The Motorsport Thread 2011

The F1 season is finally under way. 

A fairly good race. The star of the race was Petrov. It is pretty obvious his final race of 2010 gave him tonnes of self beliefs. Unfortunate, Renualt did not believe in him so they hired Heidfeld as their team leader. Petrov raced like a true team leader and lapped Heidfeld in the process. 14th place is dire, Heidfeld. 

Well done, Petrov.  

Luca Pacchiarini wrote: omg... both Saubers disqualified for an irregular rear wing... poor Kamui and Sergio...   but there are still many races for them to score points.. they've proved they're both quick.

JJLehto wrote: Well again, can only go off what broadcasters say. They figured maybe the stewards would give em a pass since it's the first race. I just don't get the point, there was no 107% rule before. Why now? I assume it's designed to keep really slow cars off the track that can be a pain in the ass or dangerous but I don't know...I just figure why the hell not? It's part of racing and feels weird not allowing a team to participate.

Unless theres special circumstances, it requires the teams to unanimously agree to allow the cars outside of 107% in to the race. Minardi's Alex Yoong fell foul of this a few times in 2002. Given how Trulli would have probably lapped the HRT's a couple of times at least, I cant see how anyone would have wanted them in as mobile chicanes.

The rule was first brought in in 97 after a hole plethora of useless teams kept coming and going and doing nothing but get in the way (Life, Andrea Moda, Forti, Pacific, Simtek and Lola all come to mind) and with it being such a massive sport it does look a little unprofessional to have such rank amateures getting involved. Its a good way of making sure we only have decent teams/drivers taking part, especially since its usually going to be something like 6 seconds off of the Q1 fastest lap, which wont even be close to the pole time.

Alex, about the KERS. Its basically a similar kind of system to what you'll find on a Toyota Prius. Braking energy is stored in batteries and then a button releases the energy into the drivetrain. The problem is, its f**king expensive (Mercedes apparently spent £50million in 2008/9 developing their system), because the batteries get thrown away after each race its definitely not green despite that being the original intention of the system, and its so limited by the rules and heavy that its probably more of a handicap than a benefit. Its also noting like the push-to-pass system that CART used to have as that was a button that gave 75-100 seconds of an extra 500rpm from the Cosworth engine that the driver could use however and whenever he liked, which is how I would rather see the KERS and movable wings used in F1 now. 

harmonium.ro wrote: Thanks Andy. From what I read, I thought the KERS were creating energy by opening the rotor against the wind at a certain speed; it's not correct? Also, what's with the movable wings? I heard about them during the race but couldn't figure what are they.

Same thing. When the driver opens up that flap in the rear wing something involving aerodynamics happens that I don't really get but it results in adding speed to the car.
Though note how long it took Button to get by Massa, often using both options at once. Saw it at other times as well. This makes me feel better because it still involves driver skill to pass.
Yes, Sleeper it turned out nothing like the push to play thankfully, that is what it sounded like though at first. Only times an overtake was done using these option a good setup and perfect timing was also used, so I feel loads better


Is a shame with Sauber, but they will definitely be scoring more points in the future at least.


Heidfeld better step up...his replacement of Kubica was terrible (and we know the car is the same or better as last year) and was horribly outdone by Petrov.




Edited by JJLehto - March 27 2011 at 14:26

Thanks Brian.

The Romanian commentators were stressing how many people came, but yeah, they also talked about the hard times they have and the chances of it being relocated.

harmonium.ro wrote: Thanks Andy. From what I read, I thought the KERS were creating energy by opening the rotor against the wind at a certain speed; it's not correct? Also, what's with the movable wings? I heard about them during the race but couldn't figure what are they.

No, KERS takes braking energy from the rear brakes and converts it to electrical energy stored in batteries. It then injects 60 Watts of power (about 80bhp) into the drivetrain for a total of 6.7 seconds per lap (governed by the rules, its capable of developing a lot more power and/or giving it out for a lot longer over a lap). Interestingly, the version Williams originally developed in 2009, and now sell to Porsche, used a flywheel to store the energy instead of batteries but it was never raced by them, though the Porsche 997 GT3-RSR Hybrid has proved very quick with it, and I think the current unit is a battery one like the other teams.

Look at a pic of an F1 rear wing, you'll see it has two seperat planes at the top (ignore the beam wing at the bottom), like so: http://www.eurotuner.com/news/eurp_0906_toyota_f1_parts/photo_01.html

The moveable wing is basically an actuator that opens a 50mm gap between the two planes (on TV it looks like the top plane goes almost horizontal, depending on the car), reducing drag and offering up to a 12km/h increase to top speed. In races it can only be used when the following car is within 1 second of the car in front and on a designated part of the track that is 867m long (I have no idea how they came up with such an arbitrary number after they decided 600m was too short a length). In Melbournes case it was the pit straight, though most felt the run from turn 2 to turn 3 would have been better as you can follow more closely through T2. It cannot be used in defense. In all other sessions its free to use whenever and however the driver likes, though Sutils spin in qualy showed why its a bad idea to use it too early when coming out of a corner. The idea is too improve overtaking by giving the car behind a big speed boost, but I hate the idea as its too contrived and with more strings attached than a marionette.

Edited by sleeper - March 27 2011 at 16:50

JJLehto wrote: Oh and assuming the penalty stands... Cograts to Sutil and rookie Paul di Resta who apparently made the points after all Something I just realized. Whenever HRT doesn't make the 107% rule the field will only have 22 cars, and points for 10 spots. Guess some of the other lower teams may want to start sabotaging HRT! Edit: The broadcasters mentioned how attendance may be dipping but also the race is really a heavy cost on the people of melbourne...If they decide to move the Aussie GP I suggest Surfer's Paradise. That track is awesome! Or maybe Phillip Island? He had a few good ones at first my trust in Tilke is gone...no more new built ones please!

It looked pretty full in the stands today. The race costs a huge amount but its offset by the tourism it brings in and other revenue streams. Surfers was a great track, but they've cut it in half now. Phillip Island is a big balls track, and I'd rather ti stayed that way so no to F1. Unless Adelaide can get a huge upgrade, I dont think we'll go anywhere other than Albert Park.

If Vettel does that for every race, it'll the be most boring Championship ever.  Snooze zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Yet again Button shows he's really not that good.  Unfortunately.  I like the guy but if he carries on like he is, he'll never win another race in his F1 career.  He's turned into a Jacques Villeneuve.  Webber may also be showing signs of this too, although he's not won a Championship.

Two good things though:

1. Petrov getting on the podium
2. No Jonathan Ledgard commentating

James wrote: If Vettel does that for every race, it'll the be most boring Championship ever.  Snooze zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Yet again Button shows he's really not that good.  Unfortunately.  I like the guy but if he carries on like he is, he'll never win another race in his F1 career.  He's turned into a Jacques Villeneuve.  Webber may also be showing signs of this too, although he's not won a Championship. Two good things though: 1. Petrov getting on the podium 2. No Jonathan Ledgard commentating

Thats rather harsh on Jens, he was as fast as anyone out there today but that McLaren seems very slow off the line, which is a surprise as it was a big strength of theirs for the last few years.

No Ledgard is definitely a big improvement!

Yep, he is smooth.  He usually has good tire wear compared to most other drivers.

He is a good driver too but he's only going to beat Hamilton if he fails to finish, or he has car issues.

I don't hate Vettel.  I just don't like boring race wins!

At least Schumi usually took someone out when he won... hahaha