Category: Open Wheel Racing

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Honda, From Nadir to Zenith

SPIELBERG, AUSTRIA – JUNE 30: Race winner Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Aston Martin Red Bull Racing RB15 celebrates during the F1 Grand Prix of Austria at Red Bull Ring on June 30, 2019 in Spielberg, Austria. (Photo by Charles Coates/Getty Images)

‘Success represents the 1% of your work which results from the 99% of failure’ Soichiro Honda.

In 2015, Honda returned to Formula 1 and powered McLaren’s cars. That season, the Japanese manufacturer supplied Alonso’s and Button’s car with the Honda RA615H 1.6L engine. It was a tough season for McLaren and a difficult return in F1 for Honda, the engine was unreliable both drivers retired 12 times combined in the 2015 season. Kevin Magnussen, who replaced Alonso in the Australian Grand Prix, didn’t even start the race because his engine failed while he was driving to the grid.

In general, it was a disastrous season that everyone in McLaren and especially Honda would like to forget.

The following year, McLaren-Honda finished 6th in the constructors’ standings. Progress was made, considering the 9th position in 2015.

“Half happy and of course we are not satisfied at our current position,” said Hasegawa.

In 2017, Honda redesigned their engine and named it RA617H. Changes applied in 2017 rules, FIA dropped the regulation for limited engine development during one season, that gave the chance to the Japanese team to design a reliable motor. Honda’s official, Yusuke Hasegawa described the new design as “very high risk”.

“The concept is completely different. It’s very high risk, we don’t know a lot of things about that new concept. We know it will give us a performance advantage but the biggest risk is whether we can realise that potential this year.” Said Yusuke

Long story short, it was another disastrous season for McLaren-Honda. The engine was unreliable, Fernando Alonso finished 15th and Stoffel Vandoorne 16th. Jenson Button, who replaced Alonso in Monaco, retired due to suspension damage.

During the season, McLaren announced the end of the partnership with Honda, after three years.

Honda is a great company which, like McLaren, is in Formula 1 to win,” said Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa, McLaren Group Executive Chairman and Executive Committee principal.

“It is unfortunate that we must part ways with McLaren before fulfilling our ambitions, however, we made the decision with a belief that this is the best course of action for each other’s future,” commented Takahiro Hachigo, President and Director of Honda Motor.

SPIELBERG, AUSTRIA – JUNE 30: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Aston Martin Red Bull Racing RB15 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Austria at Red Bull Ring on June 30, 2019 in Spielberg, Austria. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Last season, Honda partnered with Toro Rosso and scored 33 points, more than the years with McLaren combined.

Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley retired three times due to engine issues, whilst in 2017 McLaren’s drivers forced to retire nine times for Honda related problems.

The positive results and the signs of improvement convinced Red Bull to offer a two-year contract to Honda for 2019 and 2020.

In Melbourne, Max Verstappen secured the first podium for Red Bull Racing-Honda. That was the first podium for the Japanese manufacturer after their return to Formula 1 in 2015.

That was the beginning of a new era for Honda, eight races later, Verstappen wins the Austrian Grand Prix, the first win for Honda in the hybrid PU Era and the first since 2006.

Honda boss, Toyoharu Tanabe, had no idea what to do for Austrian GP podium.

“I was surprised when I was told to go [to the podium], I had no idea what I should do and that’s why I got to the podium later than other people. Normally you need to stay before the National Anthem – I thought I should be there for that but I was a bit late. But I joined after that. This was my first time – I was worried about what to do and no one told me!”

Max Verstappen had a bad start, dropped from second to seventh, but managed to recover and after some tremendous laps, passed both Bottas and Leclerc and reached his first victory in 2019.

The Japanese never give up, even when they face difficulties, they find the courage to fight back and overcome all the obstacles to reach their goal.

