F1 2021 Season

Mercedes shouldn’t bend over to Hamilton just “because” and to be honest I very much doubt Hamilton would demand anything in regards to his team mate.

This season so far has proved you need two drivers on top form to succeed. Bottas for me is driving like a guy that knows he’s on the way out the team.
 
Leg-End said:
Just watch this from Bottas



Consider this his resignation
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Was that the last two laps or after the first safety car? Because he was on the old hard tyres but those behind pitted to change tyres (Alonso, etc). Horrible weekend for him still.
 
ZIDANE said:
Was that the last two laps or after the first safety car? Because he was on the old hard tyres but those behind pitted to change tyres (Alonso, etc). Horrible weekend for him still.
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First but there is no excuse for his car positioning there, he’a made the same inside corner line misjudgement 4 times in a lap!
 
What a dramatic race! This is why you don't switch off until the very end.

I do feel for Bottas, he got the blame for the wheel mishap a few weeks ago and Toto tried to deflect blame when it was Hamilton's fault today. I love Lewis but Bottas is treated like such an afterthought.
 
Leg-End said:
Just watch this from Bottas



Consider this his resignation
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If the race went on much longer and his car didn't pack it in, Russell could have overtaken Bottas. :nervous:

I thought they might keep him until the end of 2022 but he might not make it until then.

Gringo said:
Bottas and wheel to wheel racing just don't go together. Nothing about car set up, he isn't a racer.
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Agreed. Mercedes picked him because he doesn't threaten Hamilton. When he's stuck in traffic, everyone else finds him as easy to pass as Hamilton does in lap 1. Whenever he winds up in the midfield, he either stays where he is or goes backwards.

Edgar Allan Pillow said:
Was hoping Ferrari would win this one. Sad.
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They got pole but LeClerc was fighting a losing battle from the start. He nearly got a podium though at the end but Gasly held him off.
 
So lewis accidentally turned off the rear brakes, apparently theres a switch on the wheel that allows them to do that so they can more heat into the fronts during the formation lap.

If lewis loses the championship by anything up to 21points then this result might be the defining factor of the season.
 
dinostar77 said:
So lewis accidentally turned off the rear brakes, apparently theres a switch on the wheel that allows them to do that so they can more heat into the fronts during the formation lap.

If lewis loses the championship by anything up to 21 points then this result might be the defining factor of the season.
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I agree, this race could come back to haunt him, he should have taken his own advice and settled for second.
His radio message was bullshit, we all knew he was going for it.
Knocking the switch was just one of those things.
 
sillwuka said:
What a dramatic race! This is why you don't switch off until the very end.

I do feel for Bottas, he got the blame for the wheel mishap a few weeks ago and Toto tried to deflect blame when it was Hamilton's fault today. I love Lewis but Bottas is treated like such an afterthought.
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Toto doing what Toto does, there was no defending Lewis and he admitted his mistake.
Bottas is a strange one, its like he has given up, its no secret he is going at the end of the season, he will get another drive in 2022 I have no doubt, could be s swap for Russell at Williams, could they do it during this season, I dont think so , but stranger things have happened in F1.
 
The tracks coming up should suit Merc more so it's not that bad yet and even Bottas could find something to be happy about and help out. Feathers have definitley been ruffled at Merc though.
 
E3NtNWXXMAEwZ4X
 
Heartbreaking for Verstappen who rode a perfect race. What a talent this guy has.
 
sillwuka said:
What a dramatic race! This is why you don't switch off until the very end.

I do feel for Bottas, he got the blame for the wheel mishap a few weeks ago and Toto tried to deflect blame when it was Hamilton's fault today. I love Lewis but Bottas is treated like such an afterthought.
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Hard to think of anyone in F1 I feel less sorry for. Those dominant Mercs covered up his personal failings for years.
 
What a race that was yesterday. I forgot to comment here at the end of it, but watched it live and well it was interesting race to watch throughout but the end was really special. I was devastated for Verstappen to go out like he did after doing a great race up until that point, especially as it was going to hand a significant points advantage to his main title rival, which you never like to see as a result of mechanical reasons. So the relief when Lewis failed to make that turn 1 corner was something else. I'm not really supporting either, but I'd like to see these 2 keep as close as possible for the majority of the season, and I want it decided by on track racing as much as possible, not mechanical failures. Very rare for Lewis to make a mistake like he did, and I was convinced he was going to win on that restart, and he initially did get away excellently.

