[Official] Austrian Grand Prix 2020: Grand Prix Weekend Thread - Round 1 of who knows how many

[karting]

Honestly the first time in years I cheered out loud for F1 in years after seeing the graphic of Lando Hamilton time split

[ascarracinguk]

Yeh think Martin was right....Lewis couldn’t really do anything there but on reflection the penalty was harsh but probably correct. Just one of those things. Amazing race though, amazing what a bit of reliability issues does to spice things up. Properly chuffed for Lando

[Richard C]

Congrats to Bottas and Norris. I think both Albon and Hamilton both came out poorly in that incident. Albon should have waited. It was risky, nearly made it work. Hamilton didn't leave room.

My son recently started playing F1 2019 on his PC so he has become interested in F1. He has also been following Lando on social media. He picked a good first F1 race to watch. We were both cheering Lando on at the end.

Richard

[pirenzo]

Well worth the wait, I think.



Great for Bottas, frustrating for Hamilton because I think he was definitely faster. Really happy for Norris and McLaren. Shame for Albon and Perez, but that's racing. Leclerc was the driver of the day for me though, you don't drag a car like that to a podium unless you absolutely maximise what you have.

[S griffin]

Just listened to the second half of the race on the radio. Sounds like a crazy race.

Great win for Bottas. Shame that the podium was affected by a penalty, but take nothing away from Leclerc, who really dragged that Ferrari up there and Norris, who really came alive at the end.

Can’t wait to see the C4 highlights

[Knowlesy]

I just thought it was a racing incident. Hamilton made a marginal error and Albon was just really desperate to get by. A really annoying incident, but I don't agree with the penalty.

The last time they had an incident it was blatantly obvious Hamilton was at fault and I am obviously happy to see things like that penalised.

On the bright side, it does seem like McLaren have found the formula for podiums: just put those two together on track at the end of a race.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

On the bright side, it does seem like McLaren have found the formula for podiums: just put those two together on track at the end of a race.

really does highlight the different packages between Mclaren and the Renault factory team.

And makes you wonder what would be if they had the Merc power unit this year

[karting]

Just read online that Netflix were in the Red Bull and McLaren Garages for this weekends race.

Can’t wait for drive to Survive season 3 ep1

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by karting

Just read online that Netflix were in the Red Bull and McLaren Garages for this weekends race.

Can’t wait for drive to Survive season 3 ep1

That probably explains Horner's frantic weekend.

Should be a cracking episode watching him repeatedly going up and down to the stewards room, interspersed with harrowing and immensely socially awkward footage of him trying to interact with his staff. And who would bet against a cheeky dig at Cyril Abiteboul?

[steve nielsen]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Don't think Red Bull are out of this just yet. They could still appeal the race result.

get over it, Lewis ignored yellow flags

If the stewards had done their work correctly Red Bull would not have to appeal

[bella]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

And makes you wonder what would be if they had the Merc power unit this year

retired?

[Moneyseeker]

Great mixes up race, fab old school circuit and reliablity issues showing teams are fallable after all!

Shocker from Vettel, another in a long list of examples of his poor racecraft, he just cannot race wheel to wheel. He barely made any progress against weaker cars after his incident and trickled into the points via other retirements.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by steve nielsen

get over it, Lewis ignored yellow flags

If the stewards had done their work correctly Red Bull would not have to appeal

I was never under it. It was a joke Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset.

I agree BTW, ignore (or miss) yellow flags then get a penalty.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

I just thought it was a racing incident. Hamilton made a marginal error and Albon was just really desperate to get by. A really annoying incident, but I don't agree with the penalty.

I see this. Stuff like this can happen when you have racing. It happened with Hamilton and Albon, but not Norris and Leclerc or Norris and Sainz (thankfully for McLaren).

On the other hand, penalising it does mean it encourages drivers to always give room to each other and could promote more racing in the future and I see that as a reason to issue a penalty.

Edit: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/15...ntial-race-win
Includes drivers comments on whether it was a racing incident or not. Albon not making a song and dance about it, but it obviously down about it.

