Formula 1
This weekend, August 25, the 11th stage of Formula 1 “Belgian Grand Prix” will be held on the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. The season of 2013 will cross its halfway point. According to the results of the past Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing — Renault) tops the table with 172 points. Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus — Renault) is the second with 134 points. Hot on his tail with only 1 point less is the pilot of Ferrari Fernando Alonso. The first place in the Constructors' Championship is taken by Red Bull Racing — Renault (277), second place is held by Mercedes (208), and Ferrari with 194 points shows the third result.
So what has been going on in the world of Formula 1 since the beginning of August?
It all began with the shocking news for the Russian Formula 1 fans. On July 31 the deadline for preliminary Grand Prix applications in 2014 expired. But Russia missed this application deadline. As it turned out the Russian Automobile Federation (RAF) and the organizer of Grand Prix JSC Omega had not agreed on a number of counts. Right now an active negotiation process and search for mutually beneficial solution are in progress. It is possible for RAF to proceed with the application due to force-majeure till the end of August. According to the general director of JSC Omega Oleg Zabara and RAF executive director Sergey Ivanov quoted by Autosport, the majority of issues had already been settled down and there are only a few ‘required formalities’ left. In spite of some ‘paper’ difficulties the construction of Grand Prix objects is ongoing according to schedule as stated by Omega representatives. Right now the availability of the circuit and its infrastructure is 70–75%.
Talks are still going on that it is necessary to limit the budgets of teams in order to preserve their amount in Formula 1. According to Lotus team principal Éric Boullier, while such giants as Ferrari and Mercedes are able to afford spending almost unlimited budgets on construction of race cars and participation in races, for small teams such financial burden becomes more and more unsustainable. In particular 35% of shares of Lotus were sold to Infinity Racing in order to keep the team floating in the near future. Besides that negotiations with the new partner are conducted. Another team considered as the most likely candidate for bankruptcy is Sauber. Though team principal Monisha Kaltenborn gives an outright denial of not the best situation at the Swiss stables, partnership arrangements with three Russian government-owned companies (Investment Cooperation International Fund, State Fund of Development of North-West Russian Federation and the National Institute of Aviation Technologies) is a true ‘life ring’ for Sauber. And for Russia it gives a chance to have its pilot in Formula 1 again. Sergey Sirotkin (whose father Oleg is in charge of NIAT), who is now participating in Formula Renault 3.5 Series, in 2014 might become a pilot of Sauber race car. However the situation with the contract is so much awash with rumours that the team had to make an official statement that there are no any problems with the contract funding. Amid this on August 20 Russian mass media reported that Oleg Sirotkin asked Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko to help with funding of participation of his son in Formula 1.
Another news is of ‘English-Russian’ origin. After quitting the nominally Russian team Marussia its former technical consultant Pat Symonds joined Williams as chief technical officer. Once in office he had already visited the team base and is now going to the Spa circuit in order to monitor the work of team’s technical department. Among the major tasks of Symonds are debugging of the current race car FW35 and development of the new team race car. Marussia states that the British specialist had created great technical structure and the team does not have the task to find a new technical consultant by any means. The search is in progress but only ‘the best specialist’ will suit, as stated by the team.
Kimi Räikkönen has not yet made up his mind about his future. While Lotus does not guarantee any financial stability for the upcoming season, the pilot is considering other possibilities in his career. Joining Red Bull Racing is definitively not an option anymore, all team negotiations are over. Observers do not rule out the possibility of pilot’s return to Ferrari team for which Kimi had been successfully driving from 2007 till 2009. Pilot's manager Steve Robertson confirmed the possibility of such scenario but Scuderia is much more preoccupied with the sport results during the current season than with the plans for 2014. Lotus would like to keep the Finnish pilot but is not ready to increase its budget for this purpose. However the financial aspect might become crucial in case the team is not able to confirm its financial stability and its plans for 2014.
World Rally Championship
World Rally Championship. Almost stock cars, ordinary roads. Unordinary pilots and speed which is beyond limits of an average car. 2013 season has symbolic 13 rounds and 8 of them are already behind. This weekend, on August 22–25 the 9th round — ADAC rally Germany — will be held. Right now the World Championship tops Sébastien Ogier who was called ‘the next Sébastien Loeb’ even in the legendary Loeb’s racing days. He now has to his credit 181 points. Precisely half as many points have his closest competitors — Jari-Matti Latvala and Thierry Neuville — who have 91 points each. Unlike Formula there is a Russian pilot in World Rally Championship this season. Evgeny Novikov, called ‘the Russian Rocket’, a member of Qatar M-Sport Rally Team is now 8th in the overall championship standings.
So is there any good news in the world of classic rally this August? The tyre company Pirelli, which is now the exclusive tyre supplier for Formula 1, will return to World Rally Championship starting from 2014. Right now the tyres for the WRC teams are supplied by Michelin, DMACK and Hankook. As stated by Jarmo Mahonen — FIA rally director — the federation is really happy about such decision of Italian tyre manufacturer as the competition between four brands will increase the selection of tyres for the sportsmen. It will also give companies an additional motivation to look for interesting technological solutions.
