james Allen

[Alfaster-F1]

Red Bull Racing boosted by title sponsorship deal with Infiniti



A week after celebrating its third consecutive Constructors’ Championship, Red Bull Racing has today announced that its partner Infiniti is to become the title sponsor in 2013.

With the global economy still not recovered from the financial crisis of the late 2000s, there are only four title sponsors currently among the 12 teams on the grid. This is quite a change from ten years ago.

This latest move is significant as it means that less of the total budget, one of the highest in F1, is paid by the parent drinks company. It also shows that other brands can benefit from association with the team, even though the Red Bull brand appears so dominant.

The relationship with Nissan’s premium car brand is also interesting as it provides Red Bull not only with cash, but also with technical resources.

One of Red Bull’s objections to the cost restriction plans the other teams want to bring into force is that they think it is impossible for the FIA to police what value of resources teams like Mercedes get from the main car company.

Red Bull’s chief technical officer Adrian Newey welcomed the opportunity to work more closely with Infiniti, particularly with the new generation 2014 hybrid engined cars in prospect,

“Having a committed technical partner like Infiniti gives us a great platform for working together on technical projects, such as the Energy Recovery Systems for the 2014 season,’” he said.

Team boss Christian Horner added: “Red Bull Racing and Infiniti have been working on a number of initiatives since the start of our relationship in March 2011. During that time, Infiniti has demonstrated significant technical prowess and I’ve been impressed by the depth of the wider engineering capabilities of the Nissan Motor Company.

“In terms of marketing, Infiniti has leveraged their involvement with Red Bull Racing and Formula One very effectively and has become well known in a short space of time. These two attributes are what makes Infiniti the ideal title and technical partner for Red Bull Racing.”

* To Keep up with all the latest F1 news put this link in Favourites on your browser http://connect.jamesallenonf1.com/f1-website-news/

[Alfaster-F1]

Vettel Becomes Triple World Champion As Button Takes Brazilian Victory



Sebastian Vettel has become only the third man in history – and the youngest – to claim three consecutive Formula One World Championship titles after an exhilarating season finale in Brazil, which saw Jenson Button claim victory.

Vettel overcame a first lap collision which dropped him to 17th, three pit-stops and a broken radio which meant the team wasn’t expecting him for one of his stops, to take sixth place and join Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio as triple-consecutive World Champions, as his fellow contender, Fernando Alonso, finished second in the race and three points behind Vettel at the climax.

In a three year spell of dominance, Vettel also becomes only the ninth three times world champion, along with Schumacher, Fangio, Senna, Prost, Piquet, Lauda, Brabham and Stewart.

“Only two guys have done that (three consecutive titles) before, you need to be in the right place at the right time, but I also believe that you make your own luck,” said an exhausted Vettel after the race.

“One of the great things about F1 is you can compare your era to the past. We are in Sao Paulo where Ayrton Senna came from and where he was buried and to come here and win the third time, what we achieved today is what we’ve been working for since I arrived (at Red Bull). You do this job because you love the sport and the excitement. The hardest thing is winning after winning. “

Schumacher, in his final race, took seventh place and the first points scoring finish for Mercedes in six races.

The title looked like it could have been settled on the very first lap, as a slow starting Vettel was squeezed by team mate Webber, then tapped in to a spin by Bruno Senna at Turn Four, who damaged bodywork on the left side of Vettel’s car, then hit the rear-right of the Red Bull quite heavily. At this stage Alonso was already in fourth place, which soon became third and for a short time it seemed that he could turn the pre-race near impossible around.

It looked inconceivable that Vettel would not sustain any serious damage but, like in Abu Dhabi, he was able to keep his cool and make his way from last place and in to the points. For Alonso, all he could do was keep it on the black stuff on his way to second, but it was not enough to stop the charging World Champion from gaining the necessary points.

The race lead changed hands throughout as the McLaren duo of Button and Lewis Hamilton both took turns, but could not keep a hard charging Nico Hulkenberg behind. As others were forced in to a change for intermediate tyres Button and Hulkenberg were the only drivers to stay out and hope for a break in the conditions. This turned out to be the case and they found themselves with a forty-five second lead as those behind had to switch back to dry tyres. However, this lead was to be undone by a Safety Car for debris on the circuit, which bunched the pack up and reopened the possibilities for the World Title.


