2013 Formula One Season

[Doink]

Best race I have seen in a long, long time. What a drive by Hamilton and Webber. Shame, would have liked to see Kimi hang on to 2nd, poor decision by Lotus to keep him out. Another win for Rosberg. Ricciardo is really impressive, if he had a decent pit crew he'd have made the top 5 with a Torro Rosso, hope they call him up to replace Webber, being another Aussie and at Red Bulls sister team.

 

[AZUCAR!]

I marked when Vettel's gearbox went towards the end of the race. Such a shame for Lewis, that his trye went when it did, but he did really well to recover from 22nd and end up 4th with the help of a few Safety Cars. Lotus definitely made a mistake in not pitting Raikonnen during the last Safety Car period, and he wasn't shy of letting his feelings known about it after the race. The main good thing to come out of this is even though Ferrari were poor all weekend, yet again, Alonso managed to get something out of the car and managed to get 3rd and onto the podium and is only 16 points (I think) behind Vettel in the World Championship.

As for the trye situation, it's going to be interesting to see what happens. The German GP is next weekend and there's already been a planned meeting there between the teams and Pirelli to discuss the situation. Pirelli did actually want to have new tryes available for the British GP, but certain teams opposed the decision and nothing in the end came of it. Also, there was a rumor after the race that apparently Ferrari want to do another test with Pirelli after the German GP next week, with a 2011 chassis and 2013 car parts and this has apparently upset Red Bull who want to know what the testing rules are from the FIA.

 

[Troy]

As for the trye situation, it's going to be interesting to see what happens. The German GP is next weekend and there's already been a planned meeting there between the teams and Pirelli to discuss the situation. Pirelli did actually want to have new tryes available for the British GP, but certain teams opposed the decision and nothing in the end came of it. Also, there was a rumor after the race that apparently Ferrari want to do another test with Pirelli after the German GP next week, with a 2011 chassis and 2013 car parts and this has apparently upset Red Bull who want to know what the testing rules are from the FIA.

I heard a rumour that Red Bull and Ferrari were both tempted to run illegal tests with Pirelli in their current cars after Mercedes got off with such a weak penalty. It isn't the worst idea since the precedent is set about what the punishment would be. I wonder if they will actually go back to last year's tyres that lasted a lot longer.

 

[AZUCAR!]

They won't run tests with a 2013 chassis, because A) it's not in the rules and B) they could easily get a far worse penalty than Mercedes got, and they won't want to risk it. The rules state you can run tests with a 2011 car, so that's what Ferrari will end up doing if this possible test happens.

 

[Troy]

Didn't Mercedes run their test with the current car and current drivers? Would be a bit unfair if they did the same thing and got a worse punishment for it.

I just want them to sort out this tyre issue because it is frustrating seeing not just the blowouts but drivers driving at 80% to conserve the tyres early in the race. They should be going all out for the entire race.

 

[AZUCAR!]

Mercedes did run their test with a 2013 car with Lewis & Nico as the drivers.

 

[Troy]

It is quite strange how even after they ran the test that one of those affected by the tyre blowout was Hamilton.

I did notice BBC mention something about new concrete near the kerb on Turn 4 and how it was razor sharp. Maybe that also played a role in destroying some of the tyres although even if it did they shouldn't completely explode like they did. Hopefully an announcement is made early this week to let us know what the FIA plan to do in Germany.

 

[AZUCAR!]

Derrick Warwick president of the BRDC (British Racing Drivers Club) has rubbished that rumor about turn 4.

Anyways the big news is that what was initially going to be the young drivers test at Silverstone in a few weeks, is now going to be an opportunity for teams to test the tyres for Pirelli over 3 days, with the option of an extra day. Mercedes are still going to be banned from the test, but other teams have been told they can use their race drivers. The test is going to be taking place sometime after the German GP, but before the Hungarian GP 3 weeks later.

 

[Troy]

Right move in the end to make the change. Don't really need another young driver's test and it means that they don't have to find anymore time in the schedule to fit in a tyre test.

Pirelli have announced that they are strengthening the tyres before Germany. The internal belt will be made of kevlar instead of steel.

