Red Baron Formula 1

Vettel Wins in Melbourne

2011-03-28T21:09:00.003+01:00

Sunday saw the first race of the F1 season end much the same way the last race of 2010 did, with Sebastian Vettel on the top step of the podium. There were two stories that dominated the first weekend in Melbourne the dominance of Red Bull, it is clear that Adrian Newey has cracked this generation of regulations and it is going to take some ingenious solutions by the competition to find solutions to nullify the void in performance between the RB7 and the field. The other story that bodes well for the spectators, is the resurgence of McLaren, who in the build-up to Melbourne were vilified by the media and press for having an absolute disaster of a car, now they seem the likeliest to challenge for wins.

After a scary qualifying performance by Seb Vettel on Saturday news broke that neither he nor Mark Webber had used KERS during their flying lap, "for reasons that will remain within the team" according to Webber. By all accounts the use of KERS over a lap is worth .3 seconds, meaning that Vettel would have been over a second faster than second placed Lewis Hamilton, who also did not use KERS albeit not by choice but due to a fault. Later in the afternoon suspicion in the paddock arose that the RB7 in fact does not have a normal KERS system, but a much simpler boost for the start only. This would allow for a much smaller system and much lighter batteries. There is still not a clear answer on what is happening with the Red Bull KERS, as after the race Christian Horner the team boss, said that they did not run KERS at all Saturday or Sunday, as they could not get it working properly on Friday and, more importantly, Adrian Newey did not want to compromise the aerodynamics of the car. One thing that seemed to have been missed by some of the coverage was the advantage of Red Bull removing the system, which was to allow them the extra 20 kg to place in ballast wherever they wish rather than a set battery KERS system within the incredibly tight packaged RB7. It seems the FIA might have to reconsider the KERS system if a team find that they can attain similar, if not greater, gains without the system.

Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were much happier this weekend. It seems that the team from Woking went with an aggressive and unorthodox approach to closing the gap to Red Bull this winter, as we can see with the external design of this year's car. The experimenting did not stop with the external features but also with other ideas, and it was these ideas that were holding the team back in winter testing. The solution: simplify. Instead of a very complex octopus exhaust they reverted to a much more standard solution as seen on the Red Bull and Ferrari. Quite simply, it worked. McLaren were the only team that were close to the Red Bull's in qualifying and if the past years are any indication, development is severely stymied by the fly-away start to the F1 season, so they may be the only ones with a chance in Malaysia and China.

All in all it was a great weekend for Vettel, but not as dominating as was expected. If the other teams can capitalize on the Red Bull KERS issue and begin catching them we could be in for another fascinating season. Special mention has to be made to Vitaly Petrov who completely outclassed Nick Heidfeld in the Lotus Renault gaining his first F1 podium, and also Sergio Perez, he may have been disqualified due to a irregular rear wing, but to have only made one stop during the race was incredible. Look out for more surprises from the midfield this year. It should also be mentioned that Pirelli seem to have done well also, two stops allow for a much more entertaining race and actually allow for strategic moves, the tyres lasted, perhaps, too long in Melbourne but lets see what happens in Sepang in two weeks time.

Thanks for reading

F1 - Cars and Trends of 2011

2011-03-19T10:42:00.004Z

During January we saw most of the teams unveil their challengers for the 2011 season. The new season does not bring with it a raft of technical changes that would drastically alter design at a fundamental level such as the wing changes of the 2009 season, but from an engineering point of view the banning of the double diffuser has required engineers and designers to revamp the car's rear end in an attempt to recover some of the downforce lost by removing the double diffuser. Many of the innovations that have emerged this spring have been influenced by Red Bull's Adrian Newey designed, championship winning, RB6. Newey reintroduced the blown diffuser concept, using hot exhaust gas directed in an specific way to increase downforce, last season. Many teams already installed blown diffusers last season and have improved the concept for this season.

Lotus Renault have decided to take another route, they have decided that instead of directing exhaust gases on the way out of the back of the car to increase downforce to make the exhaust exits at the sidepod. Their theory being that this allows for the exhaust gas to run the entire length of the second half of the car and thus increase the downforce gained by gases. The idea of forward exhaust gases has set the paddock ablaze with murmuring, with some teams such as Mercedes and Ross Brawn already working on a similar system. If the Lotus Renault lights up the timesheets in Melbourne one can rest assured that the forward exhaust will become this year's design trend.

Another technical achievement that should be noted on this year's cars is the rear end of the Williams. (above) The engineers at Grove have designed and manufactured the smallest gearbox in F1 history. The back of the Williams has been streamlined to an extreme both aesthetically and technically with the extreme nature requiring a very high driveshaft angle. It will be interesting to see if the effort has brought Williams back into the fold at the top of F1.

Finally the most striking and unorthodox of the new designs belongs to McLaren who launched their car in Berlin this year. The car is dominated by the U-shaped sidepod inlets. The theory of the aerodynamics in Woking was to clear up the flow of the air to the side of the cockpit to direct it straight to the rear wing. To cope with the loss of cooling from taking the air that would cool the engine and direct it at the rear wing, the other parts of the inlets had to be increased thus leading to the striking design that we see. The jury is still out on the effect of these design features has the McLaren testing schedules has been blighted by numerous reliability issues meaning that Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have only done half the mileage of the the new Ferrari.

Be back again soon with some thoughts on testing and how it went

Thanks for reading

Welcome Back F1

2011-03-16T11:27:00.002Z

Welcome back to Formula 1, the testing season is over and the races are about to begin. It has been a short winter

for the teams with the ever growing schedule leaving less and less time to recoup from their campaigns. The offseason has seen the introduction of a new tire supplier with Pirelli taking over from Bridgestone, new rules regarding rear wings and the introduction of KERS, as of course the loss of the first grand prix.

Arguably the biggest headline grabber of the winter was the postponement of the Bahrain GP. No one can question the decision by the Crown Prince considering the political instability Bahrain finds itself in at the moment. As Bernie Eccelstone has said "Whether or not if we were there it would have given the opportunity for more unrest, I don't know, but I would hate to have it happen that we were the cause, so that people could get a lot more publicity for sabotaging Formula 1." News has broken this morning of the increasing likelihood that the race will not be rescheduled this year. A deadline of 1 May has been set by the FIA for a decision to be made. This year sees the team head to 20 races including a new trip to India.

From a technical aspect the re-introduction of Pirelli into Formula 1 as the sole tire supplier is a massive change for the teams to acclimatise to. The FIA gave Pirelli a specific set of instructions for this season's tires, less durability leading to more excitement. This is the theory anyway. The model for the FIA was the chaos we saw at the Canadian GP and the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve last season. The extreme climate of Montreal, very cold in the winter to very hot in the summer, gives tire suppliers nightmares. The Bridgestones last season were lasting only a few laps and caused multiple pit stops and on track excitement.

Following the winter tests it seems Pirelli have indeed met their goal. The drop-off of performance is very noticeable and teams are predicting 4 pit stops at some circuits. The jury is still out whether this will aid the spectacle, some drivers including Lewis Hamilton have voiced concerns about the about of rubber marbles on the track, from the tires wearing away, lessening the driver's ability to overtake by going off the racing line.

Overtaking is always the ultimate conundrum for those if Formula 1 and the FIA. This year sees two introductions to the cars in order to hopefully increase the spectacle. The first solution we have seen already in F1: Kinetic Energy Recover System. A distinctly green motivated piece of technology that relies of capturing energy wasted under braking to use again later in the lap. KERS first season in F1 was marred by its expense and weight causing problems for the team to implement it on the cars. However with the view of development trickling down to road cars it makes a return.

The second addition to the show is the Drag Reduction System (DRS) as it is called by race director Charlie Whiting. To others it is simply known as the moveable rear wing. This is quite a large undertaking for the teams and more so for the race direction. The system is fairly complicated, the driver is able to move a flap of the rear wing reducing drag, similar to the F-Duct concept of last year, thus making the car faster. During practice and qualifying the driver is free to use this whenever he pleases however, during the race he will only be able to do so when within 1 second of the car ahead of him within a certain zone on the track. There will be another marked zone 600 meters from the braking point on a straight where he will be able to use the DRS. It will be interesting to see how Formula 1 Managment work this into the television feed so as to let the viewer know when a driver has the ability and when he is using it.

