Linksheaven 2006 F1 Preview: Honda
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Continue Reading 1 comment March 2nd, 2006
Archive for March 2nd, 2006
Linksheaven 2006 F1 Preview: Red Bull Racing
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Continue Reading Add comment March 2nd, 2006
Speed says STR livery is “sensational”
Red Bull and Toro Rosso’s official launches are not until next Thursday (09/03/06) and Toro Rosso’s livery is top secret. However, Scott Speed whetted everyone’s appetite today when he said that “It looks really sensational,” and that it “will give everyone an enormous surprise, I promise you!”
Can’t wait now. There are 2 rumours doing the rounds at the moment. 1 is that it will be an outlandish ‘evolution’ of the existing Red Bull design that has been used in testing this pre-season. The other, more exciting rumour, is that it will be nothing to do with either Red Bull or the black, white and red of Minardi and that it will fulfil Red Bull’s promise of putting the “fun” back into F1.
Kudos to STR for whipping up such excitement over a livery and even more kudos for managing to keep the design secret up to now. I’d have expected spy photos on the net from last weeks ‘behind closed doors’ testing at Paul Ricard where they allegedly ran with the new livery.
2 comments March 2nd, 2006
Why all the V10 laps in testing ?
I’m just looking at the breakdown in testing and I’m a little confused. Why would a team like McLaren, who are trying to sort out their engine reliability problems and at the same time develop a chassis and body to the best of their abilities, waste nearly 50% of their testing on a car that they will not be running with this season?
Yesterday for example, Pedro de la Rosa ran 115 laps in a V10 car. Why ? The only thing I can think of is that they were practicing pit procedures but that doesn’t add up.
There are 3 reasons why I can not understand them doing it.
Firstly is the obvious one that it takes resources away from the development of the race car i.e. the V8 that they will be using in Bahrain. While de la Rosa is in the V10, he can’t very well be in the V8, and whilst his engineers are working on that car they can’t be improving the V8 one. They are either very confident in their ‘06 spec race car already or there’s a very good reason for putting time into the V10.
Secondly, surely the car is different in so many ways to the V8 car thus rendering any ‘development data’ that comes from it practically useless. They obviously can’t do any engine development. I would have presumed that any aerodynamic work would be virtually useless because the housing for the V10 engine would be bigger than for the V8 resulting in all surrounding bodywork having slightly different dimensions and thus ruining any airflow that might come from the bodywork further forward. Surely it would need its own totally different aerodynamic package and would be useless at evaluating the V8 body parts. Or am I wrong here? If I am wrong then this might explain why they’re doing it.
Finally, I refuse to accept that they are just using the “equivalenced” V10 to gather data on how the V10 differs from the V8 and what the pros and cons are of running it. Maybe in some way towards pre-empting anything unforeseen that might happen during the season regarding rules etc. Being prepared and all that - it just seems like too big a resource-muncher to be doing it for something that might not happen. No, there has to be a good reason.
I am also not stupid enough to think that Ron Dennis would run a V10 for no reason. Not to mention practically every other F1 boss with the resources to do so has been doing the same thing. So what gives ? There must be a reason and a damn good one at that.
I’m just a little baffled at present as to what it is exactly.
10 comments March 2nd, 2006
Wednesday’s testing review
Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest time this year in Valencia with his final testing programme, finishing nearly half a second ahead of the 2nd McLaren driven by Pedro de la Rosa. The McLaren’s completed 235 laps in an attempt to sort their reliability problems. Kimi was happy with the work that was done but was still very cautious about the team’s chances in Bahrain. Pedro de la Rosa was in the hybrid V10 car. I don’t know why they bother putting such time and effort into a car they will not be using, but how and ever.
The Honda of Anthony Davidson was best of the rest nearly a second adrift of Kimi.
Red Bull and Toyota joined the action in a bid to get what has so far been 2 of the most disappointing testing programmes off the ground. Red Bull get the moral victory over Toyota by DC beating Ralf by half a tenth but neither team was within shouting distance of the front. It may only be 1 test, and they may be saying they are “going in the right direction” but they haven’t been on the pace at any test this year and time has all but run out. Wurz’s Williams was the slowest car yesterday and he lost a lot of time with technical issues.
Valencia
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:09.423 120
2. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:09.852 115
3. Davidson Honda (M) 1:10.301 143
4. Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari (M) 1:11.078 76
5. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 1:11.129 59
6. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:12.159 80
7. Wurz Williams-Cosworth (B) 1:12.257 70
Rain hindered progress in Mugello with both drivers only completing a total of 49 laps. Schumacher beat Massa by nearly 4 seconds and both men were in the new 248.
Mugello
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:23.564 17
2. F.Massa Ferrari (B) 1:27.314 32
Today’s testing programme is the last scheduled test before they all fly off to Bahrain for the grand prix in 10 days time. Ferrari will once again be in Mugello. Toyota, Honda and Red Bull will finish their Valencia programmes. It’s last chance saloon for RBR & Toyota.
Add comment March 2nd, 2006
