Money now too important for F1 careers - Trulli

Jarno Trulli believes wealth is becoming too important as the remaining spaces on the F1 grid fill up for 2011.

For the coming season, the likes of Nico Hulkenberg and Nick Heidfeld are facing the prospect of sitting on the sidelines, as respected teams including Williams and Sauber opt instead for race drivers with significant financial backing.

Trulli, one of the oldest and most experienced drivers on the grid, thinks the situation could have knock-on effects for the next generation.

"Today it is so difficult for young drivers," the Italian told Auto Motor und Sport during an interview.

"Money is playing too big a role and the lower series like Formula 3 are too expensive. I couldn’t repeat my own career these days," added Trulli, who made his F1 debut in 1997 with Minardi.

The 36-year-old has also raced for major teams including Renault and Toyota, but in 2010 he returned to the back of the grid with Lotus.

"It was not a good season," said Trulli.

In an interview published in Italian by italiaracing, he was more strident.

"I think I deserved a medal for being the unluckiest driver of the year," said Trulli, whose car regularly broke down last season. "There’s no need to say it was the worse season in all my life."

To the German publication, he continued: "It was a bit frustrating but it’s part of the business. I have accepted it as a transitional season."

Worse still, Trulli insists that the green T127 was not a car to his liking.

"I didn’t have what I needed for my driving style," he explained, "so it made the task doubly difficult.

"I need a stiff car that gives me good feedback, but from the first test it was clear that I wouldn’t have that."

He knows Lotus is pushing hard to catch up, but can understand some of the criticism of the new teams from established names including Ferrari.

"In the end we are all in the same race and the incumbents should respect those who are just beginning. On the other hand it is true that four seconds behind is too much.

"Now we are a year further ahead and we need a big aero step and a lighter and stiffer car. There is an awful lot to do and if we can do it, then we can fight with the back of the midfield."

But even that is not his goal.

"I must still have the skills that make some people keep believing in me, but just being here is not what I want, which is winning races and the title."

Trulli said he knows first-hand how difficult is Team Lotus’ task.

"I raced for Toyota, with great resources and unlimited possibilities, but they never achieved what they wanted to," he noted.

Source: NextgenAuto

Team Lotus Christmas message

Source: mylotusracing

Lotus to confirm new Trulli contract before Korea

Confirmation of Jarno Trulli's extended stay at Lotus next year is due before the forthcoming Korean Grand Prix.

That is the claim of the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat, insisting that the Italian's current teammate Heikki Kovalainen has already penned a new deal for 2011.

It was reported from Suzuka that Trulli, 36, was bullish about the future, even though it had been expected that Lotus' 2011 lineup would have been confirmed by now.

Turun Sanomat said Finn Kovalainen - who is currently staying in Kuala Lumpur at team chief executive Riad Asmat's house - signed his new deal on the Sunday morning of the Italian Grand Prix last month, but that Trulli's salary talks were ongoing.

The report added that Trulli still hasn't signed a contract, but that news on the driver front is sure to be announced before Korea.

Lotus has been making many announcements recently, including the termination of its Cosworth contract, an altered name for 2011 and the Red Bull technical deal.

Confirmation of the Renault engine deal is still pending.

Lotus joked about the situation after qualifying was rained off at Suzuka last Saturday, revealing that the team "has nothing to announce for the first time in several weeks".

Source: Motorsport.com

The Secret Life of Jarno Trulli

He’s Italian but he’s never driven for Ferrari; he’s scored 246.5 points over the course of his 14 year Formula One career; his first - and only - victory came at the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix; he has raised almost 670,000 Euros for Abruzzo since a devastating earthquake hit the region in April 2009; and he owns a vineyard. These are just some of the things you probably do know about Jarno Trulli. Now find out a few you don’t, with the help of the latest installment in our Secret Life series…

Q: Are you the kind of guy to have a ‘Plan-B’?
Jarno Trulli: No, a ‘Plan A’ guy, definitely.

Q: Who do you most look forward to seeing when you arrive in the paddock on a Thursday?
JT: My bicycle.

Q: Who is your dream date?
JT: My wife!

Q: Which film last made you cry?
JT: Ah so many! I don’t like watching romantic movies, I prefer watching action. CSI… things like that.

Q: What are you afraid of?
JT: I’m a bit afraid of flying because I feel like once they shut the door you’re a dead person, and when they open it again you’re alive

Q: What was the last book you read?
JT: It was one my wife gave me... quite a while ago.

Q: What is your favourite way to relax?
JT: Doing sport, being with the family and being away from Europe because if I’m in Europe people keep calling me, so I like being in Miami.

