F1 Madness

Tag: f1

  • Pirelli Tyre Choices for European Grand Prix

    Pirelli Tyre Choices for European Grand Prix

    Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli has announced the tyre choices for the European Grand Prix which will take place at the Baku City Circuit in Azerbaijan.

    Pirelli have chosen the White Medium, Yellow Soft and Red Super soft compound tyres for the race weekend. The medium and the Soft compound tyre must be used during the race and each driver will be required to use at least one of them.

    The super soft compound will be available to drivers that make it to Q3 and will have to be handed back after Q3 in accordance with the regulations. Drivers that are not in the top 10 will have the super soft tyre available to them during the race.

     

    Photo by courtesy Pirelli

  • Raikkonen Ends Day Three Fastest

    Raikkonen Ends Day Three Fastest

    Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen ended the penultimate day of the second test in Barcelona on top of the time sheets.

    Raikkonen set his fastest time of 1:22.765 in the morning session using Pirelli’s Ultra Soft Compound tyre. But before that, Ferrari trailed the “Halo” head protection that the FIA hope to get on the cars by 2017.

    Raikkonen’s reaction to the new device was classic Kimi. “A little bit limited in the front, but I don’t think it’s the final version. Surprisingly little difference.”

    There were mixed reactions from the drivers and from fans across social media. Some are all for it and were very complimentary while others mocked the looks and questioned the practicality of it.

     

     

    The Williams of Felipe Massa was second fastest on the day about 0.5s slower than Raikkonen. Hulkenberg was 3rd fastest for Force India with Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen was 4th fastest. Verstappen completed the day with the highest lap count of 159 laps.

    Nico Rosberg was at the wheel of the Mercedes W07 in the morning working on car setup while team mate Lewis Hamilton took over in the afternoon. Between the Mercedes pair, they clocked up a total of 144 laps on the day with Rosberg ending the day 5th fastest and Hamilton 11th fastest.

    Felipe Nasr finished his day 6th fastest ahead of Mclaren’s Fernando Alonso in 7th with 118 laps. Pascal Wehrlein and Daniil Kvyat were 8th and 9th respectively with Jolyon Palmer 10th for Renault.

    After turbo troubles  on Wednesday the Haas F1 team aimed for a complete race simulation on Thursday. Things did not go according to plan for the Kannapolis based team. Romain Grosjean Brought out the red flag three times on Thursday. The first time he went off at Turn 4 in the morning session and again at Turn 1 in the afternoon. He managed to avoid the barriers and the team was able to get him back out on track. With 5mins left in the session, Grosjean once again brought out the red flags stopping out on track. Despite the troubles Grosjean racked up 78 laps.

    POS Driver Team/Car Best lap Gap Laps
    1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari SF16-H 1:22.765 – 136
    2 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes FW38 1:23.192 +0.428 119
    3 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes VJM09 1:23.251 +0.486 137
    4 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11 1:23.382 +0.617 159
    5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:24.126 +1.361 81
    6 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari C35 1:24.760 +1.995 116
    7 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda MP4-31 1:24.870 +2.105 118
    8 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Racing-Ferrari MRT05 1:24.913 +2.148 48
    9 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12 1:25.141 +2.376 121
    10 Jolyon Palmer Renault R.S.16 1:26.224 +3.459 98
    11 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:26.488 +3.723 63
    12 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari VF-16 1:27.196 +4.431 78
  • Rosberg On Top at Second Barcelona Test

    Rosberg On Top at Second Barcelona Test

    Nico Rosberg stamped Mercedes’ authority on day one of the second test in Barcelona by going quickest on the day.

    Rosberg’s fastest time of 1:23.022 just told half the story. Lewis Hamilton took over in the afternoon session and went on to complete a very impressive race simulation. Between the Mercedes drivers they managed to rack up 169 laps.

    “It was a great afternoon of running with great mileage,” said Hamilton.

    “We did a race simulation and after that I feel I’m ready for race one.

    “The car is feeling great and was consistent all day.”

    Valtteri Bottas ended his day second fastest with a time of 1:23.229 with 123 laps under his belt.