“We were strong, but for the next race, I cannot guarantee we’ll be a strong as in Austria” said Toyoharu Tanabe

As Formula 1 fan, I truly hope that Honda will remain competitive and will deliver reliable engines to Red Bull racing and Toro Rosso. The sport, needs strong teams to keep the competition high and increase the action during the races.

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British F3 – Josh Mason takes popular reverse-grid victory

Lanan Racing’s Josh Mason won the second British F3 race of the weekend to take his second career victory in the series.

After winning the same race behind the Safety Car at Silverstone last year, Mason calmly picked off Pavan Ravishankar and Kris Wright ahead of him to take a memorable victory at Donington Park.

Ravishankar had initially led away from pole position as Wright once again made a false start to compromise himself as the lights went out. The American would go on to receive a 10s penalty.

Manuel Maldonado took third place for Fortec Motorsport while Championship leader Clement Novalak claimed fourth place from eleventh on the grid to claim valuable overtaking points that are on offer in Race Two.

Three podium finishers from yesterday’s first race all found it much tougher going on Sunday morning.

Kiern Jewiss and Kaylen Frederick came to blows at the first corner, with Ferederick retiring and Jewiss fortunate to require only a front wing change, with the incident forcing Ayrton Simmons, second yesterday, to take to the gravel to avoid further traffic with Johnathan Hoggard also compromised.

That incident brought about the Safety Car, and it was after that period that the decision move for the win came about, as Ravishankar locked up and ran well wide at Redgate and Mason slipped through on the inside.

Mason would never relinquish the lead, but it got worse for yesterday’s race-winner, as suspected contact with Simmons at the Old Hairpin forced Hoggard off into the gravel and out of the race with three laps to go.

Benjamin Pedersen took sixth for Douglas Motorsport ahead of Double R’s Hampus Ericsson, Ulysse De Pauw ended the race seventh ahead of Double R’s Neil Verhagen  while Sassakorn Chaimongkol and the recovering Jewiss completed the top ten.

Nazim Azman was running third for much of the race, but ran wide on two occasions to drop back to eleventh, with Lucas Petersson ending the race twelfth.

 

IMAGE: JAKOB EBREY

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Jean Eric Bern!: Vergne claims victory in Switzerland

Jean-Eric Vergne cemented his status at the top of the championship yesterday by claiming a dominant third victory on the streets of Switzerland. Starting from pole position, the reigning French champion looked unbothered in the penultimate round of Formula E, managing to hold off an aggressive Mitch Evans to seal the win and extend his lead to 32 points over his nearest rival,  Techeetah teammate Andre Lotterer, with Evans and hometown hero Sebastien Buemi taking the last two podium positions.

Qualifying was again crucial as the drivers had limited track time yesterday in shakedown with the circuit nestled in the streets of Bern still being built. Di Grassi was the first man out on track, hoping to consolidate his second placed position in the Driver’s Championship, but it was Techeetah’s Vergne who impressed to scoop the top spot in the first group, ahead of his teammate Lotterer and Robin Frijns by three tenths. However, Vergne’s lead was soon eroded by Mitch Evans, winner of the previous ePrix held in Switzerland whilst Sebastien Buemi and Daniel Abt slotted into P3 and P4 respectively at the halfway mark. Edo Mortara, another local, on the other hand struggled and could only scrape into P14 in his Venturi whilst Pascal Wehrlein continued his excellent qualifying form by snatching P3, the rookie’s fifth appearance in superpole seemed inevitable. The final group could not challenge Evans’ lightning-quick time, bar Maxi Gunther who took P5, an excellent showing for the rookie hoping to impress ahead of the new season. Evans took the spoils in the initial stages, followed by Vergne, Wehrlein, Buemi, Gunther and Bird.

