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Chaz Davies of Aruba.it Racing wins 2nd Race: WorldSBK
Chaz Davies of Aruba.it racing wins 2nd race on Sunday at Buriram. Rnd2. Photo: WorldSBK Buriram: In an unpredictable second race in the Motul Thai Round, Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) surged through the field to take a 28th career victory and a first around the Chang International Circuit, becoming a third different winner in the opening two weekends of the 2018 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship. Davies produced a stunning ride with an average gain of a position per lap over a seven-lap period, hitting the front by the end of lap eight and controlling the race from there.
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7) – 1st said: “It was a fantastic race, something special. To come away with a win here makes me so happy. At Buriram we’ve always struggled in the past, it’s been a long process to get into a race-winning position. I want to thank the whole team because they’ve given me such a great bike today. The Panigale R was working really well, we found a little bit more consistency and I could be more adaptable to the bike. It was quite hectic out there but, if you can get through it OK, it’s so much fun. Our package is competitive and in Europe, it will be like starting from zero. I’m looking forward to Aragon.”
Taking advantage of the reverse grid format, it was the Pata Yamaha duo of Michael Van Der Mark and Alex Lowes who made the early break, but as they squabbled among themselves the remainder of the pack stayed in touch. Lowes was the second of three riders to lead a lap on the Chang International Circuit as he passed teammate Van Der Mark on lap two, but the Dutchman came back through and led for the next five laps. Eventually, both overhauled by Davies the Yamaha pair nonetheless did enough to secure second and third positions, the first double podium for Yamaha since 2016. Lowes, in particular, was satisfied with an extra surge of pace in the seven closing laps that helped him to claim an eighth career podium.
Kawasaki´s unbroken record of victories at the Motul Thai Round was finally ended on a day where neither of their top performers could make it on to the podium at all. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) failed to take advantage of his front row grid slot, dropping back to ninth by the end of the opening lap and eventually retiring from the race.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), meanwhile, finished just three seconds from the podium places after an action-packed ride. Following an excellent first lap that saw him surge through from ninth to fourth with a series of aggressive inside overtaking moves, Rea had put himself among the favourites for victory and threatened to make it back-to-back wins. But the Race One victor struggled in handlebar-to-handlebar combat, making a series of errors that ruled him out of contention for the win. His first duel was with Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), a shadow of the rider that looked in command in Philip Island, and the pair swapped positions on no less than five occasions before Rea eventually came out on top.
By the time Rea passed Melandri on lap nine and then shook the Italian off, Xavi Forés (Barni Racing Team) had overhauled the pair of them to move clear in fourth. But Rea in clear air was a different proposition to the rider who had struggled under side-by-side pressure earlier on, and he hunted down the lead independent rider before an overtake on lap eighteen.
Upon reflection, despite not being the result he would have hoped for, Rea´s fightback to fourth could prove critical in the Championship Standings overall. Marco Melandri, series leader coming into Race Two, had another disastrous race in which he was relegated to seventh and never looked comfortable on the bike. And Xavi Fores, who had looked set to close on both Rea and Melandri in the Championship Standings and leave the three separated by just five points, conceded fourth place three laps from the finish to change the complexion of the series standings. With the riders of him in the race well adrift of him overall, Rea becomes the Championship leader and the man with the momentum as the highest scorer of the series´ top three for the second race in succession.
Meanwhile, three of the top ten in the points coming into Race Two failed to finish. Tom Sykes retired with mechanical problems after seven completed laps and therefore drops 26-points back from the leader and down to seventh overall. Retirement for Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) and Jordi Torres (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) was more spectacular, the pair coming together on lap five when dicing over the eighth place: both riders will now arrive in Europe next month out of the top ten in the Championship leaderboard. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was the rider to take advantage in Thailand, finishing best of the rest in eighth ahead of Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia), who did well to nurse his injured shoulder into the top ten in the race.
The Championship resumes with the Pirelli Aragón Round in three weeks´ time.
