Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Return of the Turbos


Return of the Turbos

When Alain Prost in a McLaren-Honda won the 1988 Australian Grand Prix at Adelaide , it marked the last time a turbocharged car would win a Grand Prix race.  Or so we taught… A few days ago, the FIA mandated that in 2013, the boosted engines are back, after a 25 year absence.

Since the start of the official Formula One world championship, turbocharged cars have always been allowed to race.  The “Formula” during the 1950s was 4.5 liters for non-turbo engines, with blown engines limited to 1/3 their size, or 1.5 liters.  The first two championships were actually won by the Alfa Romeo 158 that had a 1.5liter, straight-8 engine, with a supercharger.  But after Alfa Romeo withdrew at the end of the 1951 season, and from 1954 onwards there was a new Formula of 2.5L non-turbo or 0.75L (yes, 750cc) normally aspirated.  With this new 2.5L formula in place, not one of the competitive teams chose to take the boosted path… So for the next 25 years, regular “atmospheric” engines ruled Grand Prix racing…

The French, however, had other ideas…By the mid 1970s, Renault was dominating Formula 2 racing with its 2.0 liter V6 engine.  But they were not satisfied with success in the feeder series.  First they had their sights on the country’s premier auto race, the 24 hours of Le Mans .  The Gallic team eventually conquered their home race in 1978, with local heroes Didier Pironi and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud driving, after several years of being thwarted and frustrated by long-time nemesis Porsche.  Almost simultaneously, the Frenchmen also had their sights on Formula One.

Led by a relentless technical chief named Francois Caisting, the yellow team chose a different approach in the quest for Grand Prix glory.  At that time the field was dominated by the venerable 3.0L V8 Cosworth/Ford engine, used by majority of the teams.  There were a couple of other options…  The Ferrari flat-12, plus the Alfa Romeo and Matra V12s were all more powerful, but were also much heavier.  These 12-cylinder engines also consume fuel at a much greater rate, and this further adds to their cars’ weight because they were carrying more gasoline at the start of a race.  So Renault chooses to downsize their F2 engine to 1.5L, then bolt in a KKK Turbo.  It could produce power that could rival (and potentially exceed) the bulky V12s yet weigh less than the Cosworth.  Their first car, the RS01 (for Renault Sport 01) was so small it looked like a Formula 2 car when standing next to F1 cars of that time.  Small weight plus huge power would spell success… but that would not be the case, at least not initially.

They made their debut at the 1977 British Grand Prix, with their long-time driver and 1975 F2 champion Jean-Pierre Jabouille at the wheel.  The car came to a halt after only 17 laps and a lot of people in the pit lane were silently laughing at the French effort.  For the next couple of races the result was more or less the same, so the opposition was left unimpressed…. But not for long.

Slowly, the yellow machine became more and more competitive.  Little by little their cars were moving up the grid, and by 1979 it was regularly featuring up front.  By then the team was now a 2-car effort, with Jabouille being joined by countryman and fellow F2 champion Rene Arnoux.  Despite its obvious speed and competitiveness, the car was still unreliable, but JP would win the French Grand Prix at Dijon that year.  The following year (1980), Arnoux would win the Brazilian and South African Grand Prix, and would lead the WDC race early on.  He would soon fade from the WDC race after a series of reliability issues.  Jabouille would go on to win in Austria that year, before practically ending his career in a nasty crash at the fall Canadian GP.

Renault was still far from being the title favorite, but by then they were getting everyone’s attention.  Enzo Ferrari was one of them.  The fabled Italian team was the first to follow Renault’s lead, and by 1981 the red cars had their own V6 turbo bolted at the back of the 126C.  A few races into that season another turbo engine showed up, the Hart, at the back of the new Tolemann team.  The Hart was actually an inline 4 engine that was one bank, or half, of the Cosworth/Ford DFV.  Renault won 3 races that year, and Ferrari 2, but the non-turbo brigade won the remaining 10 races and both championships.

