Formula 1 - 2019

[BruceK]

The karma of "Multi 2-1, Seb" comes back to bite Sebastian in the ass.  Sweet. 

[MiniDave]

I never was a Mock Weeber fan, I thought he was a really good guy but only an average driver. Seb has been brilliant at times, but the last two seasons he's just not been on his game.....

[BruceK]

Here's some positive news on the reported condition of Michael Schumacher.

[MiniDave]

Amazing stuff - I had pretty much given up hope that he would ever talk and walk again. I wonder what he'll think of what's going on in F1 now, especially at his old team Ferrari?

Speaking of F1, this weekend they're at Singapore, where the Ferraris with their low downforce setup were expected to struggle, but they did bring some new parts including a new floor design and nose - guess who's on pole? Mr. Not Hamilton himself!

LeClerc - again! 3 poles in a row now - the boy and the car are really starting to shine - at one point in qually 3 the Mercs were 1 sec off pole - this was a track they were supposed to run off and hide from everyone else. Clearly the Ferrari power is helping, and the new trim parts must have made a difference too. Leclerc now has more poles than either Merc driver.....

The Hamster managed to get within 2 tenths and Vettel came third - Vettel thought he had it all sewn up with his earlier lap as he was ahead of Charles by a few hundredths, and well ahead of the Mercs. Leclerc said he lost control 3 different times on his final qually lap!

Verstappen came fourth, about 1/2 second off Leclercs time......the Reds Bull thought they had a pretty good shot at pole today but did not reckon on Ferrari to be ahead of them - no one in the top three teams did!

On another interesting note - Ricciardo was disqualified from qually for using too much electrical power in Q1 - clearly that's not in the driver's control so Renault musta done something to give him a boost - and the boys in the booth saw it. They may allow him to start the race from the back of the grid, or the pit lane.

Oh, and one more surprise in F1 - HAAS resigned both KMag and Grosjean for 2020!  8.gif

Also - as expected - Kubby is one and done for F1, they think he's going into DTM next season.

[MiniDave]

Well....THAT was an interesting race.

Leclerc got a great start and kept first, Hamster behind and Vettel keeping station in 3rd.......but as the race progressed they called Vettel in for tires first and he managed to undercut Leclerc and come out ahead. Leclerc was not impressed with the teams strategy but later conceded that getting the 1-2 race finish was what was important. Someone needs to remind him that Vettel held back the other cars at Monza to give him that win.

There was the typical safety car - in fact there were three of them - one of which was caused by Grossjean (imagine that!) and I thought that might give the Mercs a shot at catching the boys in red, but with Max in third it didn't happen.

The Hamster whined about the strategy calls all race and said afterwards that there would be a team meeting about this! Brat.

The big takeaway from this race is that the red cars were not expected to do well here, and they beat the others fair and square on a combination of race pace and good (for a change) strategy calls. Whether it should have been Leclerc's race and they should have had Vettel let him by is a discussion they'll have internally, but in the end it's a Ferrari 1-2. Leclerc and Max are tied on 200 pts each but Leclerc is put ahead in the standings by virtue of his two wins. Vettel is close at 194, but the chances of the catching Hammy at 296 are pretty much nil. Might as well hand over the trophy now. Same with the constructors - the current gap is 133pts, I don't think there's any way in hell of making that up in the last 8 races.

[Jims5543]

They are testing for 2020 now. The season is over. Merc has it all wrapped up all they have to do is finish in the top 5 and they have this.

The Vettel pit stop was a last second call in response to RBR coming into the box with tires for Max. They called Seb in 2 turns before pit entry.

Sebs out lap was blisteringly fast as was the lap that followed that. Those 2 laps won him the race.  If there was no safety car I am not sure anyone would have been near him, he had opened up a 6 second gap quite fast as soon as he cleared the cars that had not stopped yet.

[MiniDave]

Sochi

What a disappointment for Ferrari.....

Vettel's retirement could not have come at a worse time, allowing the two Mercs to get ahead under the safety car, turning a potential Ferrari 1-2 into a Merc 1-2 and another win for the Hamster. Bottas is proving to be a good little bitch for Hammy, keeping Leclerc at bay just enough to allow the Hamster to pull a gap.

This race was Ferrari's to lose, and lose it they did.......

[Jims5543]

Ferrari:  Seb let Charles go by he gave you a tow.

Seb:  Tell him to catch up and pass

Charles:  He is going too fast we had a deal.

