Formula 1 Discussion - And favourite driver?

Saw this on Reddit and thought it was pretty cool and interesting.
ona8lm9j2as51.png
 
All I'm getting from the Honda leaving discussion is hippies ruin everything. 20 cars running a screaming V10/12 20 races a year is hardly going to ruin the world. It's all well and good making the "but manufacturers want something relevant" argument constantly but that's clearly bull since there are now 3 engine manufacturers and no one else is going anywhere near those development costs. Lots of great tech has moved from F1 to road cars to make sure manufacturers get a return on investment, this engine stuff ain't it.

Edit oh fun Lewis has too much play in the steering wheel, hopefully that gets worse/damages the tyres through the race.
 
Last edited:
Rain is coming? And people are pitting and putting on slicks? The tyres aren't lasting given they thought they'd get to 20-25 laps. Come on rain, catch out the top 3.
 
Would be nice if it rained nice and hard. Would also be nice if everything didn't go Hamilton's way all the time.

And just like that more lucky breaks for Hamildouce.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LiveFromNS
These cold temperatures and that camber change on race 1 are great for destroying the tyres via a lock up apparently.

Something is wrecking the power units too apparently.
 
Last edited:
  • Agree
Reactions: LiveFromNS
This will make for some cold tyres on the restart.

And Hamilton's off crying as usual.

Come on absolutely piss it down.
 
  • Winner
Reactions: LiveFromNS
Oh well, going to watch the first 2 SuperFormula Jap races now, hopefully they will be a bit more entertaining.
 
Well at least it gives me the afternoon back since I don't listen for all the slurping sounds from the commentators at the post-race show when he wins.

I still have no idea how Hulk isn't on the grid for a team full-time. He's easily better than half the drivers on the grid.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I still have no idea how Hulk isn't on the grid for a team full-time. He's easily better than half the drivers on the grid.
Hülkenberg, without preparation, with barely any time spent in the car on that track, started from last position and got to 8th place. That is pretty fucking amazing and Hülkenberg should get a cockpit.
Meanwhile, we have people like Magnussen and Grosjean instead.

The race was okay, not as interesting as I had hoped for, unfortunately no rain, but still watchable and Ricciardo came in 3rd.
 
Hülkenberg, without preparation, with barely any time spent in the car on that track, started from last position and got to 8th place. That is pretty fucking amazing and Hülkenberg should get a cockpit.
Meanwhile, we have people like Magnussen and Grosjean instead.

The race was okay, not as interesting as I had hoped for, unfortunately no rain, but still watchable and Ricciardo came in 3rd.
Magnussen is def a worthy driver to be there, he simply keeps getting shit cars and he has little sponsor money behind him. Grosjean in turn was alright around the middle of the decade but he's been falling off in his pace and makes stupid mistakes far too many times. Hulk's biggest problem is two-fold, he's too big and old for most teams. While he's got the talent, most teams want a hungry young guy who doesn't need the whole car to be re-engineered for a 184 centimeter fella when most of the grid is 170 to 175ish.
 
Magnussen is on the same par as Grosjean and beat Palmer (remember how the sky pundits wouldn't shut up about how good Palmer was even though we could see for ourselves he really wasn't, then went on for ages about him being hard done by when dropped? It's a pattern with Sky and British drivers see also Chilton) when compared to his teammates through his career. When he was up against a good, but not amazing, driver (Button) he was not in the same league.

It feels like he's been there a long time as an "also ran" and probably time to bring in some new talent. There isn't much point in running what is essentially a development team down the back of the grid with mid/late career people who aren't going anywhere from here.

Screenshot_20201011-174546.png
 
Last edited:
Let play some midweek what would you do:

So what would you do as the boss of red bull, like the entire programme?
What about if you were the boss of Haas?

First job is tear up Kvyat's contract, seriously he's only there because they had no other options after firing him once, that seat could go to Tsunoda. True not as attractive now Honda (Japan) have admitted once again they aren't a racing company just a manufacturer of shit boxes for grannies but still a young red bull driver who is doing ok in F2 so give him a shot. Another option is Zhou, he's a Renault development driver sure, but that could do some relationship mending before they negotiate some engines plus he comes with China money and he has been driving pretty well in F2.

