Tag: australian grand prix

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.

March 11, 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
Australian F1 GP Review: Raikkonen Devastating Down Under

For ten days before the Formula 1 paddock arrived Melbourne had been experiencing a heat wave of record breaking proportions. But the heavens well and truly opened just before Saturday’s qualifying session.

Thanks to Mother Nature only the first part of qualifying was completed and the rest postponed to Sunday morning. The pace of Red Bull sent an ominous message as the team locked out the front row and Sebastian Vettel racked up pole position number thirty.

Lewis Hamilton slotted his Mercedes into third place as McLaren barely made the final part of qualifying with Jenson Button. A noteworthy session from Felipe Massa saw the Brazillian out-qualify his teammate Fernando Alonso.

The major talking point however, as expected, was the tyres. Jenson Button worryingly said that his set of supersoft tyres was completely shredded after only three laps of qualifying. It wasn’t just talk from JB either as five laps into the grand prix the McLaren pulled into the pits for a new set of medium tyres. It compounded a miserable start to the season for Button and Perez who eventually finished ninth and eleventh with what looks like a fundamentally slow car.

Mark Webber followed suit a lap later but the frontrunners seemed able to push the performance of the supersofts slightly further. Under pressure from the two Ferrari’s, Vettel pitted on lap 8 followed by Massa (lap 9), Alonso and Raikkonen (lap 10).

Lotus ended pre-season testing with several reliability issues and little to show for four days running. Seventh and eighth on the grid suggested that the same problems over one lap were still there. But Raikkonen had said that he was happy with the car and that reliability wasn’t a concern. He was right.

A seventh place starting position only slightly delayed the prodigious progress Kimi Raikkonen would make throughout the race. He first dispatched Lewis Hamilton around the outside of turn 13 and set off after the two Ferrari’s and leader Vettel. Nevertheless, the first round of pitstops cropped up before the Finn could advance any further. However, it was the 23 lap stint on the medium tyres where the Finn came alive.

Raikkonen delivered a sublime stint of driving and was able to stretch the performance of the tyres while simultaneously keeping up the pace. By the time he made his second and final stop of the race, Raikkonen had built up a fifteen second gap over now second placed Fernando Alonso. The first few laps after Alonso’s pitstops were substantially quicker than Raikkonen’s but the Lotus driver, seemingly always in control, had the capacity to up his pace whenever he pleased. And just to ensure a straightforward run to the flag the Iceman put in the fastest lap of the race and extended his gap to twelve seconds.

Sebastian Vettel, unable to replicate his qualifying pace, managed the third step of the podium. The triple world champion was still happy to finish in the top three and believes that there is no need to worry about the pace of their rivals.

Felipe Massa secured fourth place ahead of a struggling Lewis Hamilton. The Brit initially planned on a two-stopper but the tyre hungry Mercedes forced the team to opt for plan B and a three-stop strategy. Another difficult day on his home track relegated Webber to sixth as the Aussie struggled with a KERS issue throughout the race. Adrian Sutil’s return could scarcely have gone better with a solid seventh ahead of teammate di Resta and Jenson Button. Romain Grosjean rounded out the top ten some one minute and twenty-two seconds adrift of his race winning teammate.

If Raikkonen’s performance appeared effortless from the outside it’s because it was; Raikkonen called it one of the easiest victories of his career. Coincidentally, six of the last ten Australian GP race winners have gone on to win the world championship.

After four tedious months of waiting the Malaysian GP follows immediately on the back of Oz. The Sepang circuit will be a bigger test of car design and will provide more opportunity for DRS passes with its two long straights. The weather in these parts tend to vary quite a bit too; from monsoon levels of rain to boiling hot temperatures in the region of 40 degrees.

March 18, 2013
2013 Australian F1 Grand Prix Preview: So it Begins

The Albert Park circuit is not the most prodigious or even the most memorable race track you’re ever likely to come across. But there are few more welcome sites than twenty-two race cars lining up on the grid for the much anticipated start of the 2013 Formula 1 season.

Formula 1 is arguably the most unpredictable sport on the planet and thousands of testing miles have done nothing to change that. The truth is any one of ten drivers could walk away with the spoils on Sunday afternoon. But who of the possible pretenders will be the likeliest amongst the mob?

Sure to be the most nervous of the lot will be the five rookies making their Formula 1 debuts this weekend. Marussia have gone with an all new line-up and both Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi will get their first grand prix start this weekend. Giedo van der Garde will step in at Caterham while Esteban Gutierrez will start his first race for Sauber. Williams’ will be hoping that Finn Valtteri Bottas can transfer his potential and talent to the track.

The Albert Park circuit continues to be a stronghold on the Formula 1 calendar and in addition to coaxing their new cars around the 5.303 km long circuit drivers will want to get an understanding of the 2013 Pirelli tyres. Whatever information teams gathered from pre-season testing won’t be of much use as the high ambient temperatures Down Under will present a completely different read. The FIA has also tweaked the rules regarding the use of DRS. Drivers will only be permitted to use DRS, for all session, in the demarcated zones; most circuits are expected to have two DRS zones.

Hardly any alterations have been made to the technical rules for 2013; leading most teams to follow an evolutionary path in the design and development process of their cars. It also means that, in a season of few changes, the field will be closer than ever.

There is little doubt that Infiniti Red Bull Racing will be up the sharp end of the grid. However, the Red Bull is severely lacking in straight line speed; in fact, it’s the slowest of the lot. But this is a team that have played their cards extremely close to their chest throughout pre-season testing and there is no apparent concern within the team.

An impressive conclusion of the final pre-season test in Barcelona for Mercedes has elevated the team to a serious threat. Hamilton will unquestionably take the team to a new level and good or bad his performance in Australia is destined to draw attention. This team has the potential to cause the biggest upset this weekend.

McLaren will be effectively led by the debonair Jenson Button but its Sergio Perez and the MP4-28 that the uncertainty lingers over. As the car has both dazzled and perplexed the team through testing. A man with no qualms is Fernando Alonso. The Ferrari driver was able to find something special to drag a sub-par Ferrari to second place at the end of 2012. This year his Ferrari already appears to be in better shape which will make the Spaniard a definite and extremely dangerous factor.

Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean are equally satisfied with what the Lotus E21 has delivered so far. Whereas the team didn’t exploit their chances early on in 2012 they should be ready to just that this season; with an in-form Raikkonen Lotus will be F1 2013’s darkhorse.

How is it possible that all of these teams could win this weekend? The fact remains that throughout the thousands of laps completed in winter testing every single one of these were fastest at some stage. Provided that everything goes to plan, and the weather plays along, Australia should be a cracker.

March 13, 2013
Virtual lap preview – Australia, Albert Park Circuit

March 12, 2013