Motors The Official bit-tech F1 2011 Thread

I thought the new rules of 2011 ment that all team had to use KERS. So at the end of the race the RB team boss admits that they dont have KERS hence why it was not used in the race and quali.

How are they getting away with not using it? ITs obvious now why RB are so fast if they have not got it installed with the extra weight etc.

Edit: Saubers have been disqualified over technical infringement which means Paul di Resta moves up to 10th giving him his first point in his first race

 

No, the new rules allow you to use KERS but it's entirely optional. There's a few teams not running KERS. They also increased the minimum car weight from 620kg to 640kg to compensate for the extra weight of fitting a KERS system so not having it doesn't provide a weight advantage afaik.

 

Sauber's technical infringement should have been discovered well before the race, imho.

 

McClaren really failed there, Button should of been pitted to allow massa past and if massa came in to cover that off at least Button would of been on fresh tires to try and hold vettle off. I don't understand the point of keeping him out.

As for DRS, surely following so close behind a car in its slip stream reduces drag naturally thus making the system pointless or am I missing something there?

 

Not a particularly fantastic race, I hope this year isn't a repeat of last year with red bull having a faster car all season as it's a tad boring. It was nice to see the scrapping going on behind 1st/2nd place, those cars seem to be much more equal in terms of performance. The DRS didn't seem to be the OMGWTFWIN button people were claiming it was, I would prefer that the drivers could use it at any point on the track rather than specific places.

 

true it wasnt the best race ive seen, it was ok, i hope it isnt just seb vettel winning all the time, that will quickly get boring, the midfield race was the most interesting, button and massa, rubens just driving into rosberg. roll on next race!!

 

The Sauber infringement should be void in my opinion. The car passed scrutineering (at least twice i believe) to be able to race so if they didn't spot the issue then, tough.

Some really nice scraps midfield and the varying tyre strategies will be very interesting when we get to the twisty tracks.

Not exactly a brilliant start but better than Bahrain last year

P.S. Number 1 in the Fantasy F1 League!

 

Great drive by the Sauber boys, bit disappointed to see that they got disqualified. Great drive by Lewis and Petrov - which was completely unexpected.

I had hoped that Team Lotus' might have finished a little higher.

Vettel's performance is looking a little ominous - this year will be very boring if he manages continue in the same way!

 

Why did Sauber get DQ'ed?

EDIT: Seems like an issue with the rear wing. I agree with Throbbi - if they didn't spot it through pre-race scrutineering then f**k them. I hate post-race crackdowns. The tinfoil hat-wearing chap in me always suspects backroom maneuvering.

 

Apparently after the race any cars in the points get looked over with a fine toothed comb, because there are less cars they can find tiny little infringements because they can spend more time poring over each one... Though surely to homologate they'd have to go through super strict stuff anyway...

My tinfoil hat is also near to hand, what was the backronym for FIA again? >_<

 

Well, I for one am pleasantly surprised by the Macca's pace.

Vettel was in another bloody league here... SO quick, and a brilliant start.
Petrov was driving well all through.
I had to LOL at the comment about Alonso havign loads of experience following Petrov.

The season's still long, and a lot is still gonna change.
At least we now know that The Maccas are closer to the RBRs than last year.
McLaren and Ferrari have YEARS of catch-up experience, and they got it more or less right lasst year as well.
This year the gap seems a bit smaller, so that's good news.

Button not surrendering track position (or pitting, as was mentioned) was stupid. Who cares if he had track position. McLaren have been hit by this stick before. They should know better.

Barichello was driving like a frikken retard. He made an overtake on Kobayashi only stick because Kobayashi saw the collision comoing and made way. Then he "defended" against Kob by running into Nico? It looked like the same optimistic overtake attempt to me... retard.

I LOVED Petrov'e calm demeanour in the press conference. You saw 2 emotions in general: Lewis's concern about the floor and Seb's elation. Then on the right, there's a russian stone wall.

 

Loved perez's comment when asked about his tires, "not bad for a paid driver".......hhmmmm touche

I bet he was really disqualified for not paying the FIA enough bribe money after buying his seat. Never good when you make a ferrari look bad in any way! They'll certainly go after you with open hands!

Oh red bull to use kers in Malaysia.

 

My predictions for Malaysia:
Vettel - Button - Rosberg
That order
I reckon we'll see more schu as well.

