Hello and welcome to the 2019 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, Melbourne. After the hottest summer on record in Victoria, Melbourne is certainly signs showing the signs of heat stress with brown grass, trees well into their autumnal fall and dams waiting for decent rainfall. Melbourne has also experienced the hottest start to autumn on record and there a large number of bushfires not yet under control in the south east. The forecast heading into the 2019 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix is; Thursday 23, Friday 23, Saturday 29 and Sunday 29. Sunny days! Formula 1 is back and the Gazette Team have you covered, with Lynne, Ron, Michael and myself out and about to grab your story and photo. We have moved locations over the years, and one year we worked on wheelie bins behind one of the corporate marquees until we finally found a home. Over the four days we want to meet as many officials as we can and tell their story, so don t be shy, say hello and share your news via email or mobile to my contact details below. 2019 will see some long-term officials retire, and more new officials coming through the ranks, and as the wise old heads transfer over their skills to the new members, there will also be a number of officials who couldn t make the race due to the date change and other commitments. Thank-you for taking time off work or spending time away from your families to come and volunteer for CAMS as we all appreciate your time and efforts. Again, we celebrate the stalwart official s dedication to Formula 1 in Australia, but let s not forget the 1000 other officials with either, thirty plus, twenty plus, fifteen plus, ten plus, five plus years or even the first-year officials. In today s out of control and time poor world, the challenge is to get more volunteers to motorsport events. So, I put a challenge out all the volunteers this weekend to try and introduce 1 or 2 people (friends, neighbours or relatives, etc.) to motor racing officialdom between now and the 2020 race. Help them join as a trainee and share your passion with them as a volunteer for CAMS. As always, we have 77 plus international volunteers who have travelled from all around the world to enjoy the first race and it s good to see many long-term international officials returning (as we know it a far larger financial investment than most) and we welcome all the new international officials as well. This year should be an interesting year for Formula 1 in general as detailed in the following articles, but all Aussie eyes are on Daniel Ricciardo again as he seeks to put Renault on the podium in 2019. All the money seems to be with Ferrari and Mercedes, but there is no doubt the 2019 regulations will see some close racing. On behalf of the Gazette team and CAMS we welcome you to Albert Park, we thank you for your service, and we hope you enjoy all the racing on display over the next four days. Keep cool, stay hydrated and share your stories. Kind Regards Richard McLean Gazette Editor Mobile: 0499 201 000 Email: rich.mac@bigpond.net.au ISSUE ISSUE 1 / 1 PAGE / PAGE 1
F1 2019 PREVIEW As we enter the 2019 Formula 1 season after the first ever launch event for the series, here s a look at what s changed since last year. We ll begin on the technical side where the most obvious visual changes have occurred. In an attempt to improve overtaking, the front and rear wings have been simplified and widened. Fewer elements are allowed and the numerous winglet bits have been removed. Reports coming out of pre-season testing suggest that the changes may have worked, but we ll have to wait and see for the first few races. It may not sound like a big change but this has meant a huge amount of effort required from the teams aerodynamicists. If the inevitable Melbourne weather comes to pass, you ll also notice that there are extra lights on the rear wings where the end plates on each side gain a vertical LED rain light. The cars will no longer be scrutineered through the more formal processes before the race. Instead, the teams now sign off that the cars are correct, though the scrutineers will still be doing their checks as well as the normal post-race scrutineering. Moving into the racing and to encourage penalized cars to run in qualifying, any car that is starting from the rear of the grid due to engine or gearbox penalties will line up in qualifying order. Additionally, if a car is to start the race from pit lane it will be allowed to drive around on the warm up lap before returning to pit lane, ready for the red lights to go out. At the end of the race, the end of the race will now be a chequered light panel rather than a chequered flag. The flag will still be waved, if only because it looks more exciting, but this is to avoid what s happened a few times where the flag was waved too early or late. In a large hit of nostalgia, Formula 1 are bringing back the championship point for getting the fastest lap of the race. There is a limit that the driver still needs to finish in the top 10, which will avoid whomever is at the back putting