Jenson Button put the new Brawn GP BGP 001 through its paces in a shakedown test at Silverstone on Friday. The team will head to the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona next week and then Jerez for a further three days testing before packing up and heading to Australia for the opening Grand Prix on 27-29 March.
As the pictures below show, Jenson Button is clearly happy to be back in a Formula One car and Rubens Barrichello looks happy just to be there.
Two main nose shapes seemed to have emerged in the 2009 car designs. The BGP 001 has the low nose favoured by the likes of McLaren and Williams rather than the high style of the Toyota and Force India. The sidepods are high and wide like the McLaren and the front wing seems to be quite a complex arrangement.
Overall I think it’s quite a nice looking car. Enjoy the pictures.
Autosport.com have posted the first image of the new Brawn GP BGP 001. Jenson Button took the team’s 2009 challenger out for a few shakedown laps of Silverstone today ahead of the car’s first full test in Barcelona. According to Autosport, “the car features a wide low nose, and highly sculpted sidepods”.
There is also a distinct lack of sponsorship although that’s nothing new for this team…
But the big question on everyone’s lips is, will the car be be any good? I think there are reasons to be hopeful.
Honda have produced some fairly rubbish racing cars lately but they knew pretty early on in 2008 that their car sucked and even sticking “dumbo ears” on it wouldn’t make it more driveable. So presumably Honda switched their development to the 2009 car a long time ago; sooner, even, than BMW and news coming out of Honda over the last few months always seemed to point out the team were still working on the 2009 car.
Secondly, the Mercedes-Benz engine the team have acquired is looking pretty handy in the new Force India car and it powered Lewis Hamilton to the Championship last year. I’m actually quite impressed the team have managed to fit the new engine so quickly. We don’t know how long Brawn GP have had the Mercedes-Benz powerplant to work with but refitting the VJM02 to the new engine caused a lot of work for Force India as a change of engine and gearbox causes knock-on effects to other areas of the car. Of course the Brackley engineers outnumber the Force India team but to get the engine integrated in a relatively short time is good work. Whether this engine transplant causes reliability issues we will have to wait and see.
And lastly, they have Ross Brawn in charge. The man knows his racing cars. While Brawn couldn’t rescue Honda from the RA108 last year, this is now his team and he has been involved in the complete development of the new car.
So we won’t have an idea how fast the new car is until the Barcelona test and we won’t really know if can be competitive until we get to Melbourne. Can’t wait.
Image: LAT
The new JPH01 Formula Two car was unveiled at Brands Hatch on Monday. The car was rolled out in front of Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head before British Touring Car driver Steven Kane took it out on the track.
Designed by Williams, the car is powered by a 1.8 litre turbo Audi engine with 400bhp on standard boost and 450bhp on overboost.
While GP2 has been the main feeder series for Formula One in recent years, for much of the history of Formula One, Formula Two has been the stepping stone to the top series.
Formula Two first started in 1948 as a cheaper complement to the expensive Formula One Grand Prix cars. In fact, in 1952 and 1953, Formula One was so expensive and there were so few entrants that all the Championship races in those years were run with Formula Two cars.
Now, after an absence of 25 years, the FIA are hoping the return of Formula Two will provide an affordable route for young drivers to progress to Formula One without having to find the enormous sums required for GP2.
The top three finishers in the 2009 Formula Two Championship will be eligible for FIA Superlicences and the Champion will win a test with the Williams Formula One team.
The driver lineup includes ex-F1 driver Martin Brundle’s son, Alex and World Champion John Surtees’s son, Henry as well as Natacha Gachnang who is the cousin of Toro Rosso driver Sébastien Buemi.
The F2 Championship starts at Spains Circuit de Valencia in May, partnering the World Touring Cars.
More pictures of the launch below:
Force India have officially launched their 2009 challenger, the VJM02, at the Circuit de Jerez in Spain on Sunday.
Pictures of the new car, which uses a Mercedes-Benz engine and McLaren gearbox, hydraulics system and KERS, were posted on the internet on Saturday.
Force India’s 2008 car used Ferrari power but a partnership deal signed with McLaren in November meant the team had a lot of work to do to adapt the VJM02 to the Mercedes-Benz engine and McLaren gearbox.
Force India failed to score any points last year, something that team boss Dr Vijay Mallya wants to see change in 2009:
I would like to see a strong start, rising to points mid-season and a definite improvement in qualifying. Regular points finishes should be the aim.
Force India have missed the first two group test sessions and Giancarlo Fisichella admits they are at a disadvantage launching their new car so late:
It is a disadvantage as its important to drive as much as you can before the start of the year to get a feeling with the car and try and establish a good set-up. Its not easy in just four days, especially with the new rules coming in this year. We are just going to have to try and get as much as we can from these eight days before the season.
Giancarlo Fisichella will kick off the testing of the VJM02 on Sunday and Monday, with team mate Adrian Sutil taking over for the final two days of testing.
February 28th, 2009
David
Force India’s 2009 challenger, the VJM02, is due to be launched at Jerez on Sunday but pictures of the new car have been posted on the Force India website.
The car has a new paint scheme for 2009 that uses the saffron, white and green colours of the Indian Flag.
The sidepods have an interesting squarish shape and the wing mirrors look like they have been sculpted into little aerofoils. Force India have decided not to carry over the shark fin from the VJM01.
The McLaren powered car will take to the track for the first time at Jerez on Sunday.
Pictures of the new car are below:
