Schumacher Returns to F1

Incredible news. Seven-time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher is going to step in to sub for Felipe Massa at Ferrari. The legend is back. The competition will probably be much closer now since he's a little older and no doubt somewhat rusty, and the car is not as dominant.

However, he does have almost a month to prepare and there is no doubt this will be a huge boost to F1 ratings world wide. When Willi Weber, his manager, was quoted as saying he was certain Schumacher would not come back it was probably negotiating posture as well as to reduce the expectations that are certainly high.

F1 2009 may go down as the most memorable season yet.

Formula 1: Massa's Replacement

Following Felipe Massa's terrible accident in Hungary, all manner of speculation is on the table as to who will be his substitute or replacement (should his F1 career be over).

Michael Schumacher or Fernando Alonso have certainly been mentioned. Schumacher because he's available and a (retired) legend in his own time. Alonso because he's the most complete driver on the grid and has often been rumored to move to Ferrari, the latest being 2010 so it would make sense if he could be released early from his current contract.

Another benefit of having one of these two drivers is that it will light a fire with Kimi Raikkonen. The Kimster will raise his game as he is faced with a new teammate. He needs motivation.

Robert Kubica is also a possibility if there are performance clauses in his contract with BMW, which has decided to pull out of F1 after this year.

For these reasons I would guess the Ferrari test drivers (Marc Gene, Luca Badoer) or a rookie as a sub would be an unlikely choice to replace Massa. This year's silly season is going to be a media frenzy. We'll see.

I'm hoping for a full and speedy recovery.

Will Max Mosley Ever Go Away?

Pitpass reports he's now threatening to renege on the FIA deal with FOTA earlier this week.

Mosley continues to demonstrate that he is shrewd in arcane procedural matters and yet completely foolish and reckless with the big picture - which is a particularly bad combination when it comes to leadership. Every day he is in office at the FIA, Formula 1 is further damaged in the eyes of the public due to the needless politicking.

The public wants to see good racing, not a combative megalomaniac calling all the wrong shots (e.g. grooved tires, KERS, $48m F1 bond for new entrants to prevent independent teams, budget cap, 100 year license of commercial rights to Bernie Ecclestone's firm, and on and on).

He is trying to cling to power for its own sake and without regard for the good of the sport. I doubt he was ever in it for the love of the sport. He has only been interested in one thing and that is power, for which he has corrupted the organization (FIA) in his quest for absolute control. Good thing it was only F1 and not a country bearing in mind his disgraceful history:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Mosley

For a lot of F1 fans the day can't come soon enough when he's shown the door and helped out of it.

F1 Ramblings

The showdown is yet to come and FIA president "Mad" Max Mosley may yet prevail. It will likely get ugly.

The FOTA teams submitted their entries as a block with conditions (though it's fragmenting with Williams, and now Force India breaking ranks and entering unconditionally for next year.) The FIA does not have to accept those entries, and thus could bar the FOTA teams from competing in F1 next year.

A number of new teams have announced their intention to enter F1 next year, and the recent Formula 2 arrive-and-drive series (for about 1/5 the cost of GP2) races were succesful. It looks like Mosley's plan may bear fruit.

However, the longer this soap opera drags on the longer all the teams, FOTA or not, are forced to compromise their preparations for next season because no one knows what's going to happen. The lack of stability is appauling.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel took pole position for the Turkish Grand Prix after being fastest in all three qualifying sessions. Teammate Mark Webber was 4th so the car has definitely improved, and the Brawns were also very competitive in 2nd and 3rd. Ferrari is climbing back toward the front (6th and 7th), while McLaren lost the plot.

Lewis Hamilton failed to make it out of Q3 as the car was very nervous. While McLaren still have Pedro de la Rosa as test driver to help develop the car, they are now being outpaced on occasion by Force India to whom they supply engines.

Hamilton is extremely fast and usually makes blistering starts, but it's clear that he does not now possess the added dimension for developing a car in the way that Prost, Senna, Schumacher and Alonso could. When things don't go well he is no
more competitive than other drivers that have not received the kind of accolades or backing that Hamilton has enjoyed. He is now paying his dues after having the path to F1 paved with a red carpet, and the climb is that much steeper. I'm not convinced he's got the will to do it.

Why Racing Belongs On Track

Some people call it racing. Some people call it sport. Lots of people are calling this a farce these days with all these shenanigans that have little to do with racing.

The sorry state of Formula 1 rolls on... June 12th might be another day in the long running drama.

F1 2010 Rules & Budget Cap Resolved

The 10 current teams racing in Formula 1 are members of FOTA (Formula One Teams Association) and had been in dispute with the FIA over the rules for next season which involved a 40m Euro budget cap and a two tier rule structure which provided budget capped teams numerous advantages over the teams that did not accept the cap.

There was a huge row over the changes resulting in all FOTA teams refusing to enter unless changes were made. Williams GP was the first team to cave in and lodge its entry for next year ahead of today's deadline. FOTA promptly suspended (temporarily) the team's membership.

The remaining teams are expected to lodge their entries today as a result of negotiations which saw the two tier rule structure dropped and the budget cap raised and postponed. It is believed the 2010 budget cap will be 100m Euros per team, and that it will be reduced to 45m Euros in 2011.

New teams Prodrive (to be rebranded Aston-Martin in 2012), Lola, and US Grand Prix Engineering (USGPE) have also filed entries for the 2010 season. Thus we may have 26 car grids next season. Any more and pre-qualifying would be needed for each race.

How the budget cap will be enforced is still a mystery.

Here's an interesting write up entitled "An Analysis of 2010 F1 Regulations".

It draws the conclusion that the two tier rules approach so restricts the rules for the teams whose budgets aren't capped that they will be forced to cap their budgets to be competitive. So it would be unlikely there is actually a two tier series in effect. But the existing teams would be forced to make massive cuts in staff and to give up the use of much of their investments (wind tunnels, etc) and thus advantages.

No wonder the existing teams are opposed to the rules for next year.

Monaco Grand Prix Tech Thoughts

Gearboxes and tire degradation were two technical items of interest in the race (which itself was pretty good).

SpeedTV's RPM segment (Racing Per Matchett) with Steve Matchett looked at a 7 speed Red Bull gearbox. The first gear cogs were much thicker than the subsequent 6 gears, the reason being that much more torque is transmitted in the lower ratios, so
the gears must be stronger.

Conversely, reverse gear was much less stout. Even the gear teeth were hollowed out to reduce weight and rotating inertia. And while the ratio for reverse gear is likely even lower than first gear (and therefore transmits even more torque) it
doesn't need to be as stout because no driver is going to do a full power launch in reverse. There's also likely to be electronic controls to prevent such action. So the gear can be made lighter.

The other item is the issue of the requirement to run both tire compounds at some point during the race. This rule should be eliminated. Depending on the track conditions and the available compounds, the rule has often resulted in artificially mixing up the lap times.

For instance, in today's race we saw the Brawns start on the softer compound and the Ferraris on the harder compound. Not a dozen laps into the race the Brawn cars already had tire degradation issues and were losing large amounts of time (over a second/lap) to the cars behind on the harder tires, until they made their first pit stops and changed to the harder compound. Yet the teams that chose to start on the harder tires had to use the softer tires in the closing stages, thus losing time at that part of the race.

Teams and drivers should be allowed to run whichever available compound they want in order to make the best possible racing. The FIA should not try to artificially make the racing more exciting with this rule.

F1 Headed For A Showdown...

And it's not on the track. Ferrari lost their court case this week when seeking an injunction against the FIA's rules (more details here).

They lost not on the grounds of their case, but the fact that they failed to exercise their veto power at a prior meeting with the FIA when decisions surrounding the rule changes (and budget cap) for next season were made. However, the FIA did err in their procedural matters and thus are now also subject to additional legal action.

Yesterday all 10 F1 teams threatened (via FOTA, the Formula One Teams Association) to pull out for next season. FIA president Max Mosley's likely intended outcome for next year was a somewhat higher budget cap than 40m Euros. Maybe 60m or 70m, and one set of technical regulations. The threat of a two tier rule structure and a low budget cap was just posturing.

But the negotiations didn't go as planned once the existing teams realized the proposal would devalue the investments they have made over years, and in some cases decades (Ferrari), and not allow the them to ramp down their spending in a gradual
and orderly manner unless they were subjected to severe technical restritions, while teams that do comply with the budget cap (probably new entrants) would be allowed tremendous technical freedom.

There is no way any sensible outcome would involve Ferrari leaving F1. It is much more likely that a compromise will be reached (e.g. only one set of rules) and/or Mosley will have to leave.

And this still would not resolve the issue of how a budget cap could possibly be enforced in an equitable fashion. It is foolish to believe that accounting rules can be enforced more easily than technical rules.

Ferrari (Maybe) Out of F1 in 2010

The board of directors has issued a statement that Ferrari will not participate in Formula 1 in 2010 if the recently passed two tier rules are not rescinded. Renault followed suit. And Toyota and Red Bull have both previously stated that they would do so as well. For once hopefully the teams (FOTA) can stick together and prevail.

These rules would permit teams that abide by a budget cap a host of technical advantages. Teams that spend more than the cap allows would be severely restricted in what they're able to do.

It's simply an unworkable situation. The last thing F1 needs is two classes of cars and to go this far into the year without the rules for next season finalized so the teams can begin designing. Further, how is it possible to enforce such a cap with any significant degree of confidence? It's not.

