Archive for 'tracks'

Ferrari back to form along with Rosberg

Thursday practice at Monaco shows that the Red Bull isn’t always the fastest way around a race track and that Ferrari did do some work after all. Monaco is an odd track and Ferrari should be concerned even if they can waltz away with the victory here as it’s unlikely to translate elsewhere. Alonso will just be happy to see his name at the top of the times and will be hoping that he can keep it there throughout the whole weekend.
Rosberg also seems to have come back to form, or mastered the new Mercedes as he has put in times that eclipse Michael Schumacher again. Perhaps Spain was a blip, Michael Schumacher will be hoping that it turns around again on Saturday and that it is he and not Rosberg that takes the highest spot on the grid for Mercedes. With it being virtually impossible to overtake in Monaco [...]

Korean track might not be ready for 2010

The debut race in Korea may yet be postponed until 2011 as work on the circuit is behind schedule, Bernie Ecclestone apparently visited the venue straight after the Malaysian GP to see what was happening. The designer Herman Tilke has also expressed worries about the completion of the track, though he’s made sure to distance his company from the problems.
If the race were postponed it would create a large break at the end of the season with just 2 races to go, the Brazilian and the Abu Dhabi GPs. This wouldn’t be the best time in the season to grab an extended break either – the last few years have seen the Championship battle go down to the wire and having to wait a month for more F1 will surely turn people away.
Be sure that Bernie was banging some heads together and trying to get the project back on track. [...]

Looking ahead to Malaysia – what’s in store at the next race?

The Malaysian Grand Prix has had a few shows in the past and has been a Ferrari stronghold at times but it’s the torrential rain that it’s famous for. Last year was the worst rain in recent history though for race day and the race had to be abandoned after just 36 laps with the win eventually going to Jenson Button though he only got half points.
The race retains it’s late afternoon start time so we’ll be hoping that the rain we had last year doesn’t make a reappearance on Sunday. The forecast doesn’t look that great though with Sunday having the least chance of rain at only 80%. If it does rain all weekend then the track is likely to be very green and the tyres will have a hard time, though if it rains in the race this won’t be an issue.
McLaren are trying to manage expectations ahead [...]

What happened to BMW Sauber Ferrari in Bahrain?

In pre-season testing the Sauber cars were quick, they weren’t the fastest but they showed a turn of pace that was going to challenge for those last points positions and maybe the big four on occasion. However they turn up at Bahrain and were nowhere – were they running light in testing, and if they were why?
Some of the problem may come from the fact that the weather was so different at the two venues that tyre wear would have been very different and the cars would have required a completely different setup. Which leads into the first option – the car is very difficult to setup. This would explain some of the lack of pace as they have much less time at a GP than in testing to optimise the settings, and know the trade offs for the race.
Another option is that the team were simply running light in [...]