    Finishing third fastest was McLaren’s Fernando Alonso with a time of 1:24.735 ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in 4th with a best time of 1:24.836. Both Raikkonen and Alonso brought out the red flags today with Alonso stopping at the end of the pit lane at the end of the morning session and Raikkonen in the mid afternoon with a gearbox problem.

    Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull finished 5th fastest with Hamilton in the Mercedes 6ht.

    In the new liveried Toro Rosso, Max Verstappen ened his day 7th fastest with the highest lap count of the day at 144. Another solid day of running for Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India seen him finish 8th fastest. Tom McCullough, Chief Race Engineer at Force India called it “another routine day.”

    The Sauber C35 made its debut today at the hand of Felipe Nasr who completed 103 laps to place 9th fastest ahead of Kevin Magnussen in the Renault R.S.16 in 10th. Magnussen clocked up 119 laps until he came to a stop at Turn 3 just 10mins before the end of the day.

    Haas F1 had one of their worst testing days so far with Esteban Gutierrez confined to the garage for most of the day after a problem with the fuel system.

    It was not much different for Rio Haryanto in the Manor. The car suffered from an oil leak which kept in the pits for most of the morning session.

    POS Driver Team/Car Best lap Gap Laps
    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:23.022 – 82
    2 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes FW38 1:23.229 +0.207 123
    3 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda MP4-31 1:24.735 +1.713 93
    4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari SF16-H 1:24.836 +1.814 72
    5 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12 1:25.049 +2.027 69
    6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:25.051 +2.029 90
    7 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11 1:25.176 +2.154 144
    8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes VJM09 1:25.336 +2.314 121
    9 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari C35 1:25.493 +2.471 103
    10 Kevin Magnussen Renault R.S.16 1:25.760 +2.738 119
    11 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari VF-16 1:26.661 +3.639 23
    12 Rio Haryanto Manor Racing-Ferrari MRT05 1:27.625 +4.603 45
  • Raikkonen Closes off the First Test On Top

    Raikkonen Closes off the First Test On Top

    Kimi Raikkonen closed off the final day of the first pre-season test of 2016 on top of the time sheets in the Ferrari SF16-H

    The Finn set his fastest time of 1:23.477 on the Ultra Soft compound tyres late in the morning. Second fastest to Raikkonen was Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull who was almost a second slower with a 1:24.293.

    Alfonso Celis had a good day out with some solid running for Force India which put him 3rd fastest setting his time on the super softs.

    Renault had a very good day with 153 laps completed with Kevin Magnussen at the wheel of the R.S.16. This sort of reliability from Renault is encouraging for the manufacturer and although they’re still down on power the driveability seems to have improved.

    Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen put in another solid day of running for the Faenza based team racking up 110 laps for the day and finishing 5th fastest for the day. Felipe Nasr in the 2015 Sauber C34 was 6th fastest with 121 laps to his name.

    Both Mercedes drivers were at the wheel of the W07 today with Rosberg finishing 7th fastest and Hamilton 8th. They both completed 86 and 99 laps respectively which brings the grand total of 185 laps on the day for Mercedes. Such was the reliability of the Mercedes they had to get both their drivers to keep up.

     

     

    Although conceding that they would’ve liked to have done more mileage, Esteban Gutierrez had a solid day for newcomers Haas F1 with 89 laps. He’s day was cut short after his car stopped on track an hour before the end of the session.

    “We had a productive day. In the morning we had a small problem which we sorted pretty quickly due to the team working well together,” said Guther Steiner the Team Principal of Haas F1.

    “In the afternoon after a long run we went into pit-stop practice. We had a problem with our ECU and we stopped testing for the day but it looks promising.

    “In general the first test was a fantastic four days for us, we got a lot of running in which we didn’t expect because we are a new team, we are only four days old.”

    Fernando Alonso did not set a time. He had completed three installation laps until he was confined to the garage after a coolant leak. The awkward position of the leak meant that it took longer for the team to fix the problem.

