FORMULA 1 - 2014

[MIKA27]

Porsche also raise sensor concerns

F1 is not the only series having issues with the FIA fuel flow meters with Porsche saying it is "not proven yet" to be accurate.

The opening race of the F1 season was marred by controversy as Daniel Ricciardo's RB10 was disqualified for exceeding the fuel flow rate.

Red Bull are appealing the decision, adamant that the sensor that the FIA supplied is inaccurate.

However, it is not just Formula One that is using the device as this year Porsche will run the meter in its 919 LMP1.

And the German manufacturer says it too has found problems.

"It hasn't held us back because we did not make our development dependent on it, but there is still no robust solution in place," Racecar Engineering reports Alex Hitzinger, motorsport director of engineering LMP1, as having said.

"The FIA is still very hopeful that the latest spec will work and will be reliable, but that is not proven yet.

"We optimise how they are mounted to give them the easiest possible life, but right now we don't know if it is all going to be robust. We should know at the end of March."

[MIKA27]

Analysis: Who’s got the real speed after Melbourne season opener

Thanks to Formula 1 technical adviser Mark Gillan, we have some pace charts which give a good idea of the relative speed of the cars and Mark has given us his thoughts on what it all means and what we can expect in the coming weeks and months. The graphs show the fuel-corrected lap times of the cars in question, as a direct comparison of pace.

[Note: Click to enlarge the graphs - The vertical axis is the lap time in seconds, the lower the position on the graph the faster the lap time. The horizontal axis is the Lap Number. The start of the race is to the left and the finish is to the right on lap 58]

Williams vs McLaren

Two of the great names of F1, Williams and McLaren are back on form this season and were contending for podiums in the opening race. McLaren managed to get Kevin Magnussen up there – joined by Jenson Button after the disqualification of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo – while Williams was challenging for a podium with Valtteri Bottas until he hit the wall on Lap 10. He still recovered to finish 6th.

The first speed graph (click to enlarge) shows the relative pace of McLaren and Williams. Things to note here are Button’s final stint on the medium tyre, which is strong and indicates that the McLaren goes well on that tyre. Magnussen lost some time on his middle stint and dropped back a bit from Ricciardo during this period, possibly a mixture of inexperience and instructions to save fuel. He was clearly following varying fuel modes in the final stint, as a prelude to an attack on Ricciardo at the end, but the challenge never came to much as he didn’t want to risk a certain third place.

What is clear from this graph is the inherent pace of the Williams in the dry. It is clear to see in the first stint, which is superior to the McLaren pace. Bottas was able to push hard and gain places. Being aggressive like this is easier when working through the positions from P5 backwards but becomes harder the further forward you go as the stakes get higher. Bottas crashed when in P6. Had he been in P3 at the time, chances are he would not have been pushing quite so hard.

There is every reason to believe that they will challenge for the podium in Sepang next week, based on the impressive pace shown in Melbourne.

A concern for Williams will be its wet weather performance (not shown in the graph). In the wet qualifying, the Williams lacked rear end stability in the wet. Williams has had a problem in this area for a few years now and never perfected the Exhaust Blown Diffuser, which helped calm down the rear end of the F1 cars. The EBD is banned now, which helps Williams, but the car is clearly still quite unstable at the rear, which the drivers can cope with in the dry conditions, but struggle with in the wet. This will be a concern for Malaysia next week, where it is often wet.

How big is Mercedes’ advantage?

Looking at the second chart above (click to enlarge), which features only the Mercedes-powered teams and the one below which features Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari, it is clear that Mercedes has a significant pace advantage, but looking at how it was managed, it’s clear that they did not reveal the full extent of it in Melbourne.

Only at the start and after the Safety car (Lap 15 onwards), as Rosberg looked to establish a lead, did we see some of the speed the car has. The rest of the time he was managing the race. This is reminiscent of the way Sebastian Vettel drove the final part of last season in the Red Bull, but the pace advantage here is greater than Vettel enjoyed in the second half of last year.

At times, particularly in the second stint after the safety car, the Mercedes is 1.2 or 1.3 seconds faster than its pursuers. In development terms, with last year’s rules that is equivalent to about a year of aerodynamic development. But with this “immature” 2014 technology of the new hybrid turbo power units, the gap will be made up more quickly, as teams and engine builders make breakthroughs. Renault and Ferrari have yet to fully exploit the power unit they have.

The teams look at graphs exactly like these and the others will consider Mercedes’ pace ominous. They have a buffer and it will take a lot for others to catch up.

Red Bull were faster than expected after their testing problems, while Ferrari did not show its true pace as the drivers were managing electrical issues and braking issues in Raikkonen’s case.

Key to this will be the Technical Directives from the FIA’s Charlie Whiting and Jo Bauer. These are private documents circulated only to the technical heads of teams which give permissions and instructions from the FIA, essentially amendments to technical regulations. The public and media do not get to see them but effectively they supersede the F1 Technical Regulations.

This year, as the fuel flow metering row in Australia showed, there will be all sorts of advantages sought by teams and the FIA will be issuing Technical Directives left right and centre to deal with them. It is here, as much as in the development race in wind tunnels back at the factories, that the title will be won.

The power units are supposedly homologated now, which means only adjustments for reliability reasons are permitted. But sometimes things are permitted under the premise of reliability which have performance advantages or allow an engine maker to maximise what is already there. This is the key to the 2014 championship.

Mercedes will not want to change anything!

And for Malaysia? What happens there?

Malaysia will be a huge challenge for the teams, as the heat and humidity will stress the cooling ability to the limit and many teams will be obliged to open up the body work to increase cooling. This will damage aerodynamic performance and in some cases will add to the car’s instability in corners. Unlike Melbourne it is very easy to overtake in Sepang, thanks to the two long straights linked with a hairpin and so a battle like Ricciardo vs Magnussen would have a different outcome, when one car has 309km/h top speed and the other 273km/h, as was the case in Melbourne.

