james Allen

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Will the London Grand Prix happen?



A story in the Times today has sent echoes around the world, with the proposal from Bernie Ecclestone to stage a Grand Prix in London around the Capital’s most famous landmarks.

Ecclestone is reportedly willing to pay £35 million of his own money to stage the event, in the city in which he has lived for most of his adult life. It would evoke the magic of street races like Monaco and Singapore.

So what’s behind it?

Last week there was talk that an F1 venue could be built using the Olympic Stadium as its hub. But this idea today originated with Santander UK, who have been working with Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, as well as sports architects Populous to devise a London Grand Prix course, which passes Buckingham Palace, The Houses of Parliament, Hyde Park Corner and other great landmarks.


They have made a CGI film together, which will be launched tonight at an event at the RAC Club in Pall Mall, which I’ll be attending. And you’ll be able to see it here on JA on F1 and elsewhere on the Internet and TV, all being well, later tonight or tomorrow morning.

I’ve had a sneak preview of part of the film and it’s pretty stunning, certainly a very imaginative idea.

It ties in well with the Jubilee celebrations, for which London was the epicentre, and the Olympics and catches that mood of London being the ‘centre of the world’ this summer.

As to whether this race will ever happen, Siverstone has a 17 year contract to host the British Grand Prix, starting 2010, so it would be a second race in the UK.

Ecclestone is apparently sincere in his desire to see his sport hold such a prestigious event in the city he calls home and this exercise is to see what kind of interest there may be from the London Mayor.

Events in the law courts of Germany of course are going on in the background, as explained in another post here.

And promoters from the other F1 venues, which have now formed themselves into an association to fight their corner in a more co-ordinated way in future, might look on with interest at the idea of a race that Ecclestone pays to host, rather than the other way around.




James Allen

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Si lo que dice Allen es cierto, se confirma lo que deciamos de que Valencia sale del calendario. Londres huele al proximo gran premio de Europa...

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/18608243


The F1 2012 season so far: BBC F1 TV and 5 live pundits' view

Formula 1 is having the season of its 62-year life. After a record-breaking seven different winners in the first seven races, fans and pundits alike are trying to take stock of a sport that seems to change on an almost daily basis.

So who better to ask about what is arguably one of the greatest seasons in motorsport history than the very team who travel around the world with the F1 circus?

We put six key questions to the BBC F1 TV and BBC Radio 5 live Formula 1 teams to try to fathom where this season is going - and, most crucially, who will win out in the end.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen

Red Bull have had four poles in eight races

Best team?

BBC F1 chief analyst Eddie Jordan: "Lotus. They have come back from near extinction to fight for wins - arguably they should have had some - and they have both cars fighting for the wins."

BBC F1 technical analyst Gary Anderson: "Williams. They have improved the most on their dismal 2011 performance and with a couple of stronger drivers to back up the team they would be right at the front."

BBC F1 presenter Jake Humphrey: "I think Lotus. They have designed a car that is quick everywhere, they've had the foresight to bring Kimi Raikkonen back to F1, and rightly saw that Romain Grosjean was deserving of a second crack at F1. All they lack is a win!"

BBC F1 commentator Ben Edwards: "All the teams have dropped the ball at some point, but perhaps Red Bull less so than others. The car continues to improve, and four pole positions in eight races is impressive."
Season so far: in numbers

293 - Lotus's Romain Grosjean has completed the fewest laps of anybody on the grid at just 293, following collisions in the first two races which saw him complete just six laps in total.

BBC F1 pit-lane reporter Lee Mackenzie: "As they were on course to win their third race at the weekend, I will say Red Bull."

BBC Radio 5 live F1 commentator James Allen: "A tough one to start with! Red Bull is the car to beat now; it was McLaren early in the season, but they didn't take full advantage. Lotus has really impressed me this year too."

BBC Radio 5 live F1 pit-lane reporter Jennie Gow: "Lotus. They are the most improved this season. You feel as if they are not too far away from making a huge impact on the sport and, in Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, they have two very talented and exciting drivers."
Best driver?

Gary Anderson: "Fernando Alonso. This year has confirmed his talent at being able to grab a situation that would be out of most drivers' reach and bring home a result that the car does not deserve."
Season so far: in numbers

Ben Edwards: "Alonso. Both of his wins in Malaysia and Valencia have depended on talent, skill, judgement and self-discipline. Brilliant."

