Russian Grand Prix team hire Abu Dhabi race boss

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In the round-up: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix organiser Richard Cregan joins the Russian Grand Prix team.

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Yas Marina chief to work on Russian GP (Autosport)

“Russian Grand Prix organisers have recruited Richard Cregan, chief executive of Abu Dhabi Formula 1 venue Yas Marina, to work on the inaugural Sochi race.”

Honda Releases Formula 1 video ‘The Challenging Spirit of Honda’ (Honda via YouTube)

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Comment of the day

@Bag0 on Luca di Montezemolo’s aversion to simulator testing:

I’m a software engineer, I work with prototype devices, and while I agree that real life testing is invaluable, simulations are just as important.

If you have a good correlation between the simulation and real-life data, using sims is way cheaper and faster.

You can test parts without an actual driver driving the simulator and without actually building the part, which means, you can run a lot more simulations in an hour, than on track. You also don’t need the staff to change the setup, the fuel to run, the money for track time or transport. For the same amount of money you gain a lot more information. (I cannot be sure about the numbers, because I don’t know the price of the on track testing, but I do know that running the simulations is basically free, so we are talking about a hell lot more data)

Simulations cannot replace real life testing, but there are indisputable advantages. Of course going by just simulations and CFD results you cannot be competitive (as Virgin/Marussia just showed), but you can work out heuristics for car setup, basic part designs, and train your drivers.

All in all I don’t think Luca sees the real benefits of having a good simulator, or they just don’t have a good one.
@Bag0

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On this day in F1

Andre Pilette died 20 years ago today. The Frenchman finished sixth on his world championship debut at Spa in 1951 – though as points were only awarded to the top five then he did not score. Three years later his put that right with fifth at the same track.

He appeared at several European races over the following years. Further attempts to rejoin the fray in the sixties, however, usually ended in non-qualification.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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20 comments on “Russian Grand Prix team hire Abu Dhabi race boss”

  1. If you have a good correlation between the simulation and real-life data, using sims is way cheaper and faster.

    Sure, after you’ve dished 10 million over 5 years.

    1. exactly!

      so until someone can produce hard #s on costs for track-testing vs. simulation, factoring in all costs & variables, those arguing for one position or another should be seen as doing so purely for political advantage w/o any actual evidence to support their claims.

    2. My belief, which may be wrong, is that if you tell the simulator that the front wing will provide a particular air flow and you then continue to design and input your new theoretical results for the rest of the car the simulator will tell you that you have designed the fastest ever F1 car, but if your initial theoretical air flow does not happen in practice the car may be the slowest F1 car ever designed, real life testing of the front wing would have lead to a different, more effective on the track, design.

      1. Simulators are hugely expensive. Especially with hardware and software upgrades and research. The main development problem with simulators is no one but maybe Adrian newey has a handle on how wind resistance and air flow works. The main difference between your ps3 game and a simulator is the representation of air flow, it takes a supercomputer to accurately compute all that data. And aerodynamics is what we currently know the least about in relation to other parts of the car, that’s why there is the most time to be gained and lost by aero. I’m not saying Mr Ferrari boss is right, just saying that there are dynamics that most of you either don’t know or aren’t accounting for with simulations.

  2. Somehow I predict Russia getting double points… (assuming double points don’t get the almost inevitable backtrack we’re expecting)

    1. NO way. Not even Bernie is that powerfull.
      Should another venue get the double points…:

      1-Monza
      2-Spa
      3-Brazil
      4-Suzuka
      5-Silverstone

      1. I would hate any of those just as much, really.

        1. This brings me to the question:
          Would the outrage have been on the same level had the last race been in Brazil?!

          1. @bananarama how dare you? :)

          2. Probably not, but it should be. The farce is that it’s a joke and unsporting. It being for such a pathetic event just adds salt to the wound, but some people focussed on that actually being the worst thing, which I think just misses the bigger picture.

          3. I think it would but for a different reason. Interlagos is often wet: accidents (and those where an innocent party is involved) are more likely, therefore a double points race could skew the championship even more than a usually-dry race finale such as Abu Dhabi.

  3. I think everything should be free. Do you want a top noch simulator? Pay for it and use it.
    Do you want to test? Pay for it.
    I would only introduce a couple of rules…If you have a simulator…you are compelled to sell an equal one at a fair price (lets say….20% above the cost) to whichever team requires it.
    If you are testing let’s say in Mugello, all the teams should be invited. Then the team decides if the expenditure is worth the money.
    I’m not an expert…but something should be done.
    Just brainstorming.

    1. I believe I read somewhere that McLaren ‘rents’ out their simulator time to Marussia…

      I may be wrong though.

  4. That Honda vid is very cool, pity there’s not more exhaust music ! , thanks Keith, Happy Hew Year. :)

  5. So, we can reasonably expect Robert Cregan, Richard’s son to get a GP3 outing at Sochi, just like he got one at Abu Dhabi this year?

  6. Jack (@jackisthestig)
    27th December 2013, 9:26

    In fairness to Nick Wirth’s CFD only approach, the 2010 VR-01 has been arguably the Manor team’s most competitive in comparison to the cars Tony Fernandes’ team has produced.

    1. caterham finished above marussia in 2010 (they were lotus racing and virgin, but that is just names)

  7. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    27th December 2013, 12:53

    the gala video is already gone. I guess for the copyright :(

  8. Yeah I’m getting those too!

  9. “Russian Grand Prix organisers have recruited Richard Cregan, chief executive of Abu Dhabi Formula 1 venue Yas Marina, to work on the inaugural Sochi race.”

    …as a car park attendant

Comments are closed.