A preview by Pirelli for the Australian Grand Prix from a tyre perspective of the Albert Park Circuit
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Weather Report for the 2014 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix
The first race of 2014 and it might be a wet one.
We are in Melbourne, Australia for the first round of the 2014 Formula 1 World Championship. Summer is on its way out in Australia, but that does not mean that temperatures are necessarily cold. This weekend, however, we can expect milder than usual temperatures with some rain forecast for Saturday and Sunday. Temperatures will hover in the mid to high twenties with Sunday dropping to an expected low of 19C with a slight possibility of rain.
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Broadcast Times for the 2014 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix
Formula 1 is back! Round 1 of the Formula 1 World Championship opens up at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, Australia.
A whole new season, some new drivers, new rules, and brand new cars. The season is wide open once again. Nobody knows who has the most reliable car or the quickest for that matter. It’s all a mystery that will unfold during the season.
With the race in Australia we can expect early morning times for Free Practice. Times for qualifying and the race a little better.
Below is the full broadcast schedule for the 2014 Rolex Australian Grand Prix:
Free Practice 1: Friday 03:30
Free Practice 2: Friday 07:30
Free Practice 3: Saturday 05:00
Qualifying: Saturday 08:00
Race: Sunday 08:00
All times are GMT+2. We’re excited to bring you live updates all throughout the season. We’ll have periodic updates for you during free practice and live updates on Twitter (@F1_Madness) for qualifying and the race.
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F1 2014: Australian GP Preview: Mystery In Melbourne
Eleven teams will start the 2014 Australian grand prix. Beyond this obvious fact not much else can be forecasted. Unpredictability in Formula 1 is back with a vengeance and brings with it a bevy unanswered questions.
How many drivers will finish the Australian grand prix? The saying that to finish first, first you must finish has never been so appropriate; and the prediction of half the field finishing the race is seen as generous by some. Reliability has dominated the winter testing season as teams struggled to integrate the new power units and electronic systems. Renault powered cars were stricken on the side of the track most often with issues ranging from cooling to complete failure. Meanwhile the consistent crooning of the Mercedes power stamped its authority at the top of time sheets.
The pecking order after twelve days of testing suggests that Mercedes, Williams and McLaren are the front running teams, at least on paper. These teams, all Mercedes powered, delivered the most consistent performances over long runs and in qualifying trim. The newly renamed Williams Martini team looks to have taken a significant step forward and Felipe Massa believes that he will start the Australian GP with a good chance of mixing it at the front. It would be especially sweet for the former Ferrari driver should his Williams feature in the top three.
To be the favourite on paper doesn’t carry much weight, if any at all. The reality is that Red Bull Racing may yet show up Down Under and perform quite well. The car rolled into the back of the truck on the final day of testing will hardly resemble the one that takes to the Albert Park circuit this weekend. Several teams will bring a raft of updates for their cars as they aim to learn as much as possible before the start of Sunday’s race.The Ferrari team has remained under the radar with neither of its mega quick drivers revealing too much about the team’s prospects. The Italian squad’s winter hasn’t been awesomely positive nor has it been disastrous. Fernando Alonso was particularly underwhelmed about driving in 2014. “We were saving the tyres from lap one of the stints last year, and we are saving the tyres from lap one this year. That’s no different. I don’t think things will change that much, but obviously the cars are slower,” said the double champion. It is worth noting that the Alonso is one the greatest politicians in the F1 game. A bit of psychological by-play is never too far from his repertoire.
In a normal year of F1, the first race of the season requires for a variety of factors to come together just right to ensure success – and 2014 is no
normal year. Teams are limited to 100 kilos of fuel per car for the grand prix which will call for vigilant fuel management throughout the race. As before, tyres have to be looked after, so too the power units which are limited to five per season. However, in F1 2014 the driver can be the difference. “It really is a driver’s car – more than the old ones,” said McLaren rookie Kevin Magnussen. “It’s a bit more difficult with more torque. It’s difficult to take care of the tyres and I think it’s going to be tricky. You need more skill and more sensitivity in your throttle.”Few things are the same in Formula 1 2014. The cars do not look the same, they do not sound the same and they are a tad slower. However, the skill of the greatest drivers in the world and absolute unpredictability of it all ensure that it remains the greatest spectacle. This is Formula 1 2014.
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Pirelli Releases 2014 In-Season Tyre Test Schedule
Pirelli and the all the Formula 1 teams with the approval of the FIA have reached an agreement for the in-season tyre test schedule.
The agreement that was finalised on final day of the pre-season test in Bahrain stipulates that each team will devote one day per year exclusively to testing the latest products and developments from Pirelli.
At the final in-season test which takes place between 25-26 November, Pirelli will supply all the teams with prototype tyres that will be used for the 2015 season.
