Next race in Brazil on November 17
Next race in Brazil on November 17
Race starts in Texas at 1:10 pm Sunday/3:10 am Monday in Malaysia
♦ Lewis Hamilton’s win in Mexico still does not confirm his sixth world title, and he will have to wait till the next round in Texas. His closest rival is his team mate, Valtteri Bottas who is now 74 points behind.
♦ Ferrari started off with an unexpected advantage of pole position for Charles Leclerc when Max Verstappen lost his pole position because he ignored warning flags. However, the Italian team again lost that advantage although Sebastian Vettel’s tyre strategy worked out well in the end.
♦ Daniil Kvyat finished 9th overall but was dropped to 11th when the official results came out. The Toro Rosso driver was given a 10-second post-race time penalty for his last lap incident with Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg. The change in position also lost him and his team 2 points.
♦ Alexander Albon put in a good performance in Mexico, rising as high as third in the running, but the 2-stop strategy he had to use prevented him from pursuing the Mercedes-AMG drivers.
♦ The chances of Hamilton winning in Texas are pretty good as he has won 5 races there over the past 7 years. After collecting another world title, he can decide if he wants to move to Ferrari, Formula E, become an actor (he revealed that he was approached to star in Top Gun 2), or try to save the world in other ways.
Next race in Texas on November 3
Since 2016, Casio has had a presence in Formula 1 racing through association with the Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula 1 Team. Sharing the focus on precision and technology with the Formula 1 team, Casio has collaborated in the development of high-performance metal chronographs based on the brand concept of ‘Speed and Intelligence’.
Its latest additions to the EDIFICE line – the EQB-1000TR and EFR-S567TR slim-profile chronographs – are now available in Malaysia, with recommended retail prices of RM3,159 and RM1,269, respectively.
Designs inspired by F1 racing cars
Both watches have designs inspired on the Scuderia Toro Rosso STR14 which is competing in the 2019 Formula 1 World Championship. Adopting the racing car’s colour scheme of blue, red and silver, the entire EQB-1000TR and the dial of the EFR-S567TR adopt an eye-catching red stripe motif on a blue background, representing the team colours.
In both models, the entire dial, excluding the bezel and inset dials, is made of carbonfibre. This material, first used in the aerospace industry, offers high strength but is lighter than steel so it is ideal for F1 machines that need to be light.
The dial and case back feature the team logo, and the inset dial in the 9 o’clock position has an image of a bull, the team symbol. The new models are also infused with the worldview of Scuderia Toro Rosso.
Solar-powered with smartphone connectivity
The EQB-1000TR, a slim-profile chronograph equipped with a Tough Solar power system and smartphone connectivity. In addition to accurate time syncing that can be performed by connecting to a smartphone app, the new model has World Time. The user can see the time for two different places, in the main and inset dials, by selecting from approximately 300 cities. This feature is very useful for the Scuderia Toro Rosso drivers and team members who travel around the globe.
The new Last Lap Indicator displays the difference from the previous lap time on the inset dial within a range of minus 5 to plus 1 seconds. The stopwatch function has also been enhanced, and the recorded times can be uploaded to the smartphone app. Since 200 lap times can be saved, measured to 1/1000th of a second, the chronograph helps manage detailed times during a race.
♦ The strong typhoon forced qualifying to be postponed to raceday and both Ferrari’s were able to take the front row of the starting grid.
♦ With Valtteri Bottas winning in Japan, the 2019 F1 Constructors Championship is secured by the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Motorsport team. The sixth consecutive world championship double is a new Formula 1 record.
♦ Although the two Ferraris had the front row on the starting grid, the team lost its advantage when the lights went green as Sebastian Vettel fumbled his start. However, the stewards did not penalise him for what appeared to be a ‘jump start’. Charles Leclerc was also slow off the line and Bottas surged forward, taking advantage of the situation.
♦ Max Verstappen’s race was short after his car was hit by Leclerc’s early in the race. Although both cars were damaged, the Red Bull was worse off and Verstappen was forced to retire.
♦ It was Alexander Albon’s first time at Suzuka and the 4th place is the best he has achieved in his career to date, one position better than in Belgium and Russia.
♦ A Mercedes-AMG driver will win the title again but it’s still not Lewis Hamilton’s for sure. The round in Mexico will be a tense one as Bottas still has an outside chance, depending on the outcome.
Next race in Mexico on October 27
Race starts at 2:10 pm in Japan/1:10 pm in Malaysia
♦ Lewis Hamilton finally gets a win after 4 races and increasing assurance of another world championship title, possibly being confirmed in Mexico.
♦ Controversies again in the Ferrari camp led to Sebastian Vettel retiring with engine problems and Charles Leclerc losing his lead due to the virtual safety car being deployed.
♦ Red Bull’s two drivers – Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon – started the race in poor form, the former having been given a penalty and the latter having had an accident in qualifying. But they managed to finish 4th and 5th (Albon moving up from 20th at the beginning) to collect points for the team.
♦ Poorly planned pit stop saw Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo immobile longer than necessary and dropping way down the field to end 13th. He must miss the lightning-quick and precisely planned pit stops at Ferrari.
(Provisional results)
Next race in Japan (Suzuka) on October 13
♦ A 1-2 finish for Ferrari in Singapore and for Sebastian Vettel to stand at the top of the podium – which he has not done since August last year.
♦ ‘Unfair’ was how Charles Leclerc felt when the Ferrari team allowed Vettel to undercut him and come into the pits one lap earlier, resulting in Leclerc losing his lead.
♦ Lewis Hamilton managed only fourth among the finishers but his strong points lead still gives him a comfortable buffer for the remaining rounds.
♦ Although his qualifying time got him eighth place on the starting grid. Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified and dropped to last position. This was due to the MGU-K of the Renault exceeding the power limit during the qualifying session.
Next race in Russia on September 29
The F1 races in Malaysia and Singapore have always been physically the toughest due to the high temperatures and high humidity. This year, the drivers must also cope with the haze though it does not seem to have been mentioned as much of a problem.
The steel beams underpinning the concrete of the Esplanade Bridge are magnetised and the magnetic fields created are strong enough to interfere with some sensors on the cars. Therefore, teams replace some sensors with special sensors that are less susceptible to interference. In order to prevent the magnetic field impacting the hydraulic valves in the gearbox, they are shielded with what’s called ‘mu metal’ (a special nickel alloy which is effective against magnetic fields) – only used in Singapore.
The first ever F1 race at night was run at the Marina Bay Circuit in 2008. There were concerns about whether the lighting conditions would be good enough to ensure safety, especially on a narrow street circuit. The organisers installed 1,600 lighting projectors around the circuit and no one has ever complained of conditions being unsafe due to inadequate illumination.
Drivers can lose around 3 kgs of weight through sweating over the course of the race, due to the incredibly high temperatures and humidity. Fluid loss is also a factor for team members, so keeping hydrated is crucial. The recommended amount of fluid intake on a hot day ranges from three to five litres.
Drivers change gear about 62 times during one lap of the Singapore circuit, the second most number among current circuits. In the 2018 race, Lewis Hamilton completed 3,100 gear changes and Valtteri 4,140.
The drivers and crews do not change their ‘body clock’ to Singapore time, which means that when the race starts in the evening, it will be like their usual afternoon timing in European events. Therefore they stick to European time and routines, having breakfast at midday and lunch around 6 pm. Dinner times vary depending on the day and workload but are usually from 1 am onwards. The drivers will go to bed around 6 am to get 8 hours of sleep.
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