No F1 thread?

[DeskJockey]

Can't see it, but it would be great to see LH hand him his arse.

Yes please.

[Mito Man]

Yep. Would actually say Vettel would be a pretty safe pair of hands at Mercedes as he won’t match Hamilton. Will be good for marketing plus a combined 10 driver’s championships at one team.

[GG.]

Given the improvement and consistency that Bottas has shown in recent years, I can't see very much in the way of upsides for Mercedes!

[GG.]

Yep. Would actually say Vettel would be a pretty safe pair of hands at Mercedes as he won’t match Hamilton. Will be good for marketing plus a combined 10 driver’s championships at one team.

He won't but could be destructive and disobedient in falling short.

Unfortunately when he isn't way out in front as per his RB days, I don't think you can really say that he is a 'safe pair of hands' either - certainly not more so than Bottas.

[Orange Cola]

I don’t think Mercedes would like melt downs given that they’re very calm and collected most of the time, especially if it lost them a race position or worse still a win or championship!

[Mito Man]

Yep. Would actually say Vettel would be a pretty safe pair of hands at Mercedes as he won’t match Hamilton. Will be good for marketing plus a combined 10 driver’s championships at one team.

He won't but could be destructive and disobedient in falling short.

Unfortunately when he isn't way out in front as per his RB days, I don't think you can really say that he is a 'safe pair of hands' either - certainly not more so than Bottas.

They’re about the same aren’t they, I can’t remember the last time either got into a wheel to wheel fight without losing a bit of their car or worse!

[Orange Cola]

Yep. Would actually say Vettel would be a pretty safe pair of hands at Mercedes as he won’t match Hamilton. Will be good for marketing plus a combined 10 driver’s championships at one team.

He won't but could be destructive and disobedient in falling short.

Unfortunately when he isn't way out in front as per his RB days, I don't think you can really say that he is a 'safe pair of hands' either - certainly not more so than Bottas.

They’re about the same aren’t they, I can’t remember the last time either got into a wheel to wheel fight without losing a bit of their car or worse!

Which SV races have you been watching for the last 5 years?

[duncs500]

Yep. Would actually say Vettel would be a pretty safe pair of hands at Mercedes as he won’t match Hamilton. Will be good for marketing plus a combined 10 driver’s championships at one team.

He won't but could be destructive and disobedient in falling short.

Exactly, just think of the tantrums! It would be amazing.

[Orange Cola]

It would be a good showdown to the end of his career, if they could field three cars (like they have chinwagged about but walked away from) then he’d make a good third driver for the PR stuff.

[Rich B]

We all know He’d do more harm than good - would still be quite entertaining though!

[Mito Man]

It would be a good showdown to the end of his career, if they could field three cars (like they have chinwagged about but walked away from) then he’d make a good third driver for the PR stuff.

3 car teams might be a real possibility- rumours of Renault closing 4 factories to save money, surely they can’t keep burning money on the F1 team, paying big salaries whilst the state share owned company is sacking people left right and centre.

[JonMad]

May or may not be a GP based on quarantine rules (probably applies elsewhere too)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/52723200

[Mito Man]

Anyone read the new rules they’ve agreed? Good for the sport and competitiveness but it’s the end of old F1 and innovation as we know it. From 2022 I don’t think we’ll ever see one team win a championship back to back or more. I wonder if drivers who are on track to win a championship will immediately try and sign a contract to jump to a team lower in the standings as the penalty for the constructors champions is quite severe.

I would have just kept the budget caps but not hobbled teams with less research.

[Orange Cola]

I haven’t seen anything on that, what’s the changes being made to hamper a team after a championship win? It sounds worse than some of the lower formulas where the cars a much more tightly controlled, might as well just draw that years winner out of a hat and throw away their ball for 10 years.

[Mito Man]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/52723209

Namely this
“ One of the most radical aspects of the rules package is the plan to limit aerodynamic development for the most successful teams.

There will be a defined benchmark amount of permitted wind-tunnel time and computing data, and a sliding scale of allowance of that R&D depending on a team's finishing position in the previous championship.

In 2021, to allow for the fact that teams have to develop cars to the new rules in 2022, the team who finishes first this year will be allowed 90% of that quota, with a sliding scale at 2.5% increments so the team that finished last gets 112.5%.

From 2022 onwards, the world champions will be permitted 70% of the total allowance, with 5% increments until the team that finishes last is allowed 115%.”

I just about understand some series which hobble cars with ballast for the odd race - but this hobbles the car over a whole year. Punishing success in sports always a bit of a dick move IMO.

[Orange Cola]

I’m amazed that isn’t being resisted by the larger teams, unless there’s a plan to go and start something else but that’s highly unlikely.

[Mito Man]

Yeah, I think only Ferrari were really vocal about it and that was due to the budget cap causing large redundancies but they’ve said they may diverge to other racing series to avoid sacking people.
Mercedes didn’t seem to object much, which just adds to the theory that maybe they’ve had enough of F1.

[Orange Cola]

Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if Merc go not long after the rule change. I wonder if Racing Pointless are gearing up to take over the Merc team in the long run?

[jamcg]

Racing point are become Aston Martin racing next year remember

[Orange Cola]

And? The Merc team is the old Brawn team, which is the old Honda team. Red bull are the old Jag team etc. Difference is there’s two entrepreneurs with shares in Racing Point, and one of them is the very successful Merc team manager with a substantial stake in the Merc team. If Merc pull out of F1 there’s nothing stopping Stroll and Wolf buying out the Merc team and joining it with Racing Pointless under an Aston brand and running two teams.