There's a lot of positive talk from Force India in the lead up to Montreal; most of it based on the fact that the tyres have brought a lack of predictability to the season - in their eyes anyone can win any race. This is not entirely inaccurate looking at the form, however neither is it accurate to assume that it's a total lottery, which is the basis of all of the positive talk.
Since they were set up in 2008 the team have been moving forward, achieving good results and consistency. 2008 - 2011 they have finished 10th, 9th, 7th and 6th respectively, from 0 points to last years 69.
10th was second-last in 2008, effectively last given that Super Aguri only competed in the first 4 races and finished 11th.
Second-last again in 2009, beating Toro Rosso only thanks to a superb Belgian GP from Giancarlo Fisichella who qualified on Pole and finished in second, followed by a 4th place finish from Adrian Sutil at Monza. These were the only two points finishes of the Season versus 6 from the Toro Rosso team however the placing gave them the points to ensure they did not end the season in last place.
2010 was a lot better with a 7th place finish, convincingly beating BMW, Toro Rosso and the three newbie backmarker teams with a points haul of 68 points. This was a season in which at least one of the cars was knocking on the points door at every GP, apart from Germany where the pitcrews fitted Liuzzi's tyres to Sutil's car and vice versa, necessitating a second pitstop to change them back again.
2011 saw Liuzzi's replacement by Paul di Resta in the second Force India car. Last season, once again they finished convincingly in 6th place ahead of the three backmarker teams, Williams, Toro Rosso and Sauber. Last Season saw the two drivers achieve 9 points finishes for Sutil and 8 for diResta who was the Rookie driver. The team finished only 4 points behind Renault, and were it not for another pitcrew tyre error similar to Germany in 2010 Paul diResta looked set for a strong points finish which might well have seen the team take 5th place from Renault. As it was, Heidfeld took 4 points from the British GP - the number of points Renault finished ahead of Force India in the Constructors.
So in 2012 there's a lot of pressure on the Force India Team. While Vijay Mallya is also under pressure from various business interests he really needs to keep his eye on the F1 scene in order that the team do not move backward in the standings. This year they're up against a revitalised and restaffed Williams team, a Sauber team that has gotten back into the groove under Peter after the disastrous BMW decision to leave the series, and an unpredictable set of tyres whose durability appears to alter from hour to hour.
So far in the season, with 6 races under our belt, the team have recorded 7 points finishes from the two cars with one retirement. This is in comparison to Sauber, 15 points ahead of them in the Constructor's in 7th place, who have achieved 5 points finishes but have Perez' second place finish in Malaysia and the 18 points which followed. Williams are in 6th place with 44 points, 25 of which are the Maldonado win in Spain, they like Sauber have achieved 5 points finishes and 3 retirements: however it is worth noting from Williams perspective that every time a Williams has finished a race this season it has come home in the points. If they can finish they can score. They could be one to watch.
It would appear that the top 5 teams may well be out of reach of Force India this year. Once Schumacher begins to finish races I'm expecting Mercedes to overtake Lotus, a team that is also solidly and consistently scoring.
Force India therefore must aim for 6th place and a greater points tally than last year's 69 if they are to count this season a success. Toro Rosso would appear to be out of the fight even at this early stage and perhaps even slipping back into the clutches of Caterham, were that team to luck into a couple of points finishes.
Sauber and Williams to beat. I think it's a big ask particularly if Williams were to be reliable and accident free for a few races. Of the Force India drivers, di Resta is looking good on 21 points, were he to continue in that vein of form his tally for the season would see him take the 69 points on his own, however Hulkenburg is on only 7 points and needs to get his head in the game to show us what he's capable of, otherwise we might see the return of Sutil - who has been seen hanging around the paddock - just after mid-season.
VERDICT: A seventh place finish would be solid for Force India were they to score over 70 points, sixth should be their goal.
