F1 News
Date: 30/06/2011
The Formula One World Championship should have two new races in the USA, plus events in Argentina and Africa.
Those were the locations named when a selection of F1 team principals were asked about the future of the sport during the latest FOTA Fans' Forum, held at the McLaren Technology Centre.
F1 already plans to return to the USA, in 2012, on a new purpose-built circuit in Texas. It will be the first time grand prix car racing has been held on American soil since the last of the Indianapolis events, in 2007.
"We’re going to the USA, but we’ve really got to go to the USA this time," said McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh. "Going there, having a race, then going home isn’t good enough. That’s what we’ve done in the States before and it didn’t work.
"America doesn’t need us, but we need to conquer it. Maybe we need to have two races a year and a proper marketing programme. We’ve got to create the interest. F1 hasn’t had to sell itself in the past; the fans have come to us. But there’s lots of competition in the entertainment business.
"We have to conquer America – that’s a five-year programme. We’ve got to be on the east coast and the west coast. It’s a big enough market and an important enough market to have two races and we should be over there."
Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn approached the question from a less commercial angle, naming Argentina purely for its passion and enthusiasm.
"I agree totally with what Martin has been saying. That’s the commercial and business side," began Brawn. "All of us love to go to countries where the fans are enthusiastic and where you can really taste the passion. One of the countries that I remember being like that was Argentina. It was a fantastic race.
"The economic climate there isn’t what’s needed to have an F1 race now. Of the races that we go to now, there are several that we all look forward to because the fans are so enthusiastic. It makes a difference to us because we want to be at places where people are really enjoying the racing and you can really hear the roar of the crowd."
Virgin sporting director Graeme Lowdon also hopes the quest for new markets won't come at the expense of countries where F1 is already popular.
"Martin made an extremely good case for the commercial side. But if we’re looking at the emotional side, we do go to some places where the fans are a tad indifferent to say the least," he said.
"We also go to some places where they are knowledgeable, fanatical - it would be great to go to more places like that.
"I sense it would be a street circuit because that gets everybody as close as possible to the action. I’ve never experienced racing in Argentina and it sounds like a cool place to go. If not, Newcastle would be good!" he joked.
Force India's deputy team principal Bob Fernley took a more geographical view. "The only major continent that we’re not working on is Africa and I’d like to see us go back there," he said.
Pedrosa denies 'secret crash', slams Simoncelli
MotoGP News
Date: 30/06/2011
Repsol Honda MotoGP star Dani Pedrosa rubbished media speculation that a 'secret' training crash was the reason for his prolonged absence from the race track - and is still furious with Marco Simoncelli for causing his collarbone injury.
The pair exchanged words on Pedrosa's return to the MotoGP paddock at Mugello on Thursday, when they were seated next to each other for the Italian Grand Prix pre-event press conference.
Pedrosa and Simoncelli collided (physically) when the hard-riding Italian sliced across in front of the Spaniard, while battling for second place in May's French Grand Prix.
Pedrosa clipped the side of the Gresini Honda rider and fell, fracturing his right collarbone. Simoncelli remained upright but was punished with a ride-through penalty by Race Direction for not giving Pedrosa enough room.
For Pedrosa, who had overcome months of problems caused by a left collarbone fracture to win the previous Estoril race, the injury was a massive blow both physically and mentally.
Despite undergoing surgery to plate the injury - which can allow riders to return to action within a week - Pedrosa missed the following Catalunya and Silverstone rounds, feeding rumours of a possible training accident.
A picture of Pedrosa at a bowling alley with friends prior to Catalunya was used as evidence that something had happened, soon after the photo was taken, to halt his recovery.
When the 2010 world championship runner-up then underwent a second surgical procedure, it was seen as 'proof' by some that rumours of a secret training crash on a Supermoto bike were correct.
So was it true?
"Absolutely not," replied a clearly unimpressed Pedrosa.
And the bowling picture?
"Yeah I was there. Like I am here. Like I can go to the rehab centre, or in hospital," answered the former 125 and 250cc world champion.
So you weren't bowling?
"Do you think I am stupid or what?" countered an irritated Pedrosa. "There are some people around here who think they are Sherlock Holmes or something.
"I've already explained five times - in my blog, in press releases, interviews. How many times do I need to explain?
"I didn’t touch a bike.
"I was doing the rehabilitation therapy [after the first operation] and one small piece of the collarbone just opened up. And then every time I was doing any exercise this piece of bone was moving and causing pain.
"I rested for two days, but the pain was still the same so we did some more x-rays and tests. Finally we decided we had to fix it so another surgery was necessary. After that the collarbone felt solid and I feel more or less healthy now."
In the immediate aftermath of the Le Mans incident, Pedrosa and manager Alberto Puig didn’t hold back in their criticism of love/hate figure Simoncelli.
And with the wild Italian crashing out of two of the three races since - including last weekend at Assen, when he brought world champion Jorge Lorenzo down with him - Pedrosa feels their views have been vindicated.
"If someone is still doubting [that Simoncelli is dangerous] that is unbelievable. It is quite clear what he is showing on the track," said Pedrosa.
"In Estoril he was laughing about maybe someone will arrest him [when warned by Lorenzo about his riding]. Maybe he needs [that] because I tell you, his head has nothing but hair."
Once the assemble press had calmed down, Simoncelli was given his chance to respond.
"For me, we speak a lot about that incident," said the former 250cc world champion. "For me, the things he and his manager say are stupid. It is better not to speak with him or his manager."
Simoncelli has qualified first or second at the last five rounds, but is yet to finish on the MotoGP podium, something he will be desperate to do in front of his home fans on Sunday.
Pedrosa won from pole at Mugello last season.
Date: 30/06/2011
Repsol Honda MotoGP star Dani Pedrosa rubbished media speculation that a 'secret' training crash was the reason for his prolonged absence from the race track - and is still furious with Marco Simoncelli for causing his collarbone injury.
The pair exchanged words on Pedrosa's return to the MotoGP paddock at Mugello on Thursday, when they were seated next to each other for the Italian Grand Prix pre-event press conference.
Pedrosa and Simoncelli collided (physically) when the hard-riding Italian sliced across in front of the Spaniard, while battling for second place in May's French Grand Prix.
Pedrosa clipped the side of the Gresini Honda rider and fell, fracturing his right collarbone. Simoncelli remained upright but was punished with a ride-through penalty by Race Direction for not giving Pedrosa enough room.
For Pedrosa, who had overcome months of problems caused by a left collarbone fracture to win the previous Estoril race, the injury was a massive blow both physically and mentally.
Despite undergoing surgery to plate the injury - which can allow riders to return to action within a week - Pedrosa missed the following Catalunya and Silverstone rounds, feeding rumours of a possible training accident.
A picture of Pedrosa at a bowling alley with friends prior to Catalunya was used as evidence that something had happened, soon after the photo was taken, to halt his recovery.
When the 2010 world championship runner-up then underwent a second surgical procedure, it was seen as 'proof' by some that rumours of a secret training crash on a Supermoto bike were correct.
So was it true?
"Absolutely not," replied a clearly unimpressed Pedrosa.
And the bowling picture?
"Yeah I was there. Like I am here. Like I can go to the rehab centre, or in hospital," answered the former 125 and 250cc world champion.
