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  • India GP Preview Quotes – Mercedes F1 Team

    India GP Preview Quotes – Mercedes F1 Team

    Preview Quotes from the Mercedes F1 Team ahead of this weekend’s Indian Grand Prix.

    Nico Rosberg, Mercedes Preview Quotes

    “I’m looking forward to our trip to India. It really is a fascinating country and there is always something new to see or experience when you are there for the race weekend. The track itself is pretty challenging and there are good overtaking opportunities at the end of the long straight so the race should hopefully be quite exciting. The Indian fans are very passionate and increasingly knowledgeable about our sport and I hope they will enjoy the experience and provide some good support for our team. The last few races haven’t been the best for us so I am hoping for a good weekend. We are all determined to finish the season strongly and to continue our challenge for second place in the Constructors’ Championship.”

    Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes Preview Quotes

    “I have really enjoyed our two visits to India so far. It’s such a vibrant country and the support that we’ve received from the fans there has been fantastic. They love sport and the knowledge that some of the fans that I’ve met have had about Formula One has been great to see. I really hope that we can see the country take Formula One to heart in the future. I also really like the Buddh International Circuit. The layout has a great rhythm and I love the fast turns and high speeds. We’re hoping for a strong weekend after a couple of difficult races and I know that everyone has been working really hard to make sure that we can get all of the performance possible from the car over the last four races. We know that we have a good car and, if we can put together a good race weekend, then we have the potential for some great results before the season is over.”

    Ross Brawn, Mercedes team principal Preview Quotes
    “The Buddh International Circuit presents a good challenge for the drivers and engineers with its combination of low-speed corners and long straights. The track also has one of the highest average speeds of the year. After two visits to India, we hope to see our sport continue to grow in popularity and look forward to more fantastic support from the Indian fans. We are once again pleased to have agreed a race partnership with Airtel, title sponsors of the Indian Grand Prix, and we look forward to welcoming them to our team over the weekend. There has been a great deal of analysis and hard work taking place at Brackley and Brixworth since we returned from Japan and I am pleased with the continued work ethic of the team and the determination to achieve our goal of second place in the championship. Both Nico and Lewis have been in the factory this week to assist with our preparations for the next two races and we are all looking forward to the challenge of securing strong finishes for both drivers.”

    Toto Wolff, Mercedes team executive director Preview Quotes
    “The last three races have shown us that we have a real fight on our hands to secure second place in the Constructors’ Championship – but also that we have the performance to achieve our goal if we consistently deliver the full potential of the car. We quickly put the disappointing weekend in Japan behind us and are now fully focused on the final four races of the season. The engineering team has been working hard to extract every last bit of performance and Nico and Lewis are both hungry to achieve strong finishes. We have no reason to fear any of the upcoming circuits, as we have been strong on all types of track so far this season. That should once again be the case this weekend in India, on a circuit that includes one of the most demanding corners of the year at turn 10. We will aim to do our usual, professional job, maximise the performance of the car and our target for both drivers will be a podium finish.”

  • Indian GP – A special record helmet for Fernando Alonso

    Indian GP – A special record helmet for Fernando Alonso

    Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso will wear a different helmet design at this weekend’s Indian Grand Prix, marking his passing of Michael Schumacher’s previous record of most career points scored.

    Alonso’s fourth place finish at the Japanese Grand Prix was enough for him to increase his career points tally to 1571 and overtake Michael Schumacher’s previous record of 1566 points.

    A regular helmet livery changer, Alonso will sport a special design on his crash helmet at the Indian Grand Prix this weekend.

    alonso-helmet-recordUsing the hashtag #1571, Alonso gave his Twitter followers the first look at his new helmet starting with a couple of black and white cropped drawings of the new design, and ending with a full colour look at the top and side view of the helmet.

    The special record helmet sports a large number 1571 at the top, centre of the helmet as well as on the side. The words, “F1 points world record” are also displayed accompanying the record number.

    On the predominantly white-coloured background, there’s also a thank you note to his fans in three languages – English, French and Italian.

    Alonso will no doubt be hoping to increase his points tally by 25 points to 1596 at the upcoming Indian Grand Prix this weekend but even a win would not be enough to keep the world championship out of Sebastian Vettel’s hands, should the German finish anywhere within the Top 5 positions.

    With everything on the line at the Indian Grand Prix, where the world championship title could very well be decided, Fernando Alonso will be hoping that his new record, and helmet livery will be a little more than just lucky for him. Either way, it’s going to be a nail-biter of a race!

