Formula 1 2019 - General Discussion Thread

Frank Bullitt

TCP/IP wrote: »

Either way it’s great he is gone. Kubica has no business been in a actual race seat.

I was of the this opinion until recently.

This is a man who's way of living was thrown on its head 8 years ago. His comeback hasn't been great at all, but he gets my respect in buckets for coming back from a life changing injury like that.

He also has Williams only point this year, but it's the right decision for him to leave.

I could see Hulk being an option for Williams, if he doesn't demand too much money.

BDI

mickdw wrote: »

No top driver looming to win a championship will take a seat beside le clerc.
Hulk would be a great option I think.

Perez, reliable, does his job every week. Has talent.
Perfect number two provided he doesn’t decide he is number one and crash leclerc off the track every week

Inviere

BDI wrote: »

Perez, reliable, does his job every week. Has talent.
Perfect number two provided he doesn’t decide he is number one and crash leclerc off the track every week

Perez? Always strikes me as a hot-head who has issues when a team mate gets the better of him. Whoever takes the seat will likely have to agree to being a #2, Danny Ric might not like that, and might be more up Hulk's street?

BDI

Hulk was Perez’s number 2, so was Ocon, Stroll and old Button.
He is hitting his last few top level years I think he deserves a good car for once.

He is abit hot headed but there’s no harm in abit of excitement now and again.

pjohnson

Did Perez not incinerate his Ferrari chances when he dumped their Academy to move to McLaren?

mickdw

BDI wrote: »

mickdw wrote: »

No top driver looming to win a championship will take a seat beside le clerc.
Hulk would be a great option I think.

Perez, reliable, does his job every week. Has talent.
Perfect number two provided he doesn’t decide he is number one and crash leclerc off the track every week

Ya. He would be a reasonable choice.
All joking aside, I don't think he would take to number 2 role too well.

flazio

I know we all assume because his dad owns the team, the seat is his as long as he wants it but is it actually official that Stroll is staying next year?

Cork Trucker

flazio wrote: »

I know we all assume because his dad owns the team, the seat is his as long as he wants it but is it actually official that Stroll is staying next year?

https://beyondtheflag.com/2019/08/30/formula-1-lance-stroll-confirmed-racing-point-2020/

Lance Stroll has been confirmed at Racing Point for the 2020 Formula 1 season, as expected given the fact that his father co-owns the team.
Lance Stroll, whose father Lawrence bought him a seat with Williams for $80 million for the 2017 Formula 1 season, is set to return to SportPesa Racing Point, the team co-owned by his father, through at least the 2020 season.

El_Duderino 09

Gintonious wrote: »

I was of the this opinion until recently.

This is a man who's way of living was thrown on its head 8 years ago. His comeback hasn't been great at all, but he gets my respect in buckets for coming back from a life changing injury like that.

He also has Williams only point this year, but it's the right decision for him to leave.

I could see Hulk being an option for Williams, if he doesn't demand too much money.

That's a fair assessment of kubica. Respecting him for his recover and acknowledging his lack of pace are two separate things.

I think hulk is on a really decent wage. He was taken on by Renault as team leader c. $3-4m ive read. He's not on anything near Dric's money but Williams might be expecting a pay driver who brings $10m to the team. Paying Hulk might be outside their business model.

Cork Trucker

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

That's a fair assessment of kubica. Respecting him for his recover and acknowledging his lack of pace are two separate things.

I think hulk is on a really decent wage. He was taken on by Renault as team leader c. $3-4m ive read. He's not on anything near Dric's money but Williams might be expecting a pay driver who brings $10m to the team. Paying Hulk might be outside their business model.

I don't think Williams can afford to pay a driver to be in one of their cars, not for a long time at least, Mercedes got Russell the drive, his engines are free as a result. They pay for the engines in the second car as was mentioned here recently, the second driver's funding probably pays for those.

Kubica linked to both Haas & Racing point in a similar role to how he started out with Williams, is he possibly looking at a Haas seat in 2021 as there's none at RP for the next 3 years at least. Orlen are standing by Kubica even after today's announcement. We still don't know what Renault seen to say no, apparently it was his decision to quit Williams, i look forward to the next chapter in his career. He is a champion for people with disabilities looking to race in F1, Monger might be the next one, but disability certainly shouldn't exclude a driver. While RK was off the pace the car was equally a dog.

chicorytip

Kubica has behaved with dignity and has not driven too badly, considering his injury. A testing or reserve role at another team might still lead to an opportunity of a race seat in the future. It would be interesting to see how he would go in a competitive car. The Williams is hopeless. I think Haas made the correct decision to retain Grosjean. He has real talent and speed and, more often than not, delivers when it counts. Magnussen, on the other hand, is a complete liability. Hulkenberg would be a huge improvement on him. Raikkonen, also, I must mention, should no longer be on the grid. His day has long since passed. Alonso, too, is finished for good in F1 - I hope.

AMKC

I think Hulkenberg would be perfect for Williams as he has lots of experience and could help them out of the mess they are in but I also think unless Williams were to improve it would be a backwards step for him. It would be great to see him in a Ferrari even if it was as a number 2 and only for one year just so he could get to stand on the podium maybe even win one race and get a few poles.

I think Vettel needs to get pole and win in Singapore and he can do just needs to believe in himself. Any more big mistakes like the last race and he might not have any choice but to retire.

El_Duderino 09

chicorytip wrote: »

Kubica has behaved with dignity and has not driven too badly, considering his injury. A testing or reserve role at another team might still lead to an opportunity of a race seat in the future. It would be interesting to see how he would go in a competitive car. The Williams is hopeless.

There is no considering his injury when measuring his speed. There's just the fact that he's not very fast anymore.

