Confirmed: Bruno Senna to be test/third driver at Lotus Renault GP

It's now confirmed that Bruno Senna has joined Lotus Renault GP (that's Robert Kubicas one, not Jarno Trullis one) as a test driver for 2011. It was announced at the launch of the R31 today in Valencia. Rumours surfaced when Senna was spotted at the press conference in LRGP overalls, and was confirmed a short time afterwards.

Team Lotus release T128

The second 2011 F1 car was released today with team Lotus releasing the first images of its challenger, the T128. Although Mercedes released a computer render of their car earlier today, it was only one computer generated shot. Lotus however have given a proper look at their car on their website. While it hasn't been shaken down yet, it does provide us with an idea of what to expect in Valencia. (all images courtesy of www.teamlotus.co.uk)

The initial impression when looking at it is that it's a lot neater than last years car. More aesthetically pleasing and obviously a result of the fact the team had more than 10 seconds to design and build the car this time around. Another initial impression is that the front wing on it is rather high, similar to the Ferrari and Mercedes. It's possible that teams have found this to be more effective with the sudden speed boosts provided by moveable rear wings, and is probably something we can expect to see across the board.

What is also good to see is that the team are confident this is a midfield car. Mike Gascoyne summed it up by saying "it's a front running car in every area" and "The start of a process to take Lotus back to the front of the grid". While most deemed their debut year succesful, Lotus seem determined not to rest on their laurels and to push as hard as they can. This is fantastic as it adds another competitor to the tight midfield battle. After the Red Bulls, McLarens, Ferrari and Mercedes, there are only two points finishing spots left and 12 cars to compete for them (not counting HRT and Virgin). With passing made much easier this season the fights in the middle of the pack could be compulsory viewing in 2011, with excitement guaranteed.

Ferrari concerns a diversion?

In the last few weeks three big name people at Ferrari have come out with rather similar comments. "There's too much going on in the cockpit, too many buttons to push, it could have an adverse affect on the drivers performance". These comments have been made by driver Fernando Alonso, president Luca di Montezemolo, and now technical chief Aldo Costa. Three big names all sharing similar concerns. Coincidence?

Last year Montezemolo said that unless things improved by Silverstone, they'd have to turn their attention fully to the 2011 car. However things did start to improve and come years end they were surging towards the World Championship. The last time Ferrari were in a fight for the WDC at the last race, they produced a turkey in the 2009 F60. Are there internal concerns at Ferrari that the same thing has happened again?

The comments coming out are "We HAVE to win", not "We will win, this is the best car". And Ferrari are saying not to take much notice of early testing times, instead to wait until the later test sessions. Not the usual Ferrari confidence, especially with a driver like Fernando Alonso at the cockpit. You'd think that even if they'd produced a moderately competitive car, they'd be confident of a shot at the title. But it doesn't seem that way, so far at least. Ultimately there's little we can do expect to wait for testing sessions and compare times. But the early signs are that Ferrari aren't all that confident about 2011.

Future of the Australian Grand Prix

In recent weeks a conflict has arisen over the status of the Australian Grand Prix, no doubt fueled in part by the Australian media have little to report about on Formula 1 due to a lack of knowledge amongst the media. An article by Melbournes lord mayor Robert Doyle in the Herald Sun last week stated that Melbourne would be best to get rid of the Grand Prix, one of suggestions being that Bernie Ecclestone "pick up his bat and ball and go home". Ultimately Doyles point was that the GP did more harm to Melbourne than good and as such it should be dumped. Ecclestone then responded by saying that FOM would never terminate a contract early, but that if Mr Doyle wanted to discuss with him a way for Melbourne to opt out of its commitments, he'd be happy to talk to him.

A bit of a mess brought on by Doyle trying to get his name in the limelight really. All it's succeeded in doing for the Australian GP is make the country appear ungrateful for its GP, as if it has some god given right to hold one. As an Australian I can honestly say I love the GP down here, both in terms of the pride in having a Grand Prix, and the race it usually provides. Unpredictable weather combined with Turns 1 and 3 that almost always cause chaos on the first lap usually result in fantastic races to watch. In a racing sense it would be a sad loss.

