FORMULA 1

[MIKA27]

F1 may use Max Verstappen's Brazil restart as rule template

Formula 1 chief Ross Brawn has suggested that the championship could change the format of race restarts, in the wake of Max Verstappen’s approach in Brazil.

For 2019 Formula 1 tweaked the restart rules, meaning the start/finish line, rather than Safety Car line 1 – usually located at pit entry – was regarded as the green flag point.

In order to deny his rivals a slipstream on the long run to the Senna S at Interlagos Verstappen waited until almost the last moment before accelerating, thus signalling the restart.

“Verstappen was particularly strong at the second re-start, when he slowed the field right down with the aim of ensuring no one would be able to slipstream past him and snatch victory,” said Brawn.

“It was an exciting and fascinating re-start which will be analysed very carefully, as the closeness of the pack in the seconds leading up the green flags resulted in a thrilling spectacle as drivers jockeyed for position and where the slightest advantage proved decisive.

“Examining the possibility of procedurally recreating those conditions in future is an interesting concept and one that will undoubtedly be explored in the coming period.”

Brawn went on to praise Verstappen for his performance at Interlagos and reckons Red Bull has sent a warning shot to its rivals for 2020.

“Red Bull was definitely the best package on the day but Max, too, was in superb form,” said Brawn.

“He didn’t waver, he trusted the judgement of his engineers and strategists, and he delivered a winning drive of pace, power and precision.

“Of Max’s three wins this year, this was the one where the Red Bull-Honda package was at its best, as it seems to have closed on if not actually matched the level of its rivals.

“There’s only one race to go, but the Milton Keynes team and the Japanese manufacturer have laid down a strong marker for 2020.”

[MIKA27]

STR haul gives Renault Abu Dhabi motivation - Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo says Toro Rosso’s strong result in Brazil gives Renault “something to fight for” at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next weekend.

Renault entered 2019 hoping to build upon last year’s fourth position in the Constructors’ Championship and close the gap to Formula 1’s top three, but has slipped back.

Carlos Sainz Jr.’s podium in Brazil sealed fourth overall for McLaren while Toro Rosso’s runner-up position gave it a haul of points that means Renault’s fifth spot is under renewed threat.

Renault will head to Abu Dhabi just six points clear of Toro Rosso.

“I’d love it to be us than them, but I like it, it keeps pressure on us for that last race,” said Ricciardo.

“It won’t allow us to rest, and it gives us something to fight for in Abu Dhabi. It is a track that I really enjoy. I’ve always gone well there. so ready to go.

“Abu Dhabi, Carlos had a mega race last year [for Renault], so I’ll take that and we will go there with some positives.”

Ricciardo finished in sixth place in Brazil after recovering from a time penalty for clashing with Kevin Magnussen early on.

“I hit him and he spun,” said Ricciardo. “Always when the car on the inside hits the guy on the outside and he spins, you can expect a penalty – whether it was tight or not – I definitely tried to avoid it.

“I got on to the inside kerb to create as much space as possible. Coming off the kerb I skipped into him. As soon as I hit him, I was like please don’t spin, and he spun and I was like fuck.

“I didn’t want that. Not nice for him, it does not make me look the best, and I knew the risk of a penalty, front nose damage. That part of the race was tricky.

“Ultimately the Medium [tyre] was tricky at start. We didn’t expect to struggle that much with it. So it was already a difficult race in the opening laps.

“But from that point on we made a very good race. If we eliminate the first 10 laps, the rest of our race was close to perfect.”

[rbi]

@MIKA27, you do a better job with Formula One content on this site than any I follow and I follow a LOT of them.  I just wanted to ensure you know that it is greatly appreciated.  Thank you!

 

[MIKA27]

Carpenter ends Hulkenberg IndyCar speculation

Renault F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg, who is almost certain to lose his place on the Formula 1 grid in 2020, will not be joining Ed Carpenter Racing next year, despite speculation continuing to mount as recently as last weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

With Indy Lights graduate Rinus VeeKay due to be confirmed this week as the full-timer in the #21 ECR-Chevrolet, replacement for the departing Spencer Pigot, there had been rumors that soon-to-be F1 exile Hulkenberg was in the running as road and street course driver for the #20 ECR seat.

However, speaking to Motorsport.com, Carpenter refrained from comment on VeeKay but did confirm that (a) he would remain IndyCar’s only owner-driver by continuing to race on ovals in the #20 car, and (b) that his road/street course partner would not be Hulkenberg.

“Yes, I will be continuing as oval driver in the #20 Chevy next season,” said the three-time Indy 500 polesitter. “It’s amazing: every year someone starts a rumor or predicts that I’m retiring, but that’s absolutely not the case.

