Formula 1, 2020

[Andrew P]

FIA = FIA?

https://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/29023657/ferrari-blocked-release-fia-engine-settlement-details

[Hobby]

No surprise, surely?

[Bulleidboy100]

French GP about to go.

[Andrew P]

14 minutes ago, Bulleidboy100 said:

French GP about to go.

So should Silverstone I'm afraid.

 

We / THEY have to put peoples health and safety first and foremost.

[Bulleidboy100]

Belgian GP (Sept 1st) now looking doubtful.  I expect some will disagree, but is it really worth starting this season?

[Hobby]

Considering they are still talking about finishing the football season which would be done in July I think it's far too early for any decision on something in September, who knows what will have happened by then. It's all pure speculation at the moment...

 

I suppose it gives us something to talk about though...

Edited April 16, 2020 by Hobby

[Andrew P]

11 hours ago, Bulleidboy100 said:

Belgian GP (Sept 1st) now looking doubtful.  I expect some will disagree, but is it really worth starting this season?

 

55 minutes ago, Hobby said:

Considering they are still talking about finishing the football season which would be done in July I think it's far too early for any decision on something in September, who knows what will have happened by then. It's all pure speculation at the moment...

 

I suppose it gives us something to talk about though...

 Back to my earlier suggestion Guys, Run 2 Races at each event next year, the first for 2020 and the second normal Race for 21.

[ELTEL]

Although I enjoy my motor racing  I feel the best action plan would be to cancel the 2020 season, unlike the uk  football season which was 75% complete needs to be completed in some way.

 

Terry

[Pete the Elaner]

4 minutes ago, ELTEL said:

Although I enjoy my motor racing  I feel the best action plan would be to cancel the 2020 season, unlike the uk  football season which was 75% complete needs to be completed in some way.

 

Terry

 

It is too early to make such a decision, although complete cancellation is a possibility.

 

Most F1 countries are only 1 month into lockdown so far & Ross Brawn has stated that a minimum season can begin as late as October. That is still another 6 months away.

It will not be possible to decide to start the season & get going the following day, but I don't think a final decision has to be made until around August, which is still 4 months away. Who knows what the situation will be then?

[RJS1977]

4 hours ago, ELTEL said:

Although I enjoy my motor racing  I feel the best action plan would be to cancel the 2020 season, unlike the uk  football season which was 75% complete needs to be completed in some way.

 

Terry

 

The other big difference of course is that the football season could be completed without international travel. My personal view is that international travel should not reopen this year - or if it did, only in time for Christmas. 

 

Once countries have started to get the virus under control, the last thing they need is people travelling to other countries and bringing it back again!

 

[ELTEL]

2 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

 

The other big difference of course is that the football season could be completed without international travel. My personal view is that international travel should not reopen this year - or if it did, only in time for Christmas. 

 

Once countries have started to get the virus under control, the last thing they need is people travelling to other countries and bringing it back again!

 

Yes the domestic football could go ahead behind closed doors and be televised.

 

I agree with you that non essential international travel needs to be kept under strict control, and only lifted when the world has a effective and proven vaccine 

 

The health of the world’s population is certainly not worth taking risks with.

 

Terry 

[RJS1977]

3 minutes ago, ELTEL said:

Yes the domestic football could go ahead behind closed doors and be televised.

 

I agree with you that non essential international travel needs to be kept under strict control, and only lifted when the world has a effective and proven vaccine 

 

The health of the world’s population is certainly not worth taking risks with.

 

Terry 

 

No reason domestic motor sport couldn't either (touring cars etc). The biggest issue is the lack of income from ticket sales/ catering/ merchandise sales.

[Pete the Elaner]

8 hours ago, ELTEL said:

 

I agree with you that non essential international travel needs to be kept under strict control, and only lifted when the world has a effective and proven vaccine 

 

 

Vaccines usually take years to develop, if it is possible at all. It hasn't been for the common cold or HIV.

How long do we wait for a vaccine before deciding that is not possible?

 

I hope something is developed, but it may not be possible.

[ELTEL]

53 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

Vaccines usually take years to develop, if it is possible at all. It hasn't been for the common cold or HIV.

How long do we wait for a vaccine before deciding that is not possible?

 

I hope something is developed, but it may not be possible.

Fine as long as your actions don’t effect others 

[ELTEL]

9 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

 

No reason domestic motor sport couldn't either (touring cars etc). The biggest issue is the lack of income from ticket sales/ catering/ merchandise sales.

Altogether I watch Grand Prix I find BTSC much more entertaining and affordable and can still afford to go to a few events   

[PaulRhB]

5 hours ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

Vaccines usually take years to develop, if it is possible at all. It hasn't been for the common cold or HIV.

How long do we wait for a vaccine before deciding that is not possible?

 

I hope something is developed, but it may not be possible.

It’s possible and that’s direct from someone working on it. The problem with a virus is it mutates and there are already several mutations of this because of the infection rate being so high.
Reducing the infection rate with lockdown gives the time to catch up and they’ve already slashed the certification process to help as this is so infectious. Like flu you probably can’t eliminate it entirely with a vaccine but you can control it and give the time to treat those unlucky enough to get a serious version of it. 

 

Nice to see the F1 technology being put to good use and even though the Renault and Red Bull effort has lead to a dead end at least they threw in their resources, many breakthroughs have come from supposed dead ends too. 

