In the round-up: Teams are poised to bring back in-season testing in 2012.
Links
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
FOTA poised for 2012 testing deal (Autosport)
“The main issue now is sorting out the location of timing of the in-season test, with teams preferring to slot it in before the start of the European phase of the 2012 season, which is currently the Spanish Grand Prix on May 13.”
‘Schumacher has mellowed since Spa fracas’
“I held my hands up and said I accepted my share of the responsibility for the crash ? I was trying to let him lap me but in hindsight I should not have lifted on the straight in dreadful conditions ? but tried to reason with him, saying surely he had made mistakes in his life. ‘Not that I can recall,’ he said. Michael always had 100 per cent self-belief, bordering on arrogance.”
Lewis Hamilton targets Spa win to erase memories of 2008 nightmare (Daily Mirror)
“I count both as my wins even though one was taken away. It would be great to win again.”
400 races! Here’s my highs and lows (The Independent)
“The track in Belgium’s Hautes Fagnes region perfectly epitomises the spirit of motor racing and still challenges drivers in this era of Hermann Tilke’s ghastly lookalike tracks.”
“Championnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!”
Via the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app
Romain Grosjean: “I went to Formula One then and unfortunately it was at the wrong time, in the wrong place. But it has been important in my career and has definitely helped me get stronger.”
Follow F1 news as it breaks using the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app.
Comment of the day
Steve is unimpressed with FOM’s coverage:
In a world with competent TV coverage we’d have seen Maldonado onboard and Lewis rear view of this incident. within minutes after it happened. Right now all the general public sees is a head on shot. Come on FOM. This coverage desperately needs to improve.
With the little info we have from just that camera angle it’s real hard to determine ‘whodunnit’. Hamilton twitches right on corner exit, but that could just as well have been the back stepping out on the wet or even Maldonado giving him a nudge from behind. We need to see these ‘additional angles’ stewards always say they have but that the general public never sees.
Steve
GP2 sprint race
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From the forum
One of the BBC’s employees got in touch to request suggestions for their race highlights music.
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Malibu_GP!
On this day in F1
The TAG-Porsche engine made its first start in the back of Niki Lauda’s McLaren MP4-1E at the Dutch Grand Prix on this day in 1983.
The engine had previously been run in the back of a Porsche 911 road car. It powered Lauda to the title the following year, and Alain Prost in the next two seasons.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
28th August 2011, 0:12
Came across this while reading DC’s Daily Telegraph column. Seriosly, why?? Why another tarmac run off??
What has gravel and grass done to us?? they are constantly giving the drivers “another chance”… rubbish!
KazeXT (@kazext)
28th August 2011, 0:18
The reason that they get rid of gravel traps is because they fear a car digging in a flipping over. I do agree though that they could choose a different material for the run of that they could choose something which will give them a greater time penalty at least i.e. something that means the driver would have to seriously back out of the corner or he’s going to be in the wall.
Mach1 (@mach1)
28th August 2011, 0:41
maybe just an area full of stingers………….no…Bernie….I was joking….
sato113 (@sato113)
28th August 2011, 0:47
that corner is approached at low speed. there wouldn’t be any ‘digging in’ anyway. besides if not gravel, then at least a thin layer of grass or astroturf. The amount of tarmac seen on classic circuits like spa really upsets me.
Matty
28th August 2011, 3:23
It looks stupid all that tarmac runoff at Spa.If that was all green grass it would probably look good, but all that tarmac just doesent suit Spa.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
28th August 2011, 10:15
Schumacher’s accident yesterday showed what a silly decision it was. He barely slowed down on his way, then when he got to thin layer of gravel he decelerated much more dramatically.
I have seen gravel cause rolling, but far more cars simply slide into a wall at full speed because there’s nothing to slow them down.
mouser
29th August 2011, 0:25
Another reason they got rid of a lot of the gravel traps is that when a car gets stuck, they have to throw a yellow flag and stay under yellow till the car is retrieved.
Also, you had a lower number of cars finishing races due to some having been stuck in the gravel.
The runoff areas allow more cars to stay on track and allow the racing to continue longer without being interrupted.
Victor.
28th August 2011, 0:55
It’s sad, isn’t it?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
28th August 2011, 9:06
I did mention the change at Rivage in the pre-race programme:
2011 Belgian Grand Prix race weekend programme
TomD11 (@tomd11)
28th August 2011, 11:38
I would say use that extra abrasive tarmac they use at Paul Ricard although I’m not sure how practical it would be during practice, when the drivers are exploring the limits of the track and prone to going off.
Fixy (@)
28th August 2011, 18:30
I noticed the same when Massa ran wide at the previous turn in qualifying – a shame. If Lewis had run wide again, he’d have lost nothing.
