With the mid-point of the season fast approaching, it seems that the discussions and regulation changes surrounding hot blown diffusers has finally come to an end. The system requires unburnt fuel to be passed through the engine and ignited in the exhaust while the driver is off the throttle in order to power the rear diffuser and create extra downforce. The FIA regard this as a form of changeable aerodynamic device which is against the technical regulation and so they have been looking for a way to ban the systems for the past couple of months.
As the systems were investigated, it became clear that some teams were using very aggressive engine mapping during qualifying, and then changing the Control unit settings for more reliability during the race. At the Valencia GP this sort of change was outlawed and all teams accepted this change gracefully. This allowed the FIA further time to decide on the exact changes required for the next race to stop hot blowing altogether.
When Silverstone started the FIA had already made the new regulations known and this is where their problems really started. Some teams claimed that differences between their engines meant that they could not stick to the new rules without damaging their engine. Coupled with differences between throttles (butterfly versus barrel) and some need to keep fuel flowing while off throttle to maintain crankcase pressure, there was now pressure on the FIA to make certain concessions to the regulations. This was done and it lead to a complaint from Renault that now they were being unfairly penalised. After being presented with more evidence the FIA allowed slightly different rules for the Renault engines. According to some, this actually allowed them slightly more freedom than they had before the whole sorry saga started!
After a last minute complaint, discussion and decision on the Saturday morning of the British Grand Prix, all the cars were allowed to run as they had at Valencia. More discussion after the event lead to the final decision which all the teams have agreed to run under. This means that engine mapping is free but no changes are to be made between qualifying and the race. In other words, nothing has changed since Valencia. The biggest difference is that all the teams have agreed, which means no more changes before the end of the year.
Next year however, exhaust positions are to be changed. The pipes must exit well above the diffuser and the FIA believe that this will stop them being used as an aerodynamic device. They may even be right at first, but you can't help thinking that F1 engineers are a pretty clever lot and will take any advantage they can. It may be possible to use the exhaust gasses to heat the rear tyres or maybe affect the airflow around the rear spoiler. We are bound to see something clever and its a good bet that someone will find something to complain about.
This is a perfect example of why rules should not be changed mid-season. There is little chance that everyone will agree to any changes while a championship is underway. Someone will always feel hard done by, and they may well be right. Apart from making the FIA look a bit silly and indecisive, this won't have much effect on the racing in the end. Thank goodness for that, because if Ferrari really have pulled themselves up to match Red Bull, we might be in for a great end to the season. Motor sport punters at Luxbet Sports Betting would have been sure to find the odds quite even! Fingers are also crossed that McLaren's dismal performance at Silverstone was a one-off. A three-way battle for the remaining races would be great to watch. We might even start to get some answers this weekend at the Nurburgring. Looking forward to it!
Showing posts with label Regulations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Regulations. Show all posts
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
Sunday, 10 July 2011
Dramatic Finish at Silverstone
Good old British weather and confusion over blown diffusers helped to make an exciting race for the Silverstone Grand Prix. The regulation change on fuel flow while off the throttle was being discussed right up until the start of the qualifying session. Concessions due to reliability issues were the main discussion point and nobody really seemed sure what the final result would be or indeed what the final effect on car set-up would be. The final meeting was over literally 5 minutes before the session began.
Qualifying
As Q1 began there were reports of rain starting at Copse which pushed everyone out of the pit nice and early. Alonso set the early pace but was quickly overshadowed by Vettel. The Spaniard then ran wide and was forced to drive around the outside of the gravel trap to get back on the track. The track was clearly drying rather than getting wetter and so the times quickly started to fall. Lots of drivers took a go at the top, including Pastor Maldonaldo, but it was Mark Webber who was in P1 as the rain started again with 6 minutes remaining.
The shower was over by the start of Q2 so again everyone was keen to make the most of the time available. It seemed to be only Copse that was wet while the rest of the track was very dry, so many of the cars decided to go back into the pits and wait for some improvement. There weresome runs after 5 minutes or so which saw Adrian Sutil at the top of the time sheet then another patch of quiet while everyone prepared for the last attempt. With 4 minutes left those attempts began again. After the dust cleared it was Felipe Massa on top with Webber and Alonso behind. Paul di Resta made it into P9 and through to the final session.
Another early start to Q3 again. The uncertain weather pushed the drivers out early which is always good for the excitement. Unfortunately it seemed that McLaren didn't have any performance in this session. Was it a consequence of the last minute discussions on blown diffusers? Paul di Resta made a great effort to put himself into 6th with 5 minutes to go. The rest of the drivers kept trying, but ran out of steam before the end. The final grid ended with Webber on pole, Vettel second and Alonso in third. Di Resta held on to his 6th place just behind Button, but Lewis couldn't manage anything better than 10th. A dissapointing end to the session for McLaren but a great result for di Resta.
Race
As the drivers prepared for the race, the track was half wet and half dry. So much so that there were spins on the way to the grid. This meant that everybody decided to start on the intermediate tyres. As the lights went out it was Vettel who got the best start and took Webber on the way into turn 1. Button and Hamilton also got good starts with Button taking Massa and Hamilton firing himself into seventh by the time the first lap was settling down. He carried on and by lap 2 was overtaking Button.
Vettel and Webber were (as usual) making themselves a gap over the rest of the field at this point. Lewis meanwhile was out braking himself and running wide at Brooklands. Thanks to Jenson not actually having any pace at all, Hamilton managed to maintain his position and set off once again. The DRS was left off by race control until lap 6 due to the wet conditions.
Lap 9 and Alonso was gaining back some lost ground on Mark Webber. Schumacher tried to take advantage of DRS to get past Kobayashi but misjudged it badly and took his front wing off and spun the Japanese driver. He was given a penalty for that, at this track it was a 10 second stop due to the pit lane configuration making a drive through faster than completing a lap. Lewis was now gaining time Massa who was sliding about through Becketts, but not enough for Hamilton to make the pass.
Lewis continued hounding Massa as, on lap 12, Button pitted to change to dry tyres. It was clear that the intermediate tyres were running out of grip and the track was drying out fast. That was proved as Schumacher, who had changed to dry tyres with his front wing change, set the fastest lap of the race. This triggered pit stops for everyone else and Hamilton won out against Massa in the changes.
It was Jenson's turn to be fast now, and he set a new fastest lap and caught up to Felipe Massa. He couldn't do anything about it in the wet part of the track though. Lewis was now right behind Alonso. Jenson finally got into Massa's slipstream but was forced to the outside of the turn. He kept his foot in though and braved it out to get him on the way through Club. Lewis used his DRS to get close to Alonso and then got a good run onto the old pit straight where he put his car in the wet part of the track and out braked the spaniard into turn 9.
Kobayashi came into the pits a short while later and after a hesitation on release had to take avoiding action from another car. He ran into the Force India wheel gun hoses and pulled a couple of them down earning himself a penalty for an unsafe release. Meanwhile Alonso had caught back up to the back of Hamilton as his tyres were wearing, forcing the British driver to go on the defensive. Alonso got past using his DRS and Hamilton pitted on lap 25 as Alonso set another fastest lap.
