In the round-up: Mark Webber says he much prefers the Michelin tyres he uses in the World Endurance Championship to the Pirellis used in F1.
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Porsche’s Mark Webber compares F1 to LMP1 (Motorsport)
“Michelin is a real racing tire, Pirelli was for show business in Formula One.”
‘McLaren upgrades didn’t work’ (Sky)
“We had a couple of parts on the car that didn’t react as we expected and I think the team has done a good job, we went back to what we knew and get the most out of that from qualifying.”
Tyre temps key to Williams recovery (Autosport)
Felipe Massa: “Straight away after FP2, our guys pretty much knew what the problem was. It was clear that our tyres were too hot.”
Jenson Button fails to make top 10 on the grid at the Singapore Grand Prix (The Guardian)
“In Q1 the car was good. The balance was good, but the problem is that when the circuit gripped up I didn’t have enough front end in the car and we were maxing the front wing already. It was always going to be tricky.”
Prost interview: Hamilton-Rosberg is not like me and Senna (The Telegraph)
“‘Today, you cannot do things you did in the past,’ Prost points out. ‘What [Ayrton Senna] did in Japan [in 1990], when he said he deliberately crashed into me, maybe he would be penalised today.'”
24 Hours after a Formula One race (Behind The Scenes) (Red Bull)
Steering wheel data displays – large versus small (F1)
“Five teams – Red Bull, Williams, Lotus, Force India and Caterham – chose to retain the 2013 size (shown left). The others moved to a much bigger screen (shown right), 54mm high and 95mm wide.”
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While @alo_oficial has 22 poles, he now has 34 x 5th place starts. Nobody has started from that position more times than Alonso #SingaporeGP
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Whiting confirmes: It's still allowed to talk on the radio in foreign languages. e.g. Alonso Italian/Spanish. Sutil German. If they like.
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Comment of the day
There was quite a bit of sympathy for Romain Grosjean’s plight at Lotus but for all his obvious frustration would he be better off staying where he is?
I feel for him, such a wasted talent in that horrid Lotus.
Then again it wasn’t that long ago when his F1 career was in jeopardy due to his crash-prone nature back then but Lotus nevertheless kept believing in him.
Maybe I’m just naïve but perhaps now it’s his turn to put up with Lotus given that they were putting up with him back then?
David Margono (@Woshidavid95)
From the forum
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On this day in F1
Five years ago today the FIA announced Renault would face no further punishment over ‘Crashgate’ despite describing finding them guilty of committing a breach of “unparalleled severity”.
Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo
Strontium (@strontium)
21st September 2014, 0:30
It’s funny how the talk about the tyres has died down a lot this year. Nobody is complaining about them. Pirelli have done a solid, satisfying job in my view, unlike the past few years.
SatchelCharge (@satchelcharge)
21st September 2014, 1:37
They definitely have got it right this year. Maybe the medium tire is a tiny bit too slow, but other than that…
@HoHum (@hohum)
21st September 2014, 2:07
@strontium, I suspect fast tyre degradation and slow speeds are going to string the field out and spoil the close racing we have seen on the harder more durable tyres, whether we get a good race throughout the field will, I suspect, depend on how and when the safety car brings the cars back together.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
21st September 2014, 0:46
Bit harsh on Pirelli… I feel Mark’s still angry about it, but that’s the way it goes. He should blame the FIA in any case, Pirelli could’ve done like Bridgestone… they can build consistent tyres (like this year’s), but they were asked to build something different.
@HoHum (@hohum)
21st September 2014, 2:09
@fer-no65, he doesn’t criticise Pirelli per se, just the “showbiz” tyres.
BasCB (@bascb)
21st September 2014, 15:50
Yeah, as @Hohum writes, I see this more as Mark critisizing F1 for getting too close to being “show” rather than the manufacturer who answered that call @fer-no65
Mr win or lose
21st September 2014, 10:37
Drivers were also complaining this year about the tyres. The Pirelli tyres not only degrade rapidly, but they also lack grip and sometimes they can’t get up to temperature. Of course, tyre degradation has improved this year, but at the cost of even harder (and slower) tyres. I’d like to see the return of Michelin in F1. If they bring their softest tyre compounds to every race, the drivers have plenty of grip, while there is some (but not too much) tyre degradation.
Breno (@austus)
21st September 2014, 1:00
For someone who is supposedly happy at WEC, Webbet sure loves to criticize F1. Is he just going to be another driver who complains about a series because he couldnt keep up?
@HoHum (@hohum)
21st September 2014, 2:11
@austus, you think he should refuse to answer questions on F1 because he is now the most qualified person to compare the 2 series ?
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
21st September 2014, 10:42
@hohum Which is hard to comprehend for a lot of people. He drove a top car in F1 AND WEC. Of course he is the man to compare the two.
anon
21st September 2014, 12:18
Does anybody think that it is slightly disingenuous for Webber to say that an LMP1 car is “just a bit heavier” than an F1 car?
