Formula 1 preview 01 – 2019
Well another season is looming and I have some more of that useful/less information for you.
There have been a couple of birthday celebrations already this year with Ham reaching 34 on 17th & Per 29 on 26th Jan; and of course the most important of all was the 50th birthday of Michael Schumacher on the 3rd January when Ferrari opened a new part of their museum ‘Michael 50’ Schumacher Exhibition’ with memorabilia of his time with the Scuderia being the most successful driver with the Maranello squad.
Channel 4 will only be showing full coverage of the British GP (Round 10) with highlights only for the other 20 qualifying sessions & races.
During the 2018 season the ten teams covered 26,975 laps in the practice sessions, 5,959 laps in qualifying and 20, 325 laps in the races giving a grand total of 53,259 laps for the season. New lap records were posted at nine circuits; Azerbaijan, Austria, Britain, Spain, Singapore, Russia, America, Mexico & Brazil.
Fastest Pit Stop Award
Williams again won the most with 8 from the 20 races, Mercedes with 6, Red Bull with 5 & Ferrari with only 1.
The two pre-season test sessions were held at the Circuito de Barcelona – Cataluña this year; the first four day test from 18th-21st February followed by the second 4 day test from 26th Feb-1st Mar leaving just 13 days prior to the opening practice session in Australia on 15th Mar.
There will be three rookies on the grid this year, Lando Norris 2018 F2 Champion in the McLaren, George Russell F2 runner-up in the Williams & Alexander Albon third place in F2 in a Toro Rosso and three returnees, Daniil Kvyat with 72 starts under his belt. Robert Kubica will be in the other Williams with 72 starts in F1 achieving 1 pole position, 1 fastest lap, 1 win and 12 podium places. Finally is Antonio Giovinazzi who has only completed 2 races at the start of 2017 in a Sauber so he could also be classed as a rookie.
Williams will once again be hoping they can return to the top ten in both qualifying and races with their complete new driver line-up of rookie Russell and the proven race winner Kubica.
It has been announced that the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team as from now will be renamed as Alfa Romeo Racing, with the ownership and management of Sauber remaining unchanged and independent. It will be the first season without the Sauber name on the grid since Peter Sauber formed the team back in 1993.
Räikkönen will be the oldest driver on the grid at 39yrs 5mths. The youngest is Norris at just 19yrs 4 mths.
Estrella Galicia 0, 0 the Spanish drinks company have signed a multi-year partnership with McLaren and have partnered Carlos Sainz Jnr since 2013 (who will now be flying the for Spain).
Rule Changes for 2019
The most confusing are the tyres – there are still five compounds of slicks available C1 (hardest) to C5 (softest), but only three colours; white (hard), yellow (medium) & red (soft).
The front wings will be 200mm wider, 20mm higher & moved forward by 25mm with much simpler end plates for direct downforce.
The barge boards will be 150mm lower & moved forward 100mm.
The rear wings 20mm higher, 100mm wider with the DRS opening increased by 20mm.
Each rear wing endplate will have an LED light which must be illuminated when using wet or intermediate tyres as well as the traditional rear centre light to increase the visibility in adverse weather conditions.
Modifications to the mirrors are required to compensate for the increased rear wings.
Fuel allowance has been increased from 105kg to 110kg to enable the drivers to push harder for longer.
The driver’s weight will now be considered separately from the car’s minimum weight which has also been slightly increased from 733kg to 740kg (without fuel). 80kg of that must be the driver including his seat and all his equipment.
Overtaking from a re-start after following the safety car will not be allowed until the cars cross the finish line.
Biometric gloves must be worn by all drivers. They have sensors stitched into the fabric to show the medical staff the pulse rate and oxygen levels in the blood before, during and after an accident.
Annual Entry Fees For The Teams
Mercedes obviously pay more as they are World Champions and have to pay £5,652.63 for each point earned. The other teams pay £4,241.00 per point.
Mercedes $4,838,348/£3,759,400
Ferrari $3,633,222/£2,846,326
Red Bull $2,833,454/£2,201,596
Renault $1,212,131/£941,827
Haas $1,053,820/£818,819
McLaren $884,591/£687,328
Racing Point$830,001/£644,911
Sauber $868,165/£627,945
Toro Rosso $726,280/£564,320
Williams $584,346/£454,037
A grand total of $17,464,358/£13,546,504 for F1 owners Liberty Media.
I am certainly looking forward the new season and hoping for some of those close wheel to wheel battles of the titans. There could well be some surprises in store this year with new cars, new regulations and new driver line-ups as Mercedes & Haas are the only two teams with the same as last year.
Vet will have the up & coming Lec to deal with. Ver will have to keep Gas at bay to remain as #1 in the team. Ric will need to make an impression in Renault against Hül as will Sai in the McLaren against a rookie and get the team into the top five. Str v Per should be interesting as long as they keep out of each others way on the track. Räi should be able to take the re-branded Alfa Romeo upwards as long as his ‘almost’ rookie team mate helps. Kvy back to Toro Rosso for the third time (must be his last chance) alongside another rookie should improve as long as they are not used as guinea pigs again. Last but not least will Kub, after a long absence from racing with yet another rookie, be able to get the team off the bottom rung of the ladder.
Via a fare la Ferrari.
Dave Bass
bassdave.47@gmail.com