- Oct 24, 2000
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From Edmunds:
Seems kinda weird, doesn't it?
The Formula 1 world is preparing for a new season, but without seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher. His dominance of the sport has been so complete that even when someone else was winning, the news was that Michael wasn't winning.
But the world keeps on spinning and we must march on. Michael is moving into his new role as assistant to Scuderia Ferrari CEO Jean Todt. He will be scouting for new talent and using his experience to help develop Ferrari's future F1 and real-world cars. The buzz is that Schumi is being groomed for team boss.
For the rest of us, the new season holds much excitement in store. New faces, team driver swaps, and as always, the perpetual rule changes.
Here is what we have to look forward to.
Team Rosters for 2007
Renault ? Giancarlo Fisichella becomes the team's No. 1 with the move of last year's world champion Fernando Alonso to McLaren. Last year's test-driver Heikki Kovalainen gets promoted to second full-time driver. Test-drivers will be Ricardo Zonta and Nelson Piquet, Jr.
Ferrari ? Kimi Raikkonen moves from McLaren-Mercedes to fill the fleet-footed shoes of retiree Michael Schumacher. Felipe Massa returns as No. 2 driver. And let's not mince words: Despite the better number on his car, Felipe is wingman to the Ice Man. Test-drivers will be Luca Badoer and Marc Gene. Michael Schumacher has also been on hand for several testing sessions. Hmm, does Ferrari have separation anxiety?
McLaren-Mercedes ? Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso joins McLaren after four seasons in a Renault seat. It will be interesting to see if his technical input will help McLaren with its reliability problems. His backup will be last year's GP2 series champion Lewis Hamilton. Test-drivers will be Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett.
Honda ? No change here as Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello return as the two drivers. Honda really came on strong toward the end of last season. Now that Button has the first-win monkey off his back and Barrichello finally got used to his Honda brakes, we hope these guys can continue the momentum. Test-drivers will be Christian Klien (formerly of Red Bull Racing) and James Rossiter.
BMW-Sauber ? Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica return for BMW. Last year's test-driver Kubica was impressive when he filled in for an ailing Jacques Villeneuve and won his seat for the remainder of the season. The move also lit a fire under Heidfeld, who showed improvement in the last few races. Test-drivers will be Sebastian Vettal and Timo Glock.
Toyota ? Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli return for another season to the team with the biggest budget in F1. It can't be easy for Ralf being a legend's little brother. Will he step out of Michael's shadow this season? Will hot-blooded Italian Trulli bounce back after last year's dismal performance? Test-driver will be Franck Montagny.
Red Bull Racing ? David Coulthard returns as No. 1 driver. He will be joined by Mark Webber, who moves over from the Williams team. Are we the only one who remembers Webber poking fun at D.C. for moving to such a lowly team as Red Bull? Test-drivers will be Robert Doornbos and Michael Ammermueller.
Williams ? Nico Rosberg moves up to the No. 1 spot, not bad for someone in only his second season. Alex Wurz moves up from test-driver to No. 2. Test-drivers will be Narain Karthikeyan and Kazuki Nakajima.
Toro Rosso ? Vitantonio Liuzzi will return for Red Bull's junior team but the team took forever to confirm American Scott Speed for 2007. It's nice to have an American in F1, but he needs to prove himself out there if he wants to continue. Former Champ Car champ Sebastien Bourdais has also tested for STR and some amusing rumors have included the returns of Mika Hakkinen and Juan Pablo Montoya. Oy.
Spyker F1 ? Christijan Albers returns for his third season in Formula 1 and will be partnered by Adrian Sutil at Spyker in hopes of developing the team into a contender. Test-drivers will be Fairuz Fauzy, Giedo van der Garde, Adrian Valles and Markus Winkelhock. Is there anyone left?
Super Aguri Honda ? Honda never gives up on Takuma Sato, keeping him on its junior team. Honda's varsity team test-driver Anthony Davidson gets his chance in the Super Aguri car as No. 2 driver. Tester will be Sakon Yamamoto and, they thought, Giedo van der Garde until Spyker swiped him. Lawsuits are flying faster than Yuji Ide. Oh, wait.
Team Changes
Renault has ended its relationship with Mild Seven cigarettes and partnered with Dutch banking firm ING. It will no longer sport the blue-and-yellow colors of the tobacco company and will be known as the ING Renault F1 Team. Look for an unfamiliar white, yellow and orange car.
McLaren has ended its partnership with West cigarettes and taken up with Vodafone. The new team name will be Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes.
