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Grand Prix thread Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2020

Discussion in 'Formula 1' started by ched999uk, Dec 10, 2020.

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Who will win/who will race?

Poll closed Dec 12, 2020.
  1. Lewis Hamilton - Will they let me in?

    4 vote(s)
    57.1%
  2. George Russell - please just one more go.

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  3. Valtteri Bottas - Will I have a 2021 seat?

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  4. Max Verstappen - Give me some luck

    2 vote(s)
    28.6%
  5. Alexander Albon - Doesn't really matter - recovery impossible

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  6. Daniel Ricciardo - bye bye Renault

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  7. Carlos Sainz - Can I gain the upper hand on Lando?

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  8. Lando Norris - Can I gain the upper hand on Carlos?

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  9. Charles Leclerc - I will drag this Ferrari over the line no matter what.

    1 vote(s)
    14.3%
  10. Any Other - I can't see perfect storm happening twice!!

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. SgtBhaji

    SgtBhaji Well-Known Member

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    I do find it odd, that the bloke comes back from covid, clearly not 100% and there's question marks over if he's making a meal over it. If another driver came back in a similar state, would we applaud them for wanting to get back behind the wheel?

    His silence over social media, the late hour his return was announced, and some of Toto's comments suggest he got a reasonable dose of the ick.
     
    #81
  2. ched999uk

    ched999uk Well-Known Member

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    Sorry that's not how I intended it to come across. I was speculating that it was probably significantly worse than Merc and he had admitted. I think driving an F1 car to the max takes 100% so anyone who comes back after an illness and still finishes top 3 is doing well. I was also trying to say that I wasn't just saying it as it was Lewis.
     
    #82
  3. SgtBhaji

    SgtBhaji Well-Known Member

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    No worries, I just may have just read it the wrong way. Just it sometimes feels that anything surrounded him has an air of suspicion. Like motives for returning. He's a racer, he's going to want to race. Really he probably should have just sat it out and got 100%, but that's not how people like that operate. Me, I'd have been calling in sick. :p
     
    #83
  4. ched999uk

    ched999uk Well-Known Member

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    I never knew that DC, Steve and Mark could sing that we <laugh><laugh><laugh>
    C4 f1 show...
     
    #84
  5. Mark Blow

    Mark Blow Well-Known Member

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    What I find pathetic is Hamilton saying I’m glad to be alive’ after testing positive.The chances of him catching and dying from it were pretty much neglible to say the least anyway.
     
    #85
  6. SgtBhaji

    SgtBhaji Well-Known Member

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    Fit and healthy people are dying from this too. If you get it and are asymptomatic, have mild symptoms, or harsh symptoms and don't die, or have any long standing issues, then count your blessings! Be grateful to be alive, because around 1.5million folk haven't been that fortune.

    Honestly... Give your head a wobble.
     
    #86
  7. Mark Blow

    Mark Blow Well-Known Member

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    I don’t need to give my head a wobble, I’ve done enough investigation of deaths and causes to know that Hamilton at his age and being fit and healthy had a pretty neglible chance of dying from it. The whole thing has become a scamdemic.
     
    #87
  8. SgtBhaji

    SgtBhaji Well-Known Member

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    Tell that to all the dead people. A scamdemic... Ffs.
     
    #88
  9. DHCanary

    DHCanary Very Well-Known Member
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    It's just such a nothing circuit. It has no real redeeming features.

    The start-finish straight is too short, so there's no real run to the first corner. And when you get there, it's too quick to be a real overtaking opportunity. Turns 2,3,4 are nice enough but easy flat in modern machinery.

    5,6 chicane is never an overtaking opportunity off the fast sweeps, and seems to exist only to slow people into the hairpin at 7. Then the long straight into chicane is, fine, but following it with another long DRS straight means there's little point overtaking on the first straight, you just get re-passed.

    After the second straight you have an awkward 3-part chicane, which is really the only overtaking opportunity on the lap. Then you have the entirely pointless turns 14-21, where literally nothing has ever happened. There's been a couple of incidents with backmarkers in 10 years, and that's it. You can't overtake, mistakes are unpunished, all it does is spread the field out.

    It's baffling that you'd spend £800m on the circuit, pay extra each year to take the final slot on the calendar, and make no effort to address the circuit. It's far worse than any venue of the last 25 years, even Sochi and Valencia have redeeming features. The best feature of Yas Marina is the pit exit. And when the circuit is basically a giant car park anyway, changing the layout is mainly just drawing new lines.
     
    #89
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  10. SgtBhaji

    SgtBhaji Well-Known Member

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    Pointless trying to save it. Just nix it and be done. It's a pointless venue with a pointless layout.
     
    #90
    Number 1 Jasper likes this.

  11. El_Bando

    El_Bando Can't remember, where was I?
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    I'm not denying he was ill and not 100% fit. I'm just suggesting the gap to him and Bottas was managed. And the radio messages sounded like "oh no.... I can't overtake
    ...must be because I've not fully recovered or the tyres or something" (code for "guys I'm ok to stick behind but can you tell Bottas to speed up a bit")
     
    #91
  12. DHCanary

    DHCanary Very Well-Known Member
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    For me, it really emphasises how much the GP is "sports-washing" and little more. It's all about the visuals of having a GP at a fancy-looking venue, rather than any desire to produce a good race.
     
    #92
    Number 1 Jasper likes this.
  13. Number 1 Jasper

    Number 1 Jasper Well-Known Member

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    Completely agree . Saudi Arabia up next .......
     
    #93
  14. SgtBhaji

    SgtBhaji Well-Known Member

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    It's definitely all a bit "need for speed". All lights and no substance.
     
    #94
    Number 1 Jasper likes this.
  15. El_Bando

    El_Bando Can't remember, where was I?
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    Interesting day of testing. Mercedes drivers showing anybody can top the times. And Alonso only driver to beat the qualifying time of his team.
     
    #95
  16. ched999uk

    ched999uk Well-Known Member

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    Says a lot when Alfa Romeo managed to be 3rd fastest car!!!!
    I think they all had C5 tyres which were same as reds for race weekend I think, so it was same tyres!
     
    #96

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