Tag: Pre Season

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Formula 1

2019 Test 1 recap

2019 got off to a flyer in Barcelona

Usually I could rattle off this summary for a test in a couple of minutes and put my feet up for the rest of the day but I fear this won’t be the case this year. I suppose I’m grateful for that because I may be able to write this less formulaic. At least in recent years, I can’t remember a year that’s received so much hype for testing and it actually be backed up by an actual interesting test. Yes there’s a ‘rule change’ but the philosophy of the cars hasn’t been drastically altered yet in some ways it almost feels as big as the winter of 2014. I don’t know how it appears for you but testing is usually the time of year where most are like ‘huh it’s testing it doesn’t mean much’ and the sad people like me who don’t get out much follow it closely. It may just be my own little bubble I’ve formed but testing seems bigger this year. Maybe the televised nature of it doesn’t help either.

Pragmatically, we approached this test expecting Mercedes and Ferrari battling it out for the highly important winter testing trophy, Red Bull experiencing teething issues, and the midfield about as far away from the top as I am to Barcelona writing this now in my room in England. To be fair, we got the usual Ferrari in that respect, bulletproof reliability and fantastic pace – they didn’t even put the fastest compound but look like they could easily break the 1:17 barrier with the middle compound tyre which a lot of the field broke on the C4 and C5 tyres, including the Mercedes. We must bare in mind the usual testing mantra of the times do not matter. But you can definitely tell Ferrari won’t finish last in the constructors’. Of course you do have to look at the times because my post wouldn’t exactly be the most thrilling read, even if they are that normally. If I didn’t look at times my post would look like this:

Yeah some cars went round a track fast but not as fast as they will in a few months

Not exactly a page turner, or scroll-er as you could say in this generation. At least it would make a change from my ranty pieces, but I digress.

A usual good indicator for car performance is reliability and driveability. Does the car look planted? Can the driver push and it look easy? Does the car constantly stop out on track? Do bits fall off the car? You get the idea. Test 1 is usually notorious for cars dropping like flies, which is what made Mercedes cars and later Ferrari cars look so impressive in recent years. Obviously we factor in pace to that too, but a good rule of thumb is that if it’s reliable, the team are on track with their plans, or it allows for more data, allowing for better or more efficient R&D. You could throw McLaren from last year into that bracket, with the late move to Renault, although there was a more clear chassis design flaw on the world’s best chassis last year. It also goes a long way to showing why Williams not being able to run for essentially 2 and a half days is so concerning from not only a performance view but also from a team point of view. It’s almost like it got to February and someone was like “oh shoot we’ve got to build a car.” It stinks of something properly wrong at the team. Force India would at least turn up with an old car to learn the tyres so it’s not time wasted. I believe the same team, now Racing Point, are running a half 2018, half 2019 car before more parts come later on in the season. Don’t quote me on that though. Missing nearly a third of running, especially with two rookies in the car, for me doesn’t bode well. It could just be because the team is behind though, but the car does look the most unsettled out on track, hopefully this improves over the next week and a bit, for Williams’ sake.

Speaking of unsettled, Mercedes does look like it loves to lock its breaks, could just be coincidence and may be reading too much into it, but for Mercedes’ usual perfect tests and the fact that they didn’t really up the pace until the last day or so, suggests that the Merc may not be the clear run away favourite for this year.

Both Red Bull teams are making me eat my own words somewhat. The transition to Honda for the main team has been so smooth, and like last year Toro Rosso have enjoyed solid running. It’s a positive sign for sure, but we’ll have to see how the season pans out. Toro Rosso clocked up impressive testing miles, before having the most power unit penalties during the course of 2018. We’ll still have to wait for outright pace too. Hopefully, the rumblings of vibrations in the Honda causing it to damage itself, just like a few years ago can be easily fixed. This may be the reason for those uprights found on the Red Bull’s rear on day 4.

On the other end of the spectrum, Haas seem to have a bit of a shaky testing, probably having the most interrupted running of the teams who ran all 4 days. For sure they look to be solid midfield runners but whereabouts, I don’t think anyone knows for sure. They’ve put together one of the fastest laps of the test so far, but like Toro Rosso, I don’t believe anyone thinks they’ll be at the sharp end of the grid.

Racing Point also had low mileage, at least compared to the newfound average for 2019. Maybe it is just because they’re not quite the finished product for 2019, but we’ll see. I think we’ll have to see until the season’s end where development has taken off for arguably the first time in the team’s history. BAR did show in their first season you can’t just throw money at the sport and expect instant success. They did eventually have an incredible 2004 season, and considering Racing Point have a stronger base than BAR did we’ll have to wait a little less to get that kind of success. But considering the strength of the midfield, they should be able to keep up with development unlike previous years, and the Silverstone squad has always been able to pull off unlikely results, so I doubt 2019 will be different as they don’t look to have a dog of a car.

Renault and McLaren have had a kind of similar test where they seem to be better but not made the strides everyone expected. One or two bits flying of their cars, and pulling off laps to impress at the end of the day. Maybe the question marks surrounding them will be answered at the next test. I refer myself to the testing mantra, and feel I should just wait until Melbourne, but it’s just too damn hard do!

