Archive for '2010 season'

Germany and the Ferrari farce

The German GP was a good one apart from a single corner that has overshadowed the whole weekend. Qualifying showed that the Ferraris are back on form and that it’s a six car race each time out. Hopefully that also means that the championship will stay tight at the front as Red Bull seem insistent on throwing away all the advantages that they get. McLaren also need Ferrari to take these points away from Red Bull at a point in the season when their challenge has faded a little. With the top few in title so close and all in competitive cars it should be a great run in.
The race itself was won (more on that later) in the first corner, Vettel was too concerned with Alonso that Massa drove clean past them both and with that distraction Alonso took second place too. The Ferraris also had the form of [...]

New Silverstone a hit as Mark Webber storms back to winning ways

Silverstone is always a special race and with a new layout for 2010 is was always going to be a good race. Qualifying showed that the Red Bulls were the cars to beat as they locked out the front row despite all the controversy around the front wing that was put on Vettels car. The McLarens were slower comparatively than they have been recently but the Ferrari seemed quicker with Alonso taking third spot on the grid.
The race itself was good, Webber took the lead at the start and Hamilton touched Vettels tyre (or should that be Vettel touched Hamilton’s front wing?) the result was a puncture for Vettel and the end of his chances. Webber then dominated the race, not really giving anyone else a look in. Hamilton stayed in second being the fastest of the rest while Alonso who should have been challenging Hamilton for that position added [...]

So Vettel is back to the top and Alonso was livid

The European race was nothing that spectacular really, dry, an accident – more on that later, a safety car and some racing. The end result wasn’t really that interesting given the form of the teams so far this season. What was apparent was how frustrated Alonso is getting inside that Ferrari and that a Lotus and Red Bull have very different braking points. Oh and that 5sec penalties actually exist.
The race itself wasn’t actually that great once the first few corners were done. Each of the cars was just slightly faster than the ones behind and it was spreading out, except that it for Mark Webber who had managed to find himself in ninth at one point. A few laps down the road Red Bull brought him in for his stop so that he could run in clear air and make up some time of the cars around him. That [...]

Next year heralds more tech changes

So 2011 won’t only include a new tyre supplier, it will have new technical regulations because of the F-duct. McLaren’s innovation of the F-duct seems to have caught a lot of the other teams on the back foot and has given them a huge advantage in terms of development time this year and from the results it looks like they’ve put it to good use. This new device although banned for next year is surely behind the new regulation that the drivers will be able to adjust the top flap of the rear wing.
With a similar effect to the F-duct a movable rear wing will effectively be a boost button on long straights and will enable the cars to run with more down-force at places like Canada and Silverstone. It will come down to who can design the best system but I’m not sure that I like the whole idea. [...]