The Barcelona car updates, have the cars really improved?

After the first 4 ‘fly away races’ (Bahrain, Australia, Malaysia & China), the teams have been adding new bits and pieces to their cars to improve performance for the 2010 Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona (circuit de catalunya). But how much have they improved, if at all?

This is rather hard to judge as there is no real baseline to compare. However, the teams all visited the Barcelona track at the final pre-season test at the end of February.

Comparing the fastest lap times from that 4-day test with their qualifying lap times at the Grand Prix shows some rather interesting results. Obviously the track conditions were not exactly the same in February, but their relative performance differences between the two times are somewhat revealing and also quite confusing.

You would expect that the times at the Grand Prix with dry and warm conditions when the drivers are really pushing it as much as they can in the new improved cars that their times would be a lot faster?

Driver	Team	Spanish GP Qualifying Time	Pre-Season Best Time	Change
Mark Webber	Red Bull	1m19.995s	1m20.479s	-0.484s
Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	1m20.101s	1m20.667s	-0.566s
Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	1m20.829s	1m20.472s	+0.357s
Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1m20.937s	1m20.637s	+0.300s
Jenson Button	McLaren	1m20.991s	1m21.450s	-0.459s
Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1m21.294s	1m20.745s	+0.549s
Robert Kubica	Renault	1m21.353s	1m23.175s	-1.822s
Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1m21.408s	1m20.686s	+0.722s
Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1m21.585s	1m20.539s	+1.046s
Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	1m21.725s	1m20.911s	+0.814s
Adrian Sutil	Force India	1m21.985s	1m20.611s	+1.374s
Pedro de la Rosa	Sauber	1m22.026s	1m20.973s	+1.053s
Nico Hulkenberg	Williams	1m22.131s	1m20.614s	+1.517s
Vitaly Petrov	Renault	1m22.139s	1m22.523s	-0.384s
Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso	1m22.191s	1m21.413s	+0.778s
Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso	1m22.207s	1m21.571s	+0.636s
Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India	1m22.854s	1m21.056s	+1.798s
Rubens Barrichello	Williams	1m23.125s	1m20.870s	+2.255s
Jarno Trulli	Lotus	1m24.674s	1m25.059s	-0.385s
Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus	1m24.748s	1m25.251s	-0.503s
Timo Glock	Virgin	1m25.475s	1m25.942s	-0.467s
Lucas di Grassi	Virgin	1m25.556s	1m26.160s	-0.604s
Karun Chandhok	Hispania	1m26.750s	DNA	N/A
Bruno Senna	Hispania	1m27.122s	DNA	N/A

Surprisingly only 4 teams (Redbull, Renault, Lotus and Virgin) had improved times at Barcelona this weekend. All other teams had slower times (Jenson Button being the only exception).

Redbull’s improvement is very impressive, with both drivers able to deliver times half a second quicker than they went at the end of February. Lotus and Virgin both show half a second improvement which suggests that Lotus’s new changes are not as advanced as they hoped for.

The biggest change is Robert Kubica’s Renualt with a nearly 2 second improvement, whereas his teammate Petrov was only able to achieve a 0.4secs improvement.

Williams have a lot to be concerned about as Hulkenberg was a massive 1.5secs slower and Barrichello a horrendous 2.255secs slower. The Force India cars were 1.5secs slower on average, Sauber about one second slower , Toro Rosso 0.7secs slower and Mercedes just over half a second slower. The Ferrari of Alonso and Hamilton’s McLaren were at least three tenths slower.

So does this mean the team’s improvements have actually made their cars worse? Well, track conditions have to be factored in, but certainly don’t explain all the difference. It could also be speculated that during the pre-season test some teams ran low fuel using a lower ride height (i.e. not also being set up for a full tank of fuel as they do in qualifying).

Whatever the reason, one thing is very clear, Red Bull are simply doing a better job at developing their car than anyone else.

Felipe Massa, could 2010 finally be his year?

This year people are talking about Michael Schumacher. They are talking about Lewis and Jenson at McLaren. They are talking about that Spanish chap, Alonso, winning for Ferrari. They are not talking so much about Felipe Massa.

