Tag: formual 1

Alonso Hit With 35-Place Gird Penalty

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso will take a 35-place grid drop at the Belgian Grand Prix for replacing his power unit after a water leak kept him out of FP1.

Honda arrived at Spa with an updated engine after spending 7 tokens on upgrading the turbo and the combustion. Both Alonso and Button were given their 5th PU’s ahead of Free Practice 1.

After just three installation laps McLaren found a water leak on Alonso’s engine. This kept him out for the rest of the session.

As a precaution Honda took the decision to replace the entire PU which consists of the engine, turbo, MGU-H, MGU-K, energy store and control electronics. This means that Alonso takes a 6th of each component and gets a collective 35-place grid penalty.

With new regulations coming into place will mean that Alonso can only move to 22nd on the grid.

August 26, 2016
F1 2015: Australian GP Review – Mercedes Canter to Oz Victory

If winter testing was anything to go by, then few would’ve expected the surprising war of attrition in the first round of the 2015 Formula 1 season.

Even before the Australian GP got underway three drivers failed to make it to the grid.

Williams’ Valtteri Bottas was deemed unfit to race by the FIA medical delegate after the Finn suffered a slight muscle tear in his lower back.

In the event that Bottas will not be able to participate at the Malaysian grand prix the team will have to employ a reserve driver for the task. Susie Wolff has been ruled out of the equation as she only fulfils the role of test and development driver. Red Bull’s Danill Kvyat ground to a halt on the way to his grid slot with a suspected gearbox issue.

The Saturday Australian GP qualifying session was far from decent for the McLaren team whose cars were the slowest qualifiers on the day. If it didn’t seem possible to get any worse Kevin Magnussen’s McLaren Honda made it all of a couple hundred meters out of the pitlane before expiring as huge plumes of smoke poured from the back before the race.

The first corner was no less dramatic as Pastor Maldonado ended up in the turn two barriers with significant damage. A handful of minutes later the sister Lotus of Romain Grosjean pulled in to the garage with a loss of power. Grosjean was still quite chipper despite the double retirement and it has a lot to do with the car that Lotus has built for 2015. The long faces and awkward shoulder shrugs of 2014 are long gone for a team who truly have made a significant step forward. The first round of the season is always a tricky one, as RoGro rightly pointed out. It’s unfortunate that the Lotus’ weren’t able to showcase their progress but there is no doubt that will be right in the thick of the mid-team battle.

The rookies weren’t too shabby either. Yes, only eleven cars made it to the chequered flag but managing an F1 car in today’s technological era is a rather complicated assignment. To do that while defending, or in some cases attacking, drivers far more experienced and still keeping it on the road is a job well done. Max Verstappen was set to become the youngest ever points scorer only to be felled by a mechanical issue. Team mate Carlos Sainz Jr gave Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen a bit of a punt at the first corner but apart from that lapse he was solid and brought the Toro Rosso home in ninth.

In their decades long presence it’s safe to say that the Sauber team experienced one of the most challenging weeks in their existence. A menacing battle in the Victoria State court hung over the team for the majority of the Australian GP weekend as Giedo van der Garde staked his rightful claim on a race seat. Somehow, the team and van der Garde reached a sort of understanding and the focus was transferred back to the track. Rookie driver Felipe Nasr shone on his debut with a faultless drive into fifth place while team mate Marcus Ericsson pulled off a few tasty overtakes to finish in eighth. This result deserves a bit of recognition if you consider that Sauber was unable to score a single point in the entire 2014 season.

If you were watching a television broadcast of the Australian GP you wouldn’t have seen much of the Mercedes duo but don’t be disappointed because neither did the rest of the field. Hardly bothered Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg strolled towards the chequered flag for yet another dominant one-two victory. Hamilton’s race was dotted with a few trivial threats from Rosberg on occasion but the German never got close enough to really make the reigning champion bat an eye. It is early days yet in the Hamilton/Rosberg battle but it was a decidedly effortless drive from Hamilton who simply managed the 58 laps towards inevitable victory.

Half a minute behind, or eons as it’s known in F1 terms, Sebastian Vettel held off Williams’ Felipe Massa in his scarlet Ferrari to finish third in his first race for the prancing horse. Throughout the weekend Vettel’s absolute delight at being a Ferrari driver was almost palpable. The way he got down to business and the general joviality from the German is especially obvious.

Alas, a combination of issues ensured that Kimi Raikkonen’s Australian GP race did not go according to plan. The hit from Sainz into turn one sent the car into anti-stall dropping the Finn down the field and later on a slow first pitstop lost the former champion roughly fifteen seconds. Raikkonen was making his way back through the field, at quite a clip, only to be forced into retirement with a loose left-rear wheel following his second stop.

It was a disappointing turn for the team who has now confirmed their resurgence. Even though the Albert Park circuit is unique from the rest of the tracks on the calendar the Ferrari is a quick car. It isn’t Mercedes quick, nothing is, but the team will be buoyed by the pace that both drivers were able to turn. No one was sure whether the dramatic overhaul of the team was going to make a positive difference. It hasn’t just made a difference, this team seems completely transformed. There is real sense of optimism and dare I say even happiness from the Ferrari garage.

