Friday’s free practice sessions were quite interesting to watch. It was the first time to view the cars going around the track. Due to the ban on refueling the cars are much longer than they were last year and, quite frankly, look a bit squirrelly on the track. It appears that most, if not all, of the teams are struggling with setting the ride heights. This was most obvious as cars were going around turn #6 where there is a bit of a bump on the track. All of the cars have been having problems with bottoming out at that section. Getting the ride height correct will definitely prove to be a challenge as cars will be much heavier at the start of the race with full tanks of fuel than they will be towards the end of the race. Apparently, Red Bull may have some sort of on-board height adjustment that the drivers can initiate, but I haven’t been able to verify this information as of yet.
Tire wear was also an issue for some of the teams. Under full fuel the rear tires have been going much quicker than expected. The tire allotment has been decreased this season, so drivers who can take care of their tires will definitely have an advantage. Although, the same can be said about fuel consumption; the drivers with the most finesse will most likely be the ones at the head of the pack. Lewis Hamilton, for instance, likes to throw that McLaren around the track and is a fairly aggressive driver. He was also one of the drivers pulling into the pit complaining of severe tire wear.
Sunday’s race in Bahrain will be tough for the engineers to get right since there is no historical data available for the new section of track that has been added this year. There is a good chance of having a car or two actually run out of fuel during the race. The rules also require that each car finish with at least 1 litre of fuel still on board for testing.
And, as I stated in my last post, Formula 1 racing is not without its controversies. Last year was the season of the “Double Diffusers” which can now be seen on all of the cars. This year is starting off to be the season of the “McLaren Left-Knee Vent”. The engineers at McLaren have added a vent on the nose close to the driver that allows air to flow into the cockpit and out through the floor of the car. There is a lever located by the driver’s left knee that allows the driver to open and close this vent. When closed the turbulent air created by this vent can actually stall out the rear wing, decreasing the amount of down-force on the car. Whether or not this will give the cars any speed advantage remains to be seen and, admittedly, it does not appear to be as large of a controversy as the diffusers were. We will most likely have to wait till the end of Sunday’s race to find out if any other teams will be filing complaints to the race officials. Renault appears to be the loudest objector so far. Red Bull’s Christian Horner brought up the vent a few weeks ago and has stated that they would most likely not be protesting McLaren’s vent. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the Red Bulls sporting a similar gadget by race four or five.
Nico Rosberg managed the fastest lap time in his Mercedes by the end of Friday’s second free practice. There definitely wasn’t a runaway leader and it was impossible to know what fuel loads other cars were running. The true test will be during qualifying. I would also like to send a shout out to the Hispania Racing Team. They were able to do what USF1 could not; from story board to the grid in Bahrain in 6 months. Everyone loves an underdog and it would be marvelous to see both cars cross the finish line on Sunday.
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