Marussia bringing “first proper wind-tunnel upgrade”

F1 Fanatic round-up

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In the round-up: Marussia are bringing a major upgrade package for the British Grand Prix, which was designed with the benefit of a wind tunnel.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Home asphalt (Marussia)

John Booth: “We have a fairly significant upgrade for this race, comprising a new rear wing, exhausts, floor and side pods. I would have to describe this as our ‘first proper wind-tunnel generated upgrade of the season’; we’ve had some smaller parts in Malaysia and China, and a few small iterations recently, but this is the first fully developed package that is not just a modification of existing elements.”

Hamilton still battling for title (The Telegraph)

“It doesn’t really alter the way I go racing because I race to win, and that’s what I’ll be doing, especially at my home Grand Prix. And we can still compete for the championship. I feel what happened is just a blip in what can be a great year.”

Glass Half Full For Horner, Red Bull (Speed)

Christian Horner: “We effectively ran Mark [Webber’s] race in reverse, so we started on the hard [tyres]. He had two new sets of option tyres available to him. We wanted to make use of those in the back end of the race. He was unlucky not to get [Michael] Schumacher at the stop, and then he really made use of those tires as others ran into trouble. Given a few more laps, we were looking like a Montreal situation.”

Daniel Ricciardo – street fighting man (Toro Rosso)

“To be honest you really don’t pay too much attention to reputation when you’re in that sort of situation. When you’re out there it doesn’t matter who it is you’re racing. You see a car: you try to attack or defend. Beyond that you really don’t take too much notice. It was a good little fight though, taking those guys on.”

London Grand Prix: The £35m fantasy stoked up by an under-fire Ecclestone (Daily Mail)

“What better way to divert attention away from a rather damaging £28m tax inquiry than to lend his support to a £35m London Grand Prix.”

Ecclestone backs Grand Prix on the moon (Sniff Petrol, satire)

“When asked if in fact he was endorsing a shallow publicity stunt to distract from the bribery allegations levelled at him, Mr Ecclestone was less forthcoming.”

InDetail: Williams FW34 (ScarbsF1)

“Firstly notice how the step in the nose is very abrupt, the 12cm area to merge the nose into the step does not appear to have been exploited, leading to this sharp step. From this angle we can also see why teams want the chassis as high as possible; the space below the raised chassis creates the least obstruction for the airflow passing through the front wheels and onwards towards the diffuser.”

Toto Wolff: The return of Williams (Autosport, subscription required)

“[The 2011 season] was very hard, because on the one side the company was doing OK commercially, but on the other side you had these awful weekends. From a commercial sense and a business view the company is doing very well. It makes a lot of sense to be there from the pure perspective of an investor.”

European Grand Prix video edit (F1)

Highlights from the last race, including a highly frustrated Heikki Kovalainen.

Giuseppe ‘Nino’ Farina: the man who set the ball rolling (The Formula 1 Formula)

“By today’s racing climate many would have thought Nino was too old to be starting in F1, at the time of his first race he was 43, but in the days of fifties racing when fatalities were common and the machinery regularly broke experience was a very important trait, and Farina had it in droves, he’d won his first major race in 1940 in Libya and was even a doctor of engineering.”

Comment of the day

Yesterday’s comment of the day on the subject of grid girls and grid guys inspired considerable debate. Here’s Tim Katz’s view:

As an openly homosexual man (gay, queer, poof – whatever you like), grid guys would be just as offensive to me. It’s the objectivisation of a human being that gets me down; the expectation that some kind of titillation or desire response can be elicited by the display of an attractive body in a totally irrelevant situation.

Sexual response has got nothing to do with racing. Racing has got nothing to do with sexual stimulation. Don’t try and create a response from irrelevant stimuli.

Grid candy (male or female) is as relevant to a grid of racing cars as a display of beautiful food would be to a football match.

And anyway, how many grid guys would you include with the girls – 50%? One in ten?
Tim Katz

From the forum

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Rhys!

