Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2016 i AUTOSPORT

Oh, Lewis, what can the matter be? You haven’t won a race since the German GP in July and now, for the first time in your four F1 seasons as team-mates, Nico Rosberg looks as if he might win the title – and he’s driving like a man who believes he can. Your triumphant crowd-surfing at Silverstone, where you blitzed the British GP to close to within a point of Nico at the top of the drivers’ table, already seems a lifetime ago. To be fair, an apparently certain victory in Malaysia was snatched from you by a ‘big end’ bearing failure, and comeback drives in Spa and at Suzuka showed you’ve lost none of your speed, elan, or gift for theatre. In Singapore, though, you were bested by a…

AU REVOIR, JENSON! Q1 Jenson won the title in ’09 but where did he finish in the standings in 2008: 12th, 15th or 18th? Q2 What is the name of the pub named after Jenson in his home town of Frome in Somerset? Q3 Which four different engine manufacturers have powered Jenson during his F1 career? Q4 Jenson’s best result in 2015 was P6. Where did he manage it? Q5 How many circuits has Jenson raced on in F1: 30, 31 or 32? Q6 Which team-mate said Jenson had the racing gravitas of a boy-band member? Q7 What was notable about the 2014 Hungarian GP for Jenson? Q8 What is the only race that Jenson has won three times? Q9 How many times has Jenson finished fourth at the British…

Name Fire Age 470 million years, according to Wikipedia Appearance Red, or yellow, or white, or blue – or even green Green-coloured fire? You’ve been watching too much Game of Thrones . Quite the opposite. As any good physics textbook would tell you, barium nitrate burns green. Any good physics textbook? That’s quite a claim. Is it in Understanding Physics by Isaac Asimov? Unknown. Is that a good physics textbook? Does it have a sticker on the cover saying “From the author of Nightfall and The Caves Of Steel?” Also unknown. As, no doubt, is Isaac Asimov’s reaction to the engine fire that brought Lewis Hamilton to a smoking halt while leading the Malaysian Grand Prix. Since he died in 1992,…

 So there I was, reading Condé Nast Traveller on the A380, drooling, as you do, over the Cheval Blanc St-Barth Isle de France, and the Lux South Ari Atoll, when it struck me: the reason I’ve never stayed at any of the places with the stilts and the exotic names is that hotels are so much a part of my everyday life that I’m kind of allergic to them. Unless they’re either perfect or essential, in other words, I’d rather leave the suitcase empty. “At the Ranch, you registered in a grass-roofed hut to the tinkle of poolside chatter” Mind you, my time in temporary rooms over the years hasn’t exactly been colourless; my recent view from the 17th foor of Singapore’s Mandarin Oriental being a case in point. In…

“In December 2008, Honda’s management told us they were going to pull out of Formula 1. So we had to figure out how we could get the team to carry on. Honda had invested a lot of money in Brackley, and we believed we’d created a good car for 2009. “When we got the engine from Mercedes we knew we had an opportunity as we’d done some clever stuff with the car [with the double-diffuser], but we assumed everyone else had done the same. “Rubens Barrichello flew over from Brazil and rented a motorhome and stayed in the car park for four days waiting for us to make his seat. Then we went to Barcelona testing and just smashed everyone. “It was thought we’d taken the ballast and fuel out…

While Singapore gives drivers a complete workout, its effects on the cars is just as extreme, with this year’s winner Nico Rosberg admitting: “the whole car was on the edge, it always is in Singapore”. The chief concern is the brakes. With 24 per cent of the lap spent under braking, high ambient temperatures and a dearth of straights, the Marina Bay Street Circuit gets a nine out of ten rating on brake manufacturer Brembo’s severity scale. While Mercedes’ Paddy Lowe insisted that his team’s concerns during the race were “a question of management”, the frantic radio messages between pitwall and drivers suggested the management was under intense stress. As early as lap 10, Rosberg was told: “This is serious Nico, we need that brake management.” Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, complained…

