The 2014 Formula One Thread
04-09-14, 01:07 AM
#61
F1 drivers dangerously losing weight to improve performance
In order to wrestle a modern Formula One car around the track, you need to be in peak physical condition, right? Well, that's usually the case, but this season is seeing that notion turned on its head as some of the drivers are forced to undertake drastic weight-loss measures.
Why this season more than others, you ask? Because of changes in the regulations. While the new cars have smaller engines, other changes to the formula (like larger batteries) mean that the cars are heavier overall. Yet the minimum weight limit has apparently not been adjusted proportionately, forcing teams to look even harder to trim excess weight. And when everything's already made of carbon fiber, there's not much more weight to cut, so the onus falls on the drivers.
Those drivers (like flyweight Felipe Massa, who reportedly weighs just 130 pounds without his helmet and gear) already at the lighter end of the spectrum have an advantage, but those who are physically larger are undertaking drastic and potentially dangerous measures in order to keep up, let alone get ahead. Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne, for example, is larger than his team-mate Daniil Kvyat. So to keep up with his lighter wingman, Vergne undertook a drastic weight-loss regimen that he has now revealed forced him into the hospital between the grands prix in Australia and Malaysia. Meanwhile Adrian Sutil, who at 165 pounds is one of the larger on the grid, has been forced to race without a water supply on board in order to cut weight.
That's why some of the drivers are petitioning to have the weight limits changed. Some of the lighter drivers, however, have reportedly been blocking the efforts, keen to hold on to their advantage. If action isn't taken soon, we can't imagine it will be too long before teams start dumping larger drivers in favor of physically smaller ones, leading Formula One down a path that would, not unlike horse racing, value smaller stature and lower weight over skill and experience in their drivers. But even before that happens, we could be looking at a situation where some of the larger drivers still on the grid, forced to lose weight and forgo drinking water during the race, could easily lose concentration or even consciousness behind the wheel, with potentially disastrous consequences given the speeds involved.
Why this season more than others, you ask? Because of changes in the regulations. While the new cars have smaller engines, other changes to the formula (like larger batteries) mean that the cars are heavier overall. Yet the minimum weight limit has apparently not been adjusted proportionately, forcing teams to look even harder to trim excess weight. And when everything's already made of carbon fiber, there's not much more weight to cut, so the onus falls on the drivers.
Those drivers (like flyweight Felipe Massa, who reportedly weighs just 130 pounds without his helmet and gear) already at the lighter end of the spectrum have an advantage, but those who are physically larger are undertaking drastic and potentially dangerous measures in order to keep up, let alone get ahead. Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne, for example, is larger than his team-mate Daniil Kvyat. So to keep up with his lighter wingman, Vergne undertook a drastic weight-loss regimen that he has now revealed forced him into the hospital between the grands prix in Australia and Malaysia. Meanwhile Adrian Sutil, who at 165 pounds is one of the larger on the grid, has been forced to race without a water supply on board in order to cut weight.
That's why some of the drivers are petitioning to have the weight limits changed. Some of the lighter drivers, however, have reportedly been blocking the efforts, keen to hold on to their advantage. If action isn't taken soon, we can't imagine it will be too long before teams start dumping larger drivers in favor of physically smaller ones, leading Formula One down a path that would, not unlike horse racing, value smaller stature and lower weight over skill and experience in their drivers. But even before that happens, we could be looking at a situation where some of the larger drivers still on the grid, forced to lose weight and forgo drinking water during the race, could easily lose concentration or even consciousness behind the wheel, with potentially disastrous consequences given the speeds involved.
04-09-14, 02:51 PM
#62
Yet the minimum weight limit has apparently not been adjusted proportionately, forcing teams to look even harder to trim excess weight.
Wow, I knew F1 drivers aren't big guys, but I didn't realize how light some are (like Massa).
