james Allen

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Ferrari meanwhile took the unusual step of not allowing the drivers to speak to the media, something which has incensed the Italian and Spanish media in particular. This has sparked talk of the team being in ‘crisis’, with a car which devours its tyres, has no grip on corner exits and Fernando Alonso’s patience running out. It’s a situation which needs to be very carefully managed with a 20 race season lasting 10 months in prospect.

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/03/ba...f-theatre/


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Barcelona Day 4: Ferrari “Disappointed” as testing comes to an end


The winter testing season is at an end; the next time most F1 teams will fire up the engines will be on Friday morning practice in Melbourne less than two weeks from now.

And the picture that has emerged from testing is pretty much as it has seemed throughout the month of track action: Red Bull lead the way and are likely to fight against McLaren initially, while a group of four or five teams look quite close together on pace with Mercedes and Lotus at the head, Force India in the mix and Ferrari struggling.

Ferrari has looked in trouble ever since the car started running, but this week confirmed that the technical team has yet to get on top of its complex new car and with Red Bull unveiling a B Spec car which has a radical exhaust concept, something Ferrari could not get to work, the feeling of drift has been exacerbated.

Asked if he felt Ferrari were contenders for a podium in Melbourne, Ferrari technical director Pat Fry said, “At the moment I’d say no.

“We are disappointed with the performance level seen at these tests and I think we have a lot of work ahead of us. It will only be in Melbourne that we will get a clear answer as to whether we have to be very disappointed or just a little, how far we really are off the front runners and consequently how much ground we have to make up to get there.

“Clearly the decision relating to the exhausts that we took last week meant we took a few steps backwards in terms of development. How much? Difficult to say right now.”

The final day was short on revelations: Red Bull had some problems following an off for Sebastian Vettel which damaged the front wing, and did not at any stage of this test go for a flat out qualifying lap, preferring to run with fuel, as it has all winter.

Meanwhile HRT, which has missed all the testing due to problems passing crash tests and preparing the cars, will at least do a filming day at Barcelona on Monday, which is allowed under FIA rules.

Lotus once again went for a time, Kimi Raikkonen signing off his first winter test season since 2009 with the fastest time,

“The fastest time at the end of the day looks good but no-one will know how fast any of the cars are until we get to qualifying at Albert Park,” said the 2007 champion. “All the changes we have made over testing have been improving the car, so we’ll have to see what happens in Melbourne in a couple of weeks’ time. I’m feeling positive.”

Lotus team boss Eric Boullier said that after the disappointment of missing the second test due to a construction issue, the third test had been a boost for the whole team, “We’ve been able to confirm that the changes made to the car fixed our front suspension problems. We were confident that the redesign was well conceived and well executed, but we have demonstrated the integrity of the modified part,” he said.

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Marussia has paved the way for a female driver to compete in an official Formula 1 test at the end of the year by signing Spaniard Maria De Villota to a test driver role.

The 32-year-old is the daughter of former F1 driver Emilio de Villota, who made two grands prix starts in the late 1970s, and made her F1 test bow for Lotus Renault at Paul Ricard last year. She has also had race experience in Formula Palmer Audi and the football-themed Superleague.

Marussia team principal John Booth said: “We are pleased to welcome Maria to our test driver programme, which will enable her to be integrated into a Formula One team environment and gain a vast amount of experience that will be useful to her career progression. We will also provide Maria with the opportunity to sample F1 machinery later in the year, further adding to her racing credentials.”

De Villota confirmed that test would come in the young driver sessions at the end season in Abu Dhabi, adding: “I am very happy to be joining the Marussia F1 Team test driver programme. This is a fantastic opportunity to work closely with a Formula One team and gain important experience to help me progress my career, including the chance to drive the new car later in the year at the Abu Dhabi test. I will be joining the team trackside so I’m looking forward to working alongside them at the first race next weekend and this can only help my future ambition to step up to Formula One racing.”
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/03/ma...test-role/

[Alfaster-F1]

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Un fragmento del articulo de Allen.
He puesto con traduccion la parte que habla de comportamiento de neumaticos

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/03/ho...he-season/

Likely tyre performance

Pirelli tyre choice for Melbourne: Soft and Medium.

