F1 2021 Season

First topic message reminder :

The season opening Australian Grand Prix & the Chinese Grand Prix have been postponed.

Bahrain Grand Prix on the 28th March to be the first race of the 2021 season.

Formula 1 to revert to 2pm race start times at European races this year.

F1 practice sessions will be shortened to one hour during Fridays across the 2021 season.

Cognizant have been announced as Aston Martin’s new title sponsor. They will be called ‘Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team’.

Alex Albon will drive in DTM this season, on selected race weekends

Lando Norris has confirmed he has contracted Covid, while staying in, Dubai.

Mercedes have gone backwards with their changes

Max pole and Norris in second

Easy win for Max tomorrow

Unless Hamilton gets passed Perez, Mercedes are in for a world of pain

Norris is a star.

Pretty much a disaster for Mercedes.

Russell gets p9 and he will be starting on the Mediums. He will probably be promoted to P8 if Vettel gets a grid penalty for blocking Alonso in Q2.

Jeff Navarro wrote:Mercedes are in for a world of pain

Their era is over, and everyone, including Mercedes, know it. All they’ve done is try a different configuration of setup and it hasn’t worked.

Just expecting Max to comfortably take the title this year.

As far as I can tell we have Verstappen, Lando, Perez, Hamilton, Bottas and Russell all starting on the mediums - the rest of the top 10 will be starting on the softs.

Barring any unreliability/crashes, it should be a comfortable RB 1-2 tomorrow. Norris will have a go on lap 1, but then do what he did last week, and let the big boys through.

Ocon had another poor qualifier - finishing in p17.  In Q1 Alonso was 0.579 s quicker than Ocon.

ps Perez used mediums and softs in Q2 but I think he set his fastest Q2 lap on the mediums and aborted the lap he was doing on the softs. So the top ten should line up as follows

P1) Verstappen - medium
p2) Norris - medium
p3) Perez - medium
p4) Hamilton - medium
p5) Bottas - medium
p6) Gasly - soft
p7) Tsunoda - soft
p8) Vettel - soft - likely to get a grid penalty
p9) Russell - medium
p10) Stroll - soft

The scary part is Max didn't have a good Q3 lap

Just John wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:Mercedes are in for a world of pain

Their era is over, and everyone, including Mercedes, know it. All they’ve done is try a different configuration of setup and it hasn’t worked.

Just expecting Max to comfortably take the title this year.

I’m not sure the era is totally over. At more technical tracks there’s no way Red Bull can run their skinny rear wing which would immediately bring the two teams a lot closer together.
I’d go as far as saying Mercedes will be ahead at Silverstone and Budapest.

3 place pen for Vettel drops to 11th

Bottas escapes punishment for slow driving

Jeff Navarro wrote:

Just John wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:Mercedes are in for a world of pain

Their era is over, and everyone, including Mercedes, know it. All they’ve done is try a different configuration of setup and it hasn’t worked.

Just expecting Max to comfortably take the title this year.

I’m not sure the era is totally over. At more technical tracks there’s no way Red Bull can run their skinny rear wing which would immediately bring the two teams a lot closer together.
I’d go as far as saying Mercedes will be ahead at Silverstone and Budapest.

Not sure about Budapest, Mercedes were nowhere at Monaco. Silverstone much of a power track these days.

Just John wrote:LH signing, means Mercedes is Russell and Hamilton for 2022. Can only envisage it’s for a reserve driver role. I just don’t buy McLaren trying to ditch Ricciardo either, irrespective of his form. Don’t see Gasly going anywhere, now Ocon has signed too.

Totally agree - Merc aren’t going to have invested all this time and effort into Russell, see him actually become a bloody good driver and then just ditch him for a Red Bull driver who may or may not be better. Gasly’s best bet is to stay as the unquestioned #1 driver with AlphaTauri for a bit, now it seems Alpine have gone in a different direction.

McLaren have too much invested in Riccardo to ditch him for 2022, but he’s fast approaching choppy waters. It’s embarrassing how far ahead Norris is of him, and while Lando clearly has experience in the team and is an incredible prospect, it shouldn’t be this much of a difference!

Russell fine driver and all but the hype isn’t entirely justified is it? He’s been paired with Kubica and Lafiti, one whom has a disability and the other just a rich man’s son. Russell hasn’t really proved all that much. Beating Bottas for the majority of one race isn’t exactly the barometer to build a career on.
Gasly is clearly a better driver.
And the notion that Russell would ‘let Hamilton win an 8th title’ is delusional.
Russell is competing with the likes of Verstappen, LeClerc and Norris to be the next star. If he goes to Mercedes I doubt he’d be going there to be a doormat like Bottas.

