Tag Archives: F1

February 21, 2014 · 6:38 pm

Pat Fry: “It’s hard to say where we are…”

Ferrari director of engineering Pat Fry says that the Italian outfit still doesn’t know what the state of play is among the top teams as everyone comes to grips with the new technology.

Today Kimi Raikkonen lost track time with a telemetry issue, which led to a major re-set of the system.

“Today was a bit frustrating, because we were stopped for quite a time with a small but tricky problem,” said Fry. “We knew that sooner or later we would have to deal with some problems and that was what happened. These things happen with a new car; some things that seem difficult turn out to be easy and others that appear simple get more complicated and we are still learning.

“We will try to do our utmost to acquire the mass of data we want. Ideally, we don’t want to change our operational plan for next week’s test.”

Regarding the form book he said: “It’s hard to say where we are. We knew we’d be facing a very complicated winter with a lot of unknown factors. That was the case, but in Maranello we have done a lot of work and I can see that it’s difficult for everyone to move forward on the development front with so many new systems and so little time to test them.”

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February 21, 2014 · 1:42 pm

Day ends early for Ricciardo as RBR hits new problem

Red Bull hit problems once again in Bahrain today as Daniel Ricciardo’s running was cut short by what the team called a previously unseen mechanical issue.

The Australian had logged some useful mileage in the first half of the day, although his best lap was 6.5s off the frontrunning pace.

“It was going OK,” said Ricciardo, who remains optimistic. “I did some good laps and those came off the back of the more than 50 laps Seb did yesterday, so we’re getting there. Obviously, I would have liked to do more this afternoon but we still have tomorrow ahead of us and it’s important to be ready for that. The car is definitely making progress though. It’s coming together bit by bit.

“We’d love a big chunk all at once but obviously that’s not the way these things work, so we have to be a bit patient for now. However, it is coming and we’re heading in the right direction. Tomorrow it would be nice to get more laps in and then roll on next week.”

Meanwhile RBR’s Race Engineering Co-ordinator Andy Damerum said: “After yesterday’s good work we had another positive period overnight with the car build, which we’re getting quite good at, and it looked good this morning. We were focused on short runs for Daniel, as the car feels very different to the one we had in Jerez, and we wanted to build things up gradually for him.

“We made more changes over lunch and in doing so we came across a mechanical issue that we hadn’t encountered before, and because of its nature it means we have to take the car apart. As everyone in the pit lane is finding out this is a long process, so we decided to suspend running in the afternoon so that we can be ready for the final day. These issues are of course frustrating but this was unrelated to the others so it’s just a case of tackling each issue as it appears.”

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February 20, 2014 · 8:32 am

Lotus and Renault finally confirm deal

Renault has finally officially confirmed that it has concluded a deal with Lotus for “2014 and beyond.”

Although the two parties have prepared for this season as normal the contract was not signed until commercial arrangements were completed.

Lotus team CEO Matthew Carter said: “Lotus F1 Team and Renault Sport F1 have enjoyed a successful partnership these past few years and we look forward to continue to build on our relationship and collaboration in 2014 and beyond. It is the beginning of a new era in Formula 1 and we are pleased to embrace it together with Renault Sport F1.”

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February 19, 2014 · 5:11 pm

Sebastian Vettel: “We might have the best car, I don’t know…”

Sebastian Vettel remains confident that the Red Bull RB10 will improve despite ongoing problems for his team in Bahrain today.

Vettel stopped on circuit after an issue with the rear brakes locked the rear wheels, and a minor fire ensued. The team insisted that issues had been addressed since Jerez, and that a new problem cropped up today.

“Obviously we’re not happy with where we are right now, but we’ve still got a long way ahead of us,” said Vettel. “It’s fairly difficult to judge where we are. I haven’t had much of the car yet. The first gut feel is OK, but surely we need more running to judge the car, to judge reliability, to judge general performance.

“It’s not easy to find a quick fix, but I think we understand the problems. As I said it’s not that easy to find the solution for the problems we found. We fixed the problems from [Jerez], we had a problem with temperature, which we seemed to fix, at least with the couple of laps we could do. But very often you fix one problem, and another problem pops up.

“There’s stuff to do on the Red Bull Racing side, in terms of reliability, temperatures, general around the car. And there’s stuff on the Renault side. But it’s not fair to separate those two. We are a team, and we’ve been very successful in the last years together. Now it’s obviously not the start we were hoping for, but we’ve obviously got some time, and clever people on board, which hopefully can fix the problems.”

