Tag Archives: f1

As promised, herewith, my big announcement!…

But first, some background…

Nearly 12 years ago – in 2010, a youngish, green-colored company became a partner of a legendary global red-colored brand with more than 80 years of history to its name (incidentally, by doing so paving the way to other companies in the cybersecurity sphere).

In the intervening 11 years, both the worlds of cyberthreats and Formula-1 have changed tremendously. In the cyberworld, alas, things have changed for the worse. For example, cyberthreats to physical equipment ceased being the stuff of sci-fi and Hollywood blockbuster movies, to become real – daily – risks for organizations and businesses. That’s one reason why, since 2013, we’ve been protecting all of Ferrari’s digital kit – some 5000+ devices: from the industrial equipment at its plant in Maranello, to the computers of the engineers and mechanics at the racetracks around the world!

For fans, Formula One is all about speed, adrenaline and emotions, and for the folks providing the speed, adrenaline and emotions F1 is mostly all about massive volumes of data transferred in real time between the racing cars, the team of engineers in the garage at the track, and company HQ. On average, from just one car for a single race up to 200 gigabytes of data is sent from 150 sensors all over the car – and on the driver: for example, his biometric data is transmitted from sensors in his gloves!

Protecting such vast amounts of data and intellectual property while maintaining the continuity of a multi-billion-dollar business demands – you guessed right! – the best cyber-protection in the world. Thus, I’m very happy to announce that this year we’ve signed an agreement on extending our partnership with the Scuderia Ferrari team, and one ‘feature’ of this agreement is that our logo on the nose of the red race cars will continue to cross the finish lines of the world’s best tracks! Hurray!

Read on: ‘Just like absinthe + Campari’ (mind-blowing:)

What a difference a couple weeks makes? From sunny Sochi to shivery-and-showery Sochi. Not that it seemed to make a difference to the numbers of folks promenade-ing, café-ing, and also now electro-scootering. You’d think is was July!…

The weather also didn’t put a dampener on the Grand Prix either, with this year’s stands being rammed full:

The only downside for us was that the VIP fans were permitted neither into the paddock, nor the garages by the pits: totally forbidden! All to do with folks having to stay in their separate bubbles.

Read on…

Most everything’s strange this year. A lot’s been cancelled, a lot’s been changed, a lot’s been postponed, some things have been transformed into different formats… And Formula 1 racing hasn’t been spared either; still, at least it hasn’t been canceled this year: it’s still going strong, and still… as incredibly awesome as ever!

I won’t dwell on our team’s poor results. A hundred reasons will always be found for a losing streak – but I’ll leave that to others to discuss. All I’ll say is that this really strange year has been a really strange one for Ferrari too.

The strangest thing of all this year for F1 is that the stands are completely empty, and I really do mean completely! Not a single spectator to be seen the whole season. I should know – I was at the Turkish Grand Prix recently ->

Strange year, strange F1, and here, now – strange post!…

Read on…

Melbourne is a really great city – especially when the sun’s out. But just the other day it was overcast, wet and miserable – not what you associate with one of Australia’s main cities. My hotel room was up on the 46^th floor of a skyscraper, so I had a good panoramic view of the city, and I would have taken a few snaps of this conspicuously present bad weather, but they’d stuck some kind of transparent film onto the windows, which made the whole scene horrendously ugly and certainly not worthy of its picture being taken. But I digress…

A day later – it was back to business-as-usual: a shining sun in a clear blue sky with just the odd white fluffy cloud here and there. Yes, the Australian summer unhurriedly merging into the Australian fall in March: not a bad time of year to be here.

Read on…

Oh my G-force. The Formula 1 season’s over! Where did that go?

What can I say? Well done to Mercedes, is what. Unrestrainable and uncontainable they are. I mean, the Merc racing cars are pretty much the same as the Ferrari ones, but as a team they make less mistakes. The fearless Finn and the blazing Brit together make a fearsome twosome – a more level-headed and self-possessed one than Ferrari’s German-Finn combo, it turned out. In Baku Seb… forgot his age and national character traits, while in Singapore… no – let’s not even mention it. All the same – staying positive – we are at least one point up in the Constructors’ Championship.

So what about Sunday’s race? Well, of course it was on the Yas Marina Circuit, so it was never going to be a ton of fun. Our F1 fanatics always complain about how dull it is: boring turns, a lack of overtaking possibilities, and so on. But, as they say in Russia, to a bad taxi driver a round steering wheel will always be square :). The Benz boys won fair and square – at least to non-insider spectators. There were all sorts of rumors about behind-the-scenes pressure on the new owners of Formula One, but I don’t know the details and so can’t comment on them.