The problem is that both Williams and Sauber have had a taste and will be looking at 4th and 5th as being possible. Should Lotus and Mercedes get involved in scrapping for 4th one of them might lose out to the guys snapping at their heels.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Robert Kubica surgery confirmed by Autosport
In a story dated today June 6th Autosport have confirmed the surgery to Kubica's elbow:
The doctor said that the Polish driver had tested the mobility of his arm in a simulator prior to the operation.
"This way the driver will be able to fully handle the steering wheel, while before he was unable to rotate the palm down, so he was forced to release the steering wheel in order to turn left," head surgeon Ruggero Testoni was quoted as saying by Italian media.
"It will take at least one month in order to stabilize."
Scuderia Toro Rosso Progress Report (or lack thereof)
Toro Rosso was purchased from Minardi and made its competitive debut in 2006. It managed 1 point in the season thanks to Liuzzi, which leapfrogged it above Toyota and Super Aguri in the Constructors Championship.
In 2007 the team ditched American Scott Speed in favour of a little known German driver, Sebastian Vettel, who rewarded the team with a 4th place finish (5 points) in China to complement Liuzzi's 6th Place (3 points). The team could have scored more points but Vettel crashed into the back of the Red bull of Webber in the Japanese Downpour and lost the team the opportunity of their first podium finish. This gave them a final position in the championship above Honda, Super Aguri and Spyker and of course above McLaren who were excluded from the Constructor's that year (Spygate).
In 2008 Vettel showed both his talent and the potential of the Toro Rosso. The team beat its sister, Red Bull Racing, thanks to the abilities of the German. He brought it the Team's first and only win and gave them an impressive haul of 35 points in comparison with Bourdais who got only 4. He achieved 9 points finishes in 2008 our of 12 finishes with 6 retirements. The team were moving onward and upward as per the wishes of Paul Stoddart (Minardi Owner) when he sold the team to Red Bull.
2009 saw Vettel moved to Red Bull and Bourdais lost his seat to Jaime Alguersuari mid season, with Sebastian Buemi taking over from Vettel. The season served to highlight Vettel's driving abilities as the team slid back down the pecking order to finish 10th, and last, on 8 points.
2010 saw the introduction of HRT, Virgin (Marussia), and Lotus (Caterham) and the Toro Rosso placing above these three new teams flattered to deceive. Effectively, given the fact that the three new teams were massively slow in comparison, Toro Rosso came 9th and last of the established teams with a combined points haul of 13 from Buemi and Alguersuari.
2011 saw the team finish above Williams, who had suffered their worst ever season with just two points finishes, and the three backmarker teams but saw the team bag their biggest points total of 41, thanks to the 1st to 10th points scoring introduced in 2010. Alguersuari and Buemi were difficult to separate with the former scoring 26 and the latter 15. Over the course of the season their racing abilities were about even.
For the current season, 2012, Toro Rosso ditched their two drivers, holding onto Buemi as test driver. They took on Jean Eric Vergne (French) and Daniel Ricciardo (Aus). After 6 races the results are no better than last years. Certainly neither of the new drivers has so far shown any particular skill which would identify them as future Red Bull material. It's worth waiting for mid-season to evaluate the drivers' potential however the car looks to remain locked in last place ahead of the three teams who I have earlier assessed as being worthy of expulsion.
So - The assessment is that, apart from the Vettel performances of 2007 & 2008 Toro Rosso is a failed team incapable of moving off the bottom of the leaderboard. It certainly had the potential to move forward however, perhaps all of the money has been focussed on Red Bull Racing while they are getting by on a shoestring budget. The drivers, other than Vettel, have shown no great ability to outperform the car and perhaps that indicates the car is the weakness in the team.
If we should expel the HRT, Caterham, & Marussia teams then we should look closely at Toro Rosso and see if it has any chance to redeem itself in its current guise. Perhaps it needs the focus of a new owner who would only be interested in this team. It seems that Red Bull have too many fingers in too many pies to concentrate on moving Toro Rosso forward.
