F1

Analysis of the F1 season 2010 and preview for 2011

After a season full of trouble, which now came to an end I looked back with every team to every race and compare their season to a nearly equal team. Then I also looked a little into the future and wrote a preview for each team and the suggested postion, with focus on the changes in the team and regulation changes which are the following:

The 2011 season will be heavily shaped by the reintroduction of KERS (Kynetic energy restoring system).

The ban of the F-duct will also play a roll, as the ban of the adjustable front wing will.

The rear wing is only allowed to be adjusted after two rounds of racing and track on certain parts (in the race – during the qualifing and training you can adjust it when you want) of the track.

Then the 107% qualifing rule is reintroduced which means if you drive 7% slower than the best driver in Q1 you will be excluded of the race; for example Lucas di Grassi would have been excluded of the race with a time of 1:59,977 compared to Vettel’s 1:46,632 in Q1 (GP of Malaysia).

That the adjustable rear wing will only be allowed to be adjusted on certain points of the track as I said and the adjustment will be stopped with breaking, which will bring some problems to the game: If you start your race with a 150kg fuel load and then drive the last rounds with about 5-10kg of fuel there is a dramatic balance change, which drivers normaly cleared by adjusting the rear wing, which is not allowed anymore, so we will really see the talented drivers, because there will be a lot of over and understeer.

Note: I used the constructors championships points as ultimate indicator for a teams former and future success, because that shows the real perfomance of a team and to qoute every driver for 2011 would be to speculative.

RBR-Renault, Ferrari and Mclaren Mercedes.

We have seen a lot of fighting bewtween those main rivals for the championship in 2010.

No other team, except the three, has led the constructors championship. It was Ferrari who introduced themselves first, with a 1 (Alonso) – 2 finish in the 2010 FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX, as a F1 2010 superpower. The following 2010 FORMULA 1 QANTAS AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX was reigned by RBR-Renaults‘s Sebastian Vettel, until he had problems with his wheel in lap 25. The 2010 FORMULA 1 QANTAS AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX was then won by Jensen Button but Ferrari still drove a strong race, with Massa finishing third and Alonso fourth. In Malaysia it was then RBR-Renault who took the 1 (Vettel) – 2 finish so all three rivals were as close as 15 points together (constructors championship) after the 2010 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX. What followed was the rise of Mclaren-Mercedes, who were on top of the constructors championship until the FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2010, when RBR-Renault took the lead with a 1 (Webber) – 2 finish. In Turkey it seemed as if RBR-Renault would now be on top forever, as the terrific incident happened where both drivers crashed and Mclaren-Mercedes gained a one-two finish (Webber third).

Until the race in FORMULA 1 ENI MAGYAR NAGYDÍJ 2010 (Hungary) Mclaren-Mercedes led the constructors championship steadily with RBR-Renault second and Ferrari third, then RBR took the lead with Webber placed first and Vettel third (in Hungary). With Ferrari still placed third, this is how the constructors championship standings went into books of history at the end of the season – 1st RBR (498 points), 2nd Mclaren (454 points) and 3rd Ferrari (396 points).

We can conclude that Ferraris and Mclaren-Mercede‘s positons around 1 and 2 in the first five races were due to the unreliability of Red Bulls RB6 and their drivers rivalary, the reliability of Ferrari‘s F10 and Mclaren-Mercedes technical innovation of the season – the F-duct. Later on in the season RBR-Renault‘s clever blown diffuser played out and the car earned what it was made for by Adrian Newey – both championships.

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2011 Preview

It is hard to judge about these three teams, because it is unpredictable what they will built during the winter. But we see that Ferrari and Mclaren-Mercedes have a higher etat than RBR-Renault, but on the other hand RBR-Renault has Adrian Newey who is arguably worth more than only cash for the championship. All three teams have drivers with different specifications for example Hamilton is a strong qualifier and aggresive overtaker, Vettel qualifies also strong and has nerves made of steel, Alonso is the most constant driver of them all, which is very important, as we see if Vettel wouldn‘t have retired in Istanbul he may have won the championship earlier and saver.

Mclaren-Mercedes might have the best engine and will have, together with Ferrari maybe the strongest KERS, as Red Bull will buy theirs ,only‘ from Lotus Renault GP or Magneti Marelli.

