In the round-up: Renault managing director Cyril Abiteboul says the rules changes for the 2019 F1 season are not drastic enough to cause a 2009-style upending of the competitive order.
Show which drivers and teams you are supporting
Which F1 drivers and teams are you supporting this season? Here's how you can show your support for your favourite on the grid on RaceFans:
- Log in with your RaceFans account (sign up here if you don't have one)
- Select Edit My Profile from the top-right menu
- Select F1 Teams and Drivers
- Make your selections then click Save Changes
[smr2018test]
What they say
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said yesterday he considers every F1 team a potential threat due to the possibilities offered by the new rules, but Abiteboul gave a different view when asked if the regulations changes were likely to shake up the competitive order:
I’d like to say so, I’d like to say yes. But in reality… you want to create the expectation for the new championship but we don’t think that it’s a change of regulations that’s big enough to really shift completely the order.
I think you need to be a bit more radical [with] the change first, and secondly to leave more space for innovation. If you really want to create something, look at last time it was something strange happening it was Brawn, really, because there was a big change of regulation and room for innovation. Here you could argue that first it’s a small change of regulation.
But that doesn’t go from what we could see – maybe we missed something – into rewarding innovation. Because if you look at the regulation on the front wings there is no real room for innovation. So I think that’s a mix of both that needs to happen: Big change plus innovation if you really want something unexpected to happen.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
.@kvyatofficial putting in his first laps behind the STR14 👊 pic.twitter.com/Jvjb2fztJo
— Toro Rosso (@ToroRosso) February 13, 2019
Love isn’t just in the air… 👀❤️ #RomeoAndGiulia#LoveAtFirstSight pic.twitter.com/xddU9kmnR3
— Alfa Romeo Racing (@SauberF1Team) February 13, 2019
Ride along with @ryanhunterreay and take a look at @COTA from the seat of the @dhlus car! #IndyCar pic.twitter.com/4GFXAd9iw8
— Andretti Autosport (@FollowAndretti) February 13, 2019
Which means that Williams can now be honest about Brexit…
— Joe Saward (@joesaward) February 13, 2019
Another takes place in Canada on the same day getting no coverage. People wonder why @F1 is struggling for profile against the likes of football. It has been moved off free-to-air to a small audience. Teams control the output. National and international media access is restricted
— Ben Hunt (@benjhunt) February 13, 2019
Can’t believe what @McLarenF1 have just done for us, just given us a private launch #mcl34 pic.twitter.com/BaIdtQUKiT
— Dinalli (@Dinalli) February 13, 2019
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Stroll ready to take a lead role in the family F1 business (Reuters)
"I’m not kicking my feet up in my chair, I am going to be hustling and it is a great opportunity for me as a racing driver, a big stepping stone in my career."
Ricciardo starting to feel at home at Renault (The Age)
"The last few days I've spent here at the factory, getting familiar with that title and the colour, the yellow. It's starting to feel like home."
Perez: Racing Point has set ‘really extreme’ targets for F1 2019 (Crash)
"The targets are really extreme. We really want to go to the next level as a team."
Santiago Urrutia still feeling the sting from fallout with Harding Racing (Open Wheels)
"They never gave me the $100,000, and they never gave me the ride in IndyCar."
The Alan Henry Tapes: Senna on his F1 hero (Motorsport magazine)
"I think (Emerson Fittipaldi) has helped every single racing driver that has come from Brazil after him. We had more credibility with the outside world and that helps everybody. That helped every driver that had come from Brazil. In that respect he has helped everyone, not just me."
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it in via the contact form.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Comment of the day
A development detail on the new Mercedes W10 has caught @Mach1’s eye:
I am curious about the side-pods. They seem to me much more similar to the 2017 arrangement that most teams have moved away from.
Whether it means they are more aero efficient for Mercedes philosophy or whether they need to have larger openings (they seem larger) due to the new power unit requirements… only time will tell.
@Mach1
Happy birthday!
No RaceFans birthdays today
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is via the contact form or adding to the list here.
