In the round-up: The Dubai Autodrome could host pre-season testing in 2014.
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F1 closing on Dubai 2014 test plan (Autosport)
“Qatar, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi were all considered as potential venues for the two other tests, but sources suggest that Dubai is now clear favourite to hold them.”
2013 Hungarian Grand Prix – Post Qualifying Press Conference (FIA)
Lewis Hamilton: “I’m not really looking forward to it. I was just saying to Sebastian, it’s just a shame that we obviously have good pace… we’ve got a good car so I think if we didn’t have the tyre issues we would be able to compete with the guys in the race. It sucks in the way that I’m not able to have a race with these guys but we will do the best we can tomorrow.”
Grosjean explains revival (Sky)
“We are just doing a good job with the car. We struggled at the beginning of the year – it’s not a secret – with mapping and stuff like that but since then we’ve found what I need to bring the car where I want to and it’s getting better and better.”
Qualifying fifth feels like a miracle for Alonso (Reuters)
“I think it was a little miracle today to be fifth. It is a track that has been historically not so good for Ferrari, with these slow speed corners.”
Forget fast lane, Ricciardo wants news on a beach (The Age)
“I still need to have a good weekend. Of course, though, the fewer candidates the better for me. [I need to] make it happen this weekend.”
Sauber C32 – rear bodywork update (F1)
“Sauber have – to all intents and purposes – introduced a ‘B’ version of their car in Hungary.”
Tweets
Congrats Pietro for your first win on a Formula car Bands Hatch GP circuit your first visit and you won!GodBlessYou pic.twitter.com/UrwW75qlqU
— Emerson Fittipaldi (@emmofittipaldi) July 27, 2013
@AlexanderRossi had a lucky escape when parts of Cecotto's front wing hit his helmet in @GP2_Official Feature Race pic.twitter.com/mpvRag3BMj
— Status Grand Prix (@StatusGrandPrix) July 27, 2013
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
Does one Red Bull driver have more technical problems than the other? Jon Sandor doesn’t think so:
Car problems for Webber and Vettel during their time together at Red Bull:
Webber
2009 – Singapore (DNF, brakes)
2010 – Bahrain (some sort of minor engine issue), Canada (five place starting penalty for gearbox change)
2011 – China (started 18th after electrical problems in qualifying), Canada (unable to use KERS in qualifying)
2012 – Bahrain (had no KERS for the first lap), Europe (problems with DRS in qualifying), Germany (five place penalty for gearbox change), Belgium (five place penalty for gearbox change), India (slight KERS problem caused him to lose 2nd, finish 3rd), USGP (alternator, DNF)
2013 – Australia (ECU/KERS issues at start of race), China (out of fuel in qualifying, start from pit lane, wheel fell off), Germany (Wheel fell off leaving the pits), Hungary (KERS trouble in qualifying)
Vettel
2009 – Hungary (DNF, suspension), Europe (DNF, engine failure)
2010 – Bahrain (spark plug problems cost him the win, finished 4th), Australia (DNF, drive train problems cost him the win), Spain (brake problems, pit stop problems), Canada (gearbox problem), Korea (DNF, blown engine)
2011– Spain (KERS problems in qualifying), Abu Dhabi (DNF, tyre delaminated), Brazil (gearbox problem)
2012– Europe (DNF, alternator failure), German (KERs problems), Belgium (DNF, alternator failure), Abu Dhabi (out of fuel in qualifying, started from pit lane)
2013 – British GP (DNF, gearbox failure), German GP (lost KERS for a while in the race)
Conclusion – both Red Bull drivers have had essentially the same number of car problems from 2009 onwards. Vettel’s problems tend to be a lot more severe through: he has eight car related DNFs to Webber’s three.
Jon Sandor (@Jonsan)
From the forum
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On this day in F1
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Image © GP2/LAT
stert
28th July 2013, 0:09
I think lewis sums it up, if I had decent tires I would be able to race.
crr917 (@crr917)
28th July 2013, 0:23
3 iterations of Pirelli so far this year and Merc still eats tyres. What about W03? W02? (I don’t remember whether it was the same story in 2010.)
We still haven’t seen the new tyres in race. Maybe Pirelli picked the tyres Merc tested in Barcelona? Who knows.. :)
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
28th July 2013, 0:11
Great COTD but I’d have put the rhymes comment thread as COTD – that was great! :’)
BasCB (@bascb)
28th July 2013, 12:10
Except it does let out some of the issues that have kept them (Webber a tad more often) from setting a good time in other races.
What I think is still an issue, is that Red Bull really do have too many issues with the cars over the years – making either one or the other struggle with something. KERS is a recurring one (remember that is going to be even hotter next year) where Newey’s packaging is likely to be proposing extra challenges.
On the other hand, the results show that its a bit of a gamble that certainly pays off for the team!
HawkAussie (@hawkaussie)
28th July 2013, 0:14
Dubai for testing #areyouserious
D (@f190)
28th July 2013, 0:29
Money
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
28th July 2013, 0:58
@hawkaussie @f190 – Actually, no.
