Even more controversy at Red Bull?

A week since the Red Bull team was investigated for their torque mapping, and though initially cleared by the stewards, the FIA decided to clarify the ruling and outlawed the mapping Red Bull made. Now, in Hungary, a new controversy has occurred. And once again, Red Bull is the root of it.

There are rumblings in the paddock at Hungaroring on Saturday, that the FIA investigated Red Bull earlier this season, this one regarding the ride-height system during the Canadian Grand Prix last month.

According to Sky Sports, the investigation was conducted by official from the FIA´s technical delegation, but the results from this investigation is yet to be published. Craig Slater has more:

“There are fresh murmurings from some of the teams about the Red Bull car. We’ve already had this issue into their engine mapping; they’ve been forced to change that.

“Some of the teams are now learning that in the Canada grand prix a few races ago, a race which Lewis Hamilton won, the FIA had a query about Red Bull’s ride height. We haven’t got any more details about this yet but it could well be that this develops into quite a significant story throughout the day.”

This will be followed closely by the reporters present at Hungaroring and I will bring the latest updates as soon as I have more.

In the meantime, Mark Webber finished the final practice session in P1, ahead of Lewis Hamilton in second and Sebastian Vettel in third.

Retracting II

Following Sebastian Vettel´s outburst after the German Grand Prix, where he did or did not call Lewis Hamilton stupid, one think back to other occasions where drivers get a little emotional. Vettel´s comments about Hamilton is not the first time this has happened.

You are driving along the motorway and are of course following the rules of the road. You are slightly below the speed limit, there are plenty of room up to the driver ahead and you are in the correct lane. Suddenly a tuned BMW hurls past you going 200 km/h and you just have time to think “what an idiot.” But for some reason he overtakes you and immediately after crosses over to the lane you are in and brakes. Hard. You step on the brakes, adrenaline pumps through your body and you think fast. You narrowly avoid the idiot in front of you, by inches, and manages to find a spot on the hard shoulder for you to breathe a little. The BMW continues to harass other drivers.

Think about how you felt in that situation. Not nice, right? You started to sweat almost immediately, you yell at him and raise a fist in the air, only for your efforts to be fruitless, as the hapless driver, who should never be allowed a driver´s license, you think, just goes on his way. Imagine this scenario with race cars doing 280 km/h, with a few centimetres between them and you might get an idea of why drivers are so quick to judge their rivals when they do something stupid.

Vettel´s “stupid” comment after the German race can be translated many times and many ways, and yesterday I wrote a relative neutral article about how Vettel and Red Bull are now trying to smooth the situation, by saying he did not call Hamilton stupid. In that article, I focused a little on the retracting of the comment, that they felt it necessary to explain once more what had been said. And by the way, Vettel did not say Hamilton was stupid, he never did.

“That was not nice of him [Hamilton]. I don’t see the point why he is trying to race us,” Vettel complained. “If he wants to go fast then he can drop back, find a gap and go fast there.

“But it’s a bit stupid to disturb the leaders. He was a lap down so I don’t see the point anyway. I think that potentially lost us the position to Jenson because soon after that we pitted, I think only two or three laps after that.”

So there. Vettel said the move by Hamilton was stupid, not that Hamilton is a stupid man. Makes all the difference, right? Yes and no. But when we think about how often we have heard drivers complain about their rivals, one can make a very long list, that goes back from the early days of motor racing. We have heard Vettel comment on Narain Karthikeyan after a collision between the two, where Vettel called Karthikeyan a cucumber, for some reason. Other media reports that Vettel said “as in real life, there are a few idiots on the road.”

I don´t know why Vettel would call someone a cucumber, since the word “idiot” is a lot more powerful than calling someone a member of the Cucurbitaceae family. The only reason I can see that Vettel, perhaps, changed his comment from idiot to cucumber, is because the cucumber actually originates from India. That would suddenly mean that Vettel is a scholar and certainly knows his greens.

And we have seen Felipe Massa give Hamilton an insincere pat on the back after the Singapore GP and Hamilton said something along the lines of “don´t touch me, mate. Don´t touch me.” So back to why they act like this.

