OT: 2019 Formula 1 Season

[Markay]

Frankly, at this point, I would gladily forget my passion for Ferrari, to watch more exciting races, with real overtaking, etc. A daydream: What about taking a cue from the minor series. Everybody with identical cars, engine and *tyres*. Some hard compound capable to last a whole race. No pit stops to change tyres - or, come up with a way to make the pit stops so long that it would be counterproductive anyway. The race could be 25-30 laps, less than an hour. Not enough advertising time for the sponsors? Ok, two races on any given Sunday should do.

 

Yes, I know, Formula 1 is the playground of the big car companies to try new technologies and gain visibility... but dreaming is free, right? (and anyway, f1 audience is shrinking every year, so *something* has to be done at some point)

 

 

Having watched 5 minor categories, each with 3 or 4 shorter lap races at the Melbourne GP, I don't see how that would produce a more interesting outcome on F1 circuits. In the closely controlled formulas like the Carrera Cup or Ferrari Challenge where the only variables are minor suspension, steering and tyre pressure tweaks, after 10 laps the field was seperated by more than 20 seconds, just like in the F1.

 

It is clear that aero and chassis design are currently having a bigger impact than engine, or in some cases driver, in F1. McLaren had a horror season last year, Williams this year.

 

According to some commentators, Ferrari's extra pace in the straight is more than lost in the corners. Maybe they, and Renault, Haas and others can fix it during the season, maybe not. Lets not forget Brawn won 10 years ago with the smallest budget and no sponsors, so sometimes a winning design can be achieved on a shoestring budget.

 

Right now it seems that only Mercedes and Red Bull are in the sweet spot.

[Joe Muscara]

I'm a little bummed Bottas wasn't closer to Lewis. I get that he didn't have a great start, but it would have been nice if he had been in sight of Lewis for more of the race.

 

I thought it was kind of funny that they thought Vettel was faster than Leclerc, when Seb had DRS and LEC didn't. Once Seb was in front and lost DRS, he didn't seem faster after all (I didn't look at the time sheets to confirm).

 

Lots has been made about Patrick Head coming back to Williams. I have lots of respect for him, so don't get me wrong, but wasn't he running the team during their fall from grace as well? I wonder if he's really up to speed with running a modern F1 team. Maybe he is and didn't have the right people back then, but I'm not 100% confident he can get that team up the ranks. I do hope to see them do better though.

[zephonic]

So another 1-2 for Mercedes in Baku today. And I love that Bottas fastest lap in AUS is what puts him ahead, all the more because the team told him not to risk it.

 

Leclerc binning it in quali was bad enough, but it feels like Ferraris strategists arent doing him any favors either.

 

For me, the best part of the weekend was Checos P5 in quali and a well-deserved sixth in the race. His year at McLaren damaged his rep, but I still believe he can hang with the best of them.

[marino]

So it seems that after four races (almost one fifth of the season), Mercedes pretty much secured the championship. The only element of interest will be which of the two drivers will get the crown.

 

Leclerc is showing to be a great driver. He did a fantastic comeback with great overtaking. Yes, he made an important mistake in qualifying, and that ruined his chances of victory. But just think of how many mistakes and silly moves Max did when Red Bull promoted him to the main team, before acquiring some wisdom... I'd say that Charles, other than being very fast, is already very mature for his age.

 

However, it seems that at Ferrari, they are determined to follow the pre-season guidelines, to favor Vettel every time they can. Today, they kept Charles on track way too long before pitting, probably in the hope that he would slow down the Mercedes drivers a bit, allowing Seb to get closer. Not only this didn't work, but it ruined any residual hope for Charles to get on the podium. Once again, they sacrificed Leclerc to see Vettel up there instead.

 

I just hope that Leclerc will have patience, without losing motivation - and diplomacy. We know that at Ferrari, criticizing the team has never been healthy for a driver, even when he's right. Just ask Alain Prost, 1991...

That said, Ferrari definitely needs a better strategist.

 

I found the race interesting enough for the first 20 laps or so, thanks in part to the peculiarities of the Baku circuit. After that, it was the usual tyre management, etc. I followed the whole event, but also did some housekeeping and stuff at various points...

[Joe Muscara]

Ferrari doesn't seem much different under Binotto as it did under Arrivabene. Show some good form in the preseason, have moments of brilliance, but when it comes down to it, they just aren't there.

 

It could have as much to do with how well-run M-B are. Even though Leclerc was fastest all weekend, could he really have qualified faster than Bottas and Lewis? I'm not sure of that. Yet the commentators keep talking about how fast Ferrari is "here" and "there." I don't see it, and I wish we did. I'd love to see a higher championship between at least those two teams, like we did the start of last season.

