Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2019 i AUTOSPORT

There is talk of a generational changing of the guard in F1 right now, as tech-savvy youngsters schooled on simulators, who race online against random members of the public – and each other – between grands prix, get set to take over the world. At the forefront of this is Max Verstappen, doing his best to stick it to Lewis Hamilton in a Red Bull-Honda that, though rapidly improving, is not yet properly a match for Mercedes. Hot on Max’s heels comes Charles Leclerc, seriously rapid yet still somewhat error-prone in a difficult-to-drive Ferrari. Meanwhile, fresh-faced rookies Alex Albon, Lando Norris and George Russell have all emerged as potential stars over the first half of 2019 (their seasons so far are analysed on page 58). Nico Rosberg rather pointedly thinks…

01 FERRARI'S FIGHTBACK PLAN For a team that headed in to the 2019 season as most people’s favourite for success, Ferrari’s failure to even win a race so far in 2019 has prompted some deep soul-searching inside Maranello. After all, the winter move to push team boss Maurizio Arrivabene aside in favour of Mattia Binotto was supposed to have given Ferrari the impetus to make the final step from race winner to world champion. It has fallen far short of expectations. Most of the reasoning for that can be put down to its car philosophy for 2019. Its pursuit of a more aero-efficient design has proved ill-suited for this season – where having the ultimate downforce appears best for overall lap time and switching tyres on. As Binotto confessed to…

IT NEVER RAINS BUT IT POURS FOR HAAS You have the fifth fastest car on average – on its good days the fourth quickest – but are only ninth in the constructors’ championship. You have a pair of drivers with a magnetic attraction to each other on track and an unwillingness to take responsibility for avoiding clashes. You can’t work the Pirelli tyres properly and that appears to be at the heart of your problems. But you can’t rule out the possibility of a serious aerodynamic flaw, leading to extreme experimentation – with one driver running the latest car specification and the other running the one used for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. Oh, and your title sponsor has become embroiled in a hilarious, and very public, farrago just to…

CV 2018 – present Head of F1 for Sky Sports UK 2008 – present Founder, Executive Producer and Director of 5 Oceans Media, 2011 – Dec 2015 General Manager, Television & Content, V8 Supercars 1997 – Dec 2007 Executive Producer, Motorsport Network Ten Australia 1997 – 1998 Executive Producer, Channel V Australia 1995 – 1996 Managing Director and Executive Producer, Beyond Imagination 1987-1990 Producer, MTV Australia F1 Racing: You took over running Sky Sports F1’s TV operations in 2018. What is your background? Scott Young: I’ve worked in motorsport television for 25 years, on both terrestrial and pay TV, which first started when I was part of the Channel 9 network and I found myself at the Australian GP in Adelaide. You can’t predict what is going to happen in…

An F1 driver’s left leg must be strong enough to apply the brakes with up to 80kg of force. McLaren’s driver performance manager, Simon Reynolds, details four lower body routines undertaken by test driver Sette Câmara. GOBLET SQUAT “The goblet squat is easy to master, promotes efficient muscle engagement and is extremely effective to develop strength and endurance; all the qualities a driver needs to control their car. The exercise targets the explosive muscles (gluteal and quadriceps) for braking and also encourages mechanical efficiency, such as the range of motion of the ankle, which is important for brake and throttle application. Shortened and tight lower leg muscles will restrict how much a driver can move their ankle, which plays havoc with brake and throttle technique.” ARABESQUE EXERCISE “This is an…

