Category: Formula 1

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Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

Lewis Hamilton wins 2014 Malaysian GP

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg

Lewis Hamilton has continued Mercedes AMG’s strong early season form by driving to a comfortable victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix today. He finished 17 seconds ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg. Amazingly, it’s the first Mercedes 1-2 finish since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel collected Red Bull’s first official points for 2014 by coming home third, ahead of a largely anonymous Fernando Alonso. The dual world champion did have to fight hard for that P4, enjoying a nice late race scrap with Nico Hulkenberg.

Jenson Button came home in sixth for McLaren. While the Williams intra-team rivalry went up a notch with Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas fighting on track and over the radio waves. Once again Felipe got the “your teammate is faster than you” radio call, but he’s learnt not to be pushed around so easily since his Ferrari days and did not let Bottas through as instructed and held on for P7.

The top 10 was rounded out by rookies Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat who have both continued their promising Formula 1 careers by collecting points in their first two grands prix.

Alas, once again the hard luck story was Daniel Ricciardo. At the start he made good ground dicing for position with Sebastian Vettel and claimed P3 in the early stages of the race. Vettel soon got past with the benefit of DRS but Daniel was looking safe for a solid fourth place finish. Then, on lap 41, through no fault of his own, it all went horribly wrong.

Daniel came in for what should have been his final pit stop. The wheel change seemed to go to plan but he was released without his right front wheel being secured properly. He was forced to stop in pit lane and then get pushed back into his pit box so the team could see to his wheel. Worse was to come. On his out lap his front wing broke and he had to pit again for a replacement.

The hard luck was still not done with as under new regulations he was given an automatic 10 second stop-go penalty for an unsafe release, wihch also brings with it a 10 place grid penalty for the next race. The disappointment was complete when he retired from the race seven laps from the end.

So once again Mercedes AMG showed it is the team to beat and Red Bull is the best placed team to challenge for race wins. We can expect that form to continue in Bahrain next weekend.

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Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2014 Malaysian GP: Qualifying report

2014 Malaysian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton claimed his second pole position of the year during a rain affected qualifying at the Malaysian Grand Prix. In doing so the 2008 world champion has moved alongside Jim Clark and Alain Prost on 33 career pole positions.

Qualifying was delayed for close to an hour due to heavy rain and difficult conditions, with terrible visibility, endured throughout the three sessions after the lights finally went green. As you might expect a couple of red flags came about due to minor incidents which added to the overtime for the TV networks.

At the end of it all Lewis Hamilton’s time (1:59.431) was only just enough to hold out a surprised Sebastian Vettel (1:59.486). Nico Rosberg (2:00.050) and Fernando Alonso (2:00.175) complete the second row.

Alonso was lucky to progress to Q3 at all after Daniil Kvyat made a rookie error during Q2 and collided with him. Alonso appeared to suffer a broken steering arm, but his Ferrari mechanics were able to put things right during the red flag required to clear the track of debris and away he soon went.

Daniel Ricciardo (2:00.541) again kept his name at the upper end of the timesheets and perhaps he may have wished for more than P5.

“When it rains here, it definitely pours and the weather was our biggest challenge today,” said Daniel. “Finding space on the track can be tough and the visibility is so bad, the spray comes from hundreds of metres away, so just getting some clean road is something you really have to try and take care of. I was a bit off in Q3, so I’ve got to try and understand why, but nonetheless I think top five is not too bad, considering the conditions.”

Kimi Raikkonen (2:01.218) secured P6 meaning the first six includes two cars each from the three engine manufacturers.

Further rain is a possibility for the race and should that come to fruition it will be sure to provide an exciting and unpredictable grand prix.

The full starting grid can be seen after the break, along with the transcript from the post-quali press conference.

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Formula 1 Porsche Red Bull Racing

Porsche F1 rumours fire up again?

GT Porsche tweet

In its own words the @GTPorsche twitter account represents the “biggest independent print and digital Porsche magazine”. Yet, often what this account says has a track record of becoming official from Porsche shortly thereafter.

Our observations lead us to believe they either have impeccable outside sources or the ear of some influential people inside the walls at Porsche. So it is with some alarm we read this morning’s tweet suggesting a possible/probable Porsche return to Formula 1, which you can see above.

The link to Red Bull is interesting also, given the current struggles with Renault in the new V6 power unit era. You’d expect Renault to get on top of things eventually, but you can bet Red Bull has thought about different engine suppliers several times in the last couple of months.

