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Are Ferrari using traction control   already? -  Have Your Say  
Ferrari Dominant, Or Will They Be?  
Issue 5 - The Heretic   

March 12 - 16 News

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16-Mar: It was Heinz Harald Frentzen's turn to clarify what he meant by engines running traction control. Frentzen said that he never accused anyone of using an illegal traction control system but the media made it sound that way and added "I said they have something that helps them to come better out of the corner, but it is a legal traction control. And when people asked me, do you think it's illegal, I said I can't answer that question because the FIA has all the data about traction control, and whether it's illegal or not. But also we have the answer of Max Mosley, saying that there are teams running a system in Formula One which reduces wheelspin. It's a system which is not working together with wheelspin sensors. It's a normal, legal system: they predict that wheelspin can happen, and you can program this in the software, but it's not illegal, and I was talking about this system."

Olivier Panis has indicated that he is very pleased returning to Formula 1 and is fit and ready for the fight. He explained the loss of his 4th place finish in Australian by saying "To be honest I'm very experienced but I didn't see the yellow flag. Jos Verstappen was following me, he didn't see it either. I am very sorry for the team, because for the first race we did a very strong job, I would have been very happy to score three points. But anyway it's an FIA decision, I accept this, but yes, I am very sorry to the team because I didn't see the yellow flag. We have a good baseline, we have to work very hard for this weekend, and we need to score some points here."

Craig Pollock was asked about the relationship between Panis and Villeneuve and said "I think Olivier is giving Jacques a hard time, and that's the reason that we hired Olivier. We want two drivers finishing one behind the other, and it's fantastic to see. But what Jacques will do, and he's done it in the past, is he'll have to step up. Don't forget, Jacques on a Friday is not the same as he is on a Saturday. I've never seen Jacques getting along as easily with somebody they're both of the same language, they understand each other, and it looks like there's quite a good friendship building up."
With regard to the crash involving Villeneuve in Melbourne, Pollock said "Well, from what we can see, and I'm sure Patrick will know a lot more than I will because he understands the technical side, I don't think either driver was lifting off any earlier or any later than before. Certainly it was earlier than he'd be lifting off in qualifying, but I think it was just a basic racing accident, and that's how I would like to leave it"

Patrick Head agreed with Craig Pollock but also added that the Michelin tyres do not perform that well in their early laps. He also pointed to the fact that all 8 wheel ties on Villeneuve's car failed and said "Looking at the data, Ralf's braking-point was the same or slightly later than on the previous lap. I think it was fairly well known that the Michelin tyres had a bit of a dip in them in their early laps, so I think Ralf was probably struggling with a bit of understeer at that time, and I'm sure Jacques had in his mind that he was going to overtake him. But whatever it was, somehow there was a misjudgement and the cars hit each other. I think one thing that has to be looked at closely is, fundamentally, the car came to a halt with Jacques quite safely, but there are eight wheel ties on the car and each one of those eight parted, and I think that's the biggest thing that we have to have a good look at, to understand why, and to make sure that we improve the performance of the wheel ties to make sure that they do what they're intended to do."
Patrick Head also talked about the subject of traction control and voiced his strong opposition to it and said "I shall be very sad, I've always appreciated being able to watch drivers power-slide cars, which is one of the reasons why I hate these tyres we're running at the moment, because basically they don't respond well to that type of driving. I think it will be a big sadness if traction control, and very refined traction control, is part of motor racing from here on, and I think it's something we've got to look at very closely, to work out how to go away from there. But we don't want a season of concern that every time somebody wins, everybody says, well, they would do, wouldn't they? I don't think that's healthy either."

Michael Schumacher recently made comments that the Sauber team could finish on the podium and perhaps even win a race. Peter Sauber clearly disagreed and said " I think it's not possible to make podium places this season. Maybe if we are very, very lucky in a race, a very special race, with rain conditions or something, but not on our own."

