Grand Prix 2020 Russian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

The 2020 Russian GP will be the 7th time the F1 circus has visited Sochi and on all previous occasions the race has been won by a driver in a Mercedes Benz. There were two previous Russian Grands Prix, way back in 1913 and 1914, and both of these were also won by a Benz. I suspect, barring some major incident or accident, we will see a Mercedes win in 2020 and most likely car 44.

Russia has tried to organise a GP in the modern era quite a few times before we got to Sochi. A street race around Moscow was mooted back in the 80's, the Moscow Raceway was completed in 2012 and a variety of different formula and motorcycle races were held but never F1. 2010 saw the first Russian driver in F1, when Vitaly Petrov drove for Renault, and this added impetus to getting a Russian event up and running.

Bernie Ecclestone wanted it either in Moscow or Sochi, host of the 2014 Winter Olympics, and so the Sochi Autodrom was born, set in the Olympic Park.

We have seen some wild incidents in the last two races. The start at Sochi has given us some moments, including the infamous "torpedo" involving Sebastian Vettel and Dani Kyvat. Unfortunately the rest of the races, with the exception of 2015, have been fairly processional and I have a feeling 2020 is likely to be the same. Perhaps Pirelli can bring some dodgy rubber along to equip the teams but after the problems encountered at many races this year I expect the Italian tyre company to be very conservative on a street circuit. Failing rubber and close walls do not good bed fellows make for F1 cars.

What else can I tell you? I'm told Sochi is a wonderful city and it is well worth visiting its historic monuments, including the fountain of Cupid in the Arboretum and the monument to Peter 1st in the seaport. Mount Akhun sits in the Khostinsky District of Sochi and is 663m high.

Enjoy
 
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the team lewis hamilton relies on, needs to start reading the rulebook because no offence to him (as im probally his only fan on this forum) but when crofty knows the rules better than the pitwall, whose job it is know these things inside out. things need to start being said in there "no blame" culture. because i know lewis is going to be world champion, but if they'd known the rules it would be

Lewis 233
Bottas 152
Verstappen 125

instead of
Lewis 205
Bottas 161
Verstappen 128


temp 1.png
 
F1Brits_90 said:
the team lewis hamilton relies on, needs to start reading the rulebook because no offence to him (as im probally his only fan on this forum) but when crofty knows the rules better than the pitwall, whose job it is know these things inside out. things need to start being said in there "no blame" culture. because i know lewis is going to be world champion, but if they'd known the rules it would be

Lewis 233
Bottas 152
Verstappen 125

instead of
Lewis 205
Bottas 161
Verstappen 128


View attachment 13900
Click to expand
Perhaps I’m being dumb here, but which part of rule 19 did Hamilton break?
Coulthard and Webber also thought he hadn’t broken the rule as did his team.
 
Found this graphic of the Sochi pit lane. The place to do practice starts is right after where it says PIT LANE ends (apparently), to the right of the white line. This is the first place after the end of the speed controlled area of the pit lane where it is "safe" to do a pratcie start (don't shoot me I'm only the messenger).

1601293856941.png
 
Hamilton said in an interview in the mix zone that those who run F1 "are trying to stop me". A little later, in a more formal interview, he suggested that F1 was "trying to make the title race more exciting".

Hamilton penalty rescinded by F1 bosses

I suspect someone on the PR team at Mercedes took him to one side and suggested he might like to clarify that comment. Either way, he really should just accept the punishment and move on. I thought he had, given the comments in the interview with Jonny Herbert, but clearly he was seathing.
 
There's a white wall on the right which narrows the pit exit down to a single lane. I believe Lewis drove round the corner to where the road opens up again and did his practice starts on a piece of tarmac inside of the pit exit road.

