Formula 1 - 2017

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Pirelli reshuffles F1 structure as Hembery gets new job

Pirelli has restructured its Formula 1 operations and racing department, with motorsport chief Paul Hembery moving to a new role in the company's Latin American operations.

Hembery helped guide Pirelli's return to Formula 1, but from March 15 he will take up a new role as CEO of Pirelli LatAm. He will, however, maintain overall supervision of motorsport activities and will attend some grands prix this year.

The change in jobs for Hembery has required a restructuring elsewhere, with racing manager Mario Isola taking on a new role as head of car racing.

Isola said he welcomed the fact that Hembery would still have input in commercial negotiations, while he was left to focus predominantly on technical matters.

     

"Paul has a huge experience and knowledge of motorsport, so it is very helpful to have him on board for the future, and give us guidance for the future direction of motorsport," said Isola, who is to work on a new structure for the racing department.

"I think that Paul will maintain these [commercial] responsibilities at a high level, like the F1 commission. I am happy if he continues to manage this area and I am happy to do the rest."

One thing Isola said he did not want to change was the good working relationship he had built up with teams and drivers

"I want to carry on with the same situation and also with the drivers," he said. "I am happy to continue and grow with the teams and grow the relationship.

"F1 is always developing and running quickly. We need to stay at the same speed. We cannot relax. You can never relax here."

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Ricciardo hopes Williams has shown its hand

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo hopes Williams has reached its performance limit after Felipe Massa topped the opening day of the second Formula 1 test at Barcelona.

Massa's Tuesday benchmark, a 1m19.726s on super-soft tyres, was only a fraction slower than the 1m19.705s set by Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas on ultra-softs last week.

Prior to that run Massa posted a 1m20.084s on softs, which compared favourably again to the best soft-tyre time from last week, a 1m19.952s by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

Ricciardo was Massa's closest challenger on Tuesday, using ultra-soft tyres to lap 0.174s slower than the Brazilian, and he stressed Red Bull was not "holding two seconds in our pocket".

"We definitely feel we still can get more out of the car, but probably everyone can," said Ricciardo, who had a trip through the gravel on his first run on ultra-softs.

"Hopefully not Williams - hopefully that was their best today.

"I think Ferrari and Mercedes can still get more out of theirs.

"Even though Williams didn't run much last week, today they did a good run.

"I actually think they looked quite good.

"It's going to be interesting. Melbourne will be a nice little story."

When asked about Williams being a possible threat after outpacing Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton said it would be "amazing" and that he hoped the British team would be in the mix.

Despite joking "we would love it more" than Hamilton if Williams could fight Mercedes, Massa said it was not something he was expecting.

"It was definitely a very positive day," he said. "I don't remember I did another day with 168 laps in my career here.

"Mercedes has shown already amazing speed last week. Everything they did they showed to be competitive.

"I don't think we are at the same level as Mercedes, but if we can have a great fight and maybe fighting for podiums it is already a great job."

Massa's rookie team-mate Lance Stroll lost half a day's running last week when a spin damaged his front wing, and another crash forced Williams to miss the entire final day.

After racking up the joint-highest tally on Tuesday, clocking 168 laps and managing a race simulation in the afternoon, Massa said the team could not afford a repeat of last week over the remaining three days of testing.

"Always when you lose a day, it is not great," he said. "We haven't got many parts, so we need to try to keep everything we can - it is so easy to go off.

"We need to try to keep doing what I did today, in all of these days."

[Baldy]

Excited about the 2017 F1 season.  Unfortunately my McLaren will be competing for quantities of engine used again this year.  Not looking good.  Hope Alonso have a good lawn chair.  He'll be using it.  Hate McLaren's colour scheme.  The revised cars looks good but I'm fearful that the racing might be more boring this year if there's less passing. Time will tell. 

Not a fan of paid drivers so therefore not a fan of Stroll.  With all the crashes, it might be an expensive venture for Williams.

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8 hours ago, Baldy said:

Excited about the 2017 F1 season.  Unfortunately my McLaren will be competing for quantities of engine used again this year.  Not looking good.  Hope Alonso have a good lawn chair.  He'll be using it.  Hate McLaren's colour scheme.  The revised cars looks good but I'm fearful that the racing might be more boring this year if there's less passing. Time will tell. 

Not a fan of paid drivers so therefore not a fan of Stroll.  With all the crashes, it might be an expensive venture for Williams.

Completely agree about McLaren, IMO a massive F**K up from them starting another new era of sorts after 3 years of struggles, I really expected much more from them this season and I truly believe this will either be the last of Alonso in F1 or in the least he moves on to another team in 2018. 

As for Stroll, I don't care what any one says, he is in at Williams purely as a result of influence form his father, simple as that. For someone who has won the Italian F4 Championship in 2014, then won the 2015 Toyota racing series and the FIA Formula 3 series, I am shocked at how poorly he went at practice. Sure, it's the big boys now, but he's not so wet behind the ears as Massa makes out when siding with him.

