Formula 1 CFA Comments
Malaysian GP 2013 - Preview
by Cato Batista, 23/03/2013 18:25:25
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We still have the good taste from Australia and in a few hours action will start again in Malaysia for the second round of the season. What a treat.
From the streets of Melbourne we are moving to a proper circuit, temperatures are expected to be higher with tyres again the name of the game, and after their win last Sunday Lotus (Raikkonen in particular) they are in the highlight although Red Bull qualifying dominance got everybody else worried. It may be early for predictions but Sepang has a record of offering us wet races, it is their rainy season and the race starts late in the afternoon when the showers commonly arrive in the region. It’s not a bad idea to start considering you favorite rain-masters to shine.
Pirelli will provide their 2 hardest compounds to handle the higher track temperatures and the very different surface and loads of Sepang, nobody in the pitlane is sure on how this is going to affect each of the leading teams. Lotus has the best tyre-suspension package but they are only the 4th fastest team, if they can pull another 2 stopper their low qualifying slot (as in Albert Park) will not be an issue. Ferrari was the quickest car in race trim, and you wonder if the advantage of Red Bull's single-lap speed and front row starts are not as decisive as last year's.
From every point of view, looks like another fierce battle is brewing up for this weekend.
Look at the tyre chart Santiago prepares after every GP and you’ll find the most ...
Australian GP 2013 - Results - Lou takes the opener
by Cato Batista, 18/03/2013 7:24:17
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It was a thrilling race. Brilliant victory by Kimi the ‘Iceman’, his Lotus had plenty of speed to match Red Bull and Ferrari and was much more efficient with its tyres requiring only 2 stops . The opening act of 2013 gave us a good picture of the current F1 status: there are 3 teams in close contention at the top; qualifying speed (Red Bull) is not as important as stretching the life of the tyres (Lotus); Mercedes is fast but without the consistency of the top 3; McLaren (surprise!) is behind Force India and Toro Rosso at the moment.
Former Champ Lou is back in the winner’s circle after a 2 year absence, the only one of us to score two 3-pointers to reach 10 points, 3 clear of Alberto, Rodrigo & Santiago. We only scored 6 golds collectively, the highest placing was ALO/2nd by Alberto, three MAS/4th by Curro, Rodrigo & Lou, and two HAM/5th by Santi and Lou for the win. We had 3 ‘shuffles’ by Manbos, Rocco and I (all correct top 6 drivers but in the wrong order), and most of us were beaten by the Starting Grid (7 points). All in all, a bad day for the CFA...and a first taste of how difficult this year is going to be.
There is a tie for first place at this early stage of the Championship between Lou and I with 10 points. He got zero points in QF and I was the only one with a plenum of 4 points to level the score. The rest of the top 10 is like this: Rodrigo, 9; Alberto, Santiago, Curro & Manbos, 8; Fernando & ...
Australian GP 2013 - Race
by Cato Batista, 18/03/2013 7:19:25
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As you may know by now Qualifying was suspended after Q1 due to heavy rain and dangerous track conditions. It will take place Sunday 11am local time, three hours before the start of the race.
This will leave a 2-hour window to submit your race picks. The CFA administrators (Santiago, Manbos, me) will be ready to help in case you have any issues when accessing the website (as I know some of you are traveling) or you always have the option of entering your forecast from now on. There will be no changes to QF picks, that page is now closed.
The possibility or rain in Melbourne during racetime is only 30%, although there are showers forecasted during the morning that may affect qualifying again. This could be very interesting!
In case you’re betting for a wet race, these are the results from P3 (and Red Bull is not the quickest under rainy conditions)
GRO ALO (71 thousands behind) MAS DIR RAI RIC - VER (the 2 Toro Rosso) SUT HUL-GUT (the Saubers) 11 ROS 12 VET 13 WEB 22 HAM
These are the results from the very-wet and accident-filled Q1 session:
ROS ALO GRO PER WEB MAS VET BUT VER HAM (11 RAI)
Out of the session are MAL, GUT and the 2 Marussia and Caterham
Last year’s GP was won on 2 stops. This time Pirelli is providing its softer compounds: super soft (red) and soft ...
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Australian GP 2013 QF
by Cato Batista, 16/03/2013 13:24:07
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Red Bull is the car to beat, and yes, they were sandbagging during winter testing. If they were lapping 2.3 slower than anybody else back then now they are almost half a second clear of second-fastest Mercedes.
And on top of that it seems they are looking after their tyres better than the rest.
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