Hope you all enjoyed the race weekend. Have you rated the race yet?
Here’s today’s round-up:
Links
Heidfeld linked with Sauber return (Autosport)
"Nick Heidfeld is on the verge of an early return to Formula 1 this season, with sources suggesting that he is close to a deal that could see him drive for Sauber from the Singapore Grand Prix.
"It is understood that if a deal is agreed then Sauber may move Pedro de la Rosa aside for the final flyaway events – with Kamui Kobayashi’s place at the team secure now that he has a contract with the outfit for 2011."
Lotus to adopt Team Lotus name (Autosport)
"Lotus will adopt the famous Team Lotus name from next year, in a deal that is set to be announced at the Singapore Grand Prix.
"Rather than operate under the Lotus Racing banner as part of a tie-up with the car company, the team will switch to the Team Lotus moniker that it last raced with in F1. It is understood that current Lotus owner Tony Fernandes purchased the rights to the name from its former owner David Hunt."
Unsafe release? You can say that again (James Allen on F1)
"The Hispania team has been fined $20,000 for an unsafe release from the pit stop of Sakon Yamamoto this afternoon in which a team member was injured."
McLaren looks beyond cars with new £40m facility (The Telegraph)
"McLaren, maker of championship-winning Formula One cars and £650,000 road-going “hyper” cars, has made a £780m bet that it can cut it in mainstream manufacturing.
"Such is the company’s confidence that it claims that the setting up of an all-new British car company is only the tip of its ambition. Even before its new car factory is finished, McLaren is already working with the healthcare and sports industries and has set its sights on aerospace."
Bernie Ecclestone Comes to Sofia to Discuss F1 (Standart)
"Bernie Ecclestone, President and CEO of F1, will come to Bulgaria next week to discuss the Sofia Grand Prix project with representatives of the government. This emerged after Ecclestone’s meeting with Bulgaria’s economy minister Traycho Traykov in the Italian city of Monza.
"On August 30, Minister Traykov and Abu Dhabi’s AEBG signed a memorandum for cooperation on the construction of an F1 track near Sofia."
Hamilton, Humphrey, Hamilton (YouTube)
F1 test drive for Rio Haryanto (GP3 Series.com)
"Indonesian Rio Haryanto, 17, has won one of the most prestigious prizes in a single junior motorsport formula – a test drive in a Virgin Racing VR-01 Formula 1 car."
COOPER: Thriller At Monza (Speed)
"In recent years the Italian GP hasn’t always been the most exciting of the season, but there’s every chance that tomorrow’s race will be a thriller, with things finely poised between the three top teams. It’s a reflection of this rollercoaster season that the two guys on the front row both failed to score in the last race in Spa after being eliminated by accidents, and yet they have bounced back to put themselves in prime positions to get some big points tomorrow.
"Bernie Ecclestone could hardly have written a better script. Just days after the controversial Ferrari team orders verdict emerged from Paris, Fernando Alonso gave the Italian team its first pole of the year – and right in front of a delighted company President Luca di Montezemolo, who made his usual regal appearance in the paddock."
BUXTON: Monza Delivers Vision Of Future (Speed)
"Esteban Gutierrez is a name which, if you haven’t already, I would heavily suggest you commit to memory. The recently turned 19 year old and 2008 European Formula BMW champion has already tested Formula One machinery courtesy of BMW, and at 09:15 on Saturday morning a lap of sublime timing and execution landed the Mexican with the most important pole position of his life. For the two points that came along with that pole handed him the inaugural GP3 Series crown."
Michael Schumacher may quit F1, says Eddie Jordan (BBC F1)
"Michael Schumacher is thinking about pulling out of Formula 1 at the end of this season, according to BBC Sport pundit Eddie Jordan."
Comment of the day
One of Sakon Yamamoto’s HRT mechanics was knocked down and injured during his pit stop during the Italian Grand Prix. The team were subsequently fined $20,000 for releasing the car unsafely during their pit stop.
Feynman says:
I am not talking about a self-satirising nannified Health & Safety state, but anytime I worked on a live source, I was careful, knew what I was doing?óÔé¼?ªand most importantly I didn’t have my back turned to someone with a lollipop that could at any moment energise a potentially lethal power source.
During the refuelling years, it was utterly reckless and negligent that F1 did not have a cutout sensor which engaged and disengaged with the nozzle to prevent the car leaving while people were working. F1 cars should have a mandatory LockOut procedure anytime anyone other than the tyre guys have to work on a car. When the chief-mechanic sees that all his men are back behind the line, he can disengage the cutout.
It then doesn’t matter what lollipop men, already too busy watching tyres and pitlane traffic, or what over-keen drivers jumping the gun do, no-one is going anywhere till the car is clear. The switches cost a buck apiece, wired into the standard ECU. Or do the FIA (Make Roads Safe) want to wait till we get something even more painful to watch?
Feynman
From the archives
How F1 can make pit stops safer
Happy birthday!
No F1 Fanatic birthdays today. If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.