The minimum weight of the car and driver in F1 is 691kg for this season – by contrast, an LMP1 car has to have a minimum weight of 870kg, and that figure explicitly excludes the weight of the driver (which was originally 850kg in the draft regulation package, until Audi started complaining that they couldn’t hit an 850kg weight limit). Whichever way you cut it, a 180kg increase in the weight of the car alone is a substantial difference (more than 25% higher), and that’s before you add driver weight into the equation.
Also, in terms of power, I wouldn’t be so sure that the Porsche does have much more power than the current F1 cars – Porsche are claiming that the engine produces more than 500bhp and that their energy recovery system produces more than 250bhp.
Now, the indication is that the current F1 powertrains produce around 780-800bhp in combination, so the power difference is probably not that great, or perhaps even tips in favour of an F1 car – Webber did leave out Lotterer’s quote that the Caterham he drove was “a lot more powerful” than the R18.
Although Lotterer did pick up on tyre performance, Lotterer indicated that the issue was also related to Caterham lacking downforce – especially since the car was in a relatively low downforce configuration, whereas the Audi he had recently driven was in its high downforce “sprint” specification, so it’s not necessarily the fairest comparison.
As for the comment about “showbiz tyres”, it isn’t as if Michelin isn’t above putting showboating above performance at times (the slick intermediate tyres, for example – tyres that some considered so dangerous when first introduced that Corvette actually instructed their customers not to use them).
dragoll (@dragoll)
21st September 2014, 1:18
I think Webber is now starting to sound like that bitter ex-employee that no one listens to, because all they do is criticise everything… He may have had a point last year.
Kelly (@kelly)
21st September 2014, 1:38
He was comparing LMP1 to F1. You probably should read the article before making yourself look silly.
At any rate I think you are wrong, he seemed quite happy at the race in Monza, for someone supposedly bitter with F1 it’s pretty strange to go to the races, no?
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
21st September 2014, 2:31
@dragoll don’t see why. He admitedly left F1 because, in part, he didn’t like the current rules, and didn’t like what was about to come.
Formula Indonesia (@)
21st September 2014, 1:31
We know Webber one of the most vocal driver, but I think Pirelli done a great job, the races are very interesting.
@HoHum (@hohum)
21st September 2014, 2:16
Yes, just imagine how boring the racing would be without the difference between new and 5 lap old tyres, or without DRS or Fan-boost and Abudouble.
@HoHum (@hohum)
21st September 2014, 2:23
Rosberg and his mechanic display language superiority between pit and car in order to beat the radio-coaching ban:
ROS: Whuperupe upis Lupewupis fupastuper thupan mupe ?
Spencer Ward (@)
21st September 2014, 2:31
Anyone see the “Join the Conversation”, “#SingaporeGP”, graphics at the start of qualifying? Not to mention the amount of involvement the Formula One account has had on twitter this weekend? Seems like social media is being eased into action here this weekend.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
21st September 2014, 3:36
Spoiled brats! Roman said that having a child matured him, and also that other people could learn with that. I don’t think having a kid grants instant Zen karma. To achieve Nirvana you’ll have to lose your sponsorship money Grosjean.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
21st September 2014, 3:41
That technical article… Call me cynic but once again I think the FIA via Tag and some other entity just needed to enforce the new di$play.
I rather like the diversity…FI has already announced that they will spend a fortune developing manufacturing a new revision of their steering wheel with the new iOs PCU 745203’72’74’17838383 or whatever it’s called, maybe if they get lucky the new wheel has some U2.
matiascasali (@matiascasali)
21st September 2014, 3:50
How come that spanish, or german are “foreign language”??? since when english is “home language”? you may say “prefered” or something, but i don’t think inside ferrari feels that english is a “home language” for them (as much as i wish to have back some english ex-rugbier team principal…)
LosD (@losd)
21st September 2014, 9:37
I’m rather sure that all teams has English as their primary language, or they’d instantly lose access to quite a number of engineers.
Ferrari, though, could possibly be nationalist and stupid enough to try it, although one would believe they learned from the “latin only” stupidity.
caci99
21st September 2014, 10:24
@losd come again?
LosD (@losd)
21st September 2014, 10:45
Which part? When Todt, Brawn, etc. left, Montezemolo decided they needed to go as all-latin as possible: In came Luca Marmorini, Aldo Costa and Stefano Domenicali and they maximized the amount of latin top-brass engineers. We all saw how well that went.
It is of course not that there is a problem with latin engineers and bosses, the problem is that losing diversity is very expensive.
caci99
21st September 2014, 11:22
@losd
First thing is that Ferrari is not successful by its own standard. For any other team, what they have achieved during Domenicali era wouldn’t be considered big failure.
Secondly, they were coming from a very successful period, so they had the luxury to try it, and again it was not all italian team.
Thirdly, Schumacher had to go unfortunately. I mean, Ferrari was having the biggest success, but Formula1 as sport was going down pretty fast as a result of their domination. Nobody knows what went behind the scenes, how much political influence was behind those moves except for the people involved.