Jochen Rindt was a hero to me as a young boy, and because of him my interest for F1 and motorsport in general began. I had posters of him and his racing cars on my bedroom wall, and I was fascinated by the way he drove and by his incredible car control. There were hardly any pictures where the car wasn’t sliding around, but Jochen always had everything under control. This was something special. In Austria, we were lucky that the ORF broadcast many races. Heinz Prüller was the commentator, and also, in the evening, there was a summary of what happened not just in Formula 1, but in Formula 2 as well. And they talked a lot about Jochen, Jackie Stewart and Formula 1 in general. This was fantastic.…

US GP RACE DATA Circuit name Circuit of The Americas First GP 2012 F1 races held 4 Circuit length 3.426 miles Race distance 191.633 miles (56 laps) Direction Anticlockwise Winners from pole 1 TIMETABLE (UK TIME) Friday 21 October Practice 1 16:00-17:30 Practice 2 20:00-21:30 Saturday 22 October Practice 3 16:00-17:00 Qualifying 19:00-20:00 Sunday 23 October Race 20.00 Live coverage Sky Sports F1 Highlights Channel 4 Qualifying 22 October: 22.00 Race 23 October: 23.00 WHAT GOES ON TOUR… The appeals of Austin are legion: people, climate, music – and the mighty fine Circuit of The Americas itself. Then there’s the possibility of popping into Lance Armstrong’s own cycle store, Mellow Johnny’s, if two wheels are your thing. Or strolling down Sixth Street and stumbling across one of your favourite bands…

Change F1… but not too much The acquisition of F1 by Liberty Media raises many interesting questions about the sport’s future. It’s possible that plans to expand and/or increase the sport’s profile, increase usage of media and move into new territories, could be nothing more than initial noise from the new owners. But whatever they do, any change should not take away from F1’s current ethos. By its very nature, F1 is a fast-moving sport and needs to keep up with change. It’s now a far cry from the inaugural 1950 F1 world championship, but the crucial thing is that while things change, they also stay the same, and so the sport continues to enthral and excite people now just as it did then. That’s why change should not be…

Frank Foster In F1 for almost as long as Jenson Button Our long-serving art editor has toiled through many a season on F1 Racing, patiently shooting down bad ideas in features meetings Jack Woolrich Karting ace and king of the layouts Designer Jack joined us from the world of hi-fi, but much prefers motor racing to the minutiae of gold-plated interconnecting cables Vanessa Longworth F1 Racing’s grammar police department Due to the ongoing Southern Rail fiasco, our chief sub has been reining in our writers’ lyrical excesses from a remote location this month Stewart Williams Our omniscient managing editor ‘Wiggy’ rules F1 Racing deadlines with a fist of iron. He hit a fence post while cycling in to work last week. The fence post came off worse…

09.09.16 Williams recruit Antonio Spagnolo, the former head of Ferrari’s tyre performance group, as competitor analysis and performance concept team leader 14.09.16 Daniil Kvyat admits the stress of his turbulent season took him “a bit over the edge” 15.09.16 Renault delay decision on 2017 driver line-up 16.09.16 Pirelli drop plans to introduce new soft-compound tyre construction in 2016, citing inconsistent testing data 23.09.16 Honda confirm expansion of UK technical base 28.09.16 FIA releases draft 2017 calendar and closes engine-penalty loophole 01.10.16 Sergio Pérez commits to Force India for 2017 02.10.16 Williams confirm change of seatbelt supplier from US GP onwards, following Bottas incident at Singapore Grand Prix…

BAHRAIN TEST MOOTED Senior figures in F1 have been lobbying for one of next year’s pre-season tests to be held in Bahrain. Mercedes and Ferrari are believed to be behind the suggestion, but the smaller teams are not so keen. “From a budgetary point of view, if there is a choice, then being allowed to make that choice is probably the better solution,” said Force India’s deputy team principal Bob Fernley. “For us, at the moment, it would be Barcelona because the cost is significantly higher going to Bahrain.” CALENDAR ANNOUNCED FOR 2017 The FIA has released a 21-round provisional 2017 calendar, with three events listed as “to be confirmed”. The dates will be ratified by the World Motor Sport Council in December. 26 March Australia 9 April China 16…