On this day in F1
Happy birthday Kamui Kobayashi – the Sauber driver was born on this day in 1986.
Kobayashi made his F1 debut at the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix for Toyota, standing in for an injured Timo Glock, who was injured during qualifying for the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix.
He has since made a huge impression on the Formula One world, with highlights including finishing sixth at the British Grand Prix and his clever tyre choice and later move on Fernando Alonso to finish seventh at the European Grand Prix. But he has also failed to finish seven out of the 14 races so far this season, including this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
Kobayashi has just confirmed he will stay at Sauber for the 2011 season.
John H
13th September 2010, 0:27
Richard Feynman still speaks a lot of sense!
I can’t help thinking though it doesn’t seem that long since we were praising lollipop men ahead of, for example, traffic lights that were operated by a separate mechanic… although there wasn’t a lock out of course.
The best simple move to make things safer could be just to have less people allowed to work around the car. If Yamamoto’s radio breaks in future, well they just have to live with it.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
13th September 2010, 0:46
a bit like Indy? yeah, it could do the trick well…
less people on the pitlane would certainly cut the risk of injuries… as there’s less people in potential danger.
maybe they could draw a line along the pit, so all the pit crew has to be on one side and can start working on the car just after it stopped completely.
So no one is at risk of being knocked down because the driver failed to stop.
Mike-e
13th September 2010, 1:33
or they could make the car stationary for a mandatory period of time, so the mechanics are not rushed…. Say 20 seconds. Everything is equilised so its all about the racing, and the team can also take their time, make sure the wheels aren’t going to fall off and bounce down the pitlane and also make sure everybody is clear.
Just a thought?
John H
13th September 2010, 13:29
I think that’s a bad idea. Pit stops should be part of the race, they always have been in F1 and are part of the drama.
As Ferrari showed yesterday, practicing your pit stops win races. It was quite tense seeing where he would come out in relation to Jenson.
Having a mandatory time would take the uncertainty out of such situations.
f1yankee
13th September 2010, 1:42
mclaren moving into other industries seems quite logical to me. they (dennis) have accumulated a vast amount of resources of all types, and i’m sure little of it is fully utilized by the f1 program. sports equipment, medical equipment and aerospace should be right up their alley, and i’m kind of surprised it’s only happening now.
DGR-F1
13th September 2010, 10:55
Or has it only just occured to the media that McLaren might have more up their sleeves than just motor racing? Considering that just like Williams, they only have one aim at the end of the day, and have to do other things to support it?
Has nobody else noticed the industrial park around their new headquarters? Has everyone forgotten their tie-ins with BMW, Mercedes and Dodge? Or the fact that McLaren designers also design other cars?
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
13th September 2010, 3:28
A Bulgarian Grand Prix? I thought that was dead in the water. I recall the orgaisers were looking for government support; they got some land set aside, but no financial aid, and the project was supposedly abandoned. The it was claimed Abu Dhabi would be funding it, but the Emirates were reportedly so insensed by those comments that they claimed they were reconsidering all of their funding to Bulgaria.
I’ve also heard that the government in Sofia set aside an old Soviet-era airfield for the Grand Prix. Airfield circuits are generally flat because airfields themselves are, but Silverstone has proved that airfield circuits can be fantastic. One one of the flattest circuits on the calendar, and also the best. If Bulgaria goes ahead, it could be Hermann Tilke’s first real test of his next-generation “on the edge” circuits, unless Ecclestone can convince the Bulgarians that they should set aside some hilly land to be Tilke’s next playground.
bosyber
13th September 2010, 14:57
I seem to recall reading somewhere last week that there was an investigation going on, and arrests had been made for corruption in connection with a Bulgarian GP – maybe Eccelstone has been asked to “help the police” with the investigation?
Chippie
13th September 2010, 16:24
I reckon this is one giant red herring, Bernie is actively trying to cut one or two European circuits from the calender to make way for Inida, Austin, Russia and Rome.
Bulgaria? Really, it’s not a market which Bernie would be interested in, plus the Hungarian GP is already the token ‘eastern European’ entry. If the Bulgarian GP happens in the next decade I will eat mud.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
13th September 2010, 4:10
Happy Birthday Kobayashi!
Very interesting news about Sauber. I feel bad for De La Rosa, but it would be VERY interesting to see Heidfeld back in a car.
Love that Hamilton video. I’ve never been a fan of him personally, but he really does seem like a genuinely affable guy. He’s grown on me a lot lately.
So with India, Austin, and Rome all being added, Bulgaria would make it 23 races unless some current tracks start losing their deals. Let’s just hope it’s not any of the classics.
BasCB
13th September 2010, 8:20
Happy Birthday from me as well Kamui!
I don’t think it will go quite as fast with Nick Heidfeld. Pirelli will hardly want to release him quite so soon and i expect Mercedew would have something to say about such a deal as well.
