Formula1 Journal

New book: Stuck – Die Rennfahrerdynastie

On April, 7th a new book on the race driver dynasty of the Stuck family hits the book shelves. In German language the author and former racer Eckhard Schimpf, starts with the former European hillclimb champion and pre-war Auto Union race driver Hans Stuck. He continues with his son Hans-Joachim, former Le Mans winner and sportscar worldchampion and todays right hand of Kris Nissen at VW Motorsport. The book also shades a light on Hans-Joachim’s son Johannes who races in the VLN at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. Also German photographer Ferdi Kräling added photos from his archives of over 40 years in the business. The book is published by Delius Klasing for the price of 29,90€.

An Interesting Take On The Current Rules - By Flood1

The Journal of Formula 1

Malaysian GP Facts and Stats By Paul_Murtagh

The Malaysian Grand Prix first appeared on the F1 calendar in 1999 and changed the way circuits were designed with its ultra-modern facilities and very wide track. It has cemented its place in history ever since

Circuit Stats:

· This will be the 12^th race at the Sepang International Circuit. It first appeared on the F1 calendar as the penultimate race of the season in 1999, and since 2001 has appeared at the start of the season rather than the end

· The circuit was the second design to appear in F1 from renowned F1 circuit designer Herman Tilke. His only previous effort before this was the revamped A1 Ring in 1997

· Sepang contains the widest corner on the F1 calendar, with the final hairpin being a massive 20 metres wide – wide enough to fit 11 F1 cars side by side

· The circuit also contains the biggest grandstand in the world, with the main double-sided grandstand which runs along the back and main straight holding a total of 55,000 fans – half of the circuit’s total capacity

· The first complex of corners were designed by Michael Schumacher, who upon seeing the original plans at Monaco 1997 suggested they should be tight. Ironically, he was the first driver to be passed at this point in the inaugural race, when David Coulthard passed him into Turn 2.

Team Stats:

· Unsurprisingly, Ferrari is the most successful team at Sepang, having won 5 of the 11 races so far. The rest have been won by McLaren (2003, 2007), Renault (2005, 2006), Williams (2002) and Brawn (2009).

· Ferrari were disqualified from the inaugural race in 1999 when it was found that their bargeboards were longer than what was allowed – making McLaren’s Mika Haikkinen the world champion. However, this was overturned on appeal and set up a final race showdown at Suzuka

 

 

· And Williams scored their first one-two finish in 6 years at the following year’s event, when Ralf Schumacher led home team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya

· Red Bull have never scored a podium at this event, with their best result being 6^th place for David Coulthard in 2005, and for Mark Webber last season

· This season also sees the first time that a Malaysian-registered team has entered F1, with Lotus Racing being back by a consortium of Malaysian members of Parliament, and Air Asia founder Tony Fernandez under the guise of 1Malaysia

Driver Stats:

· Once again, you won’t be surprised to learn that Michael Schumacher is the most successful driver in Malaysian GP history, with three victories (2000, 2001, 2004). Fernando Alonso (2005, 2007) and Kimi Raikkonen (2003, 2008) make up the other multiple winners, with Eddie Irvine (1999), Ralf Schumacher (2002), Giancarlo Fisichella (2006) and Jenson Button winning a race each.

· It is also the scene of Button’s first F1 podium, when he finished third in the 2004 race

· Button’s win here last season was his first ‘hat-trick’ in F1 – pole, fastest lap, and win

· At last year’s race Mercedes test driver Nick Heidfeld equalled the record for most podium finishes without a win – 12. He shares this with Stefan Johansson

· Felipe Massa is the least successful pole man in Malaysia GP history. He is the only driver to start the race from pole, but never win

Australian Grand Prix - The Race Stats by Paul_Murtagh

Winner:

Jenson Button (GBR) McLaren Mercedes

 

Podium:

Robert Kubica (POL) Renault

Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari

 

Drivers Championship:

