F1 2020 (spoilers abound)

The ? for the 2nd Mercedes head is a bit dubious too.

I mean c’mon. They ain’t gonna offer it to Pastor Maldonado

But then is Toto still going to be at the helm next year? If not then Lewis’s contract isn’t quite as much of a shoo-in as it would otherwise be.

But I think he might like the prospect of being on track with Vettel, Alonso and Verstappen all in fairly competitive cars.

Toto has confirmed another year.

Toto has said he’s sticking with merc but hasn’t confirmed what role he’ll have – my guess is he is thinking of a Lauda style position where he is involved in running the team but doesn’t have to be at every race,but can still support the new team principal as a bit of a handover.

Team Principle of Mercedes would be big shoes to fill. Who could they hire to do that?!?

Yeah, quite. All sounds a bit like next year might be a transition year: enough stability to keep Hamilton onboard but with Wolff looking to spread his wings. 2022 might look quite different: big changes to the formula and Russell is available then as well.

Who could they hire to do that?!?

Claire Williams

I’m pretty sure they will keep Grosjean. He gets on a lot better with the team and is well liked in the paddock generally.

I’m sure they love his dangerous weaving (but it was ok because it was less dangerous on a straight rather than a braking zone as self commentated by him at Monza), crashing into the barrier under the safety car and blaming someone for ramming him, or possibly his cat like reactions of flooring the throttle in the middle of the track during a spin to recreate a Days of Thunder scenario……

My kids moan less than him, give someone else a chance (although Gunther would have less to moan about)

Team Principle of Mercedes would be big shoes to fill. Who could they hire to do that?!?

Nico seems to have an awful lot to say now he’s no longer having to prove himself on track. Maybe he could manage the team by live tweeting his input ?!

But then is Toto still going to be at the helm next year? If not then Lewis’s contract isn’t quite as much of a shoo-in as it would otherwise be.

He’s incredibly valuable as a face for marketing, he will re-sign for some ridiculous salary. The only real question about his contract is how long it will run for.

see the ferrari have painted their car the colour of a bloody turd, how appropriate

95th pole now. With 8 more races after this, what’s the chance he makes 100 by the end of the year?

Quite a lot I’d imagine.  I wonder where Bottas head is?  Always playing second fiddle to Lewis on the track, is fastest through all the practise session, then Lewis yet again pips him to pole.  Must be frustrating.

If you’re going to get beaten by someone it might as well be the guy setting records though. Probably ok to get your head around unless he truly believes he’s Hamilton’s equal

Always playing second fiddle to Lewis on the track, is fastest through all the practise session, then Lewis yet again pips him to pole. Must be frustrating.

Thing is, Bottas is generally really close to Hamilton in qualifying, it’s not like Red Bull with Albon half a second behind Verstappen. Problem for Bottas seems to be more in the race rather than qualifying, he hasn’t looked close to Hamilton over a race distance this year. Opposite for Albon, he seems to race better than he qualifies.

True. What’s that, 7-2 to Hamilton now? But a lot of those have been by hundreths rather than tenths, Bottas is a lot closer than the headline numbers suggest.
If the tyre failures at Silverstone had been the other way around he could be leading the championship.
And losiing to someone with a legitimate claim to be the goat isn’t too embarassing.
.
The gap is much. much smaller than say Verstappen/Albon or LeClerc/Vettel.
Who are most closely matched, Norris/Sainz?

It’s interesting that Hamilton took longer than expected to get his head round the new circuit, but that he tried it on the Mercedes simulator first. My guess is that his brain learnt the simulator version of the track – simulations are never perfect – and he had to re-learn it for real.

Swapped from TdF to F1 just in time for the start – that got entertaining!

that was **** ridiculously dangerous

All the back markers trying to 2nd guess when bottas was going to go to try and make up places. Bit too keen it seems

those at the back see green lights so they floor it, further forward they go when bottas goes so there’s always going to be a shunt.

They know they can’t overtake until the finish line though. Someone went, realised they were going to overtake before the line, slowed, so everyone behind ran into the back of them, causing a concertina effect.

don’t show them a green light then.

