F1 takes stock of the situation before Melbourne

After the three pre-season testing sessions were set aside, all eyes are on the upcoming March 14th, the date the free practice session of the Australian GP will take place.

Much attention will be paid on reliability, as it happened throughout the last Bahrain testing session. Gian Carlo Minardi told his website www.minardi.it about the importance of doing more test “Nobody, from Mercedes to Caterham, is fully satisfied with the work done, so this makes us understand that it would have been more intelligent to plan more test sessions, since F1 regulations changed so much.”

Some team principals have taken a stock of the current situation, with a view to the 2014 first F1 event.

Toto Wolff – Mercedes:The testing stage ended, however, there is still a lot of work to do to get well prepared to the Melbourne event. The first event will be a test run for all teams. During pre-season tests we experienced highs and lows, especially in the final phase. The main obstacle is reliability. In the first races we won’t have to take anything for granted.”

Stefano Domenicali – Ferrari: “The rule changes for this season have been so radical that I’d say to get a consensus you would need further tests before the championship gets underway. In our case, we are taking a lot of data back home, which we will now analyse in depth. Some aspects deserve more attention to achieve the performance level we are looking for, while others maybe just need a bit of fine tuning. Once back in Maranello, we will do all in our power to rectify the things that aren’t working properly yet, so that we can be as well prepared as possible in Melbourne. I believe, we could see big changes from the first race to the second and from the second to the third, with everyone bringing in developments all the time. At first, reliability will be the key, because without it you don’t score points. I also think that some teams that are struggling at the moment will be able to catch up, while teams that currently seem to have a slight advantage could see a plateau in their performance, allowing the others to close the gap. From what we have seen so far, there are two teams out in front, Mercedes and Williams. After them, it could be us. From our side, we know there is still a mountain of things for our engineers to develop. What I’m interested in and what I have specifically requested is that we define a list of priorities and stick to it. One aspect we will definitely be looking at is the relationship between the turbo engine and the electric energy recovery systems and there’s much to do in this area. On the other hand, we return to Maranello knowing that the figures we saw from the car during the design phase have been correlated at the track and that’s already a good starting point.”

Rod Nelson – Williams: “We combined a total of 936 laps over the three sessions with the FW36 and we’re very satisfied with the work done. Unfortunately Valtteri had an issue on the last day, but after running so many km, to have an issue is something along the lines. We left Bahrain highly satisfied with the direction taken.”

Andrew Green – Force India: “Our programme ended slightly early with a suspected component failure, which was a result of high mileage, and so we didn’t manage to complete our target number of laps. Nonetheless our time in Bahrain has gone largely to plan with the mileage achieved during the previous three days leaving us in good shape going into Melbourne. We’re feeling positive about our reliability and have explored some encouraging directions for improving car performance. The other focus has been on our race readiness and we’ve done a great deal of homework to prepare the drivers for the challenge that awaits them in Melbourne.”

Giampaolo Dall’Ara – Sauber: “Looking back at the first test in Jerez, we had a tough programme to get through and faced several unexpected problems, which meant we lost running time. The learning curve was very steep at the first test. Now it’s a bit flatter, but there is still enough to do. We will take our experience from the tests, evaluate the data and be ready for the first race in Melbourne. Our drivers managed to gain high mileage (158 laps completed).Nevertheless, I’m sure that we will still learn a lot over the first few races of the season.”

According to pre-season tests results, the Red Bull’s start to the season hasn’t been so brilliant. With a view to the opening race in Melbourne, Christian Horner jabs at a fuel consumption-related issue. Gian Carlo Minardi had already considered the fuel consumption-related problems on his website www.minardi.it a couple of days ago “Slow and steady wins the race” said the Faenza-born manager. His words have been echoed by Chris Horner: “I don’t believe this season drivers’ main concern will be to conserve tyres, as they’ll have to go easy on the gas in order to conserve fuel. My main concern is that we’ll probably lose the wheel-to-wheel face-off. We hope not to see drivers having to go easy on the gas to conserve fuel in order to cross the line.”

 

 

Bahrain session 2 – A dry run for Melbourne?

Starting from tomorrow until Sunday March 2nd, teams and drivers will be at work again at the Sakhir-based circuit, for the last pre-season session. It will be the last session before the official start of the 2014 Formula 1 World Championship at the Melbourne-based circuit.

