F1 2019 season

First topic message reminder :

Felt like a new season deserves a new thread...

It's reported in Italy that Maurizio Arrivabene has been fired. His strained relationship with Ferrari's prized asset Sebastian Vettel and cost him his job. Arrivabene got one last dig at Vettel though by replacing Raikkonen with LeClerc.

Mattia Binotto will be confirmed as new team boss

GSC wrote:https://twitter.com/Insidef1/status/1145349810892894209?s=19

Probably the key angle, he only gets ahead because he isnt going to leave space. Based on that, I'm not sure the dutch fans are going to be happy

Unfortunately - it looks like one of those "stonewall" penalties.  A five second penalty would drop Verstappen to second.  I can't see how it can't be a penalty given the rules and precedent.

Really good race. A pity if it gets decided by a penalty. However Max's radio message after the overtake saying 'he turned in on me' says to me that he knew that he was on the edge of the rules.

I can't believe how long this decision is taking.  In Canada the 5 second penalty against Vettel was handed out within about 10 minutes of the incident.   This incident in Austria on lap 49 of a 51 lap race, on review looks to be a stonewall penalty and should have been given within the same length of time.  Instead they allowed the ceremony to take place and for everyone to go home before announcing what has to be the penalty.

They've managed to pull Verstappen and Vettel off the podium for in race incidents before...

Just as they have a fantastic race, they shoot themselves in the foot with all this nonsense and faffing around.

Verstappen wins, the right decision but more inconsistent stewarding

F1 would of been dead, if that was overturned. The same scenario unfolded in the F3 race on numerous occasions, all of which, were unpunished.

I suppose they just couldn't face changing the result and dithered themselves into not applying the rule book and precedent and then finding for themselves a "zone of uncertainty" in which they can say it was a racing incident, then run away and hide.  I am sure there was a lot of political pressure applied to prevent a penalty being imposed - because of the bad publicity that would have led to following the best race of the season.   Ultimately Vestappen made two mistakes in that race - the start and his overtake manouevre which forced Leclerc off track.

BS decision

McLaren have retained Carlos Sainz Jr and Lando Norris for 2020. Looks like Alonso’s only hope now is the Ferrari seat occupied by Vettel.

I have come across the "autosport" channel on youtube and in the following blogcast(?) they discuss Ferrari's failed attempt to get F1 to revert back to last years Pirelli tyres.  It seems clear that Ferrari (and RedBull) believe the big gap Mercedes have opened up on them compared to last year is more or less entirely due to the tyres.   It seems the main issue Ferrari is facing this year is getting the tyres to work consistently - that is getting the tyres to work within their margins of operation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnoWDpm91W4

The "failure" of Mercedes in the Austrian grand prix had everything to do with overheating - which is connected to the design of the car.  Basically the Mercedes uses most of the air that it passes through to gain aerodynamic performance rather than for cooling their engine system.  In Austria high attitude plus high track temperatures contributed to overheating of their engine system - so they had to effectively turn the power down.

No name Bertie wrote:...

The "failure" of Mercedes in the Austrian grand prix had everything to do with overheating - which is connected to the design of the car.  Basically the Mercedes uses most of the air that it passes through to gain aerodynamic performance rather than for cooling their engine system.  In Austria high attitude plus high track temperatures contributed to overheating of their engine system - so they had to effectively turn the power down.

Of the remaining races, Mexico is the other most likely to present similar problems. Possibly Brazil, although it is quite frequently cooler and wet.

Romain Grosjean's career looks to be dying with every passing weekend. The Frenchman crashed in the pits at Silverstone smh

Not surprised, he’s been on borrowed time for a while. Last I heard, was the rumour that Perez will be forced out of Racing Point, and heading to Haas. F2 contender & Canadian, Nicholas Latifi, possibly to replace him at RP.

It is being said that Pierre Gasly is naturally a very fast driver but it just hasn't been happening for him at Red Bull.   The reason given is that he is driving too aggressively (his natural driving style), breaking late and hard, then putting down the power early when in the turns and that the Red Bull is currently not built for that style.  So he has to adapt his racing style to get the Red Bull working for him.  Currently he is the least well performing second driver relatively speaking.  The people at Red Bull have great faith in him, but that faith is wearing thin.

