Formula 1 British Grand Prix 2020
Sky F1 commentator Martin Brundle said “It was a bit of a slow-burner, but what an extraordinary end”, I disagree, it was not a slow burner, it was a real snoozer, so much so that I was drifting in and out of consciousness for much of the race, only waking up for the final three laps, when the drama started.
As I pointed out previously, the only time we don’t have a Mercedes 1-2 is when the Silver Arrows have a mechanical or technical issue or one of the drivers makes a mistake. Mercedes are so far ahead in terms of pace and reliability that no other team can even get close, and Valtteri Bottas, albeit a good driver, is no match for Lewis Hamilton, so the inter-team battle is even dull, at least Rosberg challenged Hamilton.
Maybe if we had Max Verstappen in a Mercedes alongside Hamilton, F1 would be better, but I doubt that as long as Hamilton is at Mercedes, the German team will never pair him with an equal. Yes, I do believe Verstappen is Hamilton’s equal and would take the battle to the British driver, and would trade race wins with Hamilton. Bottas has his moments but is not consistent, Hamilton is 3 – 1 up in terms of 2020 wins.
The British Grand Prix in the year 2020 will never be remembered for anything other than both Mercedes suffering tire failures in the final three laps of the race. Which will raise the issue of tire reliability, bringing back memories of 2013, when Pirelli suffered multiple tire failures at the 2013 British GP.
The other talking point; is should Red Bull Racing have pitted Verstappen for new soft tires to go for the fastest lap, which the Dutchman did claim, or stay out and see if Hamilton suffered the same tire failure as Bottas did a couple of laps earlier. It’s easy to say in hindsight, but at the time, it was probably the correct decision, as Verstappen was experiencing similar tire wear to the Mercedes drivers.
Talking about F1 in general, given that we’ve had 10 years of just two teams dominating, Red Bull, 2010 – 2013, then Mercedes 2014 – present. I’m starting to think maybe F1 should become a spec series, and let the driver skill be the determining factor, rather than having the best car, which has been the issue for the past 10 years. I know most people will not agree, but F1 has gotten so boring, something has to happen.
Finally, I have the F1TV “apologies, something went wrong” as my featured image as I thought it was ironic with the current lack of competition. Literally, this is what I saw when I visited f1tv.formula1.com at about 11:30am, US central time, trying to watch the British GP on demand. I did manage to get past this by clicking “2020 Season”, but the irony, F1 is still broken despite Liberty Media buying F1 four years ago.