I think it's when you total up the cumulative number of errors Bottas has made in his Mercedes career you begin to see he is just nowhere near top level.
F1 2021 Season
- Thread starter pauldyson1uk
- Start date
Styrian GP FP 3
Lewis on top for FP3 , lets see if that can be carried over into qualifying.
Styrian GP Practice Three Timesheet
Styrian GP Practice Three Timesheet
| Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1) Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:04.369 |
| 2) Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +0.204 |
| 3) Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | +0.463 |
| 4) Sergio Perez | Red Bull | +0.657 |
| 5) Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | +0.781 |
| 6) Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | +0.929 |
| 7) Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +0.971 |
| 8) Fernando Alonso | Alpine | +1.031 |
| 9) Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | +1.076 |
| 10) Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | +1.123 |
| 11) Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | +1.187 |
| 12) Esteban Ocon | Alpine | +1.307 |
| 13) Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +1.329 |
| 14) George Russell | Williams | +1.494 |
| 15) Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | +1.573 |
| 16) Mick Schumacher | Haas | +1.747 |
| 17) Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | +1.747 |
| 18) Nicholas Latifi | Williams | +1.750 |
| 19) Lando Norris | McLaren | +2.285 |
| 20) Nikita Mazepin | Haas | +2.323 |
Toto saying Bottas doesn't take risks 
So who do we think will be taking Bottas seat next season ?
Russell the most likely candidate IMO, Lando would be a serious contender in that car but he’s obviously just signed a new deal, any other names ?
Russell the most likely candidate IMO, Lando would be a serious contender in that car but he’s obviously just signed a new deal, any other names ?
It will be Russell 100%
Styrian GP Qualifying
Max goes quickest in Q1, but its early yet.
Whys Ricciardo so rubbish nowadays? I thought he used to be quite good?
Currently the fastest car but hopefully Hammy can pull one of his flyers out.
Russell so close to Q3.
Still finished above Sainz, Danny Ric and Vettel
Still finished above Sainz, Danny Ric and Vettel
Russell so deserves a shot in a good car now.
I so want to see Russell in the Mercedes, Bottas doesn't deserve it
What a lap by Max.
Honda power is very impressive now, what a turnaround
Incredible from Max. So fast.
Max had two laps good enough for pole? Absolute superstar.
Get Bottas off that 3rd marker ffs
Mercedes need some updates to the floor and the rear of the car. At this moment in time Max is gonna P1 every qually and win the races (in theory).
Anthony Davidson called it on the skypad, the backend of the Mercedes is lacking the downforce that the high rake RH has.
Anthony Davidson called it on the skypad, the backend of the Mercedes is lacking the downforce that the high rake RH has.
Wonder if Bottas will go rallying if he's binned by Mercedes? Just can't see him staying round at Williams.
Surely some heat must be under Ricciardo and Sainz?
Surely some heat must be under Ricciardo and Sainz?
Bottas's donuts in the pits keeps Ham on the front row.
#teamplayer
#teamplayer
There was talk in previous years that Max had a chance to become the youngest ever champion. Has he missed out on any chance of that now?
I don’t understand if it’s true Mercedes are not developing this car anymore, it’s obvious they could find a bit more stability at the rear. Maybe they are bluffing but they are behind pretty everywhere against Red Bull on quali pace.
Car has more drag, rear stability is noticeably bad at the limit. Slower on the straight bits, slower on the twisty bits.
Car has more drag, rear stability is noticeably bad at the limit. Slower on the straight bits, slower on the twisty bits.
Yeah that’s gone soon, he will be 24 if he takes the title. Vettel still the marker at 23.
Problem is the new regulations next year have to take priority and the longer you stay developing this years car, the more likely it is that you fall behind next year and beyond. Like you say, they're behind pretty much everywhere on quali pace, race pace is closer but I don't think they can afford to push this season chasing what may well be a lost cause already.
