Formula 1 - F1 - Current Season Discussion

[patrick_b]

Albon drove like a champ today. What an exciting end to that race. A very fun watch.

Why do you think it was the same tire destructing on each vehicle...debris perhaps as @SmellBlind suggested ?

 

[SmellBlind]

Albon drove like a champ today. What an exciting end to that race. A very fun watch.

Why do you think it was the same tire destructing on each vehicle...debris perhaps as @SmellBlind suggested ?

Re: Albon. It feels a bit like groundhog day. He struggles in qualifying then makes strong progress up the field in the race. If only he can get a few places up he'll have much stronger results. He still won't be the "Bottas Blocker" that Max needs but will definitely help with the points.

 

[sugarbutch]

Albon drove like a champ today. What an exciting end to that race. A very fun watch.

Why do you think it was the same tire destructing on each vehicle...debris perhaps as @SmellBlind suggested ?

It could have been debris or a sharp kerb, but it probably also needed the additional factor of a very worn tire. The LF tire takes a lot of abuse at Silverstone, so it would be vulnerable late in the stint.

Re: Albon. It feels a bit like groundhog day. He struggles in qualifying then makes strong progress up the field in the race. If only he can get a few places up he'll have much stronger results. He still won't be the "Bottas Blocker" that Max needs but will definitely help with the points.

A Red Bull engineer said that they need to give him a more predictable car. It may be that the cars behavior at the limit (as in quali) exacerbates a limitation for him or makes it hard for him to work the car in a way that he typically uses to extract lap time. Or he could just not be quite up to it.

I like him, but at this point I think it’s fair to say that he doesn’t leave himself or others enough margin when racing. In both his contact with Hamilton and Magnussen, he forced a marginal pass On a car he almost certainly could have passed with less risk had he waited for a few more corners.

The stewarding this year is trash. It’s clear that they are penalizing based on contact, and then blaming the driver on the inside. In both Albon incidents, penalties were inappropriate, but when Stroll ran Ric off the track in Austria, he didn’t even have to give the place back.

 

[Texasmade]

At least the stewards were consistent. Lewis got a 5 second penalty for bumping someone off the track and Albon got a 5 second penalty.

I don’t think Albon has it in him at the front. He needs to be doing more than collecting points at every race. He should be up there forcing Mercedes into strategy mistakes or at least give Max some protection. Right now he’s not doing either.

 

[SmellBlind]

Pirelli released their findings and are blaming the failures on early safety car and faster cars than last year. No mention of debris is interesting given all the talk of "cuts on the tires". They are keeping the softer tire spec for next week too which will hopefully drive some different strategies

Pirelli reveals findings from British GP tyre investigation - The Race

Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli has announced the results of an "initial analysis" of the British Grand Prix tyre failures

the-race.com

This still doesn't cover the Kvyat tire failure which looks like a similar delamination issue

 

[patrick_b]

Bottas signed for 2021!

 

[sugarbutch]

He's in purgatory

 

[Texasmade]

He's in purgatory

At least he's well paid and has a chance to pickup a random win and collect podiums. Imagine signing for Ferrari.

 

[sugarbutch]

Indeed. That would be hell

 

[sugarbutch]

At Mercedes, his success is in his own hands. If he is good enough, he will be world champion. It's a rare bit of clarity.

 

[Joffrey]

Agree. The team lets their drivers race and it's clear Hamilton is simply better than him. No bs insulting number 2 shenanigans. I don't get why they put him on year to year contracts though unless they really believe a little uncertainty motivates him.

 

[Texasmade]

Agree. The team lets their drivers race and it's clear Hamilton is simply better than him. No bs insulting number 2 shenanigans. I don't get why they put him on year to year contracts though unless they really believe a little uncertainty motivates him.

Probably to match him up with Hamilton. Basically as long as Lewis is there, Bottas will be there.

 

[sugarbutch]

I think it's that he gets the job done. He can challenge Hamilton occasionally (which keeps Hamilton performing at his best), he is usually there to take the win when Hamilton stumbles, and he is competitive without being destabilizing to the harmony of the team. They do one-year contracts because they can. Bottas has no better chance to win elsewhere, so they maintain maximum flexibility.

Russell isn't ready, and they probably view him as their next Hamilton, so they don't want to kill the golden goose by moving him into the team too soon. Ocon is at Renault for the next two years, and he isn't beating Ricciardo at the moment.

 

[sugarbutch]

The Racing Point ruling is such a wishy-washy attempt to have it both ways. If RP learned of the design of the rear brake ducts in a legal way, it's ludicrous to penalize them for acting on that knowledge. But if that's what you're going to decide, then you can't let them continue with the brake ducts this weekend. Of course, the FIA are letting RP continue to use the ducts because they know that any revised part would build on the knowledge they have because RP can't forget what they know.

 

[SmellBlind]

The Racing Point ruling is such a wishy-washy attempt to have it both ways. If RP learned of the design of the rear brake ducts in a legal way, it's ludicrous to penalize them for acting on that knowledge. But if that's what you're going to decide, then you can't let them continue with the brake ducts this weekend. Of course, the FIA are letting RP continue to use the ducts because they know that any revised part would build on the knowledge they have because RP can't forget what they know.

That's the crazy part, they only got the penalty since they didn't use the rear brake ducts in 2019, but based the 2020 version on the 2019 Merc drawings. In the front, they used the Mercedes one in 2019 and updated that for 2020, making them legal. The other aspect that doesn't make sense is that the protest focused on the brake ducts and what constitutes a team "designing" their own parts but now the FIA is saying that they will "prevent teams from using extensive photos to copy whole portions of other cars in the way that Racing Point has done." Quoting Nikolas Tombazis there. They seem like two entirely different actions and they are being conflated.