Toro Rosso will buck the trend and increase staff numbers this year while other Formula One teams axe jobs in the face of the credit crunch, Franz Tost, the team principal, said today.
Toro Rosso, based in Italy, are the smallest outfit in Formula One, with an annual budget of just over 100 million euros, a spending level three times below some manufacturers’. Tost said that cost-cutting measures, such as a ban on testing during the season, introduced by the sport’s governing bodies will help. The team’s engine costs are likely to fall by half compared with last year. However, Toro Rosso must become a full constructor – designing and building their own car. They have previously shared their basic chassis with Red Bull, their sister team.
“We will add staff in the design department as well as the aerodynamic department,” Tost said. “But in the rest of the departments we are quite full with people. Currently in Faenza [their base] we have around 178 people and at the end of the season and beginning of 2010 I assume we will have around 250 people.”
Toro Rosso, powered by Ferrari, are the former Minardi team renamed after being bought by Red Bull in 2005. They made a big breakthrough last year when they won the Italian Grand Prix with Germany’s Sebastian Vettel.
Asked whether he felt small teams could continue to have a decent level of performance, Tost made clear that they would always be struggling to match the big ones even with a reduction in costs.
“We have to do the job as efficiently as possible, and I think we are doing this,” he said.“I’m quite sure you can’t now compare Toro Rosso with Ferrari or McLaren or BMW, they have a much better infrastructure and also more people. But we will increase our infrastructure, we will build it up and bring in people and we will see where we end up,” he added.
Tost said the extra staff would not necessarily come from other teams. Christian Horner, the head of Red Bull, told reporters at his team’s car launch last month that he expected to shed at least 20 positions while Renault have also cut jobs in Britain and France. “Every team in the pitlane will be facing a downsizing to some degree greater or lesser because of the reduced activities,” Horner said.
The former Honda team, with around 700 employees last year, are expected to compete with substantially fewer people in their new guise of Brawn GP. The Formula One season starts with the Australian Grand Prix at the end of March.
Source:the times
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Paul Casey reaches desert final
Perhaps this will be the year in which Paul Casey demonstrates c o n c l u s i v e p r o o f o f h i s prodigious talent. The 31-year-old from Cheltenham, now based a 90-minute drive from Tucson in Scottsdale, Arizona, will become the first Englishman to contest a final of the Accenture Match Play Championship after he overcame the Surrey-based professional Ross Fisher in an encounter that was more a battle of attrition than one of those gunfights that lent these parts enduring renown.
Casey and Fisher were two of the sharpest shooters all week at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, near where Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday left several victims lying in the dust in the infamous Gunfight at OK Corral. The desert heat and the sheer physical toll of playing two matches in one day made the Englishmen two tired gunslin-gers and when Fisher missed a 12ft par putt for a half on the 14th hole to fall two down he looked as doomed as Billy Clanton.
When his ball finished amid the Saguaro cacti on the next hole he struggled to extricate himself from the trouble but Casey failed to capitalise and they halved with bogey sixes. Fisher staged a late rally with successive birdies on the 15th and 16th to narrow the gap to one hole but Casey secured a 2&1 win with another birdie on the penultimate green.
His victory in Abu Dhabi and a fourth-place finish at the Dubai Desert Classic made for an encouraging start to the season and he has carried his confidence all the way across to the Sonoran Desert. “The goals are the same, the majors and the big tournaments,” confirmed Casey, who has not improved on his tied-for-sixth finish at The Masters in 2004 in 18 majors since then.
His performance level has been the most consistently reliable of the past week. In his five matches he was never behind at any point. Shaun O’Hair had suffered a bout of food poisoning on Friday after eating a pepperoni pizza and was in no shape to halt Casey in the morning quarter-finals, which the European Ryder Cup stalwart won 4&3. Fisher, the 2008 European Open winner, had followed a seven-bird-ie haul on Friday, which secured a remarkable 4&3 victory over former US Open champion Jim Furyk, with another seven-birdie round in his quarter-final against Justin Leonard, who won the Open Championship at Royal Troon in 1997, for a 2&1 win.
