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F1 2020

All left fronts I think, which thinking about the layout of Silverstone will be the tyre under the most load.

5 more victories for Lewis and he beats Schumacher. Looking at the season so far it seems a pretty safe bet that he’ll do it.
 
Watching Ted's notebook and amazed at how quiet it is. I've been in the paddock at Silverstone and Monaco and they're usually packed. Just shows how many hangers on and liggers there are usually, (like I was).
 
Does anyone know what the issue with Hulkenberg‘s car actually was?

A sheared bolt in the clutch housing, which jammed the engine apparently. Weird that the engine started twice that day then only jammed just before the race:

 
Mattia Binotto no longer Ferrari's technical director
Mattia Binotto says he is no longer Ferrari's technical director. After the Maranello team's uncompetitive start to 2020, it was announced that Enrico Cardile would head a new Performance Development department, supported by famous former chief designer Rory Byrne. The reshuffle left Binotto as team principal, but made no mention of whether he would continue to also serve as technical director.

"I'm no longer a technical director," the Italian revealed to German broadcaster RTL after Sunday's British GP. "I'm just Ferrari team boss." Binotto also confirmed that Ferrari is actively recruiting, explaining: "We are looking for the right people." It comes after Ferrari chairman John Elkann controversially said last week that the fabled team would not be able to win a single race until 2022. "We are doing everything we can," Binotto answered when asked about that prediction, "and we are working hard to win a race before then."

Although Charles Leclerc finished on the podium on Sunday, Sebastian Vettel, just tenth, said there is something "fundamentally wrong" with his red car. "Our people have clear goals," Binotto said. "Let them do their work and then we'll see what happens." As for any signs of rapid progress for Ferrari, he warned: "It's too early for updates. But when we get back to Maranello we will be working hard."

Binotto also said he feels comfortable about his future at the team. "I have felt comfortable in this company for many years," he said. "We share the same vision and the same objectives and I thank Mr Camilleri and Mr Elkann for the support they give me. "The team is cohesive, and while the current situation is not easy, we have to understand the mistakes and improve. The team is united and hungry to do better."

Aston Martin and Sebastian Vettel
I mentioned above that I thought there was no news about Vettel moving to Aston Martin because Vettel was waiting for the outcome of the FIA investigation into the Racing Point cars. But looking at the press this morning it appears that it is because Racing Point didn't want to make the announcement while Sergio Perez is off sick. Almost everyone now seems sure that Vettel will end up at Aston with a multi-year deal.

I think with-in two weeks of the end of the next Silverstone race we will hear something from both Vettel and Racing Point, I don't think this will be the end of Perez in F1, I think there are a couple of seats available for him, he could go to Alfa or Haas.
 
This weekend's GP appears to be taking place somewhere called 'Anniversary'.

'Anniversary' uses British Summer Time, and the event times are identical to last weekend's GP.

Fri 7 Aug
FP1 - 11:00
FP2 - 15:00

Sat 8 Aug
FP3 - 11:00
Qual - 14:00

Sun 9 Aug
Race - 14:10

I imagine tyre selection is going to be a hot topic this weekend.

ETA: I don't think Channel 4 is showing it live.
 
I doubt they’ll change the tyre selection, but higher mandatory tyre pressures are a racing cert. Probably the lap times from this weekend won’t be beaten then.
 
I doubt they’ll change the tyre selection, but higher mandatory tyre pressures are a racing cert. Probably the lap times from this weekend won’t be beaten then.
This weekend the tyres are different as Pirelli are going softer on all compounds it was reported during last weekend Iirc. While the tyres are called soft, medium and hard, there are also different compounds with-in each range. I'm sure this will be discussed during next weekends race. I haven't heard anything from the FIA about scrapping the change of tyres for this weekend, although there are a number of news reports claiming the FIA should scrap the plans to use softer compounds after last weekend, but why should they? Teams can always make two stops if they are not happy.

Bertie Smalls in F1
It seems that a grass or two who are ex-employees of Racing point have been telling anyone who will listen that the team copied the Mercedes, so there may be more to this than we think and the brake ducts are just the start and if the protests on these ducts don't win other parts may be next. Ferrari may also start to enter the process it is being claimed, McLaren have also spoken out and may join in.

(Do they still use the term "Bertie Smalls" in the UK or has he been forgotten there nowadays?)
 
(Do they still use the term "Bertie Smalls" in the UK or has he been forgotten there nowadays?)
Not really. He has his own Wikipedia page, though.

When I said ^^^ that I think tyre selection will be a hot topic this weekend, I was thinking about the teams and their tyre strategy, rather than the types that Pirelli supply for the race.

I rather think Pirelli will tell the teams, "That's what we've brought, use them or hit Kwik-Fit."
 
