Romain Grosjean | “I think we are not very happy that the tyres go that way. The tyre should lose completely the performance and force you to pit before it actually explodes or punctures.”
Valtteri Bottas | “I’m very happy to stay with Mercedes in 2021 and build on the success we’ve enjoyed together already.”
Lewis Hamilton | “It’s a special year and I don’t take that lightly. To fight for a championship in a time like this is empowering and exciting. Who would have thought there could be change?”
Charles Leclerc | “I’ve always been respectful to everyone and that should be the standard in today’s world. To whoever is using my image to promote their wrong ideas, please stop.”
What had been a fairly processional race suddenly exploded into life – literally, in the case of three drivers’ Pirelli tyres – with a couple of laps remaining at the 2020 British Grand Prix.
The Mercedes pair had led comfortably throughout, despite a couple of early safety cars after crashes for Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat, but had been pushing each other quite hard on tyres that had done nearly 40 laps. Then Valtteri Bottas suddenly started to fall back and, just as he started lap 50 of 52, his front-left tyre decided it was done for the day.
With an entire lap to do, the Finn fell back down the order and Red Bull decided to pit Max Verstappen – who had been running a lonely race in third place – in an attempt to take the fastest lap. The drama was far from over, however, as Carlos Sainz’s front-left followed suit from fourth place and then – with a little over half a lap remaining – so did race leader Lewis Hamilton’s.
The 30-second gap back to Verstappen was reducing rapidly and it looked briefly as though Hamilton was about to have the win snatched away from him in the most excruciating manner. The world champion managed the situation perfectly, though, and scraped over the line with about five seconds to spare. Neither Bottas nor Sainz would manage to recover into the top ten after pitting, which has a huge impact on the championship standings – Hamilton now has an ominous 30-point lead over his teammate.
Some have questioned Red Bull’s decision to pit Verstappen, arguing that he would have won otherwise, but hindsight is 20/20 and all the tyres were on a knife-edge by the end, so there’s nothing to say the same would not have happened to the Dutchman.
Charles Leclerc profited from the drama to secure an unlikely second podium of the season in the uncompetitive Ferrari. It was an excellent performance, made all the clearer as his four-time world champion teammate, Sebastian Vettel, struggled throughout and eventually managed a single point for 10th.
Pirelli are conducting investigations into the failures – Kvyat’s earlier retirement was eventually proven to be a tyre failure also – ahead of another grand prix at the punishing Silverstone track next week, where temperatures are due to be higher and the tyres were planned to be a step softer.
More Midfield Action
Image credit: Motorsport Images
Whilst it was pretty serene out front for the most part, there was plenty of action, once again, in the midfield. The McLarens of Sainz and Lando Norris – sporting a simply excellent special helmet design, produced by six-year-old competition-winner Eva – swapped positions repeatedly with Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo and the Racing Point of Lance Stroll. Even Romain Grosjean in the Haas was involved after not pitting during the safety car period and jumping from 14th to 5th. The struggles of the American team continue, but Grosjean was able to hold on to the pack surprisingly well for a good 15 laps. He did, however, produce some controversy with his defensivemanoeuvres during that period.
Late jolts to one side at the end of the straight were reminiscent of those performed by Verstappen in his early days – which briefly brought about the ‘Verstappen rule’ banning them – and resulted in complaints over the radio by Sainz and Ricciardo. He received a black-and-white flag as a driving-standards warning but no penalty.
As the chairman of the GPDA, Grosjean should be setting an example. Mark Webber was cutting in his criticism, saying that the Haas driver has a “gross misunderstanding of modern grand prix racing” and is “borderline out of his depth in this category”. Ricciardo said that this “on-the-edge” driving would be raised during the drivers’ briefing ahead of the next race. Oh, to be a fly on the wall in that room…
Pressure Continues to Mount on Albon
It was another troubling weekend for Alexander Albon. A fairly big crash during Practice 2 on Friday set the tone as Albon struggled again to get to grips with this year’s very sensitive car and he then missed much of the final practice session with a battery problem. Qualifying went no better as he failed to progress from Q2; an attempt to get through on the medium tyres proved too ambitious and he failed to improve on the soft tyre, leaving him 12th on the grid.
