Red Bull exploit “loophole” in diffuser rules

F1 Fanatic round-up

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Mark Webber, Red Bull, Jerez, 2011

In today’s round-up: a “loophole” in the diffuser regulations is key to Red Bull’s performance.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Red Bull Racing Creates More Downforce From Single Diffuser (The Race Driver)

F1 Fanatic on Twitter

“The F1 Fanatic Predictions Championship will be running again this year, getting the prizes sorted at the moment, full details next week.”

Via the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app

Pirelli eyeing GP Friday testing (Autosport)

“If we go ahead with the idea of using FP1 [first free practice] we would give each team a couple of sets of a new proposal tyre and they can use them then.”

No reason for Mercedes to panic, says Fry (Reuters)

“The car did have some cooling issues and has been running with a very sub-optimal cooling package and aerodynamic package, and that is [worth] a significant amount of [lap] time. [And] we went in [to testing] with a slightly different strategy of having what we called the basic car to start with and what we think will be a significant upgrade for the first race.”

Slow start for Williams F1 float (The Financial Times)

Adam Parr: “I have explained our strategy to people. The fluctuations of the share price today are completely irrelevant. We have accomplished our mission by placing 20 per cent of the business with really good institutions.”

Rosberg picks up Bandini trophy (Crash)

“Mercedes Grand Prix man Nico Rosberg has won the illustrious Bandini trophy.”

Half points, pay; full excitement at Texas (IndyCar)

“The field for the second race will be set by blind draw.” Hopefully this is one IndyCar idea F1 won’t borrow.

Ayrton’s first test (McLaren)

“During that first run for the team, he set a lap time faster than one of its regular race drivers, John Watson. Further tests for other teams would follow on merit of him going faster than Watson practically as soon as he jumped in the car.”

Korea F1 lowers ticket prices (The Korea Herald)

“One big change from last year’s event is that the local organizer has reduced ticket prices by 30 percent from the previous season.”

Andrew Benson on Twitter

“Spoken to Paul Stewart regarding Jackie – he’s ‘fine’ and resting at home. Doctors happy his collapse on a flight on Wednesday was ‘not a major thing’.”

Via the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app

Jenson Button – Head and Shoulders [French Ad]

Thanks to Motorace_Addict for the tip

Massa on track in Riyadh (Ferrari)

“The track is very interesting and fun, so I hope I get a further opportunity to drive here. At the moment, our work in the build up to the start of the World Championship is intense and so we have to get back to base soon.”

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Comment of the day

Red Andy doesn’t believe McLaren are ‘sandbagging’:

It’s worth nothing that in the Dictionary of F1 Phrases, "sandbagging" is defined thus:

sand.bag, v. To travel slowly for reasons the team isn’t prepared to admit to.

Example: "That McLaren is two seconds off the pace. They must be sandbagging."
Red Andy

From the forum

Bernie Ecclestone’s rubbish idea #10683: Artificial rain

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

The last fatality at an F1 race occurred on this day ten years ago.

Marshal Graham Beveridge died after he was struck by a wheel following a crash involving Jacques Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher.

See this article for more:

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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62 comments on “Red Bull exploit “loophole” in diffuser rules”

  1. Hopefully this is one IndyCar idea F1 won’t borrow.

    Could be worse – V8 Supercars used to have a ridiculous system of one qualifying session for two races. If you qualified on pole, you started on pole for both races. So if you blew it in the race and slipped down to 18th, there was no penalty; you’d start Race 2 from pole. Likewise, if you had a shocking qualifying session and managed to claw your way back up through the field, you’d have to do it all over again the next day.

    Fortunately they changed it when it proved to be unanimously unpopular among teams, drivers and fans. Last time I checked, they had a preliminary qualifying session with the top ten getting a final shoot-out run afterwards for the Saturday race (seriously, Formula 1, do this: whittle the field down to ten drivers as you do now, then give those ten drivers one final flying lap), and then one all-in twenty-minute session for Sundays. Although I’ve heard they’re only doing the shootout at the marquee events this year.

    1. They also had reverse grids for a while too, which usually led to a lot of carnage on the tracks. I think it was only for the second race in a three race weekend though.

      1. and normally at tracks like canberra.. which lets just say, didn’t really work that well

        1. Canberra was a bad idea from the start. It was an absolute joke. I was looking at videos of the circuit the other day, and the circuit was barely wide enough to fit two cars side-by-side on the start line. And the start line was practically on top of the first corner, so there was no time for the drivers to sort themselves out a little.

    2. Well you should see what they are doing with the V8 Supercars at the Australian Grand Prix, a complete joke in my opinion.

      http://www.grandprix.com.au/latest-news/format-shake-up-for-v8-supercars-at-albert-park/

      1. That has to be a joke… surely.

        I hope the poll sitter refuses to draw the stupid token. Here’s a token to figure out if your deserved poll position equates to a starting position of 8th (at best) or 20th.

