2005 FEATURES PAGE
2005 Pre Season Preview by Derek Matkovic:
Scuderia Marlboro Ferrari
Drivers:
Michael Schumacher (Germany)
Rubens Barrichello (Brazil)
Principal test drivers:
Luca Badoer (Italy) Marc Gene (Spain)
Car:
F2004M (To be replaced later in the season by a proper 05 car
- F2005)
Engine:
Ferrari 90 degree V10
Car designer:
Rory Byrne
Sporting Director:
Jean Todt
Technical Director:
Ross Brawn
Engine Designer:
Paulo Martinelli
Well what a season 2004 was for the team from Maranello,
the team really dominating the season from the start with
Michael Schumacher going on to win his sixth world drivers championship.
Will 05 bring the same success, well of course
only time will tell, but looking at the organisation
and the continued continuity this team has you would certainly say on paper at
least they should be quite capable of dominating again.
But, they are going to start the season with a
modified version of the 04 car and this could be a weak-spot
in the Ferrari juggernaut, as we are as I am sure
Ferrari, aren't all that sure how the 2004M will stack up against the purpose
built for the 05 regulation cars from the other major teams and if they struggle
with the modified car you could see a rushed introduction of the 05 car,
none the less I still expect Ferrari to be the
front runners this season. As for the drivers,
well what already hasn't been said about Michael Schumacher.
The six time champion continues to lead the team as strongly as the day
he arrived there and with
teammate Rubens Barrichello to back him up Ferrari
definitely have nothing to worry about on the driver front.
Lucky Strike BAR Honda
Drivers:
Jenson Button (England)
Takuma Sato (Japan)
Principal test drivers
Anthony Davidson (England), Enrique Bernoldi
(Brazil)
Car:
B.A.R 007
Engine:
Honda RA005E 90 degree V10
Car Designer:
Geoffrey Willis
Chief Executive Officer:
Geoffrey Willis
Chief Race Engineer:
Craig Wilson
F1 Project leader Honda R&D:
Takeo Kiuchi
2004 for BAR was a friutfull one indeed. By all
standards this team finally proved to it's self and to everybody else that they
were serious contenders and that the bad old days when they were seen as a
cashed up laughing stock was history when they managed to finish second in the
constructors championship ahead of such teams as Renault,
Williams and Mclaren.
Can the 2005 season take them that one step further well to be honest
I have my doubts. The 007
BAR has not shot out of the blocks in testing like the previous 006 did though
it has not been all that bad and on top of that they have been having trouble
getting the all new Honda engine to go the distance,
but I am sure they will sort this out in time.
On top of this there has been a reshuffle in the top management with the
very successful David Richards being replaced?? (some say at Honda's urging
their influence in the team getting stronger) by Nick Fry who ironically was a
managing director under Richards at Prodrive, these
type of upheavals certainly do take time to adjust to.
So while I do not see second in the constructors
championship being repeated this year I still expect
BAR to be up there competing none the less, but it
will be tougher for them. The drivers.
Jenson Button certainly led the team well last year scoring points in
every race he finished in and will be expected to do the same this year,
but the controversy of the Button's attempted move to Williams certainly
would have tarnished his reputation within the team no matter what the PR people
say, so this year should go a long way to seeing
weather he can live up to the reputation he cultivated for himself
(driving wise) last season and continue it into 05.As for Takuma Sato the
Honda protégée certainly proved he has the speed to drive an F1 car but
consistency still remains a problem for him. If he can
settle down a bit he could give Button a much harder time of it in 05.
Mild Seven Renault F1 Team
Drivers
Fernando Alonso (Spain)
Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy)
Principal Test Driver
Franck Montagny (France)
Car:
R25
Engine:
RS25 72 degree V10
Car Designer:
Tim Densham
Team Managing Director:
Flavio Briatore
Technical Director:
Bob Bell
Executive Director of Engineering:
Pat Symonds
Engine Project Leader:
Axel Plasse
2004 was a bitter sweet year for the Renault F1 team, while they managed to get
Fernando Alonso in to third in the drivers championship, they also got beaten to
second by BAR Honda in the Constructors Championship,
something that they will not want to happen again this year. The Renault team go
into 05 with a partly new driver lineup, gone is Jarno Trulli and in comes his
highly rated countryman Giancarlo Fisichella who comes over from a year at
Sauber to partner the talented Spaniard Fernando Alonso who is now in his
second season with the team. The addition of
Fisichella to Renault should really give them the direction that they need to
make that next step to more consistent top three results not only in qualifying
but the races as well as Fisichella has proven he is strong in both.
