2020 season: Monza update

The wild F1 race created a small 1-2 component, which is very unikely to get connected to the rest of the graph.

Russell and Verstappen remain unbeaten by teammates in qualifying. Five drivers were classified in every race so far. With their (best-worst) positions, they are:

  • Hamilton (1-7)
  • Bottas (1-11)
  • Norris (3-13)
  • Albon (4-15)
  • Latifi (11-19)

This means that Hamilton has the “best worst” result: his worst result was 7th place. The “worst best” result is shared by Grosjean and Russell: their best result was 12th place finish.

Formula 2

Right after I exposed the two-party system in Formula 2, it was broken by Monza Feature Race, where Schumacher and Ghiotto were 1-2. This means F2 now has a connected 1-2 graph, in which the Schumacher-Ghiotto edge links two parts that were previously separate. It is a neat graph with relatively few loops, easy to draw on a plane.

The graph has a large diameter: Ticktum and Zhou are separated by 7 edges. It has two centers: Schumacher and Ghiotto share this role (every other vertex is within distance 4 of them).

Four drivers were classified in every race so far:

  • Delétraz (2-19)
  • Aitken (3-19)
  • Daruvala (4-19)
  • Piquet Jr. (7-21) 

Therefore, the best worst result (19th place) is shared by Aitken, Daruvala, and Delétraz. On the other hand, Samaia has the worst best result: 14th place.

Aitken and Ticktum remain unbeaten by their teammates in qualifying.

Formula 3

The F3 graph of 1-2 finishes is more loopy, which makes it harder to draw.

It is still a planar graph

Four drivers were classified in every race so far: 

  • Pourchaire (1-26)
  • Verschoor (2-27)
  • Fittipaldi (8-26)
  • Staněk (8-24)

Perhaps surprisingly, Staněk has the best worst result (24th). Less surprisingly, Deledda has the worst best result (20th).

Peroni remains unbeaten by his teammates in qualifying.

Two-party system of Formula 2

Two parties emerged in Formula 2 this season:

  • Ilott’s party: Ilott, Armstrong, Lundgaard, Ticktum, Ghiotto, Drugovich, Delétraz
  • Shwartzman’s party: Shwartzman, Schumacher, Tsunoda, Mazepin, Zhou, Matsushita

The two-party system works as follows: in each F2 race so far this season, one of two parties took both P1 and P2: the president and vice-president posts. The parties are evenly matched, in that each won 7 out of the 14 races held so far. However, the split is uneven in feature/sprint categories.

  • Ilott’s party won 2 feature races (Austria and 70th anniversary) and 5 sprint races (Austria, Styria, Hungary, Britain, and Spain).
  • Shwartzman’s party won 5 feature races (Styria, Hungary, Britain, Spain, and Belgium) and 2 sprint races (70th anniversary and Belgium)

Ilott’s party tends to win on pace, while Shwartzman’s party is stronger in strategy. There is also a geopolitical aspect to this division: Shwartzman’s party represents mostly Asia and Russia (with exception of Schumacher), Ilott’s party is mostly European and has no drivers from either Asia or Russia.

Party lines tend to cut across F2 teams. Just two teams entirely align themselves with one of two parties: ART is Ilott’s, and Prema is Shwartzman’s. Three teams are in the awkward position of having teammates of different affiliation: UNI, MP, and Hitech. In DAMS, Carlin, and Charouz one of two teammates is an independent, while Campos, HWA, and Trident stay out of politics entirely.

Ilott’s party has 7 members connected by 6 edges, each representing a 1-2 finish (Lundgaard/Ticktum got 1-2 twice)
Shwartzman’s party has 6 members connected by 7 edges, each representing a 1-2 finish.

While Ilott is an undisputed leader of his party, Shwartzman is facing serious threat of an internal coup: primarily from Tsunoda, but also from Schumacher and Mazepin.

2020 season as of 70th Anniversary

Formula 2

A major change on top of the standings table, with Shvartsman dropping from 1st to 3rd after scoring just 4 points in 4 races. But let’s look at the larger picture: what are the chances of Shvartsman driving in F1 in 2021? I don’t think there are any to speak of. The driver market is tight (Alonso coming back, Hulkenberg trying to come back, the number of seats does not increase…) and any F1 team would be right to be concerned about Shvartsman’s one-lap pace: so far, he qualified in positions 8, 6, 11, 18, 11 in F2. Winning F2 championship without having a F1 seat lined up is not a great career move: it rules out another season in F2 and none of other series would be a step forward in single-seater racing career.

