October 08, 2010
F1 Practice: Japan 2010
When you're involved in both the Driver's and the Constructor's championship races this late in the season, many things have to go perfectly to have any sort of chance. The driver has to be supremely confident in both his skills and those of the team. The team has to be able to count on the driver to handle any new upgrades they throw onto the car and give them solid feedback on what works and what doesn't. Particularly in this day and age of testing bans, it's imperative for updated cars to get as many laps on track as possible during the practice sessions.
So when McLaren's Lewis Hamilton sent his MP4-25, festooned with the most upgrades of any car on the grid, sailing off track and into the wall during Friday's morning practice session, the team had to be crushed. The rather violent impact had torn off the front left suspension and trashed the brand new nose rather completely. That Hamilton, who has finished only one of the past four races, had only turned nine laps to that point meant that the team needed the reigning Driver's Champion, Jenson Button, to set off and run lap after lap to gather data on the new upgrades, tire wear, fuel consumption, and anything else you could think of, rather than splitting the duties with his teammate. This he did with his usual professionalism... until he went off track at the same place Hamilton did. That he managed to keep it off the wall, despite getting airborne as he rode over the curbs, was impressive as all get-out. It also turned out to be desperately important, as Hamilton only made it back on track with seven minutes or so left in Q2.
Just down the pit lane from McLaren, the boys from Red Bull were circulating endlessly around Suzuka. They didn't bring more than a couple of upgrades to the race, but one could argue that they don't need to. In any case the obvious reliability of the RB6 chassis, mixed with Seb Vettel's topping of the timesheets, would seem to make them the prohibitive favorites for Sunday's race, particularly as Ferrari didn't seem to be showing much more than an average pace.
But then there's the weather forecast. As has often been said, rain is the great equalizer in Formula 1, and boy is there rain scheduled for Saturday. The Legendary Announce Team said that the FIA nabobs were saying that up to two inches of precipitation could be in the offing, with the worst of it happening smack dab in the middle of Quals. Now, a little bit of the wet is usually a good thing for a F1 race. It throws an element of unpredictability, of randomness, into the scenario and opens the door for all sorts of wacky things to occur... but nothing is helped by having the contents of the Inland Sea suddenly transfer itself onto the Degner Curve.
We'll find out what happens in just a few hours!
So when McLaren's Lewis Hamilton sent his MP4-25, festooned with the most upgrades of any car on the grid, sailing off track and into the wall during Friday's morning practice session, the team had to be crushed. The rather violent impact had torn off the front left suspension and trashed the brand new nose rather completely. That Hamilton, who has finished only one of the past four races, had only turned nine laps to that point meant that the team needed the reigning Driver's Champion, Jenson Button, to set off and run lap after lap to gather data on the new upgrades, tire wear, fuel consumption, and anything else you could think of, rather than splitting the duties with his teammate. This he did with his usual professionalism... until he went off track at the same place Hamilton did. That he managed to keep it off the wall, despite getting airborne as he rode over the curbs, was impressive as all get-out. It also turned out to be desperately important, as Hamilton only made it back on track with seven minutes or so left in Q2.
Just down the pit lane from McLaren, the boys from Red Bull were circulating endlessly around Suzuka. They didn't bring more than a couple of upgrades to the race, but one could argue that they don't need to. In any case the obvious reliability of the RB6 chassis, mixed with Seb Vettel's topping of the timesheets, would seem to make them the prohibitive favorites for Sunday's race, particularly as Ferrari didn't seem to be showing much more than an average pace.
But then there's the weather forecast. As has often been said, rain is the great equalizer in Formula 1, and boy is there rain scheduled for Saturday. The Legendary Announce Team said that the FIA nabobs were saying that up to two inches of precipitation could be in the offing, with the worst of it happening smack dab in the middle of Quals. Now, a little bit of the wet is usually a good thing for a F1 race. It throws an element of unpredictability, of randomness, into the scenario and opens the door for all sorts of wacky things to occur... but nothing is helped by having the contents of the Inland Sea suddenly transfer itself onto the Degner Curve.
We'll find out what happens in just a few hours!
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October 04, 2010
F1 on SPEED!: Japan 2010
From the slow, twisty, narrow Tilkefied Singapore street circuit, the F1 Circus now transitions to one of the oldest tracks on the calendar, the fast, smoothly flowing, Haruhi-appearing, Suzuka Circuit. Located on the east coast of Japan, the track is one of the big favorites of the drivers, ranking up there with Silverstone and Spa-Francopants. It's also one of the wetter races on the calendar, with rain being more the rule than the exception. Let's take a look at the circuit map for this wonderful track:
Suzuka is notable for being the only figure-of-eight layout on the calendar, not that you would know it from TV coverage, and truthfully the bridge section flashes by so quickly you barely notice. The circuit contains two or three legendary "named" turns.
130R is arguably the fastest turn in F1, one of the few that's taken flat-out at the end of a long straight. To say it's a stern test of a driver's mettle is an understatement. Alas, it's no longer the fearsome 130meter radius (hence '130R') single bend that it used to be, turning it into a double-apex bend of 85m and a 340m immediately after. This made it easier to navigate, but not all that much, and it's still a rough turn.
Then you have the S Curves. If there's a better example of a 'rhythm section' on a race track anywhere in the world, I've never seen it. Drivers say it's essentially a horizontal rollercoaster, and if you mess up the line at the entry, you've just blown your entire lap as you struggle to toss the car around the bends. On the other hand, if you get it right you've just opened the door for all sorts of wonderful things like a quick run to the third of the named turns: Degner.
Degner doesn't seem to be anything special, just a gentle-ish bend to the right. However, last year Turn 08 earned a dark place in everybody's heart with four separate accidents located there during Quals. High curbs, a bump in the track, resurfacing that ended just short of Degner... take your pick as to why there were so many wrecks in 2009, but it's possible that the gremlins will still be there this year. Cross your fingers...
Weather is forecast to be rainy all weekend, just to add another level of excitement to the already challenging circuit. F1's weatherpeople have been pretty lousy at predictions this year, though, so it's really anybody's guess what it's going to be doing come race day.
One really nice feature of Suzuka is that the race is at a decent time here in the US. Coverage begins on Thursday from 1159pm to 140am Friday, with LIVE pictures of 2nd Practice. Quals are from 1159pm Friday to 130am Saturday morning.
The 2010 Grand Prix of Japan coverage is Sunday morning from 1230am to 3am, with a replay from 130pm to 4pm for all you people who actually, y'know, sleep. All times are Pond Central, so Vaucaunson's Duck, you're getting the race at 1030pm on Saturday... you lucky bastard. Maybe you can convince Dr John to watch it, eh?
Finally, SPEED has started to stream coverage of Friday's 1st Practice live on their website! For Japan, the whole thing starts at 9pm at speedtv.com. For those that read the F1Updates! but don't own a TV, here's your chance to actually see some Formula 1 running. Now, the Legendary Announce Team doesn't commentate during these, so it's just ambient sound... which is great, too.
Of course, F1U! will be all over this race weekend... we'll see you then!
Suzuka is notable for being the only figure-of-eight layout on the calendar, not that you would know it from TV coverage, and truthfully the bridge section flashes by so quickly you barely notice. The circuit contains two or three legendary "named" turns.
130R is arguably the fastest turn in F1, one of the few that's taken flat-out at the end of a long straight. To say it's a stern test of a driver's mettle is an understatement. Alas, it's no longer the fearsome 130meter radius (hence '130R') single bend that it used to be, turning it into a double-apex bend of 85m and a 340m immediately after. This made it easier to navigate, but not all that much, and it's still a rough turn.
Then you have the S Curves. If there's a better example of a 'rhythm section' on a race track anywhere in the world, I've never seen it. Drivers say it's essentially a horizontal rollercoaster, and if you mess up the line at the entry, you've just blown your entire lap as you struggle to toss the car around the bends. On the other hand, if you get it right you've just opened the door for all sorts of wonderful things like a quick run to the third of the named turns: Degner.
Degner doesn't seem to be anything special, just a gentle-ish bend to the right. However, last year Turn 08 earned a dark place in everybody's heart with four separate accidents located there during Quals. High curbs, a bump in the track, resurfacing that ended just short of Degner... take your pick as to why there were so many wrecks in 2009, but it's possible that the gremlins will still be there this year. Cross your fingers...
Weather is forecast to be rainy all weekend, just to add another level of excitement to the already challenging circuit. F1's weatherpeople have been pretty lousy at predictions this year, though, so it's really anybody's guess what it's going to be doing come race day.
One really nice feature of Suzuka is that the race is at a decent time here in the US. Coverage begins on Thursday from 1159pm to 140am Friday, with LIVE pictures of 2nd Practice. Quals are from 1159pm Friday to 130am Saturday morning.
The 2010 Grand Prix of Japan coverage is Sunday morning from 1230am to 3am, with a replay from 130pm to 4pm for all you people who actually, y'know, sleep. All times are Pond Central, so Vaucaunson's Duck, you're getting the race at 1030pm on Saturday... you lucky bastard. Maybe you can convince Dr John to watch it, eh?
