Greetings Internet,
Just when you thought I'd vanished into the farthest reaches of the digital wilderness, I have returned with the latest in a series of off-season updates. Because in the end I have to post something or I might accidentally forget how to use a keyboard - but I wouldn't get your hopes up on that one. Today's contribution to the mass of un-moderated scribble plaguing the internet is to be compiled of many things, some news (which probably count as olds now) and a brief examination of the second phase of testing which has taken place in Barcelona.
So to start things off, Force India, the team formerly known as Spyker, Midland and more importantly Jordan have finally shown us what their car is going to look like. It is no great surprise to find out that some of it does look like the demonstration chassis that was hauled all the way to Mexico because Force India know a guy, who knows a guy, who is friends with a chap with a lot of money. So while is seemed like the team were the only one to show up with a raft of sponsors plastered all over the car, they were just companies and brands associated with Mr Mallyia himself - and his Mexican buddy. Nevertheless the livery on show has put some of the other teams to shame - yes McLaren we are looking at you right not - it may be predominantly in greyscale and a little barren on the colour front it is sharp and purposeful.
From one of the two rendered images we currently have of the new Force India - both of which are computed generated it does appear that the team have gone for the shorter of the two nose options. Similar to the one Sauber have developed with the exception that the Force India doesn't look as if it has been punched squarely in the face as it hasn't swollen up. The camera mounting points on the nose are similar to the ones Mercedes are using - as are more of the teams this season and the airbox seems to be less complex than those on the Lotus and the Sauber. Perhaps indicating that there is more space at the back of the car for cooling, but we don't have that angle. The team haven't put this car on track as of yet - hoping to make it's 2015 real world début in the second day of final testing tomorrow with Hulkenberg at the wheel. Both Hulkenberg and Perez have been running a 2014 version of the car in the second test just to learn about the 2015 tyre compounds in comparison to the previous season's specification.
Limited running is likely to make Australia very difficult, but the Mercedes power unit has been tested extensively by the other teams and been proven rather reliable. So Force India will have to focus on the other systems - electronics, hydraulics and aerodynamics in the small space of time they have left. There may be various rumours of financial difficulties within the squad but despite those challenges the team have finally arrived and will be on track soon enough.
There is one other team we are yet to see on track and that is Manor GP, or whatever name they are operating under at the moment. In the last post it was noted that the team made an application for special dispensation to run a 2014 car in 2015. At the time that made plenty of sense, enter the season and build the newer car in time for Spain, the start of the European season. But that special dispensation was thrown out by the rest of the grid - on the surface it seemed as if it was just greed at the core of the decision as the other teams sought to claim Marussia's prize money. In fairness that might still play true for several of the teams - but it was Force India that spoke out to explain themselves while the other teams that voted no remained silent. Bob Fearnley from Force India had more of an issue with Manor's longer term plans and lack thereof and the fact that when under administration a large quantity of assets and stock were auctioned off. Many would argue, and did, that the future plans were not part of the application - the question was "can they run an old car this year?". This should have been a yes, with the caveat that a complete 2015 car would be build in time for the Spanish GP. I don't think the planned lifespan of the 2014 car was put on the table and couldn't be taken as supporting material for the case.
So hope for a Manor return seemed a little difficult to find at that point, but Graeme Lowdon from Manor refused to give up and frankly good on him for sticking with it. They still plan to be on the grid in Melbourne despite not being available for any of the pre-season tests - the team have even declared that Will Stevens will be one of the drivers if the plan comes together. If Manor make this work, making it to the first race in Australia it would be a miracle and a triumph - but there is the question... would it be worth it. With no testing, and very little development time it's hard to imagine the car lapping Albert Park inside of the 107% qualification time. HRT never managed on their final two attempts and they had all winter to prepare. The way I see it, making it to Australia would be a magnificent achievement and it gives them a foot in the door to prevent the grid as a whole preventing them from competing if they want to join the season late. There is even better news for Manor, because of the issue with falling into administration the team had to move out and relocate... and relocate they have - to the North. Well a lot more north than they were but still a fair bit south of here. Manor have returned to Dinnington in Yorkshire which now makes them the closest team to Blog HQ on the grid, and we're all for that up here. OK, when I say "we" it is just me sitting on the corner of the sofa staring at a cup of tea that has been cold now for quite some time - but there is a cat here, and she hopes things go well too.