The full in-season tyre test schedule is included below:
Bahrain test (8-9 April)
Day1 – CATERHAM Day2 – MERCEDES and WILLIAMS Barcelona test (13-14 May) Day1 – SAUBER and TORO ROSSO Day2 – McLAREN and FORCE INDIA Silverstone test (8-9 July) Day1 – FERRARI and LOTUS Day2 – RED BULL and MARUSSIA -
Williams F1 Announce Martini as their Title Sponsor
The iconic Martini brand returns to Formula One as the title Sponsor of the Williams F1.
Martini, the world’s leading vermouth and best-selling Italian sparkling wine, will have the iconic red, blue and white colours on the Williams FW36 for the 2014 season.
“We are thrilled to welcome Martini to the Williams family and officially launch Williams Martini Racing,” said Sir Frank Williams, Founder and Team Principal.
“Williams and Martini share a rich history in the world of motorsport, and the values of our two brands and our shared passion for racing make this partnership a natural fit. It will be great to see the distinctive stripes of Martini Racing return to Formula One once again in unison with Williams.”
“The decision to partner with Williams was a natural one for us as it provides an unparalleled opportunity for the Martini brand to connect with consumers through one of their lifestyle passions, Formula One racing,” said Andy Gibson, Chief Marketing Officer of Bacardi and President of Bacardi Global Brands, who oversees marketing for Martini other premium brands in the Bacardi portfolio. “Martini will give consumers a taste of life in the fast lane, bringing a renewed sense of Italian style and glamour to the track and beyond. Williams Martini Racing provides a powerful, integrated marketing platform and delivers dynamic opportunities that will strengthen the Martini brand.”
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Bahrain Test: Day 4 Quotes
Lewis Hamilton ended the final day of pre-season testing on top in Bahrain.
All attention will be towards the first race of the season in Melbourne, Australia for the Australian Grand Prix. Below are some quotes from the drivers.
Lewis Hamilton(1:33.278) | Mercedes | 70 laps: “This has definitely been the most challenging winter I’ve experienced and the car is still very much a work in progress, but we’ve learnt a lot over the course of these last few weeks and overall it’s been a good winter of testing for us. There’s been an incredible amount of work put in by the team back at the two factories and on track. I have to say a special thanks to the crew here today who had a tough task in front of them but never lost their cool. It was a tough start to the day but they managed to get the car turned around for me to complete some good laps in the afternoon, which was a fantastic effort. There’s so much to learn with these new cars; it’s just mind-blowing and I don’t think anybody can be fully ready for the challenge of this season. But I feel as ready as I can be and I’m looking forward to seeing where we are in Melbourne.”
Valtteri Bottas(1:33.987) | Williams-Mercedes | 108 laps: “I think our final day of testing was very good, right up to a very unlucky failure just one run before the end. Overall, it was a still a good day as we had no other issues throughout and made a lot of progress with the car set-up. I think with this amount of testing we are as prepared for Melbourne as we can be. The team has done a great job and thank you also to Mercedes-Benz. We still need to work very hard in these next two weeks but I overall I’m happy with how testing has gone for us. As I didn’t have the chance to do a quick time on the supersoft tyre today, I am looking forward to picking up where we left off when we get to Melbourne.”
Fernando Alonso(1:34.280) | Ferrari | 74 laps: “The team did its utmost to carry out changes on the car as quickly as possible, but again today, we had planned to do more laps than we managed. There are a lot of things to learn with the use of the power unit to improve the performance of the car and we are not yet where we want to be. Everyone in the team is very competitive and we are working day and night in order to get all the potential out of the F14 T as soon as possible. We have gone through twelve days of testing that were very demanding for everyone and I would like to thank the whole team for all its efforts.”
Nico Hulkenberg(1:35.577) | Force India-Mercedes | 74 laps: “The final day of testing went pretty well. In the end we didn’t do the race simulation, but we did some long runs and signed off a lot of other things on the job list. We didn’t do as many laps as yesterday, but we still made progress and learned some new things. So it’s been two good days for me and I’m feeling pretty satisfied. You always want more time to prepare, but I think we’re in good shape. The car has come a long way since the first Jerez test and we have made progress every day.”Adrian Sutil(1:36.467) | Sauber-Ferrari | 91 laps: “It was a good morning. We covered everything that we had planned, just in a shorter time frame. Yesterday was unlucky, but it’s better to have a problem here than in Melbourne. I feel much more comfortable after this morning’s session. Now we have a lot more data to analyse. Overall we had a tough testing programme to go through and we had unexpected problems here and there. However, we don’t get any more tests, so we will take what we have and get the most out of it in Melbourne, and I’m looking forward to that.”
