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This weekend the Formula One circus heads to Imola in northern Italy. The teams haven't raced there since 2006 so this is good news for the track that claimed the lives of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger over consecutive days back in 2004. Must admit I was watching that live on television and was a bit stunned seeing how that race unfolded. The television crews didn't exactly try and keep those scenes private which I believe they should have.
Formula One has changed things up for the weekend allowing for only 90 minutes of testing on Saturday morning. Normally teams have 3 sessions with two on Friday and one on Saturday. Qualifying is still on Saturday afternoon but with less time to test things gathering less data teams may not get their set ups exactly right.
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Personally I don't think it will make much difference as these teams are not amateurs and will know the car set up before they even arrive. Changing things up is a good idea but I wouldn't have chosen this circuit for that with it's track record.
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Nearly double the points of second placed Red Bull.
If they are trying to stop Mercedes winning the constructors title it wont work as they need only 11 points. They have dominated this season and are expected to seal their 7th consecutive constructors title which only shows how dominant they have been. It is up to the other teams to close the gap and not the FIA or Formula One to close it for them. This is what gets to me as they are only interfering trying to handicap the best team which is very unfair. Everyone can see what they are doing but it won't work.
Drivers seats for next season is going to be decided very soon as time is running out. Last weekend in Portugal George Russel's name was thrown around as his seat is under threat. I would say it is the Sergio Perez camp trying to get Christian Horner and Red Bull to make up their mind on Alex Albon. Surely his days are numbered with Perez and Hulkenberg waiting in the wings.
Perez I would have thought would be a good option for Williams as they could do with a fairly decent driver who brings sponsors along with him. Hulkenberg I believe will end up at Red Bull and that is down to him being German plus he is a decent driver. The German connection would be appealing to the owner of Red Bull plus with Schumacher junior possibly entering Formula One it would be good for publicity.
Toto Wolff is yet to commit to next year as Mercedes principal as it could be a role wearing more than one cap. He has to move away if he is going to take over the sport in the future. I can see him having a joint role overseeing the two teams Mercedes will have a close eye on. Aston Martin will have a 20 percent shareholder over their shoulders as surely coming second is what Mercedes would like. First and second would really boost car sales for both camps as at the end of the day this is what this is about besides technological advancements.