Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2016 i AUTOSPORT

Only readers of a certain ageare likely to understand the significance of Maria Teresa de Filippis. She was the first woman to start an F1 grand prix, and also the first female classified finisher – both milestones achieved at the 1958 Belgian GP. She began racing, she said, to settle a bet with her brothers: a keen horsewoman, she only went and won the first race she entered, in a Fiat 500. In the near-58 years that have since passed, only one woman has bettered de Filippis’s F1 tally: the late Lella Lombardi, a fellow Italian, who started 12 grands prix between 1974 and 1976, scoring half a point for her sixth-place finish in the red-flagged 1975 Spanish GP. So to say that de Filippis, who died earlier this month…

10.12.15 Teams notified of Australian GP tyre choice, which includes Pirelli’s new ultra-soft compound 13.12.15 Mercedes boss Toto Wolff confirms talks to place reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein with Manor 14.12.15 Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne calls for F1’s rule book to be “scrapped” 18.12.15 Toro Rosso to change working practices in order to conquer reliability problems 21.12.15 Renault formally acquire the Lotus F1 team 31.12.15 CBE for John Surtees announced in New Year Honours List 4.1.16 Jenson Button calls for increased mechanical grip to be a priority in discussions over 2017 technical package…

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE When Pirelli’s Paul Hembery floated the idea of having three regional F1 championships, it struck a chord with us here at F1 Racing Towers. When we sit down with the new calendar at the start of every year and try to work out the logistics of who will go to which race and when the magazine needs to be published, we’ve always said that something like this would make life much easier. The F1 calendar has for years been built around a European core and, as more races are added in far-flung locations, it wouldn’t take too much effort to mould the series into three distinct parts. And if in an ideal world we did get three regional championships, it would be great if teams…

ASTON MARTIN OPT OUT Luxury car brand Aston Martin have decided against an involvement with Force India. Aston Martin, owned by investors led by the Italian private equity firm InvestIndustrial with a 37.5 per cent stake, had been considering a deal that would have involved the team being rebranded with Aston Martin’s name. Insiders say the deal has been called off for now, although it could be revived at a future date. NEW THREAT TO GERMAN GP F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has cast doubt over the future of the German GP, saying he does not expect a race at the Nürburgring in 2017. The event was dropped in 2015 due to financial problems. Ecclestone said: “We can say with some certainty that no race will be held there. It’s a…

“Don’t get me wrong, I’ve come to enjoy our crazy sport, but it is a love/hate relationship” We’ve probably all used the phrase ‘One day I’m going to write a book,’ but 2016 will be my 20th birthday since being reborn as a Formula 1 world champion. So, I’m going to celebrate by writing about my racing career and how it came to pass that I was even in a racing car. Because, if truth be told – and that’s the whole point – I’m not that into cars. So it’s a bit odd that I ended up where I did. My thing was motorbikes. I loved a good bike. First time I saw a motorcycle, I wanted to have a go. First time I had a go, I wanted…

FERNANDO ALONSO, 17 WINS When Renault took over the ailing Benetton team in 2002, they had in their young driver programme the promising Fernando Alonso. He repaid their faith with victory at the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix and, at 21, he became the youngest Formula 1 winner of all time, eclipsing Emerson Fittipaldi’s 33-year record. He took a further seven wins in 2005 and seven more in 2006 en route to his second drivers’ world championship. On his return to Renault in 2008 (after a disastrous year with McLaren) he scored two more wins, at Fuji, and controversially, at Singapore – from which the ‘Crashgate’ scandal erupted. ALAIN PROST, NINE WINS After making his Formula 1 debut with McLaren in 1979, Frenchman Alain Prost was hired by Renault to lead…

Most teenagers are slightly awkward in frame, and 18-year-old Max Verstappen, tall and spindly, is no exception. His look is deceptively boyish, though, for there is no mistaking the confidence of the ferocious competitor within. He’s very happy on this warm evening in the Brazilian GP paddock at Interlagos. He’s just scooped three F1 Racing awards, for Rookie of the Year, Overtake of the Year – that amazing move around the outside of Felipe Nasr at Spa’s daunting 170mph Blanchimont – plus Drive of the Year for his fourth place in the wet at Austin. It’s clear that you, the readers of F1R, have been impressed by Max’s speed, determination and enthusiasm in his first year of F1. He hasn’t been overawed in his rookie season, largely because he’s been…