Photo by Alastair Staley / LAT Images

Bird set the initial pace with a decent time of 1.19.536 in the opening superpole stages, but his time was soon eclipsed by Gunther who found an additional one tenth in his Dragon. The track conditions continued to evolve as Buemi was the next driver to snatch the provisional pole away by two tenths of a second in front of a delighted home crowd. Wehrlein looked set to continue his excellent qualifying run, however, despite a brilliant first sector, the Mahindra driver locked up into turn 9 and had to settle for the provisional front row behind Buemi, beaten by just four thousandths of a second. However, it was Jev that continued his excellent form this weekend with a monster lap of a 1.18.813, three tenths clear of the other leaders. It fell to Evans to prevent Techeetah dominance, but the Kiwi just fell short of the mark, having to settle for P2 as Vergne took his first pole position of the season.

Vergne started strongly from pole, but there was chaos within the opening lap as D’Ambrosio shunted Frijns into the wall, putting the Dutchman out of the race and out of championship contention with driveshaft failure. The race was red flagged whilst Frijns’ car was extracted from the circuit and the race clock was reset. As racing got underway again, Vergne came under pressure from Evans and the Jaguar driver continued to press at the reigning champion for the remainder of the race.

Photo by Sam Bagnall / LAT Images

On the other side of the Virgin garage, Bird fought his car through the order, first dispatching of Gunther for P5 before squeezing Wehrlein for P4 before the German rookie ground at a halt just before the attack mode zone presumably with a battery issue. Bird continued his charge, piling pressure on Buemi for P3 before the Swiss driver snatched it back a few laps later. Bird then fell victim to a hungry Lotterer, after a mistake caused him to lock up and the Techeetah driver was able to dive down the inside of the Virgin car. As the time ticked down, the top four were within seconds of one another but Vergne was able to hold off Evans’ attack to claim his third victory of the season and claim the voestalpine European race trophy. Evans had to settle for P2, with Buemi claiming the final podium position much to the delight of the Swiss crowd.

The final two rounds of the Formula E season takes place in New York on July 13th and 14th.

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British F3 – Hoggard converts pole into victory at Donington Park

Johnathan Hoggard took a trouble-free victory in the opening race of the British F3 weekend to complete a perfect Saturday for Fortec Motorsport.

Hoggard claimed pole position early on Saturday morning, and led away from the start as drivers behind struggled to slot in on a competitive first lap.

Ayrton Simmons made a good start and eventually passed Kaylen Frederick for second on the first lap after three attempts, and both men would stay in their respective positions for the duration of the race.

Simmons would go on to apply light pressure to Hoggard throughout the race, looking slightly quicker but never being in a position to land a blow on the man from Lincolnshire.

A Safety Car for Lucas Petersson’s spin down at the Melbourne hairpin allowed Simmons to close up on Hoggard once more, but the gap stayed at around eight tenths of a second, with Frederick in close attendance but never a threat.

Kiern Jewiss was fourth after starting eighth to make an impressive recovery following a disappointing qualifying earlier in the day.

Championship leader Clement Novalak was fifth after holding off the rejuvenated Belgian Ulysse De Pauw in sixth.

Neil Verhagen recovered to seventh for Double R racing after a below-par ninth in qualifying this morning, Manuel Maldonado was a solid eighth ahead of Hampus Ericsson and Benjamin Pedersen.

Sassakorn Chaimongkol will be disappointed with eleventh having started sixth, Nazim Azman was twelfth with Josh Mason and Kris Wright 13th and 14th.

Pavan Ravishankar fell to 15th having ran as high as tenth, while Lucas Petersson failed to finish.

 

IMAGE – JAKOB EBREY

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British F3 – Hoggard steals pole in topsy-turvy qualifying

Fortec Motorsport’s Johnathan Hoggard took pole position for British F3’s Saturday race during an extremely competitive morning qualifying session at Donington Park.

In a session that saw pole position change hands lap-by-lap for the first three-quarters of the session, Hoggard eventually rose to see off the challenges of Clement Novalak, Ulysse De Pauw and Ayrton Simmons to name just three.

