| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:37.113 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:37.433 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:37.912 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:37.965 |
| 5 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:38.348 |
| 6 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:38.659 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:38.691 |
| 8 | Lettuce Grosjean | Lotus | 1:38.787 |
| 9 | Embryo Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:38.924 |
| 10 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing | 1:39.728 |
| 11 | Kid Kvyat | Red Bull Racing | 1:39.214 |
| 12 | Felipe Not Massa Nasr | Sauber | 1:39.323 |
| 13 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:39.763 |
| 14 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:39.811 |
| 15 | Felipe Not Nasr Massa | Williams | 1:39.895 |
| 16 | HWIOANFernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:40.144 |
| 17 | Sony Ericsson | Sauber | 1:40.660 |
| 18 | Will Stevens | Marussia | 1:43.693 |
| 19 | Roberto Merhi | Marussia | 1:43.804 |
October 24, 2015
F1 Saturday: USGP 2015 P3 + Quals
P3 ran with a completely empty house, as COTA didn't actually open to spectators until 12noon local time. And by "ran", I mean "swam". It started out damp and raining, and after 20 minutes or so it was sodden and bucketing. By the 30 minute point, the teams had given up, parked their cars, and endeavored to keep everything dry. An impossible task, as the rain just kept coming down harder and harder. By the time the fans were let into the circuit, the weather was Biblical.
At best, the wind and rain was heavy. Every so often, the weather would get much much worse, then calm back down to "heavy". The start of the session was delayed a half-hour even before the Legendary Announce Team came on the air. Not very long after that, it was pushed back another half-hour, to a 2pm local time start.
And then came the weirdness. It started with a sighting in the Force India pits of this:
Yes, that's a paper boat. That was merely the beginning. In an attempt to give the hearty and brave fans that managed to get to the Circuit of the America's Cup any sort of show they could, the pit lane began to go insane.
Dancing Red Bull drivers, doing what was obviously a well-practiced pas de deux. The cheers from the crowd drove the pit lane to new heights.
Sauber got into the act with their kayak impersonation, being towed at fairly high speed behind two runners. Not to be outdone...
... Force India broke out the bobsled. At least they've got helmets.
And the breakdancer. He even got a slow-motion replay on the world TV feed.
Quals soon got pushed back to 3pm. Then 330p, at which point NBCSN gave up, went to NASCAR quals at Taladega, and sent F1 to their website. Just a few moments ago, we got the news that if there isn't a break in the weather by 4p, everything is going to be scrubbed today and Quals will be rescheduled for 9am Sunday. Maybe. Force India has just challenged the other teams to an origami contest.
Best. Qualifying. Session. EVER.
Just as I was about to wrap this up, the word came down: Quals is cancelled, and rescheduled for 9am Sunday. The last time this occurred (Japan, 2006? 2007?) we didn't get video coverage here in the States, who knows what'll happen this time? If I find out anything, I'll let you know, and I'll certainly post Quals results when they become available. It'll still be wet, but there shouldn't be any arks about. Race in the afternoon.
UPDATE: Quals will be live on CNBC at 9am Sunday morning!
At best, the wind and rain was heavy. Every so often, the weather would get much much worse, then calm back down to "heavy". The start of the session was delayed a half-hour even before the Legendary Announce Team came on the air. Not very long after that, it was pushed back another half-hour, to a 2pm local time start.
And then came the weirdness. It started with a sighting in the Force India pits of this:
Yes, that's a paper boat. That was merely the beginning. In an attempt to give the hearty and brave fans that managed to get to the Circuit of the America's Cup any sort of show they could, the pit lane began to go insane.
Dancing Red Bull drivers, doing what was obviously a well-practiced pas de deux. The cheers from the crowd drove the pit lane to new heights.
Still faster than McLaren/Honda.
The Williams pit crew forms... well, the Williams rowing crew. The crowd enthusiastically rhythmically chanted "Row! Row! Row!" with every stroke.Sauber got into the act with their kayak impersonation, being towed at fairly high speed behind two runners. Not to be outdone...
... Force India broke out the bobsled. At least they've got helmets.
And the breakdancer. He even got a slow-motion replay on the world TV feed.
Quals soon got pushed back to 3pm. Then 330p, at which point NBCSN gave up, went to NASCAR quals at Taladega, and sent F1 to their website. Just a few moments ago, we got the news that if there isn't a break in the weather by 4p, everything is going to be scrubbed today and Quals will be rescheduled for 9am Sunday. Maybe. Force India has just challenged the other teams to an origami contest.
Best. Qualifying. Session. EVER.
Just as I was about to wrap this up, the word came down: Quals is cancelled, and rescheduled for 9am Sunday. The last time this occurred (Japan, 2006? 2007?) we didn't get video coverage here in the States, who knows what'll happen this time? If I find out anything, I'll let you know, and I'll certainly post Quals results when they become available. It'll still be wet, but there shouldn't be any arks about. Race in the afternoon.
UPDATE: Quals will be live on CNBC at 9am Sunday morning!
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F1 Saturday: USGP 2015 Pre-Event Stuff
Okay, this is not good. But first, a moment of levity from Legendary Announce Team member and author of three wonderful books Steve Matchett's twitter account.
"Good Morning from Austin! Time to throw open those eagerly waiting bedroom curtains and see exactly what this new Texas day has to offer."
"Oh. Plan B: Coffee and Palestrina."
Please note the picture was posted by COTA around 8am or so, not Matchett, but the point still remains: it's ugly out there. It turns out that P3 actually began at 10am and NBCSN's coverage, which begins at 1130am, is on delay. But it's somewhat amazing that P3 is running at all... all teams are required to run Full Wet tires and nothing else is allowed. Meanwhile, Circuit of the America's Cup is not opening its gates until noon. Why?
The weather continued apace last night, flooding is beginning to become widespread, and the storms are forecast to keep on keepin' on. P3 is still going on, just without fans in the stands. While that sounds weird, in a way it makes sense. Consider: the FIA is responsible for the track and what occurs on it during a F1 weekend, but COTA is responsible for the circuit. If the FIA needs to stop the running, they throw a red flag and everything is halted within two minutes or so as the last cars come into the pit lane... everybody safe. If the same happens to COTA (lightning, for example), it's responsible for tens of thousands of people, and evacuating them to safety would be no small feat.
Avatar, I hope you didn't decide to attend the weekend.
Practice 3 and Quals coverage coming after it's over... or sooner, if weather causes something.
"Good Morning from Austin! Time to throw open those eagerly waiting bedroom curtains and see exactly what this new Texas day has to offer."
"Oh. Plan B: Coffee and Palestrina."
Please note the picture was posted by COTA around 8am or so, not Matchett, but the point still remains: it's ugly out there. It turns out that P3 actually began at 10am and NBCSN's coverage, which begins at 1130am, is on delay. But it's somewhat amazing that P3 is running at all... all teams are required to run Full Wet tires and nothing else is allowed. Meanwhile, Circuit of the America's Cup is not opening its gates until noon. Why?
The weather continued apace last night, flooding is beginning to become widespread, and the storms are forecast to keep on keepin' on. P3 is still going on, just without fans in the stands. While that sounds weird, in a way it makes sense. Consider: the FIA is responsible for the track and what occurs on it during a F1 weekend, but COTA is responsible for the circuit. If the FIA needs to stop the running, they throw a red flag and everything is halted within two minutes or so as the last cars come into the pit lane... everybody safe. If the same happens to COTA (lightning, for example), it's responsible for tens of thousands of people, and evacuating them to safety would be no small feat.
Avatar, I hope you didn't decide to attend the weekend.
Practice 3 and Quals coverage coming after it's over... or sooner, if weather causes something.
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October 23, 2015
F1 Friday Practices: USGP 2015
The F1 Circus has made it to Austin, TX, site of the 2015 United States Grand Prix, and... well, so far things are NOT going to any sort of plan any sane person could have hoped for.
See, it's kinda raining down cats and dogs and hippopotami and blue whales and any other type of creature you care to name. In the runup to Practice 1 it poured a good deal, but it stopped just before the session began. The circuit was wet enough for the Full Wet tires to begin with, but long before the session ended everybody was on Intermediates. The usual suspects did the usual things, nobody broke anything, and all was okay. But in the gap between P1 and P2, Very Bad Things occurred.
Just as the Legendary Announce Team came on the air for P2, heavy rain and high winds hit COTA (and much of Texas in general). As it hasn't rained in Texas since 2003, the water isn't soaking in. Flash Flood Warnings have been released, and apparently Austin could get up to a FOOT of rain by Sunday night. P2 had actually been delayed before TV coverage began because of the rain and, more importantly, lightning. The track workers and camera crews were unable to take their positions around the circuit, most of which are protected... by steel and aluminum structures. Zap. After about maybe an hour or so the FIA announced that the medical helicopter wouldn't be able to fly for at least another two hours, at which point the sun would be rapidly setting. Even without the storms, things would have been sketchy for P2 anyway, so the session was scrubbed altogether. Good call, that... here's an amateur video of what it was like on the front straight. The weather forecast for Saturday is for rain and more rain... indeed, it's quite possible that it'll be worse conditions than today. If Quals gets cancelled, the FIA has three choices: 1) run Quals on Sunday; 2) have P1's times set the grid; 3) set the grid via the Driver's Championship standings. #1 has practically no chance of happening, there's every chance the rain will still be coming down. #3 is probably the most likely, as #2 seems too random to me. But all of this is of secondary consideration, really, because of this:
Hurricane Patricia officially made landfall in Mexico just as I started writing up this post (around 7pm Pond Central Time). While the wind speed was merely 165mph (down from the 200+ mph measured a couple of hours earlier), it was still a Category 5 hurricane, and heading dead for Guadalajara, the second largest city in Mexico and the hometown of Force India's Sergio Perez. There's some five million people in the Guadalajara metro area. Patricia is being reported as the most powerful hurricane to hit North America in recorded history... and it can't be helping the weather in Texas. And ohbytheway, it's about 340 miles from Mexico City, home of next week's GP of Mexico. Given what could possibly occur, there's already talk about that race being affected. Let's just cross our fingers and hope for the best, both for the race and more importantly for the people about to be hit by a massive hurricane.
