Parallel Universe: GP1 Launch Day 21st January

[ADx_Wales]

Disclaimer (Serious): Although the names are factual, the actions written in these posts are entirely fictional, any resemblence to actual events is a mere coincidence.

Disclaimer (Sillyous): I mean REALLY, I've read the "Why FOTA championship wont happen", yes the following did not happen, but if I didn't want to take this as unseriously as I do, I would have had the teams use rocketlaunchers (kostas!!!).

The pinnacle of motor racing will never be the same again, the once Everestian Formula 1 has been made to look like a mere knoll. The big furore, that to the outside world would look like handbags at dawn, left the teams belonging to the Formula One Teams Association with no choice but to form their own championship, Flavio Briatore (Renault) and Luca Di Montezemolo (Ferrari) had heated arguments with Bernie Ecclestone (FOM) and Max Mosely (FIA) right up until two weeks ago, when the case for the rights to the top-flight of motorsport could not be resolved, Lord Judge Casement of the High Court, London, deciding the fates of both parties with no choice but to finally head their seperate ways.

GP1 is now the official name of the split series, with some debates as to how the seven FOTA teams are to keep their heads above water, and survive in a championship where probably 4 of them will be successful, the others less so. Each team pledged an estimated $50 million each towards the running of the series, a luxury since the recent financial rebound. The rebound would also be the ace up FOM's sleeve, with "The Original" Formula 1 series still being organised, albeit with the loss of 1 circuit to the rival organisers.

Before launch day, rumours were rife, media sources were scavenging outside the 7 FOTA teams racing departments, in Britain, Germany and Italy, certain drivers were spotted, Timo Glock for instance talking to Renault, Fisichella spotted near a Mercedes factory in Britain. None of the teams wanted to share the secrets beforehand, not even Ross Brawn's phoenix from the flames, now with a big financial stabiliser from Richard Branson, and also a works deal with Mercedes, but those two stories were given no due interest from the press, Michael Schumacher was being touted, and everyone assumed it was to work with Ross Brawn.

Michael Sykes of iracingfan.com, an armchair enthusiast, was given a press-pass to the official launch day and following test session at Paul Ricard HTTT, he had been writing in forums about what he saw on TV, this was his first chance writing about something that he was actually THERE to witness...

5pm CET (4pm GMT) 21st January, Paul Ricard HTTT, France.

I've been nervous all day. I left St. Pancras early this morning, changed in Paris and had several problems getting to the south of France. Also the nerves are with me because this is the first time that I have been gifted the oppertunity to witness F1 cars (sorry, GP1 cars now), at a track, where as a child transfixed to the TV screen, I saw Nigel Mansell win in 1986, but a lot has changed, the sandy looking surface around the edge of the Paul Ricard track have been replaced by the safer, albeit eye-soreing, run off areas.

Arriving about 3 hours before the actual launch, I could see a stage and seating area being prepared upon the final turn Virage du Pont, but from the overprotective distance of the Media Block, the corner and its run-off has been turned into a temporary ampitheatre with a large screen, and sound system to match.

Other journalists are here, not only from the papers and magazines, but also the TV press, who have been restricted in the use of their weapons, before entering they were asked by a security team to part company with their vast array of cameras, as I was only equipped with a dictaphone, something that I was fore-warned about by the FOTA representitive (who not only arrived at my door in Cardiff to personally hand me the Press-Pass, but also guided me to the circuit), I therefore did not have much hassle compared to the "assasins" of the visual media. It is a very cosmopolitan bunch; Us Brits, the French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish journos, all as confused as I am, Flav and Luca have a lot to hide,