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Special insight: What happens to F1 tyres under load

Picture an F1 car standing still in the pit lane. The sidewalls of the tyre are nice and straight and the contact patch of the tyre is touching the ground. But imagine what that tyre looks like when loaded up in a high speed corner – it flexes and the shape is no longer that ideal vertical line, so easy to model in a wind tunnel.

In modern F1 there is a real premium on understanding this phenomenon and being able to work with the changing shape of the tyre so that the car’s aerodynamics are the best they can be at all times.

In simple terms there is lap time to be gained from doing better in this area; so there’s a lot of work going on there at the moment.

For F1 fans looking to get insights into some of the more fascinating reaches of the sport, we’ve presented this special insight into a key innovation of today from one of our team who has an intimate knowledge of the problem, to find solutions for the F1 teams.

F1 technical adviser Prof Mark Gillan was formerly chief operations engineer at Williams, Toyota and Jaguar and he recently gave a lecture on this subject as principal R&D engineer of MTS Systems, which makes testing equipment.

Tyre Testing and Impact of Deformation on Aerodynamics

Background to the problem:

In F1 and motorsports in general the tyres are the most important performance item on car. The tyres tend to have a relatively narrow optimal operating window, so loads and running pressures and temperatures must be controlled and monitored as well as possible. Wear, graining, blistering, degradation, durability, surface roughness, pick-up, inter/wet impact, are terms you hear all the time in commentary of F1 races and are all issues to be considered. With this in mind accurate modeling of this complex transient system is fundamental to ultimate performance, but all Teams are missing key elements to the puzzle (and so is the tyre manufacturer).

In F1 the tyre shape can have a significant impact on the car’s aerodynamic performance. Knowledge of the profile and contact patch shape is therefore vital to ensure that the key flow structures are in their correct places. In order to ensure good correlation in the development process the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) virtual tyre and the wind-tunnel 50 or 60% scale model tyres must be accurate representations of the full-scale tyres, with the correct shape profile and contact patch throughout the entire operating envelope.

The image below (of a Michelin F1 tyre circa 2004) gives one a good indication of the complex shape the side wall deflects to under load. The Pirelli shape will be very similar.

The Teams have a number of tools at their disposal to ensure good correlation and they tend to use a mixture of virtual modelling, model scale testing, whole/part car multi-post rig testing and on track testing to improve their understanding of the car’s performance.

The motorsports tyre manufacturers will use, amongst other equipment, a tyre test-rig similar to the MTS Flat-Trac™ system. To control costs the F1 teams are restricted in the Technical Regulations (see below) from using these machines to extract certain force and moment data but the tyre manufacturer Pirelli can use them.

The most advanced system is currently the electric motor driven MTS Flat-Trac™ LTRe which is installed at SoVA Motion in the USA http://sovamotion.com This machine can simulate speeds of up to 200 mph (320kph) and simulate forces of up to 30,000N.

This video gives an indication of the amount of tyre deflection possible during extreme manoeuvres. If you stop the video at about 20 seconds you can see a good correlation between the side wall deflection on the Michelin F1 tyre in the image above and the motorsports tyre under investigation.

The key to it then, is to learn from this and to match the tyres’ full scale true loaded shapes to the virtual CFD tyre and wind-tunnel tyre shapes, otherwise a significant amount of CFD and wind-tunnel development runs will be wasted as they will not correlate to the real life conditions. And as F1 teams are now limited to only 30 hours a week for both, that’s a big problem.

This is the work that is going on behind the scenes today; the push to match the tyre shape and improve correlation is one part of the technology innovation that is taking place in motorsports and within F1 in particular. With the recent reductions in both wind-tunnel and CFD usage F1 teams need to continue to ensure that any testing is both efficient and correlates well to the track.

Tyres and in particular tyre shape and optimal aerodynamics are inextricably linked.

* FIA F1 2014 Sporting Regulations

25.5 Testing of tyres :

a) Tyres supplied to any competitor at any time may not be used on any rig or vehicle (other than an F1 car on an F1 approved track, at the exclusion of any kind of road simulator), either Team owned or rented, providing measurements of forces and/or moments produced by a rotating full size F1 tyre, other than uniquely vertical forces, tyre rolling resistance and aerodynamic drag.

[MIKA27]

Some corners ‘special cases’ in track limits disputes

Exceptions will be made to the rules regarding abuse of track limits where they are needed, according to FIA race director Charlie Whiting.

In a media briefing at the Australian Grand Prix, a summary of which was published by the FIA, Whiting noted that drivers had argued there are “certain corners on certain circuits that require special treatment” when judging whether a driver had gained an advantage by going off the track.

“Track limits have become a very emotive subject,” the summary noted. “Fundamentally, a driver is required to use the track at all times. If any part of the car remains within the boundaries of the white lines, he is deemed to be using the track. If he has all four wheels over the white lines, he’s off the track.
”

“A driver is allowed to leave the track and rejoin without penalty, providing he does so safely and providing he does not gain an advantage. It is up to us to decide whether he has gained an advantage from being off track. 
Circuits are designed so that going off track should always be slower – or at least not faster.

“My view is that if you have two wheels on a bumpy kerb and two on artificial grass, that is not faster. Not everybody shares that view but it is held by the majority.

“In Jerez, we held a meeting with the drivers to discuss the matter. They agreed with the general point of view but argued that there are certain corners on certain circuits that require special treatment. Therefore we will treat each circuit individually rather than making a blanket ruling.”

Track limits were a point of contention in the final race of last season in Brazil where Felipe Massa was penalised for repeatedly cutting across the pit apron at the final corner on the Interlagos track. The stewards had issued a notification before the race that drivers who cut the corner would be punished.

An update to the 2014 rules states drivers must not gain any “lasting” advantage by leaving the circuit.

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Pook states his case for F1's return to Long Beach

The founder of the Long Beach Grand Prix, Chris Pook, is working with Bernie Ecclestone and Delta Topco - F1's parent company - to bring the series back to the streets of the Californian city.

Pook has put a case together which he hopes the Long Beach city council will review, if they decide not to renew IndyCar's contract after 2015. The council are due to vote on the matter next month.

"We just want the opportunity to state our case, to be considered," Pook said.

