F1 News
Date: 24/January/2012
After initially signalling approval for Lotus-Renault’s innovative new reactive ride-height system, the FIA now looks to have stamped out the idea with a subsequent missive to all teams stating that it regards the technology as illegal.
The Lotus-Renault system was first spotted during last November’s Abu Dhabi young driver test, but was far from race-ready.
Here is some information about the system, similar versions of which are believed to be under development by Mercedes and Ferrari.
What is it for?
When a driver hits the brakes, the weight transfer causes the front end of the car to dive downwards. This means that the car ride-height - how high the bottom of the car is above the racetrack - needs to take into account this movement.
F1 cars depend highly on aerodynamics and the higher the ride height, the less downforce is generated. A second issue is related to the front wing, which produces a large proportion of the car’s downforce. As the front of the car dips under braking, the wing gets lower to the track, which in turns makes more downforce.
It is for this reason that so much discussion has focussed on the flexing of front wings in recent years, since by flexing nearer to the track, the wing can create more downforce.
But this sudden change in downforce when braking is undesirable, since it causes stability problems. As the downforce-balance shifts to the front of the car, the back of the car becomes ‘light’ and therefore more prone to spinning.
By correcting the ride-height change under braking, a lower ride height can be used and the car is more stable under braking.
How does is work?
That’s the top secret part, but from what has leaked out it appears that the device fits on to the braking system on each of the front wheels and uses hydraulics, powered by brake torque, to raise the front suspension and thus stabilise the ride height.
Anti-dive suspension systems have been around for a long time, but the Lotus-Renault system is far more advanced.
Is it legal?
Renault would not have developed the system as far as they have without checking and receiving positive support from the FIA. However the FIA, perhaps following petitions from other teams which have since become aware of the device, now feels that the system breaks the ban on movable aerodynamics. It’s worth noting that Lotus-Renault and others could yet modify the design to ease the concerns of the FIA.
How much advantage would it offer?
Difficult to say, but it seems unlikely that the system alone will suddenly turn the Lotus-Renault team into title contenders once again. Most believe it could offer around 0.2sec per lap potential gain.
When would it be used?
Renault-Lotus were stung badly by their innovative forward blowing exhaust system during 2011 and, as such, were highly unlikely to rush the new reactive ride height system into operation for 2012.
In fact, even with FIA approval, we doubt it would have been used by Renault-Lotus for the start of the 2012 season, with issues such as packaging of the device within the highly aerodynamic sensitive front-wheel area - as well as bullet-proof endurance testing - some way off completion.
Senna name returns to Williams F1!
F1 News
Date: 17/1/2012
The Senna name will make an emotional return to the Williams F1 team in 2012 with the announcement that Bruno Senna, nephew of Ayrton, will complete the team’s driver line-up.
Triple world champion and motorsport legend Aryton Senna was killed while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, in only his third race for Williams.
“I feel very privileged that Williams has selected me as one of their race drivers,” said Bruno, who joins Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado. “The team has a great heritage and I hope I can help write a good chapter in their history.
“It will be very interesting to drive for a team that my uncle has driven for, particularly as quite a few of the people here actually worked with Ayrton. Hopefully we can bring back some memories and create some great new ones too.
“I also want to get some good results in return for the support my country has given me to help get me to this position today. I am very proud to be Brazilian and more motivated than ever to demonstrate what I can do. Ever since I first sat in a go-kart I never wanted to do anything else.”
Bruno, 28, made his F1 debut with backmarker’s HRT during 2010. He then switched to a test driver role at Lotus Renault for 2011, which became a race seat in place of Nick Heidfeld for the second half of the year. Senna scored his first two grand prix points with ninth place at Monza.
But the Williams deal is not without controversy, since Senna takes the place of veteran countryman Rubens Barrichello, who had been pushing hard to retain his seat for a third season.
The 39-year-old, who made his F1 debut back in 1993 and has since won eleven races, could now be forced into retirement or at best a test-driving role.
Barrichello was a protégée of Ayrton Senna and even helped carry his coffin.
Team principal Frank Williams was at pains to justify the signing of Bruno Senna on merit alone, with inevitable rumours that sponsorship dollars had won the day.
“Bruno only started racing when he was 20 years old but quickly proved his talent in F3 and GP2. In a tightly fought 2008 GP2 season, Bruno finished second in the Championship with notable victories in Monaco and Silverstone, the latter in the wet,” he said.
“The circumstances of Bruno’s two seasons in Formula One have not given him an ideal opportunity to deliver consistently so it was essential that we spent as much time with him as possible to understand and evaluate him as a driver.