At this point Hulkenberg lead the race, after taking first place from Button around the outside of Turn one, and began to pull away from the McLaren pairing. The Force India driver excelled in the wet conditions on slick tyres, but after a half-spin he lost the lead to Hamilton and had to hunt him down as the rain once again hardened.

On Lap 52, as Hamilton was caught in traffic behind Heikki Kovalainen, Hulkenberg seized the opportunity and tried to out-brake the race leader, braking late and off the racing line he slid in to Hamilton and forced the Briton out of his final race for McLaren.

Hulkenberg subsequently received a drive-through penalty, dropping him to fifth position and dreams of what could have been in his final race for Force India.

Button was the man to gain from the collision in front and he was able to control the race from then on, taking his third victory of the season and 15th of his career.

Completing the podium was Felipe Massa, in the process helping his team secure second in the Constructors’ Championship, worth an estimated $10 million in extra prize money compared to third. He has had a fine finish to the season and his change in form has been very much key to Ferrari retaining that spot ahead of McLaren. Massa sat comfortably in second as the race neared the end but as expected he let Alonso through to take the maximum points available.

Behind the top three Mark Webber also had an eventful race in a Red Bull car as he ran wide trying to overtake Vettel following the Safety Car and then spun at Juncao. He was able to recover to his most common position, taking his sixth 4th position of the year.

Completing the top ten was Jean-Eric Vergne, Kamui Kobayashi and Kimi Raikkonen. Vergne, in particular, produced a very strong drive from a seventeenth place start to take his fourth points scoring position in his debut year. Kobayashi had battled with Vettel and Massa during the middle phase of the race, but spun after a brush with Schumacher and dropped to ninth. Raikkonen, meanwhile, seemed to get lost after running off the track at Juncao and tried to rejoin through an escape road, which turned out to be a dead-end.

In a crucial race for the three tail-end teams, Caterham were able to clinch tenth position as Vitaly Petrov finished eleventh ahead of Marussia’s Charles Pic. With Pic moving to Caterham in 2013 and a substantial amount of money gained by finishing tenth, today’s result could have been due to savvy gamesmanship by the young Frenchman.

[Additional reporting: Matt Meadows]

* Be sure to order your copy of the new book JA on F1 2012 – The Year of Living Dangerously, with all the race reports from 2012, plus insights, behind the scenes stories and lots of new material.

BRAZILIAN GRAND PRIX, Interlagos, 71 Laps

1. Button McLaren 1h45:22.656
2. Alonso Ferrari + 2.754
3. Massa Ferrari + 3.615
4. Webber Red Bull + 4.936
5. Hulkenberg Force India + 5.708
6. Vettel Red Bull + 9.453
7. Schumacher Mercedes + 11.900
8. Vergne Toro Rosso + 28.600
9. Kobayashi Sauber + 31.200
10. Raikkonen Lotus + 1 lap
11. Petrov Caterham + 1 lap
12. Pic Marussia + 1 lap
13. Ricciardo Toro Rosso + 1 lap
14. Kovalainen Caterham + 1 lap
15. Rosberg Mercedes + 1 lap
16. Glock Marussia + 2 laps
17. De la Rosa HRT + 2 laps
18. Karthikeyan HRT + 2 laps
19. Di Resta Force India + 3 laps

Final Driver Standings
1. Vettel 281
2. Alonso 278
3. Raikkonen 207
4. Hamilton 190
5. Button 188
6. Webber 179
7. Massa 122
8. Grosjean 96
9. Rosberg 93
10. Perez 66

Constructors’ Standings

1. Red Bull-Renault 460
2. Ferrari 400
3. McLaren-Mercedes 378
4. Lotus-Renault 303
5. Mercedes 142
6. Sauber-Ferrari 126
7. Force India-Mercedes 109
8. Williams-Renault 76
9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 26
10. Caterham 0 (11th place best finish)

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/

[Alfaster-F1]

Send in your questions for our panel of Formula 1 insiders



JA on F1 is looking ahead to the festive season and we are preparing a special “12 Questions of Christmas” podcast, which will be published over the Christmas period.

