Hypercar Battles: LaFerrari enters the 'Ring

The guys over at RSR Nürburg were kind enough to go shoot the Ferrari LaFerrari (I'm sorry, I still gag every time...) ripping around the Nordschleife at the moment.

The sound is good but the speed, is it good enough?  We'll find out eventually, but only if the boys from Maranello break Porsche's recent record.

The standings so far

Porsche 918: 6:57
Mclaren P1: 7:04 (unofficial)
Ferrari laFerrari:  ??

@AussieGrit...

Mark Webber called out on Twitter  Derek Warwick, one of the stewards in Singapore who handed him and Alonso reprimands for the taxi ride.
While in some sense the stewards hands were tied by regulations which call for an automatic 10 grid spot penalty after 3 reprimands  (the Grosjean rule, I guess),  common sense says you don't penalize sportsmen for a sporting act at a sporting event.

Looks like even one of the Singapore stewards has done it...#C'estlavie pic.twitter.com/TeoJwTM9WN
— Mark Webber (@AussieGrit) September 24, 2013

Will the Alfa Romeo 4c be a little Speciale?

I think the biggest problem the Alfa Romeo 4c has is nobody seems to believe it can possibly deliver what it promises:  a sub 2000lbs (dry) car with a carbon chassis,  Sub 5 sec 0-60, sub the price of a Cayman.

So will the little Alfa live up to the promise?

All real journalists were in Torino for the 4c launch and, lucky for us, at least one is a real driver as well.

Take it away Chris Harris...

Well done FIA... Webber hit with ridiculous penalty

The FIA handed official reprimands to both Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber after the race in Singapore.

Why?  Because Alonso stopped to give Webber a lift after the australian's engine gave up the ghost on the last lap and Webber went onto the track without permission from the marshals.

For Webber, this being his third reprimand of the season, it means an automatic ten spot penalty in Korea in two weeks.

Well played FIA,  well played.  Perhaps fans are booing the wrong person.

Comparing Vettel and Rosberg: What does 0.092 of a second look like?

It was too close for comfort in Singapore for Red Bull who decided to save an unused set of option tires for the race.  Nico Rosberg came very, very close to nipping the top spot from Vettel.

I went to the onboard and lined up the two runs, which were just 0.091 of a second apart and it's quite interesting to see the different characteristics between the cars and the two drivers side by side.

I encourage you to stop the clip in various places and compare.  You will find Vettel almost always is braking later and carries less speed into the apex than Rosberg  but is consistently faster from mid corner on.

The Mercedes is quite a bit quicker in a straight line 298 km/h vs 292 for the Red Bull,  but Vettel knows how to take advantage of the extra downforce the RB9 is producing and, on those short straights, his advantage in speed will pay off if he's ahead.     Were he to be behind after the first corner, the deficit in top speed will make it hard for him to pass.

Will it be over in one corner tomorrow, another Vettel domination?  I'm afraid it's quite likely, especially with Seb holding that extra set of brand new options in hand.  One unknown (to us), is the state of his gearbox if it's the same one he was nursing at Monza.

Check the video after the break.

Speed Secret Saturday: Debriefing.

Sebastian Vettel and "Rocky" Rocquelin

Communicating with your race engineers (even if that engineer is yourself) is crucial and this week Ross Bentley has a handy, prioritized list of for you to follow.


Handling Debrief Process

Alonso and Andrea Stella

Whether you have a team of engineers working on your car, or you discuss your car's handling problems while looking in a mirror each and every time you come off the track, you should consider what setup changes you could make to your car.

Of course, your answer may be, "Nothing," since you may have decided (smartly) that you're not going to make changes to your car until you know for sure that you've gotten most everything out of your own driving.
Still, I think a good habit to get into at the end of each on-track session is to ask yourself, "If I could make the car do one thing better, what would it be?"

Kimi debriefing

In doing so, you may uncover a driving issue or technique you want to improve before making changes to your car, but you might also discover a critical handling issue.

Having asked yourself that one all-important question, I then recommend the following process for debriefing on your car's handling (again, you can use this to debrief with yourself if you're your own "engineer").

