Archive for Formula 1

Formula One has gone through various changes over the past few years and as a new enthusiast such as myself it may be a little hard to keep up with all the changes such as traction contol, KERS, wing shapes and sizes, and etc. Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing dissects the new Formula One rulebook for the 2009 race year and simplifies it for us all! The video is also a teaser of sorts for the new Red Bull Renault RB5 Formula One car. It’s a 2 minute and 11 second video so you can probably sneak it in before the boss comes in or during lunch time or something, enjoy watching it!

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Here’s more details on the upcoming USF1 team! It seems that Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson have confirmed that they’re up to something and were actually surprised that their plans have been under the wraps for several years now. Well, not exactly completely under the wraps, since there was talk of these guys talking to Honda sometime last year, but still, many details have only just recently surfaced.

There is now talk that the team will be making the Charlotte region its home, where the Concord $40 million Windshear race-car testing tunnel is located, and that details on the new USF1 team might surface on the 24th of February 2009. A secondary base will be located in Europe, likely in northern Spain.

As for the drivers? The rumoured duo is a male and female team comprising of American ex-Toro Rosso driver Scott Speed and everyone’s favorite race car driver turned model Danica Patrick, motorsport’s very own Maria Sharapova. Other potentials include Conor Daly, son of former F1 driver Derek Daly and Josef Newgarden.

Peter Windsor said it has not been easy raising money for the team in a recession such as this but the team will adapt to the changing times much like how FIA is adapting F1 rules. He also added that F1 is primarily an entertainment business so every aspect of USF1 will reflect that, which probably explains the extreme appeal of Danica Patrick as a driver – tons of viewers not even interested in F1 could tune in just to see her strut her self before and after the race! In fact, Ken Anderson says Danica is “great and gets alot of press”.

Formula One has generally been a very multi-national motorsports event – teams are run like businesses and you sign up the best drivers and parts you can afford. A1 actually differentiated itself from F1 by having country-based teams, although they may like our A1 Team Malaysia be managed by foreigners. The Force India F1 team is one recent “country”-based team, though it looks like it’s only in ownership as the drivers (German Adrian Sutil and Italian Giancarlo Fisichella) and management team are all foreigners.

Here comes another new F1 team – USF1, with the tagline “Made in America”. They plan to use American drivers and American engines and chassis development. They’ve also reportedly signed up for the new Windshear wind tunnel in North Carolina for R&D. The US doesn’t even have their own F1 race (the US GP ended in 2007). Do Americans even like motorsports that aren’t in run a straight line or an oval?

Not much else is known about the team, but a few key people are said to be associated – Peter Windsor (uh, a sports commentator), and Ken Anderson. Those who follow F1 news may remember this news piece sometime in mid-2008 about Ken Anderson talking to Honda about setting up an American F1 team. Is this a completely new team, or a repackaged and rebranded Honda F1 Team?

Has Honda finally found a buyer for their F1 team?

Track lap comparisons between Formula One cars and lesser track and road cars have been done to death now (here is an older version of the McLaren F1 car versus Mercedes road car etc), and even this video is 2 years old but it’s one of the more fairly updated comparisons, as one of the cars that’s pit against the F1 car is the new W204 C-Class in C 350 form. The other two cars are the Mercedes-Benz CLK 63 AMG Black Series and the C-Class DTM race car. The Formula One car is the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-22 piloted by Fernando Alonso. Watch the action after the jump.

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This is the Williams-Toyota FW31, the AT&T Williams contender for the 2009 Formula One season. The team says this new car is the first major clean-sheet design in the past 30 years, mainly thanks to the massive changes in the sport’s technical and sporting regulations. The technical regulation changes mainly focus on reducing the role of aerodynamics and making overtaking easier, while the sporting regulations changes mainly focus on increasing racecar reliability and reducing competition costs.

According to Technical Director Sam Michael, the new aerodynamic regulations will have the most impact on lap times this year, especially in the first two thirds of the season. Teams will have to find the optimum weight distribution to maximize the performance of the new slick tyres. He also added that KERS could be worth between 2/10ths and 3/10s of a second per lap. KERS would not have such a big effect at first but later once aero performance between the teams converge, KERS will become more important as a differentiator.

Check out a hi-res gallery of the car after the jump.

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The new BMW Sauber F1.09 Formula One car was unveiled in Valencia, and Robert Kubica was the first to take the car out for a spin at the Spanish circuit. Like its competitors, the new F1 regulations have ruined its aesthetics. The 3-piece front wing stretches across the full width of the car while the rear wing is now slimmer and is unusually high. The front axle has been modified and the rear axle is a new design.

“We have set ourselves the task of further improving our performance relative to the rest of the field. The 1-2 in Canada and a total of eleven podium finishes in 2008 set an exacting standard. In 2009 we are looking to maintain our first-class reliability record while at the same time enhancing our performance levels so that we can be at the front of the pack on a consistent basis. We are aware that we are aiming extremely high. This is the final step in our development, and that’s generally the hardest one to take,” said BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen.

The new car will also have the KERS system, which was developed in Munich under the watch of Markus Duesmann, Head of Powertrain. It isn’t quite ready yet but is expected to be ready by the Melbourne race. Chassis development was the responsibility of Walter Riedl along with his technical team based in Hinwil, Switzerland.