Now on to the next couple of problems Albon and Gasly both good drivers but neither is setting the world alight. Gasly is performing well in an Alpha Tauri but I'm getting less convinced he's outperforming that car and more convinced that Kvyat is just crap. Albon is similar in that he solidly performed in the Tauro Rosso but isn't able to perform in the full Red Bull for whatever reason (don't forget gasly's performances in there weren't all that up to cop either). Neither is going to drive Max hard and I doubt either will be delivering the constructor's championship to Milton Keynes even if Max wins the driver's championship.

There is a wildcard in you have a very good Mexican driver as a free agent. I'd love to see Perez and Max in that car, I think Perez would be a challenge for Max which he needs or he'll stagnate and between them should be able to bring him a championship if given the goods.

Personally I'd probably go with the driver lineup of Vestappen and Perez in the full Red Bull and it would be a toss up between Albon, Gasly, Zhou and Tsunoda for the Alpha Tauri drives. Oh and put out a statement saying the red bull young driver program is an utter failure and has had two lucky moves in amongst the sea of "ok".

As for boss of Haas I'd be shreading two contracts and getting Ilott and Hulk in there, Hulk to develop the car and be an experienced team mate to the up and coming driver. Ilott because Ferrari money and up and coming driver for the future (this is assuming Schumacher is taken by Alfa Romeo which I think is practically a done deal).
 
Nice analysis, can't really disagree.

I read somewhere the other day that Mazepin is looking to buy Haas so we can have another kid driving for a team his dad owns. Not sure how likely that is, but I don't think Gene is going to ever get any return on F1. Him being a Yank and all, the more European culture of F1 he just will never fit into, Its a shame that they weren't more successful as I remember when they first came in they were mighty, didn't Grosjean get 6th in the first race? So much promise but they slowly sputtered and faded away from being a potential top-3 challenger. So, for me, if I was Gene, I'd sell the team and take the money and run. LOL

As for RB, perfect world would be put Perez in the RB, Hulk in the AT with Gasly partnering him. I'd like to see what Yuki could do, but now with Honda going, I assume they won't be willing to pay his salary to get him a drive.
 
Don't shoot the messenger on this one! I just saw post on Reddit. I used G to translate from Italian.
tl;dr: Speaks about Mazepin (I mentioned previous post I read rumour of his dad getting him a drive with (or buying) Haas). But interesting dynamic if indeed George was headed to partner Hambone, Claire blocked it, then sold team and now new owners might not be so keen on George with Perez lurking around now that Haas is unlikely. Hard to fathom George in this position. Wonder if the questions will be flying at next race about all this latest gossip/news.

Russell: from the Mercedes dream to the 2021 nightmare​

Of: Roberto Chinchero
15 Oct 2020, 12:57

These are tense days for the Williams driver who in recent days has lost the certainty of being at the start of the next World Championship with the Grove team. To know his future, George will have to wait until the end of October when the intentions of the new ownership of the team interested in Sergio Perez will be known.​


From the dream of a lifetime to the worst nightmare that a driver can experience: the risk of finding himself on foot. All in less than four months, in which George Russell went from being a stone's throw from joining Mercedes to the real risk of not participating in the next Formula 1 World Championship.

In the first days of summer, towards the end of June, Russell was promoted from the top of Mercedes: to the starting role in the 2021 World Championship alongside Lewis Hamilton.

Valtteri Bottas would be helped by Mercedes itself to find a 'B' plan with priority on the Aston Martin project. Then something jammed, and according to rumors gathered in the paddock, the operation was blocked by Williams, who held an option in her favor to keep Russell.

In the midst of negotiations for the sale of the team, Claire Williams wanted to exercise the option in her favor to keep Russell, in fact a valuable asset for the team, despite George having been a Mercedes' junior driver for many years.
Closing in the bud any possibility of transfer of its driver, Williams announced on July 16 the confirmation of George for 2021, six weeks before admitting the change of ownership of the Grove team.

