Category: Formula 1

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Webber bored with whinging rivals

2012 Hungarian Grand Prix

Australian F1 star Mark Webber, currently second in the drivers’ championship, is enjoying the mid-season break by taking in as much of the London Olympics as he can. But he’s also found time to have a crack at the critics of his team, Red Bull Racing. It’s not the first time Webber has fired a shot this year either.

Red Bull has attracted unwanted scrutiny for its holey floors and ECU engine mapping. There’s also been questions over the ride-height system on the RB8 and that its adjustability may not meet the FIA’s regulations.

“I think it’s incredibly boring for most people,” Webber said. “All we can do is keep passing every single test and we have… it’s not a one-make series, you can design a car to the regulations and that’s what we do.”

So far, Red Bull has not been penalised for any of the controversies it has been involved in, but in the case of the holey floor and ECU mapping, the FIA has forced the team’s hand into a change.

Mark reckons Red Bull seems to find its issues in the public view, whereas other teams don’t seem to attract the same attention.

“I know other teams have been asked to address things with their cars, but they (the FIA directives) are not for general consumption. And some of ours do make the general consumption, which is just the way it’s been,” he said.

Webber went on to praise the genius of Red Bull’s chief designer Adrian Newey, even comparing him to former Apple CEO Steve Jobs. He also said he expects Red Bull will continue to be closely watched.

“We know there are a lot of teams that copy what we have and there’s a lot of things where the interpretation of the rules gets changed and we take it on the chin as well.

“Whether it’s with the wings or whatever—and there’ll be something else I promise you that will pop up—we will always pass every single test.

“Not one single team has protested us, because they know it’s within the rules,” Webber concluded.

[Source: Reuters | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1

It’s all or nothing for Pirelli in F1

Pirelli P Zero F1 tyres

Talk of a new tyre war in Formula One has been quickly quashed by Pirelli’s Paul Hembery. Since returning as the sole supplier in 2011 Pirelli has had to continually answer critics who bemoan the rapid rate of tyre degradation, even though that was part of Pirelli’s brief after replacing Bridgestone.

Hembery said Pirelli would not be interested in continuing to supply F1 if the sport allowed another tyre company to compete.

“We work for the sport. The sport has to decide what it wants,” said Hembery.

“If it wants a tyre war and procession racing again, like it did in the early 2000s, when the audience disappeared, then that’s one approach. It’s not for us to decide.

“We will wait and see if the rules change. If they change, then we will consider it. At the moment the teams are certainly not interested in a tyre war.”

Hembrey says the addition of a competitor would cost both suppliers more money and that due to the variables from team to team that the performances of each tyre would be difficult to judge.

“What does it really mean to have a tyre war? If it means spending 100 million Euros to go half a second quicker—and you can’t even prove that you have the better tyre, because the teams will dominate still—it is pointless,” explained Hembery.

“Ultimately no-one could really make out what tyres were on what car when there was a tyre war. Nobody knew, because all the money was being spent on trying to find performance that the public couldn’t see. And if the public can’t see it, we don’t understand it.”

[Source: Planet F1]

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Formula 1 Lotus Red Bull Racing

VIDEO: 22.2 seconds in 25 years

Monaco Grand Prix, 1986 v 2011

Ever wondered how fast a modern F1 car is compared to one from the 1980s? Wonder no more as this video compares two of the best one-lap exponents from each era: Ayrton Senna at the 1986 Monaco GP in the Lotus 98T and Sebastian Vettel from the 2011 race in the title-winning Red Bull RB7.

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F1 in pictures Formula 1 Random wallpapers

Sauber F1.08 cutaway wallpapers

Sauber F1.08 cutaway

Back in May we saw the awesome video from the Sauber F1 Team showing their F1.08 cut in half. Chief designer, Matt Morris, was on hand to guide us through the maze and at the time we declared it the “coolest behind the scenes F1 video you will see all year.” Nothing we’ve seen since has changed our view.