We'll be back soon with an article on the most interesting aspects of the 2011 cars

Thanks for reading

Coming Soon....

2011-02-15T08:33:00.003Z

RBFormula1 will be up and running again soon, better than ever...bring on F1 2011!!

Hungarian Grand Prix - Qualifying Report

2010-07-31T17:36:00.003+01:00

It is beginning to sound like a broken record, Vettel and Red Bull on pole. The German secured his sixth pole position of the season, with team-mate Mark Webber in tow. The RB6 enjoyed a distinct advantage this weekend, finishing 1.2 seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari in 3rd.

There has been considerable controversy leading up to the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest, first over the blatant issuing of team orders by Ferrari in Germany, and the botched execution of said order, and secondly the issue of the flexy-front wing seen on the RB6 and the Ferrari. The issue has caused such division in the paddock that McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has started to refer to the McLarens as "the fastest of the fixed wing cars".

As far a legality is concerned the wings meet the test of the FIA, which allows for 10mm of deflection when applied with a weight of 50kgs. However there is wide-spreading opinion that the test is far from adequate to police the intention of the FIA. The slowest corner in formula 1 issues almost 70kg of downforce so why test at such a negligible weight? Experts are estimating the deflection of the Red Bull front wing, the Ferrari is not as flexible, is 25mm. In fact from some pictures it seems that the front wing is in danger of touching the ground. This all boils down to the fact that the lower the front wing the more downforce created, thus the faster the car.

To touch on the issue of team orders, Ferrari did a horrible job of doing what was always going to be done. The message from Rob Smedley and the apology afterwards were ill-advised and really were not done in the right fashion. A longer pit stop would have done the job and no one would have been the wiser. Team orders are a part of F1 but Ferrari did not do themselves any favours in Hockenheim.

HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING, Hungaroring

1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:20.417 1:19.573 1:18.773
2. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:21.132 1:19.531 1:19.184
3. Alonso Ferrari 1:21.278 1:20.237 1:19.987
4. Massa Ferrari 1:21.299 1:20.857 1:20.331
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.455 1:20.877 1:20.499
6. Rosberg Mercedes 1:21.212 1:20.811 1:21.082
7. Petrov Renault 1:21.558 1:20.797 1:21.229
8. Kubica Renault 1:21.159 1:20.867 1:21.328
9. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:21.891 1:21.273 1:21.411
10. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:21.598 1:21.275 1:21.710
11. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.422 1:21.292
12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:21.478 1:21.331
13. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:22.080 1:21.517
14. Schumacher Mercedes 1:21.840 1:21.630
15. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:21.982 1:21.897
16. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:21.789 1:21.927
17. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:21.978 1:21.998
18. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:22.222
19. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:24.050
20. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:24.120
21. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:24.199
22. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:25.118
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:26.391

24. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 1:26.453

Canadian GP Race Report

2010-06-16T10:07:00.005+01:00

This past Sunday the Formula 1 world was treated to an absolute classic race, there were incidents, overtakes crashes and importantly tyre issues. For those campaigning that tyres are the way to excite F1 and bring back wheel to wheel racing this is now the highlight of your argument. Unwittingly Bridgestone's tyres provided the catalyst for an example of what F1 can be as Lewis Hamilton won his second race in a row and continued a year of scintillating driving from him.

Both compounds of tyres were identified as problems as early as Friday with both graining very early on, meaning they lost their efficiency and the car lost performance. In other races this year we have seen the harder compound be able to withstand stupidly long stints, such as Alonso in Monaco lasting two laps short of the entire distance on the harder compound. The vulnerability of the tyres caused a fascinating set of circumstances, causing the teams for the first time to vary on tyre choice in Q3, in which cars that qualifying must use that same set the next day in the race. During the race both sets failed to hold up and the effect was brilliant. Multiple pit stops, multiple lead changes, exciting racing.

The example is there now what can be done, the problem however is that no tyre company is going to be willing to intentionally create tyres that grain as badly as we saw in Montreal. With Michelin and Pirelli vying for the contract for next season, neither will be happy to allow the teams to be constantly claiming the tyres aren't lasting long enough, F1 for them, afterall, is a marketing investment. They want people to buy their tyres because of their involvement in F1 not avoid them because of it.

It was most certainly Lewis Hamilton's weekend, a stunning performance in qualifying and the unorthadox scene of seeing a driver push his own car after stopping on the circuit afterwards. Jenson Button followed Hamilton home to give McLaren a 1-2 and put them top of the Constructor's Championship. Mercedes did not have a good weekend fufilling Michael Schumacher's predicting that they could not gain in Canada only fall back. Next stop the harbour in Valencia which will have a job to live up to the incredible classic at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Turkish Grand Prix Race Report

2010-06-02T13:28:00.003+01:00

On Sunday we may have seen the turning point in the 2010 season. McLaren were handed a 1-2 finish after Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber of Red Bull, came together while in the lead with 14 laps to go. The incident has sparked all kinds of controversy throughout the paddock and conspiracies as to what happened, but this much is clear: Red Bull have slipped up again. The story of the season has been the dominance of the RB 6 over its competitors. The car is vastly quick, at one point on Friday it was 20kph faster through the landmark Turn 8 at Istanbul Park, during the race Webber and Vettel gained .4 secs through that turn. This incredible advantage, however, has not been taken advantage of. Problems have dogged their season and they may rue the chance they had to put away the championship. It seems that the inexperience of the Red Bull team is coming through, a situation like this should never have happened. Rumor has it that Mark Webber was asked to turn his engine down to save revs and thus Vettel could catch up and attempt an ill-fated pass, opinion seems to be against Vettel assigning blame to him. The team initially seemed to blame Webber. It always takes two to tango and Red Bull's handling of the situation has not helped the fall out at all.

Another story of the Istanbul weekend was the progress made by the other teams. Ferrari, celebrating their 800th Grand Prix, had a terrible weekend and were eclipsed by both Mercedes and Renault in terms of performance. Something seems to be lacking in Maranello, and that may emerge to be a storyline further on in the season if they cannot spur their development curve. The McLaren team for the first time were truly able to pressure the Red Bulls, Lewis Hamilton had a superb race and was on Webber and Vettel's tail the entire time perhaps pressuring into the accident at turn 12.

We also saw the McLarens sparring around the same turn 12, with Button overtaking Hamilton for the lead and Lewis winning it back at turn 1. This was a very strange situation and one that seems to have been overlooked in the calamity of the Red Bull collision. Lewis was abnormally stoic after the chequered flag barely showing any emotion in the car or on the podium. He was seen in conversation with Jenson Button asking what happened. Although Lewis was saying that as a racer he does not enjoy being handed wins, it seems there is more to it. Radio broadcasts through the race were telling him to save fuel and that Jenson was doing the same. This might not have been the case, Lewis said he was surprised that Jenson overtook him. As he would be if he was conserving power and fuel, and thinking his team-mate was doing the same only to have him suddenly passing you. The way he re-took the lead and then jetted off a few seconds in front tells much about how he felt hoodwinked, and could explain his post-race demeanour.

Monaco Race Report

2010-05-18T12:33:00.004+01:00

Sunday saw another awesome display by Red Bull and Mark Webber, making it two poles and two wins in eight days for the Aussie. Monaco is a special place to win a race and to do it with the flair that Mark Webber did was pretty impressive and obviously meant a lot, the celebratory scenes after the race showed just how much it meant to the newly fledged powerhouse of F1. It is pretty impressive that a drinks company have gone toe to toe with the motor industry and have certainly held their own in the pinnacle of motorsport.

The race will probably be remembered for something else however. Michael Schumacher showing all of the guile and competitive fire that made him 7-time world champion, in one move proved all of the doubters wrong. The Eddie Jordans of the world who constantly insist that it was a mistake to come back to F1, witnessed the best passing move of the race, on the second to last corner after the safety car had been brought back in and the track went green. Fernando Alonso caught some wheelspin and Schumacher's Silver Arrow went through on the inside to nab sixth place. Such opportunistic driving, in such tight confines proves that every bit of Schumacher's legendary and ruthless racecraft is still there. For some of us it was the defending against Hamilton in China that signified Schumi was back, Hamilton said then it was the most aggressive driving he had ever faced and seemed in awe of how hard it was to pass him even in such an inferior car.

