Stunner: Nico Rosberg retires from racing.

While much of the world's press seemed obsessed with debates overs "worth" as a Champion,  Nico Rosberg had other ideas.

ROsberg's announcement on Facebook:


"“Since 25 years in racing, it has been my dream, my ‘one thing’ to become Formula One World Champion. Through the hard work, the pain, the sacrifices, this has been my target.And now I’ve made it. I have climbed my mountain, I am on the peak, so this feels right. My strongest emotion right now is deep gratitude to everybody who supported me to make that dream happen.

“This season, I tell you, it was so damn tough. I pushed like crazy in every area after the disappointments of the last two years; they fuelled my motivation to levels I had never experienced before. And of course that had an impact on the ones I love, too – it was a whole family effort of sacrifice, putting everything behind our target. I cannot find enough words to thank my wife Vivian; she has been incredible. She understood that this year was the big one, our opportunity to do it, and created the space for me to get full recovery between every race, looking after our daughter each night, taking over when things got tough and putting ourchampionship first. 

“When I won the race in Suzuka, from the moment when the destiny of the title was in my own hands, the big pressure started and I began to think about ending my racing career if I became World Champion. On Sunday morning in Abu Dhabi, I knew that it could be my last race and that feeling cleared my head before the start. I wanted to enjoy every part of the experience, knowing it might be the last time… and then the lights went out and I had the most intense 55 laps of my life. I took my decision on Monday evening. After reflecting for a day, the first people I told were Vivian and Georg (Nolte, from Nico’s management team), followed by Toto.

“The only thing that makes this decision in any way difficult for me is because I am putting my racing family into a toughsituation. But Toto understood. He knew straight away that I was completely convinced and that reassured me. My proudest achievement in racing will always be to have won the world championship with this incredible team of people,the Silver Arrows.

“Now, I’m just here to enjoy the moment. There is time tosavour the next weeks, to reflect on the season and to enjoy every experience that comes my way. After that, I will turn the next corner in my life and see what it has in store for me…”

I'm certain  some will figure out how to turn this into a negative for Nico.  Walking away from a great team, a great car, defending a championship and a new contract., it takes a lot of balls.

Ultimate walking away on top move, Nico!

Nico Rosberg: Revenge of the Underdog

Nico Rosberg became a Formula 1 World Champion in Abu Dhabi,  It took him 11 seasons and 206 Grand Prix.

He did it the hard way, beating arguably the fastest driver of the moment, in the same car.

He did it after being beaten by Hamilton three years in a row.


He did it despite being the butt of jokes for his looks in the paddock (remember the Britney license?), being hammered by a lot of the motoring media as unworthy and "dirty",  criticized by the boss of the sport as too boring and painted as an entitled rich kid by his own teammate.  

Nico and Keke Rosberg.

"He grew up with jets and hotels, I slept on couches",  it was a famous dig by Hamilton towards his rival from their earliest days in karting.  Turns out one of this couches was at the Rosberg residence where he was often a guest in earlier, friendlier days.  
There is no doubt the Rosberg name opened doors and opportunities, but it must also be remembered Hamilton had Ron Dennis behind him since age 13 and that, after winning GP2,  he came into F1 at the top with Mclaren while Rosberg arrived at Williams when it was far from a top car.

At Mercedes, Rosberg was consistently faster than a Schumacher indeed past his prime, but still one of the top drivers ever to sit in a car.  Later,  Nico bested Hamilton on race wins in 2013.

In 2014 and 2015,  with the new turbo hybrid engines,  Hamilton beat him badly.
Tough losses, especially in '14.  A lesser driver might have gone the way of a Massa or Barrichello but Rosberg proved to be way more bulldog that Britney.  He may be a 10th off Hamilton's pace over a single lap but even his most rabid detractors have to acknowledge his remarkable consistency and resilience.

