Williams chief technical officer Paddy Lowe is to take a "leave of absence" from Formula 1.

So much for the "we all win and lose together as a team". He's paying for the car being so late and untested. Well now we know for sure who brings up the rear in Melbourne...

Meanwhile Indycars are at St Pete this week end as an appetizer for open wheel racing in 2019...

wow, the jungle drums beat fast on this thread :eek:

Not all of us have real jobs, Cap'n. Some of us have nothing but time to surf the interwebs.

Well, if Williams keep their nose(s) clean at the start by being slow and careful, they might pass a third of the pack in the first few corners while the front runners are making fools of themselves. So by race end, they could end up mid pack, who knows?

There, see how easy that was! Go Clair!!

I'm gonna go way out on a limb here and make a prediction:

Ferrari will dominate, right up until 30 seconds are left in Q3. That's when hambone will turn it up to 11 and go P-1 and lead most of the laps and win the race. And so goes the season.

Hope I'm wrong tho.

You’re presuming Paddy had no role at all “for the car being so late and untested”. How can that be if he was the chief technical director?

Not really presuming that, you read too much into a few words. I’m sure he’s responsible to a degree and there was nobody else to hide behind apparently. I’m just pointing out last week Williams presented a united front - this week he’s gone. He even invested into the team ! It looks really bad for them - no technical director.

I’m not sure the F1 team will survive long term. The engineering group might.

an interesting insider view from Windsor:

https://www.omologatowatches.com/blog/racers-edge-williams

Does this mean that racers are finally out? If it is a corporate world, is Toto a racer? Is Binotto? Was Arrivabene? Hoerner? Thinking that most are, but given where this and frankly all motorsports seem to be going, $$ not racing may be the motivator.

Netflix’s F1 drive to survive is a good show. If you’re a fan you need to watch that ! Came out today... Gunther Steiner is a hoot. “We look like ****ing wankers”

Nice to see the drivers with their family and the teams from inside - a must watch !

I'm not sure how you're interpreting an article about Williams and arriving at your other names.

However, F1 is trying to court auto manufacturers, and in turn, that means F1 must cater to current corporate speak and appearance.

I don't know what this season will bring, but I mostly watch short track oval racing now.

I think Claire is well past her sell by.....sad. I've always been a big fan of Frank.

Man... you guys gotta watch that Netflix thing. It’s like scripted drama but real...
Watching the gut punch of Horner announcing they are dumping Renault on abiteboul’s face is the conference ... and just later Renault signing Ricciardo, and this time Horner getting gut punched. You can’t write stuff like that. Very human. Great series !!!!

this is interesting, James does a good job explaining some of the aero challenges when designing a F1 car

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsFjDou_4qk

Thanks!

I wonder if any of the F1 Honda powered teams watched yesterday's Indy car race ? There were two Honda engines that as David Hobbs would say " suffered from excess crankcase ventilation " :D Both had what appeared to be massive engine/turbo failures .

Alonso?

At any rate l believe Red Bull isn't on deck with the "new" F1, although I follow less closely these days.

Their teams went to Honda primarily as Honda is giving them equipment instead of needing to buy it. Red Bull has a contractual obligation to be in F1 up to a certain date.

Red Bull markets itself on a different premise than Liberty is taking F1. The move to Honda allows Red Bull to spend less yet still keep their contract. If it doesn't work out Red Bull will leave when the time is up. If it does work out they will likely stay as long as the team earns money.

Lovely to have some motorsport back... Between the netflix F1 show (fantastic end to end, I'm surprised y'all aren't devouring this), WRC in Mexico, and Indy, I feel all warmed up for the return of F1... It's funny watching Indycars pit and think "Those tire changes are soooo slow" ;-)

In 2016 Nico wins with hambone following, and Nico surprisingly retires.
I though huh, that's weird. I wondered if there was some arrangement.

In 2017 Hambone won and I wondered, was that payback for letting Nico win last year? Naw, couldn't be.

In 2018 hambone wins again with Bottas trailing.
Was bottas held back? Naw, couldn't be. Hambone was just faster.

Now it's 2019. Bottas is saying he's going to beat everybody. We'll see.
I don't think he has it in him but if he does, I'll be sporting the fanciest tin-foil hat there ever was.


https://www.planetf1.com/news/bottas-im-going-to-beat-everyone-this-year/

Helpful video, thanks!

