Inside Track: Formula 1

The future of F1

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:31:35 GMT

FIA's plans for F1 revealed in leaked photo...

Dan Trent writes:
If you ever wanted proof of all that’s wrong with modern F1 the last two races provide all the evidence you need. Take Valencia; here the powers that be attempted to contrive a spectacle with a hugely expensive brand new circuit that supposedly represented the future of the sport. The result? Yet another dull procession.

So it fell to Spa in Belgium to prove that real excitement, the kind of racing drivers and fans love, comes not through spending millions on a new track but through good old fashioned racing - unpredictable, thrilling and incredibly dramatic racing.

Racing? Nah, who'd be interested in watching that...

But those in control of F1 don’t seem to want that. And the on-track action at Spa delivered an insubordinate slap in the face to their vision for the sport. One that they clearly took great affront to. The answer? Subvert one of the most exciting race results of recent years with an incredibly officious and ill-judged ruling that makes a mockery of the fantastic on-track battle.

I’d quite like to see Hamilton win the championship this year. But that’s not why I’m so furious. I’m just really upset a fantastic race, one rewarding the drivers with the most skill (and, it has to be said, luck) has been corrupted by the very people supposedly looking after the sport’s interests. Yet again a race, possibly a championship, isn’t going to be decided on the racetrack but in the courtroom. And, other than the lawyers, who does that help?

Less of that nonsense please chaps...

So where does F1 go from here? Well, I reckon the FIA plan for the sport is to link the cars together like one of those ‘petit train’ things you get in French tourist resorts. A noisy, sponsor covered version that can parade around some hugely expensive autodrome slow enough for people to read the logos while paying through the nose for overpriced ‘hospitality’. Just think of the increased profit margins – no need for overpaid drivers or troublesome car companies whining about getting a cut of the TV rights. Step one of this plan seems to be to convince the drivers there’s no point actually racing and leave them as demoralised and disillusioned as the rest of us. After Spa it seems like job done on that score.

Links
Le Petit Train of Laval

Real racing, Can Am style

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Honda's Dream(field) come true

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:10:36 GMT

Dan Trent writes:

F1 is a world of hierarchies, most of them dictated, marked and governed by the power of the laminate. Yes, that little bit of plastic dangling off your neck suddenly becomes currency governing where you go, where you sit, where you eat, how much you pay and - most pertinently at Silverstone this weekend - whether or not you stay dry.

'Myhab' cardboard tents were our homes for the race weekend.

Fortunately for this, my first ever F1 race, my laminate was a good'n, courtesy of those nice folks at Honda. For not only did it get me a seat in the grandstand at Beckett's - the covered grandstand at Beckett's - it also meant I was fed, watered and accommodated in Honda's Dreamfields compound.

After qualifying it looked like dreams were all Honda could hope for - but Rubens proved us all wrong!

Honda called it 'posh camping', our beds for the night being in quirky - and terribly right-on - cardboard pod things, neatly arranged in a field beside a complex of dome-like marquees housing a bar, catering and various other entertainments. We also got a temporary laminate upgrade that gained us access to the inner sanctum of the paddock and garages. A jealously guarded laminate that we were forced to surrender on our re-entry into the 'real world' outside so the next group could enter. Still, this brief behind the scenes glimpse was fascinating, the Honda team relentlessly cheerful despite their cars' dismal qualifying positions.

Dreamfields HQ, gatecrashers just out of shot...

Back at the Dreamfields on Saturday night the party hit full swing, livened up further by the arrival of various gatecrashers from neighbouring campsites reckoning they had a chance of blagging a few drinks at Honda's expense. But they'd reckoned without the power of the laminate. Or the swiftness of the response. Here's a clue chaps, if you're going to try and blag your way in somewhere, don't walk straight to the bar with huge grins on your faces giving each other the thumbs up. And if you do get collared try and come up with a more convincing false name than Dave Tabloid. Dave Tabloid! No laminate = swift ejection by chaps in high-viz jackets in this world, though we did enjoy the chap scampering across the dancefloor as security gave chase, drink still in hand.

I think this bloke might have won the race..

Anyway, the weather wasn't ideal for camping but it certainly made for a classic race and being present for Hamilton's first home win was magic. Better still our hosts celebrated a podium courtesy of Rubens Barichello - a result even our unendingly optimistic hosts could have predicted. The power of dreams, eh?

Dan

The hard working and incredibly hospitable Honda PR team take a well earned breather - thanks chaps!

