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). 

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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. 

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.

Malaysian Grand Prix - Sorry Mercedes

The church bells were ringing in Maranello again today with Ferrari's victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix.  The quiet sobbing sound you're hearing in the background is Fernando Alonso continuing to regret his career choices. Sebastian Vettel's win snaps one of Ferrari's longest Formula 1 winless streaks in recent memory, and places Vettel only three points behind Lewis Hamilton.  Granted, we're only in the second race of the season, but Ferrari has made some incredible gains over the off season, going from a team struggling for podiums, to a possible early title contender. 

This could also set us up for a very exciting Formula 1 season.  The great Formula 1 seasons have been defined as duels between two drivers, Hunt versus Lauda, Senna versus Prost, Schumacher versus Hakkinen, and so on and so forth.  These are the seasons everyone remembers because the races become one-on-one duels between larger then life drivers, and everyone else on the track better get out of the way if they know what's good for them.  Or at least that's how we remember it.  We had a little bit of that kind of dueling last year between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.  Still, Hamilton and Rosberg both drive for Mercedes, so even though Mercedes let the two go racing rather then issue team orders, you know they weren't going at each other full force because the number one mission was to bring home a win for Mercedes.  A duel between Hamilton and Vettel would have no such restrictions.  It would be the Formula 1 equivalent of a knife fight in a telephone booth, and it would make for an amazing season to watch.

Australian Grand Prix, Best Reject Race in a Long Time

Because of an extended out of town work assignment, I wasn't able to watch the Australian Grand Prix.  From what I've read about the race however, it appears I didn't miss much.  Let me rephrase that, I didn't miss much on the track.  Not only was the starting grid a paltry 15 cars, but the Mercedes drivers flat out ran away and hid from the rest of the field.  Off the track, the action was a pretty hilarious comedy of errors.  Red Bull and McLaren were only able to get one car on the grid for the race, which is still leaps and bounds ahead of poor Manor, who didn't get their cars started all weekend.  Of course, the weekend's real winner for behind the scenes idiocy goes to Sauber.  The idea of a driver suing his (supposed) team for the right to drive the car is pretty much absurd in its own right.  A potential contempt of court charge for Sauber, which could have resulted in Sauber's equipment being impounded by Australian authorities, and potential jail time for team principal Monisha Kaltenborn, is simply incredible.  This reminds me of the shenanigans Andrea Moda pulled back in 1992.  (For those of you unfamiliar with greatness that was Andrea Moda, a team history can be found here.  Unfortunately it looks like the best written account of Andrea Moda was lost to history when F1 Rejects was forced to close their site).  Let's not forget either that after Mercedes blew the (metaphorical) doors off of all the other cars, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner threated to close the shop doors and go home.

I'll be honest, I feel Formula 1 could use a little bit more crazy in the paddock.  If the racing on the track isn't going to be very exciting, stupid antics back in the garage is the next best thing to keep the fans interested.  For this reason, I have long been a supporter of lowering the barriers to entry for small teams in Formula 1.  Small, poorly organized teams, make for great headlines and help drive interest in the sport as a whole.  Seriously.  I love reading about the history of Formula 1, but I find the stories of how Andrea Moda tried to kill Perry McCarthy (ie, The Black Stig on Top Gear) at Spa, far more interesting then the stories of successful teams.  In todays hyper competitive, highly professional world of Formula 1, we need a Hesketh Racing, a team that (at the surface) takes things a little bit less serious to shake things up a little bit.

While reading about the hijinks happening behind closed doors at the back of the paddock was definitely fun, it's a little bit troubling for the health of Formula 1.  Just yesterday I wrote that the German Grand Prix (one of the classic races on the F1 calendar) had been canceled for 2015.  Honda and Renault definitely appear to be struggling coming to grips with the hybrid-turbo-V6 power units Formula 1 has adopted.  Furthermore, at least two teams (Force India and Manor) struggled to simply get their cars ready in time for the 2015 season.  If Australia is any indication, 2015 is going to be an uphill struggle for a number of teams, and I'm fairly convinced that at least one of the teams that was in the garage area at Australia, won't be on the grid in 2016, possibly more then one.

Does all this doom and gloom mean that we're going to be the last generation to enjoy Formula 1?  Probably not, but the trajectory we're on does seem to lead to an era of small grids, boring tracks no one cares about, and poor quality racing.  As race fans, that should make all of us sad.

