Formula1 Journal

Formula1 WCC 2009 Chart

I guess that this chart shows what we aleady know. Brawn will win and RBR will be second. That in itself is evidence of a very unusual season. McLaren have almost caught Ferrari after trailing them all year. This is ample evidence of Massa's absence. Toyota is close to the Macca/Ferrari battle and could catch them, but I would not bet on it.

Wlliams have flattened out their performance, recently notable because of Rosbergs pit exit debacle, and have also been almost caught up by BMW and Renault. Force India had a splash, but will they splash again? I don't think so. And STR has taken the back having no splashes whatsoever.

2009 Formula 1 Driver's Championship

This was a make or break race for the Red Bull team and break was what they did. Webber literally broke the brakes in his car and Vettel shot himself in the foot by making a pit lane error. The Brawn team benefited from the Red Bull problems as well as the pit lane error by Rosberg. The exit is very technical and he took the entire car over the blend line by bouncing over the curb. The safety car then bunched the field and he lost far more positions serving his drive-through than if the circuit had stayed green.

I am very impressed by the progress the McLaren team have made over the course of the season. Hamilton is closing in on Kimi and Webber and looks to a possible 4th in the WDC. The team has the chance to catch Ferrari for 3rd in the WCC as they are only 3 points behind the Scuderia. Very impressive effort.

Alonso also benefitted from the events ahead of him and had his best finish of the year. Interestingly, Renault's managing director Jean-Francois Caubet told AUTOSPORT after the Singapore Grand Prix that his outfit would be sad to see Alonso leave after this season. "I think Fernando will miss Renault and Renault will miss Fernando," he explained. This effectively announces the move.

Timo Glock had another of his unexplainable weekends. He has great races and he has forgetable races. This was a great race for him.

And Button can now sleep just a little easier as he has put a little more distance between himself and the challengers. Rubens has the only real chance to chatch him, but I suspect the team will see that that does not happen.

Not a great race but there were some interesting bits. Now, on the Suzuka, a truly great circuit.

Singapore GP Race Summary - Video

Singapore GP Live Chat

Petit LeMans Crash and Rebuild

Speed TV Video Rountable - Singapore GP

Singapore Qualifying - Live Chat

Join us for a live chat of the Singapore GP Formula 1 qualifying session! The live chat allows up to 20 unmoderated user's to chat about the event. The user's first post is moderated and then the host can grant permission to post freely. Please join in and no one will be moderated unless the number of posters exceeds 20 or someone is offensive or posts off topic comments. Enjoy!

Bob Bell - Renault Team Principal

Bob Bell 

This guy has been around. He has a Doctorate in Aeronautical Engineering, has worked for McLaren, Benneton, Jordan, and Renault. He is a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, and has been named as acting team principal for Renault. Good move. A far better choice than the roumoured one, Alain Prost, a team principal with a questionable record.

1982 – 1988: Company Aerodynamicist, McLaren International.

1988 – 1990: Head Of Research And Development, McLaren International.

1990 – 1995: Project Technical Director "MAVerick" Land Speed Record Vehicle, McLaren International. 

1995 – 1997: Future Projects Manager, McLaren International.

1997 – 1999: Senior Aerodynamicist, Benetton Formula.

1999 – 2001: Head of Vehicle Technology, Jordan Grand Prix. 

2001 – 2003: Deputy Technical Director, Renault F1 Team.

October 2003 – Present: Technical Director, Renault F1 Team

Piquet's Telemetry By Flood1

One of the pieces of evidence that confirms Nelshino's testimony is the telemetry traces from the race. The typical technique to make a car spin is to rapidly introduce wheelspin and to turn the front wheels to fling the car in a particular direction. Anyone who has ever tried this in a high performance car knows the technique. It has always been used in dirt track racing and been perfected in a modern tarmac version, drifting. Take a look at the comparison between Alonso's data and Piquet's data. There is a remarkable difference in how the two drivers took the corner.

And below is a more detailed image of Piquet's data that shows some of the other things going on in the car.

Piquet stabbed the throttle to the maximum on three seperate occasions on exit, created violent wheelspin, and continued on throttle as he hammered the wall. Very convincing evidence I'd say.

Of course there are those who would say that Piquet's telemetry always looked ragged! LoL!

