Formula One News — January 2009

The Renault F1 team ran its R29 for the first time on Monday in Portugal with test driver Romain Grosjean at the wheel. The Swiss driver has moved up to become the team's reserve driver as Lucas di Grassi has moved on.

The Williams-Toyota FW31 made its first apperance on Monday at the Portimao circuit in Portugal. The car is liveried in dark blue for the moment at least and features rather fewer sponsors than were visible in 2008.

One area where there is no cost-cutting at all in Formula 1 is in the price of the hotels at most of the races. Teams are now getting into their bookings for the coming year and are finding that hotel costs are rising more than ever.

The news that Silverstone has landed the MotoGP British GP from 2010 onwards sounded good when it was announced last week, but we hear that there is grumbling within the British Racing Drivers' Club over the modifications that will have to be made the track in order for the motorcycle racers to visit.

The Super Cheap Auto Racing Team, the Queensland-based team run by Paul Morris, is trying to sign Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve to race one of its Holden Commodores alongside Russell Ingall in the V8 Supercar Series.

It is no great surprise to hear that Credit Suisse has ended its relationship with the BMW Sauber team. The sponsorship began back in 2001 and a year later the bank helped Peter Sauber to buy out Red Bull's Dietrich Mateschitz after the two men failed to agree on who should drive for the team.

The Formula 2 field for 2009 is filling up rapidly with 16 drivers now having been announced and a further two signed but yet to be made public. This means that there are only six slots remaining open.

Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo turned up unexpectedly at the Wrooom event in the Italian ski resort of Madonna di Campiglio, meeting Bernie Ecclestone (who was on a similar "surprise" visit over lunch in one fabulous chalets in the area.

In an effort to understand exactly what is going on at Honda Racing F1, we contacted the team's local Member of Parliament, Tim Boswell, to confirm that he had made a complaint to the authorities following requests from members of the F1 team, as had been reported in the Daily Mail.

We reported in November that Ron Dennis was likely to change his role at McLaren and he used the launch of the new McLaren MP4-24 to tell the world about his plans. Dennis will be replaced as team principal by Martin Whitmarsh.

The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 team has launched the MP4-24 with which it will campaign in the 2009 FIA Formula 1 World Championship. Unveiled by world champion Lewis Hamilton and his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, the new car bears little resemblance to its world championship-winning predecessor due to the introduction of new rules that have radically reshaped Formula 1.

We received reports yesterday from inside Honda Racing F1 that there is growing frustration at the way in which the management is handling the sale of the team, and questioning whether the management buy-out is the best way forward for the Brackley organisation. We decided not to react to these and investigate some more, but this morning there were reports of a similar nature in the Daily Mail, which seems to suggest that there are some within the team who are actively campaigning against the idea of a management buyout led by Nick Fry and Ross Brawn.

Luca Marmorini, the head of Toyota's F1 engine development, has left the company.

Panasonic Toyota Racing has launched its new TF109. "Our target this year is to fight to win the first race for Toyota in Formula 1," says team principal Tadashi Yamashina.

Toyota Motorsport GmbH has announced a new three-year deal with its title sponsor Panasonic and at the same time has revealed a significant new partnership with the European subsidiary of the American real estate company RE/MAX.

Bernie Ecclestone will pop in to the Ferrari Wrooom event at Madonna di Campiglio in the Italian Alps today. The visit is understood to be a private one as Ecclestone has been told about the event by his daughter Tamara, who has worked at several of the previous events and can be seen this year, wandering around in Ferrari team gear...

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali hopes that former World Champion Kimi Raikkonen will show his true form in 2009. The Finnish driver seemed to lose his competitiveness towards the end of last season, making a string of mistakes and dropping behind Felipe Massa in the championship. Raikkonen was not happy with instability in the front end of the 2008 Ferrari and hopes that the new car will allow him to be more competitive.

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali says he does not know who is going to win in Formula 1 in 2009.

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali says that the introduction of the new kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) is a waste of money.

Stefano Domenicali has been talking about Ferrari's plans for the coming season at the Wrooom ski event at Madonna di Campiglio in Italy.

Peter Boland, who was employed as a steward on a McLaren executive jet between 2002 and 2007, has withdrawn his case from the Southampton employee tribunal. Boland apologised to Dennis and the team and to the tribunal itself for wasting its time on what he accepted were "unfounded allegations".

Penske Racing has announced that Australian Will Power will join the team in place of Helio Castroneves for the pre-season testing and may stay on in 2009 if the Brazilian ends up being unable to race as a result of the findings of the court. Castroneves is facing serious tax evasion charges filed by the Inland Revenue Service.

TV viewing figures in Formula 1 broke through the 600m barrier last, largely thanks to the extraordinary World Championship showdown between Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton. This was a gain over the dramatic 2007 season, although not by much.

As we suggested last week, it is quite likely that the Honda team will use Mercedes-Benz engines in 2009. The team will be renamed but at the moment there is no word on what it will be called.

The FIA has issued its official entry list for the Formula 1 World Championship. There are no real surprises on the list.