Pirelli explain tyre problems
A tyre problem that nearly cost Lewis Hamilton a record seventh British Grand Prix victory last weekend was due to a particularly long final stint on one set, Pirelli said on Tuesday. Six times Formula One world champion Hamilton won the race at Silverstone on three wheels and a flat tyre after his front left deflated on the final lap with some 3.8 km between him and the finish. Team mate Valtteri Bottas dropped from second to 11th after a similar problem a lap earlier while McLaren’s Carlos Sainz plunged from fourth to 13th.

“The key reason is down to a set of individual race circumstances that led to an extremely long use of the second set of tyres,” sole supplier Pirelli said in a statement after conducting an initial analysis. The company pointed out that nearly all teams brought forward their planned pit stop when the safety car was deployed for a second time, meaning they did around 40 laps, more than three quarters of the 52 lap race on a single set of tyres.

Silverstone is also one of the fastest and most demanding tracks. Pirelli said the final laps had been particularly tough “as a consequence of the biggest forces ever seen on tyres generated by the fastest Formula One cars in history.” It added that the front left tyre, which takes more punishment than the others at Silverstone, had been under “maximum stress”. Silverstone hosts another race this weekend, the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, and Pirelli said softer compounds would be used which should rule out such long stints and turn it into a likely two stop race.

“Also the usage prescription will be reviewed, increasing the minimum tyre pressures to reduce the stress on the construction,” it added.
 
This weekend the tyres are different as Pirelli are going softer on all compounds it was reported during last weekend Iirc. While the tyres are called soft, medium and hard, there are also different compounds with-in each range.

Correct, their tyre selection for the coming race was always planned to be one step softer, with the aim of producing a different race strategy to mix things up. According to Andrew Benson on BBC, Pirelli have confirmed they won’t be changing their tyre selection for this race, but will be stipulating higher minimum pressures, just as I said. Maybe the lap times will be beaten due to the softer rubber, but the higher pressures will count against that, so well have to see what’s more significant and whether the weather has something to say about it too.

Bertie Smalls means nothing to me, but I’m a child of the 70s/80s, so maybe it was before that?
 
I'd love to know what's going on with Murray's iStream manufacturing process. Was supposed to revolutionise car manufacturing but he suddenly went very quiet about it.
 
Apparently the result of the Renault protest against Racing Point is due imminently. Bound to be a big hoo-haa, whichever way it goes.
It will be big news for sure, I'm think we will all be fed-up with it because if the coverage over the weekend. If Racing Point win then Renault apparently have a long list if other parts they intend to protest. Lets see how this contrasts with the Ferrari engine protest, I can't see the FIA coming up with some hidden report that they don't release :)
 
High praise indeed
Ex-Formula 1 commentator Murray Walker believes Lewis Hamilton’s “clean as a whistle” driving style makes him a greater driver than both Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna. Hamilton is closing in on becoming statically the most successful F1 driver of all-time, with the Briton’s 87 career victories just four short of Schumacher’s record. The Mercedes driver, who already holds the record for most pole positions with 91, is on course to equal Schumacher’s seven drivers’ titles having extended his championship lead to 30 points after winning three of the first four races this season. Speaking on the Australian Grand Prix’s In the Fast Lane podcast, Walker, dubbed by many as a the voice of F1, said Hamilton’s fair approach to racing makes him stand out amongst other generations of world champions.

“Fangio took a lot of beating, [as did] Jim Clark, Sir Jackie Stewart — I could go on — but which is the best I really don’t know,” Walker said. “I used to say Fangio. I think I’m going to have to say very shortly Lewis Hamilton. If you look at it in terms of statistics, he’s already got more poles than Michael Schumacher. He’s got at least three years in him if he doesn’t hurt himself or leave Mercedes for some reason or they decide to stop. In which case, he’s got at least another three championships ahead of him, so statistically he will become the greatest. But he’s also in my opinion – and this is very contentious indeed – better than either Schumacher or Senna because both of them, Schumacher and Senna, adopted at various times in their career, highly debatable driving tactics. Like Schumacher stopping deliberately at Monaco to prevent [Fernando Alonso] getting pole position, like Schumacher colliding with Villeneuve at Jerez in 1997, like Senna with [Alain] Prost in 1990 in Japan. Lewis Hamilton has never been anything like that. He’s always driven as clean as a whistle. He’s an extremely nice, gigantically talented driver, and I don’t think we’ve ever seen anybody like him before.”

Hamilton victory at last weekend’s British Grand Prix was his seventh at Silverstone, in a race that provided a dramatic conclusion due to the tyre failures in the closing stages. Asked how he would have reacted had he been calling the race, Walker said: “Gosh, I would have gone absolutely bananas, through the roof of the commentary box, I should think! Because it has to be one of the most exciting finishes of all time when you think about it, Lewis coasting home to victory, and then all of a sudden it looks as though he’s coasting home to nowhere.”

