Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2015 i AUTOSPORT

A confession: I’ve always been a bit of Nico Rosberg fan. Now I’m well aware that the principles of journalistic impartiality forbid any such allegiance, but I would counter that when you work in a sport that was once your private passion and is now your way of life, it’s essential to be able to remember what it was that once drew you towards it. And it’s here that Nico plays his trump card: his dad, Keke, was the first F1 driver who really caught my eye as a star-struck teenager. And given those indelible memories of a Williams-Honda FW10 driven furiously throughout 1985 (with an equally feisty Nigel Mansell as team-mate – dear god, what a line-up!) it’s little wonder that the exploits of his offspring, this month’s cover…

GERMAN F1 DRIVERS Q 1 Who was the first German driver to win a grand prix? Q 2 How many times did Michael Schumacher win his home GP? Q 3 How many German drivers have started more than 100 races? Q 4 Where did Jochen Mass claim his sole grand prix victory in 1975? Q 5 In which 1984 race did Stefan Bellof claim his sole F1 podium finish for Tyrrell (the team later had their results for that year annulled)? Q 6 In which position did Sebastian Vettel qualify his BMW Sauber on his Formula 1 debut at the 2007 US Grand Prix? Q 7 Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Ralf Schumacher both claimed their first F1 victories in which race? Q 8 Who was the first German driver to win…

Time passes; hues change. So this, for me, is how it was in 1975, 40 years ago: Ferrari dominated the F1 world championship with Niki Lauda. I remember Niki at Monza in ’75, straddling a Benelli 750, on the eve of his championship win. The bucktoothed grin was thrown at anyone who asked about forthcoming tactics. In a quiet moment before practice, though, when I chatted to him in the car park, even Lauda admitted to feeling vulnerable: “Ferrari always blame something or someone when they lose. First they blame the driver, then the tyres, and finally, with difficulty, they blame themselves. So I’m trying to be as relaxed as possible. I know the pressure of the championship may cause the team to make mistakes. My job is to remain…

COOPER T51 TECH SPEC Chassis Steel spaceframe with curved tubes Suspension Double wishbones, transverse leaf spring (rear) and coil springs (front) with telescopic shock absorbers Engine Climax in-line four Engine capacity 2,495cc Power output 240bhp @ 6750rpm (est) Gearbox 4-speed manual Weight 475kg Wheelbase 2311mm Tyres Dunlop Notable drivers Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren, Stirling Moss, Maurice Trintignant Just as a horse pushing rather than pulling a cart would be a rare sight indeed, until the late 1950s precious few car designers felt that putting the engine at the rear was anything other than sub-optimal. Yes, the likes of Tazio Nuvolari had rampaged through Europe’s racetracks in twitchy rear-engined Auto Unions in the 1930s, but few engineers returned to the concept as racing began again after the war. The revolution brewed…

The gates to the Force India factory are closed and there’s no one to open them. A little intercom at the side requires you to get out of your car to speak into it. Say the magic words and you can enter the Dadford Road base. Upstairs in the tiny factory is Bob Fernley’s office, where Colin Kolles and, before him, Eddie Jordan used to sit, when this team was known by other names. Fernley is the right-hand man of Force India team owner Vijay Mallya: they’ve known each other well for the past three decades. Deputy team principal Fernley looks after Force India’s day-to-day running, while Vijay is flying the globe in his private plane, or sailing the Med. Bob regards the stack of question cards before him with…

RACE NOTES: BRIGHT LIGHTS AND THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT A challenge in its own right, the Marina Bay Street Circuit piles pressure on its competitors by having them race in artificial light Now in its eighth year, Formula 1’s original night race has become a popular and well-established fixture on the calendar, and poses a different sort of test for the drivers. Mastering the Marina Bay Street Circuit’s 23 corners and avoiding the unforgiving walls is already a massive challenge, but the extreme humidity and the unforgiving fare from the artificial lights that illuminate the track put Singapore in a league of its own. Precision and the ability to keep calm under pressure are key. Just three drivers have won in Singapore: Sebastian Vettel has a hat trick of…

Maurice Hamilton Chatting with a legendary name from F1 history Maurice Hamilton met up with David Brabham to discuss the ex-F1 racer’s career – and his long battle to be able to use his family name again (p90). Edd Straw Autosport’s editor has judged the best of British Edd Straw likes a good argument, so we set him the task of determining Britain’s greatest world champion. See what he thinks on page 52. Steven Tee Shadowing Jenson Button for a grand prix weekend F1 drivers have little chance to rest over a race weekend – and nor did Tee after trailling Jenson Button’s movements in Hungary. More on p66. James Roberts Interviewing Nico Rosberg in the back seat of a Merc After interviewing the Merc ace while being driven to…