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ALONSO: THE TEAM ARE ALL READY TO WIN EXCEPT HONDA

After six days of continuous problems during Formula 1 preseason testing for McLaren, Fernando Alonso has finally cracked and pointed a finger of blame at Honda for failing to deliver a competitive power unit.

Speaking to media after his day in the cockpit, Alonso said, “The team are all ready to win except Honda. I don’t think we are too far back with the chassis, we have only one problem which is the power unit.”

“There is no reliability and there is no power. We are 30kph down on the straight. We have to improve… definitely there [we need] a big reaction from the team which l expect immediately.”

“The chassis-side is difficult because we are not pushing the speed that the others are doing because of the lack of power.”

“But the chassis feels good, it is responding well to changes and I am happy with the balance and how it attacks the corners. I am enjoying the car.”

“I’m driving at my best. I feel I am the best driver out there, I just need an engine that can run as quick as the others on the straight.”

“The frustration is probably more this year because after the change in regulations you have higher hopes that you can close the gap over winter testing.”

“We are not matching our expectations. But on the other hand it is only winter testing and the season is long enough that you have time to react. But right now you cannot say we are happy or that things are going ok.”

Alonso made it clear before he drove the new cars that he needed to feel the “wow factor” from the new generation cars. And clearly he, like his rivals, is relishing the prospect of much faster and more challenging F1 cars.

He added, “I am confident that this year we will be competitive. I don’t know at which point of the year but we will be competitive and l want to win races. The team will be fully ready for Australia and to compete at a good level. The only question is how much power we will have.”

“This brings me more motivation to continue and to win. I will not stop racing without a good result and one l deserve.

“If one day in the car l see people are doing fantastic lines, they are braking later than me, they do better starts than me, on that day l will stop and say ‘it’s time’. But what l am seeing now is completely the opposite.”

“More than ever, this year, this winter, what l see on the track from myself is the best level. Now it’s the time to attack,” concluded Alonso who has yet to stand on the podium since his return to McLaren in 2015.

During his previous stint with the Woking outfit, in 2007, he won four times. His last grand prix victory was at the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix for Ferrari.

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BARCELONA DAY 6: BOTTAS STAYS TOP KIMI CRASHES

New signing Valtteri Bottas put champions Mercedes on top of the timesheets on Wednesday with the fastest lap so far in Formula One’s pre-season testing, while Kimi Raikkonen crashed his Ferrari.

Bottas’s best lap of 1:19.310 seconds came on supersoft tyres in the morning session, with the Finn then handing over to triple champion team mate Lewis Hamilton (79 laps) for the afternoon.

The time was 0.395 faster than the best set last week, also by Bottas on ultrasoft tyres, and quicker than any Spanish Grand Prix pole position time since the Circuit de Catalunya layout was changed in 2007.

It was also nearly three seconds faster than Hamilton’s 2016 pole time.

Bottas, who did 70 laps on Wednesday, joined from Williams in January as replacement for retired world champion Nico Rosberg.

The Finn’s former team mate Felipe Massa, who was fastest on Tuesday when he did an eye-catching 168 laps equal to 2-1/2 race distances, was second quickest and completed another 63 laps.

The Brazilian handed over the Williams to Canadian rookie Lance Stroll, who managed to stay out of trouble after mishaps last week and did 59 laps with the fifth best time.

Raikkonen was third with a time of 1:20.406 but spent some time in the garage while Ferrari carried out a fluid systems check and he completed just 39 laps before lunch.

The Finn crashed into the barriers at turn three in the afternoon.

Red Bull had to carry out an engine change over the lunch break with Max Verstappen managing only 34 laps – the second lowest of any team in the morning session. With the problem resolved, he ended the day with 102 under his belt.

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso was 3.7 seconds off the pace and managed only 46 timed laps with the team still struggling with their latest Honda engines.

Racing director Eric Boullier told reporters that the lack of speed and mileage was a concern for the former champions with the season starting in Australia on March 26.

“If you are not running fast enough, you do not put the right energy into the tyres, you don’t put the right energy in the brakes of the car, and your ride height targets are different,” he said.

“There are a lot of consequences to run 15kph or 18kph slower in a straight line. But still, we make the most of the data we can gather just by running the car, and that is what we want to see.”

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RED BULL: NOT AN IDEAL OUTING,

Day Two of the second pre-season F1 test in Barcelona saw Max Verstappen put more than 100 laps on the board at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, despite a late-morning technical issue that cost the team valuable running time.

The day began with short runs, coupled with pit stop practice, but as the lunch break approached the team detected an issue and elected to undertake an engine change in order to ensure a productive afternoon.

