FORMULA 1

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LOWE: WE PURSUED A VERY DIFFERENT AERODYNAMIC CONCEPT

The Williams FW41 which was revealed to the world today is significantly different looking to its 2017 predecessor largely due to the fact that this year’s car has direct input from the team’s Chief Technical Officer Paddy Lowe and Head of Aerodynamics Dirk de Beer.

The duo joined forces with Chief Designer Ed Wood to conceptualise, design and oversee the production of the team’s 2018 challenger – the FW41.

Lowe said at the launch of the car, “It is very exciting to be giving everyone the first look at the FW41. It is the product of some great teamwork across the various functions in the organisation including aerodynamics design, vehicle dynamics, race engineering and systems engineering.”

“The car has many new features, most of which are not all that obvious, but externally the team has pursued a very different aerodynamic concept which has allowed us some significant progress in aerodynamic performance.”

“All Formula 1 cars are an evolution of what has gone before to some extent, but the FW41 does involve a number of departures from the directions that have been pursued in the past.”

“Overall, the philosophy we are starting to see emerge is a new approach to the collaboration between aerodynamics and design to achieve the optimum working result.”

“Aerodynamics, structure and weight are the three major trades to be made in designing a Formula One car, and all the work, alongside a number of radical changes to the car’s packaging to incorporate further developments from Mercedes HPP, have led us to the FW41 being revealed today.”

“We hope that this car will make progress in the performance rankings relative to 2017 and feel we have made some really good steps with the new car. We are trying to achieve an element of step change and not just progression.”

“We were two seconds a lap slower than the front-runners last year, and that is something we would like to close up considerably. We were looking for a step change, and I hope we have delivered a strong element of that in this car.”

With regards to the youngest driver line-up on the grid next season, Lowe said, “The whole technical team is also feeling very positive about our two talented young race drivers with the combination of Lance and Sergey, alongside the contribution of Robert as our reserve and development driver.”

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KUBICA: I WILL DO THREE FP1 OUTINGS IN 2018

Robert Kubica may have lost out on the Williams race seat to Sergey Sirotkin, but the Pole has secured the next best thing in Formula 1, namely the role of reserve driver with three FP1 sessions thrown into his season.

Speaking to media during the launch of the new Williams FW41, Kubica confirmed, “I will do three FP1s. I will start in Barcelona, then I think Austria and then another one.”

“I will do some pre-season testing and in-season testing. It was important to have the chance to drive. Currently, the regulations are such that driving is limited.”

“The simulator plays an important role, as I am part of this project it is important to build up a link between this tool and the real world.”

Kubica is the elder statesman in the team which will run the youngest driver line-up in 2018, and indeed one of the least experienced driver pairing in their illustrious history.

“Of course they make their job and I will for sure try to support, but I will never be in the position to teach them unless they think I can help them,” explained Kubica.

“The most important thing is to help the team and support the team – otherwise I wouldn’t be here. In the end, once you are in the same boat you work in the same direction. Once I knew I would make this job I agree myself it is my job to help them and support.”

“The clock is running I am 33. Last winter there was a lot of talk around and a lot of people put own ideas and evaluation of myself but the only one who understands my limitations and what I need is myself.”

“First of all, there is a role that I am covering this year and I have to make sure I am able to deliver and able to help the team to achieve the targets or the results we want and then we will see what the future will bring.

“I would prefer to be here as a race driver but if you look at it from a different perspective and where I was 12 months ago with nobody thought I would be in a position to drive an F1 car. I was more convinced now than ever that I am able to drive an F1 car even though the limitations are quite big.”

“It’s sure to be a tough season with a lot of races and things to do. I have to be on top of the work I have to do for the team. So, let’s get started!” concluded Kubica.

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Fourth or bust – McLaren's 2018 tightrope

We have heard the historical parallels. Once great champion British teams that go into long lingering and (probably) irrecoverable decline. BRM, Lotus, Tyrrell, Williams. McLaren, some like to say, is well on the way to joining them. Pure numbers don’t look good other than in their symmetry – five years since a win; close to 10 since a championship; 20 since a constructors’ title.

Despite results the team just about clings to its reputation for glory. It also maintains gleaming resources and a driver line up better than most. But it is clear it needs to arrest and reverse its slide pronto if it is not to indeed join the inauspicious list outlined. In F1 nothing succeeds like failure – lack of results loses you sponsors and investment; puts off drivers and technical staff from joining you. Not for nothing Ben Anderson spoke of the task before the Woking squad as “diffusing a ticking timebomb”.

Right now when we’ve not been talking grid girls and start times much of the chat has been about McLaren, and not just because of explosive documentaries. Between two F1 seasons wherein not a great deal else is likely to change competitiveness-wise McLaren is expected to be high climber.

It’s ditched its dreadful Honda power units, replacing them with Renaults, and is expected to rise from its ninth of ten constructors’ slots. The only matter is how high it can go.

Yet the last point is crucial. As if it’s lost its woeful engines it’s also lost its most convenient lightening conductor. If it doesn’t get it right now the slide will likely be confirmed as irrecoverable in many minds. Crucial times, as outlined.

“If we’re 0.9 seconds off Red Bull [another Renault customer], that won't look good, I agree,” admitted the team’s executive director Zak Brown recently.

Fernando Alonso’s claim late last season that the McLaren has the best chassis in F1 may have been fanciful. The word on the street is that McLaren ran the car rather draggy, perhaps flattering it (and perhaps working on the premise that Honda was going to get hammered either way).

But the same word on the street also had the McLaren as at least the fourth best out there, which isn’t a bad point to start from if it now has a power unit that gets it into the game.

Then there’s the power unit it’s replacing the Honda with. The Renault is arguably the hybrid era’s rich man’s Honda. OK, that’s excessive – but parallels exist. Power well off the pace-setters, plenty of false dawns and ‘jam tomorrow’ proclamations. At points last year the French unit’s reliability seemed barely superior to the Japanese as well.

All the talk last year too was of McLaren simply reaching the end of its tether and being desperate to ditch Honda whatever else happened. “It’s three years now,” explained ex McLaren technical chief Pat Fry around the engine crunch point. “All the engineers will be saying dump it and run, the other thing’s got more H recovery, more horsepower... They’ll know all that from simulation – engineers, it’s what we do.”

