FORMULA 1 - 2013

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INNOVATION THAT ASSISTS MECHANICS IN THE HEAT:

Innovation in F1 is not limited to new technology on the cars or in communications devices, it even extends to the clothing worn by mechanics in the pit lane. And this weekend in the heat of Malaysia it should come into its own.

A new material developed from high-tech sportswear used by top tennis stars and other athletes is now helping to keep race mechanics cool and less tired when working in the pit lane in intense temperatures.

Human Performance Engineering, a company set up by Nick Harris, the man who trained top drivers like Mark Webber, David Coulthard and Nico Hulkenberg, discovered that team shirts made from the anti-microbial Freshfit material helped mechanics to stay sharper for longer, particularly in hot places like Malaysia this coming weekend. It uses a moisture management system to reduce fluid loss and maintain body temperature, which helps athletes to maintain performance over long periods and works in a similar way for mechanics.

“They conserve energy because they sweat less,” says Harris. “This means less fatigue and loss of concentration.”

Although the Melbourne race weekend took place in cool temperatures, the Caterham team, which is using HPE team gear this season, had a chance to feel the effect while setting up during the end of the Melbourne heatwave, which lasted until the Wednesday before the race. Temperatures in the pit lane on Monday hit 38 degrees and the mechanics reported a “significant” difference from previous team gear, which was made of material similar to football shirts, as most F1 teams use.

“They reported that they didn’t feel as tired at the end of the day and they noticed that they didn’t sweat as much,” says Harris.

The real test will come this weekend in Malaysia where temperatures of 35 degrees are combined with humidity as high as 80%.

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Australian F1 legends immortalised at Albert Park

Australia’s two Formula 1 World Champions, Sir Jack Brabham and Alan Jones, were honoured in a special ceremony before last Sunday’s 2013 Rolex Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.

Bronze busts of Sir Jack, World Champion in 1959, 1960 and 1966, and Alan, Australia’s second World Champion in 1980, were unveiled by the Premier of Victoria, Dr. Denis Napthine, at the circuit which staged its first Australian Grand Prix six decades ago.

Dr. Napthine said it was an honour and a privilege to be with Sir Jack, who was a boyhood hero of his, and Alan Jones, both men having strong links to that original race. Sir Jack took part in practice but was unable to race after mechanical failure; Alan’s father Stan started from the front row, led the race and set fastest lap before retiring shortly before the finish.

“We are recognising today two absolute icons of Australian motor racing and Australian motor racing,” said Dr. Napthine. “It is a fitting tribute that they are being presented today with these sculptures.”

The busts, the work of Melbourne artist Barbara McLean, were received with both pride and humility by the two World Champions.

“Fantastic!” beamed Sir Jack. “A great honour – it certainly looks the goods, and I am very proud to be here to see it.”

Another triple World Champion was among the onlookers. “Jack was a great driver,” said Sir Jackie Stewart, who won the title in 1969, 1971 and 1973. “He was so cool, calm and collected. But he was a difficult man to pass! Every time you saw a good piece of road open up, Jack would close it. He was probably the best defender of his position I can ever remember.

“But there’s nobody who has done what Jack Brabham’s done: not only win the World Championship but do it in a car of his own build.”

Alan Jones, like Sir Jack, enjoyed a reputation as one of the sport’s toughest competitors but he was close to tears on seeing the sculpture.

“Unbelievable,” he said. “Totally out of left field – it’s a huge honour. My father would be absolutely rapt. He was the guiding light for me: I grew up in that environment and since the time I was knee-high to a grasshopper I knew I was going to be a racing driver.

Looking at the sculpture he said: “I’m just sorry I don’t look like this now!”

[poorman]

  On 3/19/2013 at 10:17 AM, MIKA27 said:

Where is "Here" my friend?

Glad you enjoy and you are most welcome. I appreciate the compliment.

Near Idaho

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Grosjean wants a '25-pointer'

Romain Grosjean is determined to achieve his maiden race victory especially after watching his team-mate take the chequered flag.

While Grosjean could only manage a distant tenth place in Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Raikkonen raced to his E21 to the victory.

It was an impressive start for Lotus' Finnish driver with Grosjean eager to follow in his footsteps this weekend in Malaysia.

"Clearly Kimi's car worked very well in Australia and the fact that mine felt good at times over the weekend gives us a clear target for where we want to get the setup and a guide of what the car is capable of," he said.

"I want to be scoring 25 points in a grand prix for the team.

"I'm working closely with my engineers to understand exactly what is required to ensure the E21 is at its best for me. Knowing that we're very close to getting the car where I want it is certainly promising."

The Frenchman is adamant he won't be held back by last Sunday's disappointment, saying he is "ready to deliver" for Lotus.

"Of course, you want to be able to use everything you've learnt, but you always approach a race wanting to do your best and you don't let a result which wasn't as good as you wanted get in the way of that.

"I'm having a very short break between Australia and Malaysia to let me recharge my batteries so that I'll arrive in Sepang fresh and ready to deliver my best on track."

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DC: Pressure growing on Whitmarsh

McLaren need to turn things around pretty quickly in order to stop the pressure that is building on team principal Martin Whitmarsh, according to David Coulthard.

While most teams' 2013 challengers are evolution of last year's models with a view to develop the car throughout the season, McLaren opted for a radical design change for the MP4-28.

However, the team didn't get much joy out of the new car during the Australian GP as both Jenson Button and Sergio Perez struggled during qualifying while the former's ninth-place finish was the best they could manage on the Sunday.

