Such as it is......
Once again, Mercedes shows that they have it all figured out - dead on reliability and a great chassis.
Red Bull have a fast car, but they're still half second slower than the Mercs.
Ferrari has gone down the wrong road with their aero package and are slower than last year with no straight line speed - where they shined last year. They also do not show the engine power that they did last season, so clearly something has changed there too......
McLaren has settled back into the front of the mid Pack.
Racing Point has built a 2019 Mercedes in pink and looks to be the best of the not-Mercedes or Red Bulls.
The rest of the teams seem to have resumed last years form....Renault is unreliable (no wonder Riccardo changed to McLaren - they'll have Mercedes power next year) The "Alfatory" is a 9-10th place car, the Haas has lost all the magic of the first two seasons and I doubt they'll be here next year, the other "Alfa" team is running around the back, just ahead of the Williams - in their usual place dead last.
So, the story of the first race of 2020 will be who manages to finish.
I hope the rest of the season improves but I'm not hopeful at this point.,
Well, that was a hell of a finish - crashes, engine failures, penalties......
So, Bottas clearly has the measure of the Red Bull Ring track and drove a great race.
I haven't learned why Hamilton had a 3 place grid penalty and started 5th but when he punted
Albon they gave him a 5 sec penalty which let Norris get his first podium at the end.
Vettel recovered from a spin to manage to finish a miserable 10th out of 11
LeClerc showed why he is Ferrari's new golden boy coming from way back to finish 2nd!
Lots of broken cars, Williams almost had a car in the points by virtue of there only being 10 other cars left at the end.
Going to be interesting to see which teams recover quickly from this one, and to see who makes a good race of it next weekend when they come back for the second round.
Lot of rumors that Mick Schmidt will replace Giovannazzi soon.....
Lando Norris has a sponsor called "Splunk"?
Podium ceremonies just aren't the same these days, are they?
Does Monaco have it's own anthem, or do they use the French? Italian?
So next weekend, same track, same players. the only thing that might change is the weather. Will the Hamster get out in front this time, or will Bottas again get to run the race? Maybe mad Max will get to run the whole race this time? If the Reds Bull are able to stay on track, will they push the Ferraris back down to where there qualified for this one? Lots of lessons were learned in this race, not the least of which - stay off the effing curbs!
I read an article this morning that Hamilton was penalized for ignoring a yellow flag during the last qualifying session.
Right, I saw that too, this morning after I posted. But they didn't give him the penalty till one hour before the grid, they had ruled yesterday that they weren't going to penalize him, then Red Bull protested and they reversed themselves. I don't like that......make a decision and stick with it, otherwise it smacks of politics and favoritism....especially since they were on Red Bull's track......it just looks like bad sportsmanship to me. who knows how the race might have gone had they not penalized him? Remember, I am NOT a Ham-fan, but fair is fair....either it's a penalty or it isn't.
However, after his hit on Albon that penalty was well justified IMHO.
Here is the article I read:
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.breaking-hamilton-handed-three-place-grid-penalty-for-austrian-gp-after-red.4gi4JXIiUxRzjsOQlqBy07.html (https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.breaking-hamilton-handed-three-place-grid-penalty-for-austrian-gp-after-red.4gi4JXIiUxRzjsOQlqBy07.html)
Apparently it was video from his own car that hung him on the grid penalty.
I guess I've been living under a rock because I didn't even know Formula One was restarting until I looked at my list of recordings in a DVR and found that Qualifying and the Race had been recorded. I skipped Qually and watched the race. I enjoyed it even though it felt more like an exhibition game. Great that we can still watch without commercials (thank you Mothers products!) I was happy to see Lewis receive the penalties he was due. And congrats to McLaren and Norris coming in 3rd!
Rumors flying that Alonso will be behind the wheel of a Renault before the season is out, and that Mick Schumacher can't do any worse than Giovanazzi is doing....and he's already under contract. If there ever was a season to try out new (or old familiar ones) faces in the middle of the year, this has to be it
"It's not been his greatest race today," said Ferrari team boss Binotto. "The spin and contact was certainly not a great action from his side."
And they wonder why he feels disenfranchised?
Only problem is the Mercs are still at least half second a lap quicker than anything else....maybe more under some circumstances.
Quote from: MiniDave on July 06, 2020, 05:02:52 PM
Rumors flying that Alonso will be behind the wheel of a Renault before the season is out, and that Mick Schumacher can't do any worse than Giovanazzi is doing....and he's already under contract. If there ever was a season to try out new (or old familiar ones) faces in the middle of the year, this has to be it
I would love to see Fred driving in F1 again. I didn't realize how much I missed him. Still have fond memories of that stacked McLaren pitstop where Lewis was kept waiting for Fred to get his drive-thru order right. (not Alonso's finest hour, but I still like it because I have never warmed up to the prima donna that is Hamilton)
Well, that was not exactly an interesting race this past Sunday, was it? Would have been much more interesting if the rain during qually had continued to race day.
Yeah, about the only thing interesting so far this year is how well the Big Macs and Pink Mercs are doing.....the HAAS is back there fighting for last with Williams and Alfalfa. At least the AlfaTauris are up there in the middle.
I don't know what to think about the Renault, but I'm thinking Ricky Racer is happier every day that he'll be with McLaren next season, and Sainz has to be wondering if what he did was such a good move after all - name recognition or not.
Ferrari may be heading back down into one of their mid pack seasons again.....those tend to last a few years. I think the "secret deal" that the other teams are screaming about is that the Ferrari engine was illegal, and in exchange for not fining the shit out of them they agreed to stop doing what ever it was that was giving them so much more power - hence the dismal performance at the end of last season and this one.
So, hand Mercedes the trophies and call it a season, and while you're at it since the rules are locked for next season too, might as well give them the trophies for next year too....save everyone a lot of time, effort, and money.......oh, and boring races and the Hamster trying not to crow about how great he is.
Then there is our "American" team Haas who has seemingly taken up the last few spots with brake problems again.
I still haven't gotten used to having a F1 race every weekend. I was again surprised to see one already recorded on my DVR. What a nice surprise!
I'm watching the Hungary race right now. Only 10 laps in and enjoying it. Hope it rains.
Ah, they kept promising rain during the race but it never happened. Still, I enjoyed the race and especially seeing Max do so well after barely being able to start.
Except, the Hamster lapped all the way up to 5th place......does not bode well for anyone else for the rest of the season.....
YAWN!!!