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

Happy birthday to former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher who’s 37 today. Unlike his brother, he insists he is not considering a comeback.

Image © Marussia

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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71 comments on “Marussia bringing “first proper wind-tunnel upgrade””

  1. Its my birthday now, i forgot to add it to the list. Happy birthday to you too rhys!

    1. Oh, i almost forgot…. Happy birthday to Ralf Schumacher too!

    2. Happy b’day.

    3. Happy birthday, i hope you didnt forget to have a good time, couple of pints and bundles of chicks.

    4. Happy birthday, have a blast, plenty of drinks & chicks

    5. Happy birthday to you @mike-e, and a very happy birthday to @rhys as well

  2. Loved that Sniff Petrol article.

    My favorite line:

    ‘But just imagine how much publicity we’re generating for a Spanish bank just by talking about this now.’

    1. I love that Keith went out of his way to put satire at the end of the link

      1. Well, if you’d seen some of the comments on here when he hasn’t mentioned it is indeed satire in the past, you’d see why he’s done it! :-P

        1. Oh I know.
          The Internet needs a sarcasm button, that’s for sure.

          1. @julian Certainly does! Great link, made me laugh!

  3. Oh dear, back to sexism. Somebody has to hold the umbrellas, why not attractive young women, after all, the drivers are attractive young men, why do we have to complicate and over analyse everything, especially those parts of the “show” that are irrelevant to the actual racing.

    1. Yes, I know, it’s all very tedious when you’re a straight guy and suddenly there are people around who don’t think everything should be catered to your tastes and desires.

      To some of us, this does matter. Obviously not enough to drive us away from F1, but enough to make us feel somewhat unwelcome at times. In their status as objects that lend “glamour” and “atmosphere” to a grand prix, women generally seem to be just about on par with yachts.

      1. “Frankly my dear I don’t give a d***” they rarely distract me from looking at the cars, but lucky them, I’d volunteer in a shot to get that close to the action.
        And compared to yachts they can be just as expensive.

      2. What a fantastically worded comment. :D

      3. Maybe I´m weird, but as a woman the grid girls don´t bother me. As long as they are not naked, actually sometimes I look at them and I find myself appreciating the elegance and taste that the uniforms portrait… so, no I don´t mind and it doesn´t hurt me or made me feel uncomfortable…

        I mean it´s bothers me more the prospect that Sussie Wolf or Maria Villlotas will become F1 race drivers just because they have the money or to cover a quota and not hurt the feminist´s feelings.

        1. @celeste I’m totally with you on the grid girls topic but I think it’s good that Wolff and De Villotta are now in F1 as test drivers. I agree that they don’t deserve F1 race seats on merit but their current roles are very appropriate and I think it’s a good first step towards more gender equality in F1 as potential female racers have to be encouraged somehow. I’m against any quotas as I think they are discriminating in a way, too. I’d say F1 should positively encourage more diversity by trying to attract some grid boys and some female engineers / drivers instead of refusing of grid girls completely.

      4. @aka_robyn – Couldn’t have put it better myself.
        @celeste – I sort of know what you mean about the fashion aspect, but let’s face it you can see more sartorial elegance and taste elsewhere on TV!
        @hohum – those supposedly attractive young men are mainly celebrated for their driving skills (or lambasted for them), not their looks, so it’s hardly the same thing. Plus there’s not a lot of them on show during a race – a daring few inches of glove aside.

        The “wall of totty” before the podium is just awful. And glam grid guys holding umbrellas has the potential for being uber-camp, rather than attractive.

