F.1 – Malaysian GP: DRIVERS' SCORECARD

/in /by

After the great victory of Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari before the two Mercedes, let’s give votes to the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel – 10 He predicts that his victory was not easy, indeed. All we expected again two unattainable silver arrows, but instead he stood out with his Ferrari #5. Good job, as well as team’s job that get the exact strategies, since Qualifying. He was constantly attacking without making the slightest mistake. It was very mice the overtake on the World Champion, Hamilton.

Kimi Raikkonen – 8 He made a mistake which is not proper to a World Champion in Qualifying and it costed him the access in Q3 and a slower start with the result of ending up in the middle of the group with a puncture. However, he managed to recover up to the fourth position.

Lewis Hamilton – 8 Fantastic pole position, but he was penalized by Mercedes in trouble with tyres on this track. Good his 1’43″161 at the 41st round, against 1’43″782 of Vettel at the 40th round.

Nico Rosberg – 7 He completed his homework, driving without malice, except scoring in the final an incredible time lap of 1’42’062, or 1″ faster than the best lap in the race last year. I’d like to have some explanation.

Felipe Massa e Valtteri Bottas – 6,5 After Australia, we will have certainly expected something more, but last year the Williams had been in difficulty. Maybe the car does not fit Sepang circuit or extreme heat. According to the current standings, they have become the third force.

Amazing battles at Red Bull, between Daniil Kvyat (7.5) and Daniel Ricciardo (7), and Toro Rosso. The two young drivers Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr. are not betraying the expectations. To them I give an 8.

Pastor Maldonado – 5 FIA removes even 3 points from his license for excess speed under safety car. Now has several races behind.

Nico Hulkenberg 5 Sergio Perez 4 Weekend to forget for Force India and its drivers, which closed respectively in 14th and 13th place (out of 15 classified cars), Moreover, they lose 2 points on their licenses for the contacts against Kvyat and Grosjean.

McLaren – NC They are still too far away from the group and from top positions, despite an improvement over a fortnight ago. There is still much work to do.

Kart – Matteo Nannini greets the Rok Nord 60 with an excellent second placement. “The 125 is the new challenge”

/in /by

From the second place in Lonato to the second place in Nizza Monferrato. Matteo Nannini continues to impress, continuing quickly the new season with the Energy material.

Right from the beginning, the young Italian Champion from Forlì sets the pace, by signing the fastest chronometric result in Qualifying, before achieving the pole position with a best lap of 47″728 of Rok North 60, leaving behind 28 drivers. In the first race, Matteo is once again the fastest, racing with Qualifying lap times, but he had to be satisfied with the second place. In the final, Matteo is determined to reach the top step of the podium, after demonstrating to have the right stuff on track. Unfortunately someone crashed into his car, removing him from victory’s battle. Undeterred, he recovered, ending the last Mini 60’s race with a fifth place. For Nannini, a chapter ended. The next challenge, at the International Circuit 7 Laghi in Castelletto di Branduzzo – Pavia – a new chapter will begin in KFJ with 125.

“On one hand I am very happy because I was constantly the fastest on track. Unfortunately, I bring home only a second place. In the final, a contact denied me the chance to win. A real shame. But tomorrow a new challenge with the 125 will begin and I’ve already tested it in recent months, scoring the fastest time in testing. Pavia’s race, being the first, will be a real test, to make any assessment in view of subsequent appointments. I don’t wait to start”, a smiling Matteo Nannini says.

“I have to congratulate Matteo. Throughout the weekend, he was the fastest, demonstrating his talent. Unfortunately in the final his car was crashed. The dispensation has finally arrived and now the parenthesis of 60 ended, full of successes and rich in the title of 2014 Italian Champion. From tomorrow, we turn the page and get to race with the up category. The first race will be the “zero”. I am sure that with the 125 he is able to fight for important positions”, the manager Giovanni Minardi analyzes.

F.1 – Malaysian GP – THE POINT… BY GIAN CARLO MINARDI

/in /by

INCREDIBLE! Ferrari made a big step forward compared to last season, giving us this unexpected result: an important victory, but as rightly said Maurizio Arrivabene: “Feet on the ground and drive“.