P1 – Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“It was fantastic, what a race. For the first few laps it was absolute carnage but brilliant carnage. It was such good fun trying to figure out where you can make the pass and to be honest everyone has had such a good pace every weekend and its been so difficult to know who was fast where, so it was an exercise of patience. Just so happy with the win, its not been an easy few months but thanks to the team and Ducati for the fantastic package today.”P2 – Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team)
“After yesterday I was not feeling that happy at all, and we made a few changes in warm up and I still wasn’t happy. But we made some changes back to Friday’s set up and changed the front tyre and and we made a podium, so I hope it’s the first of many.”P3 – Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team)
“To be honest I was to slow in the first 12 laps, like yesterday, Michael just passed me and pulled away. It was a bit annoying I had to dig deep and kick on, it’s a bit frustrating so we need to work out what the issue is. But it’s fantastic for Yamaha and the whole team, and amazing to have such great racing.” -
Stunning win for Vettel; Hamilton overcomes technical glitches to take 2nd: Rolex Aussie GP
Melbourne: Sebastian Vettel took a sensational Rolex
Vettel celebrates Aussie GP win on Sunday. Photo: Ferrari Australian Grand Prix victory, as the Formula One 2018 World Championship began at the traditional street circuit of Albert Park. Taking advantage of a mid-race safety car he beat arch-rival Lewis Hamilton, who suffered soft-ware glitches. The defending champion was forced to settle for second place ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi “Räikkönen. Local hero Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth.
Sahara Force India duo of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon failed to finish in the points, thus ending a successful run of double points finish at the Rolex Australian GP.
“There could have been no better start for Ferrari in this Championship. Listening to Italy’s national anthem echo around Melbourne was an emotional moment for us all, and for every fan of the Scuderia. It’s the best possible reward for the team, which built a competitive car and used a perfect strategy to take advantage of the way the race evolved. Congratulations to Sebastian and Kimi, both drove a great race. Of course, there’s still a long way to go in the series, with 20 more Grands Prix. So it would be wrong to celebrate too much. We know that we still have a lot of work ahead of us, but the first step has been taken in the right direction,” said Ferrari Chairman Sergio Marchionne.
Hamilton led away comfortably at the start, dismissing a brief challenger from Raikkonen as they made their way through the first corners. Vettel held third place but behind Haas’ Kevin Magnussen got the jump on Verstappen who dropped to fifth ahead of Grosjean, Hulkenberg and Ricciardo.
At the back of the field, Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley had a major lock-up into Turn 1 and pitted at the end of lap one. The New Zealander took on soft tyres in a bid to reach the end of the race on the yellow-banded set.
Ricciardo was soon past Hulkenberg to take P7, but further ahead team-mate Verstappen was struggling to put pressure on Magnussen. The result was a rapidly degrading set of tyres and on lap 10 the Dutchman lost control into Turn 1 and spun. He dropped to eight behind Hulkenberg.
At the front Hamilton was attempting to build a gap, but both Raikkonen and Vettel were tenaciously hanging on and by the end of lap 15 Hamilton only had three seconds in hand over the Ferraris.
On lap 22 Magnussen made his first stop of the race, but almost immediately afterward he pulled over at the side of the track. The Dane reported an engine issue but Race Control later stated that the team had possibly released Magnussen unsafely.
That boosted team-mate Grosjean to fourth but under pressure from Ricciardo and on fading ultrasofts the Frenchman also pitted. Again though, as soon as he rejoined the circuit, he immediately pulled over and stopped in a mirror image of the Magnussen incident, this time with the front left wheel of Grosjean’s car not being properly attached.
With Grosjean’s car at the trackside on lap 24, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed. Ferrari seized the opportunity and pitted Vettel for soft tyres. Hamilton, though, lost a huge amount of time under the VSC and when Vettel emerged from the pit lane he swept into the lead.
The VSC was replaced by the real thing as Grosjean’s car was cleared and when racing resumed Vettel held his lead over Hamilton, with Raikkonen third and Ricciardo fourth. McLaren’s Fernando Alonso had vaulted up to fifth place under the SC and was being shadowed by Verstappen who had also recovered from his early woes.
The second half of the race became a cat and mouse battle between the Ferrari and Mercedes driver, with Hamilton regularly getting to within DRS range of the leader only for Vettel to drag the gap back out to beyond a second.
Six seconds further back, Raikkonen kept Ricciardo at bay in the same manner, with the Australian getting to within DRS range and the Finn pulling away as he carefully managed his defence of the final podium position.
Behind them, in the battle for fifth place, a little under two seconds covered three Renault-powered drivers in the closing stage, with Fernando Alonso leading Verstappen and Hulkenberg.
With 10 laps remaining Hamilton got on the radio to his team saying that he was going to attack for the lead. The attempt came to nothing, however, as the Briton suffered a heavy lock-up at Turn 9, losing almost two seconds to Vettel.
