Formula 1 News (February):

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Fisi plays down Alonso factor

Giancarlo Fisichella insists it will take more than just Fernando Alonso to pull Renault out of their slump.

After winning back-to-back World titles with Alonso in 2005 and 2006, the team lost their top driver to McLaren last season and subsequently suffered a slump in form.

Renault failed to clinch a single victory last season in the defence of their title and only managed one podium finish. The team still finished third in the Constructors' Championship, but were 153 points behind Championship winners Ferrari.

This season, though, sees Alonso returning to the team, while Fisichella has left for Force India. And although the Roman reckons Alonso is a talented driver, he feels it's going to take more than what he can offer to put Renault back in the hunt for the titles.

Frustrating

"It was such a difficult and frustrating season," said Fisichella told Autosport magazine.

"At the start of last year, I was confident we would be able to fight for the Championship - but the car just wasn't as quick as it was in 2005 and 2006.

"Even with Fernando going back there - now Fernando is a great driver, it's what he does best, but he still needs a good car, and I don't know if Renault is ready to win again yet.

"I'm a little pessimistic about their chances."

As for his own new team, Force India, Fisichella admits race wins will not be on the cards this season but that does not mean the team cannot achieve that in the future.

"I still love Formula One," he said. "I absolutely love driving and I love the sport... another reason I wanted to stay in F1 is because Force India looks like a very promising programme.

"I want to be part of that from the start and I want to grow up with this team."

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Head - 'FW30 still too slow'

Patrick Head admits that Williams' new FW30 is not yet fast enough to challenge the likes of Ferrari and McLaren-Mercedes.

The team's 2008 challenger made an impressive debut at Valencia last week, with drivers Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg both breaking into the top six on the timesheets.

But despite the apparent improvement in speed compared to last year's car, Williams co-owner Head says they still have some way to go to bridge the gap between themselves and F1's frontrunners.

"The car is better and faster than last year's," he told Autosport. "But we can still see there is a good gap between Ferrari and ourselves, so we have got a lot of work to do.

"Like most of the teams we are expecting to develop our car before the first race in Melbourne, but I doubt we will be sitting on the first row of the grid in Melbourne. I hope we are reasonably well up though."

Faster

Asked for his thoughts on the FW30's first test, Head said: "We are never happy... it was okay. It is never acceptable, but it is the right direction. It is a faster car, but not fast enough yet."

Nevertheless, Williams' former technical director - and now engineering director - is refusing to put forward his predictions for the new season, claiming testing times are not necessarily an accurate barometer.

"I don't know," he said. "Before the season starts you never know where everyone is, but certainly behind Ferrari and McLaren it looks quite close."

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Max - Lewis can top Schumi

FIA chief Max Mosley believes Britain's Lewis Hamilton can become the most successful Formula One driver of all time.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen pipped Hamilton to last year's world championship in a thrilling climax to the season in the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, where the rookie was denied after suffering a gearbox problem.

But Mosley insists the 23-year-old McLaren driver will have many more chances to win the championship and could even potentially overhaul the seven won by German legend Michael Schumacher.

"If you are thinking about the drivers dispassionately, it was Raikkonen's turn more than Lewis'," said Mosley.

"But Lewis will get plenty of turns. Unless something dramatically goes wrong, he will win several championships.

"I think Ron (Dennis) said the other day, that to have missed out on the championship by a point, to have won four races and been on the podium in the first nine races in his first season is a record that will take a very long time before it is equalled.

Record

"If he races for as long as Michael did then he may very well beat his record, but there are some very good, young drivers about, so he is not going to have an easy time."

Although Hamilton only recently signed a new five-year contract with McLaren, believed to be worth £10million per year, there were occasions last season when the 'spygate' scandal seemed to be affecting him.

Hamilton even suggested he could quit F1 if the politics continued to impact on him.

"Lewis and everybody else has to recognise it is a complex sport, and we (the FIA) do our best," added Mosley.

"But when you think in our case the ball changes between events, and it's different for each team, while there are also 50 to 100 modifications on each car between each pair of races.

"We're trying to keep on top of this and make sure nobody does something that is unfair, and the teams are spending mega-bucks on research and development.

Improve

"McLaren have something like 140 engineers trying to improve the car constantly.

"To put each pair of cars on the grid you've something like 800 to 1,000 people at the top end all concentrating on looking for anything that might give them a thousandths of a second advantage.

"We're looking all the time to see they've not done something that is outside the rules to get those fractions, so it's complex.

