In the round-up: Kimi Raikkonen wasn’t satisfied by leading both Ferraris home in the season finale.
What they say
Raikkonen took 12th in the final race of the year, with Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel behind him:
I think here everything seemed to work as it should but we’re still a bit too slow. But we were surprisingly close to the points, it wasn’t far, I could see it pretty much all of the time. We did what we could.
[That performance] doesn’t really make any difference in the end. Obviously it was very early on very clear that it’s going to be a difficult year and that’s how it turned out to be. I think for quite a long time, the aim has been eighth in the teams championship, that’s only what we could fight for. We managed to keep it so that’s at least something.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
An awesome gift for an awesome driver. Looking forward to one last race with @Carlossainz55. Let's go get it team! 👊 #AdiosCarlos pic.twitter.com/J4YLL9ZlSg
— Zak Brown (@ZBrownCEO) December 13, 2020
F1 spending all this money for years trying to improve the show & we’re still stuck here watching one-stop races. And don’t get me started about the double DRS layout here.
— Gavin “Ole Dirty Hands” Ward 🇨🇦 (@GDubRacer) December 13, 2020
Are we sure we’re actually watching a grand prix or is this merely coverage of an extended test session?
— Steve Matchett (@MrSteveMatchett) December 13, 2020
I get that Alonso demo-ing the 2005 Renault was fun, but that era of F1 (2005 and the tyre fun aside) was hardly a beacon of exciting racing – ultimately leading to wholesale rule changes for 2009
— Ben Evans (@bencommentator) December 13, 2020
Given the championship outcome potentially resting on the Sainz investigation, and the fact the stewards have nothing else to investigate, postponing a decision until after the race is really not acceptable when all they’re doing is judging if he drove too slowly or not.#F1
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) December 13, 2020
— Kevin Magnussen (@KevinMagnussen) December 13, 2020
The drivers' end-of-season group photograph has a different look in the year of Covid-19. #F1 #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/qf1oVbFCGa
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) December 13, 2020
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
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Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Games giant Electronic Arts gatecrashes £725m Codemasters takeover (Sky)
"The American computer games giant Electronic Arts (EA) has gatecrashed the £725m takeover of Codemasters, the London-listed producer of some of the world's most popular motor racing titles."
A far from satisfactory finale (Ferrari)
Mattia Binotto: "You only have to look at the numbers to see the mark Sebastian has left in Maranello during his six years with us. He joined us full of hope and his arrival was eagerly anticipated. He leaves us many happy memories and also a few regrets for what might have been. It’s a shame, but that’s life, for a driver and for a team. One thing is for sure, even if as from next year he will be a rival on track, he will always be part of the Ferrari family."
Lance scores point in Racing Point era finale (Racing Point)
Lance Stroll: "There were moments when our pace was strong, but it wasn’t consistent enough. The tyre life and temperature also dropped off significantly at the end, which cost us a place to Esteban (Ocon). We need to look into why that was the case."
Abu Dhabi GP 2020 (AlphaTauri)
Franz Tost: "AlphaTauri had a fantastic season this year, we were strong and competitive, achieving 107 points in the Constructors’ Championship, which is the highest number we’ve ever scored in our Formula 1 history."
George Russell: "The team have worked their socks off to make the most of it, it’s been a massive step forward and we have to be grateful for that. It’s still not where we want to be, but everyone is working really hard to improve the car."
Guenther Steiner: "We had an issue with Pietro’s engine – so he had to come in and service that, which put him back even more. Now we just look ahead to next year. We will try to do our best to get out of the hole we’re in at the moment. "
Stepping back from intense F1: Ben Edwards on leaving the commentary box (Motorsport magazine)
"His decision to stand down from Channel 4 was his alone and followed a great deal of soul-searching, for a man who has always had a healthy wider view of the world outside of the F1 ‘bubble’ – the one that exists every season, not just during times of a global pandemic."
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it in via the contact form.
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Comment of the day
People are getting carried away by calling for George Russell to get a Mercedes seat on the strength of his one drive for the team last weekend, says Ben:
Russell did an incredible job first time out, no doubt about that, but I think a great deal of people are getting a bit carried away by that single great performance at the simplest track layout by far this season. I also don’t understand that if Bottas got called “awful” or “terrible” how people can say Russell was that amazing. I thought myself that Russell really was outstanding this race, and to be fair on Bottas, he did outqualify Russell and was faster in the 2nd stint and could well have caught up by the end. The difference between the race performance wasn’t that huge. The team really messed it up for both drivers, but more so Bottas which made his result look a bit worse than it should have been. Russell’s race admittedly did get messed up a fair bit too, but less so by the team.
