The official Formula One and General Motorsport Thread for the 2020 season!

[captain red dog]

Where have you seen said veiled comments? Just the way Ferrari and himself feel the need to say that their cars are identical or something else? I’m just more interested in how Vettel performs in the terrific midfield fight next year, hopefully with McLaren’s different power unit they don’t move too far ahead (or if they do, Aston Martin and Alpine stay really close all season long) of the midfield.

I'm too lazy to find the link to the original article, but Seb has rolled it back a bit:

https://www.planetf1.com/news/sebastian ... -same-car/

You have to keep in mind Vettel is only 33. It seems too young for him to lose his edge like so many drivers (including Schumacher) have in the past. If Seb dominated the next 2 seasons, he would have 6 world titles to Hamilton's 7 for context. I love Ferrari, they are my childhood team, but I can't deny they are probably the worst for inter-team politics and I can't believe Vettel has dropped off as badly as this since 2018.

I really hope he has a good run with Aston Martin and maybe replaces Hamilton for a couple of seasons as I just have a feeling Hamilton won't make it to the 2022 grid.

[Captain Kinopio]

It’s not even since 2018 really. He was able to best Le Clerc on several occasions last year.

The fact he’s fallen off a cliff this year makes me think the cars or support the drivers are getting probably aren’t equal

[Vermilion]

F1 fans: Yay! races at Mugello, Imola, Portimao, Nurburgring, and Istanbul Park!

Liberty: Don't get too used to having good tracks, next year we're going to a street track in Saudi Arabia and are ditching Interlagos!

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/15311 ... ar-in-2021

[Pancake]

Something is going on, there's no way he is that much slower than LeClerc in equal conditions. His confidence is clearly low but it's more than that, he is too good a driver for it to be purely confidence.

[Robbo-92]

Where have you seen said veiled comments? Just the way Ferrari and himself feel the need to say that their cars are identical or something else? I’m just more interested in how Vettel performs in the terrific midfield fight next year, hopefully with McLaren’s different power unit they don’t move too far ahead (or if they do, Aston Martin and Alpine stay really close all season long) of the midfield.

I'm too lazy to find the link to the original article, but Seb has rolled it back a bit:

https://www.planetf1.com/news/sebastian ... -same-car/

You have to keep in mind Vettel is only 33. It seems too young for him to lose his edge like so many drivers (including Schumacher) have in the past. If Seb dominated the next 2 seasons, he would have 6 world titles to Hamilton's 7 for context. I love Ferrari, they are my childhood team, but I can't deny they are probably the worst for inter-team politics and I can't believe Vettel has dropped off as badly as this since 2018.

I really hope he has a good run with Aston Martin and maybe replaces Hamilton for a couple of seasons as I just have a feeling Hamilton won't make it to the 2022 grid.

Yeah it does seem odd, well off Leclerc in qualifying and the race so it’s not like he’s sacrificing one to make up for the other, instead he’s just nowhere, might be a little bit of him not being quite as invested in helping the team but still a bit odd. I really do hope he bounces back with Aston Martin, he might have lost a bit of his edge but surely not to the extent we’re seeing this year.

F1 fans: Yay! races at Mugello, Imola, Portimao, Nurburgring, and Istanbul Park!

Liberty: Don't get too used to having good tracks, next year we're going to a street track in Saudi Arabia and are ditching Interlagos!

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/15311 ... ar-in-2021

One thing this season has shown me (and I daresay a lot of other fans) is how little F1 actually needs a lot of overseas races when Europe has so many great tracks. Not all the flyaways are bad of course (Canada, Suzuka, Brazil to name a few) but most are well, not great

Also wish they’d stop just upping the number of Grand Prix, 18-20 was the sweet spot, 23 will soon turn to 25 and so on till there’s a race every other week all year long (ok not quite but they’ll want to pack as many into a season as physically possible).

[floydfreak]

16-18 was the right amount for a season even 20 is too much and a bloated calender. What made the MS and other previous records amazing was the season length was decent and tracks were good.

The change of points bigger calendar quantity over quality makes records seem less meaningful and something. Good on Hamilton do what he has done but compared too previous record achievements by MS and others before him its all meh to me too easy no competion some gooseberry fool tracks too many races lack of reliability.

