2019 Aston Martin Red Bull Racing - Honda F1 Team

[dxpetrov]

From an interview with Helmut Marko on AMuS.
He looks back on a turbulent race and explains why Verstappen is a candidate for the title.

* From when did you believe in a victory?

Marko: Right after the first pit stop. Since I saw, what speed we can drive.

* What is still missing?

Marko: In Monza we get an engine upgrade, in Russia new fuel. Then we should have unlocked the engine.
The car also becomes some improvements. Wait and you will see it .

* Does he still have a title chance?

Marko: I would not rule it out.

https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... erstappen/

More of the interesting from the same article:

Pierre Gasly went backwards again.

Marko: In qualifying he has shown a strong reaction to his accident. The speed in the race would not have been so bad, but the Gasly is just too weak in a duel and overtaking. The crash at the end with Albon was completely unnecessary.

[etusch]

Comeback is an understatement.

Look if it is up to Verstappen vs Hamilton in equally good machinery and equally good team operations, based on the last 1,5 years of driving Verstappen would be able to beat Hamilton more than Hamilton beats him. But the fact is they dont have equal machinery (Honda still 3rd best engine, RB 2nd best chassis, Mercedes is best in both categories in racetrim, in qualitrim Ferrari has the better engine), Verstappen has to take an engine penalty thus is going to lose points in at least 1 race (bigger deficit plus less races to work away that deficit) and there are tracks that massively favor engine power where neither Merc or RB may take the maximum points due to a Ferrari win (Monza, Spa, Abu Dhabi, Sochi). Basically if you would have to make quote for this as a booky it would make someone a millionaire just by placing 100 euro on it.

You keep saying this but now we have 2/3 races which directly contradict your statements. Mercedes was ok in the wet, but they could not pull away from Verstappen, and in the dry Verstappen had better pace than either Mercedes drivers, and mind you both of their cars were not damaged at that point. So you can't use that excuse or that Hamilton was being held up, like you can in Verstappen's favor in Silverstone.

I think in race pace the Red Bull is every bit the match of the Mercedes, maybe slightly faster or slower depending on circuit. You don't qualify within .2 seconds around a 5.9km circuit if your car isn't on the pace.

You have a point that they were close these last 2/3 races, but the Friday in Hockenheim (in hot weather nonetheless) showed a big advantage for Merc. Also those 2/3 races where when RBR had their big upgrade and Merc not yet. Now Merc have their big upgrade and we will have to wait for a complete dry race with no damage (Austria: cooling issues and broken front wing, Germany: Hamilton had more damage than just his nose, visually one of the flow conditioners was gone , Merc pit stop disaster) and them to dial in the adjusted setup to judge the new running order.

Dont forget that until Austria the season looked to be an absolute whitewash for Mercedes with them absolutely trashing everyone. Also in Silverstone they were again comfortably ahead and Max would only have gotten ahead of Bottas (if not for Vettel) because Merc messed up the tyre strategy and the pack could bunch up under SC. From all that I could see we have 2 special races where Merc didnt get their usual pace due to damage and weather (extremely hot Austria, changing conditions Germany) and in all the other races they won by either a big margin or a small margin but only because of a team operations error not a pace problem (such as Monaco giving HAM wrong tyres).

I would be happy to share your optimism, but until we see a normal race with normal weather and no damage or blunders from Merc or their drivers where the RB outpaces or matches the Merc we can not start to think about regularly beating them on merit, let alone the championship.

Austria is completely a normal race and Mercedes could not do good there. If you say that cooling problem made it anormal so we can say Redbull aero problem made other race anormal or Honda's mapping made orher races anormal. Or any other development problem makes race anormal. No it was just Mercedes go wrong and Redbull Honda go right. Hope I could tell my point

[Pyrone89]

You keep saying this but now we have 2/3 races which directly contradict your statements. Mercedes was ok in the wet, but they could not pull away from Verstappen, and in the dry Verstappen had better pace than either Mercedes drivers, and mind you both of their cars were not damaged at that point. So you can't use that excuse or that Hamilton was being held up, like you can in Verstappen's favor in Silverstone.

I think in race pace the Red Bull is every bit the match of the Mercedes, maybe slightly faster or slower depending on circuit. You don't qualify within .2 seconds around a 5.9km circuit if your car isn't on the pace.

You have a point that they were close these last 2/3 races, but the Friday in Hockenheim (in hot weather nonetheless) showed a big advantage for Merc. Also those 2/3 races where when RBR had their big upgrade and Merc not yet. Now Merc have their big upgrade and we will have to wait for a complete dry race with no damage (Austria: cooling issues and broken front wing, Germany: Hamilton had more damage than just his nose, visually one of the flow conditioners was gone , Merc pit stop disaster) and them to dial in the adjusted setup to judge the new running order.

