F1 2021 Season

Huge congrats to Bottas for limping onto the podium because Red Bull fecked up Perez's pit stop.

Lewis will use that to stick Russell at Williams for another year :(
 
Good effort from Perez there, just needed a bit of time.
 
Max and Hamilton full pit stops ahead of their team mates on a track with 8 corners.
 
Good effort by Perez there, but ultimately not enough. Shame about that slow pit stop as he didn't do much wrong himself to lose that 3rd place. Not that best race but oh well.
 
Tiber said:
Honda have built an engine that is beating Merc week after week. Mad that they are pulling out at the end of the year and allowing Red Bull to stick a VW badge or something on it.
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Totto has been questioning the engine. They are supposed to be homologised and only reliability updates allowed, but totto thinks the engine introduced in france had a performance improvement. Might just be sour grapes.
 
dinostar77 said:
Totto has been questioning the engine. They are supposed to be homologised and only reliability updates allowed, but totto thinks the engine introduced in france had a performance improvement. Might just be sour grapes.
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Toto and Lewis are so much content when they have the dominant car. Funny how that works
 
I’m going to repeat it every week, Bottas CANNOT be in that seat next season.
 
Leg-End said:
I’m going to repeat it every week, Bottas CANNOT be in that seat next season.
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It's so frustrating seeing Russell bogged down at Williams, or even Norris at McLaren who need to take that next step, then Bottas who until this season has at least usually finished 3rd, get to have that Mercedes...

If Mercedes bring out a huge upgrade and the championship gets tight what may let Max down is lack of experience leading or fighting for a title

Course it rains now...
 
Tiber said:
If Merc and Hamilton hadn't had an absurd car advantage in previous years, Max would probably already be a world champion. But its starting to look like this really could be his year
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Starting to look like? It's becoming a procession, it's nailed on unless Max goes off the rails.

This year the Red Bull is a much better car this year, added on top of the better drilled pit stops and Merc's dodgy strategy, its one way traffic.
 
I do feel bad for Russell, he's far too for Williams and IMO he stayed too long and might have hurt development. Hopefully not and he gets a much better seat next year, even if it's not Merc, no point in just waiting for a seat at Merc, as tempting as it may be.
 
Boring trophy. But hey atleast it isn't a random zoo animal like last week
 
United Hobbit said:
It's so frustrating seeing Russell bogged down at Williams, or even Norris at McLaren who need to take that next step, then Bottas who until this season has at least usually finished 3rd, get to have that Mercedes...

If Mercedes bring out a huge upgrade and the championship gets tight what may let Max down is lack of experience leading or fighting for a title

Course it rains now...
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Totto said last month that they arent going to spend all their resources on chasing incremental improvements to this years car. The pace is in the car, they just need to unlock it. Im guessing they are having setup issues as they have had for past few weekends on a Friday and they cant unlock that ideal neutral setup that puts the tyres in the optimum operating window.

Wouldn't suprise me if Max won every race from now till end of season.
 
Aren't they supposed to have masks on? The team and Lewis do but none of the others?

Wonder what Lewis does with his 2nd and 3rd place trophies
 
Tiber said:
Boring trophy. But hey atleast it isn't a random zoo animal like last week
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I liked it, different at least. I think it was designed by an artist, hence the 'random zoo animal'
 
dinostar77 said:
Totto said last month that they arent going to spend all their resources on chasing incremental improvements to this years car. The pace is in the car, they just need to unlock it. Im guessing they are having setup issues as they have had for past few weekends on a Friday and they cant unlock that ideal neutral setup that puts the tyres in the optimum operating window.

Wouldn't suprise me if Max won every race from now till end of season.
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Hopefully he does
 
United Hobbit said:
Aren't they supposed to have masks on? The team and Lewis do but none of the others?

Wonder what Lewis does with his 2nd and 3rd place trophies
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All the trophies go to Mercedes HQ. Lewis was asked about all his race winning trophies in a interview last year and he said he'd like to get them off Mercedes when he retired.
 
dinostar77 said:
All teh trophies go to Mercedes HQ. Lewis was asked about all his race winning trophies in a interview last year and he said he'd like to get them off Mercedes when he retired.
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Oh thats interesting, I thought the constructors ones would go there but not the drivers ones, I can see why Lewis would like to have at least some of his at his home
 
Mercedes do have some performance in there for sure, hasn’t been a single weekend so far where they haven’t been chasing a setup into FP3 yet which indicates it’s a difficult one to figure out.

What they can’t make up is an engine/drag deficit, ironic given how much domination they had over the hybrid era. They seem adamant about not spending on this car further so it’s really Max’s to lose now.

Its a nice changing of the guard really and if he times his career nicely Max is going to be right up there in terms of all the stats. That said I can’t stand Horner, never will so I hope we don’t get any sort of Red Bull dominations again for years on end.
 
I don't understand the Ferrari, looked a bit slow at the start then both end up in good positions in the end.
 
Leg-End said:
Mercedes do have some performance in there for sure, hasn’t been a single weekend so far where they haven’t been chasing a setup into FP3 yet which indicates it’s a difficult one to figure out.

What they can’t make up is an engine/drag deficit, ironic given how much domination they had over the hybrid era. They seem adamant about not spending on this car further so it’s really Max’s to lose now.

