Archive for Formula 1

Sebastian Vettel was the first driver to cross the finish line at the 2009 Japanese GP after 53 laps and a last minute safety car situation.

Second place went to Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and the final podium position went to McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton. Vettel, after scoring 10 crucial points, is now 16 points behind championship leader Jenson Button who only managed to score one point with his 8th place finish.

Ferrari scored some valuable points today with Kimi Raikkonen’s fourth place. Behind him was William’s Nico Rosberg and BMW’s Nick Heidfeld. Rest of the top ten was made up by Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button, Robert Kubica (BMW), and Fernando Alonso (Renault).

Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi failed to finish. In addition, Buemi was the only driver with a slow start as his car momentarily stalled. Mark Webber who started from the pits entered the pits three times within five laps. Timo Glock of Toyota did not start the race thanks to an accident during qualifying.

Towards the end of the race with just 5 laps to go, the safety car came in. Almost, if not all drivers maintained their respective positions. Kimi in fourth was right behind Hamilton and nearly overtook him. Button was still trying to make it to seventh place, but failed. Towards the end, he nearly gave his position to Robert Kubica in ninth.

Button currently leads with 85 points ahead of his team mate Barrichello with 71 points. Both Barrichello and Vettel have the chance of clinching the driver’s title, if Button continues to finish down the grid provided Barrichello and Vettel win race or two, and score as much points as possible.

In the Constructor’s Championship, Brawn leads by 35.5 points. Red Bull is in second place. The only chance for Red Bull to win is if it scores 1-2 victories in the two remaining races and at the same time both the Brawn’s don’t score a single point. Both circumstances are very unlikely, so it is safe to say that Brawn GP will win the championship. McLaren is closing in for third, just 2 points behind Ferrari. From the looks of it, Ferrari will lose its third place to McLaren.

With only two races remaining in the season, it looks like the championship battle will go down to the wire at the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi.

Litespeed F3 Team

The Lotus F1 Team put out a press ad in the sports section of The Star yesterday listing various positions to be filled in the team. The list is quite extensive and all you have to do is email your CV and cover letter to 1MalaysiaHR@lotusf1team.com.

A quick glimpse at lotusf1team.com shows it doesn’t really have much content yet. The domain lists ex-Lotus employee and Litespeed co-founder Nino Singh Judge as the admin and technical contact.

• Aerodynamics – Project Leader Aerodynamics, Junior Aerodynamicist, Head of CFD, CFD Engineer.
• Composites Design – Head of Composite Design, Senior / Junior Composite Designer, Composite Engineer.
• Composite – Head of Composite Layup Shop, Senior / Junior Layup Technician, Head of Composite Trim Shop, Senior / Junior Trim Shop Technician
• Electronics – Head of Electronics, Senior / Junior Electronics Engineer, Senior Control Engineer, Control Software Engineer
• Factory – Factory Manager, Senior / Junior Maintenance
• Gearbox Design – Head of Gearbox Design, Senior / Junior Gearbox Design
• Gearbox Assembly – Head of Gearbox Shop, Race Gearbox Technician
• Hydraulics – Head of Hydraulics Shop, Race Hydraulics Technician, Test Hydraulics Technician
• Mechanical Production – Head of Mechanical Production, Senior / Junior Machinist, Fabricator
• Mechanical Design – Head of Mechanical Design, Senior Mechanical Design Engineer, Senior Mechanical Designer
• Pattern Shop – Head of Pattern Shop, Senior / Junior Pattern Maker
• Production, Production Control and Purchasing – Head of Production, Senior Production Engineer, Mechanical Buyer, Composite Buyer, General Buyer, Aerodynamics Buyer
• Quality Control & Inspection – Head of Inspection, Senior / Junior Inspection Technician
• Design Office – Drawing Office Manager
• R&D – Head of R&D, Senior R&D Engineer, Senior R&D Technician
• Race Engineering – Test Engineer, Race Data Engineer, Test Data Engineer, Aero Support Engineer
• Race & Test – Logistic Manager, Race & Test Travel Secretary, Clothing & Team Gear
• Race Team – Race Chief Mechanic, Race Parts Mechanic
• Stress Analysis – Senior / Junior FEA Engineer
• Sub Assembly – Head of Sub Assembly, Sub Assembly Technician
• Test Team – Test Chief Mechanic, Test Part Mechanic, Test Team Truckie, Test Team Mechanic
• Vehicle Science – Head of Vehicle Dynamics, Vehicle Dynamics Engineer, Senior / Junior Software Engineer
• Marketing & PR – Head of Marketing, Marketing Manager, Tri-lingual Website Designers, Graphic Designers, Executive Assistant, Business Development Manager, Sponsorship Manager, Sponsor Account Manager, Head of PR / Tri-Lingual PR Officer, Press Officer, Hospitality Coordinator
• Finance – Financial Controller, Finance Manager, Finance Executive
• Legal – Head of Legal, Legal Manager, Legal Executive
• HR – Head of HR, HR Manager, HR Executive
• IT – Head of Information Technology, CAD Manager, Senior IT Engineer, Race IT Engineer, Test IT Engineer, IT Technician

