xpb Formula 1: clean false start in Australia
26.03.2010
After the disappointing start in Bahrain, S auber hit back in Melbourne. But the first training session turned out to be a bad trip for the Swiss troops. Kamui Kobayashi went off the track twice in five laps. Stupid for him, because the Japanese don't know the route.
Problems for Kobayashi and De la Rosa
Pedro de la Rosa stopped in turn 5 with a defective clutch control. It has not yet been possible to determine whether the hydraulics or electronics are responsible for the defect.
Kobayashi's rides were the excitement of the first 90 minutes of training. The Japanese himself was responsible for the first accident. The front wing hit a boundary bollard.
The Sauber engineers checked the nose and the tattered wing and came to the conclusion that neither the nose nor the supporting pillars for the wing were damaged. Therefore only a new wing was screwed under the nose. Obviously a miscalculation. When Kobayashi tried to brake on Turn 3, the whole nose fell down. And then it went into the gravel.
Not enough test data from the wing system
This ended the experiment with the rear wing stall. 'We were practically unable to collect any usable data in the morning,' explained technical director Willy Rampf. Since Melbourne is not one of the easiest routes on the calendar, Sauber decided to continue training with a familiar car.
The system was expanded again and the attempt was postponed to the GP Malaysia. However, the first results were positive. Pedro de la Rosa was still in the back third of the top speed, but Sauber had evidently converted the luxury of more top speed into downforce.
