In the round-up: Renault sporting director Alan Permane says rivals Racing Point still have the quickest car in the three-way fight for third in the constructors championship.
What they say
With four races to go, Renault hold third place, one point ahead of McLaren and Racing Point:Unfortunately the pink car is the quickest of the three. If you look at their pace, if you look at Checo in Portimao where he came back through the field, his pace was just incredible. Had he not gone off, he would have been a long way up.
But having said that in Nurburgring we beat them. I don’t say ‘easily’, but I think without sort of a slightly messed up, odd strategy that we had, trying to take advantage of the Virtual Safety Car and stopped Daniel really early, if we’ve have gone on long he’d have breezed it.
So I think it’s a little bit circuit-dependent. And I think a comment Daniel made a couple of weeks ago that it’ll come down to reliability, that is also key to it and we’ve got to get both cars in the points every week.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) November 8, 2020
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
"It would be incredibly important if Lewis could speak out. However, the onus is not just on the star drivers but the whole industry to be aware of what is happening in Saudi Arabia."
Red Bull's dilemma (Auto Action)
"Proof positive as to why Red Bull was so keen to renew Daniel Ricciardo’s contract for 2019, and why the team has sorely missed the Aussie F1 ace, can be seen in the difficulties that it has faced in 2019 and 2020, and the dilemma it has to solve for next year."
A level playing field? There’s still so much more to be done. (Team Brit)
"25 years ago, the Disability Discrimination Act made it unlawful to discriminate against disabled persons in connection with employment, the provision of goods, facilities and services. In my view, the motorsport industry still has some way to go to say it truly complies."
Hockenheim race one highlights (DTM via YouTube)
Hockenheim race two highlights (DTM via YouTube)
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Comment of the day
This week’s debate asks who among the feeder series drivers has impressed you the most during 2020?
I have been following F2/GP2 series for years and I have to say that it’s the first time that there are so many talented drivers on the grid. All of the ‘well known’ names: Ilott, Schumacher, Shwartzman, Lungaard, Tsunoda could easily be in a F1 team.
I won’t talk for Vips, because I haven’t seen much from him, and Markelov, who I believe that he already should have been given a chance to be in F1 but I don’t see that happening now.
But I’ll go with the driver that overall has impressed me the most. Old-school driver, pure racer, “I don’t care for tyres, I’ll go for the gap, I’ll try from the inside, I’ll try from the outside, until I make it stick”. He is just a pleasure to watch and he has offered some spectacular moments this year. So, on pure racing terms, for me he is a couple of steps ahead from the rest of the field.
His name? Guanyu Zhou.
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DB-C90 (@dbradock)
9th November 2020, 1:48
It’s going to be a very interesting competition for 3rd place given how close the three teams are at the moment.
I can’t help but get the impression that RP this year are the complete opposite of how they’ve been throughout their time as Force India where they consistently outperformed their char by being incredibly good at everything else they did. This year they “seem” to have the fastest car of the 3, but haven’t managed to maximise that advantage either because of poor strategy calls or poor driving/drivers.
Conversely Renault seem to have outperformed their car, predominantly on the back of Daniel Ricciardo which can only help keep his stocks high. However unless Ocon contributes a higher return, they might find themselves being beaten if either of the other teams pairings can bring consistent good points.
marcusbreese (@marcusbreese)
9th November 2020, 11:17
I agree. FI was one of my favourite teams, but over the course of this year my affection is waning – they seem to have transformed from plucky underdogs to being a slightly dislikable outfit, and it’s sad to see. It’s hard not to lay the blame at one family’s door, unfortunately.
Jon
9th November 2020, 14:12
Perhaps Daniel should have been in the RP this year. no doubt in everyone’s mind he would have been world champion in that car.
Mark Zastrow (@markzastrow)
9th November 2020, 3:56
This is the trap that Black public figures are in: compelled to speak up due to their own experiences, they are then held to a higher standard on other issues — expected to speak up while their non-Black peers get a pass, and branded a hypocrite if they do not.
Such is life for anyone who takes an outspoken moral stand, one might say, but it’s yet another way in which more is demanded of Black athletes.
The excerpt from the Telegraph article quoted here is spot on: the onus is on the entire industry to navigate this issue — it’s not a problem we should expect Hamilton alone to solve.
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
9th November 2020, 6:19
“the onus is on the entire industry to navigate this issue”
Sure, but by that standard, there won’t be many venues outside of Europe to race in. Like I said in my previous comments yesterday, F1 is in the business of money, and they go where the money is. I’m pretty sure, in the late 70’s and early 80’s, if Brezhnev or Andropov had accepted Bernie’s offer to race in Moscow, all the teams would have turned up, because they follow the money.
