MOTORSPORT: On top of the F1 world

As Daniel Ricciardo tries to repeat last year’s Formula 1 victory in Malaysia this weekend, other younger Australians have had great success there already.

And F1 has turned to an older, vastly experienced Australian to try to solve its noise – or, more precisely, lack of noise – problem.

Thunderstorms are anticipated all weekend for the 15th round of the world championship at Kuala Lumpur’s Sepang circuit.

Rain during Sunday’s race would greatly improve Red Bull Racing’s chances of repeating last year’s one-two finish by Ricciardo and Max Verstappen ahead of the Mercedes and Ferraris.

Merc man Lewis Hamilton leads Ferrari’s Vettel by 28 points, 263-235 , with Ricciardo fourth in the championship on 162 points behind Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas on 212.

Australia dominates F1 in Schools

A four-student crew from Melbourne’s Trinity Grammar are the new world champions of F1 in Schools, a global competition involving science, technology, engineering and mathematics through designing a miniature F1 car.

The model cars are created using CAD software and are made from balsa wood and powered by compressed air.

The Trinity foursome – Hugh Bowman, Kyle Winkler, David Greig and Alec Alder – are aged 15 to 17 and called themselves Team Hyperdrive.

They outscored 50 other teams from 25 other countries over four days of the world finals in Kuala Lumpur.

Team Aurora from Brighton Secondary School in Adelaide were runners-up for the second consecutive year.

Hyperdrive also claimed the best engineered car award, while the team's design engineer, Winkler, was selected for mentoring at the Williams F1 team’s Ranstad Engineering Academy.

Aurora won the best international collaboration team award through its association with German students.

F1 in Schools began in Australia in 2003 and is open to all high schools in the country.

Australia has outscored every other country since it has competed at the world finals, with five world championships now since 2006.

All four Australian teams in this year’s world finals in KL were called on to the stage in KL, with Golden Diversity from Queechy High School in Tasmania and Envisity, a combined team from Launceston College and Mount View High School at Cessnock, NSW, winning a category award each.

Teams are judged over 11 different criteria covering industry collaboration, innovation, marketing and engineering with 23 awards in all.

Golden Diversity won the outstanding sportsmanship award and Envisity the
team sponsorship and marketing award.

The awards were presented by F1’s American chief executive Chase Carey after the four days of competition in sweltering KL.

Aussie saviour to turn up hybrid volume?

World-renowned Australian TV producer David Hill, who ran Fox Sports in the US for several years and was a top executive at 21st Century Fox for 24 years, is now 71 but is the man F1 has turned to try to make its hybrid cars sound better.

Hill is working in association with a German company on coming up with a microphone that can be attached to the exhausts of the 1.6-litre hybrid power units.

Many traditional F1 fans have been annoyed since the hybrids were introduced in 2014 that they lack the shrill sounds of previous V8s, V10s and 12-cylinder engines.

Poorer global TV audiences and crowds at circuits have been attributed to the relative quietness of the hybrids.

Then Australian Grand Prix Corporation chairman Ron Walker made a fuss about the issue in 2014, vowing to have it fixed and even threatening not to pay the race fee, but without success.

A megaphone was tried on a Mercedes driven in a test in Spain by Nico Rosberg in May 2014 but discarded as a failure.

Revealing Hill’s new involvement recently, F1’s new commercial boss Sean Bratches said: “We have to amplify the sound as, in all the market research we do, it is very important to the fans.

“The sounds of the sport are viscerally moving to fans and critically important.

“He (Hill) is working with a German concern to develop a ceramic microphone that we can actually adhere to the exhaust pipe to get the true amplification of sound for fans.”

Hill has a huge reputation, dating back to the 1970s at the ABC and the Nine Network in Australia, for innovation in broadcasting and sports television.

Welcome monsieur, bye bye Malaysia

Sunday’s grand prix will be the 19th and last for F1 at Kuala Lumpur’s grand Sepang circuit.

Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak announced in April that the country was pulling the plug on the event because of declining ticket sales, viewership and tourism.

It has been regarded as one of the toughest GPs in the championship, if not the toughest, as drivers lose about three litres of body fluid in the hot and humid conditions.

A 21-year-old French driver, Pierre Gasly, makes his debut this weekend, with Red Bull junior team Toro Rosso “benching” Russian Daniil Kyvat after his mistake in the Singapore GP two weeks ago.

