F1 2021 Season

How is he unlucky? He drove too close to the limit and made a mistake. Sure he was flying, but then he lost control because he took too much risk.
Because that's what you want to see from F1. The best drivers on the absolute limit. He was one corner away from going 0.4 seconds quicker than lewis. If he had, it would have been up there with Lewis's Singapore lap from 2018. Brilliant track btw. F1 needs more like these,not the watered down rubbish we have at some places with loads of run off areas.

Edit: just realised this track is a free dlc on f1 2021. Well I'm off to download it now, cause I want a go at it. Hope the game conveys the speed of the onboard.
 
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Max is so unlucky, absolutely deserved pole, balls to the wall lap. If he had kept that together that probably would have been one of his greatest pole laps.

Q. Is it better to be 2nd or 3rd from the start for the run down to turn 1?
Based on the F2, 2nd. Quite a short run down to the first corner here so the slipstream won't have too much of an impact.
a lot of people are being quite harsh on verstappen. it’s a night track and the light can play tricks on you. he caught a reflection of his own car in his visor and automatically tried to run it into the wall. by the time he realised the car was his it was too late.
:lol:
 
Reckless from Max. He missed the apex and still got on the power too hard.

It's a bit of a joke you can put a car in the wall and not have it affect your race in any way. Parc ferme should be just that, closed.
 
Reckless from Max. He missed the apex and still got on the power too hard.

It's a bit of a joke you can put a car in the wall and not have it affect your race in any way. Parc ferme should be just that, closed.
No-one knows other than RB if there has been any damage. They can do all the checks they want but cant fire up the car until tomorrow. So same as leclerc at monaco. It's a gamble. He might be lucky and have gotten away with it. Or he could have some gremlins in the race. We will find out tomorrow.
 
Reckless from Max. He missed the apex and still got on the power too hard.

It's a bit of a joke you can put a car in the wall and not have it affect your race in any way. Parc ferme should be just that, closed.

I seem to remember Lewis putting his car in the wall at Imola in the middle of a race and yet was able to have it repaired during a red flag...

Funny how people forget these things.
 
No-one knows other than RB if there has been any damage. They can do all the checks they want but cant fire up the car until tomorrow. So same as leclerc at monaco. It's a gamble. He might be lucky and have gotten away with it. Or he could have some gremlins in the race. We will find out tomorrow.

The suspension is very clearly broken. You shouldn't be able to fix it without penalty.
 
Because that's what you want to see from F1. The best drivers on the absolute limit. He was one corner away from going 0.4 seconds quicker than lewis. If he had, it would have been up there with Lewis's Singapore lap from 2018. Brilliant track btw. F1 needs more like these,not the watered down rubbish we have at some places with loads of run off areas.

Edit: just realised this track is a free dlc on f1 2021. Well I'm off to download it now, cause I want a go at it. Hope the game conveys the speed of the onboard.

He was only 0.2s up on Lewis, the 0.4s was the improvement on his own previous lap.

To be honest he could have lifted a little at the final corner and still have ended up on pole, and he'd had his warning on the first corner, so trying to stay on the power after the lockup wasn't really necessary.
 
RedBull still dont know if Max needs a gearbox change. Helmet Marko said if there is the slightest indication of any damage then they will change it and max would start from 8th.

Guess we will know for sure by tomorrow morning our time.
 
a lot of people are being quite harsh on verstappen. it’s a night track and the light can play tricks on you. he caught a reflection of his own car in his visor and automatically tried to run it into the wall. by the time he realised the car was his it was too late.
:lol:
rimaldo continues to bring much needed comic relief to this thread
 
For 26 out of 27 corners that was one of the best quali laps I've ever seen... and on such a fast circuit it was amazing.

But like a boxer who has outclassed his opponent for 11 rounds and is cruising to a victory it only takes dropping your hand for a second and boom your finished

Same here and it's going to be really interesting to see how max reacts to that tomorrow

This could be his Lewis/ Brazil type moment if he does have to take a new gearbox and starts from 8th but manages to put it laps like that quali and wins

Equally it could go the other way he could try too hard and put it in the wall again

There seems to be a real chance the constructors and drivers title can go to the last race and that in its self is a rarity ... add in Lewis going for the record but also the generational context of a young challenger up against him

It's set up for a great race tomorrow and potentially a massive event in Abu Dhabi
 
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Max hit the wall and was closer than he wanted early on. However, apparently this was the greatest lap of all time.

