The F1 thread

stickyfiddle

From Scarbs...

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

Not from a quotable source, apparently, presumably meaning it’s come straight from someone with the team who he’s mates with. Seems like meddling in the engineering side from people on the commercial side. Whether that’s Claire or Frank or someone else; I guess we’ll find out eventually. 

Fretwired

There were reports that Frank is part of the problem regarding the lateness of the new car as he oversaw the development and some say Paddy was cut out of certain key decisions. The team is also broke. Not sure how long they can limp along .. family teams are a thing of the past. They should sell a stake in the team to raise cash and improve the car and their engineering team. They should also get a new team principal - Claire can run the commercial side of the business.

57Deluxe

when F1 goes all electric, I will probably just download the race onto a USB...

Cols

stickyfiddle said:

From Scarbs...

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

Not from a quotable source, apparently, presumably meaning it’s come straight from someone with the team who he’s mates with. Seems like meddling in the engineering side from people on the commercial side. Whether that’s Claire or Frank or someone else; I guess we’ll find out eventually. 

Frank’s been in F1 for 50 years; I’m sure he’s experienced enough to know when not to meddle.

Over the past two years Williams has gone from a respectable midfield team to tail-end charlies, under Paddy Lowe’s technical direction.  He simply hasn’t delivered a good package; before him Pat Symonds was able to turn out respectable cars; punching above their weight in 2014-15 and at their weight in 2016-17.  The hope was that by poaching Paddy Lowe from Mercedes they’d be able to move towards being a front runner again; instead the opposite happened.

Fretwired

Cols said:

Frank’s been in F1 for 50 years; I’m sure he’s experienced enough to know when not to meddle.

Over the past two years Williams has gone from a respectable midfield team to tail-end charlies, under Paddy Lowe’s technical direction.  He simply hasn’t delivered a good package; before him Pat Symonds was able to turn out respectable cars; punching above their weight in 2014-15 and at their weight in 2016-17.  The hope was that by poaching Paddy Lowe from Mercedes they’d be able to move towards being a front runner again; instead the opposite happened.

I think it's easy to blame Paddy. Williams lost key sponsors and staff who jumped ship. They have been existing on a small budget for years now. And Frank and Claire do meddle .. check out comments from staff who left. Paddy is used to a big team with resources and cash. He was never suited to the type of operation that Williams run. They are an anachronism. They should have looked at becoming the Mercedes B team to bring on new drivers in return for help and bigger discount on engines.

Cols

Williams’ budget was higher than Force India’s for the past few years, but they were still outperformed by them...

Fretwired

Cols said:

Williams’ budget was higher than Force India’s for the past few years, but they were still outperformed by them...

In F1 terms it's small. In 2018 Williams had a budget of $150 million and 630 staff. Force India had a budget of $120 million and around 400 staff .. Force India also overspent their budget and went into liquidation owing $335 million so FI probably spend more money than Williams.

Cols

Rumours are that Rob Smedley may be asked to return to Williams as Technical Director.

Fretwired

Cols said:

Rumours are that Rob Smedley may be asked to return to Williams as Technical Director.

Unlikely I'd have thought as he's now working with Brawn and Symonds at the Formula One Group.  He and Brawn worked well together at Ferrari.

Fretwired

Formula One is poised to reintroduce a point for the fastest lap during a grand prix from this season. The move was initially approved during a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) on Thursday.

Interesting ....

siremoon

The Netflix F1 doc is up now.  Episodes are 35-ish minutes.  Watched the first episode last night.  Some general scene setting and focussed on the Australian GP, Danny Ric and Haas.  One or two interesting behind the scenes snippets but not as much fly on the wall stuff as the Sunderland AFC series.  Hopefully there will be a bit more of that in the subsequent episodes.

Cols

Fretwired said:

Formula One is poised to reintroduce a point for the fastest lap during a grand prix from this season. The move was initially approved during a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) on Thursday.

Interesting ....

Mixed feelings- my concern is that it hands another advantage to the big teams who’ll invariably be in a position to set the fastest lap.

stickyfiddle

Fretwired said:

Formula One is poised to reintroduce a point for the fastest lap during a grand prix from this season. The move was initially approved during a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) on Thursday.

Interesting ....

I don't see the point (no pun intended). It will just mean anyone with a 30-second gap will pit 3 laps from the end and try and do a banzai lap. Is that going to make anything more exciting in any tangible way? They're saying that only top-10 cars will be eligible, so it doesn't even give back markers a chance to nick some points occasionally. 

I just don't get it. 

thumpingrug

stickyfiddle said:

Fretwired said:

Formula One is poised to reintroduce a point for the fastest lap during a grand prix from this season. The move was initially approved during a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) on Thursday.

Interesting ....

I don't see the point (no pun intended). It will just mean anyone with a 30-second gap will pit 3 laps from the end and try and do a banzai lap. Is that going to make anything more exciting in any tangible way? They're saying that only top-10 cars will be eligible, so it doesn't even give back markers a chance to nick some points occasionally. 

I just don't get it. 

It will add an extra element of "spectacle" which is what Liberty want for TV viewers.  However they need to find a way to balance this for the cars at the back of the grid.  Difficult to think what this would be though, neatest pitstop, best catering?

Fretwired

stickyfiddle said:

I don't see the point (no pun intended).

I think it may stop the boring conclusions to some races where the top three just turn their motors down and cruise. It could add some spice with one of the leading cars (Vettel) going for a fastest lap and blowing their engine up ...  :-)

siremoon

stickyfiddle said:

Fretwired said:

Formula One is poised to reintroduce a point for the fastest lap during a grand prix from this season. The move was initially approved during a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) on Thursday.

Interesting ....

I don't see the point (no pun intended). It will just mean anyone with a 30-second gap will pit 3 laps from the end and try and do a banzai lap. Is that going to make anything more exciting in any tangible way? They're saying that only top-10 cars will be eligible, so it doesn't even give back markers a chance to nick some points occasionally. 

I just don't get it. 

If someone in the points is more than a pit stop ahead of the car behind and has no hope of catching the car in front then what you say might well happen.  That situation doesn't happen in every race though.    

In other circumstances it creates the potential for an extra strategic dimension.  Do you settle for what you have or do you gamble with a pit stop and hope you can get the fastest lap and recover your original track position?  etc etc.   It could also make the end of the season more interesting by giving more permutations for where teams and drivers could finish in the championships.

It might prove to be a total disaster but I think it's a worthwhile experiment.

sweepy

In F2 the driver doing the fastest lap has to be in the top 10 iirc

TimmyO

stickyfiddle said:

From Scarbs...

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

Not from a quotable source, apparently, presumably meaning it’s come straight from someone with the team who he’s mates with. Seems like meddling in the engineering side from people on the commercial side. Whether that’s Claire or Frank or someone else; I guess we’ll find out eventually. 

That’s the departing man talking through sock puppets 

Cols

Both Marko and Horner are openly slagging off Gasly for crashing during testing.  Is this an acceptable driver motivation technique I don’t know about, to publically ridicule them before the first race of the season?

Gasly keeping Red Bull busy before season begins - Horner - Reuters

https://apple.news/A8HXlHi0fTKCK-aSs3q3xWg

mattdavis

I binged a few of the Netflix doc last night. The Ricardo moving to Renault episode is fun just for the unbelievably awkward moments between Horner and the Reanult boss! It did achieve its aim of making me think I really should properly follow F1 again this year. Then I saw it’s only highlights on terrestrial this year, other than Silverstone. Arse.