Jeff Navarro wrote:Russell fine driver and all but the hype isn’t entirely justified is it?

Performance wise, he’s pretty much bent over both his teammates, and if anything, is looking even stronger this season. Russell beat Norris in F2 by more than 60 pts to become champion, and jumped into a Mercedes in Bahrain and beat Bottas, so I think the hype is more than justified.

I think to an extent, there is a point there on Russell. He is essentially getting a free swing every race, the teammates he's been paired with aren't really close to good enough to be a valid comparison to anything. And the car is so bad, we really only report on when he is outperforming the car, and anything else is lost in the void Haas operate in.

That said I can't see Bottas returning. Had bad luck at times sure, but this year hes having too many bad weekends and generally looks beaten. I'm not sure another year really helps anyone, particularly when next year is a complete unknown as to where teams will stand.

Not sure Gasly is the guy for that seat either though. Mercedes haven't exactly managed their lineup well in the hybrid era, and the second driver is actively expected to sacrifice their race for Lewis if required. Gasly when supported at AT and when not at RB are two very different drivers

Jeff Navarro wrote:Russell fine driver and all but the hype isn’t entirely justified is it? [1] He’s been paired with Kubica and Lafiti, one whom has a disability and the other just a rich man’s son. Russell hasn’t really proved all that much. Beating Bottas for the majority of one race isn’t exactly the barometer to build a career on. [2]
Gasly is clearly a better driver.
And the notion that Russell would ‘let Hamilton win an 8th title’ is delusional. [3]
Russell is competing with the likes of Verstappen, LeClerc and Norris to be the next star. If he goes to Mercedes I doubt he’d be going there to be a doormat like Bottas.

1. Yes it is. He's got a bloody Williams into Q3, for god's sake!

2. It was only 1 race, granted, but he out-performed Bottas in a car he was unfamiliar with and hadn't even been fitted for a seat for. He was in pretty severe discomfort for most of the race, but still delivered. He would also have overtaken Bottas in his Williams at Monza, if Valtteri hadn't pushed him onto the grass, ending up with them both going off.

3. Team orders are a thing, you know. I don't think Russell would consider it a bad trade to let Hamilton bow out in a blaze of glory if it meant he would then be the #1 driver in the team, or at least given equal treatment.

SC Ocon out

Alpine ‘did we put a break clause in Esteban’s deal?’....

Norris pushes Perez wide. Decent start for Merc, but Norris doing a good job for Max

Merc not being able to take McLaren shows how far they’ve gone back

Comfortable for Max

Penalty for Norris (5 second penalty)

Are they taking the p1ss with that penalty???

This is boring as f**k.

That’s pretty much it. Max, Lewis & Bottas.

Back to back borefest at Austria. Mercedes a mile away

Not entirely sure why Max can shove LeClerc off the track but that's a penalty

GSC wrote:Not entirely sure why Max can shove LeClerc off the track but that's a penalty

RED BULL ring.....

If Lando got a penalty then Perez should be getting one there

Bottas and Lando might do Hamilton here, due to some damage.

Perez gets a five second penalty.

Bottas free to pass Hamilton. Title gone, so no point in team orders anymore

Another 5 sec pen for Sergio

FIA are an absolute shambles today

I don’t understand the pens today.

I get it, I dont get the consistency

Mercedes had to let Bottas go because of Landos proximity.

Max should be able to cover off the fastest lap too barring some late safety car shenanigans. Utter domination again

GSC wrote:Utter domination again

Yep. Going to be a very long season, and a bit of an anti-climax this year, unless you’re a RB fan

Can Russell hold on for 10th…no he can’t

Can’t be having too many weekends like this...Verstappen lead all 142 laps at the Red Bull Ring...

Jeff Navarro wrote:Can’t be having too many weekends like this...Verstappen lead all 142 laps at the Red Bull Ring...

All that’s happened, is F1’s domination has swapped manufacturer. Got to hope now the new regs spice it up, and close the field up. Max will cake walk to the title this year, hence why Toto pretty much conceded it last week.

It’s disappointing when one team has such an advantage especially when Verstappen has already beaten Perez.

Mercedes have an upgrade for Silverstone and the new Pirelli tyre construction is introduced. All hinges on that.

Standings After 9 races
1) Verstappen(5). 182
2) Hamilton(3).... 150
3) Perez(1)........ 104
4) Norris............ 101
5) Bottas............ 92
6) Leclerc........... 62
7) Sainz............. 60
8) Ricciardo........ 40
9) Gasly............. 39
10) Vettel........... 30
11) Alonso.......... 20
12) Stroll............ 14
13) Ocon............ 12
14) Tsunoda.......... 9
15) Raikkonen ....... 1
16) Giovinazzi ....... 1

I wonder if McLaren - Lando can now challenge for podiums moving forward this year.   He was right up there on race pace.   Lando has now surpassed the points tally he got last season.