Former F1 driver and current BBC F1 commentator Coulthard believes the buck stops at Whitmarsh and the team have four races to get their act together.

Coulthard wrote in The Telegraph: 'Over the next three races in Malaysia, China and Bahrain, they need to start understanding what the problem is. If it is a fundamental issue, then they need to make sure, come the Spanish Grand Prix in May, that they have the requisite parts to maximise the potential. The general rule is that by the fifth race, when the teams come to Europe, you start to see the true pecking order emerging.

'For a quarter of the season McLaren could find themselves scrapping for the minor points, simply due to the distances involved, and because teams cannot react as quickly as they might do closer to home.

'You cannot escape the fact that there is pressure upon Martin Whitmarsh as team principal, for in the end, the captain of the ship is responsible for its navigation.

'Ultimately, Martin is accountable in the same way that the technical director and the driver is. But F1 is not a sport where people shy away from responsibility. It is one of the best businesses for accountability that I have ever come across. Any evidence of a lack of commitment, lack of focus, or an inability to deliver consistently, is immediately addressed. Failure is not an option.

'What the shareholders or what the McLaren board will do at any given point is to ask: "What was the reason for that success or failure?" You do not win by accident any more than you lose by accident.'

It is not only on the track that things are not going well for McLaren as they lost Lewis Hamilton to Mercedes at the end of last season while technical director Paddy Lowe will follow his fellow Briton to Brackley at the end of this campaign.

Coulthard admits questions should be raised about the staff that is leaving McLaren.

'I worked at McLaren under Ron Dennis rather than Martin, and Ron always used to say: "I don't design the car."' he wrote. 'Instead he would give the people the right power, the right salaries, the right environment. I would imagine that Ron has passed on the same message and that Martin is using those very words, trying to bring people together.

'I am not aware of any major headhunting recently, but I am aware of certain people leaving, not least Lewis Hamilton and Paddy Lowe on the technical side. There will be question marks, but I still do not feel you can shine the spotlight on one individual.'

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Massa puzzled by Red Bull's race pace

Felipe Massa says it is "impossible to explain" why Red Bull failed to convert their qualifying pace into dominant display in Australia.

Sebastian Vettel was unbeatable the dry practice sessions at Albert Park on Friday and unsurprisingly claimed pole position with team-mate Mark Webber starting next to him on the grid.

However, the RB9's much vaunted pace wasn't visible on race day and triple World Champion Vettel had to settle for third behind race winner Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso while Webber was down in sixth place.

Massa, who finished fourth at Melbourne, says it was bemusing to see Red Bull struggle for pace come the race.

"I have no idea how to explain it," the Brazilian is quoted as saying by Autosport.

"If you look at last year, they had an incredible car in qualifying, and in the races it was still incredible, but less so.

"The year before, the same. It is the way they build the car.

"Since 2007 we've never really had the most incredible car in qualifying. The race was always better than qualifying and this is just the direction of our car. Why? It is impossible to explain."

Lotus and Raikkonen made the most of Red Bull's struggles as they won the race on the back of a two-stop strategy compared to their rivals' three stops.

Massa, though, warns it is too early in the season to draw conclusions.

"There were a lot of surprises in this race," he said. "With our car it was impossible to do two stops. Kimi could do two stops and that was a fantastic job," he said.

"We need to wait for a couple of different tracks because maybe one car will work in one direction on one track for degradation, and maybe it will work differently on another track.

"Lotus has stayed in a good direction with the tyres [in Australia] and this made a big difference."

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Button looks to Ferrari for inspiration

Jenson Button hopes to draw on Fernando Alonso and Ferrari's experiences from last year as he looks to bounce back from a disappointing start to the season.

The Italian squad found themselves well off the pace of the Red Bulls and McLarens at the start of the 2012 campaign, but everyone go their heads down and by the time they got to Europe, Alonso was able to join the hunt for the title. The Spaniard eventually finished second behind Sebastian Vettel in the World Championship.

Button and team-mate Sergio Perez struggled during the season-opening Australian Grand Prix over the weekend, but the Brit, who picked up only two points after starting 10th on the grid, believes they can learn lesson or two from their great rivals.

"There is that side of it, which is very positive. Fernando was one and a half seconds off the pace - of us at the start of the season - and almost won the title," said the 2009 World Champion.

"So yes, it is possible for a front-running team to make up the deficit. If it's the same as their situation, I don't know.

"There are always strengths and weaknesses, and then it's about how many of each, but it's not the place we'd like to be at the start of a year.

"For us, a lot has changed over the winter with the car, and for most of the teams that's not been the case. They have developed what they had last season.

"We just took a very different approach. At this moment in time, obviously we're not as happy as we were hoping to be, but it's only the first race and there's so much we can achieve."

Unlike most teams who opted to use an evolution of their 2012 cars, McLaren made radical changes to their 2013 car, but there have been suggestions that the squad could revert back to last year's challenger in attempt to get back to the front.

Perez, who didn't pick up any points in his debut race for the Woking squad, believes the team can turn things around.

"If there is one team capable of getting out of these tricky conditions we have at the moment then it's McLaren," he said. "I fully believe in McLaren, and what is encouraging for me is I see the people working flat out. I know we are going to come out of this situation sooner rather than later."

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Montezemolo 'satisfied' with Massa's pace

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has admitted to being "satisfied" with Felipe Massa's performance at the opening race of the season.