[color=#FFA500]James Allen: "No doubt about this one. It has to be Alonso. He's leading the championship in a car that has no right to be there. It's getting better, but at the start of the year no-one would have given you tuppence for his chances of leading at this stage. He's really raised his game this year."

Jake Humphrey: "No question. Alonso. The only thing I'm unsure about with Fernando is whether he's the best currently, or the best ever. He is aggressive, smart, brave and incredibly consistent. The other 23 on the grid could all learn something from him."

Jennie Gow: "I never expected to say this but again, Fernando Alonso. I thought his drive in Malaysia (where he won) was a lot to do with luck and good fortune but actually, having seen him win in Valencia he is the most skilful driver I think I have ever seen with my own eyes on a track."
Best race?

Eddie Jordan: "Valencia - it had everything. Mark Webber's drive from 19th to fourth; Sebastian Vettel retiring from the lead after an imperious drive; Pastor Maldonado taking Lewis Hamilton out right at the end of the race, Michael Schumacher's first podium after his comeback. Entertaining and surprising."
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Ferrari's Fernando Alonso celebrates in front of the Spanish fans

F1: European Grand Prix highlights from Valencia

Ben Edwards: "Difficult to call but I'll go for Valencia as it had a bit of everything - great overtakes, the drama of breakdowns, spectacular accidents and Michael Schumacher's podium."

Jake Humphrey: "Remarkably, Valencia. I never thought I'd say that, but I've had many texts and emails from people saying it was the best race they'd ever seen. Cars retiring, Webber's remarkable drive through the field, Lewis's late crash and Fernando's emotional win... an amazing afternoon."

Lee Mackenzie: "Who would imagine Valencia would be considered along with Malaysia? But I will say Valencia for the drama."

Jennie Gow: "Valencia. For what has become a notoriously 'boring' circuit with almost no overtaking chances, we saw ducking, diving, highs and lows. It had it all. Even team personnel who have been in the paddock for 30-plus years said it was one of the best ever."
Best single moment?

Eddie Jordan: "Maldonado being caught by Alonso in the closing stages of the race in Barcelona but pulling away from him to win Williams's first victory for eight years."
Season so far: in numbers

4 - The number of technical failures Schumacher has had this season after eight races, one more than Charles Pic and at least two more than anyone else on the grid.

Lee Mackenzie: "Maldonado winning in Barcelona but closely followed by Schumacher's pole that never was in Monaco."

Jake Humphrey: "The moment Maldonado crossed the line in Barcelona to, finally, give Williams another win. I spent time on the Saturday chatting to Frank Williams and he was hopeful, if not confident, that Pastor could turn pole to a win. However, it was sheer domination from a much-loved team."

James Allen: "Probably Barcelona and Williams winning a race again after seven years. It was great to see the team back on form, even if the celebration was spoiled by a pit fire after the race."
Who's been a disappointment?

Eddie Jordan: "Jenson Button, Felipe Massa, and all three of the back teams - Caterham, HRT and Marussia."
Season so far: in numbers

155 - The number of podiums Michael Schumacher has scored in his career following his third place finish at the European Grand Prix in Valencia this month.

Gary Anderson: "Button and Massa. If you look at their best time of each race weekend and average it over the first eight races for each of these drivers compared with their respective team mates, they are both over 0.5 seconds slower, not good enough if you are to challenge for the constructors' championship."

Jake Humphrey: "Button. If he hadn't won in Australia his season would look utterly dreadful at this point. It's not good enough, and his McLaren team and the fans need him to pick it up. I really like him and would love to see him win his first British GP this weekend."

Ben Edwards: "Jean Eric Vergne. A very gifted driver who made himself look like an amateur in Valencia."

Lee Mackenzie: "Button should be challenging for the title. At the moment that looks unlikely."

James Allen: "Button, clearly. Tipped by many for champion this year, he's scored only six points in the last five races - only 13% of the points scored by team-mate Hamilton and only 8% of Alonso's tally from those five."
Season so far: in numbers

1 - In the last six races, Rosberg has scored the second-most points of anybody, just one point behind the tally of championship leader Alonso.