That proved to be the case, and although he was forced to pull over again at the very end of the session, Max managed a day-best total of 102 for the day and best time of 1:20.432, which netted the Dutchman P4 on the timesheet.

“It was not bad today. We had some stoppages obviously but then in the afternoon we almost completed a full race distance, so that was good,” said Max afterwards.

“It felt good, and we got a lot of information today again, which is the most important thing. It was unfortunate that we had to stop at the end but I think we’re pretty confident we can solve those issues without any trouble.”

“The long run this afternoon felt good…. quite long! It’s pretty boring when you’re out there on your own, but everything felt well.”

Head of Race Engineering Guillaume Rocquelin added: “In the morning we again looked at shorter runs and a number of test items, plus some pit stop practice so that the boys can get their eye in before the season starts.”

“But then before lunch we noticed something in the data, and given that we wanted to concentrate on long runs in the afternoon and didn’t want to take any risks, we decided to change the engine.”

“We lost some time but it was the right thing to do as we had a good afternoon and Max was able to work through the rest of the programme. We then encountered another problem right at the end of the day, which we’re looking into.”

“Not an ideal outing, as we would have liked to tick a few more items off the list, but Max got through more than 100 laps today, so we can’t be too dissatisfied. We’ll run a similar programme with Daniel tomorrow but hopefully without any issues.”

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WILLIAMS: OVERALL WE HAD A GOOD CLEAN DAY

Williams report from day two of the second pre-season test of the 2017 Formula 1 season at Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer: “Today was a pretty busy day again, and also included a driver change at lunchtime. Felipe was driving this morning and we tried the ultrasoft tyres for the first time, so we’ve got some good data to look at. Lance was back in the car in the afternoon and he did a good job. He’s never tried the supersoft tyres before but he acquitted himself really well considering the circuit conditions he had at the time. Overall we had a good clean day and completed 122 laps in total, which means we have a lot of useful data to look through tonight.”

Felipe Massa: “It was a good morning. We completed all of our programmes and, like yesterday, I had a good feeling in the car. We’re happy with everything we tried in terms of set-up and trying different tyres. I’ve had a very good day and a half, but hopefully this is just the beginning and we can finish testing well. I’m very happy with what I’ve seen and what I feel in the car. It’s still difficult to know where we are compared to the others, but the car is definitely looking positive.”

Lance Stroll: “I am quite happy with the afternoon and pleased with the morning watching Felipe do some solid running. I think it was a good day. As a team we got a lot of laps in, so we have a lot of positives to take out of today. I am not really focussed on laptimes, as it is testing and we are exploring a lot of different things on the car and trying to move forward. I am just happy with getting some good running in, trying some stuff on the car and moving in the right direction. That is what we are focusing on over these few days, and so far so good. We did some short runs, and tried some different compounds. I went to the softer compounds today. I tried the supersofts but still have the ultrasoft remaining that I haven’t tried. It was good to get a feel for them for the first time.”

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HAAS: WE DID MOST OF THE PROGRAM WE WANTED TO DO

Haas F1 Team driver Romain Grosjean had a methodical day of testing Wednesday at Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya, amassing 96 laps round the 4.655-kilometer (2.892-mile), 16-turn track. Grosjean systematically worked through a variety of baseline setup configurations on the Haas VF-17 throughout the morning before experimenting with the full range of Pirelli’s tire compounds in the afternoon.

Grosjean’s quickest time was a 1:21.887, earned on his 66th lap while utilizing a set of Pirelli P Zero Purple ultrasoft tires. It placed him 10th among the 14 drivers who took to the racetrack.

The morning session mirrored the schedule teammate Kevin Magnussen followed Tuesday – a series of early laps on the White medium tire after an installation tour on the Orange hard option, followed by a switch to the Yellow soft compound to exploit its increased grip. Grosjean’s best time in the morning was a 1:22.428, secured on his 36th lap. He tallied 54 laps before the mandatory lunch break.

Haas F1 Team ceded 90 minutes of run time in the afternoon to fix an exhaust issue. The shortened run plan meant valuable race simulation laps were condensed following double stints trialing the Red supersoft and Purple ultrasoft tires, the latter of which Grosjean used to secure his fastest lap. There were two red-flag stoppages in the day’s closing minutes, denying Grosjean the opportunity to surpass 100 laps.

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas set the quickest time (1:19.310) and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen ran the most laps (102).

Romain Grosjean: “It was a good day in the car. We did most of the program we wanted to do. We’re still evaluating how the car is going and how we can improve the setup and find the weaknesses and strengths. Hopefully, before Melbourne we’ll have the time to make some small adjustments aerodynamically and mechanically to get there and be ready for a good performance. I’m very much looking forward to getting back in on Friday.”

