F1 2021 – spoilers here

As per my comment above, it’d be the perfect time to announce it…

I can’t see any other option other than Russell being in that seat. Nothing else makes any sense from any angle. It’s when, not if, and the ideal answer to that is probably Thursday.

In depth interview with Hamilton
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jul/10/lewis-hamilton-everything-id-suppressed-came-up-i-had-to-speak-out

I must admit I always used to think of him as a rather immature spoiled brat but his actions and words over the last couple of years has really changed that. I have so much more respect for him now. Maybe took him longer to grow up than others but what he has done the last coupe of years has been impressive. Mature. wise but direct

The lean patch he had at the end of his McLaren years and when he first moved to Mercedes taught him a few decent life lessons he needed, like not having a toxic celebrity girlfriend and focussing on what makes him perform better. Don’t forget he didn’t really have to do the early F1 seasons of his career being building blocks like pretty much every other driver so was missing a bit of knowledge there. Verstappen is to a lesser degree and has had to grow up a bit too.

Hopefully Toto will announce Russell or Bottas in the second seat very soon as it then gives the other driver plenty of time to find a different seat.

Don’t forget he didn’t really have to do the early F1 seasons of his career being building blocks 

I’m struggling to think of many more rookies who debuted in a chanpionship-contender team. Villeneurve and Coulthard spring to mind, any others? Montoya and Button for a team in contention for race wins but not a championship

I’m struggling to think of many more rookies who debuted in a chanpionship-contender team.

Rookies who drove for teams that finished in the top three in the constructors’ championship:
Jos Verstappen, 1994, Benetton
Michael Andretti, 1993, McLaren
Patrick Depailler, 1972, Tyrrell
John Surtees, 1960, Lotus
Jody Scheckter, 1973, McLaren
Gilles Villeneuve, 1977, McLaren
Bruno Giacomelli, 1977, McLaren

Hopefully Toto will announce Russell or Bottas in the second seat very soon as it then gives the other driver plenty of time to find a different seat.

If a driver/agent isn’t exploring several options at a time then they are complete mugs

Isn’t Russell tied into Mercedes therefore I’m guessing he gets “steered” towards his options? Which I’m guessing are the main team or another year at William’s.

So what do we think of next years car:

So what do we think of next years car:

Subjectively: Too long, much too long. Too heavy and it looks like a Halo equipped Indycar and nothing like a Ferrari 640

Objectively: Closer racing is a major plus, the removal of bargeboards certainly makes the car look cleaner and hypothetically less susceptible to wheel to wheel damage. Greater emphasis on driver safety can only be a good thing.

I’ll reserve judgement for when the teams have launched their actual cars. The devil is always in the detail and that car in the pictures is just a starting point.

I’ll reserve judgement for when the teams wheel their actual race cars out at the first test rather than the mules they’ll show at the launches 🙂

It’d be interesting to see that side by side with the Merc/RedBull to give a proper comparison.

So what do we think of next years car:

When I saw that picture, I assumed I was looking at next year’s Haas. I’m guessing the real cars won’t look much like that. If the racing is better next year, nobody will care how they look.

When I saw that picture, I assumed I was looking at next year’s Haas. I’m guessing the real cars won’t look much like that.

The Hass will look far less complex tbf

I don’t mind it (if that does end up being representative) The wings are very Indy and the long nose doesn’t look great, but hopefully the teams sort that even if its just clever liveries

Looks better when you see a video of it – couple on Sky F1 website…

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/12356483/formula-1-reveal-all-new-2022-car-aimed-at-improving-racing-and-increasing-competition

The rear wing will certainly change as they need to incorporate DRS.

Don’t like the wheel covers as it hides the look of the new 18″ wheels.

I really wish that they weren’t using wheel covers.

Too long, much too long

Aren’t they shorter than current cars?

Aren’t they shorter than current cars?

Not by nearly enough.

If F1 turns into a spec series I can many F1 fans losing interest. F1 is about the tech/innovation/loopholes/bending the rules/politics – it’s so much more than just the racing on track and lead changes every lap.

If F1 turns into a spec series I can many F1 fans losing interest. F1 is about the tech/innovation/loopholes/bending the rules/politics

Nascar and Indycar have very large fan bases, being a spec series doesn’t seem to be a problem if you have good racing and recognizable stars.

I’m as into the innovation as anyone, but the technical side of things is why the races are often so processional. Standardizing the gearbox and hybrid side of the powertrain, with a spec tub and brakes, but teams needing to develop their own suspension and aero kit, plus a range of engine manufacturers would massively cut costs and most fans would not know that the cars all had a bunch of shared components.

To be honest, I quite like the new car, not a huge fan of the new nose/front wing, but overall, it looks great. However, I’m not sure the current car is the main problem. We’ve seen some decent wheel to wheel action in the midfield for a few years now, I think the big thing is the sheer amount of data and sophisticated tech they use to dial the cars in to an Nth degree. Usually when a race is wide open its either because of weather or because there’s limited running through practise. Limit practise and simulator time and maybe that would improve the spectacle and save money while they do it. Going to be really interesting how Silverstone works out this weekend with just the two practise sessions before/after qualifying.

The best races are when its close, that normally happens when some variable comes into play. So if you have more variables you have a better chance of a non-processional race, or a surprise outcome.

