2019 Formula 1 Racing Thread

[MikeFleming]

Time to get the 2019 season rolling!

[MikeFleming]

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/480/cpsprodpb/A6CF/production/_105430724_gettykimiraikkonensauber.jpg
Kimi Raikkonen will drive for Alfa Romeo in 2019 after leaving Ferrari at the end of last season


Sauber will be rebranded as Alfa Romeo Racing from the start of the 2019 season.

Alfa Romeo was last on the Formula 1 grid as a constructor in 1985 but returned to the sport last season as Sauber's title sponsor.The Swiss team say the ownership and management structure remains unchanged but the Sauber name will disappear.Sauber has been a fixture in F1 since in 1993, when team boss Peter Sauber made the switch from sports car racing.Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion, and Antonio Giovinazzi will race for the rebranded outfit, which finished eighth in the constructors' championship last season and will again be powered by Ferrari engines in 2019.Team principal Frederic Vasseur said: "After initiating the collaboration with our title sponsor Alfa Romeo in 2018, our team made fantastic progress on the technical, commercial and sporting side. This has given a boost of motivation to each team member."We aim to continue developing every sector of our team while allowing our passion for racing, technology and design to drive us forward."The Italian car manufacturer dominated the early years of F1, with Giuseppe Farina winning the inaugural world title driving an Alfa in 1950, before Juan Manuel Fangio claimed the first of his five titles racing for the team a year later.Alfa will roll out their 2019 car on the first morning of pre-season testing, which gets under way in Barcelona on 18 February.

Analysis


Chief F1 writer - Andrew BensonThe renaming of the Sauber team as Alfa Romeo may on the one hand be a rebranding exercise for marketing purposes, but it is also a seminal moment in Formula 1 history.It marks the first time an F1 team will be solely named after the iconic Italian manufacturer since 1985 - and the first time the Sauber name will not be on the grid since 1993.Both entities have carved a unique place in motorsport history.Alfa Romeo were a major force in grand prix racing between the wars, spawned Ferrari and won the very first F1 world championship in 1950, even if their history in the sport has been somewhat less illustrious after they faded away in the mid-1950s.Sauber, for their part, first entered F1 as a proxy for Mercedes, with whom they had previously had a successful period in endurance racing.After Mercedes joined McLaren in 1995, Sauber went it alone, before joining forces with BMW from 2006-9, and then becoming independent again. They had just weathered a difficult financial period before heading back up the grid in 2018 after the Fiat Group made investment in the team following the decision for the cars to carry the name of its Alfa Romeo brand.Those links have just become stronger still, and they suggest the now-renamed Alfa Romeo team could continue the upward progress seen last year most obviously in the starring performances of Charles Leclerc, who is now at Ferrari.Politically, it is also an important move. It further enhances the team's status as a Ferrari B team - already evidenced by Leclerc's promotion and the presence of Italian Antonio Giovinazzi in the car this year alongside ex-Ferrari veteran Kimi Raikkonen.In addition to Ferrari's strong relationship with Haas, that increases the company's strength as negotiations over the sport's future beyond 2020 enter a critical phase this year.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/47089294

[MikeFleming]

Testing in Spain:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/live/formula1/47174881

Ferrari *finally* fires/replaces Maurizio Arrivabene:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jan/07/ferrri-principal-maurizio-arrivabene-mattia-binotto
( YEAH!! )

[Art Vandelay]

Does anyone pay for the F1 streaming service? I know it got off to a really rocky start and I never heard if it improved.

[MikeFleming]

I am not a subscriber.

[MikeFleming]

A start to the new F1 season (first race next weekend - Australia) if you have NetFLIX. A series titled "Formula 1: Drive to Survive"

Preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCMDH_at1_o
(https://email.noao.edu/SRedirect/29CCD142/www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCMDH_at1_o)

[MikeFleming]

Charlie Whiting: F1 race director dies aged 66 on eve of season-opener in Melbourne

https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/47564762

Sigh.

Who will reprimand & punish the teams now??

[blueboss]

Prediction: Hammy wins driver's championship.....again. Mercedes wins the constructor's. I don't think Ferrari is capable of getting out of their own way at this point. Change my mind.

[MikeFleming]

Ferrari needs to fire everyone currently on staff. To punish them for not winning more.

[Laredo]

A start to the new F1 season (first race next weekend - Australia) if you have NetFLIX. A series titled "Formula 1: Drive to Survive"

Preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCMDH_at1_o
(https://email.noao.edu/SRedirect/29CCD142/www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCMDH_at1_o)

Dammit Mike! I was never into F1 (no time). Binge watched this, now I'm hooked.
Gotta a lot of catching up to do. Still haven't seen any 2019 races (no spoilers!)

Question for y'all - how are the 10 teams determined?

[Meotchh]

Hazards for cars & recovery cranes alike in Baku today. How could they not think to weld the manhole cover shut? It also takes a rookie to drive directly over a manhole cover.

[MikeFleming]

Dammit Mike! I was never into F1 (no time). Binge watched this, now I'm hooked.
Gotta a lot of catching up to do. Still haven't seen any 2019 races (no spoilers!)

