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I am Adam Feneley, studying for an MEng in Motorsport Engineering at Brunel University, England.

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27 Mar 2010

Vettel on pole In Australia

Sebastian Vettel will start the Australian Grand Prix from pole position after leading a Red Bull one-two in qualifying in Melbourne.
Team-mate Mark Webber was 0.116 seconds behind Vettel, with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso third well clear of the rest.
World champion Jenson Button's McLaren was fourth, 0.564secs behind Alonso.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton failed to make the final session complaining of a lack of grip and will start Sunday's race at Albert Park in 11th place.
It was also a disappointing day for Ferrari's Felipe Massa who was 0.726 seconds off team-mate Alonso in fifth, ahead of the Mercedes pair of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher.
Williams's Rubens Barrichello and Renault's Robert Kubica followed with Force India's Adrian Sutil impressing as he completed the top ten.
"It's a great result for both of us and the team. It is a bit funny, Mark was on pole in Germany last year so a bit of revenge," said Vettel.
"We are looking forward to tomorrow, we do not know how messy it might get so it is always good to be on pole."
After a dominant performance in qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix, Vettel was again in ominous form for the rest of the field, leading at the end of all three sessions.
Despite running wide on the exit of a turn late in his decisive lap, the German's pace ensured he deposed home favourite Webber at the top of the standings.
Gloomy conditions and falling track temperatures made a dramatic late riposte from Webber unlikely and the Australian had to settle with improving on his sixth place in Bahrain qualifying.
"I would love to be on pole, it is good for the team both of us are up there, but there is always a bit where you can get a bit more out of it, overall it would be nice to be one place further up," he said.
The Red Bull pair proved fastest throughout the day with Alonso and the possibility of rain providing the only threats to their monopoly of the front row.
The Spaniard set an early benchmark in the first qualifying session but was soon surpassed by Vettel as the frontrunners struggled to pick their way through the heavy traffic.
Rosberg moved to second on his final lap, but, despite some promising practice sessions on Friday, Renault's Vitaly Petrov could only finish 18th.
The Russian rookie was excluded from the final two sessions, with the day also coming to an early end for the Lotus pair of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli ahead of Virgin Racing and Hispania.
Hamilton was also an absentee from the top-ten shootout after returning to the pits early in the second session and, having slipped to 17th in the meantime, failing to find the pace to dislodge Renault's Robert Kubica in tenth.
As he qualified outside of the top ten, Hamilton can take small consolation from the ability to choose which set of tyres he begins Sunday's race on.
With backmarker Karun Chandhok of Hispania lapping 5.839 slower than Vettel during the first session, the leaders' ability to negotiate stragglers is likely to be a prominent feature of the action.
Schumacher, who will be hoping to improve on his sixth-placed finish in the Middle East a fortnight ago, predicted pit-stop strategies may also play a big part in deciding the race.
"Traffic was quite difficult, a couple of guys didn't use their mirrors well," he said.
"The weather does not help with tyres but it is the same for everybody. It will be a long race, the start and the stop you plan to do are two major factors."



BBC Website
By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
-- Post From My iPod Touch
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26 Mar 2010

