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Formula 1 - 2019

45K views 463 replies 48 participants last post by  PSk 
#1 ·
#2 ·
Biscione - thanks for sending that. Interesting, simpler wings are a good thing, but I wonder if they're simpler enough to allow better overtaking. Guess we'll see when the cars hit the tarmac in Australia.

Mike
 
#4 ·
Maranello (Italy), 7 January, 2019

After four years of untiring commitment and dedication, Maurizio Arrivabene is leaving the team. The decision was taken together with the company’s top management after lengthy discussions related to Maurizio’s long term personal interests as well as those of the team itself.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Interesting comment from Franz Tost, saying that reducing F1 downforce levels would make it easier for cars to follow, harder to drive through the corners and increase braking distances to promote overtaking.

For me, this would make watching F1 much more fun, and I suspect it would take more driver skill to control the car when it is more likely to slide/drift. Plus, the significantly reduced wake would also make it easier for cars to pass.

Increasing aero downforce is a dead end practice. F1 is slowly beginning to realize that. Far too many aero devices hung on the cars now, including worrying about ground clearance height, etc. The cars have become pretty weird, with wings, fins, boards underneath, what the hell. I say strip all that cr*p off but keep the very safe body.
 
#188 ·
They’ve been saying this exact thing since I started watching F1 in the 90s. Maybe even longer, but I would have been too young to remember.

Every year they tweak the aero for more passing, and every year the racing is worse than before. I agree: just remove the bloody things.

But then you’d be eliminating valuable advertising space. Who else remembers when they elected to put grooves in the tires rather than reduce the advertising real estate?

Sad.
 
#7 ·
I don't even think the present day cornering is as spectacular, no technique really visible for the most part, as when I see old films of F1 racing, it was fun to watch the cars do more obvious drifting (oh, for sure not the stupid car drifting smoke contests you see today in some circles) side by side in sweeper turns, the drivers visibly working to show their skills, and much passing back and forth without the problems of today.
 
#8 ·
Alfa Romeo Racing

Alfa Romeo Racing.
The Italian car manufacturer returned to F1 last season after an absence of more than 30 years, signing a multi-year technical and commercial partnership with Sauber.
And this year, as the team embark on the 2019 season with an all-new driver line-up of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, …..

“It is a pleasure to announce that we will enter the 2019 Formula One World Championship with the Team name Alfa Romeo Racing," said Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal at Alfa Romeo Racing.



https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...for-2019-f1-season.qitME3QrTxzCaiUXEBDNx.html
 
#10 · (Edited)
I want a tshirt with both F1 and Alfa Romeo on it. Now I can have it.

You just have to think if they get podiums, that is essentially a win. Or if both Ferraris have technical difficulties or incidents and AR finds themselves near the front, they have something to push for. I don't pay much attention to the midfield teams, but now I might. Haas hasn't done a lot lately. Maybe that one should be renamed Maserati.

Oh, and there are Alfa Romeo engineers on the team. That was one of the original agreements.

I wonder if the cloverleaf will be removed from the Ferrari coveralls.
 
#11 ·
"I want a tshirt with both F1 and Alfa Romeo on it. Now I can have it."

Let us all know when you find that shirt. The stuff Sauber has on their website is quite pricey.

A podium would be wonderful - getting points on a regular basis would be great. It's not going to be easy though, depending on how well the Honda engine does in the Toro Rosso and Red Bull cars, not to mention Renault and whatever Force India is going to be called. And Haas also has the Ferrari engine. At least our team should do better than Williams and McLaren for sure.

Mike
 
#13 ·
The Alfa Romeo engineers were announced a year ago when the sponsorship of Sauber by Alfa first started. Not this year with the full name change. The engineers were supposed to be on the team to help out with the engine tuning and other things. I don't have a reference as this was a year ago. I don't have any more info than that, but I am completely sure I read that as it made me feel Sauber had a more legitimate connection to Alfa, and not just a name sponsorship.

If this is not the case anymore, or was never actually the case, and a reporter got it wrong, I don't know. But again, this was not this years announcement. "ownership and management of Sauber will remain unchanged." would not change that if it was the case a year ago.
 
