Tag: VJM07

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Formula 1

Spike’s big day out

Spike Goddard, Force India VJM07

Spike Goddard completed 89 laps in his first day out in a Formula 1 car. Driving the Force India VJM07, Goddard said he took some time to adjust to extra demands compared with the F3 cars he’s used to driving.

“I felt today went really well,” the 22-year-old Australian said. ” The VJM07 is a massive step up from my Formula 3 car so the first part of the day was devoted to adjusting to the new machinery. The power and downforce of these cars is something on a completely different level; it was a massive shock to the system, but I got used to it fairly soon.

“We chipped away at the lap time in every run and in the end we got to a pretty good time and 89 laps, which is a fair bit of running. I am pretty happy about the work I did with the team and the way everyone worked with me.

“I’d love to keep a link with Sahara Force India: it’s a fantastic group of people and I’d like to contribute and help as much as I can.”

Goddard’s fastest lap was 1:44.944, the sixth best of the day. In contrast, Daniel Ricciardo posted the seventh best time (1:45.151). On the previous day of testing Jolyon Palmer completed 37 laps for Force India. His best time was 1:44.516, the fourth quickest on the opening day.

“Spike did a good job and really made the most of his first opportunity in a Formula 1 car,” said Tom McCullough, Chief Engineer. “It’s always a big jump from Formula 3 to Formula 1, but he adapted quickly and gradually built up his confidence and speed throughout the test.”

Goddard also spent part of his day testing a new style “info wing”, which has been developed by Anthony Hamilton, father of Lewis. The wing features LED lighting able to display the driver’s number, tyre compound and position in the race.

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Formula 1

Spike Goddard to test with Force India

Spike Goddard

Young Australian driver Spike Goddard, Richard to his mum and dad, has scored a test with Force India in Abu Dhabi after this weekend’s championship deciding grand prix.

The 22-year-old started racing Formula Fords in Australia, before making the move to the United Kingdom in 2011. He won the British Formula 3 Rookie Class in 2012 and has spent the next two years racing in various Formula 3 championships. Naturally, he’s very excited to get his chance in the VJM07.

“I would like to thank Sahara Force India for this incredible opportunity,” Goddard said. “Every young racing driver dreams to be at the wheel of a Formula 1 car and I am very excited to be one of the very few who gets to fulfil this dream.

“The test is an important stage in the preparations for 2015 and I hope my contribution will be useful for the team to get a head start for next season.”

Goddard will be in the car on Wednesday 26 November, the second of the two day test program. Jolyon Palmer, the son of former British F1 driver Jonathan Palmer, will drive for Force India on the opening day.

“I’m pleased that we can conclude our season by giving two promising youngsters their first taste of Formula 1,” said Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director. “As a team we have a strong track record of identifying up-and-coming prospects and giving them valuable mileage and experience in our cars.

“I have been following Jolyon’s progress this season in GP2 and he is clearly a big talent that deserves a chance in Formula 1.

“Spike has also worked hard to get this chance and it’s the perfect opportunity to showcase his skills.

“I wish Jolyon and Spike all the best for a successful couple of days in Abu Dhabi.”

We have to confess to not knowing a lot about Goddard and it would seem to us his opportunity is one he’ll need to grab with both hands. We wish him well and hope we’re soon hearing a lot more about him.

[Pic: spikegoddard.com]

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Lewis Hamilton wins 2014 Bahrain GP

2014 Bahrain Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has edged out his teammate Nico Rosberg to win the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix and the pair delighted fans all around the world in doing so.

The quality of racing throughout the field all race was first class, with most scraps taking place behind the leading Mercedes drivers. The men in the silver arrows must have felt obliged to bring some spice to the front of the field and they gave us some brilliant wheel-to-wheel racing.

After Pastor Maldonado exited the pits following his final pit stop he decided he didn’t need to worry about too much about the Sauber of Esteban Gutierrez ahead in Turn 1 and just speared into him, flipping the young Mexican who eventually landed back on his wheels and escaped serious injury.

The wash up from that incident was the obligatory penalties for Maldonado and a Safety Car which bunched up the field and was released with 10 laps to race.

