I needed to improve my race craft – Rosberg

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Nico Rosberg said he is improving his race craft, which he feels was a weakness of his last year.

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Rosberg: Race craft going in right direction now… (Crash)

"Race craft was a thing that I needed to improve on from last year and it is going in the right direction, so I am pleased with that."

Analysis: The change that has helped Rosberg turn the tables (Motorsport)

"I've had a lot of great starts lately in the last four races, today as well, and a lot of it is down to the clutch settings that my engineer Evan put in – reaction time, clutch settings, and then the last part is me feeding in the throttle in the right way."

2015 Austrian GP report (Motorsport magazine)

"Thoughts went back to Kimi’s Montreal spin two weeks earlier – caused by an over-aggressive start lap map that had delivered the torque too suddenly. Was it a repeat of this? 'No, we don’t think so,' said Maurizio Arrivabene, 'because it was at a very different speed.'"

Horner: F1 needs Brawn to lead change (The Telegraph)

"We need someone independent, someone not currently involved- like a Ross Brawn- who understands the business, understands the challenges to write the specification for what a Formula One car should be."

McLaren-Honda forced to change test plans (F1i)

"The Woking-based outfit will have to run a car fitted with old and updated components, which is likely to slow the pace of development and put further strain on an already torrid season for the McLaren-Honda alliance."

Toro Rosso to evaluate big upgrade (Autosport)

"While Toro Rosso was already satisfied over the weekend that the updates were a step forward from the car it raced in Canada earlier this month, it believes it will get a definitive verdict when it tests both specifications this week."

Arrivabene sticks to his Ferrari target (Reuters)

"I feel relatively comfortable that by the time we hit Monza (Ferrari's home Italian Grand Prix in September) we are going to be in a much stronger position than we have been in all season."

Arrivabene sets criteria for Raikkonen staying in 2016 (ESPN)

"I could look a bit too much defensive or protective of him, but we are not even halfway through the season. Try to be in my position and to go to Kimi for example to say you are out or you are in or whatever. I want the best to be concentrated on what we are doing today and to give us the maximum."

Let it Go (The Buxton Blog)

"When those who fail to succeed decide to pick up their ball and threaten to go home unless they’re allowed to win it all becomes a bit whiney and pathetic."

Tweets

Snapshot

Lawrence Stroll, the Canadian fashion magnate with an estimated wealth in excess of £1.75bn, with FIA president Jean Todt on the grid at Spa-Francorchamps during last weekend’s European Formula Three triple-header. Stroll’s son Lance, a member of Ferrari’s Driver Academy, was barred from participating in race three after collecting two penalties in the first and wiping out two rivals including his team mate while fighting for the lead in the second.

Comment of the day

I can’t believe I missed this statistic from the Austrian Grand Prix:

First time in the year that a McLaren finishes on top of a Ferrari.
@Jmlabareda

From the forum

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On this day in F1

Keke Rosberg scored an emphatic win on the streets of Detroit for Williams, followed by the Ferraris of Stefan Johansson and Michele Alboreto.

Stefan Bellof, driving in one of his final F1 races before his tragic death later that year, brought his Tyrrell home in fourth place – despite his car shedding its nose earlier in the race:

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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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47 comments on “I needed to improve my race craft – Rosberg”

  1. ColdFly F1 (@)
    23rd June 2015, 8:59

    Good stat by @Jmlabareda

  2. Rosberg’s shades of brilliant racecraft comes far and few in between, but they have happened before, even against Hamilton.

    Watch this, from about 15:00 to 18:00
    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1qeusv_f1-chinese-gp-2010-race-part-2_sport

    If only he could drive like that against Lewis every time.

    1. @kingshark is it really brilliant if it only happened a few times in over 5 years. I mean, you had to go back to a 2010 video…

      1. Which is what he said…

      2. @xtwl
        That’s kind of what I said:

        “Rosberg’s shades of brilliant racecraft comes far and few in between”

        Thanks for that @mike

        1. @mike, @kingshark – not a native Englishman so misinterpreted it. No problem.

    2. Simon (@weeniebeenie)
      23rd June 2015, 14:47

      A Mclaren hounding a Mercedes. Wonder when we’ll see that next…

  3. ColdFly F1 (@)
    23rd June 2015, 9:14

    #AMuS tweet is interesting:

    Raikkonens Ferrari engine was in aggressive start mode when he spun in Canada & Austria. Activation lasts 90s after start/pitstop.