Finally, SPEED has started to stream coverage of Friday's 1st Practice live on their website! For Japan, the whole thing starts at 9pm at speedtv.com. For those that read the F1Updates! but don't own a TV, here's your chance to actually see some Formula 1 running. Now, the Legendary Announce Team doesn't commentate during these, so it's just ambient sound... which is great, too.
Of course, F1U! will be all over this race weekend... we'll see you then!
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September 25, 2010
F1 Quals: Singapore 2010
Those must have been some darn interesting emotional swings in the Ferrari pits today. Let's take a look at the provisional grid for the 2010 Grand Prix of Singapore:
One has to wonder when the last time Ferrari qualified on pole and dead last in the same race, without penalties. You'll note that Massa set no time... either a frozen gearbox or an electronic engine management problem, one of the two (I've seen conflicting reports), brought the Brazilian to a stop out on track, ending whatever hope he had of a good race. I've also seen reports that he's going to have to change both his gearbox and the engine. If so, he'll be starting the race from the vicinity of Palembang. Anyway, Ferrari then had the exciting experience of having HWMNBN call in early in Q2 reporting problems with his engine. The team brought him in, rebooted the electronics, then sent him back out, all fingers crossed. Of course the problem disappeared, much like when you restart your computer after it can't find your keyboard. After that, it became a matter of HWMNBN ripping off ridiculously fast laps in a car that people were saying would stink after Monza, and nobody being able to match him. His pole lap wasn't even done in the final shootout, but on his first flying lap in Q3. HWMNBN now has two consecutive poles, and has suddenly catapulted himself into legit discussion for the Driver's Championship.
The rest of the heavy hitters were pretty much as you'd expect. The big surprises today had to be the two replacement drivers, Grizzly Nick Heidfeld and Taoist Klien. Remember what happened with Luca Badoer and Ferrari in 2009? He stepped into the car and was far and away the slowest man on the grid. Well, Grizzly Nick qualified midpack, a respectable performance indeed. Over at HRT meanwhile, Jainist Klien simply demolished his teammate Bruno Senna. He was over a second faster than Senna, which makes me wonder what the HRT might actually be capable of in the hands of someone a) talented and 2) experienced in the car. Lord knows that DJ DNF, Senna and Cowboy Karun Chandhok haven't exactly covered themselves in glory this season.
So there you have it. The five drivers in contention for the Driver's Championship are in the top five grid slots, which makes me think that the run to Turn 1 might be somewhat exciting tomorrow. Of course, F1Update! will be along with the usual coverage... see you then!
One has to wonder when the last time Ferrari qualified on pole and dead last in the same race, without penalties. You'll note that Massa set no time... either a frozen gearbox or an electronic engine management problem, one of the two (I've seen conflicting reports), brought the Brazilian to a stop out on track, ending whatever hope he had of a good race. I've also seen reports that he's going to have to change both his gearbox and the engine. If so, he'll be starting the race from the vicinity of Palembang. Anyway, Ferrari then had the exciting experience of having HWMNBN call in early in Q2 reporting problems with his engine. The team brought him in, rebooted the electronics, then sent him back out, all fingers crossed. Of course the problem disappeared, much like when you restart your computer after it can't find your keyboard. After that, it became a matter of HWMNBN ripping off ridiculously fast laps in a car that people were saying would stink after Monza, and nobody being able to match him. His pole lap wasn't even done in the final shootout, but on his first flying lap in Q3. HWMNBN now has two consecutive poles, and has suddenly catapulted himself into legit discussion for the Driver's Championship.
The rest of the heavy hitters were pretty much as you'd expect. The big surprises today had to be the two replacement drivers, Grizzly Nick Heidfeld and Taoist Klien. Remember what happened with Luca Badoer and Ferrari in 2009? He stepped into the car and was far and away the slowest man on the grid. Well, Grizzly Nick qualified midpack, a respectable performance indeed. Over at HRT meanwhile, Jainist Klien simply demolished his teammate Bruno Senna. He was over a second faster than Senna, which makes me wonder what the HRT might actually be capable of in the hands of someone a) talented and 2) experienced in the car. Lord knows that DJ DNF, Senna and Cowboy Karun Chandhok haven't exactly covered themselves in glory this season.
So there you have it. The five drivers in contention for the Driver's Championship are in the top five grid slots, which makes me think that the run to Turn 1 might be somewhat exciting tomorrow. Of course, F1Update! will be along with the usual coverage... see you then!
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September 24, 2010
F1 Practice: Singapore 2010
I suppose it's wrong to be disappointed with a dry practice session (and a mostly dry track), particularly on a circuit like Singapore that's only been raced on twice before. But I'll be darned if I wasn't hoping for drizzle or more, and I didn't get it. Worse news still, the Legendary Announce Team minus The Varsha, who's on assignment at the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction in Las Vegas this weekend, told us that while its been raining during the days, the rain stops as night falls. That'd mean a dry race, for which I say boo-hiss! However, a lack of rain does mean we get shots like this:
...so I guess it's a fair trade-off.
Action on-track was about what you'd expect from a practice session. Lots of cars going round and round, trying desperately to get lots of laps in on an unfamiliar circuit. This is particularly important considering that Friday's 1st Practice was truncated by rain. Further, the heavy hitters stayed in the garage for most of the earlier session, letting the bottomfeeders go out, clean the dust off the circuit and lay down some rubber around the curves. In P2 though, the big guys pretty much dominated the session, with the top five drivers in the Championship holding down the top five slots on the timesheet.
It wasn't all fun and games in Singapore though, as the track never really dried out; lots of rain mixed with high humidity, no wind, and no sunlight meant that the moisture never went away. We saw a lot of fishtailing, some doinks of the rear wheels off the walls, and quite a few people touching the brakes and sliding off into the darkness. And then you had Adrian Sutil getting a little too much curb in the Singapore Sling chicane, with results that can't be considered pretty:
Which brings us to the biggest surprise of the day. Night. Whatever. Anyway, the surprise... DJ DNF, Sakon Yamamoto hisownbadself, is not driving for HRT this race, allegedly because he's ill. Taking his place for Singapore is none other than Christian Klien, last seen in F1 driving for Red Bull in 2006. Somewhere the dark spectre of The Zsolt is gnashing his teeth... and plotting to reclaim Klien.
Quals in the morning but about two hours later than normal... the session starts at 10pm race local time, two hours later than the actual race time. See you then!
...so I guess it's a fair trade-off.
Action on-track was about what you'd expect from a practice session. Lots of cars going round and round, trying desperately to get lots of laps in on an unfamiliar circuit. This is particularly important considering that Friday's 1st Practice was truncated by rain. Further, the heavy hitters stayed in the garage for most of the earlier session, letting the bottomfeeders go out, clean the dust off the circuit and lay down some rubber around the curves. In P2 though, the big guys pretty much dominated the session, with the top five drivers in the Championship holding down the top five slots on the timesheet.
It wasn't all fun and games in Singapore though, as the track never really dried out; lots of rain mixed with high humidity, no wind, and no sunlight meant that the moisture never went away. We saw a lot of fishtailing, some doinks of the rear wheels off the walls, and quite a few people touching the brakes and sliding off into the darkness. And then you had Adrian Sutil getting a little too much curb in the Singapore Sling chicane, with results that can't be considered pretty:
Whee! I'm a pilot!
The landing was even less pretty, with the Force India's front suspension splintering like a twig. Shouldn't be a problem for Saturday's qualifying sessions, but the mechanics will be wondering just what else got knocked around by Adrian's attempt at imitating the Surya Kiran (or, for PhDuck, सूरà¥à¤¯ किरण).Which brings us to the biggest surprise of the day. Night. Whatever. Anyway, the surprise... DJ DNF, Sakon Yamamoto hisownbadself, is not driving for HRT this race, allegedly because he's ill. Taking his place for Singapore is none other than Christian Klien, last seen in F1 driving for Red Bull in 2006. Somewhere the dark spectre of The Zsolt is gnashing his teeth... and plotting to reclaim Klien.
Quals in the morning but about two hours later than normal... the session starts at 10pm race local time, two hours later than the actual race time. See you then!
No, no reason for this picture to be here...
...except Slappy looks goofy.
...except Slappy looks goofy.
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September 21, 2010
F1 on SPEED!: Singapore 2010
With the European leg of the season completed, the F1 Circus packs up and hauls their tents halfway around the world to the island nation of Singapore this week. Home to the world's busiest port, Singapore is also the home of a F1 race with a difference:
It takes place entirely at night. This'll be the third time Singapore has hosted a race on the Marina Bay Street Circuit... let's take a look at the track map:
As a spectacle, Singapore is wonderful. The cars shimmer and gleam under the fifty-gazillion overhead lights, in a way they don't anywhere else. A highway flies over the front straight, there are two bridges involved with the circuit, and the cars actually run underneath some of the seating grandstands, just to make everything all that much cooler. As a street circuit, there are many buildings lining the circuit, many of which are beautifully lighted themselves. From the air, the track itself glows, looking like a ribbon of light against the dark background.
As a racetrack however, Singapore leaves a lot to be desired. The heat and humidity makes it a chore to race on, like a cross between Monaco (for the narrowness) and Sepang (for the heat). Last year, officials resurfaced many of the turns in an attempt to smooth out the hideously bumpy breaking zones. Despite this, the drivers still asked for them to be improved. Reportedly they've been ground down again. The curbs have been lowered as well, as the teams thought that they might actually break a suspension going over them. There's few passing zones, and a mistake at any time will put you into the Armco and out of the race.