So yeah, it might look stupid in public eyes, but I don’t think so.
LosD (@losd)
21st September 2014, 11:24
Mixing sport and nationalism is stupid in _all_ cases. Actually, nationalism is stupid no matter what.
Robert (@gicu)
21st September 2014, 11:03
I know, right? How stupid of them. A conversation between a spaniard well-spoken in italian and an actual italian. While working for the most italian company in history. God, what were they thinking, clearly all the circumstances point to speaking in english..
matiascasali (@matiascasali)
22nd September 2014, 18:33
+1 :D
Matthew Coyne
21st September 2014, 10:58
The vast majority of people involved in formula 1 whether it be working within it or a fan of it has at least a basic understanding of the English language, it is such a well spoken language across Europe as it is part of so many countries education systems in some form. Not everyone can speak or understand Spanish or Italian so it makes perfect sense to make English the common language from a majority of understanding point of view – not for some sort of anti-nationalist reason.
It is not for some sort of underlying racist or nationalist reason.
Matthew Coyne
21st September 2014, 11:00
I should also add that I know it’s not just Europeans that follow formula 1 but that is where the biggest fanbase is and the majority of people working within Formula 1 are from somewhere in Europe.
matiascasali (@matiascasali)
22nd September 2014, 17:28
i don’t deny that english is the “de facto” universal language nowadays, (look at me, an argentinian always writing comments in english) but what bothers me is the “foreign” language comment. Itsn’t foreign, as english isn’t “home”, that’s my point. The fan base, may be european, but, en Europe: how many countrys speak english, besides the UK? how many GP’s are being held in English-Speaking countrys?
McF1 (@mccosmic)
21st September 2014, 5:09
I think Prost is right. Senna would have been penalised for the crash he caused at Suzuka in 1990 had it happened today. Just as MSC was penalised in 1997. Also agree with him about Mercedes overacting on ROS / Spa incident. These guys are fighting for the most prestigious prize in the sport that they love. The emotion between HAM & ROS must be super intense and I think they’re both doing a pretty good job in the media considering the personal relationship challenges they must be facing.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
21st September 2014, 16:33
Rosberg wasn’t penalised either, even though he said he did it to make a point.
Joey-Poey (@joey-poey)
21st September 2014, 20:00
But shouldn’t Prost be penalized for 89 as well if that were the case?
mantresx (@mantresx)
21st September 2014, 5:15
Speaking of steering wheel displays, has anyone noticed that Lewis has a sort of privacy screen on his?
In this race is not as evident as in Bahrain but you can see that when the wheel is sideways the display is brighter than in its normal position.
The only reason I noticed was because I bought one of those for my laptop some time ago :)
Marc Thielke (@motor)
21st September 2014, 9:08
I think LandRover has used some tech that might be useful for F1 steering wheel privacy. The driver sees the navigation info while the passenger’s perspective sees the movie that is playing.
When curious F1 reporters peek in Lewis’s cockpit they might only see a commercial for the A class on the steering wheel display ;)
PeterG
21st September 2014, 12:02
Not really surprised about Mark Webber’s comments as he was never that keen on the Pirelli tyres or DRS.
Lets not forget the 2011 China Gp, He started at the back & came back through the field to finish 3rd & while everyone was talking about how great a driver it was Mark himself was saying it was a bit unsatisfying coming up against great drivers & breezing past them easily either by having newer tyres or because of DRS.
Mark’s a racer, Always has been & he loves having a good, fair fight which he was quite vocal about Pirelli/DRS not providing.
aldoH
21st September 2014, 12:43
This. Spot on.
Aced (@)
21st September 2014, 12:37
The main issue with these tyres, according to a few of the drivers, is that they behave very, very strangely and that’s a thousand times more important than whether they wear quickly or not.
What’s also worrying is that people who constantly complain of F1 becoming a “showbiz”, well, most of them thought the first half of 2012 was actually very good. It may have been incredibly entertaining on a “showbiz” level but it was absolutely horrendous on a racing level. But, hey, everything is Bernie’s fault!
ColdFly F1 (@)
21st September 2014, 15:58
(@keithcollantine) thanks for putting the link to the forum question: Does Maldonado cost Lotus more than his sponsorship brings?
I actually think he could cost Lotus more than he brings. More due to the value-loss of the business than the cost of the parts he breaks!
PS – He did keep Grosjean behind him today; maybe the start of better performance (I say optimistically).
Patrick (@paeschli)
21st September 2014, 16:33
@keithcollantine
If we already have linked our Google account with the F1 Fanatic Google Calendar, will the calendar be updated automatically with the 2015 season?
TIA
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
21st September 2014, 18:06
@keithcollantine The title isn’t exactly clickbait (has it got “shocking, unbelievable, lies, fake, etc? no) but surely one can’t help but feel that “Of course, as the driver, he prefers tyres that drive better! The harder races get the worse it is for the drivers, though for us it may or may not be so.”