"We just want them to take a look at what we bring to the table. That's all we're asking." The circuit would require substantial upgrades as well as lengthening to meet F1's minimum lap distance of 2.254 miles.

Pook dismissed the idea of it costing hundreds of millions.

"People have been saying it would cost $100 million and that number has just stuck in people’s minds. It's not even close to that."

In fact, he says a figure of just under $10m would be sufficient and it would be covered by the promoter, not the city. Nor will the city have to pay the hosting fee. In addition, a two-storey building would be constructed along Shoreline Drive to house the team garages.

The facility would be donated to the city to use as it wishes outside of the race weekend. Pook took the race in Austin as an example of what the direct financial gains would be for Long Beach.

"The net tax gain for Austin in 2013 was $4.9 million, and the net gain for Texas was $17.2 million.

"The value of F1 is that it provides new money. F1 racing draws a worldwide audience. You would be tapping into new consumers,"

he added.

F1 aims to have three races in the United States by 2016 - the current race in Austin and one on the east and west coasts.

"The parent company knows that America is the largest automotive market in the world and they want to expand here," explained Pook.

"Long Beach was a big part of F1 then and they want to be back here."

[MIKA27]

Ferrari: no need for finger-pointing over slow start to F1 season

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali says his Formula 1 team must not waste time dwelling on where it should have done a better job this winter, and instead must focus entirely on how it can improve.

With Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen missing out on a podium finish in Australia, Ferrari admits that it is behind its rivals at the moment.

But as it faces a busy few weeks needing to drive forward with car developments, Domenicali has urged his staff not to waste energy trying to blame each other for their situation.

"It is a matter of everyone doing their job and being focused on what they have to do at home, without trying to say that it is your fault or my fault," he explained.

"As a team we must react together - and that is what I have asked all my engineers and people."

Domenicali insists that there is not one area where Ferrari must focus its efforts, because it is both the chassis and engine that need to be improved.

Speaking about the power unit in particular, with Alonso having struggled to overtake Nico Hulkenberg in Australia, Domenicali said: "It is an area that we have to improve.

"The more power you have, the less you stay on full throttle - so you have many benefits on the fuel consumption side. The cat has to bite the tail.

"We have to improve a lot and I don't want to focus on that, because also the car has to be improved."

[MIKA27]

Force India has 'work to do' to close gap to F1 2014 rivals

Force India believes it has work to do to catch its rival Mercedes-powered Formula 1 teams after it struggled more than expected in the Australian Grand Prix.

Nico Hulkenberg ran fourth in the early stages of the race in Melbourne, but he finished seventh on the road and was promoted to sixth after Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull was disqualified.

Deputy team principal Bob Fernley described the performance as "acceptable but not exceptional" and has charged the team with closing the gap to its rivals.

"It was good, but probably not quite as good as we would like it to be," he told AUTOSPORT.

"We didn't quite have the race pace as we would have liked, so we have got a bit of work to do.

"We have just got to focus now on making sure we do a little bit of work on the performance side.

"We have got reliability, which is good, and which is across the board with the Mercedes-powered cars, so we've got to inch ourselves up and make sure we are fighting with McLaren and Williams."

Fernley believes that given the amount of running Force India had during pre-season testing, there are only small gains to be made in terms of the way it is using the engine as the race did not throw up any surprises.

He confirmed that the team will bring some upgrades to the Malaysian Grand Prix and that the team is pushing ahead with its development plan.

"It's marginal now," he said when asked what gains could be made with the operation of the engine.

"With the mileage that we did in pre-season, what happened in the race didn't deviate from what we thought we would do.

"We have a little bit coming [for Malaysia] but we will just go full speed with developments.

"Truth be told, we were expecting the aero war to start in Europe, but now I think it's going to come forward."

[MIKA27]

Formula E looks to trump F1 sound

The man behind the new Formula E racing series has insisted fans will love the electric cars' "futuristic" sound after the introduction of quieter engines sparked a row in Formula One.

CEO Alejandro Agag refused to compare the battery-powered engines' sound to F1, but he said they reminded him of the Podracers seen in Star Wars film, "The Phantom Menace".

As Formula E prepares to debut this year, F1's new hybrid engines have been criticised by fans, organisers and top boss Bernie Ecclestone as being simply too quiet for motor-racing.

But Agag told AFP that people would be pleasantly surprised by the sound of the Formula E cars -- and that video will be released online next week to prove it.

"We think the sound of Formula E is going to be a big surprise for everyone. The sounds that comes out is completely futuristic, new, different," he said in a telephone interview.

"Next week we will put video online of the car with the sound and I think this will be quite a shock, the sound that these Formula E cars are making... it's actually quite loud."

He added: "It sounds more like a jet, a fighter jet. Or like the Podracer in Star Wars. So that's the kind of feel we want to give to the fans, much more futuristic. It doesn't sound at all like a combustion engine."

Motorsports enthusiasts are traditionally fans of roaring engines and the row over the new "vacuum cleaner" power units in Formula One has gone right to the top level.

Organisers of last week's season-opening Australian Grand Prix said the engines may be a breach of contract, while Ecclestone pledged to try to make them sound "more like racing cars".

Such perceptions loom as a potential problem for Formula E, a showcase for the potential of electric cars which has high-level backing and now needs to build its fanbase.

Last October, four-time F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel was critical of Formula E, saying "it's not the future" partly because of its expected lack of noise.

"I think people come here to feel Formula One and there is not much to feel when a car goes by and you don't even hear anything but the wind," Vettel said at the Indian Grand Prix.

But Agag said Formula E could be a "game-changer" for motorsports and the car industry when it flags off in Beijing in September, the first of 10 stops around the world.

"The event we think is going to be an eye-opener," he said.

"We want it to be a game-changer for the electric car sector because really the wider public don't have the opportunity to see these cars in action."

He admitted the launch was a "bit early" in some respects with electric car technology still in its infancy.

Cars will race at speeds of about 230 kilometres (142 miles) per hour, slower than F1, and drivers will initially have to switch vehicles twice per race because of the difficulty of changing batteries.

