OT 2020 Formula 1 Season

[Markay]

I am now in Melbourne looking forward to being in the grandstand at what may be the last GP run in front of spectators until we have the corana virus pandemic under control. Ferrari's pantomime about not coming here unless they got special treatment was entertaining, Ferrari is based in northern Italy after all, so our goverment removed Italy from a list of countries from which arrivals, which now includes Iran, must be quarantined for 14 days on arrival.

 

I know Grandstand seats were sold out several weeks ago as I had to adjust my day job invites to accomodate a short notice corporate guest from overseas and could not buy another seat, but I suspect there will be many empty seats now as the infection rate climbs and do not congregate in large numbers warnings are now being widely circulated.

 

The China GP has been cancelled and Bahrain will be run without spectators so it may be a TV only race for sometime during this season. Interesting times.

 

Will post some pics, but not of the Ferrari pits as I am not going near them.

[zephonic]

Has anybody watched the Netflix show 'Drive To Survive'? I really enjoyed season 1, and season 2 was pretty good, too. It got my son interested in F1, I"m happy about that.

 

Without Alonso, I find myself not really rooting for anybody, so these days I watch the races with a certain equanimity. Although tight races like Austria last year still get me yelling and whooping!

[Markay]

The last of the Ferrari team arrived last night. Today Italy was added to our CV 14 day quarantine list.

[Biggles]

It will be yet another boring season.

 

Mercedes on top.

 

Ferrari playing catchup and wheeling and dealing, threatening to throw the dummy out of the pram.

 

Red Bull doing what they can to throw a spanner in the mix.

 

All the others being also rans.

 

The last British Grand Prix that I went to was a boring procession, 15 years later they are still the same.

 

Street circuits do sweet FA for racing.

 

The drivers are Corporate Prima Donna"s who strut their stuff and give comments that nobody in their right ming gives a damn about.

 

Now the Yanks have control of it does that bode well for the future?

 

 

[Markay]

Well it is all going pear shaped here in Melbourne.

 

"Three Formula One team members have been placed into isolation ahead of the Melbourne Grand Prix after showing symptoms of coronavirus.

 

One member from McLaren and two from team Haas were evaluated at Albert Circuit's isolation unit after presenting with fever.

 

The trio were tested for coronavirus and placed under self isolation at their hotels after showing symptoms, their teams confirmed."

 

"The overriding concern will come if the three team members' tests return positive, having already heavily mixed with the F1 racing paddock.

 

Aussie F1 star Daniel Ricciardo was pulled out of a scheduled Renault team media conference earlier today over fears he might be exposed to the coronavirus."

 

Quoted on a local sports channel

 

"Ferrari's worst nightmare, one pit stop person and a five minute pit stop time".

[Markay]

It will be yet another boring season.

 

Mercedes on top.

 

Ferrari playing catchup and wheeling and dealing, threatening to throw the dummy out of the pram.

 

Red Bull doing what they can to throw a spanner in the mix.

 

All the others being also rans.

 

The last British Grand Prix that I went to was a boring procession, 15 years later they are still the same.

 

Street circuits do sweet FA for racing.

 

The drivers are Corporate Prima Donna"s who strut their stuff and give comments that nobody in their right ming gives a damn about.

 

Now the Yanks have control of it does that bode well for the future?

 

 

Most people dont understand that the Australian GP's are a unique event on the F1 calendar. It is a 4 day event that includes at least 4 support series which includes the soon to die Aussie V8 super cars. The F1 drivers all watch the V8's from the pit wall as it is really close racing. I will post some pices. So for me if the race at 4pm Sunday turns into a boring procession I am not bothered as I know there will be plenty of thrills and spills on turn 1 and 2 where I sit in the other categories, plus Vettel always loses it there in practice when he brakes too late for turn 1. Hamilton on the other hand always gets turn 1 right but can push too hard getting out of turn 2 and raise a bit of dust.

 

Whatever you may think of the sport getting P1 takes big cajones, and a well set up car at every race.

[Markay]

McLaren Racing has confirmed on Thursday evening in Melbourne that it has withdrawn from the 2020 Formula 1 season-opening Australian Grand Prix, following the positive test of a team member for the coronavirus.

[SteveUK]

McLaren Racing has confirmed on Thursday evening in Melbourne that it has withdrawn from the 2020 Formula 1 season-opening Australian Grand Prix, following the positive test of a team member for the coronavirus.

 

Ouch that is going to hurt. Be interesting to see if the FIA follow and cancel the whole event.

 

Really enjoyed both series of 'Drive to Survive'. A nice look into F1 even if slightly dramatised.

[Markay]

It is interesting being at the track while all this swirls around us. It seems entirely normal. The support practices and qualifying are all going ahead as normal, people are there, maybe not as many as usual as it is hard judge on a Thursday when school excursions get free admission. I guess the acid test will be who is there and whether the grandstands are full for F1 P1 at 12.30 tomorrow.

 

Nightlife in the inner Melbourne suburbs seems to be going along as normal. One person I was chatting to made the comment that the worst part of CV is the wide spread fear rather than the reality.