Bernie Strikes Again.

If you had not heard, there will be no German Grand Prix this year. Neither the Nurbergring, nor Hockenheim was able to reach a deal to host the German round of the Formula 1 championship this year.  If you follow the behind the scenes politics of Formula 1, this announcement should't come as a complete surprise.  The saga of the German race's troubles has been several months in the making.  Specifically, neither track is able to make the race financially viable given the high cost of hosting a Grand Prix, and the dropping fan attendance at the track.

And this illustrates what in my opinion is the biggest problem with Formula 1 at the moment.  Frankly, Formula 1, (and more then likely Bernie Eccelstone in particular) has let the idea of Formula 1 being the world's foremost racing series go to their collective heads.  The result of that thinking appears to be a giant middle finger to the fans, but not all the fans, just the one's who aren't rich.  For reasons I don't fully understand, Bernie Ecclestone has decided that every day men and women don't deserve to be fans of Formula 1 unless they are willing to throw significant amounts of money his way.  

To put things in perspective, just today, I bought tickets to the Lone Star Lemans at Circuit of the Americas.  A three day grandstand ticket plus parking pass cost less then $150.  A similar package for the Formula 1 race at COTA would cost just under $1,000.  I love car racing, and I love being at the track, but that kind of price for a two hour race is bat guano crazy.  If you were taking a family of four to the F1 race at COTA, you could easily spend over $2,000 just on race tickets.  The reason the fans aren't showing up to the race in Germany isn't because they don't want to, it's because they can't afford to.

The fact that Formula 1 is quickly becoming cost prohibitive to simply watch in person is going to hurt the sport in the long term.  The more Formula 1 becomes an exclusive playground for the rich, the more I see everyday people losing interest, and are there really enough rich folk who really love Formula 1, and not just looking for a cool party, to keep the sport alive?  Probably not if you ask me.  Instead, to keep interest in Formula 1 healthy, (and the value of the Formula 1 TV rights high) you need the interest of everyday racing fans, and a big part of that means keeping the races affordable to people of everyday means.

Completely criticizing Bernie Ecclestone isn't completely fair however.  Say what you want about Bernie, but he's no idiot, but he is making decisions that are in Bernie's best interest, not Formula 1's best interests.  As a result, racing fans suffer.

Formula 1 Preseason Rankings

Formula 1 preseason testing is over.  The next time we'll see all the teams in one place is when they take to the track in anger for the first race in Australia on March 15th.  Not only does that mean we're only two weeks away from the start of the 2015 season, it means I'm running out of time to make baseless allegations regarding car performance, with no race results available to prove me wrong.  With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to rank each time from strongest to weakest as we head to Melbourne.

1).  Mercedes
This list isn't intended to be a prediction of the constructors championship, but I'll make an exception for Mercedes.  After the first test session in Jerez, I predicted that Mercedes would have the fastest car of the field, even though they weren't topping the lap charts at the time (read about it here).  Lap times from the last test in Barcelona certainly suggest I was right.  Mercedes is able to meet or exceed the lap times of the other teams using harder tire compounds.  That, is what we in America, call a hot rod.  Based on last year's championship results, it shouldn't be a surprise that the W06 Hybrid is the class of the field.  The only real question regarding the Mercedes is whether Hamilton or Rosberg will be 2015 world champion.

2).  Williams
If the Mercedes W06 Hybrid didn't exist, the Williams FW37 would likely be the car to beat.  Williams was the only team besides Mercedes to claim a pole position in 2015, and they posted very impressive lap times on the last day of preseason testing in Barcelona.  Every thing points to the fact that Williams has the fastest car in the paddock that isn't a Mercedes.  Having a fast car doesn't guarantee race wins, but there hasn't been a driver in Formula 1 history who wished his car was slower.  The speed of the Williams' sets them up well for success as the season starts.

