Formula 1 - 2019 Season

[Pete]

Ferrari had their engines turned down slightly to ensure no problems, if the internet is to be believed:

Spoiler

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Those guys also had a cool pit and tire chart:

Spoiler

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Hamilton had some floor damage that might explain some of his deficit to Bottas:

Spoiler

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That's all from this potentially neat site: https://www.instagram.com/formulanewslive/

Mark Priestley's latest vid touches on a number of interesting things:

Spoiler

(I found that Instagram F1 news site in the comments.)

 

[hoom]

Obvious problem for Ferrari is that paintjob: matte & doesn't look the right shade at all, WTF they thinking?

 

[Bludd]

Obvious problem for Ferrari is that paintjob: matte & doesn't look the right shade at all, WTF they thinking?

The red has too much yellow in it. Apparently the matte painting has less mass and it's not any aerodynamic benefit.

 

[entity279]

Crofty is still as annoying a commentator as ever. Seems like a nice guy, but constant shouty voice and cluelessness aren't qualities I admire in a narrator. He didn't realize Kubica also pit on lap one (despite the timing showing him +1min on lap two, just like Ric) and thought Ric had caught up to him within a few laps of Ric's wing change....

I really like Croft as a commentator. Maybe on his own it wouldn't be as good, but either with M Brundle or A Davison they make a hell of team.
The real fiasco on Sky's side is now Ted's career / future. I personally am (one of the very many, turns out) fan. This Melbourne coverage just wasn't the same without the little rumors that he brings and of course his Notebook.

Claire Williams is probably also a nice person, but here's the two standout impressions I have of her. During a (race?) session last year, she's caught on camera emailing someone about their dress code. During the F1 intro event this year (I got desperate), she gets on stage with her two drivers and the first thing she has to say to Webber is that they're not standing on their marks onstage. I'm not sure she has her priorities straight.

Nice stuff you remembered ... last year i think she scolded Rob Smedley for saying that the Wiliams had a `mediocre` practice session.
She's Miss PR Incarnate IMO, in a bad way.

 

[Pete]

Karun’s cool, but I like Ted, too. Did they just fire him or did he do something inappropriate behind the scenes?

Crofty turns a nice phrase, but that’s not enough to balance out his negatives. Maybe I’m just super picky. Anthony Davidson is great.

 

[entity279]

There's some disagreement between Ted and some high-ranking manager at Sky. Don't think the cause is known. He's been offered a mid-week f1 analysis show. Apparently he'll be travelling to the China GP. We'll prolly find out more then somehow.
For me, Ted brings a whole new dimension to the f1 wekend. As a person who has never been to a GP. Walking around the paddock and just questioning or greeting all the random persons that also walk by brings a sense of immersion to the coverage. It conveys the atmosphere more credibly than all the other scripted interviews. It's sad how a tv corporation can simply kill off a unique form of coverage .
Sky is getting some of the flack for this. Maybe ~ 98 % of the replies to their f1 tweets just mention/ask about Ted now :

https://twitter.com/x/status/1107734437616369665

Karun kinda funnly embarrassed himself when he was genuinely surprised that teams use asymmetrical brake setups (he was 'look what discovery i've made' and diResta just replied 'oh, they're been doing that since many years ago'). I like his accent and he's okay

LE : As for Croft, for me it helps that I can relate to his enthusiasm and shouting most of the time.

 

[Bludd]

Karun’s cool, but I like Ted, too. Did they just fire him or did he do something inappropriate behind the scenes?

Crofty turns a nice phrase, but that’s not enough to balance out his negatives. Maybe I’m just super picky. Anthony Davidson is great.

I like Ted and I like Ant. I am not a big Di Resta fan, though.

There are just too many ex-drivers in the broadcast.

 

[Davros]

They should hire Eddie Irvine...

 

[Bludd]

https://www.motorsportweek.com/joesaward/id/00477
An important day for Formula 1

As the F1 circus sets up shop in Bahrain, the big players will meet tomorrow (Tuesday) in London, with a meeting of the F1 Strategy Group, followed by an F1 Commission. If all goes well, we should by then have the basics of Formula 1's plans for 2021 and beyond, including new regulations, commercial structures and changes to the governance. The whole package may not be fully finalized at the meeting, but it is being billed as a key event, although there is still time to sort out problems as the deals do not need to be completed until the end of June, after which changes for the 2021 season will require unanimous agreement of the signatories to the commercial agreements. Of course, we may not be told the results of the deliberations tomorrow as it all needs to go in front of the FIA World Motor Sport Council, which meets on June 14, and which is required to sign off any changes, but it is likely that news will leak out - given the number of people involved

More in the link

 

[Bludd]

I found this interesting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_One_engines#Records

Mercedes is on track to become the second most successful engine manufacturer of all time in F1 surpassing Ford soon (unless something unparalleled happens, like the Earth exploding or all F1 cars with Mercedes engines withdrawing) because they are 2 wins behind Ford (174 vs 176). Ferrari is clear at the front with 236 wins.

