1416 replies to this topic

[drpfeffer]

Hello all, just wanted to share my joy of actually being genuinely excited for a race weekend, I literally can't wait!

 

I have been following both F1 and F2 closely this year, and F2 has offered some really exceptoional moments so I am so excited for this weekends season finale, Illott 14 points behind Schumacher. Mick has been unsurprisingly confirmed at Haas today so his future is sorted. Illott however has missed out on promotions, and will preobably be extremely motivated to show Ferrari and the world that he was the best junior in 2020..

 

Also the fight for 3rd in the standings is very unpredictable, Mazepin, Schwartzman, Tsunoda and Lundgaard seperated by only 13 points!

 

Following Hamiltons corona announcement we have a very exciting race on our hands In F1! So many questions regarding the pecking order of the cars and drivers at the very front to be answered this weekend?

 

Is the Mercedes really that much better..? Can Russell live up to the hype..? Is Bottas The best of the rest or mediocre..? 

 

What are your predictions?

 

I think Mick will take F2 but i think it will be very close, Tsunoda third?

 

In F1 I think Bottas will nail quali and Russel will be second 0,2-0,3 behind, Bottas has by far the best hand this weekend and is a big favorite, but I'm going to predict an eventful and exciting race, maybe with Perez taking the win and giving a huge finger to everyone not giving him a seat next year, that would be some story!  

 

Absolutely Russell will need to qualify close to Bottas and get a podium on Sunday if he wants Mercedes to commit to him in the future when they do change their lineup.. And offcourse not bin it or make other silly mistakes under pressure. But OH my what an opportunity, he has the opportunity to create his future this weekend!

 

What are you guys hoping for this exciting weekend..?

 

[Branislav]

Agree

 

Because I expect Russell to win

[TomNokoe]

Impromptu buildup thread?!

[Risil]

Impromptu buildup thread?!

 

Works for me!

[ANF]

Exciting for all the wrong reasons, sadly.

Russell will do well at Mercedes.
Schumacher will probably win the title (would Callum Ilott even want to become champion and end his F2 career?).
Tsunoda will hopefully score two victories after his misfortune last week.
Jack Aitken... will be interesting to see.

[drpfeffer]

Impromptu buildup thread?!

 

Call it what you like, just wanted to share my excitement in anticipation of a racing weekend.. its been a long time since I had that kid at christmas feeling! :-)

[Augurk]

Sad to have a weekend without Lewis. I would've welcomed a straight swap between him and Russell if that were ever to happen. But still, somehow this is a band-aid on what would probably have been a very odd and straight forward weekend with a Merc walk in the park. At least we have excitement within the Merc ranks now. 

I expect the gap to Red Bull to be well over a second a lap on this track, even though it's very short. The main downfalls have been traction and hybrid system deployment/top speed. Both will be killing around this layout. 

 

And not other team will really get close enough to challenge Mercedes. 

[PayasYouRace]

The combination of an interesting circuit layout and a slightly mixed up grid has definitely made things more interesting.

[OvDrone]

As much as I am with y'all aboard our collective hypetrain for this week's racing, I have to pop in and remind all souls that 'most [insert any positive adjective and attribute]' title for this year is solely reserved for the MotoGP season that we just had.

 

That being said:

 

 

Let's go

[Atreiu]

I'm actually excited as well thanks to the unconventional layout. Too bad Hamilton is out, but as long as he recovers, it's okay.

[Red5ive]

 A weekend without Hami dominating is anything but sad.

[MasterOfCoin]

I think we need to pump the brakes a bit on the hype train...As Ivanhoe suggest it's never a good sign....

[Muppetmad]

I have a feeling this race will either be a classic for the ages, or the most frustrating of anti-climaxes.

[Coral]

 A weekend without Hami dominating is anything but sad.

Speak for yourself. I'm sad Lewis will not be racing, however I am looking forward to seeing how Russell will do.