VERDICT: Must pull their Socks up or Sell up
In 2007 the team ditched American Scott Speed in favour of a little known German driver, Sebastian Vettel, who rewarded the team with a 4th place finish (5 points) in China to complement Liuzzi's 6th Place (3 points). The team could have scored more points but Vettel crashed into the back of the Red bull of Webber in the Japanese Downpour and lost the team the opportunity of their first podium finish. This gave them a final position in the championship above Honda, Super Aguri and Spyker and of course above McLaren who were excluded from the Constructor's that year (Spygate).
In 2008 Vettel showed both his talent and the potential of the Toro Rosso. The team beat its sister, Red Bull Racing, thanks to the abilities of the German. He brought it the Team's first and only win and gave them an impressive haul of 35 points in comparison with Bourdais who got only 4. He achieved 9 points finishes in 2008 our of 12 finishes with 6 retirements. The team were moving onward and upward as per the wishes of Paul Stoddart (Minardi Owner) when he sold the team to Red Bull.
2009 saw Vettel moved to Red Bull and Bourdais lost his seat to Jaime Alguersuari mid season, with Sebastian Buemi taking over from Vettel. The season served to highlight Vettel's driving abilities as the team slid back down the pecking order to finish 10th, and last, on 8 points.
2010 saw the introduction of HRT, Virgin (Marussia), and Lotus (Caterham) and the Toro Rosso placing above these three new teams flattered to deceive. Effectively, given the fact that the three new teams were massively slow in comparison, Toro Rosso came 9th and last of the established teams with a combined points haul of 13 from Buemi and Alguersuari.
2011 saw the team finish above Williams, who had suffered their worst ever season with just two points finishes, and the three backmarker teams but saw the team bag their biggest points total of 41, thanks to the 1st to 10th points scoring introduced in 2010. Alguersuari and Buemi were difficult to separate with the former scoring 26 and the latter 15. Over the course of the season their racing abilities were about even.
For the current season, 2012, Toro Rosso ditched their two drivers, holding onto Buemi as test driver. They took on Jean Eric Vergne (French) and Daniel Ricciardo (Aus). After 6 races the results are no better than last years. Certainly neither of the new drivers has so far shown any particular skill which would identify them as future Red Bull material. It's worth waiting for mid-season to evaluate the drivers' potential however the car looks to remain locked in last place ahead of the three teams who I have earlier assessed as being worthy of expulsion.
So - The assessment is that, apart from the Vettel performances of 2007 & 2008 Toro Rosso is a failed team incapable of moving off the bottom of the leaderboard. It certainly had the potential to move forward however, perhaps all of the money has been focussed on Red Bull Racing while they are getting by on a shoestring budget. The drivers, other than Vettel, have shown no great ability to outperform the car and perhaps that indicates the car is the weakness in the team.
If we should expel the HRT, Caterham, & Marussia teams then we should look closely at Toro Rosso and see if it has any chance to redeem itself in its current guise. Perhaps it needs the focus of a new owner who would only be interested in this team. It seems that Red Bull have too many fingers in too many pies to concentrate on moving Toro Rosso forward.
VERDICT: Must pull their Socks up or Sell up
Caterham, HRT, & Marussia Reflections
It is with regret that, upon reviewing the constructor's and driver's championship leaderboards it remains the case that the three backmarker teams of Caterham, HRT, & Marussia all languish at the bottom of the tables with no points. This amounts to 3 years of failure in a sport that only rewards success. Should they be expelled or do any of them have enough potential to warrant giving them a little bit more rope?
Marussia (Virgin) who entered F1 in 2010 with a plan to design a car using only computer design software (Computational Fluid Dynamics) - Once the reality set in last year they made a decision to return to the tried and tested method. They have scored no points since their inception and their highest finish has been 14th. If, after 3 years a team is so slow that they haven't even lucked into a single point they should be ejected from the F1 grid to make way for a new team.
VERDICT: Not worth the effort. It's time for them to leave.
