FORMULA 1 - 2014

[MIKA27]

Boullier denies Dennis already interfering in running McLaren

Newly appointed McLaren racing director Eric Boullier insists the team’s supremo Ron Dennis is allowing him get on with his new job without interference.

Boullier, previously in charge at Lotus, was drafted in to replace ousted Martin Whitmarsh after McLaren’s disastrous 2013 season.

The Frenchman’s first race in charge was in Melbourne, but lurking nearby was the McLaren supremo Dennis, who has returned to the Formula 1 paddock on a mission to rescue his beloved team that “lost its way” last year.

Dennis, 66, will not wear a team uniform at the races and, during the pre-season, he insisted “he is not going to be on the pitwall”, according to the Daily Mail.

But “What’s the betting he will be (on the pitwall) before the season is over?” said correspondent Jonathan McEvoy.

Indeed, in Melbourne, Dennis was spotted walking to the pitwall, apparently to tell Boullier what to do.

“He was not (telling me what to do),” Boullier insisted to the Telegraph. “He came to visit a couple of times.”

Dennis said he is just an observer at the races this year.

“I’m a racer, so the thought of not understanding and contributing doesn’t come across my mind,” he said. “When you observe things it’s good to say ‘why not this?’ or ‘why not that?’”

The bigger McLaren-themed story after Melbourne was the surprisingly good debut performance by rookie Kevin Magnussen.

But another Formula 1 rookie, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, also caught the attention of the experts, like triple world champion Niki Lauda.

“These guys are, first of all, huge talents,” he said.

The old guard is impressed at how the youngsters are arriving on the grid with almost no track testing and performing at the highest level.

Lauda says it’s a generational thing.

“It’s like my kids, who are four and a half and already better at computer games than me. They are made quite differently than in my day,” he smiled.

[MIKA27]

Sauber remain patient amid slow-moving Russian deal

Sauber insists its long awaited Russian sponsorship deal remains on track.

Originally set to feature the teen Sergey Sirotkin on the 2014 grid, talk of the Swiss team’s Russian buy-in has now quietened in the Formula 1 paddock.

Asked if the deal is still on track, team boss and co-owner Monisha Kaltenborn insisted: “Yes. We are continuing to move in that direction.”

She told the Russian website Formula 1news.ru that “active negotiations” are currently taking place with Russian companies.

“The lesson we have learned in recent months is that when you are dealing with organisations such as this, you have to understand their notions of time.

“We also need to understand that in these negotiations, sometimes other circumstances that are maybe more important to these companies than Formula 1 will interfere,” Kaltenborn added.

So while an earlier priority was to quickly get Sirotkin a super license and push him onto the grid, Kaltenborn said the 18-year-old is now more focused on the Formula Renault 3.5 series.

“At the moment, everything is going according to plan,” she said. “He has a seat with Fortec, I am sure he can get great results, and then we’ll think about the next step.”

A more immediate priority for Sauber is to improve its 2014 car, after the Ferrari-powered machine struggled badly on the straights at Albert Park.

Switzerland’s Blick newspaper said the car is significantly overweight and underpowered.

“Last year we managed to turn the corner,” Kaltenborn said, “and we will do it again.”

[MIKA27]

Why Formula 1 has fuel flow sensors in 2014

There are a lot of people asking why F1 has introduced a fuel flow rate monitoring regulation this season as part of the new rules for the hybrid turbo power units.

This is in the light of Daniel Ricciardo’s disqualification for excessive flow rate in Sunday’s Australian GP.

F1 technical expert Mark Gillan has written this advisory note on the matter:

It was decided pretty early on in the FiA Technical Working Group meetings (which I was a member of) to agree not only on a maximum fuel quantity (i.e. 100kg) but also to a maximum fuel flow rate in order to ensure that a significant emphasis was placed on both improved whole vehicle efficiency and on reduced fuel consumption. These limits, coupled with the move to the downsized 1.6L v6 engine, would ensure that suitable R+D resource was put into the new ERS which, with the addition of the MGU-H, are at the forefront of a potential technology revolution for new highly efficient down-sized road car and commercial vehicle power units.

