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vro0m · 1 year ago

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vro0m’s rewatch - 168/332

2016 Australian GP

Alright. After these few months of hiatus on my side it is time to get back to our project and watch the 2016 season. As always, let’s set some context before we start.

Team changes :

Surprisingly we are back to 11 teams? Ohhhh Haas is joining the competition! Tbh I didn’t even notice they weren’t there until now lol.

RBR and Toro Rosso stopped working with Renault (remember the drama at the beginning of the 2015 season? no surprise there) but they actually… are still… using Renault engines? except they’re called TAG heuer? Very confused. Anyway Toro Rosso is back on a Ferrari engine so that’s also weird.

Renault is however back as a team as they purchased Lotus

Marussia is now called Manor Racing and are now using Mercedes PUs

Driver changes :

So Haas is joining with Grosjean and Gutierrez. In 2015 Grosjean was with Lotus and Gutierrez was a reserve driver.

Renault hired Joylon Palmer as a new F1 driver and originally he was supposed to race alongside Maldonado who had a contract with Lotus. But in the end, his sponsors were “unable to fulfil their contractual obligations to the team” and he was replaced by Magnussen who had a contract with McLaren in 2015, as a reserve driver I believe.

Marussia/Manor also changed their line-up and started with two rookies which is a bold move : Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto (literally never heard his name).

There was also mid-season stuff but we’ll talk about it as it happens.

So all in all here’s how we’re starting the season :

Ferrari : Seb + Raikkonen

Force India : Perez + Hulkenberrg

Haas : Grosjean + Gutierrez

McLaren : Alonso + Jenson

Mercedes : Nico + Lewis

Manor : Haryanto + Wehrlein

RedBull : Ricciardo + Kvyat

Renault : Magnussen + Palmer

Sauber : Ericsson + Nasr

Toro Rosso : Verstappen + Sainz

Williams : Massa + Valtteri

Calendar changes :

We are in for no less than 21 races this time. Watching these seasons is obviously gonna get longer and longer, I hope you are patient.

The European GP is back on the calendar but is now happening in Baku rather than Valencia.

The German GP is back on the calendar.

The order is also changed with the Russian GP happening earlier in the year and the Malaysian GP happening later in the year which feels weird but makes sense.

Rule changes :

From Monaco onward the drivers are allowed to change helmet designs for one weekend per season

Some ridiculous change was implemented to artificially make the car louder because idiotic fans at the time criticised the new engines for not being noisy enough apparently

The teams now have more tokens to develop the PUs

The pre-season tests were reduced from 3 to 2

New “ultrasoft” tyres for street circuits, and Pirelli is now bringing 3 different dry tyres instead of 2 : the third one (the softest available for the weekend) is only given to the teams reaching Q3 and then the drivers have to choose what 10 tyre sets they want for the race and have to use 2 different compounds during the race

The stewards have more power to enforce track limits

Any driver that causes an aborted start has to start from the pit lane

The gearbox penalties are now applied in the order in which they were given

The VSC is now also used during FPs

The drivers are now able to use DRS as soon as the VSC period is ended rather than having to wait 2 laps for it to be activated again

The quali format was revised just 2 weeks before the season began! However the new format was abandoned just 2 GP in because it was heavily criticised. I don’t exactly know what it was, we will learn about it as we go.

The stewards have more power to monitor radio comms in an attempt to end coded messages and driver coaching. There was apparently a controversy about it during the season though and it was later relaxed a bit but we will also see that as we go.

The superlicence was also made more difficult to apply for because of the controversial way Max got his at 16 after only 1 F3 season.

And that’s it for preseason context. Let’s get started!

Oh funny! I can see Lewis doing that thing that surprised everyone in the 2023 Canadian GP in the skysports opening, you know, the head shaking?

They are taking the 2016 class photo. And already they are saying that the new quali format was scrapped after one race. The team principals were unanimous about it. But it still needs to be voted by the commission. Renault still thinks they can tweak it to make it work. Hill says the first session was the most interesting when it should be the other way around. Lewis is on pole though ! Hill says it immediately puts to rest any rumour, like he was spreading, that Nico might have the upper hand after the end of the last season. Let's see exactly what this new format was about with the quali report.

So after 7 minutes in Q1 the slowest driver was eliminated. Nico went wide, but after 7 minutes Wehrlein was the one at the bottom. Then Kvyat was also sent away. People are shaking their heads in the garages. Q2. Magnussen was the next one out, followed by Jenson, and Alonso. Apparently there was a lot of time with no cars on track. Q3, Seb got provisional pole but Lewis did better. We hear a radio message saying "we are not planning to go out" with 4 minutes to go. Zero cars on track. The drivers are walking around in the pit lane. Nobody is happy with this. It makes no sense.

Then we hear all the TPs saying it's shit. Then Lewis, with a gorgeous pair of clear glasses, says "Let's find out what the fans want. Has anyone asked?"

In the end, the starting grid goes Lewis, Nico, Seb, Raikkonen, Max, Massa, Sainz, Ricciardo, Perez, Hulkenberg.

Horner says himself the TPs are a "pretty dysfunctional group" but for once they were unanimous about it. They decided to go back to what it was the previous years. He says the problem is not the quali format. But Ted wonders if they know what it is the fans want, which is closer racing. Horner, in a rare good moment, says the issue is each team is trying to protect their own competitiveness when they need to look at the bigger picture. And so he thinks it should be taken out of the teams' hands and someone else should be deciding. But basically, as Hill explains, what he's rooting for is Bernie making the decisions, and Bernie is his friend. So. Yeah.

Hill says Nico has been defensive in his interviews. (But I'm wary of his opinions because he's an idiot.) And AGAIN they mention Lewis spending maybe too much time on catwalks or red carpets but AGAIN they admit he proved them wrong already this weekend. Istg. Like I said the other day about the 2023 season they've been saying this for decades and they just keep going even though he's shown them otherwise time and time again.

Lewis says getting pole was incredible and thanks the crowd. He says he hopes the race will be more exciting for them than it was yesterday. Johnny asks if he's worried about any car behind him but he says he's only looking forward.

There's a segment about Mercedes' filming day.

Johnny is there. He finds Lewis. "There he is! Having fun?" he asks. There's a pause. "Does it look like it?" Lewis says with a smile. It's not his favourite time of the year I think. Johnny asks him what it is he needs to drive a car fast. "I'm surprised you're asking me that question," he says. He then answers he thinks it's because he's willing to go further than most.

The filming is happening in the W07, so the 2016 car. "It's dancing about all the time," Lewis says from the cockpit. "It's just like targeting, like with a gun." I have zero idea what that means. When he's asked if he's happy to be in the car, he says it's amazing.

As we see Lewis and Nico side by side in the background talking with someone during the car reveal, Simon says things seem pretty relaxed here. Mercedes again seems competitive although the question of how Ferrari will fare against them remains.

Lewis was asked if anything less than winning a WDC would be a failure to him now. He says it's not all about winning although naturally that's their goal. "It's about the journey as well." We see him chatting, smiling, with Nico.

"How much do you enjoy the psychological games with your teammate and how much is mischief?" Simon asked Nico during their shared interview. "Physically harder and harder," Nico says. Lewis agrees. "We're getting older," Nico continues. "Crazy, yeah," Lewis adds. "I've seen some grey hairs on you. So yeah, you know how it is." Nico smiles wide, Toto is standing between them. "You're only 6 months behind me, man." Nico and Toto are still smiling while Lewis is deadpan. They want it to be fun and relaxed but that's not really how it feels. Back to the part of the interview where Lewis is alone. Simon asks if he enjoys bickering with someone he's known and raced against for so long. Lewis reiterates that ever since he was young he's honestly never tried to play any games. He's dead serious throughout these snippets btw. Not smiling. Not warm. Not friendly. Dead serious. Again with the "do your talking on the track" from Anthony. He says of course they have to do these interviews and things are being taken literally and twisted. He says there are pictures of him smiling in press conferences while Nico is thinking about something and has a straight face (they illustrate it with a moment from the 2015 US GP press conf) "and they say there's something going on, you know… [...] People like 'oh this is mind games'."

Meanwhile Nico is smiling and teasing. Everybody has strengths and weaknesses he says, and of course he knows Lewis very well now. But, he adds, the most important thing is for him to get the job done and perform at his best.

Lewis on his side says he has mount everest to climb this year. People are gonna be pulling to make him slip and get ahead. He says he'll have to work harder than he's ever worked in his life to stay ahead because every year they get stronger. He talks about these "youngins" coming while he's getting older.

Now he cracks a smile while we cut to a serious Nico. Lewis has beaten him in the past few years so, he admits, the odds are in his favour. "And it's gonna be tough to beat him, he's done better, you know, recently." But that's the kind of challenge he loves. They're already asking Lewis if the championship is his, they haven't even started racing yet. Lewis shuts it down. "The championship is never yours until you've actually got it and taken it home."

