The Official F1 Thread

[Guy Smiley]

The way Vettel talks to the team speaks volumes.

Very good point.

Yesterday he asked his engineer what their tyre strategy was mid-race: "We'll get back to you"

LeClerc had the same problem... it will be Plan B or C. Which one is it, he asks... I’ll tell you later. This is a pattern on race day for Ferrari and it’s fucked. Vettel basically tells them the strategy now. LeClerc is still fresh enough that he gets frustrated. He’ll end up telling them what to do as well soon.

[frankstero]

BBC: Sir Frank Williams and Claire Williams step down from Williams team

[SaintK]

BBC: Sir Frank Williams and Claire Williams step down from Williams team

Not a lot of success in recent years but the end of an era.

[Insane_Homer]

Sad to see the end of the Williams era. Iconic history in F1.

[Un Pilier]

Sad to see the end of the Williams era. Iconic history in F1.

Yes. Yes it is.

[TB63]

Ah bugger, been a fan since I can't remember when..

[Saint]

The name remains - will be much like McLaren I imagine.

The, Claire didn't strike me as a particularly effective team principle

[Mr Bungle]

Very good point.

Yesterday he asked his engineer what their tyre strategy was mid-race: "We'll get back to you"

LeClerc had the same problem... it will be Plan B or C. Which one is it, he asks... I’ll tell you later. This is a pattern on race day for Ferrari and it’s fucked. Vettel basically tells them the strategy now. LeClerc is still fresh enough that he gets frustrated. He’ll end up telling them what to do as well soon.

Tbf for that particular conversation, didn’t the engineer say they were recalculating strategy b & c because of the crash and they would get back to him? LeClerc straight away asked which strategy it was to be.

[fishfoodie]

Is this a just a deal for the F1 Team ?

I was reading only a while ago that they'd gotten the contract to supply the next gen batteries for Formula E; so I assume the Engineering firm will keep on going.

[Saint]

Is this a just a deal for the F1 Team ?

I was reading only a while ago that they'd gotten the contract to supply the next gen batteries for Formula E; so I assume the Engineering firm will keep on going.

Williams had already sold a majority stake in Advanced Engineering to EMK Capital last year. They use the Williams name now under license from Williams Racing, who still hold a significant minority stake, and are still based in Grove. So Dorilton now own that minority stake

[fishfoodie]

Is this a just a deal for the F1 Team ?

I was reading only a while ago that they'd gotten the contract to supply the next gen batteries for Formula E; so I assume the Engineering firm will keep on going.

Williams had already sold a majority stake in Advanced Engineering to EMK Capital last year. They use the Williams name now under license from Williams Racing, who still hold a significant minority stake, and are still based in Grove. So Dorilton now own that minority stake

Selling the family silver to keep the F1 team going I suppose.

The corporatization of F1 is almost complete.

On the plus side, watching the BTCC on Sundays has now become a regular fixture in the household schedule

[Saint]

Is this a just a deal for the F1 Team ?

I was reading only a while ago that they'd gotten the contract to supply the next gen batteries for Formula E; so I assume the Engineering firm will keep on going.

Williams had already sold a majority stake in Advanced Engineering to EMK Capital last year. They use the Williams name now under license from Williams Racing, who still hold a significant minority stake, and are still based in Grove. So Dorilton now own that minority stake

Selling the family silver to keep the F1 team going I suppose.

The corporatization of F1 is almost complete.