Ask yourself these questions, in this order:

1. What is the car doing? Understeer, oversteer or neutral?
2. Where is the car doing it? Which turn(s)?
3. Where in the turn(s)? Entry, mid or exit?
4. What am I doing when the car does this?
5. Braking? 
6. Trail braking? 
7. Releasing brakes? 
8. Coasting? 
9. Maintenance throttle? 
10. On power? 
11. Slowly turning steering wheel? 
12. Crisply turning steering wheel? 
13. Steady steering? 
14. Unwinding the steering wheel?
15. Is it the car or me? Am I inducing the handling problem, or is it the car?

If you follow the process of asking these questions, in this order, I'll guarantee you'll learn something that'll make you and your car faster. If you answer these questions honestly, digging deep for the answers, what to do setup-wise (or with your driving technique) will become obvious.

Ross Bentley
For more of Ross' writing, along with articles by other famous and not-so-famous contributors, go to www.speedsecretsweekly.com. He can be reached at ross@speedsecretsweekly.com.

7 Sandwich

There's an obvious risk in claiming a link with Formula One when your F1 cars are perennially fighting for the last two spots on the grid but, in the case of Caterham, it's obvious they know how to make one car very, very well,  the 7.
The 7 is the evolution of Colin Chapman's late 1950's design, meaning Caterham scoff at Porsche for changing design too often.

So it should come as no surprise that ,when it came time to release a new "concept" car, the first new design since...1957.  what they ended up doing is taking a Caterham CSR and sandwich it between two slices of bodywork.

Monkey Revival!

Flickr/Seberry67

Check out Chris Harris getting really out of shape a Lister Jaguar at the Goodwood chicane...  will Monkey make it stick?....

check it out after the break!

Whoa!

WRC Rally Australia.  Are you awake now?

(Hat tip to BM from España!)

AIM Smartycam HD

AIM recently released an HD version of their Smartycam integrated data camera.  The Smartycam HD may not be a true HD camera as it's limited to 720p resolution but it is plenty for YouTube use and a vast improvement over the older 480p version...

Scandinavians Like Bugs

Granted, I have no idea what they are actually saying but I think it has something to do with VW Bugs...

Lamborghini Safety Car Fail.

Italian GT Championship at Vallelunga.   Granted, conditions were horrible but it's at the very least bad form for the safety car, a 4WD Lamborghini Gallardo to spin!

How bad was it? check out the highlight video after the break
(Via Michela Cerruti who was driving the white BMW Z4 GT3 you see caught out in the highlight clip)

A Ford GT40 in the wet is quite a handful.

Kenny Brack manhandling Adrian Newey's Ford GT40 on a wet Goodwood track during qualifying for this year's special GT40 only race celebrating 50 years of the iconic American racer.

You can watch the amazing Goodwood revival live on YouTube as it's happening streaming live on Youtube, after the break.

Speed Secrets Saturday: Managing Mistakes

I feel that all too often, instruction at track days is an exercise in making students terrified about making mistakes,  deviating from "the line" or "the way" of doing things.    
Granted, instructor self preservation plays a part and basics do have to be learned but, at a certain point, as a driver you need to realize turning in early does not automatically mean you will crash in a ball of fire.
In fact, mistakes are an integral part of learning and if you do things always the same way, you will not improve.
Managing your mistakes is the theme of this week's SSS with driver coach guru Ross Bentley.

Photo: Jamey Price

Managing Mistakes

Making mistakes is one of the most natural and human things we do. Accept it. In fact, the more you try to resist making mistakes, the more likely it will be that you’ll make them. Instead, accept that you're going to make mistakes, but focus on minimizing their effects and on learning from them instead. Mistakes are really "learning-takes."

Post Kimi F1 rumor roundup.

Romain Grosjean at Monza. Glenn Dunbar/Lotus F1 Team.

