There’s something culturally wrong at Williams - their aerodynamics have been a problem for years. At least McLaren are trying to change it by appointing a new COO and James Key.
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2019 Formula 1 Season Thread
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I’m not sure things have been right for a while. Everyone knew the aero package was wrong last year. Thats the one thing you’d have thought they’d have got right this year.
Not enough funding for wind tunnel testing maybe?
At least McLaren has funding up the wazoo as well as other streams of revenue to support a backmarker racing car. I don't understand how Williams can put this terrible car on the grid year after year and still stay in business. Is this the last season for Williams?
I hope not. They need a major investor. But I think they would rather wait until the team is in serious financial trouble and buy them.
Unless it was an issue similar to Ferrari in 2013 where the wind tunnel calibrations were off, resulting in spurious data being generated that did not match real-world performance.
Beyond Williams GPE, there is also Williams Advanced Engineering (which provides the battery technology in Formula E, for example) doing commercial stuff. There was also Williams Hybrid Power that provided electric flywheel energy storage technology to commercial customers before it was sold in 2014 to GKN.
Nice video from James Allison describing the aero changes from 2018 to 2019:
https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/1102916425805639685/video/1
Lewis says the cars feel the same following each other from last year. I hope he's a little bit wrong.
https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/1102916425805639685/video/1
Lewis says the cars feel the same following each other from last year. I hope he's a little bit wrong.
It’s the wake from behind. I’m suspicious some teams deliberately disrupt the air to prevent overtaking.
On a side note if you’re into gaming I’d recommend Motorsport Manager, either on iOS or Mac. There’s some fun F1-style management there.
Not sure if this has been mentioned in previous F1 posts/threads: Chain Bear F1 YouTube channel.
If you are an F1 expert, with many years experience dealing with the Byzantine nature of F1 regulations, history, strategy, politics, etc. - nothing new. If you aren't: Chain Bear does a fabulous job of explaining it all.
The Williams under performance is quite sad as they have Merc power. Historically they've trimmed the car for fast circuits. Didn't quite work out for them in 2018.
Don't underestimate losing Massa in 2018, too. He will always be remembered for following team orders. That noted, he is/was quite the talent. He'd be a world champion had it not been for slick tyres on a Toyota in the rain. You can't develop a car in a laboratory.
It will be interesting to see how Williams copes with the future. Not sure if there's Stroll money left in the coffers. Both Kubica and Russell bring balances with them. Will that be enough?
Glad to see Kubica get his chance. I hope he can pull off that once every ten year miracle.
Don't underestimate losing Massa in 2018, too. He will always be remembered for following team orders. That noted, he is/was quite the talent. He'd be a world champion had it not been for slick tyres on a Toyota in the rain. You can't develop a car in a laboratory.
It will be interesting to see how Williams copes with the future. Not sure if there's Stroll money left in the coffers. Both Kubica and Russell bring balances with them. Will that be enough?
Glad to see Kubica get his chance. I hope he can pull off that once every ten year miracle.
Any opinions on the new points package approved yesterday? “If the driver who sets fastest lap finishes in the top 10 they receive 1 Championship Point.”
Potentially freeing up 21 additional Championship Points to be earned.
Potentially freeing up 21 additional Championship Points to be earned.
Any opinions on the new points package approved yesterday? “If the driver who sets fastest lap finishes in the top 10 they receive 1 Championship Point.”
Potentially freeing up 21 additional Championship Points to be earned.
I think it makes sense, frankly.
Any opinions on the new points package approved yesterday? “If the driver who sets fastest lap finishes in the top 10 they receive 1 Championship Point.”
Potentially freeing up 21 additional Championship Points to be earned.
yay!
another gimmick!
dislike.
Methinks the one point for fastest lap will come back and bite F1 in the backside. All is happy until teams start blowing engines and taking grid penalties later in the year. The last thing the show needs is the top two drivers fighting for the championship with one of them taking a grid penalty for an engine part replacement.
So your number 2 driver will get the fastest lap as he can run the last couple of laps in qualifying mode? Still anything other than lift and coast!
They would need to finish in the top 10 as well.....
I can see both points of view in here. It may turn out to be another unessary change. I’m simply a fan of giving a driver another opportunity to gain a few Championship Points.
My first thought was I like the opportunity for more points and something that encourages speed but then I thought about qualy and drivers usually slow it down to create a gap in front of them for that one flying lap. I can't imagine cars fighting for a place against another driver would be able to pull out a fastest lap anyway. It would have to be that 7th or 8th place car (or any top 10 car with no threat from behind) who decides to go for it.
It just means Lewis and Vettel will go for flying laps at the end of a race on low fuel, lol. It's exactly what Vettel used to do in the Red Bull, just to get the pole/fastest lap/race win triple. Now there's a point for it. It won't gift points to slower cars.
Formula 2 has had this for awhile. Originally it was given for the fastest lap, period, so back-markers would come in late and get fresh option tires to put in a fast lap for the point. So they changed it to the Top 10 to stop that (F2 fields remain tight enough that a Top 10 runner would not stop late for fresh rubber as they would fall out of the Top 10) so it tends to go to the driver who likely would have had fastest lap even if there was no points incentive.
For F1, the time differentials are such that it might be possible for someone in the Top 10 to come in for fresh options and get out without losing a place and then gunning for fastest lap now that there is an incentive to do so.
i don't care..Does anyone have any objections if I post other motorsport stuff in here too? Not take over the thread of course, but I don't think most it warrants its own thread, and it might interest some in here.
but i'm not as finicky as some on here...