In the round-up: Reductions in the number of marshals working at the British Grand Prix due to Covid-19 restrictions did not increase the time taken to recover Daniil Kvyat’s car following his crash, says F1 race director Michael Masi.
What they say
Masi responded to suggestions the recovery of Kvyat’s car took longer than usual because of the reduction in the number of marshals:
No. I’d suggest that it was the state of Danny’s car and the extent of the damage actually made it more difficult to recover that car. So I don’t think it was anything to do with that at all.
Actually, to be honest, the marshal reductions here had nothing to do with trackside side of it. So I didn’t say that was any impact at all.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
I should come back online for a little. Wild race in the end. Great result. Chuffed, as they’d say down here. Splendid. Let’s do it all over again next weekend
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) August 2, 2020
Here's a weird stat. Michael Schumacher made his Grand Prix debut in the 511th world championship event (Belgium 1991). That day now marks the exact halfway point in FIA F1 World Championship history, as the 2020 British GP was race #1022. pic.twitter.com/e8dPEKFG7x
— Sean Kelly (@virtualstatman) August 3, 2020
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Racing Point say 'Pink Mercedes' tag has gone too far (Reuters)
"For their work to be discounted to say ‘Ah, you’ve copied’, or ‘plagiarised’ as I heard somebody say, it’s absolutely not true and it has gone too far."
McNish: Audi to lean on title fight experience (Formula E)
"It will be very emotionally draining. It's physically going to be tiring, yes, because of the number of races in a short period of time."
'Never say never,' Aitken looking up despite tough start to 2020 (Formula 2)
"'It is a really, really difficult question,' he replied when asked to pinpoint a reason for the tough opening rounds. 'F2 is famous for how difficult it is to really be in the sweet spot all of the time.'"
PlayStation 5: Answering your questions on compatible PS4 peripherals and accessories (PlayStation)
"Which existing PS4 peripherals/accessories will work on PS5? Specialty peripherals, such as officially licensed racing wheels, arcade sticks, and flight sticks, will work with PS5 games and supported PS4 games."
The inside story of Formula 1's Coronavirus collapse (Road and Track)
"'Who’s in charge?' I asked one team principal. 'Who the fuck knows?' he responded."
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Comment of the day
Drivers should be able to tell when their tyres are close to failing, says @Slowmo:
I think the issue is not that the tyres failed but in the manner they failed with no performance degradation. The expectation was if the tyre runs out of tread it will drop off a performance cliff face but that’s not what happened, the tyres sidewalls just let go which is dangerous.
This is similar to when we had the tyre de-laminations a few years ago that resulted in the minimum pressure regulations. I do wonder if the wear was so critical that when they eased off due to the vibrations it actually decreased the pressure enough to destabilise a already weakened tyre structure. I’m sure Pirelli will blame debris or the track and hope for a free pass.
@Slowmo
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Jack (@jackisthestig)
4th August 2020, 0:44
Recovery of the car will take however long it takes, no problem there but there were visibly fewer numbers of marshals trackside. There seemed to be 3 marshals on post close to the Kvyat crash. It took a little while for the snatch vehicle to get to the car then as it was taken away, 2 of the 3 marshals were balancing the car leaving just the one lady clearing debris from the apex of Maggots.
The individuals did a great job, working quickly and maintaining distancing but there would normally be more numbers at the scene, cleaning the circuit. Perhaps this was one of the factors contributing to the later puncture.
erikje
4th August 2020, 11:55
If you listen to massi, there was no reduction in track side marshals. Only marshaling off track was reduced.
frood19 (@frood19)
4th August 2020, 7:45
Thinking about COTD, perhaps a softer selection of tyres will help this situation because the performance cliff will appear before the tyre fails. Perhaps the C1 is too durable in terms of performance degradation but not durable enough in terms of outright failures.
With limited testing (and it feels like there has been less than ever this year) these kinds of things are always going to be discovered in the full spotlight of a race day. Who knows what a full race distance at Barcelona in 40 degree heat might yield?
Jere (@jerejj)
4th August 2020, 8:03
@frood19 Yes, and that’s because this year the number of pre-season test days was six, which was, of course, followed by the extended break due to COVID-19.
As for the Spanish GP: Not going to be 40 degrees, not even close to that, LOL. Track temp could be, but not the ambient. The forecast for air temps for the three days of track action is in the high-20s, which isn’t bad. Barcelona/Montmelo in August is high-20s and low-30s for the most part.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
4th August 2020, 8:24
are we really at a point of asking for more tyre degradation????
frood19 (@frood19)
4th August 2020, 9:54
@eurobrun it seems like a logical solution to the problem given the circumstances – you can’t expect pirelli to turn it round in 3 days and they were already planning to bring the softer sets this weekend. in a perfect world, we would have a different tyre supplier that could build better F1 tyres, but the sport seems to have painted itself into corner on this matter.
James Norris
4th August 2020, 9:45
wow that is a weird stat from Sean Kelly… Schumacher’s debut was as close to the first ever race in 1950 as it is to today… wow
BasCB (@bascb)
4th August 2020, 11:02
That article from Mark McClusky is a great read. So strange how by now I am already starting to forget what was normal only half a year ago!
And yeah, I felt it was good that Hamilton spoke up about how much of a folly had been coming down under with what was unfolding. The engineers must have failed to track their sensors and the strategists failed to look at the weather radars.
bob (@riptide)
4th August 2020, 11:04
As expected its confirmed just one 90 min practice session at Imola.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
4th August 2020, 12:41
News just in – people who built the Pink Mercedes and openly admit it’s a direct copy of the Mercedes W10 object to it being called a Pink Mercedes and a direct copy of the Mercedes W10 and want their work to be recognised.
I hear their photocopier got a promotion.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
4th August 2020, 13:37
Actually the more I think about this the more hilarious it is. They openly admitted that their car’s a copy of last year’s Mercedes and they duplicated it to the full extent the rules will allow… but they’re now salty that people are dismissing their copy as a copy? What do they think has gone too far? People calling them out for doing what they admitted doing?
They want their work recognised? For what, reverse engineering someone else’s work? I can certainly appreciate the technical skill in doing so but the fact remains that everything they could legally duplicate and copy, they did and so a significant chunk of that car’s design – moreso than any other on the grid, was not originally designed by them.
slowmo (@slowmo)
4th August 2020, 13:04
Thanks for COTD @keithcollantine
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
5th August 2020, 9:50
I agree, the copied thing as gone too far since it is not a copy, it is largely the same car, merc and their common suppliers produced these parts.