Formula 1 CFA Comments
Australian GP 2012 - Preview
by Cato Batista, 23/03/2012 4:13:40
Ladies and Gents,
We’re ing to Malaysia for the second race of the season.
Sepang is a completely different track and we are going to see the first real test of who’s got the best aerodynamic design. In contrast with Albert Park, this is a real circuit with long high speed corners that demand a balanced aero-chassis package, and its abrasive surface and normal high temperatures are one of the hardest on tires –last year it was a 4-stop race-.
McLaren had the best car during winter testing on the long, high load corners of Montmelo, and they say this is their strongest asset compared to Red Bull that has the best grip on the slower corners. Ferrari feels the same way, their F2012 was the second best chassis on the sections with fast, long constant-speed corners.
We learnt some interesting things from Australia: Red Bull has the same race-pace as McLaren but can’t match their top speed, and we know that a front-row starting position is key to win in Formula 1 these days. Mercedes has a 5 to 10 kph top speed advantage with their new ‘F’ wing and DRS, but of course it has very limited use on race day, besides they are destroying their tires faster than anybody else. Ferrari showed one positive and unexpected development: after being left behind last season, now they have the fastest pit stops. They are actually faster than anybody has ever been! the 3 quickest passes through the pitlane last Sunday (times from entry to exit) were Alonso 21.910s, Alonso 22.035s, & Massa 22.103s. Their tire changes were so fast that Alonso gained 2s on Webber & Hamilton, 2.5s on Button and ...
We’re ing to Malaysia for the second race of the season.
Sepang is a completely different track and we are going to see the first real test of who’s got the best aerodynamic design. In contrast with Albert Park, this is a real circuit with long high speed corners that demand a balanced aero-chassis package, and its abrasive surface and normal high temperatures are one of the hardest on tires –last year it was a 4-stop race-.
McLaren had the best car during winter testing on the long, high load corners of Montmelo, and they say this is their strongest asset compared to Red Bull that has the best grip on the slower corners. Ferrari feels the same way, their F2012 was the second best chassis on the sections with fast, long constant-speed corners.
We learnt some interesting things from Australia: Red Bull has the same race-pace as McLaren but can’t match their top speed, and we know that a front-row starting position is key to win in Formula 1 these days. Mercedes has a 5 to 10 kph top speed advantage with their new ‘F’ wing and DRS, but of course it has very limited use on race day, besides they are destroying their tires faster than anybody else. Ferrari showed one positive and unexpected development: after being left behind last season, now they have the fastest pit stops. They are actually faster than anybody has ever been! the 3 quickest passes through the pitlane last Sunday (times from entry to exit) were Alonso 21.910s, Alonso 22.035s, & Massa 22.103s. Their tire changes were so fast that Alonso gained 2s on Webber & Hamilton, 2.5s on Button and ...
Australian GP 2012 - Results. It's Uwe again, just like last year....
by Cato Batista, 18/03/2012 18:58:43
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Exactly what we wanted, a good race to start off the season. BUT was in command from flag to flag; great races by Champs VET, ALO & RAI. No doubt we have a fabulous year a of us.
Uwe was as dominant as BUT in the opening test of 2012 on his way to 12 points; it was déjà-vu 2011 for Uwe once again as he is the early CFA Championship leader and chased by Manbos 3 points behind and 4 a of Maria, Curro, Lou & Tim.
Uwe’s score was impressive: 3 points for each of the top 4 positions. Far behind him 7 members scored two 3 pointers (Maria, Manbos, Tim, Ricky, Lou, Matias & Curro), not bad for such random final results particularly when 2 drivers starting in the top 6 (SCH & GRO) didn’t make it to the end. Unofficially we had established the lowest score ever in a race: 3 points! (that was me!). Most of our gold marks came from the McLaren drivers, we knew they were going to win it and we where almost divided in half with 13 votes for eventual winner BUT and 9 for HAM. Only 4 predicted VET finishing second (Maria, Uwe, Manbos & Curro); our best score after winner BUT was WEB in 4th with 6 picks (Maria, Uwe, Manbos, Fredrik, Tim & Lou). We didn’t get any marks for 5th & 6th, as we never expected ALO (except Manbos) or KOB to make it to the top 6.