The technical regulation for the power unit fuel mass flow is clearly stated in articles 5.1.5 and 5.1.5 which set a max fuel mass flow rate of 100kg/h at, and above, 10500rpm with this maximum reducing as the rpm decreases in line with the formula outlined in 5.1.5. These are maximum values and there is no margin for error if one exceeds these values.

The flow rate is monitored by the new ultrasonic sensor, supplied by Gill Sensors, and as discussed previously the accuracy and reliability of this sensor is key, as the ultimate performance of the car depends on it.

From the FIA Tech Regs for 2014:

- I would add only that in Melbourne I spoke to two teams running Mercedes and Ferrari engines who said that they had had various conversations with the FIA during the weekend on this matter of sensor accuracy and had reached a satisfactory conclusion.

[El Presidente]

Good post mate. Was wondering about that.

[MIKA27]

Good post mate. Was wondering about that.

Good to see you on the thread my friend.

[MIKA27]

Report claims Mercedes V6 turbo producing 900 horspepower

The new Mercedes V6 turbo power unit, which powered Nico Rosberg to an easy victory at the season opening Australian Grand Prix, could be producing much more horse power than was earlier believed with rivals ‘guesstimating’ 900 bhp to be on tap.

Before travelling to Melbourne, Team Chairman Niki Lauda revealed that the basic 1.6 litre Mercedes unit is producing about 580 hp.

As it is known that the sophisticated energy-recovery or ‘ERS’ side adds 160hp to the equation, then Mercedes’ 2014 power unit equates to about 740hp at present.

However, the German newspaper Bild reports that Mercedes’ rivals believes the monster Mercedes unit is actually producing up to 900 horse power when operating at full tilt.

Asked about the 740 versus 900 figures, Renault-powered Red Bull’s Helmut Marko said: “For sure the engine has more power than they are saying.”

The Austrian was speaking on Saturday, where despite Daniel Ricciardo’s surprising feat of splitting the two Mercedes on the grid, world champion Sebastian Vettel failed even to make the top ten.

“We tried some new software but it did not work,” said Marko. ”Mercedes is having no problems with the engine and has power in excess. They are able to do a strategic race.”

[MIKA27]

Technical: Toro Rosso STR9 - cooling solutions

The new 2014 power units mean all the teams have had to increase their cars' radiator cooling, leading to some quite complex layouts. Toro Rosso's is unique, with two oil radiators (1) cooled by a duct behind the driver's head (a solution that raises the car's centre of gravity), water radiators (2), intercoolers (3) (quite a heavy solution, but one with superior cooling results), and an accumulator (4) to manage the water temperature. Missing in this drawing is the pipe (5) that connects the turbocharger and the intercooler. Also shown is the wastegate (6) used should the turbo go into safety mode.

Toro Rosso STR9 - updated nose

Toro Rosso introduced this nose at the final Bahrain test and have retained it for Melbourne after passing the required FIA crash test. It is similar to its predecessor (inset), but the design is more extreme so as to improve airflow under the car. The central finger section (1) is longer and has a different form due to the narrowing of the top section, which now has a far more pronounced 'M' shape (2). As a consequence of this, the nose's vertical pillars are angled and wider than before.

[MIKA27]

Technical: Mercedes F1 W05 - new front wing

Mercedes introduced a new front wing (bottom) in Australia, but ultimately chose not to use it in the race. The biggest visible difference is the single vertical fin (1) in place of a twisted upper flap (2). The second vertical fin has lost its L-shape (3) and the new endplate (5) no longer has two separate elements (4). The flat floor (6) is also slightly different, as is the main profile (now with a single slot) and the flaps (three elements).

Mercedes F1 W05 - Australia aero package

Despite the fact that Mercedes led pre-season testing, the team introduced a new aero package between the last Bahrain session and Melbourne. Highlighted in this drawing are the aero updates on the central section of the car (previous solutions inset), with modified turning vanes under the chassis (two arrows to the right), a totally new horizontal fin attached to a laser sensor to measure ride height (middle arrow), and modified vertical turning vanes beside the sidepods with a split section on top and a bridge connection (left arrow).