However, the writing was on the wall.  The following season, 1982, the previous year’s champion, the Brabham team made their own switch to turbo power courtesy of the 1.5L BMW inline 4 engine, again via the Formula 2 route.  It was actually based on the production M12/M13 engine that can be found on the top of the line 3-series road cars.  At that time the turbo engine’s main Achilles heel was its (lack of ) reliability, and the Ford-powered cars would take advantage of this on numerous occasions.  But Ferrari was able to solve this issue quickly, courtesy of water injection, and the team won the constructor’s title that year.  They should have won the drivers title as well but its 2 drivers’ careers ended during the 82 campaign, with Gilles Villenueve being killed at Zolder and Pironi nearly amputated after a nasty accident at Hockenheim.  At the time of his accident, Pironi was leading the WDC race by a good margin, and most of the 5 races left are to be run on “power” circuits like Hockenheim, Osterreichring, and Monza , the title was virtually in the bag.  In his last 7 races Pironi was on the podium 6 times, the only occasion he wasn’t was at Canada when his car, in pole position, stalled at the start.  He was then hit from behind by the Osella of young Ricardo Paletti, who was killed shortly thereafter.  Clearly, the time of the turbos have arrived.  The British kit car teams that long have relied on the DFV power plant rushed to have their own turbo partner.  After Brabham got BMW, Williams got Honda and McLaren commissioned Porsche to design a turbo engine for their own use.  Lotus became a Renault customer team, later to be joined by Ligier and Tyrrell.

By 1983 the turbos would win all but 3 races – the twisty street circuits of Long Beach , Monaco , and Detroit being the only wins for the atmospheric engine.  The following season, despite the refueling ban that was supposed to slow down the turbos, the remaining non-turbo teams were annihilated, despite Stefan Bellof in a Tyrrell nearly winning at Monaco and teammate Martin Brundle at Detroit .  In 1985, Tyrrell was the only remaining non-turbo team, and by mid season they would switch to Renault turbo power.  In its last few races, in 1985, the non-turbo Ford/Cosworth V8 was a painful sight, usually filling up the last grid spot and finishing races 5 laps or more behind the winner.  In its final race at Austria , Brundle’s 012 was the only car that did not make the 26-car grid.  He would have been allowed to start as the 27th (and last) car, but the mighty McLaren team vetoed their participation, citing that Brundle would get in the way once he would be lapped by Lauda and Prost in their McLaren-Porsches.  This, despite Ken Tyrrell fitting a tractor-grade rear-view side mirror in the Englishman’s car.  Ron Dennis was not impressed.

1986 was an all-turbo year.  Not a single non-turbo engine even bothered to show up at any of the 16 races.  By then Renault have pulled out as a works team, but the groundwork of the turbo technology has been laid out.  However, the next year (1987), due to spiraling cost, some teams like Tyrrell and Lola, would switch back to non-turbo power.  By then the engine size for non-turbos was bumped to 3.5 liters, but they were still no match to the boosted engines.  A separate championship called the Jim Clark trophy for drivers was even established for these teams but it garnered little interest for fans, if any at all.  Pop-off valves, boost limits, as well as a further reduction in fuel capacity were done to slow down the turbos, to no avail.  By 1988 there were only a handful of turbo teams – McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, and Arrows, plus small teams Zakspeed and Osella.  But they still dominated, winning everything in sight.  For 5 consecutive years the turbo cars would win every race.  So for 1989, turbo engines were all together banned indefinitely.  In a few years time, 2013, they will be back.

The apparent logic upon the turbo engine’s return was its fuel efficiency, fuel economy even, done for all these environmental brouhaha we see all the time nowadays.  But since when was Grand Prix racing all about fuel economy?  Motor racing is all about going fast.  Putting fuel restrictions would slow down the racers, but each team/driver would still try to find a way to be faster than the other, and this usually involves consuming more fuel.  Even during the time when refueling was banned, from 1984-1993, conserving fuel will not win you races and championships.  Initially (1984-85) the Porsche V6 was far and away the most fuel efficient amongst the turbos, and after that the Honda V6 got the edge in the fuel efficiency stakes.  Yet during all that time, their non-turbo counterparts were consuming much less fuel, but it bought them little success.  Even before entering Formula One in 1954, Mercedes toyed with the idea of using a 0.75L supercharged engine, but their research showed that it would consume 2-3 times more fuel compared to its normally-aspirated counterpart.  So they went for a 2.5L normally aspirated engine instead.  In a nutshell, fuel economy and Grand Prix racing just don’t belong in the same sentence.