Image credit: LAT Images
Magnussen made an excellent start and was ahead of the Red Bull by the end of the first lap. He made an error into the final chicane, though, and was compromised on the exit, presenting a tempting opportunity to Albon. The Anglo-Thai got himself somewhat alongside the Haas but – realising the gap was closing – tried to back out of the move, left it too late, and pitched Magnussen off into the barriers.
That earned him a five-second penalty and made his job harder still. As has often been the case, he did then produce a decent recovery drive and – once all the late tyre dramas had played out – found himself at least with four points for eighth place.
Tongues are beginning to wag, though, as he gets no closer to Verstappen’s level of performance and continues to make costly errors. Meanwhile, Pierre Gasly – the man he replaced last year – is excelling back in the AlphaTauri and managed to finish ahead of Albon here, with a commendable run to seventh.
The British Grand Prix in 60 Seconds
Answering the Burning Questions
Who will replace Sergio Pérez at Racing Point after his positive test?! Only Nico Hülkenberg!
If it is The Hulk, surely he won’t finally get his podium in the ultimate redemption arc?!?! …No…He didn’t even start the race. The man is cursed.
Can anyone challenge Mercedes? Only Pirelli seemingly.
With a very different layout to the first three grands prix, will any teams suddenly prosper at Silverstone? Renault appeared a bit stronger, but there were no major changes in the pecking order.
Will Alexander Albon have a better weekend with a new race engineer? …Also no… Hopefully he’s not as cursed as The Hulk has proven to be, but it’s starting to look a bit that way.
Sergio Pérez | “I’m extremely sad – definitely one of the saddest days in my career. The amount of preparation we put into this weekend to be 100% ready, I knew I had a great car underneath me, that the team had done a fantastic job. I’m really sad that this happened, but it just shows how vulnerable we all to this virus.”
Lewis Hamilton | “It’s going to be super weird. The British Grand Prix is the best grand prix, particularly because of the fans, the thousands that turn up and create the spectacle.”
Sebastian Vettel | “The main reason for being here is to perform, but we cannot ignore what is happening outside our racing bubble. And the fight against racism around the world that has taken off in the last couple of weeks and months is completely justified because this is not fought and over, or dealt with overnight.”
Ferrari Chairman John Elkann | “Today we are laying the foundations for being competitive and returning to winning when the rules change in 2022. I am convinced of it. Binotto has the characteristics and skills to start a new winning cycle.”
Hamilton is the hero again, but no more so than the Red Bull mechanics.
Image credit: LAT Images
Lewis Hamilton took a commanding victory at the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix, winning in Budapest for the eighth time and, in doing so, matched Michael Schumacher‘s long-standing record for the most wins at one grand prix.
It is looking like the first of potentially a few Schumacher records to fall this year, considering the dominance of Mercedes and Hamilton now being just two podiums and five race wins behind the legendary German’s tallies.
The 86th victory of Hamilton’s career began in tricky conditions, with the track soaking wet from rain earlier in the day but drying out as the sun poked through the clouds and leaving the decision of which tyres to start on as a tight judgement call.
Max Verstappen – generally considered one of the very best in the rain – showed just how precarious the conditions were as he crashed on the way to the grid. Thus ensued a mad rush by the Red Bull mechanics to fix his broken front left push-rod in the remaining 15 or so minutes; they completed the work with 25 seconds to spare.
Image credit: Formula 1
The Dutchman demonstrated his gratitude, firstly over the radio and then on the track, with a stellar performance to take second place, having started seventh, and narrowly holding off the charging Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas in the final laps.
Bottas had got away poorly – he was fortunate not to receive a penalty for jumping the start after initially reacting to lights going out on his dashboard – and dropped back down the order on the run to the first corner. This is not the Bottas 3.0 that fans thought they had seen at the opening grand prix. He has now lost the championship lead to his illustrious teammate and will have to conjure up some renewed fire in his belly if he is to wrestle that lead back as we head for back-to-back races at Silverstone, where Hamilton has won five of the last six events.
And the world champion is showing some great form currently. He used all his wet-weather expertise to open up an eight second lead in the first couple of laps and, by the end, had a significant enough gap to Verstappen that he was able to comfortably pit for soft tyres and secure the extra point for the fastest lap. All in all, another masterclass to add to the collection.
