Pirelli would have preferred to test with a 2011-specification car this year, Paul Hembery has admitted.
After writing off the 2009 Toyota as too outdated, F1′s tyre supplier struggled to find a solution with the teams as it pushed for a newer car for private tyre testing.

Ultimately, Pirelli acquired a 2010 Renault.

“We would have liked to have had a 2011 car,” Pirelli motor sport director Hembery told Auto Motor und Sport. “So we are one step away from being happy.”

He said it is no mistake that the chosen 2010 car is a Renault, not a title-winning Red Bull.

“We wanted a midfield car — there probably would have been too many complaints about the world championship-winning one.

“Also, the costs played a role,” added Hembery.

Missing now is a driver for Pirelli’s R30 Renault.

“There are a lot of names on the list,” revealed Hembery. “Even some that you wouldn’t have thought of.

“Ideally we want someone with experience from the 2011 season — so that reduces the number of candidates a bit.”

Pirelli will use the former Renault team’s 2010 car for private track testing this year, the sport’s official tyre supplier announced on Wednesday.
Until now, the Italian marque has tested with Toyota’s 2009 car, the TF109, which was deemed now too outdated to use for the next generation of Pirelli tyre.

“The Toyota is no longer able to generate the same sort of forces that we need to simulate in order to meet the current requirements of formula one,” said motor sport director Paul Hembery.

Another reason is that the Toyota’s fuel tank was not big enough to simulate a race-load of fuel, for the current regulations that came into force in 2010.

Pirelli said the Renault R30, originally raced by Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov, will be run in plain black carbon, driven by a test driver whose identity will be revealed “later this month”.

The car will be adapted to simulate this year’s regulations, and run by Pirelli’s own technicians, “with no team member connected to a current formula one team” in order to “ensure complete impartiality”.

Pirelli said it will test four or five times this year, beginning in May, with an observer from each F1 team invited to attend.

 A date has been set for Kimi Raikkonen’s early start to his 2012 testing programme.
The rest of this year’s field will have to wait until official group testing kicks off at Jerez in early February.

But 2007 world champion Raikkonen, who is returning to F1 after a two-year stint in world rallying, revealed just before Christmas that February is a “long wait” for his first lap in a single seater since 2009.

“I should be able to jump into a two year old F1 car in January,” he said.

The Finn was referring to a testing rules loophole that allows some running in older machines with non-competitive tyres.

Now called Lotus, the Enstone based team confirmed this week that Raikkonen, 32, will test its 2010 Renault R30 car at Spain’s permanent Valencia circuit.

The two-day test, at the wheel of the car that in 2010 was painted yellow and raced by Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov, will begin on Monday 23 January.

Robert Kubica is travelling to Korea this week in podium-winning form.

At the weekend, between the Japanese and Korean grands prix, the Pole and rally enthusiast took part in the Rallye d’Antibes in the South of France.

The rally, with Kubica at the wheel of a Clio S1600, is part of the FIA European Rally Championship.

According to French language sources including Belgian television RTBF, the 25-year-old finished the rally in third place overall.  Auto Hebdo described it as “an excellent performance”.

F1 Renault driver Kubica reportedly finished ahead of many faster S2000 cars, topped the times in three separate stages, and won the A6 class outright.

A month ago in Italy, he took his first class victory in the Rally d’Alipi Orientali.

But at Suzuka just over a week ago, Kubica retired his F1 car from second place behind winner Sebastian Vettel when his R30 shed a rear wheel.

He was, however, buoyed by his pace in Japan.

“I didn’t expect to be as quick as we were,” he admitted.

Vitaly Petrov’s hopes of retaining his Renault race seat beyond 2010 got a boost at Suzuka.

Just as Kimi Raikkonen pulled out of the running for the rookie’s drive, it emerged that another Russian sponsor has joined the team.

Recently, the logos of Vyborg Shipyard – reportedly with Petrov’s father sitting on the board – were added to the livery of the R30.

And now in Japan, Renault has announced another deal for the rest of the season with Flagman, a Russian vodka brand.

Flagman said Petrov “presents a unique opportunity to enhance the brand within its domestic market”.

