Pit stops and mechanics in Formula 1

      When I have started my adventure with Formula One ( when I started watch ) I thought that it is not difficult to make a pit it is just 2 seconds especially when there are many mechanics around the car, but when I was reading many articles about it I found out that is not as easy as I supposed and I would like to tell you some information about work as a mechanic and pit stops.

      So at the moment good pit stop is between 2.2 to 2.5 seconds, however have to have regular time not to make one in 2.2 and the other one in 2.7 seconds. The time is now a little bit shorter than it was in 2009, because of fueling, where pit stops were lasting about 7 seconds or longer and team were more focused to fill tank . The secret of good pit is a good equipment, discipline, and lots of practice.                                                                                  

      

     

Mechanics in Formula 1 have two programs….one in a fabrique where there is a special place which pretend to be pit lane and place where racing car is service by them and the other one on the race track, so mechanics practicing a lot, however there is something which is difficult to practice I mean stress where they are waiting for car in full awareness of the importance of the risk, that everything is in their hands, lots of pressure.

      

      More difficult moment is where mechanics have to change nose of the racing car especially in the beginning of the race , because is really heavy and it is difficult to hold it. Remember when there was a pit stop in the past and in front of the car was standing “Mr. Lollipop”, to be more precise there was a mechanic with lollipop to signal driver that he can drive, pit stop has finished, but there were a lot of mistakes so it changes for traffic signal which made racing life much easier. When the racing car is standing on the first gear, and mechanics are pushed two buttons on their pneumatic keys, computer find two signals of turning down, jack which holding one side of the racing car up automatically getting down , after finding this by computer in both jacks the light automatically changes for green and the driver leaves.

Mechanic who changes tyre have to be strong. Pneumatic key weight 3.5 Kilograms and generate moment above 4000 Newton meters, so it service requires appropriate physical prepare.

Thank you for reading this, see you next post:):)

How tyres are made???

      Tyres in Formula One are very important, without them queen of  the motorsport could not exist:D:D.   Since 2011 Pirelli( Italian manufacturer) is the only one tyre supplier, so in this post I would like to tell you something about making tyres, that is to say "How tyres are made"..:):). 

                                      

      Firstly this is a similar process of making cake, people who are making tyres have to have appropriate ingredients such as mica, soot, silica, sulfur, oils and resin which are weighing, then are put to special mixer, where ingredients are mixing, heating and cooling. Final product is rolling on strips, from them are creating different rubber parts of the tyre.

                

     Secondly rubber stripes are blending with composite and then create skeleton of the tyre, where  enwheeling from synthetic fiber is added.When the tyre is complete the last but not least process is retreading.  Machines with vapour are heating the tyre to 150 degrees C. Pressure inside every form is above 20 bar. The retreading process is keeping on 30 minutes. After quality control logo and name are added:):). Thank you for reading these piece and see you next post:):):)

Renault is back to Formula 1

      Through the years Renault was one of the strongest team in Formula 1, having the greatest drivers, champions such as Alain Prost and Fernando Alonso who won for them the championship twice, yeah in 2005 and 2006 Renault was the strongest, but then in 2007 Fernando left them for McLaren where he could not find himself, and after one year decided to came back, but the things got worse I mean the team was not strong enough to win championship again, however drivers were on podium several times since issues get started.

      In 2009 there was a scandal during the Singapore Grand Prix 2008 where Nelson Piquet Jr.( Alonso's teammate) had a crash causing Fernando’s win. Nelson had characterized the incident as a mistake, but after he left the team in August 2009, allegations surfaced that his crash had been deliberate, to give an advantage to Alonso, in the same year 2009 Briatore and Symonds had left the team. In 2010, Renault sold most stake in the team to Genii Capital (investment company).

      Now it is been six years since Renault decided to leave Formula One, now they are back, and it must be serious for them, because they bought team with financial problem….did you now that in 2015 during Belgian Grand Prix Lotus were racing in the presence of debt collectors??:(, it is crazy since I have never though that Formula One team could have a serious financial problems enough to have a debt collectors who for some days keeping equipment on racing circuit until Lotus pay money back, sometimes when you are watching Formula One races you do not realize that these things can happened behind the scenes.

      Most teams who start their adventure or are longer in F1 are very optimistic, they usually say that they can fight for wins and finally for title, but Renault is more realistic they know that it is going to be difficult season, because of many reasons for example the car is not competitive enough and it is going to be difficult in qualifications to score a good position, OK this car was a fast construction( built in such a short time), but we cannot forget about the drivers that Lotus has. Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer are very talented, determined and I think that they are able to fight for best also I am really happy to see Renault again.

 Thank you for reading these piece...see you next post:):):):)