Whitmarsh: title is “tough, but possible”

F1 Fanatic round-up

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In the round-up: McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh hasn’t given up on the championship yet.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Whitmarsh says title is still possible (Autosport)

“We can keep this momentum and them we can win more races and the championship is possible. Tough, but possible.”

Red Bull plans F1 car demonstration Saturday morning (Austin-American Statesman

“Former F1 driver David Coulthard will drive Red Bull’s Racing Showcar for a promotional video connected to the return of F1 in the United States at a track under construction near Austin.”

Vodafone brings F1 team back to UK (Brand Republic)

“Vodafone has been hit by claims of tax avoidance by protest groups – a claim refuted by the company.”

Melbourne Senna Premiere (Working Title)

“Local celebrities James Brayshaw, Billy Brownless, Eddie McGuire, Jennifer Keyte and Mick Molloy were in attendance, along with F1 President Bernie Ecclestone.”

Ricciardo to continue in FR 3.5 alongside F1 commitments (Motors TV)

[Daniel] Ricciardo has a busy period of racing coming up. Following this weekend’s Silverstone double-header he will contest the Belgian Grand Prix the following Sunday. He will then have a weekend off before contesting the Italian GP on September 11, the 3.5 event in France the following weekend and the Singapore Grand Prix on September 25.”

Hunter-Reay in controversial win (MotorSport)

“IndyCar’s president of competition and racing operations Brian Barnhart admitted he had erred in calling for the final restart. You have to tip your cap to Barnhart for his uncommon candour, remarkably unlike anything one might hear from the FIA.”

F1 in Schools World Finals 2011 to be held in Malaysia (Formula 1)

“In what will be its seventh World Finals, F1 in Schools, the largest global educational initiative, is expecting to welcome 23 teams from 17 countries, with representation from all four continents.”

70 percent of F1 Abu Dhabi GP sold (Khaleej Times)

“Seventy percent of tickets for November’s Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix have been sold, with only three months to go.”

Valentino Rossi likely to withdraw from Japanese MotoGP (BBC)

Obviously not an F1 story, but might any F1 drivers share the reservations of Moto GP riders about racing in Japan?

Follow F1 news as it breaks using the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app.

Comment of the day

While the majority of people voted in favour of bringing back qualifying tyres, not everyone agreed. Damon Smedley puts the case against:

No. I don’t agree with the people that say qualifying would be made more dangerous by introducing a qualifying tyre, but with the current Q1-Q2-Q3 structure, it’s difficult to imagine how it would work. Besides, qualifying in recent years, especially since the race-fuel rule was abolished, have been anything but boring.

I suspect that a lot of the reason this idea has been so popular is because it is seen as a return to the "golden years", when in fact, I think the current era of Formula 1 is perhaps the most exciting ever, even if it is for different reasons. The qualifying tyre could be used, but it would mean the entire qualifying system would have to be completely redesigned to accommodate it.
Damon Smedley

From the forum

Kidchris92 asks ss Formula 1 a team sport or an individual sport?

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Feline-Fan!

On this day in F1

Jacques Laffite won the Austrian Grand Prix 30 years ago today, moving him within 11 points of championship leader Carlos Reutemann, who was fifth.

Alain Prost led early on, the turbocharged Renault very much at home on the power circuit. But Prost went off when a suspension component broke, allowing team mate Rene Arnoux into the lead.

Laffite, however, was reeling Arnoux in. Despite being held up by the lapped Andrea de Cesaris, Laffite passed Arnoux with 15 laps to go to claim the win.

Here’s the start of the race. For those of you who’ve seen the Senna film, keep an eye out at the start of lap two for a moment you may remember:

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51 comments on “Whitmarsh: title is “tough, but possible””

  1. Just seen Damon’s comment and replied to it. Thoroughly deserved COTD!

    Interesting how they worded the demo run in Austin. Like they’re wanting to keep something under their hat for the time being…

  2. The end to the IndyCar race was an absolute joke. The stewards need to start listening to the drivers.

    1. After what it caused, I guess they now will next time there is something similar going on.

      My guess is, that having only relatively low grandstand visitors and a bit of rain, they wanted to make sure to give them something to watch for the end, instead of having them watch Saftety car running to the end. It backfired on track.