Commented team owner Gerard Lopez: “We have worked hard this year to develop new relationships in Russia, and we are pleased to see this effort bearing fruit.”

Kimi Raikkonen is the famous name now linked with Renault for 2011, but Vitaly Petrov is still valued by the team, owner Gerard Lopez insists.

The 2007 world champion’s possible interest in driving alongside Robert Kubica has stirred the news headlines, but Lopez is still hopeful the Russian rookie Petrov is a winning formula from a business point of view.

“We have to push our team to succeed because we use the platform to do business,” he is quoted by sportbusiness.com.

“People like to do business with winning teams, so it goes hand in hand. It’s even more important now to build the team, to use that platform for the business side of it,” added Lopez.

Petrov has already attracted the Russian carmaker Lada to the livery of the R30, and on Tuesday it emerged that another Russian sponsor has joined the team.

But Vyborg Shipyard JSC, based in Petrov’s home town, has only signed up for the five remaining races of 2010 — beyond that, the Russian star’s future is clouded.

If Raikkonen really is an option for Renault in 2011, Petrov’s departure or otherwise will likely be a commercial consideration, Lopez admits.

“And he’s a good driver,” he insisted.

“On top of all that, he is a driver that has 250 million Russian-speaking people that are convinced in him, so we’d be stupid not to assume that there is a business behind that,” added Lopez.

Vitaly Petrov’s future with the Renault team “is in his hands”, according to team boss Eric Boullier.

The comments, made during a team podcast, indicate that recent reports linking Kimi Raikkonen and Adrian Sutil to the 2011 race seat alongside Robert Kubica were not wide of the mark.

Russian rookie Petrov brought substantial funding to the team in the wake of the Genii Capital takeover and the lost ‘crash-gate’ sponsors, but he has also performed solidly.

But as Renault eyes a return to championship contention, Boullier admitted he must find the best possible occupant for the second car.

“His future is in his hands,” he is quoted as saying on Wednesday.

“He did some very amazing jobs sometimes (but) he clearly is lacking some consistency to get the points he deserves. We definitely need to have both cars scoring points, so that’s obviously creating some rumours surrounding his race seat,” added Boullier.

Boullier also confirmed reports that Renault’s own version of the F-duct will debut at a forthcoming race.

There have been suggestions the R30 could be fitted with the downforce-stalling innovation as soon as the Germany-Hungary double header, but Boullier said the F-duct’s introduction is “depending on the production”.

“Maybe we will get it before (Hungary) but very likely right after,” he said.

Another grand prix will pass this weekend without Renault having an F-duct on its 2010 car.
It was rumoured two weeks ago that the Enstone based team was on the verge of debuting the downforce-stalling concept, and team boss Eric Boullier confirmed it will appear “very soon”.

Renault fell behind with the F-duct – pioneered by McLaren and now also run by Ferrari, Sauber, Red Bull, Williams, Force India and Mercedes – when it initially decided earlier this year that it would not waste resources on the innovation.

France’s Auto Hebdo reveals that the R30s are not fitted with F-ducts in the Silverstone garages.

Boullier confirmed the news, adding that the concept is still being worked on and should make its debut appearance “very soon”.

Little more than half a second separated runners for five different teams as Friday’s practice running concluded at Valencia.

The only car inside the top six without a so-called ‘blown rear diffuser’ was Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren, as Fernando Alonso led the pace with the heavily revised Ferrari.

Close behind were the Red Bulls, followed by Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, while the Renault of Robert Kubica was sixth quickest featuring an impressive emulation of the Red Bull-style rear exhaust layout.

“I can’t talk in high enough terms about it,” BBC pit reporter Ted Kravitz said on Friday, adding that the R30′s solution “is wonderful”.

After Red Bull earlier looked set to walk the 2010 title, before McLaren looked to have taken the upper hand more recently, victory in Valencia could be hotly contested.

“The cars are merging together, we’re not seeing one or two teams moving into the distance.  It’s very exciting,” said British commentator Martin Brundle.

