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Yes, he did Legend, that's how they started chatting. Prost told him about his 1980 crash there in practice that put him out of contention for the weekend.
Chief, there's a interesting backstory to that weekend at Watkins Glen that would have many long term implications to Prost, McLaren, and Ron Dennis.
This is mostly from Alan Jenkins biography book on Prost and link below.
That was the 2nd race where Prost was injuried when his McLaren suspension failed, it also happened at South Africa earlier in the season.
Prost was in pain and the team (Teddy Mayer and others) told him to shake it off. John Watson drove him to the local hospital and after X-rays showed a broken wrist, so
At the last race, again the suspension failed in Saturday practice causing a big shunt and knocked Prost unconcious. When the croner workers extracted him, they told him after he came to that it appeared the suspension failed.
Prost had seen how the McLaren mechanics would make changes to his car (sometime just riveting and bonding/glueing with epoxy the suspension pickup points to the chassis).
He was new to F1 but somehow felt that didn't look right. So now he's at Watkins Glen local hospital ER waiting for x-rays which determine he has a concusion, again the only person who visits him at the hospital is Watson who borrowed a car after the session and to bring him back.
Prost is furious that once again a mechanical failure put him in the hospital and no one but Watson is concered. Prost and Watson come back to a evening race prep meeting where Teddy Mayer, Ron Dennis, some Marlboro execs are at the garages. Mayer told everyone beforehand that Prost made a mistake and lost control of the car (which the mechanics were repairing). Prost gets into a heated conversation with Mayer and told him he was quiting McLaren despite the 3 year contract. Dennis used this as evidence why Marlboro should back him over Mayer, Dennis tried to talk to Prost and get him on board with the new carbon chassis John Barnard was developing for 1981, Prost was angry and had a bad headache from the concusion. Renault's Jabouille had justed signed for Ligier the week before, so Prost literrally walked down to the Renault pits to formally apply for a seat there. Renault and Prost had some casual talks prior (Prost was a graduate of the Whitfield/Renault school/championship).
Dennis with his successful Barnard carbon chassis and more systematic appraoch to F1, Mayer sells his remainder McLaren shares to Dennis. Prost spends three years at Renault winning races, but with the failure of not winning the 83 championship is fired from Renault. While waiting for a helicopter ride out of South Africa 1983 , Ron Dennis approaches Prost for a 1984 ride, which unfortunately relegates Watson without a drive in 1984. Despite losing his ride to Prost, Watson and Prost remain friends. Watson helped Prost out his first year learning the circuits and F1 circus.
Funny how circumstances and event change fate and life paths.
Saw/heard that COTA will be closed over the winter for resurfacing. It was a bit shocking how bumpy it was. The drivers running just a bit wide a T9 was the straw that broke the horse's back for Seb, he hit that dusty bit/hole & snap.
The Circuit of the Americas is to close this winter for major work to address the bumps that Formula 1 drivers have complained about over the US Grand Prix weekend.
The undulations also caused problems for MotoGP riders when they visited the Texan venue in April.
Some surface grinding was undertaken at the track on Friday night, and more was planned for Saturday evening. However, the major work is to begin next month, with extensive excavations to remove pipes under the track
“The guys worked all last night and tonight they’re doing it again in the pit out area,” COTA boss Bobby Epstein told Motorsport.com. “There’s a massive grinder coming. It’s not easy on our guys, because our staff work pretty hard for the weekend, and they already have a lot of hours. Otherwise it wouldn’t be a big burden.
“We’re actually closing the track for most of December and half of January to fix the problems. We did some of the repairs last year before MotoGP, so I wouldn’t say we’d have to do the whole thing
“Certainly it will involve the entire back straight, the pit out and part of Turn One, there’s a part of a hump before Turn Nine, Turns 18-19. So it’s pretty extensive. I know what the bill is!”
Epstein explained that the problems can be traced to heavy rain, and specifically to damage around pipes caused four years ago, and which has caused the ground to settle in places.
“We excavated nine feet deep to put the track here, and brought in special soils. However clearly the flood of 2015 caused some very serious heaving, and we haven’t fixed those areas since then, and it’s just gotten worse.
“There’s been some washout around pipes. There are pipes under the track, and in 2015 the water followed those pipes, not just inside but around them. It caused erosion that left this void, and then you get some heaving and shrinking.
“We know it’s a problem and it’s scheduled for a big repair. Those pipes are coming out. But we didn’t think it was going to affect the F1 cars like this.”