Hopefully, we'll have info tomorrow!
The F1 Circus has made it to Austin, TX, site of the 2015 United States Grand Prix, and... well, so far things are NOT going to any sort of plan any sane person could have hoped for.
See, it's kinda raining down cats and dogs and hippopotami and blue whales and any other type of creature you care to name. In the runup to Practice 1 it poured a good deal, but it stopped just before the session began. The circuit was wet enough for the Full Wet tires to begin with, but long before the session ended everybody was on Intermediates. The usual suspects did the usual things, nobody broke anything, and all was okay. But in the gap between P1 and P2, Very Bad Things occurred.
Just as the Legendary Announce Team came on the air for P2, heavy rain and high winds hit COTA (and much of Texas in general). As it hasn't rained in Texas since 2003, the water isn't soaking in. Flash Flood Warnings have been released, and apparently Austin could get up to a FOOT of rain by Sunday night. P2 had actually been delayed before TV coverage began because of the rain and, more importantly, lightning. The track workers and camera crews were unable to take their positions around the circuit, most of which are protected... by steel and aluminum structures. Zap. After about maybe an hour or so the FIA announced that the medical helicopter wouldn't be able to fly for at least another two hours, at which point the sun would be rapidly setting. Even without the storms, things would have been sketchy for P2 anyway, so the session was scrubbed altogether. Good call, that... here's an amateur video of what it was like on the front straight. The weather forecast for Saturday is for rain and more rain... indeed, it's quite possible that it'll be worse conditions than today. If Quals gets cancelled, the FIA has three choices: 1) run Quals on Sunday; 2) have P1's times set the grid; 3) set the grid via the Driver's Championship standings. #1 has practically no chance of happening, there's every chance the rain will still be coming down. #3 is probably the most likely, as #2 seems too random to me. But all of this is of secondary consideration, really, because of this:
Hurricane Patricia officially made landfall in Mexico just as I started writing up this post (around 7pm Pond Central Time). While the wind speed was merely 165mph (down from the 200+ mph measured a couple of hours earlier), it was still a Category 5 hurricane, and heading dead for Guadalajara, the second largest city in Mexico and the hometown of Force India's Sergio Perez. There's some five million people in the Guadalajara metro area. Patricia is being reported as the most powerful hurricane to hit North America in recorded history... and it can't be helping the weather in Texas. And ohbytheway, it's about 340 miles from Mexico City, home of next week's GP of Mexico. Given what could possibly occur, there's already talk about that race being affected. Let's just cross our fingers and hope for the best, both for the race and more importantly for the people about to be hit by a massive hurricane.
Hopefully, we'll have info tomorrow!
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October 18, 2015
F1 on TV: United States 2015
I admit it: when it comes to Formula 1 these days, I am very tired and extremely jaded. It's very hard to get excited race after race when the ending is pretty much preordained. "Oh look, it's a Mercedes on pole. Oh look, a Mercedes is winning. Oh look, a Mercedes won." For the past six years, its been this way, just replace "Mercedes" with "Red Bull" for 2010-2013. The politics of F1, often just as interesting (or more!) as the racing now just bores me. Oh, Red Bull is threatening to pull out if they don't get Ferrari or Mercedes engines in 2016? Whatever. People wanting Honda to fire the guy in charge of the F1 engine program because it isn't winning races? Yeah, good luck with that. Bernie threatening yet another classic track (this time Monza) while Azerbaijan gets a race in 2016? It's been done. But there is one way to get me interested again... let's head to Austin TX for a big ol' race, American style! Let's take a look at the track map for the 2015 United States Grand Prix:
Still the same place it's been 2012, but that's good because this is one helluva circuit. Much the same way that English doesn't so much borrow words from other languages as much as it pursues other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary, the Circuit of the Americas did the same to the great racetracks of the world. Turns 3-4-5? Look to Silverstone's Maggots-Becketts-Chapel complex. 6-7-8? If you squint a little, they look similar to the S-Curves in Japan. The big horseshoe (16-1
is surely a hat tip to Turkey's Quad-8. But COTA's party piece is undoubtedly the runup to Turn 1, a roughly 140ft climb from the start/finish line to the top of "Phil Hill".
Doesn't look like so much from that angle, does it? Don't worry, it gets better. I've never heard a racer say anything bad about the track, nor any of the teams, and not even the tire supplier or fans grumble too much about it. That pretty much makes it unique among new tracks.
Also unique is the coverage we're going to get from the Legendary Announce Team this weekend! Here, take a look:
FRIDAY
Practice 1: 10a - 1130a Live on NBCSN
Practice 2: 2p - 330p Live on NBCSN
SATURDAY
Practice 3 & Quals: 1130a - 3p Live on NBCSN
SUNDAY
2015 United States Grand Prix: 130p - 5p Live on NBC (includes pre- and post-race coverage)
We just don't get that type of coverage for any other race on the calendar, and it's all because it's the home race of NBC. Hopefully the race will be good!
We'll see you then, then!
Still the same place it's been 2012, but that's good because this is one helluva circuit. Much the same way that English doesn't so much borrow words from other languages as much as it pursues other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary, the Circuit of the Americas did the same to the great racetracks of the world. Turns 3-4-5? Look to Silverstone's Maggots-Becketts-Chapel complex. 6-7-8? If you squint a little, they look similar to the S-Curves in Japan. The big horseshoe (16-1
is surely a hat tip to Turkey's Quad-8. But COTA's party piece is undoubtedly the runup to Turn 1, a roughly 140ft climb from the start/finish line to the top of "Phil Hill".Doesn't look like so much from that angle, does it? Don't worry, it gets better. I've never heard a racer say anything bad about the track, nor any of the teams, and not even the tire supplier or fans grumble too much about it. That pretty much makes it unique among new tracks.
Also unique is the coverage we're going to get from the Legendary Announce Team this weekend! Here, take a look:
FRIDAY
Practice 1: 10a - 1130a Live on NBCSN
Practice 2: 2p - 330p Live on NBCSN
SATURDAY
Practice 3 & Quals: 1130a - 3p Live on NBCSN
SUNDAY
2015 United States Grand Prix: 130p - 5p Live on NBC (includes pre- and post-race coverage)
We just don't get that type of coverage for any other race on the calendar, and it's all because it's the home race of NBC. Hopefully the race will be good!
We'll see you then, then!
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October 10, 2015
F1 Quals: Russia 2015
If there was a race that's clearly cursed, it's the 2015 Grand Prix of Russia. Why do I say that? Practice 1 was badly affected when, ironically, a cleaning truck dumped a metric fsckton of diesel fuel on the circuit. Even after the mess was dealt with, the track in the area was still slick. Practice 2 started in a heavy rain, but just from Turn 12 to Turn 2. The rest of the circuit was only slightly damp, which was absolutely the worst possible result as far as the teams were concerned... you can't learn anything with the track like that. The slightly damp part was okay for slicks, but those would be suicide on the wet part. Likewise, you could put full wets or inters on for the wet part, but they'd be chewed to hell on the dry. So there was practically no running during Practice 2. And today's Practice 3 was stopped at the halfway point after Carlos Sainz Jr had a heavy wreck. He actually went under the TecPro barriers and caused serious damage to the backing steel barrier.
He was essentially unhurt, and is apparently campaigning the doctors to let him race on Sunday. However, the required repairs to the steel barrier were so extensive that not only was Practice 3 stopped, but the following GP3 race was cancelled as well. So did Quals go off without a hitch, or did the ghost of Stalin, unhappy with all the comingling with the western powers, reach up out of the tarmac and rip out the suspensions of the cars? Here's the provisional grid for the 2015 Grand Prix of Russia:
Of course, only 19 cars qualified; Sainz's was too badly damaged to repair in the hour or so the team had. Late reports from Sochi are that he's been medically cleared to race, by the way. No doubt the Stewards will allow him to race. Up at the top very little has changed. Oh, it's Rosberg instead of Hamilton on pole, but that's really not a huge shock. Bottas in the Williams shouldn't come as a surprise either: Mercedes engine, after all. Nor should the Ferraris being where they are stun anybody by now. Really, it's a bog-standard grid for a nightmare-plagued race.
In other news, Lettuce Grosjean was officially confirmed as the primary driver for Haas F1's inaugural season. Great pickup for a rookie team: he's got six years experience, a handful of podiums, and has the greatest nickname I've ever come up with for a F1 driver. Definitely no downside to him, except he'll probably be moved to Haas's technical partner, Ferrari, in a few years. Still no word on who'll be in the second seat, except it seems very unlikely it'll be the long-rumored American driver. Unless they somehow pull Rossi from Manor, that is... and I don't expect that to happen, worse luck.
Race in the morning, see you afterwards.
He was essentially unhurt, and is apparently campaigning the doctors to let him race on Sunday. However, the required repairs to the steel barrier were so extensive that not only was Practice 3 stopped, but the following GP3 race was cancelled as well. So did Quals go off without a hitch, or did the ghost of Stalin, unhappy with all the comingling with the western powers, reach up out of the tarmac and rip out the suspensions of the cars? Here's the provisional grid for the 2015 Grand Prix of Russia:
Of course, only 19 cars qualified; Sainz's was too badly damaged to repair in the hour or so the team had. Late reports from Sochi are that he's been medically cleared to race, by the way. No doubt the Stewards will allow him to race. Up at the top very little has changed. Oh, it's Rosberg instead of Hamilton on pole, but that's really not a huge shock. Bottas in the Williams shouldn't come as a surprise either: Mercedes engine, after all. Nor should the Ferraris being where they are stun anybody by now. Really, it's a bog-standard grid for a nightmare-plagued race.