The Brazilian driver has struggled in recent years, failing to score a podium in 41 consecutive races up until the final race of 2012 when he finished third.

That late upturn provided some hope that he had rediscovered his form, and Montezemolo sounded pleased with the positive start to 2013.

"I'm satisfied with Felipe Massa's performance – he was very fast in qualifying and delivered a brilliant race," he said.

"It was important to start the season well as that hadn’t happened in the last two years."

Massa gave a better assessment of his form.

"10 times better," he said of his start to 2013 compared to last year.

"The way I started the last season last year is impossible to compare to the way I've started the season now. I feel much better in the car."

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Russian GP organiser declared bankrupt

The organisers of the inaugural Russian Grand Prix, set to debut on the 2014 Formula One calendar, have been declared bankrupt by the local authorities.

SpeedWeek reports that mounting losses totalling £36 million ($55m) in the first year alone, led to the bankruptcy of Formula Sochi - which was set up 2001 with the sole aim of bringing F1 to the region.

A larger company, Omega, has absorbed Formula Sochi and its employees and will take over the rights to organise the race. The company's marketing director Dimitry Erofeev expects the race to go ahead as planned despite the change.

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Kimi: Win doesn't increase pressure

Kimi Raikkonen insists there is no added pressure at Lotus despite arriving in Malaysia as the early Championship leader.

Raikkonen produced the first welcome surprise of the season when he beat last year's protagonists, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, to the chequered flag in the Australian GP.

As such the Finn is being billed as a favourite to claim this year's World title, however, Lotus won't let that weigh on them as they tackle round two in Malaysia.

"There's no target or anything, we don't do any different things this weekend that we did in any previous race or last year," Raikkonen said.

"If people think we are the kind of leaders it makes no difference to our work, what we did or what we're going to do this weekend or any other weekend.

"We just try to do our best and hopefully can score some good points."

The team will be hoping for a better starting position this weekend as Raikkonen only managed seventh last week in the rain-interrupted Melbourne qualifying.

The 33-year-old, though, believes Australia was not an indication of things to come given the weather and the postponement to Sunday morning.

"I wouldn't say that the qualifying was a very normal situation with all the weather and [the fact] it got delayed and all that stuff.

"So if we put a normal dry condition I'm pretty sure we are closer - I hope at least. We will wait and see until once we get the normal qualifying done. I'm sure we are not a second behind."

However, Raikkonen may not establish that this weekend as thundery showers and high humidity are expected not only for Saturday's qualifying but for the entire race weekend.

"Last year we were pretty good when it was hot and actually it was better for us but obviously we haven't run in these kind of conditions and the winter was very cold, so I have no idea.

"But if it's anything like what it was last year it should be pretty okay, but we have to wait and see how it goes."

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Maldonado: We have the solution

Pastor Maldonado is "pretty confident" Williams won't struggle in Malaysia as they did in Australia after finding a solution to their FW35's issues.

Maldonado slated the car after qualifying in Melbourne labelling it as "undriveable" after failing to make it out of Q1.

The weekend went from bad to worse for the Venezuelan driver who failed to finish the Australian GP after beaching his car in the gravel.

This weekend, though, he's confident of a better result, adamant that Williams have found a way to fix the problems.

"You never know if what you do will be the right thing for the car, but I'm pretty confident the team has done the right thing in the last three days," Maldonado said.

"Now we think we see the problems and we have the solution. But we need to test it and we have different things to test on both cars. Then we will see if it is right or not."

Asked to explain what the problem was, he told ESPNF1: "It's many things together. It's not just coming from the tyres, it's not just coming from the aero - if one thing gets worse it affects the others. It's a combination of parts and particulars in the car that we have been trying to understand.

"It was very difficult from a driving point of view because I had all the problems you can have in a car. It was not only one and easy to work around, I had everything and at the same time the car was slow.

"What happened was the worst that can happen. Now for sure, with the analysis we've done, it's clear where the problems are.

Theoretically we have the solution but now we must do the tests very well and we have a good plan for the test. Hopefully it will be good.

"The performance is there, the problem we had last week is more or less the same problem we had in 2011. But the pace of the car is there and there are no excuses as it's last year's car and we can't say anything about the car."

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Marussia, Caterham held merger talks

Graeme Lowdon has confirmed that Marussia held talks with Caterham regarding a merger but that neither party could agree a deal.

As the team back-marker outfits continue to fight for survival - financially and during grand prix weekends - the teams met in the off-season to talk about joining forces as one team.

"I can confirm that discussions took place," Marussia's sporting director Lowdon told Sky Sports Online. "I wasn't involved in them and as I understand it, the conclusion was unacceptable to our shareholders. So nothing happened."

News of the failed merger broke on Thursday with the Times newspaper's Kevin Eason reporting that "talks between the Marussia and Caterham teams started over the winter" as they tried to find common ground so that they could guarantee survival.

"But the talks foundered and the two teams are now in a dogfight for tens of millions of pounds in prize money."

Last season it was Marussia who lost out on that money, finishing 11th to Caterham's 10th.

Marussia is also the only team who has yet to sign a new Concorde Agreement with Bernie Ecclestone.

"We cannot understand why we should be the only ones without any form of agreement," Lowdon told the British newspaper. "We have had nothing to sign and are not even racing on promises.

"We have sweated blood in this sport to build a team. We employ a lot of people and we have a huge fanbase. We are not giving up that easily, but each passing week makes us worry that we are deemed to have no place in this sport. We do not think that is the case."