Paul di Resta's luck ran out as he pitted to find the wrong set of tyres waiting for him and causing him a massive delay. Webber, Button and Massa all pitted on lap 27 while Alonso kept on increasing the pace. Vettel and Alonso headed for the pits on the next lap but the Red Bull team got a stuck wheel and Alonso got out in front. Hamilton made it through before Vettel could get out of the pit and Webber was right behind him.
The top 6 were only 11 seconds apart on lap 29 but it was clear that Alonso was going faster than the chasing Hamilton. By lap 33 Vettel was right behind Lewis. Webber was chasing him hard as well but he made an error and ran wide, bouncing across the kerbs and losing some time. Vettel mounted an attack on Hamilton but his defensive driving kept the German behind. He had to wait for his next pit stop on lap 37 before he got the chance to get past Hamilton. Button pulled into the pit for his final stop but in the rush an engineer reaching for a new gun was mistaken for the all clear signal. Jenson made it halfway back to the track with the wheel wobbling furiously before he pulled over to the side of the track.
Hamilton was being told on the radio that he needed to save fuel. This probably wasn't good news as Webber was catching him fast. It took a few laps to get there, but by lap 46, Webber managed to use his DRS to get past and into third. Alonso was now 17 seconds ahead of Vettel and safe, Webber was faster than his team mate though and set off to catch him. Massa suddenly seemed to come alive as well and despite being quite a way behind Hamilton, was closing down the gap by well over a second a lap.
Mark Webber caught up to Vettel on lap 51 and despite a good try he couldn't make it past his team mate. A radio message was sent telling Webber to hold the gap but it didn't look like he was taking much notice. On the last lap Massa had caught Hamilton and tried to outbrake him on the outside, Lewis held on and hit the Ferrari in the side. Massa was in front on the way into the last turn but couldn't get the power down and ran wide trying to save a slide. Hamilton kept his head and just managed to get in front on the way over the line. It finished up with Alonso first, Vettel second and Webber in third. Hamilton took fourth from Massa with Perez taking sixth.
It later came out the Webber had been told several times over the closing laps not to overtake Vettel but had decided to ignore the orders and carry on. Fair play to the Aussie but he can't be making himself popular in the team with moves like that. It can't be forgotten that team orders are allowed this year, Red Bull were perfectly justified in asking him not to overtake. Of course its Webber who has the wheel in his hand and thank goodness he's not the kind of guy to settle for just any old position.
Lewis Hamilton's last ditch attempt to keep his place was a great demonstration of why he is always in the news. It was surprising hearing the talk before the race how many people talked up his chances despite there being two other Brits on the grid in front of him. (Scotland still counts as long as they're doing well right?) Hamilton's sheer passion and drive to do well really puts some people off. But for others, its the whole reason he's popular. I'm can see why he turns people off, but he has to have that kind of self belief and passion to get himself into his position, never mind get the results he does. He doesn't take any prisoners and when it pays off, like today, its a heroic move. But when it doesn't, well we all saw what happened after Monaco.
The blown diffuser confusion was the oddest news of the weekend though. It had seemed as though everything was decided well before the event began, but F1 is a complicated business and things are never quite that straightforward. Most of the complaints seemed to be arguing that reliability would be hurt by the regulations, followed by a fair bit of, 'well if they can do that, we should be able to do this.' Some of it may well even be true, but it certainly doesn't look well organised from here. There were assurances from various people that its all sorted out now, but is it? I guess we'll find out very soon. It does seem that McLaren lost out, Ferrari gained and Red Bull probably stayed where they were. Again we'll find out if there is a way to even the score very soon.
Bring on the next race!
Qualifying
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| Photo Courtesy of Force India |
The shower was over by the start of Q2 so again everyone was keen to make the most of the time available. It seemed to be only Copse that was wet while the rest of the track was very dry, so many of the cars decided to go back into the pits and wait for some improvement. There weresome runs after 5 minutes or so which saw Adrian Sutil at the top of the time sheet then another patch of quiet while everyone prepared for the last attempt. With 4 minutes left those attempts began again. After the dust cleared it was Felipe Massa on top with Webber and Alonso behind. Paul di Resta made it into P9 and through to the final session.
Another early start to Q3 again. The uncertain weather pushed the drivers out early which is always good for the excitement. Unfortunately it seemed that McLaren didn't have any performance in this session. Was it a consequence of the last minute discussions on blown diffusers? Paul di Resta made a great effort to put himself into 6th with 5 minutes to go. The rest of the drivers kept trying, but ran out of steam before the end. The final grid ended with Webber on pole, Vettel second and Alonso in third. Di Resta held on to his 6th place just behind Button, but Lewis couldn't manage anything better than 10th. A dissapointing end to the session for McLaren but a great result for di Resta.
Race
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| Photo Courtesy of Team Lotus |
Vettel and Webber were (as usual) making themselves a gap over the rest of the field at this point. Lewis meanwhile was out braking himself and running wide at Brooklands. Thanks to Jenson not actually having any pace at all, Hamilton managed to maintain his position and set off once again. The DRS was left off by race control until lap 6 due to the wet conditions.
Lap 9 and Alonso was gaining back some lost ground on Mark Webber. Schumacher tried to take advantage of DRS to get past Kobayashi but misjudged it badly and took his front wing off and spun the Japanese driver. He was given a penalty for that, at this track it was a 10 second stop due to the pit lane configuration making a drive through faster than completing a lap. Lewis was now gaining time Massa who was sliding about through Becketts, but not enough for Hamilton to make the pass.
Lewis continued hounding Massa as, on lap 12, Button pitted to change to dry tyres. It was clear that the intermediate tyres were running out of grip and the track was drying out fast. That was proved as Schumacher, who had changed to dry tyres with his front wing change, set the fastest lap of the race. This triggered pit stops for everyone else and Hamilton won out against Massa in the changes.
It was Jenson's turn to be fast now, and he set a new fastest lap and caught up to Felipe Massa. He couldn't do anything about it in the wet part of the track though. Lewis was now right behind Alonso. Jenson finally got into Massa's slipstream but was forced to the outside of the turn. He kept his foot in though and braved it out to get him on the way through Club. Lewis used his DRS to get close to Alonso and then got a good run onto the old pit straight where he put his car in the wet part of the track and out braked the spaniard into turn 9.
Kobayashi came into the pits a short while later and after a hesitation on release had to take avoiding action from another car. He ran into the Force India wheel gun hoses and pulled a couple of them down earning himself a penalty for an unsafe release. Meanwhile Alonso had caught back up to the back of Hamilton as his tyres were wearing, forcing the British driver to go on the defensive. Alonso got past using his DRS and Hamilton pitted on lap 25 as Alonso set another fastest lap.
Paul di Resta's luck ran out as he pitted to find the wrong set of tyres waiting for him and causing him a massive delay. Webber, Button and Massa all pitted on lap 27 while Alonso kept on increasing the pace. Vettel and Alonso headed for the pits on the next lap but the Red Bull team got a stuck wheel and Alonso got out in front. Hamilton made it through before Vettel could get out of the pit and Webber was right behind him.
