Formula 1 2020 Discussion

With the 2020 season well on its way and basically none of my friends into F1, thought I'd turn to you guys to ask about your thoughts and predictions for this season? I'm beyond excited for my favorite track this weekend at Spa but the upcoming triple-header is going to be incredible. 

Personally have been a RBR fan since I started following F1 in the 2000s so I am fully team Max and Albon at the moment but curious to see what everyone thinks of the grid at the moment. (Please no posting about how Lewis is going to win the 7th WDC title, I know - respect though)

 

It's rough given Vettel is a favorite of mine since middle school but his blatant lack of attention and treatment at ferrari this year has been disgusting. Just listen to his team radio if any doubts. I love leclerc and think he is a pile of raw talent but again, I don't think he can win races with that donkey of a car. And I think he's one of three drivers on the grid who can extract just that extra bit from his machinery alongside Lewis and Max but its tough in 2020 when you are Ferrari and can't make it out of Q1/2

 

Bahrain-long is expected to be the quickest lap time ever, I feel as though with the straights it'll either be immensely boring or extremely interesting to watch and nothing in between. From qualifying today, the Renaults seem to have good straight line pace and I'll be interested to see how they do there 

 

Agree with the interesting or nothing point. Correct me if I’m wrong, but 3 DRS zones sounds a bit excessive given the length of the straights. Ferrari, Alfa and Haas are in for a bad time. Renault will have a field day if they can build on todays straight-line speed, true. I’m looking forward to it, but if I’m honest I feel as if any half competent driver can win/get a podium on the outer track, as long as they have the right car.

 

IMO Binotto needs to be sacked although some may say he'll just be a scapegoat anyway but more importantly he was supposed to be the engine genius, and as we've seen Ferrari have actually built a decent chassis (very quick on low-speed corners) but a shit engine that's way off pace. Also the way he handled the whole Vettel situation just screams inept management

loving the f1 discussions...lets keep the ball rolling haha

"They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fuckin' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" - Boiler Room
 

I’ve been an RBR fan since like 2017. I honestly feel as if Albon is massively underrated. He’s put on a dog-shit strategy, charges up the midfield and still ends up in 5th-7th usually. Definitely a race winner in the making. Max is legit the only person that can take it to Lewis this year, he’s an incredible driver and most definitely a WDC winner soon. Williams making moves right now, Russel coming on very well for them. Absolute shame with Vettel and Ferrari, he deserves more than the sorry excuse of a strategist Ferrari currently employs. I hope he takes the Aston Martin seat next year, driving alongside Perez. Lance Stroll (although a good driver) doesn’t deserve the second seat. 
 

Cannot wait for a flat-out turn 8 in Istanbul, and a return to Imola. This years track line up looks amazing.

 

Another RBR fan here! I am a huge Albon fan and he's got huge potential, and it's part of the issue is that his teammate is one of the strongest pure racers we have on the grid at the moment so it's extremely hard to equal, let alone top Max. I'd like to see him perform well tomorrow starting in 5th, RBR need him up at the front to disrupt the Mercedes strategies, as Max vs Bottas + Hamilton is always tough when you have a second Mercedes able to back him up, or threaten the undercut. With Albon at the front (hopefully) tomorrow we can see much more of a team battle and some strategy games that we've missed this year

 

Post race thoughts:

Brilliant work from Renault, this is what Danny Ric signed up for way back in 2018. It’d be great to see more results like this from them in the future.

An absolute clusterfuck from Ferrari. Race engineers need to be fired and Binotto can fuck right off. I can’t say anything that hasn’t already been said about Ferrari, but they seriously need to sort themselves out.

Decent result for RBR. Nothing to write home about.

What a shame for Carlos, he’s been so unlucky this season what with the tire issue and today’s DNS. McLaren aren’t giving us the season we had hoped for when Lando got that podium. 

Apart from a crash and a relatively short safety car stint, this race was very much “It’s lights out and Lewis Hamilton wins the Belgian Grand Prix!”

 

Albon has been unlucky this season, but I personally think hes the real deal.  If the budget cap helps RBR close the gap to the Merc, I wouldn't be surprised if a real rivalry formed between him and Verstappen.  It would be insane to see those two fight for wins alongside the always competitive Mercs.

