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.

I liked it as a concept, needs a bit of tweaking. Can't pretend current quali is a great solution

Don’t see what’s wrong with qualifying. Fastest lap gets p1 like it does in every category of motor racing.
If they do mini races they should do separate qualifying for both in the usual q1, q2 and q3 method.

Soul Requiem wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:Imagine celebrating a weak win. Coward way to get a hollow win

You'll get over it.

Yep when Verstappen buries this fraud.

Classy words, it's as if motorsport doesn't have a long history of deaths. Seven time world champion is a fraud.

Just the car. Hamilton can’t race wheel to wheel as was shown between 2009-2013.

That'll be why he finished the race and Max decided to let his machismo takeover instead.

Hamilton finished because Wolff dropped his pants for the FIA.
There’s no respect for a coward like Hamilton.

Nathaniel is finally letting the veil down.

Not sure what kind of slur that’s supposed to be but whatever rocks yours world.
Maybe stick to cricket. Silly sports seem to better suit your lack of knowledge

It's an hour long show that is interesting for about 2 of the 60 minutes.

Which granted is more than a few races at this point

Jeff Navarro wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:Imagine celebrating a weak win. Coward way to get a hollow win

You'll get over it.

Yep when Verstappen buries this fraud.

Classy words, it's as if motorsport doesn't have a long history of deaths. Seven time world champion is a fraud.

Just the car. Hamilton can’t race wheel to wheel as was shown between 2009-2013.

That'll be why he finished the race and Max decided to let his machismo takeover instead.

Hamilton finished because Wolff dropped his pants for the FIA.
There’s no respect for a coward like Hamilton.

What a massive prat.

It was a 50 /50 racing incident and the 10 second penalty was harsh.

Hamilton had enough of his car alongside for Max to see it, but he still insisted on turning into Lewis' path.

Lewis showed today why he is the GOAT.

If the roles had been reversed I'm certain you'd have been praising Max for his aggressive driving.

All you're doing is making yourself look like one of those salt merchants who like to come out with the monkey & banana comments every time Lewis wins, or does the tiniest thing that can be construed as even faintly controversial.

It was a bloody good duel while it lasted but Max just eventually ran out of talent - simple as that. Just 2 hard racing guys, neither of whom likes to back down.

And you're trying to make out like Hamilton is some kind of criminal. Frankly you're pathetic.

Nearly as bad as that bell-end Horner. I used to like him, but lost all respect for him with his childish comments.

Hamilton is the goat of nothing alas maybe he’s the goat of being the ultimate coward.
Verstappen ahead as such can take whatever line he wants into the corner.
Hamilton as shown in the last few races is talentless when the car doesn’t have 1sec per lap performance advantage.
Don’t worry about Verstappen’s talent he’ll break every record in the sport.
Whilst the coward Hamilton will be forgetting in no time.

To be honest dyre, hyperbole aside, I can't agree with your post. I'm not even sure he keeps it on the track from that position if max disappeared. It's a desperate lunge.

10 seconds ultimately has to be fair if we're looking for consistency. We can't give extra penalties because its first and second in the championship. It does however leave a bad taste in the mouth that he gained 25 points on Max from punting him to be honest, British media reporting aside.

The max turning in thing just doesn't wash either I'm afraid. Hamilton is miles away from the apex, Max gave him tons of room to take the inside line. We can talk about max ceding, but he was ahead into the corner, gave Lewis plenty of space and got wiped out by a car that wasnt keeping it on track either. He does have to take the corner at some point.

There isn't really a debate on who was at fault imo.

Oh and I missed the racist allegations from that piece of garbage Dyrewolfe. Time and place jackass I’ll teach you some respect.

Jeff Navarro wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:Imagine celebrating a weak win. Coward way to get a hollow win

You'll get over it.

Yep when Verstappen buries this fraud.

Classy words, it's as if motorsport doesn't have a long history of deaths. Seven time world champion is a fraud.

Just the car. Hamilton can’t race wheel to wheel as was shown between 2009-2013.

That'll be why he finished the race and Max decided to let his machismo takeover instead.

Hamilton finished because Wolff dropped his pants for the FIA.
There’s no respect for a coward like Hamilton.

Nathaniel is finally letting the veil down.

Not sure what kind of slur that’s supposed to be but whatever rocks yours world.
Maybe stick to cricket. Silly sports seem to better suit your lack of knowledge

Top banter NJ.

