Ferrari fills podium in uneventful Grand Prix

Michael Schumacher returned to Formula One on Sunday after
three years in retirement and found it was just how he remembered
it.

Alonso saddles up the stallion

Fernando Alonso rolled back the years for Ferrari on Sunday,
dedicating his F1 Bahrain Grand Prix victory to the Italian giants’
staff and fans who endured a miserable 2009 season.

Bahrain Grand Prix 2010: Free Practice 1 and 2

After a long winter, Formula One is officially back! The cars got back on track early this morning, and as usual, we are not any closer to understanding the pecking order between the teams. FP1 saw all the teams run their installation laps and start cranking out a few laps, with HRT running their first ever laps in the brand new car. Having missed all of winter testing, the car was suffering problems and sat on stands until the last few minutes of FP1. Senna had a chance to run 3 installation laps to shake down the car and returned to the pits without running an actual timed lap. Teammate Karun Chandhok had it worst, watching from the sidelines as his car was not ready to run. His car has not hit the track for either sessions today.

The Bahrain 2010 Driver's Line-Up Parade - Photo Credit @thefifthdriver (twitter)

The big news today is that the FIA has given McLaren the go ahead on their driver controlled blown wing system, which has given Hamilton the top trap speeds for both sessions at 311km/h. There were many vocal opponents to the system, mainly, Bob Bell from Renault, who ranted live on the BBC broadcast. He believes McLaren is cheating, even though he also admits that the system does adhere to the regulations. Ross Brawn from Mercedes was also critical of the system, complaining that the teams now have to invest a huge amount of money to research, copy, and develop a competing system. Funny he wasn’t complaining last year when his Brawn GP car had the radical double diffuser, which was also approved, and led to the exact scenario for the other teams that had to copy the idea.

Red Bull has given up on protests, and knows they have to copy the system. It started off right at the photo shoot before FP1, where Webber and Vettel were sneaking around the McLaren chassis and looking inside whenever possible.

As teams struggle to copy the system, some interesting tidbits has come to light. For 2010, the monocoque is homogolated, therefore you can not change the tub to accomodate the system. McLaren has a hole in their tub in front of the driver for the snorkel to draw air into the cockpit control system, so other teams can not simply drill in a new hole there. They have to use existing holes, which will be hard to come by. F1 engineers do not like holes in the tub, as it weakens the stiffness of the tub. An option is to run it through the nosecone, with the inlet at the tip, but trying to get the airflow from there, to a driver control system, to the rear wing will prove difficult with a lack of access holes. F1 engineers are most likely the smartest engineers on this planet, so expect the teams to find and copy the system a few races in.

Renault, being off the pace as predicted, has asked the FIA to allow them to make changes to their engines. The team feels that they are 30hp behind the front runners, and has asked for special permission to modify their engines to catch up. If this gets approved, Red Bull will benefit huge, as a boost in power will bring them closer to the front runners. Even though Red Bull was a heavy favorite in pre-season testing, they did not make a big impression in either practice sessions.

Free Practice 2 saw most teams doing long run simulations, where Hamilton somehow managed to destroy his rear tires in only 4 laps at the beginning of the session. As tire wear management will be the key to winning races this year, Lewis has a bit of work to do to catch up to Button’s superior tire management skills. Because most teams were doing long runs, there were no blistering times, and again, we’re still just as lost as we were 2 weeks ago when winter testing wrapped up as to where the teams stand. At Mercedes, Rosberg clocked the fastest time, which means he beat out his teammate, seven time World Champion Michael Schumacher, in both sessions. Awesome.

Back to HRT, how did they end up doing? Senna got a few timed laps in, and ended FP2 with the car stopped as the rear wheel almost fell of the car. Ouch.

FP1

1. Sutil 1:56.583
2. Alonso 1:56.766 +0.183
3. Kubica 1:57.041 +0.458
4. Massa 1:57.055 +0.472
5. Button 1:57.068 +0.485
6. Hamilton 1:57.163 +0.580
7. Liuzzi 1:57.194 +0.611
8. Rosberg 1:57.199 +0.616
9. Webber 1:57.255 +0.672
10. Schumacher 1:57.662 +1.079

FP2

1. Rosberg 1:55.409
2. Hamilton 1:55.854 +0.445
3. Schumacher 1:55.903 +0.494
4. Button 1:56.076 +0.667
5. Vettel 1:56.459 +1.050
6. Hulkenberg 1:56.501 +1.092
7. Massa 1:56.555 +1.146
8. Petrov 1:56.750 +1.341
9. Alonso 1:57.140 +1.731
10. De La Rosa 1:57.255 +1.846

Ferrari in Schumi’s rear-view

After a one-year hiccup, the Canadian Grand Prix returns for
the new Formula One season that begins this weekend in Bahrain - and
the timing could not have been better.

Schumacher joins in the jokes as Formula One gears up

Michael Schumacher was welcomed back by fellow champions on
his return to the Formula One paddock on Thursday in search of an
unprecedented eighth title.

