2019 Formula One Season

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Mar 20, 2007
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New Year, new F1 thread.

Few different things to take note of in the lead up to the season.

1. Changing Driver Lineups
Quite a bit of changing in the F1 grid from last year. Underlined are drivers at a new team
Mercedes: Hamitlon and Bottas
Ferrari: Vettel and LeClerc
Red Bull: Verstappen and Gasly
Renault: Ricciardo and Hulkenberg
Haas: Grojsean and Magnussen
Racing Point: Stroll and Perez
McLaren: Norris and Sainz
Torro Rosso: Kyvatt and Albon
Sauber: Giovinazzi and Raikkonnen
Williams: Russell and Kubica

I like the grid for this year. LeClerc will become a fan favourite, as will Norris I predict. Towards the back of the grid, Kubica and Raikkonnen should produce some good scraps. Gasly won't condede much to Max, and Kyvatt will just try not to run into anyone this time round.

Title wise, unfortunately its hard to go past Hamilton and Mercedes. They would have to be favourites yet again, even before we know the full effect of engine and regulation changes. The best we can hope for at this stage is a solid Ferrari fight like we got for the first half of last season.

2. New Regulations
Most of the major regulation changes revolve around the front wing, with the designs being simplified significantly in the hope to allow cars to drive in dirty air for longer periods of time. See the video below for the changes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1LlCNgF8DI

I would have thought that simplifying the front wings would disadvantage a team like Red Bull that relies on complicated Adrian Newy designs to gain aero advantage in lieu of straight line speed.

3. New Engines
For me the most interesting part will be the effect of engine redevelopment at Renault, and the move to Honda at Red Bull. If you believe the reports then Renault have basically scrapped the core design of their previous engine.
https://www.wheels24.co.za/FormulaO...se-the-engine-gap-for-2019-abiteboul-20181205
There will only be 2 teams on the grid using Renault engines this year (Renault and McLaren) and both will be looking to improve on 2018.

The real dark horse though is how this Honda engine will operate in a now works team Red Bull. After a disastrous run with McLaren (which in hindsight has not proven to be exclusively their fault based on McLarens lacklustre 2018) they managed to provide some decent horsepower to the Torro Rosso, regularly appearing reasonably high in the speed traps. It would be hugely optimistic to expect similar engine output to the top two cars, but with some improvement on their previous Renault output, they could potentially join the fight in a few more races.


Testing Dates (Spain)
Test 1: Feb 18 - Feb 21
Test 2: Feb 26 - Mar 1
(Expect most teams to launch cars just before Test 1)
 
Red Bull looked good late with Renault engines and Renault were better than Toro Rosso with the Honda Engine.

What are they basing the rise of Red Bull and Ricciardo having made a mistake on? Is it purely speed trap recordings on a superior chassis?
 

Sabbathen

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I think Renault are quietly confident, they have spent a lot to secure Ricciardo comparative with their recent driver contracts. Helmut Marko cited a big difference in development spending between Honda and Renault as a major factor in switching engine suppliers. By putting extra money into a quality driver in Ricciardo instead of spending it on the engine, says to me they are fairly happy with their car.
 

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May 7, 2007
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I think Renault are quietly confident, they have spent a lot to secure Ricciardo comparative with their recent driver contracts. Helmut Marko cited a big difference in development spending between Honda and Renault as a major factor in switching engine suppliers. By putting extra money into a quality driver in Ricciardo instead of spending it on the engine, says to me they are fairly happy with their car.
From what I understand, its a totally new engine next year.
Until now, all that could be done was upgrade the s**t design they were stuck with.
I would be surprised if Merc or Ferrari make any wholesale changes. I think they both got the basic design right. Renault dropped the ball big time. Hence a totally different package.
Time will tell if they managed to get it right this time. I wouldnt think a new design can be quick enough out the box in 2019 but 2020's a possibility, if they get the right package.
 

Thegibbsgamble

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Rbr to drop back considerably. They have issues with new design, an unreliable engine and a weak driver line up. They will rue letting Daniel son go. Once rbr start to struggle golden boy mark II will becone a liability.

Renault have the strongest driver line up and a reliable chassis. If they can find engine development. Then they will be consistent podium finishers.

Looks like.daniels son made the right choice.

Have to call out finger boy for doing a prost. Prost was rightly labelled a coward for dictating who couldnt be his co driver at Williams. Scudedia would be a walk up start for a constructor title with Daniel son. Would be in a position to stop cause I'm black, dominace. We know Daniel son is a better driver than finger boy

I will support cause I'm black if Daniel son is out of the picture.
 
Mar 20, 2007
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Rbr to drop back considerably. They have issues with new design, an unreliable engine and a weak driver line up. They will rue letting Daniel son go. Once rbr start to struggle golden boy mark II will becone a liability.

Renault have the strongest driver line up and a reliable chassis. If they can find engine development. Then they will be consistent podium finishers.

Looks like.daniels son made the right choice.