And indeed with Honda duly ditched all at McLaren, for now, are confident. They’re also maintaining that its Renault selection was not simply one of anything-but-the-Japanese-product.

“I know there is a big debate about what is the first, second and third best engine. I think in reality they are all pretty close,” Brown insisted.

The team’s Racing Director Eric Boullier insists there are forthcoming gains too. "We have information from Renault that proves to us that their engine is competitive,” he said. “Maybe it is a bit behind the Mercedes and the Ferrari but it has potential.

“We have had meetings that show they are working on a reliability and performance package that will be more competitive in 2018.”

We can point out too that Red Bull won races and occasionally set the pace with the Renault unit last year, and even at tracks like Monza wasn’t far off. Night and day from the Honda.

Renault Formula 1 advisor Alain Prost thinks the relationship’s benefits will be reciprocal to the power unit supplier as well.

“It will make pressure,” he said. “Because we will have one more competitor in our field.

“But we know that and we hope that it's going to be positive pressure, and it's a fact that we have to beat everybody.”

Unlike Merc and Ferrari too, Renault’s record of giving its customers the same as its works team is a good one (Toro Rosso kerfuffle late last year notwithstanding), and McLaren has the same fuel partner as the works team too – BP. Varying on this with Mercedes when McLaren was last a customer in 2014 was really thought to impede the Woking cars.

Additionally for the first time since it threw its lot in with Honda for 2015 McLaren has benchmarks. And it includes a formidable one in Red Bull, arguably the sport’s chassis standard bearer and for years.

The team’s chief technical officer (aerodynamics) Peter Prodromou thinks this too will be a benefit. “It has been difficult for us last three years not having someone to measure yourself up against,” he said.

“It is a very positive thing that we have two first-class teams to measure ourselves against and that is a very strong motivating factor for everyone in the workforce.”

Brown agrees. “The beautiful thing about motor racing is hundreds of millions of people get to see how you do. That’s part of the adrenalin.

“We are looking forward to that. This team has won the second most amount of championships and they welcome and are excited about the pressure of having the spotlight on us.”

As has been pointed out McLaren and Red Bull have historical needle as well, with plenty of spats over staff, rules, sponsors and technical partners; one thinks more generally of the stand-off between the two squads after Sebastian Vettel wiped out Jenson Button at Spa in 2010. It can only add to the focus.

Also given Red Bull’s testy relationship with Renault over recent years there is clear potential for McLaren to become Regie’s favoured customer.

Then again it’s not simply a case of McLaren bolting a better engine on. Critics note it was hardly stunning when it had the Mercedes unit in 2014 – it wasn’t even the best Mercedes customer let alone getting near the works outfit. And not all of the problems with the McLaren Honda in the last three years have been Honda ones. Far from it.

But things have changed at the team. Boullier for one thing slimming down the squad that had been more geared to the previous era of splurging money and innumerable test days at problems. Plenty talk of the positive environment, despite the lack of results. Ron Dennis’s unique style of management is now a thing of the past, and in 2017 his decoupling from the team was made total.

“We’ve accomplished a lot in 2017 that the viewers can’t see on television,” Brown has noted.

While to take us back to where we came in, there is a crucial difference between today’s McLaren and the likes of Tyrrell and Williams – the perennial of money. Ken Tyrrell’s tight budgets towards the end were stuff of legend; Williams’ driver line-ups of recent times betray being hard up for cash. Granted the McLaren hasn’t had a title sponsor on it for a while and has just lost its works engine partner and its cash, but it is 50% owned by the Bahrain royal family’s Mumtalakat investment company, giving a source of revenue. And Brown knows it, albeit expressing the point a little cryptically.

“I think we’re fortunate we have a very committed ownership base,” he said. “We can make decisions purely on performance, knowing we’ve got the financial resources. Our shareholders are very open on a case-by-case [basis]. We’ve got the racing budget we requested.”

Yet also money is the reason McLaren’s unlikely to be setting the pace in 2018 either. The large skew in favour of ‘the big three’ Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull remains, and Brown admits that winning titles prior to 2021 when terms are up for review is a tall order.

“I wouldn’t want to say we’re not going to try to win world championships before 2021,” he added, “but certainly it’s an unlevel playing field right now, which makes it a tall task. The budget deficit is quite huge between us and the top three teams. You can spend more efficiently…but the discrepancy is too big.

“When we get on equal footing with the other teams I like our chances of winning world championships as much as anyone.”

For McLaren this year it therefore seems fourth or bust. Breaking the top three would be a gargantuan achievement.  Fourth in the constructors’ table is entirely achievable – McLaren was roughly with the Force India and Williams on pace late last year with a much worse power unit.

But equally it not getting fourth doesn’t bear thinking about. As per the considerations at the outset it could be terminal.

It’s reflected too in Brown’s aims for the year. “Being competitive,” he said, “that is racing at the front, qualifying at the front, getting on the podium.

“I’d be surprised if we were world champions.”

In other words come Melbourne the team’s not going to look like Mercedes. But at the very least, for the first time in a while, it should have gone some way to look a little more like McLaren.

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Max Verstappen 'not looking forward to very ugly halo'

Max Verstappen says he's not looking forward to racing with the "very ugly" halo on his Red Bull car this season ahead of its unveiling next week.

Red Bull's RB14 will be shown off on Monday and, like every 2018 car, will feature the FIA's mandated head protection device dubbed the halo.

Although eager to seeing how competitive his new car will be and where it will stack up against Red Bull's rivals, Verstappen said the introduction of the halo would tarnish the reveal of his and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo's new car.

"The halo, that will be very ugly," said the Dutchman. "I am not looking forward to that!

"In general I hope the car will look great and hopefully it is fast. Hopefully it is a good step forward and we have got straight away a good car for the beginning of the year, so we are not really chasing, like we did last year. That is the most important thing for us."

The additional weight of the halo could penalise taller and heavier drivers as the device weighs around 11kg in total with fixings and mountings, and that's a concern for Verstappen.

"The halo is quite heavy, it will be more than six kilos [tha halo itself excluding fixings], it is definitely not favourable for me," he added.

