In the round-up: Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko says the team expects a power upgrade from Honda in the near future.
What they say
It’s for Honda the first podium since 2008 which is a fantastic success. But we are more than happy.
The power is OK but we were told by the board that was here that pretty soon we get more power. So it’s now on our side to develop the chassis so we can [beat] whoever is in front of us.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
I love jetlag. NOT!
It's going to be a loooonnng day— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) March 20, 2019
But the bit it will mostly get attention for (and already has done) is @lewishamilton asking astronaut Doug Hurley (@Astro_Doug) whether the moon landing was faked. As awkward moments go, it's one to treasure: pic.twitter.com/ByQbi9u6OC
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) March 20, 2019
Hanoi People's Committee chairman Nguyen Duc
Chung, FIA president Jean Todt and #VietnameseGP promoter Nguyen Viet Quang attended a ground-breaking ceremony for the new 5.565km, Tilke-designed Hanoi street circuit today. #F1— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) March 20, 2019
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
2019 Australian GP - Every F1 driver's race reviewed (RaceFans via YouTube)
New F1 grand prix can tap into Vietnam 'passion' for racing: Todt (VN Express)
"Organisers said they decided against holding the race in Hanoi's historical Old Quarter because of logistical challenges and steep costs."
"Whoever thought it would be possible for Lewis to go after Michael Schumacher’s records? It’s just madness. I’m proud to have raced next to him, and to have managed to beat him."
'Methodical' Albon impressing Toro Rosso (Autosport)
Jody Egginton: "He's good, he's methodical, he's not emotional, and he's learning so quickly. I'm really impressed so far."
F1 goes free-to-air in Middle East under new MBC deal (Reuters)
"Formula One will be broadcast live and free-to-air in the Middle East and North Africa under a new five-year deal with MBC Group, the sport announced on Wednesday."
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.
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Comment of the day
Michael tells Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel not to worry about plans to resurface the Albert Park circuit:
If it’s given a surface like Eastlink between Wellington Road and Burwood Highway, the drivers will love all the new bumps.
I actually pulled over to see if I had a flat tyre when I first drove on that road in a car I wasn’t familiar with.
Michael
From the forum
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maiagus
21st March 2019, 0:10
Does the Honda performance in RB raise or answer question about Mclaren ability to use the japanese pu?
Sam (@)
21st March 2019, 0:38
…new engine manufacturers need 4 years of test and development before they can compete.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
21st March 2019, 0:58
I suspect it’s more about the time it takes for a manufacturer to develop a F1 PU, and all its associated software.
Let’s not forget that Renault too have taken a long time and both Ferrari and Mercedes are still developing theirs.
The technological challenges suggest that we won’t be seeing any new PU manufacturers any time soon as it involves incredible expense and commitment for a long period for what could be potentially very low returns.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
21st March 2019, 2:35
I think it just highlights the fact that integration between PU and chassis is no trivial matter, that the car needs to be holistically designed factoring in the PU, and is a significant factor in why teams like Mercedes, Ferrari hold that advantage.
Renault gave that preferred status to RBR before they re-entered the sport, and its withdrawal was in part a factor behind RBR jumping from the Renault ship. McLaren had the opportunity to have that status with Honda, but unfortunately ended up working in a very siloed “You build the engine, we’ll build the car, and we’ll meet at the altar” approach, as we saw from the McLaren documentary on Amazon Prime.
I’m sure RBR learnt from that mistake and ensured that they worked collaboratively with Honda. Having Honda’s operations also situated at Milton Keynes was probably the icing.
Jere (@jerejj)
21st March 2019, 8:38
@phylyp Mclaren indeed did have that status (the de facto works team of an engine/PU supplier, which they also had with Mercedes back when they were participating in F1 solely as a supplier like Honda today, and Renault most recently in 2015), and could still have it today had they been more patient with Honda. They weren’t, so, therefore, they willingly gave up that to become a 100% customer team again.
Mach1 (@mach1)
21st March 2019, 0:13
Did Rosberg forget to mention he beat Hamilton again…..just in case we had forgot.
Tim
21st March 2019, 1:01
Thanks god now I know not only that Red Bull happy with Honda PU (2 articles per day on motorsport press) and Lewis’ floor was damaged in last race (3 articles per day) but also that Nico Rosberg managed to beat Lewis Hamilton in 2016 (reminded dozen times every day by Nico himself for the last three years).
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
21st March 2019, 3:20
@mach1
How about we look at it differently. If Rubens had beaten Schumacher is say 2002, would you hold it against him if he kept talking about it?
Lewis has been declared by most people on this site and the media everywhere as one of the greatest drivers to ever step into a F1 car. Nico beat this guy by means of having more points than Lewis at the end of the season, which is what counts. No ifs and buts. That was a great achievement, something to be proud of. If journalists keep asking him about it in interviews, what do you expect?
Beating Lewis effectively consumed Nico, he dug really deep that year (not to mention that he kept Lewis pretty honest for most of their time together at Merc), he’s proud of it, and so he should be.
bosyber (@bosyber)
21st March 2019, 7:15
Well put @jaymenon10; moreover when one gets tired of reading ‘news’ one already knows, best course of action is to stop reading Tim.