“Maybe we’ll have the other #20 driver confirmed just before Thanksgiving, but most likely it will be the week after. But no, it’s not Nico Hulkenberg.

“Those rumors had gotten a little out of control, to be honest – even though neither of us said anything!

“To be honest, I did speak with Nico a couple of times, and I think he was intrigued by the prospect of coming to IndyCar, but I just don’t think the timing was right for him.

“I don’t think he would come over if he was just filling time, waiting to maybe get back into Formula 1 in 2021. I think he would evaluate it more and decide whether he really wanted to make a change and then commit to IndyCar for longer. And I don’t think he’s there yet.”

Carpenter said his ‘co-driver’ in the #20 ECR car – a post filled by Ed Jones last season – had been decided but that both parties were “just trying to get the details finalized.” He also said he was hopeful that the Scuderia Corsa co-entrant partnership, initiated just this year, will continue into 2020.

“We haven’t completed that deal yet,” said Carpenter, “but that was mainly because I’ve been focused on trying to get some other pieces in place so we can figure out how it will work. I think both ourselves and Scuderia Corsa have the intention of moving forward together.”

[MIKA27]

3 minutes ago, rbi said:

@MIKA27, you do a better job with Formula One content on this site than any I follow and I follow a LOT of them.  I just wanted to ensure you know that it is greatly appreciated.  Thank you!

 

Thank you @rbi  welcome 

[MIKA27]

Why Sainz escaped penalty for "muscle memory" DRS use

Formula 1 race director Michael Masi has explained why drivers, including podium finisher Carlos Sainz, escaped any potential sanction for opening DRS under yellow flags.
Sainz was one of eight drivers whose DRS usage was looked at by the stewards after the race, although in the end no formal investigations were opened, and no penalties followed.

The subject of opening DRS under waved yellows was brought to the fore in Austin, where Daniil Kvyat kept his open when flags were out after Kevin Magnussen’s incident. The Russian was able to close up on Sergio Perez, leading to a collision immediately afterwards.

Kvyat received a penalty for the contact, but not for having his DRS open, despite it suggesting that he was not slowing down enough, as the rules require.

That incident triggered a lengthy debate in the drivers’ briefing in Interlagos, where the consensus was that opening the DRS under waved yellows did indicate that a driver wasn’t slowing and thus could trigger a penalty. 

However, there is no specific mention of DRS in connection with yellow flags in the current sporting regulations.

In the Brazilian race, Sainz opened his DRS when flags were out after Valtteri Bottas stopped on lap 53. At the time he was being followed by Kimi Raikkonen, who reported what he’d seen to the team. Alfa Romeo team manager Beat Zehnder subsequently alerted the stewards.

After the race, the stewards looked at the data of Sainz and seven other drivers who may have opened their DRS or not slowed sufficiently. However, they decreed that all had in fact complied with the requirement to slow.

“I think it was eight, all in that area,” said race director Michael Masi when asked by Motorsport.com.

“We looked at it, and the overriding factor with double[-waved] yellow flags is the requirement to slow and significantly slow. And that's what we looked at with all of them. And all of them complied with that. Yes, a couple of them did activate DRS for a relatively short period of time, but I'll call it muscle memory!

“So the stewards looked at that and determined that no investigation was necessary, and that the overriding factor of slowing for double yellows was absolutely complied with.”

Masi acknowledged that drivers had been warned in the drivers’ briefing.

"The discussion on Friday was that the expectation is that DRS isn't used in a double yellow flag, but the overriding factor is to comply with the double yellow requirements. Because I think if you look at it, having DRS open is against the philosophy of slowing.”

Asked if the FIA might review the sporting regulations, possibly incorporating a reference to DRS, he said that it was already under discussion.

“It's something that we've already started discussing, you know, collectively, of that component of it, how we do it. I think the way that double yellows and so forth, and they required to effectively give up the lap in qualifying works well, in the race, obviously a little bit more difficult to do that. But it's something that certainly needs more refinement.

“It's one of those things, you can't make a rule to suit every situation is the reason why we have stewards to make a determination on things and the overriding factor is that they slow which they all did.”

The FIA system switches off the DRS for all drivers under a safety car situation, but it is not able to do it for a single DRS zone under waved yellows.

“There isn't the ability – and it's probably the other way - of isolating single DRS zones to turn them off. It's either they all get turned off or not. The technical reasons for it? If it was easy to have been done, it would have been done.”