He clawed half that back over the next two laps and with seven laps remaining was 1.5s behind Vettel. A lap later and the deficit was just one second.
But there Hamilton’s charge ended. On the next tour, he was 1.3 slower than Vettel and then drifted to 4.4s off the Ferrari, and having been warned about high engine temperatures, Hamilton voted to save the engine on his car and settled for a safe second place.
A handful of laps later Vettel crossed the line to take his 48th career win ahead of the Briton. Raikkonen clung on to third place ahead of Ricciardo, while Alonso gave McLaren a positive start to life with Renault power by keeping Verstappen at bay to take fifth place. With the Dutchman sixth, Hulkenberg finished seventh ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne. The final points position went to Renault’s Carlos Sainz, who battled to the finish despite suffering from nausea caused by the fluid in his drinks bottle during the race.
2018 Australian Grand Prix – Race
1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1h29:33.283
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 5.036
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 6.309
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 7.069
5 Fernando Alonso McLaren 27.886
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull 28.945
7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 32.671
8 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 34.339
9 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 34.921
10 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault 45.722
11 Sergio Perez Force India 46.817
12 Esteban Ocon Force India 1’00.278
13 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1’15.759
14 Lance Stroll Williams 1’18.288
15 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1 lap
16 Romain Grosjean Haas 34 laps
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 36 laps
18 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 45 laps
19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 53 laps
20 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 54 laps.Source: FIA
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Halo blocks drivers’ vision, starting lights shifted: Season Opener
Melbourne: “After the winter debates, pro and against the protective device, all focus shifted away from the halo and on to the cars’ performance,” claimed an F1 release.
But it had to admit: …“the halo still managed to hold on to a bit of the limelight, as the starting lights were shifted under instruction from FIA Formula 1 Race Director Charlie Whiting. This because the drivers
could not see through the halo to the lights high above them, this problem being worse for the cars on the front row of the grid.”Now one can decide if that is a bit of the limelight. Read the High Octane Column by Harish Samtani here: F1 running out of fresh ideas to breathe life back into racing!
The 2018 season has finally got underway at Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit as the Friday practice sessions were run under a hot sun and blue skies. Mercedes posted the best times across the two sessions, confirming what was seen in the Barcelona tests a few weeks ago. Lewis Hamilton was the fastest in both practices, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen managing to split the Mercedes drivers, pushing Valtteri Bottas into 3rd place in the second free practice. Fourth and 5th were the Ferrari, with Kimi Raikkonen ahead of Sebastian Vettel.
The Melbourne weekend also witnessed the debut of Brendon Hartley’s social media collaboration with Formula 1 as he takes us on a journey with him on his first full season as one of the top drivers in the world. Follow Toro Rosso’s Kiwi here:
Also, new this weekend is Brian Tyler’s newly-composed music for the Formula 1 starting sequence. Recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the score reflects the power and the fury of F1 cars as interpreted by one of Hollywood’s most successful film and game music
composers.F1 Release!
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Reigning champ Jonathan Rea puts Kawasaki on top: #THAIWorldSBK– Day 2
Rea wins Race1 in Buriram 24mar2018 Photo: WorldSBK Buriram: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) took an excellent victory in Race One of the Motul Thai Round, continuing a dominant weekend that has now seen him take pole position, a race win and fastest lap. The 3-times World Champion certainly didn´t have things all his own way, with Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), who was narrowly pipped for pole position in Superpole 1, twice overhauling his teammate to hit the front. But when Rea finally repaid the compliment he was able to stretch away and then manage his advantage to the finish. Sykes, meanwhile, dropped gradually backward as the race went on. He was unfortunate to slip from third to first as Rea took command at the front of the peloton, Leon Camier (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) coming through and running second for some time, and Sykes eventually only able to manage sixth.
Camier, meanwhile, was one of the stars of the show, as he put in a masterclass in defensive riding and for some time looked set to end a barren run with a first podium finish since 2013. In the end, he lost out to Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), who made a perfect block pass for his second podium of the campaign. But Camier, with the fourth position, has the consolation of pole start when the grid positions are re-set for tomorrow´s Race Two.
After a disappointing Tissot Superpole performance and fall, Australia´s double winner Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) rose to the fifth position by the end of the opening lap but steadily dropped back to eighth despite showing inconsistently strong pace. Victory for Jonathan Rea means Melandri retains the Championship lead, but the Italian´s advantage is cut to just two points.