Hamilton fastest in practice

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton took advantage of some rare dry conditions in the second session to clock Friday's fastest practice time in Melbourne.
Hamilton set a lap of one minute 25.801 seconds to edge out team-mate Jenson Button by 0.275 secs before a spell of heavy rain hit the Albert Park track.
Red Bull's Mark Webber emerged as the track dried later on to go third ahead of Mercedes's Michael Schumacher.
Renault's Robert Kubica was fastest in the day's first practice session.
"It's definitely not the weather I am used to in Australia, but we did get some dry running which is not too bad," said Hamilton.
"The track was very dirty in the first session, everyone just waits forever to go out and I wanted to go out and have some fun, so I went out early.
"Generally the session was quite good. I had to make some changes to the car but I did that in between sessions.
"It was difficult at the end when we made some more changes as the track was not up to top speed. Nevertheless we felt quite comfortable with the balance of the car so I am quite happy."
With temperatures lower than in the first session and light rain falling, there was little action for the opening part of the second 90-minute session as the pit crew switched their attention to the weather and weighed up swapping slick tyres for intermediates.
The BMW Sauber pair of Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi were among the first to go out, but they struggled for grip.
But the rain eased off and the Williams duo of Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg posted the first times after 16 minutes.
Hamilton and Button's McLarens then vied for the lead, with the 2008 champion responding after his successor had stolen ahead.
Button pushed hard to strike back but could not match his colleague and the two McLarens stayed at the top of the times for the rest of the session as the rain came and went.
The track dried in the closing minutes of the session, allowing Michael Schumacher to depose Russian novice Vitaly Petrov's Renault from third spot before the seven-time champion was himself beaten by Red Bull's Webber.
The Australian's team-mate Sebastian Vettel ended the session 16th fastest, sandwiched between the Ferraris of Bahrain winner Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa as all three appeared to concentrate on race preparation with heavy fuel loads.
After his short-lived debut at Bahrain, Karun Chandhok's Hispania had to be pushed back to the pit lane by the marshalls after a suspected gearbox failure left it stranded on the track.
There was more drama right at the end as De la Rosa narrowly avoided collisions as he was overtaken by both Button and Hamilton.
"As soon as I jumped in the car, I was reasonably happy with the balance and it's just got better throughout the day," said Button.
"It is so busy that it is difficult to get a gap but our cars are running well around here so it is positive in that way. The last couple of laps were frustrating.
"I think some cars are not being told the correct information about us catching them up.
"I know it is tough with a big difference in speed and we are one of the quicker cars at the moment, but we will forget about that and just focus on making sure it is competitive tomorrow."
One of those struggling outfits, Virgin Racing, suffered badly from technical problems as a gearbox leakage and telemetry problems blighted Lucas di Grassi and Timo Glock's second sessions.
Kubica was 11th in the second session after setting the pace in the first session with a fastest lap of 1:26.927, 0.199secs ahead of Mercedes' Nico Rosberg.
The German was 0.356secs ahead of Button's McLaren in third, with Massa, Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton were next up.
Force India reserve driver Paul di Resta, who drove the session in place of regular driver Adrian Sutil, was a creditable 11th on his Formula 1 race-weekend debut, one place ahead of Schumacher's Mercedes.


By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
-- Post From My iPod Touch
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25 Mar 2010

