Formula1 Journal

Possible USF1 Drivers - Part 1 By Flood1

Jonathan Summerton 

As the silly season continues, there has still been no word out of USF1 regarding their driver lineup. The initial talk was all about Americans, but that quickly faded away in the face of reality:the Superlicense. The team has publically accepted this reality and has quietly moved to consider experienced non-americans. This is reasonable.

I have compiled a list of many of the drivers who are superlicense eligible. The list includes many that will never be seriously considered, but  there are several that would satisfy the needs of the team in their first year.

Series	Reg.	Name	Country
Previous Superlicense	5.1.2 a	Nelson Piquet	Brasil
Previous Superlicense	5.1.2 a	Scott Speed	USA
Previous Superlicense	5.1.2 a	Seb Bourdais	France
Previous Superlicense	5.1.2 a	David Coulthard	UK
Test Driver Contracts	5.1.2 b	Pedro de la Rosa	Spain
Test Driver Contracts	5.1.2 b	Alexander Wurz	Austrian
Test Driver Contracts	5.1.2 b	Sakon Yamamoto	Japan
Test Driver Contracts	5.1.2 b	Marko Asmer	Estonia
Test Driver Contracts	5.1.2 b	Luca Filippi	Italy
Test Driver Contracts	5.1.2 b	Mike Conway	UK
Test Driver Contracts	5.1.2 b	Brendon Hartley	New Zealand
Test Driver Contracts	5.1.2 b	Christian Klien	Austrian
Test Driver Contracts	5.1.2 b	Gary Paffett	UK
F Nippon	5.1.2 c	Loic Duval	France
F Nippon	5.1.2 c	Benoit Treluyer	France
F Nippon	5.1.2 c	Andre Lotterer	Germany
F Nippon	5.1.2 c	Tusugio Matsuda	Japan
F Nippon	5.1.2 c	Loic Duval	France
F Nippon	5.1.2 c	Andre Lotterer	Germany
F2	5.1.2 c	Andy Soucek	Spain
F2	5.1.2 c	Robert Wickens	Canada
F2	5.1.2 c	Mikhail Aleshin	Russia
GP2	5.1.2 c	Nico Hulkenberg	Germany
GP2	5.1.2 c	Vitaly Petrov	Russia
GP2	5.1.2 c	Lucas DiGrassi	Brasil
GP2	5.1.2 c	Giorgio Pantano	Italy
GP2	5.1.2 c	Bruno Senna	Brasil
GP2	5.1.2 c	Lucas Di Grassi	Brasil
GP2 Asia	5.1.2 c	Kamui Kobayashi	Japan
GP2 Asia	5.1.2 c	Jerome D'Ambrosio	Belgium
GP2 Asia	5.1.2 c	Roldan Rodriguez	Spain
GP2 Asia	5.1.2 c	R. Grosjean	France
GP2 Asia	5.1.2 c	Seb Buemi	Switzerland
GP2 Asia	5.1.2 c	Vitaly Petrov	Russia
IRL	5.1.2 d	Dario Franchitti	UK
IRL	5.1.2 d	Scott Dixon	New Zealand
IRL	5.1.2 d	Ryan Briscoe	Australia
IRL	5.1.2 d	Helio Castroneves	Brasil
IRL	5.1.2 d	Tony Kanaan	Brasil
Euro Formula 3	5.1.2 e	Jules Bianchi	France
Italy Formula 3	5.1.2 e	D. Zampieri	Italy
Japan Formula 3	5.1.2 e	Marcus Ericsson	Sweden
Spain Formula 3	5.1.2 e	Celso Miguez	Spain
UK Formula 3	5.1.2 e	Daniel Ricciardo	Australia
WSR	5.1.2 e	Bertrand Baguette	Belgium
A1GP, Indy Lights,	5.1.2 f*	Jonathan Summerton	USA
F BMW,F Master,GP2 A.	5.1.2 f*	Alex Rossi	USA
A1GP, Indy Lights, F Atlan.	5.1.2 f*	JR Hildbrand	USA
F Ford, Indy Lghts, IRL	5.1.2 f*	Danica Patrick	USA
CART, A1GP, IRL	5.1.2 f*	Ryan Hunter Rhey	USA
Indy Pro, A1GP, IRL	5.1.2 f*	Marco Andretti	USA
F BMW, CART, IRL	5.1.2 f*	Graham Rahal	USA
*Only Americans considered

To see the rules for a superlicense, appendix "L" of the FIA's International Sporting Regulations, continue reading.

