Formula One 2020

[Werthead]

That's pretty cool, and a good test run to show that Monaco can host the GP this year.

Feels like silly season has come early, lots of bizarre rumours floating around. The big ones at the moment seem to be that:

• Otmar Szafnauer's position at Aston Martin is in doubt and Aston have already started looking for a replacement. Stroll has apparently already lined up Otmar as the fall guy if the poor run of form they've had at the start of the season continues.
• Nikita Mazepin's father is in talks to take over and rebrand Alfa Romeo, as he apparently feels that Haas's performance and future prospects are simply far too dim and he'd rather take over a more successful team with closer ties to Ferrari. As a result, there is apparently a significant danger that Haas will simply disappear from the grid and we'll drop to nine teams and eighteen cars, barring an unexpected intervention.
• Red Bull's new engine division has headhunted Mercedes' entire engine technology department, scoring one success and apparently several other people are in discussions. Red Bull is offering very attractive terms. In the past Ferrari, Renault and Honda have tried the same thing but it's been hard to ask people to move to another country. The new Red Bull engine factory is in contrast going to be just down the road. Red Bull are also offering terms to the Honda engineers based in the UK to stay on for another couple of years (on the grounds that they would have done that anyway if Honda had stayed, and with the F1 division shuttering they don't necessarily have other jobs to go to).

[Toth]

14 minutes ago, Werthead said:

That's pretty cool, and a good test run to show that Monaco can host the GP this year.

I was stunned to be honest. I never knew these existed and when I switched in into the stream I expected a careful show run. Instead watching 100 years old cars lift their wheels into the air when hurling themselves around the chicanes and watching cars from the 70s have extremely close fights for the top... damn this whole event was spectacular!

My heart aches at the crashes though... On the one hand it is great to see these cars do what they were constructed to do, but on the other hand I really just want them to be safe in a museum or something.

[Werthead]

17 minutes ago, Toth said:

I was stunned to be honest. I never knew these existed and when I switched in into the stream I expected a careful show run. Instead watching 100 years old cars lift their wheels into the air when hurling themselves around the chicanes and watching cars from the 70s have extremely close fights for the top... damn this whole event was spectacular!

My heart aches at the crashes though... On the one hand it is great to see these cars do what they were constructed to do, but on the other hand I really just want them to be safe in a museum or something.

I'm assuming one of the reasons they chose Monaco - aside from the locale - is that the cars barely get close to full speed, so it's safer than some other locations (Monaco was traditionally see as the safest F1 race, with only one fatality in 1967). Though these are still dangerous, with David Ferrer dying just a few years ago at Zandvoort in a Historic Grand Prix event.

[Toth]

5 minutes ago, Werthead said:

I'm assuming one of the reasons they chose Monaco - aside from the locale - is that the cars barely get close to full speed, so it's safer than some other locations (Monaco was traditionally see as the safest F1 race, with only one fatality in 1967). Though these are still dangerous, with David Ferrer dying just a few years ago at Zandvoort in a Historic Grand Prix event.

And then you have Alesi casually standing around next to his wrecked car to wave at the other drivers passing him...

[TheLastWolf]

I assumed with unread messages in our F1 thread, what I wanted to share would have already been analysed completely by @Wertheadand Co. But I was fortunately wrong

What's this about F1 100km sprints (2 in Europe plus one out) is it for pole position or championship. Didn't get the details I wanted. Plus lazy 

[williamjm]

On 4/29/2021 at 3:23 AM, TheLastWolf said:

What's this about F1 100km sprints (2 in Europe plus one out) is it for pole position or championship. Didn't get the details I wanted. Plus lazy 

It's both, they decide the grid for the race and the top 3 get 3/2/1 championship points.

[Werthead]

As far as I can tell the format for the three races (Silverstone, Monza and Brazil, but informally they seem to have accepted that Brazil won't go ahead, so it'll be whatever event replaces Brazil, or maybe another random selection) is as follows:

• A shortened, single practice session on Friday morning.
• Qualifying on Friday afternoon which will set the grid for the sprint race.
• Second practice on Saturday morning.
• The sprint race on Saturday. This will be a race at one-third race distance (on most tracks, about 20 laps), with no requirement to pit or change tyres. The sprint race sets the grid for the real race.
• Parc ferme will start from the start of qualifying, preventing teams from optimising the cars for qualifying, the sprint race, or actual race; they have to pick a build and stick with it for the whole weekend.
• A rather complex new tyre rule: teams can only use two of the three compounds in first practice and one in second practice. Qualifying will use the soft tyres only, with all teams getting five sets. Two sets of tyres will be available for the sprint race, of the team's choice, with two remaining sets for the race.
• The teams are no longer limited to using the same tyre choice for the actual race that they used in qualifying; everyone can choose tyres at will before the start of the actual race.

[Toth]

After the shitshow of Valencia it seems Formula E had to step the game up yesterday and delivered a rare treat of a Monaco race with constant fights for the front:

 

[Werthead]

100 poles for Hamilton is insane, and then he took an outstanding strategic victory. Asking your driver to do pole laps for a dozen laps in a row to pull off the win is remarkable.

