Formula One 2018

[Adam]

I'm quite surprised Leclerc is going to Ferrari so soon, but good for him. Ericsson is rubbish by the standards of the day so I'm not surprised if he is done now. I hope Sauber step up in performance, I've always liked them and in the early part of the last decade they had some great promising drivers that ended up being among the best in the sport, including Raikkonen - Kimi, Massa, Kubica, plus guys like Heidfeld and Perez - so it's been a shame to see them as the modern day Minardi in recent seasons.

[Lineker]

Quote

Channel 4 will broadcast the 2019 British Grand Prix live to UK television viewers, with the other 20 Formula 1 races shown as highlights in a new deal with Sky.

As part of the arrangement, the two broadcasters will share availability of some of their original drama programmes.

Sky has exclusive rights to screen F1 races live in the UK from the start of next season as the shared agreement it has had with terrestrial stations on the BBC and Channel 4 since 2012 ends following this year's campaign.

But Channel 4 will now continue to show F1 highlights as part of a new arrangement that means the first series of Sky show Tin Star will be shown on the station later this year, with selected Channel 4 and Walter Presents drama series released on the Sky and NOW TV platforms.

"I'm delighted that we've been able to establish such an exciting and innovative partnership with Sky which will ensure that the British Grand Prix and highlights of the 2019 Formula 1 Championship remain available on free-to-air television for UK viewers," said Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon.

Stephen van Rooyen, Sky UK and ROI CEO, added: "Today's partnership is the start of a new era of collaboration between Sky, Channel 4 and, we hope, other British broadcasters.

"Not only will this innovative partnership benefit viewers, watching via Sky or free-to-air, but it will further strengthen the ecosystem of UK broadcasters and British originated content."

[Adam]

Nice write up to try and make it sound like non-Sky viewers losing all but one of the races is actually a good thing.

[Lineker]

A concept vision for how Formula 1 cars could look in 2021 has leaked across social media ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix.

F1's managing director of motorsport Ross Brawn produced the vision for the new look grand prix car in a 'Tech Talk' seminar that had been put on by race organisers in Singapore on Wednesday night.

Although the technical seminar took place behind closed doors, images of the concept car quickly circulated on social media.

The concept comes as F1 moves to finalise an overhaul of car rules for 2021 in a bid to make grand prix racing more exciting and more attractive to fans.

The mock-up of the Ferrari features several design differences to the current cars, including the 18-inch wheels that form part of the future F1 tyre tender contract.

The front wings are simpler, with more aggressively sculpted endplates that extend much higher.

The bodywork around the sidepods is less complicated, and the engine cover and rear wing appear to be joined.

It is unclear if this is an extended DRS though, because Brawn has spoken in the past about his desire to get rid of the overtaking aid.

The rear wing endplates also appear to be integrated around the rear wheel, which could be a safety move to prevent cars being launched over the top of each other in the event of a collision.

It is unclear how much of the car vision will be carried forward as F1 owner Liberty Media continues to work with teams to finalise 2021 plans.

[Katsuya]

Kimi says he found out at Monza he was being replaced, and made the deal with Sauber after that.

Meanwhile, Giovanazzi has said Ferrari are possibly going to offer Sauber a reduced engine deal to help with getting him in the seat, and Ocon says that Williams are an option for him for 2019.

[Lineker]

Pascal Wehrlein and Mercedes have parted company. Could he end up in a Toro Rosso?

[MJB]

Sounds like it’s going to be Wehrlein and Kvyat at Toro Rosso. Russell seems to be on his way to Williams as well. 

Meanwhile, Hamilton is on pole. Tremendous lap with Max alongside him and Seb just behind.

[Gazz]

The fuck was that, Sergio?

Twice.

[hugobomb]

Perez has been such a twat this race. Takes out Ocon on the first lap (claiming to have not seen him alongside which DC was rather sceptical of) then after failing to overtake Sirovkin for lap after lap decides to deliberately steer into him.

 

Fair play to Sirovkin (whose name I'm assuming I'm misspelling), nobody would have blamed him had he taken a lump out of Perez' s car in retaliation, the commentator even said as much

[Taxation is Theft]

-v, +t.

[jrhodes]

That feels like the championship wrapped up for Hamilton now.

[JasonM]

Yeah, really weird strategy call from Ferrari to put Vettel on the Ultra's as the undercut, and throwing him into tough traffic for a bunch of those laps too. I guess they were trying to get Vettel onto a fast tyre and hopefully jump Hamilton, but it would also have assumed Vettel would've had a good end of the race on those Ultra's as most of the grid went to softs instead.

Ferrari just seems to be pretty appalling on strategy in the past x years, every time they seem to have an advantage they manage to throw it away by some unneccesarily risky strategy call.

[Lineker]

What a boring race.

[Chris2K]

It really was dire. I gave up on it as soon as it became apparent that nothing was changing.