(GMM)

After the not very successful weekend in Canada is at Renault in reparations from Valencia. Then do it in Montreal, failed to make ground on Mercedes, but considers the silver arrows were not even going, it will run better in Spain. The R30 has been upgraded to catch up in the Spanish port city with new parts. Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov, who won there in GP2 already are confident at least for the weekend.

Kubica looks at the layout of lines similar to Montreal. “The biggest difference between the two circuits makes the asphalt. In Montreal, the new pavement proved to be extremely slippery. In this regard, should the tar in Valencia offer a higher level and play for us in the cards – even if the playing field equal for all” believes the poles, the speculation with a higher grip levels: “It is also in Spain, at a road course, we count on Friday again with low grip, in the course of the weekend but should be always better – especially in the framework more racing series at the Start walking with their tire wear should also create a firmer track. ”
Both Kubica and Petrov swarm in contrast to their colleagues about Valencia. “I was not only because of my GP2 victory of good memories of Valencia. I know the track inside out in terms of braking points, racing line, which curbs you can run over any problems and how the tires will behave in the race. Of course, that is in a Formula 1 all represent something different. But my starting point will be better than in Canada, “says the young Russian.

His Polish team-mate, it looks like this: “I know that many drivers assess this differently, but for me, I can say I like the track. The mixture of street circuit and a modern Grand Prix circuit makes the thing from my point of view so interesting. The basic layout reminiscent of the many rather slow corners at the Grand Prix of Canada. As in Montreal, it is in Valencia in the first place on a high braking stability and traction for accelerating out – and this should be our Renault R30. ”
Aerodynamics important than in Canada

However in Valencia, aerodynamics more into play, so Kubica: “We will go with a higher degree of aerodynamic downforce at the start than in Canada, yet comes to the aerodynamic efficiency is very important: As many as four times per round, we penetrate into very high speed ranges before. ” Petrov for the beloved Valencia comes after the disappointment of Canada just right. The Russian said, however, that he has learned from the weekend in his teaching overseas.
“First of all, I am of course aware that I have undermined during the race bug”, there are self-critical and Petrov said: “At the start I have made too much risk when I saw the grass beside the track in line with my incorporated. They paid off Unfortunately not, instead I was given a drive-through penalty. However, it was important to finish the race and collect more information – especially about the handling of the tires in different conditions. This experience I will help in the future, in certain situations better . respond ”

The focus at Renault but at the moment the duel with Mercedes. The French want to finish the season fail before the silver arrows. 29 points separate the two teams currently work from each other. For Kubica, the distance “to the stables, which are currently at the top is not so huge. But we must still make up a lot of ground. And so we will only succeed if we continue to work full steam ahead and improve ourselves constantly.”

The Pole is certainly top-motivated: “If it goes for me, after we beat everybody, not just Mercedes.” The new parts on the R30 will bring about change. “I wonder how much the car improved and if I need to adjust my driving style,” said Petrov, who also assesses other strong teams, “In Montréal Force India was very fast. We must see that we can beat them . In addition, enjoys the duel with Mercedes currently the highest priority for our team. “

The competition between the development departments of the Grand Prix teams will be played with the same intensity as the position of duels on the track. Indeed, the pressure to succeed, under the working Formula 1 specialists in recent years grown more and more: Who wants to stay competitive and at the top, must evolve continuously. The cars are compared to the season opener in Bahrain has become consistently faster by about one second.

“The racing teams have realized that the incessant development is during the season just as important as the conceptual design of the next car,” said James Allison, Technical Director at Renault. “Today we hold for our R30 to each Grand Prix, a new package ready parts, whose size is roughly equivalent to those improvements we have introduced in the past, every third or fourth race.”
“We are there but no exception. Every team that wants to stay at the top, must rise to this challenge. This means for our colleagues in the workshops that they have to work so hard, and at such a high time pressure than ever before . The new front wing, which will celebrate its debut in Valencia, provides an ideal example of this: He is already the eighth variant, which comes this year for use – in the ninth race of the season! ”

But where does this escalation? A major factor provided by the new technical regulations, which came at the beginning of last year in force, so is still relatively young, always – and therefore much room for improvement, provides the enabling virtually every week important development steps. This applies in particular to the aerodynamics. Furthermore: Since modifications of the engine are not allowed to search for possibilities for improvement focused almost exclusively on the chassis of the cars.
“As further develop all vehicles on the grid with incredibly high speed, always, we need to bring any improvement found immediately able to use in order to remain competitive,” says Allison. “Previously, we have combined the optimization of a package, which is then flowed into a stage of evolution of the car. This we can not allow today. Each Grand Prix that you wait means lost performance.”

