Video: Presentation by Richard Parry-Jones

This is a very insightful talk by the famed Ford engineer. He covers a number of topics including chassis tuning, vehicle development, manufacturing, and F1 racing sprinkled with anecdotes and stories throughout.

F1 Budget Cap: Impossible to Enforce

This exactly why I've always thought that the budget cap was flawed and unenforceable. Capping budgets is a good intent but there is no way to go about it convincingly with the way F1 is currently structured. The teams that have the money to spend will spend it, and there will never be a realistic and reasonable way of policing that. It's going to take a lot more than a gentleman's agreement and some accountants to ensure that a cap is adhered to.

And even if (IF) this system worked how can this be explained to the fans succinctly, and why should they care? It has little to do with racing other than holding out the potential to mar the credibility of a championship as we're seeing with the rumors that are going around about the Red Bull team's spending in 2010.

Furthermore, suppose the team was found to have exceeded the cap. Then what? Strip them and their driver of the titles? That would be a PR disaster. The problem with racing rulemakers is too often they come up with rules that are not practical to enforce. Sure, it would be great if no team spent more than the cap. But proving or disproving that is so far removed from the realm of what the fans care about that it's academic.

I've said it time and again: Racing results should be decided definitively at the moment the checkered flag is waved. There should never be any doubt of the race result right then. And should there be an exception (scrutineering, driver penalties, etc) it should be decided quickly after the event. It should never drag on into another day.

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.