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Post by René on Aug 28, 2024 11:04:09 GMT
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Post by robmarsh on Aug 28, 2024 11:08:48 GMT
The first Argentinian to race for Williams since Carlos Reuteman. I always liked Carlos, saw him win his first GP at Kyalami 1974. I hope Franco is as good. In any case it is always nice to see a driver having his first F1 race. Probably would be more frequent if there were a couple more teams.
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Post by René on Aug 28, 2024 11:23:41 GMT
The first Argentinian to race for Williams since Carlos Reuteman. I always liked Carlos, saw him win his first GP at Kyalami 1974. I hope Franco is as good. In any case it is always nice to see a driver having his first F1 race. Probably would be more frequent if there were a couple more teams. Yes, I also liked Carlos. No idea how good Colapinto is to be honest but we'll find out soon enough. Here is a picture I made of Carlos Reutemann in the Williams, at Zolder 1981 on his way to victory. He should have won that championship too...  |
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Post by robmarsh on Aug 28, 2024 13:26:14 GMT
Yep, Williams as a team threw that away. They have never quite understood how to treat their drivers properly. They must hold the record for drivers leaving the year after winning a WDC for them. Mansell, Prost and Hill spring to mind.
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Post by Carl on Aug 28, 2024 17:40:58 GMT
 Parco di Monza - The Temple of Speed, the holy ground for Ferrarista. After the flying restart on the fast winding track of Zandvoort, we are going to the super-fast circuit of Monza this weekend. Of course, McLaren is the favorite again (still getting used to not writing Red Bull here  ), but given the character of the circuit with many relatively short corners and long straights, Ferrari is certainly not excluded from competing for the victory here. Especially when tens of thousands of passionate Italians cheer them on.  And Logan Sargeant has finally been shown the door after his crash at Zandvoort. He is immediately replaced by the young Argentinian Franco Colapinto. Colapinto is active in F2 and has already driven the Williams F1 car a few times. Too bad for Logan, but Formula 1 really turned out to be a step too high for him. Look at Jos Verstappen's face. Is that a smile or is he eating a lemon whole? And what attractive young woman has drawn the attention of Red Bull's horny principal?
I feel sorry for Logan, but under what circumstances did Williams open the door in the first place? Even his own public relations didn't fully believe he measured up in F1 |
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Post by Carl on Aug 28, 2024 17:56:17 GMT
Walking into the most historic Grand Prix arena nestled within the great park at Monza is like entering church. Any exuberance is overcome by awe and respectful silence...
...until the race starts!
As René writes, Monza really is holy ground and a temple of speed 
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Post by René on Aug 30, 2024 17:57:34 GMT
It’s looking very close so far. This could be an exciting race between four different teams! Hamilton fastest in FP2 and Verstappen made a mistake in his first flyer and had to abandon his second try due to K-Mag crashing, but he should be in the game.   Andrea Kimi Antonelli had a huge crash in his first practice outing but showed impressive speed before the crash, according to Mercedes. I hope they are not putting too much pressure on the lad.  Franco Colapinto only two tenth slower than Albon. Not a bad start for the young Argentinian. FP2 times1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:20.738 2 Lando Norris McLaren +0.003 3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +0.103 4 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.120 5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.154 6 George Russell Mercedes +0.348 7 Nico Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team +0.402 8 Daniel Ricciardo RB +0.562 9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.578 10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +0.625 11 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber +0.723 12 Kevin Magnussen Haas F1 Team +0.761 13 Alexander Albon Williams +0.854 14 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.872 15 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing +0.940 16 Yuki Tsunoda RB +0.997 17 Franco Colapinto Williams +1.046 18 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1.081 19 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1.129 20 Guanyu Zhou Kick Sauber +1.485 |
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Post by René on Aug 31, 2024 9:32:45 GMT
It's official, Andrea Kimi Antonelli will drive for Mercedes in 2025 and team up with George Russell. I guess he came in with a bang big enough to convince the Merc board.  But cool, it's time for new young drivers.  |
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Post by mikael on Aug 31, 2024 18:06:04 GMT
It's not too clear if just 18 years old Andrea Kimi Antonelli is really at - or near - the level of the young Max Verstappen, or of the young Lewis Hamilton. But hopefully for Mecedes (and for Antonelli), they (Team Mercedes) can see more and see clearer ...
At this time it's "exactly" (to the week, at least) 70 years ago that Mercedes employed their covered-wheels type W196 at Monza. (The closed-wheel version was used also earlier that season, on other high-speed tracks.) Interesting to ponder that the early racing cars were open-wheeler simply because all cars were - essentially - open-wheeler, i.e. they had the wheels outside the main body (like, e.g., the Ford T). When road cars started to move the wheels under the main body, racing cars stayed as they were.
The Mercedes W196 could have changed everything; but luckily - maybe - it didn't.
A couple of excellent photos from the Italian Grand Prix 1954. Compared to the "long-legged" Ferrari's, the low, sleek Mercedes's looked like "something from the future"!
