Formula One 2012

[NISMATT]

Harsh judgement by some on Mrs Raikkonen.

Harsh but fair.

[tweety bird]

Bernie Eccletone would consider funding potential London Grand Prix

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone says he would consider throwing financial weight behind any attempt to stage a grand prix in London in the future - ahead of a promotional event by sponsor Santander on Thursday evening to unveil its idea for a track around the city.

Just a week after it was revealed that one option being considered for the London Olympic stadium is to turn it in to a grand prix venue, Ecclestone has reiterated his belief that the British capital is the perfect venue to hold an F1 race.

Santander is ramping up interest in the British Grand Prix, which it is title sponsor of, by hosting an event that will reveal how a grand prix in London could look – having commissioned a proper evaluation of a potential venue and commissioning a CGI film of how the race would appear on television.

The plans will suggest a three-mile route around some of London's famous landmarks which could play host to more than 120,000 spectators.

Although it is not thought that there has been any serious discussion about turning the idea in to reality, Ecclestone has suggested that he thinks it makes financial sense – and would be willing to fund it himself.

"With the way things are, maybe we would front it and put the money up for it," he told The Times newspaper. "If we got the okay and everything was fine, I think we could do that.

"Think what it would do for tourism. It would be fantastic, good for London, good for England – a lot better than the Olympics."

Any future grand prix in London would have to be in addition to the British GP, as Silverstone has a long-term deal in place.

http://www.autosport...t.php/id/100760

i'd be keen to see that, an old school track where if you go off the track you go into a wall.

Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean's retirements from the European Grand Prix were both caused by an overheating alternator, engine supplier Renault has confirmed, but the French car manufacturer is still uncertain about why the parts got too hot in the first place

http://www.autosport...t.php/id/100770

more on that^

Q & A: White on Renault failures

Q. What was the issue with the Red Bull and Lotus cars during the European Grand Prix?

Rob White: On both Sebastian and Romain's car, the alternator - which converts mechanical energy into electrical energy to power the engine and ancillary systems - failed. In both cases the failure of the alternator cut the electrical supply, causing the engine to shut down very quickly and stop the car on the track. It appears that both alternators overheated. We've checked over the parts thoroughly now and it seems that there were no obvious reasons for the failure, so we are conducting further tests on the dyno at Viry to replicate conditions and double checking the findings.

Q. Were the failures linked to the safety car period?

RW: No. We had evidence that the alternator on Sebastian's car was showing signs of overheating before the safety car period, but the slower speeds prolonged its life expectancy slightly. Of course, when Sebastian went back up to racing speed the problem stepped up again and the result is now well known. With Romain's, the problem occurred very suddenly some laps after the safety car had been withdrawn.

Q. Has this type of problem happened before?

RW: This has never happened with the Lotus team before. We had one issue with Red Bull over winter testing but this was because we were pushing the car and the engine to the absolute limit to find out how far we could go. Once we had signs of issues, we went more cautious with the settings. We did have one issue with Vitaly Petrov's car in Monaco but when we investigated the problem, we found that the alternator in question had completed over 4,000km and was due to be serviced very shortly. As a result we decreased the amount of time between alternator services to a much lower figure. We felt that this was a sufficient measure.

Q. Were the two that failed at the end of their lives?

RW: No, in fact they were brand new parts, which points to the fact that this may be an issue with a particular batch of alternators. Both had been shaken down on the dynos at Viry for approx 400km and completed FP3 and qualifying without any issues and then failed suddenly in the race. Both had completed less than 1,000km.

Q. Is the alternator a Renault-built part?

RW: Yes it is a Renault part. We use various suppliers for the sub-internals but we build the alternators so we are responsible for the integrity of the part. We are now working with all the suppliers to make sure we can get to the root cause of the problem and ensure it does not happen again.

Q. What kind of counter-measures or safeguards are you going to put in place now?

RW: We are looking at several solutions. The first is to use another batch of alternators for Silverstone across all our clients, or a slightly modified design. We are also looking at returning to an older specification of alternator from 2011. Then we are working across all our partner teams to potentially introduce some mechanical and cooling solutions, or changing a few settings on acceleration maps so the running is less severe. All of these will be in evaluated between now and Silverstone, plus we will also look at everything after Friday running and see what additional measures we may need to take.

http://www.autosport...t.php/id/100771

[Berk]

Change a few settings on the acceleration maps?

"Look guys, we know you have an army of engineers locked away in a bunker somewhere simulating aero upgrades in the hope of finding 1/10th of a second, but we want to you make your cars slower so the altenator won't blow, mmmmkkkay?"

[tweety bird]

London Mayor Boris Johnson has thrown his support behind a bid for the city to host a round of the F1 World Championship.

On Thursday, The Times reported that F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone is set to put up £35 million for the proposed race.

The grand prix will run through the streets of the capital, starting at The Mall and passing landmarks such as Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square.

"I am always interested in projects that attract jobs and bring growth," said Johnson.

He did, however, add that it will be important to see if there is a "really good economic case" for London hosting a grand prix while the question of "air quality and noise impact will have to be looked at.

"I am broadly positive providing we can satisfy the air quality and noise issues."

The proposal is expected to be confirmed on Thursday night.

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/18227/7846837/Mayor-supports-London-GP-proposal

will it happen?

[djr81]

London Mayor Boris Johnson has thrown his support behind a bid for the city to host a round of the F1 World Championship.

On Thursday, The Times reported that F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone is set to put up £35 million for the proposed race.

The grand prix will run through the streets of the capital, starting at The Mall and passing landmarks such as Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square.

"I am always interested in projects that attract jobs and bring growth," said Johnson.

He did, however, add that it will be important to see if there is a "really good economic case" for London hosting a grand prix while the question of "air quality and noise impact will have to be looked at.

"I am broadly positive providing we can satisfy the air quality and noise issues."

The proposal is expected to be confirmed on Thursday night.

http://www.planetf1....don-GP-proposal

will it happen?

Probably not. But good on Boris for having a go.

[dezz]

SIngle car width through the arches just before the start/finish line....Unlikely.

[Berk]

WTF was going on at 0:33? Did they get Liuzzi to do the simulation or something?

[wolverine]

Another street circuit?

Another facepalm.

[10 4]

Another street circuit?

Another facepalm.

This!!!

[wolverine]

WTF was going on at 0:33? Did they get Liuzzi to do the simulation or something?

ps. It's Looitsi

[Roy]

While we are talking about Lotus drivers lady friend my boy Romain just tied the knot....and he did himself proud with a French TV bird

He gets my thumbs up...better than the thing I was trying to tune up after tonight's Hawthorn game

[Berk]

6/10

[NISMATT]

Punching way out of his devision.

[Owgasm]

7-8/10.

I wonder if he says much to her...

[Roy]

Harsh critics. I rate her highly as she isnt tarted/whored up and rather pretty natural looking...and that 3rd pic shows she is rather petite and ...well stunning body!

[mad082]

I'd make a mess of her.....

[wolverine]

sif internet nerds are regularly doing better than a highly paid midget driving in F1.

[10 4]

sif internet nerds are regularly doing better than a highly paid midget driving in F1.

He's 1.8M tall according to my internet. That's not midget... I'm a midget 173cm

Edited July 1, 2012 by 10 4

[ctjet]

he's 5'9

so yes, a semi midget

[wolverine]

Midget.