F1 2021 Season

by Guest Thu 07 Jan 2021, 2:33 pm

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.

by No name Bertie Wed 01 Sep 2021, 9:50 am

Most believe Verstappen will have to take an engine penalty sometime over the next few races. Christian Horner sort of confirmed this by saying they were considering taking an engine penalty this weekend because it is a track you can overtake on but given Verstappen finished on pole they decided against it.

by GSC Wed 01 Sep 2021, 11:16 am

Monza is probably the most sensible. Bit of a black hole in the rules really bearing in mind how both engines were damaged. I get F1 wants to keep costs down, but when the engine is written off due to accidents caused by other teams, losing an allowance seems harsh

by Guest Wed 01 Sep 2021, 11:50 am

Honda says they can repair Verstappen’s engine if FIA gives special dispensation. According to the them 60% survived the crash at Silverstone. But under current laws they can’t just fixed the broken elements without penalties.
I think grid pens for Verstappen should be held back as far possible. No one knows how many races will be completed. Coupled with the brand new one in Belgium hardly being used for its first appearance.
I’d say Texas is the best place for grid pen

by Guest Wed 01 Sep 2021, 6:30 pm

Kimi Raikkonen has announced his retirement from F1. Seems as though the announcement has been brought forward to move forward the other pending moves.

by GSC Wed 01 Sep 2021, 9:12 pm

Legend

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Thu 02 Sep 2021, 9:17 am

A shame to see him go, but think it's more than time!
What a career

by GSC Fri 03 Sep 2021, 10:46 am

Zandvoort is a pretty intense track, bit of a mix of Japan and Hungary. Just don't expect an exciting race (can't be worse than Spa)

by Guest Fri 03 Sep 2021, 2:26 pm

Mercedes engine reliability coming up in the Netherlands. Vettel FP1 and Hamilton FP2.

by No name Bertie Fri 03 Sep 2021, 5:01 pm

Three red flags in two practice sessions. Is this an indicator that the Dutch Grand Prix is going to be a stop start affair interrupted by a series of red flags.

by Guest Fri 03 Sep 2021, 6:35 pm

Seems like it could be Bottas and Albon at Alfa Romeo in 2022. Mercedes offered Alfa Romeo their power units but unsurprisingly the offer was rebuffed.
Mercedes blocked Albon joining Williams because ‘they don’t want a Red Bull driver getting knowledge of their power unit’...

by No name Bertie Fri 03 Sep 2021, 7:14 pm

Is Toto Wolff and Mercedes still managing Ocon at Alpine?

by Guest Fri 03 Sep 2021, 7:47 pm

No name Bertie wrote:Is Toto Wolff and Mercedes still managing Ocon at Alpine?

Not that I’m aware of. Pretty certain Ocon had to cut all ties with Mercedes to get the Renault seat.

by No name Bertie Sat 04 Sep 2021, 10:08 am

Jeff Navarro wrote:
No name Bertie wrote:Is Toto Wolff and Mercedes still managing Ocon at Alpine?
Not that I’m aware of. Pretty certain Ocon had to cut all ties with Mercedes to get the Renault seat.

Information accessible from the internet gives Toto Wolff as his Manager and Mercedes also seem to be involved. Although they still manage Esteban Ocon, they cannot call him back to Mercedes to race for them under any situation. It seems the arrangement is the same as you get in football - with the club owning the player under contract but the footballer having his own agent. How this arrangement prevents information regarding the Alpine / Renault engineering and engine being transferred over to Mercedes via Ocon I don't know, if at all.

grandprix dot com wrote: Wolff and Mercedes to keep managing Ocon (AUGUST 31, 2019)

Mercedes protege Esteban Ocon is now a full Renault driver, boss Cyril Abiteboul insists.

Later on Saturday, the 22-year-old Frenchman will sit with his manager Toto Wolff and Renault's Abiteboul at Spa to discuss the details of his new two-year deal.

"He's a Renault driver, that's very clear," Abiteboul said at Spa.

"Mercedes will have absolutely no rights on him for the duration of his contract."

However, Abiteboul admitted that Ocon will continue to be managed by Wolff and Mercedes.

"The small difference is that his management company happens to be a racing team, and that's Mercedes," he said.

But he explained that it is unlike Renault's 2018 deal with Carlos Sainz, when the Spaniard was "on loan" from Red Bull.

