Category Archives: F1 News

Force India unveiled its new VJM07 in Jerez this morning, having previously released only a side view – which did not show the ‘anteater’ nose that the car shares with the Toro Rosso and other 2014 cars.

Nico Hulkenberg shook down the car at Silverstone on Friday, and Sergio Perez will run today.

Toro Rosso technical director James Key has questioned whether the distinctive ‘twin-prong’ nose seen on the Lotus E22 is within the spirit what was intended by the rules.

However, he acknowledged that it appears to have been accepted as legal by the FIA.

“The Lotus nose needs clarification, but it’s a very clever idea,” he said. “The question really is, is it within the spirit? We’ll see. It’s really down to the FIA and Lotus to discuss that obviously. If they run it, then it’s passed the impact test, and they’re happy.”

Key admitted that STR had examined a similar concept: “We looked at it early on, when the car was quite a bit less mature than now, and in theory it was working well. But in reality we felt it had too many drawbacks, so we didn’t pursue that. We kind of understand where they’ve gone with it. It could be worth a revisit at some point when things have calmed down a bit.

“I don’t think it’s illegal, it’s just whether it’s in the spirit of the regs. Our interpretation of a similar idea was with a slightly different front of the nose, to the point where we were happy that it would be accepted within the spirit of the regs. I’m not saying the Lotus one isn’t, but it’s probably the most extreme out there.”

As we have seen in the past, the relevance of the ‘spirit of the rules’ is open to question…

Scuderia Toro Rosso became the first team to properly unveil a 2014 car to the media when it showed its new SRT9 in the Jerez pit lane.

The car is the first from the team to uilise a Renault power unit, which has allowed a greater crossover of technology with sister team Red Bull.

“The whole point of going to Renault was to get those synergies,” said Key when asked by this writer. “Where we can, we co-operate. If there’s a certain concern about an aspect of the design and we need to to discuss with Red Bull and Renault on the power unit side, then we have, and that’s been fine.

“But the majority of that has come on the gearbox, where we use the same internals as red Bull. We’ve got a common reliability intensive area there, where we’ve got two teams running the same thing, and obviously it makes a lot of sense to do that.”

Although the two teams share internals, the casing is STR’s own: “We wanted to maintain maximum flexibility on rear suspension geometry, so you had to do your own gearbox casing. We came to a sensible conclusion that we’d do our own casing and take the internals from Red Bull.”

Adrian Sutil starts a new chapter in his career this season as Sauber becomes only his second F1 team. Here’s a Q&A provided by the team today.

The start of the 2014 Formula One season is approaching. Is the adrenaline pumping yet?

“Yes, let’s say it’s getting there slowly. We are now at the end of January and we are close to the first test, I’m very excited to see how it will be, because no one really knows what the car is going to be like to drive on a circuit. There is a new era now with new engines and new cars. So I’m really exited and looking forward to stepping into a real new race car with a new team.”

How did the winter preparations go, and did you spend a lot of time in the factory getting to know everyone?

“I’ve spent a lot of time here in the factory – as much as possible. And it was good to start quite early and to be announced mid December. That’s early enough to prepare and there are a lot of things to go through, especially with a new team and new people; I have to remember all the new faces. And there still is a lot of work to do. The preparation is going well, the seat fitting was fine, I feel comfortable and am ready to roll out for the first test.”

What are your expectations for the 2014 Season?

“I always try to improve. My best season was 2011, I finished ninth in the championship, so my realistic target would be to be better then ninth. But it’s very early and it’s always hard to make any predictions for the season. So let’s see what will happen. We have a lot of work to do and I’m confident. We want to maximise our package as a team and that’s the most important thing.”

You have your own number now that will stick to you for the rest of your Formula One career, why did you choose the number 99?

“99, yes. Everyone is probably aiming for the low numbers, I went for the highest number. I am aiming at the maximum.”

Tests involve a lot of hard work, especially this year with significant regulation changes. How do you prepare yourself?

“Especially on the technical side there are a lot of things to learn. That’s why the time in the factory now is quite important. There are so many new things regarding the engine and the fuel management, which I think is one of the most difficult things for the new season. And it’s good to get to know as much as possible. We also haven’t used brake-by-wire before. But there is also a lot of training going on, as usual. However, I am more focussed on loosing weight. I’m a tall driver and I was always on the limit with the weight, but now I have to drop the last few kilos, so I’m on it already and this time haven’t eaten too much over Christmas and New Year.”

How long does it actually take to adjust to a car, which is fundamentally different than in previous years?

“It’s always difficult to step into a new car at the beginning. Of course you need time to adapt yourself. But this year it’s a completely new car for everyone. So there is no advantage for some drivers or disadvantage for the others. Therefore I think to also change team right now is probably not a bad thing to do, because you don’t have the disadvantage to the other drivers, as everyone is in the same boat right now. No one knows how it is going to be, so I’m on the same level as the others.”

How well do you know your team-mate?

“I don’t know him too well, but I have known him for quite a while before he was in Formula One, in GP3 and GP2. We have a friend in common, so I know a little bit about him and for sure we will know each other better in the future. He is a good guy, well educated from what I’ve heard, so I’m looking forward to working with him.”

What will be the greatest sporting challenge of the upcoming season?

