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Michael Schumacher quickest in Barcelona today, McLaren getting a lot of practice changing engines

Michael Schumacher put up the quick time in Barcelona testing today,  as the the Mercedes crew tried out some new trick parts on their car before heading out to Melbourne.  Nico Rossberg also took the Mercedes for a spin and was third quickest.

McLaren had a dismal day, getting more practice changing engines than they are getting practice time on the track.

Testing times are interesting, but I don’t think its’ any indication that Michael and Mercedes are ready to run up front this year.  Making a big deal out of claiming P1 at  test day is like watching the varsity beat up on the JV in a scrimmage and saying your are going to win state.   Until it’s game time, this is all just a bunch of us racing nerds comparing test notes and reading tea leaves.

LINK: ESPNF1 - Michael Schumacher sets new benchmark

Pirelli gives thumbs-up to Bernie’s world of sprinklers

Just a couple of days after Bernie Ecclestone floated the idea of creating artificial wet races with sprinkler systems at F1 tracks, Pirelli honcho Paul Hembery has come out in support of the idea. He expressed his opinion to Autosport.com saying:

“I thought Bernie Ecclestone’s comments were quite interesting. Straight after our recent successful [wet-weather] Abu Dhabi test I saw him and said, ‘why don’t we do an artificial wet race?’ The technology is such that you can wet a circuit with a sprinkler system, so the idea is not as daft as it sounds.”

I find it interesting that Hembery basically says that this is this fake-rain idea is actually his idea. If that’s the case, Bernie seems to have taken a shine to the idea and is floating it to the press.

Hembery made it clear that artificial rain isn’t “fake” like a pace car to bunch of the field. He said:

“I would agree that something fake like throwing in safety cars frequently to close the field up if they got too spread out would be going too far, but in terms of throwing something of a new challenge, like an artificial wet race, at drivers, tacticians and engineers, it would be great.”

Of course artificial rain isn’t “something fake”. And the Emporer is wearing clothes, too.

Link: Autosport.com - Pirelli backs artificial wet races

Bernie says “fake rain” would make F1 more exciting

I’ll say this at the top so there is no confusion. This isn’t a story from The Onion, this is a real story from ESPNF1.com. Whatever Bernie has been smoking, I want some, because it must be *really* good.

Bernie has come out and said that he would like to see sprinklers installed at F1 tracks so that race officials can artificially create wet conditions during a race.

From ESPNF1:

“Look at the races we have now,” Ecclestone told Formula1.com. “Overtaking is almost impossible because in the dry there is only one line good for maximum speed because of the rubber on the track. You have a completely different picture when it is wet. We always had the most exciting races in the wet so let’s think of making rain…

“There are race tracks that you can make artificially wet and it would be easy to have such systems at a number of tracks. Why not let it ‘rain’ in the middle of a race? For 20 minutes or the last ten laps? Maybe with a two-minute warning ahead of it. Suspense would be guaranteed and it would be the same for all.”

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Hamilton’s brilliant drive yields Canadian GP pole

It’s a busy sports day around the world, especially for people in England and the USA with the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a world Cup game featuring both countries, and two NASCAR races to boot. Oh yes, and one more thing, F1 is in North America this weekend as the series returns to Montreal after a year’s absence from racing on this side of the pond.

Lewis Hamilton drove brilliantly today to take the pole. And when I say he drove brilliantly, I just have to believe what I read, not what I see, because qualifying won’t air on TV here for a little while. In fact, with a rain delayed truck race happening now at Michigan, we may never get to see qualifying in the US today.

Lewis somehow beat the wickedly fast Red Bull pair of Webber and Vettel, and even Jenson Button was impressed with his teammate and says that Hamilton usually does well at Montreal.

Michael Schumacher had a terrible day, and will start 13th. He was beaten by both Force-India cars, and whipped by three grid positions by teammate Nico Rosberg. That’s not a good day at the office for Schuey.

DVR Reminder: For all of you that have your DVR set to tape all the F1 races on SPEED, remember that this weekend’s the race will be aired on the FOX network. Set your TiVo accordingly.

STARTING GRID - F1 CANADA

Starting	Driver	Team
1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes
2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault
3	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
4	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari
5	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes
6	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes
7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari
8	Robert Kubica	Renault
9	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes
10	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
11	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth
12	Nico Hulkenberg	Williams-Cosworth
13	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes
14	Vitaly Petrov	Renault
15	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari
16	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari
17	Pedro de la Rosa	Sauber-Ferrari
18	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth
20	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth
21	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth
22	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth
23	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth
24	Karun Chandhok	HRT-Cosworth

Tony Fernandes Of Lotus F1: Call Me Mr. Blue; Rural New York F1 Track?

Some of you may recall the old Fleetwoods’ tune “Call Me Mr. Blue”? Anyone, anyone, Buehler? Didn’t think so. Regardless, me thinks Tony Fernandes should adopt it as his team/personal theme song. Read more

Monaco GP: Webber, Vettel, Kubica Too; Williams And Schumy Cry Boo-Hoo-Hoo.

Yeah my poetry (if you can call it that) might suck, but it’s an accurate short version of the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix results.

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Spanish GP: A Perfect Day For Red Bull, Almost

Mark Webber used his pole position for an easy romp of 66 laps in the Spanish sunshine of Cataluña and secured his first win of 2010. Not so exciting a day for teammate Sebastian Vettel . Read more

F-Duct or not Red Bull demolished the field in F1 Spanish GP qualifying

Formula 1 has returned to Europe this weekend for the Spanish Grand Prix at Catalunya, and the talk in the garages is of the major upgrades that the teams have made on their machines in the recent off weeks. The buzzword in F1 continues to be “F-Duct”, a term for the aerodynamic device that modifies airflow over the rear wing on high speed straights.

The ironic thing about the results for today’s qualifying session is that the top two qualifiers didn’t even have an F-Duct on their cars. So despite the buzz, and the talk of it’s advantages, the F-Duct just might really be voodoo aerodynamics.

F-Duct or not, the Red Bull team destroyed the field today. Webber captured the pole by winning a fierce battle with his teammmate, Sebastian Vettel, by a mere tenth-of-a-second. But while this intra-team battle was firece, the other drivers were effectively running for ‘best in class’ of the non-Red Bull machines.

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Red Bull given chase by Schumacher in F1 Spanish GP practice

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Saturday practice for the Spanish GP kicked off the weekend for Formula 1 and, as expected, Red Bull grabbed the two top spots on speed chart. But much to the surprise of many, Michael Schumacher put his Mercedes machine on the charts at P3, finally outpacing Nico Rosberg (who is quietly having a great season and currently stands second in points).

The updates to the 2010 Mercedes seem to be suitable to Schumacher. Either that, or he was “running extra light”, as David Coulthard suggested.
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MotoGP Notes - Volcanos, semi-production bikes and FIAT’s pushing of Rossi to Ferrari F1

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MotoGP finds itself in an off week, but not because of an empty weekend in the 2010 calendar, but due to the fallout of volcano Eyjafjallajökull. Who could have predicted this? An ash cloud the size of Valentino Rossi’s trophy case disrupted air traffic so much that MotoGP had no choice but to postpone the Japan round scheduled for this weekend. But this turn of events hardly leaves us without anything to talk about.

The buzz lately in MotoGP revolves around the push by FIAT to see Valentino Rossi in an F1 car next year. The thinking behind this crazy idea is that Ferrari will somehow lobby F1 to allow a third car, because current regulations require 2-car teams in the constructors’ championship. I can’t see the FIA bending the rules for this situation in a manner that would fit FIAT’s wishes.
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