    I assume the other Ferrari and most other cars will also remain for some 90sec (1 lap) in ‘aggressive start mode’. Therefore, this does not explain why it happens to Raikkonen on more occasions.
    Maybe Raikkonen is just too laid back or possibly ‘lazy’ and he does not train the various settings well enough. Or it is plausible that he is losing some of his race craft.
    Either way those are probably the criteria Arrivabene is looking at when making a decision (or proposing to the president as he says) about next year.

    1. Maybe Raikkonen is just too laid back or possibly ‘lazy’ and he does not train the various settings well enough. Or it is plausible that he is losing some of his race craft.

      @coldfly I tend to think its because first one. I think Kimi is not the type that like to change too much settings everytime and his greatest weapon is his natural speed.

    2. Didn’t Kimi have a big tank-slapper at Silverstone, which resulted in him taking another car out?

      Perhaps he has a bit of a yip?

      In any case, if he doesn’t start beating Vettel he won’t be there next year.

      1. @rsp123 Why is that so certain? Massa was allowed to stay between 2011-2013 where as there were many better young guns. And why would he even need to beat Vettel whom is clearly their no.1 driver. They don’t want that, they want Kimi to roll over the finish right behind him. It’s also not likely Kimi is ever going to beat Vettel over a season in the same car…

  4. Regarding Horner comment: I don’t know why he think F1 is too complicated now. We lost blown diffuser, F-Duct, flexi-wing, traction control, (complicated) engine mapping, custom gear ratios for each race and I think there are more. What added is the new engine package (ICE, TC, KERS, MGU-K, and MGU-H, with BBW as side product) with ICE, TC, and KERS is not new for F1. I support the new engine formula because it will advance the development on energy efficiency instead of throwing large percentage of it in form of useless heat. If anything current car doesn’t seems to have complicated tricks at all. No one can point a “secret weapon” in Mercedes cars except they put the best package. If anything Red Bull probably still the most complex car in the grid because of all the aero trick they have. Then again, we already hear lot of Horner complaining why it isn’t their fault that Red Bull don’t win again, so I guess this won’t be the last we hear from him.

    1. He’s got a BBW on the side?

      1. @alec-glen BBW is brake-by-wire. All cars using it because the braking work is distributed between charging the battery and actual braking on the rear tires.

        1. ColdFly F1 (@)
          23rd June 2015, 12:13

          Big Beautiful Woman.

          1. On point. Never forget the grid girls…

      2. Ginger Spice won’t be happy ’bout that.

    2. No one can point a “secret weapon” in Mercedes cars

      You mean apart from their split-turbo and cassette gearbox? … The difference is that they get their advantage from superior engineering rather than fiddling with how far they can subvert the aero rules with blown diffusers and flexi-wings.

      1. subverting the aero rules and not getting penalised could easily be defined as superior engineering. if they’re not pushing the limits of the regs then they are not doing their jobs.

        1. Its certainly superior engineering. I actually sad blown diffuser had to go because it increases the efficiency of the power used that generated by the burning fuel instead just throwing it out as hot air. What have to go is the ridiculous engine mapping that keep the throttle open just for the sake of supplying the blown air to the diffuser. Flexi-wing on the other hand is actually cheating that can’t be proved. The rules called for rigid wing which enforced by load testing it. What Red Bull does is finding a way to circumvent the method they used to test it but it still violate the main rule which is rigid wing. So its superior engineering but also cheating.

      2. The split turbo is available on all Mercedes powered cars yet they still not as the same league as the Mercedes team. And if split turbo is really that important then why Ferrari, Renault, and Honda not built their turbo with same configuration as Mercedes this year?

        The gearbox is certainly interesting but I don’t think it gives the biggest advantage from other teams.

        1. Because it would require a major redesign and take a lot more than 12 months to come online. The 2014 turbo rules were announced in June 2011. Mercedes had two and a half years to work on their implementation. (More in reality, as it was clear that turbo was on the cards long before the official rules announcement.)

        2. petebaldwin (@)
          23rd June 2015, 15:35

          @sonicslv – That’s the problem with the rules – if a team comes up with something new (f-duct, double diffuser etc), the others teams can copy them. It may take a while but over the course of a year, they usually get there. The engine manufacturers can’t because the engines are too complicated to get up to speed with no testing. If Ferrari (for example) redesigned the power unit to feature a split turbo, they’d have a season like Honda are having now. The following season would be 2017 which may or may not have a new set of rules so the may have to redesign everything again then as well!

