FORMULA ONE - 2020

As an Alfa owner, so glad this wasn't the source of another reliability joke...

A very exciting race and hopefully an indication of what is to come. I enjoyed it a lot although I don't like the results. Bottas had a lot of luck this weekend, so much went right for him. This isn't saying he isn't skilled but on this occasion, he happened to be running close to 100% when his competition had set backs. Max having a sudden failure put an end to that challenge then a safety car coming out when Lewis was charging up behind him on tires that had been more life in them then Albon going off when it looked like he had the pace to catch him.

As for the Albon/Hamilton clash. I've now had a chance to watch the video from every angle and get the opinion of at least a dozen F1 pundits. If you go back to lap 1 at the same corner. Hamilton was on the outside and Albon squeezed him so Hamilton backed off and lost a bunch of time.  Hamilton knew the pass was not on and he got out of it, 60+ laps later the positions were reversed and Albon didn't realize the pass was not on and he kept his foot in it. Look at the onboards, Lewis ran a defensive line going into the turn, turned his wheel and kept a constant radius through the turn. Albon got a better drive off the corner and came up very quickly on Hamilton's left. He couldn't just disappear, Hamilton is good but he still has to follow the laws of physics. Maybe he could have jinked right when he saw Albon beside him but more than likely he was at the limit of grip and was just hanging on. I suspect Albon thought the pass was complete and didn't pay attention to Hamilton still being beside him. As a matter of fact, Albon stated that he thought the pass was complete and he was focused on Bottas ahead. Whatever the case, it was obviously so close that there's no consensus from those who have studied it so it should have been considered a racing incident.

I would also point out that when Lewis is at fault, he's the first to put up his hand and say so, just look at Brazil 2019. But this time he is adamant that it was just a racing incident. I think Mercedes should appeal it, especially after RB protested them on Friday but I suspect Toto wants to just focus on next weekend.

One thing from this weekend - Lewis was able to follow Bottas pretty closely for a number of laps with no obvious drop of performance or damaged front tires. This bodes well for racing.

I would not put the race as a great one.  The only thing that ended up making it interesting were safety cars bunching the field up.  Mercedes had the entire field covered very comfortably if not for that.  They were very clear in qualifying, of everyone else.  

Other than a lot of reliability issues, the race wasn't all that great.

I'd also point out that if not for Kimi, Albon would not have been able to make that move- the first restart had both Merc's pretty clear.   That was all about Bottas faking a start, and Albon being able to stay with Hamilton up past turn 3 and drafting to 4.

Maybe we can hope for more SC situations, or some rain.  But now that it's pretty clear that Merc can run Q2 with medium tires, they will surely do what Max was going to do.  And if they can fix that sensor, then it will be curb city as they lap the field.

IMHO, that's pretty amaxing that Mercedes has found even more speed.

(along with Ferraris' rather sad admission that they have been cheating- not directly, but using the stop watch, it's pretty obvious)

You're right that it wasn't the best race but it was decently entertaining. 

I'm in the racing incident camp on the Hamilton/Albon contact, Hamilton held his inside line which was leaving space for the RB on the outside, Albon thought he was already past and didn't need to push out as wide where there wasn't as much grip for a good drive down the straight. If Albon had parked his car in a spot needing another safety car that would've really made that 5 second penalty hurt. It's a shame that it happened though as the finish would have been a even more dramatic had he went after Bottas and then likely had the car break shortly after. 

The jokes going around are that the updates Ferrari is bringing next weekend will be last years car with this years paint, apparently the Ferrari isn't just bad on the straights but everywhere.

Hopefully we get a wet weekend to mix things up, both Max and Lewis should be very motivated for a better result.

In reply to loosecannon :

I think consistency on applying the rules is key to any sport. If situations that are even less clear-cut, like the Brazil 2019 penalty, are penalities, then this should be one too. That's what made the application of the black and white flag at Monza last year so maddening - it was used just so Ferrari could get a win. I don't agree with the strict view toward contact, but it is what it is.

Yeah, Hamilton admitted it in Brazil, but it was the second to last race. This time around, I'm sure he was double pissed at RB given that they got him a grid penalty and challenged DAS.

Looks like Alonzo is going back to Renault

https://racer.com/2020/07/07/alonso-poised-for-f1-return-with-renault/ 

Ugh. What a waste of a seat.

