June 20, 2015
F1 Quals: Austria 2015
Rain hit the RedBullRing before the Qualifying session. While it wasn't raining when the Time To Go Fast began, there were still plenty of wet patches around the circuit. Would it make any difference to who was on top? Let's take a look at the provisional grid for the 2015 Grand Prix of Austria:
Up at the top of the grid, it looks awfully normal. Lewis Hamilton took pole, but it actually took a little bit of luck for it to happen. He was the last to cross the start/finish line before time ran out on Q3, but he immediately beached his Mercedes into the kittylitter outside of Turn 1... just as the news came out that his teammate Nico Rosberg had set the fastest first AND second sector times of the day... if he kept that pace up, he'd grab pole easily. And then, just as Hamilton was exiting from his car at the far end of the front straight, Rosberg hurled his car off at the final turn, located at the OTHER end. He left four long black streaks of rubber behind as he reached the gravel trap short of the tire wall. So much for fast times on the first two sectors.
At the other end of the grid, we had a very interesting conversation between the Ferrari pit wall and Kimi Raikkonen: "Okay, Kimi, we wound up P18." "How did that happen?" As this is a friendly, happy blog, I may have edited a few words out of his response. Mistakes were made, and as the track dried at the end of P1, times began to plummet. When the team pitted his car, Raikkonen was seventh on the timesheets. A couple of minutes later, he was 18th and out of Quals. Heck, at one point McLaren's Jenson Button was on pole, though with six or seven minutes left.
Speaking of McLaren, both of their cars will be starting from Unterkohlstatten due to receiving matching 25-grid place penalties. Since there are only 20 places on the grid, they'll both be starting from the very back AND either a time penalty or a drive-through penalty to boot. Button basically changed every aspect of his power unit before Quals, while HWIOSCTBNA did the same except for the cigarette lighter. Red Bull's Daniel Riccardio and Toro Rosso's Kid Kyvat have also suffered various penalties, though nowhere near as extreme as the McLarens.
So that's the way it works out for the race in Austria. One thing to keep an eye on: both Saubers are reportedly set up for a rainy race, while nobody else appears to be. More and more reports are suggesting rain about one hour into the contest... if that happens, considering how well they qualified I'd expect a major upset on Sunday.
Oh, and congratulations have to go out to Mercedes. The last time either Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg wasn't on pole for a race was one year ago, when Williams' Felipe Not Nasr Massa pulled a surprise in Austria. It's been one full race year, 19 races, since then.
Race in the morning. Lord knows when I'll get the writeup done!
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:12.218 | 1:09.062 | 1:08.455 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:10.976 | 1:08.634 | 1:08.655 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:11.184 | 1:09.392 | 1:08.810 |
| 4 | Felipe Not Nasr Massa | Williams | 1:11.830 | 1:09.719 | 1:09.192 |
| 5 | LeMans Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:11.319 | 1:09.604 | 1:09.278 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:11.894 | 1:09.598 | 1:09.319 |
| 7 | Embryo Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:11.307 | 1:09.631 | 1:09.612 |
| 8 | Kid Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:12.092 | 1:10.187 | 1:09.694 |
| 9 | Felipe Not Massa Nasr | Sauber | 1:12.001 | 1:09.652 | 1:09.713 |
| 10 | Lettuce Grosjean | Lotus | 1:11.821 | 1:09.920 | No Time |
| 11 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:11.661 | 1:10.374 | |
| 12 | Sony Ericsson | Sauber | 1:12.388 | 1:10.426 | |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:11.158 | 1:10.465 | |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:11.973 | 1:10.482 | |
| 15 | HWIOSCTBNA | McLaren | 1:12.508 | 1:10.736 | |
| 16 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:12.522 | ||
| 17 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:12.632 | ||
| 18 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:12.867 | ||
| 19 | Roberto Merhi | Marussia | 1:14.071 | ||
| 20 | Will Stevens | Marussia | 1:15.368 |
Up at the top of the grid, it looks awfully normal. Lewis Hamilton took pole, but it actually took a little bit of luck for it to happen. He was the last to cross the start/finish line before time ran out on Q3, but he immediately beached his Mercedes into the kittylitter outside of Turn 1... just as the news came out that his teammate Nico Rosberg had set the fastest first AND second sector times of the day... if he kept that pace up, he'd grab pole easily. And then, just as Hamilton was exiting from his car at the far end of the front straight, Rosberg hurled his car off at the final turn, located at the OTHER end. He left four long black streaks of rubber behind as he reached the gravel trap short of the tire wall. So much for fast times on the first two sectors.
At the other end of the grid, we had a very interesting conversation between the Ferrari pit wall and Kimi Raikkonen: "Okay, Kimi, we wound up P18." "How did that happen?" As this is a friendly, happy blog, I may have edited a few words out of his response. Mistakes were made, and as the track dried at the end of P1, times began to plummet. When the team pitted his car, Raikkonen was seventh on the timesheets. A couple of minutes later, he was 18th and out of Quals. Heck, at one point McLaren's Jenson Button was on pole, though with six or seven minutes left.
Speaking of McLaren, both of their cars will be starting from Unterkohlstatten due to receiving matching 25-grid place penalties. Since there are only 20 places on the grid, they'll both be starting from the very back AND either a time penalty or a drive-through penalty to boot. Button basically changed every aspect of his power unit before Quals, while HWIOSCTBNA did the same except for the cigarette lighter. Red Bull's Daniel Riccardio and Toro Rosso's Kid Kyvat have also suffered various penalties, though nowhere near as extreme as the McLarens.
So that's the way it works out for the race in Austria. One thing to keep an eye on: both Saubers are reportedly set up for a rainy race, while nobody else appears to be. More and more reports are suggesting rain about one hour into the contest... if that happens, considering how well they qualified I'd expect a major upset on Sunday.
Oh, and congratulations have to go out to Mercedes. The last time either Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg wasn't on pole for a race was one year ago, when Williams' Felipe Not Nasr Massa pulled a surprise in Austria. It's been one full race year, 19 races, since then.
Race in the morning. Lord knows when I'll get the writeup done!
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June 16, 2015
F1 on NBCSN: Austria 2015
From that well-known European city of... Montreal?, the F1 Circus makes their way to the cosmopolitan megalopolis of Spielberg, Austria, some 197km down the S36 to the B227 from Vienna, home of the RedBullRing, the location of the 2015 Grand Prix of Austria! Let's take a look at the track map, shall we?
Last year's race saw Felipe Massa on pole and Nico Rosberg get the win over his teammate Lewis Hamilton in a brake-problem-filled race that also saw Patrick Friesacher in a Minardi PS04 in the pre-race festivities. Ah, the memories. Other than all of that, however, it was a fairly lackluster race that I remember as being on a fairly boring circuit that felt like it really was in the back-end of nowhere. Like, the run from Turn 2 to Turn 3 seemed to be bordered by a wheat field. One expected to see cows grazing beyond Turn 3. There is a nice bit of elevation change here, however, so perhaps there's some hope for the track and my opinion was colored by my mood at the time. I can't think of anything else interesting to say about this track so here's a pretty picture of a classic F1 car.
Ah, UOP/Shadow... we need you back on the grid. Anyway, here's the schedule for NBCSN's coverage this weekend:
Friday
Practice 2: 7a - 830a live
Saturday
Quals: 7a - 830a live
Sunday
2015 Grand Prix of Austria: 630a - 9a live
Join me, join all of us, won't you? Y'all be there, y'hear?
Last year's race saw Felipe Massa on pole and Nico Rosberg get the win over his teammate Lewis Hamilton in a brake-problem-filled race that also saw Patrick Friesacher in a Minardi PS04 in the pre-race festivities. Ah, the memories. Other than all of that, however, it was a fairly lackluster race that I remember as being on a fairly boring circuit that felt like it really was in the back-end of nowhere. Like, the run from Turn 2 to Turn 3 seemed to be bordered by a wheat field. One expected to see cows grazing beyond Turn 3. There is a nice bit of elevation change here, however, so perhaps there's some hope for the track and my opinion was colored by my mood at the time. I can't think of anything else interesting to say about this track so here's a pretty picture of a classic F1 car.
Ah, UOP/Shadow... we need you back on the grid. Anyway, here's the schedule for NBCSN's coverage this weekend:
Friday
Practice 2: 7a - 830a live
Saturday
Quals: 7a - 830a live
Sunday
2015 Grand Prix of Austria: 630a - 9a live
Join me, join all of us, won't you? Y'all be there, y'hear?
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June 06, 2015
F1 Quals: Canada 2015
Having loaded myself up on buttermilk pancakes from Scandahoovia Inn (warning: swedish pancakes have been known to instantly clog arteries. Fortunately, lingonberries have restorative properties equaled only by a high-level cleric's healing spells... and it goes with just about everything!) and conversation with the folks, I returned to Pond Central to watch myself some Qualifying for the 2015 Grand Prix of Canada. So how'd it turn out? Here's the provisional grid:
Sharp-eyed readers will note that Jenson Button's McLaren is conspicuous by his absence. He had a major failure in part of his power unit during Practice 3 and the team couldn't get it repaired in time. He'll be starting towards the back of the grid. Seb Vettel, who had a power unit problem of his own, has been penalized five spots for passing under a red flag in P3, and thus will be starting halfway through the Hairpin. Meanwhile, Embryo Verstappen received two penalties: five grid spots for causing the wreck towards the end of the race at Monaco, and a whopping ten spots for using his fifth engine of the year. He'll be starting somewhere near Channel-Port aux Basques, where he's likely to have a slow getaway considering he'll need to take a ferry to the mainland when the lights go out. Fortunately, the MV Leif Ericson (no relation to the Sauber driver) makes a good 18kts so it's only a seven hour trip to North Sydney, Nova Scotia. From there, it's 14 hours by passenger car to Toronto. He has his work cut out for him if he wants points.