But the birdies dried up in the afternoon, with Casey and Fisher producing only six between them and one more bogey.
Mental strength, more than the brute strength inherent in his game, pulled Casey through. “I know what it is like to play 36 holes of match play in a day through playing in three Ryder Cups, the most extreme and most fatiguing I have ever felt on a golf course, and that experience helped to pull me through,” he said. “This isn’t quite as bad but it was tough and gruelling and Ross made it as hard for me as he could.”
In today’s 36-hole final Casey will play Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 US Open champion from Australia who won this event in 2006 before finishing runner-up in 2007 to Hen-rik Stenson. Ogilvy was a convincing 4&2 winner over the American Stewart Cink, whom Tiger Woods battered 8&7 in last year’s final. Ironically, Ogilvy played a practice round here with Casey two weeks ago. “I think that was very useful,” Casey acknowledged. “It was going to be useful just playing any round I played down here but especially so playing with Geoff because he knows desert golf very well, having lived out here for a while. I took a lot out of that one round. We didn’t keep score, we just played and it was all very casual but it will be different tomorrow.”
Life may be different, too, for Rory McIlroy after he wooed the American galleries with several precocious performances, including a win over “Tiger-slayer” Tim Clark. His week culminated in a courageous 2&1 defeat by Ogilvy in yesterday’s quarter-finals. He was midway through his round with Hunter Mahan on Thursday when a spectator cried out, “Hey, Ronald McDonald, I’ll have a quarter-pounder with cheese.” The teenager laughed – “It was funny and I’ve probably been called worse because of my hair” – before he birdied three of the final four holes to beat his American opponent on the final green. Nothing much fazes the 19-year-old from Holywood, Co Down.
After seven birdies and just one dropped shot, Ogilvy left McIlroy with a downhill, left-to-right putt from 12ft on the 16th hole to stay in the match, precisely the kind of challenge to test the young man’s character. His nerve held, his putting stroke was true and the putt dropped. An eighth birdie in a blistering round on the penultimate hole secured a 2&1 victory for Ogilvy but, by breaking into the top 15 of the world rankings ahead of former US Open champion Jim Furyk through his efforts here, McIlroy has made his mark.
His progress and the striking maturity of his play and demeanour coincided with Ernie Els, a former world No 1, proclaiming that McIlroy will soon challenge Woods for this distinction. “I think that you’re looking at the next No 1 in the world with him,” said Els of the Northern Irishman. “He’s got all the tools and he’s probably got the current No 1, hopefully, not going to do what he’s been doing the last three years.”
Source:the times
Casey and Fisher were two of the sharpest shooters all week at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, near where Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday left several victims lying in the dust in the infamous Gunfight at OK Corral. The desert heat and the sheer physical toll of playing two matches in one day made the Englishmen two tired gunslin-gers and when Fisher missed a 12ft par putt for a half on the 14th hole to fall two down he looked as doomed as Billy Clanton.
When his ball finished amid the Saguaro cacti on the next hole he struggled to extricate himself from the trouble but Casey failed to capitalise and they halved with bogey sixes. Fisher staged a late rally with successive birdies on the 15th and 16th to narrow the gap to one hole but Casey secured a 2&1 win with another birdie on the penultimate green.
His victory in Abu Dhabi and a fourth-place finish at the Dubai Desert Classic made for an encouraging start to the season and he has carried his confidence all the way across to the Sonoran Desert. “The goals are the same, the majors and the big tournaments,” confirmed Casey, who has not improved on his tied-for-sixth finish at The Masters in 2004 in 18 majors since then.
His performance level has been the most consistently reliable of the past week. In his five matches he was never behind at any point. Shaun O’Hair had suffered a bout of food poisoning on Friday after eating a pepperoni pizza and was in no shape to halt Casey in the morning quarter-finals, which the European Ryder Cup stalwart won 4&3. Fisher, the 2008 European Open winner, had followed a seven-bird-ie haul on Friday, which secured a remarkable 4&3 victory over former US Open champion Jim Furyk, with another seven-birdie round in his quarter-final against Justin Leonard, who won the Open Championship at Royal Troon in 1997, for a 2&1 win.