In other news, Lettuce Grosjean was officially confirmed as the primary driver for Haas F1's inaugural season. Great pickup for a rookie team: he's got six years experience, a handful of podiums, and has the greatest nickname I've ever come up with for a F1 driver. Definitely no downside to him, except he'll probably be moved to Haas's technical partner, Ferrari, in a few years. Still no word on who'll be in the second seat, except it seems very unlikely it'll be the long-rumored American driver. Unless they somehow pull Rossi from Manor, that is... and I don't expect that to happen, worse luck.
Race in the morning, see you afterwards.
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October 07, 2015
F1 on NBCSN: Russia 2015
Last year saw the debut of the Grand Prix of Russia, but it was a very bittersweet race to say the least. Indeed, one got the impression that the drivers weren't all that thrilled to be there... understandable, considering what had happened in Japan a couple of weeks earlier. That's not a knock on Sochi, the atmosphere probably would have been the same at any circuit on the calendar. So here's the map for the second Grand Prix of All The Russias:
Guess who designed it? That's right, it's a Tilkedrome, though it doesn't have his hallmark long straight followed by a stupid idea of a turn. Probably because he didn't have unlimited control of the venue: the circuit winds through Sochi Olympic Park, home of the 2014 Winter Olympics. There were probably too many buildings in the way for him to do his usual design tricks.
Last year, the circuit proved to be very gentle on tires... indeed, Nico Rosberg managed to go 52 laps on one set of tires, when the whole race was 53 in total. The surface is a year older now, so maybe it'll be a little less "sweet", but that's not the way to bet. Look for another one-stopper, and another rather less-than-exciting race. Hopefully we can actually see someone trying to challenge the lead.
Fortunately for our sanity, the Legendary Announce Team will be bringing us EXTENDED coverage this time around! Let's take a look at the broadcast schedule:
FRIDAY
Practice 2: 6am - 730am live
SATURDAY
Practice 3: 5am - 630am live-ish?
Quals: 7am - 830am live
SUNDAY
2015 Grand Prix of Russia: 530am - 8am live
That's right, we're getting to see Saturday's Practice 3! That's uncommon... I think it's usually just at Austin and occasionally Montreal that we see that. Why? Probably just needed to fill time is my guess. All times are Pond Central, of course. Add an hour if you're out there on the east coast, take two hours off if you're in Oregon or California, and it's whatever time you want it to be if you're on the North Pole.
You may remember I mentioned something about an announcement at the end of the Japanese Grand Prix F1U!... there was a chance I was going to have to drop my satellite plan due to lack of fundaging, but that turned out not to be entirely the case. So no worries, my usual desultory F1 coverage will be along on Sunday as usual. See ya then.
Guess who designed it? That's right, it's a Tilkedrome, though it doesn't have his hallmark long straight followed by a stupid idea of a turn. Probably because he didn't have unlimited control of the venue: the circuit winds through Sochi Olympic Park, home of the 2014 Winter Olympics. There were probably too many buildings in the way for him to do his usual design tricks.
Last year, the circuit proved to be very gentle on tires... indeed, Nico Rosberg managed to go 52 laps on one set of tires, when the whole race was 53 in total. The surface is a year older now, so maybe it'll be a little less "sweet", but that's not the way to bet. Look for another one-stopper, and another rather less-than-exciting race. Hopefully we can actually see someone trying to challenge the lead.
Fortunately for our sanity, the Legendary Announce Team will be bringing us EXTENDED coverage this time around! Let's take a look at the broadcast schedule:
FRIDAY
Practice 2: 6am - 730am live
SATURDAY
Practice 3: 5am - 630am live-ish?
Quals: 7am - 830am live
SUNDAY
2015 Grand Prix of Russia: 530am - 8am live
That's right, we're getting to see Saturday's Practice 3! That's uncommon... I think it's usually just at Austin and occasionally Montreal that we see that. Why? Probably just needed to fill time is my guess. All times are Pond Central, of course. Add an hour if you're out there on the east coast, take two hours off if you're in Oregon or California, and it's whatever time you want it to be if you're on the North Pole.
You may remember I mentioned something about an announcement at the end of the Japanese Grand Prix F1U!... there was a chance I was going to have to drop my satellite plan due to lack of fundaging, but that turned out not to be entirely the case. So no worries, my usual desultory F1 coverage will be along on Sunday as usual. See ya then.
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September 26, 2015
F1 Quals: Japan 2015
Well, if you're going to end a session, that's certainly an interesting way to do it! Here's a look at the provisional grid for the 2015 Grand Prix of Japan:
No huge shock that Mercedes is back on top of the charts. Only a very, very minor shock that it's Rosberg, not Hamilton that's on pole. The two of them had a fantastic battle shaping up, trading fast sectors back and forth. On their penultimate flying laps, Hamilton was slightly scruffy, making it clear that if he could clean up his lap just a little, he'd have pole. Then, with one minute left in Q3, this happened:
Just short of Turn 10 Kid Kyval dropped a tire onto the grass, hit the wall, and then his Red Bull dug into the kittylitter. He actually performed a full roll while airborne, then came to rest right-side up. The driver was totally unhurt. However, his attempt at a barrel roll (really, closer to an aileron roll) brought out the red flags with about 40 seconds left in the session. Since that meant that there was no way for someone to exit the pits and cross the starting line in the time remaining once the session restarted, Q3 was deemed complete and Rosberg the polesitter.
Similarly, Embryo Verstappen suffered electrical failure towards the end of Q1. While that only brought out yellow flags, that still put paid to many attempts to improve lap times, including Manor's American Rossi. Indeed, his extant time is so slow (some 14 seconds off the pace) that he will race at the discretion of the stewards. Normally that's a mere formality, but since Rossi is a new driver, it may not be as cut and dried as normal. We'll find out eventually.
You may have noticed those two McLaren fans in the earlier post. It naturally almost goes without saying that the DRS feature of those rear wings DOES function, the top wing flap opening and closing. Oh, those wacky, F1-crazy Japanese fans...
Race coming in about 20 hours. F1U! sometime thereafter. See ya then!
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:33.015 | 1:32.632 | 1:32.584 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:32.844 | 1:32.789 | 1:32.660 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:34.326 | 1:33.416 | 1:33.024 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:34.431 | 1:33.844 | 1:33.245 |
| 5 | Felipe Not Nasr Massa | Williams | 1:34.744 | 1:33.377 | 1:33.337 |
| 6 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:34.171 | 1:33.361 | 1:33.347 |
| 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing | 1:34.399 | 1:34.153 | 1:33.497 |
| 8 | Lettuce Grosjean | Lotus | 1:34.398 | 1:34.278 | 1:33.967 |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:35.001 | 1:34.174 | No Time |
| 10 | Kid Kvyat | Red Bull Racing | 1:34.646 | 1:34.201 | Whee!!! |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:35.328 | 1:34.390 | |
| 12 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:34.873 | 1:34.453 | |
| 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:34.796 | 1:34.497 | |
| 14 | HWIOANFernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:35.467 | 1:34.785 | |
| 15 | Embryo Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:34.522 | No Time |
|
| 16 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:35.664 | ||
| 17 | Sony Ericsson | Sauber | 1:35.673 | ||
| 18 | Felipe Not Massa Nasr | Sauber | 1:35.760 | ||
| 19 | Will Stevens | Manor | 1:38.783 | ||
| NC | American Alexander Rossi | Manor | 1:47.114 |
No huge shock that Mercedes is back on top of the charts. Only a very, very minor shock that it's Rosberg, not Hamilton that's on pole. The two of them had a fantastic battle shaping up, trading fast sectors back and forth. On their penultimate flying laps, Hamilton was slightly scruffy, making it clear that if he could clean up his lap just a little, he'd have pole. Then, with one minute left in Q3, this happened:
Just short of Turn 10 Kid Kyval dropped a tire onto the grass, hit the wall, and then his Red Bull dug into the kittylitter. He actually performed a full roll while airborne, then came to rest right-side up. The driver was totally unhurt. However, his attempt at a barrel roll (really, closer to an aileron roll) brought out the red flags with about 40 seconds left in the session. Since that meant that there was no way for someone to exit the pits and cross the starting line in the time remaining once the session restarted, Q3 was deemed complete and Rosberg the polesitter.
Similarly, Embryo Verstappen suffered electrical failure towards the end of Q1. While that only brought out yellow flags, that still put paid to many attempts to improve lap times, including Manor's American Rossi. Indeed, his extant time is so slow (some 14 seconds off the pace) that he will race at the discretion of the stewards. Normally that's a mere formality, but since Rossi is a new driver, it may not be as cut and dried as normal. We'll find out eventually.
You may have noticed those two McLaren fans in the earlier post. It naturally almost goes without saying that the DRS feature of those rear wings DOES function, the top wing flap opening and closing. Oh, those wacky, F1-crazy Japanese fans...
Race coming in about 20 hours. F1U! sometime thereafter. See ya then!
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September 22, 2015
F1 on NBCSN: Japan 2015
Right! From Singapore, it's a mere trifle to get to Japan... just take the daily non-stop to Nagoya, and about seven hours later, voila! Sushi and... um... stuff... await you! Oh, and merely my favorite F1 circuit, Suzuka, too. Let's take a look at the track map:
Nope, no messing around here. What on some circuits might ruin the flow, instead causes it at Suzuka. The "S-Curves" are maybe the greatest rhythm section since Neil Peart and Geddy Lee. You've got Spoon Curve, which has an amazing habit of eating cars and not spitting them back out. 130R is... well, it's fast is what it is, and all of that leads into the Casio Triangle (where old calculators go to die). It's a lovely mix of fast and slow that rewards both might and nimbleness in nearly equal amounts. And, hey, it's a Figure-Eight, too!