To this end, we would like to invite JA on F1 readers to send in questions on the 2012 season, on the drivers, the teams, the races, the behind the scenes events – whatever has been bugging you or whatever question of interest you’d just like to have answered.

We’ll be assembling a panel of F1 insiders in a studio, representing teams, suppliers, journalists and photographers, to answer the 12 best questions.

So please submit your question in the comments section below.

One of the 12 questions will also be picked at random and the reader who sent it will be sent a free signed copy of the new book “JA on F1 2012 – The Year of Living Dangerously” all about the 2012 F1 season, the races and the behind the scenes stories, which normally sells for £10-99.

It’s a 256 page large format paperback with stunning Darren Heath images and signed copies are available to order via our online shop now.


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[nayram]

Send in your questions for our panel of Formula 1 insiders



JA on F1 is looking ahead to the festive season and we are preparing a special “12 Questions of Christmas” podcast, which will be published over the Christmas period.

To this end, we would like to invite JA on F1 readers to send in questions on the 2012 season, on the drivers, the teams, the races, the behind the scenes events – whatever has been bugging you or whatever question of interest you’d just like to have answered.

We’ll be assembling a panel of F1 insiders in a studio, representing teams, suppliers, journalists and photographers, to answer the 12 best questions.

So please submit your question in the comments section below.

One of the 12 questions will also be picked at random and the reader who sent it will be sent a free signed copy of the new book “JA on F1 2012 – The Year of Living Dangerously” all about the 2012 F1 season, the races and the behind the scenes stories, which normally sells for £10-99.

It’s a 256 page large format paperback with stunning Darren Heath images and signed copies are available to order via our online shop now.


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No merece la pena preguntarle nada a este capullo, yo la le tengo calado. Mira lo que le pregunté ayer:

" 15. Posted By: marian
Date: November 29th, 2012 @ 9:14 pm

I don´t understand why the Toro Rosso team didn´t get a penalty to let Vettel “overtake” their drivers that way (look at what happened in Abu Dhabi or Brazil). It´s not fair play at all." (No entiendo por qué Toro Rosso no recibió una sanción por dejarse "adelantar" por Vettel (mira lo que pasó en Abu Dhabi o Brasil). No es juego limpio en absoluto.)

y lo que me responde:

"James Allen Reply:
November 30th, 2012 at 9:51 am

People used to get out of the way of Ayrton Senna too..." (También se apartaban del camino de Ayrton Senna)

[maripi]

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/12/ja...interview/

The final JA on F1 podcast of 2012 is a real cracker, with a panel of F1 experts in the studio analysing the key talking points of the F1 season and we also have interviews with World Champion Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Boss Christian Horner.

In the studio we have McLaren Sporting Director Sam Michael, Oliver Weingarten, general secretary of the F1 Teams’ Association, leading F1 journalist Mark Hughes, and F1′s top photographer Darren Heath, who brings some fascinating observations on driving styles from standing trackside, with input from Pirelli’s motorsport boss Paul Hembery and insight into F1 business from Zak Brown, founder of JMI.



(L to R) Michael, Heath, Allen, Hughes, Weingarten

In a lively episode we discuss the key talking points of the year:

- How the World Championship was won, analysis of the performances of the main title contenders..and whether Fernando Alonso is the “Dick Dastardly” of F1
- The two halves of the F1 season; was the sequence of multiple winners in the first half of the season good for the sport? We get a handle on why 2012 happened the way it did.
- The big stories of 2012: Hamilton to Mercedes, Kimi Raikkonen’s triumphant comeback, the Concorde Agreement negotiations.
- Why the racing in 2013 will be even closer than this year.

[Alfaster-F1]

Posted on November 9, 2012
F1 fans will be familiar with the way that aerodynamicists explore air flow lines over a car, working with wind tunnels but also at circuits with flo-viz paint, to see how the air passes over a car.

But here is something which takes the exploration of aerodynamic lines to a new – almost artistic – level. It’s a ‘light painting’, done on the McLaren P1 and I have to say I’d love to see this treatment done on an F1 car.