Quickly speeding off into the distance was leader Hamilton with Rosberg hot on his heels. The pair pitted just as the Safety Car came out and Rosberg was on the grippier and theoretically faster Soft tyres. We were set for a grandstand sprint finish and that’s exactly what we got.

Out front the Mercedes pair diced for the lead with millimetres separating cheers from tears. It was great to watch and afterwards Hamilton and Rosberg appeared good humoured and shared a few laughs. One thing is certain, though, if they keep racing that closely there will be contact and we could have a repeat of Turkey 2010 on our hands.

The raw pace of the Mercedes AMG F1 W05 was brutally exposed when you consider the winning margin was 24 seconds from the race winner to P3. That’s not to say the racing behind was boring, though, far from it!

Sergio Perez emerged as the best of the rest in what is just Force India’s second ever podium result. Yet the man who will attract more headlines is Daniel Ricciardo who finished fourth after starting back in P13. In doing so he established once again that he is not afraid of his four-time world champion teammate and fought his way past Vettel on track as he edged his way through the field.

Nico Hulkenberg picked up more good points for Force India and split the Red Bulls, with Vettel finishing sixth.

The Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas finished in P7 and P8 respectively. The latter may have expected more after starting from P3. The top 10 was rounded out by the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.

With the Mercedes power unit being the clear stand out so far this season McLaren will be bitterly disappointed to have endured a double retirement. Kevin Magnussen pulled off track on lap 40 and Jenson Button returned to the pits with just a couple of laps to go.

All in all it was a very exciting race and if there is a coming to blows at some stage between Hamilton and Rosberg this season could get very tasty indeed! Equally, the RB10 is a very strong chassis and if Renault can find some power then Mercedes could have a fight outside of its own garage.

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Quick reference guide to the 2014 F1 season

We’re just a couple of sleeps away from the start to the most unpredictable Formula 1 season in recent memory. Is anyone else excited?!

Judging by pre-season testing form we’ll be lucky if half of the 22 cars entered in Melbourne finish the race. Remember, too, there’s just five complete power units available per driver all year, so we suspect reliability will have a big say in the outcome of both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships.

After the break you’ll find a full calendar with start Australian Eastern start times, a list of all the drivers and their new permanent numbers along with links to all of the new cars for 2104.

Right now it looks like the Mercedes power unit is the weapon of choice, with Renault proving the least reliable. Let’s see what happens between now and 23 November when double points are up for grabs at the final race in Abu Dhabi.

For easy reference be sure to save this link: ausm.tv/f1guide2014

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Formula 1

F1 winter testing: Bahrain II day 2

Sergio Perez, Force India VJM07

Sergio Perez (1:35.570) has once again showed the field a clean pair of heels in F1 testing at Bahrain overnight. The Force India driver covered 108 laps in another productive day where several teams had problems of varying degrees.

“It feels very good to have another full day and to do so many laps,” the 24-year-old Mexican said. “It’s my last time in the car until we arrive in Melbourne and I’m feeling positive about how things are going.

“The set-up work today was very useful because we tried some different things to have a better direction for the first race. Everything went to plan and we managed to complete all the long runs in the afternoon.”

Fernando Alonso (1:35.634) got close to Sergio’s fastest lap and was the busiest man of the day, completing 122 laps. In very promising signs for struggling Red Bull, Daniel Ricciardo (1:35.743) was third fastest and managed 66 laps, easily his best return this pre-season on his last day in the RB10 before the Australian Grand Prix.

Daniel was late out in the morning as the team fixed some issues from the day before and his early session was spent doing pit stop practice. In the afternoon things picked up for the young Aussie.

“It went a lot better today,” said Daniel. “In the afternoon we did some good stuff. We had a go on the soft tyre, which was nice, to see how the car responds with a bit more grip. We also did one long run at the end, which was very important, just to see how the car is behaving with the tyres.

“A big improvement everywhere over yesterday and a much more optimistic outlook now I think. We still have a lot to learn and understand, but we’re making progress and the past two days have been a big step in the right direction.”