While Cyril Abiteboul is a regular character in our news pages by dint of his position at the head of one of Formula 1’s grandee teams – albeit one struggling to regain past glories – somehow six years have elapsed since F1 Racing sat down for a one-to-one interview with him. Then he was team principal of Caterham; now he’s in charge of superintending Renault’s return to championship glory. That means he’s a busy man, but Cyril has found a one-hour window for us between meetings in Monaco, and we convene at his hotel, the Monte Carlo Bay, where the Blue Gin Bar is conveniently empty at this time of day – the sun not yet being past the yard arm… F1 Racing: You were very much below the…

says Frank Williams, “I have to be careful not to make it sound like a eulogy. He viewed almost everything with an amused eye – he was the life and soul of dinner parties, because he could sit with complete strangers, and talk to them about anything. In those days I took to travelling with books of poetry, to be ready for him – but even so, he could always out quote me, which maddened me! “He had become an extremely good driver, getting better all the time, but as well as that was a totally loveable character: funny, charming, loyal. People like Piers don’t exist any more because life, as they say, has moved on. In today’s racing world, there’s no one like him – at all.” I never…

1 Disaster for Mercedes at home It should have been a fairytale weekend for Mercedes at its home race. As title sponsor of the German Grand Prix, the manufacturer was celebrating 125 years, its 200th GP. Both cars featured a special livery, and team personnel wore period costume. And for the first 26 laps of the race everything was going to plan. Lewis Hamilton led team-mate Valtteri Bottas and a 1-2 finish looked assured. But the race dramatically unravelled. At the flag, Hamilton finished 11th (but was promoted to ninth after both Alfa Romeos were given post-race penalties for a clutch start infringement), while Bottas had walked away from his crumpled car in the Turn 1 barriers. In the end, in one of the most wild and chaotic races for…

What’s your favourite part of the track? The fast-flowing section through Turns 2, 3 and 4 is incredible. The drivers fly through this sequence at nearly 190mph and it makes for an amazing spectacle. What’s the best thing to do away from the track itself? There is an abundance of activities. In Dubai, head to the Burj Khalifa, a sight to behold on its own but the view from the top is out of this world. The Atlantis waterpark, the Dubai Marina, Ferrari World or Yas Water World in Abu Dhabi – there’s lot to do and see. Is there any local food and drink that you would recommend? Firstly, be prepared because alcoholic drinks can be quite expensive and can only be consumed in the hotels so you have…

IS CALENDAR EXPANSION SUSTAINABLE? At what point will there be too many grands prix in a season? The answer depends upon which promontory you’re occupying. If you’re the kind of die-hard fan who trawls news sites and forums hourly for updates, desperate to feel part of a constantly evolving scene, you probably feel pain on those weekends not occupied by a three-day grand prix jamboree. In fact, you’re probably wondering what all the moaning is about from the denizens of the other side – those who feel that we’ve already got quite enough races, thank you very much. If we were to express this in terms of a Venn diagram – let’s do it rigorously or not at all – then the latter set is a pretty significant one because…

ANDREW BENSON The BBC's man in the F1 paddock, Andrew Benson, got the chance to speak to Sebastian Vettel about his difficult season. See page 48 STUART CODLING A little known fact is that Stuart 'Codders' Codling's first job was for a TV listings company. Read his 'Flat Chat' column on p114 ANDY HONE As a fan of TV's Alan Partridge, snapper Hone certainly appreciated the sarcastic humour of Guenther Steiner. Turn to page 88 for the fun EDD STRAW During the summer shutdown Straw boarded another plane to enjoy some football in Sweden. His nonfootie column is on p26…

F1 NEEDS THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TIE-BREAKERS This year’s British Grand Prix was a fabulous race that had the capacity crowd on its feet. Battles occurred throughout the field, but the winner wasn’t in doubt after lap 20 when Lewis Hamilton pitted under the Safety Car. This ensured that the early stop made by Valtteri Bottas did not produce the undercut that may have extended his lead. Unfortunately, great though the race was, as a sporting spectacle it was overshadowed by two other memorable sporting events that day that frayed the nerves of every sports lover. At Wimbledon Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer in a fifth-set tie-break even though, perhaps just ten minutes from the end, the smart money would have gone on Federer for the win. A few miles away…

