2015 F1 News and Prediction Tournament

[PeteC]

The starting grid for Belgium today, including any penalties:

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes
3 Valtteri Bottas Williams
4 Sergio Perez Force India
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull
6 Felipe Massa Williams
7 Pastor Maldonado Lotus
8 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari
9 Romain Grosjean Lotus
10 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso
11 Nico Hulkenberg Force India
12 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull
13 Marcus Ericsson Sauber
14 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari
15 Felipe Nasr Sauber
16 Will Stevens Marussia
17 Roberto Merhi Marussia
18 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso
19 Jenson Button McLaren
20 Fernando Alonso McLaren

[pharvey]

"McLaren duo Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button have known for a while that they would be givena lot of penalties and on Friday they were hit with a combined 55-place grid penalty for changing their power units.

Fifty-five became 105 on Saturday as each driver was handed another 25-place penalty after McLaren-Honda opted for a second engine change of the weekend."

Not bad considering there's only 20 Grid places!!

And what the hell happened to Vettel??!!

New "Start Procedures"...???

Here's to a good race...

[PeteC]

Lewis Hamilton eases to Belgian GP win ahead of Nico Rosberg

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/34034314


1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:23:40.387 25
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 2 18 (Fastest Lap)
3 Romain Grosjean Lotus 37.9 15
4 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 45.6 12
5 Sergio Perez Force India 53.9 10
6 Felipe Massa Williams 55.2 8
7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 55.7 6
8 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 56 4
9 Valtteri Bottas Williams 61 2
10 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 91.2 1
11 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1 LAP 0
12 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1 LAP 0
13 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1 LAP 0
14 Jenson Button McLaren 1 LAP 0
15 Roberto Merhi Marussia 1 LAP 0
16 Will Stevens 1 LAP 0
17 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 11 LAPS 0
18 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 24 LAPS 0
19 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 41 LAPS 0
20 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 43 LAPS 0

Lindosfan had the best race with 18.5 points, and has increased his lead to 7.5 points. The top three are now Lindosfan, RZR and a Pete/Big Boy tie. Next race is Italy on September 6, Good luck to all!

1 - lindosfan (Yellow Cap) 172.50
2 - redzonerocker 165.00
3 - Pete 164.00
4 - BigBoy 164.00
5 ▲2 mwbrown 161.50
6 - pharvey 160.00
7 ▼2 Terry 158.00
8 ▲1 Vital Spark 157.50
9 ▼1 Parahandy 152.00
10 - bsdk1960 150.00
11 - JJBones 98.00
12 - Richard 58.00
13 - buksida 20.50


Italian GP

http://www.planetf1.com/grand-prix/italy/circuit-guide

Qualifying

Saturday 5 Sep 14:00 (local)
Saturday 5 Sep 19:00 (Thai time)

Race
Sunday 6 Sep 14:00 (local)
Sunday 6 Sep 19:00 (Thai time)

[PeteC]

phpBUo6VcPM.jpg (93.53 KiB) Viewed 556 times

[PeteC]

What a load of nonsense, to put it nicely!

Drivers told to keep worries over Pirelli tyres private

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/34155703

[PeteC]

Italy qualifying:

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:23.397
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:23.631 0.234
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:23.685 0.288
4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:23.703 0.306
5 Felipe Massa Williams 1:23.940 0.543
6 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:24.127 0.730
7 Sergio Perez Force India 1:24.626 1.229
8 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:25.054 1.657
9 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:25.317 1.920
10 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:26.214 2.81
11 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:24.525
12 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:24.898
13 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:25.618
14 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:25.796
15 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull no time
16 Jenson Button McLaren 1:26.058
17 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:26.154
18 Will Stevens Manor 1:27.731
19 Roberto Merhi Manor 1:27.912
20 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso no time

[PeteC]

Hamilton takes another. Rosberg retires due to engine problems:

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/34168014

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:18.00.688 (Fastest Lap)
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +25.0
3 Felipe Massa Williams 47.6
4 Valtteri Bottas Williams 47.9
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 68.8
6 Sergio Perez Force India 72.7
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1 lap
8 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1 lap
9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1 lap
10 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1 lap
11 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1 lap
12 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1 lap
13 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1 lap
14 Jenson Button McLaren 1 lap
15 Will Stevens Manor 2 laps
16 Roberto Merhi Manor 2 laps
17 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 3 laps
18 Fernando Alonso McLaren 6 laps
Not Classified
Romain Grosjean Lotus 52 laps
Pastor Maldonado Lotus 52 laps

Vital Spark had the best race with 21 points. The top three are now Lindosfan, Pete and RZR/BB tied.