"He (Ocon) will be a fully-fledged Renault driver," said Abiteboul....

by No name Bertie Sat 04 Sep 2021, 10:22 am

It has been reported that Kimi Raikkonen has tested positive for Covid-19 and will miss this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix. He is currently displaying no symptoms. He will be replaced by reserve driver Robert Kubica.

by GSC Sat 04 Sep 2021, 10:32 am

Max cleared of overtaking stroll under red flags.

Looked pretty innocuous, Stroll on a cooldown lap going slow off the racing line, Max on a hotlap and backed out of it as soon as he saw the reds. Unclear why they even summoned him for it

by Guest Sat 04 Sep 2021, 10:55 am

No name Bertie wrote:
Jeff Navarro wrote:
No name Bertie wrote:Is Toto Wolff and Mercedes still managing Ocon at Alpine?
Not that I’m aware of. Pretty certain Ocon had to cut all ties with Mercedes to get the Renault seat.

Information accessible from the internet gives Toto Wolff as his Manager and Mercedes also seem to be involved. Although they still manage Esteban Ocon, they cannot call him back to Mercedes to race for them under any situation. It seems the arrangement is the same as you get in football - with the club owning the player under contract but the footballer having his own agent. How this arrangement prevents information regarding the Alpine / Renault engineering and engine being transferred over to Mercedes via Ocon I don't know, if at all.

grandprix dot com wrote: Wolff and Mercedes to keep managing Ocon (AUGUST 31, 2019)

Mercedes protege Esteban Ocon is now a full Renault driver, boss Cyril Abiteboul insists.

Later on Saturday, the 22-year-old Frenchman will sit with his manager Toto Wolff and Renault's Abiteboul at Spa to discuss the details of his new two-year deal.

"He's a Renault driver, that's very clear," Abiteboul said at Spa.

"Mercedes will have absolutely no rights on him for the duration of his contract."

However, Abiteboul admitted that Ocon will continue to be managed by Wolff and Mercedes.

"The small difference is that his management company happens to be a racing team, and that's Mercedes," he said.

But he explained that it is unlike Renault's 2018 deal with Carlos Sainz, when the Spaniard was "on loan" from Red Bull.

"He (Ocon) will be a fully-fledged Renault driver," said Abiteboul....

Ocon said after his Hungarian win Wolff wasn’t his manager anymore. Unless he misunderstood the question. I’m confused now Erm

by No name Bertie Sat 04 Sep 2021, 11:27 am

Jeff Navarro wrote:Ocon said after his Hungarian win Wolff wasn’t his manager anymore. Unless he misunderstood the question. I’m confused now

The Hungarian Grand Prix occurred 1 Aug 2021.

The latest news I could find corresponds to May 9 2021:

us dot motorsport dot com wrote: Ocon's future up to himself, Alpine before Mercedes input - Wolff (May 9, 2021)
Toto Wolff says it will be up to Esteban Ocon and Alpine to decide on their Formula 1 future together before Mercedes has any input on his plans for 2022....

Ocon signed a two-year deal with Renault - since rebranded as Alpine - and has led its efforts so far in 2021 ....

Mercedes team boss Wolff was initially coy when asked if Ocon could be an option for 2022, having previously been considered for a seat in 2020.

"Esteban is also one of the drivers that is connected to us, whilst being a full fledged Renault or Alpine driver, Wolff said.

"We have a very good relationship with Alpine..... But when asked to expand on how seriously he came into consideration for 2022, Wolff said that it was up to Ocon and Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi to decide on their future before Mercedes would become involved.

"It's a little bit of a weird situation, because he's been a Mercedes junior for a long time, and he's an Alpine works driver now," Wolff said.

"That's fact. I think the situation is good for him there. He's growing, he's putting in the performances. He's French. All that is very much the stars aligning.

"I think it needs to be Laurent and Esteban's call first, how to continue, before we start to give an opinion." ....

There is also
https://bookingagentinfo.com/celebrity/esteban-ocon/

Where it is clear that Toto (Wolff) was listed as his manager.

Whether anything has changed since then - I can't find any corroboration. If things have changed then it must have occurred between May and August. The important thing is that when Ocon moved to Renault (now Alpine) he was still being managed by Toto Wolff and Mercedes --> which to me would look to be a similar situation to Albon moving to Williams.

by GSC Sat 04 Sep 2021, 3:25 pm

Elongated quali session but in the end Max gets it done again on Saturday. Gonna be a big ask around this track, short run to T1 and little hope of being able to follow close

by GSC Sat 04 Sep 2021, 3:27 pm

Giovinazzi picking a great moment to put it p7 on the grid. Gasly the best of the rest in p4

by No name Bertie Sat 04 Sep 2021, 3:30 pm

Giovinazzi suddenly performs impressively.

