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Formula One 2020


wood

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6 hours ago, wood said:

And whoa, this is kinda big ...

F1 teams approve radical rule, budget changes https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-teams-approve-radical-rule-budget-changes/4795544/

 

I don't mind that but I would like them to allow for innovation inside that cap. If I want to run a different engine, an eight or a 10 or a 12, or something, than another team I should be able to do that. Bring back experimenting, I guess.

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Oh, and Renault/Nissan seem to be in big trouble. I'll be surprised if Renault is on the grid next year in their current form. I think if anyone takes that seat for next year, it'll only be after someone buys the team.

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Revised 2020 F1 calendar announced with eight-race European stint https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/single-seaters/f1/revised-2020-f1-calendar-announced-with-eight-race-european-stint

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“In the past weeks we have been working tirelessly with all our partners, the FIA and the teams to create a revised opening 2020 calendar allowing us to restart racing in the safest possible way,” F1 Chairman and CEO Chase Carey said in a statement.

“We are pleased to be able to set out our opening eight race calendar today and look forward to publishing our full calendar in the coming weeks. I want to thank every promoter and partner for their support and ongoing commitment to Formula 1.

“While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do,but we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world.”

2020 revised Formula 1 calendar
July 3-5    Austrian Grand Prix    Red Bull Ring
July 10-12    Styrian Grand Prix    Red Bull Ring
July 17-19    Hungarian Grand Prix    Hungaroring
July 31-August 2    British Grand Prix    Silverstone
August 7-9    F1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix    Silverstone
August 14-16    Spanish Grand Prix    Circuit de Catalunya
August 28-30    Belgian Grand Prix    Spa-Francorchamps
September 4-6    Italian Grand Prix    Monza

 

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F1 in North American this year might hinge on Indy. Seems more and more like COTA is out, but if F1 can make Indy work, then maybe they'd do Indy and MxC. Mexico City wants to have their race.

I could see a calendar similar to this, IF they end up coming to North America.

July 5 Red Bull Ring, Austria
July 12 Red Bull Ring, Austria
July 19 Hungaroring, Hungary

August 2 Silverstone, Britain
August 9 Silverstone, Britain
August 16 Barcelona, Spain

August 30 Spa, Belgium
September 6 Monza, Italy

September 20 Hockenheim
September 27 Sochi 

October 25 Indy or Austin
November 1 Mexico 

November 15 Bahrain
November 22 Bahrain
November 29 Abu Dhabi

 

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Brawn: More European rounds possible 'if we can't have the overseas or flyaway races'

https://www.gpfans.com/en/articles/53055/brawn-more-european-rounds-possible-if-we-can-t-have-the-overseas-or-flyaway-races/?fbclid=IwAR0MW4T6XxcBoCJJIn6QOs1bJLAc0duIGa29kv1Ux4mDh0fviiLSzIUuZIM

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"If we judge the health and safety risk is too high, even if we can meet the obligations of the country, then we may not go there.

"We can't operate at a level that is worse than the country needs. Our standards will always exceed the standards of the country we are going to."

Mexico, Brazil and the United States continue to record high numbers of new cases of the coronavirus as well as Covid-19 related deaths, statistics which put the races in serious danger of cancellation.
...
Should it prove impossible to race outside of Europe, Brawn said an extended European calendar: "is an option if we can't have the overseas or flyaway races we'd like to have".
It is reported the Muggelo, Imola and Hockenheim are all keen to feature on this expanded calendar.

 

 

China considered for F1 double-header in second half of 2020. http://disq.us/t/3pb91hy

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"Under current conditions, the United States Grand Prix at Austin cannot be held with spectators given the ban on gatherings of more 250 or more people, adding to the uncertainty clouding the second half of the possible F1 calendar.

As the race is dependent on government support predicated on the economic impact on the area of visitors to Austin to attend the grand prix, this potentially undermines the financial justification for holding it in 2020."

