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Superman Alonso sets F1 Pace

Formula One champion Fernando Alonso showed he remains the man to beat after setting the fastest time in the first of three days of testing in Valencia.

Alonso, chasing a third straight title after his move to McLaren, was a second faster than Kimi Raikkonen, getting his first taste of Ferrari's new car.

Alonso completed 47 laps, the quickest in one minute 12.563 seconds, with Raikkonen on 1:13.529 in his 47 laps.

The Finn ended the session with smoke pluming from the back of his car.

Alonso's former team Renault posted the third fastest time through their test driver Nelson Piquet Jr.

The test was the first before the new season to include all the major teams, with BMW Sauber and Toyota also involved.

It started in wet conditions before teams were able to switch to dry tyres as the day progressed.

Kimi Needs a Tough Car

Ferrari will need to build Kimi Raikkonen a very tough, hard-wearing car in 2007 if it is to survive the treatment the Finn will give it on track, former Mercedes engine guru Mario Illien says.

"No driver works the car harder and nobody bangs it so hard lap after lap over the curbs," Illien told Bild. "Ferrari will have to build Raikkonen a car like a tank if they want him to win the title."

Raikkonen has twice been runner-up in the F1 championship and at McLaren had more than his fair share of car failures.

Are we talking bumper-cars now...?

F1 Fans

New Car Confidence at Renault

Heikki Kovalainen believes the Renault team can continue to compete at the top of Formula One despite world champion Fernando Alonso's departure to McLaren.

The team unveiled their 2007 car in Amsterdam on Wednesday and the Finn, who drove it last week, said his first impressions were encouraging.

"The car feels very good," he wrote in his column for the BBC Sport website.

"It's early days and we haven't seen what the others can do, but I have a feeling we have made a good car."

Kovalainen and veteran team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella both tested the new R27 car in Jerez in southern Spain last week.

Kovalainen, who is making his debut in F1 this season after two years as Renault's test driver, added: "My first impression was that it was better than last year's car.

"And looking at the lap times and consistency in the long runs its certainly a big improvement.

"That suggests the car is good. We obviously still need to learn more but the first impressions are good and that's the main thing."

Kovalainen said the lap times produced by the R27 on its debut were "very encouraging".

Timo impressed by new BMW

Following a two-year break, Timo Glock is back in the world of Formula One racing as the official test driver of the BMW Sauber F1 Team.

In his opinion, the team's starting drivers have a good chance this year of achieving podium positions with the new BMW Sauber F1.07.

Last week, the BMW Sauber F1 Team presented the F1.07 in Valencia, the car with which the team is aiming to continue the upward trend in its second year of existence. In his role as test driver, Timo wishes to contribute to the further development of the car and is looking forward to his new piece of equipment following its launch.

"My first impression was already pretty good. It looks fantastic," the German commented. "But it needs to be as fast on the track as it looks good next to it. That is obviously always a different story, but my first impression was rather good. I believe that the people at BMW know exactly what they have developed over the winter and that will definitely have a positive effect on the track."

Last year, Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica managed to achieve one podium finish each, in Hungary and in Monza. Timo believes the BMW Sauber F1 Team might even record a victory in the 2007 season, but hesitates to offer definite predictions. "If the BMW Sauber F1 Team continues the trend they began in 2006, the team might even be able to climb the middle of the podium by the end of the year, although that is always hard to predict," the 24-year-old says. "However, it will always be the goal to finish on the podium or at least as close as possible to it."

Raikkonen set for testing at Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen will make his Ferrari debut in testing at Italy's Vallelunga circuit near Rome on Tuesday.

Raikkonen has yet to do any laps for his new team since leaving McLaren at the end of last year to replace the retired Michael Schumacher.

He is expected to drive last year's F248 car in a three-day trial while Felipe Massa tests the new F2007.

Ferrari abandoned plans to test at Mugello, much closer to their Maranello factory, with bad weather forecast.

No drinking for the McLaren boys!

