In the round-up: McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl says the team must keep up its strong reliability record this season to have a chance of winning the fight for third place in the constructors championship.
What they say
With three races to go McLaren are five points behind third-placed Racing Point in the constructors championship, 13 points ahead of Renault and 19 clear of Ferrari:It’s important now on our side to focus on ourselves to see that we can still extract more performance out of the car, especially on Saturdays.
Also it’s important to keep the level of reliability up. So far we have really a great record on our side, on the team’s side this year not having a single DNF in qualifying in the races, which is a great step forward compared to previous years and shows that the team is putting in a lot of great work back home and here at the track.
Then it will be important to have clean race weekends, optimise the operation as well out here in terms of strategy, in terms of pit stops. And together with our two drivers us I think we can keep this battle alive and that’s what we will focus on.
Andreas Seidl
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Bahrain gets 10 rainy days per year on average. But early forecasts for next week's race indicate a chance of precipitation.
Rain at last year's test at the desert track kept teams in their garages for several hours as none had brought wet weather tyres:https://t.co/CGqAJFGqs3
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Links
More motor racing links of interest:
It's time to celebrate what makes us special (The Age)
"Grand prix organisers are hoping authorities will give the green light to a reconfigured Albert Park circuit that caters for crowds of up to 50,000 at the Formula 1 season-opener in Melbourne next March."
Hamilton could not have driven better to win his seventh world championship (GQ)
Max Chilton: "Lance (Stroll) is a young driver who has had a lot of stick for his father backing him all the way and I hope this will go some way to showing what talent he has."
Question for Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Hansard)
"To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will encourage UK motorsport organisations to make their participation in the Saudi Arabian grand prix contingent on the release of (a) Loujain al-Hathloul and other women human rights defenders and (b) Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, Prince Turki bin Abdullah and other political detainees."
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Comment of the day
Phil wants to see more F1 drivers speak out on the subject of human rights:
I think Hamilton is doing precisely the right thing. Hopefully he will be receiving some more vocal support from some of the other high-profile drivers. I have not heard much from anyone else.
I imagine some in the world of F1 do see the sport as being a force for change in countries like Saudi. Let’s not pretend though this is the reason they are going to Saudi. It’s mainly about money and it seems likely that they are paying Liberty a very large hosting fee and we know they are providing a lucrative ongoing sponsorship deal as well.
Then this issue is not about the way people are treated when they actually travel to Saudi. It’s about the way people who live there are treated and the well documented fact that forces in Saudi export murder and terrorism.
I took part in the F1 fan voice poll yesterday. At that time 63% of respondents had either a negative or very negative view of the idea of racing there. Only 19% saw it as positive or very positive.
It’s a bad decision and F1 should not be going there. I won’t be watching any of it.
Phil Norman (@Phil-f1-21)
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DB-C90 (@dbradock)
22nd November 2020, 2:13
As an Australian, I will be quite annoyed if the Melbourne Grand Prix participants are not subjected to the sorts of restrictions that the rest of us have had imposed on us when it comes to international travel.
Currently, anyone flying in, which by the way is restricted to expats only, is required to quarantine in a medi-hotel for 14 days with no exception. There are a
So severe limits on the numbers arriving because there simply isn’t enough capacity for large numbers of returning expats.
We have elderly family in the UK and have not been able to visit them to ensure their safety, but have accepted that on the basis that our closed borders have protected Australia from the ravages of COVID-19. I’m sure there are thousands like us that also would love to be able to visit family overseas but are unable to.
Provided that all participants that fly in (teams, drivers, FIA staff, FOM staff) all undergo the sa,e rigorous quarantine (I.e. arrive at least 14 days before the event and go into quarantine), I have no problem with the event going ahead. If anything other than the rules that apply to the rest of us apply, I’d prefer that the event not proceed.
We’ve already had two states have to undergo lockdowns because the virus escaped from quarantined travellers – why should we exacerbate the risk by bringing in a thousand or so people (or more) from areas of the world that clearly don’t have the virus under control.
So allowing 50,000 spectators, to me, sounds great, providing they are all locals and not from overseas, but I’m yet to be convinced that the event should go ahead in the first place. To do otherwise is a pretty big “up yours” to the general public who have willingly accepted no travel to keep us all safe.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
22nd November 2020, 2:58
Considering F1 have been strict with their own bubble, and the success of that bubble system, in fact leading the way for other sports to follow; I’d be surprised if the FIA couldn’t come to terms with the government to have their circus come and go without hindrance. That remains to be seen with the Aus Open (the first real test of an international event) reported to be delayed due to quarantine concerns.
I would highly doubt as you say there would be any international attendees, a move such as that would beggar belief.
Considering other events have taken place with such a crowd I don’t really see an issue, as long as the circus doesn’t intersperse with the population and sticks to their bubble.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
22nd November 2020, 3:36
@skipgamer I don’t have a problem with the crowds providing they are all local because we’ve managed quite a few “local” events with crowds. That’s the advantage of having your country as close to COVID free as possible.
I too am watching the progress towards the Australian open with interest. It seems that they players are going to be required to quarantine and I’d expect nothing less. I also expect nothing less for F1 because I doubt they’ll be completely contained in a bubble after this season ends. In fact I can’t understand how they can actually define what they have as “bubbles” given they let people go home between races, so I don’t believe they should be given any concessions.
Darren Moore
22nd November 2020, 6:12
There won’t be a race in Australia in March. That is for sure. Travel to the other end of the planet and quarantine for 1-2 weeks for three day event.
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd November 2020, 8:28
Still unlikely to happen, though. The general 99% certainty of only dry running every year for both Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. I’m still not entirely convinced at this point that the Australian GP could take place as the season-opener in March, given the possible travel restrictions caused by COVID in place and others, etc. BTW, Mclaren has had DNFs and a DNS this year, so not entirely free in this regard.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
22nd November 2020, 14:35
Thank you for COTD @keithcollantine.
Thank you all as well for giving the issue extensive coverage. I think it is an important one.
Balue (@balue)
22nd November 2020, 17:16
About McLaren fighting for 3rd, it’s quite exciting that it’s less about development at this stage and more about operations. McLaren have improved both strategy and pit stops, but then they were really bad just a few years ago and I expect them to revert to type when the going get tough unfortunately..