    3. petebaldwin (@)
      23rd June 2015, 15:59

      @sonicslv – You say “If anything current car doesn’t seems to have complicated tricks at all” however we are in a position where 2 out of the 4 engine manufacturers are so far behind, they might as well give up. 1 of them can’t confidently complete 10 back to back laps – are you saying Honda aren’t capable of making a simple engine that can do a race distance?

      F1 isn’t “too complicated”, the engines are “too complicated given the restriction on testing.”

      If you allowed the teams to test as much as they wanted, you could have the most complicated engines in the world and they’d get there but when you’re limiting them to one or two sessions a year with a limited number of tokens that you can use to improve things, they need to be relatively simple…

      1. Again check the facts – you can design and test on a dyno absolutely anything you like.

        The tokens only restrict what and when you can bring such designs and the amount of them to the racetrack,ack.

        In actual fact pretty much like most series in racing…

  5. What would Ross Brawn accomplish if he came back? As if the teams will go with what he puts forward.

    The more I read all the articles and watch all the interviews and press conferences, it has become apparent that only way F1 is going to work as an entity is if the customer car or co-constructor route is trodden. I am aware that the implications are vastly different between the two, however, the point is, the only way its going to work is, if the smaller teams buy more things off the big boys. Which means, the rich get richer, and the poor survive, a 2 tier formula, which F1 already is.

    In recent history, sister teams like Super Aguri and Torro Rosso proved more than capable of beating their more well endowed factory teams. Ok, the aforementioned examples are exactly what you would call a customer team, maybe a co-constructor? I think F1’s strategy for the future is very much resting on the fortunes of the Haas F1 Team. If they prove to be successful in the their debut year, Gene Haas’ business model could become the footprint for the Saubers and Force Indias of the paddock.

    Will we see a mid table team ever win a race? Even in unpredictable conditions? Highly unlikely, but if Haas F1 proves that they can get close to a podium, those in need on the grid, may start opening up to the idea of being a co-constructor with one of the bigger teams.

    1. Well look for example at all top line sporting competitions such as the Premier League, NFL, NBA, AFL, NASCAR and how many of them have a small group of teams with enormous power in shaping the rules of their competition? None. They all have governing bodies who actually govern, and the teams have to abide by those rules. Many sports have salary caps (I.e, budget limits) to even out the competition and prevent one team or a couple of teams from dominating, and regardless of whether the rule changes advantage or disadvantage the ‘big teams’ they have to suck it up and play by those rules. Or do something else…

      So in relation to this idea of Brawn being in charge it’s not as silly as it sounds. He has runs on the board both at the top end of the F1 tree with Ferrari and Mercedes, winning from a poor previous season with Brawn in ’09, and being involved with teams who were struggling and bringing them up to championship contention with Benetton. He might be able to bring together all the ideas people have about how to fix F1 and to do so with engineering nous and for his choices to be respected by the F1 paddock and fans alike.

      I like Horner and RBR for their ability to turn Jaguar into a multiple championship winning team, however I dislike the fact that they are now in a situation through little fault of their own they have lost their crown and are whinging about the state of F1 like the whole rule package was designed to knock them off their perch. However this idea is the first positive thing to come from Horner’s mouth about how to fix F1 all season… I’m all for it.

    2. petebaldwin (@)
      23rd June 2015, 15:10

      @jaymenon10 – Your first sentence is the problem there. The teams should have no say. The regs should be created by someone who doesn’t have anything to gain.

      The teams and manufacturers only want what suits them – they’ll never agree to anything that doesn’t benefit them directly either financially or competitively. Bernie only wants what makes his bank balance bigger – few people exist who care less about the good of the sport.

      I know it’s the thing to do at the moment to have a go at Horner when he says anything but he’s right in this case – F1 needs to be run by someone independent like every other sport.

      Imagine if teams in the Premiership had to agree on the rules each year – you’d have the teams with short quick players saying there should be a “no over head-height rule” whilst the ones with tall slow players would be saying “no running!” You’ll never get them to agree and why should they? Luckily, they don’t have to because they are told the rules. Will they pull out because of this? No. Because they are paid fairly for competing…. Another HUGE problem with F1.

