FORMULA 1

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1 hour ago, skalls said:

Am I the only one not interested in a London street race?  Maybe its because it will be another god awful Tilke design.  That's why I'm kinda meh on the Miami one too.

I've made it very clear that Herman Tilke needs to be ousted as the ONLY consultant and designer of F1 tracks. Hate them! You're not the only one not interested mate.  

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1 hour ago, Baccy said:

Nico is such a douche bag these days. Can he please just stfu??? Maybe he could have achieved more in F1 if he hadn't retired so early in his career. I'm pretty sure Kimi has more loyal fans than Nico...

Well Kimi may have only won 1 WDC but the guy is still adding to his accolades. Can't say the same for Nico.

Sure hope he doesn't turn into a super negative douche such as Jaques Villeneuve 

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Mercedes takes fewest softs for Hungarian GP

Formula 1 championship leader Mercedes has gone for a more conservative tyre selection than its rivals for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The teams' tyre choices for the Hungaroring race, which will come the weekend after the upcoming German Grand Prix and will be the final F1 race before a four-week August break, have been unveiled by supplier Pirelli on Tuesday.

Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton will both have just eight sets of the C4 soft compound, with the former taking on a field-high four sets of the medium.

No other team has selected fewer than nine sets of the soft for either of its drivers.

Red Bull and Ferrari drivers will all have nine C4 sets available, although while Red Bull has opted for a uniform selection for Pierre Gasly and Max Verstappen, Ferrari have handed one extra set of hards to Sebastian Vettel at the expense of a set of mediums.

Three teams - Renault, Alfa Romeo and Toro Rosso - have gone for as many as 10 sets of the soft. Their respective selections mean that Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen and rookie Alexander Albon will head into the weekend with just the race-designated set of the C3 medium available.

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The upgrade that could turn Williams' season around

With their first significant upgrade of the season, Williams made their first noticeable performance gains last time out at Silverstone.

Although the cars remained at the back, the team’s percentage deficit to the rest of the field was reduced considerably. It suggests that Williams may finally have found a productive development direction – and it may be the foundation of further gains in the coming races as the team exploit it more fully.

The chart above illustrates that at the last race, Williams were closer in percentage terms to both pole position and to the next-slowest car than at any previous race, suggesting that the upgrade worked.

This upgrade came around the barge board, which was extensively reworked in two major areas:

01 Around the lower barge boards
02 The big bridge vane ahead of the side pod inlet

The circled area on the left shows the 'steps' on the chute leading down to the outer guide vanes. The illustration of the upgrade on the right reveals that this design idea has now been removed completely

In the lower barge boards, there was previously a grouping of two major assemblies. The forward-most one remains (albeit modified slightly in shape), but the second assembly aft of that (shaped like a chute, with steps in it leading down to the outer guide vanes) has disappeared entirely.

In its place are a series of conventional vertical guide vanes which – visually at least – link up the first assembly with the sidepod area much better. It would appear to give the airflow a better, more progressive transition as it feeds through the gap between the nose and front wheel then curves outward around the sidepod’s radiator inlet.

Just ahead of that inlet, the big bridge vane (onto which the mirror is mounted) has been split with the vertical and horizontal parts no longer meeting up at the corner. The profiling of the upper of the two horizontal vanes is much more extensive and the mirror casing itself has been changed, both of which will give a better flow to the top of the sidepod, helping counter the aerodynamic lift which those surfaces invariably induce.

The upgrade helped Williams close the gap to pole position in Silverstone

The extravagant curvature of the top vane at its outer tip, together with its close proximity to the corner of the vertical vane (to which it was previously joined), will create a vortex of spinning air that will travel down the side of the car, helping accelerate the airflow there as it makes its way down the sides of the pods towards the sides of the diffuser. The faster this air can be induced to move, the harder it can pull on the airflow exiting the diffuser from the underbody, and therefore the greater the downforce creation.

Hopefully this is the beginning of a more productive development path for Williams in the second half of the season.

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GERMAN GRAND PRIX: VETTEL RETURNS HOME TO FACE HIS DEMONS

Four times Formula 1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel will be battling his demons as well as his teammate and rivals when the Ferrari driver returns to Hockenheim this weekend for his home German Grand Prix.

Last year’s race at the 4.5km circuit, just half an hour away from Vettel’s home town Heppenheim, is where it all began to go wrong for the four-times world champion.

The German was poised to extend his championship lead over Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton, who had started 14th, with an easy win in front of his home fans from pole position when a sudden shower washed away his hopes.

Vettel crashed out as Hamilton came through to win and seize a lead he would never give up.

It was the most high-profile of several mistakes that undid the German’s championship bid last year and surely the most painful.

The errors have continued this season, most recently in Britain where he ran into the back of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.

Vettel now risks being upstaged by younger teammate Charles Leclerc, who has already had more podiums, poles and fastest laps this season and is only three points adrift.

“We have got to make up for last year, especially myself and I look forward to racing in Hockenheim,” said Vettel, 32 of a race that marks the season’s halfway stage. “The atmosphere is always phenomenal and the crowd is great.”

