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Susie Wolff Gets FP1 Outings In 2014

Susie Wolff is set to break the 22 year long wait for a woman in Formula 1.

The Williams F1 team confirmed earlier that Wolff would continue her role as development driver alongside new signing Felipe Nasr. Wolff has tested for the Williams team on several previous ocassions including a run in the revamped young drivers test last season.

The team confirmed that Wolff will take to the track in two free practice one sessions in the 2014 season with Silverstone and Hockenheim the circuits of choice. She will also complete a days running during one of the eight in-season testing days.

“I’m grateful for the support and belief Williams continue to show in me and 2014 promises to be a very important milestone in my career,” said Wolff.

“Competing in two FP1 sessions, alongside an additional full test day this season will be a big step and I am looking forward to the opportunity to get behind the wheel of the FW36 on a grand prix weekend.”

Wolff will become the first woman in more than two decades to take part in a grand prix weekend.

February 25, 2014
Bahrain Test: Day 2: Selected Driver Quotes

Selected team and driver quotes from the second day of testing in Bahrain.

Kevin Magnussen(McLaren Mercedes) | Fastest time(1:34.910) | 46 laps: “It’s a dream every time I get in the car: it’s just so cool to be here and to be driving. I’m really enjoying it.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get too many laps done this morning, but it was good to get some laps done at the end of the day. The afternoon was good for us, and we worked through our problems. The team is doing a great job to help me: they’re giving me really good guidance and making me feel confident. There’s a lot of discussion about laptimes, and it feels good to get some good times recorded, but winter testing is just that – testing. It isn’t about times.”

Nico Hulkenberg(Force India-Mercedes) | Fastest time(1:36.445) | 59 laps: “My two days in the car have been very positive. We’ve made some improvements to the car, collected lots of data, and continued to learn with each lap. At the moment it’s still early days, but I’m pleased with the progress we have made in terms of understanding the car. I think we are getting closer to seeing the potential of these cars, certainly compared with the performance in Jerez, but it’s such a steep learning curve and I expect the times to become quicker and quicker.”

Fernando Alonso(Ferrari) | Fastest time(1:36.516) | 97 laps: “Every day we learn a bit more about the car and its systems. We have made a major step forward compared to the first test and the whole team is working well. Even the performance seems to be thereabouts, but now’s not the time to try and chase it. It will be a challenge for everyone to be ready for the first race of the season and that is our aim at the moment. “There are still some small problems which we must try and resolve, just like when you buy a new domestic appliance, but that’s to be expected, given the radical new design. But every time we go out in the car, it gets easier and confidence grows and that’s why I think the most crucial test in performance terms will be the next one.”

Nico Rosberg(Mercedes) | Fastest time(1:36.965) | 85 laps: “We achieve another good amount of laps today which proves that the first part of testing in terms of reliability is going well. we had a few small issues but it’s important to find out what they are to see what is not yet running perfectly. We dont yet know where we are in terms of performance, but it was a great day for me personally because I felt at home in the new car for the first time.”

Valtteri Bottas(Williams-Mercedes) | Fastest time(1:37.328) | 116 laps: Today was a good day. After the problems we had yesterday it was great to complete 116 laps. We still have things we are working through but we were able to do the aero work we needed as well as complete a race simulation so we now have lots of data to look at. There is a lot of work still to do so we need to aim to have more days like today.

Kamui Kobayashi(Caterham-Renault) | Fastest time(1:39.855) | 66 laps: “It was good to be back in the car and even though we had quite a few interruptions in the morning with a telemetry issue, we still completed 66 laps which is another useful day’s work. Reliability is going to be so important this year, and it’s good that the issues we’ve had here have been fixed well enough to allow us to keep running. It’s also good to finish the day with a relatively quicker lap, but even though everyone knows lap times don’t really mean anything in the tests, it’s good for the team to start to see us unlocking some of the car’s performance.”

Sebastian Vettel(Red Bull-Renault) | Fastest time(1:40.340) | 59 laps: “Definitely a better day today. We did more laps, so that’s encouraging. It’s good to check the car, check the reliability, but obviously there is a lot still to do. It was good to get a proper first feel for the car and it feels OK but there’s a lot more to come. Its difficult to catch up [to rivals] because I don’t know what other people are doing, but we did more laps that we have done so far and that’s the big thing. We’re learning every single lap, even if the quality of the lap is sometimes not the best. However, the most important thing is to run and we did that. The last two days have been very useful. I hope Daniel can get some good laps in tomorrow”

Jean-Eric Vergne(Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari) | Fastest time(1:40.609) | 58 laps: “A good day, the best since testing began. This morning was relatively trouble free and we got through plenty of items on the job sheet. However, later in the day, we did experience a few minor technical troubles, that cut short our running time. It’s the first time I’ve been able to push the car on track and I have to say in terms of its balance, it gave me a good feeling. I hope that, as from tomorrow, when Daniil drives, we can start doing more and more kilometres.”