1.  Fernando Alonso (ESP) Ferrari - 37pts

2.  Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari – 33pts

3.  Jenson Button (GBR) McLaren – 31pts

4.  Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren – 23pts

5.  Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes – 20pts

6.  Robert Kubica (POL) Renault – 18pts

7.  Sebastien Vettel (GER) Red Bull – 12pts

8.  Michael Schumacher (GER) Mercedes – 9pts

9.  Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA) Force India – 8pts

10. Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull – 6pts

11. Rubens Barrichello (BRA) Williams – 5pts

Constructors Championship:

1.  Ferrari (ITA) – 70pts

2.  McLaren (GBR) 54pts

3.  Mercedes (GER) 29pts

4.  Renault (FRA) 18pts

5.  Red Bull (AUT) 18pts

6.  Force India (IND) 8pts

7.  Williams (GBR) 5pts

Pit Stop Chart

 

Most Pit Stops:

Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull – 3 stops

First to Stop:

Michael Schumacher (GER) Mercedes – Lap 1

Last to Stop:

Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull – Lap 56

Fastest Pit Stop:

Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull – 23.517secs

Laps Led Chart:

 

Sebastien Vettel (GER) Red Bull – Laps 1-8, 11-25

Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull – Laps 9-10

Jenson Button (GBR) McLaren Mercedes – 26-58

Fastest Lap:

Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull – 1min 28.358secs

Fastest Trap Speeds:

 

Facts:

When Jenson Button took the lead of the grand prix on lap 26, it was the first time he had led a grand prix since winning the Turkish Grand Prix last season

After his retirement on Sunday, Sebastien Vettel has yet to finish in Australia in three attempts

With Jenson Button winning on Sunday, it means that only three of the winners of the Australian GP since it moved to Melbourne have never driven with Mercedes power in F1. The threesome are Damon Hill (1996), Eddie Irvine (1999) and Giancarlo Fisichella (2005)

Sepang Track Guide - By Paul_Murtagh

After an eventful race in Albert Park, F1 moves to the more spacious surroundings of Sepang. The circuit set new standards when it first appeared in F1 back in 1999, and has been a welcome addition ever since. Its long straights and fast corners provide a stern test for the drivers, and the unpredictable weather could make for an interesting afternoon

My Take On The Australian GP - by Flood1

Note: This graph only includes those who finished in the top 10.

Click to Enlarge

I really enjoyed the Oz GP. I was watching at 1:00 AM here in New Orleans and I did not waste my sleep. We have all been talking about the lack of overtaking, and I have done so here on this blog. Let's consider why this race was interesting.

Weather - Wet weather at the start forced all the cars onto intermediates. It also led to some first corner mishaps that affected two of the guys in the F1 focus: Alonso and Schumacher. And it also affected some others not in the focus. Alonso got a horrible start  and he and Schumacher fell to the back. There was some contact between some cars, but that always happens at Oz. So, the weather created the first inconsistancy. That made things interesting.

Strategy - Button fell from 4th to 6th on the opening lap and was not doing good lap times compared to those in front of him. He determined that his setup would never allow him to match their pace on inters, he decided that he could benefit from drys, and he told the team of his decision. They complied and he was the first to stop for slicks on lap 6, two laps before anyone else. The decision was immediately questioned by his runoff soon after he put the slicks on, but never again. The lap times confirmed his choice and the field was forced to comply. His choice, plus Vettel's probs, won him the race.

Strategy Part Two - The first stops were all taken between laps 6 and 10. This was to change to slicks from inters. Now that the track was dry, the racing could become more straightforward. The question was whether there would be another tire stop.

Half of the top 10 did so around lap 32: Schu, Barrichello, Webber, Rosberg, and Hamilton all stopped. It is not clear if they could have gone the distance, but the fact that the top four did not stop sealed the fate of those behind them. Liuzzi didn't stop either and that gained him a position ahead of Barrichello that he held to the end.

