Lets Play Dice – Monaco Grand Prix Preview

May 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Nicole Sherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls will be pulling for her boyfriend, Lewis Hamilton.

This weekend the Formula One circus pulls into the second smallest and most densely populated country on the planet. Where the per capita annual income is over $153,000, and a square yard of land costs $60,000. Welcome to the micro State led by a monarch who’s family became so successful on the gambling tables of the Monte Carlo Casino that no income tax has had to be collected from residents since 1869!

The Monaco Grand Prix will be the sixth round of the world drivers and constructors championships; for the winner there is the prestige of winning the signature race of motor sports highest echelon and an opportunity to shake hands with royalty. Everyone else will be struggling in a race that three time world champion Nelson Piquet, who never won the Monaco Grand Prix, described as “like trying to ride a bicycle around your living room”.

Of the three championship contenders two-time Monaco winner and World Champion Fernando Alonso must fancy his chances after dominating with a gamblers strategy last time out in Spain. He lies a not too distant third in points and a second win on the trot, third of the season, would boost his championship aspirations.

Alonso can take the win if Ferrari gets the qualifying right.

Ferrari must be doing something right for a clearly rattled Dietrich Mateshitz of Red Bull to publicly criticise them for using an aggressive pit strategy in Spain. Maranello earlier this week dismissed the put down with all the contempt it deserves.

Red Bull, no strangers to the effects of a public whipping in the press from their opponents, are leading this years constructors championship. Tension exhibited earlier in the season between their drivers can only be heightened this week as Mark Webber has won two of the last three Monaco Grand Prix to teammate Sebastian Vettel’s one.

Mark would be thrilled to put one over his team mate, to do so he must be aiming to start from pole as he did on both of the occasions on which he won. Mark is the only non-champion to have won this race since 2004.

However all things being equal look for championship leader Vettel to put in a strong performance on Sunday, anything less than a podium might be interpreted as the start of an unwelcome mid season slump. A win from pole, as he did in 2011, would consolidate Sebastian’s claim to the championship and make things difficult for his two emergent challengers Alonso and Kimi ‘Iceman’ Räikkönen who won the Monaco Grand Prix in 2005.

Never rule Raikonnen out with this Lotus.

Kimi won the opening race of the season and since has scored three consecutive second places, in the last three races, the kind of consistency that neither Vettel or Alonso have come close to achieving this year. If the race at Monaco is anything but a procession expect to see Kimi make the most of others mistakes, a win is possible but my gut feeling is that third place is more likely.

Ferrari and Lotus de facto number two drivers Felipe Massa and Romain Grosjean respectively are outside contenders for podium finishes, but with the current state of reliability in the field this is most unlikely.

The spanner in the works of all predictions at Monaco this year is the Mercedes Benz team who have won the last three consecutive pole positions this season and then completely fallen off the cliff on race day to record a single podium finish from a front row start.  If Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg start from pole, which either is capable of, with the other locking out the front row the race will be one of the most entertaining since 2008 when Lewis Hamilton managed to win from third on the grid.

Baring some miracle development back at the Mercedes Benz factory in Brackley over the last ten days to over come the Mercedes propensity for eating it’s tyres I do not anticipate Hamilton or Rosberg being on Sunday’s podium, but do not gamble on it.

Outside the top four teams Paul di Resta or Adrian Sutil scoring a maiden win at the principality for Force India is unlikely, a finish on the podium would most likely be the result of an unforeseeable chain o misfortune for the top four teams.

Can Vettel manage his tyres on the brutal streets of Monaco?

The so far disappointing McLaren team, which convincingly won the last two races of 2012, have in Jenson Button a world champion and former Monaco winner, for him a top six finish would be a massive step forward, for Perez any top ten finish would be a result and a finish ahead of Button possible.

Only a gambler with nerves of steel would put money on Williams Pastor Maldonado winning the second race of his career. In the event of many misfortunes further up the field a points finish for Pastor or team mate Valtteri Bottas is the best that, last years Spanish GP winners, can hope for.