On the grid, Brundle asks Niki if his boys are allowed to fight even if it means they end up in the boonies. Niki says they are not allowed to end up "anywhere", they can fight each other (I think? I don't understand what he's saying very well) but they have to watch Sebastian and their tyres. Brundle says they are now allowed to talk about strategy over the radio. Niki basically says they already fucked up with the quali change so it's good they quickly went back on their decision about that. Brundle asks if he's concerned about the Ferraris. "You never know." The tyres are new, it's hot, it's an open race.

It's time for the first race of the season.

Formation lap. They changed the starting procedure from two clutches to one clutch. I have no idea what it means but it might be relevant to some botched start so let's mention it.

And while they're lining up on the grid once again one RedBull is stopped right in the middle of it. It's Kyvat. He's stranded behind the safety car. What now? Yep. The lights are flashing on and off. It's a second formation lap. The marshals run to Kvyat. He's confused about the procedure. He's out of the car running around in the garage, unsure what he's supposed to do.

Here we go.

They are racing!

OH MY GOD. SEB IMMEDIATELY GETS HIMSELF BETWEEN THE TWO MERCS! AND HE TAKES THE LEAD WHILE RAIKKONEN FINDS HIMSELF IN P2 IN THE FIRST CORNER! Ohhhhh the Ferraris are HERE. Let's go! Lewis has fallen down though. It's Nico in P3. Lewis is battling a Williams. Unbelievable! As Brundle notes though, the problem is probably mostly due to the start procedure change. The mercs struggled to get away. Magnussen has a puncture. And that's lap one. The order now goes Seb, Raikkonen, Nico, Max, Massa, Lewis, Sainz, Hulkenberg, Ricciardo and Alonso.

Gutierrez, P20, reports problems with his engine. Lewis is just half a second away from Massa now but Sainz is also less than a second behind him. Lewis attacks! And he overtakes Massa from the outside! And we get the start replay. Seb's start was really outstanding and then Lewis got caught between Nico and the side of the track (not by Nico's fault, just racing) and that's how he fell further back. Nico is closing on Raikkonen now. Meanwhile Lewis is half a second away from Max. He takes a look but the straight isn't long enough to attack yet. 0.3. But he's stuck behind him! The tyres are graining.

It's lap 10. Ricciardo overtakes Massa right in front of the grandstands, the crowd is loving it. Lewis : "I can't get past the guy". Nico is also still behind Raikkonen. Lewis is told on the radio to extend this stint. Some pitting in the midfield. Valtteri overtakes Palmer for P11. And Nico pits! Ricciardo and Alonso are also in the pits. Nico is out in front of Hulkenberg. And Lewis is heard on the radio saying there must be another strategy as he can't stay stuck behind Max and Bono says, again, they're trying to go longer. But now if he pits, or if Max pits, they'd end up behind Hulkenberg. Seb pits from the lead. He's out in front of Nico but it's so close and Nico attacks! Seb defends! Damn that's RACING. Raikkonen is asking to be boxed. Max has pitted. He overtakes Valtteri for P9. Nico sets the fastest lap. Verstappen overtakes Jenson for P8. And Seb is catching Lewis now. And he overtakes him for P2. Now what. They went long and they are a full pit stop down on them. Nico is getting close as well. They are on different strategies but Lewis is making no move to let him go, of course. Eventually he pits. Raikkonen is also there. Raikkonen gets the supersoft so you wonder why they made him go longer. Lewis, on the other hand, gets the medium as we expected. He's gonna hope to get to the end. He's out in front of Massa in P– oh it's a crash! Gutierrez is in the gravel. OH GOD THERE'S A CAR UPSIDE DOWN?! It's Alonso! He's out. But he's not okay. He's limping and then he folds over himself with his hands on his knees, as Gutierrez exits his car. Gutierrez jogs to him as Alonso starts to walk again. They shake hands. The marshals check on him as he leaves the gravel. Oh my god. The car is. I don't know how to describe that. Shredded. You wouldn't be able to tell it was a car if it wasn't for the wheels sticking out at weird angles. Seriously. I think it's missing the front part? Unbelievable. How did Alonso walk away from that? Loads of debris on track as well, of course the safety car has been deployed. Several cars pit, expectedly. Here's the replay of the crash. Holy shit. I don't even know how to paint that picture. Alonso is coming up behind Gutierrez. He decided to switch sides. His front right catches on Gutierrez rear left. The axle immediately breaks which sends him violently into the barriers while Gutierrez gets a rear puncture that sends him spinning. All the other wheels of Alonso's car break in the crash. The car is sent sliding into the gravel trap. The sudden deceleration sends the car spinning upon it's axis. Full barrel roll and a half in the air above the gravel trap. It lands kind of halfway upside down on the rear part of the cockpit (thankfully not the front part, I mean he'd have. Lost his head. Possibly.) It bounces back up and finds itself almost upright and then I can't see anymore because there's so much debris, gravel, dust and smoke in the way. The race is redflagged.

So it's lap 19. Seb is in the lead, followed by Nico, Raikkonen, Daniel, Verstappen, Sainz, Lewis, Massa, Grosjean and Hulkenberg for the top 10. It's terrible for Merc's strategy : they kept Lewis out for nothing. He pitted, found himself down the field, and now everybody can change tyres and it will have been for nothing. We won't know how that strategy would have played out. We see Alonso walking back past his wreck of a car. He's taken the helmet off and is giving thumbs up to the crowd that applauds him. It's unbelievable that he's okay. Really. Lewis is out of the car. Walking away with his helmet on. We hear Gutierrez confirm on radio he is okay and immediately asking "is he okay?" The wreck is on the crane now and the only wheels left are folded and dangling beneath it, and the left side pod is entirely missing. Vaporised upon impact.

They change Lewis' front wing. Now Lewis is on the pit wall talking with his engineers. We have a restart time. They're getting ready to go again.

The accident prompts talk of the halo. Crofty wonders if it would have trapped Alonso in the car. It would have saved his head if he'd landed on the front part of his car rather than the rear, man. Brundle says when he crashed he found himself in a similar position as Alonso and it would have been an issue especially if the car had been on fire.

Lewis is still on mediums. So they intend to go on with this strategy. Nico has been put on the mediums. The Ferraris are on supersofts… They will have to stop again. Mmh. Interesting.

And they go again, under safety car for a lap. Seb backs them up. Here we go. Verstappen overtakes Ricciardo. Seb is already getting away, 1.3 ahead after 1 lap. Raikkonen is in the pits?! On the radio we hear him say he broke something. Oh yeah, it's smoking. As soon as he slows down it catches on fire. It's over for him. Lewis is closing on Sainz. But he's 10 seconds behind Nico. He needs to get moving. At the front, Seb is trying to get a gap big enough to pit. Ericsson gets a drive through because his team was working on his car too late after the restart signal.

It's lap 30. Seb is 3.1 seconds in the lead. Nico, Daniel, Verstappen, Sainz, Lewis still P6, Massa, Grosjean, Hulkenberg and Valtteri for the top 10. Jenson pits. Crofty notes he's the first one of supersofts to do so. Lewis is wheel to wheel with Sainz but he’s on the outside and can't overtake him still. Sainz says he needs to stop. He pits. He goes again. He's out in P12. People are switching to the medium as the track temperature goes down. Ted says Nico is winning this race. Verstappen pits as well, but nobody was ready and it's a loooong one. He's down in P12. Crofty thinks he might have made the call himself. Anyway Lewis up in P4. Max : "How many times do I have to say I’ve got problems with my tyres? I wanted to pit first." Apparently he'd been asking for a tyre change for a while and possibly he just went for it as they wouldn't pit him? Ballsy. Ferrari need to pit Seb. Because the Mercs don't necessarily need to stop again. And Nico is only 1.1 behind Seb. And here we go, he pits. It's the softs and ohhh they struggle to put them on! That's bad for Seb! 5.6 stop! He's out ahead of Massa in P4. It means he's chasing Lewis now. Sainz and Verstappen are basically on Palmer trying to overtake for P9. "Can I try to get past?" Max asks. "Yes," is the answer. Ohhh my god I would be so stressed if I was them because now they're chasing each other and it's very close. In a very amused voice, Crofty notes we've already heard Max's colourful language this race and he expects more over the radio now. "Let me try because this takes too long," he says. "Let's do it," the engineer answers. But Sainz isn't told to move aside. Meanwhile Lewis is gaining over Ricciardo.

