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Van Der Garde knows his circuits 12:41
Goodyear not currently interested in F1 12:41
Who is the best, Schumacher or Vettel 12:55
Lotus the social media kings at it again 13:15
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Van Der Garde knows his circuits
Starting today’s news some light hearted competition between Caterham’s Charles Pic and Giedo Van Der Garde. And the winner is:
Goodyear not currently interested in F1
With all the tyre talk of Michelin potentially returning to Formula 1 it is inevitable that other tyre companies will give their opinion as well.
Goodyear, the most successful tyre company ever to take part in F1 (taking part in the Formula 1 World Championship between 1959 and 1998 with 494 starts 368 victories – in 113 races, they were sole supplier) has ruled out coming back to Formula 1 in the near future as they are happy with their exposure in NASCAR. SpeedWeek reports company spokesman Ed Markey said, “A Formula 1 comeback is not the currently on the cards. However, we regularly weigh all options as to make the best decisions in the interest of our company“.
Their main objection with current Formula 1 regulations are that tyres are specified for the series whereas in NASCAR the series provides them with a testbed to develop tyres for the series. Goodyear tested a particular tyre with two different compounds on to help the tyres deal with the high forces they are subjected to when cornering on banked ovals.
Goodyear has a valid point. With the restrictions on testing in Formula 1 it limits the amount of development a tyre manufacturer can do. Companies have to take existing or theoretical knowledge and produce a tyre they think could work.
This leaves us with a question, if all developments in Formula 1 needs to be relevant to the road , should tyres follow the same principle i.e. durable, long lasting tyres? And if tyre manufacturers want to use Formula 1 for R&D, will the 8 testing days from next year on be sufficient or do we need to introduce team testing days and tyre testing days?
Who is the best, Schumacher or Vettel
Both are German, both race with German precision and both are multiple world champions. With Vettel called min Schumacher AMuS has done a comparison between the two based on 112 races.
| Driver Comparison | Sebastian Vettel | Michael Schumacher |
|---|---|---|
| GP starts | 112 | 112 |
| Comparison race | Belgian GP 2013 | GP Germany 1998 |
| World title | 3 | 2 |
| GP wins | 31 | 31 |
| Pole positions | 39 | 17 |
| Fastest laps | 19 | 31 |
| Leadership kilometers | 10,780 | 7,959 |
| The finishes | 91 | 78 |
| Failures | 21 | 34 |
| Championship points (absolute) | 1,251 | 500 |
| Championship points (old system) | 585 | 592 |
| Podiums | 54 | 62 |
| Points Placements | 83 | 76 |
| Race kilometers | 30,481 | 27,910 |
| Season | 7 | 8 |
Is this misleading though? Schumacher came into Formula 1 in an era where cars were not as bulletproof as they are today and there were also less races per season. However, it could be argued that Vettel has tougher competition than Schumacher did during his reign but has a superior car to deal with them.
Over to the Jury, is Vettel better than Schumacher… if such a comparison can be made?
Lotus the social media kings at it again
Lotus Formula 1 planned to introduce a new longer wheelbase car at Spa however they put that off until Monza in a week’s time. This is a major update and the team is putting a lot of hope that this revised car will be able to deliver the required change to give them a front running package and Raikkonen a car he can challenge for the championship.
Yesterday Lotus released the first images of the new car with a follow-up today.. For those followers not on twitter, enjoy 🙂
WORLD EXCLUSIVE – The first shot of our much talked about 'looong wheelbase E21' – Hairpin turns should be fun… #F1 pic.twitter.com/72KTYDQex6
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) August 29, 2013
With the longer wheelbase they had a slight problem… leg length…
In other news, we thought we had the long wheelbase E21 sorted until we remembered the drivers' legs.. #ProblemSolved pic.twitter.com/3T43I01OrK
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) August 30, 2013
Top job Van Der Garde. He was really able to nail those track layouts. I was impressed!
Really good. I am starting to like Van Der Garde. He comes across as a really nice bloke.. Pic is a bit ‘humorless’ for my liking.
Vettel better than Schumacher?
N O !
If one day Vettel is in an uncompetitive car and proves himself, then we can ask the question. Until that day arrives there’s no point even asking the question whether Vettel is better than Alonso, Hamilton or Kimi from the same era.
I grew up with Schumi and I like him. For me he is still the man to beat but if anyone can Vettel can… In terms of numbers that is.
I seem to remember Schumacher driving what many people would have considered an uncompetitive car in the Mercedes. How did that work out?
It did not 🙂 but then he was a 40odd year old. Also, took him a while to get the Ferrari to work, once he got the right people working on it.
I never liked and will never like Schumacher. But just like Alonso (whom I also don’t like) I recognise his driving skills and what he did at Ferrari prior to 99 was pretty impressive. That’s where I judge him in terms of skills in an uncompetitive car. Not in his Merc days.
… “He has the best package, and championships are usually won by the best,” Schumacher told Belgian television Vier.
“Records are there to be beaten,” he smiled. “They motivated me when I was racing, and in the end I achieved it.
“Believe me, if Sebastian was able to surpass what I did, I would be happy for him. In a short time he has won three titles, so why couldn’t he win seven?” added Schumacher.”…
from the horse’s mouth 😉
Pic is soooo dull!
Vettel vs Schu
At this point Schu has the edge.
“in NASCAR the series provides them with a testbed to develop tyres for the series.”
That’s not really true. NASCAR banned in season testing in 2009 at any NASCAR sanctioned track. Teams could test as much as they wanted at any non-sanctioned track but they could not use race tyres but “test tyres”. This year the ban was lifted and there are 4 test sessions at NASCAR sanctioned tracks. That’s more than F1 but there are 36 NASCAR Sprint Cup races a year. Effectively the race / test ratio is the same.
The 9 on the Richter scale is only days away. Here’s what Ferrari are saying.
http://formula1.ferrari.com/news/horse-whisperer-swallow-doesnt-summer
… could be a 9 on the rectum scale in that case!
Straight from the horse’s arse?
sorry, but this was just hilarious. comment of the month imo.
I sense Charles Pic may be less comfortable speaking English than Giedo. It’s probably a safe bet that were Franck Montagny giving the track exam instead of Johnny Herbert, Pic would have been more engaged. In my opinion, of the four French nationals currently racing in F1 it is JEV who speaks English the best followed immediately by Grosjean, then Jules Bianchi, and Pic. Like Bianchi, JEV is reasonably handy in Italian. However, when it comes to multi-lingual skills no racer in the paddock holds a candle to Nico Rosberg!