All teams will have to make a great effort and do a lot of work in order to identify and solve as many technical issues as possible.

Last week we saw how vulnerable cars are and how long it takes to repair them. That could cause troubles during race week ends. The Bahrain-4-day-session will be the last chance for teams to try to push the new power unit to the limit. No team has managed to get the most of all the 15000 rpm. available (the best teams were able to exploit 14.000 rpm.) and of the energy recovery systems. In the previous session, all the Renault-powered teams had to lap without using the KERS, in order to run as many laps as possible. Despite that, teams still had many problems. Helmut Marko admits difficulties “We still have to solve many complicated problems. We’re so behind with the work and each time we find out new issues.” Red Bull only managed to run 116 laps, Toro Rosso ran 139 laps and Lotus ran 111 laps. Only the Caterham of Kobayashi and the rookie driver Ericsson managed to run more than 200 laps, even though test times were not quick at all. The Japanese driver stated that his CT05 is currently slower than a GP2 car.

As Gian Carlo Minardi pointed out, the problem of the 107% rule arises “To date, 40% of the cars would have not been qualified because their lap time exceeded the 107% rule limit set on Nico Rosberg’s benchmark time. As a matter of fact, cars have troubles running a few laps in a row or, they have to disable the energy recovery systems (which is not easy to do), in order to run as many km as possible but, as a result, they are less performing. If we don’t want starting grid to be empty, I think it would be necessary to revise the 107% rule, without ruling it out”, says the Faenza born manager.

The situation is the same as last week, with Mercedes acting as a pacesetter as the team and its 3 partners McLaren, Williams and Force India managed combined total of more than 1000 laps. Among the Merc fellow teams, the Frank William’s team was the most impressive, since they managed to complete 318 laps over three days of testing – the first day the tem was stuck in the pit because of some technical issues, while the W05 of Nico Rosberg and Hamilton completed 70-80 laps per session, combining total of 315 laps. The Ferrari Scuderia’s F14-T, despite some technical issue, managed to combine 287 laps with Alonso and Raikkonen, gathering many useful data, as the Scuderia’s technical director James Allison stated “When we headed to Sakhir we had a lot of things to test. We wanted to streamline test time and get ready for the Australian round as best as we can. I have to say that, except for the third day, we achieved our goal”. Sauber and Marussia had several problems.

As it has been pointed out many times, due to the new cars’ complexity, rectification span is getting longer and longer. Now it takes 4 hours to get the gearbox replaced, while last year it took only one hour and it takes 7 hours to replace the power unit “Let’s think about what it might happen if some problems occur before the qualifying session. Some cars may not be ready for the qualifying turn”, highlights Minardi.

Reliability issues could affect also race results, since the safety car would be deployed many times, as the Faenza-born former constructor explained, “Intervention times to get a car away from the track may get longer and longer, since race commissioners will have to wait for the lights to switch on before getting into action. As a result, I expect the safety car to be deployed many times.”

Which scenario would be expected with the 107% rule?

On Thursday 27th Formula 1 will go back to the Sakhir circuit, where the last session of pre-season test will take place until March 2nd – before the Australian GP, which is scheduled for March 16th, takes place.

Four days and three weeks before the first event of the season takes place, teams seem to still have many problems to face. In this last pre-season session teams will have to get their cars prepared for racing, besides moving forward with the cars development, however today a key factor is still missing: how about the 107%? “I don’t want to pour salt into a wound, but there are still many unclear points, especially in light of what we saw in Bahrain last week”, says Gian Carlo Minardi on his website www.minardi.it.

“Apart from having reliability issues, the 107% policy limit hasn’t been duly taken into account. If we take a look at the 4-day-session’s standings and timesheets, we realize that only 14 cars would have been qualified, if we compare the test times they recorded with Nico Rosberg’s best time”, continues the manager from Faenza.

