Despite a difficult winter for the Marussia team, Timo Glock is in a positive mood as he travels to Australia for the 2012 season.
The former Virgin squad struggled to get its new car through the FIA’s mandatory crash tests, which according to new rules meant the MR01 was grounded throughout the official pre-season period.

Indeed, the Russian website F1News quotes technical consultant Pat Symonds as saying the “last two months were the most difficult of my 20 years in formula one”.

Due to a testing loophole allowing some running on demonstration Pirelli tyres, the Cosworth-powered car finally made its debut over two days of ‘promotional filming’ early this week at Silverstone.

“The basis is definitely good; the first test miles were really good,” German Glock is quoted by the German-language Speed Week.

“The car did exactly what we expected from it. The data we recorded corresponded exactly to what we had calculated previously,” he added.

The report said Glock will travel to Australia on Friday, with his 30th birthday set to coincide exactly with the start of the new season.

Symonds added: “There is still much to be done, but it is a long term project and so I hope that we move forward step by step.”

 Marussia’s 2012 car will be on the Melbourne grid next weekend, after the MR01 finally passed a missing FIA crash test.
The former Virgin team’s Cosworth-powered car sat out the entire official pre-season period due to a new regulation in 2012 requiring single seaters to be fully homologated before they can even be tested.

The MR01 finally made its track debut on Monday and Tuesday, due to a loophole allowing limited running on demonstration Pirelli tyres for filming purposes even when the mandatory crash tests have not been passed.

But finally, late on Tuesday, Marussia announced that the crash tests have now all been passed.

“After a challenging few weeks for the team, we are pleased to have overcome the last hurdle of the final FIA observed crash test, which we passed today,” said technical consultant Pat Symonds.

“Whilst we have a lot of catching up to do, we take heart from the fact that everything is back on a more positive trajectory,” Renault’s former engineering director added.

Marussia’s 2012 car made its track debut on Monday, despite having failed to pass all the mandatory FIA crash tests.
But because the action at Silverstone is the team’s ‘filming and promotional’ pre-season running, rather than an official test, it was allowed by the governing body and rival teams.

Designed by former Renault man Pat Symonds, the MR01 – fitted on Monday with demonstration Pirelli tyres – does not feature a ‘step nose’, uniquely in common with technical partner McLaren’s 2012 solution.

“It has been a long and frustrating wait for everyone in the team but we can now get back on track and start working towards the first race of the season in Australia next weekend,” said team boss John Booth.

The car must now pass the missing FIA crash test before Melbourne, and Symonds sounds hopeful.

“The component in question has actually passed an ‘unobserved’ crash test but has been performing inconsistently in the observed tests,” he is quoted by Reuters.

Also for a filming day, HRT’s 2012 car is making its debut on Monday, at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Marussia Racing’s new MR01 finally made its first on-track appearance during a promotional ‘filming’ day at Silverstone, just a few miles from is Banbury base.

The Anglo-Russian team endured a torrid time in its attempts to get the car ready for the third and final group test at Barcelona last week, having skipped the opening session in Jerez to prepare the MR01 for early March, only to fail the mandatory FIA crash tests. Although both Timo Glock and rookie Charles Pic got some miles under their belts in Barcelona last month, it was at the wheel of the 2011-spec car, leaving them preciously short of time in the new machine ahead of its race debut in Melbourne next weekend.

The Silverstone shakedown, part of a promotional event ahead of the car’s departure for the Australian Grand Prix, will provide both team and driver with vital information on the new machine, which has been conceived after a ground-up re-evaluation of the way Marussia designs its racing cars. As such, the car is almost entirely new, with very few carry-over components from last year’s Marussia Virgin MVR-02.

The desire to make a clean break from the previous CFD-only creations presented the design team, led by technical consultant Pat Symonds, with the challenge of going back to basics to produce a solid mechanical package, whilst maintaining an eye towards achieving the incremental performance steps required to move the team forward.

The starting point for the design programme was a consideration of the people and resources available to the Banbury-based team. The former three-base operation has been consolidated into one site, the Marussia Technical Centre in Banbury, bringing the various elements of the business together to form ‘one team’. In particular, the design department and practices now benefit from far greater integration and collaboration. Furthermore, the aerodynamic department has been completely restructured and the aero methodology reinforced, blurring the boundaries between CFD and experimental work in the wind tunnel, as well as enhancing the fidelity of the team’s aero approach.