25 races is too much for F1 its overkill and is making F1 go the Nascar calendar route soon F1 will have a playoff system like in current Nascar

[Memento Mori]

The Albon decision might have been made. I hear he/RB apparently cancelled a scheduled interview with him and Netflix on short notice.

[captain red dog]

Some of these tracks like Mugello, Portugal and Imola really need to be rewarded for pretty much saving the season this year. It's not going to be great to go back to some of the really crap circuits. I could live without Bahrain, Singapore, Barcelona, Hungary, China, Russia, France and Abu Dhabi. Its been great seeing racing at non-Tilke designed tracks, and has actually provided some surprisingly good racing.

[Pancake]

Some of these tracks like Mugello, Portugal and Imola really need to be rewarded for pretty much saving the season this year. It's not going to be great to go back to some of the really crap circuits. I could live without Bahrain, Singapore, Barcelona, Hungary, China, Russia, France and Abu Dhabi. Its been great seeing racing at non-Tilke designed tracks, and has actually provided some surprisingly good racing.

Yes, it's sad that F1 is lumbered with so many mediocre tracks when there are plenty of better options. I've loved the calendar this year, very refreshing. I'd take Hungary off your list though.

[Vermilion]

Some of these tracks like Mugello, Portugal and Imola really need to be rewarded for pretty much saving the season this year. It's not going to be great to go back to some of the really crap circuits. I could live without Bahrain, Singapore, Barcelona, Hungary, China, Russia, France and Abu Dhabi. Its been great seeing racing at non-Tilke designed tracks, and has actually provided some surprisingly good racing.

In the F1 game, France is actually a really nice track to race around, all it needs is some gravel trap runoffs (that stripey tarmac is dumb) and the removal of the chicane on the back straight.

Barcelona meanwhile needs to remove that dreadful chicane at the end of the lap.

[Captain Kinopio]

A street race in Saudi Arabia is the most pathetically F1 thing ever.

[Vermilion]

I suspect the layout will be just as good as Hanoi too.

[floydfreak]

twitter.com/1990sF1/status/1321899797486444555

[floydfreak]

Just seen over on Twitter over the last 24 hours the V8 Supercars season opener for the last 20 years or so at the Adelaide grand prix track is no more.
The local government has ceased events at the track using Covid 19 as a excuse. Even though for that event those races bring in lots of money for that area and tourism. Its an excellent race track and one of the better street tracks i just hope they don't sell the land off and houses get built on the land.

[captain red dog]

I'd much prefer Adelaide to Melbourne. I've never been that keen on Melbourne. Adelaide had some classic races but Melbourne only seems memorable for a few big crashes.

[Vermilion]

Melbourne is an awful track to drive on the F1 games, it's just stop/start/stop/start all the way around.

[captain red dog]

Melbourne is an awful track to drive on the F1 games, it's just stop/start/stop/start all the way around.

It's probably my most driven track on F1 games over the last 20 years, as I tend to start playing a championship, realise there is some flaw in the game that really annoys me, and then I quit and start again the following season.

Never really enjoyed it either. It just feels a bit of a characterless circuit. Something about Adelaide always felt more uniquely Australian. Its a weird thing to explain. Like the Red Bull Ring feels Austrian, Silverstone feels like Britain, Imola and Monza always feel like it's in Italy.

The character of a circuit is really such a weird concept, but all the best tracks have it.

[floydfreak]

The character of a circuit is really such a weird concept, but all the best tracks have it.

Spa did have character for example but the changes too it and removing tree lines around the track end less tarmac run off, the start finish line now resembling any other track its lost its soul compared too how it looked in the 80's & 90's

[Vermilion]

Yeah, the removal of the old bus stop at Spa really did spoil that part of the circuit. I can see why the extended the runoff at Blanchimont though as safety was an issue following Luciano Burti's crash there in 2001.



That said, had there been tarmac runoff when Burti crashed, it would have done even less to slow his car down than what the gravel did.

[captain red dog]

I can give Spa a pass though. The core of the circuit has remained the same since the early 90s. I'd even say the change to the bus stop has increased overtaking. The increased run offs haven't really come at a cost to the circuit, so I can forgive that.

The Bus Stop was iconic, but more because it looked like an actual bus stop rather than being a decent set of corners!