2019 Aston Martin Red Bull Racing - Honda F1 Team

[HPD]

Red Bull is serious about the attack on Mercedes and Ferrari. "Our goal is to win the World Cup," says motorsport consultant Helmut Marko (75) three days before the first practice session of the Australian GP. "We will do anything for it."
Marko, who had intensive meetings with engine partner Honda in Tokyo before moving on to Melbourne, speaks of a "totally motivated" chief designer Adrian Newey, who, according to Marko, "has been at full throttle for the last few weeks and barely sleeps." Marko continues: "That's why we can present an aerodynamic update in Melbourne, which was originally planned for the third race in China."
https://www.autobild.de/artikel/formel- ... 63011.html

[Ground Effect]

I still feel its a shame Ricciardo is gone, Red Bull Honda would probably be closer up front with his racecraft, and Pierre has big shoes to fill but has potential. Hoping the two can work together like Senna/Berger and not a repeat of Senna/Prost or Mansell/Piquet...

I think their partnership was unique, having two strong drivers, who got along well enough and still brought home the points, podiums and wins when the opportunity presented itself. But I think Pierre will learn quickly, he has to. Nobody expects him to beat Max, as long as he's not a million miles away and scores regularly. The other 2 top teams have been operating with a clear nbr one driver, Red Bull can now afford to do the same.

[Capharol]

I still feel its a shame Ricciardo is gone, Red Bull Honda would probably be closer up front with his racecraft, and Pierre has big shoes to fill but has potential. Hoping the two can work together like Senna/Berger and not a repeat of Senna/Prost or Mansell/Piquet...

I think their partnership was unique, having two strong drivers, who got along well enough and still brought home the points, podiums and wins when the opportunity presented itself. But I think Pierre will learn quickly, he has to. Nobody expects him to beat Max, as long as he's not a million miles away and scores regularly. The other 2 top teams have been operating with a clear nbr one driver, Red Bull can now afford to do the same.

that is exactly how i see Gasly….. at least for this year

[ispano6]

true but Ricciardo would have delivered wins for RBH, for certain. I definitely would not have minded him getting Hondas first win in this new era. For that I'm super bummed.

[Capharol]

true but Ricciardo would have delivered wins for RBH, for certain. I definitely would not have minded him getting Hondas first win in this new era. For that I'm super bummed.

actually, I'm not, he chose to go to Renault, it's not like RB kicked him.

[GhostF1]

true but Ricciardo would have delivered wins for RBH, for certain. I definitely would not have minded him getting Hondas first win in this new era. For that I'm super bummed.

actually, I'm not, he chose to go to Renault, it's not like RB kicked him.

Ricciardo taking podiums with Honda. That is something I would of loved to see.

[Capharol]

true but Ricciardo would have delivered wins for RBH, for certain. I definitely would not have minded him getting Hondas first win in this new era. For that I'm super bummed.

actually, I'm not, he chose to go to Renault, it's not like RB kicked him.

Ricciardo taking podiums with Honda. That is something I would of loved to see.

it would been a great sight .... but i am not bummed over it, it doesn't happen.

[makecry]

true but Ricciardo would have delivered wins for RBH, for certain. I definitely would not have minded him getting Hondas first win in this new era. For that I'm super bummed.

actually, I'm not, he chose to go to Renault, it's not like RB kicked him.

Ricciardo taking podiums with Honda. That is something I would of loved to see.

would have.

sorry I had to.

[Snorked]

Honda fixed all the testing issues and will run full power in qualifying for the first time

https://www.as-web.jp/f1/461859

"The basic specifications of the power unit are the same as the test except that the minor problems found in the pre-season test were improved. The factory staff worked hard to fix all the minor problems found in the pre-season test The


Honda RA619H installed in Red Bull is the “Spec 1” of the 2019 season, which has not changed the basic framework of the 2018 power unit, and has increased reliability and power.


　In pre-season tests with various settings, the power unit's original performance was not 100% yet. Therefore, the opening round Australia GP qualifier will be the first chance of testing this season's ability.


"I think we can see where we are in. But we are racing not only this weekend, but always wanting to win. For that, we firmly do what we can do I would like to go to the opening race, "

[Marti_EF3]

I was expecting less than what I've seen today. Seems they are more or less on the pace, and in FP2 they did a lot of long runs, so I think they have a lot of hiden pace yet. And only a minor issue (maybe some sensor, etc) on the PU that will not affect at all.

Looks good!

[Godius]

Car seems to be behaving quite well on the FP2 lap (P3 VER 1:23.400), credit to Juzh:

[HPD]

I can not concentrate on the video. That turbo distracts me a lot hahaha

[HPD]

Following on from Friday's sessions, Max said:

“I’m quite happy about today and the feeling so far is pretty good. Of course, there are always areas to improve and we are not fast enough yet but it’s only the first day of the season and there is a long way to go. It looks like Mercedes are very quick and they seem to be a little happier with the overall balance. In general, the car felt alright with medium and soft tyres but we still need to fully understand the compounds. My running was also a little different to the others in terms of preparation and there is definitely some lap time in that. We will look at the data tonight and see what we can improve but from the engine side there were no problems and it all ran very smoothly. We had no expectations going into today and it’s just good to get started.”

Summarising his day, Pierre added:

“It was great to be back on track for the first Free Practice of the season, and my first Friday at the track with Aston Martin Red Bull Racing was a special moment for me. It was a positive day, we tested a lot of things and my feeling in the car is getting better lap after lap. There’s still work to be done but we’re pretty happy with the package. We didn’t have any expectations today, as after testing it’s difficult to have a real idea of the pace of others. We managed to find some good direction for FP2 and I felt better in the car than I did in FP1. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow. On the engine side, we had a small loss of power on the last lap and after some checks, it turned out to be a minor sensor issue.”

"The winter training sessions were quiet and today it continued like this in the first two free practice sessions, we detected something in the power unit of Pierre at the end of the Free 2. We investigated it, it was a minor problem; no affectation in the rest of the weekend, "said Toyoharu Tanabe

https://redbullracing.redbull.com/artic ... practice-0

[HPD]

https://twitter.com/AlbertFabrega/statu ... 0304468992

Albert: Possible change of chassis for Verstappen. It is not confirmed yet, but there are 3 chassis in the box.
This has no penalty.

[dren]

Summarising his day, Pierre added:

“It was great to be back on track for the first Free Practice of the season, and my first Friday at the track with Aston Martin Red Bull Racing was a special moment for me. It was a positive day, we tested a lot of things and my feeling in the car is getting better lap after lap. There’s still work to be done but we’re pretty happy with the package. We didn’t have any expectations today, as after testing it’s difficult to have a real idea of the pace of others. We managed to find some good direction for FP2 and I felt better in the car than I did in FP1. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow. On the engine side, we had a small loss of power on the last lap and after some checks, it turned out to be a minor sensor issue.”

That's what I expected. They probably went into a 'safe' mode after they lost a sensor.