F1 2019 (spoilers obviously)

Rick Draper

Subscriber

Paddy Lowe is taking a “leave of absence” from Williams! Cannot help but think they are in deep, deep shit!

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/141929/lowe-takes-leave-from-troubled-williams-team

They’re effing effed mate, big time

So sad to see Williams in such a state. But I feel the stubbornness of the Williams family is largely to blame. Private F1 teams have had their day unless like Red Bull and Force India they are bankrolled by billionaires. It’s not longer a millionaires play thing, it’s moved on from that.

On another front – if you do have Sky F1 Channel the Indycar season starts this weekend and they now have the rights to it…

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/11651485/sky-sports-to-broadcast-indycar-on-sky-sports-f1-in-2019

I feel the stubbornness of the Williams family is largely to blame.

Irony is that they lost Adrian Newey to McLaren because they refused his demand to be made a shareholder, but then they lured Paddy Lowe by offering him a share in the team. It’s quite likely that a Newey designed BMW-Williams would have been a world beater and a pretty safe bet that Williams would still be right up there at the front if they’d just handed the team over to Newey and gone on vacation.

Quite a good post on reddit:

Comment from discussion emperorMorlock’s comment from discussion "Williams #F1 tech chief Paddy Lowe takes "leave of absence" from troubled team on eve of new season:".

Finally got round to watching the Williams film last night. An great piece of work and you can see where the stubborness comes from!

The thing that came through is that it’s Franks entire life, nothing else exists for him, and I’ve now got a better understanding of why he holds on and hasn’t sold out. To hear he sleeps at the factory most of the time now was quite a shock though.

Just seen reports that they’re bringing back a point for fastest lap this year, but only if you finish in the top 10.  Not sure if this will add anything to the race, or just be a distraction in the last handful of laps when someone running in 6th or 7th with a 30s cushion comes in to strap on a pair of soft tyres and go for a glory run.

It might throw up some interesting strategy calls towards the end. If the leader has a small gap on the second placed car, but the third placed car is 30 seconds back, then the second placed car might decide to pit in the last few laps and go for the lap record. That will give the leader time to also pit on the next lap, so you might get some excitement out of that, plus it would allow the third placed car to close up and pick up a place if anything went wrong up ahead. Key thing will be timing the pitstop so there is time to warm up the tyres and put in a couple of fast laps, but not leaving enough laps for the car ahead to pit one lap later and get the tyres warmed up.

but only if you finish in the top 10

Great. Another one of those unnecessary irritations that takes something that could have been perfectly simple and makes it arbitrarily stupid.

Not sure if this will add anything to the race, or just be a distraction in the last handful of laps when someone running in 6th or 7th with a 30s cushion comes in to strap on a pair of soft tyres and go for a glory run.

It may manifest itself more interestingly if the title fight is really close and single points start to matter enough for the leaders to start taking more risks.

Wet race in Brazil with the title going down to the wire? Tasty.

Wet race in Brazil with the title going down to the wire? Tasty.

Strange you should mention that, as apparently the only change it would have made since 2000 is that Flippy Massa would’ve won the title that year (assuming nobody changed tactics to chase the fastest lap point).

Bez

Great. Another one of those unnecessary irritations that takes something that could have been perfectly simple and makes it arbitrarily stupid.

Yeah fine with the idea in principle but not sure on the top ten thing. All I can think is that a single point would make too much difference for teams that normally finish the season with zero.

it’s not just slow, it’s illegal

Points for pwning them with some Bombers in the pitlane might liven things up too.

Tempers flare at #BuschPole Qualifying!@Daniel_SuarezG and @Mc_Driver clash on pit road at @ISMRaceway ? pic.twitter.com/h9JuuLBsoR

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 8, 2019

Point for fastest lap has been confirmed from this season…
Looking forward to the final few laps when anyone with a 25(ish) second gap goes for a glory run on the softest compound.
Linky

I wish that they’d stop these gimmicks.

The Americans have taken over. Expect more gimmicks.

it’s the future, expect it to slowly turn into mario carts formula-e with boost zones, power ups and fan boost!

I wouldn’t say it’s a gimmick, it’s a pretty reasonable reward for speed and was used for the first 10 years of the formula.

Don’t forget that until 30 years ago F1 didn’t even count quite a lot of the race results:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Formula_One_World_Championship_points_scoring_systems

IMO, let anyone grab the point for fastest lap, not just top 10 finisher…

IMO, let anyone grab the point for fastest lap, not just top 10 finisher…

That was my first reaction too, then I thought about it for a bit and changed my mind. That would just turn the last few laps into a circus with all the backmarkers trying to time pitstops and flying laps to get clear air for one final banzai lap with new tyres and empty tanks. By limiting it to the top 10, their priority will still mostly be on finishing position, but with a flying lap right at the end to add a bit of excitement.

hols2, I sort of agree with you, but the same nonsense justification awaits the top 10 as well. How many races end with the winner prancing off into the distance, second place 10s of seconds behind? It’s one of the reasons modern F1 can be dull; there’s often a un-closable gap. So the next 9 cars are still motivated to do the same thing in those circumstances. So now what you’ve got is 9 reasonably quick drivers and cars trying to find a way around another 10 cars trying hard not to be moving targets.