So, Shvartsman’s target in the 2020 championship ought to be the 2nd place, not for the 1st. From the FDA pipeline perspective, it would be logical to promote Ilott, drop Alesi, and keep Armstrong, Schumacher, and Shvartsman for another year in F2.

Back to the graphs of 1-2 finishes. Unusually, there are two large components with 5 vertices each: Ilott’s component and Shwartsman’s component. The former has mostly European drivers (plus Armstrong), the latter has drivers from Russia and Asia (plus Schumacher). And the small Deletraz-Drugovich component remains isolated.

Combined 70th anniversaty podium (by total points earned):

  1. Ilott (33)
  2. Aitken (25)
  3. Tsunoda (23)

Most consistent in 2020 so far: Mazepin, finished in top 14 in every race. Since “top 14” does not sound that great, I’ll add he also scored in the last 7 races, the longest active scoring streak.

Unbeaten in intra-team qualifying competition: Aitken, Drugovich, Lundgaard, Ticktum.

Formula 3

Graph of 1-2 finishes. Both components expand but remain disjoint

Combined 70th anniversary podium (by total points earned):

  1. Sargeant (29)
  2. Lawson (23)
  3. Hughes (22)

Most consistent in 2020 so far: Beckmann, finished in top 10 in every race. In other words, the only driver who scored in every race so far.

Unbeaten in intra-team qualifying competition: Peroni. His teammates at Campos do not appear to threaten his qualifying record.

Bonus feeder series

Formula Regional Americas Championship has a very simple graph: Lundqvist won all 8 races held so far.

Go Linus!

Incidentally, here is Lundqvist showing off one of his eight FRAC trophies on Swedish TV.

2020 season as of Great Britain

Formula 3

Graph of 1-2 finishes. Symmetric large component centers at Piastri, yet Vesti-Zendeli stay separate

Combined Great Britain podium (by total points earned):

  1. Lawson (32)
  2. Sargeant (27)
  3. Novalak/Peroni/Piastri/Vesti (tied at 18)

Most consistent in 2020 so far: Beckmann, finished in top 10 in every race.

Unbeaten in intra-team qualifying competition: Peroni.

Formula 2

Graph of 1-2 finishes. Oddly enough, it still has 4 components

Combined Great Britain podium (by total points earned):

  1. Mazepin (31)
  2. Lundgaard (26)
  3. Zhou (20)

Most consistent in 2020 so far: Mazepin, finished in top 14 in every race.

Unbeaten in intra-team qualifying competition: Aitken, Drugovich, Lundgaard, Ticktum.

Formula 1

Graph of 1-2 finishes: a path, an unlikely pattern to hold, yet remaining unchanged since Hungary

Most consistent in 2020 so far: Hamilton, finished in top 4 in every race.

Unbeaten in intra-team qualifying competition: Gasly, Russell*, Verstappen.

(*) A penalty put Russell behind Latifi on the grid, but he did qualify ahead.

Bonus feeder series

U.S. F4 Championship currently has a nice symmetric graph in which the championship leader Yeany is a vertex of degree 4.

2020 season as of Hungary

Formula 3

Graph of 1-2 finishes. Still three components, but a pattern emerges around Piastri

Combined Hungary podium (by total points earned):

  1. Pourchaire (32)
  2. Piastri (32)
  3. Verschoor (18)

Most consistent in 2020 so far: Piastri and Verschoor, finished in top 8 in every race.

Unbeaten in intra-team qualifying competition: Peroni, Verschoor.

Formula 2

Graph of 1-2 finishes. Still has 4 components, but patterns emerge around Shwartzman and Ilott

Combined Hungary podium (by total points earned):

  1. Shwartzman (33)
  2. Ghiotto (27)
  3. Mazepin (26)

Most consistent in 2020 so far: Ilott, finished in top 8 in every race.

Unbeaten in intra-team qualifying competition: Aitken, Drugovich, Ghiotto, Lundgaard, Ticktum.

Formula 1

Graph of 1-2 finishes: a path, an unlikely pattern to hold

Most consistent in 2020 so far: Bottas, finished in top 3 in every race.

Unbeaten in intra-team qualifying competition: Gasly, Russell, Verstappen.

Styria 2020 in graphs

Formula 1

Most consistent so far in 2020: Bottas, finished in top 2 in every race.

Formula 2

Four components out of four races, meaning nobody finished in the top two more than once.

Most consistent in Styria: Zhou, finished in top 4 in both races.

Most consistent so far in 2020: Lundgaard, finished in top 6 in every race.

Formula 3

Sargeant is the only one to finish in top two more than once; it was P2 both times. Meanwhile, Pourchaire became the youngest F3 race winner ever, as well as the first F4-to-F3 rookie to score points this season.