     

    POS Driver Team/Car Best lap Gap Laps
    1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari SF16-H 1:23.477 – 78
    2 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12 1:24.923 +0.816 94
    3 Alfonso Celis Force India-Mercedes VJM09 1:24.840 +1.363 75
    4 Kevin Magnussen Renault R.S.16 1:25.263 +1.786 153
    5 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11 1:25.393 +1.916 110
    6 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari C34 1:26.053 +2.576 121
    7 Nico Rosberg Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:26.187 +2.71 86
    8 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:26.295 +2.818 99
    9 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes FW38 1:26.483 +3.006 54
    10 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari VF-16 1:27.802 +4.325 89
    11 Rio Haryanto Manor Racing-Mercedes MRT05 1:28.268 +4.789 51
    12 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda MP4-31 No time – 3
  • Faster Cars, Revamped Qualifying for F1 in 2017

    Faster Cars, Revamped Qualifying for F1 in 2017

    The push to revamp F1’s rules is 2017 seems to have been brought to the fore once again after a meeting between the F1 commission and the FIA

    The new rules are touting wider, faster cars with increased down force and also a revamped qualifying format which will see more cars on track throughout the session.

    The changes to the cars are detailed in the table below:

     

    2017
    Weight 722kg
    Bodywork 1600mm max allowable width
    Suspension 2000mm track
    Front Wing 1800mm span
    Rear Wing 950mm wide, 800mm high. Swept endplate
    Floor • 1600mm max allowable width, 1400mm minimum width
    • Reference plane 430mm behind front axle
    • 175mm high, 1050mm wide diffuser
    • Cut-out plank to save weight
    Tyres Front: 305mm wide. Rear: 405mm wide

     

    The new qualifying format features an elimination style shootout between the cars on track. The three qualifying sessions will remain. The only difference is that the slowest driver in each session will be eliminated every 90 seconds. This format has the potential to yield some surprising results and will mix the grid up a bit come race day.

    Read about the new qualifying format here

    The other big talking point was the introduction of head protection for the drivers. The current preferred option by the FIA is the “Halo” concept. The FIA say that while the Halo is preferred they are exploring other options which will continue to be evaluated.

  • F1 2016: Pre-season Test 1 Day 3 – Hulkenberg On Top

    F1 2016: Pre-season Test 1 Day 3 – Hulkenberg On Top

    The third day of testing at Spain’s circuit de Catalunya was headed by Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg.

    The morning running was marked with the introduction to Formula 1 of Indonesia’s first ever grand prix driver Rio Haryanto. The rookie Manor driver seemed comfortable in the early running and put together a solid first few stints. A slight error later on in the morning saw the Manor end up in the gravel trap of turn 5 which prompted the second red flag of the morning.

    The first red flag of the day was prompted by the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz as the Spaniard was forced to stop at the exit of the pitlane with a loose rear wheel. The morning was a complete write-off for Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen as the team struggled to get on top of a fuel pick-up issue. The Finnish driver was only able to complete three installation laps before lunch.

    Meanwhile, Nico Rosberg continued with Mercedes’ run programme by putting together several race simulation runs in the morning. As lunch rolled around it was Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India heading the timing sheet with a 1:25.286. The German would later improve his time to a 1:23.110.

    The session after lunch saw the two Mercedes drivers swop around with Lewis Hamilton taking over testing duties for the remainder of the day. Kimi Raikkonen was able to put Ferrari on the board after lunch and the Finn completed xx laps for the day. Felipe Massa was the first driver to reach 100 laps on day three of the first pre-season test in the Williams whilst Carlos Sainz also put more than 100 laps on the board in his Toro Rosso.

    Late on in the day’s running Renault driver Kevin Magnussen brought out the red flag as his car stopped on the start/finish strait. It proved a minor blip on the radar as proceedings got underway within minutes. Haryanto was first out on track in the Manor Mercedes on the medium compound tyres. By this stage no driver had opted to strap on the ultrasoft compound.

    McLaren called an end to their day’s running thirty minutes before the close of the session. Jenson Button’s car, which completed only 51 laps, suffered an hydraulic leak.Williams too brought an early end to proceedings after discovering an oil leak of Felipe Massa’s car.

    Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz ended the day with 161 laps on the board while Hulkenberg in the Force India heads Romain Grosjean, in the Haas, at the top of the leaderboard.

