F1 Madness

Tag: renault

  • F1 2016: Australian GP Free Practice 1 – Hamilton Tops Wet/Dry Session

    F1 2016: Australian GP Free Practice 1 – Hamilton Tops Wet/Dry Session

    Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton topped the first free practice session for the 2016 Australian grand prix.

    The 2016 season got underway as Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel ventured out onto track with the full wet Pirelli tyres fitted to his car. Overnight rain and a consistent drizzle in the morning had ensured a wet start to the first practice session.

    The track seemed to dry quickly with a blustery wind but just as driver were getting into their stride on the yellow-walled soft tyres the rain appeared once more. So it continued throughout the session which was difficult to classify either wet or dry.

    Lewis Hamilton set the quickest time of the session with a 1:30:364. The Red Bull duo of Dannil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo were second and third as the chequered flag dropped to signal the end of the session. Rather embarrassingly, Ricciardo dropped the Red Bull into the gravel at the end of the session. Given the slippery conditions and the fact that Ricciardo was on slicks means we can give him the benefit of the doubt.

    Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen rounded out the top five. The 18 year old Verstappen had earlier spun his Ferrari-powered car but, luckily, didnt sustain any damage. Nico Rosberg, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button,  and Sergio Perez rounded out the top ten.

    The changeable weather conditions mean that the first free practice session of the season didnt represent anything as to how the rest of the weekend may pan out.

  • 2016 Australian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    2016 Australian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference

    DRIVERS:

    Rio HARYANTO (Manor)

    Jolyon PALMER (Renault)

    Esteban GUTIERREZ (Haas)

    Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

    Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes).
    PRESS CONFERENCE
    Daniel Ricciardo, let’s start with you. Here we are, 20 years on from the grand prix moving across from Adelaide to Melbourne, tell us about what a buzz it is for you to showcase your sport once a year here and what it means for the fans in Australia?
    Daniel RICCIARDO: It’s exciting, definitely. It’s exciting to be racing again in general. But to come here… (coughs)… pardon me, it’s emotional, jeez! It’s cool, you know. Every year that I’ve been here now there’s still an awesome buzz. It’s something that will definitely never get old as long as we keep coming here, as long as I’m racing. So yeah, Melbourne is great, especially when the sun shines. Everyone is super enthusiastic by the race here and there are always cars on track – woken up this morning by the two-seater. They really fill up the schedule and the fans definitely get their money’s worth.

    Your long run performance in particular looked strong during the tests in Barcelona. Do you feel you will be able to compete more perhaps in the race than in qualifying, certainly in the early part of the season at least?
    DR: yeah, I think the long pace will be better for us. The short runs are going to be a little more… I think in qualifying we’re probably not going to be as strong but long runs we should be good. Let’s see what happens. I don’t know, time will tell. I’ve been answering these questions all week and you can’t really answer them at the end of the day. On Sunday everyone will see where the real pace is, including us.

    OK. Let’s turn to Esteban – welcome back. Thirty-eight grands prix contested in your two previous seasons in Formula One. You were in the points for Sauber in 2013. How has your period as a Ferrari reserve driver made you a stronger competitor?
    Esteban GUTIERREZ: Well, it was very interesting with this guy in front of me [Sebastian Vettel]. I think in general as an experience it helped a lot in my career being able to observe many things from a different perspective and obviously getting very hungry to get back racing and finally reaching this moment, starting what I love most, to be racing, to be in a race seat.

    How has the build up to the first race gone for Haas? What are the biggest challenges for a star-up team in the sport?
    EG: I think the biggest challenge is to really integrate ourselves as a team, because the flow of communication in general… everything is new, there are a lot procedures that need to be defined. I think Barcelona, as a test, was a great experience for the team, a lot of character building. We had some difficult moments, some other good ones and all in all it’s where we need to focus – to be efficient and very dynamic for the development of the following races.

