Formula 1, 2020

[Andrew P]

3 minutes ago, Hobby said:

He is beginning to sound like Ferrari, "I can't get what I want so please change the rules to help me"...

That is exactly what I was thinking as I read the article, and posted on here, but forgot to say so. No wonder Renault don't want them back.

[Oldddudders]

Horner and Marko have a huge sense of entitlement. They think their championship successes, now a few years ago, and a relatively competitive 2020 contender, make them a keystone of the sport. And they certainly employ a very fine driver. But as a soft-drinks manufacturer - and energy drinks per se do not have universal approval - they have neither the skin in motorsport that Renault, Merc, Alfa Romeo or Ferrari have, nor the cachet of McLaren or Williams. Even Haas is an engineering company.

 

Pipe down and get on with it, as everyone else does. 

[ess1uk]

What a start!

[Gareth Collier]

And normality resumes with Hamilton showing his class over Bottas and Albon has just been lapped by Verstappen......................... I don't think he'll be at RB next season.

[Gareth Collier]

Congratulations to Lewis on another dominant victory to claim the record.

[gwrrob]

2 minutes ago, Gareth Collier said:

Congratulations to Lewis on another dominant victory to claim the record.

 

Yes, he's the GOAT , no question.

[black and decker boy]

1 hour ago, ess1uk said:

What a start!

And what a fascinating race from front to back.

 

This is proving to be a great year for action

[Oldddudders]

Pity people now know the result, but well worth watching, with lots more overtaking than usual, and a very good number of finishers.

 

But he who looks after his tyres is unlikely to finish last. 

[Gareth Collier]

41 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Pity people now know the result......

As already discussed numerous times over the years and again only last month don't read the thread if you don't want to know the result, simple.

 

 

[Jonboy]

Idle musing, would Perez and Albon make a good pairing for Haas next year?

[Pete the Elaner]

3 hours ago, Gareth Collier said:

And normality resumes with Hamilton showing his class over Bottas and Albon has just been lapped by Verstappen......................... I don't think he'll be at RB next season.

 

I agree on both.

 

I was impressed with Hamilton's patience.

The start was a bit unusual, probably as a result of the new track surface & maybe also by the slightly lower temperatures.

Hamilton seemed very patient, not getting flustered by Bottas then Sainz passing him. I wondered if he was managing his tyres & waiting for a time when he would have more grip left than Bottas..& he was. Once he got the lead back, he didn't look troubled.

DRS looked a bit too useful, but it was good to see the amount of racing in the next few corners with a few battles lasting from then until turn 3 or 4.

I also liked the changes in elevation.

I hope the track can afford to have F1 back again.

 

It seems like RB have been patient with Albon. I doubt they expect him to be as fast as Verstappen but I also think they expect him to consistently be a lot closer. His good races are probably what they would want from a bad race & it would be nice to see him occasionally pop in a faster qualifying run than Verstappen.

RB seem to prefer promoting drivers from Toro Rosso / Alpha Tauri but both Gasly & Kvyat have failed to impress when they had their chances.

So who will they get into the car next year?

[Jol Wilkinson]

41 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

I agree on both.

 

I was impressed with Hamilton's patience.

The start was a bit unusual, probably as a result of the new track surface & maybe also by the slightly lower temperatures.

Hamilton seemed very patient, not getting flustered by Bottas then Sainz passing him. I wondered if he was managing his tyres & waiting for a time when he would have more grip left than Bottas..& he was. Once he got the lead back, he didn't look troubled.

DRS looked a bit too useful, but it was good to see the amount of racing in the next few corners with a few battles lasting from then until turn 3 or 4.

I also liked the changes in elevation.

I hope the track can afford to have F1 back again.

 

It seems like RB have been patient with Albon. I doubt they expect him to be as fast as Verstappen but I also think they expect him to consistently be a lot closer. His good races are probably what they would want from a bad race & it would be nice to see him occasionally pop in a faster qualifying run than Verstappen.

RB seem to prefer promoting drivers from Toro Rosso / Alpha Tauri but both Gasly & Kvyat have failed to impress when they had their chances.

So who will they get into the car next year?

RB is a toxic environment unless you are the Golden Child. SB was the first and now MV caries the crown. The second driver seems to be treated poorly, unlike Mercedes and some other teams. Webber, Ricciardo, Kyvat, Gasly and now Albon have all suffered at RB, who have used Toro Rosso as a dumping ground as well as a driver test team.

 

I have never been a fan of RB or its management, now I have even less liking for them.

 

Edited October 25, 2020 by Jol Wilkinson
Amended text

[EddieB]

Well, I’d say that’s another brilliant new circuit and a great race thereon.

 

Amazing first three laps, with Sainz into the lead and Raikkonen up to sixth - ok, it was tyre responsiveness, but great to see them mixing it up at the front.  Some excellent clean racing (and some not so clean).  A 1.8 second pit stop for Red Bull.

