Official 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix Thread **SPOILERS**

[Piginapoke]

Round 15 and Bahrain.

Here’s Schumacher’s lovely 2004 pole lap, just because I miss engines that rev to 19K RPM: https://youtu.be/aduBQsmNNcc

Date(s): Friday 27 November 2020 - Sunday 29 November 2020

UK Broadcast Timings (and local time)

All sessions are live on Sky F1; Channel 4 showing highlights of Race and Qualifying:





Live timing for all sessions available here:

https://www.formula1.com/en/f1-live.html

Lap times, PU component use, technical reports and Stewards' decisions for the weekend will appear here:

https://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-one-world-c...

Weather forecast:
https://weather.com/en-GB/weather/today/l/26.23,50...

Tyre options:





2019 race highlights:

https://youtu.be/0VjWY--QdMA

[Adrian W]

You sort of want to boycott it as a matter of principle but know you won’t

[HustleRussell]

Adrian W said:

You sort of want to boycott it as a matter of principle but know you won’t

Saudi next year even more so

[TheDeuce]

HustleRussell said:

Adrian W said:

You sort of want to boycott it as a matter of principle but know you won’t

Saudi next year even more so

Why boycott? The more western influence they ask for and get the better imo. Better to head over there and show female engineers at work on TV than pretend the region doesn't exist and side step it surely?

We've got around 9000 years of proof that merging of cultures brings out the strengths of both. Seems a bit dumb to now say that a region we think needs to change is not a place to go to...

Boycotting is an activity for people that see a problem and simply don't care for it, don't wish to be associated with it. Which is totally fair enough - but not exactly a moral high ground. I personally find much encouragement from the sheer amount of western influence the middle east are now allowing in order to modernise, now they can no longer rely on oil for their future. F1 itself is not going to have a substantial effect, but it's one small part of a fairly fundamental shift in attitude in the ME right now.

[Piginapoke]

Adrian W said:

You sort of want to boycott it as a matter of principle but know you won’t

I know what you mean

[Dashnine]

TheDeuce said:

Why boycott? The more western influence they ask for and get the better imo. Better to head over there and show female engineers at work on TV than pretend the region doesn't exist and side step it surely?
.

The teams should get every female they have on the plane to these races, and get them in the garage (and therefore on TV) as often as possible. There are already quite a few outside the garage at races, let’s see them up front and representing the winning team on the podium (as several have already, Mercedes and Red Bull jump to mind).

[TheDeuce]

Dashnine said:

TheDeuce said:

Why boycott? The more western influence they ask for and get the better imo. Better to head over there and show female engineers at work on TV than pretend the region doesn't exist and side step it surely?
.

The teams should get every female they have on the plane to these races, and get them in the garage (and therefore on TV) as often as possible. There are already quite a few outside the garage at races, let’s see them up front and representing the winning team on the podium (as several have already, Mercedes and Red Bull jump to mind).

They should. But the very fact there are women at work doing 'man' work is the sort of thing the ME has avoided going out on TV for decades. Now they're relaxing that view for the sake of economic value. Same reason they build world class hotels and accept there will be ladies in bikinis that barely cover their sinful areas, and the acknowledgment that no one will stay in the hotel once built unless they serve copious amounts of booze.

They're opening the doors, albeit reluctantly to the west. If we feel our culture is better than theirs we should be proud and desperate to head over, not shy and awkward about it. The kids that watch this race will one day be the generation that rules...

[SpudLink]

Interesting that’s how the thread is starting.
The new world champion sounded like he might want to say something on the subject. I know Mercedes have allowed him to speak his mind, but can he really go to Bahrain and Saudi and talk openly about human rights and equality?

[TheDeuce]

SpudLink said:

Interesting that’s how the thread is starting.
The new world champion sounded like he might want to say something on the subject. I know Mercedes have allowed him to speak his mind, but can he really go to Bahrain and Saudi and talk openly about human rights and equality?

I think every thread about ME or Russian races starts this way - I'm just trying to apply reason to the established 'no' response.

As for Lewis, I think that now Saudi are in the books Lewis can say whatever he wishes - they won't sack off F1 knowing their neighbour is celebrating having it... It's all about pride and accomplishment, so they'll put up with whatever comes along with the F1 circus.

That's exactly why I support such races, despite it obviously being a tough subject.

[Piginapoke]

I suppose we at least ought to try to talk about the race

[TheDeuce]

Piginapoke said:

I suppose we at least ought to try to talk about the race

You have, your last comment was that you understood the desire to boycott.

I expect in due course more race topical aspects will come in.

Personally I'm extremely excited about the second GP, on the outer circuit. Yet another unique 2020 season F1 event

[Adrian W]

TheDeuce said:

Boycotting is an activity for people that see a problem and simply don't care for it, don't wish to be associated with it. Which is totally fair enough - but not exactly a moral high ground. I personally find much encouragement from the sheer amount of western influence the middle east are now allowing in order to modernise, now they can no longer rely on oil for their future. F1 itself is not going to have a substantial effect, but it's one small part of a fairly fundamental shift in attitude in the ME right now.