        1. You do realise that the Albert Park race is a non-championship event, right? The drivers don’t score any points (Bernie doesn’t like it – and understandably so – when people buy tickets to the Grand Prix just to watch the V8s). While all the drivers still want to win, it’s treated as a little bit of fun. It’s a chance to show off a little, and the category is no stranger to reverse-grid races. They were standard a few years ago. The idea behind randomising the number of cars to be reversed is simple: it stops the drivers from sandbagging in qualifying to try and get a better grid position when the grid is reversed. A driver can’t afford to aim for 18th on the grid if the pole-sitter draws the number 13 from the bag. It’s to encourage them to go flat out. Even if the provisional pole-sitter can only hope for 8th on the grid at best, V8 Supercars are so close that this is not a disadvantage. A driver in 8th can easily win a race.

          1. I realise that, I just have a fundamental problem with randomising qualifying order for ‘intrigue and excitement’. Either you draw it out of a hat, or you qualify. Even in a non-championship round, it’s just cheap.

            While it’s no stranger to reverse grids, they were removed because they were not popular, and didn’t really do anything for the racing. Compared to F1 overtaking and exciting racing is definitely not a problem.

            Also the best position to qualify is 10th, as it has the highest odds (12/13, 92%) of making the shootout. Once there you actually get your final position on merit. Poll sitter actually only has a 23% chance of making the shootout.

          2. I didn’t realise that and that makes it a bit more sensible now, well not sensible but makes it a bit of fun.

          3. I agree Toro Stevo. Doesn’t matter that isn’t a championship race, it should still be proper race. Some people are still actually paying money to see them (not me), and they deserve a proper race, rather than a show.

            For me all it does it reaffirm my decision to find something else to do while the V8 Supercars are on.

    3. I know I’m facing a strong opposition, but as a one race one-off system I like the blind draw. It lends more variety to the package and builds up the expectation among fans, teams and drivers. Good as a one-off arrangement.

      And it isn’t nearly as crazy as Bernie’s artificial rain idea!

  2. another Head and shoulders ad with Button-
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeP1oe95qYE

    1. I’d shake my head, but I’m worried my dandruff would fall out.

      … I’ll just tut

    2. Sush Meerkat
      4th March 2011, 6:57

      Oh dear, that was embarrassing, well at least Jenson’s long lost brother is a cool happening guy.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8YDZKTvWMw

    3. Those ads really are awful.

  3. i laughed heartily as soon as i read the title of this round-up. well, of course they have! like any other good team, they were given an inch, and took a foot.

    1. they were given an inch

      2 inches actually…either side ;-)

  4. That crash was intense! Was thinking about it the other day actually.

    hopeflly it’s the last, but it’s a dangerous sport :(

  5. UKfanatic (@)
    4th March 2011, 1:00

    why am I certain that Ferrari did the same too in the last year ferrari worked their diffuser alot and they have the bad fame of having flexi double floors so they too may have a similar design i hope some team have it cause if an old spec double diff is worth a sec f1 may see an red bull domination insted of a red horse one

  6. Forget about RB’s loophole, and Indy’s ridiculous random draw, that video about Senna model 1983 is simply amazing! Shows that he was ,first and foremost, a great personality way before he got to F1, not just a great driver! and the way he knew exactly what he wanted and how he wanted it… Seriously I’ve never seen a young driver before he even got to formula 1 with such maturity. Guess that’s why he’s one of a kind. Thank you for this Keith!

    1. Also interesting that he didn’t bow for Bernie and went to Toleman.

      And yes, it’s incredible to hear him telling about what it takes to win races and where he expects to be with the Toleman.

      To me not the champion of champions ;-), but what a personality!

      1. Also interesting that he didn’t bow for Bernie

        That was mainly because Piquet wouldn’t have him there.

        1. Senna was also less than impressed by Piquet, who’d ignored Senna when the younger driver had gone to introduce himself. Piquet apparently left Senna in little doubt that there wouldn’t be any Brazilian solidarity on the grid…

    2. Agree, nice to see FW walking, hasn’t changed a bit otherwise as well!

      It also shows how hard it was. Bernie wanted to put him down for 10 years in advance, FW and Ron wanted him to prove himselves. Toleman probalby couldn’t have imagined getting a better chance.

  7. Red Bull Racing Creates More Downforce From Single Diffuser using a loop hole, part of the brain of Adrain Newey that says I want to have the fastest car on the grid.

    1. As a McLaren fan, I’d love to see him back at McLaren.

      But seriously, how long before ferrari ask him to name his price to go there to finish his career.

      And it would be name your price.

      1. Yes his combination with the Mclaren team was great, I doubt that whether Red Bull will let him go the team is all about his & Horner, he is the most experience in the team.

