2020 Spanish GP - Barcelona

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We go into Barcelone for the 2020 Spanish Grandprix this weekend, on the back of two sensational race weekends at Silverstone, that was causually influenced by the Pirelli tyres.

Part one of the double weekend saw Hamilton limp to the finish line with a burst tyre, narrowly winning the race ahead of a ripidly closing Verstapenn in the Redbull with fresher tyres.

Part two showed the hardest C2 tyre offered for the weekend by Pirelli degrade spectacularly as the tyres succumbed to the massive downforce of the Petronas Mercedes cars. Giving Verstapenn and Redbull-Honda their first win of the season [that seemed like Mercedes was going to win all race weekends].

Tyres has introduced an achillis heal for Mercedes. This opens up the chances for any other teams that can do a good job on the occasion to win a race. As it stands at the moment, Redbull and Verstapenn are the main challengers to the migthy Mercedes and Hamilton at this very hot weekend in Barcelona.

It is significant to notice that Verstapenn has leapfrogged Bottas to second place in the drivers championship and is effectively Hamilton's immediate rival. This weekend poses a potential opportunity for Verstapenn to reduce the 30 points gap between himself and Hamilton which would set the season up for a proper inter-team fight for the 2020 F1 Driver championship.

Mercedes remains the fastest cars on the grid and would not lay down licking their wounds after their last crushing defeat. Especially as Pirelli reintroduces the harder C1 tyres for this weekend. It would be a two stop weekend for the Mercedes, which gives the brilliant Redbull strategist something to work with.

Suffice to say, Mercedes are very vulnerable this weekend and Redbull can shine again with abit of luck.

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Stadium events seem to be taking place in some countries. With the new normal of a thorough clean out after every event. It would seem F1 may have enough evidence to allow fans back into future races. But we await their discretion on the matter. Safety first!

I'm awaiting this weekend with some anxiousness, or at least anticipation. While the Mercs clearly don't like hot temps, I feel/hope that the harder range of tires this weekend, plus whatever work they've done through the week, will see them not so much on the back foot. But I give full credit to Red Bull for whatever work they've managed to pull off to fix their aerodynamically "misbehaving" chassis.

One thing about last week that puzzled me as I watched Q2: why didn't the Mercs go with the hard tire, which was really the medium tire from the week before? Going with the medium (soft from the week before) really puzzled me. The main (only, really) point of Q2 is to make it into Q3. The Mercs were at/near the top of the time sheets in Q2. When I saw Max's Red Bull on hards, I thought, "uh oh". I didn't think it would be as bad as it got, but still. So all that to say, I hope that the Mercs go for a more logical (to me, anyway) tire strategy this weekend.

The Racing Point debacle hots up this weekend. I think we are seeing the established teams slowly pushing Racing Point out of the paddock. Which would be a shame really.

I think those teams fighting this are putting more effort into this than they are putting into getting their cars as fast as the Racing Point.

The rumour of Toto Woolf departing as team principle for Mercedes resurfaces again. Key players in the team seem to be leaving amidst the drive to introduce the new regulations into F1. Which l believe would introduce a new formula, which l tend to call GP1.

It is possible that these are the first signs that Mercedes may withdraw from the series in the near future as a consequence. It is within the realms of possibility that Lewis Hamilton may retire in reaction to these changes going on. Especially if he wins the 2020 drivers title. He would be the last of one of the greatest drivers to win multiple F1 championships. Which would draw a clean slate for the next generation to write fresh records for the new GP1 era.

It would effectively draw a line between the pure F1 championship records from that of the next era of the new regulations.

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Originally Posted by Nitrodaze

The rumour of Toto Woolf deperting as team principle for Mercedes resurfaces. Key players in the team seem to be leaving the team amidst the drive to intorduce the new regulations into F1. Which l believe would introduce a new formula which l tend to call GP1.

It is possible that theses are the first signs that Mercedes may withdraw from the series in the near future as a consequence. It is not within the realms of possibility that Lewis Hamilton retires in reaction to these changes going on. Especially if he wins the 2020 drivers title. He would be the last of one the greatest drivers to win multiple F1 championships. Which would draw a clean slate fot the next generation to write fresh records for the new GP1 era.

It would effectively draw a line between the pure F1 championship records from that of the era of the new regulations.

