Bernd Mayländer gives us an insight into the preparation and responsibility of his role driving the SLS AMG Formula One safety car ahead of this weekends Grand Prix in Hungary.
Sunday was an early start for them all at the track. One of the greatest parts of the whole weekend seeing how the circuit and the people slowly awoke and embraced the exciting day ahead. After the second GP2 race the Porsche Supercup took place and the Formula 1 race begun.
Charlie Whiting brought the official Formula 1 Safety Car to the starting grid meaning it was then all relying on Bernd Mayländer. He checked once more to see that the radio and camera worked properly and got the most recent weather update which is a very important part of his race preparation.
Mayländer then leaves the starting grid at 155pm. As soon as all of the drivers have passed the first curve he moves the Safety Car to the parking position for the rest of the race. He then observes the race on the TV monitor and communicates with Race Control throughout to monitor the frequencies making sure they are functioning properly.
Of strong preference to Mayländer if the race was finished without a Safety Car phase he would wait for the last race car and follow it. Mayländer would communicate with Race Control if an accident occurred or the weather worsened to give them his opinion of the situation. Race Control where the deciding factor as to whether he would be deployed or not.
The commands he gets from Race Control can include Safety Car stand by in which he prepares for deployment Safety Car stand-down meaning the dangerous situation no longer exists or Safety Car GO which informs Mayländer that he must immediately drive onto the track and quickly get in front of the leading car. During a Safety Car phase safety is the most important element but Mayländer must maintain a certain level of speed also. This is so the race cars do not overheat from the lack of cooling air and to prevent their tyre pressure from decreasing.
Mayländer then drives around the circuit until the hazardous situation has been overcome. Before taking the next possible exit Mayländer turns into the pit lane and the grid is released.If a support race is not necessary his day usually ends there. When his work is done he likes to spend his Sunday evenings at home.
2010 Monaco grand prix was definitely one of the crunching and stunning races for last couple of years. There were mechanical failures, crashes, skills involved and tempered flared in this race. It got me all excited and thought I will go for a quick drive in my used Audi TT roadster or my sister’s Audi Q5 which we bought from used cars places near our house few weeks ago. It was a terrible idea of me because in that hype I forgot how many speed cameras there are and also Audi is not as fast as F1 machines. So I will now stick with just watching and may be hire a F3 car in Silverstone to fulfil my desire.
It was hot and beautiful in Monaco for the race. The circuit is 3.340km long and the race distance is 260.520km. The race started with the Australian Mark Webber in pole position of red bull team and just behind him the Polish Robert Kubica of Renault team. Behind them two was the new emerging star of F1 Sebastian Vettel. Many people are tipping Vettel for the title this season after his wonderful season last year.
This race had some horrible crashes which brought safety car on to the race course few times. Mark Webber got in with a really good start alongside Vettel and they were running brilliantly in first and second place respectively. Webber was looking good and each time he pulled away from rest of the pack the race was interrupted by a safety car. Safety car played its part to make the race interesting as Webber couldn’t pull away. At the end of the race after 78 laps it was indeed the Australian who too the chequered just in front of Vettel and then Kubica who finished third.
The race highlight has to be Webber’s win but let’s not forget Alonso’s fantastic race from 23rd position to finish 6th it was a great race from the Spaniard.
Mr Mark Webber took the win at Monaco this weekend with a very good win with the second guy also in a Red Bull car, this leads onto the question, are Red Bull going to win the cup overall this year, well I am not too sure?
They have been doing consistently well since the start of the season and it would seem that the only thing that has been letting down so far is not the drivers or the cars but the people in the pit’s not knowing what they are doing. I like both Button and Hamilton as I am from England but I really do not actually think that either of them are going to win it this year.
Button had to have an early exit of the race and this was because of a blocked vent. The only thing that I really do not like about Button is that he knows he is a good driver meaning he is a bit arrogant.
I can see why Vettel is not very happy at the moment, he came second in the race and it is happening a lot with him at the moment which is not good. Although Webber thinks he is more than good enough to take on Vettel I still feel that Vettel is the better driver, come on Vettel start of by showing Webber that I am right.
i do not think that the end result for the championship has been sorted yet, not by any means at all, it is all open for debate and although I think Red Bull have got a chance I still think they could be beaten.
An F1 game has finally been confirmed for the Xbox 360 at long last, well a decent one, and this is great news I have to say. Here are just a few of the things to looks out for on the game itself.
Season Greetings
There are a lot of F1 fans out there that are pretty annoyed because the game is not being released in time for the start of the F1 season (already started) but this is because Codemasters want to put the right data in the game for this year. Players should expect the most realistic F1 driving experience of all time. A lot of effort has actually been put into the weather effects of this game so expect the best weather conditions seen on a driving game. Let’s face it, in most driving games you will actually start in the sunshine and end the race in the sunshine, bit boring. You may be starting in scorching weather but the clouds will then come in and you will have to make the decision on whether or not to pull into the pits for a wet weather tyre change!
Graphics/Gameplay
The game as it looks at the moment is the most stunning driving game I believe I have ever seen and Codemasters have really worked towards polishing the game to the best it can be. challenges in game look to be great as if for example you choose to drive the Ferrari then you are expected to finish on the podium each race and if you do not you will most certainly receive a media backlash.
So even if you think that F1 as a sport is a bit dull you are most certainly going to like this game because it looks fantastic!