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

From what I have seen of Alexander Albon in interviews and press conferences in recent days - is of someone who is "nice" and friendly, wide eyed, easy-going, respectful.  But I don't see in his eyes and expression that mean, killer, hungry look, with fierce determination, arrogance - that you see from Verstappen, Vettel, Hamilton (at least in the past - he tries to hide it nowadays) even Bottas ... so I wonder how far he will go.  

But maybe he is good at hiding the dark side of his personality - or maybe you don't need a dark side to be successful at Formula one (but I doubt that).   Early days of course - but so far he is looking good performance-wise.  

In first practice in Belgium he was only 0.077secs behind Verstappen which seems incredible - although he has been given an upgraded Honda engine which means he will have to start from the back in the race.  If that is a sign of Honda bridging the power gap to Mercedes and Ferrari then Red Bull are going to be an bigger threat in the next nine races - and will likely take that momentum into 2020 to possibly even challenge for the driver and constructors championships.  However, in first practice the Ferraris were well ahead of the rest of the field by nearly a second.

No name Bertie wrote: ... Alexander Albon .... in first practice in Belgium was only 0.077secs behind Verstappen ... although he has been given an upgraded Honda engine which means he will have to start from the back in the race.  ...

I should note that Albon's team will be focusing on race pace (because of the grid penalty) and won't compromise the set-up for one lap speed (which Verstappen's team will aim to do).

The same experiment is occuring with Torro Rosso with Kvyat getting the upgraded engine and Gasly keeping the same engine - so Kvyat will also be starting from the back.

Verstappen - old engine - will set up for "race pace + single lap speed"
Albon - upgraded engine - will set up for "race pace" only.

Danii Kvyat - upgrade engine -  will set up for "race pace" only.
Pierre Gasly - old engine - will set up for "race pace + single lap speed"

FP1 results fastest laps:
Verstappen: 1:45.507 (18 laps completed)
Albon:  + 0.077 (19 laps)

Kvyat: 1:47.636 (20 laps)
Gasly: +0.332 (26 laps)

Sergio Perez signs multi-year deal at RP, until the end of, 2022. Not entirely sure he will be seeing that contract out

Ferrari dominating the practice sessions. Big crash for Hamilton in FP3. Mercedes stating they will be replacing both front corners (suspension and wheel assemblies), nose, barge boards and floor. Barring unexpected nasty surprises, they believe the work can be completed in time for the start of qualifying.

Kubicas engine blows up. 2nd Merc spec C engine to go this weekend

Max was seconds away from joining Albon at the back there

LeClerc Pole by 7 tenths. Vettel in second and Hamilton in third

F2 race cancelled after sickening crash at Raidillon. It didn’t look good for Anthoine Hubert.

The FIA has confirmed Anthoine Hubert was killed in today's
@FIA_F2 crash at Spa

RIP

Juan Manuel Correa, who was also involved, has suffered fractures to both of his legs, and undergone minor spinal surgery. Correa is currently stable in Intensive Care.

Verstappen out on lap 1. Any hope of a Championship challenge extinguished.

massive opportunity for Ferrari now

daresay kimi might look at that one as karma for some of Max's previous antics at Spa.

just a bit of a dumb move lobbing it up the inside at turn 1 when you arent at the front. always likely to end up blind siding someone taking the turn normally.

LeClerc wins the Belgian Grand Prix  

Good result for Mercedes, and Hamilton extends his WDC lead. Tough on Norris, but you kind of expected it with McLaren’s unreliability.

GSC wrote:daresay kimi might look at that one as karma for some of Max's previous antics at Spa.

just a bit of a dumb move lobbing it up the inside at turn 1 when you arent at the front. always likely to end up blind siding someone taking the turn normally.

Yeah - a momentary return of "Crash" Verstappen, looking for a gap that wasn't really there.


Anyway, what a race. Congrats Charles on a maiden victory. Thoroughly deserved and surely the first of many. It was ridiculous how much faster he was than Vettel. Despite being a big Hamilton fan, I was hoping Lewis would be just too far back to catch him.

Just wondering if Vettel had car or tyre issues, given how he seemed to struggle for much of the race and towards the end couldn't fend off the Mercedes.