 

One of my guests tomorrow has been assigned to the state Health Departments Covid-19 strike force so I will get some insight from an expert of how it looks from a public health perspective.

[SteveUK]

I am seeing on the news in the UK its rumoured that the event has been cancelled. Any news from trackside?

[zephonic]

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/single-seaters/f1/formula-1-australian-grand-prix-postponed-after-mclaren-coronavirus-case

 

Yup, postponed, which is as good as cancelled, because when were they going to reschedule?

 

 

[Joe Muscara]

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/single-seaters/f1/formula-1-australian-grand-prix-postponed-after-mclaren-coronavirus-case

 

Yup, postponed, which is as good as cancelled, because when were they going to reschedule?

 

Though based on Markay's post, it seems like this was too late. How much intermingling has been happening already? Yikes.

[Markay]

Event cancelled. The question remains why didn't every team have their crew tested for CV before they left for Australia? They didn't get it here, they brought it with them. So how can Bahrain go ahead?

 

There is also an extensive entertainment programme over the 4 days here. Lots of musos with cancelled gigs now including Robbie Williams.

[CowboyNQ]

The logistics behind this 11th hour cancellation would be a living nightmare.

[Joe Muscara]

Season canceled until end of May, hopefully.

[Markay]

I agree thats the best outcome. By then much more will be known about the pandemic and how best to manage it. The financial hit on each host will at least be minimised, they will not have to incur the huge set up costs as was the case in Melbourne. And every team can stay put and adhere to their own pandemic plan.

[Markay]

Looks like cancelled through to May is official. While other cancelled GP's at permanent tracks, for example Bahrain, may be rescheduled for later that will not happen for Melbourne given the logistics involved in setting the track up and the other grand finals and events that happen Melbourne later in the year. I will apply my refund to buying the same seats in 2021.

[Joe Muscara]

Dutch, Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix postponed

 

The Dutch, Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix have been postponed due to the global spread of the coronavirus. The news follows the cancellation of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix last week, and the postponement of the Chinese, Bahrain and Vietnam Grands Prix.

 

The Dutch Grand Prix, due to return to the calendar for the first time since 1985, was set to be held at Zandvoort on May 1-3, with the Spanish race following a week later, and the Monaco Grand Prix on May 21-24.

 

But with the ongoing coronavirus situation all three races have now been put on hold. A statement said: 'Formula 1, the FIA and the three promoters have taken these decisions in order to ensure the health and safety of the travelling staff, championship participants and fans, which remains our primary concern.'

 

All parties said they would study the viability of finding alternative dates to run the races later in the year, and the statement added that Formula 1 and the FIA expect to be able to begin the 2020 season 'as soon as it"s safe to do so after May' but will continue to monitor the situation.

 

linky

 

I was just thinking about this affecting Monaco (and Le Mans) this morning.

[Markay]

From Motorsport Week.

 

"Organisers of the Monaco Grand Prix have announced that the 2020 edition of the event has been cancelled altogether due to the coronavirus.

 

Formula 1 officials confirmed on Thursday that the event had been postponed on account of the coronavirus.

 

But on Thursday evening the Automobile Club de Monaco, which organises both the Formula 1 grand prix and the preceding Historic Grand Prix, confirmed the entire cancellation of proceedings."

[Joe Muscara]

Wow.

[zephonic]

Well, we may not have a season, but at least we have a Silly Season! Vettel leaving Ferrari, Sainz taking his seat, and Ricciardo off to McLaren.

 

So the two big questions now are, will Vettel stay in F1 and where could he go, and who will partner with Ocon at Renault?

 

 

I know this is not gonna happen, but how awesome would it be for F1 if Vettel joined Hamilton at Mercedes?

 

And Renault F1 posted this pic of Alonso on their twitter:

 

 

I"ll believe it when I see it. I"m an Alonso fan, but have no desire to see him struggle in the midfield.

[Markay]

Well about a year ago there were rumours about whether Renault would stay in F1. I suspect that a factor in Ricciardo's move is the possibility that Renault will have to cut every expense possible including F1 to survive the pandemic financial hit. McLaren is less likely to be in a similar position.

[marino]

Resurrecting this thread to talk about today's race, the first 'real' one of the season. My "Ferrarista" point of view...

 

So I'll start with Ferrari, just to say that they have embarassed me and millions of other supporters, by designing the worst engine on the grid. Engines have always been Ferrari's strong point, but even with all their budget, the Ferraris were 10-15 kmh behind on straights today. And all cars with a Ferrari engine were considerably slower than the rest.

 

Charles finished second, thanks to two factors: His driving virtuosity, and a *lot* of lucky strikes: Safety Cars, many retirements...

The Italian commentator to the GP kept repeating, "Give this kid a car, please give this kid a car". I feel that several millions hearts were beating in unison with those words. Certainly mine was.

My hope for Ferrari is what I have said for the last two years: Send Binotto back to design engines, and get a *real* TP, and a better strategist.

 

So - thank you Charles Leclerc for for giving us the only ray of hope today. You rescued Ferrari from a complete disaster.

Sebastian... urgh. It hurts to even think about the present state of Vettel. I still like the guy a lot, but as a driver, he's been in a descending curve for the last two years and a half. Time for retirement, I guess.