"My advice to Lewis would be to put the money in the bank and don't worry about the politics. As long as he keeps driving quick he will be all right.

"I'm sure when he said what he did it was the emotion of the moment.

"You can understand him saying 'I'm fed up of this' which he is entitled to say, but I don't think it would be a considered judgment."

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Heikki - I can beat Lewis

Heikki Kovalainen has warned "superstar" team-mate Lewis Hamilton to expect a tough battle at McLaren-Mercedes this season.

After spending his first season in Formula One with Renault, Kovalainen joined McLaren at the end of last year in what amounted to a swap deal with Fernando Alonso.

Deemed to be one of F1's up-and-coming stars, the Finn still has some way to go to live up to his billing - Kovalainen overcoming a tough start to his rookie season before putting together a string of points-paying results and outpacing Renault team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella.

With McLaren, Kovalainen will likely have every chance to realise his potential and the 26-year-old says he intends taking full advantage of the opportunity by not only beating his team-mate, but also by winning the World title.

"I learned a lot from last year. I got a kick in the butt to raise my game. It was important to work with the team to understand why I was slow. It was about understanding the details," he told The Daily Telegraph.

"My goal is to win the World Championship. I believe I can beat Lewis. The team guarantees me the same car, so I have a chance. I just need to make it work.

"Lewis almost won the Championship last year. He gets a lot of attention. He is the superstar. What can I do?

"I need to make my own mark. If I win the Championship then this time next year people will be more interested in me."

Pitfalls

Nevertheless, Kovalainen is determined to avoid the pitfalls that bedevilled McLaren last season, with the team's policy of equality leading to a feud between rookie Hamilton and double world champion Alonso.

"I don't know what went wrong last year. I think I can bring things to this team. And I can learn a lot," Kovalainen added.

"I can't see myself getting into trouble politically. It's not my business. I'm not interested too much in that side of things.

"I drive the car as fast as I can and try to beat everybody. If I can't do that I'll work with my engineers to be stronger. I like to keep things simple."

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Barrichello still driven

Almost 16 seasons after making his Grand Prix debut for Jordan, Rubens Barrichello is still going strong, and he has no intention of calling it quits just yet.

Barrichello, who is set to become Formula One's most experienced driver at the Turkish Grand Prix this year, surpassing Riccardo Patrese's record of 256 starts, says he will remain involved in the sport until his body tells him otherwise.

Hunger

"I haven't reached the peak of my physical performance yet," said Barrichello, whose contract with Honda expires at the end of the season.

"There is a time when in athletics, my running will go down. I haven't reached that yet. And I am just too glad to go through Eau Rouge flat.

"What can I do? It is just that feeling I miss. That is why I do the go-kart racing, that is why I put so much effort into it. I love being there in the middle of things.

But if I don't feel competitive in some way, then it is time to stop.

"I am grateful for everything I have had, but I don't think this is my last year. From deep inside I don't pretend to stop. I don't have any contract signed yet and so on, but I feel good. But I feel I am going to stop before someone tells me to."

The Brazilian is adamant that he is not getting tired of the sport despite his long career.

"It is amazing, because at the end of the day you think it is the same thing again for the whole time all over again," the 25-year-old said.

"But it is the excitement of a new era. Honestly, from deep inside, if it wasn't for how much I loved the driving, I love my kids and family and I would just stay at home to not be in this cold English weather."

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Alonso - Renault can win it

Fernando Alonso insists Renault can challenge for the world championship this season.

The Anglo-French team struggled without the Spaniard in 2007 after Alonso had delivered back-to-back world titles the previous two years, finishing 153 points behind constructors' champions Ferrari.

Plenty of pundits are predicting that this year's championship will again be a straight contest between Ferrari and McLaren, but Alonso sees things differently.

"Nobody knows at the moment what will happen. It's a very open championship," Alonso said at the launch of 2008 Renault, the R28, in Paris.

"But everybody is talking about Ferrari and McLaren, so as long as they keep talking about them then we can be more relaxed.

"We need more testing in February to try to find the performance. Hopefully then it will be enough to fight with the other teams.

"The entire team is absolutely determined to get back to the top. They are pushing very hard and that is a big motivation for me."

Racer

Driving for McLaren, Alonso finished third in the championship last year - the Spaniard saying that such results are not good enough for a man of his ambition.

"First and foremost I am a racer, and I obviously want to win," he added. "I will do my maximum to make that happen because I know what is expected from me.

"Some people have suggested I have unfinished business from 2007, but that's not the way I look at it.