"Remember mobile phones when they were like, one kilo? We are there," Agag said. "We took the decision to jump, basically. We feel like pioneers in a sense," he added.

"We took the decision to go before technology was ready now. Of course, we could have waited 10 years for the perfect solution but then probably somebody else would have already done it."

The long-term, $100 million initiative is backed by motorsports' governing body FIA, and Formula One's Williams, McLaren and Renault collaborated on the inaugural Formula E car.

This year, drivers including Bruno Senna and Jaime Alguersuari will be competing in identical vehicles with the field thrown open to manufacturers in following seasons.

Racing will get underway around Beijing's "Bird's Nest" Olympic stadium and then move on to other high-profile sites including London, Los Angeles, Miami, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro and Monaco.

Underlining rising concerns about pollution worldwide, this week Paris ordered half of all cars off the roads after the French capital was shrouded in a murky haze.

And it is no coincidence that the clean-energy racing series will start in notoriously smoggy China, which also this week declared "war" on the filthy air choking its cities.

"It's a game of changing perceptions (about electric engines)," Agag said. "The broader goal is to finish with combustion (engines) everywhere.

"That's a goal that will take maybe a few years or many years, but we have to start somewhere."

Here's the new Formula E sound...6

Not any better than the current F1's IMO

[MIKA27]

Rosberg: We cannot fall asleep now because our rivals are going to be pushing like mad

Despite his cruise to victory in the season opening Australian Grand Prix, Nico Rosberg is urging his Mercedes team to continue the development momentum as he is wary of the efforts being put in by Formula 1 rivals to close the gap to the Silver Arrows at the front of the pack.

Speaking ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend, Rosberg said, “We cannot fall asleep now because our rivals are going to be pushing like mad. What is the point of pushing everything [in the media] and then maybe stopping because of a reliability problem and looking like fools?”

Although the Mercedes W05 appeared to run like clockwork at Albert Park, Rosberg revealed, “Australia was the perfect start to my season, but it also highlighted that we’re not 100% there yet in terms of reliability.

“We’ve had two weeks before this race to identify all the things that we can do better, so hopefully we can bring both cars home for a good result this weekend and continue our strong start to the year.”

“It is early days, so there are still lots of things that can be done better. We have to keep the momentum going and not let our rivals catch up. That is the most important thing: to keep pushing. When you have that advantage there is the possibility that you get a bit confident.

“A lot of the people are still here from the Brawn days, and they know what it means to be at the front and to make sure that we stay in front and not get caught. We were confident, and now the pace is obvious.”

“We are quick. We are the fastest car which is awesome. It is such a cool feeling. It is so great,” added Roberg who will be looking to add to his tally of four grand prix wins at Sepang on Sunday.

[ptrthgr8]

Here's the new Formula E sound...6

Not any better than the current F1's IMO

Actually, I think it's a pretty cool sound. Sounds like a jet plane or something. F1 isn't supposed to sound like that, of course. But this isn't F1. So I'm cool with that. But I still loathe the new F1 power units.

Cheers,

Greg

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

[MIKA27]

Mateschitz: From our perspective there is a clear limit to what we can accept

Red Bull billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz has warned that his energy drinks company is not indefinitely committed to Formula 1, and has declared that they have limits to what is acceptable.

The Austrian billionaire’s comments come as his premier Formula 1 team, reigning world champions Red Bull, challenge the governing FIA over Daniel Ricciardo’s disqualification in Melbourne over the fuel flow sensor saga.

“The fact is that the federation’s sensor has given inaccurate values since the beginning of the (winter) tests,” Mateschitz, who rarely gives interviews, told the Vienna daily Kurier.

“We can prove that we were within the limits” in Australia, he added.

Mateschitz has said before that Red Bull is prepared to leave Formula 1 if the sport no longer gives the company the sort of economic value it is seeking.

Now, he clarified: “The question is not so much about whether it makes economic sense, but more to do with the sporting value, political influence and the like.

“We have had it all, but on these things, from our perspective, there is a clear limit to what we can accept,” Mateschitz added.

He also expressed frustration about Formula 1′s all-new era of smaller, greener, quieter and more efficient ‘Power Units’.

“Formula 1 should be again what it always has been: the ultimate discipline,” said the 69-year-old Austrian.

“It is not there to set new records in fuel consumption, or so you can talk at a whisper during a race and the greatest thrill is the squealing of the tyres.

“I consider it equally absurd that we are going a second slower than last year and that the junior series GP2 is almost as fast as Formula 1 with a fraction of the budget,” he added.

But even though he may not like the ‘new’ Formula 1, Mateschitz said Red Bull is not giving up the fight to catch dominant Mercedes in 2014.

“We are working around the clock with our partner Renault and will make another big step in the next two to three weeks. There are 18 races to go. We will be back,” he promised.

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Perez: I believe Malaysia can be a very good race for us

Despite an early tyre puncture Sergio Perez did manage to score a point in his debut for Force India in Melbourne, and for the second round of the 2014 F1 World Championship the Mexican his hoping for better luck in Malaysia where in 2012 he enjoyed his best ever showing in Formula 1.

You were unlucky in Melbourne with a first lap puncture. How would you sum things up?

Sergio Perez: It was really a shame. We had a good start and a great first few corners, and we were up to tenth place. Then [Esteban] Gutierrez locked his rears and came from nowhere. I actually saw him in my mirrors, but I was already turning into the corner. Once he hit me I was just a passenger; there was not much I could do, I got a puncture and had to pit.

How did your race unfold after that?

SP: The Safety Car helped us and we managed to recover some positions. But the main issue of my race was the time spent behind Adrian [sutil], which cost me a lot. I think the pace was definitely in the car to score more points, but when you have to fight from the back it puts you in a difficult position.

How would you assess the overall competitiveness of the VJM07?

SP: I think as a team we are moving in the right direction and there were lots of positives to take away from Australia. It was the first race and we, as everyone else on the grid, are still learning a lot about the new car. We have seen some encouraging signs and collected a lot of data that can be put to use for the next few races, starting in Sepang.

What are your expectations for this coming weekend?