“The heavy workload meets each individual,” said Allison. “The workshop is constantly under the high pressure, constantly develop and produce new parts and need. We are therefore constantly faced with the difficult task of finding a healthy balance between major stages of development and reasonable workload.”

It seems almost an irony of fate that this once again increased rates of development associated with the prohibition of testing during the season goes. But while earlier, thousands of miles on the Grand Prix circuit in Barcelona have been scrubbed to run the team today in the central simulation computer at full speed to check for new parts and votes for their usefulness.
“Thanks to this advanced tools we can use the advantage that we bring some modifications on the track, set with an accuracy that is different from the real output by less than 0.5 percent,” said Allison. “For mechanical parts, we rely on computer simulations, whose results are then verified on test stands. With special durability testing arrangements, we can expose those individual components of loads and forces that occur in the context of a Grand Prix.”

Besides the incessant improvement of the current Grand Prix racer to run the latest from the beginning of summer and work on for next year seater. “We stand every time a difficult compromise on how much we already want to invest in the future without losing its competitiveness in the current season,” says Allison.

Robert Kubica and Montreal – that’s a Hochschaubahn: 2007 pilot of the accident, the then BMW Sauber F1 Team at the hairpin difficult, but escaped miraculously with minor injuries. A year later he led a complete surprise double victory of his team ahead of Nick Heidfeld – it was the only win for the Bavarians in the premier class. Last year there was no race in Montreal – Kubica this year but returns to the Ile de Notre Dame. “The Grand Prix of Canada is something like my destiny race,” says the poles ‘Auto Bild motorsport’.

And so he feels: This year a sensation in the air – “with little luck.” Because: “The course our car will be. It’s fast on the straights and is as wonderfully out of slow corners. It is these properties are required in Montreal.” The strength in tight corners is based on the small wheel base of the Renault R30 – no current Formula 1 racing car can compete in this discipline with Kubica’s car. It showed the team had in Monaco, where the 25-year-old is the sharpest of the superior competitor Red Bull pilot was.

And although the Renault engine has a power deficit, Kubica and Vitaly Petrov scores are in the top speed is always at the front – reason is the low air resistance of the R30. Moreover, the French have for the Grand Prix of Canada, a secret weapon in the quiver: the first time is given to an in-house interpretation of the F-shaft system, which turned out on the long straights of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as a great advantage. Now the only question is whether the system works right away, or if you have it like Red Bull in Turkey to expand after the first test.

That will leave Robert Kubica after just one season, the team Renault is unlikely. After Felipe Massa contract extension with Ferrari in Maranello in 2012 the door is closed. Even if the pole for 2011 is not linked to Renault, there are few other enticing options. This Renault boss Eric Boullier had managed to retain its number-one pilots in 2011 and to his team. The Luxembourg wants to build the Renault racing team to head the Polish pilots around.

(MotorSportsTotal)

(GMM)  According to the Italian sports daily Tuttosport, there is substance to the rumours linking Robert Kubica with Ferrari.

The Turin-published newspaper believes Renault’s Polish driver has signed some sort of document with the Maranello based team.

The report said the “option” on the 25-year-old’s services for 2011 must be taken up by Ferrari by July 15 of this year — between the British and German grands prix.

Kubica told reporters in Barcelona that he is concerned that Renault’s closest rivals could catch up or pull away this weekend.

He admitted he was hoping to see “a bigger upgrade” for the R30 in Spain.

“Most of the teams are normally targeting a big upgrade for Barcelona and I hope just they don’t bring three, four (tenths), half a second, to here.

“If they do we might be a bit more in trouble but we’ll see,” added Kubica.

May 4 (GMM)  Barcelona could be a turning point in Renault’s 2010 season.