As I can predict the happenings in the midfield for 2011 a little bit, it is very difficult for those three top teams, but I guess with a strong KERS and the Mercedes engine Mclaren may rule the first races in front of Red Bull/Ferrari.

Mercedes GP and Renault.

As much as Renault suprised in the during 2010‘s season, as much the combination Schumacher + Mercedes GP disasppointed.

However Mercedes drove a level higher than Renault, but could not keep up with the pace of the top three, as we see Mercedes placed with 214 points comfortably in front of Renault who gained 163 points (51 points difference).

Mercedes gained 3 third places (Gp of Malaysia, China and Silverstone) all with Nico Rosberg, Schuey‘s best race positions were three fourth places in Spain, Turkey and Korea – we can conclude that Ferrari would have been the better team for Schuey to be racing with. At Mercedes no number 1 cleared out, but at Renault it was clearly Robert Kubica, who earned a second place in the Gp of Australia and two third places, one highly respectable in Monaco and the other in Belgian (top!). Vitaly Petrov‘s, who retired in the first three races, best position was fifth in Hungary (Gp of Hungary).

Both teams were important part for the sucess of the 2010 Red Bull campaign: As Schuey (Mercedes) crashed into Force Indias Vitantonio Liuzzi the safety car came out – Rosberg (Mercedes) and Petrov (Renault) went directly to the pits and finished the race in front of Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), also Robert Kubica was able to pass Alonso while he (Alonson) pitted, because Alonso was forced to slow down as he couldn‘t get past Vitaly Petrov.

We can see that both teams haven‘t driven the slowest cars through season 2010, because with inteligent tactics they were able to reach the finish line before Ferrari and Alonso, as well as Mark Webber in his RB6 (Red Bull racings car).

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2011 Preview:

Mercedes GP vs. Lotus Renault GP

Mercedes GP completely focused on the 2011 car after the 2010 FORMULA 1 SINGTEL SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX and put half its focus on the 2011 car throughout the entire season before, so they should line up with a much better car than Lotus Renault GP who focused on 2010 until the last races. Mercedes GP has the mastermind Ross Brawn in its back, who was able to work out the best car of the year (2009 – Brawn GP) under dramatic regulation changes, which we can compared to the re-introduction of KERS and Mercedes has maybe the best KERS of them all.

Lotus Renault GP however was still in struggel with sponsorship with until today and didn‘t focus on 2011, their KERS system will be ok (Lotus Renault GP will sell it to teams ,with smaller budget, for 1 million Euros), but not that strong as Mercedes.

Mercedes GP raced in the 2010 season on p4, even while focusing on 2011 car, and will be there (or one place higher) in 2011 as I suggest, but in the first half the may be capable of driving in the front row, due to many new inovations.

Anyway, Lotus Renault GP will have difficulties to follow Mercedes GP.

Williams and force India.

As Force India-Mercedes had a strong start into the season it was pretty much the other way round for Williams-Cosworth. Everthing they earned were 8 points until the FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DU CANADA 2010 ), which is miserable concerning that Canada is the 8th race of the season and Williams natural qualities are high above this figure – However Force India-Mercedes already gained 35 points wich is a strong performance. Williams performance was equal to STR-Ferraris (Toro Rosso) until the 2010 FORMULA 1 TELEFÓNICA GRAND PRIX OF EUROPE.

Its hard to think about Williams racing against Toro Rosso and (who also raced with more Glory the years before) for p7-8, what Williams made clear by gaining 12 points in the 2010 FORMULA 1 TELEFÓNICA GRAND PRIX OF EUROPE, Barrichello placed fourth in the race. With new gained self-confidence Williams recovered from their bad performance (we are able to call it bad, as Williams had until Canda, included, only 2 initial failures – which don‘t justify the low amount of points) and earned in the 2010 FORMULA 1 SANTANDER BRITISH GRAND PRIX (Silverstone) another 11 points, by placing Barrichello 5th and Hülkenberg 10th.

As the season went on both, Force India and Williams, didn‘t earn points in the next race (FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS SANTANDER VON DEUTSCHLAND 2010 – Hockenheim). In the FORMULA 1 ENI MAGYAR NAGYDÍJ 2010 (Hungary) Williams scored important 9 points (Hul 6th, Bar 10th), as Force India failed to score and both teams were divided by only 7 points.