Guenther Steiner: “We got good laps in today, over 90. In the afternoon we had some handling problems, understeer mainly. We need to work on that to get it better. It seems like when it gets warmer it comes up. It’s just one of those things when you go testing you find these things and you find the solutions. We also had a small issue with the exhaust. Every small issue on these cars takes a long time to fix, so we lost 90 minutes in getting it fixed, but nothing particularly bad.”

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RENAULT: OUR LONG-RUN PROGRAMME WAS COMPROMISED

Renault Sport Formula One Team continued the second week of pre-season testing with both Nico Hülkenberg and Jolyon Palmer once more taking to the wheel of the R.S.17 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Nico drove first, racking-up a tally of 61 laps with a best time of 1:21.239secs – the morning’s fifth fastest time – whilst running through a programme of set-up work.

Jolyon jumped into the car in the afternoon after clutch work was completed, however a hydraulic issue meant his planned long-run programme was compromised. Nevertheless, he completed 29 laps with a heavy fuel load, with a best time of 1:24.774secs.

Nico Hülkenberg: “We’ve made some positive changes to the car since yesterday and I had a solid and productive morning with 61 laps completed. I feel that the car has good promise and we’re making definite progress every time we go out. We know we have a solid baseline which we can work and build on to make a fast car. I’m looking forward to continue work on track tomorrow afternoon.”

Jolyon Palmer: “It was a bit frustrating for me with quite a bit of time sat in the car whilst it was being checked over. Unfortunately, there was some work required before I was due to go out then there was some kind of really annoying pressure leak which would only show its face when I was about to take to the track. It’s one of those things that I’m sure the team will trace overnight, but it cost me track time today. The positive is that Nico had a good morning in the car so we know what is possible.”

Nick Chester, Chassis Technical Director: “We had a promising morning with Nico completing a good number of set-up evaluations, predominantly using the soft and super soft tyres. He posted a strong tally of laps and we were happy with the pace he showed with the programme we were running. The start to Jolyon’s afternoon was delayed whilst we completed routine work on the clutch then, unfortunately, we encountered a persistent hydraulic pressure loss issue which meant our long-run programme was compromised. We’ve made another good step in understanding of the R.S.17 today and hope for more progress tomorrow.”

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FORCE INDIA: IT WAS IMPORTANT TO DO THE LONG RUNS

Force India report from day two of the second pre-season test of the 2017 Formula 1 season at Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.

Sergio Perez: “It’s good to reach 100 laps and learn more about the car, but it was quite a disrupted day with the red flags and it meant we didn’t manage to complete the full programme. It was important to do the long runs this afternoon and get a feel for the performance of the tyres. The low degradation makes them more fun to drive – you still have to manage them but you can push more than in previous years. With a new car, it’s important to get to know all the strengths and weaknesses, and work on the latter, so that’s the focus of the team. With every lap we learn something new and it helps us take a step forward. We now need to make the most of the final couple of days before Melbourne, but I still feel optimistic.”

Tom McCullough, Chief Race Engineer: “Another busy programme with Sergio clocking up 100 laps. The day started with an aero programme before we focussed on performance work and experimented with set-up options to improve the car’s balance. We ran on several different tyre compounds to make performance comparisons and then ended the day with some long runs. Esteban is back in the car tomorrow for his final day of work before Melbourne.”

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TORO ROSSO: A DAY OF MIXED FORTUNES

Toro Rosso report from day two of the second pre-season test of the 2017 Formula 1 season at Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.

Carlos Sainz: “I think today was a much better day compared to last week and we’ve definitely made a step forward in terms of reliability. Our test programme this week is a very tight one as we still have a lot of catch-up to do, so it’s therefore still too early to make any conclusions. Even though we lost a bit of valuable track time, I’m happy with the fact that I was able to do so many laps, because that’s what testing is all about!”

Jody Egginton (Head of Vehicle Performance): “A day of mixed fortunes really, with some very good steps forward made with the set-up but, at the same time, we have been dealing with some small but frustrating background issues which have broken up our running and cost some track time. Evaluating what we have learnt today, we can say that feedback from the development items tested has been interesting. It’s provided some valid directions for the short-term but also a useful basis for further medium-term. This is good to see, as it allows a constant stream of development items from early on in the season onwards. The afternoon session was spent conducting various tests and run configurations on a couple of different compounds, focusing on understanding the tyres. Looking forward to tonight’s activity, the mechanics, who have been putting in a massive effort in the last days, have a very busy night ahead of them preparing the STR12 for tomorrow’s running. At the same time, the engineers will be working through the data from today in order to optimise the starting set-up and test plan for tomorrow when Daniil gets back into the car for his final day of pre-season testing.”

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SAUBER: WE HAVE LOADS OF DATA TO ANALYSE

The Sauber F1 Team had a positive second day of testing with an intensive programme for both Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson.

The German was able to complete 59 laps in the morning session after which the Swede took over the Sauber C36-Ferrari again for the afternoon test – running 47 laps in total.

