What’s the chance of Kvyat winding up back in the A team before the end of the season?

Slim, I would say. Albon’s more than giving him a run for his money, and given that Kvyat’s got a well-stamped loyalty card for the Last Chance Saloon I can’t see him doing more than keeping a seat warm until the gap in Red Bull’s conveyor belt passes. And I don’t think Albon’s yet done enough to prove himself top team material. Plus Kyvat got the boot primarily for the careless Torpedo antics, and Gasly’s not making those mistakes.

Red Bull are looking a bit like McLaren with their “wonderful chassis let down by a terrible engine” claims, then finding that the chassis was actually pretty poor once they changed engines.

Nah. Let’s face it, Red Bull have consistently thrashed all the other Renault hybrid cars by some margin, and throughout that period they’ve been right up with Mercedes and Ferrari on the more aero-dependent circuits. They’re also quite often a bit off the pace at the start of the season but develop well—and with a new, and differently architected, engine plus the new front wing regs there’s an inevitable risk of not hitting the ground running. I expect they’ll look pretty sorted by Spain or thereabouts.

williams f1

i think its time for her to go – i think Frank wants a williams family member to run it, but clearly she has failed….

Article already removed.

Wonder how George Russell is going to feel getting back in the Williams after having a taste of the Mercedes!

is is? i can see it when i click the link.

ah my browser had it cached – here is the article in full

Williams admits ‘guilt’ in key team change
Andrew Maitland
April 4, 2019
Claire Williams has admitted she was responsible for a change in Williams’ team structure that resulted in the once-great outfit’s 2019 crisis.

She said that during Williams’ “four good seasons”, including third place finishes in the constructors’ championship in 2014 and 2015, she made the change.

“In order to preserve our results and even make progress, we changed something in the internal structure and it turned out to be a mistake,” she told France’s Auto Hebdo.

“It was my initiative and I admit my guilt.”

The result is clear to see in 2019, with Robert Kubica saying that in Australia and Bahrain, he is little more than a “passenger” in the Mercedes-powered car.

Williams said: “Believe me, we are not hiding our heads in the sand. We know where we are and what you need in order to win.

“But it’s a long process.”

Indeed, it is not just a performance crisis at Williams, but a cultural one.

“We are trying to independently produce as many parts as possible, and we have 620 people working for us, which is a lot for the structure we have,” Claire said.

“To create the Williams of the future while preserving our culture is the task we are facing now.”

One part of that has been to send Paddy Lowe on leave, even though the highly respected Briton had been lured away from Mercedes to lead Williams back to the top.

“I don’t want to answer that question at the moment,” Williams said.

“It’s very difficult for me to talk about Paddy and his role in this.”

She will say that other engineers have picked up the slack for the now absent Lowe, adding: “I trust them completely and believe that we are moving in the right direction.

“Patrick Head has returned to us as a consultant and to support the engineers in such a difficult period.

“He has so much experience and has the sort of character that they really listen to him. His advice will be very valuable,” Claire Williams said.

Part of the problem, she admits, is that while the subsidiary Williams Advanced Engineering once generated income for the team, that is no longer the case.

“It was created in 2010 to support the racing team and in response to the drop in sponsors’ interest. But it now contributes little to the financing of the team.

“Our funding is almost entirely dependent on sponsors and F1 income,” she said.

So Williams warmly welcomes Liberty Media’s efforts to better distribute the revenue and drive down costs, especially via a budget cap.

“Everything that is now being discussed is moving in the direction that we need,” she said.

And so, Williams says, the famous team her father established is not giving up.

“We’ve been racing for 42 years because it is our passion,” she said.

“Yes, we are at the very back of the grid now, but I know that returning to the positions we deserve is only a matter of time. I would not be talking to you now if I wasn’t sure of that.”

It’s a brave admission, especially in the light of Patrick Head being drafted in as a consultant.

He has so much experience and has the sort of character that they really listen to him….

By “they” I assume that CW was referring to Williams’ senior engineering staff?

We are trying to independently produce as many parts as possible, and we have 620 people working for us, which is a lot for the structure we have…

Some very unpopular decisions looming on the horizon then.

It’s very difficult for me to talk about Paddy and his role in this.

