Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Formula One

  • Alfa Romeo car launch

    So the first team of F1 has set a date to launch their car for 2021, and that is Alfa Romeo. The Switzerland based team have announced that they will be launching their car on Monday 22nd February in Warsaw, Poland.

    The new Alfa Romeo, is set to be called C41 even though last years car was C39, it will be launched in Polands capital as the title partner ORLEN who has some of their key operations based in the city.

    It will be driven by Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, the duo have been paired up with each other for a third consecutive season.

    The C41 is set to be a challenger this year as they will be aiming to be more at the top of the grid, last year they only scored 8 points throughout the season, meaning they finished 8th overall in the constructors title, finishing before Haas and Williams.

    The C41 will hit the track for pre-season testing in Bahrain on the 12th-14th March, it was scheduled to be held in Barcelona from the 2nd to the 4th of March but it changed as the FIA figured it would be better for logistical reasons to be held at Bahrain where the first race is held two weeks after testing. One positive to take from this is that in Bahrain the weather is more reliable than what it would be in Barcelona.

    To save costs, testing has been lowered to 3 days, so only one and a half day for each driver, this will inconvenience some drivers who have moved to new teams including the rookies.

    Below is the link for what Alfa Romeo put on their Instagram this morning https://www.instagram.com/p/CKQtR6OIy7P/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    One car launch date revealed, and only 9 more to go!!

  • Williams To Increase Partnership with Mercedes

    Williams have been in F1 since 1978, it was first founded by Frank Williams and a British engineer called Patrick Head in 1977. Throughout the years they have gone on to win races and championships. Through 1980- 1997 they won nine constructors championship. Claire (Frank Williams daughter) took over from Frank in 2013. In September 2020, Frank and Claire Williams decided to step away from Williams and the sport but leaving their name.

    It had been sold to a New York based private investment company called Dorilton Capital in August. It has then since been announced that Jost Capito is now the chief Executive Officer and Simon Roberts is now the team principal.

    In 2014 Williams announced they was partnering with Mercedes for a power unit. The deal was originally a seven year agreement but then in 2019 they announced that from 2021 they would be working with Mercedes for a further 5 years. Claire said ” Mercedes has been one of the sports most successful engine suppliers and we believe that they will continue to have an extremely competitive package going forwards.”

    With new rules coming in 2022, Williams will now use Mercedes gearboxes and other related hydraulic components from 2022 onwards. Williams say that the increased partnership with Mercedes who have won 7 straight constructors, will enable them to implement a more efficient design and manufacturing process in the long term, which allows the team to focus it resources more effectively in other performance areas.

    Toto Wolff, the CEO and Team Principal of Mercedes said ” We are pleased to expand our technical cooperation with Williams through this new agreement. For Williams it makes sense to acquire the integrated powertrain after running our power units since 2014.” ” This is a project we’ve been discussing with Williams for some time and i’m glad we have been able to bring this extension to fruition”

    Some may ask why? But in reality it’s a good move form both Williams and Mercedes, with Formula One constantly changing with new rules coming into play including the budget caps. Its a big decision from Williams but it could well be a game changer…