1601294995896.png
 
racecub said:
Perhaps I’m being dumb here, but which part of rule 19 did Hamilton break?
Coulthard and Webber also thought he hadn’t broken the rule as did his team.
Click to expand
im going to nick FB brilliant graphic for this

but Micheal masi in his director notes. said all practise starts must be done on the red dot & mercedes who i think are getting to big for the boots. (more later) forgot or did a vettel & thought rules didnt apply to them. & did it on the yellow dot
20200928_165857.png
 
The fact is that the regulations do not specify exactly the "prohibited" area.
And Hamilton really did not interfere with any of the other drivers when those leaving the pit lane.
So the assumption of some prejudice towards the leading team to increase the intrigue in the championship takes place
 
There is a rule, Hamilton broke it as he did not like having that much rubber down so would not tell him what the real start would be like.: this would give him an advantage over those who stuck to the rules.

His problem was that he only did one legal lap in Q2 which had to be on the wrong tyres for the race. This was compounded by a poor (for him) performance, especially on the hards.
 
olegg said:
The fact is that the regulations do not specify exactly the "prohibited" area.
And Hamilton really did not interfere with any of the other drivers when those leaving the pit lane.
So the assumption of some prejudice towards the leading team to increase the intrigue in the championship takes place
Click to expand


i would disagree on that lets say hamilton goes from the place Michael masi has forbidden but miscalculates & a car is coming around the corner not expecting a slow car because its against the rules. they are going at some rate & its a big crash

but as i say this is fully on the team. nothing to do with the FIA & i guess he has to "blame" them because if he said the truth. blamed his team for not knowing the rules. it would create a huge media storm. it might be a case of in football when many a manager has defended in public & criticised in private
 
F1Brits_90 said:
i would disagree on that lets say hamilton goes from the place Michael masi has forbidden but miscalculates & a car is coming around the corner not expecting a slow car because its against the rules. they are going at some rate & its a big crash

but as i say this is fully on the team. nothing to do with the FIA & i guess he has to "blame" them because if he said the truth. blamed his team for not knowing the rules. it would create a huge media storm. it might be a case of in football when many a manager has defended in public & criticised in private
Click to expand
When replayed, it was clearly visible that Hamilton was waiting for the other driver to pass and only then was starting driving.
That is, he controlled whether the track was free, and did not leave at random.
The fact is that the regulations are very vague in many points.
And article referred to by stewards and Massey can be interpreted in different ways.
There is no specific indication of the prohibition of the place where everything happened.
The main condition is the right side from trace and the absence of hindrance to other pilots.
For me, an incorrect exit from the garage, which is often allowed in qualifying
and in the race without penalties, is much more dangerous than what happened
in the situation for which Hamilton was punished.
 
olegg said:
When replayed, it was clearly visible that Hamilton was waiting for the other driver to pass and only then was starting driving.
Click to expand
he was put then end of pit limiter & where he was. is a big difference & you can be as careful as you like. but if something comes out of blue at 100-150mph. there not much to react. & everything is fine, until it goes wrong
 
F1Brits_90 said:
he was put then end of pit limiter & where he was. is a big difference & you can be as careful as you like. but if something comes out of blue at 100-150mph. there not much to react. & everything is fine, until it goes wrong
Click to expand
In the rearview mirror at that point, he could see an distance of 100-200 meters. So no one could not appear "out of nowhere" and all of a sudden. His car, like the others, accelerates to 150 mph in 3 seconds. So your description of the danger is clearly somewhat exaggerated.
 
olegg said:
In the rearview mirror at that point, he could see an distance of 100-200 meters. So no one could not appear "out of nowhere" and all of a sudden. His car, like the others, accelerates to 150 mph in 3 seconds. So your description of the danger is clearly somewhat exaggerated.
Click to expand
Agree. And to the point you can't control other cars - that is true but you can see and be aware of them. He was not posing any risk to others. It's no difference to changing lanes on a motorway, there will always be cars at speed in the faster lane. You have to use your mirrors and judgement to pick a spot where you can change lanes without crashing. In this case it was 200 meters of open road.
 

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