The constant (and unilateral) implementation of rules that don't enhance the quality of racing (grooved tires from 1998-2008), add to the costs (KERS), and damage the sport, alienating many FIA constituents (ADAC, AAA I believe are two of the biggies) has taken its toll on the sport.

It's time for Max Mosley (and Bernie Ecclestone) to exit. F1 has been run by greed (Ecclestone) and hunger for power (Mosley) for too long. A lot of people are waiting for them to be carted off so more sensible management can be brought in. Their rule changes have generally had the opposite effect of their stated intentions.

Hopefully someone will finally run against and defeat Mosley this fall when he (again) stands for reelection.

F1 2009 So Far

The Brawn team have won 3 of the first 4 races. But the other teams are closing the gap, and it's going to be a heck of a year.

The teams that develop KERS this year are going to be in an advantageous position later in the year and next season. Unless the "low budget" rules option goes into play next year and turns out to be better. So maybe the designs aren't going to
converge on the new diffuser and KERS.

Sebastian Vettel is doing rather well at the moment and his team (Red Bull) are on the up and up. They're already very competitive running a good, straightforward car without either KERS or a trick diffuser. When their new aero package is ready they should make another good step forward.

Renault is another team that will likely progress steadily. They'll probably pick up a few tenths of a second just as soon as they replace Nelson Piquet, Jr. How he's made it this long is a mystery to many.

A couple of innovations seen in the opening races are the driver adjustable front wing flaps are great for passing. Trim the tabs to lower drag and raise them up to increase front end downforce when following another car.

Toyota also used a nifty trolley for changing the front nosecone and wing assembly. Since many on track incidents cause front end damage which ends up requiring a front wing change, this trolley allows the team to quickly pull the old assembly off and slide the new one on. It's already at the right height and all the attachments just snap right in. Brilliant.

Coerced by his team or not, Lewis Hamilton is twice a liar; once for lying about the racing move in Australia. And then for lying about not lying. Quite shameful - especially for a reigning World champion. The McLaren team has shown over the past 2 years it is anything but a straight arrow. But the same could be said about the FIA. The whole concept of a legal system within motor racing is questionable. The way it's run is simply absurd. F1 somehow succeeds (for now) in spite of itself.

The pecking order has been turned upside down. Expect several new teams next year. The on-track racing has been awesome.

F1 Season Opener

Sunday's F1 season opener in Melbourne, Australia was surprising and exciting. It seems the new regulations are having the intended effect of enabling the cars to run closer together. A narrow rear wing and a wide front wing seem to be a good combination to minimize air flow disruption between cars running one behind the other.

However, as witnessed by numerous on-track incidents it seems that because the drivers cannot see their front wings and as wide as those wings are, there may be a need to reduce the wing width and raise it slightly. Both of those moves would decrease front grip but that may actually enhance car balance as it appears there is a shortage of rear grip now.

On another note, KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) will get better with development. Right now the weight vs. power trade off seems to favor not running KERS, as witnessed by the frontrunners until Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel took each other out. Eventually though the teams that develop KERS faster will have an advantage as it is required for next season.

There was also much talk about the diffuser controversy. Put it this way, there will be design convergence. My guess is the teams will all move toward the new diffuser-style (pending the FIA court of appeals decision) as well as toward KERS.

Other than the cars themselves the pitstops appear to be slower this year for some reason. Finally, due to the dominant performance of the Mercedes-powered Brawn (formerly Honda) cars, I'm wondering if someone in Japan is about to lose his job for giving up and selling the team at the proverbial bottom of the market.

F1 2009 Video - Technical Details

Here's a nice animation video from Red Bull Racing which explains some of the technical changes for the 2009 season, narrated by Sebastian Vettel (future F1 champion and quite possibly will be one of the greats methinks).

Note the part about KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System). If the front brakes do the majority of the work it would at first blush seem that KERS would be more efficient on the front of the car.

On the other hand, with a rearward weight bias and center of (aero) pressure, combined with minimal weight transfer under braking compared with the higher and softer suspensions of other cars, not to mention the fact there's no space up front, and it was inevitable the packaging constraints would require regeneration to take place via the rear wheels.

Anyway, have a look at the video:

F1 Budget Capping

There are going to be some very surprising results on the track if these rules actually come into effect (read more here).

Movable aerodynamic devices, budget capping, forensic accounting (by Deloitte and Touche), two rule paths, and KERS do not lower costs. At first glance it seems more to do with money and power than the racing itself. The FIA wants to increase the pool of possible teams in order to weaken the position of the manufacturers so that it can rule the sport more effectively and minimize the sport's exposure to the whims of those manufacturers who come and go.

This is not a bad thing. The bad part is that what they're proposing to do is not likely to work. Most of the rule changes intended to cut costs in the past few years have resulted in the oppposite. Engines that have to last multiple races, restrictions on wind tunnel and track testing (can you say spending on simulation???), and so on. Don't forget the safety ramifications too.

The most effective cost reduction rule of the past 5 years has been the recession we're in. That's a real budget cap. Next was when Michelin dropped out of the tire war, leaving Bridgestone as the sole supplier.

What the FIA has put forth for 2010 seems likely that it will either not work or descend into more race results being determined in the kangaroo court that is the FIA World Council. That is not Formula 1 and that is not racing.

It may be the best compromise they can come up with at this time. But I assure you there is a far better way to reduce costs and improve the quality of the racing. And it has never been utilized. I might even file a patent on in.

Why Brawn GP Is Fast

Looking at the recent off-season F1 test times the order seems more jumbled than usual. The former Honda F1 team is now Brawn Grand Prix, having been taken over by former team principal Ross Brawn.

While certainly a new team would perhaps run low fuel loads and remove ballast to impress potential sponsors, delving deeper into why the Brawn is fast reveals there are a fair amount of legitimate reasons.

First, Ross Brawn is THE MAN in the paddock having partnered Michael Schumacher to all 7 of his World Championship titles at Benetton and Ferrari.

Next, rather than develop the 2008 car which was terrible to begin with, Brawn chose to begin work very early on the current car. So it's had a lot of time on the "drawing board" relative to those from the other teams.

Thirdly, while the Honda F1 car wasn't good, Honda spent more than any other team last year. The facilities the Brawn team now have are right up there with the top teams.

And remember they're now powered by Mercedes who've won about 1/3 of the F1 races this decade. I'd also guess the Brawn workforce are quite motivated not only by all the factors above but very simply by the fact they are employed following months of rumors of layoffs and the former Honda team having to shut down.

Finally, the two drivers are both grand prix winners - known quantities who are fast, reliable, and experienced in set up and development, especially beneficial in a year of even more testing restrictions.

This season is shaping up to be a great competition. Perhaps in the early races one team will dominate but the others will inevitably catch up. It looks like BMW and Ferrari are strongest at this point. A wild card or two could be Brawn and Red Bull. Fernando Alonso may also flatter the Renault on occasion. McLaren are a big question mark at this point.

We'll see in a few weeks what happens at the Melbourne season opener.

Measuring Tire Temperature In Real Time

Here's an interesting development. Beru has come out with a tire temperature measurement system that measures the actual carcass temperature of the inside of the tire. In the long run, the idea of course is that this technology would benefit passenger vehicle and tire development.

A couple of Formula One teams have tested it and are interested in using it to negate the further testing restrictions imposed on the teams this year, which leads to the time honored question. Does reducing track testing really do anything to reduce expenditures if the budgets aren't capped and the teams can still spend?

Beru isn't going to give these things away for free, and the additional data is going to require the teams to use more manpower to make sense of it all. This is not a criticism of the technology but simply to point out that the net effect of these rule changes is probably to divert budgets to other areas, not reduce them.

The other point of note is that the article implies the 2009 cars seem to have more front grip (same tire sizes). This is probably in large part due to the large front wings and the drastically smaller rear, coupled with more contact area on the now slick tires, having dispensed with the circumferentially grooved tires of the past eleven seasons. Expect cars with more oversteer (i.e. tailhappy) this coming season.

Here's the article: http://www.sae.org/mags/AEI/5585

Racing Recession

Porsche, Honda, Subaru and Suzuki have all pulled out of various racing series due largely to the recession. It appears that economic conditions just further emphasized how pointless much of the spending in racing is. Nascar is hurting, as are every series. Teams are finding it harder than usual to find sponsorship.

The underlying issue isn’t the recession. Even in good times it’s hard to justify the sums spent on racing by the manufacturers. In Formula One it’s in the neighborhood of hundreds of millions of dollars per year for many of the teams.

The complexity of minutia drives the cost up exponentially compared to lesser, though no less exciting, series. The solution, which the FIA have continually attempted to implement, is to reduce cost. But the reason they have failed to do is because their rule changes tend to INCREASE complexity and further increase cost.

Further, the idea of a budget cap as once proposed is preposterous. It is unenforceable and resources will just be diverted elsewhere because the governing body does not have control of the teams. The teams will spend whatever they can, cap or no cap. The organizers have not been able to eliminate the incentive for the teams to participate in an “arms race”.

It appears now that there will be some reduction with the introduction of “customer” engines, though that is also partly offset by the added expense of KERS.

For auto racing to survive it has to improve the quality of racing while keeping budgets reasonable and stable.