Horner is getting salty about Hamilton bouncing off Albon twice in three races and even wants an apology because Albon totally would have won the race (ignoring the fact that the car failed to finish). For Max Verstappen's biggest fan and someone who used to go on about "hard racing", that's pretty ironic. Still, it makes for lots of great headlines. Between all the protests last weekend and now the public bitching, Horner is probably starting to really piss off Toto.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Agreed on the wasted seat.  I don't want half the tv commentary filled up with talk about Fred or him complaining about his poor performance.  There is enough negative in the world right now, I don't need that in what little racing I get to watch.  END VENT 

I think Renault is being coy and it's actually Vettel going to Renault. The quote taken out of context is that long-term mechanics were told that they have "worked with him before" not that he was a driver on the works team. Many of the Renault mechanics came from RB back when Renault was their engine. 

Keith Tanner said:

Ugh. What a waste of a seat.

Horner is getting salty about Hamilton bouncing off Albon twice in three races and even wants an apology because Albon totally would have won the race (ignoring the fact that the car failed to finish). For Max Verstappen's biggest fan and someone who used to go on about "hard racing", that's pretty ironic. Still, it makes for lots of great headlines. Between all the protests last weekend and now the public bitching, Horner is probably starting to really piss off Toto.

Given Mercedes development history, his goal is probably to throw Toto Wolfe and Lewis Hamilton off thier game.  Otherwise, it's just being a hypocrite complaining about other drivers doing similar things to Max.  Think about this- a year ago, Max was pretty close to spinning Chuck off the road, but that was ok since it didnt' happen.

Thing is, all that does is focus Lewis these days, not throw him off his game.  And I don't see Toto getting away from a system that is SO much better than all the other teams have in their system.

Keith Tanner said:

Ugh. What a waste of a seat.

Horner is getting salty about Hamilton bouncing off Albon twice in three races and even wants an apology because Albon totally would have won the race (ignoring the fact that the car failed to finish). For Max Verstappen's biggest fan and someone who used to go on about "hard racing", that's pretty ironic. Still, it makes for lots of great headlines. Between all the protests last weekend and now the public bitching, Horner is probably starting to really piss off Toto.

I mean, Mercedes have dominated F1 for six years so they're fair game. Horner is truly a weasel, but if I ran any other team I'd be protesting everything that Mercedes does all the time. And copying their car. Etc etc.

In reply to L5wolvesf :

Snooze fest, how pissed are the Renault crew going to be when Alonso is crying about everything but his pay is not part of the Cap and he is being paid the big bucks while they are under the thumb of the Cap.

Racing Point learned that lesson :) And it worked for them. We no longer have the clear "top three" teams if this last race was any indication. Racing Point and McLaren have really stepped up as Ferrari and Red Bull have stumbled. But they didn't get there by whining and protesting. And I agree that putting Lewis under pressure only makes him stronger.

Did anyone else see the story that Ferrari didn't even offer a contract to Vettel for next year? I wonder how motivated he'll be with a sub-par car and no future with the team. It may be another Alonso/McLaren situation where Vettel makes the news for clearly not giving a...well, you know.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Now that is interesting (Vettel throwing it in) and I bet Ferrari wouldn't hesitate to call up one of the young guns (Mick?) or at the least put Kimi back in the seat. 

Keith Tanner said:

Racing Point learned that lesson :) And it worked for them. We no longer have the clear "top three" teams if this last race was any indication. Racing Point and McLaren have really stepped up as Ferrari and Red Bull have stumbled. But they didn't get there by whining and protesting. And I agree that putting Lewis under pressure only makes him stronger.

Did anyone else see the story that Ferrari didn't even offer a contract to Vettel for next year? I wonder how motivated he'll be with a sub-par car and no future with the team. It may be another Alonso/McLaren situation where Vettel makes the news for clearly not giving a...well, you know.

I'm not sure I'm ready to say "No clear top three," when two of the top three finished on the podium and McLaren was only their because of a penalty to Hamilton. Add in the fact it's only the first race of the season.

I did see that story. I thought it was interesting it quoted Matio or whatever, saying part of the decision was because of COVID? Other than just the cost of big payday for Vettel, how does that impact which driver to hire?