    Rio, coming to you, 23 years old, from Indonesia, one of three rookies in the field. First Formula One driver, more importantly, from Indonesia. Let’s start with that. What’s the response been like and how does it feel to be a pioneer?
    Rio HARYANTO: Yeah, there’s been tremendous support back home. Obviously to be able to compete in Formula One is a great thing. I’m very proud and I’m sure the whole nation are proud too to have me in Formula One.

    You won races in GP2 and GP3 during your apprenticeship for this opportunity. What are your expectations for this season with Manor?
    RH: I’m new to Formula One so there are a lot of things to learn. My expectation is to try to learn as quick as possible and to try to build a good relationship with the team and we’ll see how it goes in the races?

    Ok, coming to another rookie, Jolyon Palmer – welcome. Twenty-five years old, GP2 champion in 2014, you’ve also waited a few years for this opportunity. What’s the best thing about now becoming a Formula One driver?
    Jolyon PALMER: Well, racing! It was a bit frustrating last year having a year on the sidelines after GP2, but I learned a lot and it makes it even sweeter to be here racing again. I was out here last year seeing what Melbourne’s all about, did the track walk, was ready to go, but of course as a reserve driver you rarely get the chance. So looking forward to getting behind the wheel for at least an FP2 and an FP3 as well this time.

    Well, it was Lotus last season, the team has now become Renault, so what should we expect from you and this team this season?
    JP: Well, it’s difficult to say at this moment. Taking over from Lotus there were a lot of difficulties over the winter, everything was a little bit late. The expectations are pretty low and this year is just about building a foundation. So I think we need to build a solid base and the team has a lot of potential to move forward in the next few years.

    Let’s turn to the world champion – Lewis Hamilton, two-time Australian Grand Prix winner, four time polesitter here in Albert Park, Melbourne. Lewis, you said recently there’s still more to come from you this season. What are you looking for?
    Lewis HAMILTON: I don’t remember saying that, but OK…
    Let’s presume you did!
    LH: Cool. That’s good. I hope there is! I don’t know, I think you are always searching for perfection, always learning, always growing, both inside and outside the sport. I’m just looking forward to that journey. I don’t know what’s to come. I don’t when I’m going to be growing or more, but I guess that’s the same for every single one of us, so that’s what I’m excited about.

    When you say perfection, what do you mean exactly?
    LH: You’re always looking for that perfect lap; you’re always looking for the perfect race, you’re always looking to raise the bar every time you go out, because it can always be raised.

    There are quite a few more variables this year due to the regulation changes. Looking at the team radio restrictions in particular, do you think that’s something that could actually play to your strengths – given that you guys are all going to be much more on your own now? Is that something that could work for you?
    LH: We’re all in the same boat. Some of us will handle it better than others. I don’t particularly see there being much of be a problem. But is it good? I don’t really know but we’ll manage it the best way we can.

    OK. We’ve heard from the champion, let’s hear from one of his main challengers, Sebastian Vettel, 2011 Australian Grand Prix winner, three-time polesitter here. Sebastian, you know what it takes to win in Formula One, do you and Ferrari have enough to trouble Lewis and Mercedes this year?
    Sebastian VETTEL: I think we have. Obviously, the question is whether we are ready in time, but we are on a good track, we are making progress, we did so last year, I think we did a step over the winter, but as I said, whether it’s big enough or not I think we need to wait for the first couple of races and see. But for sure our target is to turn things around, but going into this season I don’t think it’s a surprise when I say that Mercedes is still the favourite but, as I said, we try to become the favourites in the future.

