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BMW have announced that Robert Kubica will be given a KERS-fitted car on Friday when he takes part in free practice for the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai circuit. The Polish driver has been forced to run a non-KERS car so far this season because the added weight negates the advantage from the added boost in horsepower. However, BMW have been working hard at shedding some pounds from the F1.09 and the team will evaluate its effectiveness on Friday. Continue Reading

Bridgestone, Formula One’s sole tyre supplier, has today confirmed how they will differentiate between the two compounds of rubber used at each grand prix this year. In previous seasons when the cars ran on grooved tyres, a white stripe was painted inside one of the indentations to mark the softer of the two. However, with the sport returning to slick tyres for 2009, the groove has disappeared and an alternative solution had to be found. Bridgestone have opted to use a stripe on the sidewall of the tyre. Unfortunately, it’s green. Continue Reading

Ever since Nelson Piquet Jr. scored a morale-boosting second place in the German Grand Prix, Renault have been taking a slightly different look at the way they use their tyres during a typical race weekend. What prompted Renault to investigate the four boots on their R28 was Piquet’s sudden increase in pace that immediately followed a period behind the safety car. And now team mate Fernando Alonso wants the team to conduct a proper test to hopefully establish some more accurate findings. Continue Reading

Or at least, how their car handles the tyres. McLaren appear to be not doing very well in the tyre and wheel department at the moment. In fact, the last couple of seasons have seen quite a few retirements from the Woking-based squad due to tyre-related issues, and while they can’t all be put down the design of the car, one cannot help but wonder if the MP4-22 and MP4-23 isn’t so kind to its boots at its rivals are. Continue Reading

The last time slick tyres were raced in Formula One was that infamous European Grand Prix in 1997. It will be remembered more for incident involving Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve than anything else, but the race is etched in my mind as the day smooth rubber left the sport. The reason for the change came down to the FIA wanting to reduce the cornering speed of the cars, and at the time they chose the tyre route. Since then though, the FIA have worked closely with the Technical Working Group to come up with better ways of controlling the ever-escalating speeds, centering their efforts on the aerodynamics more and more. Continue Reading

As the second day of testing got underway in Spain today, Renault and Honda joined in with Ferrari in trying out some interesting new aero parts on their cars. Ferrari yesterday showed off their new nose to the public for the first time, and today Nelson Piquet Jr rolled out of his Renault garage with a Red Bull style fin on the engine cover. Honda got in on the act as well with the re-testing of their Dumbo ears, last seen at a test session in 2007. In fact, it was Rubens Barrichello who went fastest today, driving the updated RA108 and setting a lap time 0.8s quicker than Giancarlo Fisichella in the Force India. Continue Reading

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa set the pace today at the first inter-season test session at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya. With slick tyres bolted onto his car, the Brazilian driver managed to set a time 2.7s faster than second-placed Alex Wurz, also on slick tyres. The running of different boots is to enable Bridgestone to gain some insight into how the tyres behave, the smooth rubber potentially making making a comeback to Formula One next year. Only nine drivers took part today, but more are expected to be on track tomorrow and Wednesday. McLaren fielded Pedro De La Rosa, who also tore around Montmelo on slicks, but could only manage the third fastest lap of the day. Continue Reading

With slicks hopefully making a comeback next year, Formula One’s sole tyre supplier Bridgestone have been trying to alleviate fears that the loss of tyre-warmers next season may affect the pace of the cars when commencing their warm-up lap. The issues surrounding the differential in speed between a warm slick and a cold slick came about after the teams conducted some preliminary tests at Jerez last year. David Coulthard voiced concern at the time, and the laptimes set between hot and cold tyres varied by as much as several seconds. Continue Reading

Formula One teams will once again test slick tyres on their cars in April, a repeat of the tests carried out by all teams in December to allow Bridgestone to assess them on a modern F1 machine. Slicks haven’t been used in the sport since 1998 when the FIA decided to make the cars run on grooved tyres in a bid to reduce cornering speeds. Since then however, aerodynamic limitations have been imposed which in theory should do this and the result being a possible return to smooth rubber. Continue Reading

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