The 2020 Season

[Chrill]

Sergio Perez was spun around, ran dead last at the end of Lap 1, and won this race. Even without Mercedes doing... well, that, Perez was still definitely heading for the podium. That is so very very impressive. Albon qualified 12th. And like, I guess he was in the race???

Come on, Horner and Marko, just call the Mexican. Do it.

[Penfold]

Well, I know two drivers worthy of a 10/10 rating after this race.

Vettel and Leclerc?

[Penfold]

As for Perez, we've now got Lawrence Stroll saying that Sergio deserves the Red Bull seat next year.  Hang on, maybe he deserves one of the Aston Martin seats next year....

[Chrill]

As for Perez, we've now got Lawrence Stroll saying that Sergio deserves the Red Bull seat next year.  Hang on, maybe he deserves one of the Aston Martin seats next year....

That's a bit rich coming from Lawrence. We all know signing Vettel makes sense from a marketing perspective, and I think most F1 fans can agree Stroll isn't entirely useless, but Perez is the better driver of the 3 in 2020. That's fact.

[Penfold]

"That's a bit rich" is a polite way of putting it!

[Chrill]

I'm a polite man.

[Penfold]

Engine change for Perez and Magnussen dumps them to the back of the grid, which admittedly is not that significant for KMag.

[Chrill]

So Perez to win again? I mean, he did it last week from being last.

[Penfold]

If he can haul himself up to being best of the rest (behind Ham/Bot/Ver), that would be quite some drive. Personally, I just hope he finishes ahead of Stroll....

[Chrill]

He did not.

Albon had a decent-ish race in Abu Dhabi, finishing not far behind the tuned down Mercedes cars. Still, Verstappen beat them solidly. Was this enough to salvage Albon's career, or will Perez get a chance to compete at the top level next year?

[Penfold]

That is the question.  Going by the post-race comments of Little Jack Horner's brother we should know fairly soon, sounded like it'll be announced this side of Christmas.

[Chrill]

In 2020, a whopping 13 different drivers visited the podium at least once;

2 Mercedes
2 Red Bull
2 McLarens
2 Racing Points
2 Renaults
2 Ferraris
1 AlphaTauri

That's pretty impressive. In 2019, only 8 drivers did:
2 Mercedes
2 Ferrari
1 Red Bull
1 McLaren
2 Toro Rosso (mhm...)

And in 2018, only 7 drivers:
2 Mercedes
2 Ferrari
2 Red Bull
1 Force India

[Penfold]

Bottas reckons his race pace was stronger in '20: https://www.racefans.net/2020/12/21/race-pace-not-qualifying-was-my-most-improved-area-bottas/

Must've been a very marginal improvement because he's still clearly a step behind Lewis in both qualifying and races; he's also harder on his tyres, struggles to pass people, and makes more errors than Hamilton.  Still, good enough for a no. 2 at Mercedes.

[Chrill]

He's been a fairly solid number 2, but only because no other team has threatened with two drivers. Can Perez be the one to push Mercedes away from easy 1-2s? If both Max and Sergio can chase the Mercs, they will be limited in terms of strategy even if they have track position.

[Penfold]

I had the same thought immediately after I posted but was too lazy to go back and put it into words!