 

[Troy]

Milan, July 2, 2013 – After exhaustive analysis of the tyres used at Silverstone, Pirelli has concluded that the causes of the failures were principally down to a combination of the following factors:

1) Rear tyres that were mounted the wrong way round: in other words, the right hand tyre being placed where the left hand one should be and vice versa, on the cars that suffered failures. The tyres supplied this year have an asymmetric structure, which means that they are not designed to be interchangeable. The sidewalls are designed in such a way to deal with specific loads on the internal and external sides of the tyre. So swapping the tyres round has an effect on how they work in certain conditions. In particular, the external part is designed to cope with the very high loads that are generated while cornering at a circuit as demanding as Silverstone, with its rapid left-hand bends and some kerbs that are particularly aggressive.

2) The use of tyre pressures that were excessively low or in any case lower than those indicated by Pirelli. Under-inflating the tyres means that the tyre is subjected to more stressful working conditions.

3) The use of extreme camber angles.

4) Kerbing that was particularly aggressive on fast corners, such as that on turn four at Silverstone, which was the scene of most of the failures. Consequently it was the left-rear tyres that were affected.

Pirelli statement regarding the tyres and they put the blame on the teams. Shocked that teams were allowed to put the tyres on the wrong way around, surely for safety reasons it should have been mandatory to put the left tyre on the left hand side and same for the right. Again it should be mandatory that the tyres are inflated to the correct safe levels. A lot of deflection in the statement but they make some fair points.

Completely forgot that the German GP was this weekend, qualifying starting soon.

 

[Troy]

:smash:

Webber had a great start for once and got into second place behind Vettel after the first corner. Vettel pitted first and had a great pit stop and then the next lap Webber pitted and was a great chance to jump Vettel. Then they screwed up putting a tyre on, released him when one wasn't correctly on and the tyre flew through the pits and hit a cameraman.

Messed up situation and hopefully the cameraman is alright. That is the most important thing but I am pissed off that yet again the pit crew screws Webber when he was challenging for the lead.

 

[Troy]

Cameraman is okay, has a concussion and chest pain but is in hospital getting the treatment he needs. So lucky that the tyre didn't hit his head, need to change the rules so that anyone in the pit lane must wear helmets.

Another weird situation with Bianchi's engine blowing up, left it on the grass on the side of the road and then before the tractor could get to it it started rolling back down the hill and onto the track. Thankfully it rolled off the track before the leaders caught up to it and an advertising sign ended up stopping it. Thankfully this allows Webber to unlap himself and get back in the hunt for at least one point.

 

[Ryan]

So with Webber expected to leave RBR this year and Kimi out of contract, the rumor mill is saying that Kimi will probably move to RBR. I hope like hell he does, then we'll see who the better driver is *cough*Kimi*cough*. Seriously though, with a good car next year, I'm sure he's gonna win a title. I mean, how many times has he come in second or third with an uncompetitive car? The one year he's in a competitive car at Ferrari, he wins. For the past two years, he's been killing it at Lotus, so if he goes to Red Bull where the car is actually good, he's gonna absolutely destroy the competition. As much as I would've loved seeing him win with a team that's got a less competitive car in the ultimate display of skill, I just don't see it happening since Seb is a very good driver with a very good car.

 

[Troy]

I just don't know if Vettel would be happy with that as he clearly wants to be the number one driver and wouldn't want anyone there that can threaten that position. If Kimi moved there he could definitely match Vettel in the same car and he wouldn't want to be the number two driver. I think that Kimi will stay where he is, believing that Lotus will continue to improve next year and be a title contender.

 

[Ryan]

I just don't know if Vettel would be happy with that as he clearly wants to be the number one driver and wouldn't want anyone there that can threaten that position. If Kimi moved there he could definitely match Vettel in the same car and he wouldn't want to be the number two driver. I think that Kimi will stay where he is, believing that Lotus will continue to improve next year and be a title contender.

I'd say that's a good analysis of the situation as neither of them wants to be a number 2 driver, but I'd still love to see Kimi win at RBR. At any rate, I read an article today that said that Pirelli's tenure as the official tire supplier for F1 could be coming to a close next year due in no small part to the appalling performance of their tires this year.