F1 2020 - Corona Virus Edition

[Gray Fox]

Mercedes melting their tyres :eyemouth:

[Gray Fox]

They'll be lucky to get a car on the podium at this rate.

[Shindig]

It fell to bits during last year's heatwave as well.

[Gray Fox]

2 laps since the Max/Bottas pit stops and they've only caught Lewis by a tenth or two. Maybe it's worth leaving Lewis out for the rest?

[Disco]

It's the only way he wins but I can't see those lasting.

[Gray Fox]

It's a great risk. Still only half a second in 5 or 6 laps now.

[Gray Fox]

Okay the time is coming down now. Going to be very close if he can make those tyres last.

[John Arne]

Hamilton will take Bottas and LeClerc, but not Verstappen at this rate.

[Gray Fox]

Max :cool:

Big mental victory for Lewis over Bottas there too. The latter will be seething.

[Disco]

Very clever from Red Bull and a cracking drive from Verstappen.

[phonics]

Max :cool:

They just called him 'The future of racing' which seems odd because he's been around so long and then you remember he's a year older than Trent Alexander-Arnold.

[7om]

Any theories on why the hards were so bad on the Mercs?

[7om]

Lovely drive from Leclerc aswell to make it on a one stopper.

[Gray Fox]

Hamilton thinks the tyre pressures had something to do with it.

You could also say as the Merc has the best downforce package, smashing them into a hotter than usual road is going to wear their tyres faster than others.

[phonics]

Any theories on why the hards were so bad on the Mercs?

I have no idea what I’m talking about on this subject. Am thick generally. But can I push forward the ‘Mercedes are way faster than everyone so eat up their tyres on a flat out track quicker than other’ theory.

[phonics]

I skipped the pre-race. Why does everyone look like a Swiss yodeller?

[Disco]

1950's for the 70th Anniversary (which was actually in May).

[Giggles]

A bit of partisan commentary is all good but channel 4 are absolutely laughable.

[Shindig]

Albon had a decent race. Those moves around the outside of Copse were lovely.

[7om]

Got to say as well, that I feel desperately sorry for Seb. I wouldn’t go as far as saying Ferrari are sabotaging his season but something is not right. Today he was forced to pit even though he told the team the hards were doing okay. Then they put hards on for a short stint and mediums to the end. What in the fuck is that about? He even called out their decision making on the radio for everyone to hear.

I truly would not be surprised to see him leave before the season is up and Hulk to fill in.

[Jimmy Floyd]

They are in no position to sabotage his season what with suddenly being thrust into the mix of teams vying for 3rd/4th/5th in the constructors' championship, which is a lot of moolah.

[Shindig]

Any other team, I'd agree with you. The Ferrari conspiracies always kick up when a driver's done, though. Schumi, Raikkonen and now Vettel. Tank the outgoing driver so it's easier from a PR position. "The car wasn't shit. He was. Look at the other guy."

[Disco]

Did I really just hear Mattia Binotto advocate more transparency in F1 without immediately bursting into flames? Incredible.

[Shindig]

Dovisioso's leaving Ducati. It could've been something, lads. :( My money would've been on Morbidelli taking the spot but he's probably chuffed he's working with Rossi next season.

[Disco]

Whisper it but Nico Rosberg has been giving some really good analysis this weekend and the track guides on his YT channel are great.

[7om]

Yeah he was great in FP2 when he was talking about how the drivers save tyres at different points on the track.

[Giggles]

Are there any more of these due on Channel 4?

[Pleb]

Only the British one.

The rest are highlights.

[Disco]

Streams are plentiful if you want to go that route.

[Giggles]

Definitely not, I’ve never had a good experience with a stream.

Had looked at getting Sky Sports through Now (nfl starting soon anyway) but it doesn’t include F1. I might try avoiding the result even though it’s pretty much impossible these days.

[John Arne]

Perez looked like he was rolling forward on the start.

[John Arne]

Definitely not, I’ve never had a good experience with a stream.

Had looked at getting Sky Sports through Now (nfl starting soon anyway) but it doesn’t include F1. I might try avoiding the result even though it’s pretty much impossible these days.

I watch all the races on streams
https://www.streameast.live/formula-1/spanish-grand-prix/

[Giggles]

I got to the 4th pop up after my 4th attempt to start playing that and gave up. Maybe they work better on certain devices.

[Pleb]

Mad Max fucking SEETHING over that Merc double stack.

[Shindig]

This is the kind of shit that'll hold Max back. "I can't win! GRRRRRR!"

[John Arne]

I got to the 4th pop up after my 4th attempt to start playing that and gave up. Maybe they work better on certain devices.

There's 3 pop-ups, just keep clicking play (3 or 4 times), and close the 3 pop-ups. They never appear again.

[7om]

Great drive from Seb. Laughable that he asked the team about pace and they come back asking him if he wants to one stop. If the one stop is on, tell him early and let him nurse the tyres.

[John Arne]

Great drive from Seb. Laughable that he asked the team about pace and they come back asking him if he wants to one stop. If the one stop is on, tell him early and let him nurse the tyres.

