How to build a Lola in 90 Seconds

We're fairly confident engineers at Lola will keep their day jobs and have provided Nick Heidfeld with a car worthy of the wee German's nickname...


(video: Lola/Autohebdo)

Awkward...

Nick Heidfeld showed up at Spa in full Renault F1 regalia giving interviews left and right. The German is suing Lotus Renault after being kicked out of his seat in favor of a well funded Bruno Senna and in advance of a court hearing in two weeks, Heidfeld wanted to make sure he fulfilled the terms of his contract to a t. I imagine if both Bruno and he showed up at a sponsor event? ....aaaaawkward.

One has to believe there is more behind this story than is out right now. Lotus must be desperate for money, otherwise why keep the driver with less championship points? Petrov comes very well funded of course while Little Nick was getting a hefty salary.
Then again who knows, maybe Heidfeld is unbearable.... in any case, I'm sure Nick stroked his beard when he saw this...



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What exploded on Heidfeld's Renault?

(photo: Sutton)

Nick Heidfeld pulled over right after his pitstop during the 2011 Hungarian GP, with his Renault engulfed by fire. The first official word was that the forward exiting exhaust had somehow broken and overheated the bodywork. But if you look at the clip after the jump you can see a fairly massive explosion which appears to injure one of the marshals trying to put out the fire.

What blew up? it's not due as the file cell is not in that location and there was no fire with the explosion. Could it have been a KERS battery? thoughts

As Formula 1 turns, episode 1476.

Just a few days away from the first of the 2010 car launches, let's catch up with the latest circus news.

Mercedes: With Nick Heidfeld now officially signed as reserve driver, the German national team is complete and we've enjoyed watching the hilarious PR dance going on pretending Michael Schumacher is not being named #1 driver.

The story they came up with about Schumi being "superstitious about even numbers" has to go down as one of the funniest ever. Why is it even a PR issue to name a seven time world champion, returning to the sport after three seasons, one of the biggest stories in motor sport history, number one over a young guy who has zero wins in 70 starts, is a mystery. Does anyone honestly believe that team will not revolve around Schumacher?

USF1: They finally signed an American driver and by American we mean from Argentina of course. And by signed we mean they will take the check signed by Jose Maria "Pechito" Lopez's sponsors, some say as much as eight million dollars, a deal which has come together with help from prominent Argentinian politician and ex-Peter Windsor managed F1 driver Carlos Reutemann.

Ferrari: Why are they not publishing Massa's test lap times, to protect Massa or to protect Rossi? Why would they protect Rossi?

Lotus: Will return with an all black livery... add gold?





end of post

Open Door Policy.

Pos Driver        Team                      Time             Laps
 1. Alonso        Renault              (B)  1:39.404           33
 2. Button        Brawn GP-Mercedes    (B)  1:40.178  +0.774   33
 3. Barrichello   Brawn GP-Mercedes    (B)  1:40.209  +0.805   34
 4. Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:40.385  +0.981   39
 5. Nakajima      Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:40.503  +1.099   35
 6. Sutil         Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:40.596  +1.192   23
 7. Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  1:40.643  +1.239   34
 8. Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:40.681  +1.277   31
 9. Vettel        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:40.723  +1.319   33
10. Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:40.738  +1.334   31
11. Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1:40.739  +1.335   39
12. Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:40.770  +1.366   32
13. Grosjean      Renault              (B)  1:40.787  +1.383   35
14. Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:40.956  +1.552   37
15. Glock         Toyota               (B)  1:40.985  +1.581   30
16. Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:41.156  +1.752   34
17. Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  1:41.350  +1.946   29
18. Badoer        Ferrari              (B)  1:42.017  +2.613   37
19. Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:42.089  +2.685   34
20. Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:43.214  +3.810    3

All timing unofficial

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Bmw-Sauber F1.09 Presentation

We should do a "caption this" contest for this picture of Nick Heidfeld looking over his 2009 ride at the Valencia circuit in Spain today.

Robert Kubica also looks a tad puzzled, perhaps he's wondering if the car was built to fit him or his two pocket sized team mates. BMW obviously spent big bucks for those two banners on the side of the family picture but, perhaps afraid to be labeled as big spenders, went for the no tie look for its directors.

The car has the same fat and flat nose as the Renault, not the prettiest but we'll see how it goes soon enough.

More pictures after the jump.

Silly F1

So readers don't think we always pick on poor Lewis Hamilton.... 

(photo: Sutton via Red Bulletin)

Cruel, cruel internets....

People are just SOOO MEAN.... What did Lewis do to deserve this? Oh wait, he said "yes, I'll do it."

Check out this other knee slapper courtesy of BMW Sauber! And who are these PR clowns who actually think these lame stunts are a good thing?

