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Drivers Championship: Lewis Hamilton

Constructors: Red Bull

With limited off-season development allowed it's unlikely anyone will have a car to beat the current Mercedes, so Hamilton gets his record breaking 8th Drivers Championship. What Mercedes don't have is a good enough second driver (sorry, Valtteri), as long as Red Bull can maintain reliability throughout the season both Verstappen and Perez have matured enough as drivers to mount a strong team challenge. That would relegate Mercedes to second in the Constructors, with Verstappen second in the Drivers and Perez third. Bottas coming in fourth for the Drivers.

Aston Martin probably have the car to challenge for third (a green Mercedes now, rather than a pink one), but don't have the drivers. Stroll wouldn't have a drive if he wasn't the owners son, Vettel may improve being out of Ferrari but is a spent force for this season. This leaves a straight fight between McLaren & Alpine for third spot - I'm going with McLaren doing just enough to edge it.

Your thoughts?

When, and why, did the word 'black' change from being an adjective to a proper noun in the media? In the example below, which is quite typical, 'white' and 'multiracial' are adjectives. This is understandable, they describe skin colour / genetic heritage. 'Hispanic' is a proper noun, again understandable as this relates to a specific geographical origin. Why is 'Black' a proper noun and not an adjective?

'Of the nine jurors selected to serve on Chauvin's trial, five of the jurors identify as white, one as multiracial, one as Hispanic and two as Black, according to the court.' - https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/03/...

George Russell is standing in for Lewis Hamilton at least at the next Bahrain GP 5/6 Dec 2020. He's already lined up as a Hamilton support / replacement in the future (2022?), but if he outperforms Bottas this weekend would Merc accelerate the process and terminate Bottas' contract a year early?

As rumours of tax hikes to pay for the Covid lockdown start to circulate, would it not be fairer to overhaul the tax system than raise taxes?

We could abolish tax brackets and remove the loopholes that allow for 'tax avoidance' and introduce a single, blanket tax rate on all income for both individuals and corporations.

The alternative, raising rates of taxation or reducing the tax brackets, never seems to raise the expected amount. Let's face it, the people who can afford to avoid paying tax at the higher levels will just continue to avoid paying tax if those levels are increased and the burden will fall on the lower paid workers.