Lap 40. Nico is 9 seconds ahead of Daniel, himself just 1.2 ahead of Lewis. Then come Seb, 8 seconds down, Massa, Grosjean, Hulkenberg, Valtteri, Palmer, and it's the two Toro Rossos still fighting each other. Verstappen : "Come on we have to do something." Sainz is told to push. "I am pushing. Don't tell me to push." He's told otherwise they will swap next lap. Oh and Ericsson is really slow on track now, as we cut to images of Alonso, all smiles, walking around the paddock. Max attacks, Sainz locks up. The positions don't change. Sainz is actively defending against Max. Franz Tost shakes his head as he watches on. And now, Lewis has DRS over Daniel. Let's go. 0.4. 0.2. And it's done. 10 seconds to catch Nico. And Sainz FINALLY overtakes Palmer. Verstappen tries to follow and he's wheel to wheel with him down the straight. He just about makes it. Daniel pits from P3, out in P5. Verstappen chases Sainz. Ricciardo overtakes Massa for P4. Lewis is not closing on Nico… Verstappen : "Always when I’m in front I’m pulling away, now you don’t let me pass, it’s a fucking joke, really."

Lap 50. Lewis is still 10 seconds off Nico, Seb 3.7 off him. Then Daniel, Massa, Grosjean, Hulkenberg, Valtteri, Sainz, and Verstappen. But suddenly, less than a lap later, Lewis is 8.2 away and Seb 2.8 behind him. Perez is told his brake wear is critical and he won't be able to make it to the end if he keeps it up. And Lewis makes a mistake, he outbrakes himself, and Seb is right behind him. 0.6. 0.5. Phew. Oh. Verstappen spun. Ohhh they made contact. Yeah well. Not surprised. Sainz locked up and Max hit him. Back to the front. Seb is half a second behind still. 3 laps to go. OH AND SEB LOCKED UP AND GOES DEEP! He went on the grass and that ends the chase. Lewis is 5 seconds away now. He apologises over radio.

And it's the end of the race!

Nico, Lewis, Seb.

Lewis and Nico briefly hug as they get out of their cars. Ohhh. Seb goes to Lewis as he dries his hair. He talks to him. Then Lewis takes a step away with a big grin as Seb throws his cap at him. Cheeky.

They walk away talking, while Nico is left behind.

They talk on the way to the podium. Seb elbows him.

Nico for some reason hugs Mark Webber who's doing the podium interviews. Lewis dumps champagne on him as he talks to the crowd.

And Seb dumps his on Mark.

Lewis says the team has done a great job but it was tricky out there. He loves that they had to come back from "far behind". Glad that no one was injured in the crash as well. He says it's impossible to follow around here. But a great result for the team. Seb asks Webber if he wants more champagne. Webber says he gets drunk really fast these days and Seb says "I know, I know you do, and then you start singing summer '69, remember?" Nico and Lewis are talking during his interview.

Niki says they wanted competition but that's too much competition! But he's happy with the result. He doesn't know what would have happened without the red flag, if it was in their favour or not. He refuses to speculate. He thinks the bad start was indeed due to the new procedure.

Also noteworthy : Haas managed to score points in their first ever race.

Oh okay so they've already decided to introduce the halo in 2017 so that's why they're talking about it so much (no they didn't? i don't know why i wrote that? was it supposed to be the case and in the end they didn't or did i get that wrong?) The ex-drivers seem to mostly think it's a bad idea but Jenson says it's a good thing.

Alonso is not blaming anyone for the crash and he's just happy to be here.

Lewis is happy with his damage limitation. He doesn't think the issue at the start was due to the procedure but possibly wheelspin. He says the start itself wasn't "shocking, wasn't the worst" but then he got pushed off by Nico into turn 1 and then he lost ground and he's grateful he was able to recover. The journalist says Mercedes did an awful lot of work on the medium tyres over the winter and did that win them the race? He nods.

He says the hard thing is to know how long and how hard you can lean on your tyres. He says when he had 20 laps left he thought he wouldn't make it because they started sliding but they kept going. Then he locked up at some point and Sebastian was "on his tail" and after that it was so slippery. He tells about it all with the most childlike smile and enjoyment.

He says the team did a great job with the strategy. He says they did expect Ferrari to be close, but he says Nico doesn't seem to think he had trouble following them so it'll be interesting. He interrupts himself. "You know once Sebastian was behind me," his eyes crinkle, "I was excited because I was having a race with Sebastian you know but unfortunately this track doesn't allow you to have serious battles”.

Nico says he had a good start but Seb had a flying start. He also says he never looked behind him, didn't know someone was there, didn't feel contact with Lewis and apologises for anything he might have been a part of there.

They also talk about the fight between Max and Sainz and finally the journalists are a bit critical in that they say it shows that Max is young because he lost his head a bit and if he'd been cooler he might have gotten further.

Absolutely losing it at Ted mentioning Iñaki Rueda seen holding his head on the pit wall after the race realising he'd fucked up their strategy.

#f1 #lewis hamilton #vro0m's race reviews #2016 #2016 australian gp

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f1 · 2 years ago

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Why F1 2010's new teams all failed

Genuinely new teams are a rarity in 21st century Formula 1, given building up a new constructor from scratch is almost prohibitively difficult. Yet in 2010, four newcomers were granted a place as the grid expanded to 13 teams, meaning F1 should have hit 26 cars for the first time since 1995. Infamously, USF1 collapsed before it ever participated in an F1 race, although Lotus Racing, Virgin and HRT made it. Or at least, they did for a time, as all had vanished by 2017. So let’s look back at what led to that flurry of newcomers and why they failed to stick it out in F1. 00:00 An F1 rarity 00:38 The push for new teams 02:57 Shifting landscape 04:05 Tales of failure Subscribe: http://the-race.com/youtube_subscribe Website: http://the-race.com/ Twitter: @wearetherace Instagram: @wearetherace Facebook: http://facebook.com/wearetherace Podcasts: http://the-race.com/podcasts Thanks for watching - please like, share and comment, please also hit subscribe to show your support so we'll keep doing what we're doing. https://www.the-race.com http://www.twitter.com/wearetherace #f1 #f1history #f12010 #virgin #lotus #caterham #marussia #hrt #hispania #manor #jb17 #julesbianchi #formula1 #formulaone #grandprix #therace #fia via THE RACE https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaTxfj0BzL-MaCy-YUqPRoQ

#F1 #Why F1 2010's new teams all failed #Formula 1

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alianoralacanta · 4 months ago

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Guide to F1 Part 3: Teams (22/11/2007)

Warning! Long entry alert!

Context: As part of the three-part series for rookies, I went into something of a classification of teams, along with the purpose of each type. The purpose of each category has changed little. Who is on each has not. Now, the classification is:

Manufacturer A-teams: Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, Alpine (until the end of 2025), Audi (from 2026), Aston Martin. Manufacturer B-teams: None currently. Alfa Romeo (mid-2016-2023) was somewhere between this and "Corporate A-team".

Corporate A-teams: Red Bull, Alpine (from 2026), Sauber (until the end of 2025), Williams, Haas. Between 2008 and 2023, there was also 1Malaysia/Lotus/Caterham (2010-2014), Virgin (2010)/Marussia (2011-2015 - Marussia claimed to also be a car manufacturer but the nearest it got to actually making a car was the one in computer game "Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012)")

Corporate B-teams: Alpha Tauri.

Privateers: None currently. Teams that have been privateers after this point but no longer are: McLaren (until Bahrain's Mumtalakat fund fully took it over on 22 March 2024), Williams (until it was sold to Dorilton in 2019), Hispania/HRT (2010-2012), Manor (2015-2016, after it was rescued from administration by John Booth and Graeme Lowden, then sold to Stephen Fitzpatrick), Sauber (from 2010 when Peter Sauber re-purchased the team he founded from BMW, until it was sold to Longbow Finance in mid-2016). F1 did not take my argument about the importance of privateers seriously (which did not surprise me - apart from anything else, I argued it on a blog rather than, for instance, to Bernie Ecclestone's face).

In Formula 1, there are a number of teams (currently 11 or 12, depending on whether you believe Prodrive will make it onto the grid). Each team has a different approach to racing and therefore its own group of supporters. In this part of the guide, I intend to give a description of what each key category of team is like.

Manufacturer A-teams

Current member(s) of this group: Renault, Honda, Toyota, BMW, Ferrari, McLaren*

These teams currently form the core of F1's teams. They aren't really in it for the racing, they're there because they want to increase the sales and/or profile of their cars.

Manufacturers come and go according to how F1 fits into their plans. On most occasions, they supplied works engines with perhaps one or two manufacturers trying F1 as a whole-team effort at a time.

The exception to this rule is Ferrari - in fact it is the exception to a lot of rules one might make about manufacturers. It's the only team to have been there since F1's inception in 1950. It is also the only manufacturer that didn't start off as a manufacturer. Enzo Ferrari only started to make and sell road cars in order to finance his team's motor sport activities. All other manufacturers are car salespeople first, racers second.

The manufacturers' current simultaneous occupancy of F1 began in 1999 with Honda's aborted attempt to enter F1 as its own team. Then Jaguar bought the Stewart privateer team, Renault bought Benetton (a corporate team which had itself bought privateer team Toleman in 1986) and Toyota created a new team from scratch. Honda eventually joined in when it bought corporate team BAR at the end of 2005, at the same time as BMW bought privateer team Sauber.

