Agree with Ben too Simoc. By the end of 2009, Brawn wasn’t the fastest car anyway and then you had Ferrari and McLaren close up on the benchmark Red Bull in 2010. Sure Brawn came out in 2016 when his book was released and said that he couldn’t trust Wolff or Lauda and he was basically kicked out of the team, but he is ultimately the one who got the ball rolling to prep for 2014’s rule change.

Oh Fernando! So many ‘what-ifs’ in his career before you even ponder what if he was with Ferrari in 2017 and 18 when they had a car capable of winning the championship. Given the acrimony in 2014, I guess him staying on was not possible and a complete change at the team was required from top down.

A victim of his own ambition I guess.

Pretty spot on Ben.

2015, 2011 and 2013 are years that I’ve mostly forgotten about actually. 2015 in particular, because as well as the on-track product being very boring – the coverage was very one-sided. 2013 as you recount at least had a close first half of the season and there was some great races. Germany in particular was a favourite when Kimi battled Seb and ultimately lost out. And then who remember’s the exploding Pirelli tyres at Silverstone?

Great work Ben, loving this list!

I get a bit sentimental thinking about the 2012 season, from which you’ve got three races on this list. 7 different winners from the first 7 races – of which Maldonado is on. Alonso taking the title fight, in which he should not have been in anyway with that car, down to the final race in Brazil and split by 3 points. So much intrigue in that season.

Well yeah, the whole thing was exposed pretty quickly. Not to also mention the radio communication between the team and driver, which was broadcast for anyone to hear.

Hey Josh, I think you’re pretty spot on with that top five there. The common theme I find with the best races not only throughout 2019, but throughout the hybrid era are those don’t feature Mercedes in the lead battle. I don’t say that as a slight on Mercedes, because their achievements do deserve every bit of credit out there – but the fact that we’ve had such exciting and close races when they’re not romping away at the front.

That being said, I reckon Hungary was pretty good too this year. Great tactical battle between Mercedes and Red Bull, with Hamilton causing drama on the radio and not having faith in his team’s two-stop strategy – but then against the odds was able to overhaul Verstappen for the win.

Still their old Ford engines but there was no manufacturer support between 2015-2018. Ford returning to Supercars was when they announced the Mustang and would be putting in manufacturer support to their factory team which is DJR Team Penske.

Howdy Ben,

I’m actually putting together a whole reflection piece about the last decade of F1 and in agreeance with you, it has been largely a ‘snoozefest’. Mainly because, even though we’ve gone through a couple of different regulation changes – that it has been two teams that have dominated the sport for the past 10 years.

That being said though, there have been close seasons such as 2010, 2012 and 2016 was enjoyable also to watch in my view. Individual races are aplenty also and the establishment of youngsters like Verstappen and Leclerc has been a refresher. A key moment for me was the sale of F1’s commercial rights to Liberty, as that is going to shape the next decade – given that a lot of what was in this latter part was still a legacy of F1’s past failures.

Onwards and upwards for F1 beyond 2020 and too for both your favourite Canadian drivers! See you indeed in Melbourne.

In his own words I guess. He has had a pretty solid junior career in GP3 and GP2, barring his injury and then driving for Aston Martin in the WEC GTE-Pro class also yielded a class victory. Just a shame his Supercars career never quite took flight after the Sandown win in 2017.

Thanks Jacko and thanks for the feedback throughout the season. Cannot wait for 2020 and to talk more Supercars content.

I don’t think it is about pandering to certain people at all. It is about identifying that there is a much larger problem we face, that is beyond the sport and F1 as an entity has put up its hand to see if it can make a difference for the better.

All good Josh, thanks for your input.

Yeah, this is a matter that goes above the sport and concerns the greater world – and for a sport/business such as F1 to make this sort of announcement that this is their intention – it’s quite a significant step towards encouraging other businesses/sporting organisations to due their own due diligence.

In regards to what is happening here in Australia, I’ve flown up to Sydney for the weekend from from a dusty, pollen ridden Melbourne and immediately was greeted at Sydney airport by smog and inhaled smoke from the fires happening up north. Anything natural about this or acceptable? Didn’t think so. Organisations or individuals who wield power to influence change need to step up and address matters such as this and F1 it looks like is putting its hand up to work towards a positive future for all living things.

G’day Ben, thanks again for another solid Talking Points.

Indeed the middle portion of the race was watching everyone in a holding pattern again and you could easily just skip that part. When I was blogging it, there was a part of me hoping for some kind of variable to be thrown into the mix, just to get the leaders out of just biding their time before the next pit-stop.

Would have been great for the Hamilton decision to have been processed before the podium ceremony. So pleased for McLaren and Sainz to have scored the result that they did, because it does cap off what a sensational year of recovery it has been for that team.

No worries Jacko, that is much appreciated.