Q: Have you ever - or would you ever - dye your hair?
JT: No, and I don’t plan to.

Q: Name five things that you hate?
JT: Snakes, being late, when things are unjust, screaming and pepper on my food.

Q: Do you have any tattoos or piercings?
JT: None.

Q: What did your teachers say about you in your school reports?
JT: That I was always there, but not for studying!

Q: Who were your childhood heroes?
JT: Niki Lauda.

Q: Do you have any guilty pleasures?
JT: I like gadgets too much.

Q: Do you collect anything?
JT: I’m passionate about all sorts of things. I’ve got a couple of old jukeboxes for example.

Q: What do you miss most about home when you are on the road?
JT: I don’t really miss home as I know I’ll be back very soon.

Q: What was your worst buy?
JT: A lot of people think it’s bad, but I like it - it’s a Hummer.

Q: How do you take your coffee?
JT: I don’t drink coffee.

Q: Your ideal non-race Sunday morning?
JT: Get up early, go out for some training and then go home to watch sports on TV.

Q: What was your first vehicle?
JT: A go-kart.

Q: What’s the most embarrassing mistake you’ve ever made?
JT: I’m not really embarrassed about anything I’ve done.

Q: What is the best thing you can cook?
JT: Salt fish - fish cooked in a salt crust.

Q: When was the last time you were really angry?
JT: Saturday in Spa [where Trulli felt he was blocked during qualifying].

Source: Formula1.com

Trulli hits out at di Grassi

Jarno Trulli hit out at Lucas di Grassi after missing out on the chance to make it through to Q2 in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix.

The pair collided in Q1 when rain started to fall and di Grassi suffered a spin in front of the Lotus driver, with di Grassi also seeing his qualifying session end as a result.

While Heikki Kovalainen was able to make it through to Q2, Trulli had to settle for the 18th quickest time and the Italian was frustrated at not being higher.

“I'm obviously disappointed that I didn't make it into Q2, but congratulations to Heikki and the team for putting in such a good performance,” he said. “It was a pretty crazy session, and it started badly for me when di Grassi lost his car - I was quicker than him, and I couldn't avoid going over him. If he had let me by in the first place when I was much quicker, then it wouldn't have happened.

“It's difficult in changeable conditions, everyone gets surprised, but we're still in a pretty good position tomorrow, so we'll do our best to reward the fans.”

Di Grassi himself was far from happy after he was the slowest driver to set a time during the session.

“A disappointing qualifying session for me because the conditions were perfect for our set-up,” he said. “On the first time lap Trulli hit me and the damage was so great we had to stop. Tomorrow looks like rain again so I'm looking forward to an interesting race.”

Di Grassi's Virgin team-mate Timo Glock – like Kovalainen – made it through to Q2 but was then hit with a five place grid penalty for impeding Sakon Yamamoto during the session.

Source: Crash

Comfortable Kovalainen to stay at Lotus

Heikki Kovalainen has admitted he feels more comfortable at Lotus than he did in the last two seasons with McLaren.

The Finn took a big backwards step down the grid with the new Malaysian backed team in 2010, but he told Holland's formule1.nl magazine that he is not complaining.

"Here at Lotus everything feels better," said the 28-year-old, who in 2008 and 2009 was Lewis Hamilton's teammate.

Kovalainen left McLaren late last year declaring that he was not always treated equally by the famous British team.

"I have much more of a feeling that I have things under control now compared to when I was at McLaren," he explained.

"At virtually every race I am 100 per cent sure what setup I need, and the engineers understand me and believe in me," added Kovalainen.

He would not go into detail about his misgivings with McLaren.

"I don't like to complain, but if I knew then what I know now, I would have done a number of things differently," said the winner of the 2008 Hungarian GP.

It is clear that Lotus will field an unchanged driver lineup next year, with Kovalainen again alongside fellow grand prix winner Jarno Trulli.

Technical boss Mike Gascoyne said Lotus decided to pay for two experienced drivers in the quest to unlock the commercial benefits of finishing the 2010 championship in tenth place.

"If there is a crazy race with a big start crash with rain or something," he said, "then Heikki and Jarno are more likely to score than inexperienced, young drivers," he said.

Source: F1 Complete

FIA press conference schedule - Turkey

Mercedes GP’s Michael Schumacher and Red Bull’s Mark Webber are among the five drivers answering questions on Thursday, while Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicali will face the media alongside other senior team personnel on Friday. The line-up in full…

Thursday, May 27, 1500 hours local time (1200 GMT):
Rubens Barrichello (Williams), Karun Chandhok (HRT), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP), Jarno Trulli (Lotus) and Mark Webber (Red Bull).