 

Does anyone think M-B sandbags it during practice? Or at least doesn't go for outright speed and instead focuses on their strategies?

 

It has been good to see McLaren not fighting to stay out of the bottom. I wish Williams could do the same.

[I-missRichardTee]

Yeah yeah yeah, all a those funny shaped cars, got nothing on Billy Bobby.

 

[video:youtube]

 

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuAUI_0knfk

 

[video:youtube]

[zephonic]

It could have as much to do with how well-run M-B are.

 

Absolutely. You can tell that everything there runs like clockwork, and while Ross Brawn may have laid the foundation, Toto Wolff's leadership is responsible for that success.

Christian Horner is another guy that really knows how a modern F1 team should be managed. I dislike the team, but you can't deny RBR operates just as well as Mercedes, on a smaller budget.

 

Mattia Binotto is new, I didn't expect him to make magic happen on day one. That's just not how these things work. He might have been a great leader on the factory floor, but running trackside operations is a different kettle of fish.

 

[Joe Muscara]

This could be fun.

 

Ferrari to introduce power unit update 'ahead of schedule' in Spain

[zephonic]

This could be fun.

 

Ferrari to introduce power unit update 'ahead of schedule' in Spain

 

Well, I think its safe to say the update didnt make much of a difference. Mercedes was .7s clear in qualifying.

I think Ferrari need to forget about fighting Mercedes and focus on staying ahead of RBR.

[marino]

I think Ferrari need to forget about fighting Mercedes and focus on staying ahead of RBR.

Sadly (for me) true.

 

 

[Joe Muscara]

From the sounds of it, it seems Ferrari has a lot to work on. They said the two sides of the garage didn't know what pit strategy the other side was using. That's a good way to fail at this level.

[zephonic]

R.I.P. Niki Lauda

 

More than any other driver, he WAS F1.

[Joe Muscara]

Niki was quite a character. I really enjoyed the movie Rush about that year and his battle with James Hunt, too.

[marino]

Niki was quite a character. I really enjoyed the movie Rush about that year and his battle with James Hunt, too.

Rush is a very good movie! Probably one of the best movies about motor racing. Lauda himself was a consultant, and later praised the finished movie.

[marino]

Now that the 2019 champinship can be considered virtually gone for Ferrari, I'm trying to focus on other matters.

Well, frankly, I have been tempted to refrain from watching the Monaco GP in favor of a trip to the countryside - and with a better weather maybe I would have done it... but Monaco almost always provides unexpected emotions, and this year's edition was no exception.

 

Some random thoughts:

 

Lewis Hamilton has definitely become a superb driver, and he's currently at the top of his form. He drove half of the race with ruined tyres, without the slightest mistake, and leaving Max no chances of overtaking. Hats off.

 

My hat is off to Max too; he *almost* learned that talent is not everything, and that in modern F1, reasoning is equally important if not more. He avoided creating an incident at the start, for example. However, he did a couple of stupidly aggressive moves. The one with Bottas in the pitlane probably cost him the podium, with the 5-sec penalty; and the silly attempt to overtake Hamilton at the end could have cost both drivers the race.

 

Vettel drove an anonymous race, but in practice, there was little else he could do; trying to overtake Max at Monaco would have been close to a suicide move. He stayed close, saved the tyres, didn't make any mistake, and brought the result home. Of course, without Leclerc's accident and the safety car, he would have ended fourth instead of second.

 

Leclerc... before the race, he said that since he had nothing to lose, he was going to attack heads-on from the start, even with the high risk to crash. Well, that's what he did, and at the third overtaking manoeuvre he touched and crashed. But the first two overtakings - on Norris and Grosjan, IIRC - oh my god. In 45 years of following F1, I have rarely seen such impossible things, and certainly not at Monaco. Yes, he did it with a vastly superior car, but still. I hope that Ferrari will get a better car to this kid, before Mercedes offer him a deal...

 

Ferrari. Simply put: They should send Binotto back to Maranello to work on engines and as project coordinator, and hire a proper team manager and strategist. Other than the flaws of this year's car, their on-track organization has been terrible so far.

[Joe Muscara]

I don't think the pit lane incident was Max's fault. I think it was the team's for releasing him when they did.

 

The weekend was a shame for Leclerc. I'm happy that for once, Ferrari has taken on a young driver, and I do hope they get good enough for him to have many successes there.

