The F1 thread

stickyfiddle

Brio said:

From Grand Prix Diary on Twitter:
“Lewis also said how good it was to have his dog Roscoe there. Valtteri isn’t allowed to have a dog at a race track as he can’t hold onto a lead.”

That's gold  

stickyfiddle

Chris Harris being cheeky-but-not-wrong on twitter: 

https://twitter.com/harrismonkey/status/1320657268866732033

"Let’s start the week with a decent tussle. Does anyone here really still think Lewis Hamilton isn’t the best F1 driver of his generation?"

rlw

goldtop said:

sinbaadi said:

stickyfiddle said:

Fretwired said:

Max challenged Lewis to a race behind closed doors in the same car. Mercedes responded with a Tweet "Max, just give us a call if you want to test a Mercedes."

It would be cool to see them duel in the same car ..

Honestly I'd love to see all 21 drivers (Hulk!) in matching cars doing a charity thing at the end of a season. Do it at a proper circuit - not Yas Marina - and I'd happily pay money. 

Or do it in equal-weight karts. 

Or both!! 

That would feel a bit like a magician revealing the illusion!
"F1: Behind the Disparity"
I'm not sure F1 is proud enough of its performance imbalance which robs genuine racing fans of wheel to wheel action every week to put on something like that.

I'd love it, of course...  I'd also love professional drivers to be off doing all sorts besides F1, being professional racing drivers not just F1 car pilots.  Surely they got in to it to be the best, not just to drive the best but there you go.  

Once upon a time, there were 20 identical Mercedes at the Nürburgring, each one piloted by an F1 legend, plus some upstart from Brazil...



... who went on to win. Fangio was there but sat it out, depriving us of a GOAT benchmark. Well, he was in his seventies.

More here: https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/classic/history/ayrton-sennas-victory-in-1984/

Not forgetting

Emiel

Fretwired said:

Emiel said:

Talking about Russell... if the Perez/Williams rumours are true, he will be a Mercedes reserve driver in 2021, and hoping that Hamilton will retire soon after.

Hamilton could go on for three years. I suspect Mercedes would like to pair Russell with Hamilton - it would give them a benchmark against which they could judge Russel's pace and Russell could learn a lot. I still wouldn't rule out Bottas being dropped at the end of the season. Yesterday was an utter embarrassment for Bottas - over 20+ seconds behind Hamilton. He claimed he lacked pace .. that's an understatement. Wolff has seen that a year being Mercedes reserve driver hasn't been good for Ocon. Would he want Russell to suffer the same fate?

Albon's a deadman driving - another poor performance. Horner said on Saturday that Albon's seat was his to lose. Looks like the Red Bull car is a handful to drive. Verstappen can cope but can anyone else? Gasly failed but is doing a stellar job in the junior team.

And Paul di Resta thinks Ocon could be out of F1 if he doesn't improve. Renault could be looking at Gasly which means Albon could be relegated to the junior RB team to replace Gasly with Hulkenburg going to Red Bull.

TBH: Bottas doesn't have to challenge Hamilton for race wins, all he has to do is to finish second and that is exactly what he is doing.

I think Ocon is doing a decent job lately. The problem for Ocon will be the teams situation next year, will he get sufficient backing or will Alonso persuade Renault/Alpine to put all focus at him like he did at all his previous teams (bar McLaren)?

In a similar fashion... Leclerc vs Vettel. In Portugal Vettel qualified a second slower. After the race Binotto thrashed Vettel for having poor qualifying results and stating clearly that he and Leclerc are driving the same cars. Vettel responding in the media that he's clearly driving a different car to Leclerc... something's fishy there. I don't like Binotto's style to be honest...

Fretwired

Emiel said:

TBH: Bottas doesn't have to challenge Hamilton for race wins, all he has to do is to finish second and that is exactly what he is doing.

Russell is the future .. Bottas is a good wingman but Bottas is no team leader. Wolff will have one eye on what happens when Hamilton quits. Next year would be a great opportunity for Russell given the dominance of Mercedes. It's no secret that had Claire Williams not insisted on keeping Russell then he'd have had a Merc seat next year. If Bottas is so good why does he only get a contract for one year?