However, F1 has this tendancy to shoot itself in the foot, and it did not miss the chance on Sunday. The stewards, including Damon Hill, not exactly Schumacher's best friend following numerous clashes in the 90's including, the infamous incident in Adelaide in '94, decided to investigate. Ross Brawn minutes after the race in an interview with the BBC already had several pieces of evidence proving that the move was in the right.

The rule in question is 40.13 which states:

“If the race ends while the safety car is deployed it will enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking.”

Ross Brawn rightly pointed out that the key to this rule "if the race ends while the safety car is deployed" this was not the case. The teams and fans were notified that the safety car was being brought in, furthermore the track was then green after the first safety car line where teams are allowed to pass. Green in F1 means go, and the race is back on, the stewards have somehow decided this is not the case and added 20 seconds to Schumacher's time putting him out of the points in 12th. A ridiculous penalty from a ridiculous decision. Committees are formed in F1 to increase overtaking but in one of the most dramatic incidents since Hamilton winning the title on the last turn in Brazil, F1 decides to create a way to nullify it, incredible.

Let me know what you think....

Monaco GP Practice Report

2010-05-13T18:47:00.006+01:00

Today was the traditional start of the Monaco GP, the jewel of the F1 schedule. It is always a delight watching such powerful machines screaming around the streets of the principality inches and sometimes less away from the armco barriers.

Much has been made of Red Bull's dominance at the Spanish GP on Sunday, and as frightening as their pace was, Monaco can be a great equaliser for the chasing teams. The tight, winding streets have a way of neutralizing aero advantages and stressing drivers and their abilities. Today's practices seem to support this as Red Bull were not miles ahead, and drivers like Robert Kubica showed impressive form. Fernando Alonso was the man to beat, setting the fastest times in both sessions.

Another topic of discussion was the increased traffic from previous years. With the addition of the three new teams to the grid there are now 24 cars attempting to wind their way around the circuit. A rumor was making the rounds that qualifying would be split however there was no truth behind this and battling traffic will be a definite factor during qualifying and trying to get a clean flying lap is always difficult in Monaco.

Tomorrow will be a day off for F1, a traditional market day, still acknowledged on the calendar and we will return with Saturday practice and qualifying.

Monaco Grand Prix free practice session one

1 ALONSO Ferrari 1m15.927s

2 VETTEL Red Bull 1m16.000s

3 KUBICA Renault 1m16.016s

4 WEBBER Red Bull 1m16.382s

5 MASSA Ferrari 1m16.517s

6 SCHUMACHER Mercedes 1m16.589s

7 HAMILTON McLaren 1m16.647s

8 BUTTON McLaren 1m16.692s

9 SUTIL Force India 1m16.805s

10 BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m16.857s

11 ROSBERG Mercedes 1m17.149s

12 BARRICHELLO Williams 1m17.331s

13 LIUZZI Force India 1m17.704s

14 PETROV Renault 1m17.718s

15 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m17.991s

16 HULKENBERG Williams 1m18.397s

17 DE LA ROSA Sauber 1m18.434s

18 KOBAYASHI Sauber 1m18.547s

19 GLOCK Virgin 1m19.527s

20 KOVALAINEN Lotus 1m19.606s

21 TRULLI Lotus 1m19.902s

22 DI GRASSI Virgin 1m20.566s

23 SENNA HRT 1m21.688s

24 CHANDHOK HRT 1m21.853s

Monaco Grand Prix free practice session two times

1 ALONSO Ferrari 1m14.904s
2 ROSBERG Mercedes 1m15.013s
3 VETTEL Red Bull 1m15.099s
4 MASSA Ferrari 1m15.120s
5 SCHUMACHER Mercedes 1m15.143s
6 KUBICA Renault 1m15.192s
7 HAMILTON McLaren 1m15.249s
8 SUTIL Force India 1m15.460s
9 BUTTON McLaren 1m15.619s
10 WEBBER Red Bull 1m15.620s
11 PETROV Renault 1m15.746s
12 BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m16.276s
13 HULKENBERG Williams 1m16.348s
14 BARRICHELLO Williams 1m16.522s
15 LIUZZI Force India 1m16.528s
16 DE LA ROSA Sauber 1m16.599s
17 KOBAYASHI Sauber 1m16.818s
18 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m17.023s
19 KOVALAINEN Lotus 1m18.184s
20 DI GRASSI Virgin 1m18.478s
21 TRULLI Lotus 1m18.667s
22 GLOCK Virgin 1m18.721s
23 CHANDHOK HRT 1m20.313s
24 SENNA HRT 1m22.148s

Spanish GP Practice Report

2010-05-08T11:06:00.006+01:00

Through the three practices at the Circuit de Catalunya the story has been the updates that the teams have brought to improve their cars after the four fly-away races to start the season. Every team has brought updates ranging from almost entirely new cars, like Virgin, to aerodynamic updates.

The most noticeable of the updates is the radical engine cover on the Mercedes GP car. The picture above shows the new addition, one which is so unorthodox an unnamed team engineer said that his team had never even thought of testing it in a windtunnel, let alone bring it to race with. From a technical view it makes sense, as airbox has effectively been lowered, thus lowering the aerodynamic height of the car. The blade to which the on-board camera is fixed maintains the regulated height but provides optimised air flow. The engine cover is striking, however it is one of many features updated on the Mercedes, the most important of which was to correct a weight balance issue from the start of pre-season testing. As the first races were on the other side of the world this was the first chance to correct it, and to reduce the understeer problems the team had been facing. Michael Schumacher is also using a different chassis the team have released that he damaged his car in the first race of the season and estimate that it was costing him around .3 seconds per lap, this together with the updates has made for a much happier Schumi, beating team-mate Nico Rosberg in all three practice sessions and looking to have closed the gap to McLaren and Ferrari.

Ferrari have also brought new updates with the introduction of an F-Duct system like the one first designed by McLaren. Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa seems to have some teething problems with the system in the two sessions yesterday. At one point Rob Smedley, race engineer to Massa, telling him to switch off the F-Duct earlier on the straight for safety issues. Perhaps by the race the team and the drivers will be more acquainted with the system. The benefit was highlighted in the back to back runs with and without the system. The speed trap reading with was 308kph and without only 299kph.

McLaren and Red Bull have also brought updates, strangely both teams with the exact same idea. They have installed a hole in the floor just behind the front wheels. The idea being to almost create a second diffuser, and provide negative lift or downforce. Red Bull clearly have the most effective car, so any idea they have brought is certainly worth a look, and this might spark a collective sprint to copy the idea.

A quick look at qualifying this afternoon and it is very difficult to look past the Red Bulls. Sebastian Vettel is blessed with a lightening quick car at the moment and blew the field away at this morning's practice session by .7 secs. Mark Webber seems at odds with the car but still is able to hold the rest of the field at bay, and a Red Bull lock-out seems entirely possible.

Chinese Grand Prix - Post-Race Thoughts

2010-04-20T17:47:00.003+01:00

This weekend saw another eventful Grand Prix thanks to Mother Nature. Ever since BoreFest 2010 in Bahrain, nature has been determined to show just how wacky F1 races can get. Shanghai saw a wet race last year in which Sebastian Vettel furthered his growing reputation in the wet, this year, however, saw perhaps the opposite. Starting on pole, with team-mate Mark Webber alongside, he could only manage 6th, in conditions the media claim are his to own. Both he and Webber admitted that the Red Bull while being dominant in the dry, lacks a particular something in changeable conditions, in particular with intermediate tyres on. Red Bull have certainly missed a trick in the opening weeks of the season missing out on leading the championship by quite a margin, Barcelona, the next race in three weeks, will see the teams bring massive updates, to some extents almost entirely new cars and Red Bull's gap on the chasing teams may see significant shortening.

Jenson Button deserves huge praise for another great drive in very tricky conditions. It is true many saw his move to McLaren to be a risky one, yet it has paid off marvellously with him leading the championship after four races. The pivotal point was when Button, as in Australia, was able to pick the right tyre at the right time, the result never looked in doubt and he is fast settling into the team with two wins out of four races. Team-mate Lewis Hamilton had another truly spectacular race full of daring and adventurous overtaking, yet again! Lewis' driving has been the highlight of the season for me so far, however to be in the position to drive like a man possessed, he, and perhaps importantly, his team have made some questionable calls putting him back in the field.