[MIKA27]

Technical: Ferrari - battery positioning

This year the FIA introduced rules requiring a single battery pack of at least 25kg. The same rules mean the pack pretty much has to be placed in a cavity inside the fuel tank underneath the chassis - something Ferrari did back in 2009, as shown here. This drawing highlights the difficulty of changing the battery pack - a lengthy procedure requiring access from the bottom of the car and hence the removal of the floor.

Ferrari F14 T - new front wing

In the final Bahrain test Ferrari introduced a completely new front wing, different in all details from the previous version (inset). The endplate (1) is simpler, with a thin vertical slot, while the main plane is more complex - beside the endplate (2) it is more curved, with two slots to better direct airflow on the outside. The new upper flap (3) is an updated version of the one introduced last year in Hungary, while the new main flap (4) and the other two flaps also have a different shape. Finally, the horizontal plate (6) is different, wider but still with the middle slot.

[MIKA27]

Technical: Williams FW36 - cooling solutions

The cooling system layout on the 2014 Williams is quite simple, especially compared to that on the Toro Rosso (highlighted in separate article). This drawing shows the turbo inlet (1), the oil radiator (2) and the water radiator (3), with the intercooler (4) mounted quite low on the car.

[MIKA27]

Technical: Red Bull RB10 - rear 'monkey seat'

With beam wings effectively outlawed for 2014, the familiar form of 'monkey seat' at the rear of the car has disappeared. However, teams are still finding ways to employ similar devices around the exhaust. While most have placed them above the exhaust, Red Bull have chosen to place theirs (upper arrow) below in order to increase the efficiency of the rear diffuser. To achieve this positioning, the deformable rear crash structure has a deep S-shape (lower arrow).

[MIKA27]

Ferrari and Merc backing the FIA

Red Bull's hopes of getting Daniel Ricciardo's runner-up spot at the Australian GP reinstated have received a blow with Ferrari and Mercedes warning it's important to support the FIA over the new fuel-flow technology.

Starting second on the grid at Albert Park on Sunday, local hero Ricciardo produced an immaculate display to claim his maiden podium in his first race for Red Bull.

However, more than five hours after he crossed the finish line he was excluded from the results after the FIA found that his car "consistently" exceeded the maximum fuel-flow rate of 100kg per hour.

Red Bull, though, are adamant they didn't do anything wrong and have indicated they will lodge an appeal with team principal Christian Horner describing it as an "immature technology" that is "impossible to rely 100 per cent on that sensor".

It appears they won't have the backing of Ferrari and Mercedes in any appeal though, even though the teams have admitted they were scratching their heads at times over the new technology.

Stefano Domenicali, the Ferrari team principal, is quoted by Autosport as saying: "We need to rely on the fact that it is a situation that is well managed by the FIA. We have the FIA that will do their job and I am sure there will not be a problem at all."

Toto Wolff, the Mercedes executive director, also insisted that it is important that motorsport's governing body is backed over the issue.

"The FIA is obviously controlling fuel flow and checking with all the teams, and it is a question of learning by doing it between the FIA and the teams," he said.

He added: "The fuel-flow meter is an FIA system and this needs to be integrated in the cars. This is a learning process where the teams support the FIA and vice versa."

[MIKA27]

F1 2013 vs 2014 sound comparison – Melbourne

YouTube user, krookzeh, has made a terrific video that shows the comparison of the 2013 Formula 1 cars and the 2014 models. The debate continues over the sound of the F1 cars and this is perhaps the best comparison I’ve seen to date. It’s the entire grid passing in anger and you can tangibly feel the difference.

The Melbourne race organizers are not too keen on the sound and even suggest that F1 could be in breach of contract. Australian Grand Prix Corporation CEO Andrew Westacott told local radio:

“Ron spoke to (Ecclestone) after the race and said the fans don’t like it in the venue.

“We pay for a product, we’ve got contracts in place, we are looking at those very, very seriously because we reckon there has probably been some breaches.”

MIKA: Damn I miss that sound!

