Ferrari updates to boost Sauber at Spa

Sauber are expecting a new Ferrari engine specification to help improve their form at this weekend’s 2015 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix, along with a revised aero package designed especially for the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

The season started strongly for Sauber, with a 14-point haul from the opening round, but the Swiss team have added just eight to their tally since then. However, fresh from the summer shutdown, they are now hoping to turn things around in the second half of the campaign.

“[We are] looking forward to stronger performances thanks to a number of upgrades that will be progressively introduced,” explained head of track engineering, Giampaolo Dall’Ara. “At Spa both C34 will be fitted with more powerful Ferrari power units and track specific wings.

“Traction and braking, although, as usual, important, are second to stability and reactiveness, therefore rather specific set-ups are being worked out.”

Like all his colleagues on the grid, Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson loves the Belgian track and the Swede - who finished 17th for Caterham in his first Grand Prix at Spa last year - is optimistic for the 2015 event in light of his team's car updates.

“In comparison to other circuits, the track is quite long with some interesting corners and long straights,” he commented. “Engine power is the crucial factor, which fits well with our engine update.”

Team mate Felipe Nasr, making his first F1 appearance in Belgium, is another fan of the famed Ardennes venue, though he is reserving judgement on the revised Sauber until he has sampled the car on track.

“Spa is my favourite circuit on the calendar,” said the Brazilian. “The track is unique, having a lot of high-speed corners and a great corner combination. We do have our engine update there, but, as we haven’t run it yet, we don’t know what it is going to be like. We are all looking forward to it and hope this will be a benefit for us.”

Sauber will not be the only team benefitting from engine upgrades this weekend. Honda are understood to be supplying McLaren with an updated version of their power unit for the Belgian round.

(source: f1.com)

The evolution of F1

This might be a bit old for some of you but it's still great! Take a look.

2010 Bahrain Grand Prix (Full Race)

Rookie report of 2015

We’ve reached the half-way point of the season, so what better time to cast an eye over this year’s rookie contenders? There are five newcomers on the grid in 2015 (if you include Marussia’s Will Stevens, who took part in just one Grand Prix last year), spread across three teams - but how is each driver getting on? We explore the stats…

Best qualifying position (before penalties)



Average qualifying position (before penalties)



Best race result



Average classified finishing position (excluding retirements)



Top-ten finishes



Team mate head-to-head



Most common race position



Raced kilometres



Points

Conclusions

In their own ways, each of the rookies has impressed this season. Verstappen’s feisty approach and willingness to indulge in wheel-to-wheel combat has led to him taking an early bath on two occasions, but his extraordinary commitment and confidence - the like of which has rarely been seen in a rookie driver before - have brought rich rewards too.

Take Hungary, where the teenage Dutchman kept a cool head and ultimately profited from others’ misfortune to finish in a season-high fourth place. That result is four positions higher than team mate Sainz’s best, though the slightly more mature Spaniard has performed just as admirably this season, and is ahead of his team mate in several of our categories. It’s also worth remembering that whilst the points differential between the duo looks big now, the difference was just one point before Hungary (where Sainz retired).

Felipe Nasr has also looked very good up against more experienced team mate Marcus Ericsson, even as Sauber’s form has dipped. Indeed, Ericsson’s average qualifying and race positions (14 and 11.9 respectively) are both worse than Nasr’s. Like Sainz, the Brazilian has rarely made an error - a factor that’s contributed to both his impressive points tally and extremely high mileage.

It’s much harder to judge Marussia’s rookie duo as they are at the back of the field and rarely in direct competition with other drivers, but in general Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi look very evenly matched. Stevens has the edge in the qualifying head-to-head, but it’s worth remembering that Merhi is taller than his team mate and his extra weight cannot be equalised. In race situations this appears to have been far less of a disadvantage.

Overall, none of the rookies looks out of his depth at this level. Indeed, several seem destined for long careers at the pinnacle of motorsport.

(source: f1.com)

Who will drive for Haas in 2016?

A new team will join the Formula One racing in 2016, in the shape of Gene Haas's eponymous outfit. The factory is in place, key personnel have been secured - but the burning question of who will be driving is yet to be answered. We run down a list of the most likely candidates...