Gasly won last year’s GP2 title, is in the running for Japan’s Super Formula crown this year, and becomes the third French driver in the F1 field along with Esteban Ocon at Force India and Romain Grosjean at Haas.

Gasly also will race for Toro Rosso at next weekend’s Japanese GP, but will miss the American race later in October because of a commitment in Japan.

Kyvat is likely to be brought back for that round, but Gasly is virtually assured of a full-time seat next season, provided he doesn’t mess up in the next few weeks, with Toro Rosso losing Spaniard Carlos Sainz Junior to the Renault factory team next year.

Kyvat’s future may depend on whether Toro Rosso’s new power unit supplier, Honda, prevails on the team to install a Japanese driver.

Ricciardo looks to the clouds

Daniel Ricciardo has cause for optimism about the Malaysian GP, not only because he won it last year but on the back of his second place in Singapore’s wet night race a fortnight ago.

“My victory in Malaysia last year was definitely unexpected,” Ricciardo said this week.

“I really didn’t think our car was well suited to the track, but Lewis Hamilton’s problem (a flaming power unit failure) opened the door and then I held off Max [Verstappen] in the closing stages to take the win.

“It just goes to show you never know what can happen.

“Set-up is always a compromise in Malaysia as you need a good car in the middle sector, but you also can’t afford to lose too much time on the long straights.

“Let’s see what the weather brings.”

Aston Martin, already associated with Red Bull Racing and which drew on its design genius Adrian Newey in the creation of its Valkyrie hypercar, will step up the relationship next year with a “title and innovation partnership”.

Aston Martin also is expressing interest in supplying F1 engines to RBR, depending on the rules decided for 2021 and beyond.

“We are not about to enter an engine war with no restrictions in cost or dynamometer hours, but we believe that if the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) can create the right environment we would be interested in getting involved,” Aston Martin chief executive Andy Palmer said.

As part of the closer ties with RBR, an Advanced Performance Centre with 100 new jobs has been created at the team’s base at Milton Keynes in England.

Rally Oz winner in for keeps at Hyundai

Hyundai has confirmed that last year’s Rally Australia winner, Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen, who will make his debut with the Korean manufacturer in Spain next week, has been contracted for the next two years.

Since last year’s success at Coffs Harbour, the last for Volkswagen before its withdrawal from the World Rally Championship after four dominant years, Mikkelsen, 28, has driven six events this year – three in a Skoda Fabia R5 and three in a factory Citroen C3.

Second place last time out in Germany in August was his best finish with the C3 that has caused Citroen so much concern it has had Sebastien Loeb testing it – five years after the nine-time world champion’s retirement from full-time rallying.

Hyundai also has Belgian Thierry Neuville, Spaniard Dani Sordo and New Zealander Hayden Paddon contracted for next year, but it is not yet clear whether it will field four cars.

Paddon has been sidelined for the Spanish event next week but is expected to drive instead of Sordo at Coffs Harbour on November 16-19.

Hyundai team principal Michel Nandan said Mikkelsen’s “determination and professionalism have shone through” already.

“He had the chance to experience the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC in testing, and has delivered us positive and useful feedback,” Nandan said.

“He has also driven our i20 R5, which has further allowed him to integrate into all areas of our team.

“We can’t wait to see him in action as a Hyundai Motorsport driver in the final three events of the season, into next year and beyond.”

Mikkelsen said it was “clear that I am joining a world-class team with realistic chances of fighting for both drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships”.

“I look forward to helping to achieve these goals from Rallye Monte-Carlo next year, and making my presence felt in the drivers’ title fight.”

Meanwhile, Loeb has said after his Citroen tests on tarmac and gravel that he still feels fast enough to “do a rally or two” for the French team next year.

Citroen has expressed a desire for him to do that, but it also is trying to lure Sebastien Ogier – world champion the past four years with VW and perhaps again this year with Ford squad M-Sport – full-time and he may make that conditional on Loeb not being involved.

Loeb said his priority next year would be the World Rallycross Championship for Peugeot, but that he hoped to do the Monte Carlo Rally at the end of January, despite it being hot on the heels of the two-week Dakar Rally in South America in which he will be one of the favourites with Peugeot.

"We finish Dakar on the Saturday and the recce (reconnaissance) for Monte starts on the Monday,” Loeb said.

"It would be really short preparation time and not the best way to start, but it is possible.”