    It’s not hard to see where the problem has been, qualifying has been Ferrari’s weakness in recent times, when fighting you and Red Bull in those days and more recently Mercedes – only five poles in the last six seasons, seems astonishing really. So has the team put any particular focus on qualifying pace and unlocking that qualifying pace with this car to give you the tools you need to fight on Sunday?
    SV: Well, usually qualifying pace is all about raw pace so I think by trying to make our package quicker, make our car quicker, our engine stronger, we enhance our chances also in qualifying to do well. I don’t think there is a big secrete behind it – usually in qualifying, as I said, it’s all about the raw performance of the car and we know that we are still a little bit behind. We have been last year and obviously we try to be a lot closer this year, how close, I don’t know, I don’t have an answer… yet. But we have a plan; we know what we want to do; we know where we want to go, so bit by bit I hope we improve and we’ll be in a better position very soon, with more pole positions under our belt.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Abhishek Takle – Mid-Day) Question to Lewis. Mercedes has ran a lot of miles in testing. From a drivers’ point of view would you have preferred to do some more performance running to feel the ultimate limit of the car?
    LH: Definitely. Of course, the performance runs are always the most fun, the long runs are, kind of, long. And less exciting. But we did what we had to do and I guess we went into the testing with a goal of achieving 800km a day. We didn’t actually think we were going to do it so perhaps in hindsight we would have shifted our running. But at the end of the day it suited us perfectly.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) To Sebastian, could you describe what could be the point of strength of the new car in the season, and would it be a surprise if you are not as close as you expect to the Mercedes?
    SV: Well, we’ve worked very hard. Obviously the project of this year’s car started very early so I think it is definitely a big improvement, big step forward overall. Obviously from the outside it’s easy to see the main differences but I think especially on the inside we’ve done a very, very nice job and it allows us to be, first of all, quicker from the start and also have more chance of improving throughout the year. So that’s good news. Whether it’s good news right from the start, I don’t know. As I said earlier, I don’t know yet. I hope so. We know that our challenge is very, very big, we know that Mercedes in the last two years have built a very, very strong and solid platform for the whole package. Not just the engine but also the car has been very, very strong, in particular last year, and I think it is quite difficult to start the next season with a worse car than you had before. So we know the bar is high, but we’re pushing, pushing very hard.

    Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) Lewis, I was wondering, after we saw the video of you riding a bike and filming as you were going along, whether you feel you have any responsibility to, as an example to others, not to do that? Or maybe not…
    LH: Not particularly, no. I don’t really have much of an answer for you unfortunately.

    I was just wondering if you think you… you’ve always said you were an example to young dudes. I was wondering if you thought in light of that, this is where you should show an example?
    LH: Again, I don’t really have much of an answer for you, so…

    Q: (Lennart Bernke – Bild) Seb, why and when did you decide to name your car after a pizza?
    SV: It’s not named after a pizza. It’s a name, first of all. So, I think…
    DR: What’s it called?
    SV: Margherita.
    DR: It’s a cocktail!
    SV: I think if you look up, the first thing that comes it is that it’s a name, not a pizza.

    Why Margherita then?
    DR: Because it’s a pizza!
    SV: No, because it’s a drink! No, various reasons. We like the name. Every year we give the car a name. Last year Eva, this year Margherita. We’re happy with that.

    Q: (Daniel Johnson – Daily Telegraph) A question for Seb. A lot’s been made, and people are getting quite excited about the prospect of you versus Lewis for the title and having quite different styles and characters. Lewis, obviously, has his style and uses Snapchat and things like that. I was wondering if you could describe how your… what your style is and whether looking at any of that ever tempts you to get on Snapchat or Twitter or Instagram or any of that?
    SV: Up to now I haven’t understood all of the modern technologies fully so I’m sure he can give me some classes but I’m not that interested. I think everyone picks his style, and the things they like. I think we’re all different. Some people like pizza plain – like Margherita – some people like a lot of stuff on top of it. I think that’s a good summary.

    Q: (Alex Popov – NTV/Match TV) For Lewis – but a little bit more of a racing question: it’s about tyre allocation. Because you never used the supersoft of Barcelona, and most of Barcelona testing you and Nico was on medium and here, your personal allocation is just one set of medium and again it’s Pirelli who chose it for the race. Then for supersoft you never train, tomorrow it’s rain forecast so for the race it will be OK?
    LH: I think it will be OK. You’re right, we didn’t use the supersoft and, once again, I think once we realised how much mileage we’d done, perhaps in hindsight we may have changed it, who knows? But we’ll face it as we always do. I don’t believe they’ve changed a huge amount with the tyre so I don’t think it’s going to be a big issue for us.

