Formula 1 News Roundup 2/25

Today was the last day of the first four day test in Barcelona. Kimi Raikkonen ended the day fastest but he did set his time with Pirelli's new ultrasoft tires. The only two teams that ran into major problems where Manor as Rio Haryanto had a crash in the afternoon and could not get back on track and McLaren who only completed three laps on the day due to a coolant leak. Every other team completed at least one race distance led by the Mercedes drivers who completed 185 between the two of them. The most laps for a single driver was Kevin Magnussen who completed 153 laps. For a more detailed report on testing you can check here or here. Also, for quotes from drivers and team personnel, check here. Finally, to check Ted Kravitz's verdict click here.

There was not much news in Formula 1 today outside of testing. Pirelli did claim though that they do not expect laptimes to fall off a cliff with tires this year. They expect the drop off in times to be more gradual and Pirelli feel that this is the better option. Overall I would like to see racier tires that the drivers can push to the limit but that obviously won't happen this year. If I had to choose between a gradual drop off or tires that fall off a cliff I would choose ones that fall of a cliff. I think when they were first introduced they did bring some excitement into the races as if a driver pushed just a bit too far they would face the possibility of losing a lot of positions. The bit of unpredictability that they could possibly bring is something that Formula 1 could use to spice up some of the races.

Past Driver Profile: Umberto Maglioli

Years Active: 1953-1957

Races: 10

Best Finish: 3rd (1954 Italy, 1955 Argentina)

Best Championship Finish: 18th (1954)

Umberto Maglioli was born on June 5, 1928 in Bioglio in Italy. He grew up in Italy with his father who was a doctor, his mother, two brothers and a sister. Maglioli did not have a long or successful Formula 1 career as he only entered 10 races over a span of 5 seasons but he did have a lot of success in sports car racing. One of the first major race Maglioli entered in his career was the 1948 Mille Miglia in which he entered with his friend Giovanni Bracco in a Lancia Aprilia. The pair of Maglioli and Bracco finished this race in 17th position. at the 1951 Mille Miglia racing again with his friend Bracco Maglioli scored his first strong result with a 2nd place finish behind the pair of Luigi Villoresi and Piero Cassani.

In 1953 Maglioli won the first major race of his international career at the Targa Florio in a Lancia D20. At the end of the year at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza Maglioli made his Formula 1 debut driving a Ferrari 553 for the Italian team. Maglioli qualified 11th for this races and made his way up to 8th position at the end although he was 5 laps down from the leaders.

 

Maglioli at the 1953 Italian Grand Prix

Maglioli started 1954 by competing in the season opening Argentine Grand Prix with Ferrari in which he qualified in 12th position and made his way up to 9th in the race but once again finished 5 laps down from the leaders. The next Formula 1 race that Maglioli participated in was the 1954 Swiss Grand Prix. Maglioli once again was stuck in the midfield with an 11th place in qualifying and a 7th in the race. Maglioli then participated in the following race which was the Italian Grand Prix. He once again did not have a strong qualifying lining up 13th on the grid but after 30 laps he handed his car over to teammate Jose Froilan  Gonzalez who had retired  with a gearbox problem. Gonzalez took the car up to a 3rd place finish which meant that Maglioli scored the first podium of his Formula 1 career. Maglioli ended his year in 1954 with another career highlight by winning the Carrera Panamericana.

Maglioli competed in two Formula 1 races in the 1955 season including the season opening Argentine Grand Prix in which he scored his second career podium finish with a 3rd place which was another shared drive. This time Maglioli shared his car with Ferrari teammates Giuseppe Farina and Maurice Trintingnant. The other Formula 1 race Maglioli participated in during the 1955 season was the Italian Grand Prix in which he finished in 6th just one place outside of the points. The following year in 1956 Maglioli participated in three Formula 1 races all of which were for Maserati but he retired in all three. 1956 was not a lost season for Maglioli though as he produced some strong results outside of Formula 1. This included winning the Targa Florio and also finishing 4th overall in the 1000km. of Nurburgring but he won his class. Both of these races were completed in a Porsche.