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If you allowed the regs to stay the same but allowed r&D development to continue (do away with he stupid and flawed token system) you would see the entire field tighten up significantly...as it is already doing in a way this year and then will get tighter next year. All the new 2022 regs changes will do would be to create another ridiculous round of spending, as well as benefiting the bigger teams rather than the smaller ones. By the end of the 2008 season pretty much all the cars were separated by about .8sec margin and that is because stable regs allowed other teams to catch up and (in the truest form of Racing point) create and develop similar concepts as the winning cars.

I'm not really expecting much from this race, I think them testing here really doesn't help the race. it seems to be a foregone conclusion most of the time. (well not 2016)

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Originally Posted by truefan72

If you allowed the regs to stay the same but allowed r&D development to continue (do away with he stupid and flawed token system) you would see the entire field tighten up significantly...as it is already doing in a way this year and then will get tighter next year. All the new 2022 regs changes will do would be to create another ridiculous round of spending, as well as benefiting the bigger teams rather than the smaller ones. By the end of the 2008 season pretty much all the cars were separated by about .8sec margin and that is because stable regs allowed other teams to catch up and (in the truest form of Racing point) create and develop similar concepts as the winning cars.

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I think you make sense but l doubt the very adamant F1 management guys would see your point. They cannot see that it is becoming more unattractive to the brainy guys that make these great cars, as they would not be challenged by the new order. If the F1 management is designing the cars, all the teams need are engineers to build the cars and tweek them. The task of squeezing out higher performance is not a challenge for the current brainy guys that build the current cars.

Talent drain is going to beset F1 as these guys go elsewhere to find a worthy challenge. Much like we have seen with Andy Cowell departing. I don't expect it to be a challenge for Adrian Newey at Redbull either. The big teams would begin to notice talent drain as we enter the new era. Mainly because their roles has been greatly marginalized by the regulations.

So , yes! Stable regulations and design adorption schemes like Haas and Racing Point makes alot of sense. This season has shown how effective that is. And the troubles at Haas has shown that it does not always translate to guaranteed step forward. I fear that the cost escalation might not be addressed this way though. But the FI management can impose a reasonable cost cap and suitable rules for the price of selling designs, chassis etc to customer teams. The whole palava about Racing Point using last season's Mercedes car would therefore be pointless.

I am hoping that RP show some pace in the race. Haas has had that problem too, but RP is at least in the top ten.

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Originally Posted by N. Jones

I am hoping that RP show some pace in the race. Haas has had that problem too, but RP is at least in the top ten.

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Which would rub the opposition the wrong way of course, but l really am rooting for Racing Point to do well at this race too. I also hope RBR can find a way to get into Mercedes hair this weekend. Some Verstapenn magic is called for.

Typical race at Catalunya so far, about as exciting as watching paint dry...

What a ridiculous strategy call by RBR for Albon. Smh

And once again Bottas has got nothing for Verstappen. Also smh

Ferrari are really pathetic with their treatment of Vettel. FFS the guy is running in p5 and they still don’t give a sh!t about him. Complete ineptitude on his side of the garage

So mercedes 1,5 seconds a lap faster than anyone except Verstappen if they need to. It's not their party mode that makes the big difference.

And once again disappointing from bottas and albon, both in possible winning cars but nowhere near their team mates.

Happy for Hamilton, nap time for fans.

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Originally Posted by truefan72

Ferrari are really pathetic with their treatment of Vettel. FFS the guy is running in p5 and they still don’t give a sh!t about him. Complete ineptitude on his side of the garage

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I think this race like the last one demostrates why Bottas is not in the same league as Hamilton and Verstapenn. It was not his bad start that put him off second position, it was his inability to think on his feet proactively to ensure he was on the right strategy for him to take the race to Verstapenn that stuck him in 3rd at the end of the race. Poor tyre choice has cost him second place and a chance to regain second position in the drivers points table from Verstapenn.

As it goes, Verstapenn has consolidated his position in second place. The true cost of the DNF at Austria is now very evident. Verstapenn could have been within 15 points of Hamilton today if he had avoided the DNF at the Austrian GP. Which may have electrified the fight for the 2020 drivers title going into Spa.

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Originally Posted by truefan72

Ferrari are really pathetic with their treatment of Vettel. FFS the guy is running in p5 and they still don’t give a sh!t about him. Complete ineptitude on his side of the garage

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Ferrari displayed why they are not good enough to be championship contenders at this moment.

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Originally Posted by denkimi

So mercedes 1,5 seconds a lap faster than anyone except Verstappen if they need to. It's not their party mode that makes the big difference.

And once again disappointing from bottas and albon, both in possible winning cars but nowhere near their team mates.

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The decision to stop Albon early and put him on the hard tyre from a solid 6th position during the first stint of the race did not make any sense at all. Particularly since it placed him in the thick of some closely fighting cars. More so, since it turned out to be a short stint on the hardest tyre. This decision took him out of the fight with the Racing Point cars.

I think Albon did not get the best service that the Redbull pitwall could offer today.

I think the blue flag penalty for Perez was abit unfair, l felt. He had not seriously impaired Hamilton to warrant the penalty. Especially since Hamilton caught up to him on the last of the three blue flags while they were both passing the waving blue flags.

What a snorefest of a race. dear me, thank heavens we have the indy500 next weekend or I'd be thinking about cancelling skyf1. it's something of a warning when F2 is 10x more entertaining than F1 is.

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Originally Posted by Nitrodaze

The decision to stop Albon early and put him of the hard tyre fron a solid 6th position during the first stint of the race did notb make any sense at all. Pasrticularly since iot placed him in the thick of some closely fighting cars. More so, since it turned out to be a short stint on the hardest tyre. This decision took him of the fight with the Racing Point cars.

I think Albon did not get the best service that the Redbull pitwall could offer today.

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I completely agree. All of the teams knew the hard tire was of no use in this race.

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Originally Posted by N. Jones

I completely agree. All of the teams knew the hard tire was of no use in this race.

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He may have got in between the two Racing Point and thereafter benefited from Perez's five second penalty to finish fourth. Redbull simply appear not to have the bandwidth to cater equally to the needs of both of their cars at race weekends. The other car to Verstapenn always appear to get a substandard service.

I think we see why most drivers to take that seat has struggled and failed. They have great drivers, they just need to take better care of them in that car.

It was a good weekend for Vettel, but that Ferrari car is shadow of its recent self. What a frustrating weekend for both Ferrari drivers.

Charles should have been sanctioned for driving an entire lap without seat belts .
Stupid to undo them , and even stupider to drive the lap without them done up .

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Originally Posted by Bagwan

Charles should have been sanctioned for driving an entire lap without seat belts .
Stupid to undo them , and even stupider to drive the lap without them done up .

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Crazy wasn't it.

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Originally Posted by SteveF1

What a snorefest of a race. dear me, thank heavens we have the indy500 next weekend or I'd be thinking about cancelling skyf1. it's something of a warning when F2 is 10x more entertaining than F1 is.

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I agree, it was the most boring race this season. But l was glad to see the Racing Point cars do well. The impact of Perez on the team was very evident. Hulkenburg also did a fantastic job for them l think.

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Originally Posted by Nitrodaze

I agree, it was the most boring race this season. But l was glad to see the Racing Point cars do well. The impact of Perez on the team was very evident. Hulkenburg also did a fantastic job for them l think.

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Yes he did.

Lance tossed him under the bus when he mentioned on air that Checo had been told to hold station when he tried that move on him .

And , by the way , what was with Checo asking his team how his tires were fairing ?
I thought his rep was for feeling his tires , and keeping them good .

Big difference to Max , who asked for skins when his team didn't , and especially Lewis , who asked for yellows when his team wanted reds on his car .
Checo looked unhappy .
And , it sounds like he disobeyed orders .

Meanwhile , a despondent Seb says make up your mind to his team , and then nurses well overdone reds on his new chassis to the line .

And , then , pouting Checo says it looks as though he will be staying with the team .

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Originally Posted by Bagwan

Lance tossed him under the bus when he mentioned on air that Checo had been told to hold station when he tried that move on him .

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Well, he ended up behind anyway. What a start by Lance though? He was up to 3rd after the first corner. A brilliant start to the race. Racing Point have two great drivers it seems.

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Originally Posted by Nitrodaze

Well, he ended up behind anyway. What a start by Lance though? He was up to 3rd after the first corner. A brilliant start to the race. Racing Point have two great drivers it seems.

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A good start and you think Lance is a great driver? He was out qualified by Perez and Hulkenberg in the last two races. I still maintain he is unworthy of a F1 seat despite slightly improved performance this season. He only has a seat because of Daddy.

Being out qualified by Hulkenberg - whoof - that’s embarrassing.

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Originally Posted by The Black Knight

A good start and you think Lance is a great driver? He was out qualified by Perez and Hulkenberg in the last two races. I still maintain he is unworthy of a F1 seat despite slightly improved performance this season. He only has a seat because of Daddy.

Being out qualified by Hulkenberg - whoof - that’s embarrassing.

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True, but Lance is always stronger in the race.