Those two teams aside, I think Renault may surprise some people as we approach the season's midpoint.  Both Ricciardo and Ocon qualified well for the race tomorrow, so maybe one of them can challenge for top 5, or even a podium?  I believe McLaren has more in the tank, especially given how Landos been driving, although I've been reading that others are down on them, so I may be off with that one.  Russell is making that Williams car look a hell of a lot better than it really is, IMO.  Only cars legitimately worse than the SF1000 this season are the VF-20 (Haas) and the FW43 (Williams).  Keep your typical Ferrari hate comments to yourself; its a shame not to see them challenging for a podium and making F1 more interesting as a whole.  Racing Point looks fast to me, but I don't want to give them too much credit given they're essentially racing the W10 from last year.

2nd F1 thread this week.  Would love to see more!

 

Hey the most important race of the calendar is almost there. Spa is a beautiful temple of speed (perhaps more than monza) which has a beautiful legacy given its ability to differentiate potent money drivers vs talented drivers when it matters. 

Always a little apprehensive when I watch the first drive to survive season in regards to how realistic the actual situation with teams given that superfluous drama sells and attracts a bigger crowd. Nothing pisses me off more than people who were introduced to F1 thru netflix and keep talking shit about Max/Lewis/Horner/Vettel because the overly dramatic series over-exaggerated a certain team dynamic or interview. Love that netflix got people to gain an F1 interest but doesnt make you an expert event if you are able to follow a team despite their success or demise     

 

I thought it was hilarious when there are "fans" who actually thought Racing Point deliberately sabotaged Hulk's race to make Stroll look good...such idiots

equally absurd is when people say things like Checo is a better driver than Vettel - the 4-time world champion ffs

"They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fuckin' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" - Boiler Room
 

My man, thank you. First of all I love hulk but if you listened to his radio, his tires were fucked and he had to put in a race where both mercs were forced to finish on punctured tires. So I agree with you that it's a retarded conspiracy theory.

And if someone told me checo was better than vettel I would be forced to tell them that they are just misinformed. Nothing else to say about that. To me, as a die hard aston fan since childhood, objectively an ocon / vettel partnership makes a lot of sense given you have a hungry rookie paired with a 4x WDC who can provide valuable feedback on the car - especially when you remember that vet excelled under the RBR newey era and could help elevate AM racing to a podium-contending team

 

IMO present-day Stroll is quicker than Ocon, it's just that lance gets a lot of flak for nepotism etc but I think he's really upped his racecraft this year (aside from that shitty overtake move he made on Ricciardo in Styria) - he's much more consistent, manages his tyres well, and has outpaced checo in many occasions both quali and raceday - which I guess is also why daddy stroll is so hell-bent on replacing him with vettel instead lol

hopefully they do sign Seb, it would be an absolute travesty if he's not on the grid next year

"They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fuckin' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" - Boiler Room
 

What is everybody thinking of todays race? Who is going to win, who is going to be the best of the rest? Personally, I think Ham is going to be on top but hope Max is going to win. Ric looks strong so he will be best of the rest.

 

Seems like we didn't get a lot of strategy matchups today since everybody's afraid to pit, but those renaults are looking wicked quick in these high-speed circuits - wont be surprised if they get another 4-5 finish or even sneak a P3 in Monza

On the other hand, Ferraris finishing in the bottom 5 in Monza would be painful to watch...

"They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fuckin' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" - Boiler Room
 

It was brutal to see Ferrari struggling so much on the straights. Loved that Ric started boosting on his second stint and managed to get the fastest round. Max and Bottas might have to change their set up to keep Ric away.  

 

Ferrari fan here so obviously I want to kms. They have somehow gotten worse than they were over the past 2-3 years which is some feat.

Boring AF season so far. Only like two good races. Another year of Lewis out qualifying his teammate by 0.300s in a silver arrows front row lockout with him gapping out of DRS range on the first lap and waltzing to victory. It's getting really old.

Max is a an absolute legend putting that Red Bull on the podium and competing with Bottas consistently. It's my firm belief that the car is just barely better than Force India (or whatever the fuck they are calling themselves these days), Renault, and McLaren.

Charles has been great as well. How this POS Ferrari ever got a podium is beyond me. Still gutted for Vettel. All he ever wanted to do was win a championship in the red car. Sadly that's never going to happen and the divorce is messy.  

On the bright side, F2 and F3 have been really exciting this year. Lots of junior Ferrari talent (Schwarzman and Ilott) and even Mick is getting halfway decent. If Logan Sargeant wins F3 and next year gets Schwartzman's Prema F2 seat, it could do a ton for the sport here in the US. He's the first legit driver we've had since Rossi, and I think he's a good bit better overall.    