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Post by Carl on Aug 31, 2024 20:49:57 GMT
Excellent analysis, Mikael! Styling for aerodynamic benefit has occasionally been integral to design, sometimes with sensational results. How Mercedes would have proceeded in Grand Prix design (open wheel or closed, or both) had the terrible LeMans tragedy not happened can't be known.
The Ford Model T, designed for cheap and reliable transportation, was so successful the assembly line didn't transition to the Model A for twenty years. The Model T wheels were essentially open, but passengers were protected by rudimentary splashguard fenders.
R Buckminster Fuller, philosopher, architect and genius inventor of the geodesic dome, designed a car for the future with a pronounced aerodymic shape, the Dymaxion. Like other ingenious concepts, it was too radical for aceptance.
Closer to existing designs, the 1937 Lincoln Zephyr was beautfully svelte and a dream car for many young professionals
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Post by Carl on Sept 1, 2024 1:36:26 GMT
Gaps of .134 and .140 seconds over a laptime near to 80 seconds is damn close!  
1. Lando Norris [McLaren] - 1:19.327sec 2. Oscar Piastri [McLaren] - +0.109s 3. George Russell [Mercedes] - +0.113s 4. Charles Leclerc [Ferrari] - +0.134s 5. Carlos Sainz [Ferrari] - +0.140s 6. Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes] - +0.186s 7. Max Verstappen [Red Bull] - +0.695s 8. Sergio Perez [Red Bull] - +0.735s 9. Alex Albon [Williams] - +0.972s 10. Nico Hulkenberg [Haas] - +1.012s ELIMINATED IN Q2 11. Fernando Alonso [Aston Martin] 12. Daniel Ricciardo [VCARB] 13. Kevin Magnussen [Haas] 14. Pierre Gasly [Alpine] 15. Esteban Ocon [Alpine] ELIMINATED IN Q1 16. Yuki Tsunoda [VCARB] 17. Lance Stroll [Aston Martin] 18. Franco Colapinto [Williams] 19. Valtteri Bottas [Sauber] 20. Zhou Guanyu [Sauber] |
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Post by mikael on Sept 1, 2024 9:43:50 GMT
Continuing with Monza in 1954; interesting that Monza at that time had some cobblestone-clad corners. I don't know what the purpose of using cobblestones was. They could have been used for their durability. But it could also have been for reducing the friction between tyres and road on purpose (although this seems somewhat unlikely). In whatever way, it must have been "great fun" in the rain!
Thinking about it, this could surely be an interesting way of "spicing up" modern Grand Prix racing: to have sections with special asphalt where the friction is very low. (Cobblestones would most likely not be accepted nowadays.) This would provide real opportunities for the brave - and the real talented.
Italian Grand Prix, 5 September 1954
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Post by René on Sept 1, 2024 10:52:54 GMT
At this time it's "exactly" (to the week, at least) 70 years ago that Mercedes employed their covered-wheels type W196 at Monza. (The closed-wheel version was used also earlier that season, on other high-speed tracks.) Interesting to ponder that the early racing cars were open-wheeler simply because all cars were - essentially - open-wheeler, i.e. they had the wheels outside the main body (like, e.g., the Ford T). When road cars started to move the wheels under the main body, racing cars stayed as they were.
The Mercedes W196 could have changed everything; but luckily - maybe - it didn't.
The open-wheel design of racing cars is very much tradition but it also has significant advantages compared to a closed body. The Mercedes streamliner was only really competitive on high speed tracks like Reims and Monza with long straights and few short corners. The closed body was very efficient for high top speed. However, an open-wheel car has a better power to weight ratio and therefore better traction. The cars are more agile, have much better cooling for the brakes and better visibility for the driver to be more precise in corners. Open-wheel cars are also much faster in high speed corners. After the Mercedes experiment, open wheels became a mandatory feature in the regulations. But a great looking car it was, that Mercedes W196 Streamliner!  |
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Post by René on Sept 1, 2024 10:56:10 GMT
Gaps of .134 and .140 seconds over a laptime near to 80 seconds is damn close! 1. Lando Norris [McLaren] - 1:19.327sec 2. Oscar Piastri [McLaren] - +0.109s 3. George Russell [Mercedes] - +0.113s 4. Charles Leclerc [Ferrari] - +0.134s 5. Carlos Sainz [Ferrari] - +0.140s 6. Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes] - +0.186s 7. Max Verstappen [Red Bull] - +0.695s 8. Sergio Perez [Red Bull] - +0.735s 9. Alex Albon [Williams] - +0.972s 10. Nico Hulkenberg [Haas] - +1.012s Less than two tenths between pole and p6 is incredibly close! Red Bull half a second off the pace and Checo suddenly very close to Max again…  |
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Post by René on Sept 1, 2024 15:31:21 GMT
Wow, wow, wow, what can I say guys… Forza Ferrari! Forza Charles! For the second time this year he brought tears to my eyes. Brilliant victory. Whoooaah!!!  And how appropriate this week’s banner is. Regazzoni won in Monza in 1970 as a Ferrari driver and five years later again. Leclerc won in 2019 and now five years later again. Wonderful. |
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), but given the character of the circuit with many relatively short corners and long straights, Ferrari is certainly not excluded from competing for the victory here. Especially when tens of thousands of passionate Italians cheer them on.