"Lewis is raw talent, Nico is hard work twenty four  hours a day, seven days a week" is a quote from Toto Wolff and in the end it's good for the sport to have different personalities, the jet setting social media star and the hard working family man,  both rewarded.   Kudos to Mercedes for trying to give both

Even Bernie made peace with it eventually and Nico didn't hold a grudge.   Perhaps even the Hamfosi can get past their prejudice and admit Nico drove a better season than Lewis this year rather than moan about it in perpetuity.

Bravo Nico,  now bring on 2017!

How Max Verstappen exposed Formula One groupthink.

"Max Verstappen is redefining physics"

Startling statement from Toto Wolff, a man now at the pinnacle of Motorsport and one who has some understanding of physics himself.

But what Max should really get credit for is exposing Formula One groupthink.

Because what Verstappen did was something many of you with even basic track experience will understand,  he drove classic rain lines!

Driving off line and avoiding apes?  That's Skip Barber racing in the rain 101.





We got driver coach Peter Krause  on the horn:  

"Max was doing everything Bruce MacInnes and other Skippy instructors have taught for four decades!"

So, the bigger question: are we to believe the top drivers in the world (and if you doubt they are, you didn't watch the race in Interlagos)  forgot how to drive in the rain?

Not exactly, but Verstappen exposed the rut many of them may be stuck in.

For years, high downforce and very good rain tires allowed drivers to largely ignore rain lines, relying on car setup to drive the essentially the same places on the track they would in the dry.   In Brazil,  a combination of factors dropped grip  below a certain critical threshold  yet most drivers appeared to not adjust their approach.

We also asked coaching guru Ross Bentley to weigh in:

"Verstappen's performance in Brazil illustrates a few things.  First, with youth often comes a good form of not knowing what you shouldn't do. In other words, he's naive, but in a positive way. Too many drivers, after just a few years, start to follow what they think they should do. And they believe what they think they should believe. Verstappen doesn't believe he has any limits, and that's why he's doing what he's doing in F1. Let's hope he continues this way, because it's what Senna and Schumacher did longer than most."

When I hear people like Toto Wolff saying things like Verstappen is "redefining physics," it also shows how even people at the top of the sport can get into this "follow others" mindset. Verstappen isn't redefining physics. He simply drove further off line than other drivers because he wasn't set in his ways, and there is more grip that far off line. On one hand, what Verstappen did was nothing special - go to any junior formula race and you'll see a lot of that. On the other hand, what he did was special because he didn't follow everyone else, or the way others think.!

Peter Krause again:

This is the problem with the "funnel" approach. The higher they get, the narrower their view on what works. VES might be a tad immature, but he goes where there is grip, and he has ultimate confidence that IF he gets into trouble, he has the skillz to get out of it. Witness the epic save!

Yes "THAT" save, Let's have a quick parenthesis there.   I think even the most rabid Max fanboy will admit there was an element of luck involved but that said,  Max did everything he could, phenomenally right.     Pay attention how, once the car is sliding well over a 45 degrees to the direction of travel he locks the tires and straightens the wheel.  This gives him the best possible opportunity to prevent a tank slapper once the car straightens out in one direction or the other.    The true magic moment is the precision and timing of when Verstappen releases the brakes, taming momentum and catching the car.  



A lot of drivers made a lot of saves this year at Interlagos. They will not get the glory the Dutchman will get and,  in part,  that's because it's show business.

Ross Bentley:

When TV commentators and journalists rage about a driver's performance, and wonder how he's doing it, remember that they're being paid to entertain. Former drivers who are making comments know what's going on, but it's more entertaining to marvel at the situation. Or maybe they've just forgotten what it was like to be young and naive!

Young and naive FTW then,  it's all about an open mind.  A good lesson for all, no matter where you race or how old you are!

Bring gravel traps back to F1.

Let's keep it simple.   Formula 1, and as a consequence, racing in general moved to turn gravel traps into parking lots because too many racers ended up beached after screwing up.