Spyker F1 (formerly Midland F1, formerly Jordan F1) will run on V8 engines supplied by Ferrari. Mike Gascoyne, formerly of Renault and Toyota, takes over as chief technical director.
Red Bull Racing will have engines supplied by Renault for the 2007 season instead of Ferrari. Junior team Scuderia Toro Rosso will be powered by Ferrari instead of modified Cosworth V10s. Cosworth is no longer in Formula 1. Sad.
Honda has painted its car green to remind everyone that it likes environmentally friendly hybrid technology. We wouldn't feel comfortable breathing in its F1 exhaust fumes, though.
FIA Rule Changes
Engine freeze ? The controversial three-year engine development freeze will take place a year early. The reasoning behind this decision? Why start developing when you know you have to stop, so why not just stop now? Teams must stick with the same engine technology used in the last two races of the 2006 season, through the 2010 season. Ouch.
This may be welcome news to a team like Renault, which won the constructors championship in 2006. But what about teams like BMW, Honda and Toyota, which made great strides during last season but still have far to go? Expect teams to concentrate all efforts on developing their electronics and aerodynamic packages.
Single tire manufacturer ? No more debating whether Michelin or Bridgestone is dominant. All teams will be supplied tires by Bridgestone only. Bridgestone is allowed to provide only two tire specifications for each race weekend, offering identical options to all teams. Former Michelin-clad teams will be at a slight disadvantage while they adjust to a new tire manufacturer.
More tires ? The number of dry-weather tires that can be used by each team has been doubled to 14. Four sets can be used for the first day of practice and 10 sets for the remainder of the race weekend.
Safety car ? When the safety car is on the track, drivers are not permitted to duck into the pits until all cars are grouped together behind the safety car. Before the safety car is cleared, all lapped cars must pass the safety car and take up position on the track at the back of the pack behind the race leaders. Sheesh, no respect. Get outta the way, slowpokes and don't let the garage door hit ya.
Mark your calendars, race fans. Here is the 2007 schedule:
Australia ? March 18
Malaysia ? April 8
Bahrain ? April 15
Spain ? May 13
Monaco ? May 27
Canada ? June 10
United States ? June 17
France ? July 1
Great Britain ? July 8
Germany ? July 22
Hungary ? August 5
Turkey ? August 26
Italy ? September 9
Belgium ? September 16
Japan ? September 30
China ? October 7
Brazil ? October 21
Seems kinda weird, doesn't it?
The Formula 1 world is preparing for a new season, but without seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher. His dominance of the sport has been so complete that even when someone else was winning, the news was that Michael wasn't winning.
But the world keeps on spinning and we must march on. Michael is moving into his new role as assistant to Scuderia Ferrari CEO Jean Todt. He will be scouting for new talent and using his experience to help develop Ferrari's future F1 and real-world cars. The buzz is that Schumi is being groomed for team boss.
For the rest of us, the new season holds much excitement in store. New faces, team driver swaps, and as always, the perpetual rule changes.
Here is what we have to look forward to.
Team Rosters for 2007
Renault ? Giancarlo Fisichella becomes the team's No. 1 with the move of last year's world champion Fernando Alonso to McLaren. Last year's test-driver Heikki Kovalainen gets promoted to second full-time driver. Test-drivers will be Ricardo Zonta and Nelson Piquet, Jr.
Ferrari ? Kimi Raikkonen moves from McLaren-Mercedes to fill the fleet-footed shoes of retiree Michael Schumacher. Felipe Massa returns as No. 2 driver. And let's not mince words: Despite the better number on his car, Felipe is wingman to the Ice Man. Test-drivers will be Luca Badoer and Marc Gene. Michael Schumacher has also been on hand for several testing sessions. Hmm, does Ferrari have separation anxiety?
McLaren-Mercedes ? Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso joins McLaren after four seasons in a Renault seat. It will be interesting to see if his technical input will help McLaren with its reliability problems. His backup will be last year's GP2 series champion Lewis Hamilton. Test-drivers will be Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett.
Honda ? No change here as Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello return as the two drivers. Honda really came on strong toward the end of last season. Now that Button has the first-win monkey off his back and Barrichello finally got used to his Honda brakes, we hope these guys can continue the momentum. Test-drivers will be Christian Klien (formerly of Red Bull Racing) and James Rossiter.
BMW-Sauber ? Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica return for BMW. Last year's test-driver Kubica was impressive when he filled in for an ailing Jacques Villeneuve and won his seat for the remainder of the season. The move also lit a fire under Heidfeld, who showed improvement in the last few races. Test-drivers will be Sebastian Vettal and Timo Glock.
