Sauber will place a message for the people of Japan on their car at the first race, following the loss of life in last week’s earthquake and tsunami.
Links
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
Helpless but hopeful – a message in Japanese (Sauber)
“As a small gesture the two Sauber C30-Ferraris of Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio P?â?®rez will carry a message in Japanese during the weekend of the Grand Prix in Melbourne, 25th to 27th March: ?ª?åÔÇÿ?úÔé¼ÔǪ?ú?ü?«?º?Ñ?å?úÔÇÜ?á?úÔé¼?ü?ªÔÇö?Ñ?ª?ô?¼?ú?ü?½?Ñ???á?ú?ü?ì?ú?ü?¥?ú?üÔäó?úÔÇÜ?å?ú?üÔÇá?ú?ü?½?úÔé¼ÔÇÜThis literal translation of this is: ‘May our prayers reach the people in Japan.'”
Sauber 2011 F1 season preview (Youtube)
A short video looking ahead to Sauber’s season:
F1 could eradicate high noses (Autosport)
“Nose-to-wheel science is solved. There are very definite parameters by which these contacts do not cause a launch. The knowledge exists, so it just needs to be eradicated.”
BAFTA success for “F1 2010”, the videogame (F1)
“F1 2010, the first multi-format, high-definition Formula One videogame from Codemasters, has won a prestigious GAME British Academy Video Games Award.”
Happy Birthday Italy! (Ferrari)
Luca di Montezemolo: “Representing Italy on the race tracks and the car markets around the world is a reason for all the men and women who work at Ferrari to feel proud.”
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Comment of the day
Sasquatsch is not convinced by Bernie Ecclestone’s complaint about the new engine rules:
What was wrong with the sound of the 1.5-litre BMW 4-cylinder turbo of the eighties? I have heard it for real attending Grand Prix. And these engines gave 1,000-plus horsepower so I don’t see a real problem here.
Besides, F1 needs to go greener if it still wants to be the pinnacle of motorsports in ten-plus years. The Le Mans Series is going greener (with hybrid engines) and is attracting the attention of car manufacturers which left Formula 1 (Toyota, Honda), so I think that is the way to go.
And KERS does not make F1 greener, the way it is used. It is used as a supplement (power boost) and not as a replacement of fossil fuel. Only when it is used as a replacement (like the Toyota Prius hybrid car) it will make the F1 greener than it is today.
Sasquatsch
From the forum
VettelS asks is ten teams too few?
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On this day in F1
A mid-race deluge failed to keep Michael Schumacher from winning the Malaysian Grand Prix ten years ago today.
Image © Sauber F1 Team
US_Peter (@us_peter)
18th March 2011, 0:22
Glad to see that Sauber will have that on their cars.
Only a little more than an hour and one week, until the first free practice of 2011!!! I can hardly wait. Counting the hours now.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
18th March 2011, 0:28
Only a little more than an hour and one week, and I’ll get to see/hear/smell all of the new cars before you! :P I can’t wait either.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
18th March 2011, 0:35
I’m happy for you, I really am.
*turns around and curses damonsmedley*
Hare
18th March 2011, 1:56
I equally share in your joy…
*stamps foot and curses Providence*
Scottie
18th March 2011, 2:47
yep, I’ll be at the (now toned down) turn 9 as usual! hairs on the back of my neck raise as I hear the cars screaming around the track for the first time!
BasCB
18th March 2011, 6:33
I bet you cant. Enjoy it with the sun and the rain falling down at the start of the race (wishfull thinking?)
I am looking forward to seeing your write up of the race afterwards ;-)
Ninad
18th March 2011, 3:58
Cant wait for season to start.
sato113 (@sato113)
18th March 2011, 10:56
you can tell from that video how sad Kobayashi is feeling…
Leon
18th March 2011, 15:04
Yep…good to see Sauber solidarity with
with Kobayashi and his homeland. Must be
pretty tough for the guy to be away from
Japan while all the terrible pictues on
TV have been filling every screen in
sight. The whole Island of Honshu
has jumped 8 feet to the east !