"But I am not going to adjust my training for it, because otherwise I won't feel well during the races. Especially for me being a taller driver and also a bit of a heavier driver than most, it is definitely not ideal."

Verstappen finished sixth in last year's championship, taking victories in Malaysia and Mexico.

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Max Verstappen looks ahead to 2018 F1 season

Daniel Ricciardo unveils 2018 Australian GP helmet design

 

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Ferrari boosted by latest F1 engine's dyno results

Ferrari has received a double boost on the Formula 1 engine front for 2018, with confirmation on the dyno that it has hit reliability targets, plus encouraging results from work on a new cylinder head concept.
With F1 drivers limited to just three engines for the entire 2018 season, there has been a major focus among the sport’s manufacturers this winter on proving their engines can last the required seven race distances.

The increased endurance needs of the new engines mean that Ferrari has elected to start the campaign with an evolution of last year’s 063 power unit – which suffered a spate of unexpected reliability problems late in the season.

But work on the engine has been intense because of subtle tweaks to the rules, which have included a further clampdown on oil burn.

Teams are now limited in the type of oil they can use, and must provide the FIA will detailed readings throughout each race weekend, as part of an effort by the governing body to prevent them using oil for power-boost reasons.

The focus on reliability means Ferrari has stepped away from doing anything radical with its engine at this stage of the campaign – as its target instead has been to deliver the longer life without any power drop from last year.

However, Ferrari’s engine chief Corrado Iotti is believed to be leading a programme to introduce a new cylinder head later in the season – which will help in the pre-combustion phase of the engine cycle and could especially aid the manufacturer in challenging Mercedes’ advantage with ‘magic’ qualifying modes.

The engine will not feature the alloy steel piston that had been proposed at the end of last year under previous engine chief Lorenzo Sassi, but was abandoned in the early summer after it failed to deliver what had been hoped.

Sassi left the team in the wake of this situation, and is set to start work at Mercedes soon, following his enforced period of gardening leave. He could hand the Brackley-based outfit some vital inside knowledge of Ferrari’s progress on the engine front in recent years.

[skalls]

Another reveal.  Williams went with a white halo.  Car looks good despite the halo but they managed to kind of hide the halo into the design (i mean they didn't, they have that god awful thing out front but still).

I'm mainly curious about a few things this season. 

• Does Mercedes get a car with a wider operating range or is she still a diva next year?  I can't imagine that they haven't been working on that since last year.
• Can Botas fight for the crown this year? think he has a shot if he can avoid a string of poor'ish races that he had last year.
• How does the Renault engine work in the McLaren?  I want to see Alonso in a competitive car.
• Does Honda improve?  My early guess is not enough, but I do hope they get better.

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BOTTAS: I CAN DO IT AND I CAN BEAT HAMILTON

Last year this time Valtteri Bottas was preparing for his first season as a Mercedes driver, a year down the road he is wiser and appears to know what it will take to beat teammate Lewis Hamilton and prevent the Briton claiming a fifth title.

Asked by ESPN if he could beat Hamilton in 2018, Bottas replied, “For sure he is one of the best drivers ever in Formula 1, a four-time world champion who’s always on it, but I proved to myself a few times last year that I can do it and I can beat him.”

“It’s up to me to be performing well consistently all through the year, not having those kinds of race weekends when I’m a couple of tenths off or something. I need to be in all conditions — no matter what track, which temperature and which tarmac — I need to be there.”

“I think all the development we have done with the team over the winter with the new car, everything looks in the right direction in terms of what’s good for my driving style. That’s how I see it now in theory, but of course, we need to find out. I need to adapt, but I think I’m so much more of a complete driver starting this year than starting one year ago.”

Barring a major deviation from the norm, Bottas should have a title winning car at his disposal this season, the question is can he bring home the championship?

“I think everyone knows [my target]. For sure every driver wants to be world champion, but I am so hungry for it. I’m ready to do anything it takes. Normally my style is not to mess with other people’s things. I tend to focus on my performance and getting the most out of myself and the team around me.”

“I’m not planning to change anything of what I do and I believe if I perform consistently from race one then for sure we can have a bit more of a challenge with Lewis on track. But honestly, even though something would change, I can’t see any issues of why we wouldn’t be able to work together in the team.”

The Finn and his British teammate seem to get along well, a big difference to the toxic relationship Hamilton endured with Nico Rosberg. Peace and harmony prevail in the Silver Arrows garage right now.

“Even though the harmony is there, I don’t see that it is making Lewis a better driver. I think he’s always on it and I just tend not to deal with that stuff. I just want to focus on my performance and that will hopefully get me further,” added Bottas.

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ENZO FERRARI 120TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATED WITH EXHIBITION

Ferrari was born 120 years ago and now the Enzo Ferrari Museum is celebrating the anniversary with a photographic exhibition at his birthplace, within the complex that now houses museum in Modena.

It includes images depicting him at various stages of his life: from childhood to adulthood, from his career as a driver to that of a manager and manufacturer alongside unforgettable motor racing champions such as Nuvolari, Castellotti and Villeneuve.

Ferrari chairman and CEO Sergio Marchionne said, “It seems incredible to think that Enzo Ferrari was born in the 19th century. His lesson is more relevant than ever and his modernity unquestionable.

“He was a man with extraordinary vision and ability to manage people and resources as well as a strong entrepreneurial spirit and exceptional courage. One wonders what he could have achieved if he had had access to today’s technical resources and knowledge.”

“The mark that he left on the world remains a source of pride for all of us at Ferrari and for the whole of Italy.”

Enzo Anselmo Ferrari, the son of Alfredo and Adalgisa, was born in Modena on 18 February 1898. As a child, he showed an unbridled passion for cars (his father, after all, had a workshop…) and as an adult he went on to become not only a great car manufacturer but one of the world’s greatest representatives of the Italian spirit.

He was also one of the most influential personalities of the 20th century and his Ferrari Formula 1 team has become one of the most iconic sporting brands in sport and the team with the biggest fanbase worldwide.

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MARKO: WE’RE NOT IN A POSITION TO WIN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Five years since they won their last Formula 1 world title, Red Bull are playing down their chances of once again challenging for the championship but admitting that they will be better prepared for the season than they were this time last year.

