Formula 1 News (February):

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Williams want step forward

Williams technical director Sam Michael reckons this year's FW30 represents "a good step forward" in the team's fight to return to the sharp end of the grid.

The FW30 retains the general structural and layout philosophy of its forebear, featuring a zero keel and dual pillar rear wing, but there are also notable visual changes, including a three plane front wing, increased sidepod top cooling louvres in view of the altered orientation of the water radiators, the sidepod and side impact sails and the increased cockpit sides for compliance with the new driver safety requirements.

Progressive

The car represents a clear engineering philosophy of iteration and progressive development from the competitive and reliable platform of last season's FW29.

"With four years of regulation stability, we have a good basis to be progressive about the development of this season's car," said Michael.

"With a good reliability record last year, we have been able to build on this quality while also turning some of our attention to clear performance objectives.

"Our focus has been on performance as well as refining our packaging and weight distribution. We are designing a tidier car with a higher standard of build quality.

"The FW30 should represent a good step forward when all of the many small areas of attention and improvement are brought together in the overall package."

Williams debuted the Toyota-powered car at Valencia on Monday with test driver Nico Hulkenberg behind the wheel.

The team are again in action on Tuesday with Nico Rosberg, while Kazuki Nakajima will take over the driving duties on Wednesday.

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Briatore: Alonso 'very motivated'

Renault team boss Flavio Briatore is confident Fernando Alonso will suffer no motivation problems after his move from McLaren-Mercedes.

Briatore, who paid a visit to the current F1 group test at Valencia on Tuesday, believes Alonso's troublesome season with McLaren will make him even stronger this year.

Briatore told Spain's as.com: "Alonso makes a difference in many ways, not least in the motivation of the team. We are the same, and have not changed anything since he left, but he has improved a lot, professionally, as a driver.

"A year's more experience does a lot. I see Fernando is very motivated, more so even than in 2006. That contributes a lot to the team."

Suggestions

The Renault boss also played down suggestions that Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr. will fail to gel in the way that Alonso and McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton struggled last year.

"It is impossible [to think that there would be a repeat of the McLaren situation]," he said.

"To begin with, the teams are very different. Yes, at first glance, we have two excellent pilots, [and] Piquet has the chance to be in a big team, with a great driver alongside him.

"But Nelsinho is a young and intelligent boy - he knows what he wants and to have Alonso as team-mate is a great opportunity. He can only benefit from that."

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Ferraris fastest in Valencia

The Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen led the timesheets in the new F2008 on the second day of testing in Valencia.

After just two teams took to the Spanish circuit on Monday, a further eight hit the track 24 hours later with Nico Rosberg's Williams also impressing in the freshly unveiled FW30.

A total of 16 drivers were on show for the multi-team test - watched by an estimated crowd of 35,000 - although only 10 of those took to the track in 2008-spec machinery.

The Spanish public will have been thrilled to see Fernando Alonso post 133 laps in the Renault R28, although he could only manage sixth behind the McLaren pair of Heikki Kovalainen and Pedro de la Rosa.

Williams' second driver Kazuki Nakajima was seventh ahead of Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel, while BMW Sauber will have been perplexed to see Marko Asmer, driving last year's car, outpacing regular driver Nick Heidfeld in the team's new challenger.

Toyota struggled with the new TF108, Jarno Trulli finishing 12th and Timo Glock 14th.

Red Bull Racing's David Coulthard was 13th, Tonio Liuzzi in the Force India car came 15th, while new Honda tester Alex Wurz brought up the rear.

Ttimes from Valencia (day two):

1. Massa Ferrari 1m12.182s

2. Raikkonen Ferrari 1m12.721s

3. Rosberg Williams 1m12.838s

4. Kovalainen McLaren 1m13.026s

5. De La Rosa McLaren 1m13.163s

6. Alonso Renault 1m13.316s

7. Nakajima Williams 1m13.473s

8. Vettel Toro Rosso 1m13.627s

9. Asmer BMW Sauber 1m13.669s

10. Bourdais Toro Rosso 1m13.675s

11. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1m13.779s

12. Trulli Toyota 1m13.820s

13. Coulthard Red Bull 1m13.944s

14. Glock Toyota 1m14.095s

15. Liuzzi Force India 1m15.095s

16. Wurz Honda 1m15.440s

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Kovalainen quickest in Valencia

New McLaren-Mercedes recruit Heikki Kovalainen was quickest overall on day two of the F1 group test in Valencia.

