Illegal engine mapping by Red Bull team in Hockenheim

Illegal engine mapping by Red Bull in Hockenheim

In the German Grand Prix 2012 in Hockenheim, Red Bull is under investigation for illegal engine mapping. Jo Bauer, steward in Hockenheim said that upon inspection it was found that the Red Bull cars which qualified 2nd and 3rd had different engine characteristics. In the mid rpm range, they had much lower maximum torque levels as compared to other races. This is a clear violation because, FIA had stipulated that engine characteristics cannot be changed from race to race.

Jo Bauer said "in my opinion this is therefore in breech of Article 5.5.3 of the Technical regulations as the engines are able to deliver more torque at a given engine speed in the mid rpm range." He said that the new torque map will artificially alter the aerodynamics of the cars "in contravention of Technical Directive 036-11"

FIA had placed severe restrictions on engine maps after the exhaust-blown diffuser saga. Further information is awaited.

EDIT: After a meeting with Red Bull and Renault representatives and after they examined the ECU data, the stewards of Hockenheim concluded that the map presented doesn't breach the text of the Article 5.5.3. However, the stewards didn't accept all the arguments of the team.

Heartbreak for Hamilton, Respite for Narain Karthikeyan

Our article on Spanish Grand Prix qualifying was titled Hamilton on Pole, heartbreak for Narain
http://www.arjunaubacha.blogspot.in/2012/05/hamilton-on-pole-heartbreak-for-narain.html

However, in the continuing drama that is Formula 1, the new title should read Heartbreak for Hamilton, Respite for Narain

Lewis Hamilton had done a great lap in the dying seconds to score the pole position. However, he stopped the car as he didn't have enough fuel to complete the lap. This was in breach of the regulations. Incidentally, the regulations (Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations) came into place because of a previous incident in Canadian Grand Prix by the same McLaren team with Hamilton driving the car. At that time Hamilton didn't have enough fuel for the mandatory inspection, so he stopped the car, got down and pushed it all the way waving to spectators. It was indeed a spectacle, but the rules were changed after that. So it is surprising that the McLaren team didn't knew about it.

McLaren officials pleaded before the Stewards that there was a fuel rig fault and hence there was shortage of fuel. However, the Stewards didn't accept the explanation and ruled "As the amount of fuel put into the car is under complete control of the Competitor the Stewards cannot accept this as a case of force majeure"

So Hamilton has been excluded from the qualifying results and will start from the back of the grid. Pastor Maldonado has been promoted to the pole position - his first pole.

"The Stewards received a report from the Race Director which stated that during post-qualifying scrutineering a sample of fuel was required from car 4, however, the car failed to return to the pits under its own power as required under Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations.

The Stewards heard from the team representative Mr. Sam Michael who stated that the car stopped on the circuit for reasons of force majeure. A team member had put an insufficient quantity of fuel into the car thereby resulting in the car having to be stopped on the circuit in order to be able to provide the required amount for sampling purposes. As the amount of fuel put into the car is under complete control of the Competitor the Stewards cannot accept this as a case of force majeure."

The disqualification of Lewis Hamilton has also resulted in Fernando Alonso moving into second position and to the front row of the grid. That will definitely excite many Spaniards and the race is going to see a full house.

So the revised provisional Grid for the Spanish Grand Prix is as follows:

Grid Position	Driver	Team
1	Pastor Maldonado	Williams
2	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari
3	Romain Grosjean	Lotus
4	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus
5	Sergio Perez	Sauber
6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
7	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull
8	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes
9	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber
10	Jenson Button	McLaren
11	Mark Webber	Red Bull
12	Paul de Resta	Force India
13	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India
14	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso
15	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso
16	Felipe Massa	Ferrari
17	Bruno Senna	Williams
18	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham
20	Charles Pic	Marussia
21	Timo Glock	Marussia
22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT
23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT
24	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren

Politics on Resource Restriction Agreement

The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) has collapsed due to disagreement over the voluntary Resource Restriction Agreement that was agreed upon by the FOTA members. It was reported that Red Bull had spent much more than other teams in order to be competitive and win the championship.

There was no unanimity among the FOTA members on this issue as Red Bull and its sister firm Scuderia Torro Rosso didn't agree to the Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA). So barring Red Bull and Torro Rosso, other momembers of the now defunct FOTA have written to the FIA to implement it. They have asked for implenting penalty to teams who violate this agreement by either docking points or deducting grid places ie. pushing them down the starting grid in races. This move is seen to put pressure on Red Bull.

It would be pertinent to mention that HRT had pulled out of FOTA as it didn't want to even pay the membership fees of FOTA and also because it thought FOTA is for the interests of big teams.

When smaller teams are struggling to cobble together the required finances, it becomes difficult for them to compete with other teams who spend much more than them. Naturally, the successful teams attract much more sponsorships than the smaller teams. So it is a vicious cycle as well.

Let us wait for FIA to respond to this request for implementing the RRA.