16-Mar: With an air temperature of 33 degrees and a track temperature of 43 degrees, the drivers had a tough time during the practice sessions. 
Michael Schumacher said ", I am sweating, which is unusual for me. It would be nice to take the air-conditioning system out of the office and put it in the car."
Rubens Barrichello said "I feel fine physically, even though it is very hot both inside and outside the cockpit."
Heinz Harald Frentzen said "'If it's like this on Sunday then it is going to be one of the hardest races of the season. It's really hot in the car."
Jacques Villeneuve said "We had a very hard day and it was very hot."

Jarno Trulli who set the fastest time today indicated that this was the first time he had a trouble free session in some time and added "Each time I got in the car, I was able to push 100 per cent and we have been competitive all the way through. It is only the first day, of course, but the good thing is that we have been able to get close to McLaren and Ferrari. We are also able to show that we have made progress with this year's car; it's much better and we are moving in the right direction. I'm happy, not just for me, but for everyone on the team."

Mika Hakkinen who was only the 6th fastest wasn't too concerned about his position but complained of lack of grip and said "'We are having some problems finding the right balance for the car to suit this track. The main problem is lack of grip at the front, which means the car is very difficult to drive. Today is free practice and you never know what level of fuel the
competition is running with."

Juan Pablo Montoya was disappointed with today's outcome as he failed to set a competitive and said "It looked like every problem was falling on me today. First a fuel problem, then an electrical problem. We changed the battery and some more bits but in the end this didn't help. I don't know this track at all and I really needed to learn it. From what I could see the circuit is better than what I thought, mainly because it's really very wide."

16-Mar: Malaysian GP – 2nd Friday Practice: A surprise Jarno Trulli sets the fastest time of the day ahead of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. David Coulthard, Eddie Irvine and Mika Hakkinen make the top 6 ... Timed Results ... Full Report ... Notes

16-Mar: Malaysian GP – 1st Friday Practice: Rubens Barrichello sets the fastest time ahead of Michael Schumacher and Jarno Trulli. David Coulthard, Eddie Irvine and Heinz Harald Frentzen make the top 6 ... Timed Results ... Full Report ... Notes 

16-Mar: Jacques Villeneuve has finally spoken about the tragic crash he was involved in at the Australian GP. Ralf Schumacher blamed Villeneuve for the accident and thought that Villeneuve overrated himself. Almost 2 weeks after the crash, Villeneuve described Ralf's comments as highly unacceptable and said "I made an effort to be neutral in my comments, to make sure I didn't put the blame on anybody and the other side reacted like a bunch of babies trying to point their fingers. I thought that was highly unacceptable. Ralf had problems with his front tires and he was extremely, extremely slow and he was braking earlier than everybody else on the racetrack. So if that happens, and you know that that's what's happening then don't stay in the middle of the racetrack. Stay on the left or the right and give enough room for someone else to react. If you are going to brake 30 meters earlier than everyone else because you have problems there's no way the other people can react."
Villeneuve also added that being aggressive on the track is part of racing and said "Accidents like that will happen. We're not on a road with signs and 'oh please, it's your turn now'. We're both trying to fight for the same corners and the same lines on the racetrack. Maybe we are becoming slightly more aggressive now, which is a good thing, it's a part of racing. You need to be aggressive but I think that with mistakes now, there's much more blaming than there used to be."