Delighted for the drivers who did make it to the podium. Race win for Perez, delivering on the Red Bull's decision to hire outside their driver program. He had a great race before that, obviously he got some luck to get the win, but he deserved a podium regardless. Seb delivering the first Aston Martin podium since their return was also great to see. He's a likeable guy, and it was grim seeing his end to his Ferrari career and his early races for Aston Martin too, so happy he's gotten comfortable with the car and seemingly full of confidence in his driving ability yet again. Also the Gasly redemption arc continues, he's been so impressive back at Alpha Tauri. It's just a matter of time before he'll get a bigger seat if he doesn't want to wait for a Red Bull opening again. However I'm not sure there are many midfield cars better than the Alpha Tauri at the moment, but that can all change next year.
 
Haas team boss Guenther Steiner says Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin have "cleared the air" following a dangerous maneuver by the latter over his teammate on the run to the checkered flag in Baku.

The pair were engaged in a fight for P14 in the final two laps of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after the restart, with Mazepin heading Schumacher.
However, the German got a run on his teammate as they charged down the main straight to the finish line, but Mazepin suddenly weaved towards Schumacher who nevertheless got the better of the Russian, beating him to the checkered flag by just 0.07s.

But an angry Schumacher immediately radioed in to complain about Mazepin's antics.

"What the feck was that, honestly?" he said. "Seriously, does he want to kill us?”

"Understood Mick, chequered flag," replied his engineer.

Mazepin revealed that he had ran out of battery energy on the run towards the checkered flag and felt frustrated to lose the position.

"The main thing is I’m a little bit upset about losing my position to the teammate on the main straight," Mazepin said.

"I ran out of battery there, so I was a bit of a sitting passenger, but it is what it is."

Addressing the incident in Haas' post-race press release, Steiner said the Mazepin's maneuver had been the result of a "misunderstanding".

"There was a situation on the straight, that was all resolved, and we’ve cleared the air," Steiner said. "There was some misunderstanding, but we’re fine and all moving on from it."
 
stu_1992 said:
Also the Gasly redemption arc continues, he's been so impressive back at Alpha Tauri. It's just a matter of time before he'll get a bigger seat if he doesn't want to wait for a Red Bull opening again. However I'm not sure there are many midfield cars better than the Alpha Tauri at the moment, but that can all change next year.
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He'll never get an offer to go to Red Bull again, I think those bridges have been burnt. The only step I feel he'll make is to Alpine in the future.
 
F-Red said:
He'll never get an offer to go to Red Bull again, I think those bridges have been burnt. The only step I feel he'll make is to Alpine in the future.
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I think if he keeps performing as he does, or even improving, he may have to get an offer to go back there, probably when they decide to move on from Perez. However I'm not sure Gasly will stick around that long or even be willing to go back to the team where you will be in Verstappen's shadow. I agree Alpine would make sense, there's the obvious French connection, however presently that would be a step down so a move like that would massively depend on the fortunes of each team after the new regulations. Alpine being a works team certainly has the potential on paper.
 
Sergio Perez revealed that he was on the verge of having to retire from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but held on just long enough to cross the line and claim his first victory for Red Bull.

"We were close to retiring the car, but luckily we managed to finish the race," he told the media in parc ferme immediately after a dramatic finish to the street race in Baku. "It was quite difficult all the way until the end."

Immediately after claiming the chequered flag, Perez was told to stop straight away at pit exit in turn 1 rather than continue with the usual cool-down lap on the way back to pit lane.


It meant that Perez had to make his way back to the paddock on foot to receive the congratulations of the team for stepping in and delivering victory after Max Verstappen suffered a late tyre failure.

Red Bull principal Christian Horner explained that Perez had been suffering from a hydraulic problem in the final laps of the race and nearly didn't complete the final two-lap shoot-out following the red flag stoppage for Verstappen's exit.

"He was nursing an hydraulic issue," Horner stated. "We were really concerned that the car wouldn't get to the end of the race, which is why he stopped after the chequered flag.