Meanwhile, Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team), with an excellent runner-up result, moves above Tom Sykes and into the third position in the series overall. The independent runner passed Sykes on the track into turn three for a provisional place on the race podium and picked off Leon Camier on lap twelve to secure his best result in 69 starts. Meanwhile, the line-up´s other main Spaniard, Jordi Torres (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), faded quickly after a strong qualifying, ran wide and off the circuit whilst seventh and was later passed on the penultimate lap for ninth by Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia).
The same lap saw Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) take the fifth position from Tom Sykes, completing an excellent second half of the race in which he recovered from eighth. Lowes had earlier enjoyed another side-by-side combat with his teammate Michael Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team), before the Dutchman slipped back to seventh.
With the top ten separated by just eleven seconds in Race One, and plenty of change in the rankings compared to results last time out in Australia, Race Two promises to be a similarly entertaining affair.
With the reversed grid format, lights go out for race two at 16.00LT (+7 GMT) for the Buriram Battle.
P1 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
“I am so so happy, where we started the weekend was behind with the set-up but I had 100% faith in my team, so thanks to everyone. We are starting to head in the right direction, and my team have worked really hard all weekend, it was a long 40 minutes for me too, I think I deserve a cold bath after that!”P2 – Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team)
“It was a really hard race with the weather and the battle with Leon at the beginning of the race, he was hard to overtake. When I got into my rhythm I was pushing hard to catch Jonny, but he was riding perfectly and I was not able to arrive with him, but this is like a victory for me. It’s like a victory for me and we will see what happens tomorrow.”P3 – Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“I made it hard work for myself from the third row, it was a good scrap with Leon in the closing laps, I showed him the wheel a few times and he was so late on the brakes. I was able to bide my time and got past Leon, but then it was too late to do anything about Xavi and Jonny but we will see what we can do tomorrow.”#THAIWorldSBK at Chang International Circuit: Race 1
1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
2. Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team) +1.550
3. Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +2.118 -
Formula One running out of fresh ideas to breathe life back into racing
Yay, it’s 2019 and we are going to get to witness F1 in its new avatar! Idiot! It’s still 2018, I had to remind myself and I wanted to crawl back into bed and continue watching Stranger things on Netflix! Anyway, being a petrol head too, zapped on the telly to watch F1 qualifying in Melbourne today and saw even more Stranger things!
A new fangled helmet covering a helmet?!!! Hmmm …..From the 70s era to now, the men and racing drivers have become boys in more ways than one! Men crashed and burnt alive during events that were more gladiatorial than it being a sport about ambitious drivers in fast cars. Then, as F1 evolved and Eccelstone, the creator of this magnum opus brought in 30 and 40 million and more as salaries for drivers, the current crop wanted to live a lot longer to enjoy this wealth!
The changes made in the 70s and 80s simply had to be done because the bloodshed was way too much and turning fans away. But this wussifying the sport by adding further fortification is the giddy limit.
The two examples of accidental death and disability can be understood from the unfortunate incidents of the two legends – Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher. Ayrton had crashed a wall at close to 200kmph and a simple bolt ejected from the damaged front suspension like a bullet and went through his visor that opened up just that half inch. The result was the same as that of a bullet wound. He died on the spot. Schumi is fighting a losing battle after an innocent skiing accident. Just a day out with the family. Both heroes and both with absolutely no reason to be in that situation.
So, if F1 thinks that they can save lives randomly and take away the no guts, no glory somewhat, should rethink.
The qualifying today at the Australian GP did prove that the top four teams will remain there. A Ferrari win will improve the telly viewership substantially. In any case, the results of the first few races will not have too much bearing on the championship.
With limited testing time in hand, teams will need to sort out their machines under competitive duress. The racing really begins once the circus moves to the traditional racing circuits in Europe. -
Hamilton powers to Melbourne pole ahead of Ferraris as Bottas crashes out
Lewis Hamilton celebrating pole position in Melbourne on Saturday. Photo: FIA Melbourne, March 24: Lewis Hamilton took his first pole position of the 2018 season in imperious fashion, beating Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen and third-placed Sebastian Vettel by nearly seven tenths of a second. It was a bittersweet session for Hamilton’s Mercedes team, however, as the defending team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, crashed out heavily at the start of the final session.
Räikkönen set the pace early in Q1, eventually rising to a time of 1:23.096s ahead of the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen. The order changed when Hamilton began to put together laps and five minutes before the flag the defending champion jumped to the top of the order with a lap of 1:22.824.
