[GreenThing]

New technical regs to be postponed to 2022 with this year spec car being used in 2021. Seems strange as these cars will have been near completion in the design stage and the time off will give the teams more preparation time than they would have had under normal circumstances.

I’m still getting adverts on Facebook for British Grand Prix tickets which seems extraordinary to me. Surely the chances of it going ahead are 50/50 at best given the suggestion in recent days of rolling lockdowns to prevent further waves of infection.

If anyone needs some nostalgia in the meantime, I’d strongly suggest the twitter accounts “F1 in the 90s” and “F1 in the 2000s”. So much fantastic archive footage and photography, much of it from British TV.

[GreenThing]

I did actually enjoy the virtual F1 on Sunday. The programme had a bit too much waffle, but the racing was entertaining.

[GreenThing]

https://youtu.be/t4NkL4D0P8A

Ross Brawn talks about the future of F1. A very good watch.

Thanks for the link - interesting musings.

It would have been big F1 news once: Sebastian Vettel to leave Ferrari at end of Formula 1 season

[GreenThing]

Swap with Ricciardo at Renault would be nice.

I can't help but think that Lewis Hamilton's ears must have pricked up! Still, if he really wants to beat Michael Schumacher's remaining records he surely must feel he's got to stay at Merc for now.

Vettel was reportedly offered a huge reduction in salary and a shorter contract than he wanted, so it seems pretty clear that they see him as dispensable - and he's been on a steady decline for years, let's be honest.

I know you can't win four world championships without a great deal of skill but I've never rated him as quite deserving of his record: I always thought he was very fortunate with the timing at Red Bull, then he got bested by Ricciardo when he joined, and then he got bested again at Ferrari when Leclerc joined, both times while supposedly being the team number one.

[GreenThing]

I think that by the time LeClerc arrived, Vettel’s mojo had well and truly gone. Being at Ferrari must be soul destroying. They’ll give you a crap car and balls up strategy, then blame the driver. Since the days of Ross Brawn, Ferrari have under performed and that can’t be down to the drivers. Even Reikkennen was fortunate that Hamilton/Alonso made McLaren implode.

Well, that was unusually swift and drama-free for F1. Sainz will become a very solid Number 2 for Leclerc at Ferrari and Ricciardo will escape Renault as he'd been hoping.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/52661201

I can't see another top drive opening up for Vettel (huge potential for disruption at Merc or RB - I'm sure that neither Hamilton nor Verstappen would want him anywhere near), and I can't see him going to Renault, so is that it for him in F1?

Alonso back to Renault?!? That would be something.

And lo, it came to pass: they've managed to come to agreement after all to stage two Silverstone grands prix.

I wonder what the second one will be called? The European GP? The Brexit GP? (But there are still potential quarantine problems that may yet scupper the whole idea.)

[GreenThing]

That’s a good idea to get more racing done. Teams stay set up for the duration of both races. The only downside is racing the same track Bac to back might be a bit dull.

That’s a good idea to get more racing done. Teams stay set up for the duration of both races. The only downside is racing the same track Bac to back might be a bit dull.

There was talk earlier on of doing one race in reverse - not reverse gear! - but it was soon realised that all the safety features such as run-offs and barriers were set up for the traditional direction and couldn't be changed (where they could even be changed at all) without incurring huge costs in time and money.

Hmm, reverse gear...