A Daily Round up of Formula One news, inside whispers, opinion and comment. Today,
OTD Lite 1974 – Gordon Murray – Brabham’s design genius
Vettel overcome with emotion following debut Ferrari victory
Rosberg – Not happy with Ferrari victory
Malaysia confirms race contract till 2018
Raikkonen’s damaged floor slowed race pace
Mclaren drivers grasping for positives
OTD Lite 1974 – Gordon Murray – Brabham’s design genius
On this day Carlos Reutemann secured victory at the South African Grand Prix when he guided his Brabham BT44 to victory. It was the enigmatic Argentinians first Grand Prix victory in Formula One but this win also proved a milestone for the man behind this design. A true maverick from South Africa named Gordon Murray.
He arrived in England after having been offered a job with Lotus but his arrival coincided with a recession and Lotus had just laid off 60 people – “Then I really struggled to get a job. I was almost out of time when I stumbled, by accident, into an interview at Brabham, where Ron Tauranac hired me as a junior designer.”
Within a year Bernie Ecclestone had bought Jack Brabham’s 50 percent of the team and by the end of the following year he had bought Tauranac out too. Bernie would fire the other designers and promoted Murray to chief designer.
Ecclestone left Murray alone in designing and running the cars: “Formula 1 was an amazing place to be an engineer in the ’70s. That was what I loved about it. You could have an idea in the bath, go to work the next morning and draw the bits, make them the next day, test them the day after, and then race that weekend and go a second per lap quicker. Now you have 200 aerodynamicists working 240 days a year to go half a second quicker.”
Murray would remain Brabham’s chief designer until he left to join Mclaren as their technical director in 1987. During his era Brabhams were always beautiful cars to behold – many of which pushed design boundaries well beyond the letter of the law.
The Overwhelmingly, Deliriously, Overjoyed, Ecstatic, Euphoric (but still slow in a kart) Jackal
Vettel overcome with emotion following debut Ferrari victory
Sebastian Vettel has always been viewed as atypically German. If we believe the Germanic stereotype, there are no comedians in the Motherland and whilst efficient, they are a cold and emotionless race. Yet clearly during the closing laps of the Malaysian Grand Prix Sebastian was becoming overwhelmed by the thought of winning in the Scarlet car.
“I shouldn’t say it, but I don’t know, I was s***ting myself in the last few laps because here and there the thought was coming into my head, I was looking at the top of the chassis, and thinking ‘this is a red car, you’re about to win!’. And then I thought ‘stop thinking about it otherwise you’ll miss the next apex or something’. Real relief to cross the line in the end!”
“A phenomenal day. How does it feel? It feels incredible, to see the guys when I looked down from the podium. I can only recall the victories Fernando had at Ferrari and especially Michael. It’s incredible to become part of this team, it’s something special. It makes me very happy obviously. It’s the first win in more than a year now. I missed not only the champagne but the top step in particular. It’s great to come back after a tough season last year where I just didn’t get on top of the car. This year the balance seems to suit me and has come my way and Kimi’s way more than last year.”
“I’m very pleased, the strategy today was obviously ace. A big thanks to the guys, they pulled in obviously. We were a bit surprised but we saw on Friday they weren’t happy on the medium compound and Lewis was struggling in the first stint so I was able to keep up with him, which I enjoyed a lot. After that I knew I had to deliver, trying to make those tyres last and try and trying to push as hard as I can. Second stint he was chasing me down, which was tough, as he has a stronger second stint but I was able to rebalance the car and have a pretty solid gap the last couple of laps.”
What made the victory perhaps even more special was that Seb grew up idolising Michael Schumacher, who won five consecutive driver world championships at Ferrari beginning in the year 2000. As a close friend of the seven times champion, Vettel refuses to discuss Schumi’s tragic skiing accident but there is little doubt that he was in his thoughts.
“It’s a dream. When I grew up Michael was my hero. For all of us, and I talk for all the kids at the go-kart track in Germany, we were looking up to him. When he turned up every year to shake hands and to look after us a little bit it made our lives. That’s why I think today I probably don’t understand how special it is yet – very emotional.”
Rosberg – Not happy with Ferrari victory
As TJ13 reported last week in the lead up to the Malaysian Grand Prix Nico Rosberg felt it unfair to suggest that Mercedes still maintained a significant advantage over the field. “I don’t think it’s right to say that. Of course qualifying pace was very strong, yes, but more important is the race pace. Especially from Kimi we saw an extremely strong stint. It’s not really fair to say that, I would say. Ferrari especially have closed the gap and are closer than our nearest rival was last year.”