This is Pirelli’s second season of F1 since returning as sole tyre supplier and the aim for 2012 is to get the tyre compounds closer together in performance than in 2011. Last year the gap was too large, with the result being that at many events teams ran the faster tyre for most of the race and then put on the slower, usually harder, tyre right at the end.

For 2012 Pirelli is aiming for around 0.8s per lap difference between compounds, which would give the teams a number of different strategy options and would mix things up.

The signs from testing are that the soft and medium tyres at this stage are a little too close in performance, possibly under half a second per lap at Albert Park.

The soft is likely to have a maximum range of around 20 laps while the life of the medium will be 22-25 laps. This will be less for the opening stint of the race when the cars are full of fuel.

The new Pirellis offer more rear grip relative to the front tyres than was the case in 2011. The 2012 Pirelli tyres are designed to last longer than last year’s and the drop off in performance isn’t as sudden. The tyre warm-up isn’t quite as fast as last year because of the wider contact patch of the new tyres.

The tyres often experience graining at Albert Park. Graining is where the rubber shears away from the top surface, caused by a high level of sliding at high loads, both lateral and longitudinal. Lateral comes from sliding in corners, longitudinal comes from acceleration and braking.

Temperature has a lot to do with it, probably more than any other factor. If the tyres are being used below their operating range the rubber will be less compliant and will shear off more easily.

The track surface at Albert Park is quite old and has low micro and macro roughness, which basically means that the stones in it are small. The result of its age and smoothness is that the surface is very low grip and this means that the tyres grain laterally here because the car slides in the corners.

One factor of the tyre compounds being close together on performance is that the top teams may no longer be able to get through the Qualifying 1 session on a set of hard tyres. They may need to use a set of softs to be certain of getting through to the next stage. This will have a knock on effect on their tyre choices for the race.


Rendimiento de los neumáticos es probable

Pirelli elección de neumáticos para Melbourne: blando y medio.

Esta es la segunda temporada de Pirelli de la F1 desde que regresó como proveedor único de neumáticos y el objetivo para 2012 es conseguir que los compuestos de neumáticos más juntos en el rendimiento que en 2011. El año pasado la diferencia era demasiado grande, con el resultado de que a los equipos de muchos eventos corrió más rápido de neumáticos para la mayor parte de la carrera y luego poner en el más lento, por lo general más difícil, a la derecha de neumáticos al final.

Para el 2012 Pirelli es el objetivo de alrededor de 0.8s por vuelta de diferencia entre los compuestos, lo que daría a los equipos una serie de opciones estratégicas diferentes y que mezclar las cosas.

Los signos de las pruebas es que los neumáticos blandos y medios en esta etapa son un poco demasiado cerca en el rendimiento, posiblemente menos de medio segundo por vuelta en Albert Park.

El blando es probable que tenga un alcance máximo de alrededor de 20 vueltas, mientras que la vida de la media será 22-25 vueltas. Esta será menos para el primer tercio de carrera de la carrera cuando los coches están llenos de combustible.

El nuevo Pirelli ofrecen un agarre más atrás con respecto a los neumáticos delanteros que era el caso en 2011. Los neumáticos Pirelli 2012 están diseñados para durar más que el año pasado y la caída en el rendimiento no es tan repentino. El neumático de calentamiento no es tan rápido como el año pasado por la zona de contacto más amplia de los nuevos neumáticos.

Los neumáticos a menudo experimentan graining en Albert Park. Veteado es donde el caucho tijeras lejos de la superficie superior, causada por un alto nivel de deslizamiento en las altas cargas, tanto laterales como longitudinales. Lateral viene de deslizamiento en las esquinas, longitudinal viene de aceleración y frenado.

La temperatura tiene mucho que ver con él, probablemente más que cualquier otro factor. Si las llantas están siendo utilizadas por debajo de su rango de operación del caucho será menos compatible y la voluntad de corte con mayor facilidad.

La superficie de la pista en Albert Park es muy antiguo y tiene una baja rugosidad micro y lo macro, lo que básicamente significa que las piedras que son pequeños. El resultado de su edad y suavidad es que la superficie es muy baja adherencia y esto significa que el grano neumáticos lateralmente aquí porque el coche se desliza en las esquinas.