So you weren't bowling?
"Do you think I am stupid or what?" countered an irritated Pedrosa. "There are some people around here who think they are Sherlock Holmes or something.
"I've already explained five times - in my blog, in press releases, interviews. How many times do I need to explain?
"I didn’t touch a bike.
"I was doing the rehabilitation therapy [after the first operation] and one small piece of the collarbone just opened up. And then every time I was doing any exercise this piece of bone was moving and causing pain.
"I rested for two days, but the pain was still the same so we did some more x-rays and tests. Finally we decided we had to fix it so another surgery was necessary. After that the collarbone felt solid and I feel more or less healthy now."
In the immediate aftermath of the Le Mans incident, Pedrosa and manager Alberto Puig didn’t hold back in their criticism of love/hate figure Simoncelli.
And with the wild Italian crashing out of two of the three races since - including last weekend at Assen, when he brought world champion Jorge Lorenzo down with him - Pedrosa feels their views have been vindicated.
"If someone is still doubting [that Simoncelli is dangerous] that is unbelievable. It is quite clear what he is showing on the track," said Pedrosa.
"In Estoril he was laughing about maybe someone will arrest him [when warned by Lorenzo about his riding]. Maybe he needs [that] because I tell you, his head has nothing but hair."
Once the assemble press had calmed down, Simoncelli was given his chance to respond.
"For me, we speak a lot about that incident," said the former 250cc world champion. "For me, the things he and his manager say are stupid. It is better not to speak with him or his manager."
Simoncelli has qualified first or second at the last five rounds, but is yet to finish on the MotoGP podium, something he will be desperate to do in front of his home fans on Sunday.
Pedrosa won from pole at Mugello last season.
Formula One's V6 engine switch official
F1 News
Date: 30/06/2011
The Formula One World Championship will switch to 1.6-litre V6 turbo-charged engines from the 2014 season.
The decision was ratified by the FIA on Wednesday, and replaces a previous ruling that planned for 1.6-litre 4-cylinder turbo engines to be introduced in 2013.
That ruling fell out of favour due to concerns about development costs and the neutering of engine sound, considered to be one of F1's main 'wow factors' for fans at the track.
Red Bull's Adrian Newey recently revealed that a major reason for the 4-cylinder concept gaining initial approval had been interest shown by Audi.
Newey explained: "[Audi] said they would come into the sport if there was a four-cylinder turbo, and that's what everyone agreed in order to get Audi in. They subsequently decided that they won't bother after all, thank you very much, and we were lumbered with a four-cylinder turbo."
Turbo engines have not been seen in F1 since 1988, after which they were replaced by normally-aspirated engines of 3.5 (1989-1994), 3.0 (1995-2005) and then 2.8 litre (2006 to present) capacity.
Date: 30/06/2011
The Formula One World Championship will switch to 1.6-litre V6 turbo-charged engines from the 2014 season.
The decision was ratified by the FIA on Wednesday, and replaces a previous ruling that planned for 1.6-litre 4-cylinder turbo engines to be introduced in 2013.
That ruling fell out of favour due to concerns about development costs and the neutering of engine sound, considered to be one of F1's main 'wow factors' for fans at the track.
Red Bull's Adrian Newey recently revealed that a major reason for the 4-cylinder concept gaining initial approval had been interest shown by Audi.
Newey explained: "[Audi] said they would come into the sport if there was a four-cylinder turbo, and that's what everyone agreed in order to get Audi in. They subsequently decided that they won't bother after all, thank you very much, and we were lumbered with a four-cylinder turbo."
Turbo engines have not been seen in F1 since 1988, after which they were replaced by normally-aspirated engines of 3.5 (1989-1994), 3.0 (1995-2005) and then 2.8 litre (2006 to present) capacity.
Stoner: Too many injuries from cold tyres
MotoGP News
Date: 29/06/2011
World Championship leader Casey Stoner believes MotoGP tyre supplier Bridgestone can - and must - do more to stop the spate of cold-tyre crashes in the premier-class.
Stoner was one of many riders to fall during the Dutch MotoGP weekend as riders struggled to heat-up the left-hand side of their tyres.
The Australian was caught out at the start of Friday practice, with Repsol Honda team-mates Andrea Dovizioso and Hiroshi Aoyama also crashing just minutes later in the chilly conditions.
That bizarre chain of events came on the back of collarbone-breaking cold-tyre crashes for Colin Edwards and Cal Crutchlow at the two previous events - and was followed by a big (left-hand) accident for Loris Capirossi in qualifying, which ruled the Italian out of the Dutch race.
Saturday's grand prix then saw pole sitter Marco Simoncelli caught out by his cold rear-tyre at the first left-hand bend - bringing world champion Jorge Lorenzo down with him.
Stoner inherited second place behind Ben Spies after that collision, which he held to the chequered flag. After the race, Stoner was asked if he thought Bridgestone was working hard enough, now that it has no competition.
"Personally no," replied Stoner. "Maybe now because of certain circumstances they are going to be working a little bit harder, but we've been with them for quite a long time now with the same complaints - it's more than just this year.
"I've spoken about it in the past two seasons, but especially last year. At the beginning they [Bridgestone] would come and see me saying 'No-one else is complaining. It's only you'. Then I'd speak to other riders and they'd say 'No, we've got the same problem'.
"I think [Bridgestone] can be doing something about it for sure. We've seen way too many injuries from cold tyres that you can’t really blame a rider for. It's not like the old, classic, cold-tyre crashes where the rider has just gone way too quick.
"With these things you've just got no feeling. They'll feel great and then all of a sudden - Bam! If the carcass of the tyre and everything is not working well enough, there's nothing you can do about it.
"You think the tyre is there. You think it’s grippy enough and then all of a sudden it'll just let go. So you really need to get these tyres too hot and it takes too long to get them working well enough."
Stoner gave Bridgestone its first ever MotoGP title victory, as a Ducati rider, during open-tyre competition in 2007.
The 27-time MotoGP winner claims the current warm-up problems only emerged when Bridgestone switched its emphasis from performance to endurance, after becoming the sport's exclusive supplier at the start of 2009.
"I've been with Bridgestone for some time and know that in 2007/2008 we didn’t have these issues. Nowhere near as bad as this. It was normally when we ran the really hard compounds," he revealed.
"And as Andrea [Dovizioso] has said as well, it's not just about putting a softer compound to improve the situation. It's the construction of the tyre.
"Maybe we won’t get the same distance out of them [by improving the warm-up characteristics], but we need more feel and more feedback. I honestly think they could be giving us something better, because I've ridden better tyres from them."
Date: 29/06/2011
World Championship leader Casey Stoner believes MotoGP tyre supplier Bridgestone can - and must - do more to stop the spate of cold-tyre crashes in the premier-class.
Stoner was one of many riders to fall during the Dutch MotoGP weekend as riders struggled to heat-up the left-hand side of their tyres.
The Australian was caught out at the start of Friday practice, with Repsol Honda team-mates Andrea Dovizioso and Hiroshi Aoyama also crashing just minutes later in the chilly conditions.
That bizarre chain of events came on the back of collarbone-breaking cold-tyre crashes for Colin Edwards and Cal Crutchlow at the two previous events - and was followed by a big (left-hand) accident for Loris Capirossi in qualifying, which ruled the Italian out of the Dutch race.
