F1 2020 Season

[stu_1992]

The race was an absolutely great watch, but man I am sickened for Russell. What a performance by him, and just it looks like he was going to come back from being massively fecked by his own team, he gets extremely unlucky again. Got his first ever points in F1, but must feel like he's just been kicked in the balls.

On the other side of it, I can't be anything but happy for Perez. The guy is having an amazing season and the win here tops that all off. Even if he doesn't get a seat next season, which he should, he can go out with his head held high and should be back in 2022 at the latest. He's massively shown up Stroll, who annoyingly got into 3rd and seemed to be on the verge of a tantrum about it. Happy for Ocon too who's been unceremoniously dumped by Racing Point in the past too. Classless team.

 

[Robertd0803]

Have to give it to them, they are one of the most dominant teams in F1 history when Mercedes do have a bad race or make a bad strategy call its always a huge balls up.

 

[Buster15]

The race was an absolutely great watch, but man I am sickened for Russell. What a performance by him, and just it looks like he was going to come back from being massively fecked by his own team, he gets extremely unlucky again. Got his first ever points in F1, but must feel like he's just been kicked in the balls.

On the other side of it, I can't be anything but happy for Perez. The guy is having an amazing season and the win here tops that all off. Even if he doesn't get a seat next season, which he should, he can go out with his head held high and should be back in 2022 at the latest. He's massively shown up Stroll, who annoyingly got into 3rd and seemed to be on the verge of a tantrum about it. Happy for Ocon too who's been unceremoniously dumped by Racing Point in the past too. Classless team.

I feel very much the same.
Extremely disappointed for Russell but delighted for Perez.
But the real thing is that it was a truly fascinating race from start to finish with loads of proper close racing.
Whatever the outcome, F1 was the real winner.

 

[Wilt]

As someone who has limited knowledge of F1 and zero knowledge of the finer technicalities. The very entertaining Sakhir race tells me.....

1: Bottas is not up to it.

2: Russell is a future World Champion.

3: The Mercedes car is in a different class when compared to the others.

4: Acknowledging Lewis is indeed a very good driver, a massive hole has been blown into the “Hamilton GOAT“ theory.

Theres obviously more to it than that, but that’s how I saw it.

 

[Fluctuation0161]

Hamilton may well have told them that he was staying out. But a puncture is a random problem.
Russell might get another chance but he has shown the world what he is capable of.

I'm sure he will and I hope he will. Seems a good racer. Certainly better than Bottas imo.

Yes the puncture was random but he wouldn't have been in the dirty side of the track if he didn't have to regain places.

 

[altodevil]

Hamilton would not decide to stay out - would be a safety car, Bottas fresh tires, Hamilton loses. Stop this nonsense. Likely Hamilton suffers same fate as Russell puncture notwithstanding.

 

[Zarlak]

Gutted for George. Great move to lead the race at the start, cool and comfortable all the way through, feck up with the tyres drops to 5th, fights his way back to 2nd only to get a puncture down to 15th and fights back into the points. Not unhappy to see Perez win since he needs a seat next season but man George got shafted today.

 

[slyadams]

If George gets next weekend and performs similarly, how can Merc send him back down? Before the race I thought he was better than Bottas, now I think he’s significantly better. If Merc want him in the future how can they punt him back? The accepted wisdom is that most teams won’t want to change drivers across the rule change, so unless Lewis retires at the end of next year, which I don’t think he will, what does that mean for George?

Its time for Mercedes to shit or get off the pot and put George in that car. I actually don’t think George will mind, for the first season at least, being a clear number 2. He’ll still be able to go for race wins.

 

[altodevil]

Will Buxton suggesting Perez signing to Red Bull

 

[Zarlak]

If George gets next weekend and performs similarly, how can Merc send him back down? Before the race I thought he was better than Bottas, now I think he’s significantly better. If Merc want him in the future how can they punt him back? The accepted wisdom is that most teams won’t want to change drivers across the rule change, so unless Lewis retires at the end of next year, which I don’t think he will, what does that mean for George?

Its time for Mercedes to shit or get off the pot and put George in that car. I actually don’t think George will mind, for the first season at least, being a clear number 2. He’ll still be able to go for race wins.

Pretty sure Bottas has already signed a new deal this season so there's nothing else they can do for George right now.

 

[ArmchairCritic]

If George gets next weekend and performs similarly, how can Merc send him back down? Before the race I thought he was better than Bottas, now I think he’s significantly better. If Merc want him in the future how can they punt him back? The accepted wisdom is that most teams won’t want to change drivers across the rule change, so unless Lewis retires at the end of next year, which I don’t think he will, what does that mean for George?