  8. OFF TROPIC

    Can anyone help me with the link which tells us the top 20 commentators on this blog over the last 30 days.

    Thanks

    1. DeadManWoking
      4th March 2011, 2:37

      Community Menu at the top:
      Commenting on F1 Fanatic

      1. Jeebus. Bas has 874! I thought I was terrible …

        1. Yes but they’re short and sweet. :)

        2. Yesterday is said about a hundred more!

          But on word count you probably beat both Hare and me without even blinking an eye ;-) (and on insults, but lets not get into an argument).

  9. Why is this interview of Bernie Ecclestone not mentioned in today’s round-up?
    http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2011/3/11783.html

    Is it because he said

    In the life of every successful Formula One driver comes the moment when he wants to sit in a Ferrari.

    1. Because it was linked to on the site when it was published three days ago:

      https://www.racefans.net/2011/03/01/ecclestone-targets-summer-break-slot-bahrain/

      1. Zing!

        Nice to see you show up those that see bias where there is very little…

    2. If I were a successful Formula 1 driver, I would not want to sit in a Ferrari. I would, however, consider strategically sitting on a Ferrari at some point before a race to bend a suspsnsion wishbone or two …

      1. Agreed. And then climbing into my McLaren!!

      2. :)
        One way of being successful would be to drive a Ferrari.

  10. Does that TFL lap give any insight to the actual loop hole? Watched most of it the other day but missed that bit.

    I really do hope Mercedes pull their finger out this year.

    This new mobile site is brilliant! :D

    1. This new mobile site is brilliant! :D

      Apart from finally having the only thing good about mobile sites (the “Exit and go to the proper site” button), no, not really.

      But thanks for making it optional!

      1. Ha, didn’t realise I could get back to the normal one-thanks!

        1. Think the button needs to be a bit more prominent on the mobile site?

    2. Thanks Andrew – still a lot of things on the ‘to-do’ list though including getting comments replies working properly.

  11. I recently found some more pictures taken from the Golden Age of F1 photography exhibition Keith had a competition for. I thought I’d share it to give people an idea of how it looked.
    And yes, that is me

    1. Keith had a photo competition? Who took the photographs that were in the competition?

      That’s pretty cool.

    2. I bet the pictures are great, but the surroundings look damn ugly! Is it an art gallery or a warehouse??

      1. It was both – a gallery/trendy bar in an old warehouse in the middle of Camden market. It was worth going to but there weren’t a huge number of photos on display and some of the captions were unhelpful or just plain wrong.

  12. Red Bull doing a Brawn by finding loopholes in diffuser regs which were never going to work properly :s

    Jenson doesn’t say anything :( At least I know some French.

    1. How long will it take to copy? Has anyone else exploited it.. i.e Ferrari as they seem to be the closest to RBR.

      1. I’m actually confused as to what Ferrari are doing with their exhausts. Have they gone down the Renault route or the RB route? or do they have something completely different planned?

        1. I think something a bit similar to Red Bull, possibly alternating with just blowing the starter hole and over the top depending on track.

          Scrabs thinks Mclaren are also blowing the floor in that outer 5cm range somewhere, so it seems to be the route to take.
          Renaults solution seems to big of a risk for Ferrari to take.

  13. Well Bah Humbug LosD! I like it!

  14. Not really a ‘loophole’ is it? It’s not like most other teams couldn’t do something similar with their exhaust and floor before the start of the season, assuming that they thought the effort would be worthwhile in the first place.

    I feel that the Red Bull is faster, or probably faster, for reasons other than this particular ‘loophole’.

    1. And it’s not like this loophole has just been discovered. Craig Scarborough already mentioned this “loophole” months ago.

      I think that’s the point though. He (Craig) found the loophole and thinks it’s a huge one. Just like last year when he claimed to have found the secret of Red Bull’s success in qualifying in the retarded firing. Which neither seemed to explain “the secret” at all.

  15. Morning Keith. Just thought I’d let you know, if you didn’t already, there’s a programme called ‘The Changing Worlds of Formula 1’ on the World Service at 8.05pm (UK time) covering ‘the financial restraints in Europe and the volatile situation in the Middle East’ – looks interesting.

  16. Well, my fellow F1Fs, I am off to Canada for a week. I bought the new Bernie book for reading material. Toronto here I come!

    1. But that is the wrong season!
      It said go to Australia now, and to Canada later, not the other way around :-(

    2. Have fun and take care!

  17. What is it with Brawn getting his cooling wrong, shouldn’t he have learned with the Brawn GP car when they had to cut some emergency holes in the body work.

  18. http://www.ferrari.com/English/Formula1/News/Headlines/Pages/110304_F1_The_Horse_Whisperer_The_name_changes_but_not_the_sense.aspx

    So now it’s the Ferrari 150° Italia? Is that a record for the most name changes a F1 car has ever had?

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