Up at the top of the grid, nothing's changed. Oh, there was some thought that Nico Rosberg might possibly take pole over Lewis Hamilton, but it didn't happen... even Rosberg said his last try was a "rubbish way to end the session." With Vettel not making it out of Q1, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen felt free to stretch his legs, and it earned him his best starting position of the season. He should try that more often. The two Lotii of Lettuce Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado nearly came to grief in Q3 when both of them were released from their pit stalls simultaneously and wound up running side-by-side down the pit lane... I'm surprised there wasn't a penalty somewhere for unsafe release for that.
Otherwise, everything was pretty normal going. The race is tomorrow on NBC... the big network, kids! Break out those rabbit ears and pull the 12" b&w out of storage, it's race time! We'll see ya afterwards for F1U!
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:15.895 | 1:14.661 | 1:14.393 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:15.893 | 1:14.673 | 1:14.702 |
| 3 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:16.259 | 1:15.348 | 1:15.014 |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:16.552 | 1:15.506 | 1:15.102 |
| 5 | Lettuce Grosjean | Lotus | 1:15.833 | 1:15.187 | 1:15.194 |
| 6 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:16.098 | 1:15.622 | 1:15.329 |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:16.186 | 1:15.706 | 1:15.614 |
| 8 | Kid Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:16.415 | 1:15.891 | 1:16.079 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:16.410 | 1:16.006 | 1:16.114 |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:16.827 | 1:15.974 | 1:16.336 |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:16.611 | 1:16.042 | |
| 12 | Embryo Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:16.361 | 1:16.245 | |
| 13 | Sony Ericsson | Sauber | 1:16.796 | 1:16.262 | |
| 14 ;"> | HWIOSCTBNA | McLaren | 1:17.012 | 1:16.276 | |
| 15 | Felipe not Massa Nasr | Sauber | 1:16.968 | 1:16.620 | |
| 16 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:17.344 | ||
| 17 | Felipe not Nasr Massa | Williams | 1:17.886 | ||
| 18 | Roberto Merhi | Marussia | 1:19.133 | ||
| 19 | Will Stevens | Marussia | 1:19.157 |
Sharp-eyed readers will note that Jenson Button's McLaren is conspicuous by his absence. He had a major failure in part of his power unit during Practice 3 and the team couldn't get it repaired in time. He'll be starting towards the back of the grid. Seb Vettel, who had a power unit problem of his own, has been penalized five spots for passing under a red flag in P3, and thus will be starting halfway through the Hairpin. Meanwhile, Embryo Verstappen received two penalties: five grid spots for causing the wreck towards the end of the race at Monaco, and a whopping ten spots for using his fifth engine of the year. He'll be starting somewhere near Channel-Port aux Basques, where he's likely to have a slow getaway considering he'll need to take a ferry to the mainland when the lights go out. Fortunately, the MV Leif Ericson (no relation to the Sauber driver) makes a good 18kts so it's only a seven hour trip to North Sydney, Nova Scotia. From there, it's 14 hours by passenger car to Toronto. He has his work cut out for him if he wants points.
Up at the top of the grid, nothing's changed. Oh, there was some thought that Nico Rosberg might possibly take pole over Lewis Hamilton, but it didn't happen... even Rosberg said his last try was a "rubbish way to end the session." With Vettel not making it out of Q1, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen felt free to stretch his legs, and it earned him his best starting position of the season. He should try that more often. The two Lotii of Lettuce Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado nearly came to grief in Q3 when both of them were released from their pit stalls simultaneously and wound up running side-by-side down the pit lane... I'm surprised there wasn't a penalty somewhere for unsafe release for that.
Otherwise, everything was pretty normal going. The race is tomorrow on NBC... the big network, kids! Break out those rabbit ears and pull the 12" b&w out of storage, it's race time! We'll see ya afterwards for F1U!
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June 05, 2015
F1 Practice: Canada 2015
Well, that was a bit of a wet noodle. Practice 2 started out well enough. Every team had their car out on track almost from the get-go. That's exciting for the fans, but not so much for those "in the know", because that always means that weather is coming in, and the teams are trying to get as much data in the computers as possible. Sure enough, the on-screen graphics quickly popped up a message: rain due at 135pm Pond Time. Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes was tearing off laps a good .330 faster than anybody else (on top of his session-leading times in P1), but he didn't look jaw-droppingly dominant. Indeed, he very nearly stuffed it into the Wall of Champions at one point, missing the turn-in to the final chicane and getting all four tires off the ground when he hit the backside of the curb. For the record: your grip levels are greatly reduced when you're not physically in contact with the racing surface. He managed to not come to grief, though. And then, at 137pm Pond Time, the rains came to Ile Notre-Dame. Everybody made their way into the garages and superhero Berndt Maylander began to run laps around the course, testing grip levels.
After Berndt gave the car a rest, Mercedes had a great idea. Their thinking went something like this: "Just in case it rains on Sunday, which it isn't supposed to do but the possibility exists that it could, let's send Nico and Lewis out on Intermediate tires to try and get some data. It'll be fun!" Meanwhile, everybody else kept their cars under cover, snug and dry. So how did Mercedes' fun-filled adventure go?
Ah. Yes. Heading into the Hairpin at less-than-racing speed, Lewis realized that he wasn't so much driving a car as riding in a boat. The car was aquaplaning so badly that you could actually see that the front tires weren't making contact with the track surface. Remember what I said about grip levels being reduced in that situation? The car slid all the way into the barriers on the outside of the Hairpin, which is quite the journey. I can't remember the last time I saw someone end up there... not even Robert Kubica made it that far. Anyway, the good news was that the impact was at quite low speed and Lewis was unhurt. The bad news was that the nose got stuck in the tire barrier. The ugly news is that, when the tractor pulled the Merc free, the car swung back and smacked into the big green chunk of machinery. Who knows what sort of damage that did to the rear of the car? Of course, the session was red-flagged during all of this, and once it was over with, none of the other teams thought it was worth going back out. Or they were all laughing themselves sick, one of the two.
Quals in the afternoon tomorrow; I'll be having lunch with the folks, so I won't have the post until after I get back. See ya then!
After Berndt gave the car a rest, Mercedes had a great idea. Their thinking went something like this: "Just in case it rains on Sunday, which it isn't supposed to do but the possibility exists that it could, let's send Nico and Lewis out on Intermediate tires to try and get some data. It'll be fun!" Meanwhile, everybody else kept their cars under cover, snug and dry. So how did Mercedes' fun-filled adventure go?
Ah. Yes. Heading into the Hairpin at less-than-racing speed, Lewis realized that he wasn't so much driving a car as riding in a boat. The car was aquaplaning so badly that you could actually see that the front tires weren't making contact with the track surface. Remember what I said about grip levels being reduced in that situation? The car slid all the way into the barriers on the outside of the Hairpin, which is quite the journey. I can't remember the last time I saw someone end up there... not even Robert Kubica made it that far. Anyway, the good news was that the impact was at quite low speed and Lewis was unhurt. The bad news was that the nose got stuck in the tire barrier. The ugly news is that, when the tractor pulled the Merc free, the car swung back and smacked into the big green chunk of machinery. Who knows what sort of damage that did to the rear of the car? Of course, the session was red-flagged during all of this, and once it was over with, none of the other teams thought it was worth going back out. Or they were all laughing themselves sick, one of the two.
Quals in the afternoon tomorrow; I'll be having lunch with the folks, so I won't have the post until after I get back. See ya then!
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June 02, 2015
F1 on TV: Canada 2015
From the champagne and caviar of Monaco, the F1 Circus crosses The Pond to the land of Labatt's and poutine, Canada. It's quite the jump from a tiny fishing village on the coast of France to the bustling metropolis of Montreal, or quite the plunge if you're talking about gross domestic income, but that's where the cargo planes have taken us this time. Let's take a look at the track map for the 2015 Grand Prix of Canada:
Once again we've come to the Ile Notre-Dame, a man-made island in the St Lawrence River and the location of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. We've been here every year since 1978, save twice: 1987 and 2009, and if one has to bet on a track to give us a good race, I'd put my money on this one every time.
So what is it about this circuit that makes that happen? Well, it's ridonkulously fast. Oh, it's no Monza, sure, but from Turn 7 to the braking zone for the Hairpin is basically flat out, as is the run from the exit from the Hairpin to the Chicane at Turn 13/14. It's a fairly narrow track, meaning there's not much room for error, but it's filled with passing opportunities. I've seen passes at every single turn except the final chicane. Then there's the ever-present threat of rain... this is the site of the longest race in F1 history, over four hours, in 2011. Also one of the best races, also in 2011. It's the place the first Safety Car was ever called out, and since then it's averaging more than one per race. It's the home of the Montreal Marmot Massacre and the Wall of Champions. It's where SuperAguri hit their highpoint (~SUPERSATO~ passing Alonso for points!). And it's just a lovely, lovely track... even during the times the concrete was breaking up. There's just enough challenge to the driver to make it fun, and if they're having fun, chances are we will too.
So when does all this fun take place? I'm glad you asked! Let's take a look at the schedule:
Friday
Practice 2: 1p - 230p live on NBCSN
Saturday
Quals: 12noon - 130p live on NBCSN
Sunday
Prerace: 1230p - 1p live on NBCSN
2015 Grand Prix of Canada: 1p - 3p live on NBC
Its the first of three races we don't have to stay up until ungodly-o'clock (or wake up at what-time-is-it? AM) to watch, hooray! Check your local schedule for exact times and channels. All times Pond Central. Subtract two hours for random apartments in Oregon, add one hour for random boats just off the coast of Virginia, and sneeze if you're on Guam. No reason, I just want you to sneeze.
