Bob Barnard Track Engineering

A few examples of splits showed up during the Bahrain GP, some between people, some mechanical and some track related.

Mark Hughes had a great piece on Sky Sport about how Mercedes have managed to build a car/engine combination so much better than everyone else. They have split the Turbo. No it does not leak. The turbo consists of a turbine driven by the exhaust gas and a compressor that raises the pressure of the air entering the engine. Traditionally these are in one unit, one body, so the heat from the exhaust impacts the air in the compressor. This has to be cooled before it enters the engine to maximise the density, so there is an "intercooler" like a radiator mounted in a side pod, adding to the drag. The team suggested to the engine guys at Mercedes that if they were split, one on each end of the engine, then that problem would be lessened. So that's what they did, with a shaft through the block to drive the compressor. Intercooler size goes down, and the size of the unit on the back of the engine reduced so the engine cover can be tighter. The battery and gearbox also run cooler, etc. etc. Very, very clever. One of those "what if" someone asks that makes the light bulb go on.

As Mercedes designed the car around this concept they could maximise the benefits, but the other customer cars did not have time to, so they still have a benefit, but not maximised. The real hit for the non-Mercedes cars is that they cannot copy it, the engines are "frozen." Nice one. And thank you Mark for another great piece of journalism. This is Formula One, not just a bunch of noisy cars.

The other split is between Adrian Newey and Joe Saward, both angry men. Adrian hates the current rules. Would he still hate them if he were winning? He says yes, but we can only wonder. He said "It should be about man and machine performing at its maximum every lap." Well anyone watching the TV can see the drivers are performing to their limit, much more than we have seen for years. The cars are no longer on rails, glued to the track by Newey's aerodynamics. Just what Ferrari wanted, but now they have it and their engine is not good enough they want to change it too. Adrian should have watched his driver Sebestian over-performing at Turn 2 in the 3rd practice.

He goes on to say "The cars are going a lot slower and that should be factored in when we talk about the whole. OK, they are using 50 kilos less fuel, but they are going a lot slower to achieve that." Really, what timing screen is he watching? His own cars obviously. Pole time this year is less than a second slower than last, with harder tires and 50 kg more weight in the car. Top speeds are higher. Monza is predicted to be 360 km/hr! Over 225 mph. Slower? This is not an economy run, the cars are being driven to their limit over the same race distance at similar speeds with 33% less fuel due the design of the car, not by the drivers driving slower. As I said after Australia, imagine if this translates to road cars?

Joe Saward is also angry about the Ferrari's and Red Bulls of this world whining about the rules. As I said yesterday, how does he keep his press pass?

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/04/05/top-of-the-flops/

The additional set of tires for Q3 has certainly helped at keeping all the cars on track for the Q2 & 3 sessions, but we now have the teams not running in practice sessions. Mercedes did very few laps any session, did not need to, but Williams were concerned at putting too much heat stress in the power unit and sat out most of the time. The fact that the teams tested here for two weeks recently undoubtedly played a part. They knew the set up so saved the car. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next races. Teams are already using up components at a fast rate, so we will see grid penalties later in the season.

Now for the track split. In the barrier there are regular openings to allow emergency access and to allow cars to be pulled back off the track. They are called "regulation gaps" as there are regulations as to how they are installed. The lead edge is supposed to stay in line, with the trailing edge curving into line behind. This is the main straight at Bahrain.  

Not a great photo but you can enlarge. The leading edge turns in towards the track. I can't imagine why I have never noticed this, but if you hit that end then it will not only hurt but it will throw the car back on the track. Not a good idea. So how does Tilke design this, and worse, how do the FIA approve it?

In a similar vein the curb at Turn 4 was altered to install a "sausage" raised section behind the existing. This is the orange piece we see at lots of tracks now, but at the apex on slow corners, not a fast exit where it can be struck end on. So if you watched practice yesterday you would have seen a Lotus do just that and launch itself. They removed the "sausage" last night, but who approved it in the first place?

First day's, or should that be day and evening's, practice completed with Mercedes looking well in control of the situation. Still plenty to keep us interested though, with half a second covering the next eight cars. Fuel consumption is going to be an issue it seems for the first time this year, but as we saw in Malaysia Hamilton was very light on his fuel use. The advantage of running your own race at the front as we saw so many times for Vettel. Not much difference in tire degradation between the medium and soft compounds, so the soft is going to be the tire to use as it is way faster. Over two seconds it appears, although some of that may be down to the cooler temperatures in the second session.

The fear that these cars will be slow is unfounded, with the Mercedes basically matching the fast time from this same session a year ago. And it seems people are getting used to the noise of these cars, all except Ferrari fans that is. Montezemolo is meeting with Bernie and Todt to talk about rule changes. Really, after three races? Smacks of Red Bull and tires last year. We can't compete with these rules so let's change them. I can't believe Todt is going to go along with that after the battle to get these current cars. Then there is the conspiracy theory that Bernie is just trying to devalue the sport so he can get CVC bought out by his mates, who would not care if he is convicted or not.