Uno de los factores de los compuestos de neumáticos que son muy juntos en el rendimiento es que los mejores equipos ya no puede ser capaz de obtener a través de la clasificación una sesión en un juego de neumáticos duros. Es posible que necesite usar un juego de blandos para estar seguro de conseguir a través a la siguiente etapa. Esto tendrá un golpe de efecto en sus elecciones de neumáticos para la carrera.

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Who was your driver of the day?

Jenson Button got the better of his McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton in an entertaining season opening grand prix at Albert Park, Melbourne in Australia but who was your driver of the day?

Jenson Button

Began the weekend strongly, topping the times in first practice on Friday. Focused on setting the car up for the race in the next two practice sessions but still delivered an impressive lap in qualifying to make the front row alongside McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Made a good getaway to pass Hamilton into the first corner and then built a comfortable gap at the head of the field. Left the field trailing at the restart after the safety car and controlled the race from then on to secure his third victory in four years at Albert Park.

Sebastian Vettel

Made a mistake in Friday practice, spinning his Red Bull into the gravel and losing vital set-up time. Looked downbeat after qualifying sixth, one spot behind his team-mate Mark Webber, after a scrappy lap on his final run. Made up for that performance with a strong start, passing Webber and then gaining places when Michael Schumacher and Romain Grosjean had their retirements. Kept pace with the leaders and then benefitted from the safety car to leapfrog Hamilton into second, where he stayed for the rest of the race.

Fernando Alonso

Struggled to hide his disappointment during Friday practice when the Ferrari was well off the pace. Qualifying didn’t get much better as he spun off in Q2 to start the race from 12th. The car looked stronger in race, with the Spaniard scything his way through the field. He was up to eighth by lap. Struggled to make the tyres last but got everything he could out of the car and did well to finish fifth.

Kamui Kobayashi

Showed good pace in Friday practice and even finished fastest of all in Q1, but failed to replicate the form and qualified a modest 13th. Avoided Bruno Senna’s spinning Willams at the start, but was hit by team-mate Sergio Perez which damaged his rear wing. Lost out when the safety car came out, but pulled off some good overtaking moves, including one round the outside of Kimi Raikkonen, to rise to ninth. That was improved to sixth when he benefitted from Pastor Maldonado’s crash and then took advantage of a squabbling Nico Rosberg and Sergio Perez.

Kimi Raikkonen

A miscommunication with the team in qualifying meant he failed to make Q2 and started the race 18th. But the Finn’s race was much stronger and he showed that he has lost none of his race-craft skills with some impressive wheel-to-wheel racing. He was up to eighth by lap 14 and then put a stellar move on Kobayashi around the outside of Turn 4. Looked set for 10th place, but Maldonado’s crash on the last lap caused havoc behind him, allowing Raikkonen to benefit and finish seventh.

Sergio Perez

Had a disappointing qualifying session which saw him finish 17th fastest but a gearbox change relegated him five places to 22nd – which was effectively last as the HRTs failed to qualify. Damaged his front wing when he touched team-mate Kobayashi at the start but managed to drive around the problem. Made a one-stop strategy work, which involved him completing a mammoth 34 laps on the soft tyre. Clashed with Nico Rosberg at the end, but held on to salvage eighth.

Pastor Maldonado

Produced one of his best ever qualifying performances to finish seventh fastest and then transferred that form into race pace on Sunday. Put a good move on Romain Grosjean in the early laps and then looked set for sixth place – a points haul which would have bettered Williams’ total for the whole of 2011 – however a mistake on the last lap saw him crash into the wall. Nonetheless, it was a strong performance for both driver and team.

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/03/au...f-the-day/

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Alonso’s “save” highlights Massa’s plight

Race day did not match expectations for the Ferrari team in Australia – it exceeded them. Fernando Alonso’s fifth place finish – essentially the position his Ferrari was in for much of last season in qualifying – was a very strong result from 12th on the grid. It is fair to say that the lowly grid slot was due to Alonso spinning off the track in Part 2 of Qualifying and he would probably have been more like seventh or eighth on the grid in a clean session.

But Alonso’s result also put the spotlight on his team mate’s difficulties this weekend. Felipe Massa had a nightmare weekend of uncompetitiveness, retiring from 13th place after a collision with Bruno Senna. “It couldn’t have gone any worse,” he told the Italian media after the race.

