2005/2006 F1 News and Testing.

[Flibster]

The KEY to unlocking the M16’s performance

Following a brief shakedown at its Silverstone launch on February 3rd, the new M16 enjoyed its first extended run at Jerez last week. Christijan Albers drove the car on Tuesday and again on Thursday morning, while Tiago Monteiro took over testing duties for Thursday afternoon and Friday.
As planned, the new car did not run on Wednesday, a respite which allowed the mechanics to examine it in detail following its first full day on the track. The interim car ran throughout the four days of the test, enabling the team to collect more information.

Jerez was just the start of a thorough pre-season test programme that continues this week with more running at Valencia, followed by Barcelona next week. As preparations for the first race in Bahrain intensify, there’s no time to be wasted.

The good news is that the M16 has thus far been devoid of any major problems, allowing the team to focus on gathering vital set-up data. While the car itself has been trucked from Jerez to Valencia, Technical Director James Key and his engineering colleagues dashed back to MF1 Racing’s Silverstone base for a full debrief and additional planning. The tech boss will be back in Spain by Monday night, albeit with some new bits in his hand luggage.

“We’re very happy with the progress we’ve been making,” says Key of the Jerez outing. “Thankfully, we didn’t have any major issues with the new car. Reliability was good for all three days of running and we did over 70 laps on each day. By the end of the week, we’d made a fair amount of headway into setting the car up and finding more ways to get better times out of it. In that respect, I’m very satisfied.

“We booked the four days (at Jerez), but we only planned to run the M16 for three of them. We had scheduled to skip the second day so that we could do any work we needed to on the new car, rather than rush through the night before. It proved to be quite a useful day, so we’re glad we did that.”

Testing isn’t just about pounding out lap after lap, trying to set the quickest times. No, in order to make it work properly, a team must know what it’s looking for and use its time - and mileage - as efficiently as possible. In that respect, MF1 was blessed with mechanical good fortune.

“The biggest relief is that we’ve maintained our reliability, which is really good news, because one of the objectives with the new car was to make sure we retained our solid record from last year. The cooling system is working the way we hoped it would and the numbers we expected from the car’s data system, in terms of chassis and aerodynamics, add up as well - although you always have to keep re-evaluating these things.

“The car is pretty much doing what we expected it to, but having said that, I think we’ve got more work to do at this stage, because I think we can find some more performance still. We were aware at the outset that the car might have a few unique handling characteristics, but you can never tell until you go track testing. Some of these characteristics have come to light and they need to be looked at to help us develop the car further. We’ve got a little bit of work to do on that, which we’re undertaking now at the factory.”

The drivers will have a specific programme to run through during their four days at Valencia, commencing on Tuesday.

“Now that we’ve run the car, we’ve established a direction in terms of developing various attributes. We’ve got new parts coming out to Valencia - some that were following on to the initial build, and some that were fabricated as a reaction to what we found in Jerez. We’ve got a few ideas for set-up, and we need to go tyre testing in more detail.

“We did quite a bit of tyre testing at Jerez with the old interim car, and a little bit on Friday with the new car, but we really need to get stuck into a programme there. Bridgestone has made some good steps forward, so we need to investigate that. And we need to start getting into race simulation mode and that sort of thing fairly soon, as well.”

 

[Flibster]

GPMA 'won't react' to Max attack

F1's rogue 'GPMA' alliance of carmakers says it will not be provoked by FIA president Max Mosley's aggressive comments this week.
Taunted by the prospect of no income, less technology and looming deadlines to enter in 2008, a spokesman for the group refrained from turning the situation into yet another political storm.

"We will not react (to Mosley's comments)," the GPMA spokesman - on behalf of Mercedes-Benz, Renault, BMW, Toyota and Honda - said.
The GPMA non-reaction follows Mosley's gathering with selected British reporters in London this week, where he also proposed a plan to create a sort of 'second division' (GP2), where F1's bottom team could be demoted, and the GP2 champion promoted to F1. Max said a promoted GP2 team, with a small budget, should be able to afford F1 because it would receive more income, and the step-up would attract new sponsors.