For the past couple of years the F1 cars had a green stripe to indicate which tire compound they are using.  The green color was used to show environmental awareness, but it’s all lip service.  Whether the tires have green stripes, or yellow, or pink, or none at all, they will leave the same “footprint” in the environment.  Ditto the engine Formula.  No matter what it is, engine builders would try to find a way to generate more power.  Furthermore, despite their lowly fuel consumption ratings, there are only 24 F1 cars and even if you combine all the fuel these cars use during the season, just a day in Manila’s traffic congested roads will result in the road cars collectively wasting more fuel.  If Formula One wants an environmental image, it better think of other ways.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

My F1 cars

coming soon...

Is Formula One Going into a Pay Driver Era?

Despite a sensational pole position at the 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix just last month, his team’s first in 5 years, promising young German driver Nico Hulkenberg was told by Williams they would no longer be retaining his services for 2011. The reason? The team needs money, and in comes Venezuelan rookie Pastor Maldonado and his $15 million budget from backers, some allegedly even coming from the government of President Hugo Chaves.

A driver bringing in money so a team could sign him is nothing new. They are usually called pay drivers. Formula One is a very expensive sport, and money has to come from somewhere else. Some Grand Prix greats even started that way, like 3-time World Champion Niki Lauda, who practically bought his March seat in 1972. 7-time World Champion Michael Schumacher’s debut in a Jordan would not have happened at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix were it not for Mercedes bankrolling $100,000 for the drive, as part of their long-term plan to someday participate in Formula One. Even 2-time WDC Fernando Alonso’s seat at Ferrari was allegedly dictated by Spanish banking giant Santander. There is actually nothing wrong in having financial support from backers, as it happens in just about every sport, but at the end of the day the driver has to earn his place in what is supposed to be the pinnacle of motor sport.

Mind you, Maldonado is no pedestrian. He was, after all, the 2010 GP2 champion, by a good margin, and after clinching the title this year he is no longer eligible to compete in the premier feeder series to Formula One. But this was also the same driver, who, just a year ago, got spanked big-time by Hulkenberg himself when they were teammates at the ART team in that series. Nico dominated GP2 in 2009 as a rookie, while Pastor was nowhere in sight, despite already being in his third year in the sport and being more than 2 years older than the German. Maldonado’s championship season this year was partly due to being much more experienced than his rivals, as he was already in his 4th year in the series, while others are either rookies or sophomores. There was also an influx of GP2 graduates to other forms of motor sport this year, so competition was further thinned out. Hulkenberg, Vitaly Petrov, Kamui Kobayashi, Romain Grosjean, Karun Chandok, plus Lucas di Grassi and Bruno Senna from 2008, have all graduated to Formula One. It was like being a man against boys. His toughest competition came from Mexican Sergio Perez, who at 21 was much younger and was only in his 2nd year in the series. Like Maldonado, Perez will also drive in Grand Prix racing next season, for Sauber, despite not having the best of credentials. $25 million from Mexican telecoms giant Telmex, from the World’s richest man Carlos Slim, ensured that the Latin American country will have is first F1 driver since Hector Rebaque bought the 2nd Brabham seat in 1981. Promising GP2 drivers this year like Jules Bianchi, Sam Bird, and Christian Vietoris were all too young and inexperienced compared to the 25-year old Venezuelan. It was like 2008 all over again, when F1 refugee Giorgio Pantano nipped Senna for the title, but the ex-Jordan driver did not get a call in Formula One simply because it was already the Italian’s 7th season in the series.

