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FIA Formula One 2019 |OT| Oil Mining vs. Energy Drinks vs. Big Tobacco, pick your poison
- Thread starter Aiii
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Love it!
These mechanics (from all teams, for that matter!) deserve more of the limelight. Great initiative to do just that.
And Hamilton had damage on his front wing. Have Mercedes not had many engine updates this year? I know Honda got to Spec 4, but I don't know about Mercedes.
That being said, I'm really excited for 2020. I have no doubt Honda's going to keep getting better.
I suspect that around the time of the summer break, with Merc so far in front, they made a decision to focus more on next year's car than developing this one.
Their last major update (engine), was around Spa I believe.
Pretty much this, although they did continue to bring some minor aero and chassis updates since the summer break.
In terms of artificial to improve the show, I can't believe Bernie did get it done before he got bumped out.
As for anyone here taking any one thing seriously, I think we see enough guff every week to know that nothing is off the table.
I recall Toto I think saying that Brixworth missed some targets with development so they've not had the kind of increase they were hoping for.
Mercedes ain't fucking around..
The FIA will add a second fuel sensor from 2020. Seemingly they've found nothing worth punishing from the engines of the three teams (Ferrari, Sauber [German RTL claims it might have been Haas], Red Bull) investigated. So it does indeed look like the rumor was only partially true if at all: nobody was doing anything illegal per the current regulations, but to make sure nobody uses the fuel wrong extra controls will be added in the future. In 2020, however.
They've obviously found something that they're unhappy with. There's clearly something in there that shouldn't be but there's room for interpretation in the current regs so they can't act on it.
F1 team be sweating. It wouldn't surprise me if Merc pulls out of F1 as a team if they see success in FE this season.
Lando and Sainz in works McLaren Mercedes would be amazing to see.
It's relevant because of this reply.
That smirk! He knows something.
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I too would leave a sport I've been dominating for six years to be third behind Porsche and Audi in FE.
Real talk. I think Brackley has more than enough room for Merc to maintain both teams, especially since the budget cap means they need to shift some staff around.
MB HQ could still pull the plug, especially if their sales numbers continue to disappoint.
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Could, money is a fickle thing, but if there was a manufacturer I'd be worried about pulling the plug for 2021, I'd be looking down south. Not the ones that have had nothing but successes.
If they do pull out, it'll be simply out of team ownership (i.e., selling Brackley, but keeping Brixworth open) - they will still provide power units to customer teams. No reason to abandon the PU programme as the 2021 regulations don't call for any change on the PU side of things.
From "We're changing tires" to "We'll vote on it." Seems like the 2020 tire situation is still up in the air. Nice subtle move by the FIA to make the other teams competitive by having the top teams waste a bunch of money on tires that'll never be used.
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So Stoffel finally starts opening up about the horrible treatment he suffered during his McLaren years. This next bit is from our nations largest (dutch) broadcaster (state sponsored), who interpreted the interview from the country's largest sports magazine.
Although I don't like his bit about F1 being 'fake' and his exaggeration of F2, it must finally be told what kind of a manipulative character Alonso has been.
It basically translates into the following
Although I don't like his bit about F1 being 'fake' and his exaggeration of F2, it must finally be told what kind of a manipulative character Alonso has been.
It basically translates into the following
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https://f1metrics.wordpress.com/2019/11/22/the-f1metrics-top-100/ Here is the link with the model used. Very interesting work.
Also no one will repeat what MSC did in the 90s.
Could be the start of a new trend:
It's just VW, and not their subsidiaries like Audi and Porsche, but still seems newsworthy. Especially with Mercedes jumping into Formula E recently.
It's just VW, and not their subsidiaries like Audi and Porsche, but still seems newsworthy. Especially with Mercedes jumping into Formula E recently.
I had a look at the fully electric Golf and compared to the hybrid version and the base option, it seems pretty comparable. Obviously range and top speed are still lower but looks promising.
