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F1 Paddock Ups Its Game For Spain

In some cases traditional can be interpreted as being out-dated or bland. But sometimes the tried and tested brings its own unique concoction of nostalgia and character to the table. The Formula 1 paddock returns to Europe for a dose of Spain’s historic Circuit de Catalunya and the fifth round of the season.

Despite the few opportunities for testing, all drivers know the 4.655 km layout like the back of their hands. The circuit is a highly challenging one which demands a good combination between power and aerodynamics – the perfect barometer for car performance.

The return to Europe will be the hot-bed for major upgrades up and down the paddock. Some teams have stated more measured aims than others but the common thread will be improvement.

Sauber

Since the start of the testing season in January the C33 Sauber had a significant weight disadvantage. The Swiss team has so far struggled to match the heights of their 2013 season and have spent the last three weeks on reducing the car’s weight.

The team, led by Monisha Kaltenborn, will also introduce a ‘major aerodynamic update.’ A modified front wing, new engine cover, and new sidepod fins and deflectors are believed to be among the parts being rolled out this weekend. In addition, Ferrari has provided a software update to its customer teams which will deliver improved performance from its power units.

Sauber’s aim of a solid points finish seems modest however the team have not registered on the points table in any of the four races so far.

McLaren

The team’s fortune’s seemed to have turned when Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen delivered a double podium finish in Australia. However, going pointless in both Bahrain and China has prodded a management re-shuffle. The restructure and the appointment of key new aero staff have resulted in the hiring of Tony Salter from Sauber and Guillaume Cattelani from Lotus.

Changes have also been made to the way the team operates as McLaren set out to “restore some leadership.” It’s clear that McLaren’s focus on running of the team tells that they believe the MP4-29 to be a good package. The only issue that exists, as McLaren’s re-shuffling suggest, is to find the most effective way of unlocking its potential and carrying it to the front of the grid.

Lotus

The Lotus F1 Team has suffered the biggest loss of form in comparison to 2013. By reaching their simple goal of seeing the chequered flag the team can now start to focus on improving the drivability of the car. “We’ve got a new cooling and bodywork package coming – quite a big upgrade – plus some updates to the rear wing and various other bodywork parts,” said technical director Nick Chester.

Lotus, who runs Renault power, also welcomed more horsepower from Renault Sport F1 in China and is hoping for further upgrades in Barcelona.

Mercedes

Toto Wolff has cautioned his Mercedes team by saying that staying ahead of their competitors will not be enough to ensure victory at the end of the season.

“Our aim must be to increase the advantage we enjoyed at the last race in China,” said Wolff. “We have seen already that our rivals are relentless in their efforts to close the gap.”

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel has, unexpectedly, been in the shadow of teammate Daniel Ricciardo in nearly all of the first four races. Red Bull is not chalking up to one driver simply out-performing the other however. The team has been looking into whether an underlying fault with Vettel’s 2014 car has contributed to the reigning world champion’s struggles. If the team has found a fault with the four-time champion’s car they have not revealed it.

It has been confirmed that a new version (chassis) of the RB10 has been built in Milton-Keynes and will be ready for use by Vettel in Spain.

The Spanish circuit made its F1 debut in 1991 and has been the sight of several memorable victories. In 2014 Mercedes are the undoubted favourites. But the fascination of the weekend will centre on how close the opposition can get to unseating the high-flying Silver Arrows.

May 8, 2014
Video: Pirelli Spanish Grand Prix Preview

A Preview video by Pirelli about the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix

May 7, 2014
Weather Report for the 2014 Formula 1 Pirelli Spanish Grand Prix

Catalunya, Spain plays host to the fifth round of the Formula 1 World Championship and the Spanish Grand Prix. It also marks the start of the European Formula 1 season.

It looks as though we are going to have a dry Spanish Grand Prix this weekend. Temperatures are expected to stay in the low to mid twenties with lots of sun expected on Friday and Saturday. For Friday’s practice sessions and Saturday’s practice and qualifying it will be warm with a few clouds overhead. The weather for the race on Sunday is expected to be overcast with a very low chance for rain.

With low ambient temperatures and very high tyre degradation expected because of some of the wide radius corners we can expect to see lots of graining and plenty of tyre marbles that will be left off the racing line.