Yeah, I understand the frustration and I think anyone who’s been following this whole situation would feel the same way. The ongoing fallout from Bathurst in the form of the qualifying exclusion now for the #17 car and then now the disparity of seeing three consecutive dominant races from the factory Holden team. The whole year seems to have fallen under this dark cloud, where none of the achievements of Ford as a manufacturer will be appreciated, nor the impressive form of Scott in the lead up to Bathurst.

Sad indeed seeing the race fall apart for SVG. Trackside there was a collective groan when we saw the smoke coming from his car. Tander really just shredded the competition on the day, which was great to see.

All part of how he’s really matured and come together over the years. In 2019 he was really the complete package, which should have the competition concerned for the next year as well.

Now the question is whether all the teams and OEMs agree to the next Concorde. Introducing the performance budget cap in theory is great, though will it stop the big three teams for example from spending their money next year on developing for 2021 and getting the jump? I do have faith in the new FOM though to close off potential loopholes and hopefully get all the teams in line with their vision of the sport.

Hey Johnno. Since the latest round of aero changes ahead of Pukekohe, Triple Eight have largely been the fastest team. I still believe Shell V-Power and Scott McLaughlin were the benchmark at Bathurst, given their qualifying form. Though at Pukekohe and the Gold Coast, they didn’t have the race pace in comparison to the Red Bull cars.

Will be interesting to see what happens at Sandown, given that it is a circuit that Red Bull/Triple Eight have been very strong at – even if last year’s 1-2-3 podium lockout is anything to go by.

Hi Jacko. I’m not sure if there will be any more homologation done for the remainder of this season, given that there is only Sandown and Newcastle remaining. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2020. I’m sure many will be soured if the advantage remains with Holden going into next year, off the back of the aero changes made in 2019.

In regards to SVG and the team orders on Saturday, I guess it isn’t banned in the regulations to enforce team orders when it comes to teammates swapping positions upon instruction and what not. This is such a common and accepted thing in motorsport, quite regrettably. As long as it doesn’t have an immediate impact on other cars on track other than who’s in their own stable, it is an acceptable practice to them.

Thanks mate. Good to hear you enjoyed attending on the Saturday. It is one that I need to tick off now to complete the current Enduro Cup and it looks like it has such a solid supporting roster, as anything with the Aus GT category is great.

Yeah, it was a crucial move for Lowndes at the start of the race to take the lead. Even if not, the Red Bull cars appeared to have the better race pace all weekend over the Shell Mustangs.

G’day Johnno, so on Lap-137 when they went green again after the sixth Safety Car there was a gap of 3.2 seconds between McLaughlin and the third placed car of James Golding. SVG was only half a second behind the #34 too.

Yeah, Ryan Story was pretty lucky to have not faced any sanctions himself over it.

Yes Moose, I agree with the part about DJR Team Penske being excluded from the constructor’s championship at worst. After all, it wasn’t McLaughlin’s call to the team to have his teammate back up the traffic so it would be unfair to undo his and Prémat’s work during that weekend.

Schumacher was directly involved with Villeneuve in 1997 thus justifying that penalty to a degree and McLaren in 2007 was also in part a byproduct of the ongoing feud between Max Mosley and Ron Dennis. Sure they deserved to be penalised for their role in Spygate, but to the extent in which those sanctions were laid down were a bit too far – all because things were personal between the two. Could have been a similar situation with DJR Team Penske if Supercars had a vengeful leader at its helm – but thankfully it doesn’t.

Hey Damo,
Agreed. The desire to have a precedent set by this scenario, to prevent teams being encouraged to do it again. The allure of a Bathurst victory transcends all in Supercars, but at what cost will someone be willing to go to win it? Whilst a fine may hurt some teams more than others, at least a complete stripping of team’s points for the season will have a greater impact, especially given that it is the culmination of a year’s worth of work and would compromise them for next year.

G’day Jacko,

Holden are locked into the championship until the end of 2021 and with Triple Eight as their factory team. Beyond that, who knows. I guess it ultimately depends on the direction in which Supercars go in with their Gen3 regulations. Because the Opel Insignia is badged and sold in Australia as a Holden Commodore, they are well within their right to race it as a Holden Commodore.

I’m guessing you’re referencing the Chevrolet and the Camaro? Well, again that one can only really happen when the regulations and the control chassis for Supercars will change. It was difficult enough for Ford to convert the Mustang bodyshape to the required spec to race in the category, so when you look at the shape of the Camaro and what it’d have to do to be applied on top of the control chassis – it is more unlikelier.

Teams can totally still race the Falcon, though from a competitiveness point of view there is no point really – given all the aero changes we’ve seen this year. An example of that would be last year when MSR mid-season switched from their Falcon FG X bodywork to the Commodore, but in VF spec while all the other Holden teams were running ZB. Their results weren’t too great with that old aero package in the end.

Confirmed now too. Kelly Racing will switch to Mustangs, with their own in-house engines to be developed for future use. They’ll be also scaling back to 2 cars and selling off the other 2 RECs.