Moto3 updates; Kent, Oliveira, Sissis…
With the seasons end fast approaching, riders and teams will be trying frantically to snap up riders they so desperately crave for 2014, and the Moto3 shake up is yet to fully sort itself out.
Danny Kent, Miguel Oliveira and Arther Sissis are three of the big movers, and must all be considered genuine title threats to the settled Estrella Galicia duo of Alex’s Rins and Marquez.
Danny Kent’s move back to the factory Ajo KTM is the biggest move, as the Brit moves back to the Red Bull backed team after a testing year in Moto2 with the Tech3 team. Kent goes back, with “unfinished business” to the Moto3 class, which saw him win two races, and finish fourth in the World Championship last year.
The Ajo team which is loosing Luis Salom and dumping Arther Sissis should announce Kent as Jack Miller and Karel Hanika’s team mate for 2014 within the coming week.
But with Sissis being unceremoniously dumped from the factory KTM team, where does that leave the Australian? Well there had been some rumours that he was being lined up by the Mahindra squad who will loose Vazquez and may even loose Miguel Oliveira. Sissis’ team mate Zulfahmi Khairuddin is also being considered for the one of the Mahindra’s.
Oliveira hopes to leave the Indian brand as he hopes to mount a serious title challenge, and he hopes take the ride of the departing Maverick Viñales, the Kalvo KTM. Viñales will move to the Pons Moto2 team, leaving his Spanish Championship rival his KTM bike for next season. Oliveira has shown the form which saw him consistently being Viñales in the Spanish Championship, and Oliveira see’s the KTM as a better all-round package than the Mahindra.
There is however an issue with Oliveira’s move to the Calvo KTM team. The Portuguese rider signed a contract for 2014 with Mahindra, and Mahindra plan to hold to hold him to the contract he’s signed, and they’ve already fended off Aki Ajo’s advances.
Oliveira is optimistic that the team will release him, and told German media he is, because ‘you can’t hold a rider against his will’ (somebody needs to explain a contract to poor Miguel) however, with Efren Vazquez moving to the Racing Team Germany in place of Jack Miller, the Mahindra team faces the very real proposition of loosing both of their riders.
But with the GP paddock tripping over each other as they spend the next three weeks clocking up the air miles, expecting most of these deals to be announced and rubber stamped by the time the chequered flag drops in Motegi.
Iannone forced to withdraw at Aragon
The first leg of a challenging overseas tripleheader in the MotoGP World Championship took place today at the Sepang International Circuit, where Andrea Iannone’s day ended prematurely.
Andrea Iannone, Pram … Keep reading
Special thanks to: motorsport.com
Top ten for Hernandez at Aragon
The first round of the final MotoGP World Championship tripleheader at the Sepang International Circuit ended today with a rousing tenth place finish for Yonny Hernandez in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd that filled the grandstands.
… Keep reading
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How much do F1 cars develop during the year?
With both drivers’ and constructors’ championships nearly settled in favour of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull, most teams have officially stopped development of their 2013 car to concentrate on the rules changes coming next season there will be few new parts coming to the remaining races of the year. However when the parts are coming thick and fast earlier in the season both teams and drivers often talk of the developments bringing several tenths of a second per lap. Over the season then these developments must make the cars whole seconds faster from one year to the next. The FIA in an attempt to control speeds though change the rules each winter to make things difficult for the teams.
In an attempt to try and work out how each of the teams do in developing their cars through the year, I have compared the best qualifying time for each team in 2012 and 2013 at the Australian, Hungarian and Japanese GP’s. At the first Grand Prix of the year the difference between qualifying in 2012 and 2013 looked like this:
Australia |
2012 |
2013 |
improvement |
Marussia/Cosworth |
1’34.253 |
 1’30.454 |
3.799 |
Lotus/Renault |
1’30.759 |
1’29.274 |
1.485 |
Mercedes |
1’30.931 |
1’29.759 |
1.172 |
Caterham/Renault |
1’33.214 |
1’32.261 |
0.953 |
Toro Rosso/Ferrari |
1’30.274 |
1’29.498 |
0.776 |
Ferrari |
1’30.277 |
1’29.560 |
0.717 |
Force India/Mercedes |
1’30.605 |
1’30.710 |
-0.105 |
Red Bull/Renault |
1’29.417 |
1’29.732 |
-0.315 |
Williams/Renault |
1’30.254 |
1’30.652 |
-0.398 |
McLaren/Mercedes |
1’29.187 |
1’29.926 |
-0.739 |
Sauber/Ferrari |
1’30.620 |
1’31.415 |
-0.795 |
So while Marussia had a really poor 2012 (the cars barely having turned a wheel before the start of the season) and as a result had gained nearly 3.8 seconds on their performance by 2013, McLaren and Sauber were over 0.7 seconds slower than the previous season. However it is also surprising that at this stage of the season the Red Bull is slower in 2013 than it was in 2012 with a drop in performance that Is nearly at the level of Williams. Ferrari had improved significantly but so had backmarker teams Toro Rosso and Caterham. Mercedes and Lotus however really got off to a strong start in 2013 compared to 2012.
