The Motorsport Thread (Part 2)

[Ambient Sheep]

Joe Saward reports that solid sources say a deal has been struck & Stroll Jr will be bought a seat elsewhere, I'm guessing Alfa Romeo, Haas or back to Williams...

That's hilarious, given that last night he was taking the piss out of the idea...

https://twitter.com/joesaward/status/1283452949801381888

So folks are reporting that Racing Point will buy out Perez's contract (which won't be cheap), lose his sponsorship and pay Vettel's salary? While trying to keep Aston Martin afloat... So Stroll Sr has to dump Stroll Jr?
Yeah, right. That's really going to happen...

18:26 • 15 Jul 20

Kudos to him for keeping the tweet up, though.


As for the news itself, the first reply says it all:

It's 2020, is Vettel even a better driver than Perez? Heck, is he definitely better than Stroll?

[Huxleys Babkins]

I never bought the "Stroll will never get rid of his son" argument. Racing Point isn't just owned by Lawrence Stroll and he's only a minority shareholder at Aston Martin. Whilst the team may have been originally purchased as a toy for Lance, it certainly can't be treated like that now.

[Ambient Sheep]

Which seems to be exactly what's going on.

It will be interesting to see if Vettel can get his head back together, or whether Perez will annihilate him.

[Ambient Sheep]

Kimi Räikkönen's done a Reddit AMA:

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/hszcuw/i_am_kimi_raikkonen_ama/

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

F1 going back to Imola!!!

(and Nurburgring is back)

(and theyre racing at Portimao!)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/53527355

Shame about Austin and Interlagos but not sad to see the Mexican GP off.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Nurburgring in October is a bit hopeful. DTM goes mid-September and it's usually cold and wet.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/150805/why-police-warnings-to-british-gp-f1-fans-are-serious

I think a better motivation to dissuade fans from turning up is the fact that you can't see the circuit at all from outside. You can barely see anything from the access roads inside the circuit so I can't imagine why you'd want to bring a deckchair down to Dadford Road unless you're a bit tapped.

[Ambient Sheep]

Oopsie!  Sergio Perez's latest coronavirus test has come back "inconclusive", so he's currently in isolation awaiting a re-test.

If he fails, Esteban Gutiérrez is likely to be the replacement (which is also handy for the sponsors, as he's Mexican too).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/53601564
https://www.joeblogsf1.com/joesaward/id/00787

[Wonderful Butternut]

Perez misses British GP.

Gutierrez on for only his 2nd ever points finish? Although they do have Vandoorne as well.

[Ambient Sheep]

Talk of Hülkenberg too, which I think would be their best move.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/53601564
(Oh It's the same page, just updated.  I hate it when they do that.)

But would he be able to meet the CoVid-testing protocols?  AFAIK the official reserves have been in bubbles the whole time.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Hulkenberg is in the paddock and he's on the timing screens, they are just awaiting his test result.

Just thinking there's every chance he could finally get that podium result this weekend, only for it to be taken away because of the Renault protest. Classic Hulk.

[Bently Sheds]

Lando's helmet.
Superb.

[Wonderful Butternut]

Oh, they picked the driver who's actually good. Amazing.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Lando's helmet.
Superb.

LANDO
NORRI
        S

[Blumf]

Well, that was a fun race. Some overtaking, despite Grosjean's wiggling, and last minute drama with tyres giving out. Real shame there wasn't a crowd to go bonkers on Hamilton's last lap.

Is Pirelli going to be able to sort their shit out for next week?
Did they figure out what happened to Kvyat?
Will they bring back PODIUM BOT?

[Bently Sheds]

Poor old Nico Hülkenberg, parachuted into Racing Point at the last minute, qualifies well and then his car breaks down before the race even starts. He must have been conceived on an Indian burial ground or something with the luck he has.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

https://www.planetf1.com/news/murray-walker-lewis-hamilton/

Just a nice reminder Murray Walker is alive. Fucking hell, I miss him.

[Alberon]

His accuracy was a little wayward at times (but not that often), but you could never fault his enthusiasm. He made a sport that can be more than a little boring at times very entertaining. I'm very glad that he's still around at 96 and with all his marbles too.

[petril]

him and Jim Ross are like two peas in a pod. Enthusiastic, could sell the drama and WHY a thing happening is significant, to the point of stumbling over facts. But they'd always correct(or let the other commentators correct them) and keep things flowing. Jerry Lawler doing Robin Askwith material was probably easier to handle than a pissed James Hunt trying to really tear into Riccardo Patrese for the umpteenth time

[Wonderful Butternut]

Poor old Nico Hülkenberg, parachuted into Racing Point at the last minute, qualifies well and then his car breaks down before the race even starts. He must have been conceived on an Indian burial ground or something with the luck he has.

P3 in Qualifying this time around...

[Bently Sheds]

P3 in Qualifying this time around...

Brilliant work by The Hulk; puts his more established teammate to shame. Seriously, why is he without a drive when Grosjean and KMag are crashing into everyone and everything and costing Haas millions in new parts?

[Wonderful Butternut]

I can only assume the reason is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Vettel was way off the pace of team-mate Charles Leclerc in the UK, and made another of his unforced errors in the second race, too.

