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The 2020 F1 Season

I found this readers comment in the Times this morning -

"Mercedes would do everything they could to ensure that Bottas came second in the drivers championship and to do that he needed to be more than 12 points or 6th or 7th away from Verstappen. Hamilton despite not being 100% did what Bottas signally failed to do this season, act as his defense."

Granted, the defense (from other teams) wasn't required but had HAM challenged Bottas it wouldn't have been the first time things went squirrelly for him.

It would be unreasonable to expect RUS to have done the same.

Jim
 
jimpey said:
I found this readers comment in the Times this morning -

"Mercedes would do everything they could to ensure that Bottas came second in the drivers championship and to do that he needed to be more than 12 points or 6th or 7th away from Verstappen. Hamilton despite not being 100% did what Bottas signally failed to do this season, act as his defense."

Granted, the defense (from other teams) wasn't required but had HAM challenged Bottas it wouldn't have been the first time things went squirrelly for him.

It would be unreasonable to expect RUS to have done the same.

Jim
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Sounded very much like Lewis was struggling due to the after effects of having Covid and as such was not really in a position to deliver his best.

Abu Dhabi is a very bad track for overtaking so unless Bottas put the car off the track, or had reliability problems, then he was going to do what he needed to finish 2nd n the championship.

Difficult to see it being any different had Russell been in Lewis' car as the turned down engines meant that Verstappen was very comfortable in completing his race win.
 
Bananahead said:
No, you tried to justify having two pit stops but not using three tyre compounds.

And your thoughts are flawed anyway. The teams don't just take it easy to manage tyres, they also do fuel management.
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Teams could be mandated to use all three compounds, which could only be achieved by doing at least two stops. Whether using all three compounds would be part of a requirement to complete two stops no matter what is incidental to my suggestion of mandating at least two stops because doing so will increase tension/excitement for all the reasons I stated earlier.
 
windhoek said:
Teams could be mandated to use all three compounds, which could only be achieved by doing at least two stops. Whether using all three compounds would be part of a requirement to complete two stops no matter what is incidental to my suggestion of mandating at least two stops because doing so will increase tension/excitement for all the reasons I stated earlier.
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After the VB and GR trouble at Merc the week before, it looks like the only way they could be beaten is if Merc were forced to just change one tyre at a time in the pits :)
 
If a race was seen to be more exciting because of, say, two stops or sub-minute lap times, it doesn’t follow that future races will be similar. The strategists will just gather the data, and the cars will be driven to win with least risk and wear.
 
Tony Lockhart said:
If a race was seen to be more exciting because of, say, two stops or sub-minute lap times, it doesn’t follow that future races will be similar. The strategists will just gather the data, and the cars will be driven to win with least risk and wear.
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Indeed. As I am sure I have mentioned before, the modern rapidly degrading tyres Pirelli have been asked to make were a deliberate instruction party due to a race in 2011 I think where the track and tyre combination led to a very rapid degradation and a topsy turvy race. Everyone leapt up and said how marvellous this was and we should have crumbly tyres all the time.

Careful what you wish for.
 
Teams would adapt strategy of course with a mandatory two stops race but planning and delivering two stops don't always come together, as we saw last week. Plus, it might re-inject more oomph into the undercut effect of pitting first - a moot point if you're waiting to see if the guy in front is going to pit.
 
Yes a very DULL race , Hamilton looked like he was after another win in qualifying but after realising he was lacking pace and fitness seemed to be in cruise mode .I am sure Mercedes wanted to make sure of Bottas 2nd place in the championship so a snooze fest was prescribed !
 
cutting42 said:
Indeed. As I am sure I have mentioned before, the modern rapidly degrading tyres Pirelli have been asked to make were a deliberate instruction party due to a race in 2011 I think where the track and tyre combination led to a very rapid degradation and a topsy turvy race. Everyone leapt up and said how marvellous this was and we should have crumbly tyres all the time.