Programme: aero tests, set-up work, tyre work, race preparation

Pascal Wehrlein: “It was a positive day for me. I was able to get more and more familiar with the procedures for the car. I was able to get up to speed running a good amount of laps. We had an intensive programme in the morning with set-up work and aero tests, during which we learned a lot. All in all it’s getting better for me day by day.”

Marcus Ericsson: “It’s been another busy day for us, trying to understand our new car. We both, Pascal and I, have done a lot of laps continuing to evaluate different set-up options. Some things we tried were positive, some negative – as it is in testing. We have loads of data to analyse in order to get a better understanding of the car to make progress tomorrow.”

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RICCIARDO: WE ARE NOT HOLDING TWO SECONDS IN OUR POCKET

Amid speculation that Red Bull are sandbagging during Formula 1 preseason testing, at Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, their driver Daniel Ricciardo denies that the team have something in reserve which they are not revealing.

Speaking after his day in the cockpit, where he racked up 89 laps and set the second fastest lap time on Tuesday, Ricciardo told media, “At the moment there is no big secret or anything like that. We are not holding two seconds in our pocket.”

“But we definitely feel that we can still get more out of the car. But I think probably everyone can,” he said of rival teams.

And added with reference to Felipe Massa’s chart topping time on the day, “Hopefully not Williams. I hope that was their best [we saw] on the day. Ferrari and Mercedes can probably still get more out of their cars.”

“Once all that happens we will see where we are. It is looking alright. It is now my third day in the car, and I would say I am getting happier with the car.”

Of Ferrari and Mercedes, Ricciardo said, “They certainly look quick. I am sure Mercedes will still be very quick. But Ferrari are looking good. Even though Williams did not run much last week, the day they did get a good run in, I actually thought they looked quite good as well.”

“So today they showed that. It is going to be interesting, Melbourne will be a nice little story,” predicted the big smiling Australian.

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Max Verstappen not concerned by double stoppage on Wednesday

Max Verstappen says he isn't concerned by the fact the same problem forced him to stop twice during Wednesday's running as he still managed to rack up 101 laps – the most of any driver.

Verstappen's running on the sixth day of pre-season testing was interrupted twice, with both issues related to the power unit. However the Dutch driver is confident the problem won't recur during the season as Renault have already identified a fix.

"I didn’t run out of fuel [when he stopped on-track], we were two laps short of the race distance, we got a lot of data but unfortunately we had to stop, similar issue to what made us stop this morning.

"But in one way I’m also quite confident because the Renault boys, I think they already have some plans in place to change that part for Melbourne anyway, so it should be alright."

He added: "I always stay very positive and try not to think about it [problems] too much, that’s what testing’s for – to challenge all the parts and then see how good they are and where you can improve so for sure today we learned a lot today and that’s positive for the future."

Overall Verstappen says he's comfortable with the car which has shown small improvements between the two tests.

"Just a little bit better balance to be honest, always try to improve. We're heading in the right direction, it's more enjoyable to drive.

"It’s smooth balance, a predicable car, when you turn in you know exactly what the car is going to do so that’s positive."

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Jean Todt: Manufacturers would leave F1 if we returned to V10 engines

FIA president Jean Todt has rejected calls for Formula 1 to abandon its push for greener engines when it eventually replaces the current V6 Hybrid systems.

Some stakeholders, teams and fans have called for the sport to return to the days of naturally-aspirated V10 or V12 engines to boost the noise and excitement, but Todt believes such a move would be socially unacceptable and predicts the majority of current manufacturers would leave.

"It will not be accepted by society," he told the FIA's AUTO magazine. "Again, we have a responsibility to run an organisation monitored by global society. And global society will not accept that.

"Indeed, I'm sure if you said, 'let's go back to engines from 10 years ago', many manufacturers would not support such a move. I'm convinced a minimum of three out of four would leave."

Todt also argued that the sport needs stability, rather than constant change, not only for competition but to reduce spending which he described as "absurd".

"Also, we know that stability is essential – firstly, to have as much competition as possible, and then to protect the investment. You cannot invest in new technology every year, it is not financially sustainable, and we already complain about the cost of racing, the cost of Formula One – a cost that for me absurd.

"It's something we need to fight. So far we have not managed to find the ideal solution and I'm happy to take part of the responsibility on behalf of the governing body But saying that, it is not easy because you need to find common ground."

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Revealed: New F1 start rules will be a "lot" harder for drivers

Formula 1 drivers will face a much greater challenge in getting away cleanly at the starts in 2017 thanks to new rules imposed by the FIA.

As part of an ongoing push by the governing body to reduce 'driver aids', there have been a number of restrictions imposed to reduce the influence of engineers in race starts.

