LowCostMonkey

There are reports that his demands are pretty high. He's reportedly after a 3 year deal and wanting a share of the team's prize money ontop of an additional increase in salary. One newspaper (the Express) is even claiming he wants to be able to chose his teammate from 2022 onwards. I'm sure most of that is journalistic guesswork and probably varies between slightly true and total bullshit. But if all of that were true and I was Toto, I'd politely decline and give mr. Russell a call.

It absolutely was deliberate. There is a contractual obligation to give a date to all races that have a contract, even if it is clear that they won't be able to host the race. So knowing that they would almost certainly not be able to race at several venues, they needed to pad out the season knowing that the reality would be less packed. In other news, here's a much better view of the Alpine livery than the one i posted last week

I cannot for the life of me see Monaco or Baku happening this year.

Awesome! Worthy of its own thread or too soon?

Confirmation of Abiteboul's exit : https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/154524/renault-boss-abiteboul-to-leave-team

Barrichello raced against 2 generations of Magnussons I think. Edit, no he didn't. He retired in 2011. I don't think anyone who raced Jan also raced Kevin.

Kimi & Alonso also raced against Jos Verstappen.

Looks like Cyrill Abiteboul might be out (or moving to a different role at least) at Renault. Edit: In other Alpine news, here's a sneak look at their livery... source: https://thejudge13.com/f1/formula1/breaking-leaked-imagery-of-renault-alpine-f1-livery/

They are considering starting the races on the hour again as well as moving the start time for the European races forward an hour. I'm big time in favour of both of those changes. https://www.racefans.net/2021/01/06/f1-races-will-start-on-the-hour-again-in-2021/

Season opener in Australia looks set to either be postponed, or possibly swapped with Bahrain. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/154434/2021-f1-australian-gp-set-to-be-postponed

Massively, massively deserved. Huge congratulations to him. I cannot wait to see Ted stumbling over himself in his first interview with Sir Lewis. “Lewis, no, I mean, sorry mr Hamilton, sorry sir Hamilton, no, sir Lewis, or is it Sir Lewis Hamilton? No, it’s just Sir Lewis, that’s right, it’s sir first name unless you’re a lord and then it’s lord last name, yes that’s right, anyway, sir Lewis, so how was your Christmas?”

I actually really liked the survival elements. For me it meant I was planning excursions rather than just going off exploring. It made the experience much more strategic for me as well as making the base building more important (for the desalinisation plant). But of course one mans fun is another's pain in the arse

Can't imagine they had much choice. I've got a feeling they are in a situation where they if they don't run him, they can't afford to run at all.

Sounds like the last 2 places on the 2021 grid and will be announced tomorrow morning. Redbull look set to confirm Perez and Mercedes are going to stun everyone by announcing they have resigned Lewis Hamilton.