15-Mar: At the Thursday press conference for the Malaysian GP, Michael Schumacher heavily criticised Heinz Harald Frentzen for the comments he made (story) regarding Ferrari engines using traction control. He went as far as calling them stupid and complete nonsense and said "I clearly have to say it is quite a big mistake to make such comments because it puts the sport in a lot of disrepute. We have a clean start of the season, the FIA declares the car legal, and then one person is making such a stupid comment, people write about it. People think Ferrari has been against traction control from the start of the season and they think why. But the reason that Ferrari is against starting like this is not only the issue of traction control because it is quite a big environment that will be changed from Barcelona on: differential, launch control, traction control, there's quite a lot of things we were simply not ready for and if we wanted to be against traction control or all of these we would have said we don't want it at all. We just simply could have said this. We simply felt we weren't ready at the start of the season, that's why we didn't want it, not because we have something tricky, and if I did my starts wouldn't be as bad as they were last year in my view. So I think it is very unfair of him to make this comment and now he doesn't say it's illegal, it's simply "dubious". What is that? I mean, either it's legal or it's not legal and our one is legal, so it's great. We are doing a good job, we are working very hard, we spent a lot of money for that, Nick did a fantastic job, and that only means that he has to work harder for himself and not look at other people maybe doing something wrong. I think that's complete nonsense."
Michael also indicated that he doesn't think the lap times at Malaysia will drop significantly compared to last year as they did in Australia and said "I think you should not do the mistake and compare 2000 Melbourne against 2001. It's quite an unfair comparison. What you should compare is this weekend because we have been here with very good tyres already last year and what we have to look at is the comparison against this year and you will find that the difference will be far less than what we have seen in Melbourne."

David Coulthard has indicated that he is a bit disappointed being behind Ferrari at the start of the season but are working hard to catch them. He said "I think there is always a big question of where you are going to be relative to your competitors and obviously we have always had an advantage over the last few years over the rest of the guys. So naturally there is a little bit of disappointment not to have that same advantage. We've got some new parts which obviously we hope will make the car go quicker, but I think it's quite clear from Australia that Ferrari have an advantage at the moment and if you simply look at the performance in Australia over the last few years and the performance here, even though we had the advantage in Australia we've always been a little bit behind. So I think that if we are able to be as quick or quicker in qualifying then it shows we have taken a step forward with our development. But I don't think any of us know at this time exactly who is going to perform where on this track."
Regarding the drop in lap times and the suggestions to slow down the cars, Coulthard said "We have to wait and see what the time difference is here. If there had not been a fatality at the last race I honestly don't think we would be having that conversation over the last couple of weeks, because none of us were complaining that the cars were going too fast. We were enjoying driving the car and it was just tragic circumstances that led suddenly to the spotlight being put back on the cars. A very good point was mentioned to me before, that even if you took ten miles an hour off the top speed, then would that particular incident which has probably started this whole conversation, have been any different? You could maybe do projections of where the car would fly and what have you but probably it would end up in roughly the same place. But I think we need to get into the season and see how we are all enjoying it and how the safety is and then start looking at issues, rather than the usual knee-jerk that we have seen over previous years, going back as far as '94 where we had so many regulation changes during the course of the year that were then taken away because they didn't actually achieve what was necessary, rather than creating more work for the teams when everyone is already up against it."

Nick Heidfeld has indicated that he thought he would be very lucky to score a point in Australia and was amazed to finish 4th and said "I think it was a surprise to everybody. We have been going quite well in practice, some people actually thought that we were underweight, which I found quite nice. I thought if we were very lucky we would maybe score one point but then actually getting both cars in the point was really amazing. Also we were really competitive all through the weekend, on Friday and on Saturday as well. Obviously we were a bit lucky in the circumstances, but I think we deserved it."
As for his thoughts on Frentzen's comments regarding the use of traction control he said "It's very difficult for the whole team, for me, and I guess for Ferrari too, to say anything which makes us look better again because he didn't say it was illegal, so what can we do? If somebody thinks we are illegal we go to the FIA, then we will see. But actually our car is legal and that's it."

15-Mar: The Ferrari team have won all the Formula 1 races held at the Sepang circuit. They are hoping to continue that with their third win in a row. For Michael Schumacher, winning at the Malaysian GP would be his 6th Formula 1 win in a row which will put him second behind Alberto Ascari who won 7 in a row (between 1952 - 1953). Michael Schumacher is optimistic but knows that it is not going to be easy and said "For sure it's going to be a pretty tough race physically, but it will be the same for everyone and I am not worried about my stamina for this race. Obviously I have warm memories of the Sepang track which is both challenging yet very safe. I would certainly like to make it a hat trick for Ferrari this year and add another 10 points to my Championship lead. We showed we were both fast and reliable in Australia, but it's not going to be easy to repeat the act in Malaysia - especially if the weather plays a hand in the outcome."