Plus, of course, F1 will inherently be a lot cheaper. He agreed: "To make it work we do need to first get costs under control."

Mosley also said the FIA wants to impose a 'freeze' on engine developments between 2008-2010, but denied that he is deliberately trying to provoke the already disgruntled carmakers. The Briton said: "I don't see it that way, or, at least, it is absolutely not my intention."

 

[Flibster]

Newey says he's happier at Red Bull

Adrian Newey says he left McLaren because Ron Dennis' Woking based team had become too big.

The highly lauded technical brain, who is set to soon begin work on Red Bull's 2007-spec 'RB3', told Auto Motor Und Sport' that the 'chemistry' at Mercedes-powered McLaren no longer suited him.

"McLaren is like a big, big company," the 47-year-old told the German motoring magazine. Newey, in contrast, enthused about Milton Keynes based Red Bull, a more 'relaxed' environment, even if the actual budgets of the two are not dissimilar.

"I am finding the people straightforward and open," he explained.

The McLaren system, by contrast, had almost replaced the individual, with a 'committee' making the decisions, rather than a person, according to Newey.

Perhaps a link between Newey's departure and the so-far uncompetitive McLaren MP4-21 should not be made, but the Briton said he would keep an eye on his car's progress throughout 2006. He said: "If the McLaren is successful, then I will be proud. But my future is Red Bull."

 

[Flibster]

'We are not where we want to be' - McLaren

A senior representative of the McLaren-Mercedes team has admitted that the new 'MP4-21' racer is not ready to dominate grands prix in 2006.

Even with the newly revised V8 engine now up and running, Mercedes' competitor director Norbert Haug said progress at the silver team is currently lagging.

"We are not where we wanted to be in mid February," the German told Auto Motor Und Sport. "At the moment, we are perhaps where we should have been in the middle of December."

The new Mercedes V8, reportedly correcting problems with the inlet system and the pistons, has moved the MP4-21 closer to the leading pace. But analysts still estimate that, if the Bahrain opener was held today, McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya would finish behind the two Renaults, the two Ferraris and the Hondas.

Haug maintained a similar theme in the 'Motorsport Aktuell' magazine.

"Some teams are ahead of us. Certainly, we would not mind if we could add another month to our preparation time. "But we are doing everything possible in order to be competitive for the first race in Bahrain. "We have not had a dream start. We are behind where we want to be."

 

[Flibster]

Ferrari set for new aero package

Ferrari's full aerodynamic package for the 2006 season will be fitted to the '248 F1' car in Bahrain next week.

At the wheel will be Michael Schumacher, who said recently that his Maranello based team had headed to the Sakhir track - scene of the season opening race in less than a month - in order to escape the cold and damp of Europe.

"It will be a long test," Schumacher said, referring to Ferrari's nine-day schedule, "in order to fully prepare for the season in good weather."

After Luca Badoer and Felipe Massa kicked off the Bahrain session on Monday, Schumacher, 37, will take over from Badoer on Wednesday morning.

 

[Flibster]

Mosley on why 'A1' may fail

FIA president Max Mosley says Sheikh Maktoum's 'A1 Grand Prix' open wheeler concept will not succeed because it lacks true star drivers.
The Briton, 65, likened the so-called 'world cup of motor sport' to the FIA's Group C sports car championship of the 80s -- an interesting racing concept that ultimately failed.

"Something like A1 only works if the biggest and most famous names are on board -- and that is not the case."

Even the involvement of legendary F1 faces like John Surtees, and world champions like Alan Jones and Emerson Fittipaldi, is not helping A1 to truly compete with formula one, according to Mosley. Contrasting A1 with Group C, he said: "We had all the big marques - Mercedes, Jaguar, Toyota, Peugeot - but only a handful of spectators at the races. "

"The fans were not really interested in the technology or the teams; they wanted to see (drivers Alain) Prost and (Ayrton) Senna. "It is something the F1 teams forget even today."

