F1 2021 Season

pauldyson1uk

Full Member
Joined
May 20, 2008
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Wythenshawe watching Crappy Fims
Hoping the season will go ahead normally with crowds, but I have to admit to not being hopeful it will.
Pre -Season testing dates have not been announced yet.

Provisional 23-round 2021 F1 Calendar
March 21Australian Grand PrixMelbourne
March 28Bahrain Grand PrixSakhir
April 11Chinese Grand PrixShanghai
April 25TBCTBC
May 9Spanish Grand PrixBarcelona
May 23Monaco Grand PrixMonaco
June 6Azerbaijan Grand PrixBaku
June 13Canadian Grand PrixMontreal
June 27French Grand PrixLe Castellet
July 4Austrian Grand PrixSpielberg
July 18British Grand PrixSilverstone
August 1Hungarian Grand PrixBudapest
August 29Belgian Grand PrixSpa-Francorchamps
September 5Dutch Grand PrixZandvoort
September 12Italian Grand PrixMonza
September 26Russian Grand PrixSochi
October 3Singapore Grand PrixSingapore
October 10Japanese Grand PrixSuzuka
October 24United States Grand PrixAustin
October 31Mexican Grand PrixMexico
November 14Brazilian Grand PrixSao Paulo
November 28Saudi Arabian Grand PrixJeddah
December 5Abu Dhabi Grand PrixAbu Dhabi
The TBC is rumoured to be Vietnam should have been a race there 2020, but COVID knocked that on the head.


There will also be small but significant changes to the race weekend structure, in order to improve the fan experience and help teams deal with an expanded calendar.
The pre-race press conference will be switched from Thursday to Friday, ahead of the first and second practice sessions, while cars will now be in parc ferme conditions (i.e. in race trim) from the start of FP3.
FP3 also marks the point at which the teams must return their cars to the ‘reference specification’ presented for scrutineering before FP1, so any bodywork trialled in practice must be removed.
 
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2021 Formula 1 Rules Changes
The 2021 F1 season was set to introduce all-new technical regulations aimed at improving the show, but due to COVID-19 the new cars, which will benefit from the ground-effect to reduce their dependence on clear air, will be pushed back to 2022.


Delaying the new regulations, and freezing development work on the 2022 cars until January 2021, was pushed through in a bid to slash costs, with F1 facing a massive reduction in income from its largely spectator-less 2020 season.

That does not mean that the technical regs will remain unchanged for 2021. In order to help Pirelli's tyres cope with the ever faster cars, tweaks have been made to the cars to reduce downforce in 2021, particularly targeting the floor.

Pirelli was supposed to keep its 2019-spec compounds for a third season in a row, although it recently had teams test prototype tyres for next year. Those prototypes, which feature a more robust construction, were heavily criticised by the drivers, so it remains to be seen which specification will ultimately be used.

In a further bid to reduce costs ahead of the incoming budget cap, teams will also be forced to stick to their current chassis for 2021, although they are allowed to spend so-called development tokens to rework certain areas of their cars, including the aerodynamics. Engine manufacturers are also allowed to introduce a new power unit specification before the start of the 2021 season.
 
Still a few changes to the driver line up expected, Lewis will sign a new contract at Mercedes, for maybe 1 more season.
Would like Perez to have a drive , Red Bull , would be good , but Hulkenberg would also do a job, Albon, I dont think will be there.

2021 F1 line-up

TeamEngineConfirmed drivers
MercedesMercedesValtteri Bottas
Lewis Hamilton
FerrariFerrari Charles Leclerc
Carlos Sainz
Red Bull RacingHonda Max Verstappen
Segio Perez
McLarenMercedes Daniel Ricciardo
Lando Norris
AlpineRenault Esteban Ocon
Fernando Alonso
Aston MartinMercedes Sebastian Vettel
Lance Stroll
AlphaTauriHonda Pierre Gasly
Yuki Tsunda
Alfa RomeoFerrari Kimi Raikkonen
Antonio Giovinazzi
Haas F1Ferrari Mick Schumacher
Nikita Mazepin
WilliamsMercedes George Russell
Nicholas Latifi
 
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Ted's notebook yesterday casually mentioned that Red Bull is expected to drop Albon for Perez. The Red Bull owner wanted to keep Albon but Horner convinced him.

This strikes me as rather big news that has gone a bit under the radar
 
Sky reporting that Lewis will sign a new contract before Christmas, that was always going to happen.
What will be interesting is the length of it, I think only 1 year , he will go for his 8th title and then maybe go to another team for a few season or retire.
 
I would like to see Hamilton do a 2 year deal with Mercedes, take the title next year and then go head to head with George for the all new 2022 regs.

He’s at the tail end of his career now and as good as he is, it doesn’t take long to lose your edge in this game. I hope he loves the 2022 cars and sticks around for 4-5 more years but I’m getting kind of doubtful he would want that.
 
Leg-End said:
I would like to see Hamilton do a 2 year deal with Mercedes, take the title next year and then go head to head with George for the all new 2022 regs.

He’s at the tail end of his career now and as good as he is, it doesn’t take long to lose your edge in this game. I hope he loves the 2022 cars and sticks around for 4-5 more years but I’m getting kind of doubtful he would want that.
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I feel like he would be happy to get the undisputed record in the bag and then depart to focus on his other projects.
 
With so little in way of regs changing, hard to see anything but another Hamilton title. Poor Santi will have to watch another Ferrari debacle although did I hear their engine will be better next year? Merc not allowed their DAS steering wheel? Can Williams improve and actually make use of the Merc engine? McLaren could be interesting with a Merc engine and Ric coming on board.
 
Leg-End said:
I would like to see Hamilton do a 2 year deal with Mercedes, take the title next year and then go head to head with George for the all new 2022 regs.