So, variables are:
Range of short lived tyres
Pitstops forced due to tyres
DRS allowing passing
Gravel traps so you are punished for going wide
……………….all of which we have.

You could add in:
Much less practice time, track and simulator
The proposed wind tunnel time limits based on results is a good idea
Making it rain halfway round the track 🙂

Limiting fuel flow is no good for racing, that’s just a tool to force them to try to be green.

If F1 turns into a spec series I can many F1 fans losing interest

The Aston Martin is essentially a Mercedes in a different colour scheme which is why they’re often on Pole or fighting for the podium places…

You forgot to put a simile at the end of that statement, so readers may thing you are serious about Aston.

Wouldn’t more testing and simulator time make things closer?
It’s easier to make big gains if you are further back, say williams are a second behind Mercedes, a good test might enable them to find half a second, whereas Mercedes are already closer to the ‘optimum’ and might only find a tenth so the gap comes down to sixth tenths.
.
The problem with this before was always budget, the big teams could just test more and try more new things and cement their advantage but now with a cost cap I think it may be time to remove the testing restrictions, if that’s where teams want to focus their efforts let them. The problem we have now with that, and things like limiting the number of PUs and gearboxes, is that any advantage a team has at the start of the year is almost baked in for the rest of the season, the development during a year when the slower teams see what the fast teams are doing and try to emulate it, or take a risk with something new, just isn’t happening

any advantage a team has at the start of the year is almost baked in for the rest of the season, the development during a year when the slower teams see what the fast teams are doing and try to emulate it, or take a risk with something new, just isn’t happening

That’s why they have a variable scale of wind tunnel and CFD time. The team leading the constructors’ championship (currently Red Bull) have theirs cut, Merc have a bit more, McLaren more again, and so on all the way down the field. This is the first year of the cost cap, so it should level things up a lot for next year. I’m pretty sure that nearly all their development work will be focused on next year’s car, so the backmarker teams this year should have a good shot at moving up towards the front next year.

The Aston Martin is essentially a Mercedes in a different colour scheme which is why they’re often on Pole or fighting for the podium places…

Only seen 1 podium from Seb and that was a lucky one. They’re hounding the bottom rung of the top ten places at the minute!

You forgot to put a simile at the end of that statement, so readers may thing you are serious about Aston.

Only seen 1 podium from Seb and that was a lucky one. They’re hounding the bottom rung of the top ten places at the minute!

And we have a taker!

🙂

Always happy to oblige!

sorry @the-muffin-man. I’m taking the proverbial.  🙂

he best races are when its close, that normally happens when some variable comes into play. So if you have more variables you have a better chance of a non-processional race, or a surprise outcome.

So, variables are:
Range of short lived tyres
Pitstops forced due to tyres
DRS allowing passing
Gravel traps so you are punished for going wide
……………….all of which we have.

You could add in:
Much less practice time, track and simulator
The proposed wind tunnel time limits based on results is a good idea
Making it rain halfway round the track 🙂

Limiting fuel flow is no good for racing, that’s just a tool to force them to try to be green.

What about restricting practice time based on previous races finish position. Person who came 1st gets 50%, 2nd 55% etc. Would make no real difference to TV but would mean the winner of the previous race would have a harder time dialling in their car for the next.

I’m not sure of the looks, as already said I will reserve judgement until we see real cars that will actually race. I don’t like the direction of making cars heavier and heavier because of regulatory reasons. I think teams should be able to go as light as they can whilst delivering the necessary driver protection / safety standards.

The proposed wind tunnel time limits based on results is a good idea

It’s not a proposal, it’s happening this year.

The F1 website has posted some renders of 2021 team colours on the 2022 concept car and I have to admit that they do look quite cool, The Merc and McLaren could be good enough to convince me to buy a Scalextric set in a couple of years time.

Generic 2022 car in 2021 team liveries here

The rules have apparently been written with some leeway so it won’t be in effect a one make series with cloned cars, but there’s always unintended aesthetic consequences of new regulations – see the 2014 dicknose cars. I expect to see a lot of development work going into those venturi tunnels, hidden from view.

How about an extra race as well. All the drivers are given say £100,000 and a couple of hours. They go off and buy the best car they can in that time and bring it back to the race course, then race in it. No prep, just run what you brung kind of thing.

Has to be road legal and to keep the sponsors happy – its probably in their interests if its a car their sponsors make. So Ferrari / McLaren / Aston are pretty favourite for a win. Not sure about Alpha or Alpine or even RedBull. Of course Haas / Williams can spend their money on whatever car they fancy.

I still think that giving the drivers a can of prunes to eat just before starting the race will up the pace a bit. 20 drivers each with a maximum of one change of shorts per race and only ten portaloos at the finish line. Sharting = disqualification.

1st practice times,  and Max already has 8/10ths in hand!

Blimey!!

Yeah…that’s mental. Also, Lando Norris on medium tyres is 1/1000th of a sec faster than Lewis on soft tyres. Either Merc are sandbagging, or that McLaren is quick at Silverstone.

Lewis needs to pay Bottas to ‘have an incident’ with Verstappen in the sprint race! 🤣🏎

Sharting = disqualification.

I believe that in the military the rule is that, “only the batman knows.”

I believe that in the military the rule is that, “only the batman knows.”

“Scrutineers, please report to the laundry room”.