So, today, 40% of the cars wouldn’t be qualified “Besides having reliability-related issues, the 107% rule should have been also taken into consideration. It’s true that exceptions exist (as we saw in the past seasons),however, it is necessary to record a time within the 107% rule, at least in free practice, to qualify….Today cars have difficulty running a few laps in a row, or they have to turn off the energy recovery systems (which is not easy to do) in order to run as many kilometres as possible, but, as a consequence of that, they become less performing. This season, using the KERS means to have a 4-second-advantage on a single lap, which is equal to 90 HP.” So the safety car could play a key role “I expect the safety car to be deployed very often, since its deployment is directly linked to the rescue crew intervention time. We don’t have to forget that the rescue crew cannot get into action before the green light, which is installed on top of each car, switches on. When the green light is switched on, the rescue crew can get into action and take a car away from the track. This could make intervention time much longer and, as a consequence, the safety car would be deployed more often.”

After the last test session in Bahrain, a new briefing will be scheduled to define regulations “After the last test session a briefing would be arranged to discuss the madness of the double-point rule for the season finale. At this point I think it’s necessary to revise the 107% rule, without ruling it out”, ends Minardi “I’d like to point out that this rule should only be revised, not ruled out because it would be difficult for race commissioners to deal with cars which have a huge technical gap between each other.”

Formula 1 heads to Bahrain between confirmations and assumptions

One month ahead of the first Australian GP and after the first pre-season test at Jerez, we’re witnessing many changes of technicians and teams, who, concerned about the engine issues occurred during the first session, are taking their first measures for the 2015 season. These changes are very similar to the ones occurring in football, where, during the pre-season phase, it can happen that some football coaches are relieved and some teams have to resort to the football market to replace some vacancies.

Despite Renault, Red Bull and Toro Rosso are putting a lot of effort into injecting calm and tranquillity to the audience by issuing comforting press releases and giving reassuring interviews, the situation seems to be more complicated than expected and it’s not easy to solve it. It is rumoured that Red Bull are thinking about changing their engine supplier in 2015 and Toro Rosso changed their Technical Director for the sixth/seventh time in their history. As far as engine is concerned, according to some information coming from abroad, Renault is trying to hire technicians beyond the transalpine borders (without success). This has never happened before, as the French company has always tried to protect its technology. News like that fuel some doubts about possible engine structural issues, which seem to be not so easy to solve over the short term. Some manufacturers, who are currently not engaged in the F1 Championship, have a personal unit already made and are taking into account the possibility to join the top series, even if they’re having some troubles finding an important partner to go into partnership with, unless they are capable to exploit Renault’s current failure. Obviously I hope to be belied in few weeks, during the second pre-season test session in Bahrain, where teams and engine manufactures will bring their technical amendments.

This is a very messy moment for Formula 1.

These days we’re hearing more and more about the Salary Cap, whose amount was set to 200 million dollars. Currently, only three or four teams exceed this cap, whilst all other teams’ financial situation is so far from that figure and all the troubles they have to deal with are plain for all to see. Maybe these topics are discussed to divert people’s attention from Formula 1 real problems. As we pointed out in the past (and it’s now also confirmed by some eminent people acting in the top series), F.1 has to be revised in all its aspects. It’s not acceptable to see some F1 teams having three Team Principals instead of a single General Director; furthermore cars don’t have a single “reputed father” who handles the whole project. Currently, each team has a person in charge of mounting the engine, another one who is responsible for aerodynamics, a production manager, a person responsible for track management, an electronic area manager, etc…This way, it’s impossible to have a complete view of the project and, costs increase so much and resources are not well exploited, furthermore, the number of people employed exponentially increase. No doubt this decision is a consequence of a sector which is more and more developed from a technologic point of view, but maybe this is not the right way to follow. Before talking about Salary Cap, it is necessary to take a few steps backwards.

In the past days I wanted to draw attention on the on-track safety aspect and FIA’s technical system. I was very pleased to see that this problem was discussed by professionals who underlined crucial matters. FIA has not yet drawn up some guidelines regarding the behaviour to take in case of car recovery. Confirmation came from Mrs. Rossella Amadesi, the CEA Responsible for the racing team division. The Lions of the CEA racing team division are the best in the world, so this assures the Italian GP maker an added value and a high level of on-track safety, however I think it’s simply absurd that by mid-February, all the necessary information to guarantee on-track safety haven’t been communicated, yet.  Measures to guarantee safety could presuppose further costs arising from the need to provide circuits with new safety equipment to be used throughout the 2014 season, in addition to training classes.

