We’re still recording for an alternate location just in case you’re wondering.
This week - it’s Mercedes fault that the Concorde Agreement hasn’t been signed…
Racing Point was a big part of the conversation this week.
Reserve Drivers - so it turns out the rules have changed and it impacts who can still be a reserve driver.
Sebastian Vettel’s relationship with Ferrari continues to decline.
Valterri Bottas will get another year with Mercedes
And F1 is hoping for a “normal” calendar for 2021.
This week we’re recording from our Glass Enclosed Nerve Center - But next week we won’t be having a show.
We start off this week with a look at the logistical challenges of an F1 weekend.
Lando Calrissian Norris says that teams need to ease the burden of this year’s compressed schedule on trackside personnel - and he’s backing his words with action where he can.
Gulf appears to be getting ready to return to F1.
Ross Brawn admits he used to copy designs all the time.
Mercedes knew that Lewis wasn’t having engine problems at the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix - but they couldn’t tell him.
Williams is giving both drivers an upgrade for the British Grand Prix - but we don't know what it is.
Romain Grosjean apologizes for his remarks about the future of Haas last week.
Toto Wolff says that he’s not involved in any negotiations that may be going on between Racing Point and Sebastian Vettel.
Ferrari is restructuring their engineering divisions.
Are you in the UK? Don’t go to Silverstone this weekend. No, really - Don’t go to Silverstone this weekend.
As of the time of our recording the new Covid-19 restrictions implemented in Spain will not affect the Spanish Grand Prix.
As expected, F1 will not return to the Americas in 2020.
While Silverstone won’t host 12 races this year, they did offer it.
The next three races that have been confirmed for 2020 - Nurburgring, Portimao, and Imola.
If you weren’t already a fan of Lando Norris - you should be…. He’s an all around good guy.
In Driver News - It’s highly likely that Valtteri Bottas will remain with Mercedes for another year, and we know that George Russel will remain at Williams through 2021.
Bild says that Sebastian Vettel is indeed talking to Racing Point and Sergio Perez confirms that he’s been approached by other teams.
So our updated list of teams that could take Sebastian Vettel:
Ferrari - no
Renault - no
Red Bull - no
Alfa Tauri - highly unlikely
Mercedes - highly unlikely
Racing Point - we thought it was a no, but now appears to be a maybe
Haas - interested
Williams - Unknown
Alfa-Romeo - Unknown
Is the future of Haas the elephant in the room, or is Romain Grosjean’s future with Haas the elephant in the room? It depends on who you talk to.
Ferrari and McLaren both appear to be ready to sign the new Concord Agreement.
Ferrari admits that last year’s crackdown on engine games has impacted their performance.
Expect more protests to be filed against the Racing Point at least until this is sorted out.
Some teams may be able to get “free” upgrades.
There were two positive Covid-19 tests in the lead up to the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas got distracted by some lights.
Toto Wolff admitted to poor communications in the pit lane.
Haas got two penalties for telling their drivers to pit, but Red Bull escaped a penalty.
So we recorded the show at our normal time - but it’s going up late because one of us got distracted and forgot that they needed to edit and post the show Monday evening… But hey, it’s up now so everything’s good!
This year’s season should now be at least 10 races long with the Grand Prix of Tuscany announced for the Mugello Circuit and the Russian Grand Prix announced as well. We’re expecting more announcements soon.
Sochi is even hoping to have fans in attendance - we’ll see…
Fernando Alonso is back… And he’s back and Renault… And Renault insists that Fernando’s return won’t bring new levels of drama to the team… And from a drama perspective, we welcome Fernando’s return.
Renault has filed an official protest against the 2020 Racing Point - but just the brake ducts.
The list of teams that have declared that Sebastian Vettel won’t be driving for them in 2021 has increased by 2. For those keeping score, here’s where we know Sebastian isn’t headed:
Ferrari
Renault
Red Bull (new)
Racing Point (not really new but we knew this wasn’t happening)
Toro Rosso (they haven’t announced that Seb isn’t welcome, but lets face it they’re not going to sign a 4 times world champion)
No, Toto Wolff hasn’t bought more shares in Williams.