Torro Rosso drivers Jean-Éric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo are far more likely to be there to pick up the last point or two than the Williams drivers as is the Sauber driver Nico Hülkenberg. Nico’s Mexican team mate Mexico Esteban Gutiérrez has yet to score and yet to show the capacity to punch above his weight.

The Marussia rookie Jules Bianchi appears to have the legs of the Caterham drivers Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde but neither team have finished in the points since they joined the Formula One circus in 2010 and the pressure is on Caterham to up it’s game and improve on it’s best 14th place finish this season. Like Gutiérrez rookie Max Chilton has yet to punch above his weight in the second Marussia.

To summarize, I’m going with Alonso to win for Ferrari, who have not won here since 2001. I expect a strong second place finish from Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull and the consistent Kimi Räikkönen to round out the podium positions for Lotus. Mercedes Benz may shine on Saturday and once again almost certainly fail on Sunday.

Lets play dice!

 

 

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2013 Formula One Team by Team – 1st Quarter Season Review

May 15, 2013 By Leave a Comment

It would seem that Vettel is on track for title number four….don’t tell Raikkonen or Alonso that.

A quarter of the 2013 World Drivers and Constructors Championship season has run it’s course so who is hot?

So far the championship has seen winners from Lotus, Red Bull and Ferrari with the winning honours shared by three drivers; Kimi Räikkönen, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso all of whom are World Champions.

Lotus appear really hot, while the management is cautious about it’s chances of providing Kimi Räikkönen with a championship winning car, Kimi is chomping at the bit. Since his win at the opening Australian Grand Prix he has put together a string of three consecutive 2nd place finishes which with one seventh place finish adds up to a consistency that makes Kimi the fancied underdog amongst the three emergent title contenders.

Down sides to Kimi’s challenge are that Lotus Technical Director James Allison electing to go on ‘gardening leave’ last week pending a move to another team, widely speculated to be Ferrari and that Kimi’s relatively inexperienced team mate Romain Grosjean has not shown the consistent form exhibited by either of the de facto number two drivers at Red Bull or Ferrari.

Allison is ‘rumoured’ to be heading for Ferrari. In Formula One where there’s smoke there’s a wild fire.

 

Sebastian Vettel disobeyed team orders to throttle back and jumped his team mate Mark Webber to win the Malaysian Grand Prix after which he had to eat humble pie for his misdemeanor and took a pasting in the press. However despite another win in Bahrain one further third and two fourth place finishes added to the and even having taken advantage of Mark when his main anticipated rival Fernando Alonso had to retire Sebastian leads the championship by a scant four points, thanks to the consistent challenge from Kimi.

So far Sebastian has shown the necessary beyond the pail determination to get the job done. The simmering money would be on Sebastian becoming the youngest four-peat World Champion and Red Bull to become four-peat constructors champions.

Alonso still has 3/4 of a season to go….Vettel is due a a DNF, but Raikkonen…maybe not so much.

The third title contender, Fernando Alonso, is the only one of the three who has suffered a gross team error, when he was advised to stay out after an accident on the opening lap of Malaysian Grand Prix which saw him crash out on the second lap. Fernando was also the victim of a sticking hinged element on his rear wing in Bahrain which required multiple unscheduled pit stops from which he did exceptionally well to recover an 8th place points paying finish. This is not the first time this issue, which affects the drivers ability to pass on the straights and get safely around the corners, has afflicted Ferrari so it is disappointing that the problem has not been properly resolved.

These misfortunes along with convincing wins in China and Spain mean that Alonso sits third in the points standings 17 points adrift. The question remains can Ferrari deliver a consistent challenge to Red Bull ? Their car has the speed and the team have some momentum but for my money Alonso backed up by the erratic Felipe Massa is the tepid bet, already on the back foot, more likely to finish second in the championship to Sebastian for a third time than to beat him.