 

Maglioli at the 1955 Italian Grand Prix

1957 saw Maglioli take part in his last Formula 1 grand prix at the German Grand Prix in which he drove for Porsche. Maglioli retired from this race. Maglioli continued racing for the next decade and had some notable results including finishing 3rd at the 1963 24 Hours of LeMans and also winning the 1964 12 Hours of Sebring. Maglioli retired from racing after 1970. After retiring from racing Maglioli moved to Switzerland and founded a company which made watches. He later moved to Monza where he died on February 7th, 1999.

Opinion: Formula 1 Qualifying

The biggest new that took place in Formula 1 Tuesday was the announcement of the new potential qualifying system. Qualifying would still be split into three sessions as it is now but instead of drivers eliminated at the end of each session the slowest driver would be eliminated about halfway through the session and then the slowest remaining car every 90 seconds after that until the end of the session. This would happen in all three parts so we would end up with two cars in the final 90 seconds of Q3 battling for pole. The qualifying rules are not official as they still need approval by the FIA's World Motor Sport Council but if approved they could be put into place this year. Also at today's meeting, it was agreed to extend the deadline for 2017 technical rules until April 30.

The reasoning behind this idea is that it will encourage the cars to remain on the track more through qualifying as they will be fighting elimination throughout the entire session and also it is a potential way the grid could get shaken up without using artificial ideas such as reverse grids.

Will new qualifying regulations allow us to see new drivers in the top 3?

I have mixed opinions about a system such as this as I feel it could be intriguing as it will hopefully bring more action throughout qualifying but one of the problems I see is that it will probably be very confusing to a casual fan. I think it will be difficult to explain to them why cars are dropping out of qualifying every 90 seconds and it will also be difficult for them to keep up with. This will also be difficult for TV stations that run commercials during qualifying as it will make it harder for them to not miss any of the eliminations in a session. Another part I do not like about this is with cars being eliminated throughout the session you will have cars on the track that are technically not in qualifying anymore but they could still impede with a driver on a hot lap if they catch up to the eliminated driver at the wrong time.

As far as being a way to shake up the grid I do not think it will help that much. We might see teams and drivers caught out early in the season and have to start lower than they are accustomed to on the grid but I think by the halfway point of the season everyone will be used to how the system works and will not have many problems with it.

The main problem that I have with this type of qualifying is that qualifying was fine the way it was and was generally liked by the public. For such an important meeting for the future of Formula 1, I think it would have been better for them to discuss more important things such as how to bring new fans to the sport instead of trying to fix the one part of Formula 1 that is universally liked. I think the current qualifying regulations go under the category of if it is not broken don't fix it.

What are your opinions on this new potential qualifying system? Do you approve of it or would you rather see them stick with the current system? Do you have any ideas for a new qualifying system? Please share your opinions in the comments section below?

Formula 1 News Roundup 2/23

Tuesday was another busy day in the world of Formula 1 as testing continued for the 2nd day and there was also an important meeting in Geneva in which teams agreed on a new qualifying format which will be discussed in a different post.

During testing on Tuesday, Sebastian Vettel was fastest once again but reliability was the main story of the day.Eight of the eleven teams recorder over 100 laps on the day led by Nico Rosberg of Mercedes who recorded a whopping 172 laps which is the equivalent of almost three whole races. The other big story on track was the use of the brand new ultra soft tire which was used by Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo as they took the first two spots on the charts. To check out a more detailed report on testing you can check here or here. You can also check out Ted Kravitz's notebook which includes interviews with Kevin Magnussen and Rio Haryanto.

In other important Formula 1 news on the day Honda announced that Formula 1 boss Yasuhisa Arai will step down at the end of the month and Honda's involvement in Formula 1 will be headed by Yusuke Hasegawa. The last year has been a difficult one for Honda as it was not expected for them to be as off the pace as they were last year. They seem to be improving but they are not at the front yet. They will definately hope this move will help progress them forward even more.