Anyone else feel the season build up has been a bit subdued this year? Took me by surprise last night that the first race was this weekend! Had it in my head it was the 24th. 🙂

It’s one of the reasons modern F1 can be dull; there’s often a un-closable gap

It’s been a characteristic of F1 for years.  Close finishes are the exception rather than the rule, and a season of them is very unusual.  Long races mean that small differences between cars become big gaps.

http://www.motorsportsetc.com/info/f1_mrgns.htm

I guess there’s also the risk that drivers in the lower half of the field will be less cognisant of the race at the front if they are gunning for a fastest lap. That could result in back markers trying to unlap themselves and affecting what could still be a race for the top places.

Would those racing for podium places be blue-flagged if someone is trying to unlap themselves whilst racing for fastest lap?

haha thanks thepurist, that’s the nerdiest graph I’ve seen in a while 🙂

Or let’s say you are in 11th place and the race is nearing the end. Do you race for 10th or pull in, put on fresh tyres and wait for a convenient gap in the field to go for that one point?

Does a balls out late lap really tie in with only having a very small number of power train parts to use? I think it’ll add something, but would have been better in the days where the engine was binned off after the race anyway

So the next 9 cars are still motivated to do the same thing in those circumstances.

You would only do this if you have a large enough gap to the car behind that you can comfortably make a pit stop without any risk to losing position. Nobody in the top 10 will risk losing a position for a chance at a single point. It will also have to be timed carefully so that there is time to warm up the tyres and get in one or two fast laps. The car in front will then have a gap large enough for a pitstop on the next lap, but maybe not enough time to get the tyres warmed up and put in a flying lap. However, when teams have two cars running together, they may pull team orders and ask one driver to try for fastest lap to get points for the constructors championship. It will make for some interesting strategy calls in the final laps, with fastest lap probably set on the last lap most of the time.

If I was running in 11th or 12th place with 5 laps to go, I’d be banging in fastest lap attempts in case any of the top 10 retire…
Or do actually have to be in top ten when you get the fastest lap for it to count?
Either way, I hope it spices things up…I can see plenty of no-hopers having a go for a relatively easy point.

The way I read it, you have to be in the top 10 finishers.

If I was running in 11th or 12th place with 5 laps to go, I’d be banging in fastest lap attempts in case any of the top 10 retire…

A fastest lap attempt will require a pitstop for some fresh soft tyres. If that pitstop dropped you from 11th place to 12th, you would not take the chance because you would need two cars to have problems instead of one.

A fastest lap attempt will require a pitstop for some fresh soft tyres. If that pitstop dropped you from 11th place to 12th, you would not take the chance because you would need two cars to have problems instead of one

Which is why I think this point should be available to all finishers* (not just top 10) but I guess that will depend on the perceived reliability of those in front…11th place currently gets zero points so for some lower ranked teams it may be worth the risk.

* Do you have to finish to get the point? What about if I finish 9th but two laps down and/or break down on last lap??

I’m not sure the engineers will be too happy with banzai laps at the end of the race, especially if the drivers start getting itchy mode finger.

Which is why I think this point should be available to all finishers

+1

I’m not sure the engineers will be too happy with banzai laps at the end of the race, especially if the drivers start getting itchy mode finger.

That will be part of the strategy decision. If a Williams is running in tenth place, it would be worth sacrificing an engine to shoot for an extra point. For the big teams, probably not.

I love the idea of a point for a fastest lap (Alonso, Hungary 2017!) I can’t see how the practicalities could work.

It might be a lifeline strategy for a beleaguered lower order team who could chuck away say an engine penalty to turn up the candle on a car with empty tanks and fresh ultrasofts regardless of where they are in the race order.

In all honesty though, who would be capable of a fastest lap and still fall outside the top 10? The performance difference is too large. The only time I can see it happening is if one of the front runners has had a shocker and finds themselves coming through the field-maybe 2 or 3 times across the season tops. Otherwise, it’ll just be a driver from the top 6.

who would be capable of a fastest lap and still fall outside the top 10?

Somebody with a shockingly unreliable engine that has incurred penalties and relegated them to the back of the grid at a track where passing is very difficult. A set of new ultrasoft tyes will be several seconds faster than worn race tyres, plus turning the engine up and fully charging the batteries for a single balls-out lap will also add a bit, so even a mid-field team will be capable of going faster than the leaders for a single lap.

It seems to me the top drivers all want to get fastest lap anyway. This rewards a racer’s instinct.

It seems to me the top drivers all want to get fastest lap anyway. This rewards a racer’s instinct.

Sure, but now there’s an incentive to make a pitstop and put the engine in qualifying mode if there’s a decent gap to the car behind because there’s a point at stake. Team strategists will keep that extra point in mind during the race and try to arrange things to improve the chances of a late pitstop for fresh tyres. Previously it was just a matter of personal pride so no incentive to risk engine damage or mess around with an unnecessary pitstop.