HRT have spectacularly failed to make a car fit for pre-season testing since they began in 2010. The car has turned up at the first race for the last 3 years with no track time under its belt. In 2011 and 2012 they have failed to make the 107% qualifying time and in 2010 they both began the race from the pitlane. once again their highest finish in a race has been 14th. It's amazing that neither HRT nor Marussia have lucked into a single point particularly given the fact that all cars to 10th place get points. Minardi, etc. used to gain the odd point even when only the first 6 places were scored.
VERDICT: Bottom of the class - Go Now
Caterham (Team Lotus/1Malaysia Team) On first viewing the team looks like it should have the makings of a neat little team; certainly best of the three. Mike Gascoyne is on board as Chief Tech and Heikki Kovalainen is in the car. Theoretically they should be moving upwards and onwards to bigger and better things. Why then do they still languish at the bottom of the table, just above HRT and Marussia? They too have never managed to score a single point, lucky or otherwise, in the three years that they've been there. Gascoyne has been with the team since it began and they've been using the Renault engine, which we all know is pretty good given that Red Bull have won a championship with it and Lotus (Renault) have been using it.
Why can they not make the car work? The team claim to be catching the rest of the teams but, even in the topsy-turvy world of F1 2012 they haven't been able to, as of yet, find that point and, though I dislike saying it, with Vitaly Petrov in the second car they've lessened their chances of capitalising on an opportunity should it arise. If anyone is going to give them the point they need its likely to be Heikki. Still, its sad that the only claim to fame for the team so far is that they've managed to keep a McLaren behind them at Monaco. That result showed that the pitcrew is pretty good, in that they managed to turn the car around and get it back out ahead of Jenson, but it doesn't say much for the car itself. Their highest ever finish for no points, 12th.
VERDICT: Must do better, position safe till the end of the year - but if it's another Null Point next year they too must go
Marussia (Virgin) who entered F1 in 2010 with a plan to design a car using only computer design software (Computational Fluid Dynamics) - Once the reality set in last year they made a decision to return to the tried and tested method. They have scored no points since their inception and their highest finish has been 14th. If, after 3 years a team is so slow that they haven't even lucked into a single point they should be ejected from the F1 grid to make way for a new team.
VERDICT: Not worth the effort. It's time for them to leave.
HRT have spectacularly failed to make a car fit for pre-season testing since they began in 2010. The car has turned up at the first race for the last 3 years with no track time under its belt. In 2011 and 2012 they have failed to make the 107% qualifying time and in 2010 they both began the race from the pitlane. once again their highest finish in a race has been 14th. It's amazing that neither HRT nor Marussia have lucked into a single point particularly given the fact that all cars to 10th place get points. Minardi, etc. used to gain the odd point even when only the first 6 places were scored.
VERDICT: Bottom of the class - Go Now
Caterham (Team Lotus/1Malaysia Team) On first viewing the team looks like it should have the makings of a neat little team; certainly best of the three. Mike Gascoyne is on board as Chief Tech and Heikki Kovalainen is in the car. Theoretically they should be moving upwards and onwards to bigger and better things. Why then do they still languish at the bottom of the table, just above HRT and Marussia? They too have never managed to score a single point, lucky or otherwise, in the three years that they've been there. Gascoyne has been with the team since it began and they've been using the Renault engine, which we all know is pretty good given that Red Bull have won a championship with it and Lotus (Renault) have been using it.
Why can they not make the car work? The team claim to be catching the rest of the teams but, even in the topsy-turvy world of F1 2012 they haven't been able to, as of yet, find that point and, though I dislike saying it, with Vitaly Petrov in the second car they've lessened their chances of capitalising on an opportunity should it arise. If anyone is going to give them the point they need its likely to be Heikki. Still, its sad that the only claim to fame for the team so far is that they've managed to keep a McLaren behind them at Monaco. That result showed that the pitcrew is pretty good, in that they managed to turn the car around and get it back out ahead of Jenson, but it doesn't say much for the car itself. Their highest ever finish for no points, 12th.
VERDICT: Must do better, position safe till the end of the year - but if it's another Null Point next year they too must go
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Will Robert Kubica Test the Ferrari F10 later this Month?