However, their participation has not been without tension. In 2004, they threatened to create a splinter series to satisfy their ambitions (in reality these were to deprive Bernie of some of his income and to get themselves out from under some of the more onerous engine rules - actions they thought suited their bottom lines). This failed, but the three years of arguments it took for the FIA and Bernie to subdue the series made for an ugly political atmosphere.

In case you're wondering, I've asterisked McLaren because it is partly owned by a manufacturer (Mercedes) and partly by private individuals who are in it for the racing (chief among them being Ron Dennis). Therefore McLaren is unique in straddling the privateer and manufacturer categories.

Manufacturer B-teams

Current member(s) of this group: Super Aguri

This is a new concept in a sense, for Super Aguri represents the first time a manufacturer has had two works teams. However, it used to be very common for a team that designed its own cars to sell some to smaller teams. The first race of 1970, for instance, featured five March cars.

Super Aguri was started from scratch in twelve weeks flat at the end of 2005. While its initial purpose was to save face over the dismissal of Takuma Sato (a fast driver, but rather erratic at the time), it has also caused quite a stir. This year, the B-team was faster than the Honda A-team for most of the season.

Apart from the risk of being embarrassed by the B-team, the A-team runs other risks. Resourcing a B-team effectively is very expensive, which is why B-teams could only be done properly during a time of financial plenty such as the current one. In leaner times, it is also the first thing to lose its resources - as Super Aguri found out when Honda was suddenly reluctant to let it have the front wings it wanted for Spa 2007…

There is controversy attached to the B-team concept, too. In the current version of the concept, it requires that the A-team gives the B-team a customer car. That is to say, the B-team doesn't design the car - the A-team does. Some teams think it's very important that all teams in F1 design their own cars for reasons of sporting purity. Other teams disagree, and argue that customer cars would save money for the poorer teams that need that sort of help the most. It doesn't help that the current regulations are ambiguous about this point.

Corporate teams

Current member(s) of this group: Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Force India

These are teams run by organisations that are not racing teams, but not car manufacturers either. They share with the manufacturers the goal of improving the sales and/or profile of their products. However, their efforts are more blatantly marketeering-based, since there is no possibility of developing things relevant to their core product in F1, something that some manufacturers assert they do while in F1. While this is historically based on truth (particularly for Ferrari and other sports car manufacturers), nowadays the road-relevance effect is more limited, even if Max Mosley claims his current rules will change that.

The current batch of corporate teams are all fairly recent. At the end of 2004, Jaguar was bought by Red Bull. The year after that, Red Bull also bought Minardi, which they named Toro Rosso (because that's Italian for Red Bull and Minardi are based in Faenza, Italy). Force India is the newest name in F1, arising because Vijay Mallya, a prominent Indian businessman, bought Spyker in September 2007.

Force India are the only team on the grid to have been a privateer (Jordan), a manufacturer (Spyker) and a corporate team (twice - Midland and Force India). If you get the impression that its ownership has been slightly unstable in the recent past, you'd be right.

Privateers

Current member(s) of this group: McLaren*, Williams, Prodrive (if it gets into F1 this year)

The traditional core of F1 and motor sport in general, the privateers are sadly not as numerous as they once were. Formula 1 costs got completely crazy in the last 20 years. It is no coincidence that McLaren and Williams were founded in 1978 and 1980 respectively. Prodrive isn't on the grid yet, but in theory it should be. In theory…

Privateers are absolutely necessary because they are the only category of team that stick it out in F1 through thick and thin. Such teams are still the mainstay of many other series, and yet F1 has been oddly lukewarm about them of late.

The rate of F1 inflation is ridiculous, and has been for a while. Since privateers are dependent on sponsors to fund their efforts, they are the first to feel the effects when F1 gets too expensive for its own good. When the manufacturers entered F1 en masse as full team efforts in the early 2000s, their boards were able to finance their teams to a great extent. Also, their international corporate cachet was far more attractive to sponsors than motorsport-only privateer squads. This led to a polarisation of sponsorship funding. There was much talk about making F1 a friendlier place for privateers, but nothing meaningful was done. As a result, nearly all the privateers have gone bust or been obliged to sell out.

You may have noticed from the previous sections that the vast majority of the teams began as privateers. The privateers were traditionally the ones that gave new drivers and engineers their start in the F1 world. They would then (often) be given money by the larger teams and manufacturers in return for them moving up the ladder. Then they were the roots from which manufacturers could develop their campaigns. Now that there are so few privateers left, and little sign that the powers-that-be realise how important they are to F1's well-being, it is unclear what will underpin F1's future.

#f1 #lcmb #lcmb archive #teams

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usasportsworld · 2 years ago

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Money woes, dire displays and a paddock arrest

Virgin/Marussia/Manor (2010-2016) Virgin Racing were one of the three teams that entered F1 in 2010, and the one who lasted the longest. Like rival newcomers Lotus, Virgin went through various changes in ownership and guises after initially being launched by Richard Branson. The team was woefully uncompetitive initially but Ferrari junior Jules Bianchi proved to be a shining light in 2014, and…

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alianoralacanta · 8 months ago

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Answer under the cut because despite editing, this got a bit long:

Who is your favorite driver?: My favourite driver is Giancarlo Fisichella, currently racing in Italian GT racing between sidequests like commentating F1 racing and promoting race venues. However, the Italian GT series is difficult for me to track since even Fisico does not always post about it, even when he wins races…

My favourite current F1 driver (in my experience, this is what people most often mean when they ask this question) is Charles Leclerc.

Do you have other favorite drivers?: Yes, though I call it "supporting" drivers rather than "other favourites". Sam Bird in Formula E and WEC. Robert Kubica in WEC. Tiago Monteiro in touring cars. Jules Bianchi (the heart is present tense). Damon Hill used to be in this category (in fact, he used to be my favourite driver of all), but his recent commentaries have resulted in me regrettably removing him from this list.

There are perhaps two dozen other drivers upon whom I look particularly favourably, but don't consider myself to "support". This is because I consider "support" to be a two-way obligation.

Who is your least favorite driver?: I haven't had a least favourite driver since Nikita Mazepin; I reserve this for really serious stuff, and my definition of "really serious" has got stricter over the years. I'm not keen on certain drivers, but there's context to it and all of them are people I would enjoy in different contexts. (Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz are currently in this situation. It's less "I don't like them" and more "their current situation and what they are like just don't go together and the result is currently off-putting to some extent").

Do you pull for drivers or do you like teams as well?: Both. Very both.

If you like teams, what team do you pull for?: Jordan/Midland/Spyker/Force India/Racing Point/Aston Martin/Team Silverstone/whatever-it's-called-this-week is my favourite F1 team. AF Corse is my favourite team in sportscars, Van Amersfoort Racing in the junior single-seater categories (with soft spots for Carlin and Prema as well). I also supported Manor/Virgin/Marussia, back when it existed.

How long have you been into F1?: I've been a F1 fan since France 1993, though my parents reckon I've had some sort of interest since Nigel Mansell was looking for his world title (very late 1980s or very early 1990s).

What got you into F1?: Initially, brightly-coloured pointy things, in a race, driven (in some cases) by people whose names I could pronounce. Dad often reminded me, after I picked Giancarlo Fisichella as my favourite driver, that I'd originally called him "the one I can't pronounce" because I'd verbally trip over the second and third syllables of his name. What kept me in F1 (not asked, but important related question)? The intellectual side. So much to learn, so much to explore and enjoy. The way it includes a little bit of everything in life, and how at it best it rewards curiosity about the world so deeply.

Do you enjoy fanfic/RPF?: Mostly, I avoid it. Largely because so much of it is centred on romance and sex, and my attitude to both is pretty "meh" at the best of times… I have enjoyed a few pieces and excerpts that were based on friendship, though - I find that more relatable, even if it's a friendship between drivers that don't interact with each other much.

By some definitions, my in-development-for-three-years-and-counting visual novel Budacanta includes some fanfic (because there happens to be a race weekend during its events and on the canon route, it's a specific F1 weekend with the serial numbers filed off), but the focus of that visual novel is the story of one person who watched a particular weekend of racing, not on events in the paddock. Also, no real names of drivers are used, so it definitely isn't RPF. And definitely no romance ;)

How do you view new fans?: I was one once. New fans bring new energy, enthusiasm and perspective to the hobby. Welcome! (Also, I happily answer questions - my specialisms are regulations and FIA-related nonsense, although fair warning: some of my answers are long).

If you could take over as team principal for any team, who would it be and why?: The team that had me take over it would need to be in pretty deep trouble. IT staffer? Certainly. Race engineer? Give me some proper engineering training (not just a single Open University module) and I'd stand a chance. Team boss? Are you kidding?

