Most liked posts in thread: 2014 - F1

Steve · Feb 19, 2014

Better pics of the Lotus:

ScottinBend · Feb 19, 2014

Gas powered blowers for the brakes.......:confused5: Don't they have a Dewalt dealer around?

minimark · Feb 20, 2014

Things not going to well in the courts for the house of Bernie...

From motorsports:

Feb.20 (GMM) A London court verdict on Thursday was both good and bad news for F1's embattled chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

Constantin Medien's $140 million damages claim was dismissed by the judge, but Justice Guy Newey announced in his verdict that 83-year-old Briton Ecclestone had been "corrupt".

It is a major blow to Ecclestone, who later this year will face jail, and certainly the end of his long reign over the sport, if found similarly guilty of paying a bribe by German prosecutors during a criminal trial.

"The payments were a bribe," Thursday's verdict read, adding that Ecclestone's agreement with jailed former F1 banker Gerhard Gribkowsky was "corrupt".

However, Justice Newey dismissed Constantin's claim, asserting the German company and former F1 shareholder was "no part of Mr Ecclestone's purpose" in having paid the bribe.

"No loss to Constantin has been shown to have been caused by the corrupt arrangement with Dr Gribkowsky," he said. "That fact is fatal to the claim."

But the judge dealt further blows to Ecclestone by saying the 83-year-old was not a "reliable or truthful witness".

Ecclestone's lawyers, however, saw the bright side of the verdict, saying the judge had "completely exonerated" the defendants.

Zapski · Feb 20, 2014

Another good day for Mercedes powered cars at Bahrain. Renault makes some gains, but Caterham outperforms Red Bull not only in laps completed, but Kobayashi put in a better lap time than Seb.

I may become a Caterham fan at this rate.

Charts at the link.

Magnussen leads day two in Bahrain as lap times fall - F1 Fanatic

A Mercedes-powered car headed the lap times for the fifth consecutive test day in a row at the end of todayâ€™s running in Bahrain.

Kevin Magnussen lapped almost two seconds faster than Nico Hulkenbergâ€™s best time from yesterday, well inside last yearâ€™s fast race lap and 2.6 seconds off last yearâ€™s pole position time.

Hulkenberg was second-quickest ahead of Ferrariâ€™s Fernando Alonso, who backed off after setting quick sector times on more than one occasion during the test.

Having completed very little running on day one of the test Williams were back up and running today, Valtteri Bottas racking up the most laps with 116.

There was some encouragement for the Renault-powered teams who had a slightly more productive day. As the teams reach the half-way point in pre-season testing Renault have been on the back foot in terms of mileage but today Red Bull and Toro Rosso both manaed over 50 laps each.

Jean-Eric Vergne caused one of the dayâ€™s red flags in his Toro Rosso while Nico Rosberg stopped twice in his Mercedes. Esteban Gutierrez was responsible for the fourth and final red flag of the day.

The new Lotus E22 was only seen on track for 18 laps during its second day of public running. Marussia also continued to suffer teething problems with their car â€“ 17 laps for Max Chilton mean they have only done 20 over the first two days of this test.
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Zapski · Feb 21, 2014

Another good day for Mercedes powered cars, and another problem filled day for Renaults. The Ferraris are also having trouble, but not as many as the Renaults. In fact team Ferrari is putting in a lot of laps, so their reliability is very good. It's the other Ferrari teams that are having difficulties.

So far it looks like it's going to be a season dominated by Mercedes and McLaren, with a mad scrabble for the midfield.

Caterham is still putting in more laps than Red Bull by nearly a 4-1 margin, but at least they lapped slower this time. This is going to be a terrible season for Red Bull if this keeps up.

Chart with lap times at the link.

Hamilton quickest as Red Bull stop early on day three - F1 Fanatic

Lewis Hamilton headed the times on the third day of testing in Bahrain as Mercedes-engined cars filled the top three places.

The 2008 world champion took seven tenths of a second out of the quickest time of the test so far, posting a 1’34.263 in his W05. Fellow champion Jenson Button was second for McLaren ahead of Felipe Massa’s Williams.

Button was the busiest driver on the track, completing over 100 laps. The two Williams drivers shared the FW37 as the team performed live pit stop practice, leading to Valtteri Bottas covering 55 laps without setting a time.

But Red Bull’s running came to an early end after 28 laps when they discovered a mechanical problem with the RB10 at lunchtime. “Because of its nature it means we have to take the car apart,” explained race engineering co-ordinator Andy Damerum.

“As everyone in the pit lane is finding out this is a long process, so we decided to suspend running in the afternoon so that we can be ready for the final day.”

