The F1 thread

prowla

Definitely a case of a home referee there...

Leclerc did good, but he over-cooked things and cut a corner to stay in front, weaved under braking, pushed Hamilton off-track.

The first transgression got the new black & white flag, but the stewards didn't follow it up.

Maybe there is a move to make F1 racing tougher, or maybe the stewards bottled it.

sweepy

The Stewards definitely bottled it with Vettel and Track Limits, Albon gets time disallowed and Vettel keeps his 

Cols

Interview with Alain Prost on Renault’s plans for next year:

“I can be honest, we’re going to focus on 2021,” Prost stated. “As a result, next season will be a mediocre to perhaps even bad season for us.

“Because of the new rules coming up for 2021, it makes no sense for us to develop much more for 2020. We are going to make a lot of changes and hope to perform at a high level in 2021.”

Ricciardo’s going to be delighted to hear that one...

Garthy

They will never catch Mercedes, Ferrari and RBR-Honda, all three have teams working on 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons independently. 

Cols

All the teams are working on 2019, 2020 and 2021.  It’s just a question of how much resource they have overall, and how they choose to allocate it to each programme.  If top teams were uncatchable, we’d still be watching Williams and McLaren trading world championships.

Writing off a season and focusing on a regulation change can work; this was precisely what Ross Brawn did in 2008 to lay the groundwork for the championship-winning 2009 Brawn-Mercedes.  

stickyfiddle

Grosjean gets another season at Haas! The end for Hulkenberg?

https://www.racefans.net/2019/09/19/grosjean-secures-new-haas-deal-for-2020/

PC_Dave

stickyfiddle said:

Grosjean gets another season at Haas! The end for Hulkenberg?

https://www.racefans.net/2019/09/19/grosjean-secures-new-haas-deal-for-2020/

Unbelievable.

Williams his only chance?

stickyfiddle

PC_Dave said:

stickyfiddle said:

Grosjean gets another season at Haas! The end for Hulkenberg?

https://www.racefans.net/2019/09/19/grosjean-secures-new-haas-deal-for-2020/

Unbelievable.

Williams his only chance?

Williams, Sauber - sorry - Alfa Romeo if they ditch Giovannazi, or RB/TR if they don't stick with the current status quo.  The only really good option is RB and that's also v unlikely, you'd assume. 

Honestly I'd like to see him in WEC full time, especially with the new hypercar regs coming in soon

PC_Dave

stickyfiddle said:

PC_Dave said:

stickyfiddle said:

Grosjean gets another season at Haas! The end for Hulkenberg?

https://www.racefans.net/2019/09/19/grosjean-secures-new-haas-deal-for-2020/

Unbelievable.

Williams his only chance?

Williams, Sauber - sorry - Alfa Romeo if they ditch Giovannazi, or RB/TR if they don't stick with the current status quo.  The only really good option is RB and that's also v unlikely, you'd assume. 

Honestly I'd like to see him in WEC full time, especially with the new hypercar regs coming in soon

Yeah agreed. I think it's crazy on Haas' part though - they need consistency and minimal ego, both of which Hulk is famous for, and they're going with a mental hothead and crybaby whom hate each other.

Madness.....

Cols

No good options left for Hulkenberg - Williams will expect their second driver for next year to bring money or sponsors, and Ferrari dictate Sauber’s second driver.

PC_Dave

Kubica is out....

sweepy

PC_Dave said:

Kubica is out....

Not surprised, 

Cols

“Honda confirmed that it was due to their system detecting excessive wheelspin and so reducing the engine power to protect it, as well as an FIA system, which is standard for all teams, that built the engine back up to full power.”

Errr... isn’t that traction control?

https://www.planetf1.com/news/verstappens-power-outages-could-return/

sweepy

Anti stall, cough cough , tif no worse than Red Bull’s geodetic flexible floor or Ferrari  having a floor pan like a huge diaphragm 

stickyfiddle

..or Benetton's traction control-equipped ECU that they definitely never used in races, honest guv'

...or Ferarri's oil burning for extra bhp

...or McLaren's extra brake pedal

...or Renault's mass damper (actually I have a lot of sympathy for that one - how can an device be "aerodynamic" if fully enclosed within the car??)

...or Toyota's trick turbo on the Celica GT4 (granted in rallying, not F1, but such a genius bit of motorsport cheating in history it has to be included in any conversation on the topic)

Cols

Yup, F1 teams have a long and glorious history of stretching the rules as far as they can (or, if one of their rivals has developed a nifty trick that would be difficult to copy, whinging to the FIA about it until it’s banned.  Yes Ferrari, I’m looking at you).

Digging a bit further, it seems that the power drop was caused by an FIA system installed specifically to prevent teams using an engine protection system like this as traction control.  Put simply, if the ECU cuts power to protect the engine it’s fed back in slowly in order to prevent a performance advantage.

I did think it must have been a bit of a rubbish TC system if the driver was whinging about it and claiming it ruined his qualifying.

stickyfiddle

Fuckin 'ell, Charles! That Ferrari upgrade working very nicely. I thought Seb's first run was enough, but no.

Could we see Ferrari 1-2's for the rest of the season and make the title fight close by Abu Dhabi??

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Nicely mixed up first 3 rows, with LH splitting the Ferraris and Max ahead of Bottas. Could be spicy first couple of corners! 

PC_Dave

stickyfiddle said:

Fuckin 'ell, Charles! That Ferrari upgrade working very nicely. I thought Seb's first run was enough, but no.

Could we see Ferrari 1-2's for the rest of the season and make the title fight close by Abu Dhabi??

I bloody hope so!!! 

stickyfiddle

Argh stuck in a meeting and can’t watch the race