Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2013/02/18/sutil-back-at-force-india-for-barcelona-test/
JeanDenis Deletraz Patrick Depailler Pedro Diniz Duke Dinsmore Frank Dochnal
Thursday, February 28, 2013
CUP: Phoenix Rising – Track Still Evolving
New car, new tire, ‘new’ track make Phoenix race a bit of a mystery…
Peter Arundell Alberto Ascari Peter Ashdown Ian Ashley Gerry Ashmore
Vettel set for titles aplenty
 |
“Here, after all, is a young man, already dubbed ‘Baby Schumi’ by Germany’s tabloid press, winning the first of what will presumably be multiple world championships, and all at the tender age of 23. Plenty of time yet to match Schumacher's incredible haul of seven world titles. And yet, their phenomenal ability to drive racing cars apart, there is little similarity between the two men. “There are still lingering doubts over his racing ability but with such blistering qualifying pace he is nearly always leading from the front anyway. Vettel is set for multiple world championships. Just don’t call him Baby Schumi.”The Guardian’s Paul Weaver says it was difficult to begrudge Vettel his moment of glory after he won the first of what will be many world titles. He also looks back at some of the season’s highlights.
“An amazing Formula One season produced its final twist here on Sunday when Sebastian Vettel, who had never led the title race, won his first world championship. It is difficult to begrudge him his glory, for he had more poles (10) than any other driver and shared the most wins (five) with Fernando Alonso. There will be red faces as well as red cars and overalls at Ferrari, though, for deciding to bring their man in when they did, only to see him re-emerge into heavy traffic. “Among the highlights, and every race felt like a highlight after the bore-start in Bahrain, there was that wonderful beginning to his McLaren career by Jenson Button, who won two of his first four races, even though he couldn't keep up the pace, especially in qualifying. “Hamilton once again drove his heart out, and outperformed a car that looked a little too ordinary at times. He was superb in Montreal. Then there was Webber, the Anglophile Aussie who was the favourite among most neutrals to win the title. There was that spectacular crash when he ran into the back of Heikki Kovalainen and the most famous of his four wins, at Silverstone, when he said to his team at the end of the race: 'Not bad for a No2 driver.' “But in the end there was only one German who mattered. It was the remarkable Vettel. This will be the first of a clutch of championships for him.”The Independent’s David Tremayne focuses on the plight of the other title contenders, writing it is easier to feel more sorry for one than the other.
“It was impossible not to feel for both Webber and Alonso. Yet while a frustrated Alonso gestured at Petrov after the race, the Australian, predictably, refused to complain about his pitstop timing. “A world championship seemed an inevitable part of Sebastian Vettel's future, but it came a little sooner than most expected, after his recent tribulations. You wouldn't bet against several more, and if that record-breaking streak continues, perhaps even Schumacher's achievements will be overshadowed.”And the Mirror’s Byron Young elaborates further on the petulant behaviour of Fernando Alonso on his slowing down lap after his title dreams ended behind the Renault of Vitaly Petrov.
“Fernando Alonso was hurled into more controversy last night for a wild gesture at the former Lada racer who cost him the title. But the Spaniard brushed off accusations he gave Russian Vitaly Petrov the finger for ruining his title hopes by blocking him for 40 laps as they duelled over sixth place. "The Ferrari ace was caught on television cruising alongside the Renault driver on the slowing down lap and gesticulating from the cockpit. Petrov was unrepentant: "What was I supposed to do? Just get out of his way, pull to the side? I don't think that is how we race. It was important for the team for me to get points."
Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/11/vettel_set_for_titles_aplenty_1.php
Frank Dochnal Jose Dolhem Martin Donnelly Carlo Abate George Abecassis
'The point of no confidence is quite near'
 The wreckage of Jochen Rindt's car at Barcelona |
“Colin. I have been racing F1 for 5 years and I have made one mistake (I rammed Chris Amon in Clermont Ferrand) and I had one accident in Zandvoort due to gear selection failure otherwise I managed to stay out of trouble. This situation changed rapidly since I joined your team. “Honestly your cars are so quick that we would still be competitive with a few extra pounds used to make the weakest parts stronger, on top of that I think you ought to spend some time checking what your different employes are doing, I sure the wishbones on the F2 car would have looked different. Please give my suggestions some thought, I can only drive a car in which I have some confidence, and I feel the point of no confidence is quite near.”A little more than a year later Rindt's Lotus suffered mechanical breakdown just before braking into one of the corners. He swerved violently to the left and crashed into a poorly-installed barrier, killing him instantly.
Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/09/the_point_of_no_confidence_is.php
Sebastien Buemi Luiz Bueno Ian Burgess Luciano Burti Roberto Bussinello
Vettel/Alonso pairing not on the cards
Luca di Montezemolo says that as long as Fernando Alonso is at Ferrari, he doesn't think Sebastian Vettel will be joining them...
Source: http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3370/8466937/Vettel-Alonso-pairing-not-on-the-cards
Skip Barber Paolo Barilla Rubens Barrichello Michael Bartels Edgar Barth
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Barcelona day two - Perez quickest for McLaren
McLaren's Sergio Perez set the pace on day two of this week's pre-season test at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona on Wednesday.