Weather at the moment looks rainy for Friday's Practice sessions, but dry the rest of the way. However, there is a typhoon in the area, so who really knows? Hopefully it won't be too wet... we don't need that after last year. What we DO need is the Legendary Announce Team, and they'll be bringin' us the goods followin' the followin' schedule:
Thursday
Practice 2: 1159pm - 130am live
Friday
Quals: 1am - 230am live
Saturday
2015 Grand Prix of Japan: 1130pm - 2am live
As is usually the case, I'll be along eventually with a F1U! for you... assuming my interwebz allow me to do so. See ya then, then!
Nope, no messing around here. What on some circuits might ruin the flow, instead causes it at Suzuka. The "S-Curves" are maybe the greatest rhythm section since Neil Peart and Geddy Lee. You've got Spoon Curve, which has an amazing habit of eating cars and not spitting them back out. 130R is... well, it's fast is what it is, and all of that leads into the Casio Triangle (where old calculators go to die). It's a lovely mix of fast and slow that rewards both might and nimbleness in nearly equal amounts. And, hey, it's a Figure-Eight, too!
Weather at the moment looks rainy for Friday's Practice sessions, but dry the rest of the way. However, there is a typhoon in the area, so who really knows? Hopefully it won't be too wet... we don't need that after last year. What we DO need is the Legendary Announce Team, and they'll be bringin' us the goods followin' the followin' schedule:
Thursday
Practice 2: 1159pm - 130am live
Friday
Quals: 1am - 230am live
Saturday
2015 Grand Prix of Japan: 1130pm - 2am live
As is usually the case, I'll be along eventually with a F1U! for you... assuming my interwebz allow me to do so. See ya then, then!
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September 19, 2015
F1 Quals: Singapore 2015
Well, this is new. Here's the grid for the 2015 Grand Prix of Singapore:
It isn't that this is the first time eight races that Lewis Hamilton isn't on pole. It isn't that this is the first time in over a year that a Mercedes isn't on pole. It's not even that this is the first Ferrari pole in three years, and their first pole in dry conditions in five. It is about just how soundly the Silver Arrows were trounced. It's not like "aw shucks, they just nipped us." This is serious "we kicked your arse" stuff.
Why did it happen? Reports are that it's all down to tires. Mercedes, for whatever reason, cannot get their rear tires to work around the Marina Bay circuit. They get too hot too quickly, then cool down too far too fast. They're never in the right temperature zone to provide any grip and as a result, they're "slow" around this turn-happy circuit. Understand, the Mercs are still the fastest through the speed trap... it's not like their new engines are letting them down. They had problems in Singapore last year, too, but still ran away with the race because their opponents were weaker. With Ferrari's improvements, there probably would have been a fight for pole regardless, but nothing like this.
In other news of note, both McLarens made it to Q2, and HWIOAKAFernando Alonso probably was ticketed for a legitimate Q3 appearance when Carlos Sainz did Bad Things to his Toro Rosso, which brought out the yellow flags, which put paid to the Spaniard's hot lap.
And finally, American Alexander Rossi was a half-second behind teammate Will Stevens in matching Manors. This doesn't sound good, until you realize that Stevens has been driving the car all season and this is really Rossi's first chance to put some serious laps in with it. The cockpit is also something of a tight fit for the American... as in, "we need lard and shoehorns, stat!" Hopefully they'll have that part fixed in time for Japan. Oh, and Rossi desperately needs to work on his speaking skills. In an interview with the Legendary Announce Team's Will Buxton right after Q1, the American Driver was less intelligible than Kimi "Mumbles" Raikkonen. He was talking waaaay too fast. Maybe adrenaline was to blame.
Race tomorrow.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:46.017 | 1:44.743 | 1:43.885 |
| 2 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing | 1:46.166 | 1:45.291 | 1:44.428 |
| 3 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:46.467 | 1:45.140 | 1:44.667 |
| 4 | Kid Kvyat | Red Bull Racing | 1:45.340 | 1:44.979 | 1:44.745 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:45.765 | 1:45.650 | 1:45.300 |
| 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:46.201 | 1:45.653 | 1:45.415 |
| 7 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:46.231 | 1:45.887 | 1:45.676 |
| 8 | Embryo Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:46.483 | 1:45.635 | 1:45.798 |
| 9 | Felipe Not Nasr Massa | Williams | 1:46.879 | 1:45.701 | 1:46.077 |
| 10 | Lettuce Grosjean | Lotus | 1:46.860 | 1:45.805 | 1:46.413 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:46.669 | 1:46.305 | |
| 12 | HWIOAKAFernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:46.600 | 1:46.328 | |
| 13 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:46.576 | 1:46.385 | |
| 14 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:46.465 | 1:46.894 | |
| 15 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:46.891 | 1:47.019 | |
| 16 | Felipe Not Massa Nasr | Sauber | 1:46.965 | ||
| 17 | Sony Ericsson | Sauber | 1:47.088 | ||
| 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:47.323 | ||
| 19 | Will Stevens | Manor | 1:51.021 | ||
| 20 | American Rossi | Manor | 1:51.523 |
It isn't that this is the first time eight races that Lewis Hamilton isn't on pole. It isn't that this is the first time in over a year that a Mercedes isn't on pole. It's not even that this is the first Ferrari pole in three years, and their first pole in dry conditions in five. It is about just how soundly the Silver Arrows were trounced. It's not like "aw shucks, they just nipped us." This is serious "we kicked your arse" stuff.
Why did it happen? Reports are that it's all down to tires. Mercedes, for whatever reason, cannot get their rear tires to work around the Marina Bay circuit. They get too hot too quickly, then cool down too far too fast. They're never in the right temperature zone to provide any grip and as a result, they're "slow" around this turn-happy circuit. Understand, the Mercs are still the fastest through the speed trap... it's not like their new engines are letting them down. They had problems in Singapore last year, too, but still ran away with the race because their opponents were weaker. With Ferrari's improvements, there probably would have been a fight for pole regardless, but nothing like this.
In other news of note, both McLarens made it to Q2, and HWIOAKAFernando Alonso probably was ticketed for a legitimate Q3 appearance when Carlos Sainz did Bad Things to his Toro Rosso, which brought out the yellow flags, which put paid to the Spaniard's hot lap.
And finally, American Alexander Rossi was a half-second behind teammate Will Stevens in matching Manors. This doesn't sound good, until you realize that Stevens has been driving the car all season and this is really Rossi's first chance to put some serious laps in with it. The cockpit is also something of a tight fit for the American... as in, "we need lard and shoehorns, stat!" Hopefully they'll have that part fixed in time for Japan. Oh, and Rossi desperately needs to work on his speaking skills. In an interview with the Legendary Announce Team's Will Buxton right after Q1, the American Driver was less intelligible than Kimi "Mumbles" Raikkonen. He was talking waaaay too fast. Maybe adrenaline was to blame.
Race tomorrow.
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September 18, 2015
F1U! Has A Favorite Driver Again!
This past Thursday, it was announced that Manor F1 has signed a new driver for five of the last seven races this season. His name is Alexander Rossi, and he becomes the first American driver in Formula 1 since Scott Speed got in a fight with Franz Tost in 2007.
We immediately rename him to American Alexander Rossi. He's about to turn 24 (next Friday, as a matter of fact), and has been competing in open-wheel formulae for about five years. He's currently second in GP2, with a shot at winning it outright.
He's not totally new to F1, however. He's been the test driver for either Caterham or Marussa since 2012, and was tabbed to take Jules Bianchi's seat after his devastating injury in Japan last year. Of course, that fell through when Marussia only ran one car in Russia, then not again for the rest of the season.
He's actually the only American to hold a FIA Superlicense right now, too. We'll follow his progress closely during the rest of the season, though since he's driving for Manor, we're not expecting a whole heckuvalot. He's decided that 53 will be his official driver number in F1... why that number?
Herbie rides again!
We immediately rename him to American Alexander Rossi. He's about to turn 24 (next Friday, as a matter of fact), and has been competing in open-wheel formulae for about five years. He's currently second in GP2, with a shot at winning it outright.
He's not totally new to F1, however. He's been the test driver for either Caterham or Marussa since 2012, and was tabbed to take Jules Bianchi's seat after his devastating injury in Japan last year. Of course, that fell through when Marussia only ran one car in Russia, then not again for the rest of the season.
He's actually the only American to hold a FIA Superlicense right now, too. We'll follow his progress closely during the rest of the season, though since he's driving for Manor, we're not expecting a whole heckuvalot. He's decided that 53 will be his official driver number in F1... why that number?
Herbie rides again!
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September 15, 2015
F1 on TV: Singapore 2015
Once upon a time, there was only one night race in F1. It was an event, a race to look forward to, because the cars looked amazing under the lights. Since then, two other spots on the calendar have gone to night (Bahrain and Abu Dhabi), and two have considered going to racing after the sun has set (Russia and Australia) but have been shot down. Racing at night is no longer such an event as it used to be. Cars still look great at Singapore, though, much better than at the other two circuits, mostly because the lighting is high-intensity and low-altitude. Let's take a look at the track map:
Singapore is a street circuit, running through the Marina Bay district of the city/nation. Unlike Monaco, the streets are wide; it barely feels like a street layout. Because of the lighting, the cameras don't really see what's off-track. I mean, we all know what the Casino at Monte Carlo looks like, or the run up the hill from Sainte Devote to Massanet, but there are few city landmarks to be seen around the Singapore circuit. We do see the legendary Raffles Hotel, yes, but only in "B-Roll" footage, not during the race itself, or at least not usually. When the most memorable landmark of your street circuit is where the track goes under the seating (the stretch between Turns 18 and 19), you may have an image problem. Still, could be worse... at least we get photographs like this out of the deal:
It's always very hot and humid at Singapore, even during the night race, and the chance of rain is everpresent. From all reports, the organizers perform cloud seeding before the race to prevent it from raining while the cars are on track. So far, either because it's actually accomplished their goal or they've gotten lucky, we've yet to have a wet race. What we will have is a dense haze. Apparently farmers in Sumatra are burning the forests to clear land for crops, and the smoke has settled over Singapore like a stereotypical London fog. Singaporian officials have declared that outdoor strenuous activities should be done as little as possible, the air quality is so poor. I can't imagine it'll be great for the drivers or the engines.
