2011 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe

If I'm understanding what I've been reading about this, and that's not guaranteed, it's the off throttle that allows them to open the wing mid corner.

The Driver gets off the throttle and then the engine disconnects from drive and revs. The gases this produces are blown over the diffuser to increase downforce and that is what allows the driver to open the wing early.

If they need to lift the throttle completely, I can't imagine them having the rear wing open.
 
Oh, so it does. How did you manage that?
I have the twin powers of psychokinesis and telepathy. Or telekinesis and psychopathy, depending on my mood. The trade-off for my powers is that I have to be evil every second Tuesday.
 
I'm quite looking forward to seeing how things play out with this weekend, particularly with the new Parc Ferme rules on the cars ECU settings between qualifying and the race. Even though the new regulation reducing off throttle exhaust blowing have yet to take affect, the new Parc Ferme rules on ECU settings will likely play just as big of a part in how aggressive the teams can be with the off throttle blowing in qualy (because if you are forced to carry a qualifying ECU map into the race, the weight penalty from fuel certainly would not be worth what you would gain from the increased off throttle exhaust blowing). With that said, I'm quite intrigued to see how this will affect the RB7 particularly in qualifying, as it seems to rely heavily (judging by the rake and qualy advantage) on the consistent hot skirt produced by the off throttle blowing.

If it's that, then nothing will change in/after Silvestone because they are only limiting off-throttle.

That's relatively unknown atm. Limiting off throttle blowing will likely have a knockdown affect when it comes to many things (EBD layout and it's general effectiveness, aero balance, suspension settings & tire wear...all of which can affect how early the DRS can be activated once applying the throttle).
 
Last edited:
Let's all keep an eye out for HRT this race. New upgrades on their car for this race, yet again, and their second home race, at a track they say the car will cope with well. I'm expecting them to beat Vrigin once again, and maybe close in on Lotus a bit more, though Lotus is at most a second and a half clear of HRT.
 
I'm hoping Lotus can improve and get both cars into Q2. That's about as possible as say, Fernando Alonso winning the race. :sly:
 
You clearly mean Fernando Alonso, the popular country and western singer, since you can't actually type the name of ******** ****** the racing driver as it's still being blocked by the swear filter.
 
Cant wait for Valencia, and am i alone in liking DRS? If your quicker you get within the zone right? I know its not that simple but since 2009 F1 has overtaken BTCC as my favourite racing. (KERS and DRS have helped).
 
Am I the only one who has noticed that Schumacher is ahead of Rosberg in the WDC? Both tied on 26 points, but it shows him ahead of Nico. Kobayashi is 1 point behind both, on 25 points, good job by him.

Looking for Schumacher and Kobayashi this race.
 
Vettel's mistake could have knocked his confidence a little, though at such an eventless Grand Prix I can see him walking away with it anyway.
 
Peter
Am I the only one who has noticed that Schumacher is ahead of Rosberg in the WDC? Both tied on 26 points, but it shows him ahead of Nico. Kobayashi is 1 point behind both, on 25 points, good job by him.

Schumacher's marginally benefitting from the new scoring system.

I think Hamilton wins this one. Just a gut feeling.

I think you could be right, but it's going to have to be the drive of his life!
 
You clearly mean Fernando Alonso, the popular country and western singer, since you can't actually type the name of ******** ****** the racing driver as it's still being blocked by the swear filter.

I give up... Fernando Alonso works okay...?
 
Jeez, where did all the random Alonso-jibes come from? I understand the general dislike for his arrogance but why has he suddenly become a running joke in this forum?
 
I give up... Fernando Alonso works okay...?

facepalm4cr.jpg


Jeez, where did all the random Alonso-jibes come from? I understand the general dislike for his arrogance but why has he suddenly become a running joke in this forum?
Because it's a slow news day. And I was bored.
 
Webber will no doubt display a dismal uninspired performance this race. I think he drove better with Minardi in his first season than what he's serving up this year...
 
Last edited:
Surprised that no one has brought anything up about Lotus' impressive new sponsorship. They are now forming a technical partnership with none others than General Electrics and Dell. Furthermore, they will also be using KERS in 2012.

Fernandes is working hard, and Team Lotus is very quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with. It's nice that HRT is slowly getting some new sponsors, but unless they can secure similarly large sponsorship, and Virgin can get their act together, Lotus will be untouchable from now on. There is a rumor that BASE Batteries, who sponsor HRT at the moment, are going to develop a KERS system for them.
 
Virgin have one upgrade scheduled for Silverstone, and then they're shifting focus to 2012. They said as much when they split with Wirth Research.
 
Virgin have one upgrade scheduled for Silverstone, and then they're shifting focus to 2012. They said as much when they split with Wirth Research.