Perez's best lap around the Spanish track was marginally quicker than Sebastian Vettel's fastest for Red Bull. Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton were also within a second of the Mexican's time
Perez's best lap around the Spanish track was marginally quicker than Sebastian Vettel's fastest for Red Bull. Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton were also within a second of the Mexican's time
Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2013/2/14279.html
Johnny Claes David Clapham Jim ClarkÜ Kevin Cogan Peter Collins
Vettel takes over at the top
As Sebastian Vettel put down his winner’s trophy after holding it up in celebration on the Korean Grand Prix podium, Fernando Alonso tapped him on the back and reached out to shake his hand. It was a symbolic reflection of the championship lead being handed from one to the other.
After three consecutive victories for Vettel and Red Bull, the last two of which have been utterly dominant, it does not look as though Alonso is going to be getting it back.
Alonso will push to the end, of course, and he made all the right noises after the race, talking about Ferrari “moving in the right direction” and only needing “a little step to compete with Red Bull”.
“Four beautiful races to come with good possibilities for us to fight for the championship,” he said, adding: “Now we need to score seven points more than Sebastian. That will be extremely tough but we believe we can do it.”
Sebastian Vettel won the Korean GP by finishing ahead of team-mate Mark Webber and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso (left). Photo: Reuters
Indeed, a couple of hours after the race, Alonso was quoting samurai warrior-philosophy again on his Twitter account, just as he had in Japan a week before.
"I've never been able to win from start to finish,” he wrote. “I only learned not to be left behind in any situation."
Fighting against the seemingly inevitable is his only option. The facts are that the Ferrari has been slower than the Red Bull in terms of outright pace all year, and there is no reason to suspect anything different in the final four races of the season.
Vettel’s victory in Korea was utterly crushing in the manner of so many of his 11 wins in his dominant 2011 season. The Red Bull has moved on to another level since Singapore and Vettel, as he always does in that position, has gone with it.
Up and down the pit lane, people are questioning how Red Bull have done it, and a lot of attention has fallen on the team’s new ‘double DRS’ system.
This takes an idea introduced in different form by Mercedes at the start the season and, typically of Red Bull’s design genius Adrian Newey, applies it in a more elegant and effective way.
It means that when the DRS overtaking aid is activated – and its use is free in practice and qualifying – the car benefits from a greater drag reduction, and therefore more straight-line speed than its rivals.
Vettel has been at pains to emphasise that this does not help Red Bull in the race, when they can only use the DRS in a specified zone when overtaking other cars. But that’s not the whole story.
The greater drag reduction in qualifying means that the team can run the car with more downforce than they would otherwise be able to – because the ‘double DRS’ means they do not suffer the normal straight-line speed deficit of doing so.
That means the car’s overall lap time is quicker, whether in race or qualifying. So although the Red Bull drivers can’t use the ‘double DRS’ as a lap-time aid in the actual grands prix, they are still benefiting from having it on the car.
And they are not at risk on straights in the race because the extra overall pace, from the greater downforce, means they are far enough ahead of their rivals for them not to be able to challenge them, let alone overtake them. As long as they qualify at the front, anyway.
It’s not all down to the ‘double DRS’, though. McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe said in Korea: “They appear to have made a good step on their car. I doubt that is all down to that system. I doubt if a lot of it is down to that system, actually. You’ll probably find it’s just general development.”
BBC F1 technical analyst Gary Anderson will go into more details on this in his column on Monday. Whatever the reasons for it, though, Red Bull’s rediscovered dominant form means Alonso is in trouble.
While Red Bull have been adding great chunks of performance to their car, Ferrari have been fiddling around with rear-wing design, a relatively small factor in overall car performance.
They have admitted they are struggling with inconsistency between the results they are getting in testing new parts in their wind tunnel and their performance on the track, so it is hard to see how they will close the gap on a Red Bull team still working flat out on their own updates.
The Ferrari has proved adaptable and consistent, delivering strong performances at every race since a major upgrade after the first four grands prix of the year.
But the only time Alonso has had definitively the quickest car is when it has been raining. It is in the wet that he took one of his three wins, and both his poles.
But he cannot realistically expect it to rain in the next three races in Delhi, Abu Dhabi and Austin, Texas. And after that only Brazil remains. So Alonso is effectively hoping for Vettel to hit problems, as he more or less admitted himself on Sunday.
How he must be ruing the bad breaks of those first-corner retirements in Belgium and Japan – even if they did effectively only cancel out Vettel’s two alternator failures in Valencia and Monza.
If anyone had reason on Sunday to regret what might have been, though, it was Lewis Hamilton, who has driven fantastically well all season only to be let down by his McLaren team in one way or another.
Hamilton, his title hopes over, wasted no time in pointing out after the race in Korea that the broken anti-roll bar that dropped him from fourth to 10th was the second suspension failure in as many races, and a broken gearbox robbed him of victory at the previous race in Singapore.
Operational problems in the early races of the season also cost him a big chunk of points.
Hamilton wears his heart on his sleeve, and in one off-the-cuff remark to Finnish television after the race, he revealed a great deal about why he has decided to move to Mercedes next year.
“It’s a day to forget,” Hamilton said. “A year to forget as well. I’m looking forward to a fresh start next year.”
In other words, I’ve had enough of four years of not being good enough, for various reasons, and I might as well try my luck elsewhere.
There was another post-race comment from Hamilton, too, that said an awful lot. “I hope Fernando keeps pushing,” he said.
Hamilton did not reply when asked directly whether that meant he wanted Alonso to win the title. But you can be sure that remark is a reflection of Hamilton’s belief that he is better than Vettel, that only Alonso is his equal.
Whether that is a correct interpretation of the standing of the three best drivers in the world, it will take more than this season to tell.
