Silly Season 2020/2021 (starting with silliness in 2019)

[Wynters]

But by the same reasoning again, that is the only way he knows. It is all he has experienced.

It is good for him now, but how would he react if for instance he went to Renault with Alonso?

If you have nothing to compare your present predicament to, how do you know how it stands in the rest of the world?

This is modern sport in a nutshell. Sadly, comparative (or even vaguely) accurate assessments are insufficiently exciting to sustain a 24/7 media circus across multiple platforms so everything has to be amped to the MAXIMUM!

According to the media (and the bulk of their consumers), who will we have on the grid next year?

Hamilton - 'Greatest driver of all time'. Only loses because of unreliability / stewards out to get him
Verstappen - Faster than Hamilton since the moment he joined F1 (probably even before).
Alonso - Best all around driver ever = faster than Hamilton
Vettel - 4xWDC in a Red Bull...and we all know how slow they are these days so he must be faster than Hamilton.
Ricciardo - Beat Verstappen over multiple seasons and sent Vettel packing to Ferrari. So definitely faster than Hamilton, Vettel and Verstappen.
Leclerc - So much better than Vettel that he got him fired from Ferrari, in only Leclerc's 2nd year! Undisputably faster than Hamilton!
Russell - As good as Hamilton, if not better. That's why Hamilton blocked his promotion to Mercedes, because after seeing him finish behind Kubica in the 2019 WDC, Hamilton's too scared to face him in equal machinery.

As far as I can tell, that's (at least) 7 different drivers who are all, definitely, indisputably, the 'greatest driver of all time'. Normally, you might be lucky to have one, perhaps even two great drivers on the grid at the same time. We have 7+! What an exceptionally fortunate time we live in (hype INTENSIFIES). And they are all driving for different teams (each with their own marketing teams)!!!!! What a surprise! (Crofty explodes in excitement)



It's so depressing.

[PlatinumZealot]

But by the same reasoning again, that is the only way he knows. It is all he has experienced.

It is good for him now, but how would he react if for instance he went to Renault with Alonso?

If you have nothing to compare your present predicament to, how do you know how it stands in the rest of the world?

I notice that drivers have a better sense of who amongst them is quick. I am not sure how they do it; whether by watching onboards, watching from pits or Word of mouth, I can only guess. But i have a feeling drivers really have a guage on who they can beat. It was once said by Perez when asked who is the fastest German back when we had five Germans on
Grid and Perez replied:" Vettel is not the fastest. German!" It was a little cheeky of him. There was Glock, Vettel, Hulkenburg, Schumacher and Nico Rosberg.

After careful thinking realised who it was at the time... It was Nico.

[Jolle]

But by the same reasoning again, that is the only way he knows. It is all he has experienced.

It is good for him now, but how would he react if for instance he went to Renault with Alonso?

If you have nothing to compare your present predicament to, how do you know how it stands in the rest of the world?

I notice that drivers have a better sense of who amongst them is quick. I am not sure how they do it; whether by watching onboards, watching from pits or Word of mouth, I can only guess. But i have a feeling drivers really have a guage on who they can beat. It was once said by Perez when asked who is the fastest German back when we had five Germans on
Grid and Perez replied:" Vettel is not the fastest. German!" It was a little cheeky of him. There was Glock, Vettel, Hulkenburg, Schumacher and Nico Rosberg.

After careful thinking realised who it was at the time... It was Nico.

Don’t forget, being trackside week in, week out, for years on end, you see things. Even just an afternoon at a club event and you pick out the talents as a fairly well educated fan.

[Just_a_fan]

Lewis is vastly under appreciated and under rated and his value will be realised once he leaves. He's performing at a remarkable level and I don't agree with the 80% stuff. He's making Bottas look like a grandma to be honest.

That's the thing that people miss (or won't admit to themselves). Hamilton has had a decent car, yes. The best car in some seasons. Yes, but not every season. But he's had to deliver season after season. He's had the occasional bad day because he's just a man, after all. But he's had to perform and develop year after year. That consistency is the key. Some may be faster on a given day, but few have been as metronomic over so many seasons.

