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This is the year of the change to regulations and a new look for F1 cars. According to the FIA, 'it's to level the playing field'. I'm not happy with that, it's killing innovation and turning an elite sport into F2.
I may be wrong but that needs to be proved.
Anyway the 'confirmed' calendar is here.
In other news, various sports articles are showing concern that Lewis Hamilton has maintained a social media blackout since the fiasco of Abu Dhabi.
Depending on your point of view, this race was 'nearly' won by Hamilton who was 12 seconds ahead of Verstappen until 5 laps from the end when a crash by Latifi brought out a safety car. The race director who was being harangued by Toto Wolff (Mercedes manager) and Christian Horner (Red Bull manager), made some very controversial decisions in order to 'get one lap of racing'.
The outcome was, Verstappen won the race and his first championship.
Hamilton who was within 5 laps of an historical 8th WDC, behaved with utmost dignity at race end. Congratulated Verstappen and Horner. Was interviewed by Jenson Button and refused to be drawn on any comment regarding the controversy. Stood on the podium and continued to go through the motions of the celebration.
Since then nothing has been heard from him.
According to his brother Nicholas 'Lewis is fine. He's having a break Social Media can be a very toxic place'.
Further rumour is Hamilton was the one who stopped Mercedes from taking this case to the F1 Court of Appeal, which was their intention after their appeal was dismissed by the FIA in Abu Dhabi.
Anyway roll on February when the cars are revealed and March when testing begins.
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It's all a bit fluid everywhere atm, and rising oil prices now may not affect any who have hedged for 6 months or so... Uncertainty about September's situation can't be helping.
Oh, and I was reading up on Porpoising the other day, and how the car's floor can be changed to reduce the wind effect on the car where flaps and other controls can't... Quite interesting.
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Yes the porpoising effect showed up in every car during testing @pgn. Most peculiar watching F1 cars testing at speed bobbing up and down on track. All to do with the air flow under the new skirt apparently. Hopefully they will have found a fix before final testing in Bahrain next week (10th-12th March)
Last chance for them as the season opening race weekend starts in Bahrain 18th -20th March. THANK GOD!! 😂😂
Edited to show Ferrari having a 'porpoise' moment during February testing
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Well Hooray. The season starts here! 😍
It's Bahrain as the season opener and it was hot for the start of Practice 1. A real mix up of cars this session with all the new regulations etc. Mercedes weren't doing that well in testing but people thought they were sandbagging as usual. They weren't as it happens as Practice 1 results will show
At one point Verstappen led the session when he was on softs....,but a strange one (Alpha Tauri) led this session.
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@Cleoriff wrote:Yes the porpoising effect...
I forgot about this - cool video, reminds me of this little ditty...
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Oh dear Lewis!! Practice 2 results.
George is 4th but Lewis's car still not right. 😔
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Mercedes seemed to have sorted out some of their problems but not all. Russells car is faster than Lewis's.
P3 results.
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And here we have qualifying. Mercedes have a lot of work to do....As a fan of F1 in general, it is good to see Ferrari on top (as long as we can catch them up after a race or two... 😂
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What a race! Some great wheel to wheel racing between Leclerc and Verstappen, Trading places for first position. Really weird to see cars who were previous back runners getting themselves into midfield positions. Much closer racing this season.
At one point it looked as if Mercedes would be finishing in 5th and 6th positions, however some really bad luck for Red Bull saw Max's engine fail on lap 54 of 57 and Perez suffered the same fate 2 laps later. This allowed Lewis and George from Mercedes to take 3rd and 4th. Gasly of Alpha Tauri (same engine as RBR), had an engine fire which put him out of the race.
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2nd race of the season at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Practice 1 and 2.
Not looking good for Mercedes
Better for Mercedes and McLaren.
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Forgot to mention the missile strike on Aramco, the oil facility near the F1 street track in Jeddah.
Formula One's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will go ahead after teams received safety assurances and drivers met for more than four hours following attacks on an oil facility near the Jeddah street circuit on Friday.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis said they launched attacks on Saudi energy facilities and the Saudi-led coalition said state-owned oil giant Aramco’s petroleum products distribution station was hit, causing a fire in two tanks but no casualties. read more .
Not all drivers are happy.
I hope they drop this track for future seasons. Saudi Arabia has a terrible reputation on Human Rights.
"We have received total assurance that the country’s safety is first," Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali told reporters after a meeting with drivers, teams and local authorities.