"You thought that we could only lose when they got the restart, but thankfully it all worked out tremendously well, and Sergio did a great, great job.
 
stu_1992 said:
I think if he keeps performing as he does, or even improving, he may have to get an offer to go back there, probably when they decide to move on from Perez. However I'm not sure Gasly will stick around that long or even be willing to go back to the team where you will be in Verstappen's shadow. I agree Alpine would make sense, there's the obvious French connection, however presently that would be a step down so a move like that would massively depend on the fortunes of each team after the new regulations. Alpine being a works team certainly has the potential on paper.
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He burned his bridges internally with the team, and specifically Adrian Newey, I'm pretty confident they won't be offering him anything again. He would have been ahead of Perez in the picking ground after his best ever season last year. That should tell you everything about his relationship internally with Red Bull.
 
dinostar77 said:
I'm wondering whether they will give Bottas a new Chassis. This has happen in the past before where a driver and team cannot workout what is wrong with one car out of the pair. A new Chassis is built (at a cost of something like £750,000) and suddenly the struggling driver isnt struggling anymore.

Also if as i expect Lewis signs on for another 2 years, i think he may request/demand/ask that Bottas remain in the team. After all he has Bottas under control and the relationship in the garage is much better than it was with Rosberg. A young hungry, with a point to prove Russell isnt what Lewis needs for next two seasons while he fights Max and whoever else for WDC's. A solid no2 like Bottas is what he will want beside him.
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Bottas is not solid. Look at Perez protecting Max from Hamilton at the front 3 while Bottas was back in 10th place!
 
Leg-End said:
Mercedes shouldn’t bend over to Hamilton just “because” and to be honest I very much doubt Hamilton would demand anything in regards to his team mate.

This season so far has proved you need two drivers on top form to succeed. Bottas for me is driving like a guy that knows he’s on the way out the team.
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Surely if he's on the way out the team he should step up so he can get signed?
 
Fluctuation0161 said:
Surely if he's on the way out the team he should step up so he can get signed?
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He's a confidence driver, he has never been good once his confidence is knocked. If he leaves Mercedes one of the mid pack will pick him up just to get some Mercedes knowledge for a season or two, he's still a quick driver on his day, he just has no business being in a top car anymore.
 
Leg-End said:
He's a confidence driver, he has never been good once his confidence is knocked. If he leaves Mercedes one of the mid pack will pick him up just to get some Mercedes knowledge for a season or two, he's still a quick driver on his day, he just has no business being in a top car anymore.
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Fair point. He has been terrible.

Rosberg was so much closer to Hamilton. Although still always behind, apart from that one freak season.
 
pauldyson1uk said:
Toto doing what Toto does, there was no defending Lewis and he admitted his mistake.
Bottas is a strange one, its like he has given up, its no secret he is going at the end of the season, he will get another drive in 2022 I have no doubt, could be s swap for Russell at Williams, could they do it during this season, I dont think so , but stranger things have happened in F1.
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Except if Bottas brings in a lot of sponsorship money, why would anyone want to hire him for 2022 if Mercedes kick him out? He's not up-and-coming, a proven winner, or anything like that. Given his performances over the past few years, why would anyone think he'd be a good addition to the team?
 
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We'll find out for definite by the summer break as Mercedes said they will finalise their line up for next season by the summer.

I think Lewis will extend for 2 years and Bottas will be extended for 1 more season possibly his last after this with Mercedes.

Two reasons for this, 1) Keeping Lewis happy. Bottas is a known quantity for Lewis, Russell isnt.

2) More importantly, the biggest changes in F1 for 30 years. Ground Effect areo returns after being banned in 1982. 18 inch tyres, no tyre blankets, torsion bars, heave springs and inerters banned. Gearboxs frozen from development till 2025. Engines frozen from development till 2026. One set of pads and discs per race. Cars in park femme from start of FP3. Sliding scale for aero wind tunnel time and CAD time depending on how well you do in the Constructors championship the season just ending. Theres loads more stuff, without doubt the biggest changes for 30 years to F1.

The cars will be heavier and slower by up to 4-6 seconds compared to this season. All of the above mean its essential that you have known reference points for your new cars. Hence i think Bottas will stay as he is a known reference for the team, experienced and Russell isnt. Otherwise if it wasn't for the huge rule changes id expect to see Russell in the other seat.

