SeVeN

Formula 1 2010 Driver Lineup (Updated)

SeVeN — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:54:38 +0000

I thought that I had waited long enough before posting the 2010 season driver lineup. One of the new teams, Hispania Racing, has “miracled” their way onto the grid. Also, Sauber’s team has been finalized. So, here is take two for the driver lineup:

Mclaren: Jensen Button – #1 Lewis Hamilton – #2	Mercedes GP: Michael Schumacher – #3 Nico Rosberg – #4
Red Bull: Sebastian Vettel – #5 Mark Webber – #6	Ferrari: Felipe Massa – #7 Fernando Alonso – #8
Williams: Rubens Barrichello – #9 Nico Hulkenberg – #10	Renault: Robert Kubica – #11 Vitaly Petrov – #12
Force India: Adrian Sutil – #13 Vitantonio Liuzzi – #14	Toro Rosso: Sebastien Buemi – #15 Jaime Alguersuari – #17
Lotus: Heikki Kovalainen – #18 Jarno Trulli – #19	Hispania Racing: Karun Chandhok – #20 Bruno Senna – #21
BMW Sauber: Pedro de la Rosa – #22 Kamui Kobayashi – #23	Virgin: Timo Glock – #24 Lucas di Grassi – #25

Formula One Teams 2010 ~ Hispania Racing

SeVeN — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:12:50 +0000

With the Bahrain Grand Prix starting next weekend, a new team has slid into place on the grid. Hispania Racing, formerly Campos Meta, had struggled with financial difficulties and looked as if they would be a no show. However, a last minute deal saw the team purchased by Spanish businessman Jose Ramon Carabante. Although, the team has missed out on all pre-season testing, they are prepared to make it to the grid in Bahrain.

Hispania Racing Team – Spain

Drivers:
Bruno Senna – Brazil
Karun Chandhok – India

Team Principal:
Colin Kolles

Technical Specifications:
The chassis for the Hispania challenger was built by Dallara and the car will be powered by a Cosworth engine.

Formula 1 2010 Driver Lineup

SeVeN — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:24:08 +0000

Pre-season testing has officially come to a close as the clock continues to countdown the remaining days until the first Grand Prix in Bahrain, March 14th. Two of the new start up teams, having run into financial difficulties, are still scrambling to make their debut appearances. Although it appears that Campos Meta has been saved, US F1’s future still remains in serious doubt. Meanwhile, Stefan GP is still making waves and hoping to gain FIA acceptance and be on the grid in Bahrain.

Here is the driver lineup and car numbers for all of the confirmed teams:

Mclaren: Jensen Button – #1 Lewis Hamilton – #2	Mercedes GP: Michael Schumacher – #3 Nico Rosberg – #4
Red Bull: Sebastian Vettel – #5 Mark Webber – #6	Ferrari: Felipe Massa – #7 Fernando Alonso – #8
Williams: Rubens Barrichello – #9 Nico Hulkenberg – #10	Renault: Robert Kubica – #11 Vitaly Petrov – #12
Force India: Adrian Sutil – #13 Vitantonio Liuzzi – #14	Toro Rosso: Sebastien Buemi – #15 Jaime Alguersuari – #17
Lotus: Heikki Kovalainen – #18 Jarno Trulli – #19	Virgin: Timo Glock – #24 Lucas di Grassi – #25

Formula One Teams 2010 ~ Lotus

SeVeN — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:20:17 +0000

Technically this is not a new Formula 1 team. Lotus was one of the top F1 teams during the 1950’s thru the 1970’s; winning 7 constructors championships and 6 drivers championships during that period. The company began to struggle in the 80’s after the death of Colin Chapman, Lotus Engineering’s founder, of a heart attack in 1982. Poor car designs followed by mounting debts eventually saw the end of the Lotus era. The team’s last race was in Australia in 1994. The Lotus name is back for 2010 under new management with the full support of Chapman’s family and sporting the ever familiar green and yellow.

Lotus Racing – Malaysia
Drivers:
Heikki Kovalainen – Finland
Jarno Trulli – Italy

Team Principal:
Tony Fernandes

Technical Specifications:

Engine: Cosworth V8 CA2010
Chassis material: Carbon fibre
Dampers: Panske
Gearbox: X-Trac
Clutch: AP Carbon Multi Plate
Wheels: BBS to Lotus spec

F1 & the 2010 Rear Diffusers

SeVeN — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:37:03 +0000

Last year’s Formula 1 season began with a huge controversy over rear diffusers. Namely over three teams, Brawn, Williams and Toyota, who had interpreted the regulations in a manner differently from the rest of the grid. The advantages that the “Diffuser Gang” were getting from their set-ups was quite noticeable during the final days of testing. When I say noticeable I mean that the double-diffuser cars were posting half a second faster times. Formula 1 racing is measured in hundredths and thousandths of a second. Therefore, half a second is a massive advantage.

