F1 farce as new qualifying plan hit by software problems
Ecclestone has revealed that the introduction of a radical new elimination style qualifying format for the sport has been held up by computer programmers.
“The new qualifying won’t happen because we can’t get everything together in time. It was going to come in at the start of this year but we are not going to be able to get all the software done in time. So the qualifying changes will probably be in Spain. In Australia it will be the old qualifying and the new qualifying maybe by Spain. All of the software has got to be written so it’s not easy,”
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Mercedes tempted to make fifth engine a ‘performance special’
Mercedes engine boss Andy Cowell says his team might consider saving one of its engines this year to use as a “performance special” now that five power units are permitted over the course of the season.
The addition of a 21st race on the calendar has upped the allocation of engines per driver from four to five this year, although if a race were to drop off the calendar before the season opener it would return to four.
As a result, Mercedes has been planning on using four power units over the course of the season, meaning it could have one extra engine left over if there are still 21 races on the calendar by the start of the Australian Grand Prix. Asked if the team might save that engine in order to run it at the very top of its potential for one race towards the end of the season, Cowell said it was “tempting”.
Toro Rosso used guesswork for engine
Toro Rosso used guesswork to design the installation of its 2015-spec Ferrari Formula 1 engine while waiting for confirmation of the deal, says technical director James Key. The team did not get confirmation that it would be swapping supplier from Renault until early November and that made preparations difficult considering the architecture of the car had been agreed in August. But Toro Rosso knew that it was a strong possibility so began preparing a contingency plan using the resources that were available.
“When it became clear the power unit may or may not change and when that change would be confirmed was unclear, we carried on with what we knew and we tried to guess what to do,” Key explained. “It sounds crazy but there are pictures around, ideas and a bit of hearsay. You have to put together some contingency based on that.
“It looked likely Ferrari could be a go-ahead but we couldn’t talk to them about design options until a deal was signed. We made CAD models from pictures. It sounds crude but what else could you do?”
Driver line up for 2nd test
| Team | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercedes | Rosberg/Hamilton | Hamilton/Rosberg | Rosberg/Hamilton | Hamilton/Rosberg |
| Ferrari | Raikkonen | Vettel | Raikkonen | Vettel |
| Williams | Bottas | Bottas | Massa | Massa |
| Red Bull | Kvyat | Ricciardo | Kvyat | Ricciardo |
| Force India | Hulkenberg | Perez | Hulkenberg | Perez |
| Renault | Magnussen | Magnussen | Palmer | Palmer |
| Toro Rosso | Verstappen | Sainz | Verstappen | Sainz |
| Sauber | Nasr | Ericsson | Nasr | Ericsson |
| McLaren | Alonso | Button | Alonso | Button |
| Manor | Haryanto | TBC | TBC | TBC |
| Haas | Gutierrez | Gutierrez | Grosjean | Grosjean |
Typical American rims
Haas just have to be different, Reddit user r/lukalukaluka noticed their unusual ‘Frisbee’ rims.
Rosberg finally gets his 2014 ‘runners up’ prize
finally received the 2014 pole position trophy from Bernie. #betterlatethannever 😂 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Z8wgWSB6qw
— Nico Rosberg (@NicoRosberg) February 29, 2016
The season is so very close
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What’s with Manor and TBC driver not lined up for testing?
Really glad to see the DN&C back 🙂
This just goes to show how ridiculous the rule making process is. After all the meetings the teams have had the only thing that they can come up with is changing the qualifying format which is probably the most interesting part of the race weekend. Surely there were more important things that needed addressing for the good of the sport.
Bernie was just being a gentleman and making excuses for the fact that things run a bit slower down here. Ya can’t be fussin’ the locals wiv anythin’ too fancy without ’nuff notice, y’see…
😉
the new enforced onto F1 new qualifying format and changes for 2017 by the commercial rights holder backed-up by his comrades in arms are much more than a farce, those that voted for the new qualifying format did so because they refused to back-up and approve the idea of revers grids, the commercial rights holder and all those that danced to his tunes were putting the cart before the horse, this new qualifying format still have to be approved, and there is very little chance of it happening this year, the same applies for the other changes being pushed for 2017.
Mr Brundle has taken his usual warning out of the 2014 and 2015 drawer and re-posted it!
http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/24181/10187048/lewis-hamilton-warned-to-retain-his-focus-in-2016-for-title-hat-trick
today Kimi Raikkonen managed the fastest medium tyre lap of the 5 days of testing so far at 1-24.836
Oh come on, just spin a wheel and get it over with.
for spinning a wheel visit sky sports, nobody beats them at it.
Ok, how about this. We put 15 chairs in a circle on the front straight. The host country will play their national anthem and Bernie will timeout 30 seconds on his rolex. After 30 seconds the music stops and the 15 drivers who were able to get a seat will have advanced onto Q 2.
Sorry I seem to have plagiarized this ^ from Sniff Petrol http://sniffpetrol.com/2016/02/24/f1-announces-elimination-style-qualifying/#.VtdMVvkrLq4
Another case of RUI (reading under the influence)
Authoring a software app that monitors time stamps and sets a limit based on threshold seems fairly benign and something coded with minimal effort. Guess is that Ecclestone did not get the right negative reaction that he was expecting as a means to make a different change that he really wants.
top speeds pit straight, sector on and sector two during the first four days of testing.
Mercedes pit straight (339.6km/h) sector one (275.5km/h) sector two (270.6km/h). FERRARI pit straight (332.2km/h) sector one (283.2km,h) sector two (275.5km/h).
Significance?
The two fastest teams from the 2015 season. Testing it may be, but it’s still more significant than your response. You seem to like to put other people down, that’s what the majority of your posts are.
Rather sensitive aren’t you Blob? My comment was not about putting anyone down, I’m merely asking the significance of the data and what does it really represents?
Its a rather vague reading because firstly there’s no mention of what tires each car was using when those figures were taken.
So please go ahead and show me the significance, because I surely can’t see it.
Would love to fortis but the inconsistent mods don’t approve of either of my replies. Very selective on who they allow to disagree with others. Seems you’re in the in crowd and I’m not!
Mods : I appreciate this comment will not be approved but I really fail to see what’s so offensive. If you want smug nerds to rule the forums here then you’re doing a Bernie and limiting your audience.
How significant is the data in these winter tests depends a lot on what one would like to hear/read, the data, tyres, number of laps and all relevant information is out there if one looks for it instead on relying on hearing/reading the usual spinners report for example this morning “car 44 is 0.6 slower on softs than car 7 was on softs yesterday but you have to suspect that was rather more fuel in the car” on the other hand car 7 driver said “it was riding on full attack on low fuel”. For a start looking for data try “Barcelona test in numbers, who went faster and furthest 25/02/2016”. Today vettel on mediums 1-24.611.
Bernie apparently wants reversed grids and weight penalties to even up the contest and may be pushing for this. The manufacturers would hate that and might pull out. That might be Bernie’s plan to get them off his back and get back full control over his empire. He would probably have to get a new power unit sourced or even an engine (remember those?) but he could do that. This may be a fight to the death with Mercedes. If I were Mercedes, I would use whatever influence I have with the EU commission to effectively take away Bernie’s influence by voiding the 100 year CR deal. If that happens Bernie and CVC would own four fifths of very little and be finished as a malevolent force!