Ferrari last won at Hockenheim in 2012 with Spaniard Fernando Alonso.

Vettel, who got his first taste of Formula One at the track watching boyhood idol Michael Schumacher drive around in his Benetton on a wet Friday of practice, has never won there.

His sole German Grand Prix triumph in 2013 came at the Nurburgring.

Hamilton, meanwhile, has won the German race four times with three of those wins scored at Hockenheim.

On a high after chalking up a record sixth win two weeks ago in his home race at Silverstone, the Mercedes driver is favourite to race to a fifth German win.

Victory for the five-times champion and current leader, 39 points clear of teammate Valtteri Bottas, would go down well on a weekend when Mercedes are celebrating 125 years of motorsport and their 200th Formula One start.

Running their cars in a special livery to mark the occasion, Mercedes are nevertheless wary.

“The weather forecast predicts high temperatures, which were extremely challenging for us in Austria, so we must stay vigilant,” said principal Toto Wolff, whose team were dealt their only defeat of the season so far in the heat of Austria.

“Like Spielberg, Hockenheim is also a relatively short circuit, which will close the gaps between different teams.”

Red Bull, who appear to have edged ahead of Ferrari over the last few races, won in Austria with Verstappen and could win the battle to be best of the rest.

“We’re on a good run with the car and improving every weekend,” said the Dutchman. “So I can’t wait to get started again.”

Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, the only German driver on the grid apart from Vettel, will also hope for a good showing in a race whose future remains uncertain.

Formula 1 and circuit promoters struck a deal to keep the race on the calendar this season, with Mercedes-Benz as title sponsor, but no new deal has been signed.

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MERCEDES AND FERRARI CONFIRMED FOR NEXT NETFLIX SERIES

World champions Mercedes and Ferrari have agreed to take part in a second Netflix ‘Drive to Survive’ documentary series due to be aired next year, Formula 1 confirmed on Wednesday.

The first 10-part documentary series filmed in 2018 and released this year focussed mostly on teams further down the starting grid after the top two decided not to be part of it.

A behind-the-scenes look at the championship, it was well-received by fans and sponsors.

Mercedes, the dominant team of five times world champion Lewis Hamilton, are celebrating their 200th start as a Formula One constructor at this weekend’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.

They also plan to race in a special livery to commemorate their 125th year in motorsport.

Hamilton, winner at Hockenheim last year, goes into the halfway mark of the season with a 39-point lead over Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas. Mercedes have won nine of 10 races so far in 2019.

Official Press Release:

Following the global success of Drive to Survive’s first series, Formula 1 and Netflix, today announce season two will be aired in 2020.

The series will follow teams and drivers at every stage of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship, beginning in Australia and travelling with them around the world before culminating in the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

This year, for the first time, all ten teams will join the line-up as they battle it out for victory in the greatest racing series in the world. The series will once again take fans behind the scenes with the drivers, team principals and owners, to gain a unique and raw perspective on their lives both on and off the track, showcasing the tension and the glamour of the sport as each team fights to win the championship.

Ian Holmes, Director of Media Rights, Formula 1 said: “We are thrilled to once again be working with Netflix on the second series of Drive to Survive. It is a truly unique series which allows fans to see the unseen side of F1, showcasing the personalities and emotions each team and driver goes through, both on and off the grid.

“Drive to Survive has enabled us to reach a entire new fanbase globally and partnering with Netflix for a second season ensures we are continuing to put fans at the heart of what we do, making the sport more open and accessible to all.”

This series is executive-produced by Academy-Award winner James Gay Rees (Senna) and Paul Martin for Box to Box Films.

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BERGER: VETTEL HAS NEVER LIKED PRESSURE

Three former Formula 1 drivers are backing Sebastian Vettel to emerge from his current career crisis as the championship heads to his homeland where the rot exploded last year when he crashed his Ferrari while leading the race comfortably.

Beyond then and particularly of late Vettel has been error-prone which has not won him any fans with many tipping that amid the German’s struggle with Charles Leclerc and a spate of driving mistakes, Vettel could either return to Red Bull or quit Ferrari and Formula 1 altogether.

But Timo Glock told Speed Week that writing off Vettel, 32, as a has-been is “too extreme”.

“He is in a dry spell and needs to wait until it stops. Maybe things are not the way they should be at Ferrari,” the former Toyota driver added.

Asked if leaving Ferrari could fix the quadruple F1 world champion’s issues, Glock answered: “Yes, I think so. We’ve seen it in the sport many times before. Maybe it would do him good.”

F1 legend Gerhard Berger, who was once a young Vettel’s team boss at Toro Rosso, thinks the problem could be pressure, “Sebastian has never liked pressure. He has it at the moment, but he will come out of it too.”

Berger advises Vettel to “keep your nerve, press the throttle and do not read any newspapers”.

As for whether Vettel should quit Ferrari, he added: “Sebastian has to look for where he feels comfortable. There are some who can deliver whether they are comfortable or not. And there are some like Sebastian who need to feel good.”

