2020 Formula 1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix - Silverstone, August 7-9

[Just_a_fan]

It might be a good idea to lock the race thread for a few hours after each race. Let everyone blow off steam on other forum websites before we resume discussion of the technical aspects of the race.

Or people can just be civil with each other. We're all, I would guess, adults. We can disagree without insulting each other.

[Just_a_fan]

Today was the nail on the coffin of the low rake concept

I see what you did there. Love it.

[LM10]

Once again, amazing job by Leclerc. He really makes Vettel look not so good at the moment and I’m sad for him. But it is how it is.
I’m really happy Charles is a part of Ferrari and hope for many glorious moments in red in the future.

[zibby43]

The Mercedes were quite quick in 2013 as well but were rubbish on their rubber. Seems to be the case this year, hopefully Red Bull developing the aero plus hotter temperatures and higher tire pressures evens things out and we can have a good championship. It's a bonus that the majority of the championship will be in hotter weather, as summer lasts into October. Plus finishing in the Middle East which is a desert.

Remember that today's tyre selection was "artificial" with the tyres being picked specifically to engineer the problems seen today. I've no doubt that the intention wasn't to help RedBull specifically, but just to force the teams to do extra stops. I doubt Liberty were expecting the Mercs to have the issues they did today, more that were hoping the extra stops would force varying strategies - which it did.

I hope that they don't try to artificially control the championship with the tyres.

That would only be the case if Pirelli were supplying different tires to different teams, however we have no indication of that. If the tires are the same for everyone then it's up to the teams to make them work over both qualifying and a race distance and in the environment they function in.

If some teams can't make the rubber function properly that's not Liberty's problem, that's a Mercedes problem, as they have the same tires as everyone else.

There were 41 pit stops today due to 3 factors: 1) ridiculously soft tires on a high-energy circuit; 2) insane tire pressures; 3) hot temperatures.

It wasn’t 1 or 2 of these factors that hurt Merc, it was 3, plus their wrong choice to not use Hards in Q2.

I’d rather have the car that works in all other normal conditions, than the one that needs all these factors to have a chance at winning.

Congrats to the RB/Max fans. Glad you guys could enjoy at least 1 win this season.

[Just_a_fan]

Do it between seasons, fine, no problem with that. Do it mid season to "spice things up"? That's amateur hour stuff.

The V8 Supercar championship [..]

I.e., mid-season changes to penalise the leading team or car in a FIA series is normal.
It's not "normal", not in my opinion is it correct.

I hope that they don't try to artificially control the championship with the tyres.

Yet it was OK for Ferrari to be eliminated from the 2005 F1 championship, which potentially would have given Schumacher his 8th WDC racing an improved F2004 on improved 2004 Bridgestones, by an artificial tyre regulation? That makes no sense!

The precedent is set: that tyres, mass-damper bans, exhaust position rules (to target Red Bull's blown exhaust exit aimed at the diffuser, so Red Bull had to go chase a complicated coanda effect solution instead) and other things are routinely used to compromise the leading team.

As I said, do it between seasons. I don't agree that the rules should be changed on the fly to contrive a title outcome. If they're going to play that game then the title is pointless as it's effectively down to the authorities who wins.

Could you imagine any other sport where the rules are changed on the fly to alter the outcome? Football - change the offside rule to allow one team to score whilst others aren't allowed to, for example. Or suddenly reduce the number of defensive players an American Football team can use if they have won more matches than their opponent. It's just silly, isn't it?

[dans79]

Congrats to the RB/Max fans. Glad you guys could enjoy at least 1 win this season.

Classic!

[Just_a_fan]

Once again, amazing job by Leclerc. He really makes Vettel look not so good at the moment and I’m sad for him. But it is how it is.
I’m really happy Charles is a part of Ferrari and hope for many glorious moments in red in the future.

Post race interviews and Seb looked broken. Asked if he thinks there's a difference between the cars and he didn't deny it. I think he's mentally lost. It's sad really.

Well done to Charles - he was definitely "best of the rest" and got the best out of the car. Great drive to nurse the tyres as he did, although maybe the nature of the car helped him - which is kind of ironic.

[ispano6]

Max won that race by his instinctive "no, I'm not going to drive like a granny" response to the team's telling him to back off. If he had done so, Max might not have won that, or at least not so easily. A good racer's call there and then. Sometimes it bites you, sometimes it gets results.

The RedBull and Ferrari both seem to be easy on the tyres compared to the Mercs. Leclerc's pace was good at the end on very old tyres.

The Mercedes were quite quick in 2013 as well but were rubbish on their rubber. Seems to be the case this year, hopefully Red Bull developing the aero plus hotter temperatures and higher tire pressures evens things out and we can have a good championship. It's a bonus that the majority of the championship will be in hotter weather, as summer lasts into October. Plus finishing in the Middle East which is a desert.