Well, the legendary announce team will be telling us about it in their usual manner. Here's the broadcast schedule:
FRIDAY
Practice 2: 830a - 1000a live on NBCSN
SATURDAY
Quals: 700a - 830a live on CNBC
SUNDAY
2015 Grand Prix of Singapore: 630a - 900a live on NBCSN
We will, of course, see you then and after. With luck.
Singapore is a street circuit, running through the Marina Bay district of the city/nation. Unlike Monaco, the streets are wide; it barely feels like a street layout. Because of the lighting, the cameras don't really see what's off-track. I mean, we all know what the Casino at Monte Carlo looks like, or the run up the hill from Sainte Devote to Massanet, but there are few city landmarks to be seen around the Singapore circuit. We do see the legendary Raffles Hotel, yes, but only in "B-Roll" footage, not during the race itself, or at least not usually. When the most memorable landmark of your street circuit is where the track goes under the seating (the stretch between Turns 18 and 19), you may have an image problem. Still, could be worse... at least we get photographs like this out of the deal:
It's always very hot and humid at Singapore, even during the night race, and the chance of rain is everpresent. From all reports, the organizers perform cloud seeding before the race to prevent it from raining while the cars are on track. So far, either because it's actually accomplished their goal or they've gotten lucky, we've yet to have a wet race. What we will have is a dense haze. Apparently farmers in Sumatra are burning the forests to clear land for crops, and the smoke has settled over Singapore like a stereotypical London fog. Singaporian officials have declared that outdoor strenuous activities should be done as little as possible, the air quality is so poor. I can't imagine it'll be great for the drivers or the engines.
Well, the legendary announce team will be telling us about it in their usual manner. Here's the broadcast schedule:
FRIDAY
Practice 2: 830a - 1000a live on NBCSN
SATURDAY
Quals: 700a - 830a live on CNBC
SUNDAY
2015 Grand Prix of Singapore: 630a - 900a live on NBCSN
We will, of course, see you then and after. With luck.
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September 05, 2015
F1 Quals: Italy 2015
Rain in the morning gave hope for a wet Quals to liven things up at the fastest track on the calendar, but no such luck. So what happened at Monza? Here's the provisional grid for the 2015 Grand Prix of Italy:
At first glance you'd say "well, nothing out of the ordinary", and you'd kind of be right. Or you'd be very very wrong. This is going to take a bit to explain, so get something to drink and find a comfy place in your chair... y'all set?
Even though the Power Unit rules are locked in stone, every team has a limited ability to change various pieces of it via a "token" system. See, when the F1 Tech Regs were written, they stated that the power units had to be finalized, or "homologated" for the 2015 season. After that date, they could no longer be fiddled with, no improvements or new ideas allowed. There was one teeny tiny little problem.
The FIA never actually wrote a date in the Tech Regs.
It was assumed that the start of the season was the homologation date, but multiple bright sparks pointed out that no, no, as the rules were written, the engines had to be frozen in 2015. Period. So much for the alleged cost-saving measures of the new P.U., unlimited development (and unlimited cash spending!) was about to be the rule of the day. Before chaos could break out, an agreement was reached allowing changes to be made on a 'token' system. An entire P.U. is broken down into 66 tokens, all with varying "weights" between 1 and 3, depending on the importance of the piece. Each engine manufacturer was given 32 tokens to play with during the 2015 season, except for Honda. As a new engine based off of the past few years of experience, they were given nine tokens. As planned, the three other engine makers used most of their tokens in the pre-season; Mercedes ended up with seven tokens.
While everybody else used theirs here and there, Mercedes didn't touch theirs at all... until the end of Spa. In the past two weeks, they used all seven of their tokens to upgrade this piece or that chunk. Their engine is now set, and they say that it is, essentially, the same as their 2016 P.U.. That's ominous, as they now get (in effect) the rest of this season to use as test sessions for next year. Obviously, they are quite confident in how 2015 will go on track, eh?
After Practice 1 was over, they had reason to be confident... Lewis Hamilton was 1.4 seconds faster than anybody not in a Silver Arrows. The domination continued until P3, when Nico Rosberg had some sort of problem and the team reverted him to the Spa-spec engine.
Ferrari was not sitting around after Spa, either: they used either three or four tokens to upgrade their power plant. So what did all this mean?
It meant that while Hamilton is on pole with is new-spec engine, the Ferrari powerplant now appears to be more powerful than the old-spec Merc engine. Rosberg never came close to his teammate's pace, even moreso that usual. This suggests that if it wasn't for the upgrades, Ferrari would be on pole at their home grand prix, and there would be happy rioting going on all over Italy.
Which may still happen. What happened to Rosberg's P.U. could happen to Hamilton's, whatever it was. In which case, there may be churchbells ringing all over Maranello tomorrow.
We'll find out then, won't we? See ya sometime thereafter!
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:24.251 | 1:23.383 | 1:23.397 |
| 2 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:24.662 | 1:23.757 | 1:23.631 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:24.989 | 1:23.577 | 1:23.685 |
| 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:24.609 | 1:23.864 | 1:23.703 |
| 5 | Felipe Not Nasr Massa | Williams | 1:25.184 | 1:23.983 | 1:23.940 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:24.979 | 1:24.313 | 1:24.127 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:24.801 | 1:24.379 | 1:24.626 |
| 8 | Lettuce Grosjean | Lotus | 1:25.144 | 1:24.448 | 1:25.054 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:24.937 | 1:24.510 | 1:25.317 |
| 10 | Sony Ericsson | Sauber | 1:25.122 | 1:24.457 | 1:26.214 |
| 11 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:25.429 | 1:24.525 | |
| 12 | Felipe Not Massa Nasr | Sauber | 1:25.121 | 1:24.898 | |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:25.410 | 1:25.618 | |
| 14 | Kid Kvyat | Red Bull Racing | 1:25.742 | 1:25.796 | |
| 15 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing | 1:25.633 | No Time |
|
| 16 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:26.058 | ||
| 17 | HWIB2BFernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:26.154 | ||
| 18 | Will Stevens | Marussia | 1:27.731 | ||
| 19 | Roberto Merhi | Marussia | 1:27.912 | ||
| NC | Embryo Verstappen | Toro Rosso | Whoopsie! |
At first glance you'd say "well, nothing out of the ordinary", and you'd kind of be right. Or you'd be very very wrong. This is going to take a bit to explain, so get something to drink and find a comfy place in your chair... y'all set?
Even though the Power Unit rules are locked in stone, every team has a limited ability to change various pieces of it via a "token" system. See, when the F1 Tech Regs were written, they stated that the power units had to be finalized, or "homologated" for the 2015 season. After that date, they could no longer be fiddled with, no improvements or new ideas allowed. There was one teeny tiny little problem.
The FIA never actually wrote a date in the Tech Regs.
It was assumed that the start of the season was the homologation date, but multiple bright sparks pointed out that no, no, as the rules were written, the engines had to be frozen in 2015. Period. So much for the alleged cost-saving measures of the new P.U., unlimited development (and unlimited cash spending!) was about to be the rule of the day. Before chaos could break out, an agreement was reached allowing changes to be made on a 'token' system. An entire P.U. is broken down into 66 tokens, all with varying "weights" between 1 and 3, depending on the importance of the piece. Each engine manufacturer was given 32 tokens to play with during the 2015 season, except for Honda. As a new engine based off of the past few years of experience, they were given nine tokens. As planned, the three other engine makers used most of their tokens in the pre-season; Mercedes ended up with seven tokens.
While everybody else used theirs here and there, Mercedes didn't touch theirs at all... until the end of Spa. In the past two weeks, they used all seven of their tokens to upgrade this piece or that chunk. Their engine is now set, and they say that it is, essentially, the same as their 2016 P.U.. That's ominous, as they now get (in effect) the rest of this season to use as test sessions for next year. Obviously, they are quite confident in how 2015 will go on track, eh?
After Practice 1 was over, they had reason to be confident... Lewis Hamilton was 1.4 seconds faster than anybody not in a Silver Arrows. The domination continued until P3, when Nico Rosberg had some sort of problem and the team reverted him to the Spa-spec engine.
Ferrari was not sitting around after Spa, either: they used either three or four tokens to upgrade their power plant. So what did all this mean?
It meant that while Hamilton is on pole with is new-spec engine, the Ferrari powerplant now appears to be more powerful than the old-spec Merc engine. Rosberg never came close to his teammate's pace, even moreso that usual. This suggests that if it wasn't for the upgrades, Ferrari would be on pole at their home grand prix, and there would be happy rioting going on all over Italy.
Which may still happen. What happened to Rosberg's P.U. could happen to Hamilton's, whatever it was. In which case, there may be churchbells ringing all over Maranello tomorrow.
We'll find out then, won't we? See ya sometime thereafter!
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September 01, 2015
F1 on NBCSN: Italy 2015
Every racing organization has their signature race/track. In NASCAR, it's the Daytona 500. In IndyCar, the Indianapolis 500. Endurance racing has the 24 Hours of LeMans. Australia's wonderful V8Supercar series has the Bathurst 1000 at the Mt Panorama circuit. And F1 has... um... Monaco, which isn't this week's race.
It also has its spiritual home, Silverstone... which isn't this week's race either.
No, this week's race is at F1's fastest circuit, the legendary Monza. Here's the map:
A full 230% of a lap at Monza is spent at full throttle. Brakes are things put on other teams' cars, not your own. Downforce is strictly optional, and you'll never see the cars look be polished so hard anywhere else... just in case that last little swipe of a rag is enough to rearrange the surface molecules of carbon fiber into something just .0001sec faster. Drivers spend the two weeks between Spa and Monza with their head in a giant slow metal press, trying to make their skulls that much more narrow and thus more aerodynamic. Various pieces of their bodies are surgically removed to save weight, then put back in afterwards. Jenson Button is well-known for having his left kidney removed. Former McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya routinely had liposuction before Monza. Current Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado has his entire brain taken out before each race, not just the Grand Prix of Italy.