8pm CET (7pm GMT)
The sun has long since set, and "us vultures" who has been camping in the Media Office are asked to make our way to the launch area, as we slowly make a pathway from the pit-lane, through the floodlit area of the pit straight, we notice the stage, which is now seating 7 black-cloth covered cars, which the other invited press are assuming will be exactly the same car as last year "A big deal out of nothing", then as we make ourselfes familiar with the Media section of this temporary Ampitheatre, the first array of VIPs arrive, not just apparently famous GP fans, but executives from certain sponsors, the tarmac, the blue zone and red zone have been covered in a carpet more suited to the VIPs attending, who themselves dont seem to be paying much attention to the cars but to the people that invited them, a carefful amount of drinks are being whittled about by flavio's personal catering staff. Then several other guests arrive, the most vital of all, the fans, who were lucky enough themselves to get their own free pass as they are shepherded into the furthest seated area from the stage.

Flavio is the first to appear on the stage to make an introductory announcement, he then apologises for the secrecy from the media but promises "You are in for a treat" he then walks off just as the film begins on the big screen.

The film is not so much racing propaganda, but statistical hijacking, the FIA and FOM may have deleted the records of the defected drivers from their books, but it hasnt stopped the editor of this GP1 intro film from using them in the individual launch montage, starting off with Renault (or to give their official title Total Renault Racing) "2 Drivers Championships, 2 Teams Championships, 35 Race Wins", the on screen footage does not include any of those championships or races being won, but last years car, in computer generated style, then the 3 drivers who will be employed by the team, Timo Glock, Heikki Kovalainen and Sebastien Bourdais, including their archive history avoiding all F1 footage, Bernie's archive is harder to open now that the big teams dont want to play with him.

Then on the screen the team manager Pat Symonds, as the man himself walks out onto the stage, the unveiling car-park, followed by the three drivers, they go to the first car on the left, and as they unwrap the car, the on screen film is replaced by a live-action feed as a close up of the car is revealed on the big screen. The Chasss is pretty much the same, but gone is the white and orange of ING, replaced by more of the scarlet red of Total, the Renault mellow-yellow still remains, there is slight applause, mostly from the Renault and Total VIPs.

BMW are up next, their film montage includes official BMW footage of the teams cars thru the 80s and also test track footage of the 2008 BMW F1 car, then the new lineup appear stage right, Nico Rosberg, Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica, followed by Mario Thiessen, A downside being that when they take off the car cover, exactly the same car as last year, except for the numbers, which for all cars will be a lot bigger, the Renault team have theirs perched right on the tip of the nose, which unlike last year is a lot thinner and similar to that of the 2009 Red Bull, BMW on the other hand have placed theirs on either side of the air intake.

The teams all agreed to keep the 2009 constructors finishing order to decide the numbers, and as Renault and BMW were the teams to score the least amount of points last year (Renault none as they were excluded) it was to be McLaren up next on the big screen, with their car second in on the left, Lewis Hamilton, Adrian Sutil and most suprisingly of all Giancarlo Fisichella appeard , followed by Martin Whitmarsh, Unveiling the #14 car which had "LEWIS" in white text with a bright red background on the rear wing, Vodaphone McLaren, no Santander this year, the press assume why, and some of the witten media chuckle as a VIP is rumoured to have said "I bet theyve gone to Ferrari"

The whole event seems to be processional, and partly dull as we now know how the launch is going to play out, but with the added puzzle of "which driver is where" now that Giancarlo Fisichella suprised us all by turning up in McLaren overalls, upon witnessing it there was a big gasp from the press followed by slight applause, from some of the Italian media.

As for Toyota we knew that Glock had now left, Jarno Trulli was a certainty, but that left the probable employment of Kamui Kobayashi, which became correct, but when Benoit Treluyer followed them on, a loud cheer from the French journalists, and several of the Japanese ones too, Treluyer had been a Toyota employee in Formula Nippon, and at the behest of Tadashi Yamashina the current team boss, was to drive the #12 TGP10, the car unveiled again bared no difference on the 2009 version, the only difference would be on the rear of the car, much like the other 6 team's cars, a mandatory rear diffuser.

