Williams – Bahrain Grand Prix Review

Q&A WITH SAM MICHAEL, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

Q: Did the performance of the FW32 match your pre-season expectations?
SM: We had quite a few issues to sort out in the days leading up to the Grand Prix and it became apparent early on that we would have some fire-fighting to do in the build-up to the race to ensure we finished on Sunday. Because of that, we had three or four things on the FW32 in Bahrain that we couldn’t change quickly. Most of those elements can be corrected over the next couple of races and that should offer a good step in performance.

Q: Rubens set the sixth fastest lap of the race. Does that give us an indication of the car’s true potential?
SM: Not really. When Rubens set that time he actually had some damage on his car. We expect to be stronger in forthcoming races.

Q: How did the tyres hold up during the race, particularly during the early stages when the car was at its heaviest?
SM: Tyres weren’t a problem. The option was the strongest tyre throughout the race. The prime was good, but it offered less grip.

Q: Did the team have any reliability problems during the course of the weekend?
SM: Yes. We had some issues during practice but, through a huge amount of effort and late nights put in by the team’s mechanics, we managed to keep them contained.

Q: Were you pleased with the performance of the Cosworth engine?
SM: Yes. The engine is good and the crew in Northampton have done an exceptional job in a short space of time.

Q: How did Nico handle his race debut?
SM: Nico handled himself well. He was quick throughout practice, but then he made a small, but time costly, mistake in qualifying. He then had a bit of a messy race. Nico is a smart guy who’s developing a great relationship with his engineers, Tom McCullough and Andrew Murdoch, and I know he’ll deliver.

Virgin Racing – Round 1 – Bahrain Grand Prix – The Race

After a positive result in qualifying yesterday, Virgin Racing’s Grand Prix debut ended in disappointment in Bahrain after both cars were forced to retire in the early part of the race.

Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi both got off to a great start, Timo gaining a place and Lucas making up three positions on the opening lap of his own F1 racing debut. Just three laps into the race Lucas pulled over into turn 9 after losing hydraulic pressure. All hopes rested on Timo Glock. After spending a lot of time behind Kovalainen, Timo finally made his move in a deft overtaking manoeuvre and was going great guns. In the space of just a few laps he went on to lose 3rd gear then 5th gear. He pitted in the hope that the problem could be diagnosed and fixed so that he could return to the racetrack and clock up crucial mileage. Sadly it was not to be and the team reluctantly retired Timo’s car from the race.

Timo Glock #24

“The race was going quite well for me after I managed to overtake Heikki. We were having quite a good battle for where we were and it was nice to have that racing feeling again. But first I lost 3rd gear and I was having to drive around it. Then 5th followed and it was impossible to continue. We tried to find a fix but there was no way of getting back in the race, not even to get some important development mileage. It’s disappointing but we have to take the rough with the smooth at this stage. We just need to focus now on doing whatever we need to do to come back stronger in Melbourne. My personal thanks to everyone in the team here in Bahrain and back in England. It has been an epic battle for us to reach this point and the single biggest thing we can take as a reward was our qualifying result yesterday, which showed what we can do if we continue to keep pushing.”

Lucas di Grassi #25

“I got a great start and the car was feeling pretty good. I think we could have had a good race with the car that we had but then just a few laps into the race I had to pull over in turn 9 and my race was over before it had really begun. There’s no point being downhearted. We’ll be back in Melbourne with some new developments and a fix for the problems we experienced here. It’s race one of 19 and there’s a long way to go yet. I would like to thank the team for an incredible job here and over the past few months. It’s been a huge effort and I hope for a better result for the whole team in Australia in two weeks’ time.”

Nick Wirth, Technical Director
“Lucas retired due to a hydraulic fitting failure, which has occurred at other points during this weekend. After some laps in the race Timo’s car experienced an unexpected rise in gearbox temperature followed by a gradual loss in the number of gears he could select, which ultimately caused him to retire. We’re still currently investigating the cause of the high gearbox temperature. So we leave our first Grand Prix disappointed that we did not manage to get either car to the finish but at least we haven’t had a repeat of any of our winter testing problems. Most importantly, we now know that our faith in the all-CFD design approach was justified, as we have demonstrated that we have built a competitive Formula 1 car. That is one reward that we can take away from this weekend. Finally, congratulations to Lotus Racing on achieving a two-car finish in their first race. It is a fantastic achievement for a new team and I hope we can get Timo and Lucas to the flag in Melbourne in two weeks’ time.”