Its time for Mercedes to shit or get off the pot and put George in that car. I actually don’t think George will mind, for the first season at least, being a clear number 2. He’ll still be able to go for race wins.

The cost to break Bottas' contract and buy Russell out of his will be significant. I don't know if there are any performance clauses in Bottas' contract. I can foresee Bottas having a bad start to next year and Russell replacing him mid-season.

 

[slyadams]

Pretty sure Bottas has already signed a new deal this season so there's nothing else they can do for George right now.

Course there is, it just involves cost.

 

[diarm]

This season has been quite good, but Hamilton, Russell, Max and Perez in the four best cars would make next year 200 times better.

 

[Ubik]

*snip*

4: Acknowledging Lewis is indeed a very good driver, a massive hole has been blown into the “Hamilton GOAT“ theory.

Theres obviously more to it than that, but that’s how I saw it.

Honestly, GOATs in sport are arbitrary at the best of times, in F1 it's basically "pick your personal favourite from among this handful." Nothing we know this week that we didn't already know last week in that respect.

 

[mariachi-19]

The cost to break Bottas' contract and buy Russell out of his will be significant. I don't know if there are any performance clauses in Bottas' contract. I can foresee Bottas having a bad start to next year and Russell replacing him mid-season.

The risk of losing him to a competitor is probably more significant than the cost of breaking Bottas's contract.

 

[Zarlak]

Course there is, it just involves cost.

For no gain. They're 1-2 99% of the year. They gain nothing from swapping Bottas and Russell. If it was Red Bull needing to replace Albon then sure.

 

[Zlaatan]

Gutted for George. Great move to lead the race at the start, cool and comfortable all the way through, feck up with the tyres drops to 5th, fights his way back to 2nd only to get a puncture down to 15th and fights back into the points. Not unhappy to see Perez win since he needs a seat next season but man George got shafted today.

I feel terrible for him but at the same time I'm probably more impressed by his race just because he did so well to fight back twice from things that wasn't his fault than I would've been if he had just stayed 5sec ahead of Bottas the whole race and won it.

Hopefully Lewis recovers asap but I really wouldn't mind seeing Russell have another go next weekend, would be a huge feelgood moment to see him on the podium after being so royally screwed over today.

 

[ArmchairCritic]

The risk of losing him to a competitor is probably more significant than the cost of breaking Bottas's contract.

Which competitor? Ferrari will be set with Sainz and Leclerc. Red Bull are all in on Verstappen and if they cannot challenge Mercedes next season I think Verstappen will want the 2022 Mercedes seat.

 

[slyadams]

For no gain. They're 1-2 99% of the year. They gain nothing from swapping Bottas and Russell. If it was Red Bull needing to replace Albon then sure.

That's incredibly short sighted. Play forward a couple of years: Lewis will retire, Bottas is also 31, Russell is 22. So what can Mercedes do if they keep Bottas next year?

1. Lewis stays and change Bottas for Russell at the end of next year. This seems unlikely as all the teams are going to want to keep a stable line up across the regulation changes.
2. Lewis retires at the end of next year and Russell is brought in to replace him. OK, this seems reasonable if Lewis has told Mercedes this. Its also pretty risky in the case that Lewis changes his mind.
3. Keep Hamilton and Russell for 2022 as well. If this is their intention they need to consider releasing George, he'll be 24 by then and would have spent 4 years at Williams.

George Russell is, in my opinion, the future of the Mercedes team from a drivers perspective, so they have to start planning for that, and a few million quid to break a contact is neither here nor there under such circumstances. If George wins next weekend, the pressure really will be on and in such a case he would basically have 'won' 2 out of 2.

 

[Zarlak]

That's incredibly short sighted. Play forward a couple of years: Lewis will retire, Bottas is also 31, Russell is 22. So what can Mercedes do if they keep Bottas next year?

1. Lewis stays and change Bottas for Russell at the end of next year. This seems unlikely as all the teams are going to want to keep a stable line up across the regulation changes.
2. Lewis retires at the end of next year and Russell is brought in to replace him. OK, this seems reasonable if Lewis has told Mercedes this. Its also pretty risky in the case that Lewis changes his mind.
3. Keep Hamilton and Russell for 2022 as well. If this is their intention they need to consider releasing George, he'll be 24 by then and would have spent 4 years at Williams.

George Russell is, in my opinion, the future of the Mercedes team from a drivers perspective, so they have to start planning for that, and a few million quid to break a contact is neither here nor there under such circumstances. If George wins next weekend, the pressure really will be on and in such a case he would basically have 'won' 2 out of 2.