Now, we must thank the Sauber F1 Team again for making wallpaper-friendly still images of the F1.08 cutaway available. In all we have 14 photos for you, all available as 2000px super images. In case you missed it the first time we’ve added the video after the break as well.

Before you go, here’s a few words from Sauber about the project and the F1.08:

When mechanics at the Sauber F1 Team set about slicing a Formula One car down the centre line, they were embarking on a labour of love. The idea – hatched in late 2009 – was the brainchild of Sergio Bonagura, a former car chief for the race team. Mechanics at the Sauber factory created the exhibit over a period of two years, investing a fair amount of their downtime and demonstrating the precision of true craftsmen and impressive attention to detail in the process. Since this was not something anyone had done before, the team had no template to follow. And yet, come spring 2012, the model was complete and the cameras were ready to roll.

The car in question is a BMW Sauber F1.08. The 2008 season was the most successful yet for Sauber. At the Canadian Grand Prix that year Sauber celebrated its first, and so far only, F1 victory, Robert Kubica taking the win and Nick Heidfeld following him across the line to wrap up a one-two finish. In total the F1.08 recorded 11 podiums, one pole position (Kubica in Bahrain) and two fastest race laps (Heidfeld in Malaysia and Germany).

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Formula 1 Lotus McLaren

2012 Hungarian GP: Post-race press conference

2012 Hungarian Grand Prix

We bring you the transcript from last night’s Hungarian Grand Prix. Interestingly the text does not include the Placido Domingo podium interviews. With any luck the FIA will realise that approach needs some work.

With the benefit of hindsight a two-stop strategy was the quickest way, as Hamilton explains below. Meanwhile, Mark Webber was left to rue his decision to three-stop: “We were hoping people would be in a bit more trouble with their tyres at the end. We were in fifth place and had a nice cushion, but we’ve had plenty of times this year where the tyres had stopped working towards the end of the race,” he explained.

“Today it didn’t really work out that way and we lost places through trying something different. I was quicker in the closing stages, but it’s hard to overtake here and I couldn’t get the job done. Still, we moved up three places from the start, we have good points and it’s very open for the rest of the year.”

According to Christian Horner, Webber developed a “differential issue” on lap 45.

Lewis Hamilton didn’t need to make excuses and this thoughts, along with the Lotus duo, can be read after the break, thanks to the FIA.

[Pic: Lotus F1 Team/LAT Photographic]

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Formula 1 Lotus McLaren

Lewis Hamilton wins 2012 Hungarian GP

Lewis Hamilton wins 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) has capped off a great weekend by winning the 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix. Starting from pole position, Hamilton secured his 19th career win without being seriously troubled, despite having Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) sniffing around his gearbox in the closing stages of the race.

Romain Grosjean ensured Lotus enjoyed two steps on the podium by finishing third. On another day Lotus may well have broken through for their first win of the year.

Hamilton’s victory adds to his win at the Canadian Grand Prix and makes him the season’s third multiple winner behind Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber.

Tonight’s race was reduced by one lap from the planned 70 laps after a somewhat confusing aborted start. In the wash up Michael Schumacher (Mercedes AMG) started from pit lane. It was a dirty day for the former champ; he qualified a lowly 17th and eventually retired from the race on lap 58.

Mark Webber (Red Bull) made a great start from P11 and was in P7 by the end of the opening lap. He’ll be a little disappointed that his three-stop strategy did not yield a better finishing position than P8. He remains second in the drivers’ championship, but dropped points to all those in the running for this year’s title.

Thanks to Webber’s relatively poor result, Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), who could only manage to cross the line in P5, can consider himself lucky to have increased his championship lead to 40 points. However, a pack is bunching up behind Webber (124pts). Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull, 122) and Hamilton (117) are sandwiched between Webber and Raikkonen (116), meaning just eight points separate positions two to five.

Further down the field Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) managed to overcome his lower starting position and finish ahead of his teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne. Although, as seems typical for these two, they finished one behind the other with not much daylight in between.

