Will you watch Formula One again?

First off,  hello again,  thank you for coming back!

Truth is, a loved one has been facing a difficult medical situation this past year and commenting on things that go vroom had become quite difficult for me,  I burned out a bit.

But I was wrong, writing about things frivolous and wonderful I love so much will be the perfect distraction and ultimately, I hope, good for the soul.

Enough about me,   what about you,  will you give "the pinnacle of Motorsport" another chance?

2017 will arguably be the most important season for the sport since, well... almost ever.

New cars, new boss, new regulations, possibly a new balance of power bode well for excitement.  At the very least are an excuse to give F1 another chance after a dreadfully dull last couple of years.

Bernie's gone and already there is a breath of fresh air.  

Ecclestone proved himself world champion of cat herding over the years, he made a lot of money for himself and others.  He made F1 into a global phenomenon but, perhaps inevitably, ended up morphing it to a pyramid scheme  the sport will struggle fully divorce itself from.

There is not much point discussing his intentions, Ecclestone has been telling anyone who would listen he had to do things he did not want to do and he's now "envious of the new owners" who will be able to do all the fun things he could not, because of his obligations to investors and teams.  

To me, his biggest failure has been the pricing out of fans from live races.  You cannot have a new fan base unless parents can  their kids to races and experience these amazing machines, like my father did with me.    TV won't do it, Instagram and snapchat are not a valid substitute for seeing a Formula 1 at the Variante Ascari or anywhere at Silverstone or Suzuka or Spa.

But you know all that, and hopefully the new owners understand it too.

Ecclestone said they were running a five star Michelin restaurant but Liberty wants a burger joint?

Fine,  I love burgers.  Bye Bernie.

Will the new formula bring better racing?

On the face of it, nobody can see how wider faster cars with shorter braking distances can produce more action after lap one.   I would say, let's wait.   The saving grace is that by all accounts these cars will be more difficult to drive and that will produce more errors.  Fatigue might be a factor.

Then there is the unknown of who got the new formula right from the start.     Pre season testing was tantalizing but it means little until cars run in anger this week end.

What's interesting is that there are for the first time in years three distinct design philosophies at play.

Mercedes went with a long wheelbase car that is on the most in logical for the new regulations.   The W08 runs with no rake to take full advantage of the longer rear diffuser area.   The advantage will be stability and the ability to run less drag.  It will love, Monza, Spa, Canada.

Red Bull "invented" the big rake stance as a way to overcome limitations of the smaller diffuser/under tray.   It had a trick suspension that allowed the car to squat in the high speed sections cutting drag.  This year it's a "short" car with big rake once again but there are questions about the legality of their suspension systems.  Their not so spectacular showing in testing hint they may have had to revise it and might be suffering because of it.  

Or maybe they were sandbagging more than anyone else, Friday will tell.

Ferrari produced a car that is in between the Mercedes and the Red Bull, short wheelbase but with not as much rake as the Red Bull in testing.   For a car that was supposed to be a total disaster because of the absence of a "star" designer,  it showed well in the pre season, getting everyone excited.   Some are saying it's James Allison's car, some will point to Rory Byrne's role,  but I like to think that younger engineers at Maranello came up with some good ideas.  Refreshing.

Whatever the results will be in Melbourne,  the key to 2017 will be technical development.     For the past few years Ferrari has fallen behind  after good starts while Mercedes steamrolled everyone, always a step or two ahead.

As for the rest of the field,   good luck.   Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull all have the huge advantage of having tested the new 2017 tires early.   Williams, Force India, Toro Rosso can only hope to be spoilers, Sauber, Haas,  Renault  and McLaren will probably be moving chicanes.

Finally:   Will Lance Stroll be the new Pastor Maldonado?  Will Stoffel Vandoorne make Fernando look worse than the Honda has?   Will Valterri Bottas make it hard for Hamilton?

Yeah, I'll tune in this week end, will you?

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.

Confused about your F1 steering wheel settings?

Let's say you got a last minute call to sub  for Esteban Gutierrez, still sore from getting "Pastorized" last week end in Bahrain and maybe you are a bit worried about getting your VISCO and GLU settings mixed up...

Well, the nice folks at Sauber F1 put together this handy quick guide for you.

Happy Birthday Ayrton

2013 Mclaren Mercedes MP4-28

Mclaren raises its nose and the level of the show at the launch for the 2013 F1 contender.  Isn't it nice to see a bit of flash after all the years of pseudo poverty launches?
Rolling is the M8D followed by all the other Woking classics was a fantastic way to celebrate 50 years of the team.

Presentation wings and bits are, of course, just there for show.   The biggest news is Mclaren will the first team to follow Ferrari's move to a pull rod front suspension.   It's a tradeoff, slightly higher CG and setup complication vs much cleaner airflow under the nose. It will be interesting to see how Mclaren get on with it after watching the red team with it for a year.

