F1 2021 Season

First topic message reminder :

Jeff Navarro wrote:I’ve watched f1, and motorsports in general, for many years and I’ve never seen the bartering of penalties.

Beyond a joke.

Hamilton had a similar incident in FP3 with Mazepin as he did last week in Jeddah, wouldn’t be surprised if the FIA have a look at it
Think he got a reprimand for it last weekend, wouldn’t think it would be anything more this week
Fair play to Mazepin in both incidents for avoiding a big shunt - not on Hamilton btw, his team should tell him!

Another reprimand for Hamilton would be his third and that means a 10 place grid drop.
I haven’t seen said incident though.

Looking at it, it seems fairly cut and dry he blocked him but doubt the stewards want to intervene unless they have to

Both RB’s on soft tyres for the race. Mercedes on mediums

Great tow teamwork by RB on that lap for Max

Max pole

Bottas 6th. Oh dear

Can only think Mercedes have some race pace, cos that one lap pace was pretty poor

Mega lap from Max. Tyre offset should get him off the line and RB had better long pace yesterday. So shaping up as can Lewis get past Max on better tyres at the end of the race. Wonder if they consider eating 5 places for a new ice

Damn that tow from Perez gave Verstappen a huge advantage. Wonder why Merc didn't try the same thing?

Could just have cost Hamilton the title.

On soft tyres Max will have to stop sooner, but could build up enough of a lead. Expect RB will have a strategy worked out to prevent Mercedes getting the undercut.

Yas Marina is notoriously difficult to overtake on...even the changes to the layout haven't really improved that aspect.

Lewis' best hope is to somehow stick close to Max and force him into a mistake, get past him on the track. Which I'm not that confident about...

With Norris bagging 3rd that should at least hold Perez up for a while. May throw a spanner in RB's plan and prevent him interfering in the race for the lead. Another poor showing from Bottas - he won't be playing any part in it.

All in all, not really looking forward to tomorrow now.

dyrewolfe wrote:Expect RB will have a strategy worked out to prevent Mercedes getting the undercut

Hamilton on mediums, won’t be undercutting. He’ll go as long as possible, and stick on the softs at the end to attack max on the mediums. Think Merc has dialled out single lap pace for race pace, and RB did the opposite, knowing they had nothing to lose, and at least giving Max track position, gives him a shot.

Verstappen’s race pace was superior on both soft and medium yesterday in FP2.
And Yas Marina isn’t usually as abrasive on the tyres as is being made out eg Vettel in 2010

Don't think it had that much to do with a tow, it's not a great track for it. Max just delivered on the lap he almost did in Jeddah.

Conundrum for Lewis and Mercedes is what happens with Perez. If Lando and Perez are in touch, Merc can't really let him run longer on the mediums for fear of being undercut. So it may even out a tad. But really if Max can deliver this pace tomorrow, he may just drive off. Pole is worth a lot here and Lewis can't really do an undercut now.

GSC wrote:But really if Max can deliver this pace tomorrow, he may just drive off.

Hasn’t happened in the last three races, so doubtful RB have suddenly found something, to that extreme level of performance. Looks like they’ve put the skinny wing on, found some straight line speed, and Max has produced. Mercedes usually come alive on Sunday’s, and irrespective of Friday’s non representative long running, with the old engine, Mercedes should have strong race pace tomorrow.

All to play for.

Yeah not sure how much we can read into Friday - both cars had old engines in Crofty confirmed on comms in FP3, Lewis had his Brazil engine back in for today and Max put back in his most recent engine too.

Know the tow might not have helped to the extent of Max’s pace advantage at the end, but it is still ridiculous Mercedes didn’t do it for Hamilton to give him every extra potential tenth needed. Apparently it “isn’t his choice” this weekend because of the way Mercedes switch it round weekend to weekend, which is absolutely bonkers considering what is at stake!

Bottas had to use an older engine for qualifying due to reliability issues with the fresher one.
Probably explains his lacklustre qualifying.

Watching back the onboards. Max faster on the straights even without the tow (Perez honestly did a poor job of this, he was miles away in the first straight then added very little) and then Max hooks up the last sector too. Lewis strangely passive in the last sector compared to Max. Makes the job tougher tomorrow being slower in a straight line so I think there's at least a conversation around taking an extra ice going on tonight. It's not an easy track to overtake, even without a straight line deficit.

In an ideal world, Lewis manages to send one at T1 and holds up Max in the first stint. In a less than ideal world Perez gets into P3 and using the softs is in a position to undercut Lewis and force him to go through both RBs. In that scenario it may even be worth RB sacrificing Perezs race and sending out on mediums just to block Lewis.

Kinda makes me wonder why Mercedes didn't start Bottas on softs and give themselves a similar option.

It’s a massive risk to take a fresh ICE without breaking it in. Especially as all the other parts would be pretty worn.

Ross Brawn and Pat Symonds will leave their roles at some point in 2022.

