It’s Not An Airplane

Marky Mark tries to take to the skies in a car once again.

Mark, repeat after me, ” Red Bull does NOT actually give you wings.” You should know this already, they gave you wing to your team mate.

Video:

Lewis Hamilton At Red Bull?

“The grass isn’t always greener on the other side.”

Why? Why would you leave a perfectly good outfit? Especially one that you fit the best in. Let’s think about this. Obviously he wouldn’t want to take any major steps backwards from where he is. So that leaves:

Ferrari– Uh, no.  This is Alonso Town and we’ve been over this before. Hm, where have I seen this before.  Oh yeah. The disaster of a Hamilton – Alosno pairing at McLaren in 2007.  Again, NO!

Mercedes.  A good outfit for sure, especially under the management of Ross Brawn, but two things.  1.  McLaren is currently faster than Mercedes. 2.  This is a gamble similar to that of saving it for marriage.  Roll the dice!

Renault.  A team that also has its ish together but this outfit belongs to Kubica.

So that leaves Red Bull… Which really isn’t a good fit either.  They have Vettel. Period.  Who is a damn good, dominant young driver (like Lewis).  They also have Adrian Newey, which is in my opinion the biggest appeal to Red Bull as that man is Mensa brilliant.  Which means that team will have 2 #1 drivers a.k.a. the recipe for disaster or 1 of the drivers will have to play #2.  A character in the F1 circus neither Vettel or Hamilton will ever be able to play. On top of all of this, if you are Christian Horner, why would you want to take on the Lewis Hamilton kit and kaboodle?  Dude’s got a ridiculous entourage, special management at best, a quick tongue, and a teenager attitude.  This switch just doesn’t make sense for Lewis Hamilton or Red Bull. Let me try and seal this permanently with this mental image. Picture Lewis Hamilton in Mark Webber’s current shoes. Now imagine all the post race interviews. “Maintain the gap, that’s what Ali G says.”

So the question is why would you leave? Why would you leave a team that has been supporting you since you were 11 years old? Why would you leave a team that is by no means slow? Remember McLaren having a bad year means something disastrous like 2nd place. Although Senna would argue, “2nd place is the first to lose.”  For what it’s worth, McLaren has won 1 in every 4 GP’s its entered. Why would you leave a great team that wants to support you and does treat you like a #1 driver? Why would you take such a gamble with the entire arena set to change again in just a couple of years with new v-6 turbocharged engines? McLaren have some of the most brilliant engineers and scientists working under their outfit at MTC. McLaren is also a team who want to beat the Christian Horner – Adrian Newey outfit…just like they did before.   Why? Why? Why Lewis?  This doesn’t make any sense!   I understand that you are out to chase titles.  I understand that you are passionate about  if nothing else, the glory of racing.  But honestly, it doesn’t get much better than MACCA!

…Unless this is all a ploy to get you more money.

 

Going to Red Bull is foolish. Stay at Macca, develop a “Lewis Hamilton” style and work your magic.  The WDC’s will come. Just not in the current MP4-26.

Let us reminisce.

Lewis v. Vettel in equal equipment.

Probably my favorite Lewis Hamilton video. RIDICULOUS!

Tony Stewart And Lewis Hamilton Swap Cars

…For a Mobil 1 partnership demo. I have to say its really nice to see Lewis having some fun behind the wheel of a stock car. One can only hope this will calm him for the European series of races starting next weekend in Valencia.

Nice to see Tony playing around in an open wheeled car too. Wish he would have opened it up a bit more but I guess I would be a little scared driving someone else’s $25 million race car. Seeing the MP4-23 makes me miss the old aero days a bit too.

Check out the videos.

I’ll Get You Next Time Gadget

That’s all I can think about in reaction to Fernando Alonso’s finish at the GP of Abu Dhabi last weekend.  Check it out.

He mad.

For those of you that don’t know whats going on, that’s the reaction of Mr. 2 time Formula 1 World Champion, Fernando Alonso, after battling Vitally Petrov in front of him for almost 40 laps during the 2010 season finale race. Unfortunately for Alonso, his battle ended in failure during Alonso’s most important race of his magnificent WDC comeback. One single pass would have made all the difference, if he could have gotten around Petrov (yellow car) he would have to had to change his title to “Mr. 3 times”. I think I would be a little ticked too, but as an Alonso hater, I love every second of it.

The good news is that following the race, drivers, team bosses, ex-racers, fans, stewards, even the FIA president, all bashed the tracks layout. All claiming ‘it does not provide enough oppurtunities to pass’. This is a step in the right direction, with all of that criticism, surely the managers of the track will be open to some changes. That, however, is another post!

Until then, watch it again. I love the reaction of Petrov “What did you want me to do, confirm that you are faster than me?” I had too. I just did.

2011 F1 Rule Changes

The following are the rule changes for 2011 thus far. I’ll add my opinion of each and what I wish I saw to the end.

“Tyres
Pirelli has been selected as the single tyre supplier for the FIA Formula One World Championship for a period of three years, commencing in 2011. The sole supplier will undertake to strictly respect the sporting and technical regulations implemented by the FIA.

Glad to see that its just 1 supplier.  We don’t need a repeat of the tyre battles we’ve had in the past and the respective large gap advantages battles they bring.  By large gap I mean, no amount of technical development or driver skill could make up for the differences in tyre performance as seen in the past.  When it comes to tyres, everyone should be on the same rubber. Plain and simple, end of story. 

