Grand Prix thread British Grand Prix 2020

Might have something to do with Vettel and Baku? I am growing concerned for Vettel's state of mind. He is seemingly little better than some of the lesser drivers on the grid. What a fall from grace. If he is to leave with some respect he at least needs to be on the tail of his team mate.

 

It's across the board though. Just get on the tail of the car ahead and give them something to think about on a restart.

It's just one of my bugbears... Along with how long it takes to form a grid these days. What happened to bunching the field up and everyone pealing off at the last moment?

 

I am trying to understand the tolerance towards the dominance. When Schmacher dominated there was a boredom factor that crept in. I also think Schmacher was becoming known for not only receiving preferential treatment but bending the rules or even making some of today's rules because of his behaviour. While Lewis is almost squeaky clean. While not every one is a fan of Lewis I think he is respected for his fair play and talent even by his non fans. I just wish he had more challenge from the likes of Verstappen and LeClerc, more so than Valtteri. The Mid field kept us entertained, as it has done for a while.
The view was DAS was likely to reduce tyre wear, no evidence of that although an extra second a lap on speed maybe causes more wear.
We have lost Cosicave this year.

 

Well... RBR dominated for a while, even though we had some close titles during that times, but they did make some titles as dull as dish water. Then we went in to the Merc dominance which has prolonged the pain. I'm not sure we've had a period of this level of dominance in the sport ever. I came in mid, early eighties and I have no recollection of a period like this other than Schuey... And even that was breakable.

The regs that we have right now just don't give a chance for competition... And when the next dominant team appears,, we'll have the same problem. We've got to increase in-season testing and development, loosen the technical regs a bit, and let teams innovate. Otherwise the sport is going to stagnate.

 

it seems that the reg changes we do get are in Mercedes favour where in the past it has been against the lead teams favour. Mclaren, Renault, ferrari and Red Bull dominance were all ended by rule change.

Mercedes and the FIA seem too invested in each other.

 

In season testing is crucial, as is innovation. We have innovation such as DAS, that then gets stopped although other teams to develop and test their own equivalents might have made the sport more exciting.
We are all sat here accusing Ferrari of cheating last year yet they had the same restriction on total fuel use. Had they been allowed, along with others, to use their technology, would the sport not have been more exciting for it. By all means have cost capping but allow innovation within it.
RP, for all the noise, has it not made the racing a little more interesting/exciting with three teams close behind Mercedes, well 2.5 teams.

I know we wanted the drivers to become the stars and not the technology but it feels like they have swung too far in terms of the rule setting.

 

no, single session engines I say

 

Mid race engine changes. Plug and play?

 

They could make the next race more interesting by forcing everyone to start on the same set of tyres they finished race 1 on.

 

Well it makes a change from Ferrari !

 

Just watched a video from Sundays race, despite only having 3 wheels Hamilton was still casually hitting every apex. Would be interesting to know what sort of speed he was going, I imagine even in that state it was still faster than most regular cars could manage.

 

Max nearly caught him over 3/4s of a mile. I think Lewis was as slow as the safety car at the corners but faster on the straight.

 

He was slow by F1 standards but I think I read he was still doing 140mph down the Hanger straight but he dis lose 30 seconds to Max on half a lap!
Can't seem to find the article on speed at corners on 3 wheels but I am sure it was well over UK motorway speed limits

 

Would just be interested to hear how it compares to relatively quick normal cars, like a Golf GTI or Focus ST etc. It looked painfully slow but at the same time it probably was pretty quick in relative terms.

 

You say that, but how far head would Merc be if they hadn't changed the poorly thought through token rule?


As to the punctures, DAS?

 

Sainz? Not Merc powered even.

 

If anything, I would have thought DAS to help them at least a little with the wear. Apparently not.

 

I agree. I haven't seen any in car of Mercs using it in the race, only behind safety car. So I'm not sure they use it 'normally' in the race, not sure if they are and no cameras or if they are only using it to get temp in fronts at quali and restarts?

 

I knew there was someone I'd forgotten.