#32 ·
The Alfa Romeo engineers were announced a year ago when the sponsorship of Sauber by Alfa first started. Not this year with the full name change. The engineers were supposed to be on the team to help out with the engine tuning and other things. I don't have a reference as this was a year ago.
I dunno, but last year I saw a Ferrari engineer in the Haas pits attending to the engine. I would assume Ferrari would have a similar interest in the Sauber.

Stephen.
 
#20 ·
HAAS is the first to unveil their 2019 design and revised bodywork. They've signed with an energy drink sponsor to share the cost, and the sponsor gets naming rights. It's a little bit JPS.

What is the fin behind the airbox for? They've varied in shape and length for years. Is it a functional vertical stabilizer, like Le Mans prototypes? Advertising space? These cars would look so much better if the rear profile sloped down along the airbox. Also, what is all the space between the engine and the rear axle centerline for? A mid-rear engine with transaxle doesn't need that much length. Is that part of the packaging of the "power units" with electrical components? The wheelbase is SO long - that's part of the awkwardness of these.

Land vehicle Vehicle Race car Formula libre Formula one car
 
#21 ·
Compare the size and proportions of the new Indycars, with their more "sportscar / roadster" feel.

Land vehicle Vehicle Race car Formula one car Formula libre


Formula one car Formula libre Open-wheel car Formula one Race car


Obviously there's a big technological difference.

But, just for comparison and discussion, here are some basic specs I looked up -

The Dallara Indy chassis has a wheelbase of 117.5 to 121.5" (the range being different configurations for different tracks).
Length: 201.7"
Weight: 1600 lbs (driver not included, so 1750+)
2.2L twin turbo V6

A 2019 Formula 1 car varies by manufacturer, but these are basic parameters -
Wheelbase: 142.5 to 147" (20 to 30" longer)
A new rule allows a bit more fuel to avoid boring mileage strategy, but that means more length for tanks as the fuel must be within 400mm of the longitudinal centerline.
Weight: 740kg or 1631 lbs, but 80kg of that is driver and/or ballast in the ****pit.

Mercedes has a very long chassis, which they feel gives extra body surfaces to generate downforce, and they feel this outweighs the the extra weight and lack of cornering agility.

Ferrari is experimenting with a longer transmission and axle design to move the engine farther away from the rear wheels. However, weight distribution is regulated by the FIA (why??), so the front axle would have to move forward.
 
#23 ·
It's crazy to me that every little thing, like weight distribution, is regulated. Where is the ability to push the envelope? Where is the engineering creativity in that? It's supposed to be a state of the art series.

The other extreme, however, is a spec series like current Indycar where we're all using the same chassis and aero bits. There's some ability to tune aero with wing angles and Gurney flaps...suspension with spring rates / stagger / bars / shocks...and one of two standard engines....but still...
 
#31 ·
Here is the rule regarding static weight distribution from the FIA:

ARTICLE 4 : WEIGHT
4.1 Minimum weight : The weight of the car, without fuel, must not be less than 743kg at all times during the Event. If, when required for checking, a car is not already fitted with dry-weather tyres, it will be weighed on a set of dry-weather tyres selected by the FIA technical delegate.
4.2 Weight distribution :
The weight applied on the front and rear wheels must not be less than the weight specified in Article 4.1 factored by 0.455 and 0.535 respectively at all times during the qualifying practice session. Rounding will be to nearest 0.5kg. If, when required for checking, a car is not already fitted with dry-weather tyres, it will be weighed on a set of dry-weather tyres selected by the FIA technical delegate.



Weight distribution is only in place for qualifying. In FP1 & FP2, the teams are doing long runs on heavy fuel and aero tests, but in FP3, they typically are honing the quali setup on very low fuel. As I read this, this latter session is "the qualifying practice session" underlined above, and the FIA are effectively keeping the engineers from making certain changes in weight distribution during the three quali sessions. Of course, the cars are in parc ferme conditions, so I could be mistaken.


Stephen.
 
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