ESPN will continue to broadcast Formula One in the United States until 2022 after posting double-digit viewership growth over the past two seasons.
Through 18 races this season, F1 has averaged 671,000 viewers on ESPN networks, an increase of 19% over the average of 561,000 at this point last year on ESPN networks and up 24% from the average of 542,000 on NBC networks in 2017. In the demographic of people aged 18 to 34 -- a target area of growth for F1 -- the gain from 2018 is 81%.
The extension will see F1 races continue to air live and commercial-free on ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC, and all practice sessions, qualifying and races will air live and in replay across ESPN platforms, including on-demand replays on the ESPN App. ESPN will continue its partnership with Sky Sports to bring the UK broadcaster's presentation of F1 to American viewers.
An additional element of the deal will be ESPN Deportes serving as the exclusive Spanish-language home for all F1 fans in the U.S., starting in 2020.
Sean Bratches, managing director, commercial operations at Formula One, said: "Our partnership with ESPN has delivered a 19 percent increase in viewership across the US and we are delighted to extend our partnership through to 2022.
"The US is one of our key focuses for growth and ESPN know and understand the US Sports audience like no one else. The combination of their dedicated coverage and Formula 1's amazing racing spectacle is a perfect partnership for us to build on our recent success with US audiences."
Burke Magnus, ESPN executive vice president, programming and scheduling, said: "When we brought Formula 1 back to ESPN two years ago, we had faith that Formula 1 fans in the United States would support the coverage. That faith has been rewarded many times over, and we greatly appreciate how fans have responded in record numbers.
"We're also delighted to add Spanish-language rights to this new deal. This provides us with a unique opportunity to serve Hispanic Formula 1 fans across ESPN platforms in English and Spanish. We look forward to continuing the relationship with Formula 1 and working together to build the sport in America."
Valtteri Bottas acknowledged having “mixed feelings” after his victory in the United States Grand Prix, in which he beat Lewis Hamilton in a straight fight but saw his slim world championship hopes extinguished.
The Finn had to win to have any chance of keeping the title fight alive heading into the penultimate round in Brazil, and duly pulled off a two-stop strategy, overtaking Hamilton with five laps remaining to secure victory. With Hamilton finishing second his teammate secured a sixth drivers’ title, and Bottas says it took a little bit of the shine off his result.
“Coming into this weekend, winning was the only thing I could do to try and maintain the title hopes and delay the decision,” Bottas said. “I did my part, which feels good, but Lewis was strong this weekend, as he always is — he got some good points and the championship.
“Quite mixed feelings, really. The whole weekend was strong but, on the other hand, I felt this year that being best of the rest, it doesn’t feel good. You always need to look at the positives as well and this was my best season in Formula 1 so far, so that’s good. There were other positives as well — I made huge gains in many areas, like race pace and everything.
“Lewis wanted to win the title by winning the race — I could stop that and that feels good, obviously. But I just look forward to next year — it’s a new opportunity.”
Focusing on the race itself, Bottas says Max Verstappen’s strategy opened the door for Hamilton to try something different, but that turned into a challenge he relished.
“It was not an easy race. I had a good start, the first stint went as planned and for me the Plan A was to do one stop, but Max pitted quite early, moved to two stops and I had to try and cover him, so I went for two stops as well. Lewis stayed out long and try to do it with one stop.
“At one point I was actually worried his strategy was going to be a better one but all I could do was focus my every single lap, single corner, trying to perfect everything, trying to minimize the losses and maximize all the possible gains and then it was all about seeing where we would be at the end of the race.
“My pace was good today and at the end I could catch Lewis and have some good fighting with him on track, which I enjoyed. It was a good feeling to get ahead and win the race like that. It feels good when it doesn’t come easy.”
Quote from Adrian Newey: "Along with Frank Williams, Max Mosley and Colin Chapman, Bernie started the Formula One Constructors’ Association. FOCA. It was originally called F1CA but that changed when it dawned on them that F1CA looked a bit like ‘fica’, which means something rude in Latin languages. (‘Pussy’, to save you looking it up.) It worked. The playing field was levelled and the British teams were pleased. At the same time, Bernie, as representative of the teams, was negotiating with various broadcasting companies. He was generating huge income by selling the sport to the TV companies and then distributing funds back to the teams, replacing the start money with an even bigger
purse. Again, the British teams were pleased.
