Comments for Who Are You, Anyway?*

Comment on Inside Ferrari’s trackside F1 fuel lab by Iberian M.P.H.

Iberian M.P.H. — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:51:38 +0000

A nice PR strategy from Shell, Cara is quite big now and possibly she’s the Danica Patrick of F1… in a way I guess. Total did this futuristic thing with Moon Race but they’re not interacting with anybody on Twitter and have a miserable number of followers, I’m a total (sic!) nobody and I’m like a monster of Twitter, in a way too I suppose. I don’t take social media seriously, give it another year or two and blogs will come back big time. Maybe a mixture of blogs and more user-friendly way of following them.

I kinda feel sorry for tyre/oil companies and/or all other suppliers/sponsors in F1: without your product the cars wouldn’t run but fans/your possible customer base don’t really know anything about your work because all they look for is to catch a glimpse of their idol, be it a pensioner driver like Schum, a middle-aged F1 wolf like JB or a smart kitten like Vettel. It’s a tough environment to plug your stuff and guys behind it work really hard.

Good job in translating complicated technical terms into normal language by the way. Total-ly and shell-ly enjoyable article.

Comment on Inside Ferrari’s trackside F1 fuel lab by Slowflow

Slowflow — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 10:26:51 +0000

Nice article Stuart.

JA covered this a little while ago, however, it didn’t have much in the way of interesting info that your article provides.

I for one appreciate articles which give us a glimpse behind F1’s technical curtain.

Thanks

Comment on Inside Ferrari’s trackside F1 fuel lab by YAJohn

YAJohn — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:49:43 +0000

@Stuart C Ah, I see, thanks

Comment on Inside Ferrari’s trackside F1 fuel lab by Stuart C

Stuart C — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:29:46 +0000

@YAJohn I'll edit for clarity. One way of combating heat build-up and the associated risk of pre-ignition is to enrich the mixture, which makes for higher fuel consumption – not desirable in a fuel-restricted formula.

Comment on Inside Ferrari’s trackside F1 fuel lab by Stuart C

Stuart C — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:12:59 +0000

@Jnr

What is the ‘Nazi rocket fuel’ theory??

The BMW engine in the Brabham used to put out a phenomenal amount of power for a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo. There were all sorts of stories about how this was achieved, some of which had basis in fact. For instance there was a theory - thought to have been put about by their rivals - that the fuel was based around the same chemistry used in wartime V2 rockets. Motorsport historians believe the truth of it is that Paul Rosche, BMW's chief engineer, turned to a lead substitute that had first been developed in WWII. The additive was required to prevent pre-ignition under the high boost pressure involved.

Comment on Inside Ferrari’s trackside F1 fuel lab by YAJohn

YAJohn — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:06:54 +0000

Thanks for the article.

Can you clarify this:

“Various elements of the engine, particularly the piston rings, have had to evolve in the no-refuelling era. The pistons can reach temperatures over 300C, and where once they may have received a blast of fuel to help cool them between combustion strokes, the oil now has to bear most of the burden. Shell’s Gareth Lowe explains how they monitor its effectiveness:”

I don’t quite see how ending in-race refueling also ended fuel entering the cylinder between combustion cycles. Isn’t fuel entering the cylinder between combustion strokes pretty much the definition of an internal combustion engine?

Comment on Inside Ferrari’s trackside F1 fuel lab by antoine

antoine — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:57:25 +0000

An excellent read and very rigorous as always Mr C.

Comment on Inside Ferrari’s trackside F1 fuel lab by Jnr

Jnr — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:55:51 +0000

What is the ‘Nazi rocket fuel’ theory??

Comment on What next for Kimi Raikkonen? by Siperoth

Siperoth — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:33:14 +0000

Kimi’s form didn’t end in 2008, it just never started at Ferrari. Or maybe actually it did, in 2009 after Massa got a spring in the head when all the attention focused on his car.
Kimi was mediocre in 2007 too despite winning the championship. He won it but the performances he gave while driving the Mclaren weren’t really there.
The reason wasn’t really that he lost his ability, it simply was that he never fit in the Ferrari environment. That’s why Massa that has less skill was able to match him.After Schumi Ferrari depended on the driver too much on bossing them around and showing them the light. Kimi wasn’t that guy, he just wanted a fast car to drive. So the Ferrari system was rarely able to give him a fitting to his style car simply because they need the driver to force them to make that. So Massa that was better talker and socializer usually managed to make the mechanics give him a better car.
On the other hand Mclaren isn’t like that. They hear the basic input of the driver but other than that they don’t need him to meddle too much, they just put all the data into their computers and come up with what they will do next. That way was perfect for Kimi because Mclaren was perfect at giving him a decently set-up car with out too much fanfare from his side.
With out the driver putting his nose too much in it Ferrari had to try and prepare his car in a similar to Mclaren way but in the end that ain’t their style so they couldn’t do as good of a job as Mclaren can and the car was never feeling one with him like those Mclaren cars used to do. And because of that when Kimi was driving a Ferrari there was always something that seemed to be missing.

Comment on What next for Kimi Raikkonen? by Chaz

Chaz — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 17:06:15 +0000

Enjoyable piece. I personally never thought Kimi deserved all the hype he got. He’s to much of a pouty drama so and so. I have more respect for drivers who fight their corner and take the rough with the smooth to the very end, something Kimi arguable did do initially but not in the end. He should enjoy his millions and no more need be said of him. Many already find themselves saying Kimi who?… and so be it for a legacy…