2020 Formula 1 Calendar threadFormula 1

[andrea]

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...e-postponed-races.1znLAbPzBbCQPj1IDMeiOi.html

Formula 1 has today announced the launch of a new F1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix series, featuring a number of current F1 drivers. The series has been created to enable fans to continue watching Formula 1 races virtually, despite the ongoing COVID-19 situation that has affected this season’s opening race calendar.

The virtual races will run in place of every postponed Grand Prix, starting this weekend with the Virtual Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday March 22. Every subsequent race weekend will see the postponed real-world Formula 1 race replaced with a Virtual Grand Prix*, with the initiative currently scheduled to run until May**.

The first race of the series will see current F1 drivers line up on the grid alongside a host of stars to be announced in due course. In order to guarantee the participants safety at this time, each driver will join the race remotely, with a host broadcast live from the Gfinity Esports Arena (or remotely if required) from 8:00pm (GMT) on Sunday March 22.

The series will use the official F1 2019 PC video game, developed by Codemasters, and the first virtual GP on the Sakhir track will be a 50% length race with 28 laps. The broadcast, which will be available on the official Formula 1 YouTube, Twitch and Facebook channels, as well as F1.com, is expected to run for 1 hour 30 minutes, with a qualifying period where grid positions will be determined based on the drivers’ fastest lap time.

Due to the wide variety of gaming skill levels amongst the drivers, game settings will be configured in such a way to encourage competitive and entertaining racing. This includes running equal car performance with fixed setups, reduced vehicle damage, and optional anti-lock brakes and traction control for those less familiar with the game.

The series is strictly for entertainment purposes, to bring racing action to fans in this unprecedented scenario the world has been affected by, with no official World Championship points up for grabs for the drivers.

During non-race weekends, Formula 1 will also be hosting online exhibition races, where fans from around the world will be given the chance to go head-to-head with F1 drivers. More details of these events will be available across the official Formula 1 social media channels in the coming weeks.

And now for ***** and giggles. Warning some strong language in this clip.

Spoiler

 

[Blitz24]

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...e-postponed-races.1znLAbPzBbCQPj1IDMeiOi.html



And now for ***** and giggles. Warning some strong language in this clip.

He ignored track limits and tried to short cut the final hairpin at Sonoma. 55 seconds added to his final result.

 

[TenEightyOne]

And also Zandvoort postponed.

Now cancelled entirely. Dutch GP organisers say they have investigated the possibility of a closed race but that it won't be possible, but they'll be back in 2021.

 

[PeterJB]

2020 is green for go!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/52883244

 

[Jimlaad43]

From July 5th:
Austrian
Styrian
Hungarian
Week off
British
70th Anniversary
Spanish
Week off
Belgian
Italian


These are the only confirmed races so far. There is a fall back of two races at Monza if they can't fit Singapore in after it. Any Asian and American races haven't been confirmed left.

 

[Liquid]

Hamilton to wrap up the title by the second British Grand Prix.

 

[Robin]

Easiest title Mercedes have ever won

How they are going to do triple back to back races will be a challenge to see even though they aren't going far.

 

[Touring Mars]

Ah, a 'week off' before the UK GP.... I heard this on Radio 5 Live as a 'wee cough'

-

George Russell has rubbished the idea of a reverse-grid race in the UK, saying that he doesn't want to be made a fool of because his car is so slow...

I can kind of see his point, but it really shouldn't be the case that someone's car is so slow that they are embarrassed by the prospect of being in pole position!

 

[DesertPenguin]

Ah, a 'week off' before the UK GP.... I heard this on Radio 5 Live as a 'wee cough'

-

George Russell has rubbished the idea of a reverse-grid race in the UK, saying that he doesn't want to be made a fool of because his car is so slow...

I can kind of see his point, but it really shouldn't be the case that someone's car is so slow that they are embarrassed by the prospect of being in pole position!

Pole Position for maybe a few turns, maybe even just up to Turn 1. It's a joke when everyone easily gets by you in a short time like that. Just because you're starting up front doesn't mean anything, especially in a reverse grid race.

 

[PeterJB]

Pole Position for maybe a few turns, maybe even just up to Turn 1. It's a joke when everyone easily gets by you in a short time like that. Just because you're starting up front doesn't mean anything, especially in a reverse grid race.

There's not much difference between the cars in their launches from a standing start, he could probably maintain the lead at least for the first sector. A reverse grid at Monaco would've been absolute carnage.

 

[Touring Mars]

Pole Position for maybe a few turns, maybe even just up to Turn 1. It's a joke when everyone easily gets by you in a short time like that. Just because you're starting up front doesn't mean anything, especially in a reverse grid race.

Yeh, I do sympathise with him, though reverse-grid races in other sports seem to work out alright... if there is a decent gradient from top to bottom, then a reverse-grid race might work quite well... what GR seems worried about, however, is that there's a pretty big drop off between his team and most other teams, which is unfortunately the case.

 

[DesertPenguin]

there's a pretty big drop off between his team and most other teams, which is unfortunately the case.

And everyone knows it

 

[TenEightyOne]

I heard this on Radio 5 Live as a 'wee cough'

You'd no be wanting that.

