The F1 thread

Heartfeltdawn

Perhaps even more remarkable is one of the marshalls who was hit. Watch this from 2 mins in. You can see how one marshall who is struck initially is actually underneath the car as it comes to rest. 

thumpingrug

I think thats one of the scariest accidents Ive seen in years.  In slow motion, as seen at the end of that clip, the impact on the marshals and photographers is terrifying.  

Cols

Thankfully everyone survived - the driver has spinal fractures and is being operated on today, but so far she doesn’t seem to have suffered nerve damage.  One marshall and two photographers had to be taken to hospital, but no serious injuries.

 Accidents where the car goes airborne are always worrying - there’s literally nothing to slow it down other than aero drag.

Heartfeltdawn

Cols said:

Thankfully everyone survived - the driver has spinal fractures and is being operated on today, but so far she doesn’t seem to have suffered nerve damage.  One marshall and two photographers had to be taken to hospital, but no serious injuries.

 Accidents where the car goes airborne are always worrying - there’s literally nothing to slow it down other than aero drag.

Which is the main problem with street circuits and oval racing. Once a car gets airborne at a conventional track, there is room for the car to travel and aero drag slows it down. With the street and Oval circuits, the barriers and safety netting is there all too quickly. Footage of Dario Franchitti's career ending accident from the spectator's point of view demonstrates this perfectly.

Cols

Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn is facing the sack after being arrested over allegations of financial misconduct.  

This could be good news for the F1 team, as Ghosn only agreed to the F1 operation on the condition that costs were kept to a minimum.

Or it could be bad news, if the new boss decides he’d rather not spend hundreds of millions of Euro every year on an F1 vanity project..

Garthy

Are they not contracted to run for the next two seasons & supply engines either way?

Cols

Garthy said:

Are they not contracted to run for the next two seasons & supply engines either way?

Yup, the Concorde agreement runs up to the end of 2020.  However, such things did not prevent Honda, BMW and Toyota from walking away when they decided enough was enough.

Garthy

Honda & BMW sold their teams and gave lump sums towards running costs, Toyota had to stay a year longer than planned.

stickyfiddle

Kubica back!  

Between him and Russell they should gain a couple of tenths without touching the car. And next year's car *has* to be better than this one, right?
 
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/kubica-williams-race-deal-2019/4301134/

Fretwired

stickyfiddle said:

Kubica back!  

Between him and Russell they should gain a couple of tenths without touching the car. And next year's car *has* to be better than this one, right?
 
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/kubica-williams-race-deal-2019/4301134/

Nope. Rob Smedley has quit Williams and it looks like he's heading back to Ferrari. He was damning in an interview saying the team needs to improve in all departments.

I hope Kubica is up to it ... racing in a Grand Prix is different to driving round and round on a test day. I hope he does well.

Cols

Kubica and Russell is good news for the driver lineup.  In terms of the car... this year’s Williams was disastrous, at some circuits even slower than the 2017 Williams.

The root cause of the problem was that the car’s aero performance on track was wildly out of kilter with what the simulator was telling them.  If they’ve resolved that, next year’s car should be much better.  If not...

Heartfeltdawn

stickyfiddle said:

Kubica back!  

Between him and Russell they should gain a couple of tenths without touching the car. And next year's car *has* to be better than this one, right?
 

Didn't Alonso say something similar 12 months ago?

Cols

Mrs Cols has reviewed the Sky subscription and told me that the F1 channel is costing us the princely sum of £18 per month.  

Given that several of the races this year genuinely resulted in me nodding off, I’m currently evaluating my options.

stickyfiddle

Heartfeltdawn said:

stickyfiddle said:

Kubica back!  

Between him and Russell they should gain a couple of tenths without touching the car. And next year's car *has* to be better than this one, right?
 

Didn't Alonso say something similar 12 months ago?

True, but it's not like Alonso has form for making good judgement calls..! 

And besides, last year's Mclaren was actually quite drivable, just underpowered, so characteristically the other end of the scale from the Williams. Next year is surely a critical year for Paddy. I'm yet to be convinced he's been the driving force (no pun intended) behind the successful cars on his CV.

stickyfiddle

It's official. I couldn't be happier for RK.

https://www.williamsf1.com/racing/news/2018/11/williams-martini-racing-confirms-robert-kubica-as-race-driver-for-2019

Garthy

Cols said:

Mrs Cols has reviewed the Sky subscription and told me that the F1 channel is costing us the princely sum of £18 per month.  

Given that several of the races this year genuinely resulted in me nodding off, I’m currently evaluating my options.

Mine is £0pcm, and given that most races have been great and done have been edge of the seat I feel this is fantastic.

Cols

Garthy said:

Cols said:

Mrs Cols has reviewed the Sky subscription and told me that the F1 channel is costing us the princely sum of £18 per month.  

Given that several of the races this year genuinely resulted in me nodding off, I’m currently evaluating my options.

Mine is £0pcm, and given that most races have been great and done have been edge of the seat I feel this is fantastic.

Free, gratis, practically for nothing?  What’s your secret?

There were some zingers in there, but Spain, France, Hungary, Singapore, Brazil, Belgium - Spa, for goodness sake - those were all excellent cures for insomnia.

Garthy

Early adopter, the inclusion of SSF1 did not change my subscription nor would removing it.

Cols

Ah, do you have the full Sky Sports package then?  Mrs Cols made threatening noises at Sky, and they gave her the whole sports package (including F1) for.... £17 p/m.

Sky is weird.

Heartfeltdawn

stickyfiddle said:

True, but it's not like Alonso has form for making good judgement calls..! 

And besides, last year's Mclaren was actually quite drivable, just underpowered, so characteristically the other end of the scale from the Williams. Next year is surely a critical year for Paddy. I'm yet to be convinced he's been the driving force (no pun intended) behind the successful cars on his CV.

With the Mercedes engine, you can't imagine they would be so bad next year. But you look at the two years with Cosworth and the two years with Renault before that and see how the second season with each engine saw nosediving results where they scored even less points than this year. 

I agree that next year is critical. They have to deliver.