It does seem that Mercedes have the upper hand for this grand prix. It will be very interesting to see if they’ve extended their advantage over the three week break or have other teams caught up to them

May 7, 2014
Broadcast Times for the Formula 1 Gran Premio de Espana Pirelli 2014

Round 5 of the Formula 1 World Championship brings us back to Europe for the start of the European Formula 1 season.

We can expect many teams to bring about their first major changes to their cars. After three weeks of down time after the Chinese Grand Prix we can expect to see a few big upgrades from the teams. Mercedes are looking to keep their advantage over the other teams. Red Bull and Ferrari are enduring to close the gap to Mercedes and McLaren will be looking for some kind of improvement after a very lacklustre start to the season. That does not mean that the other teams would have twirled their thumbs.

The track will play to Mercedes’ advantage with the long pit straight, the fast swooping corners and with the tight and twisty final sector. We can expect to see them well ahead. The fight at the moment is for second fastest between Ferrari and Red Bull with the Milton Keynes based team edging slightly ahead.

With the race weekend taking place in Spain we return to “normal” TV times for everyone in Europe and Africa. The full broadcast schedule is included below.

Free Practice 1: Friday 10:00

Free Practice 2: Friday 14:00

Free Practice 3: Saturday 11:00

Qualifying: Saturday 14:00

Race: Sunday 1400

You can also join us on Twitter(@F1_Madness) for our live commentary and updates throughout the F1 weekend.

May 6, 2014
Ayrton Senna – An Enduring Legacy

The 1^st of May will mark twenty years since the death of the great Ayrton Senna – The last driver to die in a Formula 1 race.

Before the fateful day and for many years afterwards Professor Sid Watkins was at the forefront and leading the vital charge towards a safer sport. His desire was to make the sport safe so that no driver would ever again lose his life in a racing car. Twenty years after one the darkest days in the history of the sport Prof Watkins is no longer around to see the result of his and many other’s groundbreaking work.

The evolution of safety in Formula 1 is brilliantly documented in the film 1: Life On The Limit. It starts with Martin Brundle’s crash at the 1996 Australian grand prix. Despite looking horrific from the outside Brundle jumps out of the car, uninjured, and runs down the pitlane to his spare car; a seemingly ordinary occurrence in modern Formula 1.

The film spans the 1950s, 60s and 70s – the most dangerous era of the sport. Three-time world champion Jackie Stewart was just one of the pioneers of making Formula 1 a safer sport. He describes getting out of the cockpit after the 1968 German GP:

“We had a driver die every month on the same weekend for four consecutive months. And we were racing on the fifth weekend in circumstances that we should never have been allowed to go out in. You couldn’t see 60 metres of visibility because of the fog and heavy rain. And the very first question I asked when I got out of the car was, “Is everybody OK?”

It is a tragic reality that because of those who lost their lives in this deadly era of the sport improvements to safety became paramount. Throughout the film Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti and Niki Lauda recount how they strove to make the sport safer.

Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley feature heavily in the film as well. The link between Ecclestone and the decrease in fatalities after he takes control of the sport is unmistakable. Several instances are depicted where Ecclestone refuses to race at certain tracks if the necessary medical facilities were not available and up to standard.

The film includes some unsettling footage which includes the fatal crash of, amongst others, Jochen Rindt. From these painful scenes the film starts to build on the incremental improvements in safety. Medical centres and medical helicopters became mandatory at every racing track, barriers and circuit are re-designed and helmet technology is completely transformed.

The film creates a stark contract between the first three decades of the sport and what we know it as now. Drivers getting into their cockpits had no idea if they would survive the race or which of their friends might die that. In stark contrast Lewis Hamilton said during his interview that he has never feared or worried about death and that “it’s almost like you have control of the danger.”-An astonishing statement in relation to those early years.

On the 1^st of May as Professor Sid Watkins attempted to assist the injured Senna he recounts that as the clouds parted over Imola he knew there was nothing that could be done for his great friend. Since that day and thanks to pioneers such as Prof Sid Watkins, who delivered four decades of unprecedented service to Formula 1, no driver has lost his life since.

As we remember the day Formula One lost Ayrton Senna, you can read our special tribute to Senna here. Or watch the full 1994 San Marino Grand Prix here.

May 1, 2014
F1 2014: Chinese GP- Hat-trick Man Hamilton Wins In China

For the first time in his seven year career Lewis Hamilton has scored a hat-trick of victories. A complete domination of the 2014 Chinese grand prix was the latest in a list of victories to be added to the Brit’s resume.