Saturday's grand prix then saw pole sitter Marco Simoncelli caught out by his cold rear-tyre at the first left-hand bend - bringing world champion Jorge Lorenzo down with him.
Stoner inherited second place behind Ben Spies after that collision, which he held to the chequered flag. After the race, Stoner was asked if he thought Bridgestone was working hard enough, now that it has no competition.
"Personally no," replied Stoner. "Maybe now because of certain circumstances they are going to be working a little bit harder, but we've been with them for quite a long time now with the same complaints - it's more than just this year.
"I've spoken about it in the past two seasons, but especially last year. At the beginning they [Bridgestone] would come and see me saying 'No-one else is complaining. It's only you'. Then I'd speak to other riders and they'd say 'No, we've got the same problem'.
"I think [Bridgestone] can be doing something about it for sure. We've seen way too many injuries from cold tyres that you can’t really blame a rider for. It's not like the old, classic, cold-tyre crashes where the rider has just gone way too quick.
"With these things you've just got no feeling. They'll feel great and then all of a sudden - Bam! If the carcass of the tyre and everything is not working well enough, there's nothing you can do about it.
"You think the tyre is there. You think it’s grippy enough and then all of a sudden it'll just let go. So you really need to get these tyres too hot and it takes too long to get them working well enough."
Stoner gave Bridgestone its first ever MotoGP title victory, as a Ducati rider, during open-tyre competition in 2007.
The 27-time MotoGP winner claims the current warm-up problems only emerged when Bridgestone switched its emphasis from performance to endurance, after becoming the sport's exclusive supplier at the start of 2009.
"I've been with Bridgestone for some time and know that in 2007/2008 we didn’t have these issues. Nowhere near as bad as this. It was normally when we ran the really hard compounds," he revealed.
"And as Andrea [Dovizioso] has said as well, it's not just about putting a softer compound to improve the situation. It's the construction of the tyre.
"Maybe we won’t get the same distance out of them [by improving the warm-up characteristics], but we need more feel and more feedback. I honestly think they could be giving us something better, because I've ridden better tyres from them."
Hamilton tells fans: Ignore what you read
F1 News
Date: 28/06/2011
Lewis Hamilton has told fans to ignore the quotes attributed to him after Sunday's Valencia F1 Grand Prix, when the McLaren star seemed to declare his 2011 title chances as over.
Part of Hamilton's appeal is that he wears his heart on his sleeve, both in and out of the car. He describes it as 'passion', of the kind previously displayed by F1 legends Ayrton Senna and Gilles Villeneuve.
But such 'passion' can also have a downside, resulting in some over-enthusiastic passing manoeuvres and off-track outbursts when things go against him.
That looked to be the case after Valencia, where the frustrated Englishman finished 46 seconds from Sebastian Vettel and victory, leaving him a massive 89 points behind the young German in the championship.
After the race Hamilton was quoted as saying:
"My championship is finished. My mind state now is that I just want to continue finishing races because Sebastian is pretty much gone.
"We can't beat Red Bull. We just can't. They would need to fall off the track for me to beat them. There was over a second per lap difference in the race. That is just ridiculous."
Now it seems Hamilton - proud of his fighting spirit - regrets, and perhaps even denies, saying those words:
"To all our supporters, ignore what u read in the papers today. My team will never give up & I WILL NEVER GIVE UP!!!!" he wrote on his Twitter page (@LewisHamilton).
Hamilton and the McLaren team's home British Grand Prix is next on the F1 schedule and the 2008 world champion insists he's as motivated as ever.
"Bring on Silverstone, ur support will make a world of difference to us. I'm going to the factory now to do all I can with our team," he wrote.
Hamilton has taken one victory from the eight races so far this season, beating Vettel in April's Chinese Grand Prix.
Date: 28/06/2011
Lewis Hamilton has told fans to ignore the quotes attributed to him after Sunday's Valencia F1 Grand Prix, when the McLaren star seemed to declare his 2011 title chances as over.
Part of Hamilton's appeal is that he wears his heart on his sleeve, both in and out of the car. He describes it as 'passion', of the kind previously displayed by F1 legends Ayrton Senna and Gilles Villeneuve.
But such 'passion' can also have a downside, resulting in some over-enthusiastic passing manoeuvres and off-track outbursts when things go against him.
That looked to be the case after Valencia, where the frustrated Englishman finished 46 seconds from Sebastian Vettel and victory, leaving him a massive 89 points behind the young German in the championship.
After the race Hamilton was quoted as saying:
"My championship is finished. My mind state now is that I just want to continue finishing races because Sebastian is pretty much gone.
"We can't beat Red Bull. We just can't. They would need to fall off the track for me to beat them. There was over a second per lap difference in the race. That is just ridiculous."
Now it seems Hamilton - proud of his fighting spirit - regrets, and perhaps even denies, saying those words:
"To all our supporters, ignore what u read in the papers today. My team will never give up & I WILL NEVER GIVE UP!!!!" he wrote on his Twitter page (@LewisHamilton).
Hamilton and the McLaren team's home British Grand Prix is next on the F1 schedule and the 2008 world champion insists he's as motivated as ever.
"Bring on Silverstone, ur support will make a world of difference to us. I'm going to the factory now to do all I can with our team," he wrote.
Hamilton has taken one victory from the eight races so far this season, beating Vettel in April's Chinese Grand Prix.
Whiting explains mapping, diffuser bans
F1 News
Date: 28/06/2011
During the Valencia F1 weekend, FIA race director Charlie Whiting took time out from his usual duties to explain the reasoning behind the two big mid-season technical rule changes.
The first, which came into effect at Valencia, was a ban on special 'qualifying' engine maps, introduced to counter the use of 'extreme' settings that could not possibly be used in the race.
"[Now] the teams are not allowed to make any changes with a computer that they plug in," explained Whiting.
"The drivers are still allowed to change things from the steering wheel [but] the single ECU only supports fine adjustments from the steering wheel.
"We are on the verge of issuing a note to the teams to give them a list of things that they can change when they connect their computers, but that will be a very limited list."
Paddock speculation had suggested that the mapping restriction could hit the dominant Red Bull team hardest. But that wasn't the case in Valencia, where Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber qualified a perfect one-two on the grid.
With few obvious differences further down the field either, some questioned if the ban was even needed, However, Whiting insists he had seen evidence of 'extreme' engine maps being used by a number of teams.
"It is not for us to say whether or not one team will be penalised more than another," he said. "It depends how extreme they're going. I've certainly seen evidence of maps from a number of teams that are ‘extremely' extreme. And it's not confined to one team."
Whiting then turned to the off-throttle blown diffuser ban, which comes into effect from the forthcoming Silverstone round on July 10.
This will stop teams continuing to run their engines at high-speed when the driver has lifted off the throttle, in order to pump exhaust gas under the car and therefore increase downforce.
Teams will still be allowed to channel their naturally occurring exhaust gases through the diffuser, but Whiting wants to stop engine output being dislocated from the forward motion of the car.
"We know exhaust gasses have an influence on the aerodynamic performance of the car and we accept that," he began. "The point is that a design should not attempt to use the exhaust for a completely different reason [aerodynamics].