Yeah, that was weird. If they genuinely didn't reply to him when asked about pace, and then laps later they ask him that. Fucking hell, proper tin pot.

[thommo]

Catalunya is genuinely one of the worst tracks of the season with the modern F1 car.

[Disco]

Given they had three practice sessions in the week and an entire day of qualifying I thought the Indy 500 was going to be yesterday but no, there's a whole nother week of mucking about before they do the race. What on earth do they get up to that takes so long?

[phonics]

I think they've literally never raced on this one because it's a road oval or something. Or is that NASCAR?

[Disco]

I reckon NASCAR because the Indy 500 has been run on the same track 103 times.

You're probably thinking of the infield at Daytona, which will be fun as NASCAR drivers only have the faintest conceptual idea of what a braking point is and they aren't allowed to practice this season.

[phonics]

I listen to a racing podcast but whenever the Indy/NASCAR section comes up I zone out so a lot of news from those sports get combined into one.

[Jimmy Floyd]

There are some truly world class timewasters on that 500 grid, and that's without any further investigation into who or what 'Rinus Vee Kay' may be.

Trust Fund Max still tooling around at the back, there needs to be some kind of intervention there.

[bruhnaldo]

There are some truly world class timewasters on that 500 grid, and that's without any further investigation into who or what 'Rinus Vee Kay' may be.

Imagine being a 19 yo rookie and qualifying 4th for the Indy 500 but Jimmy Floyd isn't impressed because he's never heard of you.

[Disco]

Vee Kay is on the normal grid for most of the races, shown flashes of being not terrible.

[Shindig]

And NASCAR on road courses is great. Or at least the idea of it. 800HP saloon cars that are not designed to corner in any fashion. In a sport where the bump and run is encouraged.

[Disco]

Agreed, last year the (almost offensive) Roval was a complete clusterfuck as half the field missed the chicanes and ploughed into barriers. Watkins Glen is better as it's a proper track but you still get people trying to run two lanes which can be quite amusing.

They ran the ARCA race at Daytona in the wet, which I've never seen Americans do before.

[Shindig]

Wow. They call everything to a halt on a wet oval. Must be down to the average speeds.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I can see why, ovals are stupid enough as it is without making them slippery.

[Disco]

This was the sports car course so they aren't using the banking at top speed and they had treaded tires. I've not watched ARCA before (it seemingly being the fourth tier) so they may do it all the time for all I know.

[bruhnaldo]

had it rained yesterday they actually had wets to put on the cars. My buddy was there and we were praying but because there was lightning they just red flagged the race :(

He invited me to go but i'm still too shook of COVID tbh.

[niko_cee]

I had no idea Pierre Gasly lived on Merseyside.

[Disco]

Has there been any mention of Leglerg bowling about without his seatbelts on? How has that not garnered a penalty of some kind? I know why, but still, how many regs do you have to ignore?

[SincereTheRebel]

You should get 50 extra championship points for driving without a seat belt. If you win and drive without your helmet, just award the man the title from now

[Jimmy Floyd]

It's not a great look for F1 if wee Charlie ends up in bits all over the road due to not wearing a seatbelt, even if it is only his own safety that's being jeopardised, so it really should be a pretty severe penalty.

[Jimmy Floyd]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EfsPmRFWAAE0e4y?format=png&name=900x900

Not sure what this is or why it exists, but yeah, batted Heikki. Guessing they've simulated Prost on a bicycle or something?

[Disco]

Those fucking AWS 'stats' they put up during the race are garbage so I wouldn't set too much store by this. Although lol at the startling news that those three are the fastest drivers, and fuck Alain Prost I guess.

[Disco]

It's not a great look for F1 if wee Charlie ends up in bits all over the road due to not wearing a seatbelt, even if it is only his own safety that's being jeopardised, so it really should be a pretty severe penalty.

It's very much not just his own safety either.

[Jimmy Floyd]

As in if he flies out and body checks a marshal?

[Disco]

That or loses control of the car and ploughs into someone, I know your views on bikes but there was a perfect example this weekend of how dangerous an out of control vehicle could be. Plus the optics of having one of your young shavers rattled to bits or Villeneuving through the gravel would not be great.

[Jimmy Floyd]

He drives a red car though so your views are invalid, it was perfectly safe.

[Disco]

I was thinking more of who his manager is and who that managers father is and what he does for a job.

[bruhnaldo]

Isn't there like a bit they put on over the driver's shoulders they have to take on and off to get out of the car?

That plus the hans device i mean idk?

[Pepe]

A Hans device works in conjunction with the belts. No belts, the Hans device doesn't do anything.

[bruhnaldo]

Yea that makes sense, I had both thought that the HANS worked independently and also that the straps that went onto the helmet were the important bits and it worked purely off leverage otherwise.

[John Arne]

Super Hans.

[bruhnaldo]

Love to mate love to but this is all mine and I want them, so.

