The new F1 season sees the introduction of a tyre identification rule and will allow spectators to tell the difference between tyre compounds. All the F1 teams will use both soft and hard Bridgestone compounds during each and every grand prix.
It is stated that spectators will see a visibly difference, although how they will be marked remains to be seen. "There will be a marking on one of the different specification of tyres," a Bridgestone spokeswoman told Autosport. The F1 teams had initially argued against introducing tyre markings for fear that it would give their rivals too much knowledge about their race strategies.
However, a recent meeting between the Formula One Commission and the FIA's World Motor Sport Council resulted in a slight alteration to the rules and more involvement for spectators attending the GP's. The revised regulation reads: "Each tyre supplier must undertake to provide no more than two specifications of dry-weather tyre at each event, each of which must be of one homogenous compound and visibly distinguishable from one another when a car is on the track."
Mike Gascoyne believes the new tyre-marking rule is a victory for F1 fans, whose viewing pleasure will be improved by knowing which compound the drivers are using. And although some teams were against the idea, Spyker's tech director Mike Gascoyne has come out in support of it. "I think it is tremendous," he told Autosport. "It was absolutely ridiculous for some teams to resist it." "You don't have a tyre war anymore, you have got two different specs of tyre which could provide some interest - and then some people wanted to hide what you were doing." "It is what they do in Champ Car and I think this new rule is absolutely right."
Ferrari shakedown
Ferrari completed final preparations for next week's season opening on Thursday.
At Fiorano, test driver Luca Badoer carried out a shakedown of the three F2007s chassis the team will take out to Melbourne. The Italian completed 20 laps in total in the three cars to end Ferrari's pre-season programme.
While the final group test of the year ended in Bahrain on 1st March, some teams have used this week to continue with the development programmes on their new cars.
Final pre-season testing for Spyker and Toyota. Spyker have toned down the colour scheme of its new car, after the original luminous orange look did not transfer well to television. The team's revised colours ran for the first time at its final test at Silverstone on Tuesday, following a month of running in the original launch livery.
The F8-VII now features more subdued, pearlescent orange and tungsten shades. "We trialled the very bright colour in the first three tests of the year," said team boss Colin Kolles. "Whilst the bright orange was a very distinctive colour when you saw it in front of you in the garage or on the track, the colour didn't transfer well when filmed. "It's important for the Spyker brand that the colour is uniformly represented by all media and we're confident this will be the case with the new colour scheme."
Test driver Markus Winkelhock gave the new-look car its track debut, with the run marking the German's first outing in Spyker's 2007 challenger. He completed 50 km in a shakedown of the third chassis, carrying out systems checks and practising pit stops as Spyker signed off its pre-season programme.
Meanwhile, Toyota kicked off their final pre-season test at Jerez on Wednesday with Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher completing a significant number of laps without any major problems. Early rain brought track temperatures down, but the track dried throughout the morning and by afternoon conditions had improved.
With the new Melbourne-specification aerodynamic updates for the first time on the TF107, the changing conditions allowed both drivers to work on wet and dry set-ups. Jarno was the quicker than Ralf, who spun twice-losing track time, by 0.679s.
"We did a lot of laps today, more than two race distances, so I am pleased with how things have gone. After our tests in Bahrain it is good to put some more miles on the car and try out a few set-up things," said Trulli afterwards. "We had some work to do after Bahrain and we have made a good start today. I am optimistic we will continue to make progress tomorrow on our final day."
Ralf added, "Today went quite well and we did a lot of useful work. The first race of the season is very close now so we tried a few different set-ups, which went well." "We are making progress and it was good to be able to do a lot of laps today without any problems with the car. We now have only one day of testing left before the season starts so we need to make the most of the opportunity and really push to be ready for Melbourne."
Ralf not speaking about his future Since Michael Schumacher's departing, the retirement rumours have now shifted to his brother Ralf. This year marks the end of Ralf's current contract with Toyota and while they have a two-year option on the German, talks have yet to begin to extend his stay. Ralf isn't too concerned just yet, saying his and the team's focus is on the first race of the season.
"It is too early to talk about the future now," Ralf told the official F1 website. "I don't think it's important to be talking about that at the moment." "I am still motivated. If I wasn't, I would retire." He added, "Racing has actually become more and more enjoyable because I am really happy working with the team." "I am enjoying my time at Toyota more than ever and the pure pleasure of being a Formula One driver keeps me motivated."
Another Briton to sign up to Formula One. Mike Conway, the reigning British F3 and Macau GP champion, has joined Jenson Button's Honda team with immediate effect and will drive the car in testing later this year. Mike, who's in the GP2 series this season for the Super Nova team, will enjoy a wide-ranging programme of technical assistance with Honda.
The 22-year-old will receive the same level of fitness and human performance coaching enjoyed by Jenson and Rubens. An elated Conway said, "This is a fantastic opportunity for me, and I would like to thank Honda for putting their faith in me." "I am really excited about becoming a part of the team and taking full advantage of the assistance Honda can give me with my racing career."
Gil de Ferran, Honda's sporting director, feels Mike deserves his chance after proving himself in recent years. "He has clearly demonstrated his potential and talent throughout his career in the various junior formulae with a great deal of success," said de Ferran. "Honda considers the development of emerging motorsport talent to be a key part of our strategy and we look forward to having Mike on board with us and assisting further with his development over the coming months."
