Formula 1 2019

[Andrew P]

46 minutes ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

If AA can post good times in practise/qualifying and can make some progress through the pack in the race to earn some points, I am sure RB will be very satisfied. He'll be doing what they need from a No. 2, including "testing" the Mk 4 Honda engine.

And get past Gasley in the process maybe!

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

55 minutes ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

If AA can post good times in practise/qualifying and can make some progress through the pack in the race to earn some points, I am sure RB will be very satisfied...

Scattered heavy showers at Spa. And at this moment in his career, the Hulk posts his first podium, having been able to dive into the pits while the first twelve cars at the far end of the circuit all go off roading in a sudden downpour. Maybe AA can catch hold of some of the fluky stuff too...

[Richard E]

Looks as if the Mercedes mechanics will have worked very hard following Hamiltons big FP3 shunt.

[Andrew P]

French F2 Driver killed today at Spa.

https://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/27506877/f2-driver-hubert-killed-horror-crash-spa-francorchamps-circuit

[Derails Models]

6 minutes ago, Andrew P said:

French F2 Driver killed today at Spa.

https://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/27506877/f2-driver-hubert-killed-horror-crash-spa-francorchamps-circuit

 

Such a shame. When I first saw the accident, I must admit to being complacent and despite thinking "wow, that's big", the modern day safety systems had kept them safe. How wrong I was.

 

It's a shock reminder that the sport is dangerous, and we should never take it for granted. Thoughts with his family, and thoughts also with Juan Manuel Correa.

[Gareth Collier]

Terribly sad day for what people forget is still a very dangerous sport. I feared the worse as soon as I saw it, his car was literally torn in 2 when the totally helpless Correa t-boned it. Thoughts go out to to his family and friends and hopefully Correa will make a quick recovery although I suspect his mental recovery will take longer.

[RJS1977]

On 29/08/2019 at 14:40, RedgateModels said:

 

Erm, the blatant penalising/hobbling of some teams over the "chosen few"

 

Not to mention that if I was to watch a live F1 race on TV, I could turn the TV on just before the race was due to start, watch for an hour and a half to two hours and for most of that period I'd see cars going round, even if there wasn't much going on - as long as the cars are moving, there's a potential for something to happen.

 

On the other hand, the BTCC coverage on ITV4 has so much time between races that in any two hours of the programme, I'd be lucky to see more than an hour's driving, with the rest being adverts and filler By the time the next race (BTCC or support race) is being shown, I've found something else to do....

[Oldddudders]

11 hours ago, Gareth Collier said:

Terribly sad day for what people forget is still a very dangerous sport. I feared the worse as soon as I saw it, his car was literally torn in 2 when the totally helpless Correa t-boned it. Thoughts go out to to his family and friends and hopefully Correa will make a quick recovery although I suspect his mental recovery will take longer.

The steep climb up from Eau Rouge to Raidillon, which never looks nearly as steep on tv, means you arrive at the top effectively blind, so finding a car bouncing back from the barriers would come as a total surprise. Some years ago I watched Fisichella spin out there harmlessly, and with no other car close behind, but his day was done and he climbed over the tyre wall.

 

Lewis has made a poignant tribute to the poor deceased, and reminded us all that it ain't Scalextric. His remark that certain people within the sport, rather than outside the fence like most of us, need to remember that danger is omnipresent, is chilling. It implies that some who make money from motor racing are callously unconcerned about safety. In my yoof, every race ticket carried the words "Motor Racing is dangerous"

 

A very sad day.

[melmerby]

Leclerc gets his maiden win. Excellent.

I wonder how Vettel feels being outclassed yet again?

Edited September 1, 2019 by melmerby

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Promising for Albon too, first time out in a race win potential car and made good use of it despite a starting handicap.

[EddieB]

I’m pleased that Charles was able to stay in front, he perhaps knew Antoine better than anyone on the grid, and dedicating his maiden win to his friend’s memory was quite special.

 

 

[Andrew P]

38 minutes ago, EddieB said:

I’m pleased that Charles was able to stay in front, he perhaps knew Antoine better than anyone on the grid, and dedicating his maiden win to his friend’s memory was quite special.

