Selection box - Behind the F1 curtain - Pulling the covers off new cars, and a peek at life on the other side
Published by Christine
With F1 starting to wake up again, and teams beginning to reveal their new cars, the excitement and anticipation of an upcoming season is slowly building. While we're waiting for the rest of the launches, testing to begin and the season itself to start, I've got a handy few links for you to peruse.
The first is a great post that gives a unique view of life within Formula One. There are many insights into how to break through into F1, how to get that coveted job whether it is driver, mechanic or engineer, but what's life like once you are there?
Each one of these people has to have a seat on a plane and a bed organised as well as there uniforms and suitcases. This requires a team of people who's job it is to book all the flights and hotels and another team to distribute the uniforms. This is not only the race kit but the travel kit that is worn in between so we look like a team on and off the track.
McLaren are building up to their launch next week, with a teaser video of the launch of the car. That's kind of like the teaser trailers for the movie trailers for the films that emerge from Hollywood. Announcement of an announcement anyone? However, they've also kicked off a new series of columns with a very special guest writer on the McLaren site.
At first I used to ask myself, a tad guiltily, “Should I be doing more to prepare for next season?” But soon I realised that, no, on the contrary, that rest and relaxation was not only pleasant but also essential. For an athlete to be able to perform at the peak of his or her ability, he or she must be in top form not only physically but also mentally. And a crucial stage in attaining that top form is the initial unwinding stage, to clear the athlete’s mind, and thereby remove the accumulated stresses and strains. I used to sleep a hell of a lot in December.
It wouldn't be the build up to a Formula One season without lingering unknowns about driver lineups or F1 schedules. This time, it's about the German Grand Prix, with initial doubts about its presence at the Nürburgring now growing to concern about the race as a whole.
Hockenheim currently has a contract for 2016 and 2018 and is understood to be trying to negotiate a rate for a 2015 race with FOM that reflects falling revenues from paying spectators, almost the only source of income for an F1 race promoter. Whether that negotiation also includes discussion about the price for 2016 and 2018 is not known.
Next up, a fabulous interview with young driver Beitske Visser about her motorsport career so far, and what her prospects are for the future. Her ultimate goal is Formula One, but with such stiff competition and the superlicences getting stricter criteria, it could be a tough mountain to climb.
Something that I have always thought about since I really started taking racing and ,in particular, single-seater racing is; why there is such a low concentration of female drivers in, not only Formula One, but junior series’ too? Is it harder for women to get seats and sponsorship because there is roughly twenty four male drivers per female driver? I decided to go find out, so I had a chat with Beitske Visser about the aforementioned issues and what her career prospects are. Visser has recently signed on for a second season in World Series with Renault with AVFormula.
For those that prefer the technical aspects of Formula One, the new launch season being upon us must come as a blessing. Sadly, Adrian Newey's expertise will be distant and lacking in the future, as the super designer takes a step back from F1. He's still got plenty of opinions, though, in this case particularly about the power unit competition.
Newey’s backwards step, after over three decades at the forefront of F1, has been interpreted as an expression of disillusionment with the sport’s new power-centric bias. However, the 56-year-old insists he approves of the current balance of influence between aerodynamic design and engine power in F1. “With a slightly weaker engine but a superior chassis you can still win and vice versa,” Newey told Rachel Brookes at an exhibition at the London Classic Car Show celebrating his career in motorsport.
We started with some insight into F1 and we'll end on a similar theme. Ted Kravitz took his trusty notebook to Mexico to cover the launch of the Force India car, and he shared some of his findings with the fans that stayed at home.
Ted Kravitz’s first notebook of the year comes from the Force India launch in Mexico City. "We are here at the Museo Sumaya for the livery launch of the Force India VJM08. We'll talk about the car in just a minute, it's not really in any way the car you'll see racing this year. It's not even the correct nose but we'll get onto that in a minute."
