"Just Married" !!

Jacques Villeneuve married recently, and his BMW car this weekend has "Just Married" written on its rear wing !

Silverstone Is Here !

Days are moving too fast to keep up with, esp. as far as updating this blog goes !

So, with that disclaimer out of the way, let us see what this weekend at Silverstone has in store for us. With little over half an hour remaining for the qualifying, it is interesting to see the practice 3 times.

Michael is on top of course, and Massa's third position confirming the Ferrari's pace on this aero dominant track. The cars currently regarded as having the best aero package, Renault, find themselves in P5 and P6. Kimi managed to get his McLaren into P4, but JPM was down in 15th with some problems. Nothing surprising there, really.

What is surprising really is the performance of BMW-Sauber. Yesterday Kubica put in a storming lap to take the honours in free practice 2. Many dismissed it as a 'Friday driver anomaly', but Nick Heidfeld confirmed BMW's pace with P2 in the third practice session, and Villeneuve was in P8, not too much off the pace. Having been used to seeing BMW's consistently outside top 10, this is a big boost for the team, and they will be looking to do here what Red Bull did in Monaco.

The other teams to have impressed are Torro Rosso and Midland. Both STRs (in P9 and P10) got the better of their Red Bull counterparts, while Monteiro took his Midland to P13 above both Coulthard and Montoya.

Now, its only a practice session, but things are fairly indicative. Dont be surprised to see Christian Albers into round 2 in qualifying, or both BMWs into top 10. An interesting qualifying is in store !

Silverstone Tech File

From Pitpass.com :

The demands of the Silverstone circuit for the cars and engines has changed significantly with the advent of V8 engines in 2006. The first half of the circuit, all the way to turn 8, now sees very little braking at all and the engines under prolonged load. The second part of the circuit includes more slow corners, and places a premium on a good low speed balance and traction. Overall, Silverstone is a selective circuit, that allows a strong, harmonious chassis-engine package to shine.

Aerodynamics

Downforce levels at Silverstone are medium-high – almost identical to Barcelona. The downforce is required for the quick corners in the opening part of the lap, and the relatively short straights and braking zones mean that any deficit in straightline speed is unlikely to see competitors overtaking you. The lack of heavy braking also means we run some of the smallest brake ducts of the year to optimise aerodynamic performance.

Ride

The circuit is not particularly bumpy, so achieving good ride is not usually a big problem. The exception to this is under braking for turn 8, where the uneven surface can unsettle the car. The drivers also tend to drift out onto the kerbs exiting the quick corners in order to take the fastest line, which can make the circuit seem bumpier than it is.

Suspension

We run the car with a forward mechanical balance at this circuit – essentially, with a stiff front end and softer rear end. The stiff front gives the car a good change of direction in the high and slow speed corners, while the softer rear end gives better grip under traction, exiting turns 9, 11 and 16 in particular.

Tyres

The numerous high-speed corners mean Silverstone is a demanding circuit for the tyres, as they work hard over a lap. However, the difference compared with a circuit such as Barcelona is that none of the high-speed corners are particularly long. In general, if temperatures are cool and tyres are graining then the left-front will suffer in particular, while in higher temperatures, the left rear will be the limiting tyre.

Ambient conditions

As a former airfield, Silverstone is inevitably exposed to the wind – and this can have a big impact on car performance. Gusting wind alters the aerodynamic balance of the car and makes handling unpredictable, particularly in the high-speed corners. The driver must be able to judge the direction and strength of the wind, and adjust his driving accordingly.

Engine

The percentage of the lap spent at full throttle has climbed significantly with the advent of the V8 engines – from 59% last year to 71% this. Silverstone is now one of the harder circuits in terms of the demands it places on the engine, which also needs to be responsive at high revs as the drivers take the quick corners on either full or partial throttle. However, by race 8, issues such as cooling are well under control and, particularly after having already tested at the circuit, will pose no problems.

Aintree

This is another of those "not a history lesson" posts which come before historic Grands Prix.
Before the Nurburgring GP, I had written a post about the Nordschleife track - which is no longer used for racing. Since its the British GP this weekend, its time to talk about a long forgotten race track where the British GP used to be held almost 50 years ago.

Welcome to Aintree.

It is of course famous for the first ever GP held there - back in 1955 - when Stirling Moss won the British GP from Juan Manuel Fangio, and became the first British driver to win a British GP. The race (and the qualifying) was a closely fought affair between the two drivers, as Moss took pole by 0.2 seconds and won by a similarly narrow margin. That race also marked the debut of Jack Brabham in a Cooper-Bristol.

Being right next to the Grand National horse racing course (in Liverpool), the facilities were good, and spectators were plenty.

Start of the 1961 British Grand Prix won by Count Wolfgang (Taffy) von Trips - Ferrari 156 (3rd Ferrari - white helmet far right).

27 Formula 1 cars line up for the start - the legendary Tatts Corner is immediately behind these cars. Despite the rain, the stands are full to capacity. Apparently, all of the department stores in Liverpool sold out of plastic macs that day!

