With the start of the F1 season nearly upon us, here are 5 things to watch out for in 2018.
McLaren-Renault
Glenn Dunbar/McLaren
After a dismal three-year marriage, McLaren-Honda finally divorced at the end of 2017 with McLaren going to Renault and Honda going to Toro Rosso.
Throughout the troubled times, McLaren claimed, time and time again, that they have one of the best chassis on the grid. So, with the Renault engine of the rise, McLaren’s word will be put to the test—can they challenge for podiums, wins or even the championship or will Alonso be left disappointed once more?
Alfa Romeo Sauber
Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team
Following the fallout over the short-lived Sauber-Honda deal, the Swiss team strengthened their partnership with Ferrari by becoming their effective ‘B-team’.
This means that, along with up-to-date engines, Sauber will be responsible for looking after some of Ferrari’s junior drivers. For 2018, they’ll have reigning F2 champion Charles Leclerc as a full-time driver and 2016 GP2-runner up Antonio Giovinazzi as their third driver. Mercedes have already said that the alliance could be “dangerous for them” with the Germans hinting that they may follow suit in the coming years.
The ‘Halo’
Steve Etherington/Mercedes AMG F1
Controversial as it is, we will see the halo raced for the first time in 2018. The FIA had to do something for this season as they had said a ‘frontal head protection device’ would be in place by 2018.
Some would say that it’s been rushed through the development process. Nevertheless, the FIA have allowed the teams some leeway with winglets and such like on the halo and the structure of it will be blended into the colour scheme of the car, so that it doesn’t stand out quite as much.
Softer tyres
Zak Mauger/LAT Images/Pirelli Media
Pirelli have admitted that they were too cautious with their tyre compounds in 2017, leading to widespread one-stop races and minimal degradation.
While they’re not going back to the days of super high-degradation tyres, the 2018 tyres will be softer. Along with the introduction of the Hyper-Soft, each compound will be a step softer; the Super-Soft will be like the old Ultra-Soft, the Soft will be like the old Super-Soft and so on. This should increase the variation in strategies, hopefully leading to more exciting and unpredictable racing.
The midfield
Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
2017 involved an intense mid-field fight between Renault, Toro Rosso and Haas with the teams finishing within 10 points of each other.
A shake up is on the cards for 2018, however. The newly-powered McLaren and the works Renault team are both expected to rise above the rest of the midfield for fourth and fifth places in the championship which will make the midfield battle for sixth down to tenth. Force India should be as strong as ever and could give McLaren and Renault a run for their money while less is expected of Williams, given the standard of their drivers. The new Toro Rosso-Honda partnership has the potential to be very good, as does Alfa-Romeo Sauber, while Haas remains to be an unknown.
After 2017, there are several drivers and teams facing a critical 2018—one which could have serious implications for their future in F1. Here we’ll look at those who are under the most pressure for 2018, why they have to perform and the potential consequences if they don’t.
Valtteri Bottas
Wolfgang Wilhelm/Mercedes AMG F1
Replacing the out-going world champion with just three months to go until the start of the season was always going to be a challenge. However, the majority of the F1 paddock expected more from Bottas in 2017. While he seemed able to be around the pace of Hamilton in the first half of the season, his form soon deteriorated with Bottas being cast adrift by both Hamilton and Vettel.
As such, Bottas needs to deliver a stunning performance in 2018 to keep his seat for 2019. We’re not just talking about one race though—he needs to consistently be on the pace of Hamilton throughout the season, which is a hard ask for anyone.
If he doesn’t perform as Mercedes expect, either Ricciardo or Ocon will be quick to snap up his seat—leaving Bottas out of a top drive and potentially out of F1 altogether.
Kimi Raikkonen
Foto Studio Colombo/Ferrari Media
After years and years of the “will Raikkonen be retained” saga, it seems that Ferrari’s patience for the Finn is waning. Ferrari President Sergio Marchionne has stated that 2018 is Raikkonen’s last chance to rediscover his form—if he doesn’t, he will be replaced.
While he was once a world champion and still is a brilliant driver, Raikkonen’s consistency been missing since he returned to F1 in 2012, and even when he’s at the top of his game he’s still no match for Vettel. He’ll have to pull off a miracle to stand any chance at retaining his seat for 2019.
Should Raikkonen not miraculously rediscover his form, Ferrari have a long line of drivers knocking at their door. They’re unlikely to take Grosjean or Perez but instead either Ricciardo or their very promising youngster, Charles Leclerc. Whoever they chose, Ferrari aren’t short of talented replacements if Kimi isn’t up to scratch.
Sergio Perez
Sahara Force India F1 Team
Perez is generally considered to be a midfield driver in a midfield team. He’s undoubtedly talented, but seems to be lacking that extra something that would put him up with the champions. This became more apparent in 2017 when Ocon started consistently beating him throughout the second half of the season.
If, like everyone is anticipating, Ocon takes the next step in 2018, Perez will likely be left far behind and that could seriously compromise his 2019 options. He’s been holding out for a Ferrari drive since who knows when, but with every year that passes, that seems more and more unlikely—if Ferrari wanted him, they’d have taken him by now.
He should be able to keep his seat at Force India for 2019 with his only other serious option being Renault if Sainz were to be called up to Red Bull. Any progression up the grid looks unlikely for the now 28-year-old Mexican.
Romain Grosjean
Haas F1 Media
The successes of 2016 with Haas have long been forgotten for Grosjean, and that supposed Ferrari promotion looks further away than ever. Over 2017, the Frenchman gained a reputation for moaning and was often beaten, quite comprehensively, by teammate Magnussen.
With decent performances becoming distance memories, Grosjean hasn’t been having the best of times of it lately. He needs to rediscover his consistency of the later Lotus years to keep his seat at Haas and remain in F1.
