October 28, 2011
F1 Practice: India P2
Another 90 minutes of running on the new Buddh International Circuit is in the books, and the character of the track is starting to show up, at least to this observer. If I had to describe the place, it's Abu Dhabi with hills. This is not a good thing.
To be sure, the two layouts couldn't be more different. Yes, they both have a very long straightaway, but other than that, the two tracks have little in common. Yet they feel the same to me. Maybe I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong. But that's how I'm seeing it right now.
The drivers, on the other hand, love the place. "Awesome," "fantastic," "good fun," "really nice," "challenging," and "interesting" are just some of the words drivers have used to describe the place. Well, good, I'm glad they like it. Hopefully it makes for awesome, fantastic, interesting and really nice racing come Sunday!
Of course, the drivers are still deciding on how best to drive the course. Turn 10 has gone from having to two racing lines to one, though it's a wide line. Nobody seems to have a handle on the correct way to handle the Turn 6/7 pair; the grass on the inside of 7 is getting seriously rough treatment, and a lot of it is ending up on the racing surface, having been dragged there by cars returning to the track. And both ends of the pit lane are a little squirrely, though nowhere near as bad as Korea.
On the plus side, I'm loving Turn 1/2/3. It's like Hermann Tilke finally figured out how to make a series of turns flow together naturally. Of course, they feed right into that 4000' long rollercoaster of a straightaway, which is now the longest in F1, if not the world.
In off-track news, both Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez have been handed matching three grid-spot penalties for the race. At the end of P1, Pastor Maldonado turned his engine into so much scrap metal, bringing out a full-course yellow and a recovery vehicle to carry his car away. Of course, track workers doing their job "over the wall" calls for double-yellow flags to be waved in that section of track. Drivers are to slow way down in that situation for the protection of the workers, and the stewards believe neither Hamilton or Perez did that sufficiently. For Hamilton, this is actually good because he could have been given a reprimand, his third for the season. Three reprimands in a season carries a FIVE grid-spot penalty. If both Perez and Hamilton were given reprimands, Perez would have escaped clean and Hamilton penalized. I think at that point Lewis would have climbed the nearest clock tower and start gunning down anybody wearing the FIA logo.
F1 Update!'s decision to use the designation "soft" and "hard" tires during our race writeups may go against the more traditional "prime" and "option" terms, but at least for this race it's going to prove to be less confusing! Generally, the designated option tire is the softer of the two compounds, but at the Indian Grand Prix, the option tire has been declared to be the harder tire. The prime tire is the soft. So, hurray for us, I suppose.
Finally, everybody please join F1U! in wishing Darth Bernie Ecclestone a happy 81st birthday, born October 28th 1930.
Quals Saturday morning, see you then!
To be sure, the two layouts couldn't be more different. Yes, they both have a very long straightaway, but other than that, the two tracks have little in common. Yet they feel the same to me. Maybe I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong. But that's how I'm seeing it right now.
The drivers, on the other hand, love the place. "Awesome," "fantastic," "good fun," "really nice," "challenging," and "interesting" are just some of the words drivers have used to describe the place. Well, good, I'm glad they like it. Hopefully it makes for awesome, fantastic, interesting and really nice racing come Sunday!
Of course, the drivers are still deciding on how best to drive the course. Turn 10 has gone from having to two racing lines to one, though it's a wide line. Nobody seems to have a handle on the correct way to handle the Turn 6/7 pair; the grass on the inside of 7 is getting seriously rough treatment, and a lot of it is ending up on the racing surface, having been dragged there by cars returning to the track. And both ends of the pit lane are a little squirrely, though nowhere near as bad as Korea.
On the plus side, I'm loving Turn 1/2/3. It's like Hermann Tilke finally figured out how to make a series of turns flow together naturally. Of course, they feed right into that 4000' long rollercoaster of a straightaway, which is now the longest in F1, if not the world.
In off-track news, both Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez have been handed matching three grid-spot penalties for the race. At the end of P1, Pastor Maldonado turned his engine into so much scrap metal, bringing out a full-course yellow and a recovery vehicle to carry his car away. Of course, track workers doing their job "over the wall" calls for double-yellow flags to be waved in that section of track. Drivers are to slow way down in that situation for the protection of the workers, and the stewards believe neither Hamilton or Perez did that sufficiently. For Hamilton, this is actually good because he could have been given a reprimand, his third for the season. Three reprimands in a season carries a FIVE grid-spot penalty. If both Perez and Hamilton were given reprimands, Perez would have escaped clean and Hamilton penalized. I think at that point Lewis would have climbed the nearest clock tower and start gunning down anybody wearing the FIA logo.
F1 Update!'s decision to use the designation "soft" and "hard" tires during our race writeups may go against the more traditional "prime" and "option" terms, but at least for this race it's going to prove to be less confusing! Generally, the designated option tire is the softer of the two compounds, but at the Indian Grand Prix, the option tire has been declared to be the harder tire. The prime tire is the soft. So, hurray for us, I suppose.
Finally, everybody please join F1U! in wishing Darth Bernie Ecclestone a happy 81st birthday, born October 28th 1930.
Quals Saturday morning, see you then!
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October 27, 2011
F1 Practice: India P1 Liveblog
(PRE-SESSION) Hello, namaste and welcome to the second ever F1-related liveblog here at The Pond. Tonight is our first real glimpse of the new Buddh International Circuit in India. As with last year's liveblog of the debut of Korea's track, I'll be using time remaining in the session as a reference... if you see 1:15:07, that means there's one hour, fifteen minutes and seven seconds left in P1, not that it's 1:15am.
My broadband connection seems to be running quick tonight, but if last year's liveblog of Korea is any judge, I have the speed to stream video or update the blog... but not both at any given time. I'll probably be doing two or three entries at a time, just to keep myself from going insane. Any pictures will be screencaps from the SPEED streaming feed, which you can find right here.
Reports are that the track is very dusty. Well, yeah, that figures... it's still a construction site. Some people on-site are saying that not every bathroom has running water, electricity is being provided by generators when it's provided at all, and on and on. That's as may be, but the asphalt is down, the curbing is installed, and we're going to see a new track! I fully expect to see the two Indian drivers, Cowboy Karun Chandhok, who's only driving for Lotus in P1, and Narain Kittylitter, who's taking Vitantonio Liuzzi's seat at HRT for this race, out first... both to play streetsweeper and to say "hey, the first official cars on track were piloted by Indians!" We'll find out soon enough.
1:30:00 - And... the stream isn't working? What the heck?
?:??:?? - Well, crap. I'm going to reboot my computer. I gather the session has been red-flagged anyway, due to stray dogs being on the track. Force India was the first to get on track, surprise surprise, and Chandhok got the first official timed lap.
?:??:?? - I'm not the only one; over at F1 Fanatic's Live coverage, there's a bunch of people having the same problem.
?:??:?? - Peter "Smarmy" Windsor (there's a name we haven't heard in a while!) is apparently working for SPEED again in some capacity. He just tweeted that the live feed isn't working quite yet. Yay us.
?:??:?? - Still nothing, after a half-hour. I'm shutting this down for the night. I'll have full coverage of P2 on Friday. See you then!
40:24 - It's up, and this is the first thing to appear:
Cool shot, that.
37:27 - The track is either very dusty, or there's a metric farkton of smog in the air. It's hideous!
35:45 - HWMNBN comes to a halt at the side of the road, dead engine.
33:30 - Yo dawg, I hear you like F1, so I put some F1 in your F1 so you can watch F1 while you F1!
29:15 - Track is very dusty and slippery. Lots of people going off all over the place.
26:54 - My heavens, that big Turn 10 just goes on and on and on, doesn't it? That's gonna kill more front-left tires than anything, right there.
24:50 - Facilities look complete. Place seems a lot more done than Korea did last year... or even this year, come to think of it.
23:18 - Just to give you an idea of the amount of smog/dust/fog/whatever in the air, take a look at this:
One winces at the thought of that getting pulled into an 18000rpm engine... and it was worse earlier.
17:00 - I like the circuit, but it doesn't seem to have much of an identity yet. Maybe because I'm grumpy about the live stream not starting until half the session was already done? Perhaps. Or maybe it's because this is the first time we've ever seen cars on it. Still, other than that big big turn, the place seems flavorless.
12:00 - A Lotus just spun out... in the pit lane. Practicing a getaway, just looped it. Whoopsie!
10:40 - I'll say this: lots of elevation change. I'm surprised we haven't seen a driver ralphing into his cockpit yet. Up and down, up and down, here's a turn, up and down, rinse, repeat.
8:50 - DJ Squire stuffs his Toro Rosso into a wall.
Dust? What dust?
6:00 - And Pastor Maldonado blows his lump. NTTAWWT.
3:00 - Definitely two racing lines through Turn 10. When was the last time we saw that at a F1 track? Indy? Maybe not even there.
0:00 - Session over. Lewis Hamilton has the fastest time (1:26.836), followed by Vettel, Webber and Button. I'm withholding judgment on the circuit until I actually see people race on it, and maybe after the F1 TV Director stops popping the greenies. Good lord, he was changing camera angles every other second, like he was paid by the cut or something. I'm inclined to like the track, though. Seems promising, but so did Valencia and we know how that one has panned out. Very wide racecourse, I noticed. Some places, you could probably go four abreast and still have plenty of room.
