Final Winter Testing From Barcelona, Spain
Posted: March 4, 2013 | Author: johnpierrerivera | Filed under: F1 | Modify: Edit this | Leave a comment »

Just the facts this time around people. I have elected to not post the times from the the first two days of this final (and all important) test due the the fact that they were both rain affected. So here is the final numbers before we head off to Melborne in two weeks time. More analysis to follow, and by that I mean my usual smart-alecky self, with a little analysis thrown in. -jp-

Barcelona Test Day 3
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m20.558 97 Laps (S)
2. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m21.457 +0.899 85 Laps (SS)
3. Adrian Sutil Force India 1m21.627 +1.069 109 Laps (S)
4. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m22.305 +1.747 34 Laps (S)
5. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m22.468 +1.1.910
6. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1m22.553 +1.995 86 Laps (S)
7. Sergio Perez McLaren 1m22.694 +2.136 81 Laps (S)
8. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m23.116 +2.558 50 Laps (S)
9. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1m23.223 +2.665 105 Laps (S)
10. Davide Valsecchi Lotus 1m23.448 +2.890 16 Laps (S)
11. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1m23.482 +2.924 30 Laps (M)
12. Jules Bianchi Marussia 1m24.028 +3.470 65 Laps (S)
13. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1m24.520 +3.962 119 Laps (M)

Barcelona Test Day 4
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m20.130 131 Laps (S)
2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m20.494 +0.364 120 Laps (S)
3. Jenson Button McLaren 1m21.444 +1.314 122 Laps (UM)
4. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1m21.541 +1.411 118 Laps (S)
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1m21.658 +1.528 50 Laps (S)
6. Paul Di Resta Force India 1m21.664 +1.534 112 Laps (S)
7. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m22.415 +2.285 42 Laps (S)
8. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m22.514 +2.384 100 Laps (UM)
9. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m22.524 +2.394 31 Laps (S)
10. Charles Pic Caterham 1m23.115 +2.985 116 Laps
11. Jules Bianchi Marussia 1m23.167 +3.037 62 Laps
12. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m23.628 +3.498 91 Laps
13. Max Chilton Marussia 1m24.103 +3.973 49 Laps

Top 5 Quickest Times From Both Days.
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m20.130 131 Laps (S)
2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m20.494 +0.364 120 Laps (S)
3. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m20.558 97 Laps (S)
4. Jenson Button McLaren 1m21.444 +1.314 122 Laps (UM)
5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m21.457 +0.899 85 Laps (SS)

(Tyre on which best lap time was set in brackets)

This result should certainly cause all kinds of discussion up and down the pit lane and in the blogesphere, wouldn’t you think. Not just for who is in the top five, but for who is suspiciously not

What We Have All Been Waiting For, Well At Least -Me-
Posted: February 22, 2013 | Author: johnpierrerivera | Filed under: F1, Fernando, Ferrari, Racing | Modify: Edit this | Leave a comment »

Well it is now time for the last driver (that is already contracted to a team) to familiarize himself with his 2013 machinery. Of course I could only be referring to a one Fernando Alonso. Ferrari and Alonso have come painfully close to the ultimate prize in two of the last three years, which makes this (before the regs change to a v-6 turbo formula for 2014) year the last that we will have some parity up and down the pit lane. The felling that I get from 2010 and last year 2012 (2011 was a Redbull shalacking) was if Ferrari would of designed just “a little better of a car” in hindsight Fernando would of been 4x champion. Of course one never can really say with any certainty what would have been. But that is the feeling, at least from my bias interpretation.

With that said, we and I’m sure the rest of the grid eagerly await to see what the Ferrai’s new challenger, the F138 is capable of in the hands of this top driver. The reason for this wait: he elected to skip the first test. Some (there is no shortage of trash talking in the F1) thought this was not only foolish but also arrogant (that you for your input Niki Lauda). The reason we are told is that Fernando was still training in middle east. On the surface of it, maybe most drivers not to mention, most of us, would like to get in to the car as soon as possible, especially with this new “faster- degrading” Pirreli tire. However, I’m sure Fernando know’s what he is doing. When asked about his absence, he [Alonso] quite simply said the first test is about miles and systems checks. Ok fair enough. Well here we are at the second winter test and Alonso on the third day did not disappoint. Here are the times. I did not include day 4 because it was rain affected.