Well, at least till the last 3 laps, when all hell broke loose.... :-\
Nice to see a non-Lewis, non-Mercedes win for a change! Max did great. But geez, the British announcers really get a hard-on when there is any any chance of Lewis winning, don't they? After his final pit stop all they could talk about that he was going to come from behind - from 4th - to take the win. In the end he was 10+ seconds behind Max.
I loved hearing LeClerc yelling like he'd won the race - for finishing 4th......such are Ferrari's fortunes this year.
And poor Vettel has simply fallen off the planet - race and qually wise.
In fact several teams are really sucking this year that I didn't really expect to - Haas and Alfa Romeo for two.
It's interesting too how many teammates that used to finish 1-2 to each other, are now wildly separated.
What a boring race. The most exciting part was listening to Sebastian Vettel get pissed off by his team.
Max is great again.
The wheels have definitely come off the Ferrari challenge this year.....
So no F1 race this weekend, but the Indy 500 will run tomorrow.
Anybody going to watch?
With an Andretti on pole and the chance to beat the curse? You bet!
Takuma Sato! Give me a break.
Why? He's done pretty well in Indy car racing, this is his second Indy 500 win.
He was right with Dixon all day, and at the end worked a masterful strategy with his pit crew to get ahead - F1 tactics - and once ahead forced Dixon to use up his tires trying to catch and pass him. Even tho Dixon led most of the race, Tako's strategy worked in the end - I don't think Dixon could have caught and passed him in the last 5 laps even if they had been green. Too bad about the end of the race - some think it should have been red flagged and restarted with 5 to go.....I'm not sure about that.
Tough break for Rossi, his pit crew cost him his chance at the win.
If all seemed so hollow without the fans there - much more so with Indy than with F1 because of the traditions and history of the place. But I enjoyed the race. I was hoping for a better result for Alonso.
He posted that people better hope he does poorly at Indy, he won't be back in F1 if he wins in Indy! ;D
Interesting that his McLaren teammate finished so far ahead of him...... 8.gif
I just don't like Sato, but Alonso is a different story! Hope he does return to F1 and do well!
No F1 races for 3 months, then it closes with these 4 races — if things go as now planned. Since this is 2020, who the hell knows?
I thought there were three more races in a row, starting this weekend?
You are right. My mistake. Googling the F1 2020 schedule produced a lot of articles and press releases with all sorts of info that common sense tells us is now no longer going to happen. (Much like an Al Gore prediction ;D ) It would really be helpful if Google were to arrange things by date or something so as to make it clear when the latest info supersedes outdated news/info. The official F1 site still lists a lot of old stuff.
After peeling things back, this revised schedule with the very helpful "as of Aug 25" heading makes things clear. For now. Sorry for the confusion on my part. Lots more F1 to come.
More than any other year in recent memory I feel this one is a waste......MBZ is so dominant that there's little any other team can do - the only reason to watch is for the midfield battles.
Overheard in Ferrari's garage last weekend "at least we didn't suck this weekend..."
As much as I like F1 and yes I'm a Lewis fan, the best series right now is MotoGP it's a free for all Yamaha, KTM, and Ducati have all won, Suzuki is close, Honda is no where.
Do you think Honda spent all their energy on Indy and F1 and let the bikes ride for a bit?
Quote from: MiniDave on August 26, 2020, 02:14:27 PM
More than any other year in recent memory I feel this one is a waste......MBZ is so dominant that there's little any other team can do - the only reason to watch is for the midfield battles.
Or pray for rain.
Quote from: MiniDave on August 26, 2020, 04:40:24 PM
Do you think Honda spent all their energy on Indy and F1 and let the bikes ride for a bit?
No I think mainly they're no where because Marc Marquez is out. I don't like when riders get hurt but this year it's one of the best things that's happened to MotoGP everyone is going for it, it would be akin to Hamilton being out everyone wants to fill the void.
What a miserable year for Ferrari.....and another high speed race next weekend....Clearly the engine issue is behind a lot of this - all the Ferrari engine'd cars are at the back of the grid, with the Williams.
The MBZ's are in another league compared to everyone else....they're fast on the slow tracks and even faster on the fast ones.........just hand them the Championships - it's over boys.
Another one in the books for the Hamster....I don't bother to watch the post race interviews anymore, it's become tedious watching them try to think of something new to say.
Next weekend at Monza, it's going to be very embarrassing for Ferrari if they finish like they did this weekend.
Nice to see Renault coming on, and with Big Mac getting Mercedes power next year I wonder if they'll be able to mix it up with Red Bull?
The improvement for the pink cars this season has been fun to watch too.
Ferrari performing badly at Monza? That won't go down well with the tifosi.
Based on what I saw today, especially in straight line speed, they will finish about where they did today......heads will roll. Binotto has already had his job description changed once, I'm thinking it will change again - as in "unemployed"
Well, that was interesting, to say the least.....what a gasly race!
Hamilton's infallibility failed him today as he completely missed the "Pits Closed" signs, and got a huge penalty that took him to the back of the grid, where he then put on a nice show of passing all the slower cars at the back, ultimately finishing 7th.
The two Red cars failed miserably, early on with LeClerc's crash causing the race to be red flagged which allowed teams to change tires and do repairs.
Bottas started poorly and finished 5th, he thought something was wrong with the car and they changed the front wing during the red flag but he still couldn't advance after the restart.
So, who benefitted from the Hamster's mistake? None other than the Red Bull reject, Gasly! Gasly hasn't finished worst than 8th almost all season, the Honda powered Alfa Tauri is definitely showing good pace if they could just eke out a better qualifying position.
They still have no answer for the Merc and the Hamminator tho - he's clearly faster than everyone else.
Sainz finished a close second and might have been able to win with one more lap to run, but it was over one too soon. Lance Stroll finished third in his Pink Mercedes, showing that team definitely made a good call to copy the winningest car so closely. Norris came 4th, so no question the Big Macs have made real progress, next year with Mercedes power, maybe they'll be a match for the Mercs?
Thanks for the recap. For some reason my DVR - the same DVR that recorded two Monza practices and qualifying - did not record the race today so I was out of luck. I really wish I had seen it! Always happy when the prima donna trips up. What a podium!
Edit: just found the Monza race will be shown later tonight on my cable system. Bingo! I've manually set it up to record, fingers crossed. Even though I know the results I think I'm going to enjoy watching it. I'm guessing I should steady myself for lots whining from the British broadcasters about Hamilton's mistake and what would have/should have been.