Sunday morning is different from the other days of a grand prix weekend because it is much more relaxed – the mood changes. On Saturday morning in particular, the build-up to qualifying is quite intense because of the nature of the session. Both Nico and Daniel Ricciardo have to perform at a high level for a short amount of time in qualifying, and you can’t really approach a long race distance in the same way. Now most races start at 3.10pm local time, that makes Sundays quite drawn out. Whatever happens on Saturday, it’s important to draw a line under the result of qualifying. We know where we are starting and you can’t change that, so it’s important to focus on what is possible from that grid position. I’ve worked…

When Sebastian Vettel is on song, he is a sight to behold. In harmony with his car, which for him needs a strong front end allied to a predicable rear that he can manipulate in the way he likes, he is close to unbeatable. Think of the Red Bull years, Vettel perfectly attuned to the exhaust-blown aerodynamics of Adrian Newey’s designs, a seemingly never-ending sequence of pole positions, races surrendering to his will, an era defined in a blur of blue and purple perfection, and by Vettel’s index finger raised in celebration, smiling blue eyes visible through the slit in his helmet. But that was a long time ago; a different time. And Vettel, it seems, was a different person. Then he was all light and sun, a joke never…

It doesn’t matter how strong or weak you are in the junior formulae – it’s how you perform in Formula 1 that will define your career. The top three drivers from last year’s Formula 2 championship all made their first grand prix start in 2019 with various levels of experience and expectation. Would they handle the pressure and, in the case of all three, a quick team-mate? In terms of prior track time coming into Australia, Lando Norris had the most F1 experience (despite only being 19), but by driving for McLaren he’s also ended up in one of the best cars in the midfield. The now Red Bull-bound Alexander Albon (23) was given a late call-up by Toro Rosso, so his first laps in an F1 car came in…

Earlier this year, Haas team boss Guenther Steiner achieved notoriety with his frank, no-nonsense approach to running a Formula 1 team. The behind-the-scenes insight was brought to light in the Netflix documentary, Drive to Survive. While he has enjoyed a long career in motorsport, firstly in the World Rally Championship before joining Jaguar’s F1 team in the early 2000s, Steiner has most recently been at the helm of Haas, America’s newest Formula 1 team. The entertaining aspect of his appearance on the Netflix documentary was his X-rated comments, particularly when the hapless Romain Grosjean was in the firing line. Those with a sensitive disposition had better look away now, as once again Guenther’s highly humorous turn-of-phrase is vocalised in some of the responses to your questions. As we ascend the…

1 Hamilton and Verstappen toe-to toe in “awesome” fight It took a typically bravura performance from Lewis Hamilton to wrest victory from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. This was undoubtedly the first time the pair have raced each other flat-out, throwing the business of tyre management to the wind. But it was the absence of their respective team-mates – and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel – from the battle at the front that enabled Hamilton’s crew to take the strategic gamble that broke the race open. As one of the least power-sensitive circuits, the Hungaroring has been a happy hunting ground for Red Bull recently. So it was little surprise to see Verstappen securing his maiden F1 pole position, albeit by just 0.018s, from the Mercedes of Valtteri…

FORMULA 1 TECHNICAL ANALYSIS 2016-18 Giorgio Piola Price £49 giorgionadaeditore.it The works of technical illustrator Giorgio Piola will be well known to long-time readers of both our sister title Autosport and the Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport. At the 1000th world championship grand prix in Shanghai earlier this year, Piola was given a special award to commemorate 800 grand prix appearances, more than anyone else in the sport – his first race was back in Monaco 1969. His technical drawings, which are made up of detailed aspects of suspension, aerodynamics and ‘under the skin’ renderings, are exquisite. This latest book of technical analysis charts the advances of all the Formula 1 teams over the past few years with captions and arrows to explain the developments in detail. Printed on glossy…

