but “this is about somebody in a responsible position behaving like a hoon”.

“It doesn’t show the general application of the level of responsibility and maturity that he must use every day on the race track,” added magistrate Clive Alsop.

Lewis Hamilton is not travelling to Australia early this week despite being due in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

The McLaren driver was arrested in the city earlier this year for dangerous driving in a road car near the F1 circuit, later receiving an official charge and court summons for August 24.

But with this weekend’s Belgian grand prix now looming, the News of the World tabloid in Britain said Hamilton, 25, will be represented in court by a lawyer.

“It was something small,” he is quoted as saying.  “You pay the price and learn from it.”

McLaren needs to get creative if it is to claw back its lead in the 2010 world championships, according to boss Martin Whitmarsh.

With clearly the faster car, Red Bull has taken over at the top of the points tables, but McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton is only 4 points shy of leader Mark Webber.

In recent weeks, Woking based McLaren has been working on emulating Red Bull’s blown floor concept, but Whitmarsh said the team’s engineers also need to be more creative during the ongoing development of the MP4-25.

“We have not suspended the diffuser project, but we hope to invent something new,” he is quoted by Autosprint magazine.

Creativity is at the heart of the current front wing flexibility controversy, with Red Bull expecting to pass even the more stringent scrutineering tests at Spa-Francorchamps next weekend.

Whitmarsh said McLaren has an understanding about the regulations that may not be shared by some of its competitors. “The FIA needs to make this area absolutely clear,” he said.

“If clarity does not come, we too can become very inventive and creative,” the Briton is quoted as saying.

Jenson Button struggled through the London Triathlon on Sunday with tonsillitis.

But the reigning world champion still finished third in his class, despite admitting to having “suffered quite a bit” whilst under the effect of antibiotics.

His time of 2hr14mins was about 25 minutes behind the ultimate winner, and seven minutes slower than his 2009 time.

“I wasn’t feeling very well at the start of the week, which is why I have come in a bit slower than last time round,” said the 30-year-old.

The Olympic-length event consists of a 1.5km swim, 40km bike ride and 10km run.

F1 is currently in the midst of its August break, including two-week factory shutdowns, so most of Button’s rivals are on holiday.

Mark Webber is on the Cote d’Azur, Robert Kubica is planning to travel between the south of France and Tuscany, Jarno Trulli is in Miami and Vitantonio Liuzzi on the Greek holiday island Mykonos.

“No sun here today, oh well,” Webber wrote on Twitter.

Button plans to spend this week at his villa in Guernsey.

Life is tougher for the Toro Rosso duo, who are training for 10 days in Austria, but their Red Bull Racing teammates will soon follow.

Fernando Alonso is also headed for a holiday, having spent several days at Maranello prior to helicoptering to the Italian Dolomites for a PR event.

“At least once a day, maybe just for ten minutes, I will inevitably think about the next race in Belgium,” said the Spaniard.

F1′s four Brazilian drivers have all returned home for August, while Karun Chandhok is in India and Sakon Yamamoto in Japan.

Jenson Button insists his latest criticism of McLaren’s 2010 car is “positive”.

The British team’s group chairman Ron Dennis publicly scolded the reigning world champion and his teammate Lewis Hamilton recently for pointing out the weaknesses of the MP4-25.

But after qualifying two seconds off the pace in Hungary, and finishing the race eighth as both the drivers and the team lost their championship leads, 30-year-old Button insists his current comments are just a statement of fact.

“We’re not as quick as the Red Bulls at this moment in time,” he said.  “You can see that on the circuit.  It’s not a negative thing.  It’s a positive criticism.”

Button said he is not being critical of the team, but instead is urging McLaren to work together to bring the car back onto the pace.

“The position we’re in is not about pointing the finger.  When I say our car isn’t as quick as another car, I mean it is not as quick,” he explained.

“But it’s a team effort.  We win together and we lose together.  It’s as much about me giving as much input as I can to improve the car as it is about the guys back at the factory making the car go quicker in their way.

