SHREYASCONF1

The variability in the racing brought about by the new rules allowing drivers to choose from three tyre compounds in a race instead of two, has been one of the brighter elemnts of this 2016 season so far.

And it looks set to continue as it was announced that Felipe Massa and Romain Grosjean have made the most aggressive tyre choices for the upcoming Chinese Grand Prix.

For this third race in succession, Pirelli will bring its medium, soft and supersoft tyres, and each driver will have 13 sets of tyres available to use across the weekend in Shanghai.

Unlike many F1 venues, where protecting the rear tyres is key to success, Shanghai is all about getting the front tyres at the optimum temperature, especially for qualifying. A significant percentage of the lap time in Shanghai is spent turning, which damages the front tyres as they slide. Track and air temperatures are often cool at this event.

Each team and driver is also free to pick from those three compounds during the race, compared to two last year, in a new-for-2016 rule that is already proving popular.

Both Grosjean and Massa have opted to take seven sets of supersofts; five softs and just a single set of medium compound tyres for the third race of the 2016 F1 season. These decisions were made several weeks ago and are not in any way connected to events of the opening races of 2016.

Grosjean, who has scored points in his first two races for Haas F1, used an attacking race strategy that featured three stints on the supersoft tyres and a final stint on the soft tyres to finish fifth in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

By contrast, Massa’s Williams team did not have enough new softer tyres available for theBahrain race and lost a number of positions by running the medium tyre.

Mercedes vs Ferrari

At the front of the grid, Mercedes and Ferrari have again gone for a slightly different approach.

Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen will both have six sets of supersofts, four softs and three mediums to run in China. Both Mercedes drivers will only have five sets of supersofts, but Lewis Hamilton will have an extra set of mediums, while Nico Rosberg has gone for one more set of softs.

In last year’s race in China, Mercedes used its pace advantage on the medium tyre to run 1-2 to the finish, but the new tyre rule opens up a chance for Ferrari to try something different this time around.

Pirelli “very close” to signing new F1 supply contract

Pirelli is expected to sign its new contract to supply F1 with tyres, which was first announced by Bernie Ecclestone in October 2015, later this week.

Until now, the Italian company has not officially signed the deal with the FIA, pending satisfactionary measures by the sport to be able to test the new 2017 tyres on a respresentative car. But its motorsport boss, Paul Hembery, told Autosport that he expected everything to be sorted out later this week.

He said: “This week I believe everything will need to be resolved. We’re out of time now, but we’re very close. We’ve had a lot of collaboration in trying to do this.

“It’s a difficult world to work in, and within those constraints of the Formula 1 system, I believe we are drawing to a close to get something that will work for everybody.

“Everybody has worked extremely hard, and as ever we’ve worked very well with Charlie [Whiting] and his team.”

Whiting, who is F1’s race director, described the situation as “not unusual” and explained that Pirelli had asked for clarification on what would be expected of its tyres in the much-debated 2017 F1 regulations, as well as a guarantee on testing, before signing the new contract.

He said: “It’s not unusual for a contract to be delayed like this, and we’re still some way before 2017.

“Pirelli wanted the targets they were asked to achieve to be put into the contract. They wanted more specific items in the contract regarding testing. They want a guarantee of testing because if we are going to set them targets then they want the tools with which to achieve those targets.

“Everything else is sorted. They just want this guarantee of testing put into the regulations to have a little more comfort. They also want the possibility to test a previous spec of car, so it’s all achievable in the short term.”

Stoffel Vandoorne reckons he was able to show what he could do in F1 in his substitute appearance Formula 1 debut with McLaren. And although he views it as a one-off opportunity and the point he scored for finishing tenth as a “bonus”, it’s clear that he is challenging for a race seat in F1.

In fact the opportunity worked out perfectly for Vandoorne, who put down his marker. We understand that he is free to look elsewhere next season if McLaren doesn’t give him a race seat. Other teams are aware of that. They monitored his progress all weekend and there was a general feeling that the 24 year old Belgian had confirmed that he’s a special talent.

Vandoorne was required to deputise for Fernando Alonso after the FIA’s medical team stopped the double world champion racing in Bahrain last weekend as a result of the injuries sustained in his enormous accident in the Australian Grand Prix.