Reliability - Vettel lost two races in a row due to very different relaibility problems. Newey has a reputation for this, as did Colin Chapman. Newey will solve these probs, as did Chapman, but the question is when, and will that be too late. But the other top teams did not have reliability probs.

Tires - A declared wet weather race obviates the two compound rule. That led to options. The top finishers choose to use but one set of dry tires and that proved to be the right choice. Button could make that choice because he was in the front, in clean air, and is generally gentle on his tires. His choice to stay out forced those behind him to do so. Those further behind had to make a choice on the merits.

I think Hamilton had used up his tires after the first stop, and I think his complaints toward the team were unfounded regarding making him stop the second time, he thinks that was a big mistake, but I'm not sure, I think he may have cooked them on his way to the front. But, he certainly had used the second set comptely 5 laps from the finish: he said so himself on the radio.

Other Great Drives - Liuzzi had a great drive. He picked up only one spot in the early chaos, got another during when the others stopped ahead of him, but still emerged from his stop in the same position. He started 13th but was 11th after all the first stops. He gained four more positions by the end of the race, although he benefited from mistakes ahead of him. I think he had the drive of the day finishing 7th.

Racing - Hamilton and Alonso and others proved that they can race and can pass when they have nothing to lose. Yes, Webber proved the idiot, but Hamilton also proved to be a bit overzealous by not trying to conserve his points take. That is a good thing. Ham wanted Alonso and was driving his ass off. In my opinion, he would not have made that pass, but Webber guaranted he wouldn't. But I applaud them all for racing and not trying to tip-toe around.

In conclusion, I would just say that I was entertained by the Oz GP. All of the factors mentioned above made it a great race. the are not likely to be a whole bunch in 2010 like this one.

 

 

Australian GP Live Chat

F1 Ride Height Adjustment: Red Bull - By Flood1

During the off season I had discussions with several people, notably Sportsman, about ride height changes during an F1 race under the full-fuel racing rules for 2010. I had two concerns: 1. Qualifying with low fuel on the ride height required to facilitate an additional 160kg or race fuel; 2. The rising ride height during the race as fuel burned off.

Ride height during the race is policed by the plank. While a specific ride height is not mandated, the plank enforces a minimum height. The plank is 10mm thick +/- 1 mm. Measurable wear to the plank that results in a plank that exceeds the minimum thickness will be punished by exclusion.

Under the current rules the cars can qualify on fuel levels of their choosing. Of course this is universally taken to mean just enough fuel to do the three lap outlap-hotlap-inlap sequence. The car qualifies at about the same fuel load as the last 3 laps of the race. But, the quali ride height must be set for a full race fuel load of around 160kg. This means that quali runs are done on the highest ride height of the entire weekend.

On race day the fuel is loaded and the car now is at the lowest ride height of the entire weekend. This is the height where the car also has the best aerodynamics: the lower the better. The average lap burns off about 2.5kg of fuel and the car continues to rise each and every lap until the finish line. This means that the preferred aero is compromised further and further into the race.

If a clever engineer could find a legal way to qualify at the optimum ride height, but then adjust the car for the full fuel load, he would have a massive advantage in qualifying and also in the race. This is what McLaren have accused Red Bull and Ferrari of doing. Newey is an aerodynamicist not a mechanical engineer. However he needs a mechanical system that will facilitate the best aero attitude to exploit his designs. It is not suprising to me that he would attempt this.

The legalities of doing this are unclear, and I don't intend to address them at this point. But, there are some things that we do know. The cars cannot be adjusted in parc ferme post qualifying. That is clear. It is unclear whether they can be adjusted at the pit stop. But, even if they are allowed to do so, the three seconds available during the tire changes does not provide ample time.

What is needed is a system that resets itself for changes of fuel weight via mechanical components. A system that adjusts itself using only the energy provided by the compression and expansion of the suspension due to the undulations of the racing surface. There is a road car system that does just this. As I said before, I don't know whether this is within the rules (I doubt it is legal) but a system that uses similar principle to this may be allowed. Below are a couple of Figures that describe a road car system in use today.

