Formula 1's Latest Rumours and Talk: Red Bull Focus on GP2, Pirelli and More
Red Bull have placed their remaining two Junior Team drivers in the GP2 series for 2015. Alex Lynn and Pierre Gasly will drive for top team DAMS, which has produced three of the last four series champions.
Only one of those champions, Romain Grosjean, made it to Formula One. The most recent of the three is the reigning champion, 2014 winner Jolyon Palmer. He's still without any form of F1 role for the coming season but isn't giving up just yet.
A race seat is out of the question, but some form of testing role may become available.
Elsewhere, the Virtual Safety Car has been enshrined in the sporting regulations for 2015, Pirelli are expecting their tyres to suffer a little more wear and Porsche have ruled out a return to F1.
Speculators will note that Audi, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT and the other Volkswagen-owned marques have not.
Read on for a full roundup of the top stories from the last few days.
Red Bull Place Entire Junior Team in GP2
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Red Bull have placed their two most promising—and at the time of writing, only—Red Bull Junior Team youngsters together at GP2's top outfit.
Pierre Gasly and Alex Lynn will drive for the DAMS team in 2015. The team won the drivers' and teams' titles last season, and has taken three of the last four drivers' championships.
In a statement on GP2 team's website, DAMS founder Jean-Paul Droit said:
"After the brilliant season we had in 2014 it’ll be difficult to do better! Obviously our aim is to keep our titles and I’m delighted to welcome Pierre Gasly and Alex Lynn to the team. It’s the youngest driver line-up we’ve ever had in GP2, but we've got two exceptionally talented guys who have a great future ahead of them. Although the overall level in the championship will again be very high, I’m confident that with these drivers DAMS will prove worthy of its rank.
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The move marks a significant change of policy for Red Bull—the team never usually sends its drivers to GP2.
A little over 12 months ago, Red Bull Junior Team boss Helmut Marko criticised the quality of the series and also railed against the cost, telling Auto Motor und Sport (h/t motorsport.com for the English translation), "It [GP2] is far too expensive. It costs €5 million per driver, while in GP3 it is €600,000."
Instead, they ran drivers in the World Series by Renault. The series' flagship category, Formula Renault 3.5 (FR3.5) was previously considered on a par with GP2. The lap times are broadly similar and the engines are close in terms of power—FR3.5 with 530 horsepower, GP2 with 612.
The above paragraph says "previously considered on a par" because that has changed in the last week, and Red Bull may have been influenced by this.
The FIA's new Super License points system is heavily and indefensibly skewed towards its own (and FOM's) series'. FR3.5 is valued only at the same level as GP3—disgracefully and staggeringly below the Formula Three Euroseries.
GP2 is now immeasurably more attractive; FR3.5 has been severely devalued, along with its sister FR2.0.
Nice to see the anti-competition theme has spread from F1 all the way down the ladder. Unless of course, FR3.5 is set for a change in the near future...
Virtual Safety Car Rules Clarified
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The FIA has given more details about how the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) system will work in 2015.
In the aftermath of Jules Bianchi's terrible crash at the Japanese Grand Prix, the VSC was mooted as a method of ensuring all cars slowed down sufficiently under double waved yellow flags.
It requires all drivers, wherever they are on the circuit, to drastically slow down in the event of a significant accident. Trials took place at the end of free practice sessions towards the end of last season.
The latest edition of the 2015 Sporting Regulations (Article 41, pdf), published on Thursday, confirms the VSC will be used in the 2015 season and gives details on how the system will work. Article 41.1 reads:
"The VSC procedure may be initiated to neutralise a race upon the order of the clerk of the course.
It will normally be used when double waved yellow flags are needed on any section of track and competitors or officials may be in danger, but the circumstances are not such as to warrant use of the safety car itself.
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The VSC will apply to the whole circuit, not just the area around the incident. Article 45.5 gives details on how it will operate:
"All competing cars must reduce speed and stay above the minimum time set by the FIA ECU at least once in each marshalling sector (a marshalling sector is defined as the section of track between each of the FIA light panels).
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Article 45.7 adds:
"When the clerk of the course decides it is safe to end the VSC procedure the message 'VSC ENDING' will be displayed on the official messaging system and, at any time between 10 and 15 seconds later, 'VSC' on the FIA light panels will change to green and drivers may continue racing immediately. After 30 seconds the green lights will be extinguished.