That’ll mean that the legal people are getting ready for a bitter and expensive dust up, which doesn’t bode well for cashflow.

i get the feeling she’s lining up a cut in the workforce and bought in ‘spec’ parts (which is going to be something in the 2021 regs that FIA are trying to push to cut costs anyway)

I suspect Head will become a major player in the team and Clair might be sidelined and a figurehead just because of her surname.

was Paddy “not listened to”!??! thats also the suggestion made – and if not, why not!

Personally i think they are clinging on until the new regs are agreed upon for 2021 and then see where its at.

So after watching C4 F1 since they got the coverage from the BBC a few years ago and now im having to watch SKY F1 to be able to see the whole race, after a couple of race weekends and watching some classic races all i can say is SKY’s commentary is awful!!

Martin Brundle is dreary, always making mistakes and then having to explain himself, the other commentators seem ok but no real enthusiasm

Much prefer David Couthard’s commentary, its funny, correct and enjoyable, also love Steve Jones, wasn’t sure at first when C4 signed him up for F1 but he has great banter with DC and with some of the drivers, when interviewing the likes of Toto Wolff he always has some great questions and banter too

I wish Bernie Hadn’t sold full race rights to Sky!

Same. Didn’t like DC at first, grown to like him more than Brundle. I do miss the lovely Lee McKenzie though 😣

Btw If you haven’t heard it yet, DC’s got an episode on Beyond The Grid podcast that’s worth a listen.

Much prefer David Couthard’s commentary, its funny, correct and enjoyable, also love Steve Jones,

I prefer technical detail and insight to banter. banter and a vox-pop style probably suits the short C4 programme & the casual viewer though like the murray/hunt days of old

Just finished watching the Netflix series, feel very sorry for Ocon, he is without a drive because his team need money rather than anything to do with talent.

Regarding Kubica’s comments about his car vs Russell’s

“The discrepancies between the cars were revealed as an 8 per cent difference in aero balance front/rear under braking despite the same settings. Kubica’s car aero balance migrated much further forwards than did Russell’s, making it more of an oversteering handful between turn-in and apex. There could be many reasons for this, but it suggests a difference in torsional stiffness between the chassis. Again, the hurried build of the cars may have played its part in this. It may be significant that in post-race testing at Bahrain, Russell – in Kubica’s chassis – was actually slightly slower than Kubica. At the time of writing the discrepancy between the two cars had still not been fully understood.

So, the verdict is still out. Don’t write Robert off just yet. Apart from anything else, he is eight years rusty in any sort of racing at all. After all he’s been through, he deserves a little more time and opportunity.”

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opinion/f1/mph-dont-write-kubica-just-yet

Yet this weekend he’s talking about killer understeer

mashr

Yet this weekend he’s talking about killer understeer

If you mean the autosport article, I think he was talking about the track. I remember Ferrari or someone saying last year that everyone struggles with understeer there. IIRC it’s from working the front end hard into turns 2 & 3

Fair point, yeah it was this quote “Of course on this track you have quite a lot of understeer so understeer is kind of a killer here, so we have to wait and see.”

mashr

Member

Fair point, yeah it was this quote “Of course on this track you have quite a lot of understeer so understeer is kind of a killer here, so we have to wait and see.”

Either way it sounds like they’re a fair bit off the pace still !

I’ve been really enjoying catching up on the ‘Beyond the Grid’ podcasts – I’d not been aware of them until this week; there’s some really interesting and detailed interviews Tom Clarkson has done – Luca de Montezemolo and David Coulthard’s have been my highlight so far. Also liked Kimi saying that a happy wife is a happy life!

Ref the article about Williams, I read another article which I can’t find now but the summary was that Williams had screwed up by becoming a business with leaders who were in it for the money/expecting it to be like a traditional business rather than running it like a race team. The suggestion was that some of the top figures in the last 10 years or so were very poorly chosen and that Claire Williams while capable was not the right person to be heading up a racing team – her brother who does the heritage Williams work supposedly would have been better. Also that Paddy Lowe was effectively hamstrung by the team structure and hence couldn’t turn things round.

Of course it could be someone with an axe to grind with the benefit of hindsight but a lot of it rang true.

