Archive for February 22nd, 2006
JohnMichaelEdwards.com - Linksheaven Forums
Just an update…
I’m leaving for Germany tomorrow, arriving Friday and going to Austria Saturday for a week of training at the Red Bull Training Center in Thalgau. After that, I have a couple weeks in Oschersleben, Germany before our first Eurocup test in Misano, Italy on 16 and 17 March. My website will be updated soon, we just switched to a different company to update it, but my year schedule should be up by next week sometime. Check back at JohnMichaelEdwards.com
Thanks for all your support,
John Edwards
February 22nd, 2006
ITV are reporting that the introduction of standard ECU’s into Formula One has come 1 step closer to reality. Max Mosley’s dream of removing driver aids or ‘gizmos’ from F1 cars has got the ball rolling. The FIA have now put the creation of standard F1 ECU’s out to tender - meaning any company who can convince the FIA that they can do the job and for a reasonable fee will get the job of providing every F1 team with the ‘brain’ of the car that controls everything electronic.
Now I am torn between 2 lovers here. That’s usually a good thing if there’s whipped cream and jelly involved but when it’s the future of the world’s premier motorsport series I really can’t decide.
On one hand we have to understand that the raison d’etre of F1 is as a showcase for technological advancement in the automotive industry. Get your car going as fast as you possibly can. It is not a charity where the poor get helped out. It is and always was a cut throat industry. Bernie Ecclestone himself has often been heard saying that anyone who can’t stand the heat should get out of the kitchen.
On the other hand though, technology or rather its progress has led to the driver becoming the weakest link in the car’s performance. Missing gears, getting timing wrong, too much throttle, yadda yadda. Technology was brought in to remove the mistakes, and it has - but at the expense of the show. And if you don’t have fans you don’t have advertisement revenue and you ultimately can’t sustain the series, so there IS a need to remove the driver aids and make it primarily a DRIVER racing a fast car once again - rather than a fast car taking a driver for a spin. The Machiavellian nature of motorsport, as I’m sure Weltmeister will attest to, is that you can not trust anyone to abide by the rules. Any advantage that can be got will be got, and will be covered up expertly by leaders in their respective fields. Memory metals, code that deletes upon execution, fuel tanks within fuel tanks, it has all been done. The point being that the ONLY way for the FIA to guarantee to the fans that no-one is cheating is to remove the ability for them to create their own controls.
My quandry is that I realise my position can not be totally satisifed. I want the fastest cars with the best technology but I want the driver doing all his own work. So based on the premise that this can never be achieved, I have to pick a compromise that I think best suits F1. My problem with standard ECU’s is that it is too drastic - it is making F1 dangerously close to a single-make series. OK they’ll design their own chassis’, bodywork and have their own engine, but without the ability to control the engine the way they want, how can they optimise their package ? I am sure there are answers to some of my questions because how could you create a single ECU that will optimise all system on 11 different teams in an equal way.
How and ever, the question still needs to be answered by the powers that be, and until it is, I will be against it. As it stands, I would rather the driver be helped by those technologies that can not be ‘policed’ by the FIA rather than dilute F1 to the point where it is merely A1GP on steroids.
February 22nd, 2006
Firstly we’ll go to Barcelona
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Webber Williams-Cosworth (B) 1:17.699 45
2. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:17.790 59
3. Doornbos Red Bull-Ferrari (M) 1:18.439 46
4. Monteiro MF1-Toyota (B) 1:18.717 59
5. Montoya McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:18.875 22
6. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:30.244 8
7. Rosberg Williams-Cosworth (B) 1:37.188 16
Mark Webber going just under 1/10th quicker than Raikkonen’s McLaren. As we can see here, Raikkonen (along with Midland’s Tiago Monteiro) completed the most laps and his team-mate suffered another McLaren gremlin. They’re nothing if not consistent, and this time it was the gearbox that halted Monty’s test. It rained in the afternoon so all the fastest times were set in the morning. This session also saw the first action from the new Super Aguri team. Reliability however crippled them. After only 8 laps and a hydraulic failure, the rain and a customary Sato spin meant their productive day was cut short. Ide is scheduled to test today. Monteiro did well to almost keep up with the Red Bull of Doornbos and both should be happy enough to be close-ish to the front.
On to Sakhir, Bahrain
Pos. Driver Team Tires Time Laps
1 F. Massa Ferrari Bridgestone 01:29.958 36
2 M. Schumacher Ferrari Bridgestone 01:30.375 102
Ferrari finished their Bahrain tests with Massa continuing in the F2004 and Michael in the new 248. Massa went faster than they had managed up to that point, and Michael took a second off the time the 248 set on Monday. They will be happy with that and they resume their testing @ Mugello on the 27th. Schumacher’s laps completed is encouraging for their reliability.
Finally the Imola time
Pos. Driver Team Tires Time Laps
1 N. Jani Scuderia Toro Rosso Michelin 01:36.420 38
Toro Rosso kicked off their Imola test with Swiss driver Neel Jani in charge. The track was wet for the whole day so he concentrated mostly on practicing some of the weekend’s procedures. Toro Rosso are testing here again today, and BMW will be joining them.
February 22nd, 2006
