IndyCar Qualifying: Barber Motorsports Park

So how about those Penskes?  Chevrolet continued it's domination of IndyCar today, not just putting a Chevrolet powered car on the pole, but shutting out the top seven.  I feel like a broken record saying this, but with every race where Chevrolet puts its cars out front is more proof that Honda's weak start to the season isn't just a fluke, but a sign that the Honda aero kit cannot perform at the same level as the Chevrolet aero kit.  If I'm Andretti Autosport, or any of the other Honda teams, I'm going to be praying for a lot of wet races, and that the speedway aero kit is more competitive.

Racecar Interior Walkthroughs.

Have you ever seen an in car camera shot of a Formula 1 car, IndyCar, or sportscar and wondered, what the heck do all those buttons do?  Well Oliver Gavin from the Pratt and Miller C7R team tries to answer some of those questions.

But wait you say, that's just the cockpit for the C7.R.  What about all those other really fancy steering wheels, like on the DW12 for example.  Glad you asked, because here's Alex Tagliani explaining the function of an IndyCar steering wheel.

But if you want to talk about the series that has really embraced button overload, you need to talk about Formula 1.  Each team builds their own wheels, and as the video below shows, even builds slightly different wheels for different drivers (or at least Mercedes does). 

3

 

Did you notice something interesting about all of these wheels?  Despite looking very different they all have very similar functionality.  Obviously the F1 wheels don't have controls for a weight jacker, and the C7R wheel doesn't have ERS functionality, but many of the features and functionality are similar. 

IndyCar Grand Prix of Louisiana: Race Analysis

James Hinchcliffe won today's Grand Prix of Louisiana in one of the stranger IndyCar races I've seen in a while.  He was able to drive to victory after an excellent strategy call on the part of his team managed to hold off Hinchcliffe's fiercest on track rival.  The pace car.

The race at New Orleans Motorsports Park started out with a ton of potential.  Rain had plagued the track all weekend, but teams only had limited time to practice, and develop set ups, in the wet.  To make matters even more complicated, teams knew that track conditions were going to change over the course of the race.  Morning showers meant the track started damp, requiring teams to start on rain tires.  However, clear skies at the start of the race meant that the track was expected to dry out as the race progressed.  Until the predicted afternoon showers came that is.  The race was looking like it was going to be a race engineer's nightmare.  In truth the race engineer's were likely bored to tears as the race was basically one giant caution period.

Due to qualifying being cancelled on a-count of thunderstorms on Saturday afternoon, drivers lined up according entrant's points, which meant they lined up according to the finishing order from St. Petersburg.  As expected, teams started out on a damp track and rain tires.  By lap 13 however, a dry racing line had started to form, and Tony Kanaan, Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe came in to switch from rain tires to slicks, which in turn caused the other teams to begin to filter into the pits to change to slicks.  Little did anyone at the time know but this round of pit stops was the last serious green flag action of the race, and would determine the winner.

On lap 15, rookie Gaby Chavez spun and stalled his car on the racing surface, brining out the race's first full course yellow.  It wouldn't be the last.  Between laps 15 and lap 47 (the final lap of the race), there were five restarts, but less then seven green flag laps, and no more then two back-to-back green flag laps between cautions.  During what was essentially one giant caution period, James Hinchcliffe cycled through to the lead while other teams made additional pit stops anticipating a final green flag stint.  A green flag stint that never came, and Hinch, who pitted once during a one hour and fourty-five minute race, cruised to victory behind the pace car.

The reason for the constant cautions was due drivers having a hard time dealing with the drying track conditions.  By lap 15, a dry racing line had developed, and slick tires provided a definite competitive advantage.  However, standing water was still present on the track's low area's and off of the racing line and resulted in aqua planning as drivers went over these damp areas on slick tires, particularly as drivers jockeyed for position on restarts.  Of the five attempts at restarts over the last 32 laps, three of them didn't make it to the first corner.  Although experienced drivers struggled in these conditions (Tony Kanaan spun on lap 14, but didn't bring out a caution, while the last caution of the race was caused by a crash between Ryan Hunter-Reay and Simon Pagenaud who collected Sebastian Bourdais in their wake), the rookie drivers seemed to struggle with the conditions more then the veterans did.  Rookies drivers were responsible for five of the six cautions.  While young, hot-shoe, drivers get a lot of attention in the racing press, the race at NOLA highlights the difference in ability between more and less experienced drivers.

As for James Hinchcliffe, it is easy to write off his win as a stroke of amazing luck, and there was no small amount of luck that went into Hinch's win, but it was also an incredibly gutsy strategy call on his team's part.  Hinchcliffe drove 34 laps on one tank of fuel.  Hinchcliffe cut his fuel window so close that he ran out of fuel on his way into the pits after the final lap.  If there had been only one or two more green flag laps, Hinchcliffe would have been forced to pit for fuel.  His team assessed the race conditions, took a gamble on fuel, and were rewarded with a win.

