The F1 thread

Cols

Garthy said:

How can you get a discount on something given to you at cost? Sirotkin pays Williams a lot of money already.

You can supply it to them below cost, or free.  As far as I recall, the engine manufacturers are only prohibited from passing on development costs to customer teams.  There’s nothing to prevent them from handing out freebies if they want.

Im beginning to suspect that Paddy Lowe is a fifth columnist sent by Mercedes to break Williams to the point where they have no other option than to accept junior team status.

stickyfiddle

I've been following Formula 1.5 for most of the weekend - it's much better than the main championship.

Qualifying had Perez, Grosjean and Ocon at the front, but none got close to the podium. Hulk still leads the title race...

https://Formula1Point5.reddit.com

Coming into the first of the flyaway races in the final third of the season, Nico Hulkenberg maintained his championship lead that he had held since his twin victories in Britain and Germany, although he had not achieved a single podium since. The Haas too were slumping, while Force India, under new management, were surging, earning maximal points and a win on each of their drivers in Belgium and Italy.

Qualifying saw Perez and Grosjean in front, followed by Ocon and Hulkenberg, Alonso and Sainz, and the Saubers. Critically, the top four were required to start the race on their hyper-soft qualifying tyres, while those behind them were able to be flexible with their strategies, allowing them to start with the harder ultra softs.

The race began with a frantic scramble for the lead. Alonso and Sainz both gained positions on Hulkenberg, while Gasly had the best start, leapfrogging the Saubers for seventh. Ocon made a move around the outside of turn 4 for the lead, only to be pushed into the wall by his teammate, Sergio Perez. Behind the resultant safety car, Perez led Grosjean, Alonso and the Renaults.

The race settled down for the first stint, as drivers struggled to pass on the Singapore street circuit. Lap 15 saw Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley as the first to pit, with Hulkenberg following the subsequent lap. Pitting onto super softs, Hulkenberg was able to undercut Romain Grosjean, who had pitted only one lap after. Perez was the third and final of the hyper soft starters to pit, on lap 18.

It took little time for Perez to catch up with the still-unpitted Williams duo, with Stroll leading Sirotkin, who despite their slow pace proved to be fiendishly strong in the defense of their positions. As Sergey Sirotkin had pitted under the safety car (ironically caused in part by Perez himself) he felt under no obligation to let the Mexican get by easily.

In the meantime, Leclerc and Gasly fought a lengthy battle for 3rd place, but by lap 26 Gasly's tyres had worn to the point where he could no longer hold off his Monegasque rival.

As the race reached half distance, the unpitted drivers maintained their hold on the top 6 positions. Alonso led Sainz, ahead of Charles Leclerc, Marcus Ericsson, Stoffel Vandoorne and Lance Stroll, all still in the same relative positions in which they had qualified. Behind Stroll and Sirotkin, Sergio Perez became increasingly frustrated being caught behind these long running, slower cars, knowing that his chances of victory were fading constantly. Thanks to his being caught behind Sirotkin's defense, the unpitted leaders had built up a pit stop's gap over Perez and those behind him. To further complicate matters, Nico Hulkenberg, who at one point had been nearly ten seconds behind Perez, had used this lengthy delay to bridge the gap up to the Force India. After making many attempts to get by, Sergio Perez lost his patience on lap 34, and collided laterally with Sirotkin during an attempted pass, puncturing his own tyre and subsequently dropping to last place as he stopped for repairs. Nico Hulkenberg was swift to take advantage, passing Perez and the damaged Williams of Sirotkin shortly thereafter, to become the highest-placed pitted driver.

With Sirotkin now struggling heavily, the pursuing cars of Grosjean, Gasly, Hartley and Magnussen formed a tight battling pack behind him. Magnussen attempted a move on Hartley, but was successfully rebuffed by the Kiwi.

The barrier provided by the Williams pair decisive in the race. By holding up everyone who stopped early, Sirotkin and Stroll put both Alonso and Carlos Sainz into a position where they could pit and emerge ahead of 5th-placed Stoffel Vandoorne. They provided a similar advantage for Nico Hulkenberg: while the German had been only a short distance ahead of Romain Grosjean when he got past Perez and Sirotkin, by the time that Grosjean finally forced his way past the stalwart Russian on lap 37, Hulkenberg's lead had ballooned to 15 seconds.

Sainz was the first of the drivers to have started on the harder compounds to pit, out of second place. Alonso was quick to head off a potential undercut by pitting lap 38, and was followed immediately by Leclerc. As a result, Alonso emerged just ahead of Marcus Ericsson's Sauber, thus maintaining his the lead even during his pit stop. Sainz, meanwhile, was just behind the Swede, and harried him mercilessly before successfully making it past on lap 43, prompting Ericsson to pit for his single mandatory stop. He exited the pit lane in fifth place, behind Nico Hulkenberg. Vandoorne was the last to stop, on lap 44, emerging in sixth place just ahead of Romain Grosjean.

In the dying laps of the race, Perez and Hartley did battle for tenth, with the Mexican finally pushing his way through on the final lap of the race, to salvage a single point from his hero-to-zero race. Ericsson looked to be catching up with Hulkenberg's Renault, but his late charge ultimately lost steam before the race's finish. Alonso took a victory, his first since the season opener in Australia, having led the race since lap 18. He was comfortably ahead of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, who completed the podium. Hulkenberg finished fourth, followed by Ericsson, Vandoorne, Gasly, Stroll, and Grosjean, who been seventh on track but lost two places to a 5 second time penalty.