        I like the idea of local fans getting the chance – although obviously the organisers are likely to end up picking leggy teenage girls rather than acne-cratered youths or antiques…

  4. On another subject, I can’t get enough of Scarbs analysis of the cars, wouldn’t it be great if he was explaining why, as in the preceding F1Fanatic article, designer X has gone for 4 wheels at the back when designer Y was successful with 4 wheels at the front? Actually 6 wheels may be a bit extreme but it sure would be nice to have some obvious difference in the designs apart from the little carbonfiber widgets that direct the airflow

    1. Scarbs clearly knows what he’s talking about, someone should snap him up full time :)

  5. We effectively ran Mark [Webber’s] race in reverse, so we started on the hard [tyres]. He had two new sets of option tyres available to him. We wanted to make use of those in the back end of the race.

    i’m surprised that strategy isn’t used more often. in good conditions, it seems intuitive to me to start on the hards, while the track is still a bit green and the cars have full fuel loads. then switch to softs and be blazing fast mid- and late-race. i’d even roll the dice on taking 9th or 10th in q3, rather than burn up my softs for only slightly better position.

    1. It’s odd, I agree. If that strategy nearly takes you to the podium from 18th or 19th (can’t remember which!), I can only imagine what it would be do if you started in 8th or thereabouts.

      1. Exactly. I’ve always wondered why the guys who start in the teens never try this. Maybe their simulation data tells them it isn’t worth it but I would love to see a team take the risk and give it a shot.

        1. On a lighter note, relating to the Christien Horner headline, it couldn’t be anymore wrong.

          1. @julian How sure are you that Horner’s glass wasn’t in a vacuum?

      2. I think they only do it from the back because they are faster on primes than the backmarkers on options, but if they started from the midfield on slower tyres, they could lose positions.

      3. @f1yankee @damonsmedley
        You need a safetycar in the right moment, or one less pitstop to make that strategy work, as you loose mutch time being on the slower tyre with higher fuel load. If you start with the harder compound, you will be very slow and have to drive deffensive, to hold up the cars behind on options, that makes you even slower, while in front of you the option runners will gain a lot. The thing that you will be mutch faster with lower fuel load on options can help cathing the guys ahead of you, but then you have to overtake them on track, out of the DRS zone (as the older tyres has almost nothing to do with top speed), which is harder and eats up your tyres. IF you can catch the guys ahead, it will be still hard to overtake them, especially on a track like Valencia/Monaco/Hungary, and the weather can affect your strategy too, ie. if you have to use inters, you can do all but one stints on the softer compound.

        So all in all that is a tricky strategy, and hard to make it work as you have to stick to it trough the whole race.

  6. Grid candy (male or female) is as relevant to a grid of racing cars as a display of beautiful food would be to a football match.

    Lol bad comparison. We all love a good pie (beautiful food) at a footie match :)

    1. If your criteria of beautiful food is “pies” . . . says it all really.
      But your comment made me laugh, too.

  7. Cluffy_Wedge
    30th June 2012, 1:37

    Jeez, even Top Gear ushers all the pretty girls to the front… because people rather enjoy looking at them. I think it’s time everyone stopped being so morally tedious.

    1. Not a good example if you want to cool the debate.

      1. Maybe not, but it happen in all the tv programs…

        1. Absolutely no argument from me, it’s just that part of the Top Gear philosophy is political incorrectness. It’s part of why people with no interest in cars watch it, but also why many people (aka_robyn ? ) would like to burn Clarkson at the stake.

          1. Actually to me it gets a bit tiresome after all these years.

  8. cotd: well its kinda wide spread in our lives innit? I went to purchase some parts for my car the other day, all shop attendants were busy but this one gorgeous lass. I thought i’d be wasting my time asking her as I thought it would be a bit too technical for her. But she asked me what i was after…when i did she promptly told me to please wait for one of the other blokes to be finished. But its ok…she might not have been able to help me but at least she wasnt able to help me whilst looking pretty :)

  9. Mike the bike Schumacher (@mike-the-bike-schumacher)
    30th June 2012, 2:24

    This whole London grand prix thing makes me laugh. It is somehow both pathetic and impressive of eccelstone to make such a crazy stunt to hide his own embarrassment. I also love the Borris’s pondering over air quality! While it would be spectacular, if were an actual possibility, one could assume u’d be able never to overtake and the grid would be down to 20 cars since HRT and Marussia couldn’t afford the congestion charge.