Further back, Alexander Albon made a strong recovery after a disappointing qualifying to finish fifth, just ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Both drivers needed a good result and will surely have got some critics off their respective backs, for a while at least.
Neither came close to challenging Lance Stroll in the Racing Point, however, who coasted to a comfortable fourth position – the second-best result of his career. The ‘Pink Mercedes’ was undoubtedly the second-best car during qualifying and, whilst they faded a little in the race, were impressive enough to raise hackles a little more in the paddock. Renault have now lodged a second protest against the Racing Point car, before even having heard the result of their first one.
Image credit: XPB Images
An inspired call at Haas to pit at the end of the formation lap for dry tyres led to the struggling team running third and fourth in the early stages. They predictably fell down the order, but Kevin Magnussen hung on commendably to finish ninth on the road. They would later receive a penalty for breaching regulations regarding driver aids by instructing the pair to pit on the formation lap, but Magnussen still earned a single point -their first of the season – for 10th, at least.
Meanwhile, Red Bull survived without a penalty despite having clearly been caught drying the track on Albon’s grid spot…
Yet More Stewarding Inconsistency
It is so very hard to predict which way a stewarding decision is going to fall currently; it’s as if they are making it up as they go along. But then I suppose that is not a huge surprise when you have a panel that changes from race to race.
Last week saw the bewildering decision not to penalise Stroll for his attempt to pass Daniel Ricciardo late on in the Styrian Grand Prix. He clearly forced Ricciardo off the track – left the track himself for good measure – and then kept the position. It seemed a ‘slam dunk’ penalty to most of the paddock, thanks to the trifecta of forcing another car off the track, violating track limits and completing an overtake off the track all in one move. As well as, arguably, rejoining in an unsafe manner as he blocked Lando Norris upon his return.
The stewards, however, saw things differently. As is often the case, there was not much of an explanation as to their decision, which deemed it a “racing incident where neither driver was wholly to blame”. Ricciardo said he thought it was “crystal clear” that it should have resulted in a penalty and, considering all he did was avoid a collision, it is difficult to see how the stewards apportioned any blame upon him.
Image credit: LAT Images
This is the crux of the problem; the fans – and even the drivers – are often left bemused by the decisions and no one is there to justify them. I have called for it before, but what we really need is a consistent panel of respected figures who are fully accountable for their decisions and explain exactly how and why they have come to them.
A Crash Back Down to Earth for Lando
After two extraordinary races to open the season for Lando Norris, Sunday saw things go far less smoothly for the 20-year-old. After what he described as “the worst start I’ve ever got in my life”, he fell to the back of the field and, from there, never really recovered.
The Hungaroring is notoriously hard to pass on and the McLaren driver could only recover to finish 13th in the end. Still, with two stellar performances out of three so far, things could be going far worse and I’m sure, if you had offered him fourth in the championship standings at this point before the season started, he would have bitten your hand off.
Can Ferrari make some progress this weekend (and maybe not immediately crash into one another)? It wasn’t all plain sailing but certainly an improvement on the previous two races.
Will Lewis Hamilton match Michael Schumacher’s record for the number of wins at one GP with an 8th triumph in Hungary? Yep.
How will Racing Point respond to the protest about their car? By being ever more in-your-face with their speed, if anything.
Will the interview requested by Sebastian Vettel (with Martin Brundle) prove to be a major announcement? No, but it’s a thoroughly entertaining watch.
With more thunderstorms forecast, could it be another wet and wild weekend? It threatened to pour throughout the weekend, but we only ever got hints of rain when it really counted.
Sebastian Vettel | “The truth is that I don’t have a contract to sign, I haven’t signed anything for next year. It’s not that close, as you think.”
Sergio Pérez | “I’m with the team, and as far as I know I have a contract. We will see what happens in the next weeks, but from my point of view I’ve got a contract with the team and I fully believe in the future of the team.”
Lewis Hamilton | “I am not saying that everyone is going to take a knee, but over time as we get to talk about it more often I would like to think we will all be together in the understanding of it.”