By the halfway point in the season (Hungary) the situation has changed.
Hungary |
2012 |
2013 |
improvement |
Mercedes |
1’21.895 |
 1’19.388 |
2.507 |
Ferrari |
1’21.844 |
1’19.791 |
2.053 |
Red Bull/Renault |
1’21.416 |
1’19.426 |
1.99 |
Lotus/Renault |
1’21.366 |
1’19.595 |
1.771 |
Toro Rosso/Ferrari |
1’22.380 |
1’20.641 |
1.739 |
Marussia/Cosworth |
1’25.244 |
1’23.787 |
1.457 |
Sauber/Ferrari |
1’21.895 |
1’20.580 |
1.315 |
Force India/Mercedes |
1’21.813 |
1’20.569 |
1.244 |
Williams/Renault |
1’21.939 |
1’21.133 |
0.806 |
Caterham/Renault |
1’23.576 |
1’23.007 |
0.569 |
McLaren/Mercedes |
1’20.953 |
1’20.777 |
0.176 |
By this stage of the season, all teams have improved, even the struggling McLaren is now faster than it was in 2012. Mercedes and Ferrari have improved the most in the 12 months to Hungary, but crucially Red Bull are not far behind.  Marussia are also keeping up with the average rate of development, while Caterham seem to be struggling to keep up.
Moving now to Japan we can see that some teams have fallen behind where they were 12 months ago, perhaps indicating that they have switched development onto the 2014 car.
Japan |
2012 |
2013 |
improvement |
Mercedes |
1’32.469 |
 1’31.253 |
1.216 |
Marussia/Cosworth |
1’35.213 |
1’34.320 |
0.893 |
Ferrari |
1’32.114 |
1’31.378 |
0.736 |
Lotus/Renault |
1’31.898 |
1’31.365 |
0.533 |
Williams/Renault |
1’32.512 |
1’32.013 |
0.499 |
Toro Rosso/Ferrari |
1’32.954 |
1’32.485 |
0.469 |
Force India/Mercedes |
1’32.327 |
1’31.992 |
0.335 |
Caterham/Renault |
1’34.657 |
1’34.556 |
0.101 |
Sauber/Ferrari |
1’31.700 |
1’31.644 |
0.056 |
Red Bull/Renault |
1’30.839 |
1’30.915 |
-0.076 |
McLaren/Mercedes |
1’31.290 |
1’31.827 |
-0.537 |
The improvement for all teams at this stage is less than it was in Hungary possibly as a result of how much closer the title fight was last season (and the rules staying relatively stable) meaning that the teams were still developing the cars at this stage of the season in 2012, while it has certainly dropped off in 2013. It isn’t really surprising that McLaren have thrown in the towel after such a poor season, but to see Red Bull slower than 2012 is surprising. Mercedes and Ferrari certainly haven’t given up quite yet. At the other end of the grid, Marussia are also developing at a faster rate than Caterham.
So, while we cannot accurately see just how much progress the teams have made during the season (as the regulation and tyre changes make that impossible), we can see that the smaller teams do develop their cars as much as the better funded outfits. It is just that they aren’t improving faster than the teams in front of them that gives the impression that they aren’t improving.
Whether the apparent continued development of Mercedes, Marussia and Ferrari at this stage of the season will harm their respective preparations for 2014 remains to be seen. Of course since I have only compared with the teams’ performance with this point last year, it may be that those teams switched to their 2013 car early in the 2012 season.
So with Red Bull appearing to ease up on their development rate, while Ferrari continue to push, could we see a surprise result come the end of the year? At the other end of the field, will Marrusia’s faster development rate finally get them 10th place in the constructors’ championship, or will Caterham manage to rescue the position again?
Via formula1blog