 

Mercedes, as usual, had a tank, a very quick one. They lamented overheating problems, but with the powerful war machine they have built, my guess is that they will resolve that very quickly. Talk about getting your (big) budget's worth.

They have the quickest and best-balanced car of the lot - just like in the last six years. Hamilton has filed off his early inconsistencies, and today, the combination of talent and expertise probabably makes him the greatest driver in F1.

 

Very happy to see McLaren back to the top positions. They will likely compete with Ferrari as the third force in the championship, behind Mercedes and Red Bull.

 

Let's see how this weird championship evolves...

Enough for today.

[Joe Muscara]

It was mentioned during one of the practice sessions that there was a protest last year about Ferrari's engines, and at that point Ferrari dropped off. The FIA and Ferrari made an agreement, the terms of which we don't know, nor do we know what the "issue" with the engine was, but if that's the case, clearly they still haven't gotten the engine performance back. Hopefully they will, but you'd think with all this extra time, they would have by now.

 

Seb looked like Seb. It just seems like he's been trying too hard for the past few years. I think he needs some mental training to get back to the right state of mind.

 

I'm always happy to see Lewis' teammate win. No disrespect to Lewis, but the other guy has the same car so he should be able to win a few too.

 

I don't think there have been that many retirements in a dry F1 race in forever.

[Biggles]

Prima freaking donnas.

 

Bring back proper wheel thumping racing.

 

Not OMG his car touched another that will be 5 second penalty.

 

Senna, Mansell, Prost, Peterson, they could race

[marino]

It was mentioned during one of the practice sessions that there was a protest last year about Ferrari's engines, and at that point Ferrari dropped off. The FIA and Ferrari made an agreement, the terms of which we don't know, nor do we know what the "issue" with the engine was, but if that's the case, clearly they still haven't gotten the engine performance back. Hopefully they will, but you'd think with all this extra time, they would have by now.

I was referring to Ferrari history in general - but anyway, I fear that the Marchionne period was the last stint of sanity for Ferrari. I have followed the story, and while I can't know whether they cheated or not, I know for sure that every major competitor in F1, Mercedes included, has always dug into the 'holes' of the regulations, in the hope to gain an advantage.

 

I don't think there have been that many retirements in a dry F1 race in forever.

I thought so as well (unless you don't want to include the farce at Indianapolis 2005), but since you got me curious I searched a bit, and found that in 1984 in Detroit, only 7 drivers made it to the end - of which two were disqualified! Most of the grid was wiped out by a horrid accident at the start, triggered by Nigel Mansell. I had never heard of it, because in those years, I was constantly traveling and taking a pause from motor sports.

[zephonic]

It was a pretty fun race, all things considered. Congrats to Bottas for a flawless victory (and forget the little off-road excursion that caused the yellow flag in Q3).

 

I thought Hamilton's penalty was unnecessary, the contact with Albon looked like a racing incident to me, and without my tinfoil hat I'd almost think they handicap him a little just to stop him from running away with it like he has done in recent years.

 

I do think the SC's are now being deployed too liberally, and it feels like race control uses it to close up the pack and hope for some extra excitement with free pit stops and the restart. Before long they'll bring it out because a marshal sneezed on the track.

 

Great result for McLaren, if they continue this upward trend, the Mercedes PU should enable them to duke it out with RBR next season. I'm impressed with Zak Brown. He had the unenviable job of cleaning up after the Honda mess, but he's getting it done and I believe he has the potential to be up there with Toto Wolff and Christian Horner. I doubt they will get true engine parity from Mercedes, but we can hope that the coming PU freeze will sufficiently level the playing field. You have to wonder whether Sainz is scratching his head right now...

[Joe Muscara]

It was mentioned during one of the practice sessions that there was a protest last year about Ferrari's engines, and at that point Ferrari dropped off. The FIA and Ferrari made an agreement, the terms of which we don't know, nor do we know what the "issue" with the engine was, but if that's the case, clearly they still haven't gotten the engine performance back. Hopefully they will, but you'd think with all this extra time, they would have by now.

I was referring to Ferrari history in general - but anyway, I fear that the Marchionne period was the last stint of sanity for Ferrari. I have followed the story, and while I can't know whether they cheated or not, I know for sure that every major competitor in F1, Mercedes included, has always dug into the 'holes' of the regulations, in the hope to gain an advantage.

Oh absolutely, that's part of the fun of F1 (and motorsport in general). What can you get away with? Sometimes they say, "well, that might violate the spirit but not the letter of the law" (such as the Brawn F1 double diffuser) and other times they say, "nope!" I guess this is the latter, but we may never know. This steering thing that Mercedes is running might be falling under the former, but I don't know if that's settled yet.

 

I do think the SC's are now being deployed too liberally, and it feels like race control uses it to close up the pack and hope for some extra excitement with free pit stops and the restart. Before long they'll bring it out because a marshal sneezed on the track.

In NASCAR they're known for throwing a caution flag (which always means a safety/pace car) for "debris on the track." Hilariously, the commentators will not be able to spot the said debris. Learning from the best, F1 is. [j/k]