But the birdies dried up in the afternoon, with Casey and Fisher producing only six between them and one more bogey.
Mental strength, more than the brute strength inherent in his game, pulled Casey through. “I know what it is like to play 36 holes of match play in a day through playing in three Ryder Cups, the most extreme and most fatiguing I have ever felt on a golf course, and that experience helped to pull me through,” he said. “This isn’t quite as bad but it was tough and gruelling and Ross made it as hard for me as he could.”
In today’s 36-hole final Casey will play Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 US Open champion from Australia who won this event in 2006 before finishing runner-up in 2007 to Hen-rik Stenson. Ogilvy was a convincing 4&2 winner over the American Stewart Cink, whom Tiger Woods battered 8&7 in last year’s final. Ironically, Ogilvy played a practice round here with Casey two weeks ago. “I think that was very useful,” Casey acknowledged. “It was going to be useful just playing any round I played down here but especially so playing with Geoff because he knows desert golf very well, having lived out here for a while. I took a lot out of that one round. We didn’t keep score, we just played and it was all very casual but it will be different tomorrow.”
Life may be different, too, for Rory McIlroy after he wooed the American galleries with several precocious performances, including a win over “Tiger-slayer” Tim Clark. His week culminated in a courageous 2&1 defeat by Ogilvy in yesterday’s quarter-finals. He was midway through his round with Hunter Mahan on Thursday when a spectator cried out, “Hey, Ronald McDonald, I’ll have a quarter-pounder with cheese.” The teenager laughed – “It was funny and I’ve probably been called worse because of my hair” – before he birdied three of the final four holes to beat his American opponent on the final green. Nothing much fazes the 19-year-old from Holywood, Co Down.
After seven birdies and just one dropped shot, Ogilvy left McIlroy with a downhill, left-to-right putt from 12ft on the 16th hole to stay in the match, precisely the kind of challenge to test the young man’s character. His nerve held, his putting stroke was true and the putt dropped. An eighth birdie in a blistering round on the penultimate hole secured a 2&1 victory for Ogilvy but, by breaking into the top 15 of the world rankings ahead of former US Open champion Jim Furyk through his efforts here, McIlroy has made his mark.
His progress and the striking maturity of his play and demeanour coincided with Ernie Els, a former world No 1, proclaiming that McIlroy will soon challenge Woods for this distinction. “I think that you’re looking at the next No 1 in the world with him,” said Els of the Northern Irishman. “He’s got all the tools and he’s probably got the current No 1, hopefully, not going to do what he’s been doing the last three years.”
Source:the times
Steven Gerrard the red destroyer leads rout of mighty Real Madrid
Liverpool’s love affair with European football continued at Anfield last night when Rafael Benítez’s team humiliated Real Madrid to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the fourth time in five seasons.
Steven Gerrard scored twice in his 100th European game, Fernando Torres marked his return from injury with the opener against the team he loves to hate and Andrea Dossena claimed his first goal in a red shirt as Liverpool sauntered to a 4-0 win against the Spanish champions. It was Real’s heaviest Champions League defeat and secured a resounding 5-0 aggregate victory.
Liverpool may be maddeningly inconsistent in the Barclays Premier League, but they remain formidable in Europe and no one will want to be paired with them when the draw for the quarter-finals is made in Nyon, Switzerland, a week on Friday.
It was the perfect fillip before the crucial visit to Old Trafford on Saturday. Trailing Manchester United, the leaders, by seven points and having played a game more, Liverpool must win if they are to have any realistic chance of ending their 19-year wait for the title.
“That was as good as we have played all season,” Gerrard, who was afforded a standing ovation even by the Real supporters when he was substituted, said. “We were awesome for the first 30 minutes and the job was done by half-time. The most important thing was to win and book a place in the last eight, but it was a fantastic team performance. We will get some treatment for knocks and bruises and then concentrate on United. They are a fantastic team but we have every confidence after tonight that we will go and give it our best shot.”
