quote:

Originally posted by 280nosler:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Guessing Hamilton saw the end plate detach & swerved right, thinking it was going to continue to the left.
Had he continued on, it likely would've missed him.

Amateur

I dare say if he was 50 feet closer, it would have been in the cockpit, and we would be having a drastically different conversation. I see enclosed cockpits coming soon.....

I've seen a few renders for 2021 that have the current halo with an aeroscreen along with it.
Doesn't look bad, but the initial tests with it weren't all positive.

IndyCar is introducing the aeroscreen for the next season, so maybe some trial/error there to see if it can develop into a viable solution for F1?

Since Red Bull Technology did the work on the Indycar aeroscreen and it will have any issues worked out pretty soon, I wouldn't be surprised to see in F1 quickly after that.
The Halo looked pretty ugly when it first went on but now I look right past it.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Since Red Bull Technology did the work on the Indycar aeroscreen and it will have any issues worked out pretty soon, I wouldn't be surprised to see in F1 quickly after that.
The Halo looked pretty ugly when it first went on but now I look right past it.

My mind wanders to back in the day when F1 drivers sat so high in cockpit. Thinking about MLB's "strike" zone, F1's strike zone was everything above the letters.

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Since Red Bull Technology did the work on the Indycar aeroscreen and it will have any issues worked out pretty soon, I wouldn't be surprised to see in F1 quickly after that.
The Halo looked pretty ugly when it first went on but now I look right past it.

My mind wanders to back in the day when F1 drivers sat so high in cockpit. Thinking about MLB's "strike" zone, F1's strike zone was everything above the letters.

RIP, Senna.
IIRC, it was Brundle that rolled the car in Australia the next year, after the sport raised the cockpit height, and he crawled out of the car, ran to the spare car & continued on. I think he made mention at some point, that the car from the prior year would've likely been fatal in that roll.

Renault DQ from Japanese GP Results

https://www.formula1.com/en/la...SWKaXnpEP93CLVB.html

quote:

Renault have been disqualified from the results of the Japanese Grand Prix after a protest brought by rivals Racing Point was upheld. It means the French marque lose the nine points they scored in Suzuka, where Daniel Ricciardo finished sixth and Nico Hulkenberg tenth.

Racing Point’s protest regarded an alleged breach of the Sporting and Technical Regulations and the FIA International Sporting Code, relating to a ‘pre-set, automated brake bias system’.

The operation of the system, they claimed, could be seen via onboard camera footage, with the brake balance display on the Renault drivers’ steering wheels changing without driver input.

Renault disputed the claim, and having examined both the FIA standard electronic control units and the steering wheels used by Ricciardo and Hulkenberg - which were sealed and impounded after the race - the FIA stewards determined that the described control system was not pre-set nor lap distance-dependent as alleged.

The stewards also found that while Renault used ‘innovative solutions to exploit certain ambiguities’, the system was not in breach of the F1 Technical Regulations.

However, Renault were found to have breached F1’s Sporting Regulations relating to driver aids. F1 rules state the driver must drive the car alone and unaided, and the stewards found that the system meant the drivers were saved from making a number of adjustments during a lap, even if it wasn’t a substitute for driver skills or reflexes.

Renault, who acknowledged the decision but could yet appeal, stated: "Considering the subjectivity of the qualification of a system as a driver aid and the variability of the associated penalties in recent cases, Renault F1 Team will consider its next course of action within the timeframe laid out by the FIA."

As it stands, Renault's disqualification means that Racing Point's Lance Stroll and Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat will now be classified ninth and tenth respectively, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly, and Racing Point's Sergio Perez moving up to sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.

Toro Rosso and Racing Point, meanwhile, move to within striking distance of Renault for P5 in the constructors’ standings with four races to go.

Puts STR only 6 pts behind them in the standings.
RP 10 pts down. Going to be a close run for 5th in the end.

I wonder if this one race DQ means they only did this in Japan or the officials felt they had to do something but didn't want to make Renault look too bad?
The wording in the ruling makes it sound like some other method was used to control the brake bias in different parts of the track but not the method alleged by Racing Point.
Regardless, the Renault team is the lowest performing true factory team. I don't understand the focus and expense of trying to get top quality drivers while the car and team are underperforming.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
I wonder if this one race DQ means they only did this in Japan or the officials felt they had to do something but didn't want to make Renault look too bad?
The wording in the ruling makes it sound like some other method was used to control the brake bias in different parts of the track but not the method alleged by Racing Point.
Regardless, the Renault team is the lowest performing true factory team. I don't understand the focus and expense of trying to get top quality drivers while the car and team are underperforming.