“The highest sporting challenge would be to maximise what you have in the car, especially in the early races. I would say fuel management would be the number one topic. That’s something we haven’t focused on so much in the past, as we could really push through the race. Now I think it’s going to be more like endurance racing. You have to last until the end with a certain amount of fuel. This is quite a challenge, and for us drivers there are quite a few things to learn and to prepare.”

Sauber has unveiled its new C33, with the lack of obvious sponsorship perhaps the most notable aspect of the car – aside from the familiar Mexican backing and that of NEC.

As previously the car uses a Ferrari power unit and gearbox. The design team was headed by Eric Gandelin, who is now the team’s senior technical figure.

“The regulation changes in 2014 are the biggest ever seen in Formula One,” said Gandelin. “They impact on all aspects of the car’s design. The most noticeable change on the chassis and safety side concerns the nose structure where a maximum height for the tip of the nose is now set by the rules. This is to reduce the likelihood of cars launching in the air in case of a front to rear impact.

“This also reduces the risk of a driver sustaining head injuries, which could happen with the previous higher nose design. These changes are combined with a new side impact structure as well, for which the design is now regulated. This means the dimension of the tube and the laminate is now set and the same for all teams. And these tubes are overall much bigger and result in bulkier side pods, especially compared to the very slim side pods, we had on the C32.

“On the aerodynamic side we have a lot of changes as well. The width of the front wing has been reduced by 75 millimetres on either side. The rear wings’ lower wing has been removed, which led us to review the mounting concept for the wing, leading to the twin pylon mount you can see. The rear wing’s upper wing box has been reduced in height, which means we have less available space to arrange profiles. The maximum opening allowed on the DRS mechanism has been increased by 15 millimetres. Apertures in the central diffusor are now forbidden and the hole through which the car is started will now have to be closed by a flap. To finish, the exhaust exit has been relocated at the rear on the car’s centre line, with the intention of the rule makers being to prevent teams from using exhaust gases to generate downforce.

“We are now limited to 100 kilograms of fuel from green light to chequered flag. This has resulted in much smaller fuel cells, which impacts the chassis length. On the braking side we have an all-new brake-by-wire system at the rear. This means that the pressure applied to the calliper is electronically controlled, depending on the driver’s demand and the energy being recovered from the rear axle. This new power unit has presented us with big challenges in terms of packaging as well. The size of the radiators has increased significantly and we have a lot more electronic boxes to package within the bodywork as well.

“In addition, the minimum legal car weight has been increased from 642 kg to 690 kg, which only partially compensates for the addition of all the new systems. So, weight saving has been one of our priorities in the car’s design. Overall, this has presented our team with a huge challenge and we are now looking forward to comparing ourselves to our competition and see where we stand.”

Ferrari unveiled the first images of its F14-T online today, and inevitably the new car’s distinctive nose has already attracted a lot of attention.

Team principal Stefano Domenicali made it clear that the priority is to have a reliable car – while adding that the team has to avoid being sidetracked with the pressure that inevitably accompanies Ferrari.

“I think as far as I remember this year the technical challenge is the biggest that we’ve seen in the last 10 years of F1,” he said. “Connected to the challenge there is opportunity to make sure that this challenge will be taken in the right way from our group of engineers.

“We have a totally new powertrain, we have a new set of regulations that are very interesting, and which have to be looked at very carefully in depth in order to make sure as I said before to make sure that we take the opportunity to improve the level of performance. And this is what I’ve asked to all my people here in Maranello.

“This year will be more complex because we have to add into the equation a new car, with a new system, with a new approach to fuel efficiency that has to be dealt with the best way that we can. And also the work of the pit stops. So these things have to be consolidated, and I’m expecting from our group of engineers a better integration in order to make sure we really do a good job. The season will be very, very long, therefore it is important to start with a very reliable car at the beginning, and the keep having the development on the aerodynamic side, which was not there last year.”

He said there is a lot to learn: “For sure I’m expecting the first days of testing to be challenging for everyone, there are a lot of things to be tested, a lot of things to be checked. The most important thing as we said that we have to avoid is to fall under the big pressure that we have. This has to be very clear with my people, we need to stay very focussed on the job. The company has given us and our group of engineers everything to make sure that we can do a good job.”

Ferrari has released the first images of the new Ferrari F14-T. The car features a distrinctive take on the nose regulations, and is unlikely to win any beauty contests. As ever what matters is how fast it is…

Nico Rosberg gave the new Mercedes W05 its first shakedown laps at Silverstone today, prior to the car’s official launch at Jerez on Tuesday morning.

A statement said: “The new F1 W05, powered by the PU106A Hybrid Power Unit, opened a new era of Formula One at 14:21 this afternoon when it left the garage for the first time in cold but dry conditions at Silverstone. Driven by Nico Rosberg, the car completed a total of 40 km before dusk at 16:30.”

Rosberg’s run was one of the first by a 2014 spec car. The already revealed Force India VJM07 also ran at Silverstone in the hands of Nico Hulkenberg, while Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat gave the new Toro Rosso STR9 its first miles at Misano.

Teams are still allowed two private 100kms runs, despite the much stricter testing rules this year. They are known as ‘Promotional Events,’ and the cars have to run on special tyres provided by Pirelli. The FIA also has to be kept fully informed.