2009 Singapore GP Preview Video

Blundell in the Williams Simulator

Engine Re-equalisation by Sportsman

FOTA is to discuss engine re-equalisation. What on earth for.

Renault were were granted dispensation last season to upgrade their engine, and now this.

This is the same Mercedes engine that was frozen in 2007. It did not dominate in 2008 like it has this year, that's true. But Mercedes and the teams have now optimised the performance of this engine, and it is now dominant. Especially on power tracks.

So now the the other teams want to be allowed the luxury of redevelping their engines,to "equalise performance". If they are allowed that luxury, then Mercedes should be allowed to do the same.
This makes a complete mockery of engine development freezes.

Now we will have a redeveloped engine, frozen for X amount of years until some teams optimise the performance of that engine, and the same thing will happen.

"Formula 1 teams are set to discuss the possibility of allowing a re-equalisation of engines for next season in order to have a more level playing field. The sport is currently under a regime that freezes engine development during the year, but last year the FIA allowed Renault to modify its engine during the off-season.

Now teams are ready to discuss another 'unfreeze', as the Mercedes-powered cars have dominated in power circuits this season."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78678

Ross Brawns opinion:

However, while its German engine supplier is currently considered to be enjoying an advantage, Ross Brawn believes it is always going to be impossible for all the grid’s engines to be exactly the same despite the ‘freeze’. “I think it's inevitable that whoever's got the strongest engine will have people saying that [engines should be equalised],” he said. “It's just impossible to have absolute parity on the engines.”

 

http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=46897

This to me seems rather unfair. The teams that are running Mercedes engines have worked extremely hard, both in design areas, and engine mapping programmes, to gain the maximum amount of performance.

Now all of that extra work, will be wasted as another equalisation process begins.

USF1 Cad Drawings

http://www.usf1formula1.com/2009/09/chad-hurley-interview.html

These pics are from this video.

Malay Lotus

Model of Maylay F1

There have been questions asked about the "Lotus Team" and many of us have found the use of the Lotus name to be repugnant. To me it is only liscensing and does not have anything to do with the real Lotus Team or their glorious history.

There is some evidence that the team will not use the name at all, but they will instead use a name associated with malaysia like "F1 Malaysia." This continues the recent trend to brand teams by nationality much as Force India and USF1 have done. I have mixed feelings about this, but if it keeps the Lotus name off the car then I am all for it.

Mike Gascoyne is the technical director and he has current F1 expeience, a claim that many new teams cannot make.

F1 Driving Experience, Part 2 - By Sportsman

This time the atmosphere was a little different. It was much more serious and businesslike. We had a debrief and then we were led to the Renault or F Renualt whatever it was. We each sat in it, a run through the controls and then we were given further technical instructions whilst Lucifer warmed up the tyres on one of the F3’s and one of the instructors warmed up the other one we were using.

Then it was our turn. Fortunately I was not one of the first to go and we watched with interest as the others kept spinning and generally making a real mess of it. After three of the five laps however, they could at least get around the lap without spinning. Then came my turn.

I set off feeling like Stirling Moss with a real open wheel racing car to drive, and a very powerful car to boot. It was one hell of a handful to drive. The cars sheer power and lightweight construction, no electronics to help made for some interesting antics, even just to get going. The clutch seemed to have just two positions: In or out. You could feed it in until you felt it just starting to bite, then it instantly went all the way in apparently of its own volition.

Projected 2009 F1 Championship - By Flood1

The 2009 WDC Points Chart - By Flood1

Italian GP Monza - Live Race Blog

Live Blog Instructions

This is an actual live blog that works much like an instant messenger. All comments will show up in the box in the live blog post. All you need to do to participate is to type a username into the name box and add your comment. I will be at the control panel and I must enable the posts. So, any delays will be the result of my not yet enabling a post or an internet connection failure on my end.

It is not necessary to refresh the page, all posts will continue to appear without any other action required on your part. The oldest posts will be on top just like in a messenger service. If you do not refresh you will not need to reenter your username.

After the live blog is closed after the event, the blog will remain as a written record of the conversation. No edits are possible, so be nice. Try and keep your comments short enough to allow a "conversation" to take place.

And remember, this is a TEST! I've never done this before, so please be patient. This could be fun!

Italian GP Monza - Live Quali Blog, Really!