The GSOH - Round One - 1973 vs 2020

[crmalcolm]

The next match of the GSOH bracket puts 1973 up against 2020.

Summaries from Wikipedia:

1973 - There were two new races for the 1973 season – the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos in São Paulo and the Swedish Grand Prix at Anderstorp. The season also included two non-championship races which were open to both Formula One and Formula 5000 cars.

The World Championship of Drivers was won by Jackie Stewart, driving for Elf Team Tyrrell, and the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers by John Player Team Lotus. In the World Championship, Lotus teammates Emerson Fittipaldi and Ronnie Peterson raced each other while Stewart was supported at Tyrrell by François Cevert. Stewart took the Drivers' title at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, but then at the final race of the season, the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, Cevert crashed during Saturday practice in the notorious 'Esses' and was killed instantly. Stewart and Tyrrell withdrew from the race, handing the Manufacturers' title to Lotus. At the end of the season Stewart made public his decision to retire, a decision that had been made before the US Grand Prix. By the end of the 1973 season the best car on the track was probably the new McLaren M23, a wedge-shaped car following the same concept as the Lotus 72 but with more conventional suspension and up-to-date aerodynamics. The 1973 season marked the debut of future world champion James Hunt at the Monaco Grand Prix driving a privateer March 731 entered by Hesketh Racing.

The 1973 season saw the intervention of a Safety Car in Formula One for the first time, in the form of a Porsche 914 at the Canadian Grand Prix. However, this safety concept would not be officially introduced until twenty years later, in 1993. As well as Cevert, Briton Roger Williamson was also killed during the season, in a crash at the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

Another change to the rules introduced this season was the cars doing a full warm-up lap before the race. Prior to this, tracks included a dummy grid a short distance behind a grid proper, and the cars would simply move from one to the other to begin the race.

It was also this season that the numbering system for teams was formalised. In the second race of the season in Brazil, team-mates were paired - Lotus drivers 1 and 2; Tyrrell's 3 and 4 and so on - though the numbers assigned to each team still changed for a couple of races until the fifth race, the Belgian Grand Prix, at which the order was set for the rest of the season. For 1974, the numbers were assigned based on finishing positions in the 1973 constructor's championship, after which teams did not change numbers unless they won the drivers' championship (or signed the current world champion), or if a team dropped out.



2020 - The delayed season started with the Austrian Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas, driving for Mercedes, took pole position, ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull's Max Verstappen; however, Hamilton was given a three-place grid penalty, since he did not slow sufficiently when yellow flags were waved following a small mistake by Bottas. This promoted Verstappen to second, McLaren driver Lando Norris to third, and Alexander Albon to fourth. In an eventful race, featuring three safety car periods and the retirements of nine drivers, Bottas won, ahead of the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and Norris. Hamilton crossed the line in second place, but received a five-second time penalty after a collision with Albon, who soon retired; after the penalty was applied, Hamilton finished fourth, ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr., Sergio Pérez and Pierre Gasly.

The inaugural Styrian Grand Prix was won by Hamilton ahead of Bottas and Verstappen. The Hungarian Grand Prix started with a slippery track. Verstappen slid into the barrier on his way to the grid and broke his steering axis, but his mechanics managed to repair the car before the race start. The race winner was Hamilton, with Verstappen in second and Bottas in third place.

Hamilton won the British Grand Prix despite his left-front tyre delaminating in the middle of the last lap. Verstappen finished second with Leclerc in third. Bottas had a puncture which resulted in him finishing in eleventh. Daniil Kvyat had a puncture at high speed entering Maggotts corner which resulted in a big crash with a safety car, and Sainz Jr. finished 13th after a puncture made him fall from what would have been 4th place. In the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, Verstappen won with Hamilton second and Bottas third. This was the first non-Mercedes win of the season. The Spanish Grand Prix was won by Hamilton with Verstappen in second and Bottas in third.

The Belgian Grand Prix was won by Lewis Hamilton, who led every lap and won by 8 seconds over teammate Valtteri Bottas who finished second ahead of Max Verstappen. Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth, setting the fastest lap on the last lap. On lap 11, Antonio Giovinazzi crashed at Campus corner; one of the wheels of his car came loose and hit the front right suspension of George Russell’s car, causing both drivers to retire from the race. This brought out the safety car for three laps. Renault achieved a finish of P4 and P5, equalling their best result since their return to the sport in 2016.

The Italian Grand Prix was won by Pierre Gasly after a red flag caused by Charles Leclerc. This was his and AlphaTauri's first race victory. The race marked the first time since Kimi Räikkönen won the 2013 Australian Grand Prix driving for Lotus F1 that the race winner did not drive for Ferrari, Mercedes, or Red Bull and the first time since the 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix that all three constructors failed to score a podium finish. The race marked the second career podium finishes for Carlos Sainz Jr., who finished second, and Lance Stroll, who finished third.