The return of Porsche to Formula 1 has been rumoured several times in recent years and had thought to have been put to bed now that the Porsche LMP1 program is weeks away from its return to competition at the 6 Hours of Silverstone on 20 April.

Indeed, just a couple of weeks ago the topic was mentioned here on AUSmotive, when Wolfgang Hatz, Porsche research and development boss, spoke about the company’s discussions prior to announcing its return to tackle Le Mans. And that decision made almost three years ago!

Our understanding is Porsche has given its LMP1 program a minimum three-year commitment. Would Porsche really run concurrent LMP1 and F1 programs? Would Porsche really return to F1 at all?

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Red Bull explains defence for Australian GP appeal

2014 Australian Grand Prix

Christian Horner has revealed to Autosport the approach Red Bull Racing will take in its appeal to have Daniel Ricciardo’s disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix overturned. Ricciardo crossed the finish line in second place and he and the team have been stripped of the 18 world championship points earned on the day.

The team will argue its decision to ignore a technical directive to use the FIA-mandated fuel flow meter holds no regulatory value. Further, Red Bull will attempt to prove that at no stage during the race did Ricciardo’s car exceed the maximum fuel flow rate and therefore there are no grounds for the exclude Ricciardo from the final results.

“Technical directives are not of regulatory value,” Horner claims. “They are the opinion of the technical delegate—as was made clear in the Pirelli case, which clearly stated that opinions of Charlie are not regulatory.

“It is even stated on the bottom of the directives now, that these do not have a regulatory value.”

Horner goes on to explain that had the team followed the FIA’s directive there would have been a “significant impact on performance” with Daniel’s car. He claims Red Bull had no other option but to rely on its own data.

“So when you are faced with that dilemma of having a sensor that you believe to be erroneous, and a fuel rail that you believe to be entirely reliable, and you are racing for position with an engine already down on power compared to your opponents, what do you do?

“We are absolutely convinced that we abided completely by the technical regulations.”

The appeal will be held on 14 April. During that time the Malaysian and Bahrain Grands Prix will be held and Horner is in discussions with the FIA over what should be done if the same problems experienced in Melbourne reoccur in the next two races.

“Hopefully we will have a sensor that works,” Horner said. “But it is not a position that will be unique to Red Bull.”

[Source: Autosport | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing Toro Rosso

Dietrich Mateschitz expresses limits with F1

Dietrich Mateschitz

Owner of the Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso F1 teams, Dietrich Mateschitz, says he has a clear limit as to what he can accept in the world of Formula 1. While headlines screaming Red Bull could quit F1 are a little sensationalist for now, the sport would be wise to pay attention when Mateschitz speaks.

Speaking to Austrian-based Kurier newspaper Mateschitz was asked under what circumstances he might end his participation with F1.

“The question is not so much whether it makes economic sense,” Mateschitz replied. “But the reasons would be to do with sportsmanship, political influence, and so on.

“In these issues there is a clear limit to what we can accept.”

In the near future—14 April to be exact—Red Bull will have its appeal into Daniel Ricciardo’s disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix heard by an independent FIA court. Of course, Mateschitz was asked about this too.

“The team has lodged a protest,” he said. “The fuel-flow sensor, which was given to the teams by the federation, gave divergent readings and it is inaccurate. We can prove the exact amount of fuel flow and this was always within the limits.”

Despite our own wish for Daniel’s podium result to be reinstated we’re not expecting that to happen.

Mateschitz also joined the chorus of those complaining about the lack of drama from the new V6 power units.

“You have to make F1 like it used to be—the top discipline of motorsports,” he said. “F1 is not there to set new records in fuel consumption, nor to make it possible to have a whispered conversation during a race.

“It is absurd to race a lap seconds slower than last year. GP2 partially provides more racing and fighting and almost equal lap times as F1 with a small fraction of the budget.”

[Source: BBC | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Multi 21: The movie

Multi 21 movie parody

Cast your mind back to the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix and the subsequent Multi 21 controversy between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel. Instead of filling yourself with rage, go and see the movie!

Yes, really. Okay, maybe not really. But there is a parody movie trailer ready for you after the break.

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Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes AMG F1 W05 360° view

Mercedes AMG W05

Ever wondered what it would be like to have a 360° view from atop a Formula 1 car? Well, thanks to the Mercedes AMG F1 Team you can wonder no more. After the break there’s a couple of videos giving you a global view as you watch Nico Rosberg’s take you on a reasonably sedate lap around Silverstone.

If you like the look of that then get ready to spend some time getting familiar with the interactive F1 W05 360° View over at the Mercedes AMG F1 Team website.

