[Alvin]

Some 2013 Silverstone Highlights:

• Epic right rear tire failures, IIRC 4 actual failures, and 2 near misses with 2 removed during Safety Car Yellow found to be right at the point of failure. Pirelli was noticeably silent as to the situation until AFTER the race.

• Hamilton; way ahead in the lead on lap 7 and into the pits for right rear tire failure. He did a good job regaining positions in the field…right to the end.

• Massa had done an admirable job of working his way through the field and spun out with right rear tire failure. Massa redeemed his four previous crashes (2 in Monaco, 1 Montreal, 1 Silverstone) by coming back from behind in the grid after the tire failure and finishing in the mfg points.

• Vettal appearing to be on another runaway lead when his car lurched to a stop due to loss of the gearbox…and suddenly it was anyone’s race to win and upset the mfg and drivers points. It was disclosed that Vettels’ right rear tire was one that had been on the verge of failure but had been changed out just prior to exploding (and the unrelated gear box failure) like the others.

• The mad dash to the last 7 laps with many options and possibilities of who would end up on the podium. It was truly exciting as my wife was pulling and shouting out for Alonso and Webber. Congrats to Nico Roseburg for his win.

• And Webbers’ announcement that he would retire from F1 at the end of the 2013 to accept the offer to race for Porsche in LMP1 racing was indeed fodder for speculation and an early start to the driver “Silly Season” with many prospective drivers in consideration to move to Red Bull to take Webbers empty seat in F1 for 2014 season.

• The “slap on the wrist” for Merc tire testing at Pirellis direction in Barcelona, with their exclusion from the Jr’ Driver Testing included in their penalty…and small undisclosed $ amount. Was pointed out that F1 would be unable to ban Merc as they were providing power plants for more than 4 teams in F1…

• Still in the air is the unsigned Contract for 2014s Specifications to move to V6 Turbo Engine incorporating 3 to 4 times more KERS than the current configuration. With much discussion of the new systems complexity and additional extreme cost. This about a system that “is designed to bring down the costs and complexity of F1”.

• Additional testing; 2 sessions Pre-Season, and 4 Seasonal scheduled; added to the 2014 schedule should relieve some stress of the unknowns of the tires and equipment for each and every team – that can afford to test…

• Pending lawsuit against Bernie Eccelstone, regarding his position, decisions and leadership of F1 in question.

That is the “short list”. Silverstone 2013 was indeed an exciting event Thurs – Sun; beginning on Thursdays Free Practice session 1 rain out, Qualifying, Pole position, and the race itself.

[MikeNoun]

Another great race, and congrats to Nico Rosberg. I always liked Nico! He's the son of F1 champion Keke Rosberg. He runs under the German flag, although his dad was Finnish (Nico was born in West Germany). Keke lived in Monaco, right by the track, and they still live there today. Typical of an F1 driver, Nico speaks several languages quite fluently, including German, English, Italian, Spanish, and French.

Keke Rosberg was quite a character. In the 1980's, he looked like he was styling in 1975. I have one race from the mid-1980's that Keke won, and they interviewed him on the back of a moving golf cart as they paraded the winners around the track. His hair was blowing in his face, completely obscuring everything but his moustache, and he smoked a cigarette. Classic F1.



Hard to believe that Nico Rosberg is the Merc driver with victories this year, and not Hamilton. I don't think anyone saw that coming. Nico is a fantastic driver though, and he deserved his victories.

The British Grand Prix was a classic.

Each tire for an F1 car is specially made for each corner of the car. The have it down to an exact science, and the teams don't use left side tires on the right, and vice-versa. I'd hate to be Pirelli employee that was responsible for making left rear tires for Silverstone.

Vettel's transmission going out was as weird as when his alternator went out last year. Just not used to seeing Red Bull cars breaking. Webber had his usual crappy start, dropping 15 places. I swear the guy is starting in 3rd gear! But he drove a great race as he always does.