McLaren team boss Ron Dennis has banned his star driver line up of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton from drinking alcohol during the 2007 F1 season. The only alcohol they will be permitted will be any champagne they win by finishing on the podium.

"We don't see why drivers need to have even a single drink during the course of a season," Dennis told the Mirror newspaper.

Apparently it has nothing to do with former driver Kimi Raikkonen's reported drunken antics during the past year.

New-look McLaren impressive!

World champion Fernando Alonso says he his happy with his new McLaren after the first testing session in Valencia.

A minor oil leak failed to take the shine off what was the world champion's first serious drive in the new MP4-22 car since his move from Renault.

"We achieved our principal objectives with regard to how the car felt to drive. I felt comfortable," he said.

"We were working in a concentrated manner and attention was paid to every detail. Overall, it was really good."

Meanwhile, at Jerez, Alonso's former team Renault have continued putting their new R27 through its paces.

After Giancarlo Fisichella completed a full race distance on the first day, both Fisichella and team-mate Heikki Kovalainen drove the car in poor conditions.

"This is a brand new car, so to complete a full race distance on the first day, without any problems, is a very good achievement," said Fisichella.

"It means we are already in a strong position with reliability, although there is still a lot of work to do ahead of the first race. I have a nice feeling with the car, it has good potential."

Kovalainen was also impressed by his first taste of the new car.

"The characteristics are similar to the R26 but I can feel that we have improved in the areas we targeted during the winter," he said.

BMW Confident this Season

Valencia, 16th January 2007. There were smiling faces at the BMW Sauber F1 Team today. At 13:00 hrs the new BMW Sauber F1.07 left the garage for the very first time. It had its roll-out according to schedule at the Valencia circuit. Nick Heidfeld had the honour of completing the maiden laps under an overcast sky, but on a dry track. The F1.07 is the first ‘real’ BMW Sauber F1 Team car.

”Everything worked trouble free“, said Heidfeld. “The car felt good right from the beginning, but also unfamiliar. Of course you don’t go to the limit straight away with a brand new car. First you do systems’ checks, you monitor temperatures and such things. During the first three laps I was one second quicker each lap. This obviously shows I was still far away from the limit, but it is also nice. I couldn’t wait for this day. Within the last months in the factories in Hinwil and Munich everybody was working unbelievably hard. The team is full of ambition and motivation. We are facing an exciting season with quite a lot of unknown factors. During the three next days we will be doing serious testing with the F1.07.”

BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen commented: “The first day with the F1.07 went very well. It was a condensed presentation with a roll-out directly afterwards. The new car clocked up its first laps without any error. We are now armed for the first real test which will take place here in Valencia from Wednesday to Friday this week.”

Willy Rampf, the team’s Technical Director, added: “We are very happy the roll-out went without any technical problems. During the first outing we proved the systems are working. Now we have to do long-runs and see what data we collect when we monitor temperatures, pressures, etc. Tomorrow we will start with set-up work.“

New Renault

The car with which Renault will defend their Formula One titles had its first serious test on Tuesday at the Jerez circuit in southern Spain.

Giancarlo Fisichella, their lead driver following double champion Fernando Alonso's move to McLaren, did 33 laps before engine problems stopped the car.

The Italian said poor track conditions made evaluating the car difficult.

But he added that the car was "reacting as expected" and felt similar to the 2005 and '06 title-winning machines.

"That is a good sign at this stage," Fisichella said.

The R27 is running in an interim livery ahead of the team's official launch on 24 January.

Renault will continue work at Jerez on Wednesday, when Fisichella will be joined by his new team-mate and BBC Sport columnist Heikki Kovalainen in a second new car.

Technical director Bob Bell said: "We encountered the normal gremlins that you expect on any shakedown, but the initial signs and feedback from Giancarlo were positive."

BMW F1.07 Slim and Low

BMW Sauber has launched its 2007 challenger in Valencia early Tuesday morning. The launch is a landmark in the team's history as it is the first real BMW-Sauber.

