I guess Ferrari figured that since their car is as fast as a bus they may as well have a double-decker.

Nice action all over the shop at the end 🙂

Albon’s a bit of a paradox, isn’t he? Ever since he got the Red Bull seat he’s pulled a bunch of belting passes, but his pace is consistently such a way off his teammate that you wonder what Helmut must be thinking.

But then neither of the Alpha Tauri drivers fared well in the Red Bull, so where’s his alternative? (And no, not currently at Ferrari.)

That was really good, plenty of actio and some stunning manoeuvres, Ferrari* excepted. Perez may have had a tyre advantage but to stick it round the outside on that corner takes guts.

Norris is really coming across a s a bit of a racer isn’t he? I knew he was good and had a wicked sense of humour but he’s got that fighting spirit too, really good to see.

* can the Red Team do anything more to make them look even worse? Crap car, crap tramwork and now they have a future star and a 4x World Champion (who admittedly is his own worst enemy) both looking like amateurs!

Oh man it must suck to be at Ferrari right now. Fifth fastest in terms of one lap pace, an engine down on power and to cap it all, Leclerc taking not just himself but a blameless Vettel out of the race. Currently, Sainz has a better car than the one he’ll be driving next year, he’ll going to be walking into a proper Maranello shitshow of the sort that we haven’t seen since the F92A was trundled out. At least Ferrari weren’t stuck with the F92A for two years on the trot.

Norris put in yet another barnstormer of a final lap. It’s clear that the Renault engine isn’t the class of the field in terms of race pace, but single lap speed is impressive. That McLaren was looked very handy in the wet, so it seems that they finally have a chassis to brag about – they scored fastest lap again this afternoon. Race pace isn’t great, both Sainz and Norris lost places to Racing Points. Conversely the two Racing Points seem to be extremely fast in terms of single lap and race pace, but they’ve been hobbled by misjudged strategy calls. They’ve easily got the third fastest car, they shouldn’t be finishing behind a McLaren.

News has it that Renault have protested the Racing Point’s legality and apparently both pink cars have been impounded pending an investigation of the braking system.

From the F1 website.

No wonder RB forced McLarens hand with Norris and made them sign him up to an F1 seat earlier than they wanted 2 years ago. Norris looks quality, Albon looks average at best.

neither of the Alpha Tauri drivers fared well in the Red Bull, so where’s his alternative?

I think Hulkenberg’s busking outside Elten bus station.

Lap 69 – P8
Lap 71 – P5

Watch @LandoNorris go 🚀#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/FouQWiU90U

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 13, 2020

Crikey, thats a fair amount of coaching to take on board whilst balancing a car at that speed…

you should watch some rally footage, that’ll really blow your mind 😉

Are you referring to co driver instructions?

Not discounting how hard that is, but in F1 he’s playing with tiny buttons on a steering wheel in rapid succession whilst balancing a car & taking onto account the cars around him at 100’s of MPH – all at the same time.   I’d suggest theirs at least 2 – the mode switch and the overtake button.

I think Hamilton or someone was on about the cognitive load of managing all the different settings a few years back. Those steering wheels are pretty amazing, how the drivers can remember everything in the heat of battle is beyond me.

Kryton57
Subscriber

Are you referring to co driver instructions?

Not discounting how hard that is, but in F1 he’s playing with tiny buttons on a steering wheel in rapid succession whilst balancing a car & taking onto account the cars around him at 100’s of MPH – all at the same time. I’d suggest theirs at least 2 – the mode switch and the overtake button.

Very much so, but only tongue in cheek. OTOH Lando has just driven the same track and surface dozens of times that day so knows everything thats going on. Even I can twiddle my knob and not crash when on the playstation, but I am an STW driving god tbf

thats a fair amount of coaching to take on board

I’m not sure I class that as coaching..he’s being given technical directions about modes available, not being told what line to use, where to brake etc

where as Bono to lewis….. it’s hammer time

how the drivers can remember everythin

They don’t remember, they run on instinct.

Love Lando – you get the feeling he’s having the time of his life.