What with all this competition that's been happening recently, I expect some action. Everybody but Mercedes have used some of their allotted "tokens" to upgrade various pieces of their Power Units (remember when we used to call them "engines"? Ah, good times, good times...), so it's even possible that someone other than Mercedes will take that final step up on the podium.
I'm not betting on it, but it's possible. See ya then!
Once again we've come to the Ile Notre-Dame, a man-made island in the St Lawrence River and the location of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. We've been here every year since 1978, save twice: 1987 and 2009, and if one has to bet on a track to give us a good race, I'd put my money on this one every time.
So what is it about this circuit that makes that happen? Well, it's ridonkulously fast. Oh, it's no Monza, sure, but from Turn 7 to the braking zone for the Hairpin is basically flat out, as is the run from the exit from the Hairpin to the Chicane at Turn 13/14. It's a fairly narrow track, meaning there's not much room for error, but it's filled with passing opportunities. I've seen passes at every single turn except the final chicane. Then there's the ever-present threat of rain... this is the site of the longest race in F1 history, over four hours, in 2011. Also one of the best races, also in 2011. It's the place the first Safety Car was ever called out, and since then it's averaging more than one per race. It's the home of the Montreal Marmot Massacre and the Wall of Champions. It's where SuperAguri hit their highpoint (~SUPERSATO~ passing Alonso for points!). And it's just a lovely, lovely track... even during the times the concrete was breaking up. There's just enough challenge to the driver to make it fun, and if they're having fun, chances are we will too.
So when does all this fun take place? I'm glad you asked! Let's take a look at the schedule:
Friday
Practice 2: 1p - 230p live on NBCSN
Saturday
Quals: 12noon - 130p live on NBCSN
Sunday
Prerace: 1230p - 1p live on NBCSN
2015 Grand Prix of Canada: 1p - 3p live on NBC
Its the first of three races we don't have to stay up until ungodly-o'clock (or wake up at what-time-is-it? AM) to watch, hooray! Check your local schedule for exact times and channels. All times Pond Central. Subtract two hours for random apartments in Oregon, add one hour for random boats just off the coast of Virginia, and sneeze if you're on Guam. No reason, I just want you to sneeze.
What with all this competition that's been happening recently, I expect some action. Everybody but Mercedes have used some of their allotted "tokens" to upgrade various pieces of their Power Units (remember when we used to call them "engines"? Ah, good times, good times...), so it's even possible that someone other than Mercedes will take that final step up on the podium.
I'm not betting on it, but it's possible. See ya then!
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May 23, 2015
F1 Quals: Monaco 2015
After the rain washed out the majority of Free Practice 2 on Thursday, eyes were cocked askance at the lowering skies above the Monaco harbor. Would we get a wet Qual session at the most ridiculous circuit on the calendar? Let's take a look at the provisional grid for the 2015 Grand Prix of Monaco:
I don't know why I expected anything different. Wait, no, yes I do: Monaco is the one place on the calendar where the car/driver balance is tilted waaaaaaay over to the "driver" side. Which isn't to say a good car isn't a requirement... of course it is. But if you had told me that HWIACTBNA had dragged his recalcitrant McLaren into Q3, I would have believed you. As it was, it was only because he was balked on his last flying lap by a yellow flag that Jenson Button didn't make it to Q3.
I'm thinking that this was the best quals performance for Red Bull as a team this season, and isn't that an amazing statement after the past four years? There's nothing particularly surprising about the rest of the grid, though Sauber and Williams must both be chewing on their mustaches in consternation.
Rosberg is going to have to pull some serious driving stuff pretty darn quick after the lights go out, ere his teammate is going to snap his string of wins at his home race... and if you think Lewis Hamilton doesn't want to do that after Spain, you're crazy. Plus, heck... it's MONACO. This is the Big One. And if Rosberg manages to win, he'll join some rather elite company... the names of drivers who have won Monaco three or more times is pretty impressive. Ayrton Senna, Graham Hill, Slappy Schumacher, Alain Prost, Sterling Moss and Jackie Stewart. 19 World Championships between them (Moss drags the average down, winning no championships during his career... which is just mind-blowing). I think it'd be safe to say that Rosberg would be the worst driver of the bunch, which isn't really a knock.
Well, we'll find out on Sunday, the Racing Fan's Holiday! See ya then!
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:16.588 | 1:15.864 | 1:15.098 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:16.528 | 1:15.471 | 1:15.440 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:17.502 | 1:16.181 | 1:15.849 |
| 4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:17.254 | 1:16.706 | 1:16.041 |
| 5 | Kid Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:16.845 | 1:16.453 | 1:16.182 |
| 6 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:17.660 | 1:16.440 | 1:16.427 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:17.376 | 1:16.999 | 1:16.808 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:17.246 | 1:16.762 | 1:16.931 |
| 9 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:17.630 | 1:16.775 | 1:16.946 |
| 10 | Embryo Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:16.750 | 1:16.546 | 1:16.957 |
| 11 | Lettuce Grosjean | Lotus | 1:17.767 | 1:17.007 | |
| 12 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:17.492 | 1:17.093 | |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:17.552 | 1:17.193 | |
| 14 | Felipe Not Nasr Massa | Williams | 1:17.679 | 1:17.278 | |
| 15 | HWIACTBNA | McLaren | 1:17.778 | 1:26.632 | |
| 16 | Felipe Not MassaNasr | Sauber | 1:18.101 | ||
| 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:18.434 | ||
| 18 | L.M. Ericsson | Sauber | 1:18.513 | ||
| 19 | Will Stevens | Marussia | 1:20.655 | ||
| 20 | Roberto Merhi | Marussia | 1:20.904 |
I don't know why I expected anything different. Wait, no, yes I do: Monaco is the one place on the calendar where the car/driver balance is tilted waaaaaaay over to the "driver" side. Which isn't to say a good car isn't a requirement... of course it is. But if you had told me that HWIACTBNA had dragged his recalcitrant McLaren into Q3, I would have believed you. As it was, it was only because he was balked on his last flying lap by a yellow flag that Jenson Button didn't make it to Q3.
I'm thinking that this was the best quals performance for Red Bull as a team this season, and isn't that an amazing statement after the past four years? There's nothing particularly surprising about the rest of the grid, though Sauber and Williams must both be chewing on their mustaches in consternation.
Rosberg is going to have to pull some serious driving stuff pretty darn quick after the lights go out, ere his teammate is going to snap his string of wins at his home race... and if you think Lewis Hamilton doesn't want to do that after Spain, you're crazy. Plus, heck... it's MONACO. This is the Big One. And if Rosberg manages to win, he'll join some rather elite company... the names of drivers who have won Monaco three or more times is pretty impressive. Ayrton Senna, Graham Hill, Slappy Schumacher, Alain Prost, Sterling Moss and Jackie Stewart. 19 World Championships between them (Moss drags the average down, winning no championships during his career... which is just mind-blowing). I think it'd be safe to say that Rosberg would be the worst driver of the bunch, which isn't really a knock.
Well, we'll find out on Sunday, the Racing Fan's Holiday! See ya then!
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May 18, 2015
F1 on TV: Monaco 2015
Ahhhhh, Monaco. The place Formula 1 likes to imagine every race is like. The glitz, the glamor, the champagne, the megayachts in the harbor, the casino, the women, the money. For some reason, I can't imagine Spielberg, Austria, or Mexico City, or Spa-Francopants, or even Austin, Texas being the center of glitz and glamor (though Austin's the center of Weird). But that's fine. The sport can have its delusions because at least once a year, they're real. This weekend the F1 Circus makes its way to the Principality for the 2015 Grand Prix of Monaco. Let's take a look at the track map, shall we?
Essentially unchanged since the addition of the Nouvelle Chicane (Turns 10/11) in 1986, though there was a minor reprofiling of the Swimming Pool (Turns 13-16) in 1997, Monaco is the slowest circuit on the calendar. It's also the narrowest, has both the slowest (The Hairpin) and one of the fastest turns (Turn 9, the Tunnel) on the calendar, and is the only place on the calendar with a measurable risk of drivers ending up in the water. There's no "straight" here, just less curvy areas, and I'm fairly sure that the stretch from the end of the Nouvelle Chicane to Turn 17 is flat... the rest is uphill, downhill or seemingly both at the same time (the exit to the tunnel loses altitude except for a car-length-sized bump uphill). It takes about six weeks to construct the circuit by putting up the armco barriers, safety fencing, bleachers, activating the pit lane, bolting the curbs into place, welding the drain covers down, that sort of stuff.
Just as the Monaco Grand Prix is different from other races in many ways, so too is the race weekend for Monaco. Instead of Friday-Saturday-Sunday, instead we have Thursday-Saturday-Sunday. Such arrangement allows the billionaires to return from their jobs in Switzerland or England on Friday... or not, as the case may be. It's also one of the few that we here in the US get to see on one of the "Big Three" networks! Here's the broadcast schedule:
Thursday
7a - 830a: Practice 2 on NBCSN live
Saturday
7a - 830a: Quals on NBCSN live
Sunday
630a - 9a: 2015 Grand Prix of Monaco, live on NBC
As always, all times are Pond Central; check your local listings. Post no bills.