[SincereTheRebel]

Its just a game.


https://youtu.be/WUZz4lPKBKA

[bruhnaldo]

Jesus fuckin Christ how could that even be fun

[Jimmy Floyd]

Some of those downshifts sound like he's run over a cat.

[Shindig]

Yeah, he's banging on the limiter too much.

[7om]

Williams have been sold to a US investment company. Can't believe they've actually pulled the trigger on this when they've always been so adamant about not selling the family business. I can only assume they were broke and they had no more options.

Wonder if Claire keeps her job.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Not sure Claire is the problem to be honest, and it was probably inevitable in order to keep them running. They just don't have the revenue that most of the other teams have.

[John Arne]

I thought Claire came across terribly in the Netflix series. For a senior leader, she was a bumbling, indecisive, mumbling mess. Not sure what she is like on the technical side.

[Disco]

F1 binwoman territory.

[7om]

Yeah, I'm not sure she actually is the problem but she's the ultimately the face of the team at their absolute worst. I was wondering about Frank as well. Is he involved at all anymore?

[Disco]

Not in the day to day stuff I don't think.

[Lewis]

Setting it up would have been beyond me, I'll admit, but I reckon I could run a Formula 1 team about as well as Frank Williams used to.

[Shindig]

Nah, I feel like the business side went to shit for many once the cigarette money was off the table.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Frank was brilliant at cadging money off people, and pretty shite at making sporting decisions. Their on-track success correlated more or less directly with the influence of Patrick Head (and Adrian Newey).

For the last ten years they've had the worst of both worlds.

[Shindig]

In spite of him binning off his World Champions every chance he got.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Losing Hill, Newey and Renault inside about a year and replacing them with Frentzen, Mecachrome and whoever was the death knell.

[Shindig]

The Mechachromes / Playlifes / Supertechs were re-badged Renault engines from the previous year. I've decided to see who picked up where Newey left off. They had a renaissance with the BMW partnership and we're alright in 2014.

Patrick Head stayed on as Technical director. Geoff Willis was the new New..ey and Chief Designer was Gavin Fischer. It appears Fischer got the promotion as Newey's understudy and he stayed in the role until 2005. Geoff Willis now works at Mercedes after stints with Red Bull and HRT as Technical Director. He left Williams in 2001 to join BAR and left them in 2007. All three of them were at Leyton House before Williams grabbed them.

Hang on, this wiki is bollocks. Antonia Terzi did the aero on the 2003 Williams and was with them as early as 2001. She also designed this. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superbus_(transport))

[Shindig]

Give it up, Fernando. You'll never be as good as Takuma Sato.

[bruhnaldo]

I shouldn't but I take a small joy in Fernando not doing shit in the 500 for some reason.

[Shindig]

I think it's the manner he's gone about the triple crown. He walked into a Le Mans team that had everything stacked in their favour to win. It didn't feel earned which is bizarre to say about a 24 hour endurance race. He turns up for Indy but won't put the graft in for a full season.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Trying to force the triple crown is no good. There's a reason only two or so blokes have ever done it.

[Shindig]

I got giddy for a second when I saw Montoya had a Le Mans appearance under his belt. 3rd .... in class in 2018.

[SincereTheRebel]

Turkey returns which i always liked. Really fast wide open circuit with that crazy turn eight. Vettel used to open the DRS thing mid corner in the red bull.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I hope one or two of these end up staying on as part of their quest for 25 races, rather than 4 new races in the US or whatever their master plan no doubt is.

[Disco]

The fabled turn 8 in Turkey will be easy flat out in these cars.

[bruhnaldo]

I just want them to do the Miami one tbh.

[John Arne]

I just want them to do the Miami one tbh.

Will a Miami circuit not end just just like the other street circuits, a la Valencia and Monaco.. basically extremely boring with zero overtakes.
Or are they actually planning on building a proper track?

[John Arne]

EDIT: Just had a quick look, it looks like it's a semi-street circuit, which might be a bit better.

[bruhnaldo]

I'm not gonna lie to you buddy I just want to have a Formula 1 grand prix in what constitutes as my proverbial home, buy a fuckton of MIAMI GRAND PRIX t-shirts, and mingle with the instagram models.

[bruhnaldo]

Mind you the "Miami" in which they're doing this is actually like 45 minutes from the downtown Miami you might have seen for example on television or otherwise. For example the Formula E race they had was in actual downtown Miami.

Where the Miami Dolphins stadium is, and the areas surrounding it, they actually own a great deal of land including parking lots and the roads surrounding them... so they probably could come up with a pretty interesting track (though I'm not great at translating these things from track layouts) as opposed to trying to crowbar a race out of already laid out city streets.

https://cdn-7.motorsport.com/images/mgl/0qXJxww6/s8/proposed-track-layout-for-miam-1.jpg

But this actually looks pretty wild to me, these two really long straight aways... that long sweeping turn looking thing.. :drool:

[Jimmy Floyd]

Ferrari P14 and P15 in first practice, honestly. This is one of the funniest seasons in years.