    One more thought, maybe the safety car could be a London Bus!

    1. @mike-the-bike-schumacher – Where is it written that just because Ecclestone is trying to deflect attention away from the Gribkowsky case, he is being insincere? He’s been lusting after a London race for a few years now. When the city played host to a demonstration run a few years ago, nearly twice as many spectators turned out for it as they did at Silverstone. Therefore, tickets to a London Grand Prix could be sold at half the usual price and still make a profit. Bernie has admitted that he tried to get a race going a few years ago, and came very close to it, but they couldn’t agree on the price. So given that there is the potential for extraordinary amounts of money to be made here, I don’t think we can simply dismiss Bernie’s comments at being solely motivated by the desire to get people talking about something other than his legal woes. Especially since doing so ignores the established pattern of behavior as motivated by greed (at least according to fans of the sport). A race around landmarks is highly unlikely, but a race around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park was floated earlier in the week (and having the race there would avoid shutting the city down for a week). So I think there’s enough here to warrant a moment’s consideration.

      I wonder what Lizzie would think about having her name on a Formula 1 circuit …

      1. Mike the bike Schumacher (@mike-the-bike-schumacher)
        30th June 2012, 17:56

        @prisoner-monkeys u make a fair point, i just think its very convenient that these plans come to light now, I mean the fact that they have a simulation of the track so suddenly and all, and that apparently bernie himself would put money up for it. Maybe he thought about it before, but it all seems a bit staged to me atm, if this had nothing to do with directing the spotlight off himself and he had real plans for it, we wouldn’t be seeing a simulation as such i suspect, i think we’d just be hearing about him having talks with boris and potential investors.

        1. @mike-the-bike-schumacher – This simulated lap is a Santander PR stunt. It’s a fantasy course rather than a genuine proposal, and isn’t very realistic; it involves shutting down key government ministries (like the Ministry of Defence) for three days. So yes, it’s staged. However, like I said, there was also a bid for a race at the Olympic Park once the Games have left London, and the aspiring organisers had to get Bernie’s permission to submit it, which he agreed to. That, I feel, is a much more viable proposal because it doesn’t involve shutting the city down for the sake of the race.

          Personally, I don’t think Bernie will fund a race at all. Not because he doesn’t want to, but because the project will gain momentum on the back of his comments about funding it to the point where it attracts so many investors that Bernie doesn’t actually need to put any money on the table.

  10. As an openly heterosexual man (straight, girl-perver, female-loving) – whatever you like), grid girls in trench coats would be just as offensive to me. It’s the covering of a human being that gets me down; the expectation that some kind of titillation or desire response can be elicited by the hiding of an attractive body is very relevant.

    Sexual response has got heaps to do with racing. Racing has got everything to do with sexual stimulation. Try and create a response from relevant stimuli.

    Grid candy (female) is relevant to a grid of racing cars as a display of beautiful food to Gordon Ramsey.

    And anyway, how many grid guys would you include with the girls – I think 0%?
    Scooby

    1. Lol! Well done, I appreciate that.

  11. Until Marussia adds rocket engines to their chassis they dont have a hope in hell to collect points. Although progress is being made everyone else is taking bigger strides in their own developement programs. I wish them well and think the livery looks proper, but thats about it. Back markers yesterday , today and certainly for the near future….this team is destine for continued mediocrity.

    1. : this season.

    2. watch out RBR: Marussia have discovered the wind tunnel

    3. I don’t think any team is destined for mediocrity. Considering they ditched their pure CFD approach they obviously mean business. Sure, they may never expand beyond the bottom 3 teams but there’s nothing to say they couldn’t grow into champions, like many other teams have, most recently Red Bull.

