La F1 empieza a parecerse cada vez más al fútbol en segun que aspectos.Tenemos siempre un arbitro que nos dá la polémica del lunes, en la persona de Charlie Whiting (y como es siempre el mismo, el porcentaje de polémica es realmente alto cada dos por tres).Y ahora tenemos otra similitud, los entrenadores.Ahora, en la F1, si el coche no corre, se despide al que lo diseñó, así de sencillo.Ya ha pasado con Costa, y ahora le llega el turno a Wirth, sí Nick Wirth.Lo de Virgin y Wirth se veía venir desde hace tiempo.El equipo sucumbió a la hipótesis de la magia que iba a proveer Wirth con sus diseños mágicos, exclusivamente hechos a través del ordenador y renunciando a la efectividad del tunel del viento, con sus gastos descomunales, que según With eran innecesarios, o de alguna manera, prescindibles..
Es lógico pensar que desde el punto de vista de un director de equipo, el proceso de lograr un equipo exitoso sea casi más importante que la manera de lograrlo.Y tanto John Booth como los rusos de Marussia, e incluso Richard Branson (tan amante de los retos) han comprendido que el camino tenía un final que no cuadraba con el proyecto que querían para el equipo.Dos manera de verlo: a Nick le gustaba más el modo que el fin, y al resto del equipo le gustaba más el fin que el modo.Romanticismo frente a practicidad.Su trabajo no ha sido todo lo brillante que su fama daba a suponer, eso es cierto.Incluso más si tenemos en cuenta los trabajos que desarrolló en años pasados, como el nunca debutado equipo Bravo.Pero lo que cuesta creer es que se haya decido su marcha de esta forma, casi de pasada.Ya que salimos de Monaco y la polémica de la carrera lo tapa todo, que sepas que ya no te necesitamos.
Bueno, nos centramos de momento en la noticia y luego seguimos comentando:
Virgin has parted company with technical director Nick Wirth following its
disappointing start to the season.
The team had targeted reaching Q2 on a regular basis this year, but has
failed to start any higher than the tenth row during the first six races of the
season. As a result, Wirth Research is no longer a part of the operation.Former Renault director of engineering Pat Symonds has overseen the review of
Virgin, and is understood to be heading up plans for its 2012 car in his
capacity as a consultant.
"The decision has been taken that the team will take greater control of its
own destiny," said Marussia Virgin CEO Andy Webb in a statement to AUTOSPORT.
"Accordingly, having consulted with our existing technical partner during the course of the past few weeks, we have been obliged to terminate our relationship with them.I believe that the steps we are taking in terms of our technical leadership and operational excellence will provide us with the robust foundation required to go on and achieve our performance objectives in the years ahead. These are bold but positive steps that will enable us to move forward with confidence.
"Despite the change in technical direction, the team already has a raft of upgrades and developments that have been signed off by Wirth Research that it plans to introduce in the coming months. It is hoped that these will allow it to close the gap to Team Lotus.
But there is also desire to trial run new development directions with the current Virgin MVR-02 in the latter stages of the season. This could lead to major revisions later in the campaign."At this time of year it is commonplace for all teams to start looking ahead to the following racing year, whilst continuing to develop the existing car for the remaining races of the current season," said Webb.
"The upgrades we have planned for the summer races are now passing from the design phase to the production stage and more and more of our focus is turning to 2012.In light of our long-term plans we will continue to aggressively pursue this strategy, but as next year's regulations contain few changes we hope that some of the development work aimed at the MVR-03 may also find its way onto the current car."
"Accordingly, having consulted with our existing technical partner during the course of the past few weeks, we have been obliged to terminate our relationship with them.I believe that the steps we are taking in terms of our technical leadership and operational excellence will provide us with the robust foundation required to go on and achieve our performance objectives in the years ahead. These are bold but positive steps that will enable us to move forward with confidence.
"Despite the change in technical direction, the team already has a raft of upgrades and developments that have been signed off by Wirth Research that it plans to introduce in the coming months. It is hoped that these will allow it to close the gap to Team Lotus.
But there is also desire to trial run new development directions with the current Virgin MVR-02 in the latter stages of the season. This could lead to major revisions later in the campaign."At this time of year it is commonplace for all teams to start looking ahead to the following racing year, whilst continuing to develop the existing car for the remaining races of the current season," said Webb.
