Formula 1, 2020

[PhilJ W]

Interesting.

https://www.gpfans.com/en/articles/53962/hamilton-collision-with-albon-felt-like-racing-incident/

[Pete the Elaner]

3 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

A thought I've had for a while - should drivers who go off the track during qualifying, causing a red or yellow flag be penalised, in the same way as impeding someone's qualifying lap are? I know generally speaking (with a couple of notable exceptions) people don't go off the track on purpose, but by and large drivers don't impede each other on purpose either.

 

That's a very good point.

Bottas' incident yesterday looked like he was genuinely trying too hard. According to Toto Wolff, he was .2 seconds faster than his pole time at that point.

It does leave open the possibility though. We have seen it happen before. Rosberg crashed on his final qualy lap at Monaco a few years ago while his earlier lap was fastest. Didn't Schumacher do the same a while ago too?

 

3 hours ago, Chrisr40 said:

Please not more penalties ....the grid drops for engines etc are bad enough let alone a penalty for trying too hard, overcooking it and god forbid making it exciting.

 

Penalties themselves are not the problem. It is their inconsistent application which is.

I have heard the argument many times that if drivers go wide after a turn, 'it is ok if they don't gain an advantage'. Why did they go wide if it was not to go that little bit faster? So just when does it become unacceptable? 1cm? 10cm? 1m? 10m? Why bother with the track limits at all? Just let them do donuts in the middle of the circuit, counting each as a lap. Sounds ridiculous, but just where do you draw the line & who judges what is & is not acceptable? The fairest way is to penalise anyone leaving the track with all 4 wheels & also state whether or not the red & white kerb is part of it.

You may think it would be anarchy but all drivers would comply instantly & they would just get on with racing.

 

 

 

As for the end of the race, I felt sorry for Albon. I think Mercedes were stuck between a rock & a hard place though.

Pitting for tyres during the last safety car was the ideal thing to do..but who?

They were too close to stack without delay, so Hamilton would have lost out to Albon & possibly also Leclerc. That would have been a bad call for Hamilton.

Pit Bottas only & let him attack Hamilton with fresh tyres? Hamilton would have been a sitting duck & would have rightly complained.

Pit Hamilton & let him attack Bottas with fresh tyres? That would have thrown away Bottas' win & he would have rightly complained.

From a team point of view, the only option was to pit neither & hope that their cars would be good enough to see off the extra grip of others.

You don't get to F1 by waiting for a better chance, so I don't blame Albon for having a go. Neither do you get there by letting others pass without defending your position, so neither do I blame Hamilton for defending. I do think the collision was his fault though. At least the stewards applied a penalty in decent time, which is not always the case.

Good on Lando for his final lap. Gained a place & with it the extra point for fastest lap.

[Gareth Collier]

Fantastic last lap from Lando, even his team hadn't expected it but Bottas should have been told to let Hamilton through in an attempt to get more than 5 seconds ahead of 3rd but leaving Bottas with the win.

Surely they can't manage another race like that next week but reliability issues really liven things up

[EddieB]

Well that was worth waiting for!

 

A complete farce, the only thing predictable was that Grosjean would go to the beach and Vettel would give us a talking point.

 

I feel sorry for the drivers denied a finish, not least Max who could have given us some different excitement with his tyre strategy.

 

Three drivers did exceptionally well: Charles drove a second-rate car into second position; Lando crowned a superb weekend with fastest lap at the end and Esteban - great to see him back - quietly and unobtrusively worked his way through the field.

 

Downside: are Channel 4 making up all for the advert breaks they’ve missed from earlier in the season?

 

PS Those branded face masks don’t look very effective!

[Chrisr40]

Personally disgusted with ch4 that they gave Sir Stirling Moss passing (a true great of the sport) the briefest of acknowledgements ..5 seconds if that. Shame on them.

[Andrew P]

A great Race from many angles and good results that were unexpected.

 

Personally I didn't understand why they needed to repeat the Black Lives Matter piece from yesterday, that would have been better spent on a longer Moss tribute.

