2010 September | PooZ

Kobayashi relishing first home race

September 30th, 2010 at 11:55pm Under Racing

Kamui Kobayashi got to drive in front of his home crowd for Toyota during practice at Suzuka last year.

This time he will get to race in front of them as he prepares to start his first home Grand Prix for Sauber next week.

He said:

Returning to race in Japan as a Formula One driver means a lot to me.

I had a taste of it last year when I stepped in for Timo Glock at Toyota for the Friday practice sessions. This was at short notice, but for this year’s race a lot of supporters are going to be there.

There has been a “Kamui Kobayashi” fans corner set up between turns two and three. It has more than 2,000 seats and has been sold out for quite a while. I managed to buy tickets for friends and I hope they will be having fun.

He explained that life for an aspiring racing driver in Japan was very different to one growing up in Europe:

It is huge and I think this is because Europe has all the history in motor racing. You have plenty of smaller racing series which provide for good driver development.

Anyone who has attended a Japanese Formula One Grand Prix knows about the excitement and passion the people have for it. But it is also true it is not easy for Japanese people to follow Formula One because the European races are broadcast live relatively late at night.

I rather wanted to become a comedian – Amagasaki is quite popular for Japanese comedians. But I found I wasn’t talented enough.

My parents were not at all interested in racing. They still don’t own a road car. I bought myself a car twice, but both times my father sold it. He runs a Sushi delivery shop in Amagasaki. Most likely if I hadn’t been quick in karting perhaps I would have become a sushi chef. But I hate raw fish.

I didn’t do a lot of racing in Japan and the last race was long ago. It was in 2003 with Formula Toyota on the short track in Suzuka, not on the Grand Prix circuit. I was 17 years old then.

Of course it was strange when I first came to Europe, actually to Vicenza in Italy, because I didn’t even speak English and everything was completely different. But it was also a lot of fun!

This seems to be very difficult to understand for Europeans, but for Japanese it is not that unusual to leave your family and go to work elsewhere. Even when I was doing things in Japan I rarely met my family.

Most times I went to Tokyo and they still live in Amagasaki, which is close to Osaka and quite far away from Tokyo. I always like to stay somewhere nice, but it doesn’t really matter which country it is.
Kamui Kobayashi

After posting his eighth retirement in 15 races at Singapore he’s hopeful of a better result at Suzuka:

After a good qualifying the outcome of the race in Singapore was, of course, disappointing for me. I hope in Suzuka we have reason to be happy on both Saturday and on Sunday. We all think the circuit should suit our car pretty well.
Kamui Kobayashi

2010 Japanese Grand Prix

Kobayashi relishing first home race

Browse all 2010 Japanese Grand Prix articles

By Mikel Add comment

Here’s fuel for the Kimi to F1 fire — from Kimi

September 30th, 2010 at 11:45pm Under Racing

Kimi Raikkonen’s official website has an article up with a very straight-forward title: “Article on potential F1 comeback for Kimi.”

Go on…

The reprinted Turn Sanomat — Finland’s third-largest daily paper — story basically is a bunch of short Q&As with Formula 1 personalities — drivers, owners, etc. — on the topic of Kimi’s possible return.

I’d share highlights, but Kimi’s website doesn’t allow for copying. (Change that!) Go here to look and then come back to discuss.

Highlights for me?

Nick Heidfeld saying that a single year out of the sport won’t be as difficult to rebound from as the three-year hiatus has been for Michael Schumacher. Maybe true, but for sure “ouch.”
Jenson Button saying that Kimi didn’t seem to like the sport much last year so he doesn’t expect him back.
Button and Chris Dyer both talking about how much Kimi seems to love rallying.
Felipe Massa on Kimi: “Only Kimi himself knows what Kimi wants.” Seems like Felipe was paying attention while the two were at Ferrari together.
Nico Rosberg, always the pragmatist, figures the lower pay Kimi can expect might not be a big inducement.
Red Bull’s drivers are divided (who’s surprised?), with Mark Webber saying Kimi’s moved on to rallying and Sebastian Vettel wanting Kimi back. (Did you hear that Mark?)
You’ll have to read what Kimi’s doctor has to say for yourself. (Hint: Subtle jab at Schumacher!)

