F1 - 2011

Damn it. :mad2:

 

Sure was a boring Q session.

This run a lap and put it away crap needs to stop.

 

x3. For some time there was a real possibility that some cars wouldn't even run. I bet we will see some choose that strategy sometime this season. A very bad byproduct of all the regs and efforts to create a better show.

 

Schuey didn't even bother with Q3, he just took 10th place on the grid and saved a set of fast tires for the race, now he's 2 sets up on the Ferraris and Big Macs.

Who wants to bet whether Vettle could have found enough even without his "Curse" to best Webbo for the pole?

 

Well Done!

One helluva good race today in Spain!

 

Here Here

Had me edge of my seat pole to pole, great start, great dual at the end between Seb and Lewis

 

Yes, that was a very nice race. Lets hope it extends to next week too!

 

The FIA is introducing a "three strikes" rule in Formula One to ensure that driver reprimands are no longer meaningless, and they instead could add up to a grid penalty for the driver concerned.

When race stewards issue such penalties, other drivers complain often that the reprimands have no value and are of little deterrent to those involved.

Now, though, a driver will receive a five-grid place penalty if and when they receive three reprimands in a season.

At least two of the offenses must involve driving, as officials can also hand out reprimands for things such as being late for an official drivers' briefing or an FIA press conference. In Turkey this year, for example, Paul Di Resta received a reprimand for missing a weight check.

Last weekend in Spain, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Mark Webber all escaped with reprimands for driving too fast under yellow-flag conditions at the scene of Heikki Kovalainen's crash.

The new system has been discussed by the FIA's Sporting Working Group and now must go before the F1 Commission, which is expected to be a formality.

If the F1 Commission approves the rule, it will take effect beginning with the British Grand Prix on July 8-10. In the interest of fairness, previous reprimands earned this season will be forgotten, and everyone will start from zero.

 

This just in..... the exhaust blown diffuser may be outlawed after Monaco. Charlie Whitting has indicated several times that he thought it was illegal and was just waiting for one of the teams to protest it, apparently HRT decided not to invest in the technology and has become that team.

This is how a knowledgable friend of mine explains it....

Just running air through the engine wouldn't give near the exhaust velocity needed to make the diffuser work, that does require combustion of fuel.

My understanding is that the engine mapping on off-throttle is to delay the injection of fuel and ignition timing so that the ignition and combustion events occur very late, making little power but still providing combustion gases on the way out the exhaust valve to energize the blown diffuser.

Red Bull and Renault started working with this concept on off-season between 2009 and 2010, and this was the secret to RB's qualifying advantage all last year. Teams noticed that the RB cars sounded different during qualifying than during practice and race, then reports surfaced that RB had a special engine mode that provided more exhaust flow off-throttle but could only be used for 1 or 2 laps continuously before overheating or damaging the engine. Remember last year how Ferrari and McLaren could be close in practice to RB, then in qualifying the RB cars were suddenly 0.5 seconds faster than everyone else? This was the reason. Initially, the engine map could only be used for a few laps before the engine overheated, but further development to control temps allowed the use of this mode in races as well.

So, Ferrari and McLaren and others all started working on the off-throttle exhaust velocity mode last year, and designed it into their cars this year. McLaren was sidetracked by the octopus exhaust, but with either the octopus or their Red Bull clone exhaust, it relies on the off-throttle exhaust velocity to be maintained by this engine mapping. Renault had an advantage because they worked with Red Bull on the engine mapping, so when the double diffusers were banned Renault was working on how to best use the exhaust and came up with the front exit. Red Bull refined their concept and in the absence of the double diffuser, came up with the side blown diffuser which allowed the greater rake.

Note that the FIA change will only affect off-throttle mapping, so reducing rear downforce when off-throttle. This will mean a big change in driving style, where drivers will have to keep on-throttle for corner entry and even braking.

I could easily see different engine mapping where rather than allowing off-throttle exhaust velocity as now, they change the mapping on-throttle to be non-linear, where the first 10% - 40% would still be late injection and ignition to make little power but lots of exhaust flow, then from 41% + throttle they'd revert to the max torque/power mode. The drivers would just have to learn to stay in the 10% - 40% range when braking and corner entry and they'll still have the exhaust velocity to power the diffuser.

It seems that the some teams.... (cough) Red Bull (cough)... have been using exhaust gases while off throttle to generate more downforce from their diffuser. This design has allowed them to run the car with lots of rake towards the front, which lowers the front wing.

Yep, that's the same front wing that Charlie Whiting has had a hard-on for since the season began. So the focus is turning to these diffusers that have engine exhausts embedded in them. This development is not illegal. Now when you manipulate engine mapping to create massive exhaust flow while off throttle.... Well, guys... That's a movable aerodynamic device.

 

This just in - Part Duex!

HRT boss Colin Kolles believes he will be left with no other option but to lodge a formal protest against rival teams over the use of off-throttle blown diffusers next weekend in Monaco if the situation is not sorted out before the race.

Kolles abandoned plans to introduce his own version of a blown diffuser for the Spanish Grand Prix after the FIA initially announced plans to make the use of them when drivers were not on the throttle illegal.

However, the FIA changed its mind on the eve of the race after communication with the teams, and instead the matter will now be discussed at the next meeting of F1 think tank, the Technical Working Group.

That decision has not gone down well with Kolles, who reckons that the FIA's interpretation of off-throttle use of blown diffusers should remain in place.

Kolles had refused to rule out the possibility of a protest in Spain, but the gain for his team in doing so after Barcelona was minimal as the team had finished behind closest rivals Virgin Racing - so any exclusions would have helped them instead.

Speaking to the BBC about the ongoing situation, Kolles said: "The only reason why we are not considering [here] is because we were not really involved in any sporting decision today. But it is clear that the other cars are illegal.

"We agree absolutely with Charlie Whiting's view and, by the way, we are not the only ones who agree. I think that if this is not going to be stopped before Monaco then we have no other choice."

When asked to clarify what he meant by no other choice, Kolles said: "To make a protest."

He added: "The point is that it has been very clearly stated that it is not corresponding to the regulations. We have studied this, very carefully.

"You cannot influence the aerodynamics with hot exhaust gasses, you cannot influence the aerodynamics by any movement like gas pedals or moving devices on the engine, or whatever. So this is illegal and it brings the other teams a huge advantage."

 

They say Button has spent hours in the Big Mac simulator relearning how to drive the car - maybe something is brewing after all?

 

Audi says F1? Meh.....

Though rumors persist that one of the Volkswagen Group's brands could make the jump into Formula 1, Audi is adamant that it won't be the one to do so. According to the company's motorsport boss, F1 bears "no relevance to the road."

The German automaker most prominently races Le Mans Prototypes, like the new R18 TDI pictured above. Is that really so different from F1? Audi points out that over the course of a 24-hour race like Le Mans, just one of its cars covers more distance than an entire F1 season, its average speeds are 20 mph higher than in F1 and they use 42 percent less fuel in the process.

Audi has a strong racing pedigree that extends even beyond Le Mans, staking its name in rallying and touring cars, as well. Audi has brought many of its technologies from its motorsport program to its road cars, but according to this report, Audi sees little connection between grand prix racing and the development of its volume products

 

Yeah so, I'm gonna show my F1 ignorance but what the hell is a "Big Mac" aside from way too many calories from McDonald's?

 

Lotus vs. Lotus settled with win to Lotus.

 

Big Mac = McLaren

 

Thanks Nate, I was having translation problems too!