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, though, insists he wants Marussia to stay on in Formula One.

"I want them to stay," said the 82-year-old. They are a good bunch of people working hard. If they can do their best, I want them to stay in the sport - 100 percent."

He added: "I have everything prepared here for them to sign now. It is not a problem. But they have not been happy and they almost merged with Caterham, so that made me wonder what was happening."

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'Vettel must leave to cement legacy'

David Coulthard has urged Sebastian Vettel to leave Red Bull, saying he will never achieve greatness if he doesn't win a title with a different team.

Although Vettel has won grands prix with two different teams, Toro Rosso and Red Bull, it's only with the latter that the German has won World titles.

On his way towards greatness already with three titles on the trot, Coulthard reckons the reigning World Champ will only trully achieve that status if he claims the crown with a different team.

"I don't think Seb has to do anything but keep winning to satisfy his own desire to be a winning grand prix driver," the 13-time grand prix winner told The Guardian.

"But do I think he has to move to cement his legacy? Yes, I do.

"For whatever reason, whether it's just the way we are as humans, or to satisfy the purists who have followed the sport for many, many years, we like to see people not just do it once but multiple times and over different scenarios.

"There is this thing about cementing a place in history and it does seem to mean winningChampionships with different teams.

"You think of [Niki] Lauda, winning at Ferrari and McLaren. He made a comeback after losing a year. [Nelson] Piquet had battles with [Nigel] Mansell and he did win a Championship at Brabham and at Williams."

Coulthard, though, admits there are exceptions to the rule such as Jim Clark and Ayrton Senna, who only won titles with Lotus and McLaren respectively.

"Senna didn't win any Championships anywhere else. But he won races at Lotus. He didn't manage to win races at Williams but he won poles there. Do you need to move? I guess the answer is yes, ultimately, you need to move.

"Seb is a good driver, a world-class driver. But he hasn't overcome adversity yet in terms of being with another team or being up against a team-mate who was already World Champion. Has he done an amazing job to be a multiple World Champion? Yes, he has.

"But if he goes somewhere else and continues his winning ways, then to the wider public he will get a new-found respect. Because, if it appears as a magic carpet ride, none of us like to see that. We like to see people overcome a bit of adversity."

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CAN LOTUS REPEAT IN MALAYSIA: INSGHT INTO HOW THE RACING WILL PAN OUT:

This weekend the F1 teams move to Sepang, Malaysia for the second round of the championship. After the stunning victory of Kimi Raikkonen and Lotus in Melbourne, all of the leading teams will have gone away to look at how they can work on their car to help the strategy.

The goal will be to try to emulate Lotus’ ability to run at a strong pace while using one less set of tyres (and therefore one less pit stop) than the opposition.

The conditions in Melbourne were cool. Last year Lotus was stronger in hot conditions, like Malaysia and Bahrain. If they still have that ability to cope with the heat in the tyres, then they have every chance to repeat this weekend.

Here are the strategic considerations for the weekend.

Track characteristics

Sepang International Circuit; 5.54 kilometres.

Race distance: 56 laps = 310 kilometres, 15 corners in total, a mixture of slow, medium and fast

Aerodynamic setup – Medium/high downforce.

Top speed 312km/h (with Drag Reduction System on rear wing) – 300km/h without.

Full throttle – 70% of the lap.

Total fuel needed for race distance: 153 kilos.

Time spent braking: 15% of the lap. 8 braking zones. Brake wear: Medium.

Loss time for a Pit stop = 16.5 seconds

Total time needed for pit stop: 22.5 seconds.

The pit lane speed limit in Sepang is 100km/h, which means faster pit stops than Melbourne.

Fuel effect (cost in lap time per 10kg of fuel carried): 0.36 seconds (average/high)

The Malaysian Grand Prix is the second round of the 2013 FIA F1 World Championship. The Sepang circuit is one of the first F1 venues to have been designed by architect Hermann Tilke and features his trademark long straights, hairpins and fast esses.

It also has a distinctive first corner which turns right and then left and always results in a big change of field order, with drivers winning and losing positions at the start of the race.

The circuit features a number of high energy corners, quite different in character from Albert Park, which hosted the opening round and much harder on the tyres.

The first and third sectors of the lap at Sepang feature long straights and hairpin bends, while sector two has some medium and high speed corners, which load up the tyres.

Form Guide

As far as drivers’ form is concerned at Sepang, Fernando Alonso has won the race three times and Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen have won it twice, while Jenson Button has also won here.

Ferrari has six Sepang wins, McLaren and Red Bull have two wins each.

Red Bull has stunning one lap pace and is likely to qualify on the front row again. Mark Webber has always gone well in Sepang so he could pose a threat for pole. Mercedes, Ferrari and Lotus will follow. Lotus showed in Melbourne that it has a good handle on managing the new Pirelli tyres over a long run in cold conditions. In Malaysia we will see if they can replicate that in warm conditions.

Lotus conducted Pirelli’s tyre tests with Jaime Alguersuari using a 2010 Renault car; the tyre data was kept behind a Chinese wall, but clearly they must have understood some of the characteristics of the tyre from that experience.

Likely tyre performance and other considerations

Pirelli tyre choice for Sepang: Medium (Option) and Hard (Prime) – this is the same choice as in 2012.

Pirelli has chosen to bring the medium and hard tyres to Sepang, the hardest compounds in the range, to cope with the high temperatures, abrasive surface and faster corners. Temperatures are also raised by the high wheel rotation speeds on the long straights.