"We're saying that if a driver comes off the throttle - zero pedal - then the throttles have got to be [at most] 10 per cent open at 12,000rpm and 20 per cent open at 18,000rpm."
A secondary issue that the ban aims to address is a more advanced form of the blown diffuser concept, whereby when a driver lifts off the throttle, fuel is passed through the cylinders for combustion in the exhaust system itself.
This provides a powerful flow of exhaust gases for the diffuser, without powering the car forwards (during braking and corner entry). It's clearly wasteful in terms of fuel consumption, but the downforce benefits appear to have made it worthwhile.
"Similarly, we will look at any extreme use of ignition," confirmed Whiting. "We will know what the team used to do with regard to fuelling and ignition. If we see a clear imbalance then I think we will suspect it is being done for different [aerodynamic] reasons.
"We haven't put clear limits for a given torque demand. We have just said the set-up you use for fuelling and ignition must be normal for the demanded torque. We are looking for anything abnormal. I think that's the best we can do for the moment."
Whiting defended the decision to introduce the rule changes during the racing season, claiming that there is a risk of protests if something is not done immediately.
"Our argument is that there is a strong case to suggest they are illegal. Ultimately, the stewards [would] decide," he said.
"We have not had protests yet. I think we got close to a protest in Monaco. I gave the team in question an assurance that we were going to follow this through; we weren't going to give it up.
"On that basis we haven't had any protests yet, though I have always emphasised to the teams that this option is open to them."
Whiting also made a clear distinction between these developments and previous technical innovations that were only outlawed at the end of a season.
"The Double Diffuser and the F-Duct were legal," he explained. "During the course of the season the teams got together with us and we decided they weren't good for F1 and weren't needed, so we wrote laws to outlaw them.
"But they complied with the rules, which is why they were allowed to stay until the end of the season. They were completely different to the situation we have now."
Date: 28/06/2011
During the Valencia F1 weekend, FIA race director Charlie Whiting took time out from his usual duties to explain the reasoning behind the two big mid-season technical rule changes.
The first, which came into effect at Valencia, was a ban on special 'qualifying' engine maps, introduced to counter the use of 'extreme' settings that could not possibly be used in the race.
"[Now] the teams are not allowed to make any changes with a computer that they plug in," explained Whiting.
"The drivers are still allowed to change things from the steering wheel [but] the single ECU only supports fine adjustments from the steering wheel.
"We are on the verge of issuing a note to the teams to give them a list of things that they can change when they connect their computers, but that will be a very limited list."
Paddock speculation had suggested that the mapping restriction could hit the dominant Red Bull team hardest. But that wasn't the case in Valencia, where Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber qualified a perfect one-two on the grid.
With few obvious differences further down the field either, some questioned if the ban was even needed, However, Whiting insists he had seen evidence of 'extreme' engine maps being used by a number of teams.
"It is not for us to say whether or not one team will be penalised more than another," he said. "It depends how extreme they're going. I've certainly seen evidence of maps from a number of teams that are ‘extremely' extreme. And it's not confined to one team."
Whiting then turned to the off-throttle blown diffuser ban, which comes into effect from the forthcoming Silverstone round on July 10.
This will stop teams continuing to run their engines at high-speed when the driver has lifted off the throttle, in order to pump exhaust gas under the car and therefore increase downforce.
Teams will still be allowed to channel their naturally occurring exhaust gases through the diffuser, but Whiting wants to stop engine output being dislocated from the forward motion of the car.
"We know exhaust gasses have an influence on the aerodynamic performance of the car and we accept that," he began. "The point is that a design should not attempt to use the exhaust for a completely different reason [aerodynamics].
"We're saying that if a driver comes off the throttle - zero pedal - then the throttles have got to be [at most] 10 per cent open at 12,000rpm and 20 per cent open at 18,000rpm."
A secondary issue that the ban aims to address is a more advanced form of the blown diffuser concept, whereby when a driver lifts off the throttle, fuel is passed through the cylinders for combustion in the exhaust system itself.
This provides a powerful flow of exhaust gases for the diffuser, without powering the car forwards (during braking and corner entry). It's clearly wasteful in terms of fuel consumption, but the downforce benefits appear to have made it worthwhile.
"Similarly, we will look at any extreme use of ignition," confirmed Whiting. "We will know what the team used to do with regard to fuelling and ignition. If we see a clear imbalance then I think we will suspect it is being done for different [aerodynamic] reasons.
"We haven't put clear limits for a given torque demand. We have just said the set-up you use for fuelling and ignition must be normal for the demanded torque. We are looking for anything abnormal. I think that's the best we can do for the moment."
Whiting defended the decision to introduce the rule changes during the racing season, claiming that there is a risk of protests if something is not done immediately.
"Our argument is that there is a strong case to suggest they are illegal. Ultimately, the stewards [would] decide," he said.
"We have not had protests yet. I think we got close to a protest in Monaco. I gave the team in question an assurance that we were going to follow this through; we weren't going to give it up.
"On that basis we haven't had any protests yet, though I have always emphasised to the teams that this option is open to them."
Whiting also made a clear distinction between these developments and previous technical innovations that were only outlawed at the end of a season.
"The Double Diffuser and the F-Duct were legal," he explained. "During the course of the season the teams got together with us and we decided they weren't good for F1 and weren't needed, so we wrote laws to outlaw them.
"But they complied with the rules, which is why they were allowed to stay until the end of the season. They were completely different to the situation we have now."
Spies: The new MotoGP teams will struggle
MotoGP News
Date: 28/06/2011
The five new teams granted a place on the 2012 MotoGP grid won't be able to break into the top ten.
That's the view of new MotoGP race winner Ben Spies.
The Texan was asked for his opinion on the new class of 2012 Claiming Rule Teams, which will use motorcycles powered by modified Superbike engines.
Spies is one of the few riders in MotoGP with an extensive Superbike background, winning the American Championship three times and then the World Superbike championships, at his first attempt, in 2009.
But even though the CRTs will be allowed more fuel and engine changes than the ultra-expensive factory machines built by the likes of Honda, Yamaha and Ducati, Spies thinks the odds of being competitive are stacked against them.
"They’ve got to come out with something good and then they've got to pay somebody to ride it that is better than the riders on the factory bikes," said Spies.
"So I don’t see them competing in the top ten. No."
The CRT idea has been born in order to boost MotoGP grid numbers from a slender 17 full time riders and coincides with the change from 800cc to 1000cc engines for 2012.
Date: 28/06/2011
The five new teams granted a place on the 2012 MotoGP grid won't be able to break into the top ten.
That's the view of new MotoGP race winner Ben Spies.
The Texan was asked for his opinion on the new class of 2012 Claiming Rule Teams, which will use motorcycles powered by modified Superbike engines.
Spies is one of the few riders in MotoGP with an extensive Superbike background, winning the American Championship three times and then the World Superbike championships, at his first attempt, in 2009.
But even though the CRTs will be allowed more fuel and engine changes than the ultra-expensive factory machines built by the likes of Honda, Yamaha and Ducati, Spies thinks the odds of being competitive are stacked against them.
"They’ve got to come out with something good and then they've got to pay somebody to ride it that is better than the riders on the factory bikes," said Spies.