On the plus side, watching the BTCC on Sundays has now become a regular fixture in the household schedule

I don't think it was that - more that WAE needed real finance to continue tech development. Some of that tech feeds back into the F1 team, but as you've noted, a lot is feeding into othe series outside of F1

Developing F1 tech into real world applications will be a large part of Darilton's justification for investing in F1. Don't expect to see a Williams road car a la McLaren any time soon - it will be far more pragmatic, but the F1 investment will be serious

[Un Pilier]

We’ll never see the likes of Frank Williams again. Privateers owning and developing F! Teams is a thing of the past. Sad,

[Saint]

We’ll never see the likes of Frank Williams again. Privateers owning and developing F! Teams is a thing of the past. Sad,

Unfortunately inevitable. Brawn F1 may be the last time you will see an "underdog" team beat out the big boys, and even then the major development work that made the chassis so successful was largely made when the team was still owned and financed by Honda

[fishfoodie]

We’ll never see the likes of Frank Williams again. Privateers owning and developing F! Teams is a thing of the past. Sad,

Unfortunately inevitable. Brawn F1 may be the last time you will see an "underdog" team beat out the big boys, and even then the major development work that made the chassis so successful was largely made when the team was still owned and financed by Honda

and part of the magic of F1 dies with the removal of the underdogs.

It wasn't just the thrill of watching a team on a minuscule budget, but maybe with an innovative design team; get one over the big boys; it was also the way that the smaller teams would often be a pathway for drivers who didn't meet the corporate mold; or come thru the "right" paths.

One of the problems with F1 over it's history; is some of the right donkeys that have stolen drives from far better drivers; because they brought some sponsorship money; or they were Japanese/Italian/French, & you had to keep that deal with Honda/Ferrari/Renault.

It's supposed to be the premium formula; it shouldn't have drivers who are only there, because Daddy owns the team.

How would a Senna get into F1 these days ?

[Saint]

We’ll never see the likes of Frank Williams again. Privateers owning and developing F! Teams is a thing of the past. Sad,

Unfortunately inevitable. Brawn F1 may be the last time you will see an "underdog" team beat out the big boys, and even then the major development work that made the chassis so successful was largely made when the team was still owned and financed by Honda

and part of the magic of F1 dies with the removal of the underdogs.

It wasn't just the thrill of watching a team on a minuscule budget, but maybe with an innovative design team; get one over the big boys; it was also the way that the smaller teams would often be a pathway for drivers who didn't meet the corporate mold; or come thru the "right" paths.

One of the problems with F1 over it's history; is some of the right donkeys that have stolen drives from far better drivers; because they brought some sponsorship money; or they were Japanese/Italian/French, & you had to keep that deal with Honda/Ferrari/Renault.

It's supposed to be the premium formula; it shouldn't have drivers who are only there, because Daddy owns the team.

How would a Senna get into F1 these days ?

Pretty much the same way he did. He started in Kirtling, then moved up the series into British F3. He came from a wealthy family so getting started would have been fine - the only real difference is that he would have probably been in one of the junior driver programmes, but Senna always brought a lot of sponsorship with him, so he would have had interest from the poorer F1 teams regardless

[Slick]

We’ll never see the likes of Frank Williams again. Privateers owning and developing F! Teams is a thing of the past. Sad,

Unfortunately inevitable. Brawn F1 may be the last time you will see an "underdog" team beat out the big boys, and even then the major development work that made the chassis so successful was largely made when the team was still owned and financed by Honda

What happened that year with Brawn? It was before I started watching F1 regularly and never really understood how they came, won and then left. It seems pretty mad.

[Saint]

We’ll never see the likes of Frank Williams again. Privateers owning and developing F! Teams is a thing of the past. Sad,

Unfortunately inevitable. Brawn F1 may be the last time you will see an "underdog" team beat out the big boys, and even then the major development work that made the chassis so successful was largely made when the team was still owned and financed by Honda

What happened that year with Brawn? It was before I started watching F1 regularly and never really understood how they came, won and then left. It seems pretty mad.

Brawn F1 was effectively a management buyout of Honda F1 when they pulled out of F1. They'd designed a great chassis, so even with a horrible bidge to.make it fit a different engine they were strong enough to win the championship even without budget fir in-season development. Then Mercedes came along and bought them out, creating the Mercedes F1 team that we know today

[Kawazaki]

What happened that year with Brawn? It was before I started watching F1 regularly and never really understood how they came, won and then left. It seems pretty mad.

