F1 2020

Whilst there’s been no racing there’s been a hive of activity this week.

Vettel leaves Ferrari at the end of the season as they couldn’t agree a new contract.
Sainz signs for Ferrari. Leaving McClaren.
Ricciardo signs for McClaren leaving Renault.

Ricciardo and Norris will be a very entertaining partnership off the track!
 
Where do you think Vettel will go?

I guess the fans would love to see him at Mercedes fighting Hamilton with the same car.

Do you think we'll reach a point soon where they just say this season won't happen seems to be a good few months before people will be travelling around Europe/world again without quarantine periods.

I know the USA have said they're looking into special visas that would allow you to avoid quarantine if you pass a test.
 
I think that's him done. Wrong time for a contract renewal when everyone is scrimping for money and he wont want to take less than star money. Don't strike me either as the sort of person who'll take a seat at a mid team again. Merc have Hamilton. Ferrari don't want him and I can't imagine Red Bull will want to partner him with Verstappen. Though i'd love to see him go there and get his ass kicked!
 
I think whilst they can still complete 8 races they'll keep hopes of the season alive. Plus it would be horrible for Vettel to not have a goodbye race!
 
Yeah not the time to be out of work if you're a high earning sports star.

Sit out a year and see what happens I guess if Hamilton retires or moves then I'm sure Mercedes would love to have him

Lucky for him he's probably a very rich man already.
 
Calendar released. At least an 8 race season which means a champion will be declared.

Back to back races in Austria. July 5rd and 12th
Hungary July 19th.
Back to back races in Britain. August 2nd & August 9th
Spain August 16th
Belgium August 30th
Italy Sept 6th
 
Ridiculous. You race in the teams colours. Both Mercs will have to run a Black car then. As it’s against the sports regulations to run different liveried cars.

The motorsport itself is probably one of the most exclusive sports in the world though. Unless your born with cash in your pocket it’s very difficult to make it.

Edit: Just seen it is both Mercs not just Lewis. It’s an interesting idea. It is predominantly a white male sport.
 
Yeah Formula One is crazy exclusive basically have to be from a very rich family to even get a shot as you buy your seat unless you get lucky in the case of Hamilton.
 
How crazy was that race yesterday.

Cars dropping like flies, all the safety cars resulting in everyone being really close together right at the end of the race and Hamilton getting a 5 second penalty for knocking someone off the road.
 
I hope Hamilton recovers quickly from that first race. With a reduced season he can't afford to slip far behind.
 
Boring for 50 laps and then came alive.

Unfortunately that could be season over. Gives Lewis a 30 point lead over Bottas.
 
I've been watching F1 since I was old enough remember, 40 years or so. I've seen all the great drivers in that time win exciting championships but at the moment F1 is shambolic. The days of Hunt, Lauda, Mansell, Senna, Prost etc were brilliant but I feel since the Schumacher era things have gone downhill. I still watch every race there is about 3 minutes of excitement per race these days. Something needs to change.

Also, I don't know what you guys think but it seems to me that Hamilton is the ringleader for F1 and BLM and everything else, if your not in his gang you're in trouble. I'm the first to cheer for Hamilton on race day but I'm disliking the guy more and more outside the car. Even when he wins a race and thanks his crew now I cringe, it's so girly and slimy. Fair bloody dues to the strong characters that are not taking the knee now.

Lando Norris on the other hand however is like a breath of fresh air and I'm watching him more carefully every race now. He's full of energy and a bit of fun.
 
I guess a lot comes down to reliability the cars don't brake like they used to and if you've got the best driver in the best car and he puts it on pole there's a good chance he wins the race. That's what Schumacher did and it's what Hamilton does now they know the cars won't break, they don't need to pit for fuel so in theory less can go wrong now.

Also, was there more overtaking and excitement in every race when you were younger or has your brain just filtered out all the boring bit? I'm guessing there were plenty of races when those boys led from the fronts in a no thrills event.