Jennie Gow: "Massa. He has had a torrid time ever since his crash in Hungary 2009 and I feel it's a real shame that he can't seem to compete at the same level these days. His results in Monaco and Canada were great to see but I fear this could be his last season in F1. I hope he can turn it around and at least finish the year on a high."
Who will win drivers' and team titles?

Gary Anderson: "Vettel and Red Bull. After a slow start, I am afraid to say that Vettel and Red Bull are now finding their feet and unfortunately that is not good news for the other teams."

Jake Humphrey: "Hamilton. He would be the outright leader if the team were better at rewarding his efforts and talent. I have huge confidence in McLaren's ability to develop the car, and Lewis should exploit that."

Ben Edwards: "I'm sticking with my pre-season tip of Hamilton, but McLaren need to up their game. Red Bull for constructors."
Season so far: in numbers

33 - Sebastian Vettel has scored 33 pole positions in his career, the most recent in this month's European Grand Prix, which brings him level with Jim Clark and Alain Prost in joint-third on the all-time list. Only Ayrton Senna (65) and Schumacher (68) have more.

Lee Mackenzie: "Alonso and Red Bull."

James Allen: "Vettel will win the drivers' championship and McLaren will win the constructors."

Jennie Gow: "Red Bull Racing. I fear their development will be too good for any of the other teams to keep up with. However, Alonso seems the man most likely to win the drivers' championship to me. He has been phenomenal this season and the only driver to finish in the points in all the races so far this year.

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Could Alonso and Ferrari have won Silverstone with better race strategy?

The British Grand Prix was a tense strategic battle between Red Bull and Ferrari. They went different ways on race strategy and ultimately Red Bull prevailed, Webber passing Alonso five laps from the end. So could Alonso and Ferrari have held on for the win if they had played the strategy differently? That’s one of the questions we’ll be addressing.

The challenge of McLaren was blunted again, Lewis Hamilton losing ground on his championship rivals while Lotus again scored strongly with both cars as Grosjean did a unique strategy on Sunday.

Background to the race

Heavy rain during practice and qualifying days had left the teams with very little information about how the tyres would perform on race day. There was only the one hour practice on Saturday morning to go on and this showed that on a cold track surface the soft compound tyre was graining badly (the top surface of the rubber rolling up) so Ferrari in particular were wary about it on race day.

The weather was very erratic all weekend and it stayed dry for the race, against expectations. Many teams including Mercedes and McLaren had planned for a wet race. Although the track temperature was shown as above 24 degrees, the ground was still too cold to get the soft tyre working well and the hard compound turned out to be the better race tyre. The key to doing well in the race, then, was to manage the soft tyre.


Could Alonso have won the race with different strategy?

Ferrari and Alonso were wise to start with the hard tyre, as it proved the best tyre to race on. They started out wanting to minimise the time spent on the soft tyre and as soon as the tyre covers came off on the grid it was clear what the pattern of the race would be. Alonso would run two stints on hard tyres and a short final stint on softs, Webber would do the opposite; an opening stint on soft and then two longer stints on hard.

Alonso’s race would be dictated by keeping the soft tyre stint to a minimum at the end, while Webber’s would be all about staying in touch with Alonso in the opening stint and then coming on strong at the end.

Ferrari had another weapon at their disposal; they sent Massa out on softs for the first stint, so they would have data on tyre performance. This turned out to be less helpful than imagined…

Massa’s first stint was 13 laps during which time the team came to believe that the soft tyres were not as bad as expected. This would prove crucial later in the race, as it meant that Alonso committed to a 15 lap final stint on softs. Had he pitted a couple of laps later on each of his first two stops, he probably would not have lost the lead at the end. Without that data they would have been more inclined to stay off the soft tyre and would have done a strategy, which might have brought Alonso the win.

Alonso built a lead of five seconds over Webber and when the Australian stopped on lap 14, Alonso went just one lap longer. His pace on the hard tyres was still good, he set a couple of quick laps before his stop on lap 15, certainly comparable with Webber’s first two or three laps on new hard tyres in the second stint. So there was margin there to play with.

The gap between them was maintained at five seconds throughout the middle stint. Webber pitted again on lap 33, which left him with 19 laps to go to the finish on another set of hard tyres.