  12. I’m a bit concerned with some of the responses to the COTD, especially after everyone was (reasonably) cool about it yesterday. I don’t think “it’s tradition and it’s not harming anyone” is much of an argument in this case. F1 has changed so much since the ’50s so I’m not sure why we get to pick and choose which “traditions” get to stay.

    Screaming V12 engines are quite a nice tradition in F1, but we’re not going to see that ever again. A more contemporary engine is due to take over from the V8s soon (if it’s cheap enough to ever happen) because the sport is conforming to a changing world. So why do we still have grid girls making people uncomfortable or unwelcome? You can’t argue with people’s feelings in this case, really. Having grid guys and grid girls is pretty shallow. I think many are in denial over this, but I can’t quite work it out as it’s not like there’s no other opportunities in life to be sexually attracted to another human being! And seeing a stranger holding a sign on your TV isn’t exactly something that’s going to have much effect on anyone.

    I respect that being a grid girl offers a nice opportunity for women hoping to make a career out of modelling, but you have to wonder if F1 is the right platform for this. After all, it’s only through this “tradition” that the opportunity exists for aspiring models, and to me it looks like an excuse to objectify people and exploit their desire to work their way up through the industry in the process.

    1. I have to say, I don’t really care either way. If they want to stand there being oggled at, let them – it’s their choice and nobody is forcing them to do it. However, if they want to quit being objectified, then they can also leave. I really couldn’t give a damn, as I’m their to see the cars go racing and can see pretty girls in numerous other places if I want to.
      I do think it’s all a bit typical of this ‘PC’ culture nowadays though, like I said, they’re choosing to do it. So all these people wanting rid of them, because it’s ‘morally wrong’, are essentially ok with forcing aspiring models (probably) out of one of the jobs they can actually get, and are happy with doing. They should just be asked; are they fine doing it? If yes, then leave them be. If no, then sure, we should put a stop to it. People just need to stop being so easily offended by measly little gender issues in my mind. There are much bigger, and more important, problems out there to fret over than grid girls.

      1. *there

      2. @goodyear92 Perhaps you wouldn’t feel that these were “measly little gender issues” if you weren’t of the sex that has dominated most of the world’s civilisations since the invention of the hand axe. (I am assuming that James isn’t your surname.)

        In any case, what the grid girls get out of it is only a small part of the point being made. What about the opinions of female F1 fans? I work in a male-dominated industry where despite our supposed enlightened times I hear sexist rubbish all the time, then I have to watch women being objectified at the weekend too when I’m trying to watch a sport I love. I agree with you that if those girls want to do it, it’s their decision. I question the need for F1 “walls of totty” at all.

        1. Well, the males ‘dominating most of the world’s civilisations’ was before my time, so I don’t really care about any of that. It’s the here and now that we’re discussing, and as much as a lot of women still believe they are treated that way – they’re wrong, in this area of the world at least. I’m of the opinion all things should be equal, race or gender shouldn’t factor in the slightest as to how you’re treated. Often though, women use what their gender has gone through in the past as a weapon against anything that can be even slightly construed as ‘sexist’. Like it or not, grid girls are a measly gender issue. You want to really rally against women being treated, go voice your opinions against the way they’re treated in some of the Arab countries. Now that’s some real issues that need sorting out, with some sort of equality being established. Not this pathetic little issue. They choose to do it, by the looks of it; they’re happy doing it. So who gives a ****? They’re entitled to do it if they want, and there are plenty of other women out there showing what your gender is capable of. Monisha Kaltenborn (don’t know how to spell it) is one such example.
          You hear sexist rubbish all the time, really? Well so do I, and yes, I’m a male. It’s called joking, and sexist jokes between the two sexes is the norm nowadays and people need to lighten up about it.

    2. Let’s not forget that these women choose to take the work as grid girls. Should we be shamed into pretending to hate the odd tv shot like the ones of the babes in the valencia trackside pool? Not everything in life is (or should be) politically correct. F1 is glitz, glamour, rock and roll, and yes, sex! Remember when Jordan GP used to basically wrap a couple of women in yellow plastic wrap?