Full coverage of P2 will be later Friday! Thanks for sticking around for this abbreviated liveblog!
My broadband connection seems to be running quick tonight, but if last year's liveblog of Korea is any judge, I have the speed to stream video or update the blog... but not both at any given time. I'll probably be doing two or three entries at a time, just to keep myself from going insane. Any pictures will be screencaps from the SPEED streaming feed, which you can find right here.
Reports are that the track is very dusty. Well, yeah, that figures... it's still a construction site. Some people on-site are saying that not every bathroom has running water, electricity is being provided by generators when it's provided at all, and on and on. That's as may be, but the asphalt is down, the curbing is installed, and we're going to see a new track! I fully expect to see the two Indian drivers, Cowboy Karun Chandhok, who's only driving for Lotus in P1, and Narain Kittylitter, who's taking Vitantonio Liuzzi's seat at HRT for this race, out first... both to play streetsweeper and to say "hey, the first official cars on track were piloted by Indians!" We'll find out soon enough.
1:30:00 - And... the stream isn't working? What the heck?
?:??:?? - Well, crap. I'm going to reboot my computer. I gather the session has been red-flagged anyway, due to stray dogs being on the track. Force India was the first to get on track, surprise surprise, and Chandhok got the first official timed lap.
?:??:?? - I'm not the only one; over at F1 Fanatic's Live coverage, there's a bunch of people having the same problem.
?:??:?? - Peter "Smarmy" Windsor (there's a name we haven't heard in a while!) is apparently working for SPEED again in some capacity. He just tweeted that the live feed isn't working quite yet. Yay us.
?:??:?? - Still nothing, after a half-hour. I'm shutting this down for the night. I'll have full coverage of P2 on Friday. See you then!
40:24 - It's up, and this is the first thing to appear:
Cool shot, that.
37:27 - The track is either very dusty, or there's a metric farkton of smog in the air. It's hideous!
35:45 - HWMNBN comes to a halt at the side of the road, dead engine.
33:30 - Yo dawg, I hear you like F1, so I put some F1 in your F1 so you can watch F1 while you F1!
29:15 - Track is very dusty and slippery. Lots of people going off all over the place.
26:54 - My heavens, that big Turn 10 just goes on and on and on, doesn't it? That's gonna kill more front-left tires than anything, right there.
24:50 - Facilities look complete. Place seems a lot more done than Korea did last year... or even this year, come to think of it.
23:18 - Just to give you an idea of the amount of smog/dust/fog/whatever in the air, take a look at this:
One winces at the thought of that getting pulled into an 18000rpm engine... and it was worse earlier.
17:00 - I like the circuit, but it doesn't seem to have much of an identity yet. Maybe because I'm grumpy about the live stream not starting until half the session was already done? Perhaps. Or maybe it's because this is the first time we've ever seen cars on it. Still, other than that big big turn, the place seems flavorless.
12:00 - A Lotus just spun out... in the pit lane. Practicing a getaway, just looped it. Whoopsie!
10:40 - I'll say this: lots of elevation change. I'm surprised we haven't seen a driver ralphing into his cockpit yet. Up and down, up and down, here's a turn, up and down, rinse, repeat.
8:50 - DJ Squire stuffs his Toro Rosso into a wall.
Dust? What dust?
6:00 - And Pastor Maldonado blows his lump. NTTAWWT.
3:00 - Definitely two racing lines through Turn 10. When was the last time we saw that at a F1 track? Indy? Maybe not even there.
0:00 - Session over. Lewis Hamilton has the fastest time (1:26.836), followed by Vettel, Webber and Button. I'm withholding judgment on the circuit until I actually see people race on it, and maybe after the F1 TV Director stops popping the greenies. Good lord, he was changing camera angles every other second, like he was paid by the cut or something. I'm inclined to like the track, though. Seems promising, but so did Valencia and we know how that one has panned out. Very wide racecourse, I noticed. Some places, you could probably go four abreast and still have plenty of room.
Full coverage of P2 will be later Friday! Thanks for sticking around for this abbreviated liveblog!
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October 25, 2011
From Zero To Two In Two Years!
It was a struggle. For five years, us F1 fans here in America had no races that we could call our own. Oh, we could wander up to Canada, but it wasn't a US Grand Prix. It was just a race that was nearby. Last year, that changed with the announcement of the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas, which begins next year.
It's to be a clockwise track, with a nearly 300' vertical elevation change to add to the excitement. Even better, it's a street circuit running along the New Jersey Palisades. The following elevation map is a screencap from today's announcement, so my apologies for the quality. The checkered flag is the probable start/finish line.
According to the track map, it's to be around 3.20 miles long. The cities and various powers-that-be that are involved have signed a ten-year agreement with Birdie Ecclestone. Let me say repeat that one more time: A TEN YEAR AGREEMENT! Holy crap, we've got at least one US Grand Prix for the next decade at the very least! This could only be better if it was in Chicago!
One thing... you might have noticed the yellow circle at the upper-right corner of the top-view track map. That circle marks the rough location of the West New York Sewerage Treatment Plant. I hereby declare that hairpin turn shall be, from this moment forward, solely known as "Pooh Corner."
So say we all.
Wonderduck's personal reaction: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
Austin, TX track plan
Well, today... today we suddenly have have a wealth of choices as American F1 fans, because this afternoon in Weehawken, NJ, it was announced that a second American GP would begin running in 2013! Called "The Grand Prix of America," it will run through Weehawken and West New York on four-lane highway... with the New York skyline in the background, just across the Hudson river from Manhattan. It's to be a clockwise track, with a nearly 300' vertical elevation change to add to the excitement. Even better, it's a street circuit running along the New Jersey Palisades. The following elevation map is a screencap from today's announcement, so my apologies for the quality. The checkered flag is the probable start/finish line.
According to the track map, it's to be around 3.20 miles long. The cities and various powers-that-be that are involved have signed a ten-year agreement with Birdie Ecclestone. Let me say repeat that one more time: A TEN YEAR AGREEMENT! Holy crap, we've got at least one US Grand Prix for the next decade at the very least! This could only be better if it was in Chicago!
One thing... you might have noticed the yellow circle at the upper-right corner of the top-view track map. That circle marks the rough location of the West New York Sewerage Treatment Plant. I hereby declare that hairpin turn shall be, from this moment forward, solely known as "Pooh Corner."
So say we all.
Wonderduck's personal reaction: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
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October 24, 2011
F1 on SPEED!: India 2011
Do you remember that feeling you got as a young child when Christmas was just a few days away? When the tree was beautifully trimmed, all aglow with lights and shiny ornaments and perhaps some tinsel? And underneath you can see a big box with your name on it. Remember what that felt like? The anticipation, the excitement, the almost intolerable feeling of anticipation? And then when Christmas came along sometimes you got exactly what you wanted (Red Ryder B-B gun!), sometimes you didn't (dress socks?), but either way the leadup was nearly as good as the day itself. Remember all that?
For fans of Formula 1, there is a similar time. It's when the great Circus heads to a brand new circuit, one that the teams have never turned a tire upon ever. It's a time of great hope and speculation: will this new track become legendary? Will it fade into the mists of time, unloved and unmourned? This is where we find ourselves today, as the Formula 1 teams, big and small alike, will be racing for the first time on the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India! Let's take a look at the track map for this first Grand Prix of India:
At first glance, it's clearly the work of the fevered claws of The Evil One himself, Hermann Tilke. Straightaway, tight turn, hairpin, straightaway, tight turn, twisty bits, back to the start to do it all over again. We've seen it a dozen times before from the Tilkemonster, and pretty much only one of his circuits (Turkey) has proven to be any good, with Korea's coin still flipping in the air.
But a closer look at Buddh International Circuit shows us that it has something that Malaysia, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and the other generic Tilkeisms lack: elevation change. It goes uphill from Turn 1 to Turn 3, then it goes back downhill to the halfway point of the long straightaway. At that point, it goes back uphill to Turn 4... and then it's a fairly steep plummet down to Turn 5. Turns 3 and 4 are about 50 feet above the level of the main straight, more or less, which on a Tilke track is like the difference between the top and bottom of the Grand Canyon. But he's not done there, oh no. The Turn 10/11 complex, a greater-than-180°, ever-changing-radius loop, not only climbs but is also banked. No idea how substantial the banking is, though I think I'm safe in saying it's no more than 10 degrees, and probably quite a bit less. Still, any banking is unfamiliar territory for F1; not since the Circus raced at Indianapolis have they seen any turn that wasn't billiard-table flat. But even then, the roller coaster isn't finished. There's yet another climb from Turn 13 to Turn 15, then another steep dive to the final turn.
The track's promotional team is already saying that it'll be the "second-fastest circuit in the world," with an expected average speed of nearly 140mph. I can only assume they're referring to "road" circuits, since pretty much every oval in the US is faster than that. If it really is nearly as fast as Monza, that'll be quite a feat. Another feature that the powers-that-be are trumpeting is that the trackplan was run by the F1 teams for their input on what would make for better racing. As a result, it was made wider in some places (Turn 10, for example) to allow multiple racing lines and easier passing.
