2020 F1 challenge R10 Russia 27 Sep; discussion thread

Have you ever noticed a lot of F1 drivers are named after Scottish towns...

Lewis Hamilton


Stirling Moss


Eddie Irvine


Ayr Town Centre

Wow that was a dull race. As a cure I watched the last round of the BTCC from Silverstone, if you get a chance make sure you get to see it.

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Not that it was a vintage race, but the highlights invariably make it look worse than it was. The C4 team are great, but they have strict limits on how much of the race they can show, which makes for a disjointed and frustrating viewing experience.  

Turn two at Sochi has been a disaster from day one. In most of the races run at the circuit since 2014, there has been a collision at the corner. The road tightens rather than opens on corner exit, so it becomes a pinch-point on the opening lap, and it leaves no room for error generally. That becomes an issue because if a driver overshoots the corner, they have to drive off the track and re-join on the entry to turn three, which is blind on entry itself. I can't believe how stupidly dangerous this is. Look at what happened to Sainz, a similar re-join caused a huge crash in F2 last year. This is all because the circuit has vast tarmac run-off areas, F1 realised the problem, so came up with a cack-handed solution that has no place on any race track whatsoever. Bring back gravel and grass, and the issue of track-limits disappears. There were no track limits issues at Mugello at all, because there was grass and gravel at most corners. 

The penalty point regime needs changing. It was introduced with good intentions, after Grosjean's role at the 2012 Belgian GP crash. However, including minor violations for penalty points means that someone who isn't a genuine danger might get a race ban. Really, the only race bans I've ever seen is for grossly blatant or terrible driving. It was quite depressing watching yesterday's GP, even though parts were entertaining. Gasly overtaking Albon? I don't think that was lost on Red Bull, that quite simply wouldn't have occurred with Verstappen. It was depressing, because of the constant time penalties and investigations. It felt like watching a trial in court, rather than a motor race. You just don't see this nonsense in other motorsport.

F1 will have a lot more racing from 2022, and the FIA need to accept that there will be more "racing incidents" because of that. Its no good having a raceable car, if the drivers can't race. These penalties haven't stopped collisions, and people having a go. So what exactly are these penalties preventing? If someone wants to have a collision in every race, the biggest penalty is that they have a smashed up car in every race, that is the biggest penalty of all.  

I think Hamilton had the right strategy for Sunday, which shouldn't have happened. It was Hamilton's own error in qualifying that resulted in that. The teams were afraid that the Soft compound would excessively degrade, which it didn't. Hamilton's pace on the Soft compound was excellent during his opening stint, he would have simply got an undercut on Bottas by pitting earlier. With how durable the Hard compound was, he would have been able to hold off Bottas. There wasn't enough degradation for fresher tyres to make much of a difference, not enough of a difference against the same car. 

 

My views echo Tim's: rally drivers drive through the trees knowing what will happen if they over extend their or their cars' abilities; same for real road racers (IoM, NW200): it hurts when you make an error so maybe the F1 drivers need to get their arses to a concrete walled track in a go-kart to remind them that the track is the bit marked out as such. I'm sure we all agree that F1 car safety is a fabulous thing but if it means the drivers are riding rough shod over the track limits in the knowledge that they very likely won't be injured they need turns like this to remind them that things like not overshooting a corner, leaving no room for error and safely rejoining the track are the things that they are supposed to be good at - probably the basics to be honest!

Snow banks in F1 would certainly make things interesting !

I'd also previously read how T2 was considered so dangerous as the track narrowed on the exit instead of the usual widening, and also share surprise that Sainz wasn't collected by one or more cars as he "rejoined" the track.   It does seem silly that track borders are "lined" with tarmac, effectively widening the track and ensuring that the drivers do not have to remain within the painted track borders.... I bet that from their low seating positions, it's probably quite hard to see where the lines actually are, especially if the sun is in their eyes.  Dimpled kerbs, astroturf or something else that would force a reduction in speed when the limits were exceeded should surely be something that the F1 regulators should be working on