Sure, the car has been class leading but it still has to be understood and developed and then driven to its potential. And that has to be done year after year.

[NathanOlder]

.
Vet had the same in the RedBull. He dominated Web once the car got a bit more difficult, with a perfectly settled car, they were very equal.
.

I would have said it was the other way around. Webber was very strong against Seb when the car wasn't well balanced. As soon as Newey got it working right, Seb was much quicker than Webber.

[raymondu999]

Can we get back to silly season musings please

[Schuttelberg]

Can we get back to silly season musings please

I apologise. I am to blame for this derailment.

[raymondu999]

Lol it happens. Im curious where people think Checo will go. And, in hindsight, if Ricciardo has actually made a slightly dud move. Renault seems, at least at the current point in time, the more upwardly-mobile team of the Class B teams. They seem to even have gone past-ish the pink Merc

[Manoah2u]

Lol it happens. Im curious where people think Checo will go. And, in hindsight, if Ricciardo has actually made a slightly dud move. Renault seems, at least at the current point in time, the more upwardly-mobile team of the Class B teams. They seem to even have gone past-ish the pink Merc

As mentioned by someone else on this board,
the realistic picture has been greatly tained by the circumstances.

Renault has made a faster car, which is harder to handle/work with. Ricciardo is doing fine with that, and Ocon isn't doing too bad. I think Alonso could work a difficult car, since he has a very distinct driving style which could be classified as pretty hard to master.

Anyway, Ferrari went all the way to the back. In all normal circumstances, Ferrari would have been in front of the Renaults all races. Also, Bottas' DNF and former DNF of Max have greatly benefitted the Enstone team's results, just as how Sainz had a few run ins causing DNF, aswell as the pink mercs.

The net result is that Renault should be finishing two places to four places lower in all reality.
Both Ferrari's have not been in the equation, that's a win of two grid spots for free, no matter what they did.
In past races, Bottas had a DNF, Max had multiple DNF, that's every single time a grid spot up, so that's 3 in total.
Then there is the fact thanks to Sainz having been having DNF's and Norris some run ins, that their 'direct' competitor is either also out, or at the very least putting in much less pressure. Same for the pink mercs.

So to be fair, that's 4 grid spots down to their 'recent' results, and they're generally P7 or P8. Their P4/P5 'potential' is due to pure outside luck, not on full merit.

That doesn't say that Renault has not made improvements, quite the contrary. But if Ferrari keep up their development pace that they're having now, then Ferrari could be back at the front sooner than thought.

[DChemTech]

Lol it happens. Im curious where people think Checo will go. And, in hindsight, if Ricciardo has actually made a slightly dud move. Renault seems, at least at the current point in time, the more upwardly-mobile team of the Class B teams. They seem to even have gone past-ish the pink Merc

As mentioned by someone else on this board,
the realistic picture has been greatly tained by the circumstances.

Renault has made a faster car, which is harder to handle/work with. Ricciardo is doing fine with that, and Ocon isn't doing too bad. I think Alonso could work a difficult car, since he has a very distinct driving style which could be classified as pretty hard to master.

Anyway, Ferrari went all the way to the back. In all normal circumstances, Ferrari would have been in front of the Renaults all races. Also, Bottas' DNF and former DNF of Max have greatly benefitted the Enstone team's results, just as how Sainz had a few run ins causing DNF, aswell as the pink mercs.

The net result is that Renault should be finishing two places to four places lower in all reality.
Both Ferrari's have not been in the equation, that's a win of two grid spots for free, no matter what they did.
In past races, Bottas had a DNF, Max had multiple DNF, that's every single time a grid spot up, so that's 3 in total.
Then there is the fact thanks to Sainz having been having DNF's and Norris some run ins, that their 'direct' competitor is either also out, or at the very least putting in much less pressure. Same for the pink mercs.

So to be fair, that's 4 grid spots down to their 'recent' results, and they're generally P7 or P8. Their P4/P5 'potential' is due to pure outside luck, not on full merit.