In the following races both teams scored as listed:

2010 FORMULA 1 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX: Wil: 0 points; Force: 11 points = Sut: 10 points + Liu: 1 point

FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO SANTANDER D’ITALIA 2010: Wil: 7 p. = Hul: 6 p + Bar: 1 p; Force: 0 points

2010 FORMULA 1 SINGTEL SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX: Wil : 9 p = Hul: 1 p + Bar: 8 p; Force: 2 p = Sut: 2

2010 FORMULA 1 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX: Wil: 2 p = Bar: 2 p; Force: 0 p

2010 FORMULA 1 KOREAN GRAND PRIX: Wil: 7 p = Hul: 1 p + Bar: 6 p; Force: 8 p = Liu: 8 p

FORMULA 1 GRANDE PRÊMIO PETROBRAS DO BRASIL 2010: Wil: 8 p = Hul: 8 p; Force: 0 p

2010 FORMULA 1 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX: Wil: 0p; Force: 0 p

Williams secured the victory over Force India in Brazil, I underlined the points to make clear how important those 8 points and the 0 point run of Force India were and are for Williams. We see only one point divided the two teams in the end. In the first Quarter of the season Force India ruled Williams and in the middle of the season Williams rose up to nearly their former speed (especially P1 in the grid of Bra is impressive), scoring 41% of their overall points in the last 7 races.

Why is place 7 in the constructors championship so important for Williams?: Williams-Cosworth saved its face, got important money for the 2011 car and a example is stated that Cosworths are capable of beating Mercedes engines.

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2011 Preview:

Williams-Cosworth vs. Force India-Mercedes

In 2011 both teams will have major deficits and advantages.

Williams may swap the engine and drive with Renault power in the back – a combination that earned much titles (5 Driver Championships and 4 constructor titles). Anyway Force India may also make profit from the engine and its supplier, as with the Mercedes engine a very good KERS system could possibly built in Force Indias 2010 car – Williams is building up its own KERS system.

Williams 2010 car was build from scratch and did a medium impressive performance, but we could see that the engineers at Williams work quite good, as the cars pace improved during the season and if this trend is steady we may see them competing against Lotus Renault GP in the beginning of 2011, because Renault especially focused on 2010, so if they will come up with clever updates and dramatic changes in the first races they will may be able to anger Lotus Renault GP a bit, until they (Renault) adopt all the important 2011 technical improvements.

Force India had a strong start in 2010 but then (in Q3 – quartal) began to loose its pace, because important employees and engineers went to work at BMW Sauber-Ferrari. Though the Force India 2011 car may be not as strong as 2010s, as key experts are missing and BMW Sauber-Ferrari will fight very hard for the constructors-positions 6 or 7 (over the first races we will see were to sort Sauber).

It has also to be taken into account, that Williams has already confirmed its two drivers (Barrichello, Maldonado) and Force India has not confirmed one driver for its 2011 lineup. Pastor Maldonado will bring a lot of money with him, so that this is another advantage for Williams.

I‘m confident that Williams will have the upper hand over Force India.

BMW Sauber-Ferrari and STR-Ferrari.

Team BMW Sauber-Ferrari drove a slow 2010 season, as STR-Ferrari (Toro Rosso) did. Toro Rosso built up it‘s own car for 2010 – without the help of mother RBR-Renault. The Result was the slowest car of the established teams (at the end of the season).

BMW Sauber-Ferrari even trailed Toro Rosso until the tenth race of the season (2010 FORMULA 1 SANTANDER BRITISH GRAND PRIX). It was the take over of the engineers from Force India-Mercedes which enforced team BMW Sauber-Ferrari and made results in the top ten steadily availabel for them. Force India-Mercedes however lost grip to the top ten positions after they lost their engineers. As both teams drove with the same engine and will drive with the same engine it was (and is), between Sauber and Toro Rosso, all about the Chassis and BMW Saubers-Ferraris was clearly better in the second half of 2010. In the first half Sauber was not able to impress: 0 points out of the first six races – Toro Rosso gained 4 points after the first six races.

What followed was a run up for Team Sauber with its zenith in the 2010 FORMULA 1 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX where they gained 10 points (Kobayashi p.7, Heidfeld p.8) and Toro Rosso falling back to place 9 in the constructors championship. Toro Rosso earned consecutive 0 points in 7 races (2010 FORMULA 1 SANTANDER BRITISH GRAND PRIX- 2010 FORMULA 1 SINGTEL SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX) and in the last 4 races they only gained 4 points.