But the fact remains that there is pressure on the FIA and FOM to cut races from an already crowded calendar. The introduction of the Indian GP this year means there are 20 races, with Texas and Russia to come. The Australian GP doesn't do itself any favours by losing money, especially in conjunction with its timezone being awful for European TV viewers. The fact is that should they look at Grands Prix to cut, it's likely Australia would be high on the hit list, as well as China. Both with big bills, dwindling attendances and poor timezones. Australia would most likely be dumped to bring in Russia, given that Russia is due to enter in 2014, though with the Winter Olympics possibly conflicting that could be delayed till 2015, the last year of Australias contract.

So what has Robert Doyle managed to achieve? Apart from showing himself as an inept mayor, he's simply hurt the reputation of Australians in the F1 world and jeopardised their chances of retaining the Australian GP following the end of this contract. It would hurt both in terms of losing a fine race, but also losing a continent from the calendar. The World Championship should be just that, a World Championship. Not a championship set in Europe and the Middle East with a couple of races outside that. Australia adds a colour and flavour to the calendar different to other countries, lets hope we don't lose that because a politician decided to poke his head into business that's not his.

A glimpse of the future

Having received a very warm respsonse in its short life so far, Pole Position will be looking to expand before the beginning of the season. This will most likely involve moving away from the kind people at Blogger and taking up residence at our own home website. This may necessitate a name change, for which preparations have already begun. But it will mean more regular posts, more pictures and hopefully more interesting material for yourself, the loyal reader. So as a bit of a teaser I thought we'd unveil the potential new logo, should a name change be necessitated, for our upcoming new home. Hope you like.

F150 launch (and first look at moveable rear wings)

The 2011 car launches got underway in Italy yesterday with the covers coming off the F150, Ferraris 2011 Formula 1 challenger. There will be many better and more detailed technical analysis' than I'm capable of providing, so with this in mind I thought I'd attempt to do a non-car nuts take on the new Ferrari F150, with the help of some high res pictures, simply click on them to see them bigger. (Pictures courtesy of ferrari.com)

At first impressions, the F150 looks similar to last years car. No real striking differences like there have been in years past. But at closer look there are a few things. The nose of the car is significantly higher than it has been previously. The effect of this is that the driver is much higher up in the car. Last year you could just see the top of Alonsos helmet over the sides of the cockpit, now his head is just below the airbox (as seen in pictures below). Hard to comment on the front wing itself as that'll change significant before Bahrain. In fact given the simplicity of the design, it may have been purely for the unveiling.

Another noticeable change is the size of the sidepods. They appear much bigger than last year, almost McLaren style. They also make the front half look narrow in contrast when the car is viewed from above. The other visible change is the size of the rear wing. The central flap looks huge in comparison to '10 cars, but this will probably be the standard with the introduction of moveable rear wings.

Speaking of moveable rear wings, here's our first glimpse (below) at them in action. Above is the wing in standard mode, and below is what I suppose we'll call "pass mode". It appears the top part of the wing lifts up to open up the gap between the bottom flap. For some reason I was envisioning a standard wing with a slot in the middle that would drop down when going into "pass mode" so it's quite different to what I imagined. Given this was just a shakedown there was obviously no pace/timing to see what a difference it made, so when we get to Valencia it will be interesting to see the other designs and just how much of a boost it gives the cars.

So there we are, we now know what a 2011 Formula 1 car looks like. On Monday the covers come off the new Lotus-Renault, the Lotus Renault (confusing isn't it?) and the Sauber. The day after we see the efforts from Mercedes, Toro Rosso, Williams and the eagerly anticipated Red Bull. Coupled with the excitement of the first round of testing, it is a very interesting week coming up in Formula 1.

Team Lotus - 2011 Preview

2010 was for Lotus Racing, as it was for the other new teams, a year that began with rushed preperation. Admitted to Formula 1 late with the withdrawal of BMW Sauber the team had even less time than Virgin and HRT to prepare for the season. As such the fact they wound up being clearly the best of the new teams was impressive. However, given the distinct lack of speed and reliability from the other two teams throughout the year, it's possible people have overrated the performance of Lotus Racing as a result.

They must be commended for building such a reliable car off such little preparation time. And equally, credit must be given to Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen for managing to bring the car home more often than not. That said, there was a distinct lack of improvement in pace from the car throughout 2010. they started off behind Sauber & Toro Rosso, and at no point whatsoever did they look like getting anywhere near challenging. Given the experience of Trulli, Kovalainen and technical director Mike Gascoyne, that surely must rank as a disappointment.