 

 

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On 6/4/2020 at 12:18 PM, wood said:

F1 in North American this year might hinge on Indy. Seems more and more like COTA is out, but if F1 can make Indy work, then maybe they'd do Indy and MxC. Mexico City wants to have their race.

 

 

The governor has already announced sports stadiums can open to 25% capacity in Texas, and I'd expect that to  increase to 50-75% by October.

I'll speculate that if F1 doesn't come to Texas, it won't really have anything to do with COVID restrictions on large gatherings in the state, and that there's something else going on, regardless of whatever the public messaging might be.

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The governor has already announced sports stadiums can open to 25% capacity in Texas, and I'd expect that to  increase to 50-75% by October.
I'll speculate that if F1 doesn't come to Texas, it won't really have anything to do with COVID restrictions on large gatherings in the state, and that there's something else going on, regardless of whatever the public messaging might be.

Shit, he announced 50% already.
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Just now, Anton Chigurh said:


Shit, he announced 50% already.

Oh yeah?  Guess I missed that.  Although I did say at the time that his intent was clearly to initiate the public gradually into accepting it, and that it would be 100% by September 1.  Glad to see he didn't let me down... ;)

So anyway, pretty sure that's not going to be the determining factor.  If they do end up doing flyaway and COTA isn't on the schedule, there are other factors at work.

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Yep, the Governor has made those announcements, but COTA is in the City of Austin, where gatherings are currently limited to 250, and officials don't see that increasing much by the end of the year. There's also F1's end of it. From everything I've heard, they're concentrating heavily on Europe and the Middle East are not prioritizing flyaway races at all. Everything I've read supports that. 

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11 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Oh yeah?  Guess I missed that.  Although I did say at the time that his intent was clearly to initiate the public gradually into accepting it, and that it would be 100% by September 1.  Glad to see he didn't let me down... ;)

So anyway, pretty sure that's not going to be the determining factor.  If they do end up doing flyaway and COTA isn't on the schedule, there are other factors at work.

Yes, other factors like Bobby not wanting to promote a race and wanting F1 to rent the track from him, travel/quarantine issues & expense for the F1 circus, increased shipping costs due to COVID making that concept unprofitable for F1, losses already incurred by F1 and the teams, etc. It's never just one thing ... but multiple detracting factors are being caused by the pandemic. 

AMuS reported the other day that COTA is looking very unlikely due to finances (severely affected by COVID), and that Indy might take its place on the 2020 calendar.

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1 minute ago, wood said:

Yes, other factors like Bobby not wanting to promote a race and wanting F1 to rent the track from him, travel/quarantine issues & expense for the F1 circus, increased shipping costs due to COVID making that concept unprofitable, losses already incurred by F1 and the teams, etc. It's never just one thing ... but multiple detracting factors are being caused by the pandemic. 

Sure, could be any or all of those.  

But I'm speaking specifically to the possibility that F1 goes ahead with a North American flyaway, but COTA isn't on the schedule.  That would mean that F1 is willing to incur the expense of flyaway, so it would be something on this side that altered the schedule.

I can understand Epstein not wanting to promote a race with fans being unable to attend, but that's not going to be the case.  And if COTA doesn't host the race, I don't believe for a second they'll be able to secure that $25M from the state.  Bobby needs that $25M.  So I believe he has considerable incentive to host a race, as long as fans are allowed to attend.

Something else isn't adding up here.  Just my opinions of course.

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10 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Sure, could be any or all of those.  

But I'm speaking specifically to the possibility that F1 goes ahead with a North American flyaway, but COTA isn't on the schedule.  That would mean that F1 is willing to incur the expense of flyaway, so it would be something on this side that altered the schedule.

I can understand Epstein not wanting to promote a race with fans being unable to attend, but that's not going to be the case.  And if COTA doesn't host the race, I don't believe for a second they'll be able to secure that $25M from the state.  Bobby needs that $25M.  So I believe he has considerable incentive to host a race, as long as fans are allowed to attend.

