2021 Formula 1 Thread

[ZontheRocks]

Should be a fun race tomorrow.

Hopefully.

[God-Speed]

Chance of rain and a damp track. This is going to be a Fun one!!

[DLSTR]

Originally Posted by God-Speed

Chance of rain and a damp track. This is going to be a Fun one!!

Parade lap now. Pitlane start Vettel

[DLSTR]

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ho...ngine/6417548/

Honda reveals development secrets of 2021 F1 engine
By:
Adam Cooper
Apr 23, 2021, 7:27 AM
Honda has given a detailed insight into the development of its 2021 Formula 1 power unit, which scored its first victory in the hands of Max Verstappen at Imola.
Honda reveals development secrets of 2021 F1 engine

Honda's 2021 engine, the RA621H, is viewed by many in the F1 paddock as the strongest PU on the grid, with Pierre Gasly’s qualifying form for AlphaTauri backing up the pace advantage of Red Bull Racing.

Verstappen took Red Bull and Honda's first victory of the season in last weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, and the RB16B has proved to be the quickest car on the grid so far this year.

A major package of changes to the Honda PU had originally been postponed to 2022, but following the Japanese company’s decision to end its official involvement in F1 at the end of 2021 it was decided to fast track the new project for this year.

“The original plan was to implement this new structure PU this year in 2021,” said head of power unit development Yasuaki Asaki.

“But then for a variety of reasons, it was decided not to proceed with a brand new PU. However, the thinking on this really changed when Honda announced that we would be leaving the sport.

“I went to President [Takahiro] Hachigo, and said to him that we would really like to implement this new structure PU for our last year in the sport. And he kindly accepted that request.”



Asaki stressed that the changes to the layout of the new PU were so significant that a huge amount of work was required, as well as input from Red Bull Technology.

“That was never going to be an easy task, given the scope of the changes being made to the power unit’s architecture,” he said.

“First of all we've changed the camshaft layout to be much more compact, and also brought its position lower down so it's closer to the ground.

“The main point of what we've changed was to improve combustion efficiency. In order to do so we had to change the valve angle, and in order to do that we had to change the camshaft.

"We've also had to make the head cover lower and more compact, which means that the way that air flows over it has become a lot better, and we've also lowered the centre of gravity of the ICE.

"Another thing we changed is the bore pitch, by reducing the distance between one bore and the next, we've made the engine itself shorter, smaller.

“In the old engine straddling the transmission we also had a bank offset whereby the left bank was slightly offset from the right bank. So what we've done is reverse this offset on the new engine so that the right bank is forward, and the left bank is back.”
Red Bull Racing RB16B



Asaki said that Honda had to address all the key parameters in order to stay competitive with its main rivals.

“Another point that we've had to think about is the fact that combustion efficiency has got better," he said.

"And the camshaft output has got better. Due to the rules of physics the amount of energy that can be stored has changed, and it meant that the amount of exhaust energy has decreased.

“So compared to the recovery that we were getting last year, what we're having to do is increase the amount of crankshaft output, and at the same time ensure that there's a good level of exhaust output, exhaust temperature as well.

“So we've had a number of different development objectives, and we believe we have met them.”

[DLSTR]

Portuguese GP
30 Apr - 2 May
Race Starts in
8 days -

[DLSTR]

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ve...ggles/6420453/

Vettel not beating himself up over Aston struggles
Co-author:
Adam Cooper
Apr 23, 2021, 11:01 AM
Aston Martin Formula 1 team boss Otmar Szafnauer insists that Sebastian Vettel is "not beating himself up" after a difficult start to the 2021 season.
Vettel not beating himself up over Aston struggles

The German has been outpaced by team-mate Lance Stroll in the first two races, having qualified 18th in Bahrain, and 13th at Imola.

Last weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix proved to be a disaster for Vettel.

Both drivers had an issue with overheating brakes in the laps to the grid, but while Stroll was able to take the start from the grid, Vettel's car had to be pushed to the pitlane because repairs could not be completed in time.