Berger knows Ferrari well, having raced for the Maranello team in the 80s and 90s. He said: “You can feel extremely comfortable there, but there are times when you feel extremely uncomfortable. Vettel is currently in the uncomfortable phase.”

Another former F1 driver, Ralf Schumacher, blames Ferrari for Vettel’s situation, “Formula 1 has become more complex, and Ferrari has completely messed up.”

“The car is clearly difficult to drive, so they need to support Sebastian when he makes mistakes that happen under pressure. He has not suddenly become a bad driver,” added Schumacher, a six-time grand prix winner.

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MANSELL: TODAY’S DRIVERS WILL NEVER KNOW WHAT A PROPER F1 CAR FEELS LIKE

Today’s generation of race drivers “will never know” what racing a “proper Formula 1 car” is like according to 1992 world champion Nigel Mansell, who says the sport’s best era was actually before his title with the super-powerful turbo engines of the eighties.

“Formula 1 will never get back to that,” Mansell, now 65, told the FIA’s Auto magazine. “Driving those turbo cars was the most exhilarating, frightening thing that you could do in your life.

“The Williams FW11B… Nothing comes close to that car, nothing in the world. And Formula One will never get back to that. Really, today’s drivers will never know what a proper F1 car feels like.
In qualifying you literally had up to 1,500 horsepower – it’s reputed that BMW had more. And to have wheelspin in sixth gear down the straight, at 175 or 180mph…

“You cannot put that into words as a driver. At every single corner you came to, the car was literally trying to kill you,” recalled Mansell.

The Briton had his fair share of big-ones in a very dangerous era of the sport and he describes himself in his mid-sixties as “sort of in one piece if you discount a broken neck, three broken backs, a broken arm, smashed toes, 148 stitches for another back injury and all the rest of it.

“Things were moving in the right direction in the 1980s and 1990s in terms of safety but the technology wasn’t really there to make it better. It was still pretty grim,” he added before listing, without a pause, the deaths of Gilles Villeneuve, Riccardo Paletti and Elio De Angelis, then the career-ending accidents of Didier Pironi and Jacques Lafitte, all during Mansell’s heyday in the top flight.

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RENAULT WAIT ON 2021 F1 RULES BEFORE COMMITMENT

Renault is not yet committing to supplying customer engines to McLaren beyond 2020, while their presence as a team beyond next year is reportedly not cast in stone as some may expect.

At present, there has been speculation that McLaren could switch to Mercedes power for 2021, with Williams inheriting the Renault deal. The two British-based F1 teams are denying it.

“We have never talked to Renault,” Claire Williams is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

And a McLaren spokesperson said: “We are happy with Renault.”

Renault’s response, however, is notably different as F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul is not even committing to Formula 1 for 2020.

It is believed Renault is angry about the concessions made by Liberty Media to top teams Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull regarding negotiations over the 2021 rules.

Abiteboul said: “Our contract with McLaren runs until 2020. They are a good partner, even when they manage to beat us at the moment. But for us, first of all, the question is about what Formula 1 will do after 2020. After that, we’ll see.”

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MARKO: MERCEDES IS BRINGING A NEW CHASSIS WITH NEW COOLING

Helmut Marko believes Mercedes will have fixed the cooling problems allowed Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to score a famous win in Austria recently, predicting they have a vastly updated package for the German Grand Prix.

Mercedes won the opening eight grands prix of 2019 until Red Bull’s home race, where high temperatures meant the cars’ engines had to be nursed to the finish. Now, Hockenheim is forecast to be similarly hot this weekend.

“The high temperatures were extremely challenging for us in Austria, so we must stay vigilant,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.

However, immediately after Austria, Mercedes revealed that even before that weekend efforts were afoot to improve the 2019 car’s cooling and the resultant upgrades will be bolted on this weekend.

Valtteri Bottas says those efforts would then have been stepped up, “I was happy to hear than at the next hot race we’re going to have an update and improvement for our cooling efficiency.”

Indeed, Red Bull official Marko says he has heard that Mercedes is even bringing a new chassis to Hockenheim. Reports indicate it has been successfully crash-tested.

“Only in the heat do they suffer, and that’s what we hope for at Hockenheim,” Marko told Auto Bild. “But I’ve heard that Mercedes is bringing a new chassis with new cooling.”

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SEILER: UNLIKELY HOCKENHEIM WILL BE ON 2020 F1 CALENDAR

The on-and-off saga of the German Grand Prix continued into this year’s edition of the race, with track chief Georg Seiler admitting that Hockenheim is very unlikely to be on Formula 1’s 2020 world championship calendar.

Seiler told DPA news agency that talks with Liberty Media are ongoing, but added that for now “there is no contract and for 2020 it looks like there will not be a German Grand Prix here.

“There will be 21 races, Hanoi and Zandvoort will be added, so two events have to go and it looks like Barcelona, Mexico and we are the candidates.”