Keeping more cars in play is good for the show and good for business, the feeling went,  but unintended consequences of consequence free racing were on full display at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City on Sunday.

There will be controversy about what happened at the beginning and the end of an otherwise rather dull Mexican GP,  hopefully it will lead to a wider discussion of the direction of a sport.

It's a complicated issue to discuss because you always run up against the safety argument,  obviously nobody wants to see anyone injured but at the same time there is the paradox where racing has been made so safe that young drivers simply do not even consider the possibility  of getting hurt and drive dirty from a younger age.  

Juan Pablo Montoya commented recently on how young karters are routinely making incredibly dangerous moves, blocking very aggressively.    You don't want to discourage drivers from attacking, said the Colombian, but at the same time not setting a higher standard will result in a "bunch of lunatics" when these kids get to F3 and above.

After Japan, Verstappen, asked about his aggressive style said: "this is the new style of driving" and older drivers should get used to it.

One way to curb some of this behavior might be the return of some nice fluffy gravel traps.   Let's examine the key incidents of today's race beginning with the start.

Hamilton missed the braking point and went through the grass, gaining perhaps 10 car length on his pursuers.
Granted his advantage was nullified by the safety car on lap one, but there is no scenario where you could argue he would not have gained track position on the rest of the field by cutting through the grass.

To the key incident at the end of the race, with Vettel catching Verstappen while in turn being pursued by Ricciardo.

Verstappen, under pressure makes a mistake, locks up and goes through the large runoff cutting two corners, gaining a few car lengths on Vettel who did not make an error.

The grown up thing to do is: admit you blew it and give up the position,  that's the Gentleman's Agreement for having those comfortable runoffs. but I guess that's not "the new way of racing".  
Despite a single message to the Dutchman, Red Bull looks to have viewed the situation as a chance to back the Ferrari into a faster Ricciardo.

British Fair Play....

There were two other incidents surrounding the off track excursions that should be discussed.

Many called for Rosberg to be penalized for going off track at the very first corner and gaining an advantage.   Is it a similar situation to Verstappen going off?   Not by a long shot.
Certainly he might have been caught up in our hypothetical gravel trap but it's important to note he went off not because of an error on his part but because a dive bombing, understeering Verstappen shoved him off.

Verstappen is only ahead after bumping the Mercedes off.  You can debate Max's move as a racing incident or just "the new way of driving"  but a penalty to Rosberg in this case would have been unfair.

The final incident between Vettel and Ricciardo should also be dismissed.    Setting aside Vettel would never had been caught by the second Red Bull had Verstappen and Red Bull had behaved like men and not children,  the Ferrari driver leaves enough space for one car under braking .    That is indisputable, end of story.

The "Verstappen rule" you say?   The clarification issued by Whiting after Japan said stewards would examine and incident if a driver makes a move under braking that causes another to take evasive action.

This was simply not the case here.

Finally ass this yammering about Vettel cursing Whiting on the radio.  

"I have a message for Charlie:  Fuck off!"

To be honest, I thought it was awesome.   Everyone's constantly complains about F1 being sterile and we get upset at a driver showing emotion?   Everyone praises Hamilton for brooding on top of his airplane in his underwear but gets in a tizzy at the German telling the white haired dude to of stuff it?

Are these the same people who claim to love James Hunt?

Please.

Just bring back gravel traps.

2016 US GP: Exciting track but yet another snooze fest

(Mark Thompson/Getty/RedBull Content Pool)

You could not watch Lewis Hamilton's pole lap on Saturday and not felt amazement at what F1 cars are capable of on a spectacular track like Circuit of the Americas in Austin.

The change of direction in the "esses",  the speed through that long right hans turn towards the end of the lap.

Incredible stuff.



And then there was the race.

A vague promise of Red Bull taking it to Mercedes evaporated fairly quickly.  And let's get real, the Germans are still just toying with the rest of the field,  anyone knocking at the door and they turn the PU up to 11.

Bye bye.

