FORMULA ONE - 2020

alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:

alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:

Russell may still get his first point.

2 for 9th, one for fastest lap.

Can Lewis be sick for another race?

Depends on whether or not he gets a penalty for doing a lap on Bottas' tires...

I was really really hoping for Russell to win this one.  That said, it's good to see Perez winning if it wasn't to be.

In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :

The SKY team mentioned that the driver has 3 laps to fix that mistake- he did it in one.  So one can hope that he's not penalized- the mistake cost him the win, probably.  That should be penalty enough.  He lost a lot of positions having to come in again.

So - both drivers at the top step of the podium have lost their seats to Lance because his dad owns the team.

Keith Tanner said:

So - both drivers at the top step of the podium have lost their seats to Lance because his dad owns the team.

Ironic, don't you think?

alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:

Keith Tanner said:

So - both drivers at the top step of the podium have lost their seats to Lance because his dad owns the team.

Ironic, don't you think?

Nice Canadian joke. I went to high school with her...

alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:

Holy cow, the gambling that just happend.

The double stack Mercedes stop, I assume. Based on Bottas' tires, it might have been necessary. But man that fell apart.

One of the other teams said they had 25 people in the garage who had never raced before due to various COVID quarantines. The Mercedes pit screwup could have been due to some inexperienced guys.

All that time at the back of the pack means that Russell is sharp, I wonder how much that helped him work through the field. I mean, a Mercedes turned up to 11 on fresh softs helps, but that pass on Bottas was beautiful.

Bye bye Albon.

Can't believe Mercedes screwed up so bad.

bruceman said:

Can't believe Mercedes screwed up so bad.

It still would have been a likely win if not for that puncture. Russell was running Perez down. 

WOW! That was an exciting race. I am gutted for George, he did such an amazing job all weekend and outperformed Bottas but had a sure victory taken away by a pit crew screw up (and puncture).  This might be the worst race Bottas has ever had, he fell apart under the pressure. Pretty amazing podium, how could Red Bull NOT take Perez next year? Albon is clearly an under performer and Perez went from last to first. I still hope Lewis is back for the next race, but maybe George should be his team mate for next week?

I don't think Bottas fell apart, when he was going backwards through the field it was due to tires. At that awful double stack stop, they put his used tires back on. He's never been the strongest driver on the MB team for tire management (high bar there) which doesn't help, but he basically did a one stop race in terms of tire strategy. 

I think Mercedes is feeling very good about their driver options for the next few years at this point. 

Not what I expected, several times through the race.  Can't believe Merc berkeleyed up that badly.  George did really well.  Valteri had his 2020 luck dump on him again.  He beat George, though...

I agree. I don't know how you don't put Perez in that car. 
I hate that there wasn't an actual fairy tale ending for GR however what happened allowed him to show he was more than just turning laps in the fastest car. He passed some very stellar competition to move from 5th to 2nd and then mowed down the back markers to score points. It was very impressive. 

He showed he has the raw speed, the discipline to manage the race and tires and the mental strength to bounce back after a problem. Not bad for one race.

IMO, George has better racecraft than Max. The passes he pulled off after that disaster of a pit stop, I don't think Max could have done any better, or even pulled them off without wrecking.

06HHR (Forum Supporter) said:

IMO, George has better racecraft than Max. The passes he pulled off after that disaster of a pit stop, I don't think Max could have done any better, or even pulled them off without wrecking.

Same can be said of Perez vs Stroll- Perez dispatched Ocon pretty quickly, where Stroll never did it.

bruceman said:

Can't believe Mercedes screwed up so bad.

It was actually such a simple mistake, too.  Had they put George's tires on correctly, he would have kept first, and given the pace at the end, Bottas would have carved through what he got caught behind- IF he would have even been caught.  Thank goodness for that front tire changer who even noticed the mistake- both cars would have pitted twice.

Toto said the garage radio was broken.  

I actually hope Lewis is still sick next weekend.

Sergio ran a hell of a race.  He would have looked awfully good with third after lap one.

A radio failure resulted in the front tires from BOT's car being bolted up to RUS's car.  Apparently George radioed in to chat at the same time as the transmission went to the garage, so the garage didn't hear the tire call.  The FIA said that this type of mixup isn't covered by the "3 lap rule", but they're considering the radio issue a mitigating circumstance and so the team gets fined and George keeps his points.

In a sort of Happy Gilmore, "I was the only one to take my skate off and stab another guy" moment though, George is the first guy to get half of his teammate's tires during a pit stop.

I was taking an exam during the race and watched the replay during a media blackout so I'm here 3 pages later. My reactions as follows:

Holllllyyy E36 M3 George off the line on the bad side and around Bottas, wow!

Max being oddly cautious, smart. Goddammit Lec and Checo. WTF, why is Max in the wall after a simple off?

Wow, George is just getting to work, bright future for him.

Carlos quietly having a very nice day, podium, maybe?

Checo is gosh dang weapon!

VSC royally screws my man Carlos, sad Sainz noises.

What in the absolute berkeley E36 M3 Jesus Christ was that Merc pit stop and why does this happen to George not Lewis?

OMG, George is slicing through the podium, might still win. Jesus berkeleying himself, a puncture!?

Can Bono be my boss? "Alright Aaron, let's pull that data out of the database and get on with our analysis work" 

Lando, love you, mean it but George needs to go 'round you, mate for max points.

Overall, a pretty pleasant podium, but I was hoping Carlos could snipe Lance. And George put on half a season's worth of talent on show in a single race. Again, how does Merc manage to only perform that poorly when Lewis is out and I want the Black car to do well? 

wae said:

A radio failure resulted in the front tires from BOT's car being bolted up to RUS's car.  Apparently George radioed in to chat at the same time as the transmission went to the garage, so the garage didn't hear the tire call.  The FIA said that this type of mixup isn't covered by the "3 lap rule", but they're considering the radio issue a mitigating circumstance and so the team gets fined and George keeps his points.

Yeah, I suspect the stewards looked at the results and decided Russell had had enough penalty already and no way were they going to screw him out of the three points he managed.  20K euro fine for Mercedes is whatever, they can afford it. :)

Lewis hasn't signed yet for next year yet.  Just saying......

Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) said:

Lewis hasn't signed yet for next year yet.  Just saying......

I'm pretty sure he phoned Toto about lap 30... 

Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) said:

Lewis hasn't signed yet for next year yet.  Just saying......

Not concerned in the slightest. He wants number 8. 

z31maniac said:

Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) said:

Lewis hasn't signed yet for next year yet.  Just saying......

Not concerned in the slightest. He wants number 8. 

And Merc doesn't want him winning it in someone else's car.