Regardless, someons is going to nail / come up with a unique idea ala brawn double diffuser and no-one knows who that will be. You can't really rule any team out. Therefore stability in your driver lineup will be key, hence i expect to see pretty much the same lineup for all the teams next season. Its why Alonso came back and went to Alpine and Seb to Aston Martin because you might just get luckily for one season and end up a WC like Button did with Brawn.

Long winded explanation of why i think Bottas will stay next season. Btw personally i don't rate him as a driver.
 
dinostar77 said:
We'll find out for definite by the summer break as Mercedes said they will finalise their line up for next season by the summer.

I think Lewis will extend for 2 years and Bottas will be extended for 1 more season possibly his last after this with Mercedes.

Two reasons for this, 1) Keeping Lewis happy. Bottas is a known quantity for Lewis, Russell isnt.

2) More importantly, the biggest changes in F1 for 30 years. Ground Effect areo returns after being banned in 1982. 18 inch tyres, no tyre blankets, torsion bars, heave springs and inerters banned. Gearboxs frozen from development till 2025. Engines frozen from development till 2026. One set of pads and discs per race. Cars in park femme from start of FP3. Sliding scale for aero wind tunnel time and CAD time depending on how well you do in the Constructors championship the season just ending. Theres loads more stuff, without doubt the biggest changes for 30 years to F1.

The cars will be heavier and slower by up to 4-6 seconds compared to this season. All of the above mean its essential that you have known reference points for your new cars. Hence i think Bottas will stay as he is a known reference for the team, experienced and Russell isnt. Otherwise if it wasn't for the huge rule changes id expect to see Russell in the other seat.

Regardless, someons is going to nail / come up with a unique idea ala brawn double diffuser and no-one knows who that will be. You can't really rule any team out. Therefore stability in your driver lineup will be key, hence i expect to see pretty much the same lineup for all the teams next season. Its why Alonso came back and went to Alpine and Seb to Aston Martin because you might just get luckily for one season and end up a WC like Button did with Brawn.

Long winded explanation of why i think Bottas will stay next season. Btw personally i don't rate him as a driver.
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Nice post, some excellent points, when he is on form Bottas is an excellent driver, if he had been in the Merc and Lewis, I think he would have had 1 maybe 2 WC.
There was a post earlier saying unless Bottas brings in a load of sponsorship money, who would take him? I think a few mid table teams would take him, if Russell went to Mercedes, Bottas would be the favorite to swap.
Lewis I agree is not going anywhere, even if he wins this season, he will want to drive the new car, I have no doubt he has put masses of input in to its build, the same as all the other drivers will have done.
Everybody is saying this season is the best for a long time and I think they are right, but 2022 is going to be even better.
 
Surely Russel cant just keep content at Williams beyond this season and wait forever for that Merc's seat to open up for him. He is done everything he can do at Williams, lasting there beyond this year is just wasting another year of his career which looks like he will tbh.
 
dinostar77 said:
We'll find out for definite by the summer break as Mercedes said they will finalise their line up for next season by the summer.

I think Lewis will extend for 2 years and Bottas will be extended for 1 more season possibly his last after this with Mercedes.

Two reasons for this, 1) Keeping Lewis happy. Bottas is a known quantity for Lewis, Russell isnt.

2) More importantly, the biggest changes in F1 for 30 years. Ground Effect areo returns after being banned in 1982. 18 inch tyres, no tyre blankets, torsion bars, heave springs and inerters banned. Gearboxs frozen from development till 2025. Engines frozen from development till 2026. One set of pads and discs per race. Cars in park femme from start of FP3. Sliding scale for aero wind tunnel time and CAD time depending on how well you do in the Constructors championship the season just ending. Theres loads more stuff, without doubt the biggest changes for 30 years to F1.

The cars will be heavier and slower by up to 4-6 seconds compared to this season. All of the above mean its essential that you have known reference points for your new cars. Hence i think Bottas will stay as he is a known reference for the team, experienced and Russell isnt. Otherwise if it wasn't for the huge rule changes id expect to see Russell in the other seat.

Regardless, someons is going to nail / come up with a unique idea ala brawn double diffuser and no-one knows who that will be. You can't really rule any team out. Therefore stability in your driver lineup will be key, hence i expect to see pretty much the same lineup for all the teams next season. Its why Alonso came back and went to Alpine and Seb to Aston Martin because you might just get luckily for one season and end up a WC like Button did with Brawn.