    POS Driver Team/Car Best lap Gap Laps
    1 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes VJM09 1:23.110 – 99
    2 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari VF-16 1:25.874 +2.764 82
    3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari SF16-H 1:25.977 +2.867 78
    4 Kevin Magnussen Renault R.S.16 1:26.014 +2.904 111
    5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:26.084 +2.974 74
    6 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11 1:26.239 +3.129 161
    7 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari C34 1:26.392 +3.282 115
    8 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:26.421 +3.311 88
    9 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12 1:26.497 +3.387 74
    10 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes FW38 1:26.712 +3.602 109
    11 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda MP4-31 1:26.919 +3.809 51
    12 Rio Haryanto Manor Racing-Mercedes MRT05 1:28.249 +5.139 78

     

  • F1 2016: Elimination style Qualifying for F1

    F1 2016: Elimination style Qualifying for F1

    Formula 1 looks set to introduce an elimination style qualifying session in 2016.

    A meeting in Geneva between the Strategy Group and the Formula 1 Commission saw a unanimous vote passed to revamp the qualifying session for the 2016 season. The session will still remain as a one hour session split into three segments. However, with the new format all drivers will have to be on circuit until they are eliminated from qualifying.

    Teams have agreed to a general outline for how the qualifying hour will run while the finer details are yet to be decided. The decision to change the qualifying format must be ratified by the World Motorsport Council on March 4. For now, here is a breakdown of how the qualifying hour will progress:

    Q 1 – 

    • Session will last 16 minutes;
    • After seven minutes have elapsed the slowest driver is eliminated;
    • Thereafter, after every 1 minute 30 seconds, until the end of Q1, the slowest driver is eliminated;
    • Seven drivers will be eliminated in Q1 and 15 will advance to Q2.

     

    Q 2 –

    • Session will last 15 minutes;
    • After six minutes have elapsed the slowest driver is eliminated; 
    • Thereafter, after every 1 minute 30 seconds, until the end of Q2, the slowest driver is eliminated;
    • Seven drivers will be eliminated in Q2 and 8 will advance to Q3.

     

    Q3 – 

    • Session will last 14 minutes;
    • After five minutes have elapsed the slowest driver is eliminated;
    • Thereafter, after every 1 minute 30 seconds the slowest driver is eliminated;
    • 2 driver will remain in the final 1 minute 30 seconds of the session to determine pole position.

     

    In addition, a penalty system was discussed by the F1 Commission. The penalty system proposes for time to be added to a driver’s qualifying lap time based on his championship position. The good news is that the penalty system didn’t gain much support amongst F1 teams at the meeting.

    The introduction of a new qualifying format is rather perplexing. The last qualifying format had very little, if anything, wrong with and easily managed to both deliver drama and build excitement throughout the session. If the aim is to ‘improve the show’ with this radical change then F1 should beware of compounding the complexity of the sport for a new viewer/fan.

  • F1 2016: Pre-season Test 1 Day 2 – Vettel Quickest Again

    F1 2016: Pre-season Test 1 Day 2 – Vettel Quickest Again

    The second day of testing got underway with the circuit de Catalunya bathed in bright sunshine.

    Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was the first driver on track and the first to set a flying lap as the second day of testing got underway.The majority of the first two hours of the morning were spent on gathering important data that the teams will carry through to the first few races of the 2016 season. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel emerged from the garage around mid-day to set the fastest lap of the morning – a 1:24:940.

    By this stage Vettel was the only driver to break the 1:24 barrier. Soon after Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo dipped in the 1:24 to go second fastest overall. Fernando Alonso and Lotus’ Jolyon Palmer gave the yellow-walled soft tyre a trundle but did not set a representative time on the softer tyre. The first red flag of the session was brought out by Max Verstappen as his Toro Rosso grinded to a halt in the final sector of the circuit. As the Toro Rosso was recovered to the pits testing was underway again. Nico Rosberg immediately shot to the top of the timing sheets with a 1:24:867.