When he was asked if the Scuderia would be closer this weekend he replied: “It’s very difficult to say, it’s early days.”
Just two weeks later Mercedes were beaten for the first time in the new V6 Turbo era by both Vettel and the Ferrari team. Whilst Red Bull and Daniel Ricciardo won three times in 2014 – most observers accept that it was the Brackley team losing the races rather than RBR winning.
During the podium interview Rosberg was asked if he regretted joking about wanting the opposition to close the gap for better racing: “No, but all I can say on behalf on our team is : Game on, Ferrari!”
In the press conference for the top three Rosberg elaborated further, stating he only wanted Ferrari to close the gap – “There’s a big difference between get closer and wanting Ferrari to beat us because they’re faster! Massive difference there.”
Vettel, as mischevious as ever, asked Nico if he was happy: “No not at all. Definitely the opposite of happy. But for sure, on behalf of our team, as I said on the podium, bring it on. We’re going to fight back big time.”
Of course there are always reasons for failing to challenge for wins and Mercedes stopping both their cars in the safety car period played against them. Rosberg was then held to avoid an unsafe release and then had further trouble getting through the non stoppers.
“It was the plan from before the race if there was a safety car on that lap then we box. I think we didn’t expect so many people to stay out, probably, and I also didn’t expect to lose so much time in the pit stop waiting for people to go by. The pit lane is so wide we thought we could go alongside.”
“Those were the problems, and then just getting through the pack afterwards was very difficult and cost a lot of tyre degradation so that really put me on the back foot. I tried to fight back as much as possible but couldn’t quite get back to Lewis, although I had lost a lot from that pit stop phase. I’m happy I got very close to Lewis but not enough to attack or anything.”
Malaysia confirms race contract till 2018
In recent months negotiations between the Malaysian Grand Prix organisers and Bernie Ecclestone had reached a stalemate and the threat of losing one of the best tracks on the calendar hung in the balance.
The previous race contract was set to expire after yesterday’s race but following Sebastian Vettel’s historic victory at Sepang Malaysian prime minister YAB Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib announced that the race will remain on the calendar for the next three years. As part of the contract going forwards Petronas – Mercedes’ title sponsor – will remain as the title sponsor of the race.
The first of the Tilke dromes – it still remains arguably the best of his designs and 16 years after its debut in 1999 remains a unique challenge to the drivers and engineers who endure extreme weather conditions unlike anywhere else the circus visits throughout the year.
Though as TJ13 noted lasy week, it appears the organisers refused to sign the longer term deal Ecclestone wanted, and opted for a relatively short three year extension.
Raikkonen’s damaged floor slowed race pace
That Kimi Raikkonen is happier with the 2015 Ferrari is beyond doubt. During Friday his race pace was arguably stronger than Vettel’s yet for the second race running misfortune put pay to his ambitions in the race.
After qualifying 11th due to the wet conditions during qualifying and then getting hit from behind on the first lap by Felipe Nasr – he had to complete an entire lap with a puncture and dropped to the back of the pack.
Ferrari’s technical director James Allison explained: “When those tyres break they usually mangle up the cut out on the floor, and that’s an extremely sensitive aerodynamic area. It was not enough damage to make him anything other than the fourth quickest car out there, but it was enough damage to mean that tyre degradation was not quite at the same level as Sebastian’s because his downforce was lower. It was a good effort for him punching his way through the field like he did.”
“Obviously we had quite a lot bad luck in quite a few places this weekend but there’s not much I can do when I get touched from behind and it is what it is. Luckily there was a safety car and we had okay speed, we had some damage with the tyre flapping around on the floor but like I said we did the maximum that we could. Obviously for the team it’s a pretty good result, they got the win. It could have been better but obviously the team with what we had today we did the maximum.”
He continued: “I got a very bad start, just wheelspin off the line and then in the first corners I just didn’t really get very good positions and lost some places. Then I gained a few places in one of the corners and obviously was passing people but then I got a puncture at the last corner and had to do the whole lap. Luckily we had a safety car so that helped, but then I don’t know what the guys in front of me were doing because they weren’t going at full speed to catch up with the second last car so we were like one straight behind and I was asking if I could pass them.
