F1 Madness

Tag: f1 weather

  • Weather Report for the 2014 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix

    We are in Japan for round 15 of the Formula 1 World Championship and there’s no better place for the Japanese Grand Prix other than Suzuka.

    One of the iconic circuits on the F1 calendar, it is also the favorite of many drivers. Why do they like it so much you may ask? It’s quite simple really. Suzuka is one of the very few “old school” circuits that are still in existence today. Beyond the white line there is some grass and gravel traps, not miles and miles of tarmac run-off. Although some modifications have taken place at some places on the circuit, there are many places that are still “old school”.

    Japan Weather 2014Typhoon Phanfone is expected to make landfall on Monday or late on Sunday. This typhoon will bring about lots of rain and strong winds. Ahead of the typhoon there will be rain that will hit the circuit on Saturday paving the way for a wet qualifying session. The weather for Friday will be warm with slightly cooler temperatures forecast for the race on Sunday.  There is some rain forecast on Sunday for the race which should make for some interesting reading.

    The lower temperatures will be kinder to the tyres. Pirelli are bringing the white medium and the orange hard compound to Suzuka. They say that due to the high lateral forces experienced by the tyres around the Esses and through 130R and the high abrasiveness of the asphalt, the tyre choices are well justified.

    Below is a snap shot of the predicted weather for the 2014 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix

    Suzuka 2014 Weather

     

  • Weather Report for the 2014 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix

    It’s time for the fly-away races for the Formula 1 World Championship and the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore kicks off the fly-away part of the season.

    This is the second night race of the year and there are many out there who look forward to this race. Not quite the prestige and glamour of the Monaco Grand Prix, but equally spectacular. Celebrities are invited to perform and the teams usually invite high profile guests to the paddock.

    With the night race we can expect cooler temperatures, but with the humidity it makes things very difficult for the teams and the drivers. Even with the cooler temperatures, the humidity hovers around the 80% mark in the evenings, which makes this one of the hottest races on the calendar.

    Due to the stop-start nature of the circuit with lots of slow corners, the emphasis is placed on mechanical grip from the tyres. Pirelli have brought the red super soft and yellow soft compound tyres. These tyres. in Pirelli’s view are the best suited for this track as they both provide the mechanical grip out of the corners and the lateral grip needed while going around the corners.

    The weather in the evenings will hover in the mid twenties. Thunderstorms are forecast during the day, but very little chance of those same thunderstorms during the evening sessions. For all three days’ sessions we can expect it to be dry with high humidity.

    Click on the image to enlargen

    Singapore 2014_Weather

  • Weather Report for the Formula 1 Gran Premio D’Italia 2014 (Italian Grand Prix)

    Round 13 of the Formula 1 World Championship brings us to the Autodromo Nazionale Monza which plays host to the Italian Grand Prix. The Temple of Speed.

    Monza is the fastest track on the F1 Calendar. Cars will reach speeds in excess of 320 km/h. With all that speed comes enormous amounts of energy that goes through the tyres under cornering and braking. Pirelli have brought the white medium compound and the hard orange compound tyre to Monza. Because the track is so fast, the cars will be running very little downforce on the front and the rear. This means that the tyres will be relied upon to provide the mechanical grip needed in the corners and at the exit of the corners.

    It’s going to be typical Italian summer weather this weekend at Monza. The forecast looks sunny and dry for the entire race weekend with a few thundervshowers expected in the afternoon on Saturday. Temperatures will hover in the high 20’s which means track temps will be high as well. Below is a snapshot of the weekend’s weather.

    Monza 2014 Weather

  • Weather Report for the 2014 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

    After the long summer break, we are back and racing at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps Circuit in Belgium.

    Teams and drivers will be well rested, fully relaxed and ready to get going for the 12th round of the Formula 1 World Championship.

    Spa is known for its unpredictability in weather conditions and because the track is so vast, it could be raining in one section of the track and completely bone dry in another section. This makes things very tricky for all the drivers. This weekend we can expect some rain during the weekend which should make things very interesting. Remember qualifying at the Hungaroring few weeks back?

    The weather for this weekends grand prix will be on the cold side with temperatures staying well below 20 degrees celsius. For Friday and Saturday there will be some rain in the air with some sun poking out through the clouds at times. There are showers predicted for Saturday morning.

    Below is a little snap shot of the expected weather for the Belgian Grand Prix weekend

    Spa Weather 2014

    Moving to tyres. Pirelli have made an interesting choice of tyres for this season’s Belgian Grand Prix. They’re bringing the yellow soft compound and the white medium compound to the race compared to the hard orange compound and white medium compound they brought to the race last year. We could see a three stop strategy from some teams for the race. Pirelli feel that the medium and the soft compound tyres will be the best suited for the characteristics of the Spa circuit where there are two heavy braking events and a few medium to high speed corners. Let us not forget the Eau-Rouge, Radillon complex where the tyres get subjected to 1G of negative compression and 5G of lateral force.