[MIKA27]

Bottas faced with threat of grid drop for Abu Dhabi

The Mercedes Formula 1 team doesn’t yet know if Valtteri Bottas will need to take a grid penalty in Abu Dhabi after his retirement from the Brazilian GP with an engine issue.
The engine that he used in Interlagos will be returned to the HPP facility in Brixworth on Tuesday evening, and will stripped and analysed. A final decision on the plan for Abu Dhabi will be made early next week.

Bottas had to park up on lap 53 in Brazil after smoke was seen coming from the rear of the car over the previous lap.

“I think there was a bit of smoke,” he said. “I didn’t actually see the smoke myself, but they reported to me, but I couldn't feel any loss of power, just the engine switched off after Turn 3.”

Asked if he has any mileage left on his earlier engines should the Brazil unit be unusable, Bottas said: “To be confirmed. I doubt there's any miles left, but we’ll see.”

After the race Mercedes technical director James Allison said it was too early to know if the engine was salvageable.

“We don't know any more about it,” he said when asked by Motorsport.com. “We know that we had elevated oil consumption during the race that ran away very sharply - very sharply - about half a lap before we saw it expire. The engine stopped itself rather than expired in a heap.”

Both of Bottas' previous engines for the season have completed their planned schedule in terms of races – in effect they do seven race weekends each. Bottas has completed a lot of miles this year, and his only retirement before Brazil was due to his crash in Germany.

A Mercedes spokesman said of the used engines: “It doesn’t necessarily mean that they couldn’t do another [event], but that wouldn’t necessarily be preferred.”

Bottas had endured a difficult race in Brazil. Having planned on a one-stop strategy – and taken hard tyres in order to facilitate that – he was called in for a second time later in the race. He admitted that he was “a bit confused” at the change of strategy,

“At the start I didn't gain any positions,” he explained. “And it seemed like overtaking would be difficult, and to go long in the first stint I tried to save the tyres a bit. But still I think I was lacking a bit of pace in the first stint due to quite a bit of understeer, especially middle sector, and so I was dropping back behind further away than than ideal.

“So then I wanted to go on the hard tyre because I thought that's going to be maybe the only chance to go with a one-stop. I felt still that it could be possible, but we stopped to cover [Alex] Albon, I think.

“And from my side I was a bit confused when I questioned the stop. It's still a question mark if I could have made it to the end or not, in theory not. But I thought that would be the only chance really, so a bit tricky.”

Bottas spent part of the race behind Charles Leclerc, but was unable to find a way past the Ferrari. “They're quick on the straight so makes it tricky, but I think he was starting to struggle more and more. I still felt good with the tyre so it actually when I just had the engine failure, I was charging my battery again. It was pretty flat and there was not much left to do anything.

“So plan was to charge it for a bit, get it full and then attack again. It's not easy to get them for sure with their straightline speed, and he was defending well, he was always covering the inside.”

[MIKA27]

Masi had no choice over safety car for "stuck" Mercedes

Formula 1 race director Michael Masi says the safety car deployed when Valtteri Bottas retired his Mercedes in Brazil was a standard reaction to the use of a recovery crane.
Bottas pulled off with an engine failure and in response to a message from his engineer coasted to a gap in the barrier where he thought his car could easily be pulled out of harm’s way.

Onboard TV footage showed that after vacating the cockpit he struggled to re-fit the steering wheel, before leaving it in the car and climbing over the barrier.

Two marshals subsequently picked it up and eventually managed to re-fit it, and then appeared to be trying to put the car in neutral. However, as they couldn’t move the car, a crane was required.

Since Jules Bianchi’s crash at Suzuka any deployment of a crane obliges race control to deploy a full safety car, in order to properly slow the field – even when the car is on the inside of a corner and the crane only briefly appears outside the protection of the barriers, as was the case on this occasion.

“Valtteri did a fantastic job where he stopped,” said Masi. “They were trying to push the car back into the gap, which is why we went double yellow, as we had the marshals there.

“It was off track, they were trying to push the car, but the car got stuck on the bump. So we actually had to deploy the crane to move it out, so for me as soon as a crane is deployed, that's it, straight safety car.”

Asked if there was an issue with the car not being in neutral, Masi said: “The marshal said it was stuck on the bump and left it at that. And obviously as soon as I have to use a crane, it completely changes it. Being off-track was why I covered it under a double[-waved] yellow flag originally.”

Although Bottas’s car and the crane were behind the barrier very quickly, the safety car period dragged out to several laps in part because so many lapped cars were required to pass the leaders, in order to get their laps back.

“Basically I think it was only the top five cars were the only unlapped cars,” said Masi. “Probably the first part of it was actually getting the leader behind the safety car, which took a little bit longer purely because of car positioning, and then getting the list from timing of all the cars.