Careful what you wish for.
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https://www.racefans.net/2018/08/06/f1-planning-return-2011-style-high-tyre-degradation/
 
cutting42 said:
The longest "will he won't he" story of all year will be the HAM to Ferrari story but will ultimately stick with Merc as he will know what their new car looks like and they have consistently dealt with technology changes better than any other team in the past 6 years - not that there have been that many.

In rough order
Merc will win again, they are still the best team with a top 3 car at every track and the top car in around 50% of them.
Ferrari will sharpen up their team game but we will not see the extreme speed differences to the same extent VET will continue to disappoint, LEC will become the official team leader
Red Bull will still be carried by VER and good strategy but the car is not quite fast enough for championship tilt. I hope Albon will do enough to stay but he is up against a generational talent.
McLaren will retain 4th best and will get 2 podiums but lucky ones. SAI and NOR will remain the most friendly team mates.
Renoo will be overtaken by Racing point and maybe Torro Rosso (Alpha Tauri - stupid name) RIC will trigger an escape clause
Sauber/Alfa will occasionally pop into the top 10 but not often (Sorry Ian)
Haas are in trouble I think and will be the first team to be overtaken by....
A resurgent Williams. They stood still in '19 whilst working on '20 car which will be time well spent and with two decent young drivers but a long way to go.

HAM staying at Merc will cause VER to stick, LEC will also stay with the red car to be partnered by RIC after another poor year with Renoo
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Don't you just love seeing how wrong you were in pre season predictions?

HAM to Fezza rumours never got off the ground mainly due to the engine shenanigans (remember those) and Ferrari's shocking year.

Merc to win, well yes but never assumed winning all but four races and that two of the four would be Racing Point and Alpha Tauri with Ferrari nowhere. HAM on a different level this year as well no weak days except possibly Abu Dhabi with BOT battling hard but typically dropping off the pace every so often.

Oh boy, Ferrari, sixth !!! What a horrendous year, I got this completely wrong, who knew it would be such a large backwards step. Despite some outstanding drives by LEC, the car was a dog battling with Williams on occasion. How much was down to the engine backtracking I don't know for sure but received wisdom seems to be the Ferrari chassis has been compromised for a few years masked by a beast of an engine which was finally showed up by the engine retreat.

I got RB fairly correct but bumped up to second due to Ferrari's woes. ALB has not done enough to stay IMO

Almost spot on here, they got 2 podiums, one lucky but beat the finishing position due to Ferrari. Third is fantastic. Best team mates again shame to see them split but RIC will be a top addition.

Renault were overtaken by RP but not AT, and I predicted RIC leaving but I thought he would be Ferrari bound, fortunately not, he picked McLaren. On the whole not a bad year for Renoo and got a couple of podiums and a tattoo for the team principal.

Alfa behind AT was probably not expected but handicapped by a very de-rated engine. Some nice drives by RAI and GIO but a bit of an anonymous year.

Haas are/were in trouble and were often out performed by Williams (well RUS) but managed 3 points so avoided the back of the pack.

Williams still awful but were a little better than 2019. Still did not manage a point and RUS could have done this at Imola but for a brain fade behind the safety car. RUS redeemed himself with a guest appearance in the Merc and nearly won the Sakir race if it were not for problems out of his control.

A miracle we got a full season really, some cracking races. I will do a 2021 prediction in a few weeks
 
Perez definately deserves the Red Bull drive over Albon but Red Bull work in mysterious ways . Iwould have thought they may have swapped Gasley and Albon over mid season as Gasley was doing much better in the B team car with some great results , however they continued with Albon , perhaps he is more special than we realise !
 
peter bj said:
Perez definately deserves the Red Bull drive over Albon but Red Bull work in mysterious ways . Iwould have thought they may have swapped Gasley and Albon over mid season as Gasley was doing much better in the B team car with some great results , however they continued with Albon , perhaps he is more special than we realise !
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I’ll be very surprised if we see Albon in the RB next season but maybe they think Perez might run Max too close for comfort?
 
peter bj said:
Perez definately deserves the Red Bull drive over Albon but Red Bull work in mysterious ways . Iwould have thought they may have swapped Gasley and Albon over mid season as Gasley was doing much better in the B team car with some great results , however they continued with Albon , perhaps he is more special than we realise !
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I am still undecided on the RB second seat. GAS pi55ed off the senior folks at RB in his abortive year and despite his decent drives this year I understand he will never drive again for the main team.