Sebastian Vettel(1:37.468) | Red Bull-Renault | 77 laps: We did a lot of laps today so that was useful. We tried to do a race simulation today; for one reason or another that didn’t work out, but in two week’s time things should look a little bit different. Obviously it’s difficult to know where the car is. It’s not just the number of laps that you do, but also the type. There are so many different running options as well – full power, low power etc, so its’ impossible to say where we are. We know we have to catch up in a lot of areas, but with that said, I’m happy today, we did a lot of laps, we learned a lot and it was a positive end to a tough week here.”
Kamui Kobayashi(1:38.391) | Caterham-Renault | 106 laps: “106 laps is a good way for us to finish the tests, even though the clutch problem we had in the last hour meant we didn’t have a chance to do any of the performance runs we’d planned for today. However, I’m very happy we were able to have two such good final days in Bahrain as it’s showed that our reliability is good and that could be very important in Australia and for the whole season, especially when you look at how quite a few of the other teams have struggled both here and in Jerez.”
The next we get to see the teams and drivers again will be in Australia. The way things stand now is that Red Bull are struggling, Mercedes and Mercedes powered teams are looking very good and Ferrari, and Ferrari powered teams are not far behind. We must not, however, write off Red Bull, they have the potential to come back and dominate throughout the season.
It’s very hard to tell the pecking order for this season. A few races into the season and we will have a very good idea of where things stand. Reliability will be the big thing this season. It’s wide open for this seasons title race.
Photo Credit:
Title Photo: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team
Article Photo: Sahara Force India Formula One Team
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Pirelli Announces Tyre Choices for the First Four Grands Prix
Pirelli, on Sunday, announced the tyre choices for the first four Grands Prix of the season.
For the first round of the Formula 1 World Championship in Australia Pirelli will bring the P Zero White Medium and P Zero Yellow Soft compound tyres. In Malaysia we will see the Pirelli P Zero Orange Hard and P Zero While Medium tyres. For the third and fourth rounds in Bahrain and China Pirelli will bring along the P Zero White Medium and P Zero Yellow Soft compound tyres.
Pirelli say that these tyre choices were made to reflect the characteristics of each circuit and the all-new 2014 cars, bearing in mind all the data that has been obtained from the three pre-season tests.
During the final test, Pirelli discovered that the performance gap increased between the hard and the medium compound, and the medium and the soft compound; the two combinations of tyres that will be used in the first four races of the season. This, according to Pirelli, should allow teams plenty of scope for teams to formulate different strategies to boost their race prospects.
The 2014 P Zero characteristics were in line with expectations in Bahrain. The performance of the tyres are similar to last year, but with less degradation. It seems that Pirelli have played it much safer this season with their compounds.
“The conclusion we can draw so far is that the 2014 tyres are more consistent and wear less than their predecessors, without compromising performance. We’re also meeting another of our objectives with one more step towards the reduction of ‘marbles’ on the track,” said Pirelli Motorsport Director, Paul Hembery.
“The medium and soft compounds are well matched to the expected race conditions in Australia, Bahrain and China, providing what we expect to be the right balance between performance and strategy with two to three pit stops per car. The more abrasive and hotter conditions of Malaysia have led us to nominate the hard and medium compounds there, as we did last year,” he added.
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Second Bahrain Test: Day 1: Driver Quotes
Force India’s Sergio Perez set the pace on Day 1 of the final Bahrain test with a time of 1:35.290, almost a full second clear of second fastest man, Williams’ Valtteri Bottas. Here are some quotes from the drivers after the first day of the second Bahrain test
Sergio Perrez(1:35.290) | Force India-Mercedes | 105 laps: “We really needed a good day to start this week and today we had it. We managed to do a lot of laps, try several different compounds and mappings, and it’s been a fantastic day in terms of learning about the car. Tomorrow is my last day in the car before the season starts so hopefully we can have another solid day to be in good shape for Melbourne.”
Valtteri Bottas(1:36.184) | Williams-Mercedes | 128 laps: “It’s been another good day for us and it was nice to get the whole run plan done. We didn’t have any issues all day so well done to all the team for getting the car running so well. We have a lot of data to analyse tonight after doing some aero work this morning and a race distance and set-up work this afternoon. We did some very interesting tests and there are still plenty of things to improve so we’ll keep pushing.”
Kimi Raikkonen(1:36.432) | Ferrari | 54 laps: “Before I leave Sakhir, it’s planned that I should do a race distance and that’s the only thing I’m missing. Today we chose to concentrate on some of the many things we still have to work on and we won’t assess the winter testing until the final day, when we will put together all the data we have gathered. What I can say is that I have been through worse winters than this.
We have been on different programmes and I don’t think you can judge a car’s potential from how many laps it does in testing. We have a lot of things to test and we want to make the most of these days to check everythting, because the race weekend doesn’t last long and the hours on Friday fly by, while on the other days you are only looking for performance.”Nico Rosberg(1:36.624) | Mercedes | 89 laps: “That was not a fantastic day for us. We tried some new parts on the car and you find out a lot doing that. But unfortunately we did not only discover good things today. I managed to do a couple of good laps before lunch but in the afternoon we had a few small problems which ended my running a bit earlier than planned. This shows that we are pushing everything to the limit and we still have a massive challenge in front of us during the last three days of testing. We need to maximise our time here to be prepared for Melbourne. But after a difficult day overall we are on the right path.”
