News from real F1! The budget cap has been agreed at $145m for 2021, then $140m in 2022, and $135m from 2023-25. Even sticklers Ferrari finally agreed it was the best option in the current climate.
The two races at Silverstone are likely to be pushed to August as a result of the UK government's forthcoming quarantine restrictions for arrivals into the UK, coming into force in June. As a result, Hungary will provide the third part of a triple-header, with Austria still hosting the first two rounds. Germany (courtesy of Hockenheim) is ready to step in should Silverstone not be able to happen. (The cancellation of the Silverstone Classic has freed up the weekend of 2 August.) Spain will follow the British races, with Belgium and Italy retaining their original dates on the calendar and rounding out the European season. Further fly-away races will follow, details to be determined.
So far it looks like this:
Round 1, Austria, 5 July
Round 2, Austria, 12 July
Round 3, Hungary, 19 July
Round 4, Great Britain, 2 August
Round 5, Great Britain, 9 August
Round 6, Spain, 16 August
Round 7, Belgium, 30 August
Round 8, Italy, 6 September
Some of the races (notably the doubled-up ones) are likely to have different names, so we only have one named the British GP, etc.
Also the Dutch Grand Prix was finally moved off the "postponed" list and officially cancelled, and will make its return next year.
I would be very happy with watching some F1 this summer but I hope they all can do it and stay safe. Still feels early to me to be having even the minimum number of people to put on a race getting together.
The Wolff situation still seems a bit unclear. I've seen some conflicting reports that he is staying beyond this season.
Likewise Merc and Renault are both commiting to the sport long term, which is good news.
Williams are a pretty tragic story all round over the past few years. There hasn't been much reported about it, but it sounds like there's quite a bit of dysfunction behind the scenes. There's little indication of why the sponsorship deal suddenly went sour (although rokit never quite seemed all that sound in the first place). Such a shame considering that at the start of the turbo hybrid era they were in a great spot but it has been all downhill from there to the point where they're solidly the back of the grid.
Edit: Looked at Williams standings/points total and it makes for some grim reading (and I can't figure out tables apparently):
The Wolff situation still seems a bit unclear. I've seen some conflicting reports that he is staying beyond this season.
Likewise Merc and Renault are both commiting to the sport long term, which is good news.
Williams are a pretty tragic story all round over the past few years. There hasn't been much reported about it, but it sounds like there's quite a bit of dysfunction behind the scenes. There's little indication of why the sponsorship deal suddenly went sour (although rokit never quite seemed all that sound in the first place). Such a shame considering that at the start of the turbo hybrid era they were in a great spot but it has been all downhill from there to the point where they're solidly the back of the grid.
Edit: Looked at Williams standings/points total and it makes for some grim reading (and I can't figure out tables apparently):
How much do you reckon Williams would cost? If we club together maybe we could do it...
If only I could win the lottery, you’d instantly see a new, strange Williams sponsor/majority owner with a vague emblem resembling a stinky fruit.
I wonder if Gabe would be so kind to make a livery. I’m leaning toward a Fruit Fucker for a testing livery.
Oops, I’ve allowed my imagination to go a little wild.
Seems like a good business and growth opportunity for Gabir Motorsport.
(Remember the genesis of Gabir Motors, as it was then, with Apex on the original Xbox? Circa 2003. Thanks to Apex Legends and Gabe's newfound interest in racing, it took me a bit of digging to find it...)
Can I add that silverstone has quite possibly the most annoying lap 'run in' by far? Exiting the chicane and accelerating through the final corner is not easy at the best of times, but when starting cold I just can't get the car to behave at all half the time. I don't know what it is either because it never gives me even half as much trouble when on an actual lap. It's just when starting cold (from the AI run in) the car feels completely different. It leads to tons of frustrating as hell "deleted this lap and next" moments before the lap has even started.
i mean, if I were Wolff I wouldn't want to stay on another 3 years in this current format either
team principal is a hard job, he already slam dunked it with style. now go through the motions for ANOTHER 3 years.... where at best you can only equal the job you've already turned in?
no thanks, just linger around and be a figurehead, let someone else do the work
It's been one of those weeks, and updating the F1 hot laps unfortunately fell through the cracks, to the point that I've not actually done a lap of Silverstone yet! Rather than just suddenly move on, I'll extend this one (as done before) until the 10th so we can get back to changing tracks on Wednesday evenings.
21/25 for me. Looking at the answers there was one I flat-out forgot had ever got a pole so it was a surprise. Kicking myself about at least two of the others. Well, three.
I'm not good at anagrams so I just tried to remember them. I banged out 16 of them in the first three minutes and then spent twelve minutes racking my brains to scrape up five more!
Got 24/25 mostly through trying names that I suspected had a pole. The anagram did help for a few of the last ones.
The one I missed?
Massa. Should have got it!
I got him!
I missed
Hulkenberg, Kubica, Ralf Schumacher, and the one I probably never would have remembered was Heidfeld.
My excuse is that I missed the vast majority of F1 from about 2000 through 2006 while in the States when it was nigh-impossible to follow. In 2007 I discovered the BBC's Chequered Flag podcast - hosted then by David Croft, now Sky's commentator - and got back into it that way.