“We have done this both on track and in our simulator and he has proven quick, technically insightful and above all capable of learning and applying his learning quickly and consistently. Now we are looking forward to seeing that talent in our race car.”
No mention was made of Barrichello, who finished 17th in the 2011 Drivers’ championship with four points, compared with one-point for rookie Maldonado.
Bruno Senna will make his Williams debut at Jerez on February 9, during the first of the F1 winter tests.
Date: 17/1/2012
The Senna name will make an emotional return to the Williams F1 team in 2012 with the announcement that Bruno Senna, nephew of Ayrton, will complete the team’s driver line-up.
Triple world champion and motorsport legend Aryton Senna was killed while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, in only his third race for Williams.
“I feel very privileged that Williams has selected me as one of their race drivers,” said Bruno, who joins Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado. “The team has a great heritage and I hope I can help write a good chapter in their history.
“It will be very interesting to drive for a team that my uncle has driven for, particularly as quite a few of the people here actually worked with Ayrton. Hopefully we can bring back some memories and create some great new ones too.
“I also want to get some good results in return for the support my country has given me to help get me to this position today. I am very proud to be Brazilian and more motivated than ever to demonstrate what I can do. Ever since I first sat in a go-kart I never wanted to do anything else.”
Bruno, 28, made his F1 debut with backmarker’s HRT during 2010. He then switched to a test driver role at Lotus Renault for 2011, which became a race seat in place of Nick Heidfeld for the second half of the year. Senna scored his first two grand prix points with ninth place at Monza.
But the Williams deal is not without controversy, since Senna takes the place of veteran countryman Rubens Barrichello, who had been pushing hard to retain his seat for a third season.
The 39-year-old, who made his F1 debut back in 1993 and has since won eleven races, could now be forced into retirement or at best a test-driving role.
Barrichello was a protégée of Ayrton Senna and even helped carry his coffin.
Team principal Frank Williams was at pains to justify the signing of Bruno Senna on merit alone, with inevitable rumours that sponsorship dollars had won the day.
“Bruno only started racing when he was 20 years old but quickly proved his talent in F3 and GP2. In a tightly fought 2008 GP2 season, Bruno finished second in the Championship with notable victories in Monaco and Silverstone, the latter in the wet,” he said.
“The circumstances of Bruno’s two seasons in Formula One have not given him an ideal opportunity to deliver consistently so it was essential that we spent as much time with him as possible to understand and evaluate him as a driver.
“We have done this both on track and in our simulator and he has proven quick, technically insightful and above all capable of learning and applying his learning quickly and consistently. Now we are looking forward to seeing that talent in our race car.”
No mention was made of Barrichello, who finished 17th in the 2011 Drivers’ championship with four points, compared with one-point for rookie Maldonado.
Bruno Senna will make his Williams debut at Jerez on February 9, during the first of the F1 winter tests.
Valentino Rossi in MotoGP until ‘at least 2014’
MotoGP News
Date: 10/1/2012
MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi intends to sign at least one more contract before retirement, but that will do little to reduce the pressure on his Ducati team heading into the 2012 season.
Rossi, the most popular motorcycle rider of all time and winner of 93 races and nine world championships, saw a dream switch to home Italian manufacturer backfire spectacularly last year.
The 32-year-old scored just one podium finish as he limped home seventh in the standings and failed to win a race for the first time since his world championship debut in 1996.
“I would like to help Ducati achieve something then maybe stop,” said Rossi of his MotoGP future. “We started this project and want to win something.
“But I would like at least one more contract. So another two years [after 2012].”
The MotoGP rider market will open up at the end of this year, with all of the top riders out of contract, but Rossi has already ridden for both Honda and Yamaha - the only other factories remaining in MotoGP.
“This season will be interesting because all of the top riders’ contracts are up at the end of the year, so the cards could be reshuffled,” he said.
Rossi added that a return to a Japanese manufacturer was "not very likely, but who knows? I won’t say it’s impossible…”
Taking his long awaited 80th premier-class win will be the main focus for Rossi and Ducati this year - and should be enough to keep him at the team beyond 2012.
In pursuit of that goal many of the unique characteristics of the Ducati motorcycle - such as extensive structural use of carbon fibre - were progressively removed during last season.
The Desmosedici will become even more like a Japanese motorcycle for 2012 through the use of a conventional aluminium frame.
Winter development is continuing at such a pace that the traditional unveiling of the new bike at this week’s Wrooom press ski meeting at Madonna di Campiglio has been abandoned.
Instead the GP12, perhaps the most eagerly anticipated motorcycle in Rossi’s career, won’t be seen in public until the first test session of the year, in Malaysia at the end of the month.