One of the highlights of the race came when Hamilton on the charge suddenly came across the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher. Schumacher had a dreadful weekend, never managing to find the correct setup for the car, and there is no one looking forward to the performance upgrades coming in Spain more than the 7-time World Champion. For those that have been truly hating on Schumacher's comeback his battle with Hamilton gave those with open minds and true understanding of the sport indication that the Schumacher of old is still there. Behind the three year gap, the change in aerodynamics, the narrower front tyres therefore much less front end grip, the new tyres, and the new team, he is still there ladies and gentleman. All one has to do is listen to the interview with Lewis Hamilton after the race talking almost in awe of how difficult it was to pass Schumacher, and how he was the most aggressive driver he has ever raced against.

I stress this incident because it seems like the media are out to crucify Schumacher. The constant comparisons with Nico Rosberg as if Nico was a terrible driver in his first year in F1, grow terribly tiresome. Rosberg has literal championship pedigree, father Keke Rosberg drove in one of the most fearsome eras of motorsport: man-handling the turbo charged beasts of the 1980's. As far as the attacks on Nico go, they are completely unfair, he is being given his first chance in a leading car, which in fact, isn't very impressive at the moment compared with the other teams. Martin Brundle's insistence on repeating how humiliating it was to be passed on the outside of the fast chicane by Lewis Hamilton in Melbourne, is downright irresponsible. BBC have just done a feature on the F-Duct, RW 80 system on the McLaren. This system has given McLaren massive advantages in straight line speed over the first four races of the season and it was on the curved straight before the chicane that Hamilton made up the ground to overtake Rosberg in the chicane. To ignore this fact seems crazy. The Mercedes is not on the same par as the other three big teams, this should be clear, yet it's performance seems to be ignored when analysing the drivers and their performances, this is unfair.

Ferrari may have a team dispute on their hands when they return to Europe. Fernando Alonso following Felipe Massa into the pits, dove in front of his team-mate in the sharp left-hand turn at the beginning of the pitlane during the race, allowing him to go on to finish in 4th while Massa struggled in 9th. Massa by many accounts did not seem pleased but chose not to spark flames by commenting on the incident. We have seen Alonso stuck behind Massa in Australia, and Malaysia and the 2-time World Champion seemed eager to avoid this again. The incident may create even more whispers of this being Massa's last year in the Scuderia, with Robert Kubica, who is enjoying a fine start to the season as well as having strong ties to Italy, being touted as his replacement.

All in all a very interesting race, the circus moves back to Europe. It has been F1's version of American show Amazing Race to get back to Europe with teams and drivers making all kinds of stops and detours. RBFormula1.com will keep you up to date on the technological developments sure to emerge over the three week gap. Until then...

How to Improve F1 - Push to Pass

2010-04-14T19:40:00.005+01:00

In the first instalment of the series How to Improve F1 we looked into the possibility of introducing improved mechanical grip, via the tyres, to counteract the disadvantage an F1 car faces when trying to overtake and follow in turbulent air. Another feature that is suggested to aid in the overtaking process is a "push to pass" button, a boost of sorts, to propel the car by.

Such a concept is not new to motorsport, nor to F1. The introduction of Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) last season was met with much indifference and its spiralling development costs resulted in few teams focusing on it's potential. The premise was a good one, integrating a system that recovered the energy used in braking and saved it to be used again in the form of a power boost. This type of "green" idea was well received by many as it could easily be transferred into road car design and the era of the hybrid car, cementing F1's technological purpose in the car industry. Last year's McLarens provided a glimpse of what such a feature can do with daring overtakes using the system's boost. KERS allowed for six seconds of use per lap, with an 80 bhp increase. However with many teams ignoring it and the incredible cost to develop it the idea was dropped for 2010.

If such a system were to return to F1, I would propose that we see changes in the format. As cost was such an issue there could be a standard unit, allowing all of the teams, even the new ones for this season to afford the device. Standard units are already used in F1, namely the Electronic Control Unit manufactured by McLaren for all of the cars. Once installed a boost in power would be greatly appreciated, as covered before, the dominance of aerodynamics make it tremendously difficult for an F1 car to perform while in turbulent air. A larger boost would see even more of the KERS overtakes from last season by overcoming the hindrance of bad aero performance. The most intriguing facet of the system would be how to regulate its use. In my opinion the six seconds per lap was not exactly a success, it was difficult to know who was using it and who had what left, other than when viewing the onboard camera angle. If it was an allotment per race, instead of per lap, the element of strategy would be a huge factor. The A1GP series used such a feature, and its first year saw drivers get carried away and use their entire allowance within a few laps, only to be overtaken by others that used it sparingly later. This dynamic would put the driver in the hotseat, battles would become even more fascinating with the strategic play of whether to boost or not. Last year's six seconds saw the boosts coming at the same point of the lap, every lap, to better times but with an entire race allowance at their fingertips we could see both dramatic mistakes and race defining moments.

Codemasters F1 2010 Gameplay Video

2010-04-12T12:51:00.004+01:00

Last month RBFormula1.com brought you a preview to Codemasters' new Formula 1 video game, F1 2010, out this September. We can now bring you, footage of actual gameplay. This is still the pre-alpha build, meaning that it is in the early stages of development. The driving is pretty awful, apparently bad code for braking making it impossible to turn in, but it offers a glimpse to what F1 gaming fans have been looking forward to for quite a while.

Michelin won't return as sole supplier | Planet F1 | Formula One News

2010-04-12T12:35:00.002+01:00

Michelin won't return as sole supplier | Planet F1 | Formula One News

Michelin have made it clear that should they return to Formula One it will only be if they have rival tyre manufacturers to compete against.

Malaysian Grand Prix - Post-Race Thoughts

2010-04-05T17:17:00.003+01:00

Apologies for the lack of usual race weekend coverage here on RBFormula1.com, unfortunately work doesn't schedule itself around the F1 calendar.

Malaysia provided an epic spectacle in 2009 where a mammoth monsoon ended the race and resulted in half points being awarded. Thoughts were that this year would see the same awesome feats of nature, and qualifying provided a preview of what many saw inevitable. Alas the race came and went, the rain didn't.

The weather on Saturday had given us a mixed up grid with both McLarens and Ferraris at the back end of the grid. One of the suggestions for spicing up F1 was a grid much like the one in Sepang with the quicker cars handicapped at the back of the grid. Lewis Hamilton lived up to the challenge doing much, in my mind, to cement himself as the most skilled driver in F1 when it comes to overtaking. The moves that he has pulled off in the past two races have been incredible, such courage and creativity as well as ruthless aggression. It has been great to watch even if both races haven't quite resulted in top points.

Aside from Hamilton's charge there was limited action in the field. With the weather dry, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber never looked challenged in their superior Red Bulls. The chasing teams have a way to go to compete with their qualifying potency, until then expect more Red Bull dominance in China where they finished 1-2 last year.

The big updates for teams to try and catch up speed will not come until the return to Europe and the Spanish GP in Barcelona. One of the teams highly anticipating the European homecoming is Mercedes GP. Everyone seems to have forgotten that they have undergone incredible change over the last 18 months, from Honda's withdrawal from F1, to Jenson Button's and the constructor's world title, to Mercedes' return to Formula 1. Amongst all of this the media seem ot have extraordinary standards for Ross Brawn and his team. The team have a host of updates coming in Barcelona and we may yet see them catch up to the Red Bulls and Ferraris.

Speaking of Mercedes, I was very pleased to see Nico Rosberg on the podium for the third time in his career and the first podium for Mercedes GP. Nico has been so overshadowed by the return of Michael Schumacher that even after three good performances to start the season he is still not getting the credit he deserves. Rosberg is an incredibly talented driver, in my opinion, and he is seizing his first legitimate chance in a good car and, once Mercedes improve, I see a race win coming this season for Nico.