Jenson Button | “[Fernando Alonso] is at the top of his game still and I think it’s great that the two-time world champion is going to be racing back in Formula 1. He is a very fiery character and we don’t really know how it’s going to end up with Renault, but I need to congratulate them for bringing him back to Formula 1.
A wet weather masterclass from Hamilton on Saturday. (And Sunday wasn’t bad either.)
Image credit: Getty Images
After last week’s chaos, normal service was resumed at the second event around the Spielberg track, in the shape of a Lewis Hamilton domination, a Mercedes 1-2, an impressive Max Verstappen podium and a Ferrari calamity at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix.
His troubles at the last race led to Hamilton being asked some fairly ridiculous questions as to whether he should focus more on racing than activism. He answered them in emphatic style with one of his very best pole positions – there are 89 of them, remember – and a controlled victory on Sunday. He then doubled down on that response with a black power salute on the podium.
Saturday’s qualifying took place in the wettest conditions for some time and gave the drivers the platform to demonstrate every ounce of their skill and remind any doubters that they are the very best in the world. Hamilton and Verstappen stood out throughout the session, seemingly on another plane to the others. The world champion was not content with that, though, and moved onto another plane again, with a final lap that was 1.2 seconds faster than Verstappen in second; the gap between first and second was larger than the one between second and 10th. Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff described the lap as “out of this world” and former driver Mark Webber tweeted “there’s a F1 category and there’s then a F1-plus category. Lewis is/was in a different league”.
There were also starring performances from Carlos Sainz in third, Esteban Ocon in fifth and George Russell, who dragged his Williams out of Q1 for the first time and came within a tenth of Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari for a place in Q3, eventually lining up 11th on the grid.
Sunday was less eventful for the most part but still an entertaining race. Hamilton led from the front whilst teammate Valtteri Bottas steadily worked his way back up to second, eventually passing Verstappen after an excellent duel in the final few laps. There was plenty of midfield action, with Sergio Pérez recovering from 17th on the grid to even challenge Albon for 4th at the end.
Image credit: Formula 1
In the process, however, he damaged his front wing and fell back into the clutches of Lando Norris, Lance Stroll and Daniel Ricciardo at the final corner, resulting in a three-way photo finish. It was another storming finish from Norris who, after claiming a last-gasp podium seven days earlier, moved up from ninth to fifth in the dying stages after a long first stint. He remains third in the championship and is really coming into his own in his second season of F1.
Further back, things were going from bad to worse to whatever-is-below-that for the Scuderia.
A Horse Far From Prancing
Ferrari rushed through updates, that had originally been intended for the Hungarian Grand Prix next week, in order to have a direct comparison to the previous weekend’s race on the same track. The drivers reported an improvement during Friday’s practice sessions, but the times didn’t appear noticeably better and, whilst the soaking qualifying conditions will have complicated matters, 10th and 14th on the grid was worse than they had managed the week prior.
But still, they had the race on Sunday to try and make up ground and – at the very least – amass some useful data in their recovery efforts…right?
A clumsy, overambitious move from Charles Leclerc left him bumping over the kerbs and landing on his teammate, Sebastian Vettel. The German returned to the pits with his rear wing hanging off and retired immediately; Leclerc went back out but only managed a further three laps before the damage – mostly to the floor of the car – was pronounced terminal.
Leclerc was, at least, refreshingly contrite when it came to his culpability for the incident, on what was a far-from-smooth weekend for the Monegasque all round. It began with the news that he had returned home to Monaco for the birthday party of his girlfriend’s sister and not adhered to social distancing whilst there. He may have had two tests before returning to the track but risking everything when the sport has put so much effort into its return, was immature and arrogant. He was very lucky to escape with just a warning.
And yet, that is the least of his worries, considering the position his team is now in. The Italian press have been predictably cutting (whilst romantic, of course) in their appraisal of the effective national team’s current predicament. They must hope that the remaining haul of updates, to be delivered in Budapest, will make a significant difference, or this season looks set to become the biggest embarrassment in their recent history.
The ‘Pink Mercedes’ Under the Microscope
Racing Point are yet to fully delivered on their considerable potential this season, thanks to a retirement at the first race and a scrappy qualifying at the second, but it has become increasingly apparent to the paddock that the pink cars are just as quick as they had feared.