But it looks cool.
It's pretty clear that to have a good race at Singapore, we're going to need rain. In 2008, HWMNBN got the win after his teammate Nelson Piquet Jr intentionally crashed to give him an advantage. 2009 brought us a flat-out boring race that saw a runaway Lewis Hamilton victory. The weather forecast calls for showers and thunderstorms all weekend, so we might just get F1's first night-rain race. Let's hope so, just for entertainment's sake.
Of course, the good folks at SPEED will bring us every minute of Friday's second practice LIVE, from 830am to 1010am. Saturday will see the drivers go for pole during Qualifying, from 9am to 1030am. Finally, Sunday brings us the 2010 Grand Prix LIVE from 630am to 9am, with a replay from 12noon to 230pm. All times are Pond Central.
Finally, the FIA released the official engine usage list, and clarified if Grizzly Nick Heidfeld would have to deal with Pete Rose's engine penalties. Here's the updated list:
Mark Webber 6
Rubens Barrichello 6
Robert Kubica 6
Vitaly Petrov 6
HWMNBN 8
Felipe Massa 8
Grizzly Nick Heidfeld 9
Everybody else has used 7 engines.
Unfortunately for Grizzly Nick, he will take a 10-spot penalty every time he uses a new engine from now on. Of course you can always use an old engine if you wish. Looking at this, it's clear that Mark Webber, current championship points leader, has an advantage over his rivals in that he's got two unboxed engines in hand, where everybody else only have, at best, one. What difference will this make, with five races left to go? We will see, won't we?
It takes place entirely at night. This'll be the third time Singapore has hosted a race on the Marina Bay Street Circuit... let's take a look at the track map:
As a spectacle, Singapore is wonderful. The cars shimmer and gleam under the fifty-gazillion overhead lights, in a way they don't anywhere else. A highway flies over the front straight, there are two bridges involved with the circuit, and the cars actually run underneath some of the seating grandstands, just to make everything all that much cooler. As a street circuit, there are many buildings lining the circuit, many of which are beautifully lighted themselves. From the air, the track itself glows, looking like a ribbon of light against the dark background.
As a racetrack however, Singapore leaves a lot to be desired. The heat and humidity makes it a chore to race on, like a cross between Monaco (for the narrowness) and Sepang (for the heat). Last year, officials resurfaced many of the turns in an attempt to smooth out the hideously bumpy breaking zones. Despite this, the drivers still asked for them to be improved. Reportedly they've been ground down again. The curbs have been lowered as well, as the teams thought that they might actually break a suspension going over them. There's few passing zones, and a mistake at any time will put you into the Armco and out of the race.
But it looks cool.
It's pretty clear that to have a good race at Singapore, we're going to need rain. In 2008, HWMNBN got the win after his teammate Nelson Piquet Jr intentionally crashed to give him an advantage. 2009 brought us a flat-out boring race that saw a runaway Lewis Hamilton victory. The weather forecast calls for showers and thunderstorms all weekend, so we might just get F1's first night-rain race. Let's hope so, just for entertainment's sake.
Of course, the good folks at SPEED will bring us every minute of Friday's second practice LIVE, from 830am to 1010am. Saturday will see the drivers go for pole during Qualifying, from 9am to 1030am. Finally, Sunday brings us the 2010 Grand Prix LIVE from 630am to 9am, with a replay from 12noon to 230pm. All times are Pond Central.
Finally, the FIA released the official engine usage list, and clarified if Grizzly Nick Heidfeld would have to deal with Pete Rose's engine penalties. Here's the updated list:
Mark Webber 6
Rubens Barrichello 6
Robert Kubica 6
Vitaly Petrov 6
HWMNBN 8
Felipe Massa 8
Grizzly Nick Heidfeld 9
Everybody else has used 7 engines.
Unfortunately for Grizzly Nick, he will take a 10-spot penalty every time he uses a new engine from now on. Of course you can always use an old engine if you wish. Looking at this, it's clear that Mark Webber, current championship points leader, has an advantage over his rivals in that he's got two unboxed engines in hand, where everybody else only have, at best, one. What difference will this make, with five races left to go? We will see, won't we?
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September 14, 2010
The Zsolt Comes For Another
Pedro de la Rosa stood outside the Sauber factory, surrounded by boxes filled with the contents of his desk. He flinched slightly as two burly security guards slammed the gates closed with a massive clang, his mind recoiling from the finality of the sound.
Turning in place, the Spaniard raised a fist in the general direction of Peter Sauber's office, which was actually located somewhere towards the back of the building and thus out of sight from the little show of defiance. "I still intend to be in F1 for the 2011 season, you trumped-up Swiss chocolatier! I'll show you that you just made a terrible mistake, dropping me, Pedro de la Rosa, for that unshaven German Nick Heidfeld!"
From behind him, a quiet voice hissed, "At it again, are you?" A frisson of cold terror ran up his spine. His small lizard hindbrain started to wail in fear, but F1 pilots laugh at fear and danger. It still took a supreme act of will from the recently released driver to turn from the gates. What he saw turned his legs to pudding.
"Hello, Pedro. Long time no see." A small man, dressed in a black firesuit with the word Minardi embroidered across the chest and holding a black race helmet, stood before the recently fired man. "You got away from me once. What did I say to you then, do you remember?"
"That you'd be coming for me again."
"That's right, Pedro. That I'd be coming for you again. And now, there you are. And here I am."
"I'll race in F1 again."
The figure in black laughed, a sound not unlike the gates of Hell opening. "You're 39 years old, de la Rosa, and you haven't had a full year of racing under your belt since 2002. You only got in the points once this year, while your teammate has scored five times. And then there's your role in the whole StepneyGate saga. What team is going to want you as a driver after all that? I hear USF1 is hiring. No, Pete, you're mine now, and you won't get away from me again." The figure in black lifted his helmet to his head, then paused for a second. "If you're lucky though, you might get to run one of those radio-controlled cars you were so good at once." Then the helmet was on, covering the dark face.
Coming from inside the helmet, the voice of the figure in black sounded sepulchral as he moved towards de la Rosa. "Some of us only got one go at F1, and we had to buy our way in. You got a second chance, Pete. You got a second chance after testing for McLaren all those years, and you screwed it up. You screwed up your second chance, and how? By being slow, Petey-boy, by being slow. And you really expect to get a third shot?" The Zsolt pulled on his racing gloves, and from somewhere the theme music from The Exorcist began to quietly play. "Never again, de la Rosa. Never again."
He slammed the visor down with the sound of a thousand garbage trucks falling off a cliff. "I'm am definitely going to enjoy this."
Then the screaming began.
By the time the security guards got to the gate, there was nothing to be seen.
Turning in place, the Spaniard raised a fist in the general direction of Peter Sauber's office, which was actually located somewhere towards the back of the building and thus out of sight from the little show of defiance. "I still intend to be in F1 for the 2011 season, you trumped-up Swiss chocolatier! I'll show you that you just made a terrible mistake, dropping me, Pedro de la Rosa, for that unshaven German Nick Heidfeld!"
From behind him, a quiet voice hissed, "At it again, are you?" A frisson of cold terror ran up his spine. His small lizard hindbrain started to wail in fear, but F1 pilots laugh at fear and danger. It still took a supreme act of will from the recently released driver to turn from the gates. What he saw turned his legs to pudding.
"Hello, Pedro. Long time no see." A small man, dressed in a black firesuit with the word Minardi embroidered across the chest and holding a black race helmet, stood before the recently fired man. "You got away from me once. What did I say to you then, do you remember?"
"That you'd be coming for me again."
"That's right, Pedro. That I'd be coming for you again. And now, there you are. And here I am."
"I'll race in F1 again."
The figure in black laughed, a sound not unlike the gates of Hell opening. "You're 39 years old, de la Rosa, and you haven't had a full year of racing under your belt since 2002. You only got in the points once this year, while your teammate has scored five times. And then there's your role in the whole StepneyGate saga. What team is going to want you as a driver after all that? I hear USF1 is hiring. No, Pete, you're mine now, and you won't get away from me again." The figure in black lifted his helmet to his head, then paused for a second. "If you're lucky though, you might get to run one of those radio-controlled cars you were so good at once." Then the helmet was on, covering the dark face.
Coming from inside the helmet, the voice of the figure in black sounded sepulchral as he moved towards de la Rosa. "Some of us only got one go at F1, and we had to buy our way in. You got a second chance, Pete. You got a second chance after testing for McLaren all those years, and you screwed it up. You screwed up your second chance, and how? By being slow, Petey-boy, by being slow. And you really expect to get a third shot?" The Zsolt pulled on his racing gloves, and from somewhere the theme music from The Exorcist began to quietly play. "Never again, de la Rosa. Never again."
He slammed the visor down with the sound of a thousand garbage trucks falling off a cliff. "I'm am definitely going to enjoy this."
Then the screaming began.
By the time the security guards got to the gate, there was nothing to be seen.
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September 13, 2010
Current Engine Usage
Okay, as of the end of the Italian Grand Prix, here are the number of engines used:
Felipe Massa and HWMNBN: 7
Pete Rose: 9
Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov: 5
If a driver isn't one of the above, they've used six of their eight engines so far. Of course, Pete Rose will suffer a 10-spot grid penalty for every race now, for there's no reason for him not to use a new engine every time out.