As does the entire horde of Ferrari fans that attend. From all reports, it's a 24/7 party atmosphere at the circuit, and on those occasions that a Ferrari driver stands on the top step? Bedlam. In other circumstances, they'd call out the riot squad of the Caribinieri, except here they'd probably be joining in the festivities. That is to say, Ferrari is most definitely Italy's national team. Indeed, no other team really is: nobody thinks of Mercedes as "Germany's team," or McLaren as "Team England."
All of the above pretty much means that after 10 years of writing about Monza, I'm out of ideas. Hopefully the Legendary Announce Team still has flashes of inspiration, for they'll be bringing us their usual coverage! Here's the broadcast times, all on NBCSN:
FRIDAY
Practice 2: 7a - 830a live
SATURDAY
Quals: 7a - 830a live
SUNDAY
2015 Grand Prix of Italy: 630a - 9a live
As is always the case, I'll have a report up sometime after the race. Thankfully it's Labor Day weekend, so... yeah. See ya then.
It also has its spiritual home, Silverstone... which isn't this week's race either.
No, this week's race is at F1's fastest circuit, the legendary Monza. Here's the map:
A full 230% of a lap at Monza is spent at full throttle. Brakes are things put on other teams' cars, not your own. Downforce is strictly optional, and you'll never see the cars look be polished so hard anywhere else... just in case that last little swipe of a rag is enough to rearrange the surface molecules of carbon fiber into something just .0001sec faster. Drivers spend the two weeks between Spa and Monza with their head in a giant slow metal press, trying to make their skulls that much more narrow and thus more aerodynamic. Various pieces of their bodies are surgically removed to save weight, then put back in afterwards. Jenson Button is well-known for having his left kidney removed. Former McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya routinely had liposuction before Monza. Current Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado has his entire brain taken out before each race, not just the Grand Prix of Italy.
As does the entire horde of Ferrari fans that attend. From all reports, it's a 24/7 party atmosphere at the circuit, and on those occasions that a Ferrari driver stands on the top step? Bedlam. In other circumstances, they'd call out the riot squad of the Caribinieri, except here they'd probably be joining in the festivities. That is to say, Ferrari is most definitely Italy's national team. Indeed, no other team really is: nobody thinks of Mercedes as "Germany's team," or McLaren as "Team England."
All of the above pretty much means that after 10 years of writing about Monza, I'm out of ideas. Hopefully the Legendary Announce Team still has flashes of inspiration, for they'll be bringing us their usual coverage! Here's the broadcast times, all on NBCSN:
FRIDAY
Practice 2: 7a - 830a live
SATURDAY
Quals: 7a - 830a live
SUNDAY
2015 Grand Prix of Italy: 630a - 9a live
As is always the case, I'll have a report up sometime after the race. Thankfully it's Labor Day weekend, so... yeah. See ya then.
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August 22, 2015
F1 Quals: Belgium 2015
Another day of blue skies and perfect weather at Spa-Francopants... something is obviously wrong with the environment if we can go two days without rain at this track. But how did the good F1 folk do on the track? Let's take a look at the provisional grid for the 2015 Grand Prix of Belgium:
Oh look, there's a Mercedes on pole... that's never happened before! And Lewis Hamilton is driving? I'm shocked I tell you, shocked.
Actually, the surprising thing is that Vettel is 9th after completely peeing a good final hot lap down his firesuit's leg at the final chicane. The other Ferrari never made it out of Q2 after having existential car failure. Everything else was basically as we've come to expect.
Except for one thing. The two McLarens have accomplished something never before seen in F1... between them, they've racked up 105 places worth of grid penalties for this race! Basically both cars have completely new power units in them, from transmission to ICE to batteries. As McLaren/Honda has pretty much used their allotment of component changes for the season, they knew this was going to happen no matter what they did. Then came the rule change at Hungary that said that if a car could not serve their grid penalties in one race, they just start last on the grid... previously they had to take time penalties as well. As McLaren was probably going to be starting towards the back anyway, why not take what realistically amounts to a two-spot penalty and change their engine every race from here on out? Give Honda more data to work with for the rest of this season-long test session?
I figure the other teams would have problems aplenty with that, but for now? Go for 100-spot penalties each, boys!
The race is tomorrow morning; I'll do my best to get something up tomorrow night... I'm having brunch with out-of-town family. See ya then!
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:48.908 | 1:48.024 | 1:47.197 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:48.923 | 1:47.955 | 1:47.655 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:49.026 | 1:49.044 | 1:48.537 |
| 4 | Lettuce Grosjean | Lotus | 1:49.353 | 1:48.981 | 1:48.561 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:49.006 | 1:48.792 | 1:48.599 |
| 6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing | 1:49.664 | 1:49.042 | 1:48.639 |
| 7 | Felipe Not Nasr Massa | Williams | 1:49.688 | 1:48.806 | 1:48.685 |
| 8 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:49.568 | 1:48.956 | 1:48.754 |
| 9 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:49.264 | 1:48.761 | 1:48.825 |
| 10 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:49.109 | 1:49.065 | 1:49.771 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:49.499 | 1:49.121 | |
| 12 | Kid Kvyat | Red Bull Racing | 1:49.469 | 1:49.228 | |
| 13 | Sony Ericsson | Sauber | 1:49.523 | 1:49.586 | |
| 14 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:49.288 | No Time |
|
| 15 | Embryo Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:49.831 | No Time |
|
| 16 | Felipe Not Massa Nasr | Sauber | 1:49.952 | ||
| 17 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:50.978 | ||
| 18 | HWIFernando AlonsoA | McLaren | 1:51.420 | ||
| 19 | Will Stevens | Manor | 1:52.948 | ||
| 20 | Roberto Merhi | Manor | 1:53.099 |
Oh look, there's a Mercedes on pole... that's never happened before! And Lewis Hamilton is driving? I'm shocked I tell you, shocked.
Actually, the surprising thing is that Vettel is 9th after completely peeing a good final hot lap down his firesuit's leg at the final chicane. The other Ferrari never made it out of Q2 after having existential car failure. Everything else was basically as we've come to expect.
Except for one thing. The two McLarens have accomplished something never before seen in F1... between them, they've racked up 105 places worth of grid penalties for this race! Basically both cars have completely new power units in them, from transmission to ICE to batteries. As McLaren/Honda has pretty much used their allotment of component changes for the season, they knew this was going to happen no matter what they did. Then came the rule change at Hungary that said that if a car could not serve their grid penalties in one race, they just start last on the grid... previously they had to take time penalties as well. As McLaren was probably going to be starting towards the back anyway, why not take what realistically amounts to a two-spot penalty and change their engine every race from here on out? Give Honda more data to work with for the rest of this season-long test session?
I figure the other teams would have problems aplenty with that, but for now? Go for 100-spot penalties each, boys!
The race is tomorrow morning; I'll do my best to get something up tomorrow night... I'm having brunch with out-of-town family. See ya then!
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August 16, 2015
F1 on TV: Belgium 2015
So the summer break for the F1 Circus is coming to an end. The teams are putting their tents up, rebuilding the carnival rides, letting the efalumps out of their cages, and letting the clowns out of their cages. Meanwhile, the drivers are returning from their vacation locations... Jenson Button, for example, was in a villa in St Tropez during the break, and when thieves introduced knockout gas into the air conditioning they got about €300K worth of stuff. Lewis Hamilton was spotted canoodling with singer Rihanna in Barbados and New York. Kimi Raikkonen drank heavily, which means his break was business as usual. And Fernando Alonso wore a hat. But if we have to end our month-long slumber, there's no better place to do it than the track we head to now. Here's the map for the Grand Prix of Belgium, at Spa-Francopants:
It's legendary. It's fast as hell. It's the longest circuit on the calendar. It's steeply uphill from Turn 2 to Turn 4, then most of the rest of the lap from Turn 7 on is spent going downhill to Turn 17. And it usually rains. That's about all you need to know about Spa-Francoamerican, really. It's a lovely, lovely track, a true classic, one the Circus has been coming to for hundreds of years. They even raced here during WWII. It's true! In 1941, a Panzer III defeated two AMR 35s and a SOMUSA S35 in a rain-shortened race, and the 1944 race was won by a M22 Locust and a pair of M4s over German entries of a Panther, a new-model Panzer IV, and the very late entry of a Maus despite cold and snowy conditions.
I made that up.
In any case, it's the usual race schedule for us here in the US. Let us take a look at what the Legendary Announce Team will be bringing us and when:
FRIDAY
Practice 2: 7a - 830a live on NBCSN
SATURDAY
Quals: 7a - 830a live on CNBC
SUNDAY
2015 Grand Prix of Belgium: 630a - 9a live on NBCSN
As is usual, I'll be watching everything, with a quals report sometime Saturday and a F1U! sometime on Sunday... however, I'm having brunch with six family members on race day, so I have no idea when I'll be able to watch, let alone write. But we'll be here. Eventually. Look forward to it, won't you? And if you aren't going to look forward to it, don't tell me. Let me keep some of my illusions, 'k?
It's legendary. It's fast as hell. It's the longest circuit on the calendar. It's steeply uphill from Turn 2 to Turn 4, then most of the rest of the lap from Turn 7 on is spent going downhill to Turn 17. And it usually rains. That's about all you need to know about Spa-Francoamerican, really. It's a lovely, lovely track, a true classic, one the Circus has been coming to for hundreds of years. They even raced here during WWII. It's true! In 1941, a Panzer III defeated two AMR 35s and a SOMUSA S35 in a rain-shortened race, and the 1944 race was won by a M22 Locust and a pair of M4s over German entries of a Panther, a new-model Panzer IV, and the very late entry of a Maus despite cold and snowy conditions.