Thus, I'd take over whichever team was most open to me bringing in some friends to help me sort it out - including my current boss to coach me in how to do actual management, a friend from the weekend warrior racing scene to know how to talk to engineers, my best friend to help translate the financial statements, @formulatrash and @econator for the media, psychology and driver training elements and certain specific relatives to check over my plans for common-sense elements.

Alpine is both the team with the most use for such an approach, and the least likely to accept it. Maybe Haas or Williams? Both are, however, long shots. Aston Martin might find the general approach useful, some of the staff have met me, it would be my preferred team from a heart perspective, but head says they've already got a lot of strong people there, isn't desperate enough to want my services and unfinished business to fulfil.

Are your friends and family into F1 as well?: I'm a third-generation F1 fan. Granddad was a Ferrari fan back when straw bales were an acceptable track boundary.

Dad got interested at a non-championship race at a local airfield during his childhood. He used to support Ferrari but nowadays likes anyone who puts up a good fight. (So he appreciates Verstappen wins where he has to work for it, and also appreciates anyone else winning if they have to work for it. The effort is the attractive element, rather than who's putting in the elbow grease). He also supports any team who does anything technically interesting.

Mum gradually got interested in F1 (thank you, Murray Walker) shortly before meeting Dad. She's always liked an underdog, be it team or driver.

My brother used to watch F1 a lot but now just likes the "blooper reel" version.

I have two friends who are constantly into F1. One of them is a fan of George Russell, is still upset that Mick Schumacher didn't get a car worthy of his talent level and enjoys watching qualifying with me. He usually has something interesting to say about what is happening, as long as I tell him what the commentators are discussing when their diction lets them down. The other friend supports Charles Leclerc and is the matriarch of a family of five (who somehow all manage to have different favourite current drivers - Hamilton, Verstappen, Norris and Riccardo are the others - while mostly getting along - possibly because all of them agree that Jenson Button is the best British driver any of them has seen).

Some of my other friends are sometimes interested in F1 or are lapsed F1 fans. Most of them still follow other branches of motorsport (sportscars, touring cars and MotoGP-style motorbikes are the three series that get the interest from them). The majority of my friends do not care and never have cared for motorsport, and think of me as their slightly strange sporty friend who often has her nose in a book.

Are you open to talking to other fans/making friends?: I certainly am!

tagged by the awesomest @oscarpiastriwdc 😸

who is your favorite driver?: he is very fast he is very cool he is very scary and very brave he is everything. charles

do you have other favorite drivers?: yes despite my hateful ways im also a lover.. it's charles -> seb/george -> lewis/logan -> alex -> oscar/max

who is your least favorite driver?: i think you all know of my comically pathetic one-sided beef with carlos. depending on the day it can range from friendly banter to me wanting to commit acts of terrorism oh well !!

do you pull for drivers or do you like teams as well?: despite all my tifosi talk at the end of the day i am not loyal to institutions i am loyal to my bitches. if charles drove for the crimson cow i would stop calling it the crimson cow. if seb rose up from the grave of retirement to drive for flopcedes i would stop calling it flopcedes. so on and so forth

if you like teams, what team do you pull for?: forza ferrari #bitch.. i also really fw williams but i don't tell people that

how long have you been into f1?: a little over a year i think

what got you into f1?: charles' haunted demeanor bewitched me, body and soul, as did the concept of multi 21 and maxiel PR videos from 2016-2018

do you enjoy fanfic/rpf?: what do YOU think..

how do you view new fans?: i'd say that i'm also a relatively new fan so i view them the same way i view myself

if you could take over as team principal for any team, who would it be and why?: years for playing and absolutely serving CUNT at football manager (im aware there's f1 manager and i want to play it soo bad) tells me id actually be a great team principal. i love organizing things i love bossing people around i love sending emails i love yapping. i would like to take over williams to make it a legal requirement to be nice to logan and alex in equal measures and i would also like to put alpine out of its misery and tear it down brick by brick from the inside

are your friends and family into f1 as well?: one of my friends from school forced me to give a fuck about ferrari and consequently ollie (she was the og she's been following him since karting it's SERIOUS) and her unsolicited infodumping got me where i am. the thing is that now i can't talk to her about f1 because my options are so pretentious i have surpassed her in terms of annoyance... my uncle is also a purebred radical lecfosi he's been watching for years i mean YEARS but he absolutely fell in love with charles in 2019 the rest is history. no he cannot stand any ferrari driver who's not charles. no he's not italian. good taste just runs in the family i suppose

are you open to talking to other fans/making friends?: YAURRRR please talk to me 😸

tagging -> @st-leclerc @breathofnyx @charlesleclerctv @albontology (sorry if you've been tagged before pls ignore if so 🙊) + and anyone who wants to do this 👼🏻

#f1 #motorsport

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fullwets · 4 years ago

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every hybrid era team’s best racing overalls PART 1

this got way out of hand. stay tuned for part 2 aka the teams you’ll actually know

Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri: 2015

i’ll get this one out of the way right off the bat. these suits FUCK. the large red logo under the bulls somehow just.. completes this look. the back view is actually from 2016 cuz i couldn’t find a pic from 2015 altho afaik they’re the same just without the cespa logo. but god. has there ever been a better f1 overall in the history of the sport? No. society peaked here, with the twink wunderkinds and their floppy hair and their sexy, sexy overalls.

Haas: 2020

they never change their livery bc they know they’re winning the game. Haas’ overalls always fuck and we’re all just too scared to admit it. we don’t talk about 2019 it didn’t happen. I ALMOST picked their debut suits from 2014 which were gray instead of black but i think they’ve peaked this season with the white accents & their triumphant return to the black and red. also peep that side triangle in the ass shot

Sauber/Alfa Romeo: 2018

if we’re separating alfa & sauber, then the 2015 sauber gets rights. But I have to say, having two supermodels wearing your overalls really does just put it over the top. and the collar! These overalls are maybe the second sexiest, after STR. They’re gorgeous, mostly white, with a tasteful logo and a very nice dark red. Ce magnifique. I feel like i really don’t have to justify this the pic speaks for itself

Force India: 2015

i miss this color scheme SO much. God, I’m a sucker for alpinestars suits w their little shoulder caps, and there has been no better color combo for that style than the black/orange/green of the force indias. the logos also complement the colors/accents v nicely. pure sex & they suited the driver line up very well.

Manor/Marussia: 2014

there’s something to be said for the red on white bold stripe look. It’s like this year’s Alfa suits but more sophisticated & refined. marussia may have been the ultimate backmarkers before becoming manor and then going bankrupt but at least they looked classy while doing it. also RIP jules </3

Lotus: 2014

these are like a prototype of the old Toro Rosso overalls, with the saturation cranked up. and yet i kinda feel like they missed the mark? Also what a chaotic lineup. They only scored ten points that year & they had 11 DNFs. they get points for the gold color of the stripes & the fact that they’re alpine stars

Caterham: 2014

caterham only lasted one year in the hybrid era but i like the forest green. NOT a fan of the GE logo what a boring centerpiece, however the script down the leg is Very Nice. I think we should have a green team on the grid again *eyes aston martin* PLEASE come thru

edit: PART 2 HERE!

#more opinions!! perhaps even more niche than last time!#my shit #f1 #toro rosso #haas #alfa romeo #force india #lotus #manor marussia #caterham #this is.... my magnum opus

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shittyf1facts · 4 years ago

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Will Stevens raced for Manor during the 2015 F1 season. He lost his seat for 2016 because during contract negotiations, he refused to answer the question “will Stevens what?” Pretending not to know who Stevens was didn’t help Will’s cause either.

#F1 #Formula 1 #Formula One #Will Stevens #bet you didn't know this #manor #manor marussia

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fake-f1-news · 6 years ago

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Williams Applies For Manor Return

The Williams Formula 1 team is believed to have submitted an entry form to the FIA, asking for the now defunct Manor F1 team to return to the sport.

“We miss the days when we could be as slow as we were in 2018, but nobody would notice, due to the fact that Manor was there, going slower than anybody else could. Not to mention that we could always laugh at them for joining the sport as Virgin in 2010!” claimed deputy team principal Claire Williams.

“They don’t even own any Manor assets, so I’m confused as to how Williams will run the Manor team!” responded FIA President Jean Todt.

It is believed that former Manor personnel aren’t Marussian to return to the grid.

#F1 #Formula 1 #Marussia #Manor #Williams

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frenchcurious · 1 year ago

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Will Stevens - Manor Marussia F1Team - Marussia MR03 B02/Ferrari 059/3 V6 t h 1.6 - Grand Prix du Mexique - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez 2015. - source F1 Old and News.

#will stevens #manor marussia ferrari #grand prix du mexique #autodromo hermanos rodriguez

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race-week · 4 years ago

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F1 Team Asks

This is the 3rd F1 inspired ask list I have made; there's also one for tracks and drivers, hope you enjoy it - bonus points if you can pick out my tenuous links between teams and questions

Mercedes: Are you a creative or logical thinker?