Abu Dhabi Live Chat

Abu Dhabi Quali Live Chat

USF1 Announce European Base

 Friday Oct. 30th.

The US F1 team announced today that MotorLand Aragon will be the base for the team’s European testing, race car development and logistics headquarters in 2010 and beyond.

MotorLand Aragon is an 865-acre motorsports complex located in the northern part of Spain in the town of Alcaniz. “MotorLand Aragon is the ideal motorsports complex for US F1’s European operation,” said Peter Windsor, executive vice president and sporting director for US F1 Team. “From the excellent location and weather, to the rich racing heritage and diverse track configurations, MotorLand provides America’s first Formula One team in more than 40 years with the perfect facility to manage the 2010 season and train for 2011 and beyond.”

The venue has three international standard tracks and, according to US F1’s press release, is known around the world in motoring circles for its ‘Hermann Tilke-conceived and designed F1/MotoGP road course, the only one of its kind in Europe. Created in collaboration with Formula One star Pedro de la Rosa, the approximately 3.32-mile Tarmac track is the showpiece of the project and is now considered a favorite to secure a Formula One test.’

US F1 will be housed in a 20,000-square foot facility which will serve as the team’s hub and service shop between races. It’s vital the team have the appropriate facilities during the course of the season if they are to be successful, and without appropriate logistical support the team would flounder. A base in Europe was always likely, especially for the European arm of the season. The MotorLand facility has a cultural and leisure center currently under construction will assist with meeting the team’s various needs. www.motorlandaragon.com

“MotorLand is the only facility of its kind in Europe and we’re thrilled to call it our European home,” said Ken Anderson, US F1 Team principal, president and CEO. “Between the Formula One-inspired, Tilke-designed road course and accompanying circuits, as well as the elaborate amenities of the leisure and cultural area, MotorLand is truly the perfect complex for US F1, from both competitive and business perspectives.”

USF1's European Base

Driver's Salaries 2009

This info is from http://www.arabianbusiness.com/571803-exclusive-f1-drivers-celebrate-130m-pay-day-for-2009. This info comes from Tom Rubython, and I have no idea of his source, but if the numbers are true, this should add to the question of whether Kimi is worth his salary as he earned about 35% of the salary of the ENTIRE F1 grid!  I suggest that he is vastly overpaid by anyone's definition of his worth.

1. Kimi Raikkonen $45m
2. Lewis Hamilton $18m
3. Fernando Alonso $15m
4. Nico Rosberg $8.5m
5. Jarno Trulli $6.5m
6. Sebastian Vettell $6m
7. Mark Webber $5.5m
8. Jenson Button $5m
9. Robert Kubica $4.5m
10. Heiki Kovaleinen $3.5m
11. Nick Heidfeld $2.8m
12. Timo Glock $2m
13. Giancarlo Fisichella $1.5m
14. Sebastien Buemi $1.5m
15. Rubens Barrichello $1m
16. Jaime Alguersuari $0.5m
17. Vitantonio Liuzzi $NIL
18. Adrian Sutil [Rent a driver]
19. Romain Grossjean $NIL
20. Kazuki Nakajima $NIL

Note: Massa's $8 million salary is not included.

 

Another Vid of Yas Marina from a Different Perspective

A Lap of the New Yas Island Circuit - By Paul Murtagh

This is one of the first-ever laps of the new circuit, driven by Bruno Senna in one of the circuit's own two-seater F1 cars

What can we expect at Abu Dhabi?

This week F1 rolls into it's newest venue - the Yas Island circuit in Abu Dhabi. The new venue has brought about plenty of excitment despite the championship already being settled, but just what can we expect to find when we watch for the first time on Friday?