If you remember, or even if you didn't know before, the Italian publication Omnicourse said in January that Kubica had signed a letter of intent with Ferrari to race for them in 2013 and that he would get behind the wheel of a Ferrari F10 fitted with the new 2014 1.6, turbocharged V6 engine, in June of this year. They said that because the car was outside the test ban regulations it would allow him to put in the miles which would allow Robert to evaluate his progress without any pressure.
This idea was apparently based on everything going to plan and I see from http://robertscomeback.blogspot.ie/ that he's apparently recovering from elbow surgery on 25th May which they say was probably to put in a titanium element to stabilize it and make it more functional.
Given what he's been through so far this sounds like a pretty minor surgical intervention for him and I'm hoping that, if the Omnicourse story was correct, that we might hear of him blasting around Maranello in the near future.
Kubica testing a Ferrari would give credence to my May predictions for next season.
This idea was apparently based on everything going to plan and I see from http://robertscomeback.blogspot.ie/ that he's apparently recovering from elbow surgery on 25th May which they say was probably to put in a titanium element to stabilize it and make it more functional.
Given what he's been through so far this sounds like a pretty minor surgical intervention for him and I'm hoping that, if the Omnicourse story was correct, that we might hear of him blasting around Maranello in the near future.
Kubica testing a Ferrari would give credence to my May predictions for next season.
Anonymous - Take Heed I am an individual and I'm asserting my Rights
Not to seem too pedantic on this matter but I fail to see or understand why this "Anonymous" bunch have targeted the GP in Canada. From reading the Wiki page on this loose affiliation of hackers with no particular agenda it struck me that they have, to some extent, been able to make connections between whichever cause they claim to be supporting and the disruption which they then seek to cause.
I'm not a supporter of their activities but, given my opposition to the GP in Bahrain, I too felt that there was a connection to be made between the Bahraini Government and the arrival of the F1 circus into the country. You could appreciate that the event was being used as a political tool, a PR exercise. It also created a situation on the ground where reports were coming in of mass demonstrations which coincided with the staging of the race and the death of at least one protester over the course of the GP weekend. The connection was not tenuous in that instance.
But now we're in Canada and there is no connection between student protests and the Canada GP. This raises the question as to whether this Anonymous group has any function other than chaos and anarchy. If these are their functions then they are remarkably co-ordinated.
Anarchy is all about the lack of any cohesive political and economic structure and is based totally on the freedom of the individual. Any co-ordinated effort, by definition, must be considered to constitute order which is entirely contrary to the tenet of an Anarchic society.
Much like the Mayday rioting in London and the presence of Anarchist Groups (another anathema) at G8 and G12 summits I always like to have a laugh at the fact they wear a uniform, and in their current guise the Guy Fawkes mask. No anarchist worth their salt should be identifiable as part of a group as this represents the beginning of the replacement of the existing social and political order by an anonymous group seeking to progress the Anarchist Principles. Replacement of one order by another, regardless of its origin, must irrevocably lead to the resumption of the status quo whereby the individual finds him/her self subject to government by others and by the dogma of a state whether local, regional or national.
Marx understood this which is why he severed his links to the anarchist movement in the 1870's. Anarchy is appropriate only as an individuals political ideology, when it forms groups which dedicate themselves to a particular cause and on foot of that threatens the rights of an individual or individuals it defines itself as other than anarchy.
This is the case with Anonymous, they seek to use the umbrella of Anarchy to progress what is essentially an alternate world order perspective. They claim to be anti-globalisation but cannot operate without the tools provided by Globalisation: They claim to represent an ideology which supports the rights of the individual but refuse, in this instance, to allow the individual to exercise their right to attend a Formula 1 race, instead they support a student protest which is not motivated at destabilising the government but rather by winning concessions from the established order.
The students do not seek regime change, they simply want their position to be heard - they are seeking to provide alternatives to the current proposals which will see tuition fees rise by up to 75% over the next few years. Their goal may be laudable but it is not anarchic in any form, if anything these protests have been sparked by elected leaders of student groups - these will be the next generation of the political class and a true Anarchist would belittle these protests as no more than a battle for power within the established political structure. The outcome of this protest will see no more than a minor economic amendment to the existing Government's proposals.