The characteristics of the Pirelli tyres, as last year, do not seem to suit any one team consistently from one track to the next although they do appear to suit Lotus, Red Bull and Ferrari better than the rest. Pirelli as sole suppliers seem to be in a no win situation in this respect, they were asked to produce tyres for this season that had a bigger difference in performance between the hard and soft options, both of which have to be used during the course of a dry race and they have done what was asked, but have come in for enormous criticism for doing precisely that.

Now Pirelli has agreed to change the compounds of the tyres to degrade less….the benefit? Red Bull.

Lewis Hamilton left McLaren at the end of last year to join Mercedes Benz expecting to challenge for race wins if not the championship. Lewis’s performances have been a definite fillip for Mercedes who have not delivered a competitive car. Disappointingly Lewis does not seem to be able to direct the team towards providing what he needs as shown when he dropped from 2nd on the grid to a lapped 12th place finish in Spain, clueless on how to manage the situation and not impressed that he was racing a Williams that beat him.

Sitting fourth place in the constructors table Mercedes are unlikely to catch the top three and unlikely to be caught by anyone in the foreseeable future so I wonder if they are already thinking about abandoning further development this season in favour of putting all of their efforts into next season, team Principle Ross Brawn was the beneficiary of just such a strategy in 2009 all he has to do is convince his drivers and the Mercedes Benz board this is the way to go.

Fifth in the constructors table are Force India whose drivers Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil are fighting for points scraps with the similarly Mercedes powered McLarens. With four points paying finishes and a best of 4th in Bahrain Paul is a better than expected  8th in the drivers table. Adrian meanwhile has scored points just once on his return from a sabbatical. With the rival McLaren team being seen to put in whatever it takes to bring their car up to speed I doubt Force India will be able to maintain their two point advantage in the constructors championship, but it will be a close fought battle.

Gambling on a radical approach to this years car rather than an incremental development of last years race winning car, has not paid off for McLaren. To their credit McLaren have dug deep to make their cars faster, but so far without success. That they are trying hard is evidenced by the fact they turned up with a new front wing in Spain but refrained from using it until it had been properly tested and passed as legal on the governing FIA’s own equipment.

Button and Perez have decided to fight the ill handling McLaren instead of each other.

Jenson Button has shown the more consistent form with four points paying finishes and a best of 5th in China while Sergio Pérez managed a best of 6th in Bahrain where Jenson and Sergio had a falling out, with Button calling on his team to control Perez who he judged to have used rough tactics. The McLaren management would have done well to tell each driver what the tyre situation was relative to the other and avoided the on track misunderstanding in the first place. McLaren have the resources to get the better of Force India in the constructors championship but they are unlikely to win a race this year.

Seventh in the constructors table are Torro Rosso for whom Australian Danielle Ricardo has scored two points paying finishes with a best of 7th in China and Jean-Éric Vergne a best of 10th in Malaysia. The pressure is on these two to pull rabbits out of the hat this season or they will find themselves, facing a similar fate to their predecessors Sébastien Buemi and Jamie Alguersuari, looking for work as sports car drivers and TV presenters.

Sauber are the only other team to have points thanks to Nico Hulkenburg who managed a best 8th place finish in Malaysia, if Sauber want to beat Torro Rosso in the constructors championship they will have to find away to get Mexican rookie Esteban Gutiérrez to finish better than 11th as he did in Spain.

Shockingly Williams have managed a best of two non points paying 11th place finishes for each of their drivers Pastor Maldonado in Bahrain and Finn Valttteri Botas in Malaysia as the team appears to be suffering the same fate as McLaren by trying to take a quantum leap forward rather than settling for steady development of last years winning car. Williams will need to apply resources to this years car, perhaps better saved until next year, just to score points this season.

Williams has yet to score a point.

Marussia have a best 13th place finish courtesy of Jules Bianchi which is surprising since they are the only team to use spec Cosworth motors while Caterham who use race winning Renault motors have managed a best finish of 14th in Malaysia courtesy of Charles Pic. One of these two teams is going to be out of pocket at the seasons end as, in a change from last year, only the top ten teams will be paid prize money at the seasons end. Don’t be surprised to see former race winner Heikki Kovalainen make a return to Caterham in its attempt to get the better of Marrusia.

