The 2010 season

[Brogan]

I did a similar thread for the 2009 season and it was a resounding success so I thought I'd repeat it for this year.
OK, who am I kidding, it fell flat on its face

Still, you can't keep a good thread down so this is a general thread for discussion of all goings on in the 2010 season that don't quite justify a thread of their own.

Let's start it off with a collection of useful links and information for the 2010 Formula One season.

Standings & Results
F1 2010 Standings & Results
F1 2010 Head To Head
Clip The Apex Database

Circuits
Circuit Profiles

BBC Homepage
BBC Sport Formula One

F1 Homepage
The Official F1 Website

Driver & Team Profiles
BBC Drivers & Teams
F1 Teams
F1 Drivers

Race Calendar
BBC F1 Calendar
F1 Race Calendar

Image Gallery
Clip The Apex Gallery

Miscellaneous
F1 Technical News
FIA Formula One World Championship

Season

Race	Grand Prix	Circuit	Location	Laps	Date	Local Time	GMT Time
1	Bahrain	Bahrain International Circuit	Sakhir	49	14 March	15:00	12:00
2	Australian	Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit (Albert Park)	Melbourne	58	28 March	17:00	07:00
3	Malaysian	Sepang International Circuit	Kuala Lumpur	56	4 April	16:00	09:00
4	Chinese	Shanghai International Circuit	Shanghai	56	18 April	15:00	08:00
5	Spanish	Circuit de Catalunya	Barcelona	66	9 May	14:00	13:00
6	Monaco	Circuit de Monaco	Monte Carlo	78	16 May	14:00	13:00
7	Turkish	Istanbul Park	Istanbul	58	30 May	15:00	13:00
8	Canadian	Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve	Montréal	70	13 June	12:00	17:00
9	European	Valencia Street Circuit	Valencia	57	27 June	14:00	13:00
10	British	Silverstone Circuit	Silverstone	52	11 July	13:00	13:00
11	German	Hockenheimring	Hockenheim	67	25 July	14:00	13:00
12	Hungarian	Hungaroring	Mogyoród	70	1 August	14:00	13:00
13	Belgian	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	Spa	44	29 August	14:00	13:00
14	Italian	Autodromo Nazionale Monza	Monza	53	12 September	14:00	13:00
15	Singapore	Marina Bay Street Circuit	Singapore	61	26 September	20:00	13:00
16	Japanese	Suzuka International Racing Course	Suzuka	53	10 October	15:00	07:00
17	Korean	Korean International Circuit	Yeongam County	55	24 October	15:00	07:00
18	Brazilian	Autódromo José Carlos Pace (Interlagos)	São Paulo	71	7 November	14:00	16:00
19	Abu Dhabi	Yas Marina Circuit	Yas Island	55	14 November	17:00	13:00

Teams & Drivers

Team	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	No.	Driver	Nationality
Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-25	Mercedes FO108X	1	Jenson Button	British
Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-25	Mercedes FO108X	2	Lewis Hamilton	British
Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team	Mercedes	MGP W01	Mercedes FO108X	3	Michael Schumacher	German
Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team	Mercedes	MGP W01	Mercedes FO108X	4	Nico Rosberg	German
Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB6	Renault RS27-2010	5	Sebastian Vettel	German
Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB6	Renault RS27-2010	6	Mark Webber	Australian
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F10	Ferrari 056	7	Felipe Massa	Brazilian
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F10	Ferrari 056	8	Fernando Alonso	Spanish
AT&T Williams	Williams	FW32	Cosworth CA2010	9	Rubens Barrichello	Brazilian
AT&T Williams	Williams	FW32	Cosworth CA2010	10	Nico Hülkenberg	German
Renault F1 Team	Renault	R30	Renault RS27-2010	11	Robert Kubica	Polish
Renault F1 Team	Renault	R30	Renault RS27-2010	12	Vitaly Petrov	Russian
Force India F1 Team	Force India	VJM03	Mercedes FO108X	14	Adrian Sutil	German
Force India F1 Team	Force India	VJM03	Mercedes FO108X	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Italian
Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR5	Ferrari 056	16	Sébastien Buemi	Swiss
Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR5	Ferrari 056	17	Jaime Alguersuari	Spanish
Lotus Racing	Lotus	T127	Cosworth CA2010	18	Jarno Trulli	Italian
Lotus Racing	Lotus	T127	Cosworth CA2010	19	Heikki Kovalainen	Finnish
Hispania Racing F1 Team	HRT	F110	Cosworth CA2010	20	Karun Chandhok	Indian
Hispania Racing F1 Team	HRT	F110	Cosworth CA2010	20/21	Sakon Yamamoto	Japanese
Hispania Racing F1 Team	HRT	F110	Cosworth CA2010	20	Christian Klien	Austrian
Hispania Racing F1 Team	HRT	F110	Cosworth CA2010	21	Bruno Senna	Brazilian
BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	C29	Ferrari 056	22	Pedro de la Rosa	Spanish
BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	C29	Ferrari 056	22	Nick Heidfeld	German
BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	C29	Ferrari 056	23	Kamui Kobayashi	German
Virgin Racing	Virgin	VR-01	Cosworth CA2010	24	Timo Glock	Japanese
Virgin Racing	Virgin	VR-01	Cosworth CA2010	25	Lucas di Grassi	German