Initially that began with limits on radio communications and clutch bite points, and last year that expanded to limiting drivers to using a single clutch paddle.

A potentially even more radical step is in force this season, though, thanks to new limits on clutch control, plus the movement and location of the paddles themselves.

Linear torque

These changes have been addressed to teams in FIA Technical Directives sent to F1 teams over the winter to inform them on what the FIA viewed as illegal driver aids.

The biggest change comes in how the paddle on the steering wheel now controls the clutch – because there has to be a linear torque control.

Beforehand, there was no linear demand. So, it was possible for an engineer to map the settings in a way that most of the movement on the steering wheel paddle would be in the clutch's 'sweet spot'.

As Kevin Magnussen explained: "You just had to release it between 10 percent and 80 percent.

"Somewhere in there was a flat map that would be set to the grip, the tyres and fuel loads. So the start was 100 percent up to the engineers before. But now it is completely down to us."

Sweet spot

Being able to drop the clutch paddle into this wide zone meant that, as long as the engineers had mapped things correctly, then the starts were pretty straightforward.

But now with linear settings, if a driver wants to hit the perfect spot for the clutch he has to find the exact place with the clutch paddle on the wheel.

Being a centimetre out either way could be the difference between bogging down or getting too much wheelspin.

Sauber's Pascal Wehrlein said: "Now we have a situation like in a normal road car. As a driver you have to find the bite point completely by yourself.

"Before, you discussed it with the engineer. It was more down to the engineer whether the set-up was okay and the clutch was biting correctly. Now you do it with your hand and you don't have any adjustment possibility anymore."

Mercedes W07 steering wheel paddles distance

Paddle spacing

There are further limitations about the clutch paddle design that will make things harder too.

To prevent teams putting devices behind the steering wheel to help a driver feel where the right clutch spot should be, there are now exclusion zones in place.

Teams have been told that there must be a 50mm gap between the clutch paddle and any other control on the wheel.

The only exception to the 50mm gap is if teams put in place a stop mechanism that restricts a drivers' hand from feeling elsewhere, something Mercedes and Force India are understood to have done.

Furthermore, there is a maximum limit of movement for the clutch paddle of 80mm.

Without the 80mm limit, teams would have been tempted to allow excessive movement of the clutch paddles to try to help make it easier for drivers find the perfect spot.

Ferrari SF16-H steering wheel clutch movement

Massive change

The early feedback, from practice starts at Barcelona testing this week, suggests drivers are in for a pretty harsh wake-up call when it comes to getting away cleanly in 2017.

Wehrlein said: "The starts will be very difficult for the drivers, by the way. You can have a bit of luck and get a good start, but you can also have bad luck and you get a very poor getaway."

When asked how much harder it was going to be, Magnussen said: "A lot. Last year wasn't hard. You just had to release it past 10 percent and before 90 percent. It was easy.

"Last year you could have a bad start but that was down to the engineer not having the torque right or the clutch, or not calculating the grip right. And obviously you can react quickly to lights last year as well, that made a difference. Except for that, there wasn't much that was down to you really.

"As I say now, it is all down to you to find the right amount of clutch torque for the grip so that you are on the limit of wheelspin as early as possible. But it is very difficult."

Magnussen suggested that the perfect start would now become a rarity, as he predicted much bigger variation up and down the grid.

"Yes, definitely," he said. "I think we will see some guys getting a massive one and gaining loads of positions, and other ones losing out massively. I think there will be some spread."

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Tech analysis: Have Mercedes' updates not delivered what it wanted?

Are Mercedes disappointed with the performance of their latest updates? Or was Hamilton simply trying to downplay their fortunes?

The Briton was not thrilled with the performance of the car on Tuesday, having driven the W08 with the latest developments mounted on it, suggesting that observers should keep a keen eye on Ferrari and that it should be considered the favourite going into the new season.

However, he later commented that damage to the floor and higher track temperatures were likely contributors to the lack of enthusiasm for his updated machinery as Mercedes rolled out a raft of updates to get the second test underway.

The team will continue to evaluate those updates today as Bottas pilots the W08 in the morning session, having run with the configuration used in the first test in yesterday afternoon's session.

Mercedes AMG F1 W08, sidepod inlet

Mercedes has also revised the shape of its sidepods too.

The sidepod's inlet has been increased in height near the chassis, not only changing the quantity of air that can pass into the sidepod for cooling purposes but also revising the airflow's trajectory over the sidepod as it ooks for aerodynamic gains too.

More new parts could be found at the front of the car too, with a long slot added in the 'r' cascade to improve pressure distribution, whilst changing where the vortex it sheds is positioned on the front face of the tyre to improve the distribution of airflow around the tyre.

The vertical front brake duct fence has also been revised, with the slotted section (red arrow) now extruded further from the tyres surface in order to change how the airflow interacts with both the fence and the tyre.