On the second day of a three-day test session at the Ricardo Tormo circuit, the Finn set an unofficial time of exactly one minute 11 seconds.

Kovalainen's effort is comfortably the quickest from the two days so far, with the Ferrari of Felipe Massa second fastest on Wednesday, albeit some 0.6secs slower.

Massa's team-mate, world champion Kimi Raikkonen, was third overall, nearly a second off the pace, with Lewis Hamilton fourth in his McLaren with a time of 1:12.076s.

Launched on Monday, the new Williams FW30 continues to look strong, with Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg fifth and seventh quickest, sandwiching double world champion Fernando Alonso in his Renault.

Improvement

And the Red Bull RB4 continues to improve with Mark Webber eighth overall, although the Australian twice stopped on track.

Nevertheless, Webber said: "I'm happy with the new car.

"Today has been encouraging and, so far, it seems to be a big step forward from last year in terms of reliability and speed, which is great.

"Now we need to work with what we've got and get it as fast as possible before Melbourne. We've got a big four weeks coming up."

With their new F1.08 apparently beset by balance problems, BMW Sauber drivers Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica could only manage ninth and 12th respectively.

Meanwhile, Rubens Barrichello took to the track in the new Honda RA108, completing 36 laps in total, but was only 16th quickest and over 3.5secs off the pace set by Kovalainen.

Times
01 H. Kovalainen McLaren 01:11.000 92 laps
02 F. Massa Ferrari 01:11.662 81 laps
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 01:11.850 108 laps
04 L. Hamilton McLaren 01:12.076 115 laps
05 K. Nakajima Williams 01:12.255 93 laps
06 F. Alonso Renault 01:12.360 111 laps
07 N. Rosberg Williams 01:12.493 117 laps
08 M. Webber Red Bull 01:12.594 87 laps
09 N. Heidfeld BMW 01:12.976 51 laps
10 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 01:13.015 63 laps
11 T. Glock Toyota 01:13.129 95 laps
12 R. Kubica BMW 01:13.230 121 laps
13 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 01:13.307 118 laps
14 A. Sutil Force India F1 01:13.409 98 laps
15 J. Trulli Toyota 01:13.547 95 laps
16 R. Barrichello Honda 01:14.588 36 laps
17 T. Kogure Honda 01:16.761 50 laps

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Mosley's spying warning

Max Mosley has issued a stark warning to Formula One teams, the FIA president saying that those caught spying in the future will, in all likelihood, be expelled from the Championship.

McLaren were fined £50million and stripped of all their Constructors' Championship points in 2007 after they were found guilty of being in possession of confidential Ferrari information.

However, drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were subsequently allowed to challenge for the Drivers' Championship.

Now, Mosley has warned that any team caught in the future cheating in similar circumstances is unlikely to get off so lightly.

"You can never stop what someone has got in his head, but we can stop the transfer of information in written or electronic form," Mosley told the official Formula One website.

"And if you are prepared to check - and we have demonstrated that we are - then somebody using such information would be very unwise because in a modern F1 team you cannot do it without leaving traces, and we will find those traces.

"Next time, whoever it was, I don't think they would stay in the Championship.

"In the case of McLaren everybody said 'oh, a hundred million dollars', but the alternative would have been to exclude them - and that would have been more expensive!"

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Trulli 'suspicious' about ban

With the start of the Formula One season still seven weeks away, Jarno Trulli has claimed that some teams may have already found ways around the banning of electronic driver aids.

Thanks to the introduction of the the McLaren Electronics Systems (MES) standard ECU, drivers will not have the help of aids such as traction control, engine braking and launch control this season.

However, Toyota driver Trulli fears that some teams might be able to get around the electronic limitations conferred by the mandatory standard ECU.

Trulli told Italian magazine Autosprint: "I'm not going to name any names, but I think that some teams have already found a way to automate the starting procedure and reduce to the minimum the chance of spinning the wheels under acceleration.

"I'm not saying someone's cheating, even though we've received some conflicting information at Toyota.

"But having analysed the behaviour on the track both now and in the tests in December, the changes between them are many - and in several cases suspicious."

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Hamilton - No excuses this year

Lewis Hamilton says he will offer no excuses if he fails to win the Formula One World Championship in 2008.

