F1 2018

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Senior team personnel press conference
Ben Agathangelou (Haas), Mattia Binotto (Ferrari), Aldo Costa (Mercedes), Simone Resta (Sauber)


Drivers press conference part 1
Romain Grosjean (Haas), Sergio Perez (Force India), Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)


Drivers press conference part 2
Nico Hulkenberg (Renault), Charles Leclerc (Sauber), Esteban Ocon (Force India), Sergey Sirotkin (Willliams)

 

[Badgers]

That crash looked like a bad one! Glad the lad is alright

 

[Badgers]

As ever, all the coverage is screened live on Sky Sports F1. Channel 4 also have extended highlights for this round.

Qualifying coverage starts at 1pm BST. Sky's race program begins at 12.30pm on Sunday with On The Grid coverage from 1.30pm.

Channel 4's qualifying highlights start at 5pm on Saturday and the race highlights begin at 6.45pm.

Have got my laptop with SkyGo access which is good news. Qualifying does clash with the Liverpool match though

 

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Todt admits teams are at odds over Racing Point money
FIA president Jean Todt says there is not unanimous agreement between Force India’s rival teams for it to receive the prize money it earned before it was rescued from administration. For sure Guenther Steiner from Haas claims he hasn't signed. Todt told reporters "On the commercial matters, as you know the FIA is not directly involved in the commercial matters, but of course we are informed. To [protect] the financial benefit you need unanimous agreement of the teams and I understand that it has not been unanimous agreement of the teams. So in the case it’s considered as a new team".

Force India team principal Otmar Szafnauer believes otherwise. “As far as I know it, I think everyone’s agreed to allow the prize money that was earned by the old Force India to continue to be paid to the new Force India”. In a question about Guenther Steiner from Haas, he said "the document Steiner signed refers to the team having been sold as a ‘going concern’, which he believes means they retain the right to the monies. In the piece of paper that he signed, if I remember right, it says ‘going concern’. He may be confused, I don’t know, thinking that we’re not a going concern, but we are"

I think Otmar Szafnauer is the one who is confused, FOM and the FIA has said they are a new entrant, if they had be brought it as a going concern they would have just continued. The fact of the matter is that Racing Point didn't just buy all the shares in Force India, they only brought the assets, they changed the name and started a new company, so it wasn't brought as a going concern. They will of course sort this all out, but I think FOM will end up paying money to Haas and maybe also Williams to ensure they sign the deal for Racing Point to keep the money. It will all come down to what in the end is agreed the meaning of a "going concern" is.

Stroll and Ocon both have seat fittings
In the case of Ocon is was reported that he had had a seat fitting at McLaren, but little more was said about that, although McLaren did admit it happened. With Stroll, Racing Point have confirmed that he has had a seat fitting but claim it is so they can fit the 2019 car around him. I tend to agree as I can see little benefit from Stroll moving from Williams midway through the season. Racing Point have started with zero points and need to move up the constructors table to maximize their point for the next two years prize money. Switching the drivers now would not help that and would also brings problems around Strolls contract. I don't rule it out as it would/could have advantages for next season, giving stroll time in the car now would help the team next season, so I think in the end it will comedown to what the team believe will be in their best long term interests.

 

[1%er]

Oh shit Nico
The weather looks really overcast, rain anyone

 

[Ax^]

*kicks stream*

hmm not long to go now

 

[Ax^]

Nico


*shudders*

 

[Ax^]

so do both red bulls blow up in qualifying or do they wait for the race tomorrow

Renault warning about the spec c engine

and Red Bull put it in both cars

 

[Ax^]

nice one kimi

 

[Badgers]

Woah

 

[1%er]

Best qualifying of the season so far in my view, Ferrari locking out the front row will make it harder for Mercedes, but the times are so close it could be anyone's race

 

[1%er]

Kubica to drive for Williams
Paddy Lowe has said in an interview with Brazilian Globo news that if there is any change in driver line-up during the rest of this season, Robert Kubica who is the Williams reserve driver would "step up to the plate". It is strongly rumored that either by Singapore or Russia, Lance Stroll will leave Williams to join his father at the newly Lawrence Stroll-owned Force India.

When asked about the Stroll story, Williams boss Lowe said "We don't really have to do anything because Robert Kubica is our reserve driver. All we can do is wait for events to unfold, but it's not a certainty that anything will unfold. At the moment we are focusing on working with Sergey and Lance".

Amended grid for Monza after penalty's
1 Raikkonen Ferrari
2 Vettel Ferrari

3 Hamilton Mercedes
4 Bottas Mercedes

5 Verstappen Red Bull
6 Grosjean Haas

7 Sainz Renault
8 Ocon Force India

9 Gasly Toro Rosso
10 Stroll Williams

11 Magnussen Haas
12 Sirotkin Williams

13 Alonso McLaren
14 Perez Force India

15 Leclerc Sauber
16 Hartley Toro Rosso

17 Vandoorne McLaren
18 Ericsson Sauber

19 Ricciardo Red Bull
20 Hulkenberg Renault

 

[yardbird]

Good afternoon.
Vettel is not happy about 2nd on the grid

 

[Ax^]

think he is more annoyed about the fastest lap in F1 History

haha

 

[Ax^]

what happen to hartley

 

[1%er]

Lewis looked to be clear there, not at fault at all

 

[Ax^]

racing incident but who is a driver steward today

 

[Ax^]

go on Kimi

 

[Ax^]

Good Stuff atm

 

[Ax^]

Max

 

[1%er]

Race was as good as the qualifying
Get in Lewis

 

[Badgers]

Really good race that

 

[yardbird]

That were cracking!

