2020 Formula 1 thread

[Cyber370]

Today’s race was as exciting as watching paint dry. I’m sure Hamilton is soooo proud of the tough fight he faced today.....lol. Actually, I think he may have dozed off a few times.

Seriously, I’m so fed up of this farce! When any car is capable of gaining on average 1.5 sec after the first lap, that has nothing to do with the driver and everything to do with the car. I don’t know how long the F1 will allow Mercedes to get away with this crap. It ruins it for everyone else and most of all, makes for the most boring races on earth.

It was supposed to change in 2021 with team spending limits. But, now it’s pushed out to 2022 because of supposedly the Covid-19 situation. I call bull. I think Mercedes protested and threatened to quit the F1 if they were forced into a spending cap. I say let them quit! It would definitely make for more exciting racing if they weren’t in the picture.

[ZCanadian]

+1 on the “boring”.

Not sure why Gasly and Perez were left out. Red tires were already going off by lap 10 SC. After that, the race was over.

Kimi the best Ferrari powered car. Mainly because of LEC’s second stop for hydraulic top-up. But 10 sec on the first stop was inexcusable.

Ferrari’s issue most definitely is related to their agreement. They are relegated to a 2017 engine spec, and cannot develop again until 2022. Leclerc is probably kicking himself that he signed for 5 year while there was a seat at Mercedes un-signed earlier this year! And VET must be dying to sign with the pink Mercedes in order to Wipe Ferrari’s backsides for them next year.

Failing illness, the only championship drama will be for second place - VER or BOT.

Albon and Norris ran good races, Albon hamstrung by tire. Renault surprisingly strong. GIO pulled a real boner that changed an uh-oh moment into disaster

Monza without party mode next weekend. Wonder what that will do???

[DLSTR]

Originally Posted by axmea?

One word to describe today's race, boring.
Two teams that surprised me, Renault for doing well and RP for letting Renault take their candy.
Poor strategy, AT on Gasly not pitting like the others and RB on Albon for the wrong tires. Alex still playing the political game, held back on criticizing RB.
Ferrari was messy this weekend. Is the struggle related to the undisclosed "agreement" with the FIA as punishment for their sneaky fuel cheat from LY?

Racing Point need new strategy leadership/managers. Its a clone so not perfect but Im not sad about them overall. They stole a design and its not paying off consistently. Too bad.

I fear for Albon. Sooner or later he will be Al-gone. Its not working for him and Max is crushing him. He just does not click with the car. He is struggling. Put Gasly in it and move on.

Ferrari have bad aero to no aero and have been relegated to using a weak engine as they were essentially caught cheating and forced to modify the engine to comply. Its a secret settlement with the FIA for now. They should tell us what happend. No matter now as they are terrible.

Renault are on the rise a bit. Finally. They should be doing better. Its a large company with resources. Glad to see it!

[God-Speed]

Yes it was Boring to say the least. Hopefully the next race will be more exciting. Hopefully.

[DLSTR]

Originally Posted by ZCanadian

+1 on the “boring”.

Not sure why Gasly and Perez were left out. Red tires were already going off by lap 10 SC. After that, the race was over.

Kimi the best Ferrari powered car. Mainly because of LEC’s second stop for hydraulic top-up. But 10 sec on the first stop was inexcusable.

Ferrari’s issue most definitely is related to their agreement. They are relegated to a 2017 engine spec, and cannot develop again until 2022. Leclerc is probably kicking himself that he signed for 5 year while there was a seat at Mercedes un-signed earlier this year! And VET must be dying to sign with the pink Mercedes in order to Wipe Ferrari’s backsides for them next year.

Failing illness, the only championship drama will be for second place - VER or BOT.

Albon and Norris ran good races, Albon hamstrung by tire. Renault surprisingly strong. GIO pulled a real boner that changed an uh-oh moment into disaster

Monza without party mode next weekend. Wonder what that will do???

Yes Ferrari added drag and lost power. They tried to add downforce which the car lacked, then the PU was changed due to FIA inspections. Hard to re-work the entire car lol!!

[danegrey]

Originally Posted by DLSTR

Racing Point need new strategy leadership/managers. Its a clone so not perfect but Im not sad about them overall. They stole a design and its not paying off consistently. Too bad.

I fear for Albon. Sooner or later he will be Al-gone. Its not working for him and Max is crushing him. He just does not click with the car. He is struggling. Put Gasly in it and move on.

Ferrari have bad aero to no aero and have been relegated to using a weak engine as they were essentially caught cheating and forced to modify the engine to comply. Its a secret settlement with the FIA for now. They should tell us what happend. No matter now as they are terrible.

Renault are on the rise a bit. Finally. They should be doing better. Its a large company with resources. Glad to see it!

Racing Point
Well when you copy something, not exactly like the real thing. But is it better then where they were? At least Stroll is showing something...

Red Bull
I would not put Gasly there, he had his chance, as for Albon, why did they not put him on the hard tires.... it is a no win, for who ever is the 2nd driver, MAX is so far ahead of anyone...

Ferrari
Wish we would know what they did and for them to go after RP, is all about the money

Renault
Maybe it is only the low downforce circuits...