 

My favorite drivers are Leclerc, Sainz Jr., and don't mind Gasly as well. Obviously, respect Lewis Hamilton a ton though. Definitely interested to see if they'll ever change up qualifying to add-in a race. The restart in the Italian GP was quite interesting and it was great to get some different drivers on podium rather than Hamilton, Bottas, and Verstappen. Any thoughts on doing random draw for pole positions on a short qualifying race to then decide pole positions for Sunday races? I think this gives an opportunity for the best drivers to rise to the top through qualifying, but mixes thing up enough so we don't have Hamilton running in clean air lapping half the field.

 

I'm probably in the minority here but IMO reverse grid qualifying or any other gimmicky stuff like that doesn't belong in F1. The sport has always been about the fastest car (and to a slightly lesser extent) the fastest driver - it shouldn't be a participation trophy where everyone gets a shot at winning. You either win or you don't. Merc spent 5 years in developing for the hybrid era before the regs even kicked in, and had nearly flawless development/race execution over the years - yeah it's not great to watch em win all the time but they are undeniably the best team. No reason the sport should rob them of a fair fight. Every couple years or so we get a new dominant player: Mclaren, Williams, Ferrari, RB, Mercedes. Underdog victories are fucking awesome but making them a regular/structured occurrence hugely diminishes its value. 

tbh pretty damn sick of the "mixing things up" argument lol. Regulations to mix things up almost certainly fucks things up, like when FIA introduced the no-pitting rule in 05 just so Schumi couldn't win his 8th. The hate shouldn't be on Merc/Hamilton for turning in flawless drive after flawless drive, but rather on teams like RB/Ferrari for not coming remotely close to toppling Mercedes since 2014. And this is coming from a lifelong Tifosi

"They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fuckin' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" - Boiler Room
 

For anyone watching F1 for a while, some things are obvious

- No team stays on top. Schumacher / Ferrari was ruthless but that passed but there was a period in 2000s when it was much worse than now

- Ferrari gets to cheat. Lot of it is because most fans are Ferrari fans worldwide and F1 doesn’t want them to die. Heck even Jean Todt and Ross Brawn are Ferrari guys. When Schumacher used to take preferred treatment over Barichello at finish line no one said anything. The recent downforce / engine issue same. Alonso went and called out McLaren and Ron Dennis was out and McLaren fined and all that But doesn’t happen to Ferrari. Ferrari also has/had very favorable economics from old Concorde agreement which allowed them to spend a lot more (they basically earned a lions share cause of their legacy / brand)

- Mercedes today is basically old BAR with bunch of Mercedes dollar. They don’t really have a lot of real tradition beyond supplying engine to McLaren in early 2000s when Hakkinen / Dennis / Newey were crushing it. Even Hamilton grew up through McLaren

- Red Bull - I forget but I think it’s the old Sauber. Again little real tradition beyond hiring Newey once McLaren gate happened post Alonso and then putting bunch of money for their drink marketing. Torro Rosso is the old Minardi which was a total clown show back in the days

- Historically traditional teams really have been Ferrari, Williams and McLaren. You can probably count Renault there (again Briatore our so idk what to make of it). Then there used to be bunch of back benchers like BAR that Honda brought in or Minardi or Sauber that basically are teams of today. Toyota, Honda, Jaguar etc came in and out over the last decade Mercedes I guess is the only one who had success in last 20-25 years

 

Spot on except that RB was formerly Jaguar, not Sauber. I loved the BMW-Sauber team - that team totally rocked and had a real shot of winning 08

IMO the old Benetton/Renault is dead lol. like you mentioned Briatore is gone and most of the team's core ended up becoming Ferrari's winning core, not to mention Renault has been constantly rebranding the team as well

Don't forget that Mercedes was perceived as an expensive flop before the hybrid era as well. They literally acquired Brawn which ofc won 09 - but from 2010 thru 2012 they've been super uncompetitive.

"They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fuckin' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" - Boiler Room
 

IMO it's a very simple equation - This season AT BEST perez is barely beating Stroll, while points-wise Stroll is actually way ahead, even if you discount the podium and add back the points Hulk scored to Checo's tally. Stroll Sr knows that Vettel's value has never been lower (rumored 15m contract), and if there's an avenue to sign a 4-time world champion still in his prime 30s to replace an (albeit very good) midfield no.1 driver, a shrewd owner would and should make that call 10 times out of 10. ofc logically a vettel-perez lineup makes much more sense and would be godly, but we all know that's not happening.