"So I don’t see them competing in the top ten. No."
The CRT idea has been born in order to boost MotoGP grid numbers from a slender 17 full time riders and coincides with the change from 800cc to 1000cc engines for 2012.
'Boring' win puts Vettel three races clear
F1 News
Date: 27/06/2011
Reigning F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel pushed his 2011 points lead to over three races with his sixth victory of the season during Sunday's European Grand Prix at Valencia.
The Red Bull star's latest triumph couldn’t have been in greater contrast to his last-lap loss to Jenson Button at the previous Canadian round.
That rain-interrupted race was hailed as one of the most entertaining in F1 history, but not even the new-for-2011 DRS zones could spark the Valencia race into life.
Vettel led for all but one of the 57 laps, finishing 10.8sec clear of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, with Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber in third. All 24 drivers finished and there was little overtaking on the long and twisty street circuit.
But with the Montreal thriller ending in bitter disappointment for Vettel, the young German was happy to claim a 'boring' win in Spain.
"From the outside I don't know how much there was happening in the Grand Prix. At least for myself it looked like a boring race, but I tell you I enjoy it so much when it is between you and the car every single lap," said Vettel.
"Of course, I had some pressure from behind at various times as the strategy was a little bit different from Mark and Fernando. Even though I had a gap before the stop I came out of the garage and still they were quite close again.
"I was pushing hard but judging the tyres, trying to imagine what the end of the stint could be like, trying to foresee the strategy. Last year I had a very smooth weekend and again this year from the beginning to the end. Fantastic.
"Even though we come here every year and we say this might be tricky as this track is maybe not made for us 100 per cent, with no real fast corners, but we manage to put everything together and faultless this weekend. I am very happy with the result."
Vettel has finished first or second in all eight races this season, allowing him to hold a 77 point advantage over McLaren driver Button, who could only manage sixth at Valencia.
Despite his mammoth advantage, Vettel insisted he's not taking the title for granted.
Sebastian, are you calculating at which race you could clinch the championship?
"No. I wasn't good in maths," he smiled, when asked if he was already calculating where he could be crowned 2011 champion.
"It's good to know that obviously we are in the lead, by how many points I don't really care. People tell me often enough so I don't need to check. I think we will find out early enough when it matters, whether we are in a good position or not."
Second place for home-hero Alonso at least gave the Valencia fans reason to cheer, but the outlook for Alonso's title hopes is extremely bleak.
The former double world champion is now 99 points from Vettel and, although there are eleven races and 275 points still up for grabs, Alonso confessed it is out of his hands.
"Obviously the championship is not in our calculations at the moment. We need to take it race by race, try to win races and wait for some mistakes from Red Bull," he said.
"At the moment, I don't think we can think of the championship in a proper way. We just need to take it race by race and see what happens in the last part of the season. The distance now with 99 points, is a lot so it's not in our hands.
"At the moment, we're one second or eight tenths [of a lap] behind, so if anyone thinks we can win a championship being eight tenths behind it's because maybe they don't understand Formula One."
Date: 27/06/2011
Reigning F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel pushed his 2011 points lead to over three races with his sixth victory of the season during Sunday's European Grand Prix at Valencia.
The Red Bull star's latest triumph couldn’t have been in greater contrast to his last-lap loss to Jenson Button at the previous Canadian round.
That rain-interrupted race was hailed as one of the most entertaining in F1 history, but not even the new-for-2011 DRS zones could spark the Valencia race into life.
Vettel led for all but one of the 57 laps, finishing 10.8sec clear of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, with Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber in third. All 24 drivers finished and there was little overtaking on the long and twisty street circuit.
But with the Montreal thriller ending in bitter disappointment for Vettel, the young German was happy to claim a 'boring' win in Spain.
"From the outside I don't know how much there was happening in the Grand Prix. At least for myself it looked like a boring race, but I tell you I enjoy it so much when it is between you and the car every single lap," said Vettel.
"Of course, I had some pressure from behind at various times as the strategy was a little bit different from Mark and Fernando. Even though I had a gap before the stop I came out of the garage and still they were quite close again.
"I was pushing hard but judging the tyres, trying to imagine what the end of the stint could be like, trying to foresee the strategy. Last year I had a very smooth weekend and again this year from the beginning to the end. Fantastic.
"Even though we come here every year and we say this might be tricky as this track is maybe not made for us 100 per cent, with no real fast corners, but we manage to put everything together and faultless this weekend. I am very happy with the result."
Vettel has finished first or second in all eight races this season, allowing him to hold a 77 point advantage over McLaren driver Button, who could only manage sixth at Valencia.
Despite his mammoth advantage, Vettel insisted he's not taking the title for granted.
Sebastian, are you calculating at which race you could clinch the championship?
"No. I wasn't good in maths," he smiled, when asked if he was already calculating where he could be crowned 2011 champion.
"It's good to know that obviously we are in the lead, by how many points I don't really care. People tell me often enough so I don't need to check. I think we will find out early enough when it matters, whether we are in a good position or not."
Second place for home-hero Alonso at least gave the Valencia fans reason to cheer, but the outlook for Alonso's title hopes is extremely bleak.
The former double world champion is now 99 points from Vettel and, although there are eleven races and 275 points still up for grabs, Alonso confessed it is out of his hands.
"Obviously the championship is not in our calculations at the moment. We need to take it race by race, try to win races and wait for some mistakes from Red Bull," he said.
"At the moment, I don't think we can think of the championship in a proper way. We just need to take it race by race and see what happens in the last part of the season. The distance now with 99 points, is a lot so it's not in our hands.
"At the moment, we're one second or eight tenths [of a lap] behind, so if anyone thinks we can win a championship being eight tenths behind it's because maybe they don't understand Formula One."
Dovizioso: Simoncelli wasn't reckless - this time
MotoGP News
Date: 26/06/2011
Andrea Dovizioso has had more than his fair share of run-ins with Marco Simoncelli, but the Repsol Honda rider took a forgiving view of his fellow Italian's lap one accident at Assen - which also brought down world champion Jorge Lorenzo.
Simoncelli has become MotoGP's new love/hate figure - his uncompromising riding style being admired by many fans, but criticised by fellow riders, even before collisions with Dani Pedrosa at Le Mans and now Lorenzo at Assen.
Gresini Honda rider Simoncelli has now crashed in four of the seven races this year and, despite his unquestionable speed, is still waiting for a first MotoGP podium.
As at Estoril, Simoncelli was launched from his bike after just a few corners of the Assen race, having once again pushed too hard on the slow-to-heat Bridgestone tyres.
The former 2050cc world champion had been attempting to overtake Lorenzo and inadvertently dragged the fuming Spaniard down with him.
Dovizioso, who was just behind Simoncelli, explained what happened:
"Simoncelli lost the rear. Not on the entry to the corner, but just before he opened the throttle I think. And then he touched Lorenzo," said the Honda rider, who went on to finish third.
"This is something that can happen in racing," Dovi insisted. "It was not something over the rules. Sure, it happened to Simoncelli because he is really aggressive, but this kind of accident is normal for our tyres unfortunately."
Lorenzo, who rejoined to finish sixth, agreed that is had been a racing incident, but wasn't in a forgiving mood.