Teena B © enterF1.co.uk
It is stated that spectators will see a visibly difference, although how they will be marked remains to be seen. "There will be a marking on one of the different specification of tyres," a Bridgestone spokeswoman told Autosport. The F1 teams had initially argued against introducing tyre markings for fear that it would give their rivals too much knowledge about their race strategies.
However, a recent meeting between the Formula One Commission and the FIA's World Motor Sport Council resulted in a slight alteration to the rules and more involvement for spectators attending the GP's. The revised regulation reads: "Each tyre supplier must undertake to provide no more than two specifications of dry-weather tyre at each event, each of which must be of one homogenous compound and visibly distinguishable from one another when a car is on the track."
Mike Gascoyne believes the new tyre-marking rule is a victory for F1 fans, whose viewing pleasure will be improved by knowing which compound the drivers are using. And although some teams were against the idea, Spyker's tech director Mike Gascoyne has come out in support of it. "I think it is tremendous," he told Autosport. "It was absolutely ridiculous for some teams to resist it." "You don't have a tyre war anymore, you have got two different specs of tyre which could provide some interest - and then some people wanted to hide what you were doing." "It is what they do in Champ Car and I think this new rule is absolutely right."
Ferrari shakedown
Ferrari completed final preparations for next week's season opening on Thursday.
At Fiorano, test driver Luca Badoer carried out a shakedown of the three F2007s chassis the team will take out to Melbourne. The Italian completed 20 laps in total in the three cars to end Ferrari's pre-season programme.
While the final group test of the year ended in Bahrain on 1st March, some teams have used this week to continue with the development programmes on their new cars.
Final pre-season testing for Spyker and Toyota. Spyker have toned down the colour scheme of its new car, after the original luminous orange look did not transfer well to television. The team's revised colours ran for the first time at its final test at Silverstone on Tuesday, following a month of running in the original launch livery.
The F8-VII now features more subdued, pearlescent orange and tungsten shades. "We trialled the very bright colour in the first three tests of the year," said team boss Colin Kolles. "Whilst the bright orange was a very distinctive colour when you saw it in front of you in the garage or on the track, the colour didn't transfer well when filmed. "It's important for the Spyker brand that the colour is uniformly represented by all media and we're confident this will be the case with the new colour scheme."
Test driver Markus Winkelhock gave the new-look car its track debut, with the run marking the German's first outing in Spyker's 2007 challenger. He completed 50 km in a shakedown of the third chassis, carrying out systems checks and practising pit stops as Spyker signed off its pre-season programme.
Meanwhile, Toyota kicked off their final pre-season test at Jerez on Wednesday with Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher completing a significant number of laps without any major problems. Early rain brought track temperatures down, but the track dried throughout the morning and by afternoon conditions had improved.
With the new Melbourne-specification aerodynamic updates for the first time on the TF107, the changing conditions allowed both drivers to work on wet and dry set-ups. Jarno was the quicker than Ralf, who spun twice-losing track time, by 0.679s.
"We did a lot of laps today, more than two race distances, so I am pleased with how things have gone. After our tests in Bahrain it is good to put some more miles on the car and try out a few set-up things," said Trulli afterwards. "We had some work to do after Bahrain and we have made a good start today. I am optimistic we will continue to make progress tomorrow on our final day."
Ralf added, "Today went quite well and we did a lot of useful work. The first race of the season is very close now so we tried a few different set-ups, which went well." "We are making progress and it was good to be able to do a lot of laps today without any problems with the car. We now have only one day of testing left before the season starts so we need to make the most of the opportunity and really push to be ready for Melbourne."
Ralf not speaking about his future Since Michael Schumacher's departing, the retirement rumours have now shifted to his brother Ralf. This year marks the end of Ralf's current contract with Toyota and while they have a two-year option on the German, talks have yet to begin to extend his stay. Ralf isn't too concerned just yet, saying his and the team's focus is on the first race of the season.
"It is too early to talk about the future now," Ralf told the official F1 website. "I don't think it's important to be talking about that at the moment." "I am still motivated. If I wasn't, I would retire." He added, "Racing has actually become more and more enjoyable because I am really happy working with the team." "I am enjoying my time at Toyota more than ever and the pure pleasure of being a Formula One driver keeps me motivated."
Another Briton to sign up to Formula One. Mike Conway, the reigning British F3 and Macau GP champion, has joined Jenson Button's Honda team with immediate effect and will drive the car in testing later this year. Mike, who's in the GP2 series this season for the Super Nova team, will enjoy a wide-ranging programme of technical assistance with Honda.
The 22-year-old will receive the same level of fitness and human performance coaching enjoyed by Jenson and Rubens. An elated Conway said, "This is a fantastic opportunity for me, and I would like to thank Honda for putting their faith in me." "I am really excited about becoming a part of the team and taking full advantage of the assistance Honda can give me with my racing career."
Gil de Ferran, Honda's sporting director, feels Mike deserves his chance after proving himself in recent years. "He has clearly demonstrated his potential and talent throughout his career in the various junior formulae with a great deal of success," said de Ferran. "Honda considers the development of emerging motorsport talent to be a key part of our strategy and we look forward to having Mike on board with us and assisting further with his development over the coming months."
Teena B © enterF1.co.uk