Lastly, a huge congratulations to Hispania Racing Team. Both cars finished the race this week, after Karun Chandok finished in Malaysia. An incredible feat considering the complete lack of testing and uncertainty surrounding the team. Their car seems to have a good, reliable foundation and two talented rookie drivers in Chandok and Bruno Senna, nephew of Ayrton Senna. The new teams are the ones that will see the most dramatic improvements in Barcelona with Mike Gascoyne of Lotus Racing predicting around three seconds improvements. Until next time...

How to Improve F1 - Mechanical Grip

2010-04-01T21:16:00.004+01:00

Although the Australian GP did much to quiet the uproar following the Bahrain GP that F1 was too boring. Those of us that know the sport know that the fundamental flaw in F1, near impossible overtaking, was actually made even more prevalent in Melbourne.

Sunday's race was indeed one for the ages but this was largely due to the changing conditions the cars started in the wet on intermediate tyres and rain is always "the great equaliser" in Formula 1. During the wet part of the race and the time when the teams were changing back to dry slicks, was when the majority of the overtaking was occurring. Most of this was down to the tyres and the drivers those that were able to find grip were obviously much faster than those without it and therefore were able to pass. As the track dried up towards the end of the race the demon that is "dirty air" once again raised its ugly head.

You will hear commentators go on and on about dirty air. What they mean in the turbulent air disturbed by the cars aerodynamics, and largely the double diffuser. The diffuser is the part of the car at the rear end and connects to the floor of the car, gathering the air and making it go up as it runs along the car, and therefore push the car down, creating downforce. This means that any car close in behind another loses all of its aerodynamic grip as there is turbulent air and not the air flow necessary to achieve normal performance from their car. In effect it makes the car behind even if it is faster, slower and unable to pass. Martin Whitmarsh speaking to the BBC said that the teams reckon that the car behind has to be 3 seconds faster per lap in order to overtake. 3 seconds! There were times during last season where the entire field were not separated by 3 seconds during qualifying. 3 seconds in the world of F1 is an eternity, and for this reason something must be done to aid overtaking, or at least put it back into the drivers hands.

Australia was the perfect example of this, when during the last part of the race Lewis Hamilton was driving like a man possessed, gaining on the Ferraris 2-2.5 seconds per lap, clearly the fastest man on the circuit. Yet when he caught Alonso, he couldn't pass. Now a duel between Alonso and Hamilton is mouthwatering stuff, but this was not even close, Hamilton had much newer tyres, Alonso had decaying ones that he hoped would see him through the race. This should have been Hamilton hands down. It is things like this that can be and need to be addressed.

Right now drivers are not able to get close to the car in front or else suffer a dramatic drop in performance and grip. What if we were to counteract the loss of aerodynamic grip and replace it with mechanical grip from the tyres? We know that the diffuser is largely responsible for the dirty air and that will be banned from next season, therefore that would be less of an issue. If we were to bring back the tyres of yesteryear, drivers would have the grip to pull off the moves that we see in the wet, without aero efficiency dictating so much. If this were the case then we might have seen Lewis on the podium this past Sunday, a deserved reward for an amazing drive.

It seems Australian saved F1 in two ways, providing us with a race for the ages to silence critics, as well as pointing out the current shortcomings and possible solutions. Let me know what think, would this work? what are your ideas for F1? My twitter ID is RBFormula1, look forward to hearing from you.

Red Bull call for suspension clarification | Planet F1 | Formula One News

2010-03-30T20:47:00.002+01:00

Red Bull call for suspension clarification | Planet F1 | Formula One News

Rosberg optimistic over Sepang updates - Formula 1 news - GPUpdate.net

2010-03-30T20:43:00.001+01:00

Rosberg optimistic over Sepang updates - Formula 1 news - GPUpdate.net

'Mercedes not far away from podium' - Schumacher - Formula 1 news - GPUpdate.net

2010-03-30T20:42:00.001+01:00

'Mercedes not far away from podium' - Schumacher - Formula 1 news - GPUpdate.net

Australian Grand Prix 2010 Race Report

2010-03-28T12:13:00.005+01:00

For those of you that set your alarm clocks this morning, you were treated to a wonderful example of how compelling Formula 1 can be. A race full of incident and drama greeted us this morning, ending with Jenson Button's first win for McLaren.

The rain first began to fall as the drivers made their way to the grid. Rain and F1 are always an action packed combination and the first corner did not disappoint. All of the teams began on the intermediate tyres, Fernando Alonso and Button came together in the first corner. Alonso was spun around facing the wrong way as the field sped past and Alonso was ricochetted into Michael Schumacher breaking his front wing and relegating him to the back of the field for the race.

In the wet conditions the racing was filled with numerous overtakes and dramatic moments. Most pivotal of these moments came when Button, having had trouble getting his intermediate tyres to behave, made the decision to switch to slicks on lap six. At the time it seemed too soon, and this criticism seemed justified as Button promptly went off at turn 3 after exiting the pits.

His decision however turned out to be timed to perfection, as the other teams pitted his tyres were up to temperature and he was able to carve through the field as they struggled on cool tyres on the still damp surface. Following the pit stops Button found himself behind only Vettel in the Red Bull.

Vettel's reliability problems came to a head once again as the Red Bull suffered a brake failure into turn 13 after Vettel reported feeling something wrong with the car. With Vettel trapped in the gravel trap, his race was over and Button had clear sailing to the end.

The rest of the race happened behind Button, his team mate Lewis Hamilton seemed destined to complete a McLaren 1-2 after an inspired drive. His team, however, decided that a new set of tyres was the way forward and pulled Hamilton into the pits just as he was locked in a duel with Kubica for what would have been second place.

The decision proved to be a bad one, costing Hamilton at least three places and a possible run on Button for the win. His day went from bad to worse when Mark Webber, who had also put on a new set of tyres went into the back of his car, just as Hamilton was attempting to overtake Alonso for 4th place.

In the end it was an emotional win for Jenson Button who has made himself at home in the McLaren team, this proof of McLaren's race potential, and Renault's surprising second place with Robert Kubica, has proved that we have quite a season ahead of us. The best drivers, the best cars, Formula 1 is indeed a spectacle.

Australian Grand Prix 2010 Free Practice

2010-03-26T10:30:00.005Z

In the wee hours of the morning in Europe, two free practice sessions took place in Melbourne ahead of the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday. Much of the talk during the first session was regarding the explosion of media following the "boring" Bahrain Grand Prix two weeks ago. Around the world newspapers and websites alike blasted the new set of regulations in F1 this year and called the race a procession. However it may have been a case of bad scheduling shooting F1 in its own foot. During the practice sessions the 5Live commentators David Croft and Anthony Davidson made an extremely valid point that Bahrain is never, and has never really been that compelling of a race. In fact this year there were 19 overtaking manoeuvres as compared to 17 last year, this seems to have been lost in the ether. Last year's Australian GP offered 25 overtakes and led to an exciting start to the season regardless of the fact that Brawn romped away with a 1-2 finish. Could this have simply been a mistake on the behalf of F1 scheduling a traditionally low overtaking GP as the first of the year?

Just to finish on the issue of overtaking, an idea is being bounced around by F1 about limiting the cars to 17000rpm, currently 18000rpm, with an ability to go to 18k for a limited amount of time during the race. After the time had elapsed the Electronic Control Unit would limit the car to 17k for the rest of the race. If this were enforced throughout the field then I think this would increase the spectacle exponentially, it would add a driver specific strategy factor to the race and certainly lead to more overtaking as we saw on occasion with KERS last year.

Also, breaking news from the first session: the Virgin Racing cars will not be finishing the race this weekend. Not due to psychic abilities on my behalf instead because their fuel tank is not big enough to hold enough fuel to finish the race, almost. An seemingly laughable situation in the elite world of technology that F1 is, however there are rumours around the paddock that they might not be the only ones....

Ex-McLaren team boss Ron Dennis has claimed that the problem in Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull of a spark plug failure was not the cause of his slower pace at the end of the race in Bahrain. Instead it was a symptom of his Red Bull running out of petrol, Vettel has laughed off the allegation, and when asked if it was simply a spark plug why did he pull off the track and park the car almost immediately after crossing the finish line. He responded that he thought that it was a broken exhaust and did not want to damage the car further. It would not be the first time a team has hidden a deficiency like this....