[Disco]

Make a point of watching Vettels interviews too, off the reservation at every opportunity.

[niko_cee]

Vettel PBing every sector on his way to 20th, 2 tenths off the Alfa. Oh dear.

[SincereTheRebel]

It was before my time but looking at the history. Williams were super nice, winning world titles and they fell off somewhere
Is that same thing happening with Ferrari now?

[7om]

Ferrari looks dysfunctional to me. They throw all the money at it and yet they make fundamentally poor decisions. Their race strategy and decision making is not as good as Mercedes or Red Bull.

Williams seem like they can't keep up with the spending power of the big boys

[phonics]

Looking at this Bahrain outer circle. They say lap times are going to be around 55 seconds. Are there any other tracks with sub one minute lap times? Seems like they’ll be flat out for 72 laps.

I guess it’ll make pit stop efficiency really important?

[Shindig]

Dijon's the only other one in F1 history.

[phonics]

There was F1 in Dijon? That’s only a couple miles down the road from me.

[Shindig]

Yep. It's where Villeneuve and Arnoux had that angry, angry battle.

[phonics]

Slightly more research means I found out I may have went go-karting on an F1 track. It was the honestly one of the most tiring things I've ever done. We had 2 practices, qualifying and the race. Its the first time I've felt a significant delay between my thought and my action and the fatigue was as much mental as physical.

[Jimmy Floyd]

It was the Swiss GP for some reason. Is motorsport still banned in Switzerland? They are wrong uns.

[phonics]

It was the Swiss GP for some reason. Is motorsport still banned in Switzerland? They are wrong uns.

Didn't know about this and now I think about it all the karting stuff is just over the border...

It'll be some sort of tax dodge. Everything is. I remember the G8 that happened in Geneva actually happened in Evian.

[Shindig]

They lifted the ban for Formula E. I think they have a street race in Zurich.

[Disco]

The Swiss banned all fun (Formula E obviously doesn't count) after Mike Hawthorn killed all those people at Le Mans.

[phonics]

The Swiss banned all fun (Formula E obviously doesn't count) after Mike Hawthorn killed all those people at Le Mans.

That would explain a hell of a lot about my life for the last several years.

[Giggles]

What's this Super Formula what's on YouTube?

[Shindig]

Japanese Formula 2.

[Gray Fox]

Sainzs' McLaren has gone pop on the way to the grid.

[Gray Fox]

Russel quite lucky he saw that coming and wasn't going faster through the corner.

[John Arne]

What is wrong with these directors? Ocon, Norris and Albon fighting for 6th, and we are watching 15th place LeClerc following Grosjean.

[Gray Fox]

Because they want us to care about Ferrari.

[Gray Fox]

Nearly halfway through and Hamilton has a 47 point gap to Verstappen. We're already into snookers required stages for Bottas too. Given the spec is the same for next season, we could see him get title number 8. That is, unless he retires to go full time social justice warrior.

The wins record is almost academic at this point. Only 2 behind with such a superior car and a very passive team mate.

[Shindig]

If Lewis lands a positive test, he'll be out for two races.

[Foe]

I’ve watched very little F1 in my life but I’ve watched the last few races.

It’d be interesting to see Hamilton and verstappen in the same car, because as it is Hamilton is being billed as one of the greatest ever in a car so superior to the others. He’s better than bottas, but yeah, so is verstappen.

I thought spa was supposed to be interesting?

[Gray Fox]

Obvious 1 stop races are dull. I think it was Jimmy that said last time this happened, the sweet spot comes where the 2 stop is very close to the 1 stop.

[7om]

Fuck me that was boring.

Everyone was going on and on about it being a wet weekend and every bloody session was dry. Then Bottas gets on the radio early doors asking to push and they basically tell him to shut the fuck up. And then we have the predictable radio where Hamilton comes on and says "loss of engine power" and the cunt goes on to pull away from Bottas.

The Racing Points were nowhere, Ferrari are totally fucked and Albon was on the wrong tyres after the safety car.

I just want an engine blow out at the front or something. Even then Hamilton can win on three tyres.

[Shindig]

Finally into the proper F1 stuff of Adrian Newey's book. He seems really proud of the March 881 which led me to this awesome video of Jackie Stewart seething about comfort.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwX81icYtWA

[niko_cee]

That would have probably been more interesting if one of Bottas or Verstappen had had the foresight to go to 2 stops after the early safety car, stick some softs on to try and get an advantage at the restart etc and then either run softs again or mediums to try and catch the 1-stop hard runners as their tyres fell apart. But, Merc are never going to allow any sort of actual competition and, other than having to be a strategical savant to even think of it at the time, Red Bull were probably more keen on seeing whether the Mercs wrecked their tyres again.

Once that round had gone there was no chance to switch strategy as all the front runners (ie Hamilton) would have just followed anyone trying to mix things up and cover them off.

Having the leaders absolutely pootling around for the last 10 laps of the race is so shit. Maybe they need to say you need to run all the compounds to make 2 stops mandatory.