Admittedly, Haas don’t have that many options to replace Grosjean. Ferrari may push them into taking one of their junior drivers but really, Haas need experience and that is one thing Grosjean has going for him. Regardless of that, improvement is needed from the Frenchman in 2018.
Nico Hulkenberg
Renault Sport F1 Media
Hulkenberg has been the nearly-man of F1 for years. He holds the record for the most F1 races without a podium but you’ll struggle to find anyone who doubts his talents. With Renault on the rise, that podium could come in the next year or two. However Hulkenberg has a more pressing issue: Carlos Sainz.
The highly-regarded Red Bull junior driver switched to Renault in the closing races of the 2017 season, with Hulkenberg seeming to have the measure of Sainz. The German has to beat or at least strongly challenge Sainz if he’s to maintain his perceived ranking in the F1 paddock.
His F1 career isn’t on the line in 2018 as he has a long-term Renault deal in place. But he still needs to show that he can go up against Sainz to ensure his fundamental place at Renault in years to come.
Marcus Ericsson
Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team
If anyone’s career is on the line in 2018, its Ericsson’s. He controversially kept his Sauber seat, despite Ferrari pushing for Antonio Giovinazzi to get the drive, by virtue of having lots of money from his backers that are mysteriously linked to the team’s owners…
The funds cannot hide the fact that Ericsson hasn’t scored a point in F1 since 2015 while all his teammates have. With F2 champion Leclerc in the other seat for 2018, Ericsson is going to have to massively up his game if he’s to avoid getting shown up by the promising youngster.
Ferrari want Sauber to become their effective ‘B-team’, so Ericsson will likely lose his seat to one of the Ferrari juniors in 2019—and it will be hard for Ericsson to find a seat at another team, even with all his money.
Williams
Steven Tee/LAT Images/Pirelli Media
The season hasn’t even started and Williams are already facing a lot of criticism for hiring Sergey Sirotkin over Robert Kubica, Daniil Kvyat and Pascal Wehrlein with Sirotkin being brandished a ‘pay driver’. This means that for 2018 Williams will have a 19-year old in his second season of F1 and a rookie who’s failed to produce any convincing results in years.
That already sounds like a recipe for disaster—and when you consider the highly competitive nature of the midfield, the outcome doesn’t look good for Williams.
Fifth in the championship isn’t going to happen with McLaren and Renault on the rise and most expect Williams to sink further down the standings. This could put them in danger of losing sponsorship and without a star driver, it’s hard to see who’s going to bring the results in. Maybe basing driver decisions on bank accounts rather than talent wasn’t such a good idea.
McLaren
Andy Hone/McLaren
For McLaren, 2018 will be a test of all that they have said over the last three seasons while they were with Honda. Throughout those years, McLaren claimed to have the best chassis so, on equal footing with Red Bull and Renault, that will be put to the test.
Their last win came in 2012 and last podium in 2014, if there was ever a time that McLaren needed to deliver, for the sake of all involved, it’s in 2018. Alonso may have signed a multi-year deal but he won’t hang around forever, he wants that third title but has interests elsewhere if that fails to materialise in the coming years.
If they’re not winning, or at least on the podium, in 2018 they probably won’t be until the engine regulation change in 2020. It’s paramount that they get the Renault transition right as they need to be frontrunners again—four winless seasons is four too many for a team like McLaren, they better not make it five.
Grid girls have long been part of F1 and the wider motorsport scene –they’ve been a staple of grids for years with their driver boards and skimpy clothing. However, while acceptable in years gone by, their presence has come under criticism and now F1 has made the controversial, but not unprecedented, move to ban them altogether.
The move has been hinted at before but any suggestion of change hasn’t exactly been met with overwhelming support; when grid boys were used in Monaco in 2015, the reception was not positive with drivers and fans alike somewhat missing the point. It had gone too far the other way; girls can’t just be replaced with all boys – that’s just moving the issue onto something else entirely.
The change has come as part of Liberty Media’s project to drag F1, kicking and screaming albeit, into the 21st century. Things that have previously been seen as tradition or trademark in F1 are being challenged – the world has changed and F1 is only just starting to. Besides F1, the move will also affect all support races at F1 weekends so F2, GP3 and Porsche Super Cup, amongst others.
It’s not just motorsport where this subject has been addressed; the UK Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) announced that walk-on girls would no longer be used at its events this week. That was met with widespread dismay from darts fans, an online petition was even formed to get the PDC to reserve the decision – but they’ve stood by their choice and reasons behind it.
So, why now?
Slowly but surely, women have started to shift the balance in what is still a male dominated sport with more than ever working as mechanics, engineers or even drivers. As such, having them adorn the grid was always going to become a contentious issue.
Female drivers are becoming more common by the year; last year GP3 racer Tatiana Calderon was often given a grid boy as a substitute but that was hardly a solution. With more and more female racing drivers on the rise, a change has been sitting on the horizon for some time.
Clearly, the days of F1 being all male are long gone yet many of the ideas from those times still remain – what was once acceptable is now not but F1 has been typically slow to respond.
Little change came about on this front during the days of Bernie Ecclestone however with Liberty Media here to stay, changes are slowly but surely being made – this doesn’t mean that they haven’t caused controversy though.
If you even dared look at Twitter today, you would’ve seen a barrage of opinions, some whole-heartedly agreeing with Liberty’s decision while others who couldn’t disagree more.
The case for Liberty’s decision pleads the out-dated and downright unnecessary nature of grid girls. This is 2018, having girls parading around with umbrellas is clearly a redundant practice and some would even go as far to say that their use is degrading. This crowd would say that today’s news was a necessary step in the right direction for women and equality in motorsport, across the board.
Another argument for the banning is that of role models. Boys growing up have the figures of male drivers and team members to look up to whereas girls have a lot less of them, instead they predominantly see the grid girls as the only women in motorsport – if that doesn’t seem wrong, I don’t what does. Coming from someone in that situation, I never understood the use of grid girls, it seemed senseless and it often angered me that the only women had a seemingly meaningless job.
