The Official 2013 F1 Thread. Spoilers possible!

I use F1 pit stop videos to teach the concept of quick changeover for manufacturing processes. They are a perfect example of the principles of SMED.

One stopper for Lotus In Spain?

Thus far, the Medium/Hard compound combination has been very kind to Vettel and Red Bull Racing. This may change this weekend in sunny Spain. Lotus may be the team with the most to gain from the new compound.


Tuesday, May 7, 2013



By Ernie Black






Kimi Raikkonen using his harder compounds at Bahrain. (Abdrew Ferraro / LAT Photo)




May 7th, 2013 (F1plus/E. Black).- Below you will find a chart showing the first four rounds, compounds used and winners. As you can see, the medium/hard compound seems to have historically favoured Vettel and Red Bull so far this season. We also know that Lotus has been very gentle on its tyres this season. The E21 is setup perfectly to take advantage of the tyres most in race trim. Pirelli Director of Motorsports Paul Hembery offered this, “We’d expect the medium tyre to still be significantly faster and this is the one that the teams are likely to qualify on, whereas the hard is likely to be the preferred race tyre.”.
It goes without saying that everyone on the grid will be striving for victory this weekend. Having said that, there seems to be a pecking order which would indicate that Vettel, Raikkonen and Alonso all have a better chance than most at the win. All of which desperately want, if not need, the victory. Vettel wants to extend his 10 point lead over Kimi, Kimi wants to overhaul Vettel and extend his 20 point lead on Alonso, and the Spaniard needs the victory just to stay in touch with the top three.
Alonso currently sits fourth in the standings a massive 30 points behind the leading Vettel. While we are still only in round number five of nineteen on the calendar, it is still a huge gap to close. Many are focusing on Alonso as this is his home race and surely, emotions will be running high. Hamilton who is third in the points is all but discounted as his Mercedes has been less than kind to it's Pirelli boots this season. Although the German team claims it is on top of the issue, we have yet to see the proof.
On the opposite side of this issue sits Lotus. Lotus, especially with Kimi at the wheel, as mentioned, has been very gentle on its rubbers. The new Pirelli compound could play right into the Enstone team's hands. Some of us are expecting Kimi to qualify well on the medium compound tyres but not spectacularly. If Kimi is able to make a clean run and go a bit longer on the mediums, he could get away with a one stop strategy on the hards. It's a bit of a stretch for a 66 lap race, but if anyone can pull it off, it would be Lotus and Kimi.

Five things to watch out for at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix

Barcelona poses different challenges for the teams but not all eyes will be on the racing, we take a look at the stories which will be grabbing the headlines

Tuesday, May 7, 2013
By Rebecca Creed




Romain Grosjean, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull, McLaren and Sauber.



May 6th, 2013 (F1plus/Rebecca Creed).- Before racing begins in Spain we take a look at five of the things you should be watching out for. From the dominance of Red Bull and return of Romain Grosjean to some of the interesting updates teams are bringing to the European races these are the five key stories to look out for this weekend:

Dominant Red Bull
In Bahrain Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull appeared to take charge of both the drivers and constructors championship with a dominant win. Vettel became the first driver to secure multiple wins in 2013 and his unchallenged win could signal the beginning of a winning streak similar to 2012. Vettel has extended his lead in the drivers championship by 10 points whilst Red Bull lead Lotus in the constructors by 16 points.

Romain Grosjean
Bahrain signalled a return to form for Romain Grosjean. His impressive drive which saw him secure a third place podium finish, showed he has grown as a driver and got rid of the crashes and near-misses he was blighted with last season. He knows this year could be make or break and his driving in Bahrain has shown he certainly means business in 2013. He seems to be relishing the chance to challenge teammate Kimi Raikkonen and perform in a car capable of winning a championship.

Sauber’s rear wing
Sauber will be testing a new rear wing at the Spanish Grand Prix in an attempt to improve their fortunes. Sauber have only scored five points at the first four races- all at the hands of Nico Hulkenberg. The team has shown none of the pace that last years car had and have seen themselves struggling to challenge fellow midfield team Force India. The team have struggled with the rear stability of the C32 and the team hopes the updates to the car will help correct these issues- the team is aiming to finish with both cars in the points at this race.

McLaren
Bahrain signalled a run of better performances for McLaren. They secured their first double points finish with Sergio Perez sixth and whilst Button finished tenth. The pair had battled closely in the initial laps and Button was not always happy with Perez’s driving. The team will also have some upgrades for Spain although Button has dismissed how crucial they will be but said he hoped it would move them closer to the cars in front.

