Tag: f1

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
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
Complete Test Schedule

First Test Session*:

28 Jan Circuito Permanente de Jerez

29 Jan Circuito Permanente de Jerez

30 Jan Circuito Permanente de Jerez

31 Jan Circuito Permanente de Jerez

Second Test Session:

19 Feb Bahrain International Circuit

20 Feb Bahrain International Circuit

21 Feb Bahrain International Circuit

22 Feb Bahrain International Circuit

Third Test Session:

27 Feb Bahrain International Circuit

28 Feb Bahrain International Circuit

Fourth Test Session:

1 Mar Bahrain International Circuit

2 Mar Bahrain International Circuit

*The Lotus F1 Team has announced that it will not attend the first test session.

January 21, 2014
Caterham Announce Kobayashi & Ericsson

Caterham CEO Tony Fernandes announced earlier today that Kamui Kobayashi and rookie Marcus Ericsson will complete their driver line-up in 2014.

Japan’s Kobayashi returns to Formula 1 after a year’s racing for Ferrari in the World Endurance Championship. Kobayashi made a sensational Formula 1 debut as a stand-in driver for Toyota during the 2009 season which followed with a stint of racing with Sauber from 2010-12.

Kobayashi was quoted as saying that it “was great” to be back in Formula 1 with the Caterham team. “Throughout all our discussions I’ve been very impressed with where they want to take the team, and how much investment has been made already to help them achieve their goals,” Kobayashi told AUTOSPORT.

Marcus Ericsson graduates from GP2 to partner Kobayashi at Caterham for 2014.

“This is a very proud day for me and everyone has helped make my F1 dream come true. I’ll be making the step up to F1 with Caterham in 2014 and I’m already excited about the season ahead, and the first race in Australia in particular,” Ericsson shared with AUTOSPORT.

2013 Caterham driver Giedo van der Garde has inked a deal with Sauber as the team’s test and reserve driver.

Image courtesy of @tedkravitz via Twitter

January 21, 2014
What’s in a number?

The FIA announced late last year that drivers would be issued with permanent numbers to be carried throughout their Formula 1 careers. All drivers were asked to nominate two numbers between #2 and #99 as Sebastian Vettel has an automatic hold on #1 as the current F1 champion.

The complete list of numbers that the drivers will carry, starting in 2014, was recently announced by the FIA with many of the choices revealing the nostalgic sentimentality of several drivers.

Current world champion Sebastian Vettel will race with the #1 while he has reserved #5 not so much as an homage to former British champ Nigel Mansell but rather as a return to the number he used as a child in karting. Should Vettel not make it five world titles in 2014 he will run with the #5 in 2015. Red Bull Racing teammate Daniel Ricciardo has also chosen his first number in karting but tweeted that #3 is also a result of being a fan of NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt.

Lewis Hamilton continued the trend of karting numbers and the 2008 champion will race with #44 emblazoned on both his helmet and car. Nico Rosberg has chosen his number as a tribute to his father Keke Rosberg who carried #6 during his championship winning year in 1982. However, the number six seems to run in the Rosberg family as Nico also secured the 2002 Formula BMW title while carrying the same number.

Fernando Alonso carried the nostalgic trend further as he too reminisced about his karting days with the choice to race #14. Believe it or not Fernando Alonso is the only driver on the grid to have won the Karting World Cup and he did so using kart #14 when he was 14 years old.

While sentimentality overflowed Kimi Raikkonen delivered his trademark, unaffected reasoning for his choice. “It was my number the previous year so I saw no reason to change it,” he said. Raikkonen will race with #7.

Romain Grosjean has similarly elected to retain his 2013 number. However, the Frenchman revealed that his choice to retain #8 is based on the fact that he had experienced his best ever season last year. Newly signed teammate Pastor Maldonado has brought back #13 to Formula 1 which is considered to be unlucky in many circles. However, Maldonado’s choice could be down to the fact that this particular number in considered lucky for Venezuelans. Several Venezuelan Baseball players all carry #13.

Jenson Button has returned to his championship winning season of 2009 with the choice of #22 while rookie teammate Kevin Magnussen is continuing the trend of karting numbers with #20.

Nico Hulkenberg’s choice of #27 hasn’t been given much clarification as yet but the romantics amongst the F1 fans would like to think that German’s choice is in honour of the great Gilles Villeneuve. Coincidentally, Ayrton Senna clinched the 1990 world driver’s championship with #27. Mexican Sergio Perez has picked #11 as the second Force India driver. “Ever since I was a kid I always wore the 11, in karting. Actually my email has 11 in it as well,” he grinned. “A lot of things have to do with 11 so I identified myself with that number,” said Perez.