Team-mate Rubens Barrichello is looking forward to the race and is hoping to be able to race Michael and said "Malaysia will be hot and humid and that will put a lot of extra strain on the cars as well as the drivers. Although I was not entirely pleased the way the race went for me in Australia, it was still a very positive start to the season and I am looking forward to having a better race in Malaysia and, I hope, racing Michael for the win. It's going to feel strange returning to the same track so soon where the whole team had an incredible party to celebrate our double championship win. I think some have only just recovered."


The dispute between Michael Schumacher and Bell helmets has been resolved. Earlier Michael Schumacher decided to switch to Schuberth helmets despite having a contract with Bell helmets. The matter did go to court and Schumacher was forced to wear Bell helmets at the Australian GP to avoid paying around $100,000 for every session he doesn't wear a Bell helmet. Both parties have now reached a settlement that will allow Michael Schumacher to wear the Schuberth helmets starting from the Malaysian GP. The statement read "Michael Schumacher underlines how his earlier comments on the quality and safety of Bell helmets had been misinterpreted. In those nine years of productive collaboration, the quality and safety of Bell helmets had never been put in question. On behalf of Bell, S.P.O.R.T.S. Europe thanked Michael Schumacher, three-times World Champion, for having used its helmets up until today and was pleased to have found a friendly solution to the controversy. As a result of this agreement, Michael Schumacher will no longer use Bell helmets with effect from the Malaysian GP." The terms of the agreement was not disclosed.

14-Mar: Jacques Villeneuve's Race Engineer and close friend Jock Clear has indicated that the tragic accident Villeneuve was involved in at the Australian GP will make him an even stronger character. He added "I don't think it will affect his racing at all. I don't think he will worry at all, and, even if it might sound like a strange philosophy, in a way that sort of accident probably strengthens his resolve and probably boosts his confidence. To have that sort of magnitude of shunt and come out completely unhurt I think reinforces the fact that the cars are massively strong these days. From Jacques’ point of view he is pretty confident the car around him is going to protect him so he is always taking risks, he is always putting his life on the line."
Meanwhile, team boss Craig Pollock believes that Olivier Panis will push Jacques Villeneuve to the limit but he still thinks that Villeneuve will be in front and said "Olivier seemed relatively competitive. In fact during the weekend he was mostly running in front of Jacques until final qualifying. The closer Olivier can be to Jacques the better it is for the team. What we are wanting is the cars finishing one and two or two and three, one behind the other. I think he is pushing Jacques in the right way but I feel that Jacques will still be in front of Olivier."

14-Mar: "Ferrari Dominant, Or Will They Be?" is the title of the 5th issue from the Diagnosis and Prognosis Series for the 2001 season. In this issue, the Heretic looks at the upcoming Malaysian Grand Prix - Issue 5

13-Mar: Williams' Technical Director Patrick Head has indicated that he is optimistic for the upcoming race and the season ahead as both Michelin and BMW performed well. He was not so happy with Montoya's qualifying result and hopes the Colombian will do better in Malaysia and said "On both of our previous visits (to the Malaysian GP) we have struggled a bit, but we intend to get to grips with the track’s requirements this time. Much will depend upon the Michelin tyres and their suitability for this track. They performed well at Melbourne as did the new BMW engine, which gives us every reason to have an optimistic view of our season ahead. Both drivers drove well in Melbourne, although I am sure that Juan Pablo will be wanting to improve upon his starting position."
BMW's Motorsport Director Dr. Mario Theissen has indicated that durability is the team's main priority especially that neither Williams finished in Melbourne and said "It is fair to say that in Melbourne our engines were strong and that during the whole weekend we didn’t experience the smallest technical problem on our side. As neither of our cars could finish the race and therefore we could not prove the reliability of the V10 over a Grand Prix, durability remains the main priority. For this reason we have some further improvements ready for Sepang."