But, of course, for all those agree, there are those who firmly don’t. One of the points that I’ve seen raised time and time again today is that these grid girls were just doing their job and that they weren’t forced to do it – it was completely their choice. If you speak to some of them, they’ll often say that they loved their experience as an F1 grid girl, that they were treated excellently by the teams and had an altogether amazing experience.
Whether you agree or not, the fact still stands that they are going. That then leaves the question of their replacement.
One of the main suggestions is fans; a competition would be run for each race for 20 fans to get the chance to go onto the grid and hold the driver boards. This could be accompanied by VIP tickets or a chance to spend the weekend with the team and to meet the driver allocated to them. This concept would likely appeal to Liberty as it would increase fan engagement and would add a whole other element to the show. Of course, the fans would have to be split 50/50 male/female to avoid any the previous debate and inequalities.
Another suggestion is the use of ‘grid kids’; much like the use of children walking on with players in football matches, this would give the children an unforgettable experience of F1. Again, they, and their families, could be treated as VIPs by their allocated team and driver.
The other main idea is that of mascots. The thinking behind this is that either the drivers or teams design a mascot to use for the season – this could be something to do with the driver, so the Hulk for Nico Hulkenberg, or the teams, so pink panthers for Force India. It’s a quirky idea that might just work.
There’s no going back from the decision made today by Liberty; along with F1, it’ll have effects on the wider motorsport scene with BTCC and MotoGP starting to come under fire for their grid girls.
For me, it feels like a real step forwards for women and equality in motorsport but I know not everyone shares my stance. Whatever your argument, for or against, the lack of grid girls is something that F1 fans will just have to get used to and soon the point of debate will move on, like it always does in F1, to something new.
First stage of the event and there was lots of drama in the Thoard – Sisteron 36km opener! There was no snow and ice in the first 12km and then broken ice for a couple of km’s.
Seb Ogier was first in, and spun in the stage! Ott stopped 11km into stage, but got going again and Thierry was another to stop, but got going again as well. Both had slid wide into snow banks. Another to spin was Jari-Matti and he managed to spin twice! Elfyn picked up a puncture at about 12km into the stage, so they had to change the tyre. The Citroen duo of Kris and Craig both spun as well, Kris losing a minute or so.
Esapekka completed the stage third fastest, with a good run though, whilst Andreas was the closest challenger to Ogier, just 7.7 seconds off the Fiesta WRC pilot!
Seb Ogier, Rallye Monte Carlo leader. Photo credit M-Sport Ford
Stage two, Bayons – Breziers 25,49km stage which includes a rise of 1184 metres above sea-level to the summit of Col de Sagnes! Ogier won the stage with a very good clean run through with Thierry going second fastest and Ott third. There were a few changes in the leaderboard with Dani moving ahead of Esapekka and into third. Kris and Thierry are a long way off the lead sadly, over two minutes away for the Citroen pilot and over four for the Belgian. That’s a big ask for them.
Classification after Day One
1 S. Ogier J. Ingrassia Ford Fiesta WRC 38:09.8
2 A. Mikkelsen A. Jæger Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +17.3
3 D. Sordo C. del Barrio Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +25.6
4 E. Lappi J. Ferm Toyota Yaris WRC +37.4
5 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Toyota Yaris WRC +42.4
6 J. M. Latvala M. Anttila Toyota Yaris WRC 55.4
7 C. Breen S. Martin Citroën C3 WRC +1:02.3
8 B. Bouffier X. Panseri Ford Fiesta WRC +1:51.0
9 K. Meeke P. Nagle Citroën C3 WRC +2:12.7
10 E. Camilli B. Veillas Ford Fiesta R5 +2:42.2
17 T. Neuville N. Gilsoul Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +4:18.2
Day two, Friday
Well, what a day! Where to start my round up of Friday’s six stages? Seb in his Fiesta was our leader all day, but there were different stage winners and the person leading to fight to the Frenchman changed as well.
Andreas Mikkelsen was the man who was closest at the start of the day, but after dropping behind Dani in stage three, he then retired in stage four with alternator failure. There was more pain for Thierry as well, who suffered another puncture in stage three.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 01, Rallye Monte-Carlo 25-28 Janvier 2018 Andreas Mikkelsen, Anders Jaeger, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
The lead grew in stage four, but Ott Tanak was feeling at home in his new car, moving up the leaderboard and closing the gap to second placed Dani. Meantime, Craig was having a nightmare in his Citroen, with a stone breaking part of the caliper and meaning he’d suffer from brake failure and he was not enjoying that one bit. The good news though was that after stage five, the cars headed for service and the problem was fixed.
The afternoon loop began with the 26km and Ott took the fight to Seb, winning the stage and taking six and a half seconds out of erstwhile leader Seb’s lead. Craig was feeling a lot more comfortable now he had working brakes!
Elfyn Evans took the long stage seven when the heavens opened, but Seb lost 14 seconds to Ott and the lead was down to 19 seconds after a spin put the Fiesta into a ditch! Craig was increasingly comfortable, setting the fourth fastest time in the stage, whilst Dani, Esapekka and Jari-Matti continued their battle for third overall.
The final stage of the day fell to Thierry who after his puncture had been fighting back and closed the gap to Elfyn to just a little over three seconds.
Leaderboard at the end of Friday
1 S. Ogier J. Ingrassia Ford Fiesta WRC 2:07:15.4
2 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Toyota Yaris WRC +14.9
3 D. Sordo C. del Barrio Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +59.7
4 E. Lappi J. Ferm Toyota Yaris WRC +1:09.9
5 J. M. Latvala M. Anttila Toyota Yaris WRC +1:10.1
6 K. Meeke P. Nagle Citroën C3 WRC +2:45.5
7 B. Bouffier X. Panseri Ford Fiesta WRC +3:34.6
8 E. Evans D. Barritt Ford Fiesta WRC +4:01.7
9 T. Neuville N. Gilsoul Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +4:04.1
Day three, Saturday
The second full day of Rallye Monte Carlo started with snow falling, which we had been waiting for! Boy, did it come down!