    A switch onto the quicker, red-walled, supersoft tyre took Ricciardo quickest before the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel emerged to set a 1:23.658 on the same tyre. Just before the lunch break Daniel Ricciardo fitted the new-for-2016 ultra-soft tyre. He quickly took over at the top of the timing sheet only to be outdone by Vettel’s own run on the purple-walled tyres. The Ferrari driver set a time of 1:22.810.

    haasThe session after lunch was interrupted by the stoppage of Jolyon Palmer’s Renault which had to be recovered to the pits on the back on a flatbed truck. Reports later surfaced that the Renault’s issue may have been turbo related. It brought an early end to Renault’s running with Palmer only able to complete 42 laps for the day.

    By mid afternoon Nico Rosberg had again underlined the reliability of the new Mercedes by reaching the 100 lap mark without any issues. Most of the teams settled into longer stints in the afternoon. Williams driver Valtteri Bottas bucked the trend and opted to run a stint of laps on the orange-walled hard tyres. Similarly, Vettel opted instead for the ultrasoft tyres for run. The Ferrari driver completed only a handful of laps before the drop off in performance forced him back into the pits.

    McLaren can breath a sign of relieve as Fernando Alonso racked 100 laps two hours before the of the day’s running. In stark contrast to McLaren’s fortunes twelve months ago both Alonso and Jenson Button have already reported a much more positive feeling with the 2016 car. Several other drivers including Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas, Daniel Ricciardo, Marcus Ericsson, Sergio Perez and Sebastian Vettel all completed more than 100 laps. But it was Nico Rosberg and his Mercedes that set the most laps of the day with a mammoth 172 laps.

    By the end of the day’s running Sebastian Vettel’s 1:22:810 remained quickest overall.

    POS Driver Team/Car Best lap Gap Laps
    1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari SF16-H 1:22.810 – 126
    2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12 1:23.525 +0.715 112
    3 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes VJM09 1:23.650 +0.840 101
    4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:24.867 +2.882 172
    5 Marcus Ericcson Sauber-Ferrari C34 1:25.237 +2.427 108
    6 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari VF-16 1:25.524 +2.714 79
    7 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes FW38 1:25.648 +2.838 134
    8 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Racing-Mercedes MRT05 1:25.925 +3.115 71
    9 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda MP4-31 1:26.082 +3.272 119
    10 Jolyon Palmer Renault R.S.16 1:26.189 +3.379 42
    11 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11 1:26.539 +3.729 121
  • F1 2016: Honda Replaces F1 boss

    F1 2016: Honda Replaces F1 boss

    Japanese manufacturer Honda has announced that motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai will be vacating his post.

    The announcement of Arai’s departure was made after a board meeting in Tokyo. Yusuke Hasegawa will replace Arai and take up the reigns of managing the F1 project while Arai will slot in as the senior manager of Honda Research and Development.

    The change of leadership doesn’t come as much of a surprise given Honda’s difficult re-entry into F1 with the McLaren team. In a season blighted by unreliability and a serious deficiency in the engine department there was an inevitable feeling that some heads would have to roll.

    “We didn’t have any experience with the complex system [in 2015], so you can imagine the challenge, but we learned a lot and we have the confidence we can catch up,” Arai told Autosport.

     

  • Rio Haryanto Lands Manor Drive

    Rio Haryanto Lands Manor Drive

    The new look Manor F1 team completed its line up for the 2016 season by announcing the signing of 23-year old Indonesian driver Rio Haryanto.

    Haryanto competed in many single seater series and most recently in GP2. He will get his first crack at the Manor MRT05 at next weeks first pre-season test.

    “We are delighted to announce Rio as our second race driver for 2016,” said Manor Racing Owner Spehen Fitzpatrick.

    “Rio’s been racing since he first got into a kart at six years old. He’s tenacious on and off the track and made a big impression on last year’s GP2 battle.

    “Rio’s huge following in Indonesia is great for the team and for F1. They are keen to see him on the grid and we’re confident that we’ll see him enjoying some exciting battles in the year ahead.”

    Haryanto had this to say about his signing: “Manor Racing is a team with an exciting vision and ambitious plans. They have produced a great package and I can’t wait to get in the car.

    “Melbourne will be a huge moment for me, my country, supporters and fans and I want to thank everyone who’s been with me since I started in single seaters; 2016 is my chance to reward that faith and represent Asia in F1.”