For reference I'll also link to the standings and head to head charts so we can see how things develop over the season.
To view the charts please visit the following threads.

F1 2010 Standings & Results
F1 2010 Head To Head

 

[cider_and_toast]

If Lotus F1 Racing are to have as good a debut season as Team Lotus then they need to beat 3 points which is what Lotus scored throughout the 1958 season thanks to a 4th place in Monaco by Cliff Alison. From then on they have just 3 years to win their first race and 5 to win the title.

Tall order I think.

 

[teabagyokel]

If Lotus F1 Racing are to have as good a debut season as Team Lotus then they need to beat 3 points which is what Lotus scored throughout the 1958 season thanks to a 4th place in Monaco by Cliff Alison. From then on they have just 3 years to win their first race and 5 to win the title.

Tall order I think.

Well, we know that Lotus have two drivers who are generally good at outperforming their cars...

Meanwhile Virgin F1 have to get a 9th place to match the best result of Simtek!

 

[MajorDanby]

Haha, I guess that means Lotus F1 have to score a whopping twelve points this year then to equal their best

Nice stats Brogon, cheers

 

[cider_and_toast]

Lotus F1 have to score a whopping twelve points this year then to equal their best

Actually that's a good point MD, I never thought to take the points adjustment into consideration.

Thus, as you say, to equal the original Lotus debut season, Lotus F1 racing need 12 points.

Even more unlikely I think.

(but it would be great if the could, but then I have a slight bias towards them if you hadn't guessed)

 

[teabagyokel]

But would it take away from the legend of CC for this bunch of Malaysians to equal their first season in 1958?

Anyway, Lotus in 1958 got 3 sixths, a seventh and two tenths that would have scored points in 2010! So that's a lot more points than Protus are going to get this year!

 

[cider_and_toast]

Again, another good point.

All bet's are off with this new scoring system. It will certainly screw up the record books when people look back and try to figure things out.

 

[teabagyokel]

Then again Galahad managed to do it for the Fantasy League scores.

Although, as I recall Galahad made a mistake on the first attempt, so that does imply it is difficult. Even for Galahad!

 

[cider_and_toast]

Yeah, but dosn't he require instructions on how to count to three !!!

 

[Boyle]

That should totally be the count down to a race start!!!

 

[Brogan]

Normal service has been resumed it would seem with Ferrari and McLaren topping both the drivers' and constructors' standings.

Still plenty of time for the others to catch up and Red Bull really need to work on their reliability if they want to be in with a chance of winning their first championship this season.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Seeing the pitlane speed limit reduced in Austalia and once again seeing one or two drivers compromised by the effects of the "releasing zone" is their a case now for the teams to be given the pit lane boxes in the opposite order to the present ones.

The 55 meter zone was reduced for Australia as a result of the lower speed limit but I think that will perhaps only be the case at Monaco as well. At all the other GP I imagine it will be kept at 55 meters.