The colors practically stay the same whereas some innovative aerodynamic features have been introduced.

The newly developed nose is substantially shorter than on the F1.06. The entry ducts for cooling air are larger and form part of the new cooling concept, which is supposed to integrate better into the overall concept of the car and provides increased air-flow. The rear of the F1.07 is slimmer and lower. Due to stricter crash impact regulations, the rear crash-element is much bigger. Because of the higher position of the car's nose, the wishbones run towards at a more significant angle than in the 2006 edition.

Having exceeded expectations by finishing fifth in the championship last year, BMW Mario Theissen believes the BMW Sauber F1.07 is a step closer to the top teams.

No Change for Kimi!

Kimi Raikkonen has ruled out altering his approach after his high-profile move to Ferrari from McLaren. Formula One insiders questioned the Finn's attitude after he failed to win a race for McLaren last season.

But Raikkonen said: "I'm not going to change my way, it works well enough. Even if I had changed my style it would not have changed the results.

"My training or private life wasn't the problem, it was to do with the car not being quick enough."

Raikkonen, who has nine Grand Prix victories, finished runner-up in the drivers championship in 2005 but could only finish fifth last year.

But he said he was finding life easier at Ferrari, who he finds more accommodating than McLaren or his previous team Sauber.

Raikkonen also shrugged off the suggestion that the pressure of following in Schumacher's footsteps could affect his performances at Ferrari.

"I don't feel pressure - I had a similar situation when I joined McLaren," he said.

Raikkonen's off-track lifestyle has been given plenty of coverage in the Finnish media and was alluded to by Ferrari team boss Jean Todt last month.

Hot New Ferrari!

Ferrari said they intended to win back the world title as they took a first step into the post-Michael Schumacher era by unveiling their new car.

"Last year we were competitive but not reliable enough," said team boss Jean Todt, "so we absolutely have to get back to the levels of 2000-2004."

"We are aware it will be a tough battle as we have strong, ambitious rivals."

Schumacher's replacement Kimi Raikkonen and his team-mate Felipe Massa both described the car as "beautiful".

The car, dubbed the F2007, was launched in low-key style on Sunday, with no official launch and the only photographs those supplied by the team.

Massa gave it its first test at the team's Fiorano track in foggy conditions on Monday. Raikkonen is not expected to have his first taste of a Ferrari F1 car until Sunday, and even that might be in last year's model.

The Finn said: "I can't wait for the new season to start.

"But I'm expecting it to be really tough, even though we will be among those in contention for the title."

Ferrari has pledged to allow the drivers equal treatment in their fight for superiority on the track, a shift away from their previous stance, when the now-retired Michael Schumacher was the focus of the team.

The biggest rule change for the 2007 season is the abolition of the tyre war, with Bridgestone now supplying all the teams.

This is expected to play into the hands of Ferrari, the only top team to use Bridgestones last year.

But Todt said he did not expect Ferrari to have an advantage because Bridgestone would supply an entirely new and slower tyre.

"There is a big difference concerning the tyres, which will be new and different for everyone," he said.

"We do not expect an advantage. We've already seen that there are around two to three seconds difference compared to 2006."

Unusually in a sport in which saving weight is something of a holy grail, the new car is 10kg heavier than last year's.

Ferrari explain this by the new need to incorporate mandatory new cockpit protection, although the car's increased length will also have raised its weight.

The aerodynamics have been "remodelled", according to chief designer Aldo Costa, and the lengthened wheelbase is part of a quest to maximise the downforce created.

Villeneuve at Le Mans?

Former Formula One world champion Jacques Villeneuve has been named in Peugeot's driver line-up for this year's Le Mans 24 Hours.

The Canadian, 35, will drive the new diesel car the French company hopes will end Audi's domination of the race.

A victory would make Villeneuve the first man to win the F1 title, the Indianapolis 500, Le Mans and the US-based Champ Car series.

Triple Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais has also been named.