Hamilton has become the face of Formula One because he's prepared to talk up and say his piece he's just sticking to the script and towing the company line he's giving his opinion on things. His standing in the sport allows him to do that more than drivers lower down the grid easy to be a "troublemaker" when you're the best. He's become the face of the BLM movement in formula one because he believes in it he wants to see more drivers from different backgrounds get chances and he's happy to talk about it.

As for those who stand and don't take the knee fair play to them I'm sure they have their reasons and it would be nice to hear them explain those reasons. I haven't heard them but I don't follow F1 closely enough to have gone looking for them.

Yeah the whole thanking the crew thing is a bit whiny but it's all for show every racer does it when they win I imagine the celebrations are a lot less camera friendly when they're hidden from the cameras/microphones.
 
Back in the day there were more teams 'competing' and 2 top drivers in each of the best teams such as Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Williams. It seems teams now are more tiered due to money.

If you think now there is Bottas fighting it out with Hamilton, and he's nowhere near really. Imagine sticking Alonso in that Mercedes alongside Hamilton, it would most entertaining! Makes you wonder why Rosberg went so quick as the tension in that team was horrific (conspiracy theory time lol)?

Max is a great driver but the car isn't up to the Merc standard, Ferrari are light years off but it is great to see McLaren getting back in the mix. Also I'd like to see Danny Ric back in a decent car competing as he is one of the best drivers on the grid. I can't see why Renault with their financial clout can't get it together and Daniel obviously sees the same and is off to McLaren so hopefully the progression will continue there.

Next season will be the same cars due to Covid so it'll be more of the same. I hope something drastic happens for 2022.
 
Money is 100% a factor there's just less car manufacturers full stop most have been swallowed up by bigger companies or gone bust and the cost of running an F1 team is crazy so can see why so many don't bother.

The rules are a lot tighter now as well so there's less freedom of expression vary rarely do you get something comes along that blitzes the field like we saw a few years ago with Brawn or historically with Lotus.

It's always been tricky as it's a team sport the drivers are their to make sure the team wins not themselves so as you say the chances of having the two best drivers both in the best car are unlikely as it creates unnecessary tension in the team and would cost a fortune as well.
 
Racing Point car deemed illegal. £400k fine. 15 point deduction. Allowed to continue using the car for the rest of the season.
 
Looks like Mercedes aren’t going to win today. Struggling in the heat.

F1 May see how much they’re struggling with the softer tyres and go in this direction more often.
 
That was more like it, a much better race to watch. Nice to see a different winner too but Max is the only guy who could do that at the minute I think. He's looking like he could be Hamilton level and will dominate in the right car for years to come.
 
I think Leclerc is going to be a better driver than Max. Even yesterday I’d say Leclerc put in the better performance. He’s dragged that Ferrari to top 4 whilst Vettel is struggling to make the points in the other car.

When Hamilton retires though F1 is in very good hands. Max, Leclerc, Lando and Russell all look like they have the ability to be very special drivers. Between them they should have some very epic battles in the next decade.
 
Yep Leclerc looks like he is pushing that car further than it should be as it is well off the pace but I think Max is also doing that. Albon in his own bubble had a decent race but Max pushed that Red Bull to win, Albon was 39s off him.

Vettel is a joke at the minute, moaning at the crew over his positioning after a pit stop (which was caused by other issues on the track anyway) when actually he lost the back end and ended up last. I bet they can't wait to get rid of him. That just shows the difference between a young hungry driver and a prima donna who lacks incentive as his bank balance is huge and he knows the car isn't good. It's a 'why should I be bothered' attitude he's got.
 
It’s a shame we really don’t know how good the Redbulls have been since Dan left. They’ve had Gasly and Albon in there. I don’t rate Albon at all and think Gasly would be the better option. I think RedBull are promoting these guys too quickly and they’re on to a hiding to nothing. Both have said they couldn’t work out how to set the Red Bull up. For some reason their two sides of the garage share little information too.