This system uses no external energy and needs no manual adjustments, but instead makes all adjustments using Energy from the axle movements up and down to achieve load leveling.  

 

The following description is from Mannesman Sachs AG. This describes the Nivomat Damper:

Figure 1 shows the state"loaded and uncontrolled", which comes about, for example when the stationary vehicle is loaded. When the vehicle moves off the relative movements between the axle and the body result in the oil being pumped from the low-pressure reservoir against the gas cushion in the highpressureaccumulator. During the outwards movement of the piston rod, the oil is sucked into the pump through the inlet valve; during the inwards movement, the oil is pressed into the high-pressure accumulator through the outlet valve. The pressure in the low-pressure accumulator decreases continuously, and the pressure in the high-pressure accumulator increases continuously.

Also shown is the operating state "loaded and controlled", which comes about when the Nivomat has adjusted the optimum vehicle level position. The increased pressure in the high-pressure accumulator, which acts on the supporting element at the same time, has increased the piston rod extension force and has lifted the vehicle body. Further pumping does generally not lead to a further pressure increase because the height regulator opens a bypass between the working chamber and the pump chamber, which prevents further oil supply from the low-pressure reservoir.

If a system like this were in use, the Red Bull guys would just need to bump a curb or two on each side of the car during the installation lap to "pump" the car to the proper ride height. The system would continously adjust itself during the race.

Qualifying Results Australia

F1 GP Rd.2 Melbourne, Qualifying

First of all, the awaited rain only appeared after the end of  qualifying part three.

Biggest surprise in Q1 was Petrov (Renault) who leads the drop zone in 18^th position ahead of both Lotus on 19^th and 20^th, both Virgin on 21^st and 22^nd and finaly both HRT on 23^rd and 24^th spot.

Surprisingly Barrichello, Sutil and Kubica made it to Q3 while Lewis Hamilton ended up on 11^th spot and missed to qualify for Q3. He is followed by Buemi, Liuzzi, de la Rosa, Hülkenberg, Kobayashi and Alguersuari.

Sebastian Vettel (1:23.919) gets the pole position at Albert Park ahead of team mate Mark Webber (1:24.035). Alonso completes the top three with a 1:24.111 followed by Jenson Button, Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg, Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, Robert Kubica and finally Adrian Sutil completing the top 10 after Q3.

Sutil sticked to his Bahrain qualifying strategy and only made one shot on the hard compounds. Michael Schumacher is rather happy that he could reduce the gap to team mate Nico Rosberg but both Mercedes are still too slow. Mercedes replacement driver Nick Heidfeld says that rain is awaited for the race and hopes that both Schumacher and Rosberg can play a card or two in the wet. Lewis Hamilton left the site rather disappointed seeing team mate Button up in 4^th. Mark Webber seemingly isn’t the happiest of them all either since he was beaten for pole by his team mate Vettel who had a terrifying qualifying lap with some minor mistakes in the last sector.

We should get a pretty interesting GP at Albert Park tomorrow with a battle between Alonso and the two Red Bulls for the win.

F1 GP Rd.2 Melbourne, Free practice 3

After the mandatory check up lap, most of  the teams quickly got their cars ready to practice the qualification. Almost all session long the drivers tested the hard compounds but the last few minutes they tried softs. Soft tires seem to be faster but it takes a lap to get them to work properly.

Interestingly, the result of FP3 is mostly different from the Bahrain sessions. In the team internal battles Webber beats Vettel, Alonso beats Massa and Schumacher beats Rosberg. Button beat Hamilton but Hamilton lost the last ten minutes of the session because he was called in to scrutineering.

Both HRT cars failed to make it through the session. First, the hydraulic pressure on Sennas car dropped at about half of the session and he rolled out. And short before the end Chandhok rolled out too. This caused a yellow flag which stopped the field from fast times there and let run down the last two minutes almost unused.