 

If next week is half as good I shall be well pleased.

Lewis will want revenge and a win.

Max will want revenge and a win.

Alex will want revenge and a win.

Charles will definitely want a win.

Carlos will want to beat Lando.

Seb will bin it TWICE.

 

I did like the fact that you could tell which Team the backroom boys and girls were from by the Face Masks, haha.

[Andrew P]

Can anybody explain this from C4 this evening please.

https://f1.channel4.com/

 

https://f1.channel4.com/standings

 

https://f1.channel4.com/standings

[newbryford]

5 minutes ago, Andrew P said:

Can anybody explain this from C4 this evening please.

https://f1.channel4.com/

 

https://f1.channel4.com/standings

 

https://f1.channel4.com/standings

 

Drugs and/or alcohol?

[Classsix T]

the order in which the website editor fancies the drivers?

"They did have masks on on like the podium but I deffo think I heard Bottas won. Sebastian is my fave and there was a guy in red, must've been him. I hope Danny was third, he's cute!"

 

C6T. 

[RedgateModels]

What were Marc thinking not swapping Lewis and Valteri for the last few laps? madness. 

 

Going to be a bit controversial now, but come on Lewis, time to focus on being an F1 driver, IF you want another championship. Fine if you'd rather pursue a higher cause, but you can't do both.

[Oldddudders]

Only 11 finishers. When did we last see so few? Wet races can wipe a few out, but 9 in the dry?

[PaulRhB]

24 minutes ago, RedgateModels said:

 

Going to be a bit controversial now, but come on Lewis, time to focus on being an F1 driver, IF you want another championship. Fine if you'd rather pursue a higher cause, but you can't do both.

I don’t see why not and to be honest when he’s this passionate about it it’s more likely to be a frustrating distraction if he doesn’t do something about it. 
He and Toto credit the freedom to do his own thing for a lot of their success because he does feel happy. You could see that in the reaction to the black livery, I think it could fire him up even more. 
DC and Mark Webber said from their first view it wasn’t a deliberate hit with Albon it was actually his momentum around the outside that meant he drove into Lewis’ front wheel and illustrated it in the playback. Gutting for Alex as he deserved to be fighting for P1 and I think more than justified his seat. Lando and Alex are both bringing some great driving and fun off track too. I feel sorry for George with his car but he too brings a bit of life to interviews and continues to get pretty much everything he can out of the car. 
Despite all the talk of reverses grids etc this produced one of the most exciting and dramatic races for ages without rain interfering. 
More like that please  

Edited July 6, 2020 by PaulRhB

[PaulRhB]

To be honest if some human frailty forces Lewis off the pace in qualifying and drops him in the field it’s much less contrived than reverse grid or weight penalties and livens up the race. I reckon they will soon get the hammer down and romp away but at least we’ve had a taste of what made F1 so exciting in the past with multiple drivers in with a chance on a dry track. 
What’s more we are seeing some great passion from the new boys and I hope Alex turns that into furious speed  

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

Only 11 finishers. When did we last see so few? Wet races can wipe a few out, but 9 in the dry?

All a bit rusty? The drivers not the cars.

Edited July 6, 2020 by PhilJ W

[PhilJ W]

https://www.gpfans.com/en/articles/53998/no-silver-bullet-to-counter-second-per-lap-qualifying-deficit-ferrari/

[Pete the Elaner]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

All a bit rusty? The drivers not the cars.

But is was the cars which caused the retirements.

 

Verstappen - electrical issue

Ricciardo - overheating

Both Haas (brake failure)

Russell - I can't remember what, but he parked his car rather than crashed it.

Raikkonen - wheel fell off. This looked like a bad pit stop rather than a car problem, but not the driver's fault.

Mercedes - both had to slow with sensor issues, although this did not stop them 

 

Hamilton, Vettel & Perez all made errors, but this did not prevent them from finishing.