Mattia Binotto says that now isn’t the time to place blame in the collision this past weekend - we disagree.
McLaren explains that no, Lando Norris didn’t try and game a temperature check.
But Charles Leclerc and Valtteri Bottas have received warnings for violating Covid protocols… And if anybody does it in Hungary, they could be headed to jail.
Failed bakes and the return of F1 - Episode 200 is a long one…
We’re going to have to get back into the habit of recording on a regular basis - because F1 is coming back!
But first, the races in Singapore, Japan, and Azerbaijan have been officially cancelled, as has the entire W Series season.
But F1 will be back starting the weekend of July 5, with the first race of a 3 weekend back to back series. We’re starting with two races in Austria, followed by Hungary. Then the series is off for a week before returning for two weekends at Silverstone, and then to Spa and Monza for their previously scheduled weekends.
Where the series goes from there is up in the air, but there’s the possibility of two races in Sochi, and two races in Bahrain. Additionally, Algarve in Portugal is in negotiations to host a race with both Mugello and Imola both being looked at by FOM.
Race weekends will look different - with no fans in attendance there won’t be a drivers parade, fewer people on the grid, and no podium ceremonies either.
FOM has no intention of cancelling races if team personnel test positive for Covid-19, even a driver testing positive won’t cause FOM to cancel a race - but that doesn’t mean that a team won’t withdraw…
Cars are hitting the track too - with several teams electing for either filming days with their 2020 cars, or “unlimited” running with cars that are two years old - except McLaren, they’re not doing anything.
Could Sebastian Vettel be headed to Aston Martin Racing for 2021? Probably not….
Aston Martin Racing’s new facility at Silverstone has been delayed a year.
And Ross Brawn says that there won’t be a new engine manufacturer coming to F1 before 2026.
We know, it’s been a loooong time since we last had a show - but F1’s been shutdown and we’ve had stuff happening….
In F1 - The Dutch Grand Prix has become the fourth race of the season to be officially cancelled.
Maybe we’ll get a revised calendar this week?
When we do get a calendar, the season will likely start with 2 races in Austria and then 2 races at Silverstone.
The cost cap has dropped, rules have changed, but it’s still unlikely that reverse grid races will happen.
McLaren is struggling, and so is Williams - and for some reason Williams has terminated their sponsorship with Rokit.
Mercedes insists it’s staying in F1, and so does Renault.
Meanwhile Ferrari admits that they’re considering entering IndyCar - but likely without Sebastian Vettel who will be departing the team at the end of the season.
Carlos Sainz Jr is headed to Ferrari for 2021, and Daniel Ricciardo will be leaving Renault to partner with Lando Norris at McLaren next year.
Maybe they’ll be a new team on the grid in 2022 - and Vijay Mallya still hasn’t been extradited…
It’s been a long few weeks, but to help break up some of the monotony we’ve got a show for you this week. We had been planning to have a show last week but had to scrap it at the last minute.
This week’s Unicorn Chaser where you can make your own paper Toto Wolf, Lewis Hamilton, and Valtteri Bottas can be found here - https://www.mercedesamgf1.com/en/news/2020/04/epsonpapercraftdrivers/
We open with news of the passing of Sir Stirling Moss at the age of 90. Since you have the time - check out the excellent documentary on Sir Stirling that was presented by Sir Patrick Stewart on the BBC a few years ago. You can find Racing Legends - Sir Stirling Moss on YouTube here….
Bernie Ecclestone is expecting his fourth child… Yes, that Bernie Ecclestone….
Mercedes HPP along with University College London has developed a CPAP device that’s been approved by the NHS for use in treating Covid-19 patients and reducing the chance that they might end up in the ICU.