Maldonado’s supporters will surely argue that success in lower Formula does not guarantee Formula One greatness. They will be quick to point out the cases of Kobayashi and Grosjean, who both entered F1 late in 2009. Grosjean was Hulkenberg’s main competition for the 2009 GP2 title before his promotion to the Renault F1 seat, while Kobayashi won only 2 races in 2 years at GP2. But unlike Pastor, Kamui did not have the best of teams in GP2, so he did not have a really good chance to showcase his talents in that series. Furthermore, Grosjean was pitted against a dominant driver, 2-time World Champion Fernando Alonso, and with no in-season testing allowed, his chances of making a good impression was practically zero. Kobayashi, on the other hand, had to compete with an up-and-down Jarno Trulli for 2 races, and then journeyman Pedro dela Rosa, who has not driven in F1 regularly since the 2002 season, this year, so he had a much better chance to impress the team owners. Hulkenberg was actually offered the 2nd Ferrari seat vacated by Felipe Massa’s serious accident at last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix, but his manager Willi Weber wisely turned down the offer, as he would have no chance against a WDC (Raikkonen) with no testing allowed. This year, still with no in-season testing allowed, Nico started slowly against Rubens Barrichello, but he improved a lot throughout the year. He outscored his seasoned teammate during the 2nd half of the season, and there was little to choose between the two in most races.

Prior to winning GP2 in 2009 at his first attempt, “the Hulk” was also the F3 Euroseries champion in 2008 in his first full season. In 2007 he dominated A1GP for team Germany, setting many records in that series. That was where he was spotted by Willi Weber, who was looking for a new client as his long-time ward Michael Schumacher have just retired from Grand Prix racing after 7 titles & 91 race wins. With impeccable credentials like those and having Weber by his side, many were expecting a lot from the then 22-year old rookie at the start of the season. But Nico has had a roller-coaster first half, the only significant showing being a 10th place finish at Malaysia, finishing well-ahead of Barrichello. Most of the time he was involved in accidents not of his own making, and there were mechanical troubles as well. At times it looked like he was trying too hard, and his results suffered. But the turning point came in Valencia, and from then on there was little to choose between Nico and Rubens. At Monza, Hulkenberg heroically held Mark Webber’s much faster Red Bull for most of the race, incurring the ire of the Australian WDC title contender. At Interlagos, in his first visit there, he had perfect timing and planted the Williams-Cosworth on pole in changing conditions. He expectedly faded in the race as he was gobbled up by faster cars, but he held on to finish a decent 8th place. It looked like he had done enough to ensure his future in Formula One, but it was not to be. Less than a week later, before the start of the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Williams told Weber that his client would not drive for them in 2011. The British team allegedly offered to have Nico on loan to HRT (who will be using Williams gearboxes in 2011) for 2 years, but Mr Weber turned down the offer. It was similar to Jenson Button’s deal with Benetton/Renault in 2001 when Juan Pablo Montoya arrived, also at Williams. But Weber said no, so now, it appears Hulkenberg is left out in the cold.

After the provisional 2011 Formula One lineup was posted by the FIA yesterday, there appeared to be some hope for Hulkenberg. There were as many as 10 racing seats still left, most promising of which were at Force India, where there were 2 openings. The best opening in terms of car competitiveness is definitely at Renault, but it appears Petrov once again will have his millions ready and is about to sign in the next couple of days. The second Williams seat alongside Barrichello was also vacant as of the moment, but Maldonado appears to have the inside track at it. There are 2 openings still available at Scuderia Toro Rosso, but with that team being Red Bull’s junior team where its drivers are “trained”, Hulkenberg has no shot at it. Jaime Algersuari appears to be a certainty, while Sebastien Buemi seat was less secure. The Swiss was allegedly being considered to be dumped in favor of Australian Daniel Ricciardo, yet another driver from the Red Bull driving academy. 2 of the 3 new teams this year, Virgin Racing and HRT, also have 2 openings each. At Virgin, incumbent Timo Glock is all but signed, while the 2nd seat looked set to go to yet another Russian, Mikhail Aleshin. Like his countryman Petrov, the rookie Aleshin brings with him millions to the team. At this point no one appears to have a clue who will be the HRT drivers next year, but after turning down Williams’ offer of being loaned to that team, we can practically rule out Hulkenberg in a Hispania next year.