F1: Brazilian Grand Prix

The start of the race was delayed by 10 minutes due to a brief downpour. The extra time was used to allow the teams to change to rain tires. The start was clean, at least at the front of the field. None of the first several positions changed as everyone duly made it around turn one without drama.

Further back Nico Rosberg hit David Coulthard (in his final F1 race) and causing him to spin. He was then collected by Kaz Nakajima and his race was over. Nelson Piquet also spun out and retired.

Rosberg was later one of the first (if not the first) driver to come in for dry tires as the rain abated and the track dried out. Shortly after everyone else came in for dry tires as well.

Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) emerged in 7th place having run 4th prior to that. Felipe Massa had led from the start in his Ferrari.

Some interesting stats mentioned by the broadcast team on SpeedTV included McLaren supposedly spending $7.5m in development in the last few weeks to improve their car by 0.15 seconds per lap (a lap of Interlagos?), and that the car is about 2.5 seconds per lap faster now than it was at the first race of the season. Impressive.

However, this brings up the point that F1 racing is also ridiculously expensive. $7.5m is plenty of money to do an entire season of racing in many, many other series. This is the dilemma faced by the F1 teams.

Teams will use whatever resources available to them. As the sport is currently structured, no matter what they do, whoever has the most money is likely going to be able to develop the fastest car. It’s an arms race and any rule change aiming to reduce costs is unlikely going to result in the intended outcome.

Anyway, back to the racing. Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) was in fine form running a strong second for a long time, with Fernando Alonso (Renault) third. Robert Kubica has been hot and cold in his BMW in the last few races, the pace of development of Ferrari and McLaren clearly increasing relative to BMW.

Near the end he was lapped by Hamilton but managed to stay with him after. Much had to do with their relative fuel loads and tire compounds/condition, but it was noticeable.

With about 10 laps to go Massa was clear out front followed by Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), Timo Glock (Toyota), and Hamilton. As they ran, Hamilton would win the world championship.

Hamilton was clearly driving conservatively or struggling with the set up (see qualifying post on parc ferme and set up). Then it started to rain again. Vettel caught up to Hamilton. With about two laps to go, Kubica unlapped himself by passing Hamilton, and Vettel used that opportunity to go by as well.

That pushed Hamilton back to 6th place meaning Massa would win the championship if it stayed that way. Vettel appeared to be pulling away. Then just two corners from the finish line on the last lap Timo Glock, who had (bravely) stayed out on dry tires, faltered slightly and Hamilton passed him for 5th position and thus regaining the title.

Massa did everything he needed to do the whole weekend, but such was Hamilton’s points lead coming into the event that he was not able to overcome it.

The final outcome for the season was good for the sport, the last race will surely go down in history as one of the most memorable races ever (Hollywood couldn’t write it better), and hopefully F1 has started to make amends for its shenanigans of the past 2 seasons.

McLaren showed incredible reliability (Hamilton’s car anyway) and Ferrari took the Constructor’s title. What a season it’s been.

F1: Brazilian GP Qualifying

The weather was perfect, though the prediction for race day is that it will rain. This again highlights the need to change parc ferme rules which require wing settings to be fixed before qualifying.

Every team has to decide what configuration to run the cars in qualifying and the race. But if ambient conditions change it becomes a lottery, which can greatly affect the quality of the racing for the worse.

This will be David Coulthard’s final grand prix as a driver. There is a new helmet mounted camera to give the TV audience footage from the driver’s view. It’s pretty neat but the view is quite limited and it depends on where the driver looks, which is often not where the car is pointed. And there’s a lot of bobbing around. The car mounted cameras are much more TV-friendly.

In Q1 the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen topped the time sheets. Lewis Hamilton was third in his McLaren – not clear who’s running how much wing and fuel.

Q2 was quite spectacular with the top ten drivers separated by just 0.339 seconds. Heikki Kovalainen was first in his McLaren followed by Sebastian Vettel in a Toro Rosso. Robert Kubica did not make it past Q2 having struggled with his BMW.

Q3 was all Massa as he posted the fastest time. When all the major players began their final laps, Massa was out front and timed it just right to be able to get 2 laps on the rest of the pack after the clock ran out. He ended up improving his time further to take pole, followed by Jarno Trulli (Toyota), Raikkonen, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Fernando Alonso (Renault), and Vettel.

Massa, always fast at Interlagos, really needs to win and have Hamilton finish lower than 5th in order to take the driver’s championship. Ferrari looks likely to take the constructor’s title, but the driver’s title at this point depends strongly on how clean of a start we get.

Tomorrow’s race is looking mighty exciting. I won’t be able to catch it until Wednesday but will be eager to take notes about it.

F1 Cost Cutting Measures

The F1 governing body (FIA) is worried about the rising costs of running an F1 team, especially during an economic environment like the one we have now. If another team goes under the grid will be down to 18 cars, which will be a shadow of the 26 cars the grids use to have in the early 1990's. Simply put the show will be in serious jeopardy if one or two teams fail.

So they're proposing all sorts of radical changes during the upcoming few seasons. If every proposal goes through, by the end of it the teams will be buying mostly spec parts and cars to race with.

While the FIA idea that the cost of running a team should be close to the amount of revenue it brings in from its share of the TV broadcast money makes sense, mandating and enforcing that is going to be very difficult.

They're basically proposing standard engines for 2013, as well as standard wheels, brakes, and suspensions in addition to the standard tires already used.

Pretty soon the cars could be a lot like the GP2 cars. The racing will be closer and the drivers more experienced so it should be exciting to watch, which is the most important thing. But then it wouldn't really be Formula 1 with teams building their own cars as now. Here's a link to the supposedly leaked letter:

http://www.formula1blog.com/?p=2393

F1: Chinese Grand Prix

It was a good, clean start. Fernando Alonso gets by Heikki Kovalainen for fourth place. Jarno Trulli and Sebastian Bourdais collide. Lewis Hamilton sets the pace, followed by the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa.

I don’t understand why the broadcast team at Speed TV thinks Felipe Massa getting second place to Hamilton’s first would put him in a strong position for the Brazil Grand Prix, the next and final race. Finishing like that he’d be 7 points behind Hamilton.

Ferrari look very strong for the Constructor’s title but the Driver’s title is a whole different matter.

Based on initial pace it looked like Hamilton was light on fuel and Massa not as much. It turns out it was in fact the other way around, which favored Hamilton.

Kovalainen’s right front tire fails and he has to limp it back to the pits. The crew put on a new set and off he goes. He’s on a heavier fuel load than teammate Hamilton but has not been able to keep up.

After the second round of stops Raikkonen (on soft tires) is seen checking his mirrors for Massa (on hard tires). He will in all likelihood let Massa by since he is out of contention for the Driver’s title and Massa is not.

It’s also a possibility that Raikkonen has not pushed Hamilton harder due to having to maintain station to Massa in order to orchestrate a ‘pass’ since team orders are technically not allowed. Ferrari might have chosen to do this in order to maximize team points and limit damage to Massa’s title chances.

With eight laps to go Massa goes by Raikkonen, having steadily gained on him over the preceding 10 laps or so. In the end Kovalainen parks his McLaren Hamilton wins, followed by Massa, Raikkonen, Alonso (Renault), and the BMWs of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica. The Renault has improved tremendously over the course of the season.

Kubica is now out of contention for the Driver’s title, Hamilton leads by 7 points over Massa, and Ferrari leading the Constructor’s title by 11 points with one race remaining.

F1: Chinese GP Qualifying

Robert Kubica barely made it from Q1 to Q2. With 5 minutes to go he was 17th, the car was in the garage and his mechanics were swarming all over it. Out he went and did the lap he needed.

The McLarens were 1-2, led by Lewis Hamilton. The Ferrari duo were 5th and 6th or thereabouts. David Coulthard was irate with Nick Heidfeld for passing him prior to the start of DC's flying lap, and then coming in. Heidfeld was later demoted 3 starting positions, and rightfully so. But come on DC. Calling it the most unsportsman move ever is just a slight exaggeration.

In Q2 Kimi Raikkonnen went out early on soft tires. My guess is this was to obtain data for the team and title-contender Felipe Massa. Normally they save those tires til the end of the session or for Q3. Kubica was on the bubble near the end and was not able to move into the top 10 as hard as he tried. Teammate Heidfeld did.

In Q3 Hamilton took pole, Raikkonen was second, Massa 3rd, and Fernando Alonso a strong 4th in his Renault.

F1: Japanese Grand Prix

Qualifying

This was a snoozefest. Not because it wasn’t interesting to watch but watching it live in the E.S.T. time zone was around 1:00 AM so I was dozing off intermittently after a long day.

The first few thing of note was that the green grooves on the tires are a gimmick. Sure it’s part of a larger Bridgestone corporate message about sustainability, but all so transparent. Nothing has changed from the previous races this year as far as F1’s impact on the environment.

The change makes it hard to tell which compound each car is running since ALL the tires have green grooves and the softer tire has a white groove as well, where as the previous convention was that only the softer tire had white grooves while the other tires did not have any color grooves. Plus next year they’ll go back to slick tires.

On a more serious note about tires, since there is no “tire war” because Bridgestone is the only supplier, why do they have to bring custom compounds to each race? It makes the racing less predictable because each team’s performance can be compromised based on the chance that Bridgestone choose specifications that don’t suit their cars, which does nothing to reduce operating expenses.

