Here’s a round-up of F1 news and other interesting links I’ve found today.
If you’ve spotted a hot news story, interesting new website or just something funny from the world of F1, please share your links in the comments below.
FIA’s Purnell wants more rule changes
Tony Purnell: "If we’re going to give the fans what they want, we’ve got to take another step.”
Uproar over ‘Arab buyout’ at Silverstone
"In a plan said to be spearheaded by former F1 driver Jackie Oliver, the directors wrote to members asking them to vote at a meeting on August 25 on a plan to get Silverstone 'capable of hosting Grands Prix should the opportunity arise'. The letter does not say who the talks are with but a source said it was an Arab wealth fund."
F1 News > Massa back in Italy?
"According to reports in Italy's Corriere dello Sport, Felipe Massa may return to the Formula 1 cockpit at the Italian GP at Monza, if his recuperation goes well. This would be seven weeks after the accident in Budapest. The principal delay in Massa's recovery is unlikely to be the injury to the front of his head, nor the concussion, but rather a secondary fracture he suffered at the base of his skull." A seven-week turnaround on a skull fracture – even a hairline one – seems very short. Could be wishful thinking.
These are links I’ve bookmarked using Delicious. You can see my Delicious profile here.
Ethnic_Tension
16th August 2009, 23:50
In order to have f1s able to overtake each other you want to reduce the wake of the car and increase mechanical grip. The rule changes this year managed that to an extent, but having a tall rear spoiler (I’m referring to the wing itself, not its height position from the rest of the car) simply means more wake. If they used a 2008 Monza spec rear spoiler, the downforce along with wake would be reduced, however top speed would be increased.
Another interesting point is that when driving in dirty air, downforced produced from underneath the car (i.e. ground effect) is impacted significantly less than that produced from wings on top of the car.
Maybe the solution simply lies in a wider tracked vehicle?
Prisoner Monkeys
17th August 2009, 6:46
Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s deal with KERS first. Either everyone should run it or no-one should. Because this year, the dud cars used it, and all the drivers had to do was to push the button and they’d defend. Without it, I think we’d have seen much more passing.
TommyB
17th August 2009, 16:20
Didn’t Jacques Villenueve get in trouble for his comments about the FIA when they decided to make the cars thinner
Ace
17th August 2009, 7:17
I don’t know if it’s fact or not, but I read somewhere (some months ago) that the ‘double diffuser’ had a negative impact on the overtaking initiatives for this year. It does seem to me that the racing was closer (at least, the cars appeared to follow closer) at the start of the season than now – That seems to support that theory.
Do we know if outlawing the double diffusers will help overtaking?
Patrickl
17th August 2009, 12:26
You read it in a Briatore interview probably. Don’t take anything he says seriously.
TommyB
17th August 2009, 16:21
Most drivers have commented on it too
Patrickl
17th August 2009, 16:35
Alonso maybe?
Anyway, the experts say that diffusers are a much cleaner way to generate downforce than rear wings.
Tom L
18th August 2009, 16:49
I agree that the racing was closer at the start of the season – Malaysia will always be remembered for the downpour but the racing beforehand was fantastic!
David
17th August 2009, 9:14
I think we should reduce (a lot) wing surface and incidence, prohibit carbon brakes disks and come back to steel, prohibit refuelling.
And of course stop with penalties for the drivers that tries an overtake and fail…
Bartholomew
20th August 2009, 3:34
Whatever the brakes used, carbon or steel, if there is a maximum DIAMETER allowed, this will create a level playing field for all.
The cheapest way to solve the overtaking problem
AndrewT
17th August 2009, 10:42
I think that radical new rules shouldn’t be introduced. It won’t do anything but mess up the order of the teams for a little while, as we can see it this year. The apparent improvements of the first three races wasn’t actually real, mainly the rain was the cause of the overtakes (so new rule: no race in dry conditions! :P).
We see nothing better than a few years ago, just the actors have changed. Fernando Alonso won the first few races in 2005, built up a 20+ points advantage, and hold it until the end, Räikkönen never had a chance. Now the situation is similar between Button and Webber/Vettel.