SP: I believe Malaysia can be a very good race for us. Let’s see how we can perform there. I think Melbourne was a more difficult one for us and with a hotter track and more rear tyre degradation for everyone we can be stronger. I’m counting the days to Malaysia to recover what we couldn’t achieve in Australia. I have good memories of this track and I want to build on my previous result there.

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Mallya: We need to find a bit more performance if we want to challenge for podiums

Team Principal Vijay Mallya looks back on Melbourne and summarises the mood in the Force India camp ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend, Round 2 of the 2014 Formula 1 World Championship, at Sepang International Circuit.

How would you sum up the first race in Melbourne?

Vijay Mallya: Australia was definitely a respectable start, without a doubt, and probably the best start we’ve had since I took over the team. We went into the race feeling good and confident. We were concerned initially about reliability, but I think the number of laps we were able to put in during Bahrain testing gave us the confidence that we were on top most issues. The fact that both cars finished the race is a good way to start the season.

Are you pleased with the performance of the car?

VM: Clearly the VJM07 is competitive: Nico finished sixth with a strong drive and I dare say Checo would have been higher up had he not had a first lap puncture. The fact that he finished where he did after three stops speaks for itself. Obviously there are reasons to be pleased, but we still realise that we need to find a bit more performance if we want to challenge for podiums. That’s what we are focussing on right now.

How is the team coping with the steep learning curve of the new technology?

VM: Whenever I spoke with the engineering team over the winter, it became clear the biggest unknown was the complexity of the car, and consequently the reliability. It wasn’t as if the designers and engineers were working with a familiar car that they already knew how to upgrade and tweak. Here everything was new. For example, nobody really knew what cooling was required and optimising that was a major job during testing. I think we have gone up the learning curve successfully and we have a good understanding of the car and all the new technology that’s gone into it.

What’s your overall view on the new formula?

VM: The change to the 1.6-litre V6 with the ERS has had its fair share of debate. Yes, it’s complicated; it’s very sophisticated and it’s unknown territory, which led to a lot of speculation. In the Bahrain tests, when some of the bigger teams completed limited mileage, it simply fuelled this speculation. So to see so many cars finish the race surprised a lot of people. It shows that teams have got on top of their game and the uncertainties have been reduced to a large extent. Now it’s a question of really concentrating on trying to find the competitive advantage.

What can we expect this weekend in Malaysia?

VM: The weather in Melbourne was relatively cool so I’d like to see what impact the warmer climates of Malaysia and Bahrain will have on performance and competitiveness. Effective cooling will be a priority this weekend. If we can reproduce the performance level we showed in Melbourne that will be a good starting point.

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Ferrari F1 engine customers await solutions to catch up

Ferrari are on the back foot one race into the 2014 Formula 1 season, which also puts their engine customers in catch up mode.

Sauber team boss Monisha Kaltenborn told Auto Bild ahead of the Malaysian GP weekend, “We know where the weaknesses lie. We clearly have some catching up to do with the drive train.”

Reports in Italy claim that the all new Ferrari V6 yrubo power unit is too heavy and down on top end, relative to the Mercedes engine and even the Renault unit.

But Kaltenborn does not appear overly concerned, “They are already taking measures and within the next three races will you see a difference.”

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali commented, “We are behind, and when we [we will be able to] attack, is difficult to predict at this time.”

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Formula 1 arrival in Malaysia forces Flight 370 families out of hotel

A row has erupted after relatives of passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 had to change hotels when the Ferrari team touched down for this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix.

The media reports, including by German newspaper Die Welt, said that because Ferrari had reserved the rooms at the Cyberview Resort, the grieving relatives of those on the missing flight MH370 had to move out.

“When the first Ferrari employees wanted to check in, they were told that their rooms were occupied,” read the Welt report. ”After heated discussions, the Italians prevailed.”

A hotel spokeswoman confirmed: “It is true that the Chinese families were here, but they are already gone as we are fully booked because of the Formula 1 race.”

Welt added that the hotel arranged alternate accommodation near the Kuala Lumpur airport for the passengers’ families.

Formula 1 Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone commented: “I feel very sorry for the families of the passengers, but ultimately the decision lies with the hotels.

“Imagine what would happen if hotel bookings suddenly become invalid?” he added.

The newspaper said that hotel rooms for Formula 1′s vast travelling circus are booked “months, sometimes even years in advance”.

[MIKA27]

‘Submarine’ risk with new noses realised at season opener

Adrian Newey’s pre-season warnings about ‘submarining’ Formula 1 cars have already been realised.

Red Bull’s criticism of Formula 1′s all-new era had to be heard amid the depth of the reigning world champions’ winter crisis after four consecutive seasons of dominance.

Designer Newey, however, had expressed alarm about the new, low front noses, arguing not only that they are ugly, but they might also be dangerous.

The reduced height minimised the risk of cars being launched into the air, but “I am concerned the opposite may now happen, that cars now [will] submarine effectively,” the Briton had said.

Indeed, an alarming image of the crash involving Kamui Kobayashi and Felipe Massa at the first corner in Melbourne has now emerged.

The photograph depicts precisely what Newey had feared — the low front of Kobayashi’s Caterham ‘submarining’ under the diffuser of Massa’s Williams, which is lifted perhaps 30 cm off the Albert Park tarmac.

A similar incident at a higher speed could foreseeably result in contact between the elevated rear-end and the head of the ‘submarining’ driver.

[MIKA27]

Jan Magnussen in Malaysia for Kevin’s second race

Kevin Magnussen’s father, ex Formula 1 driver Jan Magnussen will be in Malaysia this weekend to watch his son in grand prix action for the first time.

The former McLaren and Stewart driver missed his son Kevin’s sensational podium on debut in Melbourne because he was racing a sports car on the other side of the world.

However, the 40-year-old Dane – who became a father at the tender age of 19 – will be at Sepang to watch Magnussen jr, 21, race a McLaren for the second time.

“Being 6000 miles away watching the race was not a lot of fun,” he admitted. “I do not want to do that too often.”

Magnussen admitted that the speed of Kevin’s rise to the Formula 1 podium, a feat he never achieved himself in his 25 starts, was surprising.