In addition, he received a penalty because the team was still working on the car, with the wheels off, too close to the start.

During the race Vettel also suffered a gearbox issue, and he was told to retire the car in the closing laps.

"I think he's fine," said Szafnauer. "I think he has very high expectations. I know he has very high expectations of himself. And he will work tirelessly to get better and move up that learning curve.

"But he's not beating himself up, so to speak. He'll just take that bit of frustration, and he'll be even more determined to get up to speed quickly.

"I mean, not his fault at all that we unfortunately burned his rear brake ducts and cake tins, and then it was so close to actually replacing them on the grid without without having to start from the pitlane, and then the penalty.

"After that, he had no chance really, and that wasn't his fault."
Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin, on the grid


Along with other drivers who have switched teams for 2021, Vettel has struggled to find the limits of his new car.

"Well, if the car philosophies are completely different then it does take time," said Szafnauer.

"And having talked to Checo [Perez] too, he's gone to a Red Bull, which has a different philosophy to ours. And he says the same, that it's just gonna take seat time to be able to get to those fine, fine margins of getting the most out of the car.
Read Also:


"And it's just that simple. The more seat time the better. Seb, because he had the penalty, he was never really in contention.

"But after he put the dry tyres on, he was doing some really quick lap times. So I think he's getting on top of the car, and it'll just get better better."

[DLSTR]

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ho...ficit/6486167/

Formula 1 / Analysis
How Aston Martin is fighting back from its low rake deficit
By:
Matt Somerfield
Co-author:
Giorgio Piola
Apr 27, 2021, 4:57 AM
Aston Martin has spoken openly about how it feels that Formula 1’s new 2021 aero regulations have hurt its low rake car.
How Aston Martin is fighting back from its low rake deficit

Team principal Otmar Szafnauer is keen to hold talks with the FIA to understand the procedures of its legislature - and although the political saga will continue to rumble on in the background, the team has had to introduce developments in a bid to catch up with the opposition.

Having already changed its floor design for the first race of the season, Aston Martin arrived in Imola with yet more changes to try and boost the AMR21’s aerodynamic performance.

This time it turned its attention to the sidepods and the various aero surfaces that surround them.

The sidepods were already incredibly tightly packaged on the AMR21 but in an effort to boost aerodynamic performance, the design team focused on reducing the size of the inlet and, as a consequence, the size of the sidepod’s shoulder.

Having ticked both of these features off the checklist, Aston Martin was also able to go in search of further gains, with the sidepod wing that extends out from the cockpit to the edge of the floor now warped, whilst a much larger endplate is used to define its outermost edge (white arrow).

This design will likely shed a more intense vortex than the solution raced until now (below).

This change is also extremely interesting, as it’s much more in keeping with the aerodynamic philosophy that the team had in its previous guise as Racing Point.

Staying with the aerodynamic surfaces attached to the sidepod, we have to mention the blade-like fin attached to the sidepod’s shoulder (blue arrow), which had previously been mounted horizontally but now finds itself enlarged and fixed at an almost 45-degree angle.

Meanwhile, the lower side impact spar housing that extends out to meet the sidepod deflector has also been revised, as it now droops down to meet the vertical flow diverter (green arrow), altering the ratio in its division of the flow around the sidepod.

Aston Martin has also chosen to overhaul the design of its wing mirrors and their supports, with the main cockpit support now at a right angle (red arrow), rather than being curved.

As a consequence of this extra rigidity, the lower support that passed beneath the mirror has been removed. Meanwhile, the mirror housing is hung beneath the structure via two brackets, rather than one, whilst the lower mount attaches directly to the mirror.


The changes are not only isolated just to the frontal region of the sidepod though, as the ramped section of bodywork behind has also been addressed as part of the update (as made clear by the yellow line). The ramp has been lengthened quite significantly in order that it meets with the floor much further down the car.