I’ll leave this kind of summary/wrap-up-/season preview pt. 1/load of nonsense with Alfa Romeo. Undoubtedly the season’s dark horse. Again, in my preview for their season, I never thought they’d show the pace they have shown so far. I hope it’s legitimate because the midfield battle has been raised up a level, and they may even displace Renault as best of the rest. Next to Ferrari, I’d say they’ve had the best winter so far. That’s not to say they’re second fastest, but I so hope there’s pace in the locker because this testing has shown that we’re in for a helluva season. If the front wing design from Ferrari and Alfa is something worth a few tenths, then they seem to be on to a winner. It would take a lot for the rest to catch up. I wait to see what Alfa do this season with cautious optimism and hope, just because of this test.

Under a month to go before the season kicks off, and it’s taking shape to be more than just exciting. It is only testing so we wait until Australia and what the racing is like, but I just hope Hype Energy’s twitter account isn’t the only entertainment we get this year…

#betterthanmotorsport.com

#whoevenareWTF1

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Formula 1

Alfa Romeo 2019 Preview

Removal of the Sauber name, retention of last year’s scheme.

We asked for more red and I guess we got it? So that immediately compromises all that I’m about to say! I don’t think I’ll end up being too scathing here, famous last words, because the Alfa from last year was probably the car that grew on me the most. It still wasn’t perfect, it looked too Williams like, but that’s probably been solved now; a mixture of Williams changing it up this year and some subtle tweaks for Alfa have helped to solve this. More red yes, but still probably not enough this year, but the proportions of the livery have changed slightly and I feel this may go under the radar. I believe the red reaches lower on the car at the engine cover. The blue stripes seem thicker. It’s last year’s car on steroids.

Also new is the Alfa red halo, which should really help distinguish it from the Williams. Most of the shots we’ll see will be on board and this will stand out against the Williams. The red rear wing should also help. Even the slight alteration on the Alfa logo looks bold and should like much, much better for the spectator at track side.

Only thing I’d consider is having the bonnet of the car, if you like, in red too. It’d actually be a similar design to the Renault, but be much different, and would be used to different effect too. It wouldn’t be a Ferrari on board because it’s metallic, and a darker red. It wouldn’t be a Ferrari from the side, because it’s half white. I’ll admit this idea was floated by several people last year, but I’d certainly give it a go.

It certainly looks to be a revolutionary car too. This looks like the first time there’s been aggressive looking parts across the whole car. Even during the suffering Sauber days there were funny air intakes for example. Now they have a unique front wing, aggressive barge boards and floor. A team reshuffling itself, plus safer finances, plus closer ties with Ferrari, could very well raise several eyebrows this season.

Return of Kimi, in more ways than one

Kimi goes full circle and returns to the Swiss team, operating under its new guise. We saw at the end of last year how quick a rejuvenated, in form Kimi can be when he’s left to his own devices. He may be F1’s oldest driver but when the car’s there for him he’s still got the pace. He’s now a clear top dog too which might let Kimi wag his tail more than was allowed when playing second fiddle to Vettel. I reckon Kimi is definitely one of the favourites to pull off a shock result this year. He’s had good Monaco pace for a few years now, and goodness only knows what Baku will throw up.

Giovinazzi still is regarded to having good potential for being a strong driver in F1. Beating the experienced Kimi will be difficult to say the least, and I think it may take a couple of seasons to do so. I think he’ll become a solid driver this year but Kimi will just have the edge, but as he learns and gets his rhythm he will become a great driver for Alfa and take the fight to Kimi. He’s got F1 running in the first few rounds too with Sauber, so he should be one to watch for sure, but I feel the Ice Man will just be too hot for Gio this season.

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Formula 1

Ferrari 2019 Preview

As know-it-all bloggers became increasingly cynical, Ferrari actually changed their livery for 2019.

Yes it’s not a huge change, and if we’re honest no one’s expecting it to be. The black was teased in some regard, but it’s not implemented in the best way. Black Mission Winnow turns, what already was an eyesore into an even worse spot on the car. Keep it white. It’s ironic the Ferrari title sponsor doesn’t pop as well as the Ray Ban on the car. If you wanted black on the car, have some sort of design, that isn’t half-arsed like the swoop at the rear, and keep the white Mission Winnow. I feel like I shouldn’t be telling Ferrari how to make the Mission Winnow more visible, especially when it’s such a God awful logo and name for a scheme. I take it back! The black hides it more so we don’t see it!

I can’t make what to think of the matte paint. I don’t think it was chosen to look nice, Ferrari believe it to be lighter. It’s also thought to provide some, slight aero benefit at least when Red Bull revealed their matte livery in 2016. It did look slightly orange under the launch lights, which is not a good look for Ferrari when the iconic scarlet car draws drivers and fans alike. Hopefully under lighter…light it looks less orange, like under natural mid-day conditions for example.

I actually like the front wing, the common design trope of having the first few elements in the primary colour and the rest in a secondary colour has worked well across the grid and this is no exception. I’m actually quite sad the rear wing isn’t as black. I think I’m just trying to look for change when it’s not happening. Maybe if they incorporated the black, with the carbon fibre under body as an odd to 2013 and 2014. But Ferrari’s will always have 95% red on the car so I’m going to shut up now, and not complain that an iconic car hasn’t changed enough.