The teams stopped being pleased when it transpired that there was no ‘we’ of a collective, there was just an ‘I’ of Bernie. By controlling the TV rights, Bernie basically controlled the entire sport, and of course it has made him a very, very wealthy man, worth £4.2 billion at the last count". ⠀
Photo: 1992
Chief, there's a interesting backstory to that weekend at Watkins Glen that would have many long term implications to Prost, McLaren, and Ron Dennis.
This is mostly from Alan Jenkins biography book on Prost and link below.
That was the 2nd race where Prost was injuried when his McLaren suspension failed, it also happened at South Africa earlier in the season.
Prost was in pain and the team (Teddy Mayer and others) told him to shake it off. John Watson drove him to the local hospital and after X-rays showed a broken wrist, so
At the last race, again the suspension failed in Saturday practice causing a big shunt and knocked Prost unconcious. When the croner workers extracted him, they told him after he came to that it appeared the suspension failed.
Prost had seen how the McLaren mechanics would make changes to his car (sometime just riveting and bonding/glueing with epoxy the suspension pickup points to the chassis).
He was new to F1 but somehow felt that didn't look right. So now he's at Watkins Glen local hospital ER waiting for x-rays which determine he has a concusion, again the only person who visits him at the hospital is Watson who borrowed a car after the session and to bring him back.
Prost is furious that once again a mechanical failure put him in the hospital and no one but Watson is concered. Prost and Watson come back to a evening race prep meeting where Teddy Mayer, Ron Dennis, some Marlboro execs are at the garages. Mayer told everyone beforehand that Prost made a mistake and lost control of the car (which the mechanics were repairing). Prost gets into a heated conversation with Mayer and told him he was quiting McLaren despite the 3 year contract. Dennis used this as evidence why Marlboro should back him over Mayer, Dennis tried to talk to Prost and get him on board with the new carbon chassis John Barnard was developing for 1981, Prost was angry and had a bad headache from the concusion. Renault's Jabouille had justed signed for Ligier the week before, so Prost literrally walked down to the Renault pits to formally apply for a seat there. Renault and Prost had some casual talks prior (Prost was a graduate of the Whitfield/Renault school/championship).
Dennis with his successful Barnard carbon chassis and more systematic appraoch to F1, Mayer sells his remainder McLaren shares to Dennis. Prost spends three years at Renault winning races, but with the failure of not winning the 83 championship is fired from Renault. While waiting for a helicopter ride out of South Africa 1983 , Ron Dennis approaches Prost for a 1984 ride, which unfortunately relegates Watson without a drive in 1984. Despite losing his ride to Prost, Watson and Prost remain friends. Watson helped Prost out his first year learning the circuits and F1 circus.
Funny how circumstances and event change fate and life paths.
Kevin Magnussen's late-race retirement in the United States Grand Prix was caused by an "exploded" brake disc on his Haas Formula 1 car.
The Dane slid into the gravel on the penultimate lap of the race at the Circuit of the Americas after suffering a brake failure at the end of the back straight
As his car came to a rest in the gravel Magnussen radioed his team to say "yep, told ya", having been told to adjust his brake balance seconds before the failure.
"I had a long pedal the whole race and I was asking them to have a look but they couldn't see anything and the temperatures were alright so I just yeah continued, and then the disc exploded," said Magnussen
"The disc exploded, so no brake disc!"
Magnussen was only running 16th at the time of the failure, despite moving up to 10th on the opening lap and briefly holding ninth when Sebastian Vettel retired.
"I even overtook a Red Bull which was good," he laughed. "I just was massively out of position, then fell back."
Magnussen had slipped out of the points by lap nine, as Haas's race-pace problems continued.
The team has tried different aerodynamic packages in its bid to understand its car's problem but has been unable to rectify its form this year.
Magnussen scored Haas's only points since the summer break in Russia and has fallen to 16th in the drivers' championship, one place ahead of teammate Romain Grosjean.
"I kind of knew after a few laps that this isn't going to last," said Magnussen of his early top-10 run.
"Plus the tyres just cook in my attempt to stay in position, the tyres just die.
"You really need to manage the tyres and for it to kind of settle, and I can't do that, they will overtake me anyway.
"It's hopeless. Not in terms of our situation, but it's a hopeless job to try and hang on to my position."
Alfa Romeo has formally confirmed that Antonio Giovinazzi will stay at the team for a second Formula 1 season alongside Kimi Raikkonen in 2020.