Ron Dennis has donated 1 million GBP to an effort to provide meals to NHS workers for the next 3 months, while Pirelli’s Mario Isola has been on the frontline of the Covid-19 response in Milan Italy where he is a volunteer ambulance driver and paramedic - something that he’s been doing for years.
McLaren, Williams, Racing Point, Haas, Renault, as well as Formula 1 Management have all announced staff furloughs in response to the shutdown of the sport.
The previously scheduled 3 week shutdown for teams has now been extended to 5 weeks.
This won’t have an issue for the development of the 2022 cars - as the teams have agreed to freeze development on those cars for the remainder of the year. Meanwhile the implementation of the cost cap for 2021 will proceed as scheduled. Discussions are ongoing regarding a potential engine development freeze as well.
The Canadian GP has officially been postponed - which means that the French GP could be the start of the season.
There’s been some speculation regarding what the calendar will look like, with suggestions that racing could resume as early as July - or not. The season could be extended into January 2021 as a “super season.” There could be as many as 19 races, or as few as 8 races. Or maybe they’ll just scrap the whole season, but won’t decide on that until October.
Silverstone has announced that they would be willing to host more than one race in a restarted season - and would be open to a running of one of those races in a reverse layout.
Zandvoort doesn’t really want to run their rescheduled race without fans - but also admits that F1 hasn’t discussed anything with them yet.
And NASCAR’s Bubba Wallace has lost a sponsor after rage quitting an eNASCAR event.
Yup, we did a show this week - we’re under a stay at home order here, so what else were we going to do?
The good news is that we actually have F1 things to talk about too -
Chase Carey sends an apology to fans - but not for what we think he should be apologizing for
A Pirelli team member tested positive for Covid-19, but with the exception of the one team member who tested positive at McLaren, everybody else from McLaren has been cleared.
Lewis Hamilton says that even though he came in close contact with idris Elba and Sophie Trudeau - he is healthy and is now outside of the risk period for infection.
In other news - Red Bull intended to protest Mercedes’ DAS system if it has been run in FP1
Despite leading the initial outcry - Mercedes is now stepping back from their objections to the private Ferrari/FIA engine settlement.
F1’s summer break has been moved up and extended so that races could be scheduled over the normal summer break period - but no word on how the shut down will impact efforts by the F1 teams to produce ventilators.
Monaco is the first (or maybe the second depending on what’s going on with Melbourne) race to officially be cancelled. All races though and including Baku are now officially postponed - with the first race looking to be France now.
The 2021 rules are also being postponed and should now be known as the 2022 rules - but McLaren will still shift to Mercedes power in 2021 as previously scheduled.
And F1 has rolled out their own “virtual series” and no, its not what we originally thought it would be.
As with every where else in the world - this last week was a whirlwind for the entire motorsports world.
For now, most series have suspended until at least the end of April with many not expected to resume until May. Several series waited until the very last minute to wait until they made their calls, with Formula 1 not reacting until just two hours before the start of Free Practice 1 in Australia.
Because it’s Formula 1 - the decision to cancel the Australian Grand Prix wasn’t drama free - and we now have a deeper understanding of what was going on in the 12 hours between McLaren’s withdrawal from the event and the official cancellation of the event.
Oh - and F1 has a new commercial agreement with Saudi Aramco and Renault has a new title sponsor…..
This past week the news was really dominated by just two stories, Coronavirus and Ferrari’s alleged 2019 cheater engine.
On the Coronavirus front - It’s not clear when the 2020 MotoGP will start with the scheduled first race cancelled, the scheduled third race postponed, and now the scheduled third race of the season in question as well.
Formula E’s Rome E-Prix has been cancelled.
The FIA has established a Crisis Cell to monitor the situation as it develops and to guide it’s response as the situation impacts all of the series governed by the organization.
Ross Brawn has declared that if any team is unable to participate in a Formula 1 race due to travel restrictions in place in response to Coronavirus, that Formula 1 would cancel the event.