    Q: (Jon McEvoy – Daily Mail) Lewis, are you using a Blackberry or an iPhone?
    LH: Both

    Q: (Shane McGuinness – Radio 3AW) Dan, Australian motor racing legend Alan Jones has come out and said that he’d like to see you at Ferrari next year, obviously out of contract this year. Does that become a distraction at all for you and how do you ensure that it doesn’t affect your driving, and bat away these questions during the season? And would you like to be teammates (with Sebastian) again?
    DR: I don’t know if Seb wants that, to be honest, so we’ll see. I heard AJ say… or I heard some comments yesterday and got asked the question. Yeah, last year I was asked as well. I honestly can’t… I don’t have much more to say on that. It’s still very early in the season and to give you a boring but honest answer is that I’m just completely focused on this year now and with Red Bull. That’s where it stands. Not exactly out of contract either. Don’t get too excited.
    I don’t know (if I’d like to be teammates with Sebastian again). Maybe if he joined social media…
    SV: I will not dance with you in the pit lane so if you’re looking for that…
    DR: I’m looking for something more from my teammate. We’ll think of something, eh?
    SV: I can offer you marguerita. I don’t mind Danny, we’ve never had issues. Obviously the year we had together was very good for him, not so good for me. I think that’s one thing that happens on the track but outside the track, which I think is more important when you talk about your teammate, whether you get along or not, we never had – at least I don’t remember… It’s a bit weird when he gets changed but other than that…
    DR: I walk around in my underwear a lot! Get comfortable with that. This question’s gone pear-shaped, hasn’t it? Next question.

    Q: (Abhishek Tackle – Midday) To the front row: everyone says in testing, we’re just testing, we don’t know where we stand, we don’t know anything, but given the simulation and data analysis tools you have these days at your disposal, how good an idea do you have of where you stand relative to each other in the pecking order?
    DR: I don’t know. You get an idea, you definitely get an idea. I guess I’ve driven a few years now in F1 and I know what a good car feels like so at least with us I know… at least from testing I can take out that our chassis is pretty good. What’s still an unknown is what Seb and Lewis are saying. Are they hopping out of their car saying this chassis is a lot better than last year’s as well? I still expect them to be the front runners, Ferrari and Mercedes, at the start of the season but me knowing what I know from previous years, yeah, I think we’ve started off with a good chassis and as we’ve done in the past, we can keep improving that. If we can improve that, along with the power unit this year, then by probably the second half of the year we should be able to maybe challenge them but again, it’s still really guesswork, it’s not like numbers, it’s not like they all add up to victory at the end of the day. It’s still a bit inconclusive until we get going, probably the first four or five races.
    SV: The answer’s  probably a bit more accurate than that. I think Mercedes are the favourites going in, they seem to be very reliable but also very quick in Barcelona. I think we are closer than last year, especially in the race. Then I think Toro Rosso has made a massive step. They had a very strong car last year but probably with the Ferrari engine this year they will be quite a bit stronger. Daniel touched on it himself and some of you touched on his long run pace, they looked very strong for the race. I think Esteban and Team Haas could surprise and the others are a bit unknown I would say.
    LH: I agree with what they’ve said. I think this year that the whole pack looks like it’s a little bit closer but personally I think that they’ve got something up their sleeve this weekend. I think Ferrari are going to be a lot closer than they talk about, than just arriving on a low but going to deliver high.
    Q: Do you welcome that?
    LH: Absolutely.

