Formula 1, 2020

[steve1]

Why do we get so many close ups of Horner's ugly mug on the C 4 coverage?

 

Even his missus would be more interesting.

 

steve

[Crisis Rail]

All well and good to see a young Brit with potential in a decent machine. Might wake a few up break the Monopoly and return some to the sport. Meanwhile I’ll still go along with Mr Stewarts opinion that the Merc is a piece of p*ss to handle. 

[friscopete]

There is far more   to motor racing  than cars going round a track  to bore people .Its a world market for car manufacturers and having Lewis  as you Champion is a huge asset .Germany is hugely aware of aspects of its past  and wants to at least  ensure its not accused again .So an occaisional  Blondie for a home run  champ  then back to  supporting black rights and drivers while having a Nordic as a spare .Well worth  40 zillion a year .Does George actually fit in to all this ? .Does Germany want an Englander champiuon.Is  mercedes even staying in F1 ?

oh cynical Martin

[mudmagnet]

Absolute shame that George had a few tyre issues, not of his making, but he did show what he is capable of achieving in a decent car. It does seem that he has been driving the socks off the Williams and extracting as much as possible from the car. His experience with the Merc, both in quality / speed etc of the car and also the disappointment that even with the best car, you still have to work hard to get a result.

 

He may get another opportunity next weekend, subject to Lewis and whether he is permitted to travel, let alone be tested negative.

 

I wonder if we had been talking about Red Bull, then they would drop their drivers to suit - can't see this happening at Merc in 2021

 

 

[ejstubbs]

6 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

In some ways not getting the fairytale ending keeps the pressure off and people want him to succeed even more.

 

Isn't that a bit contradictory?

[Sidecar Racer]

 

One comment George made that I found interesting was a comparison

of the Willams and the Mercedes . He said the Williams was more of

a re-active driving style when pushing it while the Merc was so good you

able to be pro-active and it would do what you wanted and go where you wanted .

Edited December 7, 2020 by Sidecar Racer

[PaulRhB]

3 minutes ago, ejstubbs said:

 

Isn't that a bit contradictory?

Pressure off him because he proved more being dropped into the pack than just zooming away from the front and the fans wanting him to succeed, rather than purely expecting it, isn’t necessarily contradictory. If they expect him to win every time because that’s how he started the pressure ramps up, now he’s still the underdog with people rooting for him to win. 
It gets forgotten in time though as happened to Lewis, everyone thought he was mad changing to Merc  

Lewis and George have proved in lower formula they could excel with equal equipment but it’s easy to say it’s the car when it’s such a good one. I’m not for dropping Valterri but I do hope to see Lewis and George drive together to see how close George can get. It’s still not a fair comparison in many ways due to Lewis’ experience but we can’t pit Lewis at 22 against George so we will never truly know how they compare. It could be 8 years until Lewis and Michael’s record is eclipsed or it could be 30 years. With several very talented drivers and a equalising rules change we might see reliability and luck sharing the honours out despite the talent over the next ten years. Seven titles because the driver, car and reliability are all in the groove at the same time is done feat to equal. Will the next one to do it make it with just one manufacturer?  

[Pete the Elaner]

4 hours ago, PMW said:

The safety car came at a bad time for Mercedes.. As race leaders they had to choose their strategy based on how the cars behind would respond. I don't think they had to pit based on wear, the hard tyres, albeit with the reduced performance would go to the end but with a free pitstop available the choice to pit was a no brainer. If they didn't they would have Perez right behind them at the restart on fresh mediums and would be sitting ducks. So they chose to double stack which they normally do like clockwork but because of radio congestion the team had the tyres in the wrong order, hence Russell got the wrong tyres and Bottas went back out on his old ones. 

 

 

Yes, they did need to pit them both.

Their tyres would have been ok until the end & they had the safety of a decent gap to 3rd. Once the safety car was deployed, their gap was gone & older tyres, particularly the hard compound take time to re-condition. Some cars behind were on younger tyres so by not pitting, they would have certainly been passed by cars behind them.

If they had not pitted, we would be saying they had thrown away 1st & 2nd...which would be entirely correct.

If the pit stops went as normal, they would have got straight back out in 1st & 2nd. They were only a few seconds away from the pits when the SC was deployed, so then team had little time to react. In hindsight, what should have happened is a lap-by-lap assessment of which tyres they want in the event of a safety car, then when it does happen they are all prepared for it. Maybe they do this anyway & something went wrong? Toto blamed the radio comms.