Summing up the drivers championship has emerged as a three way contest between Vettel, Räikkönen and Alonso while realistically the constructors championship is a two way battle between Red Bull and Ferrari, I believe Vettel will win his fourth championship in a row but I wouldn’t expect to get much sleep between now and the seasons end if I were a gambler.

Ralph Colmar can also be found at:    www.psychoontyres.blogspot.com

 

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Fortune Favours Fernando and Ferrari – Gran Premio de España

May 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Fernando Alonso scored his 3rd win of the 2014 season in Spain.

Yesterday’s Spanish Grand Prix marked the first quarter of the 19 race 2013 F1™ championship season and all three championship protagonists came away from Barcelona having done exactly what they had to do, if no more, to stay in the game over the remaining three quarters of the season.

After mishaps in Malaysia and Bahrain, Ferrari were in a must win situation to stay in championship contention and they had to turn everything – engine management, differential and brake bias settings, up on their steering wheels a little louder than everyone else. Strategically Ferrari went for an aggressive four stop pit strategy, which meant they could run much faster than the Lotus and Red Bull teams that had the luxury of opting for conservative three stop strategies afforded by the considerable margin over the Italian team in the championship points standings.

As to be expected from a two time World Champion and contender for a third championship, Fernando delivered all that was required from his 5th place start on the grid and ended up taking a comfortable and largely unchallenged win on home ground.

2007 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen needed to finish better than series leader Sebastian Vettel, which his second place finish in the Genii financed Lotus ensured.  Kimi was also fortunate that Ferrari Engineer Rob Smedley managed to guide Ferrari’s de facto number two Felipe Massa to a third place finish ahead of Vettel. In so doing the Maranello team, effectively gifted former Ferrari driver Kimi three additional championship points.

Mercedes had one lap pace, but couldn’t stop the charging Alonso.

Of the three emergent 2013 World Drivers championship contenders Vettel was able to take it easy in Spain his mission was to conserve his equipment and come out of the Spanish Grand Prix with the championship points lead. With each driver only allowed to use eight motors a season preserving equipment at every opportunity affords the best possibility of running faster in the final run to the championship at the end of the season.

If justification was needed for Vettel to steal seven championship points from his team mate Mark Webber in Malaysia, coming out of Barcelona with a two point championship lead, from a forth place finish, was it. Webber finished 5th behind his team mate in yesterdays race ensuring that Red Bull still has a 14 point lead in the manufacturers championship. Sebastian however must be disappointed to have finished behind Massa, who is unlikely to be in contention for championship honours at the seasons end.

Nico Rosberg fell back through the field with failing tyres.

For the third time in succession Mercedes Benz stole the qualifying headlines locking out the front row of the grid in Barcelona with Nico Rosberg on pole ahead of team mate 2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton.  As in China and Bahrain Saturday’s success was not translated into any meaningful result on Sunday,  Nico came home a lucky 6th, while Hamilton finished outside the points in 12th wryly commenting over the pit radio that he was racing a “Williams” as if to ask ‘Why’ ?

The championship will be a slog for the Mercedes Benz team this summer which is difficult to fathom given they are acknowledged to have the strongest motors on the F1™ grid. It will be interesting to see if the forth placed team elect to sort out their cars handling or simply throw all of their resources into preparing for next year which sees the introduction of new V6 turbo charged motors.

Paul di Resta did well to finish 7th from a tenth place start, but he really should have snatched 6th from struggling Rosberg in the closing laps, his Force India team were willing him on over the radio, but Paul could not make the pass with the half a chance, going down the long start finish straight, that was available two laps from home.

McLaren blew a chance to finish 6th by issuing thinly disguised team orders to Sergio Perez, who was advised to look after his tyres rather and settle for a 9th place finish, rather  than to pass his team mate Jenson Button who finished 8th. The latter was the slower of the two on older tyres and in no position to defend himself while the Perez appeared quick enough to have caught and passed the battle between Rosberg and di Resta.