It was another frustrating day for Marussia, who have completed the fewest laps of all the teams in testing so far. Max Chilton came to a stop soon after leaving the pits early in the day, causing the first of three red flags.

The other two were caused by Pastor Maldonado, whose Lotus broke down twice on his first full day in the car.

Among the other teams to suffer problems were Ferrari – Kimi Raikkonen’s car experiencing a telemetry problem – and Force India, who had battery trouble on their VJM07.
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Steve · Feb 21, 2014

Looks like Chilton could move on to a high jumping career if this F1 thing doesn't pan out for him.

Steve · Feb 21, 2014

Horner's theory about why Renault is struggling relative to the other engine manufacturers.

Energy recovery contributing to Renault F1 test issues, says Horner (autosport.com)

By Edd Straw | Friday, February 21st 2014, 09:29 GMT

Renault's struggles to get on top of Formula 1's energy recovery systems are contributing to its pre-season testing woes, according to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

The French manufacturer has less experience of energy recovery systems in F1 as when KERS originally came into the sport in 2009 it was reliant on its works team to head up development of the unit.

Red Bull, which developed its own KERS unit for its championship winning cars from 2011-13, has been working with Renault to help troubleshoot the problems.

"We have been supporting them with our experience on the whole energy recovery side of the package," Horner told AUTOSPORT when pressed on Red Bull's role in working with Renault on the ERS.

"That's where we can contribute the most and that's where the biggest issues are at the moment.

"We have had a limited involvement, and are getting more and more involved."

Horner believes that former Renault team principal Flavio Briatore's decision that his team (now Lotus) rather than the French manufacturer itself should develop KERS originally is at the heart of the struggles.

While this was a logical move at the time, it was decided when such systems were less complex and could be bolted onto existing engines, meaning that Renault has less experience than it otherwise would in this area.

"If you look at the situation at Renault, Flavio made the decision years ago that energy recovery and KERS would be dealt with by the race team, not the engine manufacturer.

"Renault then sold the race team and we picked up KERS and developed our own system that we ran within the gearbox.

"Now, on the new powertrain, energy recovery has gone back to being the responsibility of the engine supplier, which is where it should sit but they have had a steeper learning curve than perhaps Mercedes or Ferrari who have a few years of experience."

Horner also paid tribute to the response both from his team, which has been working flat out, and Renault in solving the problems.

While there are still issues, major changes have been made to the Red Bull RB10 since the opening test at Jerez.

But the late shipping of components meant that the team lost a lot of running on the first day of the Bahrain test on Wednesday as it prepped the car.

"There have been significant changes from the first test in Jerez, so the lead times and getting components made, along with the fact that the test isn't in Europe and is seven or eight hours away, has made things tighter.

"It has had its challenges, but the way that the team has responded to it and the way that Renault is responding is everything you could ask for."
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Zapski · Feb 21, 2014

You know what though, now Bernie (may he be short time) is working on convincing the teams to approve double points for the last 3 races.

That'd be enough for a late developing team like, say Red Bull, to snatch the championship from teams that did the job right before the season started.

Just saying'.

Steve · Feb 22, 2014

I expect this pic to cause quite a bit of speculation. Looks like a duct.

Steve · Feb 22, 2014

Some interesting insights in all these videos. According to the third, the nose isn't the only asymmetrical part of the Lotus. Also surprised to learn that apparently some are using air-to-air intercoolers, some air-to-water.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aflurrK5LcI]Ferrari's setback - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXV1G--pK4U]Bahrain F1 tests - Williams looking good - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-98-Q7NaM8]F1 Lotus E22-Renault detailed by Craig Scarborough - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Feb 24, 2014

Lotus says nose will be difficult to copy (GPUpdate.net)

Edd Straw and Gary Anderson | Monday, 24 February 2014

Lotus's unique "twin-tusk" Formula 1 nose design has proved to be an advantage on track, according to technical director Nick Chester.

The new Lotus E22 ran in public for the first time during last week's four-day F1 Bahrain test and on-track aerodynamic data suggests it is working well.

"From the aero numbers we are getting back from the car, it does seem to be performing," said Chester. "I'm not going to give you a number on how much better we think it is than a standard low nose, but we did see what we thought was a significant benefit, which is why we chased it."

Chester admitted he is surprised no one else opted to pursue the concept, especially as staff departures meant that other teams were aware of the idea.

Scuderia Toro Rosso technical director James Key has confirmed the Italian squad had considered the idea while James Allison, who switched from Lotus to lead Ferrari's technical team, was also aware of the concept.

"Yes, in a way," said Chester when asked if he was surprised nobody had copied the idea. "I know some teams had the luck to have visibility [of the idea] quite early and I thought there might have been one or two teams maybe that would have tried it and developed it.

