F1 Madness

Tag: sochi

  • F1 2017: Russia Extends F1 Deal to 2025

    F1 2017: Russia Extends F1 Deal to 2025

    The organizers for the Russian grand prix have announced that a deal has been signed which will keep the circuit on the F1 calendar until 2025.

    The extension to the deal comes on the back of securing a title sponsor for the grand prix, VTB Group. This means that the Russian government will no longer be footing the bill for the promoters fees. Russian GP promoter Sergey Vorobyov said it was “a complex deal, which combines the promoter contract.

    “The important part is the title sponsorship contract for us, and there are a few other things that we are working on now with Chase [Carey, F1 chairman] and his team that I’m not ready to announce yet. Everything started with Bernie and is being concluded with Chase and his team.”

    The Sochi International circuit is still weighing the option of transforming the grand prix into a night race. The organizers are currently in the process of plotting the time and money that would be required for such an endeavour.

    The 2017 Russian grand is scheduled for the 30th of April.

  • John Booth joins Toro Rosso as Director of Racing

    John Booth joins Toro Rosso as Director of Racing

    Former Manor team boss John Booth has joined the Toro Rosso Formula One team as Director of Racing, on a consultancy basis.

    Booth left the Manor F1 team at the end of 2015 after differences of opinion with team owner Stephen Fitzpatrick. The two disagreed over the direction that the team was going. Since leaving the Manor’s F1 outfit, Booth has since set up the Manor WEC team alongside Graeme Lowdon. He will remain in his WEC role while returning to Formula One in a consultancy role Toro Rosso.

    “It is a great honour to join such a well-established and competitive team as Scuderia Toro Rosso,” Booth said.

    “It is a team that has achieved so much in a relatively short space of time. I am looking forward to getting started and working with Franz and the team this weekend in Sochi.”

    Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost said: “I have known John [Booth] for many years and I am delighted to welcome him to the team. Formula 1 is becoming ever more complex, with recent changes on the tyre front, car set-up, radio communications and so forth. Therefore, having a competitive car and talented drivers, both of which we have, on its own is not enough. With his vast experience I am sure John will help the team raise its game and become a more effective force over a race weekend.”

  • F1 2015: Russian GP Review – Russia Redeemed

    F1 2015: Russian GP Review – Russia Redeemed

    It isn’t often in Formula 1 that you get what you ask for. Ahead of the second ever Russian grand prix the request was for a race with a bit more zest and the Sochi Autodrom delivered.

    Where it concerned the winner of the race it wasn’t high on the entertainment stakes. Lewis Hamilton ambled to career victory number 42 in his Mercedes without so much as a whiff of a challenge.

    It appeared at the start of the race as if the double world champ would have some work to do as Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg maintained his pole position off the starting line. But it wasn’t to be for Rosberg as he was forced into retirement with a broken throttle pedal. It the lead up to the race the call for Rosberg to step up and take the fight to Hamilton and he responded with an authoritative qualifying performance.

    Alas, now and then the unpredictability of F1 rears its head and inserts a searing reminder of how cruel the sport can be. If Rosberg’s admittedly fragile championship dream was hanging by a thread before it has now been completely obliterated. The German driver trails Hamilton by 73 points with a maximum of 100 still available.

    podiumrussiaFerrari driver Sebastian Vettel was never within striking distance of Hamilton but showed a solid enough turn of pace for a comfortable second place. The four-time champion pulled off two crucial moves on Raikkonen and Perez for his second place finish.

    The race had two safety car deployments the first of which came on lap one for a collision between the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg and the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson. The safety car was deployed a second time as Romain Grosjean crashed his Lotus heavily into the barrier on the outside of turn three.

    While Grosjean’s race was over it prompted a roll of the strategy dice for Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Force India’s Sergio Perez. The two drivers would attempt a run to the flag, some 40 laps away, on one set of the yellow-walled soft compound tyre.  For Ricciardo it came to naught as he had to retire his Red Bull with a suspected suspension issue.

    However, Perez was clinging onto third for dear life. But as Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, with fresher tyres, closed him down at a rate of knots it appeared that the Mexican would be consigned to the very least a fifth place finish. Unexpectedly, Raikkonen’s attempt to overtake countryman Bottas proved a bit too feisty and the two collided into turn 4. The clash put Bottas out of the race and left Raikkonen with a damaged car.  Ever the opportunist, Perez swept past to take a deserved third place finish.

