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2020 70th Anniversary Thoughts

THE BIG PICTURE: Once again, the off track shenanigans overshadow the on track action in F1. The sport is always it's worst enemy. And after everyone worked so well together during the forced break to better the sport, Lord of the Flies broke out again over the Racing Point controversy.

EVENT: Obviously, this race wouldn't happen if not for the pandemic, but it still seemed weird to hold a 70th anniversary celebration with no guests.

TRACK: Same track. Different temperatures. Different tires. A whole different race.

QUALIFYING: This time Bottas is the Mercedes man, Hulkenberg impressively gets his form back, Renault surprises again with Ricciardo, Gasly is strong again, Ferrari is blah, Vettel is worse than blah, and Kimi is dead last.

RACE: Once the realization of what was playing out was apparent, this became an edge of your seat race, wondering if Red Bull could really pull it off or did Mercedes have something up their sleeve.

START: Bottas holds on, Hamilton hounds him, Hulkenberg's dream takes a dent, Stroll jumps way up, Leclerc bungles, and Vettel continues to drive like an amateur.

VERSTAPPEN: It's one thing to try a strategy like they did, it's another to have a driver be able to pull it off. Max did, superbly.

ALBON: Just think if Alexander qualified higher... Nonetheless, some mighty bodacious passing moves.

RED BULL: This is the type of strategy they wanted to try in Austria, but Verstappen's car failed early. They were able to bring this trick back out, and kept it wonderfully under wraps on Friday and Saturday.

HAMILTON: Even Lewis couldn't baby the tires enough.

BOTTAS: Through no fault of his team, he got "stuck" with a strategy that wasn't even good enough to hang onto second place. Valtteri deserved better this race.

MERCEDES: Everyone is talking about the Mercedes weakness in the car. Fine. But as a team, they also are sometimes weak in being able to change strategy on the fly. One area they are not weak in is learning their lessons, figuring out the problem, and coming back even stronger.

LECLERC: A few teams, shockingly, executed the single pit stop strategy. But only Charles was able to execute it with such a high finish. Truly a great, patient drive.

VETTEL: Good heavens! What else is there to say?

STROLL: As in Lawrence, the father, not Lance, the son. We've never seen him this mad before in public.

HULKENBERG: In the end, his two substitution drives raised his stock in perhaps coming back with a fulltime ride.

RACING POINT: They may be seeing more action in court than on the track.

OCON: Another one-stopper to make it work.

MCLAREN: Silverstone was just not suited for their cars.

KVYAT: Great recovery after a poor qualifying.

GASLY: The opposite direction after a solid qualifying effort.

RAIKKONEN: Is Kimi even having fun this year?

MAGNUSSEN: The lone DNF.

FIA: If you read the entire 14-page decision on Racing Point, it does make a little more sense. But, we just can't get over the thought the FIA still used semantics gymnastics to get there.

F2: Brit's Callum Ilott becomes the second driver to win two races this year, adding to his healthy 19 point championship lead.

F3: This time, American Logan Sargeant did not waste another pole position, leading every lap for a dominant first win. Despite getting knocked out in the sprint race, he leads the championship by just one point.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Strategy.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 178 -- The record number of races Nico Hulkenberg has run without a podium finish. For now, that number holds steady.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: This race, of course, was celebrating the 70th anniversary of Formula 1, which started at Silverstone in 1950. It shouldn't be any surprise Silverstone, in eight different configurations, hosted 54 British Grands Prix plus this race for a total of 55. Starting in 1955, the British GP alternated between Silverstone and first with Aintree (five times total) then Brands Hatch (12). The four times the British GP was held before F1 were at Brooklands (1926-27) and Silverstone (1948-49). Britain also hosted the European Grand Prix there times, twice at Brands Hatch and once at Donington.

TWEET OF THE WEEKEND: ESPN's Nate Saunders: "Vettel right now is like the final Game of Thrones season. You remember - vividly - how good the show was, but it is just getting worse and worse every episode and nothing makes sense."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Max Verstappen grandma quotes never get old. This time, while being told to take it easy while chasing down Lewis Hamilton, he said, "I'm not just going to be sitting here like a grandma."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Sebastian Vettel's brutal comment on the Ferrari after qualifying, "We are where we are for a reason. We are just not fast enough."

SCHEDULE: There's a reason the Spanish GP is held in May -- it can get scorching hot in Barcelona in the middle of summer. Red Bull will be making sacrifices to the sun god.

Copyright © 2020 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.



RACE RESULTS
  Driver Laps
1. Verstappen 52
2. Hamilton 52
3. Bottas 52
4. Leclerc 52
5. Albon 52
6. Stroll 52
7. Hulkenberg 52
8. Ocon 52
9. Norris 52
10. Kvyat 52
11. Gasly 52
12. Vettel 52
13. Sainz 52
14 Ricciardo 51
15. Raikkonen 51
16. Grosjean 51
17. Giovinazzi 51
18. Russell 51
19. Latifi(R) 51
NC Magnussen 43

Time of Race
1:19:41.993

Margin of Victory
11.326 sec.

Safety Car
None

Lead Changes
4 among 3 drivers

Lap Leaders
Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton

Fastest Race Lap
Lewis Hamilton

Pole Position
Valtteri Bottas

CURRENT STANDINGS
  Driver Pts.
1. Hamilton 107
2. Verstappen 77
3. Bottas 73
4. Leclerc 45
5. Norris 38
6. Albon 36
7. Stroll 28
8. Perez 22
9. Ricciardo 20
10. Ocon 16
11. Sainz 15
12. Gasly 12
13. Vettel 10
14. Hulkenberg 6
15. Giovinazzi 2
  Kvyat 2
17. Magnussen 1

  Team Pts.
1. Mercedes 180
2. Red Bull 113
3. Ferrari 55
4. McLaren 53
5. Racing Point 41
6. Renault 36
7. AlphaTauri 14
8. Alfa Romeo 2
9. Haas 1
 
 

2024 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Japan
China Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco
Canada Spain Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Azerbaijan Singapore United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Qatar Abu Dhabi

2023 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Azerbaijan
Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco Spain
Canada Austria Great Britain Hungary
Belgium Holland Italy Singapore
Japan Qatar United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Abu Dhabi

2022 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Emilia Romagna
Miami Spain Monaco Azerbaijan
Canada Great Britain Austria France
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Singapore Japan United States
Mexico City Sao Paulo Abu Dhabi

2021 Thoughts
Bahrain Emilia Romagna Portugal Spain Monaco
Azerbaijan France Steiermark Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Russia Turkey United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Qatar Saudi Arabia Abu Dhabi

2020 Thoughts
Austria Steiermark Hungary Great Britain Anniversary
Spain Belgium Italy Tuscany
Russia Eifel Portugal Emilia Romagna
Turkey Bahrain Sakhir Abu Dhabi

2019 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
Mexico United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2018 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2017 Thoughts
Australia China Bahrain Russia
Spain Monaco Canada Azerbaijan
Austria Great Britain Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2016 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Russia Spain
Monaco Canada Europe Austria
Great Britain Hungary Germany Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2015 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore Japan Russia United States
Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2014 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia Bahrain China
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan Russia
United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2013 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Great Britain
Germany Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore South Korea Japan India
Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2012 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2011 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Turkey
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi Brazil

2010 Thoughts
Bahrain Australia Malaysia China
Spain Monaco Turkey Canada
Europe Great Britain Germany Hungary
Belgium Italy Singapore Japan
South Korea Brazil Abu Dhabi

2009 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Turkey Great Britain
Germany Hungary Europe
Belgium Italy Singapore
Japan Brazil Abu Dhabi


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