"The one thing that is difficult with the nose is that it is quite hard to structurally develop and crash-test it. Obviously, it is a different structure to a standard nose and it did take quite a lot of iterations to get it to a point where we were happy and it went through the crash test."

GARY ANDERSON'S VERDICT

Lotus has gone out on a limb with the twin-tusk concept to meet the new regulations covering the location of the front impact area.

This has been achieved by increasing the size of one of the wing pillar mounts. This area has to be a minimum of 9000 sq/mm with a center of area no higher than 185mm and the lowest point no lower than 135mm from the reference plane.

This means that one of the tusks, the one on the right-hand-side from the driver's perspective, has to be at least 90mm wide to meet the regulations. The second tusk is set back by something like 50mm as the regulations require a soft initial impact before reaching the point where the 9000 sq/mm area is measured.

This tusk can be narrower, but it looks very similar as I can only assume Lotus needed this extra area from the left hand pillar to pass the crash test.

It is better than the other solutions we have seen because if you add up the widths of the components, the total aerodynamic blockage is more than the other cars, but the open central section will get the airflow to the center of the car. But on the downside, it doesn't allow as much aerodynamic detail as a conventional nose. Such detail work would be very good for inducing directional changes on the airflow that is going under the car.

Originally on Autosport.com
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mrntd · Feb 25, 2014

Steve said: ↑

I expect this pic to cause quite a bit of speculation. Looks like a duct.

Click to expand...

Actually 3 ducts. The 2 smaller ones to the sides send air out the sides. The center one channels out the top of the nose. Thoughts are it is for cooling electronics.

Zapski · Feb 25, 2014

In backmarker news....

Marussia Bahrain F1 test disrupted by computer virus - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com

By Edd Straw Monday, February 24th 2014, 11:26 GMT

Marussia F1 2014

A computer virus that hit on the first day of the Bahrain test put Marussia on the back foot for the rest of its running at the Sakhir circuit.

The ex-Virgin squad completed only 29 laps during the four-day test, fewer than any other team, with the virus that the team spent Wednesday fixing effectively wiping out the day.

"It started off with the first disaster, which was a computer Trojan-type virus in the racks, which cost us the best part of the day," team principal John Booth told AUTOSPORT.

"So that set the tone for the week.

"On the second day, we did 17 laps and it was OK, working through problems, but then on Friday we lost most of the day with an engine issue and it took all day to change.

"The final day was a series of little problems and little problems with these cars take so long to fix.

"In the morning, we had an ERS [warning] light come on, but it turned out to be a false signal, so that was two hours lost.

"Then there was a fuel system problem, which is not a Ferrari problem, it's ours.

"Things like that keep bogging us down, but I don't think we had the same problem twice, which is odd because usually you get recurring problems."

With Marussia having completed only 59 laps with its MR03, Booth concedes that he is concerned about being ready for the season-opening Australian GP.

He is hopeful that during the final four days of running, which start in Bahrain on Thursday, Marussia can get itself into a position where it can be ready for the first race of the season.

Marussia F1 2014

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried in the slightest," said Booth when asked about readiness for Melbourne.

"It's OK thinking you can sort the problems but you have to prove it. But I am very hopeful.

"We have done nothing on set-up whatsoever, but having said that the drivers report that what they have done they feel pretty confident with.

"The brakes are fine and we improved that over the week, it has come on in leaps and bounds.

"We have only got a few days before the next test then four days of testing and we just have to maximise what we have left."
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OK, 2 things:

1: a "Trojan-style Virus" is a contradiction. A Trojan is a bit of software that you have to install yourself, because you downloaded something dumb or dodgy. Viruses are self infecting and don't require user input. So if it was a Trojan, their stupid IT guy or someone with inappropriate administrator access installed it. Fire that guy. Also, no AV software? Really?

2: "in the racks" - So this wasn't someone's laptop, this was a bloody server. Geebus. I wonder if they need a new IT guy who knows how to set proper access policies.

ScottinBend · Feb 25, 2014

WOW...........now that's a history lesson. Not much I could add, but I hope things get better.

Zapski · Feb 26, 2014

Yikes.

Zapski · Feb 27, 2014

More good news for Mercedes engines, more bad news for Renault. At least Red Bull outperformed Caterham though, so that's something. Ferrari powered cars are looking potentially competitive.

Lap times and laps completed at link.

Perez leads times as Red Bull struggle goes on - F1 Fanatic

Sergio Perez led the times as the final four-day pre-season test began in Bahrain.

The Force India driverâ€™s best time of 1â€™35.290 was two seconds off the quickest lap set by Nico Rosberg last week.

