Tag Archives: strategy

Mar201031

Rob

0

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 [...]

Mar201029

Rob

2

Lewis Hamiton’s fun weekend in Australia

Lewis Hamilton didn’t have a good weekend at the Australian GP – not as bad as last year and he should be pleased to walk away with sixth place in the end but I doubt he’ll see it that way. It seems that all is not calm in the Hamilton camp at the moment.
He started the race weekend late by arriving later than most to fuel speculation that he’s going off the rails without his father and then followed that up by getting pulled over by the Australian police for basically being a bit of a twat. He’s a world champion, he has ample opportunity to drive fast cars and pull stunts like that – why he thought that doing in front of a police van was a good idea we’ll never know. The story itself has been blown out of all proportion really though – it’s not like [...]

Feb201006

Rob

0

2010 To ban refueling – no more splash and dash

The 2010 regulations have changed so that refueling during the race is banned. This means that the teams don’t have to deal with the dodgy fuel rigs and that the pit lane will be a safer place. Does it improve the racing though?
I’m on the same side as Martin Brundle and Bernie Eccelstone here, I think this rule is bad for the sport. The tactics that came out of refueling made some grand prix and didn’t ruin the others. It made more overtaking opportunities where light cars caught heavier ones and cars that were out of place had to overtake.
I guess that there will still be pit stops for tyres and that the teams will have to stop to change them but it’s not the same, all pit stops will now be the same length – no more short fills for position. It seems that putting the fuel in or [...]

Jan201029

Rob

1

Tyres and Qualifying

It seems that there is going to be another new rule for 2010, that the top ten drivers will have to start the race on the same tyres that they qualified in. At first it seems that it will make the race strategy even more different from last year, but will it?
The drivers will more likely use the softer compound for qualifying and therefore want to stop sooner in the race to get rid of them, so we’ll just have the short first stints that we’ve seen in the past. It will be a boon for any car/driver that can keep the harder compound on throughout qualifying though so perhaps we’ll see more upsets.
This rule sounds like an odd addition but I guess it’s all about trying to spice up the action and I can see how this would put drivers out of position if they go for race day [...]