After 2009 World Champion Jenson’s vocal public  spat Perez in Bahrain the McLaren team management are going to have to be more firm with Jenson if he cannot keep the pace with his Mexican team mate. That bad advice to Perez means that McLaren are 3 points adrift of 5th place Force India when they might have been a couple of points ahead in the constructors championship.

Australian Danielle Ricardo scored a valuable final point for the second string Ferrari powered Torro Rosso team which is now three points ahead of 8th placed Sauber and 20 behind the struggling McLaren Team.

In 2012 Williams and Pastor Maldonado showed promise. They haven’t scored a single point in 2013.

It’s hard to fathom, but a year ago Pastor Maldonado won this race for Williams, this year the Williams team has failed to score a single point and has not remotely looked like it might. Before the race Pastor claimed that Williams has a “plan B” for the Renault powered FW35, to which one wag on a forum quipped ” Sounds like an appointment with the crusher”, joking aside Williams need some drastic action simply to get some points on the table.

Pirelli received harsh criticism for not providing more durable tyres in Spain and have promised that 2 and 3 stop strategies will be the order of the day by the British Grand Prix.

Ferrari were brave and grabbed this race by the scruff of the neck and reaped the rewards, Alonso’s haul of 25 points still leaves him 17 points adrift of the top of the table with a doable if slightly against the odds chance of winning the title, while also giving him and the Ferrari team some much needed momentum for the European season.

I hope you will join me next week for a preview of the forthcoming casino that is the Grand Prix de Monaco held on the famous streets of Monte Carlo.

 

 

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Formula One 2012: The Best Racing In The World

June 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Fernando Alonso scored an emotional victory in his home country of Spain to the delight of the crowd.

One can argue that Formula One has been predictable in the last 15 years, but that has most certainly not been the case in the 2012 season. The reasons are myriad but include a limited amount of track time due to rain during the allotted winter testing, the exclusion of blown diffusers and perhaps the most influential of all, the Pirelli tires.

In a season that has run eight races with only one repeat winner, that being Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, the team principles have conceded that they have no idea how to predict a winner at any given race. Good. The manufacturers want to sell cars and showcase their technology, but the fans around the world are what give Formula One such nationalistic popularity.

If such a scale existed, barring Fantasy Racing, predictability could arguably be placed on a scale and measured in degrees. The 2012 season is no different. The very same players are at the top of the heap and the new kids on the block, Lotus, Force India and Sauber have simply added to the mix of potential winners.

Alonso said prior to the European Grand Prix that Formula One seemed like a ‘lottery’-depending on the track anyone could emerge from nowhere to take a win. So far, that really hasn’t been the case. Red Bull sits squarely atop the constructers points followed by McLaren, Lotus, Ferrari and Mercedes. So consistency is beginning to emerge and become the one thing the drivers can cling to in hopes of winning a drivers championship.

Pirelli’s tires have proven to be the one major factor in how these cars react to any given track and that has become the big unknown. Each car has a different appetite at each track to the assigned tires from Pirelli. What’s wrong with that? In a world that’s reeling from economic uncertainty, the entertainment provided by this unknown is worth millions of dollars in viewership across the globe.

Grosjean tried valiantly but mechanical problems left him wondering what might have been.

In America predictability equates to boring. When Schumacher was dominating the headlines and the track, the U.S. audience tuned out in droves. When Sebastian Vettel had his season of total dominance, the U.S. audiences didn’t bother to watch after the first few races, it was far too predictable. Vettel to P1, Vettel disappears at the start like the Road Runner from Wile. E. Coyote. That was it. The 2012 season has caught them all by surprise.

Adrian Newey, designer of the RB8 Red Bull, has conceded that even as fast as Vettel was at Valencia, before succumbing to a bad Renault alternator, it’s a race-by-race season so far. Martin Whitmarsh of McLaren said, “It is very, very difficult,” he explained. “Everyone has given up predicting this season, so we have to accept that you have to turn up at each event and do the best job you can. That is what we will seek to do at Silverstone.”