3).  Ferrari
If nothing else, Ferrari is a strong early contender for 2015's most-improved award.  Much ado was made about Ferrari not winning any races last year, which was the first time this happened since 1993.  Although I think that statistic says more about Mercedes' dominate performance then it does about Ferrari.  Still, Ferrari would probably like to forget about 2014 since it was definitely a rough year for them.  For Ferrari to then come out of the gate and dominate the lap charts at the first test at Jerez was a surprise for everyone.  What's interesting is that Sauber (with a Ferrari engine) was also quick in Jerez, suggesting that the Ferrari engine has come a long way over the winter, and is probably the second best engine in the field for 2015.  While Ferrari wasn't able to dominate the lap times at the following tests, Kimi Rikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were still able to keep the Ferrari competitive on time.  Expect to be seeing more of the cars with the prancing horses near the front of the grid in 2015.

4).  Red Bull
Red Bull is a hard team for me to wrap my head around at the moment.  On the one hand, they were the only team to deny Mercedes a perfect season last year, and the team obviously knows how to build a car, but other then their crazy camo livery, did any part of their preseason testing really stand out?  It's probably a pretty safe bet that Red Bull is going to be in the top four in the constructors championship at the end of the season, but I'm not sure exactly where.  Since Red Bull's preseason performance could be summed up with a shrug of the shoulders, they are relegated to a fourth place spot in the rankings.

5).  Sauber
2014 was a hard year for Sauber fans.  Sauber has always been at least a mid-field team, and has always scored points.  Except for 2014.  The January 2015 issue of Racecar Engineering has a full write-up on Sauber's 2014 struggles.  To summarize very briefly though, Sauber struggled to design a car around the then-new hybrid V6 engines.  They didn't understand the packaging or cooling requirements of the new power plants until very late in the design process.  As a result, they had a heavy, compromised, car.  This year, Sauber has a much better idea of what they are doing, and are using the (apparently) much improved Ferrari power plant.  Sauber was even able to top the lap charts a couple of times at Jerez.  While Suaber still has to deal with the financial challenges that all of the smaller F1 teams are currently dealing with, they should go back to their usual status as a regular points contender.

6).  Toro Rosso
Toro Rosso has said that their goal for this year is fifth place in the constructors championship.  That's a pretty ambitious goal, because that means they are going to need to out race McLaren, as well as all the other traditionally mid-pack teams.  A quick review of the preseason lap time charts though suggests that this is within Toro Rosso's reach.  While I have every faith in Toro Rosso's car, I'm not so sure about their driver line up.  Both of Toro Rosso's drivers are Formula 1 rookies.  McLaren's lineup by comparison contains not one, but two former champions.  Both Carlos Sainz Jr. and Max Verstappen may one day mature into great Formula 1 racers, but that likely won't happen over night.  Very talented drivers, with far more experience then these two have struggled in their first year of Formula 1.  Rookie drivers make rookie mistakes, and I think that is going to make Toro Rosso's goal of a fifth in the constructor's championship an uphill climb.

7).  Force India
Normally, I would rank Force India ahead of Sauber.  Force India has a lot going for them.  They have a talented driver line up, a Mercedes Benz engine, and ran a successful program in 2014.  What Force India doesn't have is money.  Force India was barely able to get their 2015 car ready in time for the last test at Barcelona, and it's still up in the air as to whether or not they will have a second car prepared in time for Melbourne.  The VJM08 simply doesn't have nearly as much development time on it as it's competitors have.  Expect Force India to be playing catch up to the rest of the field in terms of developing the car.

8).  Lotus
Poor Lotus.  Remember when Kimi Rikkonen was racing for them?  Not only did they win a race, they finished fourth in the constructors championship, with Kimi finishing third in the drivers championship.  Those days are gone.  Lotus never quite came to grips with their 2014 car, and their driver lineup leaves something to be desired (looking at you Pastor Maldonado).  As far as I'm concerned, Lotus has exactly one thing going for them in 2015, the class-of-the-field Mercedes Benz engine powering the car.  Other then that, I'm not sure they have much to gloat about.  Other then the Mercedes power plant, their car is able to go out an turn laps (when Maldonado isn't stuffing it into the nearest wall), which keeps Lotus out of last place on this list.