This is also Memorial Day weekend, meaning that Sunday is the Racing Fan's National Holiday as well. We get Monaco in the morning, the Indy 500 in the early afternoon, and the Coca-Cola 600 in the late afternoon/early evening. That's a lot of racing, and no, I'm not gonna try it this year. The open-wheel races, yes, but NASCAR I'll be happy if I get to catch the end. It's a busy weekend, but a fun one! See ya 'round, racefans!
Essentially unchanged since the addition of the Nouvelle Chicane (Turns 10/11) in 1986, though there was a minor reprofiling of the Swimming Pool (Turns 13-16) in 1997, Monaco is the slowest circuit on the calendar. It's also the narrowest, has both the slowest (The Hairpin) and one of the fastest turns (Turn 9, the Tunnel) on the calendar, and is the only place on the calendar with a measurable risk of drivers ending up in the water. There's no "straight" here, just less curvy areas, and I'm fairly sure that the stretch from the end of the Nouvelle Chicane to Turn 17 is flat... the rest is uphill, downhill or seemingly both at the same time (the exit to the tunnel loses altitude except for a car-length-sized bump uphill). It takes about six weeks to construct the circuit by putting up the armco barriers, safety fencing, bleachers, activating the pit lane, bolting the curbs into place, welding the drain covers down, that sort of stuff.
Just as the Monaco Grand Prix is different from other races in many ways, so too is the race weekend for Monaco. Instead of Friday-Saturday-Sunday, instead we have Thursday-Saturday-Sunday. Such arrangement allows the billionaires to return from their jobs in Switzerland or England on Friday... or not, as the case may be. It's also one of the few that we here in the US get to see on one of the "Big Three" networks! Here's the broadcast schedule:
Thursday
7a - 830a: Practice 2 on NBCSN live
Saturday
7a - 830a: Quals on NBCSN live
Sunday
630a - 9a: 2015 Grand Prix of Monaco, live on NBC
As always, all times are Pond Central; check your local listings. Post no bills.
This is also Memorial Day weekend, meaning that Sunday is the Racing Fan's National Holiday as well. We get Monaco in the morning, the Indy 500 in the early afternoon, and the Coca-Cola 600 in the late afternoon/early evening. That's a lot of racing, and no, I'm not gonna try it this year. The open-wheel races, yes, but NASCAR I'll be happy if I get to catch the end. It's a busy weekend, but a fun one! See ya 'round, racefans!
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Though I understand they're making an exception specifically for Formula E. May 09, 2015
F1 Quals: Spain 2015
Hold the phone! Stop the presses! From border to border, coast to coast and all the ships at sea, we have breaking news! Flash! Here's the grid for the 2015 Grand Prix of Spain:
Yes, someone other than Lewis Hamilton has landed the premium spot on the grid for the first time this season! That it's his teammate Nico Rosberg should come as no surprise to anybody, since he actually had more poles than the rest of the field combined last year. Pole is important in Spain, as 12 out of the last 14 races at Barcalounger have been won from the first spot on the grid. However, those two times have occurred in the past four years... i.e., during the DRS and KERS era.
It's still not an easy place to pass, so you've gotta think Rosberg has an advantage. We'll know by the first turn! The race is Sunday morning, we'll see you then!
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:26.490s | 1:25.166s | 1:24.681s |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:26.382s | 1:25.740s | 1:24.948s |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:27.534s | 1:26.167s | 1:25.458s |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:27.262s | 1:26.197s | 1:25.694s |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:26.773s | 1:26.475s | 1:26.136s |
| 6 | Min Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:27.393s | 1:26.441s | 1:26.249s |
| 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:26.637s | 1:26.016s | 1:26.414s |
| 8 | Kid Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:27.833s | 1:26.889s | 1:26.629s |
| 9 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:27.165s | 1:26.147s | 1:26.757s |
| 10 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:27.611s | 1:26.692s | 1:26.770s |
| 11 | Lettuce Grosjean | Lotus | 1:27.383s | 1:27.375s | |
| 12 | Ohgodits Maldonado | Lotus | 1:27.281s | 1:27.450s | |
| 13 | HWPMBNSTITF | McLaren | 1:27.941s | 1:27.760s | |
| 14 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:27.813s | 1:27.854s | |
| 15 | Gamal Abdel Nasr | Sauber | 1:27.625s | 1:28.005s | |
| 16 | Sony Ericsson | Sauber | 1:28.112s | ||
| 17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:28.365s | ||
| 18 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:28.442s | ||
| 19 | Will Stevens | Marussia | 1:31.200s | ||
| 20 | Roberto Merhi | Marussia | 1:32.038s |
Yes, someone other than Lewis Hamilton has landed the premium spot on the grid for the first time this season! That it's his teammate Nico Rosberg should come as no surprise to anybody, since he actually had more poles than the rest of the field combined last year. Pole is important in Spain, as 12 out of the last 14 races at Barcalounger have been won from the first spot on the grid. However, those two times have occurred in the past four years... i.e., during the DRS and KERS era.
It's still not an easy place to pass, so you've gotta think Rosberg has an advantage. We'll know by the first turn! The race is Sunday morning, we'll see you then!
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May 08, 2015
F1 Practice: Spain 2015
I totally forgot to watch. Completely spaced on today being Friday. However! I did say that I'd get back to you about if the new livery helped the McLaren go faster or not.
A McLaren, blood dripping from its wings, continues hunting for fresh prey.
Jenson Button ended up 7th at the end of P2. His teammate, HWPMBNSTITF, was solidly in 11th. So I think we can safely say yes, at least for today the Dark Charcoal and Red livery gave the McLaren chassis a speed boost. Never mind any other gewgaws and doohickies they may have added to the bodywork, it was all down to the livery. For what it's worth, Button is still over 1.5 seconds behind times set by the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. In other news, Lotus has installed a particularly aggressive batch of upgrades to the E23 chassis for this race.
All joking aside, and please note they put the tires on backwards, Lotus had a spot of bother out on the circuit today. Lettuce Grosjean was turning a lap at speed when the entire engine cover tore off like it was never attached. Normally I would think that this would do terrible things to a car's pace, but this is Lotus we're talking about here. Ahem. Here's what it looked like when Lettuce made it back to the pits:
Quals in the morning. The quals report probably won't be up until the afternoon, though.
All joking aside, and please note they put the tires on backwards, Lotus had a spot of bother out on the circuit today. Lettuce Grosjean was turning a lap at speed when the entire engine cover tore off like it was never attached. Normally I would think that this would do terrible things to a car's pace, but this is Lotus we're talking about here. Ahem. Here's what it looked like when Lettuce made it back to the pits:
Quals in the morning. The quals report probably won't be up until the afternoon, though.
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May 04, 2015
F1 on TV: Spain 2015
The slow boat from Bahrain has finally made landfall in the Old World, and the F1 Circus has disembarked in the traditional home of racing boredom, Barcalounger, home of the 2015 Grand Prix of Spain. Let's take a look at the track map, shall we? 
I call it a boring race because it almost always is. For many, many years, the Circuit de Catalunya was the winter home for testing, with every team putting in thousands of laps annually. As a result, every tiny rise, every small dip, any bump, crack or irregularity is known and processed through the filter of the teams. Every single inch of this circuit is mapped and imprinted directly onto the cerebellums of the drivers, to the point that the race has spawned some legendary processions. Indeed, if there was ever an argument to be made for the necessity of gimmicks like DRS and KERS in Formula 1, this track right here is it.
Over and above all that, there's nothing particularly challenging about this Spanish track. It's a burrito from Chipotle is what it is. Filling, and you know you've eaten something when you're done, but real burritos are so much better. It wasn't always that way... I remember when Sector 3 was ridiculously fast: Turn 10 was a sweeper instead of a hairpin, and the final turn ran in a single arc from Turn 13 to the exit of Turn 16 and cars barely slowed for it.
But those days are dust, now and forever more. At least we'll have the Legendary Announce Team to bring us coverage over paella and tortas from the Basilica Templo Expiatorio del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus. Here's the broadcast schedule:
FRIDAY
7am - 830am: Practice 2 on NBCSN
SATURDAY
7am - 830am: Quals live on CNBC
SUNDAY
630a - 9am: 2015 Grand Prix of Spain on NBCSN.
All times are Pond Central, of course. Add an hour if, for example, you're in a hospital in Virginia. Subtract two hours if you're having a Mission burrito in San Francisco. And if you're in the Midwest, have a breakfast pastry with your sangria.
We'll see you then.
I call it a boring race because it almost always is. For many, many years, the Circuit de Catalunya was the winter home for testing, with every team putting in thousands of laps annually. As a result, every tiny rise, every small dip, any bump, crack or irregularity is known and processed through the filter of the teams. Every single inch of this circuit is mapped and imprinted directly onto the cerebellums of the drivers, to the point that the race has spawned some legendary processions. Indeed, if there was ever an argument to be made for the necessity of gimmicks like DRS and KERS in Formula 1, this track right here is it.
Over and above all that, there's nothing particularly challenging about this Spanish track. It's a burrito from Chipotle is what it is. Filling, and you know you've eaten something when you're done, but real burritos are so much better. It wasn't always that way... I remember when Sector 3 was ridiculously fast: Turn 10 was a sweeper instead of a hairpin, and the final turn ran in a single arc from Turn 13 to the exit of Turn 16 and cars barely slowed for it.
But those days are dust, now and forever more. At least we'll have the Legendary Announce Team to bring us coverage over paella and tortas from the Basilica Templo Expiatorio del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus. Here's the broadcast schedule:
FRIDAY
7am - 830am: Practice 2 on NBCSN
SATURDAY
7am - 830am: Quals live on CNBC
SUNDAY
630a - 9am: 2015 Grand Prix of Spain on NBCSN.