Got 24/25 mostly through trying names that I suspected had a pole. The anagram did help for a few of the last ones.
The one I missed?
Massa. Should have got it!
I got him!
I missed
Hulkenberg, Kubica, Ralf Schumacher, and the one I probably never would have remembered was Heidfeld.
My excuse is that I missed the vast majority of F1 from about 2000 through 2006 while in the States when it was nigh-impossible to follow. In 2007 I discovered the BBC's Chequered Flag podcast - hosted then by David Croft, now Sky's commentator - and got back into it that way.
I got Kubica/Ralf/Heidfeld mostly through thinking "who drove for BMW when they were around?". I knew they were challengers at the time, so figured they had to have a pole or two. Started with Kubica, remembered that Heidfeld could have had a win but for something that gave it to Kubica instead, and got Ralf from starting at the anagram too long. Took me far too long to get Hulkenberg, mostly a combo of the list being chronological and racking myself thinking 'who was the other Nico on the grid?'
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SnicketysnickThe Greatest Hype Man inWesterosRegistered Userregular
Got 24/25 mostly through trying names that I suspected had a pole. The anagram did help for a few of the last ones.
The one I missed?
Massa. Should have got it!
I got him!
I missed
Hulkenberg, Kubica, Ralf Schumacher, and the one I probably never would have remembered was Heidfeld.
My excuse is that I missed the vast majority of F1 from about 2000 through 2006 while in the States when it was nigh-impossible to follow. In 2007 I discovered the BBC's Chequered Flag podcast - hosted then by David Croft, now Sky's commentator - and got back into it that way.
I got Kubica/Ralf/Heidfeld mostly through thinking "who drove for BMW when they were around?". I knew they were challengers at the time, so figured they had to have a pole or two. Started with Kubica, remembered that Heidfeld could have had a win but for something that gave it to Kubica instead, and got Ralf from starting at the anagram too long. Took me far too long to get Hulkenberg, mostly a combo of the list being chronological and racking myself thinking 'who was the other Nico on the grid?'
I missed Kubica of all people, Ralf and a couple of others I don't remember now, I was so indignant about Ralf I looked him up on wikipedia and apparently he got 6 poles???
Can I add that silverstone has quite possibly the most annoying lap 'run in' by far? Exiting the chicane and accelerating through the final corner is not easy at the best of times, but when starting cold I just can't get the car to behave at all half the time. I don't know what it is either because it never gives me even half as much trouble when on an actual lap. It's just when starting cold (from the AI run in) the car feels completely different. It leads to tons of frustrating as hell "deleted this lap and next" moments before the lap has even started.
Don't worry too much... because once again I'm going to have to admit defeat, on a track I just don't excel at and in a car that I'd forgotten just how tricky it is.
So this time I'm having to settle for a fairly dismal 1:38.432. Curses, bested again!
Oh well, change of virtual scenery in just over 24 hours... make sure those times are up on the spreadsheet, guys!
21/25. I had kind of forgotten that Heikki Kovalainen existed, but I was sure the name with all the K's had to be Finnish.
I miss Heikki in F1, absolutely lovely bloke. Completely subverted the taciturn Finnish stereotype, and also had good taste in music (IMO), he was a fan of, and friends with, Nightwish - of whom I'm a huge fan fan! Heikki even jammed with them in their studio (he plays drums IIRC), and (while hunting for a link) I've only just found out he took them as his guests to the 2008 Brazilian GP - never thought I'd see a pic of Lewis Hamilton with Tuomas Holopainen!
PA F1 Hot Laps moves on (about thirteen hours late, sorry) to the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim! A track where I wish they hadn't torn up the old circuit. I get why it couldn't be used any more, I just wish it had been left standing in some way for its heritage. I used to love the blast through the forest in older F1 games. Round turn one, flat out for ages, chicane, flat out for ages, chicane, flat out for ages, chicane, flat out for ages, stadium section, repeat. With my privileged position of not risking my life when racing around it, there was something quite zen about it all. I loathed the new layout when I first saw it, but I've warmed to it since. But I still miss the old track.
For this one we're back in our comfort zone of 2019 cars, using the Toro Rosso.
The standings are getting very close indeed in the Controller category, with @altid now only four points behind me after a series of strong runs. It's all to play for!
Old Hockenheim was a blast! Genuine shame that they ripped it up. Also a circuit that had very different setup requirements to most (i.e. no wings) but I guess we still have Monza as an engine power circuit.
Anohter lap vid for the sake of it. In hindsight, there's a lot of stuff I didn't like about it (you can see chunks of time dropped compared to previous runs, then recovered, then lost etc), but always looks so much easier when watching it than it does to actually do the lap. The game also lets me away with a bit at Stowe because their track limits are busted there.