[Disco]

Mercedes are so far ahead they simply don't need to push and the same is true inside the team, Bottas is good but it's clear that he can't touch Hamilton and isn't likely to be allowed to have much of a go.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Unless they roll back aero, which would make various people cry, then wacky races tyres are the only way of artificially making it interesting.

The fact is that the best resourced team on the grid are currently Sauber-esque midfield also rans and that explains a lot.

[niko_cee]

I was struck at several points in the weekend when there was somewhat incredulous discussion about the Ferraris being down on power from the same race last season, and how that could be the case. Is there some sort of omerta on discussing the elephant in the room as to why their cars were so much faster last season among the commentariat?

[Gray Fox]

The FIA found something illegal about their engine, but refused, at the behest of Ferrari to not publicise the findings of what. They even went as far as making a deal with Ferrari to not punish them if they helped show how they cheated. Ever since that outcome the Ferrari has been mysteriously down on power.

It's talked about often but the powers that be wont say what it is despite protests.

The rumour was that they had something in the engine that was managing to trick the sensor designed to track it. Something like a sensor monitoring fuel usage, but they designed it so tiny amounts of fuel would inject when there was a millisecond of blind spot within the sensor.

[Shindig]

Yeah, there was a sensor in the tank to measure fuel flow that Ferrari managed to deceive.

[Giggles]

But are race broadcasters not allowed to, or at least encouraged not to, talk about it? Like openly wondering what happened since last year on air when they all know that's why.

[Gray Fox]

Brundle has said a fair bit that it's no coincidence that since that day Ferrari have gone from a race winning car to barely scraping top 10. But beyond that not much. So I'd suggest they've been told to shut up.

[niko_cee]

Yeah, yeah, I know the details and I'm the layman's layman in F1 knowledge terms. I just find it odd that their [obvious] cheating is such an open secret but no one in the press corps seems to mention it all that often in any more than a knowing smile nudge and a wink type way, but I guess that's what the fear of litigation/being ruined/blackballed can do I guess.

[phonics]

The way that specific issue was settled with the FIA was specifically weird where Ferrari conceded no guilt in return for ‘sharing their learnings’ which were immediately put under a non disclosure agreement. I imagine that specific example has created an atmosphere among the broadcast legal team that it’s best just not to do more than allude to it.

[phonics]

By the way in ‘probably a terrible idea but...’

I was reading the discussion about two stop/one stop and how boring the races have been.

Wouldn’t it create the possibility for more strategy if tires were thinner compound to make a 3-4 stop the average rather than a 2?

Does tire wear Start to become a safety issue if they’re only lasting 15 laps instead of 3?

While we’re at it can we ban putting under the safety car as well? Seems pointless to crush the whole pack up like that and then have the best cars at peak performance.

[niko_cee]

Didn't Canada used to have insane tyre degradation? What was that all about? I'm sure I remember a race where cars were having to come in, it felt like, every 10 laps once upon a when.

As for safety cars, what's happened to the virtual safety car? Is it even a thing anymore?

[Shindig]

I'd rather have pitting under safety car because the field's bunched up anyway. And there's always the chance someone can lose out more through a slow wheel change or stacking drivers.

[Gray Fox]

By the way in ‘probably a terrible idea but...’

I was reading the discussion about two stop/one stop and how boring the races have been.

Wouldn’t it create the possibility for more strategy if tires were thinner compound to make a 3-4 stop the average rather than a 2?

Does tire wear Start to become a safety issue if they’re only lasting 15 laps instead of 3?

While we’re at it can we ban putting under the safety car as well? Seems pointless to crush the whole pack up like that and then have the best cars at peak performance.

The problem comes where it's obviously a one stop or obviously a two stop. You get little-to-no variance in strategy. Take Spa. It's nice and easy on the tyre so it's an obvious one stop. After that safety car I believe all but 2 drivers were on the hards for the duration and that was it.

If you balance the compounds well and have it be a close cross over then you'll likely see a more exciting race.

The dirty air problem also persists and was made obvious by showing all the cars from about 7th to 13th just following each other round not able to do anything, but we have to wait for spec 2022 for that now.

[phonics]

The problem comes where it's obviously a one stop or obviously a two stop. You get little-to-no variance in strategy. Take Spa. It's nice and easy on the tyre so it's an obvious one stop. After that safety car I believe all but 2 drivers were on the hards for the duration and that was it.

If you balance the compounds well and have it be a close cross over then you'll likely see a more exciting race.

The dirty air problem also persists and was made obvious by showing all the cars from about 7th to 13th just following each other round not able to do anything, but we have to wait for spec 2022 for that now.

So here was my thinking, Mercedes go faster so they degrade tires faster so if you have a low wear tire anyway it might force them to pit more than the slightly slower cars?

[Shindig]

"Okay, Lewis. We need you to go marginally slower so you can match everyone else for pit strategy. That'll allow us to fuel you slightly less than the rest of the field."
"MY TIRES, BONO!"
"Copy."

[Gray Fox]

"Valtteri, it's James..."