The lack of green flag racing means that we gain no new insight regarding the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the Chevrolet versus Honda aero kits.  We'll need to wait until Long Beach to see if the Honda teams can pick up their game compared to their performance in St. Petersburg.  If nothing else, the race at NOLA has earned itself a place in the history books as the race that refused to go green.

Chinese Grand Prix: Post Race Analysis

By most standards, the Chinese Grand Prix was an average Formula 1 race.  Most of the good wheel to wheel racing was either in the middle to back end of the field.  The top positions were dominated by Mercedes and Ferrari running 1-2-3-4.  Still, China was an important race in the 2015 Formula 1 calendar in the sense that after the shenanigans that happened in Australia and Ferrari's upset victory in Malaysia meant that it was really hard to gauge the field's balance of power.  After the race in China however, we can start to draw some conclussions about the performance of the teams.  With that in mind, here is The Racing Nerd analysis of some of key story lines from the race.

Red Bull is on Fire (Literally)

It never fails to amaze me how fickle the whims of fate can be in Formula 1.  This time two years ago, Red Bull was working on their fourth year dominating the sport.  Now in 2015, Red Bull is stuggling to out perform their development team, Toro Rosso.

The middling performance that Red Bull has been struggling with all year continued in Beijing.  A lot of the blame for Red Bull's problems can be placed squarely at the feet of engine supplier Renault.  Daniel Riccardo needed to change an engine over night between qualifying and the race, and Daniil Kvyat 's engine burst into flames on lap 16, while Max Verstappen's Toro Rosso had the engine explode on him on lap 54, which brought out a late race safety car period and resulted in the race finishing under caution.

Without a doubt, the fact that the Renault engines are down on power to the Mercedes and Ferrari's is going to cause Red Bull and Toro Rosso to struggle for most of the year, but the reliability issues could be even more disastrous.  Remember that each car is only allowed to use four engines over the course of the year, with grid penalties for every engine the teams use above and beyond their allotment.  If Renault can't stop their engines from self destructing, then Red Bull and Toro Rosso are going to get a lot of practice starting from the back of the grid come the second half of the year.

Speaking of starting from the back of the grid, Daniel Ricardo had some additional problems of his own making this weekend when he dropped from 7th to 17th at the start of the race after he almost stalled the engine on the grid.  Ricardo eventually was able to work is way back up to 10th by the end of the race.  Ricardo is quickly becoming on of my favorite drivers in Formula 1, and I'm convinced no one on currently on the grid is better at overtaking (long a dying art in Formula 1), then Ricardo.   He's got the making of future champion, but he needs a car better then what he currently has.

McLaren Honda Increases Speed from Painfully Slow to Mediocre

McLaren is obviously in no danger of winning the constructor's championship this year.  Come to think about it, McLaren is in no danger of winning anything this year.  That being said, Button finished 13th in China (after punting Pastor Maldonado's car out of the way, an incident that earned him a demotion to 14th after the race), and Alonso finished 12th.  Given that McLaren was only able to get one car to the grid in Australia, and both Button and Alonso failed to finish in Malaysia, that's a pretty good increase in finishing position in only three races.  McLaren is showing incremental improvement every race, and is knocking on the door for point paying finishes.  It will be interesting to see just how much McLaren is going to be able to improve the performance of their car by the end of the season.

Manor Finishes (Seriously, that's a Big Deal)

Manor's two car's finished 15th and 16th, otherwise known as the last two cars still on the track when the checkered flag flew, which is actually a significant achievement for the embattled team.  Not only did manor finish, but this weekend Manor's qualifying time was within the 107% rule.  Given that Manor is effectively racing a year old chassis and wasn't even able to fire up the engine until Malaysia, the fact that Manor was able to get this much performance out of the car is nothing short of amazing.  I think we can look forward to seeing Manor on the grid for the rest of the season, albeit at the back of the grid.

While Manor may be the little F1 team that could, they still have a hard road ahead of them.  Financially, Manor is being kept alive by bankruptcy law and their 2014 championship prize winnings.  You'll also notice that Manor's car has a somewhat 1960's style livery, and by 1960's livery I mean completely devoid of sponsorship.  Manor still has serious financial problems, and I have doubts as to whether or not they will be on the grid in 2016.

Ferrari Challenges, but Mercedes Still Dominates

I really want to see a true championship fight between Ferrari and Mercedes this year, but the race in China convinced me that simply isn't going to happen.  Mercedes qualified one-two, and stayed there the entire race.  The racing press was looking very closely at Mercedes' and Ferrari's long stint lap times from free practice this weekend, and the question was whether Ferrari could manage their tires better then Mercedes and mount a late race challenge with better tires.  The answer was no, no they could not.  Both Mercedes and Ferrari opted for a two stop strategy, using the option (soft compound) tires for the first two stints, and the prime (medium compound) tires for the last stint.  For both pit stops, Sebastian Vettle was the first to bring his car into the pits.  At that point, Hamilton would come in one to three laps later, after laying down a handful of blistering laps which made sure Hamilton would come out of the pits in front of Vettle. 

