The Official Formula 1 Racing Thread

Monday is the big day! :nanner:

Some of the launch pictures look pretty sexy... even with those giant rollbars in place.

OK, make some guesses/predictions: who's going to top the time sheets by the end of pre-season testing?
 
Tricky. Lewis and Valteri seem happy with the car. You never know with the Ferraris. Has McLaren pick up after the last few seasons in the wilderness. Has Williams?
The Haas looks good but that does not translate to speed. Red Bull will be up there, I'm sure.
Exciting times.
 
Okay, winter preparations are coming to their end, testing is on, tomorrow, the first cars hit the track in Barcelona for testing

Who's driving when in Barcelona Formula 1 2019 pre-season testing

The driver line-up for Formula 1's first 2019 pre-season test at Barcelona has taken shape, including Kimi Raikkonen being at the wheel for Alfa Romeo's return as a fully-fledged F1 entrant.

Raikkonen will drive on the first of the four days in Spain as Alfa kicks off its 2019 campaign, having taken over the title of Sauber's entry.

The 2007 world champion has already been pictured driving the Alfa in a shakedown run at Fiorano earlier this week.

Raikkonen and team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi will alternate the remaining days.

Alfa's 2019 F1 car will be formally unveiled in the pitlane before the start of testing as part of a busy Monday morning of spotting new machines and liveries.

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Finally, the season has begun, race #1 is through.Some surprises, some things stayed the same. First: Mercedes has another winning car/drivers - package put together - but now, Bottas fonally seems to have fully joined the team. An immaculate performance, start to finish, also securing the new "Fastest Lap" bonus point. But Ferrari has some issues.

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I'm glad that Bottas won. I mean, he seems like a nice enough guy. And the way sponsors and others have been on his case since the end of last season, who would want to see a guy like that be burned at the stake? I don't see him as a real threat to win the championship. But I'm glad he got the win back that he deserved from last year.

Now, as for Vettel... maybe Ferrari should have sent him to Alfa and let Leclerc and Kimi drive the Ferraris this year. That team looked like a small golf ball lost in the tall grass all weekend. Clearly Mercedes was sandbagging all through testing in a major way. But even the call to ***** Leclerc to stay behind Vettel (as he peddled around the track) seemed like a bad call to me. At the very least, they could have brought Leclerc in for some fresh tires, gotten him back out in front of Magnussen and likely secured an additional point for fastest lap. But no! They allowed Mercedes/Bottas to capture that too... just so Vettel wouldn't get his little feelings hurt.

I know. I know. It was just one race. I expect both Lewis and Ferrari to snap back. But I think that Ferrari/Vettel has more issues to address than Lewis does. He just needs to not do another bad start and figure out how/when his floor got broken. Ferrari needs to figure out... EVERYTHING - even got beaten by a Red Bull/Honda. :eek:
 
But even the call to ***** Leclerc to stay behind Vettel (as he peddled around the track) seemed like a bad call to me. At the very least, they could have brought Leclerc in for some fresh tires, gotten him back out in front of Magnussen and likely secured an additional point for fastest lap.
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Damn right! That was both unsportsmanlike AND stupid. If a driver is going fgaster, you let him do his best for the team!

This decision will bite Ferrari in the ass eventually. I am sure Vettel's trials are far from over, looking back at last season. He seems to draw bad luck. And his future fights against Verstappen will only add gasoline to that fire.
 
How times do change! The Bahrain GP, once #4 on the racing calendar, now is #2. And looking at its design and demanding characteristics, being the hardest track for the bakes, at this early point of the season, we can expect a LOT of cars retiring early. Maybe some teams may even try to tell their pilots to get the cars through, and look at it more of a test run than a real race. But who knows!

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I see Leclrec as the biggest threat to Vettel winning a 5th WDC. Again, Vettel made a mistake during qualifying, albeit a small one - but he cost himself a set of soft tires. Leclerc has his number, IMO. That boy is seriously fast! Only the powers that be at Ferrari can get Vettel ahead of him (so far).
 
What a great race! Such a shame for Leclerc, who really deserved the win.
Some proper racing between cars that are becoming more equal.
 
And there are many cars with some serious issues regarding getting fixed to run stable.

But the race is getting closer, and Leclerc is proof of that.

Vettel seems to have a curse on him. Or he is just too cocky for his own good
 
Valteri Bottas grows a beard and screams to the world, "I ain't Lewis Hamilton's bitch!!!" :mad: Good job on the pole in China, Valteri. I'm pulling for Lewis. But I didn't want to see Bottas get fired at the end of the season for non-performance and get booted from his seat in ***********.

BTW, is anyone else as amazed as I am at the way Mercedes has recovered so quickly and gone from being .5 seconds behind Ferrari to now .3 seconds ahead?
 
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