FORMULA ONE - 2020

bentwrench said:

OT but hey, Did you hear that Bubba has a new sugar daddy?

Yup, he's been drafted for the new Space Jam: Speeding on Saturn.

To bring it back OT slightly: Bubba has invited Lewis to come spectate the next Daytona 500.

Valteri is fast this weekend.

In other news, Mercedes seems to have a second on the field.  Shocking.

Valteri doesn't have a problem with being quick in practice. It's that final couple of thousands in Q3 and then race strategy that keep biting him in the butt.

Looks like we should have a good race tomorrow, Lewis and Max on the front row and Lewis on the wrong tires.

Those soft tires might help him at the start, he'll be quicker off the line and hopefully braking later for T1. So it might be a short-term advantage to keep track position when dealing with the draft, then it's strategy time. The Mercedes seems to like hard tires and Lewis can milk them well, so I predict a really long stint on hards. This will be interesting. 

Q2 drama!  Wowsers.

I also enjoyed Valteris little" Maybe I was playing games because I wanted to be third."

Certainly possible.

Well, I napped through most of that.  Surprised Lewis didn't know the rules.  Just watched the replays, and it did look like a dumb spot to do his practice starts.

Not just Lewis, the whole team. Sounds like it's a venue-specific thing. Regardless, it sure took any chance of excitement out of the front of the race. I can usually find something to hold my interest, but besides some spats at the back it wasn't a good race. That's a pretty bad track overall honestly.

The start did end up like I thought, though - I think the extra traction from Lewis' softs let him keep first place despite the draft. Too bad we didn't get to find out how that would play out.

Pretty crappy track in general, not an exciting race year after year. I do think Lewis would have won w/o the penalty, thanks to the track. 

And Carlos!  What were you thinking, dude?  It wasn't like he just clipped that wall, he clobbered it.  

Streetwiseguy said:

And Carlos!  What were you thinking, dude?  It wasn't like he just clipped that wall, he clobbered it.  

Yes the angle he had to entering the penalty maze was way tighter than, for example Max just not turning in. 

It was a very bad look for Sainz. Like dude there is a WALL there!

Albon, I like Albon, sucked today. I don't see an excuse for starting position justifying his race today. Just a bad day.

Lewis and team just screwed up. The double penalty was silly. I could see one penalty, but honestly it looked like a dangerous spot. 

I need to rewatch to see how Ricciardo and Perez ended up where they were at the end. 

alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:

Pretty crappy track in general, not an exciting race year after year. I do think Lewis would have won w/o the penalty, thanks to the track. 

+1

Advan046 said:

alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:

Pretty crappy track in general, not an exciting race year after year. I do think Lewis would have won w/o the penalty, thanks to the track. 

+1

 +2   I would be ok if I never saw another race at Sochi.

Based on qualifying, Sochi would be a hell of a Solo 1 track.

Based on the race, not such a great race track..

Edit:. Am I showing my age or region by saying Solo 1?

miatafan (Forum Supporter) said:

Advan046 said:

alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:

Pretty crappy track in general, not an exciting race year after year. I do think Lewis would have won w/o the penalty, thanks to the track. 

+1

 +2   I would be ok if I never saw another race at Sochi.

Or monaco....  it's like socchi, but tighter.  I don't even watch that race.

Snoozer after the first 10 laps.

Albon finished nearish to lando.  I just think it's too hard to pass on that track.

On a more positive note, the f2 race 1 was awesome!  Schumacher finally wins a race cleanly.  He looked excellent.  Also tsunoda got 4th.  I think this helps them both end up in f1 next year.

Is it just me or did Bottas say the exact same thing to his critics last year at the end of the Australian GP? If he wants to silence his critics, he should try stringing together a season where he consistently beats Lewis in wheel to wheel racing and not just beating him when Hamilton has penalties or equipment failure. 

In reply to wvumtnbkr :

Mick is going up for sure at this point regardless of results from here out. They want that big name in the Ferrari!

Street circuits rarely make for interesting races -- about the only exception I can think of is Montreal which is technically sort of a street circuit.

Anyone else think the bollard rule in turn 2 was dumb?  

Really?  

Stewards retract points penalty for Hamilton

So, if the infraction was not his fault, why the time penalty in the first place? 

In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :

Not just the rule, but they way the bollards were set up practically ensured some one would either mow them down (Grosjean i think) or get caught playing pinball with the retaing wall (Sainz)

06HHR (Forum Supporter) said:

Really?  

Stewards retract points penalty for Hamilton

So, if the infraction was not his fault, why the time penalty in the first place? 

Because that still punished the team who were the ones who made the error? Points on his license only punishes Lewis.

Or more realistically, because you can't undo the time penalty now. 

I don't understand why people have to be critical of Bottas when he is up against one of the best drivers there has ever been in F1 and he is capable of pushing Hamilton in qualifying and scoring points for MB consistently. 

In reply to bruceman :

I don't know if you're referring to my comments about Bottas but I think he's a very good driver, proven by how close he is to Lewis in qualifying and the races. I don't think he's on Lewis's level but then nobody is except maybe Max. I'm just pointing out that we've heard this from him before and it's just talk.

I really wish they would opt for standing starts instead of the rolling starts after the safety car. I think it would have been a more exciting race.

In reply to trigun7469 :

But then we would have a standing start, crash, followed by 3 laps of safety car, followed by another standing start, crash, followed by another 3 laps of safety car...until only one survives to circulate the track by themselves to take the win lol