-Mike
04-09-14, 04:17 PM
#64
Pole Position
No, it is minimum. The issue is that previously the manufacturers added ballast to the cars where it was most advantageous. Now with the new power units the drivers are finding that unless they lose weight they are above the minimum and for every kg over the minimum they lose lap time (~.03 secs per kg) and that has the bigger guys worried. The lighter cars/drivers easily can hit the minimum weight perhaps with some nicely located ballast. The bigger guys just lose lap time.
HTH
HTH
04-10-14, 08:03 AM
#65
Pole Position
Here's a link to PlanetF1 where Caterham car being over the weight limit and the time penalty for one of the drivers is discussed.
04-14-14, 07:25 PM
#67
BMW to follow Honda back into F1?
The economic downturn wrought devastating effects on motor racing. Formula One alone lost half its engine suppliers when Honda left at the end of the 2008 season, and both BMW and Toyota followed at the end of 2009. But things are looking up again. Cosworth may have dropped out this season, reducing the engine suppliers to three: Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes, the latter of which admits that it may have left had the engine formula not changed. But Mercedes has stayed and is dominating the championship. Honda is coming back next season. And word around the paddock is it may not be the only one.
According to Giancarlo Minardi – founder of the team now known as Scuderia Toro Rosso – BMW engineers have been conspicuously spotted lately at F1 test sessions and grands prix, lending to speculation that the new engine regulations may entice the Bavarian automaker back into the series. According to Minardi, BMW's marketing division is pushing for the automaker's return to F1, with the board slated to make a decision in May. BMW would be more likely to consider an engine-supply deal rather than taking a team over like it had with Sauber, but with which team or teams it might collaborate remains a big question mark at this point.
As if that's not enough, Ford is said to be considering taking over Cosworth's aborted V6 turbo engine program to take both outfits back into the sport as well. Cosworth supplied F1 engines under the Ford banner for years, but returned under its own name for four seasons from 2010 through 2013 before shuttering its program to develop an engine to meet the new regulations adopted this season.
With Honda, BMW and Ford back on the grid, F1 would be back up to six engine suppliers like it had been in the 2008 season that marked the highest level of participation from automakers in decades.
According to Giancarlo Minardi – founder of the team now known as Scuderia Toro Rosso – BMW engineers have been conspicuously spotted lately at F1 test sessions and grands prix, lending to speculation that the new engine regulations may entice the Bavarian automaker back into the series. According to Minardi, BMW's marketing division is pushing for the automaker's return to F1, with the board slated to make a decision in May. BMW would be more likely to consider an engine-supply deal rather than taking a team over like it had with Sauber, but with which team or teams it might collaborate remains a big question mark at this point.
As if that's not enough, Ford is said to be considering taking over Cosworth's aborted V6 turbo engine program to take both outfits back into the sport as well. Cosworth supplied F1 engines under the Ford banner for years, but returned under its own name for four seasons from 2010 through 2013 before shuttering its program to develop an engine to meet the new regulations adopted this season.
With Honda, BMW and Ford back on the grid, F1 would be back up to six engine suppliers like it had been in the 2008 season that marked the highest level of participation from automakers in decades.
04-14-14, 07:27 PM
#68
ene Haas granted F1 license by FIA
Gene Haas, co-owner of former NASCAR champion team Stewart-Haas Racing, has officially received a Formula One team license by the FIA. The new squad could begin racing as soon as the 2015 F1 season.
"Obviously, we're extremely pleased to have been granted a Formula One license by the FIA. It's an exciting time for me, Haas Automation and anyone who wanted to see an American team return to Formula One," said Haas in a statement to Autoweek.
Last year, the FIA announced it would begin accepting applications for new teams to join the sport, and Haas was among the early rumored applicants. He was recently considered a front-runner among the potential teams.
F1 has been a tough place for Americans in recent years. The USF1 team attempted to break into the sport but suffered financial trouble. There have also been the ongoing attempts to add a race in New Jersey to the calendar. The early success of the Circuit of the Americas shows that we aren't entirely unlucky at F1, though. Maybe, Haas' team will be another positive example.
"Obviously, we're extremely pleased to have been granted a Formula One license by the FIA. It's an exciting time for me, Haas Automation and anyone who wanted to see an American team return to Formula One," said Haas in a statement to Autoweek.