9).  McLaren
McLaren is probably one of the most storied teams in Formula 1, and the reunion of McLaren and Honda should have been a new chapter in a legendary story.  Unfortunately for McLaren, this chapter is looking like it's a tragedy.  Looking at comparative lap times throughout the three test weekends, McLaren pretty consistently pulled up the back of the field.  I believe though that this isn't because the Honda engine is horribly underpowered (although it might be underpowered), but is instead a product of the power plants horrible reliability.  McLaren couldn't push their equipment like the other teams could, assuming they could actually get their car out of the pit lane.  I've said before, McLaren and Honda have the resources to fix what's wrong with this engine, and once they get that worked out they should have a pretty decent package (assuming the Honda engine makes enough power to be competitive).  The question is will the Honda engine get sorted out in time for McLaren to salvage their season.  Only time will tell.  One thing is for sure though, neither Fernando Alonso or Jenson Button is looking forward to Melbourne. 

Bonus).  Manor (the race team formerly known as Marussia)
Manor is in a good news, bad news situation.  The good news is that after a lot of tragedy and heartache last year, they have been officially added to the 2015 F1 entries list.  Technically.  They still need to prepare a car for 2015, which isn't guaranteed to happen.  If they do field a car, it won't be the least bit competitive, since it will be their old 2014 car, with a 2014 Ferrari engine, modified to meet the 2015 regulations.  Manor isn't racing for championships, wins, points or even finishes this year.  Manor's goal is to claim the 46 million dollars Bernie owes them for finishing 9th in the 2014 constructors championship.  Assuming they do make the grid (which would be a minor miracle if it happens), I wouldn't be surprised if Manor disappears as soon as they cash the check for the 2014 prize money.  That being said, if your a fan of the GP Rejects site (the successor to the now defunct F1 Rejects), you have your team for 2015.

So there we have it.  The Racing Nerd Formula 1 power ranking for 2015. 

I Sure Hope they Studied...

...Because teams are testing.  I was browsing my usual sources for auto racing news today, and I realized that F1, WEC and IndyCar are all in their preseason testing cycles, which means we have stuff to talk about that isn't me telling stories from the Rolex 24.

Let's start with WEC.  I know that just the other day I was complaining that open car development isn't everything, but I love WEC because that's where the weird cars live.  So far, the news stories I'm seeing have to do with the the big four in LMP1, Audi, Porsche, Toyota and Nissan.  Nissan is testing at Circuit of the Americas, but I haven't heard any news, other then they are testing.  Audi just finished a test at Motorland Aragon in Spain, while Toyota has tested at Motorland Aragon as well as France's Paul Ricard circuit.  Both Toyota and Audi are staying pretty tight lipped about their test results, but both claim to be happy with their cars.  About the biggest news to come from Toyota is that they are sticking with their current super capacitor hybrid system as opposed to a battery system (more on hybrid systems in a while).  I'll be honest, I don't really know what any of that electrical engineering stuff means.  Porsche also recently finished testing their latest 919 in Bahrain.  Their team principle claims that the 2015 Porsche driver squad reports that the car is more drivable then last years.  Which I guess is better then the alternative.  So, to recap the testing results for the four big WEC teams, things are coming along well, but what else would you expect the teams to say?

Here's where things get interesting with regards to WEC in my opinion.  Megajoules.  Nissan is rumored to be chasing the 8MJ hybrid class, as is Toyota (which is currently in the 6MJ class).  Audi is looking to move up from 2MJ to 4MJ, and Porsche says they are currently evaluating which megajoule class they want to enter (currently, the 919 is a 6MJ car).  I was reading the dead tree edition of Racecar Engineering a while back, and they were saying that one of the major advantages Toyota had over Audi in 2014, at least in terms of pace, is that Toyota had a megajoule advantage.  Specifically, Toyota's decision to use a 6MJ design gave them a pace advantage over Audi 2MJ.   It looks like everyone this year is trying to up their megajoule game, so if either Toyota, Nissan or Porsche can hit 8MJ, that could give them a significant advantage over the competition.  I also speculate that as soon as a team hits the currently elusive 8MJ mark, it will start a hybrid arms race, as the other teams try and catch up, or be relegated to the dust bin of hybrid history.  Despite the two preceding paragraphs of stuff, any serious discussion of this year's Le Man's competitors is premature until the hybrid systems are finalized and we have some comparative lap times.

[NOTE FROM THE RACING NERD: If you're reading my discussion on hybrid classes screaming that I'm an idiot, I agree.  Also, I feel WEC hybrid subclasses deserves it's own discussion.  A full article discussing Audi 4MJ car versus Toyota, Nissan and Porsches 6MJ and/or 8MJ cars is coming].