Most consistent in Styria: Beckmann, finished in top 3 in both races. 

Most consistent so far in 2020: Beckmann, finished in top 7 in every race.

Unbeaten in qualifying (Styria)

Administrative divisions of Austria got a bit more attention with the introduction of Styrian Grand Prix. It still sounds to me as if someone was rearranging the letters of Austria trying to come up with a name for the second race at the same track, and got it slightly wrong. Which is unfortunate because Staurian Grand Prix pretty much has Alpha Tauri’s name in it, reinforcing the Red Bull affiliation of the venue.

Anyway, after two rounds of qualifying are done, there are only a few drivers who won the intra-team qualifying competition in both, partly thanks to the wild wet weekend in … Styria. Here they are.

  • Formula 1: Gasly, Russell, Verstappen
  • Formula 2: Aitken, Drugovich, Ghiotto, Lundgaard, Ticktum, Zhou
  • Formula 3: Hughes, Lawson, Nannini, Novalak, Peroni, Verschoor

Austria 2020 in graphs

The results of F1, F2, and F3 races summarized in 1-2 graphs. After just one weekend the graphs are too small to be interesting.

F1: Bottas-Leclerc
F2: Ilott-Armstrong and Drugovich-Deletraz

Most consistent driver (the only one to finish in top 4 in both F2 races): Shwartzman.

F3: Piastri-Sargeant and Lawson-Verschoor

Most consistent driver (the only one to finish in top 5 in both F3 races): Zendeli.

Prema/FDA Venn diagram

Remembering the names of Prema drivers isn’t so hard: a driver usually has the same name in 2020 as in 2019. But their affiliation with Ferrari Driver Academy is less stable. A Venn diagram of who is in Prema, who is in FDA, and who is in both, is called for.

But since the drivers are also divided by level, I will use a table instead.

LevelPrema onlyPrema and FDAFDA only
F2Mick Schumacher
Robert Shwartzman		Giuliano Alesi
Marcus Armstrong
Callum Ilott
F3Oscar Piastri
Frederik Vesti
Logan Sargeant		Enzo Fittipaldi
FROliver Rasmussen
Jamie Chadwick		Arthur Leclerc
Gianluca Petecof
F4Sebastian Montoya
Gabriele Mini
Gabriele Bortoleto		Dino Beganovic

FDA is currently top-heavy, with 5 of 9 drivers competing in F2. This necessitates placing three of them outside of Prema’s F2 team. There is only one instance of Prema running non-FDA drivers while an FDA driver is left outside… this does not inspire confidence in Enzo Fittipaldi’s future in FDA.

Formula Americas Network

The weekend June 26-28 saw the beginning of three things:

  1. 2020 season of Formula Regional Americas Championship (FRAC)
  2. 2020 season of U.S. Formula 4 Championship (USF4)
  3. Formula Americas Network (FAN) where 1 and 2 are broadcast.

Overall, the events went well, considering the circumstances: the pandemic, stormy weather on the track, technical issues with the broadcast. I appreciated the rare opportunity to understand the work of a broadcast director, given by the glitch that for half of the first race put through director’s voice instead of the commentators. The audience reached 1000 viewers during FRAC Race 2; the audience of USF4 topped at around 250.

FAN uses Vimeo to stream races. A few times I got stuck in a video stream that was not the current one: the solution was to refresh the page and click Live Streaming again, which moved me from an old stream (previous race or “this event has not started yet”) to the live picture.

It would be nice to have an archive of past FAN races. Hopefully this is something FAN is planning to add, along with a YouTube channel.

Both series feature strong grids in 2020, thanks in part to reduced competition (no Indy Lights in 2020, etc). There were 17 drivers in the FRAC event, including some familiar names: Lundqvist, Car, Pedersen,…. With 33 competitors in USF4, many of them new to single-seaters, it is no wonder that the first event had several delays due to accidents.

Jay Howard Driver Development (JHDD) entered with 6 drivers in USF4 and consistently took a few of the top spots. Previously, two of their F4 drivers were 1-2 in a testing session, which set up a joint interview with Christian Bogle (6’4” / 205 lbs) and Nolan Siegel (5’4” / 100 lbs). Apparently the former has been cutting weight while the latter eats a cupcake before each race, so the contrast in appearance might be getting smaller with time.

So far, JHDD appears to put more emphasis on driver promotion than most USF4/FRAC teams. Not nearly as much as Prema does in European series, but that’s a high bar to meet…

By the way, this video was shot before Roman Stanek was replaced by Jamie Chadwick in Prema’s FREC lineup. Roman appears in group shots while Jamie’s solo shots are obviously late additions.