You’re entering your third year as a race driver with the team this season, what are your objectives?
First of all, the goal is for the team to progress as a whole and take a step forward from 2007. Because we’ve worked together for a while now, we all know each other better so we need to take that and use it to our advantage. From a Championship perspective, to move up in the overall Constructors’ standings is one of our main priorities.
You’ve covered considerable mileage in the FW30 over winter testing. What improvements have been made over the FW29?
The aero department has done a really fantastic job with the FW30. That’s not to disregard everyone else within the team that has been working hard on it, but the aero on the car is a real step forward.
We also already have a lot of developments which are scheduled for deployment over the year. People think that we can’t be as good as the manufacturer teams, but that’s not the case and we can compete with them.
With the team seemingly making progress year on year, is there a possibility you’ll be fighting for a Championship in the next two to three years?
It’s difficult to answer that categorically, but we’re definitely on the right track. The team has recruited some strong people over the past few years to consolidate the existing structure and that has helped us to make some good progress. The new rules which will come in next year will also wipe the slate clean which should give us a big chance to enter that realm.
You have a new team mate in Kazuki Nakajima this year, how are you two getting on?
I get on really well with him. He’s a really nice guy, and he’s also quick which is good for the team.
2008 is an important year for Williams as it celebrates 500 GPs, 30 years and 50,000 raced laps. Is being part of a team with such a strong heritage important to you?
It’s amazing for the team to be celebrating all these milestones in one year! The team has moved on so much over the years though so I don’t really think about it too much, but it’s still cool to be a part of it.
Aside from testing, what preparations have you made over the winter to prepare yourself for the season ahead?
I’ve been training really hard, perhaps several hours a day. I think people underestimate how much work you have to do to prepare for a season. Alongside my training regime, I’ve also spent lots of time with family and friends over the winter which is important.
There are two new races on the calendar this season in Valencia and Singapore. How do you prepare for new tracks and, in particular, for a night race?
It’s always hard, and particularly with these two because they’re street tracks as well, but we’ll be doing a lot of preparation work on the simulator in the next few months. It probably takes only twenty laps to get into a new track and then it’s all about learning where you can make up more time.
Finally, your predictions for the year ahead in terms of the rest of the field?
It’ll be Ferrari and McLaren at the front again, then probably BMW behind them. We should be closer to the BMWs this year, but it will be really close with us and the rest of the midfielders.
Australian Grand Prix - Preview
Panasonic Toyota Racing heads to the opening round of the 2008 FIA Formula 1 World Championship in optimistic mood and with a new driver line-up eager to get the racing season underway. GP2 champion Timo Glock has joined Jarno Trulli behind the wheel weiter >>
Australian Grand Prix 14 - 16 March 2008
The opening race of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship season will be a landmark in the history of Indian sports: the debut of India's first-ever Formula One team. When the Force India Formula One Team's distinctive red, white an weiter >>
The Australian Grand Prix is not only the start of a new Formula 1 season; for Panasonic Toyota Racing it is the start of a new era, with an exciting new driver line-up of Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock bringing fresh optimism to the team.
For its seventh season at the pinnacle of motorsp weiter >>
Australian GP: Honda preview
Round one of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship takes the Honda Racing F1 Team to Melbourne, south east Australia. The 58-lap race is held on the Albert Park street circuit, situated just two kilometres south of Melbourne's Central Business District.
Albert Park has hosted the Australian Grand Prix every year since 199 weiter >>
Things are hotting up. This weekend sees man and machinery embarking on the long trip to Australia. Everyone is on tenterhooks in anticipation of the first trial of strength in 2008 between the Formula One teams due to take place the following weekend, 14th - 16th Marc weiter >>
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes new driver line-up for the 2008 season, Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen, will make their race debut as teammates in Australia next weekend.
The Australian Grand Prix will take place in Melbourne f weiter >>
NICO ROSBERG P12 2 (27, 41) 1.26.721 (5th, lap 40) P7
ALEX WURZ P15 1 (32) 1.28.303 (16th, lap 24) DNF
SYNOPSIS
AT&T Williams ran through Friday and Saturday morning’s practice sessions at a respectable pace, but experiencing poor grip levels when trying to extract the weiter >>
Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) won the ING Australian Grand Prix, the first race of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship. Raikkonen led the race for 52 of the 58 lap race which was run under blue skies at Albert Park.
