[Closed] F1 2020 (spoilers abound)

Loving this 🙂

Amazing start to a race!
I really hope those dark looking clouds deliver a downpour. Haven’t had some proper wet weather racing for a little while now.

Re. Max’s crash in practice.. the lad is an absolute bell end of the very highest order. I was watching that session and the way I see it, Stroll came past on a fast lap and Max’s ego immediately kicked in and he chased him. You could see it plain as day. As soon as stroll passed him he just booted it straight away.. then it was just a matter of time. Little **** tosspot that he is.

Jesus, this has been fun.

too good!

Wow Hamilton what a drive really enjoyed todays race unfortunate for Sainz did not work out, glad I have been able to see history made today.

What can I say about Verstappen he is getting to be a bit of a joke and consistently gets away with not getting penalty's. Hopefully Lewis will stay at least another 3 years he will be a big loss to the sport I am hoping Leclerc and Sainz get the right car in the next few years or move to Mercedes when either Bottas or Hamilton leaves.

From Grand Prix Diary on Twitter:
"Lewis also said how good it was to have his dog Roscoe there. Valtteri isn’t allowed to have a dog at a race track as he can’t hold onto a lead."

😂

That race was great fun! What a track, the camera normally flattens all the elevation out, so it must look epic in real life 😎

How long can RB persist with Albon, he has been so poor. They dropped Gasly far faster and now he is flying.

Great to see Hamilton take the outright record with a race like that. Bottas must be wondering what he has to do to beat him.

Also much impressed with Scott Dixon's sixth Indycar title. He always comes across as a very unassuming guy who is just incredibly consistent and seems to avoid getting into silly stuff. He wins a lot of races, but even when he has a bad day, he seems to be able to drag his car into scoring points. In F1, his results would put him up there with the very elite drivers.

Another awesome race! Chuffed for Lewis on breaking the record, but hoping a few things this year force improvement in other areas. The different tracks this year have been sensational and hopefully will make the bosses realise there is another way to generate venue than just charging the worlds richest all the money to host a race at a boring circuit like Sochi or Abu Dhabi.

Second is the ridiculous situation with pay drivers vs actual talent/skill/pace. The fact Russell, Perez & to an extent Hulkenberg can be without drives yet the likes of Stroll and Latifi are already on the grid, with Mazepin set to them is just a joke. You even have to question whether Vettel will be able to do a better job than Perez at Racing Point. It's insane. Take Stroll's daddy out of the equation and no one in any kind of mind, right or otherwise, would take Stroll over Perez, or christ even worse take Mazepin as Haas look likely too.

Lance Stroll has hardly covered himself with glory of late, yesterday's mistake was amateurish and indicative of a driver not on top of his game. Unfortunately, he ruined Norris's race as well as his own.

Can't help feeling sorry for Albon. Twelve months ago he was a breath of fresh air, but like Gasly he cannot make that tricky Red Bull work for him.

To be fair, Stroll is a decent driver, but keeping him and dumping Perez is unfair. I understand Racing Point's reason for signing Vettel, they aim to become a top team, so signing a multiple champion is a statement of that intent, but his driving has been so lackluster that I can't help but think they are making a mistake. Gonna be a bit embarrassing for him if Stroll beats him.

Technically, Perez is a pay driver too, but Williams dropping Russell for him would not be so surprising. Perez brings money and a lot of experience, so he's more valuable than Russell, who is not going to be there long term anyway. Latifi brings money, which Williams desperately need, so having one experienced driver and one pay driver makes sense.

It's hard to see Red Bull keeping Albon, I think everyone wanted him to succeed, but he just doesn't seem to quite have what it takes to perform at the top level. Hopefully the rumours that they are considering taking an outside driver are true - would be great to see Hulkenberg, Perez, or Russell in that car. Also, Ocon just hasn't looked impressive this year, so there's always a chance that one of those three could find themselves alongside Alonso in 2022.

Can we have a race at Portimao every year, what a brilliant track.

Who can take the fight to Lewis? He is utterly imperious. The best driver, in the best car, in the best form.

Unless they start deciding races by fastest pit stop Lewis looks untouchable.

Pay drivers?

There's always been pay drivers in F1, Perez himself is essentially a pay driver. But its a while since we have has one as obvious as Lance "My daddy owns the team" Stroll

I was pretty impressed with Lewis' drive. He was really on the back foot at the start (apparently after a massive tankslapper we didn't see on the broadcast).

After that though he just stayed calm, let the tyres get up to temperature then absolutely rinsed Bottas, and finished 30s up the road and took fastest lap as well.

This is worth a watch

https://streamable.com/o2513i

This is worth a watch

https://streamable.com/o2513i/blockquote >

Kimi is great, life in the old dog yet! What's even more impressive is he was actually rubbish off the line he actually lost a place at the start, then made up TEN places on the first lap.

 

Yep, I watched that this morning, that was an amazing first lap.

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1320397836522033153

It was an astonishing 1st lap! Thanks for sharing the on-board from Kimi's car. It looks like a computer game, the way he dusts off half the grid in 1 lap! Brilliant.

He made a lot of drivers look like amateurs there. Oh and I agree it's a fabulous circuit.

How did he do that?

“ 🤷🏻‍♂️ bwoah, I did some overtake”

"Leave me alone I know what I'm doing". Yes, looks like you do.

I wonder if there is a stat on most overtakes in a single lap, surely Kimi's has to be up there.