FIA
Electronic issues with the cockpit warning system should be fixed in Spain following an FIA upgrade. The first four races of the 2013 season have been affected by a telemetry link between race control and the cars not working. This left race control unable to automatically disable DRS. The issue also saw drivers left without warning lights in the cockpit to reaffirm yellow flags. This weekends race in Barcelona should not be affected by the issues.

coolness!

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Technology Explained: F1 fuel systems



FACT!
At 18,000rpm – before the limiter kicks in – the fuel injector is fired once every 6.6ms for a duration of 2.7ms at full throttle. The fuel delivered by each injection event is 0.049cc, approximately the same volume of venom in a snakebite. However the fuel used by the engine at full throttle in the same conditions is between 3.5L/min and 4L/min depending on ambient conditions, about half as much as a normal power shower dispenses during your daily shower!


:eek1

LINK to article

Very impressive, but considering in Indycar we had only 6 guys, had to fuel the car, and could not cross the wall until the car was at a complete stop, less than 15sec isn't bad either!?

Yeah, F1 makes other series look bad, but in reality they use more bodies under more liberal rules. The number of people on a F1 pit gang is amazing.

That said, I think it's very cool that the wrench guys now try to engage the new tire even as it's in mid-air, before it's ever affixed to the wheel hub.

The biggest delay I see from the quickest teams is how long it takes them to release the car once the tires are on. Ferrari often have a small pause, which kills their time. Maybe they're still thinking about this?

It's interesting when you compare that to the documentary on building the Ford Cosworth how far all aspects of the process has come.

James Allison departs Lotus F1


Speculation around the departure of James Allison started earlier on this year when Paddy Lowe left the same Technical Director position at McLaren. The Woking based outfit subsequently moved Tim Goss into the role and the speculation died down. Allison has been courted by many teams up and down the grid looking to secure his services with Lotus having somewhat of a great run under his direction.

LINK

And there went the championship

pre race photo bomb tech Thursday..... bandwidth beware

old & new engine covers at Ferrari





Caterham getting updates to the front wing (too many to count!)



Sauber front wing details



Red Bull non-blown wheel nuts now?



you can just see a wing sprouting on the new (lower) Lotus nose



found a close-up

Ferrari trying to get around strict aero-test regs?



:eek1

new sauber nose?

Alonso's sidepods looking a bit different than Massa's

Alonso:



Massa:

Some interesting stuff from practice 2.

Sam Michael explained that the call on when to pit doesn't come from anyone at the track. All data and video (including team-only cameras) are relayed to Woking, and it's the big brains (and computers) at Woking that do the math and decide when the cars should pit. I had no idea tha the team HQ had that much immediate influence on the running of the race.

Matchet had some fascinating speculation about why technical director James Allison is off the Lotus team. The guy's well respected and the team has obviously progressed under his watch. So why is he out? And why was Lotus' press release so curt? Matchett thinks it might be because Allison himself got fed up with how the team planned to spend its (relatively) small budget. So he quit in a disagreement over strategy.

Sure looks like Red Bull and Ferrari are the cream of Catalunya.

Not bad, but Lotus, and especially Mercedes, put up great showings in Qualifying.

Yes indeed. Shows how misleading Friday can be.

Matchett was saying that Mercedes have their rear suspension cranked down to get heat in the tires for qualifying. But that over longer stints in a race, that same setup will severely degrade the tires.

Catalunya typically favors the pole sitter. But if Mercedes has greater tire wear than the other contenders, then maybe this is the year a non-pole sitter wins the race. My hope is that Vettel can't pass Rosberg early and is within a second of the car behind him when DRS opens up on lap 3. That way he can be passed and shoved a bit further down the field when Rosberg's tires die.

What a day today!!! Epic!

Great pics,that stuff is amazing!

Nice to see Alonso win another one (actually, anyone but Vettel).

I love the technology of F1 and the impressive speed of the cars but this, imho, is right on the nose. From the Guardian

Once again, though, it was a boring race. Formula One these days is all about finding out who is the best slow driver in the world*, as conserving tyres has become the most important issue.
It has always been important. But now the teams and the drivers are necessarily obsessive about it because they have to work with the rapidly disappearing rubber they have been given.
It would be much better, surely, to race properly from start to finish, with better tyres and fewer pit stops, even if that does come at the risk of the occasional procession.

The start of the race is as exciting as ever. And then you can switch off until the last 15 minutes. You can spend the 90 minutes between the start and the finish watching a football match.


* My emphasis.

The cars are still not passing on track, it's all pit strategy to gain places. It's about time they banned real time telemetry and no-more factories running scenario's and then directing the trackside team. Once the race is on, the driver needs to handle everything except for the occasional pit board. And for God's sakes, give them rubber that has a chance of lasting a race.