This was not a good race. Not just from a Ferrari fan perspective, but in general. Once again, top 4 has not changed at any time during the race, nor there was ever a serious risk of it happening. And this on a track that traditionally offers A LOT of excitement. Unluckily, once again, the only SC of the race happened in the safety car window which killed any chance of strategy shenanigans upfront.
On a side note, I decided to compile a curious statistic. Everyone knows these years have been dominated by Mercedes in F1, with Ferrari and Red Bull picking up the remaining wins, but in terms of numbers and dates, how many races do we have to back in some of the most prominent racing series to find a 4th different race winner team, and how does F1 fare in comparison? Here you go:
ETCR: 4
Formula E: 4
MotoGP: 4
Moto3: 4
NASCAR Xfinity: 4
WTCR: 4
World RX: 4
Blancpain/GT World Challenge: 5
Formula 3: 5
Formula D: 5
Super Formula: 5
BTCC: 6
D1 Grand Prix: 6
Formula 2: 6
Moto2: 6
NASCAR: 7
NASCAR Truck: 7
Indy Lights: 9
IndyCar: 10
Porsche Supercup: 10
Supercars: 10
DTM: 15
F1H2O: 15
WRC: 18
Superbike: 19
Supersport: 21
WEC: 24
…
Formula 1: 147
You need to go back to Australia 2013, when Kimi Raikkonen won with the Lotus in the season opener for a season where all other races have been won by Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes, like it’s been since. Raikkonen who is, coincidentally, one of the only 9 drivers to win races from 2013 to our days - the last different winner was the season finale in 2012, Jenson Button for McLaren.
It’s an astonishing statistic, especially if put aside the title winners, the pole-to-win ratios, the lead changes per race, and so on. Scary thought that this likely remains throughout 2021 as well. If no fluke win by Renault/Racing Point/etc. happen in 2020/2021 before the rule changes in 2022, approx. 175 races will have gone by without any team outside of the aforementioned 3 winning races.
End of an era. But if the choice is between preserving the Williams family’s involvement and go towards an inevitable death, or try and salvage the team and the jobs involved but with a different leadership… it’s a no brainer. Wish the team the best for the future.
Unless it just turns out to be a shady money-laundering scheme or something, on the other hand, I applaud them for making this cut practically immediately. The Williams team are where they are because of the leadership. They could have built something off 2012 or 2014, yet here we are. A clean slate before it’s too late might be the solution.
I mean, I have no idea how long the deal has been in the works, and if the investor has an experienced team ready to parachute in. Running an F1 team is a pretty complex thing. So, yeah, let’s see how this plays out.
I knew this was coming, soon as they announced they sold the company. Claire has said before they would never allow their team to be a customer B team or sell it and then this. I think they kicked them out honestly.
As expected, the new engine mode helps the team who can already use the shit out of party mode to begin with, and fucks over those with less capable engines.
