FORMULA ONE - 2019

Seb, you doofus. 

Withstood some pretty high pressure today.  Charles seems like he might be the real deal, particularly compared to his team mates.

I agree.  Seb, you doofus.

I don't feel like doing the math here, but did Better just move backwards as far as Max moved forwards?  

LeClerc's defense was all-in and I thought it showed some real cajones.  I struggle to see why his driving is fine while Max is vilified for much the same type of driving, but if this is the new FIA letting them race, they've got my vote!  Personally I still maintain my belief that cutting a corner to stay in front constitutes a lasting advantage, but apparently I am wrong, so there you go.

I was absolutely rooting for him though!  If you don't find that race exciting, I'm not sure what anyone could possibly do to build a race series that you're going to like.

I agree that the corner cut was not proper, but I think the battle for the lead gets slightly different rules, particularly since the howling made over Sebs penalty in Canada. Pushing Lewis on to the grass was also very close to the edge.

Max has a much longer list of youthful indiscretion, which contributes to his continued receiving of abuse, even though he has only done a couple of stupid things in the last year.  He will carry that stigma for the rest of his career.

IMHO, so far, the difference between LeClerc and Verstappen is how much each has risked other drivers.  So far, the only time Charles has realistically risked someone else was today when he pushed Lewis slightly off track going into the 4/5 chicane.  And he was warned about it.  Whereas Max has been considerably more aggressive to other drivers- pushing them very much off the track, and hitting other drivers.

If Charles continues to risk other drivers and makes it worse, then he will earn the scorn that Max has gotten.  But today's incident was pretty darned minor, and was rightly a "we are watching you" warning.   The real questionable call was the rule of mistake going into Rettifilo- is the rule that you have to take the off road, or are you allowed to drive over the bumps.  I don't know the specific rule, so I'm not sure how to judge the ruling.

It was interesting to hear Hamilton note that the moves were noted and ok- thinking that he may use them in the future...

Vettel- dude..  you very much earned that one today.

Enjoyed today's race but not sure about leaving track by Leclerc, but he didn't gain a position. I do think the zig-zag was bad. I thought every race organization had adopted the one move rule. Still don't like drs. I think Seb has lost any desire to race. 

I agree about the DRS.  My suggestions for F1:

1. No more than 2 elements on any wing with a maximum sq in limit.

2. No DRS.

3. Only one tire compound.

4. No engine or gearbox penalties - allow the engine builders to develop the engines and correct weaknesses.

5. No limit on testing with junior drivers and greatly increased limits with primary drivers.

6. Investigate different qualifying methods, possibly keeping Q1 and Q2 as is but making Q3 a 15 lap qualifying race.  Or maybe everyone going out one at a time for 4 laps with the 4 lap total determining starting position.

In reply to JimS :

I don't really expect Seb back next year.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

Andrea de Crasherish.  I never remembered him crashing towards the end of his career but the name always stuck. 

alfadriver said:

IMHO, so far, the difference between LeClerc and Verstappen is how much each has risked other drivers.  So far, the only time Charles has realistically risked someone else was today when he pushed Lewis slightly off track going into the 4/5 chicane.  And he was warned about it.  Whereas Max has been considerably more aggressive to other drivers- pushing them very much off the track, and hitting other drivers.

If Charles continues to risk other drivers and makes it worse, then he will earn the scorn that Max has gotten.  But today's incident was pretty darned minor, and was rightly a "we are watching you" warning.   The real questionable call was the rule of mistake going into Rettifilo- is the rule that you have to take the off road, or are you allowed to drive over the bumps.  I don't know the specific rule, so I'm not sure how to judge the ruling.

It was interesting to hear Hamilton note that the moves were noted and ok- thinking that he may use them in the future...

Vettel- dude..  you very much earned that one today.

"Excuse Mr Hamilton.....my bad for EFFEN pinching you(in the heat of the battle) .....I guess I'll just go and take my "black and white" warning"......seriously, this is the nature of F1 where PC dictates how all the children are to play nice? Still LH couldn't put a move LeC running hard compound ......the new order has been witnessed....

In reply to 759NRNG :

If they gave him 5 seconds, none of the officials would have made it out of Italy.

But we will see for the rest of the season- of all the tracks where power overwhelms the chassis probems, LeClerc won.  Not shocking, really.

Truly surprised LeC didn;t get a stopn'go when he cut the chicane on the front straight....but that's right he was LEADING the RACE......good night all  

Can Ferrari just fire Vettel? They need to fire Vettel. Yikes he has gotten bad.

Leclerc did well and I was happy to see him win. 

The squeeze of Hamilton off track was worth a penalty in the past but the new warning was appropriate. It is why it exists. Cutting the chicane was fine. Hamilton wasn't mid pass attempt and Leclerc did not get a gap increase due to it. 