1) Verstappen: 1:08.885
2) Hamilton: 1:08.923
3) Bottas: 1:09.222
4) Gasly: 1:09.478
5) Leclerc: 1:09.527
6) Sainz Jnr: 1:09.537
7) Giovinazzi: 1:09.590
8) Ocon: 1:09.933
9) Alonso: 1:09.956
10) Ricciardo: 1:10.166

by Guest Sat 04 Sep 2021, 5:33 pm

Verstappen had some issues on his last lap. Double shift and DRS failure so all things being equal he could’ve been 0.250 faster.

Isn’t it strange that a driver Giovinazzi, probably lost his seat, turning in a magnificent performance after realising he’ll be out next season.

by GSC Sat 04 Sep 2021, 6:43 pm

He was slower than his first lap in both the first and third sector, and Lewis almost made up 2 tenths in the last sector so yeah, if that translates into race pace it looks fairly ominous.

Still, decent chance of a SC at some point

by Guest Sun 05 Sep 2021, 2:05 am

Unsurprisingly after his qualifying woes, Red Bull will change the power unit on Checo Perez’s car.

by Guest Sun 05 Sep 2021, 11:45 am

Seems like the Albon - Williams think is getting a bit silly. Mercedes says they’ll block it unless Red Bull releases him from their stable - which isn’t an option according to what I’ve heard.
Secondly even if Albon was a free agent what would stop him giving information back to Red Bull?

by Guest Sun 05 Sep 2021, 12:33 pm

Aston Martin tried to sign Fernando Alonso to replace Sebastian Vettel for 2022. Stroll Sr trying to deny it but Briatore has been stirring the pot.
Obviously there’s no love loss for Fernando towards Sebastian. But it’s embarrassing from Stroll Sr when Vettel has had Stroll Jr covered this season.

by Guest Sun 05 Sep 2021, 3:40 pm

Verstappen wins the Dutch GP to retake the championship lead. Hamilton second (+FL) and Bottas a distance third.
Gasly a magnificent fourth
Leclerc
Alonso outstanding from the old warhorse
Sainz
Perez
Ocon
Norris

Rounding out the top 10

by No name Bertie Sun 05 Sep 2021, 4:00 pm

All the indicators are is that Verstappen will likely need to take an engine penalty next race (Monza). Perez took an engine penalty this race so he needs to be ahead of the Mercedes at the start of the next race to help Red Bull win this years drivers championship. Looks like Mercedes are going to win the constructors championship.

Norris loses third place in the drivers championship to Bottas and Ferrari go third in the Constructors Championship ahead of McLaren.

by dyrewolfe Sun 05 Sep 2021, 4:10 pm

Had a feeling this was gonna be a RB track.

Pretty unexciting race and no surprise at all that Max won fairly comfortably.

The only interesting part was Bottas ignoring team orders and going for a fastest lap, forcing Merc to pit Lewis very late on to regain it.

Great job by Gasly to bag 4th. Must be putting pressure on RB to consider him again, with Perez continuing to not impress.

Impressive drive by Alonso to drag his Alpine to 6th. He really does seem to have got his mojo back.

Monza up next which should favour Mercedes, hopefully another pendulum swing in the title race.

Zandvoort looks like a brilliant circuit and very challenging to drive. Sadly, as some have been saying, its basically like Monaco with run off areas, in terms of a racing spectacle.

Hopefully the new cars will go some way towards improving the situation. Feel a bit of re-modelling might also be in order to create a decent DRS zone.

by No name Bertie Sun 05 Sep 2021, 4:18 pm

Perez was given driver of the day - despite ruining his race strategy by flat-spotting the hard tyres he started on early in the race. For me Alonso was the driver of the day. However Gasly drove brilliantly and took a comfortable fourth without the need for any heroic overtakes. Verstappen also drove brilliantly of course and had to get past Bottas after the first stop.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun 05 Sep 2021, 4:18 pm

A good win for Verstappen, closer than many thought it would be - Hamilton was in that sort of 2-3 second range most of the race...I think Merc actually jumped with the 2nd stop way too early and ruined their race really. In the end, relatively comfortable win

Not a lot else to report - apart from Perez continuing to be rubbish.

