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Are we ready? The 2020 F1 Season starts this coming weekend !!

25K views 307 replies 27 participants last post by  Giuliano 
#1 ·
Alfa Romeo 2019 constructors’ finish was 8th. F1.com projects the same 8th standing for 2020. Alfa Romeo's performance at pre-season testing was slightly anomalous, the team demonstrating exceptional straight-line speed, topping the speed trap charts after hitting a DRS-assisted 200mph, and setting some headline-grabbing but, probably slightly glory-runny laps. The overall picture, however, was one that failed to convince the F1.com experts that the Hinwil team had really taken a step up the midfield order, as they slotted into the eighth place in which they finished in the 2019 constructors’ standings. Unlike other midfield rivals such as Renault and AlphaTauri, there's been no warm-up testing for Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen or Antonio Giovinazzi ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix this coming weekend.
 
#2 ·
Painful today's practice rounds. P14 (GIO) and P15 (RAI) in practice #1 and P14 (GIO) and P19 (RAI) in practice #2. In both sessions at about 1.5sec from P1. Evidently, extremelly early to any comments but, the improvements made by Renault, Racing Point and McLaren are impressive. Surprise, Mercedes P1 and P2 in both practice sessions
 
#5 ·
Racing point got good because of the Mercedes car so that makes it that much harder for us now. But you know it's crazy times when vettel can't even make q3
 
#7 ·
"Interesting" race today. Good for the FIA reinforcing the rules, yesterday and today, even in unpopular situations. Impresive the luck of Ferrari with The Kid finising in P2 with a middle-of-the-pack car. VET was Vettel once again, making his usual one costly mistake per race but, at least, taking 1 point. And our Alfa Romeo's, good for GIO scoring a couple of points with his "street car". Never understood what happened with RAI and I think they forgot to tight his right front tire in the last pit stop. Just what we needed. In any case, I am glad that the 2020 F1 started and that for almost 8 weekends in a row, we will enjoy it.
 
#8 ·
9 didn't finish. And 2 time penalties. This is as crazy as Germany last year. I wonder how next weekend will go
 
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#9 ·
The wheels are falling off the Alfa Romeo championship challenge this year
it appears all Ferrari PSU are underperforming

I wonder if Ferrari have thrown a blanket over 2020 whilst an ex employee who could potentially end up at Mercedes is still around

great result for Charles,

Hammy up to his old (cheat at all costs) tricks again whenever anybody turns up the wick ... can you believe he is asking for 70Million for next year
 
#12 ·
I agree r.e Max, I think Red Bull’s will be one to watch next week, Alex will be hurting and will want to make a strong push for a podium after watching his pal Lando achieve the feat yesterday.
McLaren looked like they will be up for another good battle with Racing Point.
I think yesterday has really stirred up the melting pot and should provide the ingredients for another great race next weekend.

It is a shame AR couldn’t find the performance, clearly something fundamental within the car, Ferrari PSU must be a factor but I’m wondering if their aero department have followed Ferrari’s wayward path and the problem is greater than it appears. Seeing Kimi so far down the grid on Saturday just didn’t seem right? Even with a questionable Q1 strategy it was massively disappointing.

5 days to go and we do it all again!! 😁
 
#17 ·
I agree r.e Max, I think Red Bull’s will be one to watch next week, Alex will be hurting and will want to make a strong push for a podium after watching his pal Lando achieve the feat yesterday.
McLaren looked like they will be up for another good battle with Racing Point.
I think yesterday has really stirred up the melting pot and should provide the ingredients for another great race next weekend.

It is a shame AR couldn’t find the performance, clearly something fundamental within the car, Ferrari PSU must be a factor but I’m wondering if their aero department have followed Ferrari’s wayward path and the problem is greater than it appears. Seeing Kimi so far down the grid on Saturday just didn’t seem right? Even with a questionable Q1 strategy it was massively disappointing.

5 days to go and we do it all again!! 😁
I think it's too early to tell where any team is, as the quick ramp up has impacted everyone differently. Red Bull had smoking qualifiers but Max's car died early in the race. Mercedes was freaking out late in the race that the gear box was unstable and that the curbs were potentially going to kill the car. Ferrari was clearly slow and it looked like only McLaren had a consistent team performance. Hell, even Williams was showing some spark with Russell slowly climbing up. Evidence of this were 9 DNFs. Kimi losing a wheel was symptomatic of a lack preparation and I think next week will show a much improved performance across the board.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I guess the FIA found something in last year's Ferrari engines. The confidential settlement sheds no light but clearly there was something, as all the Ferrari powered cars were well off their 2019 pace at the same track. I guess Ferrari subscribe to the NASCAR motto " You ain't tryin' if you ain't cheating'"
 
#20 · (Edited)
They have no choice but to try something earlier than Hungary. They were getting their ass kicked by the Force India/Racing point/Who Gives an eff team. They looked ridiculous for a top tier team. Come back Ross Brawn. All is forgiven
 
#21 ·
Definitively, that FIA investigation into Ferrari's power unit over the winter, which eventually reached a “confidential settlement with Ferrari” has a lot to do here. The cars were faster last season and I am not sure it is all aero related. When you compare the times to last year, Leclerc’s Q3 qualification lap was 0.920 seconds slower than his 2019 pole time. Ferrari seems to have lost almost a whole second somewhere in the last 7 months.
 
