F1 - GP (General Purpose)

Chode ^ | 8/5/2009 | Chode

[Chode]

This will be a general purpose thread for F1 news and pings that really don't require a thread of their own.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

Not surprised the IndyCar guys are lapping faster than they were when they last visited. After all, they do have considerably more power these days in road course trim.

[Chode]

more than a little pizzed they dint post times

[Chode]

#INDYCAR In-Car Theater: Visor Cam With James Hinchcliffe At Watkins Glen International

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMF6zcahv0w

[Lockbox]

Their running the boot! This will be fun.

[Chode]

oh yeah... watch the YT in #2183

[Lockbox]

Now if they would get not use the Tommy Kendall chicane, this would make an interesting race.

[Chode]

don’t remember now if J.D McDuffy got killed before Kendall’s little excursion or after

[Lockbox]

McDuffie was involved in an accident on the fifth lap of the 1991 Budweiser at The Glen race at Watkins Glen International. On the straight between the esses and the loop-chute, at 170 mph, McDuffie collided with Jimmy Means after suffering a mechanical failure. McDuffie's left front wheel spindle broke off of the car, causing him to lose brakes and hit Means in the right front. This left him no way of stopping the car or steering it, and to further complicate matters, there was no gravel trap in the corner that McDuffie was headed toward. As a result, McDuffie skidded across the grass and hit the outside retaining wall and tire barrier with such force that the car shot into the air, rotated, and then came to rest upside-down.

On June 30, 1991, Kendall encountered serious injuries at Watkins Glen when a mechanical failure caused his Intrepid RM-1 IMSA GTP car to leave the track. This occurred along the same area of track where J. D. McDuffie of NASCAR Winston Cup fame was killed only a month later.

[Chode]

we were there both times... it was NOT the track's fault and they fixed a problem that didn't exist

[Chode]

PHOTO GALLERY: IndyCar tests at Watkins Glen International

WATKINS GLEN—Watkins Glen International race track once again heard the roar of IndyCar open-wheel race cars, Monday June 20. Select teams participated in one-day testing at the newly paved road course. This test comes in advance of the race scheduled Sept. 1 to 4 at the track. The last time IndyCar raced at Watkins Glen was in 2010, but an opening in the schedule was created on Labor Day weekend due to the cancellation of the Grand Prix of Boston.The Monday event was open to the public in the Argetsinger Grandstand.

http://www.observer-review.com/photo-gallery-indycar-tests-at-watkins-glen-international-cms-5347

[Chode]

Steiner answers GPU reader questions

14 July 2016 – Earlier this month, GPUpdate.net gave readers the opportunity to pose questions to Haas team boss Guenther Steiner. We put a selection of them to him during the British Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone.

Lode Beuten, Facebook: What do you have to do to start up a Formula 1 team?

A lot of work! (laughs) From where you want to start, to set it up… I think the first thing you have to find are people who you can trust and you know have got experience, otherwise you cannot get it done. That is what I did. While Mr. [Gene] Haas was still deciding if he was going to do it [Formula 1] or not, I started getting in contact with people, to see actually who is out there, and who is available on the market to help out, because you cannot do it on your own. You get a few key people in place and grow it from there – that is your first step. After that, you just work your way down, you know, you get more people, equipment ordered and suppliers sorted, until you get it done. You have to have people around you, you can never do it on your own.

@BladeThundrbolt, Twitter: What has been the most challenging aspect?
I think there are so many things. A lot of people ask, but there is not one thing which, if we get right, everything will be fine. The most challenging is to get everywhere to a good level, in all your decisions; technical decisions, driver decisions… It's a combination of things. You cannot drop the ball in any of these areas, that is the most important, then you will be OK. But there is not one thing where you think, for example, 'If I know the tyre pressure, I will be winning', that would be too easy. There are a lot of elements. You just need to be everywhere above average to be successful.

Wilco and Patricia de Heus: What goes well within the team at the moment and which areas would you like to see improvements in?