Friday, May 28, 1600 hours local time (1300 GMT):
Ross Brawn (Mercedes GP), Stefano Domenicali (Ferrari), Adam Parr (Williams) and Franz Tost (Toro Rosso).

The qualifying and post-race conferences with the top three drivers will take place immediately after the respective sessions.

Source: Formula1.com

Chandhok: It looked worse than it was

Karun Chandhok insists his Monaco GP accident with Jarno Trulli was not as bad as it looked - and it did look really bad.

Three laps from the end of the grand prix, Trulli tried to overtake the Hispania Racing driver through the Rascasse corner. But instead of pushing ahead of him, he landed on top of him in a rather frightening accident.

Chandhok escaped unharmed as Trulli's wheels luckily did not hit his helmet.

"Jarno just tried something silly really," the Indian driver told Reuters.

"I don't think he would have even had enough steering lock to get around the corner from the angle he was coming at. He would have done the old Schumacher 2006 parking move.

"He has apologised... I quite like Jarno, he's a nice guy and I think when he apologises he knows he's screwed up.

"Fortunately I was a bit lucky as I ducked and he went over my head.

"It didn't actually touch me but it looked worse than it actually was.

"But it was very frustrating because that was probably my best race of the year in terms of pace and we were racing the other two new teams."

Source: Planet F1

Drivers take part in charity football match in Monaco

8 drivers from the pinnacle of motor racing have taken part in the event at Louis II

As usual in the few days prior to the Monaco GP, last Tuesday a few F1 drivers played a charity football match promoted annualy by Prince Albert at Louis II stadium.

Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa, Jarno Trulli, Nico Rosberg, Lucas di Grassi, Jaime Alguersuari and Vitaly Petrov were on the 'Nationale Piloti' team, who played the 'Friends of the Prince' team.

All money gathered with the match will be donated to the World Association of Children's Friends (AMADE), a Monaco-based charity which helps children all over the world.

In spite of the relaxed moods, the drivers demonstrated a lot of enthusiasm in the match. One of the drivers who played harder was Alonso. The match ended 4-2 in favour of the F1 drivers.

Source: Tazio
Translation from Portuguese: Fran

Button: A few of us will be angry after Q1

Jenson Button is expecting qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix to culminate in angry scenes and a number of potential penalties.

McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton this week warned the one-lap battle around the tight, twisty, two-mile Monte-Carlo circuit "could be a disaster".

The fear is that, with slow-coach newcomers Lotus, Virgin and Hispania Racing likely to be over seven seconds per lap slower during the initial 20-minute session when all 24 cars could be on track, problems will arise and sparks might fly.

"We've got to hammer it round. I don't think we can back off, we have to stay on it because that might be the quickest lap we do," remarked Button.

"It will be tricky in Q1, but I'm sure we'll cope. A few of us will be angry and unhappy at the end of Q1, but we all have to deal with the same situation.

"It's the same for all of us. Some of us will get lucky, some of us won't. You can't do much about it now. That's the way it is.

"But there are going to be a lot of people asking for penalties I think."

Jarno Trulli, a winner around Monaco in 2004, is now one of those likely to incur the wrath of the quicker guys.

Although in a car that can rightly be hailed as the best of the backmarkers, the Lotus driver is in agreement with Button.

"We're all going to have a lot of traffic," said the veteran Italian.

"It's a question of luck because maybe a quicker car slows down in front of me whilst I'm on a quick lap and I'm hindered.

"On the other hand maybe I'm on a quick lap, but not quick enough for a faster car which is probably four or five seconds (per lap) quicker than me.

"Neither way will work, but we will have to see what we can do to be free of traffic and do our job.

"Anything can happen in Monaco, and it is the place where you can have more chance.

"You can get one good lap by running round and round, and you get your lap in, but for us it's a bit more difficult to do that.

"But we are all in the same boat. I don't have a solution, and I don't care. I will go out and try to get some free space, get my lap in and that's it."

Bruno Senna already has experience of how Saturday will unfold from his days in GP2 when there were 26 cars on track, and like Hamilton he predicts it "will be a mess".

It may even be the case that Hamilton, Button et al, end up at the back of the grid as they are unable to get in a quick lap.

"With so many cars on track and with their difference in pace, I believe some people won't get a lap time," Hispania Racing's Senna said.

"It happens in GP2, with some of the quick cars at the back because they were held up, or there was a queue in Rascasse to start a lap.

"It's going to be quite interesting. We have to make sure we are on the track as much as we can to get a lap in that counts.

"But it's going to be a big mess, and if it's wet it will make it even harder."

As for the race, Senna is already anticipating spending more time looking in his mirrors than at the road ahead.