The technical partnership forged with McLaren Applied Technologies in July of last year has also been influential in the design process and the relationship is starting to yield benefit as the advanced facilities that the Marussia team has access to have been used to prove the correlation process with the MVR-02. It is however early in the relationship and the MR01 will become a beneficiary of the relationship in due course.

The key design priorities were to address previous aerodynamic deficiencies and, mechanically, achieve greater weight saving. At the same time, a lot of the detail of the car has been refined and the design team have been a little more adventurous than before, stepping closer to the engineering boundaries. The car can best be described as a significant evolution of its predecessors. The relationship with McLaren is also evident, as the MR01 is only the second car launched this season, after the Woking giant’s MP4-27, to eschew the stepped nose concept favoured by the rest of the field.

“We are very pleased to be running the new MR01 for the first time this morning,” team principal John Booth admitted, “It has been a long and frustrating wait for everyone in the team, but we can now get back on track – literally – and start working towards the first race of the season in Australia next weekend.

“Today is the first of two promotional events, so while the drivers will be able to get a feel for the car, they won’t be able to draw any real conclusions until we start running in anger in Melbourne. Nevertheless, this is an important day for us and we’ll enjoy every minute on track with the new car.”

Glock turned the first laps with the MR01, beginning his third season with the team and providing the all-important element of continuity required to keep moving the package forward. He is joined in 2012 by Frenchman Pic, who embarks on his rookie year in F1, having made the step up from GP2 to replace Belgium’s Jerome d’Ambrosio. Both drivers will get track time with the new car over the next two days, albeit running on demonstration tyres as opposed to the Pirelli P-Zeros that they will use once competition starts in Melbourne.

 Timo Glock is already pressing the throttle for the 2012 season.
He revealed to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport that, this week, he has been working on McLaren’s driver simulator for the very first time.

It is part of struggling Virgin’s new tie-up with the famous British team, including use of the Woking wind tunnel.

German Glock says he is also buoyed that, in the wake of technical boss Nick Wirth’s departure, the appointment of veteran Renault engineer Pat Symonds is already bearing fruit.

“My feeling is that we have definitely improved,” he said. “It can’t be easily seen because Lotus have also brought improvements which equalised our step.

“But the data has confirmed what I have felt in the car,” said Glock, referring to the current 2011 single seater.

For 2012, the McLaren simulator tests are now taking place and Virgin’s new wind tunnel programme is back on track.

“There was a little delay but we have caught up now,” Glock revealed.

“We went to Korea with new setup directions, since we have nothing to win or to lose now we can afford to do some development work for next year.”

Virgin will not be using KERS technology in 2012.
Another of the new-in-2010 teams, Team Lotus, has announced that from next season it will be using the kinetic energy recovery system developed by Red Bull.

“We have done the very best job we can this year but without that extra power we are always competing on a different level to the teams ahead,” said team boss Tony Fernandes.

Virgin is also making efforts to catch the more established teams, including by hiring the highly experienced ‘crashgate’ engineer Pat Symonds.

“My impression of him is very good,” driver Timo Glock told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

Symonds’ attention to detail is already becoming apparent, with the switch from steel to titanium pitstop jacks, and the use of laser technology for pitstop positioning, seen for the first time in Singapore.

The German report also said the 60 per cent scale model of Virgin’s 2012 car is now complete and will enter the McLaren wind tunnel at the end of next month.

But Glock reportedly confirmed that, when complete, the car will not feature a KERS system.

And he warned: “I don’t think that by the first race of next year we will make a big jump. There just isn’t enough time. But for the start of the European season we are planning a major update.”

After splitting with Nick Wirth, the next rumour at Virgin is that the struggling team is set to move into the former Arrows and Super Aguri facility in Leafield (UK).
Since entering formula one based on the F3 team Manor, the outfit has been located at Dinnington, but with the crucial technical headquarters at Wirth Research in Banbury.

It is rumoured Leafield has been proposed as the ideal base after the Wirth split by team consultant Pat Symonds.

Symonds is the previously highly-respected engineer who was banned from a direct operational role in F1 following the Renault crashgate scandal two years ago.

Virgin Racing chief executive Graeme Lowdon told the Sheffield Star newspaper: “We are always evaluating our options but we have had no discussions with them (Leafield).