And they'll just snap Russell up at that point. I'm not sure where the confusion is. If Russell signs for Ferrari tomorrow he'll leave to sign for Mercedes in 2022 if need be. There's no issue here and no reason Mercedes need to break Bottas's contract for Russell right now. He was their youth driver and always was in contention when a seat opened up at Mercedes whether he drove today or not. He's highly regarded by Mercedes and all the drivers on the grid.

 

[slyadams]

And they'll just snap Russell up at that point. I'm not sure where the confusion is. If Russell signs for Ferrari tomorrow he'll leave to sign for Mercedes in 2022 if need be. There's no issue here and no reason Mercedes need to break Bottas's contract for Russell right now. He was their youth driver and always was in contention when a seat opened up at Mercedes whether he drove today or not. He's highly regarded by Mercedes and all the drivers on the grid.

Depends on who he signs for and how the teams shake out after the regulation changes. Its generally not a great idea in sport to let your best future prospect go a competitor because you think in the future you can just buy them back.

 

[Wilt]

Honestly, GOATs in sport are arbitrary at the best of times, in F1 it's basically "pick your personal favourite from among this handful." Nothing we know this week that we didn't already know last week in that respect.

Yes agreed it is a case of favouritism. In no particular order I would place Senna, Schumacher and Lauda as my top three, which is probably more of an indication of my age than anything else.

 

[Infordin]

It angers me beyond belief that in 2021, a useless driver like Bottas is going into his 5th season in a supreme Mercedes car, while a driver like Ricciardo will likely never get even one opportunity at a WDC.

There is simply no justice in this sport. Talented drivers are wasted in mediocre cars while mediocre drivers waste dominant cars.

 

[RobinLFC]

It angers me beyond belief that in 2021, a useless driver like Bottas is going into his 5th season in a supreme Mercedes car, while a driver like Ricciardo will likely never get even one opportunity at a WDC.

There is simply no justice in this sport. Talented drivers are wasted in mediocre cars while mediocre drivers waste dominant cars.

I don't think they want a genuine challenger to Hamilton anymore like they've had in the past, and Bottas is capable enough with the car to ensure they get the constructor's championship as well. Easy to avoid controversy and be all-in on Hamilton this way.

 

[altodevil]

Bottas isn't a useless driver. Far from it.

 

[elmo]

That's incredibly short sighted. Play forward a couple of years: Lewis will retire, Bottas is also 31, Russell is 22. So what can Mercedes do if they keep Bottas next year?

1. Lewis stays and change Bottas for Russell at the end of next year. This seems unlikely as all the teams are going to want to keep a stable line up across the regulation changes.
2. Lewis retires at the end of next year and Russell is brought in to replace him. OK, this seems reasonable if Lewis has told Mercedes this. Its also pretty risky in the case that Lewis changes his mind.
3. Keep Hamilton and Russell for 2022 as well. If this is their intention they need to consider releasing George, he'll be 24 by then and would have spent 4 years at Williams.

George Russell is, in my opinion, the future of the Mercedes team from a drivers perspective, so they have to start planning for that, and a few million quid to break a contact is neither here nor there under such circumstances. If George wins next weekend, the pressure really will be on and in such a case he would basically have 'won' 2 out of 2.

Russell will race for them once the new regulations kicks in and he replaces Bottas.

Much easier to convince Lewis to guide and let George takeover as number 1 driver once he's won 8 WDC titles.

 

[elmo]

It angers me beyond belief that in 2021, a useless driver like Bottas is going into his 5th season in a supreme Mercedes car, while a driver like Ricciardo will likely never get even one opportunity at a WDC.

There is simply no justice in this sport. Talented drivers are wasted in mediocre cars while mediocre drivers waste dominant cars.

There's no mediocre drivers in F1, only luckier ones.

Earning the necessary points needed for the super license is ridiculously hard due to how expensive it is to race in the feeder series.

You either perform very well and get the points needed within your first two years or you hope you're bankrolled by someone that's willing to spend tens of millions till you get the points needed.

 

[RobinLFC]

There's no mediocre drivers in F1, only luckier ones.

Depends on your outlook on things. Of course they're all crazy talented compared to regular human beings like us. But Bottas is a mediocre driver compared to the likes of Hamilton and Verstappen. There are loads of drivers right now who'd do a lot better with that car than Bottas has.

 

[elmo]

Depends on your outlook on things. Of course they're all crazy talented compared to regular human beings like us. But Bottas is a mediocre driver compared to the likes of Hamilton and Verstappen. There are loads of drivers right now who'd do a lot better with that car than Bottas has.

How much better can they realistically do? They're not beating Lewis even if they have the same car and Bottas is literally second in the WDC which is basically the best case scenario despite having some terrible luck this season with his car.