@HoHum (@hohum)
28th August 2011, 0:23
Re. COTD the head on shot is the most Maldonado friendly view of the incident as the cameras angle across the track shows cars following the track to be moving to right of screen but cars heading left appear to be going straight ahead. This has the stench of political “spin” from the FIA, someone should tell them what happens when the spin turns round and bites them on the derriere.
sato113 (@sato113)
28th August 2011, 0:48
shame there’s no way of contacting FOM or the FIA directly. they should have a complaints page or a query form of some sort…
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
28th August 2011, 1:26
Or maybe they just believe in innocence until guilt is proven. You talk about being bitten on the rear end – that’s exactly what happened at Valencia last year. The television director showed half a dozen replays of Hamilton crossing the safety car line before the stewards had a chance to debate the matter (I still believe the twenty-minute delay was down to disagreements between the marshalls), but the net result was that everyone judged Hamilton to be guilty. And because Ferrari were so upset about it, they combed the rule book, looking to try and do as many people in for rule violations (Webber was behind Jenson Button when he crashed, but because Button was close enough to the pits that he could stop, he automatically broke the delta time; he couldn’t not break it, short of stopping on the circuit). That’s the last thing anyone wants.
Besides, if they showed it from every angle available, we probably would have missed the start of Q3.
David A
28th August 2011, 3:17
COTD asked for just 2 onboards. This would not have disrupted the start of Q3.
Mike
28th August 2011, 7:19
Oh come on…
How many times do drivers collide after the session is over? Not often right?
Ok dude, I agree. Lets wait Pastor sends us a signed document declaring that he did wrong. Will that be enough proof?
CarsVsChildren (@carsvschildren)
28th August 2011, 9:08
Do you always disagree with every point just for the sake of it?
@HoHum (@hohum)
28th August 2011, 17:16
This is the view posted on the Website with the decision, read the article before jumping to conclusions.
KaIIe (@kaiie)
28th August 2011, 8:49
Some reports are saying that there was no onboard from Maldonado, because FOM can only record 9 onboard cameras at the same time. Yeah.
BasCB (@bascb)
28th August 2011, 16:18
I do not think there is any “spin” from the FIA here. But I do agree with the COTD about the footage.
OK, maybe not have it within seconds from the incident, as we were still going to have Q3. But FOM should have that kind of footage available for the public and the stewards right after Q3.
And its unforgivable, that they do not give more of this footage, and an explanation of the reasoning behind the penalties when they were published.
Jack Cowie
28th August 2011, 2:25
Tarmac runoffs are an important safety feature on modern tracks, of that there is no doubt. The problem, and it is very clear with Spa, is that they are being used at locations where there is no safety issue. I can understand having them at Eau Rouge, Pouhon, Blanchimont, and other places that cars approach at speed, because grass doesn’t slow down a car and gravel brings its own dangers. But it annoys me that they are installed on the *exit* of slow corners such as Rivage, La Source, and the bus stop chicane. There is no safety issue at all at those locations. The only suggestion I would have for why they have tarmac runoff is that it is better for lower classes of racing – cars are less likely to get beached in gravel traps (which can cause safety cars), and there is less crash damage to repair.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
28th August 2011, 4:39
Do agree with bad FOM coverage,one thing what the FIA need to do is to carry the evidence & show them to the public after the penalty is served.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
28th August 2011, 8:34
I agree. Showing us the same replays over and over again isn’t good enough.
snowman
28th August 2011, 9:40
Agree, the FOM coverage is extremely bad 90% of the time. When an incident happens that they always miss it sometimes takes them laps before they do a replay.
When it’s exciting at the start of the race they go through endless start re-runs. When someone is just about to do a great overtake we get to look at whats going on in the team garages.
The rare time they actually catch on overtake live they go into some camera view were you can’t see right whats happening, like on-board. Need split screens as it would solve a lot of problems.
With the Hamilton, Malonado incident we should have been shown every camera angle straight after it.
snowman
28th August 2011, 9:43
What exactly is the point of not showing the public the additional angles they have??
The only real reason would be so they could manipulate things.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
28th August 2011, 9:55
One of the few things that they have got right is the new camera angle they had at Silverstone on the zip-wire.
sozavele (@formula-1)
28th August 2011, 8:52
Anybody know if this rumour is true, quoted from another website, ‘Just prior to the race at Spa-Francochamps the return of the French Grand Prix will be announced, but at Paul-Richard and not Magnycours, and will alternate with Belgium‘.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
28th August 2011, 9:05
Which website is it from?
sozavele (@formula-1)
28th August 2011, 9:10
It was from http://www.newsonf1.com
Deurmat
28th August 2011, 9:26
I live in Belgium and it has been in the news here too, Spa is losing lots of money every year and France wants a GP back. They said it would be like Nurburgring and Hockenheim.
xtophe (@xtophe)
28th August 2011, 9:58
This rumour has been floating for quite some time now indeed. I forgot where I read it the first time.
MaksutovCG
28th August 2011, 17:07
“Schumacher has mellowed since Spa fracas..”
I remember this incident like it was yesterday. David Coulthard lifted purposely at the time on the straight with zero visibility, after what followed ~3 laps of getting Blue flags to move over he refused. Schumacher had no other option but to get as close as possible to DC on the straight to attempt an overtake. He knew exactly when to lift. The only reason DC still talks about it is because he knows that he was in the wrong and it is eating him away. You not gonna ever fool anyone with that Mr DC.