Also this whole "but he's never driven in the midfield" argument against vettel is absolute bullshit, people forget his first win was with Toro Rosso....

Love Alfa and a Sauber reunion would be beautiful, but would prefer to see Checo at Haas. Alfa is at best Ferrari's B-team, there's a reasonable cap as to how well they can perform. Checo brings big sponsorship pull and IMO that Carlos Slim money is best used at Haas which is by-and-large an independent constructor than Ferrari's B-team. Also Haas has the chops to succeed and they've proven that, it's just that they're seriously lacking budget-wise (and also shit Ferrari engines) - give them the cash to splash, and no doubt they'll be back in for a shout

"They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fuckin' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" - Boiler Room
 

if only we had the holy grail pairing of Hammy and Seb in Mercedes.....Would've been absolutely spectacular!

"They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fuckin' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" - Boiler Room
 

Have been MIA due to work past couple weeks but here's some stuff I'm excited about:

  • Gasly win - though no shot he goes back to RBR
  • SF car is like a donkey cart except it has less traction (love seb and leclerc, they don't deserve that level of incompetence; listen to sebs engineers and seb discuss literally anything, absolute clown show)
  • Thank god seb is staying in F1; even more excited he's joining AMR given Aston is my fav road car
  • New guys (norris, russell, albon etc) making F1 a good time and less uptight though feel like ricciardo is the king of this 
  • McLaren needs to keep their momentum. Feel like that may be very feasible going fwd given their merc engine switch but who knows what the grid will look like when the new rules kick in wrt budget cap
  • Let's keep a tight eye on Mugello as a potentially fun race given high level of tire deg already happening during free practice
  • It's fun seeing latifi celebrate being last generally but in all seriousness, glad to see he is a good sport

Will think of some more stuff but for now that's where my head's at

 

Latifi is surprisingly likeable lol. Not afraid to stand up to the bigger guys, good sense of humor, and doesn't sound like a prick (cue Lance Stroll). Super excited for Mugello, a lot of high-speed corners and tight DRS zones so maybe some good overtakes could happen. Agree that Gasly wont go back to RBR - Helmut and Horner know they've fucked up by swapping drivers so early in the season last time out, so they'll probably try to stick by Albon for a bit more this time round - frankly whoever's in that 2nd RB is bound to look like shit wrt Verstappen, at least Albon had some real contending moments like Austria this year or Interlagos last year

Ferrari's race engineers are so painfully bad - all they can do is mutter "ahndahstood" again and again ffs - who the hell are these guys anyway?

I think Mclaren have a very good shot for the future. Merc PUs are arguably the last piece of the puzzle they need although chassis synergies are still a big question mark. Regarding budget caps IMO they'll do just fine since Zak Brown was one of the most vocal advocates for lowering the budget ceiling

"They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fuckin' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" - Boiler Room
 

I am really rooting for McLaren to make an even stronger comeback even though they're already #3 in the constructors. Let's hope we can refer to the future top teams as at least MB, RB, FER (somehow), and McLaren. 

I think it was jeremy clarkson a while back on top gear who said something brilliantly hilarious. "Whenever Ferrari make a fantastic road car they're absolute rubbish in Formula 1. But when they're great in Formula 1 their road cars tend to be rubbish" Their road cars are pretty on point rn so hopefully the successor to the F8 and Roma is dogshit but Leclerc and Sainz can be competitive 

 

Damn straight. So happy he got that podium. Was also pushing hard for RIC to cop the third step but wasn't in the tea leaves this time around. Hoping we can see the cyril tat come at some point this season - renault seem to be killing it on high-speed circuits thus far

 

Maybe it went a bit unnoticed since only 12 cars crossed the finish line, but Checo finished 5th a couple of days after he gets the boot from RP.  Happy he got to show he still has it and I hope he's still around next year.  Poor guy gave everything to that team only to get the boot once they finally start to show real signs of progress with the car.  Apparently Alfa Romeo reached out to him twice (once earlier this season, once after the Seb news broke) about him potentially joining their team, but its looking more and more likely that Mick Schumacher will occupy that seat (tested his dad's F2004 this past weekend at Mugello) as a training stint for the Scuderia (not soon, but one day).  Aside from them, I think Haas is the only legitimate option.  The car is horrifying (IMO it'll be worse than Williams' next year if Williams continues to progress the way they have the last two seasons) but if it keeps him on the grid, I'm happy.