Long winded explanation of why i think Bottas will stay next season. Btw personally i don't rate him as a driver.
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All good points, my only thoughts in the other direction is would Mercedes potentially risk Russell moving to another team for the sake of another year of Bottas.
 
mitChley said:
All good points, my only thoughts in the other direction is would Mercedes potentially risk Russell moving to another team for the sake of another year of Bottas.
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Theres nowhere to go to though. Everyone is pretty much locked in for 2022 other than Mercedes. Besides Russell is contracted to Mercedes stable and on loan to Williams.

RB - no chance for Russell there as Perez has won a race. More than alboin and gasly managed.

AT - no chance for him there as its RB sister team and they aren't going to lose Gasly. Tsundoa is there because of Honda.

AM - no space there. They aint going to get rid of vettel and lance as daddy owns the team.

Ferrari - not gonna happen.

Alpine - Alonso isnt going anywhere. Not sure about Ocon. Gasly is probably a dream signing for the team. But if your Russell do you really want Alonso as a teammate?

AR - They need Kimi for next season and giovanazzi s a ferrari driver.

MC- Nailed in for Lando and Danny Ric.

Haas - Mick there courtesy of Ferrari and mazespin has mega bucks behind him.

Williams - Russell's own seat and latifi whos billionaire dad bought a percentage of the team.

There is literally nowhere for Russell to go other than Merc and same applies to Bottas i.e. Williams. Therefore Wolff can keep Russell at Williams for another season. Besides Williams wont want to lose their own reference point for the car. Latifi is nowhere near Russell on most weekends.
 
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As bad as Bottas was this past weekend. He was heading for a Podium and a P2 ? in Monaco where Lewis was nowhere himself and going backwards. It was just one of those weekends for Valtteri. Remember when Lewis won the championship in Mexico 2017 in 9th having been struggling further down the pack. It happens.
 
Hephaestus said:
Yeah, they occasionally do a transcript as well as the audio and I enjoy that. Shame they don't do it more cos we do miss out on so much. I've really enjoyed the new team/race director radio, wasn't sure at first but getting to hear the Red Bull guy calling for the red flag so everyone could change tyres was especially great, partly so we could find out it was for that and not just the race director trying to inject some drama but also for the insight of knowing that the failure seemingly came out of nowhere like Silverstone last year.

That said, if they played a lot more driver radio, this thread would become even more unreadable due to all the drivers being accused of "whining" so swings and roundabouts.
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Real reason Red Bull called for the red flag was to get Perez in to change tires without dropping a place and also to see if the rest of the race could be called off. If the race gets called off, they'll take the position from the previous lap which would have meant Max gets the win.
 
elmo said:
Real reason Red Bull called for the red flag was to get Perez in to change tires without dropping a place and also to see if the rest of the race could be called off. If the race gets called off, they'll take the position from the previous lap which would have meant Max gets the win.
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There would have been outrage from fans the world round if Max had been given that win despite crashing out. Hotrible ruling the count back is. Should exclude anyone who cause the red flag incident.
 
elmo said:
Real reason Red Bull called for the red flag was to get Perez in to change tires without dropping a place and also to see if the rest of the race could be called off. If the race gets called off, they'll take the position from the previous lap which would have meant Max gets the win.
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The reason for the call of the red flag was that he had a significant hydraulic issue that they were managing which, under red flag conditions, they could address and patch up in the pit lane. The tyre call was a bit of a smokescreen. It's why Perez was told to stop the car so quickly after turn one after taking the chequered flag.
 
elmo said:
Real reason Red Bull called for the red flag was to get Perez in to change tires without dropping a place and also to see if the rest of the race could be called off. If the race gets called off, they'll take the position from the previous lap which would have meant Max gets the win.
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Yeah, I know Red Bull wanted it to help Perez, it was why race control decided to go for a red flag rather than just continuing with a safety car given that a red flag is normally thrown if there is damage to barriers and I don't think there was. My initial thought was that they didn't want to risk the race ending under a safety car and wanted a more exciting finish, so cynically threw a red flag but pausing the race because half the field might be on unsafe tyres and there'd be no warning if they were about to burst is a much more valid reason. Given Pirelli later said that they found a large cut on Hamilton's rear left, it was 100% the right call from them.
 
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