How dare you question le Frensch! Mona mi?

Shitty management and a whole gaggle of people who will not do their job. Fuck them.

“How dare you question le Frensch! Mona mi?

Shitty management and a whole gaggle of people who will not do their job. Fuck them.”

Looks to me like upper management at Renault doesn’t have the same commitment the top three teams have and won’t get the results they want until something changes. They seem to hope the proposed budget cap will bring the others down to their level.
Looks to me they are lacking something more that just dollars.

Rough finish to Q3.
Bottas in the wall, Verstappen passed at speed & got a 3 place penalty & lost pole.
Leclerc starting on pole tomorrow next to Vettel.

More to the point, Max freely admitted that he didn’t slow down even though he saw the yellow flags, and blew off the safety aspect by saying he was going for pole and he’s a good enough driver that he didn’t have to slow down. In fact, the FIA had initially said they weren’t going to investigate, until Max dropped his comments at the post qualifying press conference. The FIA pretty much didn’t have a choice at that point.

Pole isn’t necessarily the best position in Mexico as the guy behind gets a good long tow during the rundown to Turn 1. Now it’s Leclerc and Vettel fighting it out on the front row, Hamilton third, and that hasn’t worked out well in the past (Russian GP).

I’ll bet the Ferrari guys have had a chance to look at that start in Sochi and discussed what happened.
Tomorrow we’ll get to see what they learned.
Got to think Bottas will be starting from pit lane.
Should be an interesting race and tire management will be important.
Albon could be a surprise. He’s slowly moving forward and I like his low key approach.

You think there was enough damage to Bottas to require a PL start?

To me it looked like front end (wing, left suspension), maybe floor & rear wing.
Didn't look like much impact to the rear, so my guess would be low likelihood of PU damage.

Hoping he puts up a fight tomorrow & keeps Hamilton from wrapping it up for at least another race.

Ferrari. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Their strategists need to be fired.

Hard to say. The predictions were for a two stop race or more but the temperature changed things.
They covered Albons early stop with Leclerc, probably the biggest mistake, but Vettel stayed out and ran much longer than expected.
The biggest loser of the weekend was Max. Talked his way out of pole, into 4th place starting place. He was was lucky it wasn't even worse.
Then clashed with Hamilton and Bottas putting him at the back due to his puncture.
Seeing how hard it was to pass at the front as the race progressed he might have only been 3rd but he seems to have fallen back into his earlier years.
Lewis whined a lot on the radio but drove perfectly for the win.

We had, what, five good races in the middle of the season that were great, and we are back where passing has become increasingly difficult, and a boring race?

Max is a hell of a driver, but does not know how to balance risk and reward, and gets himself into bad positions, then complains about it after it bites him.

Speaking of which, has complaining become a prerequisite to race in F1? Louis, Charles, Sebastian, Max, et all. Well, to be fair I did not hear Bottas complain nor did I hear Albon pipe up. Hell, even Horner got in on the action.

Speaking of which - Horner and Max went to the press to complain that the yellow flags were not waived quick enough when Bottas crashed in final qualifying, stating that Lewis "benefitted" from not being shown the yellow flag (forget he was ~1 second behind Bottas, exiting the hairpin in the Stadium as Bottas lost control, and thereby passed the wreck before the car had stopped moving).

Is anybody else impressed by the fact Albon climbs into the car, straps in, is rarely on the radio, gets on with business, and had outscored Max in the last 5 races? I don't think there is anyway he looses his seat at the Sr. team.

Additionally, do the commentators understand that finishing four cars within 8 seconds does not equate to good racing? I mean, lets face it, the top four positions did not change for thirty frigging laps.

Another point I'd like to bring up, and not point any fingers, is the Ferrari in a straight line speed. There were three laps in which Bottas was closing in on Vettel, had DRS, and was pegged at less than .66 seconds behind at pit lane entrance (begin of front straight), and even with full ERS harnessing, slipstream, and DRS, could not close within .2 seconds of the Ferrari. FIA has not found anything, and their team strategy has run counter to any pickups in the car, but I don't think that anyone in their right mind can claim the Ferrari engine is not the best on the grid.