  3. totally agree with damon. If we have 1 single set of qualifying tyres, it will just be used in Q1, if we have more, it will be no different to the current system just with slightly faster laptimes. But as someone pointed out, the laptimes aren’t really what’s important, as Senna’s 88 lap round monaco was 6 seconds slower than Kovalainen’s in 2010

  4. Completely agree with Damon! This is my second favourite era, after the 1997-2001 era where Hakkinen was in his prime.

    I watched the IndyCar race the other night and I was really surprised it was green-flagged when the track was clearly wetter than it was when the yellow was thrown. As soon as the drivers applied any throttle, even in 2nd gear, they’d just spin. Just as Danica Patrick and Will Power did, it was crazy!

    1. Racing on a wet oval is incredibly dangerous!
    2. Racing on a wet oval with dry tyres is even more dangerous!!

    As there were just 10 laps or so to go anyway, it should have been red-flagged.

    1. Know what? I think I’ll change my mind from “for” to “against” the qualifying tyres. Great comment, Damon!

  5. possible = mathematical elimination is only a matter of time.

    vettel can take off the next 3 races and still hold the championship lead. i didn’t mind when button walked away with it in 2009 and i don’t mind now, especially since the action on the track is the best i can remember.

    1. I feel largely the same, even if I would love either Ferrari or McLaren (or Webber, who knows even a lucky win and podium for someone else) or both to start taking the top spots regularly.

    2. Yes. It’s a long shot.

  6. Obviously not an F1 story, but might any F1 drivers share the reservations of Moto GP riders about racing in Japan?

    Unlikely. The concenrs of the MotoGP riders stem from radiation levels at the circuit. MotoGP races at the Motegi Twin Ring, which is much closer to the Fukushima-Daichii reactors than Suzuka is. In fact, Suzuka was entirely unaffected by the earthquake and tsunami, and I do believe there has been almost no discernable change in atmospheric radiation levels at the circuit. In fact, radiation levels at Motegi have dropped to safe levels, and a lot of the riders have said they’ll consider racing there – Casey Stoner says he’s being persuaded, while Cal Crutchlow and the Tech 3 Yamaha team have already confirmed they’ll race.

    1. There was an article on autosport a few days ago about this. Rossi was saying that radiation was no longer one of his concerns, but that:

      “The main reason is that the centre is not under control. Two or three days ago there was another earthquake. If something wrong happens when we are there: this is the biggest fear, the main reason.”

      1. Well, he’s never had a problem with going to Japan in the past, considering it’s one of the most geologically-active regions on the face of the earth.

        1. Furthermore, actual damage caused by the 5th largest earthquake in recorded history was minimal. I can’t find the article right now, but I recently read that only about 200-300 people were killed by the earthquake. Even then it was mainly from improperly secured furniture, and in one case the collapse of a porn collection 20 years in the making. Japanese buildings are incredible.

          Most of the damage/deaths were caused by the tsunami. Stay away from the ocean and you will be fine.

          1. It was terrible and all but.

            “In one case the collapse of a porn collection 20 years in the making.”

            That is quite simply hilarious comic gold.

        2. Yeah, im guessing that he never really thought about it that much before, the size of the Earthquake and the tsunami was probably a rude awakening for him. But yeah it’s a bit silly, as you’ve pointed out, because he’s raced there so many times before but never had a problem.

        3. I just cannot suppress a niggling feeling, that this desicion by Rossi has more to do with his not so successfull season at Ducati so far than with the actual state of things in Japan.

      2. Ooops, jumped the gun… but yeah i dont think the F1 boys are gonna cause a ruckus over Suzuka, if they were we would have heard something by now.
        And lets not forget that they absolutely love driving that track!

    2. In fact, according to the report they had to do because of rider concerns, the levels have dropped to ones comparable to those in Europe: normal levels.

      More importantly, the riders will get more radiation exposure on the flight to Japan, than they will in Japan.

      1. And as of Sunday’s GP only one of the riders had read the report and he has confirmed that he will be going to the Japanese GP.

        Any rider who refuses to go to the GP at Motegi due to “safety concerns” will lose a lot of respect from the fans, especially as it’s the Japanese GP and without Japan there would be no MotoGP.

  7. As a resident of Japan I find the actions of Stoner, Lorenzo, and now Rossi absolutely deplorable.

    These riders regularly risk life and limb competing in one of the most dangerous sports on the planet. They trust engineers and scientists to provide them with the safest, fastest bikes possible.

    YET they ignore all credible scientific and health related advice, despite having limited education (Stoner for example left school at the age of 14 to race in England) and absolutely no background in nuclear related fields, and claim that they are more at risk from 5-6 days of exposure to minimal amounts of radiation, than they are of flipping over the handle bars of their bike at 200 kph and using their body as the shock absorber.