Posts
The two races at Silverstone are likely to be pushed to August as a result of the UK government's forthcoming quarantine restrictions for arrivals into the UK, coming into force in June. As a result, Hungary will provide the third part of a triple-header, with Austria still hosting the first two rounds. Germany (courtesy of Hockenheim) is ready to step in should Silverstone not be able to happen. (The cancellation of the Silverstone Classic has freed up the weekend of 2 August.) Spain will follow the British races, with Belgium and Italy retaining their original dates on the calendar and rounding out the European season. Further fly-away races will follow, details to be determined.
So far it looks like this:
Round 1, Austria, 5 July
Round 2, Austria, 12 July
Round 3, Hungary, 19 July
Round 4, Great Britain, 2 August
Round 5, Great Britain, 9 August
Round 6, Spain, 16 August
Round 7, Belgium, 30 August
Round 8, Italy, 6 September
Some of the races (notably the doubled-up ones) are likely to have different names, so we only have one named the British GP, etc.
Also the Dutch Grand Prix was finally moved off the "postponed" list and officially cancelled, and will make its return next year.
Steam | XBL
D3 Steam #TeamTangent STO
Not gonna lie, I find that incredibly sad.
Steam | XBL
Likewise Merc and Renault are both commiting to the sport long term, which is good news.
Williams are a pretty tragic story all round over the past few years. There hasn't been much reported about it, but it sounds like there's quite a bit of dysfunction behind the scenes. There's little indication of why the sponsorship deal suddenly went sour (although rokit never quite seemed all that sound in the first place). Such a shame considering that at the start of the turbo hybrid era they were in a great spot but it has been all downhill from there to the point where they're solidly the back of the grid.
Edit: Looked at Williams standings/points total and it makes for some grim reading (and I can't figure out tables apparently):
2014 320 3rd
2015 257 3rd
2016 138 5th
2017 83 5th
2018 7 10th
2019 1 10th
I've seen it mentioned Wolff only staying in an advisor position.
Which actually leads the question of Hamilton staying in the long run (and maybe the Vettel in Merc thing not being as crazy.)
Steam | XBL
If only I could win the lottery, you’d instantly see a new, strange Williams sponsor/majority owner with a vague emblem resembling a stinky fruit.
I wonder if Gabe would be so kind to make a livery. I’m leaning toward a Fruit Fucker for a testing livery.
Oops, I’ve allowed my imagination to go a little wild.
And it's free play for the weekend. So if you wanted to give it a go, now's the time.
Seems like a good business and growth opportunity for Gabir Motorsport.
(Remember the genesis of Gabir Motors, as it was then, with Apex on the original Xbox? Circa 2003. Thanks to Apex Legends and Gabe's newfound interest in racing, it took me a bit of digging to find it...)
Steam | XBL
Yes that is a thing that happened
Steam | XBL
FASTER THAN AN F1 CAR: Volkswagen I.D. R vs Chris Harris (EXTENDED) | Top Gear: Series 28
team principal is a hard job, he already slam dunked it with style. now go through the motions for ANOTHER 3 years.... where at best you can only equal the job you've already turned in?
no thanks, just linger around and be a figurehead, let someone else do the work
That’s too bad they won’t do reverse order grid on the second of doubleheader’s. I thought it would make things interesting. Oh well.
They could do something like limit fuel more in one of the races or have the tire selection be dramatically different.
It’ll be great to have races to watch but incredibly boring when the second of double headers is basically the same outcome as the first.
Sprinklers spraying the track!
Party like it's 2005.
Steam | XBL
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/52462003
19/25 for me
D3 Steam #TeamTangent STO
21/25 for me. Looking at the answers there was one I flat-out forgot had ever got a pole so it was a surprise. Kicking myself about at least two of the others. Well, three.
I'm not good at anagrams so I just tried to remember them. I banged out 16 of them in the first three minutes and then spent twelve minutes racking my brains to scrape up five more!
Steam | XBL
The one I missed?
I got him!
I missed
My excuse is that I missed the vast majority of F1 from about 2000 through 2006 while in the States when it was nigh-impossible to follow. In 2007 I discovered the BBC's Chequered Flag podcast - hosted then by David Croft, now Sky's commentator - and got back into it that way.
Steam | XBL
D3 Steam #TeamTangent STO
Don't worry too much... because once again I'm going to have to admit defeat, on a track I just don't excel at and in a car that I'd forgotten just how tricky it is.
So this time I'm having to settle for a fairly dismal 1:38.432. Curses, bested again!
Oh well, change of virtual scenery in just over 24 hours... make sure those times are up on the spreadsheet, guys!
Steam | XBL
https://www.nuclearblast.de/en/label/music/band/news/details/73994.70948.nightwish-partying-with-formula-1-champion-hamilton.html
Damn, I miss the guy even more now!
Steam | XBL
Steam | XBL
For this one we're back in our comfort zone of 2019 cars, using the Toro Rosso.
The standings are getting very close indeed in the Controller category, with @altid now only four points behind me after a series of strong runs. It's all to play for!
Steam | XBL
Anohter lap vid for the sake of it. In hindsight, there's a lot of stuff I didn't like about it (you can see chunks of time dropped compared to previous runs, then recovered, then lost etc), but always looks so much easier when watching it than it does to actually do the lap. The game also lets me away with a bit at Stowe because their track limits are busted there.