One of the main reasons why the teams test in Spain is because Spain has a pretty stable climate, which makes for good testing conditions. The problem is that in recent years, the weather has been unseasonably wet, and teams have lost a lot of running time because of the conditions. The United Arab Emirates, on the other hand, has a much more stable climate year-round. Fine and warm weather is exactly what the teams want to get the most out if testing.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
28th July 2013, 5:39
@f190 Oh c’mon, do you have a steady income? I’m sure you do..and you’ll understand that money is an important thing, maybe not the most overriding factor, but still..very significant..
BasCB (@bascb)
28th July 2013, 12:15
I am with @prisoner-monkeys on this. Sure, the choice of what track was inevitably to do with money and conditions offered. But if you look at the choice according to the article (Quatar, Abu-Dhabi, Dubai and Bahrain) the one thing they have in common is hot weather and a very certain lack of rain.
If you think back to testing this year, we had rain all the time and the temperatures were below 10° for much of the mornings meaning that the teams got hardly a chance to get tyres up to temperature and limited their running in the mornings.
thatscienceguy
28th July 2013, 6:59
Why not? Effectively no chance of rain ruining the limited running time the teams have. Makes sense.
svarun (@svarun)
28th July 2013, 7:41
could someone please elaborate on the tracks in Dubai? or we are talking Yas Marina?
As i haven’t heard about any F1 track in Dubai?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
28th July 2013, 10:41
@svarun
It’s the Dubai Autodrome shown in the picture at the top of the article, not Yas Marina which is in Abu Dhabi, another of the United Arab Emirates.
Dubai Autodrome was built nine years ago and briefly hosted GP2 Asia races (that’s where the picture is from). Track map here.
^Mo^
28th July 2013, 8:14
I think it makes great sense. You know what the weather is going to be like (dry and warm), as opposed to testing at either Silverstone (where, it seems, it rains more often than not) or Barcelona (which had temperatures close to the freezing point during pre-season testing).
HawkAussie (@hawkaussie)
29th July 2013, 7:05
But maybe you could have one test over at Spain and the other at the middle east
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
28th July 2013, 0:34
Dubai’s a pretty good circuit, Layout Will actually be well suited to F1 testing & I’m surprised they haven’t opted to run a test there already to be honest.
GP2 Asia ran a few races there which were often good from a racing standpoint, Was also popular amongst drivers in GP2 & other categories.
I mentioned this is another topic but I’ve heard 2 bits of speculation out of the Hungary paddock today.
At 1st I was told that paddock speculation had Pirelli agreeing to a 1 year deal to supply tyres for 2014 with Michelin having a verbal agreement with Jean Todt to re-enter F1 in 2015.
I’ve also now heard that Michelin plan to announce a bid to re-enter F1 for 2014 next week.
One of the things I’ve heard as a possibility is multiple suppliers been allowed in as its felt that with the testing restrictions & other tyre restrictions (Only 4 dry compounds for the season, Limit on sets per driver over a weekend) that it will work out cheaper for the tyre suppliers than 1 supplier having to supply everyone.
The biggest cost relating to tyres in the last tyre war was the testing as well as each tyre supplier producing dry compounds designed around each individual circuit & weather condition. Since there restricted to 4 dry compounds for the season & since testing is no longer unlimited the cost of a tyre war should be nowhere near as high as it was in the past.
@HoHum (@hohum)
28th July 2013, 2:16
If true, I hope all teams can have access to whichever tyre they feel best suits their car, but that sounds almost unworkable with 4 compounds.
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
28th July 2013, 7:45
So you heard every possibility? Weird.
BJ (@beejis60)
28th July 2013, 1:26
I would personally prefer to see the testing at the Losail circuit, but Dubai Autodrome is okay too.
MemorableC (@memorablec)
28th July 2013, 1:31
It would be parts of Cecotto’s car…
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
28th July 2013, 3:36
The twitt from Alex Zanardi about Lewis Hamilton is just amazing !!!!
Spinmastermic (@spinmastermic)
28th July 2013, 5:09
His middle leg……?
JCost (@jcost)
28th July 2013, 12:53
Oh my @spinmastermic! LOL.
Lewis should order a t-shit with those words printed on @tifoso1989 :)
Michael Brown (@)
28th July 2013, 4:17
Dubai Autodrome is actually a very good circuit. I would like to see F1 race there in place of the other Middle Eastern tracks.
JCost (@jcost)
28th July 2013, 12:54
Actually I’d pick it over Abu Dhabi.
Funkyf1 (@funkyf1)
28th July 2013, 4:41
COTD doesn’t have any reference to the amount failures experienced by Webber in practice and qualifying, he wins that one hands down.
Rooney (@rojov123)
28th July 2013, 6:25
Webber always seems to have kind of issues at almost every race weekend. They might be equal on the race day. But bring in the qualifying issues and Webber is on a completely different level.
David-A (@david-a)
28th July 2013, 7:21
Which qualifying issues were not highlighted by COTD?
LSL1337 (@lsl1337)
28th July 2013, 12:04
for starters?
Yesterdays
every other weekend webber has to nurse his KERS, or differential, or gearbox, or something… JOKE
David-A (@david-a)
28th July 2013, 19:15
@lsl1337
Yesterday’s issue WAS highlighted in COTD. Did you even read it?
“Every other weekend”, is a total exaggeration, and unless you’ll actually cite these “every other weekend”s, your claims won’t be taken seriously.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
28th July 2013, 5:43
KERS doesn’t seem to be MW’s best friend..