F1 2021 – spoilers here

It’s easy to forget this 2021 will be Hamilton’s fifteenth(!) in F1. In that time he’s only driven for two teams and has had one engine supplier.

I’d reckon 70/30 this will be his last year. Either way, I expect to see Russell in a Mercedes in 22, and I’d say the odds of Bottas getting another extension are now quite long.

I agree with this.

So who to pair with Russell in 2022? Would they want another newbie? I reckon if Hamilton does call it a day they’ll stick with Bottas.

So who to pair with Russell in 2022? Would they want another newbie? I reckon if Hamilton does call it a day they’ll stick with Bottas.

Recon it’ll be Russell for 2022, with Hamilton if he wants to stay on, or Bottas if Hamilton retires.
Probably constructors champions again so they will at least want 1 driver to continue with them.
2 new drivers and big regulation changes would be too risky.

Tough choice for Bottas. Start looking for another team in case Hamilton stays and they go with Russell/Hamilton, or wait it out and see if the best team want Russell/Bottas but maybe leave it too late and the other teams are all full…

Wonder which side was pushing for 1 year vs multiple years.

My understanding is that both sides wanted a multi-year deal, but I don’t think they could agree on terms for that – I suspect Hamilton was asking for a lot of conditions that Merc weren’t willing to give him long-term. Therefore they signed a one-year deal because both sides intended from the start for Hamilton to drive a Merc this year. Now they have more time to see if they can sort out a longer term deal. Merc have Russell ready to replace Bottas, but they really need an established championship contender in the other car for the new regs next year. Bottas is a solid driver, but he’s not at the level of Hamilton, Alonso, Verstappen, or Ricciardo. If negotiations with Hamilton don’t work out by mid year, this gives Merc the chance to steal Verstappen from Red Bull and then tell Hamilton to either accept Max as teammate or replace him with Russell.

If Hamilton takes the driver WC, and Merc the team WC, I’d be surprised if he’d finish the season. Go out on a high, one final victory. GOAT and all that. Look at former champions who have hung on and on, or made a comeback. It never ends well, and I think Lewis is very sharp and has an eye on his legacy. Which is probably why the 1-year deal seems to include lots of provision for exactly that.

Anyone know if the Mercedes cars will revert back to silver this year?

Pretty sure Merc have said they sticking with black again this year.

This should pretty good, so naturally i assume it’ll be rejected https://www.crash.net/f1/news/950788/1/more-details-f1-s-sprint-race-plan-emerge-ahead-thursday-vote

Yes, I think the sprint race thing is worth trying, but I assume it will be rejected.

It’s a bit… gimmicky.

I’m not sure what it’s supposed to achieve.

Qualifying determines the starting grid… same as normal. Then you have a race but with no strategy, it’ll be a single set of tyres.

The only really new factor is that a crash in a race is much more likely than in qualifying. That probably means everyone’s likely to be even more cautious at the start, because a collision would not only mean no points in the sprint race but a rear-end grid position for Sunday.

Overall it’s hard to figure out how this is going to mix anything up, beyond giving a bit of an advantage to whoever can switch the tyres on in the relevant conditions with a light fuel load (and looking back at recent form you might fancy Red Bull, but then Mercedes figured it out in Turkey so maybe again it’s all cancelled out); but I guess we shall see, if it’s voted through.

I’m not sure what it’s supposed to achieve.

More races will hopefully lead to more TV revenue.

I think it’s worth trying. The cars will be racing with a lighter fuel load and without tyre changes, so overtaking will have to be done on track rather than through pit stop strategy. The teams won’t like it because it will cost them money, but they have a cost cap and will have to cut back in other areas.

From the BBC story:

One potential sticking point is that, according to sources, F1 is proposing only an extra $75,000 (£55,000) per team per race to cover the new approach.
This is nowhere near enough to cover the costs of any damage to cars in the shorter race – a front wing alone can cost as much as $200,000

I would imagine extra race mileage on the power units would be something the teams would be against too.

extra $75,000 (£55,000) per team per race

Is that dependant on fielding 2 cars? If I ran a back marker team I’d be tempted to just race 1 car or race 2 cars and retire with “problems” to get the cash with minimum risk.

I think it’s a dumb idea

I would imagine extra race mileage on the power units would be something the teams would be against too.

Thing is, it’s the same for everyone so they will all need to turn down the engines a bit.

One potential sticking point is that, according to sources, F1 is proposing only an extra $75,000 (£55,000) per team per race to cover the new approach.
This is nowhere near enough to cover the costs of any damage to cars in the shorter race – a front wing alone can cost as much as $200,000

It’s the same for everyone. They will all have the same budget cap. Maybe hiring drivers who don’t play bumper cars would help with this.