    The fact is that cities such as Rome with their high content of marble have HIGHER background radiation readings than Tokyo or Ibaraki (where Motegi is located).

    Their actions are just another kick in the guts for a country that could really do with some support, especially since they don’t seem to mind taking their huge salaries from Japanese companies.

    However, as bad as their actions are, any F1 driver with similar concerns would beggar belief. Suzuka is a further 340 kilometers from Fukushima. i.e it is as far away from Fukushima as Glasgow is from London.

    Plus after the Bahrain debacle, the only one with any moral authority to speak up is Mark Webber, and I don’t think he is that silly.

    1. Agree, i think its disgraceful.

    2. It does seem ridiculous. If Rossi’s fears now stem from possible damage to the plant in the event of another earthquake, well I imagine that Fukushima is pretty much shut down now? Seems a very poor attitude for the drivers to take.

      1. Rossi’s fears now stem from him having to admit that he was wrong.

    3. Stoners’ concerns were about his wife being pregnant.

      1. I’d give him that one then.

        I really don’t think it’s that fair to have a go at these riders, most of these opinions seem to be from some time ago. Everyone was panicking then, and now, I think it’s time to calm a bit. As most the riders seem to be.

        However, if someone feels uncomfortable racing in a certain area for whatever reason… I don’t think it’s right to try and force them is it?

        1. well its their job and if they cant give a sensible reason not to go they should be penalised in some form.

          they sign a contract and they would be breaching it surely?

          1. Give them a break, many Japanese are uncomfortable with the information or lack thereof about radiation levels in the vicinity of the powerplant. The riders had a right to raise concerns about something that could cause health problems for the rest of their lives, now that more information is coming out they are reconsidering and will probably all go.

        2. He races for a very proud Japanese company, in a country where appearances are everything, especially to outsiders. I cannot imagine them letting it slide.

  8. I’m amazed anyone can consider withdrawing from the Japanese Moto GP round. They wouldn’t be going there if it wasn’t safe to do so. In my opinion, Rossi, among others, decision to possibly withdraw shows a deep mistrust of the authorities. That’s unacceptable.

    There is no way the decision to race would have been taken without considerable advice from professionals in the field of radiation, etc. so I’m stunned the riders can be like this. I feel for the fans, I really do.

  9. “Whitmarsh says title is still possible”

    I’d like a helping of whatever he’s on :)

  10. McLaren’s secret to winning the championship: Vettel voodoo doll.

  11. Going to see Senna tonight… I’ve planned it out meticulously. Absolutely nothing could possible, at all, go wrong….. at all.

    Mclaren can win the championship. They just have to win almost every race and have Vettel fall over the Ferrari’s.

    1. Enjoy it at the film.

      As for McLaren and winning the championship, thats exactly what they need to do. Good luck for them doing so.

  12. Great COTD, and I totally agree.

    Also, Gilles Villeneuve: surely the best starter Formula 1 has ever seen? Take a look at pretty much any video from that era and he comes out of nowhere to be up the front on many occasions. Alesi could do this too, but not as consistantly as Gilles.

  13. I suspect that a lot of the reason this idea has been so popular is because it is seen as a return to the “golden years”

    I don’t agree with this. I think most people are just sick of the tyre saving we saw in abundance at the start of the year, still see sometimes and could potentially see again in the future. Not that qualifying tyres are the best way to solve this problem and any solution that doesn’t involve Pirelli bringing extra tyres certainly isn’t going to work.

    And then there are those of us who like the idea because it truly separates qualifying and makes it come into its own. I’ve never seen a qualifying session with qualifying tyres, so it’s not nostalgia. But it is true qualifying tyres were made for the old 12-lap days and it would be hard to fit them into the 3-session format of today.

    1. Don’t get me wrong, I am curious and I’d like to see it, but we’ve finally found a qualifying system that’s exciting most of the time, and I don’t think we need to change it. F1 fans are spoilt. Try watching a MotoGP qualifying session and then you’ll see how tedious it can be.

      1. Damon, you forget my age, I remember 12-lap qualifying in its dying days, large periods of no action, not very fun!

  14. The really interesting thing about the MOTO GP story is that Indycar are due to race at the same track this season and no one has expressed any of the same concerns about racing. They have already had to change which track they are are using at Motegi, they were to use the Oval, which has been damaged badly from the earthquake, and so will now use the road course.