    Q: (Chris Lines – AP) Question for the back row: are points achievable for you this year and how soon do you think you might be in a position to challenge for points?
    EG: Well, it’s very ambitious as a new team to arrive and set a target to score points but we will work very hard to achieve that. It’s definitely the way we want to go. I think initially it’s very important to keep our feet on the ground, make sure that we run smoothly during the weekend and if we accomplish that this weekend we can get out in a very happy mood. Obviously we have everything to gain so achieving points would be something extraordinary.
    JP: I think for us it’s definitely a goal for us to be in the points at some point in the season. I think that if we can start off with a solid base this weekend then I think we’ve got good potential to improve over the course of the season and so definitely, we hope to be in the points.
    Q: Rio, it looks like Manor have made quite a big step forward in performance from last year to this year. Is that giving the team confidence that they will be in the points regularly?
    RH: Yeah, definitely. It’s a much better package that we have in comparison to last year and that’s the goal, to score points. We don’t know when but we’ll try our best every race as the races will be long and let’s see what we can do.

  • F1 2016: Australian GP Preview – F1 season of possibility

    F1 2016: Australian GP Preview – F1 season of possibility

    The question at the forefront of everything is can Ferrari take the fight to Mercedes. All indications are that the Italian team has made strides since last year and has closed the gap to Mercedes. All that remains to be seen is how close they can get.

    As F1 2016 gets under way this season will be longest in the sport’s history with 21 races. Germany’s Hockenheim makes a return to the calendar and Azerbaijan hosts its first ever race on the Baku City streets. The confirmation of the US grand prix gives the teams an added bonus. The F1 sporting regulation state that one engine must be used for four race weekends. As the US Gp makes it 21 races the teams will be given a fifth engine thanks to the wording of the rule.

    When the change to the qualifying format was announced it left many perplexed. The quali format hadn’t been a bad one so why fix something that isn’t broken? But, let’s give it chance and see how it pans out.

    The one hour session will still consist of three parts. Q1 will be 16 minutes, after the first seven the slowest car is eliminated. Thereafter, the slowest car is eliminated every 90 seconds. Seven drivers will be eliminated while 15 advance to Q2.

    Hamilton-Australia-MercedesQ2 will be a 15 minute session with the slowest driver eliminated after 6 minutes. Likewise, every 90 seconds will see the slowest car eliminated. Seven drivers will be eliminated in this session with eight advancing to Q3.  The Q3 session will run for fourteen minutes with the slowest driver eliminated after five minutes. The slowest driver will continue to be eliminated every 90 seconds. Two drivers will remain in the final 90 seconds of the session to shoot it out for pole position.

    An interesting aspect of this style of qualifying will be that the quickest cars will no longer be able to rely on getting through to the second part of qualifying on the harder of their tyre selection. It’s sure to throw the cat amongst the pigeons when there is rain about, and if it’s a lap longer than 1 minute 30 seconds. And let’s be honest anything that adds a bit of drama and intrigue is never a bad thing. What the new format has in its favour is that it takes the excitement from the final ten minutes of the session and spreads it throughout the entire hour.

    australiaThe Albert Park circuit is a well known one. But there are many unknowns at the first race of the season. A new qualifying format, new tyre regulations, more driver freedom on strategy calls, to name a few. The clampdown on radio communication from the pitwall carries its own connotation, especially where the start of the race is concerned. Drivers are not allowed any feedback during the formation lap and are only being allowed to use one clutch at the start. This combined with Albert Park’s tight turn one could result in dramatic start to the grand prix. And all of this has the potential to combine into an explosive season-opening race.

    Mercedes has chosen to play up Ferrari’s performance so far. Choosing to send both Nico Rosberg and Niki Lauda into the press with statements of Ferrari being a great threat. It could just be some clever psychological play by the champions. Or it could be real and we could in for a F1 season to be remembered. One way or the other the more than 100 day wait is finally over.

  • 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
  • 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 1: Vettel Tops the Timesheets

    F1 2016 Pre-Season Test 1 Day 1: Vettel Tops the Timesheets

    Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished the first day of the first pre-season test of 2016 on top of the time sheets ahead of defending champion Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes W07 Hybrid.