Is it very different to call a move stupid, instead of the driver? Not really, but then we forget what these guys are doing. The pressure is immense, it´s not just that they would like to keep their race seat, for many drivers this thought is way back in their minds. They focus on the situation right now, not something that happened two weeks ago. They focus on the car settings, and overtaking the slower car in front and hundreds of things at the same time. We tend to forget what a tough job this is, and when the drivers step out of the car after a race, they are almost immediately presented with a microphone so we can hear their fresh thoughts. And naturally, when the pulse is way up and the sweat is covering the body, with adrenaline still pumping in your system, drivers don´t have a minute to breathe.

This is not an attempt to say that Vettel´s comments are ok, but to explain why he does it, and why drivers as a whole do this. Emotions run high and being in a cut-throat business like this is, mistakes are made.

That said, Vettel is a young driver who is very emotional when he races and yes he is even a sore loser. When he wins, he sticks his finger out and points to the air, he bites his lip and has a smiling and friendly look, but also one that screams “come at me if you dare.” He does come across as an immature driver, but then again so does other drivers. We just don´t see them winning as much as Vettel.

Hamilton´s move on Vettel was not stupid, it was perhaps a little un-necessary, but racers race and if Hamilton didn´t try a pass when he had the faster car, internet forums would not see the end of it.

Retracting…

Sebastian Vettel is now doing what he can to put some sawdust on the spill he created during the German Grand Prix, after calling Lewis Hamilton stupid.

The media reported that after the race, Sebastian Vettel called Lewis Hamilton stupid for the Briton´s overtaking manoeuvre on Vettel, even though Hamilton was a lap down at the time. Vettel reportedly said that Hamilton was stupid to overtake the leaders, when he was a lap down, but this did not godown well. Vettel is now trying to smooth things out, by declaring that he did not call Hamilton stupid.

Some times translations are not always as successful as we hope they´d be, and what some one says in German as an insult, can be deemed a mere innocent joke in English. And vice-versa. As I do intend to determine if Vettel said one thing or another, it does seem that this issue could be brought forward by his team, urging him to retract the comment or to clarify it. Vettel is a hard racer and sometimes gets emotional. And sometimes he says something that people don´t like. Did he or did he not? Frankly my dear, I don´t give a damn.

Red Bull “error” causes new rule

Red Bull have been forced to change their engine map settings before the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend.

The issue about the throttle maps came during the recent German Grand Prix, where Red Bull was found guilty of breaching Article 5.5.3, which dictates the torque and throttle settings. The team was found to be using their throttle maps to improve the cornering speed and the traction performance. FIA technical Jo Bauer summoned the team to the stewards, but they found no reason to exclude the drivers from the race, despite the fact that the stewards did ‘not accept all the arguments of the team’. FIA found that Red Bull’s engine was delivering less torque at full throttle in the mid-range of the engine’s rev band in Germany, compared to that of the British Grand Prix two weeks earlier.

Andrew Benson of the BBC puts it this way:

“The idea of the rule is to prevent the engine delivering less power to the wheels than it can do.

“But while the FIA intended it to mean that the engine could not deliver less torque than it was ultimately capable of, Red Bull interpreted it to mean it could not deliver less than it was programmed to deliver on that day.”

But why was red Bull cleared then? Teams are allowed to change their engine maps, the computer controlled engine settings, and Red Bull was cleared because there was no definition of how big this changes could be.This is no longer allowed, and teams are asked to hand in engine maps from the first four races, for the FIA to compare.

“Above 6,000rpm, the maximum engine torque may vary by no more than +/- 2%, and the ignition angle may vary by no more than 2.5% (from the reference map).”

Will this affect the teams? Probably not. Last year we had the exhaust-blown diffusers, and this year they are banned. But teams are very interested in harnessing the aerodynamic effects from the exhaust, and several teams are working on using the exhaust air more or less directly in their aerodynamic package, without breaking the rules.

 

German Grand Prix – The Day After

At the halfway mark of the season, all the jokers were up in the air, once again without any clear indication of who would be the winner in this very unpredictable season.

I am sure I don´t need to repeat what I and many others have already been telling you, that this season is unpredictable, exciting as ever and full of surprises. After a while, it gets boring. NOT!

The German Grand Prix is a lot of things, but rarely this thrilling. The new modern layout has never been favoured by myself, but I appreciate the need to revise it, from the older, much longer Hockenheimring. But it doesn´t change the fact that it´s not that amazing. Luckily there was a lot of drivers and performances that were, and they put on a show for us, once again.

