In the round-up: Daniel Ricciardo says this weekend’s race will be an important test of the progress Renault has made with its cars on tracks where it has not been strong previously.
What they say
Ricciardo praised the team’s efforts after successful races at Spa and Monza but is wary of Singapore:Enstone have definitely built, the last few weekends, a car on low downforce which immediately out of the box, even though there’s less grip with the smaller wing, kind of felt easier to drive and more balanced. So for sure the package we’ve got on these circuits is great.
Coming into Singapore I think there’s a lot of things we can learn, hopefully, with the high downforce, and take something from there. But I don’t know. We definitely seem stronger on these high-speed flowing parts. But it doesn’t mean we can’t get it right on low-speed so we’ll do some homework and hopefully this is an encouraging result for the boys in Enstone as well and particularly, as I said, Viry.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Alfa Romeo will carry the logos of 'premium Greek-style drinking yoghurt' Ambrosial from this #SingaporeGP. Here's Kimi Raikkonen heartily endorsing their product.#F1 pic.twitter.com/6vwUR1BSsK
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) September 18, 2019
This is Ellie from F1. Drive to Survive has been hugely successful and we’re filming the 2nd series with all 10 teams. This has translated into viewership and over the first 10 races this year cumulative viewing is up 4% https://t.co/K64prQHX5Q
— SingaporeGP (@F1NightRace) September 18, 2019
Tip of the tophat to @reddit for this stance, and big thanks 🙏 to the editor for referencing my 2018 article on the costs of delivering original @F1 content. Why I am not surprised at the number and ID of ‘scrapers’ placed on probabtion? https://t.co/JgwwFeTil4
— Fritz-Dieter Rencken (@RacingLines) September 18, 2019
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Gala night at Marina Bay (Ferrari)
Mattia Binotto: "We are bringing a few new parts there as part of our effort to close the gap to the competition, at a track that features predominantly slow speed corners."
Schools, airports closed as Indonesia fires spark fears for Singapore F1 (AFP)
"The worsening pollution increased fears that this weekend's Formula One race may be affected. Organisers say the possibility of haze is one of the issues in their contingency plan for Sunday's showpiece night race, but have not given further details."
F1 needs new gravel trap/asphalt approach - Wurz (Autosport)
"Sometimes gravel in these situations is actually dangerous, like you saw in Melbourne with (Fernando) Alonso, who slid sideways into gravel (in 2016). Then you fly into the air, so we lose control of the car even more."
"On this week’s episode he gives us the full story, describing in detail how what he learned along the way was vital for helping his son get ahead."
Codemasters Grid (2019) 'Get Your Heart Racing' trailer (RaceFans via YouTube)
Barrichello's first reaction to S5000 at Phillip Island (S5000 via YouTube)
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Comment of the day
Many of you clearly feel F1’s television direction makes too much use of crowd and scenery shots, a point which wasn’t addressed in a Q&A issued by the championship on the subject yesterday:
I understand that choosing when to display replays is difficult with a continuous race, but I feel that they tend to prioritise replays over current and developing on-track action, and I would rather see less replays than miss something that has happened during a replay.
As for the crowd and scenery shots, which they didn’t address, I’d argue that we don’t need those at all. The number of times I need to see the crowd is zero, and a single establishing shot during the pre-race build-up is quite sufficient to remind us what city we’re in. Occasional views of the pit wall are relevant and can sometimes even add to the sense of the overall race, but aside from those, I don’t want to see anything but the cars on track.
@Remmirath
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Phylyp (@phylyp)
19th September 2019, 0:08
Alfa Romeo Sponsor Liaison (ARSL): Kimi, we need you to promote one of our sponsors.
Kimi: Bwoah (subdued).
ARSL: It’s ‘premium Greek-style drinking…’
Kimi: (big grin)
ARSL: ‘…yoghurt’
Kimi: (the expression you see in the tweet)
Phylyp (@phylyp)
19th September 2019, 0:53
Also… shout out to sneaky cheeky Keith, for putting in “heartily” to describe Kimi’s enthusiasm in that tweet :)
bosyber (@bosyber)
19th September 2019, 7:04
Also, props to the photographer for getting such a spontaneous enthusiastic reaction from all involved, looking too at Vasseur, and for the peaxh-halo over on the left in the foto, wouldn’t you say @phylyp?
Bart
19th September 2019, 9:57
It just needs some tweaking.
“Ambwoahsial”…
Should be fine.
Bart
19th September 2019, 9:58
Now where’s the edit button…? ;)
Phylyp (@phylyp)
19th September 2019, 10:23
Bart – Ha ha, nice one!
@bosyber – “Red Bull gives you wings”, but Ambrosial gives you enthusiasm! Vasseur’s like “the things I do to be able to run a team”
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
19th September 2019, 0:26
Wurz, Alonso survived, gravel flipped, asphalt might have still flipped, ultimately gravel saved him, want more tarmac run-off, increase the run off
frood19 (@frood19)
20th September 2019, 6:37
How would they have flipped with a big tarmac runoff? A car going off its wheels is incredibly dangerous because it exposes the driver’s head to side impacts. Anything to avoid the car flipping improves safety.
Glamo
19th September 2019, 1:02
Hope the race is cancelled due to filthy air! Would actually make F1 into something useful!
faulty (@faulty)
19th September 2019, 1:17
Yes because poor air quality is a health concern to the thousands of spectators who have to breath it for at least three hours.
RB13
19th September 2019, 11:08
Imagine having no life to the extent you just troll message boards on the internet about subjects you know nothing about just to be a nuisance. Glamo is the actual waste of air.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
19th September 2019, 1:27
Renault needs to get it right on low speed tracks? You know who else needs to do that? Ferrari!
NS Biker (@rekibsn)
19th September 2019, 2:07
So nice to see a picture of Kimi embracing some Italian culture.
Paul
19th September 2019, 2:40
I think reading between the lines in the last few weeks, Riccardo has had enough of Renault excuses too. He’s clearly saying you’ve got to get it right next year or I’m looking for another team.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
20th September 2019, 4:06
Either he displaces the disastrous vettel at ferrari, the slow albon (for now) at red bull), but that’s admitting defeat, or the reliable but not constantly fast bottas at mercedes, that’s his options, anything else is a side or downgrade.
JohnH (@johnrkh)
19th September 2019, 5:19
Renault need to improve period, Ricciardo saying the car felt great at Monza is nice. But they were still well off the pace of Merc/Ferrari/RB.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
19th September 2019, 6:06
Agreed – they need to improve and disappointingly went backwards this year.
I still have concerns about their longer term commitment given that the budget cap ended up being higher than they wanted it to be.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
20th September 2019, 4:04
Their performance was however great at monza compared to usual, enjoy it while it lasts, gonna fall back again at chassis’ tracks.
Jere (@jerejj)
19th September 2019, 7:47
I don’t really agree with the first paragraph of the COTD: I don’t feel like (and never have felt like) they’d tend to prioritize replays over current and developing on-track action. For example, replay footage from different angles, including the T-cam onboard ones tend to be shown a few laps into the given race, and this is the case with every single race. Earlier if there’s a lap-one SC, but it’s better to show those early than wait for like halfway into the race distance before showing them. I thoroughly agree with the bottom paragraph, though.
Renault indeed like Ferrari need to get better on circuits with a lower average lap speed. They are 22 points behind Mclaren in the WCC, so a good points haul from Singapore would be needed to have a better shot at clawing the gap back entirely.
ColdFly (@)
19th September 2019, 8:06
For sure it’s ridiculous to have 2 week old quotes, which were widely reported in other media, as the headline topic for a daily round-up.