It’s not really clear at the moment whether all jobs are available immediately. I have a feeling alot of the positions would probably already be filled by Litespeed F3 engineers. The Aerodynamics and Gearbox department will probably have to deal with FondTech and Xtrac respectively as when the team was announced, they were mentioned as suppliers to the team. Cosworth will be supplying the engine. I think what Malaysian can immediately look out for are the Marketing & PR, Finance, HR and Legal departments.

Litespeed’s F3 race car

Some very interesting details on the progress of the Lotus F1 team was revealed on ESPN Star’s Race Day TV show by team principal Tony Fernandes. According to Tony, the Malaysian team has started developing its Formula 1 racer, and that the single seater is in its wind tunnel testing stage. When the team was first announced, they said aerodynamics would be supplied by FondTech, so that’s where the car must be now.

So yes, a racecar exists, and I will bet it will look nothing like the rainbow-coloured car that we saw the Prime Minister hold up when he made the announcement about the 1Malaysia F1 Team. It’s too sponsor-unfriendly – the logos would be lost in the sea of colours.

The car will be ready for circuit testing sometime in February 2010. Testing will be conducted at the SIC. The car will use the “default” engine supplied by Cosworth. Litespeed will work on the chassis.

Lewis Hamilton was the first driver to cross the finish line after 61 laps at the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix. He started off with pole position. Hamilton finished ahead of Toyota’s Timo Glock and Fernando Alonso, so that’s at least some good news for Renault after the whole crash-gate fiasco.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel managed to finish in 4th place ahead of current championship leader Jenson Button despite getting a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pits. Sixth place was snapped up by Button’s team mate, Rubens Barrichello.

The rest of the top ten are made up by McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen, BMW’s Robert Kubica, Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. The Ferrari boys did not do very well this race. Nico Rosberg from Williams who was challenging for victory before getting a drive through penalty for crossing the white line on his way exiting the pits only managed 11th place.

6 drivers failed to cross the finish line. First to finish prematurely was Romain Grosjean (Renault) due to brake issues. Nick Heidfeld and Adrian Sutil both retired due the same accident. Mark Webber (Red Bull) also retired after suffering a crash due to (again) brake failure, followed by both Toro Rosso drivers.

Vettel was the first to pit with 44 laps to go, followed by Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. With 41 laps to go, Adrian Sutil had a spin and picked up Nick Heidfeld. The latter lost his rear right wheel and the safety car was deployed. Sutil pitted and changed his front wing, but eventually retired a couple of laps later. The race re-started and Nico Rosberg served his drive-through penalty about two laps later and came out in 14th position, since the penalty was served right after the safety car situation.

With 34 laps to go, Hamilton was up in front, followed closely by Vettel. Vettel, who lost his right rear-view mirror pitted with 22 laps to go, and came out behind Button in seventh. He was then given a drive through penalty for speeding in the pits. After serving the penalty, he rejoined in ninth, in front of Raikkonen.

A couple of laps later his team mate Mark Webber pitted for a re-fuel, but just before that on the way into the pits you could see brake dust from his front right tire, indicating severe wear. Just a lap after exiting the pits, Webber suffered from a brake failure and crashed his car. After all this dram, both Toro Rosso drivers pitted and retired, probably due to the fear of brake failure as well since the Toro Rosso cars would most likely share certain components with the Red Bull cars.

In the Drivers Championship, Button leads with 84 points. 15 points behind him is his Brazilian team mate Barrichello. Another 10 points behind is Sebastian Vettel with 59 points. Mark Webber is fourth with 51.5 points. Raikkonen is in fifth with 40 points and race winner Lewis Hamilton is currently in sixth place, just 3 points behind.

As for the Constructors Championship, Brawn is still leading with 153 points, followed by Red Bull with 110.5 points. Ferrari is third with 62 points, but McLaren is closing in with 59 points now. With 3 races remaining, it looks as though Button and Brawn will bag both titles. All 20 drivers will now head to Suzuka, for the Japanese GP.

In the meanwhile, here’s a bit of juicy rumour. Word from Germany’s Sport Bild is that Ferrari’s new sponsor Santander (a current sponsor of McLaren) is willing to offer the McLaren up to 25 million Euros to take Ferrari’s current front man Kimi Raikkonen. This will make space for Alonso to join Ferrari next year.

