F1 2020



Ferrari engines in the second half of last season were quicker than Mercedes, it was just the inferior team that let them down. If Merc have managed to squeeze a bit more BHP from the engine etc then it could be game on for them, testing sometimes doesn’t tell the full picture though. I hope Williams have improved their car, as they had Merc engines but were awful, see if they make testing on time too.

The big question with Ferrari is, were they bending / breaking the rules.

They get away with more than the other teams but if they were cheating and got caught that surely closes that 'development' avenue off for them.

Merc will have more power this year so I'd still make them favourites
 
The big question with Ferrari is, were they bending / breaking the rules.

They get away with more than the other teams but if they were cheating and got caught that surely closes that 'development' avenue off for them.

Merc will have more power this year so I'd still make them favourites
Of course they were cheating. Not sure they got caught, but they certainly "undid" something towards the end of last season.
 
Of course they were cheating. Not sure they got caught, but they certainly "undid" something towards the end of last season.

We'll not know the truth until the autobiographies are written in a few years.

I'd be prepared to guess that it went something like...

1. Ferrari informally questioned by another team
2. Answer isn't satisfactory so it's informally reported to F1/FIA.
3. They had their suspicions anyway so begin digging deeper
4. Proof is found and the story is cobbled to together to fudge the whole thing cos its Ferrari
 
We'll not know the truth until the autobiographies are written in a few years.

I'd be prepared to guess that it went something like...

1. Ferrari informally questioned by another team
2. Answer isn't satisfactory so it's informally reported to F1/FIA.
3. They had their suspicions anyway so begin digging deeper
4. Proof is found and the story is cobbled to together to fudge the whole thing cos its Ferrari
They had a massive power advantage after the summer break, after a few races the FIA publish a technical clarification and Ferrari drop off again. Very coincidental.
 
Exactly the same the season before (batteries)

Last season wasn't the consensus that they were gaining an illegal advantage due to the use of a small quantity of oil in the combustion process.

I mustn't have been paying attention when the battery bit came out the season before. What happened?
 
Last season wasn't the consensus that they were gaining an illegal advantage due to the use of a small quantity of oil in the combustion process.

I mustn't have been paying attention when the battery bit came out the season before. What happened?
I can't quite remember what this year's was. But burning something extra rings a bell.
Last year they had the "double battery" thing. The FIA did loads of checks, and found it was fine. Yet from that day, the advantage seemed to vanish. Funny, that.
 
Then Max probably jumps to Merc if Redbull can’t come up with the goods.
Max is tied to Red Bull for a while now, i'd think Ferrari more likely to splash the cash rather than merc... my feeling is that they're bedding in George Russell in the tank of a car williams are producing (smedley reckons this years car won't be an improvement) before promotion to the merc team (his end of seasons test time in the merc were table topping).

I'm gonna push my neck out and suggest that Williams will field the first female driver this century in the next few seasons, i see that jamie chadwick won a race at abu dhabi in the f3 asia winter series (although was harshley disqualified imo) and is part of their 'driver program'. could imagine claire williams going further than they did with susie wolff's limited test program.

I'm hopeful that Honda will have their best season in decades this year, somehow max winning at zandvoort seems likely on that massive banking they're currently building onto the main straight (although the rest of the track may be shit for racing). whats the chances of a max\lewis\charles title threeway?
 
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You make a good point errant. With limited funds, and a totally new set of regs the season after next, can Williams really choose to invest in this season, or just fuck it off and work on 2021. If they can roll with the punches, writing next season off might be for the best. Hopefully they can basically just copy some stuff from the top teams of last season, and bolt it on and at least not be dead last by miles.

Russell looks good to me, he absolutely hammered Kubica, although we can't know quite how much to read into that. I'm not an Ocon fan, and I'm really not convinced he's an upgrade on Bottas - perhaps Russell could be the bigger talent?

As for Honda - it makes sense for them to keep development (unlike Williams) as the engines aren't really changing all that much.
 
Max is tied to Red Bull for a while now, i'd think Ferrari more likely to splash the cash rather than merc... my feeling is that they're bedding in George Russell in the tank of a car williams are producing (smedley reckons this years car won't be an improvement) before promotion to the merc team (his end of seasons test time in the merc were table topping).

I'm gonna push my neck out and suggest that Williams will field the first female driver this century in the next few seasons, i see that jamie chadwick won a race at abu dhabi in the f3 asia winter series (although was harshley disqualified imo) and is part of their 'driver program'. could imagine claire williams going further than they did with susie wolff's limited test program.

I'm hopeful that Honda will have their best season in decades this year, somehow max winning at zandvoort seems likely on that massive banking they're currently building onto the main straight (although the rest of the track may be shit for racing). whats the chances of a max\lewis\charles title threeway?

I’d love to see the three way battle but I just don’t see it.

As for Russell, remains to be seen I guess, Ocon would be further up the pecking order I expect but can either of those make the step to challenge Max or Leclerc regularly? That’s a big leap into the unknown which makes me wonder whether Merc would buy in from outside, lots of ifs buts and maybes mind.
 
As for Russell, remains to be seen I guess, Ocon would be further up the pecking order I expect but can either of those make the step to challenge Max or Leclerc regularly?
ocon is out the running after they let him leave the program for renault, i suspect riccardio will have the measure of him when they lineup alongside each other this year. Russell was ahead of lando when they ran against each other in f2, and lando certainly showed he was more than able to lift the mclaren up to the sharp end of an F1 grid. Should be interesting to see if Mclaren can continue the upwards trajectory, or whether they'll platau while they kick their heals waiting for the merc engines next year?
Russell looks good to me, he absolutely hammered Kubica, although we can't know quite how much to read into that.
I think Nicholas Latifi will be a far better yard stick to measure russell by this year, having two young guns in the williams is an intersting statement of intent when you think the last few year at least one of those seats has been a pay driver with a massive wedge for the team budget. perhaps merc are putting more into russells seat than some people thought, although they've never ran their business as a charity before.
 
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ocon is out the running after they let him leave the program for renault
Sort of, he's still actually managed by Mercedes F1 though. And anyway, contracts in F1 might as well be written in smoke.
I think Nicholas Latifi will be a far better yard stick to measure russell by this year
If he nails it again, I think people will start to look at him seriousy.
I think there's something about him. Mind, the midfield is mega talented at the moment - Lando & Sainz are great and could easily drop into a top team imo. I also think Riccardo will have the measure of Ocon, but he's a decent driver too - and you've got people like Perez who's somewhat the forgotten man, but really delivers race on race.

Its seems like its only Haas who has a joke lineup.
 
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He is committed but in 2 seasons time (if Lewis’ new deal is confirmed) that makes it 2022 so it’s not beyond the realms he could go then.
ocon is out the running after they let him leave the program for renault, i suspect riccardio will have the measure of him when they lineup alongside each other this year. Russell was ahead of lando when they ran against each other in f2, and lando certainly showed he was more than able to lift the mclaren up to the sharp end of an F1 grid. Should be interesting to see if Mclaren can continue the upwards trajectory, or whether they'll platau while they kick their heals waiting for the merc engines next year?

I think Nicholas Latifi will be a far better yard stick to measure russell by this year, having two young guns in the williams is an intersting statement of intent when you think the last few year at least one of those seats has been a pay driver with a massive wedge for the team budget. perhaps merc are putting more into russells seat than some people thought, although they've never ran their business as a charity before.

I think that’s fair, I do also think though that going from the worst car on the grid to being expected to win titles or at least races is an almighty leap, remains to be seen who else may appear out of the junior formulas in the next couple of seasons. I felt at the time that Redbull were hasty in letting Sainz go.
 
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