Niki Lauda After winning world titles with Ferrari in 1975 and ’77, Lauda joined Brabham for 1978 but didn’t enjoy the same success. At the penultimate race of 1979, he climbed from his cockpit during practice and quit on the spot. He left F1 to run his airline business, but returned with McLaren in 1982. He beat Alain Prost by half a point to win his third title in 1984, before retiring for good at the end of 1985. Alain Prost He won championships with McLaren in 1985, ’86 and ’89, then joined Ferrari to try to continue his winning streak. The relationship ended in acrimony when he compared his Ferrari to “a truck” and was sacked prior to the last race of 1991. With no top drive available, Prost…

“DO YOU AGREE THAT THE WORLD TITLE IS THE WORST THING IN MOTOR RACING? IT DOES THE SPORT HARM BECAUSE DRIVERS OF YOUR CALIBRE, INSTEAD OF TRYING TO WIN, TRY TO CONSOLIDATE WHAT THEY NEED FOR THE TITLE“ STIRLING MOSS While carrying out research for a book I was writing to mark the 40th anniversary of James Hunt’s 1976 world championship victory, I came across a forgotten transcript of a conversation between James and Stirling Moss. This had been set up in 1977 to provide material for The James Hunt Magazine, the first fanzine in motor racing. I worked on it during my second year as a professional journalist. At the time the meeting took place, Moss had been in retirement for 15 years, but his name, experience and forthright…

MEXICAN GP RACE DATA Circuit name Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez First GP 1963 F1 races held 16 Circuit length 2.674 miles Race distance 189.738 miles (71 laps) Direction Clockwise Winners from pole 8 TIMETABLE (UK TIME) Friday 28 October Practice 1 16:00-17:30 Practice 2 20:00-21:30 Saturday 29 October Practice 3 16:00-17:00 Qualifying 19:00-20:00 Sunday 30 October Race 19:00 Live coverage Sky Sports F1 Highlights Channel 4 Qualifying 29 October: TBC Race 30 October: TBC WHAT GOES ON TOUR… Anyone who has watched the opening sequence of the 2015 James Bond film Spectre will have seen a snapshot of Mexico City at the end of October. While we celebrate Halloween in the UK, in Mexican culture the same festival is known as the Day of the Dead. At the height of these…

Loaded! This shot of Nico Rosberg utterly on the limit through Suzuka’s Degner Curve captures the vortex of conflicting forces endured by an F1 car when driven to its full potential. Oh, and did we mention? It’s also utterly mega! Where Suzuka, Japan When 3.17pm, Friday 7 October 2016 Photographer Peter J Fox Details Canon EOS-1DX, 600mm lens, 1/250th at F6.3 1-2; 3-33 The last time Red Bull scored a one-two was in Brazil 2013, when Seb Vettel led home Mark Webber. F1 has turned silver since then, but with this result, Dan Ricciardo and Max Verstappen served notice of their 2017 intent Where Sepang, Malaysia When 5.17pm, Sunday 2 October 2016 Photographer Glenn Dunbar/LAT Details Canon EOS-1DX MkII, 200mm lens, 1/250th at F4 Dark star Sebastian Vettel has won…

F1 TECH Can we start by clearing up the terminology used when talking about wheels and hubs? The wheel itself is obvious and this is attached to a small axle also known as a hub. The hub has the brake disc attached to it and rotates within bearings contained in the upright, which is connected top and bottom to the suspension arms – or wishbones, as they are commonly known. The brake callipers are bolted to the upright, and the push-rod or pull-rod, which operates the suspension spring, is normally attached to the upright. Finally, at the front, a steering arm is attached to the upright at one end and the steering rack at the other, while at the rear a track control arm will anchor the upright. Apart from…

