Not a fan of street circuits or in fact F1 much anymore but Baku looked like an interesting old city to visit?
^ About 30 seconds after that he was in the jacuzzi with a beer!
Not a fan of street circuits or in fact F1 much anymore but Baku looked like an interesting old city to visit?
This and crank up the volume (after 38 sec). Play it loud, very loud.
It's the first of 9 European GPs this weekend as the F1 circus makes its way to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the scene of Ferrari's dominance during the test sessions in February. The Italians have an engine upgrade due in Spain and this may well assist them in halting the German juggernaut, however Mercedes have dominated the circuit for the last few years with 6 consecutive poles, 5 from 6 front row lock-outs and 4 from the last 5 race winners. Add all this to the fact that 25 of the 28 races held at this circuit have been won from the front row then Ferrari really do appear to have a challenge on their hands - if their engine upgrade can get them on the front row then they may have a chance, if it doesn't...
Carlos Sainz Jnr will be looking to continue McLaren's form on home ground, Racing Point's Sergio Perez was 4th a couple of years ago, Haas tested well in Spain and George Russell's chassis has been repaired, and will be compensated for by the Baku F1 organisers, in time for tomorrow. Renault are having a shuffle of their technical staff with new appointments in both engine and chassis development, Red Bull's paddock Energy Station is to be replaced by their new "Holzhaus" and 2019 is to be the last year for Brasil's Interlagos, which I personally think is a real shame. For me the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, to give the circuit's full and proper name, is the spiritual end-of-season race even if it hasn't been the literal one for a few years, unfortunately money talks though and that was the motive to move to a new Tilke designed track in Rio.
I actually feel quite sad that Interlagos will be no more.
And......................stroll crashes another car
Russel drove the wheels off it, and guess what..........Stroll made it nine in a row
So has Hamilton slipped or has Bottas picked up his game?
Great drive by Botas. Lewis looked a bit subdued, but another lock out by Mercedes.
Ferrari fail once again.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
I watched the GP2 this morning, there was three laps of racing then they enabled DRS, after that it was push to pass, I hope the F1race isn’t like that.
I think at Barcelona DRS just ruins everything
HAM: nice victory. Good race. Congrats
Even throwing in the safety car couldn’t stop it looking like a precession, it really wasn’t an exciting race.
What happened with Norris and Stroll? Racing incident?
Yep:
...The Stewards believe that the driver of car 4 could have backed out of the attempted
overtake into turn 2 and also that the driver of car 18 might have been more aware of
the possibility that car 4 could be on his inside.
Accordingly, we believe that neither driver was “wholly or predominantly to blame” and
therefore in accordance with Article 38.2 a) of the Formula One Sporting Regulations,
“no penalty will be imposed”....
I was an avid F1 fan............................................... ..........................
There was a huge amount of rubber laid down on the grid. Most of it over the 2nd place position.
I wonder whether this helped Lewis's launch.
Not very exciting apart from lap 1 - but we cannot blame Mercedes for that. The other teams/drivers really do need to step up.
Its sobering to think the last time Ferrari won the WCC was in 2008 - that's 10 years ago.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Your lunchtime and/or bedtime analysis from Mark Hughes is now available here.
His eloquent and lucid description of the latest Mercedes aero upgrade utilising vortex generation put me in mind of a story I once heard about the quantum theorist Werner Heisenberg. On his deathbed Heisenberg reputedly declared that he would have two questions for God: why relativity and why turbulence. Heisenberg continued saying, "I really think he may have an answer to the first question."
Really sad news, Niki Lauda had been unwell for some time however it's still a shock.
RIP Niki.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/n...ed-70/4392728/
One of my generation and a hero and fighter a sad loss to motorsport .
Paul.
Agreed a very sad loss. One of the good guys, he will be missed.
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A great man, RIP
I am very surprised that there is nothing on MercamgF1 website.
There is now. https://www.mercedesamgf1.com/en/mer...ns-niki-lauda/
The World's largest travelling circus has erected its big tent in Monaco where, as is usual for the Principality, FP1 and FP2 will be held on Thursday - the show goes on however the recent passing of 2 time Monte Carlo winner Niki Lauda will no doubt temper any high spirits. Mercedes will be sporting a tribute to their late non-executive chairman with "Danke Niki" on each of the W10's nose cones and Lewis Hamilton has been excused his usual media duties so as to allow for the Brit to deal with the shock of Niki's death. For some this may appear to be a touch flaky however let us not forget that it is the Austrian that is widely accredited with luring Hamilton to Mercedes, a move from McLaren that many thought, at the time, a poor decision.