Pirelli says that they expect tire wear to be nothing out of the ordinary, but they're being quite conservative in compound choice for the race. They're bringing the Hard and Soft compounds, the first time we've seen the hard rubber since the British Grand Prix, and at that rainy race only one driver (Paul di Resta) ever actually put them on. There's expected to be a two-second delta between the two tire types, so don't expect there to be much running on the hards. Still, Pirelli made a good call here; while everybody expects the soft tires to last a reasonable amount of laps, they won't know that until they start running in earnest.
That earnest running will begin late Thursday night, all of which will be brought to us by the good folks at SPEED! Here's the scoop:
Thursday: Practice 1 goes from 1130pm to 1am, streaming live. Be aware that I'll be doing the second-ever liveblog of this session right here at The Pond, so stop in and be entertained!
Friday: 330am to 510am is Practice 2, live on SPEED. In contrast, this is too late/early, even for me.
Saturday: 1230am to 130am is Practice 3, streaming live. I'm undecided if I'm going to liveblog this; a lot will depend on how things go in the other two sessions. Quals is from 330am to 5am, live on SPEED. Again, waaaay too early for me.
Finally, Sunday brings us the first ever Grand Prix of India from 4am to 630am, live on SPEED. No real chance that I'll be able to get up that early I'm afraid. There's a replay from 2pm to 430pm as well.
Sharp-eyed readers might notice that there's something odd going on with the start times of each event: they're all beginning on the half-hour, as opposed to the top of the hour like normal. That's because of a peculiarity of India. India Standard Time is GMT +5:30, for a reason that I can only assume is because of the immense size of the country. Perhaps Ph.Duck would be kind enough to explain the actual reason to us!
So that's it! The Grand Prix of Christmas India schedule, liveblogging, I'm even taking Friday and Monday off so I can concentrate on this brand new track (and sleep, don't forget about sleep)! How's that for your F1 fanservice, huh? We'll see you then!
For fans of Formula 1, there is a similar time. It's when the great Circus heads to a brand new circuit, one that the teams have never turned a tire upon ever. It's a time of great hope and speculation: will this new track become legendary? Will it fade into the mists of time, unloved and unmourned? This is where we find ourselves today, as the Formula 1 teams, big and small alike, will be racing for the first time on the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India! Let's take a look at the track map for this first Grand Prix of India:
At first glance, it's clearly the work of the fevered claws of The Evil One himself, Hermann Tilke. Straightaway, tight turn, hairpin, straightaway, tight turn, twisty bits, back to the start to do it all over again. We've seen it a dozen times before from the Tilkemonster, and pretty much only one of his circuits (Turkey) has proven to be any good, with Korea's coin still flipping in the air.
But a closer look at Buddh International Circuit shows us that it has something that Malaysia, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and the other generic Tilkeisms lack: elevation change. It goes uphill from Turn 1 to Turn 3, then it goes back downhill to the halfway point of the long straightaway. At that point, it goes back uphill to Turn 4... and then it's a fairly steep plummet down to Turn 5. Turns 3 and 4 are about 50 feet above the level of the main straight, more or less, which on a Tilke track is like the difference between the top and bottom of the Grand Canyon. But he's not done there, oh no. The Turn 10/11 complex, a greater-than-180°, ever-changing-radius loop, not only climbs but is also banked. No idea how substantial the banking is, though I think I'm safe in saying it's no more than 10 degrees, and probably quite a bit less. Still, any banking is unfamiliar territory for F1; not since the Circus raced at Indianapolis have they seen any turn that wasn't billiard-table flat. But even then, the roller coaster isn't finished. There's yet another climb from Turn 13 to Turn 15, then another steep dive to the final turn.
The track's promotional team is already saying that it'll be the "second-fastest circuit in the world," with an expected average speed of nearly 140mph. I can only assume they're referring to "road" circuits, since pretty much every oval in the US is faster than that. If it really is nearly as fast as Monza, that'll be quite a feat. Another feature that the powers-that-be are trumpeting is that the trackplan was run by the F1 teams for their input on what would make for better racing. As a result, it was made wider in some places (Turn 10, for example) to allow multiple racing lines and easier passing.
Pirelli says that they expect tire wear to be nothing out of the ordinary, but they're being quite conservative in compound choice for the race. They're bringing the Hard and Soft compounds, the first time we've seen the hard rubber since the British Grand Prix, and at that rainy race only one driver (Paul di Resta) ever actually put them on. There's expected to be a two-second delta between the two tire types, so don't expect there to be much running on the hards. Still, Pirelli made a good call here; while everybody expects the soft tires to last a reasonable amount of laps, they won't know that until they start running in earnest.
That earnest running will begin late Thursday night, all of which will be brought to us by the good folks at SPEED! Here's the scoop:
Thursday: Practice 1 goes from 1130pm to 1am, streaming live. Be aware that I'll be doing the second-ever liveblog of this session right here at The Pond, so stop in and be entertained!
Friday: 330am to 510am is Practice 2, live on SPEED. In contrast, this is too late/early, even for me.
Saturday: 1230am to 130am is Practice 3, streaming live. I'm undecided if I'm going to liveblog this; a lot will depend on how things go in the other two sessions. Quals is from 330am to 5am, live on SPEED. Again, waaaay too early for me.
Finally, Sunday brings us the first ever Grand Prix of India from 4am to 630am, live on SPEED. No real chance that I'll be able to get up that early I'm afraid. There's a replay from 2pm to 430pm as well.
Sharp-eyed readers might notice that there's something odd going on with the start times of each event: they're all beginning on the half-hour, as opposed to the top of the hour like normal. That's because of a peculiarity of India. India Standard Time is GMT +5:30, for a reason that I can only assume is because of the immense size of the country. Perhaps Ph.Duck would be kind enough to explain the actual reason to us!
So that's it! The Grand Prix of Christmas India schedule, liveblogging, I'm even taking Friday and Monday off so I can concentrate on this brand new track (and sleep, don't forget about sleep)! How's that for your F1 fanservice, huh? We'll see you then!
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October 20, 2011
F1 From The Driver's Perspective
Back in 2008 at Brazil, David Coulthard's Chin mounted a camera to his helmet, somewhere in the vicinity of his mouth, to give viewers at home the first ever taste of what it's like to be in a F1 car at speed in a race. He was promptly wrecked in Turn 2 of the first lap. So much for that.
Until now.
Until now.
This is Lucas di Grassi doing an installation lap in the old Toyota TF109 at Barcalounger, Spain. He lost his seat with Virgin at the end of last year, but he's now the official test driver for Pirelli... and he probably turns more laps than any two or three drivers combined nowadays. He's the guy who tests all of Pirelli's rubber compounds, after all. Modify the softs to make them a little more durable? Let Lucas find out if it worked! Introducing a new super-super-soft? Let Lucas find out if it'll last more than a quarter-lap! Figured out a new tread pattern for the Intermediates? Give Lucas a raincoat and let him drive! Except for the whole "threat of instant flaming death" thing, it's nearly the perfect job he's got.
Recently, he strapped on two cameras; one to the top of his helmet, the other right at eye level. The top of helmet-cam is nothing we've not seen before... heck, if you've ever played a racing videogame, you know what it looks like. But the eye-level cam is new. And, if you talk to di Grassi, it's not one that'll catch on, since it actually blocked his vision out of one eye. That's right, he drove the lap using just one eye.
No wonder he lost out at Virgin. But a cool viddy nonetheless!
Recently, he strapped on two cameras; one to the top of his helmet, the other right at eye level. The top of helmet-cam is nothing we've not seen before... heck, if you've ever played a racing videogame, you know what it looks like. But the eye-level cam is new. And, if you talk to di Grassi, it's not one that'll catch on, since it actually blocked his vision out of one eye. That's right, he drove the lap using just one eye.
No wonder he lost out at Virgin. But a cool viddy nonetheless!
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October 16, 2011
Dan Wheldon Killed
IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon was killed in a massive accident at today's Las Vegas 300. 15 cars were involved, which included two airborne at the same time. Wheldon's car was catapulted into the catch fencing, shearing off the rear wing, airbox and roll bar. Wheldon suffered injuries that was "unsurvivable", and passed away shortly afterward at a Las Vegas hospital.
After the announcement, the drivers that made it through the accident took to the track to run a five-lap tribute to the popular British driver as pit crews and track workers lined the circuit.
Wheldon was 33 and leaves behind a wife and two young children.
We here at F1 Update! extend our condolences to fans, friends and family, and our coverage of the 2011 Grand Prix of Korea will be delayed until Monday in tribute.
After the announcement, the drivers that made it through the accident took to the track to run a five-lap tribute to the popular British driver as pit crews and track workers lined the circuit.
Wheldon was 33 and leaves behind a wife and two young children.
We here at F1 Update! extend our condolences to fans, friends and family, and our coverage of the 2011 Grand Prix of Korea will be delayed until Monday in tribute.