@HoHum (@hohum)
14th February 2019, 0:30
Abiteboul is right, if we leave the rules unchanged the cars become more similar (as what works becomes apparent) closing up the pack, small changes to the rules let the wealthier teams maintain the status quo, but opening up the rules can be a game changer.
@HoHum (@hohum)
14th February 2019, 3:15
PS: There is no such thing as a free launch!
Paul D
14th February 2019, 7:36
That’s very good.
Tornado (@tornado)
14th February 2019, 0:34
Really a crucial year for the Strolls. Under VJM, the team kept on pushing despite uncertainties for many years. Wonder how many years the team will stay as Racing point if Lance doesn’t perform as per expectations.
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
14th February 2019, 4:47
Or…Lawrence retires and Lance has the chance to be the first owner/driver since Jack Brabham.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
14th February 2019, 6:12
I always hoping they use family name to ensure long term commitment. Strulovitch F1 Racing.
BlackJackFan
15th February 2019, 3:42
Oh – My – God…! You put the two names in the same sentence… :-(
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
14th February 2019, 0:35
What’s misterious about JCB moving to Racing Point? aren’t they one of Lance Stroll’s personal sponsors? makes sense they’d move with him, like PDVSA moved from Williams to Lotus, or Claro moved alongside with Perez.
Also, Joe Saward is more grumpy than ever these days…
BlackJackFan
15th February 2019, 3:43
“…much more…” lol
Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
14th February 2019, 8:42
I fear Abiteboul might be right.
Also, regarding Mercedes’ sidepods; they’ve always been quite wide the last few years. (https://cdn-2.motorsport.com/images/mgl/6xPxv4M6/s8/f1-mercedes-amg-f1-w08-hybrid-launch-2017-lewis-hamilton-mercedes-amg-f1-w08-hybrid.jpg W08 for comparison) These seem to be the slimmest yet…
Fudge Kobayashi (@)
14th February 2019, 10:56
What a terrible angle to demonstrate the shape of the sidepods.
They were wide and thin last year and have reverted to a larger and more vertical this year as per COTD more like 2017.
Jere (@jerejj)
14th February 2019, 9:33
I thoroughly agree with Abiteboul. These recent changes indeed aren’t significant enough to properly affect the pecking order, so I expect the status quo, at least, concerning the top-3 teams, to remain the same as the last two seasons.
Robbie (@robbie)
14th February 2019, 12:20
Other than TW, who as we know tends to try to make other teams sound like a real threat to their domination, imho out of diplomacy and out of not looking to gloat, I don’t know why anyone would think this year’s reg changes would change the order of things. This was a relatively small change meant to try to promote closer racing. And at that, TW himself said they have found other ways to outwash since they can’t do it with the front wing. I guess that means they were innovative in adapting to a small change that was never meant to knock Mercedes off the mantle to begin with. It is going to take the big changes for 2021 to potentially do that, and also to really and truly promote closer racing.
Velocityboy (@velocityboy)
14th February 2019, 13:00
I don’t see why people think a few rule changes would magically affect the pecking order. The top teams have the best personnel designing, building and racing their cars so why would 1 or 500 changes to the rules affect their positions at the top? The quality of the staff at the top teams is the reason why they are in the position they’re in and whether they’re spending 300 million or 150 million to build and race their cars, they will produce the better results.
GongTong (@gongtong)
14th February 2019, 13:40
Quality and quantity of staff. And the quantity of designs they can test concurrently is linked to this and the funds available. And of course, this is all costing money.
You’d like to think the best staff with the best funding would create the best results, but cost-adjusted last year’s WCC was Force India by quite some margin, no?
These changes put huge pressure on the big teams to not drop the ball. @velocityboy
BlackJackFan
15th February 2019, 5:05
“Szafnauer . . . explained: “. . . we didn’t lose a single person through the administration process so all those people that helped us finish fourth in the past are still with us. . . .”
Are you sure…? Nobody went missing…? Have you not noticed one very senior guy has been missing from your lineup since last summer…? On the other hand nobody else in the media seems to have noticed either…
Weird… or what…?