Formula 1 Discussion - And favourite driver?

[Coccxys]

Racing Point (Aston Martin as they will be called next year), Stroll and Latifi

Possibly because Perez comes with some serious money but not like Stroll (snr) needs much more. He does need a driver who can actually drive to partner his kid at his new toy dad bought for him and Latifi is quick but not massively experienced. Would be a pitty to see Perez shoved out though as he is another driver who has promise (his big break came too soon). Maybe to Williams but I can't see why he would take his stack of cash to sit at or near the back.

Haas, Grosjean and Magnussen

I do wonder if Haas are likely to shake things up soon. Their lineup is way too inconsistent and must be costing then a fortune in carbon fiber. Almost certain they will want an American driver in there when they can.

Alpha Tauri, Gasly and

Similarly they might want to shake things up. Has the Red Bull well totally dried up if they keep with these not so young, not so talented drivers? This is supposed to be their feeder team and the next step in their young driver program. These guys are a road block to the younger drivers in lower seriese and are not going to be feeding into Red Bull any time soon.

The rest I agree with though.

 

[WhiskeyZuluLima]

Possibly because Perez comes with some serious money but not like Stroll (snr) needs much more. He does need a driver who can actually drive to partner his kid at his new toy dad bought for him and Latifi is quick but not massively experienced. Would be a pitty to see Perez shoved out though as he is another driver who has promise (his big break came too soon). Maybe to Williams but I can't see why he would take his stack of cash to sit at or near the back.

This call is based off of how unknown everything is going to be economically tomorrow for you and I, let alone for motorsports, and even more niche Formula 1 - the only motorsport which makes money for nobody involved except Ferrari. Latifi brings more money than Perez, is Canadian like the Stroll's and their consortium, and if I am not mistaken his family are a part of that consortium. Having a team of two Canadians is a marketing point in itself which could attract sponsorship of companies using that as their reasoning for spending the money they don't have - possible, although I admit a stretch. The aspect that Latifi owns the team, if I'm right on that - which would you rather, a team where every penny earned goes back into the team in some way or a team where you have to give part of a major sponsor's money to a particular driver. With the unknown landscape we have it makes more sense to have Latifi in the car for me.

I do wonder if Haas are likely to shake things up soon. Their lineup is way too inconsistent and must be costing then a fortune in carbon fiber. Almost certain they will want an American driver in there when they can.

I doubt they'll change because whilst the lineup has loads of issues, the car development is a mess as well - at least keeping the same drivers in 21 with the car which was developed for 20 the feedback is going to be predictable, which may allow the team to find where the failing is in terms of development going into 22 with the new regs coming into place.

Similarly they might want to shake things up. Has the Red Bull well totally dried up if they keep with these not so young, not so talented drivers? This is supposed to be their feeder team and the next step in their young driver program. These guys are a road block to the younger drivers in lower seriese and are not going to be feeding into Red Bull any time soon.

The Red Bull program is that much of a shambles that there's nobody left, really. The driver they most recently wanted to get into F1 thinking they could was Dan Ticktum, and ignoring that his name is amusingly close to the word 'tantrum' he simply was nowhere near eligible and Red Bull tried the fast track effort to get him there so they at least had the option of someone - they have since dropped Ticktum.

 

[The Grognard]

Dan Ticktum is still around, his main problem was that he's a Santino Ferrucci tier overt dickhead and thus he's gonna be radioactive for any would-be sponsor.

 

[WhiskeyZuluLima]

Dan Ticktum is still around, his main problem was that he's a Santino Ferrucci tier overt dickhead and thus he's gonna be radioactive for any would-be sponsor.

Ticktum is still around, you're right, in the form of being a Williams young driver.

 

[Fuck Y'all]

Ticktum is still around, you're right, in the form of being a Williams young driver.

fuck Williams tho for making a lolcow from my boy Kubica

 

[LazarusOwenhart]

A lot of F1 drivers are doing Sim racing during lockdown and I really hope that ghost data is made available.