Well, I don't want to ruin it for you but they were genuinely happy for the winning three! ;D
Perez is out at Racing Point/Pink Mercedes/Aston Marin at the end of the season, Vettel will take his place alongside Lance.
I never expected they would fire Lance over Perez, but Perez claims he was instrumental in saving the team when it went into receivership and that he had a contract for next year. I'm guessing deep pockets stepped in and bought out his contract?
Lance has looked better lately I will admit......maybe because he's looking forward to working with Vettel?
Ferrari's 1000th race this weekend at Mugello, and they're wearing all new livery to commemorate the moment - harkening back to their earliest days as a race team.
It won't matter.....
Mercedes is still ahead of everyone else in terms of qually and race pace. In Friday practice they've already exceeded the fastest times ever set at this track.....with more to come I'm sure.
Now that the Pink Mercedes has settled it's drivers for next season, I wonder how that will affect the performance of the two players - Perez and Vettel. Will Perez turn it up a notch in hopes of enticing another team to hire him? Will Vettel go for it since he doesn't have to worry about his next season now?
Mugello is an interesting track with lots of really nice corners, off camber and on and lots of elevation changes....very pretty scenery all around the track, but it still has the old gravel traps off the corners.
Should be an interesting race come Sunday, if for no other reason than it's a new venue.
Great track! Tuscany is such a beautiful place. And the scenery around the track is wonderful.
I like the special colors Ferrari is running this weekend.
Can't wait to see the race.
Well, Vettel's upcoming change of scenery and uniforms doesn't seem to have improved his pace any, he's still miles behind LeCharl who still manages to wring way more out of the Ferrari than he should, reminds me of the way Alonslow used to do with the Big Macncheese....
Mugello shows why they don't race there anymore......on old school tracks with rough curbs and gravel traps when someone goes off its a mess.
So, two safety cars and two red flags to the race, it finally finishes with only 12 cars left ....carnage up and down the grid - well for anyone except the Mercedes......
5 cars out in the first 8 laps due to crashes.
On the first red flag restart LeClerc was in third, giving hope for a good result for the race, but sadly car after car passed him on the straight down into turn one on successive laps before he finally pitted for new tires from 8th and came out dead last. The combination of more crashes and more pit stops allowed him to work his way back up the grind into the points, but it was not a good day for the boys in Red (burgundy)
Noteworthies....Vettel got behind the Williams and could not even catch him, let alone pass. Magnussen just can't catch a break - unless it's a part of his car - then he's had plenty. Sad to see the Ferraris running at the back with the Williams, HAAS, and Alfas.....however, Ferrari say they've got an all new engine coming for next season and they will have recovered all the power they lost from last year.....if so, those three should be moving back up the grid again.....dunno about the Williams since they've had the Mercedes advantage all along.
On the initial start Bottas got a better start and led easily, but on the second restart the Haminator took advantage of the slip stream to take Bottas in the first turn and kept the lead easily. I think it's become a tactic of Lewis to complain about his tires going off as he continues to pull away. This time Bottas said when he pits he wants the opposite of whatever tires Lewis takes - but Lewis pitted one lap later and changed his mind and took the same tires as Bottas - which pissed Bottas off mightily.
On the next and final red flag restart, with 12 cars left in the race Bottas didn't get a good start and Riciardo got past him but he was able to get by again on the first lap....in the meantime Hammy drove off into the sunset. In the last few laps the Ferrari could not make a dent in the Alfa in front, but Kimi got a 5 sec penalty for crossing the line going into the pits earlier in the race, so at the end it was
Hammy
Bottas
Albon
Ricciardo
Perez
Norris
Kvyat
LeClerc
Raikonenenenen
Vettel
Russel
Grosjeans
Without Kimi's 5 sec penalty, he would have been 8th, LeClerc 9th and Vettel 10th.
So, cool racetrack, beautiful scenery, perfect racing weather, and one of the worst race results in decades for the number of cars finishing.
See to me I'd rather have more tracks like this. Who wants a perfect surface were you can go wherever. Punish drivers for errors. It's same reason I stopped watching nascar. They left all the unique tracks for the mile and a half 8 lanes wide only best racecar wins. Has absolutely nothing to do with driver. In f1 at all the "normal" tracks I'd bet no matter what driver you put in the Mercedes they'd finish in the top 3. Racing has lost all its character, and characters, exchanged for money. Love your detailed replays though. Dont even have to bother finding coverage.
I'm in the middle of watching the Russian Grand Prix, and once again Lewis Hamilton is proving to be a whiny little bitch. Rather than owning up to his actions that caused him to receive a 10 second penalty, he's shifting the blame to the team for scheduling his pitstop where the penalty was served. It must be difficult to be a fan of Lewis Hamilton – I wouldn't know.
He's 2 pts away from getting a race ban ..... but he could win the driver's championship anyway.....
Yes, that incongruity perfectly sums up Hamilton.
So, they took the two points back again from Hammy.....
They're also really getting Mick Schumacher ready to drive in F1, I think he gets one season with Alfa Romeo next year and - unless he has a terrible year in the Alfa - in 2022 he's in a Ferrari.
This weekend he'll drive the Alfa in FP1, Giovanazzi must see the handwriting on the wall.
Well, Honda just turned the F1 world on it's ear - they're leaving after 2021 season!
All sorts of implications there....like will Red Bull be able to keep Verstappen? What engine will they use now, they've pretty well burned their bridges with Renault, and Mercedes can't supply everyone. But they may not have a choice and will have to use Renault engines - they sure wouldn't want to start over with a new mfr (VW/Audi/Porsche?) and Ferrari is already linked with 2 other teams. Not that Ferrari would take them on anyway.....maybe build their own engines? They've talked about it before....
Honda have made it their goal to win the championship next season, but they will be working under a self imposed spending cap - so they may be limited in what they can actually accomplish.
And back to Verstappen....maybe this is the opportunity to go to Mercedes?
It's cold in Germany today - 45* - not exactly F1 weather.
The cold seems to help the Ferraris tho as they're both in the top 5.
Track limits are being strictly enforced again and lap times deleted right and left.
Lance Stroll is sick and Nico Hulkenberg is running in his place. He got no practice so he's on the back foot, but the last time he subbed for Lance he did well in the race, so hopes are high.
Could be an interesting race as it's not only going to be cold tomorrow, but it's also supposed to rain at some point in the race - however if it gets foggy they'll stop the race.
