In the round-up: Williams will run their new exhaust again at Silverstone.
Links
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
Sam Michael: “We had a new rear wing in Valencia which we raced with. We also took a new exhaust system but we decided not to run this before qualifying. Having reviewed the practice and race data, we now plan to run the revised exhaust system again at Silverstone.”
McLaren hip-hopping mad over video (The Times, subscription required)
McLaren have discovered the Ice-T video from the Canadian Grand Prix posted here two weeks ago:
“One source in the team said last night: ‘[Ron Dennis] will be incandescent if he sees it. It not only does the sport no favours, but the team are really unhappy that the video was made at all. The trouble is that YouTube seem to be removing it and then it goes up again with a few more people seeing it each time.'”
Massa: Hard tyres would harm Ferrari (Autosport)
“I am optimistic with the new parts we are going to try to bring to Silverstone. However, I am not so optimistic with which tyres we are going to have there, because I have heard that maybe we are going to have medium and hard.”
Formula 1 Game (F1 2011) on Twitter
“Would you like to play F1 2011? Then check out our competition to attend our F1 2011 Press Day.”
Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy on Facebook
“On the 4th July, Lewis Hamilton will be at Mercedes-Benz World taking to the tracks to showcase his abilities! The event is free and everyone is welcome to come down and watch.”
Vettel’s cakewalk to sixth victory leaves fans hungry for Silverstone (The Independent)
“This asthmatic point-and-squirt track merely left them struggling in line astern of each other for most of a deadly dull afternoon. For heaven’s sake, even kids with their Scalextric come up with better layouts.”
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Comment of the day
The question persists of why Michael Schumacher isn’t enjoying the success with Mercedes he has with Ferrari. Beneboy offers this explanation:
When he first joined Ferrari he spent all summer driving the car around the Ferrari test track trying every possible change under as many different conditions as possible. This meant that even though the car wasn’t great he always knew how it would behave and how this would change as a result of changing the set-up either in the pits or while out on track.
These days he gets very little testing time in the real car and instead has to do his testing in the simulator and this means that he doesn’t have the intimate knowledge of the car and how it will behave come the race weekend which in turn prevents him from knowing exactly what changes to make to get the best out of it or how to drive around the problems that are inherent to the car.
So not only does he have to drive a car that isn’t to his liking, he also has to drive a car that (by his standards) is almost an unknown quantity.
Beneboy
From the forum
Thoughts turn to Mark Webber and the 2012 silly season.
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Danny D, Hezla, Stefano and Wanon!
On this day in F1
Luca di Montezemolo fumed at the “misrepresentative” result in the European Grand Prix one year ago today.
Lewis Hamilton had been handed a drive-through penalty for overtaking the safety car, though it had no effect on his finishing position.
Fernando Alonso however, lost out because of the timing of the caution period.
“That is a very serious and unacceptable event that creates dangerous precedents, throwing a shadow over the credibility of Formula One” said Montezemolo.
Image © Williams/LAT
TommyB (@tommyb89)
28th June 2011, 0:12
The Hamilton incident last year was an odd one. Why doesn’t the Safety Car just come out and pick up the leader? I’ve never understood it.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
28th June 2011, 0:34
I think they changed the rules after that race so that the SC does pick up the leader now.
BasCB (@bascb)
28th June 2011, 5:59
yeah they did change that. We could see how he was waiting in Canada, letting other cars past with a green light.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
28th June 2011, 7:33
Not only they need to pick up the leader but they also need to clear the back marker for the top 10 at least.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
28th June 2011, 8:47
Usually it does but if they want to get the medical car on the scene as quickly as possible they’ll just send it straight out regardless of where the leader is.
Given the scale of Webber’s crash, the medical car was deployed immediately in case it was needed.
Of course, it turned out it wasn’t needed, but they wouldn’t have known that right away.
paolo (@paolo)
28th June 2011, 19:36
Did anyone see the A1 GP a few weeks ago (Hungary I think) where the safety car came out and everyone dashed into the pits bar one car. The safety car didn’t pick up that car so everyone else instantly went a lap down!
Very strange!
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
28th June 2011, 0:12
Great COTD, a very valid point. Schumacher is from a different era altogether. The guy clearly has talent he just perhaps can’t communicate what he needs to as he just doesn’t have the resources to do so.
I did think that Ice-T video was a bit intimate, I remember some of the personnel looking a little sheepish about it.
Tim
28th June 2011, 9:39
Sort of. Schumacher made his F1 debut 18 months before Rubens Barrichello, who didn’t do too badly when he last had competitive machinery under him in 2009.
It would be difficult to argue that unlimited testing didn’t give Schumacher some sort of advantage in his Ferrari years. But that can’t be the whole story, can it? For a start, it was clear very early in Schumacher’s career that he was something a bit special. He had very limited testing before his F1 debut in 1991 but still impressed hugely, for example. Ferrari may have enjoyed unlimited testing, but Benetton didn’t while Schumacher was winning races and titles for them.
Testing is absolutely vital but, in itself, the usefulness of days spent pounding round a test track is limited. After a certain point diminishing returns sets in. Without technical development informed by good feedback from drivers, a lemon will still be a lemon no matter how much testing it has.