It is perfectly legal for a driver to use an engine that ran in a prior race. For example, Mark Webber used his Spa engine at Monza. So if the Ferrari boys want save their last fresh engine for Abu Dhabi and put their Monaco powerplant in for Singapore, it's quite legal.
Guess the Renault wins the reliability award for the season.
Felipe Massa and HWMNBN: 7
Pete Rose: 9
Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov: 5
If a driver isn't one of the above, they've used six of their eight engines so far. Of course, Pete Rose will suffer a 10-spot grid penalty for every race now, for there's no reason for him not to use a new engine every time out.
It is perfectly legal for a driver to use an engine that ran in a prior race. For example, Mark Webber used his Spa engine at Monza. So if the Ferrari boys want save their last fresh engine for Abu Dhabi and put their Monaco powerplant in for Singapore, it's quite legal.
Guess the Renault wins the reliability award for the season.
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September 11, 2010
F1 Quals: Italy 2010
I have to admit that I didn't believe it when they said it, but the statistic was true. Let's look at the provisional grid for the Grand Prix of Italy:
Just what statistic is it that had me so flabbergasted? This is Ferrari's first pole in thirty races. Love them or, as I do, hate them, one can't take away from the Scuderia the fact that they really are one of the top teams in motorsports history, if not the top team. One just assumes that, even in a down season, they'd've had a pole somewhere along the way. But no, the last time a Ferrari driver was the fastest at the end of a Q3 was Brazil, 2008. That's almost unbelievable.
Unfortunately, it had to come from HWMNBN. Ugh.
Team McLaren couldn't figure out whether to run the F-Duct system or not, so they split the difference. Lewis Hamilton decided to go the low downforce route and has the little tiny wing... and ended up fifth. Over half-a-second faster is his teammate, Jenson Button, who's got the blown rear wing, more downforce in the turns, and ended up second on the grid. Just as way of comparison, Button was nearly a second faster than HWMNBN through sector 2 which is where all the turns are, yet lost all that time and a smidge more through the fast parts of Monza. Button said in the post-quals presser that while the extra downforce is very handy, it also means that he has to run every lap in the race like it's qualifying, pushing both the car and himself the entire way around the track. If it were nearly anybody else, I'd think they'd be out of the race by the halfway point, either buried in a tire barrier or with a flaming lump where the engine had been, but Button is one of the smoothest drivers in F1.
That doesn't mean he's the best; his teammate is a better driver, Vettel is quicker, Massa is showing signs of his pre-injury form, Webber is darn good, and HWMNBN might be the best pilot in F1. Button, however, is practically gentle with his car, seeming to know exactly the best place to put his chariot to have it do what he wants it to do with the least amount of stress on the machine. That's a very useful talent to have, and one that should allow him to make the "push every lap" work. If it doesn't, he's almost certainly dead in the Driver's Championship.
Seb Vettel, the wunderkind of F1, on the other hand, hasn't a clue why he's starting sixth and admitted as much in the press conference. Despite having the same equipment and the same setup as his teammate Mark Webber, he's nearly 3 mph slower. The biggest problem, then, is that he has to attack, and attack hard right when the lights go out... which might lead to glory at the first turn, or lots of carbon fiber scattered across the chicane. This isn't a track that's suited to the Red Bull's strengths, so if he's not out in front, and quickly, he doesn't stand a chance without incidents occurring ahead of him.
Anybody seen Slappy Schumacher recently? He hasn't made it out of Q2 for six races running.... Speaking of streaks, I didn't realize that Toro Rosso's Seb Buemi is the only driver on the grid right now who has made it to Q2 in every race this season. He's never made it out of Q2 of course, but that's still a pretty impressive stat: no mechanical failures, no penalties, nothing like that.
On the topic of penalties, Vitaly Petrov will be starting 20th after qualifying 15th. He was given a five grid-spot demotion for blocking Virgin Racing's Timo Glockenspiel early in Q1... and how embarrassing is that? You're penalized for holding up one of the slowest cars on the grid... meanwhile, your teammate has outqualified you for what seems like the 733rd time in a row. Eeeeesh. We do hear that the McDonald's in Irkutsk is hiring, so he's got that going for him, which is nice.
Just what statistic is it that had me so flabbergasted? This is Ferrari's first pole in thirty races. Love them or, as I do, hate them, one can't take away from the Scuderia the fact that they really are one of the top teams in motorsports history, if not the top team. One just assumes that, even in a down season, they'd've had a pole somewhere along the way. But no, the last time a Ferrari driver was the fastest at the end of a Q3 was Brazil, 2008. That's almost unbelievable.
Unfortunately, it had to come from HWMNBN. Ugh.
Team McLaren couldn't figure out whether to run the F-Duct system or not, so they split the difference. Lewis Hamilton decided to go the low downforce route and has the little tiny wing... and ended up fifth. Over half-a-second faster is his teammate, Jenson Button, who's got the blown rear wing, more downforce in the turns, and ended up second on the grid. Just as way of comparison, Button was nearly a second faster than HWMNBN through sector 2 which is where all the turns are, yet lost all that time and a smidge more through the fast parts of Monza. Button said in the post-quals presser that while the extra downforce is very handy, it also means that he has to run every lap in the race like it's qualifying, pushing both the car and himself the entire way around the track. If it were nearly anybody else, I'd think they'd be out of the race by the halfway point, either buried in a tire barrier or with a flaming lump where the engine had been, but Button is one of the smoothest drivers in F1.
That doesn't mean he's the best; his teammate is a better driver, Vettel is quicker, Massa is showing signs of his pre-injury form, Webber is darn good, and HWMNBN might be the best pilot in F1. Button, however, is practically gentle with his car, seeming to know exactly the best place to put his chariot to have it do what he wants it to do with the least amount of stress on the machine. That's a very useful talent to have, and one that should allow him to make the "push every lap" work. If it doesn't, he's almost certainly dead in the Driver's Championship.
Seb Vettel, the wunderkind of F1, on the other hand, hasn't a clue why he's starting sixth and admitted as much in the press conference. Despite having the same equipment and the same setup as his teammate Mark Webber, he's nearly 3 mph slower. The biggest problem, then, is that he has to attack, and attack hard right when the lights go out... which might lead to glory at the first turn, or lots of carbon fiber scattered across the chicane. This isn't a track that's suited to the Red Bull's strengths, so if he's not out in front, and quickly, he doesn't stand a chance without incidents occurring ahead of him.
Anybody seen Slappy Schumacher recently? He hasn't made it out of Q2 for six races running.... Speaking of streaks, I didn't realize that Toro Rosso's Seb Buemi is the only driver on the grid right now who has made it to Q2 in every race this season. He's never made it out of Q2 of course, but that's still a pretty impressive stat: no mechanical failures, no penalties, nothing like that.
On the topic of penalties, Vitaly Petrov will be starting 20th after qualifying 15th. He was given a five grid-spot demotion for blocking Virgin Racing's Timo Glockenspiel early in Q1... and how embarrassing is that? You're penalized for holding up one of the slowest cars on the grid... meanwhile, your teammate has outqualified you for what seems like the 733rd time in a row. Eeeeesh. We do hear that the McDonald's in Irkutsk is hiring, so he's got that going for him, which is nice.
Timo Glockenspiel expresses his displeasure, disbelief, at being blocked by Petrov
Race is tomorrow morning, with the F1U! sometime thereafter! See you then, if Petrov doesn't get in our way.
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September 10, 2010
F1 Practice: Italy 2010
A bright sunny day at Monza brought with it the usual dull practice sessions. No big surprise there, of course. The real surprise occurred when I got a good look at the cars. What do I mean?
Well, consider this. A few days ago I mentioned that if the teams could get away with having no wings at all at Monza, they'd at least give it a try. That's because La Pista Magica is such a high-speed circuit that any drag at all is a bad thing. Rear wings about as thin and flat as a sheet of paper are the norm, like this one on a Toro Rosso today:
Compare that to the rear wing used at Monaco, about as polar an opposite as can be found in F1:
Pretty substantial difference there. One's flat as board, the other is a friggin' barn door. It makes a difference, as Seb Buemi's Toro Rosso was fastest through the speed traps at a codswalloping 214mph. That'd be considered slow in the Indy Racing League, but they run on big, big ovals. On a road course, even one as "simple" as Monza, 214 is staggeringly fast.
But then some of the teams threw a monkey wrench into the situation. Take, for example, the McLaren of Jenson Button in First Practice:
Wait... what? That's a normal wing! At Monza? The hell? It must've been the slowest thing on the track with all that vertical stuff in the way, right? Nope, Button was the fastest in P1, and 5th in P2. It's that darn F-Duct system again, messing with our minds.
Earlier I said that there'd be little point to running the F-Duct at Monza, simply because there's so little wing involved, but it appears that the aerodynamic specialists in F1 are smarter than me. They realized, where I did not, that stalling the rear wing using the F-Duct serves the same purpose as having a small wing on the straights, while still allowing quite a bit of downforce in the turns. It's not quite as good as having no wing at all (like the Toro Rosso), at least on the fast bits, but when the car has to change direction it's a huge advantage.