I don’t see this as a question of morality, its just business. Nobody forces F1 to race in these countries, furthermore, nobody forces us to watch it, but we do. I dont see why someone would be fine with racing in the likes of China and Russia and have an issue with Saudi, they’re just a different form of dictatorship. Once again, if you dig into it, you’ll find issues with more countries on the calendar.
I can’t comment on the black athlete thing, because I dont follow much sport outside of F1 (except for football perhaps). From an F1 perspective, I guess people are looking to Lewis to speak up because he has been a massive advocate of fairness and equality in recent years. So its only natural for people to expect him to speak up….but once again, if he hasn’t made a fuss about racing in China and Russia (I can’t remember explicit details, happy to be corrected), I dont see why he should make a fuss here.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
9th November 2020, 6:53
@markzastrow I’m sure you’re right, although to an extent I think the same “trap” is set for anyone who speaks out about injustice – if you don’t speak out about every conceivable injustice everywhere in the world, you’re branded a hypocrite. Just because we can’t solve everything doesn’t mean we shouldn’t solve anything.
Mark Zastrow (@markzastrow)
9th November 2020, 7:41
@jaymenon10 I never said they shouldn’t go to Saudi Arabia (or should go) — I said “navigate the issue”, meaning just that. Whether they go or not, my point was the double standard and the accusations of hypocrisy that some are lobbing at Hamilton.
@red-andy Yes, I agree with you, and I tried to acknowledge that in my post. I guess what I was trying to say is that it’s a trap that is more readily sprung upon people who are themselves subjected to discrimination, because how could they be expected to remain silent about it? And if they feel they must remain silent, then that itself adds to the burden they bear.
Speaking out in the way Hamilton has is not just a luxury that he has — it is work that he has done. Yes, he has the opportunity of a highly visible platform, but the act of speaking out on a sensitive issue takes real effort, and carries certain risk as well, for him and his stakeholders.
I know people who experience a similar thing: as people of colour, they speak out on, for instance, the racism they have experienced in their field. They are respected, and so they are frequently asked to speak or give diversity training for free, in addition to their normal professional duties. That might seem flattering, but it is also a demand on their time and one that they are not being paid for, so they decline most of the time. And yet all too often, they are then accused of not being sincere, of being a moral fraud who was never interested in equity in the first place. If you truly cared about this cause, they are told, you would take this opportunity to do something about it.
If they accepted them all, they simply would never get any of their work done for their actual employer. These are demands on their time and accusations that their white colleagues never face — because of course they would never be asked to give such training in the first place. That’s the trap, unfortunately.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th November 2020, 7:25
I reckon the positions from third to fifth in the WCC are going to go for RP, Renault, and Mclaren in this order. Mclaren the lowest because they appear to have lost out in the development race over the recent few events.
F1oSaurus (@)
9th November 2020, 7:31
They go to Turkey next week and not a word is uttered about all the imprisoned or killed dissidents, imprisoned journalists and imprisoned human rights defenders.
Why must he speak out on everything human rights involved, when he’s standing up for equal treatment in one area?
It’s like Ricky Gervais joked about. When he stands up for one issue and people blame him for not standing up for others.
Mayrton
9th November 2020, 8:21
Its about consistency. Lewis speaks to others, he is trying to persuade. He takes the initiative and is pointing fingers. He is addressing other people’s inconsistency. Then be prepared to get it right back. If he races in Turkey and Saudi, we will know more about his own consistency towards his believes and therewith how seriously we should take him when talking to us
BasCB (@bascb)
9th November 2020, 9:18
Good point @f1osaurus. I don’t see any reason why Lewis should speak up more so than others about S.A. or indeed Turkey, Russia etc. apart maybe from him being the top driver of the pack.
He still might, since he’s found that he can and he’s interested in the issues. But until he quits driving we can hardly expect him to find time and attention for all the worlds issues.
Mayrton
10th November 2020, 7:15
The reason is that Lewis himself has chosen to raise the educational finger to us. He is proactively trying to move others. As those spoken to will see the inconsistency he himself upholds towards these themes, it will flatten his impact.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
9th November 2020, 14:24
He’ll only speak up about something that won’t affect him. It’s not like we aren’t all, already in agreement about what Ham has brought up… Let’s talk up something nobody has the nerve to explore.
Ipsom
9th November 2020, 7:36
The fact that RP is having to compete to secure 3rd place shows how underperforming they are this season… they should have had it secure by now
Jere (@jerejj)
9th November 2020, 10:02
@Ipsom They should’ve got back the 15 points from Austria 2 after the issue got resolved.