Asked if this was a strange situation for him to have a bad car, Vettel pointed that it would be wrong to write off RBR in terms of competitiveness, because the car hasn’t yet run shown its potential.

“It’s more strange not to know how good the car is – we might have the best car, I don’t know. We can say that it’s not the most reliable right now, but that’s what testing is for. It’s zero points for everyone.

“Surely all the homework you get done in the winter testing helps you, certainly at the beginning of the season, because you don’t need to catch up. We’ve still got some days left. I think we know what is going on, but as you can see it’s not that easy to fix, otherwise we wouldn’t volunteer to do only 14 laps.”

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February 13, 2014 · 2:16 pm

Villeneuve to contest World Rallycross Championship

Villeneuve RallycrossJacques Villeneuve has signed up to drive a Peugeot 208 in the full FIA World Rallycross championship, which features a round at Trois Rivieres in Quebec in August.

The Canadian veteran, who will drive for the Scottish-based Albatec Racing team, has already tested the car at Dreux in France.

“I am really looking forward to entering the rallycross arena with Albatec Racing,” said Villeneuve. “With my previous ice-racing experience, I’m excited about driving sideways in a 600bhp, four-wheel-drive Peugeot 208 over the combination of loose and tarmac surfaces, not to mention the jumps. With the added incentive of it being an FIA World Championship, the opportunity was really too good to miss.

“We had a very successful test in France. I was very impressed with the quality of the team, particularly on the engineering side – it reminded me of my time in F1. The car is just so responsive, the power is amazing and with 600bhp to play with, who wouldn’t be excited? I was pleasantly surprised by how reactive the car is to any changes, and I’m very much looking forward to getting into the events.”

His team mate and team boss Andy Scott said: “He brings with him a wealth of experience and an outstanding pedigree across all disciplines. He is renowned for his technical excellence and ability to drive any car to its limit, and I was very impressed with how quickly he got to grips with the car in France. I am very eager to see how he settles into the 600bhp Peugeot 208 during his debut year in rallycross.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH9LDXRsse4

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February 12, 2014 · 2:58 pm

Stefano Domenicali: “The interest of the team always comes before all else…”

Stefano Domenicali says that Ferrari’s interest have priority as the Italian outfit tries to balance the ambitions of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.

“It was a rational choice, based on the need to have an expert driver pairing,” said Domenicali. “With the one aim of it doing well for Ferrari. I hope the track will show that it was the right choice. How will we manage them? Decisions are always carefully considered, but they always have the same aim, which is that the sporting decisions are taken to reach the team’s goals, as the interest of the team always comes before all else. Decisions we have taken in the past have always been reached in this spirit.”

Domenicali says that Raikkonen has changed, and suggests that the Finn knows he has to raise his game in order to take on Alonso.

“I have found a more mature Kimi, more closely knit to the team. He comes to Maranello almost every week to work with the engineers. He knows his worth and he knows what team he has returned to and what challenges he will face, having a world champion like Alonso alongside him for whom he has respect and he will have to adapt to working with him.

“Fernando is extremely intelligent and has managed to stay ahead in whatever car he has driven. He has an ability to interpret the race and to read it in an amazing way and I think he will make the most of the new regulations, which will require some stages of the race to be managed in a different way. We feel close to him partly because it was such a long time ago that we decided to invest in him.”

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February 3, 2014 · 1:44 pm

Stefano Domenicali: “We can’t evaluate performance levels…”

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali says that the first outing of the Ferrari F14 T in Jerez last week represented a good starting point for the team.

After some early gremlins the car ran reliably, and while Mercedes powered rivals were ultimately faster, the main aim was to put miles on the new machine and correlate its behaviour with the wind tunnel.

“These were four very demanding and important days to give us something to work on over the coming days in Maranello,” Domenicali told the Ferrari website. “The technical parameters of the F14 T, as well as the aerodynamic validation we saw on track, match our expectations and provide a solid starting point, which we must now exploit as much as possible.

“In Jerez, we concentrated our efforts on fine tuning the new systems to ensure that all the components that make up the new power unit were working as well as possible, and the team was focused on its tasks. I was also very pleased to see, even if was hardly a surprise, how our drivers worked in harmony and that they have already provided excellent feedback relating to the development of the car.”