“So the first focus is obviously to clear the incident. And then the unlapping of cars is a secondary scenario.”

[MIKA27]

Top 10 Team Mate Collisions in F1

 

[MIKA27]

TOP 10 ONBOARDS: The best action from Brazil

 

[avaldes]

Brazil was a fascinating race to watch. Just when I thought it was going to get boring, it got very interesting.

[MIKA27]

23 hours ago, avaldes said:

Brazil was a fascinating race to watch. Just when I thought it was going to get boring, it got very interesting.

Likewise.

Now that both Championships have been awarded/won, I was like "Meh.." but boy was i wrong! 

[MIKA27]

Mercedes to release Esteban Ocon early for Renault Abu Dhabi test

Mercedes and Renault have reached an agreement over the start date of Esteban Ocon at his new team, freeing the youngster to take part in testing following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

It was announced in August that long-term Mercedes protégé Ocon will return to the Formula 1 grid in 2020 after signing a two-year deal with Renault.

Ocon started 50 grands prix for Manor and Force India across 2016 to 2018 but was left without a seat for 2019, and instead took up the role of Mercedes’ reserve driver.

Ocon has undertaken extensive hours in Mercedes’ simulator this year, attended engineering briefings, and has received some track time in the W10 during Pirelli tyre testing.

Ocon had hoped to link up with his new team before the start of 2020 and on Wednesday it was confirmed that he will officially begin at Renault on December 2.

It means Ocon has been cleared to drive Renault’s R.S.19 during the post-race tyre test at the Yas Marina Circuit, which will take place on December 3/4.

Renault says that Ocon will drive on both days of the test.

It will mark the start of Ocon's third stint at the team, having been part of its test roster under its Lotus guise in 2014, and again in the opening half of 2016, when he held the role of reserve driver.

Teams and drivers will spend the test evaluating the 2020-specification Pirelli tyres, having had a brief chance to assess the compounds during a cold Friday practice day in the United States earlier this month.

[MIKA27]

Lewis Hamilton ready for 'friendly yet intense' Mercedes contract talks

Lewis Hamilton says he is ready for “friendly yet intense” discussions with Mercedes over his Formula 1 future, as he prepares to negotiate a new deal.

Hamilton has already outlined his desire to remain in Formula 1 beyond the end of 2020, when his current deal expires, and has intimated that he wants to remain with Mercedes.

Hamilton, who clinched a sixth world title at the United States Grand Prix, is set to conduct his own negotiations with Mercedes, as he did during discussing his current deal.

“Obviously I have considered the next couple of years and naturally I want to continue racing, I love what I am doing, and I see no reason for me to stop any time soon,” he said.

“But in terms of future, future, no I have not planned absolutely everything, and I am continuing to work on that.

“Your ideas shift each year, opinions shift slightly each year but it is crazy when you are in a contract...it is like I only just did this contract and already have to start talking about potentially the next one, which is frustrating!

“Because it is another stressful moment where you have to get into the room, get into the ring, and have a friendly yet intense conversation about terms and all of this kind of thing. I am used to it and I like to think that I am a relatively good negotiator.”

Expanding further on the negotiation period Hamilton said: “I think it is just confrontation isn’t it? You are both trying to see what more you can get out of it, how you can do things better, things that you have to change and it takes years to change some of the formalities that we go through within this team.

“The team has been amazing, the team working around to help lighten the load but make it more impactful, the way I work with the engineers, lots of different things, it won’t be really stressful to be honest.

“But it is daunting when you think of it coming up because also you are committing to a period of time in your life and it is sometimes hard to imagine that far ahead, but of course it is nice to be wanted, so hopefully soon we will get that sorted.”

[MIKA27]

Williams insists 2020 F1 chances not a write-off despite 2021 opportunity

Williams has outlined that anything learned through next year will still assist the team under new-for-2021 regulations, as it bids to recover from its worst season in Formula 1.

Williams slipped to last in the 2018 Constructors’ Championship and has remained rooted to the rear of the field in 2019, frequently substantially adrift of its opponents.

Next year’s technical regulations are largely unchanged but Formula 1 is preparing for an overhaul for 2021.

Williams was a major beneficiary of the new-for-2014 regulations as it climbed from obscurity in 2013 to battle for regular podium finishes, placing third overall.

But Senior Race Engineer Dave Robson has stressed that anything Williams learns through 2020 can still be taken forward into 2021.

“It’s a good opportunity to have a bit of a reset and put into practice what we’ve been learning the last year and what we’ll continue to learn into next year,” he said.