For now Rossi’s expectations are cautious: "I don't want to say that I can't fight for the title, but we have to be realistic. At the end of last year we were still 1.5sec a lap behind, so the first target is simply to be closer to the front.
"This bike is very different from last year’s so it will be impossible to be competitive from the very first test. However we should be ready for the first race.”
Ducati won the world championship with Casey Stoner in 2007 and was a race winner with the Australian every season until he departed for Honda, and promptly won his second crown, in 2011.
But Stoner’s talent masked fundamental handling problems with the Desmosedici that not even Rossi could overcome. Rossi believes part of the problem is the narrow margin for design variation possible following MotoGP’s switch to a single tyre supplier in 2009.
"What is important in MotoGP is making the Bridgestone tyres work well. This is where we’ve suffered and where we’ve been working,” said Rossi.
2012 will be a big year for MotoGP in general, with a change to 1000cc engines and a new class of privateer Claiming Rule Team bikes joining the grid.
These controversial cut-price machines, powered by Superbike-based engines, will race under slightly different technical rules to the full prototypes - but are in danger of being left substantially off the pace.
Unlike some of his rivals, Rossi is pragmatic enough to realise MotoGP currently has little alternative.
"In a perfect world there would be 24 factory-built bikes on the grid, but without CRT there would be only 12 bikes this year. So we need CRT," he said.
One thing that hasn’t changed, Rossi insists, is his desire for victory.
“The new generation of riders are younger and very strong, but I’m still very fast and my hunger is the same,” he warned.
Date: 10/1/2012
MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi intends to sign at least one more contract before retirement, but that will do little to reduce the pressure on his Ducati team heading into the 2012 season.
Rossi, the most popular motorcycle rider of all time and winner of 93 races and nine world championships, saw a dream switch to home Italian manufacturer backfire spectacularly last year.
The 32-year-old scored just one podium finish as he limped home seventh in the standings and failed to win a race for the first time since his world championship debut in 1996.
“I would like to help Ducati achieve something then maybe stop,” said Rossi of his MotoGP future. “We started this project and want to win something.
“But I would like at least one more contract. So another two years [after 2012].”
The MotoGP rider market will open up at the end of this year, with all of the top riders out of contract, but Rossi has already ridden for both Honda and Yamaha - the only other factories remaining in MotoGP.
“This season will be interesting because all of the top riders’ contracts are up at the end of the year, so the cards could be reshuffled,” he said.
Rossi added that a return to a Japanese manufacturer was "not very likely, but who knows? I won’t say it’s impossible…”
Taking his long awaited 80th premier-class win will be the main focus for Rossi and Ducati this year - and should be enough to keep him at the team beyond 2012.
In pursuit of that goal many of the unique characteristics of the Ducati motorcycle - such as extensive structural use of carbon fibre - were progressively removed during last season.
The Desmosedici will become even more like a Japanese motorcycle for 2012 through the use of a conventional aluminium frame.
Winter development is continuing at such a pace that the traditional unveiling of the new bike at this week’s Wrooom press ski meeting at Madonna di Campiglio has been abandoned.
Instead the GP12, perhaps the most eagerly anticipated motorcycle in Rossi’s career, won’t be seen in public until the first test session of the year, in Malaysia at the end of the month.
For now Rossi’s expectations are cautious: "I don't want to say that I can't fight for the title, but we have to be realistic. At the end of last year we were still 1.5sec a lap behind, so the first target is simply to be closer to the front.
"This bike is very different from last year’s so it will be impossible to be competitive from the very first test. However we should be ready for the first race.”
Ducati won the world championship with Casey Stoner in 2007 and was a race winner with the Australian every season until he departed for Honda, and promptly won his second crown, in 2011.
But Stoner’s talent masked fundamental handling problems with the Desmosedici that not even Rossi could overcome. Rossi believes part of the problem is the narrow margin for design variation possible following MotoGP’s switch to a single tyre supplier in 2009.
"What is important in MotoGP is making the Bridgestone tyres work well. This is where we’ve suffered and where we’ve been working,” said Rossi.
2012 will be a big year for MotoGP in general, with a change to 1000cc engines and a new class of privateer Claiming Rule Team bikes joining the grid.
These controversial cut-price machines, powered by Superbike-based engines, will race under slightly different technical rules to the full prototypes - but are in danger of being left substantially off the pace.
Unlike some of his rivals, Rossi is pragmatic enough to realise MotoGP currently has little alternative.
"In a perfect world there would be 24 factory-built bikes on the grid, but without CRT there would be only 12 bikes this year. So we need CRT," he said.
One thing that hasn’t changed, Rossi insists, is his desire for victory.
“The new generation of riders are younger and very strong, but I’m still very fast and my hunger is the same,” he warned.
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