Another rumour spreading across the paddock is that the Ferrari engine could be a little more vulnerable that first thought. It was widely known that Ferrari had trouble keeping engine temperatures down in Bahrain, however they had to go to the extreme of enriching the mixture of fuel being used to cool the engine and thus using more fuel, so it seems the Ferraris may have in fact limped across the line in Bahrain and their fuel effectiveness might be an issue to keep an eye on.

Australian Grand Prix 2010 Preview

2010-03-24T21:10:00.005Z

Hi Everyone,

There is now a Australian GP preview written by yours truly, posted by our good friends at BellSports www.bellsports.wordpress.com

The Resurgence of Alonso and Ferrari

2010-03-23T17:37:00.003Z

2009 was a distinctly bad year for the legendary Prancing Horse. Their lofty standards prevent any year that does not involve a championship chase to be considered a near disaster. The year was lost from the beginning, Ferrari found themselves badly lagging behind in the interpretation of the new rules for the 2009 season. They had put much effort into KERS and did not take advantage of the double diffuser that set apart the Williams, Toyota, and most notably the Brawn GP cars. The season all but lost, July saw the Scuderia begin to focus on 2010, and a return to prowess.

The past three years for Fernando Alonso were not ideal for the two-time world champion. The infamous feud with McLaren and his upstart team-mate Lewis Hamilton left a sorry after-taste following his successive world titles. Alonso branded himself as a me first driver, expecting the team to fall in behind him. He found himself in a situation on foreign soil compared to Hamilton would had been signed and groomed for almost a decade previous, despite his inexperience in F1. His days at McLaren came to an unofficial end following the Hungarian GP in 2007, with his revealing of emails and the stealing of Ferrari's technological information at McLaren, resulting in expulsion from the constructor's championship and a $100 million fine.

He returned to Renault, the site of his world titles in a hope to banish his year at McLaren to a mere blip on the path to greatness. However, Renault were not in a position to compete and Alonso's frustration was obvious. Rumours swirled for much of the two years that a deal with Ferrari was on the horizon, and at one point last season that it was signed and sealed. Nothing came of it. Numerous questions and musings followed both Ferrari and Alonso regarding their union but both were mum.

This past off-season finally saw the union reach fruition, Kimi Raikoennen was no longer needed and his astronomical wages saw him leave F1 to the World Rally Championship. Ferrari and Luca di Montezemolo had his man, the man that was to bring Ferrari back to the pinnacle of F1. Alonso had been widely considered the best driver on the grid for three seasons, it was factors off the track and uncompetitive cars that banished him to the midfield. It was this driver that Montezemolo sought not the diva many perceived Alonso to be.

These thoughts of Alonso maybe more an assumption but an unknowing public and press. This is not to say that his character was not discussed before Ferrari pulled the trigger, Montezemolo saying "I spoke about these elements with Stefano Domenicalli (Team Chief) maybe a thousand times - not a hundred, a thousand times". He also addressed Alonso seeking to prevent the problems from McLaren repeating itself "If you come to drive for us, you drive for a group, you don't drive for yourself".

Alonso is certainly making the right noises about his partnership with Ferrari, he seems content for the first time in a number of years, at a team he sees as the highlight of any F1 driver's career. His ambition is still in good health, but it has adopted a higher degree of maturity in the past "I never ask to be the number one driver in any team, but I do not want to be the number two". Come the end of the season it may be Alonso that is the number one driver of any team.

Confidence from Mercedes

2010-03-20T12:44:00.002Z

Following up winning the Driver and Constructor world championships as Brawn GP, a phoenix from the flames, after Honda pulled out of Formula 1, was always going to be difficult for the newly branded Mercedes Petronas GP. However if it was going to be done it was to be with the power and resources of a member of motoring royalty: Mercedes.

Despite not taking part in Formula 1 for many decades, Mercedes are incredibly proud of their F1 pedigree and would not have ventured back into the paddock without the sole ambition of contending and winning both championships on a regular basis.

Last year Ross Brawn had the luxury of being able to work on the 2009 car for much longer than normal with Honda abandoning a dismal 2008 season in before July. With this distinct advantage, Brawn and the team designed a car that had a huge advantage on the field. This year has been somewhat different with the Mercedes behind the Ferraris and Red Bulls, and perhaps McLaren. The Brawn car was arguably the least developed car among the leaders last year, and the competition made significant strides to catch up and in some cases overtake the performance of the Brawns. There has been whispers in the paddock that in season development might not be the forte of Brawn's team.

This year, although Mercedes do not enjoy the edge that 2009 brought, their 5th and 6th place finish in Bahrain seemed to be where Ross Brawn expected them to be "the team did a good job in Bahrain but we accept that we were not competitive enough and that we have work to do to close the gap". However Mercedes are confident that they will close the gap to Red Bull and Ferrari. "We have a development plan in place for the next few races which should bring the requited performance improvements to compete at the front." Norbert Haug, Mercedes' Head of Motorsport, says that the breakthrough will not be immediately evident but will come "sooner rather than later".

With the services of a returning 7-time World Champion in Michael Schumacher and a determined compatriot in Nico Rosberg, Mercedes could be a dark horse in the championship this year if Ross Brawn and his team can provide the development that they and Mercedes are capable of.

Red Bull's Engine Woes, Rosberg on the Duel, Ferrari Aim to Improve, Driver Updates

2010-03-18T17:19:00.006Z

Red Bull's weekend in Bahrain did not end particularly well. Sebastian Vettel's engine problem, initially thought to be an exhaust leak but later found to be a spark plug, ended what looked like a sure pole position and race win double for the German driver. Red Bull's disappointment was further compounded by the numerous engine problems the team experienced during last year's championship hunt.

The problems with the Renault engine actually caused the team to enquire about other sources of power for this season, with Mercedes being the name most linked with Red Bull in the off-season. The reasons behind the change not going through are another story in and of itself.

Renault were accepted as the most fuel efficient engine on the grid last year and that has remained so this year. During the winter however before the engine freeze on 1 March, Renault did much to catch up to competition in means of power. All is not lost for Red Bull, the improved Renault engine let them down this weekend but it will surely lead them to a fair share of victories this season.

Nico Rosberg was completely overshadowed in the build up to this season, due to the return on Michael Schumacher. However, in Bahrain, Rosberg proved faster in all of the practice sessions, qualifying and finished a place ahead of Schumacher in the race. It is only the second time in his career that Schumacher has been behind his team-mate all weekend. Rosberg is enjoying the competition with the legendary Schumacher calling it a "super duel" and believes the Mercedes could be challenging for a podium in Melbourne.

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali rated his team's performance in Bahrain, after finishing 1-2, an 8 out of 10. The less than perfect mark can be attributed to the fact that the morning of the race the engines of both cars was replaced. Following post weekend debrief, Domenicali said the list of problems experienced in Bahrain "was quite high and we need to address them all and make sure that these are solved before the start of the next race in Australia."

Driver Updates:

-Heikki Kovalainen was in Helsinki today meeting with Finnish media before flying back to Geneva (H_Kovalainen)

-Jenson Button had an early start in the McLaren Technology Centre doing simulator work and PR work. "Race in Bahrain didn't go quite as I expected it to.. Exciting times though knowing there's so much more speed we can find with this car" (The_Real_JB)

-Today was Timo Glock's birthday

-Williams rookie Nico Hulkenberg was in the simulator today getting ready for Australia and Kuala Lumpur

F1 2010 Preview - Codemasters' New F1 Video Game

2010-03-17T15:17:00.007Z

In the summer of 2008 Codemasters bought the F1 licence to begin a new era of Formula 1 video games. Codemasters released F1 2009 for the Playstation Portable and Nintendo Wii this past September, to good reviews. However plans for an HD game for the Playstation 3 and XBox 360 were delayed and put off until September 2010.

Codemasters have now released a developer's diary giving us a first look at the preliminary build of the game and some of the features they intend to include. (The video shows cars and drivers from 2009 but it will include 2010 car, drivers, and circuits)

One of the main features that the game's developers want to get spot on is the driving mechanics of a current F1 car. They seem to be heading in the right direction hiring former F1 driver and BBC 5Live commentator Anthony Davidson as a consultant.

F1 2010 will allow gamers to take on the full, expanded grid from this year's championship

in a variety of game modes such as Grand Prix, Championship, Time Trial, and a revamped Career Mode. Codemasters are also building in the most advanced weather simulation seen in a racing game to date.