“He was good immediately but what is most impressive is how he developed and how he keeps getting better and keeps finding ways to improve,” he said.

“For the last couple of years he was extremely fast. The biggest change is how he is using his head and making things happen,” Jan Magnussen added.

As for this weekend at Sepang, “I can’t wait to be there to watch him,” Kevin’s father admitted.

[MIKA27]

Montoya says Schumacher is missing link at Ferrari

The missing link at Ferrari is Michael Schumacher claims Juan Pablo Montoya, a rival of the great seven time world champion who currently lies seriously injured in a French hospital after a skiing fall.

Schumacher and Colombian Montoya, who raced in NASCAR after leaving Formula 1 and who is now returning to the Indycar series, were often fierce competitors.

“We spoke once in the six years that we raced against each other,” Montoya, 38, is quoted by the German news agency DPA.

“He was a competitor, not a friend. Formula 1 is very closed – as a McLaren driver I couldn’t just go and sit in the Ferrari motor home.”

However, he obviously rated the German very highly, claiming that “The only time Ferrari did well was when Michael was there”.

Similarly, he said that if Schumacher’s return to Formula 1 with Mercedes was not successful, it was the fault of the Brackley based team.

“He didn’t just forget how to drive. It’s how it has always been in Formula 1,” Montoya insisted.

Beyond that, he said it is difficult to comment on the current state of the sport, as “For seven years I have not watched Formula 1″.

“Maybe one or two races a year.”

[MIKA27]

Hamilton admits he did not want to stop in Melbourne

Lewis Hamilton’s 2014 Formula 1 title campaign is still “very much on track”, however, he admits that he wanted to carry on racing despite being called into the pits early on in the Australian Grand Prix.

The Melbourne polesitter had to retire at Albert Park after his Mercedes engine – among a mere allocation of just five for the entire 19-race campaign – dropped from six to five cylinders in the early stages of the race.

“While I wanted to keep going,” Hamilton said in Australia, “[but] we had to play safe and save the engine.”

But it appears that Mercedes’ efforts to ‘save’ the turbo V6 ‘Power Unit’ have at least paid off.

The Mirror newspaper reports that the 2008 world champion, whose teammate Nico Rosberg is leading the drivers’ standings, has not yet lost the Melbourne-specification engine from his allocation for the season.

“The fortunate thing is that we did stop when we did,” Hamilton said in Kuala Lumpur, explaining that “something went wrong with the wiring” in Australia.

“I didn’t want to stop, I have to say,” he admitted. “The car was going but not very fast. I am keeping my fingers crossed and I think the engine is going to be usable.”

[MIKA27]

Stefan GP boss eyes Marussia’s place on F1 grid

Stefan Grand Prix boss Zoran Stefanovich, who tried and failed to enter the sport with defunct Toyota’s assets in 2010, is once again on the cusp of entering Formula 1.

Although it is believed the Serbian has withdrawn his application to put together a brand new team for 2015, Italy’s Omnicorse reports that Stefanovich has been in talks to take over existing backmarker Marussia.

The report said that the Stefanovich talks date back to last November, as the interest of current Marussia owner Nikolay Fomenko is waning under the stresses of the more expensive 2014 regulations.

Former Renault chief Flavio Briatore says the cost explosion in Formula 1 is “madness”.

“Given the current crisis, it is pointless to set a budget limit at $200 million,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport last week. “It only needs to be 100 million.

“It shouldn’t be forgotten that 30 per cent of the teams are at risk of not even finishing the season,” Briatore claimed.

Rubens Barrichello, the most experienced driver in Formula 1 history, who still attends the races for the Brazilian broadcaster Globo, was also linked with the latest Stefanovich reports.

[MIKA27]

Todt: I do not want Formula 1 economy runs and we can look to making it noisier

The FIA is not closed-minded about making its brave new engines louder and less fuel-efficient, president Jean Todt has revealed.

The low-profile Frenchman made the comments to the Italian broadcaster Rai following fierce criticism of the sport’s new ‘Power Unit’ era in the wake of the 2014 opener in Australia.

“There should be calm before reaction,” Todt is quoted.

However, he indicated that he agrees with those who think that the amount of fuel-saving necessary to get to the end of grands prix is excessive.

“I do not want Formula 1 ‘economy runs’,” said the former Ferrari team boss.

“The permitted amount of fuel, 100 kilograms, was proposed by the teams. For me it is not a problem if they want it to be 100kg.”

But Todt said fuel-saving had nothing to do with the lack of overtaking in Melbourne.

“Instead it is the aerodynamics of the cars and the circuit in Melbourne, for example, has never been very good for overtaking.

“I am convinced that very soon we will see a lot of overtaking,” he added. “So let’s wait before making judgements.”

Todt also indicated that he is alert to the shrill criticism of Formula 1′s new turbo V6 ‘Power Units’, which trackside at Albert Park were recently likened to ‘sewing machines on wheels’.

“The noise is obviously different now, and if there is a problem with it then if the teams agree we can look at a way to make it noisier,” he said, adding that he personally finds the tones of the new Formula 1 era “fascinating”.

[MIKA27]

'Confident' Kvyat looks forward to Sepang

After an impressive performance at the season opener in Australia, Formula One rookie Daniil Kvyat heads to the Malaysian Grand Prix in a confident mood.

The 19-year-old Russian performed well during changing conditions in qualifying at Albert Park to qualify in eighth place, before crossing the line in 10th place during the race the following day.

He was then put forward to ninth place after Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified, and in the process become the youngest-ever points scorer in the history of F1.

Following his performance Down Under, the GP3 Series Champion believes he is capable of performing even better on a circuit he has driven before.

"The second race of the season is also the first track that I have visited before," he confirmed to crash.net.

"I took my first ever single-seater win here for BMW in 2010 and this is also where I drove my very first single-seater race, so I have plenty of memories of this circuit - but it's going to seem very different this time, because there's a huge step from Formula BMW to F1!

"I am sure I can be more confident this weekend, after experiencing my first race weekend in Melbourne."

