Well, I really enjoyed my afternoon listening to Brundle saying genius things like "the throttle goes both ways".
Also, today feels like another one of those days where the F1 rule makers look perpetually drunk. All the confusion about whether the race had started and the race timer and then stopping the race timer after 2 hours for.... reasons. It was just a total nonsense. Really don't know how you can give out points when no racing took place.
Absolute shit show. Reminds me of an even worse USA ‘05. I think it’s tricky to know what they could have done, but it’s a real shame not to get to see George actually start in second and what he could have done.
Ideally, they'd have abandoned the race and they either try to reschedule it (very difficult with Spa though due to the climate there being crazy at the best of times) or they just accept it wasn't possible to run a race. They were talking during the race about trying to do it tomorrow, but I just don't see how they'd manage that. But what they chose today was just pretty shit for everyone apart from Williams. Also, I wouldn't be too sad that you didn't get to see Russell in the race. That Williams has gone backwards every time it's qualified well. It hates wind and other cars. I think the only time it hasn't done so was Hungary and that's just because it's an absolute pig of a track to get by anyone.
Rumours today that several deals have been signed. Albon > Williams Russell > Mercedes Bottas > Alfa Romeo De Vries > Alfa Romeo
Those moves make for some interesting lineups. Albon would at least get proper support at Williams (whether the car will be decent is anyone's guess) and that Alfa lineup removes the waste of space that is Gio. Just have to hope we get a nicely packed midfield with the new regs...
Is it especially strange? The guy won F2 and had nowhere else to go and since you're not allowed to stay in that series once you've won it, got bumped to FE and endurance racing. I don't think he's going to set the world alight, but he probably does deserve a crack. Probably more surprising that Ferrari aren't trying to get some of their academy products in that car though.
Yeah that’s what I mean. Is the Ferrari/Sauber link dead? De Vries is 26, a Mercedes reserve, and hasn’t been especially great. He won F2, but it was a down year. It’s a stopgap for Pourchaire, but why go with De Vries instead of staying with Gio. Another thing I find strange is simply going for a rookie in a year with huge reg changes when there are experienced drivers out there without a drive and could help.
I think Ferrari lost their seat at Alfa starting next year, which is why Illot/Schwartzman don’t seem to be considered. De Vries came through the Alfa owners feeder team in F2 so it’s likely that he wants to give him a shot for that reason.
There are mitigating circumstances with his F2 and FE wins, but he also compared pretty well with Lando and Albon when he was in F2 alongside them. Russell dominated that year, but the others were fairly closely packed. Personally, I just don't see the point in having Gio there. He's a known quantity who has really not shown anything in the years he's been there. I know the car is crap, but Kimi has still pulled out some classy moves and performances even if big results haven't come. I can't remember Gio doing well, anything. I didn't realise that Ferrari had no seats at Alfa now. I thought the partnership was pretty much locked in, so that was news to me as well!
I’m guessing Ferrari will now have their academy drivers maybe race their factory LeMans program, which starts in 2023, if they can’t get seats for them in F1