The game's engine is in good hands too, as it will be using the same EGO Game Technology Platform used by Codemasters' other racing titles Colin McRae: DiRT 2 and Race Driver: GRID.

Red Baron F1 will be bringing you more news on the development of F1 2010 as it gets released.

Quick Hits

2010-03-16T18:57:00.003Z

Much has been made in the newspapers this week about F1's not so tantalizing start to the Grand Prix calendar. So much hype had surrounded the driver pairing and, of course, the return of 7-time world champion Michael Schumacher that there was inevitably going to be a sense of anti-climax. To compare F1 to a tin of Dulux Paint drying on a wall, as in The Times, is a bit extreme, but the world has spoken.

Bernie Ecclestone, Formula 1's commerical rights holder, has urged patience for the new rules and setup for F1 this season, according to sportinglife.com

Mercedes MD Nick Fry has joined other team heads, including McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh, calling for the FIA to react to the lacklustre display in Bahrain as per autosport.com

Worryingly Michael Schumacher himself after the race said that overtaking is "basically impossible" with this year's regulations, citing only driver error as a chance to overtake; full story espnf1.com

David Coulthard is aiming blame at controversial former FIA President Max Mosley for the processional affair in Bahrain according to The Guardian

ESPNf1.com proposes that a tyre war, similar to the one seen recently between Bridgestone, the current and only suppliers, and Michelin. Bridgestone's contract to F1 is to run out at the end of the season.

Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo thanked the team for the 1-2 finish in Bahrain per InsideFerrari

Will be back tomorrow with a look at Codemaster's F1 2010 scheduled for release in September 2010.

Alonso and Ferrari Return to Winning Ways

2010-03-14T20:11:00.004Z

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Formula 1 World Championship, it was fitting that the most successful team in the history of the championship and the team that has been in F1 since the beginning reigned again supreme finishing 1-2 in this season's opening race.

Ferrari endured a nightmare season last year, starting off the pace and remaining so for most of the season. It was a testament to Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikonnen that they managed to finish in the points at all, especially when the struggle of driving the Ferrari in 2009 became apparent when Ferrari signed veteran Giancarlo Fisichella to replace Felipe Massa after his accident in Hungary. The car was a beast and even a proven driver like Fisi was made to look bad.

Development of the car was stopped in the summer and all considerable resources and efforts of F1's most storied team went on this year's car. It was a bold move, placing even more pressure on the result of their efforts, it seems, however, that they have been rewarded. Ferrari's car was the best all round this weekend and the class of the field, Red Bull may have it beaten over the single lap but Alonso's pace after overtaking Sebastian Vettel was quite a statement to the field finishing more than 15 seconds ahead of Felipe Massa in the other Ferrari.

Much of the excitement before the race centred around the approach to the first corner with the cars fuelled to the finish for the first time since 1993. How would 24 cars filled with 160kg of fuel fare trying to slow down and get around the corner? In fact they did so without incident it was at the second corner that Vitaly Petrov the Renault rookie faced the awkward proposition of facing the wrong way on his F1 debut making contact and being spun around.

Rumours had it that the Red Bull with is Renault engine was very gentle when it came to fuel consumption, with some estimates saying it was up to 10kg lighter as less fuel would be needed to reach the end of the 49 laps. Judging by the rate at which Vettel sped away from Alonso and Massa, this could very well be true. A dangerous combination: fastest car plus lightest when the lights go out.

It was on lap 34 that Vettel's car started to sound off with was has been called by the Red Bull team a spark plug failure. The failure led to a sizeable portion of the carbon fibre surrounding the left rear suspension to burn away and fly off of the car. Before his spark plug failure, however, Alonso was gaining on Vettel cutting his lead significantly. One problem for Ferrari, during the race, was the heat of the engines. While trying to catch up Vettel, Alonso had major problems driving in the turbulent air behind the Red Bull as his engine was overheating so was forced to drop off if he got too close. The reason for this would have been that the "dirty" air behind Vettel was not enough to cool the engine, hence he had to keep leaving the racing line to take in gulps of unmolested air into the intakes.

As Vettel fell away to be caught by Alonso, Massa and Lewis Hamilton, Alonso romped ahead opening up a lead that would only grow until weaving across the home straight to pick up the chequered flag in grand style.

The marker has now been laid down with the teams knowing who is on the pace and who isn't. Jenson Button finished 7th behind the two Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher. His McLaren had a clear speed advantage down the straights, thanks in part to the F-Vent, but could not close on the Mercedes which had a distinct advantage on the 2nd sector filled with tight technical turns. Several teams have work to do now that the first experiment without refuelling is over, but do not expect large changes to the field before the return to Europe and the Spanish GP in Barcelona.

The biggest issue following the race was the effect of the new no refuelling policy on the spectacle of the race. Most of the teams planned and carried out an early stop and then went on to the finish with the second set of tyres. Many including the drivers seemed to think that this simply lent itself to a processional race with qualifying and the first lap being the most vital elements to the race weekend. Judging by the amount of overtaking seen in the race they might be right.

One suggestion would be for Bridgestone to change the compounds of tyre that it brings to a Grand Prix. After all the talk of degrading tyres, we never really saw a car struggle because its tyres had gone off. Jenson Button, in fact, was disappointed his team called him into the box when they did because he had been so careful with his tyres that he felt he had a number of laps left in them. Even more worrying was the fact that he acknowledged that the drivers were rarely going flat out during the race in order to conserve tyres.

If Bridgestone were able to bring two compounds that truly contrast each other it could aid the spectacle. Currently the super soft compound provides a .5 to .6 of a second advantage over a lap, but is supposed to fall off faster than the medium compound. If this gap were more in the 1-1.5 second gap coupled with only being able to last 10 laps before significant fall off, we could see sprints to overtake and battles with one car on the medium fending off one on the super soft. As an example say Vettel and Alonso today both started on the super soft by the tenth lap Vettel held a 4 sec lead over Alonso and both pitted as tyre wear became apparent. Vettel opts for the medium and Alonso the super soft again, the following laps became a sprint for Alonso to pass and open up a lead on Vettel before the tyres went off on him again and his enforced switch to the medium. Perhaps this would work better with an enforced second stop as has been discussed by the teams and it seems this discussions will reopen following this race.

Nevertheless F1 is back, next stop in Australia and Melbourne the semi permanent street circuit at Albert Park. Temperatures will be cooler, and strategies will be revised as circus of F1 moves down under.

Can the Red Bull outrun the Prancing Horses?

2010-03-13T18:13:00.004Z

The first low-fuel qualifying in Formula 1 for over a decade provided a valuable insight into the true speed of this year's cars, following the masquerades of pre-season testing and the free practices. German Sebastian Vettel drove his Red Bull Renault to pole position and is joined on the front row by Felipe Massa, out-qualifying his much heralded team-mate Fernando Alonso.

Qualifying will not have been a happy time for the Jenson Button side of the McLaren garage. The defending world champion crept into the pole shoot-out by only .100 of a second. During his final lap of Q2 the performance value of the controversial McLaren rear wing, dubbed the "F-Vent", became apparent. Button was simply .010 of a second up on the 10th place car at the end of the second sector, and gained almost a tenth of a second over the two straights that make up the majority of the Sakhir circuit's third sector. It has been reported that the F-Vent provides the McLaren with up to 6mph advantage over competitors in straight line speed. In other words, the F-Vent might have prevented Button the embarrassment of missing the final part of qualifying. Button reported at the end of qualifying that "something was wrong" with the car and was surprised to be as high as his 8th position, although he was still reasonably happy and feeling more and more comfortable in the car as the laps went by.

McLaren's performance, or lack thereof, was no doubt a surprise to many. Thoughts from the team are, however, that they are where they expected. Lewis Hamilton was "absolutely overwhelmed" with his fourth position, citing a weak middle sector and a lack of downforce in the McLaren. Rober Kubica's Renault, and Adrian Sutil in the impressive Force India were the representatives outside of the big four teams in 9th and 1oth respectively.

