Australian GP – PREVIEW

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The long wait is almost over; the show is about to begin….uncertainty is the key factor of the 2014 F1 season kick-off due to many changes involving fuel doping, new penalties, reliability and safety car.

Teams and drivers are set to converge in Melbourne for the first race of the 2014 F1 World Championship, which might be remembered as the Championship of radical change and, above all, uncertainty and curiosity. According to what they stated, Team Principals and Team owners have great concern for reliability and fuel consumption. Everyone is well behind the timetable. Ferrari and Shell will play the lubricants and fuel card to fight against the uncertainty about fuel consumption. Also the other engine manufacturers will play the same card. With its 58 total laps and 307 km, the Albert Park is a scaring venue. Last year fuel consumption was equal to 160 kg/hour, while this year the limit is set to 100 kg/hour…This is the reason why my motto for the moment is “Slow and steady wins the race”. Nobody is 100% certain to be able to cross the line. According to what Mr. Roberto Dalla, the manager of Magneti Marelli (who started his career in Faenza, at the Minardi Team headquarter) stated, many cars as much as no one may see the chequered flag next Sunday. I think this is a warning point.

There are still many unknown things which it was not possible to analyse throughout the three pre-season sessions. For example, the safety car may be the biggest wild card for what concerning temperatures and cars’ reliability, as well as tyre changing. The Federation announced the possible deployment of the safety car in order to facilitate race officials’ on-track work. Pirelli, who will bring the P ZERO WHITE MEDIUM and the P ZERO YELLOW SOFT to Melbourne, have a proclivity for a 2-3 pit-stop strategy, instead. The path covered to get into the pit, along with the time needed to change tyre, may cause engine’s temperature to rise dangerously.

As we’ve said over these weeks, F1 is experiencing a radical technical and sporting change. FIA introduced a new 5-sec penalty– besides the license point system – to be taken at the end of the race if a driver has carried out all the planned stops, or during a pit-stop. In the last case, the driver must enter the pit lane, stop at his pit for 5 seconds and then re-join the race. A car may not be worked on until it has been stationary for at least 5 seconds; only after a driver has incurred a 5-sec. penalty, mechanics are allowed to carry out tyre changing. I have great concern about these penalties, as judgement parameters may change from a person to another. So, different decisions may be taken throughout the season. Luckily the Federation has appointed Emanuele Pirro for the first event. He has a long-standing experience as a driver and I think he’s the most knowledgeable among race officials. He should hold that position permanently. He was coherent, constant and objective as a race official last year.

Qualifying will change, as well. For the Sunday race, drivers will have to use the same rubber they used in Q2, while the drivers to be entitled to run the Q3 session will be given an extra set of tyre to be used only on that occasion.  Furthermore Q3 will last 12 minutes instead of 10 minutes as it was last year. This will permit each driver to run two fast laps (maybe not in the first races), making the show more and more interesting.

Changes are so many and I hope Federation will manage to keep everything under control, even if I think that many meetings will be arranged to amend regulations.

All we can do now is to set the alarm for very early in the morning, as next week end is going to be very interesting.

A trip into F1 – 2014 Technical Regulations

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After analysing sport regulations, let’s talk about technical changes which have unsettled engineers, team principals and drivers. In short, many changes have been introduced, so starting from the Australian GP on, many unexpected things may occur.

The Jerez and Bahrain testing sessions showed us how complicated the new technology installed inside the new cars is  – V6 turbocharged engine and electric batteries-. Many red flags were brought out throughout the 12-day-testing-session so, this makes us understand that there is still so much work to do. Many teams didn’t manage to complete all the laps they’re expected to run in a GP and, those teams who managed to do that didn’t use the Kers and had to limit the number of revs of their engines. At Melbourne, nobody will make full use of the 15.000 rev/min. The attention of all professionals is mainly focused on 2 aspects: Reliability and fuel Consumption.

Reliability, as only gaining miles and running laps all problems can come to light, therefore, reliability is the key factor which allow a diver to see the chequered flag. Fuel consumption, as, starting from this season, a new rule concerning fuel consumption has been introduced. Each driver is allowed to use max. 100 kg of fuel per race, this is currently one of the main problems teams haven’t managed to solve yet. I think the motto “Slow and steady wins the race” will be followed by many teams this season.

If we take the aforementioned aspects into account, some new scenarios would be expected:

SAFETY CAR: this aspect cannot be underestimated. Red flags were brought out many times during pre-season testing so, officials’ on-track activity was so intense. Lack of reliability could lead to a safety car’s overuse as, starting from this season, intervention times may be much longer. As a matter of fact, race officials will have to wait for green lights to switch on before getting into action. As a consequence, race direction may bring out the safety car. What is more, if the safety car will be deployed more often, drivers would have to run ‘low speed’ much longer, causing temperature rising- one of the biggest problems for the Renault-powered teams – and greater energy storage. Can you imagine the consequences of that?