Bourdais will complete an all-French line-up in one car with Stephane Sarrazin and Nicolas Minassian, with Villeneuve teaming up with his fellow ex-F1 drivers Pedro Lamy of Portugal and Spaniard Marc Gene in the other.

Peugeot last won the Le Mans endurance classic in 1993, when Frenchmen Eric Helary and Christophe Bouchut shared the victorious car with Australian Geoff Brabham.

Villeneuve's F1 career ended when he was dropped by the BMW Sauber team after last year's German Grand Prix.

He won the Champ Car title and Indy 500 in 1995, when the championship was still called the IndyCar World Series, and won 11 races in his first two seasons in F1 with Williams, culminating in the world title.

But his success ended there. He moved to the new BAR team, which was set up around him, for 1999, and struggled to make an impact before being dropped in 2003.

After a year off in 2004, he returned with Sauber in 2005, but split with the team midway through 2006 following BMW's takeover.

Driver rivalry at Ferrari - OK.

Ferrari team boss Jean Todt has said that Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa "are free to duel" on track this season provided that their rivalry benefits Ferrari.

Ferrari has taken much criticism for issuing driver orders in the past, especially after the controversial ending to the Austrian Grand Prix in 2002.

"It will be healthy if the two drivers compete against each other which could achieve great results," Todt told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

However, the Frenchman warned his two young drivers not to get too carried away whilst vying for the top spot that Michael Schumacher ruled for so long.

"We will be sure this does not turn destructive. The ambitions of Ferrari come first, and Raikkonen and Massa know this rule all too well," he added.

Toro Rosso to use Red Bull chassis?

The Scuderia Toro Rosso team has found a legal way to use the new Red Bull cars which are being designed by Adrian Newey. (If any one can - Scuderia can!)

The team, run by Gerhard Berger, is confident that the FIA will declare its car fully legal.

Toro Rosso will be running a chassis that is almost identical to Red Bull Racing. The FIA rules state that a team can not sell its chassis to another team, but the cars will be built by Red Bull's company 'Red Bull Technologies'.

F1 set for Sepang testing

Formula One is to conduct a rare test session at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia in March.

The event will take place from March 27th-29th to help plug the three-week gap between the opening race in Australia and the Malaysia Grand Prix on April 8th.

The session will also save the teams the expense of returning to Europe between races.

"It's further recognition of our effort to make the circuit a hub of motorsport in Asia," said a Sepang spokesperson.

"Almost all the F1 teams are based in Europe and it makes sense for them to commit their personnel to test the cars in Sepang instead of flying them to the other side of the globe."

Two test sessions are also planned in Bahrain prior to the start of the new season, running from February 22-24  and February 27-28.

Future of US GP is getting clearer

The future of the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis is set to become clearer next week when the circuit's CEO holds a lecture at a city college on the future of F1 in the United States.

Indianapolis only took a one-year extension to its old contract after the 2005 drama and last season's race. The current deal runs out after the end of this season and many team bosses are keen to have more than one race in the US, though much depends on how things shake out in Indy.

Let's just get on with it. Is Indy the only place to hold a open wheel GP race - no? Well then let's just make a few deals and get this show on the road. Forget Indy. And if the US can't get out of their oval thinking... well you know - the world is bigger then the US. But let's just stop tip-toeing around the Indy drama and move on.

Briatore Poo-Poos McLaren's Hopes

Renault boss Flavio Briatore believes Formula One rivals McLaren will continue to struggle in 2007 despite signing world champion Fernando Alonso.

"It will be a tough year for them," he said, after McLaren failed to win a Grand Prix last season.

"They've always had fantastic drivers like (Kimi) Raikkonen.

"They always announce them early to demonstrate they're changing, but this year the book of excuses has come to its last page."

Briatore also suggested Ferrari will struggle after losing seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher and technical director Ross Brawn.

"Ferrari without Schumacher and Brawn will be less competitive," added Briatore.

"That's normal when you lose people like those."