Esteban Gutierrez(Sauber-Ferrari) | Fastest time(1:40.717) | 55 laps: “The morning was very productive. We managed to do a lot of laps and understand a lot of things that need to be done. There is a lot of work to do to understand everything properly, especially the engine and electronics. In Jerez it was important that everything was running and functioning. Here in Bahrain it’s time to put everything together and make sure all the components are in tune, so we can start working on the potential of the car.”

Romain Grosjean(Lotus Renault) | Fastest time(1:40.670) | 18 laps: “It’s still early days and more laps would certainly help. There are a lot of things I’d like to work on and we’re in an initial phase in terms of driveability, and we haven’t started to look at things like set-up yet. Certainly we can say at this stage that there is still a lot of potential in the car! We haven’t had many laps and we haven’t gone too fast so it’s difficult to form an impression of the E22 as a race car yet. It’s not that we have many issues with the car, it’s just that the issues we have take a long time to change and try to rectify, so it’s been a little frustrating here. It’s one of those things with a new car, especially one with such advanced technology. Hopefully things are better for the next two days with Pastor and I have a nice reliable car when I return to test next week.

Max Chilton(Marussia-Ferrari) | Fastest time(1:42.511) | 17 laps: “My first day in the car got off to a good start. We were getting into the aero programme and gradually building towards some longer runs. Unfortunately we experienced the fuel system problem and to get to the root of that is quite a long and complicated process, so it took up most of the afternoon. We were seriously up against it time-wise, so all credit to the guys for pushing so hard and enabling us to get a further three laps in before the session end. These problems are all part of testing of course but we hope to start putting some bigger mileage on the car over the next couple of days”

The full unofficial timing sheet is included below:

Photo credits:

Title Photo: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team

February 20, 2014
Bahrain Test: Day 1

Day one of the Bahrain test concluded with Red Bull in a spot of bother and with Mercedes looking very strong.

The first day of testing got off to a bad start for Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull racing in Bahrain. Their car was not seen until they were 5 hours into the session due to issues during the building of the car this morning. Once Vettel was on the track he only managed 14 laps after stopping on track with an hour left in the session. According to the BBC, when the car arrived back in the pits there was a burning smell emanating from the cockpit.

“Obviously we’re not happy with where we are now and we have a long way ahead of us. The first gut feeling from the car is OK, but we need more running,” he said.

“It’s not easy to find a quick fix, but i think we understand the problems. We sorted out the issues from Jerez adn we were able to do some laps today. However, very often you fix one problem and another pops up, which is what happened. That’s testing. We all knew this year was a massive challenge and we knew it would be difficult. We obviously didn’t want this, but it is what it is and we are working flat out to solve the problems

Mercedes on the other had had more laps around the track. A brake issue ended the session slightly earlier for them today. Lewis Hamilton clocked 74 laps around the Bahrain International Circuit in the W05 with a best time of 1:37.908.

“It’s been impressive to see us start the Bahrain test with good mileage, reliability, especially when you see how difficult it is for everyone with the new regulations,” said Hamilton. “The team can be very proud of this after so much of hard work.”

“We’re not aiming to be top of the timesheets at the moment, it’s more about ticking the reliability boxes, but we can be happy with where we are before the halfway point of the pre-season tests,” he added.

Nico Hulkenberg in his Force India set the fastest time for the day with a 1:36.880. Force India who use Mercedes engines also enjoyed some long runs out on track and clocked up a total of 79 laps on track. These are very encouraging signs early on in the test for the Silverstone based team.

Hulkenberg: “A very positive and satisfying day. We had a busy programme and we learned a lot. Time in the car is very valuable at the moment and so it feels good to cover so many laps and even complete two long runs at the end of the day. That gave me a chance to see how the car behaves and to start getting a feel for it, which was not something I was able to do in Jerez. It’s great that we’ve already done some set-up work and started to improve the drivability of the car. But it’s still very early stages; we are learning with every lap and we face a very steep learning curve in the coming days.”

