Watching F1 channel. FP2 looks to be in real danger of being washed out as well.

Where's Stroll?
What's Hulk doing in the Racing Point?
Fog cancels practice on Friday, now this! What the H is going on? What's the deal with Lance?

Lance is “not feeling well.”

Lance will not participate in practice as he feels “not well”.

Sick enough that Nico substituted in again. No practice, straight to qualifying. Car still set for Lance. He made a good effort, but was still Q20.

F1 2020 Thread
 

They called him Hulkenback ;)

He arrived at the track in his personal 911 GT2RS That he bought from Nico Rosberg’s dad.

Slight surprise for pole.

Once again LeClerc does an amazing job for Ferrari.

You mean it isn’t another Mercedes front row lock out? We should all watch qualifying?

Great to see this track again! http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1602349982.jpg

So what do you think he is being paid for the weekend?

Already under contract as the RP reserve driver?

A solid clean run for Hulkenberg and great points day for RP. Riccardo another solid performance and even Grosean got a point .

I went to this race in 2004. The track is awesome and you really don't get the amount of elevation change from TV.

Yet another race decided by a free pitstop under VSC. That rule has to change. Hammy made zero pitstops under Green, while competitors lost track position during their pit stops. I'd hardly count this a win.

I thought it was a great race. 25% of the field retired. During the first half, cars were dropping like flies for mechanical issue, including the sister cars for all three podium places.

The safety car really set up a NASCAR finish with lots of great racing.

Yeah, Hamilton lucked into two non-green pit stops, but there have been plenty of races he's been leading where it has screwed him as well.

Glad to see Hulkenberg do so well. Someone needs to hire him. He's the consummate professional showing up just in time for qualifying and delivering a solid result in the race for a team that discarded him.

The top 3 all benefited from the VSC so no one really got an advantage but Perez did lose out in that he didn't get to face a Ricciardo on fading tires in the final stages of the race.

Few points:

- "Crofty" is really getting on my nerves. He's got the british commentating style of never shutting up and acting overexcited, total chatterbox, I really miss our boys Matchett/Hobbs /varsha/Diffey... Karun chandock (not here this time) and Nico Rosberg are MUCH better commentators and understand the technical stuff so much better it's not even funny.. Listening to Nico decode what Ricciardo was trying to not reveal post race was awesome...

- 1/2 the field at some point was telling their race engineer to shut up, too much coms. Please FIA ban all coms again, use pit boards, no more radio at all, let the drivers manage and the smart ones will manage better !

- Drivers: Lots of people here slag Grosjean, but the guy drove his ****box Haas to 9th, ahead of Vettel, only one spot behind the much lauded Hulk in his carbon copy racing point Mercedes. With 9 fingers. Better than say Giovanazzi... And kudos to Ricciardo, can't wait to see the tattoo ;-) Albon is a sweet kid with a good head for passing, but he's doing worse than Gasly was. Not sure how long they're gonna stick with him...

- Would have been cool and fair of HAM to exchange the Schumi helmet for his, on the spot, with Mick there...

Why is it that when the rare Mercedes mechanical failure does happen it is to Botas, and never Hamilton. He should be close to 70 race finishes with just one retirement. That is why he is at the top of the heap, his luck is just overwhelming. No one can honestly say he is not a great driver, no doubt he can always get the best out of his car. Just lady Luck is always smiling on him. Has any other driver won a F1 race with just three tires for 1/2 a lap?

maybe he is just easier on the equipment

It happens to Hamilton, too. 2016 his motor blew when he was leading the Malaysian GP. That DNF cost him the WDC.

Wow, so you have to go back to 2016 to find where he had an mechanical issue.

I think he is nearly at or over 70 races in a row that he finished in the points with the exception of one race. So 70 finishes, in the points verses one retirement. That is darn lucky.

When it happens at every race for four years, it's not luck.

That would have been the thing to do IMO, an on air thanks to Mick & family would have been appropriate too, pretty special gift. It would be nice to see both of their trophy rooms/memorabilia collections.

He had a DNF in 2018 as well, but it didn't lose him the WDC. One thing about the Merc power unit, is it is very reliable, especially with something like 1400 staff behind the team.

One of the few items that is truly interchangeable in all the cars is the tires. As Silverstone he wore the tires down to the point they exploded, yest still won. He never gets a puncture, and he sure hits the curbs as hard as the rest of the pack.