"The upgrades we have planned for the summer races are now passing from the design phase to the production stage and more and more of our focus is turning to 2012.In light of our long-term plans we will continue to aggressively pursue this strategy, but as next year's regulations contain few changes we hope that some of the development work aimed at the MVR-03 may also find its way onto the current car."
AUTOSPORT understands that the team is well-advanced with plans to establish
its own technical base, with the ex-Arrows and Super Aguri facility at Leafield
among the facilities it has evaluated.There have also been reports that Virgin is seeking a technical partner, with
McLaren among the options. This would likely lead to a partnership along similar
lines to the one that helped to propel Force India from the back of the grid
into regular points scorers over the past two-and-a-half years.The team would not comment in detail on its new technical structure, but confirmed that these changes have been in the pipeline since emerging Russian sportscar manufacturer Marussia Motors bought into the team last year. "In November 2010, sports car manufacturer Marussia Motors acquired a significant shareholding in the Marussia Virgin Racing F1 Team, securing the Team's future and underlining the marque's long-term commitment to Formula One," said Webb.
"Over the past six months, Marussia and the Board of Directors have undertaken a comprehensive review in order to ensure that Marussia Virgin Racing has the strongest platform, team of people and resources in place to achieve its long-term ambitions.
"Integral to this review has been an evaluation of the technical direction of Marussia Virgin Racing. Marussia's goal remains to be in a position to be able to challenge for a podium finish at the inaugural Russian Grand Prix in Sochi 2014.With this in mind, it is readily apparent that the team must take major steps in order to accelerate its rate of improvement.
"Looking ahead, we will now be pursuing an alternative technical path and look forward to announcing our plans in more detail over the coming weeks."Virgin is also set to drop its all-CFD development strategy, which was key to it being able to afford to move into F1 in the first place. Now an established team in its second season, it is expected to start a windtunnel testing programme alongside ongoing CFD work.
"At this stage I would like to underline our continued commitment to a
cost-efficient commercial model," said Webb. "We maintain our absolute belief in
CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) as a technology, especially since it
continues to become more cost-effective with every year.
"Naturally, we will continue to use every means at our disposal to improve
the aerodynamics of our car with immediate effect."
Es decir, que quieren dar un paso mayor que el que seguraba el uso exclusivo del CFD, pero para eso quieren usar una extrategia de colaboración con algún socio tecnológico fuerte, como McLaren, para dar un salto parecido al que dio Force Inidia (gracias al uso de la tecnología de McLaren también) desde que fue comprada, ya que su caida en picado desde que los tiempos de Jordan era especialmente sangrante.John Booth, que parecía estar en un segundo plano en beneficio de Richard Branson y Nick Wirth, ha decidido dar un paso al frente y coger el toro por los cuernos.Un paso así en todo caso no se podía dar saltando al vacio, y para ello contrató la experiencia de Pat Symonds, que antes del crashgate de Singapur era un miembro muy valorado y respetado dentro del paddock, a pesar de las estrategias que proveía a Alonso en Renault (aunque ahora en Ferrari, con sus estrategias, le están haciendo hasta bueno en este aspecto.)
Pat les ha hecho ver que el camino que llevaban tenía un final muy cercano y las mejoras tenian un recorrido muy breve en relación al uso combinado del CFD junto con el tunel del viento (del que Wirth rehuía porque quitaba mérito al reto).Se sabía que terminaría ocurriendo, pero no que sería ahora.Pat se presenta como el gurú que el equipo necesita para restablecer un camino hacia un éxito esquivo.Lo que en todo caso no se le puede pedir, ni a Pat ni a Nick, es convertir un equipo de fondo de parrilla en un equipo de Q2 en un sólo año.Cuando un equipo mejora, sus competidores también lo hacen, y el superarlos conlleva hacer una mejora superior a la que ellos hacen, dar dos pasos donde el resto da uno.Eso conlleva tiempo, dinero y recursos.Esperemos que tengan la paciencia para conseguir esas tres cosas y que funcionen sincronizadas como un todo.
No es sólo Virgin la que debe saber hacia donde ir y lo necesario para ello.Pero sí es positivo que al menos el equipo más enrocado en su estrategia, haya dado un cambio de rumbo en busca del éxito.Sería interesante que funcionara, llevaría a muchos replantearse que el piñon fijo por la subsistencia no siempre es el mejor camino.Y en este sentido, hablamos de más de 1 y de 2 , y de 3 equipos...
...seguro.
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