French GP 2008

[sebbe]

I'm tired or reading stupid post about how great this team is or how illiterate that driver is... let's stick to what we know and what we see, not our guesses or predictions.

Let's make of this a truly F1TECHNICAL forum, not a chit chat page, shall we?
Let's take last posts as example.

[Scotracer]

Lewis was running without the bridge wing for the second half of FP2. Having seen McLaren for a year and a half with it, the car looked weird for a lack of better word.

I wonder what they'll do tomorrow. Perhaps with the enforced central strut, the bridge wing isn't as effective any more.

Hmm, I was watching the FP and didn't spot that -- good catch. I'm so glad they've removed it...the bridge-wing is awful looking.

[nae]

b%cks to the racing lets just slag each other off

FA's fastest is lap still 0.5 away from Massa in the morning
good time for 5th on the grid

[Scotracer]

b%cks to the racing lets just slag each other off

FA's fastest is lap still 0.5 away from Massa in the morning
good time for 5th on the grid

The track temperature was much lower in the morning session, giving faster times...I think Alonso may surprise a few people in Quali.

[Conceptual]

b%cks to the racing lets just slag each other off

FA's fastest is lap still 0.5 away from Massa in the morning
good time for 5th on the grid

The track temperature was much lower in the morning session, giving faster times...I think Alonso may surprise a few people in Quali.

BINGO!

I agree!

Chris

[axle]

I can see Renault going for pole at any cost to the race strategy. As overtaking is limited for at least the first segment of the race Alonso can keep them all behind him and give himself every chance of a podium...even if the Ferrari's look like they'll waltz off once released.

Is France hard on tyres? Is a 1 stopper an ok strategy? Bearing in mind how Lewis chews his tyres...

[Miguel]

Is France hard on tyres? Is a 1 stopper an ok strategy? Bearing in mind how Lewis chews his tyres...

I think it's pretty tough, although my memory may fail me. In any case, worn tires is the last thing you want in S2. I may not like Magny Cours at all, but the quick chicanes and the multi-radius Turn 9 are one of the best places to watch how good F1 cars are.

And regarding Alonso, I don't want him to surprise in qualy. We've already seen that! I want him to drive balls out (like nearly always) and surprise in the race. I want a podium and I want it now.

[ginsu]

This is the first time I've seen the innards of the Ferrari hub/spindle. I really like seeing how extreme they went on locating the pushrod attachment point, just to get the angle of the pushrod around 45deg. This should be the best angle to minimize the loads going through the pushrod, allowing for a lighter assembly. It's also important to notice that in this front view the lower control arm is very nearly aligned with the centerline of the spindle, which means it sees really high lateral loads. Judging roughly by eye, it looks like 2.5 times the loading of the upper control arm.



This is really awesome how they pierced the LCA in order to align the attachment points. I bet their hoping to clean this up somehow, it still looks a bit risky, like rubbing could occur.

[WhiteBlue]

I can see Renault going for pole at any cost to the race strategy. As overtaking is limited for at least the first segment of the race Alonso can keep them all behind him and give himself every chance of a podium...even if the Ferrari's look like they'll waltz off once released.

Is France hard on tyres? Is a 1 stopper an ok strategy? Bearing in mind how Lewis chews his tyres...

No, Magny Cours is a very smooth asphalt they say. So it should not be hard on the tyres. Having said that I am always surprised how fragile Bridgestone are making these control tyres. I would have thought they disregard performance and design something dead simple to drive. That is apparently not their strategy. They seem to have kept the window of operation fairly tight. Of course that creates talk about the tyres and they are recognised. A fairly clever strategy for their marketing.

[kikerlc]

I think it's a banzai lap on fumes for Alonso.. Renault in front of home crowd... Especially after blowing an engine in FP1

According to diario As he had about 30 kg. of fuel

Link (spanish):
http://www.as.com/motor/articulo/formul ... imot_1/Tes

[WhiteBlue]

so he had out lap, qualifying lap, in lap. he will have eploratory lap and formation lap.

by the time the race starts this is down to 20 kg. so he may be in by 10 laps.

France Friday quotes: Bridgestone

Friday, June 20th 2008, 16:03 GMT


Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development: "This morning the circuit was quite dirty as usual and we saw front tyre graining on some cars.

"In the afternoon session, the track was a lot cleaner and the graining vanished. The second session allowed teams to compare the medium and soft compounds and it seems that the soft compound has an initial advantage of 0.2 - 0.4 seconds.

"However, at the moment the rear tyre degradation of the soft compound is bigger than that of the medium compound. Tomorrow's running will be interesting as teams will gain more data and try to decide their strategy for the race."

Martin Whitmarsh has said that the tyre wear is quite high and he spoke of the front end being critical for a potential 1 stopper.

So one could put this together to mean that for pole you probably have to run the soft tyres which will not be good enough to go 30 laps. I expect both Hamilton and Rosberg to qualify on medium (prime) tyres and carry relative high fuel loads. Hamilton probably for a 2 stopper and Rosberg for a 1 stopper.

[Miguel]

so he had out lap, qualifying lap, in lap. he will have eploratory lap and formation lap. By the time the race starts this is down to 20 kg. so he may be in by 10 laps.

It's nevertheless a pretty good time, good enough for Q3. I wouldn't try to read too much into AS (suppose apostrophe s follows), which is ironically known between my friends as "objective and truthfull information". By the way, that link also says that Alonso is 10km/h faster than Piquet in Turns 10/11 (before Chateau d'Eau). Telling. Where's the apex speed measurement in Magny Cours?

So one could put this together to mean that for pole you probably have to run the soft tyres which will not be good enough to go 30 laps.

Not really. With the current qualifying format drivers have always been allowed to choose which tires they start the race with. In any case, the two compound rule is really idiotic, since it basically kills one-stop strategies. Have we seen any race where this rule has improved the race?

[WhiteBlue]

Miguel, you are right, I forgot about the tyre change.

The two tyre rule is simply to help bridgestone to generate tyre talk in return for the supply and service they do. In my view that is legitimate because no companyt will just do it out of their good heart. they have to show a profit and that isn't possible if they do not generate PR from F1.

[Miguel]

Miguel, you are right, I forgot about the tyre change.

The two tyre rule is simply to help bridgestone to generate tyre talk in return for the supply and service they do. In my view that is legitimate because no companyt will just do it out of their good heart. they have to show a profit and that isn't possible if they do not generate PR from F1.

You make a very fair point here, WhiteBlue. Still, I do wonder how many of the folks that see a Bridgestone = F1 advertisement really know every driver has to use both tire compounds in a race. Note that I feel that, currently, Bridgestone has all the right in the world to talk about their F1 involvement and build up their image of performance tire suppliers.

However, it isn't less true that the current Bridgestone tires are much worse than the Bridgestones of 2006. No advertisement states that 2006 Bridgies were the best tires ever made. And having two tire compounds in my mind equates to compromise, to a middle-of-the-road set up, to a middle-of-the-road strategy. Excuse me, I am getting visceral again.

[WhiteBlue]

wow, all teams are fighting like mad. in Q1 the first 15 are all in 1 s. Nick almost lost it and in the last 15 seconds made it into the Q2. BMW should have done some qualifying training this morning. other teams did this, particularly Renault.