Do agree with Dyre, if the new cars are as advertised next year, then this track could be super fun to watch. It does look a great experience to go along!

by Guest Sun 05 Sep 2021, 4:26 pm

The track definitely needs lengthening if possible. The main straight isn’t long enough. If the lap was around 75/80 seconds it would probably make a better spectacle.

by GSC Sun 05 Sep 2021, 4:31 pm

Ultimately Max won fairly comfortably, think the margin largely flattered Merc, Max always had an extra gear if he needed it.

Big fan of Merc pitting Bottas for a fastest lap attempt then telling him not to set the fastest lap.

by No name Bertie Mon 06 Sep 2021, 9:30 am

Question: Which is a better indicator of the "best car" - the winner of the constructors championship or the winner of the drivers championship?

by No name Bertie Mon 06 Sep 2021, 9:34 am

The good thing was that there were no major incidents during the race (and hence no red flags). There were two near misses: 1) Vettel sliding down the banked corner - Bottas avoided spearing Vettel's car. 2) Perez trying to overtake Lando Norris on the outside of a banked corner - Perez / Norris touched twice - Perez front wheel & Norris' side, then Perez front wheel and Norris back wheel. Fortunately there was no significant damage to either car and no major incident.

by dyrewolfe Mon 06 Sep 2021, 10:26 am

GSC wrote:Ultimately Max won fairly comfortably, think the margin largely flattered Merc, Max always had an extra gear if he needed it.

Big fan of Merc pitting Bottas for a fastest lap attempt then telling him not to set the fastest lap.

That was just hilarious. I was very happy when he ignored the team's instructions. Okay he may be Lewis' wingman, but there's only so much crap any driver will put up with before they just don't give a crap any more.

No name Bertie wrote:
Question: Which is a better indicator of the "best car" - the winner of the constructors championship or the winner of the drivers championship?

I'd say the Constructors' title, as you need both drivers to be regularly scoring well to win that.

Although this season is a bit of a strange one. I would say Red Bull have the better chassis and aero package, which gives them a sizeable advantage on tracks like Zandvoort, while Mercedes still have the strongest power unit, which lets them dominate on circuits with long straights.

With Mercedes you have a 7-time champion paired with an above-average driver, who usually manage to finish on the podium as well as picking up wins.

RB undoubtedly have a good car but are hampered by their inability to find a solid driver pairing. Does kind of beg the question is Max just that good and making the car out-perform, or have their #2 drivers just been poor? Max is undoubtedly a hell of a talent, but even so, there shouldn't be the kinds of gaps we've been seeing.

No name Bertie wrote:
The good thing was that there were no major incidents during the race (and hence no red flags). There were two near misses: 1) Vettel sliding down the banked corner - Bottas avoided spearing Vettel's car. 2) Perez trying to overtake Lando Norris on the outside of a banked corner - Perez / Norris touched twice - Perez front wheel & Norris' side, then Perez front wheel and Norris back wheel. Fortunately there was no significant damage to either car and no major incident.

Yeah there were quite a few bum-clenching moments. I was frankly amazed the Safety Car wasn't needed.

by Guest Mon 06 Sep 2021, 12:43 pm

Bottas confirmed by Alfa Romeo for 2022 and beyond.

by dummy_half Mon 06 Sep 2021, 5:30 pm

Dyre

I think the evidence from elsewhere is that Perez and Gasly are both very much above average race drivers, but neither have been able to get as much out of the RB as Verstappen has. Whether it is that Max is inherently that much better and making a good car into a great one, or whether (as I've seen suggested repeatedly) it is that the RB is designed for Max, who has an extreme car setup and driving style, meaning that no-one else can maximise the performance of the RB, is something of an unknown.

Anyway, certainly makes for an interesting season that the Merc isn't head and shoulders above everything else.

Perhaps I'm slightly surprised that Russell to Merc and Bottas out isn't happening until the end of the season. Can't help but think that GR is driving better than VB at the moment and would offer a greater benefit to Merc as Lewis's wing man for the rest of the year.

by Guest Tue 07 Sep 2021, 9:55 am

AlphaTauri confirms Gasly and Tsunoda are to stay for 2022.

6 seats still be to confirmed:
Alfa Romeo x1
Aston Martin x2
Mercedes x1
Williams x2

by GSC Tue 07 Sep 2021, 10:15 am

Russell confirmed. Should be fun next year, can't imagine George will be as compliant as Bottas and Mercedes have a long term investment to protect

by dummy_half Tue 07 Sep 2021, 11:01 am

Jeff Navarro wrote:AlphaTauri confirms Gasly and Tsunoda are to stay for 2022.