Have to call out finger boy for doing a prost. Prost was rightly labelled a coward for dictating who couldnt be his co driver at Williams. Scudedia would be a walk up start for a constructor title with Daniel son. Would be in a position to stop cause I'm black, dominace. We know Daniel son is a better driver than finger boy

I will support cause I'm black if Daniel son is out of the picture.
source.gif
 
Feb 11, 2012
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Anyway. Senna vetoed Derek Warwick joining Lotus.

The reason being Lotus did not have the resources to build two equal cars without affecting overall performance and based on their history from that point on he was correct.

Senna was happy with the Austrian plodder as his team mate at McLaren.

Berger was still a highly rated driver when he joined McLaren and even after he left.

Senna physically assaulted Hakkinen after the Portuguese GP qualifying.

Where did you pull that s**t from?
 
Aug 10, 2011
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Oh good, I'm glad you quoted me. It's only the first p[age, I can digress a bit. In the other thread where you diminished Robert Kubica, I got caught up in whether neutral posters thought drd was a campaigner, and gave it some time to pass. While not conclusively stating that he wasn't, my opinion is that maybe people were too nice to say that they are. But the thread moved on a bit, so I decided against my will to let go the topic of the merit of Robert Kubica's talent.

Robert Kubica put in one of the best season from a non champion in 08, and certainly in a car that finished 3rd in the wcc. 75pts is about as much as you could expect from a BMW, and, by popular opinion (not just my own), Kubica established himself as a championship winning calibre driver. You're the only one to seriously diminish him in any thread I've come across.

It's one thing to have a contrary opinion. but typically you can get where the other person has come from (Including Thegibbsgamble!). But not you, particularly as someone who takes his own opinion so seriously. But the selective statistics you used to diminish Kubica led me to use your logic to possibly diminish a couple of other notable drivers with such selective statistics.

2009 season, Brawn GP - Last 10 races from British -Abu DhabiGP.

Jensen Button - 34pts
Rubens Barrichello - 42pts

1992 season. Benetton - Last 9 races of 16 from French to Australia GP

Michael Schumacher - 27pts
Martin Brundle - 33pts

What do these stats mean?

Like whatever statistical superiority Heidfeld had over Kubica, nothing.
 
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The reason being Lotus did not have the resources to build two equal cars without affecting overall performance and based on their history from that point on he was correct.
So...he vetoed the decision?


Berger was still a highly rated driver when he joined McLaren and even after he left.
Yeah, Senna thought he's ******* awesome!



Where did you pull that s**t from?
I didn't pull any s**t. I recalled a video of a Hakkinen interview where it was translated from Finnish to English. I've subsequently seen it since reading your post, and he was manhandled by Senna as opposed to assaulted.

If NSWCROW, hey shorty, Klyntonius, etc. asked for the video, I'd link it. But you know everything, so you can go look for it yourself.
 
Feb 11, 2012
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Oh good, I'm glad you quoted me. It's only the first p[age, I can digress a bit. In the other thread where you diminished Robert Kubica, I got caught up in whether neutral posters thought drd was a campaigner, and gave it some time to pass. While not conclusively stating that he wasn't, my opinion is that maybe people were too nice to say that they are. But the thread moved on a bit, so I decided against my will to let go the topic of the merit of Robert Kubica's talent.

Robert Kubica put in one of the best season from a non champion in 08, and certainly in a car that finished 3rd in the wcc. 75pts is about as much as you could expect from a BMW, and, by popular opinion (not just my own), Kubica established himself as a championship winning calibre driver. You're the only one to seriously diminish him in any thread I've come across.

It's one thing to have a contrary opinion. but typically you can get where the other person has come from (Including Thegibbsgamble!). But not you, particularly as someone who takes his own opinion so seriously. But the selective statistics you used to diminish Kubica led me to use your logic to possibly diminish a couple of other notable drivers with such selective statistics.

2009 season, Brawn GP - Last 10 races from British -Abu DhabiGP.

Jensen Button - 34pts
Rubens Barrichello - 42pts

1992 season. Benetton - Last 9 races of 16 from French to Australia GP

Michael Schumacher - 27pts
Martin Brundle - 33pts

What do these stats mean?

Like whatever statistical superiority Heidfeld had over Kubica, nothing.

The media had a bizarre thing against Nick Heidfeld and that filtered down to teams and fans. Kubica did well but when looking at the facts and not long winded articles about how great he is, he didn't shade Heidfeld like say Hamilton does Bottas. I didn't need to use just the latter 2008 as their pairing in 2006, 2007, and 2009 told the story too.

Barrichello did do better than Button in the last half of 2009. His earlier bitching either got the team to back him or he motivated himself or Button was just being too conservative to win the title.

Bundle was one of Schumis closest teammates in race trim despite the clear gap in qualifying. Briatore even later admitted what a big mistake it was replacing him with Patrese but they thought his experience with active suspension was worth the swap.
 
Feb 11, 2012
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So...he vetoed the decision?
.

Yes. I thought the context was worth pointing out though as Senna later on didn't have problems pairing up with fast teammates in teams with more resources.

Yeah, Senna thought he's ******* awesome!