For Russell, the near-term future has become very clear, which is his third season in Williams. Everything seemed to go according to plan until the final days of September, when Nikita Mazepin began evaluating the possibilities of entering Formula 1 in 2021.

The strong candidacy of the Russian driver has shaken a negotiation that seemed to have started to end positively, that is the one between Sergio Perez and Haas, and the Mexican has thus sought a plan 'B', an alternative that a little surprisingly he found in Williams .

The most surprising aspect of this development is that Russell's presence in the team was taken for granted, having a contract announced by the team itself, but due to the change of ownership of the team, the new shareholders could take advantage of the "change of control ”to re-evaluate the contracts previously stipulated by the old owner.

In practice, Russell's seat is anything but solid and if the team decides to focus on Perez, the English driver would have the possibility of finding himself without a steering wheel in the next World Championship.

Nothing appears to have been decided yet, but Russell's autumn will undoubtedly be less clear than early summer's dream.

With many pieces still to be wedged, the driver market could evolve favorably for the English rider without any unwelcome surprises, but a potential risk exists, and at the moment Russell can only passively witness what will happen in the coming days.
SOURCE: https://it.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-russell-dal-sogno-mercedes-allincubo-2021/4892301/
 
Just saw a provisional calendar for 2021, direct copy/paste below. Obviously the last race should say December so I fixed that. Full article and source below table. 1 triple-header and 5 double-headers looks like. If the Covid hysteria is over, I think I may make the trek to Montreal again! My province is doing quite well, no 2nd wave, pretty much gone from these shores, but central Canada, mainly Quebec and Ontario, it keeps getting worse.

Also to add, I think it is so fucking stupid, or daft for the UK lads on here, that they come to Canada from Monaco and then go to Austria! They need to get back to Indy or another northern US venue to double that trek up! Or come to US/Canada/Mexico after the summer halt. I mean it makes no sense to do that transatlantic shit twice when they could most likely line up the 3 Americas races. It reminds of the daft way they had Hendrix touring the US in 1968. Zigzagging around instead of following a logical route. Just a lot of unnecessary travel.

Another new race in Saudi Arabia? Bet Lewis will shack up in the King's palace and have a bunch of chicks to serve him day and night. You can't tell me that when he stayed with the royalty in Bahrain he wasn't indulged with whatever earthly pleasures he wished.

Speaking of, do you find it weird that he doesn't seem to have a woman hanging off him? I don't think I have ever heard him been asked about or him talk about a chick since back when that joke for a singer was hanging around him. I wonder what that's all about? Has word spread amongst the 1% females that he is a sleaze or got a small dick and no chick will be with him? Is he turning homo or trooning out? Or does he realize having a potential chick haggling and hassling him is unneeded grief and will only distract his focus from doing what he does in his job. I have no prob with Ham being a spade, and I think he is one of the GoATs for sure, but like Russell Greer, its his persona and how he acts and what he says that makes him a goofball.

Anyway, here is the calendar, thoughts? EDIT-Shit, Brazil gone!
Provisional 2021 F1 calendar:
CourseDate
1Bahrain GP (Bahrain)14 March
2Vietnam GP (Hanoï)28 March
3China GP (Shanghaï)11 April
4Azerbaijan GP (Bakou)25 April
5Dutch GP (Zandvoort)2 May
6Spanish GP (Barcelona)9 May
7Monaoc GP (Monte-Carlo)23 May
8Canadian GP (Montreal)6 June
9Austrian GP (Spielberg)20 June
10French GP (Paul Ricard)27 June
11British GP (Silverstone)11 July
12Hungarian GP (Budapest)25 July
13Belgium GP (Spa)29 August
14Italian GP (Monza)5 September
15Russian GP (Sotchi)19 September
16Singapour GP (Marina Bay)26 September
17Japanese GP (Suzuka)10 October
18Australian GP (Melbourne)24 October
19US GP (Austin)7 November
20Mexican GP (Mexico)14 November
21Saudi Arabian GP (Jeddah)28 November
22Abu Dhabi GP (Yas Marina)5 November December
Bahrain set to open 2021 season on provisional calendar
Pierre Van Vliet 16/10/2020 at 09:21

Formula 1 will be racing in Bahrain on November 29th and December 6th, but teams may well return to Sakhir just over three months later according to a draft calendar for 2021 that has come F1i's way.