I think Redbull need to come back from the YDP a little bit and put an experienced head alongside Verstappen. Whilst he’s obviously done a great job there’s no way that car should be where Albon is putting it either.

I’d say in race trim it currently looks like

Merc
Red Bull
Racing Point
McLaren
Ferrari

From 2022 if we can get Russell in the Merc fighting with those 2 at the front it’ll be good times.
 
Bad day for Hamilton bet he was fuming with his team for not seeing the pit lane closed message but nice to see someone else win a race.

Just shows you how quick he is in that car from the restart being put 30 seconds behind the pack from half way and still climbing up all those spots is pretty incredible.
 
Excellent race. I laid Hamilton when I noticed he was under investigation and they showed he’d gone pass pit lane closed signsbut also back Sainz for the win though. Being able to lay him at 4/1 with the penalty incoming was a laugh.

Hamilton was very impressive considering how bad Bottas made that car look in traffic.
 
Yeah Bottas really struggled basically went backwards off the line then was suggestions that something was broke on the car but even after the restart he couldn't seem to do a lot.

Hamilton seemed to find the over taking speed through corners rather than at the end of the long straight where most cars did their over taking even with the DRS boost he didn't seem to have the power to catch the car in front on that straight.

Have they decided how many races they're actually doing this season yet?
 
What a brilliant race, F1 needs races like this more often and full credit the the 3 different teams on the podium and also Gasly for the super cool drive up front. He's had a turbulent 18 months but he has bounced back in some fashion. I wonder if Red Bull are now kicking themselves as Albon is doing no better.

This safely car thing is a joke, Hamilton had a 13s lead and then the safety car comes out and takes it all away. Obviously this has been happening for years now but surely there must be another way to keep the racing fair. With the sequence of events it saw Hamilton at the back of a condensed pack of cars rather than him being half way in the pack because he was so far in front.

I think we can all say Hamilton is just super human in that car and has to be up there with maybe just one or two other drivers EVER. He is so far ahead of all the rest. I dont regard Bottas as a top 3 driver as there are a good few better such as Max, Leclerc and Dan R but in the same machinery as Hamilton he's miles off. Unless regs change and there is more of a level playing field I can see Hamilton winning for years to come.
 
Think the safety car adds an element of excitement to it as it can totally change a race if Hamilton hadn't pitted when he did he would have just gone back to the front and built that lead up again he was so much faster than everyone else.

You could try and stagger the release of the cars after a safety car to give the leader the time back but not really sure how you'd manage that without stopping everyone.

There needs to be an element of randomness to the race be that weather, accidents or mistakes to make it exciting it's always good when you see a fast car get dumped to the back and have to fight his way through.
 
Yeh something needs to change but we've all been saying that for years, and next year wont be changing at all now.

I find it amusing that the budget limit that was discussed to be leveled across the board was dismissed in a big way by Ferrari who went as far to say they would withdraw from F1 and now they are no better than a mid table team anyway. Karma.
 
There was absolutely no need for yesterday not to be a virtual safety car with pit lane closed.

But had Leclerc not had his crash Hamilton probably serves his penalty and still wins the race anyway with the time he would have pulled out whilst they ran the investigation.
 
Also there are changes to next years rules now. There’s a mass cut in downforce levels allowed in response to keeping last years tyres and them not being good enough to deal with this years downforce levels.
 
Another crazy race yesterday two red flags in a race is crazy.

Lots of unhappy drivers yesterday but think it was good that none of them pointed the finger at Bottas up top he did nothing wrong on that restart after an incident like that surely there will be a strong review of the rules and procedure around the restarts.

Hamilton got the job done in the end Bottas was unlucky having beaten him off the line then losing the chance to go for different tactics when he had to stop first to change his tyres.
 
George Russell was to blame for that incident. He was leading that second pack that he’d slowed down to try and get a jump on the cars infront and they just met. Was crazy I think when fully reviewed he could be looking at a race ban.

Bottas done absolutely everything spot on.
 

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