 

Mick looks like the real deal in F2, but then again all of the other (respectfully) flops did too.

I agree with Bueller that Haas needs to overhaul that team.  I like Guenther as a person but the team is falling apart under his watch.  Kmag and Romain are probably my two least favourite drivers on the grid (I'm not sure if there is a driver that complains more than RG) so I wouldn't mind two new faces there.   Checo money would definitely help and combined with the cost cap, maybe we see them push up that standings a couple of seasons from now.  In 2018 they were vying for the best of the rest and now they're just trying not to be last.  A lot must be changed in that paddock.

Slight topic change, but how do you think Mick will fair in an Alfa Romeo?  Kimi I think isn't driving too bad this season and the car looks alright.  If they give Gio the boot it'll give Mick a chance to learn under a former champion and former Ferrari driver, which I'm guessing they would want.  I would say performance wise the car is just behind the Alpha Tauris, but they are firmly a mid tier team, IMO.

 

Tough to say right now. On one hand you have all the current rookies in F1 (Albon, Russell, Norris) who have excelled in their seats coming from GP2. On the other hand, as you said, there are the ones who couldn't cut it in F1. I'm inclined to say he will at least be an okay driver because 1) has shown massive improvement between two seasons in F2 and currently leads the drivers championship and 2) he will get all the support he needs from Ferrari given their history with schumi sr. and the whole world watching him under a microscope when he moves to F1. 

Really hope Kimi stays for multiple reasons but Gio just strikes me as rather lackluster other than some quali sessions where he outpaced kimi. Tough to say as he hasn't sat in a competitive car / is being pitted against a WDC. Realistically I think Kimi may retire and they bring in Mick but it's all up in the air

 

I know logically it makes more sense for Kimi to retire, but it seems like he's enjoying this season with Alfa Romeo more than last year.  Again, they've made serious progress with the car, so as long as he thinks he can consistently compete for points next year, I don't think he retires just yet.  Gio, despite having a long history with Ferrari (and by extension Alfa Romeo), shouldn't be in a seat next year.  Aside from the Haas drivers and maybe Latifi because hes new, he's the worst driver on the grid.  It's not even like he has a propensity to DNF throughout races or necessarily even qualifies poorly.  I find he's just less than average at every race.

 

I think Kimi will stay. He still wants to race and Fred still wants him in the car. Foregone conclusion. Gio is consistent and by no means a bad driver, but if his seat is in the way of someone like Mick then I think the choice is clear. Plus ferrari will keep him on retainer anyways

Let's just hope the F1 gods don't turn Mick into another Jolyon Palmer...

"They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fuckin' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" - Boiler Room
 

10secs penalty couldnt stop Hammy from getting a podium...mad respect

although IMO renault fumbled a podium today, way too sluggish with the pit strats - they were looking quick as hell, Leclerc juicing every bit of those medium tyres and still couldn't catch Danny Ric with the +5

"They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fuckin' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" - Boiler Room
 

Short answer: yes.

Since his first race (literally) he's been one of the most impressive drivers on the grid.  Consistently places well and tortures all of his teammates, some of which were/became world champions.  Since 2014 he's been sitting in the best car, so people try and use that as a knock against him, but the reality is he is genuinely special.  If he had won this weekend he would've tied Schumi's record for grand prix wins, and when he wins the championship this season, he'll tie the world championship record as well, and is a serious contender to beat it next season.

 
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Had to add here - and people have summed it up well - but none of the goats have won multiple titles in subpar cars. Sure there are times they've pulled through with suboptimal car setup or overcome some kind of catastrophic failure mechanically but generally at least recently: 1) Schumacher's ferrari dominance was also a product of Ferrari having the most competitive car on the grid 2) Vettel's redbull was by far the quickest on the grid thanks to its aero work from Adrian Newey and 3) Hamilton's consecutive dominance has been underpinned by Mercedes performing at the highest level as a team and delivering him the best car in the hybrid engine era.