Red Bull: How many all nighters have you pulled?

McLaren: what is the most embarrassing, cringe-worthy thing that you’ve ever done ?

Aston Martin: What is something you want to be good at/better at?

Alpine: What is your opinion on second chances?

Ferrari: What were your highs and lows of 2020?

Alpha Tauri: What did you want to be when you were little?

Alfa Romeo: Who is your favourite ex-driver and why?

Haas: What are your worst habits/traits?

Williams: Favourite memory of your family?

Plus

Racing Point: What was the last lie you told?

Renault: What is your favourite background noise?

Toro Rosso: What animal do you associate most closely with?

Force India: what is your biggest motivation?

Sauber: If you could live anywhere where would it be?

Manor: What advice would you give to yourself 5 years ago?

Marussia: What have you learned the hard way?

Caterham: What distracts you most, especially when trying to work?

Lotus: Earliest F1 memory

Brawn GP: If a moment of F1 history could be made into a film what would you choose?

Honda: What does your dream life look like?

BAR: What scent triggers a memory for you, what is the memory?

Minardi: What is your biggest achievement to date?

Jaguar: Favourite motorsport series outside of F1?

Benetton: What is your favourite item of clothing/outfit? (add a photo if comfortable)

Tyrell: What would you want people to remember you for?

#f1 ask list #f1 teams ask

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talksaboutracing · 2 years ago

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Roberto Merhi is super talented, he should've been in F1 imo, I'm happy for him

Well, he already was in F1, unfortunately with Manor Marussia and he didn't score any points... and then he was dropped. Hard to say how good would he be if he was in a different team. I mean, he was in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2014 and he's finished 3rd in the championship behind Carlos and Pierre.

#anon ask

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vro0m · 2 years ago

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vro0m's rewatch - 149/310

2015 Australian GP

OK FUCK IT WE’RE POSTING

SEASON 2015 HERE WE GO I’M SO DONE WITH YOU

Can't believe we're over halfway through as far as seasons go at the time I'm writing this. However we're still not halfway through as far as races go. Anyway, let's get started.

As always we'll set the context for the season first so buckle up for the long list of changes.

Team changes :

McLaren went back to a Honda engine after 20 years with a Mercedes engine at a time when the Mercedes engine is clearly immensely superior so that's a terrible decision as far as I'm concerned.

Lotus, however, went from a Renault engine to a Merc engine, after a 20-year partnership with Renault.

If you remember from last seasons' reviews, both Caterham and Marussia went into administration during the last few races of 2014. Apparently Marussia was temporarily saved but they didn't race during all the 2015 season so sometimes they're there and sometimes they're not. But anyway, that's 10 teams now.

Driver changes :

So as we know Alonso left Ferrari for McLaren where he replaced Magnussen.

Seb left RBR for Ferrari.

Kvyat inherited his seat at RBR moving up from Toro Rosso

Toro Rosso changed their line up completely : JEV as we know went to FE, hence Kvyat and he were replaced by…. Yep. That's Max entrance. And alongside him no other than Carlos Sainz Jr. Here we go. That makes Max the youngest driver to ever start in F1, he's barely 17. Crazy, you gotta say.

Gutierrez and Sutil were both out of their Sauber seats. They were replaced by Caterham's Ericsson and Felipe Nasr who did some FPs in 2014 if I'm not mistaken. Gutierrez and Sutil became reserve drivers for other teams.

Marussia, now called Manor Marussia, got two new drivers : Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi. Chilton went to indy.

And we'll have 19 rounds this season.

Reg changes :

The number of available PUs for a year was changed from 5 to 4.

The 2014 noses were deemed ugly and apparently generated what Wikipedia calls backlash so they changed the rules. So now the noses are lower and in "a more gradual shape", whatever that means. The regs stated that the nose had to be symmetrical and consistent with the centreline of the car. Okay.

The minimum weight was increased to 702kg (so +10kg) in answer to concerns for the taller drivers who were forced into unhealthy diets. We did talk about that in early 2014, remember?

"The anti intrusion panels on both sides of the survival cell were extended upward the rim of the cockpit and alongside the driver's head in order to improve the drivers' safety in event of a side impact." No halo yet, though?

Also mandatory titanium skid blocks under the car so the sparks are back ✨

Sporting regs :

Oh so… what? The replacement of a complete PU above the allocated number didn't result in a penalty anymore?! Oh. So if I understand correctly you actually do get a penalty but like for each component of the PU added up.

If such a penalty was not possible to apply in full because of the driver's quali result, it was not carried over to the next race but rather applied as a time penalty during the race (Whaaaat. How. When. Why. How do you calculate how much time it represents? Absurd.) This was actually abandoned after the British GP, so... yeah. It was indeed a bad idea.

So they'd introduced the 5 second penalty to be served during the pit stop, now there's also a 10 second penalty. It was specifically created for unsafe releases. It could be made more severe if the stewards decided that the driver knew it was unsafe and still went ahead.

Ah, and remember when Alonso's team stayed on the grid after the signal before the formation lap because he had an issue and he was still able to start where he qualified and received a very lenient penalty for that? Well now that would result in a pitlane start.

Safety changes :

So following Bianchi's accident we now have the virtual safety car to reduce the drivers' speed in case of double waved yellows.

Also now the lapped cars unlapping themselves don't have to catch up with the back of the pack for the safety car to come in.

In case of red flags, the cars don't line up on the grid anymore but in the pit lane.

Also in miscellaneous things : from the Belgian GP forward, the radio comms about race starts, like mentioning map settings for optimal acceleration and such things, aren't allowed anymore. There had already been some radio changes in the previous year, the engineers were not allowed I think to tell their drivers specific times or things like that because the driver is supposed to drive unaided according to the rules but like. He's very aided anyway so I don't really get it but whatever.

Also the drivers can't change helmet design during the season anymore which is shit.

Pre season context :

Lewis said he wouldn't change his car number for 1 after winning the 2014 WDC. It was the first season since 1994 without a n°1 car.

Alonso got into a pre-season testing accident and was hospitalised. So he missed this first race and was replaced by Magnussen, whose seat he had taken anyway. McLaren said the crash was due to the wind and Alonso said the crash was due to his steering wheel locking up. Great start of a partnership there.

Alright that's all for the context, let's race!

I unfortunately don't have access to pre race and post race content right now but I'll come back to add it if I find it at some point. Ultimately f1fullraces finally reuploaded the whole season so I had to go back and redo most of the reviews and gifs as you may know. If things seem out of order in this review that would be because I added content afterwards, sorry about it! I try to make it make sense but I don't want to have to rewrite the whole thing either.

I've found a snippet from the pre race press conference in which a journalist asks if the older drivers there have advice for Max. There's Valtteri, Magnussen, Seb, Lewis and Daniel.

Daniel says some stuff then Lewis says he's just realised he's the oldest driver there.

He turns around and asks Max : "You were born in 97?!" and he says "Yeah."

Lewis turns back around. "Jeez…" The journalists laugh. There's a pause. He chuckles. "I signed my first contract with McLaren in 97," he says. He doesn't really have any words of advice. "He'll learn on his way." Seb says he thinks despite the fact that he's still young he has a lot of experience (huh, does he? I know next to nothing about his career). "He's quick, otherwise he wouldn't be here so… huh… I don't think he needs much advice," he smiles and turns back to look at him.

I read on Wikipedia that Marussia was in Melbourne even though they were in administration during pre-season, with a car that had passed the car crash tests, but they didn't take part in any FPs and didn't set a quali time so they didn't take part in the race.

Also a week before the GP, Van der Garde launched a legal action against Sauber in Victoria over a contract he signed in June 2014 that was supposed to let him drive for them in 2015. On the Wednesday before the race weekend, the court ordered Sauber to let him drive in the GP but Sauber appealed on the same day and made a public statement that they would not "compromise the safety of the team or other drivers by putting Van der Garde in the car", since the chassis had been tailored to their drivers only. They also argued that Van der Garde's contract had been terminated in February with the FIA's approval and that he violated confidentiality clauses by discussing it with the media. Ericsson's and Nasr's lawyers added that he had not followed due process as he did not give their client notice that he was gonna take legal action. On Thursday, the appeal was heard and dismissed, and the order to let him race maintained. They adjourned the hearing to Friday to hear "arguments on contempt of the court proceedings launched by Van der Garde's legal team against Sauber's team principal, Monisha Kaltenborn."

About 2 hours after the initial judgement, the FIA published its entry list for the GP including both Nasr and Ericsson. Neither of them took part in the first Friday FP, as Sauber's assets could have been seized if they didn't obey the court orders. They did take part in the afternoon session amongst rumours that Bernie intervened to avoid negative publicity on the sport.

On Saturday, the matter was resolved as Van der Garde announced he was giving up on racing in Melbourne, hoping for a more permanent solution in the future.