As of this past weekend the Australian Grand Prix will be held with the Australian Government holding off on issuing a travel ban on travelers arriving from Italy. However, access to the Bahrain Grand Prix is now restricted to participants only - there will not be any fans in attendance.
The quarantine put in place by the Italian Government impacts both Ferrari and Pirelli, however it’s not clear if the remaining Ferrari personnel who haven’t set out for Australia will be blocked from leaving the region.
Despite the previously announced private agreement between the FIA and Ferrari, the drama over Ferrari’s 2019 engine isn’t over. The non-Ferrari powered teams issued a rare joint statement objecting to how the situation has been handled and threatening legal action over the issue. While the FIA insists that their actions were legitimate and justified.
Is Gene Haas going to end his Formula 1 experiment at the end of the year?
Lawrence Stroll says that he intends for the F1 team to be an key part of Aston-Martin’s strategy.
Drivers are once again allowed to change their helmet design whenever they want.
And Chase Carey takes some pretty open shots at Bernie Ecclestone.
Netflix’s Drive to Survive Season 2 has been released - and we thought it was very well done. You should go watch it - after you’ve listened to this week’s episode.
F1 made a profit in 2019.
As various motorsports seasons start to ramp up, coronavirus is making a bigger impact. MotoGP has cancelled their season opener next weekend, some teams experienced delays traveling to the Formula 2 pre-season test, while ART Grand Prix Renault Junior Driver Christian Lundgaard will miss this year’s Formula 2 testing after being stuck in quarantine in Tenerife.
Ferrari is expressing concerns about the impact to the season and the ability of all the Italian teams to travel to races as concerns continue to rise over the outbreak in Italy. Meanwhile Chase Carey insists that the Vietnamese Grand Prix will not be impacted - although the track is finished and ready to host F1.
F1 has a new Commercial Director.
Alan Permaine says that F1’s instinctive response to ban new developments goes against the nature of the sport - and of course we agree fully.
The Mercedes drivers aren’t sure if they will start the season using the new DAS system.
Coming out of testing Mercedes appears to have reliability issues, the Red Bulls may be a little unstable, and Ferrari may be playing catch up.
The Williams look faster, but they may still be a back marker.
Daniel Ricciardo is open to talking with other teams, and he’s going to scale back his appearances in the lead up to the season opener in Melbourne this year.
We’re back with Fantasy GP this year - and this week was our predictions show! You can view our list of questions here, you’ll need to download and edit the document somewhere else though. Add your predictions to the comment for this post.
We open this week with a reminder that we’re really not a NASCAR podcast, even when a NASCAR story is all over the main stream media.
Imola says that they would be willing to try and hold a replacement race for the Chinese Grand Prix.
Could the Chinese Grand Prix weekend get moved to November and shortened to two days?
Racing Point’s 2020 car was revealed - and it looks less like an evolution of their 2019 car and more like an evolution of Mercedes 2019 car.
Winter testing got underway last week - and for the first time fans could watch each session live via F1 TV Pro and SkySports F1. Thanks to that live broadcast the world learned of a new steering mode on the Mercedes which has the paddock buzzing.
Mercedes Dual Axis Steering (DAS) was already approved by the FIA as in compliance with the Technical Regulations before testing, and it’s also been certified as being safe by the FIA. However, is a steering mode as Mercedes claims - or a change in suspension settings - which would put it in violation of Parc Ferme and other rules?
Either way - it’s already been banned for 2021.
Most of the teams were optimistic about their performance in the first test sessions. Mercedes were faster than everybody, Red Bull was just behind them, and Ferrari appears to be down with the back markers… Or are they?
Pirelli has developed a special tire construction for Zaandvort even though they said they wouldn’t.
And the Miami GP continues to lurch towards the 2021 schedule.
Most of the cars have been revealed and will be hitting the track later this week - F1 2020 is almost here….
Ross Brawn says that as part of their efforts towards a more sustainable F1 - the series is looking at their logistics chain, and could see teams doing away with the European motor homes. Ross Brawn is also confident that the new banking at Zaandvort won’t lead to a repeat of the trouble at Indianapolis in 2005.