[Disco]

The only way to make 2 stops happen is to mandate that all three compounds must be used, otherwise they'll just game whatever system you put in place because 1 stop is safer and nearly always more efficient.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Or make the tyres shit a la 2012 or whatever year it was when 'the cliff' was a thing.

Or introduce refuelling (bear with me on this) and have the maximum fuel load be about 1 lap more than what you can feasibly one-stop on.

[Disco]

The only thing I liked about refueling was being able to sacrifice fuel load for grid position, but it would arguably make the tires last even longer and locks you into a single strategy on Sunday.

Really the compounds need to be further apart and one of them (probably the softest) should be mandatory on Sunday.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I think the tyre lock from Q2 is stupid. I could get behind letting them start on whatever tyre but having to use the softest one during the race. Or would that just lead to loads of soft-hard borefests? I don't know.

The problem is that performance-optimising logic always leads to dull racing, because it's ultimately quite easy to calculate and so everyone takes the same route. It needs external factors to fuck with the computers/strategists. Back in the day, the simple unreliability of the cars (either terminally or not) did a huge amount of heavy lifting.

[Disco]

I think getting the aero balance right is the key, everything else is simply nibbling at the edges. If the lap time difference required for overtaking was smaller then it would make alternate strategies more viable. As it is you can be several seconds faster but still not be able to pass more than a few cars before you shred the tires, if the delta was smaller then the tire advantage lasts far longer allowing greater scope to recover track position.

[Jimmy Floyd]

But then Adrian Newey would have to downsize to a 38 bed mansion, and Ferrari would have to sell their wind tunnel to whoever designs pasta shapes.

[Shindig]

Great. Now I'm wondering which pasta is the most aerodynamic.

[Disco]

Fusilli for that Y-250 vortex.

[7om]

Did Claire jump before she was pushed? I'm also surprised she is leaving mid-season. Maybe they already have a replacement lined up?

[Jimmy Floyd]

They will obviously bring in their new people so I doubt it's a case of jumping or pushing, just leaving, with 100 million Euros in the back pocket.

[Disco]

I think her and Frank leaving was the natural outcome, the family don't own the business anymore. Sad to see the last of the true garagistas and my first favourite team going but they missed their opportunity to modernise and compete when they refused BMW and then Mercedes.

[Shindig]

What shocks me is a Formula 1 team can be bought for £150m. That's a person or two in footballing terms. Shame they dropped off after the 2017 rule changes. I thought the Martinimobile was quick and could've grown into a proper contender.

[Disco]

I think once we got into the hybrid era the Mercedes engine covered up for a lot of their deficiencies, I don't think it's a coincidence that they've fallen further and further back as the other power units have caught up.

[phonics]

What shocks me is a Formula 1 team can be bought for £150m. That's a person or two in footballing terms. Shame they dropped off after the 2017 rule changes. I thought the Martinimobile was quick and could've grown into a proper contender.

It’s almost like it’s a guaranteed way to lose money that you’d only buy as a vanity project.

[Disco]

These days it's a different way to spend your R&D and marketing budget but even the most successful team in the history of the sport only barely break even, and that's if you believe their own propaganda.

[phonics]

Back in the day yeah but there's no way Renault are learning anything from their F1 car and putting it into their Hot Hatchback.

[Shindig]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIvNLHgqS4k

Does that count?

[Disco]

It's literally the only reason Mercedes entered as a manufacturer, the shift to hybrid was done in order to keep and attract more of them.

[niko_cee]

I was (sort of) gutted to find out the F1 Espace was a just a one-off mental let's stick an actual F1 engine in an Espace thing, rather than some limited run mad machine that might still be available somewhere privately that could potentially be driven normally.

[Disco]

It doesn't really work either, you can see it hopping round the corners at about 20mph.

[phonics]

It's literally the only reason Mercedes entered as a manufacturer, the shift to hybrid was done in order to keep and attract more of them.

And aren't there constant rumours coming from them that they're looking for a way out now?

[Disco]

In the middle of Concorde negotiations, it's like when Wayne Rooney was definitely going to Chelsea that time. Their CEO even went on Sky and gave a halfhearted denial yet here they are committing to the next rule set.

[Lewis]

It doesn't really work either, you can see it hopping round the corners at about 20mph.

It was appalling on Gran Turismo 2.

[Jimmy Floyd]

https://the-race.com/formula-1/mark-hughes-the-first-glimpse-of-f1s-party-mode-reality/

lol

[Disco]

Toto said during the week that if they can only run one mode then they'll just find a way to run their qualy mode all weekend.

[Disco]

I think there will also be a max lap time in qualifying after the F3 shenanigans.

[Shindig]

What if they gave Party Mode a funny German name to deceive the FIA?

[Jimmy Floyd]

Party Mode already is a funny German name.

[Shindig]

Finding out what Party Mode is in German has just confirmed to me what a stupid language it is. Miserable cunts.

[Disco]

Hammerzeit.

[Gray Fox]

Eight drivers summoned to the Stewards ahead of Qualy because of stupidity backing up in F3.