Vandoorne built up his pace, moving closer to Jenson Button’s, throughout the track sessions and then when it counted he out qualified Button in the other McLaren. He finished tenth in the race after a feisty performance to score the team’s first point of the 2016 season.

Vandoorne, who had not driven the MP4-31 until the start of FP1, explained that he felt comfortable in the car and was delighted to make the most of his F1 break.

He said: “I think for my Formula 1 debut, I can be very happy with that. Since the beginning of the weekend I felt very comfortable in the car.

“I’m just happy I didn’t make any mistakes operationally, and to come away with a point is a bonus. This weekend was a big opportunity for me to get in the car and I’m very happy I got it.

“I think I made the most of it and showed what I’m capable of, and now it’s just wait and see.”

After his first day of F1 practice, Vandoorne described how Alonso had been helping him get up to speed before his race debut from the McLaren garage.

He said: “Fernando was here all day [on Friday]. He [was] next to me and the engineers, and [was] very helpful, giving some comments about which direction to go with the car set-up, what to try during the practice sessions.

“It’s been very useful to have him here as he obviously knows the car a bit better than me. It’s definitely been good to have his help.”

Vandoorne prepared for his first run in McLaren’s 2016 car by learning it manual as he flew from Japan, where he had been testing in the SuperFormula series, to the Gulf.

He said: “It [was] pretty hectic, with a lot of phone calls with the engineers, and a lot of documents I had to go through on the plane from Japan.

“They sent me through all the files with all the information I had to know, like the steering wheel, things operationally before the race, what we can say and not say [on the radio]. I spent my time well on the plane.”

The Belgian rookie, who won the 2015 GP2 championship in convincing fashion, described his drive last weekend as his “one shot”.

He said: “First of all, this is one opportunity I’m getting. I’m very happy to get the chance to race with McLaren.

“I see this as a one-shot, and I’m grateful for the opportunity I had,”

Many have begun to speculate about whether McLaren may move Vandoorne in next season full time alongside Alonso, bringing Jenson Button’s career with the team to an end. It’s too early to talk about that, clearly, but one interesting dynamic there is that both Button and Vandoorne have the same manager; Richard Goddard, who was in Bahrain at the weekend.

Ron Dennis, who now has control at McLaren, will play a significant role in the decision, when it comes. Vandoorne has a clause in his contract that if McLaren does not give him a race seat next year he is able to seek one elsewhere The other teams are on alert to that.

Button: MP4-31 a “definite improvement”

Button, who retired on lap six of the Bahrain race with a power unit problem, still believes McLaren’s performance at the Sakhir track, particularly his third place in FP2, represents a stop forward for the Woking-based team.

The 2009 world champion used Pirelli’s supersoft tyres finish third in FP2, 1.2s slower than pacesetter, Nico Rosberg.

Speaking after the race, Button said: “The car itself is a definite improvement. We were third quickest in FP2, and I don’t think that’s where we are but it shows that we’ve made a good step forward.

“I think everyone should be very proud of that as a team. It’s just the little niggly problems like today that have cost us a lot of points.”

Button explained how his practice pace represented the best day McLaren had enjoyed in recent seasons.

He said: “You’ve got to say that it was a good day for us, and it [was] the best day for a couple of years.”

Ferrari caught Formula 1’s attention when it tested a cockpit protection device at the second pre-season test in Barcelona last week.

The Scuderia fitted a temporary “Halo” attachment to the SF16-H driven first by Kimi Raikkonen and then by Sebastian Vettel for installation laps to test their visibility when running with the structure on the final two days of the session.

The Halo device is a concept that was developed by Mercedes in conjunction with the FIA to deflect flying debris, such as a loose wheel, away from a driver’s head.

It is hoped that a cockpit protection device would save lives in such incidents, and the death of Henry Surtees, the Formula 2 driver and son of F1 world champion John Surtees, in 2009 is often cited as an occasion where a structure would have saved his life.

Ferrari’s test provoked a significant debate about cockpit protection and its place in F1, so here JAonF1 takes an in-depth look at the Halo structure and the alternative ideas that the FIA recently tested by firing wheels at 225km/h towards each structure.