This was demonstrated by Pérez’s charge through the field and then cemented by the fact that he was effectively being held up by the second Red Bull towards the end. As Stroll boisterously pointed out, they have “debatably the second fastest F1 car”.
So, Renault – clearly waiting to enact vengeance after Racing Point protested the French team’s best result in Japan last year – have decided to pull the trigger and lodged a protest over the eligibility of the Racing Point brake ducts.
Image credit: LAT Images
The paddock’s suspicions over the similarities between this year’s Racing Point and last year’s championship-winning Mercedes are well-known. The Silverstone-based team have been steadfast in their assertion that they simply copied the best car of last year and did so within the rules.
The stewards have classed the protest as admissible and impounded the brake ducts, whilst also requesting that Mercedes provide parts from last year’s car, but Racing Point remain resolute and say they “expect the FIA to dismiss the misconceived protest”. This will likely trundle on for a fair while.
The Styrian Grand Prix in 60 Seconds
Answering the Burning Questions
Will we see much difference in pace from anyone since the last race? Nothing particularly noticeable.
Can Ferrari bring some updates in time for this weekend? They did, but they didn’t get much use out of them.
Will there be fewer mechanical issues now that the cobwebs are gone? Yep, just one mechanical failure during the race.
Can Lewis Hamilton claw back some ground on his teammate? He can.
With thunderstorms forecast through the weekend, will we have a wet and wild qualifying and/or race? Not during the race, but the qualifying was emphatically wet and wild.
Lewis Hamilton | “I don’t feel like I need to refocus. My race was pretty strong. I need to do a better job but I wouldn’t say I was distracted. I am focused on both – trying to fight and win this championship but also fighting for equal rights.”
Max Verstappen | “I was just trying to be polite and nice by saying I could imagine [Vettel rejoining Red Bull], but at the moment the team is very happy with both of us and I am very happy with Alex.
Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri | “We know there’s lots of work to do. This is certainly not the grid position that a team like Ferrari should have. It’s clear that we have to improve on all fronts. The only solution is to react.”
Fernando Alonso | “It’s an extremely happy day for me coming back to F1 first but also to the team with which I had the best experience in the category.”
It may have been an agonising 217 days since the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi but the much-delayed opening Austrian Grand Prix of the 2020 season managed to be worth the wait.
By the end of qualifying, the main stories were clear – the dominance of Mercedes and the struggles of Ferrari. Mercedes look pretty mean in their new, black livery and their speed is just as menacing; they appear to have a half second advantage over the rest of the field, which looks ominous for the remainder of the season. Meanwhile, their former main rivals have seemingly slipped back into the midfield, with Sebastian Vettel knocked out in Q2 and his teammate only just surviving to ultimately manage seventh on the grid.
The drama on Sunday started early. Having originally avoided a penalty for not slowing under yellow flags during his final qualifying run, Hamilton was given a three-place grid penalty less than an hour before the race after Red Bull had questioned the stewards’ original decision.
It would not slow him down too much though. By lap 10, Hamilton was ready to inheret second place when Max Verstappen’s Red Bull decided it was done for the day. A massive disappointment for the Dutchman, who seemed to be in a strong position after Red Bull’s gamble in Q2 resulted in him starting on harder tyres than those around him.
He would prove to be far from the only retirement, though, with just 11 cars actually reaching the chequered flag.
Hamilton had closed up rapidly to his teammate after Verstappen’s retirement but a combination of safety cars and orders from the garage to take things easy – as engineers panicked about gearbox issues caused by the aggressive kerbs – meant he never managed to attempt an overtake.
After the third and final safety car, Mercedes found themselves in something of a predicament – they had not stopped for new tyres, whilst a string of cars behind them had done so. Immediately after the restart, Alexander Albon was all over the back of Hamilton and, within a few corners, we had a déjà vu of Brazil last year as they collided and Albon was left pointing in the wrong direction.
Hamilton received a five-second time penalty and would also be denied a spot on the podium as young Lando Norris – fresh from his best ever qualifying result – stormed through with the fastest lap of the race to finish 4.8 seconds behind the world champion and become the third youngest F1 podium finisher ever.
