From Formula One (ShaneEyoho Universe)
Jump to: navigation, search

The 2018-19 FIA Elite Racing League season is the 8th season of FIA Elite Racing League motor racing. It features the 8th FIA Elite Racing League Drivers and Teams Championship which began on 9 September 2018 in Australia and ended on 16 June 2019 in Abu Dhabi after twenty two races (the most in an ERL season.) the 19 race season last season is now the 2nd longest season in ERL history. Shane Wray is the defending his Drivers' Champion title, after winning his first championship at the 2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. His team, Red Bull Racing, is the defending Teams Champions, having secured their first ever title in what was essentially their debut season (their first after the Red Bull/Toro Rosso merge in 2017) at the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix. Taylor Anderson leads the Drivers Championship, following him in 2nd, 4 points behind, is Kyle Macleod (who is making his Ferrari debut in ERL this season) and Defending Champion Shane Wray is 3rd, 10 points behind Anderson. Ferrari lead the Teams Championship, with Red Bull and Mercedes in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

The main song for the season was One More Time by 7Lions. This was due to many originals from the first season still around to bring in the new era despite people saying some of them could leave at the end of the season hense the song lyrics "Just give me One More Time."

Several team changes took place before the season began. Haas F1 Team, a team formed by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team owner Gene Haas, joined the Elite Racing League grid with Haas Chevrolet racing to expand the Haas brand, becoming the first American team to compete in the series. They made history at the Australian Grand Prix by becoming the first independent team to score points in the ERL (As Haas are not a customer or factory team despite their Chevrolet manufactured engines.)

A new cockpit protection device—commonly known as the "halo"—became mandatory starting in 2018. The introduction of the halo in Formula One was the first stage of a planned roll-out that would see the device adopted in all FIA-sanctioned open-wheel racing series by 2020.

The Halo is introduced[edit | edit source]

Following a series of serious incidents in open-wheel racing—including the fatal accidents of Henry Surtees and Justin Wilson—in which drivers were struck in the head by tyres or debris, the FIA announced plans to introduce additional mandatory cockpit protection with 2018 given as the first year for its introduction. Several solutions were tested, with the final design subject to feedback from teams and drivers. Each design was created to deflect debris away from a driver's head without compromising their visibility or the ability of safety marshals to access the cockpit and extract a driver and their seat in the event of a serious accident or medical emergency, with a series of serious accidents—such as the fatal accidents of Jules Bianchi and Dan Wheldon—recreated to simulate the ability of devices to withstand a serious impact. The FIA ultimately settled on the "halo", a wishbone-shaped frame mounted above and around the driver's head and anchored to the monocoque forward of the cockpit.

Tyres[edit | edit source]

Tyre supplier Pirelli provides teams with two new tyre compounds in 2018-19. Each of the 2017-18 compounds was made softer, with a new "hypersoft" tyre becoming the softest of the nine and a new "superhard" tyre to be the hardest. The hypersoft compound is marked by a pink sidewall, while the superhard will be orange. The hard compound, which previously used orange markings, will now be changed to ice blue. The hypersoft compound made is due to début at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Track Testing[edit | edit source]

This Season featured more new tracks including: The Baku City Circuit in Azerbaijan, The Red Bull Ring in Austria (to give the defending teams champions a home race), The Sochi Autodrom in Russia (which goes around the old Sochi Olympic Park) as well as the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico. Two races are returned those being the French and United States Grand Prix respectively both being at new circuits. The French Grand Prix will be held at the Circuit Paul Ricard whilst the United States Grand Prix will be hosted at the widely popular Circuit of the Americas.

Pacific Grand Prix[edit | edit source]

To give the Elite Racing League more of a fanbase, the FIA decided to run an exclusive race under the Pacific Grand Prix name the race will be held at the Sentul International Circuit in Indonesia. If the race does well in terms of fan attraction, more exclusive races are planned for future seasons along with the usual F1 sites the series visits during its season.

Force India's administration crisis[edit | edit source]

The F1 Force India team were placed into administration during the 2018 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, this meant that the ERL branch of Force India (which has connections to the F1 team) would also be effected by this, A consortium led by Lawrence Stroll purchased the racing assets and operations of both Force India teams through a company named Racing Point UK Ltd. Force India was then excluded from the 2018 F1 World Championship on grounds of their inability to participate in events. This allowed a new team known as "Racing Point Force India" to apply for a late entry in which the FIA accepted for the 2018 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix and the team were also allowed to compete in the 2018-19 Elite Racing League Season. With Tommy Vance and Olly Kenyon (on the ERL side) keeping their driving seats in the process.

Pre Season[edit | edit source]

Friday 24th August 2018 was the first day of Pre Season and with this major revelations were revealed heading into Australia on the 9th September, One of them was of course the McLaren changing from Mercedes power to Renault as they believe the Mercedes partnership didn't make sense now theres a Mercedes factory team. This year they said McLaren would be focusing on getting points as new power units take time to adjust to so they think they could compete for at least best of the rest in the Teams Championship.

Toro Rosso became more involved in the Red Bull program in ERL by changing their name to Red Bull Toro Rosso, they will also be switching power units from Renault to Honda, Which means that the grid will have a Honda powered team on the grid for the first time in 2 years as Honda didn't participate in the 2017-18 Season. They also believe this engine change can help them in the long run.

Teams and Drivers[edit | edit source]

Due to Shane being on holiday in Lanzarote, he was replaced with Lewis Young for the Belgian Grand Prix

Jeff Shreeves got injured during free practice in Russia so Shanes friend Kirsty stepped in for Qualifying and the Race

Calendar[edit | edit source]

Bandicam 2018-08-27 12-31-07-643.jpg

Results[edit | edit source]

BEING UPDATED

Seasons[edit | edit source]

Previous: 2017-18

Next: 2019-20

Championship Standings[edit | edit source]