No one can argue he is NOT a supremely talented driver, but he has a very wide lucky streak.

A while back Mercedes changed the design of their wheels to make life easier on the tires., and to allow the tires to work within their operating window more often.

FWIW...

Multiple F1 websites are reporting that this Friday it will be announced that Kimi and Mich Schumacher will be the 2021 drivers for Alfa . If that is true then it just leaves Haas seats available along with maybe Albons and Kvyat if they are let go.

(I apologize if my mental map of this silly season contains an error.)

Maybe Haas can nab Perez AND Hulkenberg? They both certainly helped Force India/Racing Point/Aston Martin move up the grid...

Isn't Haas another "Ferrari Jr." team? While I like your idea, I would guess it would be either of those two, plus one of the other Ferrari Academy drivers.

That would be sweet for HAAS. The two drivers they have now are worthless.

Kimi took a lap on the Nordschleife in an Alfa road car. Video in link. He looks like he's having fun but Antonio was about to puke


https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.watch-raikkonen-and-giovinazzi-scare-each-other-on-the-nurburgrings.3guyXnlERhbrOfX6ZGlExS.html

Just read online that Williams is interested in signing Perez , it was implied to replace Russell .

Perez is a better driver than Russell? Or just a solid driver who is better-funded?

I agree, but thought Hamilton's move from McLaren to Mercedes for the 2013 season would've used up a careers-worth of luck right there. A competitive McLaren dropped off to near backmarker status as soon as Hamilton left, and a struggling Mercedes quickly rose to dominate the sport right after he joined.

Russel is doing a great job in the slow Williams and outperforming his teammate. I’d like to see Perez and Russel stay. I wouldn’t be sad to see Grosjean and Magnussen gone.

excuse the detour, but if you haven't seen this its well worth the time. The ultimate class act.

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I remember at the time thinking that was possibly the worst career move in the history of F1. Like so many before him, he was betting on a team improving while leaving a team at the top of their game. Who knew he'd have another championship after two seasons with the team (and another six after 8 seasons)? Meanwhile, McLaren worked their way down the grid to backmarker status despite having two WDC's at the helm. Their results got so bad that Ron Dennis got fired! Who could have seen that coming?

Ruddell may have to take a year off, before replacing bottas at merc.

Latest silly season news in Euro-F1 press:

Russian Billionaire Dmitry Mazepin wants his son in F1 (remind you of another rich person buying his son a seat?), and he's paying Haas $35mil next year for a seat in 2021, with an eye on buying the team outright from an eager to get out Gene Haas in 2022. Grosjean -> Formula E or possibly WEC or both. Doesn't mean Magnussen is staying, as the team might have welcomed Callum Iliot (from the Ferrari driver academy - their engine supplier) or more likely Mick Schumacher in the junior Ferrari team (despite his recent Alfa connection he is rumored to have the seat over Iliot now).

On the alfa side, Perez+Hulk seem to be in favor, as Raikonnen has made mistakes lately and even Giovanazzi seems to get closer to his speed now. Vasseur likes Kimi though.

Williams is also courting Perez and his money - but Perez might be more tempted by Alfa's speed relative to williams (or Ferrari!!), and since Michael Latifi is funding them that would mean any newcomer would displace Russell, which would be a crying shame. Mind you he is still a Mercedes driver and could do an "Ocon" with a year at the mothership waiting for better days, a Hamilton retirement or an uninspired Bottas replacement.

Redbull is considering Yuki Tsunoda as a replacement for Kvyat at Alpha Tauri, that one is only a question of when (before the end of the year or next year). If Red Bull cannot find a good engine they are open to buying the intellectual property and tooling from Honda and giving Tsunoda a job would make things go smoother... Place your bets ;-)

I suspect Hamilton will stick around at least through next year as he want to smash any remaining records, and put the win count even higher to an unbreakable range. The Mercedes is simply THE best car on the track by a full second or more. Why retire when the car is so much better than the rest, and give those wins to someone else. I bet if the Mercedes was really struggling to be on the podium, he will retire.

Yes, Hammy will stick it out for all the reasons mentioned above, and why not. 2022 will be a different story, I doubt he will retire though, even switching teams doesn't seem likely either, I don't get a sense of any inner team turmoil or personality problems with VB or any member of the team. I think if Merc has a team he will be the #1 driver and with a new set of rules that hope to "even the field" a bit will be the challenge he wants.