Craig Breen was first into stage nine, the first of the day. At the end, he referred himself as a snowplow! Sadly, Dani went off the road and so one of the teams that we expected to see standing on the podium, now will be nowhere near it. The stage was won by Andreas, but clearly the team could do with some luck. Seb made a great start, increasing the gap to former M-Sport teammate, Ott by a full minute who now found himself in second and Jari-Matti a further 21 or so seconds in third. Elfyn Evans in the number 2 Fiesta WRC, gapped Thierry by 20 seconds in their battle for seventh overall.
Stage 10 saw Ott close down 15 seconds to Seb, with the French champions advantage a little over a minute at the end of the 16km stage. The Toyota’s were running well, all three in the top four overall positions.
The following stage saw Esapekka Lappi pick up a puncture, so Kris Meeke picked up fourth place, despite sliding off into a field. Elfyn also picked up a position, moving ahead of Bryan Bouffier into sixth place. Ogier’s lead was now down to 48 seconds.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship, Round 01, Rallye Monte-Carlo 2018, January 25-28, 2018. Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
The next stage, number twelve, was won by Thierry, and this edged him a little closer to seventh placed Bouffier’s Fiesta, the gap just 12 seconds! Kris also was just hanging onto fourth place, with Lappi in the Yaris setting the third quickest time.
The last stage of the day was won by Thierry and Elfyn was just two seconds slower than the Belgian keeping the gap between them above 30 seconds. Kris lost fourth place to young Finn, Esapekka Lappi after the Irishman spun in a hairpin, losing a couple of seconds.
Heading into the final day , Seb Ogier leads Ott by just a little over half a minute. Just four stages and a total of 64km. It’s certainly possible for something to happen!
Leaderboard at the end of Saturday
1
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Ford Fiesta WRC
3:30:30.9
2
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Toyota Yaris WRC
+33.5
3
J. M. Latvala
M. Anttila
Toyota Yaris WRC
+1:32.7
4
E. Lappi
J. Ferm
Toyota Yaris WRC
+4:38.5
5
K. Meeke
P. Nagle
Citroën C3 WRC
+4:40.1
6
E. Evans
D. Barritt
Ford Fiesta WRC
+5:00.2
7
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+5:33.6
8
B. Bouffier
X. Panseri
Ford Fiesta WRC
+5:43.4
9
C. Breen
S. Martin
Citroën C3 WRC
+8:49.0
Day four, Sunday
Sunday morning was cold and a bit cloudy. We had four stages covering 64km before it was all decided! First up was stage 14 and it was won by Seb and the gap opened up between him and Ott by 11 seconds.
The next stage would be the power stage later and at 13km being quick from the off would be key. Citroen drivers Craig and Kris were surprised how tricky it was, Kris commenting on how there was black ice on gravel! Thierry won the stage, but Seb’s closest challenger, Ott set pretty much the same time and the gap to the front remained pretty static.
Stage 16, the penultimate stage was won by Thierry as he was targeting Elfyn who was just a few seconds up the road and holding sixth overall. However, the Welshman was just a second and a half slower meaning the gap was still seven seconds with just one stage to go.
The power stage beckoned and there were a could more twists to come…. Despite his surprise earlier in this stage with black ice on gravel, Kris flew through the stage and took all five points for winning it, ending up 2.3 seconds faster than Thierry. Further back there was more drama! Esapekka slid wide and lost a bundle of time which meant he would lose fourth and drop behind Thierry and Elfyn into seventh. Meanwhile, Elfyn would keep sixth place, despite losing out to Thierry who went from seventh to fifth and of course Kris would claim fourth overall! So much drama!
Kris Meeke & Paul Nagle, Rallye Monte Carlo – Photo credit Citroen Racing
In the midst of all of that, Seb Ogier had taken his fifth Rallye Monte Carlo victory and the new Toyota driver, Ott would finish one better than last year in second place and in third, Jari-Matti.
M-Sport Ford WRT
Sébastien Ogier
“We always face tough conditions at Rallye Monte-Carlo but this year they were really extreme. I don’t think I’ve ever struggled so much with the tyre choices, so to have come out on top is fantastic.
“I think everyone made mistakes this weekend – myself included – but it was almost impossible to have the perfect drive. Luckily we only had some small mistakes and once we had a good gap it was just a case of trying to manage it – but that is never easy in these conditions either!
“It’s the best way to start the season and I need to congratulate the team because everyone has worked really hard and I know that they will also be super happy with this result. The competition is going to be stronger than ever and we’ve made a strong start which is really important.”
Elfyn Evans
“It’s been a tough edition of the rally this year and we had an especially tough start losing so much time on the very first stage. Over the next few days I think we were there or there about’s in terms of outright speed, but overall there were just too many little errors.
“When it came to making the smart choices at the right time, we weren’t quite there and that’s what cost us a really good result today. The comforting thing is that the speed is there, but we still need to be better.”
Toyota Gazoo WRT
Jari-Matti Latvala
“Rallye Monte-Carlo is never easy. We had difficult conditions once again today, particularly with the ice on the Col du Turini that came since the recce. I’m really relieved to get to the finish and to be on the podium. The team has done an excellent job and the car is performing really well so I’m excited for the season ahead. It’s going to be about staying cool and to think about the championship and about the points. This has been a good start.”