George Russell unable to get that point but got an 11th place finish.  He went from 8th to 12th on the first lap and I guess that was ultimately where he lost out.  The previous race (Styrian) he would very likely have gained points because he had a great start and was in an excellent position strategy wise to even challenge for P7 - but then his car failed him.

Not a good race for Ocon and Tsunoda.  Raikkonen hit Russell and then took out Vettel at the end of the race.

Raikkonen received 20 second penalty for crashing into his best mate Vettel. 2 penalty points as well for the Finn.

Mazepin received 30 second penalty for ignoring double waved yellows. He also received 3 penalty points.

Lafiti received the same punishment as Mazepin.

Victoria’s government has cancelled the Australian GP and also casted doubts over the 2022 entry as well.

I still think it's a bit too early to be declaring Red Bull the new Mercedes for this year...if they are, then shouldn't Perez be you know, doing better? Only two podiums, the win in Baku handed to him by the Verstappen tyre failure then Hamilton accidentally switching a button at a restart...and yet even including that has less podiums than both Bottas and Norris. Not exactly the Ham/Bot/Ver era yet

Obviously Max dominated these past two weekends, but even in the height of Merc power, Red Bull still got relatively comfortable victories in Austria. Think this weekend at Silverstone will be more telling, expecting it to be close with Merc maybe having a slight advantage on pace like Paul Ricard/Catalunya/Portimao

Also wanted to say, think Sainz is having himself a decent year in the Ferrari so far - doing pretty well against LeClerc, only 2 points down in the championship to him

Well Mercedes record at Austria is kinda skewed by reliability. But France has been a Mercedes strong hold and Max took pole by over 2 tenths and Lewis only assumed the lead because of a Max error, so it's fairly ominous that RB are just fast everywhere.

Not sure Perez is a great comparison anyway, it's well established RB don't bother looking after the second driver and Bottas has years of experience in the Mercedes compared to half a season for Perez. Probably should've won at Baku before Max and Lewis went out also.

I seem to recall in previous years the Austrian Circuit being described as "not a Mercedes track" given its altitude and consequent lower atmospheric pressure - that caused the Mercedes engine to overheat if not for the power being turned down.

Alfa Romeo unhappy with performances of both Raikkonen and Giovinazzi. As such Callum Illot is on standby should either driver be dropped.

Helmut Marko somewhat surprisingly confirms Red Bull are looking at Charles LeClerc as Max Verstappen’s long term teammate. LeClerc is in the third year off a 6 year deal. Additionally there isn’t a performance related release clause in LeClerc’s current deal.
Can’t really see Charles leaving Ferrari as he’s been one of us since a child.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:I still think it's a bit too early to be declaring Red Bull the new Mercedes for this year...if they are, then shouldn't Perez be you know, doing better? Only two podiums, the win in Baku handed to him by the Verstappen tyre failure then Hamilton accidentally switching a button at a restart...and yet even including that has less podiums than both Bottas and Norris. Not exactly the Ham/Bot/Ver era yet [1]

Obviously Max dominated these past two weekends, but even in the height of Merc power, Red Bull still got relatively comfortable victories in Austria. Think this weekend at Silverstone will be more telling, expecting it to be close with Merc maybe having a slight advantage on pace like Paul Ricard/Catalunya/Portimao [2]

Also wanted to say, think Sainz is having himself a decent year in the Ferrari so far - doing pretty well against LeClerc, only 2 points down in the championship to him.

[1] for Verstappen and Perez read Hamilton and Bottas. It is perfectly possible for 2 drivers in (nearly) identical cars to perform very differently. I'd say Max is a significantly better driver than Sergio and I'd expect the current trend to continue over the season. Perez will have good days and bad days and may benefit if Verstappen DNFs or has other issues, but overall I think we're seeing how things will play out for the remaining races.

[2] The Mercedes engine probably still beats Honda's in the power stakes, but we've seen RB's answer to that on "power" circuits is to run with less downforce. They have a better aero package and chassis, which means the tyres don't suffer as much. I expect even at tracks like Silverstone, Spa, Monza and others where straight line speed is important, the performance gap will be very close - possibly still even marginally in RB's favour.

Agree Sainz seems to have settled in at Ferrari amazingly quickly. Has out-performed Leclerc a few times. Would be nice if they had more competitive cars...maybe next season...


With the noises coming out of the paddock I'm not overly hopefully about the trial sprint races. Read a few people saying they are likely to be processions, as drivers won't want to take any risks and end up damaging their cars for the main event.