That put him 0.272 ahead of Räikkönen who finished ahead of Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bulls Verstappen and Ricciardo.
At the lower end of the order, it looked like Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley was going to prop up the table, as he sat in P20 ahead of the final runs. The New Zealander rose to the challenge, though, and put in a superb final flyer to climb up the order. His time of 1:24.532 was only good for P16, however, and he missed out on progress to Q2 by just 0.029s, as Force India’s Esteban Ocon scraped through in P15.
Eliminated behind Hartley were the Saubers of Marcus Ericsson and Charles Leclerc in P17 and P18 respectively, while Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin went out in P19 ahead of the second Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly who had an off on his final run.
Q2 saw Verstappen set the first quick lap on supersofts, but that of the ultra soft-shod Räikkönen quickly bypassed his lap of 1:22.830. This time top honours went to Vettel, with the Ferrari driving rising to P1 with a second-run time of 1:21.944. That put him a tenth clear of Hamilton, who stayed on his first-run time of 1:22.051. Bottas took third ahead of Verstappen and Ricciardo.
Alonso was the main driver to miss out. Ahead of the final runs the Spaniard sat in P7, but once the final times came in the McLaren driver had been edged out to P11, some 1500ths of a second behind 10th-placed Nico Hulkenberg of Renault.
Alonso’s McLaren team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne was meanwhile eliminated in P11 ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez, Stroll and Ocon.
Q3 began in dramatic fashion, with the first runs being interrupted by a red flag being shown when Bottas crashed heavily in Turn 2. The Finn lost control on the approach to the corner and broadsided the wall, causing severe damage to his Mercedes.
When running resumed, Hamilton led the way, with a time identical to his Q2 best. That left him just three hundredths of a second clear of Vettel, with Verstappen third ahead of Räikkönen and Ricciardo.
In the second runs, though, Mercedes turned up the heat and Hamilton simply powered ahead, taking almost nine tenths of a second out of his first-run time to claim his 73rd career pole position with a time of 1:21.194.
Räikkönen took second place, though the Finn was 0.664s behind Hamilton. Vettel was third, just one hundredth of a second behind his Ferrari team-mate.
Ferrari were pushed hard, however, by Red Bull Racing who looked closer to the Italian team than last season. Verstappen qualified just four hundredths of a second behind Vettel, with Ricciardo fifth on a time of 1:22.152.
Behind them, Haas confirmed their dark horse status, with Kevin Magnussen taking sixth place ahead of team-mate Romain Grosjean. Hulkenberg was eighth ahead of Renault team-mate Sainz, while the unfortunate Bottas qualified 10th.
2018 Australian Grand Prix – Qualifying:
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:21.164
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1:21.828
3. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) 1:21.838
4. Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) 1:21.879
5. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull Racing) 1:22.152
6. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) 1:23.187
7. Romain Grosjean (Haas) 1:23.339
8. Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) 1:23.532
9. Carlos Sainz Jr. (Renault) 1:23.577
10. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
11. Fernando Alonso (McLaren) 1:23.692
12. Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren) 1:23.853
13. Sergio Perez (Force India) 1:24.005
14. Lance Stroll (Williams) 1:24.230
15. Esteban Ocon (Force India) 1:24.786
16. Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso) 1:24.532
17. Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) 1:24.556
18. Charles Leclerc (Sauber) 1:24.636
19. Sergey Sirotkin (Williams) 1:24.922
20. Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso) 1:25.295
FIA News
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:21.164
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Drivers’ safety: Biometric gloves make F1 debut
Melbourne, March 24: Starting from this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, the FIA is introducing a new race glove into Formula One that sends potentially life-saving data from driver to medical crew.
The gloves will be worn by every F1 driver and monitor their vital signs during the race via a flexible 3mm sensor stitched into the palm area of the fabric. The FIA has worked closely with F1 glove manufacturers Puma, OMP, Alpinestars and Sparco to integrate these sensors into fire-resistant clothing for the first time.
Initially, the optical sensor will measure ‘pulse oximetry’, or the amount of oxygen in the blood, alongside the pulse rate, enabling the trackside medical team to receive important information as soon as there is an incident. This is potentially important in the context of a racing driver because if they have an injury that is affecting breathing, the oxygen content of the blood will diminish rapidly.
Drivers’ Safety is of paramount importance for the FIA, and together with its Research Body, Global Institute, alongside its doctors and engineers, it has been examining how state-of-the-art technology could help medical teams and drivers.
