re: Formula 1 2020 Season Thread

Awesome news about the Netflix show, that’s Series is the reason why I started watching F1 last year. I never was interested in any auto racing until then, and now I love watching F1.

May start trying to watch Moto GP based on what I’ve read in this and other MSB threads.

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May start trying to watch Moto GP based on what I’ve read in this and other MSB threads.

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MotoGP is a lot of fun. There are also some really good documentaries on it as well. Hitting the Apex is really good. Those guys are maybe the toughest people in sports. Break your collarbone on Friday, surgery on Saturday, race on Sunday.

The F1 Facebook page just posted the onboard from Binotto to Seb after the race and you can tell Seb must feel pretty gutted about the state of the car. If the car really is that bad then Leclerc deserves some recognition for dragging that car, albeit under lucky circumstances, to the podium twice this year.

Good I don't want to look at his glasses anymore.

Bottas signs new deal with Merc for 2021

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I’m very happy to stay with Mercedes in 2021 and build on the success we’ve enjoyed together already,” said Bottas. “Thank you to everyone in the team and the wider Mercedes family for their continued support and their trust in me. I’m very proud to represent this great team and the three-pointed star on our journey together again next year.

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I’m confident that we have the strongest driver pairing in F1 today and signing Valtteri is an important first step in retaining this strength for the future. 

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff

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Looks like Checo gets to race this weekend.

Apparently his first positive test was last Wednesday, which means he has to quarantine for 7 days.

On Thursday last week they changed the rule to 10 days quarantine. He had already tested positive on Wednesday so he was under the 7 day rule.

Covid hates the Hulk.

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But it appears Racing Point will be able to continue using the components.

Brake ducts became a ‘listed part’ – components a team must design itself – for the 2020 season, so while it was legal to run brake ducts you did not design in 2019, this is illegal in 2020.

This created an unusual situation, as although the regulations expressly forbid the exchange of parts or design data for listed parts between competitors, this could have been done legally in 2019.

Racing Point purchased Mercedes 2019 brake ducts last year and argued it used that information to design its own components from scratch – but did receive CAD data from Mercedes.

The stewards ruled this was legal, and determined the front brake ducts of the RP20 are legal because they were adapted from Mercedes data already applied to Racing Point’s 2019 equivalent.

But they said it did not apply to the rear brake ducts because Racing Point did not use Mercedes’ data for the 2019 version of those parts, and therefore knew that doing so for 2020 would be the basis of the design of Listed Parts – “so could not be designed using the CAD models for the Mercedes W10 brake ducts”.

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the-race.com

So they got dinged for the rear brake ducts but can continue to use them

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So they quite literally traced the design. Tracing Point it is.

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I would like to see Tracing Points lap times in qualifying and race compared to 19 Merc

From what I gather,

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RP installed the front brake ducts so they are good, but the rears they only had the measurements for so they are illegal?

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is pretty much correct, Racing Point used the Mercedes design on the front brakes in '19, but not the rear, though they had the designs. In '20 they copied the Mercedes rear brakes as well, but it was illegal because they weren't used in '19, I think....

Either way, I wouldn't be shocked Renault will protest more of the listed parts now they know the "system" that was used to design the 2020 car, and will be able to target specific areas where they believe a rule was broken.

Also, Hulk back in the RP this week after Perez tested positive for Covid again.

Here's a little more clarification

formula1.com

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while the team’s current front brake duct design was acceptable given it was an evolution of the team’s 2019 design – conceived using CAD drawings of the brake ducts on Mercedes’ W10 car, when such a practice was allowed by the regulations – the team’s 2020 rear brake ducts must be considered Mercedes’ designs.

This is because although they were designed using the same materials, Racing Point were not refining a component that had already been incorporated into the DNA of the RP19. Instead, they were – in the stewards’ eyes - introducing a completely new component for the RP20, which it knew was now classified as a listed part.

What happens next?

Despite the ruling, Racing Point will continue to use the brake ducts going forward, starting with this weekend's 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. This is because the stewards acknowledged that it was not realistic to expect Racing Point to "re-design or re-engineer the BDs in a way that would effectively require them to 'unlearn' what they already know."

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RP altered the front brake ducts from Mercs design, so those are good

The rear brake ducts are the same as last years Mercs, which was a legal to use last year, but using them now is illegal