F1 Insiders Est. 2012
Top times of the day Pos Driver Team Tine Diff Laps 1 Vettel Red Bull 1’25.908 33 2 Webber Red Bull 1’26.172 0.264 31 3 Rosberg Mercedes 1’26.322 0.414 26 4 Raikkonen Lotus 1’26.361 0.453 38 5 Grosjean Lotus 1’26.680 0.772 32 6 Alonso Ferrari 1’26.748 0.840 35 7 Hamilton Mercedes 1’26.772 0.864 … Read more
Contributors: Alistair Hunter, John Myburgh
Formula 1 2013 Round 1 – Melbourne Circuit:
The Rolex Australian Grand Prix is held on the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, street circuit located three kilometers south of the central business district of Melbourne around Albert Park Lake. The circuit is also referred to as Albert Park by most people in Formula 1.
Below follows an analysis provided by German publication AMuS and kindly translated by Patrick Heemstra. Paraphrased by thejudge13 and John Myburgh.
The ‘perfect lap’ is defined as one where the best 3 sector times from any driver are added together to give the ultimate lap time at a given race occasion. So before the cars hit the track in Melbourne here’s one last look at what we can glean from Barcelona test 2.
Barcelona was the last time Formula 1 cars are driven in anger until Albert Park in around 10 days time, and whilst the past week or so was a case of smoke and mirrors (to be expected) there was quite a lot to be learnt once you dug up under the surface. Some teams struggled, whilst others prospered, and it creates a very interesting picture ahead of the first race of the season. So without further ado, let’s grab a spade and see what we can uncover.
The stand out performers from the second test had to be Mercedes. Yes I will be the first to admit, I was one of the big detractors over the winter period, criticising their management structure and how they were so drastically reorganising the team so close to the start of the season. But if the past few weeks are to go by, the W04 does seem to be a very competent car indeed. Whether showing front running pace for the majority of testing has shown the team’s hand far too soon is another matter, but when Rosberg went 1.6 seconds faster than his Qualifying time last year in Barcelona, it shows progress has been very good over the winter at Brackley.
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Toto Wolff sets matters straight
In an interview for Formula1.com Toto Wolff talks about expectations at Mercedes.
“As they (Mercedes) know I have put my neck on the line they know that I have no room for failure. Not only have I taken a personal risk by leaving Williams – where I have enjoyed working – but there is also a financial and economic side to it. There is a huge amount of trust on both sides and I am very happy having joined.”
I’m not really sure what Toto is inferring here, “You cannot run a Formula 1 operation in the UK out of Germany. It is not only a difference in mentality – there is definitely a difference (laughs) – but it is also about physically being there.
Running a company from a distance never really works, so the question is either you run it full time or you don’t. And if you don’t, then you rely on management. In the past I have done that, but it was not the role Mercedes had envisioned for me.”
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Let’s begin the news round up with a couple of our favourite F1 rogues. What have they been up to whilst the gaze of thejudge13 has been averted.
Ecclestone legal troubles:
Back on the 21st Nov 2012, TJ13 reported that a second litigation had been filed in the USA over alleged fraudulent transactions connected with the sale of F1’s commercial rights to CVC back in 2005. This follows the case in Munich already with the prosecutors who are considering charges of bribery and fraud.
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I have now put 2 RSS feeds at the bottom of the right hand bar for those of you who know how to use them for updates.
Red Bull: will launch their RB9 on the 3rd of February at their base in Milton Keynes. Sebastian Vettel is calling in a promise made by Horner that he could have ‘anything’ if he won his 3rd consecutive title in 2012 – well each of his car’s are christened with a girl’s name so he has insisted Christian Horner allows US pop idol Britney Spears to whisk the sheet from the car amidst paper fireworks and with ‘Baby one more time’ blasting through giant rock band speakers ( 😉 ) – can anyone actually think of anything worse?
FanVision withdraw from F1: I asked for it – this is the worst F1 news I’ve heard for quite some time. Utterly disastrous. FanVision I count as an essential for any of the F1 GP’s I attend each year. It was formally called Kangaroo TV and it gives track side fans the clarity of viewing a race that they would get at home.
Some think its expensive, but at 50 Euro’s for Mrs Judge and I (we put a headphone splitter in) to have all the practice sessions, qualifying, the support races and the main event – we think adding 5-6% to the total cost of us visiting a race other than Silverstone is well worth it.
Ecclestone Responds to Il Padrino: Bernie Ecclestone has responded via the BBC to Luca de Montezemolo’s comments about his age and competence. “The one thing he is correct about is my age – there is no doubt about that. I can’t do anything about that. I’m 82 years old and that’s how it is.”
He alludes to the Italian teams bosses apparent rudeness being a result of his recent foray into Italian politics. “I suppose it’s the same sort of thing that’s happened to him recently in politics, where people have been quite rude about him.
Amusingly Ecclestone turns the tables on Luca and suggests his memory is faulty too. “He says he doesn’t remember what he says very often. Luca is not as old as me. I’m sure in his case it is nothing to do with his age because he’s always been the same. At least he’s consistent. God knows what’s going to happen when he’s 82”.
The fatherly advice from Ecclestone continues, “No, Luca is a lovely guy, I’m probably as a big a supporter of him as anybody. I am a big admirer of Luca’s and I’m sorry for all the trouble he’s had with politics recently. He should never have got involved in the first place.”
Vote for thejudge13 at the Silverstone media awards. “Best F1 blogger” is the category if you think we are. (Link). It only takes about 1 minute to do. I believe we have 14 votes so far from thjudge13 readers.
Nurburgring: My favourite subject, the 2013 F1 calendar. It’s a week for lifelines, first HRT and now Nurburgring. To cut a long story short, in February the operators of the circuit, NAG, were given an eviction notice for non-payment of rent. Today Motorsport are reporting this matter is now ‘settled’ – how or by whom we don’t know.
2 weeks ago a spokesman for NAG said, “Formula 1 is no more at the Nurburgring”, discussions with Ecclestone were cancelled and all the other 2013 events were at risk.
Today, “Now we have to make progress in the talks with the Bernie Ecclestone toward a contract”, said Thomas Schmidt of NAG. I presume the operating company had been declared insolvent or bankrupt and the original contract is therefore no longer in force. Anyway, good luck lads – Bernie’s feeling a little down and unwanted at the moment, you may catch him in a rare moment of weakness.
Editor’s note: Many sites run driver polls after each race and we have done a couple. I’m not sure if it’s what thejudge13 readers want though. Let me know your thoughts. I am going to run 3 driver of the year polls – I’m thinking of splitting it into 1 poll for the bottom 4, 1 for the middle 4 and 1 for the top 4 teams.
Further, the end of season is swiftly upon us, and it may be there are not articles every day from thejudge13 after next week. So to save you from visiting the site unnecessarily – why not sign up for email notification (right hand side bar – top) and you will get an email when a new article is uploaded. I have no access to the email addresses submitted as in the software there is a ‘widget’ handles this.
Just in 17:18 GMT: Red Bull maybe using some fancy rear wing end plates, that have a ruffle sticking out of the back plate. Could be a defensive aero part to create dirty air behind the car making overtaking more difficult for the car behind.
This wouldn’t be an aero compromise because the cars normally in Interlagos run a lot of wing due to the altitude and thin air. Usually at sea level this would create more drag and affect the performance of the RB car too.