F1 2010 Preview: Mercedes GP and McLaren

Mercedes GP Petronas
Chassis: Mercedes MGP W01
Engine: Mercedes-Benz FO 108X
Drivers: Michael Schumacher (3), Nico Rosberg (4)

Yes, you read that correctly. 7 time world champion Michael Schumacher is back in F1, racing for the all German Mercedes GP team. As you all know, I’m not the biggest fan of MS, so I’m glad he’s back, so he can be finally challenged by the world’s best drivers in similar cars. Rosberg and Schumacher were neck and neck during testing, lapping times as one of the top 4 teams. Expect some surprised by the first race, as the team, even during week 4, was still using their 2009 diffuser. The 2010 aerodynamic package will be unveiled at the first 2010 F1 weekend. Unfortunately, we don’t know if this is due to running behind schedule, or if they’re hiding something revolutionary until the absolute last minute, so it’s really tough to figure out where they stand.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
Chassis: McLaren MP4-25
Engine: Mercedes-Benz FO 108X
Drivers: Jenson Button (1), Lewis Hamilton (2)

Save the best preview for last. All the cards are in McLaren’s favor for 2010. A blown wing that’s raised questions amongst other F1 teams, the 2 most recent World Champions piloting the cars, and of course, winning the winter championships by clocking the fastest laps in 3 of 4 weeks of testing. McLaren spent their 4 weeks gathering tons of data, as they have a huge development program throughout the season. They proved last year that they are the best at mid season developments now that testing is banned, so they are in a good position to leapfrog other teams, even if they aren’t the fastest at Bahrain this weekend. But from testing, they look like they are about to lead the charge, with Lewis Hamilton on the final day of testing showing what the MP4-25 is capable of in a long run, with the tires in excellent shape after each stint. Go McLaren!

Schumacher is the best, says Alonso

Michael Schumacher was mobbed by the media and welcomed back by fellow champions on his return to the Formula One paddock on Thursday in search of an unprecedented eighth title.

F1 2010 Preview: Renault F1 and AT&T Williams

Renault F1
Chassis: Renault R30
Engine: Renault RS27 -2010
Drivers: Robert Kubica (11), Vitaly Petrov (12)

Renault has been on a downward spiral since the Crashgate scandal broke. Team boss and resident F1 paddock pimp Flavio Briatore is gone, Fernando Alonso moved to Ferrari, and Renault sold 75% of the team to Genii Capital. Testing did not fare any better, with the team failing to come close to the front runners, slotting them between Toro Rosso and the new teams of Virgin and Lotus. There were many updates to the car, most notably the W shaped rear wing, but it’s hard to tell if they have problems understanding and finding a proper setup, or if it just doesn’t work together. On a related note, Chinese driver Ho-Pin Tung signed on as a 3rd driver (he will be competing in GP2 as part of the deal), we may see for the first time a Chinese Formula One driver.

AT&T Williams
Chassis: Williams FW32
Engine: Cosworth CA2010
Drivers: Rubens Barrichello (9), Nico Hülkenberg (10)

Like McLaren, Williams toyed with the blown wing idea, but their shark fin does not have a feed for the rear wing slot. Replacing the Toyota powerplant with the new for 2010 Cosworth engine, the team fared well in week 4 testing, putting them on equal footing as the Saubers. There were rumors that the team will be running a flywheel-based KERS (technically legal this year but not used under the FOTA gentleman’s agreement), but there was no evidence of such a device. A flywheel based KERS system does not have the large cooling requirements of battery based systems, so it’s fesible that Williams could introduce such a system mid-season. Of course, that would cause a lot of drama and controversy within FOTA, and as seen last year, Williams has no problems with going against the group even though it risks losing their membership.

F1 2010 Preview: Toro Rosso and Force India

Scuderia Toro Rosso
Chassis: Toro Rosso STR5
Engine: Ferrari Type 056
Drivers: Sébastien Buemi (16), Jaime Alguersuari (17)

2010 is a significant fresh start for this young team, as the ban on customer cars for this year means that STR has to build their own chassis instead of using the Red Bull chassis. Oddly enough, the front wing of the STR looks nearly identical to the Red Bull car. Week 4 testing showed promise, as the team was able to show performance better than Lotus, Virgin and Renault, putting them at the tail end of the front runners. With the refuelling ban, some clever strategy coupled with a safety car could see the Red Bull Jr team scoring some big points.

Force India F1
Chassis: Force India VJM03
Engine: Mercedes-Benz FO 108X
Drivers: Adrian Sutil (14), Vitantonio Liuzzi (15)

Force India continues to impress the F1 paddock, with a strong 2nd place finish last year at Spa, which in my opinion should’ve been a win, the team continued to impress during testing this year. Although the team missed the week 1 tests, week 4 testing put them (Sutil, specifically) right smack in the middle of all the front runners. There were only a few small updates to the car compared to 2009, which goes to show how strong the car was aerodynamically in the last half of the 2009 season.

Schuey takes long view of return

On the eve of his comeback, Michael Schumacher admits he may not win Sunday’s opening race of the 2010 Formula One campaign, but expects to be in contention for an eighth world title at season’s
end.