I noticed that the guys keep their wheel guns in a temp resistant silver bag in the pits - to keep it warm. Never seen that before!
Edit: and while ONE of the Ferraris managed top 5 in qually, I'll leave to you to figure out which one didn't get out of Q2.........again.
The Hulk also did not have a good day in Qually, finishing 20th. I think he's hoping for rain tomorrow - he may get his wish.
The 'ring sure does eat racecars, doesn't it?
After Bottas was out I thought Lewis might follow too. Max needs just a little more to play with the Mercedes boys. Great podium result for Ricardo and Renault finally.
Power unit problems are always a surprise in this era of absolute reliability - back in the day you could count on a few strategic engine or gearbox failures to shake up the order by the end of the race, but that hasn't been the case in the last few years.....so seeing several cars have power unit failures today was an eyebrow raiser....
Good for Ricky Racer to finally hit the podium, too bad it's right before he bails for McLaren. It's been fun seeing some of the midfield teams running so far up the order - I wish it would happen more often.
Also, too bad we didn't get to see Micky Schumacher run in Friday practice, I wasn't expecting miracle times, especially since he was driving an Alfa but it still would have been fun to see him taking the laps.
Speaking of gearbox failures, Clancy lost 3rd gear in todays Lake Garnet GranPrix, but he has two other gearboxes I built previously for him ready to go in - a regular and a close ratio with straight cut gears - and we'll be rebuilding this one over the winter also with straight cut close ratio gears....or we might go all out and build a crashbox instead.
This weekend in F1 - the teams visit a track they've never been to before - as F1 anyway, some of the drivers have driven here in the lower formulae in previous years - including the Hamster.....the track is in Portugal.
This track is noted for having a lot of elevation changes - drivers refer to it as the roller coaster.
I'm hoping it gives some new teams a leg up and throws a wrench into some of the top teams - it will be fun to see if someone else can master this track.
Looking forward to friday!
Haas has told both of their drivers that their services won't be required for next season - or further! Silly season starting already. Now the question is will they take on an experienced driver to pair with one of the F2 series champs out of the Ferrari "youth corps" or go with two rookies?
There's been solid talk of having Mick S join the Alfa team, but now I'm hearing Kimi wants to run another year, and they want Giovanazzi to go another season with Alfa too, so that avenue may not be open to Mick.... so if HAAS go with the Hulk or Perez (or both?) then which of the very talented ready for prime time drivers will they chose? They currently have 3 that are all highly regarded - of course Mick brings "the name" with him!
Williams is said to be evaluating their two guys too, and George or Nic or both might be out of a ride if they can sign Hulk and or Perez.
Silly season indeed.
Wow, Portimao is a fantastic track....talk about elevation changes and great corners!
They're really enforcing track limits here at three different corners - where if you exceed those limits you'll have that lap time AND the next one eliminated.
Since the track surface is brand new it doesn't have a ton of grip.....Sainz said the track was like
Tokyo Drift! I'm just watching practice one, so no idea who's going to go fast yet. Looks like a really fun track to drive!
Sounds like it could be a great race to watch. I think they ought to mix things up like this more often. It just makes for better racing in my opinion.
So far, it's business as usual.....the two Mercs fighting it out for the top spots and everyone else chasing them, with Verstappen closest but LeClerc not far behind.....of course when they really turn it up to 11 tomorrow in qually, then we'll see.
I don't know if all these hairpins and very slow corners will make for an exciting race, or if it will be the same old stuff, with the leader driving off and the rest just motoring around after him......but up and down over these hills looks like fun!
Might end up being one of those that seems like it ought to be more fun to watch but mostly just ends up being more fun for those that get to drive on it. I really enjoy watching some of the vintage car races like the one someone posted on Bruce's Marcos posting on BAT. Watching those back and forth battles between cars is always fun.
Well, same old same old.....
"..........Records are made to be broken" Michael Schumacher
And The Hamster did just that, winning his 92nd race today.
The early part of the race was fantastic as the cars that started on medium tires seemed to have absolutely no grip where the red tired cars blasted thru the pack - but within about 10 laps order had been restored and all the real fights were in the midfield again.
This was a fun track to watch a race on, especially from the in-car cameras as all the elevation changes and corners made for some fun video.
I would absolutely LOVE to drive a modern MINI on this track, or even a classic. It will never happen of course but fun to think about.....
Watching the Mercedes lap everyone up to 5th place tho tells you something about the performance advantage they have. This is not the first time or track they've done this on either.
LeClerc did well to bring the Red car in 4th again - that seems to be as far as they will go this season unless Hammy, Bottas or Verstappen has a problem. Vettel came from 15th to 10th - and got one more point on the year, so he's up to 18 points total. A truly miserable year for him and he admits LeClerc is far outdriving him. I wonder if Racing Point (Aston Martin) are re-considering their decision to let Perez go in favor of Vettel as he consistently finishes well in the points and WAY above his teammate, Stroll - who seems to have forgotten everything he learned about racing in the past year.
The McLarens looked pretty hot early on but seemed to fade back into their usual place although Sainz had a brilliant start and even led for a bit at the start, he finished 6thh......and Gasly is absolutely making a case to move back up to the varsity team while Albon's star is definitely fading.
No one else watched this race?
I mean the winner was pretty much a foregone conclusion, but the track sure is fun and the midfield battles were great!
I don't have "regular" tv anymore so it's hard for me to watch much of anything like this anymore.
We have a subscription to stream Britbox, so old Brit TV shows is what we end up watching most of the time when we watch TV.
I loved the start. Very exciting to see Lewis fall back, and Kimi come forward so far (9 places!) at the beginning. And Carlos pull into the lead. I was excited when raindrops started to fall and I thought it was going to be a wet race - the great equalizer. Sadly didn't happen. I agree the midfield racing was where all the excitement was today.
I feel the same way about Lewis winning every race well ahead of the rest of the pack as I did about Michael Schumacher doing the same thing 20+ years ago; that is those types of super easy victories by virtue of having best the car doing most of the work - with no real racing out in front - should ring really hollow to a true competitor. Sadly neither one of them thinks that way.
Do you realize it takes longer to say the short phrase "change the tires" than it does for the Red Bull team to change 4 tires and adjust the front wing?! Just 1.8 seconds (!) for Albon's pit stop. That is truly amazing.
Here's Kimi's incredible run down through the field in the first lap.
I guess the reason no one is commenting on Hamilton beating Schumacher''s record win total is that it's just not really an achievement - when you have consistently better cars every season, it's almost expected?