Red Bulls Mark Webber leads the timing with a 1:24.719 ahead of Ferraris Alonso (1:24.929) and Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher (1:24.963).

P3 Results

F1GP Rd.2 Melbourne, Free Practice 2

The second session started under moist conditions. Most drivers were out for a shakedown lap but came back in quickly as the teams awaited a short shower of rain. It gets reported that Kobayashis second incident in FP1 resulted from a repaired front wing where the team failed to find a cut in the material.

 After 10 minutes the circuit was declared as wet circuit which allowed the drivers to use wet and intermediate tires throughout the session. Sutil took the opportunity and put a lap on his intermediates while Webber, Barichello and the rest of the pack got ready for some quick laps. After 30 minutes Chandhok parked his car in the pitlane exit while Michael Schumacher got reported with problems on his speed limiter. After another short rain shower some teams took the opportunity and practiced on intermediates.

Throughout the end of the session most teams practiced long runs on soft tires. Mark Webber, Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button put in some quick laps at the very end but couldn`t better the time anymore. Lewis Hamilton finishes the session with 1:25.801 ahead of Button (1:26.076) and Webber (1:26.248).

Petrov (96 km/h) and Senna (67 km/h) got caught with pitlane speeding in FP1. Petrov was fined with 7000 € and Senna with 1500 €.

F1 GP Rd.2 Melbourne, Free Practice 1 By Andy

The first free practice at Albert Park, Melbourne started with some check-up laps. First action on track started when Bruno Senna did a few quick laps with about 20 minutes into the session. Paul di Resta got Adrian Sutils cockpit  for this session and Sutil was far from being happy about that. At this point the new teams Virgin, HRT and Lotus been the only cars on track.

After a bit more than 30 minutes into the session the other teams join into the session too. Kobayashi (Sauber) hit a pylone, destroyed his front wing and caused a red flag because he left some debris on the circuit. Kobayashi again stepped into action with 58 minutes into the session when he lost his now changed front wing and caused another red flag.

Team mate de la Rosa rolled out with 11 minutes to go and caused a local yellow. This wan’t a good session for Sauber.

During the last 10 minutes the session saw some minor incidents and local yellows. While the session started with blue skies it became cloudy and windy towards the end. Heikki Kovalainen parked his Lotus on the circuit on the in-lap after chequered flag felt. Robert Kubica posted the fastest lap with a 1:26.927 ahead of Rosberg (1:27.126) and Button (1:27.482). Paul di Resta gave Liuzzi a very hard time and finishes just three tenth behind team mate Liuzzi. Tom Kristensen is one of the stewards of the meeting. The pitlane speed limit for the race is set to 60 km/h which will most likely lead to just one stop at all.

Sauber: F1 Duct Detail By Scarbs

 
Scarbsf1's Blog

 

As we can see in these pictures Sauber have indeed prepared an F-Duct for testing in Australia. More details from the team are on Autosport.com (http://bit.ly/cSXnjh ). It seems the team are now more agile once again since they have shed the BMW ownership & management. Perhaps ex-McLaren test driver Pedro De La Rosa brought some ideas to the team

From the limited pictures we have, we can see that the lefthand sidepod shoulder has an inlet moulded into it. This presumably feeds back through the sidepod and around the airbox to run into the shark fin. The ducting inside the sharkfin is quite evident and ends by connecting to the rear wing. It appears to attach to the mainplane (not the flap as with McLarens set up) somewhere behind the exisitng blown slot inlet.

12h of Sebring - Personal Review by Andy

The Mobil1 12h of Sebring is finished now and the main LMP1 Le Mans contenders, Audi and Peugeot, continued to test their cars for the showdown in June. But what remains from this race that's meant to be a measurement of the state of preparation for the Sarthe classic?