[TomNokoe]

Call it what you like, just wanted to share my excitement in anticipation of a racing weekend.. its been a long time since I had that kid at christmas feeling! :-)

Congratulations drpfeffer, you have now joined the pantheon of build up thread OPs, headed by the great pkonsti.

 

 

 

Kudos to whoever wins Guess the Pole this week!

[thegamer23]

The hype is real for the F2 Season Finale, the new layout & the drivers swaps!

Very interesting weekend

[Risil]

I can't tell if this track is brilliant or a giant troll on F1's part. Love it.

[Taxi]

So we had nothing for two weeks and then in a matter of 3 days:

 

- Grosjean faced death on the track

- Hamilton got Covid

- Fitipaldi name is back into f1

- Mazepin confirmed at Haas. 

- Russell will race with Hamilton's Mercedes

- Atkinson will race with Russell's williams

- Schumacher name is back into f1. 

 

 

Only one of those headlines would be enough for keeping us entertained for 15 days. But no, they had to come all at once. I'm overload. 

[Branislav]

 

 

 

 

 

Who ever call this oval?

[SpaceHorseParty]

- Atkinson will race with Russell's williams

[jonpollak]

Works for me!

You prompt and the BANG, 10-2-4 delivered the goods.

Works for me as well.

Jp

[eibyyz]

VER punts BOT at the start, both watch the rest of the race, ALB-RUS-PER.  HAAS and Williams finish 15th-18th.

Edited by eibyyz, 02 December 2020 - 14:27.

[Spillage]

I wonder how slipstreamy this track will be. I really have absolutely no idea what to expect. If there's a late SC it may be better to be in second place rather than in the lead.

[jonpollak]

I was more thinking Big Ron but yeah, I like the Bean on track too

MORE HypeTrain !!!

 

Jp

[Jon83]

Looks pretty boring, IMO.

 

Would be a laugh if one or more drivers forgot it was this layout and followed the normal path.

[Mercstar]

This weekend would have been crazy anyway even without the added spice of Hamilton missing the race.

Expect a bonkers race, Bottas clearly has to be heavy favourite, but honestly a few teams can win this one, RB Will perhaps suffer but I expect RP to be right in the mix.

Russel has the opportunity of a life time, at worst he has to be within 0.2s of Bottas in qualifying (especially so given the short lap) and be on the podium. On the other hand he has golden opportunity to do something real special and prove he's the real deal.

Obviously sucks as a Hamilton fan, but honestly can't remember the last time I was this excited for a race weekend

Edited by Mercstar, 02 December 2020 - 14:34.

[GlenWatkins]

I was more thinking Big Ron but yeah, I like the Bean on track too

MORE HypeTrain !!!

 

Jp

 

There's no one driving that car...

[Goron3]

The sheer amount of slipstreaming here is going to be comical. Like Monza, but without the chicanes.

 

We usually see battles last from turn 1 to turn 4, but now they'll probably for the entire lap. Can't wait.

[Jon83]

The sheer amount of slipstreaming here is going to be comical. Like Monza, but without the chicanes.

 

We usually see battles last from turn 1 to turn 4, but now they'll probably for the entire lap. Can't wait.

That is a fair point.

[GlenWatkins]

The sheer amount of slipstreaming here is going to be comical. Like Monza, but without the chicanes.

 

We usually see battles last from turn 1 to turn 4, but now they'll probably for the entire lap. Can't wait.

 

Careful, you may become an IndyCar fan!

[statman]

87 lap race? 

[PayasYouRace]

This circuit layout has 3 left hand corners. That’s the lowest of any circuit in the championship since they put chicanes in at Monza.

[Nemo1965]

Congratulations drpfeffer, you have now joined the pantheon of build up thread OPs, headed by the great pkonsti.

 

 

 

Kudos to whoever wins Guess the Pole this week!

 

The funny thing is... to it does not look modern, but kind of old fashioned. Like the tracks they use to create in the 50's, by just putting hay-bales at intersections of highways. Like Rouen-Essarts and Reims-Gueux. Correction: it looks a LOT like the latter. EDIT: From a birds eye view, not from te ground.