    Sochi Autodrom 2014Willliams’ Felipe Massa recovered from fifteenth on the grid to finish fourth; Raikkonen crossed the line in fifth but was later slapped with a 30 second penalty for the Bottas collision which drops him down to eighth. Local hero Daniil Kvyat finished fifth in his Red Bull ahead of Sauber’s Felipe Nasr, Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado, McLaren’s Jenson Button and Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen, in tenth. The sister McLaren of Fernando Alonso would’ve finished in tenth but the Spaniard was given a five second penalty for not respecting track limits.

    Subsequently, Raikkonen’s thirty second penalty has resulted in Mercedes being crowned the 2015 constructors champions. In F1 you’re only as good as your last race and while the 2014 Russian grand prix was a straight up bore fest it’s 2015 edition delivered a race sizzling enough so that we can declare Russia redeemed.

    (Podium image courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport).

  • Sainz Released From Hospital, Team Shed Some Light on Crash

    Sainz Released From Hospital, Team Shed Some Light on Crash

    After a horror crash in Free Practice 3, Toro Rosso Driver Carlos Sainz has been released from hospital while his team shed some light on what may have went wrong in the build up to the crash.

    Although Sainz is out of the hospital, he will still need to undergo a check by the FIA medical delegate to consider him fit to race on Sunday.

    He says that he’s ready to race, but it all depends on how he feels on Sunday morning.

    “I’m OK, I’m fine,” said Sainz in a video message posted on Twitter posted by his team.

    “Just a bit sore from the accident on my back and on my neck,” the Spaniard continued.

    “But I’m totally ready to see what ever happens. Hopefully, tomorrow, I can wake up in good shape and maybe try to race.

    “This is the intention, but we need to be cautious obviously.”

    Meanwhile, back at the track, Toro Rosso have been investigating the cause of the accident.

    Team Principal Franz Tost thinks that it may have been a combination of the prime tyre with a change in brake balance.

    “Prior to the accident, Carlos had completed a long-run on the option tyre, before changing to the prime to do two further laps,” he said.

    “On primes the grip level is lower. In addition he had changed the brake shape on the steering wheel, which meant he had more braking rearwards.

    “A combination of these two factors might have been the cause of the rears locking, which made the car uncontrollable.”

    Replays of the crash seem to confirm what Tost is saying as the Sainz brakes, the rear of the car steps out and as he corrects the slide, he hits the nearside barrier which sent him straight into the tech-pro barriers at the end of the run off area.

    The final findings of the crash will be revealed by the team at a later stage.

     

    Photo credit: Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula 1 

  • F1 2015: Russian GP Qualifying Report – Rosberg Sets The Pace

    F1 2015: Russian GP Qualifying Report – Rosberg Sets The Pace

    Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg has taken pole position for the 2015 Russian grand prix.

    The first part of qualifying went the usual route as both Manor F1 cars were eliminated from the running. Jenson Button, newly re-signed with McLaren for 2016, advanced ahead of his teammate Fernando Alonso to the second part of the session.

    Quali two caught out Williams driver Felipe Massa would was not able to overcome traffic on circuit to set a quick enough time to advance. Teammate Valtteri Bottas easily advanced the top ten shoot out with both Mercedes’ and Ferraris’ well in the mix. Local hero Dannil Kvyat was not able to drag his Red Bull in the final part of the session much to the disappointment of his home crowd.

    The top session turned out be a bit of an anti-climax as Nico Rosberg’s first run, some three tenths quicker than Hamilton, was enough to secure pole long before the chequered flag came out. Hamilton, slightly out of sorts around the Sochi Autodrom, did have a second go at snatching pole but a mistake meant he abandoned the lap and his chance of securing a 50th pole position start.

    Williams’ Valtteri Bottas set the third quickest time whilst Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen will start Sunday’s Russian grand prix in fourth and fifth respectively.

  • F1 2015: Russian GP Preview – Second Chance For Sochi

    F1 2015: Russian GP Preview – Second Chance For Sochi

    There are a couple of circuits on the Formula 1 calendar that can be depended on to deliver a cracking race. Brazil’s Interlagos circuit delivers something dramatic and breathtaking almost every year. Then there are those that are as dull as mud such as Bahrain but the Sakhir circuit has transformed over the last couple of years thanks to its new night race status.