So, after the first round it looks like this: Uwe 13 points, Manbos, Lou & Curro in a triple tie for second with 9; Maria & Tim third with 8; then Joe, Fredrik, Ricky, Alberto & Rodrigo with 7; Ian, Erik, rookie IanM, Sebastian & Matias 6; Fernando, Santiago and I with 5; and last Ricardo & Carlos with 4.
I ...
Exactly what we wanted, a good race to start off the season. BUT was in command from flag to flag; great races by Champs VET, ALO & RAI. No doubt we have a fabulous year a of us.
Uwe was as dominant as BUT in the opening test of 2012 on his way to 12 points; it was déjà-vu 2011 for Uwe once again as he is the early CFA Championship leader and chased by Manbos 3 points behind and 4 a of Maria, Curro, Lou & Tim.
Uwe’s score was impressive: 3 points for each of the top 4 positions. Far behind him 7 members scored two 3 pointers (Maria, Manbos, Tim, Ricky, Lou, Matias & Curro), not bad for such random final results particularly when 2 drivers starting in the top 6 (SCH & GRO) didn’t make it to the end. Unofficially we had established the lowest score ever in a race: 3 points! (that was me!). Most of our gold marks came from the McLaren drivers, we knew they were going to win it and we where almost divided in half with 13 votes for eventual winner BUT and 9 for HAM. Only 4 predicted VET finishing second (Maria, Uwe, Manbos & Curro); our best score after winner BUT was WEB in 4th with 6 picks (Maria, Uwe, Manbos, Fredrik, Tim & Lou). We didn’t get any marks for 5th & 6th, as we never expected ALO (except Manbos) or KOB to make it to the top 6.
So, after the first round it looks like this: Uwe 13 points, Manbos, Lou & Curro in a triple tie for second with 9; Maria & Tim third with 8; then Joe, Fredrik, Ricky, Alberto & Rodrigo with 7; Ian, Erik, rookie IanM, Sebastian & Matias 6; Fernando, Santiago and I with 5; and last Ricardo & Carlos with 4.
I ...
Australian GP 2012
by Cato Batista, 17/03/2012 22:24:59
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It’s an all McLaren front row followed by many surprises.
It was until after session P3 that we finally saw the true potential of each teams’ machinery. Champions Red Bull have appreciably less top speed than its rivals, particularly compared with McLaren and Mercedes, which are flying on the straights, and they are slower out of the corners because they use a simpler, less powerful version of KERS. Like last year, their strength is in their overall balance but that can win races only starting from pole. WEB was faster than VET this time but all they could get was the 3rd row of the grid. Lotus is now the focus of attention with one car in 3rd –their number 2 driver GRO- and their star driver RAI in 18th after a mental fade that eliminated him in Q1. And then comes Ferrari. Their F2012 is a real handful, understeers on entry, oversteers on exit, it doesn’t like directional changes. ALO ended up beached in Q2 (12th), MAS was never closer than 2 seconds to his teammate, will start 16th. Oh boy, it’s going to be a long year for the reds.
On the other side McLaren and Mercedes are smiling. The controversial rear wing is definitely working on the Mercedes, it’s very fast on the straights but the system makes the car very hard to drive when using DRS and they are still struggling with the soft compound, although they are the most consistent in the medium one which is only 0.5s slower around this track. SCH is looking very racy, 4th is his best QF since his comeback and clearly faster than ROS. They can smell their first podium tomorrow....
The grid ...
Copyright 2001-2024 MANBOS
It’s an all McLaren front row followed by many surprises.
