Official 2020 Austrian & Styrian Grand Prix Thread *Spoilers
Discussion
BrettMRC said:
I'm wondering who will be a back...Williams or Haas?
If HAAS have had a backwards development of this years car it could be them.. Although during pre-season testing, overall Williams were behind HAAS. There were sessions in which the HAAS appeared slower in direct comparison, but not to an extent that couldn't easily be explained by them not pushing the car fully for whatever 'testing reasons' or fuel load etc.Thing is with Williams, they have made some improvements I don't doubt. But of course every other team strives to make improvements each year. Williams would need to have made such a significant leap forwards to catch up and overtake HAAS that it probably would have been very evident during testing that they had transformed their car... I don't think that was the case, there is a big difference between a marked improvement, and finding an entire second of qualifying pace that they were missing vs HAAS or Alfa at the end of last season. Of course if HAAS have in some way screwed up their 2020 car, that could easily hand Williams a 9th in WCC. To catch up HAAS and overtake them on merit however.. That would require Williams 2020 to be about 1.5 seconds faster in qualifying on average at most circuits compared to last years car. I just don't believe they have that development potential with the base car they're working with.
To me, the Williams 2020 car still looks very basic and dated (although I do love the new paint job..). The packaging is poor by any standard. With a poorly packaged car, their potential for development>performance is always going to be limited.
I could soon be proven wrong of course! But I seriously really doubt it. If I am wrong, then I will take my hat off to Williams engineers and designers as they will have done an outstanding job and made one of the greatest leaps forward in a season since Brawn decided a double diffuser might be a good idea.
Dr Z said:
Nice to see the OP tradition has continued.
Testing feels like a long time ago. Followed it a bit this year to *groans* of another Mercedes year.
I think I have made my peace with it now. Bring it on.
Lewis Hamilton's 7th WDC, equaling the great Michael Schumacher. Let's go!
And anyway, there are endless other high profile battles further down the grid to anticipate this season.. If we simply ignore Mercedes at the top of the pile, there is plenty of racing to be seen below them I think.
TheDeuce said:
Let's just say... It wouldn't totally amaze me if Racing Point are faster than expected, Ferrari slower than usual and the two end up meeting more often than we're used too. And I'm all but convinced Red Bull will be superior to Ferrari this season.
I agree and I hope that is the case. I would like to see Max have a car that can allow him to challenge Hamilton more frequently than only on the usual RB specific tracks but time will tell. With less races comes the need for more consistency and reliability too. This could well be a season for the thinking driver as one error or DNF will be more costly than usual come the end of the year. That leads me toward Hamilton for the title once again. Personally I would like to see Lewis get his 7th and equal Schumacher as in my opinion it would be totally deserved. Can he take Schumacher 91 wins record in 2020 also?
Dr Z said:
Nice to see the OP tradition has continued.
Testing feels like a long time ago. Followed it a bit this year to *groans* of another Mercedes year.
I think I have made my peace with it now. Bring it on.
Lewis Hamilton's 7th WDC, equaling the great Michael Schumacher. Let's go!
PanicBuyingBogRoll said:
Does anyone know if there has been any change to the PU allocations for the season?
If it remains as is, do we think teams will risk running in higher power modes hoping the season is shorter.
Allocations will be incremented depending on how many events there end up being. In terms of 'races per PU' it'll be no fewer units than last year. I am not sure when the number of races will be confirmed but it looks likely that it will be some time after the season starts so presumably the teams will work on the basis that the PUs have to go just as far as they did last season. If it remains as is, do we think teams will risk running in higher power modes hoping the season is shorter.
TheDeuce said:
https://youtu.be/FH-ulVsTDUw
From 40 mins in Will Buxton talking about what it's going to be like turning up at the races (personally). That's interesting as I really wasn't sure if anyone familiar was going to be there in such a role. I wonder how much of the sky team will be admitted?
At one point he goes on to say it'll be odd interacting with team members from 2m apart - so it rather sounds as if pre race build up could be fairly normal, other than the 2m distance.
All fine by me, might as well crack on at this point. But I am mildly surprised nonetheless.
It was amusing watching the first Indy car race. When running an interview the microphone was on the end of a long pole which was then shoved towards the face of the respective interviewee.From 40 mins in Will Buxton talking about what it's going to be like turning up at the races (personally). That's interesting as I really wasn't sure if anyone familiar was going to be there in such a role. I wonder how much of the sky team will be admitted?
At one point he goes on to say it'll be odd interacting with team members from 2m apart - so it rather sounds as if pre race build up could be fairly normal, other than the 2m distance.
All fine by me, might as well crack on at this point. But I am mildly surprised nonetheless.
ash73 said:
It'll be interesting to see if any of the other teams have caught up with Merc in the last 3 months, fingers crossed!
What are they doing with pit crew? It could be fun if it's one guy on each side of the car changing wheels!
At least we won't have to watch a dumb celebrity grid walk with them all packed in like sardines, desperate to get on camera.
Merc have had the same 3 months don't forget... What are they doing with pit crew? It could be fun if it's one guy on each side of the car changing wheels!
At least we won't have to watch a dumb celebrity grid walk with them all packed in like sardines, desperate to get on camera.
Regards pit, from what the Sky team have been discussing it sounds like that's just one of a number of areas where the 2 metre 'ideal' is not practical. No doubt there will be some pretty advanced PPE employed and some very disciplined self cleanliness in between each deployment.
Swampy1982 said:
Anyone think with the extended lay off, of which half has perhaps been able to be used to develop, that someone is going to rock up with their own version of DAS?
I know its unlikely, but I only just remembered it existed, will be interest at least to see how Merc use it, if at all.
Only if someone has a reason to believe DAS is a major game changer, which doesn't seem the common view. I know its unlikely, but I only just remembered it existed, will be interest at least to see how Merc use it, if at all.
I'm sure certain other teams could copy it, but in the same time with the same resources the chances are they have other stuff on the list - stuff they want to improve post testing. Not to mention DAS is the headline grabbing Mercedes innovation this year.. I think their work on the suspension layout is more groundbreaking though. And no one is copying that in a hurry, not without a new tub and PU revision (mounting points) and the fact they would have to revise the entire aero of the car after such a significant layout change.
And for all we know, Mercedes might consider DAS useless after trialing it in testing, and it's already been killed off. We will finally know a bit more after this weekend of course.
Back to the drawing board for Ferrari, The car they turned up to testing with will see two race weekends at Austria and a significantly reworked version will arrive in Hungary
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