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F1 teams to reduce engine costs

Formula One teams have agreed to cut the cost of customer engines by more than £12m from 2011, according to Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo.

The move comes after motorsport boss Max Mosley asked the teams to come up with ways to cut costs in F1.

Montezemolo said that engines sold by manufacturers to teams would be slashed in cost in the future.

"We unanimously decided that by 2011 an engine will cost £4m, compared to the £16m plus they used to cost," he said.

The move will be a huge help to the smaller teams as they try to survive in F1.

Mosley has been concerned that F1 costs are now so high that privateer teams such as Williams, Red Bull and Force India – who do not make their own engines – are effectively unable to compete.

He has demanded all the teams agree ways of keeping costs down – and said he will come up with his own solutions if they fail to do so.

F1 constructors have recently created an organisation called the Formula One Teams Association (Fota) to represent their interests in conversations with governing body the FIA, of which Mosley is the president, and commercial body Formula One Management, run by Bernie Ecclestone.

Di Montezemolo has been nominated the chairman of Fota.

Montezemolo also revealed that he smashed a television set after watching McLaren's Lewis Hamilton snatch the world title from Felipe Massa at the final Grand Prix of the season at Interlagos.

"I broke the television, I must tell the truth," he said.

"When a television breaks it makes a terrible bang. My daughter in the other room was given an awful fright.

"Luckily we had another television so I was able to watch the podium ceremony, which I enjoyed."

Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk

Alonso would love to join Ferrari one day

Double Formula One champion Fernando Alonso would love to join the Ferrari F1 team one day according to his manager Lius García Abad. But According to Alonso's manager there are currently no negotiations with the Maranello based team.

Italian media claimed on Monday that Alonso would have signed a contract at Ferrari to join the team as of 2011. Alonso's manager though doesn't want to jump into any conclusions. "We don't have to make a secret out of it that Fernando would love to join a team such as Ferrari one day. But we're not even close to the year 2011 so it's still a bit early to talk about such a possibility," Garcia said. "Formula 1 is in a difficult position at the moment due to the economic situation so it is extremely difficult to look at any long term plans in F1."

Source:
http://f1.gpupdate.net

Toyota give Caldarelli maiden test

By Steven English

Toyota gave a first Formula One test to 18-year-old Italian Andrea Caldarelli in Bahrain this week.

Caldarelli has been a member of the Toyota Young Driver Programme since 2007 and finished third in this season's Formula Renault Eurocup.

He completed 128 laps during Monday and Tuesday in the TF108, finishing with a best time of 1:33.170 - two seconds off Jarno Trulli's qualifying time at the same track earlier this year.

"This has been a great experience for me and I have thoroughly enjoyed it," said Caldarelli. "To get the chance to test a Formula One car when I am still only 18 is such a good opportunity and I was determined to make the most of it.

"Obviously, the TF108 is a big step up compared to my usual car. The power is amazing but so are the brakes, and the grip you have going round corners takes a few laps to adjust to. I think I did a good job considering the circuit is new to me and this is my first full F1 test.

"I would like to thank Panasonic Toyota Racing for giving me the chance. This experience gives me extra motivation to fight as hard as possible to one day race a Formula 1 car."

Timo Glock was also testing this week, analysing the new Bridgestone slick tyres with a low-downforce configuration and working on Toyota's KERS development. The team expect to test their KERS for the first time on track in January.

Glock completed 258 laps during the week with a best time of 1:32.090. The team's test driver Kamui Kobayshi completed the team's annual test mileage by running for 33 laps today.

Source:
http://www.autosport.com

Formula One News

- Toyota targets Kubica, Kimi
- Ferrari reaches Alonso deal to replace Raikkonen
- Schumacher tips Button for title
- Alonso planning KERS slingshot
- Hamilton conscious of Force India pace
- Lewis to receive 2010 Lorenzo Bandini award
- Barrichello Wins European Grand Prix in Valencia
- All the F1 action in Spain was off the track
- Schumacher Begins Preparing for F1 Return
- Ferrari optimistic about Massa recovery
- Positive scan outcome for Massa
- Hamilton and McLaren take shock win in Hungary
- Mark Webber: It feels great to finally win
- Aussie rules! Webber romps to victory in Germany
- Teams agree to scrap Kers system

Formula One Archive

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Ex-French Open champ Costa is Spain's new captain

BARCELONA, Spain -- Former French Open champion Albert Costa was named Spain's Davis Cup captain on Thursday, a month after the team beat Argentina for the 2008 title.