  15. On the subject of the Indycar race on Sunday night, as an avid follower this is yet another nail in the coffin of Brian Bernhart. He continues to run the sport appallingly, his poor relationship with NASCAR owners has meant they no longer try to attact IRL to the tracks they won, some of which are the best oval and road courses in America.

    Some of his decision making regarding interpretation of rules is quite frankly a joke and Sunday was just the latest attempt by him to appease the outrage after the race by going back to the order before the restart for the final result. The rules state as it went yellow/green/back to yellow before the race was red flagged the result at the point of the yellow after the restart accident should have been the final result irrespective of his massive balls up restarting the race.

    He then went on live tv and said that none of the drivers had been saying it was to too wet to restart cars doing lap times averaging over 150mph on a banked oval on slick tyres…… we had heard almost every driver say it was too wet….. on the video and audio feed provided by his broadcasters……

    He has also recently put a number of drivers on probation for causing accidents, yet he’s failed to place a driver who has caused and been involved in just as many because he drives for a top team.

    The IRL website doesn’t even feature a news report covering even a fraction of the controversy from sunday.

    I really could go on and on but the man is a joke and has to go.

    Rant over.

    1. Ryan Hunter-Reay said specifically his crew told the pit tech about their rain concerns, a clear contradiction of what Barnhart said.

      Someone is lying, and it ain’t the driver.

      Barnhart is an embarrassment to open-wheel racing. This is the same man who monitors every driver’s radio; the same man who screams at drivers to stop driving aggressively; the same man who fixed the 2002 Indy 500.

      1. I just read about the 2002 Indy 500, and it does sound pretty confusing, though there doesn’t actually seem to be any evidence that Tracy completed this pass quickly enough.

        The funniest bit is how Paul Track insulted the IRL “I’m not driving one of those crapwagons”, “I’m not going to drive for hamburgers and hot dogs”, yet now finds himself a backmarker in the very same sport.

  16. I don’t really think qualifying tyres will do all that much. As others have said, there is a much less of the tyre saving being done; the last time people did that, in Hungary HAM and MAL, it rained and they didn’t have much gain from an extra set of dry tyres.

    I could only see it work when the tyres are for Q3 only, but that is as much about triggering a stop to the top 10 tyre rule :)

    By the way of tyres, just read this Sauber has work to do (autosport) article, where they mention that Sauber has trouble getting heat into the mediums. Similar issue to Ferrari’s. I find it interesting that those two teams boasted how easy on their tyres the new car was when it was launched, and that’s true, but it also meant they have struggled with them when it was colder and in qualifying.

    While Sauber has clearly had some good results from their long strategy, it won’t bring them closer to a podium; Ferrari has arguably not had the right circumstances to make it a real advantage at many races, and it shows in their results.

    So did these teams get unlucky with overestimating the wear of the Pirelli tyres, or did their last season/early season tyre testing not get analysed properly. McLaren and Red Bull seemed to have been less worried about treating the tyres like fragile jewels, and just use them, so where and when was the different decision made?

    1. Maybe I should add Mercedes, who seemed to have gone in the other direction, they tend to overcook their tyres before the outlap is done or go too easy to counter that, causing them (well MSC) to not get them up to temp in quali. Guess it isn’t easy to hit the sweet spot.

  17. Is it just me or is the news of 70% of tickets being sold for Yas Marina not particularly impressive ?

    The circuit’s capacity is only about 41,000 so that means they’ve only sold about 30,000 tickets – which is about the number of tickets that circuits such as Silverstone manage to sell within the first few months of them going on sale or fewer than half the number that Manchester United manage to sell every home game of the football season.

    I imagine that a French, Argentinian, Mexican or Dutch GP would manage to sell far more tickets than the Abu Dhabi GP ever will !

    1. yeah its crazy really.

      bit like in the wsbk, Brands hatch used to be packed. but they dumped it for silverstone which at start of the month just looked empty.

    2. Yeah, 70% sounds impressive, but when you know the total capacity of the place, it isn’t.

    3. For the past two years they’ve also told us they’ve been sold out, with the grandstands begging to differ.

  18. I dont know if anyone has seen this before but this video is amazing

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YExRktlV5Kk

    1. Incredible isn’t it? If they only knew what the future was to hold.

  19. Next year I wanna see Heidfeld in a Red Bull fighting the Mercedes and Williams!

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