Honda has an engine upgrade for next year so Max could challenge Bottas. And LeClerc is doing an amazing job at Ferrari. It won't be long before they are back challenging for podiums.

fretmeister

Fretwired

fretmeister said:

:-) :-)

stickyfiddle

To be fair to Merc (this time) the softs were clearly useless, based on how others slipped backwards on them

stickyfiddle

Gasly confirmed at AT for 2021. I'm guessing Kvyat out, and either Albon or Tsunoda depending on whether the latter gets enough super licence points.

Fretwired

Mercedes up their stake in the Aston Martin car company to 20 percent and agree on technology exchange.

Cols

stickyfiddle said:

Gasly confirmed at AT for 2021. I'm guessing Kvyat out, and either Albon or Tsunoda depending on whether the latter gets enough super licence points.

Most likely Albon, unless he pulls something amazing out of the bag this weekend.  He’s popular within the RB camp and they won’t want to drop him completely.

Tsunoda would’ve been good to keep Honda happy; sadly not as important today as it was one month ago.

stickyfiddle

And Paul Stoddart would consider a return once budget caps are in place.  I'd frickin love to see Minardi mk2 on the grid. 

https://www.racefans.net/2020/10/28/private-teams-could-return-to-more-sensible-f1-says-ex-minardi-boss/

Fretwired

stickyfiddle said:

And Paul Stoddart would consider a return once budget caps are in place.  I'd frickin love to see Minardi mk2 on the grid. 

https://www.racefans.net/2020/10/28/private-teams-could-return-to-more-sensible-f1-says-ex-minardi-boss/

Interesting .. it would be good to see Minardi back again.

I think he's right about Renault .. I don't see them hanging around for a long time.

stickyfiddle

Aaaand the crowd goes mild as Raikkonen and Giovinazzi are confirmed for next year. 

Honestly Antonio has been so anonymous this year I had to google his first name. He's only scored points twice, and both of those were races with heavy attrition. I know the car's underpowered. I suppose he's matching Kimi but the guy's in his 40s so that doesn't feel like enough. Ho hum

Cols

stickyfiddle said:

Aaaand the crowd goes mild as Raikkonen and Giovinazzi are confirmed for next year. 

Honestly Antonio has been so anonymous this year I had to google his first name. He's only scored points twice, and both of those were races with heavy attrition. I know the car's underpowered. I suppose he's matching Kimi but the guy's in his 40s so that doesn't feel like enough. Ho hum

I believe the second seat at Alfa is reserved for Ferrari Driver Academy programme.  Bad news for Ilott I suspect; he’s unlikely to get another season in F2, and Schumacher is all but certain to scoop up one of the Haas seats.  

darcym

this years drivers market has been interested.

It's highlighted the financial pressure both covid/non-covid related, Williams selling up, HaaS needing pay drivers (Gene must be losing interest) Sponsorship still being a struggle for all teams, Honda pulling out, Renault, on the fence in reality (I know they just signed Alonso for cash, but they don't seem committed even as an engine supplier, not having the resources to want to supply other teams.

it's seen some lifelines for some drivers like Bottas who's clearly just not got the final 10th's needed to be at the top of the pile in the top tier (that's cool - it's just reality) Totto as his personal manager must be quite a tricky situation.

Giovanazzi - I don't get the Ferrari interest in him, apart from being Italian, he never set the world alight, even in the junior formula, drivers he's competing against and waiting in the wings are just better than him, nothing more to it.

Grosjean has not had the 'metal' for F1 even in his Renault days, quick, but is missing the strength doesn't take anything away from his one lap pace, but he's just not strong enough to complete in F1

Magnussun - quick driver, super in the lower series, but his rep can't be helping, dropped by Mclaren, dropped by Renault, dropped by Haas (ok - money plays a part) but why are teams dropping him, he also can't use the rational that he's swapping teams so never settles in, he's had a fair go at HaaS and for whatever reason hasn't built the team around him so is pace enough ? is he worthy of a drive in another team (I don't know, I'm on the fence with him).