Toyota ? Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli return for another season to the team with the biggest budget in F1. It can't be easy for Ralf being a legend's little brother. Will he step out of Michael's shadow this season? Will hot-blooded Italian Trulli bounce back after last year's dismal performance? Test-driver will be Franck Montagny.
Red Bull Racing ? David Coulthard returns as No. 1 driver. He will be joined by Mark Webber, who moves over from the Williams team. Are we the only one who remembers Webber poking fun at D.C. for moving to such a lowly team as Red Bull? Test-drivers will be Robert Doornbos and Michael Ammermueller.
Williams ? Nico Rosberg moves up to the No. 1 spot, not bad for someone in only his second season. Alex Wurz moves up from test-driver to No. 2. Test-drivers will be Narain Karthikeyan and Kazuki Nakajima.
Toro Rosso ? Vitantonio Liuzzi will return for Red Bull's junior team but the team took forever to confirm American Scott Speed for 2007. It's nice to have an American in F1, but he needs to prove himself out there if he wants to continue. Former Champ Car champ Sebastien Bourdais has also tested for STR and some amusing rumors have included the returns of Mika Hakkinen and Juan Pablo Montoya. Oy.
Spyker F1 ? Christijan Albers returns for his third season in Formula 1 and will be partnered by Adrian Sutil at Spyker in hopes of developing the team into a contender. Test-drivers will be Fairuz Fauzy, Giedo van der Garde, Adrian Valles and Markus Winkelhock. Is there anyone left?
Super Aguri Honda ? Honda never gives up on Takuma Sato, keeping him on its junior team. Honda's varsity team test-driver Anthony Davidson gets his chance in the Super Aguri car as No. 2 driver. Tester will be Sakon Yamamoto and, they thought, Giedo van der Garde until Spyker swiped him. Lawsuits are flying faster than Yuji Ide. Oh, wait.
Team Changes
Renault has ended its relationship with Mild Seven cigarettes and partnered with Dutch banking firm ING. It will no longer sport the blue-and-yellow colors of the tobacco company and will be known as the ING Renault F1 Team. Look for an unfamiliar white, yellow and orange car.
McLaren has ended its partnership with West cigarettes and taken up with Vodafone. The new team name will be Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes.
Spyker F1 (formerly Midland F1, formerly Jordan F1) will run on V8 engines supplied by Ferrari. Mike Gascoyne, formerly of Renault and Toyota, takes over as chief technical director.
Red Bull Racing will have engines supplied by Renault for the 2007 season instead of Ferrari. Junior team Scuderia Toro Rosso will be powered by Ferrari instead of modified Cosworth V10s. Cosworth is no longer in Formula 1. Sad.
Honda has painted its car green to remind everyone that it likes environmentally friendly hybrid technology. We wouldn't feel comfortable breathing in its F1 exhaust fumes, though.
FIA Rule Changes
Engine freeze ? The controversial three-year engine development freeze will take place a year early. The reasoning behind this decision? Why start developing when you know you have to stop, so why not just stop now? Teams must stick with the same engine technology used in the last two races of the 2006 season, through the 2010 season. Ouch.
This may be welcome news to a team like Renault, which won the constructors championship in 2006. But what about teams like BMW, Honda and Toyota, which made great strides during last season but still have far to go? Expect teams to concentrate all efforts on developing their electronics and aerodynamic packages.
Single tire manufacturer ? No more debating whether Michelin or Bridgestone is dominant. All teams will be supplied tires by Bridgestone only. Bridgestone is allowed to provide only two tire specifications for each race weekend, offering identical options to all teams. Former Michelin-clad teams will be at a slight disadvantage while they adjust to a new tire manufacturer.
More tires ? The number of dry-weather tires that can be used by each team has been doubled to 14. Four sets can be used for the first day of practice and 10 sets for the remainder of the race weekend.
Safety car ? When the safety car is on the track, drivers are not permitted to duck into the pits until all cars are grouped together behind the safety car. Before the safety car is cleared, all lapped cars must pass the safety car and take up position on the track at the back of the pack behind the race leaders. Sheesh, no respect. Get outta the way, slowpokes and don't let the garage door hit ya.
Mark your calendars, race fans. Here is the 2007 schedule:
Australia ? March 18
Malaysia ? April 8
Bahrain ? April 15
Spain ? May 13
Monaco ? May 27
Canada ? June 10
United States ? June 17
France ? July 1
Great Britain ? July 8
Germany ? July 22
Hungary ? August 5
Turkey ? August 26
Italy ? September 9
Belgium ? September 16
Japan ? September 30
China ? October 7
Brazil ? October 21
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