Compare to LeClerc who always looks like he’s lost a tenner and found a fiver.

Lando just comes across as a guy who absolutely loves what he does. Its nice to see him doing well and the McLaren being competitive after it’s years in the wilderness

simondbarnes
Subscriber

Can’t imagine for the life of me why no-one wants to employ Vettel anymore

He was taken out by his teammate

.
Interesting reactions.
Last week Vettel ***ed up and was saying “I’m amazed I only spun once” ie. car is rubbish, nothing to do with me.
This week LeClerc ****ed up and was saying “Sorry, my fault, I really need to try harder”
Very different attitudes.

how the drivers can remember everythin

It’s not particularly different than driving a normal car whilst switching lights on, opening windows, operating wipers, changing gears etc. If you sat there and tried to consciously *think* which stalk you use and which bit of it to press to set the rear wiper to intermittent wipe you might struggle and they will be the same – they drive the cars regularly and just *know* what and where all the buttons are.

I don’t think they do think about the actual driving in the same way we don’t think about driving on the road from a mechanical perspective. All their conscious thought is on what’s going on around them and the race rather than physically driving

Conversely the two Racing Points seem to be extremely fast in terms of single lap and race pace, but they’ve been hobbled by misjudged strategy calls. They’ve easily got the third fastest car, they shouldn’t be finishing behind a McLaren.

The racing points lost out to a McLaren yesterday due to driver errors.

Perez was over 20 seconds ahead of Norris and the cars behind and challenging strongly for 4th place until he drove into the back of Albon and broke his front wing.

Stroll made a mistake when overtaking ricciardo who was holding him up. Stroll forced both of them off the circuit and it would have been a crash if ricciardo had not taken avoiding action. Norris just drove past.

Bottas staying with Merc for ’21 (allegedly)

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/bottas-mercedes-contract-2021/4833817/

So Vettel to Racing Point then?

https://youtu.be/YxVYazNEvZQ

Personally, I don’t see why Racing Point would want Vettel. Perez is fast and has a contract, so they would have to pay him to leave. Vettel would be expensive on top of that. I’m not sure Vettel would be faster than Perez, and his lack of consistency is a huge red flag, so I think they would be better to spend their money on engineering.

Here’s the article that accompanies the video:
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.driver-market-sebastian-vettel-to-racing-point-rumour-and-reality.4NyYoGEaG0uScEeX2xT5y.html

But what about Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez?
If Racing Point made the decision to break the contract of one of their drivers based on pure performance, it’s an easy call – they would retain Sergio Perez – a polished midfield performer with a proven podium record – and let Stroll go.

The difficulty, of course, is that Stroll is the son of the owner – he’s a big part of why Stroll Snr is involved in F1 in the first place, and him owning a team ensures his son has a seat.

So ditching the junior half of the pairing is highly unlikely. That said, Stroll is a very successful businessman – and he’s achieved his impressive wealth through shrewd business decisions, taking the personal side out of it.

He might feel that bringing Vettel in alongside Perez would create a formidable line-up and he could place Stroll elsewhere, with financial support, in the interim to see how it works out.

For Perez, it’ll mean one of the most impressive drivers on the grid – who is driving at an extremely high level – is out of a drive. In such a scenario, my sources suggest he’d land at Haas, where he has previously held talks about a drive, should he need a seat.

Perez is a proven podium finisher, who has scored five rostrum finishes for the team. No other driver has emulated his success since he joined the then Force India team in 2014.
The reality, though, is that it is Perez who is more likely to be moved on, even after the key part he played in saving the team prior to Stroll’s takeover. Given the Mexican is contracted until 2022 such a move would likely require some intense discussions and significant financial compensation, not to mention the team will lose substantial backing from Perez’s suite of sponsors.

But Stroll may well consider that a price worth paying to have a star driver in the car for the launch of Aston Martin Racing.

When will we know more?
Your guess is as good as mine. The noise and rumours around the move are gathering pace – and there is definitely movement behind the scenes.