The Lotus E22 made its public debut in Bahrain today with Frenchman Romain Grosjean at the wheel. With little issues in their filming day at Jerez last week, it was a very different story today. The E22 only managed to do 8 laps.

“To be honest, there are so many things going on at the rear of the car that I can’t understand everything, but it was related to the engine or batteries or things like that. Nothing too crazy,” said Grosjean.

“Hopefully we can understand it and get better solutions for tomorrow and the day after.”

Grosjean went on to say that he is not even going to attempt set ups with the car because the main focus on the testing at the moment is the reliability.

Ferrari had a rather straight forward test day without any unexpected difficulties. Fernando Alonso was at the wheel of the F14T today with the second fastest time of the day of 1:37.879. Alonso will be pilot the F14T tomorrow before Kimi Raikkonen takes over for the final two days.

“It’s nice to be driving again, especially when you have more reference points compared to the previous time, which means you get a better feeling for the car,” said Alonso. “We are also at a track that is more representative, with normal temperatures, where it’s been easier to understand tyre behaviour. We are in a phase where we are discovering things and with every lap, we learn something new. For everyone, there is still a lot to do to be well prepared for Melbourne, so it will be important to make the most of every day we have available to us.”

Toro Rosso also suffered engine issues and together with Red Bull and Lotus, they managed 27 laps between them. Robin Frijns in the Caterham CT05, which is also powered by the Renault engine, managed to clock up 68 laps.

Williams had a bad day today. The Mercedes powered FW36-02 never got to see much of the track today. According to their Chief Test engineer, Rob Nelson, they had a fuel system problem. However, they were able to change some of the components and do some running towards the end of the day.

“It was a difficult day. It was frustrating for me but also for the whole team as we all wanted to get lots of laps on the board today. We had a few issues with the car which we are investigating and aim to solve for tomorrow and the following days,” said Felipe Massa

Kevin Magnussen in his McLaren finished the day 4th fastest with the second highest lap count. The most mileage done today was by Adrian Sutil in the Sauber. Both teams had relatively normal testing days and were quite happy with the progress that was made so far.

Renault powered teams look to be on the back foot at the moment and with Red Bull and Lotus having all these issues it’s going to be very tough to catch up to the other teams.

The unofficial timing sheet is included below

Photo Credits

Title Photo: Scuderia Ferrari F1

Article Photo: Sahara Force India Formula One Team

Article Photo: Scuderia Ferrari F1

February 19, 2014
Bahrain Pre Season Test Preview

The second of three pre-season tests and the first one in Bahrain. The teams are swapping the cold conditions of the Spanish winter for some warm desert air at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Some say the serious testing starts now with just two more tests left. The first test in Jerez was like a shakedown for the teams and drivers to come to grips with the new engines and the new rules. The real work starts this week. Teams will be testing all sorts of components on the cars, engine settings, and aerodynamic and balance setups. They will try to learn as much as they can about their cars in the next three days.

The Mercedes and Ferrari powered teams enjoyed the bulk of the laps at the Jerez test with a combined 875 laps for the Mercedes powered teams and 444 laps for the Ferrari powered teams. Compare this to the Renault powered teams who could only manage 151 laps over the four days.

There’s no doubt that the Renault powered teams are playing catch up at Bahrain. With Red Bull admitting packaging issues with the car and with Renault behind with the fixes to the issues on their power units, Red Bull do have their work cut out for them. But that’s not to say that the other teams will have it easy.

We will finally get to see the Lotus E22 in Bahrain. After running it for a filming day at Jerez with reportedly no problems, the team will no doubt be itching to get the car on track to see what it has to offer.

Pirelli will bring their 2014 specification tyres to Bahrain with three new slick compounds, the hard, medium and soft compounds and also a special “winter” hard compound. Pirelli say that the “winter” hard compound was created to ensure rapid warm up of the tyre even during low temperatures. This compound was initially designed for Jerez, but Pirelli had asked the teams to test it in Bahrain for them to asses how the tyre performs in higher temperatures. In anticipation for the 2015 rules, Pirelli have also brought along am extra set of medium compound tyres, which are 2014 specification but are considered prototypes. These tyres will be tested without using tyre warmers which will be banned from 2015.

