Scuderia Ferrari Archives

Piston.my

Scuderia Ferrari

F1 (Round 15) – Highlights Of The 2019 Singapore Grand Prix And Results

♦ 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.

Mercedes-AMG GT R — *The AMG GT R is the 11th Official F1 Safety Car provided by Mercedes-AMG over the past 23 years. It is the quickest Safety Car in the sport’s history so far.*

Next race in Russia on September 29

F1 (Round 14) – Highlights Of The 2019 Italian Grand Prix And Results

♦ Second consecutive victory for 21-year old Charles Leclerc. He also gave Ferrari its first win on home ground after 9 years.

♦ Although under attack from both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas at different stages of the race, Leclerc stayed cool and remained out of reach to take the chequered flag.

♦ Sebastian Vettel’s race was one he would want to forget. After losing control of his car at a chicane, he was involved in a collision with Racing Point’s Lance Stroll got him a 10-second penalty.

♦ Although Ferrari seems to be competitive enough, the improvements being made to their car can’t be fast enough to collect more wins before the season ends, especially if circuits are tight with lots of corners.

♦ Daniel Ricciardo’s fourth placing was the best for Renault since the carmaker returned to F1 in 2016.

♦ The McLaren team was fined 5,000 euros (about RM23,000) for an unsafe release that caused Sainz to retire from the race.

Next race in Singapore on September 22

F1 (Round 14) – 2019 Italian Grand Prix Starting Grid

Race starts in Italy at 3:10 pm/9:10 pm in Malaysia

Ferrari threatens to leave F1 if sport’s proposed changes are made

After the recent announcement made by Liberty Media, the owner of F1 regarding certain changes to powertrain specifications, several engine suppliers are up in arms about it. The issue surrounds the proposed idea of standardizing powertrains.

Several automakers, especially those who have worked tirelessly through R&D to develop competitive technology, aren’t willing to forgo this in order to allow for a more level playing field. Ferrari is one such team, and has threatened to walk away from the sport as reported by Motor Authority.

Ferrari isn’t too happy with the proposed plan which was made vocal by its CEO and Chairman, Sergio Marchionne. He likened the move of standardizing such mechanicals to similar rules that define how NASCAR racers are developed and built.

Unlike other Motorsport categories, NASCAR’s rule book dictates pretty much everything that include body dimensions and mechanicals need to be built to a certain code. This effectively ensures that very little can be altered by each team, making sure that the spotlight is shone on driver talent rather than massive R&D budgets.

Renault and Mercedes-AMG, two other major players in F1 share Marchionne’s sentiment. Like Ferrari, they too are engine suppliers to a number of other teams in Formula One and as such, aren’t too happy with having their hands tied during R&D.

This isn’t the first time that Ferrari have threatened to leave, it has done so several times in the past when it didn’t agree with the path F1 was taking. These threats haven’t amounted to anything in the past, probably because whether Ferrari realizes it or not – the two share a symbiotic relationship.

These new regulations haven’t been set in stone and once each team has given its own two cents, certain changes will probably be made to keep the big guns happy. Till then, stay tuned and we will let you more about this issue as it unfolds.

Source: Motor Authority