Without getting into too much tech-speak, the rear diffuser on an F1 car separates the air flowing under the car to reduce drag and increase downforce. Reduced drag and increased downforce equates a faster and more stable car on the track.

Naturally, the other teams cried foul and much of the beginning of the 2009 season was spent discussing rear diffusers and how exactly the FIA regulations were worded. At the end of all of the meetings it was decided that Brawn, Williams and Toyota were not in fault of the rules, causing the other teams to frantically re-modify their cars for the new diffusers. Not a simple or inexpensive feat to pull off.

Formula 1 is not without its politics and its controversies and it will be interesting to see what the start of this season will bring. So, for a bit of fun, I have attempted to collect photos of the current challengers’ rear diffusers for comparison:

Ferrari F10	McLaren MP4	Mercedes MGPW01
Red Bull RB6	Renault R30	BMW Sauber C29
Toro Rosso STR5	Virgin Racing VR01	Williams FW32

Interview w/ Red Bull’s Christian Horner

SeVeN — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:37:05 +0000

The drizzle in evidence for most of Wednesday at Jerez wasn’t the ideal weather in which to debut their new car, but Red Bull are feeling pretty pleased with their RB6. Team principal Christian Horner can certainly see a lot of potential in the Adrian Newey-penned challenger, especially as most of the field are running 2010 cars that have been heavily influenced by its predecessor, the RB5…

Q: Christian, people are expecting miracles from the RB6. How is it in reality?
Christian Horner: The RB6 is an evolution of the RB5, which I believe was the best chassis in Formula One last year. Adrian and his design team have done a fantastic job over the winter. They’ve made some good steps, but it is still too early to know what the other teams have done. We are focused on our own performance and we are very encouraged by the progress that we’ve made.

Q: You opted for more time in the wind tunnel rather than take the car to the first test. Was that a wise decision, considering the weather on Wednesday?
CH: Last year, taking more time in R&D served us very well, considering the reliability of the car. And when you take into account that we have stayed with basically the same people – engineers, drivers, engine partner – we are better taking more R&D time, because the steps the teams are making are quite large at the moment to start the season in the best possible shape. It was a tactic that worked very well for us in 2009 and we are very happy with our decision this year.

Q: What can you say about the car after one day of running?
CH: Well, the first two tests are basically to understand the tyres and to put reliability and mileage on the car. The most critical test will be the last test in Barcelona because that is where all the teams will use their race updates, so that’s where we are focusing on.

Q: Mark Webber and not Sebastian Vettel had the honour of taking the car out of the pits for the first time on Wednesday. Why?
CH: There is nothing specific behind that. Mark did the shakedown last year, when he struggled to get into the car, so we thought that it would be nice for him to do it this year so he’ll be able to get into the car without needing anybody to help him. Otherwise we’ve split the testing equally between the drivers.

Q: Webber had some issues with the car on Wednesday morning. Is it something serious?
CH: He had a small issue and turned the engine off as a precaution. He had a small oil leak, but the car completed more laps than anybody else during the morning running. We’re very encouraged with what we’ve seen so far.

Q: What about the engine? Are you happy with what you’ve got?
CH: We have a very good relationship with Renault. They support us very well, which was a key aspect of why we renewed the agreement for this year. The key issue with the engine is that we currently have an engine freeze. The advantage of that is the reduction in costs; the disadvantage is that if you have disparity between the engine performances then you freeze an advantage or a disadvantage. When the engine freeze was introduced it was on the understanding that the performance differential should be plus or minus one percent, so there wouldn’t be big differences and the engine would not be a key performance differentiator. Obviously each engine has its own characteristics, but it would not be a key performance differentiator. But what we now see is that there is a significant difference between one engine and the rest of them. As the chassis converge in performance, as the regulations stay stable, the engine will become a more predominant factor, and I don’t think it will be a healthy situation to have one dominate all the races.

Q: How closely did you watch your competitors at the first test in Valencia?
CH: We were obviously keeping an eye on what the others were doing, of course, but we have been pretty much focused on our own performance. Sure there’ve been some interesting bits and pieces – how teams have applied the new regulations. I must say the size of the diffuser seems to have grown significantly over the winter!

Q: Have you seen anybody who has pushed the rules too far? Any surprises?
CH: It was flattering to see that several cars have been influenced by last year’s RB5, but it is difficult to convert this into performance, due to the different fuel loads that others might be running on. You have a range of 10 to 170 kilos. Regarding any surprises I would say that there is nothing our engineers and designers haven’t already looked at. It was reassuring to see evolution rather than anything too radical.

Q: If you could have three wishes for 2010, what would they be?
CH: One would be to win the constructors’ championship, one would be to win the drivers’ championship and the third one would be… what would the third one be? Oh, to beat Bernie (Ecclestone) at backgammon!

Formula 1 – The Official F1 Website

Where Are the New 2010 F1 Teams?

SeVeN — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:08:45 +0000

With the exception of Virgin Racing, the other three new teams; USF1, Campos Meta and Lotus F1 have yet to launch their challengers for the 2010 Formula 1 season. Lotus F1 has been seen on the track at Silverstone and has announced a launch date for this Friday.

