The 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix discussion thread

[Rob Dylan]

Silence for this thread yet again, but I'm excited that I can watch another race again! Been struggling a little this year what with the races being stuck behind the paywall, but I don't know, I'm actually looking forward to this race.

The track is good and always throws up a surprise or two. And I know I'm maybe in a minority, but I don't have an issue with races that are passed the championship contention stage, as it feels like a separate event outside of F1 which doesn't matter in the long run. Therefore I can watch it without too much worry about who wins and loses - it's just nice to have a casual race-watching experience on a Sunday evening. Don't know, I'm feeling good about watching the F1 again

[dr-baker]

I think Lewis Hamilton kinda agrees with you as he has said that it gives him the chance to experiment a little bit in preparation for next year.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/14718 ... t-for-2020

[Barbazza]

Safety Car benefits Red Bull yet again. And however silly it was for Ferrari to make a total mess of that, how fragile are those tyres now?

Any Red Bull 1-2 is a race I'd rather forget.

[Barbazza]

Spoke too soon. Is this end of season madness? So Gasly gets an undeserved podium then. Equally annoying,

[Barbazza]

Man in fastest car and on pole wins the race and gets driver of the day.

Erm....Carlos Sainz? (or even Gasly, much as I hate him)

[dr-baker]

Who would have guessed a Toro Rosso on the podium? For 2nd time this year?

[Wallio]

I was just saying to the wife, "when you have a seemingly neverending discussion of the wind increasing by a whopping 2mph for OVER 10 LAPS!, your race is boring as hell." And then, bam! The last 12 laps happened.

[rachel1990]

I was getting so fed up that I considered putting the football on instead but thank God I stayed with the F1. What a great finale!!

[Barbazza]

Does Lazenby have to wear those stupid lederhosen shorts every time Red Bull win now?! Damon gloating over Ferrari misfortune, what a massive surprise - I'm glad he hasn't been on Sky's coverage much this year.

[IceG]

Hamilton's attempt at under-taking Albon looked very similar to the Kvyat/Hulkenberg incident in Mexico. There were lots of replays from today but I have only seen a few from Mexico...

I think it was not as bad as Ricciardo on Magnuson. In that case, Ricciardo had clearly lost control after touching the kerb on the left and understeered into the Haas.

[Waris]

Welp, there it is! https://www.racefans.net/2019/11/17/hamilton-given-five-second-time-penalty-for-albon-collision-sainz-promoted-to-third/

[Barbazza]

Well, there's some good news at least. Is that their first podium since the double one (half of which was also inherited of course) in Australia what feels like years ago?

[Wallio]

Welp, there it is! https://www.racefans.net/2019/11/17/hamilton-given-five-second-time-penalty-for-albon-collision-sainz-promoted-to-third/

Legitimately surprised by that. Figured when they announced it would be looked at after the race, that old Hammy got away with another one. Glad to be wrong on that.

Now, with Sainz also under investigation, will his podium stand? Here's hoping not, as that would put KIMI on the rostrum.

[UncreativeUsername37]

That's got to be the best second half of a race I've seen in a long time....

[yannicksamlad]

Daniel Ricciardo's reputation as a great overtaker seems to have taken a pounding this year. Bit like his car.
Honda's reputation for being a bit short of horsepower is also under review on the evidence of that drag to the line. And Sebastian's reputation for not quite driving in a straight line down the straight..remains intact. Unlike his car

I felt sorry for Haas though

[FullMetalJack]

Worth noting amidst all the late race chaos, Antonio Giovinazzi is now only one top 6 finish away from unrejectification.

[Enforcer]

Daniel Ricciardo's reputation as a great overtaker seems to have taken a pounding this year. Bit like his car.
Honda's reputation for being a bit short of horsepower is also under review on the evidence of that drag to the line. And Sebastian's reputation for not quite driving in a straight line down the straight..remains intact. Unlike his car

I felt sorry for Haas though

I've always considered Danny Ric a divebomber (so is Hamilton, btw). The difference is when he was in a Red Bull, all of the grid except Merc & Ferrari wouldn't bother defending against him because they knew he'd eventually get by anyway due to superior machinery, so it wasn't an issue most of the time.

When he's a in a Renault though, other drivers say "hang on, I might be able to keep that behind me" and do defend. Therefore more accidents.

[mario]

Welp, there it is! https://www.racefans.net/2019/11/17/hamilton-given-five-second-time-penalty-for-albon-collision-sainz-promoted-to-third/

Legitimately surprised by that. Figured when they announced it would be looked at after the race, that old Hammy got away with another one. Glad to be wrong on that.

Now, with Sainz also under investigation, will his podium stand? Here's hoping not, as that would put KIMI on the rostrum.

So, they've allowed the podium for Sainz to stand on the grounds that, although Sainz did use his DRS - he was in fact one of eight drivers caught using his DRS in that yellow flag zone - because the FIA cannot disable the DRS in a single yellow flag zone, and because they argued that Sainz did slow down, despite using his DRS, they decided not to investigate it further. https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/braz ... i/4600168/

To be honest, I half wonder whether the reason why they didn't investigate is because, with eight drivers being caught - which is almost half the field - the stewards perhaps might have found it a bit embarrassing to have to penalise that many drivers, and preferred to simply brush it under the carpet.

Speaking of the safety car, it seems that the use of the safety car in that race, and the way that the restarts played out, seems to have also set Liberty Media off on trying to spice things up further by altering the way that restarts work to mix things up further. https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/rule ... c/4599860/
I can't help but feel that is kind of missing the point - those situations should be ones that evolve naturally, and trying to force them is something that I can't really see working out.