Stopwatch in hand, the SF15-T earned 8 dec on lap performance compared to 12 months ago, including improving the setup with tyres in the long run, as you had already seen since Friday. There are things that have left me puzzled, because with virtually very similar conditions (such as temperature and type of tyres), Ferrari was the only car to have actually improved, reaching the win. Last year, the fastest lap in race was marked by Hamilton in 1’43″066, while today Rosberg scored a 1’42″062 (medium) on the finish. An improvement of 1″ from Mercedes, but it didn’t highlighted in the weekend. Ferrari passed from Alonso’s best lap of 1’44.165 to Vettel’s in 1’43.782. Very positive result. The team did a good job, guessing strategies since Qualifying. It was different for Raikkonen. In Qualifying, he committed an assessment mistake, which is not as World Champion. Arrivabene, however, was direct, clear and precise, pointing out that it was driver’s mistake. This stance bodes well, keeping the team together and makes the driver feel responsible for. Even at the start, he wasn’t perfect, finishing into the group, where it’s easy to touch. And so it was.

Mercedes’ weekend was not errors free. In Q1 the choice to put on the medium tyres didn’t help in race, then forcing them to use the hard. We are only at the second race of the season and it’s too early to make predictions. The ranking gives us the current forces in the field, with two Ferrari and two Mercedes in the first four positions, followed by Williams, Toro Rosso and Red Bull. It’ weird to see the two creatures of Newey lapped. McLaren continues to miss and, despite the leap in quality compared to Melbourne, it remains well behind. Toro Rosso is keeping its promises and the two rookies – Verstappen and Sainz – don’t regret certainly more experienced drivers. At this rate, the fifth place in Constructors Championship will be within their reach. Compared to winter tests and fifteen days ago, Sauber missed.

Sepang, beyond the strategies, gave us some good overtakes, both in top positions and in the rear, with battles also inside same the team, such as at Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Williams. On a real track, Formula 1 gave us the show that we want always to see, recovering what was missed in Australia.

Gian Carlo Minardi

F.1 – Road to Sepang

/in /by

After a first race in a semi-street circuit such as Melbourne, the Circus of F1 is ready to get to Sepang, on a permanent circuit with two straights about 1 kilometre long, medium-fast corners and quite stressed tyres. You go from speeds around 80-90 km/h out of the corners to reach 300 km/h at the end of the straight, before gearing down again in second. The car works in support and the asphalt is quite abrasive.

We are in the monsoon period, therefore track surface will be clean, but for the weekend are expected temperatures around 34 °C. Therefore, Pirelli will bring Medium and Hard compounds. It’s a Grand Prix pit characterized by 3-4 pit stops. Last year, only Force India tried the two stops, closing in fifth place with a gap of 47″, but the two Williams missed – 7th and 8th after a GP with difficulties – and Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari was out of the score zone. The choice of the two stop seems too risky, although this year the tyres get wear less easily.

After passing medical exams, Fernando Alonso will get at the wheel of his McLaren-Honda and Bottas will regularly on track, having recovered perfectly. Moreover, on Friday morning our bearer will be back on track, with Raffaele Marciello busy behind the wheel of the Sauber. The cars on the grid should go back to twenty, after the Australian forfeit Manor. So the interesting ideas will not miss. Once again, there’ll be fight between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, with the German driver forced to come up with something to keep in touch with the mate, without making mistakes. At the moment, in the internal challenge we are 1-0 for the World Champion. Behind them I see the advantage Williams on Ferrari, which has to contend with other Mercedes engines (Lotus and Force India). It will not be an easy weekend, where power consumption and can make a difference. After Vettel’s podium, Ferrari is called to repeat itself. But we must be down to earth. I read too much triumphalism. Let us remember that it is a team sport with developments step-by-step.

In Red Bull there is great nervousness, especially against Renault. The rumours on patron Mateschitz’ disinterest towards the F1 are increasingly insistent and the meetings between Red Bull and Renault are intensifying. This ferment could remove the focus required to recover the gap. Having dominated the scene for four years, so raise the tone at the first difficulty blaming the other teams have put in place an anti-RB policy to stop them, I do not find it correct. I clearly prefer the philosophy of Maranello when they say will win Mercedes on track.