[MIKA27]

Mercedes dedicate Melbourne victory to Schumacher

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff dedicated Nico Rosberg’s victory to their former driver Michael Schumacher, who lies comatose in a hospital in France.

Speaking after his team’s triumph at the opening race of the 2014 season in Melbourne Wolff said, “Finally, this victory has a very special meaning for us, too. I would like to dedicate it to Michael, who has been in all our thoughts this weekend.”

“He will keep fighting, as only he knows how, and we are sending all our strength to him today,” added Wolff.

[MIKA27]

Dennis says Magnussen has the right stuff to be world champion

Kevin Magnussen has world champion potential claims his McLaren boss Ron Dennis, after the rookie finished second in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

The young Dane crossed the line third but after Daniel Ricciardo’s exclusion inherited second place, delivering one of the most impressive displays of driving by a Formula 1 debutant in recent memory.

Dennis said afterwards, “Magnussen has all the ingredients necessary to win a World Championship, although he has to be in a competitive car.”

He added, “It’s only one race and we’ll see where he is after four, but I don’t have any concerns about his temperament, focus or commitment, and he is prepared to make whatever sacrifices are necessary.”

In the mid-nineties Kevin’s father Jan Magnussen, who also made his F1 debut for McLaren, was hailed as the next Senna, but ultimately failed to make the grade Dennis famously referred to him as “the most disorganised grand prix driver I’ve ever known.”

After the Albert Park podium ceremony Dennis told his team’s newest star, “A very wise old man went into his house and nailed to the ceiling was a pair of shoes. I asked what they were for, and he said they were his son’s shoes. Every time he sees them it reminds him to keep his feet on the ground. I will put some in your hotel room.”

MIKA: I sure hope Magnussen stays grounded and doesn't fall on the wayside the way Hamilton did.

Compare Hamilton 2008 to Hamilton 2013-14, he's let it all go to his head which is a shame because I thought it was great to see a successful, humble down to earth guy.

[MIKA27]

Bernie: I told you so

Formula One commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone admits he has had numerous complaints about the lack of noise from F1's latest machinery.

The new V6 engines made their debut at the season opener, but many people were unimpressed and Australian Grand Prix Corporation chief executive Andrew Westacott confirmed their chairman Ron Walker has talked to Ecclestone about the low noise levels.

He added that they are "very, very seriously" looking into a breach of contract as they feel they are not getting what they are paying for.

"I've had one or two promoters get in touch with me today and they said how unhappy they are," Ecclestone told Reuters.

"I spoke to [the Ferrari president] Luca di Montezemolo just now and Luca said he's never had as many emails on his desk complaining and saying this isn't Formula One."

F1 switched from V8 power to V6 single-turbos for this campaign, but Ecclestone says he knew that it was not the way to go.

"I'm disappointed that I was right when I said what was going to happen. I'm sorry that it's happened," he said.

As for the possibility of promoters being able to renegotiate their contracts downwards because of the low noise levels, he replied: "It's not [a concern] at the moment but it could well be. If the promoters say: 'Listen, this ain't what I bought and I ain't going to pay for it, or I don't want to pay as much' or whatever, then it is a concern.

"We give the teams a percentage of the revenue we receive. So if we are receiving less revenue, whatever the case may be, certainly the teams wouldn't get as much. So it's going to cost them."

[MIKA27]

Exciting times ahead for Chilton

Max Chilton believes there are plenty more to come from Marussia after his P13 in Australia.

The 22-year-old started the season opener in 17th place and he didn't make the best of starts as his car stalled on the formation lap, but the team managed to get the MR03 running again and sent him on his way.

Despite struggling during pre-season, Chilton went on to complete the race and took the chequered flag in 14th place following a number of retirements, but he moved up one spot after Daniel Ricciardo was excluded from the results.

For Chilton there are plenty of positives to take out of the race and he feels Marussia can still take several strides forward.

"Obviously it wasn't the perfect race, far from it, but it was good," he told Press Association Sport. "At the start it was worrying. I went through my normal procedure on the grid, but the whole car went dead and it was stuck in gear.

"The hardest thing was trying to get it off the grid, but we managed to start it in the garage. We then started in the pit lane and from there we didn't have one issue the whole race, which is a good sign reliability-wise.