New Kid on the Block

In an unusual move Maranello have decided to take a punt on youth. It’s a move they’ve not made since Massa joined the red team in 2006, even then Felipe had 3 years under his belt. I can imagine Leclerc’s was hard to ignore last season, and with missing out on 3 years of constructors’ titles (when they’ve made serious challlenges that is) it was not a too difficult decision to make. As I’ve already alluded to, two strong drivers in a Ferrari could easily expose Mercedes’ soft underbelly of Bottas and Hamilton. There were 161 points between the Merc drivers, whilst 70 between Kimi and Sebastian. If Leclerc can keep his almighty pace either this gap to Vettel decreases or he outperforms Vettel, and puts Hamilton under pressure. The result is the same, we should be going to Abu Dhabi with the constructors still in the balance, which should improve the show to say the least. Added to this, we know that Mercedes can be a little slow to react, or do extreme strategies when under serious pressure. Hopefully this year we get the title battles we’ve been robbed of the past 2 seasons.

I hope that Ferrari don’t hang Leclerc out to dry. Without taking this into account, I believe Leclerc will have a similar season to last. He’ll be trying too hard for the first few rounds then he’ll settle and be lightening fast. He may even get into the title battle but as I’ve already said experience will be the key to a close championship, such as the one we’re expecting this year. But I’m still joining the hype and saying Leclerc will win the Ferrari battle this year. He seems like the next big thing, and to get promoted to one of the world’s biggest brands after one season says something.

Having said that, Vettel will have a stronger season. I hoping Ferrari learn to keep cool publicly. Last year Vettel was under enormous pressure, and it showed at Hockenheim. Vettel still is a little rough around the edges in close situations. You could even argue he showed this as early as 2010, where he spun out of Korea if my memory serves me correctly? He got away with that, but Germany was the tipping point for last season, and he certainly didn’t get away with that. Vettel will be beaten this year, but not to the 2014 extent. I’ll be bold and say that the top 3 drivers will be covered by 50 points or so. Both Ferrari drivers will be up there with a car which if history’s to be trusted will be closer, if not faster than Mercedes. You can still never rule out a form Hamilton too.

You can probably guess that I’m saying the drivers and constructors will be split between the teams, and I’ll punt at a Ferrari constructors. The car will be fast but the drivers will lack that edge for this year. Leclerc will still impress and surpass Vettel but not as dramatically as people are making out. But it’s still only a prediction, completely ignoring testing times etc. and I’m just one lonely voice in the wilderness of the internet.

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Formula 1

McLaren 2019 Preview

McLaren reveal their who their secret valentine is, and if it’s anything as good as it looks, they are in for a better tomorrow.

The closer to today we got, the more and more I felt that McLaren were going to bottle it. They’ve done anything but. It’d be the typical build you up before letting you down. I remember this time last year, the MCL33 undergoing its shakedown and thinking ‘Christ it’s a bit basic’ but it could quite easily be passed off as just having a dumbed down launch spec just to hide the dirty secrets. Yet, it was not until Spain did we see a MCL33 mark II as it were. Even then they just strapped the ugliest looking nose on the car and hoped it was a second a lap faster. But the struggles still continued, and the only positives to be drawn was the flaws they had were now exposed, and there was a better attempt at a papaya car.

Speaking of better, have you seen their new wheels? Ugh that car is magnificent. They’ve matched papaya with a better blue for a start. After last year’s bland effort, the Woking team spiced it up with a fade, if you can call it a fade, between the two colours with this bleeding of triangles, in a sort of geometric effect. When they had the team members in those snazzy t-shirts (more on this later), I thought they were going to over do it. I thought the scheme for this year was going to be far too busy. It’s actually tame and very effective. The blue front wing stays, but they’ve hidden the snout by not colouring it, which is a blessing. The new numbering is another departure from the Dennis era bland, business look, and is appreciated. It’s great that it’s a tie-in to the rest of the car. Again, I won’t try to pretend I know what I’m talking about, but it’s encouraging to see a developed barge board and sidepod area, which since 2017 has been behind the curve in development. Even the vortex generators, which were a mainstay on last year’s challenger, have been replaced by Red Bull or Ferrari style planes. The point I’m making is that the complexity is a relief. I can’t emphasise enough that I’m not saying it will or will not be effective, it’s just good to see, for McLaren’s sake. Obviously, we’re still yet to see proper 2019 cars elsewhere, but it looks like a step in the right direction.

Back to the car, the removal of papaya towards the floor of the car a la 2018 Williams, certainly tidies up the car and helps it look aggressive. Then to arguably the car’s centrepiece, that geometric fade. It’s not too in your face and is exponentially better than last year’s implementation of blue. I hope teams can follow suit in bringing back exciting livery design. Yes, the classics work because they have simple lines and are not over the top, but there is so much room between simplicity and over the top that I believe this car fits into. I may even, in time put the Mercedes into this bracket, but it’s sort of become a classic in its own right, and not just because of its recent success. It’s ironic that most of the grid has become Dennis-esque in dulling down a bit to favour sponsors, yet his former team are becoming bolder season upon season.

Don’t get me wrong, I respect Ron Dennis for his impact on the sport, and how he developed McLaren into the dominant force it once was, I just feel he’s left a bitter taste in our mouths with dragging Honda back into F1, creating dull liveries and completely misreading the direction of the sport. He is and always will be one of F1’s legends.

Just a quick note about the launch in general, did they pretty much listen to what I said yesterday?! 20 minute launch, and 5 minutes of which didn’t have the car under wraps. I’ll cut them some slack with having the team members at the forefront, which was a unique experience for a launch. It was also nice to have new, nicer romper suits and two drivers in them who already seem to have a good rapport, which is further change from Alonso and Vandoorne where for me the impression was they just didn’t click. Then again, Alonso does love his psychological warfare.