GSC wrote:The max turning in thing just doesn't wash either I'm afraid. Hamilton is miles away from the apex, Max gave him tons of room to take the inside line. We can talk about max ceding, but he was ahead into the corner, gave Lewis plenty of space and got wiped out by a car that wasnt keeping it on track either. He does have to take the corner at some point.

There isn't really a debate on who was at fault imo.

Max did turn in and he did initiate contact.

Verstappen, as the leader, takes whichever racing line he wants. Only for the English coward to crash into him.
Let’s hope Hamilton makes it to the Dutch GP...maybe Verstappen will return the favour.

GSC wrote:The max turning in thing just doesn't wash either I'm afraid. Hamilton is miles away from the apex, Max gave him tons of room to take the inside line. We can talk about max ceding, but he was ahead into the corner, gave Lewis plenty of space and got wiped out by a car that wasnt keeping it on track either. He does have to take the corner at some point.

There isn't really a debate on who was at fault imo.

Yeah I am struggling to see how there is any debate about who's fault it was, Hamilton got it wrong (missing the apex) and at that speed, just clipped him - ultimately it was his error, for which the stewards correctly punished him. Max was ahead, had the racing line, and left enough room for Lewis even if Lewis didn't cede like he didn't. It was a great drive by Lewis from the restart onwards to recover from the 10 second penalty and win the race.

I do think it was a bit of a shame, because I think we were in for a great battle today, as Merc clearly had good pace this weekend shown in quali, and the sprint race (and then the actual race itself). But on the flip side, it has reignited the championship battle (which as I've been posting, was never as over as people were making it out to be), and I do think Merc are a match for Red Bull. We're in for a great season long battle between the two drivers, lets just hope initial reports and tests on Max being ok from the crash are indeed true, it was a heck of a shunt, and we don't need the battle being robbed from us by injury.

On the weekend overall, I think it needs some tweaks but I really enjoyed the extra race on Saturday, and quali being in a prime slot on Friday evening was very good fun. The principle behind the idea from what I've read is to make the whole weekend more of an event, rather than Friday and a fair chunk of Saturday being essentially pointless viewing experiences for fans...for which I agree. Look forward to seeing how it goes for the two other sprint weekends later in the season

Not a huge else to comment on down the order - a good weekend for LeClerc obviously, and Riccardo had a nice race weekend too. Stroll after a poor Fri/Sat, had a good race, and Alonso continues some good form.
Weirdly quiet weekend for Gasly, and quite frankly the less said about the shambles of a weekend from Perez, the better

Oh also, maybe not a huge deal to shout about and ultimately a bit of a who cares...but Mazepin beat Schumacher today, think for the first time this season? He seems to have found his feet a bit more in recent weeks, and is becoming less of a meme

Soul Requiem wrote:

GSC wrote:The max turning in thing just doesn't wash either I'm afraid. Hamilton is miles away from the apex, Max gave him tons of room to take the inside line. We can talk about max ceding, but he was ahead into the corner, gave Lewis plenty of space and got wiped out by a car that wasnt keeping it on track either. He does have to take the corner at some point.

There isn't really a debate on who was at fault imo.

Max did turn in and he did initiate contact.

Because ultimately Lewis took an entirely unnatural line that was dragging him off the track. If you are going to drop it down the inside against a car that's ahead going into the corner you need to be on the apex and taking a tight line, Lewis didn't do either. He lunged, took too much speed and got nowhere near the apex. Max left him room and took the line you'd expect from a driver hanging it around the outside.

It's really that complicated. Lewis caused the collision and Max paid for it. That's why he got penalised

Max didn't take a line to avoid contact which he could have done. Hamilton was marginally in the wrong but not entirely at fault.

Come on man. Really?

Yes really, he could have easily given up the place and rescued his race but chose not to. This is the problem with motorsport nowadays, you have someone in the championship lead who cannot race or at least cannot think of how to race.

Ok, I've got more entertaining and less frustrating things to do this evening than debate with someone who makes up "alternative" facts. Night all.

I think if people want to have personal fights then take it to DMs (or even in person, I don't care). We can all agree to disagree but spamming the thread with garbage is just pointless and childish.

GSC wrote:Ok, I've got more entertaining and less frustrating things to do this evening than debate with someone who makes up "alternative" facts. Night all.

Opinions are not alternative facts. The fact you've had to resort to such nonsense is telling as per usual. If someone wishes to make comments about drivers being 'buried' i'll call them out on that especially if that poster has previous for his dislike of certain sportsmen.