"If you had said to me when we were testing in Bahrain I would finish, and in this position, then I would definitely have taken it. We've definitely more to come from the car, but it still feels like we are testing it, to be honest.

"That was my first proper race experience of this year's car, and Jules and I are still learning stuff. There are big gains to be made, so exciting times ahead."

[MIKA27]

Ricciardo 'still feeling good'

Daniel Ricciardo is keeping his chin up despite his exclusion from the Australian Grand Prix results.

After finishing second behind Nico Rosberg from Mercedes at Albert Park on Sunday, the day turned into a bittersweet one for the Australian as the stewards excluded him from the results as his RB10's fuel flow sensors was found to have been "consistently in excess" of the permitted 100kg per hour.

Red Bull are set to appeal against the decision, but Ricciardo remains proud of his performance in Melbourne and is refusing to get downbeat.

"I still feel obviously really good about what I did. It doesn't change much," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"But obviously it would be nice to get the 18 points. I still stood there (on the podium) and that was a great feeling."

Red Bull have until Thursday to lodge an appeal and there have been suggestions that it could take a few weeks before the World Motor Sport Council makes a ruling.

"It's not possible to say when it will be heard," an FIA source told the paper. "It depends on how quickly both parties can prepare their cases. There is no set timetable but it will most likely be heard in Paris (home of the FIA is headquarters)."

Ricciardo, meanwhile, is not ready to think about the appeal just yet.

"We'll see what happens. I'm not really in a mindspace to talk about it right now," he said.

[MIKA27]

Massa: We can challenge for second

Felipe Massa is confident Williams can be in the mix for second place behind Mercedes during the early stages of the 2014 campaign.

Mercedes carried their winter testing form over to the first race of the campaign in Australia with Lewis Hamilton claiming pole position and Nico Rosberg winning the grand prix.

Williams, though, also proved their win pre-season form was no fluke as both cars made it into Q3 while Valtteri Bottas finished the race in fifth despite suffering a puncture after kissing the wall during the early stages.

Massa believes they are in the running for second place as much as any of their rivals.

"Looking at McLaren definitely they did a good race. They finished both cars in good points and they are leading the Championship," he is quoted as saying by Autosport.

"I would say Australia was a race where we could finish both cars there and a similar position as McLaren, so maybe we were going to be first in the Championship.

"Everything is possible now. Looking how we are compared to the others, I would say for the moment Mercedes is too quick compared to us, but after Mercedes everything is open and we can be there."

[MIKA27]

IN DEPTH INSIGHT: BEHIND THE SCENES READING OF THE AUSTRALIAN GP

The first Grand Prix run to the new 1.6 litre hybrid turbo formula featured some fascinating strategy details, some inspired decision-making and plenty for the drivers and strategy engineers to work with.

This season with the UBS Race Strategy Report we will continue our groundbreaking analysis of the key moments of the race, but with enhanced co-operation from teams, to bring an even more in-depth review of the key decisions, to help bring fans closer to the race action.

Aborted start

The original start had to be aborted, as the Marussia of Jules Bianchi failed to get off the grid. This was important because it stretched the teams into procedures that hadn’t been used for quite some time and very few of the teams, especially those with pre-season test problems, will have practiced an aborted start procedure. So this will have put quite a few people off balance and led to several cars having less than ideal starts. This was an early example of reliability dominating the racing at this stage and forcing teams into starting in a less than perfect way having prepared the cars for initial start.

Early in the race Lewis Hamilton, who had lost two places off the start, retired his Mercedes and world champion Sebastian Vettel retired the Red Bull. This meant that two strong competitors were taken out of the equation, creating opportunities for others to get a strong result.

Safety Car plays a decisive role – Button makes big gains

As we spelled out in the pre race UBS Race Strategy Briefing, Melbourne has a 60% likelihood of a safety car, due to the difficulty of moving damaged or stranded cars on this walled circuit. But some teams raised that likelihood to 80%, factoring in reliability concerns with the new technology and also the difficulty of driving these new generation cars, particularly on corner exits lined with walls. All weekend we saw cars clipping the barriers as drivers struggled with power delivery.