So… thoughts? When Kimi first went to WRC, I suggested that, freed of the yoke of F1, he should use his website to really promote himself and his, shall we say, special personality. He hasn’t done that, which makes this post fairly unusual. That speaks volumes to me. I’m just not sure if it says, “Oh, yeah, I’m serious about coming back” or “Red Bull and Citroen, you better fork over some more cash to keep me.”

By Mikel Add comment

Massa admits his title chances are over

September 30th, 2010 at 10:00pm Under Racing

It didn’t take a ghost come from the grave to tell him, but Felipe Massa has admitted in his latest “diary” that his drivers title chances are over.

The comments come near the very bottom of what effectively is his review of the Singapore Grand Prix: “In the end, I made up a few more places thanks to a couple of Stewards decisions after the race and although personally, it does not mean much to me, given that obviously my own hopes in the Drivers’ championship have gone, it did mean I got a couple more important points for Ferrari in the Constructors’ classification.”

See, Felipe is at least a team player!

Massa does detail how his strategy — which worked so well for Fernando Alonso at Monaco this year — didn’t quite do the same for him:

But I’m not the sort to give up and in the debrief with the engineers on Saturday, we decided to go for a similar strategy to the one used by my team-mate Fernando in Monaco this year when he could not qualify either: as Marina Bay is also a street circuit, we felt there was a good chance that a Safety Car could come into play and at least let me move up a few places through a strategy gamble. That gamble did not pay off on Sunday evening, because having come in immediately to switch to the hard tyres, the Safety Car did come out, but really it was too early by maybe just one or two laps. Without that, I might have got in front of Hulkenberg and had a different sort of race. But, as it turned out, I had a rather boring, but very tough race. I was stuck in a train of slow cars with no possibility of overtaking and the heat and humidity feel even worse when you are in someone’s slipstream all the time.

I love that last bit about the heat and humidity, and I’m sure Grace can commiserate with poor Felipe.

I wonder how his admission about his season will play out on the track during the next four (three?) races. And I wonder how having a supportive team mate will help Fernando Alonso versus his four title competitors — who are all competing with their team mates still.

By Mikel Add comment

Williams KERS helps Porsche attack Petit Le Mans

September 30th, 2010 at 09:52pm Under Racing

Debuting at the Geneva motor show in March, the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid raised eyebrows and dropped jaws. It’s subsequent performance at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring added even more weight to the story of a racing car using electric power. Now the hybrid racing car will make its debut on American soil this weekend at the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

The 480 horsepower car includes two 60-kilowatt electric motors supplied by Williams Hybrid Power for the Kinetic Energy Recovery System. Yes, this is the KERS that never saw the light of day in Formula 1 in 2009 but Williams have had success with their commercial arm by developing a flywheel technology that Porsche has adopted for their hybrid program. While the unit is still within the FIA regulations, Formula 1 has chosen not to use the technology this year but are looking to 2011 for its return. Williams will have plenty of development data to deploy their technology with the help of Porsche’s aggressive position of marrying internal combustion engines with electric power.

Porsche Hybrid 1

Mike Rockenfeller will team with co-drivers Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas this weekend:

“It’s great to be back in a Porsche 911 race car and be reminded of the traction you get as a driver, but the added four-wheel-drive and torque of the Hybrid system will be a big advantage in the wet. But we are still working on the dry track set-up for the car as well, so I hope we can get some dry laps in today as well,”

The system works in a unique way in which the electric power generated via the Williams Flywheel KERS unit is delivered to the front wheels while the internal combustion engine is applying the fruits of its labor to the rear wheels. The on and off nature of the rain this week has allowed the team to test the car in the wet for the first time.

Porsche Hybrid 2

The two 60-kilowatt electric motors provide an extra 160 horsepower to the front wheels on demand. When accelerating or overtaking, the driver presses a steering wheel-mounted button that provides additional power for 6-8 seconds.

The Williams flywheel system creates energy every time the driver brakes. The math at Road Atlanta means a 1:25 lap generates 0:20 of boost. Each front wheel has its own electric motor that can help control traction out of the corners and provide additional speed.

This weekend should mark a momentous occasion for Porsche and hybrid racing in general. The car will race in it’s own class but perhaps that class will become much larger if the hybrid success that Williams and Porsche have created prove the skeptics wrong.

By Mikel Add comment