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October 15, 2011
F1 Quals: Korea 2011
The usual three drivers were sitting on the interview stand, but all was not well. One of them was in his normal good humor, but moods of the other two were substantially different. But what caused this reaction? Let's take a look at the provisional grid for the 2011 Grand Prix of Korea:
The streak is over! For the first time this season, someone other than a Red Bull driver will be on pole on Sunday. Of course Seb Vettel was more subdued than his normal smiling self; one would expect that under the circumstances. Jenson Button had his normal smile in place, looking full pleased with the grid slot he held. You'd expect Lewis Hamilton to be nigh on vibrating in place from joy and excitement, but to be honest, he looked more like Felipe Massa had just run over his dog... twice. It was so obvious that the english-language interviewer asked him about it. Hamilton's reply was a flat, nearly monotone "No, I'm happy. I'm really happy." One gets the feeling that Lewis can't wait for the season to be over.
The two Force India drivers elected to conserve their tires in Q3. While it was probably the correct move strategically (it's not like they really stood to gain more than one position, after all), it's still kind of sad. Farther down the grid, HRT's Daniel Ricciardo had a suspected water pump problem and never took to the track in Q1. He'll race only at the grace of the stewards, and it's anybodies guess whether they'll allow it.
I find that I'm less happy about the Red Bull pole run coming to an end than I expected. I've been wanting someone to do it all season, but now that it's over, I'm a little disappointed. It would have been cool to see Red Bull get all the poles in a season, something that's never happened before (the closest: McLaren took 15 of 16 in 1988 and 1989, and Williams did the same in 1992 and 1993).
For all the drama about the streak coming to an end, all in all this wasn't the most exciting Quals session ever. But that's okay too, because as both Hamilton and Vettel said, "It's what happens during the race that counts." I have this feeling that neither of them will win, and that Button will take his second race in a row. Some drivers are saying that the race will require five pit stops per car, which seems impossible. I guess we'll find out on Sunday! Stay tuned, this one might be a doozy.
The streak is over! For the first time this season, someone other than a Red Bull driver will be on pole on Sunday. Of course Seb Vettel was more subdued than his normal smiling self; one would expect that under the circumstances. Jenson Button had his normal smile in place, looking full pleased with the grid slot he held. You'd expect Lewis Hamilton to be nigh on vibrating in place from joy and excitement, but to be honest, he looked more like Felipe Massa had just run over his dog... twice. It was so obvious that the english-language interviewer asked him about it. Hamilton's reply was a flat, nearly monotone "No, I'm happy. I'm really happy." One gets the feeling that Lewis can't wait for the season to be over.
The two Force India drivers elected to conserve their tires in Q3. While it was probably the correct move strategically (it's not like they really stood to gain more than one position, after all), it's still kind of sad. Farther down the grid, HRT's Daniel Ricciardo had a suspected water pump problem and never took to the track in Q1. He'll race only at the grace of the stewards, and it's anybodies guess whether they'll allow it.
I find that I'm less happy about the Red Bull pole run coming to an end than I expected. I've been wanting someone to do it all season, but now that it's over, I'm a little disappointed. It would have been cool to see Red Bull get all the poles in a season, something that's never happened before (the closest: McLaren took 15 of 16 in 1988 and 1989, and Williams did the same in 1992 and 1993).
For all the drama about the streak coming to an end, all in all this wasn't the most exciting Quals session ever. But that's okay too, because as both Hamilton and Vettel said, "It's what happens during the race that counts." I have this feeling that neither of them will win, and that Button will take his second race in a row. Some drivers are saying that the race will require five pit stops per car, which seems impossible. I guess we'll find out on Sunday! Stay tuned, this one might be a doozy.
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October 13, 2011
Sights From A Korean Practice (2011) (UPDATED)
The last we saw of the Korean Grand Prix was that it was raining. Seems appropriate that our next vision of the Yeongam Circuit is... that it was still raining.
I'm going to have to assume that it did stop raining sometime in the past year. I think I would have heard something about 365 days of constant rain, no matter where it was. Be that as it may, what we got in first practice was lots and lots of rain, though not as much as the deluge that plagued the first ever Korean GP. Though it might have been because there wasn't as much water on the ground, the track seemed to handle it better too.
The same can't be said for the drivers.
While Cowboy's impressive ground loop was the most dramatic incident, seeing cars take to the run-off areas was a common sight, usually preceded by a moment of surprise squirrellyness and piscine twitching. The usual suspects looked good as they turned laps in the 2-minute range on the full wet tires, though even Driver's Champion Vettel had his share of moments.
However, for around 20 minutes it was raining so hard that nobody even thought about turning a wheel in anger on the soaked circuit... so the F1 cameras gave us "Rain Delay Theater," wandering around the grandstands and finding interesting vignettes.
Monsieur Jean-Eric Vergne is the Toro Rosso team's third driver for this race, and needs to learn Lesson #1 for all F1 Drivers: never ever look goofy while in the car.
There were dozens of other shots, mostly of Koreans staying dry or pointedly not staying dry, taking photos of other Koreans taking photos of other Koreans not staying dry, or even occasionally a F1 car in a garage. And then, from out of nowhere, came this:
...I'm not sure what to think of this.
I probably won't have a P2 report, though if something important happens I'll let you know. Unfortunately, The Pond is not a self-sustaining financial entity, so I have to be at work in the morning. There WILL be a Quals report as normal. See you then!
UPDATE: The good news in P2 was that it wasn't as wet. The bad news was that it wasn't dry enough to run slicks. This means that the teams will be heading into "Saturday"'s Quals session with very little data on how the new Pirelli rubber behaves around Yeongam. A dry P3 is gonna be awfully important... fortunately for the teams, the rest of the weekend is supposed to be bright and sunny. The changing conditions caused one accident, between the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Toro Rosso's DJ Squire, and it pointed out the horribleness of Korea's pit lane. DJ Squire was coming out of the pits, which expels cars onto the track on the outside of Turn 1. Rosberg had just finished a hot lap and the wet tarmac robbed him of the traction needed to get whoa'd up in time. The result?
Rosberg's front wing wound up stuck under his front right tire, which must have made for an exciting lap, while DJ Squire's Toro Rosso got away with a couple of scuffmarks. As you remember, the pit-in is horribly placed as well, sited as it is on the inside of the final corner, a high-speed blind turn. SOMEthing bad is gonna happen here in the not-so-distant future, mark my words.
I'm going to have to assume that it did stop raining sometime in the past year. I think I would have heard something about 365 days of constant rain, no matter where it was. Be that as it may, what we got in first practice was lots and lots of rain, though not as much as the deluge that plagued the first ever Korean GP. Though it might have been because there wasn't as much water on the ground, the track seemed to handle it better too.
The same can't be said for the drivers.
While Cowboy's impressive ground loop was the most dramatic incident, seeing cars take to the run-off areas was a common sight, usually preceded by a moment of surprise squirrellyness and piscine twitching. The usual suspects looked good as they turned laps in the 2-minute range on the full wet tires, though even Driver's Champion Vettel had his share of moments.
However, for around 20 minutes it was raining so hard that nobody even thought about turning a wheel in anger on the soaked circuit... so the F1 cameras gave us "Rain Delay Theater," wandering around the grandstands and finding interesting vignettes.
Monsieur Jean-Eric Vergne is the Toro Rosso team's third driver for this race, and needs to learn Lesson #1 for all F1 Drivers: never ever look goofy while in the car.
There were dozens of other shots, mostly of Koreans staying dry or pointedly not staying dry, taking photos of other Koreans taking photos of other Koreans not staying dry, or even occasionally a F1 car in a garage. And then, from out of nowhere, came this:
...I'm not sure what to think of this.
I probably won't have a P2 report, though if something important happens I'll let you know. Unfortunately, The Pond is not a self-sustaining financial entity, so I have to be at work in the morning. There WILL be a Quals report as normal. See you then!
UPDATE: The good news in P2 was that it wasn't as wet. The bad news was that it wasn't dry enough to run slicks. This means that the teams will be heading into "Saturday"'s Quals session with very little data on how the new Pirelli rubber behaves around Yeongam. A dry P3 is gonna be awfully important... fortunately for the teams, the rest of the weekend is supposed to be bright and sunny. The changing conditions caused one accident, between the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Toro Rosso's DJ Squire, and it pointed out the horribleness of Korea's pit lane. DJ Squire was coming out of the pits, which expels cars onto the track on the outside of Turn 1. Rosberg had just finished a hot lap and the wet tarmac robbed him of the traction needed to get whoa'd up in time. The result?
Rosberg's front wing wound up stuck under his front right tire, which must have made for an exciting lap, while DJ Squire's Toro Rosso got away with a couple of scuffmarks. As you remember, the pit-in is horribly placed as well, sited as it is on the inside of the final corner, a high-speed blind turn. SOMEthing bad is gonna happen here in the not-so-distant future, mark my words.
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October 10, 2011
F1 on SPEED!: Korea 2011
After Seb Vettel clinched the Driver's Championship at Japan, one might be inclined to think there's nothing else to race for. In NASCAR or the IRL, you'd be right. However, this is Formula 1, which has always been a Constructor's marque. Certainly it's nice to have the World Champion driving for you, but the Constructor's Championship is where the money is. The financial difference between finishing first and finishing second is in the tens of millions of dollars. So you betcha there's still something to drive for, and this weekend the F1 Circus heads to Yeongam, South Korea for the second Korean Grand Prix. Let's take a look at the track map:
As you may remember, last year's inaugural race was mostly an aquatic affair, and when it finally stopped raining the track never dried and the sun went away. It's hard to judge just exactly how this circuit runs, since we never saw any dry-weather racing the whole weekend. In practice and Quals, the track surface proved to be both slippery and abrasive at the same time... and that was on the more durable Bridgestone tires. With Pirelli bringing the soft and super-soft tires to the circuit, lord only knows how long the rubber will last.