on some soft tyres and running flat out. If you need some trivia for anyone who suggests that this is a new idea, the last F1 driver to get a point for fastest lap was Maurice Trintignant at Sebring in 1959. And so, the teams Mercedes-AMG There haven t been any major changes at Mercedes. Now 5-time World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, will line up alongside Valterri Bottas. Bottas will need to work hard, though, as his performance last year was not considered good enough by many pundits. Pre-season testing didn t look great for the team until the last of the eight days, so while some in the media (and Hamilton) have suggested they re not that fast, expect them to be at the front. Ferrari The winner of pre-season testing, Ferrari have come out strongly, which should allow Sebastian Vettel to fight for the 2019 championship. Kimi Raikkonen has been swapped with 2018 Sauber driver Charles Leclerc. Leclerc was the stand-out performer last year and expectations are extremely high, though he has a tough teammate in Vettel. Ferrari have said there s no favouritism between the drivers, but we ll wait and see Red Bull Racing For the first time since 2006, Red Bull Racing won t have an Australian driver. Daniel Ricciardo has decided to move on, being replaced by Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly. Gasly has a lot of work to do to keep up with team favourite, Max Verstappen. Max has stayed in the team but Renault haven t, with Honda power coming in as the team s motivating force. Both team principal, Christian Horner, and Honda have claimed enormous improvements but Honda have been saying that since they rejoined F1. Pre-season testing was best described as inconclusive for this team. Don t expect them to win the championship; but a race or two is within the realms of possibility. Renault Speaking of Ricciardo, he has moved to Renault, joining Nico Hulkenberg, replacing Carlos Sainz Jr. Unsurprisingly, the team is still using Renault engines. Reporting on pre-season testing by the Australian press suggested Renault is brilliant and awful in equal measure, depending on the fastest lap completed by Dan each day. The reality is that there was an issue with the rear wing on Ricciardo s first day, where it came off and pitched him off the track, but otherwise the team were working on race pace and not outright lap times. Improvements are expected, but even the Honey Badger doesn t expect race wins until at least 2020. ISSUE ISSUE 1 / 1 PAGE / PAGE 21
F1 2019 PREVIEW (Con t) Haas The only other team without any major changes, Haas have been stagnant but vocal over the last 12 months. They fought in the courts and on track with Force India, but only came out ahead due to Force India s dramas. Haas have signed a new major sponsor in Rich Energy, an energy drink like Red Bull, but so far no one has seen much in the way of actual product. Haas are looking to move up, but it s not expected they ll bridge the gap to the front yet. McLaren Carlos Sainz Jr s new home as both Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne leave the team voluntarily and not, respectively. 2018 F2 runner up Lando Norris joins the team and is hoping to perform better than the 2015 GP2 champion Vandoorne. McLaren are shouting aloud regarding their performance with fast times in testing; although Alonso was third fastest last year with speed not reflected in the races. Racing Point, nee Force India Force India is no more. Last year, there was a takeover of the ownership of the team and it s now known as Racing Point. There s not enough space to cover the details, so let s just say that it was a mess and leave it there. The result is that Force India was removed from the championship mid-season and Racing Point brought in. Sergio Perez remains with the team, but Esteban Ocon had to move out to allow for the son of one of the new owners, Lance Stroll. With some guaranteed cashflow in the team for the first time since it was called Jordan, Racing Point should be seen at the front of the mid-field, at least on one side of the garage. Alfa Romeo, nee Sauber The Sauber name is no longer in F1. The still Swiss-based team is now called Alfa Romeo. Behind the scenes, they haven t changed but Alfa Romeo, and therefore Ferrari, are now providing a bigger influence on car development. Raikkonen has moved from Ferrari, which should help development, and Ferrari test driver Antonio Giovinazzi gets another chance in a race car with a full-time seat. Previous driver, Marcus Ericsson has landed a seat in IndyCar. Toro Rosso Suffering from Honda development teething issues last year, Toro Rosso has moved one driver up (Gasly) and one driver out (Brendon Hartley). In the race seats are Alexander Albon, third in the 2018 F2 championship, and Daniil Kvyat. Yes, you read that correctly, Kvyat is back to try to rebuild his F1 career. The push from Red Bull Racing should improve the performance of the Toro Rosso s as well; though it won t take a lot to improve on last year s results, though there was the occasional flash of speed from the