Looking to 2011 though, it's possible the new regulations could somewhat assist the Lotus team in 2011. The adjustable rear wings and KERS will make overtaking a whole lot easier, and while Lotus may not have the fastest car on the grid, they do have two tremendously talented, experienced former race winners in the cockpit. And you feel that with these regulations to assist overtaking, they could be more than a handful for rookies like Di Resta, Maldonado and Perez. While those three may be in faster cars, with these overtaking assists you feel that the two Lotus cars may find it easier moving up the grid in 2011.

Put simply in 2011 Lotus must be aiming to take some steps forward. They've got the money, they've got the people and they've got the know how. They lack the excuses of most new teams in Formula 1. For the start of the year they need to be aiming to be on a par with Sauber/STR. Simply being the best of the three new teams won't cut it in the second year. And unlike last year, car development throughout the season must also be a target. Starting off on a par with the back of the midfield, and hopefully making points finishes a realistic target by the end of the season. With basically half the grid getting points by the end of races these days it's not an altogether difficult target, and one they must aim for if they are to get anywhere. And with the right mix of experience, dedication and skill, it's very achievable in 2011.

Lotus²

After months of public debate, the Team Lotus v Group Lotus quarrel finally hit the courts on January 24th. A hearing date has been set for March 21st and will hopefully resolve a long and drawn out dispute between the two groups. Ultimately after such a fascinating season last year, and the promise of an even better one to come, it's sad such a matter has taken up so much time in the off season as it's diverted attention from the potentially fascinating racing ahead. But in case you're a bit confused about the whole Lotus vs. Lotus saga, here's the basic story:

Team Lotus was established in 1954, driven largely by Colin Chapman. Based in Norfolk the team was very successful, winning 7 Constructors Championships and 6 Drivers Titles. Countless famous names drove for Lotus through the years; Stirling Moss, Emerson Fittipaldi, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna, just to mention a few. The team was a mainstay of Formula 1, indeed only Ferrari, McLaren and Williams have competed in more Grands Prix than Team Lotus in F1s 60+ year history. However in its later years the struggle for funds became harder and the team eventually went bankrupt and folded in 1994. It was bought by David Hunt, brother of former World Champion James Hunt, who was going to attempt to salvage and re-enter the team, but nothing came of this and the time of Team Lotus came to an end.

Come 2009 and Tony Fernandes was in the process of entering a new team, then titled 1 Malaysia Racing Team, into the 2010 Formula 1 season. For his team he licenced the name of "Lotus" from Malaysian based Proton, the owner of the Lotus Cars brand, and entered his team under the name "Lotus Racing". Despite having a different name and in no part being associated with the team founded by Colin Chapman, there was regular talk of the team being a successor or even a continuation of the old team. Examples of this are quotes such as "our first win will be Lotus's 80th win"; designating the chassis the T127, which was the next in line for Team Lotus; and a cap similar the famous one worn by Colin Chapman being on the pit wall at all races. There is no doubt Fernandes saw his team as the same as Chapmans Team Lotus.

On September 24 Fernandes announced at the Singapore Grand Prix that his company had acquired Team Lotus Ventures Ltd. from David Hunt and will rename his team Team Lotus for the 2011 season. 3 days later Proton, the parent company of Group Lotus, issued a statement saying it had terminated Fernandes' licence to use the Lotus name due to "flagrant and persistent breaches of the licence...which were damaging to the Lotus brand". What these breaches were wasn't specified in the statement.

Proton also stated that as they're the owner of Group Lotus and the "Lotus" name Fernandes has no right to use it without their permission, that it was never David Hunts to sell, and the team cannot be renamed Team Lotus for 2011. Group Lotus then purchase 25% in the Renault F1 team and announce plans to enter that team in 2011 under the name Lotus Renault GP.

So what's ultimately in court is who does or doesn't own rights to use "Lotus". Proton claim they've always owned it since they purchased Lotus Cars in 1994; that David Hunt had no right to sell the name as never owned it, just the team which at that point was named Team Lotus; and that since they've terminated Fernandes' licence he has no rights to it either. Fernandes claims he licenced it from Proton; that David Hunt owned "Team Lotus" and that he then bought it from Hunt, giving him "Team Lotus". This argument is the one that will have to be settled by the courts.

