Moments of 2020 you might have forgotten

[Michael Ferner]

Bottom post of the previous page:

This is a fascinating insight to the stupid amount of coaching going on.

Yeah, that's ridiculous. As I have said so often, F1 has become pit wall chess with the "drivers" as mere pawns in the game. Do this and do that, don't forget to pit when we say so, and take care of that spot of dust in Turn 3. And to think that people compare today's "drivers" with the greats of the past, makes me wanna cry.

[Michael Ferner]

The "No grip" Turkish GP. Both Force Indias led most of the race. Then someone Hamilton came from nowhere and won it and the championship. My memory was also of Stroll falling down the order, but I don't remember Perez coming through to 2nd.


The absolute mess of the Mugello GP (and the fact we saw the first and probably only F1 race there):


Submit your own, remind me of what happened this year.

Sorry, but my overriding memory of 2020 is that yelling idiot, what's his name, Croft? How you guys manage to bear is beyond me. I've watched two races and maybe a handful of highlights, and he alone is good reason enough to never again. What a pathetic blatherer.

[MonteCristo]

The "No grip" Turkish GP. Both Force Indias led most of the race. Then someone Hamilton came from nowhere and won it and the championship. My memory was also of Stroll falling down the order, but I don't remember Perez coming through to 2nd.


The absolute mess of the Mugello GP (and the fact we saw the first and probably only F1 race there):


Submit your own, remind me of what happened this year.

Sorry, but my overriding memory of 2020 is that yelling idiot, what's his name, Croft? How you guys manage to bear is beyond me. I've watched two races and maybe a handful of highlights, and he alone is good reason enough to never again. What a pathetic blatherer.

Out of interest: What made you watch any races to begin with this year? I thought you'd shunned all F1 past the 90s or so.

(What's sad is that Croft usually makes more sense than Kravitz.)

[Antonov]

The AGP happened at the worst possible time, as I recall a week or two earlier many events worldwide were still going ahead and there weren't really any restrictions in Australia (although there was a lot of panic buying and unease) and a week or two later everything was cancelled or postponed.

With that said the way the AGP cancellation was handled was farcical, I remember going to sleep at about 1am (5 or 6 hours after the McLaren pullout announcement) and seeing reports that it was going to be cancelled and then waking up at 8am and finding that it still hadn't been officially cancelled and that the 2-seater was out on the track doing laps. I think it later came out that several drivers had already left the country in the middle of the night by the time they cancelled it.

Let's be honest. The Australian GP just happened to be scheduled at a time when the pandemic started becoming global vs. local (limited to China, Iran, South Korea and Italy). Everyone got caught by surprise. Can't blame F1 for it.

Yeah, can't blame F1 for sleeping three weeks straight. Check your calendar, by that time the pandemic was already all over the place. I remember we cancelled ALL local events on the morning of March 2.

I do remember the panic of whether or not I'd be able to meet my girlfriend in Moscow (March 6th - March 10th).
We did manage it, but barely 2 days after my arrival, all further arrivals in Russia were asked to self-quarantaine.
I came back, and
- on March 11th inquired about furlough for our staff (active in travel / hotels)
- on March 12th applied furlough to more than 50% of our staff (and imposed a working from home regime for many others)
- on March 13th national lock down was imposed
- on March 14th all travel was forbidden

As you see from the history, I was more than pleased I still managed to see my girlfriend.
We then had to wait until mid August.

[XcraigX]

"Everyone 'round the outside" at Mugello. Most of the passes were on the outside of turn 1 or around the outside at 4/5 and again at 10/11.

The greasy first 5 laps at Portmao when it was sprinkling. That was some very interesting action. I liked the Portmao track and it provided a decent amount of passing in the midfield.

[Michael Ferner]

Out of interest: What made you watch any races to begin with this year? I thought you'd shunned all F1 past the 90s or so.