Torres, who had missed Liverpool’s previous two league matches with a twisted ankle and played despite having his foot heavily bandaged, said: “There was no risk. I had been planning all week to play in this one. It was very important to play against Real given my past with Atlético Madrid. Pain doesn’t matter in games like this — goals are more important to me. It was massive for the fans.” He celebrated his goal pointedly in front of the visiting fans.
This was also another personal triumph for Benítez. The Liverpool manager’s future remains uncertain, with the Spaniard stalling on signing a new four-year contract, but he further enhanced his credentials. Waving to the crowd as they chanted his name, Benítez will only have strengthened Real’s desire to lure him to the Bernabéu in the summer.
The only sour note was a yellow card for Javier Mascherano that will rule the Argentina midfield player out of the first leg of Liverpool’s quarter-final.
Chelsea booked their place in the last eight courtesy of a thrilling 2-2 draw with Juventus in Turin to go through 3-2 on aggregate. Guus Hiddink’s side twice fell behind but showed great resolve to equalise through Michael Essien and Didier Drogba.
“This draw is like a victory,” Drogba said. “When they scored it really helped us — we decided to play our game.”
Source:the times
Steven Gerrard scored twice in his 100th European game, Fernando Torres marked his return from injury with the opener against the team he loves to hate and Andrea Dossena claimed his first goal in a red shirt as Liverpool sauntered to a 4-0 win against the Spanish champions. It was Real’s heaviest Champions League defeat and secured a resounding 5-0 aggregate victory.
Liverpool may be maddeningly inconsistent in the Barclays Premier League, but they remain formidable in Europe and no one will want to be paired with them when the draw for the quarter-finals is made in Nyon, Switzerland, a week on Friday.
It was the perfect fillip before the crucial visit to Old Trafford on Saturday. Trailing Manchester United, the leaders, by seven points and having played a game more, Liverpool must win if they are to have any realistic chance of ending their 19-year wait for the title.
“That was as good as we have played all season,” Gerrard, who was afforded a standing ovation even by the Real supporters when he was substituted, said. “We were awesome for the first 30 minutes and the job was done by half-time. The most important thing was to win and book a place in the last eight, but it was a fantastic team performance. We will get some treatment for knocks and bruises and then concentrate on United. They are a fantastic team but we have every confidence after tonight that we will go and give it our best shot.”
Torres, who had missed Liverpool’s previous two league matches with a twisted ankle and played despite having his foot heavily bandaged, said: “There was no risk. I had been planning all week to play in this one. It was very important to play against Real given my past with Atlético Madrid. Pain doesn’t matter in games like this — goals are more important to me. It was massive for the fans.” He celebrated his goal pointedly in front of the visiting fans.
This was also another personal triumph for Benítez. The Liverpool manager’s future remains uncertain, with the Spaniard stalling on signing a new four-year contract, but he further enhanced his credentials. Waving to the crowd as they chanted his name, Benítez will only have strengthened Real’s desire to lure him to the Bernabéu in the summer.
The only sour note was a yellow card for Javier Mascherano that will rule the Argentina midfield player out of the first leg of Liverpool’s quarter-final.
Chelsea booked their place in the last eight courtesy of a thrilling 2-2 draw with Juventus in Turin to go through 3-2 on aggregate. Guus Hiddink’s side twice fell behind but showed great resolve to equalise through Michael Essien and Didier Drogba.
“This draw is like a victory,” Drogba said. “When they scored it really helped us — we decided to play our game.”
Source:the times
Steven Gerrard the red destroyer leads rout of mighty Real Madrid
Liverpool’s love affair with European football continued at Anfield last night when Rafael Benítez’s team humiliated Real Madrid to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the fourth time in five seasons.
Steven Gerrard scored twice in his 100th European game, Fernando Torres marked his return from injury with the opener against the team he loves to hate and Andrea Dossena claimed his first goal in a red shirt as Liverpool sauntered to a 4-0 win against the Spanish champions. It was Real’s heaviest Champions League defeat and secured a resounding 5-0 aggregate victory.
Liverpool may be maddeningly inconsistent in the Barclays Premier League, but they remain formidable in Europe and no one will want to be paired with them when the draw for the quarter-finals is made in Nyon, Switzerland, a week on Friday.