“The key bit is we go into next year not just [thinking] ‘yes we want to make next year’s car quick’, but the key bit is understanding why it’s quick, and then all the learning we do next year is still applicable, even though the regulations change [in 2021], the physics and the interaction of how the whole car works is still the same.

“As long as we can understand that, and make sure that the tools back at the factory are delivering on track, as expected, then I still feel a lot of effort going into next year will still work in 2021.

“So undoubtedly we’ve got to work out how to divide the resources up, but you never write next year off, we’ve got to prove to ourselves and everyone else that what we’ve done this year was correct.

“If it is, and we can keep developing that, then that will still help the development of the 2021 car. We’re definitely not writing off next year.”

Robson stressed that Williams must drastically improve in 2020 – but must do so while understanding the causes, else it risks repeating its 2019 mistakes in the future.

“If we lucked into something we didn’t understand it’d be great for a year but it wouldn’t help the more medium-term development of the car and particularly going into 2021 when things are quite different and you can’t rely on what that luck was,” he explained.

“We’re all scientists so we’d far rather understand what we’re doing and then exploit that.

“But equally we clearly do need to show a fairly big step improvement next year to demonstrate to ourselves that clearly we have improved our understanding.”

[MIKA27]

Max Verstappen says Alexander Albon the 'smartest choice' for Red Bull

Max Verstappen says Red Bull Racing made the “smartest” choice in retaining Alexander Albon for the 2020 Formula 1 season.

Red Bull fielded Pierre Gasly for the first half of the season but promoted Albon during the summer break, allowing it to assess its best option for next year.

Last week the operation confirmed that Albon will remain at Red Bull into 2020, with Gasly staying at Toro Rosso alongside Daniil Kvyat.

“He’s a nice guy and for him I think the last 12 months have been a bit of a rollercoaster,” said Verstappen of Albon, prior to last weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix.

“Of course he’s very laid back, very relaxed, people like him in the team, he’s easy going, which I think helps.

“He’s quick, he’s doing his job, getting the points, I think it was the let’s say smartest way of continuing.”

Verstappen also expects Albon to emerge as a more regular threat, citing his own experience at stepping into Red Bull during the course of a season.

“I think lap time is there straight away,” said Verstappen of a mid-season switch.

“I think you will get there through a weekend, in qualifying you’re always on the limit and I would say from my first race to now I think it’s more [that] you’re in a much more comfortable situation, you know the car more or less, you’ve worked with the same people, you know easier which way you can go with the set-ups and stuff.

“When I just joined in Red Bull I was first of all listening and following Daniel [Ricciardo]’s direction a bit more.

“Of course you have your own driving style, so you’re anyway always different, but I didn’t know what certain things on the car could do because it’s different to a Toro Rosso.

“I think over the years I know what I want on the car, what we are going to change, only on that side it makes your weekend a bit easier to work with, but in terms of pace I think it was there from the first weekend.”

[MIKA27]

Mercedes explains Hamilton hybrid derate, causing radio outburst

The Mercedes Formula 1 team is to review its energy deployment for when it next attempts a pitstop undercut after Max Verstappen’s re-pass in the Brazilian Grand Prix left Lewis Hamilton fuming.

Hamilton jumped into the lead at the first pitstops by undercutting Verstappen at Interlagos, aided when Robert Kubica’s Williams hindered the RBR driver's exit, but he had used so much energy in so doing that he was unable to defend his position when Verstappen attacked at the start of the next lap.

The subsequent radio exchange showed just how hard it is to sustain maximum power levels through an undercut sequence, and then defend against an immediate counterattack on track.

After losing the lead, Hamilton tried to respond at Turn 4, almost pulling alongside before dropping back. He then immediately shouted: “Come on guys, give me the information when my fricking battery’s dead. F**k!”

As he crossed the line at the end of the next lap he said: “I keep getting massive derates, guys,” to which engineer Peter Bonnington replied: “That’s just the Strat 8 effect I think. You’ll be back to Strat 7 levels in one lap.”

Told soon afterwards that he had to “lift and coast for temps” while trying to catch Verstappen, Hamilton asked: “Do I have an engine problem?” Bonnington answered: “I think everything is OK, just temps a little bit hot. You are still in Strat mode 8.”

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin admitted that Hamilton had struggled to defend himself due to the way energy had been deployed, and that the team might do this differently in future.

“There wasn’t a problem with Lewis’s battery, as in there was no hardware issue,” Shovlin said in a Mercedes video. “But we had gone to a deploy mode when we started this undercut sequence.

“So, that’s on the in-lap. The power unit starts to deploy energy at a rate that’s unsustainable, and it did that over the in-lap and then over the out-lap, and the consequence was eventually that you run out of charge and the car will derate.