With his second place finish, Carlos Sainz lifted himself from fourth to second in the championship. Having outscored Hulkenberg for the last four straight races, 51-22, he lies now just 13 points behind his teammate in the championship. Remarkably, he has still yet to take a victory, although he has profited handsomely off of an unmatched five second place finishes. Magnussen finished down in the doldrums in 12th, his second straight finish out of the points. Ocon and Perez, meanwhile, suffered harsh setbacks, both losing a potential high finish due to their intra-team crash, and Perez's later misadventures with Sergey Sirotkin. Meanwhile, Alonso's victory abruptly pushes him back towards contention for the championship. While he is still only sixth overall, he is a mere 37 points back from championship leader Nico Hulkenberg. With six races to go and a maximum of 150 points up for grabs, there look to be six drivers still with a very real chance of taking the championship: Nico Hulkenberg (185), Carlos Sainz (172), Kevin Magnussen (159), Esteban Ocon (156), Sergio Perez (150) and Fernando Alonso (148).

Tune in again in two weeks' time as the Formula 1.5 Championship sets down at the Sochi Autodrom on Russia's Black Sea coast!

stickyfiddle

And now there's rumours of Wehrlein going to TR for 2019. WTF?! 

Cols

Slightly disappointing to see that TR might end up with two drivers who have already had a good run at F1.  Still, I suppose there’s no point throwing unready drivers into Helmut’s meat grinder.

Fretwired

Cols said:

Slightly disappointing to see that TR might end up with two drivers who have already had a good run at F1.  Still, I suppose there’s no point throwing unready drivers into Helmut’s meat grinder.

There isn't anyone else .. Ocon's contracted to Mercedes. TR won't touch him with a bargepole.

Cols

It makes a bit of a mockery of the world’s most expensive young driver development programme.  Still, Franz Tost will be happy from a racing perspective if he ends up running two experienced drivers.

prowla

Well, I got a bit of a snooze on the sofa whilst that was on; fortunately I didn't miss Perez adding a bit of spice to the action.

lewism

Cols said:

It makes a bit of a mockery of the world’s most expensive young driver development programme.  Still, Franz Tost will be happy from a racing perspective if he ends up running two experienced drivers.

But haven’t Red Bull really slowed down their driver development program in preparation for quitting F1? I can’t think of anyone coming up except Dan Tictum, who Red Bull were complaining about not being able to test due to not being able to get a super license - due to being an idiot;
https://www.autosport.com/national/news/121941/ticktum-banned-for-disturbing-episode

Fretwired

lewism said:

Cols said:

It makes a bit of a mockery of the world’s most expensive young driver development programme.  Still, Franz Tost will be happy from a racing perspective if he ends up running two experienced drivers.

But haven’t Red Bull really slowed down their driver development program in preparation for quitting F1? I can’t think of anyone coming up except Dan Tictum, who Red Bull were complaining about not being able to test due to not being able to get a super license - due to being an idiot;
https://www.autosport.com/national/news/121941/ticktum-banned-for-disturbing-episode

I think pretty much all the teams have shut down their young driver programmes - they were too expensive to run.

Cols

Toro Rosso basically exists to provide an F1 proving ground for the Red Bull Young Drivers, and has a budget of $150 million.  $100 million of that comes from Red Bull, meaning that they’re effectively spending $50 million per driver every year in order to, more likely than not, toss said driver onto the scrap heap.  It’s a good thing for them that fizzy drinks are insanely profitable.

Next year it looks like they’ll be spending $100 million just to keep a pair of seats warm.

Garthy

STR exists, along with RBT to circumvent any resource restrictions. 

Cols

Garthy said:

STR exists, along with RBT to circumvent any resource restrictions. 

Just like Ferrari does with Haas.

lewism

Cols said:

Garthy said:

STR exists, along with RBT to circumvent any resource restrictions. 

Just like Ferrari does with Haas.

I’m sure that it’s entirely coincidental that Haas and another, unnamed, team having their floor ruled illegal and being forced to revert to their previous configuration happened at the same time as a seeming downturn in the performance of the Ferrari cars.....

Garthy

Cols said:

Garthy said:

STR exists, along with RBT to circumvent any resource restrictions. 

Just like Ferrari does with Haas.

True, but ten years after RBR did it and not to the same scale and reach of RBT.

TimmyO

This afternoon me and the eldest lad will be going around the Williams team HQ and factory

Nitefly

Happy days, @TimmyO - is that an organised visit, or did you just blag it?

TimmyO

It's their annual families day - I know a guy who works there and he has invited us 

Nitefly

Oh, smashing - I hope you both enjoyed it.

Cols

Giovinazzi is confirmed at Sauber for 2019.  Hope he does well, it seems unbelievable that there’s no Italian drivers in F1 at the minute.

Antonio Giovinazzi: Italian to partner Kimi Raikkonen at Sauber next season http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/45642410

Heartfeltdawn

And that is why Bottas has a contract for next year. Clearly unhappy with the decision but professional enough to take it.