Until Max Verstappen upset the model by rocketing straight in from Formula 3, most young talents joining F1 in the past decade have come from either GP2 or World Series by Renault. Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hülkenberg, Romain Grosjean and Jolyon Palmer arrived as GP2 champions, while Robert Kubica, Kevin Magnussen and Carlos Sainz topped World Series before making the leap. Stoffel Vandoorne could be the best yet, a record-breaking winner in GP2 on his way to the 2015 title, and a man whom no less an eminence than Mercedes motorsport supremo Toto Wolff has described as “exceptional”. So exceptional, in fact, that Toto quietly tried to whisk him out of the McLaren empire in which Stoffel has been embedded for the past few seasons. McLaren’s approach to this…

The Wednesday after the Singapore Grand Prix, over a shocker of a long-distance telephone line from Sri Lanka, Jolyon Palmer is refecting on his first experience of what is frequently referred to as Formula 1’s toughest race weekend – the Singapore Grand Prix. “Even in FP1 you realise that the heat is beyond intense,” he says of the 50°C-plus temperatures drivers experience in the cockpit. “The thing is, FP1 isn’t a difficult session; it’s always punctuated by spells in the garage. You’re really only doing around eight laps a time, but it’s easily the hottest I’ve been all season, especially because it’s a street circuit and especially because in FP1 you’re working overtime just to feel the grip and build up the speed. “As soon as you come into the…

In an emotional press conference at Monza, Felipe Massa revealed that this season of F1, his 14th, will be his last. Massa, 35, chose to make the announcement at the Italian GP, just as his great friend and Ferrari mentor Michael Schumacher had done ten years earlier. For eight seasons Massa was a Ferrari racer and scored all of his 11 wins with the Scuderia. Two landmarks stand out in his career: the championship he held for a matter of seconds until Lewis Hamilton passed Timo Glock at the final corner of the 2008 Brazilian GP to snatch the title from Massa’s grasp; and the accident that nearly cost him his life. Massa sat out the second half of 2009 after he was injured by a spring that broke off…

1998 British American Tobacco buy Tyrrell. New regulations mandate narrower cars and grooved tyres. Goodyear withdraw from F1. 1999 Ferrari’s one-two at the inaugural Malaysian GP is reinstated on appeal after an alleged breach of technical regulations. Stewart are sold to Ford. 2000 World Intellectual Property Organisation reject FOM’s claim to own formula1.com domain. Ford rebrand Stewart as Jaguar Racing. 2001 Traction control allowed from Spanish GP on. Peugeot leave F1. Benetton are sold to Renault. KirchMedia buy F1 stake from defunct EM.TV. 2002 Kirch empire collapses, leaving F1 business in the hands of creditor banks. FOM acquire formula1.com domain name for a reported $10m. 2003 One-lap qualifying is brought in. The HANS device is made mandatory. GPWC offer teams an 85 per cent stake in a breakaway championship. 2004…

BRAZILIAN GP RACE DATA Circuit Name Autódromo José Carlos Pace First GP 1973 F1 races held 33 Circuit length 2.677 miles Race distance 190.083 miles (71 laps) Direction Anticlockwise Winners from pole 5 TIMETABLE (UK TIME) Friday 11 November Practice 1 14:00-15:30 Practice 2 18:00-19:30 Saturday 12 November Practice 3 15:00-16:00 Qualifying 18:00-19:00 Sunday 13 November Race 18:00 Live coverage Sky Sports F1 Highlights Channel 4 Qualifying 12 November: TBC Race 13 November: TBC WHAT GOES ON TOUR… When the Chinese GP used to be held towards the end of the season, Jenson Button would treat the British press – his way of saying ‘thank you’ – by taking us to a roof-terrace restaurant offering spectacular views over Shanghai’s skyscrapers. When that race moved back to a spring date, Jenson…

“The Bernies of this world are immune to dislike and the wrath of the mob” The cult film Withnail and I, set in 1969, ends with an apocalyptic vision of the future. “We are 91 days from the end of this decade and there’s gonna be a lot of refugees,” declares Danny the hippy as he rolls the huge joint he has ennobled with the title of ‘The Camberwell Carrot’. His response to an uncertain future is to escape, however best he can, from reality. F1 now teeters on such a precipice. We are on the edge of the unknown. In a few months, or, at most, a few years, a change will come after four decades of Bernie rule. But just what that change might be is not…