The first shake-down comprised of 73 laps and went smoothly without a hitch. Kubica said they’ve already learned alot about how the car is responding to setup changes, but there was a slight lack of grip than usual despite the slick tyres because there was only one car on the track, so it wasn’t sufficiently warmed up. The car will continue testing in Valencia until Saturday.

Look after the jump for a video of the unveiling and the maiden lap.

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The BMW Sauber F1 Team has released a teaser video of its yet to be unveiled BMW Sauber F1.09 race car. Brace yourselves for yet another ugly machine when the car is actually unveiled. The team seems to be presenting the online unveiling teaser in 3 parts, and this is the first video. The teams that have revealed their 2009 race contender so far are Ferrari’s Ferrari F60), Panasonic Toyota’s Panasonic Toyota TF109), the Mercedes McLaren MP4-24 and the Williams-Toyota FW31 from AT&T Williams.

Check the video out after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of VIDEO: BMW Sauber F1.09 Teaser Part 1/3

The second car manufacturer to reveal their 2009 Formula One car is Toyota, and here is their new TF109. Like the Ferrari F60 that was revealed a few days ago, the TF109 features a huge front wing and a small and tall rear wing. It measures 4,636mm long, 950mm tall, 1,800mm wide and it weighs 605kg including driver and camera.

The racer’s 2.4 liter (2,398cc) V8 engine uses Esso lubes and fuel, and puts out approximately 740 horsepower and revs all the way up to 18,000rpm, as required by FIA rules. Apparently the KERS system will not be available at the start of the season.

The TF109 has a huge task ahead of it, as the team hopes for the car to give it it’s first ever win, something that the previous car (and drivers) unfortunately have not yet managed to do. The TF109 will be piloted by Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock, Kamui Kobayashi as the reserve driver.

While Honda has decided to opt out of F1 entirely for now, even though Toyota is going on with its participation, it is cutting down on costs here and there. For example, there was no launch ceremony for this new car, instead it was revealed on the internet in a virtual launch. Check out a photo gallery of the new car after the jump, as well as a video of the Toyota TF109 F1 car’s premiere.

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The new Ferrari F60 is here, Ferrari’s new contender for the 2009 Formula One racing season, making Scuderia Ferrari the first team to unveil their 2009 race car, showing just how eager they are to wrestle the World title back from McLaren. The F60 name is a homage to Ferrari’s 60th consecutive season competing in the Formula One championship, which is basically right from the start, and is the only team to do so for each and every season.

The car looks bizarre as usual, as will all the 2009 race cars, but the car’s saving grace is its sexy red colour. The odd looks are thanks to the 2009 regulations on aerodynamics. We can spot the 2009 rules on the photos – the long front wheel, a short and high rear wing, sidepod-mounted mirrors, and slick Bridgestone tyres. What’s out of sight is the Kinetic Energy Recovery System developed together with Magneti Marelli, a refined suspension system, and a new Brembo brake system.

The large front wing has a flap that is driver-adjustable to reduce the loss of front downforce when following other cars. Hopefully this will promote overtaking.

“I am excited but also happy to take it onto the track for the first time. With all the new legislation I was expecting a different car, like 10 years ago with the huge spoilers, but I was surprised. I found the new F60 to be nice and small like an F3 car and nice-looking,” said Filipe Massa, Ferrari’s Brazilian driver.

This year’s season will begin down under at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, on the 29th of March 2009.

Look after the jump for more photos from the F60’s unveiling.

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If everything goes as planned, Formula One teams will have the option of using a standard low-cost (relatively) engine and transmission package in 2010 by Cosworth and two UK-based transmission specialists, Xtrac and Ricardo. The cost of buying this Cosworth engine and transmission combo is apparently going to be priced at less than half the cost of buying a 2008 Ferrari customer engine.

“We have completed the tendering process and are now in exclusive negotiations with Cosworth, together with Xtrac and Ricardo, to supply a complete Formula One powertrain starting in 2010. The engine will be a current Formula One engine [specification] while the transmission will be state-of-the-art and a joint effort by two companies that already supply most of the grid. The cost to each team taking up this option will be an up-front payment of $2.45 million, and then $8 million per season for each of the three years of the supply contract. This price is based on four teams signing up and includes full technical support at all races and official tests, plus 18,600 miles of testing. The annual cost will fall if more teams take up the option, for example to $7.29 million per team with eight teams participating. The cost will be less if less than 18,600 miles of testing is required. Neither the engine nor the transmission will be badged,” wrote FIA president Max Mosley to all Formula One teams (read the full letter after the jump).

Looks like the cars will be as ugly as hell on the outside and monotonous on the inside. Things may go back to normal in 2013, at least in the engine department.

The Cosworth contract is for 2010 to 2012. The plan is that beginning 2010, if a team does not want to use this engine it will have to build an identical engine themselves or use their existing 2.4 liter V8 engines detuned to match the Cosworth engine. But the only choice will be in the engine department, all transmissions will have to be the standard Xtrac/Ricardo transmission.

Needless to say, the manufacturer-backed teams are not very happy with this. It severely limits the areas where a manufacturer can be innovative and this may limit the progress of such innovations making their way into road cars. But nevertheless, F1’s idea is to help the less well-to-do teams survive the current bad economy.

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