6 seats still be to confirmed:
Alfa Romeo x1
Aston Martin x2
Mercedes x1
Williams x2

Pretty sure that Stroll will have one of the AM seats.. Vettel presumably staying there if there are no more competitive seats available.

Doesn't Latifi pay Williams a fortune for that seat? If so, he's got to have a good chance of staying put.

Haven't been following GP2 for the last couple of years. Is there anyone coming through that deserves a chance, or otherwise is sufficiently financially supported to buy a seat?

by Guest Tue 07 Sep 2021, 11:26 am

dummy_half wrote:
Jeff Navarro wrote:AlphaTauri confirms Gasly and Tsunoda are to stay for 2022.

6 seats still be to confirmed:
Alfa Romeo x1
Aston Martin x2
Mercedes x1
Williams x2

Pretty sure that Stroll will have one of the AM seats.. Vettel presumably staying there if there are no more competitive seats available.

Doesn't Latifi pay Williams a fortune for that seat? If so, he's got to have a good chance of staying put.

Haven't been following GP2 for the last couple of years. Is there anyone coming through that deserves a chance, or otherwise is sufficiently financially supported to buy a seat?

Strange behaviour from Aston Martin towards Vettel, they did shop that seat to Alonso. Seems odd as Vettel has has Stroll in his pocket after the first few races. No idea why Stroll hasn’t been confirmed.

Mercedes wants its Formula E champion Nyck de Vries to get a seat at Williams and are offering discounted power units.
Red Bull are willing to pay Williams to get that seat for Alexander Albon. If Red Bull pays enough Albon will probably get the seat.
Lafiti’s father is rich but he’s not very good. Hulkenberg could take that seat.
Lastly Alfa Romeo would take Albon, obviously Red Bull will pay them. But that leaves Callum Illot on the outside again.

by Guest Tue 07 Sep 2021, 3:45 pm

Just a heads up we get sprint racing again this weekend at the ‘cathedral of speed’.

by No name Bertie Tue 07 Sep 2021, 8:07 pm

Jeff Navarro wrote:Just a heads up we get sprint racing again this weekend at the ‘cathedral of speed’.

The first sprint race in Silverstone was followed by a sequence of events that saw Perez and Verstappen at Silverstone and the following race at Hungary getting their cars damaged and picking up a combined one point which saw Mercedes overturning significant deficits in the drivers and constructors championships, with Perez and Verstappen needing to take future engine penalties. Perez took his engine penalty at the Dutch Grand Prix and Verstappen will likely take an engine penalty at Monza.

by GSC Wed 08 Sep 2021, 1:22 pm

Albon and Latifi at Williams next year.

So intrigue down to whether Italian Jesus sticks at alfa

by Guest Wed 08 Sep 2021, 1:27 pm

I’m very surprised that Nicholas Latifi was retained. From what I heard Williams wanted a better driver.

by No name Bertie Wed 08 Sep 2021, 1:52 pm

I heard as part of the general cost cutting exercise and as part of a deal to keep Red Bull in the sport and taking over the Honda engine and sort of making it their own - were technology freezes on engine design. This was brought up by someone close to F1 sport when criticizing the argument that Albon could pass on knowledge of the Mercedes engine to Red Bull.

by GSC Wed 08 Sep 2021, 2:37 pm

Yeah, Red Bull couldn't possibly gleam any information from their current driver who has driven cars powered (and designed) by Mercedes for years.

by Guest Wed 08 Sep 2021, 3:56 pm

I think for Albon the chance at Williams is basically an audition to see whether he can be team leader at AlphaTauri if Gasly leaves to join McLaren in 2023.
Tsunoda will be given every opportunity to keep a seat a AlphaTauri unless he regresses off the cliff per se.
If Albon doesn’t impress at Williams he’ll end up out of the red bull setup.

by Guest Wed 08 Sep 2021, 5:56 pm

Alexander Albon has been released by Red Bull under the proviso they hold first option on Albon.

Kimi Raikkonen misses Monza with this continuing covid19 issues. I’m very sad by this as the Iceman deserved a fitting send off from the many Italians that still adore our last world champion.

by Guest Fri 10 Sep 2021, 10:34 am

Interesting news around Williams. Jost Capito is ‘encouraging’ VW to enter F1 and takeover Williams as the VW factory team.
VW has held talks with Red Bull to use their power units.
I don’t really like one owner(Red Bull) having so much influence on the grid considering Red Bull already have two teams.
Don’t see it good for the sport with 4 full Red Bull cars plus VW/Williams with Red Bull association.

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