This has also led to a revision of the inlet too with the familiar horizontal mesh used last season added, preventing any debris being collected that might impinge on brake cooling or performance.

[MIKA27]

Ericsson: 2017 F1 cars will produce more "pure" overtaking

Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson concedes the 2017 breed of Formula 1 cars might produce less overtaking, but says there will be more “pure” passes.

After sampling their new wider and faster machines this week in Barcelona testing, several drivers have already expressed fears that overtaking will become harder owing to the increase in downforce.

Lewis Hamilton advised last week for fans to not "hold their breath" for good racing in 2017, saying the turbulence was "easily twice as powerful" when following another car.

Ericsson, however, believes the new rules could lead to more "exciting" overtaking, and fewer "DRS on the motorway" style passes that have been frequent in the sport in recent years.

"I think there's still going to be overtaking, maybe not as much overtaking, I'm pretty sure," he said when asked by Motorsport.com about the possibility of passing with the new cars.

"But for me, the last couple of years there's been a lot of overtaking, but maybe not the most exciting overtaking, because it's been DRS on the straight and overtaking.

"I think now maybe there will be less overtaking, but more pure overtakes than the DRS pass on the motorway overtakes. If I watch a race, I prefer to see one good battle than 10 DRS passes on the straight.

     

"We have to wait and see how it works out in the races, but I still believe it's going to be possible to overtake."

The Swedish driver also thinks Pirelli's more durable 2017 tyres will improve the spectacle by ensuring drivers don't have to back off in the heat of battle to stop their tyres from overheating.

"For me, there's a lot more scope for pushing the tyres, and I think that will make the races a bit different, you'll be more on the attack," he added.

"Maybe in the last couple of years sometimes you haven't taken the fight, because you know you have a long stint ahead of you, whereas now the tyres are less sensitive to overheating,

"You can be really aggressive on the throttle for a lap and the grip is still there. Whereas last year's compound, if you were having wheelspin for a lap, fighting someone, you knew [you would] maybe never recover the tyres because they were going to be overheated."

[MIKA27]

Adelaide classic F1 festival return confirmed

Classic Formula 1 cars will return to the streets of Adelaide later this year, with confirmation of the date of the 2017 Adelaide Motorsport Festival.

Last year’s running of the festival saw F1 stars of the past Ivan Capelli, Pier Luigi Martini, and Stefan Johansson all drive their old Formula 1 machinery on a shortened version of the Adelaide street circuit, paying tribute to the 11-year period where the South Australian capital hosted Australia’s round of the World Championship.

The event is now set to return this year, with the date tweaked as to not clash with either the Supercars season finale in Newcastle, Rally Australia in Coffs Harbour, or the Ashes cricket test at Adelaide Oval. That means a shift to December, with the event – including the Classic Adelaide Rally – to run from December 7-10.

     

“We can confirm that the Adelaide Motorsport Festival 2017 will be held from 7th to 10th December and the Victoria Park Sprint will be held over the weekend of the 9th and 10th of December,” Event Director Tim Possingham said.

“We would like to thank the South Australian Tourism Commission for their continued support and use of Clipsal 500 infrastructure at this time, which also allows us to attract drivers and cars that have concluded their normal racing championships interstate and overseas.”

The organisers are yet to confirm any of the classic F1 cars or drivers that will take part in the event.

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HASEGAWA: WHAT HAS HAPPENED WAS NOT SEEN ON THE DYNO

McLaren powered Honda grabbed big headlines during the eight days of testing, but alas it was for all the wrong reasons as the team struggled with their new power units, breaking down countless times and the MCL32 woefully slow compared to the pace setters.

When asked by Racer if they expected such issues, Honda F1 boss Yusuke Hasegawa said, “Of course not. Of course we knew the performance level but we didn’t know the level of the other teams, so from a comparison point of view we are a little bit scared of the situation.”

“It’s too optimistic for us to expect a very good result in Melbourne. But from a trouble point of view, of course I didn’t expect such a wide variety of problems that we suffered.”

“Everything that has happened has not been seen on the dyno, I believe. No. Especially the day two issue and this week’s day one issue, we didn’t expect such a problem.”

“Of course it is disappointing but to me it is good that we can find out the issues before Melbourne. Of course it is bad for testing and to disturb the running time.”

Hasegawa insists that the current version Honda engine is better than before, but believes that their rivals have also upped their game during the winter.

“Of course we also improved our engine performance level; however, it looks like the PU performance improvement of the others is better and higher than us. We may even be further back, so that is very disappointing.”

“From the settings or a setting point of view we may have some things we can do in these two weeks. In the next two weeks we will try to find some ways of tuning the engine, and it can have better performance, definitely,” added Hasegawa.

