2008 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX PREVIEW
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes new driver line-up for the 2008
season, Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen, will make their
race debut as teammates in Australia next weekend.
The Australian Grand Prix will take place in Melbourne for
the 13th consecutive time. It is also the 12th occasion the
race has opened the new season, with the 2006 race moving
to an April date due to the Commonwealth Games.
With a length of 5.303kms, the track is the eighth longest
on the 18 circuit calendar. Spa-Francorchamps is the greatest
distance, at 7.004kms, with the streets of Monte Carlo the
shortest, at only 3.340kms.
In 1997, the McLaren Mercedes Partnership achieved its first
victory in Formula 1 when David Coulthard won the Australian
race. This Grand Prix also saw the first win for Mobil 1’s
SuperSyn lubricant technology in Formula 1, which has now
transferred from track to road use. Last year Albert Park
saw the debut race of the new Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Partnership
and heralded two podium finishes. Lewis began his Formula
1 career in Melbourne by taking third place. It was the start
of nine consecutive podium finishes, which he achieved up
to and including the British Grand Prix in July.
LEWIS HAMILTON
What are your expectations, and also your motivation,
for 2008, your second season in Formula 1 and with the Vodafone
McLaren Mercedes team?
"I generally don’t ever demand or have expectations
of myself or anyone else, I am more focused on targets. Obviously
the targets for the team and for myself are to win as many
races as possible, improve on my performance from last year,
finish all the races and for the team it is to win the Constructors’
Championship as well. My motivation is even higher than last
year, but in a slightly different way. I would say last year
was an uncontrollable determination and excitement and just
not really knowing what was coming up, just going into the
deep blue. Now I know what to expect, I know about my preparations
so I am storing energy. To some people it might appear that
I am quieter or something along those lines, but I am saving
all this energy for the first race, and I cannot wait to get
out there."
In the shorter term, what is your aim for the Australian
Grand Prix?
"We need to go there with total confidence in the car,
which I have and to get off to a really good start, it needs
to be the best start possible. So I am going there with the
aim of winning the race, and we will all work hard to try
and achieve that."
You had a sensational start to the 2007 season at
Albert Park last year, what is the outstanding memory of the
race for you?
"I think the first corner has to be one of the best memories
for sure, I will never forget that moment. Also finishing
on the podium for the first time and only just finishing third,
so close behind second position. It was my first race and
all the expectation was riding on my shoulders from everyone
else, but I just focused my targets and got a great result."
What are your feelings about the MP4-23 prior to
its competitive debut?
"I feel very positive about it, I think we have made
some mega steps forward and the reliability is even better.
The car feels stronger than last year, and despite the removal
of areas such as traction control, it is also very similar
in certain ways. I think we have come a really long way already
before the first Grand Prix, and I am confident we will be
able to compete with the other teams"
HEIKKI KOVALAINEN
What are your thoughts ahead of your debut race with
the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team?
"I am looking forward to my first race with the Vodafone
McLaren Mercedes team, I think I have prepared well and I
hope I can have a better start to the season than last year.
This is my target, but I am aware that I still need to learn
many things, I am still in a learning process with the team
and I know there are things I need to improve. But I believe
I have a solid base and we are ready to get out there and
start the season."
And what are your aims for this season?
"At the moment for me the focus is just on the first
race and trying to start it better than last year. Hopefully
we can finish the race and have a good start to build on.
Then later on in the year, trying to improve the performance
all the time. To be honest, for me it is better not to think
too much about anything but the first race"
Are there any specific challenges in racing for a
new team for the first time?
"No, I think the most important thing is to stay calm,
keep your head cool and don’t let anything disturb you.
There will be a lot of attention because it is a new team
for me, but I will just keep focusing on the job with the
engineers and mechanics."
You have spent 18 test days in the MP4-23, how have
you seen it develop in this time?
"I knew that Vodafone McLaren Mercedes always developed
the car well before and during the season, but it is very
easy to feel the changes we have made to the car between the
first and last test day. We have improved the MP4-23 reasonably
well and I hope this strength continues throughout the season,
with the car getting better all the time. We have been able
to put more grip in the car, make it more drivable, the whole
package is moving forward all the time."
MARTIN WHITMARSH, CEO FORMULA 1, VODAFONE McLAREN
MERCEDES
Are the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team and the MP4-23
ready for the Australian Grand Prix?