Peugeot's Sebring win has the same bitter political taste that their Le Mans and Petit Le Mans victories had. Well, you still have to go out and finish first to win, but the political debate and continous protests of Peugeot towards the other contender throws a light shadow on their wins at least. But Audi themselves makes it too easy by simply pointing at the ongoing crossfire by Peugeot.

However, I would have loved to see a continuing fight between Drayson and the Aston for the golden apple pie in LMP1. Unfortunately, his lordship proved to be the weak point there, apart from the technical issues. Unfortunately, again the petrol fueled entrries won't stand a chance for the overall win vs. the diesels despite changes by the ACO.

The LMP2 class basically only consisted of two cars and reliability (Porsche Spyder) won over sheer power and speed (Honda Acura).

In the GT class Risi got away very lucky from the incident with Krohn for the GT victory while the Porsche boys had probably the worst portion of bad luck. I mean how high is the chance to get hit by the loose tire of the other Porsche in class and break your own rim with that? The Corvette incident (pitlane contact between the two team cars) was hilarious to put it nice but these things happen despite best preparation. 

As good as the idea was to fill up the grid with GTC and Formula Le Mans cars, it proved to be a bad idea to have them in the race. The GTC guys and gals are true amateurs and probably should contend in something like the Nürburgring 24h but not in a pro event. Formula Le Mans is nice as a runner up spec car series but surely nothing useable in pro events either.

I hope that the Sebring 12h and the Petit Le Mans become part of both ALMS and LMS schedules and part of the Le Mans Intercontinental Challenge (LMIC) so that points for both series get awarded in order to get a bit more competition in a rather thin (prototype) field.

The Formual1 Journal - Second Edition March 24, 2010

Overtaking - A Technical View By Flood1

 

There has been a lot of discussion about overtaking in F1, or the lack thereof, so I though I'd put my two cents in. The suggestions made by the powers that be have mostly centered on artificial methods of “spicing” up the show. For that reason, I do not favor mandatory pit stops, reverse grids, or any of that nonsense.

The problems associated with overtaking are multiple. The reasons that overtaking is difficult are related to the cars, the circuits, the tires, the blocking rules, and 21^st century reliability. The solution is a comprehensive overhaul of all of these areas. There are no quick fixes, so the changes will not be easy to implement, and we are stuck with what we have for now.

The Cars – The most obvious problem is the aerodynamics. They have tried to fix this, but they have underestimated the engineers' ability to claw back the downforce. The backwash from the cars is so turbid and “dirty” that passing is almost impossible. It unsettles the car that is behind. This causes problems with the following car right when he needs the downforce the most: when entering the turn. The effect is to make the car undriveable under braking. Most passes are made entering the turns under heavy braking, and currently few passes can be completed successfully. The guy who gives it a shot often makes contact with something, either the other car or the wall.

I don't have a specific recommendation, but it is obvious that the wings must be much smaller, perhaps as much as 50% as large. The F1 regulations have a dimension box. It is like the luggage box at the airport. If you bag fits in the box, it is legal, regardless of its shape. The FIA should reduce the wing dimension boxes and free up the designers to do anything they want inside those dimensions.

Overtaking In F1 - A Different View by Sportsman

The lack of overtaking in F1 is now the single biggest talking point on all forums, in the F1 press, amongst the teams, and also within the controlling bodies, the FIA and FOM.

Throughout the years, the FIA have made various different rule changes to try to “improve the show,” none of which have made the slightest difference. This year, in an attempt to redress this problem, they introduced their latest attempt: banning in-race refueling. At the same time, they chose to retain the two tyre compound race rule, which is in effect, a mandatory pit stop.

The season opening race at Bahrain, proved to be yet another processional race, provoking strong criticism from many areas: The fans, the press, and from some team principals themselves.

So what is the answer to this? It is now becoming an annual malady, always provoking the same questions and criticism. There are many different reasons for the lack of overtaking, and in this article, I will put forward some of my thoughts on solving this issue.