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 dyrewolfe Sun 07 Nov 2021, 5:42 pm

Wow - could be the undoing of Red Bull's season if they can't get on top of their wing issues.

They might just be handing the titles to Mercedes.

In addition to that, it seems they are finding it harder to get their tyres in the operating window, so are suffering lack of grip in addition to their wing woes.

by Guest Sun 07 Nov 2021, 7:04 pm

Bottas had verstappen pinned on the outside and decided to brake so early.

Useless

by Guest Sun 07 Nov 2021, 7:10 pm

Mercedes got that massively wrong. I saw a video from nico rosberg suggesting left side of straight Has insane grip.

by Guest Sun 07 Nov 2021, 7:20 pm

Max getting the lead at T1 has killed any excitement from this race. Mercedes don’t have an answer from here.

Be very surprised if RB don’t take both championships from here.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun 07 Nov 2021, 8:44 pm

That was a proper stinker of a race

by Guest Sun 07 Nov 2021, 8:47 pm

Terrible race this altitude kills racing

1. Verstappen
2. Hamilton
3. Perez
4. Gasly
5. LeClerc
6. Sainz
7. Vettel
8. Räikkönen
9. Alonso
10. Norris

Great day for Red Bull, Ferrari, Gasly and Vettel.

by GSC Sun 07 Nov 2021, 8:53 pm

In the end the race we probably expected even if we took a strange route. Mexico is usually pretty crap for races, altitude forces high downforce which means dirty air is horrible.

Job done for Max, routine win puts him in a strong position with 4 races to go. Take Brazil next week and we're probably into needing a dnf territory.

If you offered Lewis 2nd on Friday, he'd probably settle. Offered it yesterday it'd be disappointing. But a front row lockout was a surprise for a reason, Max was unbeatable once he drove away at the restart. Mercedes pretty much admitted this was a race for 2nd when they boxed Lewis early to avoid a Perez undercut. It was never a strategy that could beat Max.

Perez and RB be ruing q3, could've been so much more.

Pretty much summed up Mercedes and Bottas' day that they had to bring him in twice for fresh softs to get fastest lap since they pitted him behind Max who just used blue flags to block his fastest lap attempts. Wouldn't surprise me if there was an overnight agreement Lewis would get the inside line into T1 but Bottas absolutely can't let Max go around the outside from there, even if he's running him off the road

by dyrewolfe Sun 07 Nov 2021, 9:01 pm

Not a classic for sure.

Merc ballsed up the start. Why Bottas braked so early I wish I knew. Seemed to catch Lewis off guard.

Verstappen was the last of the late brakers and sailed round the outside of both Silver Arrows. Race was pretty much over from that point on.

Can only think RB were sand-bagging in quali. They were so much faster than Mercedes in race trim it was ridiculous. Not even close to being a contest.

Lewis did well to fend off a late charge from Perez to hold on to 2nd. Poor Valtteri got screwed over again by a botched pit stop and another VERY late call to steal fastest lap from Max. Said it before and I'll say it again...if it weren't for bad luck, he'd have no luck at all.

Anyway, congrats to Max for out-foxing Merc at the first corner and basically sealing the win on the first lap. Good effort from Checo - nice to see him on the podium for his home GP. Very close to making it a Red Bull 1-2.

Great drive by Gasly to bag 4th for AT.

Ferrari pretty much where they always are.

Good drive by Vettel for get 7th and amazing to see Raikkonen in 8th for Alfa. Alonso in the points for Alpine and Lando Norris grabbing a point after starting last due to engine penalties.

Title starting to slip away from Lewis. With Brazil next up Merc will probably struggle again. Feels like this is the turning point in the season.

by No name Bertie Sun 07 Nov 2021, 9:22 pm

After the Austrian Grand Prix (4th July) Verstappen was leading the drivers championship by 32 points and Red Bull was leading the Constructors championship by 44 points. Then came the first sprint race weekend of the Season at Silverstone. This was followed by Hungary under wet conditions.

Some were complaining following what happened at Silverstone, but then Hungary came along when it was time for Bottas to shine. It showed us that things can turn around fairly quickly.

Up next - we have the third and final sprint race of the season at Interlagos, Brazil.

by Guest Sun 07 Nov 2021, 9:25 pm

dyrewolfe wrote:Title starting to slip away from Lewis. With Brazil next up Merc will probably struggle again. Feels like this is the turning point in the season

A kind of inevitability about it all now. If it wasn’t for Verstappen’s particular bad luck earlier on in the season, this would be out of sight already. RB just looks dominant now, hence why Perez is now in contention most weekends.

by dyrewolfe Mon 08 Nov 2021, 9:08 am

No name Bertie wrote:After the Austrian Grand Prix (4th July) Verstappen was leading the drivers championship by 32 points and Red Bull was leading the Constructors championship by 44 points. Then came the first sprint race weekend of the Season at Silverstone. This was followed by Hungary under wet conditions.