The top 6 were only 11 seconds apart on lap 29 but it was clear that Alonso was going faster than the chasing Hamilton. By lap 33 Vettel was right behind Lewis. Webber was chasing him hard as well but he made an error and ran wide, bouncing across the kerbs and losing some time. Vettel mounted an attack on Hamilton but his defensive driving kept the German behind. He had to wait for his next pit stop on lap 37 before he got the chance to get past Hamilton. Button pulled into the pit for his final stop but in the rush an engineer reaching for a new gun was mistaken for the all clear signal. Jenson made it halfway back to the track with the wheel wobbling furiously before he pulled over to the side of the track.
Hamilton was being told on the radio that he needed to save fuel. This probably wasn't good news as Webber was catching him fast. It took a few laps to get there, but by lap 46, Webber managed to use his DRS to get past and into third. Alonso was now 17 seconds ahead of Vettel and safe, Webber was faster than his team mate though and set off to catch him. Massa suddenly seemed to come alive as well and despite being quite a way behind Hamilton, was closing down the gap by well over a second a lap.
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| Even Patrick Stewart Couldn't 'Make it so' for Di Resta. |
It later came out the Webber had been told several times over the closing laps not to overtake Vettel but had decided to ignore the orders and carry on. Fair play to the Aussie but he can't be making himself popular in the team with moves like that. It can't be forgotten that team orders are allowed this year, Red Bull were perfectly justified in asking him not to overtake. Of course its Webber who has the wheel in his hand and thank goodness he's not the kind of guy to settle for just any old position.
Lewis Hamilton's last ditch attempt to keep his place was a great demonstration of why he is always in the news. It was surprising hearing the talk before the race how many people talked up his chances despite there being two other Brits on the grid in front of him. (Scotland still counts as long as they're doing well right?) Hamilton's sheer passion and drive to do well really puts some people off. But for others, its the whole reason he's popular. I'm can see why he turns people off, but he has to have that kind of self belief and passion to get himself into his position, never mind get the results he does. He doesn't take any prisoners and when it pays off, like today, its a heroic move. But when it doesn't, well we all saw what happened after Monaco.
The blown diffuser confusion was the oddest news of the weekend though. It had seemed as though everything was decided well before the event began, but F1 is a complicated business and things are never quite that straightforward. Most of the complaints seemed to be arguing that reliability would be hurt by the regulations, followed by a fair bit of, 'well if they can do that, we should be able to do this.' Some of it may well even be true, but it certainly doesn't look well organised from here. There were assurances from various people that its all sorted out now, but is it? I guess we'll find out very soon. It does seem that McLaren lost out, Ferrari gained and Red Bull probably stayed where they were. Again we'll find out if there is a way to even the score very soon.
Bring on the next race!
Friday, 8 July 2011
Flooded Friday at Silverstone
In typical British style the rain started this weekend off at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. It didn't seem to dampen the spirits of the drivers on the run up to the event though. Most of them seem to regard Silverstone as a second home and obviously for the British drivers a home event is always a big deal. But the track itself has seen significant changes this year as well.
The pit complex has been moved into a new part of the track which has created a lot more space. The garages are now housed in the all new Silverstone wing building with its distinctive roof and the whole effect is very modern. The track has also been reshaped with a major new section being inserted between Abbey and the start of the complex at Brooklands. This section is designed to be difficult and possibly get the drivers to make some errors and increase the chances of overtaking.
The wet track and changing conditions meant that it was difficult to see any difference in performance from the hot blown diffusers. The new regulations regarding the amount of fuel that can be burnt when off throttle come into force from this race onward. This should see some effect on most of the cars, but Red Bull are believed to have the best system and should see the biggest change. That's debatable though thanks to some last minute changes to the ruling. Due to reliability reasons some concessions have been made to the rules and its now even more unclear if any difference at all will be noticeable.
There was a lot of sliding about from many of the drivers, but it was left up to Kamui Kobayashi to have a big accident. He ran wide coming out of Woodcote and in typical fashion refused to lift off until the car span. It turned side on as it hit the grass and nearly rolled before sliding into the barriers and causing some pretty major damage. Nico Rosberg had a good try at outdoing the Japanese driver as he locked the rear under braking for Copse. The car tried to swap ends on him three times but he saved it and ran off the track before continuing round the track for another go.
Most of the running was carried out in the morning session thanks to a rain shower making the track far wetter just before free practice 2. Fastest time of the morning was taken by Mark Webber. Felipe Massa was fastest in the afternoon session but was 3.3 seconds behind the Australian's morning run. Not much was learned by anybody after that but the weather does look set to improve throughout the weekend.
I've given myself an almost impossible task of making predictions from a Friday that had no proper running at all, so this is purely based on gut instinct and hope! Ferrari have been the closest challengers to Red Bull in recent races. With a little pace taken by the engine changes the blue cars may be vulnerable here. Home advantage is with McLaren as well which will hopefully make for a very close fight for pole. I'm going for Alonso to finally beat Vettel in qualifying. Hopefully a double DRS zone, and not much dry tyre running until the race, will mean that the main event will be totally unpredictable. I'm hoping that Jenson will keep his head and be able to make his way to the top step again. Vettel is never far away though so I'll put him second and Alonso third. I get the feeling that Hamilton's aggression may get the better of him again and lead to another race for him to forget. I'm also thinking that Paul di Resta can pull out all the stops and get himself back into the points if he gets a little luck, so keep an eye out for him too.
Let me know if you think I'm talking rubbish, I'd love to hear your version of the top three!
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| Photo courtesy of Force India |
The wet track and changing conditions meant that it was difficult to see any difference in performance from the hot blown diffusers. The new regulations regarding the amount of fuel that can be burnt when off throttle come into force from this race onward. This should see some effect on most of the cars, but Red Bull are believed to have the best system and should see the biggest change. That's debatable though thanks to some last minute changes to the ruling. Due to reliability reasons some concessions have been made to the rules and its now even more unclear if any difference at all will be noticeable.
There was a lot of sliding about from many of the drivers, but it was left up to Kamui Kobayashi to have a big accident. He ran wide coming out of Woodcote and in typical fashion refused to lift off until the car span. It turned side on as it hit the grass and nearly rolled before sliding into the barriers and causing some pretty major damage. Nico Rosberg had a good try at outdoing the Japanese driver as he locked the rear under braking for Copse. The car tried to swap ends on him three times but he saved it and ran off the track before continuing round the track for another go.
Most of the running was carried out in the morning session thanks to a rain shower making the track far wetter just before free practice 2. Fastest time of the morning was taken by Mark Webber. Felipe Massa was fastest in the afternoon session but was 3.3 seconds behind the Australian's morning run. Not much was learned by anybody after that but the weather does look set to improve throughout the weekend.