Hyundai racing team which is going to take part in the World Rally Championship next year with its i20 Coupe continues an active work on the car. The company’s team principal Michel Nandan gave a positive evaluation of both the work which had already been done and also the vector in which the project develops. The car has already taken part in big gravel tests held in France. Its performance potential was tested by such pilots as Chris Atkinson, Juho Hänninen and Bryan Bouffier. In spite of some difficulties, all in all the tests showed great results.
In the middle of August the organizer of the World Rally Championship presented the preliminary calendar for the next year to the FIA. Despite the rumours that due to the economic crises the World Championship will lose the Acropolis Rally of Greece, this race remained in 2014 calendar. In any case the provided calendar is preliminary and the Federation has some work on rounding out all the rough corners.
Quite a complicated question of allocation of starting position on WRC stages was being again actively discussed in August. On gravel stages the first teams have to lose speed and ‘clear’ the track from small stones and sand as adhesion with the road surface is much worse with them. This gives the next contestants an advantage. According to the current procedure, the WRC pilots choose starting position on the basis of the time shown during the qualifying special stage of the rally: the fastest pilot in qualification gets the right to be the first one to choose the starting position, then comes the turn for the pilot who was second in qualification, and so on. “It seems like giving presents to the already fastest guys out there” — was the comment of FIA’s rally director Jarmo Mahonen on the current system. He noted that the qualification procedure would certainly be changed in 2014, but he also pointed out that it was a complicated question and it was necessary to solve it in the most compromising way. Though it is obvious that the leaders will not like the changes.
World Rally Championship leader Sébastien Ogier in his interview to Autosport stated that after finishing his rally career he was open to racing in the German DTM series. The car prepared for taking part in this series — Audi RS 5- was tested by the Frenchman on the Nürburgring circuit under the supervision of team’s pilot Mattias Ekström. But, as pointed out by Sébastien, those are plans for the future, and right now all his thoughts are turned to become World Rally champion.
World Touring Cars Championship
World Touring Cars Championship, which visited Russia for the first time this year by the way (the 6th round of WTCC was held on “Moscow Raceway” race track located near Moscow), has now entered its final stage. The contestants have 4 out of 12 rounds to go. The leading position is now taken by a not very young but very experienced French driver Yvan Muller, who is competing in the rally under the sponsorship of LUKOIL. He is scoring 132 points. His closest competitor is Michel Nykjær with 180 points. The third line is taken by also not very young but very cheerful and joyous Italian driver Gabriele Tarquini who is scoring 166 points. The next series stage will be held on September 7 and 8 on the race track in the USA, Sonoma, California.
The major news in the World Touring sports this summer is probably the information that Citroën is planning to enter the competitions next season. For this purpose the special version of C-Elysée sedan has already been developed. The car’s engine is unified with the turbocharged 1.6-litre powertrain from DS3 WRC. It will have 380 horsepower. This car has become the first ‘touring’ project for Citroën after many years.
The second news is related to the first one. The pilot of this masterpiece of engineering in 2014 WTCC season will be no other than Sébastien Loeb who after winning all and more than all of titles and ranks, which were sometimes just inconceivable, finished his career in world rally. But he did not part with his ‘double chevrons’. His partner will be his fellow-countryman and the current touring leader Yvan Muller. The pilots have already conducted tests of the new car and were pleased with the results despite of the fact that this is the first touring project for Citroën Racing. Yet Muller, who had competed in teams from different countries before, admitted that it would take some time for him to get used to communicating with the team members using his native language. “I’ve been working with teams from other countries for so many years that I now catch myself thinking that I can’t always find the correct technical term in my mother tongue”, confessed the pilot.
Starting from 2014 the new technical regulations come into force in the WTCC. The rules have not been yet officially approved but the major participating teams have already started developing new models. The new Citroën car in particular was built taking into account the new regulations. Development of new car versions is already being conducted by Lada, Seat and Honda. Here are the changes: it was agreed to increase engine power output from the current 310 hp to 380 hp; the list of permitted modifications with reference to the standard versions will also be increased; wheel arches will be widened; the cars will now have larger wheels thus making them look more attractive. The Russian team Lada Sport Lukoil has already conducted tests of the renovated car. The car pilot was James Thompson.
The new technical regulations might become the reason for BMW to leave the World Touring completely. The works team ceased its performance in 2010 but the Bavarians supported private teams. But now the car manufacturer states that it does not have an engine on the base of which they could build 380 hp unit according to the new rules. This means that not very rich private teams will have to shelter behind the backs of works leaders and compete only within the bounds of their category. Right now the parties are looking for a compromise. Among other things the representatives of the private teams offer not to impose restrictions, which are stating that from 2015 only cars built in compliance with the new regulations will be admitted. This will deprive the touring competitions of the noticeable part of the peloton. But the Bavarians will still have their own DTM which is now not worse whatever the outcome.