Boring --- YES and do not expect anything different next week

[axmea?]

So its official. Claire and Sir Frank out. Can't wait to see what's next.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/w...paign=widget-1

[God-Speed]

Originally Posted by axmea?

So its official. Claire and Sir Frank out. Can't wait to see what's next.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/w...paign=widget-1

I'm surprised that this didn't happen a few years ago.

[ZCanadian]

Originally Posted by God-Speed

I'm surprised that this didn't happen a few years ago.

Well, they were probably the main draw for sponsors, despite poor performance. Now, with new ownership, it was time for sure. "New broom" and all.

This should likely happen at a lot of teams but is unlikely. For a sport where the cars go so fast, things behind the scenes sure change at a slow pace!

[ZCanadian]

Alfa Romeo is having a terrible 2020.
70 years ago, their drivers clinched the championship (there was no constructors yet) at Monza after winning almost every podium spot for the entire season (save for Indianapolis, which most European teams did not attend).

With Monza next on this year's calendar, here's a trip through time. Do you know the history of the quadrifoglio emblem that has adorned all Alfa race cars since the 1920's?

[axmea?]

Originally Posted by ZCanadian

Well, they were probably the main draw for sponsors, despite poor performance. Now, with new ownership, it was time for sure. "New broom" and all.

This should likely happen at a lot of teams but is unlikely. For a sport where the cars go so fast, things behind the scenes sure change at a slow pace!

In F1 you vroom or get the broom.

[DLSTR]

First race with the new 'party mode' ban in place. Perez at Clone Point expects to be affected. Will be fun to see who pays the most for that reduction in power - https://www.skysports.com/f1/live-bl...ip-column-live

Whose party will be spoiled by rules change?
This is the weekend: the one where the technical directive about engine modes comes into force.

Teams can now only run their engine in one mode for qualifying and the race, meaning so-called 'party modes' - for the end of qualifying or crucial quick overtakes, for instance - can no longer be deployed for extra speed boosts.

So what will the impact be? Racing Point's Sergio Perez, whose team run Mercedes engines, is rather keen to find out...

"I think we’re going to be losing a bit in qualifying relative to other people," he told Sky F1.

"It’s going to be very interesting to see how other people handle that through the race.

"You may be able to see a couple of engine blows on Sunday. I think engines can be pushed to their maximum so it will be very interesting as you can only use one engine mode."

[axmea?]

I don't remember where I read or watched but my understanding is mercs gain 28 more horsepower with the party mode but not sustainable for race trim.

[DLSTR]

Lewis Hamilton finds the saga surrounding Formula 1's ban on qualifying engine modes "amusing" as he questions the real reason for the change.

From this weekend's Italian Grand Prix, the FIA has outlawed teams from using any special 'party modes' to boost engine power for single laps in qualifying.

Instead, teams will have to run with consistent modes throughout qualifying and the race.

While the FIA stated that it was imposing the ban because it wanted to be more confident about its policing of what teams were up to with engines, Hamilton said he is intrigued about politicking from other teams.

"I find it kind of amusing because the FIA said that it was so they could manage everyone's usage of the engine or something like that," explained Hamilton ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.

"And then Red Bull came and said: we were the ones just pushing for it. So it's just completely different reasons why they did it."

Hamilton and team-mate Valtteri Bottas are both convinced that, while the ban will impact their team, they think the difference will be minimal.

"I think naturally we lose a little bit," added Hamilton.

"But it's not the end of the day. So I think everyone potentially would lose something but maybe some more than others. And no one particularly knows I think."

Bottas backed up the view that the change will free up better engine modes for the race, as the engines would not be so compromised on reliability by having to run at full power in qualifying.

"I think in qualifying, honestly there is going to be a small difference," said the Finn.

"It's not huge. But then in the race hopefully, it seems like we are overall going to have a better race time with a decent mode all through the race."



Williams driver George Russell reckoned anyone hoping for the engine mode ban to hurt Mercedes would be in for disappointment.

"If anything it's only going to help them even more in the race, so the whole idea of trying to slow them down is actually going to go complete the opposite way," he said.

"It's only going to enhance their performance.

"I think on a Saturday it will probably compromise us a tenth of two, but we expect it to also compromise the other manufacturers a tenth or so.

"So we are probably a net one tenth down on a Saturday.

"But on a Sunday we're definitely net up by a big margin.

"And I think what Mercedes has done to improve the engine to allow us to run a very high engine more for the whole race is really impressive and she's going to be flying on the Sundays."

Racing Point's Sergio Perez reckoned, however, there was a risk of more engine failures this weekend as the result of teams perhaps pushing harder in the races.

"We don't know how hard the others can run their engines in the race, we will see," said the Mexican.

"I think certainly it's going to hurt us a bit in qualifying.

"And it's to be seen how much we are able to gain back in the race compared to others. It's all relative.

"So I think it's just a matter of waiting for this weekend.

"This track is very hard on engines, so there might be some engines blowing up out there this weekend.

"So it will be important to make it to the end. And it will be very interesting to see the differences across teams."

[DLSTR]

Mercedes are ready for the ban. - https://www.planetf1.com/news/merced...slower-at-spa/