New Grand Prix Times article: Why, whisper it, I quite like the Russian Grand Prix

The second Russian Grand Prix of modern times has just happened, and it's fair to say that the Sochi event is one that does not command universal popularity.

"F1 Grand Prix Russia 2014 start lane" by premier.gov.ru. 
Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F1_Grand_Prix_
Russia_2014_start_lane.jpg#/media/
File:F1_Grand_Prix_Russia_2014_start_lane.jpg

This is for a number of reasons, some more legitimate than others. In my latest article for Grand Prix Times I explore these, as well as outline why I, despite all this and while it puts me very much in the minority, actually like the Russian Grand Prix.

I also look at a matter that was made obvious by the debut Russian race 12 months ago, and was hinted at by the latest one, that F1's problem of aerodynamics that don't allow cars to get near each other, at least without sticking plaster solutions such as gumball Pirelli tyres, has not gone away.

You can read the article here: http://www.grandprixtimes.com/news/display/10793

Testing times: what we learned in Valencia

The 2011 F1 season kicked off in earnest this week with the first test session of the year taking place at the Ricardo Tormo circuit near Valencia. All teams were represented (eventually, in Lotus's case), and eight out of the twelve teams piloted their 2011 cars.
 
It is a truth held to be self-evident that little can be read into testing times, but that we'll nevertheless do our best to decipher clues from them on who's hot and who's not approaching the new season.



Above film of Valencia Testing 2011 courtesy of Sutton Images

So, what can be read into the three days' testing at Valencia? First, the usual disclaimers. There are many variables which make reading much into the fastest times from testing hazardous in terms of predicting who'll be on top in qualifying in Bahrian in March. Fuel loads, and therefore weight penalties, vary, possibly to the tune of several seconds per lap, as do programmes in terms of number of laps run in a stint, whether or not KERS is being used etc. Track conditions also vary throughout each day and between days. Then there's the fact that the intense rate of development will ensure that cars now will be virtually unrecognisable come the first race meeting.

The (possible) return of the ground effect - hurrah!

I was intrigued by the article on the Autosport website on the latest working group ideas being touted to improve overtaking in F1. This may seem unlikely, given such working groups are convened and their outputs applied on a daily basis, it seems. But this time, just maybe, it could be different. This is because, for this first time I can remember, the return of the ground effect is being 'actively considered'.

I feel that the near absence of ground effect on F1 cars, that is achieving downforce from air flow passing under the car, is a major part in the difficulties of cars to run close to each other, and therefore to pass. I'm told that ground effect is less negatively impacted by the 'dirty air' from the car ahead, and also will relatively speaking reduce the reliance on air flow over the top of the car (which both creates and are negatively impacted by dirty air). I don't think it's a coincidence that the point in history when overtaking levels in F1 fell off a cliff loosely coincided with the 'plank' being attached to the underside in 1994, and the stepped underside introduced at the start of 1995, both of which combined to virtually eliminate ground effect.

Of course, a lot of things have to happen first before this becomes a reality, and no one has ever got rich by predicting what the FIA and F1 teams end up agreeing on (and it won't happen until 2013 at the earliest). But, here's hoping, a bright future with racing cars racing each other may lay in wait.