MUFC 1,503 Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 Views? Ferrari went backwards, Mclaren surprised us all. Ricciardo pushed Renault to it's limit, Gasly surprised me. Bottas and Albon need to be kicked out. Rumor is that Perez will be announced for RB in the next few weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ 15,325 Posted December 13, 2020 Subscriber Share Posted December 13, 2020 Mercedes in a league of their own, as usual. Lewis got the job done, Bottas was disappointing. Red Bull with a disappointing start of the season, the car wasn't functioning and looked like a step back from the last year. Improved as the season progressed, but still not good enough. Max with some good races. McLaren continued where they left off last season and managed to get some impressive results. Expected a bit more from Norris though. Racing Point should have probably done better, given that they had a copy of last year's Mercedes. Some docked points cost them 3rd place for sure. Renault. Meh. Just midfield, nothing particularly impressive, but not particularly bad either. Ferrari extremely disappointing; they were absolutely nowhere, and it's obvious that the engine affair cost them a lot in terms of performance, even if they don't admit it. Leclerc managed to get the best out of the car on most weekends, but overall, it's a horrible season for them. 6th in the constructor standings, that's certainly not good enough. Alpha Tauri were more impressive than I expected them to be, Gasly particularly. 107 team points is certainly a nice achievement for the team of their stature. Sauber, just awful and so frustrating to watch. Absolutely nowhere. Kimi disappointing too. Haas. Poor, as expected. Grosjean's miraculous escape is surely the best thing that happened to them this year. Williams looked less bad than last year, but still clearly the worst car on the grid. Russell impressed in qualifying though. Latifi shouldn't be in F1. 2020 Season overall: actually better than I expected, with some races providing quite a bit of entertainment. New/reintroduced circuits were mostly exciting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Tommy 12,615 Posted December 13, 2020 Moderator Share Posted December 13, 2020 44 minutes ago, nudge said: Latifi shouldn't be in F1. Agreed, but at least he seems like a nice and funny guy. Now just wait what kind of pay driver awaits us next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ 15,325 Posted December 13, 2020 Subscriber Share Posted December 13, 2020 3 minutes ago, Tommy said: Agreed, but at least he seems like a nice and funny guy. Now just wait what kind of pay driver awaits us next season. Yeah, but still incredibly slow and, essentially, a waste of a seat... Granted, there's not much anyone else could do in a Williams anyway so I suppose it doesn't matter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Tommy 12,615 Posted December 13, 2020 Moderator Share Posted December 13, 2020 1 minute ago, nudge said: Yeah, but still incredibly slow and, essentially, a waste of a seat... Granted, there's not much anyone else could do in a Williams anyway so I suppose it doesn't matter It's actually painful to have Russell in that car. I don't wish it upon anybody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ 15,325 Posted December 13, 2020 Subscriber Share Posted December 13, 2020 1 minute ago, Tommy said: It's actually painful to have Russell in that car. I don't wish it upon anybody. And yet at the same time, I'm sure there are plenty of drivers who would take it in a heartbeat if given a chance to be in F1... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Tommy 12,615 Posted December 13, 2020 Moderator Share Posted December 13, 2020 1 minute ago, nudge said: And yet at the same time, I'm sure there are plenty of drivers who would take it in a heartbeat if given a chance to be in F1... True. I saw an interview with K-Mag after the race today. And he said he's pretty much done with F1 because he misses winning, so he's going to another racing series to get that feeling again. And I just thought... a few months out of it, and he'll miss F1. Just like Hülkenberg, who would, to come back to topic, probably take that Williams seat by now, even though he innitially said he'd only come back for a top team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ 15,325 Posted December 13, 2020 Subscriber Share Posted December 13, 2020 1 minute ago, Tommy said: True. I saw an interview with K-Mag after the race today. And he said he's pretty much done with F1 because he misses winning, so he's going to another racing series to get that feeling again. And I just thought... a few months out of it, and he'll miss F1. Just like Hülkenberg, who would, to come back to topic, probably take that Williams seat by now, even though he innitially said he'd only come back for a top team. I don't know, if I was an experienced racing driver, I would also definitely not want to drive a car that finishes last every race. What's the