  6. Well, thanks again, Kimi…

  7. Nico making use of his extra gear while Lewis looks incredibly relaxed. Somehow, as a Lewis fan, I’m pretty relaxed as well. I think Lewis is stronger this year than last year and Nico should arrive in Abu Dhabi with less chances (if any) than last year… however; this relaxed mode can turn everything upside down, so wake up Mr. Hamilton because Nico is on a mission.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      23rd June 2015, 15:25

      I think this weekend was just what Hamilton needed to be honest. Up until now, it’s looked like only technical issues can stop Lewis but this weekend showed that’s not the case.

      The fight is back on now and Lewis will have to bring his A-game if he wants another title.

      1. Good point there @petebaldwin, and I hope it brings us another few very tense race weekends with both of these guys on top of their skills – and others ever closer behind them :-)

      2. I agree. Lewis seemed to have expected to win. He was all about team leader roll and expecting this and that on a silver platter. The Rosberg seemed to have just panicked at the start of the season but hopefully he has his ducks on a row now.

  8. Will we get reviews of those two books, @keithcollantine ? Very interested on the Duckworth one!

    1. @fer-no65 Yep, not 100% sure when though, got a busy couple of weeks coming up with Goodwood Festival and some other stuff. It’ll be done as soon as possible, just can’t be sure how soon.

  9. For once I agree with Christian Horner. Especially since it is the same thing myself and others have been calling for nearly since the day Ross Brawn left F1. It is my wish that Ross Brawn could step in and set an exciting, sustainable, beneficial path for all in F1.

    But there are two massive stumbling blocks in the way of that pipe dream. One, the current structure of F1 does not allow for any one individual to step in and take over, no matter how logical it might seem. Two, I think Ross Brawn might value such a challenge but possibly views his Formula 1 career and accomplishments as being in the past and holds his present life with his family at a greater value.

    Brawn doesn’t really need this huge headache. And why take it on when a paradigm shift in the way F1 is controlled and all decisions made would be necessary to put him in control. That could even set a dangerous precedent if someone were to succeed him at a later time and do a disastrous job of it. This also assumes that Brawn himself would do a good job and have enough of the right answers to lead F1 and improve on it. Nobody has heard Ross Brawn speak out publicly to address the situation. He seems to have better sense than to comment much or get involved.

    Anyone who might want to take on such a job would nearly have to be a bit crazy to seek it out. As much as we may wish for that to be Ross Brawn it just doesn’t seem likely. I would love to be proven wrong.

  10. Very nice piece from Noble. Best part:

    For Turn 8 is a truly stunning place to watch F1 cars. As they blast in to view after the preceding high speed flick, they are pretty maxed out as they face a near roller-coaster ride to pick the best braking point and entry line to hit the apex – made much trickier as the circuit falls away in preparation for the final turn.

    read it, see it before you and enjoy top level motorsport.

  11. Michael Brown
    23rd June 2015, 19:57

    That picture at the top of the article isn’t something I’d call clean racing. Going side by side with another car through the corner, and then pushing him off the track because you have the racing line? It’s a dirty move, in my opinion.

    1. Well, of course you can think what you want, but it’s within the rules and within his racing rights to do that.

    2. Senna pushing Prost against the pit wall… Prost slamming the door on Senna in Suzuka to win the cheated title? Clearly you are looking for school bus drivers. Rosberg being pushed out by Hamilton was a sign that Ham had a hold over him. Whenever he showed Ros wheel Nico jumped off the track to give his big brother way. Then came Spa last year… Nico showed him that they can both lose the race he does not care. People hated it, I loved it. It was pretty sweet to see Nico break out his fists there.. But as for this being dirty… I do not agree. It is just a test of character and manhood. No one will dare try that on Maldonado. Ask Hamilton, he did it to Maldanado in Valencia 2012. Hamilton did not finish that race…

  12. I still can’t believe that Jean Todt scored Michelle Yeoh.

    1. My English is not very good. When you say scored was there a pun there?…

  13. Nice turnaround by Rosberg but sad to think that all it takes for his momentum and championship challenge to stop dead in its track is another podium booing from the Hamilton fans, just like happened last year. Wouldn’t be surprised if it happened in Spa again as most are likely to be on ‘best’ behavior at home in Silverstone.

    1. It is very sad. Rosberg did deserve that one. He had the pace and was on it for the race. Hopefully he has his earplugs on for the next race and concentrates on just the race.

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