Having led the title race for much of his rookie season last year, the Briton ultimately fell short of the Drivers' Championship after losing out to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

While Raikkonen embarked on a late-season run of form, mistakes from both Hamilton and his McLaren-Mercedes team allowed the Finn to overhaul a 17-point deficit during the final two races.

However, this season Hamilton reckons he is equipped with both the experience and the package he needs to take the World Championship.

"In terms of my (overall) package, there's no excuses," he said.

"Last year the only excuse was that I was a rookie and that it was all new. But this year, I'll continue to learn, so sure, there will always be mistakes but I don't feel there is any room for error.

"Last year I was even surprised by how consistent I was and how little mistakes I made. But this year I have no doubts.

"I know I'm going to be better prepared. I'm already better prepared. And I think we have a better package this year."

Equal treatment

With Hamilton's former team-mate Fernando Alonso prematurely ending his tense relationship with McLaren last November and heading back to Renault, 2008 sees Heikki Kovalainen heading in the opposite direction.

However, in line with McLaren's principal of equal treatment which so irked Alonso last year, Hamilton said that he will not be McLaren's number one driver.

"No I don't (feel like the natural leader)," he said. "I think I established myself as equal last year.

"I just like fairness and I want Heikki Kovalainen to have the exact same opportunities and if he does and I beat him, there's the reward."

Right behaviour

Of his increasingly fraught relationship with two-times World Champion Alonso, Hamlton added his belief that, through the Spaniard's actions, he has learned the right way to behave.

"I think I established myself as equal last year," he said. "He was (the leader) at the beginning, but it changed. Well, he thought he was (the No1 driver) at the beginning.

"But I don't think that should be the case, we should be a team. It should be equal. He showed me just how not to behave as an F1 driver."

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Kimi - Ferrari will be my last team

World champion Kimi Raikkonen has said that he plans to end his Formula One career with Ferrari.

The 28-year-old Finn still has two years to run on his current contract with the Scuderia, and already the team has expressed an interest in extending it.

But while talks have yet to get underway, it appears Ferrari have nothing to worry about as the former Sauber and McLaren-Mercedes driver apparently has no intention of heading elsewhere.

"I do not see any reason to leave here," Raikkonen told Spanish daily Marca.

"I still have two years left of my contract, but in any case I believe that whatever happens this will be my last team."

As for what he wants do when he does opt to leave F1 and Ferrari, the Finn added: "I would like to maybe compete in a few rallies, or something like that."

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Fry - Button more motivated

Honda's Nick Fry has said that Jenson Button is hungrier for success than his team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

After the team's dismal 2007 campaign, in which Barrichello failed to score points for the first time in his career, there had been talk of Honda wanting to replace the Brazilian.

In the end, however, the Brackley-based squad opted to retain the 35-year-old and this season's Championship will be his 15th in Formula One.

And, according to team CEO Fry, it was the combination of the longevity of Barrichello's career and the team's less-than-vintage RA107 car that was arguably responsible for his occasionally lacking motivation last season.

"Jenson is totally committed and flat-out from the first corner, all the time," Fry told The Guardian.

"As for Rubens, I believe he still has all his skill and potential but by the same token I fully accept that after 15 years in Formula One, when we have presented him with a car that is less than fully competitive, it may sometimes be hard for him to maximise his motivation."

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McLaren - Must do better

Ron Dennis is refusing to dwell on last season's disappointment saying the only goal for McLaren is to do better than last year.

The Woking team narrowly missed out on the Drivers' Championship title in 2007 after Lewis Hamilton stumbled at the final hurdle, leaving it to Kimi Raikkonen to win the title by one point.

Despite also losing out in the Constructors' Championship following the 'spy' scandal, Dennis remains upbeat.

The McLaren boss believes his team can go all the way this season and insists they must forget about their rivals.

Focus

Dennis said: "We at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes never underestimate our opposition, and we won't do so this year.

"However, our race, if you like, is with ourselves: our team of engineers, at both McLaren and at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines, is constantly striving to develop our car, and our hope and belief is that we'll do it better and more rapidly than our competitors will."

Asked specifically about whether former McLaren driver Fernando Alonso can put Renault back on the podium this season, Dennis refused to pass comment.

"As I say, our race is with ourselves," he said. "We respect all our competitors, but we don't spend a lot of time worrying about them."