Following the Monaco Grand Prix, Ferrari have picked up the pace catching, but not passing the Brawn GP team. This is a significant boost to the Ferrari team to know that they are within reach of winning races again. Raikkonen finished 3rd and Massa finished 4th. It was good to see the Ferrari’s in front again. I was a little disappointed in Red Bull Racing with Vettle crashing out of the race. However, Webber did an outstanding job finishing in 5th place.
Now FOTA (Formula One Team Association) have filed provisional contracts for the 2010 season. This is mostly due to the multi teir system that the FIA are wanting to implement for the next season. Almost all the current teams (with the exception of Williams Toyota) have not signed for the 2010 season. However, new teams for next year have submitted for the 2010 season. Some of which are the USGP team, Lola and most recently, Prodrive. Ferrari will always be my number one pick… Kimi Raikkonen will always be my number one pick. However, I will be cheering for the USGP team and Prodrive. Prodrive is a favorite of mine only because of their success with the Subaru World Rally Team (being that I own a Subaru Impreza myself). David Richards did well with the BAR Honda team a couple of years back now and I hope to see him succeed in F1 once again.
Team Ferrari Tifosi; Scott Santiani, Daniel Lamb and Bernie Russnogle, won the Victory Racing Camp go-karting enduro this last Saturday. Reigning champs from the last race saw a new format to the endurance event, when only seven teams showed up for the fifteen team layout. So the organizers allowed for each team to run with two cars if they wanted. So our three person team devised a rotating plan to run twenty minutes in kart A, then transfer for another twenty minutes stint in kart B, then have a twenty minute rest before starting all over again.
We elected to start off with Dan in the 19 kart and Bernie in the 9 kart. Both karts seemed to be well tuned for the event. We were given three warm-up laps in which we had the chance to warm up the tires and get an idea of how the course was going to be. Once we lined up on the grid, kart 19 had a transmitter problem and was forced to take one more lap to ensure its functionality. This put Dan in last place and Bernie in first place on the grid. Upon the start of the race, Bernie maintained the lead into the first corner and Dan made a brilliant start jumping up several places before turn one. By the end of the first lap Bernie had already set several second lead and Dan had already made up ground for second place. For the first five laps or so Dan and Bernie traded positions and each turning fast laps. However some time before the tenth lap, Dan and Bernie were coming up on lap traffic, where Bernie took the inside line and Dan took the outside line; splitting the lapped person. Due to some miscalculations on the lapped kart, Dan was forced to take a wider line and then a mechanical failure of the drive belt caused him to lose control and end up in the grass in turn one. This was a disaster for the Tifosi (Kart B) team. However, keeping the charge going to ensure the placement wasn’t lost team Ferrari kept pushing. Ten minutes had gone by but with nothing sure about the Tifosi rejoining the race. Then Tifosi started back up and in a car that had a bad clutch. This equated to lower speeds and slower throttle response but grip was better than the Team Ferrari kart.
After twenty minutes had gone by we did our first exchange. Where Bernie came in first to send out Scott Santiani and then a couple laps later, Dan came in to exchange with Bernie for his second twenty minute stint. This is where we could tell the difference in the karts and how much different they really were. Scott Santiani, a SyKart indoor league champion, was blindingly quick in the Team Ferrari kart easily passing Bernie in the clutch-crippled kart. Twenty minutes later another exchange between the drivers took place.
Per the rules, each team had to stop at least four times with one of those stops being a mandatory four minute fuel stop. Finding a good time to come in for that stop was challenging and we decided on both cars to wait for the last exchange. With this in mind we changed up the strategy and sent in Team Tifosi into the fuel first. This would allow for more time to try and overtake cars that still had to do their fuel stop. Unfortunately this was a strategy that originally was a mistake by Bernie who called in Scott Santiani first. However, this mistake may have been a blessing in disguise. Being down a lap going into the fuel exchange, we were lucky to have better track position with less congestion after the fuel stop. Once both karts did their final exchange (Bernie in the number 9 kart and Scott in the 23 kart) we continued to push each other to overtake the team in third position. Our final result paid off and we ended up first and third. Team Ferrari won with 107 laps completed for the two hour event, five laps ahead of second place.
Once again Victory Racing Camp (www.victoryracingcamp.org) did a great job putting a flawless event together with an excellent BBQ to top it off. The next event will be August 22nd and we hope to see more team out there. Until then, Scott, Dan and Bernie will continue to practice to defend their title.