Raikkonen radio'd in late in the race that he questioned the call to not take tires. I guess he was right. He struggled the last few laps and lost a few positions. Alonso drove another brilliant race. The crowd was cheering when Vettel broke down. Seb stopped on the main straight in front of the grandstands.

I like Vettel, he's a clean driver, doesn't have an attitude (like Montoya had when he ran F1), but fans get tired of him winning. Only 25 years old, he's the youngest F1 driver to ever be runner-up to the championship, youngest ever F1 champ, youngest ever 2-time champ, youngest ever 3-time champ, he's quite amazing. If he continues, he could shatter all the records.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by MikeNoun

Each tire for an F1 car is specially made for each corner of the car. The have it down to an exact science, and the teams don't use left side tires on the right, and vice-versa. I'd hate to be Pirelli employee that was responsible for making left rear tires for Silverstone.

Your comments and observations are always welcome and appreciated here Mike!
Great input regarding the Silverstone tires.

Check this out "TopGear.com builds a 2013 F1 tyre!" http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/pir...ear-2013-01-30

Includes images of the whole process, beginning to end.

[Alvin]

Struggle for control of F1 rule making as new Concorde Agreement remains unsigned.
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2013/0...mains-unsigned

[Alvin]

"What does the Gerhard Gribkowsky affair mean for F1"

Note he was imprisoned for taking bribes from Bernie. Or as Bernie put it "A sofisticated shakedown". http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/83023.html

Edit: detailed document description in SAP news letter "The long, complicated story extending over 12 years."

" The Eccelstone / Gribkowsky scandal: bribery and corruption"
http://www.save-albert-park.org.au/s...NEWSLETTER.pdf

[MikeNoun]

Wow, great info! I think in the world of F1, Bernie seems to be The Godfather. The F1 track in Austin was basically held hostage until they appeased Bernie, and from what I've read, that's pretty common. The New Jersey street circuit was the same way. Pay to play. Probably the main reason his smokin' hot daughters lives like princesses, with virtually unlimited funds, and will never have to work a day in her life. It's good to be king.

Some great info on F1 drivers from the last race. For those that don't know, F1 drivers are considered to be some of the most physically fit athletes in the world. They train about 20 hours a week, yet they don't have huge muscles like NFL players. They just have incredible endurance, and many have dubbed them supermen. It takes a special person to be an F1 driver. Not just the ability to drive the car to perfection for 2 hours, but the physical, emotional, and mental strain are far beyond any other motorsport.

The average person has a heartbeat of 70 bpm. At rest, an F1 driver has a bpm of 45-50. While sitting on the starting grid, an F1 drivers heart rates jumps to 150 bpm, and during the race, it will soar to 200+ bpm, with an average of 170 bpm. That's for 2 hours folks. Imagine your heart rate at 3 beats a second for 2 solid hours. Incredible.

An F1 drivers legs need to generate 80kg of downforce on the brake pedal to slow the car down, and they do this around 1500 times a race. How hard is that? Try taking 175 bags of sugar, balance them on your legs, and lift them up and down 1500 times in 2 hours, without a rest.

When an F1 driver hits a corner, they endure up to 5g's on their neck, then they swing the car into another turn, throwing their neck (and helmet) back and forth into another 3-5g turn, then another, then they endure 5g braking, blinding acceleration, and non-stop for almost two hours. Imagine all that, and trying to focus on the apex of a turn, 20 times a lap, for almost 2 hours. It's no wonder that when they give a fan a chance to ride in the F1 two-seater, they nearly pass out from the strain, and that's after only 15 seconds.

Some of the best athletes in the world, and the physical, mental, and pressure far beyond anything required in the other motorsports. Reflexes faster than a fighter pilots, mental concentration approaching meditation levels, incredible strength and endurance, unbelievable cardiovascular conditioning, precision driving, and on a personal note they speak multiple languages fluently. It's no wonder F1 is the most popular motorsport in the world.

Cool stuff Alvin, keep this thread alive with more F1 news!