In the wake of Raikkonen's hiring there have been a couple of interesting "buzz" news that go like this:

Photo: RenaultSport

Lotus F1 Team might become Renault:

The engine manufacturer, tired of having low R.O.I. in F1 with Vettel, Newey and Red Bull Infiniti getting all the credit would exchange a free engine supply to the Enstone team for naming rights.

Certainly a return to the Yellow and Blue/Black liveries would be welcomed by fans but I  cannot imagine Renault would tie its name to a team that has just lost its star driver and engineering talents.

Massa might end up at Williams:

Petrobras dollars would replace PDVSA dollars.  I would think Williams would jump at that and with Mercedes engines coming to the team it could be a good ride for Massa.   More buzz is that Rob Smedley would follow "Philip" to Sir Frank's team.


Ferrari has poached more Lotus talent:

This is not a rumor,  along with James Alison,  the Scuderia hired long time lotus aero man Dirk de Beer.  See above.

Let's talk about Alonso and Raikkonen...and a bit about Massa.

Since the Raikkonen announcement, the only ones more giddy than Ferrari fans (and Bernie Ecclestone) have been the, mostly British, Alonso haters convinced the Iceman will wipe the floor with him and force him into a hissy fit.

Got news for you guys:   not happening.

Kimi and Fernando are now seasoned professionals:

Kimi will be 35 next season, Fernando 33.   They have been around the block.  It's not to say Fernando might not get impatient with the team but if he does it will be because Ferrari will not have been able to come up with a competitive car not because of Raikkonen hiring, an operation apparently a year in the making.

But, with Hamilton at Mclaren you say: 

Very different situation.  Alonso went to Mclaren in 2007 convinced he would be the #1 driver (he was a 2 time Champion after all) he found the team had other ideas to go along with stolen owner's manuals.    With Ferrari next year, it's clear the whole point of hiring Raikkonen is to change directions away from the champion and brazilian doormat driver combos the Scuderia had for the last 13 seasons.
Since the Mclaren days  Alonso had changed and matured tremendously, his never give up attitude now a model for Hamilton 2.0, you may have noticed.

Oh but Kimi will be faster than you Fernando, you say:

No,  Kimi will push Fernando hard but there is no doubt Alonso is, all else being equal, the strongest driver in F1 today.  If anything Alonso should feel measuring himself in the same car against one of the other three top drivers of the moment is much more satisfying than being faster than Massa,    Red Bull for Vettel picked an obviously "#2" second driver.

I also read comments from Brazilian fans lamenting how Ferrari ruined Massa's career, forcing him to be subordinate.  Massa  was touted as Schumacher's protege but then when the big man retired Ferrari hired Kimi as #1 and after Massa almost won the championship, Ferrari hired Alonso.
Did "Felipe, baby" stand up and leave? No, he (understandably) wanted to be a Ferrari driver so badly he accepted the subordinate role.

Ferrari for their part have been very loyal to him, perhaps more than any other team would have been, maybe because he was happy to wear the Santa suit at company christmas parties.

I don't see where he could drive next year,  Sauber perhaps if the Swiss team can find a way to keep Sirotkin as test driver for the first year.  There he would bring good relations with engine supplier Ferrari and a wealth of invaluable experience.

Meanwhile, on a rally stage in Poland...

Robert Kubica almost takes out a herd of cows.    Robert,  c'mon man...

Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari is official...

OK,  don't think I'm going too far out on a limb here,  (a probably fake) Stefano Domenicali posted this picture, captioned "#2014Helmet", on his Instagram page....

No batteries, No turbo, No wing, just pure sex Speciale!

It may be the last and the greatest of the normally aspirated enthusiast super sports cars.
Some corners of the internets are busy arguing it's "ugly",  weird, no?

We're happy ogling  the newly released videos from Ferrari and focusing of figures like ...oh pick one... let's say 0-60 in 3.0secs, just one 1/10 slower than a 1114 hp, $2.5 million Koenigsegg Agera R while certainly destroying is on any track....    yeah, now that's  ugly.

Porsche 918: 6 minutes 57 seconds.

