It has been a while since the last post displaying the Formula 1 liveries of the past. The long running series returns here with the 2000 Formula 1 liveries.  I almost forgot that Minardis were not always black and that Yahoo! logo used to be on F1 cars .

Ferrari F1-2000

McLaren-Mercedes MP4/15

Williams-BMW FW22

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F1Wolf

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Felipe Massa, helped Kimi in Brazil, helped by Kimi in Shanghai

The way Felipe Massa overtook Kimi Raikkonen yesterday in Shanghai sparked again some debates on the legality of such move. There were however no such voices coming out of the Formula 1 circles and even the person most affected by that move, Lewis Hamilton, accepted what has happened as normal team work.

The team orders used to be normal practice in Formula 1. However the 2002 Austrian GP fiasco, when Rubens Barrichello was ordered to slow down before the start finish line to allow Michael Schumacher to take the win, resulted in ban on team orders.

So officially the team orders are banned, specificaly the team orders that can affect the outcome of the race. But despite the ban they are still around, used and generally accepted and even predicted. Only the last 2 seasons brought several high profile occurences of team orders:

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F1Wolf

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No more cooling vents in 2009 ?

Aldo Costa talked to Gazzette dello Sport on Ferrari’s progress with KERS development. Besides telling the world that Ferrari is still behind the schedule with the KERS he also revealed some details on the look of next year’s Formula 1 cars:

“The front wing will be striking because it will be as wide as the car’s track (the distance between the wheels on the same axle). A lot of them will come off because, since they cover the wheels, it will be easy to lose them in crashes. On top of that, the rear wing will be taller and narrower, the bodywork smoother and more sealed off because we won’t have the current liberty of opening air vents anymore, and this has forced us to heavily re-design the cooling system.”

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F1Wolf

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Rubens Barrichello - is the end of his long F1 career near ?

The 2009 grid is filling up. BMW Sauber announcement last week they would continue with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld in 2009 means that half of the current teams has confirmed both their drivers for next season. Ferrari, McLaren, BMW Sauber and Williams will enter 2009 season with unchanged race drivers line ups. The only confirmed change so far is Sebastian Vettel replacing retiring David Coulthard in Red Bull. And although there has been no official confirmation from Toyota yet, the fact that Kazuki Nakajima remains with Williams for another season may be a clear indication that both Glock and Trulli will stay on (as widely expected anyway).

So, 6 teams and 12 seats are but there are still 8 question marks left:

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F1Wolf

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Mercedes Benz Formula 1 Engine FO108V

Dropping the Canadian GP from 2009 F1 calendar was the most shocking outcome of the WMSC meeting this week. But no less controversial are the decisions taken on the future of Formula 1 engines. Currently the engines are frozen for 5 years. However despite the freeze some engine manufacturers managed to squeeze some extra horse powers out of them while some others did not even try. Those who have fallen behind (Renault) lobbied FIA for some sort of unfreeze in order to bring the engines back to the same level with the rest of the field.

They got their wish granted:

It was further unanimously agreed to allow Formula One teams to equalise engine performance across the field for 2009, pending the introduction of cost-saving measures from 2010.

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F1Wolf

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The Countdown to Singapore Grand Prix continues with another refreshed older post, this time Part 3 of track walk. This is how the Singapore GP track and the facilities looked back in June. This post was originally published on F1 Wolf on June 13, 2008.

It’s has been half a year since I walked the Singapore F1 track. The pictures in Part 1 and Part 2 posts are from December 2007. So it is about the time to have a look how things have changed … Last weekend my envoys in Singapore Bob, Yvonne & fatfish hopped in a small blue racing car to drive around and take some pictures. Here is how it looks in Singapore with little over 3 months to go before Singapore Grand Prix:

It was a cloudy day so we have a chance to see how the track may look in the wet.

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F1Wolf

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1998 grooved F1 tyres

Italian GP was the last European F1 race to feature the grooved tyres (not much though due to rain). There are only four more fly-away races left this season and then the grooves (along with other ugly things) will be gone, hopefully for good. Hated by many fans the grooves have been with us for 11 seasons since 1998. Back then in 1998 Goodyear was still F1 tyre supplier and Bridgestone started only their 2nd F1 season after their 20 year hiatus. Now however we are about to see the last of them. Here is a brief look at the short history of modern grooved Formula 1 tyres.

Originally with 3 circumferential grooves on the front tyres and 4 on the rear ones they were introduced in order to slow down the cars. From 1999 the front tyres received the 4th groove as well.

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F1Wolf

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As a part of the Countdown to Singapore Grand Prix I am refreshing some older posts on the Singapore GP topic. This is the second part of the walk around the Singapore track, originally published on F1Wolf on December 5, 2007. Stay tuned for part 3, that will show how the track looked only few months back.

The Part 1 of the Walk Around The Singapore Formula 1 Track finished at the Turn 15. You can check the location on this map from f1Singapore.com.

Right after the cars take the right Turn 15 the short stretch of the Raffles Avenue will open up in front of them, here is the view:

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F1Wolf

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As a part of the Countdown to Singapore Grand Prix I am refreshing some older posts on the Singapore GP topic. Here is the second one, originally published on F1Wolf on December 5, 2007 - my walk around the Singapore track as it looked that time. You may wait till tomorrow for part 2, or may simply click on the link at the end of this post and check out the rest of the track right away.

I went to Singapore last weekend for a short weekend break. One of the reasons I picked Singapore as a destination was to check out the place and the future F1 street circuit. I downloaded and printed out this circuit map from f1Singapore.com, took my camera and started walking.

I took off at point nearest to my hotel, this intersection:

If you look at the track map, these are the turns 8 and 15, this is the part of the track that drivers will pass twice. Photo is taken from the hotel room window with the everpresent trees blocking the perfect view.

The track runs anticlockwise, and exactly in the oposite direction of the normal Singapore traffic.

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F1Wolf

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Sebastian Vettel Toro Rosso

When the FIA first announced the plans to freeze the engine development back in 2006 the first thing that came to my mind was - “How can that be ?” The logic of saving huge money by not having to spend millions only to gain few horsepowers more than the theguys in the next garage made some sense. But, if some engine was superior in 2006 that would mean the same engine being superior for the whole of 2007 … Hm … Well, somehow the teams managed to get their powerplants on sort of equal level, the 19,000 rpm limit probably also having something to do with that. But how about if someone has reliability issues ? Will they be for a year(s) stuck with engines that blow up in every race ? No, they wwould not. For this reason there was a provison made allowing manufacturers to change parts at the FIA’s discretion if it reduces costs or improves reliability (creating the future loophole).

Then however came end of the 2007 season and FIA announced that the engine freeze would last for 10 years. What ? The pinnacle of motorsport stuck with the same engines for the entire decade ? That did not make much sense to me and I think few believed this would seriously happen. It is not happening, the freeze has been to reduced to 5 years only. Now it looks that the freeze is not really a freeze …

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F1Wolf

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