But now about the race.

The best bits of any race are of course the start, the tactical controversies throughout the race, the overtaking, and the pit stops. I think the pit stops are best of all: so long as you don’t blink! Three seconds and they’re done!

Read on: Pics from the pits…

I’ll cut to the (car) chase: it was a real fun race.

No one was expecting such mad twists and turns on Sunday. Especially me after the fairly dull race in Sochi a few weeks back – and also since last year’s Grand Prix in Baku was very boring too (so I’ve been told). This year – oh my gravel trap! No one could have foreseen such a lineup on the podium. But I’ll get to that a bit later…

So here we were, in the Azerbaijani capital. Salam Baku, say the teams and spectators…

Peace be upon you too, says Baku, after having prepared the track and its bends on the city’s roads à la Monaco Grand Prix ahead of the race…

Read on: And they’re off!…

Sorry folks for the tardiness of this post; been up to my neck with work of late. Better late than never though…

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – it’s great watching F1 in the flesh at the racetrack. But it’s best of all watching it from the garage, if you’re lucky enough to have access thereto. It’s in the garage where the team sits, where the pressure is through the roof, where the adrenaline is pumping the most, and where the emotions run amok. And the garage experience is even more thrilling if your team is in pole position – like we were the other weekend (the first time since 2008!). But enough talk – no time for that. They’re on the starting grid!…

It doesn’t matter that we can’t see the cars themselves – we sure can hear them (the starting line’s a mere 30-40 meters away!), and seeing them on the big TV screens is more than enough.

And they’re off!…

Oh my grid. Valtteri Bottas jumped two positions ahead right from the off, and that was actually how things ended today. I’m afraid not a great deal else interesting happened today. No intrigue, nothing! Sometimes it goes like that, F1. In fact, it all resembled more a column of soldiers doing a march. Who would have thought F1 could be dull? :).

A storm cloud looked like it could have put a literal dampener on things, but it decided to stay put up in the mountains and not descend to the sea.

Read on: Familiar faces on the roof …

Another year, another beer F1 – in Ferrari red, of course.

Around this time of year Formula One fans start emerging from their winter hibernation in preparation for the upcoming season. And that upcoming season is just two weeks away! Indeed, on March 24-26 the engines will be roaring, the tires will be burning, and the sleek polished bodies of the racing cars will be sparkling in the bright sun down in Melbourne. Get ready for much flag-waving, much honking of sirens, colossal crowds, and millions of fans all around the world glued to their TVs…

It’s harder than ever to say who will do well this season and who won’t. For those who might not be budding F1 fanatics, let me tell you that this is because the FIA (governing body for world motor sport, which among other things sets the rules for racing) every year makes adjustments to F1 rules to make the sport more entertaining and competitive, and to be able to show off the very latest super F1 tech. Well this year the FIA has gone one further and changed the regulations to such an extent that making predictions as to results has turned into a thanklessly futile pursuit: there’ve been just soooo many changes; and how they will affect the different teams is anyone’s guess.

For the low down on just how they’ve stirred the soup this year I’ll hand over the reins here to D.M., editor of Kaspersky Motorsport. She’s much more knowledgeable of all things F1, and as a result also much better able to explain all its intricacies…

“In recent years F1 has become rather unpredictable, and therefore less entertaining. In order to bring back some of the intrigue, the FIA has overhauled both the sporting and technical regulations. 

What stands out most of all regarding the changes made are the wider tires – boosting both downforce and grip. Also, a wider front wing span and a return to a wider and higher diffuser, which create better aerodynamics. Ok – now for the details…

So what’s been changed as regards the technical regulations?

1) The front wing has a new shape, giving the car more of a combative look. It’s now further from the chassis: the length of the nose cone has grown from 850 to 1050mm, while the front wing span has grown from 1650 to 1800mm. One of the reasons for this is to improve air flow around the new, wider tires.

2) The diffuser has increased in size: to 175mm in height from 125mm, and to 1050mm in width from 1000mm. It’s also longer, now extending ahead of the rear axle line.

3) The chassis is now 200mm wider – maximum: 1600mm; minimum: 1400 (the height has remained the same – 950mm.

Ferrari SF70H vs Ferrari SF16H

4) The side-pod flow deflectors have increased in size.