Second placed Fernando Alonso and third placed Lewis Hamilton weiter >>
Rd.1 – Australian Grand Prix
At the Australian Grand Prix, the soft compound Bridgestone Potenza tyre was marked with a solid white spot.
Team Race Driver Tyre Choice by Stint: Medium or Soft Compound
ING Renault F1 Team Giancarlo Fisichella Medium – Medium – Soft Heikki Kovalainen Medium – Medium – So weiter >>
Panasonic Toyota Racing will leave Melbourne with a solitary point courtesy of Ralf Schumacher's eighth place at today's Australian Grand Prix. Jarno Trulli was next home in 9th place, just outside the points on a sunny day at Albert Park when track temperatures topped 40 degrees Celsius. After yesterda weiter >>
The AT&T Williams team had a positive points start to their 2007 campaign, with Nico Rosberg making up five places on his grid position to finish the race in seventh place, placing the team fifth in the Constructor’s Championship after the first race.
Nico also posted the fifth fastest tim weiter >>
1 6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 58 1:25:28.770 1 10
2 1 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 58 +7.2 secs 2 8
3 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 58 +18.5 secs 4 6
4 9 Nick Heidfeld BMW 58 +38.7 secs 3 5
5 3 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 58 +66.4 secs 6 4
6 5 Felipe Massa Ferrari 58 +66.8 secs 22 3 weiter >>
The AT&T Williams team was disappointed not to participate in the final qualifying session at Albert Park today and the team will start 12th and 15th on tomorrow’s grid, but do expect to show a stronger relative race performance.
The team has worked hard to improve poor reliability during 2 weiter >>
Australian Grand Prix - Qualifying Round-Up
Panasonic Toyota Racing will line up with two cars in the top ten of the grid for tomorrow's Australian Grand Prix after a strong first qualifying session of 2007. Following yesterday's rain there were further showers on Saturday morning, affecting the third practice session.
Conditions improved and qualify weiter >>
Stewards decline to rule over 'customer car' allegations
The Spyker team say they plan to go to arbitration to determine the legality of the Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Super Aguri cars, following an approach to the Melbourne stewards to have the situation clarified.
Spyker team principal Colin Kolles claims that the Super Aguri SA07 is last year’s H weiter >>
When both Super Aguri’s made it through to the second phase of qualifying there were a few raised eyebrows in the Albert Park paddock. When one of them then progressed to the final shootout, surprise turned to amazement as Takuma Sato clinched tenth on the grid for the Japanese team.
And Sato’s pace in the new SA07 - launched just last Wednesday - was no fluke. Team mate weiter >>
Pos No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
1 6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:26.644 1:25.644 1:26.072
2 1 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 1:26.697 1:25.326 1:26.493
3 9 Nick Heidfeld BMW 1:26.895 1:25.358 1:26.556
4 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:26.674 1:25.577 1:26.755
5 10 Robert Kubica B weiter >>
Following the theme of our preview, this release is based on work produced by kids from Mark Webber's old school in Queanbeyan. The project produced collages, poems, scrapbooks, model cars, board games and generally showed a lot of imagination, including a set of funny captions, like this one...
"Mark had forgotten to tell his mum that practice finishes later this season weiter >>
Australian GP:
The first day of practice for the 2007 Formula One season began under changing weather conditions. After rain during the night and in the early morning the 5.3 kilometre long Albert Park track was wet.
For the first of the two 90 minute test sessions Nick Heidfeld shared duties with the team's test and reserve driver, Sebastian Vettel, for w weiter >>
Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton made their Grand Prix weekend debut as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes drivers earlier this morning at 10.05 during the first practice session for the 2007 Australian Grand Prix.