But my point isn't so much that they won due to their cars, rather they win due to relentless consistency and drive which they use to get just that extra edge per lap and during races. Keep in mind, in terms of absolute time, there isn't a monumental gap between say Hamilton and Valteri but if Hamilton can more often than not edge his teammate out by 3 thousandths of a second and so on in the same car, he is undisputedly operating and performing at a higher level. And this is coming from someone who loves seeing hamilton lose due to vested interests in other drivers on the grid lol

 

Valtteri showing some fire in the belly is also great to see. About time somebody put those trolls in their place

"They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fuckin' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" - Boiler Room
 

tom bernard gasly is now confirmed for alpha tauri. Looks like Kvyat's seat will go to tsunoda which honestly, as much as I hate to say, will likely leave Albon without a seat given his performance and redbull's pivot from downright support of him to "we are also exploring Nico and Checo"

Also it's almost like horner is allergic to the idea of bringing gasly back to RBR. I definitely think gas will move to renault after '21

 

Yup...tsunoda will drive for AT cuz politics aka Honda, and seems like Max wants Hulk in that 2nd car

Damn shame about albon. He achieved a lot more in that car than gasly did and still is getting chopped. Horner and Marko are great at discovering talent but they're shit managers...their way to motivate an underperforming driver is to constantly threaten firing him and give him guinea pig race strategies. Twice now. Ridiculous. I dont dont  the "sink or swim" approach to drivers but surely there's a better way to approach this?

Would be nice to see Hulk in that car tho, arguably the closest Webber 2.0 RB can sign. Also finally a chance for him to clear his name and nab some podiums

"They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fuckin' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" - Boiler Room
 

I'll say this as a massive RBR supporter, I agree that horner and HM are terrible at managing the 2nd driver role but they really did and continue to back albon despite his underperformance. I think Max's say honestly doesn't really go that far within the team given they will eventually want to pick a solid combative second driver but one who doesn't impede on Max's runnings during the race too much, similar to how VB is viewed by MBZ as a solid 2nd place driver. It does suck because Albon's rise was super exciting and he did have opportunities early on to get on the podium (even top step in the season opener at AUS) but was hindered by either Lewis (haha) or redbulls arguably questionable race strategy for him (ie. pitting him in heavy traffic for a 3-stop strategy when literally no one was doing that). So that being said, yes, you put it perfectly that he was treated as a guinea pig when he was performing earlier in the season and is now just being relegated to Max's 2nd as evidenced by his radio calls with Simon at Portugal.

Would be nice for Hulk forsure but Perez makes more sense given his proven ability to grab podiums and arguably better performance in the midfield - even though I like Hulk better. Hard to get a 2nd driver to RBR when they have a star driver as you alluded to a la webber and ricciardo w max who held his own.

 

tom bernard  Dude been MIA again for work but yes. Looks like haas is really resorting to a double rookie line-up given funding with mazepin and the ferrari relationship for Mick. I was so wrong haha I really thought Gio would get the boot. I know he's really killed his race starts but his constant outshining by kimi and Mick's last name being Schumacher, I really thought he'd be out. Glad to see F1 teams at least taking a stand with their drivers though.

Related to your above note, looks like RBR has taken the same approach after imola, allowing albon to perform up to abu dhabi. It's better for driver morale to do so but man, after Albon's spin post Perez overtake, I'm really struggling to support the guy. And he's said he isn't open to an AT move though I'm sure he'd take it if it were offered

 

tom bernard what were your thoughts on turkey? Fun race and mad respect to Lewis on his achievement obviously. Genuinely did not think he'd win the race but maybe a podium but yet again defied expectations with his relentlessly consistent drive. Checo needs a seat next year, his performance proved that as he has done over the course of the season but not sure who'll take him besides RBR who seem to have prioritized Albon (another poor showing, *huge sigh*) or Hulk (but this is via rumors). Unfortunate for Lance after his monster pole drive - lord knows where the hell that came from but I'd love to see more of it - but lack of ability to manage the inters. Very poor showing from Max during his chase of the racing point but obviously track was tricky as hell so anyone could've made that spin. Massive props to Vettel on drawing on his wet weather expertise which I attribute to his sheer years of experience. And finally, a sad nod to Leclerc in what could have been but he drove amazingly all race until his last lap blunder. 