Albert Park is due for some updating but the timing is still being worked out. Either way, it will be after this year’s race.
The Chinese Grand Prix has been officially postponed - but could the inaugural Vietnamese Grand Prix be in jeopardy as well?
Toto Wolff continues to downplay the possibility that Mercedes could be leaving the series.
What did Mercedes change in their power unit for the 2020 season - cooling.
Stoffel Vandoorne has been named Mercedes Reserve Driver.
Cyril Abiteboul believe that the leadership changes to Renault will secure the team’s future in the series, but he admits that the team’s performance projections for 2020 probably won’t be good enough to convince Daniel Ricciardo to stay with the team for 2021. Renault also insists that we shouldn’t see the 2020 car not being at last week’s launch event to be an indication that the development program is in trouble.
Ferrari insists that Sebastian Vettel is not at risk for 2021.
And Rich Energy is back in motorsport!
The Chinese Grand Prix may be about to be postponed. We’re not sure when it could be rescheduled, but Ross Brawn says the preference is to postpone and not cancel the event.
European aircraft manufacturer was hit with a massive 3.5 billion Euro fine due to a bribery scandal - and former F1 team Caterham may have had a role in it.
This will be the last year for Racing Point in F1 - the team will be renamed Aston Martin for the 2021 season.
Haas is the first to reveal their 2020 contender - more than a week before the official launch of the car.
Ferrari has already started testing - tire testing for Pirelli.
Red Bull hopes that a change in approach will lead to a faster start to the season for them.
Could Mercedes be having engine trouble?
Ross Brawn says that proposed changes to F1’s governance will make it harder for teams to exploit loopholes in the rules.
Eric Boullier is the new Managing Director for the French GP, and he says that the circuit needs four days to implement changes to the layout of Circuit Paul Ricard to improve the racing.
And Fernando Alonso is trying to stay relevant to F1….
Is an announcement that we’re going to miss a week good news? You be the judge…
Fernando Alonso is no longer a Brand Ambassador for McLaren
Sean Bratches is officially out at Formula 1 Group.
Drive to Survive Season 2 will be coming to Netflix on February 28.
Looking for a way to support relief efforts in Australia? Are you looking for some unique F1 gear, or maybe going to be at the Australian Grand Prix? Check out F1’s official auction to support Australia relief efforts.
Williams says there won’t be any delays in the launch of their 2020 car, unlike last year.
Racing Point says that it takes more than money to make progress with the team.
Helmet Marko rules out Jean-Eric Vergne or Sebastien Buemi returning to F1 in the Red Bull organization.
Zandvoort is trying to keep their first weekend unpredictable for the teams.
The course for the proposed Miami Grand Prix has been revised - again… And we still don’t think it’s going to happen.
And there’s a documentary coming about Max Mosley.
We’re hopeful that the plague has finally run it’s course through our household - if nothing else we both sound better than we did last week.
Could their be a Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - honestly we don’t care, but if there is the track would have been designed by Alex Wurz which we do think is pretty cool.
Max Verstappen will likely be a Red Bull driver for another 3 years.
Willams continues to invest in developing talent name Roy Nissany as a test driver and giving him outings in FP1 this year as well as expanding W Series Champion Jamie Chadwick’s simulator program.
Charles Leclerc’s younger brother Arthur is now a member of Ferrari’s young driver development program.
If Sergio Perez is challenging for wins in two years - he’s going to leave F1, he says…
Sean Bratches is officially out at F1.
Jean Todt shows that he’s completely out of touch.
Pirelli believes that teams will continue to have problems with tires this year.
Launch dates have been confirmed for McLaren, Ferrari, Renault, Mercedes and Alpha Tauri.
Renault says that the 2021 rules will determine if they stay in the series.
Pat Symonds admits that the 2019 aero rules were a mistake.
