It’s all everyone has been talking about all weekend. I think it’s true. While there’s been no official confirmation (that I can find), there’s also been no hint of a denial either. His Twitter and Instagram feeds have been silent, none of his (ex-?)colleagues have said a word either way at all. And it’s the same thing with Anthony Davidson.
Personally, I think that neither of them have had their contracts renewed by Sky, or both of them have resigned and are going elsewhere. They’re probably all under NDAs until their present contracts official end, possibly end of the month.
Whether they’ve resigned or not had contracts renewed, it’s a loss for Sky. I really liked Davidson’s Sky Pad analysis, and the solid insights he brought to the broadcast (more so than Di Resta) and Kravitz is an institution, as sycophantic as he often was. He’s Development Diaries and Notebook’s after qualifying were a great source of information and insight into both the technical side of F1 and the more personal driver-team stuff.
I’m quietly hopeful that they’ve both been snapped up by Liberty Media and will be joining Will Buxton on F1TV and will be doing F1 YouTube stuff.
Sky Sports F1 coverage will reflect the changes and excitement with some new and returning faces joining the lineup. 2009 world champion Jenson Button joins the team, adding to Sky Sports’ roster of world champions alongside Damon Hill and Nico Rosberg.
Martin Brundle’s expert analysis and famed grid walks will be a key feature in the coverage, as well as in commentary with David Croft. Karun Chandhok who worked on Sky Sports F1 in the past returns to the fold, ready to give his insight as a former driver with years of experience in the sport together with Johnny Herbert and Paul Di Resta.
No mention of Kravitz or Davidson, and no sign of them in the accompanying group photo:
(although there is someone masked behind Nico there.)
Chandhok - he was terrible
Rosberg - as much as I like the guy he aint tv good
Button - he is the only one I agree with as well as Brundle
Hill and Herbert and Di Resta can go away as well please.
I suspect Sky thinks by filling the team with NAMES, they will get watchers.
I just hope we can get to the F1 TV tho - last time I checked it was a no
Nico Rosberg sounds like a Lewis fanboy everytime he speaks about him, despite their history. Haven’t heard him say one thing against Lewis. Or maybe it’s just me generally being sour about Lewis lol.
I woudn’t say that. Rosberg has on a couple of occasions referred back to their 2016 battle, and how Hamilton can be beaten if you put him under sustained pressure. This has to sting a bit from Lewis’s perspective. As for being sour… I would rather direct some ire at the opposition, Vettel and Ferrari in particular, for not taking the clear opportunities they had to do just what Nico says: Apply sustained pressure.
Good morning Race Fans! Looking like a perfect morning for some zoom-zoom action at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the start of Day 1 of the 2nd F1 Test Session for 2019.
Four more days of testing for the teams, and we should see much of the same as last week: some long run/race simulation testing with a focus on pushing engine reliability as far as possible; a bunch more aerodynamic testing, especially focused around the new front and rear wing changes; and tyre compound testing (as much as is possible on the fairly low grip of the newly resurfaced circuit), especially with an eye on the impact of colder tyres coming out of the tyre blankets.
Ferrari have decided to do a Merc and split their day between both drivers, rather than push each one to do the equivalent of 2.5 full grands prix a day. The rest of the days driver schedule is expected to be:
Mercedes: Hamilton/Bottas
Ferrari: Leclerc/Vettel
Red Bull: Gasly
Renault: Ricciardo
Haas: Magnussen
McLaren: Norris
Racing Point: Stroll
Toro Rosso: Albon
Alfa Romeo: Giovinazzi
Williams: Russell
On the subject of the front wing changes, here’s an excellent article from Mark Hughes for F1.com on what he noticed about how each team has approached the regulation change. Makes for decent reading while we wait for this morning’s running:
Those pictures make the differing philosophies quite plain to see. The Autosport crowd have been speculating whether Merc’s decidedly unique approach (albeit more conventional) could be what has (apparently) cost them some ground to Ferrari. The Merc approach, in line with previous years, is to run a low rake car, and thus the wing sits a bit higher off the ground and produces slightly less downforce. The other teams run more rake and thus produce more front wing downforce since it is lower to the ground for more of the time.
Under the old regs, this was less of an issue, since the wing was more important in terms of directing airflow vs producing downforce; it would steer the airflow to other downforce-producing areas. Under the new regs, you cannot direct the airflow as much as before, so the wing itself is more important for downforce. So Merc went for a large wing area combined with the usual low rake car. Other teams have much less front wing area, but seem to have found this tapering wing concept combined with the higher rake car to be just as effective, if not more so.
Now rumour has it that Merc is suffering with handling issues; the car has too much inherent understeer and is difficult to balance properly. Could it be that their tried-and-trusted concept was too dependent on using the front wing as a flow regulator? If so, they cannot simply fix this by copying the other teams’ wing idea; it is a radically different approach to the entire design of the car. It will be very interesting to see whether they really are on the back foot or have come up with a fix for their problem.
…but, there’s been another update to the #FindTed saga subsequently. He tweeted a link to the updated (again) Sky F1 promo page (“Last Updated: 25/02/19 3:30pm”) which now details the full list of the Sky F1 Team for 2019:
Sky Sports F1 has confirmed its bumper line-up of presenters, commentators, reporters and expert analysts for the new season.
Including three F1 world champions, the Sky Sports F1 line-up in full will comprise:
Rachel Brookes
Martin Brundle
Jenson Button
Karun Chandhok
David Croft Anthony Davidson
Paul Di Resta
Johnny Herbert
Damon Hill Ted Kravitz
Simon Lazenby
Natalie Pinkham
Nico Rosberg
No response to all the “wtaf” queries and questions, but there you go - typical F1 storm in a teacup sideshow, it seems.
Updated driver schedule for today, with Renault now doing the job-sharing split thing too:
Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton / Valtteri Bottas Ferrari: Charles Leclerc / Sebastian Vettel Red Bull: Pierre Gasly McLaren: Lando Norris Renault: Nico Hulkenberg / Daniel Ricciardo Alfa Romeo: Antonio Giovinazzi Haas: Kevin Magnussen Racing Point: Lance Stroll Toro Rosso: Alex Albon Williams: George Russell
Bottas, mate you signed a contract to be the number 2 driver for a 5 time world champion. Mercedes is not going to let you win races. You want to achieve something? Join another team as their 1st choice driver, until then you’re just another Rubens Barrichello.