I'm still baffled how Baku can produce such exciting races every time when Monaco, Valencia, Singapore and Melbourne struggle so much.

[Katsuya]

New report suggests that Wehrlein and Kvyat are favourites for Toro Rosso next year, and Stoffel would move to being Ferrari's test driver.

[JasonM]

23 hours ago, Chris2K said:

It really was dire. I gave up on it as soon as it became apparent that nothing was changing.

I'm still baffled how Baku can produce such exciting races every time when Monaco, Valencia, Singapore and Melbourne struggle so much.

Simply put, those four tracks you mentioned all lack true speed, with Melbourne maybe the least offensive one of the four, but none of them really give 'easy' overtaking spots. Which is a fast straight followed up by a (rd. one(!) slow corner, ex. Baku T1, Canada T13/T14, Spa T7, Monza T1, etc.

Monaco literally has no space to do anything without risking a crash, Singapore is too twisty but does have some decent corners, Melbourne doesn't have enough in the way of slow corners and is too quick. Valencia is just a hot mess of a track.

Baku on the other hand has T1 and T3, both tight corners that are preceded by fast straights allowing a car to have a significant tow and try a lunge up the inside into the corner. 

It's one of the problems with some of the Tilkedrome's, they are super technical tracks, but that makes following harder (dirty air is a killer) and it doesn't really provide clean overtaking spots unless the guy in front makes a mistake, which in F1 happens rarely.

And ultimately, the quality gap is too large in F1. There's a top 4 in Rari/Merc, a 5-6 in Red Bull, and then there's everyone else lagging behind. It compounds the inability to have close racing.

14 minutes ago, Katsuya said:

New report suggests that Wehrlein and Kvyat are favourites for Toro Rosso next year, and Stoffel would move to being Ferrari's test driver.

I'm not sure if Kvyat getting a third chance in a car will provide any new insights in his ability, he's had a few good results in the Red Bull and got deposed too quickly (although Max has firmly made that decision worthwhile for Red Bull anyways), and ever since his demotion his performances in the STR have been dissapointing compared to Carlos Sainz. Whereas the latter has been dissapointing compared to Nico Hülkenberg.

It's weird to give up on a 24 year old going onto 25 next season, but I feel in a choice between Stoffel and him, I feel Stoffel still has things to prove and show that he isn't able to show in the McLaren where he's matched up against a man who is still a top 3 driver and can put the McLaren in places no other driver can. A guy that also has a car designed for him, whereas Stoffel is pretty firmly a #2 driver and will be out of a seat next year.

But Pascal Wehrlein on the other hand, I don't rate him at all. He's the second worst Mercedes driver (in a Merc dominated DTM) after Daniel Juncadella, and he's just not particularly impressive as a racing driver. He was better than Marcus Ericsson in his one year at Sauber, in a shitbox of a car, but not by much, and if you see how Leclerc has fared against the same driver, I don't feel Pascal is this amazing racing driver.

I don't know what i'm talking about anymore right now, but neither Wehrlein or Kvyat really feel like awe inspiring youngsters, but I can't blame Marko and co. taking a gamble on Wehrlein now that he's no longer Merc affiliated... But Kvyat, meh. I'd sooner see Jean-Eric Vergne get the seat over him.

[Katsuya]

Buemi and Alex Albon have been confirmed for Formula E drives with Nissan, which rules them out of the Toro Rosso seats.

Edited September 20, 2018 by Katsuya

[MJB]

Not necessarily F1 stuff, but junior formula nonetheless.

Mick Schumacher has just won his fourth F3 race in a row and now leads the F3 Championship by 18 points on Britain's Dan Ticktum. Elsewhere, in British F3, Billy Monger has taken Pole Position at Donington Park, the same track where he lost both legs in April last year.

[Taxation is Theft]

Morbid curiosity got the best of me and good lord that kid is damn lucky to be alive. 

[JasonM]

It's super morbid, but in a way Billy Monger's career has been better after his crash than before. He wasn't a particularly spectacular F4 drive before he became a part of the crash, but after all the donations and outpouring of love from F1 luminaries and racing society he's pretty much gotten a second chance, a lot of sponsors who want to support such a success story and basically more of a chance to make a career out of racing yet despite losing both his legs.

Of course, if he had a choice, if anyone had a choice, he'd still have both legs intact, and i'm not trying to downplay that. But yeah, I'm happy for Billy that after such a horrible thing that he's found his way back into racing, when anyone else would've done anything but racing. You can't take the racing out of a racer.

---

I've been watching classic F1 again lately, following the 1998 season which has been enjoyable. A few amusing things people complained about... Fissichella having a crash because of dirty air, and Bernie Ecclestone having a whinge that 'modern' drivers are too conservative and not interesting enough.

20 years later, and for all that has changed, little has changed.