Driver of the Day: Fernando Alonso

A little recap from the first 5 races tells us that Ferrari didn´t built the car they needed for the job. This is old news now, but the base line was too far away from what they needed. Or was it? Alonso took 5th in the opening race, then took a surprise victory in Malaysia, only finish 9th and 7th in the next 2 races before taking 2nd place in home race in Spain. At this point in time, Alonso and Webber had the same points tally, but then things started to change. The car looks much more driveable now, much more calm and not so twitchy as before, and Alonso is also a lot more finely tuned, it seems. But his performance in the race on Sunday, was controlled, it was calculated, Ferrari had the best strategy for him and it would be a bigger surprise if he didn´t win. Still Alonso thoroughly deserves this award.

Best Charge of the Day: Jenson Button

After a series of rather sad performances from Button, picking up points in just 6 races so far and 2 retirements, the Frome Flyer showed that he is fast and he is not a driver to count out. One can on,y imagine the extra hard work the team and he have been doing in preparations for the race, because whatever they did, it worked. Button was exceptionally fast, he knew when to charge, he knew when to hold back. He conserved the tyres at the right time, and when he got the green light, he could push them a little further. A flawless pit stop, according to McLaren a record of 2.31 seconds, also helped him along.

Best Climber of the Day: Sergio Perez

Perez started 17th and ended in 6th place, a very satisfying result for the Sauber team and Peter Sauber was of course as delighted as if they just won a championship. Sure there are lots of hard work and lots of time spent reading telemetry and adjusting things, but make no mistake. Sauber is not a mid-field team anymore, they are definitely among the top teams, along with Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Lotus. I could include Mercedes, but I think their performance curve is too unstable.

Not only did Perez once again prove that he is a massive talent, he is also the lead candidate for at least a couple of seats here and there. I hope that he will do the right thing and stay with Sauber for next year, they need each other.

Overtaking Master of the Day: Kimi Raikkonen

If you tought that the return of Kimi Raikkonen would see a dusty and rather anonymous Finn fiddling around in the back of the grid after a two-year hiatus, you´d be very wrong. From the start, he and Lotus has impressed the hell out all of us, not that we were surprised he would, but the performance and reliability of the cars, are better than I expected. That said, the overtaking manoeuvre he made on Paul di Resta was champion stuff. Side by side, through three turns and eventually he just persevered to take the position back he lost in the start. Kimi has given us many great moments already this season, and the hard ass has more up his sleeve.

Worst Driver of the Day: Romain Grosjean

Oh dear, it really is hard to have a good day these days, isn´t it? Ups and downs for Grosjean, who started 19th after a penalty carried over from Silverstone, post-race gearbox change, only to leave the track a number of times, lose the plot entirely, drive a completely anonymous and uninteresting race, only to improve one place to 18th and one lap down. To compare another fast driver, Lewis Hamilton had a puncture at the beginning of the race, pitted and then asked to retire. Was denied and fought hard, without any chance of points, but unlapped himself, much t the dismay of Sebastian Vettel, and unfortunately ended his day with retirement, but could have been finishing 13th.

Grosjean may be a really fast and good driver, but he has only taken points in half of the races and are trailing his team mate by 37 points.

Cry Baby of the Day: Sebastian Vettel, Christian Horner, Red Bull as a whole.

Red Bull has a remarkable tendency to not know when to shut up at the right time. Four hours before the race, FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer examined the RB8 and found irregularities in the torque mapping, reported it but the stewards decided to let the cars race without sanction. During the dying moments of the race on Sunday, Sebastian Vettel made an overtaking move on Button, which was outside the track, then first argued that he didn´t know Button was there, right…, then Red Bull argued that Vettel was ahead of Button when the overtaking move happened, which he clearly was not. All Vettel had to do was to look to his right and he would have easily seen Button right there, acknowledge that he made a mistake, give the position back to Button and fight him for the remaining two laps. This would be a walk in the park for Vettel, as Button´s tyres were cooked, and he could have ended up in 3rd. Instead Vettel was whining, again, that he did nothing wrong, and was rightfully penalised by 20 seconds.

More Unremarkable Performances: FIA, Felipe Massa, Pastor Maldonado.