team. Williams Poor, poor Williams. A very bad car in 2018, the team was then hit with the loss of major sponsor, Martini, and then the loss of pay driver Stroll to Racing Point. Williams has a new sponsor, RoKit, but that s about the only positive. The team was late putting their car together, leading to missing most of the first half of pre-season testing. Technical boss, Paddy Lowe, has taken leave from the team after testing, and may be taking the fall for the car delays. Attempting to pull the team out of their worst season last year are 2018 F2 champion, George Russell, and the returning Robert Kubica. Kubica is making his F1 return after his long recovery from a rally crash in 2011 but is tempering expectations of both himself and the team, saying he s only 20% prepared for Australia. While Williams can t do much worse than last year, few are expecting them to bridge the gap to the rest of the field. In a large hit of nostalgia, Formula 1 are bringing back the championship point for getting the fastest lap of the race. There is a limit that the driver still needs to finish in the top 10, which will avoid whomever is at the back putting on some soft tyres and running flat out. If you need some trivia for anyone who suggests that this is a new idea, the last F1 driver to get a point for fastest lap was Maurice Trintignant at Sebring in 1959. ISSUE ISSUE 1 / 1 PAGE / PAGE 31
TYRES Pirelli has announced the teams' compound choices for the Australian Grand Prix. The Italian manufacturer has five slick tyre-compounds in its range for 2019 (from C5, which is the softest, to C1 the hardest), and will bring three to each race (C2 hard, C3 medium and C4 softs this weekend). The teams have an allocation of 13 sets per weekend, with a free choice of 10. VINCENT CICCARELLO - AUSTRALIAN OFFICIAL OF THE YEAR On the evening of Saturday February 23 rd, the CAMS National Award Night was held. The evening s main accolade, the Castrol Australian Official of the Year was awarded to South Australian Vincent Ciccarello after contributing to for more than 30 years. During his time as an official, Ciccarello has held a variety of positions including Event Secretary, Clerk of Course and Race Director on an international level all the way down to grassroots. After being named as the Castrol Australian Official of the Year Ciccarello was thrilled with the award. "It's very hard to pinpoint how I feel about winning this award because honestly, I feel a mixture of emotions," Ciccarello said. "I am happy, I am anxious, I am over the moon and I am truly humbled about the experience. "I worried about accepting the award at the start because I didn t - think I deserved it as there are thousands of talented officials worthy of the award, but now being here with this award, I am really appreciative that I am at the top of as Castrol Official of the Year. ISSUE ISSUE 1 / 1 PAGE / PAGE 41
ONE MONTH AGO TWO MONTHS AGO ISSUE ISSUE 1 / 1 PAGE / PAGE 51
VALE GEOFF SYKES Geoff passed on Friday morning, 4 January 2018, having succumbed to complications brought on by pneumonia, coupled to a fight against lung cancer. He died peacefully, with his family nearby. Geoff will be forever remembered as the father of special stage rallying in Australia, bringing the first European style Special Stage Rallies in Australia, the Don Capasco and then Castrol Internationals Rallies held in the forests surrounding Canberra. A significant portion of Geoff s life was consumed by motor sport, having been a past Chairman of the National Rally Committee, the Chairman of the South Australia State Council and representing CAMS at the FIA level with his membership of the FIA Volunteers Commission and several FIA Institute Officials Training Schools. Geoff was closely associated with the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide and Melbourne, having performed the role of Sector Marshal for 15 years, then turning his considerable talents to ensuring the health and safety of the trackside marshals at the Grand Prix and Adelaide 500 events. Geoff worked all the AGP s from the first one in 1985 until he retired in 2010. Geoff will also be fondly remembered for his role in the 1980 Southern Cross International Rally, when CAMS asked him to take control and become the Event Director at short notice, a task which saw him live in the flat above the CAMS NSW Office for 6 months, and very successfully produce an event worthy of its international status, one which he performed with great honour and distinction, in harsh circumstances. AGP F1 LOGISTICS This year s statistics for moving the F1 equipment are impressive. It s not easy as the Australian Grand Prix is a temporary circuit in a parkland setting, as opposed to a race at a purpose-built F1 circuit. This means more equipment for AGP. This year DHL flew seven 747 s to Avalon Airport, in Geelong outside Melbourne. That s one more plane than last year. Two of the seven were for TV equipment. The first arrived last Wednesday and the last arrived Monday morning. All equipment was at Albert Park by Monday and being unloaded, uncrated