All times are Pond Central, of course. Add an hour if, for example, you're in a hospital in Virginia. Subtract two hours if you're having a Mission burrito in San Francisco. And if you're in the Midwest, have a breakfast pastry with your sangria.
We'll see you then.
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May 01, 2015
Deforming
There was a nasty wreck during the ARCA series race at Talladega today. Austin Self got a little squirrely and spun in the tri-oval, not an uncommon occurrence. As his car flailed around, it caught the hard-charging car of Brad Smith right in the nose. Along with the obvious damage, Smith's throttle was stuck open. He went up the track, smacked the outside wall, and then...
Rescue crews actually had to cut Smith from the wreckage of the car, but he was able to walk under his own power to the ambulance, though unsteadily. Taken to the infield care unit, he was later helicoptered to the nearby University of Alabama-Birmingham Hospital for further observation.
I mention all this because of a screenshot I saw of the wreck... to whit, this one:
The particular stretch of wall that Smith impacted had what's called a SAFER (Steel And Foam Energy Reduction) Barrier installed in front of it. When hit, it's designed to crumple like a beercan, reducing the strength of the impact before the car makes contact with the concrete wall behind it. That's why Smith's car looks like it's smooshed to half its size: part of it is inside the SAFER barrier.
During the NASCAR Xfinity race at Daytona back in February Kyle Busch had a similar accident, except the wall he hit notably didn't have the SAFER barriers installed. He suffered a broken right leg and left foot. Certainly there were differences: impact angle, size and weight of the cars, so on and so forth... but that one man could walk away and the other is sidelined and will remain so for an unknown amount of time may very well come down to the way the wall deformed.
F1 doesn't use SAFER barriers; instead, they use tire walls which really do much the same thing, or TECPRO barriers at four or five circuits. TECPRO is the same idea as SAFER, just with much more foam and less steel. It's used mostly at Monaco, where it protected Sergio Perez from what would have been a catastrophic injury in 2011. Compare that accident to Jenson Button's in 2003, when they had a tire wall instead... no give at all.
In most cases for F1, tire barriers are sufficient. Walls are usually far away from the track, and when they're not, a car isn't likely to hit them (on straightaways, for example). Tire barriers are "good enough" in those circumstances, combined with the way F1 cars are designed to absorb impacts. A SAFER barrier might actually hinder the way a F1 car takes damage, come to think of it.
Well, there you go.
Rescue crews actually had to cut Smith from the wreckage of the car, but he was able to walk under his own power to the ambulance, though unsteadily. Taken to the infield care unit, he was later helicoptered to the nearby University of Alabama-Birmingham Hospital for further observation.
I mention all this because of a screenshot I saw of the wreck... to whit, this one:
The particular stretch of wall that Smith impacted had what's called a SAFER (Steel And Foam Energy Reduction) Barrier installed in front of it. When hit, it's designed to crumple like a beercan, reducing the strength of the impact before the car makes contact with the concrete wall behind it. That's why Smith's car looks like it's smooshed to half its size: part of it is inside the SAFER barrier.
During the NASCAR Xfinity race at Daytona back in February Kyle Busch had a similar accident, except the wall he hit notably didn't have the SAFER barriers installed. He suffered a broken right leg and left foot. Certainly there were differences: impact angle, size and weight of the cars, so on and so forth... but that one man could walk away and the other is sidelined and will remain so for an unknown amount of time may very well come down to the way the wall deformed.
F1 doesn't use SAFER barriers; instead, they use tire walls which really do much the same thing, or TECPRO barriers at four or five circuits. TECPRO is the same idea as SAFER, just with much more foam and less steel. It's used mostly at Monaco, where it protected Sergio Perez from what would have been a catastrophic injury in 2011. Compare that accident to Jenson Button's in 2003, when they had a tire wall instead... no give at all.
In most cases for F1, tire barriers are sufficient. Walls are usually far away from the track, and when they're not, a car isn't likely to hit them (on straightaways, for example). Tire barriers are "good enough" in those circumstances, combined with the way F1 cars are designed to absorb impacts. A SAFER barrier might actually hinder the way a F1 car takes damage, come to think of it.
Well, there you go.
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April 18, 2015
F1 Quals: Bahrain 2015
Pretty night at Sakhir tonight as the F1 Circus gets ready for tomorrow's race, but who's going to be leading the horde towards Turn 1 when the lights go out? Here's the provisional grid:
The same "Big Six" as we've come to expect, just a little scrambled. Actually, Vettel was the polesitter right up until the very last moment. Unsurprisingly, Hamilton nailed him on his last attempt, and to be honest there was a sense of inevitability to the proceedings. Of COURSE Lewis Hamilton was going to be on pole. No, it doesn't matter than his car is on fire and he's only got two tires, he'll still be faster.
One nice thing to see is that McLaren appears to have begun their long trek out of the darkness, at least kinda. Jenson Button had an engine failure before he could set an actual qualifying time, and races at the Steward's whim. However! HWMODBNA got his valiant steed out of Q1 and firmly into Q2. Reliability is still an issue obviously, but the signs are there: they're picking up about a second per lap ever race. Again, this is the easy stuff they're doing. Analogy time! When painting a wall, it's a cinch to slather the big areas and cover dozens of square feet at a time. Things start to slow down, though, when you're painting the baseboards and the moulding and around the electrical outlets. It's those details that make the wall look good when you're done... and it's the little details that take a F1 car from the midpack to join the big guys.
The race is in the morning, 10am Pond Central time... you bring the bagels, I'll have the cold pizza ready. See ya then!
| Pos | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:33.928 | 1:32.669 | 1:32.571 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:34.919 | 1:33.623 | 1:32.982 |
| 3 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:34.398 | 1:33.878 | 1:33.129 |
| 4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:34.568 | 1:33.540 | 1:33.227 |
| 5 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:34.161 | 1:33.897 | 1:33.381 |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:34.488 | 1:33.551 | 1:33.744 |
| 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing | 1:34.691 | 1:34.403 | 1:33.832 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:35.653 | 1:34.613 | 1:34.450 |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:35.371 | 1:34.641 | 1:34.462 |
| 10 | Lettuce Grosjean | Lotus | 1:35.007 | 1:34.123 | 1:34.484 |
| 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:35.451 | 1:34.704 | |
| 12 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:35.310 | 1:34.737 | |
| 13 | Sony Ericsson | Sauber | 1:35.438 | 1:35.034 | |
| 14 | HWMODBNA | McLaren | 1:35.205 | 1:35.039 | |
| 15 | Embryo Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:35.611 | 1:35.103 | |
| 16 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:35.677 | ||
| 17 | Kid Kvyat | Red Bull Racing | 1:35.800 | ||
| 18 | Will Stevens | Manor | 1:38.713 | ||
| 19 | Roberto Merhi | Manor | 1:39.722 | ||
| 20 | Jenson Button | McLaren | No time |
The same "Big Six" as we've come to expect, just a little scrambled. Actually, Vettel was the polesitter right up until the very last moment. Unsurprisingly, Hamilton nailed him on his last attempt, and to be honest there was a sense of inevitability to the proceedings. Of COURSE Lewis Hamilton was going to be on pole. No, it doesn't matter than his car is on fire and he's only got two tires, he'll still be faster.
One nice thing to see is that McLaren appears to have begun their long trek out of the darkness, at least kinda. Jenson Button had an engine failure before he could set an actual qualifying time, and races at the Steward's whim. However! HWMODBNA got his valiant steed out of Q1 and firmly into Q2. Reliability is still an issue obviously, but the signs are there: they're picking up about a second per lap ever race. Again, this is the easy stuff they're doing. Analogy time! When painting a wall, it's a cinch to slather the big areas and cover dozens of square feet at a time. Things start to slow down, though, when you're painting the baseboards and the moulding and around the electrical outlets. It's those details that make the wall look good when you're done... and it's the little details that take a F1 car from the midpack to join the big guys.
The race is in the morning, 10am Pond Central time... you bring the bagels, I'll have the cold pizza ready. See ya then!
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April 13, 2015
F1 on TV: Bahrain
From Shanghai, the F1 Circus now packs up and wings westward. Across China, over the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, the length of Pakistan, maybe catching a small piece of Afghanistan, winging over southern Iran just to the north of Bandar Abbas, crossing the Persian Gulf, and landing nearly 12 hours later at Bahrain International Airport. From there, it's a 40 minute drive down the Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Highway to the Bahrain International Circuit, located at Gate 255, Gulf of Bahrain Avenue, Umm Jidar 1062, Sakhir... the home of the 2015 Grand Prix of Bahrain. Let's take a look at the track map:
Seems like quite the journey for us to end up... here. It's very much a Tilkedrome, almost totally indistinguishable from Malaysia or China... only the decorations differentiate between locations, really. Well, that and the sand in Bahrain. There's a lot of that. The University of Bahrain is literally right across the street from the Bahrain International Circuit, too... indeed, the bleachers that line the outside of Turns 1 through 3 are called the "University Stands." See? You really DO learn things here at The Pond!
Anyway, the track surface aggregate is very grippy. Interestingly, it was shipped from Bayston Hill quarry in England, but it should play merry hell with the rubber this race. There's also the ever-present fear of sand on the track; the adhesive the event organizers spray on the surrounding desert does seem to keep most of it down. The track is mostly very wide, thus allowing plenty of room for cars to run side-by-side, ha-ha. It has one of the best medical centers on-site at a racetrack in the world, with perhaps only the Abu Dhabi facility rivaling it.