Seemingly nothing can stand in the way of Mercedes’ all-dominant string of results. Not even rain during Saturday’s qualifying session could put a dampener on Hamilton run as he secured pole position ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Lewis Hamilton led from start to finish as Mercedes once again overshadowed the competition. Teammate Nico Rosberg got off to a slow start and fell all the way to seventh before recovering to second. Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa banging wheels meant Sebastian Vettel could snatch second place at this stage.

Despite running second in the race the Red Bull couldn’t match the pace of Mercedes nor Alonso’s Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel also finds himself in territory he doesn’t recognize – being outpaced by a teammate. Daniel Ricciardo has hit the ground running as a Red Bull driver and continues to go from strength to strength in an impressively calm manner. It didn’t sit too well with Vettel that he had been asked to let his faster teammate through in both of the last two races.

The team was quick to insist that Vettel was not creating any tension within in the team by initially refusing to heed the team order. Vettel, informed that Ricciardo had fresher tyres, responded with “tough luck” before eventually letting his Australian teammate through. Team boss Christian Horner saw nothing wrong with Vettel’s response and put it down to the champion being “a race driver.” It is evident from Vettel’s reaction that being out-performed by Ricciardo is starting to affect him. Vettel eventually finished fifth roughly twenty seconds behind Ricciardo.

The Ferrari team showed a marked improvement, at least in the hands of Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard blitzed the opening lap of the race, as he so often does, and was able to maintain and beat the pace of both Red Bull drivers. Alonso secured the first podium for Ferrari in which has otherwise been an off-colour start to the season. The third place finish comes at a significant time for the team as new team Principal Marco Mattiacci looks to find his feet.

Teammate Kimi Raikkonen didn’t enjoy the same turn of speed as he struggled to an eighth place finish behind Nico Hulkenberg and Valterri Bottas respectively. The Finn endured a difficult weekend compounded by a variety of issues which severely restricted the amount of running throughout the practice sessions. However, Raikkonen pointed out his driving style as the main contributing factor for his lack of pace. The former champion’s famously smooth style prevents him from getting enough heat into the Pirelli tyres which in turn affects grip levels. Typically, this would be seen as an asset as it could extend the life of the tyre however coupled with the low temperatures in China it resulted in an overall lack of pace.

Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top ten while Felipe Massa’s afternoon was completely destroyed by a pit-stop mistake. The team mixed up right and left-rear tyres costing the Brazilian a chance of a points-paying position. Oddly, the chequered flag was shown a lap early on lap 55 which, according to regulations, meant that Chinese GP was declared to have finished on lap 54. None of the points-paying-positions were affected.

The tension between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg is almost palpable. No congratulatory handshake was forthcoming, not even for the camera and no pleasantries exchanged before or during the podium ceremony. They aren’t expected to be overly excited about the other’s result but the lack of interaction between them is telling.

The tension between the two stems from the wheel-to-wheel battle in Bahrain which Rosberg felt was “too close” for comfort. But there is little doubt that if the German had been the one on attack and the first to see the chequered flag that it would’ve been acceptable.

The reality is that Hamilton struck a significant psychological blow by taking victory in a race that Rosberg seemingly had won. He followed it up with another damaging mental blow in China by completely dominating the weekend.

In three weeks time the first race of the ‘European season’ will take place at Spain’s Catalunya circuit. Most teams are expected to roll out several big upgrades with the hope of seeing significant progress.

Mercedes-Benz images courtesy of @MercedesAMGF1

April 21, 2014
IT’S OUR BIRTHDAY! Your chance to WIN!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been an entire year since we started this website. And it is only thanks to the awesome F1 and F1 Madness family, friends and fans, that we are still going strong after the first year. Happy Birthday to us!

It’s been quite a ride we’ve had. Plenty pit stops on the way, tyre changes, changes in race strategy and tweaking our performance as we go along. But in the end, thanks to all the support we’ve received we’ve come out the winners! We are super grateful for all of your support and look forward to continue growing at the great rate we have!

To celebrate our birthday, we’re giving away a copy of the F1 2013 Classics Edition game. All you have to do to enter, is go on over and like our Facebook page, and share the competition with your F1 crazy friends. The winner will be announced after the Spanish Grand Prix.

The prize is kindly sponsored by our friends over at AWX. The only site you’ll ever need for ALL your Gaming needs! Please pop on over and visit them too: http://www.awx.co.za/campaigns/view/id/161/title/F1+2013.html

Click on the piccie below to get yourselves entered!