Renault – 2010 Bahrain GP, Monday Debrief: Interview with James Allison

James, what was your assessment of Renault’s weekend in Bahrain?
Overall, I’m disappointed that we’re going home empty handed because it’s not a fair reward for the effort the team has put in over the last few months or the underlying competitiveness of our car. On the flip side, I’m pleased that we’ve met our initial performance expectations, which is the tricky bit. Our basic competitiveness could have put us sixth or seventh in qualifying, and that’s a hugely better position than at the end of last year or at the beginning. It shows that we’ve made a proper step up with the car.

The team brought a major upgrade to Bahrain. How did it perform?
It was very difficult to judge exactly where the teams stacked up in the pre-season, but we had made our own estimates of where we stood. In Bahrain we found that the car has come out at the positive end of our predictions. Our competitive position, coupled with the data we measured on the car give me good confidence that the new package has delivered the performance that we hoped for. Although Bahrain is a slightly unusual circuit, with very few fast corners, I am confident that we should be able to pick up at the same level in Melbourne, or even take a step forward.

The wind tunnel at Enstone was upgraded last November with a new rolling road. Does this mean that it’s delivering what you expected of it?
Since the tunnel shutdown, our rate of development has been encouragingly strong, and we expect to be adding performance to the car at every race this year. However, we cannot forget that we were still a second off the front-running pace in qualifying. We have started the season with a credible level of performance, and we aim to finish the season at what I’d describe as a good level.

How did you feel the drivers performed over the first race weekend?
Robert delivered a peachy lap in Q2 to show the potential of the car. In the race, despite the fact that he got rammed on the first lap and shunted down to the back of the field, he produced a faultless drive. As a driver, he’s exactly what we want: he encourages us, he’s prepared to work every bit as hard as we are, and he has constructive ideas about the areas where we can improve. It’s fantastic to have a driver who sets high standards for himself and for us, and who can play a big part in our recovery.

As for Vitaly, he did everything we asked of him. He’d run only a handful of dry weather laps in the pre-season through bad luck with the weather; in fact, he did more dry laps on Friday than he’d managed during all of testing. Notwithstanding that, he delivered in the sessions that mattered. He got comfortably out of Q1 and, although he was frustrated with his Q2 lap, it was absolutely a good performance for a rookie. With all the pressure of making his debut race he made a great start, then got on with the job and put together a string of consistent laps. He was set fair for a good result – and quite possibly points on his debut.

Vitaly retired with a suspension problem yesterday. Can you explain what happened?
On lap 11, Vitaly reported that the car wasn’t behaving normally and he began losing a lot of lap time to Barrichello. We called him into the pits for a precautionary check and found a problem with the right-front suspension pushrod that forced us to retire the car. Upon further investigation, it transpired that the pushrod had been touching on the chassis when running on very heavy fuel at the start of the race. This damaged the bolt that attaches the pushrod to the car, and meant we lost a shim from the suspension, causing the DNF. Robert preferred a slightly different ride height and was fortunate not to encounter the same problem. We are, of course, disappointed that we did not discover this problem during pre-season testing. The parts in question will be modified for the next race to ensure that it cannot recur.

Finally, the team put in some marathon hours this weekend – mirroring the efforts back at the factory. What can you say about that herculean effort?
A racing team can only judge itself by how quick the car is and whether it is competing in the manner it would wish to. Last year, we took a number of body blows to our self-confidence, and the only way back from that was to produce a decent car and race it with integrity. We wanted to put as much performance into the car as we could for the first race, but we knew that shutting our tunnel in November for the rolling road upgrade would mean that we had to leave a lot of development daringly late. This decision put massive pressure on the design side of the team, on the manufacturing side, and also on the buying department that organizes our subcontractors – plus on the subcontractors themselves. To bring this package to the first race, we had to operate to timescales that we’d never come close to in the past, and it tested the system to its limits. It also meant the race team had to burn the candle at both ends every day at the track, with a burden of expectation on their shoulders, and they delivered. The end result may not have been visible this weekend in terms of points, but the effort that went in was a massive tribute to our determination to recover.

