The Motorsport Thread (Part 2)

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Looking increasingly like Ferrari are going to finish 6th in the constructors this year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Formula_One_World_Championship

Could it be as bad as 2014 when they only scored 1 podium all year and Fernando packed it all in for Ron Dennis and Honda? Worse.

Remember 2009 when Ferrari and McLaren both produced bad cars, Luca Badoer and Fisichella eventually got drives? Well, they ended up 4th in the constructors that year. Despite terrible starts and ends, they were competitive at some tracks and Kimi actually did win a race.

Surely not worse than Ivan Capelli's annus horribilis for Ferrari in 1992? Yep. At the time of writing Leclerc and Vettel have fewer top 6 finishes than a year where Ferrari suffered 19 DNFs.

....

....

In fact you have to go back 40 years to 1980 where Ferrari had come off from 4 constructor's titles and 1 2nd place. In 1980 Scheckter and Villeneuve were served up the notorious 312T5. Unreliable, slow and at one point Scheckter ignominiously failing to qualify. A clutch of 5th points finishes was as good as it got. The dominant force of the late 70s reduced to the status of struggling midfield runners.

At least things haven't gone quite that bad yet, but it isn't far off.

[Blumf]

It's not just Ferrari themselves. The only thing keeping the other two Ferrari powered teams off the bottom is the beyond lacklustre Williams.

[Jasha]

Please keep your arms and legs inside at all times and wait until the ride has stopped before exiting

[Wonderful Butternut]

Stroll on pole.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Stroll on pole.

I picked the right race to watch my first qualifying session of the year.

That was great. Track conditions were evolving but I assume Racing Point have setup on the assumption of a wet race to get that advantage, and likewise Mercedes hedging their bets?

Great to see Red Bull panicking and Verstappen slumped by a bin at the end. Cheer up mate, you're still hot favourite to win the race.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Fascinating race. A bit gutted for Stroll but it was action packed, especially Leclerc going from 2nd to 4th in a few corners.

Almost like the reverse of Donnington 93, this time the right thing to do was stay on the same tyre, drive through the grim bit and wait for the conditions to come to you. It is probably telling that 3 of the most experienced drivers were on the podium.

Verstappen didn't learn from qualifying, too hot headed.

Perez is now 4th in the WC, without a drive for next year. 4th despite missing 2 Grand Prix.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

That's now 12 different drivers this season to take a podium (13 drivers have finished 4th or higher at least once) . Behind Mercedes this has been a really competitive season.

[Wonderful Butternut]

Fascinating race. A bit gutted for Stroll but it was action packed, especially Leclerc going from 2nd to 4th in a few corners.

That really summed up the season.

Perez runs wide and lets Leclerc through. Then Leclerc outbrakes himself trying to hold the position and lets Perez back through, along with Vettel. And nearly Sainz too.

Too bad it was for 2nd and Hamilton is 30 seconds up the road.

[Alberon]

Absolute horror show for Bottas. He was never going to win the championship, but to lose it like that must have been an extra kick in the nuts.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Absolute horror show for Bottas. He was never going to win the championship, but to lose it like that must have been an extra kick in the nuts.

Real Massa Silverstone 2008 vibes off of that drive. The sort of performance that someone who'd aspire to being champion could never have.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Decent look, definitely not the look someone who span 6 times during a Grand Prix should wear, but proto-Selleck here.

[Wonderful Butternut]

Decent look, definitely not the look someone who span 6 times during a Grand Prix should wear, but proto-Selleck here.

"If I look like Nico Rosberg's Dad, will I gain Nico Rosberg's skill?"

No Valtteri, you won't.

[Bently Sheds]

He's gone Full Mansell!

Commentators still can't quite work out what stance to take on Lewis Hamilton. A working class boy, but with a tax exile's lifestyle in Switzerland and Monaco. A climate change social media warrior, but backed by a huge oil and gas company. A human rights advocate who's been pretty coy about the F1's expansion into Saudi Arabia.

Some of the people who work with him have a slightly more clear-cut opinion though. His habit of making them travel coach while he goes everywhere first class has resulted in them calling him "Joffrey".

[Captain Z]

Don't really follow F1 these days but it looks like a miracle that Grosjean has walked away from a crash that just happened. Front half destroyed, burst into flames on impact.

https://youtu.be/wAFxpzMWu54

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Unless that was some steering failure, what the fuck was Grosjean doing? There was no gap to steer into. Glad to read he's walked away.

There'll be some investigation into what caused that fireball, I suppose.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Ah right, I'm now reading the barrier failed which will have contributed.

Genuinely looks like Grosjean narrowly avoided being broken in two.

[ersatz99]

Although it has to flare out to enable a slip road maybe not a good idea to have a bare barrier at such an angle so close to the track.

[Ambient Sheep]

It looks like the Halo prevented him from being decapitated:
https://twitter.com/Mattzel89/status/1333054461728657409
https://twitter.com/TG37401/status/1333054916512931844

Grosjean leaping out of the flames:
https://twitter.com/Mattzel89/status/1333059023579607046

Would have been nicer if the fuel cell had stayed with the REAR half of the car...

[Ambient Sheep]

Unless that was some steering failure, what the fuck was Grosjean doing? There was no gap to steer into.

The movement is so sudden that I do wonder if something snapped.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Regarding the race itself. I think Ferrari might be on for a result almost as bad as the Fisichella/Badoer era. Vettel last and Leclerc getting passed by 4 cars in 2 laps.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

https://twitter.com/mrusyaidi1997/status/1333063719987814402?s=19

Fucking hell.

(Warning: Involves man emerging from a furnace, marshalls dragging him to safety.)

[steve98]

How'd he survive that at all?

[Ambient Sheep]

https://twitter.com/mrusyaidi1997/status/1333063719987814402?s=19

Fucking hell.

(Warning: Involves man emerging from a furnace, marshalls dragging him to safety.)

*cough*

Grosjean leaping out of the flames:
https://twitter.com/Mattzel89/status/1333059023579607046

:-)

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Gutted for Perez.

Haven't seen an engine failure with a few laps to go for a while.

[Alberon]

Maybe the Perez (very small) fire got the marshalls twitchy as one legged it across the track before the safety car was deployed.

Watching Grosjean emerge from a cockpit that's been forced through the barrier and surrounded by fire is astonishing. The second I saw that fireball I was convinced he was dead. Probably one of the worst accidents I've ever seen, and that includes some fatal ones.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Maybe the Perez (very small) fire got the marshalls twitchy as one legged it across the track before the safety car was deployed.

Watching Grosjean emerge from a cockpit that's been forced through the barrier and surrounded by fire is astonishing. The second I saw that fireball I was convinced he was dead. Probably one of the worst accidents I've ever seen, and that includes some fatal ones.

Rewatched Rush last night after 7 years. Was all a bit close.

[Ambient Sheep]

Watching Grosjean emerge from a cockpit that's been forced through the barrier and surrounded by fire is astonishing. The second I saw that fireball I was convinced he was dead. Probably one of the worst accidents I've ever seen, and that includes some fatal ones.

This.  Well I wasn't convinced but it did seem a very definite possibility.

Turned out the fire was the least of his problems, compared to being literally rammed through a barrier.

[Ambient Sheep]

Then again, maybe not, when you look at the overhead footage of the conflagration:

https://twitter.com/tyson_whelan/status/1333059692512178177

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

https://www.planetf1.com/news/ricciardo-disgusted-with-grosjean-crash-replays/

At least one of the driver's said something, good on Dan

[Wonderful Butternut]

Survival cell really living up to it's name.

Now... how do we weaponise it?