Case closed.

We looked up two things, an FIA track map with the marshaling positions indicated and a clearer copy of the onboard which you can see frame by frame from turn 3 on.
 I rocked the few frames where the marshal on the left side of the track is visible waving what, though not clear, we have to assume is a green flag.  Vettel makes the pass after that green flag station so it's all legal.

Where did the confusion arise? Well,  the lights on Vettel's dashboard are still on at that point and stay on until he passes the next light station.  The dashboard lights are perhaps tied to  transponders at light station as opposed to marshal positions (they don't always match) but flags still take precedence.



Below, laps 3 and part of 4, where Vettel passes the Marussia (notice the lack of top speed on the RB8 at this point) and then the Toro Rosso,  Notice also that on lap 3 the flag station on the right at the exit of T3 is green while on lap 4 it becomes yellow and keep in mind the camera does not see as well as the human eye would in those conditions.

Final verdict?  It was in fact  heads up racing by Vettel, like a Champion would drive.

The German Grand Prix, Sixty Years Ago.

Period Castrol film of the 1951 Großer Preis von Deutschland. Sixty years ago it was the second big win in a row for Ferrari over the powerhouse Alfa Romeo team which had dominated the world championship...

The race was won by Alberto Ascari over Fangio in the Alfa 159.

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A1 Ring reborn as the Red Bull Ring

One of the great european tracks which had fallen into hard times is back after a make over courtesy of Red Bull. The A1 ring in Spielberg, Austria used to be called the Österreichring and or Zeltweg and hosted Formula 1 Grand Prixs in different configurations from 1970 to 1987 and then from 1997 to 2003.

Yesterday was the official opening with the complete Red Bull motorsport linup along with Bernie Ecclestone, Austrian drivers Niki Lauda, Gerhard Berger and Helmut Marko. Of course Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were there along with all kinds of Red Bull sponsored vehicles, from Formula 1 to a P-38 Lightning.

B-roll from the RB is worth a look, especially the wet racing between the SLS and the Z4...


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Turbo in the Tron Era

"I think that in a racing engine, the closer it is to disintegrating, in general the better its performance will be "
Keith Duckworth

Big hair, big turbos and Tron state of the art electronics, in this classic mid 1980s documentary chronicling Cosworth's development of its first turbo formula1 engine.

At the time it was thought to be a great idea to run $1200/ gallon toluene based fuel in 1.5 liter turbo engines that would last 500 km or less. BMW was the first to come up with the exotic fuel to power their 1500 hp four pots. All controlled, of course with state of the art onboard computers the size of a ...VCR!

The Cosworth-Ford GBA 1.5 liter v6 had no success, despite being relatively reliable it was given to the hopeless Beatrice-Hass team first and late for one season to the new Benetton team.

You can find an extensive article on the GBA here

It's a long two part, detailed documentary so make some time for it. Oh and keep an eye out for a young Ross Brawn working the wind tunnel at Lola. So much has changed since then but so much about Formula 1 has not changed at all!

Part II is after the jump. Many thanks to those who take the time to preserve and share these old gems.

Ferrari will not take part in the 2010 F1 season...

...if the budget cap regulations as recently enacted by the FIA for 2010 remain in place.

It's an all out shooting war now between the FIA and FOTA, with Ferrari swinging its heavy hammer but with neither likely to emerge as the winner. If Formula 1 cannot credibly exist without Ferrari and the other major manufacturer teams, Ferrari and all cannot really afford to be without F1 either. Sure, FOTA could organize a rival series, but this has enormous complications not the least of which would be the agreement they have with Ecclestone and the FIA up to 2012.

Will manufacturers win or will formula one go back to a modified "garagistes" era? Your thoughts?

The full statement is after the jump

The Board of Directors (have) examined developments related to recent decisions taken by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile during an extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council on 29 April 2009.

"Although this meeting was originally called only to examine a disciplinary matter, the decisions taken mean that, for the first time ever in Formula 1, the 2010 season will see the introduction of two different sets of regulations based on arbitrary technical rules and economic parameters.

"The Board considers that if this is the regulatory framework for Formula 1 in the future, then the reasons underlying Ferrari's uninterrupted participation in the World Championship over the last 60 years - the only constructor to have taken part ever since its inception in 1950 - would come to a close.

"The Board also expressed its disappointment about the methods adopted by the FIA in taking decisions of such a serious nature and its refusal to effectively reach an understanding with constructors and teams.

"The rules of governance that have contributed to the development of Formula 1 over the last 25 years have been disregarded, as have the binding contractual obligations between Ferrari and the FIA itself regarding the stability of the regulations.