[Phaeton]

On 16/04/2020 at 13:39, ELTEL said:

I agree with you that non essential international travel needs to be kept under strict control, and only lifted when the world has a effective and proven vaccine 

 

Terry 

 

If non essential International travel had been severely limited earlier & all people coming into the UK had been quarantined earlier we wouldn't be in this mess, the UK Government didn't act quick enough & I'm still not convinced they still are. We are a small island we could have been through this & out the other side by now, but we are where we are. But just like F1 it's all about the money, how long can the teams survive without the sponsorship money, which if they aren't racing then you have to assume they aren't getting, although logically the expenditure is well down as well.

[PaulRhB]

5 hours ago, Phaeton said:

We are a small island we could have been through this & out the other side by now, 

Sadly no until there’s  several vaccines we are not out the other side. The scientists are publicly saying we expect more waves due to the mutations and having had it is very likely not to make you immune from the next waves due to the mutations. The reaction time has affected supplies and the impact on the NHS but internationally they are still learning about this virus. The medical experts warnings about highly likely waves two and three are being reported by multiple responsible media.

It’s a narrow line to overreaction and decisions are made by politicians who always have an eye on how the economy affects re-election. The authoritarian regimes are widely reported to be suspected of concealing things and they are very worried about those denying there’s a problem still as they are potential havens for new spreads. 
It’s easy to be wise in hindsight and the bullish Brexit, British Bulldog culture being cultivated by much of the media in the last two years means the general public attitude was just as dismissive so why be surprised that’s what politicians play to?

It’s a weakness of a democracy but equally denial is a weakness of authoritarianism and they are seeing a worrying mix of both over the pond. 
Blame isn’t going to help now as it just sets up barriers, we are in this mess so cooperation is the way to helping people survive the disease and then the economic recovery. 
Only once (if?) that’s happened can we start crowing about ‘blitz spirit’.

[EddieB]

12 hours ago, Phaeton said:

 

If non essential International travel had been severely limited earlier & all people coming into the UK had been quarantined earlier we wouldn't be in this mess, the UK Government didn't act quick enough & I'm still not convinced they still are. We are a small island we could have been through this & out the other side by now, but we are where we are. 

I can envisage a situation where other countries that acted more quickly and more thoroughly will open their borders, but not to allow the British or any arrivals from the UK - purely because we wasted time on the "herd immunity" strategy, were too slow to implement lock-down, failed to check arrivals at airports and still haven't accumulated meaningful data through testing.  Our country remains an international risk because we have no idea how widespread the virus remains among the wider popolation.

 

In Grand Prix terms (which is of little importance in the grand scheme of things, but the subject of this thread), with so much construction and technology being UK-based, the potential to start racing in 2020 could be prevented by an inability to travel out from the UK.

[Oldddudders]

5 minutes ago, EddieB said:

I can envisage a situation where other countries that acted more quickly and more thoroughly will open their borders, but not to allow the British or any arrivals from the UK - purely because we wasted time on the "herd immunity" strategy, were too slow to implement lock-down, failed to check arrivals at airports and still haven't accumulated meaningful data through testing.  Our country remains an international risk because we have no idea how widespread the virus remains among the wider popolation.

 

In Grand Prix terms (which is of little importance in the grand scheme of things, but the subject of this thread), with so much construction and technology being UK-based, the potential to start racing in 2020 could be prevented by an inability to travel out from the UK.

Add in Silverstone's announced willingness to host more than one race and we have a whole season in Northants! 

[Hobby]

1 hour ago, EddieB said:

I can envisage a situation where other countries that acted more quickly and more thoroughly will open their borders, but not to allow the British or any arrivals from the UK - purely because we wasted time on the "herd immunity" strategy, were too slow to implement lock-down, failed to check arrivals at airports and still haven't accumulated meaningful data through testing.  Our country remains an international risk because we have no idea how widespread the virus remains among the wider population.

 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, isn't it... At the time the "experts" thought it would work,it was so new that other country's experiences hadn't proved it couldn't, so it could have done but it didn't...

 

As for that last bit, even in countries where testing is more widespread the testing isn't that accurate and is only a "snapshot" so all countries are at risk from one another as no country knows for certain how widespread the virus is, even with testing...

 

I'm sure we'll learn lessons from this but feel this is no time to start laying the blame, especially as we are not out of it yet. Everyone can be an expert, with hindsight...

[EddieB]

Except it wasn't hindsight when I first made such comments!

[Hobby]

No, it was a guess, which by luck was right...

Edited April 18, 2020 by Hobby

[RJS1977]

14 hours ago, Phaeton said:

 

If non essential International travel had been severely limited earlier & all people coming into the UK had been quarantined earlier we wouldn't be in this mess, the UK Government didn't act quick enough & I'm still not convinced they still are. We are a small island we could have been through this & out the other side by now, but we are where we are. But just like F1 it's all about the money, how long can the teams survive without the sponsorship money, which if they aren't racing then you have to assume they aren't getting, although logically the expenditure is well down as well.

 

Whilst I agree that it should have been possible to prevent the virus reaching the UK by closing down international travel (ideally before large numbers of people travelled to China for the New Year), throughout most of January the WHO were saying there was no evidence of person-person transmission and that there was no need to disrupt international travel. (Despite having been notified of COVID19 in December, the WHO didn't get an investigative team out to China until February, by which time the virus was already spreading across the globe).

[EddieB]

16 minutes ago, Hobby said:

No, it was a guess, which by luck was right...

You're welcome to that opinion.

 

As it happens, I have contacts in the countries first affected, many of whom were in the front line of the responses there, to say nothing of those connected to officialdom in the UK.  Besides that, understanding the maths behind epidemiology is hardly rocket science.  As I said in the closed thread from weeks ago, I sincerely hoped I was wrong.  I'd hardly call that "lucky" given the unravelling that has taken place and I write this with a heavy heart.