At Force India, incumbent Adrian Sutil, yet another German like Hulkenberg, has been with the team in its various guises since 2007, and the son of an Uruguayan immigrant and a German mother had an impressive 2010. Lewis Hamilton’s buddy actually had his sights on a top team, specifically the second seat at Renault, but after Petrov’s impressive showing at the finale in Abu Dhabi, plus his millions from Russian companies like carmaker LADA, Adrian’s chances at the French team appears to have dwindled down. Most likely, he will continue with the Indian team for a fifth year in a row. His 2010 teammate, ex-F3000 champion Vitantonio Liuzzi had a disappointing season, but apparently has a contract for 2011. Still, as can be seen from lots of instances in the past, contracts mean nothing in the world of Grand Prix racing. Yet even if Liuzzi is dropped by FI, their test driver, Scotsman Paul di Resta looked set to race for the Silverstone-based squad. Another contender for that seat is yet another German, Nick Heidfeld, who drove for the team in 2004 when they were known as Jordan. So even at the Mercedes-powered team, Hulkenberg’s chances appear to be marginal at best.

So at this point, it appears the most likely destination for Hulkenberg for 2011 would be a third driver role at one of the top teams. Mercedes appears to be the best bet, as the German squad also employs the other Weber client, Michael Schumacher. He could possibly be groomed to replace the old man when he finally retires. There were also rumors at some role at Schumacher’s old team, Ferrari, and with Felipe Massa’s form being questioned as of late, the Hulk may have some slim chance of driving for the Scuderia someday.

Whatever happens, if he doesn’t get an F1 seat and the likes of Aleshin and Maldonado get one, it puts into question the quality of some of the drivers in the grid. While no one will doubt the talents of an Alonso, Hamilton, or Vettel, people will begin to question some of the drivers if this trend of buying race seats continue. Twenty something years ago, when there were close to 40 cars trying to get into the F1 grid, the field was populated by pay drivers whose names not even the most fanatic follower can remember. Deletraz, Bouillon, Inoue, and all those forgettable drivers arrived and left with hardly anyone noticing them. With manufacturers pulling out one by one, teams must find funding from different sources, and in a prolonged economic recession like what we are in right now, small, private F1 teams may have no choice. It may not look good for them, but it might be necessary for their very survival. As ugly as it seems, everyone must accept it, in order for us to see more than a handful of cars on the Grand Prix grid.

Will Vettel Break Schumacher's Records?

When Nico Rosberg crossed the finish line in 4th place at last month’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the young German’s position in the race confirmed his even younger countryman’s title of 2010 World Champion, or as in the words of Sebastian Vettel’s race engineer Rocky, “weltmeister”. Shortly thereafter, Vettel-mania swept Europe’s richest country as the nation celebrated its third native World Driving Champion after Jochen Rindt (who is often categorized as Austrian) and Michael Schumacher.

Much has been written and said about Vettel being Schumacher’s protégé, but Gerard Noack, who supervises the go kart track at Schumacher’s hometown of Kerpen, denied that the 7-time World Champion has funded young Sebastian’s karting career. Pictures of Vettel, sometimes as young as 5, posing with Schumacher certainly fueled those speculations. Ever since he became the youngest Grand Prix winner 2 years ago at Monza, Vettel has often been called Baby Schumi despite their different driving styles. In an interview early in 2004, Noack said that in his over 20 years of running the Kerpen go kart track, no one has come close to impress him like Michael. No one, until a certain Sebastian Vettel came along. At the time of that interview, Vettel was only 16 years old and barely out of go karts. And Noack has seen all German F1 drivers during that period - from Bernd Schneider, Heinz Harald Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher, to present-day drivers Nick Heidfeld, Timo Glock, Nico Rosberg, and Adrian Sutil. So even at this point, there are actually lots of similarities between the early careers of Vettel and Schumacher.