Albon - he's not cutting it at Redbull, again lower series quick and people rate him, but is it the Grosjean situation where he's just not got enough outside of the car to deal with F1, I don't know what his engineering feedback and setup experience is like but Redbull top team is not a training camp, that's what Alpha Tauri is for. I suspect he'll get a lifeline back in Alpha Tauri, but I sort of wonder, what's the point.

Ocon - shocked at how much he's struggled, Ricciardo is superb, no doubt, but he's just not existed someone who pushed so hard at Racing Point, has just faded at Renault.

Maybe bits that are overlooked because they are so low profile is how good Russel is doing as a driver in a bellow average car, and actually how bad LaTifi is doing, if you compare him to Russel it's easy to say Russel is beating him, but actually his pace on his own is just not good or his consistency 

Stroll.....wow, again just isn't cutting it, if his Dad didn't own a team in F1 I couldn't see how he could justify a place on the grid, he wasn't even great in the lower formula's 

Perez, go and do something else, not a bad driver at all, but surly enough, take away the Mexican backing and would he be on the grid.....I doubt it.

There is so much known talent without a drive, and so much potential in the wings, some guys are really on borrowed time.

Fretwired

Cols said:

stickyfiddle said:

Aaaand the crowd goes mild as Raikkonen and Giovinazzi are confirmed for next year. 

Honestly Antonio has been so anonymous this year I had to google his first name. He's only scored points twice, and both of those were races with heavy attrition. I know the car's underpowered. I suppose he's matching Kimi but the guy's in his 40s so that doesn't feel like enough. Ho hum

I believe the second seat at Alfa is reserved for Ferrari Driver Academy programme.  Bad news for Ilott I suspect; he’s unlikely to get another season in F2, and Schumacher is all but certain to scoop up one of the Haas seats.  

Sadly, I think Alfa will quit at the end of next year, hence they are sticking with the same driver lineup.

Cols

Realistically, less than half the field is there on the basis of talent alone.  The rest are bringing financial support or are linked to a Ferrari/RB/Merc young driver programme.  

Next year the balance will be even more skewed with the changes at Haas.  Magnussen and Grosjean didn’t bring any money to the party, and that’s why they’re out.  Even Vettel, it could be argued, has his seat next year solely on the basis of marketability.  On current performance alone he doesn’t look like he should be let within 100 yards of an F1 car (although I’m not convinced Ferrari are playing with a straight bat there).

Fretwired

darcym said:

this years drivers market has been interested.

Albon - he's not cutting it at Redbull, again lower series quick and people rate him, but is it the Grosjean situation where he's just not got enough outside of the car to deal with F1, I don't know what his engineering feedback and setup experience is like but Redbull top team is not a training camp, that's what Alpha Tauri is for. I suspect he'll get a lifeline back in Alpha Tauri, but I sort of wonder, what's the point.

Many in the F1 paddock think the problem is the car, not the driver. The RB car seems to have been designed around Max. Gasley couldn't cope and was demoted. Look at him now - race winner and stellar performer on track in the JRB team. Albon looked good then came to Red Bull did OK and now has no confidence in himself or the car. It would be interesting to see if the Hulk could succeed - I don't think we'll have long to find out.

Fretwired

Cols said:

Realistically, less than half the field is there on the basis of talent alone.  The rest are bringing financial support or are linked to a Ferrari/RB/Merc young driver programme.  

Next year the balance will be even more skewed with the changes at Haas.  Magnussen and Grosjean didn’t bring any money to the party, and that’s why they’re out.  Even Vettel, it could be argued, has his seat next year solely on the basis of marketability.  On current performance alone he doesn’t look like he should be let within 100 yards of an F1 car (although I’m not convinced Ferrari are playing with a straight bat there).

Vettel's bought shares in the Aston Martin team so you could say he's added some cash.