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Formula 1 2020 (Will Contain Race Day Spoilers)
- Thread starter bob6600
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Bellow
Hardcore MB Enthusiast
This is supposed to be the year/season Hamilton matches Schumacher's record seven titles. He's at his peak I don't doubt it, but it can't last forever. I hope he doesn't run out of time to gain an eighth WDC.
I hope the 'pandemic' will be a distant memory by then.
grober
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Chrishazle
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2 F1 people have told BBC Sport - but haven't heard it anywhere else. ???.
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They were apparently proven in the wind tunnel to make a significant increase in downforce to the car by smoothing the rear airflow from entering the wheel arches. The most amusing thing was the nickname they inherited from the designers and drivers apparently due to their look when driven in the rain...... PFs or pissflaps!
This was inevitable as things worsen across the world, but there is always the Scalextric to fall back on...
They were apparently proven in the wind tunnel to make a significant increase in downforce to the car by smoothing the rear airflow from entering the wheel arches. The most amusing thing was the nickname they inherited from the designers and drivers apparently due to their look when driven in the rain...... PFs or pissflaps!
Indeed they were wind tunnel tested, but were a complete pain for the mechanics who had to change the wheels and coined the 'PF' moniker after p*ssing around trying to fit them.
From there, PF's became common parlance and abbreviation used mechanics, drivers and engineers....and also because wheel covers, or WC's for short, sounded just....toilet!
Stratman
MB Enthusiast
This is from the West Ham forum I frequent
Absolute mess in Aus, apparently there was a vote to cancel and it came out 5-5. Six teams have turned up this morning and Vettel and Kimi have apparently already flown to Dubai. No one wants to be the one to pull the plug, madness
More in the link
Absolute mess in Aus, apparently there was a vote to cancel and it came out 5-5. Six teams have turned up this morning and Vettel and Kimi have apparently already flown to Dubai. No one wants to be the one to pull the plug, madness
More in the link
grober
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Letter just issued by Mercedes F1 team
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If anyone needed confirmation that the FIA and F1 are not providing the leadership they should, and need to, in this situation that letter provides it. Unbelievable.
The problem with F1 governanace is that the senior F1 stakeholders are either money focused (Formula One Group/Liberty Media) or internal politics focused (FIA). Neither wanted to take the decision.
Cancelling an event the size of a Grand Prix results in a pretty sizeable loss of revenue across the board. Doing it at ridiculously short notice, must be even worse. The blame-game will start soon as all the lawyers unravel the various contracts and seek financial compensations. I saw a headline yesterday that said F1 stock has dropped by $3.6 Billion...
Had the FIA cancelled the event, Liberty et al would be blaming them for financial loss and vice versa. The teams may yet be fined for withdrawing from the event, though I seriously doubt that will happen. Doing the right thing can be expensive these days as key decisions are always reviewed and blame apportioned with the benefit of hindsight.
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Absolutely. But that’s where real leadership comes to the fore. Make the right decision and argue how the losses are apportioned afterwards. Avoiding the decision is the province of the mediocre.
The last minute cancellation is the worst possible outcome for very many reasons. If F1 / Liberty / the FIA had any balls between them they would have announced the cancellation of all events prior to (say) June and kept that under review.
Bellow
Hardcore MB Enthusiast
I noticed Hamilton in his criticism of the Melbourne race being run (before it was cancelled) saying ''Cash is king''.
If it's prudent to cancel Melbourne - surely that's the argument right there for cancelling the entire season - or until COVID-19 is globally under control. Will we have a season? Will races go ahead and will there be spectators or not?
The spectator risk appears to me to be the biggest factor. Surely the teams can transport themselves around the globe safely (though maybe not) but then there's supply lines - where are those thousands of F1 tyres manufactured? Not China - Italy?
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^ F1 suspended until May. Bahrain and Vietnam races cancelled along with China.
Coronavirus: F1 season set to be suspended until May with Bahrain and Vietnam races called off
Coronavirus: F1 season set to be suspended until May with Bahrain and Vietnam races called off
I think they should provisionally suspend the F1 season fixtures up to summer break.
The notion that COVID-19 will at anytime be under 'control' is in my view somewhat bogus. And to be clear, this response is not in anyway a dig at you.
This virus is literally 'out there'. It seems to be highly infectious and easily transmitted between humans. The disease will spread around the globe and IMHO attempts to manage this will be (have already been) thwarted by the unwillingness of some to comply with official guidelines. Let's face it 'compliance' and 'respect' are the dirtiest of words today. The virus has not been contained and further attempts to 'put the genie back in the bottle' are futile. Infections are cropping up all over the place and with all the potential vectors will inevitably and incrementally spread further. Self isolation may hopefully help slow the rate of spread and manage down the peak numbers. Only time will tell.
The 'politicians' and power brokers will continue to posture and be seen to take 'action'. In my view (and I guess should point out that I are an engineer not a scientist), short of isolating China in early January, everything done since is Rse covering. The only people benefitting being hedge-fund managers and the media, the latter of which are just lapping this stuff up, (they must have been wondering what they keep them busy in a post-Brexit UK).
Meanwhile like various aggressive versions of Flu, SARS etc., we 'the herd' will either see this out or not (hoping a vaccine turns up, but may well be too late this time around). COVID-19 will be added to the list of viruses we have to live with or die from. The vulnerable and weak have yet another thing to be fearfull of. The health care staff are all once again in the front line, they can't run away and hide. All being sacrificed on the alter of big finance and self-interest.
Bellow
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I've no reason to believe it is a 'dig at' me. Far from it. I'm struck with a statement that COVID-19 may be with us forever - just as common flu is.
Anyway, rather than get into that here - there's already two threads running - what are we going to do with this thread until May?!!
I could easily be wrong and hopefully am wrong about that.
Hopefully we'll come up with something...
