Archive for 'teams'

Jun201021

Rob

0

How can all of the teams improve so much?

It seems that nearly every team in the paddock has come out over the past few weeks and said that they have massive improvements for Valencia and that they’re now going to be much faster. While all very well in itself, it doesn’t really mean much unless your improvement is faster than the other teams around you. Since the start of the season all of the teams, even the new ones, have made massive strides forward in pace. It’s just that so have all the other teams and the status quo remains about the same.
The fight at the front seems the closest out and out battle but even there the track conditions and drivers seem to make more of a difference than the car – which is arguably what should be happening. It’s not that the teams are making progress, that’s great, it’s that they should make a noise [...]

Jun201007

Rob

1

Ferrari and Alonso getting on terms

Ferrari started the season with the best possible result, they beat everyone. Neither was it that unexpected, they had spent the best part of last year developing their ‘10 car at the expense of the ‘09 car, they had Felipe Massa back, and the former world champion Fernando Alonso joining to take them back to the front. Since then however it’s gone downhill and fast. We’re seven rounds in and they are only in touch because the other teams have squabbled over the wins.
So what has happened? Some of it is simple mistakes, they got in wrong in qualifying for the Malaysian GP and then add to that Alonso practice crash in Monaco and his latest error in Turkey that ensured a 6th row start and it’s always going to be hard to rack up serious points. Massa hasn’t been himself all season though whether that is Alonso showing [...]

May201012

Rob

0

Michael Schumacher starts to build his team

Michael Schumacher put on a much better show in Barcelona than he’s managed elsewhere this season, but the important difference is that Mercedes have upgraded the car. It seems to suit Michael Schumacher much better although I wonder if Nico Rosberg will want the old spec back.
While speculation around Schumacher’s performance has been focusing on whether he’s up to it and not always the type of car that he’s driving it seems that he does need a particular setup to be at his best. Apparently the new spec has a longer wheel base and a different weight distribution. It would make the car more stable though it seems only Michael Schumacher can make it work to it’s best and I’m sure that’s the way he would have liked it. It seems that he has the ear of the engineers already – what else could we see in the pipeline?
If this [...]

May201003

Rob

0

What’s going to be different in Barcelona?

With four races down F1 is set to return to it’s european stomping ground, it’s where the teams traditionally all bring big upgrades from the final stages of development and the lessons that they have learnt over the flyaway races. Expect all of the big names to have some improvements that may shake up the pecking order – though that needs little change this year.
Mercedes have the most to gain and Red Bull the most to lose but I’d expect McLaren to come out a little faster, they seem to have the best development of all the teams based on past history and they have a stronger base this year – though perhaps that will mean they have less to work with.
I’d expect to see the biggest changes in the mid-field, Williams will be keen to see some improvements as will Renault and Force India. Sauber need some reliability and [...]

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