April 30th, 2010 at 03:55pm Under Motorbikes
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German motorcycle tire manufacturer, Metzeler, has gone social web. They have launched a community map & itinerary web site that allows you to record your favorite motorcycle ride, and for other to download it, vote for it and comment on it.
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April 30th, 2010 at 03:55pm Under Racing
I’ve had a couple of emails asking for a clarification on how comments are handled here.
I want F1 Fanatic to be a place where F1 fans can discuss and argue, share jokes, ideas and experiences. I do not want the joyless experience I find on certain sites (by no means just F1 sites) where the tone never drops below hysterical and comments are a perpetual slanging match between warring factions.
Comments that do not abide by the comment policy will be removed. That includes obvious things – spam, advertising, swearing, racism, homophobia etc… – much of which is handled by automatic filters. But it also goes further than that in order to try to keep a constructive and healthy debate.
On top of that there are some technical limitations to work around. For example at the moment if a comment is deleted any comments posted in direct reply to it must be withdrawn as well, otherwise they end up orphaned at the bottom of a thread, lacking any sort of context.
It’s not an exact science and I won’t pretend I get it right all the time. The quantity and quality of comments on the site continues to grow and I take that as an encouraging sign things are heading in the right direction. But there’s always room for improvement and if you have any suggestions how to do that please post a comment here and let me know.
Now, on to the round-up:
First flying lap of the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit (YouTube)
Pirelli to make tyre offer to F1 teams (Reuters)
“Michelin and American-based tyre manufacturer Cooper have already emerged as possible suppliers for next season with Pirelli now entering the fray having sounded cautious about the idea just a week ago.”
Ferrari F1 barcode a ‘smokescreen for cigarette adverts’ (The Times)
Ferrari: “The bar code is part of the livery of the car, it is not part of a subliminal advertising campaign.”
So Mr. Carroll we meet again! (My name is IRL)
“Adam Carroll really ought to be racing in Formula 1, thank goodness he’s not. It is stupendously good news for IndyCar Racing that Andretti Autosport has secured his signature for a select number of races later on this season.”
No big Williams update until Monaco (Autosport)
Sam Michael: “We do have some stuff for Barcelona, and that’s a good step, but I think the bigger steps will come for Monaco and Istanbul.”
Here’s Hairs on the new-look Silverstone:
This is shocking, shocking news and spells the end for the British GP, Silverstone and the BDRC as an organisation.
Here’s a group that thought about what would make for a good race, then talked to the racers about what they wanted, then decided to appoint a company to do the work based on the quality of their previous work, then consulted the racers again, and came up with a design that seems to satisfy as many people as possible while maintaining the integrity and history of the GP, all within a sustainable and reasonable budget.
This won’t go down well with the FIA and Bernie at all.
Hairs
Happy birthday to Oliver and ccolanto! Have a great day, guys.
F1 raced at the revised Imola circuit for the first time on this day 15 years ago. Damon Hill won after Michael Schumacher crashed out on the damp track.
Several chicanes had been inserted into the circuit following the two deaths at the track in 1994. The first of which, Roland Ratzenberger’s was 16 years ago today.
Read more: Roland Ratzenberger biography
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April 30th, 2010 at 03:55pm Under Racing
Join Grace and Me as we sit down, in a bar, and actually do the first live recording of the two of us (in the same room) fulfilling the entire reason we started the podcasts all those years ago. Two people in a bar enjoying a libation and discussing F1.
We’ve always said that our [...]
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April 30th, 2010 at 03:55pm Under Racing
United Autosports will chalk up numerous “firsts” when the American owned, British-based team contests the opening two rounds of the FIA GT3 European Championship at Silverstone (May 1-2) – a theme the Audi Official “customer” outfit hopes to continue over the weekend.
As we’ve mentioned before, we’re following this team because it’s an American race team [...]
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April 30th, 2010 at 03:55pm Under Racing
Give Ferrari credit. The team does not let media reports lie. Not sure about sleeping dogs or policemen.
Maranello on Thursday released a four-paragraph statement regarding the charges that the barcode on its Formula 1 cars and drivers’ overalls are intended to look like a pack of Marlboro. Background on that is here.
Here’s Ferrari’s response. I [...]
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April 30th, 2010 at 03:15pm Under Motorbikes
Transport Minister Paul Clark has refused to say he thinks motorcycling is something to be encouraged, but says riders should not reject Labour. Asked if he thought biking should be encouraged, he said: “What I would encourage as far as…
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April 30th, 2010 at 02:00pm Under Motorbikes
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TomTom, the Dutch GPS manufacturer, has been recording anonymous user data, and with that data, has compiled a list of Top 60 cities in Europe and their traffic jams.
With a Congestion Level indicator, you can now see how long extra a trip on your motorcycle (or car) will take you.
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April 30th, 2010 at 01:26pm Under Racing
Kamui Kobayashi hopes to register his first finish of 2010 in the Spanish Grand Prix:
We have an update to the car and I believe our reliability problems are solved. I should have a good chance to finally go racing after I have only done 19 laps in total in all four races.
Kamui Kobayashi
Despite having to get their reliability under control – Sauber have only registered one finish so far this year – the team are planning several performance upgrades for Barcelona.
