Selection box - We love what we do - From Russia with love, Red Bull, oil prices, CFD and more
Published by Christine
Red Bull are dominating the news at the moment. If it wasn't their trial run of the canopy in Russia, it was their drivers causing chaos in Russia, or it was their post-race reaction of swapping one perfectly capable driver for another. I've searched the web for some interesting articles and have come up with some that cover all those topics, but let's start with something else first.
I'm always fascinated by driver behaviour, considering the pressures they're under and the unique situations they find themselves in. Here we have a couple of posts about drivers - firstly, that they don't need to be quite so reserved, and secondly, that they make very difficult teammates.
We don't need actors on the stage but why are the drivers generally not more excited? I guess they've just become used to success in the best cars. I think there are too many races, and the drivers are subjected to relentless media and PR year round and especially over a race weekend. They learn to say less to avoid internet headlines and lectures from the team if they are off-message.
The story of two of the greatest drivers that have ever lived reads like something out of Hollywood. Senna was the young Brazilian who drove these multimillion dollar machines like they were a child’s toy. He hated social hierarchies and became a champion of the poor in his third world homeland. Prost, nicknamed ‘The Professor’, was his ideological antithesis.
Now onto some more technological factors, the Sauber team have been getting arty with their computational fluid dynamics, whilst there's also an analysis of 3D printing in the modern automotive environment.
The image in this post is one that could be categorised as hydrodynamics rather than the more common aerodynamics. One of the great things about CFD is that the “F” for fluid covers both liquids and gases since in general we can say they both follow the same basic laws. So we can model air flow over the car as well as the flow of liquids through various systems.
However, today 3D printing is being used for some end-use parts — a small number of components, proportionally speaking, and non-critical in terms of performance, which is testament to where 3D printing processes and the materials are up to — it is still early days for manufacturing. But it has arrived.
Finally, before we do turn our attention to the Russian race and it's ongoing fallout, a quick post about oil prices, sponsorship, and relying on one source.
While the current price of crude has raised questions over the long-term viability of some of the more oil-dependent venues on the F1 calendar, one of the sport’s biggest names is a petrochemical giant committed to Formula 1 through sponsorship and partnership: Shell.
Several insiders have posted their reviews of the Russian Grand Prix weekend, including Felipe Massa who has a fantastic new column to read this year, and Sky F1 commentator David Croft ponders the Red Bull windscreen.
The weekend was good right from the start. Williams does not normally find itself in good positions during FP1 and FP2 practice on Friday, because we prefer to conduct all our work in race trim. The engineers also like to focus their analysis on tyre degradation, which means a strict programme of long runs, so it rarely happens that myself or Valtteri Bottas end up in the top five on the Friday charts.
And if we’re talking aesthetics I liked it, well I liked it way more than the ‘Halo’ anyway. It had a futuristic feel to it and didn't jar visually with me. But aesthetics aren't really what this subject is all about and let’s face it, how many times do we originally not like the look of a Formula 1 car after a regulation change, only to not even think about it a few races later? - See more at: http://www.silverstone.co.uk/news/crofty-blog-russia-2016/#sthash.yvWpqnVl.dpuf
Pirelli really needed to be more aggressive with their tyre choices for the Russian Grand Prix. The decision this season to give the drivers the option on which compounds they chose from the three available has been successful. Strategies have been mixed up, with teams more able to take chances on alternative pit-stop options.
Finally, the Kvyat situation. I've got a post about what has happened and potential reasons why, as well as some insider news from Red Bull... before they made such a startling shake-up to the team.
He also knows the Red Bull team inside out and knows the ins-and-outs of the package they have. With Max they are getting an incredibly talented driver who likes to take the risk, but wouldn’t you get that with Kvyat? Red Bull know they have a gem in Verstappen and with teams watching over his performances closely with race seats potentially open for next season, perhaps Red Bull had to make the move to ensure he stayed loyal.
Globalisation is handy if you just want a decent cup of coffee and a blueberry muffin, but it can sometimes feel like everywhere is the same. Russia definitely isn't the same. From the moment you touch down in Sochi and walk past the flinty stares of the soldiers in the big hats, you know you're through the looking glass.