"Of course Simoncelli doesn’t want to throw me off the track, that wasn’t his intention but I think he is not very conscious about the risks in this class with these tyres," said Lorenzo, who has now slipped to 28 points behind Casey Stoner.
"I thought he learnt from the past and the polemic he created with Dani but it’s clear he hasn’t."
The Le Mans incident left Pedrosa with a broken collarbone and earned Simoncelli a ride-through penalty, but he was not penalised by Race Direction for the Assen mishap.
However, the dejected Italian, who got back on track and rode his damaged bike to ninth, admitted he should have been more patient.
"I was very naïve," said Simoncelli. "It was the first left hander, the asphalt was cold and, although I don’t think that I went in too hard to get past Lorenzo, I felt that I couldn’t hold back because I was third and close to the front two. There was time though, and I could have waited.
"I am unhappy to have caught Lorenzo up in my crash and can only apologise to him. It is another bad experience for me and I am going to try and bear it in mind, without losing focus and motivation.”
Date: 26/06/2011
Andrea Dovizioso has had more than his fair share of run-ins with Marco Simoncelli, but the Repsol Honda rider took a forgiving view of his fellow Italian's lap one accident at Assen - which also brought down world champion Jorge Lorenzo.
Simoncelli has become MotoGP's new love/hate figure - his uncompromising riding style being admired by many fans, but criticised by fellow riders, even before collisions with Dani Pedrosa at Le Mans and now Lorenzo at Assen.
Gresini Honda rider Simoncelli has now crashed in four of the seven races this year and, despite his unquestionable speed, is still waiting for a first MotoGP podium.
As at Estoril, Simoncelli was launched from his bike after just a few corners of the Assen race, having once again pushed too hard on the slow-to-heat Bridgestone tyres.
The former 2050cc world champion had been attempting to overtake Lorenzo and inadvertently dragged the fuming Spaniard down with him.
Dovizioso, who was just behind Simoncelli, explained what happened:
"Simoncelli lost the rear. Not on the entry to the corner, but just before he opened the throttle I think. And then he touched Lorenzo," said the Honda rider, who went on to finish third.
"This is something that can happen in racing," Dovi insisted. "It was not something over the rules. Sure, it happened to Simoncelli because he is really aggressive, but this kind of accident is normal for our tyres unfortunately."
Lorenzo, who rejoined to finish sixth, agreed that is had been a racing incident, but wasn't in a forgiving mood.
"Of course Simoncelli doesn’t want to throw me off the track, that wasn’t his intention but I think he is not very conscious about the risks in this class with these tyres," said Lorenzo, who has now slipped to 28 points behind Casey Stoner.
"I thought he learnt from the past and the polemic he created with Dani but it’s clear he hasn’t."
The Le Mans incident left Pedrosa with a broken collarbone and earned Simoncelli a ride-through penalty, but he was not penalised by Race Direction for the Assen mishap.
However, the dejected Italian, who got back on track and rode his damaged bike to ninth, admitted he should have been more patient.
"I was very naïve," said Simoncelli. "It was the first left hander, the asphalt was cold and, although I don’t think that I went in too hard to get past Lorenzo, I felt that I couldn’t hold back because I was third and close to the front two. There was time though, and I could have waited.
"I am unhappy to have caught Lorenzo up in my crash and can only apologise to him. It is another bad experience for me and I am going to try and bear it in mind, without losing focus and motivation.”
Spies celebrates debut win, 'building' for 2012
MotoGP News
Date: 26/06/2011
Ben Spies achieved his much-anticipated first MotoGP win in dominant style at Assen on Saturday, but insisted his focus remains on 'building' for 2012.
The Texan, 26, put a frustrating start to his Factory Yamaha career firmly behind him with a 7.697sec victory over Honda's world championship leader Casey Stoner, at the oldest venue in motorcycle grand prix racing.
Starting from second on the grid, Spies muscled his way past both team-mate Jorge Lorenzo and pole sitter Marco Simoncelli during the first few corners - and was leading when the pair collided at the hairpin.
"I really wanted to lead into the hairpin because I knew a crash could happen quite easily," revealed Spies. "I was actually worried about someone running into me, because I took it quite slow and again at the next left hander, but after that the tyre warmed up and I could push."
Assen had seen a spate of cold-tyre crashes, prompting Stoner - who inherited second place after the Simoncelli/Lorenzo collision - to take things especially steady for the first few laps.
That allowed Spies to put several seconds between himself and the Australian, which the #11 defended - then extended - to the chequered flag.
"I'm used to leading [Superbike] races, but it's been a while," said Spies. "When you’re seeing +3.5 on your pit board for 15 laps and the name under it 'Stoner' you're not resting!
"Then the last four laps I was just praying it wouldn’t rain. Those were the longest laps for me. But the race was fun, obviously because I won, but also to ride like I wanted to. I have to thank Yamaha for giving me the bike to do that."
Spies admitted that winning at a circuit where he used to watch his heroes on TV, and while running special red-and-white colours to mark Yamaha's 50th anniversary of grand prix racing, had added further to the occasion.
"I remember as a kid watching Kevin [Schwantz], Wayne [Rainey] and Mick [Doohan] battling here in '90,'91,'92 and '93," said Spies.
"To be able to ride in MotoGP, then ride for a factory team and now win a race on such a special weekend for Yamaha and at the oldest circuit on the calendar - that's as good as it gets."
A fellow Texan, triple 500cc world champion Schwantz has been a mentor to Spies for many years - but had left the Dutch TT after qualifying!
"Kevin was here yesterday, but he didn’t make the race so I'll have to give him stick for that!" smiled Spies.
Overlooked for Suzuki's grand prix team despite a record-breaking career in American Superbike - and some solid wild-card rides in grand prix - Spies switched to Yamaha for 2009 and won the World Superbike Championship at his first attempt.
That paved the way for a Yamaha MotoGP ride with the satellite Tech 3 team, and he earned his 2011 Factory seat - in place of the departed Valentino Rossi - with two podiums and a pole during his rookie year.
"I definitely didn't think the first win would happen in the first year. What we did last year was over my expectations," reflected Spies.
Many predicted Spies would fight for race wins from his first Factory race, but instead he endured a 'rough' start to 2011, claiming only a third place in Catalunya and crashing in three other races prior to Assen.
"Every season can’t always be perfect for every rider. That was the case for me this year," he shrugged. "Bit of bad luck and I made a couple of mistakes. We also had the problem with the bike in the Estoril race and it all compounds on top of each other. That's the way it goes.
"The win doesn’t change anything. We didn’t really feel we could fight for the championship, honestly, this year. We wanted to do as good as we could, but I didn’t think we were championship contenders.
"So now we just need to focus on keeping the positive momentum going from this, and Catalunya, and keep building for next year. We had a rough start to the season but hopefully that's behind us now."
Spies has become the first American to win a MotoGP race since Nicky Hayden in 2006, and is the first World Superbike rider to take a grand prix victory since Troy Bayliss, also in '06.
"This is definitely the biggest win in my career. It'll take a couple of days to understand what's happened - I've still got some adrenaline pumping from the race," commented Spies.
Stoner, sitting next to the pokerfaced Texan, then quipped: "This is you with the adrenaline pumping? I'd hate to see you when it’s not!"
