Formula 1 - 2008 Season

[Mendel]

I take back my bad words about Trulli. He did a fantastic race too, showing good pace harassing even the McLarens seriously.

So just as I forecast, Räikkönen first, Kovalainen Third and between them of course Felipe Mas... What? Kubica? Right, you're saying I was actually saying Massa would win? Well... It is actually better this way so I'm not complaining.

Now If only I could have Kovalainen win the next race, Räikkönen second and Rosberg third, that would be optimal. Yes, I'm rooting more for Kovalainen out of the Finns but I wouldn't actually mind Räikkönen having his second championship either.

 

[potatochip]

Could have been a perfect weekend for the Ferrari guys had Massa not gotten his car stuck in the gravel.

His head is obviously not in it so far this year - he really had no chance to catch and pass Kimi and the best thing to do was to drive the car home and secure additional points for the team...

At this point, he's a capable driver and can be quick but is maddeningly inconsistent. Let's hope he picks it up as the season progress, for the team's sake.

Great overall performances by Kubica and Trulli though - this season has started out very exciting.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Yip, agreed. Seems like this season is gonna be awesome.

US

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

I found yesterdays race pretty boring though. No crashes and no overtaking except for the usual pitlane overtaking.

 

[Bludd]

Compared to Australia, it was a snooze. I was hoping for rain, as that would have spiced things up considerably.

I hope Bahrain is incredibly hot so that all Ferrari engines blow up again.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

That doesnt matter at all The engines get designed to run at a certain temperature, they always make sure the engine will never get above the maximum. What they do is open more space to to radiator in the sidepods so that the engine will run at the same temperature in bahrein as it would lets say in rainy belgium at spa. Actually running in hot weather should make it easier to keep the engine cool as the air is more dense meaning there will be getting less air in the engine and less air means less power which means less heat. And in case you dont believe me Mario theissen himself said this

 

[Bludd]

Fine, since the BMW engines didn't fail. The Ferrari engines did, however. Ferrari had to enlarge the cooling ducts in Australia and it didn't help.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Ofcourse its exactly the same with the other teams so I highly doubt that after 60 years of competing in F1 Ferrari still made a error that allowed the engines to overheat. These engines are full of sensors, if they'd knew the engines were getting to hot they'd know since friday and fixed it than and not suddenly notice it on sunday. Its probably just a other form of mechanical error and not heat.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Well, there is a factor on the engine front that I suspect played a little part in yesterdays race and may play a part in the next - because of Ferrari's blow up in Australia they were on the first race for their engine yesterday, where most of the other top teams were on the second; that will swing the other way for Bahrain.

 

[Mendel]

Is it just me or is anyone else amazed at the lack of action of Massa in the situation where he had spinned and started going backwards into the sand? I mean, if he had turned the steering wheel left as fast as possible when the grip returned, I reckon he might have been able to quite totally avoid the sand and resume racing at a point when there is no immediate danger of collision, losing only something like 10, maybe 15 seconds.

 

[Davros]

Actually running in hot weather should make it easier to keep the engine cool as the air is more dense

Less dense

 

[Bludd]

Less dense

Indeed, the formula is:

where ρ is the air density, p is pressure, R is the specific gas constant, and T is temperature in kelvins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_density

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Well, there is a factor on the engine front that I suspect played a little part in yesterdays race and may play a part in the next - because of Ferrari's blow up in Australia they were on the first race for their engine yesterday, where most of the other top teams were on the second; that will swing the other way for Bahrain.

Well it was their first engine in australia too so the situation isnt any different. As I said, I highly doubt the blow up is because of the engine overheating.

Is it just me or is anyone else amazed at the lack of action of Massa in the situation where he had spinned and started going backwards into the sand? I mean, if he had turned the steering wheel left as fast as possible when the grip returned, I reckon he might have been able to quite totally avoid the sand and resume racing at a point when there is no immediate danger of collision, losing only something like 10, maybe 15 seconds.

Even crap F1 drivers are still far better drivers than any normal human being, im pretty sure that he took what is conciders the best action. Personally i've never seen a F1 driver actually steer while the car was going backwards.

Less dense

Yes ofcourse, /me stupid.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Well, there is a factor on the engine front that I suspect played a little part in yesterdays race and may play a part in the next - because of Ferrari's blow up in Australia they were on the first race for their engine yesterday, where most of the other top teams were on the second; that will swing the other way for Bahrain.

Kimi didn't really need to push the engine though after Massa retired and I doubt that using the engines twice will make any difference. The engines are probably specced to last quite a bit more than two races, because they are used in free practices also, which often exceed race mileage. Ferrari also tested in Bahrain during February, which might reduce their practice laps.

 

[Mendel]

Personally i've never seen a F1 driver actually steer while the car was going backwards.

Well I certainly have. Can't seem to name any specific case (though Schumacher always seemed to be very good at avoiding getting stuck on sand) but it's not *that* uncommon. I think I have even seen them accelerate on reverse gear, do the intentional movie stunt half a spin and then resume racing the correct way. Well anyways I've pretty much watched every race for 10 years or so...

 

[Dave Baumann]

Well it was their first engine in australia too so the situation isnt any different. As I said, I highly doubt the blow up is because of the engine overheating.

I wasn't talking about the engines blowing up, but the performance of the engine. first vs second race can be worth several tenths of a second.

The engines are probably specced to last quite a bit more than two races, because they are used in free practices also, which often exceed race mileage.

Nope, the race engines aren't used in free practice. They use other engines for this.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Well I certainly have. Can't seem to name any specific case (though Schumacher always seemed to be very good at avoiding getting stuck on sand) but it's not *that* uncommon. I think I have even seen them accelerate on reverse gear, do the intentional movie stunt half a spin and then resume racing the correct way. Well anyways I've pretty much watched every race for 10 years or so...

Oke. Though im sure he had a reason for not trying. I dont think you've seen any driver to a reverse gear thingy while still moving. Its a whole procedure you have to follow to be able to get into reverse gear so I dont think you can pull that of in a split second while going backwards with 100miles a hour.

I wasn't talking about the engines blowing up, but the performance of the engine. first vs second race can be worth several tenths of a second.

Doubt that. Several thenths of seconds is a awfull lot of time and no team would be stupid enough to trow so much time away by having a underperforming engine after 1 race distance. Im sure teams build their engines so that they can deliver 100% of their capabilities for 2 races. When you could use 1 engine every race they also didnt suddenly lose a couple of thenths after half the race, this is basically the same only instead of lasting 2 hours or so they now build them to last 4 (race engines arnt really build on distance but on time they have to run).

 

[dizietsma]

That doesnt matter at all The engines get designed to run at a certain temperature, they always make sure the engine will never get above the maximum. What they do is open more space to to radiator in the sidepods so that the engine will run at the same temperature in bahrein as it would lets say in rainy belgium at spa. Actually running in hot weather should make it easier to keep the engine cool as the air is more dense meaning there will be getting less air in the engine and less air means less power which means less heat. And in case you dont believe me Mario theissen himself said this

Actually the air is less dense in hot weather so producing less power.

 

[pocketmoon66]

Actually the air is less dense in hot weather so producing less power.

But how much speed is gained through there being less air resistance ?

But then you also lose downforce!

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

But you could counter that by setting more wing.