The weather kept changing throughout the first session with the track slowly drying allowing the drivers to do their last run with dry tyres. Fernando was fastest wi weiter >>
Comments from the Toro Rosso drivers after Friday practices for the Australian Grand Prix
Scott Speed:
Best lap: 1:30.383
Position: 19th
"As expected we are quite far behind at the moment as we learn about a lot of things that we should have done in testing. Lots of stuff on the car is brand new for today and so inevitably some of weiter >>
Up to 40 Shell specialists contribute to the Shell Formula One programme with Ferrari; based in Shell laboratories and facilities around the world, back at the Scuderia Ferrari factory in Maranello and travelling to the race tracks of the world. This is clearly much more than a sponsorship – it is a technical partnership.
Test after test, race after rac weiter >>
The 2007 Formula One season got underway today with the first practice sessions for the Australian GP. Kakuzi Nakajima ran with Alex Wurz in the morning session, with the young Japanese driver recording a highly creditable 6th fastest time on his debut. Nico and Alex had a productive second session as s weiter >>
DOWN UNDER STREET
The 2007 Formula One season began today for Panasonic Toyota Racing with a rain-affected day of practice for the Australian Grand Prix. This year Friday free practice has been extended to two 90-minute sessions so there was extra time for the drivers to get a feel for the TF107.
An early shower ensured a wet track for most of the morning weiter >>
Plenty of surprises on day one in Australia. Perhaps not the Ferrari one-two, but how about two Williams in the top eight, or Super Aguri out-pacing both Honda and Toyota? Let's speak the drivers…
Felipe Massa, Ferrari (1st, 1m 27.353s):
"It was a good day. We did a good job of comparing the two types of dry weather tyre and this morning we also g weiter >>
1 5 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:27.353
2 6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:27.750
3 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.829
4 3 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:27.941
5 9 Nick Heidfeld BMW 1:27.970
6 17 Alexander Wurz Williams-Toyota 1:27.981
7 1 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 1:28 weiter >>
1 1 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 1:29.214
2 5 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:30.707
3 35 Sebastian Vettel BMW 1:30.857
4 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:30.878
5 7 Jenson Button Honda 1:31.162
6 38 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:31.401
7 14 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renau weiter >>
The Honda Racing F1 Team arrived in Melbourne this week and one of the first stops was Albert Park Primary School, where the team's race drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello helped to update the school's lighting system with eco-f weiter >>
The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team is taking to the race track this weekend for the first time in its new era. Double World Champion Fernando Alonso and team-mate
Lewis Hamilton have completed their pre-season test programme with the MP4-22s covering more than 13,300km before arriving in Australia. Fernando and Lewis completed 10,200km, with Pedro totalling 3,100km. weiter >>
Der Leitende Chefingenieur des ING Renault F1 Teams blickt voraus auf den Saisonauftakt am kommenden Wochenende in Melbourne.
Pat, das ING Renault F1 Team hat in den vergangenen beiden Jahren in Melbourne gewonnen. Wie sehen Sie die Chancen für das bevorstehende Wochenende?
Pat Symonds Ich denke, wir müssen unsere derzeitige Leistungsfähig weiter >>
Panasonic Toyota Racing took to the skies to mark the start of the new Formula 1 season in acrobatic style in Melbourne this week.
Franck Montagny's high-flying antics capped a busy build up to the Australian Grand Prix for the team, which is preparing to start its sixth season in Formula 1 as Toyota celebrates 50 years in motorsport.
Daring third dr weiter >>
This season Bridgestone tyres feature on all cars lining up in the FIA Formula One World Championship. Bridgestone made its Formula One debut in Melbourne in 1997 so it's fitting that the eleventh consecutive season in the world's premier motorsport arena will be marked b weiter >>
The start of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship gets underway with the ING Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park on March 18th. Twenty-one weeks since the 2006 season finale in Brazil, the Australian GP takes place on the temporary street c weiter >>
The 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship opens this weekend as the team’s return to the grid for the first time since the Brazilian Grand Prix over four months ago.
Australia resumes its traditional slot on the calendar as the season opener with the picturesque Albert Park, situated i weiter >>
Bridgestone Motorsport confirms the tyre specifications for the first five Grands Prix of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship which gets underway with the ING Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park on March 18th.