1 - lindosfan 189.50
2 ▲1 Pete 183.00
3 ▼1 redzonerocker 180.50
4 - BigBoy 180.50
5 ▲1 pharvey 179.00
6 ▲2 Vital Spark (Yellow Cap) 178.50
7 ▼2 mwbrown 177.00
8 ▼1 Terry 173.50
9 - Parahandy 171.50
10 - bsdk1960 170.50
11 - JJBones 98.00
12 - Richard 58.00
13 - buksida 20.50

Next up is Singapore on September 20. Good luck to all!

http://www.planetf1.com/grand-prix/sing ... cuit-guide

Singapore

Qualifying
Saturday 19 Sep 21:00 (local)
Saturday 19 Sep 20:00 (Thai time)

Race
Sunday 20 Sep 20:00 (local)
Sunday 20 Sep 19:00 (Thai time)

[PeteC]

phpQCgV8ePM.jpg (94.68 KiB) Viewed 484 times

[PeteC]

The only one the old bastard is concerned about is himself. We're seeing one man single-handedly ruin a sport. From tires need to fail to make the race more interesting, to no fluids allowed during pit stops and a thousand other ridiculous things not really associated with putting on a good and interesting race. Really rubbish.

Monza: Will Formula 1 ditch the cathedral of speed?

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/34168038

"But, for Ecclestone, it is not more important than money. Nothing is. He is demanding a higher fee, and he sees no reason to give Monza a discount just because it has a past....."

[pharvey]

An interesting read: -

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/34208407

[PeteC]

Singapore has a bad smoke problem from the yearly brush burning on Sumatra. The race officials are concerned but no idea at the moment if bad enough to cancel or postpone. Check your news sources as sure to be ongoing discussion this week. Pete

[Nereus]

An interesting read: -
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/34208407

Yes, it is an interesting read.

To me, it is absolutely amazing the power obtain from these new engines, even if Honda is lagging behind.

The base Mercedes engine unit, now referred to as ICE, (internal combustion engine) has an output of 700 BHP. Added to that is the KERS units which, bring them up to around 890 / 900 BHP. All of this from 1.5 litres displacement!

From an electrical point of view I was most interested in the battery and associated charging and control methods. Many years ago I was involved in the testing and development of a KEM`s system used on offshore drilling rigs. This system was designed to monitor the kinetic energy of the 1600 hp “draw works”, or lifting system, used to move the drilling equipment. The system monitored the load and speed of the equipment, and was used to apply an electric eddy current brake to keep the lowering speed within a safe range. A different application of the same basic idea, but used in a different way with these F1 engines.

The battery has been developed by; Williams Advanced Engineering, in the UK. All teams use the same manufacturers battery.
The original FIA specs for the battery called for:

200 Kg max weight
1,000 Volts max
200 KW peak load
28 KWH

The actual battery in use is Lithium, weighs 20 Kg, and provides power to weight ratio 6 KW / Kg for a total output of 120 KW, which is mandated by the FIA.
(a car starter motor is around 3.0 KW to 4.0 KW total power) a

It seems that most of the control and function of the KERS system is under the control of the electronics, apart from an “overtake” push button.

There are 2 sources of charging the battery. One other feature is that the “generator” that is part of the MGU-H (being Motor Generator Unit-Hot) section, is driven from the turbo charger and acts as a motor to keep the turbo speed high and prevent the well known “turbo lag” found with a plain gas driven turbo during off throttle, or braking times.

A couple of links for those interested:

http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2014 ... ilson.aspx

http://jalopnik.com/how-formula-ones-am ... 1506450399

[PeteC]

Singapore qualifying. Some surprises!

1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:43.885
2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:44.428 0.543
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:44.667 0.782
4 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:44.745 0.860
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:45.300 1.415
6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:45.415 1.530
7 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:45.676 1.791
8 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:45.798 1.913
9 Felipe Massa Williams 1:46.077 2.192
10 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:46.413 2.528
11 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:46.305
12 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:46.328
13 Sergio Perez Force India 1:46.385
14 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:46.894
15 Jenson Button McLaren 1:47.019
16 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:46.965
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:47.088
18 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:47.323
19 Will Stevens Manor 1:51.021
20 Alexander Rossi Manor 1:51.523

[Nereus]

Singapore qualifying. Some surprises!

A discussion at the following that makes sense:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/120900

Anybody else having a problem with the "new" official F1 website? It keeps bringing up red flags claiming the certificate is bad and not to connect to it on my computor?

[PeteC]

^ Everyone please read that article, twice! Is that what F1 or any type of auto racing is meant to be about? "peaky tires.." and "searching for the tire sweet spot..." Racing is not meant to be about that kind of nonsense IMO! Pete