Of course, "lord only knows" also describes how the track'll ride this year. In a move born out of desperation, the race organizers surfaced the track in a fast-curing asphalt that had a high oil percentage. This guaranteed that the course would be ready for race weekend, but also guaranteed that the surface would be permanently greasy. However, that was last year. The track has had a year to weather in, and while I doubt it'll be great, it'll probably be better.
One of the problems last year was that the heavy rain that fell had no way to drain. The long straightaway is lined with concrete walls, and those walls contained the water like a swimming pool. Everywhere else the problem was that the track is built on reclaimed swampland that's just a few feet above sea-level. It was like pouring water on a sponge; it can absorb to some level, but after that it just can't take any more. Fortunately, it looks like we're to have a dry race this year... maybe. Who knows?
That reclaimed land also began settling almost as soon as the asphalt was put down, leading to a rather bumpy surface in some very uncomfortable places... mostly braking zones and the apices of turns, it seemed. I doubt they could fix that, short of resurfacing the track... and they surely didn't do that.
So what this race preview comes down to is that we have no freakin' idea what the track will be like for this weekend's contest. Let's not even think about what sort of effect DRS will have! In any case, we'll find out thanks to the good folks at SPEED! As usual, they'll be bringing us coverage of every session of the weekend! Here's the lineup:
Thursday: Practice 1: 8p - 930p (streaming)
Friday: Practice 2: 12midnight - 140a (live), Practice 3: 9p - 10p (straming)
Saturday: Quals: 12midnight - 130a (live)
Sunday: 2011 Grand Prix of Korea: 1230a - 3a (live), 1030a - 1p (replay)
Along with the Legendary Announce Team, the F1 Update! crew will be all over the weekend as well! Hope you'll join us, exclusively at The Pond*!
*no other place wants us.
As you may remember, last year's inaugural race was mostly an aquatic affair, and when it finally stopped raining the track never dried and the sun went away. It's hard to judge just exactly how this circuit runs, since we never saw any dry-weather racing the whole weekend. In practice and Quals, the track surface proved to be both slippery and abrasive at the same time... and that was on the more durable Bridgestone tires. With Pirelli bringing the soft and super-soft tires to the circuit, lord only knows how long the rubber will last.
Of course, "lord only knows" also describes how the track'll ride this year. In a move born out of desperation, the race organizers surfaced the track in a fast-curing asphalt that had a high oil percentage. This guaranteed that the course would be ready for race weekend, but also guaranteed that the surface would be permanently greasy. However, that was last year. The track has had a year to weather in, and while I doubt it'll be great, it'll probably be better.
One of the problems last year was that the heavy rain that fell had no way to drain. The long straightaway is lined with concrete walls, and those walls contained the water like a swimming pool. Everywhere else the problem was that the track is built on reclaimed swampland that's just a few feet above sea-level. It was like pouring water on a sponge; it can absorb to some level, but after that it just can't take any more. Fortunately, it looks like we're to have a dry race this year... maybe. Who knows?
That reclaimed land also began settling almost as soon as the asphalt was put down, leading to a rather bumpy surface in some very uncomfortable places... mostly braking zones and the apices of turns, it seemed. I doubt they could fix that, short of resurfacing the track... and they surely didn't do that.
So what this race preview comes down to is that we have no freakin' idea what the track will be like for this weekend's contest. Let's not even think about what sort of effect DRS will have! In any case, we'll find out thanks to the good folks at SPEED! As usual, they'll be bringing us coverage of every session of the weekend! Here's the lineup:
Thursday: Practice 1: 8p - 930p (streaming)
Friday: Practice 2: 12midnight - 140a (live), Practice 3: 9p - 10p (straming)
Saturday: Quals: 12midnight - 130a (live)
Sunday: 2011 Grand Prix of Korea: 1230a - 3a (live), 1030a - 1p (replay)
Along with the Legendary Announce Team, the F1 Update! crew will be all over the weekend as well! Hope you'll join us, exclusively at The Pond*!
*no other place wants us.
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October 08, 2011
F1 Quals: Japan 2011
A gorgeous day at Suzuka, Japan for the Quals session for the 2011 Grand Prix of Japan. Will the Red Bullies continue their stranglehold on the pole position for the season? Or will McLaren, who were the fastest in every practice session so far this weekend, finally kick them out of the top slot? Let's take a look at the provisional grid:
.009 of a second. That's the total difference between a potential clean sweep of the season's poles for Red Bull... and a pole for someone else for the first time this year. Seb Vettel just barely pipped McLaren's Jenson Button for first place, but could have lost it at the last moment. Fortunately for him, Lewis Hamilton either messed up the sector (most likely) or was balked by both Slappy Schumacher and Mark Webber (Hamilton's story in the post-quals interview), meaning that he didn't get across the start/finish line in time to take a last shot at pole. As this is being written (130am Saturday morning, just moments after the Quals session went off the air) there is nothing being said regarding penalties as of yet.
A nice moment in Japan was Gandalf Kobayashi pulling down the fastest time in Q1 to the delighted roars of his home crowd. He then managed to get through to Q3 for only the second time this season. When the lights went green for Q3, Kobayashi's Sauber went out on track... alone. For at least half a lap, his was the only car on track. The Legendary Announce Team called it a "parade lap" for the Japanese fans, and I'm sure that's right since he turned into the pits and parked it without setting a time. He had burned his soft tires already, so it's not like he could have done much else, but a nice gesture by the rest of the field to let him out alone... even if it was just the other teams waiting for the perfect time to get their guys out. Particularly when Sauber rolled out their newest modifications for this race:
They may be under-funded, but they're still revolutionary as heck at the team from Switzerland.
In other news from Quals, Nico Rosberg's string of making it into Q3 at every race this year has come to an end, thanks to a hydraulic problem. He set no time in Q1, meaning that at least in theory he could be excluded from the race. That won't happen, but it could. Vitantonio Liuzzi's HRT had mechanical issues as well that didn't allow him to set a time. It's a little more likely that he'll be excluded, but still pretty much a long shot.
More if events warrant! The race is at 1am Sunday morning, Pond Central time, so your guess is as good as mine as to when the F1U! will be up. Sunday for sure. See you then!
.009 of a second. That's the total difference between a potential clean sweep of the season's poles for Red Bull... and a pole for someone else for the first time this year. Seb Vettel just barely pipped McLaren's Jenson Button for first place, but could have lost it at the last moment. Fortunately for him, Lewis Hamilton either messed up the sector (most likely) or was balked by both Slappy Schumacher and Mark Webber (Hamilton's story in the post-quals interview), meaning that he didn't get across the start/finish line in time to take a last shot at pole. As this is being written (130am Saturday morning, just moments after the Quals session went off the air) there is nothing being said regarding penalties as of yet.
A nice moment in Japan was Gandalf Kobayashi pulling down the fastest time in Q1 to the delighted roars of his home crowd. He then managed to get through to Q3 for only the second time this season. When the lights went green for Q3, Kobayashi's Sauber went out on track... alone. For at least half a lap, his was the only car on track. The Legendary Announce Team called it a "parade lap" for the Japanese fans, and I'm sure that's right since he turned into the pits and parked it without setting a time. He had burned his soft tires already, so it's not like he could have done much else, but a nice gesture by the rest of the field to let him out alone... even if it was just the other teams waiting for the perfect time to get their guys out. Particularly when Sauber rolled out their newest modifications for this race:
They may be under-funded, but they're still revolutionary as heck at the team from Switzerland.
In other news from Quals, Nico Rosberg's string of making it into Q3 at every race this year has come to an end, thanks to a hydraulic problem. He set no time in Q1, meaning that at least in theory he could be excluded from the race. That won't happen, but it could. Vitantonio Liuzzi's HRT had mechanical issues as well that didn't allow him to set a time. It's a little more likely that he'll be excluded, but still pretty much a long shot.
More if events warrant! The race is at 1am Sunday morning, Pond Central time, so your guess is as good as mine as to when the F1U! will be up. Sunday for sure. See you then!
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October 03, 2011
F1 on SPEED!: Japan 2011
Though the Driver's Championship is all but wrapped up, the Constructor's is still up for grabs, and that means there's still something to race for. Which is good, because this week the F1 Circus will raise their tents at what is almost certainly the best of the non-European circuits: Japan's Suzuka. Let's take a look at the track map, shall we?
The first thing you notice about Suzuka is that it's a figure-of-eight layout, the only one in F1. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately if you're a redneck, the track doesn't really cross itself; the outbound part goes through a tunnel beneath the inbound. The next feature you notice are the "S Curves", a Gene Krupa-level rhythm section that determines your success on any particular lap of the circuit. Do it right, you've got a chance for a good time. Do it wrong, even a little bit, and you've ruined the lap completely and you'll have to fight to salvage what you can the rest of the lap. There's nothing quite like it anywhere else on the calendar.
It's a fast circuit that paradoxically is also a high-downforce track. Tires can take a beating around here from the high lateral loads suffered at places like the full-throttle 130R or the aforementioned S Curves. The track surface is variable; in 2009 some portions of the circuit were resurfaced, leading to changing traction levels depending on where you are in the lap. Pirelli is bringing the Medium and Soft compound tires this year, which should prove successful here.