Much will depend on how quickly Vettel makes up his own mind, and how convincing Racing Point and Stroll Snr are in their pitch to the German.

Watch this space.

I watched the video and I thought they concluded that it was more likely that Stroll Jnr would go, because 1) Perez brings in a shed load of money 2) Stroll Jnr is useless and the decision isn’t solely down to Snr anymore.

I got dragged into a rabbit hole of vids, and there was an Autosport one saying that Ferrari’s alleged cheating last year was that they were getting more fuel into the engine (above the 100l/hr limit) by pumping more in between the fuel flow meter’s measurement intervals…sneaky! (Allegedly, obvs). I had thought it was to do burning oil to increase power. FIA have now mandated a second, encrypted meter so no one knows what the measurement intervals are.

Perez is sometimes fast, sometimes ordinary.

He was utterly outclassed by the ‘useless’ Stroll in the wet qualifying last week. His deep Mexican pockets are very beguiling, but would that mean Stroll bins his lad? Nah.

Perez will likely go to Haas and finally the F1 world will be rid of the hopeless Grosjean.

Fingers crossed.

Perez will likely go to Haas and finally the F1 world will be rid of the hopeless Grosjean.

Fingers crossed.

I think that will be what happens too. And Haas will be very keen on Perez’s $$$ – could be the difference between them staying or quitting F1.

Perez is sometimes fast, sometimes ordinary.

yeah I agree…not sure either deserve a seat tbh

Perez is sometimes fast, sometimes ordinary.

Last year, he scored 52 points versus 21 for Stroll. Stroll finished 4th in Germany, which netted him 12 points, so 9 points across the rest of the season. In 2018, Perez scored 62 points versus 49 for Ocon.

In his Red Bull glory days, Vettel was fast and consistent, but I don’t remember the last time he managed to string together a bunch of good races, he just seems to keep making rookie mistakes and throwing away points.

he scored 52 points versus 21 for Stroll

Being “better than Stroll” doesn’t look that good on your CV TBH

And as I mentioned, he was profoundly out-qualified by Russel in the Williams last week. That isn’t something that will ensure a seat next year.

That isn’t something that will ensure a seat next year.

He’ll defniitely have a seat next year. He’s a mid-pack driver with millions in backing to bring.

Perez brings a fortune in sponsorship to the team, so my guess is that there’s some complicated contract gymnastics happening to farm Perez out to another team in the event that Vettel is lined up for Perez’s seat.

Whilst Perez brings direct cash, Vettel brings a lot of attention and exposure, as a four time world champion, to a team trying to flog Aston Martins.

Also, probably pretty good at developing the car and, of course, Stroll Snr isn’t short of cash anyway. He’s a just trying to build a brand and help his son live the dream!

Vettel brings a lot of attention and exposure

For being a whinging, arrogant, selfish, entitled substitute of a former world championship driver.

For being a whinging, arrogant, selfish, entitled substitute of a former world championship driver.

Blimey.

He’ll defniitely have a seat next year.

But not his current one.

Blimey.

Not that I’m bitter 😀

For being a whinging, arrogant, selfish, entitled substitute of a former world championship driver.

+1

hugo

Also, probably pretty good at developing the car

“boys i need MOAR rear downforce ring-da-da-ding-ding grazie ragazzi”

So to me it looks like the following

Vettel to Racing Point/Aston martin

Perez to Haas (no way Stroll snr is going to get rid of Stroll jnr)

Grosjean to leave F1

Perez has been in F1 for ten years and none of the top teams have been that interested in him in that time, probably because they don’t need the cash he brings and he cant get a top team on talent alone

Haas are contemplating their future, Grosjean doesn’t deliver results, Perez could deliver results and brings cash with him

With all the talk of cost caps and drivers wages how about a time limit on how long a driver can stay in F1 ?

If you cant succeed relatively well in F1 in ten years then your never really going to make it to the top so all drivers should have a ten year limit that way you can get more young drivers coming through and not have the top drivers working there way up the field to the top then start heading back down the field as their career declines