Some were complaining following what happened at Silverstone, but then Hungary came along when it was time for Bottas to shine. It showed us that things can turn around fairly quickly.

Up next - we have the third and final sprint race of the season at Interlagos, Brazil.

Daft comparison. We were only halfway through the season at that point...and wet races always throw things into the mixer.

With only 2 races left (unless they find a replacement for Australia) there is far less time to turn things around.

If Brazil goes in Red Bull's favour - thats pretty much game over. If Interlagos is wet then Merc may still have hope, but at this stage they are pretty much praying for rain and for RB to have car issues.

by GSC Mon 08 Nov 2021, 9:13 am

There's 4, Brazil, Qatar, Saudi and Abu Dhabi

by Guest Mon 08 Nov 2021, 9:42 am

Wouldn’t rule out another Verstappen engine change. Red Bull had to rein in the Dutchman yesterday, let’s be honest he could won by 30+ seconds yesterday if not for lingering engine doubts.

by dyrewolfe Mon 08 Nov 2021, 9:51 am

GSC wrote:There's 4, Brazil, Qatar, Saudi and Abu Dhabi

Lol - still half asleep. Forgot to scroll to December on the race calendar. Laugh

Even so, with Brazil expected to favour RB it doesn't bode well for Mercedes.

Qatar and Saudi are unknowns, but looking at the layout of the Qatar circuit - 1 big straight and a mix of fast & slow corners, could also be a good one for RB. Haven't seen the Saudi track, so no idea...

Abu Dhabi has been a good one for Merc...but by then it may be too late.

by Guest Mon 08 Nov 2021, 10:53 am

Jeff Navarro wrote:Wouldn’t rule out another Verstappen engine change

That’s the kind of line that gets released by the media, when they know the writing is on the wall for Hamilton, and just need to try and keep the intrigue and excitement going. If Max did need an engine change, which I doubt, then Hamilton definitely needs one. So it makes little difference.

A MV DNF, is the only thing which makes this interesting, from a LH/neutral perspective

by GSC Mon 08 Nov 2021, 11:17 am

Jeff Navarro wrote:Wouldn’t rule out another Verstappen engine change. Red Bull had to rein in the Dutchman yesterday, let’s be honest he could won by 30+ seconds yesterday if not for lingering engine doubts.

Or if he didn't drop a load of time slowing down to block Bottas on a fastest lap attempt

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Mon 08 Nov 2021, 1:04 pm

Toto very much not happy with Bottas's start yesterday, sounds like they talked very much about not opening the door for Max down that side of the track in pre-race meetings...and he then went and did. Can't imagine his mood will be improved by Red Bull now being right on their tails in the constructors standings too

Is the Saudi track even built yet? Saw some videos last week and it looked very much not finished.

by Guest Mon 08 Nov 2021, 1:27 pm

The track is Jeddah isn’t complete yet. They’ve probably got until the end of Qatar to get it ready. As the fia has to approve it still.
I’d hazard a guess that we could end up with two races in Abu Dhabi if Jeddah fails to make the deadline.

by GSC Mon 08 Nov 2021, 3:17 pm

If Toto wanted the #2 driver to give a Poopie he probably should've paid Williams to release Russell midseason

by Guest Mon 08 Nov 2021, 3:28 pm

I actually think he does give a poopie, the problem is, he’s just god awful. I actually think at Alfa, it will expose his lack of race craft, even more.

by GSC Mon 08 Nov 2021, 5:33 pm

Eh. From day 1 Bottas was brought in with his place in the team firmly set at supporting Lewis. Mercedes weren't going to have another rosberg/Hamilton relationship (iirc there was a fair amount of smoke at the time that Hamilton was going to be the one let go until Rosberg retired and Toto/Lewis had to mend bridges around his kitchen table). That's probably beaten into Bottas' psyche now. Saw at Turkey when he was freed from that mindset with Lewis' penalty left him alone at the front. Even yesterday I bet the plan was to let Lewis go up the inside and cede his pole position.

Kinda curious at the point who does have good race craft. Fairly sure Vettel leads the field in overtakes this year and the criticism was always he couldn't race either

by GSC Mon 08 Nov 2021, 8:24 pm

https://twitter.com/f1tomRB/status/1457459429071368198?t=WIm8h3i-rJhqfbaebV0_2g&s=19

Got to say this is wonderfully executed Poopie

by Guest Tue 09 Nov 2021, 12:37 am

GSC wrote:Eh. From day 1 Bottas was brought in with his place in the team firmly set at supporting Lewis. Mercedes weren't going to have another rosberg/Hamilton relationship (iirc there was a fair amount of smoke at the time that Hamilton was going to be the one let go until Rosberg retired and Toto/Lewis had to mend bridges around his kitchen table). That's probably beaten into Bottas' psyche now. Saw at Turkey when he was freed from that mindset with Lewis' penalty left him alone at the front. Even yesterday I bet the plan was to let Lewis go up the inside and cede his pole position.