Gian Carlo Minardi

 

F.4 – First contact with Mugello’s rain for Joao Vieira

/in /by

A little more than a month after Vallelunga’s weekend, which will launch the second season of the Italian F.4 Championship powered by Abarth, Joao Vieira came back to work with Antonelli Motorsport team at Mugello Circuit.

A test day strongly conditioned by the rain, which gave to the young Brazilian driver of Minardi Management the opportunity to become familiar with the selective Tuscan track in difficult wet conditions. It was the first experience with the wet for Joao and the staff directed by Marco Antonelli, after the podium of last season on a dry track. “It was a very fruitful day. Having never shot under these conditions, it was an opportunity to do the right experience, as we are talking about a demanding track already under optimal conditions. We had no references with last year, but I’m happy because I made no mistakes. We took as our reference point the Formula 3 on track and chronometric results are proving us right“, Joao Vieira says.

“Having no references with the 2014, it’s difficult to judge. Due to rain and the numerous red flags, track conditions were never the same. Unfortunately we couldn’t do more than three consecutive timed laps. I am satisfied by the work done by Joao, who has never committed any error, even though it was his first contact with the Mugello in wet conditions”, the manager Giovanni Minardi analyses.

F.1 – Minardi: "A quarter of the budget for engine and gearbox? That's no good"

/in /by

The Australian Grand Prix, the opening race of the F1 World Championship, along with Mercedes ready to dominate the scene, showed us several teams in strong economic difficulty, asking for advances on 2014 rewards.

Over the past year, these scenes took place at a later time, toward the end of the season. Today, instead, we are awaiting only the second race. We had Force India (sixth team of 2014 World Championship) forced to race with the old car for most of the tests, Manor that currently haven’t still raced even a lap and lost the Caterham. “It’s a very serious matter that has to make us think about. I still maintain that the main evil is the exaggerated cost of the engines”, Gian Carlo Minardi analyses at the columns of www.minardi.it. “20 – 22 million dollars is a staggering price. The “engine-gearshift” entry can’t occupy a quarter of the team’s budget. We always talk about twelve engines per season per team. Four cars, plus four others for testing”, the manager from Faenza says.

“Only manufacturers can afford certain expenses, but at the moment they are only four (Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda and Renault), too few to ensure the spectacle of F1. For customer team is crazy. Mercedes claims a turnover of 440 million dollars … Such a competition doesn’t work. It’s too selective. At these budget levels, the current F1 Championship makes difficult to earn an adequate economic return for commercial sponsor that are not the manufacturers themselves, as it was instead a time ago”.

A famous Italian saying goes: “Non tirare troppo la corda…perché prima o poi si spezza” (- don’t’ take things too far -). And it’s like what is going on in this Formula 1. “We must review the regulations. We started in the right way, blocking the cost of engines to 5 million. It would have to continue on that way, to stabilize teams’ turnovers”.

Other signals dismay: Nurburgring’s about face is another highly negative signal. “The organizers of the historic German GP – always in F1 – give up and this shakes the wrists and worries for even our future. 2016 is fast approaching and we must give all necessary guarantees for the contract renewal of the Italian Grand Prix. The old country is likely to disappear from the world of Formula 1. Together with Silverstone and Monaco, we speak of the circuits that have shaped the history of this sport”. The new actors, such as Qatar, are ready to take over in their place. “Will they be sufficient to keep alive the Circus? The F1 has to take remedial action to take its fans back, approach them, find new resources and explore new strategies to reduce operating costs”.

 

Kart – Karol Basz played his three of a kind. Absolute domain also in Castelletto

/in /by

After winning in WSK Gold Cup and in the opening game of WSK Super Master Series at Adria, Karol Basz grants his third winning, achieving also the second round on the track of Castelletto and confirming his leadership with 180 points in ranking.