On that subject Joe Saward must have had too much time on his hands and has written a very funny blog on the "zoo" that is Formula One. I don't know how he keeps his press pass.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/the-f1-jungle-book/

Joe Saward, an F1 journalist I have followed assiduously for many years, has a post on today's blog about an ethical challenge facing the FIA. Now I presumed he was talking of Sochi, about which there is still no comment from anyone. But no, he is talking about Bahrain.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/

So it has taken two years for someone to actually raise the F1 race in Bahrain with the FIA as an ethical issue. Now as bad as the situation is there, they have not invaded their next door neighbor. I personally find it disturbing that Joe has not even mentioned the issue, but there again who has among the media, FIA and FOM. Are Gary Hartstien and I the only ones to care. I suppose they all think this will blow over by the time the Sochi race comes around. I would not bet on it. Putin will want East Ukraine soon to protect the Russians there. And then what, the Baltic States?

The purported sale of the Nurburgring raises more questions than it has answered. What was actually sold, and to who? In anybody's money the price paid of around 80m Euros seems very cheap for an F1 racetrack, but I suppose it does not matter how cheap it is if it only loses money. So why buy it?

Why would you schedule a second GP2 race in Bahrain the week after the F1 GP? No one cared as was obvious from the crowd. It is reported as 12 on day one and 30 on day two. FOM had 20 cameras, so the TV crew was larger than the spectators, and who watched on TV anyway? All very strange. No security forces at the track, but that did not matter as the demonstrators knew the world had switched off, but still plenty of action away from the track and the capital.

So Bernie is getting married again, that explains the need for the float of F1, he needs to keep his wives in the manner to which they are accustomed, and let's not forget the daughters.

In the real world Casey Stoner overcame the problems of the first MotoGP and practice to win in Jerez, where I am sure there were a lot more than 30 people watching.

Strangely Michael Schumacher and I agree on something once more, the Pirelli tires make F1 a lottery. F1 should be won by the best drivers in the best cars, not someone who lucked in to the perfect set up for that instant in time and weather. And when will McLaren stop shooting themselves in the foot?

On other matters I was pleased to have a reason to visit the Georgia property that has my best track design laid out on it. Property and track as beautiful as I remembered, and the gentleman who accompanied me was as excitied as I am about the potential, so let's keep our fingers crossed that there is a chance to at last make this a reality.

I am also traveling this week to Mooresville, NC, home of the NASCAR Teams and drivers, on Lake Norman. My good friend and colleague Jarno Zaffelli and I are at last going to collaborate on a new kart track under construction there.

Who ever thought this was a good idea to go ahead with this Bahrain GP? I cannot see how the Government thought this was going to generate positive press for them, and it isn't. Nor for F1, who are on a hiding to nothing, just look at the cartoons of Bernie getting off a jet walking over the bodies of protesters. There are some great pieces being written by better journalists than I, and Maurice Hamilton has one on the ESPN F1 site:

http://en.espnf1.com/bahrain/motorsport/story/76129.html

Maurice makes the point that even before the protests Bahrain is not a place F1 should be. It is interesting, albeit on a small sample, but the first comment on adverse blogs or articles is a positive one for Bahrain. You don't think they have hired people to monitor and respond to these do you?

Joe Saward is monitoring the world's press which, apart from the obvious partisan ones from the Gulf and Iran, are all censuring F1 and the Government, great PR there.

And now we have the first incident to F1 people. The fact that they were not "targeted" has absolutely nothing to do with it, they were still nearly fire bombed with a Molotov cocktail. It was four mechanics from the Force India Team on their way back to the hotel on the main highway. It seems at least one if not two of the team have now left Bahrain, and Hulkenburg said it was wrong that the teams had been put in a position where their safety could be at risk. Pedro de la Rosa, Chairman of the GPDA said he thought the drivers were safe. Oh good, never mind everyone else, and as one comment on Facebook said why is it only the F1 teams that are being protected, how about the rest of the population? And why would de la Rosa even open his mouth when he cannot possibly know that?

Has it got to a point where the middle east controls this sport? They seem to be spending money like there is no tomorrow to sponsor teams and events. It is impossible to turn on a TV and not see a team sponsored by Etihad, or playing in an Etihad stadium. Is spending millions on Manchester City really helping the people of the region? I know they will say they are investing for when the oil runs out, but is this really the way to do it? Is England playing Pakistan in the desert really helping anybody and is cricket prostituting itself for money? Smacks of self indulgence on the part of those "sovereign wealth funds," run by the sovereign of course. Is Etihad really making any money? Or are we just trying to buy some respect here? Well I for one don't respect them any more for it, and I suspect not many others do either.