Tag Archives: FIA

FIA launches Formula E in Beijing

Beijing – Saturday marked the inaugural FIA Formula E race. Formula E is the FIA’s attempt at expanding international motor sport into the up and coming world of electric cars. The 2014-2015 Formula E season has 10 rounds, with races announced to be run in China, Malaysia, Uruguay, Argentina, the United States, Monaco, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Saturday’s opening round featured 10 teams of 2 drivers each. Among the drivers and teams are a fair number of famous names from Formula 1, including former Formula 1 drivers Charles Pic, Nelson Piquet, Jr., Lucas di Grassi, Franck Montagny, Karun Chandhok, Jérôme d’Ambrosio, Stéphane Sarrazin, Jamie Alguersuari, Nick Heidfeld, Takuma Sato, Sébastien Buemi, Jarno Trulli, and Bruno Senna. Of the drivers yet to enter Formula 1 on the Formula E grid, perhaps the most notable is Nicolas Prost, whose father is 4-time Formula 1 world champion Alain Prost, and two female drivers, Briton Katherine Legge and Italian Michela Cerruti.

Formula E differs from Formula 1 in many other ways. To begin, Formula E is entirely run by electricity rather than by petrol as F1. Likewise, FE requires that drivers remain in the pits for a minimum pit-stop time. That being said, FE drivers have to switch cars at their pit stops, reentering the field in a newly charged car.

The two elements of the race that I found most frustrating were 1. the Beijing street circuit was too narrow in most places for passing, and 2. the FE cars sounded like a cross between a jet engine and a child’s remote controlled car. At first annoying, I found myself drowning out the buzzing of 20 electric cars through paying closer attention to the beauty of their design, the fine curvature of the fuselages.

The race finished with a dramatic crash between then 1st place Nicolas Prost and 2nd place Nick Heidfeld, resulting in the latter being valuted by a kerb into a set of high barriers at the last corner, flipping his car upside-down, leaving the German finishing the race on his head. The race was won by Brazilian Lucas di Grassi of Audi Sport ABT. The Brazilian finished the 25 lap race with a time of 53:23.413.

The first retirement of the race came from one of the biggest names in motor sport, Bruno Senna, nephew of Formula 1 legend Aryton Senna. Bruno collided with another car on Lap 1, forcing his early retirement.

Another difference from Formula 1 is the awarding of points for earning pole, and driving the fastest lap, given to Nicolas Prost and Takuma Sato respectively. Likewise, according to the Formula E website, Daniel Abt, Jamie Alguersuari, and Katherine Legge were handed 57-second penalties for exceeding the allowed battery usage limit of 28kW.

In general, I do recommend Formula E to my Formula 1 readers. It is quite a spectacle to see. And considering that this sport is in its infancy, I’d watch just to be a part of history. Formula E is broadcast in the United States on Fox Sports 1, in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland on ITV 4 and BT Sport. Television coverage will be provided in 80 territories including Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, Australia by Fox Sports. Canal + diffuse la Formule E en France.

The 2014-2015 inaugural Formula E calendar is as follows:

  1. China – Beijing ePrix – 13 September 2014.
  2. Malaysia – Putrajaya ePrix – 22 November 2014.
  3. Uruguay – Punta del Este ePrix – 13 December 2014.
  4. Argentina – Buenos Aires ePrix – 10 January 2015.
  5. TBA – TBA – 14 February 2015.
  6. United States – Miami ePrix – 14 March 2015.
  7. United States – Long Beach ePrix – 4 April 2015.
  8. Monaco – Monte Carlo ePrix – 9 May 2015.
  9. Germany – Berlin ePrix – 30 May 2015.
  10. United Kingdom – London ePrix – 27 June 2015.

Ricciardo takes Belgium as Mercedes suffers from internal troubles

Spa-Francochamps – Formula 1 returned this weekend from its Summer Break with a roar. The race in Belgium, which swiftly broke away from the plans set out by the Mercedes AMG Petronas team, was quick to be taken up by their rivals at Red Bull, leaving Australian Daniel Ricciardo to claim Sunday’s race victory.

After dominating both practise and qualifying, the two Mercedes drivers locked out the front row of the starting grid, leaving the possibility of yet another Mercedes 1-2 seemingly more of a probability. However, with the start of the race Red Bull shot into action, with 4-time champion Sebastian Vettel briefly taking 2nd on Lap 1, splitting the two Mercedes. However Vettel lost his place following an unfortunate loss of control, which led him off track for a moment too long.

Meanwhile, the Ferrari camp found themselves in serious trouble with the FIA following Fernando Alonso’s pit engineers staying out on the starting grid past the 15 second warning mark that began the pacing lap. Alonso would later be penalised with a 5-second stop-and-go penalty, which he served soon there after.

