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.

Bottas qualified first for the sprint race tomorrow.
Hamilton
Verstappen
Norris
Ricciardo
Gasly
Sainz
LeClerc
Perez
Giovinazzi

Bottas starts first tomorrow but last in the actual race due to engine penalties. A bit confusing if you ask me.

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

Well it didn't do Racing Point any good... Though was that down to the drivers or the quality of the engineering staff?

I think some people over-estimate how much knowledge drivers absorb, that isn't directly related to driving the car. I know some guys like Schumacher were pretty obsessive and wanted to learn everything they could. Thats how they got a reputation for being able to help teams develop. Others like Vettel - not so much.

dummy_half wrote: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.

Thats more or less the conclusion I've drawn...that RB have built a car that basically only Max can drive. Literally custom made for his driving style. Seem they really are putting all their eggs in one basket and hoping he can deliver the goods for them.

Which is okay at tracks like Zandvoort, which suit the car's chassis & aero package, but leaves them fighting with one hand tied behind their backs at other circuits.


As to Bottas, I can only think they are allowing him to leave with as much dignity as possible. They know they are in a 2 v 1 fight with Red Bull and will likely continue to outscore them at most tracks, provided they get both cars on the podium. Remember teams are more concerned about the Constructors' title than the drivers' championship.

Mercedes have 4 wins to Red Bull's 8, but still lead by 12 points.

I think they see consistency as key and are evidently happy enough with how Valtteri has been performing. As well as George performed in his 1 race, yanking him from Williams and asking him to do half a season is still a bit of a risk. Plus we don't know what agreements there are between the teams.

Carlos Sainz crashes in FP2 and has trashed the car. Second week in a row he’s destroyed the car in FP.
It’s really not acceptable how many crashes Leclerc and Sainz are having.

Pierre Gasly crashes at Curva Grande. Little bit of carnage on lap 1 off the sprint.

As expected, a pretty dull sprint qualifying. Hamilton the big loser, along with AlphaTauri.

Verstappen on pole, and should win tomorrow, judging by how difficult it is to overtake.

Sprint race offers absolutely nothing, other than telling us what will unfold tomorrow.

Bottas wins qualifying (3pts)
Verstappen (2pts)
Ricciardo (1pt)
Norris
Hamilton
LeClerc
Sainz
Perez
Giovinazzi
Stroll

If Hamilton gets ahead tomorrow he wins by days. But those McLaren’s might help Verstappen as they are ridiculous on the straights.

Judging off that, it's going to be tough for Lewis to manage anything if Max gets off the line. Clear pace to drive away from the McLarens while Norris could keep Lewis behind in the dirty air. Max ending up a good 16-18 seconds down the road.

Wonder if Mercedes can reschedule that engine change...

How comes Bottas and Hamilton need fourth power units?
Secondly whenever Hamilton takes a penalty I would guarantee Verstappen will follow - I’d assume Sochi as it’s an easier track to overtake on.

Jeff Navarro wrote:How comes Bottas and Hamilton need fourth power units?
Secondly whenever Hamilton takes a penalty I would guarantee Verstappen will follow - I’d assume Sochi as it’s an easier track to overtake on.

I can understand Bottas needing a fourth power unit because he has been involved in several crashes.  Perez took a fourth power unit last week.  Verstappen is due a fourth power unit because of various crashes he has had.  Hamilton I don't think has had any crashes.  If he requires a fourth power unit, then maybe Mercedes have decided to turn up the settings of his engine to get more power.

Jeff Navarro wrote:Bottas wins qualifying (3pts)
Verstappen (2pts)
Ricciardo (1pt)
Norris
Hamilton
LeClerc
Sainz
Perez  Giovinazzi
Giovinazzi Perez
Stroll

Sprint Race:  Giovinazzi finished above Perez.   Giovinazzi starts P7 tomorrow (Perez P8).  Giovinazzi is suddenly making noteworthy performances.  Also Latifi out-qualifies Russell for the main race for the first time p14 vs p15 (although of course this is not the same as single lap qualifying).  Gasly crashed out.

