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

Harika · 27-04-2020 8:57am

Silverstone writes to British Grand Prix ticket holders to say it is "unable to stage this year’s British Grand Prix in front of the fans at Silverstone". Announcement inevitable - it's been known for a while first races at start of new truncated season would be closed events
Benson on twitter.

Realistically we will so see races where ticket sales are not as important like Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Harika · 27-04-2020 9:05am

And France complete off
https://mobile.twitter.com/GPFranceF1/status/1254681941053300742

El_Duderino 09 · 27-04-2020 9:41am

Yeah it was inevitable. Just a matter of someone pulling the trigger.

Unless someone is willing to pay the race fee or Liberty decide to wave the race fee ans they all share the TV revenue, theres no way these things can go ahead.

So the vanity races mentioned above are the only viable ones. Austria is presumably an option as well as whotzizname might put up the money.

Harika · 27-04-2020 9:51am

I don't think liberty will insist on the fees to hold a race, especially without fans as those are paying most of it, next to states.

Carey states
: "September, October and November, would see us race in Eurasia, Asia and the Americas, finishing the season in the Gulf in December with Bahrain before the traditional finale in Abu Dhabi, having completed between 15-18 races. We will publish our finalised calendar as soon as we possibly can.

"We expect the early races to be without fans but hope fans will be part of our events as we move further into the schedule.

"We still have to work out many issues like the procedures for the teams and our other partners to enter and operate in each country.

"The health and safety of all involved will continue to be priority one and we will only go forward if we are confident we have reliable procedures to address both risks and possible issues."

Sky is having a new F1 show today at 14:00, with more information it seems
The Austrian region is hopeful of the races, as it will be great marketing and people will be starved of live events then.

ELM327 · 27-04-2020 9:54am

Did anyone watch the 1999 Europe GP lookback on the Sky F1 YouTube channel?
Interesting to hear today's views from the commentators (and a driver in the race) of a race 20 years ago.

Luimneach2018 · 27-04-2020 9:55am

Now I'm not part of the bitter group who hate Hamilton and try to find fault in everything he says and does, I have quite a lot of respect for him; but he won't be able to use his most overused go to line in his post race interviews; "This place has the best fans".

They can't all be "the best" Lewis!

Reminds me of a compilation clip I saw once of interviews Pelé did before the 2002 World Cup; interviewers would ask him who he thought would win the World Cup, he picked 9 different countries which seemed entirely dependent on the nationality of who was interviewing him or where he was being interviewed!

Harika · 27-04-2020 10:32am

Luimneach2018 wrote: »

Now I'm not part of the bitter group who hate Hamilton and try to find fault in everything he says and does, I have quite a lot of respect for him; but he won't be able to use his most overused go to line in his post race interviews; "This place has the best fans".

They can't all be "the best" Lewis!

Reminds me of a compilation clip I saw once of interviews Pelé did before the 2002 World Cup; interviewers would ask him who he thought would win the World Cup, he picked 9 different countries which seemed entirely dependent on the nationality of who was interviewing him or where he was being interviewed!

Ofc he doesn't give a rat's ass about that, it's pr simply, additional in Front of 50000 people, do you tell them
A. You suck
B. You are seventh best crowd this year
C. You are best

Remember, those are cooks, security guards you might meet again. Even on the way to your car.
In fairness he encountered a hostile crowd in Italy 2018? And he managed that well.

El_Duderino 09 · 27-04-2020 10:40am

Harika wrote: »

Ofc he doesn't give a rat's ass about that, it's pr simply, additional in Front of 50000 people, do you tell them
A. You suck
B. You are seventh best crowd this year
C. You are best

Remember, those are cooks, security guards you might meet again. Even on the way to your car.
In fairness he encountered a hostile crowd in Italy 2018? And he managed that well.

I think you're over thinking it. He's a brand and he takes his brand very seriously.

I find his brand insufferable but I don't pretend to know anything about the actual man himself. I feel Vettel, for example, is probably a lot more like the media persona. But Hamilton is all about the brand.

Harika · 27-04-2020 11:09am

Seems Hungary for August is confirmed, +2 races planned in August, then oversea, season ends with 30.11.Bahrain and 6.12. Abu Dhabi

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/amp/formula1/52417996?__twitter_impression=true

Luimneach2018 · 27-04-2020 11:50am

Harika wrote: »

Ofc he doesn't give a rat's ass about that, it's pr simply, additional in Front of 50000 people, do you tell them
A. You suck
B. You are seventh best crowd this year
C. You are best

Remember, those are cooks, security guards you might meet again. Even on the way to your car.
In fairness he encountered a hostile crowd in Italy 2018? And he managed that well.

