Bulleidboy100 Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 I read this morning that Paul Di Resta expects George to qualify on the front row. I'd loved to be proved wrong, but I can't see that happening. 1 1 1 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted December 3, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 3, 2020 2 hours ago, Zomboid said: Bottas can out qualify Lewis on occasion, so he'd probably have to have a proper off day to be beaten by Russell given the experience and familiarity gap. But on a track with a likely lap time under 60s, the margins are going to be so tight that anything is possible. Not that I'd wish the plague on anyone, but having Russell in the Merc (and Aiken in the Williams) provides some extra interest to a race where nothing much is at stake in championship terms. I'm quite excited to see how they both do. Not quite sure that there is not much at stake from a championship point of view. First place may be sorted in both championships. Driver 2nd place is still very much up for grabs - as are constructor positions meaning $Ms 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 From a spectator point of view, though - who really cares who comes second? And, whilst from a driver's point of view, it's clearly better to come second than third, especially with prize money involved, as DC has often said "Second place is first loser." Many of us can probably remember who won the WDC for most of the time we've been watching F1 - but (apart from certain memorable close finishes like Lewis/Massa in 2008) how many of us could name all the seconds for the same period?. Which is why the decision to strip Schumacher of his 2nd place in 1997 was really little more than a slap on the wrist. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted December 3, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 3, 2020 (edited) 22 minutes ago, RJS1977 said: From a spectator point of view, though - who really cares who comes second? And, whilst from a driver's point of view, it's clearly better to come second than third, especially with prize money involved, as DC has often said "Second place is first loser." Many of us can probably remember who won the WDC for most of the time we've been watching F1 - but (apart from certain memorable close finishes like Lewis/Massa in 2008) how many of us could name all the seconds for the same period?. Which is why the decision to strip Schumacher of his 2nd place in 1997 was really little more than a slap on the wrist. Correct, in absolute terms, but in a tightly contested championship (OK, how many of us are old enough to remember any but that one?) getting more second places than the other guy can make the difference. If two drivers are level on wins, seconds effectively decide. John Edited December 3, 2020 by Dunsignalling 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejstubbs Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 Keke Rosberg won the WDC in 1982 with only one race win. Five other drivers scored two race wins, but Keke eked it out with three second places, two third places, one fourth place and three fifth places (points were only scored down to sixth place in those days). It was quite a disrupted season, though, with race boycotts caused by the FISA-FOCA "war", the deaths of Gilles Villeneuve and Riccardo Paletti, and Didier Pironi - who finished five points behind Rosberg in the championship, and would likely otherwise have been champion - suffering career-ending injuries in qualifying for the German GP. Carlos Reutemann was another driver who ended up highly-placed in the championship a number of times (though never winning) through consistency rather than number of outright wins. He only lost the 1981 championship by one point to Nelson Piquet, who had three wins to Reutemann's two. Carlos ended up somewhat uncharacteristically (for him) out of the points in the last race of the season, while Piquet got two points for fifth. That was at the almost wholly rubbish Caesar's Palace Grand Prix, which must have been one of the most uninvolving ways for such a close championship to be resolved in the history of F1. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 I suppose for the past few seasons the only thing that's ever really been at stake is second place... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted December 3, 2020 Author Share Posted December 3, 2020 Al Fonso to test in Abu Dhabi, https://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/30442171/alonso-granted-permission-take-part-abu-dhabi-test 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted December 3, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 3, 2020 5 hours ago, Zomboid said: But on a track with a likely lap time under 60s, the margins are going to be so tight that anything is possible. I fear Q1 may be a chaotic bunfight due to the short lap. There may be some embarrassing failures to get into Q2, especially if the 'new' parts of the track prove as slippery as was the case last weekend. George's talents may not be allowed to shine due to severe crowding. And Michael Masi's dictum that drivers must not slow down between turns 4 & 9 to allow themselves a space in front only makes it more difficult. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium njee20 Posted December 3, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 3, 2020 On 02/12/2020 at 12:07, kipford said: Quick bit of maths. Difference between first and last on the grid last weekend was 2.9 secs. Assuming the ratio between front to back stays roughly the same the grid separation will be around 0.6 secs. Thousands of a sec separation times may decided the top 10! Going to be great. Think your maths is a bit wrong though. If we assume a 55 second lap, where pole was a 1:27 on Saturday - that means it's 63% the length, so the gap scales to 1.8 seconds between the front and the back. If I'm understanding you correctly... It's certainly short, but Austria is pretty short too, and it broadly works out there! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulleidboy100 Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 George has said he is under no pressure! Reading some of the media hype that is out there, he has already got his hand on the trophy for this race. By his own admission, he has not been in the simulator for two years, he is four inches taller than Lewis, so it’s a squeeze to get him in the car, he also takes size eleven shoes/boots, so will have to wear a smaller shoe for the race – Quote “I can live with the discomfort, for this opportunity” – Lewis will fit in that car like a hand in a glove. With a few hundreds of a second being the difference between the front of the grid and the back, I think it is going to be tougher than he thinks. Although Lewis has been at the front for most of the year, the guys in the Red Bull, Racing Point, McLaren and Renault are not slow. I hope he does well, but as was mentioned earlier, if he gets caught in traffic during qualifying, it will add to the pressure. We will all know by Sunday evening. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 19 minutes ago, Bulleidboy100 said: We will all know by Sunday evening. I'm not sure we'll know much more than we already do, no matter what happens. If he ends up not doing very well then it doesn't make him a bad driver, and if he does well then it's not that unexpected, he's been putting that Williams into places it doesn't deserve to be for ages. It will be exciting seeing how it goes, but I don't expect anyone who makes important decisions will be changing their minds on the basis of what happens this weekend. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Train Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 Romain Grosjean meets the people who saved his life on Sunday. https://twitter.com/F1/status/1334563299627700224 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold kipford Posted December 3, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 3, 2020 Quote Think your maths is a bit wrong though. If we assume a 55 second lap, where pole was a 1:27 on Saturday - that means it's 63% the length, so the gap scales to 1.8 seconds between the front and the back. If I'm understanding you correctly... It's certainly short, but Austria is pretty short too, and it broadly works out there! Its called brain fade used the ratio not the ratio x the delta. Hey ho it makes a pratt 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete the Elaner Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 1 hour ago, Zomboid said: I'm not sure we'll know much more than we already do, no matter what happens. If he ends up not doing very well then it doesn't make him a bad driver, and if he does well then it's not that unexpected, he's been putting that Williams into places it doesn't deserve to be for ages. It will be exciting seeing how it goes, but I don't expect anyone who makes important decisions will be changing their minds on the basis of what happens this weekend. I agree. We will not know much more after Sunday. He may have been in a Merc simulator 2 years ago, but this year is an all-new car. The simulator he used may be as similar to his Williams as it is to the 2020 Merc. We are all led to believe he is over-driving the Williams but what have we had to compare? A driver returning from a few seasons out who was once a promising talent but now has limited movement in one of his arms & now a rookie. It is not like comparing him to someone known like Massa, or even comparing Hamilton to Alonso in his first season. He is bound to be nervous & desperate to prove himself. I would be if I was given Hamilton's car for 1 race. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold kipford Posted December 3, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 3, 2020 Interesting comment from Russell on Autosport site. He is 6'1" Hamilton is 4" shorter, so he was finding Lewis's car a bit of a cosy! Did not realise he was that tall, similar to Damon Hill if I remember correctly. He takes size 11 shoes, Hamilton size 9 and has had to drop a shoe size in order to make himself more comfortable! Having raced in boots that were too tight once before in a 20 minute club race, I can confirm his feet are going to be a bit uncomfortable come the end of the race! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted December 4, 2020 Author Share Posted December 4, 2020 Bottas = Not good if Russel beats me. https://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/30443775/bottas-look-good-russell-beats-me 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenhead Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 "George, Valteri, despite being three places behind you, is quicker than you. Can you let him past please" 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iak Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 (edited) We are, quite remarkably, in for some interesting racing come Sunday. A young gun gets a chance to drive a proper car, a lot of other guys realise they could actually WIN a race possibly and we get a race with a Fittipaldi on the grid - again... STREWTH! Edited December 4, 2020 by iak Doh... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 57xx Posted December 4, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 4, 2020 16 hours ago, Bulleidboy100 said: George has said he is under no pressure! Reading some of the media hype that is out there, he has already got his hand on the trophy for this race. By his own admission, he has not been in the simulator for two years, he is four inches taller than Lewis, so it’s a squeeze to get him in the car He squeezed in ok... Quote It fits! Just... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
37114 Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 I guess Russell has never tried DAS before either so he has that to get used to as well... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobby Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 1 minute ago, 37114 said: I guess Russell has never tried DAS before either so he has that to get used to as well... It'll be interesting to see what he does with a modelling compound! DRS on the other hand... Sorry couldn't resist! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Collier Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 5 minutes ago, Hobby said: It'll be interesting to see what he does with a modelling compound! DRS on the other hand... Sorry couldn't resist! Nope, DAS is correct. It's the Merc's system to change the angle of their front wheels to warm the tyres quicker. 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
37114 Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 35 minutes ago, Hobby said: It'll be interesting to see what he does with a modelling compound! DRS on the other hand... Sorry couldn't resist! In which case he has 2 types of DAS to play with ! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 (edited) Just heard a wonderful interview with Grosjean on the Practice 1 coverage on Sky. Romain talked at length about what happened in those 28 seconds in the fire. Incredible considering the impact he endured that he is considering racing again in a few weeks time. https://twitter.com/hashtag/SkyF1?src=hashtag_click Edited December 4, 2020 by gordon s 2 1 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted December 4, 2020 Share Posted December 4, 2020 Just haf a quick glance at the Practice 1 stream on the BBC website. Gorge was a creditable 7th place when I looked (no doubt things will change as the situation evolves) , both Williams are near the back... Bottas leads Verstappen at the front. Of course practice is just practice. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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