Formula 1 2019 - Round 21 - Abu Dhabi

Harika

FInal round of the season

First session - ended with Vettel crash. Bottas on top
Second session - 13:00
Quali - Saturday 13:00
Race - Sunday 13:10

skipper_G

Williams have Sirotkin on standby to cover for Russell, who is apparently unwell

H3llR4iser

Lewis drove the session with the number 1 on the car. He's going to revert to the usual 44 for the rest of the week end.

I absolutely despise the "driver-bound" (read: merchandising dream) numbering system; There should always be a number 1 car on the grid unless the WDC retires. Also, I'd really love for numbers to be permanently assignet to teams, not driver - as they have history. Ferrari running 27 and 28, McLaren with 7 and 8, Williams 5 and 6, Mercedes would inherit 3 and 4 from the Tyrrell team they are the remnants of, Renault 14 and 15, Alfa 22 and 23 and so on. Team running the WDC takes 1 and 2 and their "normal" numbers take a break for the season.

pjohnson

skipper_G wrote: »

Williams have Sirotkin on standby to cover for Russell, who is apparently unwell

Would have thought Ocon but guess he has moved to Renault this week (running for them in the Pirelli tests).

Killinator

H3llR4iser wrote: »

Lewis drove the session with the number 1 on the car. He's going to revert to the usual 44 for the rest of the week end.

I absolutely despise the "driver-bound" (read: merchandising dream) numbering system; There should always be a number 1 car on the grid unless the WDC retires. Also, I'd really love for numbers to be permanently assignet to teams, not driver - as they have history. Ferrari running 27 and 28, McLaren with 7 and 8, Williams 5 and 6, Mercedes would inherit 3 and 4 from the Tyrrell team they are the remnants of, Renault 14 and 15, Alfa 22 and 23 and so on. Team running the WDC takes 1 and 2 and their "normal" numbers take a break for the season.

Not necessarily a bad idea but it wouldn't be any less a 'merchandising dream' then the current situation.
The shirts and other merch would just put a driver name with the number anyway.
So instead of a Mercedes t-shirt with 'Hamilton 44' or just '44' you'll just have a shirt that says 'Hamilton 1' or '1'.
Even if that number doesn't change for a few years the merch changes a small bit every year anyway and like football shirts most fans want the newest and 'best' version anyway.
I personally like the current system.

pjohnson

Bottas has had to have a whole new engine again today. Only the electronics component survived out of yesterdays new engine.

the_pen_turner

pjohnson wrote: »

Bottas has had to have a whole new engine again today. Only the electronics component survived out of yesterdays new engine.

They may as well change it all . They are getting penalties anyway

seamusk84

Hate seeing Haas so far back. Hope they can do something with the strategy tomorrow!

skipper_G

seamusk84 wrote: »

Hate seeing Haas so far back. Hope they can do something with the strategy tomorrow!

They were 4th and 6th in one of the practice sessions, and today like a different car. Grosjean sounded beyond frustrated. They don't seem to understand the car at all

Cork Trucker

H3llR4iser wrote: »

Lewis drove the session with the number 1 on the car. He's going to revert to the usual 44 for the rest of the week end.

I absolutely despise the "driver-bound" (read: merchandising dream) numbering system; There should always be a number 1 car on the grid unless the WDC retires. Also, I'd really love for numbers to be permanently assignet to teams, not driver - as they have history. Ferrari running 27 and 28, McLaren with 7 and 8, Williams 5 and 6, Mercedes would inherit 3 and 4 from the Tyrrell team they are the remnants of, Renault 14 and 15, Alfa 22 and 23 and so on. Team running the WDC takes 1 and 2 and their "normal" numbers take a break for the season.

That was the pre 1996 numbering system. Had no issue with it either. I hate this stupid system where each driver keeps the same number as it is merchandising. The 1996-2013 system worked fine as well, but as always, Bernard Charles Ecclestone seem the money

AMKC

skipper_G wrote: »

They were 4th and 6th in one of the practice sessions, and today like a different car. Grosjean sounded beyond frustrated. They don't seem to understand the car at all

I actually thought Grosjean was going to cry. He almost looked like he was.

Cool_CM

LeClerc under investigation already for a significant difference between the declared amount of fuel and what the car actually had when checked.

ctrl-alt-delete

Cool_CM wrote: »

LeClerc under investigation already for a significant difference between the declared amount of fuel and what the car actually had when checked.