Jean-Eric Vergne

The former Toro Rosso ace is a frontrunner for a seat at Haas thanks to his test driver role at Ferrari, who will be providing the American team's power units. With two top-six finishes across 58 starts, as well as an enviable record when team mate to Daniel Ricciardo, Vergne would certainly bring pedigree to the fledgling squad, as well as the kind of experience no ‘homegrown' driver - let alone another 25-year-old - could currently offer. The Frenchman won't lack motivation either - having lost his Toro Rosso seat (somewhat harshly in the eyes of many) to Russian teen Daniil Kvyat at the end of 2013, he'll no doubt be keen to show the Red Bull hierarchy they were wrong to let him go. The only thing working against Vergne is his lack of experience of the current breed of hybrid power units, though his test work for Ferrari - which has involved simulator sessions at Maranello - negates this to a certain extent. Vergne has also stayed race sharp by competing in Formula E, finishing the inaugural season in seventh place with two podium finishes. He's has already put pen to paper on a deal to continue in the series, but his plans might change if F1 racing were to become a realistic option again… 

 
Esteban Gutierrez

Like Vergne, Gutierrez's role as Ferrari reserve driver has, according to team owner Gene Haas, placed him on a shortlist of candidates for a drive with the American squad. The Mexican's F1 CV might not look as impressive as Vergne's on paper (just six points over 38 race starts), but Gutierrez does have first-hand race experience of Ferrari's V6 hybrid power unit, having raced for Sauber in 2014. His popularity in his homeland also means he's well placed to bring sponsorship to the team, which makes him an even more attractive proposition. The information Gutierrez has picked up by spending 2015 race weekends with Ferrari could also prove valuable from an operations standpoint, though his lack of actual on-track action isn't - his stints behind the wheel for the Prancing Horse have been limited to demonstration runs and simulator sessions.

Nico Hulkenberg

In many ways, Hulkenberg would be the ‘dream' signing for Haas. Still only 27, the German has experience in spades, with four full F1 seasons already under his belt. In that time he has only been out-scored by his team mate once - his debut season, when he was up against Rubens Barrichello - and while podiums have thus far eluded him, he is firmly established among the F1 elite. But would the man himself take the risk of leaving Force India to switch to a new and unproven team? The close links with Ferrari are the obvious lure, but even so there are some serious question marks about how much of a backward step it would constitute. Hulkenberg has already competed against - and comfortably outshone - then-rookie Gutierrez at a Ferrari-engined team in 2013. Would he want to try for a repeat and the outside chance of landing a works drive with the Scuderia?

Alexander Rossi

Haas have made it clear that nationality will not guarantee anyone a race seat, and that securing someone with F1 experience remains the priority. American Alexander Rossi potentially ticks both boxes. Still only 23, he has competed in Grand Prix practice sessions for both Caterham and Marussia, and driven in four further official tests. Now back in GP2, where he can boast one victory and eight podiums from one full- and two half-season campaigns, Rossi is perhaps the best-placed American to make the step up to a permanent F1 seat should Haas come calling.

Other potential names in the frame

IndyCar racewinner Josef Newgarden, 24, is one of the brightest young talents in American motorsport and has both the ability and age to potentially make the switch to F1 racing. Compatriot Danica Patrickhas cooled the early excitement that she might be in the frame, although Haas himself has said that "anything is possible" in relation to the 33-year-old making the switch from Nascar. Adrian Sutil, a veteran of 128 Grand Prix starts, was another name connected to the US squad, although he now appears to be out of the running. Haas, however, remains flexible, stating that he would be interested in any driver competing in F1 this year, should they become available.

(source: f1.com)

AE's F1 Dream Team

So Formula1.com has asked many drivers and team principals about their dream teams. I thought that I would also make my own. After I have done mine I would like you guys to do the same on the Facebook page.

The drivers are probably not a big surprise for you guys because I have said several times that these are my all time favorites:

Ayrton Senna (1984-1994) and Mika Häkkinen (1991-2001).

The team boss would be Jean Todt. He did an awesome job with Ferrari making Michael Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen world champions. Of course Schumi had already won two championships with Benetton, but with Jean Todt as his leader he won five more.

Last but not least is the car my dream team would use. Everybody probably thought that I would choose the MP4/4 but I think that the best car of modern F1 is the F2004 of Ferrari. Schumi and Barrichello were unstoppable with that car. Do you really think Schumi would have broken all of those records without a car like that and the previous versions before it? Take a look at this picture!