Hamilton did what he had to do, Rosberg did the least he had to do.   A hint at how safe Nico played it came lap one, turn one:  had he been interested in attacking, he would have pointed to the inside, like his teammate did to him in 2015.   He instead chose not to tangle with Hamilton and Ricciardo and went for the outside line.  It was the smart thing to do.



For his part, Hamilton drove, shall we say, a very Rosberg like race:  precise and error free, leading start to finish.
Interesting who Lewis "threw a Pirelli hat" at his teammate in pre race interviews when he happily told anyone who would listen (many) Rosberg had a lot of easy wins this season.
After this easy win, Lewis went on about how hard it was and how nervous he wasthat his engine might blow.

Whatever.

Despite his refusal to listen to team strategists and his ridiculous error of coming into the pits without the team telling him to, there was not much criticism for Verstappen. Shocking, right?    Later, Max blamed the team for telling him to stop the car in a place where it caused the Virtual Safety Car that destroyed the race and gave Hamilton certain victory.
It's not all bad for Max though,  he was voted "Driver of the Day" in an internet clicker poll...

Hilarious.




Speaking of drivers of the day,  many chose Carlos Sainz but I would have to go with Fernando "Yee Haw"  Alonso.   When a two time world champion, who has not won a race in years and is racing with that dog of a team that is current day Mclaren Honda gets that excited about making a last lap pass for P5, he's the man.

That being said,  how he escaped any sanction for causing a collision (with Massa) and track limits, given recent decisions by the FIA Stewards is...inscrutable.

Can we not talk about Ferrari?   Thank you.

Now the gap is 26 points with 75 still to be awarded.  Mexico is this coming week end and the first "match point" for Rosberg: if Nico wins and Lewis does not score, there will not be enough points for the Briton to make up in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

If the reverse happened, Rosberg would go into the final two only one point ahead and then it would most likely be advantage Lewis.

Barring a DNF it's unlikely Rosberg will score less than two seconds and third place in the last three races. But not impossible, maybe Lewis is wishing his old friend Timo Glock were still racing!

I kid, I kid.

Hamilton denied in Malaysia.

Hamilton was cocky about his chances but his lump blows early in Malaysia.

Hamilton, confident before
the race.

There is this mock religion whose main belief is in a "Luck Plane", which can tilt your way or not.  

The Luck Plane definitively tilted both for and against Lewis Hamilton in Malaysia.

"Someone does not want me to win"

Lewis' fans do not believe in luck of course.  Aided by an off the cuff comment by their idol, the fires of conspiracy have been stoked on the internet.   Because, after all,  it makes perfect sense Mercedes would diabolically arrange for Hamilton's engine to let go, insuring they would not clinch the constructor title in front of all their title sponsor's brass, at their home race.  

Makes perfect sense.

Thank god for engine failures,  frankly if engines were slightly less reliable we might have had a more exciting championship.    "Stuff happens" has a place in racing,  it should not be completely regulated out.

But the Luck Plane had been tilted in Hamilton's favor on lap one, Vettel managed to pull a Verstappen and spun Rosberg.   Vettel had the position but not the traction to make the low percentage move stick.

His error, no doubt.   Curiously, the FIA stewards decided to apply a different standard then they applied to Verstappen's almost identical incident in Spa: 3 grid spot penalty in Japan and 2 points on license for the German.

Ah FIA, don't ever change...

For all the online hate he receives, Rosberg drove a hell of a race, from last after turn one to an eventual third.  Nico now finds himself with a more than twenty point lead in the championship despite being handed a penalty for contact with Raikkonen.

It's funny, how may times have you heard people cite the Villeneuve-Arnoux battle at Dijon as one of the greatest things ever?  Rosberg hip checks Kimi to, finally,  make a non DRS pass, there is no damage to either car and he gets slapped with a penalty.  

Ah FIA,  don't ever change...

