In the round-up: Lando Norris says he can already detect improvements in his driving style compared to last year.
What they say
[f1tv2020testa]Norris said he could feel improvements in his driving after his first full day in the McLaren:
A tough day, especially for the neck, but it was productive. I think a lot of things learned for the team, a lot of things than for me and already I feel like I’ve improved on a couple of things which I wanted to improve on such as the long-run pace and management of tyres and so on.
We did a variation of a lot of things, the aerodynamic runs with the rakes on. No low-fuel stuff because no one ever does them. A lot of high fuel, a lot of set-up changes, trying to get an understanding of what this car does and how set-up changes affect this car course because even though you do ride height or front wing or rear wing or something it can still affect the car in different ways to last year.
So just trying to get a bit of a reading for how this car changes and drives compared to last year. But apart from that, pretty straightforward.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Daren's back 🤣🤣
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Christian Horner's verdict on the first week of testing.
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Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Button urges Hamilton to extend Mercedes contract (Fox Sports)
"It’s just talked up more than it should be because they’re both in a great situation. It should be the easiest contract to talk about because (of what) they’ve both achieved. So just make it happen … and we can focus on the actual racing."
Race two changes for 2020 (F3)
"The driver who (finishes) tenth in the Saturday race will start from reverse pole on Sunday, while ninth will start from second. eighth from third, all the way to the race one winner starting from tenth (in) race two. Moreover, the number of positions eligible to score points in race two has been increased to the top 10 drivers. The points for the first five positions will remained unaltered (15, 12, 10, 8, 6) with sixth now earning five points, seventh place four points, eighth three points, ninth two points and 10th one point."
Season opener could move due to Coronavirus (Sportscar365)
"SRO Motorsports Group has revealed a contingency plan in case it cannot host the GT World Challenge Europe opener at Monza due to the outbreak of coronavirus in Italy."
[smr2020test]
Toyota's Kobayashi slams WEC handicaps after 'joke' Austin race (Autosport)
"They say it's a handicap, but it decides who is going to win. We knew before coming into the race. It's the worst race I ever had. If we keep this (Equivalence of Technology rule), nobody will come to these races."
Grand prix tram strikes called off after government intervenes (The Age)
"On Tuesday a government spokesman said public transport minister Melissa Horne would intervene to broker a deal and the government would drop the legal action in exchange for the union calling off the March strikes."
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Comment of the day
Could F1 borrow an idea from American off-road racing to reduce the danger from debris on track?
In American short course, off-road racing, every piece of bodywork has to have the owner cars race number on the inside, and more importantly, the teams have to pay a penalty for each pound of body work they lose during a race. This massively encourages the teams to keep their body work attached and in whole.
Granted F1 cars don’t lose body work, but they do lose a lot of small carbon aero bits. Maybe start charging them for the debris they leave on track – they might start being attached more securely!
Xcm
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JohnH (@johnrkh)
26th February 2020, 2:37
I think the COTD is a bit tongue in cheek, has it ever happened in F1? Bits are broken off because of collison so would you need to fine both parties? And what happens when the car hits a curb and a piece of floor comes away, would you then hit up the track owner or the designer?
Perhaps if they fitted a large metal ring around the cars like carnival bumper cars.
RP (@slotopen)
26th February 2020, 3:11
@johnrkh
It seems reasonable to me. Debris on the track flattens tires and interrupts races. We’ve seen a few cases of bad judgement in removing debris too.
It doesn’t seem technically unfeasible. I suspect most bodywork would be easier to restrain than tires because the mass are expected loads are smaller.
Gabriel (@rethla)
26th February 2020, 7:24
Theres a clear difference between “losing bodywork” and shattering pieces it like F1. If you wanna penalise F1 cars for littering the track you will have to inspect them after the race to see what they droped. Sorting up all the carbon splinters from the track and identifying them would be a job offering put up in hell.
Gabriel (@rethla)
26th February 2020, 7:25
This wasnt ment as a reply to JohnH
Balue (@balue)
26th February 2020, 7:46
I’m just waiting for F1 to adopt my idea of using a team of track-side high pressure air- or waterblowers to shoot debris off the track before it becomes an issue.
Gabriel (@rethla)
26th February 2020, 10:34
@balue
With waterblowers you could combine it with Bernies sprinkler proposal. A constant stream over the track will keep it clear :)
UNeedAFinn2Win (@uneedafinn2win)
26th February 2020, 6:48
COTD: Any operation worth their salt already has an inventory system in place that keeps track of the individual parts, sometimes it’s laseretched QR codes, sometimes serialnumbers, RF-tags what have you.
You could, if you so wanted, even identify individual carbonfibres by utilizing chemical tagging or nano-etching.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
26th February 2020, 6:51
I see Lewis has all kinds of power in that Mercedes.
Omni-Power! Continent moving power.
Meanwhile other teams are stuck with horsepower.
JohnH (@johnrkh)
26th February 2020, 6:56
@slotopen I was just having a bit of a laugh, I’m not aware of whole pieces of bodywork coming of an F1 car unless it’s a big enough shunt to bring out the safety car anyway.
I suppose you’re talking about the bits and pieces of front wing or bargeboard that get broken off after a contact in a corner?
But that’s the penalty for using carbon fiber that is incredibly light and ridged but brittle, these are just small pieces not entire bits of bodywork so containing them I think would be unmanageable. They could go back to using aluminium which does not shatter under most conditions.
JohnH (@johnrkh)
26th February 2020, 6:58
*Rigid
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
26th February 2020, 9:21
Re Comment of the Day.
I had wondered why it was teams wouldn’t tell a driver who’s car had a deflated tyre what speed they should drive at to get back to the pits without leaving bits of car and tyre strewn all over the track. Then, in the course of investigating some other issue I came across the rule that the Driver has to drive the car alone and unaided. So, instead of having someone like the team or even the Race Director mandating say a maximum speed allowed for a car that has a deflated tyre in Sector 1, a maximum speed in Sector 2, and a maximum speed in Sector 3, or giving the driver a “delta” that will get them, their car, and most of the tyre back to the pits more or less intact, the rules say no one is allowed to tell the driver what speed is the optimum for their predicament. So instead cars get thrashed and whipped by flailing tyres leaving bits of carbon fibre and bits of tyre on the track, which can cause problems for other drivers and be a hazard.
I don’t see why it should be a team can’t offer advice to a driver in the event of situation like a deflated tyre, but that’s a problem for F1 to sort out. I think we all loose in the current situation.
Gabriel (@rethla)
26th February 2020, 10:37
@drycrust
The teams is telling the drivers what pace they should go at all the time. In my oppinion if there is need for a speed limit to drive safe they should pull to the side.
James Norris
26th February 2020, 11:29
i can’t help but feel that WEC is dying and won’t survive without wholesale changes… it’s sad but who could possibly be vaguely excited by such a lack of competition? It’s basically motorsports WWF!
grat
26th February 2020, 17:29
I refuse to watch any racing series that penalizes successful teams or drivers.
Jere (@jerejj)
26th February 2020, 13:15
Easy for him to say from the outside, although he’s been in that situation as well, having to negotiate and make a contract more than once in F1.
From next Sunday to be precise, so roughly two and a half at this point, but getting closer nevertheless.