 

[Flibster]

Indian GP would be logical

A Formula One grand prix in India would be 'logical'. The speaker is Max Mosley, President of F1's governing body, when asked by reporters in London whether vacant spots on the calendar - opened up by axed Belgium and Hockenheim's possible demise - could be filled.

He said that in the event that replacements are sought, "it would be very logical to have a Grand Prix in India. With India and China you would be getting on for half the world's population (represented)."

The FIA boss' comments come at a time when speculation that Bernie Ecclestone visited India as recently as December 2005 does the rounds.

Ecclestone apparently toured the country as a guest of the Federation Of Motor Sport Clubs Of India.

"A Grand Prix would help improve our image," said Indian F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan.

 

[Flibster]

Liuzzi: Toro Rosso better than Minardi

Toro Rosso driver Vitantonio Liuzzi believes his team will be stronger than Minardi in their first season under the new ownership.

Red Bull took over the Minardi team at the end of last year and renamed the squad Toro Rosso, also giving them a cash boost that will help the team move forward.

Liuzzi, who will race for the team alongside American Scott Speed, is confident Toro Rosso will perform better than Minardi, but the Italian admits he is under no illusions for the 2006 season.

"We'll have a hard time until 2007," Liuzzi told Gazzetta dello Sport. "The relaunch started in November, which is too late to be ready now. But the car isn't bad: it improves with each modification.

"We'll be quicker than Minardi, despite the 77mm raised edge on the air intake, limiting the V10's revs to 16,700 per minute."

Toro Rosso will be the only team this season to use a restricted V10 engine.

 

[Flibster]

McLaren announce 'Direxiv Dynamic Wellbeing Programme'

McLaren and Direxiv are pleased to announce the establishment of the “Direxiv Dynamic Wellbeing Programme”. This programme will see Team McLaren Mercedes operating in close co-operation with Direxiv, to create a dedicated team of highly qualified and well resourced individuals with the sole objective of improving and optimising the fitness, health, wellbeing and diet of not only all of the Formula One team and drivers but also of the participants in the Direxiv Driver Programme.
The “Direxiv Dynamic Wellbeing Programme" is headed by Aki Hintsa, the Chief Physician of the Finnish Olympic Committee. Aki has already worked with Team McLaren Mercedes for more than a year on a part-time basis and after the 2006 Winter Olympics Aki will leave the Finnish Olympic Committee and join McLaren. He will be supported by a team of four employees, two of whom will be based at the McLaren Technology Centre, staffing McLaren’s Fitness and Wellbeing Centre. The other two are Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya's personal trainers Mark Arnall and Gerry Convey who will continue to form an integral part of the team.

Direxiv’s involvement with Team McLaren Mercedes has not only resulted in the establishment of the “Direxiv Dynamic Wellbeing Programme” but also sees the Direxiv identity appear on the team's Formula One racing cars and on members of the Team operating the Programme at the races. In addition, the Direxiv logo will also, via agreement with McLaren, appear on the race car of Lewis Hamilton in his 2006 GP2 car run by the championship winning ART team.

McLaren and Direxiv will also explore opportunities to work together in synergistic sections of technology linked to their areas of respective expertise. This will be channelled through McLaren Group company 'McLaren Applied Technologies'.

Commenting on the announcement Misato Haga, CEO of Direxiv said: “Direxiv’s motorsport objective is twofold: to support the drivers in our programme to compete at the highest level of motorsport and to provide a platform to promote the Direxiv products and services internationally. I am delighted to have entered into this agreement with McLaren whose renowned expertise and professionalism will help us get closer to achieving our goals.”

Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren Group CEO “I am delighted to formally welcome Misato Haga and the Direxiv brand to the Team McLaren Mercedes family. Misato has been a friend of the Team for some time and it is wonderful that we have found a way to work together in a manner that the Direxiv brand and Team McLaren Mercedes can both benefit. I have a longstanding belief in the role that pro-active health, fitness and dietary measures can play in the performance of drivers, team members and other individuals and the establishment of the “Direxiv Dynamic Wellbeing Programme” will take this to the next step. I am also particularly pleased that we have been able to extend the benefit of the facilities to our younger drivers such as Lewis Hamilton, as well as making facilities available more generally to staff at the McLaren Technology Centre."

