Ferrari Engines Have Bulletproof Reliability!

BMW Sauber has concluded its investigation into the alarming incident in late July when one of its mechanics received an electric shock during testing at Jerez after touching a car fitted with a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS).

The mechanic escaped with only minor grazing to his left hand and arm, but the incident prompted fresh concern over the safety of the KERS devices after Red Bull Racing had already suffered a fire scare at its factory triggered by a battery failure.

After what it described as "an extremely far-reaching" inquiry BMW has revealed details of what caused its incident.

"The mechanic suffered an electric shock after touching the sidepod and steering wheel of the car," said Markus Duesmann, head of the team's powertrain department.

"There was a high-frequency AC voltage between these contact points, the cause of which has been traced back to the KERS control unit and a sporadic capacitive coupling from the high-voltage network to the 12-volt network.

"The voltage ran through the wiring of the 12-volt network to the steering wheel and through the carbon chassis back to the control unit."

"However, the energy is sufficient to cause an extremely painful reaction.

"The driver was insulated against the car by his racing overalls and gloves and therefore not in any danger."

He added that the investigation had taken almost a month because, having been caused by a "sporadic error", the problem was hard to replicate.

"The capacitive coupling effect only occurs under certain conditions," he explained.

"Without the option of driving the KERS test car used in Jerez again, we had to reconstruct these conditions.

"We also had to develop a model to be installed between the steering wheel and sidepod which replicated the characteristics of the human body as an electric transfer element."

As a result of its investigation BMW has discovered other measures that could avert potential safety problems with the KERS devices - findings which it will share with all F1 teams at the next meeting of the Technical Working Group.

"In addition to the measures required to tackle the issue at hand, the extremely far-reaching analysis we conducted also gave rise to other recommendations which are of great value for the development of electric KERS systems," said Duesmann.

"Among the measures arrived at are changes in the design of the control unit to avoid capacitive coupling effects, extended monitoring functions for high frequencies and a conductive connection of the chassis components to avoid any electric potential.

"We have already handed over this safety analysis, complete with measures and recommendations, to the FIA, and will also make our findings available to the other teams at the next meeting of the Technical Working Group."

Duesmann said BMW will resume track testing of KERS-equipped cars once all the necessary safety modifications have been implemented.

"We expect this to be the case in the autumn," he said.

Source: ITV.com/f1

TEAMS: McLaren, Renault, Toro Rosso, Honda
DRIVERS: Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Button
FASTEST PRACTICE LAP: Hamilton
POLE POSITION: Raikkonen
PODIUM: Hamilton, Raikkonen, Heikki
FASTEST RACE LAP: Hamilton
BEST CONSTRUCTOR: Ferrari
WORST CONSTRUCTOR: Force India

Valencia Track Guide by Kipi19

Turn 1: Approaching turn 1 is an easy doddle, it is a sweeping right hander and around 170mph, this would be easily flat our for all the drivers

Turns 2 and 3: After exiting turn 1, the drivers will look for a braking point into a heavy braking zone from around 185mph, these two turns are more of a chicane than anything else and will be tight for the drivers on the first lap or two.

Turns 4 and 5: After a quick burst of acceleration out of turn 3 you come to another chicane, this is a left right flick normally taken at around 70mph, drivers will be cautious on the first couple of laps as the field will be tightly packed

Turn 6: This corner is as you start to accelerate out of turn 5 and is a fast left flick taken at full throttle, heading down a back straight which leans towards the right, according to the officials counts as turn 7 but for this track guide the hairpin is turn 7

Turn 7: Turn 7 is a tight hairpin braking from around 200mph the cars will be very bunched on the first lap still heading down to this corner, a certain overtaking opportunity if they can get a good run out of the chicane and follow their rivals down the straight, Turn 7 is the end of sector one, turn 8 is directly after and is a quick left kink that leads onto the bridge across the harbour

Turn 8: After exiting turn 7, 8 is a quick left flick onto the bridge itself

Turn 9: This is the hairpin that exits the bridge, Very slow and all the drivers will find it difficult to manage this in one piece when exiting the corner, a long straight sweeping straight will take the drivers to 10 and 11 which is a prime overtaking opportunity.

Turns 10 and 11: 10 and 11 is a slow chicane that is a right left flick, the braking zone coming into this corner is a certain overtaking spot and i think should be watched closely, whilst exiting this corner coming out of a left flick, it is double apexed, so don't think it is 2 corners

Turn 12: After a short quick run out of 11, you come across 12, this is normally taken at around 80mph i'd guess, and is quite flowing so it will keep the drivers happy, exiting this turn will lead towards a nice acceleration area

Turns 13 and 14: Whilst building up speed after exiting 12, turns 13 and 43 follow in short short succession, almost similar to that of Istanbul's Turn 8, just not as many turns or as tight. These turns i would predict to be almost be taken at full throttle, if not a small lift before 13 and putting the power back on to lead onto another fast section of the circuit onto a back straight

Turn 15: After exiting turn 14, is nice run down to turn 15 fast and should be very enticing for the drivers to slip one up the inside of their rivals into the braking zone braking from around 180-190mph they will be tempted to overtake if the opportunity arises, this turn will be roughly be taken at around 40-50mph.

Turns 16, 17, and 18: These sequence of corners, is not quite fluent but will be quickly approached out of turn 15, Turn 16 is a left hander, and 17 and 18 are fast right hand flicks, All complete at around 100mph to 130 on the exit on 18, now we approach a back stretch

Turns 19, 20 and 21: Heading down this back strectch bulding up speed, it has slight kinks as corners, and is completed in a right, left right synchronisation, all taken a full throttle

Turn 22: After completing the kinks in the straightaway at full throttle, you have to slow for a right hand kink at the end of it all taken at around 120mph

Turn 23: This turn is a slow corner right after 22, taken at around 40mph, Exiting the corner will see you cross the finish line, The pit entry is on the exit of this corner, so people pitting will turn 23 and peel off the right on the exit when they are due a pit stop.

I hope you enjoyed the track guide, I apologise if this track guide does not fully count all the corners, I wrote it down as how I saw the corners whilst lapping the circuit on Rfactor

Please pity me lol, I don't have the time on my hands like our dear god redders does :P but i do think that we may see some heavy accidents and safety cars around here =/