Porsche 918 on  record 6:57 run Photo: Porsche AG

Last week,  the car internets got very excited about a Mclaren P1 timed at 7:01 around the Nürburgring.   Not as excited was Mclaren who did not publicize the fact, why?

It's Frankfurt Auto Show time and notoriously Nordschleife time shy Porsche announced a Martini liveried hybrid drive 918, driven by factory driver Marc Lieb, was timed at under seven minutes on the 'Ring:

Good Morning!

British GP, Zandvoort.  Shot by Xynamic Sports Photography.  Turn it up.

Kimi at Ferrari is a done deal.

Fire and Ice,  Kimi in Red....the pun headline writers will be working overtime from now until wednesday when Ferrari will make the official announcement,according to members of British, Italian and German media.  

Wednesday is the opening of the Frankfurt auto show so, it would seem to be be an occasion for headlines.   If it really is Kimi though, knowing the effect this would have on Massa, might indicate Ferrari has given up on the title chase for this year ahead of Singapore, the final possibility for Alonso barring the unlikely scenario of multiple DNFs at Red Bull.

If it really comes to be, Raikkonen would give Ferrari arguably the best driver pair going into the new turbo era for F1.  They both excel at reliability and both are fighters behind the wheels.  

For the fans it would be a win win situation but will Ferrari be able to manage the human side with two roosters in one Scuderia after all these years with a clear top chicken strategy?

What warms up your tires?

If you've ever wondered how much of a factor  heat from the brakes is in heating tires on an F1 car, look no further than this video of Paul Di Resta's warm up lap through that cool infrared camera.

Several interesting bits:   At the very first chicane he locks up just a bit and you can see what a dramatic hotspot that creates.
You can see how much the airflow cools the rubber but also how quickly it lights up in the corners,  Interesting that you see the inside wheel light up under braking.

Finally as the car comes to a stanstill on the grid, you see the effect of brake heat.  Check out how at the green , you can see the cold spot from where the tire was touching the asphalt!

All that heat though was not enough to prevent Di Rest from locking up into the Variante della Roggia (T4...) and smashing into Grosjean's Lotus, which miraculously survived the impact.

Meanwhile, on a rally stage in Argentina...

Argentina, Rally de Campo Viera Misiones, the team of Sebastian Llamosas and Mauricio Sainz have run into a throttle linkage issue.


Luckily, they are Axis of Oversteer readers and remembered the post about a similar issue in France....

Legends,  check the video after the break

Nerves for Ferrari, Front row for Red Bull in Italy

No matter how you want to look at it, when your top driver refers to the pit wall brain trust as "geniuses" (with heavy irony) things are not, in RonSpeak, optimized for maximum performance.

What happened?   Ferrari, unlike anyone else in the field, purposely set out with a strategy to have Alonso get a tow from Massa.   It's a risky strategy: it can help but it can also ruin a lap if you get it wrong.  In Q3  Massa and Alonso were released so that somehow Ricciardo  was between them on their warmup lap and Alonso lost time and contact with Felipe.

Massa slowed and by sector 3 they were in tow but in the meantime Fernando let fly a heavy " should have let him by, you are truly geniuses,  c'mon guys"  ( c'era da farlo passare, veramente site dei geni.  Mamma mia ragazzi).

At the very least a sign that Alonso is not happy about the way things are managed.  At worse they are hints of a driver coming a bit undone.  Certainly with di Montezemolo and all the Ferrari brass in the pits and having that message go out on the world feed, even if in Italian,  will not go over well.
 Of course this is only a snippet of conversation and one must ask, exactly who makes the editorial decisions on which radio calls to make public and what might be their motives?

There was no catching Vettel today, the Red Bull was consistently 2 to 3/10th faster in the German's hands.   But behind him, P2 to P7 all were within less than 5/10ths.

Ferrari's plan for Alonso did not work out because Massa ended up getting a bit of a tow from Webber, enough to pip Fernando by 1/100th of a second.  Massa however will have to start on the "dirty side"  behind Webber so it may not be ideal.

There is also a chance of rain which might explain the bad performance in qualifying from Lotus today.    Hamilton was held up by Sutil quite clearly in Q2 and did not make the final pole shootout.

