FORMULA ONE - 2020

 I agree that was so fun to watch how driving talent is exposed in the wet conditions!

bruceman said:

 I agree that was so fun to watch how driving talent is exposed in the wet conditions!

I think it also exposes funamental car flaws, too.  Both LeCerc and Vettel are very good driver- and as of recently, LeClerc a little bit better.  For the Ferrari to be as slow as it is says that it's got some serious flaws to it- other than the lack of power.

I think seeing Albon and Verstappen- it also seems that the twitchiness of the Red Bull is a real problem- it can be fast, but it's really hard to do.

McLaren is showing that it's really back.  Not fully up to the peak Red Bull- but close enough that when Red Bull can't get on that fine edge....

alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:

Can't recall the rules- if Q1 starts, does that mean qualifying has to totally complete?  It at least would suggest that if Q1 happens, that would form a better grid that FP2.

I think the rules are that if they started Q1 but had to cancel Q2 and Q3, they would use the times from Q1 to set the grid.  Similarly if they got Q2 but not Q3, they'd have the lowest 5 cars from Q1, then the rest of the field using Q2 times.

I don't know what happens if, say, Q1 gets red flagged after 2 laps when half the field has set a time and the other half hasn't.

One of the things to be careful about trying to analyze cars based on rain performance is that the race itself is expected to be dry.  This means that each team is making their own tradeoff between a full wet setup for qualy and a dry setup for the race directly.

Sky did a really good break down comparing Lewis's pole lap to Max's attempt until he spun soon after qualifying. Lewis had around 6/10 of a second over Max before he lost it but it wasn't a better car, half of that time was better lines through the second sector and the other half was Lewis positioning the car better to avoid standing water on the circuit that Max went through. At that same point on the track Lewis was already into 6th gear and avoided the worst of the water, Max was right at the top of 5th and went into 6th right as he went through it leading to a lot of wheel spin and a big correction to keep the car going straight.

It'll be interesting to see where Lewis stands on Sunday with his lack of pace on Friday. It will also be interesting to see how many cars finish this week as well although I'm sure cooler weather will help with that.

NorseDave said:

Related but unrelated to all this stuff, I saw a short vid yesterday talking about the including drivers salaries in the cap (didn't happen) and it mentioned that Hamilton is thought to be making 40M/yr Euro, while some other drivers are getting 150k.  Would have never guessed the low end was 150k. 

Pretty sure I saw numbers like $40k back when I looked into it for Sauber & Manor. Though it's hard to say how sponsorships come into play

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:

Can't recall the rules- if Q1 starts, does that mean qualifying has to totally complete?  It at least would suggest that if Q1 happens, that would form a better grid that FP2.

I don't know what happens if, say, Q1 gets red flagged after 2 laps when half the field has set a time and the other half hasn't.

I think the result is "you should have gone out early to set a baseline time like the other guys". That's pretty much SOP even in the dry, get a time on the board just in case someone Maldonados the session and gets it all red flagged.

tremm said:

NorseDave said:

Related but unrelated to all this stuff, I saw a short vid yesterday talking about the including drivers salaries in the cap (didn't happen) and it mentioned that Hamilton is thought to be making 40M/yr Euro, while some other drivers are getting 150k.  Would have never guessed the low end was 150k. 

Pretty sure I saw numbers like $40k back when I looked into it for Sauber & Manor. Though it's hard to say how sponsorships come into play

I mean, don't a bunch of drivers pay to drive?  It looks like Laurence Stroll ended up buying both a race team and a car company so Lance could go racing!  That's gotta make Lance the highest paid driver, indirectly.

Dave M (Forum Supporter) said:

tremm said:

NorseDave said:

Related but unrelated to all this stuff, I saw a short vid yesterday talking about the including drivers salaries in the cap (didn't happen) and it mentioned that Hamilton is thought to be making 40M/yr Euro, while some other drivers are getting 150k.  Would have never guessed the low end was 150k. 

Pretty sure I saw numbers like $40k back when I looked into it for Sauber & Manor. Though it's hard to say how sponsorships come into play

I mean, don't a bunch of drivers pay to drive?  It looks like Laurence Stroll ended up buying both a race team and a car company so Lance could go racing!  That's gotta make Lance the highest paid driver, indirectly.

That's my take on it.

Incredible qualifying! Hamilton is just the best. The times and records are piling up. But best of all he gives us laps like the pole lap. 1.2 seconds!!!!!!!

1.2 seconds on a 1 min 20 second lap! 

