An amazing start to the 2020 F1 season is now behind us, so let’s get into the first talking points of the year.
It was an amazing race
Well, who was expecting that? A thrilling race that had us all on the edge of our seats. From mass retirements to penalties, through to a shock podium for McLaren, it was easily the most exciting season opener since the 2010 Australian Grand Prix. And this is how a season opener should be.
Anybody who remembers the good old days of F1 would remember this being a normal expectation of an opening race: mass retirements and uncertain results that gave you hope ahead of a new season. And in a day and age when even Superman couldn’t dent the reliability of a modern F1 car, it was actually incredibly refreshing to see so many cars break down.
This won’t last, but after so long in waiting for the season to start, it was a great way to get us back in the F1 mood.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves
Speaking of things not lasting, it is for certain that exciting races like this won’t be happening every week and it’s important to fully analyse this weekend to see that F1 fans are in for a bit of a troubled time for the remainder of this year, as well as 2021.
Mercedes utterly dominated the weekend and were streets ahead of anyone on all three days. If it wasn’t for the penalties Hamilton received in both qualifying and the race, it would’ve been an easy 1-2 for the team. Even with their issues throughout the race, they were still miles faster than any of the cars behind them. That’s a worrying sign for the sport that two limping Mercedes can still outpace the nearest rival.
The issue is that these cars aren’t changing next season, and we’re going to be stuck with what we have until the new cars are introduced in 2022. For Mercedes fans this is great, but for the rest of us we’re going to have to be prepared for some long race weekends in the coming 18 months.
It’s always Vettel’s fault
Sebastian Vettel was having a fairly quiet race on Sunday and found a few opportunities to make his way through the pack after a disastrous qualifying. Through his battles, he came across the duelling 2021 Ferrari teammates Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz heading into turn three.
As Sainz went in for the overtake, he was forced hard into the inside line, just as Vettel was cruising along staying out of the way. As Sainz came into the path of Vettel in the breaking zone, the two narrowly avoided contact and Vettel, in taking avoiding action, spun his Ferrari, which sent him back to the end of the field.
The Sky Sports verdict? Vettel’s fault.
(Marco Canoniero/LightRocket via Getty Images)
If I could put in a huh emoji right now, I would, because, huh?
For whatever reason, the Sky Sports F1 team, and the majority of the F1 community, seemingly leap to any form of anti-Vettel sentiment whenever any incident occurs with him. It really is quite baffling that on this occasion, a driver who clearly had nowhere else to go and clearly spun in the process of avoiding a much more serious incident, is blamed for the incident.
I can’t imagine how the verdict would’ve gone had they actually collided. No doubt it still would’ve been Vettel’s fault.
Vettel is a four-time world champion who for some strange reason has never got the praise he deserves for his achievements and still gets bashed in the press at any given moment. This is a man who won a Grand Prix in a car that was a Minardi two seasons prior. A Minardi. That alone speaks volumes at the supreme talent he had, and has, and that he deserves more praise and less negativity than he gets.
Esteban Slow-con
I’ve never been backwards in coming forwards with my opinion that Esteban Ocon is one of the most overrated F1 drivers around, and lo and behold he helped make my point on his much hyped return to the sport after a season away in 2019.
Ocon was nowhere all weekend, routinely beaten by Daniel Ricciardo and only managed to secure points with all the attraction going on around him.
He was also routinely further away from Ricciardo than Nico Hulkenberg was in Austria in 2019, and both his qualifying laps were slower than Hulkenberg’s laps on the same circuit last year. Ricciardo, on the other hand, beat both his qualifying laps from 2019.
(Stephen Blackberry/Action Plus via Getty Images)
Yes, it’s only the opening race, and yes, Ocon has been away from the sport for 18 months, but for someone with as much talent as he is hyped up to have and as someone who looks set to become a team leader next season, he has a lot to work on to live up to this so-called potential that saw him replace one of the most consistent and underrated drivers in Nico Hulkenberg.
Stroll comes to a slow stroll and oh so close for Latifi
My final slot is always reserved to praise love on Lance Stroll and in 2020 I have the addition of another Canadian to weirdly fanboy over in Nicholas Latifi. And it was a case of “what could’ve been” versus “oh so close!”
For Stroll, he had a solid weekend with his pink Mercedes, and while he wasn’t able to match the pace of his teammate Sergio Perez, he easily made it into Q3 and even set the fourth fasted time in Q1. For the race he got a solid start and was fighting with the McLaren of Carlos Sainz early on, but ultimately retired with an engine issue.
Given his and Perez’s pace, he was easily on for a top-six finish, and given his ability to survive carnage and consistently work his way through the field in carnage field races, he could’ve finished even higher. But the promise is there that I may be writing a lot more positive things for the rest of this year.
For Latifi, he struggled for pace with his Williams for most of the weekend and was soundly beaten by teammate George Russell. But this was expected, and Latifi spoke highly across the weekend about his own performance which shows he isn’t too despondent about where he is currently.
He also very nearly sneaked home for a point on debut too, with so many retirements and penalties being handed out that saw him finish in 11th place and only seven seconds away from tenth place. That would be seen as a big win for him, and a big boost in confidence moving forward into next weekend. And it also gives this fan a whiff of joy at the end of a crazy race.
With all that in mind, it’s on to another race at the same track in less than seven days time. Will we have a similar result or will that snooze fest we were all hoping we would avoid show itself like it inevitably will at some point?
All I can say is bring it on!
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
I would like to apologise for my comments made about partisanship. It is perfectly acceptable that partisanship influences opinions. In fact, that’s what opinions are supposed to be. I feel I went too far on this occasion and am more than happy to admit that. I stand by all other opinions that I have expressed on here, including those related to Sebastian Vettel’s spin in yesterday’s grand prix. It was rather a cheap shot trying to gain an upper hand by saying another opinion was made due to partisanship. That’s not on. All opinions must and should be respected and we should all be free to make them.
