RBR broke the pit stop record with Gasly.
1.91 seconds




Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZVf6Sc989E

A cracking race that ultimately went to one who got lucky timing with a pit during caution (don't worry, not spoiling it as 7 cars pitted during caution). I'll be honest, there is not a whole bunch of watching Daniel Riccardo this year because he is so far back in the pack, but I am very impressed by the maturity of Leclerc, and definitely see him as being the face of the sport for some time. That said, it feels as if whenever Vettel is challenged in the car he end ups moving on. As much as I was a fan of Webber, he was never a true threat to be Red Bull's #1 driver, but it only took 2 years before Riccardo was challenging Vettel to be the lead driver, and that same feeling is coming back again now.

The team I am most impressed by is McLaren. They are pretty much a solid #4 team this year. I am impressed by the improvements Honda has made to the engines this year, but let's not kid ourselves, all four of the Honda badged cars have all used all of their power units, transmissions, and MGUK (remember three of each), so whenever they need new ones, penalties will come into play.

I have no idea what to say about Hass, the team that is just 18 miles away. They look lost, they look disorganized, and the drivers, well the drivers. To take a Tony Scott quote "they look like a monkey f*cking a football out there". I have no idea where they go from here. I also hear they are not getting the same level of technical analysis and assistance they had become accustomed to following Alfa becoming Ferrari's new dance partner.

Lastly, I wonder if anybody else was impressed by the last lap heroics by a driver on 32 lap old hard tires to not only put in the fastest lap, but also break the in-race lap record.

I'm hopeful that 2020's Renault is an improvement & more suited to Ricciardo. He's my #2 behind Bottas.

The fastest lap damn impressive.

Curious how things would've gone without the free pit stop. The on track scrap was great while it lasted between them.

Not sure what happened to Gio, looked like the car just snapped on braking.

Haas.....I'm curious if Grosjean has many 2nd chances left. I wasn't a big fan of KMag, but he's been driving better of the 2, IMO.

Agreed on Leclerc, definitely cementing himself at Ferrari, and almost a shoe in for a future WDC. Vettel, I wasn't a fan of him at RBR, but his attitude seemed to improve with Ferrari. He seems to be having a Bottas18 season.

quote:

The fastest lap damn impressive.

Every race the commentators show us the 3 tire choices available for use that weekend. They’ll compare, e.g. the “soft” tire to the “medium,” to the “hard.” Something will be said like, “The medium tire is .4 sec./lap slower than the soft, while the hard tire will be 1.6 sec./lap slower yet. Then (as seems to happen every week) someone like Hamilton will break the lap record on a set of the white, hard tires with 22 laps on them

True, but last lap, light on fuel, and the homefield advantage.

Saw an article that Bottas' lap was without a fully charged battery, and a minor mistake an the end, so a few 10ths left on the table. I think the final difference was a few 100ths.

The tire info is more valuable during qualifying, where ultimate speed can be used. Even then, the softest usually can't run more than a lap at the limits before losing some grip.
During the race the speed is mostly determined by fuel usage, tire degradation, etc. An estimate of the laps they can be run might be more valuable information.
That lap at the end just showed how much he had in reserve if needed. I'm not sure why Bottas couldn't smoke that time on the reds unless he had a lot of traffic or was lower on fuel.

More to the Rich Energy fiasco

https://jalopnik.com/embattled...ning-volt-1836415910

Apparently rebranded as Lightning Volt Energy & the Rich Energy CEO is out.

For those of you that are F1 nerds like me, this is an excellent article on the 2021 regulations, how they got here, and what it means going forward. Only part I am highly suspect of is where it says they will be able to reduce dirty air downforce to 5-10% loss from 35% this year. Keep in mind, in 2018 the reduction of downforce from trailing cars in dirty air was figured to be in the 50-55% range, and getting it down to 35% was considered a groundbreaking achievement.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/49009359

I believe they are going to IndyCar route and producing more downforce from the bottom of the car instead of the wings on top. In addition, the move toward fewer winglets should help reduce it as well.