Because anything else other than a boycott is condoning the human rights attitude in these regions, the regime’s behaving poorly toward various parts of their society, events like the GP are seen as acceptance of their behaviour.

[TheDeuce]

Adrian W said:

TheDeuce said:

Boycotting is an activity for people that see a problem and simply don't care for it, don't wish to be associated with it. Which is totally fair enough - but not exactly a moral high ground. I personally find much encouragement from the sheer amount of western influence the middle east are now allowing in order to modernise, now they can no longer rely on oil for their future. F1 itself is not going to have a substantial effect, but it's one small part of a fairly fundamental shift in attitude in the ME right now.

Because anything else other than a boycott is condoning the human rights attitude in these regions, the regime’s behaving poorly toward various parts of their society, events like the GP are seen as acceptance of their behaviour.

Simplistic thinking, basic in the extreme. If other cultures influence stays away why on earth would they ever question their own?

It's been well proven for millennia that transport and introduction of culture drives change and new ways of thinking. seeing how other cultures operate sets off 'what if' questions in the minds of the upcoming generations. It's plain selfish to avoid a region and justify it as boycotting.

[Piginapoke]

TheDeuce said:

Simplistic thinking, basic in the extreme. If other cultures influence stays away why on earth would they ever question their own?

It's been well proven for millennia that transport and introduction of culture drives change and new ways of thinking. seeing how other cultures operate sets off 'what if' questions in the minds of the upcoming generations. It's plain selfish to avoid a region and justify it as boycotting.

Alright Boutros Boutros Ghali, you've made your point.

[TheDeuce]

Piginapoke said:

TheDeuce said:

Simplistic thinking, basic in the extreme. If other cultures influence stays away why on earth would they ever question their own?

It's been well proven for millennia that transport and introduction of culture drives change and new ways of thinking. seeing how other cultures operate sets off 'what if' questions in the minds of the upcoming generations. It's plain selfish to avoid a region and justify it as boycotting.

Alright Boutros Boutros Ghali, you've made your point.

Noted that you were first to question if it was a point needing to be made, and also the first to state it had been made. No actual comment from you on the subject itself

Like me you probably just want to be an F1 fan, but that is tricky when the sport goes to questionable places. I prefer to actually look at the cause and effect potential of that decision, not simply deride the decision and watch the GP anyway..

[Piginapoke]

TheDeuce said:

Noted that you were first to question if it was a point needing to be made, and also the first to state it had been made. No actual comment from you on the subject itself

Like me you probably just want to be an F1 fan, but that is tricky when the sport goes to questionable places. I prefer to actually look at the cause and effect potential of that decision, not simply deride the decision and watch the GP anyway..

Yes, you won, well done.

[TheDeuce]

Piginapoke said:

TheDeuce said:

Noted that you were first to question if it was a point needing to be made, and also the first to state it had been made. No actual comment from you on the subject itself

Like me you probably just want to be an F1 fan, but that is tricky when the sport goes to questionable places. I prefer to actually look at the cause and effect potential of that decision, not simply deride the decision and watch the GP anyway..

Yes, you won, well done.

Won what? I just made and cemented my point of view. Where does winning come in to this discussion?

[Deesee]

Cracking race last yr, (as well as 2014 btw), The Ferraris running on 120% illegal power, Seb spinning, Charl finding his Ferrari could not run on fumes..( the start of fuel gate, ending 20 races later in Abu Dhabi, with a “miss declared” fuel load).. I love a night race..

Somehow 2019 ended in a Merc 1/2..

2020... ( I think we may see a surprise from the midfield).. & there’s talk of rain

Anyway

The battle for 3rd in the WCC is red hot.. Ferrari coming up on the rails..




And the best of the rest fighting it out for 4th in the WDC.

[TheDeuce]

Deesee said:

Cracking race last yr, (as well as 2014 btw), The Ferraris running on 120% illegal power, Seb spinning, Charl finding his Ferrari could not run on fumes..( the start of fuel gate, ending 20 races later in Abu Dhabi, with a “miss declared” fuel load).. I love a night race..

Somehow 2019 ended in a Merc 1/2..

2020... ( I think we may see a surprise from the midfield).. & there’s talk of rain

Anyway

The battle for 3rd in the WCC is red hot.. Ferrari coming up on the rails..




And the best of the rest fighting it out for 4th in the WDC.

Surely Ferrari have to be desperate to at least find a way to beat Renault (competitor in PU stakes and road car manufacturer) this season? Beyond that probable ambition, they're out of the battle for third.

[Deesee]

TheDeuce said:

Surely Ferrari have to be desperate to at least find a way to beat Renault (competitor in PU stakes and road car manufacturer) this season? Beyond that probable ambition, they're out of the battle for third.

Dani Ric is in fine form at present though & Renault should fair well the next 3 races, they could even win the ‘oval’ race.

I suppose it’s what Ferrari turn up (in particular Seb), just how many points Racing Point are prepared to throw away, and if McLaren can actually put a Quali session together and start a few positions up as race wise they are quick over the GP distance.

The thorn in the side here however is Alpha Tauri, I can actually see them scoring higher than the other midfield teams in this race and Abu Dhabi, it may be a question of Renault/ McLaren having to fight to pick up the smaller points on offer here.