Next race is at Imola, which hasn't seen an F1 race since Senna and Ratzenberg died there the same weekend? I wonder how the commentators will address that.....
Quote from: MiniDave on October 27, 2020, 11:59:54 AM
I guess the reason no one is commenting on Hamilton beating Schumacher''s record win total is that it's just not really an achievement - when you have consistently better cars every season, it's almost expected?
Yup, expected. And boring. And almost always a "done deal". And that's not
real racing IMO. That's why I posted above how those easy, non-competitive wins should ring hollow to a true racer. When Hamilton does have to work hard it's exciting to watch but that's always tempered by him being a whiny little bitch and complaining about things.
The other reason is that to many people, myself included, both Hamilton and Schumaker are kind of jerks that are hard to genuinely like. Think of the other world champions in the last 20 years and there are a lot of more likeable guys in that list: Button, Kimi, Alonso, and Rosberg. Vettel is somewhere in the middle.
.
Red Bull's 1.8 second pit stop at the last race. Incredible.
They do so many things so well, it just seems like they're only a tiny bit from being right up Mercedes tailpipe. BUT, I'm hearing Mercedes isn't running at 10/10, but only about 8/10 so that they don't cause the FIA to do what they did to Ferrari and throttle them back somehow. Bottom line....they're going to win this year and next year - with pretty much whomever is driving.....
What do you all think of Red Bull going ahead with the Honda engines after Honda has officially ended their engine program next year? Red Bull is not an engine builder and it took Honda years to get to the point where they were competitive...can Red Bull do what no other team has in modern times and do a competitive engine program based on the ground Honda has already broken?
With as complicated as these power units are I seriously doubt it unless they've obtained some engineers from Honda. What's crazy is Mercedes is not known for their hybrid cars so it's really surprising the dominance they've had with them. Kind of surprised Porsche hasn't gotten into f1 engine as the whole vw/Audi/Porsche conglomerate has some pretty epic hybrids.
The financial commitment to do an engine program is huge, and I'm sure VW is still paying off the diesel snafu for a while yet....but I agree, F1 needs more engine mfr participation - since they've made the regs so complicated it just can't be done by a privateer now.
I'm thinking that what Red Bull will do is have Honda run the engine program for them, and just pay the freight - where Honda is paying for it right now. Since the engine regs aren't going to change for a while, there will only be incremental changes to the engine, so it shouldn't be that expensive - whether it will be competitive is the only real question. If all Mercedes has to do is turn up the wick a little more to run away with it again, that is.....
What else can Red Bull do?
They really don't want the Renault engine - which I think is a mistake because Renault have the financial backing to keep developing theirs and I think it's not far off the others now, if at all....except Mercedes. But it's also clear that the other teams using the Mercedes powerplant are NOT getting the same performance - and I d=really don't think it's just down to the chassis. the real answer to that will be next year when McLaren have Mercedes power - If they make a significant move up the grid then we'll know that Renault and Ferrari and Honda are not on the same HP level. likewise if they only make an incremental move we'll know Mercedes is holding back on their engines - not surprising but they're not supposed to do that.
So this weekend is Imola, and another 2 day weekend - I was surprised when I went to my DVR and found no practice sessions recorded!
Consequently they will really be ramping things up with a 90 min practice followed by qually 2 hours later. They haven't raced F1 here in 14 years so for some drivers it will be the first time they see this track - others will have driven here in lower formula, but they all have simulator time to help them learn the lay of the track, bump, braking zones and curbs.
My DVR did not record any of the practice sessions either. Perhaps they weren't broadcast?
There was no Friday practice - they're doing it all in 2 days - so there will be one practice session tomorrow, then qually
Ah. And I thought Monaco was the only place that didn't have a Friday practice. ;D
So, today was a 90 minute practice - nothing new revealed there except the continued good form of some of the mid field players - Gasly for one.
So then they did qually and again no surprises there except it was "not-Hamilton" on first as Bottas beat him by the tiniest of margins, Verstappen was third as usual - 1/2 second behind and Gasly in the Alpha Tauri in 4th - a remarkable score for him yet again.
About the only other constant was Vettel in terrible form - yet again - 14th vs LeClerc's 7th place.
Tomorrow's race could be interesting - weather is supposed to be perfect - but there are a couple of different tire strategies in play - most importantly Verstappen starting on mediums and everyone else in the top 10 on softs.
Also almost all of the drivers have never raced on this track, and they are strictly enforcing track limits again this weekend, so there could be some time penalties handed out during the race. Albon and Kimi in particular were having trouble coloring between the lines, as were Vettel and Stroll.
With some driver changes already locked in for next season, I think some of these guys would just like to get this season over with while others are fighting to even be on the grid next year. Should be an interesting day tomorrow.
Not Hamilton on pole is good. Wish it was Not Mercedes for a change.
Well the final race results first and second were predictable, but how they got there made for a pretty interesting race. What a series of ups and downs for so many people. Poor Gasley. Poor Russell (self inflicted). Poor K-Mag. The list goes on. What great luck on Lewis' pit stop timing. What bad luck on Vettel's pit stop. And worst luck of all goes to Max who was doing so well until his RR Pirelli blew!
And with Danny Rick in 3rd, the Shoey has returned! Great to see Lewis take part and drink one too!
Well, you have to admire Mercedes for their absolute domination of this sport for 7 damn years!
I wonder if Abitiboul has to get a second tatoo now?
Bottas said he lost 50 downforce points to his damaged floor, I wonder if those are like internet points? ;D
Such bad luck for Gasly, Verstappen and a couple other guys.
AlphaTauri sure has done a good job with their cars this season, and both Alfa Romeos in the points - the only Ferrari powered team to do this for a while now.
Racing Point/Aston Martin has GOT to be wondering if Stroll/Vettel is the right combo for next season - Perez and the Hulk might have been a better choice!
The next race is in two weeks in Turkey - which IIRC the drivers loved this track. That's the one good thing about this season, the variety of new and interesting tracks they've run at has been the highlight of the season for me.
Better Shoey photo!
I saw a fun photograph on FB today - headline was Ferrari on the podium!
A Mercedes team member was holding a fairly large chunk of bright red bodywork that was embedded in the floor of his car - which he claimed cost him the win......but the part made it to the podium at least!
Wish I could find it again.....
I think there's a market for people to buy pieces of old race cars. Something to hang on the garage wall. If they look like something identifiable - not like that.