Ferrari's montage up next, but we knew who was going to drive for them, Alonso, Massa and Raikkonen were announced ages ago, the Santander sponsorship deal was like a mountain, not only because it was huge financially, but we all saw it coming, Marlboro had now left the sport, the longest serving team sponsor in motorsport history, had to move with the times.

Red Bull, and Virgin Brawn Mercedes were the final two we were all waiting for. Red Bull's livery now included the big-red-blur of the giant bull, that once caressed the Toro Rosso cars of F1 seasons in recent memory, not that it was the most important Toro Rosso implant, Sebastien Buemi now had a chance to race with the "first team" just like Sebastian Vettel before him, Mark Webber was also included.

That left the coverd car in the middle, the VBM, Jenson Button was going to defend his much deserved 2009 title no matter what series the team were going to be involved in, with Barrichello leaving after his own personal opinions of team play, Anthony Davidson would be given a chance in the #2 car, but for the third seat everyone in the press not only predicted, but WANTED it to be Schumacher, Richard Branson was in with the VIPs trying to keep tight lipped on who was where, earlier on in proceedings the press were very reasonable in asking questions but Branson, no matter how much a man of publicity, had to repeat "I know who's driving, but I'm not telling you", the big-screen montage was into its 30th minute, a combination of dull but then mild sparks of suprise, but would we be recieving the "happy ending"?...

The 2010 GP1 Team and Driver Lineups

Total Renault Racing (France, Britain)
2 Drivers Championships, 2 Teams Championships, 35 Race Wins
Colourscheme: Yellow and Red
20- Timo Glock (Germany)
21- Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) - 1 Race Win
22- Sébastien Bourdais (France)
Team Cheif: Pat Symmonds

Petronas BMW Sauber (Germany, Switzerland)
1 Race Win
Colourscheme: White and Dark Blue
17- Nico Rosberg (Germany)
18- Nick Heidfeld (Germany)
19- Robert Kubica (Poland) - 1 Race Win
Team Cheif: Mario Thiessen

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes (Britain)
12 Drivers Championships, 8 Teams Championships, 164 Race Wins
Colourscheme: Silver and Red
14- Lewis Hamilton (Britain) - 11 Race Wins - 1 Drivers Championship
15- Adrian Sutil (Germany)
16- Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) - 4 Race Wins
Team Cheif: Martin Whitmarsh

Panasonic Racing Toyota (Japan, Germany)
Colourscheme: White and Red
10- Jarno Trulli (Italy) - 1 Win
11- Kamui Kobayashi (Japan)
12- Benoît Tréluyer (France)
Team Cheif: Tadashi Yamashina

Scuderia Ferrari Santander (Italy)
15 Drivers Championships, 16 Teams Championships, 210 Race Wins
Colourscheme: Red
7- Kimi Räikkönen (Finland) - 18 Race Wins, 1 Drivers Championship
8- Fernando Alonso (Spain) - 22 Race Wins, 2 Drivers Championships
9- Felipe Massa (Brazil) - 11 Race Wins
Team Cheif: Stefano Domenicali

Red Bull Racing Renault (Austria, Britain)
6 Race Wins
Colourscheme: Dark Blue, Red and Yellow
4- Sebastian Vettel (Germany) - 5 Race Wins
5- Mark Webber (Australia) - 1 Race Win
6- Sébastien Buemi (Switzreland)
Team Cheif: Christian Horner

Virgin Brawn Mercedes Racing (Germany, Britain)
1 Drivers Championship, 1 Teams Championship, 8 Race Wins
Colourscheme: Black, Red and Silver
1- Jenson Button (Britain) - 7 Race Wins, 1 Drivers Championship
2- Anthony Davidson (Britain)
3- Michael Schumacher (Germany) - 91 Race Wins, 7 Drivers Championships
Team Cheif: Ross Brawn

...as the the first two VBM drivers came onto the stage, there was mild applause, as soon as Schumacher was witnessed there was applause from everyone, and several cheers from the real fans behind us, it was probably what the fans and media wanted. Ross Brawn had pulled off the coup that would stamp GP1's arrival. The man himself and the drivers went on to unveil a sleek looking livery with the same pattern as the Brawn machine that took Jenson Button to victory, but with a prodominantely black livery, the dayglow yellow replaced with bright red, and the black replaced by a refective silver.