F1 boss Chase Carey said this week that the sport was in the process of finalizing a "pretty normal" schedule for next year, referring to a return to "a more balanced set of events across the globe" after this year's disrupted campaign.

The FIA has yet to officially release a provisional calendar for 2021, but a 'draft' of next year's agenda is currently circulating in cyberspace.

The season is set to open on March 14th in Bahrain where winter testing may also take place, with Melbourne pushed all the way back to October, a change justified by Australia's current COVID-19 travel and border restrictions, the duration of which are unknown.

Vietnam and Holland are earmarked once again for their maiden F1 events, but Germany and Brazil have predictably fallen off the schedule.

Formula 1 will return to the Americas, with Austin and Mexico City present in their usual November slots, but a Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at Jeddah scheduled as the penultimate round of the World Championship is another newcomer on the calendar.

Sadly, F1 will not return to the Mugello next year as many had hoped would be the case after this year's thrilling event.

In addition to being provisional, the calendar would also require a COVID-19 sanitary all-clear from each hosting country. And that may be once again F1's biggest hurdle next year.
SOURCE: https://f1i.com/news/387203-bahrain-set-to-open-2021-season-on-provisional-calendar.html
 
Last edited:
I don't know how much stock I put in the Russel thing. Surely Mercades has a strong say over his career being that he is their main young driver. Even if it is the case I expect the new owners are not going to want to piss off their major supplier by ousting their next big prospect.

Australia not the first? The fuck is this. Also Interlargos is one of the better tracks, it needs putting on there. Just stick Canada in November with the other North American races, go ahead try and warm your tyres up now!

In other news Red Bull is threatening to walk and take Alpha Tauri with them unless there is an engine freeze in the 2022 regulations. Merc is down with that idea (wonder why), Renault say sure as long as there is an engine parity reset and Ferrari says fuck you there are options for engines available to you without a freeze.

Screenshot_20201016-225045.png

Article
 
Last edited:
  • Informative
Reactions: LiveFromNS
Fucking F1 man. Its one of the few (only?) sport where the stuff that goes on away from the field, track, stadium etc. is more talked about than the actual match, race, game or competition.

I feel like I have been watching F1 slowly die since Senna died. Tobacco adverts disappeared shortly thereafter, then you had the Ferrari/Schumi dominance, Toyota, Honda and BMW all coming and going, next it was RB/Vet dominance and 3 new teams coming and going, then Mercedes/Ham dominance. All coupled over that time frame with the engines getting progressively less of a thrill. Don't forget the tires saga where every team runs to an optimum strategy and don't do fastest lap possible every lap (I always laugh when they go for fastest lap with a couple laps left, like if you did that every lap you might have won the fucking race!!). Oh yeah, the way money is distributed to ensure only 3 teams will ever fight for the champeenships! Did I mention the changing qualifying a few times? Now you have the green world and FormulaE that are adding to the misery.

I mentioned way back early days of the thread that I have a 5TB external HD filled with F1 videos. Pretty much every race from 1978 on, bunch of complete races from before that even, all the Year in Reviews, docus blah blah. From about sometime before 2010 to present, I have pretty much all the practices and qualifying sessions for every race as well. It was a given that I would download all the F1 sessions and store them away on my ext HD like the good F1 autist I am. The last two races, I haven't bothered. No longer care enough to do it. Sad times, but the gold is losing its lustre and the diamonds aren't sparkling any more.

tl;dr-RB should just leave and go into FE cause F1 ain't going to make it for too much longer with all the idiocy and stupidity that goes on off the track.
 
Back