This is where F1 lost me. I have not watched but maybe 1 race this year. I really do not care anymore. If Lewis thinks beating Schumacher in this fashion means anything, then I am lost as a fan forever.
Schumacher had 1 season where he was in a dominant car, the rest? Look at the #2 car, like Vettel in RBR. The #2 was no where near the winner. There are a couple of exceptions at Mercedes the norm is a 1-2 finish seconds ahead of the nest car. What a sad sate F1 is in.
This is the moment I realized it is no longer the driver anymore:
Mercedes put a second rate Russian F3 (or was it F2?) pay driver, Nikita Mazepin, in the Silver Arrow he started throwing down Pole laps in the car. I think they dialed him back after he did that. I might be wrong, regardless, it made Mercedes drivers look bad, anyone can jump in the car and turn the same laps.
Just looked it up, Valteri ran a best 1:15.4 is qualifying. (Q1) Nikita ran a 1:15.7 in practice good enough for pole that year as Valteri ran a 1:16.9 in Q3 and a 1:15.9 in Q2.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.barcelona-test-day-two-mazepin-fastest-on-first-mercedes-outing.AzcsqDHnzWma7VnU2QEwd.html (https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.barcelona-test-day-two-mazepin-fastest-on-first-mercedes-outing.AzcsqDHnzWma7VnU2QEwd.html)
https://www.f1-fansite.com/f1-result/qualifying-results-2019-spanish-f1-grand-prix/ (https://www.f1-fansite.com/f1-result/qualifying-results-2019-spanish-f1-grand-prix/)
Mazepin will probably be driving a HAAS next season too....
Rumor has it Lewis will not be back next season - they're not willing to pay him the extra Bux he wants, so he may stomp his little foots and walk out - which would give us a chance to see if someone else could be as fast in his old car.
Truth be told he drove an excellent race - once Bought-ass went in for new tars he put in some smokin laps to get ahead of his teammate. But by then Boat-hos already had picked up his Ferrari penalty weight and was fined 50 downforce points.
Because he is a PAY driver.
Not on merritt as a driver. Lets see what he does in a Haas vs. a Mercedes. LMAO! I will look for the news after I honestly do not have time for F1 anymore.
There are a number of pay drivers in F1 these days, in fact they all are in some ways - between the sponsorship $$$ they bring in as well as endorsements.
The one real improvement in this years F1 are the new venues - the next race is in Turkey and I remember the drivers absolutely loving that circuit because of elevation changes and sweeping corners - I may be remembering with rose colored glasses, but it seems like there were a number of places to pass too.
I wonder how Turkey, Imola, Mugello and Portugal got on the schedule this year, was it because they couldn't go to other tracks due to Covid? In spite of that I'm glad they did for the chance to see some new tracks even if the results were all too predictable.
Watching F1 third practice this morning from Turkey - it's already been an interesting weekend because they resurfaced the track, and it's not exactly warm - 59* - so the drivers complained that it was like driving on ice.
Today it's even more interesting because it's not only cold out but raining! Even on full wets the cars are sliding around on every corner and anytime they try to apply power the car wants to swap ends. It's like watching them in slow motion - times would normally be around 1min20 sec are more like 2 min 20 sec or slower!
It's not really supposed to improve either for qually.
Istanbul is about the same latitude as Chicago, so except for the moderating influence of the Mediterranean sea, it's probably about the same weather too!
Should be interesting to see who goes quickly in these terrible racing conditions - nothing like a wet slippery track to shake up the order!
Rain delayed qualifying today meaning the broadcast was longer than the time slot and my DVR did not catch who got pole.
A little research shows that it was a COVID-19 surviving Canadian guy. First F1 pole!
Hope it rains again tomorrow!
It is supposed to rain tomorrow, but if it rains like it did today there - I think they'll cancel the race - and the Hamster will be champion again. MBZ already has locked up the constructors....
I also love that both Alfas are in the top ten, and no other Ferrari powered car is! That's like the Alpha Tauris out running the Reds Bull!
And the Mercs are 6 and 9! They simply do not like this track much....the Mercedes safety car had a difficult time staying on track too.
If the race does come off tomorrow, it should be interesting....... 77.gif
What a race! I think every F1 race should be run on a wet track with low grip. Much more exciting. There was no way to tell what was going to happen next. Some incredible drives. And some incredible good luck and bad luck. I really thought Stroll might take the win. It looked that way for much of the race. But at the end he was in ninth place! And Vettel came in 3rd in front of his teammate! Perez in 2nd!!
I sure didn't expect the Hamster to win, after the terrible start he had, and Stroll fairly rocketed away and I thought he was going to win it also - I think the timing of his pit stop did him in - too bad too as he kept asking them why they were calling him in right then, his tires were fine and he was making great lap times.
Hammy's tires were worn bare by the end of the race and they said that's why he went so well - it was as if he was running slicks without having to stop for them, and since the track was drying out, slicks were exactly what he needed. He ran those what - 40 laps or so?
I agree, nothing like wet, cold nasty weather to shake up the order, except it really didn't did it? A Mercedes still won. I seriously wonder if Bottas will be back next year, he had a terrible race and he spun at least three times that I saw. He is not a rainmeister.....
Holy shit! I'm just watching the start of the Bahrain race and what a scary crash. Reminded me of Kubica's violent crash in Canada all those years ago. Except this one had a massive fireball. Truly amazing Grosjean came out of that alive. Looks like the halo definitely saved his life.
The car instantly split in two and the front half exploded in a fireball. Grosjean is still in the cockpit consumed in a massive fire at this point.
Yeah, the video of him climbing out of the cockpit in the midst of that fireball was scary, the fire marshals were spraying both him and the medical guy helping him over the barrier. They said he's got burns on his ankles, wrists and hands, and maybe some broken ribs.
I haven't seen one go up in flames like that in decades!
The rest of the race was mostly forgettable, with the usual results. Only Bottas didn't have a good race at all. I'm really surprised that Mercedes kept him for another year given the talent down the grid.....Russel is in their drivers academy and has out run all of his teammates so far, Perez is out of a seat for next year so far, Hulk comes in rusty as hell and scores great points.....I mean......
Strolls wreck a few laps later was almost as scary in the result, tho when you see it it such a slow roll....I was surprised it went over like that.....
Grosjean, looking great considering what he went through, addresses the fans.