That is where the excitement has come from this year. Every team would love to come straight out of the transporter and be a contender but the data they have hasn’t translated well to the Pirelli tires. They degrade at different rates depending on the driver, the set-up and the track conditions. It’s almost like rain, the great equalizer, where a driver’s skill, along with the engineers, have to make quick decisions on set-up.

All of the Cray computers, the wind tunnel information and simulations haven’t been able to transfer accurately to the actual track. Lotus was tipped to take Valencia and but for an alternator, might have taken the win, but even if Romain Grosjean’s car hadn’t shut down, he would have still have to have gotten by Fernando Alonso-easier said than done. The human element has been harder for the engineers to weave into their equations than they may have once thought.

Is this a bit of chicanery for the show’s sake? If it is, it’s working. If not, it is nonetheless taxing to the manufacturers, engineers and the drivers. They simply aren’t used to not knowing what to expect in anything less than predictable conditions. And, predictable conditions are never realistic. Temperatures change, track surfaces are different, humidity affects the engine performance as well as some of the colder climate drivers.

Whatever the outcome of the season, the racing has everyone looking towards the next race, Silverstone, rather than who’ll take the championship.

It’s exactly as it should be.

 

 

 

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The 2012 Grand Prix of Monaco: The Most Unpredictable of All

May 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Has Ferrari gotten close enough technically to give Fernando Alonso the season's first repeat winner

In years past it hasn’t taken some obscure algorithm by Stephen Hawking to predict the winner at Monaco. You qualify on the pole and you’re expected to win the race. Not this year. The 2012 season has been the most unpredictable of the modern era. The reasons are a grab bag: The Pirelli tire degradation rate, which is a moving target depending on which tire Pirelli hands out at each race, the weather in testing and at each track, and finally the nature of the cars performance having become more track specific than at any other time in recent memory. You can’t get more track-specific than Monaco.

No one, drivers and engineers included, really know just how deeply their car is going to fall in love with the Monaco layout. Pat Fry, Ferrari’s Technical Director, seems to have a probable answer, but probable still places any explanation in the “Who Knows” category. According to Fry, “It is certainly unpredictable, it varies, and small changes in track temperature have a large effect on tire performance. I think it was China where that showed up the most.”

China or no, the swings in car set-up married with driver style along with weather conditions (you can add your own specific opinion here) has created a guessing game that has even the most powerful Cray computer rolling dice. If you add all these variables together then you have Monaco.

Monaco is the only track left on the Formula One calendar that is a true street course. It’s narrow, it has precious little run-off area, it’s bumpy and it’s mercilessly unforgiving. Not a good scenario when trying to plan a strategy. Constructing and executing a race strategy has been tantamount to a best guess so far this year.

Now there’s a new star in the show: The Super Soft Pirelli tire. This is the first time that tire will be employed at Monaco. Tire degradation management is of paramount importance to winning or losing this race and make no mistake, if the tires aren’t managed at Jenson Button levels, then all the race strategies that the team principles have concocted are useless. It’s one thing to have a plan, it’s entirely another matter to execute that plan. In this weekend’s race, truly the mission will not survive the first shot.

Pirelli's Super Soft Tire may be the key to winning or losing the GP of Monaco

The nature of driving Monaco is that it’s tight with huge acceleration coming out of the many slow corners. Wheel spin will be a challenge to say the least. Jenson Button is generally considered the smoothest driver in F1, but the McLaren isn’t optimal for this track. Mechanical grip will be more important than aero and getting the power down without burning up the rear tires will be difficult. This is one track where having good traction on turn exit is imperative. Has Ferrari successfully cured that glaring problem? It seems they have, but Barcelona is only one race and doesn’t represent Monaco.

Monaco in a ‘normal’ season, which is to say whoever is on the pole will run away, is not necessarily what we’re going to see. No matter, we will see Herculean efforts to start from the pole, this track is notoriously difficult to execute full-on racing passes and being up at the front gives the driver clean air and the ability to dictate their lines. But this one may be different. It appears that no one is going to run away at the front, despite their best efforts-and, their best efforts may be too much.