Mazepin tests positive for Covid. He will not be replaced

A number of sources stating Mercedes had to change the PU modes before qualifying, for reliability reasons. Issue found in Bottas’ engine on Saturday.

Just Gareth wrote:Mazepin tests positive for Covid. He will not be replaced

A number of sources stating Mercedes had to change the PU modes before qualifying, for reliability reasons. Issue found in Bottas’ engine on Saturday.

Bloody hell - might have been worth doing as GSC suggested and taking a grid penalty.

If Merc are having to run conservatively to make sure the engines last the distance, then its not going to be much of a contest.

Kind of a sickener, after having made up all that ground on RB.

This is the most nervous I've ever been about an F1 race. Anyone else feeling the tension?

Max just lunged. No investigation and rightly so. Just expected Lewis to yield

Bloody hell Lewis!

After acing his start to take the lead, he again fails to cover a corner and lets Max through...or should have. But there's contact, Lewis goes off track and keeps the lead by doing a Verstappen.

Max obviously not happy. Lewis will have to give up the lead.

No he won’t. It was a blatant lunge, with no intent to hit the apex. Just forcing Lewis to yield and go off track.

Just Gareth wrote:Max just lunged. No investigation and rightly so. Just expected Lewis to yield

I dunno. It looked to me like Lewis failed to cover the corner. Max for once actually positioned his car brilliantly and Lewis just turned in late on him when he realised he'd made a mistake.

And I am in no way a fan of Verstappen.

Hope you're right and there will be no orders from the stewards, but...

I think if that was Max last week he gets a penalty for it

Just Gareth wrote:No he won’t. It was a blatant lunge, with no intent to hit the apex. Just forcing Lewis to yield and go off track.

If so it was a lot less of a lunge than he usually makes. If Lewis had held his wide line, Max probably would have got past cleanly...unless he went right to the outside of the track. But Lewis turned in and there was contact before it got to that point.

Lewis gets away with it. That is an interesting call

GSC wrote:Lewis gets away with it. That is an interesting call

As a Hamilton fan I can't say I'm unhappy about it.

But if I were Max or Christian I think I'd be fuming.

I don't see how in the context of last week that stands, but ultimately they have to get on with it.

Clear lunge from Verstappen. He basically covered the entirety of the track and stopped Hamilton turning in; Verstappen was hoping Hamilton would give up or crash entirely. Well done to the stewards.

Mercedes race pace looking very good

Eh, in the context of Silverstone, Max has the inside of the corner, Lewis instead of ceding tries to hold it and causes contact, cutting the chicane to keep his position. Lunge or not it was a legal move.

Looks like that's it for the race anyhow

Looking at replays, Hamilton took a ridiculously wide line into that corner. Left more than a car's width up the inside.

2 things spring to mind. Was Lewis trying to be last of the late brakers, knowing Max would likely do the same and out-braked himself?

Or did he deliberately take a middle line to try and confuse Max, so he wouldn't know whether to try a dive up the inside, or go round the outside?

Either way, for once Max did a legit move that would have succeeded, had Lewis not turned in on him.

Verstappen will divebomb at some point

That was quality from Perez, but likely not enough as Hamilton's rebuilding the lead nicely. Verstappen needs a safety car.

Kimi out with brake issues and Russell out with gearbox / drive issues. Sad way for both to end this season.

Duty281 wrote:That was quality from Perez,  but likely not enough as Hamilton's rebuilding the lead nicely. Verstappen needs a safety car.

Some really gutsy driving from Checo. Just glad Lewis got past him before Max caught up!

VSC - Giovinazzi retires with drive issues.

Max pits for fresh tyres. Lewis stays out. Could makes things interesting near the end.

Could be decisive. Mercedes might of just thrown away the title

Hamilton should have pitted.

Hamilton couldn't have pitted from the lead. Still he has a large gap to cover

Max will stroll up to Lewis and divebomb. Lewis won’t have any tyres left. Looks like title has gone.

Track position is still key here and Max has to rinse his tyres to try and make this up while Lewis can keep some in reserve. I think this is still covered

I'd still say Hamilton is favourite, but it's going to be tight.

I don't think he's going to get that close to be honest

GSC wrote:I don't think he's going to get that close to be honest

I hope you’re right

God, I hope you’re right

Yeah fairly clear Mercedes have the race pace here - unless his tyres like explode, Hamilton has this

Really not a fan of Toto being on the radio trying to influence a non safety car - it should be totally down to the stewards/FIA based purely on safety of the drivers, not what benefits each team. Not a fan of how him and Horner have conducted themselves this season

Oh bloody hell!

Hamilton cruising to victory then Latifi crashes. Safety Car!

Probably only gonna be 1 lap left by the time they clear the track. Sprint to the line...

I can’t believe it

Max boxes.

Fresh tyres

That’s a red flag, surely

Don't think this will be cleared in time for a restart, likely finishing behind the sc