ON-TRACK SAFETY: while drivers will have to perform acrobatics in order to get out of the car without touching the bodywork, race officials will have to follow the right procedures before performing corrective actions on the car.

REPAIRING TIMES: due to their complexity, cars repairing times have become much longer. Operation times to replace a gearbox or a power unit have become much longer. Can you imagine what it might happen if a problem occurs before the qualifying session? Cars might not be ready to race and staff access hours to the pit should probably be revised. Now regulations provide that all cars should be covered and ready to be affixed the FIA seal within 3 hours and a half from the end of qualifying session, so that they can be monitored until the following day. After that, no intervention is allowed, unless FIA allows it.

107% LIMIT RULE: At the end of the first session in Bahrain, 40% of the cars wouldn’t have been quick enough to qualify, as the lap time they set exceeded the 107% limit in comparison with Nico Rosberg’s best time. Things got better in the last session, during which only Lotus wouldn’t have been quick enough to race, however problems still continue to exist.

CHEMISTRY: with the introduction of the V6 turbo engine and the MGU-K and MGU-H, FIA agreed that fuel consumption limit for turbo engines shall be 100 kg/hour. Some chemical substances may be used to get around the fuel consumption limit. These substances adulterate fuel’s specific weight and evaporate, without leaving any mark. It could be the F1 doping. Great attention was also paid on lubricants to be used for gearboxes; in this regards Mercedes is supposed to have a slight advantage over Ferrari and Renault.

A troublesome start to the season is expected. Teams will make a great effort to get ready to race. In comparison with past years, when technology had been well tested prior to the Championship kick-off, this year the learning curve could be steeper and steeper and we will probably have to wait for F1 to move to Europe, before seeing significant improvements in teams’ performance.

 

A trip into F1 – 2014 Sporting Regulations

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Only 9 days are left before the official start of the 2014 Formula 1 World Championship. The Jerez and Bahrain testing sessions revealed how much complicated new cars are and, as a consequence, how difficult it is to understand real values.

F1 has experienced radical changes for this season. Changes involved not only the technical scope but also sporting regulations.

In these days we’ll try to focus on those aspects teams and race enthusiasts will have to keep an eye on to enjoy the show. We start our new trip by talking about Sport regulations’ changes.

LICENSE POINT SYSTEM: At the beginning of the Championship, every driver will have 12 points at his disposal on his Super-license. Every time he infringes regulations, race officials may decide to deduct some points, according to the severity of the offence committed. Once all points available are lost, the driver is not allowed to take part in the following GP.

NEW PENALTIES: a 5-sec-penalty was introduced. It is imposed when little offence is committed and it is imposed at the end of the race, after a driver has made his pit-stop or during the pit-stop. In the last case a driver will serve the 5-sec-penalty in the pit, thereafter mechanics will do tyre changing. In this regard some problems may arise, as it’s up to race officials to decide whether a penalty has to be imposed or not. As we saw in the last season, the criteria imposed by race officials were never the same. Since there is not a written code to set the severity of each offence in terms of points, personal criteria play a critical role. Personal criteria are different from a person to another, so common parameters don’t exist. The same is for the 5-sec-penalty (which is irrevocable). In a potential short standing, being imposed a 5-sec-penalty would mean to drop several positions. Even in this case race officials are free to take decisions…..But let’s go ahead:

DOUBLE POINTS RULE AND POLE TROPHY: Double points will be awarded at the Abu Dhabi GP and a trophy will be awarded to the driver who scores the most pole positions throughout the season. I think that the idea to award double points at the final race is simply absurd, as this way a driver may see all the work done throughout the season being nullified in a week end, without also considering that luck could play a key role, rather than a driver’s skill. I’m in favour of awarding points to the driver who scores the most pole positions. In this way, a driver’s performance would be rewarded, especially if we consider a driver’s first rival that is his team mate.

TYRES: starting from this season, teams will run a race using the same rubber which was used in Q2. All ten drivers will fight for the pole position in Q3 using special rubber – probably supersoft. As previously said, tyre changing was the real protagonist of the pre-season stage and, as we saw during test sessions, it caused several issues. Teams and engine manufacturers had issues with their power units and electric systems. In the last days we reported some team principals’ statements. A little more than a week prior to the Australian GP, they’ve jabbed at two key aspects such as reliability and fuel consumption.

In a couple of weeks teams will enter into new technical regulations which provide new rules about safety car, safety, chemistry, tyre changing…..but this is another story.

F1 takes stock of the situation before Melbourne

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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?

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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?

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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

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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”

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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…….?

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.