Biometric data helps to assess the driver’s conditions before, at the time of the crash and after the crash as far as the rescue operations are concerned. Further developments in this area are planned throughout the season to improve the device and set new benchmarks for motor sport safety.”
The project is the result of a partnership between the Global Institute and Signal Biometrics Ltd, the company set up by Dr Ian Roberts and the engineer Alain van der Merwe, who have both been involved in Formula One with the FIA for many years respectively as FIA F1 Deputy Medical Delegate and FIA F1 Medical Car Driver.
Ian Roberts said: “We know that the monitoring of people is essential in terms of their medical care and drivers in incidents are no different. We would like to start monitoring and assessing them as soon as we possibly can. There are also times when the driver isn’t immediately accessible to us, so if we can’t see him or we’re not actually next to him, there’s limited information that we can get.”
F1 driver Carlos Sainz’s accident during the 2015 Russian GP is a case in point. The Spaniard lost control of his Toro Rosso at Turn 13 during the third practice session and hit the barrier head-on at 153km/h. Fortunately, Sainz was unhurt, but it was difficult for the F1 medical team to know this, as the first row of the barrier came to rest on top of the driver. So when they arrived at the scene, they found that they had limited contact with him and had to wait until the barrier was removed from the car before a more direct medical assessment could begin.
With this new technology, the moment a driver has an incident, the trackside medical team will receive physiological readings and biometrics, so he is continually monitored from point zero right through to the initial response and on to the medical centre.
Alan van der Merwe added: “This will enable monitoring of the driver not only when still in the car, but also offer the benefit of continuous monitoring during patient transport.”
Going forward, there are already plans to implement sensors for respiratory rate and temperature. In addition to the safety benefits, these will help teams and drivers with performance monitoring. Respiratory rate gives a very good indication of a driver’s state of health and stress, while temperature is well known for affecting performance.
F1 is just the first step for the device in motor sport as the idea is to filter down the technology to other championships.
FIA News
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Günther on top; Arjun Maini 7th: Final day of Bahrain F2 pre-season test
Gunther tops Final Day of Bahrain F2 Testing on Friday, 23rd March 2018. Photo: FIA Bahrain, March 23: Maximilian Günther set the fastest lap of the FIA Formula 2 Championship pre-season test at Sakhir, Bahrain on the final day, leading the way with a 1:42.756 set in the morning session to beat Charouz Racing System’s Louis Delétraz and ART Grand Prix’s George Russell. Günther’s BWT Arden teammate Nirei Fukuzumi was quickest in the afternoon session. Indian racing driver, Arjun Maini of Trident, who finished on top of the timesheets fon Day 2, ended up 7th on the Third Day of testing on Friday.
Roy Nissany of Campos Vexatec Racing jumped the rest of the field onto the track, beating DAMS’ Alexander Albon and Fukuzumi out of the pitlane. Günther led the opening stages, making up for a lack of running from the previous day’s afternoon session to take the early advantage.Although Trident’s Arjun Maini – holder of yesterday’s fastest lap – briefly leapfrogged the German driver, Günther quickly reclaimed the top berth on the timing screens with the only lap in the 1m42s, ending the first hour on top, accosted soon after by Delétraz and RUSSIAN TIME’s Tadasuke Makino.Jack Aitken (ART Grand Prix) brought out the red flag shortly after the second hour, coming to a halt at turn 8, leaving 45 minutes of the session to run after the track went live once more. Multiple teams took the opportunity to practice tyre changes, with the pitlane becoming a hive of activity after the green flag.As attention turned to race preparation, Günther’s time remained unchallenged throughout the rest of the session, staying three-tenths of a second ahead of Delétraz, as Russell completed the top three ahead of teammate Aitken. Carlin’s Sergio Sette Camara moved ahead of Makino for fifth, as Maini and Luca Ghiotto (Campos) grabbed seventh and eighth. Albon and Charouz’s Antonio Fuoco completed the top half of the field.Ghiotto was the first driver on track for the afternoon session, taking the initiative ahead of the two Charouz drivers to commence the post-break