I´m gonna keep this short. Fact: Lewis Hamilton punctured because of the debris left on track after Felipe Massa smashed into the rear tyre of Daniel Ricciardo´s Toro Rosso. Both were lucky not to cause more damage, but the FIA, notably Charlie Whiting should have deployed a safety car at this time, since the debris was lying around for several laps to come. A dangerous and unnecessary decision from the FIA. Massa had a damaged car, yes, but he still needs to find his A-game. He did it at Silverstone two weeks ago. And Pastor Maldonado? I am getting less and less impressed with him. The season has shown that there are many more drivers who can race for victories, and his win in Spain was remarkable, astonishing even. But because of that, his performances ever since has been even more disappointing. ten races and only points from two of them. Michael Schumacher, Paul di Resta and even Felipe Massa should have no problem overtaking Maldonado in the standings.

Revised championship standings after Vettel penalty

After Sebastian Vettel has received a 20-second post-race penalty for illegal passing on Jenson Button during the German Grand Prix on Sunday, read more about that here, the championship standings looks a little different.

Fernando Alonso 154

Mark Webber 120

Sebastian Vettel 110

Kimi Raikkonen 98

Lewis Hamilton 92

Nico Rosberg 76

Jenson Button 68

Romain Grosjean 61

Sergio Perez 47

Kamui Kobayashi 33

Pastor Maldonado 29

Michael Schumacher 29

Paul di Resta 27

Felipe Massa 23

Nico Hulkenberg 19

Bruno Senna 18

Jean-Eric Vergne 4

Daniel Ricciardo 2

Breaking News: Vettel dropped to fifth after illegal move

Sebastian Vettel has been penalised with a 20-second post-race penalty, for passing Jenson Button outside the track, in the final laps of the German Grand Prix on Sunday.

As the clock wounded down and it looked to be Jenson Button who should take 2nd place in the German GP at Hockenheim, came Sebastian Vettel to overtake the Frome Flyer with just a few laps to go. However, the style Vettel made his overtaking move, did not suit the FIA, who immediately started an investigation on the matter.

As Jenson Button approached the hairpin after Parapolica, Turn 6, Vettel moved to the outside of Button, who held his racing line through the corner. Vettel, however, sneaked to the outside of Button, on the left, but outside the track o the run-off area, and eventually took the second step on the podium, next to Fernando Alonso, who won the close race.

After the race, the stewards started an investigation, which has bene concluded. Sebastian Vettel receives a 20-second penalty, and this drops him to 5th, behind Kamui Kobayashi. The top ten results from the 10th round of the 2012 championship looks like this:

Fernando Alonso

Jenson Button

Kimi Raikkonen

Kamui Kobayashi

Sebastian Vettel

Sergio Perez

Michael Schumacher

Mark Webber

Nico Hulkenberg

Nico Rosberg

Team principal of Red Bull, Christian Horner, insists that Vettel was forced off the track and also that he was ahead of Button at the time of the overtaking.

“He goes to the outside. Gets clearly ahead and then Jenson runs him out wide and over the kerb. So I think it is unfair to say he got an unfair advantage from that, it was a racing incident,” Horner said.

“If you slow the camera down to the point that Sebastian leave the track you will see clearly that he is ahead.

“Jenson is actually wheel spinning out of the corner, he has no grip. Sebastian has jinked around him. I think it would be very harsh to penalise him.”

Watching the footage of the overtaking, it is clear that Vettel is behind Button when he overtakes the Briton.

Standings after the 10th round

Fernando Alonso extends his lead n the 2012 F1 championship, with a hefty 34 points lead over Mark Webber. Sebastian Vettel is in 3rd place, with Kimi Raikkonen 4th. The official results are:

Pos.	Driver	Points
1.	Fernando Alonso	154
2.	Mark Webber	120
3.	Sebastian Vettel	118
4.	Kimi Räikkönen	95
5.	Lewis Hamilton	92
6.	Nico Rosberg	76
7.	Jenson Button	65
8.	Romain Grosjean	61
9.	Sergio Perez	47
10.	Kamui Kobayashi	31
11.	Pastor Maldonado	29
12.	Michael Schumacher	29
13.	Paul di Resta	27
14.	Felipe Massa	23
15.	Nico Hülkenberg	19
16.	Bruno Senna	18
17.	Jean-Eric Vergne	4
18.	Daniel Ricciardo	2
19.	Heikki Kovalainen	0
20.	Vitaly Petrov	0
21.	Timo Glock	0
22.	Charles Pic	0
23.	Narain Karthikeyan	0
24.	Pedro de la Rosa	0