ALB is so frustrating, he is a special driver but they they are all special just to be there, give him an easier car to drive and he will look a lot better. In fact the balance of the RB in Abu Dhabi was really good with good front end and traction giving him the confidence he has lacked all season and he was (finally) able to play the backstop position limiting Merc's ability to play with a late extra stop for HAM. He is still too slow compared with VER but if he at least could have consistently been in the 4th position all year he would be a shoo in for 2021. RB need to take more points from Merc reliably to make a run for any of the WC.

Lets not forget RB have history here, making a car that only one driver can fully exploit, you cannot expect to have two genius drivers at the same time. Even if you can get two , good luck in managing them throughout a season.

Ultimately the answer is for RB to build a more drivable car that not just VER can get the best out of. If they do that there are probably active 10 drivers who can fulfil the BOT role.
 
Yeah, Albon can drive alright, as can they all, but for some reason, for him, the RB seems to be an almost untamable beast to drive. When Russell spoke about the Mercedes responding to his every command [as if it were an extension of himself], it contrasted greatly with Albon's experience of driving the RB. Will RB stick with Albon or twist for Perez in 2022? I think they'll stick... but a mid-season change can't be ruled out - especially if competition for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the constructors' championship is looking tight.
 
The problem with Red Bull is in a way Max Verstappen. Like Senna, Schumacher, Alonso and Hamilton he has that extra gift in that he can take a car that is fast, but hard to drive and make it fly. I don't think it's so much a case of tailoring it to Verstappen as Max being able to drive it while Albon can't drive it as well. How many spins have we seen from Albon while Max seems to have it more or less tamed (a few spins aside granted). You can usually tell how easy a car is to drive by where teammates are compared to each other. 2004 Barrichello was always quite close to Schumacher in terms of lap time, 2005 he was nowhere. Bottas is much closer in terms of lap times to Hamilton when the car is dialled in and flying than at the races where Mercedes can't quite get the set up right or it rains and it becomes more about the driver.

Max is one of those special drivers that can do that and the question Red Bull need to answer is if they make the car easier to drive will it ultimately be as fast in the hands of Max and if not can they take a bit of a trade off to get the sister car further up the grid.... at the moment I suspect not as Mercedes are way too quick. I think Perez will be a better number 2 in the Red Bull as he has not driven any 'class of the field' cars and is used to having to find a way to make the car do what he wants. He's also a very tidy driver who knows how to look after his tyres... he would be a very good choice I feel, but I think Red Bull have a psychological mountain to climb to put him in the car over one of their stable's drivers. That said if they want to challenge for the constructor's championship I think they have little choice.
 
Yep, RB have their own in-house driver programme and to bring in an outsider is a statement that's it's not quite delivering as intended. That's also why I think they'll stick with Albon for next season (by which I mean till around halfway if he still isn't closer to Max on a regular basis. I think if he puts in top-5, maybe even top-6 finishes fairly consistently then he'll keep his seat for the entire season.
 
In my opinion Perez is the ideal number 2 driver for RB. He's Mr consistent and perfectly capable of mopping up wins when Max drops the ball.

If I were Christian Horner I'd put Perez in Albon's seat for next year, put Albon in Kyvat's seat and keep Kyvat on as the official reserve.

Albon shows great promise but looks like he needs a bit more experience in the AT before stepping back up to RB.

If RB are serious about trying to take the constructors championship next year Perez is the better choice.
 
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