29.7.15 Singapore GP chiefs reveal track revisions for this year’s race, including the widening of the Turn 13 hairpin to encourage overtaking 3.8.15 The governor of Lombardy raises hopes that Monza can retain the Italian GP, saying he is close to striking a deal with Bernie Ecclestone to extend the venue’s contract beyond 2016 10.8.15 John Harnden is appointed chairman of the Austalian Grand Prix Corporation, taking over from long-time event chief Ron Walker 19.8.15 Ferrari sign Kimi Räikkönen to a contract extension for 2016 21.8.15 Bernie Ecclestone downplays Monza’s chances of staying on the calendar beyond 2016, saying he thinks there is “a good chance” the venue won’t be able to agree a new deal…

Name Tyre Age 169 years Appearance Ubiquitous vulcanised ring of contention I should warn you right now that if you so much as mention the word ‘degradation’, I’m leaving. Fear not! I bring news of tremendous rancour. Best not ask Nick Heidfeld to try to pronounce that. What word, then? Sebastian Vettel got himself in a tizzy after the race at Spa, reckoning he could have been killed after his right-rear tyre blew out with the chequered flag almost within sight. He is putting the blame for the incident squarely on Pirelli. I do wish we lived in a culture of responsibility not blame. What’s his beef? Well, after Nico Rosberg had a blow-out in practice, Pirelli said his tyre had picked up a cut somewhere. Sounds reasonable. People do…

Guy Ligier, who died on 23 August 2015, enjoyed a brief career as an F1 racer, but is better known as a constructor. His eponymous team took nine races win from 1976-96. Vichy-born, Ligier worked as a butcher before making his fortune in construction, primarily from the French motorway system. He played for the French national rugby B team before a career-ending injury. His racing career started with bikes. He then switched to cars, competing in 12 GPs in privately entered Cooper and Brabham chassis in 1966-67. Having retired from racing following the death of his friend Jo Schlesser in 1968, Ligier set up as a road- and racing-car constructor. The firm moved into F1 in 1976 after Ligier bought the assets of Matra Sports, with Jacques Laffite claiming their…

GUTIÉRREZ LINKED TO NEW HAAS TEAM Former Sauber racer Esteban Gutiérrez is close to securing a drive with the new Haas F1 team for 2016. The Mexican is a Ferrari reserve driver, making him an obvious choice for Haas, who have very close links with the Scuderia. The team are also said to be seeking a more experienced driver, and have a shortlist of at least ten of them. FIA REJECTS FURTHER NEW TEAMS Two teams have been unsuccessful in their bids to join the F1 grid in 2016 or 2017. The FIA recently called for hopefuls to submit their interest, but the two applications received did not pass the FIA’s ‘comprehensive diligence processes’. The identity of these prospective teams has not been made public. MANOR MARUSSIA SCRAP NEW CAR…

What it is about October and Russia, I don’t know, but there is undeniably a strange affinity. Remember the film The Hunt for Red October? Before that was the October Revolution of 1917, which established the Soviet Union. And on 1 October 1939 Churchill famously described Russia as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”. So it seems a perfect month to hold the Russian Grand Prix. Churchill might also have added the word ‘contrary’, since it seems that when the West wants to zig, Russia wants to zag. But this does not concern us. We are F1 and we will race whatever the political weather. Yet if you wanted to highlight these ideological differences, what better way than to do the Pepski Challenge and have back-to-back Russian…

It’s a fact: Nico Rosberg is faster than Lewis Hamilton. There, we’ve said it. After an extensive statistical analysis of the 48 grands prix they’ve driven together as team-mates (when they’ve both had trouble-free races) Rosberg emerges as the quickest driver by just 0.015 seconds – less than a blink of an eye. It’s proof that the duel for the 2015 crown is closer than you might think. Lewis Hamilton can’t afford to let up one iota if he wants to achieve a third world championship. “There is less than a race win between us in points,” notes Rosberg [as we speak, prior to the Hungarian GP], making him a constant menace in Lewis’s mirrors. “So I need to keep pushing. Maybe if I’m lucky in one race and he’s…