I've given myself an almost impossible task of making predictions from a Friday that had no proper running at all, so this is purely based on gut instinct and hope! Ferrari have been the closest challengers to Red Bull in recent races. With a little pace taken by the engine changes the blue cars may be vulnerable here. Home advantage is with McLaren as well which will hopefully make for a very close fight for pole. I'm going for Alonso to finally beat Vettel in qualifying. Hopefully a double DRS zone, and not much dry tyre running until the race, will mean that the main event will be totally unpredictable. I'm hoping that Jenson will keep his head and be able to make his way to the top step again. Vettel is never far away though so I'll put him second and Alonso third. I get the feeling that Hamilton's aggression may get the better of him again and lead to another race for him to forget. I'm also thinking that Paul di Resta can pull out all the stops and get himself back into the points if he gets a little luck, so keep an eye out for him too.
Let me know if you think I'm talking rubbish, I'd love to hear your version of the top three!
Friday, 1 July 2011
2014 Engine Rules Confirmed
The World Motor Sport Council voted on the engine regulations for 2014 on Thursday and the proposed changes have now been ratified and accepted. This means that the proposed rules are now accepted by everybody who has a choice about them and so are highly likely to go ahead. But what are the new changes all about?
The Engine
The new engine configuration will be a 1.6 litre V6 using a single turbocharger and energy recovery systems. This layout is a compromise on the original suggestion of an inline 4 to help keep Formula 1 more appealing to sports car manufacturers (read Ferrari mostly!) It also allows the engine to be used as a stressed part of the chassis which helps the manufacturers to build a better car around it.
Direct fuel injection will be used at up to 500bar along with a fuel flow control system to help limit maximum power. The engine speed has been raised to 15000rpm, apparently to allow engineers more flexibility in power and energy management. Because the fuel flow has remained the same this should lead to even more efficient engines than the previous proposals.
There will also be two energy recovery systems. First, a beefed up KERS with twice the current energy storage. It has not been made clear exactly how this will affect its operation during a race yet. It could be the same time allowed to use it with double the power boost, double the time allowed at current power levels or some variation in between. Second will be an exhaust energy recovery system linked to the turbocharger. Turbos are normally run by exhaust gases anyway so exactly what this will turn out to be is still a little unclear.
The Effects
One of the complaints about the new regulations is that the noise will not be the same. Formula 1 cars are incredibly noisy things and it is thought that this is one of the big selling points of the championship. Personally I'm not so sure. No doubt the noise is one of the things that you always remember about seeing a Formula 1 car in person, but its not as if there is suddenly a need to use silencers. It will sound different of course, but you can be sure that it will still be very loud indeed.
Formula 1 has used inline 4 cylinder engines in the original turbo era during the 1980's. Although there was a lot of talk about how fair the turbos were compared to normally aspirated engines, I don't seem to recall any talk at all about the noise.
Efficiency
The efficiency of the engines has been talked about a lot and this is something where I think the FIA are moving in the right direction. The rev limit on the engines has been raised, but in order to take advantage of those extra power cycles you need to fill the engine with fuel. The flow rate has not been raised so that means you absolutely must have a more efficient engine. The only ways around this simple equation is to use more of the wasted power and this is where the energy recovery comes into play. If we assume that the exhaust system will be used for more than just spinning the turbo, this is where the engineers get to start being clever and think up new ways to increase the amount of forward motion from a set amount of fuel. It seems that, as long as a little freedom is given in this area, we might actually see some interesting technology start to appear from F1 again.
I have seen it mentioned that Formula 1 would save more fuel by rearranging the logistics of the races than by reducing the fuel used in the race cars. In purely mathematical terms that is absolutely true, but it does miss the point a little. Fuel prices are not going to go down at any point and it makes no sense for F1 to continue along what is essentially a dead end in car development. The current engines are way beyond what can be responsibly put into a road car already. Changing the rules will bring them back into the area where they have some connection to the cars ordinary people use. A pretty tenuous connection yes, but it is there. Efficiency is the new feature that all cars must have, in much the same way as safety was before it. For Formula 1 to be lagging behind won't be good for its image, and for the manufacturers that image, and the sales it generates, is everything.
The Engine
The new engine configuration will be a 1.6 litre V6 using a single turbocharger and energy recovery systems. This layout is a compromise on the original suggestion of an inline 4 to help keep Formula 1 more appealing to sports car manufacturers (read Ferrari mostly!) It also allows the engine to be used as a stressed part of the chassis which helps the manufacturers to build a better car around it.
Direct fuel injection will be used at up to 500bar along with a fuel flow control system to help limit maximum power. The engine speed has been raised to 15000rpm, apparently to allow engineers more flexibility in power and energy management. Because the fuel flow has remained the same this should lead to even more efficient engines than the previous proposals.
There will also be two energy recovery systems. First, a beefed up KERS with twice the current energy storage. It has not been made clear exactly how this will affect its operation during a race yet. It could be the same time allowed to use it with double the power boost, double the time allowed at current power levels or some variation in between. Second will be an exhaust energy recovery system linked to the turbocharger. Turbos are normally run by exhaust gases anyway so exactly what this will turn out to be is still a little unclear.
The Effects
One of the complaints about the new regulations is that the noise will not be the same. Formula 1 cars are incredibly noisy things and it is thought that this is one of the big selling points of the championship. Personally I'm not so sure. No doubt the noise is one of the things that you always remember about seeing a Formula 1 car in person, but its not as if there is suddenly a need to use silencers. It will sound different of course, but you can be sure that it will still be very loud indeed.
Formula 1 has used inline 4 cylinder engines in the original turbo era during the 1980's. Although there was a lot of talk about how fair the turbos were compared to normally aspirated engines, I don't seem to recall any talk at all about the noise.
Efficiency
The efficiency of the engines has been talked about a lot and this is something where I think the FIA are moving in the right direction. The rev limit on the engines has been raised, but in order to take advantage of those extra power cycles you need to fill the engine with fuel. The flow rate has not been raised so that means you absolutely must have a more efficient engine. The only ways around this simple equation is to use more of the wasted power and this is where the energy recovery comes into play. If we assume that the exhaust system will be used for more than just spinning the turbo, this is where the engineers get to start being clever and think up new ways to increase the amount of forward motion from a set amount of fuel. It seems that, as long as a little freedom is given in this area, we might actually see some interesting technology start to appear from F1 again.
I have seen it mentioned that Formula 1 would save more fuel by rearranging the logistics of the races than by reducing the fuel used in the race cars. In purely mathematical terms that is absolutely true, but it does miss the point a little. Fuel prices are not going to go down at any point and it makes no sense for F1 to continue along what is essentially a dead end in car development. The current engines are way beyond what can be responsibly put into a road car already. Changing the rules will bring them back into the area where they have some connection to the cars ordinary people use. A pretty tenuous connection yes, but it is there. Efficiency is the new feature that all cars must have, in much the same way as safety was before it. For Formula 1 to be lagging behind won't be good for its image, and for the manufacturers that image, and the sales it generates, is everything.
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Rule Changes, Rule Changes and Changes to the Rules
The FIA have finally decided to implement the long discussed ban on blown diffusers from the British Grand Prix onwards. But of course, that on its own would be too easy, so an there is an extra change to the rules (effective immediately) which bans any change in engine mapping between qualifying and the race. Just to add a little more entertainment it has also been decided to postpone the major engine regulation changes to make Formula 1 greener, from 2013 to 2014.