Image credit: LAT Images
Charles Leclerc took an unlikely 2nd considering Ferrari’s pace this weekend – thanks to some daring but clinical overtaking late on – and Carlos Sainz completed the top five. The Spaniard may currently be questioning his decision to switch to the Scuderia next year, with McLaren on an upward trajectory and Ferrari going in the opposite direction.
Bottas begins this season as he did last year’s, with a win, but can he keep it up this time and really take the fight to Hamilton? The 2020 season is already looking like it could be a two-horse race.
Leclerc Spares Ferrari’s Blushes
It was a chastening weekend for those in red, but Leclerc did, at least, manage to salvage something positive for them with an unlikely podium, albeit one which required a fair slice of luck.
Whilst all the noises coming out of Ferrari since pre-season testing have been clear in tempering expectations, nobody could have foreseen quite how far they have fallen; Leclerc’s qualifying time was a little under a second slower than his pole time at the same circuit last year.
Image credit: Foto Colombo Images
This has reminded people of the elephant in the room – namely, the private settlement reached between Ferrari and the FIA regarding their engine last year. It surely cannot be a coincidence that all three Ferrari-powered teams are suddenly struggling and that the factory team are no less than 0.7 seconds down on the straights alone… Whatever trick they were pulling last year, they are clearly no longer able to perform it and it has starkly exposed their 2020 car’s deficiencies; it has a severe amount of drag and, if you watch Sebastian Vettel’s onboard footage, is just a real handful.
Those wondering whether Vettel – with the knowledge that he will be out of the team come next year – would be out to prove a point and back to his best, had an early hint towards a potential answer as he clumsily ploughed into the back of Sainz early on. The four-time world champion is beginning to look disillusioned with the sport – can he find his mojo again with a new project or is this the end?
A Messy Weekend for the World Champion
It was not the ideal start to Hamilton’s quest for a record-equalling seventh world championship. The Briton dominated the practice sessions but was pipped by his teammate when it mattered in qualifying and would eventually be handed a penalty after Red Bull continued their tirade against Mercedes, having already lodged a protest against the Silver Arrows’ DAS system.
Once back up to second, he would endure a frustrating spell stuck behind his teammate, with those in the garage nervous of gearbox issues and desperate for their drivers to stop pushing, before his chances of taking the lead were further scuppered by numerous safety cars. Mercedes then made a mistake by not pitting for new tyres during the final safety car period, which led to the collision with Albon.
The Red Bull driver stormed around the outside of Hamilton at Turn 4, only for the pair to connect front and rear wheels on the exit. Hamilton took full responsibility for their uncannily similar accident at Interlagos last year, but this one was a little more complex.
There has been much debate as to whether the five-second penalty was deserved. Some – mostly in the Red Bull camp, obviously – have said that he got off lightly, whilst some have called it a racing incident. It was mostly just unfortunate.
Albon, in hindsight, perhaps should have been more patient – he had far better traction and would surely have been able to pass Hamilton in a less risky situation within a lap or so. Putting himself on the outside of a car on cold, worn, hard tyres at a downhill corner always had the potential to end in tears. Hamilton was something of a passenger as he understeered wide and then Albon’s overspeed effectively drove him into Hamilton’s front left tyre.
Equally, though, whilst he was slightly behind on corner entry, Albon was almost a car length ahead by the exit of the corner. Would a more-experienced driver have left just that extra few centimetres of room, knowing that the other car was likely to run wide? Maybe, but daring manoeuvres like this are why Albon is in the Red Bull; he will get there. Ultimately, it was the outcome that resulted in the penalty for Hamilton – if Albon had been bumped wide slightly and recovere to maybe 4th, there would likely have been no action taken. For a neutral driver’s perspective, check out Marcus Ericsson’s tweet.
Once Hamilton’s penalty was confirmed, Mercedes could potentially have swapped the drivers to help him cling on to a podium place, but that was not done either.
However you look at it, this is not how Hamilton would have envisaged his campaign starting and he already has a 13-point deficit to make up on a reduced calendar.