On lap 10 a hard charging Valtteri Bottas hit the wall, puncturing his tyre and leaves debris from a damaged wheel rim on track. This caused Race Control to bring out the safety car. At the moment it was deployed, Jenson Button was 6 seconds away from pit lane entry and he made the decision, in quick conference with the team, to come in for a tyre stop. He was fighting the three cars ahead of him, Raikkonen, Vergne and Kvyat, none of whom took the same decision to stop on that lap, but instead did a costly extra lap at the reduced safety car speed limit.

By being first to stop, Button jumped all three of them, moving from 9th to 6th and setting himself up for a strong result after a poor qualifying.

Bottas benefits from his own error

Ironically, Bottas caused the safety car, but also benefitted from it. He dropped from 6th to 15th due to his puncture and was 106 seconds behind the race leader, but because the safety car closed the field up, he was only 8 seconds behind the leader at the restart and able to easily pass the cars ahead of him to rise back up to 6th.

Another key point about the Safety car was that it allowed the cars to enter fuel saving mode, which helped them to get to the finish on this high fuel consumption circuit without problems.

Raikkonen lost out in this phase due to the Ferrari stop arrangements, as he had to back off to allow Alonso to pit and for the mechanics to reset, ultimately losing 2 places under the safety car to Button and Vergne. Sutil and Maldonado stayed out, but the strategy didn’t bring either of them a result.

After the restart, we saw the pace advantage of the Mercedes, as Rosberg set about rebuilding the lead he had lost due to the safety car. He pulled away from Ricciardo at around 1.3 seconds per lap, a greater than the margin Vettel had over rivals in the final part of the 2013 season.

The tyre graining phase

In the second stint, from lap 25 onwards, the left front tyres started to grain. This meant the lap times dropped a bit for many of the runners. They did recover, but crucially some drivers were able to close up some gaps in this time. Alonso closed on Hulkenberg, for example in their battle for fourth and fifth places. Bottas in 9th took over 3 seconds out of Raikkonen who was clearly struggling with the handling of the Ferrari, especially in the braking zones.

Mercedes makes the most of its margin over the rest

A graphic illustration of the improvement of the Mercedes in all areas came in the run up to the second stops. Last season Mercedes often found that it wasn’t able to dictate strategy due to overusing the tyres in races. But Rosberg was able to manage the gap to his pursuers and had the luxury of delaying his second stop. It takes just over 22 seconds to make a stop in Melbourne and his strategy team was monitoring the second place car, Ricciardo, relative to Raikkonen, waiting for Raikkonen to be more than 22 secs behind Ricciardo at which point they knew that the Australian would stop; he wouldn’t do it before as he would not want to be held up after his stop.

Ricciardo get the margin and duly stopped on lap 36, so Rosberg could then pit safely and still retain lead even if there was a sudden safety car.

This is a perfect example of the reactive strategy approach, where a team monitors the car behind relative to other cars that are within its pit stop loss time and reacts to its moves.

Melbourne proves difficult for overtaking

A graphic illustration of how hard it is to overtake in Melbourne, particularly late in the race, came from the Magnussen and Ricciardo fight. From lap 50 onwards, Magnussen attacked Ricciardo. The gap came down to 0.7 secs, but the McLaren could not pass the Red Bull, despite having a straight-line speed advantage of 24km/h. On lap 51, for example Magnussen went through the speed trap at 309km/h to Ricciardo’s 273km/h. At that stage there were a lot of tyre marbles off the racing line and there is the perennial problem of Melbourne being a narrow track, with most corners having a single line into them.

This should not be a problem at the next race in Sepang, which has many multiple line corners and two consecutive long straights. Given this and the variety in straight-line speeds we are likely to see a lot of overtaking in Sepang.

Ferrari makes a mistake on strategy

Although they played a good hand in their battle with Force India to get Fernando Alonso ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Ferrari failed to cover Jenson Button at the second stop and as a result Alonso lost an important fourth place to him, as it turned into a podium with the disqualification of Ricciardo for fuel flow irregularities.

