Formula 1 2019 - General Discussion Thread

Jordan 199

I like the livery on the Williams.

Frank Bullitt

The livery is quite nice...the car itself?

Burkie1203

Anjobe wrote: »

...and immediately destroyed that with a 1m49.830s

Eh is the car being pushed around the track?

Kimi did a 1m17 earlier

Inviere

I think its hideous (the livery)

eviltimeban

He's ended up with a 1m25.625s. 5 seconds of the pace of the next C3 runner (which happened to be Hamilton).

Joeface

Fastest lap today


DANI K ............1m17.704s ...Honda . nice one

El_Duderino 09

23 laps for Russel in the Williams. Probably about as good as you can expect for a shakedown.

Worst case scenario would be spending the afternoon in the garage chasing an oil or hydraulic fluid leak or trying to find the source of a vibration or something. Hopefully they have a proper day tomorrow.

They’re waiting for aero parts to arrive so they can start the aero running tomorrow. So pretty sure today was just a shakedown.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/williams-waiting-for-parts-testing/4341179/amp/

Frank Bullitt

Merc think that Ferrari are .5 secs ahead of them currently, that should seem about right.

They have a big aero upgrade for the second test, and with the mileage they have been getting, could be tight at the top.

antodeco

I'm assuming Sky F1 are showing this? I'm now home sick for the week, so may aswell catch up live!

vectra

antodeco wrote: »

I'm assuming Sky F1 are showing this? I'm now home sick for the week, so may aswell catch up live!

From 1pm each day

recyclebin

Williams is pretty ugly looking and slow. Black with red, a bit of blue and then white. Too many colours. I'm not sure why they even have the blue.

The sides of the most of the cars are getting very complicated looking with a lot of aero devices. The rule changes to the front wing has just pushed the areo development back down the chassis to this area of the car. Long gone are the days of the simple barge boards!

I'm trying to figure out what Mercedes are up to. They don't appear to be very fast on the time sheets.

El_Duderino 09

recyclebin wrote: »

Williams is pretty ugly looking and slow. Black with red, a bit of blue and then white. Too many colours. I'm not sure why they even have the blue.

The sides of the most of the cars are getting very complicated looking with a lot of aero devices. The rule changes to the front wing has just pushed the areo development back down the chassis to this area of the car. Long gone are the days of the simple barge boards!

I'm trying to figure out what Mercedes are up to. They don't appear to be very fast on the time sheets.

It’s testing. They’re under no pressure to go for fastest times. It’s all about understanding the car. How it’s aerodynamics work compared to their computer simulations. How the car heats and cools tyres. How the suspension works, how the numerous fiddley bits of electronics work. Finding the point at which parts of the car break so they know when to push and when not to push during a race weekend. Hiw the cat reacts under different aero, suspension, fuel loads, tyre camber and pressure. How they react on long runs.

That’s only some parts I can think of off the top of my head. Topping the time sheets is irrelevant until qualifying in Melbourne.

Kvyat was fastest today and Kimi yesterday. Don’t for a second believe they’re actually the fastest cars. They’re just looking for publicity by topping the timesheet. That’s not a problem but don’t bother with testing times.

muckwarrior

I think this looks good.

Frank Bullitt

I want to see them do better this year at least. I always had a soft spot for Williams.

youreadthat

From what I’ve heard from Merc this winter, the big evolution of the car is to be kinder on the tyres. I’m wondering if they are just pounding in the laps to a delta time to make sure the expected wear is happening and is predictable, given that this is a big part of their philosophy this year.

eagle eye

Well I won't be watching it anymore. Just tired of the same old every season. You can fall asleep after the first lap and wake up just before the finish and more often than not you've missed nothing important.
I started following Nascar a couple of seasons back and Indycar too. They are much more entertaining.

youreadthat

I tried to get into Indycar a couple of years ago but it was like F1 with uglier cars and amateur levels of driving skill, which can obviously lead to entertainment but it’s not for me. Also the TV coverage was dire.

muckwarrior

eagle eye wrote: »

Just tired of the same old every season. You can fall asleep after the first lap and wake up just before the finish and more often than not you've missed nothing important.

I'm tired of people saying this every season for the past 20 years or so. Maybe F1 just isn't for you.

mickdw

There can be boring races. I think it needs refuelling to add a little to the strategy combinations and chances of things going wrong.
Should be few interesting races coming up anyway, figuring out where everyone is after rule changes. Can leClerc beat Vettel. Will honda do the job? how quick is the hulk beside ricciardo? Are alfa going to jump to top of the mid field? Have McLaren got their act together? Will stroll be respectable beside checo and can kubica compete?
So plenty to keep us watching even if Hamilton runs away out front.

Charlie-Bravo

I like most four-wheel motorsports. F1 is pinnacle of all of them to me, but Indycar is more about the different drivers, the sheer speed they can do on ovals, and then Nascar is more a fun, wreck'em watch. If there was more rally-cross on TV I'd be delighted (still love joker laps).

Burkie1203

Have only seen a few clips online from testing

Have McLaren really gone totally the opposite of most teams in terms of rake?

https://twitter.com/AkzoNobel_AACNA/status/1096122678665248768?s=19

Adamocovic

Any drivers comment yet on the changes to supposedly make it easier to overtake in dirty air?

