This page will be updated throughout the day GMT 09:53 10:05 10:24 10:32 11:08 11:22 (Updated – Red Bull #2…) 13:15 14:05 14:34

FIA finalised regulations for 2014

Many F1 fans don’t realise the big differences in the regulations for he 2014 design cars. V6 1.6l turbo engines have so far grabbed all the headlines, but the  FIA regulations for car design have some significant differences.

The full FIA regulations can be found here. Below is a summary of the main criteria.

• Front wing reduced front 1800mm to 1650mm wide
• Nose tip centered at 185mm high
• Front Bulkhead maximum height 525
• Chassis height maximum 625mm
• Vanity panels still allowed
• Engines now 1.6l V6 turbo, Direct injection, fuel flow limited, 15k max RPM
• Energy Recovery systems to add +150hp from Kinetic and Turbo harvesting, giving around 33 seconds a lap of boost
• Race Fuel limited to 100kg
• Gearboxes to have 8 forward ratios, those ratios are fixed for the season
• Single central exhaust pipe exiting 17-18.5cm behind rear axle line and 300-525mm high
• Last 150mm of tail pipe must point 5 degrees upwards
• No bodywork behind the tail pipe axis
• No lower beam wing
• Space still allowed for Y75 winglet (monkey seat)
• Top rear wing a little shallower
• Minimum weight 690Kg

It appears the FIA don’t believe the teams are heeding their message on front end structures. This is another attempt to lower the front end of the car and the combination of the bulkhead and the nosetip heights will see the nose tips far lower than they are now. The cars will look more like they did on 2007 with narrower front wings (reducing contact with other cars and punctures) and noses.

 

Also buried away in there is an interesting little over-rider, “2014 Tyres: The FIA may decide to change the specification during the Championship season for safety reasons without notice or delay”

Lewis on the downslope

I’m not sure I’m happy with this roller coaster analogy for Lewis’ day-to-day feelings. Being on the down phase of a roller coaster is quite exhilarating, not depressing. Anyway, Lewis has gone from believing he can win the WDC and chase down Vettel after his pole on Saturday to thinking he won’t even win a race this year.

Hamilton bemoans the complexity of Formula 1 and longs for simpler times. He looks at Andy Murray as being the master of his own destiny and observes, “It is just him and the racket. So many elements come into motor racing. There is the electronics performing, the suspension, the frickin’ tyres, things that are out of my control.” 

Lewis is worried about the new tyres now telling DPA, “We just have to hope and pray that they work on our car. It would be good to get a win at some stage but at the moment it really doesn’t feel like it’s going to happen.”

Mmm. Isn’t that the way motor racing has always been? A team sport? Anyway, chin up Lewis, at least you haven’t got mini Kole’s or Lewi’s hanging off your ankles whilst you trying to do some deep universal felt angst.

Thai keen curry?

First it was Bankok, then the residents found out and got a law passed banning racing in the historic district. Next up F1 fans were to get a free scuba diving lesson with their GA ticket in Phuket and now now the mayor of Pattaya – Itthiphol Khunpluem – says his fiefdom “is an ideal place to host a Formula One race”. Pattaya is around 150km south of Bankok and is a city popular with tourists and has a population of around 300,000 people.

Itthiphol said Pattaya would be a good choice because it is a world-renowned resort town which hosts many well-known motorsport events every year. “We are interested in hosting the F1. We have enough accommodation. It is not far from Bangkok. It is near the sea so it would be convenient for transportation of equipment. We plan to submit our letter of intention to the Tourism and Sports Ministry by July 12.” 

It appears the Thai nation are very, very keen to please Mr. E and offer him many possibilities as the Bangkok posts mentions that Phetchaburi – which is a whole province, not just a city – is also keen to host ‘the Formula One’.

Marussia on the loose

Here’s a fan’s eye view of Bianchi’s runaway car.

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James Allison

At the weekend, a senior Ferrari representative was asked – off the record – whether they were close to recruiting James Allison, and the response TJ13 received was a smiling – “watch this space”. It is clear there has been an attempt from McLaren to recruit James, but reading the tea leaves I’d have to say at the moment, I’d give Ferrari the nod.

Update: Another TJ13 source is suggesting today, Ferrari and Allison are close to agreement though a few contractual matters are not yet agreed.

Ferrari would be crazy to let Allison go by forcing some of the alleged ‘riders’ into his contract they have believed to have insisted upon in the past.

Red Bull #2 driver

Further gossip and rumour. The word at Red Bull is that Ricciardo – barring disaster – will get the Vacant seat left by Mark Webber and that this will be announced in Spa. Johnny Herbert appears to believe he has a source who is suggesting it will be Kimi. Yet TJ13 believes the team think Kimi too much of a maverick, and Red Bull will follow the Ferrari model and now admit to having an outright number 1 driver in Vettel.

Kimi had problems during his 2002-06 tenure at McLaren and his biggest problem was Ron Dennis. Dennis wanted to change him the same way he changed Mika, but it Kimi resisted. When allowed Kimi would arrive at the F1 destination, drives the car and then goe home. Speculation was high when Dennis retired from his day-to-day F1 duties that Kimi would return, but Ron still held a veto on who drives for McLaren and who does not and there was no way Kimi was to be allowed a second chance.