So on cue he was fastest in first practice at Silverstone - but early days.  There is still a lot more setting up of the cars to do to optimise the cars for the racing track and conditions.  Second practice is usually the long runs performance checks and set up dabbling.

ps According to Hamilton, in Austria, although the Mercedes was down on performance due to engine overheating issues, there was also upgraded performances by Red Bull and Ferraris - so he believes the Ferraris and Red Bull have narrowed the gap to Mercedes.

No real surprise that Lawrence Stroll would want Checo Perez away from his son Lance. Perez is a solid barometer and he’s dealt with Lance easily.

This talk of Gasly being a very fast driver is a load of nonsense as well. Gasly was struggling to beat Hartley whom hadn’t driven open wheel cars in nearly a decade. Gasly just isn’t very good.

Heck Red Bull are getting so desperate there’s been rumours of Alonso being a serious contender

Can anyone clarify what's going on with Haas and Rich Energy? I had never heard of Rich Energy before they linked up with Haas. Some rather bizarre comments about Rich Energy being bigger than Red Bull. Is it just some delusional clowns running a company?

I heard some chatter that there was a claim that RichEnergy had cancelled their sponsorship of Haas due to the bad performance of Haas - but that it had been denied by RichEnergy - apparently it was some "rogue" board member from RichEnergy who had tweeted something.  That's all I have heard.

No name Bertie wrote:I heard some chatter that there was a claim that RichEnergy had cancelled their sponsorship of Haas due to the bad performance of Haas - but that it had been denied by RichEnergy - apparently it was some "rogue" board member from RichEnergy who had tweeted something.  That's all I have heard.

Thanks

I suspect it has more to do with the fallout of stealing the logo from a cycling team and losing in court

there have been some woeful pay drivers in the history of F1 but Stroll must be up there.

Bottas Pole
Hamilton 2nd
Leclerc 3rd

Charles starting to consistently bend Vettel over now

GSC wrote:I suspect it has more to do with the fallout of stealing the logo from a cycling team and losing in court

Thanks

Just John wrote:Bottas Pole
Hamilton 2nd
Leclerc 3rd

Charles starting to consistently bend Vettel over now

Yep. I think Vettel has lost his edge. Leclerc is showing that the Ferrari is just about on par with the Mercedes, but Seb is regularly getting out-driven by the Red Bulls (well Verstappen anyway).

To be honest, I'm not sure his heart is really in F1 anymore. He's already said on a few occasions that the engineering direction and the overbearing regulations have taken away a lot of his love of the sport (and I do have some sympathy with him there).

Good to see Valtteri back on it and really pushing Lewis. He'll have to nail his start to stay in front...could be an interesting race if he does.

I hope Leclerc and Verstappen have the race pace to keep Mercedes honest.

LeClerc can still win this race. Ferrari are fast in S1 and S3. Pretty average in S2 mind you.

dirty air will kill them in s2

Also, Leclerc starting on soft tyres with the Mercs on medium tyres wont help him, in what will likely be a one stopper.

depends if he can keep pace, then effect the undercut. the question then is who gets pitted by Merc first to cover

GSC wrote:depends if he can keep pace, then effect the undercut. the question then is who gets pitted by Merc first to cover

The answer is usually whoever's the leader

which leaves the closest merc to LeClerc vulnerable.

but all dependent on whether the ferrari can hang on

Ferrari are pretty rubbish on the medium tyres so they decided to avoid it. LeClerc’s chance is on the opening lap and considering it’s a bit cooler today whether the Mercedes tyres take longer to warm up.

Single lap pace put Ferraris matching the Mercedes, but the long runs put Mercedes ahead because the Ferraris wore out their tyres faster.   In qualifying Bottas, Hamilton, Leclerc and Verstappen were all fairly close to each other - then there was a bit of a gap to the next cars.  Leclerc continues to show he is at least as fast as Vettel and maybe better.   When it mattered Verstappen continues to show Gasly who is boss - even though Gasly has shown a big improvement in performance level in practice and qualifying.