The majority of opinions I have read on the incident was it was a racing Incident and I agree.

It was embarrassing listening to Christian Horner (who I usually enjoy listening to) ranting that it was not a corner on the circuit for overtaking yet the race saw lots of overtaking there. In fact Hamilton overtook Norris and Leclerc there without incident. Perhaps because they both displayed common sense and backed out and collected big points at the end of the race.

Verstappen has form for this kind of 'no surrender' and it bit him big this time. If he had tucked in behind Hamilton he had the car under him to come again and most probably win the race but he couldn't show the mentality to do that.

As I said to me it was a racing incident and is being blown out of proportion especially now that Red Bull owner Helmut Marko is reportedly taking legal action over the incident. Jesus H Christ talk about over-reaction.

Penultimate lap Brazil 2019 F1 race:

Immediately following the collision, Leclerc was leading, Hamilton was second and Bottas was third.  

There were several factors from that point without which Hamilton would not have won (or even finished):

1) According to Mercedes without the red flag Hamilton would have been a DNF because of damage to his front left wheel rim - which they were able to change during the race stoppage (red flag).
2) Bottas relatively woeful performance.  Starting from P3 he dropped to P4 after Leclerc got past him at the start of the race.  When the race was red flagged Bottas was third with Verstappen crashing out.  On the restart (lap 4) Bottas was overtaken by Lando Norris.  During the first part of the race Norris was able to keep Bottas behind him.  Only a bad pit stop by McLaren (about 6.5 seconds) enabled Bottas to get past Lando.  Basically Bottas was just not competitive enough to compete for the race win - not able to pass Norris nor Leclerc on the track.
3) Perez spun in the Sprint Race and was essentially nowhere in this race.  He did manage to deny Hamilton a point for the fastest lap.

CaledonianCraig wrote:The majority of opinions I have read on the incident was it was a racing Incident and I agree

Agree. Once the dust had settled, and the incident analysed in detail, the general consensus, was that of a racing incident. Not surprised by the initial reaction of the anti-Hamilton brigade though

Horner & RB claiming the damage has cost £1.3m. Financially, a big blow, given the cost cap

Just Gareth wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:The majority of opinions I have read on the incident was it was a racing Incident and I agree

Agree. Once the dust had settled, and the incident analysed in detail, the general consensus, was that of a racing incident. Not surprised by the initial reaction of the anti-Hamilton brigade though

Horner & RB claiming the damage has cost £1.3m. Financially, a big blow, given the cost cap

It is ridiculous what Red Bull are trying to make of this. Heck there are coming togethers like this at every race (almost) and nowhere near as much fuss and media coverage. Take your medicine and move on just like all other F1 teams do. It was two winning machines coming together and refusing to yield but in hindsight I bet Max hopes he had backed out and sat in behind Hamilton as I am sure his car would have had the pace to get the win and even if not second place would have meant a minimal loss of points to Hamilton in the title race.

Hamilton gets his 8th pole at the Hungaroring.  Mercedes qualify P1 (Ham) and P2 (Bott) and will be starting on  the preferred mediums, whilst Red Bull will be starting on P3 (Vers) and P4 (Perez) on the softs.  Given the conditions of the track and Hamilton's previous dominance on the track - I think Mercedes must be strong favorites for tomorrows race and to reclaim the leads in the Drivers and Constructors Championships.  However, after that we still have half a season to go following a four week summer break so still all to play for.  Astonishing performance from Gasly to finish P5.

Qualifying Positions
P1 Hamilton
P2 Bottas
P3 Verstapen
P4 Perez
P5 Gasly
P6 Norris
P7 Leclerc
P8 Ocon
P9 Alonso
P10 Vettel
P11 Ricciardo
P12 Stroll
P13 Raikkonen
P14 Giovinazzi
P15 Sainz
P16 Tsunoda
P17 Russell
P18 Latifi
P19 Mazepin
P20 Schumacher

Weird I was told by V2 F1 that the title was over after 7 races…?

Thankfully one poster here knows the sport

Another free 25 points, at least this time we know it's because Bottas is ****ing useless

It seems Bottas took out Verstappen, Perez and Norris. Leclerc was hit by stroll. Bottas, Perez, Norris, Leclerc out while Verstappen received significant body damage.

Weird restart. Hamilton restarts everyone else start from the pits.