Once the launch was over, the press hurried back to the media centre to print their findings, and their personal opinions, to the world. The slighly bemused news reporters, who were expected to film some sort of report for TV, had to make do with a copy of the video that was displayed on the big screen, mixed in with the live footage of the Drivers and Cars being revealed.

The prawn-sandwich brigade left for home, the majority unopinionated, the minority giving their two cents to the press, mostly about Schumacher, the teams and some of the press would stay near the circuit overnight, testing begins tomorrow, probably with the same amount of protection from the prying eyes of visual media professionals as there was tonight.

[shinji]

Epic. Keep this going.

[SuperAguri]

Nice story, although disappointed that you haven't seen fit to get Rubens Barrichello a ride but you saw fit to get panel beater Sebastian Bourdias a ride... plus Paul Ricard is owned by a certain Bernie Ecclestone who probably wouldn't have let the FOTA teams use it... what happened to Toro Rosso too? Did they stay in F1? (Unlikely due to the Red Bull link to the FOTA series) Did they get disbanded due to them not being able to afford the $50m?

[TomWazzleshaw]

Nice story, although disappointed that you haven't seen fit to get Rubens Barrichello a ride but you saw fit to get panel beater Sebastian Bourdias a ride... plus Paul Ricard is owned by a certain Bernie Ecclestone who probably wouldn't have let the FOTA teams use it... what happened to Toro Rosso too? Did they stay in F1? (Unlikely due to the Red Bull link to the FOTA series) Did they get disbanded due to them not being able to afford the $50m?

I think it was mentioned in one of the earlier parts that STR merged in Red Bull during the whole thing

[ADx_Wales]

Disclaimer: This is fiction, the the actions of the actual names in this high speed sport are also fiction.

maybe he wasn't fully owning HTTT in this universe? maybe bernie doesnt have it all his way anymore?(7pm)
As we were all now waiting in the Media building, different conversations kept us all going, the most vociferous of the Journo's was Patrick Lovett, he'd been writing for Weekend Racing Weekly for 20 years, and highlighted the 'Divorce Settlement' after all the battling in the High Court.

"It's big risk coming here, Bernie used to co-own this place with Flav, but then I guess you have to make these decisions, the brave ones, to show that you are not afraid, to put a really big first bet in and say 'ok, lets see you beat this', I dont know how long GP1 will last if Flav and Luca get this wrong, I'm trying not to be negative here, but this is not the only series to split, and look what happened to it"

maybe Bourdais wasn't at toro rosso at all?
(from renault's launch intro)
Flavio was concerned about the lack of French contingency in F1, once there was no French driver there did not seem to be a reason at Magny Cours, he kept saying it in the build up, including the announcement of the GP1 Season calendar for 2010, which is why Luca was talking to the ACO in 2009, which is why the Mulsanne is on the GP1 calendar, which is why Sebastien Bourdais was (Finally) roped in from America, it was the McDonalds money that kept Seb in the US, He dominated Champcar enough for the corporates at the fast-food giants to noice him, and get him to switch codes just before Champcar imploded and had no choice but to join the IRL too. McDonalds were also spotted on the Renault car. Having being tempted by Toro Rosso in 2008, he finally decided to make his move, now to make his mark like Montoya, or be an absolute abberation like Andretti.

maybe barrichello wanted to keep his official race win records with the FIA?
maybe he retired from F1/GP1?
maybe he has an ace up his sleeve?