Ott Tänak
“It’s really nice to start the season like this. It looks like I have joined a very strong team! The car has been amazing and I’ve felt really comfortable in it since the start of the rally. It was an extremely tough rally with such difficult conditions, but we managed to get through without any serious problems. We were expecting easier conditions today, but it was still really icy. We were able to take it steady because we were in a strong position. I’m now really looking forward to the coming rallies.”
Esapekka Lappi
“Today started really well with some good speed and the plan was to keep up the rhythm, including on the Power Stage. Unfortunately, I went wide on one corner and then I couldn’t get reverse, so we lost a lot of time and three positions. At the moment I am quite disappointed but at least I completed every kilometre, gaining experience and learning many things, so there are also a lot of positives. It has been a good rally for the team and Sweden should suit me better.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi WRT
Kris Meeke
“It was the hardest Monte-Carlo that I have ever experienced. We had everything: sheer ice on slick tyres on Thursday evening, rain on Friday, snow on Saturday and frost on the Col de Turini today. I’m surprised to finish the rally with seventeen points, but I’ll certainly take them! We now have to stay humble and keep working hard to try and improve.”
Craig Breen
“The weekend got off to a difficult start, with our mistake on Thursday evening. And then things went from bad to worse with the brake problems on Friday, which left us opening the road as something of a snow plough on Saturday. But we produced some good performances on a good few occasions, and did so again today on the dry tarmac. We now need to keep working in more changeable conditions, like those you typically get in Monte-Carlo.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville
“On balance, I think we have had a good rally, despite the various issues we have encountered along the way. Thursday was the biggest factor, when we lost over four minutes getting stuck through my own fault. We have fought back from those early problems, and a few others, and tried to regain as many positions as we could. The places we have made up today – right to the end of the Power Stage – show how important it is to push right to the finish. Without the puncture and tricky snow conditions yesterday, a podium would still have been possible. That’s Monte-Carlo, though. I would like to say thanks to the team for doing an incredible job in hard circumstances this weekend, and together we look ahead to Sweden.”
Andreas Mikkelsen
“Our rally was over on Friday when we stopped after SS3 with the alternator problem. The focus shifted to salvaging as many points as possible from the Power Stage, which was our aim for today. With no tyre zone or service, we adopted a compromised strategy taking five soft tyres for both loops. We knew that the run up to Col de Turini would be tough, so we took it carefully and accepted we would be slow. SS15 was a good practice for the Power Stage and it was nice for the team to take a 1-2. I was happy with my run, considering we were first on the road and it was still drying in places. It’s my best drive feeling-wise so far with the car on dry tarmac, which is encouraging.”
Final Overall Classification – Rallye Monte-Carlo
1
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Ford Fiesta WRC
4:18:55.5
2
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Toyota Yaris WRC
+58.3
3
J. M. Latvala
M. Anttila
Toyota Yaris WRC
+1:52.0
4
K. Meeke
P. Nagle
Citroën C3 WRC
+4:43.1
5
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+4:53.8
6
E. Evans
D. Barritt
Ford Fiesta WRC
+4:54.8
7
E. Lappi
J. Ferm
Toyota Yaris WRC
+4:57.5
8
B. Bouffier
X. Panseri
Ford Fiesta WRC
+7:39.5
9
C. Breen
S. Martin
Citroën C3 WRC
+9:06.7
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 -WRC Monte Carlo (FRA) – WRC 24/01/2018 to 28/01/2018 – PHOTO : @World
2018 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 1
Winter pre-season testing concluded this week for the World Superbike competitors at the Autodromo do Algarve, Portugal. The two-day event presented the teams with one final chance to make sure their setups are optimised, ahead of the opening round next month in Australia.
One team who managed to fully capitalise their on-track running was the Pata Yamaha outfit. Whilst both riders had managed a solid return last week at Jerez, this week the team ramped up preparations for the season, with both riders completing multiple race and qualifying simulations. As one of the teams expected to close the gap to the Kawasaki Racing Team this season, this final test on the Algarve coast presented the factory supported outfit with a final chance to get everything with the bikes right before the season opener.
Testing can be extremely difficult to gauge the true form of a team. There are simply too many non-disclosed variables – such as tyre compound usage, amounts of fuel in the tank, what engine mode is being run etc – to give onlookers a true indication of who is actually in a strong position or not.
One thing from this test is clear however, Pata Yamaha are definitely looking like they are ready to hit the ground running when the races start. Having finished as the third best team last year (behind KRT and Aruba.it Ducati respectively), the team have targeted victories in the forthcoming season. Following the test in Portugal this week, both the team’s riders will be very confident about their prospects in 2018. Michael van der Mark in particular had nothing but praise for his machine.
VDM: We had some important things to test, we tried different settings and we found some really good solutions for a number of setups, plus we were really fast and consistent as well. I am really happy with my race rhythm, I did my fastest time on race tyres so, I am really pleased with that and even with used tyres, we were a lot faster here than we have been here before.
For fans, this will come as welcome words indeed for a team who have made no secret that they believe they can challenge KRT this season. Van der Mark’s statements are firmly supported by the timesheets. During the Portuguese round last season, the best time for the flying Dutchman was 1:43.710 – in testing this week his best time was down to just 1:42.028. Even when fuel loads and tyre compounds are taken into account, it is still an astonishing time, and confirms that Yamaha have really made serious progress over the winter.
The progress that has evidently been made was not limited to just Van der Mark’s side of the garage. Team-mate Alex Lowes, the 2013 British Superbike champion and double Suzuka 8 hours winner, also had reason to be delighted with how the test at Portimao unfolded. The 27 year-old from Lincoln chalked up 170 laps over the two days, confirming not just improved pace, but solid reliability as well.
AL: We have had a really strong test because we have managed to find solutions to all the issues I had here at the race, which means I have a lot of optimism heading to Phillip Island! I’ve tried to not push too hard and ‘keep my powder dry’, as they say, before the first race and I am ready to go! It really has been a good few days of testing, we have had some negative things as well, which is always good to get them out the way now instead of during the season and today we finished with a positive performance.”