The weather in Bahrain will be sunny and mild for the week with temperatures hovering in the mid-to-low 20s. Not as warm as it usually is when the Bahrain Grand Prix takes place, but considerably warmer than Jerez which should give the teams a good indication of the performance of the tyres.

February 18, 2014
SA Ferrari Festival Gallery

Ferrari brought F1 back to South Africa on Saturday 15 February when the F60 arrived to the overexcited crowds and the FNB Stadium in Soweto. The Ferrari Festival gave crowds a very good feel for the thrill of Formula One as Marc Gene put the Ferrari F60 through its paces on a 1.4km track, through in some donuts and Ferrari even demonstrated a pit stop for the crowd. Of course F1 Madness was there for the action!

You can read all about the exciting day over here or enjoy the gallery below.

February 17, 2014
Thrilling Ferrari Festival in SA

There was plenty of excitement and anticipation on Saturday 15 February 2014 at the first Ferrari Festival at the FNB Stadium in Soweto. Check out our Ferrari Festival Gallery here.

Crowds gathered to watch Marc Gene drive the Ferrari F60 around a 1.4km track around the FNB Stadium precinct. At some places the car screamed by just meters away from the spectators. Everyone present got a feel for what Formula 1 is all about. They got to hear the scream of the Ferrari 056 V8 engine at 18 000 rpm and also got to see pit stops carried out by the F1 Clienti Crew. There were a few race starts and some donuts thrown in by Gene for good measure.

We hope that this will be the first of many Ferrari Festivals in South Africa. The crowds gave the entire Ferrari crew a very warm welcome and it seemed like they enjoyed their time here. We sincerely hope that they do return, perhaps with Fernando or Kimi.

“That was a great day,” said Gene to ferrari.com “It’s always fun to bring a Formula 1 car up close to the people, which is something that never happens at a Grand Prix. I am pleased to have been able to do this for the South African people, especially the youngest ones, to show them the excitement of these types of car that haven’t been seen in this country for a while.”

Before leaving the stadium Gene visited the FNB Stadium(the name was changed to FNB Stadium after the world cup) where his fellow countrymen beat Holland in the 2010 World Cup Final. Jaques Grobbelaar, the President of the FNB Stadium, gave Gene a photo of the game as a piece of memorabilia.

Photo Credits

Title photo: Scuderia Ferrari F1

Article Phote: Scuderia Ferrari F1

February 16, 2014
Simona De Silvestro Joins Sauber

Simona de Silvestro has moved one step closer to becoming a Formula 1 driver.

Women drivers in Formula 1 has long been a topic of discussion. The Swiss race car driver was recently announced as an “affiliate” driver for the Sauber F1 team. The 25 year old Swiss was named the 2010 rookie of the year in IZOD IndyCars and became the first woman to finish on the podium on a street circuit in the American racing series.

“This is a major step towards me achieving a life-long dream and I’m so happy to have the opportunity to take this step with such a great team,” de Silvestro said. Sauber is a team with a legacy and the only Swiss team in Formula 1, which I think makes this even more exciting. I can’t thank Monisha Kaltenborn and Peter Sauber enough for their support and belief in my abilities and for giving me this chance,” de Silvestro told AUTOSPORT. “I’m thrilled to have this extremely unique platform on which to prepare myself to take on the challenge.”

de Silvestro has spent four years in the IndyCar series and says becoming a Formula 1 driver is a “life-long dream.” In 2014 her duties for Sauber will include track and simulator testing and working towards her goal of obtaining a superlicence in the hopes of securing a full race seat in 2015.

February 16, 2014
Renault Will Seek A Reliability Break After the Season Begins

Renault, the engine supplier to three teams in this seasons Formula 1 grid may seek a reliability break from the FIA once the 2014 season gets underway.

Although final engine specifications have to be locked in by teams to the FIA before 28 February, Appendix 4 of the F1 sporting regulations doesn’t make provision for Renault to make changes to the engines for reliability, safety or cost saving reasons.

The issues with the Renault engines started at the Jerez test where Red Bull Racing did not run their car for as many laps as the other teams due to power store problems with the Renault engine. When they did manage to get the car on the track it broke down a few metres down the track or even in the pit lane. There was some running by Red Bull but not enough for them to call it a successful test as evidenced by the fact that they started packing up early on the final day of the Jerez test.

Head of Track operations at Renault, Remi Taffin, thinks that all three engine manufacturers will have to make the same application to the FIA at some point during the season due to the complexities of the power units. Although admitting to some reliability issues with the Renault engine, Taffin insists that the engines are reliable and that there aren’t any major issues with the engine. The only issue they have at the moment is making everything work together.