Halo

The Halo concept was developed by the Mercedes team and involves a sloped centre-line fin with a roll bar that sits above a drivers’ head.

The Halo structure in the test was made from steel but if it were implemented in F1 it is thought that the device would be made from lighter materials that would only add around 5kg in weight to the car.

It is understood that this concept is the FIA’s preferred structure and it performed “extremely well” according to a report in the governing body’s AUTO magazine, which covered the tests conducted by the Global Institute for Motor Sport Safety, the research partner of the FIA Institute.

Andy Mellor, the Global Institute’s lead researcher on the cockpit protection tests, told AUTO that the Halo device would protect a driver from all angles if a loose wheel was to strike a car.

He said: “It’s very impressive that although the structure is positioned close to the driver’s helmet to provide protection from all angles, it is still able to prevent the wheel from contacting the helmet. In the very short distance available, a huge amount of energy is absorbed and the wheel is successfully redirected.”

Additional Frontal Protection

The Additional Frontal Protection (AFP) structure would not go over a drivers’ head but would be placed towards the front of the car, close to where the nosecone attaches to the front of the chassis, to deflect objects moving into the path of a driver.

The AFP consists of three curved fins that fan out and appear as vertical pillars in the lower part of a driver’s vision.

Mellor explained that as well as having a lower visual impact than the Halo; the AFP could deflect a wheel away from a racer’s helmet even it struck towards the top of the structure.

He said: “With this approach we aim to achieve compatibility with the rim with a design that minimises the reaction loads on the chassis, has the potential to be extremely lightweight and has a low visual impact.

“It is designed to work most effectively if the wheel is impacting at a shallow angle but the tests show that even if the wheel impacts the car towards the top of the blades, it can still be deflected over the driver’s helmet.”

Centre Line Roll Hoop

The Centre Line Roll Hoop consists of three curved round-section bars that pass over a driver’s head from the existing roll hoop on the car itself to the front of the chassis near where the nose is attached.

The bars are designed to flex and deflect a wheel away from the driver – each bar generates a force of 20kN, which means the whole structure would produce 60kN if a wheel hit all three parts – and were made from 20mm diameter steel for the test.

Mellor explained that this solution covers off some extra impact positions to the Halo and would offer additional protection during accidents like the one that killed former F1 driver Justin Wilson in a IndyCar race last August.

He said: “The big difference here is that the structure extends over the driver’s helmet to cover off additional impact positions. This system would also provide protection during the type of fatal accident suffered by Justin Wilson in IndyCar last year.”

Although the Centre Line Roll Hoop structure performed as expected in the tests, and successfully deflected a wheel, the device has more of an impact on visibility and could hamper the extrication process to get a driver out safely in the event of a crash.

Canopies

A popular alternative to the structures tested by the Global Institute is a clear canopy system similar to those used on fighter jets.

Red Bull is reported to have presented its own canopy design to the FIA and team boss Christian Horner recently explained that he hoped it would be tested soon.

He said: “Red Bull is making another submission for a canopy that we believe will be a safer option. It’s more of a canopy than a halo, but it obviously needs to be tested and hopefully can be done very quickly.”

However, issues that surround the idea of canopy solution mean it is unlikely to be introduced to F1. These relate spectator safety regarding deflected debris, driver extrication and visibility.

Driver reaction

After seeing Ferrari’s version of Halo, which was not structurally part of the car but rather a device added onto the SF16-H, a number of F1 drivers voiced their opinions on the concept.

Lewis Hamilton initially refused to tell reporters he thought of the Halo, but later posted on his Instagram account that it was, “the worst looking mod in Formula 1 history.”

He continued: “I appreciate the quest for safety but this is formula 1, and the way it is now is perfectly fine.”

Force India’s Nico Hülkenberg was also not a fan of the Halo structure and explained that he felt that F1 is safe enough as it.

He said: “It sends the wrong message. F1 is very safe at the moment. It looks horrible, I don’t like it and it’s just one of these little personal things that I wouldn’t like to see it.”

But among the drivers who felt differently was Vettel, as the four-times world champion felt the potential safety benefits of the device outweighed any problems regarding the aesthetics of the design.