running. The Italian headed the early timesheets before Roberto Merhi (MP Motorsport) ended the first half-hour on top with over a second’s advantage over the field.Although Fuoco, Makino and his RUSSIAN TIME teammate Artem Markelov spent periods of time nestled behind Merhi in the standings, the Spanish driver kept them at arm’s length to retain control of the timing boards going into the final hour of running as the majority focused further on race simulations.Markelov then came to a halt to bring out the first red flag, the session resuming with 45 minutes left on the clock before Ralph Boschung (MP) brought out a second just quarter of an hour later. The restart shuffled the order somewhat, with Fukuzumi ending Merhi’s hold on the first position before Günther returned to the top of the pile shortly after.In the final ten minutes, Fukuzumi surged to the lead of the timing boards to complete Arden’s lock-out of both sessions. Günther completed a one-two for the British team with Fuoco third, as Camara and Markelov completed the top five. Long-time leader Merhi ended the day sixth, ahead of British duo Norris and Russell – the latter clocking in 58 laps over the afternoon’s running. Makino held the ninth-best time, as Sean Gelael (PREMA) grabbed tenth ahead of Albon.The Formula 2 season will officially begin in two weeks’ time – returning to Bahrain – from the 6-8 April for the first races of 2018.FIA Formula 2 Bahrain Test – Day 3 Morning SessionDriverTeamLaptimeLaps1Maximilian GüntherBWT Arden1:42.756282Louis DelétrazCharouz Racing System1:43.058393George RussellART Grand Prix1:43.109244Jack AitkenART Grand Prix1:43.143245Sergio Sette CamaraCarlin1:43.149286Tadasuke MakinoRUSSIAN TIME1:43.209217Arjun MainiTrident1:43.254288Luca GhiottoCampos Vexatec Racing1:43.266229Alexander AlbonDAMS1:43.3882910Antonio FuocoCharouz Racing System1:43.4742111Lando NorrisCarlin1:43.4902812Artem MarkelovRUSSIAN TIME1:43.6822313Nicholas LatifiDAMS1:43.7153014Ralph BoschungMP Motorsport1:43.8281715Nyck de VriesPERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing1:43.8762216Santino FerrucciTrident1:43.8902217Roy NissanyCampos Vexatec Racing1:43.9752218Sean GelaelPERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing1:44.0512019Roberto MerhiMP Motorsport1:44.6252820Nirei FukuzumiBWT Arden1:44.77812FIA Formula 2 Bahrain Test – Day 3 Afternoon SessionDriverTeamLaptimeLaps1Nirei FukuzumiBWT Arden1:43.430352Maximilian GüntherBWT Arden1:44.145353Antonio FuocoCharouz Racing System1:44.152394Sergio Sette CamaraCarlin1:45.310215Artem MarkelovRUSSIAN TIME1:46.895466Roberto MerhiMP Motorsport1:46.908457Lando NorrisCarlin1:46.937248George RussellART Grand Prix1:47.860589Tadasuke MakinoRUSSIAN TIME1:47.2393410Sean GelaelPERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing1:47.4194511Alexander AlbonDAMS1:48.1104812Ralph BoschungMP Motorsport1:48.4122413Santino FerrucciTrident1:48.4544314Roy NissanyCampos Vexatec Racing1:48.4692815Jack AitkenART Grand Prix1:48.6005316Luca GhiottoCampos Vexatec Racing1:48.7595617Nicholas LatifiDAMS1:48.7763418Nyck de VriesPERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing1:48.8572919Louis DelétrazCharouz Racing System1:49.0134120Arjun MainiTrident1:49.32733 -
Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm: Abhishek Mishra, Aaron Mare emerge champions by big margins
South African rider Aaron Mare of Ang’ata Racing team, winner of the MOTO title in the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm which concluded in Jaisalmer on Friday. Jaisalmer, March 23: It was virtually a weekend cruise for Abhishek Mishra and South African Aaron Mare who expectedly won the titles in the Xtreme (4-wheelers) and MOTO (2-wheelers) categories, respectively, as the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm concluded here on Friday evening.
Mishra and co-driver Venu Rameshkumar, enjoying a comfortable overnight lead, did not push their Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara in completing the rally’s final Stage of 25 Kms today to pocket the title.
Finishing second behind Mishra was local challenger Raj Singh Rathore (co-driver Sagar Mallappa) while Niju Padia (Nirav Mehta) of Desert Raiders completed the podium in the Overall classification.
Rathore, along with Padia and Vinam Jain (Karan Malik) of Wanderers Adventure team took the top three spots in the T2 (1350cc) class.
Earlier, Mare of Ang’ata Racing, nursed his ailing KTM 450 which was suffering an internal oil leak, to the finish line without any mishap to win the crown from TVS Racing’s Spanish rider Santolino Lorenzo. Mare’s team-mate Sanjay Kumar came in third to underline Ang’ata Racing’s domination.