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
As always, it's fine to agree to disagree. We've all had the chance to air our views which I love to see and the debate has been respectful which I also love to see. All for a good debate. I'll admit that I'm probably quick to judge Vettel's spins - 'here we go again' kind of thing - but I can't sit here and deny that it isn't something that Vettel needs to sort out whether it's 100% his fault or not. As for Grosjean, well, he did have a habit of crashing (a 1-race ban in 2012 says it all) but he has improved.
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
Eh, maybe there was, maybe there wasn't. I've slept since.
Dexter The Hamster
Roar Rookie
Might have to agree to disagree on this one. Watching live I saw the two in front of him getting into a squabble and I thought there was an opportunity up the inside. Maybe he should have backed out a bit quicker than he did (well obviously), but I do think Sainz closed the door rather rudely. I think the fact that Seb has made quite a few errors over the last three years is leading us to jump on him a bit quick, which might be deserved. Bit like when Grosjean is in an incident we all think "it must have been his fault" without looking into it too much.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Ok, I thought there was very slight contact.
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
They didn't make contact, Vettel spun of his own accord. That's where the problem lies.
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
I'm not sure mate.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Hey is Jawad a Ferrari fan by chance?
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
Definitely a racing incident. But surely an experienced driver such as Vettel knows where the viable gaps are? There's no point going for a gap if the result is going to be a bad one. Patience is key sometimes. No opportunity for an overtake at all.
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
For goodness sake, Dexter. I don't always agree with you but you are fair too. Ben's opinions can sometimes be based on his partisanship - so can everyone's.
Micko
Roar Rookie
I thought it was poor judgement to be honest from someone of Vettel's experience. One would assume Sainz would make an aggressive move, so it shouldn't be surprising they made contact really.
Dexter The Hamster
Roar Rookie
Micko, he is a racer, if he sees a gap, or an opportunity from a squabble in front of him, he is going to have a sniff. If he is going to just tuck in behind, he might as well retire now. I'm not a Vettel fan, but I saw it as an opportunity and he had his nose cut off. Racing incident only.
Dexter The Hamster
Roar Rookie
Nice one Joshua. If someone agrees with you they are being "very fair in your judgement". Strange that. :laughing: :laughing:
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
Exactly. Hence my criticism and many people’s criticism. I’m looking forward to reading what Ben has to say about it all because I do think he is greatly influenced by his partisanship for Ferrari. You’re very fair in your judgements Micko. :happy:
Micko
Roar Rookie
Definitely. To me it seemed a bold and desperate move which was so ambitious you’d expect a rookie/ hothead young driver (Ocon perhaps?) to attempt, not someone with Vettel’s experience.
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
Isn't it interesting how we all see things differently based on our partisanship?
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
For me, whenever I criticise Vettel's spins, it's because I know he can do better as a 4-time world champion. I still respect his many great achievements but for the here and now, this spinning problem has gone on for far too long and only Vettel himself knows how it can be fixed.
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
1. I did not expect the unreliability problems, perhaps as you say because we've become so used to these cars being so reliable. Last GP I remember being like this was Australia 2014 at the start of the turbo hybrid era. It makes sense in hindsight though that we did see these unreliability issues because there's not been much work on the cars or any testing since F1 went into shutdown after the Australian GP in March. 2. Mercedes' pace was phenomenal, confirming what we anticipated after testing. What was perhaps more unexpected was Ferrari being so bad. The third fastest team maybe but the fifth fastest? That was a surprise! 3. Interesting that you've seen the Vettel spin in that way. All of us who were on yesterday's live blog put Vettel at fault, which he was. Sainz was on the racing line and wasn't going for an overtake on Leclerc like you say. Vettel was the one who somehow went for a diving move where there was no opportunity to do so. The spin was him trying to avoid contact with Sainz. Yeah, the car probably didn't handle the best yesterday but considering Mattia Binnotto has said he was disappointed in Vettel's performance yesterday, this can be seen as Vettel's fault. We may be quick to judge but this is Sebastian Vettel the serial spinner we're on about so there's plenty of precedent. Vettel is criticised because while he may be a four time world champion, this is not how a four time world champion drives. 4. Yes, Ocon has work to do but give the bloke time to settle back into F1. This has not been ideal preparation for his return after a long time out of the sport. Granted, his performance was off compared to Ricciardo but you don't hear me criticising Latifi about coming plumb last, do you? Wait until the end of the month then start comparing performances across a few races before making strong judgements. 5. Very pleased with the improvement in Stroll's performance this weekend, especially in qualifying, which was so bad for him last season. Shame he had a sensor failure on his car because he was beginning to hold his own out there. Good things to come for Racing Point but this weekend was a disappointment, what with Perez not being on fresher rubber at the end of the race and losing positions as a result. We may have to agree to disagree on a few of these talking points but as long as we both respect each other's opinions and allow one another to express them freely then things are good.
Micko
Roar Rookie
I think the criticism of Vettel was fair. That was a ridiculous lunge from a long way back, which he clearly wasn't going to make. With his experience he should've known better, and just tucked in behind these two guys.
Dexter The Hamster
Roar Rookie
Ben, the safety cars stopped this one from being a snooze. The Mercs out 10 secs in front and not allowed to fight. Thankfully we had some chaos thrown in to mix it up. Was a great finish, edge of the seat stuff. Tad harsh on Ocon. First race back, being compared to Danny Ric and Hulk. Give him a few races I say. He did pretty well again Checo as a rookie. And I must admit, I thought the Sky commentators were way to quick to judgement on the Vettel spin. One glance, decision made, move on. Not great respect for the champ.