 

I must admit that I find it funny that Ferrari is the second best team out there, yet we're talking about them not being good enough! If it weren't for M-B, they'd be the class of the field except for a spare weekend when RB has it. But I get it. Second place is first loser.

[marino]

I don't think the pit lane incident was Max's fault. I think it was the team's for releasing him when they did.

Yes, they should have waited for Bottas and Seb to pass, but I think they counted on Max' aggressive attitude to gain a position or two... but he overdid it by pushing Bottas against the wall. Probably, Max thought that intimidation was the only way to force Bottas to give up position... Without that very dangerous move, maybe he would have been spared the penalty.

Just think of the possible consequences of a serious accident in the pitlane, with all the mechanics and engineers standing there..!! Looks like Max is still Mad Max...

[zephonic]

I feel for Bottas. He has shown he has the pace to take the fight to Hamilton, he just doesn't have a champion's luck.

 

Realistically, he is the only thing standing between Hamilton and title #6. The deficit is now 17 pts. I really hope he will win the next one, if only to stay in the game, but Canada has traditionally been Hamilton territory.

[CountFosco]

A 5 second penalty for causing an accident in the pit lane, where hundreds of people are working, seems an order of magnitude wrong to me. Compare it with the 10 second penalty for Giovinazzi. Sure he made a mistake and caused an incident on the road, but that's just some race cars touching each other on the track, which happened a bunch of other times in the race (including by Verstappen on Hamilton - has he actually completed a race without touching another car?). Unsafe release is the kind of incident that should have a fixed penalty, not one that the stewards can just make up on the day.

[Tomkeen]

If anyone should get a penalty for the unsafe release, it has to be the team, not Max. All he has to do is wait for the team to communicate to him that he can leave the pit, and drive off. Also, I don't think he deliberately pushed Bottas away, he might not even have seen him. Still biased as a Dutch viewer, but I think Max is the most talented driver on the grid.

[CountFosco]

Sure, Max = team Max. Not saying he was responsible for the release, but I reckon he saw Bottas/Vettel and did his usual Max thing. My gripe there is more with the penalty - that's hardly a deterrent for him doing the same thing next time. Sure he's talented, but when was the last race where he didn't hit another car? Still biased as an Aussie viewer, I have a bit of a Maxistheenemy hangover from last year.

[Tomkeen]

Sure he's talented, but when was the last race where he didn't hit another car?

 

The entire season so far? He has made pretty few mistakes since Monaco last year.

[zephonic]

Verstappen this year is certainly a more mature driver. He has had his brain-dead moments in the past, but it seems he has grown up a bit.

 

Still, his last-ditch attempt at Hamilton was a bit desperate, he must have known that was never gonna work.

 

And I agree a 5s time penalty for the unsafe release feels extremely lenient. But the stewards have historically been lenient with Verstappen. He is a box office hit and brings a lot of fans and money to the sport. Best not to upset the apple cart too much.

 

[Tomkeen]

Well, when you've been chasing someone for 50 laps, might as well try to overtake him, right? He overtook several other drivers last year, so it is possible.

[zephonic]

What a terrible call today, even if it was a technically correct one.

 

While it is true Hamilton forced Vettel into that mistake, this just doesn't feel good.

 

Ferrari were fastest all weekend, only to lose the race on such a technicality. Terrible.

 

[Joe Muscara]

Carlo is probably still http://blue-funk.com/NonBandPictures/smileys/wall.gif.

 

I'm not sure what I think of the call, partially because I don't know what the rule says exactly. It seems he violated the letter of the rule, but if instead, the car turned around and slid into the same spot backwards, I'm sure he wouldn't have been penalized. This doesn't help since it doesn't state the rule.

 

However, Ferrari is appealing, so they have a chance to over turn this.

[marino]

Not banging my head into walls, just shaking it in disbelief.

 

Actually, probably it was technically correct, but Seb's defense was very reasonable: He said that going back on track from the grass, he had no chance to see Hamilton's position, and no chance to control his own trajectory. By braking with decision, the Ferrari could have spun and crashed into the wall.

Fact is, there's no way to demonstrate it. The wiser decision, probably, would have been for Ferrari to tell Seb "let Lewis pass". This would have avoided the penalty, but they would have given the race to Lewis on a silver plate...

 

Frankly, what has struck me the most was Lewis Hamilton's behavior. He was the first to call for a penalty to Vettel, just a few seconds after the event... then on the rostrum he called Seb on the highest step, and said "it wasn't me who took that decision." Bleargghh.