Despite his optimism Domenicali said it was way too early to make any judgements about the relative form of the top teams.

“We can’t evaluate performance levels at the moment, neither that of the F14 T, nor those of our rivals. The important thing is to do as many laps as possible to give our engineers the data they need to continue with the development of the car. It would be premature to make any precise evaluations. What counts for more is to have clear ideas on what we must do now and on the direction to take, so that we arrive in Melbourne in the best possible shape.”

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January 31, 2014 · 9:23 am

New F1 rules have created a “total farce,” says Ecclestone

Bernie Ecclestone has done little to reassure fans who harbour doubts about the new F1 rules by branding this week’s testing in Jerez as a “total farce.”

Ecclestone has long made his feelings about the rule change clear, especially with regard to the noise made by the engines.

At the end of last season he told this writer: “I still think what we’ve got now is good, I don’t think there was any need to change it. What concerns me is not so much the TV audience, but the people who come to the races. They love the noise, it’s what they like, because it’s different. So I’m hoping that we won’t lose people coming to the races.”

Having followed progress in Jerez this week the man charged with the job of promoting the sport has been even more vocal.

“Look at the last few days. I said it was going to be like this – a total farce,” he told today’s Daily Mail. “They [the FIA and the teams] insisted on these new engines. If they wanted to race like this they should go to Le Mans.

“They talk about saving fuel. They don’t need these new engines to achieve that. They should get smaller motorhomes. Then they wouldn’t need so many trucks going all round Europe. Mercedes are taking 23 trucks with them everywhere. If they really wanted to save fuel they should stop that.

“The whole thing with the new engines is totally absurd. People want noise – something special, that’s what F1 is all about – and now we have quiet engines and nobody on the track.”

Ecclestone did at least acknowledge that the form book will be mixed up this year.

“The good thing is that the season could be extremely interesting – really unpredictable, and that is the exciting thing.”

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January 30, 2014 · 7:26 pm

Driving style no different with 2014 cars, says Alonso

Fernando Alonso had his first run the Ferrari F14 T at Jerez today, and the Spaniard pronounced himself happy with progress so far.

He focussed on aero mapping in the morning, before turning his attention to set-up in the afternoon. He completed 58 laps, recording a time that was 2.2s off the best time of Kevin Magnussen.

“The car has been put on track three days ago, and we are in the very early stages of understanding the car,” said Alonso. “We need to make as many laps as possible these days, and in Bahrain as well, because every lap with all the changes that we have in the rules is very welcome, all the information that is coming.

“We discovered some potential problems, we discovered some new things. It was a good day today, going back to the steering wheel and driving in front of spectators and driving with a better feeling obviously than we have in the simulator. We have a couple of months with not driving these cars, and the simulator can give you an idea, but it’s never the same.”

Some drivers have stressed how different the cars are to drive this year, but intriguingly like his team mate Raikkonen, Fernando downplayed the changes.

“No big difference, to be honest. You jump in the car and there’s no big difference on driving style or big difference on how the things work this year. There is a lot of talk about these changes and regulations etc, but the driving style itself is not a big difference compared with what we were doing last year.

“There are some parameters to control more than last year, but at the end of the day I think we will get used to it very quickly. We have to manage one battery, it’s the same as last year, it’s just bigger because it does multifunction things, last year it was only for the KERS. But in terms of driving input I don’t think it will be a big difference, driving a 2014 car.”

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January 30, 2014 · 11:22 am

Safety expert Gramling leaves FIA role

Hubert Gramling, one of the key forces behind F1 safety improvements in recent years, has left his role at the FIA Institute – the organisation responsible for research.

The German worked closely with the late Prof Sid Watkins, Charlie Whiting and his fellow safety expert Andy Mellor, and hitherto held the title of research consultant.

He initially worked for Daimler, before focussing on motor sport safety from 1996.

The FIA’s own website emphasises what a key role he has played since then: “By 2002, he was a member of the FIA Institute’s open cockpit research Group, closed cockpit research Group and Karting research Group. Since 2003, Gramling has worked on a variety of projects, including Hans devices and airbags for Formula one; high-speed barriers; advanced racing seats for closed cars; energy-absorbing wheel tethers; and studies on the mechanisms of car launching due to wheel contact.”

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