Great racing at Silverstone. Safety car that has benefited Hamilton. Ferrari thinking about Vettel, and LeClerc gets done over on strategy

Vettel  

Time to retire

Bottas not even getting fastest lap on fresh rubber

Just John wrote:Bottas not even getting fastest lap on fresh rubber

Hamilton got the fastest lap time on old hard tyres and Bottas failed to get it on fresh soft tyres.

Well hats off to Verstappen again showing what a special driver he is and outperforming team-mate Gasly who has shown some improvement over this race weekend.  Vettel again makes a mistake under pressure and in the process compromises Verstappen's race.

Wow - this season is rapidly turning into the Verstappen & Leclerc show...forget the title race.

Good duel between Hamilton & Bottas for the first 10 laps or so, but Lewis always looked the faster and him taking the lead seemed pretty inevitable. Disappointing that Bottas reverted to type, not long after losing the lead, settling into an anonymous 2nd place.

The real highlight and undoubted stars of the race have to be Charles & Max, in a longer, harder-fought re-run of their battle in Austria. Yet again, Charles just didn't seem to be able to match Max for pace, but showed brilliant defensive driving skills to stay ahead as long as he did.

If these guys can keep this up for the rest of the season, I am going to be hooked.

Almost predictably, another brain fade by Vettel...unbelievably clumsy running into the back of Verstappen like that. Also, irony of ironies, handing Leclerc 3rd place.

Another good points finish for McLaren with Sainz fighting off a determined challenge from Ricciardo to take 6th.

No name Bertie wrote:

Just John wrote:Bottas not even getting fastest lap on fresh rubber

Hamilton got the fastest lap time on old hard tyres and Bottas failed to get it on fresh soft tyres.

They were actually used softs, but yes, you would have thought Valtteri would have at least bagged fastest lap. Guess Lewis really wanted a clean sweep at his home GP. He does say the crowd give him an extra few percent.

dyrewolfe wrote:Wow - this season is rapidly turning into the Verstappen & Leclerc show...forget the title race.

If these guys can keep this up for the rest of the season, I am going to be hooked.

Almost predictably, another brain fade by Vettel...unbelievably clumsy running into the back of Verstappen like that.

Tbh, for all the negative press about F1, the racing at Bahrain, Canada, Austria and Silverstone has been pretty darn good. I think the season will only improve, as the top 3 usually close, in terms of competitiveness. There’s little difference between the PU’s now too.

As for Vettel, it was another embarrassing moment. If LeClerc outperforms Seb in front of his home fans in two weeks, that might be the final humiliation. Would not be surprised, if Ferrari are now thinking about 2020, and contemplating putting Vettel out of his misery. There’s no way he justifies that huge contract at Ferrari anymore, and LeClerc has already showcased, he is a more than capable long term option as #1.


In other news, Jean-Eric Vergne became the first double Formula E champion. Plus, a rumoured engine supply swap for 2020, is Williams using Renault engines, and Mercedes supplying McLaren.

Just John wrote:

dyrewolfe wrote:Wow - this season is rapidly turning into the Verstappen & Leclerc show...forget the title race.

If these guys can keep this up for the rest of the season, I am going to be hooked.

Almost predictably, another brain fade by Vettel...unbelievably clumsy running into the back of Verstappen like that.

Tbh, for all the negative press about F1, the racing at Bahrain, Canada, Austria and Silverstone has been pretty darn good. I think the season will only improve, as the top 3 usually close, in terms of competitiveness. There’s little difference between the PU’s now too.

As for Vettel, it was another embarrassing moment. If LeClerc outperforms Seb in front of his home fans in two weeks, that might be the final humiliation. Would not be surprised, if Ferrari are now thinking about 2020, and contemplating putting Vettel out of his misery. There’s no way he justifies that huge contract at Ferrari anymore, and LeClerc has already showcased, he is a more than capable long term option as #1.