I would like to see improvements in all the areas, because that's what takes you forward. I think in general we are everywhere OK. We have got areas where we are better. It changes by the event. Like in race engineering, they make a step to understand the tyre better, so the demand goes on for aero to keep up with their development, and then the design office needs to come in place to design that stuff, to come up to the spec, and then for the design office, you need manufacturing to come up to make it better, so it's a moving target. There is never one thing, if we make it better, that we are a lot better. I think Formula 1 is complicated because you have got so many different elements you need to look after. You have got to look after HR [Human Resources], because you need the best people – you cannot be happy with people who are underperforming or are average. You always try to get better people and motivate them. That is the most difficult one.

@SparshSharmaF1, Twitter: You've said that Haas is already focusing on 2017. What are your primary targets with that car?
Better than with this one! You always try to do that, to build on… It seems this year we are at the back end of the midfield, and next year the aim is to be at the front end of the midfield. You need to give yourself targets. We always gave ourselves targets to be in the midfield, and we have achieved this, as we are not with the back of the field. We just need to make steps up there and get in the points consistently.

@VaxM3rstapp3n, Twitter: What do you make of the 2017 regulations?

I think the cars will look pretty cool, and that's the main aim. I think the cars will be pretty quick. It's difficult to say that, because there were not any tyre tests, and if the tyres are good, or as good as these ones, it will be quick, but if the tyres are not as good, it will be slow, because in the end the tyres decide performance. The aim was to make the cars quicker, sexier and cooler looking. They will achieve the cooler looking.

Yorrin Kootstra, Facebook: Haas is using a lot of Ferrari components. Is it possible to compete with a team such as them in the future?
First of all, how far away in the future? In the near future, no, because there are so many elements involved in racing, so I don't think we can. But the wish is for sure, to compete with them. How difficult will it be? I don't know. But at the moment we still have a lot of building work to do to even get close to them. If we get close, that's fine.

GPU: Could you go your own way in the future?
Yeah, it's always an option. Formula 1 is a business which is changing very quickly. I don't know what is happening in three years, you know, with the regulations.

Alwin Heeren, Facebook: Why do team bosses watch the race start on the televisions in the garage, not on the pit wall?

We are actually not allowed on the pit wall. There are a maximum of two people allowed on the pit wall at the start. We have the team manager and the chief race engineer or the strategist, normally the strategist because they need to start to input data. It's just a regulation, because if there is an accident it's riskier up there [on the pit wall], than standing back there [in the garage].

@mperalta112, Twitter: Have any of the Stewart-Haas NASCAR guys expressed an interest in switching to the Formula 1 team?
Oh, yeah, they are asking. This is one of them! (Pointing to communications chief Mike Arning). Mike has got the advantage, as he doesn't have to come to all the events. I think the difficult bit for an American is to be away, because you cannot just go racing with the team, you need to go and live in England, and make a living out of England. The guys in NASCAR are pretty comfortable there, I would say. It's not a bad life, once you've made it into a big team like Stewart-Haas. So why would you take the risk to come to Europe and travel around the world if you've got a good, safe job going? For sure, people are interested. We have got a few of them. We have got one guy who left Stewart-Haas and is working here in the engineering staff, as a reliability engineer, but he's the only travelling one. There are others ones who went to the CFD group. There is interest.

@irvine1971, Twitter: What's the personal best moment from your career so far?

It's difficult, because there are so many different good moments, you know. I think what we are allowed to do is pretty amazing. It's amazing what I can do. I can do what I like to do. We can travel, we can compete and go racing. For me, when we go racing on a Sunday, it's every time like, 'This is what I want to do!', and then it all goes s**t and you think, 'Why the hell do I do this?' But you have a little bit of success and there are great moments. There's not one specific one. In Australia finishing sixth in the points in our first race, or when I was with Ford, winning special stages in Monte-Carlo with Colin McRae when everybody told us we would never make it. Same here, people said we would never make it, but we went out there and did it. These are great moments in life. Winning a Safari Rally with Colin McRae, beating all the big Japanese – they looked at us as a bunch of clowns, which beat them. But we put more effort in. It's a little bit like here and I love that.