The difference in performance between compounds should be between 0.5 and 0.7sec per lap. Teams will want to establish this and the long run performance of both tyres during Friday practice. The data on the Medium tyre from Melbourne showed that the longest stint was 30 laps by a Sauber, while race winner Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest lap of the race on a set of mediums that had done 22 laps. Sepang will present a far stiffer challenge.

Sepang has three major differences from Melbourne, which make it more challenging from a race strategy point of view: higher track temperatures, a rougher track surface and the presence of medium and fast corners, which load up the tyre. There is usually also the threat of rain.

Temperature is critical; Sepang experiences track temperatures of up to 45 degrees, some of the highest of the year, which is at the top end of the tyres’ operating range. The medium tyre is designed for lower operating temperatures, the hard for higher temperatures. The opening stint with 150 kilos of fuel on board, likely to be on medium tyres for most cars, is very hard on the tyres.

Number and likely timing of pit stops

From a strategy point of view a pit stop at Sepang is similar to Melbourne at 22 seconds. And the long straights mean that the adjustable rear wing (DRS wing) is quite effective, making overtaking possible. This means strategists of leading teams will not have to be overly concerned about bringing their driver out into slower traffic after a pit stop.

Last year’s race was wet, but pre-race simulations indicated that a two stop strategy was faster than three by around 3 to 4 seconds.

This would envisage starting on mediums, using a new set of mediums at the first stop on lap 16 and then a set of new hards on lap 34. Although the three stopping car is ahead after 40 laps, he is not able to gain enough margin to stay ahead after his final stop, nor to catch the two stopping car by the end. But it is close. There could be an advantage, therefore, to saving a new set of medium tyres from qualifying, of possible.

Rain can always affect the outcome at Sepang as it can come at any time and can be very intense. Last year the race was delayed by heavy rain. There must always be a degree of flexibility built into race strategy when planning for Sepang.

After Lotus successfully made one less stop than its rivals Ferrari and Red Bull in Melbourne, all eyes will be on them to see whether they can repeat that in Sepang. The car’s gentle action on the tyres certainly gives them a strategic advantage.

It will also be important to establish during practice whether the hard tyre is relatively fast enough that a pit stop might be saved by using it earlier in the race. This would save over 20 seconds plus help gain track positions.

Weather Forecast

The forecast is for hot and humid conditions with a 30% chance of thunderstorms on Sunday. Last year’s race was very wet at the start and there were delays and safety cars.

Chance of a safety car

Despite the weather hazards, the chance of a safety car at Sepang is incredibly low, by F1 standards, at 15% over last 7 years and an average of 0.1 safety cars per race. Where a safety car has been deployed it’s usually been because of heavy rain, as in 2009 and again last year, when it was out for seven laps.

Recent start performance

Start performance is hugely important to strategy, as we saw in Melbourne, with Webber losing five places off the grid which he could not recover, while Raikkonen and Alonso’s results were both set up by excellent starts.

At Sepang a fully functioning KERS is important, as the run to the first corner from the start is quite long at over 600 metres.

As far as 2013 start performance is concerned drivers have gained (+) or lost (-) places off the start line this season as follows:

Gained

+3 Raikkonen

+2 Perez

+2 Bottas

+2 Bianchi

+2 Massa

+2 Alonso

+2 Sutil

+1 Maldonado

+1 Gutierrez

+1 Chilton

+1 Van der Garde

+1 Di Resta

+1 Button

Held position

Vettel

Rosberg

Pic

Lost

-1 Vergne

-2 Hamilton

-3 Grosjean

-5 Webber*

-6 Ricciardo

(Hulkenberg did not start in Australia)

*Webber dropped from second to seventh after a clutch problem in Australia

Pit Stop League Table

Of course good strategy planning also requires good pit stop execution by the mechanics and we have seen tyre stops carried out in less than two and a half seconds by F1 teams.

The league table below shows the order of the pit crews based on their average stop time in Australia from the car entering the pit lane to leaving it.

1. Ferrari – 21.646

2. Mercedes – 21.961

3. Red Bull – 22.263

4. Sauber – 22.315

5. Lotus – 22.359

6. McLaren – 22.462

7. Force India – 22.875

8. Marussia – 23.142

9. Williams – 23.475

10. Toro Rosso – 23.706

11. Caterham – 23.751

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Different ways lotus & red bull find speed:

The key to success in 2013 would be thermal tyre management. And the first Grand Prix in Melbourne proved it, with Red Bull able to dominate qualifying, but losing performance in the race, while Lotus went the other way.

So what was happening? And will it happen again this weekend in Malaysia?

The key with the Pirelli tyres is to get the fronts warmed up evenly with the rears for a single lap in qualifying. But with the same set up, the car has to then manage that heat, particularly the rears, on longer runs. Having the front tyres in the right temperature window is particularly important for grip on turn-in to the corner.

One of the ways teams manage the heat is by playing around with heat soak from the front brake discs. It was while experimenting this early last summer that McLaren’s Jenson Button struggled, for example.

Red Bull had complete front drums in Melbourne, so little heat from the brake discs was going into the front tyres. Their car obviously doesn’t need that extra heat from the discs, with the downforce from the front wing and the front geometry generating tyre temperature. But they couldn’t keep the tyres in the ideal window on the longer runs on a chilly race day.