All the above-mentioned was already stated by me when I raised some objections with respect to FIA’s new regulations. Those objections were taken up by the Engineer Mr. Cadringher– the FIA responsible for regulations in the ‘80s – on a renowed Italian motorsport review (Autosprint), where he agreed that the people in charge of drawing up regulations don’t have a global vision of the situation. That being said, we’re ready to move to Bahrain and see if those teams who had some technical issues at Jerez, will demonstrate to have taken measures to solve them. We’ll also see if Mercedes will confirm the same reliability and competitiveness showcased at Jerez and if Ferrari, whose performance level was considered by the Maranello-based team as good as expected, will give positive sign for the forthcoming season.

Gian Carlo Minardi “Safety comes first”

New Formula 1 regulations continue to cause controversy. At the end of the first Jerez testing day, Gian Carlo Minardi focussed on the danger of cars’ new noses, especially in case of side collision or, even worse, in case of rear-ending. This theory was also confirmed by engineers and technicians the likes of Adrian Newey and Gabriele Tredozi.

In these days, Red Bull’s bright engineer talked about safety linked to new noses and the positioning of new batteries. But the Manager from Faenza would like to take a 360 degree view of new dangers “In comparison with 1994, the year one of the world’s most gifted drivers ever passed away, Formula 1 safety regulations changed so much. How about Formula 1 safety today? In these days I heard people talking about new turbo engines and reliability, only Newey talked about safety. What I’d like to understand is whether everything is under control and I’d like to hear that from FIA.  Formula 1 introduced many far-reaching changes, which can turn to be dangerous. It’s the case of new batteries which, in case of overheating, can set off unexpected blazes”, says Minardi on the website www.minardi.it. “Some led lights have been installed onto cars (red, yellow, green) so that, in case of danger, mechanics and technicians are warned and they can start working on fixing problems. Drivers were told that, in case of danger, they have to jump off the car and avoid touching the car’s bodywork, but, what about track commissioners? Were they duly trained? I heard that teams’ mechanics attended training courses on safety and teams can make use of self-certifications each engine constructor have drawn up for his clients. I think FIA should draw up an official register for teams and track commissioners.”

We don’t have to forget that in case of accident or breakdown, track commissioners are the first to intervene “Some circuits host International competitions only once a year. Are track commissioners well trained? Do they know how to behave? Do they know what kind of led light allows them to intervene on the car? I ask these questions on a very important matter such as work safety, as an enthusiast not a technician. I heard that circuits haven’t been given any information about that as well as any official register….” ends the former constructor from Faenza “Not to mention also shipping problems. In the past, batteries, which were smaller and less technologic, were shipped inside bespoke boxes, now they’ll have to be put inside special boxes both in the case of air way and roadway shipping”, that goes to the detriment of expense reduction.

Renault problems. Was Lotus forward-looking…….?

While all teams are engaged in the fourth and last testing day at Jerez- Formula 1 will move to Bahrein on February 19th to run a further testing session – let’s try to play with numbers. Leaving testing times aside, let’s “tidy up” the number of laps completed by engine manufacturers and teams.

After the first three days, Mercedes tops the standing, since the four teams whose engine is supplied by the German manufacturer, successfully completed 466 laps (McLaren, Mercedes, Williams and Force India), followed by the Maranello-based manufacturer who completed 235 laps, thanks to the Ferrari-powered Sauber C33 and the Ferrari-powered Marussia M03, who joined testing only yesterday and successfully completed 5 laps. The new Energy Renault-powered teams follow behind with a huge time gap from other teams. The total amount of laps which were successfully completed by them is 81; the world champion team only managed 14 laps. The only team who is not present in the standing is Lotus “As we can see, Mercedes as an engine manufacturer had the best interpretation of new regulations, as well as Ferrari, whose drivers gained several miles. The Renault-powered teams had a troublesome testing session. Maybe Lotus was forward-looking…”, wrote yesterday Gian Carlo Minardi on his website www.minardi.it.

As per what is heard, no teams are exploting all their engine unit power “Some external observers, through the employment of some phonometric tools, affirm that cars don’t exploit the 15.000 revs/min. that can be performed by their engines. It is for this reason that we carefully look at testing timesheet, but it’s too early to judge”, says the manager from Faenza.