As for Alonso well we know what he can do being a past winner of GP's and
he has a mountain of potential, partnering with Fisichella
should really bring that to the full this year. It
will be fascinating to see who comes out on top at the end of the season.
The car(R25) has been doing well in the tests and looks like being an
improvement on the R24 and the new RS25 Renault engine has definatly been strong
on the reliability and power fronts. Renault certainly
could be a very real threat to Ferrari's dominance in 05.
BMW Williams F1 Team
Drivers:
-Jason Winton (Australia)
Nick Heidfeld
(Germany)
Principal Test Driver:
Antonio Pizzonia (Brazil)
Car:
FW27
Engine:
BMW 90 degree V10
Car Designer:
Gavin Fisher
Team Principal:
Sir Frank Williams
Director of Engineering:
Patrick Head
Technical Director:
Sam Michael
BMW Motorsport Director:
Mario Theissen
Well! what can you say about Williams 04 season.
Disappointing is definately a word that most readily
describe how it all went for them considering in 03 they took the drivers title
with Montoya but were really out classed in 04.Well this is 05 now and it has
been all change at Frank's team starting with the appointment of two new
drivers. The extremely
talented Australian Jason Winton comes in for Montoya and in the second
seat the often under-rated German Nick Heidfeld
takes over from fellow countryman Ralf Schumacher.
These two should really bring a new spark to the team if you like and
especially in Winton's case really be able to drive the team forward towards
being a consistent force in the championship again as Winton definatly has the
ability to draw a team around him the same way Michael Schumacher does.
It will be interesting to see how Heidfeld does
against Winton this year, he is no slouch and he is
finally getting his chance to prove himself, let's see
if he can. The FW27 is all change to with a much more
Williams like conventional design than was last years FW26 and with the always
good BMW engine in the back it should be a much better year for team Williams.
West McLaren Mercedes
Drivers:
Kimi Raikkonen (Finland)
Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia)
Principal Test drivers:
Alex Wurz (Austria) Pedro De La Rosa
(Spain)
Car:
MP4-20
Engine:
Mercedes Benz F0110R 90 degree V10
Car designer:
Adrian Newey / Mike
Coughlan
Team Principal:
Ron Dennis
Team Manager:
Martin Whitmarsh
Mercedes Motorsport Manager:
Norbert Haug
Mclaren's 04 season is one that they are wanting to forget quickly
I am sure and even though Raikkonen
managed to salvage some pride for the Woking team by winning two races in the
back half of the season, this will not have been
enough for Mclaren who are used to a lot more than that.
Will 05 see the team get back to greatness?.
Well signs are looking like it just might. To start with the new MP4-20
mated to the brand new Ilmor designed Mercedes engine has been showing a good
turn of speed in tests and reliability has also been
good and that will be important this year. The drivers
are quite complimentary also about the cars characteristics so this all bodes
well for a great improvement for the team in
05.Speaking of the drivers and the biggest talking point for most people in the
F1 community has been how will new boy Montoya go against the hotshot Finn Raikkonen.
Well to be honest I think you will find it will
be pretty even on the track. The advantage
I think Raikkonen may have
is his ever cool persona, nothing seems to get to him
as opposed to Montoya who can get a bit hot headed at times.
But remember this Montoya has won the championship(03).
If Ron Dennis can keep them both in check it should be an interesting
stoush between them.
Sauber Petronas
Drivers:
Jaques Villeneuve (Canada)
Felipe Massa (Brazil)
Car:
C24
Engine:
Petronas 05A 90 degree V10
Car Designer:
Willy Rampf
Head of Aerodynamics:
Seamus Mullarky
Team Principal and CEO:
Peter Sauber
Head of Vehicle Engineering:
Jacky Eeckelaert
Head of Powertrain:
Osamu Goto
Team Manager:
Beat Zehnder
Sauber had a respectable year in 04 finishing sixth in the constructors
championship ahead of factory backed teams Jaguar and Toyota.