I know that. But I meant that Virgin needs to find themselves a new designer who can put them on the right track, as well as maybe spending more money. I heard that Sam Michael is set to join them when he leaves Williams at the end of this year. I believe that is why they parted ways with Wirth, as that was one of Michael's recommendations.
 
I know that. But I meant that Virgin needs to find themselves a new designer who can put them on the right track, as well as maybe spending more money. I heard that Sam Michael is set to join them when he leaves Williams at the end of this year. I believe that is why they parted ways with Wirth, as that was one of Michael's recommendations.

In my own opinion, Sam Michael is part of Williams' problem. I've no doubt that he's a keen, intelligent engineer... but as part of the senior technical hierarchy he's presided over a perpetual spiral into ignominy for Williams.

Is his best better than Williams' current potential? I think not.

Is it better than Virgin's current potential? It must be... but Virgin are now going to have to design their own car in house (now they've sacked the consultancy) and are likely to have to drop their avant-garde 100% CFD approach.

Mike Gascoigne literally laughed at the ambitious (cost saving) approach of Wirth et. al., now it seems that he was quite right.
 
Mike Gascoigne literally laughed at the ambitious (cost saving) approach of Wirth et. al., now it seems that he was quite right.
Then Gascoyne doesn't really know what he's talking about - all teams use CFD to some extent or another. And some use it quite a lot. Red Bull is the only team that really avoids it, and that's only because Adrian Newey prefers an old-fashioned drawing board. Even then, the other designers still use CFD modelling.
 
Then Gascoyne doesn't really know what he's talking about - all teams use CFD to some extent or another. And some use it quite a lot. Red Bull is the only team that really avoids it, and that's only because Adrian Newey prefers an old-fashioned drawing board. Even then, the other designers still use CFD modelling.

I suggest that you don't know what you're talking about?

Wirth's consultancy implemented a 100% CAD-to-car approach. No tunnels, no real-world models, nothing.

If you re-read my post and avoid your usual haste to disagree with everything you see posted on your forum then you'll see that I said Gascoyne laughed (we all watched it on the Beeb) at the 100% CFD approach. He wasn't alone in that.

It has, as he quite rightly pointed out, its own place as an important tool in the design process. Not the only tool. It seems that Gascoigne's views have been proved correct.

I'm no fan of Gascoyne approach to man-management (he isn't called the Rottweiler for nothing) but I wouldn't question his professional credentials or expertise simply out of the habit of disagreeing with everything a particular forum user says.
 
Am I the only one who has noticed that Schumacher is ahead of Rosberg in the WDC? Both tied on 26 points, but it shows him ahead of Nico. Kobayashi is 1 point behind both, on 25 points, good job by him.

Schumacher's marginally benefitting from the new scoring system.

It's countback - when drivers are tied on points, their positions are determined by their best finishes. Neither Schumacher nor Rosberg have placed in the top three this season. Schumacher has finished 4th once (Montreal) and Rosberg hasn't.

It gets a bit more complex when you go down the order. Notice how Lotus, HRT and Virgin are tied on 0, but Lotus are 10th, HRT are 11th and Virgin are 12th? They haven't managed to place a car as high even as 12th between them, but Lotus have two 13th place finishes, HRT have one 13th place finish and Virgin have none, which determines their championship positions. Naturally I prefer the Famine's Adjusted Teams Championship for determining this...
 
It's countback - when drivers are tied on points, their positions are determined by their best finishes.


That's certainly true but I was alluding to the fact that under the old scoring system Rosberg would be ahead of Schumacher.

So far this season it's the only difference between the two schemes that's approached importance... and then only because of the Schumacher Comeback saga rather than either drivers championship dominance (or lack thereof).
 
That's certainly true but I was alluding to the fact that under the old scoring system Rosberg would be ahead of Schumacher.

So far this season it's the only difference between the two schemes that's approached importance... and then only because of the Schumacher Comeback saga rather than either drivers championship dominance (or lack thereof).

And in turn, under the previous scoring scheme (10-6-4-3-2-1), Schumacher would be again ahead under countback (4pt each, Schumacher one 4th to none) and Hamilton would be ahead of Webber - as with the 1991 scoring scheme (9-6-4-3-2-1), though Hamilton would need countback.

Under the previous, previous scheme - 9-6-4-3-2-1, best five results from the first seven races (1980); discounting the best-11 system used from 1985-1990 because we haven't had 11 races so it'd be no different - Webber would lose out badly to Hamilton, having to discount a 4th and 5th finish for 20pt where Hamilton can discount an 8th and a retirement for 25pt, which would push him up in to 2nd, past Button on countback.


It is what it is. We've had 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 for a full season already and it's the metric used for this season too. In any case Rosberg beat Schumacher with this system last year...
 
Back