Relax! I wasn't questioning why he's doing it, but its undeniably hollow and meaningless.

For some reason more is expected of him.

Kimi is loved and lauded for not giving a flying you-know-what in many circumstances, Alonso too.

He has to pick and choose what he says in a way no other driver has to do. For some reason, he is not free to be himself, and I think his interview persona has become blander for it.

El_Duderino 09 · 27-04-2020 12:09pm

Luimneach2018 wrote: »

Relax! I wasn't questioning why he's doing it, but its undeniably hollow and meaningless.

For some reason more is expected of him.

Kimi is loved and lauded for not giving a flying you-know-what in many circumstances, Alonso too.

He has to pick and choose what he says in a way no other driver has to do. For some reason, he is not free to be himself, and I think his interview persona has become blander for it.

That might be true but it's not a mystery. It's completely self inflicted because he is more interested in, and successful at, building a brand than any other driver. He is more beholden to his brand than any other driver too.

Remember the time he went on and on about the environment (great idea and fair play) and how going vegan was important? And then he also had a private jet and bragged that he sent it from the US to the UK to pick up his dog. When people pointed out the incongruence between the brand and the private jet, then he sold the jet. The other big drivers probably have or hire private jets too but they don't have the same interest in the brand so they aren't held to the same standard.

It's a situation completely of his own making

Anjobe · 27-04-2020 12:25pm

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

That might be true but it's not a mystery. It's completely self inflicted because he is more interested in, and successful at, building a brand than any other driver. He is more beholden to his brand than any other driver too.

Remember the time he went on and on about the environment (great idea and fair play) and how going vegan was important? And then he also had a private jet and bragged that he sent it from the US to the UK to pick up his dog. When people pointed out the incongruence between the brand and the private jet, then he sold the jet. The other big drivers probably have or hire private jets too but they don't have the same interest in the brand so they aren't held to the same standard.

It's a situation completely of his own making

Obviously the stuff about brand and image is not wrong, but no one else in the sport was prepared to call out Liberty and the race organisers for putting money before health and safety before the Australian GP were they?

Luimneach2018 · 27-04-2020 12:49pm

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

That might be true but it's not a mystery. It's completely self inflicted because he is more interested in, and successful at, building a brand than any other driver. He is more beholden to his brand than any other driver too.

Remember the time he went on and on about the environment (great idea and fair play) and how going vegan was important? And then he also had a private jet and bragged that he sent it from the US to the UK to pick up his dog. When people pointed out the incongruence between the brand and the private jet, then he sold the jet. The other big drivers probably have or hire private jets too but they don't have the same interest in the brand so they aren't held to the same standard.

It's a situation completely of his own making

I respect that post. A fair and constructive criticism.

I've said things in defence of Hamilton (not necessarily here) in the past only to be met with an unconstructive "He's a knob" type response.

Luimneach2018 · 27-04-2020 1:05pm

Anjobe wrote: »

Obviously the stuff about brand and image is not wrong, but no one else in the sport was prepared to call out Liberty and the race organisers for putting money before health and safety before the Australian GP were they?

A post made here at the time

Hamilton is such a cry baby, always trying to get races called off. He should just retire now given he is so scared of racing instead of ruining things for everyone.

Anyway, I've said enough about him.

Question for anyone who feels like biting;
Jacques Villeneuve; how do people judge him and his legacy in the sport?
Good? Great? Legend?

Am I harsh in my view he was just a good driver who was lucky to be in the right team at the right time?

In terms of his team mate battles; performed respectibly in his rookie season and took his experienced team mate to the final race before the title was settled.
Smashed Frentzen in 1997 but they were very closely matched in 1998.
Had the upper hand on Zonta without much fuss.
Just about had the edge on Panis.
Button had his number in 2003.
Didn't come within an asses roar of Alonso in their brief spell as teammates.
Very little between him and Massa.
Outpaced by Heidfeld at BMW and dropped towards the end of the season.

Has anyone ever had such a disappointing trajectory after becoming champion? Alonso's career was depressing but he came close a couple of times with Ferrari against a superior Red Bull car and Hamilton aside he comfortably out performed all team mates. Villeneuve really went out with a whimper.