This would have the effect of putting the current world constructors champions in pit box 1 meaning that they would spend the least time being effected by passing cars. In the present system if a group of cars pit at the same time and you have the last pit box the cars behind you will be in your 55 meter zone before you get out of your box. With my idea if three cars pit at once and you are infront of the three and the WCC you would pull into your box the other cars would then pass you and you would then be released into their 55 meter zone rather than the other way round.

 

[Brogan]

Yes, anyone who is at the end of the pit lane will be at a huge disadvantage.

Once the train of cars starts to leave the pits they might as well put the kettle on and make themselves comfortable.

 

[teabagyokel]

Can't Mercedes do what Schumacher was doing all race anyway, and heading forward rather than out into the pitlane, hence not impeding anyone.

Does the WCC choose which end of the pitlane it numbers from? As I remember, Brawn were at that end of the pits as last in 2009...

 

[genji]

Can't Mercedes do what Schumacher was doing all race anyway, and heading forward rather than out into the pitlane, hence not impeding anyone.

Nice observation. I noticed him doing it but didn't understand why. I wonder if that might at some point lead to him short-cutting the timing zone though? Also, he can't be released (whatever line he takes) if another car is in the 55m (or whatever) zone, regardless of what line he takes.

 

[slickskid]

Couple of points here..

The release zone was not shortened because of the reduced pit speed limit, it was reduced due to the garages being that much closer together and subsequently probably the reason behind the reduced speed limit. I believe in Barhain the garages were spaced at 24m apart where as in Australia they are just 14m apart. (happy to be corrected on those figures)

Just to put that in perspective the average total time in the pit area, approx & not counting anything above 30sec's (which is more than just a tyre stop generally)
Bahrain 24.204 (quickest 22.260 - vettel)
Australia 26.355 (quickest 23.986 - webber) the av includes a few 29's one being webbers last stop to change front wing.

Make of that what you will
Yes Aus was a longer stop but that will vary from race to race anyway dependant on pit lane length, entry & exit configuration and speed limit. I guess the bigger question was having reduced the speed limit did it negate a strategy other than a 1 stop. Given the track conditions it was dificult to say as the slower pace was helpng to preserve tyres but given the pace of Hamilton after his second stop, and lets say Alonso / Massa / Kubica not have been in the way i think he would have caught Button towards the end of the race but pass... no. I do believe if it wasn't for webbers nerfing he would have passed Alonso and Massa to up back where he started behind Kubica.

Second point is "the zone" acts as a guide only to the teams and not a mandatory requirement they stick to it, it still resides with the teams to ensure a safe release. You can bet the Stewards will be using those guides for anything untoward though. That would also apply to Schui taking the straight forward approach out of the box, am i right in saying that cars cannot be side by side down the pitlane?
Why would he take a straight forward aproach out... simple, shortest, straightest & quickest route from A to B.

I thought the WCC could chose which end of the pitlane they wanted at each race, not to sure though.

 

[genji]

My thought on this is about the new graphics which show the time stationary along with the total pit lane time. I don't know how they could do this (but I'm sure they could have sensors at a sensible place before a driver changes his line to enter the pits) but I think that's pretty useless unless it's compared to the driver's (maybe average over the last x laps) time from that point over the start-finish line and on to the pit lane exit, so that we can see how much time that driver lost compared to a normal lap, and also compared to what other drivers lost. That figure should tally with sector times to show where a driver made up or lost time during his pit stop.

 

[snowy]

Autosport reports that outboard mirrors will be banned, from the Chinese GP onwards.

Outboard mirrors are to be banned from Formula 1 with effect from the Chinese Grand Prix in two weeks' time

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82572

Does this mean that the aero devices will be removed as well?

Won't there be a significant alteration to the monocoque in a crucial area requiring a new crash test?

I'm thinking this is an April fool.

 

[Brogan]

I guess the date has something to do with it.

As far as I am aware, unless they rewrite the reg's they can't just ban mirrors.
Especially as the tub is now homologated.

As George Bush once said: "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — [pauses] - shame on you. Fool me — You can't get fooled again."

 

[snowy]

That is what he said isn't it... I have to say, having him elected President of the United States did wonders for my self esteem but little for my faith in human nature. April the 1st has the same sort of effect on me, I don't really like it... it makes me sad and elated at the same time.


Mein Gott im Himmel!!! The roll eyes is working!