In the meantime, if Alonso and Ferrari are not to be mistaken in their belief that they still have a chance, “keeping pushing” is exactly what they must do. Like never before.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/10/as_sebastian_vettel_put_down.html
Larry Crockett Tony Crook Art Cross Geoff Crossley Chuck Daigh
Pirelli not expecting “five-stop races” | 2013 F1 season
Pirelli not expecting “five-stop races” is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
Pirelli say the high level of tyre degradation seen in testing so far won’t be replicated in the races.
“We’re only just past the halfway point of mid-season testing, so it’s still very early days,” said motorsport director Paul Hembery.
“But the conditions we’re seeing in Barcelona are again far from typical of the rest of the season, with much cooler ambient and track temperatures than we would normally race in.
“Coupled with the fact that the teams are still making big set-up adjustments to their new cars, as they all try to optimise their car-tyre packages, we are seeing levels of degradation that are outside of the usual parameters.
“Once we get to Melbourne we are confident that the tyres will be in their intended working range, with two to three pit stops.”
Mark Webber said the sport should not got too far in increasing the number of pit stops to produce exciting races.
“We know when you have multiple stops, a lot of degradation in the races, there’s more chances for things to go wrong,” he said. “You can have a little bit more, let’s say, interesting results.”
“If that’s what the people like then maybe we can have more stops and more action. If you have a one stop race, the Red Bulls, McLarens, everyone lines up, it’s a one-stop race then the result might be a little bit more fixed.
“But if you have a five-stop Grand Prix things move around a little bit. In general I still think the quick guys will be strong at the end of the race. But I hope we don’t have five-stop races because it’s not really Formula One.
“We need to keep the stops sensible in terms of duration. I think everybody knows the balancing act needs to be not one stop, not five, somewhere in the middle.”
Webber added he thought it was unlikely the opening races of this season would produce as many different winners as was seen last year: “I don’t think we can have more winners than last year, for the first seven races. That’s was a record I think which will stay for a while.”
2013 F1 season
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- Reliability a priority for Renault in 2013
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- McLaren confirm Lowe to leave at end of year
Browse all 2013 F1 season articles
Pirelli not expecting “five-stop races” is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/dnlaapckVxs/
Rene Arnoux Peter Arundell Alberto Ascari Peter Ashdown Ian Ashley
Warrior Alonso bides his time
Almost Fernando Alonso's first act after what must have been the huge blow of seeing Sebastian Vettel slash his world championship lead to just four points at the Japanese Grand Prix, was to quote that country's great swordfighter and philosopher Miyamoto Musashi.
"If the enemy thinks of the mountains," Alonso wrote on his Twitter account, "attack by sea; and if he thinks of the sea, attack by the mountains."
That the Ferrari driver can reach for the words of a 17th century kensei warrior and strategist in a moment of such strain reveals a lot about the manner in which he combines an indomitable fighting spirit with a status as possibly the most cerebral Formula 1 driver of his generation.
But it will take more than relentlessness and clever strategy for Alonso to hold on to a lead for which he has struggled so hard this season, but which has now dwindled to almost nothing.
The 31-year-old, who spun out at Suzuka with a puncture after being tagged by Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus on the run to the first corner, has carried his Ferrari team on his back this year.
Alonso has won three races and taken a series of strong points finishes to establish what was until recently an imposing championship lead in a car that has never once been quick enough to set pole position in the dry.
He did so by driving, in terms of consistency and lack of mistakes, one of the most perfect seasons there has ever been - a feat made all the more impressive because it was done in not the best car.
Fernando Alonso leads Sebastian Vettel in the Championship by four points. Photo: Getty
Yet now, through no fault of his own, Alonso has failed to finish two of the last four races and in that time Vettel has made hay, taking 37 points out of his rival's lead.
Heading into Japan, it was already beginning to look as if Vettel was going to be hard to resist.
While the Red Bull has been a forbiddingly quick race car all season, the team did not in the first half of the season find it very easy to get the best out of it in qualifying.
But since mid-summer they have found consistency, and started to qualify regularly at the front of the grid as well. At the same time, luck has deserted Ferrari and Alonso.
More than that, Red Bull also appear in recent races to have made a significant step forward in the performance of their car.
Vettel looked very strong in Singapore two weeks ago, trading fastest times with Lewis Hamilton throughout the weekend and taking victory after the Englishman's McLaren retired from the lead with a gearbox failure. And in Japan the Red Bull looked unbeatable from as early as Saturday final practice session.
How much of this is to do with the new 'double DRS' system which came to light in Suzuka is unclear.
Team boss Christian Horner said he thought it was more to do with the characteristics of the track suiting those of the Red Bull car. Perhaps, but the 'double DRS' certainly won't be doing any harm.
Unlike the system that Mercedes have been using since the start of the season, which uses the DRS overtaking aid to 'stall' the front wing, Red Bull's works entirely on the rear wing.
What it means is that they can run the car with more downforce in qualifying without the consequent straight-line speed penalty caused by the extra drag, because the 'double DRS' bleeds off the drag.
This does bring a straight-line speed penalty in the race, when DRS use is no longer free. But as long as the car qualifies at the front, this does not matter, as it is quick enough over a lap to stay out of reach of its rivals.
It is not clear how long Red Bull have been working on this system at grand prix weekends, but to the best of BBC Sport's knowledge, Japan was the first time they had raced it. Coupled with a new front wing design introduced in Singapore, it has turned an already strong package into an intimidating one.
Vettel used it to dominate the race in the fashion he did so many in 2011 on his way to his second-consecutive title. As he so often does in the fastest car when he starts at the front of the grid, he looked invincible.
