pic is from 2018. Here's the rear suspension of 2019 Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Coca-Cola & Mclaren deal falls short for 2019 after 3 GP's in 2018. Coca-Cola does'nt want to associate itself with BAT after learning BAT is sponsoring Mclaren.
That was a painful incident to watch. Glad he has recovered and hopefully something like this NEVER happens again.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/141590/fia-in-major-clampdown-over-f1-fuel-use-rules The FIA is planning to monitor fuel usage by Formula 1 teams more closely this year by introducing a series of physical checks. The new procedures suggest that the governing body could have been alerted to possible grey areas concerning fuel usage in races, and is keen to address any suspicions. It had already tightened up checks in the latter part of 2018. Teams will now be asked to declare how much fuel they are planning to put in the car for the race. FIA technical boss Jo Bauer and his colleagues will then have the right to weigh the cars before and after the race in order to determine exactly how much fuel has been used and how that matches up with what has been recorded by the fuel flow meter. The strict new procedures were outlined in a technical directive from FIA head of single-seater matters Nikolas Tombazis that was circulated to all teams last Tuesday. Teams now have to declare the amount of fuel they intend to put in the car - which covers the laps to the grid, the formation lap, the race and the in-lap - at least two hours before the race start. This amount of fuel has to be in the car's tank no later than one hour before the pit lane opens, after which time no fuel chilling will be allowed. The FIA then reserves the right to randomly check cars before the race, with the car weighed with a set of 'travel wheels' marked by the FIA and that have a known weight. The team will be asked to drain the fuel tank, with the fuel pump then run to ensure that all remaining fuel goes into the collector - and the FIA will then make sure that there is nothing left in the car. The car will then be weighed again, and a fuel mass calculated from the difference with the earlier weight. The fuel will then be pumped back into the car, which will then be weighed for a third time, after which point the fuel hatch and QD (quick disconnect) will be sealed so no fuel can be added or removed. Following the race the FIA can again choose cars for random fuel checks, after the usual parc ferme procedures have been carried out. The car will be weighed with the same marked travel wheels used in previous checks. As before the team will be asked to pump out any remaining fuel, and the FIA will make sure that none remains in the car. A further weight check will be used to determine that mass of fuel that has actually been used from the laps to the grid to the in-lap. The car will be then be weighed again.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/141629/mexican-president-cuts-f1-race-funding The president of Mexico has suggested the country's Formula 1 race will not receive state support, as the event fights for its future on the calendar. Mexican GP organisers have won the 'best promoter' award at the FIA's annual end-of-season prizegiving every year since the race rejoined the F1 schedule in 2015. The organisers received government funding, reported by the Financial Times to be worth around £16million, in order to revive the race after a 23-year absence. The country's president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said that money will now be spent on a multi-billion-pound, almost-1000-mile long railway project. The Mayan Train aims to connect the ancient site of Palenque with the east-coast tourist resort Cancun. At a press conference on Tuesday morning, 'AMLO' - as he is known - said: "I do not know how the F1 contracts are. If they are not signed, we will not be able to. "In some cases, events were financed by the tourism development fund and that fund is committed to the construction of the Mayan train. "We do not know in what situation these contracts [with F1] are. We are going to review them. "We will continue to support all sports but with austerity, without excess, without waste." The Mexican GP is one of several races that does not have a deal beyond 2019, but it recently distanced itself from criticism of F1's owner Liberty Media from a collection of race promoters.
McLaren Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso have reached an agreement to settle the position of James Key, who will be released by Scuderia Toro Rosso prior to the end of his existing contract arrangement on 23 March 2019. James Key will begin his role as Technical Director, McLaren F1, on 25 March 2019. Scuderia Toro Rosso confirms the departure of James Key. Key's position will be filled by Jody Egginton who will start his new role as Scuderia Toro Rosso Technical Director on March 25th 2019.