In other news, Jean-Eric Vergne became the first double Formula E champion. Plus, a rumoured engine supply swap for 2020, is Williams using Renault engines, and Mercedes supplying McLaren.

I usually pay no attention to the people that moan about wanting to see "races" as different tracks provide different challenges especially at the sharp end of the grid. Monaco for instance (a race I despise) was good this year with the tension to the end to add to the list above. I liked France in particular because it was a masterclass by Hamilton in domination.

Germany also provides interesting racing and Hungary may have a full on battle between the top 6 as they should be evenly matched pace wise.

Just John wrote:

dyrewolfe wrote:Wow - this season is rapidly turning into the Verstappen & Leclerc show...forget the title race.

If these guys can keep this up for the rest of the season, I am going to be hooked.

Almost predictably, another brain fade by Vettel...unbelievably clumsy running into the back of Verstappen like that.

In other news, Jean-Eric Vergne became the first double Formula E champion. Plus, a rumoured engine supply swap for 2020, is Williams using Renault engines, and Mercedes supplying McLaren.

Would be very surprised about Mercedes supplying McLaren after they broke their previous agreement to not make road cars

We're heading back to ground effect cars in 2021

The belief is that the combination of ground effect, simpler aerodynamics and front wheel deflectors will all work together to help cars to follow each other much closer.

The current generation of cars lose around 45% of their downforce when they are two car lengths behind a rival. The latest simulation data of the 2021 idea puts the loss at between 5-10%.

Tombazis added: “Two strong vortices suck in a lot of the rear wing wake and, as a result, what the following car sees is much, much cleaner flow. So we have a massive reduction of the loss of downforce for the following car.”

F1 hopes to reach agreement with teams about the new rules by September 15, so the process can then move forward for ratification by the FIA World Motor Sport Council before the end of October.

Australian GP renews it's contract, and stays on the calendar, until, 2025.

Mercedes bringing revised aero to deal with their cooling issues in hot conditions, but looking likely to be thunderstorms at Hockenheim and reduced temperature during Saturday, and Sunday. Racing Point basically coming with a new car.

Pierre Gasly significantly upped his performance level over the British Grand Prix weekend seemingly outperforming Verstappen in the free practices - but in the crunch was still second best to Verstappen in qualifying and in the race (where Verstappen was rear ended by Vettel, which dropped him several positions).  But Gasly showed good improvement in performance levels.

However, it hasn't started off well for Gasly at the German Grand Prix weekend - being notably slower than Verstappen in FP1 and now crashing out heavily in FP2 as he tried to get in a decent fast lap time. He had been struggling for pace and was well off Verstappen's times, especially in FP2.

Sebastian Vettel turbo failure in Q1 and will start last at the final German GP at Hockenheim.

Lance Stroll reaches Q2 for the first time in recent memory

Ferrari

Mercedes luck has no limits

The Mercedes were off the pace in free practice and so was Gasly. Ferrari were ahead in all free practice sessions, with Leclerc finding more pace than Vettel - and then out of nowhere Verstappen found huge pace in the final free practice session - splitting the Ferraris - while Gasly was nowhere.

But then in qualifying - Mercedes found extra pace - especially Hamilton - as did Gasly (redeeming himself) - while the Ferraris brokedown. Raikonnen produced an amazing qualifying time to finish in fifth. The Red Bulls look like they now have the single lap pace of the Mercedes. Certainly everything seems to be closing up. But so far it has been in the long runs and the race where the Mercedes have been shown to have the major advantage still. Tomorrow the weather may play a big role in what happens as there is likelihood of rain.

1) HAM Mercedes.. 00:01:11.767
2) VPN Red Bull.... 00:01:12.113
3) BOT Mercedes... 00:01:12.129
4) GAS Red Bull.... 00:01:12.180
5) RAI Alfa Romeo. 00:01:12.538
6) GRO Haas......... 00:01:12.851
7) SAI McLaren...... 00:01:12.897
8) PER Racing Point 00:01:13.065
9) HUL Renault...... 00:01:13.126
10) LEC Ferrari...... no time