2020 Formula 1 Season Thread

[Moakesy]

I believe the real question is why do we keep watching...

I still love it.

I enjoy it for many reasons. It might be the technical capability of the cars, the way the drivers can either push the cars beyond what should do, or not be able to reach its full potential.

i love the people aspect. Drivers react differently to pressure.They also act differently to success.

Also, how teams react as well.

It’s like watching a machine at work. So many moving parts. Some you can see, some are hidden away. All are important. It’s a case study in leadership, motivation and team work.

I fully understand that it’s not for everyone, just like I don’t particularly like football all that much. However, I look forward to each race weekend.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I still love it.

I enjoy it for many reasons. It might be the technical capability of the cars, the way the drivers can either push the cars beyond what should do, or not be able to reach its full potential.

i love the people aspect. Drivers react differently to pressure.They also act differently to success.

Also, how teams react as well.

It’s like watching a machine at work. So many moving parts. Some you can see, some are hidden away. All are important. It’s a case study in leadership, motivation and team work.

I fully understand that it’s not for everyone, just like I don’t particularly like football all that much. However, I look forward to each race weekend.

I enjoy it as well. Some races are better than others. I think dropping (or at least changing the way it works) DRS would be a big help. Now the cars just pull out with the rear wing wide open and sail past. It used to be who could break the latest and still make the corner.
Now everyone is too precious about their tyres for that.
Some of the tracks as well are just awful. No overtaking and massive run off areas.
So no risk and no reward.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I’ve followed F1 since the late 80’s as it was very much a family sport seeing as I grew up in the heart of F1. However, I’ve also come to realise despite it being the pinnacle of motorsport from a technical perspective, it’s not the most exciting in terms of pure racing. It’s got very safe and very clinical, but I still enjoy it even if I rarely watch a race these days in full.

 

[robbieduncan]

Listened to the race whilst gardening. It's was a perfect race for that! At no point did I wish I was able to watch it instead. Hamilton will walk the championship from here. I expect him to win both the Silverstone races. Bottas is already showing the signs of cracking (again). Mercedes will be crowned champions soon enough

The new rules can't come soon enough for the racing!

 

[Moakesy]

Agree about the new rules....and removing DRS, but only remove DRS if the tyres will hold on long enough when following close behind.

It’s not all just parade laps though, is it....

https://twitter.com/x/status/1285125289836593152

 

[Glideslope]

I've been watching since the late 1980s so I've seen McLaren dominate, then Williams, then Benetton, then Williams (again), then Ferrari, then Renault, then Ferrari (again), then Red Bull and now Mercedes.

I still find it the most interesting auto-sport from a technical perspective, even if the racing has generally been dull due to the domination of one team/driver combination. That being said, it was nice when we saw Brawn pull off a WCC with Button, but even then, they did so because the car had a unique technical advantage (the double diffuser). Once everyone else had the same, the team struggled for a time even with the financial backing of Mercedes until they secured Lewis and Toto Wolff.

It's ironic in some ways that Lewis will break the win record of Michale who in the beginning provided so much development time giving feedback and support during the initial days of Mercedes return as AMG-Petronas in 2010.
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With Racing Point drivers trying their best, will Vettel still be a Racing Point driver soon?
That's the real question.

I still say Seb walks away from F1.
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I’ve followed F1 since the late 80’s as it was very much a family sport seeing as I grew up in the heart of F1. However, I’ve also come to realise despite it being the pinnacle of motorsport from a technical perspective, it’s not the most exciting in terms of pure racing. It’s got very safe and very clinical, but I still enjoy it even if I rarely watch a race these days in full.

One can only enjoy racing mid pack for so long. While the Lewis /Mercedes pairing is amazing, quite honestly it has become a Snooze Fest.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

It's ironic in some ways that Lewis will break the win record of Michale who in the beginning provided so much development time giving feedback and support during the initial days of Mercedes return as AMG-Petronas in 2010.
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He did, but Mercedes never designed the car to Michaels preference due to his unorthodox driving style. We don’t really know whether Nico had better feedback as he was consistently driving the car better than his great teammate. I would imagine Lewis had a significant input during 2013 too and let’s not forget he was appreciated by the engineers at McLaren for his understanding and keen attitude to learning about the car.

 

[pachyderm]

I've been watching since the late 1980s so I've seen McLaren dominate, then Williams, then Benetton, then Williams (again), then Ferrari, then Renault, then Ferrari (again), then Red Bull and now Mercedes.

I still find it the most interesting auto-sport from a technical perspective, even if the racing has generally been dull due to the domination of one team/driver combination. That being said, it was nice when we saw Brawn pull off a WCC with Button, but even then, they did so because the car had a unique technical advantage (the double diffuser). Once everyone else had the same, the team struggled for a time even with the financial backing of Mercedes until they secured Lewis and Toto Wolff.