The fact that Anonymous refers to F1 as the crass elite shows just how far removed from reality their members are. Personally I'm a massive fan of Formula 1, I don't have a lot of money, I attend those races which I can afford and those to which I have been given tickets as a present, I am blessed that I have a wife who understands my love for the sport, even if she doesn't like it herself and, like most fans, I would love to be able to spend my weekends going to all of the F1 races, I would love to be able to stroll around the paddock and pitlane and rub shoulders with the great and the good of the sport. I cannot and do not and like the majority of fans I work hard for the money which allows me to attend the events.
I like F1 even though it is not perfect - leave it, and me, alone. I am an individual and I'm asserting my rights.
I'm not a supporter of their activities but, given my opposition to the GP in Bahrain, I too felt that there was a connection to be made between the Bahraini Government and the arrival of the F1 circus into the country. You could appreciate that the event was being used as a political tool, a PR exercise. It also created a situation on the ground where reports were coming in of mass demonstrations which coincided with the staging of the race and the death of at least one protester over the course of the GP weekend. The connection was not tenuous in that instance.
But now we're in Canada and there is no connection between student protests and the Canada GP. This raises the question as to whether this Anonymous group has any function other than chaos and anarchy. If these are their functions then they are remarkably co-ordinated.
Anarchy is all about the lack of any cohesive political and economic structure and is based totally on the freedom of the individual. Any co-ordinated effort, by definition, must be considered to constitute order which is entirely contrary to the tenet of an Anarchic society.
Much like the Mayday rioting in London and the presence of Anarchist Groups (another anathema) at G8 and G12 summits I always like to have a laugh at the fact they wear a uniform, and in their current guise the Guy Fawkes mask. No anarchist worth their salt should be identifiable as part of a group as this represents the beginning of the replacement of the existing social and political order by an anonymous group seeking to progress the Anarchist Principles. Replacement of one order by another, regardless of its origin, must irrevocably lead to the resumption of the status quo whereby the individual finds him/her self subject to government by others and by the dogma of a state whether local, regional or national.
Marx understood this which is why he severed his links to the anarchist movement in the 1870's. Anarchy is appropriate only as an individuals political ideology, when it forms groups which dedicate themselves to a particular cause and on foot of that threatens the rights of an individual or individuals it defines itself as other than anarchy.
This is the case with Anonymous, they seek to use the umbrella of Anarchy to progress what is essentially an alternate world order perspective. They claim to be anti-globalisation but cannot operate without the tools provided by Globalisation: They claim to represent an ideology which supports the rights of the individual but refuse, in this instance, to allow the individual to exercise their right to attend a Formula 1 race, instead they support a student protest which is not motivated at destabilising the government but rather by winning concessions from the established order.
The students do not seek regime change, they simply want their position to be heard - they are seeking to provide alternatives to the current proposals which will see tuition fees rise by up to 75% over the next few years. Their goal may be laudable but it is not anarchic in any form, if anything these protests have been sparked by elected leaders of student groups - these will be the next generation of the political class and a true Anarchist would belittle these protests as no more than a battle for power within the established political structure. The outcome of this protest will see no more than a minor economic amendment to the existing Government's proposals.
The fact that Anonymous refers to F1 as the crass elite shows just how far removed from reality their members are. Personally I'm a massive fan of Formula 1, I don't have a lot of money, I attend those races which I can afford and those to which I have been given tickets as a present, I am blessed that I have a wife who understands my love for the sport, even if she doesn't like it herself and, like most fans, I would love to be able to spend my weekends going to all of the F1 races, I would love to be able to stroll around the paddock and pitlane and rub shoulders with the great and the good of the sport. I cannot and do not and like the majority of fans I work hard for the money which allows me to attend the events.
I like F1 even though it is not perfect - leave it, and me, alone. I am an individual and I'm asserting my rights.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)