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ALONSO: IT’S BEEN FUN TO DRIVE FREELY AGAIN

Much has been written about Fernando Alonso and the hardships he is facing with McLaren, specifically Honda’s woeful power unit that broke down incessantly during the eight days of testing in Barcelona, but it was not all negative from the Spaniard’s perspective.

Alonso, a double world champion, has been singing the praises of the new Formula 1 rules, relishing the challenge and feeling the faster and grippier cars.

He told media in Spain, “The way you attack the corners, the way you feel the grip, has been a good surprise. It’s been fun to drive freely again.”

“To be able to drive the way you want and not like a small child, so the tyres don’t overheat. That’s the best way to feel a Formula 1 car.” 

It is clear that Alonso has rediscovered the ‘wow’ factor that went missing with the previous generation cars, but the frustration of testing the slowest and most unreliable car during preseason testing inevitably raised the question: What’s in store for the future?

Alonso replied, “My future is not my priority right now. I live in the present and try to enjoy myself as much as I can right now. I am driving at my best and I’m enjoying attacking the corners quite fast. I feel I’m the best driver out there.”

“For me I cannot stop – it is like a drug. I will be 80 years old and I will be in a go-kart at my circuit, racing there and pushing the kids out on the track,” Alonso told media on the occasion of the launch of the McLaren MCL32.

[MIKA27]

HAMILTON: THERE’S MORE TO COME FROM FERRARI

Ahead of the 2017 Formula 1 World Championship opener, in Melbourne at the end of the month, Lewis Hamilton admits he is impressed by Ferrari’s performance during recent Barcelona preseason testing and believes that the Italian team have more in store.

The Mercedes driver said, “They [Ferrari] have been doing a fantastic job and I think there’s more to come from them,” he said. “I think their pace this week has been spectacular.”

“I think Red Bull are still there, I don’t know if they brought their upgrade package here this week but usually they bring it for the first race, so I expect us to be having a real serious battle with both these teams.”

Testing seldom gives a exact picture of what to expect, however it is clear Mercedes are still the team to beat while Ferrari appear to have made the biggest step forward. Have they closed the gap to the sport’s dominant team? Melbourne will be gin to answer that question.

But Hamilton is wary of the situation as it stands, “I don’t know if there are mind games going on. Every year in testing the goal is not necessarily to go as quick as you can, it’s to find out what you have in the car.”

“And sometimes there have been potentially some teams sandbagging in the past, but I don’t really see that as being a benefit to any team.”

“Driving [on the last day in Barcelona], the time you saw was the time we could do. I didn’t feel when I got out that I could have gone faster. But of course there are all sort of things that come into play to bring the time down, such as fuel loads, engine modes, those kind of things.”

Although Mercedes with Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas on duty covered more laps in Spain than any other team – 1096 laps around the Circuit de Catalunya over the course of the eight days of testing.

Ferrari were not far off on the mileage stakes, their drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel covering 956 laps, however the pair topped the combined timing sheets with Raikkonen fastest of all and over half a second up on the best time set by Bottas for Mercedes.

Hamilton summed up, “The great thing is no one really knows. It looks very positive for Ferrari, that’s for sure, and I don’t think that’s a bluff. I think that’s true. They’ve done a great job. Whatever the case, I can’t wait to go out and compete. Just a couple more weeks to go…”

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Cyril Abiteboul: Renault F1 focusing on ERS reliability

Renault Managing Director Cyril Abiteboul says Renault is placing ‘special attention’ on its ERS, following a few reliability glitches over the course of pre-season testing.

Renault completed fewer laps than only McLaren during the second pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with an ERS problem affecting running.

The manufacturer has stressed that a solution will be in place for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, a move which will also aid customers Red Bull and Toro Rosso, with both teams also hit by Renault issues during testing.

Abiteboul is confident that Renault has made substantial progress as it attempts to move into the top five of the Constructors’ championship this season, following last year's dismal effort upon its full-time return to the sport.

Nico Hülkenberg posted Renault’s best time of the second test, a 1:19.885 on Ultra Softs, to finish eighth on the combined leaderboard, with Jolyon Palmer 12th.

“The RS.17 looks beautiful and we think it is a good platform to build the performance that will allow to achieve our aims for 2017,” said Abiteboul.

“We know the areas we need to address. We think we already have a good step forward with performance thanks to this car and the new power unit as shown by our lap times despite adverse circumstances in the previous days that prevented optimising the package.

“We have to focus on reliability with special attention on the ERS, which is already well underway.

“Everyone at Enstone, at Viry and at the track has been working exceptionally hard to get this car on track and it is empowering to experience this positive ethos.

“Nico and Jo have also done a great job, and I can already feel that they have the potential to make the contribution we are expecting to the team’s performance.”

[skalls]

I'm hoping that the pre-season form from McLaren is an aberration but I fear this is 2015 for them all over again.  Hard to bet against the big 3 for Australia.  gonna be a long 2 weeks.