They should make two compounds of a fixed specification for the entire season and bring that to every event. That way the teams will have a clear and equal starting point from which to design their cars, instead of having to do more and more simulation and testing just to pick which tires to use for each race weekend. Sure, the tires would likely not offer quite as much peak performance but the racing would be closer and that should be the top priority.

Other rules in F1 that should be dropped include the requirement that wing settings from qualifying be subject to “parc ferme” restrictions. It is foolish to compromise race day performance by having to choose the car’s wing settings the day before. Whenever weather conditions change, suddenly the car’s performance will be compromised purely from chance. As long as the teams don’t replace the wings with different components, there should be no problem with wing settings being changed on the grid prior to the race.

Again, qualifying was uneventful. Lewis Hamilton took pole, Kimi Raikkonen was second, followed by Heikki Kovalainen, Fernando Alonso, and Felipe Massa. Massa didn’t deliver when it mattered in this title fight.

Race

At the beginning of the show, Speed TV talks with McLaren about their wheel nuts which are not hexagonal. They adopted a design from Indy car which has many more angles and allows the gun to always fit the nut without any axial alignment by the operator. That probably saves a tenth or two during each pitstop (not to mention reducing risk of error).

Race day temperature was cool at 16 C, we’ll see how that affects tire performance from various teams. The start of the race was chaotic. Raikkonen and Kovalainen made great starts and got by Hamilton, but Hamilton elbowed his way past his teammate and had the inside line to Raikkonen at the first turn.

Hamilton played Kamikaze and overcooked his entry and that forced Raikkonen wide. Both McLaren and Ferrari drivers then went off the track and Alonso was able to take the lead followed by Robert Kubica.

Kubica is the most complete driver on the grid this year. His interview responses indicate he thinks quite methodically and was flexible to track conditions. When Peter Windsor asked him before the race how they’re dealing adapting to the track and tire combination, he indicated how he looked after the tires on different laps (i.e. different driving lines), opened up the differential, and change his steering angles. In other words, he changes the settings and way he drives on different laps to get the best out of the car.

All the drivers do this to varying degrees, but the way that he responds to these questions so naturally suggests that he has tremendous mental capacity to do so under peak pressure and is also a great test driver. More on this later.

David Coulthard and Kazuki Nakajima go off the track and break their cars; Coulthard’s car is done while Nakajima continues back to the pits for a new nosecone. It appeared Coulthard’s right rear suspension was wobbling (broken) all over prior to his impact with the tire wall. The Red Bull car does seem quite flimsy, breaking not for the first time this year, though it’s uncertain what caused the break.

Then Massa and Hamilton make contact and Hamilton spins and has to wait til everyone goes by. It looked to me that Massa was at fault as Hamilton was ahead and had the line.

Adrian Sutil is out on the main straight with a flat tire and parks it but not before leaving debris all over the track. Kovalainen’s engine blows. Then Massa is given a drive through penalty for hitting Hamilton, and Hamilton is given one for his move on Raikkonen at the start. One has to wonder if a drive through penalty at Fuji is much harsher than other circuits because the front straight is so long.

Sebastian Bourdais then leads a grand prix for the first time in his career. Then he pits and comes out while Massa is going by and they make light contact. Massa spins and continues. Raikkonen chases down Kubica and the two have an intense scrap for several laps before Raikkonen’s tires start going away.

Massa is under investigation for the Bourdais incident. It will be investigated after the race. F1 just shot itself in the foot again. When there is ample time to make a decision during the race, the stewards should settle the matter immediately in order to avoid possible penalties being imposed later and changing the results after the fact, as well as raising questions of manipulation of the championship outcome.

Another thing is the debris left from Sutil’s incident should’ve been cleared off. It was left there for the duration of the race and a bunch of drivers ran over bits and pieces while attempting to overtake.

Amazingly Alonso won his second race in a row. Kubica was second and Raikkonen brought it home third. Massa managed to salvage a point while Hamilton scored none in a very eventful race. Neither drove like championship contenders in this race.

Hamilton is a very good driver but he is also super lucky considering the mistakes he has made. He has had virtually no mechanical failures in his entire time in F1.

Having had a very lackluster season and now out of contention for the title, Raikkonen’s body language on the podium says he’s done. The Iceman’s fire appears to be out.

Meanwhile Alonso appears to be on fire even though he too is out of the title chase. When he finally gets a seat at Ferrari there will be epic battles with Hamilton and McLaren.

Ultimately, if there’s one driver who has performed like a champion this year it’s Kubica. He’s fast, intelligent, level-headed, and has made the fewest mistakes – if not diplomatic (easy on publicly criticizing the team Robert).

F1: Singapore Grand Prix

Good start to the race, fairly clean. Most drivers were using the harder tires. Kimi Raikkonen started setting fast laps within the first 10 laps which was sooner than has been usual.

The race was uneventful until Nelson Piquet’s crash which brought the Safety Car (SC) out, and closing the pits to refueling. The rules stipulate that when the pits are closed cars may not be refueled. If they are refueled, the driver will be assessed a 10 second stop-and-go penalty, which means he will have to come back to the pits and then remain stationary for 10 seconds. In effect, the penalty is more like 25 seconds when accounting for pit entrance/exit time (depending on the track and pitlane layout).

The intent of the rule is to prevent a mass dash for the pits when there is a SC period. But the effect is that it ruins race strategies and artificially shuffles the order of the field. Furthermore, when the SC period occurs during a fuel window (lap 17-ish today) then some drivers are about to run out of fuel, so they have to pit and incur the penalty. Then they have to pit again to serve the penalty, and if this happens to multiple drivers as it did today, has it really cut down the pitlane traffic that much?

This rule does not work well and should be eliminated or changed.

Felipe Massa’s electronic “lollipop” gave him the green light before the fuel hose was removed causing him to leave and rip the hose off the machine. Good thing for the back up hose as Kimi Raikkonen was stacked behind him in the pits and could not have otherwise been refueled. Massa had to stop at the end of the pitlane, losing a lot of time before his crew could come and remove the hose. That effectively ended his race.

To make matters worse, as we’ve seen before, his speed is fragile. By that I mean he is very fast, as evidenced in the first part of the race when he led with a sizeable gap. But once things don’t go well he begins to compound his mistakes and loses pace. Here we saw him start missing chicanes, struggling to pass backmarkers (admittedly this track is not easy to pass on) and then he spun and hit the water barrier.

Adding to the team’s disappointment, Raikkonen launched over a chicane and crashed into the wall so neither car scored any points. McLaren took over the constructor championship lead with Lewis Hamilton’s 3rd place finish.

The way the Ferrari team is performing is not the way of a championship winning team. I will be very surprised if they take the driver’s title this year, though they have a better shot at the constructor’s title.

Renault, on the other hand, have no hope of either title but they showed everyone today how it’s supposed to be done with Fernando Alonso winning from 15th position due to a little bit of luck, good strategy, and a car that seems to be well-suited to this track.

The venue is absolutely fantastic. It looks like something straight out of a movie or video game. The track needs a few revisions to make the racing better such as lower curbing, wider chicanes, shorter configuration, better pit entrance, and smoother pavement in a few spots. Also the marshals in Singapore need better training. One was knocked down by the front wheel while frantically rolling away Rubens Barrichello’s Honda. But overall F1 nailed it. This is a great preview of things to come.

F1: Singapore Qualifying

Neat new circuit. I like the “kart barrier system” of linked barriers that are often found at kart tracks. Unfortunately Giancarlo Fisichella did not get a hot lap as he experienced impact with said barriers pretty much as soon as he left the pits.

This track looks really neat but is a little too slow with an average speed around 110 mph. Because it’s so narrow, there probably won’t be much passing unless it rains.

It looks like the main issues for tomorrow’s race will be weather which will dictate tire choices, as well as visibility due to it also being a night race, brake temperatures (lots of corners), tight chicanes, and the pit entrance which requires cars entering to essentially stay on the racing line and block the cars behind, which will be running at high speed.

But the biggest question to me is the turn 10 chicanes. It looks to me that because it is so narrow there, as well as there being so much run off room (relatively) we’re going to see people going off there while attempting to race side-by-side. That would just lay the ground work for more Spa Francorchamps-like penalties. Let’s hope not.

Lewis Hamilton was lucky to make it into Q1 as he was 10th in Q2 because he waited too long to go out, overdrove by locking his tires frequently, and then ran into some traffic. The harder compound tires don’t seem to suit the McLarens as well as the Ferraris under those conditions. Also, Kimi Raikkonen seems to have a narrow operating window with his setups – maybe the front tires aren’t gripping quickly enough.

Felipe Massa is on pole by 0.6 s, Hamilton second, and followed by Raikkonen. Let’s hope for an exciting race tomorrow with lots of overtaking. No idea what fuel strategy anyone is running.

F1: Italian Grand Prix

It was raining hard enough at the start of the race that the safety car was used to pace the field with a rolling start instead of the usual standing start. Sebastian Bourdais had to start from the pitlane due to the engine stalling while on the grid, giving up his well earned 5th place position. Teammate Sebastian Vettel started from pole. The field made a clean, cautious start – visibility was virtually nil. Everyone was on full rain tires.

One new(-ish) feature was the use of flashing yellow caution lights in some areas in addition to flags.