"The same rules for all teams, stability of regulations, the continuity of the FOTA's endeavours to methodically and progressively reduce costs, and governance of Formula 1 are the priorities for the future.

"If these indispensable principles are not respected and if the regulations adopted for 2010 will not change, then Ferrari does not intend to enter its cars in the next Formula 1 World Championship.

"Ferrari trusts that its many fans worldwide will understand that this difficult decision is coherent with the Scuderia's approach to motor sport and to Formula 1 in particular, always seeking to promote its sporting and technical values.

"The Chairman of the Board of Directors was mandated to evaluate the most suitable ways and methods to protect the company's interests."

Bernie Ecclestone on Mosley and the future of the FIA

You may have been reading a lot of speculation about what will happen after the June 3rd vote by the FIA. You may also have read rumors about might become Mosley's successor as head of world motorsports, Jean Todt, even Gerhard Berger....I thought it would be interesting to hear the most influential man in F1's thoughts on the subject.




This interview is from Belgian TV (Spraakmakers) and features a stunningly bad and comical interviewer. Given the questions asked, I commend Mr Ecclestone for sitting through the whole twenty minutes without tossing a heavy object at the guy's head.

My favorite question: "...are there persons you haven't met you would like to meet again?"

Formula 1 1950-2007

Three days to go and it's time to remember how we got here and why we get up at stupid hours to watch races we know might often disappoint us...

a great compilation by Antti_K  from Finland,  enjoy.

Are you kidding me?

"Fernando Alonso aquaplaned off the road in Fuji - even with traction control. The electronics still couldn't support him - and that will happen a lot more without traction control because Formula One engines are very peaky."

That's Super Dave Coulthard voicing concerns some drivers have about driving in the wet without traction control. Now granted, Alonso's accident at Fuji was a case of physics winning out over clever electronics but as Max Mosley correctly points out, it will be the same for everyone and the drivers will simply have to adapt and consider the edge of the envelope not just the end of the accelerator pedal travel. Mosley gets extra points for his "what if we had a Grand Prix on snow" analogy....Don't say it twice Mr. Max, Bernie might get some ideas for that GP of Moscow !

read about the best paid nervous drivers on the planet here..

Formula for Success

If you are a new fan of Formula 1, it is important to gain historical prospective and to understand as much as possible what modern F1 is about, particularly in light of the dreaded 9-13 meeting of the FIA. When you read the rumors that Max Mosley "is on a vendetta" against Ron Dennis... where does that come from? You keep reading about scandals and spy stories, penalties and cheating... what happened this year?

Take a look at this very cool series airing on BBC World. The first Episode of "Formula for $uccess" aired recently with seven more to follow. I hope we get the chance to see them all.

Not to go all "Pino Allievi" on you but ask yourself this: does 2007 have something in common with 1976? In a year when some worried Schumacher's retirement might diminish interest in the series, Formula 1 is in the news more than ever...I wonder where all these controversy fanning leaks have come from?

And could 1988 be another key? Mosley in interviews often plays a sort of a "purist" card, could it be he resents Dennis for changing Formula 1 forever?

OK, OK.... fine, I'll leave the movie to Oliver Stone but do take the 20 minutes to watch this illuminating episode: Honda spent 11.7 million dollars per championship point last year...a bargain compared to what Toyota shelled out!!

(Clip out of commission for the time being)

Sloppy journalism.

This is what happens when people don't think and/or choose to be sloppy about their reporting. The big pre-Italian GP hoopla was based partly around the widely publicized revelations of not just the existence but the content of an email exchange between Alonso and De la Rosa.

Now it turns out the content of those emails was "speculation" by Gazzetta dello Sport writer Pino Allievi. I have searched for the article on the online edition but I cannot find the original text but in an interview with the AP, Allievi claims "I made a free interpretation of what might have been said in the e-mail."

Whether the UK press who, perhaps self-servingly, picked up the story misunderstood the tone of the article or not, Signor Allievi should have known better than to toss an unsubstantiated fiction bomb into a highly flammable situation "..in order to make the article more credible". Oh the irony, poof goes the Gazzetta's credibility.

Of course certain media outlets had a field day blaming Alonso for being a "rat" along with his buddy Pedro.....the two Spanish meanies keeping data away from poor Lewis Hamilton... One even pointed to the absence of these imaginary emails from Hamilton's computer as proof of this plot...

Pffffft.

(Pino Allievi is next to Jean Alesi in the above photo. No, not the one with the skirt.)

Art...

...was walking past the Museum of Modern Art in NYC today.





Alain Prost's Ferrari 641 from 1990. John Barnard's Ferrari is truly deserving.
Gordon Murray would be there too if only he had ever designed something in red!