Question for y'all - how are the 10 teams determined? Not too long back there were twelve (12) teams - with two (2) cars each. The current rules limit the qnty of cars to two (2) per team while there, afaik, is no limit to the number of teams. As long as the teams can qualify using the 107% rule and commit to competing in at least one full season.

There may be a limit of 24 of cars on track at one time, which would effectively limit the qnty of teams but I do not know if such a rule exists.

[Raven855]

It’s been an interesting season so far. I was hoping for a Ferrari resurgence but it’s not happening yet. At this point I’m expecting RB to start beating the Ferraris.

[MikeFleming]

... I was hoping for a Ferrari resurgence but it’s not happening yet. At this point I’m expecting RB to start beating the Ferraris. Yep. The leader is *still* Merc, while Ferrari is now capable of competing head-to-head with [and not beating!] Red Bull.

Not even close to "...bringing it to Mercedes."

Proving once again that bringing the Ferrari head boss to the track is not a winning strategy.

Sad.

[blueboss]

Mattia Binotto: Ok, just for shits and giggles, let's keep the faster car behind the slower one until we're absolutely sure he's really faster. Shouldn't take more than 3-5 laps.......

[MikeFleming]

Mattia Binotto: Ok, just for shits and giggles, let's keep the faster car behind the slower one until we're absolutely sure he's really faster. Shouldn't take more than 3-5 laps....... After watching Germany Qualifying today, I've concluded that Ferrari needs to fire the top ten (10) people again. It's clearly a management problem.

I hear Jean Todt is available. And I'm sure Michael Schumacher (in his current vegetative state) would have more success with Ferrari than the current "management". Just sayin'!

Sad.

[Raven855]

It ended up being a pretty interesting race! Ferrari made a good showing and I wish the race hadn’t been shortened as I believe Vettle would have caught Verstappen. Verstappen would have run him off the road, but that’s another discussion. Mercedes made a really poor showing at their home event. Bottas is really struggling with the car and I see him loosing out to Leclerc, Verstappen and Vettle pretty much the rest of the season.

[MikeFleming]

Definitely a great race to watch.

I'm wondering if LeClerc will even be with Ferrari at the end of the season. He shows great promise and is certainly faster than Vettel in sprinting, but makes too many expensive mistakes.

[Raven855]

Except for this race, LeClerc has been Ferraris’ only excitement this season. Who would replace him? I hope things turn around soon. I also want Haas to get fixed, unfortunately their fix is to replace their drivers. Three years with the same problem, what is Gunther thinking?

[MikeFleming]

Haas is now - at least - getting into Q3. That's a major improvement over past years.

Ro-Gro needs to "retire". IMHO.

[Raven855]

Well it was an interesting race in Hungary. Although there were only 4 cars that did not get lapped, two were Ferraris. The season break is now and the next two races should actually favor the Ferrari.

[MikeFleming]

... and the next two races should actually favor the Ferrari. Haven't we heard that many, many times already?

Points so far:

Drivers:
Lewis Hamilton GBR MERCEDES 250
Valtteri Bottas FIN MERCEDES 188
Max Verstappen NED RED BULL RACING HONDA 181
Sebastian Vettel GER FERRARI 156
Charles Leclerc MON FERRARI 132
Pierre Gasly FRA RED BULL RACING HONDA 63
Carlos Sainz ESP MCLAREN RENAULT 58
Kimi Räikkönen FIN ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 31
Daniil Kvyat RUS SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 27
Lando Norris GBR MCLAREN RENAULT 24
Daniel Ricciardo AUS RENAULT 22
Lance Stroll CAN RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 18
Kevin Magnussen DEN HAAS FERRARI 18
Nico Hulkenberg GER RENAULT 17
Alexander Albon THA SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 16
Sergio Perez MEX RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 13
Romain Grosjean FRA HAAS FERRARI 8
Antonio Giovinazzi ITA ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 1
Robert Kubica POL WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1
George Russell GBR WILLIAMS MERCEDES 0

Constructors:
MERCEDES 438
FERRARI 288
RED BULL RACING HONDA 244
MCLAREN RENAULT 82
SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 43
RENAULT 39
ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 32
RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 31
HAAS FERRARI 26
WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1

[Raven855]

I think at this point all you can say is the Mercedes is hard to beat. Bottas is a B- driver that shines sometimes. Will he get better in the second half? Don’t think so, in fact I see him self destructing. Hamilton can’t carry the team forever. The race for second is interesting. Vettel and LeClerc seem to be mistake prone, but the car seems to encourage it. They get comfortable in the car and then it bites them. If they can get the car under control both drivers will do well. Can they do it in time? Don’t think so. If Gassley doesn’t improve RB will be a third place team. RB shot itself in the foot with their love affair with Verstappen. They ran off Ricciardo. Come to think of it, I’m surprised they haven’t replaced Glassley.

[MikeFleming]

Hungary was definitely an exciting race to watch - much more than the previous rain event.

And TWO McLarens in the top 10? What is the world coming to?

[MikeFleming]

Another season where Ferrari finally shows their strength and weakness. The actually start to improve late in the season - again - after Mercedes has won both championships.

Ferrari desperately needs new management.