As Suzuka is located on the eastern coast of Japan it tends to be somewhat damp around the circuit during race weekend. Indeed, the Great Suzuka Boat Races are something of a tradition in F1, and while they don't occur every year, they certainly did in 2010 as Quals were actually postponed until just before the race on Sunday. It appears that this year, the weather forecast is for sunny skies.
Of course, the good folks at SPEED will be bringing us the whole weekend, as they usually do. Let's take a look at the schedule:
THURSDAY: 8pm to 930pm - Practice 1 (streaming)
FRIDAY: 1201am - 140am - Practice 2 (live), 9pm - 10pm - Practice 3 (streaming)
SATURDAY: 1201am - 130am - Quals (live)
SUNDAY: 1am - 330am - Grand Prix of Japan (live), 230pm - 5pm (replay)
As is usual, I'll be here with reports on the usual things, culminating with the F1 Update! after the race. Hope to see you here!
The first thing you notice about Suzuka is that it's a figure-of-eight layout, the only one in F1. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately if you're a redneck, the track doesn't really cross itself; the outbound part goes through a tunnel beneath the inbound. The next feature you notice are the "S Curves", a Gene Krupa-level rhythm section that determines your success on any particular lap of the circuit. Do it right, you've got a chance for a good time. Do it wrong, even a little bit, and you've ruined the lap completely and you'll have to fight to salvage what you can the rest of the lap. There's nothing quite like it anywhere else on the calendar.
It's a fast circuit that paradoxically is also a high-downforce track. Tires can take a beating around here from the high lateral loads suffered at places like the full-throttle 130R or the aforementioned S Curves. The track surface is variable; in 2009 some portions of the circuit were resurfaced, leading to changing traction levels depending on where you are in the lap. Pirelli is bringing the Medium and Soft compound tires this year, which should prove successful here.
As Suzuka is located on the eastern coast of Japan it tends to be somewhat damp around the circuit during race weekend. Indeed, the Great Suzuka Boat Races are something of a tradition in F1, and while they don't occur every year, they certainly did in 2010 as Quals were actually postponed until just before the race on Sunday. It appears that this year, the weather forecast is for sunny skies.
Of course, the good folks at SPEED will be bringing us the whole weekend, as they usually do. Let's take a look at the schedule:
THURSDAY: 8pm to 930pm - Practice 1 (streaming)
FRIDAY: 1201am - 140am - Practice 2 (live), 9pm - 10pm - Practice 3 (streaming)
SATURDAY: 1201am - 130am - Quals (live)
SUNDAY: 1am - 330am - Grand Prix of Japan (live), 230pm - 5pm (replay)
As is usual, I'll be here with reports on the usual things, culminating with the F1 Update! after the race. Hope to see you here!
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September 29, 2011
F1 Distances
A short while ago, I was speaking to Ph.Duck about the Grand Prix of Singapore. As is usually the case when I get to talking about Formula 1, my brain (shriveled and vestigial as it may seem at times) actually made an interesting observation, one that I'd never thought of before.
Formula 1 has the weirdest way of calculating distances ever. No, not the distance on track, that's all in miles or kilometers or hogsheads or bushels or rods or something like that. No, I mean the distances between races.
Unlike the rest of humanity, F1 seems to measure such things in weeks. As one would expect, this results in a somewhat skewed view of the world. For example, from Yas Marina Abu Dhabi to Sao Paolo Brazil is roughly 7200 miles. The distance between Spa Belgium and Monza Italy is roughly 500 miles. Yet to F1, they're the exact same distance apart: two weeks.
In fact, most of the racing world is two weeks distant from any other point in F1-land. There are exceptions to this, of course. It takes a full four weeks to get from Budapest to Spa, for example. Oddly, the time it takes to go from Kuala Lumpur Malaysia to Shanghai China (one week) is the same as Barcelona to Monte Carlo.
I'm not entirely sure where I was going to go with this incredible realization, but imagine if it took the same amount of time for the rest of humanity to go anywhere. Going to work? Better pack a lunch, it'll take you a week to get there. Heading to the loo? Two weeks, minimum. God help you if you go on vacation, it'll be time for you to come home by the time you get there.
Looks like I wasn't going anywhere.
Formula 1 has the weirdest way of calculating distances ever. No, not the distance on track, that's all in miles or kilometers or hogsheads or bushels or rods or something like that. No, I mean the distances between races.
Unlike the rest of humanity, F1 seems to measure such things in weeks. As one would expect, this results in a somewhat skewed view of the world. For example, from Yas Marina Abu Dhabi to Sao Paolo Brazil is roughly 7200 miles. The distance between Spa Belgium and Monza Italy is roughly 500 miles. Yet to F1, they're the exact same distance apart: two weeks.
In fact, most of the racing world is two weeks distant from any other point in F1-land. There are exceptions to this, of course. It takes a full four weeks to get from Budapest to Spa, for example. Oddly, the time it takes to go from Kuala Lumpur Malaysia to Shanghai China (one week) is the same as Barcelona to Monte Carlo.
I'm not entirely sure where I was going to go with this incredible realization, but imagine if it took the same amount of time for the rest of humanity to go anywhere. Going to work? Better pack a lunch, it'll take you a week to get there. Heading to the loo? Two weeks, minimum. God help you if you go on vacation, it'll be time for you to come home by the time you get there.
Looks like I wasn't going anywhere.
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September 24, 2011
F1 Quals: Singapore 2011
Well, that was an interesting result. I don't know that I've ever seen this before. Before we get into it, let's take a look at the provisional grid for the 2011 Grand Prix of Singapore:
Q3 was very weird. First, Seb Vettel went out, turned one hot lap then parked it, in effect saying "take your best shot, kids." Of course, nobody could touch him... or at least, nobody handicapped by their teams' mistake. Lewis Hamilton put up a decent time, good enough to put him second, was pushed into the garage for tire changes and strategy... McLaren was going to send him out at just the right time, so he'd be the last man on track.
Except... um... they forgot. As the clock ticked down to 2:00 remaining, Hamilton was sitting in his car, waiting to go back out. There was no urgency in the garage, until people realized "hey, it takes 1:44 to do a hot lap, what'll it take to do an out-lap?" Whoops. As the clock ticked past 1:50 remaining, Lewis ripped his gloves off angrily and exited his car, any chance he had to improve his time gone. Immediately, his teammate beat him for second, then Mark Webber shoved them both down to the second row.
But at least he protected his tires. Slappy Schumacher can't even say that. Mercedes sent him out for his only run, but too late. The session clock expired when he was entering sector three, with about half a lap left to go. So no time for Slappy and a set of tires with unneeded wear... good jorb, guys!
The Force India team got both their cars into Q3 for the first time this season, then promptly said "we can't really do any better than this" and kept their cars in the garage. While they were probably right, it still seems... unseemly... to do that. Still, strategery goes a long way in F1.
The part that I was surprised by, however, was the uniformity of the top 10: each row is a different team! Red Bull on row 1, McLaren on row 2, Ferrari makes up row 3, Mercedes holds row 4, and Force India row 5. While I'm sure that's happened before, I can't recall when.
Oh, and Red Bull's sweep of pole position for the season continues. That's 11 for Vettel, three for Webber, 14-for-14. If Vettel wins and HWMNBN finishes off the podium, Seb gets his second Driver's Championship.
F1 Update! will come along tomorrow afternoon sometime; see you then!
Q3 was very weird. First, Seb Vettel went out, turned one hot lap then parked it, in effect saying "take your best shot, kids." Of course, nobody could touch him... or at least, nobody handicapped by their teams' mistake. Lewis Hamilton put up a decent time, good enough to put him second, was pushed into the garage for tire changes and strategy... McLaren was going to send him out at just the right time, so he'd be the last man on track.
Except... um... they forgot. As the clock ticked down to 2:00 remaining, Hamilton was sitting in his car, waiting to go back out. There was no urgency in the garage, until people realized "hey, it takes 1:44 to do a hot lap, what'll it take to do an out-lap?" Whoops. As the clock ticked past 1:50 remaining, Lewis ripped his gloves off angrily and exited his car, any chance he had to improve his time gone. Immediately, his teammate beat him for second, then Mark Webber shoved them both down to the second row.
But at least he protected his tires. Slappy Schumacher can't even say that. Mercedes sent him out for his only run, but too late. The session clock expired when he was entering sector three, with about half a lap left to go. So no time for Slappy and a set of tires with unneeded wear... good jorb, guys!
The Force India team got both their cars into Q3 for the first time this season, then promptly said "we can't really do any better than this" and kept their cars in the garage. While they were probably right, it still seems... unseemly... to do that. Still, strategery goes a long way in F1.
The part that I was surprised by, however, was the uniformity of the top 10: each row is a different team! Red Bull on row 1, McLaren on row 2, Ferrari makes up row 3, Mercedes holds row 4, and Force India row 5. While I'm sure that's happened before, I can't recall when.
Oh, and Red Bull's sweep of pole position for the season continues. That's 11 for Vettel, three for Webber, 14-for-14. If Vettel wins and HWMNBN finishes off the podium, Seb gets his second Driver's Championship.