One backmarker in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix managed only 15 laps out of 66 without being shown a blue flag telling him to allow a quicker car by.

"With that many laps, it's going to be quite interesting to see how many times I will be lapped," added the nephew of Ayrton, the three -times champion who holds the record for most wins at this track with six.

"Monaco is very peculiar. It is unusual to have a straightforward race where you're not stuck behind another car or you don't make a mistake.

Source: Planet F1

GPDA concerns 'ignored' over Melbourne start time

Jarno Trulli and Mark Webber reveal that the Grand Prix Drivers' Association raised doubts over the safety of Australia's evening race slot.

After reigning world champion Jenson Button expressed his concerns over the late afternoon start time allocated to the Australian Grand Prix in order to satisfy television viewers in Europe, GPDA representatives admitted that they had little influence in pursuit of a change.

Speaking at the first official press conference of the Melbourne weekend, both Jarno Trulli and Mark Webber revealed that they had raised objections to the switch, but had had to toe the line set by the FIA.

"We raised our concerns last year but apparently nothing has changed," Trulli sighed, "There is very little you can do on the safety side on the track, apart from starting the race an hour earlier - which probably won't hurt anyone.

"We have given our opinion and that's it, [but] the FIA or whoever has decided to keep the twilight race at that time, so we just have to deal with it. This year, if we want to make a change for next year, we will say that we are very happy at the end of the race. That's the only way."

Webber appeared equally frustrated, and shared his rival's sarcastic approach to trying to get the start time switched to something more favourable. The Albert Park race was moved to a twilight slot last season in a bid to attract a bigger television audience in F1's European heartland, but meant that drivers had to contend with low sun in the closing stages. While appreciating the motives behind the decision, Webber echoed the claim that it was not taking the drivers' views - or general safety - into account.

"Jarno has hit it on the head," the Australian noted, "If you picked the best time to have a high speed sporting motor race event, obviously it's not when the sun is at eye level with us, but that's how it is for lots of different commercial reasons.

"As Jarno says, next time we say it's fantastic and we should say we should have the race at five o'clock at every race in the season and I think they will move it somewhere else."

Button's McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton, however, has attempted to play down the problem, claiming that racing into the sunset offered a unique challenge that made Melbourne different to other venues.

"It wasn't easy last year, but I think it adds something a little bit special," the 2008 world champion insisted, "As long as we have the correct visors, it's not going to be too much of a problem, and it is perhaps a bit better as it's a bit cooler."

Source: Crash.net

[Video] Lotus 2010 launch in London

Q&A with Lotus’s Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli

Following its shakedown at Silverstone earlier this week in the hands of test driver Fairuz Fauzy, the Lotus T127 was officially unveiled in London on Friday evening. Race drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli give their thoughts on the new car and the season ahead…

Q: Heikki, what do you think about the new car?
Heikki Kovalainen: I think it looks very cool. First of all I think the whole visual side looks really good, and from what I've been following myself at the factory and talking to the mechanics, the quality of the build and design has also been very good. So that all looks positive. The shakedown that we did early this week all went pretty well. We had just some small problems, nothing major, so fingers crossed that it's all going to be fine at Jerez. As for the performance, we don't really know yet - we will have to see.

Q: Has it lived up to your expectations so far?
HK: It’s been better than what I had expected. We are a bit ahead of schedule in terms of the design and build of the car. How everything is shaping up at the factory as well has been better than I expected; it looks very good there as well. Actually, the operation side, when everybody’s actually working at the factory, it looks normal to me, compared to what I have been used to before, because all the people that are in the team are current people. They are not people that have been away for two or three years. They are people from last year, people from some different teams who have just finished their notice period and come to our team. It’s like a routine already for the boys, so that is also pretty convincing.

Q: What made you go to a new team this year instead of an established one like McLaren?
HK: Well obviously I had different options as well at the end of last year and some of those were with more established teams. But in the end I made this decision myself because I saw the most potential in this project. Talking to (team principal) Tony (Fernandes) and (chief technical officer) Mike (Gascoyne) convinced me. Only the future will tell whether it was a good or bad decision, but so far I have no regrets, and so far, it has been better than expected.

Q: What was the potential based on?
HK: Tony is obviously a very good businessman and he has a very impressive CV. For me the financial backing of the team looked convincing. The money will be there to get the team going. We can build a reasonable sized team. I think eventually when everybody is on we are going to have 260 people, which is around the size of Sauber. That's pretty good. And then we have the facility at Hingham that is not quite ready yet but eventually we will be able to design and produce parts there, which for me was a message that we could make decent progress during the year in terms of improving the performance of the car. Those two things were major points. And then obviously Mike being at the head of the technical team that was the third important point that I based my decision on. Like I said, so far, there are no regrets. This team has a lot of potential to become a very professional and successful team, even in the medium term.