It was the perfect fillip before the crucial visit to Old Trafford on Saturday. Trailing Manchester United, the leaders, by seven points and having played a game more, Liverpool must win if they are to have any realistic chance of ending their 19-year wait for the title.
“That was as good as we have played all season,” Gerrard, who was afforded a standing ovation even by the Real supporters when he was substituted, said. “We were awesome for the first 30 minutes and the job was done by half-time. The most important thing was to win and book a place in the last eight, but it was a fantastic team performance. We will get some treatment for knocks and bruises and then concentrate on United. They are a fantastic team but we have every confidence after tonight that we will go and give it our best shot.”
Torres, who had missed Liverpool’s previous two league matches with a twisted ankle and played despite having his foot heavily bandaged, said: “There was no risk. I had been planning all week to play in this one. It was very important to play against Real given my past with Atlético Madrid. Pain doesn’t matter in games like this — goals are more important to me. It was massive for the fans.” He celebrated his goal pointedly in front of the visiting fans.
This was also another personal triumph for Benítez. The Liverpool manager’s future remains uncertain, with the Spaniard stalling on signing a new four-year contract, but he further enhanced his credentials. Waving to the crowd as they chanted his name, Benítez will only have strengthened Real’s desire to lure him to the Bernabéu in the summer.
The only sour note was a yellow card for Javier Mascherano that will rule the Argentina midfield player out of the first leg of Liverpool’s quarter-final.
Chelsea booked their place in the last eight courtesy of a thrilling 2-2 draw with Juventus in Turin to go through 3-2 on aggregate. Guus Hiddink’s side twice fell behind but showed great resolve to equalise through Michael Essien and Didier Drogba.
“This draw is like a victory,” Drogba said. “When they scored it really helped us — we decided to play our game.”
Source:the times
Steven Gerrard scored twice in his 100th European game, Fernando Torres marked his return from injury with the opener against the team he loves to hate and Andrea Dossena claimed his first goal in a red shirt as Liverpool sauntered to a 4-0 win against the Spanish champions. It was Real’s heaviest Champions League defeat and secured a resounding 5-0 aggregate victory.
Liverpool may be maddeningly inconsistent in the Barclays Premier League, but they remain formidable in Europe and no one will want to be paired with them when the draw for the quarter-finals is made in Nyon, Switzerland, a week on Friday.
It was the perfect fillip before the crucial visit to Old Trafford on Saturday. Trailing Manchester United, the leaders, by seven points and having played a game more, Liverpool must win if they are to have any realistic chance of ending their 19-year wait for the title.
“That was as good as we have played all season,” Gerrard, who was afforded a standing ovation even by the Real supporters when he was substituted, said. “We were awesome for the first 30 minutes and the job was done by half-time. The most important thing was to win and book a place in the last eight, but it was a fantastic team performance. We will get some treatment for knocks and bruises and then concentrate on United. They are a fantastic team but we have every confidence after tonight that we will go and give it our best shot.”
Torres, who had missed Liverpool’s previous two league matches with a twisted ankle and played despite having his foot heavily bandaged, said: “There was no risk. I had been planning all week to play in this one. It was very important to play against Real given my past with Atlético Madrid. Pain doesn’t matter in games like this — goals are more important to me. It was massive for the fans.” He celebrated his goal pointedly in front of the visiting fans.
This was also another personal triumph for Benítez. The Liverpool manager’s future remains uncertain, with the Spaniard stalling on signing a new four-year contract, but he further enhanced his credentials. Waving to the crowd as they chanted his name, Benítez will only have strengthened Real’s desire to lure him to the Bernabéu in the summer.
The only sour note was a yellow card for Javier Mascherano that will rule the Argentina midfield player out of the first leg of Liverpool’s quarter-final.
Chelsea booked their place in the last eight courtesy of a thrilling 2-2 draw with Juventus in Turin to go through 3-2 on aggregate. Guus Hiddink’s side twice fell behind but showed great resolve to equalise through Michael Essien and Didier Drogba.
“This draw is like a victory,” Drogba said. “When they scored it really helped us — we decided to play our game.”
Source:the times
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