Once the launch was over, we hurried back to the media block to print our findings, and our opinions, to the world, there were some concerned opinions, about the lack of south american drivers, with the calendar heading to 2 venues there, no Barrichello? As the press people we kind of expected it, 4th in the drivers championship for 2009, the man who had to suffer the "second driver treatment" at Ferrari and did not want any more at Brawn, but for arguments sake they had to make sure Button was champion, or lose it all, Reubens could not take it on the chin, a victim of F1? yes, will he be back behind the wheel this year? doubtful.

[ADx_Wales]

Disclaimer: I'm a PC and Parallel Universe GP1 was my idea.

Throughout the weekend:

-For the first official test on the full Paul Ricard circuit, unfortunately the Mistral had to be chicaned halfway along, not just for safety purposes, but because it resembled the mulsanne back straight, for which it was assumed important to practice.

-The weather was cloudy, but not enough to challenge the teams and drivers by emptying themselves onto the circuit, It was expected of all the drivers in the new championship to take part, including 7 more for "rookie" testing. Unfortunately there were two missing, they were contracted, but feeling unwell, Jaime Algesuari was due to test the Red Bull, and Sakhon Yamamoto for Toyota, which meant an expected 26 drivers would be completing laps this weekend.

-More announcements were made via press releases, ING would be the title sponsor of the new series, there would also be a backup plan if thee mid-season Mulsanne test in the run up to the Le Mans support race, incase it was too dangerous to run the cars, and with TV deals still being arranged, the first 3 round would be broadcast live on the internet, via a method simiar to ChampCar's own "Race Director" online broadcasts.

-As the cars were still based on last year, there were very little reliability issues, the occasional minor part would fail, but nothing disastrous. Except for Renault, considering they were out of F1 for the final rounds of the season, one of their Engines blew on saturday.

-Aero rules
The teams would be presenting their 3 Aero packages, which is also something they would have to stick by as the season progressed, much like the engine rule, there are 3 types of front wing, and 3 types of rear wing, and before qualifying begins in each weekend the team must decide which to use and will have to stick by them for the rest of the racing weekend, all their wings are checked off and given a FOTA label and serial number, which meant that teams could not make any improvements to them. Here are the 3 aero types:

Aero 1 (Speed)
Low downforce, for fast tracks.

Aero 2 (Grip)
High downforce, you can see where this one is going

Aero 3 (Le Mans)
A specially designed aero package that will be put into practice on the Mulsanne circuit. To avoid the aerodynamic flips that occurred on a number of occasions when Mercedes entered Le Mans in 1999

-Alonso Sets the Pace, but only just.

Fernando Alonso has topped the timing sheets in the combined nine-hour test at Paul Ricard, the 3 hours a day weekend, consisted of a mix of full fuel testing, and one lap wonders, this was in aid to test Michelin's first grand prix tyres in 5 years.

Fernando's lap was 1.38.526, which was achieved on the Sunday, the warmest of the days the GP1 cars were there. But Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton just about clinging onto Fernando's tail.

Michael Schumacehr was 7th fastest on his comeback to top-flight racing, with his new team mate Jenson Button only just ahead of him. Michael still wears the bright red on his helmet to distinguish himself from the other drivers, Button keeping the dayglow yellow from 2009, and Anthony Davidson using the "inverted eddie cheever" looking white and blue.

It is easy to assume that by looking at the list that Renalt were slow despite the past experience of Timo Glock and Heikki Kovalainen, but with the times amazingly close for a 3 day testing session, it's still early days to predict who will be fastest off the start and across the finish line in Kyalami next month, with another testing weekend in Valencia to go.

[SuperAguri]

Come on you can't do a half hearted test report and not do a timing sheet, I mean I am sure a lot of us are wondering where Kobayashi did.

[ADx_Wales]

I must apologise for that, i thought i had it all sussed out, timesheets and all, but my best laid plan went wrong.
However, come the race weekends I will be posting some form of grid order, followed by race results.