Speaking to Auto Motor und Sport, Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko said of the year ahead, “At this stage, we are not in a position to win the world championship.”

“The Renault engine should be more reliable and more powerful than we had last year. We’ll also be running with a competitive chassis right from the start.”

“Mercedes has produced a new power unit for this season, so the question now is if they will have an even greater advantage or not. If our engine does what we’re promised by Renault, then we should be a lot closer to them.”

Marko acknowledges, “If you have two equal drivers, they both go for maximum performance and they push the engineers all the time to ensure the maximum out of their chassis and package.”

“But when you have only one driver in a team that goes to those limits, you never know where you really are,” quipped Marko in a direct dig at Ferrari who are heavily dependent on Sebastian Vettel and focus their programme on the German.

The outspoken Austrian is hoping that the era of his team having to play catch-up with late launches of their cars is over, “Adrian became aware of this when we were able to beat Mercedes on our own and that we can race at the front when the engine is performing at it’s best.”

“In past seasons we have tended to be stronger in the second half of the season. In retrospect, we always tried to leave the finalising of the car as late as possible, but it doesn’t help to be forced to find a few hundredths every two weeks.”

“So for us, it’s more important that we go into this season ready and well prepared,” added Marko.

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BRAWN: THE PHILOSOPHY NOW IS THAT THE FAN COMES FIRST

The change of leadership of Formula 1 from the dictatorship of the Bernie Ecclestone to the more laissez-faire style of new owners Liberty Media is all about putting F1 fans first and reverse the careless to those who actually watch and support the sport.

F1 motorsport director Brawn said in an interview with Business Life, “I think what has changed is the philosophy. The philosophy now is that the fan comes first and we want to produce the greatest spectacle in sport in the world.”

“But it will take time to establish all the information we need, to do all the analysis and then start to complement changes that we believe will make the sport greater. That’s a two, three, even five-year cycle.”

Brawn also shed light on how the new management team differs to the previous regime, “There was a tendency for there to be a very reactive style. There’d be a drama or a problem and everyone would get together to try and solve it.”

“That’s not how you’d run a team, for instance. You’d run a team by trying to forward plan, trying to evolve, trying to develop, making evidence-based decisions.

“I always felt that F1 had never really evolved or developed around those principles, and I sat there at home watching F1 thinking that there was a better way of the sport evolving,” revealed Brawn.

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LOWE: BY THE SECOND RACE NO ONE WILL NOTICE THE HALO

Williams technical boss Paddy Lowe believes that criticism of Formula 1’s unsightly new Halo head protection device should subside once the new 2018 season gets underway next month.

Located on struts around the cockpit in front and around the driver’s helmet to protect it from heavy objects, the Halo is the big novelty for the 2018 championship starting in Australia on 25 March.

But it has also changed the look of the car, drawing criticism from some fans and drivers. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen said this week that it would be ‘very ugly’ and was not something he was looking forward to.

Lowe told reporters at a team launch on Thursday that the safety benefits far outweighed any other considerations.

“I’ve been a big supporter of making some improvement in that area which is the biggest remaining risk in Formula 1 to the drivers,” he said, adding: “I think by the second race nobody will notice it any more.”

The last driver fatality as a consequence of a race accident was that of Frenchman Jules Bianchi, who suffered severe head injuries when his car skidded into a trackside tractor at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.

Lowe suggested Formula One had been riding its luck, “We’ve had roughly once per year, for the last two years that I’ve been looking out, an event where you go: that really was lucky, someone got away with it there.”

“I think it would only be a matter of time before we weren’t saying somebody’s been lucky, but they were unlucky. So that’s a really good project.”

Lowe said the Halo was designed more to protect the driver from whole cars, or wheels, rather than the sort of debris that struck Brazilian Felipe Massa, who suffered life-threatening head injuries when he was hit on the helmet by a bouncing spring in qualifying for the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Incorporating the Halo, which weighs some seven kilos and can bear the weight of a London double-decker bus, had been the major technical challenge, Lowe said, adding that the aerodynamic consequences were insignificant.

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VIDEO: MCLAREN FIRES UP RENAULT-POWERED MCL33

A Renault engine roared off the back of a McLaren F1 car for the first time ever when the Woking outfit fired up their 2018 car and with it kickstarting a new era.

McLaren have emerged from three disappointment packed years with Honda power. The dream of emulating their past achievements of the eighties was shattered as the two organisations parted ways at the end of 2017, both impacted heavily by the three seasons of pain.

Along the way, the winds of change have swept through Woking over the past twelve months, among which is the switch to Renault power in the hope that their star driver Fernando Alonso and his highly rated younger teammate Stoffel Vandoorne can race for podiums and perhaps even victories.

Chief engineering officer Matt Morris gave insight into the difference a year makes, “I think the big difference, speaking with all the guys at Renault, is they have got more experience.”

“Those guys on the ground have been doing it for a lot longer than Honda, that is just a fact, and that is what allowed us to get the packaging done so quickly.”

“It is just their experience and the same is true in their factory at Viry. It is more mature than Honda. It might not have as many fancy dynos, but they just have more experience.”

A big season lies ahead for the sport’s second most successful team and one of the most successful F1 engine builders of the past four decades.

 

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Ross Brawn hopes new rules will do away with DRS

Formula 1's Ross Brawn is hopeful that the new rules revolution, set to take place in 2021, will mean that the drag reduction system (DRS) will no longer be needed.

DRS was introduced in 2011 as a quick fix to increase overtaking and has remained a part of the sport ever since, but fans have criticised the system as being artificial and making some overtakes too easy.

Brawn isn't a fan and whilst he admitted it would stay around for the 'near future', he hopes to ditch it eventually.

"My hope is that the cars will develop to the point that we don't need it [DRS] anymore, but in the near future that will not happen," he told Business Life.

Brawn is working on a new set of aerodynamic and engine regulations for 2021 with the help of a team of experts which he hopes will boost overtaking naturally and improve the spectacle, but admitted it's not an easy task and there would likely be trade-offs in certain areas.