They intend to have their version of McLaren’s F-Duct up and running as technical director James Key explains:
We have some updates for Barcelona, as most of the teams will have. We are trying to push our F-Duct design a step further. This is obviously a technology that will eventually appear all the way down the grid during the year, but our team has some experience of it from the first events.
Additionally we have a package of updates on the car, which are particularly on the front end and the diffuser. It’s a decent package, which will hopefully allow us to find some more performance.
Obviously a lot depends on how tough the competition is. Some of the steps address the issues the team has identified in terms of the aero characteristics, so it should make the car a little bit better purely through changing the way it behaves.
James Key
Kobayashi’s team mate Pedro de la Rosa is looking forward to racing at his first of two home races next week:
I grew up in the city centre of Barcelona, and I certainly love my home town. You have everything there – a lively city, the sea, the mountains and a permanently good climate. I’m very much looking forward to this race!
My parents always had a summer house close to where the circuit is. From 1991 onwards I loved to listen to the fabulous sound of the Formula One engines from there when teams where testing. Also in 1991 I raced in Formula Renault in the first event at the Circuit de Catalunya.
My first Formula One Grand Prix there was in 1999. The circuit has become the best test track for Formula One. It is a very demanding circuit – tough on the cars, the engines and the drivers. It is a track I really, really like.
Turn three is very fast and very long – it is a true neck killer. There is a great variety of corners – high and medium speed, and a couple of slow ones in the last sector.
Pedro de la Rosa
Kobayashi says he’s also a fan of the Barcelona circuit:
I know the Circuit de Catalunya pretty well. I won a GP2 race there, raced there in Formula 3 and did some Formula One testing there. Even my first ever F1 test was in Barcelona.
In those days the last two corners were different to now, as it was a very fast double right hander. The circuit is very demanding on the cars and challenging for us drivers. The car-and-driver combination has to be very good, as it is difficult but crucial to get the set-up right. The fast right hander before the back straight is my favourite corner and quite challenging.
Kamui Kobayashi
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April 30th, 2010 at 01:16pm Under Racing
Mercedes are bringing a longer version of the W01 to the next race at Barcelona for both their drivers and Michael Schumacher will use a different chassis.
But he doesn’t think it will be enough for last year’s constructors’ champions to take on the front runners just yet:
Our step forward in Barcelona will be bigger than you can make at each race during the flyaways but it would not be realistic to expect us to suddenly be competing right at the front. I am hoping for a better race in Barcelona than I had in China and of course I would not mind having had better results so far.
Michael Schumacher
Ross Brawn explained some of the technical changes being made to the car this weekend as well as Schumacher’s change of chassis:
The start of the European season is the first opportunity to make significant changes to the car and the Spanish Grand Prix will see the first step in our development programme for the MGP W01.
In addition to a major aerodynamic and bodywork package, we have made changes to the wheelbase of the car which will help the overall handling and weight distribution.
Michael will use a different chassis for Barcelona as we take the opportunity of having the cars back at the factory after the flyaway races to repair some damage to his original chassis. He will switch to our first chassis which was previously used during the pre-season tests.
Ross Brawn
Norbert Haug says he expects a change in Schumacher’s fortunes soon:
Nico is currently second in the drivers’ world championship which shows that he and our Mercedes team have done a good job in the first fifth of the season getting the best results from the material available. Michael did not have such a good run, mostly without his fault, in the first four races. I am absolutely convinced that this will change sooner rather than later.
Norbert Haug
Rosberg is currently second in the drivers’ championship on 50 points, Schumacher is tenth on ten points. Mercedes are fourth in the constructors’ championship on 60 points, 49 behind leaders McLaren.
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April 30th, 2010 at 11:42am Under Racing
Ferrari have reacted to media reports claiming their barcode livery is designed to remind people of Marlboro cigarette packaging:
Neither of these arguments have any scientific basis, as they rely on some alleged studies which have never been published in academic journals. But more importantly, they do not correspond to the truth. The so called barcode is an integral part of the livery of the car and of all images coordinated by the Scuderia, as can be seen from the fact it is modified every year and, occasionally even during the season. Furthermore, if it was a case of advertising branding, Philip Morris would have to own a legal copyright on it.
The partnership between Ferrari and Philip Morris is now only exploited in certain initiatives, such as factory visits, meetings with the drivers, merchandising products, all carried out fully within the laws of the various countries where these activities take place. There has been no logo or branding on the race cars since 2008, even in countries where local laws would still have permitted it.
Ferrari statement
Ferrari’s protestations that what they are doing is legally correct will do little to dissuade anyone that the barcode design exists for any reason other than to call to attention their lucrative association with long-standing F1 sponsor Marlboro.
It’s not as if the barcode appears on any of the cars they sell or on Ferraris racing in championships outside F1. The team’s official name on the FIA entry list is Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro.
Similar designs have been used in F1 for the best part of three decades, since restrictions on tobacco advertising began to affect sports. “Non-tobacco liveries” featuring a variety of unsubtle similarities to the original logos were once a common sight.
But you have to ask why the legislators have chosen to trouble themselves with it now, years after F1 went tobacco-free (Ferrari notwithstanding, of course). It looks a bit like a storm in a teacup to me – at this stage I’d be very surprised if this ends with Ferrari being forced to kick their cigarette habit.
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