BMW Sauber F1 Team - GP Australia
Preview.
Munich/Hinwil, 24 March 2006. The Formula One circus can look
forward to rather cooler conditions in the next grand prix
of the year following the sweltering heat of the first two
races of 2006. Normally the season curtain-raiser, the Australian
Grand Prix in Melbourne has been given a later slot in the
calendar this time around and will take place on 2 April as
the third of 18 world championship races.
Since last weekend's Malaysian GP, the BMW Sauber F1 Team
has been preparing for the race in Australia with testing
at the Paul Ricard circuit in France. Work has focused on
making further improvements to reliability and building on
the race pace the cars have recently shown.
Nick Heidfeld:
"This season's Australian Grand Prix will certainly have
a rather different feel about it. To start with, the race
has been put back due to the Commonwealth Games, so there
won't be that extra buzz you get when it's the first race
of the season. And because it's later in the year, it won't
be as hot as usual either - the race is a month later than
normal and Melbourne will be getting really quite autumnal.
The Albert Park circuit is nice to drive, but also a demanding
one for the drivers. Because it isn't a permanent race track,
there isn't much grip at the start of the weekend. The situation
improves with each lap as the cars lay down extra rubber.
Australia is my favourite place on the Formula One calendar
to travel to and I tend to fly out to Melbourne a few days
early to get used to the time difference."
Jacques Villeneuve:
"It's always a pleasure to travel to Melbourne, especially
if I have bit of time there to relax before the race. I enjoy
racing at Albert Park - I like the circuit and am looking
forward to the GP. BMW have got a lot of things going on around
the grand prix and that in itself will make it an interesting
weekend for me. As for our performance, I think the two points
we collected in Malaysia show that we can be pretty competitive
- and that was psychologically important for the team. Added
to which, BMW has proved with my engine that they can react
extremely quickly when a problem comes up. There is a very
constructive atmosphere within the team. Having said that,
the circuit in Australia is another that's very heavy on engines,
and this will be my second race with the engine I used in
Malaysia. So we'll have to exercise a certain amount of caution
during the weekend."
Robert Kubica:
"Melbourne is the third circuit in a row that will be
totally new to me. However, my performances in Bahrain and
Malaysia have given me confidence that I can rise to the challenge
on basically any track. On the Friday in Sepang I drove more
or less an entire GP race distance in extreme climatic conditions
without experiencing the slightest problem. Up to now the
team have been happy with my work, and my top priority, of
course, is to collect as much information as possible in Melbourne
in order to help Jacques and Nick in their preparation for
the race. I've never been to Australia but I've heard a lot
of good things about Melbourne, so I'm really looking forward
to this third race of the year."
Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director:
"We'll experience a different side to Melbourne this
year. The Australian Grand Prix isn't the first round of the
championship this season and the race has been put back a
month into the Australian autumn. The city always gives Formula
One an extremely enthusiastic welcome and I'm sure we'll all
be won over by the atmosphere again in 2006.
As far as the demands on the engines are concerned, the nature
of the Albert Park track and the expected weather should make
for pretty benign conditions. After the blistering heat of
Bahrain and Malaysia, it's unlikely we'll be faced with any
extremes demanding special preparation for the engines this
time. The high number of engine changes made by the teams
so far is evidence that the development time allowed for the
new V8 powerplants was simply too short. We are now working
all-out on reliability. As far as basic speed is concerned
we're just about where we want to be, and during the weekend
in Melbourne we'll be looking to build on the good race pace
we showed in Malaysia.
The Australian GP is the last in the first batch of overseas
races in 2006. After that comes the first extended break of
the year, followed by the beginning of the European season
at Imola on 23 April."
Willy Rampf, Technical Director Chassis:
"Following our good race performance in Malaysia we are
confident that we can be similarly competitive in Melbourne.
The character of the Albert Park circuit is very different
from Bahrain and Sepang. It's a 'stop-start' kind of track
and the layout is similar to Imola, which is why we held our
last round of pre-season testing there. The layout of the
circuit means that brakes are placed under serious loads in
Melbourne and we will therefore focus heavily on braking stability
when it comes to car set-up. Another typical feature of Melbourne
is that the track is still fairly dirty on the Friday and
grip only really improves after a significant number of laps.
The last race showed how incredibly tight the field is this
year. That's why it will be extremely important to get the
maximum out of the cars in qualifying."
History and background: On the Monday morning (27 March) before
the Grand Prix, Jacques Villeneuve will already be in action
at the Sandown International Raceway in Melbourne. Singly
as well as jointly with BMW chief instructor Geoff Brabham,
he will meet the drivers of the BMW Celebrity Challenge, held
as part of the GP support programme, and serve as a taxi driver
in the BMW M6. For further details contact Nadine Giusti,
BMW Australia, mobile +61-418-536582.
On Wednesday (29 March) at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club,
a number of Formula One drivers will meet up with Australian
tennis greats John Fitzgerald, Wally Masur and Jason Stoltenberg
for the Pit Stop Tennis Pro-Am charity tournament. Heidfeld
and Villeneuve will also be supporting the cause by playing
tennis with its initiator Mark Webber from 18:00 to 20:00
hrs. All proceeds will go to charities in aid of sick children
and cancer support. For further details contact Richard Chapman,
sparkimpact, mobile +61-417-393237.
Last year saw Melbourne host its tenth grand prix. Up until
1995 the Australian Grand Prix had been held in Adelaide.
Melbourne is Australia's second-largest city with a population
of over 3.2 million. It lies at the eastern end of the continent's
south coast and is the capital of the State of Victoria. It
is a city with many faces: modern architecture rubs shoulders
with historic buildings, and student quarters form a contrast
to the business district. This is where the Yarra River empties
into the ocean. Melbourne's St Kilda district offers a thriving
beach- and nightlife.
Melbourne has lush-green sports grounds and public parks.
The Formula One circuit is right in the middle of the city,
running through idyllic Albert Park and around its eponymous
lake. Compared with modern F1 courses, the pit facilities
are on the small side. By contrast with the spacious facilities
in Bahrain and Malaysia, here the Formula One Teams - who
are generally bereft of their motorhomes at overseas events
- have to set up their canteens in the open air and hope the
weather plays along.
For BMW, the debut race of its return to Formula One will
remain unforgotten: it was the curtain-raiser of season 2000
and saw Ralf Schumacher finish third in Melbourne. A podium
place from the word go marked the most successful entry for
an engine manufacturer since 1967.
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