“Now, we knew that we had to give it everything to try and be able to make that undercut stick. What we’ll do this week though is just review whether the way we use that energy was efficient enough, whether we could have done something better to avoid Max being able to overtake us on the line.”

Mercedes technical director James Allison admitted that the team couldn’t have known that Verstappen would be delayed in the pits, making it straightforward for Hamilton to jump into the lead – and thus in effect he hadn’t needed to use so much energy on his out-lap.

He said: “If we've known that Williams were going to block Max then, yeah, we could have gone quite easy on that lap! But it's a little bit of hindsight.”

[MIKA27]

Why Red Bull had Mercedes beat on Brazil's straights

Red Bull boss Christian Horner thinks his team's straightline speed advantage at the Brazilian Grand Prix was just as much down to downforce levels as it was engine power.

Rival teams had singled out Red Bull engine supplier Honda's advantage at Interlagos last weekend, as Max Verstappen took pole position and then went on to win the race.

With the higher altitude affecting power units in different ways, many suspected the thinner air played in to Honda's hands against Mercedes and Ferrari. However, Horner thinks that there were setup differences between cars too.

"I think you have to look at downforce levels as well," he said. "I think Mercedes ran a higher level of downforce than us, which assisted them in the race, but maybe didn't help them in qualifying.

"You can see they were very competitive in the race and arguably at the end of the stints they were a little bit stronger than we were. So it's that compromise of how you generate your laptime."

Honda's F1 technical director Toyoharu Tanabe echoed Horner's comments that it was impossible to single out his company's power unit as the key factor in Red Bull being so strong at high altitude.

"High altitude affects not only PU but also aero," he said. "So, as a package we had a better, or a strong, package in Mexico and here. I don't have any clear answer for it."

Horner was clear, though, that he felt Honda was building good momentum in F1 after a hugely promising year for the Japanese car manufacturers.

"When I saw that the last five pole positions [in Brazil] have all been Mercedes, it was fantastic for Honda for the first time since 1991 to score a pole," he said.

"Then to get the victory as well, it shows their hard work is paying off and it really feels that we're building a good momentum."

[MIKA27]

Allison's first GP in lead role marred by "mess of a race"

Mercedes Formula 1 technical director James Allison enjoyed being the team's most senior person at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Toto Wolff's absence, bar the "mess of a race" factor.
With Lewis Hamilton classified seventh after his penalty and Valtteri Bottas retiring with an engine failure, Interlagos was one of Mercedes' worst races of the season.

Team principal Toto Wolff opted to miss the race - the first GP he has skipped since 2013 - as the championships were won, and in part because he is also committed to the opening round of the Formula E championship in Saudi Arabia this weekend.

In his absence, Allison was the de facto on-site team boss at Interlagos, taking over Wolff's regular media duties as well as other tasks such as representing Mercedes in Chase Carey's regular 'coffee morning' meeting for team principals on Saturday.

Allison insisted that his weekend had not been much different from his usual routine when he attends races, but that he wished it had gone better.

"To be honest, I have been doing the same thing I do when I'm here normally, just with a few extra things like this [media session]," he said when asked by Motorsport.com about how things had differed for him.

"But in terms of what I do here normally, which is just engage with the engineers and try to say helpful things here and there through the weekend, it's been no different. I've been here as a technical director and not a team principal. And Toto has been a team principal off doing other work, instead of here.

"It's hard to say that I haven't enjoyed it. I always enjoy coming to the track. It's just been miserable when we make a mess of a race."

[MIKA27]

Steiner: "Unbelievable" MGU-K glitch cost us podium shot

Haas boss Gunther Steiner says a baffling glitch with Romain Grosjean’s MGU-K cost the Frenchman the chance of a shock podium finish in the Brazilian Grand Prix.
After a solid race, Grosjean had looked on course for a good points haul at the final safety car restart before he was pushed wide by Carlos Sainz, who went on to finish third, and then tumbled down the order to finish outside the points.

Afterwards, Steiner revealed that Grosjean's fate had been sealed when he fell into Sainz’s grasp by a bizarre MGU-K problem that meant it failed to work at the very moment it was needed.

“He couldn't get going,” he said. “And then Sainz pushed him off as well you know. Then you just go back into the mix again. Our car in the traffic isn't good so we just lost all these positions, and then it was like, you say, like square one.

“It was only on that restart that there an MGU-K failure. It's unbelievable to me, you know.”

Rather than the MGU-K problem being an out-and-out failure, Steiner said the glitch was only temporary – which made the situation even more baffling.