His Toro Rosso team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne also has fond memories of Sepang - it is there that he scored his first points in Formula One in 2012.

Despite his previous success there, the Frenchman admitted that the Kuala Lumpur track isn't his favourite.

"I have a happy memory of Sepang as it was here that I scored my first F1 points, but it's not one of my favourite tracks to be honest, as I don't feel it has any particularly challenging characteristics," he explained,

"The best thing about this race is its unpredictable nature because of the weather - you can start on slicks and, within a few laps, you need extreme wets because of a heavy storm! That can be fun for a driver..."

[MIKA27]

WHO CAN TAKE THE HEAT IN MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX?

The Malaysian Grand Prix is the second round of the 2014 FIA F1 World Championship and – from a reliability point of view – far more of a challenge for the teams than Melbourne.

The intense heat and humidity will stretch the cars’ cooling systems to the limit. With the new hybrid turbo power units and the powerful batteries in the Energy Recovery System, cooling is critical this year.

We may see several teams being forced to open the bodywork to improve cooling, which will hurt their aerodynamic performance and in some cases the stability of the cars in the corners. The 2014 cars have less rear end stability already than the 2013 cars due to the removal of the exhaust blown diffuser and one element of the rear wing.

The new tyres from Pirelli look pretty durable; the medium tyre showed very little degradation in Melbourne, although the rougher surface and higher cornering forces of Sepang will stress the tyres more, especially the front left.

The Sepang circuit is one of the first F1 venues to have been designed by architect Hermann Tilke and features his trademark long straights, hairpins and fast esses.

The start is always critical here; the distinctive first corner turns right and then left and always results in a big change of field order, with drivers winning and losing positions at the start of the race. Collisions like Alonso’s which broke his front wing last year, are common.

The circuit features a number of high energy corners. The first and third sectors of the lap at Sepang feature long straights and hairpin bends, while sector two has some medium and high speed corners, which load up the tyres.

Track characteristics – click on map to enlarge

Sepang International Circuit; 5.54 kilometres.

Race distance: 56 laps = 310 kilometres, 15 corners in total, a mixture of slow, medium and fast

Aerodynamic setup – Medium/high downforce.

Top speed 312km/h (with Drag Reduction System on rear wing) – 300km/h without.

Full throttle – 65% of the lap. Total fuel allowed for race distance: 100 kilos.

Time spent braking: 15% of the lap. 8 braking zones. Brake wear: Medium.

Total time needed for pit stop: 22 seconds.

The pit lane speed limit in Sepang is 100km/h, pit lane length is 425 metres.

Fuel effect (cost in lap time per 10kg of fuel carried): 0.36 seconds (average/high)

Form Guide

This is the 16th running of the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang. As far as drivers’ form is concerned; Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel have both won the race three times, Kimi Raikkonen has won it twice, while Jenson Button has also won here.

Alonso, Vettel and Felipe Massa all have two pole positions at Sepang. Button and Lewis Hamilton have one each. Hamilton and Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg are both looking for their first win in Malaysia.

Likely tyre performance and other considerations

Pirelli tyre choice for Sepang: Medium (Option) and Hard (Prime) – this is the same choice as for the last two seasons.

This year, with the greater demands of the powerful hybrid turbo engines, the Pirelli tyre compounds are all a step harder than in 2013. Despite this, Pirelli has once again chosen to bring the medium and hard tyres to Sepang, the hardest compounds in the range, to cope with the high temperatures, abrasive surface and faster corners.

Temperatures are also raised by the high wheel rotation speeds on the long straights. And with the high levels of torque this year, wheelspin is a problem under acceleration; this also damages the tyre.

The difference in performance between the two compounds should be between 1.3s and 1.5s per lap, which is a very significant gap.

Teams will want to establish this during Friday practice. With limits on engine mileage this year, as there are only 5 power units per driver for the 19 race championship, they will not get a complete picture from practice, so tyre models will be vital. As we saw in Melbourne, it is essential to know how long the optimum stint length is on each tyre, to have an attacking race strategy.

The data on the Medium tyre from Melbourne showed that the longest stint was 25 laps by Jenson Button’s McLaren. Sepang will present a far stiffer challenge.

Temperature is critical; Sepang experiences track temperatures of up to 45 degrees, some of the highest of the year, which is at the top end of the tyres’ operating range. The front left tyre is the most stressed at Sepang and can reach temperatures of 120 degrees centigrade. It is the fourth hardest track of the year on tyres (after Silverstone, Barcelona and Suzuka).

Number and likely timing of pit stops

The last two years have seen rain affected races, with multiple pit stops. If this year’s race is dry we can expect to see a two stop races, with teams using Medium-Medium-Hard as the preferred strategy. The performance gap between the two compounds is significant, so getting the right balance between an extra stop and a longer stint, losing time on the hard tyre will be vital.

From a strategy point of view a pit stop at Sepang is similar to Melbourne at 22 seconds. The long straights mean that the adjustable rear wing (DRS wing) is quite effective, making overtaking easy. So strategists can plan for the fastest race for their driver, without being concerned with losing time in traffic, unlike Melbourne, where it was very hard to overtake, even with a significant straight line speed advantage. On some laps, McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen had a 36km/h advantage over Daniel Ricciardo, but still could not pass him. That will not be a problem in Sepang.

Weather Forecast

The forecast for the weekend is for temperatures of 32-34 degrees, thunderstorms and a 60% chance of rain on race day.

Rain can always affect the outcome at Sepang as it can come at any time and can be very intense. For the last two years the race has been affected by rain. In 2012 the race was delayed by heavy rain. There must always be a degree of flexibility built into race strategy when planning for Sepang.

Chance of a safety car

Despite the weather hazards, the chance of a safety car at Sepang is incredibly low, by F1 standards, at 14% over last 7 years and an average of 0.1 safety cars per race. Where a safety car has been deployed it’s usually been because of heavy rain, as in 2009.

Pit stop League table

A measure of the total time it took the team and driver to make their fastest stop, based on the car entering and leaving the pit lane. This measures the team effort, including the driver in getting the car into the pit box.