The team certainly showing that it was capable of developing a car to be
capable of holding it's own against all but the very
top of the F1 tree. Can they do it again in 05?,well
to be fair I think it will be a lot tougher for them
this year. Firstly the extremely strong driver lineup
they had last year of Fisichella and Winton have moved
on to be replaced by F1 returnee and ex World Champion Jaques Villeneuve and the
young Brazilian driver Felipe Massa. Now you would
think that having a ex world champ in your team would be a big advantage and
I think Peter Sauber may have got starry eyed and
thought the same thing, but looking at Villeneuve's
performances when he filled in at Renault last year for the last
two races he only managed to score one seventh place
finish with his performances in the other being quite lackluster.
For Sauber's sake let's hope he was just rusty.
As for Massa well he is quick but experience is his problem,
though in saying that I expect him to give Villenueve a few problems this
year which should help his confidence and reputation.
As for the Sauber C24, I expect it to be as good if
not better than the car it replaces as Sauber do have a good solid engineering
base and as for the engine, well, we all know where
they come from originally don't we so they should not have any problems on that
front. It will be a tougher year for Sauber no
question, but they have proven in the past they can
punch above their weight. Let's hope they can
do it again.
Red Bull Racing
Drivers:
David Coulthard (Scotland) Derek Matkovic (Australia)
Principal Test Drivers:
Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Christian Klien (Austria)
CAR:
RB-1
Engine:
Cosworth Racing TJ2005 90 degree V10
Car Designers-Rob Taylor/ Head of Aerodynamics:
Ben Agathangelou
Sporting Director:
Christian Horner
Technical Director:
Gunther Steiner
Deputy Technical Director:
Mark Smith
Head of race Engineering:
Gerry Hughes
Head of Advanced Engineering:
Andrew Green
Head of Vehicle Science:
Chris Hammond
The Jaguar team has new clothes .After the pull out of
Ford from Formula One a brand new team has risen from
the ashes that once were team Jaguar and that team is now Red Bull Racing owned
now by the Austrian energy drink company of the same name and it's F1 enthusiast
owner Dietrich Mateschitz. The driver lineup for the
teams first year comprise of the experienced Scot and Mclaren refugee David
Coulthard and Australian driver Derek Matkovic.
Coulthard's inclusion in the team is a good move that was instigated by the
teams previous managers David Pitchforth and Tony
Purnell who were sacked earlier this year and with his experience (9 years at
Mclaren) he should be able to guide this team through it's first F1 season and
help develop the car. As for the teams second driver
Derek Matkovic well all I can say is he certainly is a
survivor if nothing else and to be fair he has shown improvement over his two
years in F1 so far and seems to be following along a similar path Pedro Diniz
did in the sense when he cast off the pay driver status he became a reasonable
driver. Though I still
expect Coulthard to be the dominant driver, I think
Matkovic will be able to back him up reasonably well though he is going to have
to cool some of the things he says to the press as he seems to get frustrated
quite easily and wears his heart on his sleeve
sometimes, he would be wise to learn as much off DC as
he can as for that matter should the team. The car has
been quite good in testing so far as has the new Cosworth engine that some say
is producing over 900 horse power this year and is
doing it reliably .So this is a team that could
surprise from time to time over the course of the season.
Possibly a team to keep an eye on.
Panasonic Toyota Racing
Drivers:
Jarno Trulli( Italy)
Ralf Schumacher(Germany)
Principal Test Drivers:
Ricardo Zonta Brazil) Olivier Panis
(France)
Car:
TF105
Engine:
Toyota RVX-05 90 degree V10
Car Designers:
Mike Gascoyne/Gustav Brunner
General manager F1 operations:
Richard Cregan
Toyota chairman and Team Principal:
Tsutomu Tomita
Toyota Motorsport President:
John Howett
Director Technical Co-ordination:
Keizo Takahashi
Technical Director Engine:
Luca Marmorini
Formula One is a hard thing to succeed in and Toyota found this out to their
dismay last season when all they could show for their disastrous 04 season was a
lousy five points in the constructors championship.