I made that up.
In any case, it's the usual race schedule for us here in the US. Let us take a look at what the Legendary Announce Team will be bringing us and when:
FRIDAY
Practice 2: 7a - 830a live on NBCSN
SATURDAY
Quals: 7a - 830a live on CNBC
SUNDAY
2015 Grand Prix of Belgium: 630a - 9a live on NBCSN
As is usual, I'll be watching everything, with a quals report sometime Saturday and a F1U! sometime on Sunday... however, I'm having brunch with six family members on race day, so I have no idea when I'll be able to watch, let alone write. But we'll be here. Eventually. Look forward to it, won't you? And if you aren't going to look forward to it, don't tell me. Let me keep some of my illusions, 'k?
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July 25, 2015
F1 Quals: Hungary 2015
Hungary. Joy. Here's the provisional grid for the 2015 Magyar NagydÃj:
For what seemed the first time all season, the Mercedes were actually forced to use their soft tires in Q1, lest they be bumped from quals altogether. There's a huge performance gap between the soft and hards this time, two seconds or so... it's usually half that. Other than that, though, nothing particularly exciting went on. Oh sure, Red Bull seems to have made good use of the past three weeks, looking awfully racy as a result, but with Merc domination it all seems somewhat futile.
Probably the highlight of the session was Fernando Alonso's car failing towards the start of Q2. Feeling like he had a chance to make it to Q3, it took his lame car as far as it could go... just short of the pit-in. When it stopped? He hopped out and pushed. Soon, he had an entourage.
Yes, that's Alonso waving to the fans while steering his car with one hand while at a fast jog in a firesuit on a 95 degree day with high humidity. Yes, that's also a cheeky trackworker waving to the crowd, too. It almost pains me to point out that the second his car came to a halt on-track it was ineligible to continue the session, but that's just me.
So. Race tomorrow morning. F1U! sometime after. Then the summer break, one month until the next race. See ya then!
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:22.890 | 1:22.285 | 1:22.020 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:22.979 | 1:22.775 | 1:22.595 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:23.312 | 1:23.168 | 1:22.739 |
| 4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:24.408 | 1:23.230 | 1:22.774 |
| 5 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:23.596 | 1:23.460 | 1:23.020 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:23.649 | 1:23.555 | 1:23.222 |
| 7 | Kid Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:23.587 | 1:23.597 | 1:23.332 |
| 8 | Felipe Not NasrMassa | Williams | 1:23.895 | 1:23.598 | 1:23.537 |
| 9 | Embryo Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:24.032 | 1:23.781 | 1:23.679 |
| 10 | Lettuce Grosjean | Lotus | 1:24.242 | 1:23.805 | 1:24.181 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:24.115 | 1:23.826 | |
| 12 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:24.623 | 1:23.869 | |
| 13 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:24.444 | 1:24.461 | |
| 14 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:23.895 | 1:24.609 | |
| 15 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:24.563 | No Time |
|
| 16 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:24.739 | ||
| 17 | Sony Ericsson | Sauber | 1:24.843 | ||
| 18 | Felipe Not Massa Nasr | Sauber | 1:24.997 | ||
| 19 | Roberto Merhi | Manor | 1:27.416 | ||
| 20 | Will Stevens | Manor | 1:27.949 |
For what seemed the first time all season, the Mercedes were actually forced to use their soft tires in Q1, lest they be bumped from quals altogether. There's a huge performance gap between the soft and hards this time, two seconds or so... it's usually half that. Other than that, though, nothing particularly exciting went on. Oh sure, Red Bull seems to have made good use of the past three weeks, looking awfully racy as a result, but with Merc domination it all seems somewhat futile.
Probably the highlight of the session was Fernando Alonso's car failing towards the start of Q2. Feeling like he had a chance to make it to Q3, it took his lame car as far as it could go... just short of the pit-in. When it stopped? He hopped out and pushed. Soon, he had an entourage.
Yes, that's Alonso waving to the fans while steering his car with one hand while at a fast jog in a firesuit on a 95 degree day with high humidity. Yes, that's also a cheeky trackworker waving to the crowd, too. It almost pains me to point out that the second his car came to a halt on-track it was ineligible to continue the session, but that's just me.
So. Race tomorrow morning. F1U! sometime after. Then the summer break, one month until the next race. See ya then!
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July 20, 2015
F1 on TV: Hungary 2015
So. Not only do we next travel to Hungary, my least favorite track on the Formula 1 calendar, it's going to be the site various Bianchi tributes. It's going to be a long, sad race weekend. Here's the track map:
"Monaco without the glamor", they call it. Originally designed to be a street circuit running through Budapest, when that fell through the promoters reportedly just took planned circuit's layout and moved it to a natural bowl nearby. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a street circuit without any streets doesn't, in fact, work all that well. It's usually hot, often dusty, the track is boring, and it only coughs up a good race when it rains. It's even better when it rains heavily here at Pond Central, because then there's a chance my satellite feed will go out.
Here's the alleged TV schedule for the coverage of the race. I say "alleged" because I'm having problems figuring out just what's going on with it...
FRIDAY
Practice 2: 6pm - 730pm on NBCSN. No, that's not a typo, I really do mean "PM".
SATURDAY
Quals: 7am - 830am live on CNBC
SUNDAY
2015 Grand Prix of Hungary: 630am - 9am live on CNBC
Check your local listings; all times Pond Central.
The FIA has announced that they'll be retiring car number 17 from consideration of future use, in honor of Jules Bianchi. As you may or not be aware, as I've tended not to mention it much, F1 drivers now get to choose their car number when they join the sport; it then sticks with them until they retire. So if you choose, say "23" when you're a Sauber driver, you're still 23 when you move to Ferrari. The only variant to this is the reigning World Driver's Champion... he has the option of using number "1", and while traditional, it isn't mandatory; Lewis Hamilton, for example, is NOT using it this year. Instead, he's using his #44.
There's a rumor that the paddock will do a minute's silence on race day in honor of their fallen comrade. I'm sure that will happen; I'm wondering what else will be done. The race after that Awful Weekend in 1994, the first two spots on the grid were painted in the national flags of Senna and Ratzenberger, and pole position was really #3 on the grid. I like that idea, to be honest.
Speculation is flying around what Ferrari will do. In times of mourning, such as the death of Pope John Paul II, the team has raced a red car with no logos of any sort and a black nose. As a member of their Young Driver's program and tapped to drive for the team a lot sooner, rather than later, I wonder if they'll do that again. The black stripe on the nose is quite understated and classy, I think. I'm sure the rest of the field will have the #17 on their cars, or some other similar tribute to Bianchi. Manor, on the other hand, has been tight-lipped. The team that owes its very existence to his driving, what will they do? Guess we'll find out on Sunday. See yo then.
"Monaco without the glamor", they call it. Originally designed to be a street circuit running through Budapest, when that fell through the promoters reportedly just took planned circuit's layout and moved it to a natural bowl nearby. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a street circuit without any streets doesn't, in fact, work all that well. It's usually hot, often dusty, the track is boring, and it only coughs up a good race when it rains. It's even better when it rains heavily here at Pond Central, because then there's a chance my satellite feed will go out.
Here's the alleged TV schedule for the coverage of the race. I say "alleged" because I'm having problems figuring out just what's going on with it...
FRIDAY
Practice 2: 6pm - 730pm on NBCSN. No, that's not a typo, I really do mean "PM".
SATURDAY
Quals: 7am - 830am live on CNBC
SUNDAY
2015 Grand Prix of Hungary: 630am - 9am live on CNBC
Check your local listings; all times Pond Central.
The FIA has announced that they'll be retiring car number 17 from consideration of future use, in honor of Jules Bianchi. As you may or not be aware, as I've tended not to mention it much, F1 drivers now get to choose their car number when they join the sport; it then sticks with them until they retire. So if you choose, say "23" when you're a Sauber driver, you're still 23 when you move to Ferrari. The only variant to this is the reigning World Driver's Champion... he has the option of using number "1", and while traditional, it isn't mandatory; Lewis Hamilton, for example, is NOT using it this year. Instead, he's using his #44.
There's a rumor that the paddock will do a minute's silence on race day in honor of their fallen comrade. I'm sure that will happen; I'm wondering what else will be done. The race after that Awful Weekend in 1994, the first two spots on the grid were painted in the national flags of Senna and Ratzenberger, and pole position was really #3 on the grid. I like that idea, to be honest.
Speculation is flying around what Ferrari will do. In times of mourning, such as the death of Pope John Paul II, the team has raced a red car with no logos of any sort and a black nose. As a member of their Young Driver's program and tapped to drive for the team a lot sooner, rather than later, I wonder if they'll do that again. The black stripe on the nose is quite understated and classy, I think. I'm sure the rest of the field will have the #17 on their cars, or some other similar tribute to Bianchi. Manor, on the other hand, has been tight-lipped. The team that owes its very existence to his driving, what will they do? Guess we'll find out on Sunday. See yo then.
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July 18, 2015
Jules Bianchi 1989 - 2015
Somewhat inevitable news from the Formula 1 community as Jules Bianchi, driver for Marussia last year, passed away at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire in Nice, France, today. He was 25.
As we all remember, he suffered massive head trauma in his terrible accident at Suzuka this past October. He never regained consciousness after the crash. In the months that followed, there had been some positive signs: taken off the respirator, breathing on his own, squeezing of hands, that sort of thing, but even the most optimistic thoughts on his recovery made for grim reading.
He was a better driver than the car he was given. After being a karting champion, he won the French Formula Renault series in 2007, finished third in Formula 3 Euroseries in 2008, and in 2009 won nine out of 20 races to take the F3 championship. When Felipe Massa had his accident, Ferrari considered having him fill the seat; instead, he wound up signing with their Young Drivers program and became a test driver. In 2010 and 2011, Bianchi would finish third in GP2, while in 2012 he got his break in F1 as a Friday driver for Force India. In 2013, Marussia picked him up and gave him a drive, for which act he repaid them with a 13th place finish that secured the team a 10th place finish in the Constructor's Championship and the prize money that came with it.