I love Kubica. I rated him just as highly as the top drivers from that generation. And as sad as it was to have his F1 career end so prematurely, the fact that he even made it back into F1 this year is remarkable, even if it was in the Williams...
Hulk's F1 career reminds me of his fellow German, Nick Heidfeld. A journeyman (I don't mean that in a negative way), who was talented, but never really delivered on his potential.
Hulk's F1 career reminds me of his fellow German, Nick Heidfeld. A journeyman (I don't mean that in a negative way), who was talented, but never really delivered on his potential.
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I loved Kubica making a come-back. And I was very excited and hopeful of his performance once he got there.
But tbh he can count himself very lucky that he was in that Williams, because if he was in any other team his compete lack of pace would have been that much more noticable. Like many before him that returned after a long break, he just didn't have the pace to compete in F1 anymore. A rookie beat him 20-0 in qualifying, and he was last in pretty much every race.
Albon damn near crashed into him after Lewis tipped him about in Brazil, because the entire field was wing to nose and then suddenly ten car lengths and then Kubica. It made my heart sink when I saw that. I applaud that he was able to come back, even if it was as a paydriver, but it became painfully obvious why Renault ended up passing after that initial bout of testing. I don't think it was the accident or his arm, it just was a bit too long away from competing with the best of the best that tripped him up. That level is just not something you can maintain when you're outside of an F1 car for so long, it seems to me.
But tbh he can count himself very lucky that he was in that Williams, because if he was in any other team his compete lack of pace would have been that much more noticable. Like many before him that returned after a long break, he just didn't have the pace to compete in F1 anymore. A rookie beat him 20-0 in qualifying, and he was last in pretty much every race.
Albon damn near crashed into him after Lewis tipped him about in Brazil, because the entire field was wing to nose and then suddenly ten car lengths and then Kubica. It made my heart sink when I saw that. I applaud that he was able to come back, even if it was as a paydriver, but it became painfully obvious why Renault ended up passing after that initial bout of testing. I don't think it was the accident or his arm, it just was a bit too long away from competing with the best of the best that tripped him up. That level is just not something you can maintain when you're outside of an F1 car for so long, it seems to me.
It's probably a combination of both . Also these new car are very different from what he was used to and there is pretty much no testing available at the moment.
Still his comeback in motorsport has been impressive. Unfortunately not at F1 level.
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Unpopular opinion but throw Bruno Senna to the list, who is honestly one of the biggest unexpressed talents of the century. I'm not saying he would have won titles or anything, but he would have been a solid top team driver, able to compete with the likes of Bottas, Ricciardo or Raikkonen if not else.
He was doing great things in lower series, but he was forbidden from racing for a while after Ayrton's death, which meant that he's lost years of valuable experience while his peers were pushing hard still. He certainly had his surname as a helping hand but after a decade of almost complete hiatus in a couple years of activity he climbed up to GP2 and almost won the title which, at the time, was no small feat. Pre-2010 GP2 was insanely competitive. He was this close to a Brawn GP deal, only for the team to choose Barrichello in the last second - I have zero doubts Bruno could have won a race or two in that car. The team's change was so last second that he had no time to sign a full-time contract with any relevant series, so he stood by the sidelines for the whole of 2009 doing minor races.
He was thrown in the worst car of the century (literally, the HRT) in 2010 where his performance was really hard to judge. It was a car worse than today's Williams that would not seldom fail to qualify in the good old 107% treshold, having all kinds of technical issues that failed to make them express the already low potential they had. He even had Sakon Yamamoto sub for him for a couple races because of sponsors. He really did nothing wrong that season but not even Hamilton or Alonso could have done much with that piece of shit car. In 2011 he become one of the many test drivers Renault had. The team clearly pointed out among the questions of who's who that he's the reserve driver so if something happens to their drivers it's Senna's turn. Something happened then: Kubica had his terrifying rally accident, so Renault chose to... have Heidfeld instead. The German's performances were not bad, but he was sacked just before Spa, so Senna finally got a chance - he qualified 7th in what was his first race weekend with a somewhat competent car, over a second ahead of his more experienced teammate Petrov. He also went to score in the Italian GP the next week so he got signed for the rest of the season, before getting sacked again.