The 26-year-old is clearly delighted to be back with Renault after a fractious season at McLaren.

"It has been great coming back to Renault," he said. "For me, it was very easy because I already knew the team well, with the first day back at the factory for the seat fitting as if time had not moved on.

"It was like the end of 2006, and I was very happy and comfortable with everybody in the team."

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Briatore wants wins

Podiums and race wins are on Renault's agenda for the upcoming Formula One season, according to team boss Flavio Briatore.

After a disappointing 2007 campaign, which saw Renault finish third in the Constructors' Championship - no less than 153 points behind Ferrari - Briatore is determined to see his team return to the form that saw them win World titles in 2005 and 2006.

However, in order to do that, Renault must improve upon their 2007 performance levels which saw only one podium finish - Heikki Kovalainen's second place at the Japanese Grand Prix.

"I believe that Renault need to be fighting for podiums and fighting for winning races, we need to be protagonists of the show," Briatore said during the official launch of the new car, the R28, in Paris on Thursday.

"There is only one winner of the Championship, so it is not easy, but we need to be there fighting for the podiums and a 50 percent chance each time we start to be in the top four."

Briatore's sentiments were echoed by Carlos Ghosn, president of the Renault Group, who believes that, with the R28 and drivers Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr., Renault can return to the sharp end of the grid.

"I am confident, I've been at tests and we have great drivers and a great team. We are a team of winners and I hope we meet the expectations of the public," he said.

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Renault need to improve fast

Fernando Alonso admits Renault have to quickly improve the performance of their new R28 car if they are to be compeve with the front of the grid.

Although Renault only officially launched their new car in Paris on Thursday, the R28 already had its first big test against its rivals at Valencia last week.

The Spaniard, who is making his return to the team with whom he won both his World titles, put the car through its maiden trial on three of the four days.

However on days two and three, when the rest of the F1 teams were also in action, he found himself down in sixth place on the timesheets, over a second off the pace.

Alonso concedes that at present it is a concern for Renault because if the season was to start right now Renault would not be in contention for podium finishes never mind race wins.

Fight

"At the moment, there is not any possibility to fight for podiums or wins, or things like that, so that is the first priority of this winter tests and the first race," he said.

"To close the gap, and to be behind them (Ferrari and McLaren) two or three tenths is not such a big problem. But to be one second or eight tenths, like we are at the moment, is a little bit too much."

The double World Champion has urged Renault to resolve their difficulties before the season starts on March 16 in Australia.

"It is time to move forward. We have enough problems with this year's car, and to improve it, and to develop it - and to try and get used to the new regulations. It is impossible to think about the past, we have to move forwards," he added.

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Renault need to improve fast



Fernando Alonso admits Renault have to quickly improve the performance of their new R28 car if they are to be competitive with the front of the grid.

Although Renault only officially launched their new car in Paris on Thursday, the R28 already had its first big test against its rivals at Valencia last week.

The Spaniard, who is making his return to the team with whom he won both his World titles, put the car through its maiden trial on three of the four days.

However on days two and three, when the rest of the F1 teams were also in action, he found himself down in sixth place on the timesheets, over a second off the pace.

Alonso concedes that at present it is a concern for Renault because if the season was to start right now Renault would not be in contention for podium finishes never mind race wins.

Fight


"At the moment, there is not any possibility to fight for podiums or wins, or things like that, so that is the first priority of this winter tests and the first race," he said.

"To close the gap, and to be behind them (Ferrari and McLaren) two or three tenths is not such a big problem. But to be one second or eight tenths, like we are at the moment, is a little bit too much."

The double World Champion has urged Renault to resolve their difficulties before the season starts on March 16 in Australia.

"It is time to move forward. We have enough problems with this year's car, and to improve it, and to develop it - and to try and get used to the new regulations. It is impossible to think about the past, we have to move forwards," he added.

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Massa in confident mood





Massa: fourth in 2007




Felipe Massa insists he can beat Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen to the 2008 world championship.



Raikkonen clinched the 2007 Drivers' Championship by one point over McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton while Massa finished fourth in the standings after being hit by reliability problems throughout the season.

But while the Brazilian admits winning the title last year may give Raikkonen the upper hand, he is confident he can beat his team-mate to the Drivers' crown this season.



"There's always an advantage when you win something, as it happened to me when I won my first race," he said.

"But from a performance point of view we are equal: to become World Champion you need everything, luck too, and he had more than me.

"But this year I feel strong and motivated as ever because I know I have everything to fight on an equal footing."