Seven tenths of a second cover the top fourteen drivers to tease a mouth-watering opening race of the weekend.

Hoggard’s pole lap was initially four tenths clear of the rest of the field, but by the end of the session Kaylen Frederick, another man to have turns on provisional pole, managed to get within just 0.062s.

Simmons will line up third for Chris Dittman Racing ahead of championship leader Novalak, with De Pauw fifth for one of his strongest qualifying showings of the season.

Sassakorn Chaimongkol will line up sixth after an impressive session for the Thai driver, just three tenths off teammate Hoggard, with Manuel Maldonado seventh.

Kiern Jewiss rescued eighth from a difficult session that saw him spend most of his time towards the rear of the field as a track position became an issue for last year’s British F4 champion, while Neil Verhagen will be frustrated with ninth in the leading Double R Racing car.

Benjamin Pedersen completes the top ten, while Hampus Ericsson lines up 11th as Double R lock-out the sixth row with Pavan Ravishankar 12th.

Nazim Azman and Lucas Petersson in thirteenth and fourteenth are the final two cars within a second of polesitter Hoggard, with Kris Wright and Josh Mason bringing up the rear in fifteenth and sixteenth.

IMAGE: Jakob Ebrey (JEP)

Video @JPrentice8 on Twitter

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British GT – Macleod: That win was for you, dad

Callum Macleod dedicated victory at Silverstone to his late father after a late pass on Jonny Adam saw the RAM Racing Mercedes take victory at the British GT’s crown jewel event.

Macleod and teammate Iain Loggie were also forced to miss the event at Snetterton three weeks ago after the latter broke several bones in a cycling accident.

Macleod was reflective after the RAM Mercedes’ first win of the season.

“I want to dedicate this to my dad who passed away at the end of last year. This one was for him.

“RAM Racing have been absolutely fantastic since day one and have given us a really fast car at all weekends we’ve had, pre-season testing went really well and if you are going to win a race in the British GT Championship, you want it to be this one at Silverstone, the Silverstone 500.”

Macleod also expressed sympathy for race-long rivals TF Sport and Aston Martin, with driving duo Graham Davidson and Johnathan Adam caught out by the errant Multimatic Ford Mustang of Chad McCumbee.

“It was very unfortunate for Jonny as he drove the whole race very well, I just tried to put as much pressure on him and get him to make a mistake, maybe the Mustang didn’t see him.

“Jonny got onto the marbles and there were a few factors that caused contact, but what a fantastic race and entertaining from start to finish”.

 

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British F3 – Pedersen wins Race Two as Hoggard steals the show

Benjamin Pedersen took his first win since coming over from the USA for Douglas Motorsport in an entertaining, and largely clean, Race Two at Silverstone.

Pedersen led away from the reversed grid having had a disappointing Race One on Saturday afternoon, and was never headed as he calmly stroked his way home.

Hoggard meanwhile battled his way from twelfth to pick up ten further overtaking points, including a daring pass on the last lap around the outside at Stowe to relegate Pavan Ravishankar to third.

Championship debutant Nicolas Varrone was a solid fourth, with Ayrton Simmons up twelve positions from 17th to take fifth, after another exciting race-long battle with Neil Verhagen in Race One.

Nazim Azman was sixth ahead of last year’s Silverstone winner Josh Mason in seventh, with Ulysse De Pauw eighth.

Championship leader Clement Novalak fought his way up to an impressive ninth for Carlin Motorsport while Lucas Petersson completed the topten.

Kiern Jewiss, fresh from a collision was again the victim of unfortunate circumstances as he sustained rear tyre damage after passing Kris Wright, while a jump start penalty relegated Neil Verhagen to 15th, although the American has pole position for the final race of the afternoon.

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British F3 – Novalak: Set-up work on Thursday helped Carlin during the race

Clement Novalak took the spoils for Carlin in the first of three British F3 races at Silverstone this weekend.

