2020 challenge discussion thread R17 Abu Dhabi Dec 13

I am hoping George gets another outing in the black Mercedes.

I thought they were going with our Ed given how badly it went last week.

Hamilton maybe didn't like what he saw and wants to get back before Russell gets too many plaudits.

This.

And this!

Valteri has a contract for next year which he will not give up and Lewis will be there for a few more years yet. George for 2022 seems more likely by which time Lewis interests will be less on F1 long term and more as year on year seeing how he feels. Not sure I see him staying beyond 2023 anyway. George will have the chance as top driver there or thereabouts having serve his apprenticeship.

Every time I watch the Abu Dhabi layout, I feel like redesigning the track. I would cancel out that final sector completely. It adds nothing for racing, and if the only reasoning is because the cars pass underneath a posh hotel, that is screwed up thinking. 

Loved seeing Alonso blat around in his old Renault R25 with its V10. What a noise. People kept leaning over the pit wall to hear it. Nobody would ever do that with the current engines. That was the unmistakable sound of F1, I sorely miss it. 

Sadly, I think there is more chance of F1 going electric than returning to V10's, or even V8's

This weekend has been the only one in 2020 where the Mercedes hasn’t look quite nailed. It has a little bit of rear insecurity on entry and exit, and that really isn’t desirable in the third sector with all the traction zones. I thought the conditions would come to Mercedes as the sun went down, but that hesitancy to get back to the throttle was still evident in Q3.

I think what Mike says is right. F1 seems to be going down the route of synthetic fuels. I just don't see how a battery could satisfy the demands of F1, or any circuit racing with races lasting more than 30 minutes. Todays combustion racing spoils us, whether its F1 or endurance racing, its now sprint racing from start to finish. And excessive lift and coast would be a regressive step. The oil company's should be seen as part of the solution, not part of the problem. The rate of development in motorsport is far greater than the car industry. If we get company's like Shell and Petronas working on synthetic fuels, and carbon-free combustion can be offered, that is surely something that needs to be considered by governments. Ev's are not going to suit every area of the world.

I've decided how to make Abu Dhabi better. I would firstly get rid of the chicane of turns 5 and 6. That has never done anything for racing. Turn 7 comes immediately after turn 6, so its not like the chicane allows someone to pass. I would then ditch the current sector three in its entirety. That for me, is why passing is so difficult. Its so hard to follow around the 90 degree corners in the sector. It just doesn't flow very well. At the end of the second back straight, the track would effectively u-turn and head towards the pit straight. There would simply be a straight between the u-turn and the current final corner, no more corners. I promise you the racing would be so much better. 

The response to removing the turns 5 and 6 chicane will be its too dangerous, because there wouldn't be enough run-off into the hairpin that leads onto the back straight. My suggestion, fix it. They spent so much money on this track, its time money was spent where it matters, making it a racing track.

This isn't about the current car v the 2022 car either. They struggle to overtake in F2 as well, and GT cars. The layout is quite simply flawed for any racing car. My layout would say bye bye to the hotel section. What a travesty, I'm sure the viewers and spectators will miss it.

A mixed season I thought. Highlights were going to some different circuits and places not visited for many years.
The way Bottas rolled over this season was the biggest disappointment, seems like Lewis only needs to turn up in order to win.
George Russell once and for all answering the age old question is it the car or is it the driver.
Grosjean proving you can fit a square peg through a round hole if you hit it at 150MPH and survive. I will never complain about the halo again.
Something has to be done about aero. Roll on 2022 but no doubt the designers will already have got round most of those rules and we'll still have dirty air pouring off the cars so nobody can get within 2 seconds.
With all the track records broken this year, proven that speed does not equal entertainment.
Got to congratulate F1 in getting thousands of folk transported every weekend all across the globe and not having a Covid meltdown.

I thought it obvious the Hamilton was not a hundred percent, Bottas not getting at least close to Verstappen was something of a disappointment.

Looking forward to George in a Merc for 2022.

It is a shame that Abu Dhabi was so dreary, it’s true that the season finale wasn’t representative of the season. 2020 saw some fantastic racing, unpredictable races and unintended showcases of brilliance that raised bigger questions for F1.

I have enjoyed the teammate battles in 2020. Seeing the relative struggles of Vettel, Ocon, Latifi, Stroll and Albon illustrated how tough F1 is. It’s a pressure cooker environment like no other in motorsport. Elsewhere in racing Albon would have been given more time. I think that Norris will need to up his game with Ricciardo as teammate as McLaren. His opening laps are still too tentative; Ricciardo is a proven race winner and is more confident in wheel-to-wheel combat.

Turkey for me was the highlight of the year. We’re so used to seeing F1 cars nailed to the track; it was refreshing to watch a weekend where no set-up solutions or downforce could help the drivers navigate the slippery turns in Istanbul. I loved how precise the drivers had to be. The laptimes were slow, but it didn’t matter because greater driver input was on display. It was a race that F1 can learn from. Unsuitable asphalt every weekend is perhaps unrealistic, but the demand for ever-quicker laptimes has been an unnecessary pursuit since 2017. The 2022 car will apparently be slower than todays cars, I see that as an opportunity, rather than something regressive.

F1 probably wishes it hadn’t allowed Renault run its old V10-powered R25 with Alonso driving. It only illustrated what F1 has been missing. That dazzling sound was the headline USP for F1 for years. It was so exciting hearing that car again, motorsport is noise.