Brawn was the principal of the Honda team in 2008 when he got told to meet the top brass who were flying in on the red eye for a meeting in a Heathrow hotel. The news was bad. Due mainly to the GFC, Honda wanted to cease all F1 activity immediately. They were going to make everyone redundant and close the factory. Brawn convinced them to sell the team to him for £1 plus give them the money they'd have to have spent on redundancy payments for nearly half of the 700 people who worked there which was about £90m.

With that £90m and half a team, Brawn had to buy Mercedes engines and then modify the Honda 2009 chassis that the team had already designed and built. They only had three chassis and couldn't afford to make any more. On a shoestring, they tested the car with the new Mercedes engine on the Stowe circuit at Silverstone just a few weeks before the Barcelona test session before the 2009 season started and it worked. They got a good feeling about the car butthey didn't realise just how much better than everyone else it was until they ran it around Barcelona. All the other teams assumed Brawn were running light on low tanks to try to attract sponsors but they were actually doing the opposite, running full tanks and ballast to slow the cars down.

The rest as they say, is history...

[Slick]

Thanks guys, very interesting.

It was coincidently the first (and only) time I'd been to F1 that year (practice at Silverstone) and I just couldn't understand how this team I'd never heard of was wiping the floor with everyone.

[MoreOrLess]

There's an episode of the Beyond the Grid podcast where Ross Brawn talks about the whole Brawn GP fairytale.

Well worth a listen.

https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0c ... NzMxMTEwMw

[Mr Bungle]

Beyond the Grid is a great podcast.

[Saint]

So, banning party modes really hurt Mercedes didn't it

[fishfoodie]

Stroll showing why he doesn't belong in F1; unable to defend that place, at that corner

[ScarfaceClaw]

Great start for the Maclarens. 2nd and 3rd. Bottas had an absolute shocker of a start. Hamilton off in the distance so that’s the race winner sorted out. Hashtag blessed and all that.

[ScarfaceClaw]

And that’s a brake failure for Vettel. Rear brake fell to bits and what’s left is on fire.

[ScarfaceClaw]

Perez in the tracing point is all over Norris.

[ScarfaceClaw]

And now the cars are overheating and can’t follow so closely so are spacing out. The precession has started. Time to take the dog for a walk instead.

[fishfoodie]

Christ, that was scary

[tcc_dc]

Gasley, Sainz and Stroll the top 3...is just crazy to see...13 to go....

[Insane_Homer]

cmon Carlos - VAMOS FTW!!!!!

[tcc_dc]

Congrats Gasly.....wow....Sainz was coming so fast....

1. Gasly
2. Sainz
3. Stroll

And hats off to Hamilton......what a race back from him...

[Insane_Homer]

Now, that's how races should be

Pierre to Helmut Marco

[Sandstorm]

Alpha-fucking-Tauri 1st????

Knew I should have stayed home and watched instead of going out for a late lunch.

[Steve]

Most enjoyable Grand Prix I have seen in a long time .

[Lobby]

Congrats Gasly.....wow....Sainz was coming so fast....

1. Gasly
2. Sainz
3. Stroll

And hats off to Hamilton......what a race back from him...

Stark contrast between Hamilton, who dragged himself back from last to 7th, and Bottas, who only managed to overtake Raikonen, who was going backwards at a rate of knots.

[Steve]

Hamilton aint my cup of tea at all. any day he doesn't win is a good day.

[sturginho]

Well that was bonkers!

[Un Pilier]

Well that was bonkers!

Certainly was. Some lucky breaks of course but Gasley drove well and grasped his good fortune. He deserves a break. The McLaren lads were excellent today and Hamilton showed his class carving through the field. Bottas ? No idea what all that was about.

[Kawazaki]

Hamilton aint my cup of tea at all. any day he doesn't win is a good day.

Not white enough?