If both Lowes and Van der Mark were indeed keeping the powder dry, then we should expect the team to come out all guns blazing at Phillip Island next month. Perhaps the early predictions of complete Kawasaki domination this season might have been a little premature.
The 2018 World Superbike Championship begins at the Phillip Island circuit, Australia, 23rd-25th February.
Pre-season testing for the 2018 F1 season gets underway at the Circuit de Cataluyna on 26th February. With less than a month to go, here are my top five things to look forward to in the coming season.
Charles Leclerc (MCO, PREMA Racing). Photo: Zak Mauger/FIA Formula 2. ref: Digital Image _W6I4169
1 – Charles Leclerc
Runaway 2017 F2 champion Charles Leclerc will make his F1 debut at the Australian Grand Prix with the newly rebranded Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team. The Monegasque driver has progressed rapidly through the junior formula and has emerged out the other side with a very impressive CV. He is the first driver since Nico Hulkenberg in 2009 to win the F2 championship, or GP2 as it was when Hulkenberg won, in his rookie year, and only the forth ever after the German, Lewis Hamilton, and Nico Rosberg. Not bad company at all. Add to that a GP3 title, also won in his first year in the series, membership of the Ferrari Driver Academy, and a second place finish at the Macau Grand Prix in 2015, and it’s no wonder that Leclerc is widely tipped to be driving for Ferrari at some point in the near future, possibly as early as 2019 if and when Kimi Raikkonen retires.
From 2011 to 2015, the rights to F1 television coverage in the UK were jointly held by the Sky Sports and the BBC. The former aired all races live, while the latter broadcast only a few live, with the rest showed via highlights a few hours later. In 2016, Channel 4 took over the BBC’s part of the contract. That same year, it was announced that Sky Sports had signed a deal which will see it solely hold the rights to live F1 coverage from 2019 all the way through to 2024. The only exception is the British Grand Prix, which will continue to be available on a free-to-air channel as yet undisclosed. Despite the deal being made prior to Liberty Media’s takeover of the sport, Management Director Sean Bratches has said that Liberty Media plan to honour it. So it seems that 2018 may well be the last year of free-to-air live coverage in the UK for the foreseeable future.
3 – Return of the French Grand Prix
Having dropped off the calendar in 2008, the French Grand Prix will this year make its return. Magny-Cours was the last circuit to stage the event, but the 2018 race will be held at the Circuit Paul Ricard, also known as Le Castellet, in the south of the country. Several of the circuit’s corners have been modified to accommodate the increased cornering speeds of the new breed of F1 cars, whilst the organisers are also trying to improve the capacity of the access roads for fans travelling to and from the track. The race will take place on 24th June, as part of a triple-header with Silverstone and Hockenheim. With Renault, Romain Grosjean, and Esteban Ocon on the grid, the French fans will surely have a lot to cheer for.
(c)Jake Archibald released under Creative commons 2.0
4 – Introduction of the Halo
One of the most controversial debates in Formula 1 over recent years has been surrounding cockpit head protection. Despite large amounts of backlash from fans and from some of the teams and drivers, 2018 will be the first year that the halo will be used in F1, with F2 doing likewise and other junior formulas set to follow suit in the coming years. Click here to read more about it (shameless plug I know).
5 – McLaren and Renault Team Up
It’s safe to say it’s been a pretty miserable few years for McLaren. Their last podium came in 2014 when Kevin Magnussen finished second at the Australian Grand Prix, and their last win came courtesy of Jenson Button at the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix, and their partnership with Honda was woefully underwhelming in the three years they were together. For many fans it was a case of good riddance when it was announced that for 2018 McLaren would revert to Renault power. Renault had its fair few reliability issues in 2017, not least in Mexico when, over the weekend, four out of the six Renault-powered cars had engine issues, but McLaren have said that they’re pleased with the early data being produced by the car and powertrain, and are cautiously optimistic about what the coming year could bring.
After much hyped and anticipation, the newly named ABB FIA Formula E Championship unveiled its next generation of car on the 30th January 2018. Posed to make its debut in the 2018/2019 season at the end of the year, the car will be used for three seasons, and marks the first time a car has been specially designed by the FIA for one of its own series.
In keeping with the ethos of Formula E, the new model is decidedly more futuristic and advanced looking than its predecessor. The sharp angles and neat lines all constitute a more modern era of motorsport. And given Formula E’s focus on leading the way in new automotive technology and trying to push motorsport into new, uncharted territory, the Gen2 car seems a perfect fit.
Not only does the season 5 car feature an updated look, it also comes with a host of technological updates. Though the majority of the technical specs are yet to be released, the FIA can confirm that this new model comes ‘almost double the energy storage capacity and double the range’ meaning the battery will now be able to complete full race distances. This means getting rid of the contentious car swap that currently happens at the midpoint of Formula E races.
The Gen2 car and the work of the team of engineers and designers has attracted much praise. FIA President Jean Todt expressed how the car heralds the start of “exciting times for Formula E” and that he considers the FIA’s unprecedented project of designing and developing a car to be a “huge success”. Alejandro Agag, founder and CEO of Formula E, also believes that the car represents Formula E’s goal of “breaking the mould and challenging the status quo – bringing a revolution to motorsport”.
This new model will hit the track at the end of the year, just in time for Nissan and BMW formally joining Formula E, with Mercedes-Benz and Porsche planning their entry for the following season.
The full technical specifications and physical model of the Gen2 car will be revealed on the 6th of March at the Geneva Motor Show.
The second full day of Rallye Monte Carlo started with snow falling, which we had been waiting for! Boy, did it come down!
Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle, Photo credit Citroen Racing.