In contrast Lotus had a drum which stopped where the disc is located, so all the heat from the disc would have soaked through the wheel rim and into the tyre. Raikkonen’s success was based on getting ideal performance from the tyres and this allowed him to use one less set, saving 23 seconds of pit stop time and maintaining track position. Lotus insiders have paid tribute to his ‘patience’, rather than grasping at opportunities he managed the race to perfection and still had plenty of performance in his tyres at the end.

Managing front tyre temperature with these devices is an area where Lotus were particularly aggressive last season, even resorting to asymetric geometries last year from left to right, depending on circuit layout and important corners.

And it looks like they are doing it again this year, with excellent results in Melbourne.

Despite qualifying 1.3 seconds slower than Red Bull, they managed to race faster and use one less set of tyres to achieve it, with Raikkonen setting a fastest lap some 1.2 seconds faster than Sebastian Vettel on a two stop strategy to Red Bull’s three. That’s quite a swing from relative qualifying pace to race pace.

For the heat of Malaysia, they are likely to revert to a full drum set up to reduce heat soak.

This will be a crucial area of focus for the engineers and drivers this weekend. With the same medium compound as Melbourne, but also the hard tyre which has a higher working range, getting the balance right with track temperatures of 45 degrees will present a compleletly different challenge.

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Hamilton: 'We can match Red Bull's pace'

Lewis Hamilton believes he could have matched Red Bull's single-lap pace in Australia, if he had gone out at a similar time to pole sitter Sebastian Vettel.

When asked if he thought their pace was fightening, after Vettel went over six tenths faster, he replied: "I don't think they had frightening pace in qualifying.

"I think if I was out at the same time and as late as they had gone out, I think I could have matched their time. So I don't think it was frightening pace. It was a circuit that was drying up."

The 28-year-old explained that a lack of focus on set-up in Melbourne was likely the reason for their reduced performance during the race - which is an area they will look at in Malaysia.

"We did something with the tyres which put the car more into understeer and unfortunately when we made the change to new tyres it went too far the other way.

"So I went from massive understeer to massive oversteer. We just generally struggled with the balance.

"We didn't spend a lot of Friday setting up the car because we were testing a lot of components - which was perhaps the wrong way to go. This weekend for example we are going to focus on the set-up - we will make sure we do that."

[MIKA27]

McLaren to run experimental developments in Malaysia

McLaren hope to improve the pace of their MP4-28 in Malaysia by running some 'experimental upgrades' alongside planned developments.

The team were taken by surprise in Australia as it emerged that they were well down on the lead pace, taking just two points thanks to Jenson Button's 9th place finish.

Sporting director Sam Michael says they'll run a number of upgrades, some of which have been flown to Malaysia from their Woking factory in response to their poor form.

"We have some modifications to the car," he is quoted as saying during a Vodafone McLaren phone-in.

"We have two lines of new parts, one is normal development that would have come anyway, and then we have some experimental stuff to work through on tyre degradation."

Michael avoided making predicitions on how well they would do in Malaysia with the modifications, despite admitting they had a better understanding of the car."We have managed to do some work in the last few days.

Whether that will resolve the problems in terms of our competitiveness I really can't tell you to be honest because I don't know yet."I think even if went to Melbourne again we could do a better job because we have more data. We hope in Malaysia to understand the car better."

[MIKA27]

Sauber revises fuel system procedures after Australian GP issue

Sauber has made revisions to its fuel system procedures for this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix in a bid to ensure that there is no repeat of the problems that sidelined Nico Hulkenberg in Australia.

Hulkenberg could not start the first race of the season after his team discovered the fuel tank had suffered damaged when it collapsed in on itself.

This has been caused by a vacuum building up inside the structure.

Although the team has reacted by building up a new chassis for Hulkenberg at Sepang, it has also made further changes to its operations procedures to prevent another issue.

Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn said: "What happened was that many factors led to the creation of a vacuum in the fuel cell - so it collapsed on itself.

"That damaged the fuel cell. The engineers already had a good understanding of it in Melbourne. We tested some things there and had some tests in Hinwil.

"We have introduced a couple of measures, and looked at different reasons that should lead us to solve the problem."

Kaltenborn said the non-start in Melbourne was particularly galling because Hulkenberg would have had a good opportunity to score points in his first race with the team.

"He obviously was not too happy about the situation because, if you look at the position he was meant to be starting the race, it was quite a good position.

"Everything is now speculation in terms of where he could end up. He had a good chance to get in the points and if you see this chance fizzle out, maybe two hours before the race, it is particularly disappointing."

Hulkenberg himself, who has yet to complete a racing lap in Australia in three attempts, believed the lack of running last weekend will not hamper his efforts this time out.

"I don't feel on the back foot," he said. "If you haven't done the race then it's difficult to comment. You don't know where you would have been.

"Things might have been brighter than we think, better, or even worse. We don't know. And that makes it hard and disappointing but I wouldn't say on the back foot.

"What we've seen from the car is that is performing at a level where we can score points."

[MIKA27]

Lotus admit Raikkonen getting preferred treatment over Grosjean

Lotus have been giving Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Raikkonen preferential treatment over his French team mate Romain Grosjean, technical director James Allison admitted on Friday.

Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion with Ferrari, won last weekend’s Australian season-opener from seventh place on the starting grid after managing the tyres beautifully and doing one less stop than his closest rivals.

The Finn was fastest again in free practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix on Friday with Grosjean 10th and sixth in the two sessions at Sepang.

Allison told reporters afterwards that Grosjean was at a disadvantage because he did not have the same package as Raikkonen.