The regularity with which these mistakes are appearing, by the way, can be judged by the fact that Renault's Daniel Ricciardo described his own error at Silverstone as a "Seb spin". Ouch.

Must have missed that at the time. Miaow.

Mind you, of all the people currently in position to make that comment Dan isn't really high up given his own faltering career.

[Wonderful Butternut]

A "Seb spin"?

It's called a "Sbinalla" Danny you amateur.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

https://www.planetf1.com/features/lance-stroll-daddys-boy/

A defence of Lance Stroll.


I think I would agree with this. Easy target of course, but even if you didn't think he should be there he still deserved a fair hearing once in. Brought into the sport very young (still only 21) and has held his own while much more vaunted drivers have failed and left F1.

Also seems to be a 'lucky' driver. 6 DNFs in the last 65 races is pretty good going for a midfield runner.

[Blumf]

Williams finally gets a lifeline:

https://www.williamsf1.com/news/2020/08/williams-racing-is-acquired-by-dorilton-capital

Friday 21st August 2020, Grove.  Williams Racing has been acquired by Dorilton Capital, bringing a successful conclusion to the Strategic Review which was launched in late May. Dorilton Capital is known for its long-term approach to investment and its key focus will be to restore the competitiveness of the team.  This marks the beginning of an exciting new era in the history of Williams, which with its new owner, is now well positioned to capitalise upon the sweeping rule changes coming into Formula One with the new Concorde Agreement.

https://www.doriltoncapital.com/

Fingers crossed, but surely it's going to take a few seasons to turn this ship around.

[Bently Sheds]

Williams finally gets a lifeline

I give them three years before they sell the whole thing off to make their money back. By that time the new Concorde Agreement will have turned the cash taps on & the team will be worth more.

[Ambient Sheep]

https://twitter.com/Rowlinson_F1/status/1298350968619360256

Ellen Lohr, whose @DTM achievements prompted the classic @autosport headline: "They fought the Lohr and the Lohr won." I believe @MarcusSimmons54 should take a bow for that one... though I'm not sure.

Discussion follows, including this:

It wasn't me.... But on a similar 'Clash' theme @MartinHaven and I spent far too long one Monday night in November 1991 making the four headlines on the contents page Clash song/album titles.

[Ambient Sheep]

Bottas: "We have one push, no?"

Engineer: "We do but we agreed not to use it against each other"

Bottas: "I never heard that"

Hearing that has quite ruined my day.  Normally I'm pretty positive about F1 these days, but the above is the most dispiriting thing I've heard in years.

I'm obviously not going to stop watching, but it does feel all a bit pointless right now.  Way to take all the excitement out of a race, guys.

[Wonderful Butternut]

Bottas hasn't a hope of beating Hamilton over a season, but Merc gimp him anyway. They screwed him on strategy at the 70th Anniversary GP and I think it was Russia (or maybe Mexico) last year where they literally told him to slow down in the pitstop phase to not pass Hamilton on the undercut. He was 2nd in the WDC at the time and the only one with any remotely realistic chance of actually catching Hamilton at that stage, but they basically stopped him from racing him. And then they keep turning around and saying their drivers are free to race? At least Ferrari didn't attempt to openly deny favouring Vettel over Raikkonen.

Do they think Hamilton will leave the team if he doesn't get preferential treatment over a bloke that he's frequently half a second faster, and much better at managing his tires, than? I know team orders, #1 drivers etc. have and always will be a thing in F1, but the sheer needlessness of it in the current situation annoys me. No one is going to stop Merc from winning both titles unless they crash into each other in at least half the remaining races[nb]Which I don't think has ever happened to Bottas and Hamilton[/nb], and as I said above, Bottas is incapable of beating Hamilton over a season. So Hamilton will win the WDC anyway. Can they at least try to put on a show?

They need to change the tire rules[nb]Along with about a million other things, but this is something they could do quickly.[/nb], cos despite all the bullshit like artificially high wearing tires, starting on your Q2 tire and having to run 2 compounds designed to make it more exciting with differing strategies, it's crystallised down to the same strategy all the time. Drive like grandma to stretch out the softs you started the race on and then bolt on mediums or hards, and drive like grandma some more to get them to last the remaining 2/3s to 3/4s of the race. Because if you give up track position to use softer and faster tires, they'll disintegrate if you push with them. Especially if you're working through traffic and are being blasted with disturbed air from other cars. The only thing that changes is sometimes Verstappen and the Mercs are far enough ahead that they can use medium tires in Q2 and start on those.

They have to get Pirelli to bring the durability of the softer tires up a bit, so someone can say "nah, I'm not tire saving. I'm going full banzai on these softs, then stopping for another set of softs, going full banzai  on them and then I'll get a set of mediums to run at a pace between grandma and banzai, and all of that will make up the time from the extra stops." You can't do that at the moment because the softs turn into bubblegum within about 5 laps if you go hard on them. At the very least they should consider dropping the Q2 carry over and 2 compound rule so there's actual flexibility. Someone could still start with softs, try and gain track position and then go to hards, whilst someone else could try and triple stint mediums.

[Bently Sheds]

Listening to the Renault onboards, it sounds unlike any other car on the grid - even the McLaren Renault.