New Blood

All new line up at McLaren. First point of interest is Carlos Sainz Jr. Will he finally settle in and be comfortable leading a team for the first time? At Renault, we learned that once he settles in, he’s got some good pace. He certainly put pressure on Verstappen whilst at Toro Rosso and put in an impressive performance at Abu Dhabi last season. Considering the awkward start to 2018 with Renault, he pulled back and was on level terms with Hülkenberg for most of the season, and actually made more Q3 appearances than his team mate. I think it does show that there is talent there, but it’s whether he can take it all the way, lest he become the new Hülkenberg.

Lando Norris is hotly described as Britain’s next hot thing. McLaren have the faith in him, which is either a blessing or a curse, ask Lewis Hamilton or Stoffel Vandoorne. He had a strong year in F2 last year, he certainly matched George Russell, in a car that worked arguably less effectively in the hands of Carlin. Inexperience is what cost him the title, both on the team’s part and himself. Qualifying was not strong for him, although it is difficult to know where the blame lies for this. Silly stalls is what the main blame will be, but this was soon fixed by the second half. However, he has proven to be a confident passer of cars, see Abu Dhabi for example, and the F2 cars were notoriously difficult to get off the line; he wasn’t the only one to stall the car. Time will tell is he is the next Lewis Hamilton or Stoffel Vandoorne, but he certainly has to push Carlos, and show he’s Britain’s next top dog.

Now where do we place McLaren? They have to show another year on the up. They need to be the next Renault, or it will become increasingly hard to break free of midfield mediocrity. The last remnant of them being a ‘big team’, Fernando Alonso, has left them. Do they still deserve this status of sleeping giant? I have no doubts that 4th place is the ultimate aim for this season, but if Renault have formed their own private club in between the top and midfield, as I have predicted they’ll snatch the 5th place out of your hand. More points and competitiveness is the goal, because they did not have the 6th fastest car last year as the standings may suggest.

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Formula 1

Racing Point 2019 Preview

Sport Pesa Racing Point Super Fast Canadian Force Canada Racing Formula One Racing Team… Racing?

Force Canada just unveiled their first car in their home country of Canada. Wait? It’s not called Force Canada? Then how come they spoke non stop about said country? It’s still called Racing Point? And it’s now more of a mouthful than Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer?

I’d forgotten how tedious proper car launches are in Formula 1. There needs to be a happy middle ground between full launch and the to-the-point unveilings you get at a shakedown or quick launch at the morning of day 1, test 1. “Driver 1 are you excited?” “Yes.” “Driver 2 how hard have the team worked over the winter?” “Very.” “Shall we reveal the car now?” That’s pretty much what you need. Maybe not that extreme, but get the drivers out first! Next to the car, the drivers are the stars of this show. If you’re outside Formula 1 looking in, you probably don’t care much what the bosses have to say. Show the car, then pad out a show with interviews that the press probably care more about. You may disagree and you have every right to, but that’s just my thoughts on the matter.

On to the team then. Racing Point start where Force India left off. This year’s livery is certainly tidier than last year’s, which was stronger than the one before it. The addition of blue is great, the contrast it provides is brilliant, I think it’s better than using black as in 2017. It’s just a few rough edges that spoil the look. Starting with the front wing and nose cone, the blue is striking, and just having pink on the nose is so much better than last year’s look. Cleanliness is key for me in liveries, which I’ll keep referring to but Racing Point have really cleaned up around the front. We then move to the white BWT bit where the nose meets the rest of the car. I hope it’s a necessity for them to need the white band for the BWT logo, because I don’t like it. It’s just fussy just to be fussy, just like this blog is becoming ranty just for content’s sake. Keep it clean! The deeper pink and grey lines are growing on me, I’m still yet to fully make up my mind on their appearance around the sidepod and radiator entry. I either think they’re too thick on the sidepod, or they’re just right. One thing that does bug me though, is the off centre BWT logo. Again, it’s probably just one of those things where it would look worse if the logo were centred, so I’ll let them off just this once! They definitely should’ve extended the dark blue on the engine cover and shark fin remnant so there is no pink at the top. Again just small things to keep it clean. It’s a small, small thing but it’s probably the worst part of the livery for me.

Is Lance just going to Stroll around the place?

Lance has had his fair share of stick during his 2 seasons of racing at the top. Despite being one of the youngest podium sitters in Formula 1 history, people insist on him being a pay driver. Carlos Sainz Jr. brings his Estrella Galicia 0,0 sponsorship and more than likely LaLiga to McLaren this year, but because he’s considered to be fast he’s not a pay driver. Lance has a podium, Carlos doesn’t so is he really a pay driver? There are still question marks about his ability for sure, he had a rookie season in a midfield car, and was comprehensively beaten by Massa, but we don’t know how much he’s improved because that Williams was a dog last year. To grab a podium in a mad race is a Perez style characteristic, but Lance has to show that he is on Sergio’s level otherwise you feel he is a marked man. We don’t know how many chances he’ll get in his dad’s team, but to go far in business you have to be ruthless. But how ruthless will Lawrence be?

Sergio will be consistently around the top of the midfield, as always. It’s whether he can keep a hold of his aggression because if this driver line-up turns as frosty as Ocon – Perez, Perez will more than likely be held responsible for it. He’s a quality driver but when Mercedes have Russell and Ocon waiting in the wings, a quality replacement driver for a Mercedes powered team is not hard to find. Keep on eye on this battle, it could get tasty and political, just how Formula 1 fans like it.