The first thing to point out is that Yas Island isn't your traditional Herman Tilke circuit. We have been used to new circuits these days being situated miles from anywhere, with miles of run-off areas and a Tilke-trademark long straight followed by a tight hairpin - Bahrain, China, Turkey and Valencia are all examples of this. And many would say that these circuits also lack the character of say a Silverstone, Monza or Monaco. But not this one.

The most surprising things for F1 fans is perhaps the lack of run-off areas at Yas Island when we are used to new circuit having enough run-off area to build a shopping mall. The circuit has installed Tecpro barriers which are more safer than the traditional barrier/wall with tyres in front. This means that the barriers have been brought closer to the circuit, and make the circuit more of a challenge than at first thought. We seen in Japan how driver errors can be punished when the barriers aren't far away from the circuit, and something similar could happen here. Driver errors could be punished more at this circuit. And the run-off area at Turn 7 actually runs underneath the grandstand, bringing the fans closer to the action. Anyone who spins off there will find themselves below the action!

But enough about off the track (sort of) and let's look at the track in more detail. Unfortunately we have no data to look at from previous drives on the circuit, and my only experience of the circuit is footage from PR days there and computer-generated videos. From what I have seen so far it looks to have a mixture of fast, medium, slow and tricky corners in it's layout, with each corner different from the last. But perhaps the most unique section of the track is the pit lane. Unlike every other circuit, where the pit lane emerges just before or after Turn 1, the pit lane exit here actually runs underneath the circuit, with the pit lane rejoining the circuit midway through Turn 3. It will be interesting to see how long it is before the drivers complain about how dangerous it is! Two long straight as well should let the engines stretch their legs, and some sweeping corners will test the aerodynamics.

So overall I feel that this circuit will provide some good action. Several drivers has driven the track recently in two-seater F1 cars ( http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/79773 ) and the feeling so far is that the circuit will be very challenging, and the drivers must repect it. I think that I speak for all racing fans here when I say we want it to provide some excellent racing, and if it delivers then it will be considered a successful circuit

Rally News From Autosport.com

 

http://www.autosport.com/news/print.php/type/news/id/79664

 

The first day of the Cardiff-based event takes the crews north mid-Wales, where the team can only provide a fresh set of tyres and the only work permitted to the cars must be carried out using parts which have been carried with the crew in the car.

Asked what he was taking in the car with him on Friday, Loeb replied: "Daniel [Elena, co-driver], just him. We're here to fight and every spare part we take is going to add weight and take away performance."

"On this kind of rally it's very easy to bend something on the suspension," said Wilson, "so we're looking at what will go in the car, but Mikko will have some parts. It's difficult, because if either of them have a problem then it could make the championship academic."

 

http://www.autosport.com/news/print.php/type/news/id/79665

 

AUTOSPORT caught up with both drivers after the recce to get their thoughts on the battle ahead and the conditions on the Welsh stages.

Q. How was the recce?

Mikko Hirvonen: It was good. We had no problems. I enjoyed the stages in mid-Wales - especially the first stage [Hafren]. I really like that one; it flows very well.

Q. There's been a bit of rain recently, is that going to help you being first on the road?

MH: Not really. With the surface like it is, we would have needed it to have rained solidly for the last couple of weeks to make a big difference and to turn some of the sections to mud. The road is quite abrasive in places. Because it's been dry, the surface is really hard, so the rain in tending to run off. Okay, it's not going to make it worse, but it's not going to make a big difference.

Q. We had a bit of mist and fog on the recce, you like that don't you?

MH: I don't mind it. I tend to go quite well in those kind of conditions, so maybe it's good for me. That can be where it's good to be first on the road - you have a clean road in front of you with no marks on. When you are in the fog and the mist and you're relying completely on the notes you don't want to see somebody else's marks on the road ahead of you; if you see big marks where they have been braking hard or had a moment, it can be a bit off-putting.