And - Carlos Sainz won the Dakar rally for the third time - no, not McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr - but Carlos Sainz Sr.
We were gone longer than we planned on - but we’re back! Even though we were sick we did a show just for YOU! Too bad something broke along the way and we lost half the episode… But because we’re dedicated we’re sharing what we were able to save…
While we were on vacation we tasted apples - because isn’t that what you do?
But while we were gone - safety pioneer Bill Simpson died. Don’t know who Bill Simpson was - then watch this…
Chase Carey says that getting new sponsors to F1 is hard.
Williams F1 sold off their controlling stake in Williams Advanced Engineering.
Helmet Marko says that Red Bull is two weeks ahead of schedule developing their 2020 car and that they have no excuses for not mounting a championship challenge in 2020.
But Alpha Tauri has announced that they’ll unveil their 2020 car on February 14 - not after Ferrari unveils their car on February 11.
Matia Binotto insists that Ferrari had proven that their 2019 engine was legal - but they’ll be doing a significant redesign of their engine for 2020.
There was more - but it’s gone now…
Sorry…
This week we open with a reminder that it’s been a very long time since we’ve suffered a velociraptor attack at The Bloke and A Bird Show as well as a story that we’re not supposed to tell….
We know why DRS wasn’t available for the beginning of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Ferrari is questioning the fuel reporting issue in Abu Dhabi - and honestly there is some degree of merit to what they have to say.
Lewis Hamilton says that 2019 was the best season of his career.
We’re not sure that Lewis Hamilton is seriously considering moving to Ferrari in 2021, nor are we sure that Ferrari is seriously considering bringing Lewis Hamilton in for 2021 - but Toto Wolff says that Mercedes isn’t searching for Lewis’ replacement - yet.
Toto Wolff also says that he’s not currently planning on leaving Mercedes to run F1 - and that Mercedes won’t leave F1 if the team can cut back on the money that they get from Daimler. They will be paying the highest every entry fee to run in F1 in 2020, so that’s not going to help.
Red Bull says their first year with Honda exceeded their expectations.
The FIA Prize Giving was last weekend.
There’s new rules for 2020-
Teams can’t hide their car during testing.
Teams will get a third MGU-K for 2020
Miss the weigh bridge on a Friday and it’s not an automatic pit lane start
The electronic checkered flag is going away and we’re getting a real flag again to show us when the race is over.
Could Paul Ricard make changes to the racing at the circuit - possibly… Will the changes they make actually make the racing better - doubt it…
Formula E is now a World Championship.
And we review our predictions - even though we didn’t do a show at the start of the season, we still made predications for 2019….
We open with a guessing game - that probably wasn’t a great idea…
IndyCar is trying to figure out how to hold a race in Australia.
Rinus VeeKay has a full season IndyCar ride with Ed Carpenter Racing - and no Nico Hulkenburg is not going ECR.
Ferrari insists that its loss of pace since Austin is because they made changes to the aero.
The FIA continues to look for ways to ensure that teams aren’t breaking the rules around fuel.
Esteban Ocon will join Renault for post season testing this week.
Zaandvort is going to add banking to make their race more interesting, and we don’t know how that’s going to impact the tires.
Honda will supply engines to Red Bull on Alpha Tauri (formerly Toro Rosso) through 2021.
Nicholas Latifi is replacing Robert Kubica at Williams for 2020.
Haas tried out a new simulator this weekend - and Robert Kubica might be driving it in 2020, or he might not.
Valtteri Bottas has split with his wife of three years.
BAT increases it’s partnership with McLaren.
The teams are upset over the delays in the 2020 tire construction.
Ferrari will keep their veto power in the next Concord Agreement.
Sebastian Vettel had his first son.
Ferrari got fined for issues with fuel reports in Charles Leclerc’s car.
Could Sean Bratches be leaving Formula 1 Management?
Valtteri Bottas is going to participate in a rally event next weekend
and Jenson Button’s Baja 1000 debut left him stranded in the desert for 17 hours.