Gradually the track began to dry somewhat. Lewis Hamilton went from 14th to 8th within about 20 laps. His McLaren was well set up for the conditions. The Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa have not done well in the wet this season, it appears they’re not as well suited to some tire specs as the McLarens are. It is rumored they operate better with softer compounds and/or higher temperatures. So even though there is technically no “tire war” there is a rivalry among the teams to get Bridgestone to develop tires more suited to their individual chassis.

Hamilton appeared to be on a one stop strategy, a common tactic when starting from back in the pack. After his first stop he came out with clear track and was well positioned to challenge for the win, particularly since Massa, on a two stop strategy, came out behind a long queue of traffic.

While there was the continued threat of rain, toward the final third of the race the track definitely began to dry. Fernando Alonso was the first to switch to intermediate tires and immediately began to improve his lap times. Other drivers followed.

This is where luck plays a big factor. The longer a driver’s stint (or the fewer his planned stops) the less flexibility he has in changing tires without additional time cost if the weather conditions change. There’s simply less flexibility.

Hamilton was caught out by this. If the track had continued to stay wet he would’ve been in a good position at the end. Instead, he had to stop to make an additional stop to change to intermediates as well.

During a subsequent tussle Mark Webber and Hamilton banged wheels resulting in Webber missing the first chicane and using the escape road. He was able to continue.

David Coulthard seems unable to get through a race without making contact with other cars. It’s not always his fault but he’s been involved in more than his fair share of incidents. Today’s collision with a Williams in the Parabolica just added to that tally.

To make matters worse Massa and Hamilton were not far behind the incident and Massa ran over some of the debris.

In the end Vettel won his first grand prix in style. There are striking similarities between his rise to F1 and that of Michael Schumacher (young German blitzes the F1 world and starts winning in cars that no one thought could win). Hopefully this is the first of many wins for him.

Massa finished 6th and Hamilton 7th so Hamilton retains his championship lead by one point. Kimi Raikkonen finished a distant 9th, unable to score points. He did, however, score the fastest lap of the race (on the last lap no less), but that was too little too late. He’s done that regularly this season, and a contributing factor is probably his poor qualifying positions cause him not to have clear track until the late stages of the races, the fuel load is low, tires scrubbed, and the track nicely broken in – exactly how he should perform in qualifying to avoid low starting positions.

The podium consisted entirely of first time winners in 2008 as Vettel was followed home by Heikki Kovalainen and Robert Kubica. And who’d have thought Gerhard Berger would ever be on an F1 podium again after retiring as a driver? He was there to collect Scuderia Toro Rosso’s constructor’s trophy.

It was a fantastic result that few could’ve expected. Next season Vettel will be in the Red Bull “senior” team and should go very well.

F1: Italian Grand Prix Qualifying

It was a very wet day at Monza at the start of qualifying. Every driver got on track immediately to minimize the risk of being caught out if the rain were to intensify during the session, or there was a red flag or safety car situation. There’s little doubt that wet conditions typically result in unusual starting grid positions.

Often this is a result of car set up. One of the challenges for the teams is that the rules require the rear wing position used for qualifying to also be used in the race. So if the conditions change by race day, the teams and drivers are stuck with those settings.

Not only is the rear wing a major factor in overall downforce levels, but it greatly affects the aero balance of the car. The level of downforce dictates to a large extent the level of suspension stiffness needed to help control the attitude of the car. At a place like Monza (the fastest track on the calendar) a stiff ride height seems crucial, but at the same time rain will require compliance in order to improve mechanical grip in the turns. The curbing also requires compliance to help the cars ride over them.

Effectively the further ahead the settings have to be decided, the more of a role luck will play. It might (or not) spice up the action but it is artificial and arbitrary.

Another tidbit of interest mentioned by the crew of SpeedTV is that some drivers now use a heated helmet visor that reduces fogging in moist conditions. Hopefully they’ll talk more about it during tomorrow’s race.

During Q2 Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, and Robert Kubica all spun but none suffered any damage. Hamilton was the first (and perhaps only) driver to switch to intermediate tires from full wets and promptly came back in. It was too rainy for those tires.

Both he and Raikkonen missed the window of opportunity to advance to Q3 when they were unable to post faster times toward the end of the session as the rain intensified. As a result, they ended up 15th and 14th respectively. A bad day for those two.

Felipe Massa and Heikki Kovalainen were able to advance. Massa took the 6th starting spot while Kovalainen will start 2nd. But the big news was that Sebastian Vettel took his first pole position. He’s also the youngest driver to do so, at the age of 21 years and 70-some days. Great stuff.

The Toro Rosso cars, and Red Bull teams in general, have been doing very well with Mark Webber 3rd (Red Bull), and Sebastian Bourdais 5th in the other Toro Rosso. David Coulthard, driving in his final Italian Grand Prix was a distant 13th.

Tomorrow’s race will be decided in large part by set ups already on the cars. It’s going to be a lottery and the outcome is probably going to surprise.

Amazingly no one crashed in qualifying. There were several spins but overall the drivers did an amazing job.

F1: Belgian Grand Prix

Qualifying

The big surprise in Q1 was Sebastian Bourdais going to P1 in a Toro Rosso – faster than anyone else. Didn’t notice which tire compound he was running. In Q2 Heikki Kovalainen (soft tire) was fastest followed by Lewis Hamilton (hard tire) and Kimi Raikkonen (soft). The Toro Rossos were still 7th and 8th I believe.

In Q3 it was Hamilton on pole followed by Felipe Massa, Kovalainen, and Raikkonen, the usual four suspects from McLaren and Ferrari. Though Raikkonen still seems to be struggling somewhat with qualifying.

Race

This one will probably go down as a classic. It was a damp start but the rest of the 4-plus mile track was dry. Hamilton and Massa made good starts. Kovalainen’s was dreadful. Raikkonen rocketed around Massa at the first turn (La Source hairpin) and used the run off area to get around. It looked like perhaps a planned move. There’s a bunch of room out there and the grip is probably pretty good. Then Raikkonen edged Massa to the grass on the long straight after Eau Rouge as he took second place.

Fernando Alonso was up to 4th and Nelson Piquet gained about 6 spots. Jarno Trulli was spun around by Bourdais. Shortly after the start Bourdais was up to 5th!

At the start of the second lap Hamilton spun at La Source and Raikkonen was able to pass him on the straight after Eau Rouge and began to pull away. This was the Kimi we are used to seeing. His lead increased to as much as 6 seconds through the course of the race.

A lot of people were probably wondering if either Ferrari engine was going to let go in light of their recent engine failures. The first round of pit stops saw Hamilton stop first. He was held up by traffic (including his own teammate) for several laps.

But after the second pit stops, Hamilton seemed to have made up a lot of ground on Raikkonen. Massa was 3rd much of the race, and then Piquet stuffed it into the tires on his own bringing out a local yellow. Bourdais ran as high as 2nd before pitting. Sebastian Vettel did well too, running as high as 4th. The Toro Rosso team has shown tremendous pace recently.

Anyway, with just a few laps to go rain started to fall and Hamilton tried to pass Raikkonen at the Bus Stop chicane. Raikkonen defended vigorously and Hamilton ended up straightlining the chicane and passing, something that is against the rules. He then backed off to allow Raikkonen to retake the position. Then at the very next turn (La Source) he managed to go around the outside of Raikkonen, and the two made light contact.

It was nose to tail all the way down the straight to Les Combes with Hamilton closely followed by Raikkonen. Both went off and used the run off several corners later (Pouhon?) when they came upon Kaz Nakajima coming back ON the track from his own off track excursion. Hamilton went far left off the track to avoid him, while Raikkonen went less left to do the same, and regained the lead.

But not long after he spun and Hamilton went by. I think there were two lead changes in that section alone. Unfortunately, Raikkonen then hit a wall and ended his day. It was a fantastic and chaotic battle enhanced by rain and changing conditions.

Hamilton won the race, followed by Massa and Nick Heidfeld in third for BMW. BMW made a great call putting Heidfeld on intermediate tires for the rain and he went from something like 7th to 3rd in the space of a lap or two. Outstanding.

Unfortunately, and make no mistake I am a Raikkonen and Ferrari fan, long after the podium ceremony was over the stewards decided to strip Hamilton of his win and demote him to third place by way of a 25 second penalty for his first pass on Raikkonen in the chicane, the one he gave back. This handed the victory to Massa, and second place to Heidfeld.

I don’t see any justification for it and I think it is another case of manipulation of the championship so that we’ll have a closer season finale, and there is the ever present specter of Ferrari favoritism. That’s not sport. Hamilton won it fair and square, and McLaren has rightfully appealed the decision.

The other aspect that makes the championship less exciting is the point system itself. There’s only a 25% difference between first and second place (10 vs 8 points). With the old system there was a 67% difference (10 vs 6 points). What the old system rewarded was winning. The new system makes it possible for the points leader to “cruise” (relatively speaking) for points finishing second or third. It rewards consistency more than winning.

In either case though, it seems there are consistent late-season FIA legal shenanigans to manipulate the championship and take it to the last race. After last season’s ending it would be a shame to have a repeat of such silly things when the on-track action is so good.

F1: European Grand Prix

The start was fairly tame, Heikki Kovalainen got by Kimi Raikkonen, but it seemed otherwise processional. If you don’t count Fernando Alonso getting taken out on the first lap by Kazuki Nakajima.