That’s what I did with all the Dutch F1 news I knew at the latest on Sunday evening, which kept being shown by the Google app on my phone this week.
KGN11
21st March 2019, 7:50
He dug so deep, he managed to blow up a PU in Malaysia.
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
21st March 2019, 9:03
@mach1 I’m no fan of this reiteration, but the Lewis is certainly one of the best of all the times in the sport and Nico is the only one who managed to beat him. If I’ll ever kill a dragon you’ll end up hearing me saying “did I tell you that I killed a dragon?” ever frigging day.
RB13
21st March 2019, 9:59
In that example, Nico is akin to having a machine gun turret aimed at the dragon which was muzzled and had it’s wings clipped.
Not once has he acknowledged Lewis’s 9 technical failures that season to his solitary gearbox penalty and that’s what makes his ‘pride’ so disingenuous and unsportsmanlike.
N
21st March 2019, 10:26
Bingo.
iCarbs (@icarby)
21st March 2019, 17:22
As much as i despise Rosberg for several reasons, Hamilton had himself to blame for 2016 season. Why?, he still recorded more wins than Rosberg and allowed him to pass him on track through his own mistakes. Of all the drivers for Hamilton to make mistakes against it just had to be him but that’s the way the cookie crumbles, the only silver lining is that Hamilton has learnt from it and is even stronger. But now i have to read Rosberg “I beat Hamilton” related articles :(
hobo (@hobo)
21st March 2019, 16:01
@m-bagattini – Button also beat Hamilton on points in 2011 at McLaren.
Markp
21st March 2019, 20:09
Also going on points (not count back) Alonso finished with same points. 3 seasons Hamilton has not beat his team mate, but then Button beat Alonso as well…..but Kyvat beat Ricciardo on points as well.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
21st March 2019, 2:13
Nice video review, Keith. I must admit this is probably the first RaceFans video I’ve seen, though!
Phylyp (@phylyp)
21st March 2019, 2:18
@keithcollantine – although you might wish to edit the video’s description as shown on YouTube… while I’m sure many drivers experienced flatulence, I’m not particularly keen on knowing the details.
I must say, however, that one innocuous letter really changes the entire description :)
ColdFly (@)
21st March 2019, 4:24
Probably a result of all those G’s on the digestive system ;)
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
21st March 2019, 7:57
RaceFans really does get to the “Bottom” of things ;O
Joao (@johnmilk)
21st March 2019, 8:13
Even though Racefans is still a step ahead technically speaking. It not only tells us that they farted, it’s much more complex, it’s the whole mechanics of how they farted
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
21st March 2019, 9:05
@phylyp how many times do I have to tell this? NO BEANS before the race!
Phylyp (@phylyp)
21st March 2019, 10:50
@m-bagattini – what if I want the point for fastest lap?
Phylyp (@phylyp)
21st March 2019, 11:50
And the typo’s been fixed! :)
Joao (@johnmilk)
21st March 2019, 12:43
Summons inner Steve Carrel “Nooooooooooo, Nooooooooooo God, Nooooo, please, why!”
schooner (@schooner)
21st March 2019, 3:17
Race Fans/F1 Fanatic has been my go to F1 web site for 6 or 7 years now, and through this vid I have only just found out that Keith even has a Youtube channel. It’s been up for over 8 years!
MacLeod (@macleod)
21st March 2019, 7:47
Lol I thought that was his first one… Keith you should try to make it more populair, normal when i search on youtube F1 i never saw your channel.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
21st March 2019, 2:16
I love the answer, “It would have been harder to fake”.
Alexio
21st March 2019, 3:22
I enjoyed the video, it seems some like to play fast & loose when quoting Hamilton. Lewis asked what contributed to the existence of such a large community of people calling it a hoax…ie what element of the mission sparked doubt…. he never once suggested to them they did not go to the moon….
MacLeod (@macleod)
21st March 2019, 7:49
Faked moonlanding when everyone can check him/herself with a decent telescope.
socksolid (@socksolid)
21st March 2019, 8:51
Not to mention humans have landed on the moon 6 times.
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
21st March 2019, 9:56
As I tell my ‘denier’ friends, the space race brought us great technical innovations like satellites, MRI and CAT scans, portable water filters and Tang. If it was faked then NASA would have developed space-age computing and graphics. Instead we got Microsoft.
JustinSane
21st March 2019, 15:50
The moon landing was a hoax crowd has an answer for everything. The USSR and the UK were both monitoring the radio sources from the Apollo missions. Who in their right minds would think that the Soviets would not have announced they had proof that they weren’t on the moon when NASA said they were? It would have been the biggest thing ever to happen and destroyed the credibility of the US.
GeeMac (@geemac)
21st March 2019, 8:55
Great news, 4 years too late for me to take advantage of it though! I’m getting the same feeling I got when I read news that FlyDubai started allowing you to collect Skywards miles on their flights…