Incidentally, the week-long event which covered a total distance of 2,500 Kms with 900 Kms of competitive section, claimed some big names, including four-wheeler defending champion Suresh Rana of Team Maruti Suzuki Motorsport and Nataraj Rajanna of TVS Racing, last year’s MOTO winner besides Hero Motorsport’s CS Santosh who was the hot favourite for the Moto title.
Final results:
Xtreme (Overall): 1. Abhishek Mishra / Venu Rameshkumar (T1) (11hrs, 15mins, 54secs); 2. Raj Singh Rathore / Sagar Mallappa (T2) (11:50:36); 3. Niju Padia / Nirav Mehta (Desert Raiders, T2) (12:35:40); 4. Vinam Jain / Karan Malik (Wanderers Adventure, T2) (12:41:58); 5. Harpreet Bawa / Vikram Thakur (Harjee Motorsport, T1) (12:52:55); 6. Capt AVS Gill / Diwakar Kalia (T2) (13:23:50); 7. Narayan Balan / Chirag Thakur (Desert Raiders, T1) (14:30:58).
MOTO (Overall): 1. Aaron Mare (Ang’ata Racing, Group A) (08:01:20); 2. Santolino Lorenzo (TVS Racing, Gr A) (08:06:39); 3. Sanjay Kumar (Ang’ata Racing, Gr A) (08:39:09). Group B (250-500cc): 1. Vijendra Waghela (14:06:37); 2. Rajeev Wadhwa (20:16:46)
Group C (Above 260cc): 1. Mohan Lal Sharma (12:47:15). Group C (165-210cc): 1. Yuva Kumar (13:17:34); 2. Deepak Naidu (17:23:09); 3. Ashok Kumar (18:28:13). Group C (210-260cc): 1. Vishal Das (18:33:07).
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Hamilton edges out Verstappen to dominate Friday’s practice session: Australian GP
Lewis Hamilton who dominated the Free Practice sessions on Friday. Photo: FIA Melbourne, March 23: Lewis Hamilton remained in control of the Albert Park time sheets at the end of the second free practice session as the Formula One World Championship season began in Melbourne on Friday. However, the defending champion was closely by Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, with the Dutch driver finishing just over a tenth of second behind his Mercedes rival.
After early sparring on the soft and supersoft tyres, the session’s qualifying simulations saw Hamilton charge to the front of the pack with a time of 1:23.931s set after had bolted on a set of Pirelli’s purple-banded ultrasoft tyres. Valtteri Bottas made it a Mercedes one-two, two tenths down on Hamilton, but Verstappen soon split the Silver Arrows duo with a lap of 1:24.058 to end the session just 0.127s behind the champion.
Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen finished to fourth, 0.283s off the pace with team-mate Sebastian Vettel a further 0.237s behind in fifth place.
Haas again looked in good shape, with Romain Grosjean sixth in the second session and seven tenths of a second off Hamilton’s pace.
Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull might have challenged for the top spots on the timesheet but the home favourite’s qualifying run was interrupted by a brief red flag caused by loose cabling on the start-finish straight.
Fernando Alonso reprised his FP1 achievement of eighth place, with the Spaniard finishing 1.269s adrift of Hamilton and just under five hundredths of a second clear of the second Haas of Kevin Magnussen. Alonso’s team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne also matched his earlier efforts by taking 10th place in the session.
Elsewhere, the only real drama occurred right at the end of the session when Williams’ Lance Stroll was forced to stop on track after encountering trouble.
2018 Australian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 35 1:23.931
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 34 1:24.058 0.127
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 34 1:24.159 0.228
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 39 1:24.214 0.283
5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 38 1:24.451 0.520
6 Romain Grosjean Haas 34 1:24.648 0.717
7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 28 1:24.721 0.790
8 Fernando Alonso McLaren 28 1:25.200 1.269
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas 30 1:25.246 1.315
10 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 34 1:25.285 1.354
11 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault 35 1:25.390 1.459
12 Sergio Perez Force India 30 1:25.413 1.482
13 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 35 1:25.463 1.532
14 Lance Stroll Williams 32 1:25.543 1.612
15 Esteban Ocon Force India 33 1:25.888 1.957
16 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 41 1:25.925 1.994
17 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 39 1:25.945 2.014
18 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 37 1:25.974 2.043
19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 31 1:26.814 2.883
20 Charles Leclerc Sauber 35 1:26.815 2.884.
