F1 2020 - Corona Virus Edition

[Shindig]

That's just shocking luck for Perez. Two popped engines in ... what? 3 races?

[Jimmy Floyd]

22 laps of absolute dross thus far, this track needs to be burned.

[Giggles]

Bollocks, I was just about to ask when the start was.

[John Arne]

I missed a few laps - what's this about Sainz and the "pit lane incident" being investigated?

[Jimmy Floyd]

You'd have been better off staring at a wall for an hour. Peak excitement at the moment is Charles Leclerc DRSing his way past Latifi for 17th place.

[Shindig]

He travelled too slowly in pitlane but they seem to reckon it was on pit entry.

[thommo]

I'm just watching at this point as it's the last race of the season. All this talk about tyres going off, and you just know they're going to crawl to the end on this hard set, depriving us of any entertainment whatsoever.

[Disco]

Only Lance Stroll has been re-passed at the second DRS zone having previously made an overtake in the first one. Tells you all you need to know about the profile of the track.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I don't say this lightly at all, but I think this could be the worst race this century. 99 Spain was dreck as were a few in 2001 but Jesus Christ.

[thommo]

2005 US GP has to be the worst. Complete farce. This is very much up there though.

Glad Max won, nice to see him put together a complete race weekend. Hoping for some more fight next year.

[Disco]

I want to say some of those Valencia races were worse.

[bruhnaldo]

Amazing race McLaren 3rd baby Tracing Point cheats in the fuckin mud

[Shindig]

Erm ... Spygate?

[Gray Fox]

Great upstanding man Ron Dennis would never be caught cheating. I don't know what you're referring too.

[7om]

https://old.reddit.com/r/formula1/co...on_during_the/

Saw him in the post-race interview and he said he felt like shit. I wonder if at any point a Merc / F1 doctor actually gave him medical clearance to compete, or if it’s even necessary?

[Shindig]

Lewis probably thought he could chance it with it being the last race. Pity you don't really get some race practice in during FP because of the tyre allocations.

[Gray Fox]

They gained nothing from having him back in over Russel really.

[Shindig]

I mean, Lewis is out of contract. He might not being in danger of losing the seat but he obviously wanted to get back ASAP.

[Gray Fox]

I keep forgetting he hasn't signed yet.

[phonics]

Hamilton wanted to race because he’s allowed and he’s a racing driver. Grosjean nearly died and wanted to be back in next week. That’s what makes them racing drivers.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Tsunoda confirmed at AT, and the wind seems to be shifting slowly towards Perez for the Red Bull seat.

[Disco]

I suppose binning drivers too early is their mission statement at this point. I've been seeing the same thing in a few places, Perez in for a year with Albon stepping back to reserve driver.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I don't get how you're supposed to become a good grand prix driver if you're chucked into a seat at 20 and binned at 22 or whatever. It's really not a young man's game, even if they're trying to convince themselves that it is. Look how much better Carlos Sainz is now than he was when he started.

[Disco]

Red Bull obviously have form but you still have people like Vandoorne and Wehrlein who got barely a sniff despite having very impressive junior careers. I feel sorry for Albon, he impressed at Toro Rosso for half a season and then at Red Bull for the other half. Then they pull the rug from under his feet with their batshit suspension that even flummoxed the (arguably) second best driver in the world. Now, just when he seems to be getting a handle on it, he could be out of a drive for a whole season. I think they're trying to impress Honda enough that they stay or help support the engine program for a bit longer (Tsunoda is an obvious move in that regard) and, presumably, some of their upper management think Perez will help them run Mercedes closer.

[Jimmy Floyd]

If it was 1991 and he was fired by Benetton he could just go and drive for Ligier or Minardi or someone and beat his team mate until he was picked up again (see: Martin Brundle's entire career). In 2020 with a 17 car grid you are just dumped into joke series and forgotten about. I still think Jean-Eric Vergne was race winner material.

[7om]

On the last notebook, Ted speculated that Perez and Albon might share the drive. Whatever that means.

Personally I was really hoping to see Albon vs Gasly at AT and Perez at Red Bull for a year. As much as Gasly has impressed this year, I think he is finished in this Red Bull program. Wouldn’t surprise me if he ended up at Renault when Alonso retires.

[Jimmy Floyd]

There could be a case for putting Perez in for certain race markets (Americas) and Albon for others (Asia), sacrificing the tiny chance that either has of becoming drivers' champion. It's been done before, usually with shit Japanese drivers in the 90s, I seem to remember Brundle (again) sharing a drive with Aguri Suzuki so that Guy Ligier could get his hands on some sweet Mugen Hondas.

[Pepe]

Have Perez operate the pedals and Albon the wheel.

[Disco]

Or give them half and half overalls, like BAR tried to do that time, so you don't know which one is in the car.

[Shindig]

One should race engineer the other.

[Disco]

Toto Wolff signed with Mercedes for another 3 years, what are the odds on a similar announcement for Hamilton I wonder.

[Disco]

Perez to Red Bull confirmed as well.

[phonics]

Good, Albon is a fraud.

"He's racing too hard!" at Gasly should have had him booted immediately.

[Jimmy Floyd]

It's struck me scanning social media recently that F1 appears to have several times the reach and engagement it had even a few years ago, especially among younger people. DTS a total game-changer I suspect, as perhaps is the newer generation of, how can I put this kindly, 'photogenic' drivers.

[phonics]

DTS has been absoluely massive and I think Lando and the rest of the crew lockdown antics really helped them get in with the nerds too.

[Giggles]

DTS?


Also, lol at Jimmy getting anything from “scanning” social media.

[Shindig]

Drive to Survive, Giggles. I had to think about it as well because I thought he was talking about Mercede's banned steering.

[Pepe]

I thought he was talking about DRS, and I thought that sounded like complete nonsense.

[bruhnaldo]

At first I thought that was the Mercedes steering wheel system and I thought nah no chance my man

[Giggles]

Definitely thought it was some car tech.

[Disco]

DTS has done two things, brought back lapsed fans and also tapped into the (much younger) Netflix crowd. Series three will have the Gasly redemption arc, Grosjean not being dead, and everyone taking part so it may do even better.

I'm not convinced DAS did anything very much at all for the cars, but most importantly it made Christian Horner very angry which means it was worth every penny. It's either that or 'Bono, my tires!' for best troll of the year.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The tyres troll in Portugal was quality. I think that was outright deception, whereas sometimes I think he actually does have a whinge and then gets it together.

[Giggles]

I wasn’t sure Drive to Survive was even being filmed this year.

[Pepe]

Second season was shit.

[Jimmy Floyd]

All of it is shit if you're an actual motorsport fan, but that's not the audience.

[Pepe]

I thought the first one was ok. My wife liked the first one, but also thought the second one was shit, and she is no motorsport fan.

[Giggles]

Too many camera angles and not enough Stirling Moss for Jimmy. Frightful business altogether.

[niko_cee]

That's Sir Stirling Moss to you pal.

[Jimmy Floyd]

It's not that, it's just it's whenever you are very familiar with the subject, documentaries like that are always exposed to you as being economical with the truth and creating narratives out of not much. It's a magnificent achievement however in terms of engaging new fans with the sport, and is something that a lot of other sports could learn from.

[Disco]

I enjoyed watching both series because it's more coverage of a thing I'm interested in but I don't think there was anything in either of them that I didn't know already.