On the whole, it's not a particularly challenging circuit, but there's one huge change being made to it this year: lights. That's right, this year the Grand Prix of Bahrain is going to be a night race. That'll add a whole lot of confusion to the proceedings, since nobody's ever driven here under the lights.
It's a huge boon for us, the viewers, though! Let's take a look at the TV schedule...
Friday
10am - 1130am: Practice 2 Live on NBCSN
Saturday
10am - 1130am: Quals Live on CNBC
Sunday
930a - 12noon: 2015 Grand Prix of Bahrain live on NBCSN
No staying up until 4am, or getting up at 6am, for this one! For once, I can actually be happy with Formula One Management.
We'll see ya after!
Seems like quite the journey for us to end up... here. It's very much a Tilkedrome, almost totally indistinguishable from Malaysia or China... only the decorations differentiate between locations, really. Well, that and the sand in Bahrain. There's a lot of that. The University of Bahrain is literally right across the street from the Bahrain International Circuit, too... indeed, the bleachers that line the outside of Turns 1 through 3 are called the "University Stands." See? You really DO learn things here at The Pond!
Anyway, the track surface aggregate is very grippy. Interestingly, it was shipped from Bayston Hill quarry in England, but it should play merry hell with the rubber this race. There's also the ever-present fear of sand on the track; the adhesive the event organizers spray on the surrounding desert does seem to keep most of it down. The track is mostly very wide, thus allowing plenty of room for cars to run side-by-side, ha-ha. It has one of the best medical centers on-site at a racetrack in the world, with perhaps only the Abu Dhabi facility rivaling it.
On the whole, it's not a particularly challenging circuit, but there's one huge change being made to it this year: lights. That's right, this year the Grand Prix of Bahrain is going to be a night race. That'll add a whole lot of confusion to the proceedings, since nobody's ever driven here under the lights.
It's a huge boon for us, the viewers, though! Let's take a look at the TV schedule...
Friday
10am - 1130am: Practice 2 Live on NBCSN
Saturday
10am - 1130am: Quals Live on CNBC
Sunday
930a - 12noon: 2015 Grand Prix of Bahrain live on NBCSN
No staying up until 4am, or getting up at 6am, for this one! For once, I can actually be happy with Formula One Management.
We'll see ya after!
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April 11, 2015
F1 Quals: China 2015
Before you can race in F1, you must qualify. This has been duly done by the accumulated Circus, but how did everything end up in Shanghai? Let's take a look at the provisional grid for the 2015 Grand Prix of China:
Pretty much what we expect these days. The Mercs have the one lap speed advantage over the Ferraris, but aren't as easy on their tires as the red cars. The team from Maranello looked quite good during long runs in practice, suggesting that Vettel and Raikkonen will be bringing it to Hamilton and Rosberg on Sunday. The Finn's position in sixth is due to, and I quote, "a sh*t lap", where the car misbehaved during his final pole attempt.
Nobody believes that the Williams are serious contenders for anything more than staying a notch below the Ferraris, and Red Bull is trying desperately to find some way to explain their sudden lack of speed, grip and class. Their whining coefficient is off the charts, though.
The one thing everybody can hope for is Nico Rosberg's proclamation coming true. After Quals, he stated that he believed the softer Option tires were going to die quickly during race conditions. While the Silver Arrows managed to hold an unused set of Options in reserve, their 1.7 seconds per lap advantage over the Prime tires won't matter if they're only good for five or six laps... the extra pit-stop will take longer than the speed advantage saves the team... particularly if Ferrari can repeat last race and make their tires run longer.
Down at the other end of the order, we actually had both Manor chassis on track at the same time, which may have been the first time that's occurred this year. Both are well within the 107% time of 1:44.something as well. Meanwhile, McLaren is... improving, something like a second or two a race. Of course, these are the easy fixes they're applying; its when they reach "average" that they'll start to really have difficulty improving to "good" or "great."
In other news, we had a track invader during Friday practice.
The man, a Chinese citizen, came down out of the stands, scaled the 10' tall catch fence and the interior armco barrier, ran across the front straight and dove over the inside wall. He then approached the Ferrari pits and stated an interest in "giving one of the cars a try." He was apprehended by circuit marshals and turned over to the local police. As one can imagine, the F1 Circus immediately screamed for a larger security presence. Reports say that the organizers doubled the front grandstand's police force. I'm only going to say "wow" and leave it at that.
Race is Sunday morning... see ya after.
| Pos | Name | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:38.285 | 1:36.423 | 1:35.782 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:38.496 | 1:36.747 | 1:35.824 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:37.502 | 1:36.957 | 1:36.687 |
| 4 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:38.433 | 1:37.357 | 1:36.954 |
| 5 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:38.014 | 1:37.763 | 1:37.143 |
| 6 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:37.790 | 1:37.109 | 1:37.232 |
| 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing | 1:38.534 | 1:37.939 | 1:37.540 |
| 8 | Lettuce Grosjean | Lotus | 1:38.209 | 1:38.063 | 1:37.905 |
| 9 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:38.521 | 1:38.017 | 1:38.067 |
| 10 | Sony Ericsson | Sauber | 1:38.941 | 1:38.127 | 1:38.158 |
| 11 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:38.563 | 1:38.134 | |
| 12 | Kid Kvyat | Red Bull Racing | 1:39.051 | 1:38.209 | |
| 13 | Zygote Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:38.387 | 1:38.393 | |
| 14 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:38.622 | 1:38.538 | |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:38.903 | 1:39.290 | |
| 16 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:39.216 | ||
| 17 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:39.276 | ||
| 18 | HWPMBN | McLaren | 1:39.280 | ||
| 19 | Will Stevens | Manor | 1:42.091 | ||
| 20 | Roberto Merhi | Manor | 1:42.842 |
Pretty much what we expect these days. The Mercs have the one lap speed advantage over the Ferraris, but aren't as easy on their tires as the red cars. The team from Maranello looked quite good during long runs in practice, suggesting that Vettel and Raikkonen will be bringing it to Hamilton and Rosberg on Sunday. The Finn's position in sixth is due to, and I quote, "a sh*t lap", where the car misbehaved during his final pole attempt.
Nobody believes that the Williams are serious contenders for anything more than staying a notch below the Ferraris, and Red Bull is trying desperately to find some way to explain their sudden lack of speed, grip and class. Their whining coefficient is off the charts, though.
The one thing everybody can hope for is Nico Rosberg's proclamation coming true. After Quals, he stated that he believed the softer Option tires were going to die quickly during race conditions. While the Silver Arrows managed to hold an unused set of Options in reserve, their 1.7 seconds per lap advantage over the Prime tires won't matter if they're only good for five or six laps... the extra pit-stop will take longer than the speed advantage saves the team... particularly if Ferrari can repeat last race and make their tires run longer.
Down at the other end of the order, we actually had both Manor chassis on track at the same time, which may have been the first time that's occurred this year. Both are well within the 107% time of 1:44.something as well. Meanwhile, McLaren is... improving, something like a second or two a race. Of course, these are the easy fixes they're applying; its when they reach "average" that they'll start to really have difficulty improving to "good" or "great."
In other news, we had a track invader during Friday practice.
The man, a Chinese citizen, came down out of the stands, scaled the 10' tall catch fence and the interior armco barrier, ran across the front straight and dove over the inside wall. He then approached the Ferrari pits and stated an interest in "giving one of the cars a try." He was apprehended by circuit marshals and turned over to the local police. As one can imagine, the F1 Circus immediately screamed for a larger security presence. Reports say that the organizers doubled the front grandstand's police force. I'm only going to say "wow" and leave it at that.
Race is Sunday morning... see ya after.
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April 07, 2015
F1 on NBCSN: China
After a relatively surprising result in Malaysia, the Formula 1 Circus has bundled itself up and traipsed its way across the South China Sea to find itself in Shanghai, home of the 2015 Grand Prix of China. Let's take a look at the track map, shall we? Yes, let's!
Well, one thing's for sure: it hasn't changed. It's still smoggy, it's still shaped like the Chinese symbol shang, meaning "arise", it's still a Tilkedrome. It's more likely to cough up a good race than any other Tilkedrome, true, but that's nothing to hang on your wall proudly. Throw in the perceived dominance of Mercedes and I find myself staring at the schedule and wondering just what I'm doing with my life. I mean, besides "nothing".
Well, since I'm not doing anything, I may as well watch the race. Here's NBCSN's planned coverage schedule:
Friday
Practice 2: 1am - 230a live
Saturday
Quals: 2a - 330a live
Sunday
Grand Prix of China: 1230a - 300a live
All times are Pond Central, of course, but please check your schedule, just to be sure we've got the times listed right. Seriously, Zap2It is a clumsy, awkward, sloppy little piece of moldy cheese of a TV listing software, and I trust it about as far as I can spit an eatanter. And for the record, I can't spit an eatanter at all... the tail keeps getting snagged.
In other F1 news, Red Bull has stopped whining about Mercedes' so-called engine domination. Now team principal Christian Horner is calling for a wind tunnel ban. Given his track record on this sort of stuff, I can only assume that Red Bull is having technical troubles with their wind tunnel. Either that or they hate the thought of Haas F1 having the best automotive wind tunnel in the world at their beck and call. Maybe both, who knows? I'm not even sure Horner knows. Red Bull is talking about getting out of the sport altogether, Toro Rosso is on the verge of becoming a Renault tean... maybe we can get a team that's concerned about racing on the track, instead of a team that's a marketing tool first, and then a racing team.
Rant over. Everybody back on your heads.