Q. Do you think both you and Sebastien will be at the finish?

MH: I think so, yes. It's going to be a really exciting event now. One point is nothing. It's better like this. Of course, it would be nice if it was eight or nine points, but if it's down to three points or something like that, then you get into the frame of mind of thinking you can finish one place down or not take so many risks or things like that. As it is, we have to be flat out from the start.

Q. How have your preparations been?

MH: Good. I was at home with my family, not thinking about the rally – this is the way I always prepare for the event.

Q. How was the recce?

Sebastien Loeb: It was okay. I made a lot of changes to my notes. I took the notes from last year, particularly for the Friday stages, and made changes to them. Because of the snow and ice last year, the notes were not the best, but now I am happy with them. Not only this, but some of the older stages have had some work done to them, so we have had to change our notes because of this as well.

Q. Do you like the stages?

SL: Yes. I like this rally, it's nice. The conditions with the rain and fog can be quite difficult and we saw some of those conditions on the recce yesterday, but okay, the roads – particularly some of those on Friday – are really nice.

Q. With the weather changing and a bit more rain coming, who's in the right place on the road?

SL: I really don't know. If the rain doesn't come, it will clean a little bit, but it's not going to be like Australia used to be or like New Zealand – there's not that much gravel around. It's hard to say when the weather is chaning.

Q. How do you feel about the rally?

SL: I feel well. It's going to be a big fight. I have stopped thinking about what difference the points thing might have made without our penalty in Australia. I like it how it is now – it's so exciting for everybody. If I don't win on Sunday afternoon, I might not be saying the same thing then, but for now it's good.

Q. Will you win on Sunday?

SL: I don't know. One thing is certain, my run of winning championships has to stop, that's sure. I would prefer it if it didn't stop this weekend, though! It's going to be a big fight with Mikko. We know about his speed. He's very fast on virtually all rallies, particularly fast gravel rallies and this is a fast gravel rally. Luckily for me, it's not Finland!

 

http://www.autosport.com/news/print.php/type/news/id/79666

 

Sebastien Loeb insists he has no pressure on him going into this week's World Rally Championship showdown.

The Frenchman is chasing his sixth straight WRC title and says the pressure all rests with his title rival, Finland's Mikko Hirvonen, who is aiming to pick up his first award.

The pair start Rally GB, the 12th and final WRC round of the year, tomorrow, with Loeb trailing Hirvonen by a single point.

"The pressure is definitely on Mikko," said Loeb. "He is the one fighting for his first title and I remember what it was like to be doing that.

"I have five titles now and, okay, it would be great to have another one, but it's not going to change my life."

Loeb has won six rounds of this year's series, while Hirvonen has won four times. Neither driver needs to win the Welsh event, but they have to finish ahead of each other to take the silverware. If neither driver finishes, Hirvonen will be champion.

Wales Rally 2008 News Archive - By KM-TV

WRC … Showdown in the Valleys : Part 2. By Kevin McMullin

The WRC is about to finish it's season, and it's going right down to the wire in the UK with a winner takes all fight between the master, Sebastien Loeb and the young flying Finn, Mikko Hirvonen. Hirvonen leads Loeb by only one point, so Loeb only needs to beat him by 2 points or more to take the championship, Hirvonen must finish ahead of Loeb at all costs! If the scores are tied (i.e. if Loeb finishes 8^th and Hirvonen fails to finish) Loeb wins on count back.

I've split this into two parts. This first two parts is going to be the story of the season, then part three is the event preview. Yesterday I wrote about the season as far as Argentina. Now Part two looks at the season from Sardinia onwards.

Here we go then, 0 car clear, Stage 2 is live!

Loeb's run of good luck was about to come to an end. He's always had a super reliable car, and his co-driver, Daniel Elena rarely makes mistake. His talent is unrivalled. Yet on the smooth gravel roads of Sardinia, in Italy, he collected penalties for lateness, made mistakes, got a puncture and then was given a 2 minute penalty when Elena took his seatbelts off to early to fix it. Still, he could have done what Henning solberg did, and crash on the 11^th Stage instead, but using the Superally rule, he returned and finished 8^th. 7^th was Mads Østberg, 6^th was Wilson, 5^th was Novikov who had actually managed to finish a rally for a change, Loeb finished 4^th after recovering from his problems and penalties, 3^rd was Petter Solberg, looking happier than ever, 2^nd was Mikko Hirvonen, and with a huge cheer, 1^st was Jari-Matti Latvala

Maybe he would still drive for Ford in the future after all.