    Here are a few more images tweeted by Alonso of his new helmet:

     

  • Formula 1 in 2014: Technical Changes and Challenges

    Formula 1 in 2014: Technical Changes and Challenges

    Formula 1 in 2014 is going to be a whole new ball game for the teams and the drivers. There are a whole raft of changes that are going to be made, from the engines to the wings and everywhere in between. There is not much that will stay the same. Let’s take a look at some of the technical changes that will be taking place.

    The biggest technical change will be the engines. From next season we will see the debut of 1.6-litre V6 turbo charged engines which will produce about 600 horsepower or roughly around 450 KW. Extra power will be made available through an Energy Recovery System (ERS). This is a big change from the current naturally aspirated 2.4-litre V8 which produces 750 horsepower or roughly 560KW. The maximum revs will also be reduced from 18 000 rpm to 15 000 rpm.

    Listen to the Sound of the new Mercedes-Benz V6 turbo engine here.

    Or listen to the Sound of Honda’s new 2015 F1 engine here.

    The ERS unit will recover energy under braking (as it currently does) as well as the excess heat energy generated by the engine’s turbocharger. The ERS unit, together with the engine, make up the cars power unit. The ERS unit will give the drivers an extra 160 horsepower (+/- 120KW), for 33 seconds a lap as opposed to the current KERS units, which give drivers around 80 horsepower (60KW) for 6 seconds per lap.

    The gearbox will now feature eight forward gears, as opposed to the current seven. Teams will need to choose their new gear ratios before the start of the season.

    Fuel will be limited to 100kg per race in order to promote fuel efficiency in cars. There is currently no fuel limit, but cars use up about 160kg of fuel per race.

    The exhaust outlet for the 2014 cars will be a single exhaust outlet which will be angled 5 degrees upwards at the exit of the pipe. This is to prevent the use of exhaust gasses for gaining aerodynamic benefit.

    brawn+2009

    The height of the nose for cars in 2014 will be lower than it is currently. The maximum height that’s allowed for the nose is 550mm. Next year, this height will be reduced to 185mm. This drastic drop in height will result in cars looking like the F1 cars in the early 90s or more recently the Brawn Mercedes of 2009 with its droopy nose.

    The other technical change up front will be to the front wing. The width of the 2014 front wings will be 150mm shorter, or 75mm from either side. Currently, the width of the front wings may not exceed 1800mm. In 2014 the front wing may not exceed 1650mm.

    At the back of the car, the beam wing that teams use for extra down force is being outlawed. The main plane of the rear wing will be slightly shallower in length.

    The minimum weight for the cars will be raised from 642kg to 690kg to accommodate for the extra weight of the ERS unit.

    The greatest technical challenges that teams will run into will be around how to package all the new bits into the car whilst also taking into account the cooling of the much bigger ERS unit. Each team will have their own unique way of packaging the different elements into the cars. This, in itself, brings about quite a few challenges. Because, on the one hand you need things to be easily accessible when the need arises to repair parts, while at the same time you need the tightest packaging possible to ensure that the impact on the aerodynamics of the car is minimal.

    2014 will bring teams back on to a level playing field. The team that finds the best package to make everything come together and work perfectly, will undoubtedly win the 2014 Formula 1 Championship.

     

  • Sound of Honda’s new 2014 F1 engine

    Sound of Honda’s new 2014 F1 engine

    Listen as Honda fires its new 2014 F1 Engine for the first time.

     

  • Weather Forecast for the 2013 Formula 1 Airtel Indian Grand Prix

    The Indian Grand Prix is usually a hot and sunny, although with the air pollution around New Delhi its more of a hazy sunshine. Nevertheless the entire race weekend will be mostly hot and sunny with little weather variations from Friday through to Sunday. Temperatures will stay in the low 30’s all throughout the weekend.

    IndianGP_2013Weather

  • Broadcast Times for the 2013 Formula 1 Airtel Indian Grand Prix

    Broadcast Times for the 2013 Formula 1 Airtel Indian Grand Prix

    We return to the Buddh International Circuit in Delhi for round 16 of the Formula World Championship.

    This circuit with its fast and flowing mid sector is also a driver favorite. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel has won the Indian Grand Prix every season since the inaugural race in 2011. Another victory for Vettel on Sunday will make him the 2013 Formula One World Drivers Champion, in fact, he only needs a 5th place finish to accomplish that.