    The F1 paddock has only been to Russia’s Sochi circuit for the Russian GP once and although it’s slightly unfair to judge it on the one race it’s had so far, we will. The super smooth circuit delivered a bore fest of epic proportions in 2014. So ‘grippy’ was the circuit asphalt that Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was able to run a set of tyres for 52 of the 53 racing laps without even a suggestion of an issue.

    Pirelli isn’t exactly our favourite tyre supplier at the moment; see previous rants for evidence, but what happened at the 2014 Russian GP wasn’t entirely their fault. Despite the thousands of terabytes of data at their disposal they were not able to predict how the track would behave. Afterall, circuits are living things influenced by a bevy of variables that can only be calculated with factual data collected by cars running, consistently, on it.  In 2015, Pirelli has some tangible data and can therefore make a better informed choice. As a result the Italian tyre manufacturer is rolling out the red side-walled supersoft tyre for the Russian GP weekend.

    Russian_flagThe Sochi Autodrom, thanks to its variety of corners, provides a technical challenge to the drivers. It’s quite a long lap and a reasonably technical one too. “If you make a small mistake in one corner, you are punished for the rest of the lap,” says Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado. “If you’re off line for one corner, it might not be until one of the straights that you can recover. Off-line is very slippery too so you’re doubly punished!”

    The circuit, situated inside the Olympic Park, holds special memories for the Mercedes team who clinched the constructor’s championship here last year. There are some fears that the street-style circuit and the presence of the supersoft tyre may combine for a repeat of the Singapore grand prix but nature of the Sochi Autodrom and the cooler temperature will play in the favour of Mercedes. The German team must outscore nearest rivals Ferrari by three points on Sunday to secure back-to-back constructor’s titles.

    Lewis HamiltonAt the beginning of 2015 Nico Rosberg would have believed himself a match for Lewis Hamilton. Last year he bested his teammate in the qualifying battle and occasionally looked the part of true championship contender.  But twelve months later this theory has been de-bunked. Mind you, the 2015 season isn’t over yet and much could still transpire between the Russian GP and the season finale.

    All sorts of factors could conspire to stop Hamilton from claiming a third title. But there isn’t a genuine feeling that Rosberg could be one of these factors. There isn’t a bona fide threat that he is suddenly going to turn in to a Hamilton-beater and there never has been this season.  Rosberg must respond at the Russian GP with an emphatic, straight-out, victory against Hamilton and show that he isn’t just a good driver in a great car.

  • Pirelli announces tyre choices for Singapore, Japan and Russia

    Pirelli announces tyre choices for Singapore, Japan and Russia

    Formula One tyre supplier Pirelli has announced its tyre compound choices for the Singapore, Japanese and Russian grands prix, with with Italian manufacturer opting to bring softer tyres to Russia compared to its 2014 choices.

    As usual, we’ll see the Super Soft and Soft tyres in Singapore, in order to cope with the high demand for maximum mechanical grip at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

    The Medium and Hard compounds will be brought to the Japanese Grand Prix due to the high-energy demands and fast corners which are a prominent feature of Suzuka’s fast circuit.

    Pirelli F1 tyresBoth of these tyre nominations correlate with the choices from 2014, but Pirelli has opted to go one step softer with its compounds for the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi.

    The Super Soft and Soft tyres will be used in the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi Autodrom as “the asphalt has not changed significantly since its debut last year, and looking at the data from 2014, a softer step is possible.”

    Last year’s Russian Grand Prix featured a one-stop strategy for almost all teams, with tyre wear not an issue at all during the race.

     

    Photo Credits:

    Photos courtesy of Pirelli

  • F1 2014: Qualifying Report – Mercedes Lead The Way In Russia

    F1 2014: Qualifying Report – Mercedes Lead The Way In Russia

    Lewis Hamilton has secured the first ever pole position for the Russian grand prix.

    The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg locked on the front row of the Sochi Autdrom but it wasn’t without pressure from behind. Williams driver Valterri Bottas nearly pulled a rabbit out of the proverbial hat but a slide into the final corner meant the Finn had to settle for third overall.

    Jenson Button delivered on the form promised in practice to secure his best starting position of the season in fourth. Daniil Kvyat, undoubtedly the rookie of the year, secured a stunning fifth on the grid for the Toro Rosso team. Jean-Eric Vergne will start tenth in the sister Toro Rosso.