Pos Driver                Team                 Time           Gap   
 1. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m23.755s
 2. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m23.968s  +0.213s
 3. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari       1m24.065s  +0.310s
 4. Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m24.132s  +0.377s
 5. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m24.142s  +0.387s
 6. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m24.192s  +0.437s
 7. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m24.209s  +0.454s
 8. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes     1m24.502s  +0.747s
 9. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m24.515s  +0.760s
10. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m28.050s  +4.295s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m24.776s                                   Gap **
11. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m24.610s  +0.633s
12. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes             1m24.803s  +0.826s
13. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m24.848s  +0.871s
14. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m24.932s  +0.955s
15. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m25.011s  +1.034s
16. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m25.077s  +1.100s
Q1 cut-off time: 1m25.030s                                   Gap *
17. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       1m25.226s  +0.907s
18. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault     1m25.291s  +0.972s
19. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault     1m26.406s  +2.087s
20. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault     1m26.563s  +2.244s
21. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth    1m27.085s  +2.766s
22. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth    1m27.480s  +3.161s

See Formula 1 tires at work.

Kudos to FOM for bringing interesting innovations to their broadcasts.  We've seen pictures of teams with thermal cameras mounted on their cars in the past but this is the first time we see what they are looking at.  
Pirelli's Paul Hembery explains tire manufacturers use them regularly for product development and you can see how useful they can be to a team, giving real time feedback of the effects of suspension and alignment settings.

The views are from Paul Di Resta's Force India above and Pastor Maldonado's Williams below.

September 2008: Sebastian Vettel becomes the youngest ever Grand Prix Winner

Seems like ages ago but it was just 2008 at Monza when Sebastian Vettel, aged 21 and driving for Scuderia Toro, became the youngest ever Grand Prix winner taking that record away from Fernando Alonso.  
In the four  seasons since he has been World Champion three times. You can argue it's the car but Webber never could come close, either in a Minardi or a Red Bull.

Alonso's tweets mysterious...

Sunday evening and Fernando Alonso unleashes a cryptic tweet, first in Spanish

Tengo noticias importantes estos próximos días... Estad atentos aquí en Twitter y la web cuando lleguen..!!!!
— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) September 1, 2013

then in English

I have important news coming these days ... Stay tuned here on Twitter and on the Web.. !!!
— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) September 1, 2013

Given recent events and supposed tensions within the Scuderia, what's this all about?

Rather than get too excited I'll defer to an analysis by a publication that lives and breathes all things Ferrari for the past fifty years or so. Autosprint.

Publisher Alberto Sabbatini goes through a process of exclusion, and I paraphrase:

1. the idea Alonso would announce a switch to Red Bull is pure science fiction as would be an announcement about a retirement from racing.

2. Announcing a new secret weapon development breakthrough for Monza would be stupid and self damaging

3. Alonso is not sending Luca di Montezemolo unconventional or ironic birthday wishes since the big boss' birthday was August 31.

So that is, according to Sabbatini, what Fernando is NOT up to so by exclusion  two possible hypothesis remain:

He's announcing his webbing with Dasha, his Russian girlfriend

or

He's going to announce the name of his teammate for 2014, Kimi Raikkonen.

And very possibility it is this , according to Autosprint, that is behind the tension between Alonso and Ferrari of late, because the Spaniard realizes he is about to lose his unchallenged #1 status within the team. Perhaps, Webber's announcement about Ricciardo was an inspiration.

Alonso, like any driver, believes having a clear #1 is more efficient and indeed that has been Ferrari's policy since the arrival of Schumacher in the mid 90s.

Ironically the only period in recent times when Ferrari had no clear #1 was 2007-2008 with Raikkonen and Massa, the result then were both driver and constructor championship wins.

Stay tuned and feel free to speculate!

UPDATE:  It's none of the above!  Alonso bought a cycling team....     6 M Euro to rescue the Basque team Euskaltel Euskadi from bankruptcy.    Alonso earns about $30 M per year from his Ferrari contract.