Barcelona Test Day 1
1. Rosberg Mercedes 1m22.616s 54 Laps
2. Raikkonen Lotus 1m22.623s +0.007 44 Laps
3. Alonso Ferrari 1m22.952s +0.336 110 Laps
4. Vettel Red Bull 1m22.965s +0.349 66 Laps
5. Maldonado Williams 1m23.733s +1.117 86 Laps
6. Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m23.884s +1.268 73 Laps
7. Perez McLaren 1m24.124s +1.508 77 Laps
8. Di Resta Force India 1m24.144s +1.528 82 Laps
9. Gutierrez Sauber 1m25.124s +2.508 68 Laps
10. Chilton Marussia 1m26.747s +4.131 65 Laps
11. Pic Caterham 1m27.534s +4.918 49 Laps

Barcelona Test Day 2
1. Sergio Perez McLaren 1m21.848s 97 Laps
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m22.197s +0.349 84
3. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1m22.697s +0.849 43
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m22.726s +0.878 121
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m23.247s +1.399 76
6. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m23.561s +1.713 98
7. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m23.718s +1.870 70
8. Paul di Resta Force India 1m23.971s +2.123 62
9. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1m24.205s +2.357 88
10. Max Chilton Marussia 1m25.115s +3.267 67
11. Charles Pic Caterham 1m26.243s +4.395 102

Barcelona Test Day 3
1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m21.875s 97 Laps
2. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1m22.160s +0.285 91
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1m22.188s +0.313 119
4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m22.611s +0.736 108
5. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m22.675s +0.800 79
6. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m22.826s +0.951 68
7. Jenson Button McLaren 1m22.840s +0.965 71
8. Adrian Sutil Force India 1m22.877s +1.002 78
9. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m23.024s +1.149 108
10. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1m23.366s +1.491 106
11. Max Chilton Marussia 1m25.690s +3.815 58
12. Giedo van der Garde Caterham 1m26.177s +4.302 83

Top 5 Quickest Times From Both Days
1. Sergio Perez McLaren 1m21.848s 97 Laps (d2)
1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m21.875s 97 Laps (d3)
2. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1m22.160s +0.285 91 Laps (d3)
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1m22.188s +0.313 119 Laps (d3)
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m22.197s +0.349 84 Laps (d2)

So the second test of winter 2013 is complete. Massa says the car in on another “planet” Fernando calls it 200 time better. We will not really know until the new stuff (Australian spec aero package) gets bolted on to the car for the next test and teams go for true competitive times in preparation for the first race of the season. Time to get serious everyone… jp

here are the two new for 2013 posts at my blog amerf1can.com if you like them there is a whole years worth from 2012 that you can view.


Reading The Tea Leaves
Posted: February 15, 2013 | Author: johnpierrerivera | Filed under: F1 | Modify: Edit this | Leave a comment »

Every once in awhile it occurs to me that a steady diet of my biased, silly, sometimes cruel, every once in a while self-deprecating F1 rants might get tiresome so instead I like to bring the attention of my readers, all 20 of you, to some real blogging.

I go to the BBC website’s F1 section at a minimum of once per day. I’ve recently been obsessing on an article by Gary Anderson titled Number Crunching Gives Early F1 Form, in which he predicts the true potential of each team by starting with their posted test times and then accounting for the vast amount of variables that, purposefully or not, obscures a team’s true performance.

I’m pretty sure I have now gone through this article at least ten times reading every little bit of information and looking for the smallest clues as to who has the advantage either in outright pace or who is the most consistent over a certain number of laps, or which chassis is the kindest on its tires.

Now I know what you must be thinking, the season has yet to start, a normal person before surrendering almost every other Sunday from March to November to a bunch of over-priced cars, driven by some over-paid drivers (well at least some of them ha-ha), managed by over-paid teams, (even in this new era of restraint and cost controls), would be, should be, finishing those last couple of chores around the house that his wife has been asking for going on three months now, or catch up on some much needed reading from the stack of baby books (our twins are 7 months now), or finish the kitchen remodel that I started back in the summer of 2012, and of course you would be right. But am I? Sadly, not. I am so starved for F1 that I am reduced down to scouring any and all things that I can read, look at, or listen to. My wife has one word for this: “Tragic.” I would have to agree. But back to the point.

Mr. Anderson is no joke – he has been technical director for three F1 teams (Jordan, Stewart and Jaguar) not to mention whatever he did to get to F1 in the first place. But it is still quite impressive how he was able to determine where each team stood starting with the times they were putting on the board in Jerez, Spain during the first test of 2013, and calculating for all the variables that exist.

In a nutshell here it is: taking into account the amount of laps the driver completed on a specific run, that being 3-4 laps for a light fuel run, compared to 10-15 laps on a heavier tank, he used the known information of how much fuel an F1 car gobbles up per lap, how much degradation the tires would suffer, and factored in the difference for the harder tire (slower) and the softer tire (faster). He then determined what the best possible time each car/driver combination was capable of; can you say “nutty professor”? As if that was not hard enough, don’t forget that the big teams, Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, are usually sandbagging a little bit. We saw Red Bull do this constantly last year in Friday practice and then during Saturday qualifying they would throw down the gauntlet. (Bitches.) So he also accounted for teams that are trying to conceal their true race pace vs. teams that are not. Now of course this is somewhat speculative, but for as long as I have been following F1 these early speculations by the technical pundits like Gary Anderson always seem to bear out pretty closely to the real thing, come race time.