Button pitted on lap 32 and Ferrari did not cover it with a stop, but instead left Alonso out until lap 35. They did this was because they did not think that they could reach the finish on lap 58 on a set of medium tyres from lap 32. In fact that proved not to be difficult.

This raises a very important point at this early stage of the season: tyre testing is limited on Fridays now due to restrictions on engine mileage, as each driver has just five engines. This means that tyre simulations are even more heavily relied on than ever and this episode revealed that McLaren’s model was better than Ferrari’s.

It must also be noted that Ferrari said that they were managing an electrical problem on both cars throughout the race, which meant that they were down on maximum power.

RACE HISTORY GRAPH

Courtesy of Williams Martini Racing

[Click on graph to enlarge to full size]

The zero line is the average lap speed of the race winner, expressed as a constant reference point. The graph illustrates the changes of position, but also the gaps between cars. The pace advantage of the Mercedes is very clear.

[MIKA27]

Changing the result after the checkered flag - can it be avoided?

Of course, Daniel Ricciardo's disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix was a matter of considerable regret. And as a by-product it served to re-open the whole debate around possibly the one aspect of F1 that causes the most wrangling and self-disgust; perhaps most perplexes the uninitiated. That in this game we can have the event and in so doing establish the result apparently, only for it to be changed later by the stroke of an official's pen.

The Guardian's Paul Weaver for one railed on that very matter: 'Picking a winner from a heavyweight contest between silks is a hazardous business; identifying the loser is as easy as waving a chequered flag. It is the F1 fan...' he said. While the local paper in Melbourne the Herald Sun was more jarring in response to it all: displaying a large banner headline across its front page reading: 'Grand Farce'. Social media was laden with similar sentiment.

But while we can cite this as a problem rather easily, and get embarrassed when it happens, is framing a solution to it all anything like as straightforward? No, is the short answer.

The time aspect can be criticised of course: quite why it took upwards of five hours to confirm what seemed a fairly clear decision regarding a breach that the stewards knew about during the race isn't obvious (the most probable explanation was Red Bull arguing). But beyond that what can be done?

At the most fundamental level F1 must have rules (as any sport must), the rule book must be enforced and breaches must have their consequences. To not have these would amount to anarchy. And F1 unlike a lot of sports has regulations both sporting and technical, adding a layer of (often considerable) complexity.

And while it may be hard to take, the emotional needs to be parked to a large extent in such considerations. It cannot be denied that at least some of the fallout of last Sunday's disqualification is related to the context: of the victim being the popular and ever-smiling Ricciardo, racing at home, scoring his first ever podium, and reacting to it all with such unconstrained joy which the assembled fans responded to in kind.

It's probable that the exclusion of any other driver in the race would have created less of a rumpus, in many cases much less. One thinks back to three years ago at the same venue wherein the two points-scoring Saubers were disqualified post hoc for having rear wings too high - and few outside of the Hinwil team batted an eyelid. Criticising the enforcement of rules on the grounds of not liking the specific outcome it creates in that case seems a little worthless. Doing so on the grounds that it'll peeve the fans always strikes me as rather like saying that you shouldn't send criminals to prison in case it upsets their wife and kids...

Some argue - including in this case given Ricciardo personally was an innocent party - that punishments should focus on the team rather than the driver. But the driver and team cannot easily be decoupled, plus punishing the team only would seem light retribution in more serious offences. Fines and the like rarely give the impression of being much of a deterrent at all.

An additional problem motor sport has is that it is not the sort of activity wherein instant justice can be handed out easily - unlike football, rugby and the like wherein the referee can blow the whistle at any point and administer reprisals. If we take one of the closer analogies horse racing just like motor sport has stewards' inquires after the race is over that have the potential to change the result.

Some have suggested that given the FIA technical representative and the stewards were aware of the fuel flow breach during the race that Ricciardo could have been black flagged (i.e. disqualified during the race). That might not have made the afore-mentioned fans any happier however, though at least it would have had the benefit of heading off a lot of the subsequent argument and uncertainty. After all, if a car is hauled in partway through the race that is it: you can't re-run the Grand Prix the next day with the black flag overturned.