Is this the end for Hamilton's championship?  Hardly.  Rosberg did go from a 19 point deficit to a 23 point lead since the summer break, erasing Lewis' surge, but that's just one DNF in the remaining five races.  What remains uncertain at this time is if Hamilton will need to take additional engine penalties as a result of this rather massive looking blow up.

Very happy for Ricciardo,  he had a great moment with Verstappen,  they both went at it hard but, it must be said, 100% fair,  well done the both of them.

Finally, can we have a slow clap for Fernando Alonso dragging that path negra pig of a McLaren from last to seventh.   He is still the man,  and he deserves a better ride before he retires.

The internets were busy after the race!

Le FRIC, C'est Chic

Funny how the newest things in F1 really have roots that go back ages.   Take the latest Mercedes nomination "secret",  a trick front suspension that has roots back to the Citroen DS?

What?

OK,  that's a bombastic statement but we are talking about a clever "analog" hydraulic suspension developed by Frenchmen.

You can read about the particulars of what the Brackley Silver Arrows  have done with their front suspension elsewhere,   I will try to distill it.

look at where the pushrod is attached

Mercedes have figured out a loophole in the regulations that allows them to fit a front suspension system that gives them the competitive advantage over Red Bull and Ferrari in terms of aero efficiency and tire management.

Red Bull has something similar but not quite

You remember FRIC (Front to rear interlinked Suspension) introduced by Mercedes in 2011 and banned in mid 2014.  Turns out the re-written rules forbid front to rear and diagonal linkage but there is nothing preventing left to right connections (think sway bar in normal car terms) so teams have been taking advantage of this and have continued to develop suspension that take advantage of this system.    The key has been packaging, most team use a version of a "hydraulic computer" suspension in the rear where space is not at a premium but only Mercedes has figured out how to fit the system on the front axle.

Ferrari is sticking by the letter of the rules... and suffering.

And this is where the clever exploitation of a rule loophole comes in.  Mercedes took advantage of an allowance which had been made for Manor where they were permitted to add a chassis "spacer" to adapt their 2014 car to fit 2015 regulation,  Taking advantage of this gray area allowed the German team to create the space needed  to fit the intricate components needed and to use the vanity panel, an esthetic part for most other teams, as a structural piece.

It's borderline legal and brilliant.

Why go through all this effort? Because the system gives you the ultimate in suspension, soft over fast bumps and stiff over sustained corners,  allowing the car to float over kerbs while maintaining the optimal ride height and aero efficiency in the fast bits while utilizing tires most efficiently.

It's not a new concept,  think Renault mass damper and of course the original FRIC.    Ferrari and Red Bulls chassis are not made in a way this can be easily retrofitted but more crucially, Mercedes have the expertise in tuning what is a very complicated system.

The brains behind this system is said to be French engineer Loic Serra, McLaren tried unsuccessfully to poach him away from Brackley.   Red Bull however was successful in tempting a Mercedes hydraulic engineer over to their side for next season.   At RBR, this yet unnamed tech will work with Pierre Wache another highly touted suspension specialist who,  like Serra, came through Sauber from Michelin, where they both were tire interaction engineers in the early 2000s.

You can read more tech details at Auto Motor und Sport and at Motorsport but score one for engineers and zero for the rule makers.

Verstappen needs to learn from Hamilton

Max Verstappen took a page from the old Lewis Hamilton, the one who never seemed to miss the opportunity to keep his mouth shut and just drive.

Lewis has learned, Max has yet to figure it out.  Not sure he should take advice on how to react in public from the ill tempered elder Verstappen.

What happened?

Jacques Villeneuve,   1997 World Champion, now amateur musician and TV commentator,  suggested what almost everyone in the media has since Spa: that Verstappen moderate some of his borderline racing moves before he causes a big accident.

Villeneuve said "before someone gets killed" which is a turn of a phrase. Bombastic perhaps but not unheard of in media talk certainly.

When asked about it, Verstappen replied with what no amount of backpedalling and blaming Google translator can excuse amounts to "he should talk because he did kill somebody".