After a wet qualifying gave way to dry conditions for the race, the British F3 drivers were entering the unknown for what proved to be an entertaining opening race.

“The tyre deg through the race was a lot worse than we thought it would be so I slowed it a little bit to try and manage the tyres as we had a big gap”, The Swiss-British driver began.

“All in all, it’s a great result and we had great pace through the early race so we’re happy.”

Novalak never looked worried throughout the 10-lap dash, as rivals Neil Verhagen and Ayrton Simmons battled on behind.

“Ayrton and Neil battling allowed me to pull away more than if they weren’t, but in the end we saved tyres but Ayrton’s were still in better shape at the end. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”

And the Carlin man believes he’s starting at the back at the best track to for Race Two tomorrow morning, although acknowledging that it still won’t be easy.

“Of course it’s a lot easier to get past and overtake than at Snett and Oulton but we’re still driving cars with a lot of aero and it is still a high speed circuit, so it’ll be easier but not easy. I am still confident given the pace we had in the early laps so we can make up a few positions.

“It’s always hard to adapt and we had two days of running with no dry track running, we had done the set up on Thursday and it wasn’t too difficult to change.”

 

IMAGE – Jakob Ebrey

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Chadwick takes second W Series win at Misano

This weekend the W Series travelled to the Misano World Circuit in Italy for the third round of the all-female world championship.

The sun was shining on Saturday morning when Liechtenstein driver Fabienne Wohlwend took pole position with a laptime of 1:33.283. Championship leader Jamie Chadwick and Dutch driver Beitske Visser slotted in behind in second and third respectively, with Alice Powell in fourth and local girl Vicky Piria in fifth. Caitlin Wood suffered a suspension failure in qualifying which meant she was demoted last place on the grid.

The stunning weather continued as the nineteen drivers lined up on the grid for the race to begin.

Wohlwend had a good start from pole despite a little over steer, however, Jamie Chadwick had a blistering start and quickly snatched the lead from Wohlwend, Visser slipping past into P2 and demoting Wohlwend into third position. On the run down into turn one, Alice Powell hit Fabienne Wohlwend which led to a front suspension failure. As a result, Powell ran into the gravel which forced out the yellow flag and the safety car.

Chadwick had a great restart when racing got underway again, quickly gaining a second advantage over Visser in P2. Koyama and Piria had a close battle in fourth and fifth, with Wohlwend quickly closing the gap behind Visser in second. Wohlwent then went wide before the start finish straight, losing a little time, but managed to close back up to the rear wing of Visser.

W Series

Chadwick went wide which meant Visser closed right up to the British driver.
After her slight wobble, pole-sitter Fabienne Wohlwend set the fastest lap of the race, the first three drivers pulling away from the rest of the field.

Miki Koyama took to the outside to pass Vicky Piria for fourth position as Chadwick continued to set clean and consistent lap times at the front of the pack with thirteen minutes remaining, Visser and Wohlwend still fighting strongly for the win in second and third.

Sabre Cook majorly impressed having started in 15th and made her way through the field up to 9th, right in amongst the mid-field battle.

Visser was right on Chadwicks tail with eight minutes remaining, the Dutch driver thriving in the third sector, but not quite close enough to overtake the championship leader.

With five minutes remaining, Esmee Hawkey went wide and as a result, Naomi Schiff moved up to eleventh place.

W Series

Visser made a small mistake after she locked up the front left tyre with less than 2 minutes remaining. Schiff then had a spin after catching the kerb at turn 4 and 5 before rejoining in P16 and Cook and Moore had a close fight for eighth place.

Jamie Chadwick took the win in Misano and extended her championship lead after a flawless performance. Beitske Visser finished in second place and Fabienne Wohlwend in third – her first podium in the series. Miki Koyama finished in fourth followed by Piria in fifth, Garcia in sixth, then Pepper, Moore, Cook and Keszthelyi rounding out the top ten.