The good news for McLaren though is that Fernando Alonso claimed the McLaren chassis could become the best on the grid this year. If this becomes true this would definately be a step in the right direction for the team but it will still be difficult for them to compete for wins as the engine seems to still be down on power. Alonso also made news Tuesday by saying he will see out the rest of his McLaren contract which runs through the end of next year. It has definately been a disappointing few years for Alonso and one would be able to understand if his motivation was running out but if he sees any success at McLaren it would end up being a great reward for him.

Alonso hopes for better days at McLaren in 2016 than he had in 2015

Also today, American IndyCar series team Andretti Autosport announced that they have signed former Manor Formula 1 driver Alexander Rossi to a contract for the 2016 season. I think Rossi did a good job last year in his races with Manor but unfortunately could not come to an agreement for the 2016 season but hopefully we will see him again in the future in Formula 1. Until then, this is a good spot for him.

Opinion: Formula 1 Strategy Meeting

Tomorrow there will be an important meeting between the Formula 1 Strategy group and Formula 1 Commission tomorrow in Geneva. Among topics being discussed at the meeting will be 2017 technical regulations and also potential ways to shake things up in races such as reverse grids.

As far as the technical regulations are concerned I think it is important for Formula 1 to get this right. The current cars are not as exciting as cars of the past generation and I think this is one of the reasons for the declining audience. I think they should definately try to increase lap times along with making the cars visibly more difficult to drive. However, I don't think that they should increase downforce as much as some people are suggesting though as more downforce does mean it is more difficult to overtake. Either way, this meeting will be very important towards the future of Formula 1 because if an agreement is not made by the end of the month it is very unlikely that any major changes will be made.

Will we see Formula 1 cars that look more like this in the future?

The second part that will be discussed is ways of shaking up the races, with one of the possible ways being reverse grids. The way they would do this would most likely be to only invert the cars that made Q3 so the car with the fastest time would start in 10th and the slowest car would start 1st. The way they would encourage people to not sandbag in qualifying would be by having points available for qualifying. However, I think there are a number of problems with rules such as this. The one problem I can see occurring would be at tracks such as Monaco where overtaking is extremely difficult drivers may still sandbag unless there are more points available for pole then a race win. I think this would be something extremely difficult to explain to a casual fan why cars are purposely not setting a fast time. I also feel that this would be very poor for the image of the sport. Qualifying is supposed to be about which driver and car combination can be fastest over a single lap and anything that might take away from that would be unfortunate.

Will Lewis Hamilton have to start 10th after setting the fastest lap in qualifying?

Another problem I see with this that I feel this is purely a gimmick. I do not think anyone should be penalized for being the quickest car and driver combination in qualifying and should have to have a more difficult race because of it. The driver with the fastest lap in Q3 earned the right to start on pole and they should be able to keep it. I feel that rules such as this take away from finding out which car and driver combination was the best on the weekend and the whole point of sports in general is to find out who is the best. When rules such as this are implemented it brings the best closer to the pack where instead it should be everyone else trying to improve to chase the best. Rules such as this or double points used in 2014 only serve a purpose try to equalize the sport and I do not think anyone should be penalized for performing better than others.

What type of rules would you like to see agreed upon in tomorrow's meeting? Do you think the technical regulations need to be shaken up? Would you be a fan of reversed grids? Please share your opinion in the comments section below.

Formula 1 News Roundup 2/22

The big news in Formula 1 today was the start of preseason testing. Before testing though  Manor, Toro Rosso, Force India, and Red Bull all revealed their 2016 cars to the public.

Manor MRT05

Toro Rosso STR11

Force India VJM09

Red Bull RB12

For a more detailed analysis of the Red Bull check here.

In testing today Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time followed by Lewis Hamilton in 2nd. As always with testing though it is difficult to know which team is actually in the best shape as they all run different fuel loads and tire compounds along with different settings. What we can learn though is the Mercedes looks to be quite reliable as Hamilton recorded 156 laps in the day which is the equivalent of over two race distances. Most teams ran between 80 and 90 laps on the day which is over one race distance which shows that most teams are looking in good shape as far as reliability is concerned. One of these teams is McLaren which recorded more laps today than they did in the entire first four days of testing last year. However, the car still looks to be down on straight line speed.