point? You want to win, or at least challenge for the top spots. Now it's different thing for those just starting out; you take what you get and try to impress, waiting for better opportunities. But I can definitely understand Magnussen, or Perez, or Hülkenberg when they say they don't want to drive for a backmarker; I wouldn't either. I bet Magnussen will love it at Indycar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Tommy 12,615 Posted December 13, 2020 Moderator Share Posted December 13, 2020 Just now, nudge said: I don't know, if I was an experienced racing driver, I would also definitely not want to drive a car that finishes last every race. What's the point? You want to win, or at least challenge for the top spots. Now it's different thing for those just starting out; you take what you get and try to impress, waiting for better opportunities. But I can definitely understand Magnussen, or Perez, or Hülkenberg when they say they don't want to drive for a backmarker; I wouldn't either. I bet Magnussen will love it at Indycar! Yea, but it was Hülkenberg who pretty much said he misses F1 so much that he'd probably take every seat. I think it was on German TV somewhere, can't remember. But yea, another assessment for me is that I'm kinda going to miss K-Mag. He got a lot of shit for his "reckless driving", but I think he was one of F1's true... raw racers. He'd definitely fit into Indycar or plenty of other series where pure racing is actually required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber RandoEFC+ 7,662 Posted December 15, 2020 Subscriber Share Posted December 15, 2020 Mercedes - it was easy to forget due to lockdown how many teams incredibly seemed to just give up on the title as soon as they saw the new Mercedes on the first day of testing because of the DAS. What followed was no surprise. Hamilton cruised to success, Bottas was disappointing. To be fair to him, Bottas was unlucky on numerous occasions at the start of the season but some of his later performances like Turkey were poor and a lot of his "bad luck" was self-inflicted by poor qualifying and bad starts. Ferrari - what an absolute mess they were. Leclerc was brilliant at the start of the year but had a few dodgy moments over the last few races. Vettel was absolutely terrible. Don't get me wrong, I sympathise with his situation and we all know what Ferrari are like when they have their chosen one but if he didn't have the name and CV of Sebastian Vettel... I'm afraid he got beat by his team-mate as badly as Stroll, Ocon or Bottas this year, if not worse. Red Bull - Max had a very impressive year. Albon, I feel sorry for him because I think the problem lies more in the team than with him, but he just hasn't delivered. That seat is a poisoned chalice for an inexperienced driver because the car is obviously difficult and you've got arguably the fastest benchmark in the sport to match, it's hard to know what the solution is for them going forward. I think it's time to end Alex's suffering but I hope he gets a second bite of the cherry in F1 one way or another. I'm actually disappointed with Red Bull as a team that they've not come up with something for the best part of a decade now to put Mercedes seriously on the back foot, especially as more than once, Mercedes have had to go the distance on car development in their battles with Ferrari while Red Bull have had the opportunity to shift their resources to next year's car pretty much every year in the hybrid era, and still haven't bridged the gap. McLaren - really impressive team performance to take 3rd in the championship. They still have work to do on the car I think but they're improving each year. They must be made up with their year, and they have the best driver pairing in the midfield to thank for that. Racing Point or even Renault could easily have beaten McLaren if they swapped their driver pairings over. Sainz and Norris have both continued to impress both in their qualifying pace and their racecraft. They seem to gel perfectly as whenever one of them has some bad luck or a dodgy weekend, the other seems to up their game even more and take a top 6 finish to mitigate the damage. I think Ricciardo and Norris will be similarly successful together. Racing Point - I think as long as Stroll is in the seat, this lot are always going to be a tale of wasted potential. They should have cruised to 3rd place this year but too many average qualifying performances, most of them from him. He started the season well and looked like he was really stepping up to save his team the embarrassment of having to fire their clearly better driver, but it looks like those few races were all he had in his locker and he reverted to inconsistency and mediocrity. He is better than a lot of people give him credit for, I'll give him that much. I do worry for them next year. If Vettel's decline proves to be more than a Ferrari-related problem and he is still a few tenths off optimum pace for much of the year, then that's two underperforming drivers they're