This is more than just a minor inconvenience for Formula 1 however. As Fernandes' Team Lotus has engaged Renault as an engine supplier, his team will be titled in full Team Lotus-Renault. Meaning that there'll be a Lotus Renault GP team on the grid driven by Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov, competing with a Team Lotus-Renault team driven by Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen. In a sport as prestigious and professional as Formula 1, having two teams with such similar names on the grid is nothing short of ludicrous. A newcomer to the sport would think they're the same team.

The main casualty here though is the legendary name of Team Lotus, which is being dragged through the mud. The family of Colin Chapman have echoed this sentiment, saying they'd prefer it if the name was not used in Formula 1, backing Proton and Group Lotus.

Ultimately both sides can be accused of being in the wrong. Fernandes has been accused of just using the name of the famous F1 team in an attempt to give his team a credibility and history straight away without putting in any of the work to earn it. Whilst Proton/Group Lotus appear to have liked the idea of Fernandes' team at first, then realised how long it'd take them to get up the grid, deciding they couldn't be bothered to wait that long, and pulling their rights to the name in order to buy a better team in Renault. Both sides can be accused of being wrong, selfish and inconsiderate of the great name of Team Lotus.

Unfortunately it appears we'll be heading to Bahrain with the matter unresolved, as the hearing date isn't set for until just before the Melbourne GP. Hopefully the matter can be resolved before then but it appears almost impossible. So we just have to wait for the decision to be made for them, and hopefully the matter can be put to bed and the focus turn back to the racing once more.

The new look Nico Rosberg

It seems much has changed in F1 land during the off season. Teams have been rebranded, court cases being held to resolved arguments about rights to names and teams continue to try to talk themselves up as diplomatically as possible.

However a big change at Mercedes has taken place. Nico Rosberg has at long last cut off his flowing golden locks and grown a very masculine beard. He looks remarkably different, is this perhaps a sign he's moving forward in his F1 career and ready to take the next step? Or just a man who got sick of his long hair and couldn't be bothered shaving? You decide.

Marussia Virgin Racing - 2011 Preview

It's hard to think of a team that disappointed more in 2010 than Virgin Racing. They came along and they talked the talk, the highlight being Richard Bransons bet with Tony Fernandes about whoever finished behind the other in the Constructors having to be a stewardess on their airline. But when push came to shove, Virgin failed dismally. While HRT was derided for their poor performance, they did in fact manage to finish ahead of Virgin in the standings come years end. And apart from the two fill in drivers in Sakon Yamamoto and Christian Kilen, the Virgin drivers in Timo Glock and Lucas DiGrassi finished dead last in the Drivers standings. An all around failure. So where did it all go wrong?

Is it perhaps the complete dependence on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to design their car in favour of windtunnel? Perhaps. In simple terms it means they just put the blueprints in the computer and based it off that without ever actually building a scale model or prototype they could actually touch and look at to see how it's going. The fuel tank bungle at the start of the year coupled with the fact Virgin had the equal most retirements of the year (15, tied with Sauber) suggests the car lacks reliability when there's a complete dependence on CFD.

However on the other hand you can argue just as strongly that of the 3 new teams, Virgin probably had the least F1 experience in it's staff. Colin Kolles at HRT has vast experience, as does Mike Gascoyne as Lotus. In contrast John Booth (Virgins sporting director) had never been in F1 before while Nick Wirth's (technical director) only experience was running the unsuccessful Simtek team for a brief period in 1994 and 1995. So with such experience, it was perhaps unfair to expect them to compete on an equal level as Lotus. But now all the staff have a years worth of experience behind them, and in this sense we can expect to see steps forward.

The main area this must be expected is improving and bettering the car during the year, unlike last year when it just fell further and further behind the top cars as the year went on. At the start of the season their qualifying pace seemed to match that of the Lotuses. But as the year went on they wound up falling behind even the HRTs. This is despite HRT not developing their 2010 car at all either, they just seemed better equipped to get 100% out of their car than Virgin. This is also an area that will improve with experience.

Virgin also have an asset with a true quality driver in Timo Glock. While not a race winner like Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli, he showed true talent in his time at Toyota and no doubt has the capacity. However it's clear Timo doesn't want to be at Virgin, reports saying he grudgingly signed with the team for a second year due to the lack of drives elsewhere. And as talented as a driver may be, if he doesn't want to be at a team he'll be nowhere near his best. You feel this is something that'll take people management skills to get Timo best motivated for the upcoming season, as his performance is no doubt the difference between finishing ahead of Lotus or finishing behind HRT. Especially given the lack of experience of his new teammate Jérôme d'Ambrosi, whose experience extends to a handful of Friday test sessions. It's all going to come down to Timo.

