[Official] Austrian Grand Prix 2020: Grand Prix Weekend Thread - Round 1 of who knows how many

[S griffin]

If only they could use the old O’Ring next weekend to spice it up a bit

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by S griffin

If only they could use the old O’Ring next weekend to spice it up a bit

NOW you're talking!! That would be great wouldn't it?

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

by not doing it they lost potential 3rd place (possibly even second place?) points for their team and therefore allwed a competitor an advantage.....

Which competitor?

[wnut]

Mr Hamilton certainly did not leave a car width

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/co...ision_onboard/

When a car enters a corner ahead of you having come from behind, I think there is an obligation not to run into its rear!

The corollary being, you can run up the inside of a car to overtake, but don't run into the car on your outside.

[JHamilton]

That race was just what the doctor ordered for me! It wasn't a technically great race, but we had tons of attrition, last minute drama, and now people arguing over passes gone awry. I love racing!

[Born Racer]

Originally Posted by Tourer

Oh and wouldn't it be awesome if someone was able to develop a transparent face mask? Would be so much better if we could see facial expressions other than the eyes when drivers are on podiums, being interviewed etc.

Yes, I kind of missed that a bit. You couldn't tell what their expressions were. Kimi's looked the same, though.

I preferred Toto Wolff's visor to the face masks. Looked like he was going to suddenly do a spot of welding.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by wnut

Mr Hamilton certainly did not leave a car width

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/co...ision_onboard/

When a car enters a corner ahead of you having come from behind, I think there is an obligation not to run into its rear!

The corollary being, you can run up the inside of a car to overtake, but don't run into the car on your outside.

We've done that.

[GT6]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

Yes, I kind of missed that a bit. You couldn't tell what their expressions were. Kimi's looked the same, though.

I preferred Toto Wolff's visor to the face masks. Looked like he was going to suddenly do a spot of welding.

The silly face masks while being interviewed were an annoyance, what is wrong with safe distancing during interviews.

[johnh875]

Originally Posted by GT6

The silly face masks while being interviewed were an annoyance, what is wrong with safe distancing during interviews.

I think they did distance, while wearing masks.

The thing that annoyed me watching the race highlights broadcast was they used about a quarter of the time to show the post race pitlane, podium celebration and interviews with all 3 placegetters. It was a cracking race, why not show more track action instead of waffle?

[S griffin]

Maybe they should bring back the mouth visors from the 60s

[chillibowl]

Brundle and di Resta did a pre taped segment filmed during the teams track walk where they were not wearing masks - i was admittedly surprised by that as there were teams walking in the background with masks on.

i also heard 4000 tests administered over the week with no positives.

with potentially billions of dollars on the line and a global sporting community looking for examples and justifications to start their own leagues up...obviously health is of utmost importance but also sending the right message/right optics is very important and imo F1 did this.

i also have to say i didnt mind the lack of crowd nearly as much as i feared i would. i think Brundle commented on it suggesting that the track noise was more audible as a result. i think he said something along the lines of being able to hear the tires grip.

covering up the main grandstand with driver posters was a sensible addition and there were some quick camera pans to the relevant poster when the driver in the mask was talking.

they handled the kneel/anthem with about as much respect as i have seen any sport deal with it and they included it during the broadcast...a few drivers even took their masks off for it. i also think the drivers that chose to stand put out very understandable reasons/messages about why they stood avoiding any potential controversy before it had a chance to start (i hope).

for me, full marks to FOM and F1 for pulling it off.

[chillibowl]

just to quickly add, i guess if i felt one thing was lacking was that in this new era of masks i would have liked to see more coverage/attention given to driver helmets.

i think they did miss a trick there.

[S griffin]

Yes that is definitely the best thing about this weekend, even better than the racing, that there wasn’t a single positive case. Every precaution was taken and everyone leaves intact

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by GT6

The silly face masks while being interviewed were an annoyance, what is wrong with safe distancing during interviews.

If they didn't have them on during the interviews I think it would have lead to criticism, which is the last thing F1 needs as it gets the season underway, under very difficult circumstances.

[Adam43]

I think it is fine that they set a good example.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by johnh875

I think they did distance, while wearing masks.

The thing that annoyed me watching the race highlights broadcast was they used about a quarter of the time to show the post race pitlane, podium celebration and interviews with all 3 placegetters. It was a cracking race, why not show more track action instead of waffle?