Barcelona's sector 3 has long been a performance barometer for Monte Carlo with the slower bends of a similar nature and speed to parts of this weekend's circuit, if the stats are to be believed then it would be hard to bet against another Mercedes 1-2. Compared to their '18 sector 3 times they were over 4 tenths of a second faster this year, with both Red Bull and Ferrari between 1 tenth and 3 tenths slower. Lewis Hamilton has "only" won at Monaco twice in his F1 career though and Bottas is yet to score a podium, the W10 also has (I believe) the longest wheelbase of all the cars on the grid, a physical feature that normally shows itself to be an advantage on long, sweeping corners. Those Spanish sector 3 times don't lie though, let's see how it pans out.
Haas and Alfa also made gains in Spain, they may be other teams to look out for, and Max Verstappen will be looking to not crash as he has at every other visit to Monaco, be it during a practise session, quali or the race itself. The RB is normally a nimble machine with decent downforce figures, Daniel Ricciardo won in '18 so we can't rule Max out even if he himself is talking down his chances for this weekend.
Whatever happens I'm sure that the podium celebrations will be somewhat muted, and if there's a Mercedes driver on the top step probably quite emotional as well.
Edit to add that Haas and Alfa Romeo will be equipped with the latest Ferrari powerplants for Monaco (only the Scuderia were using them in Spain), couple this with their improved '18 vs '19 Barc sector 3 times and that increases their chances to be best of the rest.
Last edited by CardShark; 23rd May 2019 at 01:09.
If Albert is the Prince of Monaco then the race winner is the King on a race weekend and after FP1 and FP2 it's looking like a Mercedes driver will be taking the crown, they were 1st and 3rd in FP1 and topped the time sheets in FP2 by a seemingly insurmountable 0.763sec from 3rd place Vettel. Valtteri Bottas has been keeping his teammate honest being no more than 0.081 behind Lewis in either session and Max Verstappen showed well in FP1 by splitting the two Mercedes drivers, his luck was out though in the afternoon when a punctured radiator put paid to a large portion of FP2.
Alex Albon put in a strong FP2 time, 5th place on his Monaco F1 debut isn't to be ignored, and I personally hope that he can translate today's performance into Saturday's qualifying. Both Haas and Alfa Romeo appeared to be benefiting from their Ferrari engine upgrade with each team being there or thereabouts behind the big 3 with Torro Rosso and McLaren set to pick up any points others leave at the table. This is Monaco though and with a safety car quite likely to shuffle the deck no outcome is guaranteed, though with Williams 3-4secs off the pace and quite clearly still struggling they'll be requiring nothing less than aces to get them up to where they once were.
The weather forecast is looking good for the weekend, good as in warm and dry anyway. Rain will play no part in Saturday's and Sunday's proceedings. The circuit is also still relatively green, with a further practice session as well as other support race action before Saturday's qualifying session one team may steal a tenth or two from another, my money is on Max and Pierre taking the fight to Ferrari.
Last edited by CardShark; 23rd May 2019 at 19:54.
I hope Ferrari don’t buy a brewery
Forgot to say Stroll maintains his 100% record of not getting through Q1
I see that Haas are still using the Whyte logo. Very strange that.
Absolutely stunning lap
He needed that. Well done Lewis
Another Merc one-two!
It’s funny I have followed Formula one most of my life, but Monaco is everything I hate about it, the haves showing the have nots exactly how it is, it happens at every race but Monaco just rubs it in, I think this could end up being a big contributory factor to the success of Formula E,
It really needs to rain this afternoon, the Porsche Supercup race has just finished, 16 laps and not one overtake
I can see the attraction of Monaco but its a dreadful circuit for F1.
Barring mishaps it is a total procession with little opportunity for overtaking.
It just isn't fit for purpose for todays F1.
It's a pointless point. It hasn't ever really been suitable as a racing spectacle, wether now or 30years ago. It will never, ever be dropped from the calendar as long as they're willing to host.
I still find it fascinating for the sheer challenge of getting the cars around at speed, watching them through the swimming pool complex is bonkers.
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FTFYI can see the attraction of [insert Tilkedrome here] but its a dreadful circuit for F1.
Barring mishaps it is a total procession with little opportunity for overtaking.
A slightly more interesting GP than usual. Well done Lewis on an excellent drive.
Not sure what to say about Max except very lucky to get only a 5 second penality for a) an unsafe release and b) driving Botas into a wall. I cannot help thinking that if it was someone else, then they would have got at least a drive through penality, but it kept Lewis honest.
Anyway I am sure Botas will become another member of the Max fan club.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Quite a tense race that I thought - Max keeping LH honest. I don't understand why they put LH on mediums though, very odd decision and almost asking for trouble.