Pretty humbling.
mcmercslr (@mcmercslr)
18th March 2011, 0:26
On the subject of cars being greener, the cars are easy targets and so the regs will change because people don’t see what else goes on in f1. The cars account for a very small amount it the total emissions of the whole of f1. The rest is from freight and cargo. Somehow this should be changed for the better. Maybe by adjusting the f1 calendar to the most logical order so theres no flying backwards and forwards. Then look at how the trucks can be altered to be greener.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
18th March 2011, 0:31
Exactly. I wonder how the current engines measure up against standard road cars? I’m sure there wouldn’t be a huge difference in the emissions. But F1 races are only every two weekends for under two hours. The rest is, as you say, logistics and freight.
Burnout
18th March 2011, 5:17
I remember reading somewhere that the 2004 V10s produced the most power per kilogram of fuel burned among all naturally aspirated internal combustion engines of that time. I guess the current V8s should be close too.
While there is a case for pushing towards greener engine regs, I agree with mcmercslr. The FIA needs to make a more rational calendar instead of jetting around many times to the same parts of the world.
BasCB
18th March 2011, 6:41
Very recently Pat Symonds reminded in a radio interview, that the current F1 engines are far more efficient than road car material. Just they have to push the car through immensive drag to go to great speeds, so the power is used for that.
BasCB
18th March 2011, 6:38
Actually probably the biggest thing is the fans going to the tracks as well as running those Windtunnels and CFD supercomputers.
I agree, make it a logical roundtrip. Take care to go to GPs where there is public transport (Melbourne, Singapore, Montreal, …), are you working on that Tavo?
And then slowly cut down on windtunnel and CFD or at least make them slurp less engergy. I suppose cutting down on the carbon fibre use would help as well (very much engery goes into cooling and heating) but that is probably NOT the way to go.
Cooling the buildings and isolating them (I like what McLaren does there) would also help no end.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
18th March 2011, 0:38
Fantastic idea! Here is a simulation of the difference it will make. Seems a lot safer to me. :P
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
18th March 2011, 0:41
And another…
Bernard
18th March 2011, 1:51
Indeed, it’s illogical (and downright inaccurate) to suggest cars won’t go airborne with lower noses.
Anything coming into contact with a rotating object will itself be rotated in the opposite direction.
As long as F1 remains open wheeled there will always be the possibility of going airborne upon contact.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZy-tPkZ3W4
Hamish
18th March 2011, 3:45
Exactly. Look how low the nose was in Gilles Villenueves car.
gabal (@gabal)
18th March 2011, 6:39
I completely agree, it is wheel over wheel that makes cars go airborne, not high or low noses.
tmfox
18th March 2011, 9:28
Patrese had a similar accident to Webber in Portugal going up behind Berger. Not sure they were going at the same speed though so the crash was less dramatic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e5A55atmAc
BasCB
18th March 2011, 6:44
Just Yesterday I watched a replay of the flying lap where Windsor had Derek Daly. He reported about his big start crash in Monaco in 1982? (not sure which it was).
Him flying over two cars was described as “the tyres carried me conveyor belt like”. Certainly they had low noses then.
Not sure what to make of it.
bosyber (@bosyber)
18th March 2011, 7:00
So reading the actual article, I was happy to see that apparently they have a good “theoretical”/empirical understanding of the issues involved.
And near the end of the text, it says “Rather than banning high noses total, it is suggested that changes could be made to the design of the front wings so that they help keep the nose down in the event of a collision with a rear wheel.” which rather contradicts that provoking title, but seems to otherwise make a lot of sense.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
18th March 2011, 8:48
I can only assume that’s something aerodynamic, which will be futile when the front wing is no longer attached to the car. There’s nothing you really can do to prevent it. Let’s just be thankful it only happens around once per every 5-10 years. I think they’d be better off making sure there’s no ridiculously dangerous solid metal advertising hoardings hanging over the track. If Webber had hit one of those with his head, we’d have had a Massa Hungary 2009 situation. There’s also a helicopter pad on a bridge over the race track in Singapore that is at around the same height Webber peaked at in Valencia, but that would be a little bit of a painful operation to fix. I think that Webber was lucky he only grazed the fence whilst in mid-air in Valencia. As far as I’m concerned, the worst possible case scenario for an accident is the one Villeneuve found himself in during the 2001 Australian Grand Prix. But even then, he was lucky the car was mostly stopped by the concrete barrier below. If the car had gone into the catch fencing, there may have been more than one marshal in trouble.
