Formula 1 CFA Comments
Belgium GP 2012 - QF
by Cato Batista, 01/09/2012 8:22:50
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Friday was a total washout. Showers all morning and more rain in the afternoon meant very little or not practising at all for everybody. Kobayashi was fastest in P1, the only driver with 20 laps on the board in a session that Ferrari and Lotus didn’t even bother trying to establish a lap time. Only Sauber, Williams and Toro Rosso and to some extent Red Bull tried to get some running, something didn’t even happen in P2 when conditions where at its worst and the big players rather kept their cars clean parked in their boxes. With sunshine expected for the next 2 days all their set up work will be concentrated for the Saturday morning FP3 session.
What can we expect? we are completely in the dark for QF, so let’s look into what’s in the cards for Spa.
This is a very demanding place on tyres and that’s why Pirelli has chosen their hardest compounds. With the fastest and longest corners in all of F1 racing and a very abrasive surface, tyre degradation is very high. It requires lower downforce than most circuits to maximize top speed in the two long straights where they reach almost 300kph for an extended period of time; they run full throttle 70% of the lap and use their smaller set of rear wings. Average lap speeds are in the 230kph, the brakes are used only 8 times per lap. Under this circumstances the Mercedes powered cars will have an advantage in sectors 1 & 3 (McLaren & Mercedes, maybe Force India) but we could see big time differentials in sector 2 where directional changes and high ...
Belgium GP 2012 - Preview
by Cato Batista, 30/08/2012 23:55:16
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The holidays are over! And as a reward for your 5 long weeks of patience we resume our F1 season at the greatest GP circuit there is: Spa-Francorchamps.
Get ready to restart the second part of the season, 9 races in 13 weeks opening this weekend in Belguim and followed one week later with another classic: the Italian GP at Monza (7-9 September), the last two European stops before traveling to Asia for 5 races and finishing the year in the American continent for the closing two events.
All eyes are on Alonso and his 40-point advantage in the standings. His Ferrari definitely not the best car on the grid but so far he is the only driver to have won 3 races this year, but perhaps his most important asset is his reliability: if the Spaniard finishes this Sunday’s GP he will tie Schumacher’s all time record of 24 consecutive scoring finishes.
But of course the best battle of the season is the CFA Championship. Rocco has taken the lead in the last race to hold a 4-point lead over Uwe, and he doesn’t deny that his son Canadian Karting Champion 11-year old Joe is the one calling the shots. The point spread is so tight that only 9 points separate the 5th from the 17th place and there is only a 1 point difference between the last four on the table... to repeat myself again: this is the most contested CFA season in our history and I hope you are enjoying every minute of it.
So the scene is set for another exciting weekend, and ...
Hungarian GP 2012 - Race
by Cato Batista, 29/07/2012 6:55:16
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It was complete domination by Hamilton, this was his 3rd pole of the year. He has been on top of the charts for every session so far except FP3 this morning where was second to Webber, who by the way didn’t make the Q3 cut. Lotus was second best in the very hot and dry conditions with Grosjean sharing the front row, Raikkonen was 5th. Vettel somehow got the third best time fueling speculation that the latest FIA restrictions (engine mapping and now front ride-height illegal manual adjustment) is clipping Red Bull’s wings. Button in the sister McLaren complained of understeer finishing 4th. Ferraris could not do better than 6th & 7th but Alonso says he’s not worried. Both Williams made it to Q3 for the first time. Hulkenberg out qualified DiResta again to close the top 10.
The last time a CFA member scored a QF plenum was Carlos in Canada (we had achieved maximum QF points only twice this year) so our poor results in Hungary are pretty much the standard these days. Matias, Rodrigo & I got 2 points (1-3) plus single marks for 10 colleagues.
The Hungaroring has the reputation to be a difficult place to overtake (‘Monaco without barriers’ it’s called) but to our amusement all those track preconceptions had change for good this season. In the old days the only way to pass was during the pitstops and we may see some of that tomorrow, although for the front runners the quickest way to cover the 70 laps will be options-primer-primes. There is an outside ...
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Hungarian GP - Qualifying
by Cato Batista, 28/07/2012 6:23:19
Ladies and Gentlemen,
McLaren was the quickest car today with HAM fastest on both sessions and BUT 2nd and 6th respectively. Ferrari was closer to them in general but it was RAI in second in P2 in the Lotus that is looking stronger as the track builds up rubber and temperatures climb up. Rain hit P2 and most teams sent their drivers to explore the track in both inters and full wets in case the showers forecasted for race day are correct although QF is expected to be dry tomorrow.
Red Bull didn’t show their single-lap potential as is their customary style, using both sessions instead to evaluate the medium compound/heavy fuel on long stints. The prime white-tyres most likely will be choice for at least 2 stints during the race, and VET was only 0.8 seconds off HAM’s pace (the McLaren on options) which is very telling because the primes are only about 1 second slower than the options around here.
P1- HAM (1.22.821) BUT ALO ROS GRO SCH MAS RAI BOT (Bottas, Williams reserve driver) PER – WEB 13th, VET 15th.
P2- HAM (1.21.995) –temperature was 8C higher that P1- RAI SEN MAS ALO BUT DIR VET GRO SCH
The overall view is that McLaren is very quick on softs and single-lap trim but may struggle again on tyre temperatures; Ferrari is the best balanced on the different compounds and is well adapted to all the sectors of the circuit; Lotus has the best chassis for ...
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