Well that is a whole other issue. People are saying that they find it unwatchable because of dominance. I am a huge Schumacher fan, horrible what happened to him. It was kind of boring then too though.

Hulk Smash: Round II

https://www.formula1.com/en/la...STSPV4B83hsC5vN.html

quote:

Racing Point have confirmed Nico Hulkenberg will once again stand-in for Sergio Perez at Silverstone after the Mexican returned a positive result for Covid-19.

Renault protest on Racing Point finally sticks

https://www.formula1.com/en/la...Am7rXnWHxH1Uy9c.html

quote:

Racing Point have been deducted 15 world championship points and fined €400,000 after FIA stewards upheld Renault’s protest about the legality of the design of the team’s RP20 car.

quote:

Originally posted by HuskySig:

My recollection is that Schumi wasn’t the total and complete douche nozzle that Chinstrap is. I’ve got nothing against Mercedes Benz. I just really dislike Chinstrap.

Schumi was a bit more cutthroat and ruthless than Chinstrap has been, but even when he got spanked for issues on the track, he didn't whine, complain or make a scene. He also went to Ferrari with some of his engineers from Benetton and spent 2-3 years turning Ferrari from zero to hero while Chinstrap couldn't keep McLaren competitive and went to Mercedes after they built the best engine on the grid and poured TONS of money into the F1 team they neglected.

I've said it once, and I'll say it again: If you're an F1 fan, you've got to read Ross Brawn's book Total Competition:

https://www.amazon.com/Total-C...id=1596804876&sr=8-2

It's pretty much an interview of him by Adam Parr who was responsible for salvaging Williams before getting forced out in 2013 because he crossed the wrong side of Bernie. It's a facinating book that gives you a lot of behind the scenes info of the various F1 teams he's worked for/in charge of during his tenure. Very well worth it.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Renault protest on Racing Point finally sticks
https://www.formula1.com/en/la...Am7rXnWHxH1Uy9c.html

quote:

Racing Point have been deducted 15 world championship points and fined €400,000 after FIA stewards upheld Renault’s protest about the legality of the design of the team’s RP20 car.

Ferrari & McLaren [so far] protest decision RE: RP verdict.

https://www.formula1.com/en/la...hlXYA703K8g0wVG.html

quote:

Friday morning at Silverstone brought a verdict in the long-running saga of Racing Points brake ducts, with the FIA stewards declaring the team hadn’t designed them themselves, fining them heavily and deducting them 15 world championship points. But as Friday evening rolled in, that wasn’t the end of the matter, as Ferrari and McLaren became the first teams to announce an intention to appeal against that decision…

Can anyone tell me the last time a team (much less two) appealed a decision regarding another team that did not affect their position?

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:
Can anyone tell me the last time a team (much less two) appealed a decision regarding another team that did not affect their position?

And now Renault has joined the appeal.
And they were the ones to lodge the complaint repeatedly

I think this is starting to turn into a minor civil war between the teams.

Speaking of Hulk Smash, Hulk in 3rd place in the Tracing Point behind Bottas and Chinstrap.

Might be his only chance to break his record for most races without a podium.

Glad to see Hulkenberg put Stroll in his place after just two weekends of practice. Hopefully he'll have a good (and well judged) race tomorrow and maybe get that long awaited podium.
On the other hand, the idea that he now deserves a job in a top team is misplaced. He's been in F-1 for something like 10 years and 180+ GP's and hasn't been able to close the deal.
It also shows that Perez may also be over rated. He does well as an underdog starting back in the field and picks up some good finishes when others suffer misfortune but just doesn't have the pure pace.
Tomorrow could be one of those high attrition races due to the heat and tire life forcing several pit stops for everybody.
Hopefully it will be good entertainment and produce some surprises.

Although I’d like to see the Hulk take a podium, it’s not gonna happen unless at least one of Hammy, Bottas, and Max doesn’t finish. The two Mercs are going to run off into the distance from the start, and once Max’s tires come in (remember, he’s starting on hards), he’ll blow by the Hulk. Just hope the Hulk beats Stroll by a fairly decent margin.

