Ask The Apex

[RasputinLives]

On the same subject kinda - during the Sky commentary at Singapore they were joking about Guttierrez being angry and throwing his stuff around and how Ted Kravitz better be careful when approaching him for an interview to which Martin Brundle said:

"Wouldn't be the first driver to throw a punch at you would it Ted?"

to which Ted replied (all gangster like)

"True dat!"

Were they joking or has someone tried to punch Ted Kravitz? Anyone know?

 

[FB]

Dunno but if I ever meet James Allen he'd better watch out.

 

[Incubus]

The only thing I could find - and it's definitely not the best source is it? - is an old article on the late 606 forum. Someone was asked if anybody else had spottedHamilton "nearly punching" ted Kravitz after winning the title in Brazil when he was mobbed by the press pack, before being led away by his dad.

Like I say, definitely not the most reliable source...

 

[sushifiesta]

I wrote a few posts a while back about Alonso and Button coming close to taking the record for consecutive finishes and consecutive classifications. With their recent retirements they both narrowly missed out on taking the records. Ricciardo now has the longest current string of finishes with 12, he'd have to finish something like every race between now and this time next year to take the record... so Nick Heidfeld can sleep at night knowing his pointless record is safe for now.

 

[soccerman17]

Can he also sleep safe knowing his podium without win record is pretty safe? Is he even worried that one or does he want to lose it?

 

[siffert_fan]

I have a question regarding the engine (power unit) freeze that takes effect with the start of each season. I know that it means that the cars have to continue using the same spec units for the entire season, but does it preclude the teams from continuing development on the units for use in the next season? Also, how so they verify that the units being used are unchanged? If it is by an identifying number, I see a potential problem.

Rob Walker said that when his team was using Cooper-Maseratis, Maserati provided him with two engines, one of which they were rebuilding while the second one was being raced. For tax purposes, the engines had serial numbers and Rob was charged accordingly when the engines went through customs. In one instance, he found he had two Maserati engines in customs with identical serial numbers! Would the same shenanigans be possible today?

 

[Mephistopheles]

Don't they have official FIA seals on them or something...

 

[cider_and_toast]

I'm pretty sure that the engines are sealed with tamper proof tags that prevent certain areas being opened. A friend of mine once raced in Formula Vauxhall Lotus and his machine was scrutineered and tagged to ensure that he couldn't do anything untoward with the engine during the season.

EDIT - Snap Mephistopheles

 

[Mephistopheles]

I seam to remember Ferrari deliberately breaking a seal on Massa's car so that Alonso got a better grid position in America a few years back I call that well dodgy myself and I may go so far as to point the finger and shout cheat....

 

[Bill Boddy]

Are you saying that Massa was a cheat or that Alonso was the one who tampered with the seal?

 

[Mephistopheles]

No the team deliberately tampered with the seal they manipulated the rules to give an advantage to Alonso the seals were never meant to be used like that I don't know if there has been a rule change to stop teams doing this now..

 

[sushifiesta]

siffert_fan During the season I think the only changes they can make are for reliability reasons and also in software, which has been a major area of development this season (in particular for Renault who seemingly got theirs pretty wrong to start with).

In-between seasons there's a pretty complex system for how much the manufacturers are allowed to change. For the 2015 season they can change a large proportion of the engine but after each season what can be developed becomes more and more limited, until eventually I think they'll be frozen completely. Here's a quote from an FIA document that explains it:

To control costs over the life cycle of the new formula, development will be subject to a series of restrictions over a seven-year period. These restrictions have been developed to form a defined path that will allow manufacturers to fully develop the Power Units

The development cycle is scheduled according to an available set of elements that can be developed each year. The Power Unit is divided into families of functions, with each family being given a certain importance, labelled as category 1, 2 or 3 components. For example, the pistons are ranked 2, while the ignition system is ranked 1. The complete Power Unit is made up of the sum of these ranked items, with the complete Power Unit being represented by the total number, 66. Each year, each Power Unit manufacturer will be allowed to choose what parts of the engine they wish to develop and will spend a set ‘budget’ of ‘tokens’.

This development budget decreases each year across the seven-year schedule. For 2015 the budget available to teams is 32 tokens (close to 50% of possible development) but for 2018 the budget drops to 15 tokens (less than 25% of possible development).

 

[Incubus]

Mephistopheles , just to clear things up, you ARE referring to Massa's gearbox change aren't you?

 

[Mephistopheles]

No they didn't change the gearbox they only broke the seal.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/20386671

 

[F1Yorkshire]

Just noticed a post by McLaren showing legendary drivers helmets throughout the years.

I've noticed that most of them show the drivers name. Is this or was it ever a regulation to help with the identification of a driver in case of an accident.

 

[Incubus]

Ah yes, I remember now. Well there was certainly a loophole there and they didn't think twice about exploiting it. Has that rule been "clarified" (to use the FIA's favourite word) now to avoid a repeat of such situation, or could something like that happen again if the opportunity presented itself?

 

[Mephistopheles]

That I do not know...

 

[siffert_fan]

EDIT: Interesting that Hulme is not represented.

 

[Incubus]

F1Yorkshire I think these helmets are either not genuine or have been altered. Niki Lauda's helmet im particular looks nothing like what he was wearing during his time at McLaren, and it never had his name on it. It was actually much more common to have helmets with the drivers' name in the seventies.

Niki's helmet in your link actually looks much like his 70's Ferrari helmet:

This replica is actually much closer to his McLaren days;

 

[teabagyokel]

siffert_fan - They're all McLaren drivers.