F1 Racing Point Belgium GP Thread

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First topic message reminder :

Imagine it'll all be temp like most street circuits

[Fernando]

Looks like Kubica is getting announced on Thursday

[Guest]

Fairytale story etc, but I fear he’ll be exposed in wheel-to-wheel racing. Last time we saw his onboard shots, he cradles the steering wheel, so being up to the challenge of driving outside of a ‘test’ scenario, will be interesting. I’d expect Russell to dominate that partnership.

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Former F2 driver Santino Ferrucci, a Haas F1 junior driver, has landed a full time seat in Indycar in 2019. The controversial American was fired by Trident for his vile behavior to his team mate, but daddy Ferrucci has deep pockets and has bought a seat in Indycar...Ferrucci will be partnering 4 time Cart champion Sebastien Bourdais.

[Fernando]

Looks like Kubica is getting announced on Thursday

https://twitter.com/williamsracing/status/1065532044137107456?s=21

[Guest]

Hamilton pole (83rd pole)
Bottas 2nd
Vettel 3rd
Raikkonen 4th
Ricciardo 5th
Verstappen 6th

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

2014-18 has arguably been the worst era in F1. Mercedes has had over 80% of poles and 80% of wins. Let's hope the new rules from 2019 make it a competition again

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Massive accident for Hulkenberg

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Verstappen with some sort of engine issue

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Kimi out engine failure. Sad way to end his Ferrari career

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Bottas having another crap race. Wingman

[Guest]

Bottas

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Hamilton
Vettel
Verstappen

Rather boring race at a rather average track. We need proper tracks

[No name Bertie]

2018 Drivers Championship Final Standings
1) Lewis Hamilton .... Mercedes  11 wins 408 points
2) Sebastian Vettel ..  Ferrari ..... 5 wins 320 points
3) Kimi Raikkonen .... Ferrari ..... 1 win . 251 points
4) Max Verstappen ... Red Bull ... 2 wins 249 points
5) Valtteri Bottas .....  Mercedes . 0 wins 247 points
6) Daniel Ricciardo ...  Red Bull ... 2 wins 170 points
7) Nico Hulkenberg ... Renault  ... 0 wins . 69 points
8) Sergio Perez ........ Force India 0 wins . 62 points
9) Kevin Magnussen .. Haas  ...... 0 wins . 56 points
10) Carlos Sainz Jnr .. Renault .... 0 wins . 53 points

Of the "top 6 drivers" (Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull) I have been most disappointed with Bottas in his second year at Mercedes.  Yes he had one victory taken from him I think, and a few races where he acted as Lewis wingman, but there were numerous occasions where he was bullied by Vettel and Verstappen and others in being overtaken and he tended to fade during races (tyre management?).  Ricciardo might have finished ahead of him if it wasn't for his Red Bull's record of not finishing races (8 mechanical retirements).

I think Verstappen and Red Bull have shown they are not too far away from making a Championship challenge.  They switch to Honda next year - and it seems that Honda are continuing to bridge the gap between the other engines.

I think Vettel's mistakes have been perhaps just a little exaggerated compared to mistakes made by Ferrari as a team - especially in not recognising one of their upgrades set the car backwards at the critical point of the competition between Vettel and Hamilton.

I thought Raikkonen started off fairly weakly compared to Vettel, with Vettel clearly being the dominant driver of their partnership.  But his competitiveness seemed to improve during the season.

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Mercedes are on the back foot in 2019 with the retaining of Bottas, who's quite frankly a mediocre driver. He ends up behind Verstappen in a car that's vastly slower for majority of the season. Mercedes should sack Bottas and bring in Ocon. LeClerc is already levels above Bottas and Ocon, but Ocon doesn't have the mental scarring of being second rate.

[Guest]

No argument in regards to Bottas’ inferior ability. Having said that, he’s delivered two Constructors Championships, plays the team game, and has a good dynamic with Hamilton. They won’t upset that partnership, and the reason Ocon has no drive, is because he’s just been beaten by Perez at FI. Perez has been a benchmark for that midfield for years, so failing to beat him, has really stalled his career.

Lance Stroll confirmed at Force India for 2019. I’ll give it a year, and Lance will be ousted by Stroll Snr’s fellow investors.

[Marky]

2018 Drivers Championship Final Standings
1) Lewis Hamilton .... Mercedes  11 wins 408 points
2) Sebastian Vettel ..  Ferrari ..... 5 wins 320 points
3) Kimi Raikkonen .... Ferrari ..... 1 win . 251 points
4) Max Verstappen ... Red Bull ... 2 wins 249 points
5) Valtteri Bottas .....  Mercedes . 0 wins 247 points
6) Daniel Ricciardo ...  Red Bull ... 2 wins 170 points
7) Nico Hulkenberg ... Renault  ... 0 wins . 69 points
8) Sergio Perez ........ Force India 0 wins . 62 points
9) Kevin Magnussen .. Haas  ...... 0 wins . 56 points
10) Carlos Sainz Jnr .. Renault .... 0 wins . 53 points

How ironic. In giving Lewis the win in Russia to ensure he finished 1st in the Championship, those 7 dropped points for Bottas dropped him from 3rd to 5th...

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Reliability probably evens out but that is a pretty poor result for Bottas.

Imagine he needs a strong season next year or Ocon will be in the car for 2020.

[Guest]

Alexander Albon confirmed at Toro Rosso in 2019.

@SchumacherMick steps up to #F2 with @PREMA_Team for the 2019 season.

[Fernando]

It's lovely to see the top 3 in F2 with drives in F1 next year finally moving in the right direction.

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

2019 grid is complete after RPFI finally confirmed Lance Stroll

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Force India has officially left the building, Racing Point F1 for 2019.

New driver numbers

Norris #4
Russell #63
Kubica #88
Giovinazzi #99

[Guest]

Force India has officially left the building, Racing Point F1 for 2019

'Racing Point' is just a place holder for the 2019 FIA list of team entries. A new official name for the team is to be revealed in early 2019, according to Otmar Szafnauer.

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