F1 2020....finally!

Justin:

It looks like I gave up blogging on F1 in May last year, more or less. No great shakes. The championship and the racing up front was dull for the most part, save a couple of races (Austria and Brazil). Yawn.

So, when coronavirus stopped the world turning, my esteemed colleague and I joked that we weren't actually missing much in the way of F1, based on last year.

But this somewhat truncated, unique championship could produce opportunities for drivers where once there were none.

I'd originally discounted Bottas and his title chances, after remarking that he might start stronger than Lewis and get a good foothold in the championship, but would eventually fall away across the entire season.

Well, he won handsomely in Austria at a track where he always excels, and the next race is only in Austria again. I'd say this year could be his best bet at a title shot. But I still put 95% of my money on Hamilton and world title number 7.

Austria report - Round 1

Austria was an ok race, fun in places but quite dull in others to be honest.

I have to say, I felt Hamilton was treated pretty harshly by the stewards. The first incident (yellow flag) in qualifying was looked at on the Saturday and that was it. No further action. Then Sunday morning Red Bull whinge about it, new footage miraculously emerges and he gets a 3 place grid penalty. Hmmm.

Then in the race. I'm with David Coulthard on this. Racing incident, pure and simple. Albon was very brave and skillful to get his car around Hamilton on the outside, all be it on soft, fresh tyres. But Hamilton was on the inside, he didn't release the steering into Albon at all and gave him as much room as was possible. It's a 50/50 for me as Albon's car was not entirely ahead. But they give Hamilton a 5 second penalty. Brutal frankly.

Bottas was fairly dominant and drove a great, controlled race. Read the BBC race report here.

Ferrari

They seem to be pretty far up shit creek without a paddle. In the alleged words of Niki Lauda in Rush, when asked what he thought of the Ferrari when he tested for the first time... "it's a shitbox". 7th and 11th in qualifying?!

Then again, Ferrari was 1.5 seconds off the pace in qualifying in Australia in 2012 and Alonso only missed the title by 3 points, so go figure.

I believe they and other Ferrari engine teams are all slower relative to their 2019 cars, where others have gained pace. Something engine related perhaps...ehm.

LeClerc drove well to 2nd, which flattered to deceive the pace of the car, what with all the safety car periods. I think probably the car is more setup to suit his driving style, given his dominance over Vettel last year.

Vettel

I feel for the guy frankly. I was pretty surprised when Ferrari and he announced a parting of the ways, given the sounds they'd been making before that. Despite the errors of 2018 and 2019, he still brings home good points and is an experienced head for the young LeClerc.

I was even more surprised when he revealed they'd not even offered him any talks of a contract, that he was done. That is that.

Unfortunately, no matter how difficult he is finding the car to be at the moment, his teammate was 2nd and he was 10th via spinning into a McLaren that was at the time ahead and fighting another car. Vettel locked up and drifted into the car ahead. The errors are still coming.

With Alonso about to announce a return, I say anything is possible in F1 and I'd say it's still 50/50 as to whether Vettel pops up at Mercedes next year or not. If not, I'd imagine retirement beckons.

Sainz and Norris

Great drive by Norris in Austria with a P3. Boom. McLaren look to be picking up where they left off in 2019 for sure. I think Norris gets my driver of the day. Or maybe Perez?

And Ferrari calls for Sainz in 2021. Huge move for him. I think he'll prove to be equal to LeClerc, so I think all these people speculating he has signed a number 2 contract can probably think again. All he needs to do is be quick and stand up to LeClerc. But it could be tricky if he isn't involved in the car development as by the time he gets there it will be built and ready to drive.

Fernando Alonso

A legend returns.