Sports Journalist · 13 articles
To call Kimi Raikkonen an enigma might an understatement equal to calling the current state of F1 as “financially strained”. Yet, throughout his career, Raikkonen has been revered as a blindingly fast driver who liked to have a good time away from the track – a modern day James Hunt. Except that most felt Raikkonen […]
F1 is a high-stakes sport with hundreds of millions of dollars at risk. While developing new technologies is inherently a high risk endeavor, F1 teams typically favor risk adverse business strategies in order to get a positive return on their investment. Millions of dollars can be spent on technologies, that while promising, may be too […]
In tricky, changeable conditions, 17 year old rookie Max Verstappen managed to turn the sixth best time in Q3 for Toro Rosso. In only his second F1 race, the teenager fell in behind the senior Red Bull drivers, losing out to Daniil Kvyat by only three hundredths of a second. Red Bull have been singing […]
Running a slightly modified 2014 chassis with a 2014 Ferrari engine, many were concerned Manor might struggle to meet the requirements of the 107% rule. As it turned out this past weekend in Australia, Manor did not meet the requirements of the 107%. Of course, to meet the requirements of the 107% rule, you must […]
Haas F1 have announced today the acquisition of key personnel in the development of Haas F1’s 2016 entry. They have announced the additions of Rob Taylor as chief designer, Dave O’Neill as team manager, and Ben Agathangelou as chief aerodynamicist. All three come with a long list of F1 experience with teams such as Marussia, […]
No one questions the fiscal uncertainty of today’s F1. Sauber is embroiled in litigation with at least two of their former drivers. Force India has expressed their displeasure with Manor’s being allowed into the 2015 championship. Force India claims their concerns are safety-related. Nearly everyone agrees their only concerns are money-related. Not surprisingly, in this […]
No one likes being the party-pooper, and I don’t want to be one now. It’s great that Manor are resurrecting Marussia from the ashes of administration. But. Yep, there’s that but. Manor will be racing a slightly modified 2014 car against 2015 cars. Often, there isn’t much performance difference from year to year. The data […]
In parts 1 and 2, we examined the process necessary to take a front wing design concept to the race track. It’s a long process. A successful testing program can either expedite or delay these required development steps. Now that we have the first pre-season test behind us, let’s examine where each of the teams […]
Yesterday, we started with a cocktail napkin doodle of a new front wing and turned it into a computer model. Today, that computer model is going to become a real front wing. More Simulation and Maybe the Wind Tunnel Until now, it’s likely the front wing concept has not been inserted into a full car […]
Today, for the first time in 2015, F1 cars took to a circuit to be driven in anger around Jerez. Well, some of the cars. Some didn’t make it to Jerez (Lotus and Force India), and some didn’t make it around Jerez often (McLaren). One might think with some teams choosing to miss the test […]
The morning of October 4, 2014 was a hectic news day in the F1 paddock. With silly-season already at full tilt, Sebastian Vettel finally pulled the pin on the silly-season grenade by announcing his departure from Red Bull Racing. To add to the intrigue, he did not announce where he was going, just that he […]
Let’s assume Gene Haas’s foray into F1, Haas F1, actually makes the grid in 2016. I know, I know, I said let’s assume. As an American, I want an American F1 team to succeed, badly. Unfortunately, I remember US F1 well, very well, all too well. For the moment, however, we’re going to fast-forward to […]