The final bit of news comes from Lotus, who do appear to be enjoying life a lot more now that there is a German power unit sitting in the back of the car. This week they announced a new development driver - which in real terms probably means someone to play on the simulator (yes, it does sound rather fun). Such announcements are not rare or unusual, but Lotus do appear to have riled the internet ever so slightly and even GP2 driver - and bonus points scorer - Mitch Evans tweeted at Lotus reminding them that is wasn't April Fools Day yet. So what has set the world on fire about a driver signing in a role which probably doesn't amount to too much... well, the issue is that Lotus have selected Carmen Jorda...
There are several reasons why the internet has imploded over this decision the main one being that it appears Carmen is being used a marketing tool to lure sponsorship rather than a useful competitor. It is suspected that here application for the role included a lot of pictures... which Lotus were rather impressed by. No-one is saying that a woman should not be given the role, Susie Wolff does a solid job testing for Williams and Simona De Silvestro was linked to Sauber for a while after running really well in Indycar. There is also recent Blog HQ Twitter follower Bietske Visser who certainly deserves a mention as the likes of Cindy Alleman, Katherine Legge and Pippa Mann have fallen off the radar a little - athough Legge is one of the Deltawing Pilots in the TUSC, which is cool. The problem is that Jorda has failed to score a single point in GP3, and is frequently running round at the back. Therefore irrespective of her gender, the performances are nothing to write home about and do make you wonder she could bring to the development role. However we could be surprised - Susie was nowhere in DTM for many seasons but has been a useful asset to Williams since. Also Luca Badoer was a perennial tail-ender for Minardi in the late 90's but ended up as a Ferrari development driver. Pedro De La Rosa is a prime example of a driver who wasn't necessarily the quickest or most exciting race driver - but has been invaluable to the like of McLaren and Ferrari in a testing role.
The only difference between Carmen and Badoer/De La Rosa is that the latter made it further up the open wheel hierarchy before landing a testing role. Gutierrez made the jump from GP3 as champion to Sauber and it never really worked out too well. Whereas Bottas and Kvyat were not affected by the sharp transition, but the thing is - Carmen Jorda was a country mile behind the likes of Gutierrez and Kvyat. So the way I see it, there are three potential motivations for promoting Carmen so soon, A) She's a woman and that makes Lotus look good, and lure in external funding B) Money, and lots of it buying herself a spot on the team or C) Lotus know more than they are telling us and Carmen is secretly a magical development guru with unrivalled powers... somehow I think it's one of the former options...
And finally, testing. It is now day two of the final test in Barcelona - and, yes that does mean that is has taken two days to put this together, and it does also mean that the Force India pictured earlier has officially started running. But productivity delays aside there have been some interesting developments since testing began in Jerez. Both Ferrari Powered teams have been consistently competitive - Marcus Ericsson was second fastest yesterday... even if it was on the super-soft compound of tyres, and Nasr was fastest in today's morning session. However the most disturbing time was posted by Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes to go second fastest on the final day of the second test. Going second fastest doesn't seem like an acheivement for a Mercedes - but he was only a little more than a tenth behind the top time on tyres which should be close to two seconds slower. So while it did seem as if the likes of Ferrari and Lotus had made big gains to close the gap... Mercedes have opened it a little further.
Aside from the slight changes to the cars - like Toro Rosso' new nose or the reshaped engine cover on the Lotus, the big news was all about Fernando Alonso and McLaren. Testing has not really gone to plan for McLaren - the Honda power unit has encounter more than it's fair share of difficulties, but it has been running a lot more reliably than Red Bull were this time last season. The team were rather pleased today because they completed 100 laps, before the car broke down again with some technical difficultly. To make matters worse there was the mysterious Alonso incident - in the latter stages of the second test Fernando crashed the car, nothing too unusual about that in testing... Hamilton crashed his car last season and didn't do his championship too much harm, but the thing is Alonso ended up in hospital with a concussion - which is a little odd. F1 cars crash into things all the time, especially if Maldonado is around, and hospitalisation is a thankful rarity. Of course there is no video and film crews operating during testing so we can't see what happened - but the incident does not look severe enough to put someone in hospital. It looks to have been a carbon copy of Maldonado's crash in qualifying last year - McLaren announced that high winds caused the crash, which also caused an incident for Carloz Sainz Jnr in the same corner.