Surprising result.
The heat & softer tire compounds made for an interesting race.

They hosed the Hulk by calling him in for a late pit. Deliberate to make sure he didn’t beat Daddy’s Boy? At least Hammy didn’t win, but they hosed Bottas to do it. Leclerc still overperforming in the crappy Ferrari, while Vettel spins again.

That was a tactical pit stop to put Hulkenberg in the proper place for the hired help.

To me, the tires only seemed to work well for one team - Red Bull. However they have long been known to be easy on their tires, it has become obvious the Mercs can not handle hot days.

I am glad for Max, but was secretly wanting Hulk to be on the podium for the race.

As for the racing point bullshit, this will start an unholy reign of fire where every week one team is accusing another team of copying, and the two ring circus will become a 5 ring circus.

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:

quote:

Originally posted by HuskySig:

My recollection is that Schumi wasn’t the total and complete douche nozzle that Chinstrap is. I’ve got nothing against Mercedes Benz. I just really dislike Chinstrap.

Schumi was a bit more cutthroat and ruthless than Chinstrap has been, but even when he got spanked for issues on the track, he didn't whine, complain or make a scene. He also went to Ferrari with some of his engineers from Benetton and spent 2-3 years turning Ferrari from zero to hero while Chinstrap couldn't keep McLaren competitive and went to Mercedes after they built the best engine on the grid and poured TONS of money into the F1 team they neglected.

The 1995 season was an epic cluster. 1/2 of all cars entered that year retired from the race before they hit the 90% mark. Furthermore, it not as if Ferarri was complete garbage - they finished 3rd in the constructors championship and their drivers (Berger and Alesi) finished 5 & 6 in the drivers championship. I believe that 1992-1995 is where Ferrari had so many engine issues because they were the only team running a high output/ high degradation V12 (something crazy like 4 different versions over an 18 month time) and they were prone to blowing up quite spectacularly. 1996 is when F1 said teams were capped at a V-10 with certain horsepower, which evened the playing field some (although some ran "lightweight v-8's).

Berger and Alesi went to Benetton to make room for Schumacher and Irvine in 1996. Ferrari finish 2nd (by 2 points) ahead of Benetton, but both were far down the order to Williams. Williams racked up 22 of 48 podium positions, and 12 of 16 wins.

In 1997, Villeneuve won the championship, and Schumacher's points were stripped after he tried to wreck Villeneuve in the last lap, and Williams still ran away with the constructor's championship, and they won 8 of 16, and 16 of 51 podiums, and suffered 10 retirements throughout the course of the year. IF you want to see the type of person Schumi was, watch the 1997 European GP where he looks over at Villeneuve and steers right into his side pod (breaking his front suspension, taking himself out of the race).

In 1998 McLaren and Mika Hokkinen won the championships, and Schmacher & Ferrari finished second, and between the two team, and their drivers, they scored 69.5% of all points available that year.

In 1999, Schumacher broke his leg at the British GP, but Ferrari still won the constructors championship anchored by Eddie Irvine, who scored in 15 of 16 rounds, and lost the Driver Championship to Mika Hakkenin by 2 points in the last race (Japan).

It was not until 2000 that Schumi laid down the gauntlet, scoring 108 points, winning 9 of 17 races. It was that same year that the pit wall told Rubens Barrichello to pull off and let Shumi pass on three occasions, most notably for the win in Canada. This was the first of three occasions where Rubens would be told to move out of the way to allow Schumi to win in their 7 years as teammates.

Schumi dominated again in 2001, winning 9 of 18 races, and nearly doubling the 2nd place David Coulthard points score.

He and Ferrari were utterly dominant in 2002 winning 11 of 17 races, and standing on the podium for every race. Ferrari wrapped up the Championship win by the 9th leg of the championship, and finished 1-2 in 10 races. in 2002, only three teams stood on the podium.

In 2003 Shumi squeaked out the Championship with the help of Rubens in the Japanese GP when he passed Kimi, dropping his points by 2. Kimi lost the championship by 2 points that year with McLaren, and Ferrari won the championship by just 14 points over Williams (who were leading the championship by 5 points with 2 races left).