Infoanon · 27-04-2020 1:30pm

Harika wrote: »

Seems Hungary for August is confirmed, +2 races planned in August, then oversea, season ends with 30.11.Bahrain and 6.12. Abu Dhabi

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/amp/formula1/52417996?__twitter_impression=true

Trying not to be negative but the article has ignored the (2) Elephants in the room - The UK discussing that all entrants to the country need to quarantine for 14 days and the European proposal which may be agreed as early as this week that there will no entry allowed into Europe from countries outside the Schengan area. The UK is not in the Schengan area.

Over the last few weeks the vibe has been that the British MotoGP race would not happen this year while the F1 race would probably happen - this different approach ties into the Schengan rule effect.
When announcing the cancellation of the French F1 race (note the French Moto GP race is only postponed ) , the Schengan area rule was specifically mentioned.

Harika · 27-04-2020 1:55pm

Infoanon wrote: »

Trying not to be negative but the article has ignored the (2) Elephants in the room - The UK discussing that all entrants to the country need to quarantine for 14 days and the European proposal which may be agreed as early as this week that there will no entry allowed into Europe from countries outside the Schengan area. The UK is not in the Schengan area.

Over the last few weeks the vibe has been that the British MotoGP race would not happen this year while the F1 race would probably happen - this different approach ties into the Schengan rule effect.
When announcing the cancellation of the French F1 race (note the French Moto GP race is only postponed ) , the Schengan area rule was specifically mentioned.

To point 1 - testing is the key, like when entering Austria you might need a test not older than 4 days, F1 might test frequently to show infection freeness
Point Schengen: the key word will be exemption, like F1 had many over the years. European key players will be interested to bring normality back. And live sports events will help here, not to mention the thousands of jobs linked to F1 outside F1.

French GP also only mentioned "at this time" so still open for return.

Infoanon · 27-04-2020 2:45pm

Harika wrote: »

French GP also only mentioned "at this time" so still open for return.

The official statement referwnces the impossibility of holding the race with the Schengan area remaining closed with Eric Boullier adding that eyes are now set on a bigger and better event in summer 2021.

29-04-2020 7:29pm

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

An unusual example is Montreal. They said a million people go to Montreal for the long weekend without ever visiting the track. There are street parties, and every pub, restaurant hotel and service business does great out of the weekend. So the Grand Prix is mostly funded by the city, state and federal government as they make it all back through sales tax and employment. In other words, Social distancing and no fans in attendance means no Grand Prix funding

That's how it traditionally was and why IndyCar has so many street circuits. The split was meant to create an ovals-only series but they ended up going back to street circuits because cities were more willing to pay fees than circuits since they got value from publicity and increased tourism. The last 20 years or so of newly-rich countries paying $30+ million per race is what's threatened the traditional circuits since the new places don't need a return on their fee. I suppose Hungary is an example from back in the day, first race behind the Iron Curtain and Hungary were willing to put the cash up.

29-04-2020 7:33pm

Watching the classic races and despite it going against what I'm pretty sure I've said in the past they really need to get the racing back at least partly towards "sprint" racing. The way the cars look so skittish and the change of direction looks so much more dramatic more often gives such a strong impression of danger and raggedness that's missing from today's stable, boring looking cars. An occasional camera angle during qualifying showing how fast today's cars are doesn't make up for the 95% of the race they're driving to a delta and managing tyres, fuel and temperature.

flazio · 29-04-2020 7:48pm

They are showing the 99 European Grand Prix at the moment and an intriguing story for us Jordan fans has come to light.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.uncovered-the-real-reason-frentzen-retired-from-the-lead-of-the-99-european.2WiVYGxwB3tuas8yQHSoQy.html

29-04-2020 7:54pm

Classic Ferrari, no right rear tyre ready for Irvine when he came in.

29-04-2020 7:56pm

flazio wrote: »

They are showing the 99 European Grand Prix at the moment and an intriguing story for us Jordan fans has come to light.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.uncovered-the-real-reason-frentzen-retired-from-the-lead-of-the-99-european.2WiVYGxwB3tuas8yQHSoQy.html

That's heart-breaking.

Inquitus · 02-05-2020 12:25pm

Charles Leclerc going for 3 from 3 tomorrow. Petter Solberg making his F1 debut at 45!