Not much salvageable from that tracing point.

This is chaotic!
I missed the restart crash, was back on TdF by then. Switched back during an ad break just as Lance Stroll disappeared stage left.

I missed the restart crash, was back on TdF by then

Multi screen for me!

ferrari under pressure from alpha tauri in the constructors! 😉

Couldn’t help but be reminded of Billy Mongers crash seeing the onboard replays of that, Sainz looked properly shook up.

Double kick in the spuds for Bottas watching Hamilton set the fastest lap right in front of him.

Red Bull appear to be cheating on the engine modes too. Definitely running 2 modes! Quali has battery, race doesn’t.

Bottas saying he wants different tyres to Hamilton then pitting first doesn’t really work does it!

Crazy race. Anything could have happened. Was also amazed to see how knackered Lewis was at the end, that was a long way from a cakewalk.

Been a really interesting season, despite Lewis dominance.

Last two races have had more incidents and interest, as well as great racing and some unpredictable results, than some entire seasons. Mugello should be on the calendar every year – seems to have the ideal combination of speed and overtaking opportunities with the propensity for incidents. Much more interesting than the borefest of Monaco and some of the newer circuits. Shame Russell in the Williams didn’t get a point after a really strong drive.

Red Bull appear to be cheating on the engine modes too. Definitely running 2 modes! Quali has battery, race doesn’t.

Excellent.

Last two races have had more incidents and interest, as well as great racing and some unpredictable results, than some entire seasons.

I am however with Wolff on trying to inject unpredictability through reverse grid qualifiers, that stops being a sport and just becomes a spectacle. Top 10 pole shootout could work though, just one lap to prove yourself, make a mistake and no more chances to correct it you are out of position. They could even do that in reverse championship order, so the championship chasers know what they have to do to take pole.

Mugello should be on the calendar every year – seems to have the ideal combination of speed and overtaking opportunities with the propensity for incidents.

My impression was it’s too narrow for 20 of todays stellar fast F1 cars on track at the same time.

It looks wonderful and was awesome in qualifying to watch the speed they could carry through the bends. But in reality there’s one overtaking spot and they need DRS.

I hope Imola can cope as that’s one of my all time favourite tracks.

Top 10 pole shootout could work though, just one lap to prove yourself, make a mistake and no more chances to correct it you are out of position.

There’s a bunch of problems with that, mainly around changing conditions: if you’ve got a drying or wetting track then grid order will pretty much the order they go out in or the reverse; whereas if you’ve got a less-frequently used track or a street circuit that rubbers in over the session then that’ll massively the grid order; if the wind picks up or changes direction it’ll affect everything; and so on.

seems to have the ideal combination of speed and overtaking opportunities with the propensity for incidents

Mm, maybe. To be honest, though, turn 1 is the only reliable overtaking opportunity, and DRS makes it a walk in the park. Turns 2-3 offer some opportunities for carrying on throwing punches out of turn 1, but the rest of the track offers no overtaking at all.

Great track to drive, but I think had we not had the drama yesterday it would have been a lacklustre race. It was fortunate (from a safety angle rather than a popcorn angle) we didn’t get more tyre failures, I think.

Problem for Bottas seems to be more in the race rather than qualifying, he hasn’t looked close to Hamilton over a race distance this year

I think people are missing the obvious point. The best team needs the best driver, the best car and the best second driver. It is a team sport after all. A bit like in the tour where there is the GC rider and the spare to keep the leader honest. Of course Bottas wants to win, but he’s doing a great team job for Lewis too.

As for the race – watched it late last night. Every overtake on Turn 1 with DRS, and I don’t like seeing quite so much carbon flying around. That restart was ridiculous, The halo was put into good effect on at least two occasions I noted.

Masi is in danger of making himself look a bit of a dick by digging his heels in as hard as he is over that restart procedure. Just turn the safety car lights out at least one corner before the last braking zone in the lap, problem solved. They should have gone off coming out of turn 12 at the latest. If something’s as predictable and as dangerous as what happened yesterday, it’s fairly indefensible.