Which explains why Button was 1st and Buemi 11th, even though the Toro Rosso was substantially faster through the speed trap. McLaren, Renault, Ferrari, Red Bull and even Sauber had the blown rear wing going, while the rest did not... and for the most part, it showed on the time sheets.
Formula 1: surprising ducks since 2004.
Quals tomorrow, but my coverage will be in the early evening, as the Duck U. football team takes to the gridiron for the first home game of the season and I've got to be at the store. See you then!
Well, consider this. A few days ago I mentioned that if the teams could get away with having no wings at all at Monza, they'd at least give it a try. That's because La Pista Magica is such a high-speed circuit that any drag at all is a bad thing. Rear wings about as thin and flat as a sheet of paper are the norm, like this one on a Toro Rosso today:
Compare that to the rear wing used at Monaco, about as polar an opposite as can be found in F1:
Pretty substantial difference there. One's flat as board, the other is a friggin' barn door. It makes a difference, as Seb Buemi's Toro Rosso was fastest through the speed traps at a codswalloping 214mph. That'd be considered slow in the Indy Racing League, but they run on big, big ovals. On a road course, even one as "simple" as Monza, 214 is staggeringly fast.
But then some of the teams threw a monkey wrench into the situation. Take, for example, the McLaren of Jenson Button in First Practice:
Wait... what? That's a normal wing! At Monza? The hell? It must've been the slowest thing on the track with all that vertical stuff in the way, right? Nope, Button was the fastest in P1, and 5th in P2. It's that darn F-Duct system again, messing with our minds.
Earlier I said that there'd be little point to running the F-Duct at Monza, simply because there's so little wing involved, but it appears that the aerodynamic specialists in F1 are smarter than me. They realized, where I did not, that stalling the rear wing using the F-Duct serves the same purpose as having a small wing on the straights, while still allowing quite a bit of downforce in the turns. It's not quite as good as having no wing at all (like the Toro Rosso), at least on the fast bits, but when the car has to change direction it's a huge advantage.
Which explains why Button was 1st and Buemi 11th, even though the Toro Rosso was substantially faster through the speed trap. McLaren, Renault, Ferrari, Red Bull and even Sauber had the blown rear wing going, while the rest did not... and for the most part, it showed on the time sheets.
Formula 1: surprising ducks since 2004.
Quals tomorrow, but my coverage will be in the early evening, as the Duck U. football team takes to the gridiron for the first home game of the season and I've got to be at the store. See you then!
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September 08, 2010
WMSC Pats Ferrari On Head... Again.
The World MotorSports Council met today to rule on the case of Ferrari and their use of team orders at the Grand Prix of Germany. As you may remember, Felipe Massa was leading that race with his teammate HWMNBN trailing, when a radio call came from the guys on the pitlane: "Okay, (HWMNBN) is faster than you. Can you confirm that you understand that message?" Shortly thereafter, Massa did not accelerate coming out of a turn, allowing HWMNBN to blow into the lead and eventually take the victory.
Immediately after the race, the Race Stewards called Ferrari onto the carpet, fined them $100000, and sent the matter up to the WMSC for further sanctions. They had violated Articles 39.1 and 151.c of the Sporting Regulations, which states "team orders which interfere with a race result are prohibited" and "any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition, or to the interests of motorsport generally." Penalties could range from a fine, exclusion from the results of the race, a further race ban, to being booted from the championship, or anything in between in any combination.
The WMSC's ruling in this rather clear-cut case? They confirmed the Stewards' fine and decided not to take any further action in this case. They then went on to say that "The Judging Body has also acknowledged that article 39.1 of the Sporting Regulations should be reviewed and has decided to refer this question to the Formula One Sporting Working Group."
In short, not only did Ferrari escape any noteworthy punishment (100 kilobucks is approximately 0.00025th of the Scuderia's annual budget... it's probably less than their team's windshield wiper allowance), but the WMSC may very well change the rule! Now, nobody denies that team orders exist in F1 despite the ban, but teams are usually much more circumspect in their breaking of the rules. Ferrari did their violating with a not-at-all subtle radio message for the entire world to hear, and Massa made sure everybody knew what had happened.
Understand, it's not like I'm surprised by the decision in the least. After all, it's well known that "FIA" stands for "Ferrari International Assistance." I'm just sick and tired of their flagrant rules violations always being winked at... "oh, you naughty scamps. Run along and play now."
What will it take for the team to be actually penalized for an infraction?
Immediately after the race, the Race Stewards called Ferrari onto the carpet, fined them $100000, and sent the matter up to the WMSC for further sanctions. They had violated Articles 39.1 and 151.c of the Sporting Regulations, which states "team orders which interfere with a race result are prohibited" and "any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition, or to the interests of motorsport generally." Penalties could range from a fine, exclusion from the results of the race, a further race ban, to being booted from the championship, or anything in between in any combination.
The WMSC's ruling in this rather clear-cut case? They confirmed the Stewards' fine and decided not to take any further action in this case. They then went on to say that "The Judging Body has also acknowledged that article 39.1 of the Sporting Regulations should be reviewed and has decided to refer this question to the Formula One Sporting Working Group."
In short, not only did Ferrari escape any noteworthy punishment (100 kilobucks is approximately 0.00025th of the Scuderia's annual budget... it's probably less than their team's windshield wiper allowance), but the WMSC may very well change the rule! Now, nobody denies that team orders exist in F1 despite the ban, but teams are usually much more circumspect in their breaking of the rules. Ferrari did their violating with a not-at-all subtle radio message for the entire world to hear, and Massa made sure everybody knew what had happened.
Understand, it's not like I'm surprised by the decision in the least. After all, it's well known that "FIA" stands for "Ferrari International Assistance." I'm just sick and tired of their flagrant rules violations always being winked at... "oh, you naughty scamps. Run along and play now."
What will it take for the team to be actually penalized for an infraction?
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September 06, 2010
F1 on SPEED!: Italy 2010
There once was a time when F1 was about going fast at the expense of everything else. Driver safety was an afterthought, if it rated a thought at all. You had eggshells on wheels with big engines and small tires and no wings. It was a time when if a season completed without a driver death, it was considered a miracle. It was a time when the tires were skinny and the drivers weren't. It was the time of Ascari and Clark, Fangio and Rindt, Stewart and McLaren, Hill and Bandini, Surtees and von Trips. It was a time when the drivers were truly men. It was the time that the sport was truly king.
And Monza was its Holy Church.
There was once a time at Monza when a driver would simply stomp on the gas pedal and not lift off until the car broke or the race ended. Today... well, not much has changed, actually. A modern F1 car is on full throttle for nearly 80% of the lap, a truly punishing endurance test for an engine when you consider that we're talking nearly 90 minutes at 18000rpm. They'll reach 210mph at the end of the front straight, just before braking for the Variante del Rettifilo.
At Monza, terms like "downforce" and "drag" are dirty words. Cars run with the bare minimum amount of wing possible; if their use wasn't mandated by the FIA, the teams would probably go without. In fact, the use of the rear wing is so minimal here that many of those teams that run an "F-Duct" system are likely to find the feature useless around this track.
SPEED will bring us its usual sterling coverage beginning from 7am to 840am on Friday, with the day's 2nd Practice session. Saturday, from 7am to 830am, we'll see the usual Quals session. And Sunday brings us the 2010 Grand Prix of Italy LIVE from 630am to 9am, with a replay from 12noon to 230pm.
If I had to bet on the race, which fortunately I don't, I'd probably lean towards McLaren. Like Spa, this is not a track that favors the Red Bull chassis (and their remarkable action around turns), and I feel like Ferrari is just smoke and mirrors for some reason. But that's why they actually run the races, isn't it? See you then!
And Monza was its Holy Church.
There was once a time at Monza when a driver would simply stomp on the gas pedal and not lift off until the car broke or the race ended. Today... well, not much has changed, actually. A modern F1 car is on full throttle for nearly 80% of the lap, a truly punishing endurance test for an engine when you consider that we're talking nearly 90 minutes at 18000rpm. They'll reach 210mph at the end of the front straight, just before braking for the Variante del Rettifilo.
At Monza, terms like "downforce" and "drag" are dirty words. Cars run with the bare minimum amount of wing possible; if their use wasn't mandated by the FIA, the teams would probably go without. In fact, the use of the rear wing is so minimal here that many of those teams that run an "F-Duct" system are likely to find the feature useless around this track.
SPEED will bring us its usual sterling coverage beginning from 7am to 840am on Friday, with the day's 2nd Practice session. Saturday, from 7am to 830am, we'll see the usual Quals session. And Sunday brings us the 2010 Grand Prix of Italy LIVE from 630am to 9am, with a replay from 12noon to 230pm.
If I had to bet on the race, which fortunately I don't, I'd probably lean towards McLaren. Like Spa, this is not a track that favors the Red Bull chassis (and their remarkable action around turns), and I feel like Ferrari is just smoke and mirrors for some reason. But that's why they actually run the races, isn't it? See you then!
