F1 Insiders Est. 2012
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.
This page will be updated throughout the day as news stories break. Follow @thejudge13 on twitter as each new story will be tweeted when posted.
Wolff appeals to shareholders
TJ13 reported recently that Daimler Benz has received heavy criticism from a number of its institutional investors for running a team in Formula 1. They object to racing in certain countries where human rights are not respected and further at the cost they see as diminishing shareholder value.
Toto Wolff speaks out in defence of the Stuttgart board. Whilst recognising that the views of shareholders should be considered he argues from a cost/value benefit the global car manufacturer will eventually benefit.
F1 Forensics is brought to thejudge13 readers in partnership with SomersF1, Like most of us, Matthew Somerfield has a day job and his is being the manager of a car & van rental company in the Isle of Wight.
His passion is to try and bring us non-techies closer to F1 by bridging the gap between the full blown engineering publications and the simplicity of much that is provided by TV.
I posted this gallery last week and asked TJ13 readers what they could see. Of course the rake of the RB9 was evident. Having hunted about for some explanation on ‘rake’ I couldn’t find much of value, so I suggested to Somers he fill this gap in our knowledge.
The F1 authorities and money men need to grow up and get with the 21st century. Their continued attempts to control the media outlets together with corporate images and messages they attempt to ram down our throats is pitiful.
These offerings conceived by PR companies and advertising agencies are as transparent as the gazillion dollar cathedrals of glass in which they reside.
TheJudge13 is partly a social media project as well as a great place to find F1 news and gossip, learn about the technical aspect of the sport and discuss all this with fans as passionate as you from across the worldwide village.
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.
A Quick look at how much each team managed to extract from 2013 pre-season testing
Team Total Testing Laps
| 1. Sauber 1161 laps |
| 2. Mercedes 1095 laps |
| 3. Ferrari 1068 laps |
| 4. Red Bull Racing 1008 laps |
| 5. McLaren 1008 laps |
| 6. Caterham 985 laps |
| 7. Sahara Force India 980 laps |
| 8. Toro Rosso 960 laps |
| 9. Marussia 798 laps |
| 10. Lotus 770 laps |
| 11. Williams – FW35 666 laps |
| 12. Williams – FW34 305 laps |
Driver Total Testing Laps
| 1. Esteban Gutierrez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 607 laps |
| 2. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 572 laps |
| 3. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Sauber-Ferrari 554 laps |
| 4. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes 553 laps |
| 5. Sergio Perez Mexico McLaren-Mercedes 553 laps |
| 6. Max Chilton Britain Marussia-Cosworth 550 laps |
| 7. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 536 laps |
| 8. Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes-Mercedes 523 laps |
| 9. Charles Pic France Caterham-Renault 516 laps |
| 10. Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Renault 513 laps |
| 11. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 513 laps |
| 12. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 513 laps |
| 13. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 505 laps |
| 14. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 495 laps |
| 15. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault 495 laps |
| 16. Giedo van der Garde Holland Caterham-Renault 469 laps |
| 17. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Renault 458 laps |
| 18. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 455 laps |
| 19. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 424 laps |
| 20. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Lotus-Renault 259 laps |
| 21. Jules Bianchi France Marussia-Cosworth 253 laps * |
| 22. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 249 laps |
| 23. Luiz Razia Brazil Marussia-Cosworth 112 laps |
| 24. James Rossiter Britain Force India-Mercedes 61 laps |
| 25. Pedro de la Rosa Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 50 laps |
| 26. Davide Valsecchi Italy Lotus-Renault 16 laps |
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Lack of effort
The Red Bull launch has been received in a number of different ways. The preview video, ‘The rhythm of the factory’ (check it out in F1 Forensic) seems to have gone down quite well. This was the pre-cursor to the big live unveil. I have spoken to Christian, and he accepts the reveal of the car in the video could have been better – more like in the TJ13 video – with some more effort from the RB graphics team, and the matter has been duly noted for 2014.
Follow thejudge13:Â Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb.
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.
Marko Watch: After the day I had yesterday, my brain was rather scrambled. I find that though I’m one of the most decisive people I’ve met, when in this state, I dither over the most silly of matters for an eternity. Anyway, I finally decided this piece qualified to be categorised as a ‘Marko Watch’ story.
My decision was that it does so on the school playground premise that ‘he started it first, sir’. It appears the good doctor has stirred the hornet’s nest and may reap the whirlwind (mixed metaphors I know). Fernando is reveling in the new found freedom of twitter, and this appears to have given him the confidence to take the offensive to the enemy – politics or not.
Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb.
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.