Understood.
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I still love it.

I enjoy it for many reasons. It might be the technical capability of the cars, the way the drivers can either push the cars beyond what should do, or not be able to reach its full potential.

i love the people aspect. Drivers react differently to pressure.They also act differently to success.

Also, how teams react as well.

It’s like watching a machine at work. So many moving parts. Some you can see, some are hidden away. All are important. It’s a case study in leadership, motivation and team work.

I fully understand that it’s not for everyone, just like I don’t particularly like football all that much. However, I look forward to each race weekend.

Back of the pack now a days is more entertaining than it used to be. Thank God the likes of Pacific*, Forti, Footwork etc etc have been weeded out.. not Minardi though. I loved Team Minardi.

For the most part me too.

I usually can find a driver I really like but I haven't since Jarno Trulli retired...

I actually loved Pacific too...

 

[robbieduncan]

Back of the pack now a days is more entertaining than it used to be. Thank God the likes of Pacific*, Forti, Footwork etc etc have been weeded out.. not Minardi though. I loved Team Minardi.

Minardi are basically still running around as Alpha Tauri. Footwork actually did get liquidated rather than becoming another team

 

[BenTrovato]

He did, but Mercedes never designed the car to Michaels preference due to his unorthodox driving style. We don’t really know whether Nico had better feedback as he was consistently driving the car better than his great teammate. I would imagine Lewis had a significant input during 2013 too and let’s not forget he was appreciated by the engineers at McLaren for his understanding and keen attitude to learning about the car.

Brawn brought Michael in to influence the team in a winning direction, not to build a car Schumi could win a title with that was always clear from Ross. This is what the current Merc personnel also talk about. When Michael came in, he brought in the all or nothing approach. Every aspect of the team needs to go full throttle and it raised the bar all around and that's what Brawn thought this team needed to be successful. Nico also talked about this and how he was worried in the beginning but it caused him to raise his ability as well and become a better driver. He attributed his ability to beat Lewis from the things he learned by watching how Michael behaved.

Always interesting to remember that Nico beat Michael and Lewis in the same car

 

[Glideslope]

Brawn brought Michael in to influence the team in a winning direction, not to build a car Schumi could win a title with that was always clear from Ross. This is what the current Merc personnel also talk about. When Michael came in, he brought in the all or nothing approach. Every aspect of the team needs to go full throttle and it raised the bar all around and that's what Brawn thought this team needed to be successful. Nico also talked about this and how he was worried in the beginning but it caused him to raise his ability as well and become a better driver. He attributed his ability to beat Lewis from the things he learned by watching how Michael behaved.

Always interesting to remember that Nico beat Michael and Lewis in the same car

Absolutely. This was what I was attempting to articulate in my post without going too far. Things get touchy in here when it comes to Mercedes.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Brawn brought Michael in to influence the team in a winning direction, not to build a car Schumi could win a title with that was always clear from Ross. This is what the current Merc personnel also talk about. When Michael came in, he brought in the all or nothing approach. Every aspect of the team needs to go full throttle and it raised the bar all around and that's what Brawn thought this team needed to be successful. Nico also talked about this and how he was worried in the beginning but it caused him to raise his ability as well and become a better driver. He attributed his ability to beat Lewis from the things he learned by watching how Michael behaved.

Always interesting to remember that Nico beat Michael and Lewis in the same car

I think Nico beat Michael in a consistent fashion as he was a better driver at that point whereas with Lewis he was more of an opportunist in regards to being consistent when reliability was an issue.

 

[pachyderm]

2020 Driver Standings

POS	DRIVER	NATIONALITY	CAR	PTS
1	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	MERCEDES	63
2	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	MERCEDES	58
3	Max Verstappen	NED	RED BULL RACING HONDA	33
4	Lando Norris	GBR	MCLAREN RENAULT	26
5	Alexander Albon	THA	RED BULL RACING HONDA	22
6	Sergio Perez	MEX	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	22
7	Charles Leclerc	MON	FERRARI	18
8	Lance Stroll	CAN	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	18
9	Carlos Sainz	ESP	MCLAREN RENAULT	15
10	Sebastian Vettel	GER	FERRARI	9
11	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	RENAULT	8
12	Pierre Gasly	FRA	ALPHATAURI HONDA	6
13	Esteban Ocon	FRA	RENAULT	4
14	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	2
15	Daniil Kvyat	RUS	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1
16	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	HAAS FERRARI	1
17	Kimi Räikkönen	FIN	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	0
18	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	0
19	Romain Grosjean	FRA	HAAS FERRARI	0
20	George Russell	GBR	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	0

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2020 Constructor Standings

POS	TEAM	PTS
1	MERCEDES	121
2	RED BULL RACING HONDA	55
3	MCLAREN RENAULT	41
4	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	40
5	FERRARI	27
6	RENAULT	12
7	ALPHATAURI HONDA	7
8	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	2
9	HAAS FERRARI	1
10	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	0

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Ferrari in 5th reminds of the Jean Alesi & Gerhard Berger days...