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September 01, 2010
Dissecting The Austin F1 Circuit Map
There comes a time in every person's life when one of their core beliefs is shaken to its very core, and they must reassess everything they thought prior to that time in response. My friends, one of those times has come to me, for reader David has pointed me in the direction of a press release from the promoter of the new US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. This press release contains a proposed circuit map as designed by Hermann Tilke. As readers of my F1 posts are aware, I am not fond of Hermann Tilke as a track designer. Only his design for the Istanbul Otodrom is any good as far as I'm concerned, with his other layouts ranking "meh" at best. Here's the overhead map for the Austin track:
I have to admit, publicly and with no shame whatsoever, that I actually like this. There seem to be a number of homages to other tracks here, like Tilke sat down and borrowed some of the best features of them. For example, I see Suzuka's famed "S Curves" or Silverstone's Maggots-Becketts-Chapel complex in the Turns 3-4-5 on the map, Montreal's Hairpin at Turn 11, Turkey's Quad-8 at Turn 16-18, and Abu Dhabi's massive back straight is echoed by the 3/4th of a mile long back straight here.
All of which is nice, to be sure, but it gets better... oh yes, yes it does... when you look at the elevation map. Seems this time, Tilke's gotten to play with something other than a featureless plain.
more...
I have to admit, publicly and with no shame whatsoever, that I actually like this. There seem to be a number of homages to other tracks here, like Tilke sat down and borrowed some of the best features of them. For example, I see Suzuka's famed "S Curves" or Silverstone's Maggots-Becketts-Chapel complex in the Turns 3-4-5 on the map, Montreal's Hairpin at Turn 11, Turkey's Quad-8 at Turn 16-18, and Abu Dhabi's massive back straight is echoed by the 3/4th of a mile long back straight here.
All of which is nice, to be sure, but it gets better... oh yes, yes it does... when you look at the elevation map. Seems this time, Tilke's gotten to play with something other than a featureless plain.
more...
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August 28, 2010
F1 Quals: Belgium 2010
The best thing about Spa is that you can never really be comfortable with your car's setup, simply because you never know exactly what the weather is going to do. But did it play hob with today's qualifying? Here's the provisional grid:
As the Legendary Announce Team went to their first commercial break just before Q1 started, they said that there was no chance of rain for the session. When they came back, we were treated to a sight not often seen in Q1: practically the entire pit lane jammed with cars lined up, waiting for the track to go green. A radio transmission from Renaut explained it all: "Rain in 10 minutes." Since there'd be no chance to go fast once the rain began, everybody was trying to get on track and turn a hot lap on the soft tires. Once the light at the end of the pit lane turned green, everybody acted as if it was race day. Nose to tail driving, passing, the works, all to get a clear smidgen of track so to get that best time... but all that effort went to naught when Renault's Vitaly Petrov discovered that the curbs were still wet from the morning's rain. He wound up pronging his car at Turn 14, one of the few places where an immobile vehicle can't easily be extracted, as everybody was on their out-lap. A red flag was thrown, sending everybody back into the pits. Again we had the traffic jam when we came back from commercial, this time with only a couple of minutes before the rain was schedule to arrive, and again we had a swarm of cars on track hoping to get a fast lap in. It was not to be however, as it began to rain.
One of the odd quirks of Spa-Francorchamps is that it's a very long track. At just over four miles in length, it's quite possible for it to be dry in the pit lane, but pouring somewhere else. In this case, the second sector of the circuit, or roughly from Les Combes to Fagnes, was soaking wet while the rest of the layout was more-or-less dry. Wisely, everybody went to rain tires for the remainder of Q1 but not before Lucas di Grassi, Jarno Trulli and others caused a schmozzle that nearly collected Slappy Schumacher. Slappy did a great job threading his Mercedes through a rather narrow gap between pirouetting cars.
In the end, however, the usual suspects ended up on top. Red Bull got their 12th pole in thirteen races, McLaren was 2nd. The big surprise was the demise of Ferrari, seemingly resurgent in the past few contests. HWMNBN ended up in 10th, while his teammate Felipe Massa, a notoriously bad driver in the wet, outqualified him in 6th. Either the Red team is set up for a dry race on Sunday, or they just stunk up the joint.
A congrats has to go out to Virgin and Lotus, both of whom managed to get a car through to Q2. Sure the weather played a part, but it still counts. Spare a moment for Mercedes. Not only did neither of their cars make it to Q3, but both drivers are taking grid-spot penalties: Slappy a 10-spot for his attempted murder of Rubens Barrichello a month ago and a 5-spotter for Nico Rosberg, as he had to change his gearbox. Ross Brawn has probably designated Belgium as a "test race" now.
The Grand Prix is Sunday morning... we'll see you afterwards with F1U!
As the Legendary Announce Team went to their first commercial break just before Q1 started, they said that there was no chance of rain for the session. When they came back, we were treated to a sight not often seen in Q1: practically the entire pit lane jammed with cars lined up, waiting for the track to go green. A radio transmission from Renaut explained it all: "Rain in 10 minutes." Since there'd be no chance to go fast once the rain began, everybody was trying to get on track and turn a hot lap on the soft tires. Once the light at the end of the pit lane turned green, everybody acted as if it was race day. Nose to tail driving, passing, the works, all to get a clear smidgen of track so to get that best time... but all that effort went to naught when Renault's Vitaly Petrov discovered that the curbs were still wet from the morning's rain. He wound up pronging his car at Turn 14, one of the few places where an immobile vehicle can't easily be extracted, as everybody was on their out-lap. A red flag was thrown, sending everybody back into the pits. Again we had the traffic jam when we came back from commercial, this time with only a couple of minutes before the rain was schedule to arrive, and again we had a swarm of cars on track hoping to get a fast lap in. It was not to be however, as it began to rain.
One of the odd quirks of Spa-Francorchamps is that it's a very long track. At just over four miles in length, it's quite possible for it to be dry in the pit lane, but pouring somewhere else. In this case, the second sector of the circuit, or roughly from Les Combes to Fagnes, was soaking wet while the rest of the layout was more-or-less dry. Wisely, everybody went to rain tires for the remainder of Q1 but not before Lucas di Grassi, Jarno Trulli and others caused a schmozzle that nearly collected Slappy Schumacher. Slappy did a great job threading his Mercedes through a rather narrow gap between pirouetting cars.
In the end, however, the usual suspects ended up on top. Red Bull got their 12th pole in thirteen races, McLaren was 2nd. The big surprise was the demise of Ferrari, seemingly resurgent in the past few contests. HWMNBN ended up in 10th, while his teammate Felipe Massa, a notoriously bad driver in the wet, outqualified him in 6th. Either the Red team is set up for a dry race on Sunday, or they just stunk up the joint.
A congrats has to go out to Virgin and Lotus, both of whom managed to get a car through to Q2. Sure the weather played a part, but it still counts. Spare a moment for Mercedes. Not only did neither of their cars make it to Q3, but both drivers are taking grid-spot penalties: Slappy a 10-spot for his attempted murder of Rubens Barrichello a month ago and a 5-spotter for Nico Rosberg, as he had to change his gearbox. Ross Brawn has probably designated Belgium as a "test race" now.
The Grand Prix is Sunday morning... we'll see you afterwards with F1U!
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August 27, 2010
F1 Practice: Belgium 2010
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... SPA! It's a lovely thing to have F1 back after a month layoff, and what better way to come back than to race at the best road course in the world? But with the wonderful track comes not so wonderful weather, and today's practice sessions proved to be no exception to the general rule. Yes, it rained... a lot, particularly in the first session.
In the second practice session, it rained for about the first 15 minutes or so. The track then slowly began to dry, so that by the last 20 minutes or so everybody was using their slick tires. Then came the strangest message I've ever seen from Race Control: "Red Flag Conditions: Spectators in potentially dangerous area."
It appears that some fans may have been spotted inside the fences somewhere around the circuit, so the little-seen Race Control Car came out on track to make a couple of leisurely laps, just to make sure there wasn't anybody traipsing around the asphalt. While there's a red flag, all action stops but the session clock keeps running. When the track was finally "cleared", there were only three minutes left. Mark Webber's radio communication said it all: "We've been waiting all day for some dry laps. Now that we've got it, they stop us..."
Eventually HWMNBN turned the fastest lap of the session, kicking Adrian Sutil and his Force India off the top spot for practically the first time all session. Could we see another Force India on pole tomorrow? Let's just hope so!
Other than that, though, the session was a little dull. While I did watch the whole thing, it was more for the novelty of seeing F1 again than for the action. Tomorrow though, the action is for real with qualifying... and it's predicted to be raining. See you then!
In the second practice session, it rained for about the first 15 minutes or so. The track then slowly began to dry, so that by the last 20 minutes or so everybody was using their slick tires. Then came the strangest message I've ever seen from Race Control: "Red Flag Conditions: Spectators in potentially dangerous area."
It appears that some fans may have been spotted inside the fences somewhere around the circuit, so the little-seen Race Control Car came out on track to make a couple of leisurely laps, just to make sure there wasn't anybody traipsing around the asphalt. While there's a red flag, all action stops but the session clock keeps running. When the track was finally "cleared", there were only three minutes left. Mark Webber's radio communication said it all: "We've been waiting all day for some dry laps. Now that we've got it, they stop us..."
Eventually HWMNBN turned the fastest lap of the session, kicking Adrian Sutil and his Force India off the top spot for practically the first time all session. Could we see another Force India on pole tomorrow? Let's just hope so!