Massa looked uncomfortable on Friday and in qualifying was never on the pace. When Alonso spun off in Q2 he was lying 5th with a 1m 26.494s lap, while Massa at the time was on 1m 27.603. Massa had another run after his team mate’s withdrawal and was still 1.003s slower, qualifying 16th. He got a great start, up to 10th by taking advantage of the chaos in the first turn as Senna and Ricciardo collided, but his race pace was well short of Alonso’s in the opening stint. The Spaniard was into the low 1m 34s by lap three, while Massa took until lap 6 to get to 1m 34.6s. His fastest race lap – 1m 31.940 – was 1.7 seconds slower than Alonso’s (although it was set six laps earlier, so fuel corrected was 1.2 seconds slower).

The discussion throughout the pit lane all weekend was of how Ferrari have stood by their driver despite the results of the last two years. Now again that patience and loyalty is being tested. “We need to stay close to Felipe because it’s clear that he’s under pressure,” said team boss Stefano Domenicali. “I’ve asked his engineers to analyse the data on the car, also to reassure him.”

The Ferrari is a difficult car to drive with a narrow operating window at present. Alonso can deal with this better than Massa, although Alonso had a number of “moments” during the weekend, of which the spin in qualifying was the worst.

Massa is also still struggling to get the tyres to work and in the race was suffering worse tyre degradation than his team mate, which is a sign of not having the car well balanced. This is despite the hiring of Mr Hamashima, formerly technical boss of Bridgestone.

Where does the situation go from here? Massa must quickly regroup and get on top of his problems, clearly. Last year he was able to get away with being over half a second slower than Alonso because the gap back to the next fastest team – Mercedes – was greater than that. This year that part of the grid is much more competitive. Mercedes and Lotus, even Williams and Sauber look to have the pace to vie for the top ten slots, so the difference between the two Ferrari drivers may result in grid slots with a large – and obvious – disparity.

The pressure which Domenicali referred to in Melbourne and which was highlighted pre-season by Ferrari president Montezemolo, is significant. But there is no obvious driver with whom Ferrari might replace him.

Sergio Perez is the closest thing, but he has a Sauber contract and in any case has less than 20 Grands Prix under his belt and that is not Ferrari’s style to go for an inexperienced driver. Mark Webber is the obvious choice for 2013, should Ferrari feel they need to move on.

Nobody wants to see a driver who was so combative in 2008 and so dignified in defeat at the end of that season, suffering like this.

It’s a headache for driver and team management alike.

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/03/al...as-plight/

[Alfaster-F1]

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Free practice on Friday ahead of Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix showed that, once again, the McLarens remain the team to beat. But the Mercedes looks quick too and the Red Bulls’ long run pace hints at the threat they could pose on Sunday, as long as they don’t give up too much ground in qualifying.

And after Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton’s opening round battle in Melbourne, we are set for another one here. In Melbourne Button set up his car with more wing than Hamilton’s to take care of the tyres in the race, while Hamilton took the pole. Here Hamilton will have to be on his guard for whatever plan his team mate is concocting about the best way to tackle this race. It looks like a three stop race, but the two tyre compounds are so close together in performance, there are a number of ways of doing the race strategy.

Lewis Hamilton topped the time sheets in both sessions, his time in FP1 a tenth faster than in FP2, with team mate Jenson Button also up at the sharp end, along with the Mercedes drivers.

Mercedes could challenge McLaren for pole, it seems, thanks to the gain from the passive F Duct and DRS system they have, but their tyre wear again looks more severe than McLarens with the result that their long run times are not as competitive as McLarens’ or Red Bull’s.

In overview, this track demands a car with lots of downforce, there’s less for the driver to do to make a difference than in Melbourne. Also the car has to be well balanced as the track causes significant degradation to the tyres. The afternoon was a session where many drivers were clearly unhappy with the balance of their cars, as we saw a far greater number of drivers coming in and out of the pits than usual for a Friday. Normally we see longer runs. We also saw drivers making use of the new rules which permit teams to use some of their Saturday tyre allocation on Friday. Most drivers used three sets of tyres, although McLaren used four.