Here is what the artists who did the light painting, MarshmallowLaserFeast, and James Medcraft, had to say about it.

“Light painting has been around for decades but has never been put into full motion. Until now.

“Working with McLaren we were able to process their wind tunnel airflow data and score out paths for individual trails of light. Each frame was then sliced into 650 frames that represent depths of 3D space and a plasma screen, mounted on a motion control rig, was used as a 3D light printer to play back the 650 slices as it moved through the space. We then repeated the move a thousand times for each frame of the animation and with each frame the camera, mounted on another motion control rig, moved a few millimeters so that over the course of the shoot we were able to create the effect of a moving camera.

The finished film merges photography, animation and sculpture and is a truly unique way of representing aerodynamics.”


http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/11/mc...-painting/

Un gran adelanto, ya quisiera Ferrari tener uno igual.

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The World Motor Sport Council met yesterday to ratify some detailed changes to the F1 calendar for 2013 and to the sporting and technical regulations.

The main headline is that the FIA and the commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone are keen to insert a 20th race, to fill the gap left by the postponed New Jersey race.

The German Grand Prix will move to July 7th (from 14th July) to make room for a race on July 21st.

The Turkish Istanbul Park race track has confirmed an agreement in principle to host the race, which would fall one week before the Hungarian Grand Prix. However the deal is awaiting Turkish government approval, according to Associated Press. Problems of funding the event have dogged it in the past.

“The date for the 2013 Grand Prix of Germany has been moved to 7 July, and 21 July has been reserved for another F1 European event, subject to the approval of the relevant ASNs,” said the FIA statement. There has been talk of the return of the French Grand Prix, but sources in France say that there is no evidence of funding for this, particularly state or regional government funding.

Other small, but important details include:

- Drag Reduction System (DRS) will no longer be allowed in practice and qualifying sessions, except in the the DRS zone(s) which have been earmarked for use during the race. There were some concerns over safety at some circuits, as cars were close to being out of control at times. This move will add around half a second on average to qualifying lap times, as the DRS was a powerful tool. The benefit will only be felt on the straights now.

- On 2014 Hybrid engines: a new draft of the technical regulations was agreed to keep development costs under control, which will in turn make the cost to the customer teams lower. They are doing this by limiting technology in some areas.

Also they have postponed until 2017 the requirement for cars to be driven exclusively under electric power in the pit lane.

* A reminder that entries close at 19-00hrs UK time tonight for the chance to tour the Mercedes F1 factory on December 10th, where Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg’s new car is being built. Ten fans will accompany JA on this special behind the scenes tour. To enter, click MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/12/fi...d-to-know/

[maripi]

Montezemolo calls for Ferrari engineers to be ‘more aggressive and extreme’Luca di Montezemolo has used his annual pre-Christmas dinner with journalists to outline his desire to see the team’s designers take off the shackles and be bolder with its 2013 car.

A lack of innovation in the Maranello design office has been widely perceived as the root cause of Ferrari’s failure to win a world title in the last four seasons, although a more aggressive approach in the conception of this year’s F2012 was supposed to have been taken only for some initial design interpretations to backfire come winter testing.

But on the day Ferrari announced some changes to its working structures in a bid to improve its competitiveness from next season, di Montezemolo urged the design and technical team not to be so cautious in the pursuit of greater performance.

“Our technicians need to interpret the rules in a more aggressive and ‘extremist’ way,” he said. “Less conservative.”

While Mercedes and Lotus could point to design innovations during the course of 2012, and McLaren and Red Bull have had more than a fair share of their own over recent seasons, Montezemolo strongly hinted that he hadn’t been overly impressed by the way some of latter’s developments had been policed.

“[There were] things I didn’t like. I mean cars that weren’t as they should be, but the team was only told to change them for the next race,” he said.

However, for all of that, di Montezemolo did make clear that “there will be no revolution, we’ve just brought in a couple of good people”.

With Ferrari having shut down its problematic in-house wind tunnel until next August to make improvements, with Toyota’s Cologne facility to be used instead, team principal Stefano Domenicali also revealed further changes to Ferrari’s working practices.