I also will add that while Russell has suddenly come from another team, had has been involved with Mercedes in testing and other things quite a few times, it’s not 100% new for him so it probably won’t have been quite as difficult as some imagined. Not tying to play down what he archived, I just don’t think there is enough evidence that Bottas isn’t more than good enough to at least have one more season alongside Hamilton.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
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MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
14th December 2020, 0:11
So, will the Merc, Red Bull and Ferrari be DLCs from now on? And do i need to pay extra to play as one of the more popular drivers?
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
14th December 2020, 1:02
EA is a meme but better EA than Take 2.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
14th December 2020, 3:14
I’d much rather Take Two than EA, nothing good comes from EA, also they had the F1 license and gave it up, hence no F1 games for a couple of years.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
14th December 2020, 3:54
Worse, both EA and Take 2 have sports games riddled with microtransaction card packs.
You wont even be able to buy the team you want, you’ll have to spend $200+ on card packs for a chance at getting the best version of the drivers/cars to play competitively online.
To be fair those modes are optional and they’ll both probably do a better job at a single player story line than Codemasters could manage, although those modes instead will have painfully slow progress unless you pay to unlock improved stats.
This is assuming they follow the trend of their basketball/football/hockey games.
Sven (@crammond)
14th December 2020, 4:27
This isn’t even only about the gamers who want to play the games, EA is world famous for being bad. Being associated with them will likely result in an image problem.
F1 brands itself as the pinnacle of motorsport and at the cutting edge of technology. Games are technology, and F1-games were at the forefront of development, laying indispensable groundwork for how physics work in gaming far beyond driving simulations. Under the hood, Geoff Crammond’s games were as cutting edge as F1-cars.
To go from that to EA is as big a downfall as possible in this field.
jamt
14th December 2020, 1:12
What a bad COTD.
Quoting Toto Wolff: “You mustn’t forget: he gets into the car, doesn’t fit in the cockpit and this loses him time.”
OOliver
14th December 2020, 9:43
Sometimes when you get too comfortable in a position you tend to sleep off. True it wasn’t the best fit, but it kept him alert. It is no guarantee he would be 2 seconds faster if the cockpit was tailored to his dimensions.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
14th December 2020, 5:45
Not sure what COTD is on about. How can you not want Russell on that car against Lewis? Russell wasn’t familiar with that car, even if he tested for them and is a Mercedes driver, he never raced that thing and he jumped right in, almost outqualified the regular driver (who’s only outqualified by Hamilton for less than a tenth over the whole year) and proceeded to beat him. Was Bottaa catching him? Yes, but he shouldn’t have been behind him in the first place and we don’t know if he’d have passed him. Russell wasn’t exactly slow at that point of the race.
When a talent like that makes such a big impression, you want to watch him take on Lewis every single weekend. Bottas has had his chance and he’s hardly put Lewis under too much pressure, even if he says he did.
SSZ
14th December 2020, 7:29
I also don’t buy into this argument of the track being Mickey Mouse and simple. That being the case Bottas should have no excuse mastering it and being ahead of Russel. It’s actually a bad reflection on Bottas not being able to do better than Russel on a simple layout.
Todfod (@todfod)
14th December 2020, 8:37
I agree. I don’t understand why downplay the fact that a driver has jumped in to a new car which he barely fits in to.. and doesn’t even know half the steering buttons on.. but nonetheless goes on to put the quickest times in every session except for qualifying..and would have won the race on merit.
Lewis really wouldn’t have done much better himself… so why not give credit where its due? I think Russell and Hamilton for 2021 would have been a great line up. It’s a shame that Mercedes are so fearful of their 2014-2016 experience of two competitive drivers. They’re denying the viewers of F1 the only chance of a title battle for next season.
OOliver
14th December 2020, 9:44
Bottas did say, Hamilton had set the car up from the previous race, so it was easy for the engineers to get Russell up to speed immediately.