 

Thankfully no safety cars (necessary or unnecessary), which only serves to highlight Mercedes’ superiority - Hamilton lapped all but three other cars.

 

Well done, Lewis.  When Michael was setting the records, I never thought I’d see them beaten.  Well deserved.

[simontaylor484]

Glad to see Schumacher s record gone to Lewis, though Schuey had the talent he did have some blips which in my view marred him as a cheat and yes they were years ago but he did Rob Damon hill on more than one occasion

[Andrew P]

Well I switched off Facebook at 1pm and then stayed away from this thread, ONLY to put Sky News on to see about the Tanker in the Solent and saw that Lewis had won, DAM AND BLAST I thought, but I still thoroughly enjoyed every moment from Lights Out to the interviews afterwards.

 

BIG BIG Congratulations to Lewis, very well deserved.  

[Andrew P]

I meant to say earlier, WOW another superb Circuit.

[LNERandBR]

When I accidentally manage to find out the result before the Channel 4 coverage I normally take the stance of 'how did they win'. In this case with Lewis dropping back at the start you must have been waiting and wanting to see how he recovered. 

Edited October 25, 2020 by LNERandBR

[Zomboid]

11 hours ago, Andrew P said:

I meant to say earlier, WOW another superb Circuit.

They seem to have been forced to use good circuits this year rather than some of the rubbish they often visit. I wonder how much of that is unfamiliarity, but this weekends circuit is clearly just good.

 

A silver lining to a pretty dreadful cloud.

[newbryford]

On 27/09/2020 at 19:52, newbryford said:

[conspiracy theory time]

Regarding when (not if) Lewis equals Schumacher's record - and it was possibly going to be at Mugello - home of Ferrari.

Since that plan was scuppered by Max at Silverstone, I wonder if the next best place would be Germany............?

[/conspiracy theory time]

 

And if it does happen in Germany - how about a new track - Portimao - to break the record?

 

I wouldn't have got good odds at the bookies....................................

 

Well done Lewis. (and everyone who has been behind the 92)

 

The pictures of him hugging his Dad showed how much it meant to them both.

[fezza]

GOAT though? Difficult to make comparisons as there are now three times more GPs each season, cars are so much more reliable and careers last longer without incident.

 

I'm not even sure he's the best Mercedes driver of all time when there is Fangio and Caracciola in the mix. I'd also give a shout out for Seaman who is largely forgotten now (mainly for Mercedes political rather than sound motor racing reasons) and was cut short in his prime. 

[RedgateModels]

Perez surely has to be a shoe-in at Haas, they have openly stated that they want pay drivers. Russell surely has to be Bottas' replacement in 2022

[Oldddudders]

36 minutes ago, RedgateModels said:

Perez surely has to be a shoe-in at Haas, they have openly stated that they want pay drivers. Russell surely has to be Bottas' replacement in 2022

Russell impresses week in, week out. His fastest race lap, on lap 62, put him 13th, and just ahead of Ricciardo, who had put his best lap in one previously! 

[Zomboid]

51 minutes ago, fezza said:

GOAT though? Difficult to make comparisons as there are now three times more GPs each season, cars are so much more reliable and careers last longer without incident.

 

I'm not even sure he's the best Mercedes driver of all time when there is Fangio and Caracciola in the mix. I'd also give a shout out for Seaman who is largely forgotten now (mainly for Mercedes political rather than sound motor racing reasons) and was cut short in his prime. 

"Greatest of All Time" is really impossible to solidly apply to anyone when the passage of time means people were dealing with such different situations. Which is why people love to debate it, you can never really answer once and for all.

 

Would Lewis have beaten Fangio? As a black man he wouldn't have been allowed into the circuit, never mind drive one of the cars in that era.

 

He's the best there is now, and that's all anyone can be.

[Pete the Elaner]

49 minutes ago, fezza said:

 

I'm not even sure he's the best Mercedes driver of all time when there is Fangio and Caracciola in the mix. I'd also give a shout out for Seaman who is largely forgotten now (mainly for Mercedes political rather than sound motor racing reasons) and was cut short in his prime. 

 

That is an impossible comparison to make.

Fitness was not really considered until relatively recently, so anyone who did take this seriously put themselves at a massive advantage. You can't give yourself the same advantage now because everyone takes fitness more seriously.

Safety is much better now, so drivers are able to have longer careers without having them cut short or losing some of it through injury.

It is a totally different sport now. There are far more adjustments to make during a lap or even along a straight in addition to controlling steering, gears, brake & throttle.

[Oldddudders]

Stroll had an unusually bad weekend. We have heard that Covid can leave lingering impairments, not least in concentration. While I'm sure he was clear of the virus in clinical terms, I wonder if he had what amounts to a hangover? In F1 you don't need to be very off-colour to be a poor performer.