Fixy (@)
28th June 2011, 11:17
Great answer. I’m with you in this debate.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
28th June 2011, 0:21
I love reading those Ferrari Valencia quotes and remembering what happened one month later…
There are some great entrants for that F1 2011 competition already:
Gotta love the internet sometimes.
rfs
28th June 2011, 0:22
Ice-T was invited by Hamilton, right? Will he be in trouble again?
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
28th June 2011, 0:23
Probably one of the reasons he was in the stewards office.
Mark Hitchcock (@mark-hitchcock)
28th June 2011, 0:44
I did wonder what Mclaren would think when they saw the Ice T video. He’s just sticking his camera wherever he wants. There’s no way they would let anyone else get those sort of images of the car.
And especially not with the hateful narration. Not good for the company’s image.
dyslexicbunny
28th June 2011, 2:09
I saw plenty of McLaren guys watching him film the area. Not a one seemed interested in stopping him. Hamilton/McLaren brought it on themselves. If you bring in a guest, you are responsible for their behavior.
I watched the videos. Nothing good at all. Ice T could have just kept his mouth shut and camera. Instead, he sounds like a *****.
SparkyJ23 (@sparkyj23)
28th June 2011, 2:24
Every race weekend I see some ***** no mark in a team garage and I wonder why. Here’s a solution McLaren KEEP RANDOM FOLK OUT OF A WORKING GARAGE.
You want visitors then keep them in the hospitality areas
ivz (@ivz)
28th June 2011, 2:04
Mark getting some wet weather practice :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_jMkzlFLQU&NR=1
BasCB (@bascb)
28th June 2011, 6:03
Another 4 birthdays to celebrate, happy birthday to all of you!
I think there is a lot to be said for Beneboys COTD, and sticking new bits on the car each race without prior testing only worsens it for him. Maybe that was why they improved a lot last year without any big updates in the latter half of the year.
GeeMac (@geemac)
28th June 2011, 7:01
I love that quote from the Independent so much I’m going to quote it here again!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
28th June 2011, 8:44
When I was a kid I used to enjoy building the tracks more than I did racing on them!
I even had a book showing you how to make various Grand Prix tracks out of Scalextric. Magny-Cours is rubbish in slot car form as well…
GeeMac (@geemac)
28th June 2011, 11:07
You were Mr. F1F from an early age I see…
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
28th June 2011, 11:13
Indeed! I remember my first Sacelxtric set was an Alan Jones Williams and a Nelson Piquet Brabham.
ed24f1 (@ed24f1)
28th June 2011, 10:26
Luca didn’t seem to mind that the Hockenheim result was ‘misrepresentative’
Fixy (@)
28th June 2011, 11:20
You’re right! It was revenge from Ferrari, a misrepresentative result, but in their favour. Or, should I say, in Alonso’s favour.
ed24f1 (@ed24f1)
28th June 2011, 10:55
I also found this article very interesting, and it hasn’t got much publicity strangely
“Audi impacted 2013 engine decision – Newey”
http://en.espnf1.com/fia/motorsport/story/52832.html
Adrian Newey has said that Audi committed to joining F1 under a four-cylinder turbo engine program, before changing their mind – leaving a big mess behind them.
ivz (@ivz)
28th June 2011, 12:54
Oh noooooooooooooo! This can’t be the case.
But Ron Walker does have a point.
http://au.sports.yahoo.com/news/article/-/9726239/we-will-give-f1-the-boot-says-walker/
GeeMac (@geemac)
28th June 2011, 14:27
Very interesting. Strange that Audi would show interest, and after everyone gave into their wishes decide not to follow through with an F1 programme. I know the change of plans to 1.6l V6’s isn’t related to them, but it’s not like Audi don’t sell cars with V6 engines (well, VW derived VR6 engines) anyway.
Fixy (@)
28th June 2011, 11:22
Now Massa has said hard tyres will hurt Ferrari, expect polemics if Pirelli do bring the medium and hard. And if they don’t, expect polemics of Pirelli favouring Ferrari.
Rob
28th June 2011, 12:53
I believe I remember reading on this site somewhere that Pirelli had already decided provisionally what compounds would go to each race, so as long as they don’t suddenly change it…
@HoHum (@hohum)
28th June 2011, 14:10
Could Ferrari be playing the Brer Rabbit tactic.
BasCB (@bascb)
28th June 2011, 20:21
I just read what Peter Windsor made of the Valencia race. Now, I honestly admit that I feel he is great at capturing the exitement in words, but from reading this I would almost take out the Valencia race (after detuning away from 2011 F1 first by watching say 2008/2009 races with hardly any overtaking) and watch it again to enjoy its exitement for the true hardcore fan and the purists for watching Vettel perfection.
Give it a try and reflect. Maybe having this kind of race is actually refreshing (I said that of Barcelona) if its only one in the season. Just like adding an oval or real high speed track to offer variation.
Personally I would rather have Valencia redo the track though, especially if they are serious about dropping Barcelona and having only this race in Spain.
BasCB (@bascb)
28th June 2011, 23:18
The Austin Statesman reports, that the Council and COTA managed to do the deal on the environmental side of the contract
Good news cerainly.