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The decision to go with the system in this form is absolutely correct. Per Autosport, the previous instruction given by race director Charlie Whiting was that the drivers must show a time reduction in a double waved yellow sector of just 0.5 seconds.
This despite the guidance regarding such flags stating "drivers must slow down and be prepared to stop if necessary." The 0.5 second reduction was never enough and something needed to change.
But other ideas, such as a safety car for even minor incidents—suggested by Jacques Villeneuve—were a step too far.
If it works (and it should), the VSC will provide an effective and safe solution which does not unnecessarily interrupt the racing.
Jolyon Palmer Still Seeking Formula 1 Opportunity
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Reigning GP2 champion Jolyon Palmer is still trying to find an F1 role for 2015.
The Brit has accepted he has no chance of a race drive, but continues to seek a test or reserve role. Speaking at the Autosport International Show, he said:
"I think there is going to be some opportunity in the future. For this year it is not going to happen because there are 18 cars and 18 drivers already in them.
So now we have to focus on the next best thing and that is working with an F1 team and trying to get some mileage in a car and prepare myself for 2016.
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Palmer's failure to attract the attention of the F1 teams makes him the third successive GP2 champion not promoted to a race seat. It reflects poorly on a series which is supposed to be the final stepping stone to the top, but the reason is plain for all to see.
Truly exceptional, F1-ready drivers are not winning the championship any more—rather, those with lots of experience are. Of the first six champions, four won it in their first or second season—Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Timo Glock and Nico Hulkenberg.
By contrast, the last five champions have needed at least four years to take the crown. Of them only two—Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean—graduated to F1.
Palmer's achievement was special and his driving was often brilliant to watch. But prior to 2014, he had never even beaten a GP2 team-mate in the standings.
That's why the title hasn't had team bosses queuing up to sign him. He'll need a hefty wedge of sponsorship cash to have any hope of fulfilling his dream.
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Porsche Rule out Formula 1 Bid
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Two highly placed Porsche personnel have confirmed the car maker has no interest in entering F1 in the future.
Speaking to Auto Motor und Sport (h/t grandprix.com), Porsche chief designer Wolfgang Hatz said: "[F1] has never been an issue for us and won't be.
"Le Mans [and WEC] is a more attractive environment for us—there are more and more competitors and we learn more about the production of road cars."
Porsche executive Matthias Muller is also quoted, saying he believes "LMP1 is the future" and that F1 appears to be "in more and more difficulty."
He has a point about the latter statement, but there have been no solid rumours of a Porsche return (they last entered as a constructor in 1962).
All the speculation about a Volkswagen Group entry focused on their stablemate, Audi. The company recently hired former Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali.
ESPN covered (denied) rumours of an Audi entry in November, and in December BBC Sport's Andrew Benson reported the VW Group was conducting a "feasibility study" regarding a future F1 entry.
VW Group also owns Lamborghini, Bugatti, Skoda, SEAT and Bentley. So they still have plenty of options, even if Porsche have ruled themselves out.
But it's probably not worth getting excited just yet at the prospect of Mercedes duking it out with one of their great German rivals. Reports, speculation and rumours that VW are considering an entry have been around for over a decade—including this BBC story from 2001.
Pirelli Expecting a More Aggressive 2015
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Pirelli are expecting more extreme wear and less durability for their tyres in 2015.
The compounds used in 2014 will remain almost entirely unchanged, but as the cars are expected to be quicker and the engines more powerful, this may put more pressure on the tyres. Speaking to Sky Sports, the company's motorsport boss Paul Hembery said:
"Last year people said we were a little bit too conservative and maybe a little bit boring, but I think it is more a case of we went into a year with new technology and there is a little bit of that this year.
We’ve seen some initial data that suggests the cars are going to make another good step in performance compared to last season and what might have been a conservative choice last season might become quite an aggressive one in 2015.
So like many we are interested to see what happens with the unfreeze for a little while of the engine regulations, what that is going to mean for the majority of teams—particularly on race pace, that is the one aspect where we expect to see a big improvement in performance. And that might make a conservative choice suddenly a bit more aggressive.
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It would be a shame if tyres took over the sport again after what was, in the world of rubber, an excellent year.
Pirelli seemed to get it exactly right at the overwhelming majority of races—only Russia truly stands out as a blot on their record, and that was a new circuit.
So one can only wonder who complained to Hembery that the tyres were too conservative and boring last year.
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