Thing is, it’s the same for everyone so they will all need to turn down the engines a bit.

Mid-pack teams might turn it up on Saturday to get a bit of exposure, knowing that thecfront runners will be toned down a smidge? Not that that’s a bad thing.

Bez has it – it’s a bit of a solution seeking desperately for a problem to solve. I mean, I’d watch it, if it was on terrestrial, but I wouldn’t be, like, “yay, that’s really enriched ‘The Show’!”

Maybe hiring drivers who don’t play bumper cars would help with this.

I’d guess that’s most easily achieved if 9 of the teams have a whip-round to persuade Gene Haas to pull the plug.

There has always been someone we take the Micky out of for crashing a lot. Grosean, before him Maldonado, Kobayashi, when I started watching it was Katayama. We always need someone to laugh at.
Will it be Vettel or Mazapin taking over? Seems odd to have a four time world champion in that role

Not a fan of the idea – more dilution of the show. And more commitment needed from fans. The season is already too long – it’s F1 not Nascar.

I don’t mind missing qualifying, but missing a ‘race’ would feel different.

If the grid for the qualy race is decided on Friday then how does that change things? The fastest will start at the front of the qualy race and then at the front of the main race.

If the grid for the qualy race is decided on Friday then how does that change things?

They will only have one practice session to prepare for qualifying, so FP1 will be focused on 1 lap qualifying pace. Then they will have qualifying on Friday afternoon.

On Saturday morning, they will have FP2 which they will have to use to do long run simulations for race setup.

I think it was Lewis who wanted the single year. He’s almost guaranteed to secure his legacy next year and not tarnish it, he’s got loads of things he wants to do outside of F1, so why would he want to sign for more years. Sure, if he feels good at the end of the year and the 2022 car is looking good, he may take the risk, but why tie yourself to it?

Hamilton himself said last year that he’d be looking for a shorter term, as in the past he’s only had long contracts, but Toto said Mercedes were looking for a longer commitment. Perhaps with the other aspects of Lewis’ partnership with Mercedes being part of the contract, they’ve managed to agree some bridge between a 1 year driving contract and further commitments to the brand.

They’ve agreed to try the sprint race thing at 3 races

Italy Canads and Brazil.
I would be very surprised if Brazil goes ahead this year

They’ve agreed to try the sprint race thing at 3 races

Not quite – looks like they’ve agreed to think about trying sprint races but the teams haven’t signed on the line yet.

More importantly engine freeze is agreed from 22 so Redbull will stick around and Ferrari will be working really hard this year.

Cycling is a dangerous game
https://the-race.com/formula-1/alonso-involved-in-cycling-accident/

I hope he’s ok, but the thought of Alonso with his mouth wired shut made me giggle.

Hearing from sources close to Alonso that he has a broken jaw and will be taken to Bern, where there is a specialist unit for such injuries

— Andrew Benson (@andrewbensonf1) February 11, 2021

Ouch, that is going to hurt. Let’s hope that Alonso’s injuries aren’t too serious and that he’s fit for the first race of the season.

Rich energy announcement today

https://formulanerds.com/read/rich-energy-to-announce-details-of-return-to-f1-on-sunday-at-2pm/

Whyte solicitors on standby..

Formulanerds are aware Alfa Romeo have emerged as a front runner to be sponsored by Rich Energy, but with Orlean already being their title sponsor it seems it will be a smaller deal than the title sponsor one they had with Haas.

Smaller than nothing?

it has to be money laundering or something…. the only drinks on sale (some random ebay shop) are still referencing HAAS.

Who would want them after they way they acted with Haas?

Who would want them after they way they acted with Haas?

If they actually do have some money, nobody in F1 will care where it came from or how they treat other people. Mazepin is a pretty good illustration of that.

Due to a media request we have been asked to delay announcement by 1 hour so will be 3pm UK time today.#RichEnergy #F1

— Rich Energy HQ (@rich_energy) February 14, 2021

The only irritation amidst the return to #FormulaOne is because I refuse to ever wear a #SlaveMuzzle I'll probably have to watch the races in the motorhome as the bedwetters insist upon wearing silly masks in the paddock in servile compliance #Nomasks #F1 #RichEnergy

— William Storey (@richenergyceo) February 14, 2021

I just can’t imagine which F1 team will accept the CEO of thier sponsor posting stuff like this.

Wow, what a total knob jockey…….

We're back ..

Soon

Any minute now

What for it

Hang on

— PoorEnergy (@PoorEnergy) February 14, 2021