F1 Most liked posts in thread: F1 - 2013

Zapski · Feb 19, 2013

Oh for the love of...... :mad2:

Really? Looking at their lap times today, I don't think that it's had a huge effect.

Maldonado was 1.117 seconds off the lead and nearly one second off Vettel, (the next fastest), and Pic was 4.9 seconds behind. Williams had a moderately competitive car last year, so it's no wonder they've moved up a little, especially with a new car, but I really super doubt that the tiny vane is making that huge a difference.

Steve · Feb 19, 2013

The Williams may be the cleanest looking car this year, less little aero bits hanging everywhere than others...that is, other than the front wing, obviously.

Minidave · Feb 19, 2013

Crikeys! At what point do the rules become so complex and convoluted that no one can even follow them anymore?

I think we're just about there.......:crazy:

Zapski · Feb 19, 2013

I see old Frank is still selling ad space on the front suspension rods.

mrntd · Feb 19, 2013

I knew the Williams exhaust would be illegal as soon as saw it this morning. Eventually it will be a spec car series.

Zapski · Feb 25, 2013

The rumors were true it seems.

BBC Sport - McLaren's technical director Paddy Lowe to join Mercedes

McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe is to leave to join rivals Mercedes.
The role Lowe will fulfil when he joins for 2014 is not certain, but he is expected to run the F1 team along with new Mercedes sports boss Toto Wolff.

He will be employed by McLaren until the end of 2013 on "gardening leave", but Ross Brawn's position as Mercedes team principal remains unclear.

McLaren have promoted director of engineering Tim Goss to technical director with immediate effect.

Mercedes are refusing to comment.

BBC Sport first reported in January that Mercedes wanted Lowe to join them.
He was earmarked for a position senior to technical director, running the sporting and technical aspects of the team, while Wolff fulfilled other senior responsibilities, such as political and commercial.

That set-up would appear to leave no room for Brawn in his current role.
Brawn said last month in the wake of BBC Sport's revelation: "Paddy is not coming. I want to see how things go before I make a final long-term commitment.

"If I choose to leave the team then Paddy will come. We've got a plan. We have a fall-back plan. It's as simple as that."

The move means Lowe will join forces again with Lewis Hamilton, who left McLaren at the end of last season to join Mercedes.

It is the first sign of the ruthlessness with which Mercedes are pursuing success in F1. Earlier this month, Wolff made it clear he would do whatever it took to win the championship and emphasised that failure was not an option.

Brawn is the man behind all seven of Michael Schumacher's world titles with Benetton and Ferrari but he has been less successful in his current position.

The team won the drivers' and constructors' championships with Jenson Button in 2009 under Brawn's name, but that was partly due to the unique circumstances of the controversial "double diffuser" technical advantage.

They have won only one race since Mercedes took them over ahead of the 2010 season.
In a statement released on Monday McLaren's team principal Martin Whitmarsh said of Goss's appointment: "I'd like to offer my congratulations to Tim on his new position, which, after more than 20 years of exceptional service for McLaren, he richly deserves."

On Lowe's departure, Whitmarsh added: "Paddy [Lowe] will be performing a different role within McLaren until the end of the year. He's been a good and successful F1 technical director, and we wish him well when he embarks on a fresh challenge in 2014."
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minirab · Feb 25, 2013

That would be great if it could happen!

mrntd · Feb 26, 2013

As I posted a few pages back Lauda comes in and things start coming apart.

Look at Brawn's success at Benetton, Ferrari, and Brawn GP. That tells you what up at Mercedes.

Steve · Feb 27, 2013

Looks like Sutil got the last seat on the grid, back with Force India. It'll be interesting to see how he fares next to Di Resta.

mrntd · Feb 28, 2013

I always thought he had talent. Now he just needs consistency.

minirab · Feb 28, 2013

Good one!!

Steve · Feb 28, 2013

Official: Force India signs Sutil for 2013 (GPUpdate.net)

28 February 2013

Adrian Sutil has been confirmed as a Force India driver for the upcoming Formula 1 campaign, with the Silverstone-based outfit announcing his comeback at the final pre-season test in Barcelona. The German reunites with Paul di Resta and will make his first race start since the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix later this month.

