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Formula 1, 2019 - chit-chat & betting.
Tikay10
Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 161,171
The 2019 F1 season starts in a few weeks, the first race, as is the custom these days will be in Australia.
Betting on F1? Absolutely - the main reason being that I'm hoping to get one of our regular Forum contributors @Peter27 to contribute. Peter has his own Diary here, "Diary of a determined player".
"So what?" you might say, but Peter is easily THE most successful punter I know on F1 & Formula E, & he makes a shed load of money every year betting on the outcome of F1 races. I'm not entirely sure, but I believe he used to work in the F1 industry, though I'm not sure if that's still the case. I can be sure that if we can get him involved, it will be profitable to follow his tips.
Meanwhile, let's get started.
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Pre-season testing, which is strictly regulated, unlike the old days when any team could test anywhere, is currently under way in Barcelona.
We can't glen too much from recorded times so far, though Ferrari do look strong & reliable so far. Raikkonen has moved on & been replaced by a stunning talent in Leclerc. Make a note of that name, he's good, very good.
Can't say the new Ferrari livery does much for me, but Ferrari are a bit hamstrung by their historical insistence on always being predominantly red.
Best or worst looking 2019 livery must be McLaren, by a county mile, most either love it or loathe it. I'm a fan.
McLaren are headquartered in Woking, Surrey, have dumped the Honda power units this year &, arguably, jumped out of the frying pan & into the fire by using Renault engines.
Historically, McLaren were a immense force in F1, but the last few years have been a disaster.
I'm hopeful they'll do better this year, & for sure, they'll not be last on the grids very often. That "honour" will belong to Williams, more on which later.
Beautiful colour scheme, huh?
Sadly, Williams look like repeating last year, which was just horrible for them in every way.
The news is bad though, they failed to turn up for testing yesterday or today, & even tomorrow (Wednesday) is looking doubtful. Whilst all the other Teams are busy circling the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the Williams cars are still back home in their Grove, Oxfordshire base.
I hope I'm wrong, but they look nailed on for last place in the Constructors Championship. You could back them to win it of course, they are currently 500/1. You could add a zero to that & I'd still not back them.
Odds on jolly to dominate again are of course Mercedes, or, to give them their proper name, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport. They are based in Brixworth, Northampton, quite near Silverstone actually.
Don't be fooled by the "Mercedes" name by the way, the cars are British in my mind, with both car & engines being built in Northamptonshire.
2 other great looking cars this year are Haas & Racing Point.
Here's the seriously sexy looking Haas.
Racing Point - correct title SportPesa Racing Point Formula One Team - are what we used to know as Force India really. Cool looking motor, that. The "BWT" stands for "Best Water Technology", their sponsor.
F1 tips, I watch every race. Didn’t know Peter has some tips on his thread.
Watch this space.
He tipped a fella to win the Mexico City Formula E at the weekend at 18/1, & the bloke led every yard of the race - until 100 yards from the line, when he ran out of juice. Tough to find 18/1 winners in Motor Racing, but that was so close.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/47276178
I did indeed work for Williams F1 for a year as a hybrid development engineer after university. I also had a stint working with DS Virgin Racing in Formula E. Currently not working within Motorsport though.
You know, when I started offering motorsport tips to people, I did so on these very forums. That was until someone (who I will not name) invited me to join their betting community on another site.
I open to posting betting suggestions on here again. I am a little concerned about my time and having to post on two separate sites, but let's see how we go.
There are doubts about their title sponsor being a genuine company. "Rich Energy" is certainly a drink that is available on the market, but finding a can is ludicrously difficult and most people have never seen one. They don't have the income, according to financial records, to be sponsoring an F1 team. Gene Haas (team owner) is a fantastic businessman, but there's something not quite right about this deal, and this sponsorship. I will be surprised if the agreement, and therefore the livery, lasts the course of the season.
If you want to just post them on the other site, no prob, with your permission I will just cut & paste them onto here, with acknowledgement to you.
The irony of your penultimate paragraph is not lost on me.
Meanwhile, testing in Barcelona continues, & the big news is (pretend drum-roll)....
The Williams has arrived, around 4am this morning.
It's not been out on track yet, but they have fired it up. Which, I suppose, is progress. Of a sort.
On a more positive note, McLaren - who switched to Renault - are running longer & more reliably than they did last year with the Honda power pack, whilst Red Bull, who rather ambitiously, to my mind, switched to Honda power this season, seem to be doing OK so far.
The season opener - Melbourne in Australia - is March 15th to 17th.
Peter's previous F1 tips were a very good informed read even though I didn't bet on them, just watched the races.
I have been a McLaren fan since the days of Senna and am hoping for much improvement this year.
The papaya and blue looks great. Let's hope it is fast and reliable.
p.s. @Tikay10
McLaren changed to Renault engines last year which showed up the fact that all their problems weren't down to the lack of power in the Honda engine.
Keep up the good work.
Doh.
Yes, of course. Losing the plot here, but time don't 'arf fly.
How long have you been following F1? In some ways, it feels to be that it used to be better back in the day, but in other ways it's fair to say it's better now.
My early hero was Stirling Moss, I was 8 years old when he won the Mille Miglia, which involved driving flat out, on public roads, for over 10 hours.
The first motor race Meeting I attended (excluding motor cycles races, which I went to from a very early age) was at the now defunct Crystal Palace circuit. Moss had a fearful crash, was in a coma for a month, & that was that, his racing career was over.
Below they are using a pair of bolt croppers to extract him from his car after the crash.