Overtaking problem not solved Situation rather worse than better Are the new aerodynamics rules a flop? The drivers report that nothing has changed. Driving behind and overtaking is at least as difficult as before. The engineers even fear a deterioration. The plan of the FIA and the F1 management was ambitious. New aerodynamic rules should facilitate overtaking. That went wrong ten years ago. In 2009, the wing dimensions were changed and the cladding cleared out of all superstructures to give the following car a better air. In fact, it has aggravated the problem. Thanks to the wider front wings, the engineers were able to direct the turbulent air around the front wheels. These turbulences met again behind the car and robbed the pursuer of pressure. The new rules aim to prevent that from happening. The front wing is now less rugged, but also wider. "Why did you make the wings wider again, if you thought years ago that these wide wings are the problem?" Sebastian Vettel wonders. Vettel round behind Sainz The width of two meters allows the engineers to continue the so-called outwash principle. The front wing end plates are as wide as the front tires and also angled 15 degrees outwards. The rest is done by the aerodynamics with the arrangement of the flaps. For most cars, they are flatter on the outside than inside. Already in advance, many experts had feared that the new rules will not solve the overtaking problem. "It did not bring anything at all, just cost a lot of money," blames Red Bull Motorsport Director Helmut Marko. Then the doctor continues: "Our drivers report that they still feel the same turbulence in the slipstream." Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton showed on the third day of testing the proof that nothing has changed. Vettel drove for laps behind the McLaren of Carlos Sainz, Hamilton a felt eternity behind the clean of Kimi Raikkonen. The Ferrari driver had previously caught up with Sainz two seconds per lap. Vettel reported: "No chance to pass him. “ I just never got close enough to him " Situation worse than before? Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hülkenberg have had the same experience. They unanimously reported that the driving experience has not changed at all. "As if you had pressed the Copy & Paste button", grins Nico Hülkenberg. Red Bull tech boss Adrian Newey even fears that it will be even harder to stay in the slipstream of another car. "You lose as much downforce as before. “ But it is still unstable, because we now lack the vertical baffles in the front wing to control the flow. " Force India Chief Technology Officer Andy Green is not surprised that the overtaking committee's efforts are going nowhere: "We do not build cars that make driving easier for the rear man. We see that our car is as fast as possible. And to do this, the air must pass the outside of the wheels. “ As long as we see the chance to do that, we will do it. " https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-1/f1-ueberholen-schwierig-regeln-2019/&prev=search
Yep, I posted some CFD data regarding the 2018 cars vs the 2019 cars from 3 different views. The results were minimal at best on this same thread (I think???...).
The issue of being totally ****ing anal and boring I think..... I almost fell asleep reading about the fuel checks... doesn’t bode well for the season does it, already expecting to have to take such drastic action in the area of fuel, when they are fuelled under the watchful eye of the FIA supposedly anyway!
As expected, the FIA appears incapable of making any changes that would promote good racing.... yet their technical team is the one trusted to provide the ultimate guide to scrutineering etc...... wtf, if they get things so wrong, so regularly, why trust them with the ongoing success of the sport?
SKY F1 did make a small mention of him once in the testing I saw. There was some talk of Croft not being renewed months ago but that does not appear to be the case so far. I like Ted's reporting.
To a certain degree, yes. But it would require a LOT of venturi tunneling to get a good chunk of downforce back. IMO the right way to tackle it is to simplify the wings quite a lot more. Make them no wider than the inside of the front wheels, a simple vertical end plate and a large ''flap''. Ultimately the ''shape'' would be free, but not additional **** should be added. Same goes for the rear wing...I quite like the new rear wings but just simplify them (and remove the DRS). To regain some of the lost downforce allow for venturi tunnels of a certain size (easily opened up/narrowed down). And before anyone moans at me that it'll be a spec series...no it ****ing won't, it's simply changing the Formula. Chassis, body, wing design, suspension and so on are all free, just the parameters changed. Massive advantages will be harder to find. Cars will be closer in ultimate performance, cars will race a lot closer together, massive development cost savings....And all for more or less the same outright speed. Seems like a winning combination to me. Drivers will be able to make a difference more than being limited by equipment given. Small teams will be able to do better by hiring better drivers. Right now, is there really that much advantage in hiring the F2 champion? I don't think so. You're better (in most cases) hiring a reasonably talented guy but who brings an enormous sack of money. And yes...if their hired hot shot driver is great, it's likely he'll be picked up by the wealthy teams....but so what? Look for the next driver. A superstar driver driving in the slowest car that's half a second slower than the next slowest car, is not going to finish near the points unless something crazy happens. That's not right. A tighter formula, where the difference between the fastest car on the grid and the slowest one is around 1.5 seconds, such a quick driver could make the ultimate difference between finishing 16th and 8th.