This has several ramifications, with not only the aerodynamic characteristics altered but also the internal flow for cooling revised too.

This has also resulted in the engine cover bodywork being revised, with the cooling outlet shape revised to accommodate the longer ramp (see the section around the BWT logo), whilst the bulge that’s wrapped tightly to the larger inlet plenum on this year’s Mercedes power unit might have been altered subtly too.

The team also had a new rear wing arrangement at Imola, with a spoon-shaped design used in preference to the conventional straight edge design. It’s a solution that the team has turned to before in its previous guises and will reduce the drag created at the outer extremities whilst still providing the downforce required from the central section.

Aston Martin started out with the Z-shaped floor cutout that’s now preferred by most of the grid but its first effort was not quite as expansive as the new solution that arrived at the first race of the season.

The latest solution puts the team at the furthest point on the cutout spectrum to date, with most of the floor returned parallel to the car’s centreline. There is also a double row of fins to direct flow at the start of the cut out and a boxed-in set of fins line the edge of the floor ahead of the rear tyre.

[axmea?]

This is too funny. When Racing Point was under scrutiny LY and later penalized for copying Merc AMG, $troll was quick to point out how they're competitors "should have done a much better job and focused on developing their car instead". Now that Aston Martin is in the $h!tter, he was quick to pull the legal card instead of doing a better job of developing and focused on their own Aston Martin car instead.

[DLSTR]

Originally Posted by axmea?

This is too funny. When Racing Point was under scrutiny LY and later penalized for copying Merc AMG, $troll was quick to point out how they're competitors "should have done a much better job and focused on developing their car instead". Now that Aston Martin is in the $h!tter, he was quick to pull the legal card instead of doing a better job of developing and focused on their own Aston Martin car instead.

Just a lame billionaire who cannot make F1 work as easily as he planned. He forgot the SPORT is larger than his ego. This is a family project for himself and his little kid. Nothing more.

The real challenge is the lame car company he now owns. I expect he will sell it if he can somehow make it 'profitable' enough. Chinese or maybe Mercedes money to save it from him. Vettel commercials will not be enough LOL

[DLSTR]

Questions for the weekend - https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/3...2021-f1-season

[DLSTR]

Review of Prac 1 and 2. We see another RedBull and Mercedes challenge. Its close. Great circuit!

https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/3...ese-grand-prix

[Ventruck]

Mercedes paddock after Bottas lands P1.
What a happy bunch.

[alcheng]

I thought Bottas would have a chance for the win when he got a great start and built a decent lead.

But somehow Hamilton became much quicker.

I believe, Hamilton's skill on tire management is on a different level.

Hopefully Verstappen can get closer on the next race.

[Hotrodz]

Originally Posted by alcheng

I thought Bottas would have a chance for the win when he got a great start and built a decent lead.

But somehow Hamilton became much quicker.

I believe, Hamilton's skill on tire management is on a different level.

Hopefully Verstappen can get closer on the next race.

Bottas at times is his own worst enemy. He makes too many mental mistakes. That said he couldn't put enough distance between him and Hamilton and Hamilton gets faster than anyone on used tires and low fuel loads. I think Bottas would have caught Max if he didn't have the exhaust sensor issue.

I have said it over the last year and a half, Lando Norris is the young gun to watch. He is fast, smart and makes good decisions. Right now I would put him second to Hamilton in his ability to over take other cars. Hell he maybe the best as we don't get to see Lewis come from behind very often.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[DLSTR]

F1 Spanish GP: Verstappen tops final practice from Hamilton
By:
Alex Kalinauckas
May 8, 2021, 7:09 AM
Max Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton to the top spot in final practice for Formula 1’s 2021 Spanish Grand Prix by 0.235s – raising expectations of a tight qualifying showdown at Barcelona.

Max appears stronger now vs Friday. Pre Qualy show is on SKY. Stream here and avoid no coverage if you are waiting for another network to broadcast -

https://cricfree.live/watchfeeds/index/147