2019 Williams F1 Team - Mercedes

[Wouter]

https://twitter.com/WilliamsRacing/stat ... 5200233477

[Lotus102]

https://twitter.com/WilliamsRacing/stat ... 5200233477

This is interesting. It seems to be in addition to the existing deal with ROKiT phones? ABK Beer logos have been on the bargeboards since I think Silverstone. The ROK energy drink seems to have been around since 2011 or thereabouts but has evidently not enjoyed much breakthrough into the market. Makes sense to use the association with F1 to increase recognition.

[Lotus102]

Racefans article with a few noteworthy bits (apologies if this should go in the technical thread)

https://www.racefans.net/2019/10/24/rus ... in-mexico/

Seems the brake problems Russell had in Suzuka were possibly the result of over-cooling? “So I’ve been trying a number of things and around Japan on a circuit [where] you only brake once every every lap, really, it didn’t work at all. So it was very tricky. But we definitely won’t be in that issue again.”

He also mentions, in relation to comments about the thin atmosphere at Mexico City, one reason why the FW42 is so draggy - “*Generally, this year we’ve been a little bit over-cooled*. So with the lack of air available and generally quite hot here should give us slightly more performance in comparison."

It was arguably predictable that after getting things so wrong with the cooling in 2018, Williams would overcompensate, but a TD of Paddy Lowe's experience ought not to have allowed such mistakes; an overly conservative car after an overly radical one just underlines that he was out of his depth in the role. Williams' in-season development without him has been OK so next year performance should be less disastrous. I still think they'll be last at the start of the season, but at least within touching distance of the next slowest teams.

[Manoah2u]

https://twitter.com/WilliamsRacing/stat ... 5200233477

Well i gotta say, atleast it's not Rich Energy.
That they were making drinks aswell was a (little known) fact though,
was wondering what Williams would do for 2020, but it seems logical.
As said, atleast it's not Rich Energy, but it would have been bonkers if that happened.

Still, Orlen money needs replacement. When will Latifi be announced?

[Lotus102]

https://twitter.com/WilliamsRacing/stat ... 5200233477

Well i gotta say, atleast it's not Rich Energy.
That they were making drinks aswell was a (little known) fact though,
was wondering what Williams would do for 2020, but it seems logical.
As said, atleast it's not Rich Energy, but it would have been bonkers if that happened.

Still, Orlen money needs replacement. When will Latifi be announced?

Williams generally don’t announce drivers until late, so I wouldn’t expect confirmation until January. There’s also the matter of Latifi’s superlicence to consider, which Claire said they would need to ensure before any further progress could be made. I think he’s guaranteed to get the points for 2020 now, but I would imagine the funding for the seat will depend on where he finishes in the championship

[bill shoe]

Russell appears to be back on board next year with the usual significant Mercedes support so Williams have locked in a fast driver. Bad news is that given the team's overall financial struggles, the Russell situation logically leads to the second seat going to the highest bidder.

Who is contender besides Latifi? Sirotkin is actually a plausible candidate, he was actually fine last year. Who else?

[Mr Brooksy]

Russell appears to be back on board next year with the usual significant Mercedes support so Williams have locked in a fast driver. Bad news is that given the team's overall financial struggles, the Russell situation logically leads to the second seat going to the highest bidder.

Who is contender besides Latifi? Sirotkin is actually a plausible candidate, he was actually fine last year. Who else?

I don't think SMP would have another go with Williams so I'd highly doubt Sirotkin would be back, even though Sergey said at the end or beginning of this year he didn't hold a grudge. Personally I think it'll be Latifi, no one else comes to mind with bags full of cash.... But you never know.

Anyone else in F2 with big bucks?

[search]

decent race from Kubica, without the late puncture he would have beaten Russell today.

Hard to say if it was really an improvement in terms of pace (due to the new front wing?) or if he "just" won the start and benefited from track position then. Russell's comment that it was a missed opportunity to fight the Alfa's sounds more like he thinks that he had a lot more in the bag.

[noname]

decent race from Kubica, without the late puncture he would have beaten Russell today.

Hard to say if it was really an improvement in terms of pace (due to the new front wing?) or if he "just" won the start and benefited from track position then. Russell's comment that it was a missed opportunity to fight the Alfa's sounds more like he thinks that he had a lot more in the bag.