What is your dream team?

Six of the best - Title turnarounds

Sebastian Vettel may have moved to within touching distance of Lewis Hamilton in the 2015 championship fight courtesy of his victory in Hungary, but can he really crash Mercedes' party? It's by no means the biggest deficit an eventual champion has faced at the half-way stage of a season - even Vettel himself has come back from a worse position, as we reveal in our look back at six of the most dramatic championship reversals in Formula One racing history...

Kimi Raikkonen, 2007
18 points (26 percent) behind Lewis Hamilton at mid-season



The Iceman snatched the title from under the noses of McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in 2007, but he had to come from a long way back. By the halfway stage he trailed Hamilton by 18 points (under the 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 scoring system), with his task looking all the more difficult given the Briton had finished on the podium in each of the opening nine races. By Hungary, two races after the mid-way point, the gap had increased to 20, and Raikkonen's chances were looking increasingly slim. "I know it's difficult to win six races in a row, but we have to try," was his message at the time. "We can't give up."

But as relations broke down in the McLaren camp, Raikkonen began to gain the ascendancy. Two wins and three podiums in five races put him within touching distance of the McLaren duo, who each had their own sources of regret - Alonso in Japan, and Hamilton in China, where he famously exited the race in the pit lane gravel, while within tantalising reach of the championship. A three-way final-race showdown loomed, with Raikkonen seven points off Hamilton and three points back from Alonso. Only a victory would suffice, and even then the title would not be in his own hands.

What transpired has been written into F1 legend. Hamilton was slowed by early gearbox issues, and could only recover to seventh. Alonso was third, meaning he tied on points with his team mate. But Raikkonen, having been behind all season, was ahead when it mattered most - team mate Felipe Massa graciously moving over to give the Finn victory, 10 points, and with it the title, just one point ahead of Hamilton and Alonso.


Sebastian Vettel, 2012
44 points (29 percent) behind Fernando Alonso at mid-season



The history books show 2010-13 being Vettel's era, but in truth his run of four straight world championships was far from straightforward - and 2012 was when it all almost unravelled. A record seven different winners from the opening seven Grands Prix of the year made for a remarkably close title race early on, but by mid-distance Vettel had fallen away, trailing Ferrari's Fernando Alonso by 44 points (greater than the margin he trails Hamilton by this year).

What came next was stunning. Four straight victories in Singapore, Japan, Korea and India lifted the German into a solid points lead with three of the 20 races remaining, while podiums in Abu Dhabi and the USA gave him a 13-point lead over the Spaniard heading into the Brazilian showdown.

Vettel's margin of error was large, but the title was still on a knife edge - particularly when contact left him facing the wrong way as the field plunged downhill at Turn 4. Somehow he emerged intact, but he was dead last and had suffered damage. With Alonso soon up to third - and therefore ahead of Vettel in the points forecast - it seemed the Red Bull driver's chances were over.

But Vettel was not to be defeated: remarkably he had clawed his way back to sixth in just eight laps, and maintained position even as rain added a new twist to an already incident-packed race. The title was his, by a margin of just 3 points. With it also came a place in the history books: Vettel was the youngest ever triple world champion.


Nelson Piquet, 1981
11 points (30 percent) behind Carlos Reutemann at mid-season



Boasting seven different winners, and five drivers all within one victory of being champion, 1981 was one of the most dramatic seasons in history (quite aside from the politics that dominated in the background). It also delivered the first of Nelson Piquet's three F1 crowns, but the breakthrough came about the hard way.

It was fellow South American Carlos Reutemann who had the momentum over the first eight of the 15 races, winning twice and claiming three podiums to lead Piquet by 11 points at the halfway stage - a large margin for the era. Piquet's charge wasn't immediate - in fact he lost ground in round 9 when he crashed and injured his leg at Silverstone. Reutemann came home second, extending his lead to 17 points. It was the biggest margin he would enjoy.