Remember that today's tyre selection was "artificial" with the tyres being picked specifically to engineer the problems seen today. I've no doubt that the intention wasn't to help RedBull specifically, but just to force the teams to do extra stops. I doubt Liberty were expecting the Mercs to have the issues they did today, more that were hoping the extra stops would force varying strategies - which it did.

I hope that they don't try to artificially control the championship with the tyres.

Explain how it's artificial please. Pirelli sets the pressures each race weekend.

[JordanMugen]

Great drive to nurse the tyres as he did, although maybe the nature of the car helped him - which is kind of ironic.

I don't think it's ironic at all. Williams went backwards when they went from a low-drag car to a high-downforce car, Ferrari have done the same (albeit not as bad, and the fundamental car isn't as different to their previous year car as the Williams)... I think going back to a lower-drag car is the way to go, at such a late stage of a mature rule set. Stick to what you know!

[JordanMugen]

Explain how it's artificial please. Pirelli sets the pressures each race weekend.

Precisely!

It's almost like some Mercedes fans are blaming Pirelli and the tyre allocations, instead of the Mercedes team.

Yet Red Bull, Ferrari and other team fans are the first to admit when their car has aero instability and poor balance, or lacks power etc. So it would be logical for Mercedes fans to note the Mercedes car for having poor tyre management and this needing improvement.

[El Scorchio]

Do it between seasons, fine, no problem with that. Do it mid season to "spice things up"? That's amateur hour stuff.

The V8 Supercar championship [..]

I.e., mid-season changes to penalise the leading team or car in a FIA series is normal.
It's not "normal", not in my opinion is it correct.

I hope that they don't try to artificially control the championship with the tyres.

Yet it was OK for Ferrari to be eliminated from the 2005 F1 championship, which potentially would have given Schumacher his 8th WDC racing an improved F2004 on improved 2004 Bridgestones, by an artificial tyre regulation? That makes no sense!

The precedent is set: that tyres, mass-damper bans, exhaust position rules (to target Red Bull's blown exhaust exit aimed at the diffuser, so Red Bull had to go chase a complicated coanda effect solution instead) and other things are routinely used to compromise the leading team.

As I said, do it between seasons. I don't agree that the rules should be changed on the fly to contrive a title outcome. If they're going to play that game then the title is pointless as it's effectively down to the authorities who wins.

Could you imagine any other sport where the rules are changed on the fly to alter the outcome? Football - change the offside rule to allow one team to score whilst others aren't allowed to, for example. Or suddenly reduce the number of defensive players an American Football team can use if they have won more matches than their opponent. It's just silly, isn't it?

Agree. I liked how it was done today as it was a good way of creating two different situations at the same track. Not many people want to see the same race run twice and we got great variety but it would be a shame now if Pirelli decide or are asked to be ‘zany’ with tyres for the sake of it to try and artificially spice things up for the rest of the season just because they see an Achilles heel.

[GPR-A]

Explain how it's artificial please. Pirelli sets the pressures each race weekend.

It's almost like some Mercedes fans are blaming Pirelli and the regulations, instead of the Mercedes team.

Yet Red Bull, Ferrari and other team fans are the first to admit when their car has aero instability and poor balance, or lacks power etc etc.

Really? Who were crying last year that Pirelli changed tread by 4mm last year? Trust me, those same people who are taking Pirelli's side, will cry again in a few days.

[JordanMugen]

Agree. I liked how it was done today as it was a good way of creating two different situations at the same track. Not many people want to see the same race run twice and we got great variety but it would be a shame now if Pirelli decide or are asked to be ‘zany’ with tyres for the sake of it to try and artificially spice things up for the rest of the season just because they see an Achilles heel.

Aren't the Pirelli tyres inherently designed to try to produce Canada 2010 in every race? Isn't that the whole point of them and why FOM prefers Pirelli's tenders?

[JordanMugen]

Really? Who were crying last year that Pirelli changed tread by 4mm last year?

That rule change disadvantaged teams who are easy on the tyres. Of course folks will be vocal when rules changes disadvantage their preferred team, F1 is political.

You haven't made an argument why softer tyres should't be used at all races? Since most races can be done on one-stop, therefore the tyres are clearly too hard (or the soft tyres don't give a sufficient advantage to compensate for the extra pitstop).

FOM's goal is to have predominantly two-pitstop races as they are more exciting, unless the tyres are made softer there doesn't seem to be any other way to achieve this goal?

[GPR-A]

Really? Who were crying last year that Pirelli changed tread by 4mm last year?

That rule change disadvantaged teams who are easy on the tyres.

You can give all the reasons. Building a car that works on any tyres is what teams should do, not complaining that some tyres doesnt work for them.