Among the Mercedes-powered constructors, the Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton’s W05 turned out to be the most performing car by completing 177 laps. The second most performing car is the MP4-29 driven by Button and Magnussen, who completed 135 laps, followed by Williams, whose drivers Massa and Bottas successfully managed 89 laps. Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India completed 65 laps.

Among the Ferrari-powered constructors, the two partners Alonso and Raikkonen completed 136 laps. Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez’s C33 completed 94 laps. Max Chilton’s Marussia only managed 5 laps.

Among  the Renault-powered constructors, Scuderia Toro Rosso leads the standing, successfully completing 45 laps and it is followed by Caterham who completed 22 laps. Red Bull is the Jerez testing’s tail-end , as they only managed 14 laps with Sebstian  Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo.

We don’t have to forget that this is only the fourth day of shake-down. In the past, teams took private testing sessions, while today they have to do it publicly. The problems some teams are dealing with throughout the Jerez testing session are ordinary problems, especially because Formula 1 has been fully revised”, ends Minardi.

Jerez testing Day 1 – Gian Carlo Minardi raises alert over the employment of chemistry

The new era of Formula 1 started this morning with the first session of collective testing which took place at the Jerez circuit. Only Lotus and Marussia didn’t take part in the event….It was a quite complicated session for teams, who had to deal with new technical upgrades. If, generally speaking, testing times have to be taken with a pinch of salt, today’s times have to be considered just as they are, even if I was pleased to see Kimi Raikkonen completing 31 laps.

“As it could be expected, it was a quite complicated session; red flags were deployed several times. Hamilton had his first running severely curtailed, as his car was involved in a collision. Mechanics worked much longer than their drivers. It was an unlucky day for McLaren who had to stop because of electronics issues, whilst Red Bull and Caterham had their cars completed only late in the afternoon, so they only managed to shake down”, says Gian Carlo Minardi on his website www.minardi.it.

Attention was mainly paid to cars’ new shapes, especially to cars’ nose, which is trunk-shaped “The problem is always the same. People who write regulations are not designers, so this is the result. Without even considering cars from an aesthetic point of view, which is highly controversial, influential people such as Eng. Adrian Newey and Gabriele Tredozi – who was at Jerez – focus their attention on safety.  If a car catches the broadside of a competitor’s, these bulges can cause serious problems; furthermore, they can distort the design of a F1 car.”

Thanks to his long-standing experience as a constructor, the manager from Faenza wants to focus his attention on a very interesting fuel related issue “I hope that engine suppliers and fuel suppliers haven’t brought regulations to the extremes like the chassis manufacturers. Through the employment of chemistry, the specific weight of fuel could be altered and the performance of the turbo improved, distorting the Championship and misrepresenting the intention of FIA, who aims at having that product applied to standard cars. In the past, in fact, before adapting fuel features to F1, the fuel supplier had to provide some samples to be previously tested on standard cars. With regards to engine, some beholders have written up a performance ranking by using some phonometric instruments; Mercedes and Ferrari are ahead of Renault. Obviously, it is also necessary to analyse gas consumption, which is a very important topic.”

Hamilton successfully completed 11 laps, finishing behind Ferrari. Mercedes finished ahead of Bottas, Perez’s Force India and Toro Rosso, who successfully completed 15 laps “Mercedes proved to be a dreadful car. Force India delivered an excellent performance.”

Tomorrow the second day of testing will start. Let’s wait and see McLaren and Red Bull’s testing times.

Formula 1 rides the new era of communication

Waiting for the new Red Bull, Mercedes, Marussia and Caterham to be officially launched and after the McLaren MP4-29, the new Ferrari F14-T, the Sauber C33-Ferrari, the Williams, the Force India and Lotus have been unveiled on the net, the first day of testing is about to start at Jerez.

Formula 1 is ready to write a brand new chapter of its history, not only from the point of view of technical changes, but also from the point of view of communication.

We’re living a historic moment. Communication is quickly changing, thanks to Internet, but newspapers and reviews usually get left behind. On-line news released by social networks and websites, always get the jump on reviews and newspapers”, says Gian Carlo Minardi in his website  www.minardi.it. “The top series is trying to make the best use of the new means of communication, so media are challenging each other to be the first to reveal the new F1 cars. I get the feeling that everybody wants to claim the authorship of a technology solution.