Piquet returned to form, winning once and taking two podiums to close rapidly on Reutemann, for whom old uncertainties and mistakes had started to creep in. By the penultimate round, Piquet was just one point behind. A car park outside the Caesar's Palace hotel in Las Vegas would host the denouement. Reutemann qualified on pole, but come raceday he slipped back dramatically with gearbox trouble. By lap 17 Piquet had picked him off for seventh, and while that wasn't enough in itself, the Brazilian climbed two more places by the flag to seal the title by just a solitary point.


Niki Lauda, 1984
11.5 points (32 percent) behind Alain Prost at mid-season



It became clear early on that McLaren were destined for silverware in 1984. Which of Alain Prost or Niki Lauda would claim the honours, however, was far less certain. Prost took a record-equalling seven wins over the 16-race calendar (Lauda claimed five), and also led by 11.5 points at the halfway mark. In the end though it was the Austrian who triumphed, and by just half a point - the closest margin in history.

Rounds 10 and 12 in Great Britain and Austria respectively provided the biggest swings, with Lauda winning and Prost failing to score on both occasions - leaving the Austrian 18 points to the good. Lauda was now in front, but the advantage swung between the pair in each of the next three races, meaning Lauda carried a 3.5 point advantage into the final race.

Prost duly qualified on the front row, while Lauda was mired down in 11th, his title hopes suddenly in jeopardy. By lap nine Prost was leading and all set for the title, but Lauda was fighting back. By half distance he had moved into third, which is where he remained until - with around 20 laps to run - Nigel Mansell spun twice while in second. Lauda took the position; Prost was victorious, but it was Lauda who was champion. It remains one of just two seasons when the champion never claimed pole.


James Hunt, 1976
38 points (50 percent) behind Lauda at mid-season



Eight years earlier, it was Lauda's turn to be on the losing side of a title turnaround, although his breath-taking bravery and determination would shape his legacy in ways title glory never could. James Hunt meanwhile would come from behind to claim the title in the final round, his rivalry - and comradeship - with Lauda becoming the stuff of legend.

Already the reigning world champion, and now in his third season with Ferrari, Lauda was the early favourite and made good on such billing by winning four of the opening eight races. By the halfway stage he looked nailed on for the title, having collected 52 points, exactly double that of Hunt, who had won twice but otherwise struggled for results.

The German Grand Prix, however, would change everything. Lauda crashed heavily and was badly burned. Hospitalised and with smoke in his lungs, he was read his last rites. His recovery was remarkable in itself; even more staggering was the fact he was competing again within six weeks, finishing fourth in Italy. Hunt had won twice in Lauda's absence, and did so again in the penultimate two races, meaning he headed into the Japan decider still three points behind. The weather was atrocious, and Lauda withdrew. The chase was on, and in a thrilling, rain-hit and chaotic race, Hunt fought through to take the third place he needed. The title was his.


John Surtees, 1964
20 points (67 percent) behind Jim Clark at mid-season

The 1964 championship has gone down in legend, with John Surtees becoming the first - and still only - man to win world championships on two and four wheels. But it also remains, in percentage terms at least, the biggest comeback in F1 history.

Five races in to the 10-race calendar, and it was Lotus's Jim Clark who looked odds on for the title. Three wins and one fourth had given him 30 points (under a 9-6-4-3-2-1 system), with Graham Hill second on 26. Three men were on 11, while one point behind them, effectively in seventh, was Surtees.

Remarkably reliability issues meant Clark failed to score in any of the next four races, meaning it was Hill who had the lead going into the final round in Mexico. Even so the Briton hadn't been prolific, picking up one victory and one second in the four Grands Prix that spanned Germany and the USA. Surtees meanwhile had won twice and claimed an additional second, allowing him to jump Clark and move into second. While the dropped scores rule added a layer of complication, nine points fundamentally covered the top three - Hill was on 39, Surtees on 34, and Clark locked on 30, but still with more wins than any other driver. Mexico would be a three-way showdown.

Clark took off into the lead at the start, but Hill and Surtees both plummeted, affected by goggle issues and an engine misfire respectively. Both began to make progress, and Hill was soon third, which would have secured him the title. A collision allowed Surtees to slip through, but even so Clark was destined for the title - until, with seven laps to run, his engine began to leak oil. On the last lap it finally seized, and Surtees suddenly had a shot. Ferrari team mate Lorenzo Bandini obliged by moving aside, allowing Surtees to claim second and with it - by one solitary point - the title.

(source: f1.com)