April 20, 2014
Hamilton claims masterful Chinese Grand Prix pole

Lewis Hamilton claimed his fourth pole position with a time of 1.53.860 ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix in a rather damp and drizzly qualifying session. In doing so, the Briton surpassed Jim Clark’s record for pole positions by a British driver.

Daniel Ricciardo will start second on the grid tomorrow after out-qualifying Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel by half a second. But Ricciardo’s Red Bull was a full 0.6 seconds off Hamilton who was fastest in all three qualifying sessions. The Mercedes driver’s 34th pole position moves him one clear of two-time world champion Jim Clark, and places him fourth in the all-time record list behind Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, and Vettel.

Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg had looked set to challenge Hamilton for pole position, but the German made two costly mistakes in the final session which resulted in him only qualifying in fourth place.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso set the fifth fastest time under the watchful eye of new team principal Marco Mattiacci. The Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas brought their cars home in 6th and 7th places. Nico Hülkenberg was eighth, with Jean-Éric Vergne and Romain Grosjean rounding out the top 10 qualifiers.

Several of the top drivers did not make it through to Q3 including Kimi Raikkonen who came close to being eliminated in Q1 already but set the 11^th fastest time in the end. Fellow world champion, Jenson Button also failed to impress an only managed 12^th.

Pastor Maldonado will start from the back of the grid after power unit problems kept his Lotus E22 parked in his garage.

After plenty of wet running so far this weekend, we are not expecting rain for the race tomorrow. What we are expecting is more Mercedes dominance and if Lewis Hamilton has anything to say about – come rain or shine – he’ll be holding the trophy on the top step of the podium tomorrow.

Join us for what’s bound to be an action packed race tomorrow. We’ll be running live commentary on Twitter @F1_Madness with pre and post race news, analysis and quotes from the teams and drivers.

Full timesheet for the Chinese Grand Prix qualifying:

April 19, 2014
Ricciardo leads damp third practice session

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo finished fastest in rain-affected final practice session ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix.

Most of the front running teams spent the majority of their time in the pits, not wanting to risk their cars in the damp conditions.

Not that drivers were going all out to finish on the top of the timesheets, Ricciardo posted a fastest time of 1:53.958 finishing ahead of Felipe Massa and Romain Grosjean.

The Mercedes team seemed very confident despite encountering rear suspension trouble on Lewis Hamilton’s car yesterday, and Nico Rosberg with a brake issue today. Sebastian Vettel also spent some time waiting around after a minor fire on one of his brake ducts but saw his session end with a KERS issue.

Pastor Maldonado’s session came to an early end again due to a problem on his Lotus E22 car saw him told pull over on the side of the back straight.

There’s very little likelihood that today’s results will even remotely resemble the starting grid which will be determined in qualifying later this morning. Join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for updates and a bit of a chat.

Here are the results for the final practice session in China.

April 19, 2014
Q&A With The New Ferrari Team Principal, Marco Mattiacci

This afternoon at the Shanghai International Circuit there was a Q&A session with the new Team Principal of the Ferrari Formula 1 Team Marco Mattiacci. This is what he had to say.

You come here relatively unknown to Formula 1 people. I think even Fernando and Kimi say they knew very little about you. Do you feel you have got a big mission to prove yourself to win the sceptics over?

MM: It is very motivating for me. I accept it because I think sometimes, you can bring a new perspective looking at issues and opportunities, and the fact that I need to prove that I am at the level of Ferrari first and the level of Formula 1, so you have in front of you an extremely motivated person.

There’s a tendency amongst Formula 1 teams now to have a CEO and then a racing director or sporting director below that. Do you intend restructuring the Gestione Sportiva or how do you want to do that?
MM: It’s too early to make such statements. What I know is that I’ve worked in Ferrari for 14 years. I’ve been, for the last four days, in Maranello in the Gestione Sportiva. I think we have an amazing group of talented people. I think we have a history of pedigree that is unique, a pride that is impressive, so to talk about restructuring is too early. Definitely, we are here, I’m here. Mr Montezemolo is extremely focused on giving any kind of support to the team and if needed, to go in the market, but – but – clearly, to go in the market if he really believes that it’s going to be an added value and impact to this team. That’s at the moment what I know.

