The F1 thread

[DjchunKfunK]

Possible that he is just cheap, Haas don't have a lot of money.

[Rossell]

Every now and then, one driver gets red mist to the point where its not safe on track. I remember a Renault megane cup many years ago where they stopped the race because of a driver trying to crash everybody out. This guy is racing idiot of 2019, even managing to roll himself over.



And this is also a biggie.

[eny]

Thats a shit video!

[Rossell]

See if that's better mate.

[Wrathbone]

And yet again Singapore makes me yearn for some paint to watch dry instead. Worst track of the year.

[Raid]

Nah, that's Russia, the second part of this amazing double bill! At least Singapore has Blade-Runner-esque helicopter shots. Russia even *looks* boring, and the drivers are forced to shake hands with Putin at the end, which is just cringe-inducingly inappropriate.

To be honest I didn't hate today's race. Sure, absolutely nothing happened to the front runners outside of the pitlane (I don't recall there even being any *attempts* to pass), but there was at least some action further back.

[Raid]

Another race unfairly ruined by a poorly timed safety car period. Fortunately it was Russia, the one race of the year where I struggle to even feign interest. It's just an awful track that doesn't promote racing at all, and has all the charm of a supermarket car park. I think I checked out as soon as the VSC was called, knowing that it would gift Hamilton another win. DOn't get me wrong, I think Mercedes have the strategy for winning in this manner down, extending their first stint as long as possible in case there's a chance to pit under a safety car, so while I don't malign them for taking advantage, it's a tear-inducingly dull way to win a motor race.

I had so little enthusiasm in the second half of the race that I didn't actually follow what was happening behind the leaders, so I don't remember enough to do my usual write up of my favourites in the midfield.

[DjchunKfunK]

Boy Vettel really is a class A twit, also Ferrari are a mess.

[Maturin]

So utter madness at the end of the Brazilian GP! Both Ferrari and Mercedes strategy all over the place, then Vettel seemingly decided to drive into the side of Leclerc on the straight causing both to DNF.

To top it all, Lewis then ruins Albon's race by going in to him while overtaking on a corner, which'll probably be a penalty. (Although to be fair there was a big gap there for him to attempt it at least, even if he did screw it up).

Which leaves Max to waltz home for the win.

[Raid]

It was probably my race of the year, with real fighting at the front and a brilliant podium (given Hamilton's comments during the post-race interviews, I think he expects a penalty, which would put Sainz up there too). I'm absolutely gutted for Albon; he may have been there due to Ferrari's catastrophe and Mercedes' strategy blunder, but he drove a solid race and defended pretty well from both Sebastian Vettel and a charging Lewis Hamilton on fresher tyres at the end.

Edit: And indeed Hamilton did get a 5 second penalty, promoting Sainz with Lewis ending up 7th. Two drivers now get their first ever podium. It's especially incredible given that Sainz started 20th.

[Wrathbone]

The fact that Vettel turned into LeClerc is bizarre (a minor turn, yes, but it was there - on a straight, no less). I can’t believe he did it accidentally unless it was a crosswind, in which case why didn’t he mention the wind as drivers had been doing all race, rather than petulantly ranting about LeClerc supposedly crashing into him? No, it seemed an intentional nudge, which is not just dangerous but conspicuous in the way it happened. Vettel is doing nothing to help his already waning credibility.

Hamilton’s crash is more understandable, if slightly careless. Albon left the door open (also a bit careless) and Hamilton went for it, but really he should have backed off as soon as Albon turned in. Fair play that he took full responsibility for it. It’s a real shame that both Albon and now Sainz were prevented from being up on the podium, though.

[Raid]

So there's a distinct possibility that Mercedes will leave the sport as a competitor at the end of this year and return to being just an engine supplier.

https://www.racefans.net/2020/01/29/mer ... t-f1-2020/

I'm not really that surprised, it's not as if there's much left for them to prove and they've spent billions on their team. It would certainly shake the sport up a bit, and I think we're all fed up with their dominance.

As for their drivers, Hamilton's bound to go to Ferrari isn't he. I think Vettel is only contracted for 2020, and LeClerc has a multiple year contract. Bottas? Does anyone really care? He's a nice guy but I can't say I find him exciting to watch. He's bound to end up at a midfield team like Racing Point or Renault.

[Maturin]

I'm less fed up with Mercedes' dominance and more fed-up with Ferrari's under-performance personally, particularly in the last 2 seasons. I think they've really dropped the ball continuously, both in race strategies, errors and with some strange design decisions with the car. They should have been fighting Mercedes toe-to-toe in recent years.

It's possible Mercedes' dominance might have ended in 2021 with the new regs anyway. I guess the commitment to a whole new design era was always going to be a debatable one. There's a lot of uncertainty where F1 is going to be heading over the next 10+ years in general I think.

[Raid]

Yeah, Ferrari's shortcomings are just as frustrating as Mercedes' lack thereof. I still put a lot of the issue at Vettel's feet, and Hamilton joining the team could fix that, but it's true their strategies have been lacking, and they simply don't have Mercedes' reliability. I'm still unsure as to whether they've caught up on the power unit side, as there was a lot of speculation that they'd been somehow cheating in the latter half of 2019, but their car performance last year seemed to be largely on par with the Mercs otherwise.

Red Bull have certainly been a better performer than Ferrari, when their lower car performance wasn't holding them back. They've capitalised on the weekends where their car was competitive, it's just that they don't have a strong driver pairing. They have the only driver on the grid in Verstappen that I think could be as fast as Hamilton, although he doesn't yet have that near bullet-proof consistency. I've liked Albon, but he's not as quick as Ricciardo, nor anywhere near as fun to watch, though he absolutely deserves more time to develop.

[DjchunKfunK]

I'd be sad to see them go because I can't stand Ferrari or Christian Horner (both are incredibly arrogant) so to see either of those teams win would be worse. Ultimately though I find it hard to care, there are so many boring races every year with everyone hoping that it rains or you get a safety car to liven things up. Additionally, despite the belief that the sport would get better once it was wrestled from Bernie's control I think Liberty have made it worse in many ways.