Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Silverstone, 2020

Verstappen: ‘Being within half a second of Mercedes would be good’

RaceFans Round-up

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In the round-up: Max Verstappen says it’s hard to predict how close Red Bull will be to Mercedes this weekend after two very different races so far.

What they say

Red Bull were a few tenths behind Mercedes in Austria, but well over a second slower in Hungary, which Verstappen says makes their performance hard to predict.

Last year we came here, we thought we were going to get smashed and we are within two tenths in qualifying. So it can depend on a lot of things.

I mean, for sure, they are the dominant team and they will be very fast. I mean, it can be from two tenths to a second to… you really don’t know. I hope it’s not going to be a second. I hope not.

I hope to be within half a second, that would be good, I think.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

Many of you supported Kevin Magnussen call for the rule which caught Haas out in Hungary to be changed.

I agree with him.

Think of Markus Winkelhock’s beloved F1 race – he would have also been penalised for that tyre change after the warm-up lap.
@Bleu

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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39 comments on “Verstappen: ‘Being within half a second of Mercedes would be good’”

  1. Love Lando’s helmet!
    Hope he sends it to Eva after the race!

  2. Hope you get the right result and keep well @keithcollantine.
    My initial sympathy for Perez is somewhat dimmed if the report about him socialising in Mexico is correct. Stroll would be totally justified in sacking him and replacing him with Vettel if that report is correct.
    The reason this pandemic is spreading so rapidly is because so many people are not taking it seriously, it may not be serious for most younger people but it is serious for their parents and grandparents.

    1. Surely the idea of a bubble is to stay on the same continent at the very least!

      1. Exactly. The number of people Perez has potentially come into contact with, either directly or indirectly through surfaces he’s touched, must be enormous. I hope he’s ok but I also hope he misses several races to be on the safe side. In a time when infection rates are rising in many parts of the world, this has the potential to do the sport a lot of reputational harm and more importantly, many bystanders could be harmed or killed too.

      2. I thought it wasn’t even allowed to travel between Mexico and Europe for work/leisure.
        The UK has different rules though.

    2. “Perez’s wife deleted pictures she had shared on her social media profiles of the Racing Point driver mixing with other people in Mexico since the last race, before his positive Covid-19 test.”

      Honestly, I’m baffled, I thought Perez was a smart guy.

    3. I hope Perez doesn’t get sacked for this, but given what happened to Daniel Abt that is quite possible.

  3. JohnnyRye (@)
    31st July 2020, 0:55

    Re COTD:
    2 things to consider.
    1) The rule didn’t exist then.
    2) I can’t remember but did he make the call in his own?

    Remember that the Haas’ weren’t penalized for putting, they were penalized for giving the drivers advice.

    Like it or not, the rules are the rules and some teams follow/know them better

    1. jsw11984 (@jarred-walmsley)
      31st July 2020, 3:13

      Re COTD:
      2 things to consider.
      1) The rule didn’t exist then.

      Yes, that’s the whole point of COTD, if this rule had been in place then, we wouldn’t have had that experience of Winklehock running around at the front.

    2. Actually, the rule is that all communication between pitwall and driver is forbidden. Technically, so is the on-board ECU, as it responds to inputs and makes adjustments without the drivers direct control.

      Ironically, DAS is perfectly legal, and doesn’t fall afoul of 27.1:

      27.1 The driver must drive the car alone and unaided.

      It’s an overly broad, and largely stupid rule, because the way it’s written, we need to be racing cars from the 1970’s– Except that even in the 1970’s, the input of engineers was a crucial part of Formula One racing.

      If you want to know the exemptions to that rule, you’ll need to consult Technical Directive 011-17, which isn’t publicly available, as far as I know.

    3. No if the rules are stupid they have to change otherwise you get, um, Nazis.

  4. Lando’s helmet is definitely the cutest of all time.

    1. Yeah, it’s nice to see Norris have fun with it.

  5. Norris’s lid will be a great feel-good story to give people – and the sport – a lift in difficult circumstances. Great publicity, and all the better for being genuine. McLaren must be thrilled with the shine it’ll give to their weekend.

    1. Yeah, that lid is just completely adorable. Great pick. I think Norris really is coming into his own since the lockdown simracing and with more experience. So good to see this young guy developing and having fun but also at the same time being so engaging and nice overall @bookgrub

  6. Yeah that’s very irresponsible of Perez given the situation of the virus in Mexico particularly. Hope other drivers take precautions a bit more seriously now.

    1. Other being Bottas and Leclerc.

      1. Yeah, I think the FIA missed an oppertunity to ingrain into the field that just skitting away and out of their bubbles is really NOT done. As Chaitanya mentions they should have reprimanded Bottas (since he seems to have avoided contacts responsibly) and punished Leclerc substantially to give off a warning (since he socialized in Monaco) @t1redmonkey

        Now they failed to uphold the bubble and Perez will have to miss a race. I hope he gets better soon, and especially hope him meeting with team members prior to the race weekend doesn’t mean others are also affected. Off course Perez punished himself – he won’t be racing this incredible car at a track where it should do really well, and that might affect where he drives next year – but it shows the risk of just going off and ignoring the agreements about staying in your bubble.