Although he had a difficult start to the year, the Italian's seat was never really in doubt after his form improved in the middle of the year, and because there was no obvious alternative for a seat that is reserved for a Ferrari junior driver
The best result of his rookie season thus far was his ninth place in Monza, although he was eighth on the road in Germany before receiving a penalty for a technical infringement.
"Antonio has done really well this year and I am extremely pleased to be able to confirm he will stay with Alfa Romeo Racing for 2020," said team boss Fred Vasseur
"The way he has integrated into the team and has consistently improved throughout his first full season in the sport are very promising and we cannot wait to unlock his full potential as we continue this journey together.
"Antonio has emerged as a very quick driver, even alongside as tough a benchmark as Kimi, and we expect him to develop even further as his experience grows. His technical feedback, work ethics and positive approach will help us continue to push our team forward
The news closes the F1 door to Hulkenberg, who is not a contender for the second Williams drive that is expected to be taken by Formula 2 frontrunner Nicholas Latifi.
Hulkenberg has previously ruled out IndyCar and Formula E as his options beyond F1, but the DTM looks like a serious possibility.
His representatives are understood to have held talks about a move to Germany's leading racing series, with BMW the most likely destination.
Hulkenberg said the only people he is speaking with is his lawyers, and of the DTM link: "I find that amusing again. Don't be too certain on it. On Tuesday nothing will be announced, trust me."
A move to the DTM would not necessarily spell the end of Hulkenberg's F1 career, with several seats available for 2021 season, though he has ruled out a reverse driver or simulator role for '20.
Hulkenberg arrived in F1 after a glittering junior career, including the GP2 title as a rookie and winning the A1 Grand Prix series for Team Germany.
However, the 32-year-old has never found himself in a frontrunning F1 car, and holds the record for most starts without a podium finish.
Pirelli's new 2020 Formula 1 tyres could be abandoned after drivers were critical of them following tests in United States Grand Prix practice.
All drivers were given two sets of the 2020 tyres on Friday in Austin, with most reporting an unexpected lack of grip, albeit in cold conditions and on a green track
Concerns about whether or not the tyres would be an improvement was discussed by the team bosses in their regular Saturday morning meeting with F1 chief Chase Carey.
The consensus was that data from the Friday running should be studied further – and if the results are not positive then an early decision should be made to stick with the proven 2019 tyres
The call could potentially be made even before the teams try the new tyres again at the two-day test in Abu Dhabi on December 3-4.
In Austin, leading team bosses agreed that if it is found that the 2020 rubber has not delivered gains in the areas that were focused on then it would be better to stick with the 2019 versions.
"I think the behaviour of Friday was quite different to the one we had in Barcelona when we tested them," Ferrari's Mattia Binotto said when asked about it by Motorsport.com.
"The new tyres we tested were not due to be faster, we were not due to have better degradation, but in terms of working range and overheating, have a better behaviour. So we need to go through it.
"What we will not be in favour is them not matching what should be the targets, certainly. The feeling and the feedback of the drivers so far was not positive."
Red Bull's Christian Horner added: "We've agreed to take the time to analyse what happened here.
"The tyres weren't a positive step here this weekend, and I think that was unanimous up and down the pitlane, but we have agreed to take a couple of days to study data and try to understand why. I think we will stick with what we have if what is proposed isn't better
Otmar Szafnauer of Racing Point believes that it's inevitable that the 2020 tyres will be abandoned.
"I think that's the most likely outcome." he told Motorsport.com. "The 2020 construction really didn't deliver what they said they were going to deliver, and it's more risky that the value that it could deliver, so I think we've got no choice but to go back. Ask the drivers – it didn't do what they said it was going to do."
Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola insisted that Austin was not a representative test, and that more would be learned in Abu Dhabi in December.
"The track was very cold, the cars are designed to fit the current tyres, we had no long runs, and the new tyre has been designed mainly to reduce the overheating, and that means being more consistent on a long run, and this is something you cannot check in five laps," Isola told Motorsport.com.
"I'm sure that with the two days that we have in Abu Dhabi we will have a more representative test, we will have the time to set up the car, to check the new profile, are they losing some points of downforce, all this kind of stuff."
Regarding the possibility of reverting to this year's tyres, Isola said: "Nothing is impossible. It's a bit strange, because the 2019 tyres have been criticised at the beginning of the season, and we put a lot of effort into developing something new.