It takes only a few seconds to spread news or a picture across the world, which was something unimaginable a few years ago, when the main means of communication to spread news were newspapers and cameras. I do think this is the best way to launch a new car as, in my opinion, there’s no point in spending money to make a spectacular launch which has nothing to do with technology”, continues the manager from Faenza, “There’s still much room to improve, but we have to try to attract more audience, above all in Europe. Investors coming from new markets are supporting F1, but  the top series lost its appeal in the old continent.”

These days Formula 1 was upset by the Lotus Team Principal Eric Bouiller’ s sudden abandon. In the first instance, Bouiller was supposed to replace the 55-year-old British team principal Whitmarsh who is ready to join the Enstone-based team “I consider Lopez’s decision to re-join the team as the team owner to be a very good thing. I’ve always disapproved the presence of managers in Formula 1. Now a manager is also the head of the squad, but he can quit at any time. In the past, the team principal was also the owner of the team”, says the founder of the F1 team of the same name.

Alarm bell for Caterham

On the occasion of the launch of the 2014 line-up (Kamui Kobayashi and Marcus Ericsson will race respectively with number #10 and number #9), the founder of the English-Malaysian team Tony Fernandes, announced that, if the team doesn’t score important points throughout the 2014 season, it will probably quit F1.

Caterham joined F1 Championship in 2010 with the name of Lotus Racing, before becoming Caterham in 2012. Since the team has been racing in the top series for five years, Fernandes expects it to score the first points. The Malaysian entrepreneur doesn’t want his team to be at the bottom of the standing any more “If the team keeps on holding bottom positions in the standing, we’ll leave F1. After 5 seasons in the F1 Championship, I expect the team to score the first points. It makes no sense to continue to hold the bottom positions”, says Fernandes “There’s a limit to patience, motivation and money”

The English-Malaysian team joined the Circus along with HRT and Marussia. At the end of 2012, HRT had already raised the white flag.

Ericsson and Kobayashi to join Caterham

The Drivers line-up has been replaced at Caterham. Pic and Van Der Garde have been replaced by Kamui Kobayashi and Marcus Ericsson.

After spending a year as a GT driver for Ferrari, the former Japanese Sauber team driver re-joins the top series alongside the Tony Fernandez-owned F1 team. He will partner the 23-year-old Swedish driver Marcus Ericsson, who steps up to Grand Prix racing from GP2 and Formula 3.

With today’s announcement, the Formula 1 World Championship drivers line-up is completed. The Championship will start next week by a-three-day collective test session to take place at Jerez circuit.

After exiting from Caterham, Giedo Van Der Garde will join Sauber as a test and reserve driver and will theoretically partner Sergey Sirotkin.

Minardi “The idea of joining the F1 Championship without having a background as a constructor is madness”

Few months ago FIA issued a call for a tender in order to recruit new teams to join the F1 Championship, as it happened in 2010, when squads such as HRT, Virgin Racing (today Marussia) and Lotus Racing (today Caterham) joined the top series.

Three teams are interested in joining the Circus, so far: Stefan GP, Haas Racing and a team directed by Colin Kolles “The idea of joining the F1 Championship without having a background as a constructor is madness. You cannot take on take on the role of constructor from one day to another”, says Gian Carlo Minardi “I get the feeling that it’s more a matter of promoting their image rather than anything else. To allow teams who are not constructor teams to join the top series wouldn’t bring any advantage to F1.”

As a matter of fact, the last teams who joined the World Championship have demonstrated that it’s very difficult to establish a team starting from the basics “The recent past has to set a trend. The last teams who joined the Championship took on the role of constructors, without having a background as constructors. If we also consider that it’s very difficult to find the required financial resources, we can understand that the whole situation is really complicated”, continues the manager from Faenza who started his racing career competing in the Formula Italia Championship and founded the Minardi F.1 Team who ran 340 GP throughout the course of 21 years. In the ‘80s, he also competed in the Formula 2 Championship before shifting to F1. “The situation of the Lotus Team and Red Bull Racing is different. The squad managed by Eric Bouiller grounds its roots in Formula 2. It rose from the ashes of Renault, Benetton and Toleman, while Red Bull bought the former Jaguar Racing (Stewart Grand Prix).”