Last year, the FIA announced it would begin accepting applications for new teams to join the sport, and Haas was among the early rumored applicants. He was recently considered a front-runner among the potential teams.
F1 has been a tough place for Americans in recent years. The USF1 team attempted to break into the sport but suffered financial trouble. There have also been the ongoing attempts to add a race in New Jersey to the calendar. The early success of the Circuit of the Americas shows that we aren't entirely unlucky at F1, though. Maybe, Haas' team will be another positive example.
04-20-14, 11:13 AM
#70
caught a little bit if the live action. may either go back to the TiVo or watch the rebroadcast.
the Mercedes factory works team is putting on a show of dominance last seen with RBR. everyone else seems to be still trying to figure out how to be competitive.
the Mercedes factory works team is putting on a show of dominance last seen with RBR. everyone else seems to be still trying to figure out how to be competitive.
04-20-14, 06:24 PM
#72
Winning one race is predicated more on race strategy than the capabilities of the car and its driver. Fernando's team made the right calls and kept him competitive with a dog of a car. Of course, we've come to expect Alonso to wring the living daylights out of the F14 T cars only to just be able to stay in the points. Case in point, look at how badly Kimi (Raikkonen) is struggling with the sister F14 T.
04-20-14, 11:11 PM
#73
Lexus Champion
Hamilton is dominating. About time imo. Hes always had crap luck and ruined races. Wdc is his for the taking if mercedes stay reliable. Rosberg will have to seriously up his game.
04-21-14, 11:45 PM
#74
Race Recap: 2014 Chinese Grand Prix ruled by a three-pointed dragon
Gallery:
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/race-...photo-2554273/
If the Bahrain Grand Prix was a bounty for the fans, the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix returned to the script entitled "Displays of Dominance" yet still offered a fair bit of action throughout the weekend. After not being completely comfortable in the car during the three practice sessions, Lewis Hamilton put his Mercedes AMG Petronas on pole – again, passing Alain Prost and Jim Clark on the all-time list – in a wet qualifying session that no one expected to be a good study for a dry race.
So far every weekend, Daniel Ricciardo has proved Infiniti Red Bull Racing made the right choice in calling him up from the junior squad, the Aussie taking the second spot on the front row in his Red Bull, ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel. Nico Rosberg, suffering with brake and telemetry problems in qualifying, took fourth. Fernando Alonso predicted the best showing yet for Ferrari, a team in turmoil, and grabbed a fifth grid position he knows well, followed by the Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, Nico Hülkenberg in the Force India, and Romain Grosjean getting Lotus into the last spot in Q3. Heartening for Lotus is that Grosjean said he thought he could have got into the top five if not for the rain.
When the lights went out, you could almost hear plenty of other drivers thinking, "I could get onto the top spot on the podium if not for the Mercedes'."
Once Hamilton hit Turn 1 in first place, the Mercedes engine and chassis are so strong that, barring a collision or a breakdown – mechanical or mental – the race would be his to lose. It was a bit of a mess behind him, though, with Vettel jumping into second place, Alonso taking third after some bump-and-grind with Massa, Ricciardo losing his way down to fourth, and Rosberg – whose telemetry failed completely while on the grid – falling back to seventh behind Massa and Hülkenberg.
Immediately, Hamilton began distancing Vettel by more than a second a lap. The only real action he saw is when he went wide at Turn 6 on Lap 17, having run his soft tires far longer than expected and graining the left front. Pitting on the next lap, it seemed like the only thing he had to do was figure out how big he wanted to keep the gap to second place, deciding on 14 seconds by the time the checkered flag waved at the end of 55 laps.
Rosberg followed him home. The German began working his way through the field on the first lap, but spent the majority of the race running down the drivers in front and working a bit harder in his car to get the job done. Yet that he did, passing a few of them with pit strategy and others, like Vettel and Alonso, on the track, claiming second place on Lap 42 and then pulling away.