However, Seiler said there is still faint hope, “It’s still not 100 per cent for sure. Last year we were not so far from where we are now and we made the contract for 2019 in September or October. There’s a back door, but at the moment I see the chance as little.”

F1 CEO Chase Carey has said he wants F1’s ‘traditional’ races like Germany to survive, so Seiler has a proposal to make that a reality, “If we cannot increase the number of races, traditional European races could be held every two or three years.”

The Hockenheim track chief is stepping down from his role to take up retirement at the end of August.

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WHY SO MANY RUMOURS SWIRLING AROUND FERRARI?

The tell-tale signs that all is not well in the House of Maranello are when the Italian media go on a rumour binge as they try make sense (or not) of what Mattia Binotto is planning for his team which has all but lost the title already.

First rumour making splashes is Kimi returning to Ferrari “to replace out of sorts and sabbatical seeking” Sebastian Vettel!

But former F1 driver turned pundit, Mika Salo played down suggestions that if Vettel quits Ferrari at the end of 2019, the most obvious replacement is actually Raikkonen, who would make an ideal number 2 for Charles Leclerc.

“I saw some rumours about that, but it seems unlikely,” former F1 driver and FIA steward Salo told Ilta Sanomat. “Kimi’s career is already close to the end and he seems happy to be able to drive without pressure at Alfa Romeo. Ferrari requires quite a different level of driving and effort.”

With Simone Resta heading back to number four Via Abetone Inferiore, another familiar name could be on the way back to Maranello, with Auto Bild reporting that Aldo Costa could also be on the way back to Maranello.

Costa, who until last year was Mercedes’ engineering director, moved into a part-time ‘technical advisor’ role at the German team for 2019. At the time, Mercedes said that move was to “spend more time with his family in Italy”.

Prior to working at Mercedes, Costa was on the Michael Schumacher-era Ferrari ‘dream team’, eventually serving as technical director before he left in 2011.

He was also a high-ranking member at the time of Kimi Raikkonen’s title in 2007 as well as the team’s last title in 2008 when they won the constructors’ title their driver Felipe Massa was beaten to the title in a dramatic last-lap decider in Brazil at the end of that year.”

Costa is also said to be one of the main brains behind Mercedes’ current era hybrid PUs which have amassed ten titles in five years and are set to add another two to those come the end of this season.

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Sergio Perez hopes German GP a 'turning point'

Sergio Perez says he is looking to the German Grand Prix as a “turning point” in his and Racing Point’s 2019 Formula 1 campaign, amid a recent lack of results.

Racing Point has slipped away from the front of the midfield battle in recent events and holds only seventh in the Constructors’ Championship, level on points with Toro Rosso.

Perez scored top 10 finishes at three of the opening four races but his sixth-place finish in Azerbaijan remains the last time he classified in the points.

Racing Point has added only two more to its only tally since then courtesy of Lance Stroll’s ninth in Canada.

Racing Point is poised to introduce a substantial raft of aerodynamic updates to its RP19 at Hockenheim and Perez is optimistic that this will boost his prospects.

“Racing in Germany brings back the memories of when I used to live there,” he said.

“I was very young – having just moved from Mexico – and it was my first experience of living abroad and racing single-seaters.

“I hope Germany will be a turning point in our season. I’ve been unlucky lately, especially in Silverstone last week where we deserved to get a decent result.

“I believe we can make some good steps with the car before the summer break and hopefully our luck will change too.

“I believe in the work we are doing and I know it’s just a matter of time until we get back to where we belong – scoring points.”

Team-mate Lance Stroll echoed Perez’s sentiments, commenting: “We’ve had a tough few races recently and our share of bad luck, but the mood in the team is still upbeat.

“There’s new stuff coming to the car this weekend so there’s going to be a lot of learning during the practice sessions.

“This team is very good at developing a car across a season and I’m optimistic we can make some progress this weekend.”

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Lewis Hamilton vs Toto Wolff in epic DTM challenge

What happens when you give Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff an empty Silverstone track, two 90s DTM beasts and 15 minutes... they race!

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Mick Schumacher expects “thrilling” demo run in Michael’s F2004

Mick Schumacher says the chance to demonstrate father Michael’s Ferrari F2004 in front of the German Grand Prix crowd this weekend at Hockenheim will be “pretty amazing.”
There is no FIA Formula 2 round at Hockenheim, so it will be the only chance for local fans to see the rising star behind the wheel at what could be the last Grand Prix to be held at the track where Michael was always a huge draw.

“I think it will be special,” said Schumacher Jr. “I have a lot of good memories of Hockenheim, particularly from winning the F3 European Championship there last year, and to drive this car around there on a Grand Prix weekend is pretty amazing. I’m already very excited. I just hope everybody will have as much fun as I will.

“The F2004 is a symbol of great times for F1 in Germany, and I imagine that some of the spectators will have flashbacks to those times. I will do my best to help spark those good memories and I’ll try to make sure that everybody has a great time!”

Schumacher, who previously drove Michael’s Benetton B194 at Spa-Francorchamps during Belgian Grand Prix weekend, has not yet had a chance to try the car.

