In the round-up: Romain Grosjean is hoping the coming ban on ‘quali modes’ will help Haas beat Mercedes customer team Williams.
What they say
Speaking after qualifying on Saturday, Grosjean said he’s hoping to see a change at Monza:
We were hoping that maybe we could try to beat the Ferraris which were our race: Alfa Romeo, Ferrari.
Williams, I expected them to do a step, they have something in quali we don’t have and hopefully from next race It’s not the case anymore.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
#AH19 The story I wished I remembered more of. One year ago, around this time, we were stood next to each other for the usual F2 drivers parade on the truck. Waving to fans and spending the 10-15 mins just chilling really. Some drivers chat a lot, others not so much. We… pic.twitter.com/md3tbSawQG
— Jack Aitken – 한세용 (@JaitkenRacer) August 31, 2020
I would say that Ferrari will be burning the midnight oil this coming week, but they're not allowed to do that anymore #BelgianGP
— Sean Kelly (@virtualstatman) August 30, 2020
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
WTCR promoter confirm legal action against Salzburgring (Touring Car Times)
"Eurosport Events, the World Touring Car Cup promoter, has confirmed it will proceed with legal actions against the Salzburgring organisation over being forced to move the season start."
Chevrolet, Penske rebound with power play at Gateway (IndyCar)
Penske president Tim Cindric: "When I look at Indy, Chevy gave us the tools to win the race and the tools to do the job. The Chevy teams, including us, didn’t reach our potential. We started too far back. We had good race cars. We needed the Indy 600 to make it work."
Ferrari are given a rating of three out of 10 for last weekend's performance.
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Comment of the day
Mercedes’ policy of not letting their drivers use their last shot of ‘overtake’ mode to attack each other is justifiable, says Gooey:
It makes total sense for Mercedes not to use a higher engine mode at the cost of engine life if all it is doing is swapping driver positions at no net point gain for the team.
That is why they can use it against, say, Max Verstappen but not each other, the former has a points implication. I expect that rule until the constructors championship is theirs.
Gooey
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Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
1st September 2020, 3:47
There’s no points awarded for Qualifying places, only for race results. Haas’s most important competitors aren’t Williams, who appear to finish races behind them, but Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri, who finish just ahead of them.
Recently there was a claim one of the Haas drivers, I think it was Romain, had the third fastest lap time for the entire race. If so that’s the sort of effort Haas needs to be trying to replicate, except not for just one lap but the entire race, and not by just one driver but by both.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
1st September 2020, 14:13
That is a strange move from the Salzburgring. Austria was removed from the UK’s “quarantine corridor” list over a week ago (22nd August), and I don’t know of any other nation changing its policy to compel this quick a postponement. Even that week of delay could have been costly, so I can see why WTCR is contemplating legal action.
WarfieldF1 (@warfieldf1)
1st September 2020, 14:20
Time to shake it up at HAAS, bring in a couple of the Ferrari kids next season and see what happens
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
1st September 2020, 18:29
With a team that hasn’t had a great deal of experience in the sport, it would be better if they keep at least one of their drivers. They likely keep holding on to Grosjean because his feedback is pretty good and he’s been with them since they came to F1.
dan
1st September 2020, 20:35
@thegianthogweed Come on man, we need to see the back of Gro now. He has had a great run time for some new guy. Magnussen atleast deserves another try in a ok car if Haas can build one. Gro we know what we have, same with Kmag but Gro has had alot longer in F1. The amount of races he has is a slap in the face imo to this great sport. I remember his baptism of fire he was bad then he looked great with Kimi often beating him, although imo you need to be beating Kimi all the time to be any good. Kimi took 1 win in Ferrari since his return shows you his level and he aint Kimi from 03/07. So please get rid of Grosjean who in all honesty is a quick driver at his best but an awful racer.
NS Biker (@rekibsn)
1st September 2020, 23:32
Re Grosjean looking to beat Williams ….
Brings to mind the lines in a song about “Irving, big bad Irving, the 142nd fastest gun in the West.”
“A hundred and forty one were faster than he, but Irving was looking for 143.”
Grosjean and Haas can and should be looking to beat more teams, not just Williams.
Success is measured by how many in front of you at the end of the race, not by how many behind.
Time for some new motivated blood at Haas F1.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
1st September 2020, 23:38
Teams that are struggling should focus on what is realistic for their situation. if they set their target too high, it may turn out worse. Haas mainly need to work out how to make a consistent car. It seems up and down all over the place every weekend often with significantly different pace / reliability / engine / breaking performance in practice to the races this year. The team is in a mess and I don’t think it is related to the drivers.
Ajaxn
3rd September 2020, 10:36
Haas v Williams –
Ferarri [post FIA rules change] V Mercedes [successful last year engine].
On the face of it Haas stands no chance. The question is would the Mercedes engine last a whole race, if it were turned up to 11?