Undoubtedly, his 2012 campaign was not that good in the Williams. While Maldonado won a race and was frequently fighting for top 5 (also crashing out very often in those efforts), Senna failed to ever reach the top 5. His points tally wasn't even much worse than Maldonado's due to the Brazilian not crashing his car every other weekend, but this one disappointing season made sure he never got a chance in the sport again. He's been doing excellent things after his F1 venture, snatching some good results in his brief Formula E career, doing excellent things in endurance (among other poles, wins and the LMP2 title in 2017 in WEC). He deserved another chance, and seeing the drivers that keep getting them (eg. Kvyat) I have no doubts he would have fared a lot better than multiple drivers in the past years. Again, it's not like he was gonna become Alonso or Hamilton, but had his Brawn GP deal actually not fallen apart at the last minute he might have won a race or two in his F1 debut season, which would have opened doors for him instead of getting relegated to shit like the HRT.
TL;DR: Bruno Senna didn't race for various years (a whole decade!) after Ayrton's death, yet he caught up on the years lost almost winning the very competitive GP2 title. He was so close to consistently drive some pretty good cars, but last second changes made sure he missed out on the recordbreaking Brawn GP and a solid Renault in just 12 months. Despite skipping a year of F1, he still delivered excellent results when he came back, and after his first actual disappointment he's lost his place in F1 forever, while he's been doing great in WEC, Formula E, etc. ever since. His results proved he deserved another shot in F1, but unlike many other drivers that are free to suck for various seasons before risking their seat, his only disappointing season killed his F1 career completely.
I've always said that Kubica coming back was a mistake. He's done nothing to improve his reputation as a driver by taking part again. Not his fault as he was always going to struggle but, as I've said before, the only two outcomes were:
Get beaten by a rookie in his 1st year and look bad.
Beat a rookie in his 1st year in a car that's always going to be last and people will say "Well he should have beaten him anyway."
It's a damn shame that his F1 career was cut so short as he could have been a genuine contender for a number of years but it's been obvious for a long time that the injuries he sustained meant that he could no longer compete at that level.
Get beaten by a rookie in his 1st year and look bad.
Beat a rookie in his 1st year in a car that's always going to be last and people will say "Well he should have beaten him anyway."
It's a damn shame that his F1 career was cut so short as he could have been a genuine contender for a number of years but it's been obvious for a long time that the injuries he sustained meant that he could no longer compete at that level.
I might not be that invested in him but that's clearly not a view I share from every result I saw from him.
He was 8th in his rookie GP2 season, which is ok, 2nd in his second year fairly behind multi years old veteran Pantano who won, a single point ahead of Di Grassi who missed 6 of the 20 races, 2 pts ahead of rookie Romain Grosjean and 4 ahead of Maldonado also in his second season
You can't argue he was in a shit car/team because iSport won both titles with Glock the year before.
Before that I see British Formula as his main focus the two years before, he was 10th and 3rd in 2005-2006, ahead of him no one made it fo F1, I only recognize two names, Charlie Kimball who made it to Indycar as a very consistent... backmarker and Mike Conway who also made it to Indycar with slightly more success and had a few appearances in FE
Now his F1 tenure.
2010 ok if you're not a junior from another team being monitored (aka Ricciardo) you're just grinding miles to be there.
2011 Heidfeld chosen by Renault instead of him, wonder why that is, you have to deal with a paid driver who had a middling first year and after many tests Renault went with the driver who had 10 years of experience, super consistent, multi podium scorer.