    Daniel Ricciardo set the sixth fastest time in the final part of qualifying while teammate Sebastian Vettel failed to advance to the top ten shoot-out. Fernando Alonso was the best of the Ferrari drivers in seventh only half a tenth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. Kevin Magnussen set the sixth fastest time in his McLaren but a gearbox change will drop him five places on the grid for Sunday’s race.

    Felipe Massa ran into engine troubles in the first part of qualifying which meant the Brazilian failed to advance past 18th on the grid. A difficult day for Force India translated into 12th and 17th for Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg respectively.

    Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson continued his good run of form by getting the better of the Marussia/Caterham battle towards the lower end of the field.

    rusquali

     

  • F1 2014: Friday Practice Round-up – Mercedes Lead The Way

    F1 2014: Friday Practice Round-up – Mercedes Lead The Way

    Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton finished the first two practice session at Russia’s Sochi Autodrom on top of the timing sheets.

    For the first time in its illustrious history Formula 1 commenced an official F1 race weekend in Russia. The circuit, 5.8 km in length and designed by Herman Tilke, was praised by several drivers.  “It’s got a really nice flow to it, it’s not too bumpy, the corners are challenging – if you can get the lines just perfect you can put together really nice sectors,” said Lewis Hamilton.

    The new track surface also delivered a substantial amount of grip considering that it has never before been used. Set in the undoubtedly inspiring setting of the Olympic Park is providing some challenge for the drivers. “It is more technical and difficult than it looked on paper,” said Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. “It seemed quite hard to get the lap together and has quite a few off camber corners, which isn’t always fun for a driver, but it does make it challenging.”

    Spain’s Robert Merhi ran in the first of today’s two free practice sessions for Caterham. Elsewhere, Russia’s Sergey Sirotkin made his debut for the Sauber team in place of Esteban Gutierrez. Sirotkin finished the session only four tenths off the sister car of Adrian Sutil.

    According to Daniel Ricciardo the Red Bull team are bracing for a difficult weekend. The Australian’s car broke down during the closing stages of the second free practice session. The three-time grand prix winner described that the weekend would be an exercise in “damage limitation.”

    Reports from the McLaren garage were decidedly more upbeat. A closer analysis of the long-run simulations in free practice two revealed that Jenson Button’s laptimes were comparable to that of the Mercedes drivers. JB was especially heartened by the pace he was able to deliver on Friday.

    “We were very quick from the word go on the prime tyre. On the option tyre and with low fuel I didn’t really have the balance, so hopefully we can improve that tomorrow.,” said Button. “We are obviously behind the Mercedes, but we have a chance to fight everyone else this weekend.”

     

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  • Marussia Confirm They Will Run One Car for Russian Grand Prix

    Marussia Confirm They Will Run One Car for Russian Grand Prix

    The Marussia F1 team confirmed on Friday morning that they will run one car for Max Chilton at this weekends Russian Grand Prix.

    Marussia have written to the stewards to inform them that they have withdrawn their second car. They feel that running a single car is the appropriate course of action under the difficult circumstances of the weekend.

    The second car, driven by Jules Bianchi, has been built and is ready to race and the team say that it will remain on Bianchi’s side of the garage throughout the weekend in support of Jules and his family.

    “I don’t know how to put into words how truly devastated I am by what has happened to Jules,” said Marussia driver Max Chilton.

    “The support from the F1 family has been incredible & all we can do is be there to support Jules’ family at this difficult time. It is going to be a very emotional weekend for the whole Team, but we will try to get through it and keep praying for Jules.”

    Below is the full statement released by the Marussia F1 team:

    “We will run a single car for the duration of the forthcoming Grand Prix weekend in Sochi, out of respect for our driver Jules Bianchi, who remains in hospital in Yokkaichi, Japan, in a critical but stable condition.

    We have written to the Stewards of the Meeting to inform them that we have withdrawn our second car. Notwithstanding the presence in Sochi of Alexander Rossi, the nominated Official Reserve Driver for the 2014 Russian Grand Prix, the Team feels strongly that fielding a single car, that of driver number 4, Max Chilton, is the appropriate course of action under the difficult circumstances of the weekend.

    Jules’ car crew have built a second car, which has been scrutineered and is ready to race, and this will remain on his side of the garage throughout the weekend. In support of Jules and his family, the Team and its cars will carry the familiar #JB17 graphic, to ensure that although Jules is not with us in Sochi this weekend, he is, nonetheless, racing on with the Marussia F1 Team.”