What a track, the camera normally flattens all the elevation out, so it must look epic in real life

Yep it's pretty cool. I was there for a classic car event at the end of last October and it's very nice.
It was actually built to host F1 Grand Prix, but Bernie stopped that happening, so it's hardly been used - it's great that it's now got its big break.
Especially as my mate has a villa just 30 mins away - we were going to go if Portugal hadn't been on the CV naughty step.

Great road riding also - we did 60 miles the day before (1st Nov) in 25c.... As I'd not been on a bike for nearly 12 months, and I only had my thermal bibs, it almost killed me!

The Algarve is lovely so i was happy when they announced they were going. Bikes are going in a few weeks too...

The circuit is great though. The type of tarmac and tyre temp issues allowed great racing as they could follow.

Lewis rinsed them but no driver of the day. I think people are misguided if they think it's simply because of the car. He's been a prodigious talent since he started.

re. Perez and pay drivers. Perez is a journeyman. He's had a good season but would the sport be worse off without him? The Stroll's, Perez's and LAtifi's have always existed. The majority of the grid would have spent hundreds of thousands/millions to get to F1 so it's no different that people pay for seats in F1 as that funds the teams. It's a wealthy sport.

What would be crap is if Perez ends up in Williams leaving Russell (F2 World Champ) without a drive.

Perez is a journeyman.

No, he seems to be widely regarded as a pretty decent driver, excellent at scoring points on Sunday, not quite as good at qualifying.

thols2

No, he seems to be widely regarded as a pretty decent driver, excellent at scoring points on Sunday, not quite as good at qualifying.

Looking at the result vs teammates (bold are seasons he beat his teammate), I think he's roughly the same as Hulkenberg over a season. Very good but not great.

2012 10th / kobayashi 12th
2013 11th / button 9th
2014 10th / hulk 9th
2015 10th / hulk 11th
2016 7th / hulk 9th
2017 7th / ocon 8th
2018 8th / ocon 12th
2019 10th / stroll 15th

Gasly confirmed at Alpha Tauri for 2021

It was actually built to host F1 Grand Prix, but Bernie stopped that happening, so it’s hardly been used – it’s great that it’s now got its big break.

See also Valencia, looked like it was a great track down by the sea. Bernie is not well regarded in the city to this day.

I reckon that it'll be Gasly and Albon at Alpha Tauri next year, hopefully Albon also shine there and we'll see a renaissance of his obvious form there. Kvyat is largely done IMHO, I don't think that he'll be in F1 next year.

Either the Red Bull is a very tricky car that's so difficult to drive that only Verstappen can master it, or Verstappen prefers a loose, tail happy car a la Schumacher that very few drivers can master with confidence. The contenders for the second Red Bull are obviously Perez, Hulkenberg or Russell, all have their relative strengths and weaknesses and all have shone this year. Russell's comments earlier in the year that the RB16 is "making a fool out of Albon" won't have endeared him to Horner and will likely go against him.

I reckon that it’ll be Gasly and Albon at Alpha Tauri next year

No, I think they've decided that neither of them quite have what it takes to compete right at the top. They need to bring on their own young drivers so that Japanese guy is more likely IMO. If he turns out good, they'll have someone to potentially team with Verstappen. Keeping both Gasly and Albon means that they'll never have someone to step up if Verstappen leaves.

So my guess is Hulkenberg or Perez for a year or two to see if proven drivers can get more out of the Red Bull, then a new driver from their young driver program if they find someone good. They need someone like Ricciardo to push Verstappen hard and maximize constructors points, Albon and Gasly don't seem to be at that level so there's not point having two of them around.

apparently Verstappen is pushing to have Hulkenburg as his teammate next year

Twodogs
Full Member

apparently Verstappen is pushing to have Hulkenburg as his teammate next year

It would make sense, he's a known quantity and he has a reputation for giving good feedback for developing the car.

and he speaks dutch 🙂

He made a lot of drivers look like amateurs there.

How did he do that?

bwoah, I did some overtake”

Clearly I don't understand motor racing. I thought overtaking was a good thing.

Alfa obviously liked it, they are sticking with Kimi and Giovonazzi for 2021.

which IMHO demonstrates Alfa's complete lack of ambition

At least Williams have confirmed Russell and Latifi - bad day for Perez tho

bad day for Perez Hulkenberg tho

Rumours are that Red Bull see Perez as likely replacement if they decide to ditch Albon. This means that Hulkenberg is almost certainly out.

I can't believe giovinazzi is getting another season. I can't think of a time where his name has come up as having had a good day behind the wheel.

Surely Perez/hulkenberg would have been a better option for reliability, or rotate in another Ferrari junior in the hope of getting someone fast and good!  Bonkers.

I can’t believe giovinazzi is getting another season.

So the only seats open for next year are currently occupied by Albon, Kvyat, RoGro and KMag. The ResBull/AT seats are being widely discussed but not much noise about the Haas options. Surely the Hulk has a chance there as a safe pair of hands that won't throw the car at the scenery and will give good feedback to develop the dog they've currently got. If I was Gunther I'd want someone who will reliably deliver what the cars capable of rather than some mercurial talent who might somehow drag it all the way up to 14th place but stands a good chance of getting greedy and throwing it all away.

So the only seats open for next year are currently occupied by Albon, Kvyat, RoGro and KMag.

Don't forget the one at Mercedes 😂

Don’t forget the one at Mercedes

I think that one's even more guaranteed than Boris' U turn lockdown

Argh man russell must be gutted, what a time for that to happen

This has been an ‘interesting race.
Hamilton has obviously sold his soul to the devil.

FFS Albon 🤭

carlos the cat!

Go Honey Badger!