Heidfeld got sacked, Senna got a few races, scored 2 points to Petrov 5, lost 3-4 in quali. Nothing that special he showed that he was ok which is in line with his junior career I guess.
2012 He was the reliable slow pendant to fast crashing Maldonado, Williams went with Bottas next year and sticked with him until Mercedes bought him out of his contract.
His FE tenure was nothing special either, outscoring Chandokh in the first year being his main achievement, and maybe being on par with a 38 old Heidfeld his second year?
I mean he has the typical profile of a good junior, good enough to appear in every lower formula and show good results occasionally, but there are litteraly a dozen new like him every year, the vast majority don't make it to F1 at all while he had almost two and half a season including one and half in decent enough teams, he didn't prove himself enough to be hired on talent anymore (I'm sure had at least some backing as well with his name and all), showed nothing special in FE afterwards so I don't think there's anything special about him that should make us think "wow what a missed opportunity considering his huge talent"
He was 8th in his rookie GP2 season, which is ok, 2nd in his second year fairly behind multi years old veteran Pantano who won, a single point ahead of Di Grassi who missed 6 of the 20 races, 2 pts ahead of rookie Romain Grosjean and 4 ahead of Maldonado also in his second season
You can't argue he was in a shit car/team because iSport won both titles with Glock the year before.
Before that I see British Formula as his main focus the two years before, he was 10th and 3rd in 2005-2006, ahead of him no one made it fo F1, I only recognize two names, Charlie Kimball who made it to Indycar as a very consistent... backmarker and Mike Conway who also made it to Indycar with slightly more success and had a few appearances in FE
Now his F1 tenure.
2010 ok if you're not a junior from another team being monitored (aka Ricciardo) you're just grinding miles to be there.
2011 Heidfeld chosen by Renault instead of him, wonder why that is, you have to deal with a paid driver who had a middling first year and after many tests Renault went with the driver who had 10 years of experience, super consistent, multi podium scorer.
Heidfeld got sacked, Senna got a few races, scored 2 points to Petrov 5, lost 3-4 in quali. Nothing that special he showed that he was ok which is in line with his junior career I guess.
2012 He was the reliable slow pendant to fast crashing Maldonado, Williams went with Bottas next year and sticked with him until Mercedes bought him out of his contract.
His FE tenure was nothing special either, outscoring Chandokh in the first year being his main achievement, and maybe being on par with a 38 old Heidfeld his second year?
I mean he has the typical profile of a good junior, good enough to appear in every lower formula and show good results occasionally, but there are litteraly a dozen new like him every year, the vast majority don't make it to F1 at all while he had almost two and half a season including one and half in decent enough teams, he didn't prove himself enough to be hired on talent anymore (I'm sure had at least some backing as well with his name and all), showed nothing special in FE afterwards so I don't think there's anything special about him that should make us think "wow what a missed opportunity considering his huge talent"
Well, some of his talent was "lost" because he skipped a whole decade in his formation, which is not exactly a small detail. Could you imagine if Schumacher, Hamilton or Alonso started their actual careers past the age of 20, basically barely having driven anything beside go-karts a decade or so earlier? Because that is exactly what Senna went through, and despite only having a few years of experience with powerful cars he was immediately a strong midfielder in GP2, going close to winning a title shortly after. He had sparks of greatness in F1 (that 7th place in the rain-soaked Spa qualifying on his Renault debut was unbelieveable) but without enough consistency in his signings to be truly able to extract the performance he's capable of, bar 2012 which was his only proper full season without interruptions or testing roles.
Again, I'm not saying that if Bruno Senna was still in F1 he would have stolen titles from Vettel or Hamilton. I'm saying that with minimum preparation he became a very competent and consistent driver, capable of handling very fast cars very well despite having first touched one past the age of 20 after a whole decade of hiatus. This is a massive series of ifs and whats, but I honestly believe he could have been a truly impressive F1 driver without Ayrton's death truncating his career as well, and who's now living a second youth in WEC. And he was also pretty unlucky because after a second place in GP2 he didn't get a seat for over a year, after which he sat in what is the worst car of the century. He only had one decent chance, and while I agree he didn't use it well enough, it's still a shame he didn't get any other. I mean, how many disappointing seasons did a driver like Kvyat have, and he's still in the sport?