To the general public in the early 1950s, grand prix racing was more about the drivers and the nations they represented than the cars themselves. That’s how the world championship made do through two seasons (1952-53) as a Formula 2 competition, without the sort of mass outcry you might expect today if the contents of the F1 grid were replaced overnight with GP2 machinery. But tastes were evolving and national boundaries blurred as new stars rose and began to assert themselves. By the end of the decade, manufacturers would have a greater incentive to excel: one star driver would have swapped horses ruthlessly – from Maserati to Mercedes, to Ferrari, and then back to Maserati again – in his quest for dominance, and British drivers racing in both national green…

“This winter is critical for one of the greatest partnerships in the history of Formula 1 – McLaren-Honda” In spite of having two champion drivers, 2015 was an appalling year for these two giants of the sport, and my heart has bled for them. With only two top-six places from 19 races to show for their considerable efforts, now is crunch time. Will they continue to languish at the back when the new season begins or will they have learned from their failure and become competitive? It all seems like a bad dream to me. I’ve seen McLaren grow from a twinkle in Bruce’s eye to become superb multiple championship winners, and I was in the Isle of Man for the motorcycle TT races in 1954 when a fact-finding mission…

Peter Crowther F1 Racing’s ace illustrator and design grandmaster Renault have yet to unveil their 2016 livery, but that didn’t stop our top graphics artist from creating a rendition of how their new machine might look (p30) Alastair Staley LAT Photographic lensman tasked with shooting stars Staley was trackside at all 19 GPs last season and his best snaps accompany those from all of LAT’s photographers in their top pics of the year (p78) Andrew Benson Newshound and chief F1 reporter for BBC Sport We tasked Benson with answering one of the burning questions in F1. What will it take to make the Enstone team winners again? Find out on p30 Adam Warner Resident photographer and studio manager at LAT As studio manager of LAT’s new facility in Feltham in…

Tyler Alexander, one of the founding fathers of McLaren, passed away on 7 January, aged 75. Alexander grew up on the Atlantic coast in Hingham, Massachusetts, and trained as an aircraft engineer. This vocation instilled in him rigorous attention to detail, but conventional office routines did not appeal and he felt drawn towards the arena of motor racing, in which a number of his friends were competing at club level. One friend, John Fields, began racing in national 500cc events in a Cooper-Norton, which Alexander maintained for him. It was then that Alexander encountered the gifted young racing driver Timmy Mayer, his elder brother Teddy, and future racing magnate Roger Penske. Soon Alexander found himself working for the Mayers, which led to a life-changing trip to Europe in the summer…

The Drag Reduction System (DRS) has been with us for five seasons now, but what was it that led to its introduction? It has long been felt that overtaking is a fundamental ingredient of exciting racing. So in 2007, a working group was set up to look at changes that could be made to the bodywork regulations with a view to minimising the detrimental effect of a car’s aerodynamic wake on a following vehicle. Even though I was part of that working group, I would be the first to admit that the outcome of the research and the new regulations that it led to in 2009 had a minimal effect on the propensity of overtaking. In fact, the only way to increase the chances of overtaking significantly is to give…

“In any marriage, success demands huge commitment from both parties” Picture a marriage entered into between a French-English couple in 2000, electing to go by the Gallic family name for historic reasons. Further imagine the former to be the monsieur, with the Briton being the female partner. Slightly convoluted, perhaps, but all becomes clear as matters unravel. Despite the obvious cultural challenges, their union is generally happy and fruitful, with two children born a year apart, in 2005 then 2006, the result. Yet, after unsavoury nocturnal activities in an Asian capital, the marriage falters. Both go their own ways amid talk of huge settlements. However, for the sake of the kids they remain enmeshed, although the lady soon falls into the arms of bourgeois Luxembourg entrepreneurs, while monsieur enters into…