Again, the midfield is so close that I can’t really predict where the runners and riders will end up. I can’t help but feel Renault might well break away from the midfield and form their own little club featuring just themselves. I do, however have no doubts that Racing Point will be at the sharp end of the midfield, as long as they don’t have a driver implosion. But for now it’s nice to have the Pink Panthers back securely in Formula 1, they are the plucky team in F1 that all sports have and need.

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Formula 1

Red Bull 2019 Preview

Japanese power unit means origami bull, for launch at least.

First things first, I partially take back what I said on twitter. I think it’s growing on me, this one-off livery. Now, I wouldn’t mind if they ran this during the season, I think it looks quite nice in real life. Obviously Red Bull love to run a lovely looking car for a shakedown or during testing before returning to the now iconic Red Bull colours. It may be interesting to see if a new engine partners would mean some new additions to the livery, but it’s probably unlikely. Tom Bellingham of WTF1 made the point that in hindsight the Red Bull colours will become one of the F1 classics, along with the Marlboro McLaren which stayed on the car for both Honda and Peugoet engines. However saying this, there has been some merch on the Verstappen store which does look like it would match the design for the shakedown. I don’t seem to remember there being merch for last year’s digi-bull which was only for the shakedown. Maybe I’m reading more into this than I should be.

When I first saw this car, I thought it was too red but I don’t think it’s as bad as I thought it was. The origami bull is really cool, I think it’d stand out more if the only red on the engine cover was the bull. I think the chevron design nicked from Formula E sort of works, but is far more effective with the change in texture on the physical car. The car could be considered too busy for sponsors, but I feel if they were printed bigger, or at least bolder it may work better, particularly the ones near the exhaust.

Another point of interest on the car is that it appears to have lost weight! We thought the RB14 sidepods were ridiculously slim, well these are bloody ludicrous! The coke bottle that everyone seems to talk about is much tighter this year. Hopefully this means that Red Bull are still up there as a chassis and aero package. However, Honda will be the first to tell you about issues trying to make a power unit that small. I think to put it politely, it only had minor issues during 2015. Hopefully Red Bull haven’t taken it too far. A lot depends on that power unit.

Cooking on Gas-ly

Anyone looking at Red Bull would say oh yes “Verstappen’s going to have to emerge as a strong number 1 and lead this team on now Danny’s gone.” But actually I’d say Gasly is equally important to the success of the Red Bull Honda project. He’s already on close terms with Honda, the year with Toro Rosso last year and the year in Super Formula means a very strong rapport. He knows how to motivate Honda and how they work, unlike a certain Fernando Alonso.

His performances won’t start off as strong as Verstappen, but they’ll certainly close up over the course of the season. I’d actually say that Pierre has an outside chance of winning in Bahrain. That performance last year was extraordinary. Even if Red Bull start behind the curve and look like a 4/5th placed team, it’s certainly better off than where Toro Rosso were.

As for Verstappen, I reckon looking at the standings by the end of the year you’d say he dominated Gasly but he’ll be pushed all the way from after the Summer break onwards. He has to keep his tongue in check though. Arguably Honda are under more pressure than the McLaren days because this is going to be a title battle. The last thing you need is being told constantly that you’re underperforming. We know Max is volatile, hopefully he gets months of PR training by Gasly to show him how to get the best out of the Japanese company.

You’ve probably noticed a thread between all these posts is that a lot depends on Honda. A horrible Honda raises Renault to 3rd in the standings, whereas a hopeful Honda heightens expectations to above 3rd. I’m still going to say 3rd for Red Bull this year. It might well end up being a similar year to McLaren in 2018, where they learn things about their design which was flawed. Maybe it’s too draggy as well as lacking oomph. Maybe the chassis isn’t on its own in some sort legendary tier as they claim it is. Maybe it’s none of those and it’s a pure power unit issue where it’s back to square one with lack of power, or is fast but unreliable. Ferrari and Mercedes just look too fast at the moment for them to fall away from the top, at least to me. But hey, what do I know? All I know is there’s new found hope in the Red Bull team.

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Formula 1

Mercedes 2019 Preview

The Silver Arrow is actually well… silver!

I’ll own up, I overslept this morning. So much so that I actually missed the reveal of of the W10. All I can say is someone pinch me because I still must be dreaming. That 2019 Mercedes is beautiful. It’s not until Mercedes unveiled this masterpiece, that I realised how messy the 2017 and 2018 liveries were. I don’t think I would’ve said that until seeing the 2019 revision, maybe it just shows how tidy this livery is. Remember I’m no expert in graphic design, I mean have you seen my logo? But I remember when Chain Bear F1 released a livery design explainer video, he always said that design should always follow the shape of the chassis. While Merc did do this for the past two seasons, it’s only now that it has been perfected. Having one thicker, green line, rather than several thinner ones works better because the thicker line is so much stronger. The movement of grey to actual silver or chrome is also a big step up. Either that or the grey just pops more under light this year. The end result is still much better.

I haven’t even gotten to the fade on the engine cover yet. Personally, it’s much more effective from far away. But I still don’t know what to think about it up close, is it possible only to see the fade from afar? I don’t know, I can still be persuaded. Let me know what you think. At the current moment, the numbers are only white, not the usual red and blue for Lewis and Valtteri respectively. I hope this is only for the shakedown runs, this is the nearest F1 has gotten to personalised numbering.