[Giggles]

Ferrari playing a stormer again I see.

[Gray Fox]

This is comical.

[Giggles]

Ocon will hardly get away with that will he?

[Gray Fox]

If you're on a flying lap it's fair game.

[Disco]

Good job they nerfed those Mercs.

[niko_cee]

The only good thing that might come of it is that they can't turn Bottas' engine down and just keep him where he is that way in the race. Unless they've just permanently set his to be a bit worse than Lewis', which I wouldn't necessarily discount.

[Giggles]

What was this rule change?

[niko_cee]

You can't fiddle with the engine modes (ie turn them up to 11 for qualifying) - so Mercedes have just turned it up to 10.5 for the whole time and everyone else has had to go back to 7 for fear of blowing their engines up, presumably.

Hence the full blown trolling of the field that was qualifying yesterday.

[Giggles]

Presumably it was to close up the field and has had the opposite effect.

[Gray Fox]

Even without 'party mode' they still had 0.8 secs over the competition over 1 lap.

Thing is it also affects anyone who has a Mercedes engine too. They made it so this year teams had a right to pay for a current years model. Previously if you bought one you pretty much expected to get last years spec.
So you're not only knocking back Mercedes, but Tracing Point and Williams. You're also stopping everyone else from running max engine mode, unless they can make that run for a whole race + qualifying, so in reality you're probably making Mercedes job a bit easier.

[Giggles]

Bottas must have an issue.

[John Arne]

Giovinazzi really is a first lap monster.

[Gray Fox]

Issue or massive bottle job?

[Gray Fox]

Dr Marko might leave Albon behind after this GP.

[Gray Fox]

This should spice things up a bit.

[Pleb]

Hamilton and Giovanni fucked by the pit lane entry closing there.

[John Arne]

Has to be a drive-through at least for those two.

[Gray Fox]

10 sec stop/go. You'd imagine Hamilton should still cover that off by the end.

EDIT: I didn't realise that's not the one that carries to the end.

[SincereTheRebel]

New winner? Richie Rich will be my guess.

[Gray Fox]

Well if Hamilton takes it immediately he'll be last. Given Bottas' struggles he'll likely struggle back to a point or two.

I'd suggest he's going to put everything into the first 2 laps to hopefully gain him back some time for when he pops back out.

Sainz to win for me.

[John Arne]

Seems strange to allow teams to change tyres under a red flag stoppage. I thought you weren't allowed.

[SincereTheRebel]

Why isnt the pit lane closed message on the inside somewhere?

Ive never driven a F1 car or even drove faster than 100mph on the road, but I imagine these signs are hard to spot?

[Gray Fox]

I think Hamilton struggles big time from this unless there's a further safety car.

[SincereTheRebel]

Actually, signs are not hard to miss. You can see them at whatever speed you travel. F1 driver reactions are a million times better than mine, so they should see them.

[Gray Fox]

You do also get the lights and warnings direct from the stewards to the dashboard inside the car. It'd be strange if that hasn't happened as well as the signs.

[SincereTheRebel]

Lewis sounds like he is crying on the radio. :lol:

[John Arne]

Surely Sainz has to fancy this.

[Disco]

Anyone but Gasly please.

[Pleb]

Gasly winning this would be fucking (funny) incredible.

Hamilton on god mode for a top 5 finish.

[SincereTheRebel]

Surely Sainz has to fancy this.

I think they all do. Even Bottas down in 7th has a shot.

[SincereTheRebel]

I had things i needed to do this afternoon, but ill have to out it off until tomorrow now, thanks to Leclerc.

[Giggles]

Went away for a while from it. Can Gasly win this or has he to stop? They keep taking about Sainz.

[Shindig]

They would've changed tyres during the red flag. This is a race to the finish.

[Giggles]

If Bottas wins this after the way he was driving at the start then the whole sport is some load of toss.

[Giggles]

I'll for Hamilton 3rd.

[Gray Fox]

Hamilton will be lucky to make points here.

[Shindig]

Yeah, it doesn't do well in traffic.

[Gray Fox]

That's great to see. Always refreshing to get a race like that.

Hamilton recovering to 7th and bagging the fastest lap point is also some effort.

[Giggles]

Horner must be delighted for him.

[Gray Fox]

Dr Marko will be SEETHING.

[Giggles]

Why are the Williams leaving mid season? I presume when it's both they've been ousted some way have they?

[Shindig]

They put the team up for sale, the sale is done and now they're choosing to leave.

[phonics]

Does anyone know the good way to stream Channel 4 and the likes? I want to watch the highlights.

[SincereTheRebel]

Channel4.com?

[Giggles]

Coulthard is talking some shite. Tying himself in knots to make excuses.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Bloody hell, shame to have missed that. Ginger Spice is getting a clout tonight.

[Jimmy Floyd]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EhfSbkOXsAE0Kb2?format=jpg&name=large

We haven't had that spirit here since... 2009.

[Giggles]

What team is that?

