Month: March 2015

Tech Focus: Chip Ganassi Racing Remove Upper Flick from Aero Kit

Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan chat in pit lane prior to the start of Saturday’s testing session. — Photo: Chris Owens 

IndyCar teams had a chance to test their aero kits for the first time on Saturday at NOLA Motorsports Park in Louisiana. One of the features of aero kits this year is the ability for teams to remove and change components on their car to separate themselves from other teams with the same manufacturer. 


Chip Ganassi Racing was one of the first teams we saw that chose to make changes to their kit. CGR removed the upper flick element that sits on the side-pod of Chevy’s kit. The No. 9 machine ran without the component for all of the session on Saturday. 

From the images below you can see the car completely lacking the component. The flick on the bumper pod was still on the car. 

The No. 9 Chevy at Saturday's testing session.

Chevy's aero kit rendering with the upper flick.


It’s unclear if this design change will stay for the season, but Scott Dixon did top the time sheets yesterday by a little under a tenth of a second. It certainly didn’t seem to hurt his performance at NOLA. 

All photos courtesy of Chris Owens/IndyCar PR, and Chevy. 

More 2015 Testing:
Technical Image Gallery, NOLA Testing
Schmidt Peterson Runs Two Different Top Flicks in Testing

Race Notes: Australian Grand Prix

A Ferrari car during practice for the 2014 Australian grand Prix. — Photo: Motor Authority

The 2015 Formula One season kicks off this Sunday in Melbourne, Australia, with the Australian grand Prix. Nico Rosberg won the race last year on his way to coming second in the driver’s championship, and he’ll be looking for a successful start to 2015 again. 

Schedule: 

  • Qualifying: Saturday, 2 a.m. ET
  • Race: Sunday, 1 a.m. ET
With the start of the new season in Formula One, all of the teams will be looking to get off on the right foot for 2015. Judging by pre-season testing, it looks as if Mercedes still has the edge on the other teams, but that will all come to light during the practice sessions and qualifying as times are set with race pace.

Ferrari and McLaren, as well as Williams, have shown promising signs in the off-season, but it’s still too soon to tell if their performance will translate into race results. Valtteri Bottas finished fourth in the championship last year, and along with Daniel Ricciardo, they look to be the most likely contenders for Mercedes this year. 

But if 2014 is any example to go by (hint: it is), these guys may not even get a chance to battle for a race win in Australia. Mechanical reliability was a huge issue last year, causing five of the eight retirements of the race. The problems ranged from ERS failures to oil pressure and electronics issues. Heck, the future driver champion of 2014 even had a full blown engine failure during the race.

The other three DNF’s were due to crashes and a disqualification. Reliability is hard to come by after limited pre-season testing and new cars for the season. Expect a few cars (ranging from two to eight) to have some sort of mechanical issue or retirement during the race. 

Other then the expected reliability concerns, there isn’t too much information to base the first race off of. Pre-season testing gives us some idea, but until the teams start putting in race pace laps and qualifying attempts, we won’t get a clear picture of how everyone is stacking up.

With that said, Mercedes was dominant in 2014, and since there weren’t many aerodynamic regulation changes for the cars, they should still experience a slight (if not large) performance advantage for the first race. Expect them to be mighty quick on Sunday.

Off The Track
Max Verstappen, 17, will be the youngest ever driver in Formula One when he takes the track on Sunday. And he’s not just beating the record by a little, either; the current youngest driver, Jaime Alguersuari, was 19 years old when he first raced in the sport during the 2009 Hungarian grand Pirx. Teams and fans alike will have an eye on the young driver in his first ever Formula One race.

Single Seater will be tweeting out stats and interesting numbers during the race, so be sure to follow us on Twitter here. 

Current Points Standings 


The Numbers Behind Renault’s 2015 Power Unit

Red Bull will be one of the few teams running with Renault power in 2015. — Photo: Getty Images

Mercedes power dominated the 2014 Formula One season and powered Mercedes AMG Petronas to both a driver’s and constructor’s championship. Renault lagged behind for most of the year and only challenged with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

On Wednesday, Renault released some interesting numbers regarding their 2015 power unit and how it compares to last year’s. Right off the bat managing director Cyril Abiteboul said “last year we went to Melbourne in a very different frame of mind, but in 2015 we are much happier in our own skin.” Renault will be looking to close the gap to Mercedes this year.

The manufacturer said that they are now able to harvest 25 percent more thermal energy than last year and have become more efficient fuel wise. It is now 5 percent more efficient at every speed which should help the teams with fuel conservation throughout the race. The two teams that are designated to run with Renault power (Red Bull, Toro Rosso) will be looking to use this fuel conservation to their advantage throughout the season.

Abiteboul said that the test engines have covered over 9,000 kilometers in testing and are showing signs of increased reliability this year, something they struggled with in comparison to Mercedes. With reliability improving, the actual performance gap to Mercedes is the next problem to solve. 

Abiteboul added, “we’ve still got a long way to go, but the season is equally long and we’ve still got items up our sleeves to further improve in 2015.”



Lotus Is Switching To Mercedes Power At The Right Time

On Friday, Romain Grosjean said that he believes the 2015 season “will be very much about reminding people how good Lotus F1 Team and Romain Grosjean can be.” This comes after a disastrous previous season that saw Lotus only pick up ten points in the constructor’s championship.

Lotus should have a much stronger outing in 2015 after switching to Mercedes power.    — Photo: Lotus F1 Team

Over the off-season, the team switched from Renault to Mercedes power and are hoping it will give them an edge in the upcoming season. After successful test sessions in Jerez and Catalunya, the team should be feeling more confident than they were heading into the Australian grand Prix last year.

And rightfully so, too. With Mercedes now powering the car, Lotus should be much more competitive than they were last year when their highest finish was eighth place. Four of the top six constructors ran with Mercedes power, including the champions Mercedes AMG Petronas. Ferrari and Renault power claimed the other two positions. Three of the top six drivers in the points standings were also behind Mercedes-powered machines.

Besides Ricciardo, Vettel, and Alonso, all of the drivers in the top twelve positions in the points standings were running Mercedes power. Obviously, even with the engine switch, it isn’t guaranteed that Lotus will be able to beat out these other teams. Driver skill plays the biggest role in securing good finishes, but being closer to the fight will certainly help out.

Grosjean acknowledged that “we still have work to do and our car’s not perfect” for 2015, but it’s better than what they had going into last season. If the team can avoid just a few of the eleven technical failures they experienced last season, there’s no reason they can’t be fighting for points paying finishes every race.