When F1 first unveiled the new driver number system for 2014, I thought it would lead to MotoGP style development where the number became the drivers’ brand. I’m still very disappointed this hasn’t taken off, particularly in light of Liberty’s plan to make the drivers seem more like heroes and bringing them to the forefront. I seriously hope that this develops in the world of Formula 1 soon. I don’t think it would distract from MotoGP either, we’ve already heard that drivers’ won’t adopt Vale’s 46 because they think it’s sacred, and rightly so. When most of the premier class have their numbers above 30, and the top riders have numbers in the 90s, it’s clear to see that we wouldn’t distract from Marc Marquez or Jorge Lorenzo.

Anyway, back to Merc. Can we all just appreciate they didn’t reveal that camo livery today? Firstly because we wouldn’t have seen this sheer perfection on the W10, but also because let’s be honest, it was quite frankly hideous. I hope we get to understand why they teased 2019 this way, but right now the feeling of sheer relief is just too much to care about anything else.

Valtteri, it’s Esteban

Christ, did I really stoop that low just to use that God awful meme? Apparently Lewis wouldn’t re-sign unless Valtteri was his team mate, I hope this wasn’t true. No offence to Valtteri, but part of the pull of Formula 1 is seeing the best drivers battling the best cars. The difference between the Ferrari and Mercedes should’ve lent itself to a four-way title battle. If Charles Leclerc can keep performing like he has in his new team then I can’t help but feel it will be Mercedes’ Achilles’ heel. It saddens me that arguably the best driver of his generation didn’t fancy testing himself against a Danny Ric for example. I hope edgy beard Bottas, means we get an edgy driver Bottas. He was unlucky in the first half of the season, granted, but he was nowhere near the pace in the second half, Russia aside. There are thoughts that Bottas won’t make the end of the season, and who can blame them when you have Ocon in reserve. I hope Bottas ups his pace and can mount a serious title challenge this year, but it’s going to take a hell of amount of work.

Lewis will do what he’s always done. He’ll have a shaky first 5-10 rounds, sounding really unmotivated on the radio, then dupe me into thinking he’s had enough and will retire at the end of the season to concentrate on his music or his collection with Tommy Hilfiger. I can guarantee I will write something similar to this by China. I honestly thought he was gone at the end of last year, instead he put in a perfect summer and second half of the season to take a comfortable 5th title. If he’s under more pressure this year goodness knows he’ll do, but I know he’ll be fast.

If gap continues to close at the top like it has done the past couple of years then I’m going to be bold and say they’ll finish second in the constructors’. However I’d probably back Lewis for the drivers’. Hopefully it’s more than a two way battle this year, and with Leclerc in the scarlet car I’d say we have a strong chance of that being the case. We may end up with a feisty Bottas too, so it’ll be close at the top, but I have a feeling that experience and a tendency not to bottle may just prevail.

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Formula 1

Renault 2019 Preview

Like a banana left out too long, the banana car seems to be getting blacker by the minute.

C’est ici, aujourd’hui Renault révélé leur 2019 voiture. En Anglais? It’s here, today Renault revealed their 2019 car, the R.S.19. First impressions are as you’d expect really, deja vu. They didn’t need to change it, so why bother changing what worked so well last time out? An old Top Gear quote comes to mind when thinking about the livery for this year, “you can’t improve on perfection.” Jeremy speaking about the frankly hideous Hammerhead Eagle iThrust there. Don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to compare the two because you can’t. Hats off to whoever thought of the idea of a car that was yellow when looking head on, but black from side on. It’s the ultimate appeasement really.

It’s not officially been said but is thought that when Renault returned to F1 back in 2016 they wanted a black livery with yellow highlights, hence they sort of launched with that scheme. It was only really backlash from us fans that forced them into rocking up at Melbourne with a reversed scheme. Since then they’ve adopted this 50:50 livery which slowly becomes darker season by season. To be honest I’m surprised that the Enstone team has kept a similar livery from last year, taking my head out the clouds for a minute it would seem logical that we should’ve had more black this year. Then again, it probably speaks volumes about the astuteness of the R.S.19, and if the car is as clever as its livery suggests then Red Bull should be looking over their shoulder.

I still think my favourite contemporary Renault livery is the 2010 car. Don’t ask why, for me the reasons are intangible to me, but that’s probably nostalgia more than anything. F1 was my world back then, but I’d like to hope that I’ve since ditched the rose-tinted specs, or at least partially done so. You could even argue the R30 is almost the reverse scheme to the R.S.18 and 19.

At the time of writing this, shamefully several hours past the reveal, I’ve just noticed that the physical car is ever so slightly different to the one shown in the video and the studio pictures. Hopefully the physical car is the one they actually use because I was going to critique it for needing more yellow on the front side, but the physical car seems to address this? Someone probably knows about this more than me. Even then it’s just little things that I’d ask for, probably it’s just me being pernickety but maybe some yellow on the sidepod entry so the car does appear to be fully yellow from the front? Definitely take the yellow off the inside of the rear wing, for me it doesn’t look right. In fact, they should’ve just done the exact same livery as last year, after all you can’t improve on perfection.

My last point can be applied to all the teams. Why not incorporate the halo into your livery design? I think it’s easiest to give an example to on the Renault. From the birds’ eye view there are the yellow streaks that flow from the drivers’ shoulders to the engine cover. Why not have a yellow halo and follow the lines in a similar vein to what we have, but following where the halo attaches itself to the chassis behind the driver? Apologies if you’ve been a little sick in your mouth at the thought of this, I mean it looks and sounds nice in my head but hey that’s the thought of one bloke spewing stuff at a computer screen and hoping it sticks.