As of late, I’ve found myself not siding with the decisions of the FIA and Max Mosely. I’m finding it hard to believe that when a number of teams and supporters threaten to pull from the very heritage of the sport and the governing body won’t listen… then there’s a problem. Something has happened to the integrity of the sport and I’m afraid that it’s not just the teams that will suffer but the fans as well. I’m a Formula One fan but I’m slowly starting to pull my interests away from F1, if Ferrari and other manufacturers pull from the F1 Championship. It defeats the whole purpose of manufacturers participating in motorsports. I find it sad that an old, grumpy man cries like a little baby when he doesn’t get his way (a figure of speech Mr. Mosley, don’t get your panties all up in bunch. Although from last year’s tabloids it appears that he likes to be punished…) I understand that the FIA needs to put together rules and regulations and administer penalties when they are due. However, rule changes are usually changed, added, deleted or modified when there is a calling for it “and” for when teams request it; NOT when the governing body “feels” like it. I support Ferrari in their legal action against the FIA for implementing rules that did not go through the proper processes, regardless of the FIA “thinks”. The FIA is really starting to become a JOKE and I’m losing my interest in all of the FIA sanctioned events (i.e.: World Rally Championship and the lack of manufacturers in the now deemed, the Ford and Citroen show). I hope that the FIA will get their act together and start working “with” the teams and not “against” them. There should be happy mediums and better project planning. Think of it this way guys and girls… for every rule change it ends up costing the teams millions. Thanks for that!
Over the last couple of days, Ferrari have sent out numerous quit threats to the FIA if it doesn’t come to a more agreeable solution to the spending cap and to the removal of the multi-tier rules. Then Ferrari sent out a written quit threat that the FIA have not taken seriously or seriously enough. Now, with the support of other teams such as Renault, BMW, Toyota and the Red Bull (both Scuderia Toro Rosso and Red Bull Racing) Teams, will the FIA take the treat more seriously? It’s hard to say. According to
F1technical.net, Bernie Ecclestone thinks that Ferrari won’t quit and is confident that an agreement will come to surface. However, as of right now, the FIA don’t seem to be budging on the topic nor do they act like they are going to. I feel that if the teams stick together on this one, the teams will have a chance at getting what they want, which is one set of rules and a more agreeable price reduction. The general consensus is that all the teams do want a lower team price cap but to also encourage to do it in stages over a longer period of time rather than all at once. As it sits right now, Formula One may go to the privateers because there will be no or little manufacturer involvement. That would not only be sad but bad for the sport and for marketing of the automobile industry all together.
To better prepare myself though, I think about, “what if Ferrari left Formula One?” Honestly the best and next option would to go to Le Mans racing. I would love to see Ferrari build a P1 car to race against the Audi and Peugeot race teams. I also think that the other teams such as BMW, Renault, Toyota and Red Bull would do well there too. Many of the technologies can move over and would make for some great racing once again. Not to say that there’s not good racing in Le Mans. I find endurance racing to be one of my favorites along with Formula One and World Rally Championship racing.
So the ball is in the FIA’s court. They are essentially going to be the decision for whether Ferrari and other teams will remain in Formula One.
Ferrari started the fifth round of the grand prix season on an upswing with the new evolution of their car, the F60B. The car was made considerably lighter and more stable with new aerodynamic (cough – Super Diffuser – cough) pieces. By the final practice on Saturday before the round of Qualifying, Ferrari had once again stepped into familiar territory, at the top of the time sheet table. Once again, “Good” had made it back into the Ferrari garage.
However, Qualifying would be a completely different story. Not learning from past mistakes, Kimi Raikkonen set out early to set a time and then failed to go back out as times came tumbling down. Soon the Fin would be out in the first round of Qualifying putting him in 16th place. This is “Bad” for Ferrari and an outrage from a fan’s point of view because we could all see it and wondered, “what was Ferrari thinking?” Did they not learn from their mistakes from Massa’s qualifying catastrophe in Malaysia? I’d like to think that I could be the guy in the Ferrari garage screaming at the engineers to get Kimi and Massa out on the track. However, I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t happen. Do you think with all the potential price cuts people are starting to cross train in other fields and they are losing track of their focus? I’m sure there are a thousand things going on in the garage that we, the public, are not aware of but someone has to be responsible for not sending Kimi out. I mean let’s really look at this, over the last several rounds of qualifying all the cars have been so close to one another. We are talking that most of the time they are within a second of one another between ten cars or more. So why wouldn’t you send someone out on the track when times are going down. The only reason that I can think of is that there was a mechanical problem with the car and Ferrari didn’t want to expose them. Maybe there’s something deeper that the public are not aware of. Because in the end, Kimi’s car failed on him after he had pushed the car from sixteenth starting position to ninth, when the car failed and he was out of the Spanish Grand Prix.