He said he was formerly not a fan of the Halo, but he now credits it with saving his life. 4.gif Considering that he actually traveled through a hole his car made in middle of the guard rail (!!!) and was sitting on the other side of it, I'm sure he is absolutely correct that the Halo saved his life
Yep, I have to say it probably did save his life.....that will also pretty much end discussion on whether the cars should have them. Originally they were supposed to save your head from flying wheels and tires or cars sliding over the top of your car, I don't think anyone foresaw this outcome.
Unfortunately this was probably Grossjean's last F1 race as I'm doubtful he'll do a Lauda and be back in the car this season.
So, I wonder who their backup driver is? Who will get the tap for the last two races of the year? Junior Schumi maybe?
Close. But the Haas replacement driver will not be a relative of Formula One champion Michael Schumacher. But, instead it will be a relative of F1 champion Emerson Fittipaldi, his grandson Pietro Fittipaldi.
Is he their back up driver this year? I hadn't heard that he had his superlicense yet.
Schumi Jr should have gotten his as F2 season is done and he had sufficient points to drive F1, plus too and also he was supposed to drive FP1 at this race. Since the next race is right here too, it seemed an easy transition for him.....and since they're already at the back of the grid, he'd have room to learn as he drove, as long as he stays out of the way of the Hamster as he laps him.
If they're not going to Schumi, they should just call the Hulk - he gets good results.......
Apparently Fittipaldi is the regular Haas reserve driver.
https://amp.formula1.com/en/latest/article.breaking-haas-reserve-driver-pietro-fittipaldi-to-replace-injured-grosjean.55uu7NoxZbAD0eabhT2Bv5.html
Lewis Hamilton will definitely NOT WIN the next race. Has the 'rona. Who will race for him?
Wow! They're so careful with their protocols, just like the football teams....I'm surprised.
Did you see Sunday Denver had to play with a wide receiver for the q-back? Seems the Q-backs all had a meeting together and one of them tested positive - so they ALL are quarantined.
Oh, and now they're talking about Grosjean racing this weekend - and if not then the last race for sure!
Mercedes backup driver is Stoffel VanDorne....I found this bit.....
Stoffel Vandoorne is Mercedes' designated F1 reserve driver, and was always due to travel to Bahrain this weekend upon completing his Formula E test in Valencia.
Seems a bit overkill to not let him race when he is already there so long as he is basically symptom free. I mean he is sitting in a car by himself for the most part, and keeping him isolated and by himself up to the start of the race would seem simple enough.
I could see not allowing him to travel to the next race or something perhaps, but even then it's not like these guys are flying coach places. Probably has his own personal jet all by himself anyway LOL.
Different times we live in now I guess.
Mercedes is talking to Williams about using Russel this weekend and at the next race if the Hamster doesn't clear protocols in time.
I would like to see someone else in the Mercedes this weekend - and it will be good for George too.
Just saw a news headline Lewis may not drive. I think they should pull in Nikita Mazepin, he demonstrated he can run laps as fast as the regular drivers can.
Russel is going to drive in Lewis' place, and Williams is using their backup driver.
A while back I believe the Williams back up driver was Susie Wolff (Toto's better half). It would've been great to see her run in this next race.
Now I think it's Jack Aitken?
Should be a cakewalk for Mercedes as this track is practically all long straights.....
Well, so far in FP1 Russel is fastest in the Hamster's Mercedes.....maybe it is just the car after all? Bottas is 4th.....with the two Reds Bull in between....
Oh, and Jack Aitken in the Williams is last......
So, do you think Mercedes will void Bottas contract for next year and put Russel in his car if Russel wins this weekend?
Or maybe that will validate his comments that the Hamminator gets a better car each weekend?
It's interesting that they changed the car number too.....
If Russell keeps this up then for sure it's the car! ;D
As for the number, 44 is Lewis' number, never the car's.
This video is great.
Quote from: BruceK on December 03, 2020, 04:02:37 PM
A while back I believe the Williams back up driver was Susie Wolff (Toto's better half). It would've been great to see her run in this next race.
Susie Wolff was never a Williams reserve driver, she was a development driver. Which is a small but important distinction, they are mainly focused on simulator driving.
Quote from: MiniDave on December 04, 2020, 10:22:51 AM
Or maybe that will validate his comments that the Hamminator gets a better car each weekend?
In FP2, they showed some data that Bottas had the fastest theoretical lap, but could not string it all together.
George Russell is an exceptional talent, as is demonstrated by how much quicker he is than Latifi. He also won the F2 championship against Albon and Norris in more equal machinery.
Surprised the don't down tune hamsters car for another driver. Be a pretty big ego shock if any f1 joe can jump in your ride and smoke the competition.
Good point Mark!
Young George was fastest of all in FP1 and FP2 as well. Wow. And here I was thinking he'd have a very hard time forgetting all the ins and outs of the Williams F1 car while also and having to quickly master all the new Mercedes particularities.
It's a difficult argument......most people think the Mercedes is just that must better/faster and "anyone" could win in it. The counter argument is - then why isn't Bottas?
Don't forget Ol George is in the Mercedes program and has been for several years now, he's also driven earlier versions of the Hamster's car....so it's not completely unknown to him.
Plus too and also, Bottas' car has had problems today - which is why he's saying/not saying that Lewis always gets a better car than him. This weekend's events could give some credence to that idea if George goes off and wins and his car breaks again.
It also really puts Bottas on notice that if George wins this weekend - he should replace him for next year. Even tho contracts are already in place for next year - as Perez found out - that means dick in F1.
Flashback to 2009 and a very young George Russell approaches a younger Lewis Hamilton for an autograph.
I feel old.
Cause when you pay a guy, what was it 150 million, to be the face of your brand you don't let his second beat him. Pretty sure nico only won that title cause his family name had the pull to twist Mercedes arm. That also predated the big money payday for Lewis if I remember right. Always been my biggest issue with f1. Way to many politics, actually it's what's ruined most forms of televised motor sports.
That's a fantastic pic!
For some reason my DVR did not record Qually. So I looked it up.
Bottas is P1 with a "I really need to keep my job and standing" time of 53.377 and
Russell is P2 with a " I am this close to you" time of 53.403
Wow.
Skin of his teeth!
But the one to watch will be MadMax, who usually gets away well - and Bought-Ass doesn't always. Could be REAL interesting at turn one.
LeClerc made his run early in the session, pulled into the pits and hopped out - done. Can not do better, left it all out there on the track. managed to hold onto 4th, so he'll be beside Max....REAL interesting in turn one.
