F1 2020 SEASON: NEWS - RUMOURS

I think Liberty have a strategy to shake the field up. Mercedes are so dominant they need to find a way to alter that, just as it happened with Red Bull. Penalising them is not the way. Can they afford to lose Mercedes? Can they afford to let them dominate? Somehow I think the August 12th deadline might get extended. The issue is why are Ferrari favoured and not others. Of course Ferrari are a smaller manufacturer than Mercedes...except of course Ferrari are owned by Fiat. Say yes to both and then you have Renault and Honda complaining.
Ferrari have been singled out because they threatened to walk. They need a face saver for Mercedes. It may have to be something different to the 40m for Ferrari. Nothing was going to be perfect.
But break the Merc team up, and the good ones go to other manufacturers shaking the field up more. What we don't know is who may be in the wings to fill Mercedes shoes. This is my bet, Liberty have a manufacturer who would come in and bring a big audience.
With no stupid token system they would not suffer like Honda.

 

From what I was reading Toto is basically doing a Ferrari and saying that they have contributed to F1 hugely and they have the driver with the best record in F1 and biggest global reach!!! Apart from he isn't signed for anything beyond this season!!!!
What he fails to mention is they have, in the past, published their 'return on investment' on F1 and their returns far outway their investments.. So being in F1 has actually earned them money not cost them!!!
I would have thought McLaren are savy enough to have a PU contract with Merc that covers them multiple year. Plus Tracing Point wont have a 2021 car to copy for the year after, so they will be well and truly screwed.

I think Toto is just trying to get better terms.It could all go pear shaped though, lets face it Lewis doesn't have a contract, Merc not willing to sign multi year concorde deal..... Maybe they could leave as constructor and just provide PUs. That didn't go too well for Renault when they powered Red Bull to all their championships did it? They kept complaining they didn't get recognition for good results and just a slagging off for failures....

All very interesting......

 

I bet Max is praying for a Merc exit. Imagine a Lewis/Max pairing at Redbull. I don't think Redbull could cope. They are good a favouring one driver and which would they favour. Imagine buying the Merc team with a Merc engine. Branded....Brawn?...BAR?...Williams?...now there is a thought.

 

See 5 teams are appealing against the punishment handed down to RP .

 

One of them is RP!!!!

 

Complicated. It has set me wondering about Ferrari. They breached the rules last year but I suspect that was not the only year and that is maybe why this has been kept low key.

 

RP's Ottmar was interviewed and seems very very insistent that they did nothing wrong. He even went on to suggest the deeper an investigation goes the better for them! He suggested that the brake ducts have to fit around all the suspension which is of course Merc so with that and regs not much design difference possible.

I think the bigger issue is more long term and how close a copy can be to be legal!
Engineers move between teams, with gap, but they have knowledge of other teams designs. Most if not all engineering stems from basic principles, so they are all copies if you break it down enough....
I think this one will go on for quite a while.

 

The more they dig the more that'll come out it seems. This could end up effecting most teams around the grid if they start allowing independent judges to make judgements.

 

To be fair to Racing Point, copying the Merc car was so they can focus entirely on 2021 (now 2022). This year's car was always meant to be a stopgap, and mean they weren't expending resources on a car which wouldn't be relevant for much longer. That their Merc copy has gone as well as it has I think is possibly a surprise to all teams, including Racing Point, and arguably the terrible performance of the Ferrari power unit this season has made the RP situation more noticeable. If their copy had left them fighting for 8-10th each race, people wouldn't have cared half as much.

I also can't shake the thought that this is part of a long term strategy to better align Mercedes and Racing Point, to the benefit of both teams.

 

Doh

 

so Mercedes provided them when it was legal but led to believe they didn't when it was illegal. And they are keeping very quiet about it all. So shady

 

Apparently Mercedes did provide 2019 brakes to RP in 2020, as spares for pre-season testing. Not necessarily an issue, the cars don't have to be legal in pre-season testing and it's understandable that RP would have a limited supply of a new part they had no history of making, but it still doesn't look great.

 

maybe that's the point, beating a 4x wdc would make Strolololol look good

 

You might have a point there
That said I do think Stroll has come on quite well. OK so he only got into F1 because of his Dads money but I do think he isn't bad these days. I think there are worse drivers on the grid now - Grosjean for one!!

 

Much as I cannot abide him , Lance is far from being a bad driver IMHO .

 

I wonder if it maybe in Vettel best interest just to walk away from Ferrari . The money be damned , I expect he will be well paid at Aston Martin , spend some time with his family , clear his head and come back raring to go next season ?

 

Jerez and Istanbul likely GPs if Vietnam can’t go ahead in the autumn

 

Good idea, maybe even Ferrari could give him gardening leave. Then bring Hulk in.

 

love to see Turn 8 back.

edited to make sense.