I am seeing cynicism creeping in that all of the pre-season hype might have been overblown and Red Bull and Verstappen simply don't have the long-run pace to really challenge for the championship, which may be accurate, though clearly the Red Bull is closer than it was last year and if Hamilton makes a mistake they'll pounce, but Hamilton very rarely makes mistakes.

[polishgenius]

29 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Asking your driver to do pole laps for a dozen laps in a row to pull off the win is remarkable.

 

Just makes me want to grump about Schumacher again. Get orff my lawn, Lewis!

[Werthead]

Mazepin got slammed with a penalty for holding up Norris in qualifying and then Toto Wolff made a complaint about him for not respecting blue flags during the race, which apparently is very rare.

His F1 career continues to get off to a flying start.

[TheLastWolf]

11 hours ago, Werthead said:

100 poles for Hamilton is insane, and then he took an outstanding strategic victory. Asking your driver to do pole laps for a dozen laps in a row to pull off the win is remarkable.

I am seeing cynicism creeping in that all of the pre-season hype might have been overblown and Red Bull and Verstappen simply don't have the long-run pace to really challenge for the championship, which may be accurate, though clearly the Red Bull is closer than it was last year and if Hamilton makes a mistake they'll pounce, but Hamilton very rarely makes mistakes.

I'm betting my neighbor's cat he's gonna bag next two poles and convert them to wins to reach another 100 milestone 

[williamjm]

8 hours ago, Werthead said:

Mazepin got slammed with a penalty for holding up Norris in qualifying and then Toto Wolff made a complaint about him for not respecting blue flags during the race, which apparently is very rare.

His F1 career continues to get off to a flying start.

He might not compare to some of the legendary backmarkers of the past like Taki Inoue but he seems like he might be the worst driver we have seen in recent years.

[Werthead]

One good bit of news is that the Red Bull usually performs very well in Monaco. The bad news is that Verstappen doesn't seem to like Monaco and usually goes badly there (DNFing twice and only once scraping a podium). It's also not Hamilton's favourite track,  but he has won it three times, in 2008, 2016 and the last race in 2019.

It'll probably come down to qualifying, since passing on track was hellishly difficult in the narrow wheelbase cars and is now all but flat-out impossible with the wider cars (unless you cut the chicane after the tunnel, which is dicey as hell).

[Toth]

Ferrari are a bunch of muppets.

Edit: Luckily, Mercedes are also a bunch of muppets.

[TheLastWolf]

Charles Lucklack

[kungtotte]

Bad gamble by Ferrari on LeClerc, should've taken the grid penalty and fixed everything. Good news for Sainz and Norris though!

Monaco is never a banging race, but I like where this leaves the championships. Max leading over Lewis and the pair of them pulling clear of the fight for P3 where only 16 points separate Norris (P3) from Perez (P5). The constructor's championship is similarly coalescing into a fight for P1 and a fight for P3 with only 1 point separating Red Bull and Mercedes at the front and only two points separating McLaren and Ferrari.

Also the worst effort by the local director in showing on track action so far this season. Aside from cutting to Bottas' pitstop disaster they showed none of the actual on track action properly at any point.

[williamjm]

3 hours ago, kungtotte said:

Also the worst effort by the local director in showing on track action so far this season. Aside from cutting to Bottas' pitstop disaster they showed none of the actual on track action properly at any point.

Cutting away from the fight between Vettel, Gasly and Hamilton as Vettel came out of the pits to show a not particularly exciting replay of Lance Stroll bouncing over a kerb definitely wasn't their finest moment. I don't think they even showed a full replay of it afterwards and it was probably the closest thing to on-track action after the first lap.

I think we can definitely say it's Vettel's best result in some time.

It did feel potentially a missed opportunity for Ferrari to get a rare win, although I agree Verstappen's victory and Hamilton's poor weekend are just what the championship needed.

4 hours ago, TheLastWolf said:

Charles Lucklack

I do feel sympathy for him but he'd probably have more luck if he didn't drive into the wall.

[Werthead]

Uncharacteristically intriguing race for Monaco, a nicely different result and it leaves both championships in an interesting position.

Even more interesting is that Baku is next, which is sort of a supersized Monaco (though overtaking is actually possible), resulting in a madcap race. Not happy hunting grounds for Verstappen (who's DNFed twice and only finished once, in fourth). Not Hamilton's best track either, with only one win (out of only three attempts) and one off-form result (in fifth) similar to his performance here in Monaco. Red Bull scored one win there when their car was much further off Mercedes' pace then this year, which I think Red Bull will be looking to capitalise on.

Good circuit for Perez, where he got a podium in a much weaker car (though only because the Red Bulls took each out that year), so again he'll be looking to build on that. Could be interesting.

[Wilbur]

10 hours ago, kungtotte said:

...Also the worst effort by the local director in showing on track action so far this season. Aside from cutting to Bottas' pitstop disaster they showed none of the actual on track action properly at any point...

You might enjoy this Wendover Productions video on live TV, as his focus is on an F1 broadcast.  After watching this, you can see how the directors' choices make or break a race broadcast in the modern era.