Formula 1 CFA Comments

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Bahrain GP 2013 - Preview

by Cato Batista, 18/04/2013 17:03:01

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Without much delay we are going to the 4^th round in Bahrain, and there are no pre-race favorites.

From all the comments I got none of us are too happy with the current state of F1 racing. In all truth Pirelli is providing what was required of them -fast wearing tyres- but this time they went too far. When fans pay to watch an empty track because the rubber gets consumed so quickly that the teams can’t afford to run their cars, then we have a problem. And what about the DRS issue. For those who didn’t like it this year we have double DRSdoses on each race. Passing has never been so easy.

The best quick-fix Pirelli can offer is to provide their hardest compounds for Sakhir: medium-hard. They aim to make it a 3 stopper with an alternative 2 stop strategy. This will be a tough test: the surface evolves depending on the sand blown on the track, high temperatures are expected, the most demanding of all tracks on brakes… There is talk of a full review after Bahrain and ...

Chinese GP 2013 - Results - Guzman takes the third round

by Cato Batista, 15/04/2013 4:31:38

Ladies and Gentlemen,

For the first time in a very long time we have seen a Ferrari dominating a Grand Prix (Alonso of course). The 3 top qualifiers held the podium positions after a close long battle between RAI & HAM. The conventional tactic of starting at the front even with a supposedly tyre disadvantage was the appropriate one. Vettel and Buttin did well (4^th & 5^th) in the alternative strategy. Alonso is the third victor in 3 races, this promises to be a terrific season.

Manbos is our third different winner too; we had a race with surprising above average results. Manbos has scored the best marks of the season so far with 4 three-pointers to reach 13 points; Joe was next with 12, then yours truly with 11, Curro 10, and then Fernando, Ian, Matias, Uwe even at 9. In total we collected 30 correct positions across the top six: 8 of them thanks to VET’s 4^th place, 6 with HAM in 3^rd, 5 with RAI in 2^nd, 2 each for BUT in 5^th and MAS in 6^th. Our favorite to take the win was RAI with 10 votes, then we were divided between HAM and ALO with 6 each and ROS had one follower. VET on the other hand didn’t have a single supporter today. The six ALO fans were ...

Chinese GP 2013 - Race

by Cato Batista, 14/04/2013 0:03:41

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Hamilton has taken his first pole for Mercedes and there’s no sight of a Red Bull until the 5th row of the grid. Mercedes, Ferrari and Lotus are taking the top spots with surprising Ricciardo 7th in the Toro Rosso.

Tyre degradation in the soft compound is so precarious that the last 3 qualifiers in Q3 (BUT, VET, HUL) didn’t go out in order to start the race in new med-primes.

If you got no points in QF you are not alone. Only reigning Champ Rocco secured 2 with HAM-ALO (1st-3rd)with 4 more of us with single scores (2 RAI/2nd, 2 ALO /3rd). I’m afraid we will get much the same for race day...

The grid:

HAM RAI ALO ROS MAS GRO RIC BUT VET HUL

The options were so much faster than the primes that no one could even get to Q2 on medium-prime, the extreme situation keeping the track without cars until the last minutes of every session. Red Bull abandoned their traditional strategy of dialing the car to start at the front because they couldn’t make the soft tyres last “more than 5 laps” said Vettel ironically. Webber had a mechanical failure in Q2 and was sent to the back of the grid as he failed to provide a fuel sample. The Lotus ‘is not fast enough’ according Raikkonen despite his second place achievement, it seems to be the best chassis on prime tyres although nobody is quite sure how it will perform on race conditions. The ...

Chinese GP 2013 - QF

by Cato Batista, 13/04/2013 23:57:51

Ladies and Gentlemen,

They don't want to admit it but Pirelli's choice of compounds was the

wrong one. The option/soft is 1 second faster that the prime/medium,

but its useful life has become a real concern. During simulations with

heavy full loads some cars are suffering from heavy grainning in less

than 1 lap!

The italian tyre maker was looking to make 2 or 3 stops a very close

alternative during the race, but the soft compound has proven to be

impossible to manage -particularly the front-left. Many of the leading

drivers vented their frustration at the wrong choice of compounds for

this circuit. The situation is now that to make it to Q3 you'll have

to use the soft tyre and start the race with worn rubber in great

disadvantage to those starting from the 11th place and back who will

have new sets of primes.

The fastest cars were Mercedes (P1) and Ferrari (P2). With many new

parts to test must of both sessions were used for aero-evaluation, the

best times came early and then the top teams switch to long-run

simulations on medium compound. In this parameter, with mid to heavy

fuel loads and prime tyres the laptimes of Mercedes, Red Bull and

Ferrari were very close, with Lotus surprisingly off the pace affected

by the higher temperatures. As always the question is if Red Bull is

hiding their true QF ...

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