In the round-up: Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff criticises several of his rivals who spoke publicly about their readiness to sign a new Concorde Agreement to compete in Formula 1 next year.
What they say
Wolff was asked what obstacles there were to signing the new Concorde Agreement:I don’t know why some of the other teams made those ridiculous commentary that they’re ready to sign and there seems to be some competitors that are not. They make themselves a laughing stock with those comments in the public.
Negotiations should be taking place behind closed door without a running commentary from competitors. And in that respect, we’re talking to Liberty, we are keen on staying in Formula 1, there are some clauses which bother us a little bit, but nothing that can’t be sorted.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Otmar Szafnauer saying Stroll got closer to @SChecoPerez in terms of one-lap pace over the course of last year. Looking at the data (and disregarding the obvious outlier of Suzuka) I have to say, I don't see it: https://t.co/jskXrRHrCk #F1 #HungarianGP
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) July 18, 2020
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Links
More motor racing links of interest:
"Our engineers spotted something on the data and decided it was best not to go out. The safest option on Gasly’s car for tomorrow therefore is to change the PU, which we will do tonight. There’s no penalty attached to this change and it’s easier than trying to trace what might be a very minor problem in the track garage."
Nissany handed post-Feature Race penalty (F2)
"Roy Nissany has been given a five-place grid drop for the sprint race tomorrow in Budapest, following a collision with his teammate Marino Sato in the feature race today."
MAttia Binotto: "It’s interesting to note the difference down the few straight sections on this track, between some cars and the rest of the pack."
Calculated roll of dice helps Pagenaud hit last-to-first jackpot at Iowa (IndyCar)
"All of the sudden, they said, ‘You are the leader’. I thought: ‘They’ve got it wrong. There is no way I’m the leader. I know I’m fast, but I didn’t think I had passed everybody."
"Going onto the last set I was quite convinced we had a chance to get into Q2, the car felt good. I guess we missed our timing and I had to press the neutral button before the last corner to let the queue go. My tires were then dead cold by turn one and that was qualifying over."
F1 fans follow the action from hills around Hungaroring (Reuters)
"I have followed (Finnish driver) Kimi Raikkonen ever since he began to race and became a huge fan. I have seen every race here in every year, and I won’t stop just because the ring is closed."
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Comment of the day
Toto Wolff is playing a shrewd game with his comments about Racing Point, says @Force-Maikel:
He’s not complimenting Racing Point here. Wolff is a master of communication. Mercedes dominance is good for the team as they can win races easily, but it makes the rest of the field look like idiots and is generally perceived by the outside world, media and fans as a negative for the sport (i.e. championship fight looks hopeless already bar which Mercedes driver wins it, but honestly we already know in our hearts).
So he does what he always does, talk up the competition. In this case his main rivals are nowhere. Ferrari has suffered a major setback on the engine front and their car concept doesn’t seem to be going nowhere either. Red Bull have built an unstable car that has looked skittish ever since it launched. It will probably take them half a season to correct it like last year, and by that point the ship will have sailed.
So now he does the only thing that he can and make Racing Point seem more dangerous than they really are, and that’s exactly what he wants. Don’t make it look like this isn’t going to be a walk in he park for Mercedes. Of course it will be. That car is perfect. It seems to work at every track well enough to be at least eight tenths clear of everyone else.
@Force-Maikel
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@HoHum (@hohum)
19th July 2020, 1:04
Interesting that in all the talk about MB dominance this year, no-one talks about DAS and how it allows them to both improve corner turn in and control front tyre temperature allowing them in qually to turn the temp up very quickly and then when out in front during the race they can rest the tyres knowing they can almost instantly turn them up if challenged.
On another front, early season aero problems can be blamed on the lack of testing and the reliance of CFD and wind tunnel data that only relates to a perfect set of circumstances. In yacht racing it has long been known that the ultimate cross sections for the keel and rudder will in race conditions “stall” more frequently than less optimal designs and only the very best helmspersons gain from the ultimate cross sections, and only in ideal conditions, it’s the same for F1.
CarWars (@maxv)
19th July 2020, 12:34
@hohum yet in Q3 and race they don’t “turn up the DAS”, it is clearly the engine.
@HoHum (@hohum)
19th July 2020, 13:26
@maxv, “Clearly the engine”? Are top speeds higher, was it the engine that gave LH a 1.2 second faster lap in the rain ? maybe it was because he is the “raining world champion” ;-). Certainly Ferrari have lost power, but RBR are slower than last year with aero problems and McL are faster with Renault power so it’s more than just the best engine.