Alonso, though, is not one to be intimidated easily and will take solace from the fact that Ferrari's pace compared to Red Bull was not as bad as it might appear at first glance.
Alonso may have qualified only seventh, but he reckoned he was on course for fourth place on the grid before having to slow for caution flags marking Raikkonen's spun Lotus at Spoon Curve.
And judging by the pace shown by his team-mate Felipe Massa in the race, Alonso would have finished in a sure-fire second place had he got beyond the first corner. He might even have been able to challenge Vettel, given how much faster the Ferrari has been in races than in qualifying this year.
Alonso's problem for the remainder of the season is that salvaging podiums is no longer enough - he needs to start winning races again. Which means Ferrari need to start improving their car relative to the opposition.
Meanwhile, spice has been added to an already intriguing final five races by a seemingly innocuous incident in qualifying in Japan.
After slowing as he passed Raikkonen's car, Alonso continued on his flying lap, but when he got to the chicane, he came across Vettel, who blocked him.
Ferrari reckoned this cost Alonso somewhere in the region of 0.1-0.2secs, which would have moved him up a place on the grid. The stewards, though, decided to give Vettel only a reprimand.
They justified this on the basis that they believed Vettel had not known Alonso was there - and they let him off not looking in his mirrors because they felt he had reason to believe no-one would be continuing on a flying lap following the Raikkonen incident.
But some would see that as flawed thinking. Alonso was one of several drivers who had at that point not set a time in the top 10 shoot-out, and all of them were likely to be continuing their laps because whatever time they did set was going to define their grid slot.
Although there is no suggestion Vettel held up Alonso deliberately, the Red Bull driver is a sharp cookie, and almost certainly would have known this.
Even if he did not, his team should have warned him. And on that basis, it can be argued that Vettel's offence was no less bad than that of Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne, who was given a three-place grid penalty for delaying Williams's Bruno Senna in similar fashion earlier in qualifying.
Ferrari were distinctly unimpressed by the stewards' verdict, but Alonso being Alonso, he has not mentioned any of this publicly. Alonso being Alonso, though, he will have lodged it away for the future.
In the meantime, before heading to Korea for another potentially pivotal race next weekend, might he be studying Musashi a little more?
You must "know the times", Musashi wrote. "Knowing the times means if your ability is high, seeing right into things. If you are thoroughly conversant with strategy, you will recognise the enemy's intentions and thus have many opportunities to win.
"If you attain and adhere to the wisdom of my strategy, you need never doubt that you will win."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/10/post_4.html
Cliff Allison Fernando Alonso Giovanna Amati George Amick Red Amick
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
F1: Renault unveils first V6 turbo images
Renault has unveiled the first images of the new V6 turbo engine that it believes will help attract fans back to Formula 1
Source: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/105710
Georges Berger Gerhard Berger Eric Bernard Enrique Bernoldi Enrico Bertaggia
Smooth Button masters F1's greatest test
At the circuit widely regarded as the greatest test of a racing driver in the world, Jenson Button took a victory in the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday that was probably the most dominant this season.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who finished second to Button after an impressive performance of his own, had an even bigger margin of superiority in Valencia but he was unable to make it count because his car failed.
Button had no such trouble. He stamped his authority on the weekend from the start of qualifying and never looked back, as all hell broke loose behind his McLaren.
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The frightening first-corner pile-up helped him in that it took out a potential threat in world championship leader Fernando Alonso's Ferrari. The Spaniard was up to third place from fifth on the grid before being assaulted by the flying Lotus of Romain Grosjean, who had collided with the other McLaren of Lewis Hamilton.
But before the race Alonso had entertained no prospect of battling for victory, and while he would almost certainly have finished on the podium, there is no reason to believe he would have troubled Button.
The Englishman also comfortably saw off in the opening laps the challenge of Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen, hotly tipped before the weekend.
Raikkonen was left to battle entertainingly with rivals including Vettel and Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher, on whom the Finn pulled an astoundingly brave pass into the 180mph swerves of Eau Rouge which was almost a carbon copy of Red Bull driver Mark Webber's move on Alonso last year.
Button, meanwhile, was serene out front, never looking under the remotest threat.
For Button, this was a far cry from the struggles he has encountered in what has not overall been one of his better seasons.
A strong start included a dominant victory in the opening race in Australia and second place in China.
But after that he tailed off badly, struggling with this year's big Formula 1 quandary - getting the temperamental Pirelli tyres into the right operating window.
The 32-year-old had a sequence of weak races and even at other times has generally been firmly in Hamilton's shade.
Those struggles were ultimately solved by some head-scratching on set-up at McLaren, but they were undoubtedly influenced by Button's smooth, unflustered driving style.
Button's weakness - one of which he is well aware - is that he struggles when the car is not to his liking. Unlike Alonso and Hamilton, he finds it difficult to adapt his style to different circumstances.
The flip side of that is that when he gets the car's balance right, he is close to unbeatable. It is a similar situation to that of two former McLaren drivers - Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.
Senna, like Hamilton, was usually faster, but when Prost, whose style was similar to Button's, got his car in the sweet spot he was matchless.
"I obviously have a style where it's quite difficult to find a car that works for me in qualifying," Button said on Saturday, "but when it does we can get pole position."
Perhaps an elegant style that does not upset the car or over-work the tyres was exactly what was needed through the demanding corners of Spa's challenging middle sector.
That was McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe's view, certainly.