 

[RobinLFC]

How much better can they realistically do? They're not beating Lewis even if they have the same car and Bottas is literally second in the WDC which is basically the best case scenario despite having some terrible luck this season with his car.

There are quite a few racers who'd challenge Hamilton (Russell might be one of them too, or at least in the very near future) if they were in Bottas' position. Yet Bottas is barely ahead of Verstappen in a much superior car.

Not saying he's bad or anything, he's just not an elite driver either imo.

 

[Evans999]

A combination of incredibly exciting season, Netflix's drive to survive and the young drivers like Leclerc and Norris Streaming on Twitch, The popularity of F1 seems to have skyrocketed this year.

 

[SilentWitness]

A combination of incredibly exciting season, Netflix's drive to survive and the young drivers like Leclerc and Norris Streaming on Twitch, The popularity of F1 seems to have skyrocketed this year.

Leclerc and Norris streaming has helped a lot. I regularly see other twitch/YouTube streamers talk about the races now.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Bottas isn't a useless driver. Far from it.

He's certainly not been very good this year at all. I think he's mentally had it with this season, whether he can recover next year we will see.

Yes he's been unlucky in places, but then he's made some awful mistakes - Turkey and Monza in particular just showed he can't quite get that extra 10% when it matters like others can.

I think Mercedes have kept loyal to him as he's doing a good enough job to get the car home in 2nd place most of the time and they're winning the constructors at a canter, but as soon as they got a real challenge he'd be out the door.

Leclerc and Norris streaming has helped a lot. I regularly see other twitch/YouTube streamers talk about the races now.

Yep, they've done a fantastic job of promoting the sport to kids. 10-16 year olds are all over their twitter accounts with support and watching the races.

The lockdown period Albon, Leclerc, Russell, Norris and Verstappen all playing together really helped push that, couldn't have been better for the sport to grow.

 

[Infordin]

There's no mediocre drivers in F1, only luckier ones.

Mediocre within the context of F1.

That’s like saying “Lingard is not a bad player” because he’s better at football than anyone on this forum. Well that’s not the point, because you are comparing him to his peers.

 

[17Larsson]

Bottas removed the word Mercedes from his Instagram bio thing and Russell removed Williams from his.

Not sure how true or relevant either of those are but I'm going to get excited anyway

 

[altodevil]

F1 Silly Season rolls on

 

[Leg-End]

Bottas removed the word Mercedes from his Instagram bio thing and Russell removed Williams from his.

Not sure how true or relevant either of those are but I'm going to get excited anyway

Interesting, I mean most likely nothing but still.

Bottas is a weird one really, he's always been a solid driver on his day and consistently brings it home towards where he needs to yet his mark within the sport considering he's had 4 seasons in the best car is so minimal. He doesn't really have much of a fanbase, doesn't have much character (despite his Bottas 2.0 cringe attempt), doesn't really bring any excitement in his driving style, he just sort of turns up and is there. Always been pretty quick over one lap but usually gets destroyed on race pace, he's going to be one of those drivers that's just forgotten about post-F1.

I said it on Sunday, I have no desire to see Bottas in the second seat of the best car, Mercedes can create some buzz for next year by taking a gamble on Russell.

 

[sun_tzu]

I said it on Sunday, I have no desire to see Bottas in the second seat of the best car, Mercedes can create some buzz for next year by taking a gamble on Russell.

Long term it could be good for Russell's development to be alongside Hamilton for a year or two as well

 

[Wilt]

Long term it could be good for Russell's development to be alongside Hamilton for a year or two as well

Yes it would enhance Russell’s development, though I’m not sure Hamilton would be too happy at the thought of having to contend with Russell up his tailpipe.

 

[antsmithmk]

Interesting, I mean most likely nothing but still.

Bottas is a weird one really, he's always been a solid driver on his day and consistently brings it home towards where he needs to yet his mark within the sport considering he's had 4 seasons in the best car is so minimal. He doesn't really have much of a fanbase, doesn't have much character (despite his Bottas 2.0 cringe attempt), doesn't really bring any excitement in his driving style, he just sort of turns up and is there. Always been pretty quick over one lap but usually gets destroyed on race pace, he's going to be one of those drivers that's just forgotten about post-F1.

I said it on Sunday, I have no desire to see Bottas in the second seat of the best car, Mercedes can create some buzz for next year by taking a gamble on Russell.

Bottas is exactly the type of driver that Red Bull want in the second seat. Someone who is an able and reliable deputy to step in when the number 1 driver crashes out, has a mechanical or a grid penalty etc. He doesn't seem flustered by the fact he is pretty much always behind Hamilton. On the rare occasions he has out performed Hamilton, it hasn't taken long for Lewis to put him back in his place.