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Formula 1 Season 2019 |OT| Sons of Liberty (Media)

Breakage

Member
Here is what happened as far as I know.

Leclerc was on pole, Hamilton 2nd and Vettel 3rd directly behnd Leclerc. This track runs clockwise with long run to a righthand turn one with the pole and 3rd grid spots on the left hand side of the track. Ferrari hatch a plan for Vettel to get past Hamilton. Leclerc would give Vettel a tow on the back of Leclerc's car. This would require coordination between the two Ferrari's as Leclerc would have stay on the outsid line of the track down to turn one as long as possible before breaking for the corner and allowing Vettel to slip into 2nd place behind him.

The trouble with the plan was it worked a little to well because Vettel got an absolute beast of a start and slipped pasted Hamilton before getting into Leclerc's slipstream. Once he had the tow from Leclerc's car, he used it dive past his teammate instead. Ferrari wanted to swap the drivers back round because Leclerc only lost the lead to Vettel because Leclerc kept up his end of the bargain.

This all went tits up for Ferrari when Vettel's car broke down bringing out a virtual safety car and both Mercedes took this opportunity to pit and come out ahead of Leclerc who had already pitted earlier in the race.
Thanks for the write-up. Hah, yup sounds like a bad day for Ferrari. I don't understand why they just didn't let them race. It seems as if Ferrari is unsure about who the number one driver is in the team.
 

Makariel

Member
Just watched the highlights, they pretty much cut from lap 25 to the penultimate lap, guess literally nothing happened for half the race.

If you want to cut boring tracks from the calendar then I'd suggest to start with Sochi, followed by the French GP.
 

AlphaMale

Member
It's crazy how Ferrari put so much focus on swapping the drivers when Seb was so much faster. Like, why not just let them drive and Seb can pay him back at a different race/qualifying?

Good result for Albon, starting from the pitlane.
 

Makariel

Member
Quite surprised with how well Albon does, all things considered. Parked the car in the wall in Sochi but still outscored Max in the past 4 races. I doubt Gasly would be outscoring Max at any 4 races. Gasly doing well back at Toro Rosso. If I were mean I'd say that makes sense, a slower car is easier to drive after all :p but I'm not mean, so I'd never say that :messenger_sunglasses:
 
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Makariel

Member

Some concern about the ever expanding number of races.

Provisional 2020 F1 calendar
DateGrand PrixVenue
March 15AustraliaMelbourne
March 22BahrainSakhir
April 5VietnamHanoi
April 19ChinaShanghai
May 3NetherlandsZandvoort
May 10SpainBarcelona
May 24MonacoMonaco
June 7AzerbaijanBaku
June 14CanadaMontreal
June 28FrancePaul Ricard
July 5AustriaRed Bull Ring
July 19BritainSilverstone
August 2HungaryHungaroring
August 30BelgiumSpa
September 6ItalyMonza
September 20SingaporeMarina Bay
September 27RussiaSochi
October 11JapanSuzuka
October 25United StatesAustin
November 1MexicoMexico City
November 15BrazilInterlagos
November 29Abu DhabiYas Marina

In my view there's a few that could be cut and I woudn't miss them. France for example, dull track with dull racing. Sochi is also a rather boring track, and the Barcelona GP wasn't that exiting either for quite a number of years.
 

xrnzaaas

Gold Member
Well with the Russian GP there are at least plans for switching to another racing track in another part of Russia, French GP and Spanish GP should go away altogether.

The calendar is pretty stressful for the F1 circus as it is, I have to agree with Max that it's not a good idea to add more instead of switching them.
 
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Makariel

Member
Unless something really weird is happening, I expect Lewis Hamilton to overtake Michael Schumacher in terms of wins next year.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
Hamilton will get all of the big records. Mercedes isn’t going to fall off next year. The new rules in 2021 aren’t going to shake them either unless they’re just bored of winning and pull out of the sport.
 

Makariel

Member
L8xXcsD.jpg


In a rain race much can happen, but I'll expect Mercedes to win this unless Max can do something magical.

Also, the extended infographics showing mph plus kph can be extended a bit further:

le6quuno4vr31.png
 
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Fox Mulder

Member
Wind has already caused Kubica and KMag to trash their cars in qualifying.

Williams also apparently brought a new front wing but wanted to be fair since they only had one. So they gave it to neither driver. Pure Williams.
 

Makariel

Member
Mercedes wins the manufacturer championship. Congratulations. Bottas had a fantastic start, Vettel a particularly poor one. The really interesting battle was between Hamilton and Vettel for second place, which went down to the wire. Bottas drove around pretty much alone in front. Well done Albon with Fourth place!
 

Breakage

Member
I can't believe they allowed Leclerc's damaged Ferrari to stay out like that. What happened to safety first? Pure luck the flying debris only took Hamilton's mirror off.

Edit: found an onboard clip:


That shard of carbon fibre took the mirror clean off. Just gives you an idea of the speed it was travelling at.

Thank goodness Lewis was able to dodge it.
 
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Makariel

Member
ebbmgcls2cs31.jpg


I was expecting the warning flag as soon as the front wing sparked along the main straight tbh. If the endplate would have went a bit more to the center I'm not sure the halo would have caught that...

g_W3HF1TvYN-x4dW6Trio9CyfxampnoDoQCIKJVFNMs.jpg


:messenger_fearful:
 
H

hariseldon

Unconfirmed Member
ebbmgcls2cs31.jpg


I was expecting the warning flag as soon as the front wing sparked along the main straight tbh. If the endplate would have went a bit more to the center I'm not sure the halo would have caught that...

g_W3HF1TvYN-x4dW6Trio9CyfxampnoDoQCIKJVFNMs.jpg


:messenger_fearful:
Decent argument for Red Bull’s aeroscreen (as seen in IndyCar next season). That could have ended very very badly.
 

xrnzaaas

Gold Member
Wind has already caused Kubica and KMag to trash their cars in qualifying.