 

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel...the Mercedes driver pairing/Senna-Prost continuation F1 wanted and should've gotten

agreed that Albon could've and should've done better, Max had a bad day at the office and Alex should've capitalized better since he had a real shot of winning or at the very least a podium finish - end of

think this gives RBR a massive headache...Checo has proven himself once again as a proven podium getter, something which Hulk hasn't proven yet, but at the same time Hulk has proven himself as a consistent no.2 driver and a perceived better team player...also Max wants him in the other car - let's see how this plays out

Stroll nabbing pole is a pleasant surprise defo but at the same time it's less of a surprise that he beat Checo to it - before his consecutive DNFs he was finishing on par if not better than Checo, which I guess was also why RP decided to sack Checo for Vettel since I suppose they saw limited upside to Checo being their no.1

Leclerc had a monster drive starting from P14 (I think) and was churning out fastest laps nonstop - he probably would've won, but Lewis Hamilton....(also his terrible quali sesh didnt make it easier)

Must be a bittersweet thing for Seb as well. I'd imagine he'd thought if somebody was to match Michael's 7 WDCs it'd be him not Hamilton. Back in his prime RB days I genuinely thought Seb would be the one to surpass Michael. Who would've thought it'd be Hammy!

it's also crazy how "fans"/media constantly underrate Vettel, people and their very short memories seem to have forgotten he was unbeatable in his prime, including a certain McLaren driver who never came close to touching him. I truly believe (as I have said many times) that given the right car Vettel can be back to his best once again

"They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fuckin' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" - Boiler Room
 

Thoughts going into the Bahrain GP? Excited for the 2nd row RBR lockout and the Renaults both making it to Q3. Expecting full Merc dominance for P1/2 barring any extraordinary events end of day. Pretty much last chance for Albon given next GP is a big power circuit and Abu Dhabi is last.

 

Season's finally over.....Seb's farewell message got me in tears while Ricciardo's or even Sainz's was surprisingly cold

also seems like Checo to RB is gaining some serious traction! Albon to the bench it is

Kvyat breaking the news about being replaced by Tsunoda is weirdly hilarious as well

"They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fuckin' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" - Boiler Room
 

Oh my god man. Seb just redefined what it means to be a fucking team player with his farewell song and his message to young CL. So happy characters like that are in our sport. In 2010 when I first got into F1, Seb was the catalyst given he was just starting his winning streak with RBR but I was always drawn to his glowing personality.

As I've said many times, I love Albon but for RBR purposes, checho makes the most sense for the "2nd" driver role. We've discussed here before that sergio may not be the best teammate but I do think that he's still the best of the midfield rather than a top driver in the leagues of Lewis or Max so I would hope that there wouldn't be an issue for who's fighting for that #1 spot (even though we know it's Max by a mile).

Kvyat has improved a ton in terms of consistency in race-pace with several poor strategic blunders from AT but I think given Tsunoda's 3rd place in F2 combined with the poor relationship Kvyat seems to have with Marko, the swap seems inevitable. I could be wrong though given how many shocks this season has given us.

Lastly shout out to Mick for clamping down the F2 title. Tough battle considering the competition and the Schumacher name but he didn't flinch and took the title. Wish he was going to Alfa but hey a seat in F1 is a seat in F1. He'll be fine so long as he performs. Could put Charles in jeopardy if he keeps driving recklessly and Sainz ends up being a consistent top performer.  

 

legit tearjerker. what a farewell. its a damn shame Seb never won a ship with Ferrari, would've cemented his place in the GOAT status for sure (still is imo) - hope he recaptures that glory in AM

oh yeah i think at this point Checo will take any deal if RB offers him one, even if it means playing 2nd fiddle to Max which he will anyway as u mentioned

IMO Kvyat is one of those "sometimes great mostly average" drivers - like KMag, Gro, or even Hulk - just one of those guys who wore out their shelf life

Tsunoda is something else....15 pts behind Mick and 1 pt behind Ilott in his rookie season - thats another great driver in the making, could see why Marko ditched Kvyat

Watching Mick's post-race interview in Abu Dhabi gave me legit chills. He sounds SO MUCH like Michael - even his mannerisms

nah Charles will be fine man....yes he made a lot of shit moves this season but thats cuz he had to really push the car to the brim - the risk/reward is fair game IMO

whereas Carlos - very consistent but I dont think hes shown that he can be a credible no.1 just yet. Hope im wrong

"They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fuckin' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" - Boiler Room
 

I am actually looking forward to see the progress of ferrari next year. Binotto said they made huge improvement on the engine and won't be the slowest ( hard to not improve on that shit engine lol ) i think they'll probably fight for P3. I really hope AM will give a car with stable rear end to seb soo he can compete. Midfield will be savage !!

 

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"They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fuckin' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" - Boiler Room
 

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