 

[Jimlaad43]

The W Series did a non-championship reverse grid race just for the sake of it. It was absolutely epic, with some of the backmarkers staying at the front, and the quick ones working their way through the pack. In the end it was won by the polesitter over someone from the back of the grid by a few inches. Basically in reverse grid races, the ones who start at the front usually stay there, and the ones at the back carve their way through. The worst place to be is a midfielder because you can't get past the ones ahead of you because they're the same speed, and everyone behind flies past. A team like Renault or McLaren would be screwed, while Alfa, Alpha and Williams actually get to do quite well from a reverse grid because everybody behind squabbles and allows them to have a clear run to the end.

 

[Saidur_Ali]

Good race to start off with as had a different pecking order than usual there last year which could spice things up. Hopefully they can make it happen healthily. Remember Igor winning there last year so great FIA F3 starter race for him.

 

[Liquid]

George Russell has rubbished the idea of a reverse-grid race in the UK, saying that he doesn't want to be made a fool of because his car is so slow...

Agh, no! Not another statistic being permanently skewed. Gross point tallies and comparisons are already an irrelevance.

If they do it, it absolutely should not be called a pole position and absolutely not be counted as a career stat.

If George Russell gets as many "poles" in one season as Jean Alesi did in his whole career (2) I will be fuming.

 

[PeterJB]

The W Series did a non-championship reverse grid race just for the sake of it. It was absolutely epic, with some of the backmarkers staying at the front, and the quick ones working their way through the pack. In the end it was won by the polesitter over someone from the back of the grid by a few inches. Basically in reverse grid races, the ones who start at the front usually stay there, and the ones at the back carve their way through. The worst place to be is a midfielder because you can't get past the ones ahead of you because they're the same speed, and everyone behind flies past. A team like Renault or McLaren would be screwed, while Alfa, Alpha and Williams actually get to do quite well from a reverse grid because everybody behind squabbles and allows them to have a clear run to the end.

They do use identical cars in Formula W mind. The faster cars won't have such a hard time coming through to the front, especially with guaranteed DRS each lap.

 

[ScottPuss20]

I would like to see how a reverse grid race goes.

 

[PeterJB]

I would like to see how a reverse grid race goes.

I absolutely would love to as well, manufacturing reverse grid races on Formula One: Championship Edition never quite cut it for me. However that doing a reverse grid race and making it a championship race could open a can of worms.

Doing this in 2012 would've been great, imagine a grid line-up going HRT - Marussia - Caterham - Toro Rosso - Williams - Force India - Sauber - Mercedes - Lotus - Ferrari - Red Bull - McLaren at somewhere like Monaco or Singapore.

 

[Jimlaad43]

An early Halloween story. Well, a scary thought at least.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/russian-gp-sochi-double-header-2020/4801317/

I mean, it does make sense. Sochi is a long way away from anywhere, and the Olympic Village is a good place to just put all the teams and workers in to keep them in a bubble for the week between double races. Everything about it makes sense apart from two things.

1: Russia appears to be really struggling to deal with Coronavirus at the moment, so it seems like somewhere to avoid.

2: Oh God not the Sochi Autodrom twice in a row.

 

[TenEightyOne]

twice in a row.

I've yet to see the really big question addressed by F1... does each part of a double-header get its own race thread at GTP or a single continuous one?

 

[Jimlaad43]

I've yet to see the really big question addressed by F1... does each part of a double-header get its own race thread at GTP or a single continuous one?

I am not in any way, shape or form going to miss out on starting a Styrian Grand Prix or 70th Anniversary Grand Prix thread. That is something I don't want to miss out on!

A second Sochi race? What could they call that? I don't think the "Krasnodar Grand Prix" has quite a ring to it. The "Olympic Grand Prix" would be a massive argument between F1 and the Olympics over rights and prestige - perhaps it could be the first event of Tokyo 2020 2021. But no, my preference would be to do a San Marino/Switzerland/Luxembourg thing and call it the "Georgian Grand Prix". The Sochi circuit is only about 10 miles or so from the Russia-Georgia border. That would be cool to see.

 

[Roger the Horse]

Because Russia and Georgia don't hate each other or have any existing border conflicts at all...

 

[MatskiMonk]

So, silly question, are these races being held behind closed doors?

 

[DesertPenguin]

I believe so.

 

[Wiegert]

The Sochi circuit is only about 10 miles or so from the Russia-Georgia border.

10 miles from the independent state of Abkhazia, according to Russia. Can't really see a breakaway Republic getting a named GP here. A 'Caucasus Grand Prix' would be the least contentious and vaguely imaginative option on the table I'd imagine.

I believe so.

So Sochi will be no different from any other year it's hosted a race. Except Putin probably won't drop by briefly to sample some industrial-strength sleep aid.

 

[Pezzarinho17]

A second Sochi race? What could they call that?

We know it will be the "Vladimir Putin Grand Prix"...

 

[Liquid]

"A second race at Sochi"

That is a threat.

 

[PeterJB]

I think I'd rather have no F1 than two races at Sochi...

 

[Touring Mars]

A second Sochi race? What could they call that?

Cruel and unusual punishment.

-

Rather than reverse grid races, could some F1 circuits be used in reverse for a second race?

What circuits would be good in reverse....? Eau Rouge downhill anyone?!