Well, one thing's for sure: it hasn't changed. It's still smoggy, it's still shaped like the Chinese symbol shang, meaning "arise", it's still a Tilkedrome. It's more likely to cough up a good race than any other Tilkedrome, true, but that's nothing to hang on your wall proudly. Throw in the perceived dominance of Mercedes and I find myself staring at the schedule and wondering just what I'm doing with my life. I mean, besides "nothing".
Well, since I'm not doing anything, I may as well watch the race. Here's NBCSN's planned coverage schedule:
Friday
Practice 2: 1am - 230a live
Saturday
Quals: 2a - 330a live
Sunday
Grand Prix of China: 1230a - 300a live
All times are Pond Central, of course, but please check your schedule, just to be sure we've got the times listed right. Seriously, Zap2It is a clumsy, awkward, sloppy little piece of moldy cheese of a TV listing software, and I trust it about as far as I can spit an eatanter. And for the record, I can't spit an eatanter at all... the tail keeps getting snagged.
In other F1 news, Red Bull has stopped whining about Mercedes' so-called engine domination. Now team principal Christian Horner is calling for a wind tunnel ban. Given his track record on this sort of stuff, I can only assume that Red Bull is having technical troubles with their wind tunnel. Either that or they hate the thought of Haas F1 having the best automotive wind tunnel in the world at their beck and call. Maybe both, who knows? I'm not even sure Horner knows. Red Bull is talking about getting out of the sport altogether, Toro Rosso is on the verge of becoming a Renault tean... maybe we can get a team that's concerned about racing on the track, instead of a team that's a marketing tool first, and then a racing team.
Rant over. Everybody back on your heads.
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March 28, 2015
F1 Quals: Malaysia 2015
Allegedly they've heard of sunlight at Sepang. If you just went by
today, however, there's no way that's actually possible, as the session
began with low, heavy clouds. If I saw clouds like that here at Pond
Central on a Summer day, I'd be heading for the laundry room as fast as I
could go. But did it actually rain? Here's the provisional grid for
the 2015 Grand Prix of Malaysia:
First things first: the 107% time was 1:46:217. Neither Manor driver brought his vehicle in under that time, so they race at the Steward's permission... which was granted, as both drivers managed to display enough pace during practice to claim they manage it. Assuming Manor can find and fix the gremlin that infected Will Stevens' car between Practice 3 and Quals, we should have a full grid on Sunday!
And what an interesting grid it is, too. Of course it rained in Malaysia; it always does. The teams had enough time for one or two flying laps before the heavens opened up and dumped a substantial portion of the Malacca Strait onto Sepang International Circuit. Lewis Hamilton was nearly caught by this, as he had problems getting his Mercedes started. Because most only got one shot, one bad twitch could cost you the session, as Kimi Raikkonen learned. After the dry laps were in the books, there was no point in going out again.
Q3 was delayed nearly 40 minutes as the Powers That Be waited for the water to stop bucketing down. This it duly did, but the track was still sodden enough for Intermediate tires (and some thought Full Wets) to be required for the entire session. In the process, we may have discovered that, at least in the wet, Ferrari can hang with the Mercs. In the dry, the Silver Arrows still have the clear advantage, though it seems to have been cut somewhat.
We'll see what the race will bring us early Sunday Morning. No idea when I'll manage the writeup, as I've a couple of other things that need to be dealt with on Sunday.
| P | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:39.269 | 1:41.517 | 1:49.834 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:39.814 | 1:39.632 | 1:49.908 |
| 3 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:39.374 | 1:39.377 | 1:50.299 |
| 4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing | 1:40.504 | 1:41.085 | 1:51.541 |
| 5 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull Racing | 1:40.546 | 1:41.665 | 1:51.951 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:40.793 | 1:41.430 | 1:51.981 |
| 7 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:40.543 | 1:41.230 | 1:52.473 |
| 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1:40.303 | 1:41.209 | 1:52.981 |
| 9 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:40.249 | 1:40.650 | 1:53.179 |
| 10 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:40.340 | 1:41.748 | 1:53.261 |
| 11 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:40.415 | 1:42.173 | |
| 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:40.361 | 1:42.198 | |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:40.830 | 1:43.023 | |
| 14 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:41.036 | 1:43.469 | |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:39.814 | 1:43.701 | |
| 16 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:41.308 | ||
| 17 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:41.636 | ||
| 18 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:41.746 | ||
| 19 |
Roberto Merhi | Manor | 1:46.677 | ||
| DNQ |
Will Stevens |
Manor |
No Time |
First things first: the 107% time was 1:46:217. Neither Manor driver brought his vehicle in under that time, so they race at the Steward's permission... which was granted, as both drivers managed to display enough pace during practice to claim they manage it. Assuming Manor can find and fix the gremlin that infected Will Stevens' car between Practice 3 and Quals, we should have a full grid on Sunday!
And what an interesting grid it is, too. Of course it rained in Malaysia; it always does. The teams had enough time for one or two flying laps before the heavens opened up and dumped a substantial portion of the Malacca Strait onto Sepang International Circuit. Lewis Hamilton was nearly caught by this, as he had problems getting his Mercedes started. Because most only got one shot, one bad twitch could cost you the session, as Kimi Raikkonen learned. After the dry laps were in the books, there was no point in going out again.
Q3 was delayed nearly 40 minutes as the Powers That Be waited for the water to stop bucketing down. This it duly did, but the track was still sodden enough for Intermediate tires (and some thought Full Wets) to be required for the entire session. In the process, we may have discovered that, at least in the wet, Ferrari can hang with the Mercs. In the dry, the Silver Arrows still have the clear advantage, though it seems to have been cut somewhat.
We'll see what the race will bring us early Sunday Morning. No idea when I'll manage the writeup, as I've a couple of other things that need to be dealt with on Sunday.
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March 27, 2015
You Stupid Idiot.
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March 24, 2015
F1 on NBCSN: Malaysia
With a cloud of embarrassment hanging over its head, F1 bids adieu to Australia and made its way to the next destination on the World Tour: Malaysia, and the Sepang International Circuit contained therein. Let's take a look at said circuit's track map:
Some things never change. Since 1999, Malaysia has been dominated by the two "forever straights", separated only by a tight, low-speed hairpin. In effect this was Hermann Tilke's premiere track design, though he did technically design the A1-Ring (now the Red Bull Ring) in Austria first. It's already full of what would be come his signature tics, like the aforementioned long straights, lots of rhythm-destroying turns, and an appalling lack of feel for a racetrack. All of these would carry over to his later designs, with only Turkey truly standing as an acceptable layout.
Well, what's done is done. The circuits are here, they aren't going away anytime soon, so this is what we've got. What do often do get in Malaysia is rain. Lots and lots of rain. If we're lucky, we'll get rain this weekend. According to the forecast, there's showers scheduled on race morning, with thunderstorms in the afternoon. The question, of course, is if "the afternoon" is during the race itself. We'll see.
In injured driver news, both Valterri Bottas (back) and HWMNBN (concussion) are hopeful for returns this weekend. The Finn will do the car self-extraction test on Thursday, and if he's capable of that, he'll be driving. The Spaniard, however, went through a battery of tests this weekend, and will undergo a final medical assessment from the FIA on Thursday as well. I'd expect to see them both racing on Sunday.
Finally, here's the TV schedule for NBCSN's coverage this weekend:
Friday
P2: 100a - 300a live
Saturday
Quals: 400a - 530a live
Sunday
2015 Grand Prix of Malaysia: 130a - 400a live
As always, times are in Pond Central. Also as always, NBCSN's scheduling is brought to us by Zap2It, which means it's frequently wrong, and constantly impossible to read.
And, completely off-topic, here's this year's World Endurance Racing entry from Audi:
Yes, please, very much so.
Some things never change. Since 1999, Malaysia has been dominated by the two "forever straights", separated only by a tight, low-speed hairpin. In effect this was Hermann Tilke's premiere track design, though he did technically design the A1-Ring (now the Red Bull Ring) in Austria first. It's already full of what would be come his signature tics, like the aforementioned long straights, lots of rhythm-destroying turns, and an appalling lack of feel for a racetrack. All of these would carry over to his later designs, with only Turkey truly standing as an acceptable layout.
Well, what's done is done. The circuits are here, they aren't going away anytime soon, so this is what we've got. What do often do get in Malaysia is rain. Lots and lots of rain. If we're lucky, we'll get rain this weekend. According to the forecast, there's showers scheduled on race morning, with thunderstorms in the afternoon. The question, of course, is if "the afternoon" is during the race itself. We'll see.
In injured driver news, both Valterri Bottas (back) and HWMNBN (concussion) are hopeful for returns this weekend. The Finn will do the car self-extraction test on Thursday, and if he's capable of that, he'll be driving. The Spaniard, however, went through a battery of tests this weekend, and will undergo a final medical assessment from the FIA on Thursday as well. I'd expect to see them both racing on Sunday.
Finally, here's the TV schedule for NBCSN's coverage this weekend:
Friday
P2: 100a - 300a live
Saturday
Quals: 400a - 530a live
Sunday
2015 Grand Prix of Malaysia: 130a - 400a live
As always, times are in Pond Central. Also as always, NBCSN's scheduling is brought to us by Zap2It, which means it's frequently wrong, and constantly impossible to read.
And, completely off-topic, here's this year's World Endurance Racing entry from Audi:
Yes, please, very much so.