“I would have loved to be able to do some preparation laps but unfortunately I just will have to wait and see,” he said. “We’ll do a seat fitting on Saturday morning of the race weekend but I am sure it will work out fine. In the end, it will be demo laps for pleasure, and I would really like to thank the owner of the car and Ferrari for giving me the opportunity.

“Since the F2004 was such a dominant car it will be thrilling for me to find out how it feels to drive it. It’s going to be exciting to experience the power of the engine, and I am very curious to understand how cars from that era feel on track.”

He admits he has no real memories of the 2004 season, which was his father’s seventh and final championship year: “To be honest, I don’t. Obviously I know what he achieved in the F2004 and that he won the German Grand Prix that year but I think I was too young to take it in.

“I’ve seen the highlights but I have to admit I don’t really have any memories of it. I more recall our races at home in the garden!”

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Red Bull "has confidence" for Germany after Silverstone showing

Red Bull says it is heading to this weekend's German Grand Prix with some "confidence" about its chances judging by its strong pace at Silverstone.
Although the team failed to take a podium at the British GP thanks to a collision between Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen, its form throughout the race indicated that it had the second fastest car behind Mercedes there.

Considering that Red Bull's engine supplier Honda is still playing catch-up against Mercedes and Ferrari, such a strong performance at the fast Silverstone circuit has delivered a boost heading to F1's double header in Germany and Hungary that should suit it even more.

"We have confidence going to Hockenheim given the performance [at Silverstone]," said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

"After Monza it is one of the most power sensitive circuits on the calendar. You are flat out on the lap for pretty much the equivalent of the entire Barcelona lap. So that is encouraging for us, and certainly for a circuit like Hockenheim that is less power sensitive."

Horner said that Silverstone showed that Red Bull was not losing too much time on the straights, and was also a good match for Ferrari in the corners.

"To be this close to Mercedes around that type of track that we know is power sensitive, and to be able to follow the Ferraris as close as we were able to through Maggotts, Becketts and Copse, Max was able to take some serious momentum behind the Ferraris there, and that is usually the sign of a pretty decent car."

Red Bull's form in recent races has been lifted by some small updates in the car – including a change to the front wing – which has helped deliver a better platform for its drivers.

And Horner has suggested that the true potential of its package was not even on display at Silverstone, thanks to a throttle lag issue in qualifying and then fighting with the Ferraris in the race.

"I think the last couple of races we have started to get some performance on the car and it has been working well," added Horner. "I think we definitely have unlocked some potential.

"The car behaved very well at [Silverstone] and high speed/low speed has been competitive. For Max to have been as close to the pole time as he was even without the [throttle] hesitations, maybe he would have got even closer.

"And then in the race we didn't see his true pace because he spent it stuck behind a Ferrari for 99% of it."

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Haas won't design 2020 F1 car to fit Pirelli's tyres

Haas will not design its 2020 Formula 1 car to "fit the tyres" despite its struggles this season, because Pirelli 'promised' next year's compounds will have a wider working window.
The American team progressed well after entering F1 in 2016, and finished fifth in the constructors' championship last season, but is only ninth in this year's standings.

That poor performance comes despite having a car that has been fourth-fastest on several occasions this season, only to be let down by inferior race pace.

Haas's main problem is rooted in not getting Pirelli's 2019 tyres to work but it will not fundamentally change its design to alleviate that problem as it expects the tyres to change.

"We cannot make the car to fit the tyres," said team boss Gunther Steiner. "Then the tyre changes next year and you're back to square one."

Asked by Motorsport.com how much of a concern its lack of solution for its tyre struggles were for the 2020 design, Steiner added: "We got the promise from Pirelli that next year's tyres will have a wider window.

"That is what they are working to, that's what they are committed to. Hopefully that works. What you learn this year will help next year as well.

"I don't know if it will be ultimately conclusive to make it work all the time. We will have a better understanding at the end of the year for next year."

Haas scored 29 points in its debut season, improving to 47 in 2017 and 93 points last year.

However, it has just 16 points to its name in 2019, despite raw car performance like Kevin Magnussen setting the fifth-fastest time in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.

Steiner said "we knew this [kind of struggle] was coming at some stage" even though the disconnect between one-lap pace and results is "frustrating".

"I said at some point we would make a step backwards," said Steiner. "It's normal in competition. You cannot keep going up, up and up.

"The strange thing is we don't have a bad car. It's more about how we react.

"Now the challenge is to keep everybody focused and working in the right direction and being part of the solution not part of the problem. Then we will get out of it."

Steiner admitted it is "difficult" for staff members during a spell like Haas in enduring, as success is the ultimate motivating factor.

"Some people maybe don't get the confidence and do something different," said Steiner. "But we have to live with that.

"Normally if you're up front with people and tell them what is actually happening, and that this is an opportunity, they are OK with that.

"There is no better motivator than success and we all know that. Not having success, you have to put the work in to keep them motivated.

"Having success like last year we didn't need to motivate, they motivated themselves."