The ban on hot blown diffusers has been talked about for a little while now and the FIA have finally got round to making a ruling on it. From Silverstone the teams must change their engine mapping so that when the throttle is closed no more than 10% of the maximum fuel flow is allowed into the engine. Some of the teams have been using a system where the fuel flow is kept high but the ignition is retarded so much that the fuel burns in the exhaust. This allows hot gas to exit the exhaust and create more downforce under the car. Now that this is to be restricted, we are left to wonder which cars will be most affected by the change. Its widely believed that Red Bull will see the biggest hit but nothing is certain until the British Grand Prix.
The teams have also been issued another ruling which will take effect this coming weekend in Valencia. Once qualifying is finished there are to be no changes to the engine mapping until the race is underway. Previously it was not regarded as a breach of Parc Fermé rules to plug in a laptop and make alterations to the ECU settings. This allowed the cars to use a far more aggressive mapping during qualifying, and then change the setting down for the race in order to stop the floor and exhaust from overheating. Again Red Bull are thought to be the biggest loser in this change. Their cars never quite seem to have the domination in the race that they show on Saturday.
It should be interesting to see if this has any noticeable effect during the European Grand Prix. Theoretically it is possible to change the engine mapping during a pit stop. But due to the time required, no-one seems to believe that it will happen, which means that the other cars may be a little closer to Vettel than normal. Some are unhappy that these changes weren't left until the end of the season but it does seem to slow down another (presumably) expensive line of research and may even help to close up the championship race. Which is never going to be a bad thing!
Finally the major engine changes that were to be introduced in 2013. It was believed that the FIA had secured agreement for a change to 4 cylinder turbo-charged engines to be introduced in 2013 but now, after a meeting with all the teams a new agreement has been reached. And this time that means that everyone agrees. This will see Formula 1 moving to 1.6 litre V6 turbo-charged engines instead of the current 3.5 litre V8. There will also be a reduction in fuel flow along with a rev limit reduction from 18,000 to 12,000 rpm which should see fuel usage drop by up to 35%. These changes should see the current power output of around 750bhp stay roughly the same. KERS will also be beefed up to twice its current output.
These changes are intended to make the sport greener, but how green can a sport like motor racing really be? These are cars that have no purpose other than moving one man around and around in a circle as fast as possible. Not going anywhere as quick as you can is, by its very nature, a waste of fuel and energy. It is hoped however that the turbo chargers and energy recovery systems may boost the use of the same technologies on road cars, which can only be a good thing.
In my opinion, the only real way to make F1 greener would be to limit the total amount of fuel used per race and drop that amount season by season. The teams would be allowed to use whatever other sources of energy they can (KERS, solar power, Mr. Fusion etc.) to make up the shortfall and increase the efficiency. Then we might see a technical battle worth watching and it might have a greater impact on the rest of the road-going world.
The ban on hot blown diffusers has been talked about for a little while now and the FIA have finally got round to making a ruling on it. From Silverstone the teams must change their engine mapping so that when the throttle is closed no more than 10% of the maximum fuel flow is allowed into the engine. Some of the teams have been using a system where the fuel flow is kept high but the ignition is retarded so much that the fuel burns in the exhaust. This allows hot gas to exit the exhaust and create more downforce under the car. Now that this is to be restricted, we are left to wonder which cars will be most affected by the change. Its widely believed that Red Bull will see the biggest hit but nothing is certain until the British Grand Prix.
The teams have also been issued another ruling which will take effect this coming weekend in Valencia. Once qualifying is finished there are to be no changes to the engine mapping until the race is underway. Previously it was not regarded as a breach of Parc Fermé rules to plug in a laptop and make alterations to the ECU settings. This allowed the cars to use a far more aggressive mapping during qualifying, and then change the setting down for the race in order to stop the floor and exhaust from overheating. Again Red Bull are thought to be the biggest loser in this change. Their cars never quite seem to have the domination in the race that they show on Saturday.
It should be interesting to see if this has any noticeable effect during the European Grand Prix. Theoretically it is possible to change the engine mapping during a pit stop. But due to the time required, no-one seems to believe that it will happen, which means that the other cars may be a little closer to Vettel than normal. Some are unhappy that these changes weren't left until the end of the season but it does seem to slow down another (presumably) expensive line of research and may even help to close up the championship race. Which is never going to be a bad thing!
Finally the major engine changes that were to be introduced in 2013. It was believed that the FIA had secured agreement for a change to 4 cylinder turbo-charged engines to be introduced in 2013 but now, after a meeting with all the teams a new agreement has been reached. And this time that means that everyone agrees. This will see Formula 1 moving to 1.6 litre V6 turbo-charged engines instead of the current 3.5 litre V8. There will also be a reduction in fuel flow along with a rev limit reduction from 18,000 to 12,000 rpm which should see fuel usage drop by up to 35%. These changes should see the current power output of around 750bhp stay roughly the same. KERS will also be beefed up to twice its current output.
These changes are intended to make the sport greener, but how green can a sport like motor racing really be? These are cars that have no purpose other than moving one man around and around in a circle as fast as possible. Not going anywhere as quick as you can is, by its very nature, a waste of fuel and energy. It is hoped however that the turbo chargers and energy recovery systems may boost the use of the same technologies on road cars, which can only be a good thing.
In my opinion, the only real way to make F1 greener would be to limit the total amount of fuel used per race and drop that amount season by season. The teams would be allowed to use whatever other sources of energy they can (KERS, solar power, Mr. Fusion etc.) to make up the shortfall and increase the efficiency. Then we might see a technical battle worth watching and it might have a greater impact on the rest of the road-going world.
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
Bahrain Race Won't Go Ahead (Possibly)
After the FIA announcement last Friday it appears that they forgot an important point about moving the Bahrain Grand Prix. This would be that the rules require unanimous agreement from from all competitors in order to change the championship calendar. This agreement does not seem to be something the teams want to give.
FOTA (the Formula One Teams Association) has written to the FIA telling them that they object to moving the race on purely logistical grounds. They apparently claim that this would essentially mean that their staff would get no break between the end of this season and the start of the next. An opinion which was mentioned before the FIA announced the reinstatement of the race. It is in some ways disappointing that there is no mention of the political reasons to call off the race. Formula 1 is a pragmatic business, however, and these are solid grounds for not holding the event without needing to bring up the difficulties of international politics.
Bernie appears to have forgotten his previous enthusiasm for going back to Bahrain and is now saying that the region is not as stable as the authorities are claiming. He is apparently now trying to get the FIA to overturn their decision by calling for the race to be moved to the end of the season to allow more time for the situation to be assessed.
The confusion is no doubt already costing some people money as travel plans may or may not need to be changed. The one thing that is needed is a definite decision one way or the other. At the moment it would appear that the teams have the deciding vote and they do not want it to happen. Presumably the organisers of the Indian Grand Prix will be pleased with the way things appear to be turning out, trying to organise the country's first F1 race must be challenge enough without being unsure as to when, or indeed if, it will take place.
 |
| Photo courtesy of emifaulk |
FOTA (the Formula One Teams Association) has written to the FIA telling them that they object to moving the race on purely logistical grounds. They apparently claim that this would essentially mean that their staff would get no break between the end of this season and the start of the next. An opinion which was mentioned before the FIA announced the reinstatement of the race. It is in some ways disappointing that there is no mention of the political reasons to call off the race. Formula 1 is a pragmatic business, however, and these are solid grounds for not holding the event without needing to bring up the difficulties of international politics.