[nascarnation]

They’ve had a solid first year.
I’d love to see a financial balance sheet on the whole deal.
In my view it must be costing Haas a ton of money.

[Chode]

hemorrhaging like an open femoral artery... but at least it's for a good cause 8^)

[Chode]

thankx to ColdOne...

Police say it WAS an inside job! Bernie Ecclestone’s helicopter pilot is arrested over ‘masterminding plot’ to kidnap his mother-in-law

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3717417/Formula-One-tycoon-Bernie-Ecclestone-s-mother-law-freed-WITHOUT-ransom-Brazilian-gangsters-kidnapped-demanded-28MILLION.html

[Chode]

courtesy of carriage_hill

have at it...

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2016/09/07/liberty-media-seals-8-billion-deal-to-buy-formula-one.html

Formula One is being bought by Liberty Media, a U.S. company that invests in entertainment and sports, in a takeover valuing the motorsport series at $8 billion.

Liberty Media, which is controlled by 75-year-old tycoon John Malone, has ended years of uncertainty about the ownership of the sport with Wednesday’s deal.

The transition is due to be overseen by F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone, who told The Associated Press that he will retain his role as the sport enters a new era.

Liberty Media will be renamed Formula One Group after the deal is complete, which is expected by March 2017.

F1’s biggest shareholder is investment fund CVC Capital Partners.

[Seaplaner]

Liberty Media?

I do not know what this means; should I be concerned about the future of the sporting regs from a media company?

And, also should I be concerned about the t v fate of Lee, Steve, and David of whom I have respected and enjoyed.

Probably not, but I can't recall a buyout or takeover with a happy ending.

Comments and criticisms welcomed.

.

[Chode]

never heard of him or the company but i hope to God he can't do any worse than that malignant dwarf has done

[Lockbox]

I read that Liberty Media plans include:

Higher payout to teams,

Reduce ticket cost for fans,

center the racing on Europe

[Chode]

maybe get rid of all the “green” crap...

i like some of the new tracks, but some of them simply lined bernie’s pockets

[Chode]

courtesy of ColdOne

http://motorsports.nbcsports.com/2016/09/19/lawyer-reveals-michael-schumacher-cannot-walk-as-court-case-over-false-claim-begins/

Lawyer reveals Michael Schumacher cannot walk as court case over false claim begins

A lawyer has revealed that seven-time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher cannot walk at the beginning of a court case in Germany over false claims about his condition.

Schumacher (pictured above in 2012) sustained a severe head injury in a skiing accident in December 2013, one year after retiring from racing, that led to an extended spell in hospital in a medically-induced coma.

Schumacher’s manager Sabine Kehm confirmed in September 2014 that the German had returned home to continue his rehabilitation, but updates regarding his condition have been limited since then.

In December 2015, Kehm was forced to deny a report in German publication Bunte that Schumacher could walk again.

The celebrity magazine claimed a source had informed them Schumacher was able to raise an arm and take some steps with the help of his therapists.

“Unfortunately, we are forced by a recent press report to clarify that the assertion that Michael could move again is not true,” Kehm said.

“Such speculation is irresponsible, because given the seriousness of his injuries, his privacy is very important for Michael. Unfortunately they also give false hopes to many involved people.”

The claim made by Bunte is now the subject of a court case in Germany as the Schumacher family seeks damages of between €40,000 and €100,000 ($44,000 and $111,000) for the false report and an invasion of privacy.

“He cannot walk,” Felix Damm, the Schumacher family’s lawyer, confirmed at a court hearing in Hamburg.

Damm went on to add that he would not reveal the full extent of Schumacher’s condition solely to counter the report from Bunte.

A verdict on the case is expected next month.