Should you choose to use statistics from the last five races, which is foolish at best, then you would have to look at the drivers who’ve been the most consistent: Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. But wait…Hamilton doesn’t have a win and Pastor Maldonado does, and, Maldonado will get another win, Monaco, just ask him.

This writer isn’t betting for or against Williams repeating. Right now Pastor, the “Macho Man”, Maldonado is reveling in Latin American glory. He has shown flashes of brilliance beyond the maiden win and has a great deal of past experience at this track in the lower formulas, but if you really unpack what Ferrari has done with their exit speeds, stability and the fact that Fernando Alonso is at the wheel they could pull off a victory. Sauber? Sergio Perez can still taste that “almost” victory at Malaysia. What if Raikkonen and Boullier actually pull off a strategy that doesn’t look like a game of twister with old people?

Do you really want the bottom line?

Trying to pick a winner here is like men trying to pick out women’s clothes.

No one wins, everybody’s mad and you wont get laid.

 

 

 

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Zipadelli and Stewart together again, Ferrari ready to win, New NASCAR Speedway Rules

December 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

 

Greg Zipadelli, Tony Stewart’s former crew chief joins Stewart-Haas Racing, Ferrari and McLaren state they are ready to unseat the dominant Red Bull Formula One Team and NASCAR imposes further restrictions to stop the tandem drafts at Super Speedways.

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Ferrari Determined to Dominate in 2012

September 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

No other auto manufacturer who races envelopes its fans in an emotional embrace more than Ferrari. Arguably Porsche is the king in the diehard sports car racing world, but it hasn’t entered the Formula One world for years. Ferrari is the most recognizable and sought after sports car in the world, if only in most people’s dreams.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that they choose to race in Formula One rather than the multiple sports car series the world has to offer. They do compete in those series with efforts in the GT classes, after all, they do build racing versions of their 458 and have built many prototypes in the past, however, Formula One to Maranello is still the prize they covet most.

So what the hell happened this season? They didn’t go big.

Adrian Newey, the world’s most recognized Formula One designer, is both admired and reviled by the Scuderia, but they still want him if they can get him. His tenure at Red Bull Racing has been the thorn in the Prancing Horse’s side for two seasons. Newey designed an almost unbeatable pair of cars where there was none in the RB6 and RB7.

Luca di Montezemolo, Ferrari’s President, has stated that he believes the technical team he has in place is moving in the right direction and can beat Newey’s design, but in the same breath acknowledged that they would like to have him.

The other component for Ferrari is Fernando Alonso. Alonso has clearly stated that he would like to end his career with Ferrari and apparently the feeling is mutual. Alonso has assimilated into the Ferrari culture with ease, has taken chassis’ that weren’t up to the task and seemingly willed himself into second in the World Championship standings as of this writing.

It’s no secret that second place is the first loser to both Alonso and to Ferrari.

After his almost miraculous podium at Monza last weekend, Stefano Domenicali, team Principle, and  di Montezemolo, continued gushing this week over Alonso’s aggressive style and ability to take the current chassis as far as he has. Felipe Massa has fallen further back into the shadows giving Alonso the absolute number one status, as if that were a mystery.

One has look no further than the German Grand Prix of 2010 and the famous words from the team to Massa as Alonso sat behind him, “Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?” Massa moved over and let Alonso through and in the process let the whole world know what was really written in the contracts. Alonso won and the 100,000 Euro fine was gladly paid by the team.

If Ferrari is to deliver a car to Alonso and Massa in 2012 that is competitive they have to build a chassis that addresses the new rules and are clearly defined. Ferrari claims that their car for 2012 will be an innovative design with a direct interpretation of the rules. More bluntly di Montezemolo stated, “I am unhappy because this year we have not got since the beginning a competitive car.” That’s a very clear message.

Ferrari is one of those manufacturers who indeed builds and sells cars, very few, very expensive cars making it a very lucrative business. That was not on Enzo Ferrari’s mind when he produced sports cars for the street. He built and sold cars that could be driven on the street in order to race, he never denied it. The world has certainly changed but that deeply engrained mindset hasn’t.