It was until after session P3 that we finally saw the true potential of each teams’ machinery. Champions Red Bull have appreciably less top speed than its rivals, particularly compared with McLaren and Mercedes, which are flying on the straights, and they are slower out of the corners because they use a simpler, less powerful version of KERS. Like last year, their strength is in their overall balance but that can win races only starting from pole. WEB was faster than VET this time but all they could get was the 3rd row of the grid. Lotus is now the focus of attention with one car in 3rd –their number 2 driver GRO- and their star driver RAI in 18th after a mental fade that eliminated him in Q1. And then comes Ferrari. Their F2012 is a real handful, understeers on entry, oversteers on exit, it doesn’t like directional changes. ALO ended up beached in Q2 (12th), MAS was never closer than 2 seconds to his teammate, will start 16th. Oh boy, it’s going to be a long year for the reds.
On the other side McLaren and Mercedes are smiling. The controversial rear wing is definitely working on the Mercedes, it’s very fast on the straights but the system makes the car very hard to drive when using DRS and they are still struggling with the soft compound, although they are the most consistent in the medium one which is only 0.5s slower around this track. SCH is looking very racy, 4th is his best QF since his comeback and clearly faster than ROS. They can smell their first podium tomorrow....
The grid ...
Australian GP 2012 - Qualifiying
by Cato Batista, 16/03/2012 17:00:52
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Heavy rain between sessions prevented the first comparison of the teams’ real performances. McLaren was comfortably the fastest out of the box with BUT leading teammate HAM in P1, both lapping in the 1m 27s bracket followed by SCH, ALO and ROS in the 28s. Note that BUT did it only 11 laps, half or less compared to his rivals.
The downpour made the track too dangerous for most of the P2 session. Without spare parts so early in the season most team didn’t want to risk damaging their cars and they only went out until the last 20 minutes with dry-weather tires. HUL back in F1 with Force India and SCH traded fastest laps but the 3 big teams did very little running effectively losing valuable track time. With a few hours to go there’s a strange air of uncertainty on who’s really got the fastest car comes QF time. VET (11th in P1, 10th on P2) admits they haven’t got the right set-up; Ferrari says they still have no idea how competitive they are but they know they are behind McLaren, Red Bull and...Mercedes. RAI is not happy with the power steering on his Lotus ‘it works in well some circuits’ but in not Albert Park. In F1 a few tenths of a second means 2-3 positions, so it doesn’t look promising for the former Champion. The dark horse seems to be Mercedes, the fact that Schummi was fastest in medium compound than HUL in softs left their rivals cold. Ross Brown introduced his unique rear wing design (recently approved by the FIA) that creates a stall when the DRS is closed and all eyes are studying it and wondering if that is what’s giving Mercedes their ...
Heavy rain between sessions prevented the first comparison of the teams’ real performances. McLaren was comfortably the fastest out of the box with BUT leading teammate HAM in P1, both lapping in the 1m 27s bracket followed by SCH, ALO and ROS in the 28s. Note that BUT did it only 11 laps, half or less compared to his rivals.
The downpour made the track too dangerous for most of the P2 session. Without spare parts so early in the season most team didn’t want to risk damaging their cars and they only went out until the last 20 minutes with dry-weather tires. HUL back in F1 with Force India and SCH traded fastest laps but the 3 big teams did very little running effectively losing valuable track time. With a few hours to go there’s a strange air of uncertainty on who’s really got the fastest car comes QF time. VET (11th in P1, 10th on P2) admits they haven’t got the right set-up; Ferrari says they still have no idea how competitive they are but they know they are behind McLaren, Red Bull and...Mercedes. RAI is not happy with the power steering on his Lotus ‘it works in well some circuits’ but in not Albert Park. In F1 a few tenths of a second means 2-3 positions, so it doesn’t look promising for the former Champion. The dark horse seems to be Mercedes, the fact that Schummi was fastest in medium compound than HUL in softs left their rivals cold. Ross Brown introduced his unique rear wing design (recently approved by the FIA) that creates a stall when the DRS is closed and all eyes are studying it and wondering if that is what’s giving Mercedes their ...
Copyright 2001-2024 MANBOS