Jaguar's boss Bobby Rahal has indicated that the team's aim this season is to gain respectability and that is achieved by reliability. He was happy with both cars finishing in Melbourne and is very optimistic with regards to improving their pace. As for the Malaysian GP, Rahal predicts rain which will make the event exciting and said "Given that both cars crossed the finishing line in Melbourne, I feel that we have started the season on target, especially when you consider the fact that both cars retired from last year’s Australian Grand Prix by lap six. We learned a lot from Melbourne and over time we are very optimistic about extracting more pace from the car. Cosworth introduced a new series two CR3 engine for Melbourne and it has been very well received by the drivers. Combined with our ongoing development with Michelin, I am optimistic about fulfilling our targets over the course of this season. The Malaysian Grand Prix is now at the opening end of the season as opposed to the end and the new date means a high risk of rain. Four times in the past five years it has rained on March 18 in Sepang and this will inevitably make for an exciting spectacle – something we hope to be a part of."

13-Mar: "Are Ferrari using traction control already ?" Topic of the week - Have Your Say

12-Mar: Benetton's Technical Director Mike Gascoyne has indicated that they expected a difficult race in Melbourne and are hoping to introduce a new bodywork package for Malaysia that should help them move higher up the grid. He said "Melbourne was difficult for the team but no more than we expected. Both Renault Sport UK and France are pushing hard on development for Malaysia and Brazil so we can start the process of moving up the grid. We have a new bodywork package in development that we hope will be ready for Malaysia. For the forthcoming race, we have incorporated some specific modifications to cope with what we expect to be very high temperatures in Malaysia. Our focus is on race reliability and our aim is to get two cars to the finish and in a competitive state."


Following his recent comments about the Sauber of Nick Heidfeld using traction control at the Australian GP (story), Heinz Harald Frentzen has indicated that while he is certain that Ferrari use some form of traction control, it is unfair to label Nick Heidfeld as a cheat and wrote "For me, it is beyond doubt that somehow Ferrari managed to develop an engine software which reduces the power by a certain margin to the extent that the driven wheels don’t spin. It cannot be ignored that something like that exists, there is simply no room for a discussion about that. On the other hand, however, you can discuss if the device that exists is legal or illegal. I believe that Formula 1 – thanks to its brilliant engineers – progressed into an area which is hard to be defined even by the FIA. And this is exactly why the FIA opted for the right consequence to change the rules in order to legalize traction control in the future.
I’m sorry that this explanation was a bit theoretical but apparently, there is a heated debate about it which means certain words will have to be chosen still more carefully. And this is exactly why I don’t find it correct that the German tabloid paper “Bild”-Zeitung copied only parts of my assumptions from my home page while it ignored other parts like the aspect of a traction control being legal or illegal which has often been discussed. At the end of the day, this is quite unfair towards Nick who is blamed to be cheating by “Bild”-Zeitung."

11-Mar: Can Ferrari continue their domination?. The Malaysian Grand Prix Preview is now available ... Race Preview

Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix Schedule:

Friday Practice Session 1
Friday Practice Session 2
Saturday Practice Session 1
Saturday Practice Session 2
Qualifying Session
Warm-up Session
Race
11 AM KL Time / 3 AM GMT
1 PM KL Time / 5 AM GMT
9 AM KL Time / 1 AM GMT
10:15 AM KL Time / 2:15 AM GMT 
1 PM KL Time / 5 AM GMT
10:30 AM KL Time / 2:30 AM GMT 
3 PM KL Time / 7 AM GMT
KL: Kuala Lumpur - World Clock
Go to the Malaysian GP Page

 

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