I stopped watching F1 and other racing in 2001, yes. Various reasons for that, doesn't really belong in this thread. What made me take a renewed interest? Hard to say. It's something that grew over the past couple years or so, partly inspired by you lot here discussing current events. Actually, I don't think I read the current stuff until starting with this year - I'm not sure, but I think it was mostly the CoViD related surplus time I had at work , and that I was trying to kill by reading lots of stuff, including the posts in this part of the forum. Also, I was interested in how it would be possible to run the WC during the pandemic, so I kind of loosely followed the going-ons, and finally when my father died last month, I was having a hard time concentrating on doing something worthwhile (still do), so I thought, what the heck, why not watch a Grand Prix? And so I did.

[Andy]

Memorable moments ?
Sorry I can't provide any.

[MonteCristo]

Out of interest: What made you watch any races to begin with this year? I thought you'd shunned all F1 past the 90s or so.

I stopped watching F1 and other racing in 2001, yes. Various reasons for that, doesn't really belong in this thread. What made me take a renewed interest? Hard to say. It's something that grew over the past couple years or so, partly inspired by you lot here discussing current events. Actually, I don't think I read the current stuff until starting with this year - I'm not sure, but I think it was mostly the CoViD related surplus time I had at work , and that I was trying to kill by reading lots of stuff, including the posts in this part of the forum. Also, I was interested in how it would be possible to run the WC during the pandemic, so I kind of loosely followed the going-ons, and finally when my father died last month, I was having a hard time concentrating on doing something worthwhile (still do), so I thought, what the heck, why not watch a Grand Prix? And so I did.

So sorry to hear about your father, Michael. I hope things are ok.

Otherwise, here we have it people: we're influencers! But yeah, I don't think I'd watch F1 if I was starting from scratch (or jumping back in).

[Everso Biggyballies]

@Michael Ferner very sorry to hear of the loss of your Father. Having last year also lost mine I sympathise with what you must be feeling. He was responsible for my interest in Motor Racing, and even when we lived at opposite ends of the globe every GP we would discuss in detail for an hour or so after every race.

[But yeah, I don't think I'd watch F1 if I was starting from scratch (or jumping back in).

Strangely I was recently wondering the same about would I have become such a fan of F1 if I was starting that journey now. Back in the day there was no instant media availability, and I think the fact that I used to go to far more races than I do now is down to the fact I could not then watch something on several channels day or night, rarely follow stuff live and indeed get news immediately of the internet. Back then it was a matter of waiting until Thursday to scour through Autosport and Motoring News to get informed! I could also go to an event get right up close and also meander through the paddock up close to the cars and heroes. Get over that thought now.

Nowadays I will go to a few major historic meetings but that is more to do with catching up with old friends and making it a social event as much as the racing.

I used to go to the tracks most weekends back in the day, certainly would never miss a British GP or any of th non championship F1 races.... When I moved to Aus I would not think twice about driving the close to 2000 klms round trip to Adelaide every year to watch the GP, even though it was live on TV.

Nowadays I cant be bothered to drive the 10 klms to Albert Park to watch the GP. Some years I might go to a practice day, but the last time I did that it was to watch the support categories (Historic Sports cars and also F5000. For the main race its easier to turn on the telly and have the lap top running in the comfort of my own home. Last time I went on race day to Albert Park, I ended up watching it more on the big screen because the actual viewing areas were so far from the track.

I guess being a fan nowadays is a different type of activity. I physically watch more motorsport now, of more different types, just do it from home now more often than not.

[MonteCristo]

Not a moment, but a conclusion.

Toro Rosso or whatever they are ended the season in 7th, with 107 points. Alfa was 8th, with 8 points.

107 points would have got you 5th in 2019, 2018 and 2017.

[PTRACER]

This is a fascinating insight to the stupid amount of coaching going on.

Yeah, that's ridiculous. As I have said so often, F1 has become pit wall chess with the "drivers" as mere pawns in the game. Do this and do that, don't forget to pit when we say so, and take care of that spot of dust in Turn 3. And to think that people compare today's "drivers" with the greats of the past, makes me wanna cry.

I have said it time and time again, there is too much "data" now. The drivers know when to drive at 90% and when to drive at 98%. And they know what "90%" is to the nearest 0.1s so they can always meet their target. I guess it makes it more of a team sport rather than all about the driver