My Motorsport Blog

For the last couple of months I have found it very depressing looking at the Formula 1 coverage, not because the racing was bad or even boring but because I am tired of the politics surrounding this sport. I am sure I do not stand alone in this and have found that the less said the better. I have to say a big thank you to the BBC coverage of the practice rounds but especially to the commentators trying to keep FIA & FOTA politics away.

It is great to see some regular front runners at the leading edge of the grid although it must be said this happens to be the practise rounds but the McLaren and Toyota teams appear to have become more competitive with some good comments from Robert Kubica about the BMW’s handling yesterday. Let’s hope that they get through to the second round of qualifying tough.  

I am sure Sebastian Vettel and Webber will have something to say during qualifying and prove that they are the force to be reckoned with. Brawn GP certainly have their work cut out for them and we are certain to see some surprises today.

So! Like an undecided widower thinking about having an affair with the next door neighbour, with real concern that the family might think I did this before the demise of my spouse, I have been following the exhibition that Bernie and Max are selling us with anticipation but also with real concern about what is happening in F1.

Rumours of teams leaving does no good for the sport and with Brawn GP having a field day with the SERIOUS teams like Ferrari and McLaren I can see what concerns the “Bean Counters” a.k.a. Accountants have in justifying the cost of the sport to the board of directors.

Will Ferrari and their progress of late review their position? Will BMW develop and listen to their drivers or will we have an early “silly season” and change teams right now. The point I am trying to make is this; teams will reign for periods (even years) but there will always be a new kid on the block that will make you regret your complacency.

The fact remains that teams have circuits where they perform well while others are just pure hell on cars and drivers. I think the shortfall of the new regulations rest in the fact that new drivers have little opportunity to gain experience within a F1 team and this will make managers reluctant to give a “Rookie” a car to bend.

Oh! By the way, I miss the DTM and do not wish to buy another channel just for one formula. What else can I look forward to if I do buy it other than football?

Ferrari Disaster: As if the qualifying strategy for Ferrari were not bad enough, the Prancing Horse Team decided to make a total hash of it with their disastrous decision to bring Kimi in for full wet tyres on a dry track. Even intermediate tyres would have lasted longer and would have made their gamble pay off. Common sense tells me that full wets would only last for about two  laps of serious racing and then turn to jelly. Ferrari will have to get another “Ross Brawn” to help with racing strategy because I do not believe Michael Schumacher’s consultations are paying off, if, that is what he is there for. I might be wrong and Michael’s only responsibility is mentoring Massa, but Ferrari will have to do something to improve this aspect of their racing. Brawn GP is showing their true colours and they are contenders for the driver and constructors championship.

McLaren Chaos; This team really have to get their act together and a reduction in media coverage might not be a bad idea. Lewis is seen as Ron Dennis’s “spoilt brat” and people blaming Dave Ryan’s suspension from the McLaren team on Lewis might not be far from wrong. I am not sure if I agree, but even the excuse that Lewis happens to be a “Young Man” is rubbish. He is the number one driver in a very high profile F1 team and should leave if he can not handle the heat at the moment.

Did Dave Ryan hold a gun to his head when they went to the stewards in Melbourne? I think not. Would he have been fired if he refused to lie in the initial hearings? Again I think not. The investment in Lewis is huge and span over many years and more money than most of us can imagine. Lewis can not claim the innocent young man attitude in a very serious and expensive sport.

Formula One is a “big boys with serious toys” fraternity and Lewis should not just threaten to walk as his camp apparently indicated in a phone call to Max Mosley but do so.  An old proverb says “Strange new experiences will add to your joy of living”, Lewis is certainly not having much of this at the moment.

While we are on turmoil aspects of F1 in 2009 I would like to add that the late start in these countries (Malaysia and Australia) really do not work due to weather and lighting aspects. The quality of the race is being influenced by these aspects and this is unfair to the local fans who attend the race at the circuit. The regulations or the start times will have to be changed to allow for weather and enough daylight conditions when things go wrong as we have seen in Malaysia. Bernie should realise that motorsport fans do have toys like DVD and video recorders, some even have access to that wonderful item called Sky Plus, to record the races. Even though it is risky I do this all the time and make sure I do not listen to the news or any broadcasting media until I have looked at the programme. Stating that he is catering for the European TV viewers must be the worst excuse he could think of. Bernie looks after number one and that would be the money in his back pocket!

Overconfidence: Ferrari made a huge error in judgement and while looking at the qualifying times I could see them drop but they remained in the pits in the first qualifying. This bad judgement from the team and engineer could cost Massa some championship points which could cost him winning a drivers championship. No doubt they could perform because Räikkönen stayed in the top 10.

Surprises: Both McLaren cars out of the final qualifying with Heidfeld and Nakajima following suit. Alonso managed to get into the final qualifying with a ear infection, now that surprised me because ear infections makes you feel off balance I thought.

The final qualifying saw me not putting a jinx on the drivers by my predicting the top 10, bar Hamilton, who dropped out in the second qualifying. Overall the biggest surprise was Massa out in the first and Alonso in the top 10. We have a race.

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!!!!!