Is the goal for Melbourne to try and transform the potential from this weekend into points?
Absolutely. We have a car that should be capable of bringing home points at every race. If we keep up the pressure on the development side, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be doing that.

Tweets of the Week – 14th March 2010

The first race of 2010 has been and gone, and given the volume of information coming out of Twitter, I’m narrowing this week’s Tweets of the Week down to solely drivers and teams. It was an amazing race, watching the teams be so open, and I hope they can keep it up all year.

• Great to get back to some sunshine, +25C 9am in bahrain! Gonna rush to the track after breakfast to check out the new circuit layout… Heikki Kovalainen
• Heikki off playing golf again. Don’t know where the course is but there are plenty of bunkers around Mike Gascoyne
• It’s like the first day of term here. But without anyone trying to steal your lunch money. Or at least not trying very hard… Red Bull F1 Spy
• This usually is the longest night of the race weekend: engineers and mechanics are working hard to prepare the cars for tomorrow and Sunday. Inside Ferrari
• Yesterday went pretty well, tried different fuel loads and compared the two compounds of tyres we have here.. It’s good to be back racing!! Jenson Button
• I’ve only just clocked the lack of firesuits for the crew in qualy. No wonder the boys don’t look so hot! Renault F1
• Objective was to get points in the first race of the season. Would have been nice if both our drivers made it to the top 10 though. Force India
• yiha!! we’ve done it!! Lotus Racing
• end of a crazy weekend…. need a couple days of peace and quiet to recover from the stress ! shame a bump in T12 just bounced me off track Karun Chandhok
• NEED TO SAVE BETTER THE REAR TYRES…A LOT¡¡ Jaime Alguersuari

Williams – Bahrain Grand Prix Race

The 2010 season opened modestly for the AT&T Williams team at the Bahrain GP, with Rubens Barrichello claiming the last point-paying position by finishing in p10. Team-mate Nico Hulkenberg sustained some early car damage which he had to carry for over 40 laps, hampering him on his debut and he ultimately finished in fourteenth spot.

Rubens Barrichello:
It’s good to have a point, but in all honesty, we thought that we would do a little better when we arrived here. So it’s really all down to us, we can see that the competition is pretty fierce and there were no retirements among the leading cars. I think we finished around about where we deserved so it will be up to us to close up the gap. (Prime/Option)

Nico Hulkenberg:
It was a tough and difficult debut for me today. Right from the start, I had to take some evasive action to avoid a crash in turn 2, which dropped me couple of places and a few laps later, I spun at turn 6. I am still not really sure how it happened, initially I thought there was something broken on the car, but it was not the case. I jumped the kerbs and maybe hurt the car a bit, as it was quite difficult to drive for the rest of what was a long and lonely afternoon for me. It’s been a tough weekend, but the practice and long run pace has been good and we need to build on that. (Option/Prime/Option)

Sam Michael, Technical Director:
It was today good to get both cars to the finish and one car in the points. Cosworth will also be happy with engine reliability after all their hard work over the winter. We went for a different strategy with Rubens on the prime tyre, but it looks like the option was quite strong. Nico had car damage after an early spin, so he spent the race learning about the tyres. We are looking forward to Melbourne and taking a step up in performance.

A Dream Start for Lotus Racing

Six months of very hard work finally came to as successful a conclusion as the team could have hoped for on Sunday afternoon in Bahrain, with both Lotus Racing cars finishing the race, Heikki in 15th and Jarno in 17th (provisional positions) in the opening round of the 2010 Formula One™ World Championship.

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Racing chassis T127/3) “I made a good start and avoided the accident at the second corner but found myself in the gravel so at this stage I was nearly last, but then I started picking up pace and catching the people in front. The car was understeering quite a lot and I couldn’t really predict the balance so at the pitstop the team, who did a really good job, changed the front wing setting and I started pushing again and putting in some good laps. At the end of the race I had a hydraulic problem so I just had to get it to the end of the race. I’m really happy and proud for the team because in six months every single target we have fixed we have met so it’s really good, and, as Tony said, one day Lotus will win and I hope to be here when we do.”