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Aston Martin ready to up F1 involvement should Honda quit

Aston Martin will not "muscle in" on Honda's Formula 1 engine supply deal with Red Bull but will "stand ready" to up its involvement should the Japanese manufacturer withdraw.
The British company has had a title sponsorship deal with Red Bull since last year, expanding a pre-existing relationship that included an alliance with Red Bull Advanced Technologies to build the road-going Valkyrie hypercar.

Aston has explored the prospect of building an engine to F1’s planned 2021 rules but Red Bull has switched from Renault to Honda engines since that was last openly talked about.

Andy Palmer, Aston CEO, told Motorsport.com that the company is very pleased with Red Bull’s Honda partnership, but would be willing to revive its own engine interest should Honda opt not to commit to F1 beyond 2020. 

“Would I like to be a little bit more involved [in F1] technically? I think that depends,” Palmer said following last weekend's first public run for the Valkyrie hypercar at Silverstone. 

“The obvious place for Aston to become involved in would have been the engine. I think that’s a question on whether Honda continues to develop the engine.

“Clearly they have a lot more money and musclepower than we do. I don’t think we’re going to muscle in on that while the relationship with Honda exists.

“We’re very happy with that relationship and we’re happy to see it continue. But nobody knows quite what the regulations will be beyond 2021 and who is going to be involved in that.

“We stand ready from that point of view, with the hope that Honda will continue. Our focus is now mainly looking at the development of the Valkyrie, Valhalla, Vanquish series and the exploits in Le Mans.”

Aston will build a race version of its Valkyrie to compete in the World Endurance Championship’s new top-tier Hypercar class from 2020.

Red Bull’s tech division is expected to remain “significantly involved” but no firm details have been decided.

Palmer considers the Valkyrie project to be a validation of the “authenticity” of Aston’s partnership with Red Bull.

He added that its commitment to Red Bull in an F1 sense is only limited to “bits of paper in place to when the contract ends”, suggesting a renewal of its current deal is likely.

“I don’t think we see a contractual end date,” said Palmer. “We just see it continuing as long as they are racing and we are involved with other things with them, we’ll continue.”

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The fears Mercedes is playing with its F1 rivals

Lewis Hamilton's fastest laps at the end of two of the last three Formula 1 races appears to offer a worrying glimpse of what Mercedes could really be capable of if it had to push hard throughout a Grand Prix.

Edd Straw and Ben Anderson join Glenn Freeman to investigate if those late flourishes are something that should concern everybody else on the grid, and they also evaluate if Mercedes' defeat in the Austrian Grand Prix, and the close qualifying session at Silverstone, suggest the competitive picture is in fact closer than Hamilton's quest for bonus points would suggest.

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Melbourne reconsiders track changes on back of new F1 deal

Australian Grand Prix bosses will reconsider altering the Albert Park circuit now that a revised deal has been reached with Formula 1.
The Melbourne race has cemented its spot on the F1 schedule until at least 2025 thanks to a two-year extension to its current deal.

That's opened the door for the Australian Grand Prix Corporation to reconsider making changes to Albert Park street circuit, with both resurfacing and freshening up the layout on the table.

It could even spark the revival of a plan to ditch the fast Turn 11/12 complex and replace it with a slow corner to encourage overtaking, which was put on ice back in 2017. 

"It's important to get a return on investment in anything you do, and the ability to have that extra two years provides more certainty to do a couple of things," AGPC CEO Andrew Westacott said.

"One [is] to look at the resurfacing. The drivers at the moment haven't said that it's needed. They wax and wane; sometimes it's the most imperative thing that they want to do, and other times they like the character of a street circuit. 

"The other thing that it does, it allows us to have a look at the evolution of the track and look at what tweaks we can make given the physical limitations of a lake and a sports stadium and a pit building and other things. 

Westacott also strongly hinted that the Australian GP will continue to open the Formula 1 season for the life of the new contract.

"It's essentially part of the deal," he said. 

"I won't go into individual wording in the contract, because we don't talk about the detail of the contract. But you heard Chase Carey come out and say the season essentially starts in Melbourne, it finishes in Abu Dhabi, you've got Monaco which has a place in the middle. 

"Now securing great events like Silverstone, you get the real cornerstones and the big components of a Formula 1 season, whether it's 20, 21, or 22 races. And everything fits in around those starting points and finishing points."

The 25th running of the race in Melbourne will take place on March 15 next year.

[MIKA27]

FIA tweaks DRS Zones for German Grand Prix

There will be two DRS Zones for drivers to use in this weekend's 2019 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, compared to the three that were used in 2018.

Drivers will no longer be able to activate their Drag Reduction System on the pit straight at the Hockenheimring, with that first DRS Zone now removed.

That leaves a first DRS Zone after Turn 1, with its detection area now located just after the start-finish line.

The second DRS Zone at Hockenheim is located on the long stretch following Turn 4, which leads up to the Turn 6 hairpin - the German circuit's prime overtaking spot.