Dont forget that until Austria the season looked to be an absolute whitewash for Mercedes with them absolutely trashing everyone. Also in Silverstone they were again comfortably ahead and Max would only have gotten ahead of Bottas (if not for Vettel) because Merc messed up the tyre strategy and the pack could bunch up under SC. From all that I could see we have 2 special races where Merc didnt get their usual pace due to damage and weather (extremely hot Austria, changing conditions Germany) and in all the other races they won by either a big margin or a small margin but only because of a team operations error not a pace problem (such as Monaco giving HAM wrong tyres).

I would be happy to share your optimism, but until we see a normal race with normal weather and no damage or blunders from Merc or their drivers where the RB outpaces or matches the Merc we can not start to think about regularly beating them on merit, let alone the championship.

Austria is completely a normal race and Mercedes could not do good there. If you say that cooling problem made it anormal so we can say Redbull aero problem made other race anormal or Honda's mapping made orher races anormal. Or any other development problem makes race anormal. No it was just Mercedes go wrong and Redbull Honda go right. Hope I could tell my point

I get your point. Abnormal was meant to refer to the fact we cant expect every race to be run in 35 degrees celcius and at altitude.

[etusch]

"We know what Red Bull has in mind and what Honda has in mind, so we approach the second half with great confidence," Vermeulen said.

"I think we will be very strong in the second half of the season." said.

https://tr.motorsport.com/f1/news/red-b ... r/4504347/

[Datco]

For this to happen we need like 4 or 5 more wins and a bumch of Merc DNF’s. Not likely.

If we look at it on paper it's a 62 point deficit. If Max wins and Hamilton comes 2nd that's 7 points gained, 8 if Verstappen gets fastest lap. There are 10 rounds to go. If Verstappen wins 8 in a row + fastest lap and Hamilton comes 2nd 8 times in a row Verstappen will take the lead with 2 races to go. If Verstappen only takes victory and no fastest laps it will take 9 victories in a row to take the lead. If we have another 26 point haul over Hamilton at any time during the season, and the Red Bull package takes that next step to fight on equal footing it's game on. As Hamilton's advantage would only be 36 points, something Max can overcome given equally fast cars and a full third of the season to go.

If he pulled it off it would be one of the greatest comebacks in racing since Raikkonen took the title in 2007.

If Redbull Honda would do that and Hamilton win wdc by keeping damage low still it would be wonderful season. Really wonderful season.

I would take that, even the 2009 RBR comeback towards Brawn would do. Max's biggest deficit to his opponents is his team mate. Odds are really stacked up.

[loner]

Tost: Kvyat ready for RBR return, but Gasly deserves more time
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/tost ... y/4504079/

yeah thats my point , why pay for Hulk when you have equal or better in your team...

[Pyrone89]

If we look at it on paper it's a 62 point deficit. If Max wins and Hamilton comes 2nd that's 7 points gained, 8 if Verstappen gets fastest lap. There are 10 rounds to go. If Verstappen wins 8 in a row + fastest lap and Hamilton comes 2nd 8 times in a row Verstappen will take the lead with 2 races to go. If Verstappen only takes victory and no fastest laps it will take 9 victories in a row to take the lead. If we have another 26 point haul over Hamilton at any time during the season, and the Red Bull package takes that next step to fight on equal footing it's game on. As Hamilton's advantage would only be 36 points, something Max can overcome given equally fast cars and a full third of the season to go.

If he pulled it off it would be one of the greatest comebacks in racing since Raikkonen took the title in 2007.

If Redbull Honda would do that and Hamilton win wdc by keeping damage low still it would be wonderful season. Really wonderful season.

I would take that, even the 2009 RBR comeback towards Brawn would do. Max's biggest deficit to his opponents is his team mate. Odds are really stacked up.

2009 was a team who created a car with Honda money and then couldnt develop te car due to massive lack of funds vs the well funded RB. Their trick was also relatively easy to see and copy (double diffuser). And even then it was too much of a task to neutralize their points lead. So no comparison at all to the extremely well funded and staffed Mercedes.

[Morteza]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I-CV59aO_0

[ispano6]

It's not going to be as hot as forecasted for Hungary, but we should still have a good chance. Heat probably won't be an issue and Mercedes were strong here last year, but so was Gasly in the STR Honda.
The chassis and drivability may be our biggest strength here.

[Marti_EF3]

Better to have mapping gremilns with the turbolag solved if they want to have a great qualifying. If they can't split the Mercs, it will be hard

[ispano6]

I gather engineers are trying to replicate the turbo-lag issue with simulation runs on the dyno but whether anything useful comes out of it for Austria remains to be seen. Seems the turbo lag is an issue in the low speed corner exits?

[gokarter]

i like hulk, he is showing similar performance to riccardo. i hope he gets the gasly seat

[Jaisonas]

i like hulk, he is showing similar performance to riccardo. i hope he gets the gasly seat

Hulk is allergic to podiums though

[shingles]

i like hulk, he is showing similar performance to riccardo. i hope he gets the gasly seat

Not a fan of hulk. If Bottas is gonna get kicked out of MB, I say he is a good number two driver.

[dxpetrov]

Bottas?! Absolutely horrible choice.