I don't think it's a coincidence that Max has been on pole for the 2 races since Bottas and Hamilton switched Chassis. Hamilton normally has been between 0.2s-0.5s on Bottas on a normal weekend, if the Chassis that Bottas had and Hamilton now has is costing the driver of it 0.3-0.5s (or was costing Bottas 0.5s and is costing Hamilton 0.3s as he is able to drive around problems better), that would explain Max's gap now and the reason why Bottas has caught up Hamilton in the last couple of races.
Loving Norris’ performances at the moment.
He's absolutely brilliant
Yeah, it had to be last season.
Mercedes are still developing the car. Its a 23 race season and theres along way to go. Depending on what the situation is come august/September will dictate how much more development Mercedes and RB will do to this years car. Its a fine balance of resources and windtunnel time between developing this years car and next years.
Chassis has nothing to do with it. Its simply down to the fact that the RB has better grip, aerowise and therefore at tracks with long straights i.e. Baku and Paul Ricard they can run less rear wing, hence less drag and a faster top speed.
The new rules for this season hurt Mercedes and Aston Martin badly especially around the diffuser and rear floor. They are still playing catchup. However i think its gonna be Maxs title this year.
Russell starts P10 after all
He's struggling with the braking in the Mclaren. Apprarently the pedal feel is very different to how the Renault feels. You have to brake HARD at first and then sort of back off then feed the pedal back in, and he's struggling on hard braking zones.
Austria is a track of straights + hard braking zones so it's no surprise he's struggling here compared to Paul Ricard where is more of a trail braking circuit.
Absolutely delighted with Norris, he is in the form of his life. If he can get a good start and hope that Bottas is fighting with Perez he's got a chance to sneak another podium.
If not though finishing 5th will be great for more points.
I don't deny that the gap to Verstappen could due to track characteristics, my point was more to do with the relative performance between Hamilton and Bottas. If you look at the season so far, prior to the chassis swap Hamilton was pretty much dominating Bottas, with each race either being a Hamilton blow out or very close (the exception being Monaco). Since the Chassis swap Hamilton and Bottas are pretty much even. If the chassis swap has cost Hamilton a couple of tenths, which is possibly based on the evidence so far, then that could also explain the current gap to Verstappen.
Thank you for that, it's a really interesting explanation, I in my naivety thought they'd just be able to work the break like a "normal" car! It would make me want to break too early if I then had to reapply it.
I hope Norris does well too would be great to see him get a podium. McLaren have progressed well considering where they were, hopefully with the rule changes they can make the next jump and challenge Red Bull and Mercedes
It's so nice not having an all but guaranteed Mercedes win, it's much better having the fight between Hamilton and Verstappen and not Hamilton just disappearing into the distance. I don't support a specific driver or team, so as a neutral, I want it to be competitive
I feel an easy Max win today as long as Lap 1 is clean, other than that I think the real meat of the race is for 3rd (if Perez doesn’t jump Norris quickly) and if Russell can take a point.
I would agree that max is favourite, especially as most teams will one stop as its a low deg circuit. However showers are forecast for the gp. The mercs and RB have very similar race pace so it could come down to undercut/overcut of the pitstop if it doesnt rain.
Lewis had a similar problem with the brakes whem he switched from Mclaren to Mercedes. The way Schumacher had the brakes setup wasn't how lewis liked it when he inherited Schmachers seat. I think they changed brake manufacturer at the end of lewis first season to one lewis was happy with. Long time around cant recall all the details.
I see what your saying,but you have to remember that lewis chassis before the swap had done 6 races and x amount of mileage. Bottas had the new chassis which had done less mileage because of Bottas wrote off his original chassis in crash with Russell.
Technically lewis has a chassis that's newer and done less mileage. Though if Lewis was really concerned he could switch to the spare new one that hasnt seen any mileage. It suggests to me that merc data knows the chassis is fine and that Bottas has been looking for external excuses for his poor performances rather than within.
I didn’t watch qualifying, but I thought I read it was going to rain today? Guess not by the look of that sky 
Shame I thought it was going to be a wet race don't get enough of those
don't get enough of thoseThat's a long anthem