Kimi Raikkonen doesn't get our of Q1 at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2009
Then to top off Ferrari’s weekend was the fact that Ferrari didn’t put enough fuel in the car telling Massa to slow down when he was fighting for a podium finish. This was such an “Ugly” scene to see. Having to let Sebastian Vettel by and then later on the final lap, letting Fernando Alonso by was the knife in Ferrari’s back. Massa was a trooper though and I will admit that even though Kimi is my main man in Formula 1, Massa is finally starting to get on my good side. I like the way he ended last season’s championship finish humbly and respectfully. In my mind, he’s finally starting to become a class act.
There is light at the end of the tunnel though and it’s not a train either. I like that Ferrari have evolution-ized the car and that they’ve finally become fast again. They are not at the top of the time tables all the time like the Brawn GP and Red Bull teams but they are progressing, where McLaren Mercedes if failing. I like that Kimi and Massa are still up-beat about the team and they’re confident that they can once again be at the top. Although my Fantasy Formula 1 League is boding well for me, I have hopes that Ferrari’s, Cavallino Rampante will once again have free reign over the field. Go Ferrari Go!
Event: Oregon Trail Pro Rally pre-race event.
Where: Carr Subaru
Time: 7:00pm
Special Guests: Travis Pastrana and Ken Block from the US Subaru Team
Who’s invited: Free for EVERYONE! These guys are great ambassadors to the sport and will be a great pleasure to be around!
Travis Pastrana
It has become apparent that the automobile manufacturers that compete in the Formula One Championship will be hurt by the new price cap proposal. Ferrari and now BMW have expressed that they are not happy with the drastic price cut and would much rather see a gradual plan to reduce costs. Currently the price cap has been around three times less than what teams are currently spending.
I fear that with manufacturers like Ferrari, BMW and possibly Toyota and McLaren Mercedes will be out of the F1 Championship all together leaving the championship to be raced all by private teams. This does not do well for marketing from a automotive manufacturer point of view. It may work for advertising but gone will be the slogan, “race on Sunday and sell on Monday”. The FIA say that they can live without Ferrari but they would take a hit. Now that BMW are in the mix, I’m sure that hit will be a little harder to the sport and to the fans.
I still agree that this is a good step forward for smaller teams. However, if you are a Formula 1 giant, this just doesn’t make sense. Especially for teams that have been in F1 for several decades. Soon, I fear that we will only see customer cars out on the track and no manufacturers. I also think that the FIA need to come up with a standardized rule for the sport as a whole and not have it be multi-tiered. As it is proposed right now, there are different regulations if you are above or below the 40-million-pound budget. Go with one or the other, but not both in the same series. Otherwise, there should be different championships.
Finally! The teams are back in Europe and many of them have made improvements over the last four races especially with the new “super diffuser” allowance. I see many teams already doing some modifications to their cars… or so they claim. Ferrari state that they’ve lightened the car and have also improved aerodynamically (reported to be the “super diffuser” concept). A straight line test was done the other day and Ferrari state that they are encouraged by the improvements. Renault have also stated that they’ve made some improvements to the car but haven’t really specified their progress. I haven’t heard too much from other teams at this time but for the most part I’m sure that many of them are progressing to the “super diffuser” platform.
Ferrari F60B
I also think that Monaco will be a crap-shoot on who’s doing upgrades for their cars. Monaco is such a unique event that with perfect luck (or luckier than others) will win you the race. However, you create your own luck, right? After Monaco though I think that teams will really start to improve their cars and implementing the pieces they need to go fast.
The other big news was the price cap for 2010. According to reports from Formula1.com, teams are rewarded with more technical freedoms if they stay under the 40-million-pound price cap. Such freedoms include the removal or higher rev limiter on the engine, freedom of aerodynamics to the front and rear wing adjustability, in and out of season testing and more. I think that this will hurt the larger teams such as Ferrari, McLaren, BMW and Toyota. However with new teams like Brawn, U.S. Grand Prix Enterprise (formerly known as USF1) and potentially David Richards bringing in Prodrive, this is a huge leap forward for them to enter into F1. Speaking of USGPE and Prodrive, it’s been rumored that USGPE may be running a Cosworth engine and Prodrive would look into an Aston Martin engine. Both engines would be great new assets to Formula 1 and for the fans. Because we all know that what starts out on the race track may eventually work its way to our street cars. So let’s keep our fingers crossed!
In my Fantasy Formula 1 team, I’m really waiting for practice to finish before I make any preliminary picks. Now that the teams are back in Europe and teams are coming out with their new evolution of cars, I really and honestly don’t know who to pick. Obviously I’m hoping that Ferrari have found their feet again and can start winning races. I’m also pulling for Alonso to do well in front of his home crowd. B-Drivers are still unknown now more than ever. Button, Barrichello and Vettel are all strong picks for the event but they could start to fade away soon if the other teams have picked up or surpassed their evolutions. So I’ll wait for practice in a couple of days and hope for the best!