And please don’t misquote me, it’s tyre temp they can turn up at will, the DAS is just the way they do it.
CarWars (@maxv)
19th July 2020, 14:10
@hohum DAS is only front tires. With more power you can go for a higher down force setup, explaining how the “pull” it through at Q3. Ferrari with less engine power is showing its down force now.
4D-c1
20th July 2020, 11:16
Please look very carefully at Hamilton’s hungary pole lap onboard. You can see some millimetrical but clear steering movements, like DAS but very faint. Steering Wheel tolerances? Maybe, but haven’t noticed on other years’ onboard. If you ask me, they continually uses DAS on a different mode for lesser toe correction angles.
Dale
19th July 2020, 1:21
Once again Toto showing his double standards, how two-faced he really is, and how he’s a complete snake in the grass …
DC
19th July 2020, 3:52
Agreed, just wait how he will jump to Aston Martin in a great shareholder position after collecting bonuses, severance and other freebies from MB once he can’t but sign the Concorde Agreements meaning the end of MB dominance. He hopes to put some loopholes in accounting and suck MB technology for his own benefit. Hamilton is being used as a another tool, win and make Toto look good.
DeanR
19th July 2020, 9:05
Toto is a snake? Think you mean Horner!
anon
19th July 2020, 11:14
I guess it is the case that Dale supports a rival team to Mercedes – as Toto is therefore seen as “the enemy”, we get these sorts of comments.
Dale
19th July 2020, 11:49
Or that I just can’t stand people that say one thing & then completely contradict that when a different situation might suite their purposes.
You rubber spined people would always support each other. If you were were brought up without integrity that’s your issue to deal with.
G
19th July 2020, 5:06
I am rather new to F1 but a new Concorde Agreement just seems fair. Just from a spectators perspective, this season so far it seems that if Hamilton or Bottas exit the race early they will end up occupying 2 of 3 podium positions. Their cars look spot on and I find myself more intrigued on who is going to battle for P3 through P9 than P1 and 2. And if Toto is going to complain just to that they can continue to win easily it is kind of a turn off to new people/manufacturers enter F1 because the return on investment may not be worth it.
ColdFly (@)
19th July 2020, 5:32
What I Say
Toto, the so-called ‘matter of communication’, seems to have missed that the other teams deliberately singled out Mercedes as a negotiation tool to put pressure on them. Sometimes in negotiations you deliberately ‘leak’ some info to steer the negotiations.
Nobody believes that MB is holding back for the sake of ‘all teams’, but merely for themselves.
BasCB (@bascb)
19th July 2020, 7:16
Good to see they’ve been able to hit Toto were it hurts too @coldfly. Off course Mercedes are happy to continue getting an unfair advantage over the midfield.
DeanR
19th July 2020, 9:08
What’s “unfair” about Merc advantage? Every team signed up to compete under the current regulations. Dont beat up on Merc. Your ire should be focused on the other failing teams and drivers.
slowmo (@slowmo)
19th July 2020, 9:11
What unfair advantage? They’re a more successful better performing organisation than their competitors? Doesn’t seem unfair to me…
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
19th July 2020, 9:17
Having two top-notch, hypermodern factories in England and a generous support from Germany, both in development and finances, is an advantage – and if F1 wants to be fair, it should drastically reduce the status of factory teams. There, said it.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
19th July 2020, 12:29
I really don’t think there should be factory or works teams in F1. The support they have, the financial and political clout they have… it’s just too much. They should be allowed to partner a team, like Honda partners Red Bull – but shouldn’t be allowed to have their ‘own team’ – the two should be seperate.
Nunof (@nunof)
19th July 2020, 13:56
If Mr. Wolff has a good PR team, they should seriously advise him to lay low for the time being. He is in a position of serious conflict of interest, muddled in what can be seen as a IP theft and/or plagiarism, has become shareholder of the same entity who plagiarized his employee and he’s publicly close friend with on of the main investors of RP. It really doesn’t matter if F1 rules are omissive about this. Maybe the German courts should jump in action one more time to keep F1 and individuals like Wolff straight. Unfortunately they let Mr. Eclestone go with a get out of jail card, but Daimler is still a public traded company, and Aston Martin afaik will soon stop being a EU-based company. F1 can’t continue to live in their own bubble and need to start abiding to the rules everyone else need to follow.