Ferrari: Seb, we had a deal....

Seb:  He can pass when he catches me (*while pulling a 4 second lead)

Ferrari:  Charles, we will get the pass doen later.


Then Ferrari keeps Seb out on his worn out tires 3 laps too long compromising his race. They pulled off the swap.

Then boom!! Karma gets them.

Best quote from the race:




How BBC reports the race:



What we all see at Mercedes for 2 races now.

[MiniDave]

Next up Suzuka.....

Honda is bringing their "Spec 4" (Type R  ;D ) package and expects to do well in front of the home crowd - which is already sold out!

Meanwhile, Verstappen smack talks both Hammy and Leclerc, saying in the same car he would be at least 2 tenths faster than either one of them.

[MiniDave]

Mexico - just turned it on to watch the race live and found Max had been demoted from pole position 3 places for not slowing down in a yellow zone after Bought-ass crashed in Q3. because of that Leclerc finds himself on pole again, with the Ferrari's straight-line speed and the long first straight it should be Ferrari's race to lose.

The Hamster only needs to podium to win his 6h driver's championship today, but he has to finish well ahead of Bought-ass.

[MiniDave]

Well, I said it was Ferrari's to lose, and lose it they did - once again.

[MiniDave]

Austin 2019.....

Not-Hamilton on pole, but unfortunately for everyone else it's still a Mercedes.

My brother is at the race and ran into Esteban Ocon in his hotel, gave him a quick thumbs up!

[gr8kornholio]

So guessing that means you didn't bother to go this year.  I may actually watch this one as it's on a regular tv channel.

[MiniDave]

No, we decided not to spend the money this year......my brother has friends in Austin to hang with plus his flight and hotel are free -so a cheap weekend for him. For us it would have meant boarding the boys and a REALLY expensive hotel room plus flights, meals out and a rental car or transportation to and from the track - it was all really adding up. I think I'll just watch on the big screen TV at home. I wish there was a motor sports oriented bar here in town, it could be fun to go with some folks and do that.....

One of the big differences besides the sounds and smells if you see it live is not having to listen to these motormouth announcers, but I'll manage. I really don't understand why these guys think they have to talk non-stop thru the entire race. Rose says well, they get paid to talk.....annoys the crap out of me tho.

[MiniDave]

Bought-ass drove a good race, it had to be particularly satisfying to pass Lewis at the end for the win.

The Hamster wins his 6th title, as we knew he would from about the 4th race onward.......

Ferrari were no where, especially after Vettel broke his rear suspension, Leclerc did well to finish 4th. Some speculate the rules "clarification" by the FIA meant they had to turn the secret power booster off as they were noticeably slower on the straights.

I think if he had one more lap Max would have passed the Hammy......but he just ran out of laps.

Haas just fell off the truck this year, they haven't looked on form all season long, I hope they get it figured out for next season.....and I can't believe they're keeping the same drivers.

Ricciardo looked strong again as he carved thru the field, and the big Macs have certainly come a long ways - but for me the highlight of this year has to be the way Honda and Red Bull have improved.....as we knew they would.

The last two races are just for pride, and of course to see how they're going to divvy up the pot of gold at the end of the season.

[MiniDave]

Brazil 2019

THAT was one hell of a race!

Once again the Ferraris manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

A couple of bright spots - watching the Honda engine Toro Rosso hold off a Mercedes down the final straight.

I think the Honda's are going to be a force next season, just as predicted. Their partnership with Red Bull is really starting to bear fruit.

[MiniDave]

Abu Dhabi 2019

The Hamster finishes his year off with a win, as expected.

While the race promised some racing, it really didn't happen except in the mid field. There were a number of last lap passes for position, and  several points positions finally settled.

Next season the Big Macs will have Mercedes power, and combined with their improved chassis they should be fighting for at least third and fourth.

Bottas started dead last and finished 4th, just behind Leclerc - showing the performance of the Mercs once again.

If Honda continues to improve I think there could be some good fights for the win next season between the Mercs, Red Bull, McLaren and possible Ferrari.

What I would like to see is Leclerc go to Mercedes against the Hamster. I don't think Ferrari is going to give him what he needs - both in a consistent car and good race strategy - to be a contender for either title.

So 2019 ends, there may be one more bit of contention, as there was a discussion that Leclerc may have been under-fueled for the race. It really doesn't matter unless he's completely disqualified.....