Alonso gave Ferrari the gift it desperately needed, earning third place and getting on the podium for the first time this season. Hard driving and an excellent first pit stop got the Spaniard into second place on Lap 13, and despite everyone figuring the two Red Bulls had the performance advantage on the straights, Alonso kept Ricciardo and Vettel at bay with one pitch-perfect lap after another, neither one of them able to get close enough to even attempt the pass. One wonders if Stefano Domenicali would still have a job if he could have made it through this weekend.
Vettel, of late, could be wondering if his job is to move over for Ricciardo. The reigning World Champion was again asked to move over for his faster Aussie teammate, and after finding out that he and Ricciardo were on the same tire he initially told the team "tough luck." The team then told him that the two were on different pit strategies and he 'let' Ricciardo by on the next lap, but – conspiracy theorists, unite – both drivers would end up on the same two-stop strategy. Ricciardo, once by, kept the pressure from Alonso even from a distance, but the Ferrari driver never gave him a chance to be an opportunist. Ricciardo finished fourth, ahead of his teammate.
Mr. Top Ten Midfielder Hülkenberg had a quiet race to sixth place, followed by a stalking Bottas in the Williams. The team from Grove, England will probably spend the next three weeks before the Spanish Grand Prix working on pit stops and polish, after giving away almost-certain points when Massa endured a terrible pit stop and fell to last place on track, coming home in 15th.
After explaining the troubles he's having with the Ferrari T14, Kimi Räikkönen won't be too upset at a quiet race in which he managed to turn an 11th-place grid position into an eighth-place finish. The Finn's driving style doesn't suit the car, his inability to get the front tires up to temperature and keep them there leading to a host of follow-on problems. The same issue is apparently plaguing Jenson Button at McLaren, the two cars from Woking finishing 11th and 13th. Button has been saying that McLaren is better than it looks, but could only characterize his pace in China as "painful."
Sergio Perez earned more points for Force India in ninth place, and Daniil Kyvat does a lot more talking with his Toro Rosso than with his Russian-accented English, scoring another point for tenth place. He's tied with his teammate Jean-Eric Vergne on four points in the Driver's Championship standings, but Kyvat has scored in three of four races this year, Vergne hasn't scored since the first race in Australia.
Hamilton's win gives him three in a row for the first time in his career, and it hasn't been since Ferrari did it in the summer of 2004 that a constructor has won three consecutive races. The race results won't be marred by an asterisk, but it will probably live in F1 trivia for yet another reason: the officials waved the flag a lap early, ending the race on Lap 55 instead of Lap 56. FIA rules dictate the results are then taken from the end of the previous laps, so the finishing order is a snapshot of the race at the end of Lap 54. Shaving that single round off the end robbed Kamui Kobayashi in the Caterham of a position after he passed Jules Bianchi in the Marussia on Lap 55.
Hamilton is now just four points behind Rosberg, 75 points to 79, Alonso trailing in third with 41. Mercedes is taking a broom to the Constructor's standings, already at 154 points, ahead of Red Bull with 57 and Force India with 54. This time last year, 2013 Constructor's Champion Red Bull were only 16 points ahead of second place – Lotus, believe it or not – not 97.
Every team will be anxious for the return to Europe with the Spanish Grand Prix in three weeks. Mercedes made the most of the flyaway races, Red Bull has come from six feet under in the pre-season to being arguably the best of the rest, the fruits of the Ferrari shake-up will begin falling from the tree, we'll find out if Lotus can start getting both cars to the finish and whether McLaren's got a cure for its sluggish start and lack of a title sponsor. We'll see you then.
http://www.autoblog.com/2014/04/21/r...se-grand-prix/
04-22-14, 05:40 PM
#75
I was happy to see Ricciardo beat Vettel by 24 seconds after that "tough luck" comment over the radio. Every time I gain just a bit of respect for Vettel, he confirms my long standing option that he's a simply a whiny ****. He's a talented driver, no doubt. However, when he's not in a completely dominant car (that suits his driving style perfectly), or when other drivers on the track don't give deference to him, his true colors show.