It’s worth noting Alonso’s championship gain has not been matched by his Ferrari team. Strong results for McLaren and Lotus sees them leap frog the red team in the constructors’ race. Updated tables and the final finishing order from Budapest can be seen after the break.

For the trivia buffs, we once again saw the post-race interview carried out on the podium. We can’t say we care too much for this arrangement, despite the pedigree of former interviewers Sir Jackie Stewart and Niki Lauda at the British and German races respectively. But we were further taken aback to see Spanish tenor Placido Domingo behind the mic in Hungary tonight.

The F1 circus now enters a month long mid-season break and will return for the Belgian Grand Prix on 2 September.

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Formula 1 Lotus McLaren Red Bull Racing

2012 Hungarian GP: Qualifying report

2012 Hungarian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has dominated this weekend’s proceedings at the Hungarian Grand Prix, culminating with pole position after last night’s qualifying session. The resurgent McLaren driver wasn’t troubled in Q3 and finished four tenths quicker (1:20.953) than Romain Grosjean (Lotus, 1:21.366). Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull, 1:21.416) was close behind and rounded out the top three.

It was a bad night for the Australians with Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) narrowly missing progression through to Q2. Afterwards the 23-year-old said: “It’s frustrating and a bit disappointing not to have made the cut to Q2, as this is the first time I’ve been stuck in Q1 all season and it would have been nice to keep that sheet clean.”

Ricciardo added, “I’ll try and make up for this disappointment tomorrow.”

It was a similar tale for Mark Webber (Red Bull) who was knocked out of Q3 at the death by 0.018 seconds thanks to Bruno Senna (Williams). It was a bitter blow for Webber who was the quickest man in Practice 3, and the only driver so far this weekend, to head Hamilton at the top of the timesheets.

“I was happy with the car this morning, I was quick in P3, but I didn’t feel happy on that last set of soft tyres in Q2 and struggled against my scrub time, which is a bit bizarre,” Webber bemoaned. “The field is tight at the moment and it’s disappointing to qualify in P11 obviously. Our race pace should be okay tomorrow.

Hamilton’s pole position is the 23rd of his career and the 150th for McLaren. You can read what Lewis, Grosjean and Vettel had to say after quali in the full transcript available below, thanks to the FIA.

[Pic: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

FIA expected to ban Red Bull engine map

2012 German Grand Prix

Following last weekend’s late drama regarding Red Bull’s engine mapping the FIA is expected to issue a directive clarifying the contentious Article 5.5.3 of the sport’s technical regulations.

German GP stewards followed the request of the FIA’s technical delegate, Jo Bauer, who suspected Red Bull’s torque curves were in contravention of the rules, but found that as the rules were written no action could be taken.

The FIA’s Techical Working Group met yesterday, ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix. It’s expected that will result in a rewriting of the relevant regulation, forcing Red Bull to change their mapping.

This will please McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh and Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicali, both critics of the stewards’ decision at Hockenheim.

“If you are allowed to do that, everyone will be spending a lot of money to run that kind of map and as quickly as you can. Clearly, the FIA is frustrated by it, so better to stop doing it,” Whitmarsh said.

While Doemenicali added, “We are relying on the regulator, the FIA, to make sure that it is a fair fight.”

It’s the second time this year the FIA has retrospectively forced Red Bull’s hand after they banned the ‘tyre squirt’ holes used in the floor of the RB8 at Bahrain, Spain and Monaco.

[Source: grandprix.com | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1 Volkswagen

VW mentioned in same sentence as F1 (again)

2012 German Grand Prix

As often as Volkswagen denies it is interested in Formula One a new rumour emerges. This time it involves the Sauber F1 Team and the theory was given new life at the German Grand Prix last weekend.

Peter Sauber himself is at the centre of the latest speculation, too. When told of the rumours, rather than deny them he simply replied: “Indeed it is so.”

Sauber went on to add: “At the Geneva Motor Show we had a meeting with [Dr Martin] Winterkorn [Volkswagen Chairman]. We are certainly not going to make public the content of the conversation.”

