Marussia Launches KERS-Assisted MR02 At Jerez

Marussia have unveiled their new KERS-assisted MR02 machine at Jerez, prior to the first day of pre-season testing at the Jerez circuit in Spain. With only one driver confirmed for the new season in former reserve driver Max Chilton, much of the attention within the paddock is on who will team-mate the Briton at the Banbury-based outfit.

As the first day of testing dawned over the Jerez circuit, Marussia became the first outfit to get proceedings underway with a short and sweet unveiling of their new MR02 machine on the track’s start/finish line. The new car features a slightly revised color scheme in comparison to last season, however their main colors of black and red remain relatively the same.

For the first time in 2013, Marussia will run the KERS device which naturally presented a challenge to the design team to accommodate the package. Another new addition to the Banbury-based outfit’s machine is a new sidepod design, which is aimed at improving the airflow over the car. This will be assisted by a more aggressive coanda exhaust layout, which the team believes will be a major development area for the new season up and down the grid.

“We embark on the first pre-season test of 2013 feeling very positive about our new car – the MR02 – and what lies ahead in this next important chapter in the development of the Marussia F1 Team.” Explained Marussia’s team principal, John Booth. “Whilst we have experienced some changes over the winter, the one area of stability we have enjoyed is the one that is most important to our progression from here, the design of our 2013 race car, led by our Technical Director Pat Symonds. The incremental steps we were taking in the latter half of last season gave us the confidence to not only fight hard for 10th place in the Constructors’ Championship, but to feel encouraged by our overall design direction, which was the basis for the car we are fielding here in Jerez today.

“It is early days in our pre-season development programme but there is a great deal of optimism amongst the team for what lies ahead.” Continued John Booth, “With that in mind, we all look forward to seeing the MR02 make its on-track debut later this morning.”

Max Chilton will become the first driver to get behind the wheel of the new MR02 later today at Jerez, however the Briton’s team-mate has yet to be confirmed by the Anglo-Russian outfit. After Timo Glock’s sudden departure from the team, rumors have been circulating that paddock that GP2 ace Luiz Razia could join Max Chilton. With no driver announcement imminent, Max Chilton and Marussia will be hoping for a productive opening day of the first pre-season test.

Picture Copyright © Marussia F1 Team

Red Bull And Ferrari Withdraw From FOTA

Two of Formula One’s leading teams’ have withdrawn from the Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) after disagreements over the Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA), a row that has been ongoing for the last couple of months. 

The team apparently wrote to FOTA earlier in the week expressing their desire to leave the association, and due to the fact that teams must give FOTA a two-month notice period, Red Bull and Ferrari will officially depart from FOTA in February provided they don’t perform a U-turn beforehand.

Stefano Domenicali warned earlier in the year that if an agreement couldn’t be met regarding the cost controls of Formula 1 then the future of FOTA should be questioned, with Christian Horner mirroring those views at the Korean Grand Prix as well as mentioning the Concorde Agreement as one of the principal issues of FOTA. 

With two of the sports biggest teams now set on leaving FOTA, could other big names start to question their involvement with the body? HRT are currently the only other team not a part of FOTA after leaving in December 2010, stating that FOTA only focused on the big teams in the sport, however FOTA disagreed with these allegations and said the team were expelled for not paying its annual 2010 membership fee of €100,000.

With the return of in-season testing for 2012, the RRA is going to be hard to control as teams will undoubtedly begin spending high amounts of money on capitalizing on the track time available with new parts and test drivers.

However, could an agreement before Ferrari and Red Bull officially depart in February spark a controversial U-turn and see them rejoin? 

HRT To Extend Williams Partnership Into 2012

 

It was announced today that the HRT Formula 1 team have extended their deal with Williams which permits use of their gearbox and also a new addition of KERs for 2012. 

HRT are currently lying last in the Constructors’ Standings whereas Williams are only 5 points ahead of them and are currently struggling in their worst season in their history in F1. 

The extension of this deal will now permit HRT to use the KERs device, something which they haven’t had on their cars this season and which could well boost them into the right direction of gaining their first ever points in F1. 

Since their first race in last years Bahrain Grand Prix, HRT have struggled to make an impact on the F1 world and have since used 7 different drivers with a mix of rookies such as Bruno Senna, Karun Chandhok and Daniel Ricciardo and experienced drivers such as Christian Klien, Tonio Liuzzi and Narain Karthikeyan. Even using many different drivers in such a short time, their highest finish in a race has yet to better 14th, and that was in the 2010 Australian and Korean Grands Prix. 

HRT Team Principal, Colin Kolles, will be hoping that these new additions to next years car will have a positive effect on the team and push them towards higher finishes next season. 

Button’s “Multi-Year Deal” Only Three Years Long

It was announced during the Indian Grand Prix weekend by McLaren Team Principal, Martin Whitmarsh, that Jenson Button’s Multi-Year Contract is only 3 years long, much shorter than many expected.

In an interview with the BBC during last weekends Indian Grand Prix, Martin Whitmarsh sung the praises of the 2009 World Champion before adding, “Hopefully we’ll have another three exciting years with him!”. This sparks confusion within the F1 Paddock as many expected the deal to be at least four years long! It is hard to imagine Button retiring at the end of 2014, so where will the Brit end up? Will he leave McLaren for Ferrari or Red Bull or even another top team at the time? Or will he decide life at McLaren is still too good to prompt him to leave? With Jenson Button’s current run of form it is hard to see him leaving McLaren anytime soon, and the pressure he is adding to that of Lewis Hamilton means we could well be seeing a repetition of the highly exciting Senna Vs Prost years of the late 80s, early 90s.

Could Jenson Button secure a 2nd World Championship in his time with McLaren? With the way he has driven these last two years it is certainly a possibility if McLaren can design a car worthy of contending for a Championship against the likes of Adrian Newey’s Red Bull’s. Time will tell, and the next few years in F1 are shaping up to be extremely exciting!