    The German set his best time of 1:24.939 on the medium compound tyres just before lunch to take the top spot for the day. For the rest of the day it was testing as usual for Ferrari which seen Vettel rack up 69 laps.

    A few doors up the paddock, Lewis Hamilton racked up an astonishing 156 laps on the day. That’s 698km, which is just a little over two race lengths. “It’s good to be back. It really had felt like a while – but now it feels like home already,” said Hamilton. He finished second fastest on the day with a 1:25.409.

    Daniel Ricciardo finished third fastest clocking up 87 laps on the day after a bit of a slow start. This, in contrast to the previous season’s testing, seems like a big improvement from the team. “First impressions are positive but it’s still too early to say much more. We had a good day and I’m ready for more,” said Ricciardo at the end of the day’s running.

    Valtteri Bottas ended his day 4th fastest for Williams completing 80 laps. Bottas’ first impression of the car was that he feels many of the issues they’ve had last year have been fixed but he thinks its too early to say where they are in relation to the other teams.

    “Valtteri has been complimentary about aspects of the FW38 which is good start,” said the Chief and Test Support Engineer Rob Nelson.

    Carlos Sainz_2016 Pre Season Test 1“We are just building up our run lengths and doing our due diligence on reliability, and as the test goes on we’ll feed in more and more performance items. Overall it is a reasonable start to pre-season testing for us.

    Mexican Alfonso Celis was in the VJM09 for Force India. He finished 5th fastest with 58 laps to his name. Not far off his pace was Jenson Button in the McLaren MP4-31 finishing 6th fastest with 84 laps on the board. Button’s best time of 1:26.735 came courtesy of a late run on the soft compound tyres.

    Carlos Sainz was out for Toro Rosso today. The team chose not to have a big reveal in the pits and instead just emerged from the pits when the green flag dropped for the start of the day. Sainz finished 7th fastest with 55 laps under his belt. His session was cut short when the team saw something strange in the gearbox oil system. The team decided to stop their session as a precaution.

    Sauber, who ran an updated livery but a 2015 car, had Marcus Ericsson at the wheel of the C34. He placed 8th fastest on the day ahead of Manor driver Pascal Wehrlein. Wehrlein, on his first outing for the new look Manor team, clocked up 54 laps.

    New comers Haas F1 had a good start to their debut test until a front wing failure brought out the red flags. The team say that they have a fix for the wing and will have a replacement by Tuesday. The wing failure put Grosjean out for most of the day. He did, however, emerge from the pits with an hour left in the session to complete a few laps.

    Jolyon Palmer was 11th fastest for Renaul in the R.S.16. He had limited running owing to software issued on the car.

    POS Driver Team/Car Best lap Gap Laps
    1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari SF16-H 1:24.939 – 69
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:25.409 +0.470 156
    3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12 1:26.044 +1.105 87
    4 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes FW38 1:26.091 +1.152 80
    5 Alfonso Celis Force India-Mercedes VJM09 1:26.298 +1.359 58
    6 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda MP4-31 1:26.735 +1.796 84
    7 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11 1:27.180 +2.241 55
    8 Marcus Ericcson Sauber-Ferrari C34 1:27.555 +2.616 88
    9 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Racing-Ferrari MRT05 1:28.292 +3.353 54
    10 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari VF-16 1:28.399 +3.460 31
    11 Jolyon Palmer Renault R.S.16 1:29.356 +4.417 37

     

    Photo Credit: Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1, Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula 1

  • Red Bull Racing’s 2016 F1 Challenger – the RB12

    Red Bull Racing’s 2016 F1 Challenger – the RB12

    Red Bull released the first images of its 2016 Formula One title challenger, the RB12, ahead of debuting the car on track at the opening day of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya.

    The team released studio photos via its various media channels moments before the RB12 hit the track with Daniel Ricciardo at the wheel. Three-time race winner Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat will race the RB12 this year.