      Stop projecting your morality on others. These lovely women are obviously comfortable with their sexuality, and you all should be too. No one is being exploited here.

      1. @Snow-Donkey @goodyear92 I do agree and I said that here in yesterday’s round-up. But it might be time for the FIA to start thinking about this and discussing whether or not it should be phased out.

        1. Maybe they should be wearing the hijab. problem solved.

    3. Although I understand where many of you are coming from, and more or less agree that it’s an archaic practice, you already took the words from my mouth:

      Seeing a stranger holding a sign on your TV isn’t exactly something that’s going to have much effect on anyone.

      1. I also think that is a very important point @damonsmedley makes in his comment @satchelcharge

        Ist very much a wasted opportunity to actually make use of this part of each GP weekend to do something more interesting on the grid.

    4. maybe the drivers should have a say in this? xD

  13. The world is becoming a very dull place.

  14. From Adam Cooper’s article:

    Then in Montreal, Vettel took pole by 0.303s, and led until he ran out of tire in the closing laps.

    It further states that Cooper is in his 28th season as an F1 journalist. Didn’t he watch the Canadian Grand Prix then, where Vettel was running third after the first series of pit stops?

  15. I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve long since learned to be able to look at an attractive person, appreciate that they are physically appealing, and not see them as just an object. I still see a person and feel no need of shame for having an attraction to them since it’s a normal human reaction to desire sex. I would hope most adults who have learned to operate in every-day society have as well. Because I’m not buying this “using a person’s attractiveness to sell something is objectification” bull****. If you can’t manage to see an attractive person as something other than an object, then you must have a *really* hard time being exposed to just about any advertising media these days.

  16. Here’s a good bit of news: A Walloon newspaper reports that there has been a proposal to have an annual GP at Spa for four more years, since the French are apparently no longer interested in a GP since Hollande is president. They do ask to decrease Barnie’s fees from 17 to 15 million euros. They also say that ticket sales have gone up 20% compared to last year (so actually alternating GPs doesn’t seem like that bad an idea tbh).

    L’Echo doesn’t have an online edition, but here’s a link to a translated Flemish article.

    1. Now that’s the kind of news I want to read, thanks for that.

      I hope they can come to an agreement on that, after all 2 million is small change compared to the fee reduction Korea seems to have, or the spare €50m Bernie will have when, sorry, if the London GP doesn’t happen…

    2. Finally a bit of positive reporting for Spa, thanks for posting that @necrodethmortem

  17. I would actually be tempted to go and see Marussia do a bit of straight line testing if it wasn’t 190 miles from where I am now! It would also double up as a nice visit to the Imperial War Museum.

    1. I went to Duxford a couple of weeks ago. Fantastic museum. Well worth the visit.
      So which day is Marussia testing there?

      1. This coming Tuesday, 3rd July.

  18. I don’t know how I’m gonna cope with F1’s summer break. I feel tremendously stressed when we have a weekend off like this one, how can I make it through a whole month without F1? I’ve just realized that I’m officially supportive of 22 races calendar.

  19. When I click on the forum link for “Guilherme is trying to draw an F1 car using a CAD package” I get a page not found error. Hmmm, the second missing article scandal in two days……

    My theory is that this is the work of HRT, worried that Guilherme and Autocad 2006 could probably produce a faster car than the F112. @guilherme: if you get the design finished and built and are looking for a name for your new team, how about….Lotus?

  20. Sounds good from Marussia, I hope they do feel the benefit of the package. Although it’s a long way off, it would be good to see them sneak up behind Caterham and perhaps spring a surprise on them.

  21. Here’s a really nice video about the way F1 cars have evolved since the 1950′ I found thanks to @pjtierney pointing to it. Very nice to see along the discussions about what F1 cars should do and shouldn’t have and all the superb pictures from F1 cars of all generations at Goodwood!

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