Latest F1 news in brief – Tuesday (Update)
02/18/14
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Video-Gamer turned driver Jann Mardenborough Red Bull signs video-gamer for GP3 season
- 'Lack of time' caused Red Bull crisis – Newey
- Williams to reveal Martini livery in Bahrain
- Horner doesn't want Bernie's job
- Kingfisher Airlines CEO Aggarwal quits
- Simona is good, but not F1 caliber New
- Hamilton to open for Mercedes New
- FIA confirms five second penalty and other F1 rule updates New
- Pirelli preparing for tire blanket ban New
Red Bull signs video-gamer for GP3 season
(GMM) The latest driver in Red Bull's single seater talent program was plucked out of the world of video gaming.
22-year-old Briton Jann Mardenborough honed his skills on the Playstation game Gran Turismo, winning the Nissan-sponsored virtual competition GT Academy and then moving into real-life GT, Le Mans and F3 single seaters.
"The traditional route to F1 of karting and single-seaters is a tried and tested success, but Nissan and Playstation have gone down a very different road and started to find some very talented drivers who have been doing all their practicing on a games console," said Red Bull driver development chief Andy Damerum.
Mardenborough has been signed up by the energy drink company, and in 2014 he moves into the third-tier F1 feeder series GP3 with Christian Horner's Arden team.
It is the very seat that last year was occupied by Russian Daniil Kvyat, who has leapt straight into formula one for 2014 with the energy drink company's second team Toro Rosso.
"This season is my opportunity to impress more people in the sport who make the decisions on who makes it into F1 and who doesn't, and I'm going to give it my best shot," Mardenborough said.
'Lack of time' caused Red Bull crisis – Newey
(GMM) Adrian Newey has admitted his rush to design Red Bull's title-defending car for 2014 was a cause of the early-season technical crisis.
Much of the blame for the team's situation, where the RB10 struggled merely to run at the recent Jerez test, has fallen on troubled engine supplier Renault.
But Newey says Red Bull must also take the blame.
"What stopped us at Jerez – on our side as opposed to Renault – was a problem where the bodywork local to the exhaust was catching fire," he is quoted by the Daily Star.
"It was really a lack of time. It was something we could have proved out on the dyno if we had managed to get everything together earlier.
"But Renault have been up against it in terms of their use of the dyno; we have been up against it making the parts in time," Newey added.
"So had we been a couple of weeks further ahead than that could all have been done in private on the dyno. But unfortunately it was done in public.
"Hands up on our side, that was a Red Bull problem," the Briton said.
With both Red Bull and Renault taking fixes to this week's Bahrain test, world champion Sebastian Vettel will be first at the wheel on Wednesday and Thursday.
And the last two days of the initial Bahrain test will be conducted by the German's new teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull confirmed.
Williams to reveal Martini livery in Bahrain
(GMM) Williams will launch its new Martini livery in Bahrain.
Earlier, with the iconic Italian drinks brand set to return to formula one in 2014, it was believed the once-great British team would only officially unveil its new title sponsor and much-anticipated Martini livery ahead of the season opener in Australia.
But, actually, Williams – having tested its new Mercedes-powered FW36 in all-blue colors so far – said only that it would launch its race livery in time "for" Australia, not necessarily "in" Australia.
Indeed, Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reports that the official wraps will come off the new partnership "during the second week of testing in Bahrain", set to take place in the island Kingdom late next week.
The end of pre-season running in Bahrain will then start a mere two-week countdown before the red lights go out on the Melbourne grid.
Correspondent Tobias Gruner said the 'Williams Martini Racing' 2014 livery will include the iconic white, blue and red Martini stripe, made famous by the brand's involvement over decades in F1, Le Mans and rally.
An idea of what the 2014 Williams might look like can be seen here.
Horner doesn't want Bernie's job
Christian Horner has reiterated his stand that he won't be the one to replace Bernie Ecclestone.
With Ecclestone’s position as head of Formula One suffered a blow when he was indicted by a German court on charges of bribery.
The 83-year-old subsequently stepped down from his role on the board but has remained in charge of the day-to-day running of Formula One.
However, should Ecclestone be found guilty, he faced a prison sentence meaning someone else is going to have to run F1.
That someone, though, won't be Red Bull team boss Horner.
"I would never consider taking on Bernie's role," the Brit said in an exclusive interview with SportBusiness International.
"My function and commitment is to Red Bull, and I certainly hope that Bernie will continue for another 20 years. It is in all our interests if he does.
"Bernie is still very much alive and in control of Formula One."