“He’s not had an easy weekend either here or there (Australia), because we haven’t been able to provide two cars in exactly the same configuration on either occasions,” said Allison.

“In Melbourne on Friday he was running a step behind Kimi in terms of his aero package, and then he had the upgrade for Saturday morning but then Saturday was disturbed by the weather. Here, once again, we only have one set of (new) kit and we’ve chosen to run that with Kimi and Romain is disadvantaged for that.”

Allison blamed the situation on Formula One regulations forbidding testing during the season, leaving all upgrades to be tested on race weekends.

“You try to upgrade the cars as fast as you can and generally speaking, that means that you’re always going to have one set of kit ahead of the second set and that almost inevitably means that one driver gets to try it before there is a second one available,” he added.

“We will always try to get two sets available but it’s not always possible. So he (Grosjean) has had a difficult set of circumstances and he’s also up against a team mate who is really firing on all cylinders so those are the two things.”

Allison said a combination of patience and a good car had helped Raikkonen, who made his comeback last season after two years out, regain his form of old.

“He’s certainly very, very relaxed and confident this year. He drove the race incredibly patiently. I think he knew he had a good car under him,” Allison said of Melbourne.

“He knew he didn’t have to scamper up behind the group in front and he looked after the tyres, only going quickly when he needed to. It was just a very mature and smooth, fast race.”

[MIKA27]

Rivals suspect Lotus has unfair tyre advantage

As Melbourne winner Kimi Raikkonen carried his top form to Malaysia, Lotus rivals are beginning to wonder if the team has an unfair advantage.

At Sepang, arguably even more than in Australia, the keyword is tyres.

“Tyres, tyres, tyres, tyres, tyres,” grumbled Red Bull’s Mark Webber on Friday.

Pirelli’s more extreme 2013 product could be clearly seen flicking off the wheels on every one of the 15 corners at Sepang during Friday practice.

Yet serenely at the top is Raikkonen.

Auto Motor und Sport points out that the test car used to develop Pirelli’s troublesome 2013 tyres is the three-year old Renault. It was designed at Enstone.

“The competition has a nasty suspicion,” a report in the magazine read.

“Admittedly it (the 2010 Renault) is a very old car in terms of the speed of development in Formula 1. However, certain principles and philosophies of the chassis and aero balance survive for years,” said correspondent Michael Schmidt.

Has that given Lotus an inherent advantage in how it treats the 2013 Pirellis?

“We overlooked and underestimated this impact,” an unnamed rival team member is quoted as saying. Maybe we need to think about how we deal with this better for the future.”

[MIKA27]

Sepang Practice 2: Raikkonen keeps the momentum going

A mere five days since he climbed on to the top step of the podium at the season opener in Melbourne, Kimi Raikkonen topped the timing screens at the end of the first day of free practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, as he and Lotus have clearly brought their winning momentum along to Sepang.

The second free practice session of the day got underway with dark clouds threatening, and eventually dropping their load just before the hour mark and lasted for about 20 minutes. The track remained wet until about 15 minutes to go, when a dry line appeared and times began to drop to the level witnessed at the start of the session.

But Raikkonen’s best time of 1:35.569 was set shortly after the half hour mark, before the rain descended, displacing Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel from top spot on the timing screens by 0.019 seconds. And that’s how it remained at the summit until the chequered flag dropped to bring the day’s action to an end.

Raikkonen summed up his day, “We tried changing a few things on the car and made progress with where we wanted to be at the end of the sessions. We had some running in the wet which you often get around here and the car feels fine. We ran pretty heavy today so I don’t know how we’ll be when everyone is light for qualifying, but I’m happy with where we are.”

Vettel told BBC afterwards, “We didn’t get as much done as we wanted to but that’s the same for everyone. One part of the track was quite soaked and one part pretty dry.”

“This afternoon we couldn’t do that much [race preparation] because of the weather. It looked pretty OK but quite a mess if you look at how long the tyres last. There is some footage to look at too; it doesn’t look very nice, I have to say.”

“I hope we have enough tyres to survive the race. Tyre wear was pretty severe for everyone.”

Also less than a tenth off the fastest time was Felipe Massa, third fastest in the Ferrari, which was nevertheless 0.324 up on teammate Fernando Alonso who was fourth. Massa did 33 laps in the process which was more than anyone else in the session.

Mark Webber, who was fastest in FP1 earlier in the morning, ended his day in fifth.

Struggling to match his Lotus teammate on the opening day in Malaysia was Romain Grosjean who was sixth, although over half a second down on Raikkonen’s top time. In the morning the Frenchman was a second shy of the Iceman’s best.

Notably the top six on the FP2 timing sheets were Ferrari and Renault powered drivers.

Nico Rosberg was the fastest of the half dozen Mercedes powered drivers with Force India’s Paul di Resta eighth, Lewis Hamilton ninth in the Mercedes and Adrian Sutil rounding out the top ten in the Force India.

Out of the top ten and over 1.2 seconds down on the FP2 topping was the best of the McLaren boys with Sergio Perez 11th, ahead of Jenson Button in 12th.

Sauber duo Nico Hulkenberg and rookie Esteban Gutierrez were 13th and 14th respectively. The young Mexican having a drama packed day with a fire extinguisher accidentally activating in his car, and then a broken exhaust compromised his day.

Williams were way out the ball park with Pastor Maldonado 16th and Valtteri Bottas down in 19th, was slower than Jules Bianchi – the Marussia driver again the pick of the battle at the back.