"And during the development, we had positive results. If we go back to the 2019, and if the new tyre is evaluated in a negative way, we need to understand why.
"We cannot test for one year, with a certain result that is correlated from test to another, and then suddenly we have a result that is completely different. Otherwise it's a never-ending story, and we never progress."
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has revealed his team have options if six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton decides to "chase the sun" and moves to Ferrari for the 2021 Formula 1 season
Hamilton is contracted with the Silver Arrows until at least the end of next season, but he has not yet signed a long-term deal with the 2019 constructors' champions.
The British driver made it six F1 world titles on Sunday, as he finished in second at the United States Grand Prix, leaving him just one title off Michael Schumacher's all-time record of seven drivers' titles.
There have been some rumours of Hamilton potentially wanting to switch to Ferrari for the latter stages of his career and this is something his team principal is prepared for if the situation arises
"It's natural that drivers always dream of Ferrari, the most important brand in Formula 1," Wolff said to Sky Italia. "Red is like the sun in Formula 1. He needs to be with a team and with people who love to work. And his emotions and heart are definitely with Mercedes today.
"We hope to have the two most competitive drivers in Formula 1. And he (Hamilton) is our priority today."
Wolff admitted Mercedes would be prepared if Hamilton did make the shock move to their Italian rivals: "If he wants to have a look at the market, we have to as well. And there are others that I like."
Mercedes has revealed that Lewis Hamilton's qualifying struggles at the United States Grand Prix were triggered by a dislodged switch cover on his steering wheel affecting his engine braking.
While Valtteri Bottas took pole position from Sebastian Vettel in Austin last weekend, Hamilton found himself down in fifth after being unhappy with the feel of his car during the quickest first run in Q3
But the reasons for his difficulties only came to light when he returned to the garage after that lap, as mechanics found the cover over a rotary dial (below, red arrow) had been knocked loose.
Mercedes strategy chief James Vowles told the team's regular post race video debrief: "During the course of the lap, underneath his right hand, there's a little rotary and that rotary adjusts the engine brakin
"Normally it has a guard on it, and what happened is the guard had accidentally been knocked off. As he went through the lap, every time he turned the steering wheel, he accidentally changed the engine braking and that caused him to lose performance towards the end of the lap.
"The mechanics spotted it immediately the second the car had come back in but obviously that first run was compromised as the result
While the problem was sorted for Hamilton's second run, the track conditions were not as good which meant he was unable to improve.
Vowles added: "Come the second run you would've seen everyone went slower, the track in fact had slowed down slightly, small wind change, small track temperature change and Lewis wasn't now able to compete at the front, ultimately sealing his place as fifth on the grid."
Hamilton recovered quickly from his qualifying woes to fight for the win with Bottas in the race. And although he lost out in that battle, his second place was enough for him to seal his sixth drivers' championship.
George Russell is already signed up for a second season at Williams in 2020, but the identity of his team mate has yet to be formally confirmed. Deputy Team Principal Claire Williams says we’ll have to wait until the end of the year before we find out who it is…
That just leaves one Red Bull and two Toro Rosso seats – set to be split between Alexander Albon, Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly – and a seat at Williams, which is being vacated by one-time race winner Robert Kubica.
Nico Hulkenberg had previously been linked with a move to the team, with which he made his debut, but it has emerged that is highly improbable.
The frontrunner is Nicholas Latifi, Williams’ reserve driver who is set to secure a high enough finish in this year’s Formula 2 championship to secure a super licence (he's currently second) that permits him taking up the role should it be offered.
The Canadian has completed a series of first practice session outings for Williams this year, including at the last two events in Mexico and the USA, and will be in the car again before the season is out.
Speaking about the team’s plan for their driver announcement, in the context of Latifi driving the car recently, Williams said: “The plan was always to have Nicholas Latifi in the car for these practice sessions that you’re seeing him in, in the next couple of races and in Mexico as well. It’s no clear indication.
“We’ve made it very clear in the media that we won’t be making our driver announcement for that second seat for 2020 until after Abu Dhabi this year.”
Williams are currently last in the constructors’ championship, having scored just a solitary point courtesy of Kubica in Germany.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is to miss his first Formula 1 race since 2013 when he skips this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix now that the championships have been won.
Wolff has been ever-present during Mercedes' impressive run of six consecutive F1 title doubles, but amid the backdrop of other important matters – including future rules and his team's commitment to race on from 2021 – he has chosen to not travel to the Interlagos event
"Brazil will be the first race since 2013 that I won't attend," said Wolff. "With both championships secured, it gives me more time in Europe to focus on other open topics.