Remember, the DFV is classified as Ford so you had seasons (1969 and 1973, years where JYS won the world championships) where every winning car had a DFV. Those were years Ferrari didn't win of course since they have been in F1 since the beginning. Also these last years there have been many more championship races than in the past so that also says just how dominant Ferrari engines and the Ford (particularly the DFV) have been.

 

[w0lfram]

This Formula1 season is one of the most exciting I've seen in a long time. And these rookies are hungry and eager to prove their older teammates up.

I am glad to see Robert back in F1, but Williams though....
(Claire is hot in her own geeky way.)



I think by the time Spa comes around, there will be great parity in the top ten drivers & teams. Gene Haas looks to be upping the ante in 2019... (& imo Kimi should've went to Haas and let Groj go). Riccardo is going to be the aggressor this year, Max and the younsters will be starlets too. I think Zeb and Lewis will have a frought season and no clear champion until the final races.

 

[hoom]

Can someone explain what happened with Bernie Ecclestone?
Last I'd heard in 2017 he was basically completely out, given basically a non-role with the new US 'stache guy taking control but Bernie appears to be the key figure again, has there been some kind of counter-coup or something?

 

[Bludd]

Can someone explain what happened with Bernie Ecclestone?
Last I'd heard in 2017 he was basically completely out, given basically a non-role with the new US 'stache guy taking control but Bernie appears to be the key figure again, has there been some kind of counter-coup or something?

What are you reading?

 

[Deleted member 2197]

Didn't realize Lewis Hamilton's brother was disabled and competes in racing. Kudos to Nicolas Hamilton...

2019 Formula 1 Salaries

 

[hoom]

What are you reading?

Not reading but when F1 got bought by new media company a couple of years back I thought they basically forced Bernie out into retirement with a flashy sounding title.

 

[entity279]

Not reading but when F1 got bought by new media company a couple of years back I thought they basically forced Bernie out into retirement with a flashy sounding title.

Something along those lines.

You seem to suggest thta this fact is contradicted by some recent development. It is not.
So what gave you that idea?

 

[Pete]

Okay, but what’s this talk of a coup? Bernie isn’t taking over Liberty Media. The only vague rumor/wish I heard, probably in a podcast, was that he may buy Williams. You make it sound like he’s running F1 again after an uprising. . “Key figure” in what, deciding on new races? On the forthcoming new rules?

Speaking of Williams, Patrick Head has stepped in while they look for a new CTO. https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/47749887

 

[Bludd]

Bernie likes throwing hand grenades, but he's basically shuffled out of the way. He's chairman emeritus of the F1 group but he's got no power.

Maybe some of Bernie's pet journos are stirring some shit, but I haven't seen anything reputable.

Re: Patrick Head, if he's anything like his old self, he'll wade in there and start cracking some skulls

 

[hoom]

Not trying to spread a rumor, Bernie just seemed to be in the coverage around 1st race an awful lot for a guy I thought was long out, I was wondering if there had been some kind of reversal I hadn't heard of.

So Practice 1 & 2:
Ferrari dominated both but Merc feel like just lurking close behind in 3rd & 4th.
Still don't like that paint.

Red Bull seems a bit struggling so far.
Merc suggesting Red Bull engine is only 10hp behind, Horner suggests more like 20 (what kind of ballpark hp are they these days?)
Interview with Horner they were pushing the question 'how long will you give Gasly to get up to speed?', he's like 'waaaay too early for that'.

Kvyat got 9th & 10th best speeds according to Standings page, not great but not horrible, consistently decently ahead of Albon at least.
Why does https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...ysis-bahrain-2019.4qHsQh12pGLKLhTnS35XpI.html say he got 7th best though when https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2019/races/1001/bahrain/practice-2.html puts him at 10th with the same time?

Commentators kept talking about the Haas model as desirable but nearly impossible to replicate, whats the deal with Haas?

 

[Pete]

Crofty said that Ted will attend 13 races, for Ted fans. Maybe he'll cover races that Ant's unavailable. Karun seems like he's a permanent fixture.

The Haas model is buying everything legally possible from Ferrari rather than make it themselves (as opposed to, say, Williams, who make everything themselves even if they don't need to, like the gearbox). It's partly because they're a brand new team building itself from scratch. IIRC they also outsource a lot of production, though I might be confusing them with Force India maybe.

Toro Rosso are supposedly using the rear end of last year's Red Bull on their current car. Dunno what that means with all the changes to the wings and thus bodywork this year.

I'm not sure if "sister" teams like Toro to Red Bull or Alfa to Ferrari are similar to Haas because they're both more established and they may coordinate development with their respective big team, whereas Haas's relationship with Ferrari may be more one way (they buy Ferrari parts but may not give give similar feedback or be as in the development loop).

This is all wild speculation (except for the part about Ted).

hoom, that first link just takes the top driver per team as representative of that team's one lap pace. So it ranks Toro seventh out of ten teams. Kvyat set the tenth fastest time with a few driver pairs ahead of him (Ferrari, Merc, Haas).