 

I thought Ferrari pulled a stroke in getting Button penalised:

Button is shoved on the escape road by Massa and rejoins ahead of him.
Before he can let Massa by (and he was slow to do this) Alonso overtakes Massa so that for Button to follow the letter of the rules he has to let both through.
Then Massa pits the next lap.
The rule is that if this happens the requirement for Button to let Massa through becomes a drive through penalty automatically, as Button can't let him by.

It's a rule open to abuse. Silly of McLaren to leave it so long and put Button in that position. Rather sharp practice by Ferrari. I suspect it was deliberate.

 

Of course that was deliberate.
The moment it was clear to Ferrari that Button had to give up position, Alsonso made the pass on Massa. (team orders are legal this year, no?).
For Button it went from a "if I let Felipe past, Fernando will slip past as well" to a "In order to let Felipe past I have to let Fernando past". in 2 or 3 corners.
Then the pit stop.

Button should've pitted that lap. They could then argue that he did give up the position again.

In the same breath, though - Button was trying to block Seb just before Lewis came into the pits.
It's a strategy game, that, and it'll always happen.

In F1 news:
Trulli is too crap to admit that he can't drive, blames it on Pirelli.
Red bull needs to run KERS in Sepang
James Allen takes a look at the pecking order Post-Melbourne

 

What I learned from the race:

1) Vettel looks seriously quick with a quick car. Can't see past him for the championship.
2)Whilst Vettel has stepped up a gear, Webber seems to have lost something. I can't help but feel that he has resigned himself to not winning a championship.
3) MacLaren looking good. Shame about Hamilton's bad start holding them both up and Button losing more because of it. Both looked quick, especially Hamilton.
4) Well played Petrov, I really hope that he can step into Kubica's shoes.
5) Midfield evenly matched, which should make for ineresting racing this season.
6) DRS not much use.

 

I largely disagree about the DRS.
It does what it was supposed to: Close the gap a bit. It was never meant to make the pass easy, merely to set up a possible pass. It did that a couple of times in Melbourne.
DRS coupled with KERS makes for a serious acceleration boost, and the open rear wing benefits more from the use of the KERS than the guy in front (who is presumably also running KERS, but has a closed wing)

 

adding for debate:

1.) would be interesting to see how red bull performs with proper kers. Brundle made many hints to how the car behaves differently between when the system is charged and uncharged. Who knows what effect that would have

2.) Webber admitted putting on weight after last year. Everyone apart from him getting new contracts too, I would worry about his mental state especially if he feels the whole world is against him. Why push if your just gonna get the order to move over?

3) People wrote McClaren off before they even turned a wheel tbh. Yes they didn't cover half the globe in pre season due to problems. renault claimed that they where worried about their exhaust and heat and mercades abandonded their design too. Exhaust design seems to be very hit or miss but it seems to be worth it. McClaren tried too much too soon, It doesnt surprise me it came good, what does surprise me is how quick it came good. McClaren can only get better as those parts are fine tuned more

Then surely chasing cars should be able to use it similar to qualifying. to allow cars to get onto the tail and force mistakes. Personally having unlimited kers, depending on charge, per lap is more attractive overtaking tool. Heck even a 2nd Kers unit for when your within 1 second rather than reducing the drag of a car thats already got the effect of reduced drag from slip streaming. I can also see the hot air being the biggest problem, you get close to overtake and the car in front over heats you. That needs to be addressed too.

 

Agree with you about MacLaren. Would it be excessively optimistic of me to ponder that if they have so many new parts that don't work yet, that they will probably be ahead of the other teams in terms of potential increases in performance. Add into the mix their excellent track record of increasing from poor performance (à la 2009), maybe it is a bit early to crown Vettel champion.

The one problem I guess is Hamilton and Button inevitably taking points off each other. I doubt from what I've seen that Alonso and Vettell will have that problem.

 

It'll be interesting to see how mature Vettel is tho. Hamilton "wised up" after his rookie season with some of his passes, we've yet to see some of the passes he made back then. Vettel I can't see him backing down and this season it could bite him, either from a dodgy attempt going wrong or breaking something on the car from pressing too hard. Who knows, his team may protect him enough with strategy tho with perelli dropping front runners to midfield, it'll be interesting to see him try to pass someone rather than waiting a lap or two for them to pit. Last year his biggest problem was Webber and if he is soul destroyed that mightnt be a problem. TBH chassis problem for webber reeks to me, just the fact it was webber not vettel.