 

[1%er]

That's me I'm off, I can hear the bar calling my name. The Renault protest against Haas could be interesting, no idea what it is about unless they are protesting the amount of Ferrari parts being used on the car (there is a rule covering that), a number of teams had made comment about that since the start of the season.

Catch you all at Singapore in 2 weeks, iirc that's a breakfast race for me

 

[PaoloSanchez]

I was out and about and listened to bits and pieces on radio five so only caught the end of the race. By the sound of it Lewis did outstanding work to beat the faster Ferraris on their own turf. I'll catch up with it later.

 

[spitfire]

Good race, just watched on catch up. Lewis done good.

 

[Badgers]

McLaren: British teenager Lando Norris to replace Stoffel Vandoorne

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[1%er]

McLaren: British teenager Lando Norris to replace Stoffel Vandoorne

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Lots of reports that Vandoorne would not be re-signed by McLaren but I was really hoping that Norris would go to Toro Rosso Less free beers now I wonder if Kvyat will get the Toro Rosso seat now

Renault protested the Haas
It seems that the Renault protest was over the floor on the Haas car. An investigation by the Italian GP stewards concluded that the Haas floor did not comply with the regulations, which had been subject to a technical clarification sent to teams before the summer break. In that Technical Directive, the FIA had deemed that designs like Haas used were no longer allowed to race. but the American owned outfit had asked for a stay of execution until Singapore while it worked on changes.

Haas and Renault are fighting each other over 4th place in the constructors championship and with Romain Grosjean finishing 6 and now being excluded from the race his points will also be lost. Although Haas intend to appeal the ruling.

Article 37.1 states that the surface formed by all parts lying on the reference plane must “Have a 50mm radius (+/-2mm) on each front corner when viewed from directly beneath the car, this being applied after the surface has been defined”. It is this floor area of the car that was altered when Haas brought an update for the Canadian Grand Prix earlier this year. While the floor maintained the previously legal 50mm radius, it was the way that the team attached a new footplate design and connected it to this splitter which is at the centre of the argument. For by making these changes, the team prompted some debate about what was a floor surface and what was not. That interpretation influenced whether or not the 50mm radius measurement could be taken or not. Pulling the attachment right to the region where the 50mm radius is supposed to be put it in a grey area. The rules are clear that the 50mm radius must be seen when viewed from below, but having the bargeboard attached further forward moved it into a location where it could be interpreted that the 50mm radius was no longer visible.

 

[PaoloSanchez]

Just watched the race on C4 ketchup, the most entertaining race of the year so far.

Looks like Ferrari threw away the win. Seb was already grumbling about qualifying and wasn't a happy bunny at all at the start of the race. Kimi defended the first few corners stoutly as was his right and Lewis took advantage of the opportunity that Seb gave him in his eagerness to take the lead. Could have ended horribly for both of them and fortunately for Lewis he didn't suffer damage and was able to harass Kimi for most of the race (with assistance from Valteri) until he got his way.

Brilliant drive from Lewis, and good teamwork from Mercedes. Not sure how Kimi got voted driver of the day (tifosi bias?), surely Lewis' climb from 3rd to 1st including some great overtaking surely meant that he deserved it.

 

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How the Norris announcement has changed McLaren management
McLaren has signed James Key to be their new technical director, but Key's is contracted to Toro Rosso and would have to take gardening leave before being allowed to work for McLaren. Toro Rosso had made no secret of the fact that they wanted Lando to replace Gasly and allowing James Key to leave early was the carrot they were offering. So what now?

Well it seems that McLaren have signed up a "new" engineering director, none other that Pat Fry, who spent many years with McLaren during the 1990's only leaving in 2010 to take up a roll at Ferrari. Fry is set to help McLaren prepare for the 2019 campaign, after what has been a struggle for the team this season with multiple changes behind the scenes. The team has already lost Eric Boullier, Tim Goss and Matt Morris this year and may not have finished their management shake-up yet.

More quit threats from Red Bull
Dr Helmut Marko says Red Bull will quit formula one if the Honda project doesn't work out. Disenchanted with its customer Renault relationship, the team is joining Toro Rosso in using works Honda power from 2019. Marko told Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper that a lot is riding on it "we are happy to have a great partner in Honda for the next few years. But if this cooperation does not work as expected, Red Bull as a company will leave formula one. As Mercedes and Ferrari do not want to supply Red Bull and no new manufacturer is coming, only the exit remains".

However he did sound a note of confidence saying "the partnership with Honda is going well for Toro Rosso so far and will work well with Red Bull Racing as well, after the McLaren disaster, Honda was close to leaving F1 again at the end of 2017. We had to convince them in some intensive talks to try with us."