Pick the Podium - F-1 - Aramco Gran Premio De España 2020, August 2020

[Retroram52]

After that sort of minute embarrassment by the Mercs at Silverstone, let us see if they are awake this week in Spain. Even though Hamilton leads Verstappen by 30 points in the standings, I wonder if last week Verstappen and Red Bull turned a corner of now being a consistent contender week-in and week-out or is this the usual flash-in-the-pan move by Verstappen he does nearly every year? We shall see going forward.

 

[Hank Kingsley]

Just read FIA has killed Q3 Party Mode starting in Spa which is the race after this.

Out to get MB.

I think they all have a party mode, just that the party is really rockin' at AMG.....

 

[Retroram52]

Bottas and Hamilton finish FP1, 1-2 with Verstappen coming in third followed by LeClerc. Vettel comes in fifth. Perhaps the dumpster fire he has been in with Ferrari may be done since the rumors of Vettel leaving the same surfaced.

 

[Retroram52]

Wow. After FP2, Haas with Grosjean takes fifth. Hamilton beats out Bottas, Verstappen stays at third, Ricciardo takes fourth, and surprising Grosjean takes fifth for Haas.

 

[Hank Kingsley]

Tires are key. 1 lap Benz kicks ass. Things even out a bit after that.

I think they've reduced down force to avoid wear. Fast enough already. And tires are the hardest they can be.

I've got my popcorn ready.

 

[BoiseStateFan27]

Not going to be able to get back on here today so another pre-quali guess

Heat could be a factor and cause Mercedes to wear through their tires, or they could rebound. I'm thinking a rebound

Hamilton
Verstappen
Bottas
Leclerc

 

[Retroram52]

I'll go with Hamilton, Bottas, Verstappen, and Stroll.

 

[forty_three]

Just read FIA has killed Q3 Party Mode starting in Spa which is the race after this.

Out to get MB.

I think they all have a party mode, just that the party is really rockin' at AMG.....

I'm annoyed that they are doing that. I think it takes away from the innovation that F1 is supposed to be all about. Getting two completely different levels of performance out of a single engine is impressive and will help in passenger cars down the road.

Oh well, anything to stop AMG




My picks
HAM
VER
BOT
STR

 

[Hank Kingsley]

Hamilton
Verstappen
Bottas
Perez

 

[Hank Kingsley]

Hamilton
Verstappen
Bottas
Perez

Eating dinner I got a tingle.

Changing up to:

Verstappen
Hamilton
Bottas
Perez

But I hope Lewis wins.

 

[forty_three]

My picks
HAM
VER
BOT
STR

WOO!

 

[Hank Kingsley]

Fuck.....

All I get is Bottas...

 

[Retroram52]

Damn Verstappen kills my sweep. Congrats to 43 for that call!

 

[Retroram52]

Here's How We Did:

BoiseStateFan27: 12 points-Correctly selected Hamilton for the win; Verstappen for second; Bottas for third
Eco: 0 points-No show
forty_three: 15 points-Correctly selected Hamilton for the win; Verstappen for second; Bottas for third; Stroll for fourth; Awarded 2 bonus points for the clean sweep
Hank Kingsley: 2 points-Correctly selected Bottas for third
Retroram52: 7 points-Correctly selected Hamilton for the win; Stroll for fourth

2020 Season totals:

BoiseStateFan27: 36 points
Eco: 0 Points
forty_three: 28 points
Hank Kingsley: 23 points
Retroram52: 25 points

Next Race: Belgian Grand Prix, August 28-August 31, 2020

 

[Retroram52]

We have a new second place and things have tighten-up a bit here on the thread competition. Gotta love those clean sweepers!

 

[Hank Kingsley]

fuck....

 

[Retroram52]

The cellar sucks, dude!

 

[jvett77]

Will Indycar drivers ever race if F1? IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden believes the Formula 1 world doesn’t take American drivers seriously. Thoughts?

 

[Retroram52]

The only IndyCar drivers to have the guts to go from IndyCar to Formula 1 has been the Andretti Family and Dan Gurney. Mario was good at it. His son Michael hated Europe and the commute and only spent one season as Aryton Senna's teammate when Senna was still alive.

Several F-1 drivers have made it to IndyCar and were quite successful and maybe even dominant. The most dominant in that scenario of course was Nigel Mansell who won championships in both series (1992 in F-1, 1993 in IndyCar).

More recent drivers to make that particular transition is Alexander Rossi driving for Michael Andretti and he won an Indy 500. As Carl Haas has discovered as a team owner in F-1 and NASCAR, F-1 is by far the tougher of just about any other Autosport racing series. Thus the lack of respect from F-1 Drivers for IndyCar Drivers.

 

[forty_three]

Montoya, Bourdais and Zanardi all had runs in F1 with varying levels of success, but they were all CART drivers. Greg Moore was looked at as a possible F1 driver too, but he didn't live to get his chance.

I think one of the reasons F1 doesn't look at Indy drivers seriously is the ovals. I think they just don't feel like the skills needed to be successful on the ovals translates to any value in an F1 seat, so a driver has to be really special to garner that attention from F1 teams because of how many talented drivers are coming from all over the world. And how many races on the Indy schedule are on ovals.

Personally, I feel like only Newgarden and maybe Pato are skilled enough to get a look on merit. Rossi is too, but it seems he burned that bridge. Obviously Dixon could have been very successful over there too but no one is going to look at him at his age. Hopefully McLaren being involved in Indy will get more drivers looks.