Formula 1

[Historian]

Originally Posted by Ace1965

Ferrari have already sacked Marco Mattiacci and replaced him with Maurizio Arrivabene. Arrivabene came over from Phillip Morris (Marlboro). Arrivabene has served as Vice President of Marlboro Global Communication & Promotions for Philip Morris International, and Vice President Consumer Channel Strategy and Event Marketing in the company. Now I'm wondering what those positions have to do with actual racing? I just have this feeling that secretly they are negotiating with Ross Brawn for a return and they're hiring this guy as a place holder.

I reckon Arrivabene is more of a 'political' appointment, and as Roger suggested a few posts back he'll be looking to hire top-notch technical and team-management guys to do the actual raceday stuff, while he concentrates on the business side. Could be that if they are angling for someone like Brawn, the idea of being free to concentrate on the 'hands-on' business of the car and race strategy while someone else takes care of the money and paddock politics stuff might be a good way of tempting him back

Arrivabene has been around the paddock for years, is a member of the F1 Commission, where he represented the sponsors, and (I suspect this may be a big factor behind his appointment), he apparently gets on very well with this guy...

[Historian]

Originally Posted by Roger Allott

I agree. In recent years it's been impossible because the calendars for Le Mans & F1 clashed. It's not just the race weekend itself, it's the practice and qualifying and preferably getting in a race before Le Mans to familiarise yourself with the car & team.

Up to about the mid-80's, there were still quite a few F1 drivers who still raced sportscars on weekends when there wasn't a GP- Riccardo Patrese, Martin Brundle, Marc Surer and others all come to mind.

It pretty much came to an end in '85, when in two successive WEC races, at Mosport in Canada and Spa, Manfred Winkelhock and Stefan Bellof were both killed in sportscar accidents. Jonathan Palmer also had a qualifying shunt at the Spa WEC race which left him sidelined for the rest of the season with leg injuries, and the F1 team principals quickly clamped down on their drivers moonlighting in sportscars.

[flake56]

Mattiachi arrival was timed to oust the child star they had (expensive as all hell) and to hire a new one. a hatchet man all in all. the new guy has no blood on his hands yet and therefore has an easier time going forward. I am sure the short stint for the predecessor was well paid and golden umbrella included. always politics in F1, never let this fact be down played, especially at Ferrari.

[Ace1965]

The World Motor Sport Council met in Qatar today

Two of the more controversial measures that either did or were scheduled to come into play in Formula One are now off the table, officially, for 2015.

The double points lottery implemented for this year’s 2014 season finale, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, has been dropped. It was nearly universally unpopular and, perhaps mercifully, did not throw a monkey wrench into the final championship standings.

Meanwhile standing restarts, which were announced earlier this year to be implemented in 2015, have also been dropped. Bernie Ecclestone said a month later that he did not want to see them introduced.

“After consultation with the Teams who raised a number of safety concerns, Articles 42.7 and 42.8 on standing restarts have been rescinded,” said the official statement from the FIA.

The Virtual Safety Car measure has been officially adopted after trial runs in the later stages of 2014. From the FIA:

Following tests of the VSC system at the final Events of 2014, the introduction of the system has been approved for 2015. The VSC procedure may be initiated to neutralise a race upon the order of the clerk of the course. It will normally be used when double waved yellow flags are needed on any section of track and competitors or officials may be in danger, but the circumstances are not such as to warrant use of the safety car itself. The full text of the article is available in Annex I.

Penalty Regulations

Team personnel or equipment on grid

If any team personnel or team equipment remain on the grid after the 15 second signal has been shown the driver of the car concerned must start the race from the pit lane. A ten second stop-and-go penalty will be imposed on any driver who fails to do this.

Power Unit Penalties

The replacement of a complete power unit will no longer result in a penalty, instead as specified in the current regulations, penalties will be applied cumulatively for individual components of the power unit.

If a grid place penalty is imposed, and the driver’s grid position is such that the full penalty cannot be applied, the remainder of the penalty will be applied in the form of a time penalty during the race (not at the next race as was previously the case) according to the following scale :

1 to 5 grid places untaken: A penalty under Article 16.3(a) will be applied.
6 to 10 grid places untaken: A penalty under Article 16.3(b) will be applied.
11 to 20 grid places untaken: A penalty under Article 16.3(c) will be applied.
More than 20 grid places untaken: A penalty under Article 16.3(d) will be applied.

