The FIA put out the list of press conferences for the Italian Grand Prix yesterday. Among the drivers in the Thursday press conference will be Fernando Alonso, which could prove interesting depending on what the World Motor Sport Council comes out with tomorrow.
Until then, here’s today’s round-up:
Links
F1 2010 Team answer questions from Twitter (YouTube)
“A deduction of the team points accrued in Germany and a suspended ban is considered more likely.”
Tilke promises more ‘on the edge’ tracks (Autosport)
“I have discussed a lot of things, and a lot of good ideas come from Bernie Ecclestone. He has a good view on it. Now, we are going much more to the edge than we have some years before – in terms of elevation and the types of corner we have.”
Karun Chandhok Q&A: Fans & teams will love Korea (F1)
“It has a good mix of corners. The first part of the lap has long straights followed by slow corners, which should allow plenty of passing opportunities. The long straight after turn two will allow some good slipstreaming. From Turn seven onwards the circuit opens up and there are four high-speed corners with some elevation changes, which will be interesting for the drivers. Turns eight-nine and 11-12 are going to be really interesting for the drivers, with high-speed changes of direction and camber changes. It’s also got a bit of a street-circuit feel to it actually, with the walls being quite close, and you can’t really look through the apex of a lot of the corners, a bit like the Valencia street circuit.”
Comment of the day
DB went to the circuit preview event in Korea to see Karun Chandhok driving around the track:
I attended the circuit event this past weekend. Even got a picture with Karun Chandhok. Still a lot of construction around the track.
We took the KTX from Seoul which is about a three-hour ride. Once we got to Mokpo we took taxis everywhere which added up. The track is pretty far from Mokpo station. My wife and I don’t read or speak the language so it is challenging getting around, but we did it. Sometimes I had to phone a Korean speaking friend to tranlate for me. We plan to drive down for race weekend. It will be a long road trip but at least we will have our own transportation for the entire weekend.
There seemed to be a lot of motels around. I’m hoping it won’t be too difficult to find a room somewhere. If not we can always camp out in the car. lol
I have been told I will get my ticket delivered tomorrow. I just wonder whether or not there will actually be any stands for us to sit because they have only built the main grandstands so far. My tickets are for grandstand H which was not built yet. There is still time and I trust they will erect something (I hope).
DB
From the forum
Does Alain Prost get overlooked, asks sw6569.
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Stephen!
On this day in F1
September is traditionally the month of the Italian Grand Prix – so it’s no surprise that all the ‘on this day’s’ this week involve a race at Monza.
Niki Lauda won his first world championship at Monza on this day 35 years ago.
Third place in the race behind team mate Clay Regazzoni, who won, and Emerson Fittipaldi’s McLaren was enough to make him the first world champion for Ferrari since John Surtees 11 years earlier.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
7th September 2010, 0:23
Those are some welcome comments from Tilke. Maybe Bernie’s been the real problem all along and not Tilke himself? Here’s hoping some of the new tracks are better.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
7th September 2010, 0:35
or it could just be a brilliant excuse…
Jarred Walmsley
7th September 2010, 0:57
either way we will have better tracks in the future
Pinball
7th September 2010, 2:16
I’m not an Autosport Plus subscriber so I couldn’t read the whole article (can anyone advise whether a subscription to Autosport is a worthwhile investment). However from the first few paragraphs, it doesn’t seem that Bernie is the problem, but rather the problem is, if there is an actual problem, is the factors as quoted in the article such as land selection, geography, circuit owner’s budget, and runoff areas.
These factors are largely outside the control of the track designer such as Tilke, Popolous, Apex and others.
Land selection for instance is the circuit owner’s (the track designer’s client) responsibility, and where they decide to buy land determines the topography of the land, whether it’s hilly or flat. But it’s not just simply a case of the owner going and buying a large hilly piece of land, they have a whole bunch of commercial matters to consider (after all the circuit is an investment for them, they do hope to turn a profit by owning the circuit). When selecting the land the owner needs to consider whether the land appropriately zoned, whether the surrounding infrastructure (highways, public transport, water, sewer, electricity, telecommunications, accommodation, airports etc) are suitable, and if not how much would it cost to upgrade, how close is the land to population centres, does it get flooded when it rains, are there existing problems with the land (such as contamination from previous uses, or existing easements), and is the land affordable (relative to whatever the owner’s budget is).
Similarly runoff areas are largely outside the control of the designer. The FIA and FIM specify runoff area requirements, and these requirements exist to make the circuit safe, to hopefully prevent drivers or riders from dying or being seriously injured if they crash. Unfortunately the size of them can impact on spectator experience, but what’s more important driver and rider safety, or spectator enjoyment? The designer can try to reduce the size of the runoff areas, by only having low speed corners, but that is boring, or in some instances they can install things like tyre walls or techpro barriers, or the inflatable safety barriers they use in MotoGP but they cost money to install and maintain, and the circuit designer needs to consider whether the cost of installing and maintaining these devices is within the owner’s budget.
So it’s constraints like these that didn’t exist so much in a bygone era when circuits were either built on existing rural roads, old airfields, or virgin land off the beaten track for gentlemen racers with little regard to safety, that limit what circuit designers can do with new circuits, rather than any lack of imagination, in my opinion.