Something else isn't adding up here.  Just my opinions of course.

We don't know with any certainty that a race crowd of any significant size will be allowed in Austin during that time frame. Officials are saying it's very unlikely before the end of December.

I do think COTA may be done or at least just barely alive.  Bobby definitely has incentive.

If Indy is really in the frame for 2020 as AMuS is reporting, then that says a lot, imho.

 

BTW I've also heard that Montreal is still trying for an early autumn date. WeWillSee.

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3 hours ago, wood said:

We don't know with any certainty that a race crowd of any significant size will be allowed in Austin during that time frame. Officials are saying it's very unlikely before the end of December.

I do think COTA may be done or at least just barely alive.  Bobby definitely has incentive.

If Indy is really in the frame for 2020 as AMuS is reporting, then that says a lot, imho.

 

BTW I've also heard that Montreal is still trying for an early autumn date. WeWillSee.

Well we know that the governor will be happy to allow large sporting events, we know that's he's willing and-- legal or not-- has proven to be able to railroad local municipalities and supersede them, so I don't think there's going to be any issue with large crowds.  If nothing else, Bobby just says, "yeah current capacity at COTA is 600K, so 25% is 150K.  We're good."

I mean, it sounds sort of preposterous, but do you doubt for a second that the two parties I named above would go that route?

Whether the city of Austin wants to allow the race or not, they're gonna get sidelined if that's what the governor and Epstein want.

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On 6/3/2020 at 1:31 PM, Anton Chigurh said:

Man, this video is great

James Allison is a treasure.

 

James did an episode of the Beyond the Grid podcast (last year, IIRC) that was a good listen as well. 

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31 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Well we know that the governor will be happy to allow large sporting events, we know that's he's willing and-- legal or not-- has proven to be able to railroad local municipalities and supersede them, so I don't think there's going to be any issue with large crowds.  If nothing else, Bobby just says, "yeah current capacity at COTA is 600K, so 25% is 150K.  We're good."

I mean, it sounds sort of preposterous, but do you doubt for a second that the two parties I named above would go that route?

Whether the city of Austin wants to allow the race or not, they're gonna get sidelined if that's what the governor and Epstein want.

I wouldn't put it past Bobby to say something like that, even though they've always stated their official capacity as 120K and haven't ever really come close to that, except maybe the first year. I mean, it's almost like his personal mission in life is to just lie bigger and bigger, so why not. But barring the Gov stepping in, they're currently limited to 250 people, and City officials are saying that's very unlikely to be increased beyond 2500 by year's end.

I don't doubt that the Gov could go that route if he so chooses. I'm just not sure he will. He hasn't really seemed to be in COTA's pocket the last year or two, as much as he was before. And now the political landscape is very different.  I can't see him making special allowances for COTA to race with a crowd, and subsidizing them further because of it, while unsubsidized and arguably much more economically beneficial events - SXSW, the rodeo, & likely ACL too - are shut down.

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3 hours ago, wood said:

I wouldn't put it past Bobby to say something like that, even though they've always stated their official capacity as 120K and haven't ever really come close to that, except maybe the first year. I mean, it's almost like his personal mission in life is to just lie bigger and bigger, so why not. But barring the Gov stepping in, they're currently limited to 250 people, and City officials are saying that's very unlikely to be increased beyond 2500 by year's end.

I don't doubt that the Gov could go that route if he so chooses. I'm just not sure he will. He hasn't really seemed to be in COTA's pocket the last year or two, as much as he was before. And now the political landscape is very different.  I can't see him making special allowances for COTA to race with a crowd, and subsidizing them further because of it, while unsubsidized and arguably much more economically beneficial events - SXSW, the rodeo, & likely ACL too - are shut down.

But they're really NOT currently limited to 250 people.  Sports stadiums are currently allowed 50%.  That's the state mandate at this point.  So that's 60K for Bobby if his capacity is 120K.