About as good a weekend as Mercedes could have hoped for. They at least showed Ferrari only have a real advantage in qualifying. Over a race distance, performance is a lot closer. Good to see Bottas finishing well...maybe the new contract has put him in a better place mentally.

Great first outing for Albon in the Red Bull. If he can perform like that consistently for the rest of the season, he should be guaranteed a new contract.

Good race for Racing Point & Toro Rosso with all cars finishing in the points. Hulkenberg maybe trying to prove a point with a 8th place finish.

Absolutely gutted (again) for Lando Norris. Drove brilliantly all race but denied a 5th place finish with yet another car failure. Renault really need to get their act together.

I think Ferrari struggle with the tyres towards the end of a stint. They boxed Vettel early so ended up converting to a 2 stop for a fastest lap attempt

Wouldn’t be surprised if at Monza Vettel confirms retirement or a move elsewhere. He hasn’t been the same since Canada.

might end swapping seats with Max eventually

but for now LeClerc is probably a year away from leading a team.

looking at peronis crash in F3, theres probably a reason gravel used to be there

Verstappen has a clause in his contract that if he’s not P3 or better in the championship in 2020, he can leave Red Bull for free. Horner has already stated that Marko has spoken to Vettel about 2021. Secondly Vettel is earning $40m per season, don’t see him leaving that on the table even if the Ferrari romance has died.

Ferrari won’t sign Verstappen, it’s pretty common knowledge that Verstappen will end up at Mercedes. Bearing in mind he was associated with Mercedes as a junior before Red Bull snapped him up. Ferrari will probably promote Schumacher in 2021. Until they really roll the dice and get Alonso again

Absolute shambles by everyone in Q3. I’m sure the paying public are delighted with that outcome. Leclerc Pole, Hamilton second and Bottas in third.

LeClerc on pole as everyone else but Sainz fails to get a 2nd lap in due to messing around with positioning

WTF was THAT all about (Q3)?

I hope the FIA amend the quali regulations to prevent that kind of crap ever happening again. Absolutely ridiculous!

In fairness, it probably didn't affect the final outcome, but the sheer incompetence of the teams to manage the drivers and the sight of the cars all jostling for position...some even deliberately using the escape roads just because they didn't want to be first over the line...is the most ludicrous thing I've seen in F1 since the Indianapolis GP, where only 5 teams started the race in protest over tyre safety concerns.

someone should've gone round a minute earlier and met them on a hot lap for about 80 penalties

Vettel

Absolutely ruined my boy Lance's race - disgustingly awful driving by Vettel

Vettel and Stroll...

I know its hard to see out of a cockpit, but surely race engineers should be advising them when its safe to rejoin.

If I was at Maranello, I'd be calling a certain 2x champion about returning to the Prancing Horse for 2020. I'd pay Vettel to leave

Epic stuff between LH & CL. Black and white flag for Charles.

Heh. Thought Lewis just flubbed his overtake attempt, but Leclerc just squeezed him a bit too much. Black & white flag seems fair.

McLaren

Ugh! Sainz out from a decent position. Pit crew didn't put the front right on properly.

LeClerc outbreaks himself under this pressure from Lewis. Tense stuff. Bottas might be in the box seat with those fresher tyres.

No penalty for Leclerc for cutting the corner?

Wow - rare mistake from Hamilton. Pushing so hard to catch Leclerc.

Bottas is so pony

Leclerc wins. Ferrari have their new darling.

Hamilton's faint hopes of ever joining Ferrari died on this day. Ferrari is Charles LeClerc's team

What happened with Bottas?

He was nowhere...4-5 seconds behind Hamilton. Suddenly comes to life, chases Hamilton down, catches Leclerc when Hamilton goes off, but can't put any real pressure on him?

Still can't fathom why Leclerc didn't get any kind of penalty for cutting the corner when he locked his brakes.

Still, he drove well enough most of the race, so well done on a second win. Bad day at the office for Hamilton, all things considered, but he showed the Merc can match Ferrari even at their best "power" tracks. How he never got past Leclerc, I don't know.


Think its safe to say Vettel's days at Ferrari are numbered though. Think its time he retired tbh. He's making so many unforced mistakes its not even funny anymore.