The Austrian Grand Prix in 60(ish) Seconds
Answering the Burning Questions
How will the new socially-distanced F1 play out? Will it have a significant impact? Not particularly – it’s easy to forget that there is no crowd and the McLaren garage didn’t exactly observe social distancing whilst celebrating their podium.
Who has the fastest car? Mercedes, it would appear emphatically.
Will anyone have made any dramatic changes since pre-season testing? Not to the untrained eye as yet, but Ferrari may do by next weekend.
Can Max Verstappen and Red Bull continue their winning streak in Austria? Nope.
How will Sebastian Vettel approach his final season at Ferrari? About the same as the last two years so far, unfortunately.
Sebastian Vettel | “We have to be realistic when it comes to the pecking order seen at the tests, but we are not downhearted.”
Mattia Binotto | “The truth is that the outcome of the tests led us to take a significant change of direction in terms of development, especially on the aerodynamic front.”
Carlos Sainz | “Everyone at McLaren can be 100 per cent sure that until the last lap of the last race, I’m going to be a McLaren driver pushing flat-out and being fully focused on the McLaren job.”
James Allison | “We’ve got quite a lot of ideas about how to make [the car] quicker and quite a lot of those ideas were already in train and through the design office before we shut down nine weeks ago.”
Well, we were in Melbourne, about to start another Formula 1 season…and then the world changed.
It has, in fact, changed beyond all recognition in the space of a few short months. Social distancing is the new normal – masks, gloves, two metre gaps, elbow bumps – and the Black Lives Matter campaign has swept around the globe after the death of George Floyd.
These have been truly unprecedented times, but, as curves have been flattened and lockdowns lifted, the world of sport is slowly, cautiously peering out from the rubble.
Image credit: AP
With cases reducing in most countries and both testing kits and protective equipment now far more readily available, many sporting bodies have decided that, with the correct safety measures in place, it is safe to resume.
Premier League football has now restarted, with players and staff being tested twice a week, a maximum of 300 key people allowed inside the stadium and regular disinfection of equipment.
So, how will F1 look upon its return?
Formula 1’s ‘New Normal’
As sports go, the core elements of F1 are already fairly socially distanced; drivers are in their own cars, in the most advanced protective equipment and, if they get within two metres of their rivals, then they’ve probably crashed into one another…
This means that most of the changes will be aesthetic and/or behind the scenes.
The new regulations have been produced in conjunction with the WHO and feature all the measures with which we have become accustomed recently – two metre distancing wherever possible, PPE throughout and the expectation that “all attendees show responsible measures are being taken”.
There will be a daily questionnaire regarding potential symptoms to be completed by every member of the paddock, in addition to a contract tracing system, daily COVID briefings and an isolation hut on the premises.
What does it mean in terms of the show? Not a huge amount, really.
Image credit: Speedpix
The grid process is to be shortened significantly. Media scrums are obviously a thing of the past; the media’s entry will be limited to mostly video or ‘pool’ interviews – where all outlets’ questions will be asked together. The weighbridge will be disinfected after each car’s visit and the podium celebrations will be moved to the grid, in order to enable two metre spacings between the steps.
There has been no word on the champagne as yet; maybe they’ll spray disinfectant instead.
What Could the Calendar End up Looking Like This Year?
It seems astonishing, in hindsight, that the opening Grand Prix of the year very nearly went ahead. It may well have done, too, but for a member of the McLaren crew testing positive for the virus on the Thursday night.
In the aftermath, grands prix were gradually postponed, with Monaco being the first to fully cancel its 2020 event. The difficulty of assembling the infrastructure necessary for a street race made the event impossible, even with restrictions beginning to relax.
The same obviously applies to the street races in Singapore and Baku, who duly followed suit, and the Australian, Dutch, French and Japanese Grands Prix weren’t far behind, cancelling for a variety of reasons.
The requirement for a season to qualify as a World Championship is a minimum of eight races. The talk of a three continent requirement can be put to bed after Managing Director Ross Brawn confirmed that, in the exceptional circumstances of the COVID-19 crisis, this “recommendation” will not have to be met.
The FIA released a rescheduled calendar in early June, with the first eight races confirmed. They include – for the first time in F1’s history – a second race in both Austria and Great Britain; which have been named the Steiermark GP and the 70th Anniversary GP, respectively. The aim is to hold between 15 and 18 races overall, with the season potentially stretching into early 2021.