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March 14, 2015
F1 Quals: Australia 2015
If it's Saturday in Melbourne, it must be qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix! How will this season go? We should begin to get an idea after this, the first time it all really counts... let's take a look at the grid:
Yeeeesh. As if last season wasn't bad enough, Mercedes is picking up 2015 right where they left off in 2014, with another front-row lockout. Polesitter is a full 1.4 seconds ahead of the first non-Mercedes challenger, Williams' Felipe Massa, and about a half-second ahead of his teammate Nico Rosberg. The two Ferraris had relatively dull (but good!) Quals sessions. Meanwhile, Red Bull pretty much wants to strangle engine manufacturer Renault. First, Riccardo had his first engine (of four for the year!) die during Practice, then his second is "practically undriveable", full of weird holes in the engine mapping. That's why teammate Daniil Kvyat is so far down the grid, and why Ricciardo nearly missed Q3.
Sauber has to be relieved that Felipe Nasr qual'd 11th, considering the nightmare they've put up with this week. Indeed, he was looking like he'd go through into Q3 until Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz bumped him out at the last moment. Too, Force India has to be pleased with their results in Quals. Sure, they aren't high up the grid, but they had very little track time with their new car and it's looking to be solidly reliable. Particularly early, reliability is almost as good as speed: if the car can't finish a race, it doesn't matter how fast it is. However, a reliable car can evolve to become quick. A special tip o' the cap to Junior Verstappen, who became the youngest person to qualify for a F1 race today at the ripe old age of 17. Seven-frickin'-teen.
Really, the only team that has any reason to be unhappy is McLaren. Sure, Manor didn't manage to get their cars running at all this weekend (reportedly it took four hours on Friday just to get the car's flashing rain light to function with the new software), but a month ago the team didn't exist and their pieces were being sold away. Just being in Australia as a team, having a chance to get running, is a win for Manor. But McLaren is a different story. In Q1 their best time was set on the soft-rubbered Option tire. It was nearly three seconds behind Lewis Hamilton's fastest time in Q1 on the slower medium Prime tire. They were the slowest through the speed traps, about 10mph behind the fastest chassis, the Williams. They've not even done a full race distance in the new chassis... hell, they've not even done as much as 13 laps at once. To call this a disaster for the legendary McLaren/Honda combination is perhaps understating the case. While there's plenty of time for the car to improve, this start makes one wonder how they can.
Late news from Melbourne! After Quals on Saturday, Valtteri Bottas was taken to hospital suffering back pains. They actually began during the Quals session, but he drove through them. He and the team await the diagnosis, and currently his drive on Sunday is in doubt. If he can't go, the team will not be allowed to replace him, and we'll have a 17-car grid for the race.
Race is late-night Saturday/early Sunday here at The Pond... see ya in the AM.
| P | Name | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:28.586 | 1:26.894 | 1:26.327 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:28.906 | 1:27.097 | 1:26.921 |
| 3 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:29.246 | 1:27.895 | 1:27.718 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:29.307 | 1:27.742 | 1:27.757 |
| 5 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:29.754 | 1:27.807 | 1:27.790 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:29.641 | 1:27.796 | 1:28.087 |
| 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:29.788 | 1:28.679 | 1:28.329 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:29.597 | 1:28.601 | 1:28.510 |
| 9 | Lettuce Grosjean | Lotus | 1:29.537 | 1:28.589 | 1:28.560 |
| 10 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:29.847 | 1:28.726 | 1:29.480 |
| 11 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:30.430 | 1:28.800 | |
| 12 | Junior Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:29.248 | 1:28.868 | |
| 13 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:30.402 | 1:29.070 | |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:29.651 | 1:29.208 | |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:29.990 | 1:29.209 | |
| 16 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:31.376 | ||
| 17 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:31.422 | ||
| 18 | HWMNBN'DSI | McLaren | 1:32.037 | ||
| DNS | Will Stevens | Manor | No time | ||
| DNS | Roberto Merhi | Manor | No time |
Yeeeesh. As if last season wasn't bad enough, Mercedes is picking up 2015 right where they left off in 2014, with another front-row lockout. Polesitter is a full 1.4 seconds ahead of the first non-Mercedes challenger, Williams' Felipe Massa, and about a half-second ahead of his teammate Nico Rosberg. The two Ferraris had relatively dull (but good!) Quals sessions. Meanwhile, Red Bull pretty much wants to strangle engine manufacturer Renault. First, Riccardo had his first engine (of four for the year!) die during Practice, then his second is "practically undriveable", full of weird holes in the engine mapping. That's why teammate Daniil Kvyat is so far down the grid, and why Ricciardo nearly missed Q3.
Sauber has to be relieved that Felipe Nasr qual'd 11th, considering the nightmare they've put up with this week. Indeed, he was looking like he'd go through into Q3 until Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz bumped him out at the last moment. Too, Force India has to be pleased with their results in Quals. Sure, they aren't high up the grid, but they had very little track time with their new car and it's looking to be solidly reliable. Particularly early, reliability is almost as good as speed: if the car can't finish a race, it doesn't matter how fast it is. However, a reliable car can evolve to become quick. A special tip o' the cap to Junior Verstappen, who became the youngest person to qualify for a F1 race today at the ripe old age of 17. Seven-frickin'-teen.
Really, the only team that has any reason to be unhappy is McLaren. Sure, Manor didn't manage to get their cars running at all this weekend (reportedly it took four hours on Friday just to get the car's flashing rain light to function with the new software), but a month ago the team didn't exist and their pieces were being sold away. Just being in Australia as a team, having a chance to get running, is a win for Manor. But McLaren is a different story. In Q1 their best time was set on the soft-rubbered Option tire. It was nearly three seconds behind Lewis Hamilton's fastest time in Q1 on the slower medium Prime tire. They were the slowest through the speed traps, about 10mph behind the fastest chassis, the Williams. They've not even done a full race distance in the new chassis... hell, they've not even done as much as 13 laps at once. To call this a disaster for the legendary McLaren/Honda combination is perhaps understating the case. While there's plenty of time for the car to improve, this start makes one wonder how they can.
Late news from Melbourne! After Quals on Saturday, Valtteri Bottas was taken to hospital suffering back pains. They actually began during the Quals session, but he drove through them. He and the team await the diagnosis, and currently his drive on Sunday is in doubt. If he can't go, the team will not be allowed to replace him, and we'll have a 17-car grid for the race.
Race is late-night Saturday/early Sunday here at The Pond... see ya in the AM.
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March 13, 2015
F1 Practice 1+2 Thoughts And Sauber: Australia 2015
First off, news has come down that Giedo van de Garde has temporarily withdrawn his various motions and notions, so as to allow Sauber F1 to actually race this weekend. This also has the side-effect of allowing Sauber Team Principal Monisha Kaltenborn to leave Australia once the weekend is over. There are two things behind this, undoubtedly. First, the lawyers on both sides must have come to some sort of agreement regarding compensation for the aggrieved driver. The wonder of it all is how the cash-strapped team could guarantee anything along those lines. Second, it became crystal clear that van de Garde would never drive for the team. Oh, make no mistake, the courts could have said "yes he is" and he'd be named... but when he walked into the team paddock yesterday for his seat fitting, every team mechanic walked out. Every. Single. One. I don't care what the judges and lawyers and bailiffs say... if your mechanics hate you, you aren't racing. You wouldn't make it to the end of the pit lane before breaking down. So there you go: Sauber is racing in Australia. More on this to come, clearly.
As far as the two practice sessions went, there are four conclusions to be drawn:
1) Mercedes will do it again. They were a second clear of the next best teams, and they weren't even trying hard. Expect a repeat of 2014, except maybe more wins.
2) Ferrari might just be back. From all appearances, the SF15-T is a much better drive than last year's F14T. It might be on-par with the Red Bulls, which means it could, in theory, be contesting for podiums and wins. In theory. In practice, with three teams (Red Bull, Williams and Ferrari) jousting for second-best, someone's gonna lose out.
3) Expect nothing from McLaren. The team is having serious problems with their new Honda engines. Combined with faults of some kind, the MP4-30 had Jenson Button saying that they might do well to start 18th on race day. There are only 20 cars, and two of them are Manor chassis that have yet to turn a wheel in practice or in anger. That's how bad it is for McLaren right now.
4) Engine problems may doom everybody. Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull had an engine change after P1 yesterday. Felipe Massa's Williams had a water leak that may lead to an engine change as well. Cars only get four "power units" to last 20 races, and this is happening now? Oh boy... Manor might actually be in the BEST shape; their 2014 power units are at least a mature technology now, with well-known flaws and foibles.
P3 and Quals coming up later tonight.
As far as the two practice sessions went, there are four conclusions to be drawn:
1) Mercedes will do it again. They were a second clear of the next best teams, and they weren't even trying hard. Expect a repeat of 2014, except maybe more wins.
2) Ferrari might just be back. From all appearances, the SF15-T is a much better drive than last year's F14T. It might be on-par with the Red Bulls, which means it could, in theory, be contesting for podiums and wins. In theory. In practice, with three teams (Red Bull, Williams and Ferrari) jousting for second-best, someone's gonna lose out.
3) Expect nothing from McLaren. The team is having serious problems with their new Honda engines. Combined with faults of some kind, the MP4-30 had Jenson Button saying that they might do well to start 18th on race day. There are only 20 cars, and two of them are Manor chassis that have yet to turn a wheel in practice or in anger. That's how bad it is for McLaren right now.
4) Engine problems may doom everybody. Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull had an engine change after P1 yesterday. Felipe Massa's Williams had a water leak that may lead to an engine change as well. Cars only get four "power units" to last 20 races, and this is happening now? Oh boy... Manor might actually be in the BEST shape; their 2014 power units are at least a mature technology now, with well-known flaws and foibles.
P3 and Quals coming up later tonight.
Posted by: Wonderduck at
07:49 PM
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