Time Penalties

In addition to the existing five-second penalty (Article 16.3a), a new ten-second penalty (Article 16.3b) will also be introduced, to be applied in the same manner.

Unsafe Release

If a car is deemed to have been released in an unsafe condition during a race a ten second stop-and-go penalty will be imposed on the driver concerned. An additional penalty will be imposed on any driver who, in the opinion of the stewards, continues to drive a car knowing it to have been released in an unsafe condition.

Qualifying Procedure

The qualifying procedure was clarified: for cases when 24 cars are eligible seven will be excluded after Q1 and Q2, if 22 cars are eligible six cars will be excluded after Q1 and Q2, and so on if fewer cars are eligible.

Safety Car: lapped cars

Once the last lapped car has passed the leader the safety car will return to the pits at the end of the following lap, the race director will no longer have to wait for all the lapped cars to reach the back of the pack behind the safety car.

2015 F1 TECHNICAL REGULATIONS

The weight of the car, without fuel, must not be less than 702kg at all times during the Event (up from 701kg).
Changes have been made to the rules governing Wind Tunnel Testing and with regard to the aerodynamic reporting periods for 2015 and 2016.
Any suspension system fitted to the front wheels must be so arranged that its response results only from changes in load applied to the front wheels.
Any suspension system fitted to the rear wheels must be so arranged that its response results only from changes in load applied to the rear wheels.
The Zylon anti-intrusion panels on both sides of the survival cell have been extended upwards to the rim of the cockpit and alongside the pilot’s head.

Superlicense changes

1- Safety criteria

The following changes have been made compared to the current regulations:

There is a valid driving licence requirement.
There is a minimum age requirement (18yo).
There is a verification of knowledge of the F1 Sporting Regulations/ISC rules.

2- Experience criteria

With the following changes compared to the current regulations:

There is the 300km in F1 TCC or TPC_ as a minimum requirement.
There is a 2 years minimum running in minor Formulas.

3- Performance criteria

With the following changes compared to the current regulations:

There is a point system requirement, based on the driver results in previous Formulas.

[Ace1965]

http://motorsportstalk.nbcsports.com...ull-racing-hq/

What a shame. Hopefully they will all be retrieved soon.

[Roger Allott]

Seems to be utterly daft things to steal. The trophies have very little intrinsic value - they're only worth anything to RBR themselves.

And those that did have any intrinsic value were elsewhere. Only replicas were on display.

.

[blazes]

McLaren has confirmed Alonso and Button as their driver line-up for the coming season. Magnussen will be their reserve/test-driver.
http://www.formula1.com/news/headlin.../12/16720.html

[Oddie999]

Originally Posted by blazes

McLaren has confirmed Alonso and Button as their driver line-up for the coming season. Magnussen will be their reserve/test-driver.
http://www.formula1.com/news/headlin.../12/16720.html

Thrilled to bits about this. Not a McLaren fan but have a lot of respect for Jenson as a driver & competitor. I think they have made an excellent choice and I'm certain they'll take it up to the Mercs next season.
Can't say I'm that confident about my boys at the stable

[pharoahegypt]

Originally Posted by Ace1965

http://motorsportstalk.nbcsports.com...ull-racing-hq/

What a shame. Hopefully they will all be retrieved soon.

Strange how this happened only weeks after the RB documentary, where Christian Horner proudly stood in the foyer of their HQ and showed just how vulnerable to attack the cabinets containing said trophies were....... I recall thinking at the time that it didn't look like a smart place to keep them....?

[Ace1965]

The house cleaning continues at Ferrari. Pat Fry and Nikolas Tombazis have been relieved of their duties.

From NBCMotorsportstalk.com

"Pat Fry and Nikolas Tombazis, Ferrari’s technical director and chief designer respectively, are out as part of the Scuderia’s restructuring under new team principal Maurizio Arrivabene.

Fry had been with Ferrari since 2010 and Tombazis since 2006. Both had been with McLaren in their past roles.

As could be expected given the changes in the team, these come down as the management sweeps out prior figures from the Stefano Domenicali-led administration.

In the clarified, simplified structure, James Allison has been appointed full technical director as opposed to just chassis technical director, and given greater responsibilities at the head of the flow chart.

Allison will be responsible for all technical aspects and direct all track engineering activities.

Those working under Allison include: Chief Designer Simone Resta, Power Unit Director Mattia Binotto, with the latter will be supported by Chief Designer Power Unit Lorenzo Sass."