In the round-up: Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says Daniil Kvyat found it difficult to focus on his race after the tribute to Jules Bianchi during the build-up to the grand prix.
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Pre-race Bianchi tribute caused Kvyat “problems”, says Horner (Motorsport)
"The tribute to Jules (affected) quite a lot of drivers’ heads – Danny in particular found it quite tough. I think it took him a few laps to settle down and get into the race."
Sebastian Vettel: Ferrari will try to 'make the impossible possible' (BBC)
"I am sure we will try absolutely everything and try to make the impossible possible."
SF15-T still not a Ferrari James Allison can be completely proud of (ESPN)
"This was more of a return to what we hoped for from the weekend, with an additional bonus thrown in by the difficulties of the people in front of us."
Ferrari pace was hidden - Raikkonen (Autosport)
"There have been many times this year when we feel we had more speed than we have been able to show because we were stuck behind another car and not been able to overtake."
Mercedes need to sort out their starts (Reuters)
"We need to get on top of the situation. It is not acceptable and it needs to be analysed why it happened. It is many various reasons, not one particular one."
Max Verstappen to sit driving test after finishing fourth in Hungary F1 GP (The Guardian)
"I’m doing my lessons in the summer break and then will take my test around my birthday in September."
Williams to investigate Massa grid problem (F1i)
"I don’t think he’s actually lower. He’s not any lower on the legality diagonal, but his physiological head size where it sits and his eyes compared to the top of his head and all the rest of it will be slightly different."
McLaren MP4-30 - mirror fin (F1)
"Hungary saw the final update to what effectively amounts to a B-spec version of the MP4-30 introduced at the British round by McLaren - a small twisted fin under the mirror, to better channel airflow to the rear of the car."
2015 Hungarian GP report (Motorsport Magazine)
"Button’s problem was caused by an electrical problem on the back of the steering wheel, Alonso’s by a disconnection in the wiring loom. The practices had suggested they might even have been vying for a position in Q3. Into turns eight/nine they were among the very quickest – but the absolute slowest out of nine."
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This video gives a great impression how much quicker the Ferraris were off the grid than the Mercedes https://t.co/4ASYJyJVWz #F1 #F1F
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It's Monday so it must be the Williams FW33 at Barcelona along with other toys to thrash around 😁 pic.twitter.com/T4Bwx4UpYa
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Comment of the day
Kvyat may have scored the best result for a Russian driver in a world championship race, but there were pre-championship Russian race winners:
There were (if I’m not mistaken) three Russian drivers who have won a Grand Prix. The first one was Pavel Belyaev, who won the first Grand Prix held in Russia, in 1898. In fairness, there was only one non-Russian starter, but nonetheless Belyaev completed the 41 km quickest, in a time of 93 minutes.
The second driver is Georgy Suvorin, who won the inaugural Russian GP of 1913, driving a Benz. The GP was held on a street circuit in St. Petersburg, which was unusual at the time. It was so unusual, that several competitors stopped after one lap, since they hadn’t quite understood the race would last seven laps, instead of just one.
And finally there was Boris Ivanowski, winning the first Irish Grand Prix in 1929. He was quite a well-known driver in his time, winning the 1928 Spa 24 Hours and finishing second at Le Mans in 1931.
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On this day in F1
Two-time Formula One world champion Emerson Fittipaldi scored his first IndyCar win 30 years ago today in the Michigan 500:
Chad (@chaddy)
28th July 2015, 0:43
Tiny little Massa
Polo (@polo)
28th July 2015, 1:14
So many drivers were involved in incidents or mishaps in the Hungary race. Both Mercedes drivers, both Red Bull drivers, both Williams drivers, Verstappen, both Lotus drivers, and Perez were all involved in accidents, mishaps, or made mistakes in some way or another. I can’t help but wonder if it had something to do with the pre-race Bianchi tribute. Usually, drivers are doing all they can on the grid to focus for the upcoming race, trying to keep away any kind of distraction. I think the reminder of Bianchi really affected most, if not all of the drivers during the race.
