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The 2020 F1 Season

Lots of interviews with Gordon Murray around as he launches his new car, but this long interview with Chris Harris I especially enjoyed as he talks a lot about his life and career. Lots of F1 history and he seems like a really nice bloke.

 
tiggers said:
Racing Point fined and docked points for using illegal parts.... whoops!
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Interestingly this was for the rear brake ducts only. The fronts they used last year and are therefore OK, the rears are last years design but were not used last year but are on the car this year. What sympathy I had for RP evaporated with that knowledge. There was no way that was ever going to pass.
 
Does this mean they will have to change the rear brake ducts to their own design with immediate effect or are they able to continue using them in the future without any penalty?
 
RP are permitted to carry on using the brake ducts for the rest of the season - the points deduction (plus fine) is apparently, adequate in terms of performance advantage gained throughout an enitre season.

In other news, Sergio will miss this weekend's GP. Nico Hulkenberg, take two...
 
cutting42 said:
Interestingly this was for the rear brake ducts only. The fronts they used last year and are therefore OK, the rears are last years design but were not used last year but are on the car this year. What sympathy I had for RP evaporated with that knowledge. There was no way that was ever going to pass.
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I think it's more subtle. There's a list of components that can be bought in, engines, gearboxes etc. Rear brake ducts were on that list last year, but not this. RP took last years Mercedes rear ducts, legitimately acquired, and derived this year's design from them. So it's an FIA grey area. Would the conclusion have been different if RP had actually used 2019 Mercedes supplied components in this area last year? Which would have been explicitly legal.

I think the FIA have made a political decision. RP have made too great a step this year and need to be handicapped somewhat for Renault (and Ferrari?) benefit. The FIA would have found a way.

FWIW I think teams should be able to buy anything from anybody, to consistently win you would still need to innovate and this would close the field up. When the situation stagnates, change the rules again...
 
Paul R said:
I think it's more subtle. There's a list of components that can be bought in, engines, gearboxes etc. Rear brake ducts were on that list last year, but not this. RP took last years Mercedes rear ducts, legitimately acquired, and derived this year's design from them. So it's an FIA grey area. Would the conclusion have been different if RP had actually used 2019 Mercedes supplied components in this area last year? Which would have been explicitly legal.

I think the FIA have made a political decision. RP have made too great a step this year and need to be handicapped somewhat for Renault (and Ferrari?) benefit. The FIA would have found a way.

FWIW I think teams should be able to buy anything from anybody, to consistently win you would still need to innovate and this would close the field up. When the situation stagnates, change the rules again...
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Yes, I didn't phrase my thoughts subtly enough. Drawings/CADs of both rear and front brake cooling ducts were legally sourced from last years Merc but only the design for the fronts were used last year and carried forward to 2020. This is what I had understood was the situation and I think there was leeway here as you cannot unsee or undesign something. The error was to design the rears for 2020 based on the 2019 drawings that they had which I was not aware of until today.

I think that there is mileage in standardising some parts of an F1 car to reduce costs but it can go too far, thus making the cars too similar. I never liked the copy/paste approach, we have seen it for years, I remember the Ensign/Shadow brouhaha in the 70's, the first Haas, the first Toro Rosso etc etc.
 
matthewr said:
Racing Point? Racing Point? TRACing Point more like!
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They must've got quite a deal on that ugly pink paint. If they ever run out, I'm sure they'll change the team color to whatever other mistint is available from the paint surplus that day.
 
The penalty for RP differs from no penalty for Ferrari and their engine...though they’ve had to remove the cheats and are now struggling.
 
clivem2 said:
The penalty for RP differs from no penalty for Ferrari and their engine...though they’ve had to remove the cheats and are now struggling.
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And ironically have just appealed the Racing Point decision.... sometimes you have to wonder if F1 is just some farce and we are the butt of the jokes.
 
tiggers said:
And ironically have just appealed the Racing Point decision.... sometimes you have to wonder if F1 is just some farce and we are the butt of the jokes.
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Maybe the FIA will respond to the appeal by removing the fine and points deduction! If not, what happens when RP appeal?
 
matthewr said:
Lots of interviews with Gordon Murray around as he launches his new car, but this long interview with Chris Harris I especially enjoyed as he talks a lot about his life and career. Lots of F1 history and he seems like a really nice bloke.

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For a time in the 1990s, Road & Track Magazine used Gordon Murray as a styling analyst every time a new supercar came out. He'd get a two page spread with arrows pointing to details on the car with his comments.

The upshot of that was that he was in love with himself and his criticism consisted of pointing out the ways the subject cars were different from, and therefore worse than, the McLaren F1.
 
Yank said:
The upshot of that was that he was in love with himself and his criticism consisted of pointing out the ways the subject cars were different from, and therefore worse than, the McLaren F1.
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A bit like forum members who always point out the perceived shortcomings in others?

Let’s face it, the F1 was an incredible car, and every other supercar at the time was made to look a bit heavy, weak, ugly, underpowered...

It’s still a crowning achievement nearly 30 years on.
 
matthewr said:
Lots of interviews with Gordon Murray around as he launches his new car, but this long interview with Chris Harris I especially enjoyed as he talks a lot about his life and career. Lots of F1 history and he seems like a really nice bloke.

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He was too innovative for F1 (the ever tightening rules to try and stop one car dominating...) , even 30 years ago and so it was great to see him lead the design and development of the F1, which was way ahead of his time.
 
Tony Lockhart said:
A bit like forum members who always point out the perceived shortcomings in others?

Let’s face it, the F1 was an incredible car, and every other supercar at the time was made to look a bit heavy, weak, ugly, underpowered...

It’s still a crowning achievement nearly 30 years on.
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It certainly is.
 
I remain astounded at how rapidly Vettel is going backwards. One doesn't get to be world champion 4 times in a row if one is hopeless, so something is very wrong. Is the car tailored preferentially for Leclerc and Vettel can't cope with it? Or is his morale simply low?
 
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