So what can Virgin be aiming for in 2011? No doubt the stated aim will be to be ahead of Lotus & HRT, and maybe even pushing Sauber and Toro Rosso. However a more realistic aim will perhaps be to simply build a more reliable car, and then work on getting it faster during the year. And also to ensure they're comfortably ahead of HRT for most of the year. Because while someone must finish last at the end of the year, you don't want it to be you, and you certainly don't want it to be you two years running.

HRT - 2011 Preview

2010 was a challenging year for the people at HRT. Originally admitted to the championship as Campos, it was only a last minute intervention by Colin Kolles that saw the team make it to Bahrain with two cars, albeit just. The year didn't get much easier after that with the first few races being just an attempt to get miles into the car. Combined with driver changes and incidents like Sakon Yamamoto leaving the pits too early and breaking a pit crew members year, 2010 was a year HRT was glad to reach the end of. Arguably the hardest part is now over and they can only move forward.

At least that's what you'd hope. Promising signs are lacking thus far with their decisions not to re-sign two talented drivers in Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna. Although it seems the decision on Chandhok was made halfway through last year, whether due to financial reasons or other causes are thus far unknown. But it's worth noting that at the point he was replaced, Chandhok was the best performed of the drivers in the new teams. Achieving that in a car a long way off the Lotuses is no small feat.

Yet HRT chose instead to sign Narain Karthikeyan. The fact he's been signed ahead of notorious buy-a-seat driver Yamamoto and Senna suggests he comes with some serious financial backing, no doubt due to the Indian Grand Prix launching this year. However Karthikeyan has had his chance in F1 before and failed to impress. He was outraced by Montiero in 12 races compared to the 7 Karthikeyan came out on top. It suggests HRT are again targeting money, not talent. And that's never been the way to get ahead in Formula 1. Yes it's an expensive sport to compete in, but ultimately sponsors follow results. And you'll never get the kind of money you need to compete further up the grid without first getting up there on your own.

So with HRTs seemingly continuing their focus on survival rather than succeeding can we really expect that much improvement? Part of that will come down to who the other driver is. The rumour going around is that it's going to be Tonio Liuzzi, with his seat being funded by Force India. But Liuzzi hasn't exactly demonstrated himself as a stellar driver either, and he's definitely not the type to drag an average car up the grid. If they were targeting talent they'd go out and sign up Hulkenberg or someone of the like as there are countless talented drivers out there. But it appears HRT will simply focus on simply existing without actually achieving anything.

Ultimately all we can expect from HRT is for them to aim to beat Virgin more often than not. They're not yet at a level where they can challenge the seemingly more competent Lotus and trundling along behind everyone else like they did last year isn't really good enough for a second year team. But this year they have time to focus on preparing the car, unlike last year, and the one they produced last year wasn't entirely hopeless, as Chandhok showed. So the promise is there. What it will come down to is quite simply the will to put in the effort and money needed to get up the grid, versus the desire to simply exist for the sake of existing.

Over to you, what are you expecting from HRT in 2011? And what do you think will happen?

Welcome to Pole Position

Greetings and welcome to Pole Position, a place where we talk Formula One. Both on and off track F1 is far and away the most fascinating form of motorsport on the planet, and noticing a distinct lack of quality blogs/discussion sites about it on the net, I decided it was time to change that. So here we are.

This isn't aiming to be a news site along the lines of Planet F1, instead it'll be a place for opinions and discussion rather than just reporting. Obviously there'll be things like race previews and reports, but I'm going to be aiming to do something a little different to most other sites with just focus on standard reporting. That's also due in part to the fact I'm based in Australia and most races finish here around midnight, so by the time I'd written up a report of a race the next morning, it would have already been done by countless others. So I shan't bother to compete there.

Anyway, I was aiming to keep it short so this shall do for now. Over the next few weeks I'll be doing a preview for each team, starting from the back with HRT. Also as you can see to the right there's a poll for the WDC to vote on. It ends shortly after the end of the first testing weekend. I'll be doing another one after the final tests and it'll be interesting to see how the results change.

I look forward to seeing you back in the near future, thankyou for reading.