Kinda curious at the point who does have good race craft. Fairly sure Vettel leads the field in overtakes this year and the criticism was always he couldn't race either

Mercedes could have said they are backing Hamilton but essentially Bottas lacked the consistency to ever really challenge. Additionally he lacked the animal in him to make Hamilton even consider him a threat.
Looking back now Bottas’ only hopes of winning a championship was 2017 or 2018, when Vettel was also competing.
As 2019 and 2020 showed, Bottas was never capable of going 1v1 against Hamilton.
Bottas contributed towards 4 constructors titles and must’ve made $50m+ but he will leave Mercedes unfulfilled.

by GSC Tue 09 Nov 2021, 9:30 am

That wasn't really a defense that Bottas could've challenged, more I suspect he'll show better when he is isn't restricted to a support role

by Guest Thu 11 Nov 2021, 4:06 pm

Otmar Szafnauer looks like he’s joining Alpine.

by No name Bertie Thu 11 Nov 2021, 4:44 pm

Alfa Romeo are expected to announce next Tuesday their second driver for 2022. It seems that Guanyu Zhou is the leading candidate for the second seat. If Giovinazzi loses his seat, as seems likely, there will be no Italian drivers competing in F1 for next year. I have been told that Ricciardo will be considered as an honorary Italian given his Italian heritage.

by Guest Thu 11 Nov 2021, 8:03 pm

Seems like Hamilton will be taking an engine penalty at São Paulo…

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Fri 12 Nov 2021, 3:50 pm

Just Gareth wrote:
Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Certainly seems like that Merc unit is less reliable than the Honda one this year.

Nonsense

And another engine penalty for a Merc - this time Lewis 5 place grid drop... censored

by Guest Fri 12 Nov 2021, 4:14 pm

From what I’ve heard Mercedes engine isn’t unreliable but more over stressed from having to use more power than they would prefer to use.
The only time this has previously happened was back in 2017, but on that occasion Ferrari imploded and Mercedes didn’t have to worry about it.

by Guest Fri 12 Nov 2021, 6:26 pm

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:
Just Gareth wrote:
Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Certainly seems like that Merc unit is less reliable than the Honda one this year.

Nonsense

And another engine penalty for a Merc - this time Lewis 5 place grid drop...

Jeff Navarro wrote:From what I’ve heard Mercedes engine isn’t unreliable

Exactly. There’s a difference between an engine going pop, and on the other hand, just being cautious, having noticed that there’s engine degradation, resulting in reduced power output.

by No name Bertie Fri 12 Nov 2021, 6:50 pm

Toto Wolff has been saying in a few previous post race interviews that the championships are so tight (drivers and constructors) that a DNF due to a mechanical or engine failure could prove pivotal intimating that Mercedes strategy now is to minimize the likelihood of this happening.

All these engines can be turned up and down for power to some degree and in general the harder you run it the shorter will be its "lifetime". Whether you want to call it reliability at a given power output or lifetime at a given power output it all seems to correspond to the same thing in practice.

It seems that for this year Red Bull has on average had the faster car - driver package and Mercedes have had to run their engine "harder" to keep up with them.

by Guest Fri 12 Nov 2021, 8:09 pm

Hamilton
Verstappen
Bottas
Perez
Gasly
Sainz
LeClerc
Norris
Ricciardo
Alonso

Top 10 for sprint qualifying

by No name Bertie Fri 12 Nov 2021, 8:24 pm

These last few races Gasly has been showing some impressive single lap speed. Meanwhile Norris' earlier stunning results have not been repeated. Hamilton was mightily quick in this Friday's qualifying.

by GSC Fri 12 Nov 2021, 9:45 pm

Lewis' car referred to the stewards, his drs exceeded the maximum permitted gap when opened.

If his cars illegal then it's disqualification from sprint quali?

by Guest Fri 12 Nov 2021, 9:46 pm

Some of these rules I’ve never even heard off before...crazy

by GSC Fri 12 Nov 2021, 9:51 pm

Nitpicky I guess but this stuff is kinda like the Vettel penalty in Hungary. It's either legal to run or it isn't.

by No name Bertie Fri 12 Nov 2021, 10:05 pm

GSC wrote:Lewis' car referred to the stewards, his drs exceeded the maximum permitted gap when opened.

If his cars illegal then it's disqualification from sprint quali?

