Perhaps I am an unknowing newb but.... this seems... convoluted?
Formula 2 does a time trial qualifying on Fridays that sets the grid for the big ("feature") race on Sunday. However, on Saturdays they do two sprint races. The first reverses the top 10 from qualifying, and the second reverses the top 10 form the first sprint, and each awards points (albeit fewer than the feature race).
I'll admit I haven't watched Formula 2 for a while... Is this new? When I watched it was:
- Qualifying
- Feature race
- Sprint race
The feature race was how the drivers qualified, and the sprint race was finishing order of the feature race, with the top 8 in reverse order of finishing.
Also, reverse grid and the sprint format actually makes much more sense in something like Formula 2, which is a spec series - every team has the "same" car. The only difference is in how the teams manage and maintain their cars.
Sprint races are meant to be start to finish, stay on the track and drive. But there has been a phenomenon in the past of Formula 2 where a driver suffers some kind of setback on track, pits for fresher, faster tires, and then just storms through the field for a win. Could be interesting to see the strategy choices, but I don't expect dramatically different results from F1.
Also, Zero, you said "longer" race, but you must mean shorter? A regular F1 race is 305 km and the sprint is 100 km.
Gotcha, I get what you mean now with the red flag analogy.
And yeah, now that I look at the F2 page that you linked (whoops, I overlooked that the first time) that is definitely a new format since the last time I watched.
I should pick it up again this year - I always enjoyed F2 when I watched because it actually had some pretty decent racing, even though the stratification of the field can sometimes be just as dramatic as F1 when there are talented drivers on the grid.
It'll be interesting to see if any of the non-European races go ahead again this year. The only thing going for them at the moment is they're all in the back half of the year now so there's a chance their Covid situations will have improved, but most of the non-Middle Eastern ones look unlikely right now.
Even Turkey is a surprise it's been added considering they're experiencing a spike and are going into their first ever lockdown this week.
P1 Mazepin is coming as close to the 107% rule as I've seen for a while.
I wonder how bad a kid has to be for his billionaire Dad to be like "You know what, son, maybe we should try something else."
Isn't it nice when terrible people are also bad?
Yessssssss.
Not sure if he’s just bad, or being very careful so as not to spin.
Of course if he were good, he wouldn’t spin in the first place.
Like, just..... I watched the highlights, and Hamilton passes Verstappen... and then the race ends and he's ahead by near 30 seconds. Just.... what?
Verstappen took one more pitstop than Hamilton, to fit fresh tyres and go for the extra point for the fastest lap.
Before Max changed to softs, Hamilton was 5 seconds ahead. Which seems to be his, "This is good enough" distance.
Someone was looking at the relative gaps across micro-sectors after Lewis had fallen behind Max from the restart and you can see a difference in style between Max and Lewis' lap construction.
Max was more conventional in staying as near to Bottas as possible over the whole of the lap, then trying to nab him on the main straight with DRS, except he was never able to stay close enough through 14 into 15 to be in position to do that.
Meanwhile, Hamilton would slightly fall off the back of Max (and later Valtteri) through the first two thirds of the lap, then suddenly close up in turn 13, hold the gap through 14 and into the DRS detection zone.
You can see Max wobbling through 14 behind Bottas from the onboard of Hamilton's overtake.
You can't say for sure if it's the car or the driver, (the answer is usually both), but the DRS detection line was moved this year from the exit of 14 to the middle of 15 making exit speed at 14 more important than just proximity. Also the main straight DRS zone was more than 100 metres shorter than in 2020, so it was crucial to get that sort of prep right to take advantage of it.
Like, just..... I watched the highlights, and Hamilton passes Verstappen... and then the race ends and he's ahead by near 30 seconds. Just.... what?
That confused me so much! Not even a mention of it.
Y'know, looking at the timesheets, I am amazed at how often people just get lapped.
Like, I know, if Hamilton is 26 seconds ahead of the guy in third place, then he's going to blow by the guy in 9th, but still.
Perez and Sainz have some serious work to do getting used to their new rides this season. Was an excellent demonstration of how strategy can win a race again.
They also need to tether it to Mick.
Red Bull: "Not winning in Monaco is not an option."
Ferrari:
So is it just me, or is Haas notably worse now?
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