Bernie appears to have forgotten his previous enthusiasm for going back to Bahrain and is now saying that the region is not as stable as the authorities are claiming. He is apparently now trying to get the FIA to overturn their decision by calling for the race to be moved to the end of the season to allow more time for the situation to be assessed.
The confusion is no doubt already costing some people money as travel plans may or may not need to be changed. The one thing that is needed is a definite decision one way or the other. At the moment it would appear that the teams have the deciding vote and they do not want it to happen. Presumably the organisers of the Indian Grand Prix will be pleased with the way things appear to be turning out, trying to organise the country's first F1 race must be challenge enough without being unsure as to when, or indeed if, it will take place.
Sunday, 29 May 2011
Monaco, Glitz, Glamour and Red Flags
An eventful Monaco showed all the excitement that it promised. But it ultimately came down to a slightly disappointing end after a red flag interrupted the last laps of the race.
Qualifying
At Monaco grid position is more important than at any other track during the season and this time out proved no different. The sessions started with lots of traffic and a few drivers getting in each others way. Rosberg produced the most impressive story of qualifying after a huge accident in the third free practice session. He lost the rear of his car exiting the tunnel, speared into the barriers and slid down the track towards the infamous wall at the chicane. Amazingly he missed the wall by an incredibly narrow margin and slid to a stop some way down the following straight with three wheels hanging from their tethers. The Mercedes team worked hard and had the car ready less than six minutes into Q1. Rosberg left the pits and put in hos first flying lap of the day to beat Schumacher and end up middle of the pack at that point.
It was qualifying 3 where the real drama started though. Most of the cars went out for an early run, two attempts seemed to be the order of the day and halfway through the session, Vettel put in a stunning lap to beat everyone by a huge margin. Button put in his fastest lap of the weekend and was still 0.4 secs off the german's time. Sergio Perez at this point came out of the tunnel a little off line, hit the brakes and in a very similar manner to Rosberg swerved into the wall and slid down the track. He wasn't as lucky as Nico though and smashed into the barrier side on. With around two and a half minutes remaining the session was instantly red-flagged while the rescue teams moved to assist. It took several minutes to remove the Mexican from his car safely and get him on his way to the medical centre. It was later revealed that he was suffering from concussion and a bruised leg, a lucky escape after a nasty incident.
As the session restarted Lewis Hamilton had been waiting at the pit exit for just over two minutes and was first on track. Despite a huge effort the track was not producing the same times as before and nobody improved. Hamilton had not set a time yet and becasue he cut the chicane on this last lap the time he set did not count and he started from 10th place.
Race
Lewis Hamilton was allowed to choose his starting tyres after his penalty and surprisingly elected to start the race on the harder tyres. An interesting strategy call but would it work? On the Warm-up lap Button radioed in to his team complaining of heavy steering which must have caused a slight panic in the garage.
The lights went out and Fernando Alonso tried the flying straight up the inside that worked so well at Barcelona. It didn't quite work out as well here here but he got in front of Webber and Button kept his place in second. The biggest loser was Schumacher who bogged down badly off the line and was taken by several cars. By the time he got moving Hamilton was in front and Michael responded by hitting him in turn 1. No major damage was caused and both cars continued. The German found a gap to slide up the inside of Hamilton at the hairpin. Rosberg also got a great start and found himself in fifth place by the end of the first lap.
Sebastien Vettel went straight into attack mode and by lap 3 was already 3.5 seconds ahead of Button. Hamilton was all over the back of Schumacher by this stage. Micheal was already complaining of graining but, as predicted the DRS zone didn't seem to be long enough at this track, and so he couldn't get alongside by St. Devote. Up the hill into Casino Square Hamilton was looking from side to side but there was clearly not enough space to allow a pass. Eventually he got a front wheel alongside and simply scared Michael off the apex. Michael, this time didn't turn in on Lewis and both carried on through.
Rubens followed Lewis through a short while later, yet another one back for all those years at Ferrari. The German was the first to stop on lap 13 to get rid of his damaged tyres and change his front wing. Neither Mercedes had a lot of speed and Felipe Massa was trying hard to pass Nico Rosberg but only succeeded by losing a few bits of wing against his tyre.
Button dived into the pits on lap 16 and came back out on the track in a massive clear section of track. Vettel pitted a lap later but there was a problem with the tyre warmers which lead to a delay in the car getting going again. The small delay and a radio problem, meant that no-one was ready when Webber arrived seconds later for his stop, causing an even longer wait for him. Ferrari also got into the pits and once everyone was back on track Button was in the lead. Webber was the big loser, he ended up in 14th place. Vettel and Alonso had switched to the harder tyres whereas Button decided to stick with the softs.
Jenson proceeded to pull out a large gap over second place, it was over 10 seconds by lap 23. Lewis now went into the pits but his tyres weren't ready and when he eventually left the pits he was behind Webber but on the soft tyres. Paul di Resta gave himself a drive through penalty by attempting an almost impossible overtake at the hairpin and lost his front wind into the bargain. 10 out of 10 for pluck, minus several hundred for sensibleness!
Lewis was now behind Felipe Massa and chasing very hard. As they approached the hairpin Lewis tried the same move as Di Resta with similar results. He was way too far back and hit his tyre against Massa's sidepod which locked them together for the rest of the corner. As they entered the tunnel Felipe clearly had no grip and Hamilton got alongside as they reached the bend. Massa ran onto the marbles, lost grip and wiped his wheels off on the barrier. The first safety car of the year was called out.
Sebastien Vettel stayed out as the safety car boards came out, so did Jenson, Schumacher promptly broke down just before the pit entrance and lewis got into the pits followed by almost everyone else. Lewis came on the radio claiming that Massa turned in on him on purpose but the stewards had none of it and gave him a drive through penalty.
The safety car came in on lap 38. After clearing the lapped traffic Button quickly started to close in on Vettel as Hamilton took his penalty. Webber was hounding Kobayashi now but couldn't seem to make any further progress. Button came in for his second stop on lap 48 and went on to the harder tyres. On exiting the pits he put in some seriously fast laps and quickly started to catch back up with Alonso and Vettel.
By lap 52 it became clear that if Sebastien was to stop for tyres he would exit the pits well behind Button and Alonso. If he was to run to the end of the race his tyres would be well past their best and it didn't seem likely that he could hold button behind him with the English driver on far fresher rubber. Fernando Alonso was also on pretty secondhand tyres at this point but they were definitely newer than Vettel's, and this allowed him and Button to close in on the leader.
Jenson came onto the radio asking his team if Vettel was staying out. The reply, "We're not sure, but we are much faster." However with overtaking so difficult at this track would that be enough? It became obvious that staying out and hoping for the best was the plan. As Alonso got onto the tail of Vettel you could see he was much faster around most of the lap but, at the all important DRS zone he just could not get the power on early enough. By lap 62 Button was in the activation zone as well and the race was set for an intense last section.