These are drawn weiter >>
Finally the wait is over. After five months when testing provided the only action for Formula 1 fans, the 2007 season is ready to roll and Panasonic Toyota Racing heads to Albert Park in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix this weekend, the first of 17 races this year.
Toyota is celebrating weiter >>
Großer Preis von Australien. 16. - 18. März 2007 1. von 17 WM-Läufen
Nach intensiven Testfahrten auf den Rennstrecken Valencia, Barcelona, Jerez und Bahrain geht der BMW Sauber F1.07 ins erste Rennen. Das BMW Sauber F1 Team hatte in seiner Debütsaison 2006 als WM-Fünfter besser als erwa weiter >>
The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team is taking to the race track this weekend for the first time in its new ra. Double World Champion Fernando Alonso and team-mate Lewis Hamilton have completed their pre-season test programme with the MP4-22s covering more than 13,300km before arriving in Australia. Fernando and Lewis completed 10,200km, with Pedro totalling 3,100km. |
weiter >>
AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRlX Preview
When we invited you to the launch of our new car, the STR2, we hinted that getfing it ready was a bit of a last minute affair. Then, at the launch itself in Barcelona, we had just one car and only one driver. Next, we moved on to weiter >>
After a five-month break, the FIA Formula One World Championship swings back into action with the first race of the 2007 season, the Australian Grand Prix. The Spyker Formula One Team goes to the opening race in buoyant mood, after the new driver line-up, chassis and engine proved to be an effi weiter >>
Der Saisonauftakt steht unmittelbar bevor!
Auch wenn es im Frühjahr in Europa sehr kalt sein mag, die Renault F1 Mitarbeiter in Viry und Enstone sind in der heißen Vorbereitungs-Phase angelangt: In weniger als zwei Wochen startet die Formel 1 in die Saison 2007.
Dem neuen Renault R27 steht dabei keine geringere Aufgabe bevor, als den WM-Titel aus dem Vorj weiter >>
Yes, our Australian GP Preview headline rhymes, as do some of the poems and other items seen in this photo, all paying homage to our new driver Mark Webber.
Rather than write our own preview to the season-opener, we turned to Year 5 and 6 students at Mark's alma mater, Queanbeyan Public School. (It's cheap labour and they can spell better than us). The project was carried weiter >>
Location: Circuito Permanente de Jerez, SpainDrivers: Ralf Schumacher, Jarno TrulliTrack length: 4.428km
Panasonic Toyota Racing completed its penultimate day of testing before the start of the 2007 season at the Circuito Permanente de Jerez today.
Race drive weiter >>
It is not only McLaren, Ferrari, Renault and their rival F1 teams that are heading for the F1 World Championship in Melbourne. Seventeen F1 in Schools teams are also putting the finishing touches to their new race cars for the F1 in Schools Formula One Technology Challenge World Championship which is being held in Melbourne alongside the Formula 1 ING Australian Grand Prix this m weiter >>
Toyotas größte Herausforderung ist der erste Sieg
Die Königsklasse des Motorsports gibt am 18. März im australischen Melbourne wieder Gas: Die Formel 1-Weltmeisterschaft 2007 wird eröffnet. Insgesamt stehen 17 WM-Läufe im Kalender - am 22. Juli 2007 gastiert die Formel 1 auf de weiter >>
Kimi Raikkonen MP4-21 02
Juan Pablo Montoya MP4-21 03
T-car (Juan Pablo) MP4-21 01
Team McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen finished today's Australian Grand Prix in second weiter >>
(*Australian term meaning 'not very good'!)
After a good start by David, Jarno Trulli made contact with the Scot's car on the first lap of the race. 'Silly arse' said David, or at least, something to that effect…. On lap seven, Christian went off the track and into the wall, and beca weiter >>
Eine große Auswahl an Wetten rund um das Thema Motorsport und Formel 1 findet man auf dem Online Portal des Sportwetten Anbieters Interwetten.com
Falls Sie Fan des Motorsports sind, sollten Sie bei youwin.com wetten – der Wettanbieter mit den besten Quoten und Wettmärkten.
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