Why have Renault chosen to buy back a team they sold six years ago? I will quote Bernie, who is very often quoting Colin Chapman: “Circumstances change.” F1, the regulations, the world economy, and our experience, view and perspective of F1 have changed and evolved. Why has it taken so long? It was not an easy decision. It was complex and we had to deal with a painful season, and a number of factors, including ‘Red Bull-gate’, when we had to manage that relationship and the dynamic on engine supply. Is the motivation marketing, or the belief that a manufacturer can only win with a works team? It is a combination of those two aspects, but marketing drove the decision. We have been saying F1 represents a certain value for…

Since the start of the 2014 season, revised Formula 1 regulations have decreed that titanium must be used to make the skid blocks on the underside of every F1 car. Titanium is named after the mighty Titans of Greek mythology due to its extreme strength. It’s also durable, lightweight and perfect for F1 in numerous applications. In fact it is one of the most commonly used materials on an F1 car aside from carbon fibre. Whenever a skid blocks touches the asphalt, the result is a spectacular pyrotechnic burst of sparks. At speeds that are approaching 200mph, when a car ‘bottoms out’ the friction is so intense it causes particles of the titanium alloy to break off and burn white hot as they fy through the air. Pictured on the…

1954 The world championship is a Formula 1 competition again after two seasons using Formula 2 machinery. New rules call for 2.5-litre naturally aspirated or 750cc supercharged engines, but new cars from Mercedes and Lancia are not ready until later in the season and Juan Manuel Fangio cuts a deal with Mercedes to let him drive a Maserati until then. Alberto Ascari attempts to follow suit, with less success, as Lancia development work drags on. 1955 Mercedes continue to dominate with Fangio and Stirling Moss, as Lancia’s challenge evaporates following the twin shocks of insolvency and Ascari’s death. Eugenio Castellotti sets his only pole in Belgium, which is Lancia’s last race as a constructor. Maserati’s attempts to step up to the plate include their own variant on Mercedes’ ‘streamliner’ body…

TYRES Q1 What is the name of the new compound introduced by Pirelli for the 2016 season? Q2 Who was the last driver to claim pole on Bridgestone tyres? Q3 Who was the first driver to lead a grand prix on Bridgestone tyres? Q4 Which Belgian tyre producer supplied Ferrari in the early 1950s? Q5 Which tyre supplier made a low-key F1 debut on the Scarabs of Lance Reventlow and Chuck Daigh at the 1960 Belgian GP? Q6 Who was the first driver to win the world championship on Firestone tyres? Q7 What make of tyre did Giuseppe Farina use to claim the first F1 world championship? Q8 In which year would you have seen rear-tyre widths in F1 virtually double, on account of a change in engine regulations? Q9…

Name Succession Age As old as human civilisation Appearance Assertive, when visible Succession ? Wasn’t that an abandoned single by Heaven 17? No, you twit, I refer to the word. I see. You know, my aunt has had a succession of door-to-door salesmen around recently. She’s now the proud owner of, among other things, a steam wand for sweeping the floor. Gave the cat quite a fright. I’m thinking of disconnecting the doorbell. That’s not quite what I had in mind. What then? Succession. From Old French. Via the Latin successionem meaning: “a coming into another’s place”. But an idea that, in fact, has been central to human civilisation ever since Homo sapiens lumbered forth from the Stygian murk and began to bash one another over the head with…

“Dan has never let himself become a slave to the idiom, ‘that’s the way it’s always done’” As F1-related news goes I guess it was pretty well-hidden behind the off-season TV excitement of darts, cooking shows and endless chat about Downton Abbey. For me, though, it was the technical breakthrough probably of the decade – let alone of the year. Forget your ERS and your KERS and your silver W06s. Forget even the back-patting ‘Applied Technology’ projects of your MTCs or your Williams F1s. Cloaked heavily in classified secrecy, Dan Gurney and his company, All American Racers (AAR), in 2015 designed and built the landing gear to enable an orbital spacecraft to return safely to earth (not the sea!) successfully, right-way-up. Think of this in the context of F1 benefitting…