Three Wide

This was one of my favorite moments from the last GP in Malaysia. Clip starts onboard Alonso's Renault in a sandwich between Couthard and Nick Heidfeld. Alonso trying all he can to get past the Scottish Chicane, finally suckers him into taking a too defensive line and gets the jump off the corner. But when Coulthard moves over to try and block him, Heidfeld in the BMW makes the right guess and burns them both. Great bit of racing in a formula where there is not supposed to be any passing...

Highly technical

A Formula 1 driver spends year training to analyze car performance and convey his impressions in a language his engineers can understand. Witness BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld describe an engine issue in highly technical terms!

Catty F1 News

When Christian Horner said David Coulthard was "...still very hungry" was he referring to David's Nicole Ritchie days?

"In my mind the only way I could keep my weight down was by making myself vomit."

Meanwhile, BMW Sauber ended any speculation of an Alonso switch to the Hinwil outfit by confirming they will again be running the glamour twins of F1, Kubica and Heidfeld.






To celebrate, they allowed Little Nick to speak to the media:

...well, you should see the other guy!

Ron Dennis has unleashed another world class spin attack (in collaboration with his technology partners, of course). After the sound beating in the French GP where his third place car finished thirty seconds behind and never in contention, Dennis took credit for McLaren being bad enough to make Ferrari look good! Now THAT is a talent.

Speaking of talent, Alonso's pass on Heidfeld in the Le Mans chicane at Magny Cours was one of the highlights of the race and shows the amazing talent of both: Alonso for passing where nobody would dare and the BMW-Sauber driver for realizing what was going on and not crashing into the World Champion.



download

photo by AEF1

BMW-Sauber F1 at the Ring, first report, photos and video

Now that a few days have passed since the event, and it's apparent many fans around the world were disappointed BMW did not "go for it" and try to improve on Stefan Bellof's mythical 6:11.
I believe it was a no win proposition for BMW: if they tried and failed or worse crashed it would have been terrible PR. If they tried and did set a new time, many might have said "so what, of course a modern F1 would trash an 80's Porsche...big deal" more bad PR. So, in the end, BMW did the smart thing, got a huge amount of interest worldwide and made fans happy.
For those wondering "what if..." the onboard footage in the short clip below where Heidfeld is not slowing for pictures, provides a clear answer as to what the result of all out lap would have been.



BMW and Heidfeld write history on Nordschliefe

BMW has written another chapter in motor sport history on the legendary Nordschleife at the Nürburgring. On Saturday, a modern Formula 1 vehicle was driven round the 20.8 kilometre race track for the first time in 31 years in front of a crowd numbering 45,000 BMW Sauber F1 Team driver Nick Heidfeld was extremely enthusiastic after three laps in the F1.06:
"This drive was simply incredible. I thought it would be great to drive on the Nordschleife before I started out. But it was even better than I had expected. This racing track is the best in the world.......

read the complete press release HERE


Photos Daniel FlinkmannFlinkmann.de





















YouTube fan videos so far...





More Photos popping up....
by Markus Becker



by Andreas Adolph

Waiting for Quick Nick

A shot from the Nürburgring web camera of the Nordschleife's entrance, today between 4:30PM EST and 5:15PM, Sauber BMW is running their Formula 1 car on the circuit, the first time an F1 car has run there since Niki Lauda's accident in 1976. Looks like the weather is perfect for the lap. We will bring you video as soon as available.



If you refresh the page every 60 secs, maybe you'll get lucky and see the F1 car go by in the picture below! If you catch Nick and you SEND THE SCREENSHOT TO US we will send you a set of Axis of Oversteer stickers. Happy hunting!



Update from F1-Live.com:

Nick Heidfeld will have his wings clipped when he tackles the Nurburgring's famous 'Nordschleife' layout in a BMW Sauber this weekend.

For a BMW event, the German will drive the 21km layout known as 'Green Hell' that almost claimed Niki Lauda's life back in 1976.

But team officials have clipped Heidfeld's wings by arranging that his F1.07 is equipped only with 'demonstration' Bridgestone tyres - which are significantly slower than the real thing.

Heidfeld is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport as revealing that he is 'disappointed' with the news.

It also emerges that 29-year-old Heidfeld will not round the Nordschleife's notorious and famous banked 'Karussell' section. "Obviously not," Team Principal Mario Theissen told the news agency sid, explaining that the steep and bumpy concrete banking will be off-limits to a modern Formula One racer.

Ultimate performance of Heidfeld's car will also be compromised by an extraordinarily high ride-height, but Theissen insisted that he thought the BMW Sauber would still reach impressive top speeds in excess of 300kph.

30,000 spectators are expected to watch the event unfold trackside on Saturday.

I found this Photo from the ring....yup they are wild and crazy guys up there in the Black Forest!