Felipe Massa (1:36.507) went fourth fastest and valued every one of his 103 laps. On paper a return of 52 laps and the fifth quickest lap for Jenson Button (1:36.901) seems like a good day, but his schedule was interrupted with gearbox issues.

Jules Bianchi (1:38.092) put in a solid showing for Marussia, going sixth fastest and notching up a very respectable 75 laps.

Similar to Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton (1:39.041) had transmission problems and his day ended early, although the Mercedes driver still managed 89 laps.

Jean Eric-Vergne (1:39.636) and Esteban Gutierrez (1:39.976) were eighth and ninth fastest for Torro Rosso and Sauber respectively.

The Renault-powered cars of Pastor Maldonado (Lotus, 1:41.613) and Marcus Ericsson (Caterham, 1:42.516) were not only the slowest of the day, both drivers had early showers after their cars caught fire.

There’s now only two days of testing before the year’s first grand prix and you sense that no team is 100% confident at this stage. It’s going to be interesting reading between the lines of the teams’ reactions over the last days of winter testing.

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Formula 1

F1 winter testing: Bahrain II day 1

Sergio Perez, Force India VJM07

Just like last week a Force India VJM07 has topped the timesheets on the opening day of testing in Bahrain. This time it was Sergio Perez (1:35.290) who went fastest, managing a healthy 105 laps as well.

“We really needed a good day to start this week and today we had it,” Perez said. “We managed to do a lot of laps, try several different compounds and mappings, and it’s been a fantastic day in terms of learning about the car.

“Tomorrow is my last day in the car before the season starts so hopefully we can have another solid day to be in good shape for Melbourne.”

It’s often said you can never read too much into pre-season form, but after nine days of testing the form line is pretty clear. Mercedes power is best, followed by Ferrari and you’re in strife if you have a Renault V6 power unit.

Reliability is clearly going to be an issue this year and Perez aside most teams came away from testing overnight with a few grumbles.

Valtteri Bottas (1:36.184) went second quickest in the Mercedes-powered Williams FW36, with Kimi Raikkonen (1:36.432) a couple of tenths behind in the Ferrari.

All Mercedes-powered cars completed at least 89 laps, with Bottas racking up 128, more than anyone else. Adrian Sutil covered the most miles in a Ferrari-powered car, doing 89 laps in the Sauber C33; even Max Chilton in the hitherto troublesome Marussia MR03 managed 44 laps.

An upbeat Daniel Ricciardo (1:37.908) was the fastest of the Renault-powered runners, but was only seventh best on the day. He was able to finish 39 laps, although exhaust problems interrupted his afternoon session which consisted of only seven laps.

“Behind the wheel, that’s the best I’ve felt so far,” Daniel said. “The package seems to be coming together better. We still had a few issues today, but at least when the car was on track it was much more useful running and we made progress in the morning.

“It’s getting there. I’d love to keep going, but at least Seb has two days after me in the car, so I think we’ll be looking pretty good for the next three days.”

The slowest three cars on the day were the Renault-powered cars of Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso), Pastor Maldonado (Lotus) and Kamui Kobayashi (Caterham).

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F1 winter testing: Bahrain I in pictures

The design of the latest crop of Formula 1 cars, in response to new aero and crash regulations, has certainly encouraged plenty of discussion. The twin-tusk nose of the Lotus E22 (above) is certainly one of the most bizarre design solutions in the history of the sport.

Once the racing starts the novelty gawking at these god awful designs should ease and we can focus on what we love most, and that’s racing. In the meantime we bring you a gallery of 66 images from the recent pre-season test in Bahrain, six photos each of all 11 cars, that show you the class of 2014 in their best and worst angles.

A small pat on the back, too, goes to Eric Gandelin, the man responsible for the Sauber C33. We think that’s the best looking car of 2014. Although, a nod of appreciation also goes to the Williams FW36.

Those responsible for the horrors of the Caterham CT05 and Force India VJM07 should hang their heads in shame. As for the rest, a good hard look at themselves wouldn’t hurt!

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Formula 1

Who is to blame for ugly F1 cars?

2014 Caterham CT05

Aside from the reliability concerns facing teams this year, especially those with Renault power, the big story from Formula 1 pre-season has been the ugliness of the cars. While the variety of designs is welcome, the results are, in the main, just terrible to look at.