I really, really, really don't get the argument that he would be better in a better car. In better car he would still be about half a second off Russell's pace. He's consistently and solidly miles off Russell's pace. That's a terminal gap between teammates. The only similar gaps between teammates was Gasley and he's been dropped..

The question of whether you like kubica is different from whether how fast he is. I'm pretty sure that if he came across as an azzhole, people wouldn't be making excuses for him being so slow.

He's probably a good lad and he did great to recover.

He's not a good driver anymore and there's absolutely no way that he will ever get a drive in f1 again.

AMKC

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

There is no considering his injury when measuring his speed. There's just the fact that he's not very fast anymore.

I really, really, really don't get the argument that he would be better in a better car. In better car he would still be about half a second off Russell's pace. He's consistently and solidly miles off Russell's pace. That's a terminal gap between teammates. The only similar gaps between teammates was Gasley and he's been dropped..

The question of whether you like kubica is different from whether how fast he is. I'm pretty sure that if he came across as an azzhole, people wouldn't be making excuses for him being so slow.

He's probably a good lad and he did great to recover.

He's not a good driver anymore and there's absolutely no way that he will ever get a drive in f1 again.

That last line is very harsh. I wonder how many of us could just sit in an F1 car and drive it never mind after nearly losing a hand and an arm and he is driving an F1 car now. Not a lot I would think. I think Kubica is a good driver he just is not a fast driver anymore.

El_Duderino 09

AMKC wrote: »

That last line is very harsh. I wonder how many of us could just sit in an F1 car and drive it never mind after nearly losing a hand and an arm and he is driving an F1 car now. Not a lot I would think. I think Kubica is a good driver he just is not a fast driver anymore.

It's true though. It's not a comment on his personality or likability or his determination to recover from his injury. It doesn't mention those things because none of those things are relevant to how good he is right now. Right now he's a pay driver in a team who needs money. And the facts that he's very slow compared to his rookie teammate, is not in any impacted by the him being a nice guy.

It's very interesting that every single time someone says he's slow, they have to prostrate themselves to say "and sure he's great and he's lovely and handsome and I hear he's actually Polish jesus. And shur, he's basically a 5 time world champion but the accident robbed him".

Fact is that he's just not very fast. He has the biggest performance gap to his teammate who is a rookie. That suggests he's probably the slowest driver on the grid.

Cork Trucker

https://twitter.com/rich_energy/status/1174728707535249408?s=21

Charlie-Bravo

Rich Energy: The gift that keeps on giving.....

pjohnson

Rich Energy are the crusty auld lad that is screaming about aliens outside the nightclub at 2am.

El_Duderino 09

pjohnson wrote: »

Rich Energy are the crusty auld lad that is screaming about aliens outside the nightclub at 2am.

Their whole game is getting media attention. And to be fair, they're great at that. Absolutely no class but what does that matter?

Cork Trucker

Has anyone ever tried Rich Energy?

uchimata83

Cork Trucker wrote: »

Has anyone ever tried Rich Energy?

I've never even seen it on sale

El_Duderino 09

Cork Trucker wrote: »

Has anyone ever tried Rich Energy?

Yeah one of the lads bought a crate online for our trip to Silverstone. It's an energy drink like all the others.

The business model is interesting though. It's marketing itself as a Super classy premium brand. It only sells in exclusive places like Grosvner casinos and the likes.

flexcon

uchimata83 wrote: »

I've never even seen it on sale

I bought a pack on Amazon. Just for the laugh. I now have it sitting proudly on my desk at work as a token of what was.

Better than any souvenir

Frank Bullitt

Cork Trucker wrote: »

Has anyone ever tried Rich Energy?

There is a thread on the Autosport forum that goes on about this. It's quite the read.

Darkglasses

No judgement on what anyone else does, but even if I ever saw it (which I haven't), I wouldn't buy because the guy is such a gargantuan wanker.

AMKC

Has anyone here ever drank a can of Rich Energy and Did it make you feel any richer or classier after it? I heard it tastes like a bad can of Red Bull not that I like that stuff either.

Cork Trucker

AMKC wrote: »

Has anyone here ever drank a can of Rich Energy and Did it make you feel any richer or classier after it? I heard it tastes like a bad can of Red Bull not that I like that stuff either.

I did ask that earlier, the only 2 i have tried are Red Bull & Monster on the graveyard shift. I certainly was indeed flying without wings though

El_Duderino 09

AMKC wrote: »

Has anyone here ever drank a can of Rich Energy and Did it make you feel any richer or classier after it? I heard it tastes like a bad can of Red Bull not that I like that stuff either.

It's exactly like all the other energy drinks. We're inclined to think red bull is the best because it's the biggest but I'd struggle to pick any of them in a line-up. Exactly the same as all the rest. Exactly the same.

It's a market create out of nothing. It's just about advertising. Carabao energy drinks did exactly the same thing by sponsoring the Carabao cup before they ever sold drinks.

AMKC

Just came across this on FB

https://www.omaze.com/products/aston-martin-dbs-superleggera-red-bull?utm_source=social-facebook.com&utm_medium=partnerships&utm_content=RedBullRacing&utm_campaign=products.aston-martin-dbs-superleggera-red-bull&utm_term=PitchSTC&oa_h=iwhbeb&fbclid=IwAR10_ULNgkd9CT33dnXW_ZSIsB30ShRBxzdlPZGoMFjvuvf7LI1s-KwQQ4E

Be a nice prize to win. Some car but I think you would have to sell it if you were to win it here.

Cork Trucker

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

It's exactly like all the other energy drinks. We're inclined to think red bull is the best because it's the biggest but I'd struggle to pick any of them in a line-up. Exactly the same as all the rest. Exactly the same.

The only thing you're guaranteed from drinking them long enough is heart failure or diabetes.