Craig Breen was first into stage nine, the first of the day. At the end, he referred himself as a snowplow! Sadly, Dani went off the road and so one of the teams that we expected to see standing on the podium, now will be nowhere near it. The stage was won by Andreas, but clearly the team could do with some luck. Seb made a great start, increasing the gap to former M-Sport teammate, Ott by a full minute who now found himself in second and Jari-Matti a further 21 or so seconds in third. Elfyn Evans in the number 2 Fiesta WRC, gapped Thierry by 20 seconds in their battle for seventh overall.
Stage 10 saw Ott close down 15 seconds to Seb, with the French champions advantage a little over a minute at the end of the 16km stage. The Toyota’s were running well, all three in the top four overall positions.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship, Round 01, Rallye Monte-Carlo 2018, January 25-28, 2018. Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
The following stage saw Esapekka Lappi pick up a puncture, so Kris Meeke picked up fourth place, despite sliding off into a field. Elfyn also picked up a position, moving ahead of Bryan Bouffier into sixth place. Ogier’s lead was now down to 48 seconds.
The next stage, number twelve, was won by Thierry, and this edged him a little closer to seventh placed Bouffier’s Fiesta, the gap just 12 seconds! Kris also was just hanging onto fourth place, with Lappi in the Yaris setting the third quickest time.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 01, Rallye Monte-Carlo 24-28 January 2018 Day 2 Action Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Helena El Mokni Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
The last stage of the day was won by Thierry and Elfyn was just two seconds slower than the Belgian keeping the gap between them above 30 seconds. Kris lost fourth place to young Finn, Esapekka Lappi after the Irishman spun in a hairpin, losing a couple of seconds.
Heading into the last day tomorrow, Seb Ogier leads Ott by just a little over half a minute. Just four stages and a total of 64km. It’s certainly possible for something to happen!
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 -WRC Monte Carlo (FRA) – WRC 24/01/2018 to 28/01/2018 – PHOTO : @World
This year I had the chance to attend the Autosport show in Birmingham, I feel very lucky for that and I would like to thank the organizers for their amazing hospitality. It was a unique experience, I was able to see closely several racing cars and also, I watched a great show hosted by David Croft.
The first day that I went to the show, I was astonished from the variety of cars that were at the show. While I was passing and was taking photos of almost all the cars, I noticed something different, something unique, I saw the Robocar. It was placed on the side of the Autosport’s interview stage, a strange car with no cockpit and a weird design.
Before you read Bryan’s Balcombe exclusive interview, it will be useful to know some of the car’s characteristics.
Robocar. Image by Chief Design Officer Daniel Simon / Roborace Ltd.
The Robocar, designed by the German Daniel Simon, who has previously created vehicles for Tron Legacy and Oblivion, is a fully electric and autonomous car, weights around 1000 kg and has four 300kW motors, one per wheel.
The top speed of the Robocar is about 320kph or 200mph and it also has a 62kWh battery with 550kW power.
Around the car, there are several types of sensors, to allow the car to move safely and fast on the tight Formula E circuits. It has 5 lidars, 18 ultrasonic sensors, 2 optical speed sensors, 6 AI cameras, two radars and GNSS positioning.
Robocar, is currently powered by NVIDIA Drie PX2 which can run up to 24 trillion A.I. operations per second, but it will be upgraded to Pegasus platform and will run 320 trillion operations per second. The current Drive PX2, is connected to Robocar’s sensors and gives the opportunity for 360-degree situational awareness around the car, to give the exact position of the car on the track.
Bryn Balcombe, Roborace’s Chief Strategy Officer, answered my questions regarding the Robocar and the Roborace series. Enjoy!
When and who came with the idea of a fully autonomous and electric car?
“Denis Sverdlov, Roborace’s founder and Alejandro Agag, came up with the idea whilst discussing the future of the automotive industry becoming electric but also connected and autonomous on the way back from the Beijing race in Season 1 of Formula E. Motorsport has always been used to advance road relevant technology. Roborace applies this philosophy to Vehicle Intelligence Technologies, many of which are banned in traditional championships as driver aids.”
What are your expectations from the Robocar, what do you want to achieve with Roborace series?
“Roborace will increase the pace of innovation and development of road relevant hardware and software for Intelligent Vehicles. Ultimately technology will save lives on the road and move society close to Vision Zero. As in all motorsport, Robocar will continue to evolve as technology improves. Within two years of development there have been three significant steps in NVIDIA compute power on the car. So the pace of innovation is much faster than traditional powertrain. We will start to see Software and Cognitive Power becoming as important to performance and safety as Mechanical and Horsepower.”
How many teams will take part in the Roborace championship, how many cars will each team have?
“We are looking at completely new formats of motorsport that are much more relevant to testing driver skills in perception, reasoning and decision making. Basically the smartest driver should win which is why we refer to it as a Championship of Intelligence. This year we are opening up the hardware platform for 3rd parties to start to develop AI Driver Software. Before they can race Robocar they’ll need to test their software in a simulator and in DevBot, our development vehicle. The development process and AI Driver is much the same as a human. We often refer to Max Verstappen taking 17 yrs before making it to F1 (13 of which he spent driving). The process for AI Drivers should be faster but there are similar logical steps that progress from small scale to full scale cars and from virtual to real cars. For any competition you need at least two competitors. So we’ll have competition formats that include anything from 2 cars upwards.”
How easy will it be presenting to the public a driverless series? Considering that all these years we are used to seeing drivers to battle wheel to wheel and fans are connected emotionally to the drivers and their achievements.
“There is always a driver. In fact, Roborace is focused on being a pure driver’s competition because it intends to use standardised vehicle hardware. The only performance differentiator is the driver skill. In some formats this will be AI Driver software only. In other formats we can allow a human to collaborate with the AI Systems and take executive control over decision making. In these formats you’ll see human collaboration with AI versus pure AI Drivers. We may see the same natural progression we’ve witnessed in chess, where Human/AI Centaurs can outperform AI only systems and AI systems can outperform humans only.”
