F1 season 2020

[TecnoGenius]

F1 revs up this weekend, with the race on Mar 15 at midnight.

They've already cancelled China.  More to come?  It's shaping up to be the strangest year I can recall for F1.

"Who cares about car racing Tecno?!" -- me, Goldie and IIRC at least 3 other posters, that's who 

My McLaren got 4th(!!) in 2019.  Go McLaren!  Get 3rd this year and win me a race!  Both Norris and Sainz looked far better than I could have hoped or guessed -- they have some real pace and talent.

Who y'all rooting for?

[blue_gold_84]

This is probably going to get cancelled.

[GOLDMEMBER]

Like to see Ferrari get going more seriously and Canadian drivers do better.

It ain?t starting on time though. Could end up being quite the mess of a season.

[TecnoGenius]

Argh, a McLaren team member tested positive and they just cancelled the entire Australian GP weekend.  So much for that.

Like to see Ferrari get going more seriously and Canadian drivers do better.

Stroll was/is only there because of daddy's money.  He's not that fast.  He was so bad they couldn't even buy him a seat so daddy bought the whole team!!  I need a daddy like that! 

I'd love to see another '94 Villeneuve.  But it's really hard in Canada as there's no development stream.  I keep trying to get my kid into carting here, as he has a love of cars and racing, but there really isn't much here to get into!  You have to ship your kid off to Europe at a very young age to have any chance, and you have to be rich.  We're doing ok, but we're not rich like that!  So where are these new Canadian drivers going to come from??  It takes more than money... you need raw talent.

I'm real impressed with the Norris UK kid.  Fast, and a funny/witty interview.

As for Ferrari -- my nemesis    Yes, the sport is better when they are competitive.  It's so boring if Merc just runs away with it every week.  I'd prefer McLaren gives Merc grief, but I'll take Ferrari if I have to.  After years of hating watching Schumacher win every single week (except on Michelin tracks, hehe), I find it odd I root for Ferrari sometimes now.  But Leclerc doesn't seem like such a bad kid.

[TecnoGenius]

It gets worse...

Bahrain and Vietnam (its first race ever) have been postponed.  So now F1 is not set to start until the "end of May", but is subject to further review.  China was already cancelled.

May has lined up the European start: Netherlands, Spain, Monaco.

I seriously doubt the situation will much better in those places (except maybe big-$$ Monaco) by then, so I expect those will be cancelled/delayed too.  And by then there should be a ton of team members, F1 staff, etc, who have covid, meaning the F1 circus won't be travelling anywhere, even countries with no cases.

Canada by Jun 12-14 should be in pretty bad shape, so Montreal is probably not going to happen.

Unless it all burns out in the next couple of months, there may not be any F1 season at all.  Even if a miracle occurs and the world is home free by October, how would they structure the remainder of the season?  Is it legal by F1 rules to have just a 5-ish race season?

[Tiger]

It gets worse...

Bahrain and Vietnam (its first race ever) have been postponed.  So now F1 is not set to start until the "end of May", but is subject to further review.  China was already cancelled.

May has lined up the European start: Netherlands, Spain, Monaco.

I seriously doubt the situation will much better in those places (except maybe big-$$ Monaco) by then, so I expect those will be cancelled/delayed too.  And by then there should be a ton of team members, F1 staff, etc, who have covid, meaning the F1 circus won't be travelling anywhere, even countries with no cases.

Canada by Jun 12-14 should be in pretty bad shape, so Montreal is probably not going to happen.

Unless it all burns out in the next couple of months, there may not be any F1 season at all.  Even if a miracle occurs and the world is home free by October, how would they structure the remainder of the season?  Is it legal by F1 rules to have just a 5-ish race season?

Friends are going to Montreal race and asked me.  Updates are appreciated.

[TecnoGenius]

Friends are going to Montreal race and asked me.  Updates are appreciated.