"It's great to be able to do this and to know that the team will represent the three-pointed star in the best way possible both on and off the track
Lewis Hamilton's runner-up position in the United States Grand Prix was enough for him to claim the drivers' title, so with the battle between its drivers called off there is little pressure on the team over the remainder of the campaign.
Wolff is clear, however, that Mercedes is hungry to keep its success rolling until the end of a campaign where main rival Ferrari has made good gains over the second half of the season.
"We have two races to go in the 2019 season and we want to end this season on a high," added Wolff.
"The next stop takes us to Brazil which brings back fond memories from last year when we were not only able to win the race but also secure the constructors' championship at Interlagos.
"It's a very short track which makes qualifying particularly challenging as the margins are very small. We have generally not had the fastest car on Saturdays since the summer break, but we were able to take pole in Austin and will try to fight for a front row start again at Sao Paulo."
I got the chance to hold and play around with one of Lewi's steering wheels from his W06 (2015) at the Amelia Concours a couple years ago.
Unreal how many switches and adjustments can be made from the wheel. The quality was extremely high, you can also see the connector for all the electronic interfaces on the wheel
Was at the new Puma store in NYC today. In the motorsports section, they had a full F1 simulator with hydraulics. I tried the Red Bull simulator first, but the steering wheel (which looks just like the one above) didn't work, as it was impossible to align the pins in the wheel connector into the car. The Mercedes car didn't have that problem. Very cool if you get a chance to come to NYC. The simulator was made by some company from Modena.
Albon has done well after being thrown into the deep end.
Too lazy to scroll back through the thread and find an earlier post of mine, but I must confess that during last year's winter break I was rather snarkily skeptical of Albon (Alex Who?!?) being given a seat at STR. I'm more than happy to admit that I was dead wrong and am now pleasantly surprised.
CW interview, this "never give up" stick is getting old.
Shoulda stuck with Pat Symonds over Paddy Lowe.
When Symonds was their TD, their WCC was 3rd, 3rd, 5th 2014-2016
CW interview, this "never give up" stick is getting old.
Shoulda stuck with Pat Symonds over Paddy Lowe.
When Symonds was their TD, their WCC was 3rd, 3rd, 5th 2014-2016
If I will it hard enough, it will happen! Frank Williams's biggest mistake is letting family run the ship.
Ferrari F1 driver Charles Leclerc will be hit by a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix after an engine failure at the Circuit of the Americas has caused him to go above the parts limit.
During practice for the U.S. Grand Prix, Leclerc suffered a power unit failure and was forced to complete the remainder of the weekend with and older, previous specification unit. On Tuesday ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix, Ferrari has confirmed that Leclerc will start the weekend with a 10-place grid drop to his name.
Unwilling to confirm the component that failed, team boss Mattia Binotto again refuted claims that Ferrari’s pace advantage, which appeared to all but disappear in the U.S. race, was anything to do with an overuse of the cars’ hybrid system—a practice which has now been outlawed by a regulatory clarification.
“Charles will get a new power unit (at Interlagos), as his was damaged on Saturday in Austin, which meant he had to use a previously used and less powerful version for the rest of the weekend,” said Binotto. “Fitting a new power unit means taking a grid penalty in Sao Paulo, but we should be back to our normal performance level and show some fighting spirit to finish the season on a high note.”
Leclerc enters the second-to-last race of the season in a tight battle for third place in the F1 drivers’ championship standings. He sits third, just 14 points up on Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and 19 points ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel.
If I will it hard enough, it will happen! Frank Williams's biggest mistake is letting family run the ship.
Sir Frank has said his biggest regret/mistake was not promoting Adrian Newey to Technical Director in 96 over objections from Patrick Head (then TD and co-founder)
Ahead of this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix, the FIA has issued another technical directive to teams that covers another possible grey area of the F1 engine regulations.
In Austin, F1's governing body published a clarification covering a potential loophole in F1's fuel flow engine regulations, a technicality that theoretically allowed for an increase in engine power at specific moments.
The technical directive issued by the FIA in Austin on the Saturday was a response to a query by Red Bull Racing who, along with Mercedes, had raised questions about a potential fuel-flow ploy and its legality, with Ferrari seen as the end target of the initiative
Coincidently, after the TD was published, the Scuderia's cars suffered a relative loss of form in qualifying and on race day at the US Grand Prix, fueling speculation that Ferrari had perhaps indeed exploited the fuel flow loophole.