As with all things when the details are scarce the internet and the media go into overdrive with mad conspiracy theories, some say a battery problem resulted in an electric shock, others saying there were noxious fumes in the cockpit. In the end it seems the Spaniard hit the wall and it hurt more than normal, with Alonso's history of large accidents - Brazil 2003 mainly - it makes sense to be a bit more cautious if he has taken a bump to the noggin. Alonso has posted online himself that he is completely fine at the moment, but hasn't been allowed back to the circuit to test - allowing the chap he replaced some seat time. There is just a prescribed rest period to allow the brain to recover - as unlikely as it would be - another hit before the recovery time is complete could be very dangerous. Which leads us onto the next point, will he be fit for Melbourne? Autosport claim he might not be. Some commenters online have said that American Football players sometimes need three weeks of rest time to prevent recurring damage. Three weeks from the accident would be the Sunday of the Australian GP, which is a plausible scenario. That would mean Magnussen might be back in the car in Melbourne where he scored his best result in 2014. Now here's the thing, how did such an seemingly innocuous accident cause a concussion, the car looked virtually intact - and Vettel who was the next car in line said Alonso was travelling slower than normal. The FIA have launched an investigation into the incident, but it is suspected that the suspension arms are too rigid and thus did not disperse the energy of the impact. McLaren are not really saying too much and so we shall have to wait for the FIA findings.
Greetings Internet,
It is I once more, and more often than not I sort of get the idea that I should be apologising for that fact, and my continued existence in general both here in the murky wilderness of the internet and out there... Of course pointing accusingly out of the nearest window doesn't really come across too well when considering the ill-written word scrawled across this tiny forlorn corner of cyberspace. I would consider a transfer to visual media as a method of dealing with these posts in a more interactive format, but the mere thought of my image broadcast through the digital domain is enough to give me nightmares for a very long time. It would also have the side-effect of reducing audience figures even further - mostly because those unfortunate enough to witness such a production would retreat to the bathroom vomiting. If you imagine a face carved, by an angry toddler into the surface of a particular disfigured potato you'd sort of get the picture.
Besides it would never work out anyway, early forays into youtube supporting videos was already a significant failure - and all it did was showcase the considerable lack of production quality I have at my disposal. Fancy 1080p recordings of driving round circuits in a video game don't amount to anything if the camera work is poor and all stitched together in a woeful editing suite. To make matters worse the supporting annotations were unimaginative and dull - there was a prototype video for the first production - Malaysia 2011 - with audio commentary... that went in the bin very quickly... I wanted to simply and hopefully humorously ad-lib my way round a lap, as it turned out I wasn't funny or capable of finding the right words when trying not to crash the virtual car into a pixellated barrier. Therefore the text based annotations were born... in a sort of clunky awkward kind of way. In the end it proved to be far more effort than it was worth - many, many hours of recording and editing for a couple of views, and even they probably were from people who got lost on the internet. Efforts to add more contact turned the videos into more of a farce than a satirical perspective on circuit design, in the end they had to be shelved and focus returned to the text based format here. Ultimately there are no immediate plans for expansion into other media approaches - and the format of the coming season remains very much undecided, something needs to change to breathe life into the place, but I don't know what.
Anyway, before this turns into another morbid crusade against the futility of my efforts... yes, I know, the term effort might be a little too optimistic, there is a reason for this latest low key publication. That reason is winter testing, and the first round thereof in Jerez, Spain. We all know that the actual times and ranking from this earliest stage in the 2015 campaign have no bearing on the actual running order when we finally arrive in Melbourne in March. It was only a few years ago that Sauber were lighting up the testing circuit, and they didn't carry that form through to the main season. So the fact that Ferrari and Sauber were the top two cars in Jerez probably means nothing - other than that they've built something that can run consistently without breaking. Mercedes didn't lead any of the test days, but completed the most laps overall - even if they were still plagued with technical difficulties including a water leak on day one. McLaren had a difficult few days, as to be expected considering the new partnership with Honda is going to take a while to wear in, but they still completed more laps than Red Bull managed in 2014. The most amusing story of the four day event was Daniil Kvyat in his new role at Red Bull. The Russian with the death stare damaged the front wing on his new car on day one, normally not too much of a problem, except Red Bull didn't have a spare. So Daniil had to run the entire first day without a front wing on the curiously liveried Red Bull RB11.