"Before we can improve the racing, we need to thoroughly understand what's going on," he added. "We can follow our gut instinct, but that's not good enough when you think about how incredibly complicated these cars are.

"Speed plays an important role and the fans want to see the fastest cars, but if we see a way to make the racing better, then I would be willing to sacrifice some speed."

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Rival F1 teams keen on Haas equipment, says owner

Gene Haas says Formula 1 teams have contacted his outfit with interest in purchasing Haas Automation equipment.
Haas currently supplies rival NASCAR teams alongside his Stewart-Haas operation with his company's equipment and hoped to use his F1 entry as a vehicle to further promote the machine-tool brand when he joined the fray in 2016.

"We do it in NASCAR a lot, and a lot of our competing teams use Haas Automation equipment," said Haas.

"We've had Formula 1 teams ask about how to procure equipment from us, and if we weren't there, that's probably something that wouldn't have happened.

"If we can compete at these high levels, that gets us the notoriety we want for Haas Automation.

"On the marketing side of it, we bring customers to the races and that works really well because – especially in Formula 1 – it's pretty much impossible to even get into the pits unless you know a team, so we're bringing a lot of our special customers only to these racetracks.

"It makes them feel special, and that translates into their perception of us and how they relate to people in their industry.

"It just kind of builds on itself that this is a top-notch team in association with a top-notch machine-tool builder, and that's the whole thing – the association of quality, performance and winning machine tools.

"There's a lot of interest, and it's good to keep people engaged – not just on the machine tool side, but on the racing side as well, and merging those things together."

Haas added a perk of having teams in two different racing series was that there has been a crossover of information.

"We're a NASCAR team and here we are doing Formula 1," he said.

"There's a lot of similar technologies and I've even had a lot of people from the Formula 1 side wanting to know how NASCAR guys do this, so there's a lot of interest.

"You have two sports that are at the top of their fields – stock car versus open-wheel racing – but they seem to have a lot of interest in how each of these entities have evolved over the years and what can be gleaned from the two series."

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Analysis: What’s the difference between F1 2018’s two rookies?

Top F1 broadcaster and journalist James Allen examines the cases of Williams’s Sergey Sirotkin and Sauber’s Charles Leclerc – and wonders why they are perceived so differently.
Contrast the way that Williams F1 team boss Claire Williams defended her new driver Sergey Sirotkin against 'pay driver' jibes this week, with the serenity of Charles Leclerc's first public appearance as an Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 driver.

Williams launched its new line-up and projected images of its new car on the walls of a smart event in London's Shoreditch on Thursday. While much attention was on the aerodynamic makeover – which is going to be make or break for Williams in 2018 – other sections of the media were all about the 'pay driver' label on the Russian debutant.

Sirotkin is reputed to bring $15m a season for two years to Williams from wealthy Russian backers.

Williams was tough: "It's nothing new in F1 that drivers come with money, and thank goodness that they do," she said. "It would be incredibly naive… saying 'He's just a pay driver.' It's great if a driver has financial interests from partners - it's great for the team, it's great for the driver.

"This is an expensive sport, not just F1 but at grassroots level as well. We'd miss out on so much talent coming into F1 if drivers didn't have financial backing supporting them through the junior formulae and bringing them into F1."

I always prefer to let the driver do his talking on the track, and if Sirotkin is quick and consistent, gets results and looks every inch a grand prix driver, then he will be welcome in the sport.

The benchmark that is always trotted out when talking about 'pay drivers' is Fernando Alonso, who had backing from the Santander bank, as well as Spanish insurance and ceramics companies when he was at McLaren and Ferrari. His 2001 Minardi on debut was sponsored by Spanish telco, Telefonica.

But he got ahead in F1 as part of Renault's development programme – having turned down a deal with Jean Todt to test for Ferrari and then become a race driver. Instead he went with Flavio Briatore and was world champion a few years later.

The acid test of a pay driver is very simple; would Driver X be at the team if he didn't have the money behind him? How about Sergio Perez? Of course he would. So he’s not a pay driver, he’s a very good driver who attracts backers.

A more serene arrival

Meanwhile in Italy this week, Alfa Romeo laid on an event where Leclerc and his teammate Marcus Ericsson were 'introduced' to Alfa Romeo history with the media. It was elegant, serene and stylish. They discussed Alfa legends Farina and Fangio, drove the Stevio and Giulia models and talked about the season ahead.

Leclerc is a Ferrari development driver and the reigning F2 champion. He won the championship in his debut season and in a dominant manner. Prior to that he was GP3 champion.

Is Leclerc a pay driver? Of course not.

Then again, his arrival at Sauber has brought with it some very tangible benefits for the team; from Alfa Romeo title sponsorship, to new Ferrari V6 engines and "strategic, commercial and technological cooperation".

Sauber should first of all survive and then move up the grid significantly as a result of the support, which is motivated by Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne. He wanted to bring the Alfa brand back to F1 after 30 years. It means stability and growth for the team.

One could argue that the support is the other way around and that Marchionne was going to do the Sauber deal anyway, for marketing and political reasons; and Leclerc just benefitted from being in the right place at the right time.

But the timing and the opportunity for Ferrari to school one of their most promising talents were ideal for this to all come together and Leclerc comes to the team with a lot of oomph behind him. Another Ferrari protege, Antonio Giovinazzi, is also waiting in the wings should Ericsson fall from grace.

"Being part of the return of a great brand like this is a great honour," said Leclerc. "Everyone is saying to me 'you're racing for Alfa Romeo in F1', almost forgetting about Sauber!

"What has struck me is the passion of the people who work there [at Alfa Romeo]. Their eyes light up when they are looking at the cars, I've not seen that kind of enthusiasm too many other times.

"Having Ferrari's support behind us will certainly be a great help.  Our car is beautiful and I can't wait to launch it and drive it finally on the track."

Leclerc’s long-term ambitions

The word from colleagues in Italy is that Ferrari's plan for 2019 is to promote Leclerc into Kimi Raikkonen's seat at Ferrari – provided that he develops and performs in line with their (high) expectations.

The caveat to that is the possibility that results either way make Daniel Ricciardo a more suitable replacement and Leclerc is given more time to develop.