Polo (@polo)
28th July 2015, 1:27
Oh and Raikkonen made a mistake as well (5s penalty for speeding in the pitlane).
richochet
28th July 2015, 6:34
Really? Never even heard of that one!
montreal95 (@montreal95)
28th July 2015, 7:35
@polo KR was not a mistake though, it was when he came in to try and restart the ERS. In order to do that he had to go to a full start mode you can’t restart ERS on the rev-limiter
anon
28th July 2015, 9:28
I don’t think that is correct. The Stewards document gives the time of the pitlane speeding incident as 15:14.
Kimi’s pitstops were:
lap 22 at 14:38:42 1st tyre stop
lap 43 at 15:10:21 2nd tyre stop
lap 45 at 15:14:43 following the safety car through the pitlane
lap 46 at 15:17:08 following the safety car through the pitlane
lap 52 at 15:27:47 long stop for attempt to reset the MGU-K
So it appears he was speeding on lap 45 the first lap the drivers followed the safety car through the pitlane. He still had a very good race though before the reliability problem.
montreal95 (@montreal95)
28th July 2015, 21:49
My bad it was the first pitlane pass indeed. Puzzling though, logically for me it was clear that you can’t restart the ERS on the limiter therefore it was that time. But it seems that either you can restart ERS on the limiter now or you can restart and then press the limiter button immediately
René (@)
28th July 2015, 12:29
Was only under investigation.
moblet (@moblet)
28th July 2015, 2:12
Yes. Has the Strategy Group ever considered ways to push drivers out of their psychological comfort zone to make the racing more exciting?
Michel S. (@hircus)
28th July 2015, 8:52
That’s actually not too bad an idea (compared to some of Bernie’s madcap ones at least)
barkun (@barkun)
28th July 2015, 9:46
Thats is why there are Grid-Girls ! :P
Tiago Sá
28th July 2015, 14:07
Aren’t they gonna go away next year?
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
28th July 2015, 6:37
@polo Indeed.. if Whiting had done a better job of race control, then it’s feasible that Alonso could have been on the podium!
montreal95 (@montreal95)
28th July 2015, 7:38
@fastiesty Disagree. Such podium would be undeserved. Race control did a good job in my book. We try to encourage overtaking not discourage it. Of course some fans will always find something to moan about
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
28th July 2015, 17:32
@montreal95 How would it? Alonso/McLaren made the right calls and kept their nose clean. Verstappen, Ricciardo and Kvyat in front all picked up penalties. If Whiting hadn’t penalised those unlappers 25 seconds by being too slow to let them by, he would have been battling for a 2nd-4th placed finish.
montreal95 (@montreal95)
28th July 2015, 19:45
@fastiesty This unlapping in itself is unfair. Lapped cars should drop to the back of the peloton.
And I’m sure there was a reason for the delay. At least now we don’t have to wait for ages until the backmarkers catch up
Finally, Alonso would be fighting with the Red Bulls? even with the penalties he would not be in the vicinity of either of them when they’re on softs. Kvyat was 2-3sec/lap faster in the last stint. Ricciardo was setting fastest lap after fastest lap and was up to 4sec/lap faster than Alonso. He might’ve got in front of Verstappen though
Strontium (@strontium)
28th July 2015, 13:07
@polo This is a really good point. I think it probably did have a huge impact on the race, for all of the drivers. This should be COTD in my opinion.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
28th July 2015, 21:18
Yes. Was anyone not affected by the Bianchi tribute? I guess Maldonado was his usual self in the race…
Jason Miller (@flatdarkmars)
28th July 2015, 1:35
In other news, I see that Renault is pulling their support from the Formula Renault 3.5 series.
The new superlicense points system is working exactly as the FIA & FOM intended, by steering young drivers into the series owned by those organizations, and killing the competition.
Denis 68
28th July 2015, 10:12
Spot on Jason Miller.
It didn’t take long at all for that to happen did it. Probably happen even quicker than the FIA & FOM imagined.
As the old saying goes “The rich get richer”.
Strontium (@strontium)
28th July 2015, 13:11
@flatdarkmars Would I be wrong in thinking the FIA is supposed to act as a governing body? Surely they cannot be allowed to be biased in favour of some series.