going to have. I've always liked this team throughout their time as Force India and Racing Point though, and before that, and I'm looking forward to seeing them in British Racing Green. It would be fantastic to see a rejuvenated Vettel in classic colours like that banging in some dark horse podiums. Special mention to Perez who has been a great servant to the team and the sport and really deserved a race win ahead of his retirement/sabbatical. Renault - Another team I like, not necessarily as "Renault" but as the Enstone team. It's hard to evaluate their season really because podiums looks like good progress but in reality they were still only the 5th best car and team. Ricciardo looked rejuvenated throughout the year and I hope he finds himself a more competitive McLaren next year that can allow him to continue to push back towards the front. I was a massive advocate of Ocon when he lost his seat and ahead of his return this year. He's done okay against a strong team-mate and after a year out, but I'm disappointed overall. Unless he steps up quite a bit next year and at least matches Alonso on a regular basis, then he's not showing that he's got what it takes to be a future race winner or champion. Alpha Tauri - Another great underdog team, they've had a number of really competitive races this year, obviously Gasly's victory at Monza above all. They've punched above their weight and really added something to the midfield battle which has probably been the best aspect of this year in terms of entertainment. Gasly has been fantastic throughout, Kvyat was a bit average for the most part but had a decent run of performances over the last few rounds. I'm still pretty indifferent towards whether he stays or goes. Alfa Romeo - like the team, love Kimi, not really fussed about Giovinazzi, he's done alright but not spectacular. Their performances this season have just been total meh though. Raikkonen took up some exciting positions at Monza and Portimao but otherwise this lot basically may as well have not been there. Part of the sad gulf between the top seven teams and the bottom three. I hope they build a better car next year because the lack of rookie drivers to keep an eye on leaves them as probably the lowest on the 'team to watch' list for next year with a stagnant driver line-up. Haas - basically the same as Alfa Romeo. Can't mention Haas without acknowledging the horrific Grosjean crash a couple of weeks ago. Finding out he was fine would have been the highlight of any team's season but it really does shine a light on how little they offered on a positive note. I think both of their drivers have been driving reasonably well too, the car is just an absolute dog. I thought Magnussen still had something to offer in the sport but ultimately, he's been on his way down the ladder and isn't going to have the opportunity now to make it back up with the likes of Norris, Russell, Schumacher, Ocon above him in the pecking order. Hopefully they build a better car for Schumacher next year. Mazepin already looks like he can get fucked. Williams - an improvement but ultimately still shambolic. George Russell is far and away the best thing about this team and the main reason anyone really cares at the moment. He's doing a fantastic job, you know that as soon as that Williams is ready to sneak into Q3 or a points finish, he'll get it done, as long as he doesn't crash behind the safety car in Imola. Latifi hasn't made an impact against him. It's hard to judge a rookie in a car like that, I don't think he's embarrassed himself, but when people know you're a pay driver after 2 (or 3?) pretty mediocre F2 campaigns, you don't get a lot of sympathy. Hopefully the change in management points to better days ahead but Russell will move on after one more year and Williams better have something else to point to by them which makes them interesting because at the moment, they just don't. Overall, enjoyed the year, I think we probably had more than our usual share of drama per race to be honest. The midfield battles have been the highlight for me, especially with Ferrari's and Albon's problems meaning that the prize was often a podium rather than the 6th or 7th placed finish of the last few years. A lot of drivers in the field are really excelling the last year or two, getting the best out of their cars and giving us some great wheel to wheel racing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Tommy 12,615 Posted December 15, 2020 Moderator Share Posted December 15, 2020 1 hour ago, RandoEFC said: not really fussed about Giovinazzi Excuse me Sir, do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Saviour? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber RandoEFC+ 7,662 Posted December 15, 2020 Subscriber Share Posted December 15, 2020 50 minutes ago, Tommy said: Excuse me Sir, do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Saviour? Unfortunately I hated Messiah mate :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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