Adrian Sutil, a Sauber driver for 2014, will run #99 which was the highest possible number up for grabs. Esteban Gutierrez will race #21. Jean-Eric Vergne hand-picked his karting number 25 while rookie teammate Danniil Kvyat has confirmed #26.

Williams driver Felipe Massa has selected #19 which could be in honour of Ayrton Senna as this was the Brazilian’s first number in Formula 1. Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas has seen the marketing potential in his choice of #77 as it resembles the letter ‘T’ in his name. Marussia driver Jules Bianchi had to be content with his third choice of number 17. The FIA has confirmed Max Chilton as the second driver at Marussia for 2014 but the Brit is yet to select a number. Caterham are still to announce their driver pairing for the upcoming season.

The issuing of permanent numbers is a great homage to the history of Formula 1. Gilles Villeneuve will always be as synonymous with #27 as Nigel Mansell will be with #5. Now it is the chance of a different era of drivers to breathe new life into these legendary numbers.

January 13, 2014
‘Pole Trophy’ For 2014

In addition to the DHL Fastest Lap trophy F1 will award a trophy for the most poles of the year, starting in 2014.

The driver who racks up the most pole positions during the season will be awarded with a special Pole Position Trophy after its addition to the sporting regulations.

In the event of a tie a countback to the most second places will be done in order to determine a winner. Should this final to identify a clear winner this new regulation states that “the FIA will nominate the winner according to such criteria as it thinks fit”.

Sebastian Vettel, with 45 pole positions to his name, would have been the recipient of the trophy for four of last five years.

December 13, 2013
Driver Announcement: Sutil to Sauber

The Sauber F1 Team has confirmed that Adrian Sutil will form part of its driver line-up for the 2014 season.

The German driver has 109 grand prix starts in his F1 career and all of them has been with the Sahara Force India team. Force India have signed Nico Hulkenberg, from Sauber, and Sergio Perez from McLaren.

“I am very happy that we found common ground,” said Sutil. “Although I have known for a while where I wanted to go, in the end the negotiations took a bit longer than planned. However, now I will have all the more reason to celebrate during the Christmas season.

“After six good years driving for Force India, with a lot of highlights, it’s now time to embark on a new challenge. I am determined to do my part in order to have a successful future together with the Sauber F1 team.”

The 2014 move to Sauber will be the first time that Sutil has raced for a different team in Formula 1. He joined the Midland team in 2007 which would later transform to its current guise of Force India.

Sutil’s best result in Formula 1 remains a fourth place at the 2009 Italian grand prix.

December 13, 2013
FIA finalises 2014 calendar

The FIA World Motor Sport Council has confirmed that the 2014 Formula 1 season will be held over 19 races.

The Korea, Mexico and New Jersey grand prix have dropped off the provisional 22 race calendar. The Korean GP has disappeared from the calendar after four years with financial problems while the future of the New Jersey race has become increasingly uncertain after being dropped from the calendar for a second time.

Along with the streamlined calendar the running order of the races has undergone some changes. The Abu Dhabi grand prix will be held at the end of the season on November 23. While Brazil, the original season finale, will move to November 9.

December 10, 2013
F1 Personnel Wars: Williams Add Aero Staff

The Williams Formula 1 team has announced the signing of two new employees from Red Bull Racing and the Lotus F1 team.

Shaun Whitehead joins Williams from Red Bull as head of aerodynamic process while Dave Wheater joins the team from Lotus to become the head of aerodynamic performance.

“These two appointments show our commitment to both improving the process of aerodynamic development while focusing on the application of that development to true on-track performance,” added the team’s chief technical officer Pat Symonds.

“Dave and Shaun bring a wealth of experience to our team and I welcome them both to Grove and fully expect them to make significant contributions to the renewed competitiveness that we are all working so hard to achieve.

“With Dave and Shaun on board, and under Jason’s stewardship, we will be well positioned to make gains in this important area and support the continuing task of developing the FW36 in what promises to be an exciting year for the sport in 2014.”

December 10, 2013
Formula 1 Budget Cap for 2015

A budget cap is set to be introduced to Formula 1 in 2015.

It has been announced that a working group will be established to finalise the regulations of the budget cap. This group will comprise of members from the FIA, the commercial rights holder in addition to members from the various F1 teams. This team has been set the task of finalising the regulations for the cap by then end of June 2014.

It is not clear what the budget cap will apply to; however previous proposals have included exemptions for driver salaries and marketing campaigns. Previous attempts to institute budget caps in the sport have been opposed several teams in the past.

December 10, 2013