No name Bertie wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:Bottas wins qualifying (3pts)
Verstappen (2pts)
Ricciardo (1pt)
Norris
Hamilton
LeClerc
Sainz
Perez  Giovinazzi
Giovinazzi Perez
Stroll

Sprint Race:  Giovinazzi finished above Perez.   Giovinazzi starts P7 tomorrow (Perez P8).  Giovinazzi is suddenly making noteworthy performances.  Also Latifi out-qualifies Russell for the main race for the first time p14 vs p15 (although of course this is not the same as single lap qualifying).  Gasly crashed out.

Yep my bad I got Gio and Checo mixed up

GSC wrote:Judging off that, it's going to be tough for Lewis to manage anything if Max gets off the line. Clear pace to drive away from the McLarens while Norris could keep Lewis behind in the dirty air. Max ending up a good 16-18 seconds down the road.

Wonder if Mercedes can reschedule that engine change...

Surely Lewis does his engine change the same weekend Max does, if possible? Would be a big risk to do it overnight tonight, and then suddenly Max is wiped out on the first lap tomorrow and then Hamilton is 20th and not able to take advantage through the DRS train at Monza...

Not sure Lewis has to do one. But this was the best opportunity for Max to take one and minimise the loss, so not sure where he takes an engine penalty now? Mexico?

Mercedes say Hamilton will take a fourth engine so I’d assume that would be in Sochi. Mainly because it’s a track Mercedes have literally dominated and Bottas has an outstanding record there(1st, 2nd, 2nd and 1st during this time at Mercedes). So even if Hamilton starts last Mercedes have the fallback of Bottas most likely to win.
Verstappen will mirror Hamilton and take penalties at the same time.

Sochi isn't great though because you just get bogged down in the last 2 sectors with dirty air and there's no tyre wear to try and get around traffic with strategy.

Maybe we can get another Oval race

Would've been something if all the top cars took a penalty here though

Mercedes are willing to drop the MGU-H in the next engine changes if that convinces VW group to join F1.

The only real options I see where either Hamilton or Verstappen could take pens are Sochi, Texas or Mexico. Mexico most risky as there’s often carnage there. So a toss up between Sochi and Texas.
Alternatively Red Bull could look to increase the points gap significantly then take a pen towards the Middle East triple header.

Ricciardo holding Max up. Hamilton will come alive at the end of the stint on these hards.

Major problem for Max at the pitstop

Hammer time for Lewis now

Verstappen you idiot

Knew this would happen again.

A penalty for Verstappen will be pretty irrelevant if they change the engine anyway.

Jeff Navarro wrote:A penalty for Verstappen will be pretty irrelevant if they change the engine anyway.

Should add it to the next race, then. Can’t just phase in a penalty to an engine change.

Not having this as a racing incident. Max had no intention of making that corner, or braking for that corner.

Dicey one,again neither seemed particularly compelled to leave room for the other. Suspect in the end Max's decision on where he takes his engine penalty might be about to be mad for him

Martin Brundle says Hamilton fault....strange

Jeff Navarro wrote:Martin Brundle says Hamilton fault....strange

The guy is so old, needs retiring

Max had no intention of making that corner. Didn’t break, hit the sausage kerb, and then lost control and hit Lewis.

If Hamilton had done it, Helmut Marko would be calling for a race ban

Just Gareth wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:A penalty for Verstappen will be pretty irrelevant if they change the engine anyway.

Should add it to the next race, then. Can’t just phase in a penalty to an engine change.

Not having this as a racing incident. Max had no intention of making that corner, or braking for that corner.

Not sure that’s in the rules though and they can’t amend the legislation before next season.

To me it's in the same bracket as their first crash. Drivers up the inside goes for an ambitious move that would never have worked and causes an incident.

So Max should get a penalty, in the form of a grid drop for the next race.

Outside of that, with regards to engine penalties being combined, it's a bit late in this championship to start being concerned about punishments fitting the crime. So partisanship aside, let's just be consistent

Perez gets 5 seconds so might as well get his elbows out and see if they can prevent Bottas winning

Bricking it rn

Delighted for Ricciardo. Slated all year, so two fingers to all those critics.

Bottas showed why he’s been shown the door at Mercedes. He lacks race craft.
Ricciardo an Italian winning at Monza...

YEEEEEEEEEEE
Back on the top steps at last

Wow - what a race! Definitely the most incident-packed of the season so far.