 

What I think was bad of the stewards is their decision to investigate the lap 1 incident between Perez & Leclerc after the race. This happens quite often & usually it seem to mean they hope people will forget about it because it has not affected the result.

I can understand if something happens late on in the race but if they genuinely don't have time to decide on a lap 1 incident before the race finishes, then they are clearly understaffed. They would look a bit silly if 1 of the drivers ended up on the podium or even won the race, then after going through the celebrations they felt he should be penalised.

The commentary team & Leclerc both felt Perez was not to blame & I can see their point.

It would have been much better if Perez went to the podium without being under investigation.

[RJS1977]

Another thing to bear in mind with any thoughts of Merc dropping Bottas for Russell:

 

Toto is someone who is very well respected both within the sport and within the team. This isn't just because of what Mercedes have achieved over the last few years, but also how they have achieved it. At least part of that is generating a 'family' atmosphere within the team, where there is a lot of trust between Toto, the drivers, and the team employees.

 

If Toto, having already signed a contract with Bottas, was to tear that up - even with a handsome payoff - that trust would be eroded. If Russell was to step in to replace Bottas, then suffer a dip in form, would he be able to trust Toto not to tear up his contract if someone better came along? Likewise, would the team employees be able to trust Toto to honour their contracts? A reputation for integrity can take a long time to gain, but can be lost in seconds. 

[Bulleidboy100]

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said the idea of bringing Russell into the team for next season was not “a realistic situation”, but hinted he could partner Hamilton for the following year. 

“He’s a Williams driver, and is signed up to Williams, and our driver line-up is Valtteri [Bottas] and Lewis,” said Wolff. “So, I don’t see this as a realistic situation at that moment of time [for 2021]. 

“But I can understand that it would be an interesting situation, both in the team and maybe a bit of a wild ride for all of us. Maybe we’ll have that in the future. 

[Pete the Elaner]

Also consider that Bottas has finished 2nd this year & has had some bad luck along the way. (Team cock-up in Sakhir, spinning off to avoid a collision in Turkey, running nearly a whole race with a Ferrari barge board lodged in his own a few races back, an engine blow-up).

I can't think of him ever having an on-track clash with Hamilton & they appear to get on well together, which is important & can get overlooked when just looking at results. He is often (but not always) there to pick up a handful of points when Hamilton has a bad day too.

Considering his team-mate finished 1st, 2nd is as good as anyone can expect so it would be very harsh to end his contract prematurely.

[Pete the Elaner]

Roll on Abu Dhabi.

I certainly hope Hamilton feels better but I am kind of hoping Russell gets another crack in the Merc.

[Zomboid]

MB need to know what Lewis is going to do too. It's entirely possible that he drives off into the sunset after winning #8 next year, and then the obvious team to run in 2022 will be VB and GR.

 

Let's not forget who was on pole, and the margin between first and second at the first corner is pretty small. A few milliseconds different on the start and it could have been Bottas leading the race, and in that case the safety car catastrophe could have had very different results.

 

Russell might be their long term future, but Lewis is probably only short term at this point, and Bottas could be more medium term.

[kipford]

Quote

Switched off years ago like a lot of others. Obviously got talent but seems odd that he did so well though in an unfamiliar machine.

I see you are a true enthusiast, with expert knowledge then. No F1 car is a piece of p.... to drive, but then no racing car is, it is all relative. All F1 drivers are top drawer, but some have an edge that others do not. Max won his first GP after transfering from Toro Rosso to Red Bull. Ok he was lucky the Mercedes decided to hit each other but it was a top drawer drive with only a couple of sim sessions before the race. Since then apart from Daniel Riccardo no team mate has got anywhere near him,  was  the car a piece p.... to drive? With the exception of Jenson Button  and Nico Rosberg no other team mate has outscored Lewis in a season, so were the Mclarens and all the Mercs pieces of p.... to drive? Bottas is a very quick driver and on his day as fast as Lewis, but George beat him fair and square simple as that. By the way I not seen any quotes from Stewart saying George lucked it because the car was easy to drive. 

