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Archive for February 1st, 2006

Peace in our time?

The possibility of a manufacturers’ rival series to Formula One
in 2008 has been a topic of seemingly endless discussion. However,
according to two of the top names in the sport, it seems the breakaway threat is less likely now.

Continue Reading Add comment February 1st, 2006

Why is Alonso off to McLaren?

At the launch of the Renault R26, Fernando Alonso was speaking to reporters and was asked if Renault could have done more to prevent him moving him to a rival team. “Yes, probably yes,” Alonso somewhat surprisingly replied. He declined to elaborate other than “It’s between me and Renault. It was not more money, it’s more future.”

It is thought that Alonso was referring to the future of the Renault team. There has been a lot of media speculation that this would be the teams last year in Formula One. However, Renault president Carlos Ghosn, promised that the French manufacturer will remain in the sport providing the team remains competitive and that there is a decent (financial) return on the money invested.

This seems to contrast with statements from Alonso’s personal and Team
manager, Flavio Briatore. Briatore told Gazzetta dello Sport this week that “I believe it is just for a driver to want to change teams, to get new
stimulation.” Alonso also said “We have helped each other. But I don’t think a driver can race his whole career for the same team. I am still very young and think I needed a new challenge from 2007. So I made the choice that I think is best, and my career will start a new chapter next season.”

1 comment February 1st, 2006

Flavio Briatore on McLaren and Red Bull

Renault F1 team boss, Flavio Briatore, has come out swinging at a couple of his rival teams.

Briatore’s ire with McLaren was raised when McLaren announced the signing of his driver, 2005 world champion Fernando Alonso. Briatore is (or was?) Alonso’s manager and the signing came as apparent news to Briatore. Speaking of the signing Briatore told Gazzetta dello Sport this week that “I believe it is just for a driver to want to change teams, to get new stimulation.”

Briatore used the launch of Renault’s new R26 as an occasion to again discuss his accusation that McLaren should not have announced the signing of Alonso with the entire 2006 year yet to run

“But I don’t find it at all classy that another team announces the hiring of another driver one year in advance.” Briatore also implied that McLaren used the announcement as a tool to hide
McLaren’s failure in the 2005 championship: “There are some people who, to hide the problems of the press, throw themselves into the future,” he said.

As for Red Bull, Briatore claims that by voting for a return to mid-race tyre changes for 2006 Red Bull "betrayed" the other Michelin teams.

“However, we thought it was good to have one tyre for the race. But somebody betrayed us from within the Michelin family.

“Red Bull voted against us, it was completely mad. I’m upset and it will be very interesting to see how competitive they are this season.”

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Patrick Faure to retire

Patrick Faure has confirmed the he will retire from his role as chairman of Renault Sport sometime during the summer (probably between July and October).

Faure been with Renault in the capacity of chairman of Renault Sport since 1986. At the time, Renault was running its own team, having done so since mid 1977 and launching the turbo era. The team had failured to duplicate the successes seen in 1983 under Alain Prost. Faure made the difficult decision to fold what was seen by many as the French national team (sorry Ligier) and begining to focus on the requirements for for the new 3.5-litre normally-aspirated Formula 1.

In 1989 Renault returned to F1 with Williams and together with Benetton they won a series of world titles. Faure pulled the company out of F1 again in 1997 but returned in 2000 when Renault bought the Benetton team. The team was turned into Renault F1 in 2002 and won the title last year.

Renault has not named a successor nor confirmed that there will be a a successor to Faure.

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Mild Seven to withdraw from F1

Japan Tobacco has confirmed the long running speculation that its backing of the Renault F1 team via its Mild Seven brand will end at the completion of the 2006 FIA Formula One season.

The company says that it is pulling out in order to be in compliance with the “International Tobacco Products Marketing Standards” which in part seeks to end tobacco sponsorship of sporting events.

The withdrawl of Renault’s major sponsor is another potential distraction as the team enters 2006. Already the team have lost Fernando Alonso to McLaren in 2007 and there is rampant speculation that the team may be wound up at seasons end (although the president of Renault has stated that Renault will stay in F1 as long as the team performs and it is “decent financial return on the money invested” in F1).

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What is Mechanical Grip?

Answer by F1 Welt from the Racing Questions forum

Question:

I was wondering if you could explain with some detail where mechanical grip comes from, and if possible why some teams seem to produce better mechanical grip than others?
If this is to complex and would need a lot of explaining then perhaps just the main areas of mechanical grip.

Answer:

Alright Ribott, First off I’ll start simple. Mechanical grip is all grip not produced by aerodynamic devices ie. wings, rear deffuser, bargeboards and so on. The 3 main components of Mechanical grip are Suspension geometry, Tyres, and Steering system.

It is all relevant to creating as big a contact patch as possible. (contact patch is the part of the tyre that contacts the road) And then keeping as much of that maximum contact patch on the road at all times. This is actually very difficult because you need to do this, and not burn your tyres up.

Suspension is most important, because it needs to have the best possible configuration, so that the car transitions well both into and out of a corner. It needs to aid the tyre in both durability and most importantly keeping it planted on the ground. But it cant put too much force on the tyre for that will cause too much force and just wear the tyres and cause mechanical drag.

The suspension needs just the right settings to also keep the car from rolling on its C of G, in the corners. Many teams have experimented with zero roll suspension, but that isnt really that good either. There needs to be some roll by the chassis to absorb cornering load, if there isnt, than all that force must be absorbed by the tyres, again wearing them and causing mechanical drag.

There are many many ways of finding more mechanical grip, playing with sprung and unsprung mass is a very popular way, Weight distribution is also very critical. Thousands of things go into achieving the right parameters to achieve near perfect mechanical grip.

Tyres are maybe the most important thing, shearly for thier design and durabilty are everything. They are what altimately creats all the mechanical grip and hold the key to how long that level of grip lasts. They still need a suspension with the perfect spring and damper rate to keep them planted as consitstantly as possible over bumps, water, dust and smooth pavement.

Another major factor, is the steering system. It needs to be perfectly balanced and ratiod. Too quick and grip is lost, too slow and grip potential can not be used. Free and balanced is very important.

BTW the driver has still got to make full use of all this once it is achieved, and he is a big factor in achieving it. Mechanical grip perfection, sways with certain driving styles.

General rule is that under 110mph or so, 80 -90% of grip on an F1 car is mechanical. after that Aero begins to climb sharply. At around 140 or so and on, 90% of grip is acheved through aerodynamics.

Why some teams produce more mechanical grip, is another difficult question. Most factors are within these reasons though. 1. Many teams do not spend the budget on mechanical grip and do spend it on aero. Reason being that the vast majority of F1 circuits put much more taxing on an aero package than anything else. 2 Some teams believe that mechanical grip and aerodynamics can work together at higher speeds. They spend much time looking for that sweet spot when Aerodynamics and Mechanical grip both add big numbers to the grip levels, and work in perfect harmony. 3. Some teams still have the budget to design a special suspension system for Circuits like Monaco and Hungary. Where mechanical grip can pay big dividends. 4 some teams just want to win monaco and spend huge dollars to achieve that. 5. teams have more experience with certain thing and maybe have found something and keep developing on it and know one else has found it yet. There are many more reasons but these cover most ground.

Well it would take 3 novels and a couple of lectures, to really fully explain Mechanical grip and all its theories and purposes. I hope this explanation atleast gave you the idea you were lookin for and was Not too complex, but yet indepth enough that it was what you wanted. Thanks for your question.

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