“Where we are struggling is where we put everything into the car and have to get the most out of it. Because we are struggling to make everything work together, we have not actually got the performance we have from each [individual] component in terms of level of competitiveness.”

Talking to Autosport Taffin said that the problems look far worse on the outside than what they actually are.

February 16, 2014
The Ferrari F60 arrives in South Africa

The Ferrari F60 has arrived in South Africa for the launch of the new Shell V-Power Nitro+ Fuel.

The F60 will perform a street demo opposite Soccer City in Johannesburg, the same stadium that hosted the 2010 Soccer World Cup final.

Scuderia Test driver Marc Gene will be at the wheel of the F60. The F60 was the last car Raikkonen drove when his first stint as a Ferrari driver ended in 2009

The demo will take place on Saturday 15 February.

The pit crew landed in South Africa this morning and went straight to the temporary circuit. The circuit which is just under one and a half kilometers long will see test driver Marc Gene do some spectacular burn outs, pit stops and full throttle fly by’s. Gene will land in South Africa tomorrow after which he will visit the Nelson Mandela’s house in Orlando

It has been a while since we heard a Formula 1 car fire up in out back yard. We are very excited about this and we are looking forward to hearing the roar of the V8 echo around the Soccer City precinct.

Photo Credit: Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1

February 13, 2014
What is wrong with F1 at the Moment?

The short answer is not much. Apart from the hideous looking noses on the 2014 cars. I can’t really see much wrong with the sport at the moment.

Some would say the changes to the sporting regulations, are a welcome change. Others think it’s the spawn of the devil himself. Personally, I feel that these changes can only benefit the sport in the long run. The change to smaller, lighter engines for example, is a natural progression from preceding years. Especially considering the fact that car manufacturers are becoming every more environmentally aware and are on this whole ‘reduce carbon emissions because it’s bad for the climate’ thing. A lot of pressure was being placed on Formula One to make the sport more environmentally friendly. But it was inevitable.

If you ask any of my friends or colleagues here at F1 Madness, they’l tell you that I hated the idea of 1.6l V6 engines. No one liked the idea. There was nothing wrong with the previous roaring V8 engines (which were already limited to 18 000rpm). But that is old technology. Yet KERS was there from 2010? Yes it was, and it was a small a technological jump, a platform for the engines we have for this season.

This season we have a lot more electrically assisted power in F1. It’s called ERS. The engine is smaller, but it has a turbo. But wait, that means that F1 is turning into a hybrid racing formula. In fact, that is exactly what it is now. Formula Hybrid. But is that such a bad thing?

Again. No. If you look at some of the top hyper cars that we’re getting from Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche, you’ll see that their flagship hyper cars are all hybrids. The LaFerrari from Ferrari, the McLaren P1 and the Porsche 918, all hybrids. All those cars have similar DNA to the F1 cars we are seeing now. Battery power to supplement the power from the engine, brake energy recovery etc. All from Formule One. And that is what F1 is meant to do. It’s meant to bring the technology used on the track to the cars that we drive.

Upon hearing the cars in testing I was admittedly a bit surprised. I was expecting the sound to be much louder. But I quite liked the sound. It was very raw and hoarse and there was the turbo whistle on gearing down. I knew this would be different in the race when the full field of 22 cars are going around at full chat.

On race day, I’ll admit I was slightly disappointed at the sound of all the cars on the starting grid. For the first time we could hear tyre lock ups. I don’t think that has happened before.

Good old uncle Bernie himself doesn’t like the sound of the new cars and the Australian Grand Prix organisers reportedly threatened to sue due to the fact that it was less of a spectacle than previous years. I don’t blame them. One of the big marketing draw cards of F1 is the sound of the cars.

The thing is though that everything is still very new. It will take a while to get used to the sound of the new cars as well as the new regulations. Remember how weird it was back in 2009 when the cars suddenly had very narrow rear wings? We got used to it. The same with the new noses. It will just take time. It’s only been the first race of the season. I don’t think we need to make snap judgements and decisions. There are going to be some purists out there that love the sound of the old V12’s or even the V10’s. I’ll be the first to admit that if they went back to the V10’s I’ll be the happiest guy in the world.

But let’s give this new era a chance, before we all jump on the band wagon and slam it. The first race of the season was after all, spectacular, to say the very least!

February 12, 2014