    Below

  • Weather Forecast for the Formula 1 Pirelli Magyar Nagydij 2014 (Hungarian Grand Prix)

    The 11th round of the Formula 1 World Championship takes us to the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary.

    The race is usually associated with scorching hot temperatures and where the cooling of the car becomes very important. This coming race weekend for the Hungarian Grand Prix is no different. Temperatures are going to be high, but there may be a few spots of rain for the race. We all know how notoriously unreliable these track forecasts are. But it does bring about the excitement before the race and it keeps teams on their toes.

    The track is very twisty and slow. There are some medium to high speed corners, but due to the predominantly slow nature of the circuit, there are not many overtaking opportunities. With that being said, its not impossible to overtake while racing.

    Cars will have the maximum downforce setting and will need lots of grip from the tyres out of the slow corners and during the medium speed corners. Pirelli, have brought the yellow soft compound and the white medium compound for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The soft tyre will be the prefered tyre for the hot conditions as the high working range of the tyre can cope with the high temperatures.

    For Friday’s practice sessions the weather will be hot with just a few clouds around. The temperature for Friday is forecast at 30 degrees celsius. Saturday’s weather will be similar to Friday but with  a forecast temperature of 31 degrees celsius. Sunday, however, there are a few spots of rain forecast for the morning and afternoon. The temperature for the day will still be quite warm with 28 degrees celsius forecast.

    Hungary Weather 2014

  • Weather Report for the 2014 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix

    Round 09 of the Formula 1 World Championship takes us to Great Britain for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

    The weather for this weekend looks very good and we can expect a dry weekend of racing. The temperatures will hover in the mid-to-low twenties throughout the weekend.

    We can expect warm weather for Friday, with some clouds around but there wont be any threat of rain. The weather for Saturday will be much of the same with only the maximum temperature dropping a bit. This could make things quite interesting in qualifying with the tyres. Pirelli have brought the medium and the hard compound tyre to the British Grand Prix. The medium tyres will be well suited to the low temperatures for qualifying on Saturday. For the race on Sunday, we can still expect sunshine, but with even lower temperatures it will make things tricky in the race when the cars switch to the hard compound, which is a high working range tyre.

    It will be interesting to see which strategies the teams choose for the race. The changes in the temperatures can make thing very hard for the teams.

    Silverstone 2014 Weather

  • Weather Report for the Formula 1 Grosser Preis Von Osterreich 2014 (Austrian Grand Prix)

    Round 8 of the Formula 1 World Championship and it is a special one. After a 10 year break we return to the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria for the Austrian Grand Prix.

    The weather in Austria will be a mixed bag of conditions this weekend. It looks as if we can expect all types of conditions from rainy to sunny and hot. It will be a rather mild day for Friday’s practice with temperatures staying in the low twenties. Rain is forecast for the day and we could see some showers towards the end of FP1. There’s also a very good chance of of some rain during FP2.

    For Saturday we can expect much of the same weather except temperatures will hover in the mid twenties. There are thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon around the time qualifying is to start.

    On race day it’s going to be a hot day with temperatures in the mid-to-high twenties with a small chance of thundershowers in the afternoon.

    We could be in for one exciting grand prix this weekend. Below is the forecast for the weekend.

    Austria_2014Weather

  • Weather Forecast for the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2014

    We are in Monte Carlo, Monaco for round 6 of the Formula 1 world Championship.

    Owing to tradition. Free practice  is on the Thursday instead of Friday. We can expect some showers for Free Practice 1 this morning and a dry FP2. If the rain does come down today for FP1 we can expect the drivers not to come out on track except for a few installation laps.

    The weather on Saturday will be fine and dry temperatures will hover in the mid-to-low 20s with very little chance of rain. Sunday’s forecast is slightly more interesting. There are showers predicted for the start of the race and it will continue for an hour. We all know rain in Monaco can create havoc and we could see some interesting strategies deployed by teams.

    Monaco_2014_Weather

  • 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

    Spain2014_Weather

  • Weather Report For The 2014 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix

    We are in Bahrain for the 3rd round of the Formula 1 World Championship. But this time its a night race.

    The weather in Bahrain is usually always sunny and warm. With spring getting underway in the northern hemisphere, we should see temperatures slightly higher than they were in testing. With it being a night race the temperatures in the evening will have a significant impact on the tyres. Pirelli are expecting a 15C temperature drop in track temperature when the sun goes down.

    The weather will not do much througout the weekend. Temperatures will remain in the mid 20s from Friday through to Sunday. In the evenings, ambient temperatures will stay in the low 20s. There is no rain expected for the weekend. The wind could affect the drivers and the balance of the cars. Throughout the weekend there’re expecting a northerly wind component which will mean it will be a bit of  a headwind down the main straight.

    BahrainWeatherDay_2014