I know a few have been driving behind others no-doubt getting a feel for it, but havent seen any comments from them.

eviltimeban

Kubica out on track now.

ayux4rj6zql2ph

Kubica spun in the Williams this morning, i'm wondering is it the Williams car in general as it's not the first time this year or last that he has spun, did it happen in the Renault in 2017? How much of a contributing factor is his limitation to it all?

El_Duderino 09

Peyton Lively Tiller wrote: »

Kubica spun in the Williams this morning, i'm wondering is it the Williams car in general as it's not the first time this year or last that he has spun, did it happen in the Renault in 2017? How much of a contributing factor is his limitation to it all?

Ah, Kimi spin on his first lap on Monday. I wouldn’t read too much into it.

eagle eye

muckwarrior wrote:

I'm tired of people saying this every season for the past 20 years or so. Maybe F1 just isn't for you.

Yeah, not anymore. I've been annoyed by it for a couple of years now. They made overtaking nearly impossible, it's about the car not the driver and as a result it's become a snoozefest for me.

You gotta get back to making it about the driver. I don't think anybody wants to watch races which are just about the car, might as well make them robot cars.

Like it's a disgrace that Lewis Hamilton is being compared to Michael Schumacher when it's got nothing to do with driving skills. It's just that he has had the mist dominant car for more seasons than any driver possibly in the history of the sport.
Ayrton Senna won races in an old car. Schumacher won two world championship in a Bennetton with two different engine manufacturers in successive years.

H3llR4iser

eagle eye wrote: »

Well I won't be watching it anymore. Just tired of the same old every season. You can fall asleep after the first lap and wake up just before the finish and more often than not you've missed nothing important.
I started following Nascar a couple of seasons back and Indycar too. They are much more entertaining.

As much as I love Indycar and have a soft spot for Nascar too, these series are basically spec-driven and the sporting rules are made on purpose to shake things up until the last moment.

Especially on ovals, often a race is decided by a caution 10 laps from the flag - and the guy lingering in 20th for the whole race goes to win it as he happened to be in the pits when the yellow flags came out. They might call it a "strategy masterstroke" but really it's dumb luck (unless they pulled a Briatore-Piquet pinch :P) and makes you question why have the previous 190 laps at all.

Again, I like both Indycar and Nascar and I WILL watch, provided there's decent coverage (actually thinking about attending a race live this year), but it's a different kettle of fish from F1 - or most other European/Asian racing series, for what matters.

muckwarrior wrote: »

I'm tired of people saying this every season for the past 20 years or so. Maybe F1 just isn't for you.

Exactly this - F1 isn't particularly "boring" these days; It's just working the same way it always did, with a few teams/drivers leaping away from the rest: from Alfa in the early days to Mercedes in the mid '50s, Tyrrell/Stewart in the early 70s, Lotus annihilating the field in 1978, McLaren running away in 1984/85 and then 1988, Williams in the 90s', Ferrari in the 2000s, Red Bull and now Mercedes.

The only argument that can be successfully made is that technology tends to ruin anything that relies on a bit of "human factor" for its entertainment value and F1 ain't immune from it - then again, what to do? Ban the use of computers?

mickdw wrote: »

There can be boring races. I think it needs refuelling to add a little to the strategy combinations and chances of things going wrong.

No thanks - refueling is never the solution as it transforms races into 90 minutes long qualifying stints; Also, with today's sim technology and engine rules (Merc, Ferrari, Renault or Honda - they all use the same general amount of fuel) there would be no variation in strategy whatsoever - just a cookie cutter solution, perfectly calculated for each race, that will be adopted by everyone.

Inviere

Peyton Lively Tiller wrote: »

How much of a contributing factor is his limitation to it all?

He knocked in lap after lap during his Renault test. He's fine. I'd say it's far more a Williams limitation, than his own personal ones. That said, to spin in testing isn't unheard of, hell, it's not unheard of to do it in practice either.

pjohnson

Inviere wrote: »

He knocked in lap after lap during his Renault test. He's fine. I'd say it's far more a Williams limitation, than his own personal ones. That said, to spin in testing isn't unheard of, hell, it's not unheard of to do it in practice either.

Hell a four time champion can spin his Ferrari like a ballerina during a race!

skipper_G

eagle eye wrote: »

Yeah, not anymore. I've been annoyed by it for a couple of years now. They made overtaking nearly impossible, it's about the car not the driver and as a result it's become a snoozefest for me.

You gotta get back to making it about the driver. I don't think anybody wants to watch races which are just about the car, might as well make them robot cars.

Like it's a disgrace that Lewis Hamilton is being compared to Michael Schumacher when it's got nothing to do with driving skills. It's just that he has had the mist dominant car for more seasons than any driver possibly in the history of the sport.
Ayrton Senna won races in an old car. Schumacher won two world championship in a Bennetton with two different engine manufacturers in successive years.

F1 of the 80's and 90's are completely different. In modern F1, you can't win a race unless you drive for one of the big 3 teams. It doesn't matter how much skill a driver has. If you put Senna or Schumacher in one of the midfield teams of today they wouldn't win a race either.
All the technical regulations in the world won't solve the root of the problem, bring in a better revenue distribution model and the gap between the front and the rest will close.