Sunday, June 30, 2013

Bits here and there from Silverstone

Round eight of the 2013 Formula One World Championship is complete, and as the teams head to Germany for the next race a week’s hence, a few points come racing top of mind.

Pirelli has a problem, and it’s huge
It’s too early in the investigation as to what properly caused the severe tire woes experienced by teams over the course of the weekend, with at least three left rear tires and one front tire delaminating catastrophically during the race, and numerous other close calls reported from pit lane. It’s hard pressed to imagine kerbing at Silverstone to be responsible, leaving the tires to bear the brunt of responsibility. Pirelli has less than a full week to come to a solution and provide tires for the entire field, a time limit that rules out compounds and constructions that are not already under way. Additionally teams are going to have to make adjustments to how they set up the car, namely with greater air pressure to alleviate the tires “rolling” over the sidewall during heavy lateral loading around high speed corners. It’s a publicity nightmare for Pirelli, whose tire engineers are undoubtedly hoping – praying - for steady rain and the use of rain tires in Germany.


Mercedes is solving its own tire woes
The Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton have had the pace all season long, winning poles and locking up front rows of starting grids at a wide variety of tracks. The Achilles heel, of course, had been extravagantly harsh tire degradation, particularly on the rears, bringing its race pace to a crawl relative to other front running – and in some cases the mid-field – teams. Rosberg’s second win of the season on Sunday may have been a bit of a gift with Sebastian Vettel’s retirement, but it did serve further proof that Mercedes in making steady progress in curing its chassis’ appetite for chewing and spitting tires. Think Mercedes benefited from over 600 miles of illicit tire tests in the days following the race in Barcelona? You bet they did, and don’t think the rest of the paddock don't notice either, as they also noticed the light slap on the wrist of punishment. Mercedes rolls onto the German Grand Prix with tremendous momentum, and Rosberg and Hamilton will enter the weekend as solid favorites.


Reliability, or the lack of, once again rears its head
Watching Vettel’s Red Bull slow down dramatically and retire was very much a shock, not only to Vettel and his team, but to viewers worldwide. The reliability of the modern day Formula 1 car is staggering, with retirements due to mechanical failure being extremely rare, despite regulations limiting the number of engines used during the season and penalizing excessive gearbox changes. Much of F1’s era of reliability can be attributed to a relatively stable package of Technical Regulations, particularly those governing engines. All that changesin 2014, as cars will have to be completely redesigned to accommodate a dramatically different engine configuration. Everything in the engine will be different, with just six cylinders, the introduction of a turbo charger, a new ignition system to accommodate the turbo, and an increase in the amount of energy created, stored, and spent by the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) system. For the rest of this year, non-contact related retirements should remain pretty rare; however, expect it to swing next season to the opposite direction, particularly early in the year. That is if the Pirelli tires don’t get them first.


Mark Webber is on a mission
Don’t let Webber’s comments on the podium of not knowing where the next race’s location is fool you. Webber knows exactly where the race is, and while as a competitor he no doubt wants to win at every track, he especially wants to foil teammate Vettel’s attempt to win his first home country Grand Prix. With Webber announcing this week his move to Porsche and sports car racing next season, he’s racing for himself and for race wins. After falling to 15th on Sunday’s first lap, he stormed back magnificently to finish second, and if the race had been a lap or two longer, he might just have won.  Always a fast, fair driver and a fierce competitor, Webber will be fun to watch over the rest of this, his final F1 season.


The best part of the Formula 1 season is upon us, with a quick succession of one race after another. Here’s hoping the tires become much less of the story next Sunday at the Nürbergring. 


Throw down hot laps on Twitter @RayHartjen

No comments:

Post a Comment