Daniel Ricciardo(1:37.908) | Red Bull-Renault | 39 laps: ” This morning was much better for us with a few longer runs. Behind the wheel, that’s the best I’ve felt so far. The package seems to be coming together better. We still had a few issues today, but at least when the car was on track it was much more useful running and we made progress in the morning. It’s getting there. I’d love to keep going, but at leas Seb has two days after me in the car, so I think we’ll be looking pretty good for the next three days.”
Daniil Kvyat(1:39.242) | Toro Rosso-Renault | 55 laps: “It was nice to be in the car, even if we didn’t get through the entire programme we had planned for today. However, I feel we have made some progress. We ran the Hard Pirelli most of the time, as we were definitely not chasing performance today. I hope Jev manages to get a full day’s running tomorrow, before I drive again on Saturday.”
Included is the unofficial timesheet for the day’s session:
Photo Credits
Title Photo: Sahara Force India Formula One Team
Article Photo: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team
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Bahrain Test Round Up
With the Jerez and first Bahrain test out of the way, the teams will be focussing on the second test in Bahrain.
The second Bahrain test will focus more on performance testing and fine tuning with a bit of race setups and race simulations thrown in for good measure. In a perfect world, that is exactly what would happen. But as we’ve seen throughout testing this winter, teams have run into unexpected problems which then take time to rectify which cut into their testing time. One such team was Red Bull.
Red Bull seemed to have suffered the most during this winter testing period. With only 21 laps completed in Jerez and 116 in Bahrain, it was in stark contrast to Mercedes who managed to clock up 315 laps. However, not all of Red Bull’s problems were engine related. Some of their problems related to cooling and the way the RB10 is packaged, other problems were software related. It’s quite worrying for a team who was on top of things in 2013 to be struggling in testing before the opening race for the 2014 season. We can be sure that the people at Milton Keynes are working furiously to get things ready for the third test.
Not everyone with Renault engines suffered with engine issues. Both Lotus and Caterham managed to clock in lots of track time. Lotus had much more to get through as this was their first time testing the car on track after skipping the Jerez test. The Caterham team clocked up 253 laps for the Bahrain test. Quite a respectable figure considering they were the Renault powered team with the most laps.
The other Renault powered team that did not fair well was Toro Rosso. On the final day of the first Bahrain test, they ran into a major engine problem which cut their test short.
Ferrari powered teams had a relatively successful test. Sauber had a rather quiet test. They ran into a few issues during the test but there was nothing major. They did uncover a problem with the chassis on the final day of the test. However, they got the car back out for a few laps before the flag dropped for the end of the second Bahrain test.
Ferrari seemed to have got through most of their testing program without major engine or other technical issues. A telemetry problem prevented them from running in the morning of the third day. That was quickly fixed and they carried on with their normal program. The F14T clocked up 287 laps around the Sakhir circuit.
Marussia had quite a disastrous Bahrain test. They only managed to complete 29 laps during the test. The problems started with a computer virus that affected one of their servers. They had an engine issue which took an entire day to fix and change and there were other issues that slowed the team down throughout the test. They will be hoping they can get some decent mileage in the final test.
Lastly, Mercedes. Mercedes had a very successful test. They did have a few issues with the brakes and some other engine relates issues, they were the team with the most laps under their belt when the flag dropped in Bahrain. They completed 315 laps over the four days. Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg also set the fastest time of the test with a 1:33.283. The team also managed full race simulations and qualifying simulations.
McLaren also enjoyed relative success with their running. The Woking based team was always within reach of the Mercedes team and their pace was very impressive.
After a slow start to their Bahrain test the Williams team got going. With Mercedes engines powering their cars this season it seems like they’ve made the right decision at the right time. The reliability of the Mercedes power units have been very good which is what allowed the Williams team to get through most of their test program and bring in rookie driver Felipe Nasr who completed an impressive 87 laps at the wheel of the FW36.
Force India enjoyed some success for their test. With Nico Rosberg and Esteban Gutierrez giving positive feedback about the car over the four days. Although running into few problems, it seems that the Mercedes powered Force India could be another serious contender this season.
Although teams were testing every aspect of their cars, Pirelli, with the help of the teams, were also conducting tests of their own. Motorsport Director at Pirelli, Paul Hembrey was pleased to report that the 2014 tyres are more consistent and more durable than the 2013 tyres. He did go on to say that Pirelli are ready to make changes to the tyres if the need arises.
Photo Credits”
Title Photo: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team