Anyway, with a new track and overnight rain, the surface was quite green and low in grip. An interesting tidbit mentioned by the SpeedTV team was the increased rate of fuel consumption in the GP2 race as more rubber was laid onto the track surface.

David Coulthard tried a dodgy pass on Giancarlo Fisichella resulting in contact and a spin for DC. He continues to show poor judgment, inexcusably so considering his level of experience. Meanwhile his replacement next year at Red Bull, Sebastian Vettel, did a spectacular job finishing 6th.

There was also speculation that McLaren and particularly Lewis Hamilton were vulnerable to a hot track as they seem to be harder on their tires. But frankly with the surface as green as it was, that was probably not as much of a factor (lower grip = less abrasion = less wear).

While spectacular to look at the Valencia street circuit produced almost no passing. It was almost a parade. Steve Matchett stated the obvious when commenting on Nico Rosberg’s use of the soft compound tires (he being the only one to start the race on them), and saying his lap times were competitive with those of the other drivers around him. Well yes, is that not true for everyone unless they have a problem?

Anyway, kidding aside, Ferrari had a fraught race. Though Felipe Massa basically led from start to finish except for when he was in the pits, Raikkonen’s race was a mess.

It started with a relatively poor qualifying performance (again) of 5th place. Then losing a position at the start. It took until well after the first pit stop before his times started coming down. Whether due to traffic or if he was just warming up, the outcome is the same. It’s too late to make an impact on the race. In fact, Massa came out of his first stop ahead of Raikkonen who had yet to make a stop. That’s how far behind he was.

Then during his second stop he left before the refueling was completed, knocking over 3 of the crew and losing more time to Kovalainen who had pitted at the same time. It appears whenever Raikkonen is behind Kovalainen on track he can not pass him, and tends to make uncharacteristic mistakes. One of Massa’s stops also resulted in a $10,000 fine for “unsafe release” as he almost collided with Adrian Sutil in the pitlane, but at least the stewards didn’t ruin an other-wise good race with a drive through penalty or something of that nature.

Finally Raikkonen’s engine blew in a big way about 10 laps from the end. Thus he scores no points and Lewis Hamilton extends his championship lead by finishing 2nd. McLaren didn’t put a foot wrong all weekend. Sure, they couldn’t match Massa’s pace but have drawn to within 8 points in the constructors championship as well. Not too shabby.

As for refueling, I think it’s time for FIA to look at making some changes in the interest of safety. It should remain as it plays an important strategic role. But is there a safer way to do so? Maybe there should be a system that prevents the car from driving away with the hose still in it. Maybe the mechanics shouldn’t stand ahead of the hose in case the car takes off. Maybe…… they’ll do something before more team members are carried off on a stretcher.

Finally, it’s clear that freezing engine specifications is not working. The teams continue to make tweaks and come up with slight gains. The FIA should think long and hard about whether the way their rules are enforceable.

F1: European Grand Prix Qualifying

The Valencia street circuit which hosts the Formula 1 European Grand Prix this year looks spectacular with its smooth high speed turns and a bridge (!) as part of the track. Traffic should be less of an issue due to the circuit’s length. One concern I have is that the pit lane entrance might cause problems in the race since the entrance is right on the racing line.

Anyway, Q1 was eventful. Nelson Piquet hit a bird with his right front wheel. Feathers went everywhere for a brief moment. Jarno Trulli finished at the top of the timesheet with his Toyota and Sebatian Vettel was second – an outstanding performance in the Toro Rosso.

The drivers that didn’t make it to Q2 were the “F1 Veterans Club” consisting of David Coulthard, Giancarlo Fisichella, and Rubens Barrichello, as well as Jenson Button and Adrian Sutil.

Vettel finished Q2 in P1 and in fine form. There was some light rain. Nick Heidfeld was third, Sebastian Bourdais made it through to Q1. The Ferraris and McLarens were slightly off the pace but appeared to have plenty to make it to Q3.

Q3 was similarly a continuation of Q2. Vettel’s crew were not ready when he came in for his final tire stop, which caused a slight delay. He ended up taking sixth place on the grid, about 0.2 seconds behind pole sitter Felipe Massa. The top 5 are rounded out by Hamilton, Kubica, Raikkonen, and Kovalainen.

Michael Schumacher was on hand with the Ferrari team, and the Speed TV commentators speculated he was hands on with the drivers and team in his consultancy role. If this is true, could it be that he’s focused on Massa and that is one of the contributing factors to his performance the last few sessions?

F1: Hungarian Grand Prix

Qualifying

Not very exciting. The McLarens locked out the front row, basically paddling their competitors. Ferrari seems to be falling off the pace with Felipe Mass qualifying third and Kimi Raikkonen sixth. Nick Heidfeld was held up in the last turn during his final qualifying lap, didn’t make it out of Q3. If I recall correctly the BMWs did not get on track until late in the session, which seems like a big risk to take.

Race

Massa made a fantastic start. Lewis Hamilton didn’t appear slow off the line but Massa just rocketed by. At the first turn it looked like he might’ve overcooked it locking up the tires briefly, but he managed to go around the outside of Hamilton which was advantageous because he would be inside for the next curve. After the pass he pulled out a steady lead.

Was Massa’s qualifying position a result of a driving error or was he running light for the race? It was hard to tell.

Raikkonen tried to go toward the inside line at the start and was boxed in. Fernando Alonso was able to get around him and stay there until the second round of pitstops. Raikkonen could not get by the Renault.

Sebastian Vettel went wide on the first lap and both Hondas got by. Nelson Piquet also lost a spot on the first lap to Jarno Trulli (?).

Hamilton eventually suffered a left front flat. The cause was unknown but he was lucky to be able to get back around to the pits without damage and losing many positions. Based on his record of flats and tire issues it seems he is harder on his tires than the other drivers. But he’s also extremely fast so it’s probably a function of the trade off between speed and tire wear.

There were a rash of refueling fires among the mid-field teams. Nothing race-stopping but definitely common enough to cause concern. Commentator Steve Matchett speculated they were caused by high air temperature. It was apparently very hot.

After his stop for a tire change, Hamilton seemed off his previous pace after the tire was replaced. It might be he was unsettled or was concerned about it enough that he wasn’t quiet as quick as at the beginning.

Three laps to go from the end Massa’s engine let go in a big way on the main straight. His race was lost and Heikki Kovalainen became the 100th different Grand Prix winner, Timo Glock managed an incredible second place with his Toyota, and Raikkonen rounded out the top 3. He also took fast lap after getting clear road. So Kovalainen woin his first grand prix!

Ferrari has had a number of engine failures this year and one has to wonder if the fact that McLaren supply all the teams’ engine control units (ECU) has any bearing on this. This is not to suggest foul play, but that McLaren has simply been bullet proof on the engine front because they designed the ECU while all the other teams have had to design or adapt their power train to that ECU.

The Ferrari drivers are splitting points and are both in it for the championship while Hamilton is the only McLaren driver who’s in the title fight. Heikki Kovalainen is too far back in the points to be a realistic challenger.

So Hamilton has total support (like Schumacher) from the team to go for the driver’s title, while Kovalainen’s re-signing for next year and his breakthrough win will probably see him to score more points regularly. McLaren’s pace of development has been astonishing. The four paddle steering wheel with a pair of controls for different engine torque maps seems to have boosted the performance noticeably (though it’s not the only reason). They’re looking very strong.

All the other teams are no doubt working on their own versions. However, I am not sure the controls are perfectly within the rules and we might hear rumblings later in the year about that – if competitors using it start dominating. I’m such a cynic but remember the controversy around mass damper systems a couple of seasons ago, among other technologies (ahem, active suspension).

Also, the KERS system for next year may be on target despite recent development incidents. No word yet on how Ferrari and McLaren are doing with them.

Finally, it appears to me Raikkonen will retire at the end of this year at the age of 29. It’s been denied time and again, but that’s only more proof that it will happen. For further proof, you just need to look at his performance at the last few races. He’s been slower than Massa in most qualifying sessions. I’d say he’s not as motivated as before, and that’s a pretty clear sign his heart is no longer in it. Hopefully it’s not true and he’ll stay, but I have my doubts. Don’t be surprised to see Alonso at Ferrari in 2009.

F1: Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS)

Formula One cars in 2009 have the option of using KERS to recapture braking energy and use it for acceleration. Until now that braking energy has just been wasted as heat to the atmosphere. The teams appear to be having some difficulty developing these systems as pointed out in this posting.

Since the 2009 Formula One regulations will allow the use of these systems the cars equipped will technically be hybrid vehicles. Energy can be recovered via mechanical (flywheel) or electrical (supercapacitors) means and will be restricted to a maximum output of 60 kW (about 80 hp), which will help the cars accelerate faster. These systems basically take brake energy and add them to acceleration energy.

Hybrid powertrains are a good concept and certainly this offers the sport a means of developing technology that might find its way to the street for the benefit of the public.

F1: German Grand Prix

Qualifying

Quite uneventful. The only exciting things were that Sebastian Vettel made it to Q3 and the number of times pole position changed hands in the closing seconds with Lewis Hamilton finally taking it. Oh, and Heikki Kovalainen getting refueled with a sophisticated-looking, yet NASCAR-style fuel can. Never saw that before.

Race

Note: I watched a recording of this on Monday evening having avoided all racing news since Saturday, as I had another appointment on Sunday during the broadcast.

