F1 2020

[BruceK]

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.

[MiniDave]

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

[pbraun]

I just don't like Sato, but Alonso is a different story!  Hope he does return to F1 and do well!

[BruceK]

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?

[MiniDave]

I thought there were three more races in a row, starting this weekend?

[BruceK]

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be helpful if Google were to arrange things by date or something so as to make it clear when the latest info supersedes outdated news/info.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.

[MiniDave]

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.

[bikewiz]

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.

[MiniDave]

Do you think Honda spent all their energy on Indy and F1 and let the bikes ride for a bit?

[BruceK]

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.

[bikewiz]

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.

[MiniDave]

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.

[MiniDave]

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.

[BruceK]

Ferrari performing badly at Monza?  That won't go down well with the tifosi.

[MiniDave]

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"

[MiniDave]

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?

[BruceK]

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.

[MiniDave]

Well, I don't want to ruin it for you but they were genuinely happy for the winning three!  ;D

[MiniDave]

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?

[MiniDave]

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.

[BruceK]

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.

[MiniDave]

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....

[MiniDave]

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.

[gr8kornholio]

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.

[BruceK]

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.