[Jimmy Floyd]

Is the prancing horse not a clue?

[Giggles]

For some reason that was an F1 logo in my head as I tried to figure out the colour. Is it lighting or is it meant to be burgundy?

[Disco]

I see they've gone with a colour scheme from the 1950's to match their laptimes.

[Shindig]

They should rebrand to Maserati. Hell, I still can't wrap my head around seeing Alpine on the grid next year.

[phonics]

Looking like a shadow of your former self is on brand for this year.

[Disco]

The biggest shock for me is that all this time and I never knew it was pronounced 'Alpeeen'.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Surely only in the sense that Renault is pronounced R'noh? I don't think I could put up with Crofty saying Alpeen all the time.

[Giggles]

That track they're doing this race on looks decent.

[Lewis]

That Alpine rebrand is seriously lame. They own Lada, so I would have used that.

[7om]

Perez gone from Racing Point. Worst kept secret going, I think. At least my boy Seb is back on the grid next year

[Jimmy Floyd]

That track they're doing this race on looks decent.

It'll be lovely to watch them drive on, but I can't see it being an overtaking-packed thriller.

[Gray Fox]

Perez gone from Racing Point. Worst kept secret going, I think. At least my boy Seb is back on the grid next year

If Romain Grosjean ends up in that seat somehow I'll go puncture his tyres myself.

Still, Vettel in that makes by far the most sense and should actually be enjoyable when he laps his old team.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Next year's grid is actually pretty great.

Merc: Hamilton / Bottas
Red Bull: Verstappen / Albon (presumably)
Aston: Vettel / Stroll
Ferrari: Leclerc / Sainz
McLaren: Ricciardo / Norris
Alpeen: Alonso / Ocon?
White Bull: Gasly / Tsonoda?
Haas: Magnussen / Perez?
Sauber: ??? / Dave Schumacher?


That Stroll effort is fun. Shame really that it's in this era and not the 70s, where it would be called Stroll-Ford, have garish tobacco sponsorship, Lawrence would stride around the pitlane with big mutton chops and a cigar on, and it would win 5 races before going under when he got 30 years for some kind of massive fraud.

[Gray Fox]

I believe Tsonoda needs a top 4 finish in GP2 to take the drive but that'll likely happen as who likes Kvyat anyway?

Haas rumoured to want to make up the old Force India line up and get Perez and The Hulk too.

[Disco]

Mick rather than Dave, and it may be Shwartzman ahead of both of them.

[Shindig]

Yeah, I think Schwartzmann's got the results to get his foot in the door. I got past Imola '94 in Newey's book today. That was bleak with him going into forensic detail about how fucked the car was. The aerodynamics, the steering column, possible punctures, the car bottoming out, etc. And then he talks about how he would've probably convinced Damon to carry on in Adelaide with iffy suspension. :uhoh:

[7om]

The lineups for Haas and Alfa Romeo are the ones really up in the air. Schumacher, Shwartzmann and Ilott all have legitimate claims for an F1 seat next year. I really wouldn’t be surprised to see Schumacher take Giovinazzi’s seat and Ilott alongside Perez / Magnussen at Haas. Leave Shwartzmann down for another F2 season providing he doesn’t win it this year.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Mick rather than Dave, and it may be Shwartzman ahead of both of them.

I was just calling him Dave Schumacher as a generic name, is there another one who's actually called Dave?

[Disco]

Yes :D

Ralfs son in F3.

[Giggles]

It'll be lovely to watch them drive on, but I can't see it being an overtaking-packed thriller.

Much the same with a nicer backdrop then.

[SincereTheRebel]

Aston Martin for Vettel. Official.

[Gray Fox]

Interesting situation. Given they are a direct competitor to his current team, surely it's now in their interest to replace him? Surely he wont want to finish Ferrari higher in the constructors at all.

[Shindig]

Is another driver going to magically find some pace in that car? That would be highly suspicious.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Their reserve driver is Antonio Giovinazzi, so... yeah.

[Disco]

He's still contracted to Ferrari until the end of the season, he's not going to suddenly start lobbing spanners into the air box. Outgoing drivers tend to be a bit more isolated within the team so they don't take too much technical information with them but that is nothing new.

[niko_cee]

Ferrari should probably inundate him with technical information and hope he takes some with him to sink his new team.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The best thing about this track is that it has some proper corner names. Poggio Secco, Casanova, Savelli, Arrabbiata. That is what a proper racing circuit should have. Adds atmosphere, history, everything, a sense of place.

Anywhere with 'Turn 11' etc should just be chucked off the calendar. Think of new names if you have to.

[Shindig]

They should keep renaming the last corner at Jerez to whoever gets punted off there.

[John Arne]

I know this is pretty obvious but Alex Brundle sounds so much like his dad Martin. Slightly higher pitched, but they way he says things, his cadence, his observations... It's very weird.

[John Arne]

Cracking finish in the F3. 5 laps left of the final race and three title contenders. One already crashed. Other 2 in 3rd and 9th with 1pt difference in the current standing.