"It could well be," Lowe said, "because it's made up of these longer flowing corners rather than the short, stop-start ones. So that may well be something he can work with well, just tucking it all up and smooth lines."
Was this the secret to Button's performance in qualifying, when he was a remarkable 0.8 seconds quicker than team-mate Lewis Hamilton?
In a well-publicised series of tweets after qualifying, Hamilton blamed this on the team's collective decision - with which he agreed when it was made - to run his car on a set-up with higher downforce.
This is a perfectly valid decision at Spa -it was a route that Raikkonen also took - and in pure lap time the two differing approaches should balance themselves out. But for them to do so, the driver with the higher downforce set-up has to make up in the middle sector the time he has lost on the straights.
As the McLaren telemetry of which Hamilton so unwisely tweeted a picture on race morning proved, however, that was not the case. Hamilton was not fast enough through sector two - indeed his time through there on his final qualifying lap was 0.3secs slower than his best in the session.
Hamilton tweeted a photo of the McLaren telemetry, prompting a rebuke from his team.
That was the real reason why he was slower than Button in Spa qualifying - not the fact he was down on straight-line speed, which was always going to be the case once he went with the set-up he did.
It's worth pointing out in this context that Hamilton was also significantly slower than Button in final practice - a fact that led him to take the gamble on the different set-up.
How Hamilton would have fared in the race will never be known, because of the accident with Grosjean.
It was a scary moment - Grosjean's flying Lotus narrowly missed Alonso's head - and the incident underlined once again why F1 bosses are so keen to introduce some kind of more effective driver head protection in the future.
From the point of view of a disinterested observer, the only plus point of the accident, which also took out the two impressive Saubers, was that it has narrowed Alonso's lead in the championship. Vettel is now within a race victory of the Spaniard.
Despite this, to his immense credit, Alonso was a picture of measured calm after the race.
Invited to criticise Grosjean, he refused. Although, being the wise owl he is, he not only had at his fingertips the statistics of Grosjean's first-lap crashes this season, but slipped them into his answer.
"I am not angry [at Grosjean]," he said. "No-one did this on purpose, they were fighting, two aggressive drivers on the start, Lewis and Romain and this time it was us in the wrong place at the wrong time and we were hit.
"It's true also that in 12 races, Romain had seven crashes at the start, so..."
It was, Alonso pointed out, a good opportunity for governing body the FIA to make a point about driving standards this season, which Williams's Pastor Maldonado has also seemed to be waging a campaign to lower.
It was an opportunity the stewards did not decline.
Grosjean will now watch next weekend's Italian Grand Prix from the sidelines after being given a one-race suspension, the first time a driver has been banned since Michael Schumacher in 1994. Maldonado has a 10-place grid penalty for jumping the start and causing his own, independent, accident.
Earlier this year, triple world champion Jackie Stewart, who is an advisor to Lotus, offered to sit down with Grosjean and give him some advice about the way he approached his races.
Stewart is famous not only for his campaign for safety in F1 but also for his impeccable driving standards during his career. He has helped many drivers in his time, but Grosjean turned him down.
On Sunday evening, I was contacted by an old friend, the two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 and former IndyCar champion Gil de Ferran, who was involved in F1 a few years ago as a senior figure in the Honda team.
That coaching, De Ferran said, "seems like a great idea".
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/09/smooth_button_masters_f1_great.html
Frank Armi Chuck Arnold Rene Arnoux Peter Arundell Alberto Ascari
Raikkonen favourite to taste victory in Belgium
At Spa-Francorchamps
In this remarkable season of unpredictability and uncertainty, of seven winners in 11 races, of the most open title battle in years, Formula 1 is still waiting for one big result.
A victory for the revived Lotus team has looked inevitable since the start of the year. And as the world championship re-starts in Belgium this weekend following a month-long summer break, the expectation is that this could be their race.
The car, from the team formerly known as Renault that won two world championships with Fernando Alonso in 2005-6, has been fast all season. Its best result has been four second places. But the momentum seems to be with them.
Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus pushed Lewis Hamilton's winning McLaren all the way in Hungary five weeks ago. The Finn has a stunning record at the stunning Spa-Francorchamps track that hosts this race and Lotus have been working on a technical trick that could give them a key advantage on the demanding track that swoops and twists around the contours of the Ardennes mountains.
Kimi Raikkonen has won the Belgian Grand Prix four times. Photo: Getty
The 32-year-old Finn seems to have a special affinity with the circuit regarded as arguably the biggest test for a racing driver anywhere in the world. He has taken four victories here - and either won or retired from every single race he has competed at Spa since 2004.
Raikkonen's all-action style, based on fast corner entry in a car with good front-end bite, seems perfectly suited to Spa's cascade of long, fast corners.
Two of his wins - for McLaren in 2004 and Ferrari in 2009 - came in years when his machinery was otherwise uncompetitive. The other two were dominant victories from the front in 2005 and 2007.
But Raikkonen's position as arguably the favourite for victory this weekend is not founded just on his renowned Spa specialism. He is widely expected to have the car to do the job.
Lotus have come agonisingly close to victory twice already this year - in Bahrain in April and at the last race, in Hungary at the end of July.
Both times it was Raikkonen who challenged only to just fall short, behind Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel in Bahrain and Hamilton in Hungary. But the Finn, who returned to F1 this season after two unproductive years in world rallying, has actually been Lotus's weaker driver for most of the year.
His team-mate, the Franco-Swiss Romain Grosjean, who is in his first full season, has generally had a marginal advantage - to the point that around the European Grand Prix in Valencia at the end of June there were murmurings of dissatisfaction with the Finn, who won the world championship for Ferrari in 2007.