Beyond embarrassing that from Mercedes. Hamilton dead last

Don’t like the rule though

Hamilton is going to be last.  Russell leading but had to give the places up because he apparently overtook places in the pit.

It's still 65 laps, gonna be good points at least with the main challengers all out or limping

Only 14 cars still in the race. Verstappen in a damaged car.

Between Vettel or Ocon for the win.

Looks like it could finish p1) Ocon, p2) Vettel, p3) Sainz, p4) Hamilton.

No name Bertie wrote:Looks like it could finish p1) Ocon, p2) Vettel, p3) Sainz, p4) Hamilton.

Hamilton could win this

Easy win to be honest

GSC wrote:Easy win to be honest

No. Alonso has done a job, so the win is off the cards.

Five place grid penalty for Bottas at Spa

Wonder if Russell would inherit that penalty.

Shot in the arm and then some for Ocon. Any midfield car is gonna need some luck and then some to get into that position but he refused to crack under pressure for virtually the entire race.

Big weekend for Williams too, Russell threatens a points finish and Latifi pips him to the first one.

17 points in the end wasn't a complete disaster relative to last week, particularly as Merc had the pace here, but it's pretty hard to ignore that back to back races of Merc cars wiping out Max has completely transformed this championship.

Alonso held up Hamilton long enough for Ocon to get the win. Alonso awarded driver of the day.

I think Perez engine is destroyed and more damage to Verstappen's car.

This years Formula One season has been unpredictable.  Despite Red Bull's disappointment of the last two races - gaining one point in total, Hamilton has had some "bad luck".  Firstly he qualified in pole here so avoided everything behind him - then it was just an unfortunate situation that he was the only one who didn't pit on the restart warm up lap - which meant he went from first to last after the first lap of the restart.   Then in Azerbaijan he overtook Perez to lead the race on the restart with three laps to go but accidentally switched off his breaks.  So he has had two potential wins lost this season.

Can't really claim Baku when Max's tyre blowing up before the end caused that scenario

Some people are saying that Bottas is not very good in the wet.  He had a poor start on P2, Verstappen, Lando and Perez had overtaken him.  Then Bottas went too fast into the corner rear ended Lando, knocking Lando into Verstappen, and then Bottas cleared out Perez.   Stroll trying to avoid the melee crashed into Leclerc.  Result Lando, Perez, Leclerc, Stroll had to retire while Verstappen's car was damaged.

Bottas braked too early, came off the brakes and smashed into the back of Lando. Whether he needs a mental reset or something else, it's clear he can't comtinue

GSC wrote:Bottas braked too early, came off the brakes and smashed into the back of Lando. Whether he needs a mental reset or something else, it's clear he can't comtinue

To me it looked like he panicked / had a brain fade after his poor start and just got caught up in trying to win back places. Didn't look like he was focused on what was going on ahead of him. An experienced driver like him should have known to brake earlier in those conditions, but his head probably wasn't in the right place.

Not that I have anything personal against Valtteri, but I hope thats another mark against him retaining his seat next season. Merc really need to get Russell in there. I think the years of being #2 to Lewis have probably taken their toll.

Also think Stroll has enough experience now that he should have avoided piling into Leclerc like that.

Just lucky no-one was seriously hurt in the carnage.

On the bright side it did make for a more interesting race. Was nice to see Ocon get his maiden win...and to see Seb pushing for his first win in ages. Was a bit surprised he couldn't get past Esteban. Really expected him to get the win today after the restart.

Thought maybe Mercedes were pulling another rabbit out of their hat when Lewis was the sole driver on the grid while everyone else was pitting. Still it was a smart bit of strategy with the undercut that got him ahead of Ricciardo and Verstappen.

Fantastic to watch the duel between Hamilton & Alonso...2 greats going wheel to wheel...with no accident. Thats what you get when both drivers give each other respect...and space. Take note Max.

Anyway congrats to Esteban...always nice to see a driver get their first win. Hope its the start of great things for him and Alpine. Vettel did well to stay out of trouble and guide his Aston to 2nd. Brilliant drive by Hamilton to come from last to earn a podium. Would have been my DotD, were it not for Alonso's defensive masterclass.

Also congrats to Williams on scoring their first points...even if they did get lucky with retirements.

Just sad that once again we were denied a proper battle between the title contenders. Gonna be a long wait for the next chance.

Vettel stripped of second place finish for fuel irregularity