LNERandBR

How does that work for Rally Drivers then? Many times the entire field are thrown at completely new stages which they have never driven before. Yes, they have pacenotes but the conditions on stage change from day to day and even minute by minute. That's what lost Elvin the championship this year, the grip levels suddenly and abruptly changed and he was caught out by it. Only him slowing the next cars down stopped others going off in the same place. Granted, F1 cars work best with constant and consistent grip levels. However, the best races come when they've had little practice and when there are sudden changes in weather. Look at Turkey this year!

Well I suppose they won't need the time for development testing but they'll still moan about less time on track to dial in setup and the like.

I'm very happy that Perez has the Red Bull seat. All he needs to do now is be consistent and take as many points as possible and be there when Max has a bad weekend. Max is RB's 'chosen one' and I doubt Perez will be able to topple him from that position. However, if Max has a DNF that's when his opportunities for podiums and race wins will come.

Well, Merc proved they can still do a double stack pitstop I bet it was a relief for the pit crew once they'd completed it.

I do wonder if he'll feedback anything about the screen placement? Williams being the only team not to have it on the steering wheel.

Ah, but they better not do a 'Willades' because they'll get penalized for it from next year.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were 3 different toolings or they designed it in such a way that they could mix and match parts to make it correct. That seems to be the approach Heljan is taking with the Peaks and Class 47's in OO. They are basically trying to get as much variation out of their tooling as possible.

Agreed, but naming it a 'Young Driver' test is wrong when you have an experienced Driver taking part. Just because he's not raced this year doesn't mean he should be taking a seat that an up and coming Driver could have had. Their chances to show their worth are so limited by the restricted testing already. Just call it an 'after season test' and drop the 'Young Driver' bit as that's not what it is.

They need to redefine the test's name I think. They've basically clarified it as being Drivers with fewer than 2 GP's during 2020 who can take part. Therefore, it's not a 'Young Driver' test, it's a normal test just without the 2020 season runners.

I think they'll make a decision before Friday Practice starts. Just because they could make the decision Saturday doesn't mean they will.

They probably looked at it to decide if an investigation was needed and at that point decided that more blame was likely on Leclerc's side then Perez's. The fact Leclerc ended up retiring due to the incident meant that any in race penalties weren't possible.

In the WRC teams run 3 cars but only 2 of those score Constructors points. Having 3 means that if one DNF's the other two can still pick up the points for the team. So, Mercedes would be silly to run one car. Running two provides that same buffer so that if one DNF's the other is there to collect the points.

And Perez has outscored Stroll. Really does not make any sense them getting rid of Perez.

The hardest thing for young drivers is proving they have what it takes to be in a top car. Sunday was an excellent opportunity for Russell to do that and I do think he achieved that objective. You have to remember, he's dragging his Williams into Q2. No other Driver has done that for years so he's slowly but surely been showing his potential. If the Williams was a machine worthy of regular Q2 appearances then both Drivers in that team would be doing it. Put Latifi in a Mercedes and I bet you wouldn't get the same performance.

I think they did need to pit again to be completely sure they had the tyres to get them to the end. With the full safety car it was the right call to pit, it's just the calls from pitwall to pit crew got muddled. Mercedes have become the masters of the double stack stop. It's worked right for them more times then it's failed. I do think pitting at that time was the right call.

Really, really hope Perez get's a drive for next year. Going from last to first was a drive you'd expect from drivers like Lewis. Yes, it relied on Merc making their error and the incident that put him to the back also took out one of the RB's but he still had a brilliant drive to work his way forward.

Seemed to me like Russell and Bottas both needed to stop again because after the safety car restart Bottas just went backwards. Due to the mixup he was still on the same tyres that he came into the Pits with. Admittedly, both could have motored away like Perez did after the restart rather than being stuck behind other cars but the opportunity to stop to make it safely was there and it's a procedure they've done many times with both cars in the past. Seems it turned into a poor weekend for British drivers as Lando also struggled and in the WRC Elfyn Evans had an off on Saturday which meant he didn't get the WRC championship Well I suppose Aitkin didn't finish last which was a good thing and at least he finished unlike his teammate.

So Russell has had a very good Friday, it's great to see that he's faster than the Red Bulls. I note Bottas had his fastest time deleted due to track limits though and that would have put him top of the timings if it had stuck. His resulting fastest time was set of the hards so not completely representative of his true pace when everyone else set their fastest on the softs. Tomorrow will be most interesting Meanwhile, if you turned up with an F1 car at Monza this weekend you'd be in for a shock with the conditions the best in the WRC are putting up with. Elfyn has made no major mistakes like many of his rivals have. If he keeps that up we could have a new British WRC champion and a Welsh one too. Then all we'd need is a Northern Irish WRC World Champion and we'd have the full set.

I know this is the F1 thread but watching the first full day of WRC action at Monza has been very interesting. Getting to see some of the 'offstage' areas of the F1 circuit is a highlight and the amount of rain they are getting has made things very tricky for the Drivers. Wales Rally GB on slick tyres has been mentioned with all the mud sections on the stages. Many opting for Snow tyres!

I've used the original Close Couplings on some Hornby Mk2d's. They don't have a close coupling mechanism but there is enough space for the ends to swing on the curves I've tested on. It's a case of experimenting with a few different lengths and finding those that work best.

In theory I think Bottas and Max will outqualify him. Albon I'm not sure given that he's often ending up lower down the starting grid then you'd expect a RB to be. Hopefully he'll be in the top 5 positions but exactly where I'm not sure. It all depends on how he gells with the car in Practice. No matter what happens, I've got two Britons that I'm rooting for this weekend. George Russell in F1 and Elfyn Evans in the WRC

Depends on how he qualifies. I get the feeling he'll be behind Max on the grid.

So he has experience of the car and is a current driver on the grid. Therefore, his fitness levels will not be an issue and he's alcimatised to driving this years cars. I can see why he was chosen over the others. Now he just needs to keep the amount he could achieve into perspective. I feel a Win is a long shot, a Podium could be the best outcome but it's not a certainty. I do feel that if he beats Albon then Albon's likelihood of keeping his RB drive next year will go down.

Well next weekend there's not only another F1 race to watch but the final round of the World Rally Championship too. Hopefully, we'll have a British World Champion this year, go Elfyn Evans

To some extent we can analyse it as much as we like but it will just be speculation without all the data and knowhow. Probably better to be thankful Roman escaped with minor injuries, commend the Marshalls and Medical Car staff for doing an excellent job and being very brave and await the FIA's full investigation.