The 33-year-old Costa replaces Emilio Sanchez Vicario, who stepped down after leading Spain to its third Davis Cup title with a 3-1 win over Argentina in Mar del Plata.

Costa was a member of Spain's first Davis Cup winning team in 2000. He also won 12 ATP singles titles during his playing career, including the 2002 French Open. He is currently coaching Feliciano Lopez.

"I accomplished a lot of my dreams as a player, winning at Roland Garros and now I've managed another one, becoming captain of our Davis Cup team," said Costa, who agreed to lead Spain for one year.

Costa's debut will be a first-round World Group match against Serbia at Benidorm from March 6 to March 8.

"We're very ambitious. We want to keep working really hard and we want to win the Davis Cup again," Costa said.

Sanchez Vicario, who led Spain for three full seasons after taking charge in October 2005, had publicly pushed for the Spanish tennis federation to pick Costa.

Sanchez Vicario announced his retirement after Spain's unlikely victory -- it came with top-ranked Rafael Nadal unavailable due to injury -- against the heavily favored Argentines.

"He did an incredible job and he's kind of left me in a bad spot. It'll be nearly impossible to better what he did," Costa said.

Costa had an 11-8 career record as a player in 13 Davis Cup series.

Source:
http://sports.espn.go.com

Background:

When Kimi joined the Sauber Formula 1 team in 2001 he was only 21 and had raced in only 23 car races in his life. But he had won more than half of them. He raced go-karts until age 19, and was Finnish champion and he also did well in the international series. He began car racing in 1999, and in 2000 he won the British Formula Renault series. He also raced in three races in European Formula Renault, winning two of them. Michael Schumacher saw him testing in the Sauber in 2000 and said that he had a bright future in Formula 1.

His Career Thus Far:

In his first year in Formula 1 Kimi proved that he had his place in the sport despite having so little experience racing cars. Even so, he finished the championship in ninth position with nine points. But his teammate, Nick Heidfeld, finished in seventh position, with 13 points.

McLaren-Mercedes nevertheless decided that Kimi was a driver for the future, and signed him up for the following year. (This was a blow to Heidfeld, who had been nurtured as a Mercedes driver for years.) In his first year at McLaren, Kimi finished sixth in the series with 24 points, compared to his teammate David Coulthard's fifth place finish in the series and 41 points. That was, however, the last time his teammate would do better than him. Raikkonen won his first race in 2003 and finished second in the championship, missing the title by two points to Schumacher. He won seven races in 2005 and again finished second in the series, but this time to Fernando Alonso. He joined Ferrari in 2007 hoping he would finally win the title at the sport's most successful team.

Raikkonen the World Champion:

The 2007 season was a four-way battle for the drivers' title between the two drivers of the McLaren Mercedes team and the two drivers of the Ferrari team. But from early in the season to the very last race, Lewis Hamilton, the rookie driver at McLaren, created the show. Kimi fell behind his teammate, Felipe Massa, for several races and looked out of the running. With two races left, Lewis spoiled his 17-point lead to score only two points, while Kimi won the two races for a perfect score, to win the drivers' title in the last race. In 2008 he won only twice.

Driving Style:

Although Kimi lost the title mostly because of the unreliability of his car in 2005, he has been publicly accused of driving his cars hard. In fact, Kimi's style is marked by such an apparently superhuman and cool, incisive approach that he developed the nickname of Iceman. He is very fast on a single lap, but is also a master of fighting his way up the pack.

Character:

His cool character, light complexion and icy blue eyes also contributed to his nickname, but Kimi remains the coolest of drivers. Whether he wins a race or his car breaks down and robs him of certain victory, the Finn stays cool and detached, showing little emotion of any kind. That he is in fact human is clear in his private life from his occasional, highly-publicized blowouts at parties.

Photo:
http://newsonf1.net

Source:
http://formula1.about.com