That doesn't say that Renault has not made improvements, quite the contrary. But if Ferrari keep up their development pace that they're having now, then Ferrari could be back at the front sooner than thought.

The Max/Bottas part is of course true, but to see how Renault is doing, we can leave RB and MB out of the equation completely. Ferrari is relevant, but they are where they are - back-to-mid-midfield, so no need to speculate on what would have been if Ferrari was good - they aren't, this season. The main competition for Renault now is RP and MCL, and I do agree with Raymundo there. RP had the best papers starting the season, but during the course they seem to have fallen a bit back. MB is decent, but development seems a bit stagnant, too - as they admit, the recent updates were not working too well. Renault on the other hand was likely the worst of these three going into the season, and seems to be fully in the mix, if not on top of the three now. Of the three high-midfield teams, they improved most - and that was Raymundo's point I think. Extrapolate that to next year, and Ric may have been better of staying with Renault than switching to MCL, but well, projections are no guarantee either. A lot can happen of the winter, or in case of RB's recurring preseason predictions, winter progress can sorely disappoint.

[Wynters]

After careful thinking realised who it was at the time... It was Nico.

I'm not sure I would rate Hulk that highly

[PlatinumZealot]

Lol it happens. Im curious where people think Checo will go. And, in hindsight, if Ricciardo has actually made a slightly dud move. Renault seems, at least at the current point in time, the more upwardly-mobile team of the Class B teams. They seem to even have gone past-ish the pink Merc

As mentioned by someone else on this board,
the realistic picture has been greatly tained by the circumstances.

Renault has made a faster car, which is harder to handle/work with. Ricciardo is doing fine with that, and Ocon isn't doing too bad. I think Alonso could work a difficult car, since he has a very distinct driving style which could be classified as pretty hard to master.

Anyway, Ferrari went all the way to the back. In all normal circumstances, Ferrari would have been in front of the Renaults all races. Also, Bottas' DNF and former DNF of Max have greatly benefitted the Enstone team's results, just as how Sainz had a few run ins causing DNF, aswell as the pink mercs.

The net result is that Renault should be finishing two places to four places lower in all reality.
Both Ferrari's have not been in the equation, that's a win of two grid spots for free, no matter what they did.
In past races, Bottas had a DNF, Max had multiple DNF, that's every single time a grid spot up, so that's 3 in total.
Then there is the fact thanks to Sainz having been having DNF's and Norris some run ins, that their 'direct' competitor is either also out, or at the very least putting in much less pressure. Same for the pink mercs.

So to be fair, that's 4 grid spots down to their 'recent' results, and they're generally P7 or P8. Their P4/P5 'potential' is due to pure outside luck, not on full merit.

That doesn't say that Renault has not made improvements, quite the contrary. But if Ferrari keep up their development pace that they're having now, then Ferrari could be back at the front sooner than thought.

Yes. Reliability is a part of the sport so fair play to Renault who make their own engine and chassis.
The Ferrari engine is the weakest of them all, but the Ferrari chassis is woefully slow. It's Haas and Alfa Romeo sisters are pretty much just as quick as it is in race trim. So fair is fair, Renault is doing a better job at this point, and there is no reason why they cannot match or better Ferrari from here going forward especially in light of the budget limits.

[Wynters]

Bearing in mind that RBR offer a seat that can win races and have enough money to buy out most contracts...Assuming that you could choose any driver on the grid (save for Hamilton and Leclerc as they are locked in to large budget teams), who would you choose to be RBR's 2nd driver? And why?

[TNTHead]

After careful thinking realised who it was at the time... It was Nico.

I'm not sure I would rate Hulk that highly

Which Nico did you mean, at that time there were two of them .

[DChemTech]

Bearing in mind that RBR offer a seat that can win races and have enough money to buy out most contracts...Assuming that you could choose any driver on the grid (save for Hamilton and Leclerc as they are locked in to large budget teams), who would you choose to be RBR's 2nd driver? And why?

Lando! Just for the memes. (and because he's not a bad driver either).