I chuckled when he called some of the solutions on the 2018 car, clumsy. Development never sleeps in F1, does it (except during the mandated break?)?

I've just started reading Adrian Newey's book 'How to Build a Car'

https://www.amazon.com/How-Build-Car-Autobiography-Greatest/dp/000819680X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=adrian+newey&qid=1552491956&s= books&sr=1-1

I don't read books much unless I'm on an airplane but I started reading last night and didn't stop til I feel asleep.

It's being reported Charlie Whiting has died, this is terrible news for F1 fans.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1552558331.jpg

Wow, that is a shocker. A good guy, smart and well liked.

RIP, Charlie.

Died from a pulmonary embolism. Wow, maybe from all the air travel? Regardless, sad for the F1 world at his unexpected passing.

Likely... Long flight.. Both my folks (same age as him) got a pulmonary embolism from travel and were lucky it got caught on time before the return flight... Very sad, Charlie was a good guy.

Disappointing practices so far if you were hoping for parity... Mercedes was indeed sandbagging, apparently and are comfortably ahead.

Redbull looks good (I still hope the engine blows because I hate H Marko), the only good surprise so far is Alfa looks great !

Certainly seems that way.

I was happy with the team Haas qualifying results it bodes well for them coming out of the gate .

Congrats to Hamilton on his 2019 WDC and to Mercedes for their 2019 Constructors Championship.

I would like to thank them for giving us a reason to tune in today and not ruining the season during pre season practice.

Ferrari and Red bull will never find 0.8 seconds.

I am cautiously optimistic that Mercs race pace may not be as good, that is about the only hope one has for this season to be remotely interesting. Right now it looks like another season of Mercedes winning 20 of the races.



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The boys over at Ferrarichat are losing their sheet.

I'm not sure that Kubica belongs in an F1 car anymore. Yes, he was a great talent before his accident, but I kind of suspect that his injury does not allow to control the car like he once did. He was 1.5 seconds off his teammate. He hit the pit wall during practice. He seems to be struggling to keep the car on the track.

How far the once mighty have fallen. This sounds less than encouraging for Williams :rolleyes:

"There is one fundamental which I don't want to discuss publicly," said Russell, who will start 19th for the F1 season opener.

"We understand what that is, but it doesn't mean we can wake up on Monday morning and rectify it.

"To change something so fundamental will take months of development, work in the simulator and designers working out how to do it, and that is what needs to be done at the moment.

"Unfortunately we are looking at a number of races before we are going to be able to fight, and that is just where we are at the moment."

Asked how big a leap forward that change could deliver, Russell said: "I think once we have solved that fundamental there will be a big leap.

"We will probably still be at the back of the grid, but with the chance to fight rather than like it is at the moment. The fact is we don't have any hope because we are too far behind."

I agree with you , it doesn't help that the car is a hot pile of $hit with apparently a fairly major fundamental flaw per todays comments . But even in a great car he has been gone too long and is basically driving one handed . How anyone can think he'll be competitive is just not thinking . I would love to see him be competitive , he is a fan favorite and seems like a great guy . Would love to have a beer with him but his best days I'm afraid are in the rear view mirror .

So, how'd it shake out?

Same sheet, different year.

Meanwhile fast drivers like Ocon sit at home without a ride.

Yup. Congrats to Mercedes on the 2019 title, indeed.

Good news? It wasn’t Hamilton this time but it will be soon enough... yawn.

The midfield is very tight though. Could be Haas, Alfa, Renault, or Toro Rosso any given day.

Surprises? Kubica is done. Stroll beat Perez! WTH?
Also Renault still blew one up and Honda didn’t, ugh... I really wanted to see Marko eat one... maybe next time :-)

The Grosean pit stop was a debacle how do you not get the wheel/tire on properly ? Yes I know they are pressed for a fast pit stop but get the damn wheels on ! :mad: That mistake cost them valuable points . Good run by Kevin M. a solid performance the entire race . Ferrari are off the pace they will be scrambling big time . Team Alfa looked decent they have potential for a solid year . McLaren too early to tell . I thought overall the " racing " was not all that great .

Not a bad race
 

Too bad DannyRic hadn't taken a look down towards 1st turn after quali, he might've seen that pot hole. Would've been a great pass.

I recorded the race of course. Halfway through I fast forwarded to the last turn of the last lap. I admire Mercedes ability to dominate the series but probably won’t watch much F1 this year.