“I don’t know if there was some confusion with the Sauber in front of me because then he started going at full speed but we couldn’t catch the back of the people. So that didn’t help either but obviously I think we did the maximum we could after that.”
Mclaren drivers grasping for positives
Jenson Button was racing for position within the top ten when his ERS system failed on lap 41. Team-mate Fernando Alonso had actually reached 8th before a similar problem had afflicted him twenty laps before. But both drivers felt positive about the pace of their cars in comparison to the other midfield teams.
“It’s nice to see other cars out there for so long,” said the Briton. “We were quicker than the Force India and the Sauber was there at the same sort of pace and the Lotus wasn’t that much quicker. So it was a little bit of a positive surprise and it’s also quite interesting to see our strengths and weaknesses compared to those cars.”
Alonso missed the opening round in Australia following a concussion he sustained in Barcelona last month and spoke about the progress made by the Anglo-Japanese partnership.
“I have mixed feelings, I’m happy to be back and very happy with the progress that the team has made in two weeks. Watching the race on the TV in Australia, we were very far off – four seconds in the race and just one McLaren running alone at the back. Here we were much more competitive in qualifying, running with everyone in the race and it’s a very nice surprise. Not finishing the race is never a nice feeling, so let’s see if we can improve next time.”
“The pace was surprisingly good, we were running with the pack and even catching the Red Bulls at the end before the pit stops. It was a nice surprise and hopefully in China we can make another step forward. These reliability problems are normal and without winter testing, what you normally find in winter testing we have to find in the first couple of races unfortunately. But we need to accept maybe some retirements and we are ready to do so. Definitely it has been a very nice weekend and a very nice surprise to see the improvement from Australia to here. If we keep this rate we will enjoy success very soon.”
As TJ13 published over the weekend, with Mclaren having their two worst consecutive qualifying weekends of their history – which follow on from the disappointing 2013-14 seasons – the only way to progress is upwards. Yet hearing the Spanish Samurai – one of the best drivers on the grid – matter-of-factly state the Woking team’s position is humbling: “We were out of sync with some pit stops with the others, but maybe tenth with one point was possible. The real positive thing is that we were able to run with everyone else and we were not the last two cars fighting with each other. This is the first step we had to do and it’s good that we’ve made it already.”
From what I’ve seen on various parts of the net (taken with large pinches of salt), the MGU-K on the Honda Power Unit needs to be redesigned as it gets too hot, seals break and so on.
Well in TK’s qualifying report, he did say there was a paddock rumour that the Honda turbo suffered a catostrophic failure and will need to be redesigned.
And i believe Jenson his turbo was the problem that caused him to stop early in race.
Yes it was Bruznic and Alonso’s problem was his ERS overheated and fried itself.
Can that be done for this year though or using tokens for next year?
I think they can make changes on reliability and safety grounds.
They can (bits of Turbo charger blasting at highish speed may clatter into drivers behind etc) and it makes you wonder if Honda deliberately pushed the design envelope to see what the limit on the Turbo and ERS systems is, then dial things back under safety and reliability grounds. Then use the tokens to further refine things. Sacrifice 2015 for big gains in the following seasons sort of thing.
That shouldn’t be possible, because from recollection, there has to be a ballistic shield encasing the turbo.
So its all Sir Jack Brabham’s fault that Formula One is in a mess……..if only he had sold his team to someone else and told Bernie to stick his mucky money! Things could have turned out so different 😁
Probably!
I always struggled to think it was any more than a stepping stone for Bernie.
Re Rosberg….
This was both his and Lewis’s interview given to the BBC. Some of the things Nico said, just made him look daft….
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/32106626
DC was very scathing in his comments towards him after that interview, in which he stated, “that he thinks all the praise of hearing how he’s the smart and ithinking man in the car”, has effectively gotten to his head.
I hope his dad tells him that, sometimes he should be careful what he wishes for and just shut up and drive.
I think a lot of the things nico has said over the last few weeks make him sound rather unhinged.wonder if he is hqving some kind of breakdown.
Counterpoint: Lewis has been saying things that make him look unhinged for years.
Perhaps it’s contagious?
True, but everyone’s assertion was that Lewis is ‘thick’ and Rosberg is a ‘genius’, so you wouldn’t expect such remarks from the latter.
