In truth this isn’t a proper preview of the upcoming season as I have already written one of those at the beginning of March, it is more of discussion of a few points that have arisen since then and a chat about what we can look forward to.
Well we are finally on the verge of the start of the 2020 season almost four months after all the F1 circus was assembled in Melbourne for the original season kick off and I am sure that we are all very excited about the prospect of seeing the cars on track. Winter testing seems like a very long time ago now and all the speculation as to when or if the season will get going is over.
In terms of the runners and riders and likely competitive order there is not really anything to say that I didn’t cover in my original preview, teams will have been able to make some changes to the cars and introduce some upgrades but there is unlikely to be anything that makes a huge difference since the factories were shutdown for most of the lockdown period. Anything new that we see on the cars at the RedBull Ring a week on Friday will be upgrades that we probably already planned and in the system before the shutdown.
One thing that the teams have been doing since the factories have opened up is getting out on track to do some testing to get sharp again for Austria, it has after all been a long lay off. Teams have gone about this in different ways, Racing Point, RedBull and Alpha Tauri have been running their 2020 machines and using their allocated filming days to get some mileage, and while this is useful to shake the cars down again and allow the drivers and team to get their eye back in it does limit them to 100km of running. And is also means that they will have no more filming days left for the year.
The other option that most teams have been following is using two year old machines as this allows them to complete an unlimited amount of running and give each of their race drivers a day in the car. Honestly this seems to me to be the best option. OK the car is not the machine you will,be racing but the extra mileage you can complete would seem to me to be a bigger benefit. Renault even went to the RedBull Ring to do their test, which you would have to say is a brilliant idea given that is where the first race is happening, quite frankly I am surprised that other teams didn’t do the same thing, especially RedBull who own the circuit. This did even getting around the quarantine rules upon re-entering the country but Renault assembled which was essentially a test team to do the test in Austria and then these people are now isolating at home and a different crew will service the cars for the race next weekend.
Mercedes and Ferrari also ran the old machines, but completed their tests at Silverstone and Mugello respectively. Along with just getting back into the swing of driving and running the cars the teams have also had to practice and prepare for the new Covid procedures that are necessary to get us back to racing. Things will have be done differently from now on, face masks obviously have to be used and social distancing observed, but with mechanics working in close proximity to each other for some tasks keeping two metres apart isn’t always possible. I believe that any personnel that need to be cannot stay two metres from each will be kept within a separate bubble within the team itself, basically they will not mix with the others members of the team, a bubble within a bubble in other words.
Teams will be kept separate in the paddock, not mixing with each other and will stay in separate hotels and and travel to and from the event on separate charter planes. The sport seems to be doing everything it can to ensure it operates as safely as possible and I applaud them for what they have and are doing as it is clearly a very challenging situation to operate in.
The sport has said that in the event that a team member or driver tests positive for Covid-19 the event will not be called off, although obviously those effected will have to be quarantined. This means that third drivers have taken on a greater level of importance this year as they may be called upon to replace one of the main drivers in the vent that they have a positive test result. Mercedes have both Estaban Gutierrez and Stofel Vandorne on their books so they will be covered if Hamilton or Bottas need to sit out. Mercedes will also make these drivers available to Racing Point and their future partner McLaren too. The only driver with an F1 superlicence that Ferrari have in reserve is Pascal Wehrein and one wonders if he may need to on reserve for Haas as well seeing as the young drivers they have on their books don not currently have a superlicense.
Alfa Romeo employ Robert Kubica as reserve so he will there if needed and Williams would put Jack Aitkin in the car if needed. RedBull and Aplha Tauri have a problem as all thier youngsters do not have a license so they would have to turn to Sebastian Buemi I guess. Renault I am unsure about, would they have to recall Hulkenberg? Maybe!
So testing has been covered, new Covid procedures have been implemented and third drivers may be needed at some point! Another important point to discuss is the calendar itself. At present only the first eight races are confirmed so we have this strange situation where we will be starting the season not knowing how many races it will comprise. Vietnam, Japan, Azerbaijan and Singapore are off the schedule, Holland will not be re-arranged and one would think Mexico and Brazil will be called off as well.
China have apparently been given the opportunity to stage two races but haven’t decided yet and Bahrain looks likely to hold tow races as well before we head to the Abu Dhabi for the final race. It has been suggested by Ross Brawn aswell that the second race in Bahrain could be run ona different layout, indeed one that is almost an oval shape. This sounds very interesting as the second race would then be totally different in nature and provide a different spectacle. If you have a track with multilple layout options it seems like the best thing to do.
In the mix also are Mugello, Imola and Hockenhiem who have all said they are willing to stage a race if a replacement is needed. F1 still seems set on 15-18 races so we will have to watch this space. Hopefully soon we have a definitive schedule announced.
Good news for British fans though is that Silverstone is on after the Government steped in to save the event. This is exciting to me as I was and am really looking forward to two race at Silverstone. This is partly British bias and partly because it is one of the best tracks anywhere in the world.
So there we have it. The season is about to get under way and the excitement will begin. I for one cant wait for it, it has been along off season, but we can all look forward to the races coming thick and fast now as over the next couple of months there wont be many weekends where there is not a race taking place. Bring it on!!!!
My F1 talk 