Stewards have said they won't investigate it until after the race.

ctrl-alt-delete

That was an impressive fly over.

Cool_CM

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

That was an impressive fly over.

Ridiculously impressive!

This is it

Good from LeClerc, Vettel all over Max

Cool_CM

This is it wrote: »

Good from LeClerc, Vettel all over Max

Must be burning though that extra fuel

Cool_CM

"Technical issues" with DRS?

nails1

Feels like the least exciting race of the year

PsychoPete

Thought Kubica was going to get sent into the air during that tap

Cool_CM

Excellent overtake by Max!

PsychoPete

Ballsy move going wheel to wheel with Max

2011

Yeah, Max is the most exciting to happen to F1 in a long time.

Inviere

This is beyond bad.

Cool_CM

Any race weekend threads not gone beyond 1 page before?

Harika

Not the most exciting way to end the season, but at least the midfield scraps were good

Jeff2

Leclerc keeps 3rd place and Ferrari find €50k over fuel.

Cool_CM

Ferrari fined €50,000 for the fuel discrepancy. LeClerc keeps his podium

BDI

Another great race from Perez. Overtake on last lap to get to 7th. Not even shown on the highlights.

jammiedodgers

Perez ovetakes Norris and Sainz overtakes Hulkenburg but we get to see Lewis' finish to the line all by himself :pac:

AMKC

Just after watching the highlights now. Well that was a boring race. Am glad I did not sit through 2 hours of that. If Max was not in F1 I think it would be in even more trouble.

Bring on 2020 and hopefully a much better season that is also much more competitive.

Frank Bullitt

AMKC wrote: »

Just after watching the highlights now. Well that was a boring race. Am glad I did not sit through 2 hours of that. If Max was not in F1 I think it would be in even more trouble.

Bring on 2020 and hopefully a much better season that is also much more competitive.

Pray to all the gods for this.

Glad 2019 is over.

H3llR4iser

jammiedodgers wrote: »

Perez ovetakes Norris and Sainz overtakes Hulkenburg but we get to see Lewis' finish to the line all by himself :pac:

I'm trying to figure out what kind of wrong Sainz did to the camera operators, it's becoming a meme at this point - "Sainz performs spectacular maneuver/overtake and the cameras weren't showing it"

Inviere

AMKC wrote: »

Just after watching the highlights now. Well that was a boring race. Am glad I did not sit through 2 hours of that. If Max was not in F1 I think it would be in even more trouble.

Bring on 2020 and hopefully a much better season that is also much more competitive.

It was an absolute shocker from where I was sitting Almost a minute separating the top three, very poor coverage of the midfield battles, and it was wall to wall tire management for 55 laps. Horrific stuff. If you sat ten people down to watch it, who'd never watched an F1 race in their lives, I'd say not one of them would have enjoyed it.

Top Dog

Inviere wrote: »

Horrific stuff. If you sat ten people down to watch it, who'd never watched an F1 race in their lives, I'd say not one of them would have enjoyed it.

And none would ever watch it again. And it'd be hard to blame them.

Inviere

Top Dog wrote: »

And none would ever watch it again. And it'd be hard to blame them.

Agreed. While putting F1 behind a paywall has been catastrophic for viewing numbers, it's not entirely to blame either - there are other factors. Godawful soul-less tracks like Abu Dhabi, with tires that need to be constantly minded haven't helped at all either.

"F1's global television audience has declined from 600 million viewers in 2008 to 390 million in 2016," revealed investment bank J.P. Morgan in a report last month. "Part of this was driven by a move to exclusive Pay-TV as well as (Chinese broadcaster) CCTV dropping F1 in 2013. However, we believe some of the decrease is due to waning fan interest, exacerbated by a lack of on-track competition. Further declines in TV audiences would lower the value of F1 to broadcasters and sponsors and could slow revenue growth."

https://www.pitpass.com/65661/Broadcasters-the-next-big-challenge-for-F1

Cork Trucker

Inviere wrote: »

Agreed. While putting F1 behind a paywall has been catastrophic for viewing numbers, it's not entirely to blame either - there are other factors. Godawful soul-less tracks like Abu Dhabi, with tires that need to be constantly minded haven't helped at all either.



https://www.pitpass.com/65661/Broadcasters-the-next-big-challenge-for-F1

Waning fan interest and almost all coverage hidden behind a pay wall