The second part of this contribution to online mediocrity is the second half of the car reveals, many making their world début as part of the testing session in Jerez
Sauber
After a pointless season last year, the team were one of the squadrons in continual battles with Bernie over monetary distribution, and so need a stronger 2015 campaign. With the inclusion of Banco Do Brasil as a major sponsor courtesy of Nasr making the step up from GP2 there was hope for a brighter, more tropical livery. Something different to the grey of 2014, which didn't look anywhere as menacing as the initial previews suggested.
And this was the end result - it does have more colour than it's predecessor and it is a combination of yellow and blue - of which Blog HQ certainly approves. But it is a little plain, I know there are a lack of sponsors knocking on Sauber's door at the moment but it looks unfinished. It needs more yellow that's for definite but most teams could use more yellow in the livery, a few adjustments could make this the best livery in several years. On a technical front the car is considerably simpler than most of its competitors - which explains why testing results don't mean too much. Looking at the nose section I wonder if the design team looked at what Williams had done with theirs and decided that the team needed more girth on their nose appendage. It doesn't look as refined as the other designs overall, but there is plenty of time between now and Melbourne for aerodynamic aids to be added and panels to be sculpted a little tighter.
Ferrari
Released on the same day as the Sauber, the factory Ferrari team unveiled their new effort - I can't say I was surprised to see that it was bright red. A bright yellow Ferrari would be a nice change, but I think there is more chance of this blog taking over the world than Ferrari deviating from the traditional scarlet paint scheme.
Ferrari appeared to be paying attention to what Mercedes have been doing with the camera housings on the nose section - placing them in the same 'antler' position as the German team. The rest of the nose follows the platypus train of thought - rather than the shorter one demonstrated by Lotus and Mercedes. The reasoning behind the nose concept differences is to do with the crash testing rules vs the technical regulations vs aerodynamic performance. The end of the nose must be ahead of the front plane of the front wing, a shorter overhang is easier for aero design but is harder to pass the crash tests with. Ferrari have more of a crumple zone but that means the shape of the nose has to be modified to offset any aerodynamic loss. At least that's what I think is going on as per half listening to Ted Kravitz listing all the design choices in his notebook program. Whatever the reasoning, Raikkonen has stated that the car is much better than the 2014 version and it has topped timing in all four days of testing. Even though we can't trust those figures, the car probably will be more competitive than it was...
Toro Rosso
Fielding a team of rookies in 2015, especially one with so little F1 experience means that we probably won't be seeing the ultimate pace of whatever creation Toro Rosso have put together. On the day before testing began the challenger was revealed to the world - and immediately the general consensus was that it appeared the team have finally used up their allocation of gold paint.
Like Ferrari, Toro Rosso have gone for the platypus nose design with the extra crash structure - which given the inexperience of the pilots it sort of makes sense. Although saying that, only Kvyat damaged a car in testing... Like many teams Toro Rosso have sculpted a deep undercut in the sidepods to allow air to travel along the side of the car before reaching the rear diffuser. One insight that Ted Kravitz did point out was that Toro Rosso - and Sauber - have added additional cooling across the top half of the engine cover which also requires additional air inlets on the airbox above the driver's head. Toro Rosso have also gone with the antler camera hosing units on the top of the nose cone in front of the front wheels.
Red Bull
Red Bull unveiled their new challenger as part of the Jerez testing session and for some reason they wanted to hide their car from the general public - with a camouflage livery... Well I'm sorry Christian Horner, but we can still see the car it isn't hiding very well. I reality the purpose behind the mad colour (or lack thereof) scheme is to make specific details difficult to pick out. Porsche did it with their LMP1 car and BMW are currently testing their GT racer with a camouflage pattern on it. It is however, a new thing to the world of F1.