Bad weather conditioned the weekend, putting to the test the skills of all 33 drivers involved along the 1,285 meters of the International Circuit 7 Laghi in Pavia. A difficult weekend beginning from the bearer of Kosmic Racing Team, who became the protagonist of a great comeback in the second Qualifying heat, after winning the first one and being hit on the second lap. Finishing back at the 24th position, he came back until the twelfth place, winning the eighth place in standings. Thanks to two sensational starts that left public and experts stunned, the Polish driver of Minardi Management showed on track all his talent, even in difficult wet track conditions, gaining a splendid double in the pre-final and final, which are worth the nickname: “Rain wizard”. In pre-final, he outdistanced the second driver with more than 21 sec, which is definitely a lot in the world of karting.

“Another fantastic weekend, despite the pouring rain. It wasn’t certainly an easy weekend, especially in the second Qualifying heat, after winning the first one. In the pre-final and final everything went very well, despite very difficult track conditions. I recovered positions until finishing first, confirming me leading the standings“, Karol Basz says.

“It’s really a pleasure to see Karol in action, in both wet and dry conditions. He’s a complete driver, who doesn’t lose heart because of unlucky situations, like in the second Qualifying heat. With great intelligence, he recovered positions until the double success of pre-final and final. He has improved a lot compared with last season, especially considering this aspect. Two very important successes, both for spirits and in view of the other seasonal events. He impressed with two amazing starts, being protagonist of breath-taking overtakings“, Alberto Tonti says.

Karol Basz’ next appointment is planned at La Conca circuit, the third round of WSK Super Master Series on the weekend of April 9th – 12nd.

Photo: Alex, RaceBox

A recovering weekend for Gianni Vigorito in Castelletto

/in /by

Gianni Vigorito‘s new sporting season in WSK Super Master Series is going on quickly, committed to finding the right feeling with the new kart and the new team. In the second round on the International Circuit 7 Laghi of Pavia, the bearer of Minardi Management became the protagonist of important comebacks, despite difficult weather conditions characterized by a heavy rain.

After closing the Qualifying with the thirtieth place, the bearer of the OK1 Racing Team was able to recover up to twelfth place in the pre-final, despite a contact at the first corner. Started from twenty-fourth place in the Final, in just nine laps he recovered with many overtakings until the twelfth position, before raising the white flag for the failure of the chain.

“Unfortunately it was another weekend conditioned by bad luck. Despite the heavy rain in the pre-final and final, I managed to achieve several positions, touching the top ten. In the final, the ninth lap, unfortunately the chain broke, forcing me to retire early. Now, the mind has already turned to the next task, at La Conca track“, Gianni Vigorito says.

“Gianni’s journey continues and he’s finding the right feeling with the new material and staff. Despite the difficult weather conditions, he was able to recover several positions, but unfortunately the failure of the chain has frustrated the work of the weekend. Certainly not the ranking highlights the true value of Gianni. I am sure that at in next appointments he will conquer those results that are within his reach“, Alberto Tonti analyses.

F.1 – After Singapore Gran Prix, DZ Engineering achieves Sepang

/in /by

DZ Engineering, a company of Zoli’s Group in Forlì (FC), is the Italian company responsible for the management of lighting, CCTV, PA system and radio communication of Singapore Circuit for the Formula 1 event that reaches its eighth edition this year.

In recent days, DZ Engineering has been awarded installation and testing of the closed circuit HD TV camera system (CCTV) and related operations centre of Sepang circuit in Malaysia, thanks to its know-how and experience.

The new plant, which will be operational for the first time during the Formula 1 event scheduled for March 29th, was set up in record time, thanks to the experience of the three Italian technicians, led by Marco Scaioli from Forlì and, recently, Singapore’s adoption. “Sepang’s CCTV system dates back to the first edition of the Grand Prix, in 1999. Since then, technology has really made incredible progresses and, with the introduction of the HD systems, security is increased and that’s an important step for all drivers and experts protection“, Scaioli says. “We are proud to be among the first to equip a major circuit like Sepang with such innovative system and, given the demands of the FIA, soon the others racetracks will have to go along with“.

Works took place very rapidly, even after a long decision-making process. “The first contact with the leaders of the Malaysian circuit occurred over a year ago, during the Professional Motorsport World Expo in Cologne, in November 2013“, Roberto Grilli, the Head of Motorsport Systems Engineering of the DZ comments. “Since then, we have had frequent contact with managers of Sepang, thanks to our presence in Singapore during Formula 1 Grand Prix and our involvement in operations management of another motorsport event in that area, the Formula E Grand Prix in Putrajaya, a town a few kilometres from Sepang International Circuit“, Grilli continues. “The project materialized a few days before arriving in Malaysia (for the second round in 2015) and our team started working only in early March, realizing installation and testing in just ten days! After all, we are specialized in this type of challenges“.