“It is way too early to make any decisions on that. We are reviewing everything and looking at what the best solution is going forwards.”

The FIA has confirmed reports that formula one will not feature a 13th team in 2011.

The rumours about the governing body’s decision emerged on Tuesday, but Jacques Villeneuve – bidding to launch a team in partnership with Durango – said the media had jumped the gun.

It is also believed Spain’s Epsilon Euskadi was still in the running for the final entry.

But after a World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris on Wednesday, the FIA said “none of the candidates met the requirements” to debut next season.

Also in Wednesday’s meeting, preceding the Ferrari team orders hearing in the rainy French capital, an unprecedented 20-race calendar for 2011 was ratified.

There are four back to back races, an inaugural Indian grand prix in October, and Brazil takes over as the venue of the season finale, with an unusually late November date.

The FIA also confirmed that, in addition to drivers needing super licenses, also requiring a F1 license in future will be team bosses, managers, technical directors and race engineers.

The move is a response to the 2009 crashgate scandal, when the FIA found its powers limited to sanction team chiefs Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds.

Another decision is that drivers will lose their F1 seats if they lose their road drivers license, and could be disciplined if “involved in a serious road traffic offence”.

This move is undoubtedly in reaction to Lewis Hamilton’s ‘hoon’ antics in Melbourne earlier this year.

Jacques Villeneuve and his spokeswoman have declined to confirm reports the 1997 world champion is bidding to return to F1 next year with his own team.

German reports said ‘Villeneuve Racing’, possibly involving Flavio Briatore, Pat Symonds and former Arrows and Super Aguri staff, is one of three remaining candidates to fill the final spot in the 2011 pitlane.

But French Canadian Villeneuve’s spokeswoman would only tell the French language Canoe publication that the 39-year-old is “focusing his efforts on a return to NASCAR while also working on a return to F1″.

And the French language source RDS said Villeneuve is not commenting on the Auto Motor und Sport report.

Meanwhile, the Canadian publication Rue Frontenac insists that crashgate conspirators Briatore and Symonds are not involved in the Villeneuve project.

Instead, the report said the winner of 11 grands prix is supported by the former GP2 team Durango for a potentially Italian-based F1 team.

Rue Frontenac, who said Villeneuve was not contactable on Thursday, also reported that he is set to return to NASCAR’s premier Sprint Cup series next weekend at Indianapolis.

Jacques Villeneuve is reportedly bidding to return to formula one next year with his own team.

Germany’s authoritative Auto Motor und Sport magazine said ‘Villeneuve Racing’ is one of the three candidates for the 13th and final place in pitlane.

The 1997 world champion and now 39-year-old French Canadian wanted to return to the cockpit this year with Stefan GP, but the Serbian outfit was not granted an entry.

The report said almost ten candidates originally made applications to race next year, but now there are only three in the running; with Villeneuve Racing and Cypher Group among them.

Auto Motor und Sport said the third name could be Spain’s Epsilon Euskadi or the former GP2 team Durango, after Nicolas Todt’s ART failed at the hurdle proving finance for the 2011 and 2012 seasons.

The magazine said Villeneuve Racing has cleared all the hurdles so far, including proving an existing infrastructure for a team based in England.

The report said it is rumoured that Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds may be involved, as might be a crew made up of former Arrows and Super Aguri staff.

The FIA’s decision about the 13th team is expected in late July.

Villeneuve last raced in F1 with BMW-Sauber in 2006, losing the seat to Robert Kubica mid-season.

Williams has emerged as a third possible recipient of Renault engines for the 2011 season.

After the French marque said it has the capacity to add more teams to its current F1 roster, it was rumoured that the hopeful newcomers ART could be eyeing Renault power.

Reports then emerged that the new Cosworth-powered Lotus team might be contemplating a change of engine supplier.

Now, Italy’s Autosprint reports that Williams – openly not entirely happy with its current Cosworth engines – is already in talks with Renault.

There may also be a link between the Williams/Renault talks, and rumours that Renault’s former long-time engineering director Pat Symonds could soon be a consultant to the design of Williams’ forthcoming FW33 car.

Renault currently supplies the team that bears its name, as well as the dominant Red Bull Racing, and Renault’s head of engine operations Remi Taffin said: “We still do not know how it will be in 2011.