The two teams that ran in to problems though were Haas and Renault. The front wing of the Haas car fell off as it was on the main straight but the team says it understands the problem. As for Renault they claim they had teething problems which had a lot to do with software.

For more detailed testing reports check out here and here.

Overall I think this seems to be a successful day for most teams as reliability was not really an issue. The one team that I was impressed with most today was Haas despite its front wing problems. I was expecting that since they are a new team they would have even more problems getting the car up and running but that was their only issue. Their fastest time of the day was also only 3.5s. off the leading Ferrari of Vettel which I also think was good for the first day.

Formula 1 News Roundup 2/21

The main story in Formula 1 today has been car launches as three different teams introduced their cars and another team introduced its livery.

Mercedes introduced the car this morning that they hope will defend both titles in Formula 1 this year. They insist that they are going to keep pushing forward and try to improve on last years results.

The team also says the car that they run in testing this week will be very close to the specification that they use at the Australian Grand Prix next month. Mercedes says the reason for this is a combination of having just two winter tests which is down from three last year and also the fact that the tests are very close to the opening race.

I think this is an issue as usually with new cars there are kinks that need to be sorted out and this would make it very difficult for any team that runs into problems. I understand that budgets are tight these days overall but I think this is an issue that needs to be resolved as it would not be good for the sport if the cars arrive in Melbourne with the teams not being able to sort out issues that they run into.

To check out the changes Mercedes have made from last years car check out this link.

Mercedes W07 Hybrid

Another team to launch its 2016 car today was McLaren. The team says the goal is to still win with Honda but they will not give an estimate as to when that will be. They also say that the chassis is innovative and the results will rely on how much the Honda power unit has developed this winter.

I hope McLaren returns to the front of the grid as I think it is bad for the sport to have the McLaren team along with drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button near the back of the grid. However, I don't see the team making that large of a step in just one winter and I think a more realistic expectation would be better reliability and having a car that can fight in the midfield.

To check out the changes McLaren have made from last years car check out this link.

McLaren MP4-31

The third team to launch its 2016 car was Haas. The team stated today that they feel that they can fight for points in its debut season. I think this is a good target for Haas as they are probably better prepared for Formula 1 as the last time we saw new teams in 2010. I feel this way because the team had a lot longer time to prepare for its entry into Formula 1 and also because of its technical relationship with Ferrari. However, this still does not mean they have a steep hill to climb and I would not expect to see them fight for points until about midseason. 

Haas VF-16

Sauber has also revealed a slight change in its livery this year.

2016 Sauber livery

In other news today Mercedes have claimed that all teams that use Mercedes engines this year will receive the same equipment. If this is true I think this will definately be good for competition although Williams may be the only team that could potentially challenge Mercedes. If Williams does get close enough to Mercedes it will be interesting to see if it can retain its performance level of will they start to drop off. The teams using receiving engines from Mercedes in 2016 are Williams, Force India, and Manor.

Bernie Ecclestone claimed that Formula 1 is the worst it has ever been among other things. His reason is because of the predictability in the sport currently. I agree that Mercedes domination is not good for Formula 1 but a team has dominated at other times during the sports history and the sport has remained healthy. I think the main problem is these days it is a lot more difficult for a team to catch up with the way the regulations currently are and that is what needs to change. Ecclestone also says that he thinks a rule change for 2017 will not be agreed on by the March 1st deadline.

In one final bit of news testing begins tomorrow and Circuit de Catalunya and we will get our first chance to see all the new cars on track and our first idea of where teams stand at for the new year.

Also, don't forget to share your opinion about all the news from today. Do you have an opinion on any of the cars that were launched? Also what do you think about Bernie Ecclestone's comments? Please let us know in the comments section below.