F.1 – Gian Carlo Minardi: “Art. 23.12 of regulation has to be modified”

/in /by

In about one week (March 28th – 29th) the Malaysian circuit of Sepang will host the second round of F1 World Championship. It will be the seventeenth edition of the Malaysian Grand Prix, whose “first” edition dates back to 1999, with the victory of Eddie Irvine of Ferrari ahead of Michael Schumacher.

All the teams will certainly have had the opportunity to analyse and study maniacally all data collected during the weekend opening in Australia, with the intent to make corrections to improve cars’ performances to get the best result both in Qualifying and in the race. The other focus points will be strategies and also work at the pit stop. In Ferrari, this latter point will be the subject of scrupulous meetings, to find the cause of the problem to the left rear wheel that led Raikkonen to retire at the 40th lap.

Ferrari and the driver have been relieved of any penalties (to serve in the next Grand Prix), because the DS Massimo Rivola has shown that the origin of the problem resulted from an erroneous manoeuvre realising the clutch by Kimi. There was backlash on the wheel, while the mechanic was in action on the tyre, making the thread of hub holder seize up and preventing the old tyre replacement. Then, the car was no longer not in compliance with regulations. Therefore the decision to stop immediately Kimi was correct. TV programs have focused their attention inside the box, filming the DS Rivola, Ferrari’s mechanic and FIA Commissioner Kristensen, talking about what happened. We can assume that the explanation of Rivola, expert in regulations who has avoided penalties to Ferrari on other occasions, was crucial to let the possible “Competitor Responsibility” fall down for technical reasons, which would have penalized the Finn in Malaysia.

For this reason, I remember what says the regulation and the risk of penalties to which the driver was subtracted.

ART. 23.12:

a) It is responsibility of the competitor to let his own car restart from their garage or pit stop only if this can be done safely. The competitor must also establish clearly, from the front view of the car, when the car has been released.

b) If it has been considered that a car was released in the absence of safety during any practice session, the race officials may move back its driver as many grid positions they consider appropriate.

Personally, I have never shared this point of Regulation, as it does not take into account the two championships: Drivers and Constructors. I can’t understand why the driver, who has already paid the consequences on track, should be penalized even for a possible team’s mistake. It would make more sense to impose a right penalty only on the “Constructors” standings.

Gian Carlo Minardi

F.1 – Australian GP – DRIVERS’ SCORECARD

/in /by

Waiting for experiencing the second Grand Prix of the season, in Sepang on March the 29th, we come back to Melbourne to give votes.

Lewis Hamilton – 10 What else. World Championship has started with pole, fast lap and win.

Mercedes – 10 Although it declares an ashtoniting turnover, 400.000.000,00€, taking advantage of it and sealing its first double of the season. Mercedes maintains an advantage that will be immense.

Nico Rosberg – 8 Against an unchained Lewis Williams, he could do very little, also with a small mistake in Qualifying.

Felipe Massa – 8 Well done in Qualifying. Unfortunately, Williams’ arguable strategy ruined his race. To Williams goes 7 in conduct.

Sebastian Vettel – 8 He optimized the material provided by Ferrari. There’s still a lot to do, because a gap of 1”40 in Qualifying and 34” at the finish line are too much. The third place is always good placing and it gives the right incentive to go on the recover.

Felipe Nasr (Sauber) and Carlos Sainz Jr (Toro Rosso) 8 – Excellent debut, in Qualifying and in the race. They have given to their respective teams important points already in the opening race.

Daniel Ricciardo – 7 He didn’t lose the heart, despite a Renault Power Unit that is not up to competition. He brought his Red Bull to the sixth position.

Lotus – 6 to encourage him, in order to enter the Top 10 in Qualifying

McLaren – no vote, with the hope to be able to vote it positively from next weekend.

