Lewis has 20 laps to get 22 seconds and he has done it with 6 laps to spare.
That was the racing of a WC, outstanding, the second pit was genius.
That was the racing of a WC, outstanding, the second pit was genius.
F1 2021 Season
- Thread starter pauldyson1uk
- Start date
Got him easy, great pace on the mediums in that Merc.
Lewis is relentless. What a driver.
Brilliant strategy, shows what I know 
Red Bull are absolute amateurs. Take Verstappen in a lap after Hamilton and he would still be ahead and have brand new softs vs. used tires. Absolutely amateur hour, Verstappen will be fuming
Jinxed!
Max will be fuming.
Who ever said on the Merc strategy team , get Lewis in now we can win this, deserves his pay today.
Who ever said on the Merc strategy team , get Lewis in now we can win this, deserves his pay today.
Verstappen would have been behind Bottas and possibly Hamilton if they had done that.
Driver of the Day must be up there in terms of pointless polls.
Max and Red Bull are now beginning to understand just how good Lewis Hamilton actually is. With of course the backing of the Mercedes team.
And it shows accurately the difference between Hamilton and Bottas.
Would Russell not be a lot closer.
Well there is only one driver of the day, but Hamilton probably won't get it...
Lewis has to be driver of the day, chasing down a 22 second lead.
Masterclass form Lewis and Mercedes today.
Masterclass form Lewis and Mercedes today.
Max still leads it by 1%
Leclerc is driver of the day
Exactly mate. It is a nothing vote.
Poll position and winning by making up 22 second on Verstappen...
enjoyed that.
This is the 2nd time after first in Hungary 2019 Merc has done this stunt and RB completely done nothing to answer it. Amateur.
When Mercedes get the strategy right, they get it right, dont think anybody expected the second pit from Lewis, defiantly not Red Bull.
Mercedes totally out thinking redbull today. They got the tactics spot in in the end.
Lewis got Driver of the Day.
With brand new tires, he would crush them.
Hamilton just saying that it was always part of their strategy because a one stop is very difficult.
Wait, so Hamilton had 2 stops and Verstappen 1? And Hamilton still managed to bridge that time gap quickly enough?
Hilarious how people on here still buy into the Merc underdog rhetoric
Hilarious how people on here still buy into the Merc underdog rhetoric
Who’s saying they are? Mercedes was the quicker car today, zero doubt about that.
Verstappen would be behind Bottas then and he would have never caught Hamilton after that. It's a lot easier to get the strategy right when it's 2 vs 1, Bottas keeping up with Verstappen for most of the race was what allowed Mercedes to put that strategy in place. RB need Perez to improve fast. There's little more they could have done today
Hilarious how people on here still buy into the Merc underdog rhetoric
If Lewis didnt pit for the 2nd time, Max would win this race easy, he lead from the 1st corner in 1st lap, it Max race to lose up until that Lewis 2nd pit stop which RB could counter the next lap and they didn't.
This year RB could really take the challenge to Merc and possibly win it, their car looks faster and it evident in race aswell with Max.
Today, they got ouwit for 2nd time with same tactic after Hungary 2019. Underdog? yeah, it looks like Merc is the underdog alright in this race for trying something for the win because they couldnt catch Max the leader.
Well done to Lewis.
Been that way for weeks if you read the thread, Merc keep repeating it too even though every race and qualifying shows it's absolute bollocks. And now I read posts about how RB and Max are just now realising how good Lewis is.. as if they didn't know that already after he's won it all for years? Weird. This season is no different than the last or the one before, or the one before.. the Merc is still the quickest car. The difference between them is a bit smaller, that's all. Lewis isn't now somehow proving anything or showing anything new. But the Merc spin is he's beating Verstappen even though the RB is quicker. Yawn. I think if Merc replaced Bottas with Russell or Norris it'd be a Merc 1-2 every race. Bottas just keeps underperforming. Unfortunately for RB, so does Perez.
Spanish GP Result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 66 | 1:33:07.680 | 25 |
| 2 | 33 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 66 | +15.841s | 19 |
| 3 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | MERCEDES | 66 | +26.610s | 15 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 66 | +54.616s | 12 |
| 5 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 66 | +63.671s | 10 |
| 6 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 66 | +73.768s | 8 |
| 7 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 66 | +74.670s | 6 |
| 8 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 65 | +1 lap | 4 |
| 9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 65 | +1 lap | 2 |
| 10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPHATAURI HONDA | 65 | +1 lap | 1 |
| 11 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES | 65 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 12 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI | 65 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 13 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES | 65 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 14 | 63 | George Russell | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 65 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 15 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI | 65 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 16 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 65 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 17 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ALPINE RENAULT | 65 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 18 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | HAAS FERRARI | 64 | +2 laps | 0 |
| 19 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin | HAAS FERRARI | 64 | +2 laps | 0 |
| NC | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | ALPHATAURI HONDA | 6 | DNF | 0 |
What race were you watching? Lewis was much faster and with fresher tires. No chance Max defends 20 over laps successfully.
Second pit stop strategy was to force Red Bull into a standstill and gamble that Bottas could get second.
For all the flak Bottas gets, he's the perfect second driver and Max would kill to have him in the Red Bull instead of the Mercedes.
At some point Perez has to start getting in the mix, even if that’s battling Bottas. Perez has never been a strong qualifier but he has to start keeping in the pit stop window.
Bottas is quick over one lap and that’s what keeps him in the mix, fair to say on race day he’s not on that level of Ham/Max but by being in and around it he’s in play.
Bottas is quick over one lap and that’s what keeps him in the mix, fair to say on race day he’s not on that level of Ham/Max but by being in and around it he’s in play.
Nightmare time for this race to be on as United fan. I caught the first lap and Max overtake at the start obviously. Came back and watched at half time when not a whole lot had changed, other than that Hamilton was right on Max. Then when Lewis pitted unexpectedly (to me at least) and came out putting in some serious laps times, I knew I'd need to leave this on my phone and keep one eye on it while I was watching the match.
Glad I did in the end as it was a great relentless drive from Hamilton to close him down and pass Max. Wish we would have gotten a bit more of a battle but was never likely on this track, plus Max's tyres were gone.
Glad I did in the end as it was a great relentless drive from Hamilton to close him down and pass Max. Wish we would have gotten a bit more of a battle but was never likely on this track, plus Max's tyres were gone.
Verstappen would have still been behind Hamilton, as that's how an undercut works.
Does anyone know who the Indian lad doing analysis for Sky is?
He's a brilliant pundit. Very knowledgeable and speaks so well.
He's a brilliant pundit. Very knowledgeable and speaks so well.
Redbull design a car that suits Max, the 2nd driver has to adapt to the car. Perez even said he is changing his driving style to copy how max drives. That tells you that car is built for Max. That strategy advantages max but disadvantages the 2nd redbull driver. Merc on the other hand build the fastest car they can. That is why Russell got in it and drive well. Redbull puts all their eggs into the max wagon, but that costs them races.
Yeah its not ideal for the nerves for both to be happening at the same time.
On the positive side both United and Hamilton won so Im a happy bunny.
Its Karin Chaundok I think. Former driver for Jordan/Force India I think. Memory of the F1 midfield from previous years is a bit hazy.