Or, he was pushing past the limit and was lucky to have made it as far as he did.

Edit: also seems quite likely he pushed the tires too hard and perhaps they let go a bit.
 
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I’d be surprised if both of them finish tomorrow, max going hard and crashing, Lewis with a heavy tank at the start on cooler tires one mistake at the wrong part of the track and it’s game over, Lewis was lucky not to end up in the wall himself at the start of Q3 with a heavier tank for the triple run, safety cars as well could cause trouble cooling the tires.
 
I’d be surprised if both of them finish tomorrow, max going hard and crashing, Lewis with a heavy tank at the start on cooler tires one mistake at the wrong part of the track and it’s game over, Lewis was lucky not to end up in the wall himself at the start of Q3 with a heavier tank for the triple run, safety cars as well could cause trouble cooling the tires.
I could see a surprise winner here if somebody has the balls to shoes fuel a car and rely on say 15 laps behind a safety car or if somebody simply gets lucky with safety cars / pit stops/ tyre strategy just coming together
 
I could see a surprise winner here if somebody has the balls to shoes fuel a car and rely on say 15 laps behind a safety car or if somebody simply gets lucky with safety cars / pit stops/ tyre strategy just coming together
Might not even have to require 15 laps behind the safety car the race could be red flagged if it’s deemed to dangerous to race on.
 
I also am of the view that tomorrows race will most likely be decided about how luck of the draw falls in terms of pit stops and positioning at the time of the safety cars and / or red flags that are bound to happen.
 
On a separate note - the expectation was that Merc would be faster than RB here but that hasn’t really manifested. Even Max acknowledged it too. What’s the reason for it and is there any read across to what it might mean for Abu Dhabi?
 
Max hit the wall and was closer than he wanted early on. However, apparently this was the greatest lap of all time.

Or, he was pushing past the limit and was lucky to have made it as far as he did.

Edit: also seems quite likely he pushed the tires too hard and perhaps they let go a bit.

Who said that?
 
On a separate note - the expectation was that Merc would be faster than RB here but that hasn’t really manifested. Even Max acknowledged it too. What’s the reason for it and is there any read across to what it might mean for Abu Dhabi?
Comes down to getting the tyres in the right operating window. RB are taking 1 lap to do it, Mercedes 2 laps. This entire season has been about unlocking the setup on each circuit to get the tyres in the optimum operating window as soon as possible. Some circuits it is easier than others for RB and vice versa for Mercedes.
 
I’d be surprised if both of them finish tomorrow, max going hard and crashing, Lewis with a heavy tank at the start on cooler tires one mistake at the wrong part of the track and it’s game over, Lewis was lucky not to end up in the wall himself at the start of Q3 with a heavier tank for the triple run, safety cars as well could cause trouble cooling the tires.
On Ted's notebook (Skyf1), he said lewis had a repeat of the brake issues that he had at the start of the qatar GP. It was news to me that lewis had brake issues ar Qatar. I wonder if Ted was referring to lewis's first run in q3 when he overcooked it.
 
Perhaps some hyperbole, but I see a great many people calling it the most amazing lap. I see it differently, he crashed once and nearly crashed once in the space of < 1 lap.
If he hadn’t crashed, that would have been up there with Senna’s Monaco pole in 1988 as one of the best laps of all time.

Frankly the last time I’ve seen a driver pull a lap out of his arse like that was Schumacher at Canada in 2005. I remember commentators crapping on that he was fuelled light given the abject performance of the Ferrari… come race time it turns out he wasn’t that light.

But Max crashed so it doesn’t matter… much like Mount’s goal yesterday against the Hammers.
 
Went into the season wanting Max to win the title but he's really unlikeable.
 
Perhaps some hyperbole, but I see a great many people calling it the most amazing lap. I see it differently, he crashed once and nearly crashed once in the space of < 1 lap.
mmmm dont think you did, you saw a few including me, saying it could have been an amazing lap, he went for it, maybe too hard on this unforgiving track and paid for it.
 
Red Bull has ultimately declined to appeal the Saudi Arabian GP stewards' decision to clear Lewis Hamilton from an alleged double yellow flag breach in FP3.

Hamilton was relaxed when it came tolight that the yellow display panels had been inadvertently activated in FP3, although for just one second.