More updates on the new 1Malaysia F1 Team / Team Lotus / Litespeed / whatever you want to call it. Alex Yoong is going to be involved, but not as a driver. Tony Fernandes hinted that he would most likely come in as a “deputy team principal” (to handle the team while he is busy with Tune and AirAsia stuff), and could potentially be a candidate for team principal in the future since Tony previously said his intention is to step down before the 2010 season ends. And of course as most of you already know, the RM168 million initial amount invested by the team’s investors (the Tune folks and SM Nasarudin) will not be enough – its currently on an intensive hunt for sponsors. Amongst parties approached include Petronas, Genting, and MAS. The team hopes for the race car to be ready by February 2010 for testing at the SIC.

Source

Litespeed’s F3 race car

Finally some details from the horses mouth – the 1Malaysia name apparently shares nothing more in common with Najib’s 1Malaysia administration other than the similiar name, as a tribute most likely.

• The government announced yesterday that it has no equity directly or indirectly in the 1Malaysia F1 Team.
• Proton will license its Lotus brand to 1Malaysia F1 Team.
• The team will be called Team Lotus.
• It’s actually run and funded by Litespeed, Naza, and the Tune Group.
• The team has a start-up capital of RM168 million and a baseline annual budget of an estimated RM308 million.
• The scope of Proton’s involvement will hopefully go beyond licensing the brand and will include technology transfer, marketing rights and employment opportunities.
• Petronas (so far) will come in through its Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, which will collaborate with the team together with UTM to help develop future Malaysian engineers, etc.
• Composites Technology Research Malaysia (CTRM) will somehow be involved. CTRM is a composites manufacturer with clients like Airbus. It is owned 92% by the government’s Ministry of Finance and 8% by Petronas. They make the composite body shell for Lotus Europa S, and are the official repairer for the teams participating in the Formula BMW Pacific.

So far no concrete mention of Proton or government money being used so far. It doesn’t even look like Lotus will be running the team, instead expertise will come from Litespeed, which is a team participating in F3 founded by ex-Lotus employees Nino Judge and Steve Kenchington. In fact we’ve already readabout this team since June.

In just one week, Renault has lost two of its sponsors. One is Dutch-based ING and the other is Spanish insurance company Mutua Madrilena. ING is no surprise really as even before the crashgate scandal they’ve announced that it would not be renewing its sponsorship contract with the company after this year’s race season, but now they’ve decided to withdraw its sponsorship with immediate effect.

”ING is deeply disappointed at this turn of events, especially in the context of an otherwise successful sponsorship. As announced on 16 February of this year, ING decided not to renew the three year sponsorship (2007-2009) contract with Renault F1 and to end its presence in Formula 1 after the 2009 season,” said ING’s press statement.

Mutua Madrilena’s statement said its withdrawal was because “the behaviour of relevant people in the team was of extraordinary seriousness and it compromised not only the integrity of the sport, but also put in danger the lives of spectators, drivers and circuit personnel, which is something that can affect the image, reputation and good name of the team’s sponsor.” The Spanish insurance company will however continue to sponsor fellow countryman Fernando Alonso, who drives for Renault.

Renault has somehow managed to get away with only a small smack on the wrist from the FIA over the whole crash-gate scandal. They’ve been handed a 2 year “suspended disqualification”. This means the disqualification will be placed on hold until the end of 2011, and it will only become active if the FIA gets a sniff of something similiar happening.

The following is the official statement from the FIA:

At an extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council held in Paris on 21 September 2009, the ING Renault F1 team admitted that the team had conspired with its driver Nelson Piquet Jr. to cause a deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, in breach of the International Sporting Code and F1 Sporting Regulations.

Renault F1 stated at the meeting that it had conducted a detailed internal investigation, which found that: (i) Flavio Briatore, Pat Symonds and Nelson Piquet Jr. had conspired to cause the crash; and (ii) no other team member was involved in the conspiracy.

Having used information based on its own investigation of the incident in Marina Bay, the FIA listed the reasons why the penalty is suspended (and set to expire at the end of 2011) as opposed to an instant banishing from Formula One:

* It had accepted, at the earliest practicable opportunity, that it committed the offences with which it was charged and cooperated fully with the FIA’s investigation.?
* It had confirmed that Mr. Briatore and Mr. Symonds were involved in the conspiracy and ensured that they left the team.?
* It apologised unreservedly to the FIA and to the sport for the harm caused by its actions.?
* It committed to paying the costs incurred by the FIA in its investigation.
?* Renault (the parent company, as opposed to Renault F1) committed to making a significant contribution to FIA safety-related projects.

Nelson Piquet Jr. also apologised unreservedly to the World Motor Sport Council for his part in the conspiracy.