What he was referring to is the accident at the 2001 Australian GP in Melbourne which resulted in the death of a marshal Graham Beveridge who was struck by debris when Villeneuve's BAR collided with Ralf Schumacher's Williams.

Two things about this "counterpunch" by the Verstappen:   in 2001 he was three years old so it's not like he remembers it.  Someone from his management team told him to use that comeback for Villeneuve.

The second point is that that accident was a result of a driver, sitting in the middle of the track and driving erratically.

Sometimes it's better to let go and have your driving do the talking.

The fine line between genius and Maxdonado

"I did not want to let them by because they wrecked my race,  Sure I was aggressive but I was correct, in fact the stewards did not penalize me"

Max Verstappen


Let's keep this short and sweet,  while you could argue the first corner incident between Versappen and the whole Ferrari team was a "shit happens" racing incident,  it's harder to argue it was the smartest move by the Dutch "teenage sensation".    Max was clearly beaten off the line by the two red cars behind him on the grid and tried a Kamui Kobayashi style dive bomb into a space that was not really there.

Vettel was not without fault here, if anything a four time champion should know better than to just concentrate on his teammate.



But there is much less of a justification for the way Verstappen behaved later in the race when he once again displayed  some rather dodgy defensive moves against Raikkonen, Vettel and Perez,  all of whom eventually passed him anyway.







Is there any doubt Max is a huge talent?  No,  but he's got a lot to learn about being a grown up, the quote above along with his result today,  show it.

By the way,   he came within inches of the outside wall at Radillon on the first lap.  a crash there would not only have been huge for him but it would likely have taken off most of the field behind him.

More troubling is that the penalty happy FIA seems blind to his conduct,  something I'm sure has nothing to do with how packed the stands have been,  how could we be that cynical...

Rosberg did his job superbly,  Hamilton took advantage if his good luck with a very controlled race,  truly a champion's drive.   Ferrari and Red Bull could have had a nice battle today but it was not to be.

Great day for Force India, Williams were a bit disappointing but can we give "driver of the race" to ol' Fernando?   I think he and Hamilton had the most fun.

The same can not be said about Magnussen though and Renault need to figure out why the head protection collar came off in the crash

You be the steward: 2016 Hungarian GP edition.

The Hungarian GP was, like all the races this season except for Spain, a tale of two races.   There was the Mercedes class and the rest.

In Mercedes class, it was all over by turn one:  Rosberg, too busy looking behind,  got out-braked by Hamilton and Ricciardo.   He made a good move on the australian in turn two but by the end of lap one his teammate was already a second ahead.    The gap between the two varied but Rosberg never even tried to attack Lewis.  In the final stages it looked a lot like team orders to keep station were in effect.   The two silver cars finished a second apart but were a massive twenty seconds ahead of third place Ricciardo.    In post race interviews Hamilton revealed they were doing the minimum necessary to save the engine.    Pretty demoralizing for the rest of the field, bit dull for anyone but diehard Lewis fans.

Take the Mercs away though and you still had a rather old school Hungaroring, no passing race.    The only bright spot was that "washed up, good for nothing" Kimi Raikkonen charging from fourteenth on the grid to sixth.    Along the way,  the only real controversial on track incident, the collision with Max Verstappen's Red Bull.

Ferrari crisis: James Allison to leave the Scuderia

Something was in the air after the British GP disaster and a first half of the season devoid of victories,  with the Scuderia slipping further away from Mercedes and behind a resurgent  Red Bull.

Hamilton dominates but race control robbed fans at Silverstone.

There was no question a Mercedes would win the British Grand Prix, with over a second per lap over the nearest competitor it was just a matter of which one would get the better start.

The best Formula One interview ever.

Are you bored with hearing about Lewis Hamilton's underwear or Nico Rosberg's sweat absorbing sanitary napkin?  

Here is a perfect antidote.      Alex Kersten is a genius.