Kingfisher Airlines CEO Aggarwal quits
Kingfisher Airlines Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Aggarwal has quit after three and a half years at the Vijay Mallya-led air carrier. His exit comes even as the airline has failed to provide any update on the unnamed investor reportedly interested in the airline. The airline had earlier said a deal was likely by January.
Meanwhile, Sashikar Enterprises, a UB Group affiliate company, has started buying shares of the airline; as of December 30, it had about two per cent in the grounded air carrier. Headquartered in Bangalore, Sashikar is the cloth making arm of the group under the UB Global umbrella.
Sources said Aggarwal had resigned before September last year but stayed on at Chairman Mallya’s request. They said Aggarwal, a much sought-after name in the aviation sector, has decided to move to the US after leaving the airline.
Aggarwal was brought by Mallya in September 2010 from low-cost carrier SpiceJet, now run by media baron Kalanidhi Maran, after he turned the rival airline around in less than two years. Before that, Aggarwal was at US Airways for six years.
During his tenure, Aggarwal was paid as much Rs 4 crore. He was also the face of the airline’s management, acting as a link with the striking staff of the airline who have not been paid for 17 months. As chief, he was a liaison with creditors for payments regarding which they have taken the airline to court. The airline’s financial health has deteriorated since Aggarwal joined. The low-cost carrier, with a debt of Rs 7,400 crore, was shut after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation cancelled its license to fly in October 2012. Since then it has not recorded any revenue.
Lenders have sold pledged shares of the airline to recover part of their dues. State Bank of India (SBI) dropped its stake to 2.92 per cent (as of December 30) in the company from 3.31 per cent (as of September 30). This came shortly after SBICap Trustee, on behalf of an SBI-led consortium of 13 banks, invoked a pledge of 14.29 per cent shares in the company. Subsequently, UB Group’s holding company U B Holdings’ stake in the airline has fallen to 7.36 per cent.
Simona is good, but not F1 caliber
Simona de Silvestro is arguably the best female road racer to drive in a top flight open wheel series. She’s approachable and thoughtful in interviews and she’s always let her results on track speak for themselves rather than using her gender as a selling point.
Since 2005, De Silvestro has delivered six wins, four poles, 16 podiums, and four fastest laps in 231 starts in nine seasons of open wheel competition beginning in Formula Renault Italy. It’s difficult to find any female racer with better credentials competing in a top open wheel series.
While laudable, her modest success and positive personality traits don’t make the Swiss driver a bona fide Formula One prospect.
Nevertheless, the Sauber F1 team announced last week that the 25-year-old as an “affiliated driver," which will see her sit out the 2014 season as she embarks on an F1-focused program that includes on-track testing and simulator training, as well as mental and physical preparation.
Now before everyone shouts sexism, there’s no doubt that De Silvestro has put up respectable numbers in her professional racing career. There have been a couple of impressive performances in her four years in IndyCar, such as her second place on the streets of Houston last season and an inspiring drive to fourth in the 2001 season opener in St. Petersburg, Fla. The top-3 result in Texas was her only podium in 50 IndyCar starts.
De Silvestro’s so-so results and a couple of great drives don’t make her a credible F1 prospect, especially when she is already 25 years old: her numbers simply don’t stack up.
While many argue that her equipment has never been the best, top drivers still find a way to get to the podium when their cars aren’t up to the job. In the past two IndyCar seasons racers Takuma Sato (A.J. Foyt Enterprises) and Mike Conway (Dale Coyne Racing) accomplished the feat last year and Justin Wilson (Dale Coyne Racing) did it in 2011.
Interestingly the most telling part of the whole De Silvestro-Sauber story is the fact that her business manager will be spending 2014 trying to raise the budget need to secure his client a race seat next year. So, essentially her representatives will be using the carrot of F1 to attract enough money to buy her a spot on the grid.
Put bluntly, that makes her no different than the Max Chiltons and Charles Pics of the world who have no business being in an F1 car but get a drive because of their bank accounts. De Silvestro will need to fight for credibility in F1 because of her gender, and that battle won’t be any easier if she needs a big fat check to land a ride.
De Silvestro choosing to walk away from a solid career in IndyCar to chase an F1 pipe dream will likely only add fuel to the doubter fire when it comes to female racers and possibly create more roadblocks for young women who want to pursue a career on track.
By the Numbers
Should De Silvestro actually make a start in F1, she will become the only the third female driver to sit on a grand prix grid. The trailblazer was Italian Maria Teresa de Filippis, who started three races in 1958 for Maserati with a best finish of 10th in her debut at the famed Spa-Francorchamps Circuit in Belgium. Although she was the last car running and two laps down in the 1958 Belgian Grand Prix, de Filippis still ended her maiden F1 start classified ahead of racing legends Jack Brabham, Graham Hill and Stirling Moss.