Knowing that there is a chance of a Ferrari seat in your second season is a huge pressure to put on a 20-year-old. It could be like becoming a rock star overnight, and then be expected to release number-one records regularly.

That is what happened when Alonso got the Renault seat for 2003 and got his first pole and win soon after - or Vettel when he moved up to Red Bull in his second season. Alternatively, Leclerc could spend a few years closer to the back of the grid learning his craft, like many others.

"This year I just want to concentrate on gaining experience and growing as quickly as possible so I can get results,” said Leclerc.

“The F2 title gave me confidence. But the jump up to F1 is enormous." 

[MIKA27]

Ricciardo needs to be less "sensitive" to set-up flaws

Daniel Ricciardo believes he needs to get better at driving through problems in the 2018 Formula 1 season rather than trying to perfect his set-ups.
Though Ricciardo outscored Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen last year, the Dutchman had the stronger qualifying record and was ahead in five of the seven grands prix where they both finished.

Ricciardo admitted that the aerodynamic rules changes and wider tyres for 2017 made the cars "trickier to understand, trickier to find the right formula [for]" and thinks in retrospect he hurt his form by trying too hard to solve problems with set-up changes.

"In the past, I feel some of my strength has been my ability to feel the car," Ricciardo told Motorsport.com. "I'm quite sensitive to things and therefore in the past it's been good for tyre management.

"Sometimes it's to my detriment, where I would probably be better off driving through something as opposed to being 'oh, we need to change that or change that'. 

"I feel I have learned a bit as well. Sometimes just throw the book out the window and drive it."

He believes his problems in 2017 stemmed more from the Pirelli tyres' new characteristics than the car changes.

"These tyres behave so differently to all different types of surfaces," Ricciardo explained.

"On a smooth surface they slide a lot and I think a lot of the time, I have got to acknowledge the car is not going to be perfect.

"It's low grip, the tyre is quite slow at warming up, so it's going to slide, it's going to feel a bit of a handful.

  

"Just go out there and it's not going to be perfect but just do what you've got with what you've got. Maybe sometimes I'll try and set up the car and try and fix it when it's never really going to be fixed.

"Maybe sticking with one set-up for longer in the weekend and learning how to drive that set-up the best [would be better].

"There are a few times we've got a little bit lost and changed too many things. It's also natural because you want a better car - 'it's understeering here so let's try and fix that'.

"It then creates another problem and you just end up in a bit of a vicious cycle."

Asked if he needed to come out of his driving style and set-up comfort zone to combat those problems, Ricciardo replied: "I wouldn't call it a comfort zone, because I feel I've always been able to adapt to situations.

"It's more broadening my window, just being a bit more open-minded."

[MIKA27]

RED BULL RB14 BREAKS COVER AND HITS THE TRACK

Red Bull have launched their 2018 Formula 1 challenger earlier than they traditionally have in an effort to hit the ground running when the season gets underway with preseason testing getting underway in Barcelona at the end of the month.

This is what they had to say: “The RB14 is on track. Today Daniel Ricciardo is taking the all-new Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB14 for a spin at Silverstone Circuit as we conduct a pre-season filming day.”

“We’ve disrupted our usual systems and processes in order to launch our new challenger earlier than ever before. That is reflected in the RB14 livery, a special edition.”

The #3 car pictured in the handout is of Daniel Ricciardo whose teammate will be Max Verstappen. The livery is distinct in the absence of red and yellow flashes that epitomised the Red Bull Racing brand.

This is now replaced with darker colours mixed with silver which conveys a meaner look to the car. What was previously red has been replaced largely with silver while the yellow has made way for black.

Perhaps tipping their hat to their junior Toro Rosso team, who last year also moved away from the traditional Red Bull look and took on a flashier livery which was also good to the eye.

Interestingly, the black paint integrated into the scheme does a good job to disguise the halo which is a mandatory safety feature introduced this year.

The team explained, “The RB14 is currently wearing a special edition livery. We’re keeping our race-ready paint job under wraps for the time being and will unveil it at the Circuit de Catalunya next week. The unfamiliar shapes under the paint, however, are here to stay.”

Title sponsor Aston Martin can be seen prominently on the sides of the car and on the rear wing.

“Some years it’s difficult for the casual viewer to differentiate the new car from the old: that isn’t going to be a problem this time around,” said Red Bull.

The team, who use Renault engines re-branded Tag Heuer, said the stability of the rules after a big change for 2017 allowed them to get the new car out in good time rather than leaving it as late as possible.

“It’s been not uncommon to have the car finished, fired up for the first time and shipped to Spain for the start of testing all on the same day,” added Red Bull, whose rivals Ferrari and champions Mercedes present their cars on Thursday.

”It serves a purpose — but you wouldn’t do it if you didn’t have to, and this year we didn’t have to.

“It’s preferable to finish the car early and deal with any snags now, when the car is on a track a short drive from the factory, rather than using up one of our eight ultra-precious test days doing the same at the Circuit de Catalunya.”

MIKA: This livery looks brilliant IMO, much like the camo the other year. Sadly, this will probably be just temporary, though, I think they should use this for the season.

[MIKA27]

RED BULL RB14 GETS BAPTISED AT WET SILVERSTONE

Red Bull broke custom and launched their 2018 Formula 1 car a week earlier than normal which the team believes is the way to go as they hope to avoid another season of playing catch-up in the first half.

On the occasion of the launch of the RB14, the team wrote: “New bodywork regulations always dominate the news cycle in the launch season – but 2018 has a bigger acreage of change than most years with the introduction of the Halo and the new exclusion zones on the rear of the car that effectively removes shark fins, monkey seats and T-wings. Some years it’s difficult for the casual viewer to differentiate the new car from the old: that isn’t going to be a problem this time around.”

“That said, the technical regulations haven’t changed hugely for 2018. Installing the Halo has been a challenge –
mostly in terms of building a chassis strong enough to accommodate it and pass a brutal homologation test – but the rest of the regs have been comparatively stable. That’s the primary reason we’re able to launch earlier than usual.”

“The pattern of the last few years has been to launch ‘aggressively late’. This has allowed the design department the maximum amount of time to add [goodies] to the car before the cut-off point at which the design is frozen and a launch car produced. It’s been not uncommon to have the car finished, fired up for the first time and shipped to Spain for the start of testing all on the same day.”