Image credit: Formula 1
Beyond this, things remain largely up in the air. The races in Canada and Vietnam continue to be a possibility and there may even be another double-header in China, ironically. Bahrain and Abu Dhabi look fairly solid bets to host at least one race.
The United States is far from over its Coronavirus struggles, whilst Mexico and Brazil appear to be going in the wrong direction, so the prospect of races there seems problematic. However, with Liberty Media waiving race fees and, in fact, paying to rent the facilities, there are some old faces throwing their hats into the ring.
From the more recent past, Hockenheim is looking likely to host a race, having dropped off the calendar for 2020. But blasts from the past such as Imola have been mentioned; both Estoril and Algarve in Portugal (and even Mugello in Italy) are being considered.
It’s hard to say currently how many races we’ll end up with and where they’ll be, but let’s just be glad that we have a championship at all.
Since You’ve Been Gone
So, if you’ve been out of the F1 loop during lockdown, what have you missed? Here are the main headlines…
Silly Season Before the Season Even Began
Image credit: Sky Sports F1
In the space of a couple of days, the F1 merry-go-round suddenly kicked into gear, sparked by Sebastian Vettel‘s announcement that he would be leaving Ferrari at the end of 2020. Within a few hours, Carlos Sainz was confirmed as his replacement and, not long after that, Daniel Ricciardo announced he was swapping the yellow of Renault for the papaya orange of McLaren in 2021.
Vettel stated that “the team and I have realised that there is no longer a common desire to stay together beyond the end of this season”. Was he just burnt out after years of near misses and disappointment with the Scuderia? Or was it the team that have decided they want some fresh blood?
Either way, it can’t have been easy to give up on his dream of emulating his idol, Michael Schumacher, with a championship at Ferrari and his options for 2021 now look limited.
There were initial rumours of a Mercedes seat, but Toto Wolff has all but ruled that out, leaving his best chance at Renault. Will Vettel take a chance on what is currently a midfield team, with former teammate Ricciardo clearly having jumped ship? Or will he retire?
It would be a great shame for the sport to lose a four-time world champion, but you sense recently that his love for F1 has been dwindling a little.
Image credit: The Canadian Press
It is an incredible chance for Sainz, however. Many have seen him as a future de facto number two to Charles Leclerc, but let’s not write him off so soon. It is worth remembering that he largely matched Max Verstappen whilst the pair were at Toro Rosso and a stellar 2019 season refreshed memories of his considerable potential, after an uninspiring spell at Renault.
Ricciardo will be hoping that McLaren can continue their current upward trend and take advantage of the new regulations, which have now been delayed by a year to 2022. Unless he miraculously challenges for the title this year, it will have to be said that his Renault experiment was a failure.
It surely won’t wipe that perpetual smile off his face, though, and a pairing of the Australian and Lando Norris will certainly make 2021 an entertaining season for McLaren, in every sense.
Hamilton Leads the Fight
For once, that headline has nothing to do with Lewis Hamilton‘s dominance on the track.
The world champion has launched ‘The Hamilton Commission’ with the aim of increasing diversity within motorsport. “The time for platitudes and token gestures is over”, wrote Hamilton in a column for The Sunday Times. “Despite my success in the sport, the institutional barriers that have kept F1 highly exclusive persist.”
The 35-year-old has campaigned passionately during the enforced break, with a series of powerful statements on social media and participation in the peaceful BLM protest in Hyde Park.
Went down to Hyde Park today for the peaceful protest and I was so proud to see in person so many people of all races and backgrounds supporting this movement. It was really moving. I’m feeling extremely positive that change will come, but we cannot stop now. #blacklivesmatter ✊🏾 pic.twitter.com/koOTEPOXAh
And F1 has now followed his lead by launching the ‘We Race As One’ initiative, which has the aim to “impact long-lasting change, particularly regarding diversity and inclusion”. All cars will display a rainbow, comprising the colours of the 10 teams, throughout the 2020 season and the sport will also show support for key workers and families amid the fight against COVID-19.
As stated at the top of this article, the world has changed.