Over the past few seasons Brazilian Felipe Massa has proven himself to be a consistent race winner and in 2008 was unlucky to be beaten to the championship by a single point. How he and Ferrari must rue the time he left the pits in Singapore with the fuel rig still attached? If Ferrari have produced a good car this year, and all pre-season indicators point to them having a very quick car, then Massa is surely a top contender for the title?

A combination of the arrival of Alonso to his team and the fact he is coming back from a horrific injury, where his skull was fractured by a Brawn spring during qualifying for last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix, means that people are unsure about Massa. Even though he has confidence in himself, even he won’t really know if he still is as good he as was until he actually competes in Bahrain.

The signs are good. Very good. During pre-season testing he clearly demonstrated that he can drive quickly and with great skill. Experts watching him around the track at Jerez, for example, marvelled at his smoothness, consistency and ability to get on the power early.

He is an underestimated driver whose arrival into F1, with Sauber in 2002, did not send shock waves through the sport. He appeared to be quick, but prone to mistakes (he span off several times) and in his rookie year scored less points than his teammate Nick Heidfeld (4pts and 7 pts respectively). The following year Sauber replaced him with Heinz-Harald Frentzen and he became the Ferrari test driver. Frentzen retired at the end of 2003 and Sauber rehired him to partner Giancarlo Fisichella, but he only scored 12 points compared to Fisichella’s 22 In 2005 he stayed at Sauber, this time with former world champion Jacques Villeneuve as his teammate. He only scored 11 points, but was quicker than Villeneuve and outscored him in the championship.

Massa drove with Sauber for 3 years

Massa was improving as a driver, being quick but making less and less mistakes. His big break was landing a seat with Ferrari in 2006, partnering Michael Schumacher in his final season (at least, we thought it would be his last!). This would be an extremely important season for Felipe, as for his career to continue, his driving would have to mature and develop.

Massa initially showed good speed but had a couple of spins and crashes. As the season went on he improved. He got his first podium at the Nurburgring, had the fastest lap in Barcelona and got his first pole position and win at the Turkish Grand Prix. He scored 80pts overall, 41pts less than Schumacher but had established a bond with Michael that since then has grown into a friendship. Schumacher stayed with Ferrari as a consultant and gave Massa great advice and support and this seems to have really helped Massa take his driving to the next level.

In 2007 he had Finnish driver and highly regarded Kimi Raikkonen as his teammate at Ferrari. Raikkonen would win the championship (110pts compared to Massa’s 94pts) but Felipe’s driving impressed everyone in the paddock and knew he was unlucky not to be in contention to win the title. He had some technical problems at the Australian GP and a bad start at Malaysia meant a 5^th place was the only reward for achieving pole position. He was disqualified at the Canadian GP for leaving the pit lane with a red light showing. However, he did win the Grand Prix of Bahrain and Spain (both from pole position) and won again in Turkey. He would have won in Brazil, but let his teammate pass so Raikkonen could win the Championship from the McLaren’s of Hamilton and Alonso by a single point.

2008 was the season that Massa could have so easily been world champion. His first two races, however, were disastrous and he crashed out in Australia and then spun off in Malaysia (after achieving pole).  He rectified the situation in Bahrain where he dominated the weekend and won easily from his teammate. Massa gradually reeled in the results and closed in on championship leader Hamilton.

As they went to the inaugural Singapore GP there was only one point separating them and Massa took pole by an impressive 0.6secs from Hamilton. During a pit stop he was given the all clear to leave but the refuelling rig was still attached and he drove the length of the pitlane with it still hanging on his car. Removing it and a consequential driver-through penalty meant he finished the race with no points.

He went into the final race at Brazil knowing if he won and Hamilton was only 6^th or less he would be world champion. This so nearly came true as Massa won and as Lewis entered the last lap he was in 6^th place, but sensationally managed to overtake a struggling Timo Glock on the second-to-last corner and so Hamilton won the championship. This must have been gutting for Massa but he had proved to everyone he was most definitely World Champion material.