Scrabs view of it – well informed:

Perhaps the worst thing Williams could have done. Its about time they let the engineers get on with their jobs uninhibited.

— Craig Scarborough (@ScarbsTech) March 6, 2019

Interference from the commercial side on the engineering side

— Craig Scarborough (@ScarbsTech) March 6, 2019

Interference from the commercial side on the engineering side

Kubica has been the quicker Williams this weekend FWIW. Still slow though.

Also that Paddy Lowe was effectively hamstrung by the team structure and hence couldn’t turn things round.

Doesn’t surprise me at all, I remember Adam Parr saying that’s what Williams was like when he arrived there. Nobody knew who reported to who, conflicting layers of authority etc.

Great stuff from Bottas!

Got to love the mind games from Hamilton, especially within the team:

he’s been stellar all weekend. I’ve been struggling and fighting the car all weekend.

…even on a bad day I’m 0.023 behind you on your best day!

Got to love the mind games from Hamilton, especially within the team

I don’t think it was mind games. Bottas seems to have things sorted, Hamilton has been looking uneven and both drivers know that. I think Hamilton will be the more worried of the two, he’s the guy who has to improve, not Bottas.

I think I like Leclerc “Leclerc, meanwhile, opted to lay into himself: “****! I did mistakes. Come on Charles, argh. Shit. **** stupid. **** stupid.”

Normal service resumes for Kvyat.

boring race 🙁

Yeah, shame. Looked like it might come alive in the last 10 laps but didn’t quite happen. Surprised at the relative lack of pace from Ferrari though they screwed up their strategy with Leclerc losing points

not sure how theyll fill 6 minutes for the youtube highlights

not sure how theyll fill 6 minutes for the youtube highlights

The battle for 10th place was riveting.

Ferrari lost a place to keep Vettel happy.

Same as Red Bull last year revolving around the stroppy Nederlander.

Oh dear:

https://twitter.com/tommywtf1/status/1117371374077714432?s=21

alain prost look thrilled to wave the chequered flag at the end of the 1000s GP………… i think even he was bored with it…..

Sadly, a really dull race. Never mind – Baku next.

Boring race but some onboard footage was good. Lewis going into the first corner and hearing the trail braking and gear changes as the corner tightens. I dont remember the last corner being taken so fast either.

We did whatch the heavily edited version, wait for channel 4 coverage to start then onto 4OD whatch only the Quali sessions (fast froward then make a cup of tea while the adverts are playing) soon as q3 ends put C4 highlights on caught the formation lap turn coverage off as soon as the winner parks up.

Daffy

Subscriber

Sadly, a really dull race. Never mind – Baku next.

Should be more in Ferrari and RedBull’s favour I think as it’s a low downforce track.

They didn’t show this in the broadcast for some reason, but Perez got a good start:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_1hB3N4hpk

Also it looks like the thing with Kubica’s car might be legit:

Russell described his lap as ‘very poor’ while Kubica’s car had been refitted with his original floor and wing. When they had swapped them over in Friday practice in an effort at tracing the anomaly between the two identically set up cars, Kubica had been faster of the pair – confirming the problem but not the root source.

2019 Chinese Grand Prix report

Bored whilst waiting for the washing machine to finish and the lawns to dry enough to cut I went over to F1.com and found this little short about the Lotus 49. A nice little tribute to what I think is the most beautiful F1 car ever. Well in a couple of it’s iterations anyway.
Where does F1 find such boring voice over artists though?

https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2019/4/Damon_Hill_drives_father_Graham’s_legendary_Lotus_49.html

For Sale: Ex-Graham Hill Lotus 49B to Auction at Goodwood

New regs for 2021. Looks like proper ground effect is back!

F1 2021 regulations overview by Craig Scarborough

Do we know why the centre downwash wing idea was killed off? Not seen anything about it in a good while, I assume they just couldn’t get it to work

IIRC

1. It looked shit
2. It actually wouldn’t make all that much difference

2021 believe it when i see it.

Some amount of ground effect is key to achieving the stated aims for 2021 so it’s a shoo-in to be in the regs in some form or other.

Wheel fairings and those areo scrapers are both hideous; I hope they don’t make it in. And that nose and front wing combo looks like Fingermouse.