Alonso was attacking Vettel as hard as he could, whereas Jenson seemed to be waiting for his perfect moment. They caught up with a large train of back markers on lap 70 and started to pass them. Kobayashi was part of it and tried a move on fifth place Sutil which resulted in a wheel to wheel collision. This obviously damaged Sutil's tyre and he ran wide in the swimming pool complex and hit the wall. He tried to make it around the next corner causing the following cars to take avoiding action. In the concertina Alguesuari rode up onto the back of Hamilton's car and straight off into the barrier taking Petrov with him and bringing out the second safety car.
Petrov was not coming straight out of the car and the yellows were changed to red with all the cars coming to a stop on the grid while he was extracted from the car and the wreckage was cleared away. He turned out to be suffering only from minor leg injuries on further inspection. In a little used rule somewhere it is written that the teams are allowed to work on the cars on the grid in this situation. This allowed McLaren to repair Hamilton's damaged wing but also allowed Ferrari and Red Bull to replace their respective driver's worn out tyres. The final result was pretty much sealed at this point and instead of the dramatic finale which had been building up we were treated to a four lap dash to the end between cars with pretty much the same grip as each other.
Hamilton and Webber were the only ones to provide any excitement on the restart. Hamilton knocking Pastor Maldonaldo sideways on turn 1 and Webber finally dispatching Kobayashi on the penultimate lap. The final result saw Vettel take his first Monaco victory followed closely by Alonso and Button. Webber got himself into fourth, with Kobayashi and Hamliton behind him. It seemed unlikely that Lewis would keep his place after the contact with Maldonaldo though.
This was the best Monaco race for many years and in the end, what should have been a dramatic race to the line, was spoiled by a little known regulation. The DRS was kind of helpful but it never really stood much chance on a track this tight anyway, the tyres provided the real show.
Lewis provided even more drama in the post race interviews when he accused pretty much everyone of being out to get him. This seemed odd as during the race it appeared that he was the one hitting everyone else. After the drivers' he also claimed that it seemed the Stewards were after him as well. When asked why he thought that was he made an attempt at a joke which will definitely come back to haunt him. "I don't know," he said, "maybe its because I'm black. That's what Ali G would say." Ali G popularised the phrase in the UK but somehow I don't think that will go down too well with the international members of the press and FIA officials.
Monaco always provides glitz and glamour but this time it also provided good racing. Although it was unfortunately with a bit of danger thrown in. The cars keep getting faster but run-off can never be added to this track. One day the cars will not be able to race here. Thank goodness it wasn't today. Next up is Canada where the DRS system will be used on two straights in a row. Looking forward to it!
Edit: Hamilton was given a 20 second penalty for causing an avoidable accident. The penalty does not affect the final standings.
Full Result
Championship Standings
Qualifying
At Monaco grid position is more important than at any other track during the season and this time out proved no different. The sessions started with lots of traffic and a few drivers getting in each others way. Rosberg produced the most impressive story of qualifying after a huge accident in the third free practice session. He lost the rear of his car exiting the tunnel, speared into the barriers and slid down the track towards the infamous wall at the chicane. Amazingly he missed the wall by an incredibly narrow margin and slid to a stop some way down the following straight with three wheels hanging from their tethers. The Mercedes team worked hard and had the car ready less than six minutes into Q1. Rosberg left the pits and put in hos first flying lap of the day to beat Schumacher and end up middle of the pack at that point.
It was qualifying 3 where the real drama started though. Most of the cars went out for an early run, two attempts seemed to be the order of the day and halfway through the session, Vettel put in a stunning lap to beat everyone by a huge margin. Button put in his fastest lap of the weekend and was still 0.4 secs off the german's time. Sergio Perez at this point came out of the tunnel a little off line, hit the brakes and in a very similar manner to Rosberg swerved into the wall and slid down the track. He wasn't as lucky as Nico though and smashed into the barrier side on. With around two and a half minutes remaining the session was instantly red-flagged while the rescue teams moved to assist. It took several minutes to remove the Mexican from his car safely and get him on his way to the medical centre. It was later revealed that he was suffering from concussion and a bruised leg, a lucky escape after a nasty incident.
As the session restarted Lewis Hamilton had been waiting at the pit exit for just over two minutes and was first on track. Despite a huge effort the track was not producing the same times as before and nobody improved. Hamilton had not set a time yet and becasue he cut the chicane on this last lap the time he set did not count and he started from 10th place.
Race
 |
| Photo courtesy of Force India |
Lewis Hamilton was allowed to choose his starting tyres after his penalty and surprisingly elected to start the race on the harder tyres. An interesting strategy call but would it work? On the Warm-up lap Button radioed in to his team complaining of heavy steering which must have caused a slight panic in the garage.
The lights went out and Fernando Alonso tried the flying straight up the inside that worked so well at Barcelona. It didn't quite work out as well here here but he got in front of Webber and Button kept his place in second. The biggest loser was Schumacher who bogged down badly off the line and was taken by several cars. By the time he got moving Hamilton was in front and Michael responded by hitting him in turn 1. No major damage was caused and both cars continued. The German found a gap to slide up the inside of Hamilton at the hairpin. Rosberg also got a great start and found himself in fifth place by the end of the first lap.
Sebastien Vettel went straight into attack mode and by lap 3 was already 3.5 seconds ahead of Button. Hamilton was all over the back of Schumacher by this stage. Micheal was already complaining of graining but, as predicted the DRS zone didn't seem to be long enough at this track, and so he couldn't get alongside by St. Devote. Up the hill into Casino Square Hamilton was looking from side to side but there was clearly not enough space to allow a pass. Eventually he got a front wheel alongside and simply scared Michael off the apex. Michael, this time didn't turn in on Lewis and both carried on through.
Rubens followed Lewis through a short while later, yet another one back for all those years at Ferrari. The German was the first to stop on lap 13 to get rid of his damaged tyres and change his front wing. Neither Mercedes had a lot of speed and Felipe Massa was trying hard to pass Nico Rosberg but only succeeded by losing a few bits of wing against his tyre.
Button dived into the pits on lap 16 and came back out on the track in a massive clear section of track. Vettel pitted a lap later but there was a problem with the tyre warmers which lead to a delay in the car getting going again. The small delay and a radio problem, meant that no-one was ready when Webber arrived seconds later for his stop, causing an even longer wait for him. Ferrari also got into the pits and once everyone was back on track Button was in the lead. Webber was the big loser, he ended up in 14th place. Vettel and Alonso had switched to the harder tyres whereas Button decided to stick with the softs.
Jenson proceeded to pull out a large gap over second place, it was over 10 seconds by lap 23. Lewis now went into the pits but his tyres weren't ready and when he eventually left the pits he was behind Webber but on the soft tyres. Paul di Resta gave himself a drive through penalty by attempting an almost impossible overtake at the hairpin and lost his front wind into the bargain. 10 out of 10 for pluck, minus several hundred for sensibleness!
