Bob Barnard Track Engineering

The first day of the 2014 F1 season is in the books. A new era and a complex car for the teams and us to understand. What did we learn from the first two sessions?

Red Bull has made a huge step since testing and is not far off the pace set by Mercedes. Williams is continuing its testing good form, Ferrari is doing OK, and Lotus is nowhere. I for one had considered we could see very few cars finish, and a possibility of none doing so. That appears not to be so, at the moment, but we did see that very small problems can cause major problems. Hamilton had a sensor problem on his very first lap and lost the whole 90 minutes. He overcame that quickly in the second session to top the time sheet, so obviously already has a good handle on how to drive these machines. Raikkonen stopped at the end of pit lane without a first gear engaging. He was back out, but there are obviously very small margins involved here.

The "brake by wire" is surprising most teams. This is actually a misnomer as they are still hydraulic, but there is an ECU sensing the rear braking from the energy recovery and balancing that with the pressure from the driver. Grosjean was caught badly and hit the wall, while the Toro Rosso boys had numerous offs due to this.

The speed of the cars is down on last year, but this is early days with the new car and the margin is only about four seconds, some of which is down to not having the super softs here this year. Pirelli are playing it a bit safer. Tires still need looking after, and this combined with the fuel flow and amount will require a lot of management by the teams and drivers.

It was obvious that the drivers have had to adjust their race lines with wider entries and exits, a more sweeping line to maintain momentum through the corner, and then handle the oversteer the increased torque induces. This led to a few problems with wheels on the grass on entry, and some wild rides on exits. Lots of astroturf and gravel flying. Raikkonen even brushed the wall on entry at one point he was so wide.

There were several comments that they were too quiet for F1 cars. Now as many of you know I am a bit of an old purist and not always in favor of all things "green", but here I do agree with a lower niose level. It is still a good sound by all reports, but it is hard to judge from TV. The in-car sounds like a sewing machine. It is said that you no longer need ear plugs, which is no bad thing. What is the difference if without them you are hearing 100 decibels, and when the cars used to make say 120, which was reduced to 100 by the ear plugs? Just numbers for example. You get the point. One the biggest obstacles to motor sport in developed countries is the noise level, not the fuel used. Just ask Croft and Malllory Park in England. So, lowering the noise level of race cars without diminishing the show is important.

I mentioned the problems of Lotus, but at least they got on track. Caterham did not get either car out, so it begs the question, not how many will finish but whether some will not start. The 107% rule will have to be interpreted leniently.  

Just received the April Edition of Motor Sport, which is one of their best. I highly recommend you find one to read their comments on the current state of F1 and what they think needs to be done to fix it. Mark Hughes and Nigel Roebuck being right on the mark as always. To quote Martin Whitmarsh in his comments on current track design, " When you get a circuit map like Abu Dhabi, you don't need simulation, you don't need anything-you just wonder. What the hell were you thinking!" Thanks Mr Tilke for that and all the rest.

If you think the 2012 F1 cars are ugly, take a look at the Delta Wing, it is on show at Sebring apparently. Looks like a World Championship sidecar motorcycle, except they look better. Or a Morgan backing up, but I can't see how the driver leans out to keep it on the ground.

Eric Boullier expects the first race in Melbourne to throw up some surprises. Let's hope so, it's time to get away from processions. Presumably Eric is thinking of Kimi and his Lotus, that would be something to watch.

Talking of watching, I have decided I will not watch Bahrain F1. The only message Bernie and the sponsors will take notice of is if the ratings are down.

Received this month's Motor Sport, what a great magazine. Mat Oxley in his column on MotoGP tells us his ideas on the best tracks to go to to watch and get the best atmosphere, Mugello and Jerez. Been to both and I agree, but I also like his comment that "Phillip Island is probably MotoGP's greatest circuit." Thanks Mat.

In the same edition there is an odd comment in Gordon Kirby's column by Giles Simon, ex Ferrari, Peugeot and FIA. "When we think about the future of motorsport I think we need to think about attracting more categories of people - the people who are not interested in motor racing." Well what can you say to that? Why would those people watch then? Unless we are not actually racing in future, and then what about your existing audience who are there to watch motor racing? Just look to NASCAR to see what happens when you forget about your existing fans and go pandering to a fickle bunch of newbies.

Jean Todt is continuing his world tour. After telling us Mexico should have a grand prix he is now in Sao Paulo and telling us the Interlagos track is safe, it was the cars that caused the deaths not the track. So now Jean is a track design expert? He may well be right, F1 cars have become very safe for the drivers so they would probably survive a similar accident, but why not remove the cause of the accident?

Not a lot else going on today. Interesting article by Miles Geauxbye, sounds like he is from Louisiana, on The Last Turn Club about the future of ALMS. Some of us have suspected for a long time it does not have one, but it is still there.

http://lastturnclub.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=786&Itemid=51

A couple of articles in this month's Motor Sport. Mat Oxley talking about the lack of overtaking in MotoGP, sound familiar? Too many rider aids, and too much manufacturer influence, something I've said for years. I think if you asked the fans we would still be racing 500cc two strokes.

The other is about our friend Tavo and Austin. I think Austin is probably a great place to stage it, like Adelaide, small enough to have everyone involved but big enough to have all the restaurants and entertainment people want. The Oz GP went missing when it moved to Melbourne. Tavo had an odd statement though that "many of the circuit's details will be unfinished by next year's race." He went on to say he hoped "the fans understand that there will be some components that aren't exactly ironed out...some things will have to wait until 2013, 14 or 15." Sounds like the Indian GP, the pits are finished but sorry about the grandstand. 

So the music is stopping and the chairs are being filled one by one. Glock says he is almost certain to stay at Virgin, where else is there to go and Virgin would be silly to let him go. HRT are apparently impressed by Davide Valsecchi following the young driver days at Abu Dhabi, but Colin Kolles says that Italy needs to get behind him, i.e. come up with some cash. Not too many seats left now. Luca Badoer is leaving as the Ferrari test driver, not that anyone is testing much these days, so that will leave an opening and Ferrari are giving some Italian F3 drivers a try out. So we have one seat at Virgin, still two at HRT at the moment, one at Renault, but probably Petrov, and Force India still has one, maybe. Not many left.

Luca di Montezemolo has a press conference scheduled for December 16th for a major announcement, which some of the Italian press think will be a move to politics. Maybe it is who is driving the second Ferrari?

Toyota is back in motorsport with an engine for LMP1 with the Rebellion squad, should be interesting. Let's see if they can give the diesels a run for their money.

Cape Town is back on the rumor mill as another potential F1 Grand Prix. How many does that make now?

Proton nee Lotus Cars are confirming a takeover of the Renault 25% stake in the F1 team that still bears its name. This is what is driving the dispute with Tony Fernandes and the existing Team Lotus. Proton have some big ambitions. I wonder if they have read the book "A Bridge Too Far?"

An excellent interview with Alonso in this month's Motor Sport. It restates what I have been saying about how to make F1 interesting to Americans. Spain was motorcycle mad, despite having an F1 race at Jerez and Barcelona for years, until Alonso won the World Championship. It is not having a race that will make F1 popular, it is having an American kick ass. In the days when Phill Hill, Dan Gurney and Mario were doing it the TV coverage was probably non existent.