[57xx]

[Crisis Rail]

8 hours ago, kipford said:

I see you are a true enthusiast, with expert knowledge then. No F1 car is a piece of p.... to drive, but then no racing car is, it is all relative. All F1 drivers are top drawer, but some have an edge that others do not. Max won his first GP after transfering from Toro Rosso to Red Bull. Ok he was lucky the Mercedes decided to hit each other but it was a top drawer drive with only a couple of sim sessions before the race. Since then apart from Daniel Riccardo no team mate has got anywhere near him,  was  the car a piece p.... to drive? With the exception of Jenson Button  and Nico Rosberg no other team mate has outscored Lewis in a season, so were the Mclarens and all the Mercs pieces of p.... to drive? Bottas is a very quick driver and on his day as fast as Lewis, but George beat him fair and square simple as that. By the way I not seen any quotes from Stewart saying George lucked it because the car was easy to drive. 

 

Here you go 

 

 

True enthusiast. Lol. 

 

Rallying was more my bag  - clubman nav in a Pinto Mk 2 Escort. Bit of Karting with my lad (yes it’s not exactly F1)  But spannering Formula Ford in '88 shared a paddock with the great man at Mallory. Long story had a good lifechanging chat. His son had talent too glad they are both still with us.

 

 

Edited December 8, 2020 by Crisis Rail

[Crisis Rail]

5 hours ago, Pete the Elaner said:

Roll on Abu Dhabi.

I certainly hope Hamilton feels better but I am kind of hoping Russell gets another crack in the Merc.

 

Oh yes please. This would be interesting. 

[Darius43]

1 hour ago, Crisis Rail said:

 

Here you go 

 

 

True enthusiast. Lol. 

 

Rallying was more my bag nav in a Pinto Mk 2 Escort. Bit of Karting (yes it’s not exactly F1)  But once shared a paddock with the great man at Mallory in the Eighties. Long story had a good chat. His son had talent too. 

 

Ah, the Mail Online - that bastion of diverse and balanced discourse.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

[Crisis Rail]

1 hour ago, Darius43 said:

 

Ah, the Mail Online - that bastion of diverse and balanced discourse.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

 

Still out there Darius

[black and decker boy]

2 hours ago, Darius43 said:

 

Ah, the Mail Online - that bastion of diverse and balanced discourse.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

But that isn’t a quote from Stewart about George, it’s a reheated quote attached to wibble  from online anti-Ham/Merc “fans”

 

it’s hardly journalism.

 

a bit like asking Liverpool fans if they think Gary Neville was a great defender or if was all down to Schmeichel and then getting The Liverpool Echo to write a headline.

[Classsix T]

Clickbait Online are unable to apportion their dislike of Lewis to Sir Jackie directly, so have just lifted a quote from their own comments and rehashed it as news. According to the piece itself, "dozens of F1 fans" felt the need to waste everyone's time to make the point.

So that's possibly 24 gammon faced axe grinders. Wow, Lewis must be crapping himself.

 

What Sir J has actually said is,

“Lewis’ achievements are amazing but he is driving the finest racing car in the world and it has been that way for a very long time”.

But the way hornet nest poking journo's work is to put ALL the emphasis on the word "but" then feed it to Lewis hoping for a reaction.

 

C6T. 

[Crisis Rail]

I hope George gets the drive at Ab Dab but maybe Merc won't because they're crapping themselves that he did too good a job.

In the unlikely event that he does (and what is the reason he doesn't) it will be really interesting to see if his wheels fall off again.

 

Surely not.

[Darius43]

I think Mercedes must be pleased that they have the prospect of another superb driver to replace Lewis whenever he decides to retire.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

[Crisis Rail]

6 minutes ago, Darius43 said:

I think Mercedes must be pleased that they have the prospect of another superb driver to replace Lewis whenever he decides to retire.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

 

And cheaper too.

[Zomboid]

It's hard to be definitive about what one race really shows. GR exceeded everyone's expectations, but how do you put it into context?

 

Lewis was brilliant from the day he arrived in F1. He's never had to drive for a back marker, but the McLaren wasn't consistently a great car for his whole time there, and he still won at least one race every year. He's in the best car now, and has dominated in a way that few others have whilst he's had it. He's an all time great, and frankly I would question the motives of anyone who suggests otherwise.

 

Bottas has always been a good driver, and was wholly deserving of the MB seat when Rosberg retired. He's not in Lewis' league, but few are.

 

Russell has had one race in the Merc and did really well. He's always been the better driver at Williams, and he was better than Norris and Albon in F2, and on balance they seem to be pretty good F1 drivers (maybe race winner potential rather than championship, but that's still good - hard to say for sure with Albon, Max is so good that it skews the comparison, but he did earn the drive and has shown promise).

 

So have we learnt much from Sakhir? I don't think so, at least not about GR or MB. GR is a driver of great talent and potential, and the Mercedes is the best car. But we knew that before.