Here we can see the RB11 in its day one configuration after Kvyat damaged the only front wing the team had on site. To an extent the inconsistent lines and disruptive patterns to make picking out the shape of the sidepods slightly difficult from longer range shots. But it seems as if they've not nothing bizarre and innovative worth hiding - just another well packaged machine as we are used to seeing from Newey's workshop. Although it has been known that Adrian is having an increasingly smaller influence on design choices as he diversifies to work on other projects. I can't help but wonder if there is something devious hidden between the black and while lines of the early prototype, but on the whole it has been functioning a lot better than it's predecessor which struggled to get any running in pre-season testing. It would also be interesting to see if Red Bull carry this deceptive testing livery through to the main season, or even an even better idea would be to allow Max Verstappen to colour it in using his crayons from primary school.
Force India, Marussia and Caterham
Three of 2014's teams were not at this first test of the new year, two with obvious financial difficulties that struck them down at the end of last season. Force India do appear to be an a bit of bother, recent reports suggest that their car might not be ready for the second testing event either in Barcelona - and the reason behind that is the omnipresent issue of financial support. While the presentation livery revealed in Mexico appeared to be coated in more sponsor logos than the teams that have tested in Jerez, it appears Force India could do with a bit more cash. The current rumours are that suppliers have not been paid and therefore haven't supplied components of some sort to the team. Ultimately meaning the car isn't complete. This naturally is bad news not only for Force India but for the sport as a whole, if a team which has scored podium positions and fought McLaren in the constructors championship is struggling now it is a desperate state of affairs. In it's early years Force India did annoy me, simply because they bought out Jordan (the team) and I liked Jordan and ultimate missed them on the grid. The same applies to Toro Rosso who took over Minardi... except I never quite warmed to the Red Bull play school team. Force India have grown into a valid member of the F1 paddock and it would be a shame for these financial difficulties ruin their 2015 season as they trundle round at the back in an undeveloped car.
Marussia were in greater trouble last season and fell into administration, it was widely assumed that it would be last we would see of the little British team. But as testing came to a conclusion news filtered through of a recovery program building momentum - a program with a variety of backers looking to gain entry into the sport. The recovery plot appears to be headed by Justin King - some rich chap who used to be in charge of Sainsbury's - the plan is in place with Marussia predominantly because of the prize money Marussia are owed for Bianchi's Monaco performance. If the team is able to enter the 2015 season then they can claim the money as part of the recovery plan. But there is a potential barrier - because of the late nature of the plan Marussia - as Manor GP - won't have a complete 2015 car. Therefore Manor (whatever the name ends up being) will have to ask the other teams for special dispensation to use an older spec car while their newer one is developed. If the other teams decide to block the move there will be a dispute over who gets the prize money. In theory it shouldn't be reallocated to prevent other teams in a display of ever increasing greed to push Manor away. The whole money thing centres around the issue of whether Manor GP counts as a separate entry to Marussia even though the team is essentially the same. If they do make the grid in Australia it will be a miracle, but a 2014 car, even with a new engine will be woefully off the pace and will struggle to make the 107% cut-off time. Many people have commented that if the car is going to be that slow and with no-one to compete against, what is the point... I think it would be wonderful for them to return, more cars on the grid the better, if the team want to come back, let them.
As for Caterham, the situation there looks far less promising, not that a Manor GP recovery is a certainty. Most recent updates suggest that team assets are being sold off and any sign of a recovery looks increasingly unlikely. In 2016 the empty space they'll leave behind will be populated by Haas GP, a team that purchased a lot of things from Marussia's asset auction - so maybe they'll be buying up some of the remains of the Caterham team. In the end the demise of Caterham ended a terrible year for former owner Tony Fernandes who after being involved with various arguments with the Kolles and the buyers of the failing team, saw his airline suffer one of the multiple Asian plane crash tragedies over the winter. Caterham started off as the most successful of the three teams that arrived in 2010, and even in 2014 were on form with Marussia as Kobayashi and Bianchi fought for top spot - and then Ericsson joined in once Caterham sorted the steering system out. It would be nice to see them return, to fight alongside Manor GP/Marussia but it is looking very, very unlikely sadly.