“It was kicking out,” added Steiner. “He had no power from the MGU-K, and then the next acceleration was cutting out and then it was good again. Nobody knows what it is. We still don't know because afterwards it worked again.”

Grosjean admitted that it was typical of Haas to have suffered such misfortune at the very moment it could have produced something special.

“It was honestly one of my best races,” he said. “I really drove it like flat out every single lap to the limit. But when the safety car came I knew we were dead. The tyre temps just dropped, I lost 40 degrees on the front-right tyre and I knew the restart was going to be tough.

“I was not very happy with Sainz, pushing me very wide in Turn 2, but even so then people on soft tyres behind me just passed me all the time.  

“So one more time it’s our luck, when we can go for points, when we look good for points, we just get bad luck.

“I’m happy for Pierre [Gasly, who finished second]. That’s the positive of the afternoon. He deserved that podium, I was the last Frenchman to stand on the podium. So good for him.”

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Ricciardo: I don’t fear for Hulkenberg’s future

Daniel Ricciardo has sung the praises of outgoing Renault team mate Nico Hulkenberg, who is without a seat on the F1 grid in 2020, and anticipates another cohesive relationship with the German's replacement, Esteban Ocon.

Hulkenberg will make way for Ocon at the end of 2019 after three seasons with the Enstone squad. Ricciardo had no doubts, however, that Hulkenberg has the talent to return to F1 – or go beyond, if he so pleases.

“He’s cool," said Ricciardo. "I certainly think he still has time in the sport if he wants it. His ability is certainly there to do it. I don’t fear for him if he doesn’t come back to F1. He’s a pretty switched on kid, he’s quite business savvy so if he goes on to do other things he’ll be okay,” said Ricciardo.

Ricciardo has spent just the 2019 season with Hulkenberg and explained that his team mate made the transition from Red Bull to Renault much smoother.

“Yeah it’s been pretty easy-going," he added. "He has been easy to work with, does what he has to do and doesn’t really kick up a fuss.

“Also I do believe coming into the season we both had respect for each other and I think that helps, as far as we don’t feel the need to do anything weird. I don’t want to say I’ve had that in the past, I haven’t had that, but it made the transition of me coming into this team quite easy.

“Pre-season, we had a bit of a laugh, after the races we might go see each other and have a drink at a party.”

While Ricciardo and his former team mates at Red Bull – Brazilian GP winner Max Verstappen and, before that, Sebastian Vettel – tangled on track a couple of times, he spoke of the “respect” he had for both.

“I guess I’m pretty easy going," he said. "Yes, I’m a competitor on the track.

“With Seb as well I think there was just respect and with Max, yeah, we were competitors but I respected his talent, his ability, and I think he did the same, so I think if you have the respect then I think that’s really the main thing to keep everything together.

He expects the same with incoming team mate Ocon next season, too.

“With Esteban, no concerns, no fears, no doubts," he added. "I do respect him as a competitor.

“I’m sure he does respect me, but will he want to come in and set himself up in the team? Absolutely," he said.

“Again there’ll be that competitive respect, as long as there’s that: I want to beat him, he wants to beat me, we’re not silly. We’ve done this thing once or twice before, but as long as there’s respect for each other that’s what we need.

“We don’t need to be best mates either but we’ll get on with it and try to get it going.”

Hulkenberg gears up for his last race with Renaul, the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina, with a two-point lead over Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat in the fight for 13th in the standings.

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FIA to clamp down on fuel-flow trickery in 2020

The FIA will attempt to clamp down on rumoured fuel-flow sensor trickery next season, with a recent technical directive issued this week requiring all teams to run a second sensor.

Speculation that Ferrari in particular were tricking the fuel-flow sensor to deliver more fuel than the rules allow – a rate of 100kg/h – heightened ahead of the United States Grand Prix when Red Bull approached the FIA with questions over the legality of such a system.

It's thought – though hasn't been proven – that Ferrari is using electrical interference to bypass the flow rate of the sensor and following Red Bull's highlighting of this, the FIA issued a technical directive clarifying such a practice would contravene the rules.

Ferrari were then off the pace in Austin and the following race in Brazil, prompting some to suggest this was a result of the clarification and thus proving the Italian team were breaking the rules.

Ferrari deny this and insist its drop in performance is down to a number of factors.

Following the Brazilian GP, the FIA confiscated three fuel systems – one is believed to have come from Ferrari, one from a Ferrari customer team and one from a non-Ferrari powered car – in order to investigate further.

This latest technical directive, issued on Wednesday ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi next weekend, mandates a second fuel-flow sensor must be fitted from next season and will be controlled exclusively by the FIA.

Due to the work involved in fitting this and the short timeframe, it won't apply to the final round of the 2019 season.