[Drew W]

By Alan Baldwin | Reuters – 7 hours ago

LONDON (Reuters) - Formula One teams contributed to the dramatic blowouts at Sunday's British Grand Prix by mounting rear tires the wrong way around and running them with low pressures, supplier Pirelli said on Tuesday.
Rejecting any suggestion that its product was dangerous, the Italian company said in a statement it would bring stronger rear tires to this weekend's race in Germany to allay any safety fears and introduce a new range in Hungary at the end of the month.
Pirelli said some teams had deliberately put tires intended for the right rear of the car on the left, had run them at lower pressures than recommended by the manufacturer and used extreme cambers for performance advantage.
However, it shouldered some of the blame for these practices. "Mounting the tires the wrong way round is a practice that was nonetheless underestimated by everybody: above all Pirelli, which did not forbid this," said the statement.
Pirelli found the kerbs at fast corners, and specifically turn four of the Silverstone circuit, were also "particularly aggressive".
Four drivers suffered high-speed rear tire blowouts at Silverstone - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) and Sergio Perez (McLaren).
The debris from the exploding tires was flung up into the path of cars behind, with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso having one near-miss. Fears about the drivers' safety plunged the sport into crisis with talk of a possible driver boycott.
Pirelli said the rears to be used at the Nuerburgring on Sunday would feature inner belts made of Kevlar, a reinforced fiber that was a feature of last year's tires, beneath the tread instead of the steel used so far this season.
Its 2013 tires have an 'asymmetric' structure which means that they are not designed to be interchangeable but some teams struggling with high degradation have improved performance by swapping them around.
"The sidewalls are designed in such a way to deal with specific loads on the internal and external sides of the tire. So swapping the tires round has an effect on how they work in certain conditions," said Pirelli.
"In particular, the external part is designed to cope with the very high loads that are generated while cornering at a circuit as demanding as Silverstone, with its rapid left-hand bends and some kerbs that are particularly aggressive."
MORE STRESS
Under-inflating the tires can also bring a competitive advantage but puts more stress on them.
Pirelli said that, because of the potential danger, it had asked the governing FIA for a technical official to make sure cambers and pressures complied with set parameters in future.
It will also be forbidden to swap the new rears for Germany around, since they too are asymmetric. The front tires remain unaltered.
The tires to be used at the Nuerburgring had been made originally for teams to try out in Canada last month. But they were not used due to bad weather and opposition from Ferrari, Force India and Lotus whose cars were easier on the tires and who feared giving up an advantage.
Those tires to be introduced in Hungary at the end of July will have a symmetrical structure with the 2013 compounds.
"I'd like to re-emphasize the fact that the 2013 range of tires, used in the correct way, is completely safe," said Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery.
"What happened at Silverstone though has led us to ask for full access to real-time tire data to ensure the correct usage and development of tires that have the sophistication we were asked to provide and extremely high performance that has lowered lap times by more than two seconds on average.
"While we wait for a change in the rules, we will introduce tires that are easier to manage."
Formula One teams will test the tires for Hungary at Silverstone from July 17-19. Silverstone's owners had said reports that sharp edges on the circuit's kerbs might have been to blame for the blowouts were "absolute rubbish".
Pirelli said the Silverstone failures were unrelated to previous problems of 'delamination' - when the tread is penetrated by debris and separates from the belt underneath, peeling away from the main body, or carcass, of the tire.
"What happened at Silverstone was completely unexpected and it was the first time that anything like this has ever occurred in more than a century of Pirelli in motorsport," said Hembery.
"These incidents, which have upset us greatly, have stressed the urgency of the changes that we already suggested."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin)

[Alvin]

Interesting tire info. Thxs for the post Drew.

I noticed during the Silverstone race that the rears were seemingly run "super soft" often appearing to almost pull off of the rims mid-turn. This was especially noticeable in slow motion, and Super Slow Motion during DVR playback. IIRC David Hobbs stated that Pirelli wanted the teams to increase the tire pressures by (2) two pounds on the rears to increase the sidewall to tread rigidity. Most teams have been tuning using 1/4lb or less air pressure incremental adjustments.