I think that would mean starting at the back for spring quali. It should be easy to fix if it did / does exceed the max permitted gap.

by No name Bertie Fri 12 Nov 2021, 10:17 pm

ps: Red Bull (and others?) were found to be operating a rear wing that flexed more than was permitted during racing. They were not penalized because the rear wing had passed the FIA dead load stress test. They did have to come up with a new more rigid design however as the FIA changed the test.

What happened with Hamilton's car, if proven to be correct, just seems like an error or malfunction of their rear wing - DRS system.

pps: the consequences would surely have been far greater if this sort of thing happened during a race.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Fri 12 Nov 2021, 10:19 pm

GSC wrote:Lewis' car referred to the stewards, his drs exceeded the maximum permitted gap when opened.

If his cars illegal then it's disqualification from sprint quali?

I think it would be back of the grid or pit lane start if they’ve breached the regulations (and believe that applies for the race on Sunday like the engine penalty?).

by No name Bertie Fri 12 Nov 2021, 10:28 pm

msn dot com wrote: ..... in a bulletin sent out by the FIA following qualifying on Friday, technical delegate Jo Bauer revealed there had been an infringement with the DRS on Hamilton’s car in line with a technical directive.

“The uppermost rear wing element adjustable positions were checked on car number 44 for compliance with Article 3.6.3 of the 2021 Formula One Technical Regulations,” the bulletin reads.

“The requirement for the minimum distance was fulfilled. But the requirement for the maximum of 85mm, when the DRS system is deployed and tested in accordance with TD/011-19, was not fulfilled.

“I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration.”

Should Hamilton’s car be found to have incurred a technical breach, the seven-time world champion may be excluded from the qualifying results, leaving him at the back of the grid for the sprint race.

Mercedes will meet with the stewards at 7:15pm local time in Brazil (10:15pm GMT) after being formally summoned by the FIA.

by GSC Fri 12 Nov 2021, 10:33 pm

Seems like it's a formality if it did, doubt the stewards are about to start giving leeway on the technical regs.

Probably just start from the pitlane, take a whole new engine and take off all the downforce

by Guest Fri 12 Nov 2021, 10:36 pm

Season might be over quicker than I thought. Sums up Mercedes’ season really

by No name Bertie Fri 12 Nov 2021, 10:41 pm

I am assuming Hamilton will have to start at the back for the Sprint Race and can make up a lot of places during it. If he finishes p6 in the Sprint Race then he will be starting P11 in the main race. Whether they want to take additional penalties is up to them but will they be given time to make the additional changes to the car? The car is locked in "Park Fermez" - then they have one hour for FP2 to make changes. I am not sure how much time after that they can be given to make changes to the car.

by GSC Fri 12 Nov 2021, 10:41 pm

Eh, if nothing else he gets extra distance in the sprint race to recover it. Lot of running left

by GSC Fri 12 Nov 2021, 10:42 pm

Theyll just start from the pitlane

by No name Bertie Fri 12 Nov 2021, 10:48 pm

One thing we don't know now is how much speed advantage that gave Hamilton during qualifying. He was impressively quick compared to the others for such a short track. I suspect if the rule was broken it was probably marginal - let's say 87 mm rather than the maximum 85 mm.

by Guest Fri 12 Nov 2021, 11:42 pm

There’s no leeway in the technical directives. The FIA rules are pretty much final. They can’t just say well bend the rules on this occasion as other teams would threaten court cases.

by Guest Sat 13 Nov 2021, 1:31 am

No decision until tomorrow morning(Brazilian time). Seems like Mercedes are suggesting Verstappen damaged Hamilton’s wing in parc ferme.

Verstappen has now also got to see the stewards for touching a car other than his own in parc ferme.

by No name Bertie Sat 13 Nov 2021, 1:54 am

Jeff Navarro wrote:No decision until tomorrow morning(Brazilian time). Seems like Mercedes are suggesting Verstappen damaged Hamilton’s wing in parc ferme.

Verstappen has now also got to see the stewards for touching a car other than his own in parc ferme.

The plot thickens. The video is on youtube and Verstappen seems to be inspecting his car and then Hamilton's car - while Hamilton was getting out of his car and waving to the crowd. It was all done in plain view with the worlds photographers in attendance. The rear wing has been removed from Hamilton's car and impounded overnight. Verstappen seems to touch his own car and then Hamilton's car. Not sure what he was looking for but I think it is common for drivers to inspect other drivers cars but not actually touch or prod at it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60R_BX979-4

ps: What is it about these sprint race weekends?

by GSC Sat 13 Nov 2021, 6:31 am

If Mercedes defense is Max managed to damage it by touching it while it was closed then that seems very optimistic given the forces that will go through the rear wing at 180 mph in quali and supposedly did not cause it.

So the Max thing feels more like trying for a penalty for him

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