Formula 1 CFA Comments
British GP 2012 - Preview
by Cato Batista, 05/07/2012 20:08:41
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Is the party over? We had been treated to eight fabulous GPs so far this season, but last race’s sight of Vettel disappearing into the distance in the newest Adrian Newey’s creation presages the possible end of the surprising results. The heavily revised RB8 was 4 tenths faster than anybody else in QF and over a second a lap during the race.
The best hope for the remaining 21 teams is that round 9 in Silverstone this weekend is a completely different king of track where efficiency in high-speed downforce is the key, like Barcelona that favours teams like McLaren, Ferrari, Sauber and Williams. If Red Bull can translate their impressive pace on the slow corners of Valencia to the fast Silverstone sweepers they will walk away with this ampionship.
Tyres could decide this race too, as has been the case all along this year. But what has produced the incredible close racing was the ban on blown diffusers at the end of 2011 effectively leaving all the F1 cars in the same playing field. It’s a phenomenon that repeats in GP racing when the rules remain unchanged for a few years; all the teams catch up in development and the field closes up. Let’s hope Red Bull won’t crash the party...
The most interesting stats for this weekend: The poleman has won only 4 of the last 17 editions; Red Bull has been on pole the last 3 races this year as well as the last 3 years in ...
European GP 2012 - Results- Fredrik wins our worst ever
by Cato Batista, 24/06/2012 19:55:37
Fabulous race in the place you’d least expected, it was a thriller from beginning to end. Alonso overcame 10 grid positions to score his second win of the year, the only repeat winner so far. SCH went from 12th to reach his first podium since his comeback. You’d think this is the craziest F1 season on record or the best ever. Or both. And we still have 12 races to go!
Fredrik emerged victorious from officially the worst ever CFA race. We, the ultimate experts, averaged 2.5 race points in Valencia. Fredrik, with 5 points is now our 7th different GP winner, was the only one to brilliantly predict RAI in second place. Sebastian and Manbos ended up 1 point behind thanks to their choice of ROS in 6th. Those 3 were the only ones in the entire group to score 3-pointers. In fact, no one had more than 3 correct drivers in the top six. It was so bad that 11 members had 2 race points, and in another futility record 5 colleagues only scored single points! Do we need any more proof that this is the most unpredictable season ever?
Results: http://f1.manbos.com/userbets.asp?t=2012&gpn=Europa&nevent=race
There was little change in the point standings, evidently. Uwe’s lead is now 6 points over Maria and 7 to Rocco (60-54-53). Manbos and Fredrik went up one position (50-49). After that there are 11 names within 7 points (!). At the bottom of the list Erik has generously given rookie IanM a break to take his last place; the basement is just as crowded with Ricky keeping them close ...
European GP 2012 - Race
by Cato Batista, 23/06/2012 19:11:12
One Red Bull is on pole, the other one didn’t pass Q1; both Ferraris and SCH were out in Q2. The Force India and the Lotus are flying, same as Maldonado’s Williams. One McLaren is on the front row of the other on the 5th (behind a Sauber). Yes, this is a bit crazier than usual...
Vettel was supremely confident in his ‘new’ RB8 waiting to the last second for his attempt, the risk was big but he saved one set of options for tomorrow. He was over 3 tenths faster than Hamilton, a huge gap considering the next 5 places were within 25 hundredths of a second.
We had a reasonable yield from this session mainly from the always reliable Vettel – Hamilton 1-2 positions, that’s 6 members with 2 points –Curro, Erik, Ian Mac, Rocco, Matias and me- plus 12 others with a single point. Check your marks: http://f1.manbos.com/userbets.asp?t=2012&gpn=Europa&nevent=qualifying
The grid for tomorrow: VET HAM MAL GRO RAI ROS KOB HUL BUT DIR (ALO 11th, SCH 12th, MAS 13th)
There’s not a single place in this track where driver‘s ability can actually make a difference, even the faster last sector is flat-out; it requires full throttle (68%) and then hard on the brakes, repeat-repeat-repeat, its’ wide, smooth and there’s lot of run-offs, as consequence the times are closer than anywhere else. The main driver’s challenge is to apply the power without wearing down the rear tyres out of the many 1st gear corners. And that maybe the key for tomorrow in an otherwise straight 2 stops strategy race for the 57 laps. The pitlane takes 22 seconds to navigate. Vettel ...
European GP 2012 - QF -'new' RB8?
by Cato Batista, 22/06/2012 21:12:12
Red Bull showed up with a vastly revised RB8 for practice today. Not a simple update like Lotus did, we are talking new front wing, front suspension, sidepods, lower body, exhaust and interestingly a whole new floor. The car was very quick out of the box with Vettel second on P1 and fastest on P2. Webber had some teething problems and lost valuable running time. The new version was not particularly faster in any specific area like top speed or traction but after putting all sectors together emerged on top by 13 hundreds of a second over the much improved Force India of Hulkenberg. It may not sound like a big gap, but consider that the 15 runners qualified within 9 tenths. In P1 the top 9 were separated by less of 3 tenths!
P1- MAL (1.40.890) VET WEB BUT ALO DIR SCH HAM ROS RAI
P2- VET (1.39.334) HUL KOB SCH SEN DIR ALO GRO WEB ROS (RAI 11th, BUT 12th)
Friday’s session were largely devoted to work on race set-up. The main concern in everybody’s minds is how to manage the harder selection of Pirellis available this weekend in the higher temperatures expected for Sunday. The man under the microscope was Grosjean in his Lotus, without a doubt the quickest and the most gentle on its rubber on heavy-load and long run simulation. McLaren is the question mark, they are not showing their QF pace yet, only Button did a few runs on the medium soft and low fuel in P1 (4th); Ferrari wasn’t looking at easy either, each stop for ALO meant big aero adjustments, not the fine tune up you do when you are close to your optimum set–up.
This is ...
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