Williams also apparently brought a new front wing but wanted to be fair since they only had one. So they gave it to neither driver. Pure Williams.
Well it supposedly only changed things for better in Robert's car so I'm guessing they'll be scrapping the project altogether and looking for something else for George for 2020. ;)
 

xrnzaaas

Gold Member
I find it very hard to believe that Kubica actually got a slow puncture close to the end of the race and had to pit. Not to mention George was over a second faster in qualy, but then suddenly had worse pace in the race and got cleanly overtaken by Robert.
 

Makariel

Member


So the new rules regulations are out, NO CHANGE to the power units... wasn't the whole point to simplify the power units because they were deemed to expensive? Well they claim the new cars will be prettier than the current ones. That's something I guess?

Also, a cost cap is coming:


RIP Ferrari?
 
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xrnzaaas

Gold Member
It's going to be really interesting how much will they be successful in tracking the team's financials given how popular it is these days to outsource stuff or rely on creative accounting.
 
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Makariel

Member
Alex Albon confirmed for RBR for 2020. With Toro Rosso Alpha Tauri apparently staying much the same as well (albeit with TR AT you never know) and the majority of the grid being equally stable, this years' silly season is remarkably non-silly. Only Ocon going to Renault and Kubica leaving F1 as major news. Only the second Williams seat seems still open?
 

xrnzaaas

Gold Member
Good for everyone at RBR and Toro Rosso (aka Alpha Tauri) keeping their seats.

Alex Albon confirmed for RBR for 2020. With Toro Rosso Alpha Tauri apparently staying much the same as well (albeit with TR AT you never know) and the majority of the grid being equally stable, this years' silly season is remarkably non-silly. Only Ocon going to Renault and Kubica leaving F1 as major news. Only the second Williams seat seems still open?

No love for Hulkenberg? He's definitely going to be missed.
 
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H

hariseldon

Unconfirmed Member
Good for everyone at RBR and Toro Rosso (aka Alpha Tauri) keeping their seats.

No love for Hulkenberg? He's definitely going to be missed.

He's been fairly clear that he won't drive the Williams so yeah he's gone. Seems he's heading for IndyCar (not doing the ovals though - chicken!).
 

xrnzaaas

Gold Member
Awesome finish to the race. Ferrari sabotaging themselves again and Gasly in P2! Can't imagine how happy Pierre is especially after hearing this post-race radio message :D
 
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Just got done watching it, both some great moves and stupid moves were being made.

The other half didn't enjoy the race though; I must have woke her up 4 or 5 times responding out loud to the action.

Credit to Honda and their progress as well, the fact it is able to out drag race Mercedes in a completely square fight.
 
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quest

Not Banned from OT
Ferrari messed up big time.
That was the most Ferrari thing ever. They are truly their own worst enemy. They bumbled so many times this year it is not even funny. But happy for Honda and especially gasley guy had such a horrible year to end it like that is amazing for him. My favorite moment of the second half is gasley drag racing Hamilton to the line I was on my feet yelling.
 

Breakage

Member
That was the most Ferrari thing ever. They are truly their own worst enemy. They bumbled so many times this year it is not even funny. But happy for Honda and especially gasley guy had such a horrible year to end it like that is amazing for him. My favorite moment of the second half is gasley drag racing Hamilton to the line I was on my feet yelling.
Haha, yeah Hamilton vs Gasly on the final lap was something I did not expect to see, likewise the race ending with a Honda-powered 1-2.
 

Makariel

Member
asofvchh1ez31.jpg


qmiowfpsydz31.jpg


What a race, really came alive near the end. Also good to see that Merc couldn't just power its way past a Toro Rosso, Alpha Centauri or whatever the fuck they are called now. I guess next year the whole field could be closer than it has been in years... one might say just in time for 2021 to throw everything in the air again :p
 

quest

Not Banned from OT
Anyone expecting anything less than a pissed off merc team and a 1-2 to end the season to put doubt in red bull and Ferrari. I would love to be in those team meetings the next 10 days at merc with the botch strategy and not giving Hamilton the heads up max was closing to save some battery letting him be passed like he was standing still. That is the most times I remember Hamilton being man handled on the track and I'm sure the team will face wrath for that starting with toto for taking a weekend off lol.
 

xrnzaaas

Gold Member
Boring last race, but the season was entertaining overall
- McLaren had definitely the best comeback securing 4th before the last race and Carlos ending up 6th in the driver's standings.
- I wasn't expecting Red Bull to win with Honda in their first year and certainly not more than once
- Very disappointing comeback for Robert, I know the car was awful and George was likely getting all the good parts, but it probably sucked also because of Robert's lack of experience with the current tyres.
- Alfa with a promising start, but very poor second half of the season. I hope Kimi stays beyond 2020. Giovinazzi also improved in the second half and I don't mind him staying for another year.
- Pierre not spiraling down into depression and getting his first podium was one of the sweetest moments of the year.
- Daniil with a very strong return as well. I still think he deserved to go back to RBR instead of Alex (who is also good).
- No podium for Hulk and he wasted his only chance in Germany.
- Charles outscoring Seb in the standings wasn't a big surprise, but it's still nice to see that. Now if only Ferrari got their shit together and stopped losing points from countless mistakes.
- Bottas 3.0 not sucking like last year. We all know he's not on Lewis's level, but at least he didn't look like a joke this season.
 
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