The new team would replace HRT, who left the Circus two years after their entry, because of financial issues. On February 28th FIA and FOM will make the first announcements about that. We’ll lie in wait for future announcements.

Gian Carlo Minardi “We should give priority to the present”

This is a crucial week for Formula 1. Next Wednesday, all F.1 Team Principals will meet the President of the FIA Jean Todt to discuss future and present decisions. On the same day, some single-seaters will be virtually revealed, as well as the first session of collective testing scheduled at the Spanish circuit of Jerez starting from January 28th.

The Salary Cap, which is expected to be introduced in 2015, is a fundamental subject for the survival of the circus, however, F1 current issues should be at the top of the meeting schedule, despite the statements made by the people concerned.

In this moment, several teams are dealing with the increase in costs, which is caused by the important technological upgrades which have been introduced this year and by the lack of sponsorship. Except for the two or three top teams, all other teams are in a quite bad situation. In the past, the ordinary matter was the survival or the closure of small teams such as the Minardi, while now we see Lotus, the fourth team in the standing, undergoing a financial crisis and McLaren failing FIA crash tests.

Formula 1 has always represented the highest expression in terms of technology and all the technological upgrades introduced for the 2014 season will be also applied to standard cars: energy recovery, restrictions on fuel and the introduction of turbos to replace aspirated engines. Only car racing can foster technological research, however I think that this is not the right moment to embark on such a demanding adventure. The worldwide financial crisis has not been seriously taken into account. We don’t have to forget that the Formula 1 Championship is the most followed media event after the Olympic Games and the World Cup, with the last two events being held every 4 years, while F1 GP are held every 15 days. Therefore the Circus can’t afford to take choices which are not sufficiently though out, such as points doubling, in order to make the Championship more attractive. In my opinion this is an illogic decision. In my opinion the current regulations is too severe. The number of engine units available per driver was significantly reduced as well as test days; I think this is a too radical reduction, especially if we consider that several changes have been introduced and teams have to deal with a larger number of issues. Delays on the schedule are clear and this will influence cars’ reliability, performance and safety.

The first half of January has passed and the first session of collective tests will be shortly held on the track of Jerez. Who will take part in that? What will be their technical features? How will they face up to the first race events? I get the impression that the World Championship won’t be won by those teams who will have the best technical features, but by those teams who will manage to cross the line. Reliability will be the winning feature. In a highly competitive and technological framework such as F1, economic issues have a deep influence not only on technological research, but also on the reliability of the different parts.

F1 is going through a critical moment and has to deal with the lack of a real leader. Mr. Ecclestone’s issues have repercussions on the F1 environment; despite he stated he can rely on the support of all teams.

I hope that F1 issues will be seriously considered with regards to the 2014 season, so that the highest level of competitiveness is ensured for this sport.

Max Chilton chose number #4

After being retained as a Marussia team driver for the second year, it’s time for Max Chilton to choose the personal race number to be used for the remainder of his F1 career. The Englishman, born in 1991 chose number #4.
For the first time since the Banbury-based team joined the F1 Championship, two experienced drivers will race alongside it, as the 2013 line-up has been confirmed. Chilton will continue to partner the FDA French member Jules Bianchi.
Even if Chilton scored no points throughout his first F1 season, the Englishman led the way as a F1 newcomer, as he managed to cross the line all through the season.
Now only Caterham still has to reveal its 2014 line-up and race numbers.
1* Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
3 Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull
44 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
6 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
14 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
7 Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari
8 Romain Grosjean, Lotus
13 Pastor Maldonado, Lotus
22 Jenson Button, McLaren
20 Kevin Magnussen, McLaren
27 Nico Hulkenberg, Force India
11 Sergio Perez, Force India
99 Adrian Sutil, Sauber
21 Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber
25 Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso
26 Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso
19 Felipe Massa, Williams
77 Valtteri Bottas, Williams
17 Jules Bianchi, Marussia
4  Max Chilton, Marussia
TBA, Caterham
TBA, Caterham
* Vettel chose number #5 in the case he won’t win the World title