[MIKA27]

Ferrari: We know what direction to take for qualifying

Team and drivers report from day one of the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend, Round 2 of the 2013 Formula 1 world championship, at Sepang International Circuit near Kuala Lumpur.

Fernando Alonso: “Today, the car worked well in all conditions and that is very good news for us. This circuit is more representative than Australia for evaluating the car’s performance and so it was important to understand here today if the positive feelings from the winter were not just an illusion. On my lap on the Medium tyres, I did not have the right balance, otherwise I could have managed to improve, as I did on the Hards and I could probably have been on the “front row.” Now we must see how tomorrow goes, when it could rain at any moment and on a track where tyre degradation is much higher than in Melbourne. With a high number of pit stops likely, a car that works better in the race than in qualifying could be an advantage. However, tomorrow we will try and do our best to get a place on the front row, because, as usual, the start, strategy and pit stops will hold the key”.

Felipe Massa: “Overall, it was a good day, even if the rain that arrived for the end of the second session cost us some valuable time, when it came to comparing the two compounds over a long run. The car responded well in both sessions and, as for the tyres Pirelli brought here, I felt much more comfortable on the Mediums that we’d already used in Australia. We now have a long evening to work on understanding what the real behaviour of the tyres is, because that is definitely what can make the difference and could make us more competitive, as we prepare for both qualifying and the race”.

Pat Fry: “Today’s rain complicated our programme a bit, but overall, it was a positive Friday. As we saw in Australia, here again the key factor will be understanding tyre behaviour. Usually at this track, you need one more stop, but it’s still too early to say. This evening we will tackle the complex task of analysing the data because the rain arrived at the least opportune moment, just as Fernando and Felipe were doing a comparison of the two compounds. In the morning we managed to complete our planned programme, making the most of the better conditions to find the ideal set-up on both cars. Having tried various combinations, we think we know what direction to take for tomorrow’s qualifying”.

[MIKA27]

Force India: We’ve had a reasonable day

Sahara Force India was back in action today as Adrian Sutil and Paul Di Resta completed their free practice programmes ahead of Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix.

Adrian Sutil: VJM06-03

“The morning went OK and the balance was quite good. We made a change during the lunch hour to cure some oversteer and my general feeling with the car is good. I missed out on some running this afternoon, but I think the rain interrupted things for everybody so I didn’t miss too much dry track time. I still managed a run on the hard and the medium this afternoon so I’ve got a feel for both the tyre compounds.”

Paul Di Resta: VJM06-04

“I think we’ve had a reasonable day. We’ve got some tyre data and first impressions suggest that our performance level is pretty similar to where it was in Melbourne last week. Hopefully we can continue the progress overnight. Generally I’m fairly happy but, as always, there’s some work to do tonight to make sure we’re comfortable on both the compounds going into the race.”

Jakob Andreasen, Chief Race Engineer

“A fairly typical day in Malaysia with dry running this morning and a light shower in the afternoon session. On the whole we got through the bulk of the programme and both Paul and Adrian seemed pretty content with the handling of their cars from the start of running. Adrian’s afternoon session was cut short as a precaution, but it did not cost him too much dry track time relative to the others. Paul clocked up 30 laps this afternoon, running both the hard and medium compounds, and is in good shape heading into tomorrow. We don’t have as much long run data as we would ideally like, but we have enough information to make some sensible predictions.”

[MIKA27]

Red Bull drivers unhappy with emphasis on tyres

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber could both be accused of losing their grip on Friday after the Red Bull duo launched scathing attacks on what they perceive as tyre wear becoming too dominant a factor in Formula One.

The pair took their customary positions near the front of the pack during the first free practice sessions for the Malaysian Grand Prix but rather than waxing lyrically over a job well done, the drivers took pot shots at this year’s Pirellis.

“The whole category is geared around tyres at the moment,” Webber fumed despite topping the timesheets in the morning session ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus.

“Everything is around tyres. Tyres, tyres, tyre, tyres, tyres,” the Australian added, while noting the wet track following a downpour in the second session was “the only conditions the slicks work in”.

The Red Bulls locked up the front row in last week’s season-opener in Melbourne but their one-lap speed was negated by tyre degradation in long runs as Raikkonen took full advantage to romp to victory.

[MIKA27]

Mercedes confirm departure of Nick Fry

The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 team today announced that Nick Fry, the team’s Chief Executive Officer, will step down from his current position at the beginning of April. He will continue to assist the team’s commercial operations as a consultant until at least the end of 2014.

Toto Wolff, the team’s new Executive Director and 30 per cent shareholder, will therefore take a greater role in the day-to-day running of the team alongside Team Principal Ross Brawn, assuming the areas of responsibility previously held by Fry.

Fry said, “I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to work with our team for the last 11 years and remain extremely proud of the fact that we took the team to its first race win and especially the double World Championship in 2009.”

“Equally important is the success of our commercial activities as we have managed to gain the support of some of the most important companies in the world, thereby building a strong foundation for the future success of the team. I believe that Mercedes AMG Petronas offers the best sponsorship proposition in Formula 1 and I look forward to continuing to assist the team and its partners over the coming years.”

“I would like to thank Nick for more than ten years of service to the team in Brackley,” commented Toto Wolff. “Mercedes AMG Petronas enjoys a strong network of global, blue-chip partners who want to be associated with Mercedes-Benz in Formula One and we will work hard to retain our loyal partners while also attracting new names to the sport in the future. I am pleased that Nick will remain close to the team to support us in achieving these targets.”