Mercedes already causing a stir. How often will we hear about this over the course of the season?

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.das-explained-what-we-know-so-far-about-mercedes-trick-new-steering-system.4vgDQ6cc20xUfhdZGT0ejB.html

New season of Drive to Survive on Netlfix 2/28 !

I'm calling it now - Hamilton wins his 7th at COTA.

Will Ferrari even make it to Melbourne? If not what will the FIA do? How about making it a non-points round?

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That. I'm interested in Ocon at Renault. How close can McClaren get to the top 3 teams. Haas is an American team with drivers that are either boring or just hard to root for.

Watch the Netflix special if you can. Even going back to season 1.

There are a couple good F1 docs too. Senna, 1: Life on the Limit.

The Senna documentary is amazing.

I agree with the midfield team suggestion. I still root for Haas, but Grosjean really makes it tough to do sometimes.

And like they would ever punish Ferrari in a meaningful way. They're the Yankees of F1.

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Get invested in a midfield team or at least a midfield driver to follow. That's where most of the excitement will be this year, even if they never show the race action on TV broadcasts.

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Watch the Netflix Series - Formula 1: Drive to Survive, the second season just dropped (watch both)

Its a great way to understand the sport and the teams.

also for sure watch Senna.

I root for Hass as well, but they are hard to get behind. Grosjean is a major screw-up every freaking week (no idea why they haven't canned him), and their Team Principal is not much better.

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I'm interested in Ocon at Renault.

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I am too. I was no Force India fan but I found it easier to root for him than Checo. Didn't surprise me that he lost his seat when Stroll came over but Mercedes seems to still think very highly of him. Hopefully Renault has a good enough car to compete every week as the midfield fights between Ocon and Perez should be awesome.

MAROON said:

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Get invested in a midfield team or at least a midfield driver to follow. That's where most of the excitement will be this year, even if they never show the race action on TV broadcasts.

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Watch the Netflix Series - Formula 1: Drive to Survive, the second season just dropped (watch both)

Its a great way to understand the sport and the teams.

also for sure watch Senna.

I root for Hass as well, but they are hard to get behind. Grosjean is a major screw-up every freaking week (no idea why they haven't canned him), and their Team Principal is not much better.

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Does he have a bunch of sponsor money like Checo? It's either that or his car setup feedback is actually valuable and they're just afraid having no experience on the team.

May not get to follow Haas much longer.
https://www.gpfans.com/en/articles/50530/gene-haas-planning-formula-one-exit/

2019 was terrible for Haas. I would love to see them end this season at the top of the midfield teams but Grosjean will crash a lot and blame anything but himself. Their car issues will continue. Their back office mess with Rich Energy is a distraction for sure. It really hurts financially to be able to do redesign for 2021 changea. I Didn't realize that was even going on until the new Netflix season.

So I picked up F1 last year after watching season 1 of the Netflix documentary and now I'm watching season 2. So I'm still a rookie and trying to wrap my head around the dynamics of the sport.

Can somebody help me understand why teams will ask their drivers to let their teammate overtake them (like Leclerc and Vettel last year in Sochi) or to not pass their teammate (Renault telling Hulkenberg not to race Ricciardo)? Why does it matter to the team which one of their drivers comes in a higher place? Isn't it unfair to the drivers?

Lots of different reasons.

Sometimes the two cars are on different tire/pit strategies so at any given time one car is faster than the other just because they're on a newer/grippier tire compound. So if the faster car is behind then they might ask the lead car to let them through so they can go challenge the car ahead.

In the case of Hulkenberg on the doc, I think it was just that there was nothing to be gained by the team at that point during the race. Hulkenberg was charging but there's risk of the two cars taking each other out if they get racy. If Hulkenberg passes Grosjean there wasn't another car in range they could catch. And they weren't being challenged from behind. So the team was going to get the same number of points regardless.

I don't remember the exact situation in Russia, but there was weirdness with Ferrari all season. Previously Leclerc had lost a lead because they gave Vettel a better pit strategy despite the fact that Leclerc was leading. Leclerc was on the radio for a while *****ing about it, basically asking for them to make Vettel give the position back and Ferrari wouldn't do it. That caused ripples all season.

Sometimes later in the year one driver is already eliminated from the points championship so they'll ask them to let the other guy through if they still have a shot at it.

Too many scenarios to list.

I'm no expert but a big reason is marketing. Renault wants their new star driver to finish higher if they can help it. Ricciardo is also a better driver and has a better chance of finishing higher in the overall driver standings than Hulkenburg. Some of it just comes down to which car and driver are better on that day and give the team the best chance to score max points.

Less so the case for Vettel and Leclerc, although I'm sure Ferrari would still prefer Leclerc to finish higher. Ferrari in Russia was trying to run a strategy with both drivers 1-2 that kept the Mercedes behind them, but then Vettel ignored the team orders and his car crapped out causing the VSC so the whole plan went out the window.

Someone who knows more than me can probably give a lot more insight.

Watch the recap or highlights from the 2002 season, and you'll understand why some teams do it.

Redbull protested the Mercedes rear brake ducts, forcing them to modify the design. Also read that Red Bull indicates they will protest the DAS steering system if Mercedes chooses to run it in Melbourne.

Makes you wonder if Mercedes throws up softball items for teams to protest to distract from their other grey area innovations

McClaren withdrew from the Australian GP after a team member tested positive for Corona Virus. Later in the day the FIA made the decision to cancel the race after an agreement from the majority of teams.

This is more disappointing to me than than all the other sporting events being cancelled. This really sucks.

gggmann said:

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McClaren withdrew from the Australian GP after a team member tested positive for Corona Virus. Later in the day the FIA made the decision to cancel the race after an agreement from the majority of teams.

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Per RaceFans twitter a Crisis Meeting on whether the GP will go ahead is to be held shortly in Melbourne.. Since it's almost 6 in the morning over there i'm sure it will happen soon seeing as how FP1 is supposed to be held shortly as well.

From what I gather the FIA doesn't want to be the one making the decision as alot of staff, journos, fans, etc. are already in Melbourne. I think they are waiting on the Victorian government to make them call it off so as to take the heat off themselves.

Here's the link to the motorsport article: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/australian-gp-coronavirus-called-off/4743212/

The cancellation isn't confirmed yet,but looks likely based on inside sources.

I don't know what the right decision is but you'd think they would've made their call before all the teams got there and set up. Practice is scheduled to start within hours.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.formula-1-fia-and-agpc-announce-cancellation-of-the-2020-australian-grand.KKpXZDcd77WbO6T0MGoO7.html
It's official now.

I was a kid when the movie Grand Prix came out. You should watch it. Is part of F1s bad safety days. But great flick. Has the old Monza track with the high banked turns.

Great film. Some of that filming is still unmatched. It's crazy to think those banked turned at Monza were ever a thing.

We should be racing in about 6 hours. But no.

And if you haven't already read it the Vietnamese and Bahrain Grands Prix have been cancelled as well.

Started watching Netflix series. Seriously considering adding Formula 1 racing to my list of obsessions.

I guess because of how the races are all over the world, these races are not predictable timing? Is that right? Or do they typically get aired at a standard time even if delayed?

They're typically around 1 or 2pm local I think. So the Euro races tend to be start early. Like between 5-8 am. The Asian ones can be at like 1am central sometimes. There's usually a tape delayed re-airing later in the day on an alternate channel

I just record them and watch when I can.

Ok! I will keep an eye out in 2025 when sports are finally allowed to resume...

Binge watched the Netflix seasons. Both very well done. I'm sure being a doc they made it more dramatic than it was in reality, but still very entertaining