Perhaps the biggest incident of the race came quite early on at Lap 2, when the two Mercedes drivers made contact whilst German Nico Rosberg attempted a pass on Briton Lewis Hamilton at Les Combes, a chicane in the track. Rosberg’s front left wing made contact with Hamilton’s rear right tyre, resulting in the tyre going flat and Rosberg needing a new wing and nose. Unfortunately for Hamilton, his tyre damage also resulted in severe damage to the floor of his car, which caused the 2008 World Champion to retire on Lap 39.

As the race progressed, the problems for Ferrari’s Alonso kept coming, with the penalty bringing him back out onto the track behind rookie Danish driver Kevin Magnussen of McLaren, who kept the veteran Spaniard at bay for the majority of the race. In the last five laps, the Spaniard and Dane found themselves engulfed in a four way battle with Magnussen’s British teammate Jenson Button and German Sebastian Vettel. In the end Alonso suffered front wing damage, which left him finishing in 8th, with Vettel coming in 7th, Magnussen in 6th and Button in 5th. As a result of his blocking, Magnussen was handed a 20-second penalty and 2 driver penalty points by the FIA following Sunday’s race. These will come into effect on 7 September at Monza.

The race concluded with Ricciardo on top, with Rosberg in 2nd, and Williams’ Valtteri Bottas in 3rd. Off the podium, but scoring points were Ferrari’s Finnish veteran Kimi Räïkkönen (4), Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel (5), McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen (6) and Jenson Button (7), Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso (8), Force India’s Sergio Pérez (9), and Toro Rosso’s Russian Daniil Kvyat (10).

They were followed in the non-points scoring category by Force India’s Nico Hülkenberg (11), Toro Rosso’s Jean-Éric Vergne (12), Williams’ Felipe Massa (13), Sauber’s Adrian Sutil (14) and Esteban Gutierrez (15), Marussia’s Max Chilton (16), and Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson (17).

Sunday’s retirements were Marussia’s Jules Bianchi on Lap 39 (18), Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton on Lap 38 (19), Lotus’ Romain Grosjean on Lap 33 (20) and Pastor Maldonado on Lap 1 (21), and Caterham’s stand-in driver Andre Lotterer (22) whose Formula 1 debut ended on the first lap.

Formula 1 will return once again in 2 weeks time on 7 September, this time to the fast-paced circuit at Monza in Italy, possibly for the last time according to reports that came out earlier this year from Bernie Ecclestone’s office. Looking forward from Belgium, the championship is now open not just to two, Rosberg and Hamilton, but quite possibly to a third, Ricciardo. Will the Western Australian make his country proud and win a third straight on the 7th? We will just have to wait and see.

Formula 1 – Midweek Madness

Kansas City – Two bits of news are just in from the Formula 1 Press Office, both of which could decide the course of the season to come. Firstly, longtime Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali is quitting the team effective immediately. The second piece of big F1 news is of course the FIA’s ruling against Red Bull’s petition on behalf of Daniel Ricciardo for his fuel sensor issues at his home Grand Prix in Melbourne a month ago.

Despite the fact that one of the current headlines (as of 21.17 CDT on Tuesday 15 April 2014) on F1.com is announcing the team’s plans for becoming the second best in the sport, Domenicali’s departure mirrors the woes felt by the lads from Maranello over the three races already run this season. So far this season, Ferrari’s drivers Fernando Alonso (ESP) and Kimi Räikkönen (FIN) have yet to qualify or finish a race higher than 4th. Not only that, but the situation has proven even more distressing for the Italians in that they were beaten to the podium in Bahrain by the Force India of Sergio Pérez.

Meanwhile, yesterday in Paris a committee of the FIA met to rule on Red Bull’s appeal on behalf of Daniel Ricciardo in regards to his disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix in March after finishing in 2nd. His disqualification came as a result of Red Bull’s choice to rely on their own fuel calculations in Melbourne rather than those provided by the FIA. According to the Red Bull technical staff, the FIA fuel sensors were not working, an issue which has repeated itself since.

A Red Bull spokesperson said today on the ruling that “We are of course disappointed by the outcome and would not have appealed if we didn’t think we had a very strong case.” (F1.com) In regards to the Red Bull ruling, I am not too surprised. I would have preferred to see at the very least Ricciardo’s points restored from the race proper, as he had very little if nothing at all to do with the sensors.

All of this leads into this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, which is sure to be an interesting Easter Sunday spectacle. The race begins at 14.00 Shanghai (02.00 Chicago, 07.00 London) this Sunday.