The teams say it’s a result of the regulations, which has made us think a few times why on earth would the FIA sign-off on regs that result in such comedy? Either they have no foresight, or the current crop of designers is way too pragmatic, putting performance ahead of aesthetics and the sport in general.

In an article for Autosport+ (subscription required) Peter Stevens, designer of the McLaren F1 and Jaguar XJR-15, shares his thoughts on the matter.

Stevens starts by pointing his finger at the FIA, stating: “well-paid rule-makers seem to have been unable to foresee the consequences of their mandates“.

Yet, it’s the engineers from the teams who have been dealt the most savage criticism. In the past, Stevens explains, an F1 car was drawn on paper and then a trained pattern maker was engaged to transform the drawing into three-dimensional form. There was, of course, a skill in that process which required the maker to interpret and understand body surfacing.

Now that most everything design-related in F1 these days is handled by engineers and CAD systems Stevens sees the weak point, in what he describes as: “the work of under-trained or insensitive engineers”.

More blunty he concludes: “We are expected to endure 2014 shapes defined by an engineering CAD programme with limited surface development capabilities in the hands of pure rationalists. This is simply not good enough.”

Hear, hear.

[Source: Autosport+ (subscription)]

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Formula 1

F1 winter testing: Bahrain I day 1

Nico Hulkenberg, Force India VJM07

Nico Hulkenberg set the fastest time on the opening day of F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain overnight. It’s the first of two four-day blocks of testing at the Sakhir circuit and Mercedes-powered cars continued to dominate proceedings, following on from last month’s testing in Jerez.

Hulkenberg registered 78 timed laps in the Force India VJM07, his fastest was 1:36.880. That was one second quicker than Fernando Alonso (1:37.879) who completed 64 laps in the Ferrari F14 T. Lewis Hamilton (1:37.908) did 74 laps in the Mercedes AMG W05, while new boy Kevin Magnussen (1:38.295) racked up 81 laps in the McLaren MP4-29.

Sebastian Vettel (1:40.224) was fifth fastest overnight and will be elated that he managed to complete a timed lap in the Red Bull RB10. Yet the world champion team has new struggles after its woeful performance in Jerez. Vettel only managed 14 laps and said shared his thoughts afterwards.

“We sorted out the issues from Jerez and we were able to do some laps today,” Vettel said. “However, very often you fix one problem and another pops up, which is what happened. That’s testing. We all knew this year was a massive challenge and we knew it would be difficult. We obviously didn’t want this, but it is what it is and we are working flat out to solve the problems.”

Andy Damerum, Red Bull’s Race Engineering Co-ordinator tried to remain positive. “It’s been a very long two weeks for everyone back at the factory and I have to say that while it might not appear so on the surface there has been a big improvement since Jerez,” he explained. “We are obviously playing catch-up and for us this was very much like a first test, so we were sending the car out to do one lap, then two and trying to build from there.

“In that regard the laps completed were good. However, we were sidelined by a mechanical gremlin but one unrelated to the issues in Jerez.”

Sixth fastest was Adrian Sutil (1:40.443), who ran for 82 laps in the Ferrari-powered Sauber C33. The most laps completed by a Renault-powered driver was Robert Frijns (1:42.534) in the Caterham CT05 who notched up 64 laps.

However, the other Renault-powered cars didn’t fare quite so well. Daniil Kvyat (1:44.346) could only manage five laps in the Toro Rosso STR9, while Romain Grosjean (1:44.832) did just eight laps in the first outing for the Lotus E22.

Meanwhile, the Williams FW36 could not repeat its strong form from Jerez with Felipe Massa failing to record a lap time in any of his five laps. Similarly, Marussia driver Jules Bianchi completed only three laps and failed to record a time.

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F1 winter testing: Jerez days 1 and 2

Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel

After two days of winter testing in Jerez what have we learned about the Formula 1 class of 2014, specifically these horrid looking new cars? Well, not a lot to be honest.