The question I have is will the tyres be like the balloons they are this year or low profile?

Safety Car
With immediate effect, no car may overtake until it has passed the first safety car line for the first time when the safety car is returning to the pits. However, if the safety car is still deployed at the beginning of the last lap, or is deployed during the last lap, it will enter the pit lane at the end of the lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking.

Schumi are you listening? 

General safety
With immediate effect, any car being driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically, or which is deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers, will be reported to the stewards. This will apply whether any such car is being driven on the track, the pit entry or the pit lane.

Yeahhhhhhh uh we’ve seen some stunts thus far in 2010. However, this seems a bit redundant as the stewards already do this.  I guess this is a reminder to be safe.

In order to ensure cars are not driven unnecessarily slowly on in-laps during qualifying or reconnaissance laps when the pit exit is opened for the race, drivers must stay below the maximum time set by the FIA between the safety car line after the pit exit and safety car line before the pit entry. The maximum time will be determined by the race director at each event prior to the first day of practice, but may be amended during the event if necessary.

k.

The grid
From 2011, any driver whose best qualifying lap exceeds 107% of the fastest Q1 qualifying time will not be allowed to take part in the race. Under exceptional circumstances, however, which may include setting a suitable lap time in a free practice session, the stewards may permit the car to start the race. Should there be more than one driver accepted in this manner, the grid order will be determined by the stewards.

Develop, Develop, Develop back-runners.  Thus far in to the 2010 season, I don’t think anyone would have been eliminated by this rule.  However, with all of the bigger teams continuing to push this rule increases the demand for the newer outfits to strive for better results.   For lack of better words, keep up!

Driver adjustable bodywork
From 2011, adjustable bodywork may be activated by the driver at any time prior to the start of the race and, for the sole purpose of improving overtaking opportunities during the race, after the driver has completed two laps. The driver may only activate the adjustable bodywork in the race when he has been notified via the control electronics that it is enabled. It will only be enabled if the driver is less than one second behind another at any of the predetermined positions around each circuit. The system will be disabled the first time the driver uses the brakes after the system has been activated. The FIA may, after consulting all the competitors, adjust the time proximity in order to ensure the purpose of the adjustable bodywork is met.

Messy but I’m 50/50 on this.  I like it because it will increase overtaking, something that is hard to do with all of the aero work allowed in racing today.  I like it because its relatively simple in mechanical nature.  Though teams will blow millions of dollars to develop it and bend this rule.  Not sure how the timing of this rule will work out. 1 second I guess is a good balance for the activation of the system, but its not deactivated until the driver breaks? Interesting.  Also with such a strong push for KERS to make its way back in to the sport next year, why add this? This is drastically more appealing for me to spend my time on as it is much more simplistic in nature than say a Kinetic Energy Recovery System that includes, programming, a new gearbox, another interface, a flywheel, and batteries, weight….get the picture? Also if im a smaller team, I really dont think I can be bothered with developing KERS. I hate you Bernie Eccelstone.

Im just rubbed the wrong way by this.  Here’s an idea. To quote Jeremey Clarkson “POWahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”  Remove the rev limit. Give the drivers more power than they have down force.  Bring in more driver skill, make its so that they are not flat out for the entire race.  In my opinion, the “push-to-pass-button” should be the gas pedal.  I don’t know how we deviated so much from that simple device but overtaking and overall race excitement has dropped since the v12, 22k rpm days.  Sigh.  I can easily see this backfiring.

Aerodynamic influence
With the exception of the parts necessary for the driver adjustable bodywork, any car system, device or procedure which uses driver movement as a means of altering the aerodynamic characteristics of the car is prohibited from 2011.

No F-duct.  Shame.  McLaren spent 2 years developing that device and built their MP4-25 (this years car)  around it.  Someone will find a loop hole. Gimmicks like this will always be in F1.

Weight
From 2011, the minimum weight of the car must not be less than 640 kg at all times during the event.

Bernie is that you? Trying to encourage KERS again in 2011? This is is a 3% increase in weight for the cars and with that,  a weight respective loss in power.

Fuel draining
With immediate effect, if a sample of fuel is required after a practice session the car concerned must have first been driven back to the pits under its own power.

Sorry Lewis, looks like you can’t “ghostride da whip” back to the pits.  Or pull a Schumacher in Monaco incident.  99.9% of the time this means nothing.

Licences
Based on his career resume and comparative F1 testing times, the World Council has approved the granting of a four-race probationary super license to Chinese driver Ho-Pin Tung.”

All for it. Diversity all around.

Overall I’m pretty happy with whats being proposed. Predominantly because the changes are subtle this year as opposed to a year of new ideas and blank slate next year.  Sometimes I wish there were more specifics written in to the rules  sometimes I don’t.  Every time I read the rule changes though I just wonder why the authors must take the most complex route.  It is my opinion that there could be more “racing” in F1.  I don’t like the refuelling ban, I don’t like conserving 8 engines across an entire race season, I hate that F1 douses a lot of simple ideas. Especially not with 2011 rumored to have 23-24 stops on it next year.  Up 4 from this year.   Conserving is not racing.  I want to see more power and more flexibility allowed for changes.  Every race should be a blank slate.  I should be able to do whatever I want to do to my car inside that particular race weekend without penalty.  Whether it be a gearbox swap or an engine tune. I shouldn’t be penalized for increasing the performance of my car.  Let me develop! 

 

Photo courtesy of the lovely Stephanie Moran.