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Williams using '19 to help 'phenomenal' George Russell on set-up lessons

Williams says its position as Formula 1’s backmarker has enabled the team to spend more time in helping a “phenomenal” George Russell in honing his set-up skills for future years.

Mercedes-backed Russell stepped up to Formula 1 with Williams for 2019 after taking back-to-back championships in feeder series GP3 and Formula 2.

Williams has spent the year mired at the foot of the grid, often substantially adrift of its nearest opponents, and is condemned to finishing last for the second straight season.

Russell explained earlier in the year that Williams’ position had allowed it to experiment with extreme set-ups that midfield teams – in a close fight with rivals – would be unable to trial.

Williams’ Senior Race Engineer Dave Robson is hoping that additional work carried out with Russell will yield rewards in 2020.

“We’ve definitely spent time, and used the opportunity with George particularly to make sure he learns the tracks – not just the left and right! – but that he understands the subtleties of how you have to set an F1 car up for a particular circuit, [for both] qualifying and the race,” said Robson.

“Undoubtedly we spend a lot of time now doing that with him and trying to open his eyes, he’s got a phenomenal understanding of how the car works, and what he wants from the car.

“Now he’s got to marry that up with the complexity of the set-up, and when we visit the same tracks next year he’ll be in a much better place to help us, to guide us, and that key bit in F1 of how the set-up interacts with the tyres, which as always is the crucial bit, which perhaps for him and anyone coming up from the lower formulas is a bit different.

“Hopefully that will pay dividends next year.”

Robson added that Williams has “made some steady progress through the year, I think, that’s fairly clear, we started from a long way back, the upgrades we brought in Germany and the new front wing are good steps forwards.

“I think more importantly than that we spent quite a long time each time we brought an upgrade making sure it does what we expect.

“We spent quite a lot of time running with aero rakes in FP1, at almost every event, that seems to be going quite well.”

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Watch: Aston Martin Red Bull Racing's Zero Gravity Pit Stop

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing decided to take a pit stop to new levels in the weightlessness of Zero-G.

Zero gravity, zero problem! The team felt they needed a new challenge after three record-breaking pit stops this season – and they found it at an altitude of nearly 33,000 feet on board an Ilyushin Il-76 MDK cosmonaut training plane. 

Here's what happened!

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Hulkenberg feels he is not "leaving" Formula 1

Renault's Nico Hulkenberg admits he does not feel like he is leaving Formula 1, and says he wil be ready for any opportunity that might arise in 2020.

The 32-year-old driver is currently without a race seat for 2020.

He was most recently linked to a deal in IndyCar with Ed Carpenter Racing, though team boss Ed Carpenter said this would not happen on Tuesday.

In F1, he had been holding on to the slim possibility of a seat at Alfa Romeo before it extended Antonio Giovinazzi's deal.

Hulkenberg had already acknowledged that he would not return to Williams, which is expected to name Formula 2 frontrunner Nicholas Latifi - who is currently a junior driver for the team and has taken part in free practice sessions for the squad - alongside the already confirmed George Russell.

Reflecting on his current situation, Hulkenberg said: "No regrets. Of course I've done mistakes, like we all do sometimes that I would have liked to avoid, a few moves or things I'd do differently now, but that's always easy to say with hindsight.

"So all-in-all, I'm at peace with what I've achieved and I don't feel I'm retiring as a race driver.

"I don't feel I am leaving F1, I might not be on the grid, but if there's an opportunity I'm going to be ready."

As well as IndyCar rumours, Hulkenberg has also been linked with a drive in the DTM, though he played down the likelihood of such a deal happening.

"I haven't signed anything, and I won't do for the foreseeable future," Hulkenberg added. "I received calls from different, let's say racing series, teams, but nothing is really happening at the moment.

"To be honest, my state of mind is quite relaxed.

"I will finish the season anyways and I want to be as successful as possible and then after that, I want to rewind a little, take a moment for myself or two or three, and see what I want to do, what seems of interest.

"I'm certainly not having the feeling that I want to rush into something, just to race, so I am pretty relaxed.

"I feel a decade of F1 is intense, living at that high-pace, so that's why I just need to see when the new year starts, how I feel and how things develop and evolve and in which direction.

"Honestly, at the moment, I just don't know."

Any hypothetical switch to IndyCar would have to be road-course only for Hulkenberg, as he has confirmed that he does not want to contest oval rounds in the series.

"Ovals, I've always said I'm not a big fan of it, just doesn't strike me and I think I have too much respect for that, it just seems not my thing," he added.

"So yeah, I'd keep it limited to the road courses."