 

Kart – Debut with podium for Matteo Nannini in the Rok Nord 60

/in /by

Excellent start for Matteo Nannini in the Rok North 60 Championship. On the South Garda Karting track, scene of the 26th Trofeo Primavera, Matteo opened the new season with an important second place.

With his first experience using the new Energy material and in this new series, the young 2014 Italian Champion from Forlì (Italia), he put on track all his talent, touching the second consecutive podium of the weekend in the final, unfortunately missed for just to 2 tenths. After measuring himself with the track and gaining more confidence and kart team, Matteo closed the Qualifying with the tenth fastest time (the seventh of his tournament), achieving the second place at the end of a good recovery during first race, after signing the second fastest time in warm-up. In the final, only a problem with the engine took satisfaction of gaining again the podium away from Matteo, who greeted the kart track in Lonato with the fourth placement in standings, leaving behind 26 pilots.

“As first race, it went very well, also because I was debuting both in the championship and with the new kart. In Qualifying I gained the seventh place and in race-1 I was able to recover up to second place, entering into the final. Unfortunately, an engine problem slowed me down in race-2, which I closed at the foot of the podium. Now I can not wait to get back on track later this month on Winner track”, the driver of Minardi Management, Matteo Nannini, comments.

“I’m pleased for Matteo’s debut in the 60 Rok, as we are talking about a very challenging series, with up to 30 drivers on the grid. Coming from a winter stop, he was really good at opening the season with a podium and a fourth place finish. Moreover, from next race he will have to make the great leap in class, moving to KFJ”, the manager Giovanni Minardi from Faenza analyzes.

F.1 – McLaren with 5” off the top. Minardi: “What will Ron Dennis think about?”

/in /by

With the Australian Grand Prix, 2015 F1 World Championship has started and Mercedes has certainly lived up to expectations, dominating far and wide the whole weekend. They achieve the first row and the first double of the season, thanks to Lewis Hamilton, a truly unique star (pole position, fastest lap and win!), before his team mate Rosberg. Third place for Vettel’s Ferrari, which closes the “first” in red, leaving behind Felipe Massa’s Williams, without the Finn Bottas.

This beginning of the season brings us to reflections. On the one side, we get to know all real forces in field and teams’ development of these winter months, on the other, instead, we unfortunately touch the economic crisis, which seems not to spare even the golden world of Formula 1. As we know, Manor (formerly Marussia) attended this first round leaving Stevens and Merhi’s cars still in the pits and, to date, no one knows when they will actually be able to get on track. Lotus has already asked Bernie Ecclestone an advance on FOA prizes (derived from the results obtained in 2014). In the past, this same request came from small teams, after the second half of the season. Force India, in great difficulty even before the start, because of they have to debut the new car only in the last days of winter tests and it seems that they are looking for new financial solutions (perhaps through Mr. E).

In addition to this scene (already quite worrying and the subject of several winter meetings, from which there still has been no concrete solutions), there is also the technical crisis of two manufacturers like Renault and Honda.

In this weekend, Red Bull has made no secret of his discontent with the motoring partner (which also lost Lotus, passed the Mercedes this year). The Post-Australia will be the subject of inflamed meetings. McLaren no response. They were last in Qualifying, over 5″ from Hamilton’s pole, and last in race, with Button and Magnussen forced to withdraw even before the start. With this technology, the Japanese seem highly in difficulties and problems will not be solved quickly.

This scene isn’t definitely the best, since we are talking about two teams that do not suffer the economic crisis, but the lack of results could lose patience to its funders, Mr. Mateschitz and Takanobu Ito, Honda new President and CEO. I’d like to know what will happen in the next few days and, above all, what Ron Dennis will say; he has always been very critical in the past with small teams that were racing to 2-3″ from the pole. According to him, they were not worthy to occupy the starting grid!

After dominating the world scene for four years, what will happen at RB? Rumours starting to speak about the opportunity to greet the Circus. Among other things, precisely Renault would be interested in buying Toro Rosso.

In short, Formula 1 is like a cat on hot bricks. At the first race, it led to the finish line only eleven of the twenty cars attending the championship, with McLaren, Lotus and Manor obviously out of the score zone. It didn’t happen since a long time.

Gian Carlo Minardi