I thought the Hulk was green?

Big year for Renault lies ahead, and if it goes as successfully as they think it can be, this year has to be as big for Nico Hülkenberg. He needs that podium which has been a long time coming. Reassurance would be an understatement, not just him, but for us. We always felt that he deserved a race win and a shot in a ‘big team’. Pole in his debut year at Interlagos, whilst almost taking a win there in similar conditions two years later shows you why. He’s always had his height, thus weight against him, but this year that’s going to change, with rules now helping the taller drivers. If Red Bull and Honda get off to a shaky start, Renault will no doubt have the 3rd fastest car, which is prime podium territory, as Red Bull showed early last year. Nico has to prove that he has been wrongly overlooked for a seat at the top. Especially considering who he’s up against this year.

Daniel Ricciardo has form of turning a team from one that belongs to one driver, to one that belongs to him. Nico has been at Enstone since 2017 and has been dominant against his team mates there, mind you Jolyon Palmer was there for 1 and a half seasons. If Ricciardo puts on a 2014-esque display then Nico is going to be in big trouble. I doubt he’ll be around long, especially with Esteban Ocon waiting in the wings, who was very nearly signed to replace Carlos Sainz Jr for this year.

Equally you could say it’s a big year for Ricciardo too, as he was beginning to fall out of favour to Verstappen at Red Bull. If Daniel doesn’t grab the bull by the horns, so to speak, at Renault and fails to live up to expectations, we would quite clearly know why he fell out of favour. However, Australians do seem not to be the flavour of the month, or decade, at Red Bull, so there may be more reasons than just his pace for this.

Ricciardo really needs to maintain his top tier driver status in F1. I really hope his heart is in it, he dodged a question from Abiteboul asking him about the level of risk in his move like an in form politician. He seems to have gotten away with it because of his cheeky smile, but if this was Alonso speaking about the McLaren Honda project, no doubt there’d be essays about his responses which could be regarded as similar to the one Danny Ric gave today. Just food for thought, but the current trajectory of the Renault team is exciting that’s for sure, and he has already publicly given his thoughts about being cut off from Mercedes and Ferrari so it’s hardly breaking news.

Where Renault finish in the standings this year strongly depends on the strength of Red Bull Honda. 3rd has to be the aim this year, but I think a stronger 4th position would be taken by the team. They have to hope that the power duo of Mercedes and Ferrari have been somewhat culled by 2019 rules and regs. Renault need to be convincingly closer to the top at each weekend if they are to prove their title credentials for 2021 as set out by their own master plan. It’s about time we had a shake up at the top and Renault are certainly favourites to do this.

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Formula 1

Williams 2019 Preview

The long overdue departure from Martini liveries has finally come, but does a revitalised look help to revitalise form?

Cheers son’s crying nice one. You had the chance to rock(it?) our worlds, instead you left us with good but not Carling. There’s hope with this livery, that’s for sure, I just think it’s just a halfway house. It’s neither a white livery with hints of blue nor a blue livery with hints of white. That baby blue looks really nice, I hope Williams adopt this for seasons to come. The car from the front view actually looks decent. It’s just those awful fades between blue and white around the sidepod that really get on my nerves. Who is the person that thought putting black or navy on a blue background would make sponsors pop to the audience who will generally see this car at speeds in excess of 150mph? The concept for a good livery is there, it just doesn’t feel developed enough to me.

However, thinking of amendments to the livery, there are simple and clear directions Williams can take their designs in the future. Either they paint the entire car baby blue, using flashes of white for the sponsors, and they’d have a unique shade of blue and a simple yet effective design, or they can remove the black from this year’s car and have a much nicer aesthetic around the engine cover and rear wing, maybe even sharpen the fades too. Ironically enough, that halfway house is where I’d rank it out of the liveries we’ve had so far. Better than Haas, worse than Toro Rosso.

I really hope it looks nice on track, I feel like a right connoisseur reviewing these liveries, just criticising for criticising’s sake, and that’s not what this blog is about. I’d really like to write about stuff bigging up teams, and I feel like those who’ve got new partners or are operating under new guises have the perfect chance to be bold. It’s what I said for Haas, be bold, don’t miss your chance. That’s why it’s disappointing when you’re looking forward to a clean design and colour scheme, especially from Williams who more often than not do this. Williams was one of the teams I was hyped to see this Winter, because it probably was going to be a return to red like the Winfield liveries, or that deep blue from post BMW Williams in the noughties. This new baby blue is actually a brilliant departure from that, but the execution is a little underwhelming.

I said on twitter (cheeky plug) that this livery was refreshing. The Martini livery had so many opportunities and for the team to only use one design was a big shame, and ended up like last week’s loaf of bread, left to one side and gone all stale. The branding for the garage and hospitality was better actually. There was this ribbon motif where the Martini stripes were more free flowing. I would’ve loved to see this given a go on the car, it would be an ode to Stewart GP for sure, but change would’ve been welcomed with open arms and a nice cup of tea by us folks online. Even another stripe on the car somewhere, or using the Martini colours as a scheme in itself without the white. Ok maybe that last one was going a bit far, but the point stands – Williams you should’ve changed changed it up you eejits!

Two rants in two days, I need to get out more.