Raikkonen similarly had problems with the hierarchy during his time at Ferrari. He had signed an extension to drive with the team until 2010 as reported by FOM, “Ferrari have announced an extension to Kimi Raikkonen’s contract for a further two seasons, keeping the world champion with the Italian team until the end of 2010. With Raikkonen’s team mate Felipe Massa also under contract for that period, it means Ferrari’s race line-up will remain unchanged until at least the start of their 2011 campaign”.

Yet by the end of 2009, Kimi was mysteriously gone and Fernando had been recruited. Kimi said to the BBC at the time, “I am very sad to be leaving a team with whom I have spent three fantastic years. I have always felt at home with everyone here, and I will have many happy memories of my time with the team.” Clearly someone in the team felt otherwise.

It’s a shame Kimi is not going to Red Bull because it would be interesting to see how Vettel measures up to another world-class driver. Of course other comparisons also become possible as following Hamilton’s move to Mercedes, many Schumacher critics now admit his second career looks rather better now than he was given credit for when driving against Rosberg. Kimi verses Vettel could also vindicate Webber similarly from those who think he is a choker.

I’m fairly sure this is no Samurai wisdom, but it may be some consolation to Kimi that at times it’s better ‘to be a big fish in a small pond’.

Mercedes Conspiracy

For those of you sensitive Red Bull souls who object to the continual theories propounding the sabotage of Mark Webber, Mercedes had their own conspiracists this weekend. Speedweek is reporting, ‘well informed sources close to Mercedes’ saying that it is preferable for the team if Lewis were to win rather than Rosberg. This is given as the explanation for the team failing to get Rosberg out at the end of Q2 resulting in him starting 11th.

If this were to be the case – which is ridiculous – the team were rather silly, because simple analysis would have shown Lewis would have to pit around laps 5-7 and in all likelyhood he would end up near his team-mate on track – who would be starting on the harder rubber. This in fact was the case.

Analysis of the lap charts reveal had he not been held up by Rosberg following his first stop – prior to pitting he was 2.5s behind Vettel and was 6 seconds further back by the time he cleared Rosberg on lap 14 and had been. So during and after the safety car Hamilton would have been closer to Alonso. Seeing as his lap times for the final 10 laps were equal to Vettel’s – this would have given him a realistic chance of taking 4th.

Lotus negotiations under way with Kimi

The Lotus team twitter account pout this out this morning

On a more serious note, ESPN are reporting today that Lopez when asked what he felt the team’s chances were of keeping Raikkonen on board, replied: “I would say high. He’s been treated well like we would treat any driver, I think this team has a culture that is quite human and somebody told me that for the human-being Kimi this is the best team and for the racer he has to decide.”

Raikkonen knows the perils of being in a team when the development direction of the car is not flowing your way (cf. Ferrari front suspension 2008 & Michael Schumacher’s input) so Lopez plays on what he knows Kimi to understand as fundamentally important. “He knows the technical side of things and we developed the car to the point last year that the delta between us and Red Bull was the same at the second race as it was at the two last races. So I don’t think that is much of an issue.

People keep talking about budget, and while we have a lower budget than a lot of teams, we seem to do quite well with it. There is a certain culture about this team that does things right and that’s the culture that Kimi likes. If we had huge time constraints on him I don’t think he would enjoy it, and as a matter of fact he hasn’t enjoyed it at other teams before.”

However, despite an announcement from the team last month, the new shareholders – ‘Infinity racing’ – are apparently not yet signed up. “That is progressing onwards, but it also sits with us,” Lopez comments. “We issued a statement because we have to as our group is a well-known group and we can’t just wait for things to come out. It’s progressing and it’s partly up to us to push that forward.”

That final statement is a little strange and would suggest that the terms on offer to Genii are not yet favourable or acceptable.

Boullier meanwhile speaking to L’Equipe was asked had there been a problem with Kimi’s salaray. He replied, “Yes, it was paid late, but it was paid”.

FIA note sent to the teams

It appears the FIA are struggling with their stationary suppliers this year. We had typed sheet of paper affixed to the board in Monaco from the FIA saying they were unhappy with Pirelli and now the teams have received a note instructing them on how the YTD will be conducted. It states,

1)  The young driver training test will remain a three day test from 17-19 July.

2)  One specification of tyre will be available for the test. The 2012 construction will be used but with the hard, medium and soft 2013 compounds.

3)  Pirelli will be authorised to provide each team with five extra sets of tyres for this test, bringing the annual total to 105 sets. All of these sets may be used.

4)  Any driver who has competed in more than two F1 World Championship races may take part in this test, provided that the purpose of him doing so is to test tyres for the appointed tyre supplier. In order to meet this requirement, all teams shall, in particular, ensure that any changes made to a car at these times are exclusively related to the tyre tests set out in the run plan provided by Pirelli. An FIA observer will be appointed to ensure the regulations are being followed.

Mmm. So if the car is fitted with a new part in the morning, but isn’t changed then the race driver can still drive the car.

There is no word on whether Mercedes will be allowed in, though Brawn’s suggestion of their being a 4th day which would allow them to participate appears to be now dashed.