On day 1 most teams struggled and only 93 laps were completed by the teams in attendance, and none at all by McLaren. Kimi Raikkonen (1:27.104) was fastest in his return for Ferrari and ran the most number laps on the day at just 31. Lewis Hamilton (1:27.820) sent his Mercedes towards the top of the lap charts in his 18 laps before sending it into the wall after a front wing failure.

“We had a lot of new things to learn today,” Raikkonen said afterwards. “Even if we would have liked to do more laps, I think that for a first day it was alright. Towards the end, when the track was damp, we chose not to take any risks. Now we have a lot of work ahead of us, but all in all, we are pleased with our first day.”

After the leading two drivers times spread out with not much insight to be gained, other than there’s a lot of work to do. Sebastian Vettel and Marcus Ericsson, for example, only ran installation laps and didn’t set any times at all.

Things have become a little clearer on day 2, with all Renault powered teams experiencing problems while Ferrari and Mercedes powered cars gained an early advantage. Overnight rain saw Pirelli bring forward their designated wet weather session and trucks were sent out to ensure the track had sufficient water for testing purposes.

Jenson Button and McLaren had a good day, registering the fastest time in the morning’s wet session and also in the afternoon (1:24.165) when the track was dry.

The 2009 world champion spoke enthusiastically about the MP4-29 afterwards, too. “Of course, it’s still early days, and there’s a lot of work ahead of us,” Button said. “We need to work on both braking and traction; but that excites me, because there’s a lot of potential to adjust those parameters.

“The new braking system is very complicated, and getting it right will be tough. But these are all things we can work on: there’s nothing about the car that unsettles me, and there’s plenty of scope to explore the set-up. It will just take time.”

Kimi Raikkonen (1:24.812) was on the pace again during his 47 laps, cutting more than 2 seconds from his day 1 best. Valtteri Bottas (1:25.344) has had limited running during his two days, just 12 laps in all, but he has been third quickest on both days.

While only fourth fastest on day 2, Nico Rosberg (1:25.588) and Mercedes were happy with their lot. Rosberg racked up an impressive 97 laps, 44 more than his nearest rival, including some beneficial long runs.

“Every lap is important to get used to the new systems and it helped a lot that I have worked on this already in the simulator,” explained Rosberg. “We don’t know yet where we are compared to the other teams, but we can be quite happy after the first two days of testing here in Spain. Now I look forward to getting back in the car on Friday.”

Meanwhile the Renault powered cars managed just 19 laps between them (11 for Caterham, 8 for Red Bull and 0 for Toro Rosso). On day 1 only 19 laps were registered for the Renault runners as well (15 for Toro Rosso, 3 for Red Bull, 1 for Caterham), which will be cause for early concern.

Lotus isn’t an attendance at all for the Jerez test, choosing to wait until testing moves to Bahrain. Marussia is hoping to run its car tonight.

Photos and lap times are available after the break.

UPDATE: Pics from day 2 have now been added below.

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Formula 1

2014 Force India VJM07 revealed

2014 Force India VJM07

Force India has given its 2014 F1 car, the VJM07, its first public showing prior to taking to the track at Jerez tonight. The VJM07 was one of the first F1 cars we saw for the year and at the time the full horror of the front nose designs was yet to be revealed. And that is certainly the case for the Force India challenger.

As they say, once you go black, you can’t go back. And while the official Force India pics don’t yet show the full scale of its front nose we’ve added another pic below to show you what is actually quite a comical solution.

You have to laugh, really. There’s not much else you can do.

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2014 Force India VJM07 previewed

2014 Force India VJM07

Force India has given us the first look yet at Formula 1’s new world order by releasing this image of its 2014 F1 car, the VJM07.

On this evidence fears that the new regulations would result in yet another round of ugly duckling cars seem unfounded. Although, full judgement will need to wait until we have more than a simple side profile shot.

You’ve probably also noticed the change in livery for Force India with what was a predominantly white car in 2013 now having a black base. There’s a bunch of new sponsors too and you can read about them in the official statement after the break.

For now, though, we’re giving the 2014 F1 car a qualified tick of approval. There’s more big reveals scheduled for the coming days, including McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull. We can’t wait to see more.

UPDATE 28 January: See more pics of the VJM07 here.

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