Hawkey finished just outside the points in eleventh, Bovy in 12th, then Rdest, Wood and Hawkins in 15th – who was given a five second time penalty for a jump start. Shea Holbrook finished in 16th, Megan Gilkes in 17th and Naomi Schiff in last place.

The championship is certainly hotting up as we pass the halfway point. The next round will be on the 6th July at the Norisring street circuit in Germany.

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ThePitCrewOnline Exclusive: Ilott discusses teammate bond, jump to F2 and what lies ahead

Callum Ilott may have had a torrid time in the Monaco sprint race, forced into a retirement before the lights went out where he was set to start in P2, but he was still in high enough hopes to look forward to the next F2 race in Paul Ricard, while answering a few other questions.

Ilott is a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, and as such there have been questions as to the pressure that can put on a young driver. Ilott insisted it has instead been a positive boost: ‘Not really, I’d say more of a support mechanism because they prepare you well in all aspects, not just the driving, so I’d say that’s a confidence boost going into whatever you’re doing.

‘If there’s a problem, you work together to find a solution. There’s always pressure to perform, but I put as much pressure on myself as they do on the outside, so it doesn’t change much, I want to get as far in motorsport as possible and do as well as I can, and I don’t think anyone’s going to push me harder than myself to do that, so that’s the most pressure I receive and they’re there to help, to push me to help to improve me’

Ilott then talked about the differences the new F2 cars have, compared to the outgoing F3 machinery he’d driven in the past. ‘Firstly, 260hp for the old F3 car compared to around 600 for the F2 car, so quite a big step up from that, but I think the new F2 car is over 100 kilos heavier than the old F3 car, so that makes a difference in how it behaves and how agile it is.

‘The old F3 car had a lot of downforce, for the size of the car, I also think the Pirelli tyre’s a different tyre all round, they’re quite soft, so there’s a bit more grip from the tyre on a quali lap on an F2 car than the F3 car, but also when you’re doing the races in an F3 car you’re pushing 99, 100% all the time whereas in an F2 car you’ve gotta manage the tyres.

Credit: FIA Formula 2 Media
Credit: FIA Formula 2 Media

‘It’s different, the F3 car was always very lively, you had so many laps to get it as close to the edge as possible, whereas the F2 car, in quali you normally get 2, 3 laps maximum, which makes it quite hard to get into a rhythm, you just have to go out and nail it.

‘In the race, I would say the F2 is easier to overtake, which again is quite fun, but F3, if you were to make an overtake it had to be a proper one ─l to get past. It’s different for different reasons. I think I learned a lot from my F3 days, because 3 years of 30 races a year plus Macau, making it 32 plus testing you’re able to do in the winter. I got a lot of track time doing that, and a lot of laps at the limit which is good and prepared me for the rest.

Finally, when asked about his relationship with Charouz Sauber Junior Team teammate Juan Manuel Correa, Illot glowed about their productive and harmonic partnership. ‘It seems all good, we’ve both had our areas to work on and improve and we’re getting there. I’ve made a big rate of progression from the beginning of the season. We’re getting on really well, having a lot of fun, and it’s important because once you go up the teams are getting smaller, with F4 maybe having three teammates, F3 having another two and F2 having one.

‘It’s harder to have a good relationship with someone [in lower series], but we get along well and have a good laugh, and work to improve as a team when we need to, and work individually when we don’t.

‘A good result, I think the place I want to have a good race in is the feature race, I think Monaco was easily the place we could’ve done it after qualifying, so big shame for that, but these things happen, so make up for that at Paul Ricard. It’s quite a tough track in its own way, the last sector becomes very complex, it’s easy to lose tyres, in GP3 I should’ve been pole there, but I messed up at the last sector big time. It’s a track where I know I can be quick, the team went well there last year, so we’ll see what we can do, but we just need to make up a little bit for the points we’ve lost’

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