and installed, overseen and handled by Bill Gibson of Gibson Freight. He has been doing the AGP logistics since the first Grand Prix in Adelaide 34 years ago. Gibson now also does MotoGP and World Superbikes. One wrinkle in the mix this year was working around the deconstruction of the air show held at Avalon last weekend. The weight statistics are staggering. The air freight weighs 100,000 tons. Sea freight comes in 110 x 40-foot containers. And the Pirelli tires, which are also shipped, come in nine 40-foot refrigerated containers; and they were temperature-controlled the entire voyage. The sea freight had to be packed for shipment by mid-december last year. Excluding the tires, after AGP, all the sea freight containers get repacked and sent on to Montreal for that Grand Prix. Gibson said Monday this year the F1 paddock was further along in setup that it was last year. ISSUE ISSUE 1 / 1 PAGE / PAGE 61
NEW F1 SCRUTINEERING PROCEDURE This year there will be a noticeable difference Thursday in the F1 Pit Lane activities. No more will there be a line of F1 cars queueing up to the Scrutineer s Bay for the Pre-Race Scrutineering Inspection. This year, the teams sign a declaration stating the compliance with the regulations. This is handed on Thursday to Jo Bauer, F1 Scrutineering Delegate. This eliminates the need for the initial scrutineering on Thursday. According to David Howard, the F1 Scrutineer Chief, the only things the new regulations will affect will be the Weighing Platform team, which has to learn the new measuring procedures, as the bodywork templates will be new for the new regulations. The F1 Scrutineers will have plenty of tasks to perform during the weekend: The CAMS F1 Scrutineer marshals will be used as National Scrutineers on Thursday, and then revert back to F1 duties on Friday morning. The Scrutineer team meets with Bauer and the other FIA F1 Technical Team members on Friday morning. The first briefing is for the whole team, on ERS safety. The next briefing is for the Tyre Checkers on the new bar code scanners. The next briefing is for the Garage Scrutineers on their duties. The last briefing on Friday is for the Weighing Platform. The entire F1 team then meets again with Bauer on Saturday morning to discuss Parc Ferme requirements for the post-qualifying Parc Ferme. This finally finishes at approximately 9:30pm on Saturday night, and resumes again at 11 am Sunday morning. The cars are under Parc Ferme conditions until the start of the formation lap. Dennis Dean, F1 National Scrutineer at many Grand Prix meetings dating back to Las Vegas in 1981 and as recently as USGP at Indy and COTA, thinks the FIA procedural change makes a big positive difference. ISSUE ISSUE 1 / 1 PAGE / PAGE 71
NEW F1 SCRUTINEERING PROCEDURE (Con t) 1. As the cars have continued to become more and more complex each year and with each team's cars being unique, it has become increasingly difficult for even the most experienced scrutineers to know exactly what they are looking at and verifying, beyond the most obvious external items (mirrors, numbers, safety decals, etc.). 2. Some items (wheel tethers come to mind) are really next to impossible to fully and properly check until the cars are fully disassembled, which is not practical on a Thursday. 3. The teams for a very long time have been "self-certifying" items of far greater import than those items observed and certified during initial scrutineering. 4. No one knows an individual team's cars better than the team itself - which puts them in a far better position to ensure things are properly done - which they certainly want to do, or risk a penalty should an issue arise later over an initial scrutineering item. 5. Allowing the teams to certify the items allows them to schedule the checks at the most appropriate time during their pre-race preparations, which makes it far efficient from the team's viewpoint. The plan also reduces the time teams need to spend at the track in the lead-up to the start of the Event proper. If and when they do more races in a season, this would help reduce the scheduled load on the teams, as well. 6. It negates the risk of something untoward happening inadvertently during initial scrutineering because of inexperienced people dealing with the cars. It may be an apocryphal story, but I have certainly heard rumors of fire systems on cars being set off accidentally by scrutineers during initial checks. 7. In some ways, most importantly, in the past this requirement literally required scrutineers to arrive a day early to do these checks. For those who pay their own way (most of them) this can mount up to a significant cost in direct expenses, not to mention vacation time expended. First Grand Prix 1996 FACTS AND FIGURES Number of Laps 58 Circuit Length 5.303 km Race Distance 307.574 km Lap Record 1:24.125 (Michael Schumacher) )2004) P1 Friday, March 15 at 12:00-13:30 P2 Friday, March 15 at 16:00-17:30 P3 Saturday, March 16 at 14:00-15:00 Qualifying Saturday, March 16 at 17:00-18:00 Race Sunday March 17 at 16:10-18:10 ISSUE ISSUE 1 / 1 PAGE / PAGE 81