[Knowlesy]

I think Albon might reassess the incident relative to Brazil 2019. That was a far graver error on Hamilton’s part imo.

I am not too upset about the penalty, though I think it is harsh it was one of those marginal calls where you can make a good argument either way. Both drivers lost out disproportionately, but Albon especially so.

But it is possible I would be harsher on others if they were involved in a similar incident, simply because I believe Hamilton to be a clean racer and I am probably a little biased also.

[Taxi645]

To people who say Albon should have waited, I was a ballsy move. One we all love to see. If he wouldn't have been punched out everyone would have said what a brilliant move. If you want to win (and he had all the reason to believe he could being on much newer soft tyres), you need to go for the gap. Overtaking is not easy with these cars especially with the Mercedes having the base pace advantage.



I'm in favour of strict and regular penalties for not leaving room as required by the rules. If drivers get enough of those, they will learn to obey them eventually.

[Moneyseeker]

Outside passing moves are often tricky, the car being passed often can't see you and they are also moving on a trajectory to the outside us they unwind out of the exit.

Not excusing anyone, but Brundle has often commented on the lack of rear visibiity in current F1 cars. Personally, I think Albon should have been more patient and waited for a better opportunity, he was on fresh softs and would of had DRS had he waited.

[gert]

I see why Albon went for it.
If he waited any longer, he would robably regret not having done it any sooner as that might have cost him the change to also get past Bottas.

As for the penalty, it's a bit harsh but I am OK with it.
I just hope every similar move from every other driver at every other track will be punished similarly, regardless of who the aggressor is and who the victim.

[Lancsbreaker]

Tend to agree it was slightly harsh, but then again Mercedes slipped up in not advising Bottas to let Hamilton through to try to build enough gap......


Still, not bad for what some Max fanboy claimed was a "snoozefest" once he was out...

[NaBUru38]

Hamilton was side by side with Albon, and pushed him off track. I think he should have been given a drivethough.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

Tend to agree it was slightly harsh, but then again Mercedes slipped up in not advising Bottas to let Hamilton through to try to build enough gap......

That and im surprised ham didnt pit. I guess Merc were in damage limitation mode but surely one of their drivers (typically the one in 2nd) should pit to cover the driver/team running 3rd pitting for fresh rubber was the safe move. Always beware the undercut right?

Not the first time we have seen Merc struggle with strategy in real time.

That said i dont know if ham had a fresh pair of softs left???

Anyways, for me it was slight but i lean towards racing incident.

Although, while i said earlier i thought Albon optimistic with the attempt, upon further thought surely the same is true for Ham. He should have realized he lacked the ability to stave of Albon for long either their or in the following drs zone.

I imagine it was a frustrating day for the 6x wdc and perhaps it showed in his defence.

[Robert]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

Tend to agree it was slightly harsh, but then again Mercedes slipped up in not advising Bottas to let Hamilton through to try to build enough gap......


Still, not bad for what some Max fanboy claimed was a "snoozefest" once he was out...

That was me. I'm not a Max fanboy by any stretch of the imagination but at that point it looked like the 2 Merceds would wander off into the distance. Thankfully that's not what happened and it turned out a very good race to watch.

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Hamilton was side by side with Albon, and pushed him off track. I think he should have been given a drivethough.

I’m not sure LH front wheel whacking AA rear wheel is really side by side. LH was supposed to give a car-width room and he didn’t - hence the penalty.

[GT6]

Well much better race than i was expecting due to car failures, incidents and silly driving. Very sad that Hamilton says he wants to help other BAME drivers but ends up for the second time depriving the only other BAME driver of a podium and points by his rather poor awareness of other cars being faster than him. Great result for Bottas, Leclerc and Norris

[tbtstt]

I personally thought it was a racing incident as well: and very different in nature to the Hamilton/Albon contact in Brazil.

Albon was definitely quicker, but the move was high risk and unnecessary. Hamilton never came off the steering (and it sounded like he was off throttle), so I think a punishment was uncalled for.

Surprised Mercedes didn't use team tactics to keep Hamilton on the podium.