Simply put, Mercedes' pace was a weapon that Ferrari didn't have an answer for.  Mercedes could simply hold back, protect their tires (thereby negating Ferrari's main advantage), match Ferrari's pit strategy, and then let the extra speed of their car keep them out front and carry them to victory.  That doesn't mean that the Ferrari's where slow.  Hamilton and Rosberg weren't able to run away and hide, but Ferrari didn't have the speed to chase down the Mercedes drivers.  I think that Mercedes learned in Malaysia that as long as they don't make any extra pit stops compared to Ferrari, and don't make mistakes, they should be in the dominate position to win the race.

Of course this basic strategy requires that Mercedes not burn the tires off the car.  In theory this is where Ferrari may be able to gain some ground on Mercedes since the SF15-T has a reputation for being gentle on tires.  Unfortunately for Ferrari, Louis Hamilton is probably one of the best, if not the best current driver when it comes to managing the car, conserving the tires when he needs to, and then putting down quick laps when required.

Does this mean that Mercedes is going to walk away with every race from now until the end of the season?  Of course not.  Ferrari still likely has an advantage at tracks with high tire wear, as seen in Malaysia.  Mercedes can only do so much to preserve their tires without sacrificing too much speed to Ferrari.  Plus, Vettle is still currently second in the drivers championship and a great driver in his own right.  If Ferrari wants to be a serious championship contender however, they are going to need to find more speed in the car.

The State of Formula 1: The Races

A great deal of ink has been spilled as of late regarding the health of Formula 1.  As a hobbyist racing analyst, it's a topic I've been thinking about a lot myself.  There are two fundamental questions here, how healthy of a position is Formula 1 in at the moment, and where do we go from here?

The answer to question number one is, could be better.  From a business standpoint, Formula 1 is still making money, which is a good thing, at least if you're name is Bernie Ecclestone.  If you're name isn't Bernie Ecclestone, things are a bit tougher for you.  The problem is that attendance at the races is falling, as is television viewership.  To make matters more difficult, it seems like the Formula 1 rights holders are in a conflict with the race promoters.  In a recent Autosport's article (which is unfortunately behind their paywall, so I can't link to it), the promoter for the Australian Grand Prix was saying that the V8 Supercar race they held during the F1 weekend could not be a championship race because of the contract the race promoter had with Formula One Management.  Specifically, the V8 Supercar race could have been a championship event, but the Melbourne race promoters would have owed Bernie Ecclestone another one million dollars.  Frankly, that's just greed on Bernie's part.

Other F1 race promoters are having similar problems.  A little while ago I wrote about the removal of the German Grand Prix from the 2015 race calendar.  Once again, the race promoters at both the Nurberbring and Hockenheim could not make hosting a Formula 1 race financially viable.  Obviously hosting a successful Grand Prix weekend falls largely on the shoulders of the promoter.  Silverstone and Circuit of the Americas seem to be able to host successful events, so it is over simplifying the situation to completely blame Bernie for the race promoters problems.  That being said, the anecdotal evidence of the Australian Grand Prix reported in Autosport suggests that the relationship between the race promoters and Formula One Management is strained at best because Formula One Management is trying to squeeze every penny out of the races that they can.  There was another open wheel racing series where management tried to disproportionately distribute money to the management group.  It was called CART.  We all know how that story ends.

Perhaps the most infuriating part is that Formula One Management is stubbornly moving Formula 1 in a direction that makes the race promoters job even harder.  In an interview with Campaign Asia-Pacific (Autosport's sister publication) Bernie talked about how he is not interested in marketing to a younger generation of Formula 1 fans.  To summarize Bernie's thoughts, why would he want to market to a 15 year old, who is too poor to buy a Rolex, when he could market to a 70 year old guy with lots of money.  Let me answer that question for you Bernie.  That 70 year old guy is at the end of his life.  He may have lots of money, but he's not going to be alive for that much longer, and one day, that 15 year old kid will one day have a career and some disposable income, but if you don't make that kid a Formula 1 fan now, he won't be watching F1 when he's older.  Bernie's belief that he doesn't need to expand the fan base is part of the reason that TV viewership is dropping as well as why track attendance.  So, not only does Bernie insist of squeezing as much money as possible from the race promoters, he feels that having a smaller F1 fan base somehow helps those promoters scratch out a profit.