Other than that, though, the session was a little dull. While I did watch the whole thing, it was more for the novelty of seeing F1 again than for the action. Tomorrow though, the action is for real with qualifying... and it's predicted to be raining. See you then!
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August 22, 2010
F1 on SPEED!: Belgium 2010
It's been nearly a month since the last appearance of the F1 Circus here on this site, but finally... finally... we can get on with it. And where better to come back to than arguably the best track on the calendar, Spa-Francorchamps. Let's take a look at the track map:
Spa is the longest circuit on the calendar at just over 4.3 miles and a lap time of around 1m49sec or so. It's also one of the fastest, it has the largest amount of changes of altitude, the least predictable weather, and practically no slow spots. It's a video-game sort of track, to be honest, but damn is it fun!
It also used to be the most dangerous course in F1, back in the old nine mile long "triangle track" days. Trees, ditches, and houses lined the public roads the cars used to race on, but it's been nearly 40 years since a F1 race ran on that circuit. Just because Spa-Francopants is safer now doesn't mean it's less exciting. Eau Rouge-Raidillon may be the best turn complex in the sport with its steep flat-out climb to a whip-cracking style of right-left corner. There's been some startling accidents here, including last year's incident that took both McLarens out at the same time on the first lap. From Rivage to around Blanchimont is all downhill. In good weather it's all fast sweeping curves on the very edge of adhesion. In poor weather? Heh heh heh heh heh... and early predictions are for rain all weekend.
The past couple of years have seen Spa give us the most interesting races of the season. In 2009 we had Giancarlo Fisichella's Force India on pole and finishing second. In 2008, there was the Hamilton-Raikkonen Incident at the Chicane. What will the big track in the Ardennes Forest bring us in 2010?
We'll find out beginning on Friday morning from 7am to 840am with LIVE coverage of the 2nd Practice session on SPEED. It'll be good to hear the Legendary Announce Team again. Saturday we'll get plausibly live coverage of Quals from 7am to 830am.
Sunday, of course, we'll see the live broadcast of the 2010 Belgian Grand Prix on SPEED from 630am to 9am, with a replay from 1130am to 2pm. All times, of course, are are Pond Central. Add one hour for the East Coast, subtract two for the West, and add around 4.3 years for Alpha Centauri.
And if there's any doubt that F1U! will be all over the broadcasts, we must ask "what are you smoking?" See ya then!
Spa is the longest circuit on the calendar at just over 4.3 miles and a lap time of around 1m49sec or so. It's also one of the fastest, it has the largest amount of changes of altitude, the least predictable weather, and practically no slow spots. It's a video-game sort of track, to be honest, but damn is it fun!
It also used to be the most dangerous course in F1, back in the old nine mile long "triangle track" days. Trees, ditches, and houses lined the public roads the cars used to race on, but it's been nearly 40 years since a F1 race ran on that circuit. Just because Spa-Francopants is safer now doesn't mean it's less exciting. Eau Rouge-Raidillon may be the best turn complex in the sport with its steep flat-out climb to a whip-cracking style of right-left corner. There's been some startling accidents here, including last year's incident that took both McLarens out at the same time on the first lap. From Rivage to around Blanchimont is all downhill. In good weather it's all fast sweeping curves on the very edge of adhesion. In poor weather? Heh heh heh heh heh... and early predictions are for rain all weekend.
The past couple of years have seen Spa give us the most interesting races of the season. In 2009 we had Giancarlo Fisichella's Force India on pole and finishing second. In 2008, there was the Hamilton-Raikkonen Incident at the Chicane. What will the big track in the Ardennes Forest bring us in 2010?
We'll find out beginning on Friday morning from 7am to 840am with LIVE coverage of the 2nd Practice session on SPEED. It'll be good to hear the Legendary Announce Team again. Saturday we'll get plausibly live coverage of Quals from 7am to 830am.
Sunday, of course, we'll see the live broadcast of the 2010 Belgian Grand Prix on SPEED from 630am to 9am, with a replay from 1130am to 2pm. All times, of course, are are Pond Central. Add one hour for the East Coast, subtract two for the West, and add around 4.3 years for Alpha Centauri.
And if there's any doubt that F1U! will be all over the broadcasts, we must ask "what are you smoking?" See ya then!
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August 01, 2010
Rubens Is A Happy Man
No, not because Slappy got hit with a penalty for his ridiculous blocking maneuver in the Hungarian Grand Prix. No, it's because he was the fastest F1 driver around Top Gear's test track in the "F1 Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" segment a couple of weeks ago.
How happy is he? He went out and had a t-shirt made.
That's cool enough right there, but it gets better. He also had t-shirts made for all the other F1 drivers who have been on Top Gear. Drivers like Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Jenson Button, and I presume Michael Schumacher all got their t-shirt:
Laughter all around.
Jeremy Clarkson, one of the three hosts for Top Gear, had the line of the night. "What do you think HWMNBN's t-shirt says? 'I made Felipe Massa give me this t-shirt'?"
Bravo, that.
How happy is he? He went out and had a t-shirt made.
That's cool enough right there, but it gets better. He also had t-shirts made for all the other F1 drivers who have been on Top Gear. Drivers like Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Jenson Button, and I presume Michael Schumacher all got their t-shirt:
Laughter all around.
Jeremy Clarkson, one of the three hosts for Top Gear, had the line of the night. "What do you think HWMNBN's t-shirt says? 'I made Felipe Massa give me this t-shirt'?"
Bravo, that.
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July 31, 2010
F1 Quals: Hungary 2010
Welcome back to the Bad Old Days. Let's take a look at the provisional grid:
The Red Bull of Seb Vettel was over a second faster than the nearest non-RB6 competitor, the Ferrari of HWMNBN, and nearly half a second quicker than his teammate Mark Webber. To make matters worse, that time was set on his first flying lap in Q3; usually the second flying lap has the faster time. Certainly it was for everybody else.
It may be no coincidence that the first four slots are occupied by cars running what sure appears to be a flexible front wing. Race Director Charlie Whiting has tested the front wings of both the Red Bulls and the Ferraris and declared them race-legal. For all four cars though, video shows the endplates of the front wings nearly touching the ground on the high-speed sections of the track, instead of staying three inches clear as the regulations state. This would have the effect of increasing downforce, thereby allowing the cars to brake later into a turn. It seems telling that the fastest cars through the speed traps were the Force Indias at 186mph, while the Red Bulls were the slowest, nearly 11mph off the pace... yet they're still turning the fastest laps.
And not by a little bit either, but by a dominating amount... just like Ferrari used to during the dark days when Slappy, Rubens and Ross Brawn were making every race into one for third place. As if Hungary wasn't boring enough.
In other news, Jensen Button was the shocker elimination in Q2, just unable to kick himself into the final session. More surprising than that would have to be the Sauber of Pete Rose getting into Q3 for the first time this season. In what is also a first for the year, Vitaly Petrov outqualified his teammate Robert Kubica.
The "duh" moment of the qualifying period has to go to Gandalf. At the end of Q2, he was supposed to pull into the FIA scrutineering garage so his car could be weighed and checked. This happens randomly during quals, and is mandatory. As he pulled into the pit lane, the red light at the entry was on, a FIA marshal was waving and pointing where he was supposed to go... and he drove right on through. "I didn't see him at all," said Gandalf afterwards. "I don't care," said Whiting in reply, "here's a five grid-spot penalty." Which is lucky, because he could have been excluded from the race.
Race is tomorrow morning, F1U! will be along sometime. See you then!
The Red Bull of Seb Vettel was over a second faster than the nearest non-RB6 competitor, the Ferrari of HWMNBN, and nearly half a second quicker than his teammate Mark Webber. To make matters worse, that time was set on his first flying lap in Q3; usually the second flying lap has the faster time. Certainly it was for everybody else.
It may be no coincidence that the first four slots are occupied by cars running what sure appears to be a flexible front wing. Race Director Charlie Whiting has tested the front wings of both the Red Bulls and the Ferraris and declared them race-legal. For all four cars though, video shows the endplates of the front wings nearly touching the ground on the high-speed sections of the track, instead of staying three inches clear as the regulations state. This would have the effect of increasing downforce, thereby allowing the cars to brake later into a turn. It seems telling that the fastest cars through the speed traps were the Force Indias at 186mph, while the Red Bulls were the slowest, nearly 11mph off the pace... yet they're still turning the fastest laps.
And not by a little bit either, but by a dominating amount... just like Ferrari used to during the dark days when Slappy, Rubens and Ross Brawn were making every race into one for third place. As if Hungary wasn't boring enough.
In other news, Jensen Button was the shocker elimination in Q2, just unable to kick himself into the final session. More surprising than that would have to be the Sauber of Pete Rose getting into Q3 for the first time this season. In what is also a first for the year, Vitaly Petrov outqualified his teammate Robert Kubica.
The "duh" moment of the qualifying period has to go to Gandalf. At the end of Q2, he was supposed to pull into the FIA scrutineering garage so his car could be weighed and checked. This happens randomly during quals, and is mandatory. As he pulled into the pit lane, the red light at the entry was on, a FIA marshal was waving and pointing where he was supposed to go... and he drove right on through. "I didn't see him at all," said Gandalf afterwards. "I don't care," said Whiting in reply, "here's a five grid-spot penalty." Which is lucky, because he could have been excluded from the race.