 

[Apple fanboy]

2020 Driver Standings

POS	DRIVER	NATIONALITY	CAR	PTS
1	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	MERCEDES	63
2	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	MERCEDES	58
3	Max Verstappen	NED	RED BULL RACING HONDA	33
4	Lando Norris	GBR	MCLAREN RENAULT	26
5	Alexander Albon	THA	RED BULL RACING HONDA	22
6	Sergio Perez	MEX	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	22
7	Charles Leclerc	MON	FERRARI	18
8	Lance Stroll	CAN	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	18
9	Carlos Sainz	ESP	MCLAREN RENAULT	15
10	Sebastian Vettel	GER	FERRARI	9
11	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	RENAULT	8
12	Pierre Gasly	FRA	ALPHATAURI HONDA	6
13	Esteban Ocon	FRA	RENAULT	4
14	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	2
15	Daniil Kvyat	RUS	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1
16	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	HAAS FERRARI	1
17	Kimi Räikkönen	FIN	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	0
18	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	0
19	Romain Grosjean	FRA	HAAS FERRARI	0
20	George Russell	GBR	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	0

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2020 Constructor Standings

POS	TEAM	PTS
1	MERCEDES	121
2	RED BULL RACING HONDA	55
3	MCLAREN RENAULT	41
4	RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES	40
5	FERRARI	27
6	RENAULT	12
7	ALPHATAURI HONDA	7
8	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	2
9	HAAS FERRARI	1
10	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	0

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Ferrari in 5th reminds of the Jean Alesi & Gerhard Berger days...

Maybe if 2nd, 3rd and 4th teams merged they might give Mercedes a run for their money points wise!

 

[robbieduncan]

So we have a week off before the double header here in the UK. Sort of a home race for most of the teams who are based within an hour of Silverstone. I expect we will see some upgrades which might shake up the midfield. I don't think we'll see any change at the front!

With the rule changes that were meant to come in next year delayed by a year does this give Mercedes an additional year with DAS?

 

[Moakesy]

I believe DAS is banned next year.

 

[robbieduncan]

I believe DAS is banned next year.

My understanding was it was banned by the pre-agreed 2021 rule change package (not a specific ban on the system developed but the new rules were written in such a way that it was no longer legal). This package is now pushed to 2022. So unless the DAS banning part is not pushed but the rest of the package is?

Seems this is the case: https://www.racefans.net/2020/04/01/why-the-fia-has-re-banned-mercedes-das-for-2021/

 

[pachyderm]

Do we think DAS has made that big a difference?

 

[Apple fanboy]

Do we think DAS has made that big a difference?

They were so far ahead, probably not! Even last years car with a pink spray job is competitive!

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

The think the advantage is just the fine British engineering at Ilmor, sorry Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains Ltd

 

[robbieduncan]

The think the advantage is just the fine British engineering at Ilmor, sorry Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains Ltd

I think the fine British engineering and aero work at the Brackley campus helps too.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I think the fine British engineering and aero work at the Brackley campus helps too.

Absolutely without a shadow of doubt.

 

[pachyderm]

I didn't need another reason to like Nando ... but here it is...

Lando Norris reveals the story behind THAT Hungarian GP pack-up photo | Formula 1®

Rarely do you see a Formula 1 driver on the floor, underneath his car, helping his mechanics strip it down after a Grand Prix. But that’s exactly what Lando Norris was photographed doing in Hungary. But it has emerged that wasn’t the first time…

www.formula1.com

 

[robbieduncan]

I didn't need another to like Nando ... but here it is...

View attachment 936965

Lando Norris reveals the story behind THAT Hungarian GP pack-up photo | Formula 1®

Rarely do you see a Formula 1 driver on the floor, underneath his car, helping his mechanics strip it down after a Grand Prix. But that’s exactly what Lando Norris was photographed doing in Hungary. But it has emerged that wasn’t the first time…

www.formula1.com

He seems to be a very likeable, down-to-earth driver. I hope he continues to get a drive for many seasons to come

 

[Apple fanboy]

I didn't need another reason to like Nando ... but here it is...

View attachment 936965

Lando Norris reveals the story behind THAT Hungarian GP pack-up photo | Formula 1®

Rarely do you see a Formula 1 driver on the floor, underneath his car, helping his mechanics strip it down after a Grand Prix. But that’s exactly what Lando Norris was photographed doing in Hungary. But it has emerged that wasn’t the first time…

www.formula1.com

The name Lando is enough to make me like him!
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He seems to be a very likeable, down-to-earth driver. I hope he continues to get a drive for many seasons to come

Agreed.