Loeb's season went from bad to worse in Greece, with a very rare crash for the Frenchman. He was kept company by the only other former world champion in the pack, Petter Solberg's Xsara didn't like the rough roads of Greece. And who could blame it? It's almost as bad as Cyprus!

In 8^th, was a driver no one expected at all, The largely unknown Lambros Athanassoulas was another production championship driver, and only competing because it was his home event. 7^th was Nutter Østberg, In 6^th, Khalid Al Qassimi got greedy and wanted more than just one point this time, thank you very much, and Conrad Rautenbach actually finished in the points. He finished 5^th. 4^th was Villagra – when he turns up he's pretty good – Latvala continued to appease the wrath of Malcolm Wilson by finishing 3^rd, Ogier lived up to his past form in 2^nd having finally gotten used to the C4, and for the first time in the season, Hirvonen took a win!

WRC … Showdown in the Valleys : Part 3. By Kevin McMullin

So to this weekend's event. 3 days of top class rallying on some of the best stages in the country. Although this year's event is earlier than it has been for the last couple of years (no doubt some will complain that it's not bitterly cold and icy like it should be), there will still be lots of action to enjoy over the course of the event

This year, the main service park relocates for the first time to Cardiff. It could well be the last time the rally visits the city after the sponsorship problems that plagued the event earlier in the year. Thank you Rhodri Morgan. Anyway, major changes this year are a new shakedown stage in Margam Park replacing Penllegar forest near Swansea, and no superspecial this year for the first time since the event moved to Cardiff. Some classic stages are missing, most notably the competitive version of Margam, loosing the scene of Petter Solberg's victory celebrations in 2003, and Carlos Sainz's fustration of 1997

The most challenging day is the first. Friday's stages are based in Mid Wales, and feature some of the longest in the competition. The challenging Sweet Lamb, Hafren and Myherin stages have been features of Rally GB for decades, and warrant a remote service indoors at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells. The day opens with a long road section – 84 miles worth – and that's just to get to the re-fuel and rendezvous point before the first stage! From there it's a 32 mile drive to the first stage – 20 miles worth of Hafren Forest. It's almost certainly going to be damp, muddy and with some narrow roads between the unforgiving pine trees of the forest, the drivers will need all the concentration they can get. They won't get a rest on the roads of Sweet Lamb, but at least they should be more familiar with the area. It's a popular testing spot for the teams, but it's still demanding – there are some big rocks and drops, especially around the quarry section, and some big names have come to grief here in the past. Myherin is very fast and very narrow, and at 18 miles, is no picnic! The crews tackle all 3 tests in the afternoon after service, then return to Cardiff for the evening's podium ceremony (the fastest time of the day is awarded), before the mechanics can get to work on the evening's 45 minute service session.

Rally Video - Loeb Crash

WRC … Showdown in the Valleys : Part 1. By Kevin McMullin

Okay, I know this is a F1 Blog, but you guys like motorsport, this is motorsport, hey, lets see if you like it or not!

Regulars to Wheelnuts will remember my WRC Previews. If you're new, read it anyway. If you're new to the WRC, why not ask a question in the comment box down there.

The WRC is about to finish it's season, and it's going right down to the wire in the UK with a winner takes all fight between the master, Sebastien Loeb and the young flying Finn, Mikko Hirvonen. Hirvonen leads Loeb by only one point, so Loeb only needs to beat him by 2 points or more to take the championship, Hirvonen must finish ahead of Loeb at all costs! If the scores are tied (i.e. if Loeb finishes 8^th and Hirvonen fails to finish) Loeb wins on count back.

I've split this into two parts. This first two parts is going to be the story of the season, then part three is the event preview.

Here we go then, 0 car clear, Stage is live!

The story so far...