Sutil, whose Formula 1 debut came under the Spyker guise back in 2007, beat Jules Bianchi to the vacancy. He returns after being replaced by Nico HÃ¼lkenberg at the end of 2011, the year in which he was charged with grievous bodily harm for attacking Genii Capital Chairman Eric Lux with a champagne glass in a Shanghai nightclub. Speaking of his new deal, Sutil says he is overjoyed to be given 'a second chance'.

"Iâ€™m delighted to be back in Formula 1, especially with a team I know so well," explained Sutil, who turned 30 last month. "Iâ€™m very happy and I want to thank Sahara Force India for giving me a second chance. Having been away from the sport, Iâ€™m even more determined to achieve my goals in Formula 1.

"Things went really well at the Barcelona test last week and it almost feels as though Iâ€™ve never been away. Driving the car felt so natural and I was able to get back in the groove quickly and find the limit. Now my focus is on making the most of the final test this week, working with the team in the simulator and getting myself in the best possible shape for Melbourne."

Force India's Team Principal, Dr. Vijay Mallya, added that the choice between Sutil and Bianchi was far from straightforward. Having given the decision 'great consideration', the 57-year-old businessman said Sutil's experience and knowledge of the team played in his favour, but he is determined to continue working with Bianchi in 2013.

"The decision over our driver line-up has not been an easy one and we have given it great consideration over the last few months," said Mallya. "It was a close call, but ultimately we felt that Adrianâ€™s experience and historic links to the team gave him the edge, and will provide us with the best possible chance of realising our ambitions for the coming season.

"If he can rediscover the exceptional form he showed in the second half of 2011, Iâ€™m confident that we can pick up where we left off at the end of 2012. As for Jules Bianchi, he has impressed us enormously with his speed and work ethic. Iâ€™m hopeful we can continue working with him this year to help him develop into a future Grand Prix driver."

During their sole season as team-mates in 2011, Sutil outscored di Resta by 42 points to 27, with the pair guiding Force India to sixth in the Constructors' standings.
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Steve · Feb 28, 2013

Damn!

(gonna post this one twice)

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM9veTjC48Q]The Start - YouTube[/ame]

Minidave · Feb 28, 2013

Be sure and watch that full screen!

Great find......

Steve · Mar 2, 2013

Massa had a little trouble in Barcelona today.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGP2wV5k8qg]F1 Test 2 at Barcelona Day 3 2013 - Felipe Massa Loses a Wheel - YouTube[/ame]

ScottinBend · Mar 2, 2013

Boy that wheel had some serious deformation.

Steve · Mar 2, 2013

True, and I'm sure they're still analyzing it.

And here's Ferrari's special high tech tool -- i.e., a wet towel -- which it appears they're using to cool the bodywork wrapped tightly around their latest exhaust solution.

This may be the largest test rig of this type yet.

Steve · Mar 3, 2013

Ferrari expects shocks in Melbourne (Racer.com)

March 03, 2013

Ferrari is predicting some 'shocks' at the Australian Grand Prix, with tire uncertainty clouding the Formula 1 pecking order.

Although there is a growing view that Red Bull leads the pack ahead of the season opener in Melbourne, Ferrari technical director Pat Fry believes that difficulties teams have faced in managing tires in testing leave the form book unclear.

"There are still going to be a lot of people learning things in Melbourne to be honest," he said. "Here, the tires, they grain massively, so what you see here is not necessarily going to carry over until Melbourne. I think there will be a few surprised people and a few shocked people."

The high rate of degradation experienced due to the Barcelona track characteristics and cold winter weather has left teams saying that understanding what is going on is an impossible task.

"Certainly there has been massive degradation," added Fry, who says he is pretty pleased with Ferrari's winter test program.

"Here is a little bit dominated by the graining, but it is bad here. In the morning it is quite bad, because you can't run the hard tire as by the time you have warmed it up it has grained. It will be interesting at a cold Spa to see what happens as well!

"I think it is going to be fairly mixed up to be honest. I wouldn't like to predict where we will be.

"It will be interesting to see if it is 30 degrees [in Australia] like it was there a few days ago. Then it will be a different story to here.

"We are all going to learn that weekend."