Race is tomorrow morning, F1U! will be along sometime. See you then!
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July 30, 2010
F1 Practice: Hungary 2010
No news whatsoever from the track today. Red Bull was fast, Ferrari was too, McLaren is struggling to keep up, etc etc etc
The only bit of any interest at all is the news that Lotus brought out their new chassis today, and it's substantially faster than the car they've been running all year.
The only bit of any interest at all is the news that Lotus brought out their new chassis today, and it's substantially faster than the car they've been running all year.
Jarno Trulli testing the new Lotus
I suspect it won't pass scrutineering, and I don't want to be anywhere nearby when they take the fuel sample for testing.
God I hate the Hungaroring.
Quals in the morning.
God I hate the Hungaroring.
Quals in the morning.
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July 26, 2010
F1 on SPEED!: Hungary 2010
Okay, let's get this out of the way.
This is the trackmap for the Hungarian Grand Prix. If you think it looks like a Hermann Tilke circuit, you'd be wrong... which makes it all the worse. Slow, twisty, narrow, dusty from disuse, the Hungaroring was constructed in 1986, before Tilke became the unofficial official designer for F1. It does all the same sort of things that your normal Tilke track does: turns perfectly positioned to ruin any chance at passing on a straight, turns too quick to pass on, hairpins too big to turn inside someone (2 and 5, I'm looking at you), even the main straight is one of the shortest in F1. It's the Ur-Tilke Circuit.
The original concept for the layout came from Birdy Ecclestone himself. He wanted a street circuit similar to Monaco built in Budapest... instead, the government of Hungary built the circuit in a nearby park, but used the same basic design. The result? A street circuit without any of the visual appeal of street circuits. The one thing the Hungaroring does well is spectator seating; situated in the bottom of a natural bowl, fans can see most of the track from nearly anywhere but the main grandstands. However, the sandy soil makes the bowl a dusty nightmare to drive in. That natural bowl also traps the heat and humidity of the Hungarian summer. Drivers routinely complain about the temperatures and the bumpiness of the track surface, both of which make life miserable.
On the other hand, I routinely complain about the whole GP of Hungary experience. Now that Magny-Cours is off the calendar, this should be the next track to get the axe... unfortunately, it has a contract through 2016. The only thing that can save a race here from being a processional is rain. Unfortunately, there's only been one rain race here, in 2006... which turned out to be Jenson Button's first victory and perhaps the best race of the year. There IS rain predicted for Sunday, but we all know that forecasts made a week out can change.
The one spot of good news is that we're back to live coverage on SPEED! No more four-hour-tape-delayed coverage, and not as many commercial breaks, too! P2 comes to us live on Friday, from 7am to 840am, with Quals from 7am to 830am on Saturday.
The race will be LIVE on SPEED from 630am to 9am on Sunday morning, with a replay from 130pm to 4pm that afternoon. F1U! will be doing our usual eccentric coverage all weekend, god help us. See you then!
This is the trackmap for the Hungarian Grand Prix. If you think it looks like a Hermann Tilke circuit, you'd be wrong... which makes it all the worse. Slow, twisty, narrow, dusty from disuse, the Hungaroring was constructed in 1986, before Tilke became the unofficial official designer for F1. It does all the same sort of things that your normal Tilke track does: turns perfectly positioned to ruin any chance at passing on a straight, turns too quick to pass on, hairpins too big to turn inside someone (2 and 5, I'm looking at you), even the main straight is one of the shortest in F1. It's the Ur-Tilke Circuit.
The original concept for the layout came from Birdy Ecclestone himself. He wanted a street circuit similar to Monaco built in Budapest... instead, the government of Hungary built the circuit in a nearby park, but used the same basic design. The result? A street circuit without any of the visual appeal of street circuits. The one thing the Hungaroring does well is spectator seating; situated in the bottom of a natural bowl, fans can see most of the track from nearly anywhere but the main grandstands. However, the sandy soil makes the bowl a dusty nightmare to drive in. That natural bowl also traps the heat and humidity of the Hungarian summer. Drivers routinely complain about the temperatures and the bumpiness of the track surface, both of which make life miserable.
On the other hand, I routinely complain about the whole GP of Hungary experience. Now that Magny-Cours is off the calendar, this should be the next track to get the axe... unfortunately, it has a contract through 2016. The only thing that can save a race here from being a processional is rain. Unfortunately, there's only been one rain race here, in 2006... which turned out to be Jenson Button's first victory and perhaps the best race of the year. There IS rain predicted for Sunday, but we all know that forecasts made a week out can change.
The one spot of good news is that we're back to live coverage on SPEED! No more four-hour-tape-delayed coverage, and not as many commercial breaks, too! P2 comes to us live on Friday, from 7am to 840am, with Quals from 7am to 830am on Saturday.
The race will be LIVE on SPEED from 630am to 9am on Sunday morning, with a replay from 130pm to 4pm that afternoon. F1U! will be doing our usual eccentric coverage all weekend, god help us. See you then!
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July 24, 2010
F1 Quals: Germany 2010
The 1997 Grand Prix of Europe saw three drivers, Jacques Villeneuve, Slappy Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, set identical qualifying lap times of 1:21.072, the closest pole result in F1, and perhaps all of motorsport in general, history. Why does this piece of trivia matter?
Let's look at the provisional grid for the Grand Prix of Germany:
Two milliseconds separate hometown hero Seb Vettel and Ferrari's HWMNBN. Two-thousandth of a second. My back-of-envelope calculations tell me that a car averaging 120mph per lap (note: I have no idea what the average lap speed is at Hockenheim) will move just over four inches in two milliseconds.
Four inches over a 2.842 mile long course. That was the difference between pole position and second place, the second smallest gap in qualifying times in F1 history, behind only the aforementioned 1997 GP of Europe. HWMNBN did not look particularly pleased sitting there during the post-Quals interview session, while Vettel had a smile broad enough that I was afraid the top of his head would fall off.
All the worries about a wet qualifying session ended up for naught, as there was even a bit of sunshine here and there on the track. However, and this news brought a smile to my face, the weathermen are now predicting rain around the time the race is scheduled to begin. Considering the times put up by everybody, it appears that the teams have gone with dry setups, and I think everybody was on the super-soft tires in Q3. Certainly the top eight were. I don't remember seeing Rosberg's tires, and Hulkenberg turned a total of one timed lap during Q3 and may not have even been on camera.
In other happenings during the Qualy session, Lucas di Grassi had a breakdown of some sort before he could take to the track. Force India's Adrian Sutil had to change a gearbox before the session, so he'll be given a 5-spot grid penalty and will be starting 19th. His teammate, Vitantonio Liuzzi, had a wicked crash in Q1 that brought out a red flag for eight minutes while debris was cleaned off the front straight. Probably the surprise of the session, though, was the lousy performance of Team Mercedes. Slappy didn't make it out of Q2 and his teammate Nico Rosberg just barely squeaked into Q3 (bumping Slappy out in the process). Hockenheim was originally built as a test track for Mercedes, it's their home circuit, and the company always throws a big bash during race weekend. Heck, the stadium section of the track is named "Mercedes" for heaven's sake. A lot of red Teutonic faces today.
Race is tomorrow on Fox... and F1U! will be all over it. See you then!
Let's look at the provisional grid for the Grand Prix of Germany:
Two milliseconds separate hometown hero Seb Vettel and Ferrari's HWMNBN. Two-thousandth of a second. My back-of-envelope calculations tell me that a car averaging 120mph per lap (note: I have no idea what the average lap speed is at Hockenheim) will move just over four inches in two milliseconds.
Four inches over a 2.842 mile long course. That was the difference between pole position and second place, the second smallest gap in qualifying times in F1 history, behind only the aforementioned 1997 GP of Europe. HWMNBN did not look particularly pleased sitting there during the post-Quals interview session, while Vettel had a smile broad enough that I was afraid the top of his head would fall off.
All the worries about a wet qualifying session ended up for naught, as there was even a bit of sunshine here and there on the track. However, and this news brought a smile to my face, the weathermen are now predicting rain around the time the race is scheduled to begin. Considering the times put up by everybody, it appears that the teams have gone with dry setups, and I think everybody was on the super-soft tires in Q3. Certainly the top eight were. I don't remember seeing Rosberg's tires, and Hulkenberg turned a total of one timed lap during Q3 and may not have even been on camera.
In other happenings during the Qualy session, Lucas di Grassi had a breakdown of some sort before he could take to the track. Force India's Adrian Sutil had to change a gearbox before the session, so he'll be given a 5-spot grid penalty and will be starting 19th. His teammate, Vitantonio Liuzzi, had a wicked crash in Q1 that brought out a red flag for eight minutes while debris was cleaned off the front straight. Probably the surprise of the session, though, was the lousy performance of Team Mercedes. Slappy didn't make it out of Q2 and his teammate Nico Rosberg just barely squeaked into Q3 (bumping Slappy out in the process). Hockenheim was originally built as a test track for Mercedes, it's their home circuit, and the company always throws a big bash during race weekend. Heck, the stadium section of the track is named "Mercedes" for heaven's sake. A lot of red Teutonic faces today.
Race is tomorrow on Fox... and F1U! will be all over it. See you then!
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