Poles Apart

Back in ye olden days when the year was 2010, there was a young boy who would keep an eye out for a certain yellow car, which had his favourite livery adorned on it. There was a particular man who this young boy used to love watch pilot this yellow car. His name? Robert Kubica. The little boy’s name? He was me! :p

I probably supported him more because the Renault looked nice that year but looking back in retrospect, I really begin to see that I loved the driver too. He was always bloody fast and had a wickedly dry sense of humour. You’ll want to check out the response to being asked if he remembered his crash in Canada 2007, for those who aren’t aware.

I really hope Robert can find that pace that was so electric. He would be world champion if not for his horrific crash in 2011. One piece of commentary that has always been stuck in my mind was from Martin Brundle at the end of the 2011 Australian GP. Vitaly Petrov drove his Lotus-Renault to a third place finish which was seriously impressive at the time. It was during the cool down lap where Brundle asked “Where would Robert Kubica have finished if he was in that car?” Possibly winning. It wouldn’t have made that much of a difference; that Lotus-Renault was a dog of a car if my memory serves me correct.

If Robert is as fast now as he was then, Russell has his work cut out. He is one hot prospect that’s for sure, but we’ve said the same of Stoffel Vandoorne. Russell’s made it to Formula 1, now he has to work hard and show why he’s highly regarded by Mercedes and journalists alike. It is thought that Kubica will struggle around the tight circuits like Melbourne and Monaco because of his defect. These are rounds early on that George has to take convincingly if he wants to show he is Britain’s next hope.

It’s difficult to read this battle, but I have no doubt that Russell’s every move will be scrutinised A) because he’ll have the British press eyeing him as the next Lewis and B) because he’s going up against a race winning rookie in Robert Kubica. Robert’s been away for so long we don’t know how he’s going to perfom, so the best benchmark is always the team mate in this case George. I really hope that both can succeed, but it’s a dog eat dog world in F1.

Williams are also difficult read as a package this year. We could possibly see a 2014 style season where despite recent struggles, they’ve produce a quick package capable of major points, possibly pushing Renault, Haas, McLaren, Racing Point for the increasingly coveted 4th place. It’s also equally possible that we see their struggles continue, which if they are down a development hole will happen. They’re so hard to read I’m actually going to refrain from predictions for this team, because no doubt I’ll look like a right eejit.

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Formula 1

Toro Rosso Preview 2019

Shock! It’s blue and red and has red bull all over it. Toro Rosso just unveiled its 2019 the challenger the STR14.

If you were eagerly waiting eyes peeled for the first look at the STR14 hoping for revolution you must obviously be mistaken. I don’t think the livery could be classed as evolution either, sponsors aside it’s the same livery on a 2019 model. That being said, the Faenza based team has produced one of my favourite schemes on the grid since 2017 with the addition of the metallic-looking paint. It’s worked two-fold; it distinguishes itself from its big sister of Red Bull Racing and refreshes a livery that had pretty much been constant for 11 seasons. So while we gave Williams stick for unrelenting on the Martini livery, you could argue this change had been a long time coming. Contrary to Williams, Toro Rosso liveries are never going to change dramatically. As long as Dietrich Mateschitz deems Formula 1 to be a profitable and worthwhile commitment, both of his teams will match his drink, and rightly so. I guess more of the reason Williams were critiqued was because they took on an iconic motorsport partner which has been part of some classic liveries, but more on that in their preview.

Hopefully this is matched with Red Bull, but even having a similar livery on a 2019 car has tidied it up dramatically, especially the front wing where it’s now a cleanly written Red Bull. Even the barge board which is lower and longer, a 2019 regulation, looks nicer which can now be more readily picked up on a more visible livery compared to the Haas. In terms of this livery if there was a little more red, perhaps on the barge board, I may prefer it, but this is my somewhat limited and dull imagination we’re talking about here. This Toro Rosso livery is nice but I just hope it doesn’t get stale. Leave it 5 seasons of similar design, then move on – that graphic designer really is going to steal a living! Usually livery design is moderated by title sponsors which is why they usually don’t stagnate, but this won’t happen to the Red Bull teams, which can be alarming. That being said, I don’t know where they should go next, maybe to the Red Bull Cola colours, like on Youtuber Aarava’s old MyDriver series where the Toro Rossos became a turquoise colour.

Return of the Torpedo

He’s back! Helmut Marko’s personal marmite from Russia returns for hopefully another full season of racing. Daniil Kvyat has been the Red Bull driver programme Polyfilla (google it) for a couple of seasons now. The poor man can’t catch a break. I really hope he can string together a season when hopefully under less pressure. I certainly don’t think he’s on that elite tier of drivers but he certainly has the pace for F1 and it would certainly be a shame for him to be put aside for Dan Ticktum who seems next in line at Red Bull.

I always try to be as impartial as possible but Ticktum definitely isn’t ready for Formula 1, certainly at the moment and maybe never. He seems to be similar in pace to Mick Schumacher on his day, but his attitude is years off Formula 1. He actually makes Verstappen seem docile! For someone who’s stayed professional despite demotion after demotion, it would be a damn shame for Kvyat to be forced out soon as another youngster gets enough license points.

I’ve not followed Alex Albon that closely but I know he was certainly up there with Norris and Russell in last year’s F2, so he certainly deserves a shot in F1. I think this rivalry might well go under the radar. Both drivers may not have long to show who’s number 1 and it should be closely fought as you could even argue Kvyat is a rookie of sorts. Kvyat may settle quicker but as Albon grows in experience and confidence he should be close on pace to the Russian. Just a quick side note – he represents Thailand, not British Born Thailand, so can the British media stop referring to him as such? Thanks.

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