Enjoy.

Mercedes cat fight could be great news for fans

Let's get something out of the way:  the last lap collision between Hamilton and Rosberg was in no way an "accident".

Crime and punishment

Curbs,  the talking point of the week end.

Perhaps the main culprit is  Charlie Whiting,   if you don't consistently enforce track limits there's no point telling drivers they should stay off the curbs.

Almost every driver set times with flagrant track limit violations and nobody got laps taken away.  Why then would drivers have any incentive not to run wide and carry extra speed into the final two turn complex?   Yes, it's longer but nobody would be out there if it were slower.

Enter the curbs.  Should we feel bad about them causing issues for drivers and teams?   Of course not.

The RedBull Ring is a proper race track,  with gravel just off the racing surface around most of the lap.    Where there is no graven, drivers take advantage and hence the draconian triple curbs.

Race Control is to blame for not cracking down on track limits but drivers complaining about broken suspension?   

You know they bite, stay off the damn cubs!

On the plus side, tomorrow's race will be quite interesting, at least for the first few laps.  Keep an eye out for Ferrari starting on an opposite strategy, on the Soft rather than the Ultra soft Pirelli.

(Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel both have 5 sport penalties for new gearboxes)

FIA finally cracking down on tire pressure funny business.

With the announcement that pressures will be measured prior to installation, the FIA is finally cracking down on tricks teams had been using to get around the Pirelli determined minimum inflation values.

A little background: Pirelli determined tire failures were due to teams running low pressures to get a grip advantage.   Low pressure caused the sidewalls to fail.

Lower pressure increases the contact patch of the tires and improves traction,  each psi taken out is worth 1/10th of a second on an average lap so clearly it is in a team's best interest to try and get pressures as low as possible.    The FIA has been measuring pressures on the starting grid so how to get around that?

Temperature

Hub heating fan on a Mercedes  (Auto Motor Sport)

Hub "blanket"

Certain teams, Mercedes especially but also Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Force India, have figured out a "cheat" by playing with and controlling temperature of the whole wheel.   Wheel hubs were pre-heated and wheels designed to transfer this heat so as to raise the temperature of the gas inside the tire enough to expand it to the Pirelli prescribed pressure.
Once the car is moving, the hub cools in the airflow and heat from the brake disks is carefully ducted away from the wheel rim effectively cooling the tire and lowering the pressure.  

As the race progresses, "cheater" teams gain tremendously because they can maintain a lower pressure while other teams have to deal with a rise in pressures as the tire works.

As you might imagine,  only the very top teams can afford to devote resources to studying and simulating so many variables,  especially considering Pirelli pressures are different at each track Teams that can't play that game are at a huge disadvantage.

Auto Motor Sport writes:

"a source told us: 'If the starting pressure is 21 PSI and you put the wheel on a hot hub, it can quickly once rise to 22 PSI, until he starts again easy to fall off. In the last 5 minutes the tire is most vulnerable to pressure loss. So you have to do everything so that the temperature in these 5 minutes, does not drop too much. Should the pressure rise too high at measuring time, you can drain it to the correct start value.

All the heat (up to 200 degrees C) you have stored in the brake caliper, in the discs and the wheel hub, will disappear immediately when driving. The temperature quickly drops by half and you lose about one PSI. The pressure levels off depending on cooling of the brakes and rims to where you want it.'"

locating studs are also used s heat sinks (AutoMotorSport)

In any case, from now on pressures will be measured before the tire is on the car, the idea being to put a stop to this "arms race" of special heat transferring wheels and temperature controllers.  
Mindful teams will still try to game the system, Pirelli declared very high pressures for this week end compared to the previous year.

As a carrot, Pirelli promised that, if pressures are seen to not increase too drastically while the car is on track (meaning the teams are not trying to be too clever) they will bring future values more in line with what teams would ideally like to have.

Baku, Moans and Groans.