Spies is now joint-sixth in the world championship, but already 75 points behind Stoner.
MotoGP will switch from 800 to 1000cc engines for 2012, the same size as Spies raced with so much success in Superbike.
Date: 26/06/2011
Ben Spies achieved his much-anticipated first MotoGP win in dominant style at Assen on Saturday, but insisted his focus remains on 'building' for 2012.
The Texan, 26, put a frustrating start to his Factory Yamaha career firmly behind him with a 7.697sec victory over Honda's world championship leader Casey Stoner, at the oldest venue in motorcycle grand prix racing.
Starting from second on the grid, Spies muscled his way past both team-mate Jorge Lorenzo and pole sitter Marco Simoncelli during the first few corners - and was leading when the pair collided at the hairpin.
"I really wanted to lead into the hairpin because I knew a crash could happen quite easily," revealed Spies. "I was actually worried about someone running into me, because I took it quite slow and again at the next left hander, but after that the tyre warmed up and I could push."
Assen had seen a spate of cold-tyre crashes, prompting Stoner - who inherited second place after the Simoncelli/Lorenzo collision - to take things especially steady for the first few laps.
That allowed Spies to put several seconds between himself and the Australian, which the #11 defended - then extended - to the chequered flag.
"I'm used to leading [Superbike] races, but it's been a while," said Spies. "When you’re seeing +3.5 on your pit board for 15 laps and the name under it 'Stoner' you're not resting!
"Then the last four laps I was just praying it wouldn’t rain. Those were the longest laps for me. But the race was fun, obviously because I won, but also to ride like I wanted to. I have to thank Yamaha for giving me the bike to do that."
Spies admitted that winning at a circuit where he used to watch his heroes on TV, and while running special red-and-white colours to mark Yamaha's 50th anniversary of grand prix racing, had added further to the occasion.
"I remember as a kid watching Kevin [Schwantz], Wayne [Rainey] and Mick [Doohan] battling here in '90,'91,'92 and '93," said Spies.
"To be able to ride in MotoGP, then ride for a factory team and now win a race on such a special weekend for Yamaha and at the oldest circuit on the calendar - that's as good as it gets."
A fellow Texan, triple 500cc world champion Schwantz has been a mentor to Spies for many years - but had left the Dutch TT after qualifying!
"Kevin was here yesterday, but he didn’t make the race so I'll have to give him stick for that!" smiled Spies.
Overlooked for Suzuki's grand prix team despite a record-breaking career in American Superbike - and some solid wild-card rides in grand prix - Spies switched to Yamaha for 2009 and won the World Superbike Championship at his first attempt.
That paved the way for a Yamaha MotoGP ride with the satellite Tech 3 team, and he earned his 2011 Factory seat - in place of the departed Valentino Rossi - with two podiums and a pole during his rookie year.
"I definitely didn't think the first win would happen in the first year. What we did last year was over my expectations," reflected Spies.
Many predicted Spies would fight for race wins from his first Factory race, but instead he endured a 'rough' start to 2011, claiming only a third place in Catalunya and crashing in three other races prior to Assen.
"Every season can’t always be perfect for every rider. That was the case for me this year," he shrugged. "Bit of bad luck and I made a couple of mistakes. We also had the problem with the bike in the Estoril race and it all compounds on top of each other. That's the way it goes.
"The win doesn’t change anything. We didn’t really feel we could fight for the championship, honestly, this year. We wanted to do as good as we could, but I didn’t think we were championship contenders.
"So now we just need to focus on keeping the positive momentum going from this, and Catalunya, and keep building for next year. We had a rough start to the season but hopefully that's behind us now."
Spies has become the first American to win a MotoGP race since Nicky Hayden in 2006, and is the first World Superbike rider to take a grand prix victory since Troy Bayliss, also in '06.
"This is definitely the biggest win in my career. It'll take a couple of days to understand what's happened - I've still got some adrenaline pumping from the race," commented Spies.
Stoner, sitting next to the pokerfaced Texan, then quipped: "This is you with the adrenaline pumping? I'd hate to see you when it’s not!"
Spies is now joint-sixth in the world championship, but already 75 points behind Stoner.
MotoGP will switch from 800 to 1000cc engines for 2012, the same size as Spies raced with so much success in Superbike.
Red Bull qualifying form ends mapping rumours
F1 News
Date: 25/06/2011
Paddock talk
leading into this weekend's Valencia F1 round had centred upon who would lose
out most from the first of the new technical rule changes.
From Valencia onwards cars will have to race with the same
engine-mapping as they used in qualifying, thus preventing any special
qualifying settings. The next change will be a ban on off-throttle blown
diffusers, from Silverstone.
With Red Bull taking all seven pole positions prior to
Valencia, it had been speculated that the engine-mapping rule might bring that
perfect run to an end.
It didn't.
Instead runaway world championship leader Sebastian Vettel took his seventh pole of the year by 0.188sec from team-mate Mark Webber, with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton best of the rest, 0.405sec from pole.
It didn't.
Instead runaway world championship leader Sebastian Vettel took his seventh pole of the year by 0.188sec from team-mate Mark Webber, with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton best of the rest, 0.405sec from pole.
"There was obviously a lot of talk [about the engine mapping rule] going into this grand prix and there will be a lot of talk before the next grand prix. But everyone will lose out something," shrugged Vettel. "People expect us to lose more than others but that’s where I disagree."
"We came here and we didn’t expect any difference," added the straight-talking Webber. "You guys wrote a lot about it, some other teams spoke a lot about it. Maybe some people in our team spoke a bit, but in the end we’ve just got on with our job.
"If we got [beat] here, it would be fair and square, not because of that [rule]. It was just a fair battle going into today and the results are a fair reflection of what happened today."
Turning to Sunday's race, Vettel - eager to banish memories of his last lap defeat, at the hands of Jenson Button, in Canada two weeks' ago - is wary that the use of two DRS zones at Valencia could make life especially hard for the driver in front.
"Obviously if you are in the
front and the people are close enough behind then it is tricky. And it is
tricky not only once, but twice here," he said of the DRS zones. "They
are quite long straights and both times you have a reasonable hard stop so you
can try something under braking.
"At the moment it is not yet
clear how many [tyre] stops we will have and how efficient overtaking will be,
so we will see. It is also a long race and it will be quite hot tomorrow."
Having endured two tough races,
with accidents and penalties at Monaco, then a race-ending collision with
McLaren team-mate Button in Canada, Hamilton badly needs a solid race.
After managing just seventh in
final fee practice, the Briton was buoyed by his qualifying form and looking
forward to the race.
"I wasn’t expecting to be so
high up," he admitted. "After P3 we were struggling a little trying
to switch the tyres on, but the guys did a great job in analysing some of the
data to improve in qualifying.
"I’m quite happy with the
pace that we had. I think it’s good for us to be able to be up ahead of the
Ferraris this weekend, compared to the previous race. I think we should be able
to have a good race from there."
Spanish star Fernando Alonso will
start fourth, with Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa fifth and Button sixth.
Bridgestone feeling heat over cold-tyre crashes
Date: 24/06/2011
Bridgestone,
the exclusive tyre supplier for the MotoGP World Championship, is coming under
increasing pressure to improve the warm-up characteristics of its tyres after
more high-profile incidents at Assen on Friday.
