Formula 1 - 2019 Season

[Deleted member 2197]

As far a Mercedes anything might happen. Toto's contract expires end of 2020 and there was talk he might take role running F1.

As for Wolff himself, he runs a successful investment business alongside his role as head of Mercedes Motorsport, which expands next year with the car company's formal entry into the all-electric Formula E series.
With his track record, it is perhaps inevitable that he has recently been linked with a role running F1 itself after his existing Mercedes contract expires at the end of next year.
...
"Mercedes is entering into Formula E at the end of the year and that is an exciting new chapter. And then with all these rumours out there I have been trying to think about what actually drives me.
"It is the pursuit of lap time. I enjoy the benchmarking, the competition of racing. The bad days and the good days. And lap time is somehow so brutally honest. The stopwatch never lies."

https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/48911849

 

[hoom]

So there is a possibility Merc finally runs into a rough period?

 

[Pete]

I’m not sure he’d want to go to Williams, but I guess he could go to Racing. if Perez moves on.

Hamilton keeps saying he wants a challenge. It seems like the only consistent challenge he’ll get is from someone in the other Merc. You could argue that Bottas had bad luck last year, and he’s reasonably close this year, but his wins seem circuit specific (to too few circuits).

Plus, how angry would it make Max if Ocon got the Merc drive?

 

[Pete]

Hmmm, maybe Ferrari will make qualifying interesti—nope, Merc turned the engine up to 11 for Q3. Also, Lewis typically muted in his praise of Bottas for pipping him to pole.

Very interesting bit about engine manufacturers controlling engine modes—even for customer teams—in that podcast I mentioned, which kind of justifies Ron Dennis switching to Honda. https://missedapexpodcast.com/episode-list/2019/7/9/1m4jt63jhdj6phztqoeaxshr5wvepi

 

[AlphaWolf]

Great job by Vettel securing a podium finish for his teammate.

 

[Ike Turner]

This year's Mercedes car + Hamilton is simply something else..Fastest lap on the last lap on 20+ laps shot hard tires...How???

 

[Bludd]

It was an action-packed race but the result was bad for the championship. Unbeatable; unbelievable.

 

[hoom]

Yeah crazy

Plenty of action all around but somehow another Merc soundcheck.

I don't understand why there was a full safety car for Giovinazzi crash, didn't appear to be any debris on the track & car deep in the gravel -> seemed like they could have cleaned up under virtual safety?
It got Hamilton the lead & helped Kvyat move up a bunch of places, ending 9th from a poor starting 17th, got fairly close to Kimi for 8th.

Poor Albon was in 8th at one point but had apparently a short-circuit on the engine -> no 2nd stop for the safety of the pit-crew and lost 3 places in last couple of laps when his tyres hit the cliff.

Vettel had another nightmare of a race, somehow didn't completely take out both cars, good to see he went straight to Verstappen after the race to apologise.

Gasly with a clutch 4th when his career is on the line.

Norris got screwed by the safety car.

 

[Kaotik]

It was an action-packed race but the result was bad for the championship. Unbeatable; unbelievable.

Did you mean "lucky enough to make Gladstone Gander look like Donald Duck"?

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

I expected a more interesting comment, a pity

Great race though, was on the edge of my seat for most of it. The safety car did kind of come at a bad time, which isn't something you'll hear very often. Bottas was obviously keeping up Hamilton up which meant the Ferrari's and RBR's kept in touching distance. I also really wanted to see how the leclerc/verstappen battle would have ended. We got something of a second run after the restart but I felt the first battle was where it was at.

But this is the second race in a row that the RBR appears to be faster than the Ferrari so we might be in for more in the next couple of races.

Another thing of note is that ghasly seems to have picked up the pace a bit now that he's getting verstappen's setup. Though verstappen was still gaining on him even after his car went flying so that maybe kind of says it all.

 

[hoom]

now that he's getting verstappen's setup

Oh, when did that happen?
I find it surprising that teams do this not sharing setup stuff between cars.
I understand wanting to have a bit of competition within the team but when it means one of your cars is underperforming its a silly waste of potential & potential points.

 

[AlphaWolf]

I await the rebranding to Failerri.

 

[Bludd]

Look at Kimi, though!

 

[hoom]

Yes fascinating, Ferrari dominated all 3 Practices then both cars out with technical issues in qualifying.
And again Merc comes back from a bunch of pretty meh to a 1, 3 on grid.

Gasly started poorly with a crash in practice but recovered to 4th on grid, Verstappen 2nd so Red Bull doing well.

Kvyat had another meh qualifying with 14th but ahead of Albon at least.


Bunch of interesting stuff on driver changes at https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...rence-germany-2019.XgjchVLKXtGfact7U2Iyp.html
and
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...ours-from-germany.1O59EVEJaHujEJmIuc7n4Q.html

 

[hoom]

Ooh has been raining, showers expected in the race.

 

[Kaotik]

Now THIS has been a proper race, and for once, everything depending on luck isn't going Hamiltons way. Now if only Vettel can reach Verstappen in the last 2 laps and both crash out it will be perfect!
edit: meh, too long of a gap, 4 seconds

 

[hoom]

Yes we need more rain races like this!

Verstappen win with 5 pitstops, bad start & a spin, Gasly crashed out.
Vettel from back of the grid to 2nd, Leclerc crashed out.
Hamilton had a nightmare, two spins, 6 stops & a 5s penalty, Bottas crashed out.
Haases hit each other again but stayed on track this time.
Both Renaults out.
Albon was 4th for a good chunk of the race and ended 6th.

Kvyat had a bad start & seemed to get stuffed by the first safety car pitstop, but then Stroll & him took a pitstop for slicks as one of the safety cars was ending & track dried off, got catapaulted to top 3 as everyone else followed next lap.
Neither could hold off charging Vettel after last safety car but nobody else close/quick enough to challenge Kvyat for 3rd!
2nd podium ever for Torro Rosso in 34yrs & half of the top 6 Honda powered.

 

[AlphaWolf]

How does failerri completely screw the pooch in qualifying then have leclerc put himself into the wall and then... gain 20 points in the constructors on Mercedes? Brilliant team management.

"Great weekend guys keep doing what you're doing"

 

[nutball]

How does failerri completely screw the pooch in qualifying then have leclerc put himself into the wall and then... gain 20 points in the constructors on Mercedes? Brilliant team management.

"Great weekend guys keep doing what you're doing"

Someone will be along shortly to explain.

 

[Freemantle]

Despite the excitement from his many distractors, and thanks to the Alfa Romeo drivers both getting penalties, Lewis has increased his lead over Bottas to 41 points.

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/1...man-gp-points-after-alfa-romeo-take-penalties