[Thanks to Tiaan for the tip]

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Formula 1

Happy birthday Ayrton

Ayrton Senna google doodle

March 21 is Ayrton Senna’s birthday. He would have been 54 today. To honour his memory Google has created a Senna-themed doodle which appears on the internet giant’s home page.

In 41 days it will be 1 May 2014, the twentieth anniversary of Senna’s death.

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Formula 1 Motorsports Video

2014 Formula 1 sound comparison

Formula 1 sound comparison

Following the world’s first genuine taste of the 2014 Formula 1 at the Australian Grand Prix last weekend much of the discussion has centred around the sound of the new F1 cars. Now powered by V6 power units the turbocharger and energy recovery systems have robbed F1 cars of the high-pitched shriek we became used to with the old V8s and V10s before them.

After spending Saturday at Albert Park we reckon the new cars sound better than we were expecting. Let’s be clear, the 2.4 litre V8s sounded much better, but that’s in the past now and we won’t be hearing those free revving normally aspirated engines anytime soon. So stop wishing those days would come back. They won’t.

The biggest issue with the current power units is they are so quiet compared with last year’s engines.

After the break we’ve got a couple of videos to help illustrate that fact. The first shows F1 cars compared with Porsche Carrera Cup cars and V8 Supercars. It’s worth noting in this comparison the F1 cars were mostly on out laps at the start of Free Practice 3, while the Porsches and V8SCs were filmed during race conditions.

The second clip is very telling and gives a direct comparison between the 2013 cars against the new 2014 machines.

UPDATE: A third clip of F1 cars has been added filmed from various sections of the track between Turns 4 and 11.

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Ricciardo appeal unlikely to succeed

Gill Sensors Fuel Flow Monitor

Despite Red Bull’s best efforts we think it will be unlikely that Daniel Ricciardo’s disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix for exceeding the permitted fuel flow rate will get overturned.

Extra impetus has been given to uphold the FIA’s original decision after the controlling body reconfirmed its confidence in the accuracy of the Fuel Flow Meters at the centre of the controversy.

An official statement issued yesterday by Gill Sensors, manufacturers of the homologated part, claims the FIA has, “provided Gill Sensors with positive feedback on the performance of the Fuel Flow Meter, confirming their confidence in the development and stating the meters meet the FIA’s accuracy specification.”

Red Bull Racing immediately announced its intention to appeal the FIA’s decision blaming a faulty FFM with the added claim that their own data shows the rate of fuel being injected into Daniel’s car was within FIA specification. A team statement reads:

Inconsistencies with the FIA fuel flow meter have been prevalent all weekend up and down the pit lane. The Team and Renault are confident the fuel supplied to the engine is in full compliance with the regulations.

Speaking to the media on Sunday night Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal, added: “We could see a significant discrepancy with what the sensor was reading and what our fuel flow was stated as—that’s where there’s a difference of opinion.”

Further harming Red Bull’s chance of a successful appeal is this revelation from the stewards’ findings:

The FIA technical representative observed thought the telemetry during the race that the fuel flow was too high and contacted the team, giving them the opportunity to follow his previous instruction, and reduce the fuel flow such that it was within the limit, as measured by the homologated sensor – and thus gave the team the opportunity to be within compliance. The team chose not to make this correction.

The appeal will be heard by an independent FIA court at a date yet to be specified.

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Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Video

A closer look at the Mercedes V6 power unit

2014 Mercedes-Benz V6 power unit

Formula 1 technical guru Craig Scarborough has teamed up with Peter Windsor to give us a closer look at the Mercedes-Benz V6 power unit. It’s clearly the engine of choice in F1 right now and Scarbs uses an official Mercedes video (also shown below) as a prompt to discuss what’s what, before taking us beyond the PR video to talk through some changes to the turbo design on the PU 106 A Hybrid.

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Formula 1 McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2014 Australian GP: Post-race press conference

2014 Australian Grand Prix

While Daniel Ricciardo’s result has been taken away from him it’s hard to know for sure how much advantage, if any, he gained if his car was pumping in fuel faster than it should have been. In reality he crossed the line second and therefore much of what was said post-race still rings true.

For the first two years of his career Ricciardo had the luxury of learning his craft at a relatively young age while being shielded from the F1 spotlight by Mark Webber. Despite his disqualification there’s no way anyone can think Daniel is still in Mark’s shadow. He’s his own man, Australia’s own man and we like what we see!

Oh yeah, they also asked some questions of Nico and Kevin too.

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