Formula 1 - 2020 Season

The most interesting thing about Imola for me was not the announcements that were made but rather things that happened which seem odd when you stop to think about them.

The presence of Greg Maffei, the boss of Liberty Media at both of the recent races was bizarre. Maffei is not a racing fan and has come to very few races in the last three years. I told he’s a basketball nut (although I cannot verify it) but his primary interest is making money, which he does very well. Appearing at two consecutive Grands Prix is out of character. One can speculate that this was something he did for meetings but the major F1 deliberations are over and in any case Maffei is not required for these. Chase Carey is the man who signs things.

So what has Maffei been doing?
https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2020/11/03/notebook-from-bonneville/
 
Joe’s a font of F1 knowledge, and his post-race green notebooks are great. He also noted that Gene Haas was at the race at the same weekend that his other team could have won the NASCAR Cup, which implies he was there to do a business (Bojack ref). Apparently Russell is staying with Williams, as they had until end of October to pick up his option. Perez brings $7mil in advertising and takes $5mil in salary for a net +$2mil (more if he lowers his salary). Russell brings an estimated $5mil in Merc engine discounts. So Williams is giving up $2+mil (maybe gaining some goodwill but remember that we all expect Russell to replace Bottas at Merc in 2022) by sticking with Russell. Will they make that up by making it to 9th place in the Constructors next year?
 
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yeah joe is my goto, i listen to the missed apex podcast when he's on

i also sub to grandprix+ because i want to support him and david in what they do
 
Also, I don’t think I’ve found F1 driving style analysis like Peter Windsor’s (maybe driver61, who did one on Alonso and Senna). His Imola Qualifying analysis (parts one [starts ~5:30] and two) was super interesting. I’m probably oversimplifying and maybe even misheard it, but he pegs Sainz as having a Vettel style corner entry (late brake, V apex)—different than LeClerc—which should make Ferrari interesting next year. He argues that Albon might be worth keeping at Red Bull because his driving style elicits different comments complaints than Verstappen, which offers them more targets to improve on the car (which will benefit both drivers). It’s really good stuff. Funny that he ends saying that Imola offers good racing even if there isn’t a surfeit of on-track passing, mentioning Alonso vs Schumi. I think Sky’s guys mentioned number of passes as a potential weak point, tho those stats are pre-DRS Imola vs srsly-WTF 2020. (The Sky track intro featured that Alonso-Schumi battle.)
 
Jayemm did a video about why mclaren would suddenly need a lot of money
something about a GFV (guarenteed future value) offered to the finance company or something i dont understand it
 
2021 Formula 1 calendar

21 March: Australia (Melbourne)
28 March: Bahrain (Sakhir)
11 April: China (Shanghai)
25 April: TBC ( Vietnamese Grand Prix has been dropped)
9 May: Spain (Barcelona)
23 May: Monaco
6 June: Azerbaijan (Baku)
13 June: Canada (Montreal)
27 June: France (Le Castellet)
4 July: Austria (Spielberg)
18 July: Britain (Silverstone)
1 August: Hungary (Hungaroring)
29 August: Belgium (Spa)
5 September: Netherlands (Zandvoort)
12 September: Italy (Monza)
26 September: Russia (Sochi)
3 October: Singapore (Marina Bay)
10 October: Japan (Suzuka)
24 October: USA (Austin)
31 October: Mexico (Mexico City)
14 November: Brazil (Sao Paulo) *
28 November: Saudi Arabia (Jeddah)
5 December: Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina)

* = provisional pending promoter agreement
 
Middle East races would be possible as they are going there this year as well. Japan might be possible too. (reported) Infections are low and there is talk of relaxing restrictions for business travel as well as entry for athletes during the Olympics. Assuming that all goes well I guess there is a chance the race could go ahead. China I suppose depends on whether or not China sees value in holding a race. Don't know about Singapore.

The Americas don't sound realistic to me at the moment and Australia is probably too soon.

To be honest I think F1 could probably convince most governments to let them in but its probably more a case of PR and whether or not tracks want to hold a race with no/limited spectators.

The only track I'll miss this year is Interlagos and maybe Zandvoort because I kinda wanted to see how racing on the banked part of the track would be.
 
All of these races should be possible. Whether they will all have regular public attendance is another matter.
i doubt any in america and a lot in asia tbh
right now i doubt europe

if there are travel restrictions and quarantine rules which f1 cant somehow get around, they are stuffed

also quali was slow as all hell but so thrilling
grats to the maiden pole sitter looking forward to a really exciting race tomorrow :D
 
Lewis drove great as usual, but I was very impressed by the 3 following drivers. Perez, Vettel and Leclerc. Bottas though. :nope:
I'm guessing something got broken when Bottas was hit in the first corner that caused the first spin.

Driver of the day should have been Stroll, but Racing Point screwed him over by not listening to him and instead forced useless pitstop to ruin his race.

Leclerc is probably going to be world champion one day.
Half the grid would be if they got a team that builds as overpowered car around one driver like Hamilton has. Most probably would get multiple championships too, even if not as many as Ham.
 
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