First of all, congrats to McLaren. First win in ages and a double podium to boot. Very happy to see Danny Ric on the top step again...even the yucky shoey. Never realised until today that he speaks Italian.

Thought he did brilliantly at the start to get the jump on Max and stay ahead through-out the first stint. Verstappen struggled to get in DRS range. Might have been different had Max and Lewis not had their coming together, but I like to think the McLarens were good enough today.

Good comeback drive by Bottas. Think he would have had more of a go at Perez if Sergio hadn't had that time penalty. Think 3rd was a pretty good return, considering he started at the back.


Max once again showing he lacks the racecraft when it comes to wheel to wheel racing with an equally good opponent. When is he going to learn that sometimes you just have to back out and try again later?

Lewis backed out of a similar situation earlier in the race, when Max squeezed him off the track. He very sensibly went over the kerbs and rejoined the track behind Max.

That is sporting, safe, sensible racing. Why couldn't Max reciprocate? Why does he always try to force the issue, making opponents back out, or else causing crashes? He needs to learn he isn't going to get his way all the time and that sometimes its better to live to fight another corner, rather than DNF.

Another race where we are giving thanks for the halo...this time saving Lewis' head from Verstappen's rear wheel, after his RB landed on top of the Merc.

Seriously - if he doesn't learn to curb these stupid reckless impulses, someone is going to get hurt sooner or later. Maybe a case of red mist descending after his botched pit stop?


Decent race for Ferrari, considering they're not really competitive at the moment. They come away with a decent points haul for 4th and 6th.

Both Alpines finishing in the points and George Russell coming home in 9th.

Agree with Hill. Max was raging from the pitstop, and given his hot headed, aggressive approach to racing, he was never going to bail out in that situation. Either he would overtake Hamilton, or he would take them both out.

Fully expect a penalty heading to Verstappen. Max & Horner’s interviews were embarrassing. Neither believed anything they were saying.

Going back to McLaren, Norris playing the good teammate role, but secretly he must be gutted. He’s had Ricciardo’s number all season. Yet when the first win came it went to Ricciardo

Jeff Navarro wrote:Going back to McLaren, Norris playing the good teammate role, but secretly he must be gutted. He’s had Ricciardo’s number all season. Yet when the first win came it went to Ricciardo

He said as much in the post-race interview. He felt he could have had a go at Danny and would have liked to race him, but he's a team player and with the 1-2 at stake he understood why the team didn't want to jeopardise that.

Hope he gets another chance soon.

Looked a racing incident to me - calls on here for race bans, hilarious

Delighted for McLaren and Riccardo - what a weekend for them!

I see this incident as one of those tactical yellow cards Real Madrid used to do to get tactical suspensions. Verstappen obviously raging over whatever happened during the pit stop. The red mist came down. He’s wasn’t doing to yield as he was on the wrong tyres compared to Hamilton. So literally no chance to make the place back.
Make the move if it works then fine, if it doesn’t both go for an early shower.

It's too ambitious from Max to say it's a racing incident to be honest. But again, to me it's a reverse of Silverstone at lower speed, so again, let's be consistent when we accuse Max of lacking race craft, or launching an all or nothing lose at his last chance to attack his rival...

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Looked a racing incident to me - calls on here for race bans, hilarious

Delighted for McLaren and Riccardo - what a weekend for them!

His stupidity endangered a fellow racer, not at all a racing incident.

The Hamilton vs Verstappen collision was frightening. It happened very quickly when a lot of things were happening.

Hamilton was coming out of the pit lane while Verstappen was steaming up from the straight behind him, then into the sharp bend side by side, Verstappen went off the track and onto the sausage kerb which launched Verstappens car onto Hamilton - who would have surely died if not protected by the halo. In terms of the track it was the sausage kerb that launched Verstappen's car that could have potentially killed Hamilton, while the halo saved Hamilton. I am sure there is a good reason for the sausage kerb but I am not 100% convinced. I am just glad that Hamilton is safe.

The only reason the sausage kerbs exist is because the stewards don't want to police track limits

One of the issues is FIA having run off areas everywhere. Go back to the days of gravel everywhere and you’ll see less aggressive moves. No gravel means basically less punishment. Drivers know they can try their luck.

Verstappen 3 place grid pen

Probably just change the engine at russia then