On this day in 2006 Jenson Button won his first race
Starting the race down in 14th on the grid and with a damp track, the Hungaroring did not appear to be the place for the British driver to break his duck. But while the changing conditions proved tricky for some, Button kept calm and carved his way through the field, including a fine pass on the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher. A loose wheelnut saw race leader Fernando Alonso crash out soon after a pit stop, with Button roaring on to pick up his maiden victory six years and 113 races after his debut for Williams. Button would go on to win the F1 drivers’ championship in 2009 with Brawn GP before spending seven seasons at McLaren, where he won a further eight races to take his overall career tally to 15.
 
It’s a bit of a moot point Murray raises about Lewis’s clean driving, and it highlights the difficulty of comparing between generations. The fact is Lewis operates within an F1 environment with different standards applied. He has to be above reproach because of all the penalties which are used now, and he learned early in his F1 career what happens if he isn’t faultless. Remember Spa 2008? Lewis passed Kimi easily in the final laps, only to have his win taken away on the very specious grounds that he gained some tiny advantage by going off track. The fact he was many seconds a lap quicker at that point and would have passed him anyway, apparently made no odds.

Point being, if Schumacher or Senna drove in an F1 era when similar stewarding rules existed, they would also have been driving carefully to stay within the rules at all times. They pulled the somewhat dodgy moves they did, because at that time they could (mostly) get away with them.

Nevertheless, despite dissing Murray’s logic, I do actually think Lewis is the GOAT!! 🐏
 

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff added: “We are very excited that Valtteri will stay with the team for at least one more season. We’re seeing the strongest Valtteri we’ve ever seen this year – in terms of his on-track performance, but also physically and mentally. He is second in the championship, finished the last season in P2 and plays a very important part in our overall team performance.
 
Sergio Perez has tested positive again for Covid so Nico Hulkenberg will take his seat again this weekend, Public Health England did say that Perez has finished his period of quarantine, but a new test showed him to still be positive. Both the RTL broadcaster and Bild newspaper are reporting in Germany that Nico Hulkenberg will definitely still be in Perez’s car at Silverstone.

Reports in the Mexican press are claiming that following the Hungarian GP, Perez went back to Mexico and visited his powerful sponsors, who according to reports have offered to pay substantially more to Racing Point to keep him in the car for 2021. But looking at La Gazzetta dello Sport there is a story claiming that Vettel has already signed a contract for 3 years with Racing Point for 15 Euros million a season to race and be an Aston Martin ambassador. Apparently Vettel left Silverstone after last weekends race with Otmar Szafnauer :hmm:

Reports from the paddock are claiming that Hulkenberg didn't waste any time last weekend after his car wouldn't start and spent the time chatting to anyone who stop to chat about getting a seat in their car for 2021, so it seems he still want to race in F1 :thumbs:
 
While sitting here listening to the news I hear both Spain and Belgium are having more problems with this Virus. So I'm wondering if this could effect the calendar? I'm sure F1 will not want to make any changes but if France shuts its boarder it could make things almost impossible to race in Spain then Belgium and then get back for Italy. The second race in Italy is a big one, Ferrari's 1000 Grand Prix so any change to the calendar will not want to effect that milestone (any race canceled would change the 1000 race). I guess we will hear something about this over the weekend with cases going up in both countries (Spain and Belgium).
 
A friend of mine saw a low flying plane overhead in Kent yesterday and looked up the registration online. Turns out it was the FOM team coming back from Italy and probably heading into Biggin Hill

D349CFF1-6BC4-4F61-A7A4-8DB63DCFB6C1.png
 
Racing Point deducted 15 points :eek:


I can’t quite get my head around this Racing Point issue. If they’ve been found guilty of copying, how can the penalty be only £400k and some points? If so, copying the fastest car is the way to go, as you can easily afford the penalty out of all the extra prize and sponsor money you‘ll have as a result of being third quickest car instead of sixth quickest.

Or is this judgement only relating to the brake ducts, in which case Renault and others can carry on protesting various other bits of the RP car after each race?

It’s messy.
 
It’s messy.
Very messy.

I can't help but feel that Renault would be better off improving their own jalopy than sniping at competitors.

As to the punishment, I'm not sure how mission-critical rear brake ducts are in the overall scheme of things. It's not like it's a complete aero package, or gearbox, or internal combustion thingy.

And I have some sympathy with RP's position that they didn't copy the part, they were given the CAD plans by Mercedes when it was perfectly legal to do so. They fabricated the front brake ducts last year, so they could claim this years ducts were a continuation of last year's. Their only sin was failing to use the plans last year to make last year's rear brakes. Had they done so, no foul.

Listening to the Sky bods this morning - and I think Sky have too many personnel ganging up in the commentary box, because they keep talking over each other - it seemed like a scandal on the scale of crash-gate, and that RP were worse than a thousand Briatores.

It seems to me that pissing around with the minutiae of minor components is missing the big picture about what F1 is supposed to be about. But as the teams are in that mood, bitching about a 400,000€ fine and serious points deduction as insufficient, sits uncomfortably alongside the total exculpation and shielding of Ferrari for doing something far, far, far more serious than RP, in my humble opinion.

But what do I know?

:)
 
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