F1 2019 (Not the game) Spoiler-All

EverythingsTentative wrote:

I came here earlier to post about it but didn't know where to start.

Pretty much. I don't have anything coherent or insightful to say, so here are my highlights:

  • Verstappen
  • Holy smokes turn four
  • Ricciardo
  • Red Bull won a race before Ferrari this season
  • Poor Alonso
  • "Honestly, what are we doing? Racing or ping-pong?"
  • "Apparently he said I was a bit aggressive on the radio. Typical."

Fantastic weekend, from qualifying through to the post-race. Mrs. Gravey was on her feet for the last lap. It's usually no contest for me when there's F1 and World RX on the same weekend for which will be most exciting, so this was refreshing. And the only slight little tiny change it needed was for both Mercedes drivers to take each other out.

The race at the front was so good that they didn't show any racing in the back. I guess that's what I asked for though.

I don't know who the announcer was that said it, but it's like teammates were magnets to each other. Mercedes had there little run in, Grosjean was taken out racing with Gutierrez, I think Sauber were making contact with each other.

I totally think that Rosberg was at fault and he intentionally pushed Hamilton off the track. I get "Racing", but he knew he was going too slow. He should have just taken the position loss and tried to gain it back. It was the first lap of the race after all. It's his own fault for forgetting to change his engine setting.

I don't know why but I have a hard time liking Verstappen. It's just something about how he got the position with Red Bull that rubs me the wrong way. I think it's a little narrow sighted by the RB team. What do I know, though. It looks like it was the right decision to make.

It does have to suck to be Ferrari right now. Everyone thinks you are the number two team, but when you really get the chance to prove it you drop the ball. Then again they did have more drivers on the podium which is a victory too. Maybe?

That was a really exciting race. I hope the rest of the season is half as exciting as this one.

Magnussen and Palmer had a small incident as well, not a collision, but Palmer had to cut the chicane to avoid one. Magnussen took full blame.

The ROS / HAM incident is more complex. Rosberg defended properly, albeit slowly because his car was in the wrong mode, and Hamilton didn't back out. If the drivers were being more cautious, Rosberg would not have defended as aggressively, and Hamilton would have backed off before the door was closed entirely. As it was, Hamilton wanted his P1 back, and Rosberg wanted to keep it, thus the racing incident.

NSMike wrote:

The ROS / HAM incident is more complex. Rosberg defended properly, albeit slowly because his car was in the wrong mode, and Hamilton didn't back out. If the drivers were being more cautious, Rosberg would not have defended as aggressively, and Hamilton would have backed off before the door was closed entirely. As it was, Hamilton wanted his P1 back, and Rosberg wanted to keep it, thus the racing incident.

I just feel like Rosberg is the on that made too many mistakes: wrong engine setting, defending late, defending too hard when you are going too slow, not leaving a cars width, making two moves. I don't think Hamilton really thought that Rosberg was going to push him into the grass when he continued to close.

He didn't defend late or make more than one move. The stewards determined it was just a racing incident. Multiple moves or defending too late would have resulted in a penalty.

It looked like to me he did. His first move was to go right to close the door, the 2nd was to continue going right until there was no cars width of space left for Hamilton. I think he defended late since Hamilton's wing was already beside him. I'm not saying I'm right. It's just how I interpreted it. I'm sure the stewards got it right.

DP for double moves.

It was a fluid defensive move to the right. Watch this video for a front view of the whole thing:

I just learned about Pastor Maldonado. Was the race that he won the only one he finished?

No, he's finished plenty. He's just got a reputation for crashing a lot.

He's not even the worst in F1 history.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr...

The things I was reading/watching implied that he intentionally took people out as a means of overtaking. Is that accurate?

That doesn't seem to fit Pastor's personality, no. Also, if it was his strategy, it was a bad one, because he almost always took himself out, too. Schumacher, Prost and Senna were known for taking out rivals for championship points, though.

Well good thing Q3 was as exciting as it was, because that was one anti-climactically well-behaved race. I wanted to see a car as siege weapon! Well done again, Perez, especially earning his P3 on the track (although I'm not sure Raikkonen's penalty was fair).

Any thoughts on the radio ban? The point is to make the drivers drive, so great—let them drive, but if they need tech support let them get that, rather than fiddle with their switches instead of driving.

Gravey wrote:

Well good thing Q3 was as exciting as it was, because that was one anti-climactically well-behaved race. I wanted to see a car as siege weapon!

And I thought Canada was boring. Man, that was a long 51 lap race. With all the talk about the narrow section and how "someone" was going to touch the wall during P2 and qualifying I was expecting something. Some close calls, rubs, trebucheting? Something.

Gravey wrote:

Well done again, Perez, especially earning his P3 on the track (although I'm not sure Raikkonen's penalty was fair).

I'm really starting to pull for Perez. It could be that such a small team is actually having some real success, though. He also seems to be a real likable guy.

Gravey wrote:

Any thoughts on the radio ban? The point is to make the drivers drive, so great—let them drive, but if they need tech support let them get that, rather than fiddle with their switches instead of driving.

My wife was asking me about this too. I know the intent of the ban is make it so drivers are driving the car and not the team, but...I dunno. It seems ridiculous to think that the team can't say, "Hey you need to flip this switch. It's off for some reason."

It looks like the European GP was scheduled to conflict with the 24 Hours of Le Mans because so many F1 drivers were showing interest in participating in Le Mans.

http://blackflag.jalopnik.com/f1-dri...

I assumed that the European GP was always scheduled the same weekend as Le Mans. Similar to how Monaco and the Indianapolis 500 are always the same weekend.

Yeah, it was a deliberate and arrogant bit of bullsh*t. And who had the race that weekend that everyone talked about? Props to Vettel for bringing it up in the press conference. I'm starting to like this new, relaxed Seb.