What a race! Ups and downs galore! Bad luck mixed with awful luck, and yet good luck too. Max and Charles immediately out! Russell just shone brightly - he really would have won. Checo for his first win!! Racing Point with a double podium! Mercedes pit screwup wit the tires cost them hugely. Poor Bottas. Ocon got his first F1 podium!
Boy did Mercedes screw the pooch! Toto said he couldn't even look at the replay of the stop he was so upset about it. he claims there was a radio failure for the mechanics, but I don't know....these pit guys have been doing this for years, they don't make these kinds of mistakes.
Some conspiracists are saying that it was a set up - can't have anyone else winning in the champ's car...
I hope Lewis stays out of the last race and they let George drive again, but I can't see Lewis sitting out unless he can't pass the protocols.
Terrific win for Checo, Aston Martin/Racing Point HAVE to be wondering if replacing Perez with Vettel was the right thing to do......
Checo says if he's not driving F1 next year he will be in 22 for sure.
You know.....the more I read about this, watch it on the replays and listen to Toto, the more I think it was as fake as a TV Evangelist's tears......like a wrestling guys pain when he gets slammed to the mat. In other words, complete and utter BS....
These pit guys have been together for how long? And they don't know which tires to put on a car in the middle of a race? They're watching the race develop just like we are on TV, they know exactly what to do or else they would not be on a championship winning (7 times no less) F1 team.
No, I'm just not buying it.
I don't know what their real game was, maybe they just didn't want anyone else to win in the champ's car....maybe they didn't want the rest of the world to know what everyone in F1 already knows - that it's the car more than the driver, and most of Bottas' bad luck this season is of his own making - that he belongs at Williams, not Mercedes.
But this "they didn;' hear the call on the radio" excuse is pitiful.....maybe that's the best he could come up with on short notice before the cameras but it's nonsense
I remain skeptical of any orchestrated pit stop shenanigans. After all, this appeared to be an impromptu stacked pit stop: two cars, eight new tires, plenty of pressure. I think getting points for the team is more important than protecting the team's top driver's ego. I can't see it. Remember, this was the same team that accidentally royally screwed up Hamilton's race at Monaco several years ago by virtue of an unneeded pit stop. They are not infallible.
Yes, but that was a bad strategy call, not a bunch of trained guys who do this hundreds of times before each race to make sure they know exactly what to do......
I don't know that it was orchestrated for the Hamster's benefit, but I just can't believe they could mess up a pit stop in this way - by grabbing the wrong tires.
Well, last race of 2020.....
Honda power, a Newey chassis and Mad Max behind the wheel = poll at Abu Dhabi!
I thought the Haminator was going to take it again, but then Bought Ass went a tiny bit quicker and Mad Max went even quicker. Heck of a finish to this weird season. I'm surprised, but they said this was Max' first poll ever in F1??!?!?
Back when an F1 car could raise the hairs on the back of your neck!
Wonder what the lap times were like in a 15 year old car?
So the final F1 race of 2020 can be summed up with one word: YAWN
Or perhaps: BORING
When P1, P2, and P3 remain unchanged from the start to the finish it's not a race, it's a parade.
Yep, and once again it shows that when you're out in front, you pretty much have it done.
Did you all notice the quick look in the Mercedes pits as they talked about whether they might give Lewis a new set of tires so he could get fastest lap? All the tires were carefully laid out in front of the mechanics, in the blankets with the driver's name on them.
That was my point about the "tire mixup" last week for Russel.
Congrats to all the F1 guys for pulling off this season under terrible circumstances.
23 races next year!
Red Bull hires Sergio Perez for 2021. Smart move on their part. 4.gif
I agree - I don't think he's faster than Max, but he's a consistent finisher, and with the Red Bull cars I think he can be right there with Max - that will help with the points hauls and strategy during the races. Should be an interesting mix....I'm pleased that he found a ride, too bad for Albon tho, as he was starting to get a lot better with the car too. Still, I think he was always at least 1/2 second slower than Max.....
Did you guys see that Hamilton received a knighthood? That should definitely help keep his ego in check.
Being sarcastic obviously.
Yes, and Sir is asking $50 million a year on a 5 year contract....Mercedes so far say Nein!
Some things to look forward to in F1 for 2021 - cribbed from F1dotcom
1} a Schumacher on the grid. OK, he's going to be riding with the backmarkers, and he has a ways to go but it will be fun to see him on the grid
2} The return of Alonso, and in a car that Ricciardo got pretty competitive towards the end of last season.
3) Red Bull getting stronger each year, and Max with a strong teammate that should push him even harder.
4) Ferrari with a new stronger engine - who knows, maybe back to the front?
5) New tracks again this year. The highlight of the 2020 season for me was seeing the cars at such great tracks as Turkey, Portimao, Mugello and now they're adding Zaandvort and Saudi Arabia too.
6) Yuki Tsunoda coming to Alpha Tauri. He's supposed to be a really hot shoe, and Gasly was looking extremely strong last season as the car was very competitive.
7) Vettel at Aston Martin? Can he find the go fast button again? The car is stronger, and I think Papa Stroll is not fooling around here. Even Lance had some pretty good races last year.
8 ) Ricciardo and Norris - I'm not sure what to think about them, but the Big Mac seems to be getting better every year, so there could be some lightning next year.....maybe some more Shoies? Although frankly I wish he'd stop that....
Interesting article on the Aeroscreen used on Indy cars - apparently Red Bull did most of the design work based on their design for their F1 car, which makes me wonder if this is not about to appear on F1 cars too? They also are looking at design improvements for driver cooling and quick disconnects based on how long it took Grosjean to get out of his burning car.
Interesting stuff to think about.....
https://racer.com/2021/01/01/insight-progress-made-and-changes-to-come-with-indycars-aeroscreen/?fbclid=IwAR1C6GZ2ipJP710Nh6B23TVDkjGZkafmi_RK9Cd_2IOAYaN7XqGfx6zmK2Y (https://racer.com/2021/01/01/insight-progress-made-and-changes-to-come-with-indycars-aeroscreen/?fbclid=IwAR1C6GZ2ipJP710Nh6B23TVDkjGZkafmi_RK9Cd_2IOAYaN7XqGfx6zmK2Y)
Does any helmet manufacturer make any size that will possibly fit Hamilton's new, even bigger head?
:D
They may have to resize the cockpit too! Maybe it can become an additional aero device? Kinda like "Dark Helmet" in Spaceballs?