Yep and so did McLaren, Ferrari, and Benetton.

So...he
I didn't pull any s**t. I recalled a video of a Hakkinen interview where it was translated from Finnish to English. I've subsequently seen it since reading your post, and he was manhandled by Senna as opposed to assaulted.

If NSWCROW, hey shorty, Klyntonius, etc. asked for the video, I'd link it. But you know everything, so you can go look for it yourself.

I've never read or seen anything that suggests Senna did anything more than display unhappiness and you acknowledge it wasn't assault so what you stated was a load of s**t.
 
Aug 10, 2011
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Carlton
It doesn't matter if you haven't read or seen anything because you wouldn't have seen or read everything that could be documented. Having seen the video again and looked up assault in the dictionary to confirm, I'm now going to go back and say Hakkinen was assaulted. It seems on the milder side of what could be considered an assault, but assault nonetheless. Ol' mate Ayrton didn't mind a physical confrontation. But in those days, that type of stuff was often swept under the carpet.
 

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Thegibbsgamble

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I just offered my opinion having followed this sport off and on for longer than most of your mothers have lived. Seems the trigger is very touchy this January

Two gone off like fire crackers.
 

Thegibbsgamble

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2019? But I'm not done with the 2018 thread!!!

Anyway. Senna vetoed Derek Warwick joining Lotus.

Senna was happy with the Austrian plodder as his team mate at McLaren.

Senna physically assaulted Hakkinen after the Portuguese GP qualifying.

What's senna got to do with this?
 

Thegibbsgamble

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A fantasy TV show that aptly describes your world.

MYbe it wasn't fingerboy that stopped Daniel son going to scuderia. Maybe it came from the top to keep the sport competitive and lift up a team with pedigree.

We've had years of only two teams in it. With Daniel son driving those horse cars. It would be worse. Although the media would love all of fingerboys hissy fits when losing to a black English man and an australian
 
Aug 10, 2011
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Carlton
What's senna got to do with this?
About as much as bringing up Prost.

I'm glad you quoted me. You know how you brought up Prost to diminish Vettel as some pissant who was scared of Ricciardo, the same way Prost was scared of Senna?

In looking up forums to back up my points, I'm reminded of this. For 1988, Piquet was intended to go to McLaren. It was at Prost's insistence that McLaren hired Senna.
 

Thegibbsgamble

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About as much as bringing up Prost.

I'm glad you quoted me. You know how you brought up Prost to diminish Vettel as some pissant who was scared of Ricciardo, the same way Prost was scared of Senna?

In looking up forums to back up my points, I'm reminded of this. For 1988, Piquet was intended to go to McLaren. It was at Prost's insistence that McLaren hired Senna.
nigel Mansel was critical of prost for his actions. Thought he was a coward for what he did.

You've gone off like a fire cracker
 
Aug 10, 2011
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Carlton
But now, my first contribution for the 2019 season.

Based on what I can pick up on. I'm going to say I think we're going to have a tight title fight. It's another year with the same regs form 2017. Another year where Ferrari make up some ground, and another year that MB's advantage gets eroded somewhat. So if nothing else, that should make it closer.

I'm expecting to see a shitload more form Vettel. In the end, the 2018 season is over, and he can start again with a clean shot. He's got a title contending car, and what happened last year is in the past.

Compare the seasons. In 2017, He finished 2nd with 317pts and won 5 races. It was seen a really good, productive year, his first year as a title contender since 2013. But in 2018, he was diminished, laughed at all over the web. Yet he still finished 2nd in the title winning 5 races and scoring 320pts!

If he personally had a worse season, he knows the worst that can happen is finishing 2nd and winning a bunch of races. I don notice in his career, that if he has a slump, he comes back. Despite winning the title, he wasn't that great in 2010, but he came back and dominated in 2011. He wasn't that good in 2012, then dominated 2013. He was soundly diminished in 2014, then redeemed himself in 2015. 0 wins in 2016, 5 wins and a championship challenge in 2017. Crap in 2018, but in 2019...

For Hamilton, it's another year of the same s**t. He's already fended off two title challenges from Vettel, and is now going to have to do it again. That's fatiguing. After beating Rosberg in 2014 -15, he had to do it again in '16. But he just wasn't in it and made plenty of errors that weren't as notable as Vettel in 18.

If it's a closer title fight, then team orders will be even more blatant. Bottas has understandably been written off, but is a top level driver who wouldn't get a contract extension if he wasn't pulling his weight. Leclerc is rated hugely by some, but a dark horse for mine. There's a difference between being in F1 in the lower teams and going for it all the time, and being in a championship contending F1 car. The front running cars in F1 expose all the weaknesses the drivers have that weren't necessarily that obvious beforehand, so I hope he's got his s**t together.

With Verstappen? He's one of these guys where he gets kissed on the dick a lot (Like Schumacher, Hamilton, Rossi in MotoGP, etc.), so he'll do something for something will happen that will go his way.

Ricciardo? It's obviulsy a long term game for him. but let's hope there's more of those crazy, unpredictable races he's won most of his races in.
 

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