“But we do know that we have the ability to assist more than two teams.”

(GMM)

Pat Symonds could soon be working with the famous British team Williams.

The authoritative Italian magazine Autosprint is linking Renault’s former long-time executive director of engineering with the Grove based team.

With his five-year crashgate ban reduced to three years in a recent deal with the FIA, 56-year-old Briton Symonds said recently that his company Neutrino Dynamics could be engaged immediately for F1 consultancy work.

Autosprint said Symonds could be a consultant for the design of Williams’ FW33 car for 2011.

Meanwhile, McLaren’s recently departed chief engineer Pat Fry is also being linked with other formula one teams.

He has just begun a compulsory six months of so-called ‘gardening leave’, but Finland’s Turun Sanomat is already linking him with possible moves to Red Bull, Mercedes, Toro Rosso or Force India.

(GMM)

In a sport and a paddock from which he is supposed to be banned, Flavio Briatore is making his presence solidly felt this weekend in Monaco.

With the crashgate scandal still fresh in the memories of F1 regulars, Briatore’s huge yacht Force Blue was spotted earlier this week in the Monte Carlo harbour.

The 60-year-old, implicated in the Singapore 2008 race-fixing scandal and banned for life by the FIA last year, then made his first personal appearance of the event by attending a party on Vijay Mallya’s nearby Indian Empress yacht on Thursday night.

With Jean Todt now in charge of the governing body in the wake of Max Mosley’s reign, a recent ban settlement means that Briatore and his crash conspirator Pat Symonds will be allowed to work in F1 again in 2013.

But the original World Motor Sport Council ban had ordered officials “not to permit Mr Briatore access to any areas” at FIA-sanctioned events.

On Friday in Monaco, Briatore lunched with Bernie Ecclestone, the Italian’s friend and business partner who has issued the ousted Renault boss a paddock pass as his personal guest.

Todt told the Associated Press that Briatore, wearing a blue t-shirt, is “free” to be inside the paddock because he does not have an “active role” with a team.

Meanwhile, spotted aboard his yacht ‘Iceman’ in the Monaco habour on Friday was the Citroen rally driver Kimi Raikkonen.

(GMM)

Apr.21 (GMM)  Flavio Briatore has revealed he has no intention of attempting to reconcile his broken relationship with former F1 colleague Max Mosley.

In his last year of FIA presidency in 2009, Mosley oversaw the imposition of ousted Renault team boss Briatore’s lifetime ban over the crashgate scandal.

But Mosley has since turned 70 and is now effectively retired, replaced by Jean Todt who has halted crashgate by agreeing to end Briatore’s ban in 2013.

Italian Briatore, now 60, also celebrated a birthday this month, and is currently at home with his model wife Elisabetta and their newly born son Falco.

But he told the Italian magazine Chi that he is not interested in making up with Mosley.

“He sent me a text message to congratulate us on the birth of Falco, but Mosley is part of my former life.  In my future there will be no place for him,” said Briatore.

“I’m happy for Jean (Todt),” the Italian added, “my friend of 20 years.  Thanks to him, the FIA can now quietly and serenely breathe new air.”

Briatore, who has always maintained his innocence despite conspirators Pat Symonds and Nelson Piquet admitting to plotting the deliberate crash of Singapore 2008, said he is not about to forgive the stain on his reputation.

“It was very bad for my story.  I suffered an injustice.  But the truth, the power of the truth, wins every time,” he insisted.

Despite the FIA agreeing to end its push to have a lifetime ban re-imposed, Flavio Briatore insists he is not guilty of race-fixing.

F1’s governing body on Monday announced that, after talks with the sacked Renault boss as well as ‘crashgate’ co-conspirator Pat Symonds, a settlement has been reached to end the scandal.

The FIA said the duo “expressed their regrets and presented their apologies”, in return for all legal action being dropped and the bans being effective only until 2013.

But Briatore, who turned 60 on Monday, later clarified that his regret and apology was not an admission of “personal guilt”.

The Italian’s statement, issued by his lawyers, also insisted that the settlement was not a recognition that the FIA’s verdict about Nelson Piquet Jr’s deliberate Singapore crash being true was “well-founded”.

“No further comment will be made by Flavio Briatore, who wishes to put behind him this matter and focus on his plans for the future,” added the statement.
GMM