The rallies

For the first time in my memory, the WRC kicked off away from Monte Carlo, switching to the relatively new ground of Ireland. The change was prompted by a rotation system, but more about that later.

The teams lined up with new comers in their ranks, all in the M2 category for customer teams. Once again, reigning champion Sebastien Loeb would drive the Citroen C4, with Spanish driver Dani Sordo. Their only manufacturer team rivals were the Fords, since Subaru had left at the end of last season. Mikko Hirvonen and Jari Matti-Latvala drove the Blue Oval's cars. Interestingly, both manufacturers had favoured drivers with different surface specialities – Citroen's drivers prefer Tarmac, whilst Ford's pairing prefer loose surfaces.

In M2, Stobart returned with Matthew Wilson, Henning Solberg and Urmo Aava – In Ireland Aava and Solberg were to score points. Citroen took the wraps off their new junior team with ex Subaru driver Chris Atkinson, Russian Evengy Novikov, the hapless Conrad Rautenbach and Impressive JWRC champion Sebastien Ogier on their books. All 4 ran in Ireland, but Atkinson and Rautenbach were scoring points.

It was not the best of weather on the tarmac roads of north Ireland, and Atkinson's inexperience with the powerful Citroen showed when he slid off the road and took out a telegraph pole on the first day. Rautenbach also faltered as did Ogier, whilst Latvala had a disastrous event and finished 14^th. The points scorers on the event were Khalid Al Qassimi driving the 3^rd Ford works entry (by virtue of being a sponsor!) who scored his first WRC point in 2 years of trying by finishing 8^th. Matthew Wilson came in 7^th showing that Stobart probably should have nominated him for points instead of the inexperienced Aava, Ogier had managed to recover to finish 6^th but was clearly uncomfortable in the powerful C4 after dominating the JWRC in the much less powerful C2. 5^th was Atikinson who had done a great job to recover from his accident, and scored useful points for the Citroen Juniors, whilst in 4^th was Henning Solberg. Hirvonen had a torrid time on his least favoured surface and came in 3^rd, leaving the top two spots to the Citroens. With Loeb taking yet another win.

As we'd all expected anyway.

Steve Matchett On Diffusers

Note: The technical talk begins at about 3:41 into the vid.

Brazilian GP - Live Chat

The Future of F1 - From the Past? By Paul Murtagh

 

The 2009 season – the season that we were promised we would see overtaking return to F1. KERS, adjustable front wings, the banning of aerodynamic add-ons, slick tyres – they were all introduced to try and spice up the action and give us overtaking galore.

But so far I think it would be fair to say that it hasn’t exactly been a classic season, and the new rules haven't worked to the extent that we were expecting. As a motor racing fan you want to see driver pushing each other to the maximum – slipping by under braking and then being repassed a few corners later. NASCAR can deliver it, IndyCar can deliver it, even the F1 feeder series of GP2 and F2 can deliver it. So why can’t F1?

This season we have seen some great overtaking moves, but the issue with the diffusers at the start of the season and various other reasons after have seen overtaking limited. It is not what we were all expecting and not what most fans want.

The answer seems to be simple in my opinion – put the emphasis back further on mechanical grip and less on aerodynamic grip. With the whole argument over double and triple diffusers at the start of the season, the FIA should have stepped in and announced a massive reduction in the size of the diffuers, therefore reducing the amount of downforce produced and putting the emphasis back onto mechanical grip. Slick tyres and a better suspension set-up will always produce more overtaking and display the drivers skill more than massive amounts of aerodynamic downforce.

During what is considered to be F1's heyday back in the late 1980's and early 1990's, they had huge slick tyres and relied so much on driver skill and mechanical grip. Wings were there more as an advertising tool than the most important tool for producing downforce, and diffusers were a tiny black object at the back of the car.

With the argument over F1 politics dominating the news for most of the season, surely making the action on-track more exciting is more important than arguing over what is happening off it. F1 needs to make the back pages for all the right reasons - and the only way this will happen is when the racing begins to improve.

Brazilian GP - Qualifying Live Chat

Virtual lap of Interlagos