        1. I read somewhere due to quarantine rules in England Perez is going to miss next weekend’s race as well. I just hope this Perez incident sends a stronger message in the grid with drivers being more careful from now on.

          1. Due to contractual implications he might miss all weekends next year.

        2. @bascb They indeed should’ve reminded Bottas and Leclerc about their unnecessary extra traveling without a justifiable or understandable reason. Norris did the same between Red Bull Ring 2 and Hungary, but he did it for medical reasons, so only he had a justifiable reason for this type of extra traveling.

          1. Exactly, with Norris it was justifyable medical-ish reasons. And he only met the doctor on top of the normal Bubble @jerejj.
            Both Bottas and Leclerc did something that put in extra risk, in Leclercs case even more since he did socialize outside of the Bubble – just like it seem Perez did.

  7. What kind of Covid-19 test that failed to produce a result or inconclusive results for that matter? Was it done by official F1 medical team or it was a local organizers responsibility?

    1. Quite normal for a test to be inconclusive. And even the conclusive tests are not always correct (the good ones 99.9% though).
      You just retake the test.

      1. It’s common to have false positive, but ‘failed to produce a result’?

        1. but ‘failed to produce a result’?

          Also!
          False positives and negatives (which are a bigger concern) happen in all tests. As mentioned the poor tests have ‘false’ outcomes in percentage-points; the better tests are already below 0.1%.

        2. @ruliemaulana I read that with the test they look for two things, if both are found then it is positive, if both are not found it is negative but if only one is found it is classed as “inconclusive” which would mean no result is produced and you need to do it all again.

        3. I still think we need first hand information form @keithcollantine on who’s doing the tests, how it was done, how long it takes and where the person should be waiting when the first test was ‘inconclusive’. @chimaera2003 @coldfly

          1. I still think we need first hand information form @keithcollantine on who’s doing the tests, how it was done, how long it takes and where the person should be waiting when the first test was ‘inconclusive’.

            Why? I don’t think it is relevant here, we certainly don’t have a right.
            But as @KeithCollantine is undergoing the test as well, he might share a few experiences if and when he is cleared.

            PS you can find who is doing the test via some other official F1 links. As I don’t think it is very important, I did not bother to look it up.

  8. Not only Markus Winkelhok, but also Jolyon Palmer, who did the same in China by coming to the pit lane for slicks from the formation lap ahead of the 2017 race.

  9. Feels like a lot of people have strange ideas about COVID. Some think “I am rich and this is a poor persons disease. If I stick with other rich people I will not catch it”. Other people seem to think “This is a rich persons disease. I am poor I won’t get it “. Humans are all crazy, myself included.

  10. Formula 1 partners with YouTube to livestream the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix (F1.com)
    “For the first-time in history, fans across selected European markets will have the opportunity to watch a Formula 1 Grand Prix for free on YouTube, including everything from practice sessions, to qualifying, and all the live race day action from the Nurburgring on October 9-11.”

    1. Fans will be able to watch the race, live and for free, in seven European markets including: Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.

      Advertisers can buy ad inventory against the livestream of the German Grand Prix, in single or across multiple markets, along with the rich content across the entire F1 YouTube channel.

    1. No way. That actual race?!

    2. The*
      Ah not in the UK it seems.. was to be expected I suppose.

      I wonder who’s broadcast they will use or if they will have their own commentators

      1. I presume that, like the F1tv and world-feed, the English language broadcast will use the Sky UK commentary. On F1tv they also offer, in addition, the Ziggo TV Dutch, RTL Germany for, well, German, and French, Spanish from the main broadcasters there (I think, admit to not often having listened to those) – maybe nowadays more options for Danish, Swedish, Norwegian too? Belgian is likely covered by the French and/or Dutch option.

        Or perhaps even my favourite from F1tv – no commentary, just the cars+radio – would love to have that back, at least as an option!

    3. That does indeed deserve a place here @coldfly! I will probably watch it that way to show appreciation and interest, and for curiosity to see how well that streams (compared to say F1tv experience until early last year, and ZiggoGo on my phone – which has trouble with flakey WiFi currently, and last weekend didn’t want to work for a large part of the race for all users on all devices).

      Sure, would hope they do more of this ‘free’ to air (add supported? will see I guess), but an alternative to having to get a German Sky sport subscription when I only watch F1, or hanging on to combi of my Dutch mobile being Vodafone+registered in NL,in a place that has Ziggo as only real tv/internet service (both also Liberty owned, thus ZiggoGo on mobile, but only mobile), well, might be nice (Yeah, I missed/didn’t take up chance end of last month to get a ‘backup’ F1TV subscription). Well, I suppose these deliberations aren’t very relevant/a bit ancient but still relevant – which is it – for people in UK, or other locales where it’s not Free to air either ;)

  11. Come on Max, stop sandbagging, you can easily go more than half a second quicker than the Mercs!

Comments are closed.