{"id":3396,"date":"2017-03-03T18:22:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T18:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/f1vault.co.uk\/?p=3396"},"modified":"2017-03-03T18:22:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-03T18:22:00","slug":"f1-today-03032016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/f1-today-03032016\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 Today \u2013 03\/03\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Honda admits to engine concerns<\/strong><\/p>\n

Honda has admitted that they have concerns about the new engine specification ahead of this month\u2019s opening round of the season. The Japanese manufacturer had a tough start to testing with an issue with the oil tank on the first day which developed into a more serious issue the next day.<\/p>\n

As well as the technical issues, it appears as if Honda hasn\u2019t brought the step up in performance it was looking for. This has prompted reports that McLaren was having to run in a state that produced less power than it had in 2016.<\/p>\n

But Honda’s chief Yusuke Hasegawa insists that the oil tank redesign will not be a big job, but the fact the day two failure is a mystery was a proper concern.<\/p>\n

Hasegawa told Spanish network Movistar \u201cThe first day we had an oil system issue. Normally the oil tank has to manage the oil level but this year we had some bad oil management so that is why we need to modify the oil tank system.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second day we had a mechanical issue and still we don’t know the root cause of the problem. This is more fundamental and more serious I think.\u201d He added. Hasegawa says that the oil tank issue will be resolved by Melbourne, but was unsure about the mechanical issue.<\/p>\n

Honda is planning to introduce its Melbourne-specification engine at the second Barcelona test next week, but its plan could be impacted by the results of the investigation into the failure. But if a flaw is found it could mean that plan could be delayed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Regulation changes \u2018fix everything\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sebastian Vettel says that the regulation changes has “fix everything” compared to the previous generation because they have so much grip. Ferrari was fastest by two-tenths on Wednesday ahead of the Mercedes, giving hope they could fight for the title.<\/p>\n

When asked by Autosport what impressed him about the car compared to last year’s Ferrari, Vettel said \u201cFrom a driver’s point of view it’s better everywhere. Braking is better, cornering is better, you’ve got more grip.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen in low-speed corners when arguably the downforce effect is less big, you have more grip from the tyres. It works pretty much like an aspirin, it fixes pretty much everything. It’s difficult to compare [to 2016], it’s a different animal, different beast.\u201d He added.<\/p>\n

This week Ferrari have looked strong, but Vettel says that \u2018they could have done better\u2019 and because \u2018everyone is pushing like crazy. The German admitted the first three days could have been better.<\/p>\n

Vettel is expecting that every driver would have been happy with the first impressions of the car because of the effect of the new rules but says there are more important things going on in testing beyond the headline times.<\/p>\n

He said \u201cIt feels better than last year but I think everyone is saying that. When you can go faster as a driver it’s always nice to be able to push harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mercedes hold advantage \u2013 Verstappen <\/strong><\/p>\n

Max Verstappen says that he has no doubts that Mercedes will still hold the advantage going into the new season, but believes that his Red Bull team is closing the gap to the German team.<\/p>\n

This week in testing Mercedes has proved despite the regulation changes that they could still be the team to beat this season, and that\u2019s without the team showing their real performance. It is thought Mercedes have retained their power advantage after the team made gains over the winter.<\/p>\n

Red Bull is expected to be the closest team to Mercedes on track, hoping that engine supplier Renault has made gains. The target for the French manufacturer is .3 seconds a lap. But that could prove not enough to catch the silver arrows.<\/p>\n

Verstappen hopes steps planned later in the campaign will allow it to do so. He said \u201cFor sure they still will have an advantage over us in the beginning of the season, power-wise. But I think we are definitely catching up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Mercedes, Red Bull had a fairly low key four days at Barcelona, focusing on reliability running rather than trying to go for headline times. Verstappen says the teams aim again is mileage and testing parts out.<\/p>\n

Adding \u201cWe’ve done quite a bit of mileage and also for me to get used to the car and also the whole team to understand the new type of car. I think we did a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hamilton welcomes Brawns experiments idea<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton has welcomed the idea by his former boss and F1\u2019s sporting director Ross Brawn, for non-championship races to be used to experiment with race formats.<\/p>\n

Brawn told Sky Sports earlier this week of the idea. The current race weekend format was introduced in 2006, with three practices, qualifying and the race. That followed tweaks mid-season and remained until the first two races of last season.<\/p>\n

Following criticism of the knock-out system used in Australia and China last season, there was this feeling that race weekends shouldn\u2019t be used for experimentation.<\/p>\n

Hamilton said \u201cThat doesn’t sound like a terrible idea! A new format is definitely needed for Formula 1. Thursday to Sunday has been the same for the last 11 years.\u201d The idea is these races teams could compete for prize money but not points.<\/p>\n

But it’s the opportunity for the sport to change its traditional format which most appeals to Hamilton. He says \u201cLook at Monaco, you can’t overtake there so maybe we should do something different to spice it up – maybe a sprint race. Monaco should be different from the others.\u201d<\/p>\n