 

https://image.routey...b7453b.png.webp

Edited by Nemo1965, 02 December 2020 - 15:00.

[Stephane]

But there's only two left hand coreners at Spielberg....

[PayasYouRace]

But there's only two left hand coreners at Spielberg....

I get where you’re coming from, but there are left hand kinks on the second two straights, making 4 lefts. The first is actually called turn 2, while the other is unnumbered. But you do have to steer left.

[JimmyClark]

I am excited about this- however, I do expect qualifying to be very close, but the race should revert to the usual (Merc steaming out ahead, within their limits). It's still a 310km race, after all, even if the lap is short. 

 

Russell will be gunning for the win, and although Bottas is no slouch in qualifying, neither is George. It should be fascinating. I think if Russell gets out in front during the race, he should be fairly unstoppable. Though that car is well overdue a mechanical failure... 

[NoForumForOldPole]

There is a lot said about Perez chances - I fancy Stroll's chances at the podium. His first podium was Baku slipstreamer right??

Edited by NoForumForOldPole, 02 December 2020 - 15:11.

[Claudius]

The circuit looks interesting to me. Hopefully it will produce good racing.

 

And it's not an oval. Not even close.

[Risil]

Looks pretty boring, IMO.

 

Would be a laugh if one or more drivers forgot it was this layout and followed the normal path.

 

Long lap penalty!

[Myrvold]

Congratulations drpfeffer, you have now joined the pantheon of build up thread OPs, headed by the great pkonsti.

 

 

 

I honestly expected them to have a DRS detection between 6 and 7, and a DRS zone down to 10 as well.

[cpbell]

Looks pretty boring, IMO.

 

Would be a laugh if one or more drivers forgot it was this layout and followed the normal path.

Pre-chicane Monza was a slipstreaming track, and hardly dull - this was the finish in 1971:

 

http://f1-grandprix....hin_monza71.jpg

[Spillage]

I honestly expected them to have a DRS detection between 6 and 7, and a DRS zone down to 10 as well.

I'm still disappointed. This track doesn't need DRS at all, any more than Spa does.

[Risil]

I honestly expected them to have a DRS detection between 6 and 7, and a DRS zone down to 10 as well.

 

At least this way there could be a dynamic where a driver has the twisty complex between Turns 4-9 and then the run down the third straight in order to get out of DRS range from the car behind.

[Taxi]

 

 

Lol I'm not even editing my post just for the entertainment of all. 

[SophieB]

Albert Fabrega
@AlbertFabrega

La FIA ha vuelto a poner guardariles en lugar de los muros de hormigón provisionales en la zona de accidente de Grosjean

 

FIA has put barriers again to replace the provisional concrete wall in Grosjean's accident area.

 

[Taxi]

They found out the halo goes through it.. so why not? 

[Goron3]

I'm still disappointed. This track doesn't need DRS at all, any more than Spa does.

Thankfully the DRS won't be that effective here as they'll likely be running skinny wings. 

[SophieB]

So we had nothing for two weeks and then in a matter of 3 days:

 

- Grosjean faced death on the track

- Hamilton got Covid

- Fitipaldi name is back into f1

- Mazepin confirmed at Haas. 

- Russell will race with Hamilton's Mercedes

- Atkinson will race with Russell's williams

- Schumacher name is back into f1. 

 

 

Only one of those headlines would be enough for keeping us entertained for 15 days. But no, they had to come all at once. I'm overload. 

 

Yeah, ever since the titles were wrapped up, and after an (understandably) very muted season, it's been full on:

 

[JimmyClark]

Does anybody know why this race is starting at 5.10pm and not 2.10pm, like last week? It's ruined my plans to watch the North London Derby right after it. 

[monolulu]

Night race! Not twilight like last week 

Edited by monolulu, 02 December 2020 - 16:16.