Ferrari SF70H vs Ferrari SF16H

5) The maximum weight has been increased from 702 to 722kg (without fuel).

6) The width of the brake disks has been increased from 28 to 32mm. 

7) Thanks to the new construction parameters, the cars should be doing laps around three or four seconds faster this season, so the downforce has been increased by 15-20%: to maintain sufficient grip with the track surface at higher speeds, wider tires were needed, thus introduced.

Pirelli will be fitting front tires that are 25% wider than last season (305mm up from 245), and rear ones that are 30% wider (405mm up from 325mm). All this, as mentioned, improves traction; also acceleration and braking. The diameter of the tires has increased a little (from 660mm to 670), while wheel size stays the same (13 inches).

8) The effect of the drag reduction system (DRS) has increased. That is, it will generate more downforce and have higher drag. As a result cars will be able to open a special wing and gain as much as six or seven miles per hour. 

Other Changes

1) Helmets:

Drivers must continue to use essentially the same helmet design at all races for easy recognition of the driver in the car. However, each driver is now allowed to use a special livery at one event of his choosing, such as a home race for example. Drivers will also be allowed to change their helmet liveries if changing teams during the season.

2) Power Units:

A rule change has been made to prevent drivers stockpiling spare power unit elements. During any single event, if a driver introduces more than one power unit element that is subject to a grid penalty, only the last element fitted may be used at subsequent events without further penalty.

A number of changes have also been introduced aimed at reducing power unit costs, guaranteeing supply for customer teams, and closing the performance gap between engines:

– the power unit price for customer teams has been reduced by €1m per season compared to 2016.

– the previous ‘token’ system for in-season engine development has been removed.

– Additionally, constraints on power unit part weights, dimensions and materials, and on boost pressure, are being introduced in 2017 and in 2018.

3) Tires: 

As before, the teams must inform the FIA of their slick tire choices no less than eight weeks before the start of each European race and fourteen weeks before the start of each event held outside Europe.

For 2017 only, because the tire selection deadline for the first five Grands Prix falls before pre-season testing, for these events Pirelli (the single tire supplier) will allocate two sets of the hardest compound specification, four sets of the medium compound specification and seven sets of the softest compound specification to each driver.

4) Outsourcing restrictions: 

Since Haas F1 debuted in 2016 with much success thanks to close cooperation with Ferrari and Dallara, some restrictions have been introduced this year on outsourcing.

If a team does outsource, including being supplied with components from third-party suppliers, then the time spent using aerodynamic chambers and use of CFD technology connected with such contracts is now strictly regulated, and the team is obliged to give the FIA detailed reports on any such testing.

Besides, rules on team specialists moving to another team have been clarified, among other things to prevent leaks of confidential technical information. Now, all teams must inform the FIA of any significant changes to their personnel, and also present evidence that all reasonable measures to prevent information leakage are taken.

5) Power Unit Supply: 

New rules have been introduced on the supply of power units. This was done to prevent a repeat of the situation in 2015 when the Red Bull and Toro Rosso teams could have ended up without contracts for the supply of power units for the following season. To ensure the supply of power units to customer teams, the homologation procedure now includes an ‘obligation to supply’ that is activated in the event of a team facing an absence of supply.”

—8<—

I think that these changes will see a significant shake-up of the F1 status quo and seriously homogenize teams’ performance; this in turn will make the races much more neck-and-neck, interesting and exciting. And of course it provides good opportunities for Ferrari! The red team is strong and its drivers are too. Yep, it has everything set for an excellent season, and finally place the car with our logo on it into the hall of fame of this legendary marque :).

PS: Well done and thank you D.M.!

Quite unexpectedly, it turns out that the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is taking place at the same time that the F1 teams are test driving at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Well, obviously we have to go there! And, well, here we are!

During these test sessions the venues are usually deserted – no noisy crowds, no stony-faced security, no rushing to and from one part of the track to another and none of the hot dog fast-food smells. Nothing!

What’s new?

Read on: A fly in the ointment…

And now, boys and girls, for the main course – a very hot dish!

Formula One racing in Monza. It’s a cult place for the motorsport crowds, and it’s not far from Milan. It’s all about the cars, bikes, racing loud techno, global gathering and loads more! That’s why I’m here.

The place is so motor-oriented that even the ‘carabinieri’ have their Lotus out front at one of the entrances (there may have been more of them I didn’t see).

Before the race, however, I have a feeling that something isn’t quite right.

Read on: Something was different about the paddock…