I have come to realize the recipe for F1 is pretty simple. Early in the race, positions are won by position in the turn, braking, and engine acceleration. Middle of the race is determined by strategy (Ferrari take notes), pit stops, tires, and traffic. End of the race positions are gained by weight reduction, tires, and DRS. I am doubtful, yet optimistic the 2021 rules will change too much.

The capitalist in me understands that past performance has led to this point where the front three have such a gap to McLaren and Renault. I think, and have said for years, the payouts need to change. That said, I am back to thinking that a full blown formula change is needed every 5-6 years. By that, I mean engine, aero, and design. That way you can see some change and new ideas.

Lastly, following the Russian GP, I asked an engineer at a F1 shop whether it was possible to kill a car from the pits, say for example the ERS system. I heard back from them on Saturday - it is possible, and an engine shutdown override can be sent in case communications with the driver is lost. Hmmmmmm

Fingers crossed for a great USGP & for Bottas to stretch the WDC fight out at least to Brazil.

Really bummed to not be in the stands this year.

Michael Masi (race director) has had enough of Max's shit, and told him he has a 30 minute one on one with him prior to the USGP. Turns out Masi was none too keen to here Max boast about seeing the yellow lights, then bragging about purposefully not slowing down after the Mexico Grand Prix and slamming stewards for "selectively handing out penalties".

I don't know how Masi is, but I am curious if he uses this as a method to stamp authority over his position since Charlie's passing. I once read Charlie pulled Vettel aside following the race where Vettel was on the radio telling Charlie to do his job. The article mentioned that Charlie told Vettel that if he did that again, he would be penalized and fined.

https://youtu.be/9BFx_VQ6ZNM
https://youtu.be/9ECeVacI5Bc

quote:

Originally posted by 280nosler:
Michael Masi (race director) has had enough of Max's shit, and told him he has a 30 minute one on one with him prior to the USGP. Turns out Masi was none too keen to here Max boast about seeing the yellow lights, then bragging about purposefully not slowing down after the Mexico Grand Prix and slamming stewards for "selectively handing out penalties".

I don't know how Masi is, but I am curious if he uses this as a method to stamp authority over his position since Charlie's passing. I once read Charlie pulled Vettel aside following the race where Vettel was on the radio telling Charlie to do his job. The article mentioned that Charlie told Vettel that if he did that again, he would be penalized and fined.

https://youtu.be/9BFx_VQ6ZNM
https://youtu.be/9ECeVacI5Bc

Be interesting to see if it works with Max. Charlie was around a long time and was well respected, and Vettel is the kind of guy that would accept that message from Charlie. Max doesn’t seem the type. I suspect that the only people that Max would actually listen to is his father or Helmut Marko. Maybe Christian Horner. Maybe.

And yet Verstappen was awarded DoD for the Mexican GP. Should have been Hamilton; there’s no one better at remaining competitive on tires well past their expected life.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
And yet Verstappen was awarded DoD for the Mexican GP. Should have been Hamilton; there’s no one better at remaining competitive on tires well past their expected life.

To be honest, the DoD is a bit of a joke. A bunch of people online voting for a specific driver. Max has an entire country voting for him that seem invested in his career. Somehow, Albon has never been a top 3 vote getter, but has per on a hell of a performance in the last few drives.

Also, while I complained about Hammy whining about tires, the point I failed to note was that his right rear tire that kept on blistering was a result of the floor damage inflicted in the tussle with Max at the start. I give credit where credit is due, Hammy gets a question following a race like this, thanks the fans, tells how him team does a great job, and then and only then answers the question. I think F1 could do without broadcasting some of the complaining, or go the other way and broadcast all of it.

When you recognize Ricciardo did 51 laps on the hard from the start with full fuel, you would realize that doing 47 at the end when ~45% of fuel had already burned off is not as impressive.

There was a race last year, British I believe, where Toto was asked about driver communication after a race by the pit reporters, and he said Bottas only initiates communication 2-3 times a race, where with Louis it is 20+ times a race. Louis seems to need more info to settle him with the output of the car.