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2011 Preview

Sauber F1 Team vs STR-Ferrari

Both teams have the same engine supplier and a result both will also be provided with the same KERS system, so there will be no major differences (except the time of engine changes and the resulting different abrasion). The body/chassis will have the major influence on the battle between both teams. And there I see the Sauber F1 Team way in front of STR-Ferrari (Toro Rosso), because Toro Rosso isn‘t supplied anymore with parts from Red Bull and Team Sauber has many advantages which are: The clever engineers bought from Force India, the drivers Kobayashi (the most aggressive ,overtaker‘) and Sergio Perez who drove faster times in Abu Dhabi tire testing than Heidfeld and Kobayashi did throughout the race weekend, important money for expensive updates gained from their new sponsor TELMEX and their early focus on the 2011 car.

However Toro Rosso has not yet admited any of their 2011 drivers, but will have Daniel Ricciardo, as third driver, to drive the Friday practice session of every race (swapping the car with each driver in turn), so that this will be another disadvantage for Toro Rosso, as one of the drivers will not get that familiar with the track than all others are.

After looking at all arguments I am confident we can conclude that Team Sauber F1 will drive over the finish line in front of Toro Rosso.

Lotus-Cosworth, Hrt-Cosworth and Virgin-Cosworth.

With these teams it is as it is with the top three – difficult to judge, also because none of them scored any point. We saw Lotus leading the three through the entire season and Virgin beeing on second place for the most time, loosing grip within the last quater of season 2010. Hrt in the end earned place 11 in the constructors championship – in front of Virgin.

2011 Preview

All three teams won‘t start into the season with KERS so this is basically no disadvantage for one of them compared to the other.

Lotus and Hrt mainly bought their parts for 2010 from suppliers (Hrt bought the entire Chassis from Dallar),Virgin created the entire car with CFD (Computer fluid dynamics) and without any wind tunnel testing. In 2011 however Lotus Racing and Hrt will be able to build their own cars from scratch.

In which way and how Virgin will build its car is unclear, but Virgin will construct the third fastest computer in the world (for aero analysis) so this might give a hint that they will do it once more without the wind tunnel.

and Virgin may make sgnificant improvements due to strong suppliers for differnt parts of the car:

Lotus Racing will buy the Red Bull Gear Box and Hydraulic system for 2011 (!) and Virgin will buy the Gearbox of Williams – there had also been Rumors that Lotus Racing might buy the 2010 Toyota car for 2011.

I see the Red Bull supplied Lotus Racing clearly in front of the two others – what will happen between the other two is uncertain, as both focused pretty long on the 2010 car. A slightly advantage for Virgin might be the Williams Gearbox and Timo Glock who is a talented driver. However as HRT has not that a strong driver they gain cash from their drivers and if Christian Klien would be given a seat they would also have a strong one.

It is possible that the standings after the first 3-5 races will look like this:

2011

Mclaren-Mercedes

RBR-Renault

Mercedes Gp

Ferrari

Lotus Renault GP

Williams-Cosworth

Sauber F1 Team

Force India-Mercedes

STR-Ferrari

Lotus Racing

Virgin-Cosworth

HRT-Cosworth

I made up this table with the comparison of 2-3 teams which look nearly similar. I also looked closer on several specific ,battles‘, because I had to compare the winner of each comparison to the looser of the comparison a class higher, which are:

Mercedes GP vs. Ferrari – Sauber F1 Team vs. Force India – Lotus vs. STR-Ferrari

Mercedes GP vs. Ferrari

Mercedes will come to the grid with a load of innovation and Ferrari focused on 2010 until the last race – Mercedes may finish in front of Ferrari for the first quater of 2011.

Sauber F1 Team vs. Force India

Sauber may be able to establish itself in front of Force India, with two young drivers, a strong car, a new sponsor and the engineers they bought from Force India.

Lotus Racing vs. STR-Ferrari

Lotus Racing will surely finish sometimes in front of STR-Ferrari, because of incidents, but also because of a new, self-developed car and the support of Williams, but after the first races they wont‘t get past them.

Sources:

Formula1.com – standings,races

F1-fanatic.com

F1technical.net

IS THERE ANYWAY HOW I CAN PUT CHARTS AND TABLES IN MY TEXT?

BECAUSE ALL TABLES I TRIED TO ADD LOOKED NOT AS THEY SHOULD…

Thanks for reply