    The times will be a bit more friendly to us in Africa and Europe. All times below are GMT +2

    Free Practice 1: Friday 06:30

    Free Practice 2: Friday 10:30

    Free Practice 3: Saturday 07:30

    Qualifying: Saturday 10:30

    Race: Sunday 11:30

     

    As always we will bring you live updates throughout qualifying and the race, with periodic updates through the free practice sessions.

     

  • Daniil Kvyat to Drive for Toro Rosso in 2014

    Daniil Kvyat to Drive for Toro Rosso in 2014

    Russian Formula 3 driver Daniil Kvyat(19) has been given the nod to drive for Toro Rosso for 2014.

    In what came as a very surprising move for the Faenza based team, it was announced yesterday on Red Bulls Servus TV Channel, that Kvyat will drive alongside Jean-Eric Vergne at Toro Rosso.

    Kvyat who is currently second in this season’s GP3 championship has impressed Red Bull’s Motorsport Advisor, Dr Helmut Marko, with his race win in Formula 3 and his strong performance in GP3. “Whenever we put him in a car his efforts were remarkable,” said Marko.

    Many expected Antonio Felix da Costa, who is also part of Red Bull’s Young Driver Program and who competes in Formula Renault 3.5 to get the seat at Toro Rosso. But this was not meant to be for him. He’s had a very frustrating season this year. Despite the frustrations, he finished third in the Formula Renault 3.5 series championship, which makes the promotion of Kvyat very intriguing.

    We wish Daniil all the best for the 2014 Formula 1 season and hope to see some very interesting racing from him.

    Good Luck Daniil!

  • Maldonado to leave Williams?

    Maldonado to leave Williams?

    It has emerged that Pastor Maldonado, who is frustrated with the performance of his Williams team, might leave the team at the end of the 2013 season.

    If Maldonado leaves he would take with him a massive chunk of sponsorship money from Venezuelan oil giant, PDVSA, which is reportedly valued at 35 million Euros a year. According to sources, PDVSA, who are under contract for two more years at Williams, are in talks with Williams deputy team boss, Claire Williams to discuss and exit deal to buy its way out of the contract.

    According to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, Maldonado is keen to make a move to Lotus next year. If PDVSA get out of their Williams contract, he could bring with him a very large cash injection that is so desperately needed at the Enstone based team.

    Of course, all of this is just rumour and speculation at this point. Although the F1 silly season does tend to spring a few surprises at times.

  • Domenicali Plays Down Ferrari Team Orders Issue

    Domenicali Plays Down Ferrari Team Orders Issue

    Ferrari Team Principal, Stefano Dominicali played down the team order instruction that was ignored by Felipe Massa during the Japanese Grand Prix

    The Brazillian ignored the team order which was given to him in a coded message by his race engineer, Rob Smedley. The instruction, “multi-function strategy A, now please”, was a apparently a coded message to allow Alonso through.

    Massa, however, chose to ignore the message and carried on racing. Alonso eventually passed him using DRS on the run down to Turn 1.

    “At the end of the day Fernando overtook him on the track. For sure Felipe is trying to be as quick as possible and I understand his feelings. He will find the team totally supporting him up until the end of the season with no problem” said Dominicali.

    After the race, Massa had this to say: “But I was happy today. It was unfortunate for the race the drive through and what has happened in the race. It was not over any instruction, he overtook me on the track.”

    With Massa leaving Ferrari at the season, and with him declaring that he will be racing for himself, there’s not much the team can really do. Although he may have been given a serious dressing down after the race.

     

  • RUSH Competition Winners

    RUSH Competition Winners

    Thank you to each and every one who entered our RUSH competition! We received so many entries and appreciate each of you taking the time to enter.

    In the end, there can only be one winner for each region – Jhb/Pta, CPT and PE.

    Congratulations to the following people who will each receive a set of double tickets to see Ron Howard’s F1 Movie, RUSH.

    PE – Pierre Botes

    Jhb/Pta – Uwais Rajah

    CPT – Marlin Adams

    Rush is a spectacular big-screen re-creation of the merciless 1970s F1 rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda, whose clashes on the Grand Prix racetrack highlighted the stark contrast between these two extraordinary characters; a distinction reflected in their private lives.

    Watch this space for more exciting competitions coming up in the very near future!