Its a nice changing of the guard really and if he times his career nicely Max is going to be right up there in terms of all the stats. That said I can’t stand Horner, never will so I hope we don’t get any sort of Red Bull dominations again for years on end.
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I have no issue with max even though i am a lewis fan. Cant stand Horner though. We all know Max has the talent to be a multiple WDC.

If Mercedes can somehow copy RBs rear wing and make it work for themselves they might be able to claw back that 0.2 sec a lap difference and make the season interesting again. Anthony Davidson mentioned it in commentary and hes the Mercedes simulator driver, so i guess they know thats a deficit they need to correct of possible. Easier said than done.
 
PlayerOne said:
I don't understand the Ferrari, looked a bit slow at the start then both end up in good positions in the end.
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The tyre pressure regs that were enforced last race and the "banning" of the flexible rear wing have cost them some track time. Though Ferrari were up front from start of season and said very little development would go into this seasons car.
 
In fairness to Mercedes they were pretty hamstrung by the rule changes for this season that were basically designed to slow them down.

It's an understandable move - they were so far ahead it probably needed to happen - but it's turned this season into yet another procession, just one for Max and RB.
 
I do enjoy hearing Lewis and Toto complain about money and development. I dont remember that being their attitude when their dominant car kept them Infront every week
 
The Hilton said:
In fairness to Mercedes they were pretty hamstrung by the rule changes for this season that were basically designed to slow them down.

It's an understandable move - they were so far ahead it probably needed to happen - but it's turned this season into yet another procession, just one for Max and RB.
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F1 shooting itself in the foot again. Should have left the rules as they were for this season. We would have got to see RB and Max bring the fight to Mercedes and Mercedes best ever F1 car, the 2020 edition. Aston Martin would have been up there. Instead we have most teams now having stopped developing this years car entirely because of the biggest rule hanges in F1 for 30 years next season.
 
Don't get some of the complaining. Of course, we all want to see great racing and a good battle between the top two, but it's still fairly close at the top. One feck up from Max and a non-finish and it's back on. I think Hamilton has won 3 races and Max 4? Something like that. I mean, it COULD turn into a procession, but I thought last week was a great race. Is it just because it's not Hamilton storming ahead like he has been for the past few years thanks to that car?

That's the vibe I get.
 
Tiber said:
The team is just so important. Lando got his shot at McLaren and looks like a future superstar.

Poor George was even better in f2 and has been stranded at shitty Williams ever since. Every time he looks like achieving something the team or car lets him down... Including his race at Mercedes
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He's obviously on a promise that he will get a Mercedes seat in 2022 otherwise he would have jumped I think.

He was already making a lot of noise this summer, I can't see him doing ANOTHER year in the Williams next.

He shows his class every time though, today he was flying and without that reliability issue could have been top 10 no problem. Poor guy has zero luck.
 
Tiber said:
Honda have built an engine that is beating Merc week after week. Mad that they are pulling out at the end of the year and allowing Red Bull to stick a VW badge or something on it.
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It's not the engine, it's the downforce. While the engine has clearly improved it's the overall package.

Red Bull have so much more downforce they can run a much skinnier rear wing which gives you way less drag. You get a much better top speed + it reduces the effectiveness of DRS from people following you.

Mercedes engine is still strong, Perez couldn't get passed Norris even with DRS. Red bull just have the perfect mixture now of great downforce + great top speed.
 
BusbyMalone said:
Don't get some of the complaining. Of course, we all want to see great racing and a good battle between the top two, but it's still fairly close at the top. One feck up from Max and a non-finish and it's back on. I think Hamilton has won 3 races and Max 4? Something like that. I mean, it COULD turn into a procession, but I thought last week was a great race. Is it just because it's not Hamilton storming ahead like he has been for the past few years thanks to that car?

That's the vibe I get.
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People were just as bored when Hamilton was winning processions too, it's just that you're airbrushing history a bit - there were a few huge battles between Merc and Ferrari where the latter had the faster car for periods. The last 2 seasons were definitely a procession through, and resulted in a rule change to slow down Mercedes for this season.

This year its only close because of a couple of good tactical calls and Hamilton's tyre management, but that can only keep away the clearly faster Red Bull for so long, especially with Max behind the wheel, and it looks like the speed gap has widened too, so it's only gonna get more one sided.
 
Nice to see Hamilton finally getting some competition after seven years of winning because he had the superior car. Funnily, I don’t remember him bitching about this problem when he could stroll around the track and win without breaking sweat. What I miss from him is the ability to appreciate a brilliant driver, but it’s always just about the car. And of course all the other political ramblings he brings with him to the interviews.
 
BusbyMalone said:
Don't get some of the complaining. Of course, we all want to see great racing and a good battle between the top two, but it's still fairly close at the top. One feck up from Max and a non-finish and it's back on. I think Hamilton has won 3 races and Max 4? Something like that. I mean, it COULD turn into a procession, but I thought last week was a great race. Is it just because it's not Hamilton storming ahead like he has been for the past few years thanks to that car?

That's the vibe I get.
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Same here, it's an 18 point gap after 8 races and Merc has looked stronger on several tracks so I don't get where all the doom and gloom is coming from either. Merc's tactics are being wildly criticized as well after last weekend yet in Spain a few weeks ago the exact same thing happened but in Merc's favour, which everyone seems to have forgotten.
 
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