But perhaps this is precisely why this wasn't done: it would have been a massive call. And to a large extent unprecedented: in all my time watching F1 (which stretches back to 1986) I struggle to think of a single instance of a black flag during the race for a technical breach, only for sporting ones.

NASCAR does its scrutineering before the race, not after, so that system makes it more likely results established when the chequered flag falls remain untouched. But of course applied to F1 it wouldn't have helped in this specific case, something that only became apparent during the race.

So while we might be able to change the details, the fundamental possibility of race results being changed after the event doesn't seem likely to change any time soon. We most probably have little choice but to conclude that - as Winston Churchill once did of democracy - it's the worst system, apart from all of the other ones.

[MIKA27]

Sensor supplier insists it has FIA's support

Gill Sensors, which supplies the Formula 1 championship with ultrasonic fuel flow sensors, says it has received positive feedback from the FIA and has the governing body's backing.

Sensors and fuel flow rates have been the talk of the paddock after Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was stripped of his second place for exceeding the 100kg/h fuel flow limit during the Australian Grand Prix.

Whilst the FIA has tested the sensors and approved them for use in F1, Red Bull said the technology was immature and unreliable and therefore blamed it for giving an inaccurate reading.

Gill Sensors responded in a statement, saying the feedback it's received gives it no cause for concern.

"Following the Australian Grand Prix last weekend, the FIA have provided Gill Sensors with positive feedback on the performance of the Fuel Flow Meter, confirming their confidence in the development and stating the meters meet the FIA’s accuracy specification.

"The meter development included an extensive testing programme, which involved liaising with many of the F1 teams for their valuable feedback on meter design and functionality.

"Meter calibration is handled by the FIA’s third party calibration company.

"The meters utilise ultrasonic technology which was selected for its resilience in extreme operating conditions. The FIA chose Gill Sensors for this complex development because of Gill’s 29 years of proven experience in Ultrasonics."

A Gill sensor as used in F1:

[ptrthgr8]

F1 2013 vs 2014 sound comparison – Melbourne

YouTube user, krookzeh, has made a terrific video that shows the comparison of the 2013 Formula 1 cars and the 2014 models. The debate continues over the sound of the F1 cars and this is perhaps the best comparison I’ve seen to date. It’s the entire grid passing in anger and you can tangibly feel the difference.

The Melbourne race organizers are not too keen on the sound and even suggest that F1 could be in breach of contract. Australian Grand Prix Corporation CEO Andrew Westacott told local radio:

“Ron spoke to (Ecclestone) after the race and said the fans don’t like it in the venue.

“We pay for a product, we’ve got contracts in place, we are looking at those very, very seriously because we reckon there has probably been some breaches.”

MIKA: Damn I miss that sound!

I listened to that video on my phone and cranked up the volume. My dog was lying 5 feet away from me. When the cars from last year went screaming by my dog was startled, cocked his head to the side, then laid back down when that part was over. He didn't even flinch when the new cars came by. He didn't care. Hmm. I wish I didn't care, too. But I do.

Boo! The new power plants are simply terrible! This green nonsense is for the birds and needs to go.

Cheers,

Greg

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

[poorman]

Came across this yesterday.

The glory of the past.

F1 Ghost lap of Senna

[Bartolomeo]

F1 2013 vs 2014 sound comparison Melbourne

YouTube user, krookzeh, has made a terrific video that shows the comparison of the 2013 Formula 1 cars and the 2014 models. The debate continues over the sound of the F1 cars and this is perhaps the best comparison Ive seen to date. Its the entire grid passing in anger and you can tangibly feel the difference.

The Melbourne race organizers are not too keen on the sound and even suggest that F1 could be in breach of contract. Australian Grand Prix Corporation CEO Andrew Westacott told local radio:

Ron spoke to (Ecclestone) after the race and said the fans dont like it in the venue.

We pay for a product, weve got contracts in place, we are looking at those very, very seriously because we reckon there has probably been some breaches.

MIKA: Damn I miss that sound!

Complete BS......sounds like they got kicked in the balls driving by