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Racing chassis T127/1) “It was a good race for our team – to get both cars to the finish is a great achievement. My car didn’t have a single problem, I know Jarno did and managed to nurse his car to the end, but the primary goal was to get both cars to the end and we achieved that. So far the team has reached every goal we set ourselves so that is fantastic. In terms of my race, I had a good start and was battling with a lot of guys we didn’t think we’d be fighting with. My tyres were fine, and the pitstop was good, but I lost a bit of time whilst letting cars past, and we’ll look at the strategy for Australia to work around that better. I really enjoyed driving the car, it felt really good and it was good to push. Everybody in the team should be really happy but now the honeymoon is over and we need to start working on better results.”

Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne said “I’m very very proud of the whole team. Everyone here, and back in Hingham. Firstly I have to say thank you to both drivers. They drove great races – Jarno struggling early on but when he changed to the soft tyre he was much more competitive. Apologies to Heikki because he may have suffered from the strategy, and apologies to Jarno because he had a hydraulics problem and he had to slow down to get the car to the finish, but overall a great result.”

Happiest man of all was Team Principal Tony Fernandes who said “I’m completely over the moon! I cannot describe the feeling. Six months of work and to have both cars finish is just unbelievable. We’re thrilled, we’re happy and the spirit in the team is fantastic. I’m really proud of Jarno and of Heikki  and everyone here. It’s a great start and better than I could have dreamt of. We wanted to finish the race and to do so ahead of established teams is fantastic.

“From here we keep going. Before the race Clive Chapman gave me Colin Chapman’s old Lotus cap and said ‘when you win the first race you’ll be the man to throw this up in the air like my Dad used to.’ That meant a lot to me, it was a wonderful gesture and it’s like handing over the mantle of one of motor racing’s great dynasties”

Visitors to the Lotus Racing garage before the race included FIA President Jean Todt and Michelle Yeoh, but the day began with Tony Fernandes giving the team a stirring speech to thank everyone for the hard work so far, and lay out the challenge ahead, saying “The last six months have shown that if you dream you can achieve, but now it’s not about being the best of the new teams, it’s about making a serious challenge for the very top.” With a start like this, who could blame him for pushing for something truly amazing.

BMW Sauber – Bahrain GP – Race

After a difficult qualifying the BMW Sauber F1 Team was heading for points in the opening round of the FIA Formula One World Championship, but the Bahrain Grand Prix ended in disappointment with both drivers retiring due to hydraulic failures.

Weather: Sunny and dry, 35-36°C air, 36-40°C track

Pedro de la Rosa: DNF (lap 29, position 12, hydraulic problem)
BMW Sauber C29.03 / Ferrari 056
“I actually had a good start, but then lost positions when I had to go off the track to avoid colliding with other cars. On the grass I lost acceleration and some cars were able to pass, so when I arrived at turn four I had lost several positions. Then I felt we had a car that was good enough to fight for points, and there still was a chance to achieve this when I was called into the pits on lap 29 because of an hydraulic problem.“

Kamui Kobayashi: DNF (lap 12, position 13, hydraulic problem)
BMW Sauber C29.02 / Ferrari 056
“Unfortunately it was a short race for me because on lap 12 I lost the power steering and from then on I wasn’t able to shift anymore due to a hydraulic problem. I had quite a good start when I made up four positions, but then I flat-spotted a tyre and, in hindsight, I also believe it would have been better to start on the softer compound. Pedro was faster on them.”

Peter Sauber, Team Principal:
“I obviously had different hopes for how I would return to Formula One as a team principal, particularly after our promising winter testing. But even before the race our grid positions were disappointing. The race itself was okay from a performance point of view, with both drivers fighting for positions before they both stopped with a hydraulic problem. We have to analyse and to solve this problem very quickly.”

Willy Rampf, Technical Director:
“The race pace was okay. Pedro drove an intelligent race and managed his tyres really well. Kamui, who was on the harder compound, was forced to stop before his first scheduled pit stop, therefore there is not much to say. Neither car finished the race due to a hydraulic problem which we have to analyse.”

Fernando’s First for Ferrari

Fernando Alonso leads his teammate around the Sakhir circuit before taking his first victory since Japan 2008. He and Massa made it a 1-2 for the Italian squad, with Hamilton joining them on the podium. Pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel suffered mechanical troubles that meant he fell back through the field, ultimately finishing fourth.