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Lapping Silverstone in a 425bhp Formula Renault

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:51:36 GMT

Photos from Jakob Ebrey/Renaultsport UK

Dan Trent writes:

This job gets you some pretty special rides in some amazing cars. But nothing could prepare me for my first ever run in a proper single-seat racing car ... even if this one actually had two seats. Whatever, it's as near as dammit. And where better than Silverstone, which in a few weeks will be hosting the British Grand Prix and last weekend was home to the Renault World Series.

Now the specially converted Formula Renault 3.5 I was riding in wasn’t as fast as a F1 car. But with a 425bhp race-prepped version of the Nissan 350Z’s 3.5-litre V6, automated sequential gearbox, proper aero kit and slick tyres it’s as close as you’re going to get. And plenty fast enough to punch the air from your lungs and teach you new respect for the Hamiltons of this world (pitlane muppetry notwithstanding). It ain’t comfy though, with even the specially lengthened chassis forcing you into a strange squatting position with your shins up against the back of the driver’s seat. But for a ride like this you’ll endure any discomfort.

Lurching from the pit box the view before me was pure PlayStation – the dome of the driver’s helmet, a scrap of bodywork, two dinky mirrors and the Beckett’s complex framed by spindly suspension and two fat, slick racing tyres. Exploding out of the pitlane and into the famously fast left-right-left-right sequence as the g-forces cut in I was glad there was no room for me to move in the cockpit. It didn’t stop my internal organs rattling around inside my torso though, or my head flying forward as we hit the braking zone for the surprisingly tight right-hander at Chapel at the end of the complex.

I say surprisingly tight because when you see the F1 boys tackling it they barely seem to slow but from inside the car it feels a lot more dramatic. And from this tarmac-skimming perspective I began to appreciate quite how challenging Silverstone’s super fast corners can be – because it’s so flat here you have hardly any reference points to aim at and how the F1 drivers manage to be so fast and so precise beggars belief.

My driver was keeping things very smooth but even so I completely failed to anticipate how late he would brake at the end of the Hanger straight and once again my head – seconds before pinned back by the slipstream – snapped violently forward. The rest of the lap passed in a blur but the flat right-hander at Bridge sticks out as perhaps the most thrilling single moment. Mere seconds later we were back in the pits, the next lucky passenger waiting to be strapped in for the most exciting couple of minutes of their life. I managed a thumbs up as I staggered, stunned, from the car and will be watching every second of the forthcoming the British GP with new fascination.

Dan

Links

Silverstone

More info on Formula Renault 3.5

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Safety car gets serious

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:18:39 GMT

Dan Trent writes:

I really, really, enjoyed driving the CLK63 Black Series the other week and the news that it’s been retired from its front line role as F1 safety car saddened me a little. Until I saw its replacement.

This is, without doubt, the meanest, most badass Merc SL I think I’ve ever seen. And much as I don’t want to see anyone hurt in F1 I’m impatient for my first sight of this car in action. Sight? Oh, and sound too, the succession of AMG safety cars we’ve seen over the years getting steadily louder and louder, to the point where even Martin Brundle was forced to break off mid-flow and murmur “that sounds a-mazing” when the CLK was on track last year. And anyone in any doubt of how hard Bernd Mayländer has to drive the thing just need check the footage from last year’s race at the Nurburgring, where he not only had to wrestle the car around in torrential conditions but also dodge various spinning F1 cars.

It’s also whetted my appetite for a Black Series version of the newly revised SL – something that must surely follow given that the safety car provided the basis for both the Black Series SLK and CLK. The SL’s new MCT-7 gearbox should answer my only real beef with the CLK Black, while the fact the SL safety car has lost 220 kilos through the removal of the folding hardtop and its replacement with a fixed carbon fibre roof means it now weighs a relatively slimline 1,750kg. That new front valance looks the business too. And with 519bhp it’s likely not to be too tardy either. The C63 estate medical car looks pretty damned cool too.

Like anyone I’d love to be an F1 driver. But given what he’s allowed to play with I have to admit I wouldn’t mind Herr Mayländer’s job either… Here’s looking forward to Saturday!

Dan

Links:

CLK Black Series first drive

SLK Black Series road test

SLK Black Series video

CLK Black Series sideways on track

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Lewis: Can we start hoping?

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:53:05 GMT

What an amazing race yesterday? Seeing the TV footage, I can't believe anyone managed to get around the race circuit once, let alone get around one lap - let alone 60-odd, and to win it. Quite amazing really - and of course with the added bonus of Mr Alonso spinning out. All of which leaves Lewis a chance of clinching the title next weekend in Beijing; we will be keeping our fingers crossed!

Our first F1 World champ since Damon Hill in 1996... How about that - and in his first season too...

Tom