The start was relatively uneventful. Robert Kubica and Vettel made a good start. Hockenheim’s current configuration seems good for passing as there are lots of different lines through many corners.

The Hondas are like moving chicanes this year; slow and obtrusive. Hamilton and Kubica were caught behind Jarno Trulli as they exited the pits. Bad luck or timing. Kimi Raikkonen got by Trulli, Vettel passed Fernando Alonso and then Vettel pulled a nice move to get by Timo Glock as well.

If I ran a team I would want Vettel as one of my drivers. He is doing way more with the Toro Rosso than expected, and he’s only 21 – world champion material. Mark my words. If his Red Bull car is decent next year he’ll become a familiar podium guest.

Glock had a big wreck coming out of a right hand turn after his right rear suspension brokes as he rode the curbing. The safety car was deployed and the pits closed for refueling. This rules needs to be changed as it could easily cause someone to either run out of fuel or suffer time penalty which serves no good purpose.

As soon as the pits reopened most cars came in. The pits were stacked, with drivers having to wait while the crews service their teammates. Clearly Hamilton came in ahead of Heikki Kovalainen but did not stop. It appeared McLaren made an error in their pit strategy.

As they exited the pits Vettel forced Alonso wide over the white line. I don’t think Alonso was penalized, and rightfully so as that was the only way he could avoid a collision.

The Vettel/Raikkonen/Alonso battle was terrific. David Coulthard running into Rubens Barrichello was completely Coulthard’s fault. He’s had his time and it’s a good thing he’s retiring at the end of the year to make room for new blood.

Speaking of new blood, Nelson Piquet managed to get his Renault into the lead because he stopped at just the right moment before the pit lane closed. Since he was on a one stop strategy, he was done with all his stops. So when the safety car pulled in and everyone else either went into the pits or had yet to make their final stop, he assumed the race lead. Pure luck.

When Hamilton finally made his stop it was under full green. He came out right behind his teammate Kovalainen. It seems Ron Dennis used team orders and told Kovalainen to let Hamilton by (it was a pretty clumsy pass). The main reason for this is because Hamilton is leading the championship and it’s a really tight battle. Another reason is probably that the team could not service Hamilton during the safety car period because Kovalainen was probably just about out of fuel.

Rather than hold up Kovalainen they just had Hamilton drive on through so they could get Kovalainen refueled, and Hamilton had to pit under green and make up the time through his own speed. Through a series of fast laps he was able to stay in touch with Massa’s Ferrari which was in second place.

So the team orders were a way to correct the team’s mistake. Shades of McLaren’s pit mix up with Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard in the Australian Grand Prix in 1998.

For all the credit that the broadcasters give Alonso, he has not performed as well as he should. Yes, he is fast and makes the Renault look better than it is. But in a number of races he’s throwing away track position with a string of avoidable errors (Monaco, France, Germany) by spinning, and generally pushing over the limit and ultimately losing time, position and points.

Raikkonen just could not get the performance he needed, and Felipe Massa just about fell off the road trying to stay ahead of Hamilton. He didn’t appear to put up much of a fight. It didn’t seem much different to when Hamilton passed Piquet for the lead. Massa is fast but does not cope well with pressure. It would’ve been the biggest fluke if Piquet won the race. He was gifted second place. For his part Hamilton drove a superb race and earned the win.

F1: British Grand Prix

Qualifying

Not too exciting until Q3 where the BMW crew were panicking to get Robert Kubica back out but couldn’t due to a technical problem they couldn’t fix in time. Lewis Hamilton was very fast in the first two sectors but had trouble in the third one, overdriving the car and locking wheels under braking.

At the very end Mark Webber had provisional pole only for McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen to take it away at the very end and earn his first pole position. McLaren team boss Ron Dennis didn’t look pleased. Hamilton was fourth.

The Ferrari team were struggling and off pace. Kimi Raikkonen was third while Felipe Massa was well back due to the team not being able to change a rear tire for his last qualifying run.


Race

The race was super exciting due to heavy rain and constantly changing conditions. It really highlighted the difference in tire choices. Everyone started on “intermediate” tires but there were a couple of drivers who switched to full wets during the course of the race.

Hamilton made an incredible start going from fourth to second by the first corner, tagging teammate Kovalainen’s right rear wheel and nearly taking him out but for a nice save by Heikki. Raikkonen was boxed in by Mark Webber who left the door open for Hamilton to charge by on the inside.

Webber then spun and was well down the order, while his teammate David Coulthard, who announced he will retire from F1 racing at the end of the season, collided with Sebastian Vettel on the first lap and took them both out.

Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen did not change tires during the first round of pit stops which would cost them dearly in terms of lap times. It appears their teams thought the rain would abate and the already worn intermediate tires would provide a performance advantage.

However, the rain increased and slowed them up considerably while Hamilton had switched to new intermediates and was miles up the road by the end. He also appears to be quite hard on his tires so not changing tires probably wasn’t an option.

Rubens Barrichello made the change to full rain tires and was rewarded handsomely as he drove his Honda, normally one of the slowest cars on the grid, to an unthinkable third place finish.

Hamilton drove a near perfect race and stormed to a dominant win. Nearly everyone else had at least one spin during the event. Sebastian Bourdais probably came as close as possible to being taken out without actually being taken out when Adrian Sutil spun in front of him. Sutil was lucky not to flip as his car went airborne sideways a few times over the wet British countryside.

Quote of the day from Speed TV’s Bob Varsha, “Someone get Matchett a tranquilizer!” Nick Heidfeld drove a great race to finish second. He seems very quick when his job is under threat but otherwise no so much.

So now we have a 3 way tie for the lead in the driver standings. This season will probably go down to the wire, just like last year.

F1: French Grand Prix

Qualifying

Not that interesting of a session other than the unofficial rule (?!) that cars cannot put all 4 wheels onto the green strip approaching the finish line. Apparently drivers (e.g. Bruno Senna in GP2) are using the last lap of their sessions to gain a time advantage by passing the line there without slowing down, and risking impact with the wall.

How silly is this? If it's been a problem for over 15 years then either move the finish line further up or extend the wall back like Montreal's "Wall of Champions" to discourage such driver behavior. It's not that hard to change.

The other item from qualifying is that "Quick" Nick Heidfeld now appears to be just Nick Heidfeld. He didn't do too well and ended up 12th, and has struggled mightily to keep up with his teammate.

Race

The Ferraris were in a league of their own with Kimi Raikkonen leading Felipe Massa from the start, and probably would've finished that way instead of vice versa but for Raikkonen's exhaust breaking, slowing the car.

Jarno Trulli did well to bring the Toyota home 3rd after all the dicing he had throughout the event with Fernando Alonso, Heikki Kovalainen, and Robert Kubica. His race engineer also wins the award for "Most Obvious Advice" over the course of the season thus far, with gems like "Push! Push! Kovalainen is right behind you!"

Nelson Piquet finally started turning his season around. Qualifying wasn't great but he managed to finish the race ahead of his teammate and both were in the points.

Lewis Hamilton started 13th due to his 10 place penalty for causing the pitlane accident in Canada. His driving on this day can best be described as ragged, bumping his teammate in the early laps, missing the chicane when passing Sebastian Vettel (and earning a drive-through penalty for it), consistently locking the left front at the 180 hairpin, and generally sliding all over the road. He's a fast driver with good luck but has a tendency to compound his problems when things aren't going well.

Between the struggles of the two McLarens today, team principal Ron Dennis was sweating like a SWAT team bomb technician on the job.

Kovalainen also made a great move by going around Piquet at the pit exit. Surprisingly, he wasn't penalized for it as he crossed the white line to the right of the lane. This is something that has been enforced further up the exit "ramp" let's call it, but circumstances might have required such a move.

Honda has had the same story every year for about the past 2 years, no improvement. Ferrari is now well clear of its rivals in the Constructors Championship and Massa leads the Drivers Championship, with Raikkonen third.

Turkish Grand Prix

It was kind of a snoozer. The most interesting thing so far is that Super Aguri went out of business, which leads to the debate about the health of F1. Peter Windsor interviewed Bernie Ecclestone on Speed TV and he said the sport is healthy and growing with new events being added to the calendar. I disagree.

There are now only 20 cars. It is simply too expensive and consequently there are fewer cars now. There even used to be pre-qualifying because there were only a maximum of 26 (?) slots on the grid.

Governments can and will subsidize races for a multitude of reasons. Not all of them are for sporting purposes. But industry has to fund the teams and you can see there’s not enough funding to go around in the current sports climate.

Anyway, the start of the race was a downer. The safety car has been getting a lot of use this season. Both Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen made poor starts. Lewis Hamilton, Robert Kubica, and Fernando Alonso made up places at the start.

Is Kovalainen generally unlucky? He qualified well but between losing out to the safety car period in Australia, the massive accident in Spain when his wheel failed, and today’s extra pit stop, I’m wondering how well he’ll turn his season around. Still he provided some great racing dicing with Timo Glock and Nico Rosberg further down the grid today.

Another driver having a tough time is Nelson Piquet. While he had a nice scrap with Jenson Button, his driving has been ragged and he’s made a lot of mistakes.

Don’t know what happened to Vettel, but at least he survived the first lap and finished the race but had to make 4 stops which is why he finished last.