 

[rpstewart]

GAHH! There are times when I wish Max would remember what he's been responsible for in the past before he opens his big mouth.

Group C failed because folk didn't want to see it? Granted it didn't draw the crowds like F1 but that's because nothing draws crowds like F1, even DTM in it's heyday was well down on F1 spectator levels simply because fewer folk know about it.

So why did Group C fail? Simple - Max & Bernie decided that ALL major circuit racing categories would use 3.5l normally aspirated engines. That was fine for F1 and even for the stillborn silouette series (remember the Alfa 164 from one of the previous threads?) but Group C was different - the concept was basically minimum weights, maximum fuel capacity and everything else was up for grabs. It was great - big Jag V12s, Porsche flat six turbos, Merc turbo V8s, Mazda rotaries; real variety! Suddenly it was 3.5l or nothing. Jag were OK and simply dropped a Cossie HB in the XJR14, Peugeot had aspirations of F1 and used it as a development ground but basically everyone else walked away or went to IMSA racing in the States and the series died.

Thanks Max

 

[Richard T]

Thats without his F1 cockups
Fuelstops....Bah that allows the drivers to overtake in the pits with stratergy. F1 is a sprint race! If i want to (and I do not) watch strategy races I'll watch le-mans style racing

Removing mechanical grip from the cars......... raising the wings and the body of the cars (plank and stepped bottom) all made the cars totally dependant on aerodynamics for grip! Hence cars cant follow close behind as there is no air going over the wings hence carp racing

Grooved tyres.... pffft this is the pinnacle of motosport for christ sakes!!! its like premiership footballers having to play in plimsoles!!! Stoopid idea!

It all adds up to carp racing and its all his fault.

I only watch F1 as I'm such a fan! Not for the racing. If I need to watch racing i'll watch Motogp or practically any other race series

max you plonker go find a hole and get lost


hehe feel better now!!! Just taken me pills

 

[rpstewart]

I'm going to have an anurism one of these days if this guy doesn't go away

Mosely Pushing for Fuel Efficiency
FIA president Max Mosley is hoping to make Formula One a 'fuel-efficiency' series from the start of 2011 - with perhaps the only restriction on engines being the amount of fuel they use.

Mosley announced this week plans to introduce same-spec engines from 2008 to 2010, with manufacturers forced to lodge their designs by next June, and he has now unveiled his vision for F1 after that date.

With environmental issues becoming more important, he is hoping to change the concept of engine restrictions completely.

"What we are thinking about is a fuel efficiency formula," said Mosley.

"There are various reasons for that, apart from it being politically correct. All the manufacturers are working on fuel efficiency, there are some very interesting things going on, and if there is a big oil crisis which is more than likely in the next few years, then it will be far more defensible if we can say, 'actually we are working on the cutting edge of fuel efficiency.'

"It would either be a limited quantity of fuel to do the best you can, which is the simplest in a way, or a more sophisticated one in saying we will have a fuel valve, where the flow rate was a function of rpm so it was efficient through the whole range of the engine."

Mosley also said the FIA will push to introduce a more environmentally-friendly fuel in the future, but admitted the teams will need time to prepare the technology for that and more fuel-efficient engines.

"The fuel for 2008 is anyway going to be 5.75 percent bio-fuel because that is coming in in 2010 for the whole of the EU and we didn't want to be behind," added Mosley. "But there is an argument that if we go to fuel efficiency of going for a fuel like E85, which is 85 percent ethanol and is available in the States in small quantities, or something of that kind.

"But again, once we have got the championship, we know who is competing, we will want to sit down with them and talk about 2011 and agree before the end of this year so everyone can have a sensible, low-key ongoing R&D programme.

"The manufacturers are doing work on injectors, and spray patterns, and it has a dramatic effect on fuel-efficiency and it would be very sensible to start working on that, but you need a long lead time otherwise it just costs a fortune."