Well the word from Toyota HQ is that 05 had better be a lot better than that and
with the changes that have been made to the team in the off season it had
certainly want to be. The biggest changes of course
have been in the driver lineup that Toyota will use for the 05 season,
they being Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli.
Now both of these guys certainly constitute the most experienced driver lineup
in the form of front running drivers that Toyota F1 has had in it's short
history, so in the sense of knowing what a front
running car should be like they will be able to help Toyota no end there,
but they do have there faults like Ralf Schumachers occasional
disinterest in races when things aren't going to plan and Jarno Trulli's
seemingly unexplainable ability not to be able to carry his qualifying pace over
to the race at times though to be fair he did improve in this area last year.
When all is said and done though this is probably Toyota's best chance of
getting it 'right',a lot is going to hinge on Mike Gascoyne's first full Toyota
F1 design and throughout testing the team and drivers have been upbeat and
complimentary about the TF105 though Trulli has been complaining about the car
destroying the rear tyres which could be a factor on some circuts.
The Toyota engines have been reliable and seem to have plenty of power
again thanks to Luca Marmorini and his crew. Let's
hope that there is a 100% improvement in Toyota's fortunes for 05.
They are going to need there to be.
Jordan Toyota
Drivers:
Narain Karthikeyan (India)
Tiago Monterio (Portugal)
Principal Test Driver
Robert Doornbos (Holland)
Car:
EJ15
Engine:
Toyota RVX-05 90 degree V10
Managing Director-Midland F1:
Colin Colles
Sporting Director-Midland F1:
Trevor Carlin
CEO of Midland Group:
Alex Schnaider
With the sale by Eddie Jordan of his team to Alex Schnaider's Midland group,
the Jordan team as it will still be known this year until it's change to
Midland in 06 will really just be treading water for the 05 season,
simple as that really. The two drivers that the
team have hired for this year India's first F1 driver Narain Karthakeyan and
Portugese driver Tiago
Monterio are in the team because
point (A).they know new sporting director Trevor Carlin and
(B) they have money.
Now it is easy to be critical and you can't blame
the drivers as they are coming in at a very difficult time for this team,
but one wonders weather either of them will be retained when Midland
racing comes into being next year as I am not sure
either of them are up to F1 standard, but
I guess we will see. As for
the car well the last Jordan ever the EJ15 is really nothing more than a
modified version of last years struggling EJ14.so don't expect it to set the
world on fire any time soon. The strongest point of
the car I suspect this year will the Toyota engine but
even that will not be enough to get this team off the back of the grid in 05.
Minardi Cosworth
Drivers:
Patrick Friesacher (Austria)
Christijan Albers (Holland)
Principal Test Driver:
Chanoch Nissany (Isreal)
CAR:
PS04/B
(To be replaced later in the season
by a proper 05 car - PS05)
Engine
Cosworth 90 degree V10 (05 spec)
Team Principal:
Paul Stoddart
Director in charge of young driver development:
Gian Carlo Minardi
Technical Director (Car Designer):
Gabriele Tredozi
The perenial back markers of F1 and i don't see too much changing for the 05
season. Minardi is a team that struggles just to
survive let alone compete, but survive they do under
the stewardship of Australian Paul Stoddart. The
driver lineup as it does most years has changed again and this year Minardi will
place it's cars in the hands of Dutchman Christijan
Albers and Austrian Patrick Friesacher, Albers coming
out of the DTM championship in Germany in which he has competed for the last few
seasons. Minardi will start the season with an up
dated version of the PS04 until their 05 version comes on line later in the
season in which Stoddart has high hopes as i am sure
for that matter do all of the team. The
engine they will use will be the same Cosworth engine that the newly
formed Red Bull Racing will be using this year, so at
least that is something in their favour. But as
I said
earlier I don't see to much changing for Minardi throughout 05,
though if there 05 car turns out half decent they may be able to
challenge Jordan. We shall see.