Can you tell us about motorsport experience? Do you have any at all when you were with Ferrari North America or out here?
MM: If you want, I can tell you that I love racing. I race in my spare time. I spent probably 20, 22 weeks in the track last year. I attended three 24 Hour Daytonas, sleeping at the track, tried to learn as much as I could. It’s not Formula 1 but I love racing. I love continuous improvement. I love challenging the team, challenging ourselves to give a better car and to get as much as we can from the track.

In any way, is your lack of race team experience or lack of experience here an asset to you? Can you look objectively at the team, not stand on reputations? And is that part of the reason you think you’ve been brought in?
MM: I think that in the last 20 years, I have assembled a lot of teams. I am benchmarking a lot of business structure and as I told you, this is a different perspective, not in terms of sporting team but definitely assembled team, working with people, managing people from different nationalities with diversity, diversity in the industry, diversity in nationalities. So I will try to bring, if I have some best practice from that but definitely, this is a very specific culture, I’m aware. Time or reaction is completely different. You need to do things that have to happen yesterday, not in two months like in corporate. So I come with a lot of humility to understand and to work very hard. This is what I can commit to the team, to the drivers that are the best drivers in the world. They will have an extremely humble person that will listen and will fight 150% to be a facilitator and to best utilise the talent that is within Ferrari.

What is your strategy? How long before we see your influence on the team?
MM: I am not a great believer in the word ‘strategy.’ I believe that, every day you need to set a target for improvement. As I said, when you first arrive, you look for what is good and I think that in this team, there is a lot a lot of talent. So I am working with the Chairman, with Mr. Montezemolo, in making an assessment and to see what will be needed. At this moment in time, I really cannot make a call on that.

Is it possible for you to ascertain whether you still have a chance (to win) this year’s championship? Or do you feel your work is to start establishing the campaign for next year? And during the race, are you going to be on the pit wall talking to the guys, making decisions in the middle of races?
MM: “I don’t think we are going to give up. Our goal is to close as much as possible the gap to the leader, which at the moment is Mercedes. You all know racing better than me, there are many variables that can influence a lap, a race or a championship. So, as this is the fourth race it is still very early to take a decision. But our objective is to close the gap to Mercedes as soon as possible, which is not an easy task. Will I be on the pit wall? For sure.

What’s the reason you were wearing sunglasses this morning?
MM: It’s a very good question. If you do in four days almost forty hours of flying and you don’t sleep in the last four days, probably you need sunglasses!

You’re not an engineer but how do you plan to make the car go faster, because this is what you are here for? What can be changed compared to your predecessor?
MM: I am not an engineer, but we have 800 people working to make the car faster. I want to get as much motivation as possible to define a certain project to management. I am not the one who will find an extra second on the car. That will be the engineers who work for us.

We were told the news on Monday morning. Can you tell us anymore about the timing?
MM: I received a call at 5.58 on Friday morning from chairman Montezemolo. He told me this was his idea and I told him that April Fools Day had already happened fifteen days earlier. Then, after the first two or three minutes of discussion I realised it was serious and there was already a ticket ready for me to go from New York to Milan in three hours time. So I arrived in Maranello, at the Fiorano track on Saturday morning.

Was this always on your agenda as an ambition for you to come into it or was this as much a surprise to you maybe as to others?
MM: I never had an agenda about what I wanted to be. I always work extremely hard to be prepared for whatever chance would be offered to me in any environment and that’s the beauty of life. I don’t think you can control or plan too much. I think you need to be prepared.

A great team is about great people. Will this be the beginning of an aggressive recruitment drive now for Ferrari?
MM: You raise a great point. A team is made first of people, people, people, people. As I said, the chairman, we discuss and discuss with the first report and clearly, whatever is needed, we will do, even going to the market but with the clear idea that not just for the sake of going shopping but if we will find someone that will bring extreme added value to a team that, according to all of us, is one of the highest level teams that there is Formula 1. So that’s the philosophy at the moment. But whatever is needed will be done.

You mentioned that there was quite a tight timeframe for you getting the job. Have you had any contact with Stefano at all? Has he spoken to you about what to prepare for and given you any advice for it?
MM: Sure, Stefano is a great person. He’s a friend of mine and we spent a few hours on Saturday, Monday we spent the entire day together so yes. As I said, Stefano is a person I have the utmost respect for, first as a human being, second as a professional so it was natural for us to discuss the roles.

Photos by courtesy Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1

April 18, 2014