Since making his Virtual Grand Prix debut almost a month ago, Charles Leclerc has a perfect record of two wins from two races – but can he make it three on the trot this weekend?

The Ferrari star will be lining up on the F1 2019 game's computer-generated grid again this Sunday for the next F1 Esports Virtual GP – being held on the beautifully rendered Interlagos Circuit after a fan vote to decide the venue – and will be bidding to make it a hat-trick of victories in the series.

But the 22-year-old Monégasque will be up against some stiff opposition, not just in terms of his F1 rivals Antonio Giovinazzi, Alex Albon, George Russell and Nicholas Latifi, but also stars from other sports, including AC Milan captain Alessio Romagnoli, England cricketers Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes – and Norwegian rally champion Petter Solberg.

guyfo · 02-05-2020 1:11pm

Inquitus wrote: »

Charles Leclerc going for 3 from 3 tomorrow. Petter Solberg making his F1 debut at 45!

I watched the first few of these but I won't be watching any more unless things change. Really shows how much the superstars care about their fans when they won't even bother to sit in front of their TV for a few hours.

Formula E has every official driver racing on identical rigs supplied by the organisers. "The Race" have fantastic events with multiple F1 world champions and race winners, le mans winners, touring car champions, IndyCar champions and the list goes on.

F1 have a handful of drivers, only one of whom is a race winner a few formula 2 & 3 drivers and ex F1 also-rans (apart from Button when he competes) then they top it off with random YouTubers, football, cricket and even boy band members, none of whom I've ever heard of. It's a bit sad really, the guest drivers are so bad the damage gets turned off, the driver aids get turned on and we have a bumper car race. It's gotten so bad now that drivers who have been competing are jumping ship to other series rather than do the official F1 events....

Infoanon · 02-05-2020 1:24pm

Inquitus wrote: »

Charles Leclerc going for 3 from 3 tomorrow. ]

Lando Norris is running in the Indycar Indianapolis oval race tonight following his success at COTA. Will be interesting to see how he adopts to ovals albeit virtual racing.

One aspect of the esports / virtual racing that has been interesting from a promotional viewpoint is that Indycar,Nascar and Moto gp have been able to provide full grids of actual drivers and riders while F1 has had to rely on other sports stars.....

Inquitus · 02-05-2020 1:34pm

guyfo wrote: »

I watched the first few of these but I won't be watching any more unless things change. Really shows how much the superstars care about their fans when they won't even bother to sit in front of their TV for a few hours.

Formula E has every official driver racing on identical rigs supplied by the organisers. "The Race" have fantastic events with multiple F1 world champions and race winners, le mans winners, touring car champions, IndyCar champions and the list goes on.

F1 have a handful of drivers, only one of whom is a race winner a few formula 2 & 3 drivers and ex F1 also-rans (apart from Button when he competes) then they top it off with random YouTubers, football, cricket and even boy band members, none of whom I've ever heard of. It's a bit sad really, the guest drivers are so bad the damage gets turned off, the driver aids get turned on and we have a bumper car race. It's gotten so bad now that drivers who have been competing are jumping ship to other series rather than do the official F1 events....

Infoanon wrote: »

Lando Norris is running in the Indycar Indianapolis oval race tonight following his success at COTA. Will be interesting to see how he adopts to ovals albeit virtual racing.

One aspect of the esports / virtual racing that has been interesting from a promotional viewpoint is that Indycar,Nascar and Moto gp have been able to provide full grids of actual drivers and riders while F1 has had to rely on other sports stars.....

Aye iRacing 2 and rFactor 2 are much better driving sims which is why Lando and Max won't take part in these F1 2019 races, don't blame them, and I agree the quality of racing is much better. Can you post up details of these other races, please. Times and links would be great.

Tnx,

Inq

PopePalpatine · 02-05-2020 1:38pm

^Indy coverage starts at 7:30pm BST.

Inquitus · 02-05-2020 1:46pm

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/e-sports/virtual-racing-this-weekend-dates-times-and-streams#formulae

List of them available at the link above, a bit of everything to be had!

11-05-2020 4:28pm

Just came across this today

To me just shows how much last season sucked. :P

ELM327 · 11-05-2020 4:30pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Classic Ferrari, no right rear tyre ready for Irvine when he came in.

Couldnt have our eddie winning the title before MSC!

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

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