[rocor]

2 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Only 11 finishers. When did we last see so few? Wet races can wipe a few out, but 9 in the dry?

 

Car reliability seems to have been the big issue, when the reasons for the non-finishes are looked at.

 

George Russell                 Fuel feed.

Alex Albon                         Electronics.

Daniil Kyvat                       Suspension failure.

Kimi Räikkönen                 Detached wheel.

Romain Grosjean              Brake failure.

Kevin Magussen                Brake failure.

Lance Stroll                         Engine.

Daniel Riccardo                  Over heating.

Max Verstappen                 Electronics.

[Chrisr40]

9 minutes ago, rocor said:

 

Car reliability seems to have been the big issue, when the reasons for the non-finishes are looked at.

 

George Russell                 Fuel feed.

Alex Albon                         Electronics.

Daniil Kyvat                       Suspension failure.

Kimi Räikkönen                 Detached wheel.

Romain Grosjean              Brake failure.

Kevin Magussen                Brake failure.

Lance Stroll                         Engine.

Daniel Riccardo                  Over heating.

Max Verstappen                 Electronics.

I think we have got too used to good reliability. Go back to the early turbo days 70s 80s and it was nigh on a lottery some races who would win.

I could live with losing half the cars each race if it gave us great racing.

[Jol Wilkinson]

At least the race gave Christian Moaner the opportunity to start giving advice to LH about his driving. 

[ianwales]

4 hours ago, RedgateModels said:

What were Marc thinking not swapping Lewis and Valteri for the last few laps? madness. 

 

 

Why?  Valteri would not have won the race then, just gained the points due to Hamiltons penalty, and then Lando would not have got the 3rd place so another contrived result, nice to see him being penalised for ignoring caution flags though at last!

[black and decker boy]

57 minutes ago, ianwales said:

 

Why?  Valteri would not have won the race then, just gained the points due to Hamiltons penalty, and then Lando would not have got the 3rd place so another contrived result, nice to see him being penalised for ignoring caution flags though at last!

Because it would have benefited the team as they would have been more likely to be 1&3 than 1&4. Merc are there to win the constructors title not the drivers title. For that you need both cars to score high & consistently. 

[Andrew P]

4 minutes ago, black and decker boy said:

Because it would have benefited the team as they would have been more likely to be 1&3 than 1&4. Merc are there to win the constructors title not the drivers title. For that you need both cars to score high & consistently. 

I agree, but I don't think Lewis would have wanted that, and certainly Bottas would not be happy as had an almost faultless weekend.

[woodenhead]

To swap the cars around with only a few laps left is not without risk - to create the necessary gap would have required Bottas with a potentially compromised gear box to back up the rest of the pack and hold off LeClerc to allow LH to get to a five second gap.

 

Risks of collisions, losing Bottas his second place with no guarantee that it would leave LH with a 5 second lead at the end, with very little scope to recover the situation as both Mercs had the oldest tires of the leaders.

 

Leaving as was gave the clearest outcome and it was only a fastest lap by Lando at the very end that gave him was it a 0.2 second 3rd place over demoted LH.

 

They were expecting 1-3 with a possible out chance of 1-4, swapping cars risked 2-3 or worse.

[PaulRhB]

Well I’m glad they didn’t as it made it more exciting, tactics like that would have taken the tension out however much sense they make to the team. Later in the season when they know it will matter they will have to play those cards but Toto may just have had the sense not to cause controversy in such a charged return to racing. 
Whatever the reason we got a great race and it’s consequences may be key later, we wanted the field evening up and that did it!  

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

I rather feel Merc not swapping their drivers about is a mark of confidence that they have the necessary to obtain the titles. And further that Bottas deserved to lead the race to the finish, he was in the position he earned.

 

They have said before that there will be no team orders, unless it becomes essential to secure either of the championships.  If Bottas can now outperform Hamilton, then he quite properly gets the title. If Merc stay in F1, they are going to want a proven championship capable driver for the moment when Hamilton's capability begins to decline or he retires. Nothing lasts forever...