As has been the case in the past, it may be safe to expect nothing further to come of this. If something did happen, it’s likely Volkswagen would play the role of engine supplier when the new regs start in 2014.

[Source: WCF | Pic: Sauber Motorsport AG]

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Ferrari Formula 1 Lotus McLaren Red Bull Racing

2012 German GP: Post-race press conference

2012 German Grand Prix

Here’s the press conference from last night’s German Grand Prix, won by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. As you’ll see from the transcript a lot of the questions focus on the overtaking move of Sebastian Vettel on Jenson Button. The German Grand Prix stewards showed no favours to Vettel, handing down the local lad a 20 second penalty, enough to push him to fifth.

So the revised finishing order for the race is Alonso (Ferrari), Button (McLaren) and returning F1 star Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus). Seeing as Kimi didn’t get a chance to have his say in the official post-race press conference here’s a few words from the typically understated Finn after confirmation came through that he had won a Clatyons’ podium.

“Maybe if we had found a bit more pace in the wet yesterday we could have started higher and pushed the leaders, but it is what it is. For sure we were hoping for a bit better here, but the car worked well all through the race and we still brought home some good points for the team so there are some positives to take to the next race,” Raikkonen said.

It will be interesting when we get to season’s end to see what effect this loss of eight points has on Vettel’s title position.

One more thing before you start reading the text below; if anyone from the FIA happens to be reading this: Please, no more post-race interviews on the podium!

[Pic: Ferrari]

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Ferrari Formula 1 McLaren Red Bull Racing

Fernando Alonso wins 2012 German GP

Fernando Alonso wins German GP

Fernando Alonso won the 2012 German Grand Prix and in doing so has established clear air at the top of the championship table.

Starting from pole position the Ferrari driver made a clean get away off the line and in real terms led unhindered until the chequered flag. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) put a late move on an impressive Jenson Button (McLaren), using all the track and then some, to cross the line in second place.

Red Bull went into the race under a cloud when the stewards were asked to judge on the engine mapping of both Red Bull cars and they have ended the race the same way, with Vettel under scrutiny for his move on Button. We’ll update you if we hear of any post-race penalties; likely to be the equivalent of a drive through penalty, which could drop Vettel as low as seventh.

Aside from that the only real action in this race was Felipe Massa (Ferrari) making a nuisance of himself in the first hundred or so metres when he clipped the back wheel of Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) during the race start. Thankfully the only damage was to Massa’s front wing and no harm was done to the car of the young Australian.

Massa recovered to finish in P12, ahead of Ricciardo, himself narrowly in front of his teammate Jean-Eric Vergne. Alas, Massa’s stocks at Ferrari are surely continuing to plummet as he arses about down the field while his ever impressive teammate is finding his way to the top of the podium.

Mark Webber didn’t translate his pre-race confidence into race pace and finished eighth, the same position he started. The four points gained, though, are enough for him to hang on to his second place in the drivers’ championship.

In winning the race at Hockenheim Alonso collects his third winning trophy from the German track and his third win for 2012. After narrowly missing out on the win two weeks ago at Silverstone he’ll be hoping he can make the most of his good form when the teams head to Hungary next weekend.

UPDATE: The stewards have handed Sebastian Vettel a 20 second penalty for gaining an advantage off the track when passing Jenson Button.

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

German GP: No penalty for Red Bull

2012 German Grand Prix

Stewards have acted quickly after being urged to consider engine map irregularities found in both Red Bull cars by the FIA Technical Delegate, Jo Bauer. A statement has since been released by the stewards clearing Red Bull:

“The stewards received a report from the FIA technical delegate, along with specific ECU data from Red Bull Racing cars one and two. The stewards met with the team representatives and the representative of the engine supplier Renault.

“While the stewards do not accept all the arguments of the team, they however conclude that as the regulation is written, the map presented does not break the text of article 5.5.3 of the Formula One Technical Regulations and therefore decide to take no further action.”

That means Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber will start the race from P2 and P8 respectively. We also expect Article 5.5.3 of the regs may get a rewrite quite soon.

[Source: F1 fanatic]