SatchelCharge (@satchelcharge)
28th July 2015, 14:50
@strontium They can definitley be biased. WSR is sanctioned by the FIA but it’s not actually owned and operated by the FIA, unlike some other series…
lippalappa (@alipappa)
29th July 2015, 19:45
Aaaah discrimination and miss use of ruling market power.To those we can add cartel type of money distribution and Bernie shenanigans.
Maybe we can entertain ourselves with interesting court cases in EU-courts in the future.
OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 41 wins!!! For Jules (@)
28th July 2015, 1:46
Wow, driving 20s cars at night AND in the full-course Spa may have required drivers with big BALLaSt…
mfreire
28th July 2015, 2:27
Oh yes. The Spa 24 Hours was run on the old circuit until 1978 (the last year the old Spa circuit was used before today’s version was built)- but that and previous years (future F1 GP winner Thierry Boutsen competed at this race) it was a touring car event. The 1920’s-1930’s Spa was actually slower than the 1940’s-1970’s Spa- it had a sharp hairpin at Stavelot and the Ancenne Douane Hairpin was there- which Eau Rouge replaced in 1939. The 1953 24 Hours was actually run as a round of the World Sportscar Championship, with people like Mike Hawthorn pounding round in Le Mans sportscars around there at night. The 1972 race was also, well, totally crazy- I’ve heard a story where Hans-Joachim Stuck came into the pits at night to exchange driving chores to Jochen Mass- and Stuck told Mass to watch out for “body parts at the Masta Kink”. Of course, he expected to see bits of car all over the road, but in fact, it was bits of a marshal… Crazy times; a circuit like the old Spa was abandoned for a good reason- even Isle of Man TT regulars like Mick Grant were frightened of Spa.
montreal95 (@montreal95)
28th July 2015, 7:47
Awesome post! However I don’t see how someone who competes at Isle of Man can be afraid of old Spa. the Mountain course has all the dangers and more that the old Spa had , with four times the length
mfreire
28th July 2015, 16:05
The old Spa was 30 mph faster than the IOM Mountain circuit; what frightened most riders I imagine was the mental challenge and extreme danger of the consistently high speeds all the time and the rural setting of the old Spa circuit, bar La Source of course. The IOM, as shockingly dangerous and long as it is, doesn’t have consistently high speeds all the time over one lap (although very often it does); therefore one is more in control of the bike/car (cars don’t race on the IOM, I know) and, if its conciveable and this may sound absurd, there is more margin for error (although very little) at the IOM Mountain circuit than there was at the old Spa circuit.
Funkyf1 (@funkyf1)
28th July 2015, 9:06
That there deserves COTD, thanks for the wealth of information and insight @mfreire
MtlRacer (@mtlracer)
28th July 2015, 4:48
we were stuck behind another car and not been able to overtake
19 guys can use that excuse at every race. Why don’t they develop cars to deal with dirty air properly? Can’t they put TWO F1 models nose-to-tail in their multi-million dollar wind tunnels and CFD supercomputer simulations in order to develop cars that can actually race?
BrawnGP (@brawngp)
28th July 2015, 5:31
not when your limited by the very strict rules…
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
28th July 2015, 6:41
@mtlracer This idea is so common sense, you just know they’ll never have considered it..
anon
28th July 2015, 6:42
@mtlracer, it is easy to say but rather difficult to achieve when you have exposed open wheels, which create a considerable wake in their path (and it should be borne in mind from those clamouring for wider tyres that the issue of the aero wake would increase with increasing tyre width, which may offset any increase in mechanical grip from such a solution).
Pretty much any form of passive aerodynamic device – wings, sculpted underbodies etc – will, to a greater or lesser extent, be adversely affected by the “dirty air” situation, since they will always function less efficiently when exposed to a turbulent airstream.
Michel S. (@hircus)
28th July 2015, 10:02
Do Indycar-style rear bumpers help? You still have the open wheel, just with mandated bodywork behind them to shape the airflow
sumedh
28th July 2015, 7:34
A car that is fast in dirty air will be slower in normal air. Hence, no one will build a car like that.
John H (@john-h)
28th July 2015, 8:37
You can’t do that, no. Turbulence is by its nature unpredictable.
