Spare Parts (F1 odds and ends)

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Raikkonen 'learns nothing in simulators' apparently. So the lovely new one Enstone have recently finished will only be used by Grosjean. I particularly like the bit about Raikkonen being quicker on his first lap around Austin with no prior experience, despite Grosjean having put in 100's of laps on the simulator.

Kimi doesn't need primitive equipment like simulators. Champagne and Ice Cream gives him all the knowledge he needs!
 
Kimi doesn't need primitive equipment like simulators. Champagne and Ice Cream gives him all the knowledge he needs!

Anyone feel there's memetic potential in "Kimi Facts"? In the same way you get Chuck Norris facts, and on the NCFC board, Grant Holt facts.
 
Kimi really is the Iceman, he's cold blooded and so requires Ice Cream to cool himself down in hot locations.
 
For those desperate for an F1 fix, Peter Windsor's "The Flying Lap" returns on the 16th January.
 
"I beat Vettel in F3" isnt the only thing Di Resta never shuts up about. He still cant cant handle the fact that McLaren chose Perez over him:

"Unfortunately in this sport now there's a little bit more to it. There's a commercial side and money's tight. Perez has some good backing."

www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/105099
 
"I beat Vettel in F3" isnt the only thing Di Resta never shuts up about. He still cant cant handle the fact that McLaren chose Perez over him:

"Unfortunately in this sport now there's a little bit more to it. There's a commercial side and money's tight. Perez has some good backing."

www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/105099

Lol says the guy who has a sports enterprise, Mercedes, LH Dad and DC backing him at one point...
 
"I beat Vettel in F3" isnt the only thing Di Resta never shuts up about. He still cant cant handle the fact that McLaren chose Perez over him:

"Unfortunately in this sport now there's a little bit more to it. There's a commercial side and money's tight. Perez has some good backing."

www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/105099

I suppose he couldn't just come out and say "I'm just not good enough", but he could have ignored the question and just congratulated Perez.
 
So lets see... the day PDR fired Anthony Hamilton must be the day Lewis agreed to be with Mercedes or become the front man to replace Schumacher. So just before the British GP and pretty much within the **** storm of all the mess ups by the pit crew and engineers convinced him to jump ship at that time; (Mark also signed for RBR at that time). The contract must of been completed around Spa-Francorchamps, as that's when Lewis tweeted the telemetry and all the rumors really started to go about him leaving, soon enough he goes twitter silent for a moderate period. Within less than a month of Spa, Perez signs for McLaren... ***

Seems to me Lewis was still holding out for IRBR to sign him up before the British GP and Mercedes was the secondary option. Maybe Mark has a clause in his contract that he gets first refusal on his own seat, or considering his form (at the time) Mark was probably a safer, cheaper, more well known option (within IRBR); than bringing in Lewis.

Paul though has seemed to have become expendable now that Mercedes no longer need him to become a long term option since they always want one German within the car and Lewis who will help sell the cars worldwide and bring more sponsors. Paul and Schumacher were good friends with Norbert but I think the Mercedes board were getting tired of failure and allowed Schumacher and Norbert to step down quietly and gracefully at the end of this year.

I think the Mercedes board were refusing to put in another 50 million to the F1 project because of not having the "correct people" in place, I believe Norbert, Paul and Schumacher in particular were just filling a gap until they got somebody "better" (Lewis/Vettel/"Horner") the driver market was pretty quiet after 2009 and all the top drivers were signed up already apart from Rosberg and a retired Schumacher for the use of car popularity.

For me it was of sort a plastic front team to get the hype up of Mercedes-Benz coming back over the next 3 years while they rebuild the base of operations and get the right people in. Schumacher was just there to fill the seat for a couple of years though he was told "truthfully" he could fight for race wins and titles and in a way they fulfilled it, but in a way they lied.

Of course he was VERY well paid for it, but now I think his hype around him was dirtied some what for an extra 50 odd million. In short I believe Mercedes just used Schumacher for their own gains of grid popularity and car sales, the board didn't actually believe he would be winning the WDC within 3,4,5,6 years if given the chance and I don't think Norbert was even told of this either.

***

Monaco GP 27 May
Canadian GP 10 June (Contracts being given out to certain drivers.)
European GP 24 June

British GP 8 July
German GP 22 July (Finalised contracts and agreements.)
Hungarian GP 29 July

Belgium GP 2 September (Contracts signed in break, required teams informed of changes.)
Italian GP 9 September
Singapore GP 23 September (Other team given a short period to find and reveal new driver and secure sponsors.)
Japanese GP 7 October
 
Interesting thoughts Silver, although I personally think that Hamilton probably signed after Spa and in Italy (or the day before), i'd be very surprised given his general demeanor in the summer if he had signed a contract with Mercedes in Germany. I think he signed it in Italy judging on how quiet he seemed throughout the weekend perhaps realising that it could be his last win for McLaren and thinking that he made a mistake in signing for Merc.

For me if he signed at Germany then I would have expected the emotions that he showed in Monza to be on display when he won in Hungary, which wasn't the case.
 
I'm sure we'll find out over the course of the season when contracts were actually signed, these things tend to come out sooner or later.
One thing to think about is EJ, he knew early on so there must have been initial negotiations when he broke the story.
 
Formula1.com...... yoink

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There are some small but important changes to the F1 regulations for 2013. This drawing highlights the key revisions that have been made to the FIA's technical requirements for the new cars…

1) Weight - due to changes in their structure, Pirelli's 2013 tyres are around 2kg heavier per set than in 2012, hence the car's minimum weight limit has been increased by the same amount, from 640 to 642kg. As a consequence, the weight-distribution requirement has also been revised to minimum figures of 292kg:343kg front to rear, leaving teams 7kg to play with.
2)Stepped noses - to mask the step in the car's nose (thought unattractive by many), teams are now allowed to place a non-structural 'vanity panel' over this area, the shape of which is strictly controlled by the regulations.
3) Front wing tests - to prevent them flexing, front wings now face a tougher deflection test, with a 1,000N (100kg) load applied at two different points on both the longitudinal and transverse axes. The amount the wing may deflect has been reduced from 20mm to 10mm.
4) Load and crash tests - more severe load tests for the roll structure have been introduced and the crash test requirements modified.
5) Survival cell - the side load test for the survival cell is more severe too, and it must be applied to all chassis produced by a team, rather than to a single example.
6) DRS - active 'double DRS' systems - where the DRS activation mechanism is utilised for other purposes - are no longer allowed (only passive solutions are now considered legal). Also, DRS usage is now limited to the DRS zones in all sessions (previously it could be used anywhere during free practice and qualifying).