Based on everything I've read and learned and know, I would say it's a 90% chance MTL F1 GP is cancelled (or postponed, but until when?).  Of course, I'm the triple-thick tin-foil wearer, but if anyone wanted to bet me money on this, I'd take that bet.

Even if F1 manages to hold a race before June MTL GP, I doubt they want to risk flying the circus all the way to Canada.  Canada might not even let them in.  Canada might still have their "no events over 250 people" then.

Holy moses, can you imagine that subway ride to/from the track island with covid still around??  Who is going to take that risk?  I've been to MTL GPs and the subway station and trains are worse than sardines or Japan trains in rush hour when the events end.  110k people leaving through one station within about 2 hours.  Crazy.

[TecnoGenius]

Tiger, MTL is almost certainly cancelled (on any date)...

F1 just out with news that they hope to start the season July 5 in Austria, then run 15-18 races.  Looks like they are clustering the races by geographic area, probably to lessen travel time and allow more (most?) back to back races.

They say they'll start the season with no fans in stands.  I think that's prudent to get the races going.  They can control the situation with the teams a lot more easily than throngs of fans.

Tentative schedule is:
Europe Jul-Aug
Asis(ish) Sep-Oct
Americas(ish) Oct-Nov
Middle East Dec

So they are going later than usual.  Since Americas get Oct-Nov you can exclude Montreal unless they are going to create a set of winter tires    So anyone with MTL race plans needs to cancel them.

Hopefully the whole new schedule is more than just wild optimism... it'd be nice to get some sports going asap.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.statement-from-f1-ceo-chase-carey-target-is-to-begin-season-in-austria.5zn2chyMjrqC8n0BkEt9e.html

[TecnoGenius]

F1 is back!!  The (at least) 3 fans here rejoice.

If you hadn't been following the dates, the race starts in a few hours (Sunday morning, July 5).  The competition aside from Merc should be fierce.  Can my McLaren podium?

Not to blow quali if you haven't watched it, but when I saw the Bottas off on Q3 I instantly thought he was pulling a Schumacher, purposely screwing up everybody's lap.  Ricciardo knows the score...

So the "biosphere" idea is working for F1 (so far), which means it is doable for sports in general, if you have the money.  CFL could do the same if the will and money is there.  I'll keep dreaming.

[TecnoGenius]

*SPOILERS*

Did you guys see that!!  Amazing race.  Thought all the SCs would kill it at the end but they managed to keep them short.  Kind of weird with all the covid precautions, but they made it work.  Back at it in the same place in 5 days.  Can't wait.

I won't reveal the top finishers, but needless to say the Tecno household was jumping for joy.  Not quite "WPG-beats-SSK for GC berth" jumping, but close.  BTW, both penalties were justified, and Perez should have gotten another for that Norris whack.

F1 did it... Now CFL go get the ball rolling!!

[TecnoGenius]

Gotta post about the Sep 6 Monza race... My favorite race in 5+ years.  Wow.  My team had a chance to legit win a race all the way up to the last corner!  That doesn't happen often.  I'm happy for Tauri, but would rather it be McLaren.  Ages ago I was a big Minardi fan (glutton for punishment) so I'm glad to see the Minardi successor finally win sometimes.  Still, 2nd place is the best McLaren has done in about a decade.

Ironic that Tauri with the Honda wins, after McLaren wasted all those years with the poor performing Honda engine.  Just our luck Honda figures it out after McLaren goes Renault.  I hope the same doesn't happen next year when they go Mercedes!!

Goldie... you gotta tell me what is going on with Ferrari?!  Double DNF in Monza?  Sad.  They were blessed there were no fans in the stands.  As a McLaren fan, I'm obliged to hate Ferrari, but F1 sure does lose something when Ferrari completely sucks.  They need to be a top-4 team to keep things interesting.

For those who don't watch, the Canadian driver and the Canadian team both did exceptionally well coming in 3rd.