Red bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko had signaled after qualifying the team's intent to appeal the FIA's decision, but the governing has said that the deadline for lodging the said appeal had come and gone without any further action from the Milton Keynes-based outfit.
 
Helmut Marko says Red Bull will play it safe and replace Max Verstappen's gearbox if there's even "a glimpse" of damage to the element following the Dutchman's crash in qualifying in Jeddah.

Verstappen was on his final flyer in Q3 and on course to seize pile from Lewis Hamilton when he messed up his entry into the final corner and hit the outside wall on the exit, damaging his RB16B's rear right corner.

Red Bull's crews had yet to fully assess the damage but Marko said the team would not take any risks and replace the gearbox if there's a doubt of any damage.

For Marko, a potential five-place grid drop for swapping the element is a secondary consideration.

"We have to take it apart and look at it," the Austrian told Servus TV.

"We saw it with [Charles] Leclerc in Monte Carlo. He had had a similar impact. They decided not to change and then bang, on the warm-up lap, the consequences became clear.

"We are so fast that we don't take any risks. If the gearbox has damage or glimpses of that, then we will change it. It's difficult to overtake here, but still."
 
If he hadn’t crashed, that would have been up there with Senna’s Monaco pole in 1988 as one of the best laps of all time.

Frankly the last time I’ve seen a driver pull a lap out of his arse like that was Schumacher at Canada in 2005. I remember commentators crapping on that he was fuelled light given the abject performance of the Ferrari… come race time it turns out he wasn’t that light.

But Max crashed so it doesn’t matter… much like Mount’s goal yesterday against the Hammers.
Come off it, it's not even as good as Styrian race last year where Lewis got pole by more than 1 second ahead of everyone else in the fecking rain.
 
Might not even have to require 15 laps behind the safety car the race could be red flagged if it’s deemed to dangerous to race on.

Agreed. There’s very little room for drivers to go around any debris. You certainly don’t want to be a corner or two behind a car that crashes.
 
i hope max gets a grid penalty for a gearbox change. being back in the pack with so much on the line and managing to cut through the field without crashIng into someone could be a career defining moment for him. he’s clearly a generational talent, i get the feeling he is his own worst enemy at the minute and doesn’t think he does much wrong. if you’re winning and acting like a prick, you can at least just say people are jealous, when you’re acting the prick without any success, people just think you’re a prick.
 
mmmm dont think you did, you saw a few including me, saying it could have been an amazing lap, he went for it, maybe too hard on this unforgiving track and paid for it.
I did. Redcafe isn’t the only place in the world. Social media is awash with “what an amazing lap”.
 
If he hadn’t crashed, that would have been up there with Senna’s Monaco pole in 1988 as one of the best laps of all time.

Frankly the last time I’ve seen a driver pull a lap out of his arse like that was Schumacher at Canada in 2005. I remember commentators crapping on that he was fuelled light given the abject performance of the Ferrari… come race time it turns out he wasn’t that light.

But Max crashed so it doesn’t matter… much like Mount’s goal yesterday against the Hammers.

I remember that lap.
British commentary was something like
James Allen- “that lap came out of nowhere.”
Brundle - “that lap came from Michael Schumacher.”
 
Bad feeling about today. I just have a feeling if Max gets close enough to Lewis he's going to pull out some scummy move to ruin both of their races.

Now would be a really good time for Bottas to be a good racing driver and keep Max behind him but we all know Max will be ahead of him after the first corner.
 
Helmut Marko says Red Bull will play it safe and replace Max Verstappen's gearbox if there's even "a glimpse" of damage to the element following the Dutchman's crash in qualifying in Jeddah.

Verstappen was on his final flyer in Q3 and on course to seize pile from Lewis Hamilton when he messed up his entry into the final corner and hit the outside wall on the exit, damaging his RB16B's rear right corner.

Red Bull's crews had yet to fully assess the damage but Marko said the team would not take any risks and replace the gearbox if there's a doubt of any damage.

For Marko, a potential five-place grid drop for swapping the element is a secondary consideration.

"We have to take it apart and look at it," the Austrian told Servus TV.

"We saw it with [Charles] Leclerc in Monte Carlo. He had had a similar impact. They decided not to change and then bang, on the warm-up lap, the consequences became clear.

"We are so fast that we don't take any risks. If the gearbox has damage or glimpses of that, then we will change it. It's difficult to overtake here, but still."
Pauldy can you always post the link when you post stuff from media sources please.