    Following very troubled 2015 season, the team will be hoping that the TAG Heuer-badged Renault powered RB12 will have what it takes to return to its former glory once again. The team claimed four successive titles between 2010 and 2013 but quickly fell behind when the F1 introduced V6 power units in 2014. The 2015 F1 season held only two podiums for the team and saw them finishing fourth in the constructor standings.

    Red Bull Racing RB12 launchA late decision to stick with Renault power – albeit under the guise of new Red Bull partner Tag Heuer – after approaching the three other engine suppliers looking to switch for 2016, has the team on a back foot ahead of the start of the season.

    Team boss Christian Horner: “Obviously the late engine decision last year was a challenge but we found a solution in time and the whole team has worked incredibly hard to recover over the winter.

    “Therefore, we’re looking to build on the significant progress we made in the second half of 2015 and to carry that momentum into the early races of this season.

    Red Bull Racing RB12 launch“My hopes for this season are that we genuinely make progress from where we were last year; that we get our heads down and we really develop the car well and hopefully with some performance coming on the power unit side as well, that will allow us to get closer to some of our immediate rivals.”

    According to chief technical officer Adrian Newey development on the RB12 was focussed around developing a cohesive package for all the parts. “I’m often asked what area of the car I’m most pleased with, but with the stable regulations we have at the moment it’s difficult to find any major new areas to exploit,” Newey said of the RB12.

    “Therefore, what we’ve really tried to concentrate on with this car is getting a cohesive package for all the parts – the suspension, the chassis dynamics, aerodynamics – that they all work together in harmony.

    “I think we’ve managed to build on the lessons of last year and all the indications from our simulations suggest that this year’s chassis should be strong.”

    Red Bull Racing RB12 launchChief engineering officer Rob Marshall hopes that the RB12 can win some races this year: “With the RB12, we are optimistic that we have made some good gains, but the difficulty is the wind tunnel and CFD numbers we’re seeing are our numbers and unless you can see everyone else’s numbers you don’t know where you are. We are happy that we are going in the right direction from our own point of view, but we won’t know until Melbourne.

    “As far as this car is concerned, I hope we can win some races. That might sound farfetched after last year, where we struggled at the beginning of the year, but I hope this year we can make a bit of a step power-wise and that will level the playing field a bit.”

    RB12 Photo Credits: Red Bull Racing

     

  • F1 engine token system to be scrapped

    F1 engine token system to be scrapped

    Renault Sport F1’s managing director Cyril Abiteboul says that the controversial Formula One engine token system is set to be scrapped in 2017.

    In return for reducing the cost of power units for customer teams by 2017 the engine manufacturers will be allowed more freedom to develop. Drivers would still be limited as far as the number of engines they may use per season and penalties would be enforced for those who exceed that limit which should keep the amount of updates a team introduces during the course of a season down to a reasonable number.

    Abiteboul hopes that the change will make engine regulations easier for fans to understand also also allow other teams to catch up with Mercedes, ending their absolute dominance on the grid.

    “The token system is being removed,” Abiteboul was quoted as saying.

    “One of the reasons we have all agreed to do this is that we all need the performance of the engine to converge. An F1 that is dictated by the performance of the engine is not good for anyone.

    “You see it is not good for Mercedes, it is not good for Renault, Ferrari – we all have interest to change that. We have decided, also for the public, to stop the public being confused between the penalty system, the token system – we have decided to simply remove the token system.”

    The 2016 F1 season however will still engine see manufacturers restricted to 32 development tokens over the course of this season – the same as for the 2015 season.

  • WATCH: Renault F1 2016 Press Conference – Livery Launch

    WATCH: Renault F1 2016 Press Conference – Livery Launch

    Watch as Renault launch their 2016 car and team with Kevin Magnussen alongside Jolyon Palmer. Renault unveiled their black and yellow livery which is set to change for the Australian Grand Prix. The team also confirmed the two new Renault drivers, Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer.