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Post by René on Dec 11, 2020 18:29:47 GMT
The last race of this exceptional season. Lewis is back in good health which of course is good but as mentioned by others, it would have been nice to see George in the Merc again. But George made his case and everyone knows it! All drivers want to end the season on a high so I wish them all a good result coming sunday. Personally I hope Sebastian Vettel will have a good last race as a Scuderia Ferrari driver. His childhood dream of winning the F1 title with Ferrari did not materialize but there are still great moments to remember. His first victory in Malaysia for instance. I can still remember that feeling of euphoria and joy as he brought so much positivism to the team in 2015. Great memories.
And let's not forget, he is the third winning Ferrari driver in the Scuderia's history after Schumacher and Lauda.
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Post by charleselan on Dec 11, 2020 19:24:56 GMT
Not sure what you mean as "exceptional season" René. Is it with reference to the uniqueness of the circumstances in 2020 or for the fact that we had the cars performing on some outstanding circuits that should always be on the calendar? Other than that it was pretty much a MB bore festival with some fleeting outstanding performances as side issues.
It would be fantastic if Sebastian could bow out of Ferrari on a high but sadly fairy tales are seldom seen to conclusion. I see that Camilleri has stood down as Ferrari boss, and Marlboro too on "personal grounds". Wouldn't be the beginning of a bit of a clean out.
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Post by chrisb on Dec 12, 2020 7:55:28 GMT
Good luck to all, not the place of choice to end one's F1 career or in Seb's case swopping the company car, least he knows it is now capable of wining, but I hope all enjoy themselves, mind you George will realise the difference this weekend, which could either be a bonus for Williams or possibly a platform, I wonder who he will drive for next year. It is also the changing of the commentators for C4, will they continue? I haven't seen the viewing figures for their show so have no idea if they feel it is worthwhile
I have gone for Bottas - and wonder if this is Lewis's last GP -
has this been an exceptional year, yes but in F1 terms less so, seems the highlight was last weekend, with George getting his chance provoked certainly here anyway more response and reaction than most races, personally as John says it was yet another MB domination, and that is not so great. I look back at previous era's where say Alfa dominated, or MB in the 50's there was always competition going on, Farina vs Fangio and those incredible places they raced at was breathtaking, others in 1954 etc etc
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Post by robmarsh on Dec 12, 2020 8:58:55 GMT
I hope VB wins. I think the season was exceptional because of the short time between each Grand Prix, and as already noted, the decent tracks. The percentage of feeling disappointed if not depressed after the result was the highest for me of any season since 1992. I enjoyed 1988 because of the two top drivers being in the same team and the rivalry was intense. The same cannot be said for both 1992 and 2020. In fact even in 1992, Senna managed to win three races which was three more than anybody apart from Hamilton has done this year.
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Post by René on Dec 12, 2020 15:52:33 GMT
Well, that was an exceptional lap from Max Verstappen!  Yes guys, I realize 'exceptional' was probably not the correct word in my first post (excusez, English is not my mother tongue ). Bizarre would probably describe this season and year better. But we have seen many exceptional drives and laps, exceptional podiums and exceptional visits to some wonderful 'old school' and new tracks. A unique season we will remember for a long time.
Not a big fan of this track but we could be in for a good fight between Max and the Mercs. And what a lap also form Lando! It's good to see McLaren more at the front this year. They have really made big steps.
Anyway, one more race. Let's hope it's a good one!
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Post by Carl on Dec 12, 2020 17:09:52 GMT
Well, that was an exceptional lap from Max Verstappen! Yes guys, I realize 'exceptional' was probably not the correct word in my first post (excusez, English is not my mother tongue ). Bizarre would probably describe this season and year better. But we have seen many exceptional drives and laps, exceptional podiums and exceptional visits to some wonderful 'old school' and new tracks. A unique season we will remember for a long time.
Not a big fan of this track but we could be in for a good fight between Max and the Mercs. And what a lap also form Lando! It's good to see McLaren more at the front this year. They have really made big steps.
Anyway, one more race. Let's hope it's a good one!
René,
Your English is excellent and far better than two native English speakers and supposed world leaders: the pompous Boris Johnson and the easily exceeded low bar of donald trump.
-Carl
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Post by charleselan on Dec 12, 2020 17:24:43 GMT
We have been spoilt this year with the return of some great tracks and the arrival of places like Portimao and Mugello, sadly the final race of the season is at this god awful place. I have seen more attractive Scalextric tracks on someones living room floor than this place. The final race of any season including this disrupted and challenging one should be held at a track that celebrates all that is great about F1, not some venue where the country in question can splash the cash!
Good to see Verstappen finally put one over the Merc's at last, been a long time coming. Seeing a graphic during qualifying reminded me how long this steamroller by MB has been going on; six bl**dy years and that is far too long even for this hardened motor sport fan.
What was heartening was to see the continued climb back of McLaren; fourth and sixth place in qualifying is outstanding and Lando Norris was exceptional, as was Carlos who was running a pretty old engine apparently, even so he wasn't happy with his performance in "3".
Another fine performance from Kyvatt who one again outshone Pierre Gasly, shame it is too late Danil.
I really felt for George Russell however, what a horrible reminder of what life could be like. That lad deserves far better than that barge that carries Frank's name, but thanks to Wolff he will have to endure a third year wasting his talent. It is sickening that a brilliantly fast but decent young man has to be wasted like this when the likes of Hamilton and Verstappen just rocked up straight into the best, or one of the best, seat(s) in the house, but F1 has always been such.
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Post by mikael on Dec 12, 2020 20:40:36 GMT
We have been spoilt this year with the return of some great tracks and the arrival of places like Portimao and Mugello ...
Yes, absolutely - showing again that there's nothing so bad that it isn't good for something ... Hopefully it has been an eye opener for some of the people at the FIA ...
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Post by chrisb on Dec 13, 2020 8:20:15 GMT
Rene, your mastery of a foriegn language is exemplary and a tribute to both you and Mikael, respect gentleman, sadly my command of any foreign language is less perfect,
money talks, as long as we burn oil the Middle eastern circuits will command as and when they have races, gone are the days of entertaining spectators and fans, in saying that we have been treated to some great circuits and some good racing at times, despite my apathy of these technical masterpieces, however, a 6 year domination is just not healthy, what is their benefits from such a domination, as I said previously when George was in the MB it was exciting and the levels of interests were much higher, although when he and VB were out front before the mess-ups they were a long way down the road to anyone else but with Lewis being consistently more successful than VB it is so much more predictable. Maybe MB will follow Audi and BMW and look at new challenges, I would certainly welcome MB back in sports car racing.
a good qualifying by MV, Lewis is saying he isn't 100% which makes me question then why are you there and not allowing George a second bite - Can't say I am looking forward to the race, Abu Dhabi does not fill me with excitement not anticipation, I would love to see Seb do well and hope he enjoys his last race for the red cars.
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Post by charleselan on Dec 13, 2020 12:06:50 GMT
As an aside and before todays event begins a few snippets that I gleaned from YouTube last evening.
One of the F1 Channels which basically is just a regurgitation of news available but did have some info' I ha=d not come across elsewhere regarding RB and George Russell. Some speculation that they might have been about to make a bid for him, however Marko has been quoted to have shot this down in flames. Old Citron Chops is quoted as saying that with regard to Russell's performance last weekend "anyone could have done that in that car", Wow stunning praise indeed!!
Not only a nasty swipe at George but also doesn't say much about Hamilton & Bottas does it! I suppose he believes his "golden boy" would just walk off into the distance driving the Merc!
Marko is then quoted as saying that Russell is of little interest to RB as they have a pool of talent themselves; really I would like to see it and if so why have they been stuck for drivers over the past few years. He also is quoted that Russell isn't much interest as he is tied to a ten year management contract with Wolff, that is fair enough I suppose but highlights another area that is unpalatable in my view.
That being the length of contract brought about by Wolff for a young driver, we have seen things like this many times before and in my view it is immoral and exploitative, but sadly indicative of power brokers today.
P.S. René yours and Mikael's English is truly exemplary, far better than my own in fact.
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Post by robmarsh on Dec 13, 2020 16:40:34 GMT
Well that race turned out to be a damp squib.
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Post by charleselan on Dec 13, 2020 17:33:18 GMT
I am trying my hardest too refrain from any negativity, so here goes  . The high spots for me were off track and there were some exquisite little observations. Firstly it was so good seeing Charles and George leant against the pit lane wall before the start genuinely talking with friendship and camaraderie, later joined by Alexander, all three chatting away like Jim Clark; Graham Hill; JYS and Jochen Rindt would do back in the 1960's before a race start. Also lovely to see the respect and friendship between Sebastian & Charles both before and after the race, it was interesting as well to see that Charles followed Sebastian without attempting any overtakes even though he was obviously faster. Jeez 13th & 14th for Ferrari at race end, it better improve in 2021 as that was truly awful. Another great interchange was between Kevin and his race engineer as he negotiated the warm up lap; "love you man"; I do not think we are the only ones who will miss Kevin. OK my one negative is with that clown Croft, for 50% of the race he banged on about the possibility of a penalty for pit lane incident for Carlos Sainz. Dragging Brundle into it more often than not, he just harped on and on about it like a stuck record. Then we had the situation with Charles exceeding track limits, both in the comms box fed on that like hungry piranhas as if it was of any real importance. Such is the excitement of F1 today we have to babble on about possible penalties. |
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Post by René on Dec 13, 2020 18:18:51 GMT
A solid and well deserved victory for Max Verstappen. He didn't put a foot wrong all weekend so the best man won today.
A wheel to wheel battle in equally fast cars between Lewis and Max was something I hoped for this race but will probably have to wait until next year. Lewis wasn't feeling 100% fit after his Covid infection so that also didn't help. He didn't look as fast and sharp as usual.
Lewis's comments after the race about following another car was telling however. He said he hoped that the 2022 cars will be a major improvement over these cars as it is virtually impossible to follow a car close for a longer period of time. Coming within 3 to 4 seconds is already problematic. It just tells you that if you build a car that qualifies on the front row 95% of the time (what Mercedes has done), it will probably win 90% of the time (what Mercedes has done).
Great result for McLaren to finish 3rd in the constructors title. A great reward for a long uphill battle.
And yeah, for the rest the race was quite boring. Ferrari was nowhere, just ridiculous. Looked even worse than 1980! But hey let's wait and see. An interesting rumor is that Andy Cowell is moving to Italy...
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Post by René on Dec 13, 2020 23:08:53 GMT
You have to see this, just wonderful:
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Post by robmarsh on Dec 14, 2020 0:31:44 GMT
Brilliant, Thank you Rene, very poignant moment. That cheered me up immensely even though it was really sad at the same time.
Maybe 2020 is the nadir for F1 and things will get better eg the genuine friendship amongst the younger set is such a positive thing. It has to be better than the "murder your team mate mentality" that seems to be applauded by the old guard.
There are some great drivers who are leaving and some not so great ones that are staying. Too much power in too few hands regarding drivers' futures as well as ably pointed out by Charles earlier. It has to change.
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