Raikkonen ultimately finished second to Alonso in Valencia, but had been off the pace of Grosjean all weekend - indeed the younger man was pushing the Ferrari hard when his alternator failed late in the race.
When, following the race, Raikkonen expressed his frustration at it taking so long for Lotus to win, one team member privately expressed the view that he would be better focused on beating Grosjean before moaning about not winning yet.
Since then, though, Raikkonen has upped his game and in the race in Hungary he was fantastic, the middle stint there that lifted him from fifth place to potential victor one of the most impressive pieces of driving all season.
Had Raikkonen not made a mess of qualifying, and taken the front row slot he should have earned rather than the fifth place he did, he might well have won. The same can be said of Bahrain, where a decision to save tyres for the race left him down in 11th place on the grid and with too much to do.
Grosjean, too, must be considered a potential Spa winner. Despite making too many errors, he has been all confidence and commitment this year.
He has looked a different driver on his return to F1 in 2012 from the haunted figure who was demoralised by Alonso during his first half-season at Renault in 2009, after which he was dropped.
The high expectations for Lotus at Spa are partly based on the car's inherent qualifies - a factor in its general competitiveness this year has been strong performance in fast corners, and Spa is full of them.
As well as that, though, is that innovation mentioned earlier. In Hungary, and in Germany the week before, Lotus trialled a clever system aimed at boosting the team's straight-line speed without compromising its performance in other areas.
Like the DRS overtaking aid featured on all the cars, the Lotus system affects the rear wing to reduce drag.
It works by channelling air from scoops behind the driver's head to the rear wing, which this extra air then 'stalls', reducing the downforce the wing creates and therefore its drag, boosting straight-line speed.
What is not clear is when exactly the Lotus system comes into play.
Is it independent of the DRS, as some believe, and therefore active above a pre-set car velocity and usable at all times, including in the race when DRS use is restricted to a specific zone?
Or is it, as BBC F1 technical analyst Gary Anderson believes, linked to the DRS and simply an extra boost to the car's speed when that system is employed, like the system Mercedes have been using but without the inherent compromises that team have discovered?
Either way, it could be a significant boost to Lotus's chances in Spa. Lotus have yet to use the system outside free practice, and this weekend they will again try it out on Friday before making a decision whether to race it.
For all the talk of Lotus, though, a win for them is a very long way from a foregone conclusion. Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren will be as strong as ever on a track that should suit all their cars.
In fact, it will be a particularly interesting weekend all round.
Which teams have made best use of the mid-season break to develop their cars?
Have Ferrari made the step forward in performance they seemed in Hungary to need if Alonso - unquestionably the stand-out driver of the season so far - is to hang on to his championship lead?
Can McLaren maintain the upward momentum they showed in Germany and Hungary after a brief slump?
Will Red Bull finally unlock the potential of what has looked, on balance, overall the fastest car?
The climax of one of the sport's greatest seasons, a hyper-intense period of nine races in three months, starts here.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/08/raikkonen_favourite_to_taste_v.html
Chris Craft Jim Crawford Ray Crawford Alberto Crespo Antonio Creus
Adrian Sutil Q&A: Now we can only wait on Force India decision
Thursday at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya saw Adrian Sutil back in a Formula One car for the first time since November 2011, as he looks to reclaim the Force India race seat he lost to Nico Hulkenberg. Sutil knows that whether the team choose him or their 2012 reserve Jules Bianchi to partner Paul di Resta this season will be down to more than just pace
Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2013/2/14283.html
Zsolt Baumgartner Elie Bayol Don Beauman Karl Gunther Bechem Jean Behra
NASCAR: Johnson beats Earnhardt at Daytona
Jimmie Johnson ended his run of poor Daytona 500 results by holding off Hendrick team-mate Dale Earnhardt Jr to win NASCAR's premier race for the second time
Source: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/105694
Tony Brooks Alan Brown Walt Brown Warwick Brown Adolf Brudes
F1: Renault unveils first V6 turbo images
Renault has unveiled the first images of the new V6 turbo engine that it believes will help attract fans back to Formula 1
Source: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/105710
Michele Alboreto Jean Alesi Jaime Alguersuari Philippe Alliot Cliff Allison
Raikkonen and Pic star at ice racing event
Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen and Caterham's Charles Pic were the star attractions at a unique ice racing event in Russia over the weekend.
The pair were contestants in the 'Race of Stars', a long-running motorsport event co-organised by Renault in which drivers race 4x4 cars on a specially-constructed ice track within Moscow's Hippodrome
The pair were contestants in the 'Race of Stars', a long-running motorsport event co-organised by Renault in which drivers race 4x4 cars on a specially-constructed ice track within Moscow's Hippodrome
Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2013/2/14290.html
Bobby Ball Marcel Balsa Lorenzo Bandini Henry Banks Fabrizio Barbazza
Razia: “Conflicts” prevented Barcelona test showing | F1 Fanatic round-up
Razia: “Conflicts” prevented Barcelona test showing is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
In the round-up: Luiz Razia explains why he did not drive during last week’s test at the Circuit de Catalunya.
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Questões financeiras ameaçam estreia de Luiz Razia na F-1 (Folha de S. Paulo, Portuguese)
Razia says “conflicts” kept him from driving for Marussia in last week’s test but he expects to return to the cockpit this week.