Point is we could play that game of "if" with litterally dozens of others drivers.
I have no clue about that decade of "no motorsports" allowed nor do I know if it had a lasting impact either (how could we even prove that?), what happened happened, F1 history is full of drivers who supposedly didn't reach their full potential because of multiple reasons, good or bad, from their own making or not.
Senna didn't show to be an outstanding talent in his nearly 10 years in single seaters (British F3 to FE), and outstanding talent is what you need to stick in F1 if you don't have serious backing.
I have no clue about that decade of "no motorsports" allowed nor do I know if it had a lasting impact either (how could we even prove that?), what happened happened, F1 history is full of drivers who supposedly didn't reach their full potential because of multiple reasons, good or bad, from their own making or not.
Senna didn't show to be an outstanding talent in his nearly 10 years in single seaters (British F3 to FE), and outstanding talent is what you need to stick in F1 if you don't have serious backing.
I don't disagree with this. I just think that from what was being said about his youth, how quick he reached solid midfield status in top tier series and how well he's been doing after F1, I think the guy would have had a legit shot at being a multiple race winner at the very least had he been given an actual decent chance, which he never got. Again, it's just my personal opinion, I don't really have some all-revealing telemetry analysis that proves he's the new Schumacher, and I've never even been an Ayrton Senna fan so it's not like I want to project his qualities to someone else necessarily. To me he's definitely one of the best drivers that didn't get a good enough chance in the past 10-20 years or so. I'd also throw in Pantano despite his age (and other Italians with not enough sponsor money like Valsecchi and Filippi), De Vries who had to move to Formula E (for now?), multiple great IndyCar drivers like Power or Dixon, Wehrlein and so on.
I don't think any of them would have dominated championships or anything, but when people like post-accident Massa, Bottas, post-comeback Raikkonen, Webber or Kovalainen (another driver who, to be fair, did exceptionally well before F1, then not so much once there) got to drive top 3-4 team cars for plenty of seasons, it's a shame other potentially great drivers had to sit on the sidelines. But that's the downside of Formula 1: at any given season, no more than two dozens of drivers selected from the whole world get an actual season-lasting driving seat, and many are "automatically" filled by much of the old guard, often well past their prime even (again, Massa and Raikkonen are great examples). I honestly think that there's dozens, possibly hundreds of single-seater drivers who could easily beat the levels seen by some of the drivers in F1 at times. It's a shame there's so little in terms of opportunities that so much talent has to sit out, or migrate towards more welcoming series.
Sending a pic of his family and dog to Mercedes sealed the end of his career unfortunately.
FairyEmpire : I see your point a bit clearer now that you have some other examples but Shaneus had a more narrow definition of drivers just shy of breaking out in Kobayashi and Hulkenberg, these ones actually stuck in F1 on pure merit for a much longer time and held their own against strong teammates/trashed weaker ones on top of showing more promise in junior formula.
I have a bit of a hard time to put Valsecchi and Filippi with them, the former needed 5 years to win GP2, one more than Palmer, the latter spent 6 years and was never close of winning it.
Looks like Williams filled their seat, anyone know much about this guy?
Nicholas Latifi to replace Robert Kubica at Williams in 2020 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/50583797
Nicholas Latifi to replace Robert Kubica at Williams in 2020 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/50583797
I don't know him. But I've heard commentators say that 'He will be solving Williams their money problem.' So I guess he has some beefy sponsors?
Who scored 4 wins and is currently second in GP2. Did Lance do that? He had a better GP2 season this year than Albon or Norris did in 2018.
Is that not good enough for you?
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