“It’s like me saying I made a mistake out on the circuit.  That’s my fault.  So me saying the car’s not quick enough — it’s not quick enough, but I’m going to try everything I can to ensure it gets quicker,” added Button.

He backs the Woking based outfit – the winner of 12 constructors’ and 8 drivers’ world championships – to improve.

“You do have peaks and troughs in formula one and when you are fighting at championship level,” said Button.

“At the moment we are not in a trough, but we are not as strong as the Red Bulls.

“But I’d be surprised if this team didn’t pull something out.  I have every confidence they will.”

Force India has become the latest team to commit to using KERS in 2011.

When the energy-recovery systems were first permitted by the technical regulations last year, the Silverstone based team opted not to use the technology.

But for 2011, the FOTA gentleman’s ban on the systems will lapse, and the efficiency of KERS will improve due to the increase in the minimum car/driver weight by 20kg.

Moreover, the interaction of KERS with the car’s weight distribution will also be negated in 2011, due to the introduction of a mandatory 46:54 ratio.

“There is no other option than to go with KERS,” Force India’s chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

However, Auto Motor und Sport said it is not clear if independent teams Sauber and Toro Rosso will use KERS next year, adding that all three new teams will probably not race the systems.

Teams not developing their own KERS systems for 2011 will be able to buy a supply for 1 million euros, while a 5 million euro per team development cap applies.

The race director said after yesterday’s Grand Prix of Canada from Montreal in no penalty against Michael Schumacher, even though his friend Felipe Massa had just pushed very hard. But the duel of the two ex-teammates remained interpersonal consequences.

On the part Ferrari, there was certainly no allegation in the direction of seven times world champion: ‘I think Michael was perhaps a bit slow earlier because his tires not so great were. He braked much earlier than Felipe had expected it, and therefore, Felipe went back purely in it, “said race engineer Rob Smedley, Massa, the only angry about the potentially lost championship points.
Massa was in the final stages of the race to Schumacher minded and wanted to overtake the Mercedes chicane before the finish but Schumacher blocked until the inside line and then moved back to his racing line. He urged from Massa, who was at that time still on the road at full speed. The race stewards at Emerson Fittipaldi said, but made no speech.

Rightly, as Schumacher’s team boss Ross Brawn thinks: “Felipe was there perhaps a bit too ambitious, because Michael had no grip anyway,” said the Briton. “I see no sin upon him. It may be true that he has slowed down earlier, but that was just at the time and the place with his tires, brakes where he had to. I do not think there malicious intent behind it.”

(totalmotorsports)

Michael Schumacher enjoyed a Grand Prix of Canada to forget. The Mercedes star fell after a promising beginning, back after a puncture and was finally passed up to eleventh place. After the setback, the world champion but could console himself with a strong opening game of the German national team at the World Cup in South Africa.

After Joachim Löw’s team at the start of the match against Australia clouded some ways, it always came into the game and let the “Socceroos” from “Down Under” Finally, no chance: 4-0 was the convincing result. And not only in South Africa, the joy was great – even the talented amateur kicker Michael Schumacher was jubilant: “This was a super game of the German team, which was to look great.”
Schumacher was lucky that the start time of the Grand Prix of Canada at the World Cup has been adapted – through interviews and internal analysis after the race, he missed only the beginning of the game, as he confirmed: “I have not seen, although the initial can, but the second half was great about this young team. The best way I found it quick short passing game, really impressive. ”

The German, who at FC Aubonne in the third Swiss league chasing even occasionally even the round leather trusts, his national team after the blowout against some of Australia: “I certainly hope that the team’s keep it plays, so we have all long fun able. ” Maybe give Philipp Lahm & Co. Schumacher even some hope for the mixed season opener: Finally, we stood before the World Cup by some failures, including top striker Michael Ballack, under enormous pressure – the shooting brought the critics but for the moment silenced.

Source: Totalmotorsports