Nico Rosberg turned in a solid performance in his Mercedes, a third of a second ahead of team mate Michael Schumacher, in 5th position on the grid to Schumacher's 7th with Red Bull's Mark Webber between them. Speaking to reporters after qualifying Rosberg, disappointed to not qualify higher, stressed the vital role that tyre wear and effectiveness will have in the heat of the Bahraini desert. One problem he cited was that the tyres were actually over-heating and therefore outside of the most effective temperature range, once this happens in Rosberg's words "the next two corners are game over."

Things to look out for come tomorrow and the first race of the season:

Red Bull have shown signs that they may be rapid over a single lap but their tyre wear has been reported as a problem, if the Red Bull starts to grain and lose grip, Vettel could be roped in by the two Ferraris starting behind him who have been much easier on their tyres in race simulations during testing. Another factor could be the Williams of Rubens Barrichello, he is in 11th position and has the luxury of choosing his tyres, compared the top ten who must start the race on the exact same tyres they qualified on. This may allow Barrichello to pick off the cars in front of him and potentially be a dark horse in the race tomorrow, especially if they experience the tyre problems Nico Rosberg described.

Tomorrow will shed even more light on the standings of F1 2010, tyre wear and fuel effectiveness will be huge factors in this year's championship perhaps even trumping pure speed, in the light of banned refuelling. All of the cars on this year's grid will be fuelled to the finish, and pitstops will simply be for tyre changes. Some teams are hoping for stops in the range of a lightening-quick three seconds. Cars will still have to use each of the two types of tyre compound brought to the race by tyre supplier Bridgestone, with all of the top ten, excluding Adrian Sutil opting for the super-soft compound. It is clearly the fastest compound, but how will it last in the heat of Bahrain?

BAHRAIN GP – QUALIFYING
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:55.029 1:53.883 1:54.101
2. Massa Ferrari 1:55.313 1:54.331 1:54.242
3. Alonso Ferrari 1:54.612 1:54.172 1:54.608
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:55.341 1:54.707 1:55.217
5. Rosberg Mercedes 1:55.463 1:54.682 1:55.241
6. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:55.298 1:54.318 1:55.284
7. Schumacher Mercedes 1:55.593 1:55.105 1:55.524
8. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:55.715 1:55.168 1:55.672
9. Kubica Renault 1:55.511 1:54.963 1:55.885
10. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:55.213 1:54.996 1:56.309
11. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:55.969 1:55.330
12. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:55.628 1:55.653
13. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:56.375 1:55.857
14. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:56.428 1:56.237
15. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:56.189 1:56.265
16. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:56.541 1:56.270
17. Petrov Renault 1:56.167 1:56.619
18. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:57.071
19. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:59.728
20. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:59.852
21. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 2:00.313
22. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 2:00.587
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 2:03.240
24. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 2:04.904

Schumacher: Determined and Dangerous

2010-03-12T17:02:00.006Z

As a fan of F1 throughout the dominant years of Ferrari and Michael Schumacher it is perfectly clear what an epic talent he was. His comeback this year has sparked an interesting array of sympathy and cynicism. Some understand how the weight of the F1 world was on his shoulders in the last years of his first stint in F1, regardless of the fact he was no longer world champion. They see that once this pressure had left, the gap in his life left by the F1 paddock and the rush that must be felt when racing the world's finest cars. His passion returned. Others in the media questioned the thinking behind his venture back into F1. Their thoughts ranging from perceived madness (Eddie Jordan) to his return threatening his legacy.

The legacy that Schumacher left is as best driver ever, at least according to the drivers today, Fernando Alonso at the FIA press conference yesterday said “Looking at the numbers, Grand Prix wins, pole positions, championships etc, I think we all agree that Michael is the best ever" Statistically, Alonso is right, there can be no arguing, seven world titles speak volumes, as well as his grand prix victories and pole positions.

There is however another element that cannot be counted by statistics: determination. The raw, unbridled, competitiveness that has aided in driving and pushing Schumacher to his seven titles. It is this element of Schumacher that seems to be overlooked by those worried about harming his legacy and how it be perceived if F1's young guns outperform the master.

What if this was exactly what Schumacher and his fans need? After today's practices Nico Rosberg, Schumacher's 24 year old teammate held the fastest time, half a second faster than Schumacher. Reports are coming in that Schumacher admits he is a bit rusty over one lap and that the gap between he and Rosberg's time does not meet his, ever so high, standards. This is worrying news for the paddock. A Schumacher determined not to be slighted, not to let down Mercedes GP, and himself, could be a very potent Schumacher during tomorrow's qualifying, during the race on Sunday, and throughout the season. Even if it is not this weekend, perhaps he needs time as Norbert Haug, vice president of Mercedes Motorsport, says, but have no doubt Schumacher will be as competitive and driven as ever, and there has never been anyone better at translating that into results on the track.

Bahrain GP Free Practices

2010-03-12T10:36:00.010Z

McLaren Wing: Brilliant

Hello world. I borrow this quote from Tiger Woods as this site enters into the blogosphere. The excitement for the 2010 F1 season has reached unprecedented levels this year, and not without reason. The return of Michael Schumacher brings a fourth World Champion to the starting grid this year. The new driver pairings offer arguably F1's best drivers in F1's best cars. What more can we ask for?

It took all of ten minutes into the new season for the first controversy to spring up. Last year it was the double diffuser introduced by Brawn GP as well as Willams, and Toyota. This year it seems to be the incredibly clever shark fin duct/rear wing concept from the engineers at the McLaren Technology Center.

The premise of the device revolves around the aerodynamics of the rear wing. Without going too into technical depth and need a degree in aerodynamic engineering. The effect is to nullify the rear wing, thus reducing drag, and giving the McLaren's a reported 6mph advantage on straights.

The controversy arises over the way that the duct/wing is used. Because the concept revolves around destroying the rear wing's ability to provide downforce it only provides an advantage on the straights. During the other parts of a circuit the rear wing's downforce is vital to the performance of the car.

The FIA have banned movable aerodynamic devices so how have McLaren solved this problem? By making the driver the movable object. The device starts with the vent just in front of the cockpit of the McLaren on the driver's left side. The driver then can shut a flap with his left knee to enable the device and nullify the rear wing, then open it again at the end of the straight.

Although it seems that the feeling the paddock has now shifted to how teams can implement their own versions, there remains a sentiment that this was a low blow by McLaren. According to Renault there were casual agreements in place that stalling the rear wing, which the McLaren device does, would not be a feature of an F1 car. However this seems to be a familiar issue as a similar agreement was in place last year regarding the diffuser.

The implementation of similar devices in the other teams is going to bring about problems. McLaren were in talks with Charlie Whiting of the FIA throughout the device's development ensuring it was legal. They worked on this when modifications the cockpit area were allowed. Now that the season is underway any developments on this area are apparently forbidden, as this is the central elemet of the primary and fundamental safety tests at the beginning of a season.

No doubt the brilliant minds in F1 will find a way of implementing the McLaren duct/wing into their cars. They only have to hope they can keep up with the McLaren's of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton this weekend along the Sakhir circuits long straights. A special congratulations goes out to the yet unnamed individual in Woking that developed this brilliant piece of tech, this is what F1 is all about technical and driving excellence at its best.

Other Headlines:

Long Faces at Mercedes - This morning did not go as well as expected in the Mercedes garage. The reported "Super Diffuser" did not have an immediate impact, this might be a problem derived from not testing it at all in the preseaon. Schumacher certainly had problems with the floor of his car on his runs seemingly problems with ride height. Nico Rosberg who has quietly gone about his business in the preseason with impressive times, recorded a better time than Michael this morning.

Tyres at Red Bull - It was reported at the end of the session by the BBC's Ted Kravitz that the Red Bull tyres were significantly worn after only 17 laps this morning. Tyre testing this preseason has been treacherous thanks mostly to the strange weather seen here in Europe this winter. The temperatures in Spain were not ideal for testing tyres, including more than a few wet days. The temps at Bahrain this weekend are much higher than the data the teams will have. The particularly worrying issue for Red Bull is that at the same time this morning Kravitz reported that the McLaren and Ferrari tyres barely looked worn at all. So perhaps and issue to keep an eye on...

Finally....
Welcome to F1 Bruno Senna, cameras this morning showed the Brazilian struggling to wrangle the HRT car around its first laps in Formula 1, nonetheless well done and good luck to Bruno, Hispania and all of the new teams this year