In 2008 and in 2009, up until his terrible accident, he was quicker than Raikkonen. Make no mistake about it, he will be a force to be reckoned with in the 2010 championship and of the leading contenders certainly deserves it the most. Look for him to be good in Bahrain, he often does very well there.

One to watch in F1 2010 – Kamui Kobayashi

He only appeared in 2 races for Toyota last year, deputising for the injured Timo Glock, but I became an instant fan of Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi and really hoped he would get a drive for 2010. Even when Toyota pulled out of the sport, I felt that he had shown enough potential that at least one team, if only one of the new expansion teams, would offer him a drive.

The BMW Sauber F1 team, taking over the BMW team, have thankfully offered him a drive and will use Ferrari engines. As of 8^th January, although the BMW Sauber team has been assured of a place on the 2010 grid, they are yet to be officially confirmed on the FIA’s entry list. Nevertheless, their entry is expected and they have announced they will unveil their new car in Valencia on January 31^st just before the first official 3-day test of 2010 gets underway.

Kobayashi’s brief appearance at the grand prix of Brazil and Abu Dhabi last year revealed a great deal about the driving and racing ability of this relatively unknown driver. His debut into Formula 1 came at Brazil, a track he was unfamiliar with and qualified in the pouring rain in a respectable 11^th, especially as he had very few practice laps before hand. It was in the race that he showed that he was a driver that was not in awe of established drivers. He notoriously battled Jenson Button and aggressively defended his position before eventually the future champion managed to squeeze by. Kobayashi also had a fierce and almost kamikaze battle with his countryman, Nakajima, which did not end well for the latter who ended up crashing out and Kobayashi went on to finish 9^th just outside the points.

Although that day was all about Button finally clinching the 2009 F1 crown, many people were talking about the driving of Kobayashi. Everyone thought he was quick, but many said he was too reckless and dangerous and that he could not continue to drive like that in formula one. Even Jenson, when talking about his amazing race that day, said that Kobayashi was “crazy”. He was definitely fearless and determined and maybe just over the line of recklessness, but then you want to see that in a F1 driver don’t you? The likes of Schumacher and Senna were also criticised in a similar way.

The following race at Abu Dhabi, a new track to all drivers, saw Kobayashi drive a mature race to finish 6^th, ahead of his far more experienced teammate Trulli. He also overtook Jenson Button and drove at a quick and respectable pace throughout and very much looked like a F1 driver who needed a confirmed drive for next season.

So what else do we know about Kobayashi? According to his website, Kobayashi began his racing career in 1996 at the age of 9 and finished 3^rd in his first season of Karting in the SL Takarazuka Tournament Cadet Class and in the following 7 years he won 4 karting titles. In 2004 he signed up with the Toyota Drivers Academy and raced in Formula Renault, both in the German series and in Italy where he was 7^th overall in his first season. The following year, he finished 1^st in Italian Formula Renault and Formula Renault Eurocup (all with the Prema Powerteam).

He moved up to Formula 3 in 2006 & 2007 (Euroseries) and finished 8^th overall and then 4^th a year later. 2008 saw him graduate to GP2 in the Asia Series and in the main GP2 Series as well as becoming a Toyota F1 Test Driver. He finished 1^st overall in his second season of GP2 Asia Series but did not make much of an impression in the main GP2 Series, finishing only 16^th overall in 2008 and 2009. I think this is what shocked people when he drove in F1 last year as they were not expecting much from him.

Looking at his GP2 results, he did not seem to fair well at street circuits such as Monaco and Valencia. However, he did win at Bahrain (look for him to do well at the first race of the season), Shanghai (China), Sepang (Malaysia) and at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain.

This season is going to be very intense up at the front, but I will be watching Mr Kobayashi very closely to see how he does. Sauber has yet to announce who will be driving alongside him and they are clearly trying to get someone experienced. They could not get Trulli but Heidfeld would also be desirable, however, he could be too expensive. To help Kobayashi’s first full season in F1 it would help him to have an experienced driver with him who knows how to set up and develop a car. If that does happen then I can very much see Kobayashi becoming part of the usual suspects in F1! (sorry, couldn’t resist it)

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Jake McMillan