F1 testing moved back to February
Given Mr. E’s failure to deliver his ambitious calendar which saw the F1 season reduced in length of weeks despite the increase in races, the F1 testing schedule has also been rescheduled.
The season opener in Australia has moved back from a proposed April 3, to March 20th which forced a rethink on pre-season testing.
The first Barcelona 4 day test will now take place between February 22-25 and the original gap of 11 days between test one and two has been shortened to four days.
The second test is now March 1-4th.
Pre-season testing has been reduced this year from 12 days to 8 days, although in season testing is still being debated. However, the first of these is unlikely to occur before the Spanish GP in Barcelona.
Pirelli are still complaining bitterly that they have not been awarded a proper test for the new super-supersoft tyre they plan to introduce. Some teams have previously been disinclined to stay for extra time following the final race of the 2015 season in Abu Dhabi.
Further, no testing has of yet been offered for the new larger tyres due to make an appearance in 2017, which Pirelli believe to be ridiculous given the significant change in profile.
Red Bull U-Turn
During the Singapore GP, Christian Horner made it clear his team did not need to take and run the upgraded/token deployed Renault power unit when it became available. He questioned its worth given the grid penalties his drivers would suffer.
However, Daniel Ricciardo appears to suggest that Red Bull have changed their minds. “We’ll take what we can get,” said the Aussie, but cautions, “it’s not going to be 40 horsepower.
“It’s better than what we’ve got now, but I wouldn’t get too crazy about it.
“I’ll take it, but I don’t think it’s going to be worth half a second.”
Renault have said they expect to bring the power unit upgrade to the US GP in Austin.
Eurosport gets F1 deal
Euro Sport has done a deal with FOM to provide F1 coverage in 2016 exclusively in Portugal. This is a three year deal and includes all digital platforms.
Eurosport will get the option to broadcast a number of different camera angles from that shown by the world feed. The fee is undisclosed.
Grosjean would have raced for Renault
“I was the first one who wanted to be part of the Renault project,” said Grosjean to the BBC. “If they had come earlier I would have stayed, but I met with Haas, they made an approach and it was attractive.”
Alguasuari gives up the F1 dream
Jaime Alguersuari, who was once the youngest F1 driver, announced his retirement from motor racing at the age of 25 to pursue a career in music.
“I decided to stop because it’s time for change,” he told a news conference. “Something inside me says it’s the moment to take a different path because I think I have fallen out of love with this girlfriend who has been with me all these years.” (Reuters)
Honda benefits from WMSC ruling on new Wastegate reg
Craig Scarborough (@scarbsf1) tweeted a pic of the Honda PU, their unique turbo arrangement will allow them not to use up valuable tokens for the 2016 design.
https://twitter.com/ScarbsF1/status/649309120525373440/photo/1
“The second test is now March 1-4th”
I have read different places that the second test was going to be cancelled because the Australian GP was changed to an earlier date. I hope that it hasn’t been cancelled. The teams need all of the testing time that they can get so that there are at least more than 4 cars that cross the finish at the 2016 Australian GP.
I wonder with the faster cars in 2017 if there will be more preseason testing added?
The teams do need to do some proper testing with Pirelli on the super supersoft tire that going to be introduced just to make sure that there aren’t any problems with the tire.
Re: Renault have said they expect to bring the power unit upgrade to the US GP in Austin.
Tze Germans at AMUS have heard that Renault have trouble on the testbench and that they will be unable to bring new engines to Austin…. I do not understand what they wish to race with next year. Maybe Renault will let Renault race with last year’s engines or something like that and hope to have the final 2015 unit ready by february 2016……
Imagine the teeth-gnashing that’ll happen at RedBullHQ if the upgraded Renault power unit is a significant enough improvement to look like it could provide a solid platform for a serious-ish challenge for 2016.
Especially seeing as it’s unlikely that Renault could develop a truly competitive chassis in their first year back as a manufacturer, so likely not to be able to maximise the potential of said PU, which would have been a prime opportunity for RB to mount a title challenge.
Does two U-turns equal one doughnut?
Yep. And three u-turns is a pretzel ☺
SOTB (SmirkingOnTheBus)
What do you really expect? They will not come even close to matching Ferrari and certainly not Mercedes with any of their upgrades this year. While all will have equal tokens to upgrade next year. By the looks of it, even a Honda will be a better option for 2016.
Sad to see Jaime retiring so young – I hope his health is ok.
I never read anywhere that he had been given the all clear to resume racing – last I saw he was still ruled out for 2015/6 Formula E season on health grounds?
A pity, I can only imagine what if? What if Bruno hadn’t punted him in the first corner at Spa after a great qualy effort, and probably more to the point, what if only he hadn’t dared to hold up Seb in a practice session in Korea (you do know there’s no points awarded for practice sessions Dr.Marko don’t you?).
F1, what 1F indeed.
That’s what happens when you cross Helmut. Remember him waiting too long to let Seb through?
do I ever 🙂
That’s the first picture I have seen of the insides of the Honda PU and …what an idea. Not sure if the other teams have thought of that but given that you can change the turbine then you could change the vains within a turbine and so you have the option of tuning the system to the exact climate and altitude conditions without a grid drop,if you can get it working. I for one was wondering about the distinct sound of the Honda and have previously mentioned that something was tricked inside the system and if this system can get some reliability and power then Big Ron was probably right..its going to challenge the Mercs own unique design.
Wow! Honda’s tricky, tokenless turbine change may just what they need to close the power gap to MB!*
*May contain traces of bullsh!t 😉
The Ricciardo section is a bit misleading. To quote Autosport with Ricciardo talking about the worth of taking the upgrade vs. penalties accrued:
“When asked if he feels the update is worth taking a penalty for, Ricciardo said: “It depends how much it is.
“From what I’ve heard it’s not that much, so it’s on the cusp at the moment.””
That doesn’t make it sound like Red Bull have “changed their mind” as such.
The Honda PU pic did nuthin for me; I need lines and arrows showing the scene of the crime with tags to identify the bodies, body parts, and the tracks of the perps. Names, Les; I need names. (Referencing Alice’s Restaurant and WKRP In Cincinnati.)
‘Ere you go!
[IMG]http://i57.tinypic.com/zya88x.jpg[/IMG]
That didn’t work – try again
Last try or I give up!
Engineer, just get rid of the bracketed [IMG] at each end and it works:
http://i57.tinypic.com/zya88x.jpg
Red Bull leaving F1? I don’t think so,
http://www.infiniti-redbullracing.com/JobApplication
Currently 19 jobs available.