Sources (?) have said that the Campos Meta team is behind on payments to Italian chassis constructor Dallara. Supposedly, the situation has progressed to the stage where Dallara may sell the F1 project. And there is a team ready to pick up the spoils; Stefan GP out of Serbia. Stefan GP also has a deal with Toyota who pulled out of F1 at the end of last season. Kazuki Nakajima has already been named as one of the drivers should the team take the place of Campos Meta. However, a slot on the grid is not guaranteed for Stefan GP has much controversy surrounding their technical chief, Mike Coughlan. Coughlan was involved in the huge industrial-espionage affair that saw Coughlan in possession of confidential Ferrari F1 technical documents in 2007.

There is not much news to report from the USF1 team other than that they are planning on being on the grid in Bahrain.

There has been a bit of confusion as to what exactly the rules are as far as the teams attending all of the races. Bernie Ecclestone has been quoted as saying that teams may miss up to three races during the season. The FIA has quickly clarified this matter.

“Following recent reports on the interpretation of clauses in the Concorde Agreement concerning the concept of a Team’s ‘participation’ in the FIA Formula One World Championship, the FIA wishes to make the following clarification:

“From a sporting and regulatory point of view, each team that has registered for the Championship is obliged to take part in every event of the season.

“Any failure to take part, even for just one Championship event, would constitute an infringement both of the Concorde Agreement and the FIA Regulations.”

That statement seems to sum things up fairly clearly. Meanwhile, the rest of the teams are continuing testing in Jerez, Spain.

Formula One Teams 2010 ~ Red Bull

SeVeN — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:58:35 +0000

Red Bull Racing is probably the most stable team on the grid this year. With the exception of new FIA rules and regulations, nothing else has changed within the team. Last season Red Bull was one of the teams embroiled in the “Double Diffuser” row and also became one of the teams to give Brawn a run for its money. Red Bull did have some problems with engine reliability which may have led to the loss of winning the championship. The new RB6 has been launched and a brief summary with photos follows:

Red Bull Racing – Austria
Drivers:
Mark Webber – Australia
Sebastian Vettel – Germany

Team Principal:
Christian Horner

Chassis:

Composite monocoque structure, designed and built in-house, carrying the Renault V8 engine as fully stressed member
Transmission: Seven-speed gearbox, longitudinally mounted with hydraulic system for power shift and clutch operation. AP Racing clutch
Wheels: OZ Racing, Front: 12.0in x 13in diam., Rear: 13.7in x 13in diam.
Suspension: Aluminium alloy uprights, carbon-composite double wishbone with springs and anti-roll bar, Multimatic dampers
Brakes: Brembo calipers, Brembo carbon discs and pads

Engine:

Type: Renault Engine RS27-2010
Number of cylinders: 8
Capacity: 2400cc
Number of valves: 32
Veeangle: 90 degrees
Engine construction: Cylinder block in cast aluminium

Formula One Teams 2010 ~ Force India

SeVeN — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:16:03 +0000

Last season in Belgium, Giancarlo Fisichella managed to get Force India’s first ever pole position. He continued on to finish the race in second position. Adrian Sutil went on to Italy to secure second on the grid and finish the race in fourth. It had appeared that Force India may have finally found some momentum. However, with Massa’s injury, Giancarlo Fisichella left Force India to pursue his dream of driving for Ferrari. Fisichella would manage a ninth place finish in Italy; the best he would do for the rest of the season. Here is a summary with photos of Force India’s new challenger:

Force India – India
Drivers:
Adrian Sutil – Germany
Vitantonio Liuzzi – Italy

Team Principal:
Vijay Mallya

Chassis:

Carbon fibre composite monocoque with Zylon legality side anti-intrusion panels
Suspension: Aluminium uprights with carbon fibre composite wishbones, trackrod and pushrod
Wheels: BBS forged wheels to Force India specification
Transmission: McLaren Racing 7-speed, semi-automatic, ‘e-shift’

Engine:

Type: Mercedes Benz High Performance Engines V8 2.4-litre

Formula One Teams 2010 ~ Williams

SeVeN — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:38:13 +0000

The Williams team debuted their new challenger with little fan-fare. In fact, they simply went to the track at Valencia, drove out of the garage, and began testing. The team has also been completely revamped; gone are their two previous drivers, Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima. Gone also is the Toyota engine which has been replaced by Cosworth. Since there hasn’t been an official launch of the car, there hasn’t been much information released. Here’s what information could be found:

AT&T Williams – Great Britain
Drivers:
Rubens Barrichello – Brazil
Nico Hulkenberg – Germany

Team Principal:
Frank Williams

Chassis:

Carbon-fibre and honeycomb composite
Gearbox: 7 speed Semi-Automatic

Engine:

Type: Cosworth CA2010 V 8
Construction: light alloy block and head
Displacement: 2.4 liter / 146.5 cu in