Alonso stayed out four more laps, pitting on lap 37 with a lead of four seconds to protect in the final stint. Although Webber had a couple of faster laps than Alonso before the Ferrari stop, Alonso again was able to find speed from the used hard tyres prior to his stop and another lap would have been possible. With two or three more laps in the opening stint and another lap in the second, this would have put him back out on track after a stop on lap 41 with a small margin over Webber, but just 10 or 11 laps to do on soft tyres to the finish. On this basis he would probably have been able to hold onto the lead to the end. Alternatively, he could have done what Hamilton did and run a short middle stint on softs of no more than 10 laps, reacted to Webber’s stop on lap 33 and finished on the same hard tyres as the Red Bull driver.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, especially the day after the Grand Prix when one can look at all the what-ifs. Ferrari and Alonso have done brilliantly to lead the championship at this stage and Silverstone was their strongest points haul of the season, with a fine fourth place for Massa. They move into second place in the Constructors’ Championship.

They have made a few strategic mistakes this season which have cost Alonso points, but on the whole they’ve been consistent in taking their opportunities. However there’s no getting away from the fact that, although their hunch at the start was correct that the hard was the better race tyre, there was definitely a win to be had on Sunday with a slightly more imaginative approach to the soft tyre in race strategy.


Doing things differently: Hamilton and Grosjean

There were two other interesting strategies on Sunday from McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Lotus F1’s Romain Grosjean, which also shed light on what might have been for Alonso.

Both teams decided early on, like Ferrari that the hard tyre would be the faster race tyre. Hamilton, like Alonso, started on it, while Grosjean was involved in a first lap incident with Vettel and had to pit on lap two. He went to the hard tyre and then did the whole race on it, with only one further stop, So essentially he did a one stop strategy. He did a 24 lap stint and a 26 lap stint on it and was competitive. He was 22nd and last on lap 3, but came through to finish 6th behind his team mate Raikkonen, who had raced with Vettel and Massa. On lap 50, his tyres 24 laps old, he set the second fastest lap of the race.

It was another stunning performance by Grosjean and an illustration of the pace and durability of the hard Pirelli tyre, as well as the Lotus’ ability to find great race pace. With better qualifying performance, they would have a car capable of winning races.

Hamilton went for a hard/soft/hard strategy and did a long first stint, which appeared to have got him into a position to race Grosjean for sixth. He got the soft tyre out of the way with a short middle stint, but he didn’t have the pace in the final stint and faded. McLaren have problems balancing front and rear tyre temperatures and it’s costing them badly.



http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/07/co...-strategy/

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una foto preciosa ¿Quien seran esos niños privilegiados?,la carita del niño no tiene precio

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TOTO Wolff has increased his influence over the Williams F1 team by stepping up to an executive position on the board.

The Austrian, who has been a minority shareholder of the company since 2009, will “assist” Sir Frank Williams in his role as team principal.

Clearly over time he has come to gain Williams’ trust and as the company changes, with Patrick Head retiring and anointed successor Adam Parr being moved on, Wolff will understudy Williams, who is now 70 years old. One of his tasks will be to find strong partners to take the team forwards. It is over-reliant on the money from Venezuelan oil company PDVSA at present.

It is very clear when you visit the Williams team’s motorhome, that Wolff is already a central figure. Together with his wife Susie, he works the room methodically and spends a lot of time with sponsors and prospective sponsors.

Parr was the CEO of the business until his departure earlier this year. An abrasive figure, it is believed that Bernie Ecclestone was keen not to have to deal with him any longer and with Wolff also expanding his influence, Williams changed course and parted ways with the Cambridge graduate, who he had anointed as his successor.

“Toto’s new role, working closely alongside myself, is about Williams looking forward and managing the successful running of the company, ” Williams, said. “I am looking forward to our new working relationship and I have every belief that this partnership will help take Williams F1 from strength to strength.”

Toto Wolff, said: “It’s a great honour for me to be assisting and supporting Sir Frank in his role as Team Principal at Williams. I have been a shareholder in the business since 2009 and I am really looking forward to being able to take my responsibilities to a new level. I know that together we will work tirelessly to make the Group and team as successful as it can be.”

Fuente

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