F1 Update! will come along tomorrow afternoon sometime; see you then!
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September 23, 2011
F1 Practice: Singapore 2011
The day night dawned fell clear and dry as the F1 Circus prepared to take to Singapore's Marina Bay Circuit for Friday's 1st Practice session... and then the teams waited. And waited. And waited some more. What was going on?
The curbs installed around the track were coming up! Before the practice began, a support series session brought the problem to light. As a result, Practice 1 was delayed a half-hour as the marshals attempted to rectify the situation, then gave up and completely pulled the curbing off the track at four different turns. Then the F1 guys took to the streets of Singapore... and it happened again. Felipe Massa straddled a curb and... well, the above picture was the result. Out came the marshals, off came that curb as well. This is just a weird situation. It's the fourth time the Singapore GP has been run, and there's never been a problem like this before. Oh sure, the drivers complained about the height of the curbs after the first race (with Massa describing them as "little tortoises that would wreck the car"), but having them come up? Never before. What's going to happen overnight is that the marshals will remove the curbing at Turns 3 and 7 altogether, paint a white line where they were and the drivers will be told that crossing the line will be seriously frowned upon. At Turn 14, the entry curb is to be removed entirely. Finally, at Turns 10 and 13, they intend to repair the problem and make sure it doesn't happen again. Whatever it was; nobody has said what caused it in the first place. I'm sure the drivers are all super-confident now.
There were no repeats in P2, though the curbing did manage to catch out Gandalf Kobayashi.
One does tend to lose grip when the tires aren't on the track surface. Amazingly, this little maneuver did not end in a pile of carbon fiber and tears. Somehow. It did point out how little margin for error there is around this circuit, however. There are no runoff areas around this place, and precious few escape roads at the end of the fastest portions of the track. You make a mistake at, say, Turkey, you have miles of asphalt to go before you hit anything. Here, you make a mistake and there's a wall right there, all set to eat you... which happened a couple of times today.
Surprise surprise, Seb Vettel was fastest in P2, go figure. He was two-tenths of a second faster than the King of Singapore, HWMNBN (two wins and a third place in the three races here). Lewis Hamilton was third, with Massa fourth. Mark Webber was 5th, .891 seconds behind Vettel. Everybody else was at least two seconds slower. Now of course this is practice, which means you can't really pay any attention to the times, but yeesh.
Quals start at 9am Pond Central time on Saturday... we'll see you here right afterward, okay?
The curbs installed around the track were coming up! Before the practice began, a support series session brought the problem to light. As a result, Practice 1 was delayed a half-hour as the marshals attempted to rectify the situation, then gave up and completely pulled the curbing off the track at four different turns. Then the F1 guys took to the streets of Singapore... and it happened again. Felipe Massa straddled a curb and... well, the above picture was the result. Out came the marshals, off came that curb as well. This is just a weird situation. It's the fourth time the Singapore GP has been run, and there's never been a problem like this before. Oh sure, the drivers complained about the height of the curbs after the first race (with Massa describing them as "little tortoises that would wreck the car"), but having them come up? Never before. What's going to happen overnight is that the marshals will remove the curbing at Turns 3 and 7 altogether, paint a white line where they were and the drivers will be told that crossing the line will be seriously frowned upon. At Turn 14, the entry curb is to be removed entirely. Finally, at Turns 10 and 13, they intend to repair the problem and make sure it doesn't happen again. Whatever it was; nobody has said what caused it in the first place. I'm sure the drivers are all super-confident now.
There were no repeats in P2, though the curbing did manage to catch out Gandalf Kobayashi.
One does tend to lose grip when the tires aren't on the track surface. Amazingly, this little maneuver did not end in a pile of carbon fiber and tears. Somehow. It did point out how little margin for error there is around this circuit, however. There are no runoff areas around this place, and precious few escape roads at the end of the fastest portions of the track. You make a mistake at, say, Turkey, you have miles of asphalt to go before you hit anything. Here, you make a mistake and there's a wall right there, all set to eat you... which happened a couple of times today.
Surprise surprise, Seb Vettel was fastest in P2, go figure. He was two-tenths of a second faster than the King of Singapore, HWMNBN (two wins and a third place in the three races here). Lewis Hamilton was third, with Massa fourth. Mark Webber was 5th, .891 seconds behind Vettel. Everybody else was at least two seconds slower. Now of course this is practice, which means you can't really pay any attention to the times, but yeesh.
Quals start at 9am Pond Central time on Saturday... we'll see you here right afterward, okay?
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September 21, 2011
F1 on SPEED!: Singapore 2011
Take the narrow, confined layout of Monaco, then mix in the hot and humid atmosphere of Malaysia. That's what racing on the Marina Bay Street Circuit at Singapore is like for the drivers. Oh, but there's a unique twist, too... let's take a look at the track map for the 2011 Grand Prix of Singapore!
The unique twist? The whole race is run at night under the lights, adding another layer of stress and headache to the drivers' experiences. Then there's the fact that, unlike Monaco, the city doesn't shut down for the race. As you can see from looking at the map, there are highways that fly over the circuit at a couple of points. All of that lends itself to a visual spectacle unmatched in Formula 1.
It also creates a completely unheard-of problem. At one place on the track, a length of subway runs under the circuit. In the past, Red Bull's gearbox has suffered malfunctions from the electrical impulses coming from the trains! Other teams may have had similar difficulties, but haven't mentioned them. Because of all of this, many drivers have been quite outspoken in their dislike for Singapore. Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa in particular have been harsh in their assessments of the layout.
However, it looks great on TV. What else can we ask for? Well, how about something that's never occurred in the long history of F1? We've never had a wet night race before, but that's what we're looking at this weekend. All three days of the race weekend are forecast to be occurring under stormy skies. At least the teams will get plenty of practice on how their cars behave in such conditions. We're still going to have a ton of retirements if it rains, though.
We'll get to see it all thanks to the good burghers at SPEED, thankfully! Here's the weekend schedule:
Friday: 1st Practice: 430a-6a streaming; Practice 2: 830a-1010a live.
Saturday: 3rd Practice: 6a-7a streaming; Quals: 9a-1030a live.
Sunday: 2011 Grand Prix of Singapore 630a-9a live; 2p-430p replay
Of course, we'll be all over it all, right here at The Pond! See ya then, see ya here!
The unique twist? The whole race is run at night under the lights, adding another layer of stress and headache to the drivers' experiences. Then there's the fact that, unlike Monaco, the city doesn't shut down for the race. As you can see from looking at the map, there are highways that fly over the circuit at a couple of points. All of that lends itself to a visual spectacle unmatched in Formula 1.
It also creates a completely unheard-of problem. At one place on the track, a length of subway runs under the circuit. In the past, Red Bull's gearbox has suffered malfunctions from the electrical impulses coming from the trains! Other teams may have had similar difficulties, but haven't mentioned them. Because of all of this, many drivers have been quite outspoken in their dislike for Singapore. Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa in particular have been harsh in their assessments of the layout.
However, it looks great on TV. What else can we ask for? Well, how about something that's never occurred in the long history of F1? We've never had a wet night race before, but that's what we're looking at this weekend. All three days of the race weekend are forecast to be occurring under stormy skies. At least the teams will get plenty of practice on how their cars behave in such conditions. We're still going to have a ton of retirements if it rains, though.
We'll get to see it all thanks to the good burghers at SPEED, thankfully! Here's the weekend schedule:
Friday: 1st Practice: 430a-6a streaming; Practice 2: 830a-1010a live.
Saturday: 3rd Practice: 6a-7a streaming; Quals: 9a-1030a live.
Sunday: 2011 Grand Prix of Singapore 630a-9a live; 2p-430p replay
Of course, we'll be all over it all, right here at The Pond! See ya then, see ya here!
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September 10, 2011
F1 Quals: Italy 2011
Monza. Where speed is king, and everything else is just rubbish. Would the Red Bull boys continue their sweep of the pole position? Or would someone... anyone... knock them off? Well, let's check! Here's the provisional grid for the 2011 Grand Prix of Italy:
Nope. Red Bull makes it 13-for-13, and Seb Vettel becomes only the second driver in F1 history to have at least 10 poles in a season more than once (he did it last year, too). The performance was so dominating that both McLarens aborted their final runs at pole position, though to be honest Hamilton backed off because he screwed up a chicane, smoking a tire in the process.
Then just to add insult to injury, Vettel finished his final lap even though he knew both McLarens had given up... and made the final difference an even half-second. Yeesh.
Even though the best he could do was fourth, HWMNBN and Ferrari have to call this one a win. They fully expected their best to be the third row of the grid. There's a lot of pressure on the Red Team; it's their home race, after all, and "Italy expects...". Last year, HWMNBN brought the tifosi a win. This year? I'll be stunned if anybody can catch Vettel, but as they say, "that's why they run the races."
The race is tomorrow... see ya then!
Nope. Red Bull makes it 13-for-13, and Seb Vettel becomes only the second driver in F1 history to have at least 10 poles in a season more than once (he did it last year, too). The performance was so dominating that both McLarens aborted their final runs at pole position, though to be honest Hamilton backed off because he screwed up a chicane, smoking a tire in the process.