Now let's talk about the pre-race broadcast then, now that I have it. It opens on the drivers taking the 2015 class photo on the grid. Simon points out that Valtteri is not there. He was seen in the garage earlier though. He suffered a back injury during quali, and we don't know yet if he can race or not.

The other big news is that McLaren is doing absolutely terrible 5 seconds off the pace with their Honda PU at the back of the grid.

In his interview, Lewis says the new car is pretty amazing. Last year's was already pretty special but this one is a refined version. He's glad the weather is good, they have great fans here, he hopes they can give them a good race. He anticipates a tough one, they don't get easier, they will have to look after the tyres.

Oh, we hear Valtteri has been deemed unfit to race. Also we hear more about Alonso's accident and it's really no joke. He hit a concrete wall, not tepco. Although the impact was "just under 20G", which is a lot but we've seen way worse, he had retrograde amnesia, which is scary af and indicates brain trauma from what I remember of my neuropsychology classes. Ted says when he woke up, he thought it was 1995 (so that's SERIOUS retrograde amnesia actually, I've not heard of that happening a lot). Oh they interviewed a neurologist about it. He says for them what's more important is amnesia AFTER the incident (aka not being able to form new memories, which is indeed more worrying and debilitating than forgetting memories that were there even though it's not great either). But a long period of retrograde amnesia such as this is definitely significant in their assessment of brain damage severity, he adds. Alonso's doctors wanted him to have a 4-week recovery period hence why he's not racing. On top of it, they were worried about "second impact syndrome" in case he had a second crash against Melbourne's concrete barriers. Such a thing can be fatal, explains the neurologist, because the brain loses auto-regulation due to the first injury, and cannot deploy the same control and recovery mechanisms it did in response to the second injury, causing an overreaction characterised by higher levels of inflammation inducing swelling, which can obviously cause severe damage. It makes me uncomfortable just to write about it lol. The McLaren TP says they don't know if he'll be back in Malaysia yet. Also despite what wikipedia says, at this point Ted tells us that Alonso doesn't remember what happened in the crash and thus cannot say whether it was the wind or something else. At the time, Seb was following him on track so the footage of his car's camera will be crucial to the investigation.

Brundle interviewed Lewis. He starts by saying he wears his heart on his sleeve, which fans love him for. "And hate me for," Lewis adds with a smile.

He asks him why he thinks people are more interested in his private life than the other drivers'. Why does he attract so much attention? He says he sticks out like a sore thumb at a GP because it's always been a white dominated sport. (I think it's the first time I hear him mention it actually.) As a family they've always stuck out at the race track. He doesn't think he's more outspoken... He has to assume it's because of the way he drives... What else? He smiles. Brundle says they've seen the rumours, the stories– Lewis cuts him off, it's probably because he had a very good-looking girlfriend at one stage.

It definitely brings a lot of attention. Brundle asks if that's something that's hold on and carries on into the new season. Lewis answers it's a new chapter in his life and he's quite excited about it. It looks like it's probably a Mercedes driver who's gonna win this year again, does he have the upper hand psychologically because he beat Nico in 2014? He says he doesn't know, he doesn't really think of the psychological side of things in that sense. "I'm gonna be driving as hard as I can. Nico knows what I'm capable of. I'm very much aware what he's capable of and what he can do, and I'm conscious that he will be trying to do everything under the sun to prove and better me this year... And I know he knows I'll be doing the same," he smiles. Brundle asks if he thinks it's harder to win two consecutive championships. He does but he's trying to look at it like when you win a race and go to the next one. You carry a boost of energy. He hopes it's the same, that he can carry that energy into this year. But it's like starting everything from scratch and he feels like he has a steeper hill to climb, so he'll need to bring more tools to climb it.

How are the contract negotiations going? It's going okay, it's in the final stages, he says it hasn't been nearly as difficult as people make it out to be. For some reason he tells Brundle even he (Brundle) could be out of a job soon.

I don't get the joke but they laugh.

He says he's enjoyed it even though it wasn't the easiest and at the end of the day what he does best is get in the car and drive, so it's awkward starting to talk business and numbers. But hopefully he's done himself proud. He's negotiating it himself. Brundle is impressed. Why did he keep 44 instead of taking n°1? He says the rule was they could choose any number and it would be their number for their career. 44 has been his race number since he started, it's his underlying true number. "Number one... you've seen Vettel have it for so many years..." and cue the most cringe thing I've ever heard him say where he compares it to a marriage.

Slightly prompted by Brundle, he adds that number 1, she's been around too much when number 44 she's only been with him and he likes that better. Yikes. Let's move on.

Back to the broadcast, the journalists compare him to Tiger Woods. Hill says he's been very candid raising that issue and calls him courageous because he hasn't allowed any "perception of prejudice, whether it's there or not" (rolling my eyes) to get in his way. He's done what he wanted, and the colour shouldn't be an issue although it has been, and he's knocked down these barriers and he's a hero for many people because of it. The most important thing being that he's a "bloody good racing driver". Simon asks what Nico's game plan should be. "If you don't think that you can beat him on talent, do you try and destabilise him?" (Jeez.) Hill says he hopes he doesn't because he doesn't think it's gonna work, and he thinks it'll backfire. He says it's a bit like with Schumacher's teammates, they have to face up to the fact that they're up against the best. Anthony points out that the difference with Michael, is that they let them race.

I'm skipping the grid walk because who cares anyway.

It's time to race ! (So now this is fully what I wrote before seeing the pre-race btw. The broadcast I could find at the time was not skysports and I'm not gonna rewatch just to see the skysports' one obvi so yeah.)

Huh what? So apparently neither Kvyat nor Magnussen are able to start the race. Also this is possibly an Australian broadcast. We see two cranes evacuating two cars from the track indeed. Did they manage to crash on their way to the grid somehow? We see a replay of Kvyat just going wide into the gravel and then being unable to drive the car back to the pits as it stops on the track. Then we see Magnussen making sparks and then he had an engine blow up, white smoke. (We actually saw this at the end of the pre-race build-up but of course I hadn't seen it when I wrote this.)

Lewis is on pole, sharing the front row with Nico, no surprise. Behind them, it's Massa for Williams, Seb and Raikkonen for Ferrari, then Daniel for RedBull, Carlos Sainz for Toro Rosso, Grosjean and Maldonado for Lotus, Felipe Nasr for Sauber, Max Verstappen for Toro Rosso is in P11, alongside him was supposed to be Kvyat but as we now know he won't be there, the Force Indias of Hulkenberg and Perez come next, then Ericsson for Sauber, Jenson for McLaren down in P16(!). The last car was supposed to be Magnussen in P17 but well. So it'll be 15 cars at the start. Remember when we had 24? But we're still missing a car right? Why is it an uneven number? I read later on Wikipedia that Valtteri injured his back during quali and had to spend the night at the hospital. He wasn't cleared to race by the FIA.

Ugh the cars look weird. The noses are weirdly curvy. I'll get used to it.

Formation lap

They're racing!

Ooof. It's a good start for Lewis but there's loads of tiny contacts at the back and ultimately a Lotus spins. Yellow flags. It's Maldonado. Several teams are ready for their drivers to pit? Safety car. Huh? Grosjean retires as well.

Ugh idk if it's F1 or because it's not the usual broadcast but we have nothing. No standings, no timings, just the lap count. Ah here we go, finally, 4 laps in and they give us the graphics. Lewis is already 1.7 seconds ahead. Perez is told he overtook under the safety car and has to give his position back to Ericsson who's now two cars behind. Nothing much is happening for now. Perez went wide in the gravel but he's last anyway so whatever.

Oh we get ad breaks in this broadcast. Great. (No.)

Anyway it's now lap 10. Lewis is 1.5 in the lead followed of course by Nico. Then it's Massa, Seb, Nasr, Daniel, Raikkonen, Sainz, VES? Who's VES? Oh, is it Max? Did they go with VES to not confuse him with Vergne even though he's not there anymore? Anyway. P10 is Hulkenberg. We're literally watching people race for the penultimate position that's how little is happening. But then again the penultimate position is P12 right now so… It does somewhat matter. Oh there's also a three way battle for P5 between Nasr, Daniel and Raikkonen. Perez and Jenson who were racing for P12, then, made contact. No DNF but yellow flags.

That's another ad break. There's pit stops happening. Raikkonen's wasn't good.

It's lap 20. Lewis is 2.3 seconds ahead of Nico, then it's still Massa, Seb, Nasr, Daniel, and then Sainz, Verstappen, Hulkenberg, and Ericsson. Pit stops. It's a very boring race really. Sainz has a catastrophic stop. Lewis comes in. It's 3.3. Nico pits. 2.9. He's out in P2, and the gap is

Oh for fuck's sake another ad break.

The gap is 3.4.