Heh, not this weekend though. Asked about Rosberg’s blocking him and ruining his last attempt, unlike Monaco last year he just shrugged off and kept it shut. The kid is clearly maturing… And keeping the mind-games on the track…
Did you see the way he couldn’t stand still on the podium. He did look a little off. His skills have become very exposed and this race was an extreme example of it. Merc must realise that they need a Lewis/Alonso. Rosberg doesn’t have the heart for an inter-team scrap
Probably that’s what Seb and Lewis were both laughing at….
Lewis…..”Hey Seb, look at Nico, he said he wanted you to challenge us and now that you’ve done so and won, he’s now acting standoffish”
Seb….”haha I know, he does seem scared now”
Nah, Nico just fell for Seb’s old “pull The Finger” joke 😉
I veto any Alonso to Merc move, that could spell the end for the team.
How about Lewis to Ferrari? I now wonder about that contract extension.
That’s a possibility, I’d say maybe within the next 2 season
Hah, Spanners, but doesn’t Merc have a 3-year contract with Rosberg? In addition to this year? From all we’ve seen from the Toto-Lewis pantomime of the past year, Merc clearly centers the long-term future of the team around Nico…
Oh, and if I were Nico, I too would look “a little off”. Nico has been beaten by Lewis *throughout* his career, and they have a long history of battling together in lower formulas. He seemed to be taking the fight to Lewis last year (especially in quali), but that fizzled out more or less. And psychologically being systematically outdriven by the other guy must take a toll on someone who *wants to win*. Nico clearly has ambition, and is a very good driver, but he just doesn’t seem to have the edge on his WDC teammate or in random wheel-to-wheel battles… Not quite top tier yet…
Landroni.
When he signed that deal it was less obvious what his calibre was. Now he has been properly tested and found wanting.
If they believed in Nico the Merc contract talks with Lewis might be over by now.
@Spanners
Well, as Toto blabbered last year, he still has Bottas in his wings, and Alonso would give an arm and a leg to get out of his Honda three-legged donkey and Big Ron’s frosty, cold-hearted embrace. So from the looks of it, Wolff still centers the team around Nico *and* some other (potentially) top-tier driver.
And it’s not impossible that the talks are already finished, with Lewis taking a 1 transition year before hopping to Ferrari. I remember Matt was championing for Hamilton and Brawn reuniting at Ferrari, and we may as well get a taste of that, with Vettel dicing it out with Hamilton. Now THAT would be fun!
Nico has been married for nearly a year. That’s long enough for any man…
Nico’s definitely a little bit shaken. He had Lewis to deal with, now he also has a resurgent Ferrari. And it’s not just Seb. If Kimi does not have any more bad luck he’ll be up there too. He had the measure of Seb on Friday.
Merc better sign that contract with Lewis soon. He’s the only one that can take the fight to another team challenging. And I wouldn’t put my hopes on Alonso rescuing their bid if Lewis leaves. Alonso is an unbelievable driver, but he has NEVER proved to me he can guide a team develop a car and take them forward. On the contrary, whichever team he’s been at, it has progressively gone backwards.
I wonder how far back can McHonda go from here… With Jense (remember the Honda dog cars?) and Fred (remember the Ferrari trucks?) valiantly leading development, all bodes well for the Woking squad. 😉
Didn’t want these two at Macca this year. I wanted them both out. I preferred a Magnusen/Vardoone duo. Yes, inexperienced, but together with Honda they would all find their feet and hopefully challenge for the title in 3 years’ time. A bit what happened with Mika and Merc.
Let me rephrase that: Alonso and Button in McLaren Honda 2015 is the best thing that ever happened to Magnussen and Vandoorne!
Basically Big Ron is using the old and proven Button/Alonso combo as disposable gloves, until they get the chassis-PU integration sorted out. Had either Magnussen and/or Vandoorne been in the car, they would have forever been tainted by accusations of being to young, inexperienced, “the team would have been better with two experienced drivers, proven champions”, and so on, and so forth.
After a 2nd inconclusive season in a McLaren, Magnussen may have run the risk of being toast for F1 (think JEV). If Big Ron survives this year, expect Button out sooner than what is written on the paper, and expect Fred running to… Wait, Fred has few places where to go, doesn’t he? Not Red Bull who has test-tubes overflowing, and definitely not Ferrari where he’s quite literally “persona non grata”.