Only one driver has won at Hockenheim on the current grid – Lewis Hamilton – while four make their F1 race debuts at the circuit: Antonio Giovinazzi, Alex Albon, George Russell and Lando Norris.

All eyes will be on homecoming Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel, who hopes to earn his first German Grand Prix victory since 2013 and catch up to Max Verstappen, who is third in the drivers’ standings.

 

[MIKA27]

Alfa Romeo and Sauber celebrate 25 years with Team Manager Beat Zehnder

At the 1994 German Grand Prix, Beat Zehnder made his debut as Sauber's Team Manager. 25 years later, the Swiss-based squad - now known as Alfa Romeo Racing - head into the same race with Zehnder still at the helm.

Ahead of this weekend's race at Hockenheim, team founder Peter Sauber revealed just how Zehnder became a pillar of the outfit a quarter of a century ago in Germany, when Ligier finished on the podium, Ferrari won its only race of the 1994 season and Jos Verstappen’s race went up in flames.

“It all started after the British Grand Prix in Silverstone in 1994," recalls Sauber.

"[It was] Sunday night, at a legendary party with Eddie Jordan and his band on the stage. We needed a Team Manager for the Sauber F1 Team and I saw that Beat, who was our Chief Mechanic at that time, was in a good mood. I decided to offer him the job there and then – he slept over it and he accepted.”

That job offer was quite something, given Sauber's initial reluctance to hire the unproven and uninterested Zehnder in the first place.

“To understand what kind of person Beat is,” says Sauber, “you need to go even further back in time. It was 1987 and I had put an advert in the local paper, the Zürcher Oberländer, to find a mechanic for our sports cars. Beat got in touch, but the interview was disappointing. He was too young, and he had no interest in racing – he just wanted to be a mechanic. So, I declined. A month later, he called again and as I still desperately needed a mechanic, I gave him the job.

“That was a good decision indeed! The rest, as they say, is history. He became Team Manager seven years later in Hockenheim and now, 25 years on, he’s still an integral part of the team. You just can’t imagine Sauber Motorsport and Alfa Romeo Racing without him,” continues Sauber.

“Beat is the most loyal person you can imagine: he stood by the team in good and in bad times and never wavered, even when other teams tried to poach him away. And believe me, every team could need someone like him! His knowledge of the rules is second to none. That’s where his good relationship with Charlie Whiting came from. Charlie respected Beat as they could discuss things on the same wavelength.”

Felipe Massa and Nick Heidfeld celebrate Beat Zehnder's birthday at 2002 preseason testing in Spain

Under Zehnder, Sauber (including BMW Sauber) and Alfa Romeo have started a staggering 368 Grands Prix, and Alfa’s current Team Principal and Sauber Motorsport CEO Frederic Vasseur added that “nobody embodies the spirit of our team more than Beat Zehnder.”

Current drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi – both of whom started their F1 careers under Zehnder – added their congratulations.

“It will be a nice way to celebrate Beat’s career – he’s been a good friend of mine since my debut at Sauber in 2001,” said Raikkonen.

Giovinazzi added that Beat’s 25th anniversary with the team will spur the team on this weekend. He said: “We are all determined to make this weekend special for Beat – he’s a great guy and it’s a pleasure to work with him.”

So in one corner, there’s stability for Alfa Romeo – but changes are on the horizon as Simone Resta will depart after the German Grand Prix and Alfa’s Head of Aerodynamics will replace him. Meanwhile, the team have a gulf of 13 points to bridge if they are to catch Renault who are fifth in the constructors’ standings.

[MIKA27]

FORM GUIDE: The favourites for pole, points and victory in Germany

Mercedes set sail for their home race at Germany’s iconic Hockenheimring this weekend. But ahead of the action, who’s looking set to do the business out on track? We cast our eye over the form guide ahead of the 2019 German Grand Prix.

Who’s the top tip for pole?

We’re giving the nod to Valtteri Bottas. Mercedes have taken pole twice in the last three runnings of the Hockenheim-held German Grand Prix, but crucially, Hamilton hasn’t taken pole here – heck, hasn’t qualified ahead of a team mate here – since 2008. Mechanical issues kept him out of Q3 in both 2014 and 2018, while he was simply out-qualified – first by Jenson Button and then Nico Rosberg – when the German Grand Prix was hosted at Hockenheim in 2010, 2012 and 2016.

Bottas, meanwhile, was second on the grid last year (and in 2014, when he was driving for Williams), so form-wise, he’s looking good to take his second straight pole this weekend.

The layout of the modern, post-2002 Hockenheim rewards a mixture of straight-up power and low- and high-speed cornering ability. That means that, while Sebastian Vettel was on pole for Ferrari last year, and by a comfortable two-tenths to boot, it’s looking more likely that qualifying for the 2019 edition of the German Grand Prix will suit Mercedes’ multi-talented W10 more than the SF90.

Who’s looking good for the win?

Ah, well now we slip back more into Lewis Hamilton territory. Despite his qualifying disappointment last year, Hamilton blitzed the race, rocketing from 14th to take a lead which he’d hold onto till the flag, once Mercedes had called off an attack from Bottas behind (“Valtteri, it’s James…” yadda yadda).