All three Repsol Honda riders - Casey Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso and Hiroshi Aoyama - fell in the opening minutes of morning free practice after struggling to generate enough heat in the rear tyre.
"We're struggling with the left hand side of the tyre, we just can't seem to get the temperature in to it," said world championship leader Stoner.
Dovizioso, who fell at the same turn, told a similar tale: "I crashed exiting turn 9 on the second lap as there was a wet spot [and] also the tyre on the left was not up to temperature yet."
Aoyama managed to crash despite backing off: "I saw Casey and Andrea falling in a left hand corner and I immediately thought I had to be careful because here it's very difficult to get grip in left corners. But a few corners later I crashed and it was totally unexpected. It was a big one, around 190 kilometres per hour and I hit my back. It was very painful."
All three Repsol Honda riders - Casey Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso and Hiroshi Aoyama - fell in the opening minutes of morning free practice after struggling to generate enough heat in the rear tyre.
"We're struggling with the left hand side of the tyre, we just can't seem to get the temperature in to it," said world championship leader Stoner.
Dovizioso, who fell at the same turn, told a similar tale: "I crashed exiting turn 9 on the second lap as there was a wet spot [and] also the tyre on the left was not up to temperature yet."
Aoyama managed to crash despite backing off: "I saw Casey and Andrea falling in a left hand corner and I immediately thought I had to be careful because here it's very difficult to get grip in left corners. But a few corners later I crashed and it was totally unexpected. It was a big one, around 190 kilometres per hour and I hit my back. It was very painful."
Fortunately, the Repsol trio
avoided serious injury, but Monster Yamaha Tech 3 riders Colin Edwards and Cal
Crutchlow are both nursing broken collarbones after 'cold tyre' crashes at the
previous Catalunya and Silverstone rounds respectively.
In the aftermath of his British GP
accident, which occurred with a tyre that was still 'cold' despite being on its
third lap, Crutchlow made clear that something should change.
"I crashed for the same
reason that everyone else is crashing in this championship: the tyres are not
right. I think now there have been more than 60 crashes with these tyres,
losing the rear on what they call warm-up procedure," Bikesportnews.com
quotes Crutchlow as saying.
Bridgestone, which supplies two
types of slick-tyre compounds (one soft and one hard) for each event, insists
it is working to improve warm-up performance - and stressed that, at Assen at
least, track conditions were much colder than usual.
“The track temperature was 15
degrees Celsius lower than during qualifying here last year," said
Bridgestone's Hirohide Hamashima on Friday. "Pole
time was just 0.2seconds off the lap record set last year, but the effect of
the conditions was felt more during the initial laps and in the area of tyre
warm-up.
"For this reason, our softer
option slicks were favoured all day today. This [warm-up performance] is
something we are looking at very carefully, and speaking to the riders at
length about, as we focus our efforts on this area."
"In my opinion the two tyre
selections are too similar," explained Stoner. "At a lot of races
there's not much difference between the soft and the hard. The temperature
range is too close together.
"They [Bridgestone] always
seem to be expecting warmer weather, but at these tracks we know it can be
cold. And when it's colder the tyres just don’t seem to work on both sides. We
just can’t get temperature into them.
"We had a lot of problems
last year. This year it's better but it's still not good enough. It's makes for
some pretty big problems and unfortunately it's dangerous. You just can’t feel
the tyre. You don’t know what it's going to do.
"Having more tyres wouldn’t
change anything. I think there needs to be a bigger temperature range, so the
two tyre options overlap a little in the middle, but not as much as now."
"When the Bridgestone tyre is
hot it is the best tyre in the world," added Assen pole sitter Marco
Simoncelli. "But it is strange because when you go slow, you risk more.
Because if you don’t push the tyre hard you lose the temperature."
The most high-profile victim of
the cold-tyre crashes has been seven-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi, who
broke his leg in practice at Mugello last year shortly after backing off to let
another rider past - allowing his tyres to cool.
Late on Friday evening, it emerged
that Bridgestone was prepared to rush a softer compound of tyre to Assen for
use on race day, but some teams - presumably those in best shape with the
present tyres - rejected the proposal.
Webber: Rule changes won’t clip Red Bull's wings
Date: 23/06/2011
Red Bull's Mark Webber doesn’t expect the new technology restrictions, the first of which comes into effect this weekend at Valencia, to turn the 2011 F1 World Championship 'upside down'.
Starting from this
weekend, it will be illegal to change the engine mapping between qualifying and
the race - ending the potential use of special qualifying settings.
The use of off-throttle
blown diffusers, where exhaust gases are 'pumped' under the car - thereby
increasing downforce - even when the driver has lifted off the throttle, will
then be banned from the British Grand Prix on July 10.
Speculation suggests that the mapping limit might hit Red Bull harder than most, with paddock opinion tipping Renault to suffer the greatest when the off-throttle exhaust as is restricted.
Speculation suggests that the mapping limit might hit Red Bull harder than most, with paddock opinion tipping Renault to suffer the greatest when the off-throttle exhaust as is restricted.
Speaking in Valencia on Wednesday
Webber, team-mate to runaway championship leader Sebastian Vettel, played down
the impact of the changes.
"I don’t think they will make
the car any faster, but I think it is the same for everybody," commented
the Australian. "We have got to adapt again, get used to it, but it is nothing
new for our team to adapt to a change in regulations.
"I don’t think it is going to
turn the field upside down. I think everyone will still be in reasonable shape.
McLaren and Ferrari are fast, we know that. We are quick but the changes,
whether they will turn the championship around, I think it is unlikely."
Now in his tenth season of F1, the
34-year-old claimed not to be surprised by such mid-season rule changes - but
did highlight the financial fallout of such decisions.
"There’s always something
floating around in our sport, isn’t there?" he said. "We know that.
We had the double diffuser a few years ago; some people say it’s right, some
people say it’s wrong and now we obviously have the exhaust thing which is
their interpretation.
"It’s not within the spirit
of the rules so we change the rules. Obviously, it would have been very, very
cost effective for all of the teams to know this before the season started
because everyone was already looking at it at the end of last year.
"You look at the people from
[Renault] and those guys have done a huge, huge job, packaging their car and
designing their concept around something like this [exhaust gas] working.
"So it’s not a trivial thing
to throw into the middle of the season for the teams but they will all adjust.
We’re not overly concerned. I’m not sitting here saying they shouldn’t have
done it, it’s just that it’s not a cheap exercise for people to make
adjustments."
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso got
within 0.185sec of beating Vettel during qualifying in Canada, but the Spaniard
played down his chances of a home pole this Saturday.
Mapping change or not, Alonso
believes the Red Bull will still be the car to beat, and that the perceived
difference between qualifying and race performance is down to how hard the Red
Bull drivers are pushing.
"I don’t think it will
massively change qualifying," he said of the engine mapping rule. "We
were following [Vettel in the Canadian Grand Prix] and he was nearly eight
tenths or nine tenths quicker than us with race mapping.
"We saw a superior car at
that moment, a dominant car, the Red Bull, in qualifying and in the race as
well. It seems that sometimes they push a little bit more, sometimes a little
bit less. Because of that, in races you seem a little bit closer."
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