Also noted that it was reported and replayed on video during the race that Alonso had a piece Kevlar (or Carbon Fiber?) stuck to his glove from one of the tire explosions. The major tread explosion separations appeared to have Kevlar reinforcement instead of the Pirelli report of steel.

Pirelli's tire contract is up for renewal, so there is no telling what other backstory intrigue is happening.

[MikeNoun]

Pirelli said some teams had deliberately put tires intended for the right rear of the car on the left, had run them at lower pressures than recommended by the manufacturer and used extreme cambers for performance advantage. However, it shouldered some of the blame for these practices. "Mounting the tires the wrong way round is a practice that was nonetheless underestimated by everybody: above all Pirelli, which did not forbid this," said the statement.

This is interesting. So the comment I made earlier, about how each tire is made for a specific corner of the car, seemed to be ignored by some teams as they switched the rears L to R.

Definitely a serious situation at the speeds these cars are traveling. The fact that the driver is exposed to any carbon fiber shards that may be throw when a tire explodes makes this especially dangerous. I guess all things considered though, this could have been much worse. Imagine if the front R or L tire exploded the way these left rear tires exploded. Pieces of tire may have flown into the drivers helmet, not to mention the tire ripping up the side pod, or radiator diffusers and aero flippers, throwing carbon fiber shards into the driver.

And we should start a poll as to who will take over Mark Webber's seat, now that he's officially announced his retirement. I'm still wondering if Red Bull will lure Kimi away from Lotus. I believe Raikkonen has an option in his contract that ends in Sept 2013, and with Webber now officially retiring, hmmmm....

Maybe Shumie will come out of retirement.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by MikeNoun

Pirelli said some teams had deliberately put tires intended for the right rear of the car on the left, had run them at lower pressures than recommended by the manufacturer and used extreme cambers for performance advantage. However, it shouldered some of the blame for these practices. "Mounting the tires the wrong way round is a practice that was nonetheless underestimated by everybody: above all Pirelli, which did not forbid this," said the statement.

This is interesting. So the comment I made earlier, about how each tire is made for a specific corner of the car, seemed to be ignored by some teams as they switched the rears L to R.

Definitely a serious situation at the speeds these cars are traveling. The fact that the driver is exposed to any carbon fiber shards that may be throw when a tire explodes makes this especially dangerous. I guess all things considered though, this could have been much worse. Imagine if the front R or L tire exploded the way these left rear tires exploded. Pieces of tire may have flown into the drivers helmet, not to mention the tire ripping up the side pod, or radiator diffusers and aero flippers, throwing carbon fiber shards into the driver.

Exactly like razor blades thrown at you @ nearly 200mph. Wow!

Remember when both of Webbers' front tires came off @ same time due to carbon fiber a-arms malfunction @ full speed @ end of the straight a couple years ago? Yikes!

[MikeNoun]

Check this one out....going through Mecum!

1984 Lotus Type 95T John Player Special - Driven by Nigel Mansell

http://www.mecum.com/auctions/lot_de...gn=CA0713_S138

[Alvin]

Pretty Darn Cool!

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by MikeNoun

...And we should start a poll as to who will take over Mark Webber's seat, now that he's officially announced his retirement. I'm still wondering if Red Bull will lure Kimi away from Lotus. I believe Raikkonen has an option in his contract that ends in Sept 2013, and with Webber now officially retiring, hmmmm....

Maybe Shumie will come out of retirement.

OK. Let's begin with the suggested candidates to replace Webber.

[MikeNoun]

Looks like Vettel wants some input as to who Red Bull picks. That could be a problem!

Vettel, or any F1 champion (Alonso, Hamilton, any of them), may not want another former F1 champion in the second car. Too much competition and bruising of egos. Vettel is THE man right now, no one is even close, and his 3 championships in a row (and maybe a 4th) will put him in with the all-time greats.

Red Bull may try for Raikkonen, and that would be an awesome combo (Seb and the Ice Man?), but that plan could backfire if Vettel gets upset and decides to leave Red Bull. I'm thinking Vettel will want one of the Toro Rosso drivers.

