TheSportsCampus

Turbos and Ground effect set for return

The ‘Turbo era' of the 80s is often considered a golden period for Formula 1. The era could return soon if Sam Michael, Technical Director of Williams is to be believed.

Michael told Autosport: "They are talking about putting a greater proportion of down force to the diffuser, a ground effect car - like the early 1980's," added Michael. "They have been looking at that, as well as increasing crash protection at the front of the car by moving the sidepods further forwards."

There is also a proposal of limiting fuel flow to the cars. Existing engines could be replaced by 1.6 ltr Turbocharged engines with energy recovery systems and fuel flow limiters in 2013, all for improving F1's ‘green' credentials

Chandok takes a Red Bull around Korean track

Karun Chandok, who has seemingly been forgotten by HRTm was given the privilege of testing out the new F1 track at Korea. He drove 14 laps even as construction continued unabated on the sides. A significant crowd turned out to witness the event.

After the run the Indian driver said, "Looking at the facilities, the garages and team buildings look pretty much finished and they're big," Chandhok said. "I think teams will need to bring around 30% more furniture to fill them! The grandstands also look reasonably finished.

"The track itself needs a bit more work on the asphalt and the kerbs, but the organisers think it's all within their time-lines and are confident that it will be ready on time. And the location's nice, we're overlooking the sea.

"It's a really interesting layout. The track's got a good mix of corners and I think we'll see a lot of overtaking in the first sector - there are long straights into slow hairpins. The straight after Turns 1 and 2 is really long, so we may see some good slipstreaming there, like in Shanghai.

"From Turn 7 onwards, there's a fast section of flowing corners all the way back to the start-finish line - so I think the Red Bull Racing guys will be happy in sectors two and three. It's an interesting layout"

Jeffri becomes youngest to drive an F1 car

Nabil Jeffri became the youngest driver to take the cokpit of an F1 car when he put the Lotus through its paces at Duxord Airfield in the UK. Nabil is all of 16 and is Malaysian.

After the experience Nabil said,  "I have had an incredible day, one of the best days of my life," he said. "I have to admit that the first time I went out it was pretty scary - everyone told me the acceleration would be unbelievable.

"It took a while to get used to that, but Heikki and Fairuz gave me some advice on how to settle in to it, and after a while I was more comfortable and was able to get through the day's plan.

"It's such an honour to have had this opportunity and it'll be a long time before the excitement wears off. I'll keep working hard to one day join Heikki, Fairuz, Jarno [Trulli] and the rest of the F1 grid."

Vettel remains confident of title win

Sebastian Vettel remains confident of his title chances despite recent poor finishes. The german who hurt Jenson Button's chances along with his at Spa told Auto Bild Motorsport "I know how good we are - I will take the title," Someone who has the most pole positions must think that way. These 13 races have not run completely smoothly, but I'm only 31 points behind. Assuming we maintain our speed, we can catch up quickly."

Vettel will need to back that confidence up with a good head and some race wins if he wants to make his dream a reality

Yamamoto to continue for rest of the season

Sakon Yamamoto who has managed to consistently keep his place at the very end of the grid recently told Dutch website formule1 that he will race for the rest of the season "I will finish the season," Whether I replace Bruno or Karun, I don't know. But it is certain that I will do all of the races. The team is deciding which of them will drive. But my position is in no doubt."

Karun Chandok reacted by saying he understood HRTs position, or rather plight. "The reasons [for missing races] seem fairly obvious but at the end of the day, the team has its reasons, financial or circumstantial," said Chandhok. "I think I will do two or three races before the end of the year but honestly, our focus has now shifted to 2011." He said.

Massa gets away with infringement at Spa

Felipe Massa got away with overshooting his grid box at the start of the Belgian GP. The FIA which normally gets a signal from a transponder in the car in such cases failed to get one and hence Massa was able to start a good two meters ahead. The FIA issued a statement regarding the same absolving Massa of any punishment.

"As no further information or complaints were received before the publication of the official result on Sunday night, the classification of the Belgian Grand Prix will now remain unchanged," said an FIA spokeswoman.

"The FIA are investigating the causes of the apparent failures in communication with race control in order to ensure a repetition is not possible."