Friday, July 30, 2010
The Hungarian Grand Prix Preview
The track is notoriously twisty and slow which often makes overtaking a herculean task. Generally an underused circuit becomes faster over the weekend as the track 'rubbers' in , but the Hungaroring , being built on sandy soil often gets extremely filthy and dusty , infact slows down cars . Despite difficult overtaking conditions, this circuit isn't new to exciting races.Hopefully the coming weekend wont be an exception.
The Weather is expected to be rainy , with heavy showers on race day and mild drizzling on qualifying.
Since the surface is not used too much, there could be a lot of graining which is why Bridgestone are bringing Medium and Super-soft tires to the race. Also this track being the second smallest track of the season after Monaco , the track is very demanding on the engines. Engines on an average will be running on full throttle for about 55% of the track.
“A responsive engine is especially important exiting turn 14 to get a good run down the main straight heading to turn 1, arguably the only overtaking opportunity around the short lap. Because the majority of corners are slow speed, the engine needs good driveability at high revs and drivers need to be smooth on the throttle to avoid excessive strain on the unit. Cooling is often a problem at Hungary because of the lack of straights and the usual hot climate in Hungary at this time of the year. The engine gets very little in the way of breathing space around the lap, enhancing the risks of overheating over 70 laps.” - Cosworth
Circuit Data :
Number of Laps : 70
Circuit Length : 4.381 km / 2.722 miles
Total Race Distance : 306.63 km / 190.531 miles
Lap Record : 1.19.071 - Micheal Schumacher (2004)
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Should Team Orders In Formula 1 be Banned ? ? ?
Team orders were banned in F1 since 2002 . During that year Jean Todt, the current FIA president who then was the team principal of Ferrari, ordered Rubens Barichello to let Micheal Schumacher go by, on the last lap of the Austrian Grand Prix. That weekend Barichello had been a lot faster than Schumacher, both in practice sessions and during the race itself , and so deserved to win. Micheal Schumacher who had a comfortable lead in the drivers title really should have had no problem finishing second. It was an outrageous thing to do as it was to early to have any significant effect on the championship points. It was due to this , the harsh sides of team orders , that team orders were banned ever since.
But in my view team orders shouldn't be banned. Its true that it may produce bitter and unfair results , but at the end of the day all drivers whether they like it or not, drive for their respective teams . And if their team believes that one of the drivers has a much better chance of scoring something substantial and beneficial , then why not help that driver out ? Look at it this way, say its the last race of the season and Sebastien Vettel is leading the championship with 250 points ahead of Fernando Alonso who is second at 240. And also imagine that Massa is leading that race and Alonso,who will win the Driver's Title if he wins this race , is second, with Vettel in a low scoring position. Then clearly if Alonso wins that race , he will win the Drivers Title . So he has to be let through. It is in such cases that team orders do matter.
Team orders as these shouldn't be given at a very early stage of the season because literally anything can happen in Formula 1 ! And teams should be smarter if they want to carry out anything like that and they should execute in a very inconspicuous manner so as to raise no suspicion .One way to go about this could be like drivers having a mutual understanding between them that if one of them has to win the race then the other will let the former through at some point in the race. Or a pit stop can be delayed just enough for drivers to switch grid places.
Article 39.1 in the Formula 1 Constitution , which bans team orders of any kind, should be tweaked to accommodate such cases and let teams to issue such orders if the have a valid reason for it, because Formula 1 at the end of the day , contradictory to views of most fans , is a team sport .
Well, its in this regard that I end this article , leaving you a thought to ponder on . Please comment on the article and about your views on the banning of team orders.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Alonso leads Ferrari to a 1 - 2 Victory in the German GP
At about the sixteenth lap, the drivers started pitting mainly to switch onto the harder compound tires as there was still another 51 laps to go.
The most controversial moment of the race came on Lap 50, where in Rob Smedly indirectly hinted at Massa to give way to Fernando Alonso , who was really closing on him. This act which violated the rule stating that team orders as these can never be given to a driver , resulted in a fine of $100,000, albeit strict denials from Stefano Dominicalli and Robert Smedly that it was Massa who decided to give way and they did not order him to do so.
Jenson button pitted on lap 24 and came out ahead of Mark Webber. Nico Rosberg also pitted a lap later and came out in front of his team mate Schumacher in 8th.
It finally ended with Ferrari winning with a 1 - 2 which is the only 1 -2 since s Bahrain at the beginning of the season. All the drivers apart from the top six were lapped.
German Grand Prix, Hockenheim, 67 Laps
1. Alonso Ferrari 1h28:38.866
1. Alonso Ferrari 1h28:38.866
2. Massa Ferrari + 4.196
3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 5.121
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 26.896
5. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 29.482
6. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 43.606
7. Kubica Renault + 1 lap
8. Rosberg Mercedes + 1 lap
9. Schumacher Mercedes + 1 lap
10. Petrov Renault + 1 lap
11. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
13. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
14. De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
15. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 2 laps
17. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 2 laps
18. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps
19. Senna HRT-Cosworth + 4 laps
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