This article originally appeared in Autosport.com
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Zapski · Mar 5, 2013

BBC Sport - McLaren poised to switch to Honda engines for 2015 season

McLaren are to use Honda engines as the Japanese company returns to Formula 1 for the first time since 2008.

Honda pulled out of F1 after years of poor results with its own team, which subsequently won the championship as Brawn in 2009 and is now Mercedes.

But the engine manufacturer has decided to return because of next year's introduction of turbo engines featuring energy recovery technology.

McLaren are first expected to race with Honda engines in 2015.

A McLaren spokesman said: "We never discuss media rumours about potential partners."

Mercedes, which currently supplies McLaren's engines, said it could not comment on its partner's plans, but its F1 executive director Toto Wolff said: "We are looking for a long-term engine supplier relationship with McLaren-Mercedes."

McLaren has a contract with Mercedes with options for the team to renew for 2014 and 2015. McLaren are expected to take up only the first of those options.

Honda president Takanobu Ito on 8 February admitted that the company was "studying" the idea of an F1 return.

The company has not yet officially confirmed its plans to return.

The McLaren-Honda deal revives a partnership that had great historical success.

McLaren, with Honda as an engine supplier, dominated F1 in the late 1980s and early 1990s, winning four consecutive world drivers' championships with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, as well as the corresponding years' constructors' titles.

In 1988, McLaren with Senna and Prost enjoyed the most successful season in F1 history, winning 15 of the 16 races.

Honda also dominated the mid-1980s with Williams, winning the 1987 drivers' title with Nelson Piquet and the 1986 and 1987 constructors' championships.

Honda would become the fourth road-car manufacturer supplying engines in F1, alongside Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari (Fiat).

Honda's decision to re-enter F1 vindicates the switch to the new engine formula, which has been criticised and opposed by F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone as an unnecessary expense.

Its proponents, mainly governing body the FIA and the car manufacturers already in F1, have long argued that the sport needed to abandon the current formula for 2.4-litre V8 naturally aspirated engines because they were an out-of-date technology and out of tune with the requirement for energy efficiency.

The new engines will feature extensive use of energy recovery systems, a technology that is increasingly prevalent in road cars.

Mercedes has said that it is aiming for a thermal efficiency of 40% with its new turbo engine - a figure markedly more efficient than even the best road-car diesel engines, which are in the region of 35%.

The formula promotes efficiency through a limit on the amount of fuel that can be used and is expected to further the development of such engines in road cars.

Last month, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh was critical of the sport's vacillation over the new engines, which were initially planned to be introduced in 2013 before Ecclestone engineered a delay of a year.

"[Road-car] manufacturers need to see it happen now," Whitmarsh said.

"Even in the last few weeks people [have been saying]: 'Oh, should we really go V6 next year?'

"Christ, we're committed to it. Good, bad or indifferent we've got to do it now. We've been saying it for long enough, we've delayed it long enough, we've actually got to bloody well do it.

"If I was on the board of a big OEM [road-car manufacturer], I'd be saying: 'Let's wait a couple of years and see whether F1 actually does what it says it's going to do for a change.'

"So [the] combination of the world economy, the biggest recession in OEM history, uncertainty over whether we've really done it, but F1 remains a fantastic environment for brand exposure for OEM and I predict in four-five years' time we'll be back up to four or five OEMs in the sport.

"You'll have a constant churn. For some of us F1 is our core business. OEMs will be here when it suits them and it helps them sell cars or helps them differentiate the cars so they can sell them at a higher price. There is no love for the sport.

"They have to be there for rational business reasons. So creating technologies that are socially relevant, are appropriate to the automotive industry [is important].

"But we now have to prove we have the governance in our sport, that it's consistent and stable, that we're not all going to go bust. I'd hold back a bit if I was an OEM."
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Zapski · Mar 5, 2013

goaljnky said: ↑

So, are we all collectively freaking out on the coverage and commentary NBC will be providing in two weeks? At least it looks like they will be providing more live coverage than Speed was able to. At least according to Wiki all practice sessions, quali and race will be covered live.
Click to expand...

I'll be happy with that. I still generally intend to watch the British live-streams, but now that I have a non-cable option to watch US coverage, I'm sure I'll tune in.

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