BasCB (@bascb)
14th December 2020, 10:06
But Bottas WAS catching him before the team messed it up though. You can hardly fire someone for that. Nor can you really for Bottas performance this weekend.
I think that Williams wants to keep him is an argument @fer-no65. Just as already having a contract with Bottas for next season. But maybe the most important thing is, that everybody is planning to carry over the car pretty much as is to next year. So Russel wouldn’t fit into that car either. The whole year. Being too high up, struggling to fit in, having bruises on his shoulders, knees etc. Using boots that make his feet hurt because they are too slow. Not being able to wholly commit on the brakes because he simply cannot stretch his legs far enough.
To me, it makes far more sense to put him in a car that will actually be built to fit him in. The 2022 car, that is.
Jack (@jackisthestig)
14th December 2020, 14:58
The Mercedes is such a dominant car, being one of its two drivers is a privilege that I’m sure many just don’t think Bottas deserves. Imagine what drivers like Ricciardo, Russell, Sainz, Norris and Verstappen would give for that seat but year after year Bottas gets it just endlessly to sit in the no-mans-land between Hamilton and Verstappen. Of course it’s a great situation for Lewis and the team but a rather boring wasted opportunity for anyone watching.
#ashtag
14th December 2020, 8:04
1 race might be too little to judge Russell (I’d give him another weekend in the car).
Though 17 races is more than enough to judge Bottas: decent in quali, but lacking in racing.
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
14th December 2020, 8:25
> How can you not want Russell on that car against Lewis?
Maybe because you’re not stupid?
I keep on seeing this kind of stuff and I wonder if you guys are actually following F1 or not. Toto has said in several occasions that the rivalry between Lewis and Nico was terrible for the team and he absolutely doesn’t want to go down that road again. That alone is enough to close the matter.
We’re all bored by Lewis supremacy, but that’s it, a team principal must be absolutely insane to put a strong opponent beside one of the best drivers in F1 history. They already have in Lewis their title contender. They need a second driver that is strong enough to bring the WCC home and weak enough to not pose a threat.
Be sure, the minute Lewis decides to stop driving with them, George is in the car. Bottas has shown in different occasions that he’s not WC material.
You can like it or dislike it but if you can’t understand this basic logic you’re living in a world of fantasies.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
14th December 2020, 9:49
@m-bagattini Wanting and believing it’s happening are two different things. I want Russell in that car, I want another Rosberg-Hamilton situation. Will it happen again? Very doubtful. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want that to happen… Don’t you think fans already know that?
The COTD made a point about Russell not giving as good a first impression as people think, which I think it’s wrong
Retired (@jeff1s)
14th December 2020, 10:27
Every day here, comments are fans fantasy.
Either we talk seriously about F1, either we comment everything going through our minds.
F180 (@f180)
14th December 2020, 14:48
Well, some facts. People is bored of Hamilton I-am-the-greatest with a big mouth for personal agendas (look how fast he stopped talking about BLM, etc). For sure he’s business to Merc but no business for F1. No fans outside the Hamilton church.
Tompax
14th December 2020, 9:09
Solid drive again from Kimi, keeping the Ferrari’s behind. I bet next year Leclerc will see also Vettel’s Aston Martin tail lights in the distance.
Aussie Rod (@aussierod)
14th December 2020, 11:48
I would love to see Russell in the Merc next year against Hamilton. But I can understand Toto’s logic in keeping Bottas.
What I can’t understand is Racing Point. Vettel / Stroll is such a poor lineup at a time when they find themselves in such a competitive position. It should be Perez / Russell in that team.
JimG (@jimg)
14th December 2020, 14:41
@aussierod You do know who owns Racing Point and why don’t you? In case you missed the last couple of years, Lance Stroll’s billionaire dad bought* the team to give Lance a race seat. Lance is a fixture at that team until either he quits or daddy buys Red Bull Racing for him.
Bitter? Me? ;-)
* Alright, he led a consortium. Whatever.
Jere (@jerejj)
14th December 2020, 11:57
I wonder what the reaction of the teachers might’ve been after finding out that he’s become a race driver for Mclaren in 2014.
Stephen Higgins
14th December 2020, 13:48
The handling of studios by EA has been in question for a while and I hope this is not the beginning of the end for Codemasters down the line. Hopefully they can maintain their positive rapport with fans.
Dave
14th December 2020, 15:44
Time to read some FIFA 21 user reviews.