Bottas provided an odd/disappointing challenge for the win. He just couldn't get as close as needed to make something happen. 

Renault got very little coverage on the screen. But bravo. Good to see them get some points. 

Verstappen and Vettel just made mistakes that were simple but devastated their races. 

Stroll had a good race taken from him. Sainz retired again not due to his error. 

Hopefully we will see an even Albion Verstappen battle in Singapore. 

Regardless of that neither of the Mercedes had the car or the remaining tires to even hold off LeClerc if they would have passed him. Honestly, with the availability of DRS and the tow if LH passed LeClerc there was no chance for them. 

Too bad Ferrari just now took the reigns off him and realized too late that he not Vettel is the true #1 driver there. I think LeClerc would be a lot closer to LH in the championship if that happened. 

Off to singapore...Looking forward to it!

bmw88rider said:

Regardless of that neither of the Mercedes had the car or the remaining tires to even hold off LeClerc if they would have passed him. Honestly, with the availability of DRS and the tow if LH passed LeClerc there was no chance for them. 

 

Too bad Ferrari just now took the reigns off him and realized too late that he not Vettel is the true #1 driver there. I think LeClerc would be a lot closer to LH in the championship if that happened. 

 

Off to singapore...Looking forward to it!

I'm not sure if I would fully agree with that- I thought about that post qualifying and seeing the sector times.  If either car could have gotten in front due to DRS, then the advantage in sector two was enough to gap the other car and prevent DRS.  Or at least give enough of an advantage to make it tough.  And the key area that really kept Ferrari in front was that they could exit Parabolica WOT and pull away.  So when you look at the roughly .4 second DRS advantage that Mercedes got, it was not enough to even attempt a pass, as LeClerc was .6 seconds ahead when the DRS opened.  You could see that when either Bottas or Hamilton closed in that last sector, as soon as they got to that corner, Ferrari was able to pull away- in spite of tire wear, in spite of less downforce.   IMHO, that part of the set up won the race for LeClerc.  

So, there have been several mentions of LeClerc squeezing Hamilton off going into the 2nd chicane and whether or not he should've gotten a penalty. How is this any different than Sainz pushing Albon into the gravel at one of the Lesmos?

In Sainz case, the commentators said it was proper because he had a slight lead and was entitled to the racing line, so it was Albon's fault for being next to him and he had no expectation to be given room.

In LeClerc/Hamilton it was the exact same situation, but different application of the rules it seems. LeClerc was ahead and therefore based on the above, was entitled to the racing line which is to get over as far to the right as you can. Hamilton, being behind should have no expectation of being given any room, but the commentators seemed to say that he was entitled to a car's width.

What is the difference between these two incidents? Is there a way to explain it that doesn't come down to who the drivers in question are?

In reply to T.J. :

I'm not sure if my take on it is the same, but to me it wasn't so much that he squeezed him, but he was doing a ton of "moving under braking" which is what everybody wanted to have Max flogged for.  Personally, I thought it was good, hard racing no matter who was at the wheel and I'd like to see more of it.

In reply to wae :

Oh, then that makes sense. I was thinking the warning was for forcing Lewis off the track.

I saw it as he defended the inside line, then, swung back to the right to get back on the racing line and since he was slightly ahead, it seems he has the right to the racing line I find that a dumb rule, but that is how they play it

It seems that Hamilton wasn't all that upset about it, so I guess I will defer to him and I will stay in the camp that it was just good hard racing. The difference when Max does it, is that he makes contact with the other car to move them out of his way.

In reply to T.J. :

Yeah, Max does seem to like to bang wheels a bunch and I guess that kind takes away the benefit of the doubt.

I am not 100% sure what the black and white flag was waved for specifically.  If it was for The Squeeze, then I agree that it should have also been shown to Sainz -- or, in my opinion, to neither of them.

In other news, HAAS finally broke ties with Rich Energy according to their facebook and other sources.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/145884/haas-and-title-sponsor-rich-energy-terminate-deal

In reply to Apexcarver :

Has anyone ever actually seen a can of Rich Energy? Are they real?

In reply to T.J. :

It's still listed on the amazon UK site.  But not in the US.  Which means that it's still a virtual energy drink.

Go to Jalopnik and read their series on Rich Energy. It's quite entertaining.

In reply to T.J. :

Sainz and Albon

Sainz was on the inside and had a mid corner wiggle. Thus accidentally tapped Albon and slide wide. The racing line Sainz was initially taking seemed to be to leave room. Plus knowledge of Monza means Albon and others know he was a bit optimistic with trying the outside. 

Leclerc and Hamilton

Leclerc made his one move to block on the inside. Then in the braking zone drove Hamilton off the track. This is a straight line braking situation and Leclerc should have stayed straight. Or moved but left room to Hamilton. In the interview he honestly thought he left room but I think he will realize he didn't and he was wrong for it.