I think there's some sort of contractual thing between C4 & Sky limiting the amount of actual track action that they are allowed to show in the broadcast.

[S griffin]

Yeah, that’s not C4’s fault.

Of course DC and Ben were commentating from Silverstone it seems. Like the old days of Murray and James commentating from Shepherds Bush.

[GT6]

To be honest i am to tight to pay Sky for live coverage, but the C4 show was good and as i had managed to, not know the result, i have no complaints how it was done on C4

[S griffin]

Ben seemed even louder than usual when he said his usual ‘lights out, away we go’. Probably due to waiting so long like the rest of us. Also there seemed to be a lot of background noise when Albon and Hamilton came together

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Ben seemed even louder than usual when he said his usual ‘lights out, away we go’. Probably due to waiting so long like the rest of us. Also there seemed to be a lot of background noise when Albon and Hamilton came together

Is he as dull as Croft when he says it??

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by Taxi645

If they apply strict penalizing on breaking wheel to wheel combat rules then the mental equation inside the drivers head (at least the smart ones) will go from "**** I don't want to lose my position" to "damn I don't want to loose my position, but I really don't want a drive through penalty". Our enjoyment of racing will only strongly increase by it.



Many F1 drivers these days aren't used to safely driving side by side any more (the Sainz/Norris battle yesterday was a nice exception).

Exactly. F1 has been too permissive letting drivers push rivals off track.

[Alan52]

What happened to the use where possible of a Virtual Safety Car?
Did Michael Masi forget or have they unfortunately flicked the switch to show biz?In the last few years the Magnusson and Russell sc’s at least would have been virtual.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by Alan52

What happened to the use where possible of a Virtual Safety Car?
Did Michael Masi forget or have they unfortunately flicked the switch to show biz?In the last few years the Magnusson and Russell sc’s at least would have been virtual.

Thankfully!

I think it was a much better race because of the safety car, perhaps they should just kick the virtual safety car into touch and be done with it.

[Taxi645]

I wonder when Verstappen will get the balance issues fixed this weekend, if he'll dare to try and get to Q3 on the hards?

He'll need to try to do something to beat the Mercedes. If Albon manages 4th this time to give him some cover on lap 1, it would leave a lot of strategy options during the race:

- No safety car: switch to the softs on lap ~45. Have a light car on fresh fast rubber to attack.
- Mid race SC: switch to the mediums, he'll be on fresher and faster rubber. Race win quite likely.
- Post lap 42 SC: switch to softs, chance of race win even more likely.

In general I do wonder why Red Bull don't try the hard tyre option to start on more often. You fall nicely into the gap in front of the midfield, you can then in clean air focus on optimizing lap time vs. tire/fuel consumption and wait out for any safety car opportunity. Once you're on the fresh fast rubber, the speed delta will be such that an overtake will be relatively easy.


Especially on a quite short run up to T1 like at Spielberg, you're less vulnerable to get caught out of the line.

[ascarracinguk]

Originally Posted by Taxi645

I wonder when Verstappen will get the balance issues fixed this weekend, if he'll dare to try and get to Q3 on the hards?

He'll need to try to do something to beat the Mercedes. If Albon manages 4th this time to give him some cover on lap 1, it would leave a lot of strategy options during the race:

- No safety car: switch to the softs on lap ~45. Have a light car on fresh fast rubber to attack.
- Mid race SC: switch to the mediums, he'll be on fresher and faster rubber. Race win quite likely.
- Post lap 42 SC: switch to softs, chance of race win even more likely.

In general I do wonder why Red Bull don't try the hard tyre option to start on more often. You fall nicely into the gap in front of the midfield, you can then in clean air focus on optimizing lap time vs. tire/fuel consumption and wait out for any safety car opportunity. Once you're on the fresh fast rubber, the speed delta will be such that an overtake will be relatively easy.


Especially on a quite short run up to T1 like at Spielberg, you're less vulnerable to get caught out of the line.

tbh i think the whole world knows how to beat the mercs now....push them HARD....get them to use the kerbs more.

i think RB had the right strategy last weekend it just didnt play out because of the retirement.

i also think Hamilton could have won without the first safety car...he was the faster driver for the first half of the race