Like I said in my article on the cancellation of the German Grand Prix, Formula One Management has let the idea of F1 being the world's premier racing series go to their head.  As a result, they think that people will pay for Formula 1 at any price.  The truth though is that there is a maximum price that the market will bear.  Formula One Management needs to make sure that there is room for promoters to make a profit without making ticket prices too expensive for the average fan, as well as making sure that there actually are fans to sell tickets to.  If the promoters can't make money, there are no races.  No races, no Formula 1.

I'm convinced that the biggest problem facing the overall health of Formula 1 right now is the plight of the race promoters, but the teams are facing their own financial problems that can't be ignored.  Tomorrow we'll look at the problems facing the manufacturers.

Weekend Racing Predictions

This is one of those great racing weekends where no matter what your preferred form of competitive driving in circles is, there is something for you to watch (provided you have the right extended cable package).  MotoGP is racing at Circuit of the Americas, Formula 1 is in China, NASCAR is at Texas Motor Speedway, and the WEC makes it's season debut at Silverstone.  There's a lot of different story lines that are going to be going on this weekend, but here are three that I am going to be looking at.

WEC: Whose Got the Speed?

Nissan has without a doubt stolen the headlines in this year's WEC preseason.  First, everyone marveled at the car's incredible specifications and convention defying design, and then everyone watched the train wreck as Nissan encountered one problem after another.  Unfortunately Nissan won't be racing their monstrosity...I mean innovative...LMP1 car at Silverstone this weekend.  Audi, Porsche and Toyota however have quietly been toiling away over the winter to make their cars faster.  Silverstone is going to be our first chance to really see where the manufacturers stack up against each other.  A couple weeks ago I predicted that, on paper, Porsche looks like they have the fastest car.  While Porsche did show good speed in Friday practice, Audi (who I thought would have this years slowest car not named Nissan), topped the lap charts.  It's going to be really interesting seeing who has the fastest car over the course of a six hour race, and by association, the early favorite for Le Mans.

And for the first time in the United States, will get to see this battle live on TV.  Provided you have Fox Sports 1.

IndyCar: Those Aero Kits Really Do Fly (Off the Cars that Is)

The story at the IndyCar debut in St. Petersburg was all about the new aero kits.  Specifically how Chevrolet seemed to put together a much stronger package then Honda, as well as the fact that all those winglets, flicks, flaps and fuzzy dice want to fly off the car if you so much as look at them harsh.  While it sounds like I'm making light of the fragile nature of this year's cars, the debris really is a serious issue since a fan was injured at St. Petersburg when she was hit by a flying piece of a car.  IndyCar has already demanded an increase in strength from the aero kits, and the drivers will begin to adapt to cars that don't allow for any contact, so I expect the flying winglets to become less of a story as time goes on.  The thing to look for is whether or not  Chevrolet can continue their on track dominance.  We still haven't seen the speedway aero kits (we'll need to wait for Indianapolis for that), but the road course/street course/short oval track is the kit we'll be seeing the most of this year.  If the Chevrolet aero kit continues to show superior performance at New Orleans Motorsports Park, it may turn into a very long year for the Honda teams.

Speaking of New Orleans Motorsports Parks, this will be the first time the IndyCars will race at NOLA, so if your looking for something completely new this weekend, IndyCar is the race for you.

Formula 1: Was Ferrari's Malaysia Win a Formula One Trick Pony?

Since the first preseason test session, everyone and their mother has been looking at Ferrari's lap times and say "yeah their fast...but..."  Preseason testing lap times and early race results suggest that Ferrari is best positioned to challenge Mercedes, as Williams looks on saying "wasn't that supposed to be us?" and McLaren and Red Bull wonder why their cars won't work this week.

After Ferrari won in Malaysia, a lot of people in the racing press were saying that while Ferrari should be congratulated for winning, they wouldn't be able to back it up in China.  To that I say, so what?  I don't want to see Ferrari replace Mercedes as the dominate team, I want to see Ferrari race Mercedes.  Still, Ferrari is in a bit of a tough situation this weekend.  On the merits, they have the slower car, but after Malaysia they have a ton of pressure on them to out perform Mercedes.  If they don't have a strong showing this weekend, their Malaysia win will be written off as Mercedes losing, not Ferrari winning, which really isn't fair to Ferrari.  Like I wrote earlier though, I would really like to see a good Mercedes Ferrari battle this year, so even if Ferrari doesn't win, I'd like to see them put on a strong show.

Classic Long Beach

IndyCar is in New Orleans this weekend, but I have Long Beach on the brain.  Many of you are probably aware that the Grand Prix of Long Beach was actually a Formula 1 race before it became an IndyCar race.  With that in mind, here is the full 1982 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Long Beach, commented by Murray Walker and James Hunt, who is always entertaining to listen to.

As a bonus, here's James Hunt giving some advice to all aspiring Formula 1 drivers on how to get the most speed out of the car.