We are messing around the points, but the distance is still ridiculous, Button has to null two races.
KERS is an interesting piece of the puzzle. I think it has nothing to do with increasing the chance of an overtaking. It was introduced (only?) because the Formula-1 has to express an environment friendly image, and recycling the energy seemed to be fine for shutting the “greens” mouth. In fact, I can’t remember too much overtakes the KERS teams performed, except for the starts of the races, however, they are almost impossible to pass, so I absolutley agree with you Prisoner Monkeys!
And saving money with KERS? Some teams have developed it for heavy millions of euros, but never used, and they won’t ever need it neither this year, nor in 2010.
Another interesting question, running 3 cars in 2010. I don’t think it’s possible, but just let’s play around with this idea. 13 teams means 26 cars, or 39 with 3 drivers… If you mess up the qualy, there’s no way to get past so many cars under the current conditions. I hope this won’t happen.
So my final conclusion is the importance of rain. Without rain, I can’t remember too many exciting races for the last about 5-6 years. So altering the calendar in order to held races with higher possibility of rain, Silverstone in March, or something like this…
Patrickl
17th August 2009, 12:33
The OWG suggested changes work just fine. Cars have shown that following each other closely is working much better.
The things hindering overtaking are indeed KERS and the qualifying format.
I’ll agree that they should continue to change the rules in an effort to reduce downforce to a maximum level. If they do nothing, downforce levels will simply go up again and overtaking will become virtually impossible as it was in 2007 and 2008.
Massa in the car in Italy seem utterly insane to me. I hope Ferrari and the doctors are not that stupid that they would risk Massa’s health if he’s not absolutely ready to go.
TommyB
17th August 2009, 16:10
Why is the qualifying format bad for overtaking?
Patrickl
17th August 2009, 16:36
It puts the cars in the order of race pace.
TommyB
17th August 2009, 16:45
Ok thanks,
I can’t wait for the qualifying to go back to being light fuel. The results in the first to sessions are much more random then the final qualifying.
It’s a shame strategy runs everything now – I like seeing a driver HAVE to overtake as part of his strategy which is why Hamilton is so great to watch :)
mailman
17th August 2009, 13:42
The Hungarian Grand Prix treated us to three genuine overtaking moves and next up is the European Grand Prix in Valencia, a race that served up all of four passes on its début last year.
Here’s a great article on Overtaking from Pitlane Fanatic
http://www.pitlanefanatic.com/blog/index.php/436/f1-overtaking-analysis/
TommyB
17th August 2009, 15:14
Get rid of the double decker diffusers.
JOB DONE
Patrickl
17th August 2009, 16:44
Obviously KERS is a much bigger issue. It’s been mostly Kovalainen, Massa and Alonso (in the first races) holding people up.
TommyB
17th August 2009, 17:05
KERS should either be on every car or no cars. They should also not allow it to be used all the time. There should be less of it so cars can’t just use it on every straight
PJA
18th August 2009, 8:48
Massa is targeting the Brazilian GP as his comeback
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77739
It’s more realistic than Italy but I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t race till next season.
Viggen47
18th August 2009, 22:36
Anyone said anything on wider tracks ?
Bartholomew
20th August 2009, 3:37
That will only produce more races in Arabia and the rice fields.
VXR
19th August 2009, 15:01
The updated 2010 regulations are seemingly to continue with KERS.So maybe more in the way of overtaking opportunities there.
PJA
19th August 2009, 17:21
I am correct in thinking the FIA never said it would ban KERS it was just the teams agreed amongst themselves they would all drop it for 2010?
VXR
19th August 2009, 18:03
So we shouldn’t be too surprised if someone interprets the rules a bit differently.
VXR
19th August 2009, 18:07
You would also have thoght that since the teams have had so much say in the regulations that they would have made sure that any ‘little’ loopholes would be tied up for good.
VXR
19th August 2009, 15:03
A link.
VXR
19th August 2009, 18:59
Autosport also question why the KERS regulations have been left in.