F1 BLOG

The new McLaren Mercedes MP4-22 is the new ride for Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. It is interesting to see how much development goes into a car like this and how often it is upgraded throughout the season.

Some of the changes this year include even better crash structures to meet the new standards in 2007. New rear crash protection and an extra panel bonded to the side of the car to protect against penetration during side impacts. The standards for frontal crashes have also been raised by about 7 percent or from the old 14 Metres per second to the new safer 15 metres per second while providing lower G’s during the deceleration.

Even things like the change in tire suppliers has an impact in the aerodynamic design of the car which will be updated right up to the first race of the season and then every 3 or 4 weeks through the 2007 challenge.

Toyota unveiled their new car for the 2007 F1 season today. Toyota thinks the new TF107 will be the key to breaking their 5 year history of failing to win a single race.

Ralf Schumacher thinks that this new car will give him the tools he needs to get to the front of the pack.

Jarno Trulli says the car is a huge step forward in down force for the Toyota F1 Car.

All I can say is it is a nice looking car and we’ll see how things go on the first race day.

It is being reported that Felipe Massa thinks his biggest threat will come from within the Ferrari team in the form of his team mate Kimi Raikkonen. Both drivers are fast but have never won a world championship so the competition between the two will be fierce.

Ferrari as a team has stated that they will let both drivers compete against each other and that there will be no team orders this season. I would tend to think that if that is truly going to be the case then Filipe has good reason to be a little worried.

Alonso and McLaren are also going to provide some problems for Felipe if McLaren gets their car right.

The first race of the Formula One season grows closer everyday and I can’t wait to see how the reality shakes out in that first race.

Ron Dennis is selling off 30% of the McLaren Formula One team. The Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, owned by the kingdom of Bahrain will be buying this chunk of McLaren once legal clearances are complete. This clearance is expected in less than 6 weeks.

McLaren Group Limited sees this as a strategic investment and will leave the ownership with DaimlerChrysler at 40%, the new investor at 30% and 15% each to Dennis and TAG Group.

I wonder how much a 30% piece of McLaren is worth these days?

It looks like the press is reporting that Jacques Villeneuve along with Marc Gene and Sebastian Bourdais will be driving for Peugot and their Le Mans 24 Hour team this summer.

It seems to me that this is a far smarter thing for Jacques to be doing with his skills rather than driving a NASCAR pickup truck around in circles. That being said, there is still talk that Jacques has not given up on his NASCAR plans so who knows what he’ll end up doing.

For at least 24 hours this summer we know he’ll be driving a Peugeot