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

On moves the F1 circus this time revisiting what is a lovely circuit in the country of Turkey. The Turkish Grand Prix circuit is something of a masterpiece on 3 fronts:

1 - it's produced such good races and has such a nice layout that no of the Clarkson purists are saying "Why are we going to bloody Turkey? We need to go to more traditional circuits" anymore.

2 - The design was perfectly laid out to suit the driving style of Felipe Massa who pretty much won all the time here.

3 - Everyone is so happy to be racing here that everyone is ignoring the fact that Turkey is a country in the grip of the Covid pandemic (400k case, 10k deaths and 2,500 cases just today), in the middle of a war with Syria, and has questionable human rights issues towards its Kurdish population.

I'm not and expert on these issue so can't preach about it but I am aware of them. I went on holiday just outside Bodrum once. It was lovely.

But what can I say about the actual race? Well nothing really because I've actually stopped watching F1 this year and just read about the races in my Google alerts. The whole thing is a big back slapping posh off excuse for an advert at moment. It's a real shame because the greatest F1 driver of the modern era is at his peak. The big business manipulation of the sport leaves him open to the "he only wins because of the car", "Anything could win in his position" and "he's not Jim Clark" comments which inevitable follow any mention of him on the internet. I'll be honest I doubt Lewis Hamilton watches F1 anymore. I really hope he walks away from the sport and goes to do something different.

So, despite there being nothing left to race for and everything being won, F1 will plod on for a handful more races to fill it's TV contract obligation and give not one hoot about a global pandemic, carbon footprint or that the amount of money spent on one simple advert logo in a spot unseeable on a car could feed a huge amount of starving families having to visit food banks right now.

Enjoy the race.
 
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Why on earth are drivers not being super-cautious into turn 1? It's utterly bizarre that the drivers are throwing it, full beans into T1, the only corner that they haven't had chance to experience!
 
Verstappen ourstanding what a lap but we know his quality from brazil 2016. still think that stint 15th - 3rd was up there with 1 of greatest wet weather drives there has been

& that Q1 was perfect for madness of 2020. hamilton & Bottas making it into Q2 despite being 10secs slower :D
 
im amazed McLaren persisted so long on the inters they were 4.5 secs off & out of the 15 cars 13 were on wets & 2 on inters. either everyone was wrong or McLaren were wrong. i know what made more sense
 
But Mercedes fixed it so that Stroll would be on pole by buying an increased share in Aston Martin. Toto Wolff was seen by an un-named witness pulling up outside the Racing Point pit in a van with AMG signs on the side. Apparently the FIA have extended the deadline for bribes and race fixing to one hour before qualifying so long as the brown envelope of cash was post marked before first practice.

It's clearly a fix because the times were mysteriously reset approximately 15 minutes before the end of qualifying.

There's a mechanic who works in Moto GP who has a girlfriend who's dad once drank in a pub where a barmaid who worked as a cleaner at a local Mercedes-Benz dealership was told by a customer that Niki Lauda had invented a machine to control the weather.

Anyway, well done Lance Stroll.
 
F1Brits_90 - Stroll has always been immense in the wet - look at Monza 2017...

That being said, I'm actually quite annoyed with BBC commentators - when Perez was fastest this was "the greatest pole positions of all time" - when it's Stroll, it's much more muted:

 
Well done to Lance Stroll on his pole position and thus denying Max Verstappen.
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Stroll has always been immense in the wet - look at Monza 2017...
fully agree. that why i think he has been the whipping boy. because that P4 in monza was very impressive. his 1st season when other more expierenced drivers were crashing he stayed on the track & put a Brilliant lap

do you think it was the shock of seeing that racing point in the lead. then stroll wasnt a shocker. as it wouldve been more emotional than logical chat
 
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Stroll's pole could be under threat for ignoring yellow flags otherwise a great opportunistic moment for him.

I still think Verstappen is the favourite for the race though.
 
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Wow, so he clearly lifted early and coasted through the yellow flag sector which means he could have gone even quicker.

It must be really hard to take if you're not a massive stroll fan that he was the fastest guy out there today.
 
I think it was in Q1 cider_and_toast when someone went off, but I not sure who it was.
No - that was what I initially thought - but check the offence time - 16:48.

Norris has been given a penalty for Q1 (16:07).

In those sorts of situations, I think that red flags should be used, rather than yellows, as some drivers are affected by other drivers fuck ups.

 
Full credit to him for seizing the moment because all eyes were on Perez to get pole. Maybe the virus has affected him in the last few races. The run down to the first corner could get interesting seeing the Mercedes have to come through to challenge.

A few guys could go for a desperate lunge like Albon seeing the door is slightly open for 2 podium spots
 
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