Waiting for the dust to settle There was a different timetable at the Hungarian Grand Prix with the Formula 2 feature race being held early on Saturday morning, swapping with the F3 race which moved to the post-F1 qualifying slot. During the race, Ralph Boschung suffered an engine blow-up along the Hungaroring’s back straight. As a result the fast left-hander at Turn 4 was covered in oil. That meant F1’s FP3 was delayed by ten minutes as the marshals laid down white cement powder to help clear up the oil. One of the first drivers to run through Turn 4 was Daniil Kvyat, who sent plumes of white powder up into the air. Photographer Sam Bloxham Where Hungaroring, Hungary When 12.15pm, Saturday 3rd August 2019 Details Canon EOS-1DX MkII, 560mm…

THERE’S MORE TO IT THAN ‘SHOW ME THE MONEY’ If you have been following the Rich Energy shenanigans, in which every twist and turn relating to its logo, contract with Haas and company ownership is played out on Twitter, there is no reason to be shocked. Behind every Formula 1 sponsorship you will find people, with the full spectrum of behaviours and degrees of professionalism that can bring. Haas will privately feel embarrassed, but should take heart. Bernie Ecclestone made Formula 1 hugely attractive to corporate sponsors, but it has also proven a strong magnet for less scrupulous opportunists keen to dabble in the glamour, celebrity and money with which the sport has become synonymous. Lunching in Milan with an Italian businessman purporting to represent an Israeli diamond trading company,…

GETTING THE BALL ROLLING In Formula 1 there are two main performance differentiators to focus on: aerodynamics and tyres. Across a grand prix weekend we have to ensure we are using the car’s aerodynamics to the maximum potential for a given circuit layout. Secondly, we need to have tyres working in the correct operating window and determine our tyre strategy for qualifying and the race. “FOR DOWNFORCE LEVELS, WE CAN LOOK AT SECTOR TIMES, GPS TRACES AND SPEED-TRAP DATA. WE CAN ALSO ANALYSE GPS FROM EVERY OTHER CAR. THIS GIVES US SOME IDEA OF HOW OUR RIVALS ARE CHANGING THEIR ENGINE MODES AND ENERGY DEPLOYMENT” In FP1 on Friday the track conditions are usually poor, so the priority in this session is to check the car is functioning correctly from…

Anyone who sets their alarm for 3.50am deserves sympathy. Doubly so if they only managed to get to sleep at 3.20am. But this is a typical Friday night for Mercedes’ main man on the sidelines: Esteban Ocon. For the European races the Mercedes reserve driver spends his Friday evenings at the team’s Brackley simulator, regularly clocking up more than 1000km. Once finished, he’s whisked to the airport to board the first flight to wherever on the continent that weekend’s grand prix is taking place. On this occasion, F1 Racing catches up with Ocon at the Austrian Grand Prix. The previous evening he’d completed 221 laps of the Red Bull Ring – virtually – finishing at just gone 2am. Three hours later he was walking through the terminal at Heathrow airport…

Stop whinging Mercedes too powerful? This cycle has always existed but the issue is that people think a sport like Formula 1 should be like Game of Thrones. There’s a difference between F1 and a TV show. F1 is a competition and the rule of the game is eat or be eaten. I do not like the domination of F1 by Mercedes, but asking a governing body to step in to help the competition because ‘we are so bored’ is weak. You cannot take away the engineering showdown, brilliant driving or fantastic brains behind the scenes because it is getting boring. Some are always better than others. That’s a fact. And don’t forget that the midfield fight is amazing and that has never been this fun before. People think the…

YOUR GUIDE TO THE UAE Situated around 90 minutes apart, most fans decide to share their time between both Abu Dhabi and neighbouring Dubai when heading to the United Arab Emirates for the Abu Dhabi GP. Since its inception in 2009, Formula 1’s first day-night race has become the staple end-of-season party to conclude the championship with a flourish. The 2019 race will be the eighth time in 11 years that the plush Yas Marina Circuit has held that particular honour. Starting your trip in Dubai before heading off to Abu Dhabi means you can fit in some sightseeing before the grand prix. Dubai’s skyline is dominated by the Burj Khalifa skyscraper. Standing 829.8 meters tall and boasting 57 elevators, heading up the tower gives you a bird’s eye view…