A late run by Valtteri Bottas moved him up to second place at the end of a busy day in which he completed a mammoth 128 laps, more than two grand prix distances.

Ferrari had a quiet morning following the discovery of a technical problem but Kimi Raikkonen improved his time half an hour before the session finished to end the day third-quickest. His Ferrari stopped on track shortly before the chequered flag appeared.

In contrast, Red Bull made an encouraging start to the day as Daniel Ricciardo took to the track early on and improved on their best lap time from the week before. But the RB10′s teething troubles resurfaced and the car spent much of the afternoon in the garage before emerging for a brief run minutes before the end of the session.

It was a familiar story for the other Renault-powered teams, each of which was responsible for interruptions to the dayâ€™s activity. Kamui Kobayashiâ€˜s Caterham stopped on track early in the day, then reappeared after lengthy repairs.

Pastor Maldonado caused another red flag shortly after rejoining the track following software changes on his Lotus. And Daniil Kvyatâ€™s Toro Rosso came to a stop at turn two, after which he did not return to the track again.

Marussia did not complete as many laps as Toro Rosso, but Max Chilton did complete the most running for the team in any day of testing so far this year.
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mrntd · Feb 28, 2014

Looks like a disastrous season for Renault powered teams. Is it too late to switch? (sarc)

With Honda coming in next year this might be the end of Renault in F1

Zapski · Feb 28, 2014

FOTA officially disbanded - F1 Fanatic

The Formula One Teams’ Association has officially been disbanded five years after it was established.

An announcement on its official Twitter account today stated: “I can confirm that FOTA has today been disbanded as a result of its members’ having re-evaluated their requirements in the face of a changing political and commercial landscape in Formula One.”

FOTA originally represented all the Formula One teams but at the time of being disbanded only seven of the eleven competitors were members: McLaren, Mercedes, Williams, Lotus, Force India, Marussia and Caterham.

The organisation was founded in 2009 as Formula One teams sought to oppose the efforts of FIA president Max Mosley to impose a drastic change in regulations on the sport. Once that had been achieved FOTA’s members agreed their own framework for cost controls called the Resource Restriction Agreement.

However disagreement over how the RRA should be enforced led to a split in the teams’ unity, and in December 2011 Ferrari, Red Bull and Sauber left the body.

This badly weakened FOTA’s bargaining power but the body continued to play a role in F1 decision-making. It also ran a series of fan forums at which supporters had the chance to quiz senior team members and drivers, and put across their views about the sport.
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Zapski · Feb 28, 2014

It was a good day for Ferrari today. Mercedes powered cars had gearbox and technical issues, and Renaults caught fire.

Lap times and charts at the link.

Perez on top again for Force India - F1 Fanatic

Sergio Perez was quickest again for Force India as the Mexican driver completed his pre-season testing. However his quickest time was no faster than his best effort from yesterday, when he also headed the times at the Bahrain track.

Fernando Alonso headed the times for part of the session before Perez edged out his best effort by less than a tenth of a second.

Technical problems continued to take their toll on the cars, forcing several drivers to first their tests early.

Among them was Lewis Hamilton, who went off at turn three in his Mercedes early in the session, bringing the red flags out. A gearbox fault later ended his running prematurely.

Pastor Maldonadoâ€™s day came to an early end three hours before the session concluded when his Lotus caught fire during a run.

A similar fate befell Marcus Ericsson in the Caterham, though by then there was less than an hour of the test left to go.

Jenson Button was sidelined with a technical problem early in the test and spent five hours stuck in the garage while the McLaren team rectified the fault.

However Marussia enjoyed another improvement to their pre-season preparations. For the first time this year Jules Bianchi covered more than a race distance during a test day, managing 75 laps.

Most teams swapped drivers today with the exception of Perez, Daniel Ricciardo and Pastor Maldonado. Their next spell in the cockpit will come at the first practice session for the Australian Grand Prix in two weeksâ€™ time.
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Zapski · Feb 28, 2014

mrntd said: ↑

Looks like a disastrous season for Renault powered teams. Is it too late to switch? (sarc)

With Honda coming in next year this might be the end of Renault in F1
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They might get one more year, it depends on how good the Hondas are. From what I've been gathering, it's mostly the new electronics that are killing the Renaults, and having owned one back in the 80's I can't say that I'm surprised by that at all.

I agree with you, if they can't do the electrics right, I can't imagine anyone really wanting to stick with them. I think Lotus might be screwed though, they have a multi year contract with Renault and can't switch easily.

Honestly I think the McLaren's are probably going to take it this year. The experience they have with supercars and the P1 are probably feeding right into their development. I'm betting that all the work they did with the P1 was specifically done for the Formula 1 team with the 2014 rules in mind.

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