When 2004 came around, Schumi was ready to crush the field, winning 13 of 18 races, and a Ferrari driver stood on the podium for every single race, and scored 40% of all points that year.

By 2005 it was all over, with Schumi's only win at the fabled US Grand Prix at Indy where all but three teams pulled out of the race, and Ferrari went 1-2. That one race made up 19% of their total points haul for the year.

Ferrari had a good showing in 2006, with Schumi winning 7 of 18 races, but loosing out to a dominant Alonso, and Ferrari finishing 2nd to Renault.

Ferrari won the championship in 2007 after Michael retired, and his replacement (Kimi) won the championship by 1 point over Lewis.

Also, for clarification, Lewis signed with Merc in September 2012, while Merc was still making the V8, and raced for them in 2013, under the V8 engine. It was not until 2014 that the V6 Turbo Hybrid was released.

As for Merc neglecting the team, I think that is a bit of a reach. When they bought the team in December 2009 from Ross Brawn, Brawn admitted they did not have the budget to develop a car for 2010, and would have dropped off the grid had Merc not bought them, which is why Merc performed so poorly in 2010 (they used the 2009 car with small aero improvements). In 2011 they were using their own car, however the design was over a year old and 2012 saw the first time a car was designed on a decent car from the previous year. By 2013 (with the old V8), they were solidly in 2nd place for constructors behind Red Bull.
It is also important to point out that it was not until the 2012 season that Mercedes/ Ilmore Engineering made improvements to the Mercedes V8 engine for F1. That engine has essentially been unchanged between 2009 and 2011 seasons.

Unable to add a poll to an ongoing thread, so will just ask in poll format.

If you were Racing Point who would you rather put in your car for 2021 under what is presumably a 1-year contract?

Sebastian Vettel who might spin his scooter in pitlane

Nico Hulkenburg who apparently still has it.

George Russell for obvious reasons.

Some other player, realizing that paying for a old WDC is poor plan.

Georgeair since he's the raciest non-racer of all!

{Dwill beat me to my edit to add Russell}

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Georgeair,

I think Vettel will do fine at RP. He tends to fall apart when he gets beaten by a teammate and no longer has a good car, same as what happened previously when Ricciardo came to RBR. The RP is a good car (because it’s a Mercedes copy) and he should have no problems beating Stroll. As far as the Hulk, I think he’s a decent driver, but not as good as Vettel if he gets his shit together. I think much of Hulkenberg’s popularity comes from people liking to say “Hulk” or “Hulk smash” rather that his actual talents.

Would Vettel do better than Stroll at RP, yes. Honestly, Stroll is in the seat because of dad. Hulkenberg is a talented driver who never had a competitive seat, and I think he would beat Stroll by 20-30 points if they raced over a 20 race season. For reference, Perez beat Stroll by 31 in 2019, and Perez beat Ocon by 13 in 2018. Also, Hulkenburg beat Sainz by 17 points in 2018 in the Renaults.

Vettel will be hungry to show what Ferrari lost, and I think he can actually help get more out of the car. I believe that Ferrari have built the car to suit LeClerc this year, and Vettel just can't get enough rear downforce. As for Vettel's history of spins, it sucks, but he is very much like Schumi in they are both take no prisoner type people, and while I appreciate that, it leads some to disposing them as drivers. My distain for Vettel increased while he was at Red Bull over the multi-21 issue, and was glad to see Riccardo spank him in 2014.

I think Vettel will be refreshed for a new challenge next year.

If RP had to cut a driver & add one in.

I'd vote that Stroll gets the axe, Checo is consistent.
Stroll has shown some growth, now that he has a competitive car under him, but we'll see how the rest of the seasons plays out.

Vettel would be the easy choice to bring in. Could definitely extract more from the car. This year's Ferrari just doesn't seem suited to him, as noted above.

Outside of Vettel, Hulk or Russell would be solid choices. Russell has been pulling the Williams up from the bottom decently, on one lap pace. Race-pace hasn't been stellar & they're the only team with 0 points, currently.

Hulkenberg is consistent, and would make a good teammate & rival with Checo, IMO.