(photo : Ferrari)

Who would have thought that a track which produced the highest ever speed for a Formula 1 car,  378 kmh (234.8 mph) followed by a braking zone into a tight 90 degree turn flanked by concrete barriers would produce a dull race with no accidents or safety cars?



That was the biggest surprise of the inaugural European GP in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Street tracks usually result in either dull processions or giant clusterf...s.  Baku promised a yet untried variant for F1,  a Macau for big boys,  with cars trimmed as much as teams dared having to scrub  170 mph or so into turn 1

As Vettel put it after the race, it's a track that requires proper "equipment" yet the race was as short on spectacle as it was on spectators.

(Photo: Mercedes AMG Petronas)

In reality,  the most necessary equipment was a Mercedes power unit.   It is obvious on this track how much Mercedes has been cautious in the past in deploying its full power potential.  It certainly seems like the Germans have a vast reserve to call upon whenever another team gets too close.  On a track with a two plus kilometer straight, Ferrari and Renault powered cars had little hope, the Silver Arrows could only beat themselves.

Which they partly managed to do in Baku.  

We get attacked by the Hamfosi any time we dare say anything about the spiritual heir of Ali and Senna ,  suffice it to say, he had a doozy of a week end, starting with him calling other drivers "moaners" on Friday and ending with him complaining about the new radio restrictions.   We'll leave it at that.

I would recommend you read the editorial on Formula1blog.com.  Eloquently put.

On the subject of press coverage:  After Canada, Ferrari got creamed for "blowing a sure victory"  this was both in the international media and in particular with the often bloodthirsty Italian press.     In reality, it's not at all certain Vettel would have been able to keep Hamilton behind in Montreal.  
But everyone is Ross Brawn on Monday.

In Baku, Red Bull made the same "error" but ended up with a much worse result.   Will they get the same thrashing?    Maybe in the Australian press.

(photo: Getty/Red Bull)

Ferrari actually had a fairly good week end, Vettel second,  Raikkonen fourth despite a two stop strategy and a questionable penalty.

It's an interesting stat that as of the start of the  European phase of the championship, Vettel has scored 63 points, Hamilton 60 and Rosberg 41.

Chances are the fat lady will sing Wagner or God Save the Queen but, she has not sung yet.

(photo : Ferrari)

Seagulls and poop: The 2016 Canadian GP

Hamilton drove like a champ, Vettel drove like a champ.

People will criticize Ferrari but everyone is a genius afterwards.  I'm not sure the Ferrari would have been a match for the Mercedes, not with those long DRS zones, so it was correct to gamble,

Rosberg is in contract negotiation and once again Hamilton made him his dog.  I guess he will never learn.

Max Verstappen destroyed Ricciardo today and his defense against Rosberg is just preview of things to come from the Dutchman.

That's about all there is to say about the Canadian GP,  much more entertaining was the Hamilton Vettel comedy show after the race,  the main topic?   Seagulls!

Mercedes gambles, Red Bull blow it: Hamilton wins in Monaco.

 The slim margin between Hamilton and Ricciardo, but did Lewis cut the chicane on the previous lap?

You might not realize it reading UK racing media this morning but Hamilton's brave gamble to stay on full wet tires on a drying track, long after the rest of the field had switched to the intermediate Pirellis,  was not paying off.

Had the Red Bull not comically botched poor Ricciardo's stop, the Australian would have been a good 10 seconds up the road and set to win his first Monaco GP.

But you can't take too much credit away from Mercedes and Hamilton, gambling on the one stopper was a bold move and luck certainly favored the brave on Sunday.

Many fans will take objection to the move Hamilton used to block Ricciardo exiting the Neuvelle Chicane.  It was a similar move to the one Rosberg made in Spain with the difference that Ricciardo backed off from driving into that cone.    Stewards found he left a car's worth of space,  Ricciardo probably disagrees.   It's racing in Monaco,  Hamilton handing the champagne bottle to Justin Bieber before his team was far more tasteless.