Then just to add insult to injury, Vettel finished his final lap even though he knew both McLarens had given up... and made the final difference an even half-second. Yeesh.
Even though the best he could do was fourth, HWMNBN and Ferrari have to call this one a win. They fully expected their best to be the third row of the grid. There's a lot of pressure on the Red Team; it's their home race, after all, and "Italy expects...". Last year, HWMNBN brought the tifosi a win. This year? I'll be stunned if anybody can catch Vettel, but as they say, "that's why they run the races."
The race is tomorrow... see ya then!
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September 09, 2011
F1 Practice: Italy 2011
Practice sessions are only rarely interesting, and on those occasions when they are it's rarely because of what's happening on track. I mean, I've stated that the only reasons I watch Practice 2 is to get myself refamiliarized with that race's circuit (after all, we only see the tracks once a year) and in case something odd happens, for good or ill.
Well, during today's Practice 2 session, the "odd" happened. For the first session, and the first hour of the second, everything went according to plan... except for the two McLarens being much faster than everybody else, to the tune of 1.5 seconds. Despite some astonished reactions from websites and individuals, there's nothing we can really take from this. Never trust anything you see in Practice, speed-wise, since we haven't the faintest what teams are actually trying to accomplish. For example, it's quite possible that, say, Red Bull, were doing fuel runs the entire session, trying to get good mileage estimates for the race, while McLaren were doing full speed runs.
In P2, Lewis Hamilton looked to still have the fastest car during that first hour. Speculation is rife that the Glares On Wheels are running more rear wing than their competitors. This would give them a huge amount of downforce (in comparison) in the turns while not costing them in the least over the rest of the track during Practice and Quals, when the DRS can be used at any place on the circuit. During the race, this could come back to haunt them as they'll be quicker through the turns, but slower on any non-DRS straightaway (there will be two independent DRS zones at Monza... I guess Bernie coughed up the cash for another Dell!).
Then, with sixty minutes gone in the session, the odd things began to happen.
more...
Well, during today's Practice 2 session, the "odd" happened. For the first session, and the first hour of the second, everything went according to plan... except for the two McLarens being much faster than everybody else, to the tune of 1.5 seconds. Despite some astonished reactions from websites and individuals, there's nothing we can really take from this. Never trust anything you see in Practice, speed-wise, since we haven't the faintest what teams are actually trying to accomplish. For example, it's quite possible that, say, Red Bull, were doing fuel runs the entire session, trying to get good mileage estimates for the race, while McLaren were doing full speed runs.
In P2, Lewis Hamilton looked to still have the fastest car during that first hour. Speculation is rife that the Glares On Wheels are running more rear wing than their competitors. This would give them a huge amount of downforce (in comparison) in the turns while not costing them in the least over the rest of the track during Practice and Quals, when the DRS can be used at any place on the circuit. During the race, this could come back to haunt them as they'll be quicker through the turns, but slower on any non-DRS straightaway (there will be two independent DRS zones at Monza... I guess Bernie coughed up the cash for another Dell!).
Then, with sixty minutes gone in the session, the odd things began to happen.
more...
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September 05, 2011
F1 on SPEED!: Italy 2011
Speed. Either one has it, or one doesn't. A car can be nimble, a car can be quick, a car can jump over a candlestick make lightning starts, a driver can wring the most possible out of a car... but when it comes to racing, ultimately if it can't go fast, it's rubbish. In Formula 1, nowhere is that basic tenet more true than at "La Pista Magica". The Magic Track. Monza.
I have often joked of "The Church of Speed" here on The Pond, with its patron saint, Fangio The Quick. If such a religion existed, Monza would undoubtedly be its Holy Land (the NASCAR schism would surely designate Daytona as theirs, with St Earnhardt the most important figure. Woe be unto them, for they know not the true meaning of Speed). Possessing the fewest turns in F1, seven of which were added solely to slow the cars down (blasphemy!), Monza is the ultimate in low-downforce, low-drag setups. The fastest ever recorded F1 lap (162.949mph) was set here in 2004. It is the crucible all F1 chassis must go through: if you can't be fast here, you can't be fast... period.
Yet Monza is also one of the prettiest tracks you'll ever find as well. Set into a national park, trees line the sides of the circuit in many places. It's this location that is also one of the dangers inherent to Monza. Since it is in a national park, there's a limit to what modifications can be made. Extra runoff area is impossible to come by since that would mean cutting down trees. Many turns (such as Parabolica, above) still have kittylitter instead of safer asphalt runoff zones. But then, it wouldn't be Monza if it was totally safe.
However, you can be perfectly safe at home watching the 2011 Grand Prix of Italy, thanks to the good offices of the Legendary Announce Team at SPEED, who as always will be bringing us live coverage of the race weekend's action. Here's the lineup:
Friday: Practice 1: 3am to 430am streaming. Practice 2: 7am to 840am live
Saturday: Practice 3: 4am to 5am streaming. Quals: 7am to 830am live.
Sunday: 2011 Grand Prix of Italy: 630am to 9am live. 330pm to 6pm replay.
Of course, F1U! will be all over the race like kittylitter in a graveltrap. See ya then!
I have often joked of "The Church of Speed" here on The Pond, with its patron saint, Fangio The Quick. If such a religion existed, Monza would undoubtedly be its Holy Land (the NASCAR schism would surely designate Daytona as theirs, with St Earnhardt the most important figure. Woe be unto them, for they know not the true meaning of Speed). Possessing the fewest turns in F1, seven of which were added solely to slow the cars down (blasphemy!), Monza is the ultimate in low-downforce, low-drag setups. The fastest ever recorded F1 lap (162.949mph) was set here in 2004. It is the crucible all F1 chassis must go through: if you can't be fast here, you can't be fast... period.
Yet Monza is also one of the prettiest tracks you'll ever find as well. Set into a national park, trees line the sides of the circuit in many places. It's this location that is also one of the dangers inherent to Monza. Since it is in a national park, there's a limit to what modifications can be made. Extra runoff area is impossible to come by since that would mean cutting down trees. Many turns (such as Parabolica, above) still have kittylitter instead of safer asphalt runoff zones. But then, it wouldn't be Monza if it was totally safe.
However, you can be perfectly safe at home watching the 2011 Grand Prix of Italy, thanks to the good offices of the Legendary Announce Team at SPEED, who as always will be bringing us live coverage of the race weekend's action. Here's the lineup:
Friday: Practice 1: 3am to 430am streaming. Practice 2: 7am to 840am live
Saturday: Practice 3: 4am to 5am streaming. Quals: 7am to 830am live.
Sunday: 2011 Grand Prix of Italy: 630am to 9am live. 330pm to 6pm replay.
Of course, F1U! will be all over the race like kittylitter in a graveltrap. See ya then!
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August 28, 2011
F1 Update!: Belgium 2011 Not Coming Tonight
...and I don't care. I'm not in the mood to write about the 2011 Grand Prix of Belgium. I may never write about it. Seb Vettel won, Hamilton crashed, Slappy had a great race and finished 5th. I'm tired, I'm irritated, and to be blunt, I just don't feel like spending two or three hours trying to create a coherent narrative about the race right now. Here's Hamilton obliterating an advertising panel... enjoy.
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August 27, 2011
F1 Quals: Belgium 2011
I still haven't watched Quals, so here's the provisional grid with a minimum of conversation:
Guess what? It rained at Spa; go figure. As a result, the grid is a little jumbled. NKOTT in 6th? Bruno Senna 7th? Button 13th? Lap times in the 2-minute range? It must have dried out substantially for Q3, though.
Slappy had a run-in with a wall early in Q1, which is why he's got a "No time." He'll surely be allowed to race, though. Lord only knows if the three other DNQs will be allowed to participate, though considering the weather I suspect they will. Rabbi Maldonado qual'd 16th, but he's received a five-spot grid penalty for intentionally running into Lewis Hamilton after Q2 ended, after an altercation during the session.
Oh, look! Vettel is on pole. Who'dathunkit?
Race in the morning. I have no idea when the F1U! will go up. It might be Sunday, maybe Monday, maybe a week from next Tuesday. We'll see. Keep your eyes peeled, though... I've only missed two writeups in six years of this stuff; one of them was because of a bad thunderstorm, the other because of That Terrible Weekend two years ago. A flooded bookstore shouldn't stop me. See you soon.
Guess what? It rained at Spa; go figure. As a result, the grid is a little jumbled. NKOTT in 6th? Bruno Senna 7th? Button 13th? Lap times in the 2-minute range? It must have dried out substantially for Q3, though.
Slappy had a run-in with a wall early in Q1, which is why he's got a "No time." He'll surely be allowed to race, though. Lord only knows if the three other DNQs will be allowed to participate, though considering the weather I suspect they will. Rabbi Maldonado qual'd 16th, but he's received a five-spot grid penalty for intentionally running into Lewis Hamilton after Q2 ended, after an altercation during the session.
Oh, look! Vettel is on pole. Who'dathunkit?
Race in the morning. I have no idea when the F1U! will go up. It might be Sunday, maybe Monday, maybe a week from next Tuesday. We'll see. Keep your eyes peeled, though... I've only missed two writeups in six years of this stuff; one of them was because of a bad thunderstorm, the other because of That Terrible Weekend two years ago. A flooded bookstore shouldn't stop me. See you soon.
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