What are your thoughts, Alvin?

[Alvin]

Personally, I'd like to see a spoiler, a real contender and competitor to Vettal's attitude with someone like Kimi, etc. Ex: "Yeah, yeah I know what to do...leave me alone"

It seems VERY odd to me not a word regarding Webbers continued poor race starts (from Red Bull). I ask - can it be that Webber is that much of a Grand Parent Driving Style @ the beginning of races, OR is it the ECM program installed by engineering to slow him, so as not to ruffle the feathers of the chosen star - Vettel - and to follow team strategy and team orders (which Vettel seems to be immune to and historically totally disregard), it's been a hard row to hoe for Webber in recent years.

If Webber was truly such a poor driver, Porche would never offer him a ride in LMP IMO...much more talent world wide to chose from. Unless, it's a marketing move by Porche, which if so, understood an F1 top team driver name associated with their team garners free press, advertising and potential big $, at least at the beginning of the deal.

Another point. Why are the Toro Roso cars, funded and engineered by the same Red Bull Org, so far down the grid? We're not talking chump change here as to the cost to run a parallel 2 car F1 team. They should consistently be within the top 10 IMO.

[MikeNoun]

The Toro Rosso cars are considered the "junior" team for Red Bull to develop new drivers. I know, hard to believe Red Bull has that much money that they can fund a 4-car F1 team (!#$!@!), but I guess those expensive energy drinks really pay the bills. Vettel was a driver for the Red Bull Toro Rosso team before he moved up to the main Red Bull car.

From a technical standpoint, the Toro Rosso Red Bull cars use Ferrari engines, so they are called Scuderia Toro Rosso. The regular Red Bull team of Vettel/Webber are Renault powered. That's not saying that Toro Rosso Red Bull are at a disadvantage using Ferrari engines (heck, Alonso and Massa are pretty darn fast), but the Toro Rosso team is for upcoming talent, so the drivers are always a little farther down on the grid.

That's why I think Webber might be replaced by a Toro Rosso driver.

There aren't too many drivers for Red Bull to choose from. An F1 driver is really a special breed. They can't recruit a driver from IndyCar or some other series. F1 drivers pretty much have to be born with this talent. They start out karting as a child, then move up through the junior F1 classes, and if they're spectacular, unbeatable, they get a shot at running in an F1 car. And the best of the best actually win an F1 race.

Webber is an excellent driver. I think he's proven himself over the years. That's an interesting theory about his slow starts, I never thought about the possibility that he has a different computer mapping to make sure he's behind Vettel on the starts, but honestly, he's never complained about it, he just admits he gets slow starts.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by MikeNoun

...That's why I think Webber might be replaced by a Toro Rosso driver...

Ok your point is well made; but the question remains - who would you choose from Toro Rosso to replace Webber:
Daniel Ricciardo or Jean-Eric Vergne?

[MikeNoun]

Originally Posted by Alvin

Ok your point is well made; but the question remains - who would you choose from Toro Rosso to replace Webber:
Daniel Ricciardo or Jean-Eric Vergne?

I think either one would be ok. They have similar records, both are really good drivers, not known for causing wrecks (unlike Grosjean last year). I think Jean-Eric Vergne has a little better record in F1, so he may get the call.

Kimi is always a possibility. That would be a heck of a team (Vettel/Raikkonen), almost guaranteeing another constructors title for Red Bull.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by MikeNoun

I think either one would be ok. They have similar records, both are really good drivers, not known for causing wrecks (unlike Grosjean last year). I think Jean-Eric Vergne has a little better record in F1, so he may get the call.

Kimi is always a possibility. That would be a heck of a team (Vettel/Raikkonen), almost guaranteeing another constructors title for Red Bull.

That's what I'm thinking...and Kimi wouldn't be any kind of pushover for Vettel...

[65WJ]

Kimi doing Marketing? Not likely. I like one of the Torro Rosso drivers to step up. that would make room for Rossi to move into the Torro Rosso seat. Just a thought.

patrick