My Motorsport Blog

Dark Clouds: I have listened to all the interviews and it is clear that McLaren saw additional points and went for it. Now that it has backfired it does not matter that they regret it, Dave Ryan got “Burnt” as Martin Brundle delicately put it and McLaren will have to work hard to overcome this. With Ron Dennis out of the limelight Martin Whitmarsh has taken over and suspended Dave Ryan on this incident, but Lewis Hamilton stays even though he also lied to the stewards. While I am on in-house fighting why is it that we have so many teams with trouble and strife when they all belong to FOTA? Should these differences not be sorted at that level.

Reliability Issues: Well the first and second practise round have been completed and Brawn GP is showing small cracks in reliability with Barrichello having to change a gearbox, although it must be said that the gearboxes were suspect on the Brawn GP cars in Australia. Ferrari did not do much better and we saw Kimi performing a hasty exit from his Ferrari after what seemed like an overheated KERS system.  

Top 10:? Looking at the times in 1^st and 2^ndpractice I would say that you will see Button, Massa, Räikkönen, Vettel, Rosberg, Barrichello, Webber, Trulli, Glock and I will add a BMW will be in the top 10. Not in that order though, I hate predictions because it is as bad as a commentators curse. Enjoy the Races and thanks for reading this blog.

The “Chiefs” have owned up and said Lewis was not to blame and for posterity I would say lets get this over and done with and race for a new season.

McLaren now really need to get its act together because the British fans will not allow this to continue! Guys the stewards are listening on the radio channels so be careful of the “Big Smokey Bear” Lewis also needs to drop his “better than thou” attitude and realise that he has a race and the championship to win. Can they pull this off? Eat humble pie, get this over and done with and win races.

The media says in the final analysis;

“Hamilton and McLaren team manager Dave Ryan explicitly denied that any instruction was given to let Trulli past.

The recording of the radio transmissions reveals that Hamilton was told to cede the place back to Trulli and quickly responded to the instruction – although McLaren continued to seek clarification of the situation from FIA race director Charlie Whiting and Hamilton asked whether he would be able to repass the Toyota.

A second audio recording confirms that Hamilton told journalists immediately after the race – before the stewards’ meeting – that he had been told to let Trulli through.”

Right, it went wrong!! Really wrong!!! Now since this happens to be the first race of the year, let’s be reasonable and start racing.  If there is one thing I have learnt in motorsport it is that there will never be full agreement to any dispute.

For a team with serious issues this season it would appear that McLaren have real concerns about their competitiveness and ability to defend the title this season. Many of us will ask “why lie, misinform or be economical with the truth?” Lewis could have scored 4 driver and McLaren 3 constructors championship points if they came out with the truth when Jarno Trulli passed under safety car status.

I really believe they, someone or a couple of people in the team saw an opportunity to make that one point extra which could come in handy, and if you look at last years final point standing which gave Lewis the championship by one point, it does make you think about this incident. I will not even bother covering last years controversies but Lewis was not rated most popular in the pit lane.

Another mistake Lewis made was mentioning the radio conversations to the press and media after the race indicating that the team told him to let Trulli pass. The FIA will not change the race results if they did not have some form of proof on what really happened. I wonder if this will be the only action the FIA will take but whatever happens, McLaren will have to work hard at their image to overcome this incident.  Based on what Trulli said about not being guilty from the start gave me no doubt as to what is going down. Just a pity about the end result!

With practice starting tomorrow even Jenson voiced concerns over the late starting time and weather, this from a driver who performs well in rain….just an indication of how drivers view the circuit. To think that they have no real historical data to help with car setup will ensure some surprised faces will roam the pit lane tomorrow. Looking at the results of last year and what happened a week ago it would appear that Robert Kubica, Heikki Kovalainen, Kimi Räikkönen, Jarno Trulli, Mark Webber and yes even Lewis could be the “donkey’s” to look at.

I just love it when a report starts with “a source within….”!I immediately think of politicians. You see, once a politicians lips start moving you know they are lying or covering up for something. When I read a report in a motorsport page and it stated that “a source in Brawn GP says they have more coming in future races”…. It just freaked me out. This is not really a surprise and certainly not news so why try to make something about it? Jenson Button already said there will be more to follow in Australia!!!!. Brawn GP are members of the Formula One fraternity and if they had nothing more to offer in the “forthcoming attractions” they should close the doors at Brackley. This is common knowledge and common sense.

We know all teams have more to offer in the future but understand the issue they have. The real problem lies in testing and development due to the lack of what I would call ”Track Time”.  I might be wrong but they have no testing days left and thus development will be on computer simulations (computational fluid dynamics) and testing new components during practice which, ideally, should be used to get the correct car setup for the race .

They are not allowed any wind tunnel testing and based on the following extract from the FIA 2009 Formula One Sporting Regulations in Article 22 (on page eight) this include full scale wind tunnel development on components and cars at full speed or capacity.

“h) No wind tunnel testing may be carried out using a scale model which is greater than 60% of full size.

i) No wind tunnel testing may be carried out at a speed exceeding 50 metres/second.”

I am in the dark about why wind tunnel restrictions should apply. If a team owns a wind tunnel why not be allowed to test in it? Ferrari has one (actually two, sorry) so does McLaren, Toyota, BMW and Renault. These are long term investments and I see no reason why it should not be used effectively. I do believe they could cost in the region of $ 30 to 50 million to build, and remains a cost which is well spent and the teams like Brawn GP who had one completed in 2006 (under Honda banner) actually save money in testing and development, but this new rule actually negates this investment and it really makes no sense why it is there.

I am sure teams have the technology to develop aero-packages within these restrictions and then apply them to the real/full scale car. The development costs in a smaller scale cannot be much less than on full scale. If a component is developed on the smaller scale (below 60% of scale), then enlarged and applied to the full scale car only to fail by not performing will actually increase costs to fix. ( to read about wind tunnels.Ferrari, BMW, Brawn GP, Renault, Williams, Interesting) It is clear that they have the facility to test a full scale car in wind tunnels and use of tunnels should not be restricted.

Since all the 2008 aerodynamics have been removed which makes the cars look smoother and cleaner (except for the large front wing). There must be a limit to what wind tunnel testing can provide. I suppose this is simplifying things but the money spent on the tunnels have already been spent so let them use it, just make sure the regulations do not allow teams add more external components to the current cars.

Now I really do not want to stir up anything but this clause h in article 22 does specify a “scale model” and it really does not exclude a full race track ready car specifically. Just a thought!!!!!