The days of championship glory seem inordinately far removed from the 2015 McLaren team. Where previously nothing less than victory would have sufficed, now they see getting to the end of the race as “a massive step forward”. Jenson Button finished eleventh but that is stone dead last and even if tyre performance is taken into account he was still four seconds off the pace in qualifying. If there is a shred of a positive to the weekend for McLaren it’s the fact that they have gained valuable information about the car’s performance.

Even more surprising than McLaren’s Honda woes is Red Bull’s downturn in form and Adrian Newey is placing the blame squarely on Renault’s shoulders. “We’ve got an engine which is quite a long way behind with no obvious light at the end of the tunnel with all sorts of failings,” said Newey. Daniel Ricciardo is already using the second of his four allotted power units and complained throughout the Australian GP weekend of bad driveability. “In terms of pace we’re not one second off, it’s more 2s, 2.5s off,” said Ricciardo.

Throughout the past twelve months team principal Christian Horner, Helmut Marko and Adrian Newey have vilified Renault. To question the manufacturer’s commitment and to call its power unit rubbish every chance you get doesn’t seem like the way to encourage a good working relationship.

Realistically speaking Red Bull were roughly two tenths a lap faster than Toro Rosso in Australia who share the same power unit. Whereas Mercedes were 1.4 seconds a lap quicker than Williams who also run a Mercedes engine. For that reason it couldn’t be all evil Renault’s fault but they are a convenient scapegoat.

March 15, 2015
Ricciardo Takes the Honour on Second Day of Barcelona Test

Daniel Ricciardo finished on top of the time sheets for Red Bull on the second day of the second pre-season test in Barcelona.

Ricciardo set his time of 1:24.574 just before the lunch break on the soft compound tyres. This time stood for the rest of the day. Second for the day was Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen who was just 0.010s off Ricciardo’s pace. Third for the day was Williams’ Felipe Massa who was just 0.098s off the pace. It was very close at the top today with the top three just separated by 0.1s.

Sergio Perez ended his day in 4th with a time of 1:24.702 for Force India. Lewis Hamilton who was not scheduled to drive today got behind the wheel of the W06 in the afternoon session and managed 5th fastest for the day and also managed to complete and impressive 89 laps despite not feeling well. Nico Rosberg drove the morning session and was 6th fastest for the day. He handed over to Hamilton so as to not further aggravate his inflamed nerve on his neck.

Despite the ERS issue on the McLaren, Fernando Alonso managed to complete 59 laps today with his fastest being a 1:25.961. Although well off the pace of the front running cars it is encouraging news for the Woking outfit and for Honda.

Jolyon Palmer had his debut for Lotus today. He finished 8 fastest. Marcus Ericsson finished 9th for Sauber and Carlos Sainz Jr finishing the slowest on the day. Sainz Jr clocked up 100 laps today despite a big off at the very fast T9 right hander.

It was a very strong showing from Red Bull, Williams and Ferrari. Although they may not show it, Mercedes are becoming increasingly weary about the pace of those three teams and will be watching them closely. There is no doubt that the other teams have stepped up their game but something tells me we have not yet seen the absolute pace of the Mercedes cars just yet.

Below are the unofficial times from day 2 of the second pre-season test:

Photo Credit: Infinity Red Bull Racing Formula 1 Team

February 20, 2015
Mercedes Officially Launch the W06

Drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg took the covers off Mercedes’ 2015 title defending car at the Circuito Jerez this morning.

With the sun slightly peeking over the mountains the covers came off the new Mercedes W06 Hybrid.

Technical Director, Paddy Lowe says that one of the key focus areas for the car was reliability. “It’s no secret that reliability let us down on a number of occasions in 2014”

“Making a car reliable is a long gane and a lot of effort has gone in on that side. It’s not about fixing individual issues but about raising quality across the many thousands of parts and processes involved.”

The rear wing has a single, central support pylon. This does provide some aerodynamic benefit as there is less disturbance to the air flowing below the main plane of the front wing.

Mercedes say that they have a more extreme version of their front suspension this season. The W06 suspension system was built without FRIC from the begging after it was banned mid way last season.

Photo’s courtesy Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1

February 1, 2015
2014 Formula 1 Santander German Grand Prix: Sunday Press Conference

DRIVERS

1st Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

2nd Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)

3rd Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

PODIUM INTERVIEWS

(Conducted by Kai Ebel)

Nico, how sweet is the taste of the home victory champagne?

Nico ROSBERG: It’s fantastic. It’s an amazing feeling for me to win here at home. A very, special day for me. Thank you for all your support here this weekend.

Valtteri, three time on the podium now but how hot was the breath of this guy [Hamilton] on your neck?

Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, I feel really happy again being third time in a row on the podium. These guys were too quick today but really happy that we at least managed to keep one of them behind. It was not easy, it required all the info from the engineers, what to do with the engine modes, and from my side pushing hard but I really want to say thanks to all the say thanks to all the fans. I also see many Finnish flags here so, thanks Finland.