Aintree hosted an F1 GP from 1955 to 1962, and after that , continued to host many other events - most notably, the Aintree Festival of Motorsport. But, development work has destroyed a big part of this track, and last year, work began on building another grandstand for the racing course right where the historic Tatts corner stands.

The narrow strip of tarmac between the green fence and the white running rail is all that remains of this famous corner.

Someday, I will get to writing a more detailed post about Aintree (I know I am yet to do one on Nordschleife!).. which it truly deserves, for it is a track of enormous significance to the world of motorsport.

The Renault Tiger

Renault will be running a special livery on their cars for the British GP this weekend - it features .. a tiger. [ Renault to run 'Tiger' livery in Britain]
Now, I really cant make any sense of having a tiger on your racing car. Unless you are Takuma Sato or Yuji Ide, and devour other cars with consummate ease. But trust the PR people to make sense of anything. Everything is "in tune with the company's spirit" , or "shares the fundamental values and the desire to win". So, what did the Renault F1 team say about the tiger ?

The powerful eyes of the tiger are displayed on the front and rear wings, while on the sidepods, the animal is portrayed crouched, ready to pounce. Alert to its constantly-changing surroundings, instinctively using attack as the best form of defence, the tiger is the perfect motif to symbolise the Renault F1 Team's challenge at this weekend's British Grand Prix.

Ooh.. even the tiger would be laughing.

A Lap of Silverstone

From Planet F1 , Gary Paffet describes a lap of the Silverstone..

"A flying lap of Silverstone begins with the extremely fast and challenging Copse. You arrive at the right hander at 190mph, before dabbing the brakes as you swing through the bend.

"A short burst of power takes you to one of the best complex of corners we have at any grand prix track, the Maggots-Becketts-Chapel bends.

"Throughout the complex you maintain speeds of 125mph to 190mph as you take the sequence of right and left flicks flat out, before being swung onto the fastest section of the track, Hanger Straight.

"Taken flat out with a top speed of 195mph, this long blast leads to Stowe. Due to the late apex you are braking all the way into the corner, flicking down the gears to 115mph.

"The worst thing you can get here is understeer as it will affect your lap time a lot in that particular corner.
"You then roll out into a very straight forward exit along Vale that takes you down into Club, before braking for the long right-hander.

"You go down the short straight to the left of Abbey, which is taken at 70mph, has a very fast entry and is a good place for overtaking.

"There is the flick right of Farm and you then go up and over the hill into Bridge corner, which is taken flat out.
"You then enter the stadium complex and some of the best overtaking opportunities on the track.

"It starts with a quick entry into Luffield in fourth gear. It's quite fun to drift the car out there and it tends to dance around with the back end.

"You come out and get on the brakes straight away for the tight left of Priory, which is immediately followed by the 65mph tight left of Brooklands.

"The final corner in the complex is Luffield. The sweeping right of Woodcote is the final corner, you accelerate through the two apexes as you swing back onto the pit straight to begin another lap."

That final corner is sooo slow !! But the Becketts complex is truly awesome. And, here is hoping for a wet race and a Alonso DNF !

Of rumours and other things..

Right, so I am back after a week of inaction.
Enough has been said, written, and insinuated about the Monaco Grand Prix Qualifying.
In the absence of Spa (and hence, Eau Rouge), Rascasse might just become the most famous corner this year. However, I do believe that incident was not entirely deliberate - it began as a mistake definitely. Just so you know.

So, what really brought me to post here today was some rumours.. I make no claims about their authenticity however. The big one is that Kimi may *NOT* join Ferrari after all, but may instead move to Renault. Clearly, if that happens, one of Alonso or Kimi is going to end up looking a fool. If Renault continue their impressive ways, Alonso will be questioning himself "WHy?!!". On the other hand, if Alonso wins the championship with McLaren, Kimi might as well go back to fishing in the lakes in Finland. So, why would Kimi join Renault ? Because, Renault want to keep winning till 2012, and Fisichella is no title contender.

Which brings me to the second rumour. Fisi is out next season. Yes, you heard that right. Fisi has been unimpressive all through his two years at Renault, and this looks to be the ideal time to get rid of him. Heikki Kovalanein seems likely to take the Renault second race seat next season. Personally, I think Fisi is past his best - he has been absolutely destroyed by Nando in Renault.

A good place to tell you whom I would want out of F1 - Fisi, Trulli, Ralf [The torro rossos and Midlands and Aguris dont count - drivers can come and go as they please]. Trulli and Ralf are wasting 2 places on the grid - Toyota could do with better drivers.

People whom I would want to see in better cars - Webber, JV and David Coulthard. I think all of them are GP-winners material (not championship contenders perhaps..). I think with RBR having Adrian Newey on board, next years Red Bull cars are going to be very good, and perhaps then DC could get a few more wins. JV should really be in a Ferrari or McLaren !! And Webber - perhaps Renault would be good for him. :)

People whom I want to see in F1 in future - Heikki Kovalanein, Hamilton, Marco Andretti. I think their driving this season has been impressive.. though Marco Andretti has still a long way to go.

Test drivers who should get a race drive - Alex Wurz, Ant Davidson. I dont need to say anything more !

More later !