Which brings us to Formula 1, where we actually do have comparative lap times.  F1 finished their first preseason test in Jerez Spain about two weeks ago, and shockingly, Ferrari power topped the lap times.  It's hard to judge the truth of preseason lap times since you don't know the cars fuel load or what the team was trying to accomplish with their testing, but I'm having a hard time believing that Ferrari was the only team hammering out laps while everyone else was just cruising.  Is Ferrari Mercedes fast now?  Probably not, but it is definitely looking good for the red cars with the prancing horses on the side.

And speaking of Mercedes, the Silver Arrows cars were working on reliability.  Despite being dominate last year, Mercedes had a few technical glitches to iron out, like when Louis Hamilton's car burst into flames in Hungary.  Mercedes turned an insane amount of laps more then everyone else in Jerez, and if I was the other teams, this would make me nervous for two very specific reasons.  First, Mercedes wasn't working on race pace.  Even though Ferrari topped the lap times, Mercedes was still quick, and they had the fastest strait line speed by 7kph.  The speed trap numbers obviously don't tell the whole story since Max Verstappen's Torro Rosso and Marcus Ericsson's Sauber-Ferrari were both faster then Kimi Raikonnen through the trap.  (Hands up, who things Max Verstappen is going to be faster then Kimi Raikonnen when the F1 season starts proper in Australia?  No one?  Didn't think so.)  So, while strait line speed doesn't necessarily equal quick lap times, it does prove they have plenty of horsepower, and with that the potential to be plenty quick.  Lap time just wasn't the focus at Jerez.  Therefore, if Mercedes can be competitive when they aren't focusing on lap time, how quick will they be when they actually put in some effort?  Second, like I said, Mercedes turned a lot of laps.  I haven't seen a break down of number of laps per stint for Mercedes, but I have to assume the answer is a lot, I just can't imagine them getting the mileage they did by turning a lot of short, low fuel runs.  So, if the car was loaded down with a lot of fuel, it makes sense that they were weren't number one on the lap time charts.  If a Mercedes full of fuel can run lap times competitive to cars on lighter fuel loads (assuming the others cars where on lighter fuel loads), I'm going to nervous about the speed of my car compared to the Mercedes under similar fuel loads, like you get during race conditions.  Just because Mercedes wasn't the quickest at Jerez, I still think they're going to have the fastest car on race day.

Which brings us to McLaren.  I can't help but wonder if Fernando Alonso is regretting his career choices right now.  His old ride at Ferrari looks like it could be a contender this year, and his new ride at McLaren looks like it might struggle to get out of the pit lane without embarrassing itself.  If you didn't hear, Honda had serious reliability problems at Jerez, and Alonso was a full 30kph slower through the speed trap then Mercedes.  That's not good.  Will Honda get the biggest of their problems figured out before the first race?  More then likely.  Will that engine be competitive with Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault?  Now that is a much better question.  I keep reading internet commentators claiming that Honda had a design advantage.  Honda got to build an engine from scratch with a year's worth of data on the current V6 turbo formula.  Where would Honda get this data?  Did they call up Mercedes and ask "can we have all your test data and design files?"  Of course not.  The other three engine supplies have a year worth of data, Honda has squat, and they're trying to play catch up, and as a result McLaren is currently stuck with a lemon.  I just hope Ron Dennis bought the extended warranty.

And then there's IndyCar.  They're testing at New Orleans Motorsport Park.  Which is a thing.  I guess.  You see, the teams are using the old Dallara road course aero components, which is funny, because now that Brazil is cancelled, those old cars won't actually be raced in this years IndyCar season.  I guess teams and drivers are learning the ins and outs of NOLA, but other then that, I'm not really sure what IndyCar is trying to accomplish with this test.  I did hear Simon Pagenaud saying that he expects good racing for the NOLA race,  Which is good.  I guess.  Let's be brutally honest with ourselves, you can parade the cars around all you want, but IndyCar testing doesn't really start until teams take delivery of the new aero kits.  At that point they can start figuring out how to get the most speed out of the 2015 cars.  Still, it's good to see the DW12's back on the track, even if they're just wandering around aimlessly.

Let's Hear it for Spec Racing!