WH
28th July 2015, 12:57
If you take that truism to its extreme you would have no right to say “the cars are slow in dirty air” at all.
Yes, turbulence is unpredictable in a linear deterministic sense, but there are more than enough statistical patterns within that chaos that you can predict the type of behaviour the air will exhibit in different areas around the car in the presence of turbulence. If that wasn’t true, all the teams would be running a fool’s errand operating wind tunnel models that have front wheels, what with all the nasty turbulent air they leave behind them, interfering with the rear end of the car.
The idea of generating the wake of a whole extra car might be laughably expensive in today’s climate, and the suggestion that it’s possible to make a car that’s significantly better at following a car without making it much worse in clean air is a bit questionable – but it would be a perfectly feasible thing to study.
MatK77 (@bluestar77)
28th July 2015, 15:09
A good design will intentionally disrupt the airflow exiting the car, to make it as hard as possible for anyone following to use the air effectively. I’d be willing to bet there’s as much effort put into creating complex and unusable air patterns exiting the vehicle as there is in making front wing designs that try to claw some clean air back.
When cars can’t follow each other closely they’re doing exactly what they’re designed to do. It’s like a high-tech banana skin.
WH
28th July 2015, 20:08
I’d be willing to take that bet. F1 teams barely have any idea what kind of complex air patterns are better or worse for their own front ends, let alone how to construct those patterns from one second upstream, let alone how to improve that effect without compromising on the performance of the car itself.
The main factor that makes the air behind a car difficult to follow in is its speed. If you slow air down, you are, by definition, generating drag. F1 cars do a lot of that, but they do it for the downforce they get in exchange. Any bonus drag you’re carrying to shake your tail in the corners is going to make you look like a mug when you exit onto the next straight.
paul
29th July 2015, 7:48
I bet Williams do it!
skylab (@skylab)
29th July 2015, 0:06
Didn’t the FIA do that in the late 90s though & came up with the narrow track cars we love today… And since nobody wants to sponsor F1 teams anymore perhaps now would be the time to ditch the wings!
terry
28th July 2015, 6:36
Did anyone realize STR undercut Sainz by pitting Verstappen first? And both had the same pace really, but this dropped Sainz who was the one out in front, back behind Verstappen AND Alonso.
What was going on there???
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
28th July 2015, 6:40
Maybe they wanted to get Verstappen ahead, in the first stint he was complaining that he was being held up.
ColdFly F1 (@)
28th July 2015, 10:31
Sainz just a had a slow stop – 2.5sec slower than Verstappen (pit stop times).
ColdFly F1 (@)
28th July 2015, 10:37
And they pitted Sainz earlier the second time when Verstappen was ahead. But by then Sainz was 8sec behind!
Thus, ‘terry’, I can’t see anything going on there!
paul
29th July 2015, 7:49
He was stuck behind Alonso, don’t you think it’s normal he was 8sec behind by that time?
Baron
28th July 2015, 11:36
They had the same pace with Sainz being stuck behind Massa. Before and after that Verstappen was faster. Verstappen managed to overtake Alonso. After Sainz’ slow stop he was behind Alonso and managed to close the gap but never got passed Alonso.
That’s why TR switched them round. Verstappen was showing more pace and had a better chance of getting good points. Much like Ricciardo vs Kvyat.
paul
29th July 2015, 7:55
After pit Sainz was stuck behind Alonso and Verstappen undercut Alonso, didn’t overtake him. Alonso had better tyres in the end so he still managed to get ahead of Sainz. At no point Verstappen showed he was faster than Sainz.
Andy
28th July 2015, 8:58
Why is Martin Brundle angry?
SatchelCharge (@satchelcharge)
28th July 2015, 17:25
huh?
matt90
28th July 2015, 10:59
So Mclaren are bringing no more updates to the MP4-30, or are creating a C-spec car?
Strontium (@strontium)
28th July 2015, 13:13
To be fair I think the actual design of the car is not bad now, the problem is mostly the Honda power unit which lacks power.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
28th July 2015, 14:06
This season could become a classic if Vettel can apply some more pressure to Mercedes, nab a couple more wins and bring himsef right into a title fight. If Max fails his driving test as well it’ll be perfect!