He said: “I agree it doesn’t look very nice. It’s not the picture you are used to seeing for F1.

“But if it helps increase the safety and helps save lives, there would be at least two drivers who would still be around – Henry Surtees and Justin Wilson – if we had this type of system. It can be ugly but nothing justifies not having these two guys around any more.”

While Fernando Alonso described the Halo design as “extreme” to look at, the McLaren driver explained that he wanted to see some form of cockpit protection introduced in F1 for next season.

He said: “It will be the future of F1, because we cannot afford any serious injury or fatal accident as we had in the last two years.

“I know the Halo is a little extreme in terms of aesthetics – maybe a canopy or other solution is found in the next couple of months – but hopefully next year we have one of these systems in all the cars.”

Surtees calls on Hamilton to consider Halo

John Surtees, who won the F1 world title in 1964 and remains the only man to have also won a top motorbike world championship, has called on Hamilton to change his feelings towards the Halo concept and consider his position as the reining world champion.

Speaking to the BBC, Surtees said: “I suffered the tragedy of losing Henry which certainly could’ve been prevented by a development like this.

“Lewis could perhaps think a little more about the Halo and think about the responsibility he does have as a world champion.

“Change comes about and sometimes changes are forced upon one. It may be that the governing body, just because of the momentum and the fact that they have gone this way, will have no option but to impose these regulations.

“[Vettel] hit the nail very clearly on the head with what he said. Henry was hit by a wheel that weighed 28kg so there would have been a chance there [if the Halo had been in place].”

Mercedes once again completed a record-breaking number of testing laps around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with 185. For the second day in a row, the team split the driving between Lewis Hamilton, who completed 99 laps in the morning, and Nico Rosberg who managed 86 in the afternoon.

Raikkonen used the ultrasoft tyre to set the fastest time of the day, a 1m23.477s, which is 0.667s slower than the best lap of the whole test that his Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel posted on Tuesday.

The 2007 world champion completed 80 laps, just two more than his interrupted running yesterday, but still 105 off the benchmark set by the combined total of the two Mercedes drivers.

Daniil Kvyat was second fastest for Red Bull on a 1m24.293s, which he set mid-way through the afternoon session, as the Russian driver completed 96 laps on his second day in the RB12.

Force India’s development driver, Alfonso Celis Jr, returned to the cockpit of the VJM09 for the final day of the test after race drivers’ Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez had undertaken the previous two days of running for the British squad.

Kevin Magnussen completed 153 laps, the most of any individual driver, for Renault and he finished the day fourth fastest despite causing a late red flag. Max Verstappen was fifth after 110 laps for Toro Rosso.

Felipe Nasr was sixth for Sauber – the final appearance of the team’s 2015 car – with Rosberg seventh, just in front of Hamilton. Both Mercedes again ran the medium Pirelli tyres and the team has not tried any soft compound rubber in the first four days of testing.

Felipe Massa ended up ninth for Williams and Esteban Gutierrez was tenth for Haas F1. The Mexican driver caused the second red flag of the day when his car stopped on the exit of Turn 4 with just over an hour of the day remaining.

Rio Haryanto was the slowest of the drivers to set a time, which was a 1m28.266s, and the Indonesian rookie brought out the red flags when he spun into the barriers at Turn 4 early in the afternoon and he did not return to the track.

Alonso completed just three laps for McLaren and did not set a time on his second day in the MP4-31 after a coolant leak early in the morning prevented the British squad from taking any further part in the session.

Results: Barcelona test one, day four:

1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m23.477s, 80 laps
2 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1m24.293s +0.816s, 96 laps
3 Alfonso Celis Force India 1m24.840s +1.363s, 75 laps
4 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1m25.263s +1.786s, 153 laps
5 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1m25.393s +1.916s, 110 laps
6 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1m26.053s +2.576s, 121 laps
7 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m26.187s +2.710s, 86 laps
8 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m26.295s +2.818s, 99 laps
9 Felipe Massa Williams 1m26.483s +3.006s, 54 laps
10 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1m27.802s +4.325s, 89 laps
11 Rio Haryanto Manor 1m28.266s +4.789s, 51 laps
12 Fernando Alonso McLaren No time set, 3 laps

<FROM JAMES ALLEN>