I can't start to think how much is wrong with that.

The last time we had "fuel efficiency" on the table was in the turbo days when the drivers couldn't run with maximum power because they wouldn't have enough fuel to get to the end of the race. Folk like Keke Rosberg did they're nut about it because they had quick cars but couldn't fully use them because they were having to manage fuel all the time.

Anyway how does this fit with the so called cost cutting in F1?

2006, 2.4 V8s = total redesign = big cost
2007, 3 race engine? = more redesign = more cost
2008, 3 year design = must be right = even more cost
2011, fuel efficiency = total redesign of engine & chassis = how much???

The best bit is "you need a long lead time otherwise it costs a fortune" what like going from tyre stops to no tyre stops & back to tyre stops in 3 seasons? Like V8s with 12 months notice? Like constant rewriting of aerodynamic regulations?

Oh, ashtray_head, can I steal some of your pills?

 

[Dutch Guy]

Isn't fuel economy directly related to capacity and revs?

In other words, if he wants fuel economy why doesn't he propose a rpm limit?

 

[Flibster]

Dried frog pills on order for everyone...

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

Fuel efficiency... What next?
Who can build there cars out of the most natural materials... How about we have a grid of 22 Suzuki Lianas? (sp)
Max, you're old and senile, be gone!

 

[Richard T]

Fuel efficiency... What next?
Who can build there cars out of the most natural materials... How about we have a grid of 22 Suzuki Lianas? (sp)
Max, you're old and senile, be gone!

phew!!..... thought it was just me!

 

[Murf]

God I hate that man. I just wish he'd leave everything alone.

 

[Zip]

Why cant the board of the FIA and F1 see hes killing the sport from spectator, development and compitition point of view

I cant wait for the manufacturers to brake away from F1 and start their on compitition, we might actually have some stability and more excitement to watch then.

How long until the brake away? Does anyone know?

PLEASE OH PLEASE BE SOON!!!!!

 

[Flibster]

If it happens - the breakaway GPWC would happen in 2008 - 2007 is the last year of the current Concorde agreement.

Anyway - more from the loony..

Mosley downplays Toro Rosso car row

FIA president Max Mosley has moved to alleviate concerns from rival teams about the similarities between the Scuderia Toro Rosso STR01 and last year's Red Bull RB1.

The new Toro Rosso car raised a few eyebrows when it hit the track in Valencia last week, with some of the team's rivals understood to be uncomfortable with the likeness between the cars and that run by Red Bull's main team in 2005.

Under the terms of the Concorde Agreement, the document by which Formula One is run, teams must design, construct and manufacture their own car - and cannot use parts from another team.

FIA president Max Mosley has moved to play down the controversy, however, claiming that although the car may feature parts that were on the RB1 – that is actually allowed because those parts were not originally built by Red Bull Racing themselves but an outside company originally commissed by former team Jaguar.

When asked by autosport.com about whether he was sure the Toro Rosso was actually a new car, Mosley said: "That's an interesting question.

"My understanding is that with Ford/Jaguar, the parts were, for some obscure reason to do with tax and the internal structure of the Ford Motor Company, designed and built by a company that was not the racing team.

"If the parts are designed and manufactured by another company, and you own the intellectual property rights of the car that requires them, then it is completely legitimate. The thing you can't do is if you're Williams you can't run a McLaren front wing. But both Williams and McLaren could run a Lola front wing.

"So it looks like it has come from a third company. But if somebody challenges it, then there will be an enquiry. But I'm sure they've taken advice."

Although it is not clear whether rival teams are upset enough to lodge a protest about the legality of the car at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Mosley was confident the issue would not become a hot topic.

Speaking about whether he believed there would be a protest, he said: "Unlikely, unless it went very quickly. And even then no one will protest unless they have evidence. So I'd be surprised if we get a protest."

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

That's rather handy... I'd rather they used last years Minardi, now that was a good looking car! I'm sure a few million hours in the wind tunnel would get it working well...