 

[The Grognard]

fuck Williams tho for making a lolcow from my boy Kubica

Take a chill-pill, Kubica got screwed by that rally accident and he only got his seat because Orlen threw a bazillion to have their golden boy drive for them. That said, expect to see him do another year long stint once Kimi leaves. IMO the main problem of Williams has been their car development which has gone the complete wrong path since 2014, thus even legit hungry young talent like Russel is struggling to not be at the bottom.

 

[LiveFromNS]

So I have a ton of F1 pics that randomly load as my background and this one greeted me this morning. It is from the 1959 AVUS GP. Driver and car are Hans Hermann, BRM P25. Great timing and definitely strange!

And a second shot from a different angle taken within seconds.

 

[Kornheiser]

Dan Ticktum is still around, his main problem was that he's a Santino Ferrucci tier overt dickhead and thus he's gonna be radioactive for any would-be sponsor.

I wish we had more assholes like Ferrucci in F1. It would make the sport much more interesting. I know Ferrucci is in indycar but I would have liked to see him do a season in F1 and say the most outlandish things.

 

[The Grognard]

Problem with being an asshole today is that we live in a society where the outrage mob culture is not only normal but completely embraced. The only way an asshole driver would ever be allowed to F1 is by being a driver-owner and good luck finding a zillionaire with an FIA superlicense and infinite money to burn on a whole team just to be a driver who doesn't have to answer to any sponsors. Even then, I bet Liberty Group will try getting rid of the team because "muh brand".

 

[WhiskeyZuluLima]

Problem with being an asshole today is that we live in a society where the outrage mob culture is not only normal but completely embraced. The only way an asshole driver would ever be allowed to F1 is by being a driver-owner and good luck finding a zillionaire with an FIA superlicense and infinite money to burn on a whole team just to be a driver who doesn't have to answer to any sponsors. Even then, I bet Liberty Group will try getting rid of the team because "muh brand".

There is one person who might be willing to piss away the money like that, Jim Glickenhaus, but then he likes to build his own cars and compete in GT racing.

 

[The Grognard]

There is one person who might be willing to piss away the money like that, Jim Glickenhaus, but then he likes to build his own cars and compete in GT racing.

This shit needs oil sheik money, not hollywood producer money. The yearly costs might be around 200 million, but expect to spend way more just to get to that point.

 

[WhiskeyZuluLima]

This shit needs oil sheik money, not hollywood producer money. The yearly costs might be around 200 million, but expect to spend way more just to get to that point.

Exactly my point.

As an aside, I the other day got copies of the F1 Car By Car collection for 60s, 70s, and 80s, with the 50s due to arrive next week. Also got a couple of Jon Saltinstall's competition history on Lauda, all pretty decent reads - recommend the CBC one's if nothing else as a really good picture book of the history of F1.

 

[Fuck Y'all]

Williams is considering closing up the shop

 

[Coccxys]

Man, it'll be a pity if William's goes but they haven't made a car even approaching competitive in a while and the economics of the sport has changed so drastically in the last 20 years that independent teams just can't keep going without Saudi prince style backers.

In other rumors Toto is looking like he might be leaving over a disagreement with the chairman of Daimler (who own Mercades). The guy has spoken about wanting Vettel driving for Merc after his departure from Ferrari but apparently neither Wolf nor Hamilton are keen on that partnership. Interesting shake up if true (and it is very much rumour and conjecture at the moment).

 

[Coccxys]

Well Toto has repurchased his stake in Williams. Time to get his God awful "I'm a racing driver" wife back in to set the opinion of female racing drivers back another few years.

 

[LiveFromNS]

While I have enjoyed some of the sim races that have been ongoing, tonight marks the return of at least IndyCar to real racing!
Not sure if any of you are done with not being able to watch a live race of one of the major open wheel series, but I am!
If you are, here is a stream for you to watch it too:

https://www.twitch.tv/gotocent

 

[Coccxys]

Here we go, the woke have come for F1. RIP.