He praised Liberty for coming up with new ideas saying \u201cThe potential of Formula 1 has not been reached in terms of global success.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

F1 more challenging than we though <\/strong><\/p>\n

Liberty Media say running Formula One has been more challenging that they expected but they have also discovered huge potential rewards. The American company took over the ownership of the sport last year, vowing to make it more spectacular for the fans.<\/p>\n

Liberty president and CEO Greg Maffei also stressed that F1’s profit margins will not rise in the short term, as the company will have to invest. Speaking to Motorsport.com Maffei said, \u201cI think everything that we thought about this business and the opportunity as we did our due diligence, and the time we spent prior to purchasing F1, has only been confirmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

“There is enormous opportunity in areas like sponsorship, in the short term.\u201d He added. Maffei says there are long-term opportunities around digital, including virtual reality, broadcasting and create more revenues around the weekend.<\/p>\n

He admitted these will take time and profits are unlikely to rise in the short term and these would require investment. Maffei says these changes are not going to be easy to implement, because of the way the sport works politically.<\/p>\n

But added \u201cI think there’s uniformity about many of the actions we can take to do that. Whether we can execute on those, how long it will take, that’s still open.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maffei thinks \u201cthere’s a lot of consensus around ideas that could make this sport more compelling, to the benefit of all players, the teams, the fans, the regulators, and the F1 commercial entity. A lot of alignment on those.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Big progress but not enough<\/strong><\/p>\n

Romain Grosjean says that Pirelli has made big progress with the wet tyre but says the intermediate gets “destroyed” too quickly. Yesterday Pirelli devoted the last day to the wet tyre, artificially soaked the track several times to simulate bad weather conditions.<\/p>\n

Although it has been hard to keep on-track water levels consistent, Grosjean said he learned enough to get a positive first impression of the new wets. Speaking yesterday following the wet test he told Autosport \u201cIt is quite interesting, the wet. There is a lot of progress made from last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intermediates are really good for one lap and then they get destroyed a bit too early, so some work is to be done. But generally, it’s a good step from where we ended up last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nico Hulkenberg added the soaked circuit was not been ideal because the surface was drying too quickly in the sunshine. Adding the teams were reluctant to run too much in tricky conditions because they are light on spare parts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn’t the most efficient I think, but we tried at least. We didn’t do that much running because they had to wet the track and it really dried pretty quickly, so was straight into inter conditions.<\/p>\n

“I went out one run on full wets and one run on inters to see how the car reacts and it went quite OK and I was happy with that.\u201d Said Hulkenberg<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Montreal agrees on another contract extension<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Wednesday, organisers of the Canadian Grand Prix have announced a five-year extension to their contract, meaning the race will remain in Montr\u00e9al until 2029.<\/p>\n

Last year, it was announced the circuit has signed a deal until 2024 subject to them carrying out the beginning of their upgrade programme. There had been doubts over the race\u2019s future after they fell behind on the improvement programme for 2017.<\/p>\n

However, organisers have since reached an agreement which includes a commitment to upgrade the garage facilities following Liberty Media’s successful takeover of the sport. promoter Francois Dumontier told Motorsport.com \u201cIt’s a long contract and one which gives us time to plan and to work on improving the facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the new garages arriving in 2019, extending the contract was important. We will start work with the city, who own the circuit, to work on the plans and drawings and plan a construction schedule for the new garages.\u201d He added.<\/p>\n

Dumontier added that the pit lane would be demolished following the 2018 race.<\/p>\n

Speaking about ticket sales, he said that Lance Stroll, who makes his debut in Melbourne has had a positive effect.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You can read a full review of the first pre-season test here<\/a>. The second test begins on Tuesday and we will be bringing full coverage once again! <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Honda admits to engine concerns Honda has admitted that they have concerns about the new engine specification ahead of this month\u2019s opening round of the season. The Japanese manufacturer had a tough start to testing with an issue with the oil tank on the first day which developed into a more serious issue the next<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[43,254,357,358,420,664,674,675,709,754,774,799,861,882,921,1153,1154,1283,1287,1289,1298,1369,1574,1637,1642,1650,1656,1707,1715,1791,1843,2188],"class_list":["post-3396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-analysis","tag-43","tag-barcelona","tag-canadian-gp","tag-canadian-grand-prix","tag-circuit-gilles-villeneuve","tag-f1","tag-f1-testing","tag-f1-today","tag-ferrari","tag-formula-one","tag-francois-dumontier","tag-future-of-f1","tag-greg-maffei","tag-haas","tag-honda","tag-liberty","tag-liberty-media","tag-max-verstappen","tag-mclaren","tag-mclaren-honda","tag-mercedes","tag-montreal","tag-pre-season-testing","tag-red-bull","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-regulations","tag-renault","tag-romain-grosjean","tag-ross-brawn","tag-sebastian-vettel","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-yusuke-hasegawa"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3396\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}