A white-knuckle ride (1974-1981) (McLaren)
“Looking back on it now, I’d say 1979-80 was probably the most turbulent period in McLaren’s history. By the end of 1980 the team’s exhausted designers had produced three different chassis in 18 months – the M30 arrived in 1980 – and the executives of the team’s long-time sponsor Marlboro had had enough. The result was that the Marlboro men effected an amalgamation between McLaren and Ron Dennis’s Project 4 organisation – and the rest, as they say, is history.”
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Comment of the day
William Katz puts the case for encouraging more women to compete in motor sport:
I’ve said it before, and I will keep saying it, the only reason there aren’t more women in motorsport is because little Michelle Schumacher or Sabrina Vettel would not have been given a go-kart at the age of three years old the way that many of the stars of this sport were.
That is not necessarily the fault of Formula One, but it is something that I think it is the responsibility of the sport’s governing body to try and address. Doing this means changing the attitudes of the sport’s fans.
And yes, that can feel forced at times, the same way that racial integration felt forced, but that’s what’s necessary and it’s a worthy pursuit.
William Katz (@Hwkii)
From the forum
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Ivz, Jake and Mike Roach!
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.
On this day in F1
Tony Brooks turns 81 today. Brooks was runner-up to Jack Brabham in the 1959 world championship while driving for Ferrari. The year before he won three times for Vanwall.
His memoirs, published last year, are well worth reading:
Image © Marussia
Razia: “Conflicts” prevented Barcelona test showing is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/GZrkbWqXzLI/
Erik Comas Franco Comotti George Connor George Constantine John Cordts
Monday, February 25, 2013
Pressure is off - Horner
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says "the pressure is off" the team after the success it has achieved in recent seasons
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/redbull/motorsport/story/100909.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Clemar Bucci Ronnie Bucknum Ivor Bueb Sebastien Buemi Luiz Bueno
McLaren drivers out of title race
 Is it now a three-way battle for the title? |
“Focus and concentration will be of paramount importance and there is none stronger in this regard than Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.”The Guardian’s Oliver Owen thinks that it is Mark Webber’s title to lose now, and that this may be the Australian’s last realistic chance of winning the title.
“He has driven beautifully. Monaco and Silverstone spring to mind. He has been an uncompromising racer, not giving Vettel or Lewis Hamilton an inch in Turkey and Singapore respectively. Most importantly, he has largely avoided the bouts of brain fade that can wreck a season – his on-track hooning in Melbourne when racing Hamilton being the only exception. But there is a feeling that for Webber it is now or never, that a chance of a tilt at the title may never come again. He is certainly driving as if that is the case and that has been his strength.”According to The Mirror’s Byron Young, both McLaren drivers are now out of the title hunt after their fourth and fifth place finishes in Suzuka.
“McLaren's title hopes died yesterday in a weekend from Hell at Suzuka. Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton finished fourth and fifth in a Japanese Grand Prix they had to win to have the remotest chance of keeping their title bid alive."The Sun’s Michael Spearman was of the same opinion, saying “Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button's title hopes were in tatters after a shocker in Japan.”
Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/10/mclaren_drivers_out_of_title_r_1.php
Skip Barber Paolo Barilla Rubens Barrichello Michael Bartels Edgar Barth
Hamilton looks for long-term success at Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton's move to Mercedes is the biggest development in the Formula 1 driver market for three years.
Ahead of the 2010 season, Fernando Alonso moved to Ferrari, world champion Jenson Button switched from world champions Brawn (soon to become Mercedes) to McLaren and Michael Schumacher came out of retirement to replace Button.
Now, the man who most consider to be the fastest driver in the world has taken a huge gamble by switching from McLaren, who have the best car this year and have won five races this season alone, to Mercedes, who have won one race in three years.
To make way for Hamilton, Mercedes have ditched the most successful racing driver of all time.
Schumacher's return at the wheel of a Mercedes 'Silver Arrow' was billed as a dream for all concerned, but with one podium finish in three years the German marque have abandoned the project.
Hamilton leaves a team that has won more races in the last 30 years than anyone else. Photo: Getty
That the announcement was made just five days after the latest in a series of collisions in which Schumacher rammed into the back of another driver after misjudging his closing speed simply rubs salt into the wound.
Hamilton will be replaced at McLaren by one of F1's most promising rising stars - Sauber's Mexican driver Sergio Perez, who has taken three excellent podium finishes this year.
That's quite a shake-up, and it raises any number of fascinating questions, the first and most obvious of which is why Hamilton would leave a team that has won more races in the last 30 years than anyone else - even Ferrari - for one that has won one in the last three.
The explanation for that lies both at his new and current teams.
Mercedes sold the drive to Hamilton on the basis that they were in the best position to deliver him long-term success. In this, there are echoes of Schumacher's move to Ferrari in 1996.
Back then, the Italian team were in the doldrums, having won just one race the previous year. But Schumacher fancied a project, and saw potential. It took time, but by 1997 he was competing for the title, and from 2000 he won five in a row.
The architect of that success was Ross Brawn, then Ferrari's technical director and now Mercedes' team boss. Brawn is one of the most respected figures in F1, and Hamilton is banking on him being able to transform Mercedes in the same way as he did Ferrari.
Undoubtedly, Brawn will have made a convincing case to Hamilton; he is a very persuasive and credible man. It is also worth pointing out that Mercedes - in their former guise of Brawn - have won the world title more recently than McLaren. Button succeeded Hamilton as world champion in 2009.
Mercedes believe that the new regulations for 2014, when both the cars and engines will be significantly changed, will play into their hands.