He’s at the tail end of his career now and as good as he is, it doesn’t take long to lose your edge in this game. I hope he loves the 2022 cars and sticks around for 4-5 more years but I’m getting kind of doubtful he would want that.
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I would like the same too, If he only signs a 1 year 2021 could be his last season.
He might go to another team for 2022 , but Ferrari is his only real choice, if he does get his 8th WC, he might call it a day.
 
Any rumours on what circuit will take the empty slot on April 25th?
 
They need to do something about Catalunya. How can you test at a track that's on the calendar. Doesn't make sense.
 
Mercedes have announced that chemical giant Ineos will become one-third joint owners of F1's world champion team alongside Daimler and Toto Wolff.

Wolff will also continue as team boss and chief executive for a further three years.


Daimler are reducing their current shareholding from 60 per cent, with Wolff increasing his 30 per cent stake, to create three equal partners with Ineos.


Ineos, owned by Britain's richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe, became a team partner at the start of this year.
 
pauldyson1uk said:
Mercedes have announced that chemical giant Ineos will become one-third joint owners of F1's world champion team alongside Daimler and Toto Wolff.

Wolff will also continue as team boss and chief executive for a further three years.


Daimler are reducing their current shareholding from 60 per cent, with Wolff increasing his 30 per cent stake, to create three equal partners with Ineos.


Ineos, owned by Britain's richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe, became a team partner at the start of this year.
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Didn't realize Toto was a part owner. He's got to be worth a few quid.
 
Perez to Red bull announced.

Feel disappointed for Albon, the minimum he deserves is an alpha tauri drive. Im sure he'll be back.
 
Weird that Ted Kravitz casually broke this news in a YouTube video a week ago.

I think Albon is a better driver than given credit for. If Hamilton hadn't rammed him he might have won the first race of the season and momentum could have carried him a long way. Harsh to be dropped and I hope to see him back in a Red Bull one day... But Perez is really, really good. When Racking Point sack their best driver to keep the owners son happy, a team like red bull have to consider it.

If Red Bull can compete with Mercs car I believe they have the best driver in F1 in Max. A really good no 2 like Perez could make a lot of difference in the constructors championship. But with Honda winding things down, I doubt the gap closes.
 
Tiber said:
Weird that Ted Kravitz casually broke this news in a YouTube video a week ago.

I think Albon is a better driver than given credit for. If Hamilton hadn't rammed him he might have won the first race of the season and momentum could have carried him a long way. Harsh to be dropped and I hope to see him back in a Red Bull one day... But Perez is really, really good. When Racking Point sack their best driver to keep the owners son happy, a team like a red bull have to consider it.

If Red Bull can compete with Red Bull I believe they have the best driver in F1 in Max. A really good no 2 like Perez could make a lot of difference in the constructors championship. But with Honda winding things down, I doubt the gap closes.
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I think Albon is a decent driver, I think Perez is better.
Max is very close to Lewis and when Lewis does retire, Max will be the one to beat, but for me Lewis is still top dog.
Dont really see much change in 2021. Mercedes to carry on and Red Bull, picking up the scrapes.
 
pauldyson1uk said:
So only Lewis to be confirmed at Mercedes and that will happen soon enough.
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Shame Hulk wont make it back onto the grid after being so good when filling in. But teams have to have their pay drivers.

Speaking of the daddy's special boy club, there is a lot of pushback against Mazepin on social media and it has been going on for a while now. Its a very bad look for F1, but with his dad investing heavily into the team and linked to a future buyout of the whole business, I suspect Haas are stuck with him.
 
Ubik said:
So were Kvyat and Gasly to be fair, but such is the way in the Red Bull stable.
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Indeed, but Hamilton was able to win the constructors championship this year by himself which just shows that they can’t have someone in the ilk of Albon/Kvyat/Gasly anymore. They need someone much better.

Evans999 said:
I think after Vettel, Verstappen and Ricciardo have raised expectation for the junior programme too high. Don't think he's done so poorly to not deserve a seat.
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He’s so far behind Verstappen it’s more than just Verstappen being a special talent. He’s a good mid-tier driver but too weak for the top teams. Harsh but true.
 
SilentWitness said:
Indeed, but Hamilton was able to win the constructors championship this year by himself which just shows that they can’t have someone in the ilk of Albon/Kvyat/Gasly anymore. They need someone much better.



He’s so far behind Verstappen it’s more than just Verstappen being a special talent. He’s a good mid-tier driver but too weak for the top teams. Harsh but true.
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Yeah he's clearly not good enough for RB, the other two just got lucky that they failed earlier and secured the junior seats.
 
Tiber said:
Shame Hulk wont make it back onto the grid after being so good when filling in. But teams have to have their pay drivers.

Speaking of the daddy's special boy club, there is a lot of pushback against Mazepin on social media and it has been going on for a while now. Its a very bad look for F1, but with his dad investing heavily into the team and linked to a future buyout of the whole business, I suspect Haas are stuck with him.
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I agree , Hulk is a very decent driver, will score you points in most races.
Pay drivers are an evil that some teams need , they bring in a lot of money.
 
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I’m really happy for Perez.
Albon is definitely talented, perhaps some time to reflect will bode well for him longer term.
 
Kvyat has not been confirmed for Alpha Tauri yet, right? So I guess the second seat is between him and Albon now?
 
pauldyson1uk said:
I think Albon is a decent driver, I think Perez is better.
Max is very close to Lewis and when Lewis does retire, Max will be the one to beat, but for me Lewis is still top dog.
Dont really see much change in 2021. Mercedes to carry on and Red Bull, picking up the scrapes.
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Lost all hope in Albon when he complained in a race this year that other drivers were racing him hard :lol:
 
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