2020 silly season

With no races going on for the foreseeable future;

Would this be a good time for drivers and teams to start their annual "silly season" ?

 

Possible depending on the significant contracts that are waiting - LH, Vettel etc.

 

Stroll's stock likely going up... he didn't look terrible last weekend.

 

His legacy if any is now. this year or next if they drive the Mercedes clone. After the new regs I expect him to falter as he has been. He starts well but lacks 'racing' and 'braking' skills as many former drivers note.

 

Rumors I hear are:

Vettel to McLaren & that Renault are looking hard at him.

Ferrari and Hamilton rumors persist. but seems like wishful thinking. Binotto stated that he hope to get the Vettel situation clear soon... not sure what that means.

Riccardo out at Renault ( unless they really go well this year ) most likely to McLaren ( if not Vettel.)

 

I read today they are going to do a virtual F-1 series this year... no word on who the drivers will be - estimate it may be the reserve drivers. I know Norris and Verstappen are on I racing... could be interesting.

 

Yeah, I saw that too. And I think it is utterly ridiculous. And that's me saying this, I'm a huge sim racing fan and had some great setup myself. But I want the real racers in real racecars not in some virtual stuff. That's for us wanna-bes.

 

The driver's market for 2020 depends from what Ferrari wants to do with Vettel.
Once his case is settled, the rest should follow very soon.

 

We all want the real thing; that goes without saying. It ain't happenin' tho', so, why not?
I don't even sim or care to....'won't be watchin....but 'smart move by Liberty/F1 to try and keep those on the perimeter interested in the meantime......

P.S. In the same vein.....

Get Your Racing Fix on Saturday, March 21 with IMSA Sebring SuperSaturday

https://www.imsa.com/news/2020/03/18/ge ... rsaturday/

 

I don't know I'll take what I can get. I do sim racing with the Porsche club.. its fun... and like the real thing the pro guys are way faster and have the time / money to do it right.

 

IMO... FIA Should cancel the 2020 F1 race season... Push the 2020 cars out to 2021 and move the 2021 new cars and rules out to 2022.... This makes for sense... who wants to see a partial season!

 

Actually I do. 8 races is all we need.

 

Fixed to what you're really thinking...

 

I don't think Lewis would want to win that way. The History books would always have an asterix ("*") besides the title.

 

Well... as of now, we're all hearing the cancellations and postponements of 7 races which was scheduled into May and maybe into June. So IMO, the FIA would have to sacrifice one or two races after that in order for teams have time to ramp up after being put on hold. That might look like late July or Aug before we can see the first race of the season.

 

Agree. This season has no real meaning in terms of title at all. None. Its been decided by powers beyond control.

 

Having only 8 or 10 GPs doesn't devalue the championship, nor makes the winner less deserving.

 

True. But having no competition does.

 

Who says there is no competition ?

 

Disagree. With this logic you could toss out the WDCs in the fifties. 8 races were the norm.

 

How come?

The competition is there. Always was and is. Whether that's Red Bull or Ferrari or somebody else.

And based on testing/schmesting MB did their homework. So if they walk away with it, kudos to them.

 

Were the norm. Not now with current structure. The * would apply this year I feel. The season is a wreck. I would be happy to see races but a season nearly 2/3 less would be noticed and generally talked about over time as the corona shortend season. If we have season at all. If we have races I just hope they are good ones. Dont really care about the titles. They are forgotten the minute they are won and next year is all that matters lol

 

Heck, back in the day (when I first started following F1) there were 10ish races and your best results ('61, 62, and 66 your best 5; '63-65 your best 6) determined the championship. Earlier, more of the same. More iterations followed....more races total too.....

 

The year I really started following was when Sheckter got the title. I was rooting for Williams, Rega and Alan Jones. Back then they had a rule that said the results of the first and second half of the season counted "against" each other. That meant not the person with the most wins/points would win but the person who had the most points over two halves of a season. In the case of Williams/Jones that meant they had no chance against Ferrari because the Williams only became competitive in the second half, but boy, did it clear up the races then. So the title went to Ferrari, no matter what Williams/Jones would do. I thought that was insanely unfair, but such are the rules.

Bottom line: If this season is condemned to only 8 races, the winner of the WDC is the winner. No ifs and buts, no asterisks. The rules are the same for everyone.

 

Disagree.

The season however short/long it will be is the same for everybody. As long as they run the mandatory 8 races we will have a valid WDC, whoever that might be. If this is about Ferrari vs MB: From testing it looks like MB will win the title. The statistical law of averages will favor the dominant team. However the shorter the season becomes, the more luck/bad luck/fate will have a say in this. That normally favors the outsider. So purely from a statistical perspective Ferrari (or anybody else who didn't do so well in testing) has a much better chance at winning the title than the expected winner. Cue in Panis here for a winner of the Monaco GP. Pure dumb luck (plus the ability to keep the car on the road). So Hamilton haters should actually jump at the chance of an arbitrarily shortened season because in the long run it looks like MB has this in the bag. But if we are down to 8 races, luck and chance will have a much bigger hand in the game.

PS: Isn't fate/karma ironic: This season was supposed to be the longest ever in F1 history and now it will become one of the shortest in modern times. The Racing Gods have spoken.