Formula 1 CFA Comments
Indian GP 2012 - Race
by Cato Batista, 27/10/2012 18:37:02
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Red Bull domination continues as they monopolize the front row for the third time. McLaren lines up next taking the second row pushing Ferrari to 5th & 6th, the Italian cars half a second off the pole. The balance of Q3 was made by four different teams.
The grid for tomorrow:
VET WEB HAM BUT ALO MAS RAI PER MAL ROS
For a change we scored a truck load of points with Uwe, Manbos and Sebastian leading the field with 4-point plenums. With 14 picks for Vettel in first including 10 Red Bull one-two we reached a total of 34 points, one of the best of the year. That’s more like it!
The overall feeling among the drivers is that the double DRS zones will bring opportunities for overtaking, the problem is that the track surface is dirty off-line and contesting a braking zone will represent a big risk, but of course this is Grand Prix racing where the outcome could be decided at the start and the 230 meter-fight to first corner. Both Alonso and Hamilton know that will be their best chance and racers they are you can expect them to be very aggressive when the lights go off.
The strategy battle could bring a few surprises. The big revelation is that tyre degradation is almost zero in this track, the only concern comes from the uneven wear produced through the notorious corners 10-11 which opens the possibility of making the 60 laps race ...
Indian GP 2012 - Qualifying
by Cato Batista, 26/10/2012 19:41:46
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Results from Friday’s sessions are showing Red Bull domination but in reality Ferrari is much closer than anticipated. McLaren is next best but it looks like it’s not close enough to interfere with the Championship battle.
“He who qualify first controls the race” so it goes the old F1 saying, and Red Bull keeps working in that direction. The track surface was changing rapidly as the laps piled up getting faster all the time. Both Red Bull drivers set their fastest times at the end of the session using the option tyre – the yellow ‘soft’ compound- but Alonso’s third best time (6 tenths in arrears) was done earlier in primes –the silver ‘hard’ of the 2 available for this GP- while Ferrari was working on the mid-fuel stint simulation. All the changes introduced to the F2012 were in pursuit of QF performance and they seem to be in the right direction. Massa was caught by the difficult corner 10-11 combo and went off track (he was not the only one), leaving the team without important data for the rest of the session.
From the 3 very different sectors Alonso is losing time (2 tenths) in the fast sweeps of sector 2 and the slower stop-and-go sector 3 (another 2 tenths+). Red Bull is short in top speed on the straights of sector 1 where Mercedes’ double DRS is supreme, but their goal is to get the front row on Saturday and defend from the lead on Sunday. The quickest way around circuits like this is to set-up the car with more downforce for the twisty sections, the problem is that top ...
Indian GP 2012 - Preview
by Cato Batista, 25/10/2012 20:28:15
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Four races left and they’ll be as intense as 4 Championship finals.
We are going to second edition of the Indian GP at the Buddh circuit. From the new generation of Tilke-design ‘artificial’ tracks this is actually one of the most interesting; challenging for drivers and engineers, it’s wide (20 mts)with fast corners, and with one particular section (corners 10-11) that is unique in that there’s no ideal line and can destroy the tyres in only a few slip-ups. Disappointingly last year there were only 6 on-track overtakes during the race, so the FIA decided to increase the second DRS zone by 80 meters between corners 3 and 4 as well as keeping the full length of the start-finish straight for the first DRS zone.
Both Alonso and Vettel are looking for their third World Championships but the momentum is shifting to the German with 3 wins in a row. The new found advantage by Adrian Newey’s Red Bull is coming from their ‘double DRS system’ – a sidepod layout that allows more downforce and more diffuser stall- that is worth ‘a couple of tenths...’ In Formula 1 that difference translates into comfortable wins as we saw in Korea. But there’s more to it: that extra downforce on the rear wheels allows the driver to transfer the brake bias to the front to make the car more stable under braking and very critically preventing the front tyres from lock-ups. Just notice how the Red Bulls have less tyre smoke from the fronts under braking thus avoiding flats spots, ...
Copyright 2001-2024 MANBOS
Korean GP 2012 - Results - Joe's second by a whisker
by Cato Batista, 14/10/2012 19:22:33
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Red Bulls were unchallenged at the front, Ferraris settled for 3rd & 4th and the McLarens were nowhere. There was no much action at the front but it was a good race with lots of wheel to wheel racing through the rest of the field. Vettel has taken the lead of the championship and is looking right on track for this 3rd successive crown.
Joe took his second GP victory of the year by the minimum margin over six members in the most contested race so far. He hit 4 driver/positions for big 12 points to jump second in the standings fending off Curro, Manbos, Matias, Rocco, Rodrigo and me, these last six with 3 golds each same as Fernando and Tim (10) pushing our marks way above season-average. It was like in the old days when our business was a lot easier (but not as exciting tough).
Vettel was the sure bet: 18 of us got that right. Full credit to Curro, Rocco, Rodrigo, Tim for forecasting the 1-2-3 result, but it was Joe that went one step further with Raikkonen in 5th to take the overall. Eleven in the group predicted Webber was going to ride shotgun to his teammate but we did even better with Alonso reaching the podium with 13 votes. Raikkonen’s fifth was good for seven 3-pointers but we complet
ely missed the 4th and 6th place columns; Massa was as unpredictable as ...
ely missed the 4th and 6th place columns; Massa was as unpredictable as ...
Copyright 2001-2024 MANBOS