And by October, I think we all know that the governor of the state of Texas is going to be OK with a lot more than that in stadiums.  

 

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1 hour ago, utee94 said:

But they're really NOT currently limited to 250 people.  Sports stadiums are currently allowed 50%.  That's the state mandate at this point.  So that's 60K for Bobby if his capacity is 120K.

And by October, I think we all know that the governor of the state of Texas is going to be OK with a lot more than that in stadiums. 

But they really are limited to 250 people in the City of Austin, where COTA resides. I'm not sure where you're getting that they aren't. The Governor may override that, but he has not yet. Will he? Maybe, but until he does, or until the City changes its restrictions, that's the limit for COTA. Even Epstein will admit that. They can't even allow the spectators (the few that would even show up) for the ChampCar Endurance race there next weekend. Hell, they aren't even allowed to gather in groups larger than 10 people, either indoor or outdoor. No driver meetings - done by video only. No race control visits, either. They can't have crowds at the Bold games, either.

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9 hours ago, wood said:

But they really are limited to 250 people in the City of Austin, where COTA resides. I'm not sure where you're getting that they aren't. The Governor may override that, but he has not yet. Will he? Maybe, but until he does, or until the City changes its restrictions, that's the limit for COTA. Even Epstein will admit that. They can't even allow the spectators (the few that would even show up) for the ChampCar Endurance race there next weekend. Hell, they aren't even allowed to gather in groups larger than 10 people, either indoor or outdoor. No driver meetings - done by video only. No race control visits, either. They can't have crowds at the Bold games, either.

I've pretty clearly stated my assumption that the governor will override.  He's already effectively stated he'll be doing that for sports stadiums.

Austin doesn't have any sports with major fan attendance/large stadiums in progress right now.  If it did, then we'd already have the answer. 

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2 hours ago, utee94 said:

I've pretty clearly stated my assumption that the governor will override.  He's already effectively stated he'll be doing that for sports stadiums.

Austin doesn't have any sports with major fan attendance/large stadiums in progress right now.  If it did, then we'd already have the answer. 

Well, we'll see. It's just your assumption. But you're discussing it as if it's fact. Maybe he will. Maybe he won't. Until he does it, he hasn't done it, and we don't really know if he will or won't.

It's just like when he said that if Austin wasn't gonna fix it's problem with the homeless camping everywhere, he was gonna fix it for us. Then he sent people out to clean up some of the state-owned highway underpasses, and that's it.

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Penske plans bigger IndyCar calendar, F1 at Indianapolis possible next year https://www.racefans.net/2020/06/09/penske-plans-bigger-indycar-calendar-f1-at-indianapolis-possible-next-year/

F1 adds Mugello to list of 2020 options https://racer.com/2020/06/09/f1-adds-mugello-to-list-of-2020-options/

Quote

F1 CEO and chairman Chase Carey recently admitted he expects some of the remaining races beyond the currently confirmed eight rounds to fall off the calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but said the sport has other options. Europe has been the focus for those alternatives due to the easier logistics, and Mugello has emerged as a serious candidate for a race.

 

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Official: F1 cancels races at Suzuka, Baku and Singapore https://www.racefans.net/2020/06/12/official-f1-cancels-races-at-suzuka-baku-and-singapore/

Also re: Imola, they just regained Grade 1 status.

Renewed Grade 1 approval for Imola – Formula 1 https://www.news1.news/en/2020/06/renewed-grade-1-approval-for-imola-formula-1.html

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Well shit, I just read that Alex Zanardi was in an accident during a handcycle race and has been put into an induced coma. He is one of the most inspirational drivers ever. Best wishes to him.

https://theathletic.com/1882842/2020/06/24/alex-zanardi-in-very-serious-condition-after-road-accident-in-italy/

Zanardi's pass at Laguna Seca has to be the craziest, ballsiest pass I ever saw.

 

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