Spyker have become the latest Formula 1 team to use Ferrari customer engines, and their first car to be powered by the Maranello-built 2.4 V8 units, the F8-VII, was launched at the Silverstone circuit in the UK yesterday. Team principal Colin Kolles presented the team’s latest challenger as well as the drivers Christijan Albers and Adrian Sutil and an exciting new test driver line-up, at the Northamptonshire circuit.

Managing director and team principal Colin Kolles predicted a ‘transition year’ for the team, with a focus in the early part of the year on improved reliability and performance, before a big step forward with a revised B-spec car towards the second part of the year. “We know that the first half of the season could be challenging for the team, but with the stability that Spyker has brought with it, we’ve got a real direction and focus now,” Kolles explained. “We know that Spyker want to make the project work, and we’ve already set about making changes to turn the team around. One of the first steps was to bring in Mike Gascoyne to lead the technical team and help give the direction we need.”

Chief technical officer, Mike Gascoyne, added, “Since I arrived at Spyker three months ago, I’ve been looking carefully at the technical department to put in place the personnel, procedures and resources that will give the team structure; already we’ve doubled our aerodynamic resources with a second wind tunnel and dedicated team in Italy. As a team we’re looking at planning for the future through a more structured approach by prioritising key aspects that will give a big improvement rather than small, gradual steps. I’m looking forward to seeing the results of the changes in the second half of the season when we deliver an improved B-spec package.”

Twenty-seven year old Dutch driver, Christijan Albers, remains with the team for a further year. Albers, although not satisfied with the results of the 2006 season, showed speed and determination throughout. Albers commented, “As a driver I always drive to the maximum, but in 2006 I could not when always show the best I could do. I’ve worked closely with the team over the winter to help highlight the areas we need to improve and I’m pretty confident that in the second half of the year we’ll start to see the improvements. Having Mike on board and additional resources shows everyone we’re serious about progressing. There’s already been some exciting developments and we’ll start seeing even more over the second half of the year.”

Albers will be joined by Adrian Sutil in the driver line-up. Sutil competed in the F3 EuroSeries alongside McLaren’s British driver Lewis Hamilton in 2002 and won the 2003 Japanese Formula 3 title. The 24-year-old German completed Friday testing duties with the team in 2006 and looks forward to his first Grand Prix start in Australia, “It’s a great feeling. For sure it’s very nice to be a real part of the team as a race driver. My aim is to work with the team and progress with them to the next level. I want to help develop the car more and help to go forward. I also want to learn the circuits and get to know the F1 business as much as I can. It’s not just the driving, it’s the pressure and the press too, but it’s all a new experience so I’ll take everything step by step. First, I really want to get going and get some real mileage under my belt.”

The team also presented its test and reserve driver line-up for the 2007 season. Fairuz Fauzy, 24 from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, competed in GP2 last season and is supported by a host of Malaysian companies. He will complete Friday duties at a selection of this year’s Grands Prix. Giedo van der Garde, from Rhenen, Netherlands is graduating as an F3 Euroseries race winner to be a test and Friday driver, while Adrian Valles from Alicante, Spain, runner-up in the 2005 World Series by Renault championship and GP2 contender, and Markus Winkelhock will be the test and development drivers for the season. Winkelhock remains with Spyker for a further season after impressing in the 2006 Friday sessions. The team’s preparations for the season continue today with an exclusive two-day shakedown at Silverstone. The 17-race season will get underway in Melbourne, Australia, from 16 – 18 March 2007.

The Spyker F8-VII’s designation is directly related to Spyker’s rich heritage as a motor car and aircraft manufacturer.
 

When the company started trading at the beginning of the 20th century it launched the car models named A, B and C to the market. When Spyker CEO Victor Muller resurrected the Spyker name in 2000 he wanted to build on that strong history, “When we launched the first modern line of Spykers, the C8 Spyder, we called it the C line to follow on from the original model rationale. The E line will be launched in the near future, so it makes sense for our Formula 1 car, our latest model, to be the F line.”

The number eight refers to the number of cylinders of Spyker’s Ferrari engine, as with the road going Spykers such as the C8 Spyder, which has an eight cylinder engine as well. The VII sub-designation (‘7’) refers to Spyker’s heritage as an aircraft manufacturer where all models were denoted by roman numerals and stood for the year the aircraft was launched. Hence the F8-VII is the Spyker F line with eight cylinders in 2007.

Spyker’s aim with the new F8-VII was to create a solid base on which to build, with the real focus is on upgrading the car through the course of the season and preparing for the future. Key explains: ‘We set out with a plan to improve on the areas that we knew needed improving on the M16. We also tried to second guess as best we could what the 2007 tyres were going to do, and we worked hard on aero, which is of course always the fundamental thing. That way we could concentrate all our efforts on performance related areas.

‘On the mechanical side, where a system worked well – like the steering rack for example – we more or less left it alone. We’ve maintained a very high chassis, because we felt that offered a lot of volume for aero devices in that area. We had a twin keel before, and we wanted to tidy it up and make it neater and stiffer. There are little ‘bumps’ there now, so it’s effectively zero keel compared to what we had before. We followed the same philosophy that we had with the M16, which was to try to keep as much volume forward as possible. That allows us to make the back as tight as we can. We have slightly lengthened the gearbox, and tried to make sure that our exhaust and radiator volume is pushed forwards, so we’ve got of bit of scope at the back of the car to do what we like. We’ve also made a concerted effort to tidy up the outside of the gearbox as well.’

Inevitably, the change of engine supplier was also a focus of attention, ‘The Ferrari engine installation was very different to that of its predecessor, so some of the guys who were concentrating on certain new areas had to start working on installing the engine. For example, the hydraulics are our responsibility once more, whereas previously Toyota looked after the system, and it came as part of the engine. The back of the chassis is very different, the gearbox design is very different, the fuel system has different requirements. It’s not that it’s a complicated engine installation; it’s just for us a very different configuration compared to our previous two engine suppliers.’

While James and his team have focussed on ensuring the F8-VII is a solid car to start the season with, chief technical officer, Mike Gascoyne, has focussed on putting in place measures that will drastically improve performance later in the year. “We’ve started to look at areas that will give a good step forward rather than small ones. With Aerolab on board and a restructure, we can make some real progress. I think you’ll see quite a large update to the rear suspension, and a lot of other things will change. The programme we have in the first half of the year is really geared towards making big progress in terms of aerodynamics and design.”