“It serves a purpose – but you wouldn’t do it if you didn’t have to, and this year we didn’t have to. It’s preferable to finish the car early and deal with any snags now, when the car is on a track a short drive from the factory, rather than using up one of our eight ultra-precious test days doing the same at the Circuit de Catalunya.”

The team spent Monday at a soaked Silverstone where Daniel Ricciardo drove the RB14 with Pirelli wet tyres as part of their one of two allowed promotional filming days.

 

[MIKA27]

INSIDE LINE: AN INVITATION TOO GOOD TO MISS!

It was an invitation that was too good to miss: “Just a chapter in the book” – the Ron Dennis Thank You Event.

“I would like to invite you to celebrate my 36 years at McLaren by sharing in the magic of Cirque du Soleil’s Ovo at an exclusive ‘Thank You’ evening at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday 12 January 2018. I look forward to seeing you on the night. Ron.”

There had been rumours circulating from around the time of the Singapore Grand Prix that Ron Dennis was planning something to take place at London’s Royal Albert Hall, together with discreet emails from former staff members endeavouring to track down various email contacts of McLaren Old Boys and Girls.

Ron had always said that he only wanted to be a chapter in the McLaren book, and since he had been forced to stand down as Chairman and Chief Executive, bringing to an end his 36-year involvement, you felt that he would want to mark the full stop of his chapter.

Ron, without doubt, has been and is a legendary figure in the history of Formula One, synonymous with the McLaren team, steering them to enormous success and building the McLaren Technology Group into the highly successful billion dollar group of companies it has now become.

From 1984 to 1991, with Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, the only year a McLaren driver was not World Champion was 1987. In 1988, the most successful year, McLaren won 15 out of 16 Grands Prix and during Ron’s time as Team Principal, the team won 17 World Championships and 158 Grands Prix, making him the most successful leader in Formula One history.

The secret of its success was Ron’s far sighted vision and relentless determination. For many who worked for the team in the glory years of the eighties and nineties, you didn’t just work for McLaren, you worked for RD. He was a tough operator no doubt, but also compassionate to his staff who loyally followed the dream and the success that was achieved.

The ‘Thank You’ evening was typical RD. Vision, attention to detail, passion, friendship, family and maybe strange to many outsiders, humility. It was an exclusive private event for over 3,000 McLaren Old Boys and Girls, family and friends.

In many ways it was very appropriate that the evening was based around the Cirque du Soleil. For many years Ron had a strong friendship with it’s founder Guy Laliberté and the Cirque had featured in two McLaren Christmas parties.

We also put together a special customised performance for the American sponsors in Indianapolis for the USA Grand Prix, featuring the Cirque, who astounded the audience with their breathtaking acts, illustrating such aspects as precision and teamwork. In the build up to the event, I visited their headquarters in Montreal and was struck by the attention to detail, which was so synonymous with McLaren.

As Ron explained in the invitation:

“Over the last two decades I have had the privilege of seeing most of the Cirque du Soleil shows. Guy’s vision is unsurpassed and every single performance has brought to life his and his team’s amazing creativity, perfectionism and phenomenal attention to detail. Perhaps it is not surprising that I am so passionate about the Cirque du Soleil!”

In keeping with the times, the Cirque du Soleil’s Ovo had a distinctive ‘green’ feel about it. As the programme says: Ovo is teaming with life. Insects work, play, fight and look for love in a non-stop riot of energy in motion. Their home is filled with biodiversity, beauty, action and moments of quiet emotion. The awestruck insects are intensely curious when a mysterious egg appears, representing the enigma and circles of their lives.

The show was typically Cirque, daring, breathtaking, fantastic, sprinkled with numerous questions of, how on earth did they do that!

The show was hosted and compered by Rory Bremner, the impressionist and comedian, noted for his work in political satire. Like the Cirque, Rory was an old favourite at McLaren functions, who had everyone laughing at some of his hilarious un-PC comments, particularly about the leader of the free world!

And then it was time for the ‘Closing of a Chapter’. Sitting in the middle of the stage, looking outwardly relaxed, but undoubtedly inwardly nervous, Ron filled the room with his presence and gave his 10 values for life, work, success, encapsulating his 36 years at McLaren.

This was a side of Ron Dennis many may not have seen, full of emotion and passion delivered with true eloquence, even poking fun at his famed Ronspeak! On a number of occasions he received a standing ovation, which seemed to surprise him that his words could create such a reaction, but what was clear was just how much McLaren and all of those who worked for him meant.

Afterwards, he was relaxed and friendly to all those who took the opportunity to say thank you, not only for the evening, but also for the privilege of working, and learning, from him, which has had a positive effect on so many peoples careers.

Like many of my fellow McLaren Old Boys and Girls, I am immensely proud to look back on the chapter of my life with McLaren. Not only did I enjoy the time, but also learnt a tremendous amount from RD. Whenever encountering an obstacle or problem, the default setting became, how would RD resolve this! The evening was typically Ron with incredible attention to detail, but also heartfelt passion and emotion. It was such a privilege, not only to be there, but also to have been such a privilege to have worked and learnt from RD.

The McLaren Old Boys and Girls Facebook page was full of heart felt messages, memories and thanks. But it was the founder and the pivotal motivator of the group, Matthew Jeffreys, who most eloquently expressed what so many of us thought:

“For me and many others Ron Dennis was and always will be ‘McLaren’, whether he is there or not. He created the DNA of the modern day company and everyone who works there now should always remember that they are only there because of him. For those who have had the privilege to work for Ron, although we may not always have seen eye to eye, our lives and the standards we expect in life have been changed forever.

We all now have some of that DNA ingrained in us which can manifest itself even when we least expect it. Ron provided the vision, determination and passion that was not only infectious but enabled us all to maximise our combined potential to achieve unimaginably high goals and set standards never before seen.

Thank you for saying ‘thank you’ to us Ron. You didn’t have to do that but the fact that you did and spent a not insignificant sum in arranging it, typifies you and your ‘correct way’ of doing things. It seems nobody ever leaves McLaren through the front door, even Ron.

