2019 formula 1 : Spoilers

[Robert Nixon]

What did Alfa get penalized for?

It was a great race to watch

The Alfa penalty from Germany was for some kind of setting on the clutch that kinda sorta somehow gave them an advantage, similar to a traction control system. At least that's all I understood about it. If nothing else, F1 has plenty of technical rules that try to eliminate cheating.

[Robert Nixon]

Hungarian race was great, at least to see Max take the pole! This made him the 100th different pole sitter since 1950, and the 4th youngest ever, just behind Vettel, Leclerc, and Alonso. I was rooting for him to take the win, but have to admit that Mercedes got the pit strategy right and HAM took the win, no fault of Max at all. No points for Haas, Ferrari way off the pace in 3-4, so this was definitely NOT their track. The speed of the red cars was great in sector 1 since it was fast, but they were not in the running for the rest of the lap or the race. As a Ferrari fan, they should at least do better after the month long break, with the next two races in Belgium and Italy.

[texanbrit]

Yeah, Mercedes gambled and got it right and Hamilton drove like a man possessed to catch, pressurize and then pass Verstapppen. I was sad for Verstappen though; as he'd not put a foot wrong all weekend.

Hopefully Ferrari will do better in the next two races, certainly it seems that they are more in the wheelhouse of the low downforce setups.

[ewflyer]

Honda Power!

[Robert Nixon]

yeah baby, the McLaren guys seem to have turned it around, and the Williams team just might be on the right track at least a little bit.

Now we're stuck with no races for the summer break, and while Mercedes is likely to walk away with it, Ferrari at least say they aren't giving up and focusing on next year yet, and Red Bull (or at least Max) is in the hunt, so some close racing the rest of the way is all we ask.

I've got my tickets for the race in Austin, so looking forward to spending the entire weekend at the track and experiencing things live. Seats are at turn 12, so I'm hoping to see some powerful braking and passing at the end of the long straight, with views of the action into the next few corners as well. Throw in some Texas BBQ, the concerts from Imagine Dragons and Pink, and it should be a great time.

[Robert Nixon]

September 1st, Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, and FERRARI HAS FINALLY WON A RACE IN 2019! Brilliant pole position and first F1 win for LeClerc, despite the sadness of losing a driver in a crash in the F2 race on Saturday.
One week to go for the next race at another high speed track, Monza in Italy, so just maybe Ferrari can win again.

No points for Haas, Max Verstappen crashed out on the first lap after damage in contact with Kimi in the first corner, and poor Lando Norris was in a great 5th position the entire race until his car stopped right at the start of the final lap. Hamilton was on a charge at the very end, but finished probably less than a second behind LeClerc, partly thanks to Vettel having swapped places to give his team mate the lead, and then holding up HAM for as long as he could, VET finishing 4th behind Bottas.

[Robert Nixon]

Well here we are with now only one race left, so I'm just going to say that the race today in Brazil was exciting. Mostly because of some late safety cars, and that somehow Max took pole and won the race! With the Ferrari guys managing to take each other out of the race (rule number 1 is still DON'T HIT YOUR TEAM MATE!), and a late penalty to HAM, we ended up (so far) with Verstappen 1st, Gasly 2nd, and now Sainz in 3rd, thanks to a late penalty that dropped HAM from 3rd after he hit Albon! Last I saw on line there was still some investigation of some passing before the final re-start, so maybe it will change again.

Anyway, some good racing and passing into turn 1, including Max passing Lewis on track. One more race to go this year, in two weeks!

[Robert Nixon]

After practice 1+2 in Abu Dhabi, Bottas was fastest both times, but will be starting from the back of the grid due to changing engine components. Practice 3 and Qualifying come up on Saturday, the final race of 2019 so we get one more race before the long winter and next year's first event in Australia in March.

[Robert Nixon]

HAM wins it from start to finish, and the only drama now is some irregularity with the amount of fuel in LEC' car, so he has to see the stewards, so he may or may not keep his podium place.

Another dominant year from Mercedes, so maybe we can have more of a battle next year, or at least in 2021 when there are bigger rule changes.

Farewell to Nico Hulkenberg and Robert Kubica, they won't be back next year, so instead we'll have Esteban Ocon at Renault, and Nicolas Latifi at Williams, all the other drivers remain the same.

Haas had a bad year, ending the year in 9th only because Williams was even worse. Better luck next year.