It's lap 30. P3 goes to Seb now, then it's Massa, Raikkonen, Verstappen, Nasr, Daniel, Hulkenberg and Ericsson. And a few laps later, Max's engine starts smoking and he stops on the grass. We see Jos taking off his headset and kind of throwing it aside before heading inside. Are you not gonna wait for your son? What a fucking asshole. Bono warns Lewis that there might be oil on the track. Another ad break.

20 laps to go. That's gonna be a short race report at this rate. Oh. And that's a Ferrari slowing down now. It's Raikkonen. He's out. So we're one DNF away from everybody still on track being awarded points at the end of the race. We see a replay of his last pit stop, something didn't go well again with his rear left. That's why he stopped. Another fucking ad break. How do you even deal with that many ad breaks? In my country there's two (2) for the whole race. We see a replay of Ericsson going wide.

10 laps to go. Lewis is still in the lead, and Nico is 1.8 behind. There's another ad break. Now Nico is 2.6 behind and there's 8 laps to go. Seb is P3, Massa P4, Nasr P5, Daniel P6, Hulkenberg P7, Sainz P8, Ericsson P9, Perez P10, and Jenson is last in P11. This is honestly one of the most boring races I've ever watched and we don't even have pre and post race content to make it better. Meh.

Fun statistic : every time a team got a 1-2 in Melbourne they went on to win the WCC while the race winner went on to win the WDC. (😏)

5 laps to go. Absolutely nothing has happened so far. Nico is 1.6 behind again.

And it's the end of an incredibly dull race.

Lewis wins, Nico P2, Seb P3. That's Lewis' 34th win.

"Nice work, Lewis! Beautifully managed, excellent job, real solid race there. Great stuff," says Bono.

After his weigh-in, Seb shakes his hands and tells him "well done". Lewis and Nico don't really seem to interact.

These two just can't not be touching each other.

Oh and here you go, a little pat for Nico as well.

Uh? Lewis is getting booed? Or was it the guy who was handing him his trophy? Because once he holds it above his head it's all cheering.

Oh Lewis broke up with Nicole AGAIN. I hope it's the last time cause I can't with this anymore. For some reason the podium girls are wearing fedoras and it's Arnold Schwarzenegger interviewing them. He shakes Lewis' hands for several seconds (6) and congratulates him. Lewis is smiling wide. He says "Arnold Schwarzenegger, man!"

After rambling for a while he asks him what it feels like having won the WDC and coming back to win the first race of the season. We get a classic Lewis chuckle. He says it's obviously a real pleasure and praises the crowd, kinda gets booed again? He says it's a great feeling to be able to continue on from last year "but also to be up here with you, man!" oh. Lewis. He says "I thought you were taller!" babe you're what, 1.74? Shhush. Arnold says he's not wearing his high heels. Lewis chuckles. They both laugh. Arnold asks how much training he has to do to be in shape for the races. Lewis says they all train a lot and sometimes people don't realise that they really are athletes. He says it's very physical driving these cars. He says he's very honoured being up there with these great drivers and also with his team doing an amazing job.

Nico is asked about being second and can he beat Lewis this year. He says it's a good feeling because it's a great start for the team and they have an amazing car again. He says Lewis has done a fantastic job, "he drove like a world champion" so he couldn't beat him but he sure was trying, to the maximum, and will do all year. "I'll give him a good run for his money," he smiles, "and hopefully beat him this year." He thanks the organisers. He gets cheered on.

While Arnold moves to Seb, Lewis and Nico get closer and exchange a few words. I'm watching them like milk on the stove as we say in French.

Arnold gets back to Lewis. "Well I know what you're going to say now, when it comes to the next race…" and together they say "I'll be back!" Lewis starts laughing. Arnold says "okay so let's say it together!" and they go again, and Lewis chuckles.

I read on Wikipedia actually the funniest thing. After the race, Daniel apologised to the fans for what he called a boring race. I mean I agree on that part. In the pre race testing it was obvious that Redbull was struggling with their Renault PUs and it probably wouldn't be a good season for them. After the race, they complained about Mercedes dominance and called for the FIA to "step in and apply rule changes to level the field". So they're the ones who pushed that dominance narrative huh? What a surprise (no). I mean 2014 was suspenseful and now you're only 1 race into 2015 already crying over them winning the first fucking race? Why should they be brought down instead of you stepping up? It's not on them if you suck tbh. Sorry I'm getting genuinely pissed off actually.

Oh lol. I'm not the only one. Wikipedia says Toto reacted "furiously" by telling them to "get your fucking head down and work to sort it out". I mean that's exactly what I was saying lol. Go Toto.

Nico said in the post race interview he hopes their rivals would get closer and that they would get a good fight. Seb was amused.

"Be honest : do you really hope so? Seriously? You finished 30 seconds ahead of us and you hope it's going to be closer?"

"So you hope you slow down, is that what you're saying?"

And then Lewis chimes in : "He hopes you speed up."

Nico : "I hope you can give us a challenge, because it's important for the sport and for the fans, and I do think about the show, you know? Half of me, or part of me, thinks about the show, because I wanna put on– I wanna give people a great time at home watching on TV or at the track." Seb is grinning. "So if you do come a bit closer, that will be awesome."

Seb : "Fine, I think first suggestion if you don't mind, could be that your garage becomes public for Malaysia, and everyone can have a look, no?" Lewis chuckles, the journalists laugh. Nico doesn't get it, he's deadpan. "Is that what you're suggesting?" Seb adds. Then seeing Nico doesn't react, he says : "No, I'm joking."

Nico : "You can come if you want, we can invite you." – "Ok," Seb answers. "Thank you for the invite, I'll come." – "Friday, Malaysia, ok?" Nico suggests. – "Engineer's room," Seb grins. "Debrief. I'll be there."

Later on in the press conference, Seb says it's a shame Raikkonen didn't finish and Nico says something about it that I don't fully hear.

Seb says "Yes. I have–" he kind of scoffs and laughs.

"Maybe… (he smiles wide) I don't know how much you like each other but Kimi and myself we get along so I think it is a shame!" Lewis is in the middle smiling silently. They kind of go back and forth for a few seconds, during which Lewis at some point looks at Seb, points to Nico with his thumb and says "Not all of us think this way." and Nico makes fun of Seb being destabilised and looking for his words. Then Seb ends up saying he thinks right now the priority is to catch them so yes he thinks it's a shame he didn't finish. Nico says he's ready for it now. Earlier Seb caught him off-guard but now he's ready.

Alright let's watch the actual post-race thing now that it's available.

Toto says Nico was fuel limited and so he didn't really have the weapons to hunt Lewis down. He expects some close racing between them in the next races. At the end of his interview Simon jokes : if Valtteri isn't back in Malaysia, is his wife going to be in the car alongside Massa? Toto stays very serious. He says first of all he hopes Valtteri gets better soon, he's such a nice guy and he deserves to be in the car. "But rest assured, you know her, she will be pushing very hard to get in the car."

Later, Simon makes his way through a thick crowd to go interview Lewis in the garage. As they start, some weird old woman is very close to Lewis and makes him very uncomfortable while she forcefully gets her photo taken next to him, but not really with him.

The weekend couldn't have gotten better? He says no, although Friday was a bit difficult but they did great teamwork, his guys worked so hard to set up the car. He also says even though they were so far ahead of everyone it wasn't an easy race, it was good racing between him and Nico. Simon asks how confident qualifying .6 ahead of his teammate made him. He says he thinks it was good, it's not like he needed any more confidence but it reassures that his method of getting his head in the right space works. It's not been the easiest start of a year so to come here with a fresh mindset and execute it the way he did, he's happy with that. Simon asks him about that, fresh start : he's turned 30, it's a new chapter in his life, is he 100% focused, is it all about defending his title this year? "It's not about defending the title, it's about winning the title." The car is great, it's just about optimising the opportunities. He's happy because the previous year he didn't finish the first race and now he can work on what he can do better for the next one. So he's working as hard as ever behind the scenes? Yes, same work ethic with his engineers. As a matter of fact they have to work a little bit harder because he has a new engineer who's fantastic but does things differently. With all the data, when someone does it differently it completely throws you off. Finally, will he go out with the terminator to celebrate today? He says if he's around he will absolutely go out with him for a drink. He's honestly a big fan and he was really shocked when he came on. He says he's not starstrucked by a lot of people (LMAO BOY ARE YOU KIDDING ME) but he definitely was with him. He says he doesn't even know what he said and hopes he didn't insult him. He honestly thought he was taller. (I can't, he has no self control, it's so funny.) "Didn't say he was short but he has–" He looks wide-eyed at someone off screen.

"Johnny! He was our height, man!" Simon says he's still a big unit, and the camera view changes to Johnny making himself big with a tough expression.

I can hear Lewis chuckle in the background.

And that was the first 2015 GP :)

#f1 #lewis hamilton #vro0m's race reviews #2015 #2015 australian gp

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