The inaugural Tuscan Grand Prix, Ferrari's 1000th Grand Prix start, resulted in Hamilton's sixth race win of the season, and Mercedes's third 1–2 finish. Bottas overtook Hamilton into turn one before a major collision at turn two caused the retirement of both Verstappen (who had fallen from 3rd to 14th due to a power issue) and Gasly. This brought out the safety car for 8 laps to allow for the debris to be cleared. At the end of the safety car period, a major misunderstanding in the upper midfield led to a large collision down the pit straight, causing the retirement of Nicholas Latifi, Kevin Magnussen, Giovinazzi and Sainz Jr., and a red flag period. At the first restart, Hamilton overtook Bottas and led the race from there onwards. On lap 42, Ricciardo looked poised for his first podium since the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix when Stroll's Racing Point spun off the track due to a puncture, causing the second red flag of the race. This was the first time since the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix that there were two red flag periods in one race. At the second restart, Hamilton maintained his lead to win the race. Red Bull's Alexander Albon overtook Ricciardo in the closing laps, earning his first ever podium and the first podium for a Thai driver in Formula One.

At the Russian Grand Prix, Hamilton started on pole, but two separate five-second penalties for practice starts outside the designated area meant he finished third; teammate Bottas won the Grand Prix with Verstappen in second.

At the inaugural Eifel Grand Prix, five cars retired in the forms of Russell, Esteban Ocon, Albon, Lando Norris and Bottas, who had started from pole. Hamilton took first place after Bottas locked up into turn 1 on lap 13. Hamilton would go on to win the race, his 7th win this season. Ricciardo claimed his first podium for Renault, finishing the race in third. The race also saw Räikkönen pass the record for most race starts.

At the Portuguese Grand Prix, Hamilton took his 92nd win, taking the record for most wins that had been held by Michael Schumacher. Bottas would finish second in the race, twenty-five seconds behind his teammate, with Verstappen finishing third.

At the inaugural Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton won from Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo who picked up his second podium of the season. Max Verstappen had a puncture from second, putting him out of the race. Mercedes won their seventh consecutive Constructor World Championship.

The Turkish Grand Prix saw Hamilton claim his seventh world title with a race win, equalling Michael Schumacher's record for the most Formula One world titles. He finished on the podium with Sergio Pérez and Sebastian Vettel, whilst in qualifying, Lance Stroll claimed his maiden pole position in rainy conditions.

At the Bahrain Grand Prix, Hamilton claimed his 11th win of the year, followed by Verstappen and Alexander Albon in second and third. The race was marred by a serious accident involving Haas driver Romain Grosjean, who hit a barrier at the start of the race after making contact with the AlphaTauri of Daniil Kvyat. Grosjean's car broke in two and burst into flames as it split the barrier. Numerous safety features allowed him to escape the crash with only burns to the hands, though they would prove severe enough to exclude him from the remainder of the season, it would be Grosjean's final race with Haas after over 9 years in Formula One. Pérez surrendered third place after an engine failure, putting him out of the race, whilst teammate Stroll flipped at the restart after contact with Kvyat.

Hamilton was ruled out of the Sakhir Grand Prix after testing positive for the coronavirus and was replaced by Williams' George Russell. Russell impressed by taking the lead from new teammate and pole-sitter Bottas and led for 59 laps, before being taken out of contention by first a tyre mix-up by Mercedes and then a late-race puncture, eventually finishing 9th. Despite being dropped to last position through a lap 1 collision with Leclerc and Verstappen, Pérez took his first race victory, followed by Esteban Ocon taking his first podium finish in 2nd and Stroll finishing 3rd. With his win, Pérez took the record for the most race starts before a first victory, with 190 race starts, beating Mark Webber's record of 130 starts before his win at the 2009 German Grand Prix.

At the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Hamilton returned for the last race of the season after testing negative for the coronavirus. Verstappen took the pole position and his 10th win in Formula One ahead of Bottas and Hamilton, who finished second and third, respectively. This race was the last for Vettel at Ferrari, after six years, and Pérez at Racing Point, after two years at Racing Point and five at their indirect predecessor, Force India. Ferrari finished sixth in the World Constructors' Championship, their worst championship result since 1980 when they finished tenth.

[BTCC frog]

A very difficult one. 1973 had a really interesting title battle between Lotus and Tyrrell, Fittipaldi and Peterson vs Stewart and Cevert. Sadly, however, it ended in tragedy with the death of Cevert at Watkins Glen, and I believe he could have been world champion in 1974 had he not died. Roger Williamson also died at Zandvoort, and that is, in my opinion, one of the most tragic of any F1 deaths because it was just so preventable.

2020 on the other hand, had no real title battle, but there's something about it being during COVID year that means I look back on that season very fondly. The feeling of watching the cars in practice in Austria after so long was wonderful, and then there were a lot of really fantastic races including Gasly's win in Monza, the intermediate tyres burning into slicks in Turkey, and Russell's Mercedes cameo, followed by Perez's remarkable victory in Sakhir. It also happened following the very dire previous seasons of the turbo-hybrid era (although 2018 and 2019 were quite good), and we got to visit some great tracks like Mugello, the Nurburgring and Portimao. And, crucially, all after I never thought the season would actually happen.

It is a tough one, but I think I will choose 2020.

[S griffin]

1973, despite the tragedies. 2020 was a bit too disjointed due to circumstances