Those changes are headlined by the move to split the design programmes on the naturally very different 2013 and 2014 cars, with the former’s coordination to be led by Simone Resta and latter’s by Fabio Montecchi.

“We have also adopted a better method of splitting up the work between those who run the wind tunnel and those who should concentrate more on the creative side of the job. This year, we saw that when we do too many things at the same time, maybe we are not efficient enough,” Domenicali said.

“As regards the design, we have decided, particularly in light of the unusual demands we will face in 2013, when we will have a completely new project to work on for the future, to have two coordinators: Simone Resta, an engineer who has developed his career in Maranello and is very effective, will work on the 2013 car and Fabio Montecchi, will deal with the one for the following year. Nikolas Tombazis continues as Chief Designer.”

In summing up his ambitions for next season, Montezemolo added: “The target? To ensure that at the end of the year Fernando Alonso doesn’t say ‘It was my best season’ but ‘our best season’”.http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/12/mo...%e2%80%99/

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http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2013/01/tw...ruled-out/

Sebastian Buemi has revealed to Swiss paper Blick that his chances of returning to the F1 grid with Sahara Force India are finished, after he was informed by the team that he is out of the running.

According to veteran Blick writer Roger Benoit, this leaves Jules Bianchi (pictured above with FI’s Bob Fearnley) in pole position for the seat, with former FI driver Adrian Sutil still a possibility.

Bianchi’s case is apparently being helped by discussions with Ferrari over a supply of engines for 2014. It seems that there is a possibility that Force India could switch to the Ferrari units when the new turbo formula comes in and with Ferrari keen to place its reserve driver Bianchi in a race seat, there could be a deal to be done there.

Bianchi drove for the team during a number of Friday practice sessions during the 2012 season but the feeling was that he had not impressed the team in that role to the same degree that Nico Hulkenberg had the year before.

Former Toro Rosso driver and Radio 5 Live F1 analyst Jaime Alguersuari was also in the running but is now being tipped to move to BMW’s DTM team.

Force India is due to launch its new car on February 1 at Silverstone

[maripi]

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2013/01/ch...pproaches/

As the new year kicks into life there is plenty of action at Ferrari; the team is beginning work on a new base for its F1 team which is due to open in time to develop the 2015 car, on a site between the Cavallino restaurant and the existing team headquarters, known as Gestione Sportiva.

At the same time the team announced today that from February 1 it will have a new head of communications, Renato Bisignani, formerly of Renault F1, who will replace Luca Colajanni, who held the position for over a decade.

This change has been rumoured since the end of last season, but was confirmed today. It is a change which will not mean a great deal to F1 fans, but will resonate within F1 media; Colajanni did a difficult job with great passion and attention, but inevitably some relationships were more tense than others. I always got on well with him and enjoyed his sense of humour.

Colajanni with Bernie Ecclestone (XPB.cc)

As for the new HQ, which will be a trapezoid shape, according to Gazzetta dello Sport, team principal laid the first stone on Monday and the Ferrari website noted,

“The first excavations have indeed begun of the foundations of the building that will house the offices of the management, engineers and administrative staff along with the working areas of the team. The location, which is owned by Ferrari and currently used as a car park, is situated between the Cavallino restaurant and the building that is currently used by the Scuderia.

“The project has been planned in accordance with guidelines inspired by the practicality, efficiency and style that characterise the Formula One programme. The aim is to create an environment that has been well thought through for the people who will work there. This programme, which has benefited from the positive steps taken in favour of the employees and their families, has earned Ferrari the title “Best place to work in Europe” from the Financial Times.”

Anyone who has been behind the scenes at Maranello and seen the existing factory will concur that this move has not come a moment too soon. The existing race bays and engine build shop are historic (although the technology inside is state of the art) and the team needed to move into a 21st century building, which it will now be doing. It’s a significant investment, albeit not on the scale of the McLaren Technology Centre. But then it doesn’t need to be, as Ferrari has many other new buildings on the campus like the wind tunnel and logistics centre.

Ferrari’s traditional start of season bash in the mountains, known as Wrooom, kicks off today (hence the timing of the Colajanni announcement) with press conferences scheduled with Domenicali and the drivers. So watch out for lots of Ferrari stories in the next few days…