Yes it’s a business, di Montezelmolo both knows that and runs it as such, but when you bring up the racing side, it sounds like echoes of the past. He wants nothing less than Ferrari to win.

The first race of 2012 will certainly be interesting.

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Spa-Francorchamps: Vettel Extends F1 Lead

August 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment


Sebastian Vettel won the Grand Prix of Belgium Sunday and extended his World Championship points lead. The McLaren and Ferrari teams couldn’t find the pace in the closing stages of the famous race. Lewis Hamilton crashed and was seemingly dazed.

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Schumacher’s 20 Years Formula One:Spa-Francorchamp

August 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment


Michael Schumacher has put 20 years into active driving in Formula One…that has to be a modern era record. This weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix takes place on one of the world’s classic tracks. The corner Eau Rouge is one of the most famous in racing.

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Formula One “Cruises” to Spa-Francorchamps

August 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

While the Hollywood elite are overwhelmed by the topic de jour, Tom Cruise driving the Red Bull Formula One car earlier this month, Formula One’s thoughts are turned to this weekend’s Grand Prix in Spa, Belgium.

Formula One will race on one of the most naturally beautiful and incredibly challenging racing tracks on planet Earth: Spa-Francorchamps.

This is truly one of those tracks every driver wants to win on. The corner Eau Rouge is simply breathtaking. Taken flat out, if you’re really set-up, it’s uphill and blind all the while going over 180 MPH.

More than a few incidents have taken place there, but safety improvements after the brilliant Stefan Bellof lost his life have made it safer but no less intimidating. Jacques Villeneuve said recently about his crash there, “It was the best crash I ever had”. You have to love it.

Eight Grand Prix’s, including Spa are left on the 2011 calendar and Sebastian Vettel has an 89-point lead in the points. The break is over, everything they weren’t supposed to do during the last few weeks of vacation is done. It’s time to look at what might happen during the remainder of the calendar.

Red Bull racing has placed itself at the very top of the Formula One heap after being re-born more times than Marjoe Gortner. That is, after all, what Formula One is about, evolution of technology and the chance for another McLaren to emerge. Red Bull has to defend those points and, as is in any competitive endeavor, the ‘best defense is a good offense’. Don’t expect that Red Bull doesn’t have a cadre’ of updates that it will use. Vettel has to essentially beat himself.

It could happen, though not likely, that Vettel does have a pressure chink in his armor and if he does, it will look like an African Savanna during a Lion kill, McLaren and Ferrari being those Lions.

In the case of McLaren, they will push harder, probably harder than Red Bull, to get to Vettel and the only way to do it is aggressively pursue the updates. Of course, no mission survives the first shot and McLaren can’t afford any mistakes while Red Bull has to make every mistake, meaning Vettel suffers several DNF’s. McLaren, like Ferrari, is hard at work on next year’s car with the pressure of still trying to get to Red Bull. It may be too much for McLaren and could affect its 2012 efforts.

Ferrari is openly stating that the barbeque pit is running all night preparing next years car while racing for wins in order to translate the information over to next season. The cars wii really be an extension of the 2011 season without the Blown Diffusers. Ferrari has a car that hasn’t shown the balance of the Red Bull, but has attacked as hard as it can. Translated that means Fernando Alonso can drive the hell out of a car.

Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari’s team principle, has stated they are pursuing the 2012 car with intent to come out of their corner swinging.

The long term for Ferrari looks good. They have a stable driver line-up, they have what is arguably the best driver in the World at the moment who has easily assimilated into the Ferrari culture. Moreover, he’s simply taken his place as the leader and that’s a long-term strategy that has legs.

McLaren has the resources and the forethought to be a contender for wins this year, but there’s a shut-off point for improving heavily on this year’s car and bearing down hard on the 2012 car. They will close the gap, but aren’t likely to catch the Bulls, at least not unless Red Bull has an apocalyptic second half of the season.

It’s Formula One though, and that means anything can happen. Even on the last corner of the last lap.

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