1. Ferrari -21.825s

2. Lotus – 22.264s

3. McLaren -22.273s

4. Red Bull – 22.427s

5. Force India – 22.497s

6. Marussia – 22.656s

7. Toro Rosso – 22.978s

8. Williams – 23.117s

9. Caterham – 23.238s

10. Mercedes 23.673s

11. Sauber 23.797s

Start League Table

An indication of trends of drivers gaining and losing places at the start. Where drivers have had first lap incidents which dropped them to the back of the field, they are not included above, but are detailed in the notes marked * below. This affects other drivers’ gains and adjustments are made for that, but the sample still shows prevailing trends of places won and lost at the start.

Gained positions

1. Bottas, Maldonado +5 places

2. Ericsson +4

3. Raikkonen +3

4. Rosberg, Hulkenberg +2

5. Magnussen, Chilton, Sutil +1

Maintained position

Ricciardo

Lost positions

1. Hamilton, Vettel – 3 places

2. Alonso, Button, Vergne, Kvyat -1 place

Melbourne Notes: Kobayashi, Massa eliminated in a first corner accident; Perez, Gutierrez pitted at the end of Lap 1; Bianchi, Grosjean started from pit lane.

[MIKA27]

Did Red Bull say they could leave F1!?

A few websites have been running a story about Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz and his warning that the group could leave Formula 1. I guess that possibility exists but I’m not sure I read Dietrich’s comments as a warning so much as answering a question that was asked.

Mateschitz was asked about his previous comments concerning leaving F1 should it not be economically beneficial. Dietrich’s answer was addressing that question and suggested that it won’t be for economic reasons that they would leave but for political and sportsmanship reasons.

This is an answer that would naturally lead to the current appeal that Red Bull has lodged in regards to their disqualification in the Australian Grand Prix after Daniel Ricciardo finished a terrific 2nd in the race only to be accused of exceeding the 100kgs/hr fuel-flow rate.

Mateschitz defended their position on the issue but what I found more interesting in this interview, which you can see here, are his thoughts on the current state of F1. This, to me, would be more of a reason for departure and perhaps the websites running the story are pointing to these comments as proof they could leave the sport.

The interviewer asks Mateschitz about F1’s struggle to appeal to new fans and as a marketing expert, what he feels should be done. To this, Dietrich offers an indictment. Here is a Google translation:

“The formula 1 again to make to what it always was: the supreme discipline. It is there neither to set new records in gasoline consumption, nor that you can talk in a whisper during a race, the loudest of the pit radio and the greatest feeling is a squealing tires. I consider it equally absurd that we go to a second slower than last year and that the junior series GP2 partially already offers more motor sports and martial and almost equal fast times goes like Formula 1 at a fraction of the budget.”

Although the translation is a bit jolting, I think you can get the idea—he’s not happy with the current format. To those ends, I don’t think Ferrari is either.

Ferrari started an online survey on their website asking fans if they are happy with F1 now. To be exact, they ask the simple question, “Do you like this new Formula 1?” and so far there have been 8,245 votes with 60% saying “No” and 40% saying “Yes”.

In the end, Dietrich Mateschitz is not happy with the direction of F1 and I don’t think that has much to do with their being on the back foot or offering sour grapes. That’s how it will be perceived by those who relish a season without Sebastian Vettel at the front of the grid but I’m not sure that takes into account the political undertow that is currently sucking people under in F1.

The regulations are massive, expensive and have not been received very well. The future of F1 is obfuscated with the German trial in April of Bernie Ecclestone and the current majority-owners who aren’t too keen to re-invest in F1 so much as skim 100’s of millions out of the series for stakeholders.

I believe Dietrich in that F1 will remain salient to his organization so long as it dovetails with what he believes to be the best appeal of F1 and that may not be where the series is right now.

You could suggest that this is reactionary due to their current struggles but I would suggest Honda, BMW and Toyota as examples of organizations who left F1 due to the lack of economic viability and relevancy (yes, they said it wasn’t relevant to their business model and I know that was a bit of a smoke screen for global economic crunch but nonetheless, they said it).

The bigger question for me is the current state of F1. One wonders if F1 isn’t actually tagging 2014 as the year the bottom fell out. Not in a sky-is-falling way but in a political and economic way.

Will the series experience another decline of 50 million viewers? Will Ecclestone be removed from the leadership of F1? Are the teams comfortable with the fan reaction to the new F1? Will they want to carry that brand equity nightmare into their road car sales efforts at Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren? All big questions but at the lest of these is Red Bull threatening to leave F1 over their appeal case.

The appeal is more to do with the regulatory measurement of F1 not being in line with what perfection should be and we’re talking about a bunch of engineering wonks here folks so a variance of +/- .010 is unacceptable.

What do you think Dietrich meant by his comments? Do you think he’s suggesting Red Bull could leave over this appeal process should it not go in their favor?

[MIKA27]

McLaren upgrades are working, says Button

Jenson Button says his McLaren is short on downforce at the moment but is encouraged that the team’s development programme is yielding results.

Looking ahead to this weekend’s race in Malaysia he said: “Sepang is a great driver’s circuit, and even if we don’t have the overall downforce we want, we should have the balance and driveability to make the car work.”

“And that’s really encouraging,” he added, “because it means we go into a race weekend knowing that we can usually get the maximum from the car during the sessions and the race.”

“Even if we don’t yet have the pace to take the fight to the frontrunners, we should have a car that’s decent in every sector, and which we’ll be able to hustle through the race – and that definitely counts for something.”

McLaren endured a trying 2013 with the uncompetitive MP4-28. They failed to score a podium finish all year long but both drivers scored top-three results in the first race of the new season.

“Australia was a really motivational race for the entire team – even though we still have work to do,” said Button. “It feels like we’ve turned a corner, and that we have a race car we can definitely work with this year.”

Button added the team were encouraged to see their new developments were working as expected when they were put on the car.

“We brought some useful upgrades to Melbourne, and it was encouraging that they worked straight out of the box, but it’s essential that we keep pushing new items through the development pipeline, especially at these flyaway races, where it’s harder to bring new parts to the circuit.”