Lewis was now behind Felipe Massa and chasing very hard. As they approached the hairpin Lewis tried the same move as Di Resta with similar results. He was way too far back and hit his tyre against Massa's sidepod which locked them together for the rest of the corner. As they entered the tunnel Felipe clearly had no grip and Hamilton got alongside as they reached the bend. Massa ran onto the marbles, lost grip and wiped his wheels off on the barrier. The first safety car of the year was called out.
Sebastien Vettel stayed out as the safety car boards came out, so did Jenson, Schumacher promptly broke down just before the pit entrance and lewis got into the pits followed by almost everyone else. Lewis came on the radio claiming that Massa turned in on him on purpose but the stewards had none of it and gave him a drive through penalty.
The safety car came in on lap 38. After clearing the lapped traffic Button quickly started to close in on Vettel as Hamilton took his penalty. Webber was hounding Kobayashi now but couldn't seem to make any further progress. Button came in for his second stop on lap 48 and went on to the harder tyres. On exiting the pits he put in some seriously fast laps and quickly started to catch back up with Alonso and Vettel.
 |
| Photo Courtesy of Team Lotus |
Jenson came onto the radio asking his team if Vettel was staying out. The reply, "We're not sure, but we are much faster." However with overtaking so difficult at this track would that be enough? It became obvious that staying out and hoping for the best was the plan. As Alonso got onto the tail of Vettel you could see he was much faster around most of the lap but, at the all important DRS zone he just could not get the power on early enough. By lap 62 Button was in the activation zone as well and the race was set for an intense last section.
Alonso was attacking Vettel as hard as he could, whereas Jenson seemed to be waiting for his perfect moment. They caught up with a large train of back markers on lap 70 and started to pass them. Kobayashi was part of it and tried a move on fifth place Sutil which resulted in a wheel to wheel collision. This obviously damaged Sutil's tyre and he ran wide in the swimming pool complex and hit the wall. He tried to make it around the next corner causing the following cars to take avoiding action. In the concertina Alguesuari rode up onto the back of Hamilton's car and straight off into the barrier taking Petrov with him and bringing out the second safety car.
Petrov was not coming straight out of the car and the yellows were changed to red with all the cars coming to a stop on the grid while he was extracted from the car and the wreckage was cleared away. He turned out to be suffering only from minor leg injuries on further inspection. In a little used rule somewhere it is written that the teams are allowed to work on the cars on the grid in this situation. This allowed McLaren to repair Hamilton's damaged wing but also allowed Ferrari and Red Bull to replace their respective driver's worn out tyres. The final result was pretty much sealed at this point and instead of the dramatic finale which had been building up we were treated to a four lap dash to the end between cars with pretty much the same grip as each other.
Hamilton and Webber were the only ones to provide any excitement on the restart. Hamilton knocking Pastor Maldonaldo sideways on turn 1 and Webber finally dispatching Kobayashi on the penultimate lap. The final result saw Vettel take his first Monaco victory followed closely by Alonso and Button. Webber got himself into fourth, with Kobayashi and Hamliton behind him. It seemed unlikely that Lewis would keep his place after the contact with Maldonaldo though.
This was the best Monaco race for many years and in the end, what should have been a dramatic race to the line, was spoiled by a little known regulation. The DRS was kind of helpful but it never really stood much chance on a track this tight anyway, the tyres provided the real show.
Lewis provided even more drama in the post race interviews when he accused pretty much everyone of being out to get him. This seemed odd as during the race it appeared that he was the one hitting everyone else. After the drivers' he also claimed that it seemed the Stewards were after him as well. When asked why he thought that was he made an attempt at a joke which will definitely come back to haunt him. "I don't know," he said, "maybe its because I'm black. That's what Ali G would say." Ali G popularised the phrase in the UK but somehow I don't think that will go down too well with the international members of the press and FIA officials.
Monaco always provides glitz and glamour but this time it also provided good racing. Although it was unfortunately with a bit of danger thrown in. The cars keep getting faster but run-off can never be added to this track. One day the cars will not be able to race here. Thank goodness it wasn't today. Next up is Canada where the DRS system will be used on two straights in a row. Looking forward to it!
Edit: Hamilton was given a 20 second penalty for causing an avoidable accident. The penalty does not affect the final standings.
Full Result
Championship Standings
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Blown Diffusers Not Banned Yet, Probably
In a bit of an odd on, off, maybe-back-on-at-some-later-date kind of way the FIA has declared war on blown diffusers.
The system is used to increase downforce by using hot exhaust gases as part of the aerodynamic flow under the car, into the rear diffuser. Using hot air this way increases the effect of the diffuser no matter the speed of the car. However when the throttle is closed, no fuel enters the system and the air entering the diffuser is cold. This reduces the downforce available on the way into a turn and means that the car is unbalanced until the driver can get on the throttle again.
The teams have been experimenting with different engine management mappings which allow them to retard the ignition significantly. This allows them to put lots of fuel through the engine when the driver lifts of the throttle. Because of the retarded ignition, the fuel doesn't create any power but does burn on its way out of the exhaust. This means there is still hot gas exiting the exhaust and powering the diffuser, without creating any drive to the wheels. As far as the driver is concerned everything stays as it was before, except with more downforce on the way into the corner and an odd engine noise on closed throttle.
Obviously this system expends a lot of fuel on not going anywhere and this could be one of the reasons the FIA would like to ban it. Burning fuel when the throttle is shut is hardly improving the green credentials of the sport. It seems though that they may have sent out the first warnings without working out how to police the change. For now the regulation change has been delayed until after the Canadian Grand Prix when the next Technical Working Group can discuss the matter.
Red Bull are believed to have the best system currently but all the front running teams have admitted that this would affect their performance. We can only speculate how much closer it would make the racing at the moment, although it will be interesting to see the effect if and when the rule change happens.
 |
| Photo Courtesy of Team Lotus |
The system is used to increase downforce by using hot exhaust gases as part of the aerodynamic flow under the car, into the rear diffuser. Using hot air this way increases the effect of the diffuser no matter the speed of the car. However when the throttle is closed, no fuel enters the system and the air entering the diffuser is cold. This reduces the downforce available on the way into a turn and means that the car is unbalanced until the driver can get on the throttle again.
The teams have been experimenting with different engine management mappings which allow them to retard the ignition significantly. This allows them to put lots of fuel through the engine when the driver lifts of the throttle. Because of the retarded ignition, the fuel doesn't create any power but does burn on its way out of the exhaust. This means there is still hot gas exiting the exhaust and powering the diffuser, without creating any drive to the wheels. As far as the driver is concerned everything stays as it was before, except with more downforce on the way into the corner and an odd engine noise on closed throttle.
Obviously this system expends a lot of fuel on not going anywhere and this could be one of the reasons the FIA would like to ban it. Burning fuel when the throttle is shut is hardly improving the green credentials of the sport. It seems though that they may have sent out the first warnings without working out how to police the change. For now the regulation change has been delayed until after the Canadian Grand Prix when the next Technical Working Group can discuss the matter.
Red Bull are believed to have the best system currently but all the front running teams have admitted that this would affect their performance. We can only speculate how much closer it would make the racing at the moment, although it will be interesting to see the effect if and when the rule change happens.
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