Seasoned starts soon. Who's your pick for "best of the rest"? I would go racing point because that car looks fast but they're playing with one arm tied behind their back since daddy's money doesn't make you a good driver. So I'm going with McLaren again this season.

 

[PeeveTheSheev]

Here we go, the woke have come for F1. RIP.

View attachment 1415887

Seasoned starts soon. Who's your pick for "best of the rest"? I would go racing point because that car looks fast but they're playing with one arm tied behind their back since daddy's money doesn't make you a good driver. So I'm going with McLaren again this season.

Although I hate Mercedes' posturing (and Mercedes itself), that livery is a massive improvement on the boring grey and turquoise they've refused to substantially update for years now.

 

[LiveFromNS]

Looks like the Japs also pulled another Pearl Harbor and using the regs deferred the closure period for their plant so they could keep working on engine. As a result, they are bringing updated power unit:

Red Bull and AlphaTauri will have some extra grunt when they hit the track in this weekend’s 2020 season restart at Austria’s Red Bull Ring, courtesy of an updated specification Honda power unit, Formula1.com has learned.
It comes as Red Bull are set to introduce a sizeable aerodynamic upgrade for their home race, with tweaks to the floor and front wing visible when they ran their 2020-spec car at Silverstone for a filming day last week.

It’s a strong response to the news world champions Mercedes, who on Monday revealed a striking new black livery for 2020 in a stand against racism and commitment to diversity, are bringing a “chunk” of aerodynamic upgrades to Austria.
READ MORE: Our writers' predictions and hot takes ahead of the new season

The last few months have been unprecedented for the F1 teams, with factories carrying out a mandatory shutdown during March, April, May and/or June in a bid to curb costs and give the teams stability in the short term.

The requirement to shutdown applied to power unit manufacturers as well, however a quirk in the regulations allowed for some manufacturers to delay that shutdown to later in the year.
“An exception will be made for factories based in countries where law and/or unions impose different closing periods,” reads Article 21.10 of the Sporting Regulations. “In this case, these factories may replace some days out of the shutdown period by the locally imposed periods.
WATCH: George Russell and Toto Wolff join Will Buxton and Lawrence Barretto to preview the F1 2020 season

“PU manufacturers affected by this must make a declaration to the FIA that their staff will not be permitted to transfer to work in the country that isn’t shutdown during these periods.”

Honda - based in Sakura, Japan - delayed their shutdown, instead opting to take theirs this summer, which means the manufacturer have been permitted to continue working on the power unit, albeit in different and more challenging conditions – and the result is an updated engine compared to the unit they brought to Australia.

It’s a crucial move as the Technical Regulations for this season dictate the specification a team races in the opening Grand Prix will largely be frozen for the remainder of the season, with manufacturers allowed only to make one performance upgrade to the MGU-K, energy store and control electronics elements.
READ MORE: Every Formula 1 team’s biggest challenge in 2020

So aside from changes for reliability purposes (which will require approval from the FIA), it means every team will race with the same level of performance for the duration of this campaign.

AlphaTauri will also benefit from the upgrade at this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix
As has been the case with the last few Honda updates, it is understood the development has been split across performance and reliability and they are hoping it continues their trend of making consistent progress.
READ MORE: 5 headline-grabbing rivalries set to dominate the 2020 season

The numbers on the dyno suggest they have made gains in terms of power, as they look to close the ever-decreasing gap to the performance-setting power units of Ferrari and Mercedes, but it remains unclear what sort of step their rivals have made.

That said, it shows how hard Red Bull are pushing, as they look to take advantage of two circuits, which host the first three races, that should suit their car.
SOURCE: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...er-unit-in-austria.FdyloG4gxalaxrecFliDk.html