They are devoting a lot of resources towards that year, and are optimistic they will be in good shape - just as Brawn were, in fact, when the last big rule change happened for 2009.
And Mercedes have a technical team that, on paper, is immensely strong. In Bob Bell, Aldo Costa and Geoff Willis, they have three men who have been technical directors in their own right at other top teams all working under Brawn.
Part of this argument is predicated on the fact that new engine regulations always favour teams run or directly supported by engine manufacturers, on the basis that they are best placed to benefit from developments, and to integrate the car with the engine.
But this is where that argument falls down a little - McLaren may be a mere 'customer' of Mercedes for the first time next year, but they are still going to be using Mercedes engines in 2014, and on the basis of parity of performance.
The love affair with McLaren, who took him on as a 13-year-old karting prodigy, ended some time ago.
Since 2010, Hamilton has been complaining from time to time about the McLaren's lack of aerodynamic downforce compared to the best car of the time.
Through 2009-11, he grew increasingly frustrated at his team's apparent inability to challenge Red Bull. Hamilton is well aware of how good he is, and it hurt to watch Sebastian Vettel win two titles on the trot and not be able to challenge him.
That explains his ill-advised - and dangerously public - approach to Red Bull team boss Christian Horner at the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix.
This year, McLaren started the season with the fastest car for the first time since, arguably, 2005. But again they could not get out of their own way.
Pit-stop blunders affected Hamilton's races in Malaysia and China early in the season, and then a terrible mistake in not putting enough fuel in Hamilton's car in qualifying in Spain turned an almost certain win into a battle for minor points.
These errors badly affected his title charge and in early summer his management started approaching other teams.
His favoured choice was almost certainly Red Bull, but they weren't interested. They also approached Ferrari, where Alonso vetoed Hamilton. That left Mercedes.
It is ironic that his decision to move teams has been announced on the back of four races that McLaren have dominated.
Meanwhile, Hamilton's relationship with McLaren Group chairman Ron Dennis, the man who signed him up and who promoted him to the F1 team in 2007, has collapsed.
It was noticeable that after Hamilton's win in Italy earlier this month Dennis stood, arms-folded and stoney-faced, beneath the podium, not applauding once. Nor did Dennis don one of McLaren's 'rocket-red' victory T-shirts, or join in the champagne celebrations with the team once Hamilton had completed his media duties.
In Singapore last weekend, it seemed that McLaren still believed they had a chance of keeping Hamilton; at least that was the impression from talking to the team.
But did Dennis already know in Monza of Hamilton's decision to defect? Was Hamilton's sombre mood after that win a reflection of his wondering whether he had made the right decision?
Was Hamilton's ill-advised decision to post a picture of confidential McLaren telemetry on the social networking site Twitter on the morning of the Belgian Grand Prix, the weekend before Italy, the action of a man who had had enough and didn't care any more because he knew he was leaving?
When was the Mercedes deal actually finally signed?
Was it done before BBC Sport broke the story of it being imminent in the week leading up to the Italian race?
Or was it not inked, finally, until this week, on the basis that only now has the Mercedes board committed to new commercial terms with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone?
In which case, was the gearbox failure that cost Hamilton a certain victory in Singapore, and effectively extinguished his title hopes for good, the straw that broke the camel's back?
In short, was Hamilton's decision based on cold, hard logic, rooted primarily in performance, in making more money, or founded on emotion as much as calculation. Or was it a combination of all those factors?
All these questions will be answered in time. Whatever led to Hamilton's decision, it is fair to say that it is an enormous gamble, one on which the next phase of his career hangs.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/09/hamilton_looks_for_long-term_s.html
Johnny Claes David Clapham Jim ClarkÜ Kevin Cogan Peter Collins
Vettel/Alonso pairing not on the cards
Luca di Montezemolo says that as long as Fernando Alonso is at Ferrari, he doesn't think Sebastian Vettel will be joining them...
Source: http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3370/8466937/Vettel-Alonso-pairing-not-on-the-cards
Giorgio Bassi Erwin Bauer Zsolt Baumgartner Elie Bayol Don Beauman
Webber satisfied with first race simulation
Mark Webber said there was room for improvement after his first race simulation in the Red Bull RB9, but on the whole was happy with his first day back in the car since the test in Jerez
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/101332.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Bernard Collomb Alberto Colombo Erik Comas Franco Comotti George Connor
Coulthard slams 'irresponsible' approach to new teams
David Coulthard has added his voice to those expressing concern about the presence of three new Formula One team on the grid this season
Source: http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/10465.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Eitel Cantoni Bill Cantrell Ivan Capelli Piero Carini Duane Carter
Sunday, February 24, 2013
F1: Lotus downplays testing form
Lotus team principal Eric Boullier has downplayed his team's impressive pace during testing.
Source: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/105673
Elie Bayol Don Beauman Karl Gunther Bechem Jean Behra Derek Bell
Ferrari is the 'most powerful' brand
Ferrari has been rated as the world's "most powerful" brand by leading brand valuation experts, Brand Finance...
Source: http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3370/8507530/Ferrari-is-the-most-powerful-brand
Bill Brack Ernesto Brambilla Vittorio Brambilla Toni Branca Gianfranco Brancatelli
Ferrari is the 'most powerful' brand
Ferrari has been rated as the world's "most powerful" brand by leading brand valuation experts, Brand Finance...
Source: http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3370/8507530/Ferrari-is-the-most-powerful-brand
Jenson Button Tommy Byrne Giulio Cabianca Phil Cade Alex Caffi
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