LeClerc was ahead when he missed the first chicane, Hamilton was over 0.5secs behind. Never a penalty. Mercedes got their gifts in Bahrain and Canada

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:Hamilton's faint hopes of ever joining Ferrari died on this day. Ferrari is Charles LeClerc's team

Not sure he has any hopes or desires to join a team who have been incapable of building a championship winning car for over a decade. Agree on Ferrari being Leclerc’s team now though. Today was another nail in the coffin for Vettel.

On further reflection I've decided I'm fairly disgusted with the stewarding at this race.

If it had been a driver from any other team, squeezing an opponent off the track the way Charles did, would have been a drive-through penalty at least. Also, cutting the corner the way he did (instead of going through the slalom like Hamilton did) would have been a 5 sec time penalty or similar.

I get that penalising a Ferrari driver at Monza (especially if they are leading) is likely to result in the Mafia sending a hitman after you, but the blatant favouritism still leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Its also a bad idea to give a rookie driver the impression they can get away with breaking the rules...essentially cheating.

Its one thing "getting your elbows out" and playing hard (but fair), but when you take it too far, you should be punished.

I'll give Leclerc this one because he is still relatively new and I also like him. But it had better not become a habit.

Geezer above has lost the plot, ‘drive through penalty for forcing another car of the track’

The penalty for such an incident is a 5 second time penalty. Nothing more.

As for LeClerc missing the first chicane, Rosberg did the same in Canada 2014. Again no penalty

dyrewolfe wrote:On further reflection I've decided I'm fairly disgusted with the stewarding at this race.

If it had been a driver from any other team, squeezing an opponent off the track the way Charles did, would have been a drive-through penalty at least. Also, cutting the corner the way he did (instead of going through the slalom like Hamilton did) would have been a 5 sec time penalty or similar.

I get that penalising a Ferrari driver at Monza (especially if they are leading) is likely to result in the Mafia sending a hitman after you, but the blatant favouritism still leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Its also a bad idea to give a rookie driver the impression they can get away with breaking the rules...essentially cheating.

Its one thing "getting your elbows out" and playing hard (but fair), but when you take it too far, you should be punished.

I'll give Leclerc this one because he is still relatively new and I also like him. But it had better not become a habit.

This is just a dreadful dreadful take. Absolutely awful

by Canadas rules it's a penalty
by Austrias rules it's not.

As ever it's a lottery. I'd lean more towards letting them fight for the lead of the grand prix though.

that said, I dont think you can really give more than a warning for that incident.

One thing we can safely say, is that Vettel has gone. He'll never be the same again. I think this outcome was always inevitable, he has to be the worst multi title winning overtaker in the history of the sport

Hence, as soon as it got competitive his head went

Needs to get out before he does himself some serious harm

Haas has confirmed it’s split from their main title sponsor, Rich Energy.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

dyrewolfe wrote:On further reflection I've decided I'm fairly disgusted with the stewarding at this race.

If it had been a driver from any other team, squeezing an opponent off the track the way Charles did, would have been a drive-through penalty at least. Also, cutting the corner the way he did (instead of going through the slalom like Hamilton did) would have been a 5 sec time penalty or similar.

I get that penalising a Ferrari driver at Monza (especially if they are leading) is likely to result in the Mafia sending a hitman after you, but the blatant favouritism still leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Its also a bad idea to give a rookie driver the impression they can get away with breaking the rules...essentially cheating.

Its one thing "getting your elbows out" and playing hard (but fair), but when you take it too far, you should be punished.

I'll give Leclerc this one because he is still relatively new and I also like him. But it had better not become a habit.

This is just a dreadful dreadful take. Absolutely awful

I'm just calling it what it is. He contravened the rules...twice. I dunno what you call that, but in English thats generally called cheating.

Worse, if they continue with this lenient interpretation of the rules, they're basically giving all the other drivers licence to run opponents off the track and cut corners.

That way lies anarchy.

If nothing else, I think we can all agree that the consistency of the application of the rules leaves A LOT to be desired.

Magnussen & Grosjean confirmed at Haas for 2020

Unless Red Bull takes a punt on Hulkenberg, the Haas announcement has ended his career

wouldnt have kept Grosjean but not sure Hulkenburg is a must have driver anymore.

Robert Kubica announces he will leave Williams at the end of the season - seems as though Williams are demanding more cash for the Pole’s seat.

nice story but hes just not up to par post injury unfortunately