What are the biggest challenges that Roborace team is facing, and how are they planning to overcome them?
“The pace at which the industry is moving is incredible so we will have constantly evolving competition formats that ensure the AI Drivers remain constantly challenged. In Roborace all evolutions are focused on driver performance whether that’s better eyes, ears, brain size or intelligence. The competition complexity will increase in line with those technical developments.”
What excites you about the Robocar? Is it the future of the commercial cars?
“In the future all vehicles with become intelligent. They will all become aware of their environment. They will all become aware of the surrounding situations. However, there is a fork in the road at that point in how you chose to use that intelligence. Toyota describes the options as Chauffeur and Guardian Angel. The first is an autonomous future where humans no longer need to drive. The second is an assisted/augmented future where humans still drive but their skills and capabilities are enhanced by the AI systems within the car. We know of several high performance OEMs that are considering AI technology as a future Race Trainer. So an AI Lewis Hamilton might be able to act as your real-time driver coach when you take your Project One on a track day. He could even drive you around first as you are learning the track and to set a reference lap time for you to target.”
Nicki Shields had the chance to drive the DevBot at Hong Kong ePrix, from the video it is seen that the Robocar cannot match the human’s times, will it ever be able to do it? What are the difficulties that do not allow it to move faster?
“In Hong Kong we ran using our development vehicle called DevBot rather than Robocar. DevBot is a modified LMP3 race car that allows a human to drive but can also be switched into an autonomous mode. That allows us to run human versus machine competitions. The AI Driver in DevBot was around 10% slower than Nicki. We actually ran a brand new version of our internal development AI Driver which was designed to run using LiDAR sensors only. For safety we imposed VMAX limit and a minimum distance to the barriers lining the street circuit of around 1.5m. Sensor fusion of LiDAR with cameras and Radar will improve perception which ultimately improves confidence so speeds increase and safety margins can be reduced.”
Consider a hypothetical scenario, during a race, two Roboracs are close to each other, how will each react? Will the leading car be able to defend its position, whilst the one from behind will be moving faster for a potential overtake?
“Wheel to wheel racing is a key target for Roborace. Nose to tail processions broken by straight line overtakes are not exciting for the public. AI Drivers will have adhere to similar sporting regulations as human drivers; such as leaving one car width of space for a competitor or staying within track limits. They will also have similar goals as human drivers and will develop similar offensive and defensive tactics to maintain an advantage.”
“The interesting thing is that if there is an incident all the data and decision making processes will be available for immediate review to determine fault. No more waiting for the end of the race for stewards in interview drivers before confirming the result. Sporting penalties can be applied immediately and proportionately.”
Describe Roborace series in a few words or more than a few!
“Roborace is an extreme motorsport and entertainment platform for the future of road relevant technology.”
How many people are working together every day to keep improving the Robocar? Would you like to say a few words about them?
“We’ve built an incredible team full of international talent to bring the project to life. Building a fully autonomous car is probably the most complex interdisciplinary task you could imagine. Collaboration is key.”
When will the Robarace championship be ready to launch?
“As soon as enough, drivers qualify to use Robocar. “
Well, what a day! Where to start my round up of today’s six stages? Seb in his Fiesta was our leader all day, but there were different stage winners and the person leading to fight to the Frenchman changed as well.
Andreas Mikkelsen was the man who was closest at the start of the day, but after dropping behind Dani in stage three, he then retired in stage four with alternator failure. There was more pain for Thierry as well, who suffered another puncture in stage three.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 01, Rallye Monte-Carlo 25-28 Janvier 2018 Dani Sordo, Carlos Del Barrio, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
The lead grew in stage four, but Ott Tanak was feeling at home in his new car, moving up the leaderboard and closing the gap to second placed Dani. Meantime, Craig was having a nightmare in his Citroen, with a stone breaking part of the caliper and meaning he’d suffer from brake failure and he was not enjoying that one bit. The good news though was that after stage five, the cars headed for service and the problem was fixed.
The afternoon loop began with the 26km and Ott took the fight to Seb, winning the stage and taking six and a half seconds out of erstwhile leader Seb’s lead. Craig was feeling a lot more comfortable now he had working brakes!
2018 FIA World Rally Championship, Round 01, Rallye Monte-Carlo 2018, January 25-28, 2018. Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Elfyn Evans took the long stage seven when the heavens opened, but Seb lost 14 seconds to Ott and the lead was down to 19 seconds after a spin put the Fiesta into a ditch! Craig was increasingly comfortable, setting the fourth fastest time in the stage, whilst Dani, Esapekka and Jari-Matti continued their battle for third overall.
Elfyn Evans, Dan Barritt, Day two. Photo credit, M-Sport
The final stage of the day fell to Thierry who after his puncture had been fighting back and closed the gap to Elfyn to just a little over three seconds.
Tomorrow sees the crews tackle five stages and a total of 117 km. One thing that could have a big impact to the standings is the snow that has been predicted all week. It will make tyre choices very hard!
Craig Breen, Scott Martin. Photo credit, Citroen Racing
Here’s the standings at the end of day two.
1 S. Ogier J. Ingrassia Ford Fiesta WRC 2:07:15.4
2 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Toyota Yaris WRC +14.9
3 D. Sordo C. del Barrio Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +59.7
4 E. Lappi J. Ferm Toyota Yaris WRC +1:09.9
5 J. M. Latvala M. Anttila Toyota Yaris WRC +1:10.1
6 K. Meeke P. Nagle Citroën C3 WRC +2:45.5
7 B. Bouffier X. Panseri Ford Fiesta WRC +3:34.6
8 E. Evans D. Barritt Ford Fiesta WRC +4:01.7
9 T. Neuville N. Gilsoul Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC +4:04.1