The good news for me and Alonso fans or Ferrari fans, and yes, Felipe Massa fans as well, is that the F138 doesn’t appear to be the slow undriveable piece of crap that Ferrari brought to the party last year. (Of course you recall that despite this fact, in the hands of Fernando Alonso it almost won the Driver’s Championship, that is just how good he is). Instead, according to our BBC Pundit, the Ferrari looks pretty good, in fact really good. In a week’s time we have the second test and Fernando takes over the testing duties from Massa. So fingers crossed that this trend continues. For sure the Ferrari won’t be the fastest at the first race in Melbourne, but if Fernando can qualify in the top 5 (instead of 12th like last year) and within say .03 seconds of the pole sitter (instead of almost 2 seconds), then in race trim he should have a chance at starting the 2013 campaign considerably better than last year. We shall see. 30 days and counting. -jp the not so real, but extremely devoted, pundit-




Time Heals All Wounds (Or So They Say)
Posted: February 2, 2013 | Author: johnpierrerivera | Filed under: F1 | Modify: Edit this | 2 Comments »

Well not really, but whatever. It has been some time since I have put my hands on the keyboard to blog. I think it was in September when things started to go south and no one wants to listen to a cranky blogger. The problem is that this blogger is so invested in his team and driver, not only the highs but also the lows are incredibly intense. Winning feels f–ng great, losing just plan sucks, and it doesn’t get much more intense than starting the season with a slow car, overcoming that with skill and luck to take and hold the lead through most of the season, but still ending up three points down from the same team and driver that beat you the last two years. Ugh.

I have to say this one hurt even more than 2010. In that year Fernando made some serious mistakes, and as he very graciously said after the season was over, our season was not lost in the last race (I’m paraphrasing here). It was generous of him to excuse the strategist that made the wrong decision in calling Fernando into the pits to cover Mark Weber instead of staying out and following the leaders. Fernando got stuck behind Vitelli Petrov and his race and championship ended right there.

In 2012 Alonso was mistake-free, capitalized on every opportunity that was given to him, and produced three wins in a car his teammate Felipe Massa could barely get around the track. Some would call the coming together with Kimi Raikkonen in Japan an error, but I disagree. Kimi was behind and he didn’t leave enough room. A simple coming together. When cars are that close, there is bound to be contact. No big surprise there. What was also not surprising, Alonso drove at the highest level all year long, and once again managed to drive his car far beyond its true mechanical ability.

But you don’t have to take my opinion. Let’s ask the F1 team principals. Oh wait, somebody already did: “A poll of all the team heads carried out by Britain’s Autosport magazine, with each asked to list their top 10 and award points according to grand prix scoring, placed Alonso first with 269 and Vettel second on 198.” It goes on to say “The Spaniard, who won his two titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006, was also voted best driver in 2010 when Vettel took his first championship.” (Here is the link to the full article from YallaF1: http://www.yallaf1.com/2012/12/14/f1-team-...er-of-the-year/ )

One last point of interest on this poll. Of the 12 teams, eight voted for Alonso and four did not. Question to the universe: Red Bull’s manufacturer partner Renault supplies engines to how many teams? Answer from the universe: four. Enough said on that point.

And then there’s the people’s poll taken in the London Daily Telegraph. Alonso was voted driver of the year as well, 61.91% to Sebastian Vettel’s 21.56%. That’s coming from a country that has little love for Alonso stemming from the acrimonious year that he was teammates with beloved English driver Lewis Hamilton. Although Alonso and Lewis have buried the carbon fiber hatchet, from what I can tell in the F1 blogosphere most English fans have not followed Hamilton’s lead on this one.

Now it is 2013. Everyone is rested, batteries recharged. I feel slightly better, well not really, but whatever. It still smarts. But hopefully Ferrari has a better car to start its 2013 campaign. Nowhere to go but up, right? They started last year 1.5 seconds off the pace so surely they can’t do worse than that.

Last year I thought Alonso was having good luck despite having the bad luck of driving a crappy car. That luck lasted all year, right up until it didn’t. Until it ran out. Until Red Bull’s luck changed (along with the rear end of the car, curtisy of Adrian Newey’s brilliance) and they finished in front. So Vettel is champion three times, a record for his age and it’s been a long time since that has been done. You can never take away what that means. Winning in Formula One is a difficult task just in a single race, let alone consistently enough in a season to win top honors. Two years, unbelievably difficult. Three years in a row, better odds that you win the Mega Millions Lottery. Just kidding on that one but you get the idea, it’s f–ing, f–ing hard. So I’ll congratulate Red Bull and Vettel on a deserving win. But make no mistake: Alonso on balance drove better. And that is what I have to say about that. At the time of this post we have 46 days, 6 hours, and 20 seconds to go baby, and it is ON. Look out! –jp