Raikkonen’s race was essentially blown at the start and when he lost 1.2 seconds to Hamilton during the last round of pit stops (7.1 seconds vs 5.9 seconds), finishing 0.5 seconds adrift.

Jarno Trulli’s race engineer often gives him comically obvious motivational advice via radio to catch up to the drivers ahead. Trulli’s response today was “Don’t worry, I’m already pushing like hell”.

On to the technical details, the items of interest this time around were the thermal imaging cameras of the cars as they pitted. Interesting to note how white hot the exhaust, transmissions, and rear brakes were. I’d like to see a side profile of the cars and the front brakes with these cameras.

Also, Steve Matchett had some insightful comments on McLaren’s struggles running with the soft compound tires. Finally, there was talk about the margin of safety of the cars and the weight of various components. It seems like if the FIA wants to improve safety, they should specify minimum weights for certain components such as wheels, in addition to the overall minimum weight of car and driver.

Oh, and Felipe Massa won the race for Ferrari. The next race is Monaco in two weeks.

Flywheels As Bridges

I’ve been wondering lately if a mechanical flywheel could be a means to bridge the gap between battery and supercapacitors for on-board vehicle energy storage. Supercaps can be charged and discharged quickly, and their high bursts of power are good for acceleration but not so much for constant power.

On the other hand, batteries are slow to charge and discharge but are good for sustained cruising. Using supercaps and batteries together could provide for a wide range of power needs. Except thus far it doesn’t seem there’s any way to charge batteries quickly and maintain their service lifespans.

Possibly then a mechanical flywheel could be used as a bridge between the two in the sense that an on-board supercapacitor could be quickly charged and enable a vehicle to get back on the road. The supercap quickly charges the flywheel, and then the flywheel slowly charges the batteries.

At this point flywheel capability in a vehicle application is relatively unknown but it’s a potentially useful technology path. And with Formula 1 featuring KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems) next year, this is a great opportunity for technology transfer from racing to the street.

F1 Notes – Spanish Grand Prix

Some observations of today’s event:

Fernando Alonso did a great job in qualifying, almost got pole. He was lucky to get away with his off during the warm up lap when he nearly hit a wall. Good start from the Ferraris.

Lewis Hamilton probably made the best one, certainly the decisive one of the race when he jumped Robert Kubica. He’s done this on more than one occasion at the start where he’ll go to the outside approaching the first turn and then dart inside to take the position from the car ahead as it tries to defend the mid-outside line. It often pays off.

Not a good day if your name was Sebastian. Vettel was taken out by Adrian Sutil’s failed move on someone else ahead of him. More reason to qualify further ahead.

Speaking of Sutil I don’t see him lasting the rest of the year unless he really improves his performance. Teammate Giancarlo Fisichella outqualified him by about 0.7 of a second which seems like somewhere between a kilometer and a mile.

Then Sebastian Bourdais had the accident with Nelson Piquet which eventually took them both out.

Couldn’t believe there was an audience of 132,000 people. Huge turnout for Fernando Alonso.

Then Heikki Kovalainen has a massive accident due to mechanical failure. It looked awful as the car wedged itself under the tire barrier having impacted it nearly straight on at high speed. When the car was finally extricated there was visible daylight in the cockpit, not a good sign at all. Heikki was taken away on a stretcher but appeared to be mostly ok. Hopefully he’ll be fine and his promising career won’t be adversely affected.

Hard to imagine the consequences of such an impact if the wall was concrete as they likely were in the recent past.

Steve Matchett on Speed TV really knows his stuff. Always fascinating to hear him speak about strategy and the many considerations that go into running the cars.

The rule prohibiting refueling in the pitlane when it’s closed due to a safety car period is both confusing and cumbersome. Totally ruined Nick Heidfeld’s race. A 10 second penalty for refueling when you had to? Utterly ridiculous.

It’s time for David Coulthard to hang up his F1 gloves. He’s become an obstinate curmudgeon, party to too many accidents when getting passed, and today’s result was he was lapped by his teammate Mark Webber who actually finished, and in the points to boot.

If Red Bull are to win they need to replace Coulthard.

In the end Jackie Stewart’s pre-race prediction was right on the mark no one would challenge Kimi Raikkonen for the win. Raikkonen gets criticized unfairly for his perceived lack of emotion. But he gets my vote for not only being the best driver on the grid, he doesn’t complain and gets the job done without drama. That is a mark of a true champion.

F1 Notes – Bahrain

What’s this have to do with future transportation? There’ll be more relevant technology transfer between racing and road vehicles (both ways) as we go forward toward new generation vehicles. Besides, I just plain like racing and analyzing drivers. Here are some observations of today’s event:

Adrian Sutil has not done much with his time in F1, and I think it’s about to come to a close.

Sebastian Vettel has had some phenomenal races. So far this year he seems to have had a string of bad luck. Hopefully he’ll return to form soon.

When things are good he’s great. But Lewis Hamilton cracks under pressure. He had a rough day of his own making. We’ve seen on several occasions now when one thing goes wrong, whether it’s his fault or not, he falls down like a row of dominoes. Don’t know if his botched start was a technical issue or his fault but it wasn’t that bad until he rear ended Alonso. Then he almost fell off the road passing Fisichella’s Force India and had the temerity to gesture at him for holding him up even though they were, how do you say, racing for position. He needs to calm down. Especially in light of making a McLaren look like a Super Aguri today. The second year is often not as stellar as the first.

Of course, Alonso wasn’t exactly polite while racing Timo Glock for position either.

From the on-board camera, Jenson Button’s steering wheel was turned on way while his front wheels were pointed the other after the collision with David Coulthard. It was almost certain he wouldn’t make it out of the pits after.

Coulthard’s suspension held together better than the last race.

Force India color scheme looks a lot like McLaren’s. Hard to tell the two apart unless up close.

Speed’s Bob Varsha says Nick Heidfeld is “Mr. Under-the-Radar this year”. Could probably expand that to include his whole F1 career.

Kovalainen might outdo Hamilton this year. He’s fast and consistent. Seems low key too.

Mark Webber finished the race. Guess I’m used to his 2006 season when he only finished 7 of 18 races, or his 10 out of 17 last year. A lot were not his fault but he’s got a knack for driving for teams when they’re really unreliable.

Felipe Massa made good on the first 2 races. He’s very fast. Needs more consistency. Wonder what advice Michael Schumacher is giving him.

Kubica did very well to secure his and BMW’s first pole position, great finish.

Kimi not so much into pomegranate fruit drink as a Champaign substitute on the podium, as expressionless finishing second as he is when he wins - my pick for the title again this year.

F1 Wheel Cover

One of the finer points of last weekend’s F1 race in Malaysia was the front wheel covers on the McLaren team cars. Instead of rotating with the wheels they remain stationary while the car is in motion (click here for picture).

There is a brake duct on the inside of the assembly which channels air over and around the disc and caliper. It appears the vent in the wheel cover allows airflow from the interior of the wheel to exit more efficiently.

This enables greater temperature reduction by allowing more air to flow through the wheel and brake than with a rotating cover. On a rotating cover a vent or opening would probably only be effective for a portion of each revolution of the wheel, thus requiring more openings and inducing more aerodynamic drag.

Budget Capping In Formula 1

There’s broad recognition that unless costs are reigned in, escalating costs in any racing series will eventually lead to a bust once the benefits of racing (PR, promotion, technology improvements, etc) are outweighed by the cost.

Typically at that point the rulemakers go back to the proverbial drawing board and come up with a new version that’s less cost intensive, and often more technically limited (e.g. IMSA GTP, German Touring Cars in the ‘90s, and CART/IRL/Champcar).

The problem is each time there is a bust, the disruption causes a major loss of interest from fans and participants. So when the new version comes out, not only are the cars often emaciated, so is the series – just a shadow of its former self.

Formula 1 has implemented a number of ideas over the last few years with the intention of reducing costs, but it seems budgets are no less these days – part of the reason being that teams will spend as much as they can, to be as competitive as they can be.

If one portion of the car becomes limited for development, such as using standard engine control units (ECU) or tires, the money the teams would have spent on these areas would simply diverted to other areas of research and development. Even if the cars were ‘spec’ (all identical to one another) there would still be competitive differences among team through testing and simulation.

Now F1 is thinking about budget caps to restrict spending, though from what I’ve seen it won’t include driver salaries or engine costs. I find the concept of regulating racing through accounting controls unpalatable. There are many ways to skirt the regulations when it comes to money.

Teams will use all resources their budgets allow. Limiting that with accounting controls isn’t going to cut costs. My guess is if a budget cap goes into effect, the probability that 5 years later the same teams that are winning now are winning then is quite high.

A budget cap will require total transparency in addition to watertight rules. The way the FIA went about last season’s hearings and scandals, the one thing that is completely obvious is that they haven’t quite gotten the grasp of operating transparently. So a budget cap is even less likely to work.

What F1 needs to do is cut down force dramatically (make the wings standard and smaller), reduce the turbulent air behind the cars so they can race closer, and bring back slick tires. Finally, they need to tighten up the rules so we don’t have everyone waiting a month after the last race of the year to have a championship decision made in a faux court – it should be decided on track.

If F1 keeps going the way it’s going with all these shenanigans that have nothing to do with racing action, it will find itself in a bust sooner or later as the manufacturers outspend the smaller teams into oblivion and then pull out. It’s time for a change but budget caps will neither limit spending nor improve the racing.