Hello dear reader (as in singular, because I'm pretty sure there is only one of you).  As you've probably figured out by now, I read a lot of racing media, because, let's be honest, RACER isn't going to plagiarize their content for me.  And speaking of RACER, I've been enjoying their ongoing "IndyCar 2018" series of interviews and editorials.  If you haven't read this series yet, it is the opinions of various people in the American Open Wheel racing scene commenting on what IndyCar needs to do to be successful when they introduce their 2018 car, but this article really isn't about IndyCar 2018, instead it is about something I see in the comments sections of articles about IndyCar, F1, WEC, IMSA, and probably lawnmower racing if I bothered to read about that.  What I'm talking about is car development.

A lot of the commenter' I see claim that IndyCar's problem is that it's basically a spec series these days, and if IndyCar would simply let the teams develop jet powered super cars with frickin' laser beams attached to their head everything would be better.  If only IndyCar would embrace the idea of open development, then people who have no idea what month the Indy 500 is held would suddenly flock to IndyCar like people racing for the last servings of soylent green.  And that thinking is all wrong.

I'm focused a lot on IndyCar so far, but these same arguments apply to F1 and sports cars as well, as well as any other series where internet armchair race directors are screaming for more development.  Here's the basic flaws that thinking open development means race car popularity.  First, and most importantly, the people who are interested in race car engineering are already watching car racing.  Casual race fans (the people who we're trying to get interested in tuning into the Iowa Corn 250) don't understand why the Penske Ilmor pushrod engine for the 1994 Indy 500 was such a big deal.  I'm not saying these people are stupid, and can't understand, they just don't care.  Open development won't bring in more fans because new fans don't know this is something to get excited about, assuming they care about the technical side racing to begin with.

Not only is increased development not going to make new fans, it's going to make the racing product worse.  Say what you want about NASCAR and IndyCar, but the racing is wheel to wheel and you never know whose going to win a given race.  Even a back marker team can win on the right day in those series, and that makes the races exciting to watch.  In Formula 1, the poster boy series for technological development, the winner is going to be either that one Mercedes, or that other Mercedes.  Speed costs money, and in a series that places heavy emphasis on development the winners are the guys willing to throw the most money at the problem, while everyone else is holding on for dear financial life.  Don't believe me?  Ask Caterham and Marrusia.  It's a simple formula really.  Increased developments means more engineering talent is required, more research and development is required, and as a result more money is required, and as costs go up, grid sizes go down.  Car count isn't everything in racing, but an empty paddock is a sad paddock.

And while we're in that sad paddock of eight cars that can actually afford to design a new differential between practice and qualifying, the cars don't actually "race" anymore, they just kind of drive around in ranked order.  When rules governing technical development are tight, it's hard to build a car that's across the board slower then everyone else's.  When development is open, building a movable chicane becomes real easy, real fast.  I love the technical side of racing, but ultimately, I want to see tight, wheel to wheel racing, not a movable demonstration of who has the best engineering squad.  The results of a race should ultimately be determined by what happens on track, but when one car is head an shoulders superior then the others, the significance of the racing itself is minimized.

An argument I've seen advanced a couple of time's online (particularly with regards to F1) boils down to "throw out the rule book and let the engineers go wild."  No technical regulations, build whatever you want.  And I can't think of a worse idea.  The challenge of race car engineering is to build a car within a certain set specifications, and bend those regulations in such a way that you're faster then everyone else.  Or, if you're really clever, break those rules in such a way that the tech inspectors don't notice (looking at you Red Bull).  Because every racing series has some set of technical regulations (at least ever good racing series) there will be some limitations on development, and we shouldn't be afraid of this.  Limitations on technical development aren't strangling competition, they create a challenge.  The teams have a limited amount of development options, and the good teams will make the most of those options, which is the real fun, not whose willing to spend the most money to win.

Should all series become spec series then?  Of course not.  A world that doesn't allow bat guano crazy ideas like the Nissan LMP1 GT-R or the Delta Wing is a world I don't want to live in, but I don't think we should complain when a IndyCar doesn't allow the use of afterburners and plasma drives.  While arguing about the design choices of the Mercedes W06 versus the Ferrari SF15-T is fun for racing nerds, it doesn't put butts in the grandstands, or eyes on TV's.  The ultimate fate of any racing series depends on what happens on the track, not back in the shop.