Another Italian, Lella Lombardi, remains the only woman to finish an F1 race in a points scoring position after she took sixth in the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix driving for the March team. Lombardi only took home half a point after the race was red flagged following a crash that saw a car careen into the crowd and kill five spectators. Lombardi raced in 12 grands prix between 1975 and 1976, the most F1 starts by a female driver.
Three other women entered grands prix but could not qualify for a race: British driver Divina Galica (three times between 1976 and 1978), Desiré Wilson of South Africa (once in 1980), and Italian Giovanna Amati (three tries in 1992).
Technically Speaking
As a comparison to De Silvestro’s career results, let’s look at the numbers produced by Canadian Robert Wickens, who turns 25 next month and possesses F1-calibre talent. Wickens easily came out on top when he went head-to-head with De Silvestro in 2006, taking the Formula BMW USA Series title that year while she finished fourth overall. It was the same story the next season in Champ Car Atlantic where Wickens was third overall and De Silvestro ended the campaign 19th.
In fact, Wickens equaled or bettered De Silvestro’s career open wheel win and pole totals in his first three years of racing cars. His numbers against some of the toughest young open wheel competition on the planet is 20 wins, 22 poles, 53 podiums and 21 fastest laps in 171 starts. Globe and Mail
Hamilton to open for Mercedes
Mercedes confirmed on Tuesday that Lewis Hamilton will again get the first opportunity to test the new F1 W05 car at season's second official test, which starts in Bahrain on Wednesday.
The 2008 Drivers' Championship winner started the first pre-season test for Mercedes at Jerez last month, but his opportunities for the Silver Arrows were cut short when he crashed into the tire barrier after he suffered a front wing failure.
Other than that incident, Hamilton and his team-mate Nico Rosberg enjoyed a strong session even though they weren't the quickest at the Andalucian track.
Mercedes were given plenty of encouragement at Jerez though, as its customer teams McLaren and Williams illustrated the potential of their V6 turbo engines when they set the fastest times on three of the four days.
In Bahrain this week, the Mercedes drivers will alternate, with Hamilton running on Wednesday and Friday, while Rosberg takes over on Thursday and Saturday.
FIA confirms five second penalty and other F1 rule updates
The FIA has now formally updated the F1 Sporting Regulations with a variety of changes that came to light over the winter.
Among the novelties for 2014 is the introduction of a five second penalty for minor offences, which can be taken before work starts at the driver’s next planned stop.
The regulations say: “The driver must enter the pit lane, stop at his pit for at least five seconds and then re-join the race. The relevant driver may however elect not to stop, provided he carries out no further pit stop before the end of the race. In such cases five seconds will be added to the elapsed race time of the driver concerned.
Later they add: “Whilst a car is stationary in the pit lane as a result of incurring a penalty [as above] it may not be worked on until the car has been stationary for at least five seconds."
The plan to stop drivers parking on the slowing down lap in order to save a fuel sample – which is unlikely to be necessary now anyway given that there is a strict limit of fuel usage for the race – has also been confirmed. However it also covers other eventualities: “Under no circumstances may a driver stop his car on the track without justifiable reason."
Crew members now have to wear helmets when working on the car in the pitlane during qualifying, as well as in the races.
One interesting novelty involves a method for following drivers to recognize total rookies during testing away from race weekends: “Cars being driven by drivers who do not possess a Super License must be fitted with a green rear light which must be illuminated at all times the car is on the track."
Finally the previously announced ‘doughnut’ rule has been confirmed, as winning drivers do not have to comply with the requirement to head straight to parc ferme. They may now “perform an act of celebration before reaching parc fermé, provided any such act: a) Is performed safely and does not endanger other drivers or any officials. b) Does not call into question the legality of his car. c) Does not delay the podium ceremony."
Pirelli preparing for tire blanket ban
Pirelli will ramp up preparations for the upcoming tire blanket ban at this week's Bahrain pre-season test.
From the 2015 Formula 1 campaign, the use of tire heating devices will be prohibited, meaning drivers will be presented with a fresh challenge when leaving the pit lane during all sessions and following pit-stops.
To assess the potential implications of the ban, Italian manufacturer Pirelli has chosen to bring an extra set of prototype Medium tires to the Middle East, which the teams will trial without the use of tire blankets.
Pirelli's three standard slick compounds (Soft, Medium and Hard), plus its designated 'winter' tire – which teams have requested be used in hotter conditions to further assess degradation – will also be available.
The first Bahrain test runs from February 19-22, before a second is held between February 27 and March 2.