You seem to be getting back into the groove after a difficult start to the season… We’re getting there. I had a new chassis for Austria and we’ve made a lot of changes to the car since Canada to try to get back to what we had last year – a few mechanical tweaks. We came into this year with a new car and new ways of trying to be quicker. In Canada there were still some unknowns over which way we were going with setup. We weren’t rapid at any point over the Austrian GP weekend, but in Hungary we were stronger than we had been since Monaco. Your drive in Budapest was remarkable – a highlight of the season. It was a crazy race! There was contact at…

Less than a year passed between Spain’s Roberto Merhi thinking his racing career was finished and then making his F1 debut for Manor Marussia at the Malaysian GP this year. It was a remarkable turnaround for a driver whose two-year stint with Mercedes in the DTM yielded very little to celebrate over the course of 2012-13. Merhi was subsequently deemed surplus to requirements by Mercedes, and without sponsorship his options looked to have dried up. But all was not lost. His determined scramble from motorsport scrapheap to a Formula 1 seat started when he was invited to test for Formula Renault 3.5 team Zeta Corse in March 2014. Yet this also started badly. “My first test in a single-seater after two years in DTM was impossible,” he says. “My first…

1 The first ever Japanese GP set the standard for high drama Held at Fuji Speedway on 24 October 1976, the inaugural Japanese Grand Prix featured many of the elements that would become recurring themes of the race: rain, incidents, a smattering of controversy, and a title showdown so incredible it could be used as the climax of a Hollywood movie. Oh wait, it already has been… The title battle, of course, was James Hunt vs Niki Lauda. And it very nearly didn’t happen: with heavy rain and low fog covering Fuji on race day, there was plenty of debate about whether the event should even go ahead. It did, and while Hunt stormed into an early lead, Lauda – just months after his life-threatening Nürburgring shunt – withdrew early,…

RACE NOTES: THE PRESSURE IS ON HONDA AT THEIR HOME RACE The enthusiastic home fans will have high hopes of McLaren’s engine partner Honda as F1 heads to the popular Suzuka circuit With its daunting figure-of-eight circuit, much loved by drivers, and some of the most passionate fans of the year packing the grandstands, the Japanese GP at Suzuka is usually one of the most eagerly anticipated races of the season. But this year’s event is likely to be a subdued affair following Jules Bianchi’s death in July, a result of the injuries he sustained in a crash at Suzuka last year. This is a fast, fowing circuit, which rewards cars with strong, stable aerodynamics and good engine power. With overtaking proving very difficult here, qualifying and race strategy are…

I need no reminding of this for, as a child, I used to accompany my parents to the notoriously demanding TT motorcycle races on the Isle of Man, where I regarded the stars who stayed with us at the Castle Mona Hotel as my uncles. It was not unknown for one of them to come down to breakfast in his leathers, and then fail to return from that day’s racing. More than 200 riders have lost their lives at the TT since it began 108 years ago and, according to my research, at least 50 drivers have perished in Formula 1 since the world championship began at Silverstone in 1950. Over the course of his racing career, Sir Jackie Stewart lost many of his racing friends and colleagues, including two…

No 5 Suzuka 1 ‘GYAKU’ BANK CURVE Translated into English, this means ‘opposite bank’. This is because the slight banking of the right-hander slopes away from the direction of the turn, often upsetting a car’s balance. 2 DEGNER CURVE Named after German motorcycle racer Ernst Degner, who crashed his 250cc Suzuki bike here in 1963, suffering burns that required more than 50 skin grafts. Degner returned to the circuit a year later and won the 125cc Japanese GP. 3,4 & 5 110R, 200R AND 130R You likely know about 130R – Suzuka’s signature high-speed left-hander (5). The name is derived from the radius of the corner expressed in metres – and 130R is just one of three corners at the circuit to follow the same naming convention. The other two…

KIMI CARRIES ON Ferrari’s decision to retain Kimi Räikkönen for 2016 was the big story heading into the Belgian GP, and it got a positive reaction from followers of our Twitter account (@F1Racing_mag). In an entirely unscientific survey, 66.6 per cent of respondents gave the decision a thumbs-up. Craig Hamilton (@hamlyn_greg) said: “Great news. Too early to write off such a talented driver.” Mark Reese (@the_real_reesey) added: “Good for fans, good for Kimi and Seb, and good for Ferrari. We all know he’s past his best, but he still does a job for them.” Others wanted to see a younger driver in the car. Matt Bailey-Smith (@mattbaileysmith) said: “Can’t help being a little surprised, thought Bottas looked a sound bet. Kimi’s not looked on it.” Angie (@Girlracer1976) responded: “I think…