The Lotus chassis that competed in the 2015 F1 season was known as the ‘E23’ to represent the 23 years that a team – by whatever name – has been based in Enstone. Back in 1992, Benetton (who began life as Toleman) moved from Whitney to the Whiteways Technical Centre a few miles north of Oxford. The same year, a young Michael Schumacher joined the team and within three seasons had sensationally claimed back-to-back drivers’ – and the ’95 constructors’ – championships for Enstone. At the end of the decade, Renault took over Benetton and in 2002 rebranded the team ‘Renault F1’. Ten years on from their first title double, Fernando Alonso and Renault took back-to-back title doubles in 2005 and 2006. At the end of 2009, Renault sold a…

“You have to lead from the front” A dust-up with security at one of Abu Dhabi’s swishest hotels. “No pictures!” says the heavy, who’s just clocked photographer Glenn Dunbar’s lights-and-tripod setup, carefully arranged to create the images you see on these pages. Our man (dark shades, dark suit, no smile) is clearly not biddable, so we use that old F1 trick: a flash of the hard card and the off-loading of a few ‘name-drop’ bombs. “This shoot is with a Formula 1 team boss – Christian Horner. You know, he’s in charge of Red Bull. Abu Dhabi Grand Prix? Formula 1? Bernie Ecclestone?” A crack in the edifice. A mumble into the wrist-mounted comms-link. The hotel chain’s head of marketing, no less, is summoned, and, a few honeyed sentences later,…

MOST IMPROVED TEAM OF THE YEAR ROOKIE OF THE YEAR TEAM PRINCIPAL OF THE YEAR TECHNICAL LEADER OF THE YEAR START OF THE YEAR OVERTAKE OF THE YEAR QUALIFIER OF THE YEAR CAR OF THE YEAR DRIVE OF THE YEAR DRIVER OF THE YEAR SPIRIT OF F1 AWARD “First of all, thanks a lot to all the F1 Racing readers. It was unexpected, especially from our fans in the UK, but on behalf of the team, who have been working very, very hard to deserve this award, I’m very grateful to all of you guys. Thank you very much.” Maurizio Arrivabene Ferrari team principal MOST IMPROVED TEAM OF THE YEAR Maranello went through a transitional year in 2014. Long-serving team boss Stefano Domenicali fell on his sword,…

December 2014. There were just a few days to go before Christmas and Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles, was determined not to miss the traditional Ferrari end-of-year lunch for media – despite splitting his life between Detroit and Turin as a result of the recent Fiat-Chrysler deal. The gathering was a congenial tradition, inaugurated by Enzo Ferrari himself in the 1950s, and kept alive by Luca di Montezemolo throughout the 23 seasons of his chairmanship. The occasion was scheduled for 23 December, at around midday, in the famous meeting room at Fiorano that overlooks the track. Marchionne arrived wearing his trademark black pullover. By contrast Maurizio Arrivabene – making his first appearance as Ferrari team principal – turned up in a rather striking apricot pastel jumper. Unusual, since in…

WHO ARE THEY? 1 Name Beat Zehnder Age 50 Then Started out as a mechanic for Sauber’s sportscar team before moving to the F1 team. He later became their logistics manager and then chief mechanic. Now Team manager, Sauber F1 2 Name Alan Permane Age 48 Then Joined Benetton in 1989 as an electronics engineer, and was assistant race engineer, race engineer and then chief race engineer though the Benetton, Renault and Lotus eras. Now Trackside operations director, Lotus F1 (soon to be Renault again) 3 Name Steve Nielsen Age 51 Then Trained to be a policeman, but left to join Lotus as a truckie. He moved to Tyrrell, working his way up to team manager, and then had stints in the same role at Arrows, Renault, Caterham and Toro…

Simplicity itself Stunning, simply stunning. That’s my opinion of the 1989 McLaren MP4/5B featured in ‘Now that was a car’ (F1 Racing, January 2016). Over the years, rule changes have made the cars increasingly ugly, culminating in the 2014 breed. It baffles me how they can create cars that not only look terrible but are unable to race in close proximity to each other. The rule makers could do a lot worse than to take a long hard look at pages 40-41 of your January issue before finalising the 2017 regulations, taking note of the simplicity of the MP4/5B’s design. Michael Skeet Southampton, UK Why the radio silence? I have been fortunate to attend a number of GPs over the past two years, and, for me, F1 remains…