It was in 2014, however, that Bianchi showed his talent level. Taking a lackluster car from 19th on the grid at Monaco, he wound up surviving the twisty, narrow streets and despite a penalty, finshed eighth. Alas, another penalty wound up dropping him to ninth. Either way, he still managed to do something nobody else had managed or has yet to duplicate: score points for Marussia. These points would ultimately provide the team with enough prize money to continue into 2015. Drivers that score points for backmarkers usually turn out to be something special, and there's no question that Jules Bianchi was destined to drive for Ferrari, possibly as soon as 2016. Instead, he becomes the first Formula 1 driver to die from race-related injuries since Ayrton Senna in 1994.
We here at Wonderduck's Pond send our condolences to the Bianchi family, his friends, and the F1 paddock as a whole. Next week's race in Hungary should be a somber one, to say the least.
As we all remember, he suffered massive head trauma in his terrible accident at Suzuka this past October. He never regained consciousness after the crash. In the months that followed, there had been some positive signs: taken off the respirator, breathing on his own, squeezing of hands, that sort of thing, but even the most optimistic thoughts on his recovery made for grim reading.
He was a better driver than the car he was given. After being a karting champion, he won the French Formula Renault series in 2007, finished third in Formula 3 Euroseries in 2008, and in 2009 won nine out of 20 races to take the F3 championship. When Felipe Massa had his accident, Ferrari considered having him fill the seat; instead, he wound up signing with their Young Drivers program and became a test driver. In 2010 and 2011, Bianchi would finish third in GP2, while in 2012 he got his break in F1 as a Friday driver for Force India. In 2013, Marussia picked him up and gave him a drive, for which act he repaid them with a 13th place finish that secured the team a 10th place finish in the Constructor's Championship and the prize money that came with it.
It was in 2014, however, that Bianchi showed his talent level. Taking a lackluster car from 19th on the grid at Monaco, he wound up surviving the twisty, narrow streets and despite a penalty, finshed eighth. Alas, another penalty wound up dropping him to ninth. Either way, he still managed to do something nobody else had managed or has yet to duplicate: score points for Marussia. These points would ultimately provide the team with enough prize money to continue into 2015. Drivers that score points for backmarkers usually turn out to be something special, and there's no question that Jules Bianchi was destined to drive for Ferrari, possibly as soon as 2016. Instead, he becomes the first Formula 1 driver to die from race-related injuries since Ayrton Senna in 1994.We here at Wonderduck's Pond send our condolences to the Bianchi family, his friends, and the F1 paddock as a whole. Next week's race in Hungary should be a somber one, to say the least.
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July 04, 2015
F1 Quals: Great Britain 2015
About as perfect of a summer's day as you could ever hope for in England welcomed the Blundering Herd to Silverstone today. Low 70s and brilliant sunshine made for perfect track conditions. The only fly in the ointment was a rather stiff and gusting breeze that made for interesting handling problems for these cars, delicately balanced between grip and control... or kittylitter and tears. Here's the provisional grid for the 2015 Grand Prix of Great Britain:
We had a rash of qualifying laps thrown out all day, thanks to the Stewards cracking down on exceeding the track limits. Turns 9 and 18 were the main sources of offense, and it came close to costing Seb Vettel progression to Q2. Something like 11 drivers had lap times disallowed, some multiple times (Pastor Maldonado, we're looking at you...).
Other than that, however, it was very close to being a bog-standard Quals session. Only the mild surprise of having Williams lock out Row Two is somewhat different. This really is the sort of track that fits the Williams chassis to a T: medium downforce with fast, fast sweeping corners. As the FW37 appears to have a problem with downforce acquisition, not being limited in comparison to the other teams at this track plays right into their hands. Throw in the Mercedes power unit, and you've got the recipe for a nice finish tomorrow.
Not "race winning", but nice. Ain't nobody beating the Mercs tomorrow, and my guess is that only a RPG is going to stop Lewis Hamilton from winning his home race again.
Race on Sunday morning... we'll see you sometime thereafter with the F1U!
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:33.796 | 1:33.068 | 1:32.248 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:33.475 | 1:32.737 | 1:32.361 |
| 3 | Felipe Not Nasr Massa | Williams | 1:34.542 | 1:33.707 | 1:33.085 |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:34.171 | 1:33.020 | 1:33.149 |
| 5 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:33.426 | 1:33.911 | 1:33.379 |
| 6 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:33.562 | 1:33.641 | 1:33.547 |
| 7 | Kid Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:34.422 | 1:33.520 | 1:33.636 |
| 8 | Edward James Olmos | Toro Rosso | 1:34.641 | 1:34.071 | 1:33.649 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:34.594 | 1:33.693 | 1:33.673 |
| 10 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:34.272 | 1:33.749 | 1:33.943 |
| 11 | Sergio Aragones | Force India | 1:34.250 | 1:34.268 | |
| 12 | Lettuce Grosjean | Lotus | 1:34.646 | 1:34.430 | |
| 13 | Embryo Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:34.819 | 1:34.502 | |
| 14 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:34.877 | 1:34.511 | |
| 15 | Sony Ericsson | Sauber | 1:34.643 | 1:34.868 | |
| 16 | Felipe Not Massa Nasr | Sauber | 1:34.888 | ||
| 17 | OFTDHWRHN | McLaren | 1:34.959 | ||
| 18 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:35.207 | ||
| 19 | Will Stevens | Marussia | 1:37.364 | ||
| 20 | Roberto Merhi | Marussia | 1:39.377 |
We had a rash of qualifying laps thrown out all day, thanks to the Stewards cracking down on exceeding the track limits. Turns 9 and 18 were the main sources of offense, and it came close to costing Seb Vettel progression to Q2. Something like 11 drivers had lap times disallowed, some multiple times (Pastor Maldonado, we're looking at you...).
Other than that, however, it was very close to being a bog-standard Quals session. Only the mild surprise of having Williams lock out Row Two is somewhat different. This really is the sort of track that fits the Williams chassis to a T: medium downforce with fast, fast sweeping corners. As the FW37 appears to have a problem with downforce acquisition, not being limited in comparison to the other teams at this track plays right into their hands. Throw in the Mercedes power unit, and you've got the recipe for a nice finish tomorrow.
Not "race winning", but nice. Ain't nobody beating the Mercs tomorrow, and my guess is that only a RPG is going to stop Lewis Hamilton from winning his home race again.
Race on Sunday morning... we'll see you sometime thereafter with the F1U!
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June 29, 2015
F1 on TV: Great Britain 2015
There was once a time where Silverstone was my favorite circuit on the calendar. The track was just about as perfect as it could be. The racing was thrilling. The fans were insane. But those days have gone, demolished by a remodel of the track. And here the F1 Circus comes again, once more to the old RAF airbase. Let's take a look at the map, shall we?
They moved the start-finish line, they added a whole new section in a pointless arena complex, and they managed somehow to make me stop loving my favorite track. Good job, F1! You must be proud... or you would, if you cared about American F1 fans, which you don't. Which is a pity. Its not like some of us aren't the most passionate followers of your sport around or anything. Heck, I don't even count myself among that number, and I've still written about F1 since 2005. Along the way, I've either created new fans or brought lapsed fans back into the fold via my readership, but because I'm in Duckford, not Duxford, I'm not important in the eyes of Formula 1 or Bernie Ecclestone. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I have all the answers... or indeed, any answers at all... but I can tell you that I'm kinda tired of being considered a second- or third-class citizen in the eyes of my favorite form of motorsport, which it must be said is rapidly descending towards second-class status in MY eyes. It's too bad full races in the World Endurance Championship are so rarely shown here in the US. Just sayin'.
But you're not here to read my diatribe, you're here to find out when the 2015 Grand Prix of England will be on television, right? Well, here's the schedule:
Friday
Practice 2: 800a - 930a live on NBCSN
Saturday
Quals: 700a - 830a live on CNBC
Sunday
2015 Grand Prix of England: 630a - 900a live on CNBC
NBCSN has decided that either the Tour de France or English Premiere League soccer is more important than F1, so off to the hinterlands of CNBC goes the Circus.
I apologize. I'm bitter all around right now. Drug dopers on bicycles and floppers acting like their spine has been shattered when someone pats 'em on the back... now that's entertainment!
See you Friday.
They moved the start-finish line, they added a whole new section in a pointless arena complex, and they managed somehow to make me stop loving my favorite track. Good job, F1! You must be proud... or you would, if you cared about American F1 fans, which you don't. Which is a pity. Its not like some of us aren't the most passionate followers of your sport around or anything. Heck, I don't even count myself among that number, and I've still written about F1 since 2005. Along the way, I've either created new fans or brought lapsed fans back into the fold via my readership, but because I'm in Duckford, not Duxford, I'm not important in the eyes of Formula 1 or Bernie Ecclestone. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I have all the answers... or indeed, any answers at all... but I can tell you that I'm kinda tired of being considered a second- or third-class citizen in the eyes of my favorite form of motorsport, which it must be said is rapidly descending towards second-class status in MY eyes. It's too bad full races in the World Endurance Championship are so rarely shown here in the US. Just sayin'.
But you're not here to read my diatribe, you're here to find out when the 2015 Grand Prix of England will be on television, right? Well, here's the schedule:
Friday
Practice 2: 800a - 930a live on NBCSN
Saturday
Quals: 700a - 830a live on CNBC
Sunday
2015 Grand Prix of England: 630a - 900a live on CNBC
NBCSN has decided that either the Tour de France or English Premiere League soccer is more important than F1, so off to the hinterlands of CNBC goes the Circus.
I apologize. I'm bitter all around right now. Drug dopers on bicycles and floppers acting like their spine has been shattered when someone pats 'em on the back... now that's entertainment!
See you Friday.
Posted by: Wonderduck at
06:42 PM
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