British racing driver Justin Wilson, who raced in F1 for Minardi and Jaguar in 2003, has died after being struck by debris during an IndyCar Series race. He was 37. The Sheffield-born racer suffered serious head injuries after being hit by the nose section of rival Sage Karam’s car, which broke loose after Karam crashed into the wall on the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway. Wilson was transported to hospital in a coma, and died the following day. His family released a statement that said: “With deep sadness, the parents of Justin Wilson, Keith and Lynne, his wife Julia, and his brother Stefan share the news that Justin passed away today after succumbing to injuries suffered during the Verizon IndyCar event at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, August 23. Justin was a loving…

There’s lot of talk in F1 now of ‘power units’ and ‘hybrids’. What happened to ‘engines’ and ‘KERS’? In 2006 it was decided that the 2.4-litre V8 F1 engine could be improved in the future by adding a system to allow the car to recover energy under braking, and then use that recovered energy to boost acceleration. While the technology allowed was quite free, all teams chose to use a system whereby an electric motor/generator unit (MGU) was geared onto the engine crankshaft. This unit acted as a generator under braking, producing electricity that was stored in a battery. When additional acceleration was required, the unit acted as a motor and used the electrical energy previously stored. This was called the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), and it lowered lap…

That Red Bull Racing and Renault are heading for a split has been patently obvious ever since their first hybrid car, the RB10, turned a wheel during Jerez testing in February last year. At the time, few within a partnership cemented by eight world titles in half as many years realised precisely how recalcitrant Renault’s power units were, nor the steepness of the challenge that lay ahead. Back then, both sides made cooing noises and spoke of software interfaces being the root cause, but, as the season progressed, so it became clear that a totally new power unit was required – a route outlawed by the engine homologation regulations Renault and Red Bull had agreed to. Thus, unless Renault pulls off a miraculous recovery against all the odds (and at…

ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY ONE The number of F1 races Nico had started before reaching 29 – the age Keke started his first GP NICO 11-5 KEKE The number of grands prix Nico has won, compared to Keke 2 The nationalities Nico holds: German and Finnish 4 DAYS Nico was born on 27 June 1985, four days after Keke’s penultimate win at the 1985 Detroit GP 1.03 million people follow Nico on Twitter VI Nico’s F1 number, which is also his wife’s and father’s lucky number 6-2 The number of teams Keke drove for in F1 (ATS, Theodore, Wolf, Fittipaldi, Williams and McLaren), compared to Nico (Williams and Mercedes) 1 The number of races Keke won in 1982, his championship-winning season 8 The lowest grid position Nico has managed to…

Age 26 Place of birth Perth, Australia Team Red Bull Role Driver 2014 Promoted to Red Bull Racing, where he takes three grand prix wins 2012 Moves up to Toro Rosso, scoring points in his first race for the team. Takes 13 points finishes over his two seasons with them 2011 Starts the season competing in Formula Renault 3.5 and is handed an HRT F1 race seat for the final 11 grands prix of the season 2009 Having joined the Red Bull Junior team in 2008, wins the British Formula 3 Championship in his first season in the series 2005 Makes his car-racing debut in Australian Formula Ford…

Date of birth 22 March 1991 Place of birth Castellón, Spain Team Manor Marussia Role Racing driver 2015 Signs for Pons Racing in Formula Renault 3.5, then seals last-minute F1 drive with Manor Marussia 2014 Finishes third in Formula Renault 3.5, and takes part in three practice sessions with Caterham in F1 2012 Becomes part of the Mercedes-Benz Junior Team, and spends two seasons racing for them in the DTM 2011 In his third season of F3 Euro Series, he wins the championship with Prema Powertrain 2006 Starts his car-racing career with outings in Italian Formula Renault and Spanish F3…

The peace and charm of rural Leicestershire are shattered this Sunday morning by the squeal of tyre scrub and the sharp acceleration of a Vauxhall Astra. Typically, old airfields are bustling places early on weekend mornings, when car boot sales take over. Not in Bruntingthorpe, just off the M1 near Rugby. This unlikely venue is where aspiring, and current, F1 drivers come to develop their talent. They come to see the master, the man who can unlock their full potential. This is the domain of Rob Wilson, a 62-year-old chain-smoking former racer, who teaches manipulation, weight transfer, feel and rates of input. Winding around old aircraft is a series of runways, access roads, and the odd battered red cone that denotes an apex point or, more strictly speaking, the point…