Javelin (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Now that is interesting (Vettel throwing it in) and I bet Ferrari wouldn't hesitate to call up one of the young guns (Mick?) or at the least put Kimi back in the seat. 

Are you talking for 2022? They already signed Sainz to pair with LeClerc for 2021, right?

z31maniac said:

Javelin (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Now that is interesting (Vettel throwing it in) and I bet Ferrari wouldn't hesitate to call up one of the young guns (Mick?) or at the least put Kimi back in the seat. 

Are you talking for 2022? They already signed Sainz to pair with LeClerc for 2021, right?

No, like mid-season 2020. If Vettel drives dumb on purpose or gets too complainy, I can see them demoting him and swapping Kimi back up to finish the year. Kimi don't care.

z31maniac said:

Keith Tanner said:

Racing Point learned that lesson :) And it worked for them. We no longer have the clear "top three" teams if this last race was any indication. Racing Point and McLaren have really stepped up as Ferrari and Red Bull have stumbled. But they didn't get there by whining and protesting. And I agree that putting Lewis under pressure only makes him stronger.

Did anyone else see the story that Ferrari didn't even offer a contract to Vettel for next year? I wonder how motivated he'll be with a sub-par car and no future with the team. It may be another Alonso/McLaren situation where Vettel makes the news for clearly not giving a...well, you know.

I'm not sure I'm ready to say "No clear top three," when two of the top three finished on the podium and McLaren was only their because of a penalty to Hamilton. Add in the fact it's only the first race of the season.

I wasn't just looking at the result, I was looking at a Ferrari having a legit battle with a Racing Point and two McLarens ganging up on another Ferrari. Go back a couple of years and the first three rows on the grid were always the same six cars. This race, there were two cars from other teams in the first three rows. The gap between the top three and the rest has definitely narrowed, possibly due to the strength of a particular engine. Ferrari ended up on the podium mostly due to strategy and a good driver, less so because of performance.

Of course it's impossible to predict the season from one race, but it's fun :)

I quite honestly can't imagine hiring Alonso.  He's poison to team mates.  Based on his time with Maclaren, he has no skill at developing a car, and he spends more time in pointless whining that my three year old grandson.

It's possible he's fast, but we have no evidence of that from the last decade or so.

I'm not shocked about Alonso and Renault- since that combination was the only championships either has had.  Just like bringing Kimi back to Ferrari.  

What does shock me is spending that kind of money when there are a lot of young and fast drivers ready to step in.   We need to move to the next era of F1 and the drivers.  

alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:

I'm not shocked about Alonso and Renault- since that combination was the only championships either has had.  Just like bringing Kimi back to Ferrari.  

What does shock me is spending that kind of money when there are a lot of young and fast drivers ready to step in.   We need to move to the next era of F1 and the drivers.  

My guess is he's bringing sponsor money in exchange for partial team ownership. Probably with options for full purchase for the inevitable exit of Renault from racing and/road cars.

I don't know that it's that terrible a move when seen through that lens, particularly given the new rules coming up and Fred's ability to drive anything.

In reply to Dave M (Forum Supporter) :

That's interesting speculation.  It's not as if driver-owners have been significantly successful- the only real one I can think of is Brahbam.  The others never did much- Surtees, Prost, Stuart, etc.  If it's just a money thing- maybe.  But who would want to be lead by Alonso as a team owner?  I really respect the guy and his racing abilty- but IMHO, if he ran things, it would be a bigger cluster than Ferrari.

trigun7469 said:

In reply to L5wolvesf :

Snooze fest, how pissed are the Renault crew going to be when Alonso is crying about everything but his pay is not part of the Cap and he is being paid the big bucks while they are under the thumb of the Cap.

Snooze fest quite possibly

Renault crew . . .  while they are under the thumb of the Cap

It is possible Alonso will win some, and.winning solves a lot of those kind of problems. Which brings a question to mind.

Can incentives for winning/podiums be paid to the crew, and if they are, are they part of the Cap?

Wow! Alonso back to Renault? He's a mega talent but also is a disruptive force on a team. I guess if the team environment suits him, he can flourish but we'll soon see. I don't care for Ocon so I don't feel sorry for him. I'm pretty excited to see how teams act at the same venue they were just at. Who will make changes? Who will stick with the same plan from last weekend? This is unprecedented, should be exciting