Formula 1 CFA Comments
British GP 2013 - QF
by Cato Batista, 29/06/2013 0:03:18
Expecting a dry weekend half the grid didn’t even bother going out on FP1. The afternoon session was used by everyone to evaluate tyre wear with very little time set aside to work on QF settings.
Today’s lower temperatures were causing front-left tyre graining, but the real problem they will have to deal with on the warmer days coming up will be back-tyre degradation, specifically as we'd seen in the past when the rubber reaches ‘the cliff’ and suddenly loses most of its grip. This is the issue that affected Mercedes in Barcelona where they fell from the front row to outside the points by lapping 2 seconds slower than the winning Ferrari. Rosberg was quickest in the mostly dry second practice ahead of the Red Bulls. Massa had his 3rd practice accident in the last 3 races seriously affecting Ferrari’s preparations; Alonso was left to continue with his initial program of medium compound evaluation but the team was now left very little data on the hard compound. Both Force India and Toro Rosso are showing their good form of lately making it easily in the top 10. McLaren is having its worst season in ages, Button & Perez are still losing ground to the front and very soon we could see them giving up on this season to concentrate on next year’s car.
FP2 results (let’s not bother with FP1)-
ROS (1.32.248) WEB (+.299) VET (.432) DIR (.584) HAM (.633) RIC (.923) VER (1.042) SUT (1.065) GRO (1.074) ALO (1.246)
What we learned from the leading teams long runs (aprox 15 laps stints) is ...
British GP 2013 - Preview
by Cato Batista, 28/06/2013 23:58:59
We are going to Silverstone for the British GP this weekend, the 8th round of the 2013 season.
For once tyres are not the news headlines, at least not now, but Mark Webber announcing he is retiring from F1 at the end of the year to join the Porsche Le Mans program. At 38 he’s calling quits after 12 seasons at the top level, and it’s said his place will be taken by the second oldest driver 33 years old Kimi Raikkonen. That will be a formidable line-up, one that VET says has his full approval. “I don’t think nobody could have a problem with Kimi as team-mate ...except for Sergio Perez.” The rumors of RAI going to Red Bull had been going around for a while, particularly after he didn’t want to re-sign for Lotus for more than one year at the time when VET and WEB famously fell out at the Malaysian GP. They had been team-mates for 5 seasons at Red Bull.
Two drivers traditionally perform very well in Silverstone: ALO & WEB. They are the only two with 2 wins in the last 10 years. WEB has been on the podium every time since 2009 and has won 2 of the last 3 (2010 & last year’s). On the other end is BUT, the most experienced driver on the starting grid who has never even been in the podium for his home race.
Controversy will always be part of F1. Most teams went vocal against what they consider a very light reprimand to Mercedes by the FIA for their 1000 Kms of testing for Pirelli in Barcelona after the Spanish GP. The German Team went from pole to nowhere during that race in Spain and ...
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Canadian GP 2013 - Race
by Cato Batista, 09/06/2013 5:29:10
Ladies and Gentlemen,
They were the best Q1 & Q2 sessions I ever remember. Conditions keep changing every moment pushing all the drivers to lap continuously to be on track at the right time. The entire QF was run on the green intermediates. The eventual lottery winner was Vettel with an early run in Q3 that nobody could beat even though several drivers were faster than him in the first 2 sectors. The first surprise of the weekend (I bet we have a few more coming tomorrow) was rookie Bottas splitting the Mercedes in third place, and it was no fluke, he was very fast in Q2 too (4th). The first time this season a Willimas makes it to Q3. Webber was next ahead of Alonso, the Ferrari showing none of his Friday’s form in the wet. Massa crashed (again) and were last in Q2. The 2 Toro Rosso made it top 10 with one Force India (rain specialist Sutil) and Raikkonen. The sister Lotus of Grosjean was out early (19th), he is carrying a 10 place penalty for crashing into Ricciardo in Monaco. Both McLaren were caught out in the crazy conditions but they clearly are losing ground to the front of the pack.
In another futility record by the CFA experts, nobody prognosticated first or third QF positions, Hamilton in second place saved some dignity with single points for 8 of you: Alberto, Curro, Fredrik, Lou, Rocco, Rodrigo, Sebstian & Tim.
The revised grid for tomorrow – Raikkonen & Ricciardo incur 2-grid position penalties for improperly lining up exiting the pitlane in that mad dash with 2 minutes to go in ...
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