BORING -- that is all I can say.......

Funniest thing was seeing the MB doing donuts and how they lined up at the end on the track....

The B word best describe the last race between RB and MB and a much better race for the rest. Such a large gap and hope it's momentum for RB into 2021. I heard a slip from Horner. I'm convinced it'll be Niko Hulkenberg and will be shocked if either Albon stays or if they picked Perez (who I'd prefer to see over Hulkenberg) and will be announced within a week. My inner Zoltar at work.

THe word is out from SKY F1 and Ted the pit reporter that announced soon will be Perez to RedBull. On his post race video. Albon would be reserve driver.

I don’t think Kvyat is signed - would not be surprised to see Alex sent back to the B team and show against Gasley which one deserves a promotion should the opportunity present itself. Meanwhile, Chico or Hulk for RBR.

I hope I am wrong about Niko Hulkenberg to RB. I was picking up on a slip by Horner and it might as well just be that, a slip. Can't wait for the real scoop to come out.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/15...-covid-cluster

Formula 1 boss Ross Brawn has revealed a translator triggered the most significant COVID-19 outbreak that the series had to deal with this year.

Although Brawn didn't specify the event, it's understood that the "worst cluster" occurred at the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi in September.

Brawn praised the way the series coped with the pandemic, and also highlighted the anomaly of three out of the small group of 20 F1 drivers testing positive.

F1's organisation and the FIA introduced strict protocols for the start of the season in Austria, including a regime that saw extensive COVID-19 testing on race weekends that involved both the travelling regulars and local officials and staff at the venues.

Over 78,000 tests were conducted under FIA jurisdiction at the 17 events, and they produced just 78 positive tests, although the numbers don't include the obligatory testing between races that took away from the venues.

Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll and Lewis Hamilton all had to miss races after testing positive, representing a much higher percentage than was seen in the overall F1 numbers.

Over 1,300 people working for the FIA, F1, the teams and the media travelled to each race, not counting the F2, F3 and Porsche Supercup teams seen at some events.

"I think it's a brilliant example of how F1 in times of crisis pulls together as a complete family," Brawn told the F1 Podcast. "We spend most of our lives, or at least I did when I was competing, in trying to destroy each other.

"And then we get faced with a situation like this, and F1 comes together and excels. I'm just really proud of what everyone was able to do this year, because it seemed an almost impossible task. When I look at how things were when we started this adventure, I'm really proud."

When asked about the test results, Brawn highlighted the relatively high percentage of drivers who were infected by COVID.

"It was slightly over one in 1,000," he said. "And it's fascinating to look at those cases, because we had three drivers, which is kind of disproportionate out of 20 drivers. That's something you've got to think about.

"Of those 78 that were positive, quite a number were track workers, or people associated with the country we were in.

"I think the worst outbreak cluster we had was when a translator caught us out in one of the countries, because he was working with a group of people, translating for them.

"Then of course he came into contact with them, and we suddenly had a fierce little cluster, but we quickly got on to that.

"So very few outbreaks, amongst the teams. The numbers within the teams of mechanics and engineers was very low. Interesting exercise to study the data, and I know some of the most diligent people in F1 got caught out. I don't know where it came from."

Brawn admitted that when the revised season was planned around the new COVID protocols there were many unknowns.

"I think the thing that none of us really understood is what would happen if we started to get an outbreak, how it would be managed, could we control it could we limit it?" he said.

"And none of us know enough about the dynamics of this disease, and how it spreads. The rudimentaries are known, but the subtleties aren't known. I mean, how long do you need to be in the company of an infected person, and what you need to do around them to become infected yourself?

"So all those things were uncertain, we simply didn't know how it would develop. And I think when we had our first positive cases, that was the anxious time to know whether they could just be limited on whether the systems and protocols we put in place would be sufficient to contain the outbreaks, which did prove to be the case.

"I think everyone was pretty diligent in F1. I think we had to be on our guard as we progressed, because it was easy to get complacent, and easy to drop your guard.

"But I think the protocols we put in place, the face masks, social distancing, bubbles, it did mean that when we had cases, they didn't escalate and become uncontrollable.

"I think that was a key barrier for us to get through, to know we could actually manage it. Because it would be unrealistic to think we wouldn't have cases. But when we got them, how are we going to deal with them? And could we contain them?"

Brawn also confirmed that the COVID protocols will be applied again in 2021.

"We're not going to go into next year with a switch turned. We're going to have to carry on, and learn from what we've learned this year, and be as diligent, because the vaccines aren't going to become effective until sometime during the year, in terms of numbers," he said.

"So we're going to need to continue testing. The testing regime may change, the methodology may change, but we're going to have another year undoubtedly of having to be super diligent, and apply the protocols again."

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/15...-bull-for-2021

Sergio Perez looks poised to secure a seat with Red Bull for the 2021 Formula 1 season, with an announcement set to be made on Friday.

Red Bull had vowed to make a swift decision about whether or not to stick with Alex Albon, after the Thai driver struggled to match team-mate Max Verstappen throughout the past season.

He did take podium finishes at the Tuscan and Bahrain grands prix, but he finished the campaign 109 points behind his Dutch team-mate.

Albon had faced difficulties getting on top of the tricky handling of the RB16 but had appeared to have made some progress over the final race weekend in Abu Dhabi.

But, amid growing indications that Red Bull felt its 2021 ambitions could be better served by opting for a proven more experienced driver like Perez, the team appears to have wasted little time in making its call.

its now official -- Albon is reserve driver -- Perez on one year contract


https://the-race.com/formula-1/perez...bull-for-2021/

He'll have had enough of the BS at RBR by the end of that year, to want to go into WRC!

:iagree: that's funny, but I heard a rumor, he has signed with williams for 2022, need to find that...

Very cool link and the other links it contains. Thank you for posting that up. I have not really spend much time on that particular site.

Ferrari building Haas facility in Maranello (and other customers - see article)

https://racer.com/2020/12/22/ferrari...-in-maranello/

just interesting

:iagree: However they will still not get the same stuff as the Ferrari Team. :twocents:

Haas can buy up to the FIA limit legal of Ferrari parts. Its a cost strategy that can work for or against you lol

Agree, but with cost limits and all that stuff maybe HAAS will get lucky