 

 

 

38 minutes ago, EddieB said:

I’m pleased that Charles was able to stay in front, he perhaps knew Antoine better than anyone on the grid, and dedicating his maiden win to his friend’s memory was quite special.

 

 

And also remember his other great mentor, Bianchi.

[Andrew P]

An exciting end to the Race and the right result, even though I'm a Lewis fan.

 

I also think that had Max been in the Race he would have been 3rd or 4th at worst demoting Seb even further back down the pecking order.

[RJS1977]

14 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

In my yoof, every race ticket carried the words "Motor Racing is dangerous"

 

 

 

They apparently still do - one of the drivers alluded to this yesterday.

[newbryford]

4 hours ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

Promising for Albon too, first time out in a race win potential car and made good use of it despite a starting handicap.

 

Great to see, yet his pass on Ricciardo was completed clearly with all 4 wheels over the white track limits line.

How does that work?

[Pete the Elaner]

8 hours ago, newbryford said:

 

Great to see, yet his pass on Ricciardo was completed clearly with all 4 wheels over the white track limits line.

How does that work?

& yet he had to see the stewards for another of his passes (on Perez I think) when he had 2 wheels on the track & 2 on the grass. There is no consistency.

The commentators mentioned an incident (In Australia I think) where a car hit a drain cover while partially off the track. They need to be more consistent with penalties.

I have said before that all instances of leaving the track should be penalised in some way & I still believe it would be better if they did so.

Albon's left wheels were on the kerb when he passed Ricciardo, so it could be argued the kerb is part of the track. This needs to be defined.

 

I found it interesting to see how far off LeClerc's pace Vettel was. When they pitted him first, I thought they were trying to undercut & undermine LeClerc, but instead it seemed he was harder on his tyres, so pitting early was a necessity. Vettel did lock up several times, so maybe this hurt his tyres?

It was great o see Hamilton racing with Vettel then to see him chase down LeClerc. LeClerc was fastest all weekend & even though Hamilton was catching, LeClerc was fastest over the race distance, which is all that matters. He fully deserved the win.

Spa & Monza's high speed sections favour the Ferrari so they should be favourites again next week. Mercedes have to accept that 2nd & 3rd is a good result here.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

26 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

...interesting to see how far off LeClerc's pace Vettel was. When they pitted him first, I thought they were trying to undercut & undermine LeClerc, but instead it seemed he was harder on his tyres, so pitting early was a necessity. Vettel did lock up several times, so maybe this hurt his tyres?

In my opinion Hamilton did for Vettel's chances in the first lap, by putting him under a lot of pressure from the start and then getting around him. Yes, Vettel was able to regain the position, but by that stage there had been a lot of smoke from Vettel's tyres, with consequences for tyre endurance on the first set. And then the second set gave up because he had to take them early.

 

What was deeply interesting is that a braincell is now working in the Ferrari team. Let Leclerc past. Had they havered over that decision by as little as a lap, Hamilton would probably have got the win, given that Leclerc's tyres were dying in the final three laps; and a lap closely following Vettel  to get a racing overtake done would have accelerated that process.

 

8 hours ago, newbryford said:

Great to see, yet his (Albon's) pass on Ricciardo was completed clearly with all 4 wheels over the white track limits line.  How does that work?

I don't have it to view again but I think what I saw was that during the actual pass Albon's car still had wheels on the white line. Once ahead of Ricciardo he definitely went outside track limits, and so I think did Ricciardo too following him. This assessment has to be left to the stewards acting on the day, and it is a judgement call so some inconsistency must be expected.

 

2 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

...Spa & Monza's high speed sections favour the Ferrari so they should be favourites again next week. Mercedes have to accept that 2nd & 3rd is a good result here.

I know it won't for a moment be what Hamilton wants, but he's world champion if he finishes the final eight races in 2nd, or even all of them in 3rd provided drivers other than Bottas win three. (The fastest lap point potentially slightly jiggers that arithmetic, but the general principle is good, podium finishes should get the job done from this point.)