"The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team has completed, and
in fact exceeded, our planned pre-season development plan
with the MP4-23. The car is over 90% new from the car that
finished the Brazilian Grand Prix and is the result of over
1000 people in Woking, Brixworth and Stuttgart working intensely
to get it to the grid in Melbourne. The MP4-23 has covered
14,275 test kilometres over 21 incredibly busy and productive
days, including two days at Menorca, and we are satisfied
with where we are and now want to get out on track in a competitive
environment. But we are not being complacent and not standing
still. Whilst the team travels to Australia, the development
process will continue apace back at base."
How is the atmosphere in the team going into the
first race of the season?
"2007 was an interesting year for the team; no-one could
have predicted how the season was going to pan out. All we
are focused on now is eagerly anticipating the next challenge.
Within the team there is fantastic atmosphere at the moment,
particularly between our drivers. They are working well together,
they like each other, you can see how much they genuinely
respect each other and importantly they want to beat each
other, which is how we want it to be. Heikki is of course
new to us this season and he is a very likeable, intelligent
and very talented individual. He has already fostered a great
relationship with the team, and based on the way the drivers
and the team have been working together in testing we are
aiming for a good year."
What is the overall objective for the team at the
Australian race and the Championship as a whole?
"Every single member of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
team is an incredibly competitive individual and we all desperately
want to win, this is the case for the drivers, management,
engineers, mechanics, production, administration. We have
a great team of people, we have great racing drivers and we
want to win.. With Lewis and Heikki, we have two racing drivers
this year who are very keen to come out of the 2008 season
as World Champions. Naturally Lewis enters this year as one
of the favourites, a testament to what he achieved in his
first year. Heikki has gelled fantastically into the team,
he is working very well with everyone and he has the capability
to win. Every season is a new chapter, our drivers, the team,
our technology Partners are all working incredibly hard to
ensure we have the best equipment possible to go racing."
NORBERT HAUG, VICE PRESIDENT, MERCEDES-BENZ MOTORSPORT
The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 has shown consistently
strong form during pre-season testing. Now those tests are
over, what does the team expect from the technical package?
"Since we began the test programme on 9th January with
two MP4-23s powered by this year’s FO 108 V engine,
the new car has been running reliably, setting competitive
lap times and completing consistent long runs. During the
course of 19 track days since early January, Heikki completed
18 test days, Lewis 15, Pedro six and Gary one day during
which they have covered a distance of more than 14,200 kilometres
in total. This is more than the length of 45 Grands Prix,
and also more than a team’s race kilometres completed
during one year. The entire team has worked extremely hard
over the ten weeks building up to the race in Melbourne to
achieve our target of finishing at least one point ahead of
our competition this time."
What specific technical challenge does Melbourne
require of a Formula 1 engine?
"Albert Park is very demanding for the engines. About
70 percent of a lap time here will be run under full throttle;
this means more than two thirds of a lap. Driveability will
be key for the performance of the engines, which were allowed
to be developed for 2008 only to the minimum due to the "frozen"
rules."
How did Mercedes-Benz develop the new engine until
the start of this season?
"Development work on the revised Mercedes-Benz V8 engine
started on 16th April 2007, and on 29th November the engine
was run on the dyno for the first time. The engine regulation
limits the possibilities for development to an absolute minimum,
and there are only a few opportunities to increase performance
by modifying the air intake, the fuel system, the exhaust
pipes and the lubricants of the team’s Technology Partner
ExxonMobil. Our engineers and technicians at Mercedes-Benz
HighPerformanceEngines in Brixworth and in Stuttgart have
worked hard to deliver the best possible engine specification
which will be homologated for five years from Melbourne onwards.
I want to thank everybody, of course, also the colleagues
working on the chassis, who have been involved in this process
for their concentrated and committed work. Our target for
2008 is to finish in the World Championship one position better
than last year."
VODAFONE McLAREN MERCEDES STATISTICS
Lewis Heikki Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
Race Starts 17 17 631
Race Wins 4 0 156
Pole Positions 6 0 133
Points 109 30 3177.5
Podiums 12 1 415
Fastest Laps 2 0 135
ALBERT PARK CIRCUIT INFORMATION
Circuit length 5.303 km / 3.295 miles
Race distance 307.574 km / 191.110 miles
Laps 58
Number of corners 16
Inaugural race 1985
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