Lewis, lots of fans in for you here. King of overtaking, 17 places, fastest lap, damaged front wing, so how much racing fun was that for you as a racer?

Lewis HAMILTON: I had great fun. It was great to see how many fans we had here today, thank you so much for the support. I did as good as I could today. It was very hard to get through the pack safely. I had a little bit of a collision with Jenson. I honestly thought he was opening the door to let me past, he’s been a bit like that in the past race for example, so my bad on judgment there. It’s very hard to overtake at the end, they were so fast on the straights but I’m very happy I got some points today.

Thanks Lewis. Coming back to you Nico. Lots of points for you but not much time to celebrate as the next race is coming up next week already.

NR: Yeah, well definitely we’ll be celebrating a little bit tonight, I hope you [the fans] will as well, it would be great to continue the soccer world championship spirit today a little bit. I look forward to the next race in Hungary. With the car that we have at the moment… I’m very, very thankful to Mercedes for the car that they’ve built us, it’s really a pleasure at the moment. Hungary will be good.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: So Nico, your fourth win this year, I think your first on home soil – and which of the great things that have happened to you this week has given you the best feeling?

NR: That’s getting married. That’s definitely the case. That was the best feeling. But of course everything has been special. Really fortunate, just had a great… many positive things happening in the two weeks, or week and a half. Been really enjoyable, and also this weekend with pole and the win. Just awesome. Very, very special day today.

Q: Valtteri, something of a defensive master class at the end, defending from Lewis in the final laps. Tell us a little bit about what was going through your mind, the way you positioned the car in those final laps, particularly given the state of the tyres after a very long stint.

VB: Yes, big enough the last stint. I was already close with Lewis but he stopped and at that point there was still twenty or so laps to go. I knew it was going to be really close in the end. With a new set of tyres, 20 laps to go, he can make up the pit loss, and he did and he was riding my tail the last few laps. For me it was just really, really important to always get a good exit for the DRS straights, so out of Turn One and out of Turns Two-Three, to get as good an exit as possible and brake always as late as possible for the hairpin at the end. Also from the team, we were communicating and I got all the support from the engineers to get the right engine modes for defending – so thanks for that.

Q: Lewis, from 20^th on the grid to third at the end and so much to deal with, so many changes as well, you were on a change of strategy at the end there where you were going to do two very attacking stints on the super-soft of 13 laps. They obviously changed that after the Sutil spin, brought you in a bit earlier, so you had to do a bit longer final stint. I wonder though how much the damage of the front wing in the Jenson Button incident hurt your chances of doing more than third today.

LH: I couldn’t tell you. The car was a little bit different but nonetheless to still get some points today, I’m grateful and very happy with the car today that Mercedes provided us with and congratulations to Nico. It’s fantastic for him on his home soil and also for Mercedes-Benz. So I’m glad I could add some points today.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Life) Valtteri, is second place today the maximum for you, is second place the maximum for your team or can you do more?

VB: We always aim for more but for now we need to be happy with these points. Of course we were unlucky with Felipe again, we didn’t get both cars in a good position but I think today was the maximum result. We did everything perfectly and managed to keep Lewis behind in the end which got us an extra few points but in the future, we are definitely aiming for more and this is not the maximum.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, your target for this year was a podium; now you’ve got a hat-trick of them. How surprised are you with this success, because it’s not so usual for Finnish drivers to get three podiums in a row?

VB: OK…

NR: I got three in a row.

VB: Yeah, of course I feel really lucky also to be part of this. Last year we could not have expected to be three times in a row on the podium but we now… This is the package we have and it’s all down to hard work and we need to always keep aiming for more, like I said before. Of course, it feels really good to be (on the podium) for a third time in a row but I think we’re aiming for more than that now. We know Budapest might be a bit difficult for us but hopefully we get some updates.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, do you see the glass of your race more half full or half empty?

LH: Well, I don’t really know how to answer that really. I came from last, so to get on the podium is quite an achievement, so perhaps half full.

Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) Lewis, you’ve got an incredible record in Hungary – seven races, four wins. What is your secret there and what are your feelings in general about next week’s race?

LH: I don’t really have any secrets there, just been very… If I’ve ever had any… Just been fortunate in that race, great support there as usual with the fans and a circuit I really enjoy. It’s a circuit where you can really attack, it works for an attacking driver like myself so perhaps it suits my driving style a little bit more than some others, maybe.

Q: (Udo Doering – Darmstaedter Echo) Nico, are you a little bit surprised to win so clearly and when you saw the car of Sutil standing on the track, did you fear another safety car?

NR: Yeah, definitely I’m a bit surprised because in qualifying the Williams were quite close so didn’t really expect to have such a big advantage in the race. And yes, I definitely got a bit worried when I saw Sutil’s car out there because I was sure there was going to be a safety car and that would have obviously made it a lot more difficult

July 20, 2014