[njee20]

I must say it felt like the first time I’ve really found the new C4 highlights lacking. What the hell happened to Giovanazzi?! And Norris’s DNF was relegated to a hasty “Norris goes out” amid all the (admittedly excellent) racing on the last lap. 

 

That said Hamilton was never actually likely to pass Leclerc on that last lap IMO, once he’d not done it after Radillon he was done, he was never going to close the Ferrari down sufficiently in sector 3 to lunge into the final chicane. 

 

Pleased for Charles, well deserved. Surely Vettel’s going to retire after this season?!

[newbryford]

1 hour ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

 

 

I don't have it to view again but I think what I saw was that during the actual pass Albon's car still had wheels on the white line. Once ahead of Ricciardo he definitely went outside track limits, and so I think did Ricciardo too following him. This assessment has to be left to the stewards acting on the day, and it is a judgement call so some inconsistency must be expected.

 

Screen grab from C4. Albon was within limits when passing Ric, but as a result of the overspeed, he has gone off track. So therefore taken advantage by leaving the track.

 

Good racing, but I bet they would have penalised any of the big three.

 

 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Thanks for that. Now did Ricciardo also go over track limits after the overtake? If he did then it effectively neutralises Albon's excursion in my opinion.

 

1 hour ago, njee20 said:

...Surely Vettel’s going to retire after this season?!

Been my opinion before the racing started.

On ‎01‎/‎01‎/‎2019 at 11:39, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

With less detail than njee20, I reckon 2019's leading feature is a three and a half way title fight for driver and constructors: Hamilton/Merc, Leclerc/Fer, (Verstappen/RB or Ricciardo/Ren) the likely result. Vettel retires at end of season.

With the evidence of a brain cell now active at Maranello - barring a massive and consistent improvement from Vettel sustained to season end - surely it is curtains for his career there. (Shame the Renault has proved nowhere near good enough to support Ricciardo's chances.)

[njee20]

Vettel remains ahead on points. Admittedly we can chalk a lot of that up to poor strategy choices or reliability affecting Charles, who certainly looks the stronger driver, but let's not pretend he's absolutely romping away with it.

 

I do agree that it's not looking great for Vettel though!

[newbryford]

30 minutes ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

Thanks for that. Now did Ricciardo also go over track limits after the overtake? If he did then it effectively neutralises Albon's excursion in my opinion.

 

 

 

No - Ric clearly keeps at least 2 wheels trackside of the white line for the whole move.

 

I'd bet that Ric wouldn't complain anyway and would have thought it was a great move by Albon, because it's the sort of move that Ric would've pulled off!

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

5 minutes ago, njee20 said:

Vettel remains ahead on points. Admittedly we can chalk a lot of that up to poor strategy choices or reliability affecting Charles, who certainly looks the stronger driver, but let's not pretend he's absolutely romping away with it...

It's their respective trajectories that matter. Leclerc - a newbie in the car - is clearly improving relative to Vettel, the well experienced guy. Let's recall how much experience, 4 world championships, yet now odds on for a smaller race win tally than in 2017 and 2018, and currently trailing four other drivers in wins, three with much less experience, all of whom will perceive him as beatable.

 

(Based on yesterday's result, Albon has enough time to join that happy band of winners by season end too. He got lucky to place in fifth thanks to the unfortunateness visiting Norris, but it's that 'steadily grafting away' quality he revealed that says a lot for his potential. If he begins starting among the first six regularly, then assuming the RB can get off the line reliably, where is he going to start finishing from now on?)

 

And race wins really matter since the last screwing around with the points system. Hamilton has 'only' accrued eight, but now holds a very comfortable lead that should last out the season, force majeure excepted.

[Oldddudders]

Quali was so cocked up! The Stewards are investigating why only one car of the final 10 set a second time. Martin Brundle says it's one of the silliest things he's senn in F1. 

[StuAllen]

Stupidest thing I’ve seen, no-one wanted to lead the pack around, Vettel was fuming in his interview - although I think that’s more to do with LeClerc not being in position for giving the tow. Should make for an interesting race tomorrow though.