Not to forget a lot of teams raising questions about Heidfeld’s inside knowledge of the Pirelli development.
mateuss
13th September 2010, 7:21
Anyones been fallowing Singapore weather recently? There has been quite a lot of thunderstorms lately, also in the time of the day the F1 sessions will take place, so if it stays like this it could be interesting, never mind the fact that there haven’t been an F1 wet race under artificial lights, but if a lightning strikes it could affect the lights. I know that the lights that run around the track have a separate source (and a backup generator, i think) from the main electricity circuit, but if a lightning hits near the lights, it definitely could affect them at least momentarily.
This is how the weather looks:
http://weather.msn.com/hourly.aspx?wealocations=wc:SNXX0006&q=Singapore,+SGP+forecast:hourly
Anyone local from Singapore? Could be interesting to hear more precise insight on the weather.
BasCB
13th September 2010, 8:21
Not to mention, that we have not yet seen any driving in the wet there.
I remember a lot of insiders being sceptical about the visibility with spray on track.
nik (@nik)
13th September 2010, 9:15
With equatorial weather patterns, storm pass very quickly. In Singapore it can go from stinky hot and humid, to a terrible thunderstorm and back to sticky hot and humid in the space of 30 minutes.
I have spent a lot of time in Singapore, and can’t recall there ever being a prolonged thunderstorm except in the wet season. If storms do come through during the race weekend, you can bet that they will just delay sessions for a little while until it clears.
I have walked most of the track, and they do have excellent water runoff and drainage. That said, the combination of standing water, spray, and being under lights should be interesting.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
13th September 2010, 7:22
Nice to hear that Nick will get drive for the remaining of the season.
2008 Italian Gp was a good one as well, just as 2009 & 2007.
I don’t Schumi will quit in 2010 he will race in 2011 not sure about 2012.
& at last Happy Birthday Kobayashi.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
13th September 2010, 7:31
It’s not that he will get the drive, more that he’s being considered for it.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
14th September 2010, 2:54
Now it is rumored that he may replace Dela Rosa for 2011.
BBT
13th September 2010, 7:27
Did anyone mention Vettels problem was a sticking brake, sorry if they did cos I missed it?
Nathan Bradley
13th September 2010, 10:01
Hi,
Does anybody know the URL of that website that was posted in one of the round ups? It was posted towards the end of July I think, although it could have been the start of August. It had a big archive of F1 videos, and the main titles were written in Bulgarian.
Any help much appreciated.
Thanks,
Nathan
matt88 (@matt88)
13th September 2010, 10:13
I’ve heard that Proton (owner of the Lotus Cars brand) want to sue Tony Fernandes for the Lotus name issue.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
13th September 2010, 11:31
I doubt that would happen. Proton is backed by the Malaysian government. Lotus Racing is backed by the Malaysian government. Any action would cancel the other out.
Jim N
13th September 2010, 14:44
That doesn’t sound right. Tony Fernades has always claimed that he has had Lotus Cars agreement right from day 1. The only Lotus name he didn’t have approval from was Team Lotus and he’s just bought that.
MacLeod
13th September 2010, 10:21
Hamilton on Schiphol
http://www.rtl.nl/components/actueel/rtlnieuws/miMedia/livestream/insc.xml
MacLeod
13th September 2010, 10:22
Sorry this is the live link wil start soon.
BasCB
13th September 2010, 11:31
Thanks for that link, nice idea again by Vodafone.
I did not quite get what that “facebook” car was and who was driving it though.
MacLeod
13th September 2010, 15:08
They wanted to show the internet speed so the car was the % upload to facebook compared with Lewis driving around. So a race between a real car and a virtual car.
MacLeod
13th September 2010, 15:11
http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/242562/hamilton-beats-virtual-car-in-amsterdam-airport-demo/ explains it much more.
BasCB
13th September 2010, 11:08
Autosport.com run a nice interview with Withmarsh on patting Lewis on te shoulder after the race in Monza and telling him to just keep racing as he does.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/86680
Icthyes (@icthyes)
13th September 2010, 11:11
Surely you’re joking, My Feynman?
(Sorry, I had to!)
I hated the traffic-lights system, but with no refuelling, combined with Richard’s idea and another sensor that would over-ride it if another car was coming too close behind, the idea could become viable. It would also sort out situations like China this year; if the systems were found to be working fine after a near-miss, the fault would obviously lie in something external, like Hamilton getting too much wheelspin on the wet pit-lane.
daykind
13th September 2010, 14:57
Happy birthday Kamui! Shame he couldn’t give himslef an early present with points yesterday.
Feelsorry for De la Rosa, I think he deserves another drive net year and it would be awful if Heidfeld came in at Singapore. Although i do like Heifeld, and had the 13th team been in in 2011, him or somebody like grosjean or Nakajima (two other people who deserve another chance) could have got a seat.
Chippie
13th September 2010, 16:26
Team Lotus are back Baby! Just in time for us to hit good form and re-establish the greatest rivalry in F1 history: Ferrari vs Lotus.
Adrian
13th September 2010, 21:19
Is there any more news on the HRT Mechanic?