Red Bull were pushing hard today, doing a great deal of work in the pits by their standards. Webber was 7th and Vettel 10th, complaining at one point about the balance of the car, calling it hard to drive.

Kimi Raikkonen’s chances of qualifying strongly were hit when he required a gearbox change at the end of the day, so he will take a five place grid penalty.

The Toro Rossos were impressive today, Ricciardo doing competitive times throughout the afternoon and managing to do long runs on both types of tyre. Team Mate Vergne was 8th. They will be worth watching this weekend. Ricciardo scored points in Australia and the pair of them to score more here.

Ferrari were also working very hard; they did back to back tests on a new front wing on Alonso’s car, the two time world champion ending the session 6th having tried two sets of hard tyres and one of mediums. Team mate Massa meanwhile ended up 16th, 1.3 seconds behind Alonso having used only the medium tyre in the afternoon session.

Kamui Kobayashi lost most of the session to a gearbox issue, but managed to get out with 15 minutes remaining.

Heikki Kovalainen also lost time with a hydraulics problem.


http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/03/ma...se-battle/

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Hamilton edges out Button for Malaysia pole as Schumacher comes alive

Lewis Hamilton grabbed his second consecutive pole position of the season at the Malaysian Grand Prix in a closely fought final shootout which saw the top eight cars covered by 0.4 seconds. Hamilton is joined on the front-row by his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, making it consecutive races that they have locked out the front of the grid.

But Hamilton knows only too well that it’s vital that he leads out of the first corner in the race and doesn’t get mugged by Button, as he did in Melbourne.

The threat of the Mercedes was intense throughout the session as Michael Schumacher claimed his first top 3 since 2006. Red Bull found that they were more competitive on the hard tyre than the medium and didn’t have the sweet spot for qualifying.

Mark Webber completed the second row of the grid, although the RB7 race pace is again looking strong as Webber was 0.3 seconds clear in the first part of qualifying on the hard compound tyres. This is the second consecutive race in which Webber has qualified ahead of Sebastian Vettel; the German setting the sixth fastest time, opting to take the hard tyre for his final run. Strategically this gives him more options for tomorrow, as he has saved a new set of soft tyres.

He will begin the race in fifth after Kimi Raikkonen takes his five-place grid penalty for a forced gearbox change. Red Bull’s tactical gamble to split strategies should give both a chance to challenge the front-runners and the long first stint for Vettel on the hard tyre could put him in a good position during the later stints of what is set to be a three-stop race. “Hopefully that will work out. The harder tyre is slightly more durable; it’s just a different strategy,” said Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner.

Before Raikkonen’s penalty we see five World Champions in the top six grid slots. Romain Grosjean and Nico Rosberg were sixth and seventh fastest with the latter forced to do just one flying lap in Q3 as he had to waste a set of tyres in Q2 when Maldonado went off track bringing out yellow flags.

Fernando Alonso put his Ferrari in ninth place, which may allow the Italian squad to breathe a sigh of relief following on from last weeks poor qualifying. However, the gap to the front will be a cause for concern as Alonso was 1.3 seconds off the pace of Hamilton. Felipe Massa showed signs of improvement by qualifying twelfth, moving closer to his team-mate but still missing out on Q3, however a strong showing from Sergio Perez in tenth position is likely to pile even more pressure on the Brazilian who will be starting behind the Williams of Pastor Maldonado that proved a nuisance to Alonso last weekend.

Bruno Senna will start the race in thirteenth ahead of Paul di Resta, Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg as the Force India’s and Toro Rosso’s were unable to match last weeks Q3 pace. Kamui Kobayashi had a difficult session, ending up in seventeenth and 0.6 seconds off his Sauber team-mate. Jean Eric Vergne struggled getting to grips with the scorching Malaysia circuit and could not use his Option tyres to their best, also ending up 0.6 seconds behind his team-mate and has the unwanted title of joining the “new” teams towards the back of the grid.

The final six spots on the grid are to be filled by the pairings of Caterham, Marussia and HRT. Caterham were once again well clear of their chasers, but still have work to do if they hope to break into Q2. HRT will be pleased with today’s efforts as they claimed their place on the grid, beating the 107% barrier by 0.3 seconds.

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/03/ha...mes-alive/