Steven
7th September 2010, 3:07
For under a fiver a month I think it is very much worthwhile doing.
Mike
7th September 2010, 5:44
That was a very insightful comment…..
I rather hope you get COTD for that…
BasCB
7th September 2010, 6:29
I think those factors are very important if not defining what track to build.
Of course the wishes the owners have and those Bernie has are also a big part of it. From what Tilke is quoted to say, I take it he was being urged by Bernie not to experiment too much (maybe to be on the safe side) and now is starting to do more of that after Hellmund pushed and competition is starting to have a try (Populous, …).
bosyber
7th September 2010, 9:28
Yes, that does seem to be the case – maybe Bernie was indeed the one that got him to focus on the surrounding architecture instead of on great racing!
rob
7th September 2010, 18:14
so will I get my Scottish Grand Prix or not?
BasCB
7th September 2010, 6:23
A bit of wishfull thinking from the FOM site at the start of that Chandhok Q&A:
From what i understood from Chandhoks comments, and from some pretty well informed posters here, it will probably go on, but it will be a lot work to get the track surface ready and stable, everytthing around the actual track will be largely improvised. Parking space, grandstands, etc.
Mike
7th September 2010, 11:00
“largely improvised. Parking space, grandstands, etc.”
Like the good ol’ days….
BasCB
7th September 2010, 6:26
Happy birthday Stephen.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
7th September 2010, 6:48
Yes, happy birthday Stephen.
Stephen
7th September 2010, 14:15
Thanks Guys!
I’m a little embarrassed to say that I didn’t realise it was my birthday until I saw my name in the round up!
What can I say, work has been busy!
BasCB
7th September 2010, 7:37
According to Adam Cooper, Sauber has confirmed Kobayashi for next year (the second seat to be announced later). Good job Kamui and Peter Sauber.
http://adamcooperf1.com/2010/09/07/kobayashi-to-stay-at-sauber-in-2011/
daykind
7th September 2010, 22:03
But will Pedro be with him?
BasCB
7th September 2010, 7:49
I found this link on the BBC (its in italian) http://www.auto.it/autosprint/formula_1/2010/09/06-6007/Niente+13esimo+team+nel+2011l
According to Autosprint the FIA found both Epsilon Euskadi and Villeneuve/Durango do not have the funding for a F1 team so there will be no 13th team next year.
Bernie and Luca Monti will love this news. Actually it is no suprise, with time running as late as it has it is hardly possible to have guaranteed fundinging in place for next year (even if Villedeprat claims he has, i suppose part of that is only conditional).
bosyber
7th September 2010, 9:31
It is not unexpected, but I have to say, it would have been better if they just told them, maybe about three months ago already – before they started to actually design their cars.
I do hope they announce that the bids can be amended for 1013 then, with the new rules, so that they can start evaluating early.
OEL
7th September 2010, 12:07
Lotus to use Renault engines? On Autosport.com
BasCB
7th September 2010, 13:50
But isn’t that an old rumour? Until confirmed, it will stay like that as all parties prefer to remain silent about it, at least oficially.
OEL
7th September 2010, 17:04
Yes, but didn’t Lotus say they were going to keep their Cosworth engines for 2011 back then? Now they say nothing.
RobR (@robr)
7th September 2010, 14:21
This “team orders” rule is a joke, in my opinion.
Aside from the fact that this broad, sweeping rule was simply created because of a big outcry eight years ago, and is now being applied to a totally different situation, to those people who say “Ferrari should have been more subtle about it” – I ask you, if they had been more subtle and they had found a way to tell Massa to give way without everybody having to hear that cringe-inducing radio message, wouldn’t that prove that the rule is stupid anyway because it can be easily bypassed?
I’ve liked Massa ever since his great 2008 season but he was always going to be rusty this year after months on the sideline. Yes it would have been nice for him to win a year to the day after his terrible injury, but he was a big championship outsider before Hockenheim and he still is, 7 points extra would not make much of a difference. Alonso shouldn’t have to give up his title ambitions because of a silly, whimsical rule that was created eight years ago when F1 was in much better financial shape, and people who were bored of Schumacher winning everything overreacted.
patrickl
8th September 2010, 13:10
How do you mean “totally different situation”?
It’s exactly the same. Lead car gets told to move over and hands over the lead.
At best it’s “marginally different” as Barrichello was actually faster than Schumacher.
In both cases though, the lead car would have easily won the race without the team orders to sawp positions.
Hence the huge outcry this time too.
RobR (@robr)
8th September 2010, 14:05
Do you seriously think a team should be forced to wait until one driver is mathematically out of the championship hunt to start favouring the faster one? (And Fernando is faster this season, it was always very likely that he would be).
There is a clear difference here, in that Felipe has no chance of winning the title but Fernando does, and the Ferrari is not at all dominant this season, whereas it was utterly dominant in 2002, so there was really no need to make Rubens move over. Why should a different situation be governed by a rule that was made eight years ago on a whim when the concept of more than one team battling for the championship seemed light years away?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
8th September 2010, 14:40
Yes.
‘Faster’ isn’t the only thing that matters – Alonso has also lost a lot of points through mistakes – Shanghai, Silverstone and Spa to name a few.
So much so that, if we ‘correct’ the finishing order at Hockenheim, Massa would only be 18 points behind him.