For starters, they made their Grand Prix debut mid-season for a team they would never drive for again in their career – Schumacher for Jordan, Vettel for BMW. Their first teammates happen to be 2 veterans who ultimately would never win a Grand Prix – de Cesaris for Schumacher, and Heidfeld for Vettel. Andrea and Nick are actually 1-2 in terms of number of grand prix starts without winning a race.

After only one race, they transferred to a team that is neither a grandee (manufacturer team) nor a garagiste. Both Benetton (Schumacher) and Toro Rosso/Red Bull (Vettel) are in F1 to advertise their products, and for no other reason. In their new teams, they also have the same car number – 19.

Both went on to record their first victory about a year later, in their first full season, at historic tracks – Schumacher at Spa in 1992, Vettel at Monza in 2008. And both were in wet/changing conditions in a car not expected to win.

At the end of their 3rd full season in Formula 1, both Germans are World Champions. They also have 10 Grand Prix victories each in their name at the end of their title year. Both are very young when they won their first title. While Vettel at 23 is the sport’s youngest ever WDC, Schumacher, at the time of his 1st title in 1994, was 25 and was the 2nd youngest ever (to Emerson Fittipaldi) and missed out on the record by only a few days. The only reason Michael failed to earn that record at that time was that the FIA wanted a closer WDC race and disqualified and suspended Schumacher for 4 races for unprecedented and questionable infractions. Both Schumacher and Vettel were, coincidentally, driving car #5 during their maiden championship season.

At only 23 years and 4 months old, Vettel already holds most “youngest” records in Formula One. He was the youngest to drive an F1 car on a race weekend (barely 19 in 2006) when he was BMW’s test-driver. His 8th-place finish at his GP debut made him the youngest ever point-scorer (still 19 at that time). At Monza in September 2008 he became the youngest pole sitter, and a day later was the youngest Grand Prix winner, at 21, breaking Fernando Alonso’s records by more than a year. And last Sunday, Sebastian became the youngest ever World Champion.

Schumacher holds practically every record in Formula 1. Will young Seb eventually break them? Michael’s 91 wins and 7 WDCs appear to be nearly unbreakable, but the same has been said about Prost’s 51 and Fangio’s 5 in those areas just a few years ago. With already 15 pole positions, Vettel is clearly on track to one day surpass Michael’s 68. During Michael’s first full season in 1992, his teammate Martin Brundle said “I raced against Senna at 23, and Michael is better than Senna at 23. There’s absolutely no question about that”. At this point in time, Vettel at 23 has accomplished a lot more than Michael at 23.

Despite that, Sebastian still has lots of room for improvement. While no one would doubt his qualifying speed, as well as his ability to pull-away when he is ahead of the pack, he has yet to prove to be a great overtaker. The Red Bull’s characteristics may have something to do with that as teammate Webber also have difficulties in passing others. Still, this is one area for improvement. Another would be in the driver fitness category. Not that young Seb is unfit, but Michael, even early in his career, was already the benchmark in that category. Noack even once said that even when he was barely 8 years old (yes, an 8-year old kid), Schumacher was already doing fitness routines! Schumacher also has been known to pull his team together, and while Vettel has shown similar things at Toro Rosso, Webber appears to have the mechanics’ trust at Red Bull. Those are 3 areas Sebastian has to concentrate on.

Only time will tell if Vettel will be one of the greats like his more illustrious countryman. He has the talent, he has the backing, and he has the right attitude. He will have some tough competition in the years to come – Lewis Hamilton is only 2½ years older, while Fernando Alonso is not yet 30 years old at this point. Both are also backed by traditional powerhouse teams McLaren and Ferrari, and the pair would surely make thing difficult for the baby-faced lad from Heppenheim. There is also no shortage of young chargers wanting to be world champion. Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg are both under 26 and have performed impressively this year. In a few years time, we will know the answer to all of this…