Hamilton has a superb racing record at Hockenheim in fact, having won three of the six German Grands Prix held here since 2008, while, barring his retirement in 2012, he hasn’t finished lower than fourth here in that time, and only once been off the podium. In simple terms, Hamilton is the only member of the current F1 grid who’s ever won at Hockenheim – having done so in 2008, 2014, 2016 and 2018 – so it will be a hard task for anyone to stop him this weekend.

Should he emerge triumphant, that will mean he takes a fifth German Grand Prix win (those four at Hockenheim plus his 2011 Nurburgring victory), to surpass the record he currently shares with Michael Schumacher.

Who’s a podium outsider?

We reckon that the lower climes of the podium will most likely be the domain of the Ferrari and Red Bull drivers this weekend. In narrowly missing out on the win here last year following that crash (by which we mean this crash), Sebastian Vettel also narrowly missed out on making only his second podium appearance at the track that lies just 35km from his Geburtsstadt of Heppenheim.

Meanwhile, Germany 2018 marked one of the few low points of Charles Leclerc’s debut season with Sauber, as he effectively finished last on the road after spinning in the changeable conditions.

Max Verstappen, on the other hand, has a decent record around this track, having podiumed here at his first attempt in 2016 before finishing fourth in 2018. So look out for Red Bull’s super-consistent Dutchman on the rostrum this year, while after a far more competitive appearance at Silverstone two weeks ago, could we see Pierre Gasly net the first podium of his career? Red Bull have previous of double-podiuming here, having done so in 2016, so it’s not beyond the realms of possibility…

Who’ll hoover up any points on offer?

McLaren’s recent form has been pleasing for fans of the Woking squad to watch, with the team having scored in the last three races, a feat which has contributed to them moving a full 21 points clear of Renault in the constructors’ standings. We see no reason why they won’t feature this weekend.

Elsewhere, both Renault drivers love Hockenheim, with Daniel Ricciardo having finished second here in 2016 for Red Bull, while Nico Hulkenberg was a stunning fifth last year. With Renault appearing to have found their way back to the right set-up path in Silverstone, where Ricciardo finished a confidence-rebooting seventh, a decent German Grand Prix could follow.

Sergio Perez also has a good record at Hockenheim, having finished in the top 10 every time he’s raced here, with a best of sixth in 2012. Given Racing Point’s current pace deficit, however, he could struggle to maintain that record.

Kimi Raikkonen for Alfa Romeo is on a decent run of form of late, having scored in the past three Grands Prix, while the Finn is a previous multiple pole-winner at Hockenheim, so he could feature.

And finally, could Romain Grosjean secure what would be just his third points finish of 2019 at round 11 of the season? He was sixth last year after a storming late-race romp through the field. But given that Haas have planned to use Hockenheim as, we quote, “the ultimate laboratory” to get to the bottom of their VF-19’s on-track woes, it’s anyone’s guess what sort of performance we’re going to see from the American team this weekend.

[Baccy]

 

[MIKA27]

HAMILTON: IF IT STAYS THIS HOT WE’RE GOING TO BE IN TROUBLE

Formula 1 World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton is hoping rain will come to the rescue as a Hockenheim heatwave threatens to dash Mercedes’s hopes of a home German Grand Prix win on Sunday.

The five-times F1 world champion and Mercedes have been dominant this season, the team winning nine of 10 races so far, but they wilted in the sweltering heat at last month’s Austrian Grand Prix.

Mercedes have made changes to help cool the car but, with much of Europe caught in the grip of a heatwave, Hockenheim could be even hotter than the temperatures were at Spielberg where Max Verstappen won for Red Bull.

“If it stays this hot we are going to struggle and be in trouble,” the 34-year-old Briton, who leads team mate Valtteri Bottas by 39 points in the standings, told reporters on Thursday.

“There is not much we can do (when it comes to cooling), it is a much bigger design issue when it gets hot which is not so easy to change.

“We are working towards it but it is very small steps and small increments which are not making a massive difference. It is definitely a good thing if it rains,” he added.

Friday, when the cars first take to the track for two sessions of practice, is expected to be just as hot as Thursday, when temperatures touched 39 degrees Celsius.

But thunderstorms are predicted for Saturday, when qualifying is held, while the chance of rain on race Sunday — a 200th Formula One start for Mercedes as a constructor — has also gone up.

Hamilton, who won in the rain from 14th on the grid last year even as Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel crashed out of the lead, is renowned as a wet-weather specialist.

He has won the German Grand Prix four times, three of those victories at Hockenheim, and is chasing his eighth win of the season on Sunday.

Rain would cement his status as favourite to collect a fifth German Grand Prix win, a record for success at the race in the world championship era.

Hamilton, who won his home British Grand Prix at Silverstone for a record sixth time two weeks ago, is still spoiling for a fight, “Last year here… I think Ferrari were slightly quicker but I hope it gets closer throughout the year. I’m always ready, it just has not always been the case every year.”