If Toto and Lewis sign an extensible one year truce, Fred then cannot afford to burn bridges with McLaren or next thing you hear will be Renault welcoming him in a Toro Rosso… 🙂 You cannot train an old dog to do new tricks, but treat gently with his team learn he must…
Hilarious, thanks for the laugh!
The Honda can barely finish a race now, but if it did I don’t think McLaren would look in such a terrible position ?
The Honda PU is very much an unknown quantity right now. In Melbourne they kept it at a bare running minimum. In Sepang they turned the wick up a bit, but I suspect not to full max. As per the Judge, they clearly got the unreliability right. As for the speed, let’s wait and see…
I expect though McLaren to regain some colors in twisty parts of the world, like Monaco, Hungaroring, Singapore… Places less dependent on the PU, and more on the chassis. McLaren were imperious in the chassis-dependent T10-13 at Sepang… But, of course, provided Honda doesn’t throw it all away on the straights or before the checkers. But hopefully by then Honda will have had enough time to get it together…
@McLaren78 – that echo’s my comments yesterday – If Ferrari really are that close or do catch up soon, merc are gonna have to decide which driver can get the job done. Nico is just not looking that great any more.
Re: Mclaren drivers
Are they grasping or gasping for positives????
“After qualifying 11th due to the wet conditions during qualifying and then getting hit from behind on the first lap by Felipe Nasr – [Kimi] had to complete an entire lap with a puncture and dropped to the back of the pack.”
Kimi didn’t lose on Sunday. He lost on Saturday. In the pit lane. Ferrari should never have let that many cars jump the queue on him.
Really? He was behind Ericcson and in front of Hamilton and they both made it through.
Ericsson is the reason why kimi didn’t make it. Watch his lap again, in the last corner he needed to brake harder and avoid erricson and that’s where his lap got destroyed.
And he lost a great deal on Sunday if you ask me. Without that puncture he’d be standing on the podium. For sure.
“Mere days later Mercedes were beaten for the first time in the new V6 Turbo era by Vettel and his Ferrari team. Whilst Red Bull and Daniel Ricciardo won three times in 2014 – most observers accept that it was the Brackley team losing the races rather than RBR winning”…..
Hmmmm, sounds similar to the comments Seb made after the race….
“We have beaten them fear and square”
It’s either Seb is throwing a few shots of his own back at his old team or he’s making sure there’s no “but if this or that did or didn’t” surrounding his win.
RE Alonso – Anyone saw Lotus’ twitter about Fred? It read:
“We wonder if the TV channel has been changed in a certain Spanish driver’s room right now…”
RE Kimi – It seems Seb brought Webber’s luck with him for his new team-mate.
And finally, I’m so glad that Vettel-Ferrari won (I can’t believe I’m saying this, it’s the last combo of driver-team I would support right now!), at last a glimmer of hope for some real competition.
“RE Kimi – It seems Seb brought Webber’s luck with him for his new team-mate.”
I think there is more to that than immediately obvious. I suspect Seb manages to center teams around himself, until said teams forget that they have a 2nd driver trundling around. Hence the botched pitstops, badly thought out releases, reliability issues, etc. for “that other guy”.
Couldn’t have said it better myself
Being a fan if the Iceman, I can only hope that you’re wrong re Vettel being a de facto number one, but it’s probably a matter of time anyway even if I believe kimi could/will challenge him/match him/beat him this year.
Re botched pit stop in Australia, Buxton on NBCSports mentioned that kimi raised his hand and took the blame saying that he actually released the clutch too early. I thought it was cool for him to “own” it, even if it’s not helping his case..
Interesting quotes by Bernie on Lewis and taking a slight dig at Seb
http://www.planetf1.com/driver/55667788/39755/Ecclestone-applauds-Lewis-star-quality
What on earth is going on with Nico’s left ear, it seems to have taken on a life of its own, I can’t look or listen to him without focussing on his weird ear, now we know why he had the ‘Britney’ hair style for so long…
Allison is coming from Lotus. There were other high profile departures too. I wonder how does Lotus manage to get these high quality people?
Although that does not seem so true as it was before nowadays.
“Although that does not seem so true as it was before nowadays”
This. Don’t forget that Lotus used to be Benetton and later on the Renault works team. Enstone won 4 WDC and 3 constructor championships before Renault pulled the plug.
Luca congratulates himself on Ferrari’s victory
http://www.formulapassion.it/2015/03/f1-montezemolo-vittoria-premio-un-lavoro-cominciato-nel-febbraio-2014/