Williams to launch new car in February

The WilliamsF1 team will launch its new Toyota-powered F1 car on February 2nd.

The official ceremony will take place at the team's factory in Grove, near Oxford, England.

The team has been testing with a Toyota engine since autumn last year and technical director Sam Michael has been in charge of the new FW29. Following the launch the team will test at Jerez.

Let's see what these boys can do this season - didn't look so hot last season.

Aguri retain Yamamoto

Sakon Yamamoto is to remain as a second test driver with Japanese Formula One team Super Aguri.

The fledgling team failed to score a point in their debut season this year and the 24-year-old Yamamoto failed to finish his first four races.

Briton Anthony Davidson will join Japan's Takuma Sato in the Super Aguri race seats next year.

Dutchman Giedo van der Garde was hired as the team's first reserve driver earlier this month.

Super Aguri joined the Formula One grid as the 11th team in 2006 using a revamped version of a four-year-old Arrows.

They finished the year considerably more competitive than they started it, with Sato posting a surprising 10th in Brazil.

Villeneuve unable to find race seat

Former Formula 1 driver Jacques Villeneuve was hoping to find himself a job in an American racing series.

According to the Canadian press Villeneuve hoped to get a seat in the NASCAR Busch series, but he was unable to come up with the sponsorship budget of $18 million.

A source close to Villeneuve told Globe and Mail he is now looking at other ways of getting into a stock car. "He's even talking about doing the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series now and then do some Busch to try to get into it," the source said. "You know if you haven't driven these cars, there aren't a lot of people who want to touch you. The teams think there's steep learning curve which takes time and experience and they don't want to finance it."

The NASCAR Crafsman Truck Series is considered the bottom of the NASCAR ladder. It is the best opportunity for young talents in stock car racing.

So sad for Jacques - maybe he can bunk with Montoya... swapping old F1 storys... acting all manly and shit - spittin' chew and riding NASCAR - Hot Damn -  the boys are back in town!

Schumi will not be missed for long? Say What?

Many Formula One fans including myself will miss the excitement that Michael Schumacher injected into the sport.

Moreover, German fans will be fretting over who will be their next national hero. Mario Theissen however believes they have nothing to worry about. The Motorsport Director of BMW, who has three German drivers in Nick Heidfeld, Sebastian Vettel and Timo Glock on its books, thinks the void left by the seven-time world champion will be filled naturally. Although I think not so soon - ss

"Most definitely he will be missed in the first half of the season," Thiessen said. "It will feel strange. On the other hand, there are so many young talents on the grid that the excitement will be even bigger, from my point of view."

"History has demonstrated again and again that the gap left by the retirement of a top driver was closed quicker than expected," Thiessen added regarding the 2007 season.

Yeah, yeah... but will the new "champion" really go the distance as Schumi did? It's hard to stay up there for that long...

Sutil to partner Albers

Germany's Adrian Sutil will partner Christijan Albers at the new Spyker Formula One outfit next season.

Spyker, who have taken over the Midland team, have said the 23-year-old has signed a long-term deal.

Sutil, the 2006 Japanese Formula Three championship winner, was test driver for Midland at three races this year and replaces Tiago Monteiro.

"I really enjoyed being in the F1 paddock and I thought I would be a test driver in 2007," he said.

Midland failed to score a point this year but the Spyker F1 team are switching from Toyota to Ferrari engines for 2007.

"This is a great signing for the team but also a proud one for me personally," said team boss Colin Kolles.

"Adrian made his F3 Euroseries debut with Team Kolles in 2004 and quite obviously had huge potential when he scored his first pole position in his third race.

"He has driven for two great teams since then and matured very quickly.

"Everyone at Spyker was very impressed when he drove for us in 2006 which is why we have worked long and hard to get him in the race team."

Sutil is an accomplished pianist whose Uruguayan-born father Jorge played violin for the Munich Philarmonic.

Toro Rosso is now the only team yet to confirm their 2007 line-up, although they are likely to retain Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi and American Scott Speed.