Credit: Bridgestone Corporation

HRT F1 Team completes first 20 laps in race conditions

Race – Drivers started from the pitlane
Bruno Senna dnf (18 laps)
Karun Chandhok dnf (2 laps)

HRT F1 Team completes first 20 laps in race conditions

HRT F1 Team (Hispania Racing F1 Team) successfully competed in their first Grand Prix today at Bahrain after His Highness the King of Spain Juan Carlos visited the team garage in the morning. The team completed its first 20 laps in race conditions at the Bahrain Grand Prix in extremely hot conditions with air temperature at 35 Centigrade for the start of the 49 lap / 308.405km race. Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna started from the pitlane, and Karun Chandhok’s race ended when he went off track two laps later. Bruno Senna had a trouble free first twelve laps, lapping consistently. Bruno Senna experienced his first pit stop in a race on lap 12 and thanks to the team’s swift work went very smoothly. On lap 18, a broken water fitting from the radiator caused the car to lose all its water and overheated the engine, forcing the Brazilian to retire.

Dr Colin Kolles, team principal, commented, “I am satisfied the way things went. Karun Chandhok stopped early in the race, but it was not a mechanical failure, he could not know that the bump was there having too few miles in his car and had just never experienced that the bump was where it was on this track. We will go home with lots of important data to make step forwards as the season moves into the second Grand Prix and continue making consistent improvements. The focus today for the team was to start the race and run both cars on track. I would like to thank everyone for their dedication and we have taken an historic first step.”
Bruno Senna (car nr 21) commented, “It was certainly a relief to have been in the race for so many laps. Everything was going well. I felt I had a little too much understeer. I had a good base set-up now after these laps and my engineers will have a better starting point to work from for next race. There was a vibration from the back of the car a lap earlier and then the car suddenly stopped. We’ll have to investigate what happened. But I am very happy for the whole team for their incredible hard work to ensure we are in a position to be racing again in Melbourne.”
Karun Chandhok (car nr 20) commented, “Sorry, this was my fifth lap on this track.  I hit a bump in the new part of the circuit, I was not that much experienced in that part of the track as I had driven  only 4 timed laps over the week-end. I was pushed on exit curb, trying to bring tyres in gently, I did not know that part of the circuit.
I want to thank my mechanics for accompanying my first laps on this track and the whole team for a great week-end and long sleepless hours. Now let’s look forward to start again in Melbourne.”

Force India – 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix Report

Adrian Sutil (car 14, VJM03/03):
12th (49 laps)

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15, VJM03/01):
9th (49 laps)

The Force India F1 Team has opened its points account at the first race of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, the Bahrain Grand Prix. Tonio Liuzzi drove a faultless race, matching the pace of the Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes cars, to secure ninth position. With the implementation of a new points system this year, Tonio has chalked up two points – marking his first points since the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix and Force India’s first points since the 2009 Italian Grand Prix.

Adrian Sutil was unfortunate to finish out of the points in 12th position. The German spun on the first lap when a cloud of smoke from the back of Mark Webber’s car completely blocked his vision and he made light contact with Robert Kubica. The incident was enough for him to spin to the rear of the field, but he pushed hard to make up several places and was closing on the top ten in the latter stages. He did have some consolation of posting the second quickest lap of the race.

Adrian Sutil (car 14)
At least we finished. After the incident in the first corner it was the maximum we could do. We had a good race in the end, learning a lot about the tyres and how the car behaves at the end of a race, but the incident pretty much destroyed my hopes of getting any points. I don’t really know what happened in that corner – I was driving and then there was a big cloud of smoke so I was blind going into it. I touched someone and spun and that was it. It’s a shame but we will keep pushing for the next race.

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
I’m really pleased. We achieved our target and scored some points, which is a great result for myself and for the team. It was a difficult race as with this amount of fuel and the tyres, plus the heat, we had a bit to control but overall I think we can be pretty happy about how we handled it and to be in the points is magic. All the top teams finished ahead of us and there were no failures or reliability issues so it was the maximum we could have achieved. I’m now looking forward to Australia where we will get some more updates and it could put us in an even better position for the next race. Overall a great result for the team.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
What a great start to the season! I am absolutely delighted that we have scored in the first race of the season. It was always our aim to score points and we knew we had the pace to do it, but nevertheless to finally get there gives a great feeling. Tonio drove a superb race, matching the pace of the top teams in front, and it is certainly encouraging for the coming races. Adrian was unlucky and I know he will be disappointed not to have been able to capitalise on his starting position, but the season is long and he is hungry so I do not think he will have to wait long for his turn.

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