Q: What is the medium term, in your view?
HK: Three years - I think we can achieve some decent results in this time.

Q: From your Formula Renault days on, it’s been clear you are naturally gifted. Can Lotus give you the opportunity to thrive in the way everyone thinks you are capable of?
HK: I certainly hope so. I think the best races in my Formula One career are still ahead of me. That's why I was determined not to go anywhere else but Formula One. I have had difficult races, but also I have had good races. I think here I will have an opportunity to produce better results and get more out of the team regularly. That is what I am working on.

Q: Last year you were up against Lewis Hamilton, how do you see the challenge from Jarno Trulli?
HK: I'm really looking forward to working with Jarno. He is obviously a very quick driver and I think we can push each other, and also we get on well on a personal level. So I think we can push the team forward and that is crucial from the beginning. Mike is demanding a lot from us. I have already spent already a few weeks at Hingham, just everyday talking to the engineers. I'm not worried about my team mate - I have never been worried about my team mate. We push each other.


Q: Jarno, what made you choose Lotus?
Jarno Trulli: I had several options, but there was something growing up and becoming interesting and that was Lotus. You know better than me, you are English, what Lotus is. I only realised afterwards, but I was thinking about it. Lotus is probably second only to Ferrari in motorsport. And there was this one man, this crazy person, who was Mike Gascoyne. He was getting ready to get this brand back on track. So honestly, I had worked with Mike. He is definitely a difficult person if you don't know how to handle him, he is someone who is very straightforward and who knows what to do in Formula One. So, technically, I was happy to have someone like him leading the team.

But obviously these days, you never know if there is enough money to do it, so eventually I met Tony (Fernandes) and I understood that there was really something serious going on. And I was right. At the beginning, when I first visited Lotus, I had to believe that something was going to happen because there were so few people there. There was nothing! After three months, wow, I have seen the car on track at Silverstone. A green and yellow car hitting the track after 16 years branded Lotus - I think that is something that stands out in my mind and everyone's mind when you see it on the track.

Obviously we know it is not going to be easy and we are running out of time. What we have done and the guys have achieved is something great. I have a lot of respect for the people who have been working on this project, but on the other hand for this year we have to be very realistic. We know that we are heading to Bahrain and have to deal with a lot of troubles and solve the problems, but the most important thing is that we stick together and be patient. For the first year we have to be reliable, decent and show good progress. We cannot believe that we will be on top straight away - that is unrealistic.

Q: Points in year one?
JT: Being here, and getting the car ready was a big achievement on the technical side. Now, the next step is to try to discover and solve the problems as quickly as possible on the track. On my side I have to give the right direction as quick and as well as possible because we have very little time, and the budget is not unlimited for a Formula One team these days. So, I would say that an experienced driver is very important. After that, we will be heading to Bahrain and we'll try to make it to the finish with both cars. I cannot say where we are going to be, because we have no idea exactly how good the car is. But first of all need to look decent and finish races. Afterwards, the next big challenge will be making a step forward in terms of aero updates, which will probably come in Barcelona, then, after five or six races, another aero update. By the end of the season if we are fighting with the middle of the grid it will be great. Always we are racing and dreaming of the first point. That first point will be emotional for everyone. It is only a point, but it will be extremely appreciated. So I think we have to take things step by step. I know I have to be patient. It’s a long term project, as is my contract, so all I have to do is build up a team as well as I have done before, and make it stronger and stronger.

Q: You've been in Formula One a long time, and at teams with big budgets. How do you motivate yourself to start from scratch again?
JT: It is not a question of motivating yourself. You are motivated only if you love driving, and if you still think you can do something special. Especially if you are still quick; you still feel that you can do something special on the track and get the best out of the car, so this motivates me. Obviously I know I am going to face a very hard season, but there is always a challenge inside a challenge. And this is what a driver really has to look for. I know that I cannot think about winning a race for Lotus this year, but I can think that I can score the first point at the first race, and this will be a big achievement for me and the team. So there is still some good motivation.

Q: Did you ever consider leaving Formula One racing? You tested for NASCAR...
JT: I did consider leaving, and there were some options. But the NASCAR thing was just a way to try something different. I had been driving a racing car for years and years. I had never driven a GT or a closed cockpit car. But eventually the love for the open cockpit and the feeling that you have in the open cockpit was still inside me. It was too strong. So, I was hoping always to get a good chance in Formula One. Looking at where F1 is heading, this is a good chance.

Source: Formula1.com