#22 ·
The thing about F1 is that up to now, it's about breaking rules, spending money, getting caught, and then try again. The sport has been focused on this rather than creating an equal playing field. It's led to some really nutty innovations and a twisting of the rule book. 2021 is supposed to fix this...we'll see.
 
#26 ·
No, please. Don't do that. Vettel deserves a mandatory retirment. He has completelly lost the edge, since early 2019. I saw an article in F1.com where they call him the current "Pastor Maldonado" which tells a lot. In fact, GIO on Alfa Romeo did better than him last Sunday.
 
#28 ·
In F1 the car is the most important thing. Put Hamilton in a Williams and he will never score a point. Vettel has been sucking the hind tit at Ferrari ever since the Golden Child came to the team. Ferrari is awful right now as are all the teams using Ferrari engines.
Vettel is a great driver. Put him in a Mercedes and he will win the Championship.
it’s sad to see no-nothing fans disparaging him like this. He deserves more respect for all of his achievements. There are hundreds of F1 drivers over the past 70 years But only five with four championships or more. Vettel is one of those.
Show some respect.
 
#29 ·
A quick note on TV viewers. F1 got its delayed 2020 season off to a strong start last Sunday, from a US TV perspective. The Austrian Grand Prix on ESPN averaged 0.48/752,000 viewers. That’s up from 0.40/649,000 viewers for last year’s opener in Australia, run in mid-March on ESPN, and also eclipses the 647,000 viewers that watched this race last year on ESPN2. I imagine that F1 is losing a ton of money every weekend for racing without spectators on the stands. Hope, they can recover something from TV contracts or something.
 
#30 ·
What a sad and painful second week end in Austria. Thanks to both McLaren and Racing Point for giving some TV time to the Alfa Romeo's while easily overtaking them at some point of the race. That was the only time we were able to "enjoy" the Alfa's on TV. Other than that, zero points this time. Well, Hungary will be better for us, next week end. And the Ferrari's, not even able to test the supposed aero improvements that were going to resolve all their problems. What a waste. I think I know who the champion will be this year and who will win the contructors championship !!!!
 
#31 ·
My notes....

The prancing horse needs to be replaced by a prancing donkey. LeClarc has shown repeatedly he is not ready yet for prime time, the car is terrible, the engine is terrible... The team is just terrible

Red Bull needs to ditch Albon at all cost ASAP

LANDO is awesome (y)
 
#33 ·
I know I may sound delusional but I actually feel like this week was a better performance for us from a strategy and driving standpoint. Hear me out. First off, both racers moved up quite significantly from the original position. Next, we saw overtaking as well as strategic driving. Third, we had a one pit strategy that worked. Gio was flagged for crossing lines which means he was aggressively attacking the course to make up time. Last, while the car clearly has some performance issues in terms of speed, it seems like both drivers are making the best of it. Kimi started 16th and Gio 19th. They finished 11th and 14th respectively.

It’s great that they both moved up five positions from where they started and had they had a little more speed we would’ve had some points. Late into the race I could see they were slowing down watching the interval times and I believe they probably told them both to back off a little for the preservation of the car. I bet the team used that time do some analysis because they were clearly not going to overtake Kyvat with 10 laps to go.

Let’s hope next week that we see some more tweaking and better performance.
 
#36 ·
I know I may sound delusional but I actually feel like this week was a better performance for us from a strategy and driving standpoint. Hear me out. First off, both racers moved up quite significantly from the original position. Next, we saw overtaking as well as strategic driving. Third, we had a one pit strategy that worked. Gio was flagged for crossing lines which means he was aggressively attacking the course to make up time. Last, while the car clearly has some performance issues in terms of speed, it seems like both drivers are making the best of it. Kimi started 16th and Gio 19th. They finished 11th and 14th respectively.

It’s great that they both moved up five positions from where they started and had they had a little more speed we would’ve had some points. Late into the race I could see they were slowing down watching the interval times and I believe they probably told them both to back off a little for the preservation of the car. I bet the team used that time do some analysis because they were clearly not going to overtake Kyvat with 10 laps to go.

Let’s hope next week that we see some more tweaking and better performance.

Alfa is clearly behind Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Racing Point, and Renault. They have been clearly demoted from upper 2nd tier to being 3rd tier along with Haas
 
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