McLaren to focus on Aussie qualifying




McLaren's Lewis Hamilton has warned his team must get qualifying right for this weekend's Australian Grand Prix.
The Briton finished the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix in third, but had been 1.1 seconds off pole position.
"The most important part for us is to understand how to get the most out of the car on that single lap," he said.
Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, said the team "are definitely a step ahead" of where they were in Bahrain for this weekend's race in Melbnourne.
Hamilton and team-mate Jenson Button have been working in the McLaren simulator in an attempt to extract the most out of the Mercedes-powered MP4-25 for Saturday's qualifying session at the Albert Park circuit.
With refuelling banned from Formula 1, opportunities to gain positions on pit-stop strategy have become more limited, making qualifying all the more important.
"Our race pace isn't too bad and the car felt pretty good in the race [in Bahrain]," said Hamilton. "But our qualifying position has even more of an impact than it did in the past.
"Our qualifying pace definitely appears to be quite a bit off - definitely off the Red Bulls.
"I don't know where they found that time. If you look at [Sebastian] Vettel's lap, it was so much faster in the middle sector.
"As we go into the season we'll start to highlight where we're losing bits of time but in the race when the car's heavier, it is more balanced out. It's also how you use your tyres, but it's difficult to say why the pace wasn't closer."
Reigning world champion Button, who joined McLaren this season, finished seventh in Bahrain after only just making it into the crucial top-10 qualifying shootout.
"It's something we're still trying to figure out," said the 30-year-old, who clinched victory in last year's season-opening race in Melbourne.
"Maybe we concentrated too much on the race in Bahrain, but that's not all of it.
"With our downforce level we couldn't get the best out of the car in qualifying, though we could get the tyres in the right working range. The balance was much better in the race, so it's a big margin in qualifying.
"If you compare Lewis to Sebastian, it was 1.1 seconds and that shocked us. I think we'll be a lot more competitive here, and in the simulator we looked reasonable, so I'm looking forward to driving here.
"I think everyone will be working on qualifying - I don't think we concentrated on it enough in the last race."
Melbourne will be McLaren's first race since modifying their rear diffuser after the sport's governing body, the FIA, deemed the design was against the spirit of the rules following the Bahrain Grand Prix.
McLaren, along with Mercedes, had developed wider holes to allow access to the starter motor, which also gave the car an extra aerodynamic advantage.
But the FIA's decision has forced both teams to scrap their designs at Albert Park.
However, McLaren's principal race engineer Phil Prew said the modifications to the MP4-25 were small and would not have any significant impact on performance.
"It certainly won't be better, but we're not anticipating any real loss of performance with that," he said.
"We're hoping in terms on one-lap performance in qualifying we're able to find a slightly better balance than we had in Bahrain.
"We're hopeful that we can have a better showing in qualifying which, as was clear to see, one of our weaknesses."
Hamilton was disqualified from last year's Australian Grand Prix when he was found guilty of lying to race stewards in an attempt to have rival Jarno Trulli penalised.
However, the 25-year-old said his experiences from the resulting controversy have helped galvanised his resolve.
"I'm just maturing and learning and perhaps making better decisions, and a little bit wiser than I was then," he said. "You just continue to grow and to learn.
"I'm proud that I can say that I'm a friend of Nelson Mandela and every time I see him he says he's still learning, so I've still got a lot of learning to do."
Hamilton - who won the 2008 race at Albert Park - said he has also drawn strength from the start of last year, when McLaren started the season with an uncompetitive car.
"Last year was a long, long struggle but I was able to work on different sides of my driving," he said.
"When I was at the back I had more time to focus on other areas, and when I got to the front I felt that I was stronger and I ended up on a high, and I think I rolled that into this year.


By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
-- Post From My iPod Touch
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2010 F1 not boring - Schumacher

Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher has hit back at those who labelled the opening grand prix of the season as boring.
The curtain-raising race in Bahrain was criticised by some fans and pundits for its lack of overtaking and drama, with new rules for 2010 being blamed.
But Mercedes driver Schumacher defended F1 ahead of Sunday's Australian GP.
"It is not motorcycle racing, it has always had less overtaking - the excitement is still there for fans."
This season has seen refuelling banned for the first time since 1993, which means cars must run with a full load from the start.
The other major rule change stipulates that the top 10 drivers on the grid must begin the race on the tyres they used in the final qualifying session.
The new regulations were designed to encourage more competitive racing, but instead produced a race bereft of overtaking opportunities at the Sakhir track.
After the race, McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton expressed concerns over the difficulty of overtaking resulting from the new refuelling ban.
But speaking after his victory in Bahrain, Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso called on his rivals to give the new rules more time.
The two-time world champion said: "I think many of us gave some hot-headed comments immediately after the race in Bahrain.
"It's too early to talk about changing the rules."
Schumacher, who made his F1 debut in 1991, echoed Alonso's sentiments, saying that his long experience of the sport told him that the lack of overtaking in Bahrain was more the rule than the exception.
"The matter of fact is there was no overtaking," Schumacher said. "But tell me when there has been more overtaking? Formula 1 has always had this situation.
"There are very clever people always thinking how to improve, make things better... its not so easy."
Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn told BBC Sport before the season that the teams would review that decision after a few races to give the new rules time to settle down.
And McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh and his Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner have both suggested there should be two mandatory tyre stops during each race in an attempt to produce more exciting finishes.
But Alonso, who secured his first victory in his debut race for Ferrari in Bahrain, has pleaded for patience.
"We have to wait and see different races and check the situation, without being emotional," said the Spaniard.
"Something that confuses the fans is changing the rules all the time."
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali echoed Alonso's views, suggesting his rival teams should assess the new rules as the season progresses.
"It's much too early to jump to conclusions and we should not react in an emotional way," Domenicali said.
"We must wait and see how the races evolve throughout the season and then the subject can be studied calmly based on sufficient evidence."


By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
-- Post From My iPod Touch
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