It would be silly not to notice that Lewis is a first-rate driver, but his hypocrisy disgusts me. About every time, he and Toto play little games minimizing their potential, in order to appear heroes who overcome huge difficulties... this time, after qualfying, Lewis said that Ferrari had "a six-tenth advantage on straights". Huh? SIX tenths?! And on which straight, exactly?

 

The truth is, the W10 is clearly superior to the SF90, as Mercedes has been superior, in various degrees, for the last five years. They don't need to make ridiculous statements like those; they have a missile that Ferrari has not been able to match so far, and my hats is off to the designers.

 

On the other hand, I have always liked Seb; he's German, but he has a rather emotional attitude, and also he's a nice guy in a general sense... but today, like it or not, he made another mistake under pressure, and Lewis didn't.

[zephonic]

Not banging my head into walls, just shaking it in disbelief.

 

Actually, probably it was technically correct, but Seb's defense was very reasonable: He said that going back on track from the grass, he had no chance to see Hamilton's position, and no chance to control his own trajectory. By braking with decision, the Ferrari could have spun and crashed into the wall.

Fact is, there's no way to demonstrate it. The wiser decision, probably, would have been for Ferrari to tell Seb "let Lewis pass". This would have avoided the penalty, but they would have given the race to Lewis on a silver plate...

 

After watching the replay a number of times, it becomes clear that Vettel rejoined the track and was in control of the car. His trajectory was not on the racing line, but he steered right to block Hamilton. Now, I don't blame him, this is what every racing driver in his position would do. But apparently, that did weigh in to the stewards' decision to penalize him.

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/143996/vettel-steering-inputs-key-to-fia-penalty-decision

 

Frankly, what has struck me the most was Lewis Hamilton's behavior. He was the first to call for a penalty to Vettel, just a few seconds after the event... then on the rostrum he called Seb on the highest step, and said "it wasn't me who took that decision." Bleargghh.

It would be silly not to notice that Lewis is a first-rate driver, but his hypocrisy disgusts me. About every time, he and Toto play little games minimizing their potential, in order to appear heroes who overcome huge difficulties... this time, after qualfying, Lewis said that Ferrari had "a six-tenth advantage on straights". Huh? SIX tenths?! And on which straight, exactly?

 

I don't agree with you here. First of all, Hamilton didn't call for a penalty, he just said that what Vettel did was dangerous. Hypocrisy? I dunno... But I do know that Ferrari had the fastest car this weekend.

Maybe not six tenths, but you could see Vettel pulling away from Hamilton on the straight even when the latter had the DRS open. Hamilton would creep back into DRS range around the twisty parts, but could not get close on the straights.

 

The truth is, the W10 is clearly superior to the SF90, as Mercedes has been superior, in various degrees, for the last five years. They don't need to make ridiculous statements like those; they have a missile that Ferrari has not been able to match so far, and my hats is off to the designers.

 

Mercedes as a team and operation are the current gold standard in F1, no doubt. But last year Ferrari probably had the quickest car over the entire season, they just failed to capitalize on it. Even this year, they have been faster on some tracks, they just haven't been able to put it together. They locked out the front row in Bahrain, and Leclerc was comfortably leading the race until his engine lost power. Leclerc probably would have made pole in Baku as well, had it not been for his crash in Q2. This weekend again, their car was the fastest and Vettel should have won this race.

 

[Joe Muscara]

Not banging my head into walls, just shaking it in disbelief.

 

Actually, probably it was technically correct, but Seb's defense was very reasonable: He said that going back on track from the grass, he had no chance to see Hamilton's position, and no chance to control his own trajectory. By braking with decision, the Ferrari could have spun and crashed into the wall.

Fact is, there's no way to demonstrate it. The wiser decision, probably, would have been for Ferrari to tell Seb "let Lewis pass". This would have avoided the penalty, but they would have given the race to Lewis on a silver plate...

 

After watching the replay a number of times, it becomes clear that Vettel rejoined the track and was in control of the car. His trajectory was not on the racing line, but he steered right to block Hamilton. Now, I don't blame him, this is what every racing driver in his position would do. But apparently, that did weigh in to the stewards' decision to penalize him.

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/143996/vettel-steering-inputs-key-to-fia-penalty-decision

[video:youtube]

 

I'm not sure I see it. As he comes off the grass, he turns the wheel right to correct for the slide once he hits for the asphalt. He makes a couple more motions after that. It looks to me like he's still struggling with the car until it's straight.

[zephonic]

Well, it sure looks like this season is over. Mercedes wins 8 out of 8, and it doesn't look like anybody else can get close.

 

It is interesting to see McLarens progress. Probably not gonna happen, but it would be hilarious if they can beat RBR by the end of the season.