Another version by Giorgio Piola

quote:

1) The idea is to have a very low nose. This version is attached to the main plane as it was in the 1990s.

2) The mainplane is slightly arched upwards to improve the airflow underneath the car to help feed the ‘ground effect’ tunnels.

3) The endplates are rounded to help minimise the risk of punctures in the event of contact between cars, which is more likely due to the wide front wing.

4) The low nose without turning vanes shows the simplified aerodynamics.

5) The wheel rims could feature covers to help better manage airflow and make it less disruptive.

6) The brake ducts are simplified and have less of an aerodynamic influence.

7) The front wheels are covered with two deflectors, which help direct the wash from the front wheel underneath the floor rather than being lifted upwards and outwards causing turbulence for the cars behind.

8) This is the start of a big Venturi channel, which begins where the current bargeboards are.

9) The halo has a better integration with the overall car design.

10) The stepped plane area is not totally flat because there is the chance to house Venturi channels in this area.

11) The taller diffuser is much more powerful than the current diffuser, meaning most of the downforce will be created from underneath the car.

12) The rear wing features a simple endplate to reduce the turbulence effect and helps divert airflow high up with a twin vortex.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/...car-changes/4496458/

For me to watch again, F1 needs to do something about the engines.

Ross Brawn made a comment about something I noticed several years ago from winter testing.
Take all the paint and branding off and look at the cars in bare carbon and try to identify what car you are looking at. They did that in one of their meetings and said they could only identify 3, even with their knowledge of the cars.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Ross Brawn made a comment about something I noticed several years ago from winter testing.
Take all the paint and branding off and look at the cars in bare carbon and try to identify what car you are looking at. They did that in one of their meetings and said they could only identify 3, even with their knowledge of the cars.

There was a quiz on F1FanVoice recently, that gave just the silhouettes/blanked out versions of the cars & you had to guess based onthe features. Tougher than I thought it'd be, I think I got 6/10.

Some were easy, like Mercedes, with the unique nose being more round at the tip, and Ferrari with their shortened shark-fin.

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
For me to watch again, F1 needs to do something about the engines.

I enjoy the wail of the banshee V10s, but these V6T are faster, more power & have become very reliable.
They sound better in person, than they do on TV & have gotten progressively louder since 2014.

That said, when I went to the USGP in 2017, and F1Experiences was running the 2 seater That wail makes you stop & notice.
The V6T, you can't really hear when they're on the opposite end of the track, the V10, you could probably hear from a mile away.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
For me to watch again, F1 needs to do something about the engines.

I enjoy the wail of the banshee V10s, but these V6T are faster, more power & have become very reliable.
They sound better in person, than they do on TV & have gotten progressively louder since 2014.

That said, when I went to the USGP in 2017, and F1Experiences was running the 2 seater That wail makes you stop & notice.
The V6T, you can't really hear when they're on the opposite end of the track, the V10, you could probably hear from a mile away.

I know the current cars are faster, but they sound like vacuum cleaners. A lot of that probably has to do with no longer using grooved tires. When I went to the 2001 USGP you could easily hear them on the other side of the track.

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:

I know the current cars are faster, but they sound like vacuum cleaners. A lot of that probably has to do with no longer using grooved tires. When I went to the 2001 USGP you could easily hear them on the other side of the track.

We were at that race sitting across from the museum, in the short chute where the cars exited the infield section. They were at full acceleration, the noise was dangerous. We kept earplugs in throughout the race until the last lap. This was the first race for the couple with us. I told them to remove the earplugs to be reminded why we had them in. They got my point.

I miss that sound, we'll never know what times such an engine formula would be producing today.

What with FaceApp in the news, here you go --

They forgot to run Kubica through the app. And DannyRic still looks like a party waiting to happen!

I need to see racing, not tire management

the last few years have been nothing more than highly choreographed wastes of time

Vettel looks like a trimmer version of Jeremy Clarkson.

Verstappen looks like Mr. Bean.