Pushing The Limits

It’s no secret that the start of Ferrari’s 2020 F1 season has been disastrous. The team is seriously lacking pace and can barely match Racing Point—let alone Mercedes or Red Bull. Ferrari has traditionally been the main challenger or the No. 2 team during the Mercedes-dominated hybrid era. However, the lingering question is: why hasn’t Ferrari been able to consistently challenge the likes of Mercedes and Red Bull in recent years? Despite having multiple world champions like Fernando Alonso, Kimi Räikkönen, and Sebastian Vettel in their lineup, the team has failed to return to its former glory. Ferrari’s main issues seem to stem from its tendency to favor one driver over the other and its poor internal communication. They continue to make mistakes that shouldn't happen at this level—rookie-level errors. A prime example is Canada 2019, where Ferrari allegedly failed to inform Charles Leclerc about his teammate's five-second penalty. And let’s not even start on their questionabl...

 Day 2 of Formula One pre-season testing at Barcelona, Spain saw Mercedes pull out a weird new system. Mercedes' technical director James Allison called referred to this system as "DAS" or "Dual Axis Steering"  The DAS works on the toe angle of the car. As explained briefly by motorsport magazine "Toe is the angle that the wheels sit in relation to dead ahead when the steering is straight. If the front of the wheels are pointing out then this is known as toe out, the opposite and they are toed in".   Engineers in F1 tweak the angle to counteract oversteer and understeer.  So what Mercedes's DAS does is that it varies the toe angle between zero toe and negative toe. On the straights the angle becomes zero, reducing drag and giving a slight speed boost. This system is not automatic. It is activated with a button on the steering wheel. The message "marker" is displayed on the dash everytime the system is activated.  The system allows...

After Sebastian Vettel's Canadian GP win was stripped by an unfair and unnecessary penalty, numerous people have spoken out about what seems like F1's slow death.    After 5 long years of dominance, Mercedes are showing absolutely no signs of slowing down (quite literally). The issue is that, this long and strong run of Mercedes comes at a time when the playing field between teams is more uneven than before. The sport is becoming incredibly easy to predict, so much so that my non-f1 watching parents can tell who takes pole Saturday and who wins on Sunday. The gap between Mercedes is absolutely alarming. Despite rule changes, Ferrari and RedBull haven’t been able to catch up. There are so many on-track battles fans have been waiting to see, however with Mercedes cruising 30 seconds clear of everyone else, this doesn't seem likely.  It's one thing for a team to dominate and win five consecutive championships, but winning an average of three out of eve...

2021 is set to witness one of the biggest rule changes in F1. The FIA has planned a new breed of futuristic cars and plenty of "behind the scene" changes. The aim of this larger than life change is to make the sport fairer and more competitive. Instead of quick fixes, this time the changes will be at the grassroot level in terms of a more equal pay structure for teams to prevent team size and money from being the decisive factor in success.  However, if a cost cap like this one is introduced, a lot of bigger teams might protest since most of their staff would have to be laid off.                              RedBull has said that if such a situation does arise then the extra staff would be put to work on other projects. With the WEC also making a grand rule change in 2020 with its hypercar-based LMP1 replacement category, the idea is that the team could start a program based on the Aston Martin Va...

A surge in his form saw Mick Schumacher win 5 races in a row giving him a 49-point lead over his nearest rival, Dan Ticktum. However, a first-lap collision in the first race at the Hockenheimring meant that he had to avoid dropping further 15 points to Ticktum in race two, which he managed to do by securing a 2nd place finish.  Schumacher's title win comes after a 12th place finish in his rookie season. The son of the 7-time world champions was incredibly delighted and was "really greatful" for the championship. With all the attention and media surrounding him at all times, his team has played an important role in keeping his grounded and focused.  “It’s hard to describe in words.  I feel really grateful for what I’m able to live in this moment, to live this dream. We do what we love, so to also perform well in it is the best feeling you can get.  I have the team behind me, and people I can go to for relaxing.  This was key for me coping ...

With just 9 races into the 2018 Formula 1 season, Charles Leclerc has gone from being rookie to the newest sensation in F1.  Charle Leclerc's perfomaces with Sauber have caught the paddock's attention. His fight with Fernando Alonso in the Canadian Grand Prix was an absolute jot to watch. The season didn't start of incredibly well for him however he has constantly imporved and made a stunning breakthrough in terms of his results.  His recent performances have been so consistent and good, that they’ve put a question mark on Kimi Raikkonen’s one-year extension with Ferrari. However, having said that with Raikkonen’s current form, a one-year extension with Ferrari and simultaneously a one-year extension for Leclerc at Sauber is not out of the picture. The last driver who went from rookie to sensation was Max Verstappen. When he first debuted in 2015, he was labelled as a future champion. Leclerc’s unexpected performances has surely challenged all titles previo...