However, it is because of everything Ron did that so many of us consider ourselves beyond proud to be part of this unique ‘McLaren family’.

“You can leave McLaren, but McLaren never leaves you.”

Inside Line by Peter Burns

[MIKA27]

McLaren – The night shift will never be the same

All is quiet at the McLaren Technology Centre when the night shift takes an unusual turn. 

Watch as our fearless, historic spirit converges with our new future. 

[MIKA27]

Hulkenberg: Renault still needs two/three years

Nico Hulkenberg says he accepts Renault might need another two to three years to match Mercedes in Formula 1.
Renault is about to begin its third year back in F1 as a full factory operation, having reacquired what was previously the Lotus team and committed major investment to improving its facilities.

"It is a very time-consuming thing to get a team to the level that Red Bull and Mercedes are," Hulkenberg told Motorsport.com.

"The investment they make now in building and modernising the factory, the benefit we will get only in two/three years' time - not until everything is up and running and we understand it.

"There is always such a long lead-up time. They have all been through the same. Look at Mercedes, how many years they were OK but not where they are now. Red Bull, the same.

"It takes a couple of years to get on top of these things because this is such a complicated sport and then the rules keep changing so constantly the game is changing.

"You need to adapt all the time and you need new people with new ideas, and more people."

Renault won the 2005 and '06 championships with its previous works programme, but the team suffered from underinvestment in the period when it was owned by the Genii organisation.

"I don't know if I would call it a radical shift, but you see with your bare eye that a lot of things are moving or being worked on constantly," said Hulkenberg of the progress at Renault's base.

  

"You have to understand where the team has come from, and when Renault decided to buy the team back and make it a factory team again, it was in a very bad state.

"It takes time to build it back up, even though we would like to make it in two weeks, it doesn't happen."

Renault ended 2017 sixth in the constructors' championship, overhauling Toro Rosso and Haas in the second half of the campaign.

"The Silverstone upgrade was the game changer during our season," Hulkenberg said.

"It really made us up from not really being points material, to being a regular points contender. We were top 10 material in the second half.

"But on the not so sunny side, there were a lot of missed opportunities due to many problems that we had and faced, but related back to where the team was coming from.

"We need to get on top of these things. I would rather have it now and come with a much more competitive overall better package for 2018 and the year beyond and smash it properly it then, than have these things in intervals."

[MIKA27]

Williams recruits ex-McLaren F1 aero man McKiernan as chief engineer

Williams has named the McLaren Formula 1 team's former head of aerodynamics Doug McKiernan as its chief engineer, a role the team describes as a "new project-focused position".

McKiernan will report to chief technical officer Paddy Lowe, with whom he previously worked at Woking.

He began his career at BAE Systems, where he specialised in wing design and developed expertise in CFD.

McKiernan first joined McLaren in 1999 as an aerodynamics analyst, progressing through the ranks as chief aerodynamicist, head of aerodynamics and latterly chief engineer, before he was placed on gardening leave in late 2014 and stepped down in '15.

"Since returning to Williams last year, it has become clear that in order help move the team forward we need greater engineering resources," said Lowe.

"We have already started to make excellent progress, with Dirk de Beer our head of aerodynamics leading an invigorated aerodynamics team.

"The addition of Doug to the senior team, supporting our chief Designer Ed Wood and Dirk in particular, will give us the breadth for more focus on technical strategy, and the optimisation of car architecture across design and aerodynamics."

McKiernan added: "The team has exciting plans for the future, and it is great to see the work already being done with the aerodynamic and engineering teams to produce the FW41, whilst also looking ahead to future cars as Williams continues its charge to move further forwards on the grid."

[MIKA27]

F1 working with Russian GP bosses on possible Sochi track changes

Russian Grand Prix organisers are in talks with Formula 1 chiefs and the FIA about making changes to the Sochi circuit to improve overtaking possibilities.

The twisty layout of the Sochi Autodrom, allied to the very smooth track surface, has resulted in a lack of exciting racing since it joined the F1 calendar in 2014.

With F1 bosses eager to lift excitement levels, thought is being given to changing some of the tracks on the calendar.

Last year, Ross Brawn even singled out Sochi's smooth track surface as something that could need addressing if the venue was to produce better racing.

"If you look at circuits with very low [tyre] degradation, like Sochi, the racing there is challenging and it is one-stop," he said.

"The tyres don't go off, so away you go. There are no performance differentials created."

Now, Sochi's new race promoters have revealed that they are evaluating what they can do to help the situation.

And although they have ruled out changing the track layout itself, they have hinted that a different asphalt type, or making some corners wider, may be enough to help improve matters.

Alexey Titov, the CEO of the Rosgonki company that has taken over the Russian Grand Prix, told Autosport that talks about what to do are advancing.

"Fans know that because of the layout of the Sochi Autodrom, it is a bit short on overtaking," he said.

"That is why we are working with [F1 race director] Charlie Whiting, the FIA and FOM very closely.

"We want to try to change the situation by making some small technical tweaks.

"You won't necessarily see these from the grandstands or on the television, but we hope these tweaks will improve the sporting side of the races and we will have more overtaking.

"Theoretically it could be anything from widening or narrowing some parts of the track, to changing the asphalt which will affect the tyres differently. This can force teams to use different tactics."

Pushed on the timetable to make the changes, Titov said: "I don't think it's for 2018. But we're exploring these ideas. We are thinking about improving the situation."

[MIKA27]

RENAULT RS18 BREAKS COVER FEATURING NEW LIVERY

The car will be Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz in the 2018 Formula 1 World Championship, Renault managing director Cyril Abiteboul said on the occasion, “Last year was successful in many ways.”

“It was the second year in our rebuilding and a further step towards our long-term plans and aims. 2016 was all about recruiting, investing, bringing in new sponsors, new talents and building our brand.”

“It was a quantified progression towards what we want to become and challenging the top teams. Our headline target [for 2018] is to show continued progression through results.”

“We want to be able to showcase our progression in every regard; power unit, chassis, operations, drivers. Everything must improve and we must continue to grow.”

“We want to demonstrate this in many different ways, from the teams we will be directly racing against, to the gap to the leaders, including also our fan base and the respect that our team will inspire in our way we behave on and off track.”