Maciek
18th March 2011, 7:55
All true to an extent, but just because cars with low noses have gone airborne doesn’t mean that the probability of them doing so isn’t lower than for high-nosed cars.
chris sz
18th March 2011, 1:14
i’m wondering if the japanese GP is in question at the moment?
George (@george)
18th March 2011, 18:02
I doubt it, Suzuka is well south of the affected area, and I imagine they could use all the money they can get.
Hare
18th March 2011, 1:27
Re COTC… Ferrari is the problem. Their cars don’t do 1.4 || 1.6 with turbos.
Hare
18th March 2011, 1:34
If they did a moped it might have 1.6 with turbo..
BasCB
18th March 2011, 6:50
To be honest, Withmarsh also said, that using 1.6 l turbo engines was not really something for the sportscars and top end cars as well.
That was where he expessed his doubts over weather McLaren would do its own engine (althoug a lot of media reported they actually might, as he did not say they certainly wouldn’t).
He is right for as far as cars like the McLaren and Ferrari are conserned. But Fiat/Chrystler, VW, Mercedes, BMW, Toyota and Honda etc. are all pretty much interested in these engines for all but their top line cars.
By the way, I bet a Ferrari moped with 1.6 turbo engine would sell like nothing befor!
Don Mateo
18th March 2011, 9:32
And Renault don’t make cars with V8 engines. The point really is that F1 is a technical showcase for manufacturers, to show that they can use the latest technology to build competitive racing cars, but there doesn’t necessarily have to be a direct link to their road cars.
I agree that a 1.6l 4-cyl turbo isn’t a Ferrari kind of engine, but just like everyone else Ferrari will have to start downsizing the engines in their road cars and probably have to move to forced induction for them as well, so it’s not like they have nothing to learn from doing it in F1.
In any case, F1 is about being a technological showcase, part of that can be extracting the maximum potential from a tiny engine.
Mike
18th March 2011, 12:42
I hate that explanation of what F1 is… And people keep saying it…
If that is what F1 is, why is Williams racing?
Although, what is F1 is almost as asking what is the meaning of life?
Perhaps F1=42…
Don Mateo
18th March 2011, 13:13
Fair point, what I should have said is that the technical showcase bit is one aspect of it, and I imagine one of the more important ones for motor manufacturers.
Williams though have used it as a technical showcase – they’ve used it to sell their (admittedly unraced) flywheel KERS system to other companies.
Burnout (@burnout)
18th March 2011, 12:50
Plus it’s not like Ferrari never made turbocharged road cars. The 288 GTO and the F40 had turbo engines after all.
Griggs
18th March 2011, 2:19
@hare are you a programmer by any chance?
Scottie
18th March 2011, 2:45
That Malaysian race in 2001 was awesome to watch :) loved seeing Ross Brawn’s mind tick over with both cars sitting in the pits… then anihalating the feild on track!
verstappen
18th March 2011, 8:19
Yeah, I watched those clips again. Brilliant stuff!
Jos was flying!
wasiF1
18th March 2011, 7:24
7 days is what we are counting back.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
18th March 2011, 7:26
The V4 argument is in many ways similar to the DRS arguments we’ve just been having. A lot of it is driven by misplaced romanticism. The only problem with the new engines is that they will purposefully produce less power, but you could have seen that regulation coming even if we went back to V12s.
People keep saying they want F1 to be at the cutting edge of technology, then complain when F1 helps develop a new technology because it was somehow better in the old days (but conveniently, not the old old days).
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
18th March 2011, 7:46
th Sasquatsch’s COTD on BE spouting off about engines. He may have a successor come 2013 anyway ;)
Great idea from Sauber too.
Calum
18th March 2011, 7:49
I thought it started today…… Feel my pain when I realsied t’s still 7 days away. :(
Guess it’s a good job I didn’t get up early to watch FP1!!
Mike
18th March 2011, 12:43
I feel for you man…
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
18th March 2011, 7:49
Also agree with Itchyes…technology is just as much about efficiency as well as RPM being sky high.
SiY
18th March 2011, 14:18
For tomorrow’s round-up: an excellent Tweet by @antdavidson this morning: http://twitter.com/#!/antdavidson/status/48600466396946432
dj
18th March 2011, 15:51
Proving money can still buy you a ride in F1