It was more than a good start, IMHO. Robert overtook Russell after losing place to him during (long) pit-stop.

[netoperek]

decent race from Kubica, without the late puncture he would have beaten Russell today.

Hard to say if it was really an improvement in terms of pace (due to the new front wing?) or if he "just" won the start and benefited from track position then. Russell's comment that it was a missed opportunity to fight the Alfa's sounds more like he thinks that he had a lot more in the bag.

It was more than a good start, IMHO. Robert overtook Russell after losing place to him during (long) pit-stop.

Funny thing, Robert haven't even noticed that puncture in his pace and wanted to stay on track. At the end of the race, Paul apologized for that puncture. Not a common thing, I'd say.

Seems Parc Ferme profile didn't like the wing situation either :
https://twitter.com/PFF1/status/1188542992749137920

[search]

decent race from Kubica, without the late puncture he would have beaten Russell today.

Hard to say if it was really an improvement in terms of pace (due to the new front wing?) or if he "just" won the start and benefited from track position then. Russell's comment that it was a missed opportunity to fight the Alfa's sounds more like he thinks that he had a lot more in the bag.

It was more than a good start, IMHO. Robert overtook Russell after losing place to him during (long) pit-stop.

yes, Russell made a mistake on cold tires. It was not a good pass from Kubica though, coming from too far behind and it could have very well caused a DNF for both

[Lotus102]

decent race from Kubica, without the late puncture he would have beaten Russell today.

Hard to say if it was really an improvement in terms of pace (due to the new front wing?) or if he "just" won the start and benefited from track position then. Russell's comment that it was a missed opportunity to fight the Alfa's sounds more like he thinks that he had a lot more in the bag.

It was more than a good start, IMHO. Robert overtook Russell after losing place to him during (long) pit-stop.

yes, Russell made a mistake on cold tires. It was not a good pass from Kubica though, coming from too far behind and it could have very well caused a DNF for both

Indeed. Good to see Kubica having the chance to look a bit racy before he leaves F1 but let’s not get too excited. Not for the first time, Russell was run completely out of road and chose to back out rather than take both cars out. If Sainz on cream-crackered softs could overtake Albon on fresh hards, it says a fair bit for the advantage of up-to-temperature tyres. Russell evidently felt he had the pace to challenge Haas and his disappointment at being stuck in dirty air all race instead was genuine. I doubt there’s a significant change of pace between drivers. There was still 1.4s difference in quali.

[Lotus102]

Funny thing, Robert haven't even noticed that puncture in his pace and wanted to stay on track. At the end of the race, Paul apologized for that puncture. Not a common thing, I'd say.

Not unusual for a driver to not notice a slow puncture and it to show up on the team’s data before it’s apparent in the car.

Paul was commiserating about the puncture, not apologising for it

[netoperek]

Russell appears to be back on board next year with the usual significant Mercedes support so Williams have locked in a fast driver. Bad news is that given the team's overall financial struggles, the Russell situation logically leads to the second seat going to the highest bidder.

Who is contender besides Latifi? Sirotkin is actually a plausible candidate, he was actually fine last year. Who else?

I don't think SMP would have another go with Williams so I'd highly doubt Sirotkin would be back, even though Sergey said at the end or beginning of this year he didn't hold a grudge. Personally I think it'll be Latifi, no one else comes to mind with bags full of cash.... But you never know.

Anyone else in F2 with big bucks?

Mazepin has been a serious contender some while ago. I don't know if his father has solved his legal problems, though.

[netoperek]

Not unusual for a driver to not notice a slow puncture and it to show up on the team’s data before it’s apparent in the car.

Paul was commiserating about the puncture, not apologising for it

Yes, I know, even I'm not reading anything more into it
As to pace difference, Robert said his car was sliding a lot less than in Q, where it was nearly undriveable.
He had a small issues with his engine during start where it wouldn't give much power for first few seconds. He was told to lift and coast since lap 7 and overall had 27 faster laps to Russels 17 between them in the race. I think both of them had a very solid races. Robert had 13th time and George 17th, faster than both haas drivers.
Robert got an overall performance score of 4 to George's 3.5 on this F1.com telemetry thingy.