Despite the tumult of the crashgate scandal and the pre-season period, the Enstone based team – and particularly Robert Kubica – has had a surprisingly strong start, trailing Mercedes by just 14 points after four races.

But some teams – notably Mercedes – will use vastly upgraded cars at the Circuit de Catalunya this weekend.

Pole Kubica admits Spain could be a “big test for us” because the R30 will not be fundamentally different to the car raced in China two weeks ago.

“We are not planning to bring any huge updates, but we will keep gradually improving the car, just like we did during the first four races,” he said.

“We have to wait and see how we compare with the others; maybe the order of the teams will be quite different compared to the start of the year,” added Kubica.

Moreover, the last winter test at Barcelona was not a good one for the yellow and red car, and chief engineer Alan Permane admits that Mercedes might make a step away from Renault this weekend.

“Mercedes may move away from us a little bit but we’ve got a new front wing and some other new aerodynamic parts that should help us make another step forward,” he said.

“It’s not the biggest update we’ve had this year, but it continues our approach of adding new parts at each race,” added Permane.

Force India’s Adrian Sutil on Tuesday told spox.com that Renault “are within striking distance”.

But the German is not expecting the pecking-order to change radically in Spain, despite some reports predicting a huge step forward for Mercedes.

“If that happened, then I would cease to understand a few things about formula one,” said Sutil.

Apr.30 (GMM)  Drivers’ and constructors’ championship leaders McLaren are also winning the race as F1′s most reliable team.

The British outfit, whose Jenson Button leads the drivers’ table by 10 points over Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, completed every single lap with both MP4-25 cars at the initial Bahrain, Australian, Malaysian and Chinese grands prix.

In second place, a 100 per cent record for Ferrari was tarnished only by Fernando Alonso’s engine failure in the closing stages in Malaysia.

Red Bull is third with a 92.4 per cent finishing record in 2010, despite the RB6 appearing to have suffered from several reliability glitches so far.

In fact, Sebastian Vettel’s wheel nut problem in Melbourne was the team’s only DNF, while teammate Mark Webber has completed all four races within the top 9.

Similarly, only one Mercedes car – Michael Schumacher’s in China – has failed to reach the chequered flag, but the German team is fourth in the list with a 89.2 per cent record due the stoppage occurring early in the race.

Williams’ single DNF culminates in a 86 per cent reliability record because Nico Hulkenberg was taken out on the first lap in Australia.

Renault is sixth of the ten teams with 75.1 per cent, for while Robert Kubica has finished every race with the R30, rookie Vitaly Petrov’s first race finish was in China.

In Bahrain the Russian damaged the suspension by hitting a kerb too hard, in Melbourne he spun into the gravel, and in Malaysia he had to stop with a gearbox problem.

Impressively, the new team Lotus also has a 75 per cent finishing record, even though Jarno Trulli was not actually a classified finisher at Sepang because he was ten laps behind.

And in Melbourne, the Italian’s T127 was not even on the grid due to a pre-race hydraulics problem.

Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari has finished all the races, but teammate Sebastien Buemi was taken out on the first lap in both Australia and China — first by Kamui Kobayashi and then Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Force India is now increasingly mentioned as a serious F1 competitor, but its reliability record so far in 2010 is just 65.9 per cent.

Liuzzi crashed in China and had a throttle problem in Malaysia, while Adrian Sutil had a Ferrari engine problem in Melbourne.

HRT’s F1 career started badly with only one car crossing the line in the opening two races.

But the Dallara-built cars of Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok both finished in Malaysia and China, giving the Spanish team a 65.2pc finishing record.

Virgin and Sauber are at the bottom of the pile, with Virgin achieving a mere 33.8pc reliability record with only Lucas di Grassi able to cross the line in Malaysia by aggressively saving fuel.

Sauber is last, with only Pedro de la Rosa recording a race finish in Melbourne for a reliability record of just 25.5 per cent.

“We’ve suffered too many reliability issues on both the chassis side and with our engines,” team founder Peter Sauber said on Thursday.

“That’s very unusual — we’ve always been one of the best teams in this respect over the years.

“We’ve closely analysed all the chassis-related problems and already put measures into effect.  Our engine partner Ferrari is doing the same,” he added.