But will there be a Surprise winner? Or another
Dull season of the Almighty Silver Arrows Kicking everybody’s Arses?
Otay Folks, it’s almost showtime! So set ‘em
DVR’s for bright ‘N early Friday morning March 26th if you want to
see Formula 1 cars practicing at the Bahrain International circuit (BIC) in Sekir. As believe it’s
on Stateside on ESPN U at Oh dark 30 Pacific, before the rest of the weekend,
i.e.; Qualie’ and Race are on ESPN2, but you’ll need to check your TV Guide as
Always.
And I’ll try not being too cynical, but; This year will see the two
Friday Free Practice (FP) sessions trimmed to just One hour apiece, down from
the previous 90mins sessions.
So does that mean F1 ticket prices will be reduced accordingly? Or will it be
like your typical Shampoo bottle at said grocery store which is filled with air
and even has the sides carved off for the same exact price of an old bottle? Oh
Never Mind!
Meanwhile, Nah, No quarantine-while’ Jokes here
Folks! Since I haven’t watched any Late Show with Steven Cobert lately, but I digress…
This year sees the introduction of the long
discussed, and presumably chafed over? Cost Cap with teams being limited to a
budget of $147 million, since for each additional race over 21 events, each
further race increases the budget by a cool one million dollars. But for each
race under 21 ergo minus $1m. Hmm, if COVID further stirs up this year’s
championship, Thar could be a reduction in the Budget Caps amount. As the Cap
Doesn’t include Drivers Salaries, Team’s top 3 Executives Salaries or Marketing
expenses, and other fine print details…
On the technical side, further attempts to lop
off more Downforce from the 2021 Chassis has been made in three key areas,
albeit I’m not going to try to define them intrincically since I’m Not a Gory
engineer, etc.
The biggest change is to the car’s floor, which
sees the flat portion in front of the rear wheels being pushed forwards and “Chopped”
Diagonally, along with removing some other slots. Brake ducts are reduced
sizewise, along with the Rear Diffuser “Fences,” which reputedly will see an
overall Downforce reduction of 10%, although the FIA Scrutineers expect the
teams to Claw-back 5% of these losses. Giving a total of a 5% Downforce loss
for 2021. Along with the Pirelli Rubber seeing a slightly Stiffer design to protect
against tyre delamination due to the harsh cornering loads – if I’ve understood
this correctly?
As many are frothing over Red Bull and Max
Verstappen’s sizzling Pre-season testing performance and picking him as the
Odds On favourite to win in Bahrain this weekend.
And even if the Silver arrows were Slow during
testing, do we really think that Sir Lewis won’t come roaring back en route to
an amazing eighth World Championship title this season with a Gory record 23
races on it’s calendar. Although I’ll definitely be rootin’ against Golden
Child, Uhm Lewis Hamilton since F1 needs some Shaking Up!
But I’m far more intrigued over how DannyRic’,
aka Daniel Ricciardo performs in his new papaya coloured McLaren. Ditto for
Checko’, nee Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull car. Along with who wins the
Rookies Battle this year. As I’ll pick Yuki Tsunoda in the AlphaTauri to finish
ahead of the Haas duo of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.
And lastly, looking forward to seeing Team
Willy’, ergo Williams Racing not
finishing Dead last this year, along with George Russell scoring multiple
points!
So Tune-in this weekend if you’re Jonesin’ for some Bloody Open Wheel Racing action, specifically thou Pinnacle of Motorsport…