I don't understand though that this is the second maybe third time the interviewer doesn't follow the practice of interviewing Hamilton first. He does take the time to greet his team, oh well it doesn't matter because, 1.2 seconds. Max couldn't even keep it straight. 

Sainz is making a good case for why he deserves that Ferrari seat next year. 

Last lap Lando is awesome. Again. 

In front, that was the race I was expecting last week- and had it not been for the SC, I think Merc would have just driven away.

But the midfield racing was REALLY great!!!  That last lap where Norris went from 7th to 5th (actually 8th a few laps prior) was awesome.  Suck for Perez who really was faster than Albon- just could not put the lap together until late- and then not good enough to avoid damage.  Great drive for RP overall- they are really quick.

Stroll, though.  Like his teammate- could not assemble a closing lap, and Ricciardo is great at placing his car in a tough spot.  Their battle was probably why Norris was able to close and take them both pretty quickly.

In terms of the midfield- it's pretty close between RP, McLaren and Renault.  All have their times that they are better than each other- which makes the racing so fun.

The Ferrari cars... well....  

And Williams, geez.  Too much of a wet set up?  

Lando Norris third in the championship after two races. Who would have bet on that?

LANDO!

I haven't been much of a fan in the past but dragged myself out of bed at 6 to watch the last 2 weeks. I think I'm hooked. 

Dave M (Forum Supporter) said:

tremm said:

NorseDave said:

Related but unrelated to all this stuff, I saw a short vid yesterday talking about the including drivers salaries in the cap (didn't happen) and it mentioned that Hamilton is thought to be making 40M/yr Euro, while some other drivers are getting 150k.  Would have never guessed the low end was 150k. 

Pretty sure I saw numbers like $40k back when I looked into it for Sauber & Manor. Though it's hard to say how sponsorships come into play

I mean, don't a bunch of drivers pay to drive?  It looks like Laurence Stroll ended up buying both a race team and a car company so Lance could go racing!  That's gotta make Lance the highest paid driver, indirectly.

You know who else started as a pay driver?

Shumacher, the good one. Not the guy who crashed millions of Toyota money.

Lando is my new favorite driver.  His last lap was flipping awesome.  Especially since he was on pain meds.  With the troubles Ferrari are having, are they part of the mid-field now?

-Rob

An F1 poem...

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Ferrari DNF,
Mercedes one-two.

Also Lando totally put in another clutch performance. Any ruling on stroll pushing Riccardo off at the end? Fun to watch Max and Bottas put on a little show, Max said other than that his race was pretty boring. Wish Ocans car would have stayed running and that Russell didn't throw it off the track, he could have gained some experience mixing it up with the midfield guys.

Right now Sainz has be be thinking that moving from McLaren to Ferrari next season might be a step down.  And McLaren has to be thinking that moving from Sainz to Ricciardo might be a step down. 

alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:

trigun7469 said:

Vettel wants Red Bull seat, had initial talks with Renault There has been a German presser that thinks there is big news for Vettel in the next week or so. So Albon is sacked or goes to Alpha?

Given that Vettel does not accept being the virtual #2 at Ferrari, how can he deal with being the actual, stated, etc # 2 at Red Bull?  

And for the cost, why in the world would they pull the plug on Albon?  He's shown to be quick enough.  Unless Vettel is planning on going to the team that was not a stand in for Kubica- Torro Rosso which is now Alpha Tauri?

I very much don't get it.

It's not just driving talent, it's money! How much sponsorship can a driver bring to the table?

Perez.  What an excellent run, even counting his losing a spot at the end.  I really thought he had Alex.

Also, I love the robotic trophy carts.  I laughed.

Streetwiseguy said:

Perez.  What an excellent run, even counting his losing a spot at the end.  I really thought he had Alex.

Also, I love the robotic trophy carts.  I laughed.

 

Without a doubt, a great drive.  It was too bad that he could not close enough going into the 3rd DRS zone to really take advantage of it.  Odd that the wing broke on the right side of the car when he touched Albon on the left side.

Renault is protesting Racing Point- alleging that it's not a RP design, but it was done by Mercedes.

I have some serious Ferrari schaudenfreude...Scuderiafrude?  Apparently it's not just their cheating engine!  It's also their drivers who hate each other, and their aero.....

Lando and Perez get drivers of the day for me.  Albon needs to step up his game if he's going to be kept around by RBR; he's lucky that Ferrari suck this year, otherwise he'd have been in sixth. 

alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:

Renault is protesting Racing Point- alleging that it's not a RP design, but it was done by Mercedes.

I think this is just about the brake ducts being Mercedes design but have to be RP design

The robot trophy carts were hilarious. One almost went into the grass when it was leaving.