In addition, Flavio Briatore has been banned permanently from F1 and all FIA events. Here is a separate statement released on that matter:

The World Motor Sport Council declares that, for an unlimited period, the FIA does not intend to sanction any International Event, Championship, Cup, Trophy, Challenge or Series involving Mr. Briatore in any capacity whatsoever, or grant any license to any Team or other entity engaging Mr. Briatore in any capacity whatsoever.

It also hereby instructs all officials present at FIA-sanctioned events not to permit Mr. Briatore access to any areas under the FIA’s jurisdiction.

Furthermore, it does not intend to renew any Superlicence granted to any driver who is associated (through a management contract or otherwise) with Mr. Briatore, or any entity or individual associated with Mr. Briatore.

In determining that such instructions should be applicable for an unlimited period, the World Motor Sport Council has had regard not only to the severity of the breach in which Mr. Briatore was complicit but also to his actions in continuing to deny his participation in the breach despite all the evidence.

Flavio was the team principal for Renault but that was not the only area he was involved in when it came to F1. He was also the driver manager for Mark Webber and Heikki Kovalainen from Red Bull and McLaren respectively. They will have to look for new management and get new super licenses.

Renault’s Executive Director of Engineering Pat Symonds (who also resigned when Briatore did) has also been served a punishment – a 5-year ban.

The World Motor Sport Council declares that, for a period of five years, the FIA does not intend to sanction any International Event, Championship, Cup, Trophy, Challenge or Series involving Mr. Symonds in any capacity whatsoever, or grant any license to any Team or other entity engaging Mr. Symonds in any capacity whatsoever.

It hereby instructs, for a period of five years, all officials present at FIA-sanctioned events not to permit Mr. Symonds access to any areas under the FIA’s jurisdiction.

In determining that such instructions should be effective for a period of five years the World Motor Sport Council has had regard: (i) to Mr. Symonds’ acceptance that he took part in the conspiracy; and (ii) to his communication to the meeting of the World Motor Sport Council that it was to his “eternal regret and shame” that he participated in the conspiracy.

Nelson Piquet goes off scot-free. As for who will replace Briatore – people are saying it could be Alain Prost.

Tony Fernandes announced to Reuters that his position as the Team Principal of the new Malaysian-backed Team Lotus will not be permanent.

Obviously he had something to do with initiating the project in the first place as his Air Asia and Tune Group will be providing funding for the team, but he only intends to be in the Team Principal position to make sure Team Lotus has the “right direction, the right imaging and the right future, the right strategic plan and marketing” before stepping down after a few initial races (perhaps after Melbourne) to make way for someone much more experienced.

The team principal would most likely be a non-Malaysian. Tony himself admits that it is a tall order right now to have a Malaysian team principal right away. Even Team A1 Malaysia is head by a “Mat Salleh”, Jack Cunningham. Even for the drivers, Tony thinks there is no need for a Malaysian line-up for now.

“My personal preference would be to try to get someone with lots of experience, though he may be ending his career, who can add a lot of experience and develop the car. The right personality that can transfer knowledge and enjoy working with people is critical. There’s no point throwing someone in at the deep end if he’s not ready,” he said.

This is actually the norm with F1 teams that are starting off – the pairing of drivers is usually a young driver and someone who has more experience under his belt, such as David Coulthard in Red Bull and Giancarlo Fisichella in Force India. The young driver in Team Lotus F1’s case can be a Malaysian (such as Fairuz Fauzy, a name that keeps popping up) and the other can be someone with experience. The official and confirmed line-up is expected to be announced by the end of October.

Indy-gate, Crash-gate, lie-gate, spy-gate. Anyone watching F1 should be familiar with these terms. But have you ever wondered why the suffix gate is tagged onto all of these scandalous events?

It isn’t really an F1 thing. It all originated from an event known as the Watergate scandal back in the 1970s, which led to the resignation of US president Richard Nixon. The name Watergate was taken from the Watergate office complexes in Washington DC. Another incident soon after involving wine was reported by the media as “Winegate” (an easy connection as wine and water are both liquids we drink). But later, somehow it became the norm to add the gate suffix to other scandals such as Koreagate, Bonusgate, etc. You basically just add the word gate to a keyword related to the scandal.

F1’s latest scandal is the Crash-gate scandal which surrounds the Renault team. Things don’t look too good for them and it has resulted in Flavio Briatore and executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds leaving their team. The team will face the FIA World Motor Sport Council today in Europe. The team also announced that it will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

Basically it has been claimed that Renault ordered its struggling Brazilian driver to “accidentally” slam his car into a concrete wall so that his teammate Fernando Alonso could win the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

ING will not be sponsoring them next year and with this latest scandal, who is going to fork out the money to sponsor them next year? But first they will have to deal with what kind of punishment will be dished out today. If they’re lucky – and since the culprits have left – they can escape with a large fine and a disqualification from the constructor’s championship.