In the round-up: Daniel Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly appear in new colours for the first time since switching teams for the 2019 F1 season.
Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Fix up, look sharp 👌 A sneak peek at our race ready apparel for 2019 @pumamotorsport 🔥 pic.twitter.com/mzxGiYV6qP
— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) February 4, 2019
Fired up, and ready to go! Meet your @RenaultF1Team 2019 driver line-up!
📸: @GregWInsight #RSspirit pic.twitter.com/6gh5PPxThi
— Renault F1 Team (@RenaultF1Team) February 4, 2019
Hey pic.twitter.com/7MfSAk6uMP
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) February 4, 2019
Vaguely meaningless F1 stat: @BrendonHartley has officially worked in the simulator of every current power unit manufacturer, as of the Ferrari announcement today. (Renault when he was RB junior, Mercedes after he was dropped, Honda with STR and now Ferrari)
— Hazel Southwell (@HSouthwellFE) February 4, 2019
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
UK home secretary approves extradition of Vijay Mallya to India (The Guardian)
"Mallya is alleged to have knowingly misled largely India state-owned banks about the fortunes of his failing Kingfisher airline, before laundering the cash to fund his Formula One team and other projects. India’s enforcement directorate has been investigating the tycoon’s £977m debts linked to the airline, which went bust in 2012."
Button interview: 'The euphoria when you finally cross the line is just incredible' (GQ)
"What I remember most was that it wasn’t the glamorous life that people think it is. Monaco is very glamorous, but most of the other tracks aren’t."
Vandoorne finding more joy without F1 'politics' (Autosport)
"I can't change what happened and I also have no regrets of whatever happened of my time at McLaren. It definitely was not the best moment in my career after everything was running kind of smooth before, but I think it made me stronger."
James Allen on... (F1 Broadcasting)
"We went out on a high with Lewis winning the World Championship. It was the only time in our twelve years of doing Formula 1 that we had a British champion crowned on our live coverage. It was a great moment, with 13 million watching, mass-market free-to-air TV, it was just fantastic."
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Comment of the day
Would you have liked to see Force India bring back an old F1 team name instead of change to Racing Point?
On the one hand, a real shame that they didn’t succeed in getting a nice name from history, which would be much better than Racing Point’s bland, descriptive name. On the other, as long as the old name has nothing to do with the team, it would feel a bit odd to have that old name involved.
If only Sauber was being kept…
@Hahostolze
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Darryn Smith (@darryn)
5th February 2019, 0:38
Should be interesting to see what Renault can do this year with a decent driver. He could take them to third in the constructor’s championship. Especially with Red Bull getting the Hondas.
ColdFly (@)
5th February 2019, 6:52
That’s a tad tough on the Hulk; ‘decent’ is the minimum I’d give him.
Xcm
5th February 2019, 19:49
Hulk has been around as long as I’ve been fallowing formula1, as has the hype train…
I have never been wow’d by the man…
So yeah, sometimes life itself is harsh.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
5th February 2019, 7:20
not sure the gap is that large between Danny Ric and the Hulk. I mean, yeah, maybe a couple of tenths here and there, but not enough to get Renault on the podium. Ofcourse, this all depends on RedBulls form (or rather Honda’s reliability). Because i can’t see Mercedes or Ferrari slump this low to get to Renault’s level, or Renault improving on its own to challenge the leaders. RedBull though might be the variable: they are capable of building a great chassis but it all depends on how reliable it will be.
Hazel Southwell (@hazelsouthwell)
5th February 2019, 8:28
If Ricciardo doesn’t wipe the floor with Hulkenberg his career will lose its shine fast. You’re only as good as the last teammate you beat…
Joao (@johnmilk)
5th February 2019, 10:02
If we consider Hulk as a less talented driver than Ricciardo sure. But something tells me he isn’t
Robbie (@robbie)
5th February 2019, 14:00
And I will always have plenty of patience for drivers in their first seasons with teams, so if DR starts off on his hind foot vs the engrained Hulk at Renault, I won’t be sounding alarm bells. Also, while driver comparisons on teams are natural, in Renault ‘s case, and other teams, they need to focus on working together rather than conducting a rivalry. Certainly there is no time for them to be hiding info from each other just for the sake of besting each other. I expect cooperation and collaboration between them moreso than a rivalry, although of course there will be inevitable comparisons made, and neither driver nor his fans will want to be outdone. I get that, but the spirit on the team needs to be about both drivers advancing the cars and the team, and they need to make the rivalry part light-hearted.
Scottie (@scottie)
5th February 2019, 1:53
Will be fascinating to see what Danny Ric does to his helmet now he’s not Red Bull bound any more.
Macca (@macca)
5th February 2019, 4:30
I can see Danny Ric and The Hulk becoming best mates. He needs a new one now that Hartley is gone :(
bukester (@bukester)
5th February 2019, 8:10
Will be great to see Mallya extradited back to India . Hopefully Briatore will one day face justice
ColdFly (@)
5th February 2019, 8:27
Extradite him to Singapore ;)
Clay
5th February 2019, 8:41
Simple renaming exercise: call the team Jordan (as it was back in the day) and get sponsorship from 7Up. Paint the car green and blue, sign some kid called Schumacher and you’ll be everyone’s favourite!
Joao (@johnmilk)
5th February 2019, 10:04
on the other side of the spectrum they will be called racing pointy, paint the car pink after a water brand and hire a kid called Stroll
Jere (@jerejj)
5th February 2019, 9:15
After having been used to seeing Dan in the RB-colors for quite some time, it feels a bit weird to see him in yellow. BTW, why did RBR conduct their equivalent 2019 driver photo sessions at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi? They were just there little over two months ago, so why did they travel all the way back there again for this purpose unless the images were taken at the time (shortly after the race weekend) already.
An interesting stat concerning Hartley.
I agree with the COTD.
JB’s answer to the last question in the interview, though.
ddd (@fandukaja)
5th February 2019, 9:46
I am pretty sure those backgrounds in the promo photos are photoshopped – didn’t RBR made shooting with Max and Pierre in London recently?
Jere (@jerejj)
5th February 2019, 18:33
@fandukaja That could very well be it. I hadn’t thought of that possibility before.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
5th February 2019, 9:50
I’m hoping that they’ll release a clothing line with the black as well as the yellow. I don’t look good in yellow :)
Nice to see the photos appearing. It just adds to the feeling that we’re getting closer to the start of the season
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
5th February 2019, 10:03
@jerejj They were also doing pics for a new sponsor:
https://www.racefans.net/2019/02/05/cryptocurrency-futurocoin-red-bull-sponsor-f1-2019/
Lewisham Milton
5th February 2019, 9:58
Should have called it Lotus…
Grego (@francogrego)
5th February 2019, 10:56
Yellow colors looks nice on RIC. It also complements his ‘honey’ badger nickname.
Mark
5th February 2019, 11:12
if renault does not even do a podium this year, this team is finished.
Robbie (@robbie)
5th February 2019, 14:07
Why? They’ll just come back next year hopefully stronger and having learned even more and having taken a few more steps toward podium level finishes.
Homerlovesbeer (@homerlovesbeer)
5th February 2019, 23:02
Can somebody please buy these guys a razor, especially Gazly as he looks atrocious!