MOTORSPORT: False start for Red Bull

Mid-week motorsport reportThursday, January 17, 2008

No wings from RB4 for Webber and DC
Oh no, not another unreliable Formula 1 car for Mark Webber.

Red Bull Racing's new RB4 had problems at the Jerez track in Spain soon after being revealed there overnight.

Webber's teammate David Coulthard was at the wheel at the time, but it was not a good omen after the torture Webber has endured from mechanical unreliability in his previous six years in F1.

However, it was only day one for the RB4 and the extensive pre-season testing that goes on in Europe through January and February is all about ironing out these kinds of problems.

So let's hope it's nothing too serious with the second Adrian Newey-designed, Renault-powered Red Bull machine.

Webber and Coulthard both had a run in the new model, with the Aussie 0.3 seconds a lap quicker than the veteran Scotsman.

But neither was anywhere near the times of the pacesetters, surprisingly headed by Toyota's new German driver Timo Glock, a former rival of Aussie Ryan Briscoe in the European Formula 3 Championship several years back.

The RB4 was about 2.5 seconds off the mark, but again that may not mean much yet -- even more so as the session was distorted by rain.

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, in McLaren and Renault respectively after the bust-up of their relationship last season, were at the pointy end too.

So too was Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais in a Toro Rosso, the secondary Red Bull team, after his switch from Champ Cars, where he won four titles in a row.

Among those slower than Bourdais were the Ferrari pair Felipe Massa and world champion Kimi Raikkonen as well as McLaren recruit Heikki Kovalainen.

As the RB4 was unveiled, Webber again reiterated the need for much greater reliability this year from Red Bull.

Asked about his target for the season, Webber said: "Do better than last year. Be more reliable -- a lot more reliable than last year. That wasn't good enough.

"We want to start with a faster car if we can, because if you start with a quicker car that's a good position to start the championship in.

"And we want to get a lot more points than we got last year. We missed a lot of points through retirements, with mechanical problems, so we'll see if we can get some of those points back. That would be good."

Webber said Red Bull's aim should be to be on the tails of the BMW-Saubers, which last season were the cars closest to the McLarens and Ferraris.

He's obviously hoping that a Newey-Renault will be better than the French manufacturer's factory car, although that may be too presumptuous.

Our feeling is that Renault could bounce back this year, with the return of Alonso and rule changes -- particularly the limit on wind-tunnel testing -- that may favor it more than other top teams.

"I think we can hold fifth position (in the constructors' world championship), but to be fourth...  it's a big step for us," Webber said (bearing in mind that last year's position was distorted by McLaren's effective disqualification).

"I hope we can distance ourselves from that mid pack -- qualify well in Q1, which makes it a bit easier.

"But it was very tight last year. I hope some teams are producing lemons."

On the removal of traction control this year, Webber said: "No question about it, there will be more crashes.

"We've already seen it in testing. There are more guys going off, there are more red flags, and that is going to happen in races -- that is a 100 per cent certainty."

Of his own performance, Webber said: "Last year was one of my best seasons driving-wise.

"We didn't get to see that in the results, but I think we got some results that were very satisfying, so we hope to do that again this year.

"If the cars are reliable it would be good."

Yes, that could be very good. But, as Webber's original F1 team boss Paul Stoddart was fond of saying, IF is F1 spelt backwards.

Newey said: "I don't think the reliability problems (in '07) came as a result of chasing performance.

"They came through detailed design, manufacturing and operations faults -- and the reliability systems couldn't cope."

Autosport has commented on the RB4: "Outwardly the car appears unchanged.

"A revised rear-end incorporating a new diffuser, gearbox and suspension are evidence that there is change hidden within the car.

"The monocoque is subtly different, while the rear bulkhead and fuel tank area have also been changed.

"It is the diffuser that is the biggest aerodynamic change at this stage of the car's development.

"But compared to the other new cars, Red Bull does not appear to have made the same level of changes."

We believe Red Bull Racing has most of the ingredients for success, and is perhaps better placed than many teams by not being bound by a car manufacturer's culture, but its standing in the championship this year probably depends very much on whether the Japanese teams, Honda and Toyota, improve on their woeful 2007 form.

The FIA would argue it has already been moving ahead well in that direction with its changes foreshadowed for the future, but the European Union clearly wants it to make greater use of its capacity to change public attitudes to green technology.

"Members of the European Parliament recognise the role motor sport can play in changing attitudes and customer behaviour towards environmentally-friendly technology," an EU statement said.

"The House (of Parliament) therefore asks the FIA and others involved in F1 to change their rules accordingly, so that environmentally-friendly technologies like bio-fuels, four-cylinder engines or hybrid can be more easily applied."

F1 teams are already on notice that they have to adopt Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) from the start of the 2009 season.

And the teams agreed recently that, after the five-year engine freeze starting from March this year, they want to move to cheaper and more environmentally-friendly engines.

Williams team link to British political scandal
Patrick Head, who has been Sir Frank Williams engineering partner in the Williams F1 team since its formation in the late 1970s, has been named in a British scandal that it is said could end the career of a prominent British government minister.

Peter Hain, who is Work and Pensions Secretary in Britain, is being investigated for failing to declare more than A$200,000 in donations to his campaign to become deputy leader of the Labour Party.

About A$4,000 of the undeclared donations came from Head.

The Times newspaper reported that both Head and Sir Frank are close to the minister.

>> An abbreviated motorsport report today. We'll report on other matters tomorrow

To comment on this article click here