Formula 1 2020 - General Discussion Thread (See MOD warning on first post)

Cork Trucker

pjohnson wrote: »

Has been since at least last year.


Racing Point seem to have done a Haas and took as much from Mercedes as possible.

Wasn’t he at the beeb last year?

pjohnson

Cork Trucker wrote: »

Wasn’t he at the beeb last year?

Yeah he mightve been actually. I realise O was thinking of the official F1 Channel where Jolyon would review races.

pjohnson

Also cars seem to be generally quicker. No one used C5 (the fastest tyre) yet and Renault (Ocon), Williams (Russell) and Racing Point (Perez) have all improved on their actual qualy times from Barcelona last year. Williams were on C4 and the other two on C3.

skipper_G

Cork Trucker wrote: »

Wasn’t he at the beeb last year?

He was on the radio coverage for BBC and wrote some opinion pieces for their website. Wasn't involved with Sky last season.

Cork Trucker

skipper_G wrote: »

He was on the radio coverage for BBC and wrote some opinion pieces for their website. Wasn't involved with Sky last season.

That’s what I was thinking. Has someone left sky seeing as he’s on board?

skipper_G

Cork Trucker wrote: »

That’s what I was thinking. Has someone left sky seeing as he’s on board?

I don't think so, they also have Alex Jacques who does the F2 and F3 commentary on there today.
It's probably something as simple as Brundle and DiResta etc; not having testing included in the contracts, Sky would have to pay them more to use them and Palmer was a cheaper option.

H3llR4iser

pjohnson wrote: »

Also cars seem to be generally quicker. No one used C5 (the fastest tyre) yet and Renault (Ocon), Williams (Russell) and Racing Point (Perez) have all improved on their actual qualy times from Barcelona last year. Williams were on C4 and the other two on C3.

Noticed that as well - they're already easily in the 1'17", on the first session of the year on a green and cold track (the first 1'17s were done with temperature slightly above 0 degree...). I'm wondering how much of this is from the cars themselves and how much it's the tyres...

Cool_CM

Didn't manage to get Paddock tickets before they sold out this year, but they've got the cars out in front of the garages for the public pit walk during lunch, so definitely getting that tomorrow!

antodeco

Vettel not partaking in testing due to an illness.

Beorn

Surprised and delighted to see Williams with a respectable car this year, even if it looks like it should be sponsored by Colgate.

pjohnson

Latifi a second down on Russell on faster compound and Giovinazzi behind Kubica.


Merc top 3 with Hamilton, Bottas, Perez at the top. Suprising Merc arent sandbagging.

Inviere

pjohnson wrote: »

Suprising Merc arent sandbagging.

Lets hope not anyway...

But lets face it, there's zero chance they're out there showing their true potential. Neither are Ferrari or Red Bull.

Frank Bullitt

Beorn wrote: »

Surprised and delighted to see Williams with a respectable car this year, even if it looks like it should be sponsored by Colgate.

More laps today already than all of testing last year. Great to see.

Frank Bullitt

Love the look of the Renault like this, really killer!

Frank Bullitt

"Can I copy your homework?"

PopePalpatine

Gintonious wrote: »

Love the look of the Renault like this, really killer!

It kind of reminds me of this:

pjohnson

Only a testing livery I believe.

Charlie-Bravo

Really slim nose on the Renault, and on the Racing Point. I'm hoping a tighter aero wrapping chassis/engine/gearbox to make it more streamlined and quicker on the straights.

Jordan 199

PopePalpatine wrote: »

It kind of reminds me of this:

Frank Bullitt

PopePalpatine wrote: »

It kind of reminds me of this:

Gave me a bit of this one.

Frank Bullitt

It would seem that the similarities for the Merc and Racing Point go skin deep.

geotrig

pjohnson wrote: »

Only a testing livery I believe.

yeah i noticed wording as well ,hoping something is being lost in translation and they are keeping it. out of all something just works about it all design and looks wise :cool:

pjohnson

Mercedes have said this wheel is not just for testing.

El_Duderino 09

Gintonious wrote: »

It would seem that the similarities for the Merc and Racing Point go skin deep.

Is that too similar for coincidence?

pjohnson

pjohnson wrote: »

Mercedes have said this wheel is not just for testing.

They are also sure its legal. Brawn GP 2.0

Inviere

Like them or not, they're an unbelievable force in F1. They've been raising the bar for 6 seasons in a row now...and if this rumoured 'adjustable tow' thing works out and they keep the front tires hot on the straights, it'll be ominous for the rest of the field.

eviltimeban

You have to wonder how far up Racing Point will be, if they are essentially a pink Mercedes.

edit - that movable steering wheel is gonna be banned. Just you wait.

H3llR4iser

For those just coming on the thread and wondering what the heck this "steering wheel" thing is about:

https://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/28742639/mercedes-defends-innovative-steering-system

eviltimeban wrote: »

You have to wonder how far up Racing Point will be, if they are essentially a pink Mercedes.

edit - that movable steering wheel is gonna be banned. Just you wait.

It's essentially an active system, I don't see how it can possibly be legal - it changes the setup of the car in motion. The argument is that it's "driver controlled", but it's a stretch at best - there has to be an hydraulic or electric servo in there, otherwise the force required to move the steering wheel - and keep it in place for the whole straigh - would be quite tiring over several laps.

Funny thing is, it'll probably be banned on grounds of being a "moveable aerodynamic device" with reference to the suspension arms...

H3llR4iser

Bit of a funny way F1 is finally getting a bit in "touch" with its fans, in an unintended way if anything...from Ausport.co.uk:

"15:14 One thing we'd noticed last year is that Norris liked to drop gears at Turn 9, going into fifth gear to get the turn-in. Apparently that's a sim-racing technique, and McLaren has ironed that out of him this time around..."

Damn right - F1 2019, Assetto Corsa...the car just won't turn in into that one, unless you drop to 5th just as you steer. Lando plays iRacing, so I guess it's the same in that one too

Good to know, the McLaren chassis seems to be better than the one in the game...that's a result already!

I have to say I think the steering wheel thing is a bloody genius idea and wouldn't mind it being legal. Rather than considering it as "changing setup" it can be considered as steering in another plane/dimension. A rare example of actual novel engineering for the last few years of F1. So long as it's controlled the same as power-steering is (fixed set-up/curve) then it could well be completely legal.