On Wednesday, according to a report from the always well-informed Tobi Grüner from Auto Motor und Sport, the FIA issued another technical directive (TD 38/19), this time addressing the potential illicit use of flammable liquid in an engine's cooling system, insisting that the liquid cannot be used for combustion to increase performance.
The directive also referred to an older provision in the technical regulations which forbids the practice of using oil for fuel in an engine's combustion chambers.
The FIA, likely encouraged by inquiries from Ferrari's rivals, is doing its best to tighten up the rules and eliminate to the best of its ability grey areas or loopholes which, if exploited, could constitute cheating.
Scuderia boss Mattia Binotto has dismissed claims of foul play from his engineers, insisting that Ferrari's engine gains in the second part of the season are the result of legitimate hard work.
More than ever, all eyes will be on Ferrari this weekend at Interlagos, where another dip in form will only further fan the flames of speculation about the Italian outfit.
Formula 1 is set to adopt a new approach for the target letter it agrees with Pirelli in a bid to ensure that the 2021 tyres are better for racing.
Over recent years, F1's tyre supplier has agreed with F1 and the FIA to a series of targets related to the performance of its products. These have included aspects relating to their behaviour, laptime deltas and the number of pit stops
But with F1 chiefs well aware that one of the key limiting factors hurting the race at the moment is the way the tyres behave when cars are following each other closely, it has had a rethink of how it approaches the issue.
For 2021, instead of laying out a series of targets that must all be delivered, more focus will be put on certain tyre characteristics to ensure that those elements that make the racing better are given priority
Pirelli's head of car racing Mario Isola said a final agreement had not yet been signed off, but a new approach was being worked on.
"The biggest difference is we identified a number of targets that are a priority, like the working range and the reduction in overheating," he said. "Plus we are also defining the numbers for delta laptime and degradation.
"So instead of having a letter with all the targets set at the same level [of importance], we want to focus on the more important ones.
"It makes it clearer for us. But it is not making our life easier, because when you have clear targets you have to achieve the targets. But we share and agree on the targets, and that is important
One of the key areas of focus is to reduce the amount of tyre overheating that occurs when cars get too close to each other.
The loss of downforce caused when following in another car's wake causes the tyres to slide more, which heats them up and results in their performance dropping away.
Isola is hopeful that this is an area that can be sorted, and will be improved anyway if F1's new cars do allow much closer following without such a big drop in downforce.
"Overheating is one of the main targets," he said. "If with the new aero package the loss of downforce is much less compared to now, this will help a lot the tyres. There will be less sliding, less surface overheating, and it is the right direction."
GPDA director Romain Grosjean says that improving this area is important, but thinks other aspects need looking at too for 2021.
"We have seen it in Mexico, as soon as you get close to the car in front they [the tyres] are cooked," he said.
"We've made a long report, the GPDA. We have given all our feedback and our input and we hope Pirelli can go MotoGP style, where they can bring a new tyre every race and if it is good we can use it and if not we don't use it. Regulations seem to be more complicated in F1, but tyres are still a big thing.
"There is not much else we can do that we haven't done already. We've given our feedback and said we need changes."
Super sceptical. First, none of the big racing news sites (Autosport, Racer) are reporting this. Second, Penske just bought Indy and IndyCar, so I can't see him taking another monumental challenge at the same time. Third, I still can't see Mercedes offloading their factory team at this time.
If this is true, it would be fascinating though. I could see Penske trying to win in F1 as some sort of unfinished business, since his team never won a race.
Super sceptical. First, none of the big racing news sites (Autosport, Racer) are reporting this. Second, Penske just bought Indy and IndyCar, so I can't see him taking another monumental challenge at the same time. Third, I still can't see Mercedes offloading their factory team at this time.
If this is true, it would be fascinating though. I could see Penske trying to win in F1 as some sort of unfinished business, since his team never won a race.
+1 I really can't imagine Penske buying MB F1, although at one time Penske was part owner in Illmor (racing engine group bought by MB).
FWIW, Penske won one race in F1, the 1976 Austrian GP.
At this point it won't surprise me to see Toto Wolff take a bigger part in MB corporate later in his career.
11-04-2019, 01:35 PM
I really can't imagine Penske buying MB F1, although at one time Penske was part owner in Illmor (racing engine group bought by MB).