Archive for Formula 1

Brit Jenson Button from Brawn GP picked up his first Driver’s Championship earlier today in Brazil. 29-year old Button arrived at Interlagos with a comfortable lead but if he failed to score a single point in the two remaining races (Brazil and Abu Dhabi) the crown could go to his team mate Rubens Barrichello or Sebastian Vettel from Red Bull.

With his fifth place finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix, the Brit sealed the championship. Even if the Button fails to finish the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi he will still walk away as the 2009 Champion. During yesterday’s qualifying Button only managed 14th place. His team mate who was also contending for the title grabbed pole position. Vettel on the other hand started the race right behind Button following Vitantonio Liuzzi’s 5-place grid penalty.

As the race progressed the three championship rivals managed to have a clean race despite what happened around them. On the first lap itself two major incidents took place. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) spun his car at Turn 2 and nearly collected Giancarlo Fisichella (Ferrari). A couple of corners later Jarno Trulli (Toyota) put a wheel on the grass and spun into Adrian Sutil (Force India). The latter also took Fernando Alonso (Renault) out of the race. Both Trulli and and Sutil were seen arguing after the incident.

Kovalainen made a pit stop for repairs and a re-fuel. Unfortunately the Finn drove off with the fuel rig intact. Fuel was then sprayed on Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari which came in for a new front wing. A dramatic fireball developed at the back of the Ferrari. Raikkonen nearly ended his race and was complaining about burning eyes (sensation felt after getting in contact with petrol) even after the race.

After 71 laps, Mark Webber from Red Bull emerged victorious. BMW’s Robert Kubica and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton joined the podium as well. Vettel managed fourth place while Button settled with fifth. Rubens Barrichello who started from pole only managed to finish in eight place following a puncture that forced the Brazilian to pit with just a couple of laps remaining.

Along with the Driver’s Championship, Button’s British-based Brawn GP team that took over operations from Honda at the beginning of year also secured the Constructor’s Championship. The Formula 1 circus now heads to the United Arab Emirates for the season finale on November 1st.

The Litespeed-managed Lotus F1 Racing team has released two photos of a scale model of its first Formula 1 racer that’s currently being used for windtunnel testing. There is no name for the new car yet, but more details about the team were revealed in an interview with technical director Mike Gascoyne provided along with the press release.

According to Gascoyne, development has already been on-going for a few months before the team entry was confirmed in mid-September 2009. Gascoyne is currently in Malaysia interviewing potential employees for technical roles. They are also recruiting various other personnel in the fields of admin, marketing and PR. A full list was published as a full page ad in the papers recently.

The team will be based in the RTN facility in UK initially but as previously mentioned the ultimate goal is to have a full technical facility at the Sepang circuit. However, when that happens a small UK base will still be kept to give the team a logistical advantage when the team is racing in Europe.

Lotus F1 aims to get the car up and running for a roll-out by mid-February 2010 in prepration for the Bahrain race in mid-March. The car is currently being developed with a few technical partners including Fondtech for aerodynamics, Xtrac for transmissions, and Cosworth for engines. Malaysian companies are involved in certain areas including some aspects of engineering as well as composites (very likely to be Composites Technology Research Malaysia).

There are rumours currently afloat about Toyota’s Jarno Trulli joining the new team. Trulli will likely take the senior role and be complemented by a more junior driver, possibly a Malaysian. Everyone seems to be looking at Fairuz Fauzy right now.

Alot are of the opinion that F1 technology rarely makes it into road cars because of the completely different way of doing things when it comes to racecars, but with F1’s budget cuts forcing components to last longer (i.e. more than just one race), R&D to improve durability can definitely benefit road car usage, or at least transmission maker Xtrac strongly thinks so.

Xtrac is a name that alot of you will probably be familiar with. They make the 4WD gearbox that goes into our Proton Satria Neo Super 2000 rally car. According to Xtrac’s chief metallurgist Steve Vanes, the latest specification of steel being required to significantly extend the life of a Formula One gearbox could be broadly applied to a wide range of vehicles to improve their driveline reliability and efficiency.

“From a cultural point of view the world of motorsport has changed considerably, and the costs and relevance of its technology to wider consumer markets has become more important. For example, the trend towards engine downsizing in road vehicles to improve fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions can be complemented by the downsizing of transmissions, requiring the intervention of new technologies and manufacturing processes for stronger and more lightweight components,” says Vanes.

According to Vanes, the recent cost-cutting measures in F1 have lead to the development of a brand new specification of steel necessary to extend the service life of gears, shafts, bearings, dog rings, hubs, selector forks, final drives and other highly stressed driveline components. Vanes claims that until recently the typical life of a set of gears for a main shaft was approximately 350,000 cycles. To quantify the improvement that this new Xtrac steel development as the result of F1 R&D is an extension of typical service life to more than 2.5 million cycles.

Renault has quickly found a replacement for Fernando Alonso, who will be moving to Ferrari next year. Filling Alonso’s seat will be Robert Kubica, who will be leaving his current BMW Sauber F1 Team.

“I am very happy I will be joining Renault in the 2010 season. I feel I have a special connection with this team because in 2005 I won the World Series by Renault. This gave me the chance to test with the team in Barcelona, which led to my debut in Formula One,” said Kubica. He was testing for the team back in 2005.

“We are very excited to have signed Robert with the Renault F1 Team starting next season. Ever since Robert made his Grand Prix debut in 2006, he has been on our radar as one of the most naturally talented drivers of his generation and he has delivered on that promise so it’s great to have secured him in one of our cars next season,” said Renault’s new team principal Bob Bell.

BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen said: “Robert played an important role for us – and certainly we did the same for him. He joined us in 2006 as a test driver with no Formula One experience, and then we promoted him to be one of our team’s drivers during that season. He never let us down and, with our first pole position in 2008 in Bahrain and first victory the same year in Canada, he set milestones in the history of our team. We are grateful for his strong and constant performances and wish him all the best for his future.“

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.