Just waiting for Bernie to pine for the fjords.

Edit: On that last note, I was browsing /r/formula1 and found this bit of what-if-F1-keeps-going-the-way-it-is in a thread called Name a driver and the reply will be the best race the driver ever drove:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/MxinwHx.jpg)

I lol'ed.

There is no way that wasn't intentional.

I guess this is the wrecking for points thing Mike was walking about. It was good to actually see the two Mercs race each other for a change. Even if it was for only 2 turns.

EverythingsTentative wrote:

There is no way that wasn't intentional.

I guess this is the wrecking for points thing Mike was walking about. It was good to actually see the two Mercs race each other for a change. Even if it was for only 2 turns.

For sure. I think Rosberg was trying to do to Hamilton what Ham did to him in Canada—except Rosberg isn't good enough to pull it off. So that (not turning the wheel the whole way, and the brake-by-wire failure) explain turn one, but then there's Rosberg not letting Lewis back on the track.

I was thinking, before Austria, that Hamilton has seemed pretty blasé about trailing Rosberg. But now I think it's because he doesn't need to get too worked up about it. Rosberg is still showing he's not as good as Hamilton when they're wheel to wheel, and with a half a season left, Hamilton can just reel him in.

Rosberg could be a good underdog, but that, and his humourlessness and petulance, sure make him hard to root for.

Gravey wrote:

I was thinking, before Austria, that Hamilton has seemed pretty blasé about trailing Rosberg. But now I think it's because he doesn't need to get too worked up about it. Rosberg is still showing he's not as good as Hamilton when they're wheel to wheel, and with a half a season left, Hamilton can just reel him in.

That's the impression I got after this race. Hamilton seemed content to trail, but easily put the pressure on and passed as soon he had to.

Now that Hamilton is in the lead of the championship do you think anyone can catch him?

Personally, I think it will come down to when Hamilton has to take his engine penalty. If it plays out normally it will be very difficult for Rosberg.

Nico is trying desperately not to get too far into his own head. Whether or not he can challenge for the championship will rely greatly upon whether or not he succeeds.

Rumor a few weeks ago was that Hamilton would take 2 new engines at Spa to minimize the number of races he would have to take penalties for, even if the penalty at one race will be greater. If he does that, it's extremely likely that he will not be on the top step at Spa. I would like to see one of the Red Bull boys on the top step at Spa, to be honest, but the track actually suits Mercedes more than Red Bull, so we'll see.

I thought Hamilton was going to have a tough time just getting into the lead. But maybe if he ends the season the way he started it?

What should I expect out of Esteban Ocon? Just another guy in a car that can't get out of the rear?

The Manor chassis is a big stumbling block for any driver. I think Wehrlein is a better driver than that car shows him to be. I'm not sure Ocon can overcome the car. We'll see.

NSMike wrote:

The Manor chassis is a big stumbling block for any driver. I think Wehrlein is a better driver than that car shows him to be. I'm not sure Ocon can overcome the car. We'll see.

I was really impressed that Wehrlein got a point in Austria. It made me come to the same conclusion that he could do a lot better if the car could compete.

NSMike wrote:

Rumor a few weeks ago was that Hamilton would take 2 new engines at Spa to minimize the number of races he would have to take penalties for, even if the penalty at one race will be greater. If he does that, it's extremely likely that he will not be on the top step at Spa. I would like to see one of the Red Bull boys on the top step at Spa, to be honest, but the track actually suits Mercedes more than Red Bull, so we'll see.

I think as a tactic that would be a good one, means less worries over the rest of the season. I would imagine the best choice of race to start last would either be one that Mercedes would dominate giving him the best chance of making a lot of places or one where Nico would be less likely to win (i.e Singapore).

Not convinced by Ocon, looks a little inexperienced to me. Guess he has great backers. I actually think Haryanto was doing a good job, shame his money ran out.

jonners99 wrote:

I actually think Haryanto was doing a good job, shame his money ran out.

How does this work? Was the sponsor paying Manor to pay Haryanto? I don't quite understand what's going on here.

EverythingsTentative wrote:
jonners99 wrote:

I actually think Haryanto was doing a good job, shame his money ran out.

How does this work? Was the sponsor paying Manor to pay Haryanto? I don't quite understood what's going on here.

Haryanto got a seat if his sponsors pay the team sufficiently. They literally pay for him to have a seat in F1. It's not that uncommon with the small teams.

drdoak wrote:
EverythingsTentative wrote:
jonners99 wrote:

I actually think Haryanto was doing a good job, shame his money ran out.

How does this work? Was the sponsor paying Manor to pay Haryanto? I don't quite understood what's going on here.

Haryanto got a seat if his sponsors pay the team sufficiently. They literally pay for him to have a seat in F1. It's not that uncommon with the small teams.

Okay. So they are willing to sponsor only if a certain driver is in the seat. If the sponsor runs out of money then he is out of the seat? If Manor change driver then they lose the sponsor?

Basically yes, his sponsors (government) paid for him to race the first half of the season but then couldn't fund the rest of the year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/...

Does seem to happen a fair amount in the smaller teams. Sometimes you will have one driver (Lotus 2015 example: Maldonado) paying for a seat so that they can pay another driver (Grosjean).

Off-topic, but F1 2016 (the game) looks amazing.

Back on-topic, I think I could watch a parallel F1 season that was solely the logistics side of the teams. I watched the F1 channel's video of the motorhomes...

...which meant wanting to know what they look like inside...

...and then how they actually build these things in three days.

"Motorhome" is a stretch; one YouTube comment called them pre-fab mobile offices, less complex than they seem. Basically stacking containers like they're Lego. Still impressive though.

Each team's YouTube channels are great resources for more behind-the-scenes stuff like this.