Formula 1-2021 Season

I guess we will never know if Lewis could have made it to the end, but I'm kinda on Lewis side there.  

Nice job from Valteri, Red Bull maximized their day.  

I'd very much like to see Valteri win the rest of the season.  Not likely...

In reply to AaronT :

I don't see it like that, he would have been behind Perez, who was still behind LeClerc. The best he could have done was pass Charles like Sergio did. 

In reply to alfadriver :

The photos of Ocon's right front are pretty bad. A zero pit strategy carried risk, which is why I think the Merc pit wall got it right the first time they tried to box Lewis.

On a different note.......NO PAVEMENT CAMERA...YEAH,  but I thought the shots thru the armco were kinda neat/artsy 

In reply to AaronT :

But unlike Norris, the results would be the same. 

This was an excellent points day for Valteri in the third place battle.  Kind of odd that the McLaren struggled so much today, and the Ferraris were so fast.

There is a good chance Lewis could have made it but only the post mortem on the tires would tell them the actuall answer. I think Mercedes made the safe call with a solid chance at fifth (it got pretty close for Gasly for a few laps). If they'd left him out I think  Perez would have caught him and made the pass within a lap or two. At that point Charles would have be right on them with Perez being held up and would have jumped past as well. That could've easily destroyed the tires (one lock up would've had his tires looking like Ocon's) and had Gasly + going by as well. There weren't huge gaps at the end of the race going back through the points.

If he'd pitted when they first tried to call him in (or even earlier) Lewis would've had the chance to fight his way past Charles and Perez and possibly get up to third. I can understand wanting to stay out though when you are on the podium a step below Max though, hindisght is fun.

Also it was nice to see Hamilton and Perez go at it for a few corners, more of that racing would be great.

^That was a nice battle, even though shortlived. 

I'm back and forth on the call to box Lewis, he's the one driving and knows what the car is doing, but by the time he finally came in his tires were slicks. 

I think that Lewis should have pitted around lap 30, 31 or 32. I was thinking this while watching live. It looked like he had already used his tires up more than most to get to that P5 behind Perez. All those wonderful passes he made to get there did take a toll on his tires.

Maybe at lap 23-24 I would have told Lewis to pick up the pace to hold 1:33.0 laps until he was within 1 second of Perez then pit. Perez looked to have been on a strategy to block Hamilton from the moment he ended up P4 at the end of lap 1. I heard the commentators talking about what happened to Stroll last year but as much as they tried to copy the MB the RP/AM was still NOT an MB last year. Plus running more wing than others would have meant less risk for Lewis losing places while going through the graining on laps 37-39. Still who knows how the field would have reacted to that move by MB. 

Anyhow they did what they did and I think Bottas did what he likes which is to lead from the front and just hold that safety gap to the P2 car. Sainz and Gasly will have to be grumpy with those SLOW pitstops.

Fascinating race. I was happy that Perez got another podium and the title fight is still on. Given what I saw I think MB will be stronger than RB at Austin and Mexico City. But this season keeps on giving us crazy time races!

Advan046 said:

 

Fascinating race. I was happy that Perez got another podium and the title fight is still on. Given what I saw I think MB will be stronger than RB at Austin and Mexico City. But this season keeps on giving us crazy time races!

It will be interesting if your latter thought comes true, given how RB has really done well at altitude.

The outcome that was most surprising to me was that Mercedes had a pretty significant pace advantage over Red Bull for qualifying.  If that is because Merc has really figured out their car (as the talking heads speculated), they have a pretty significant tool for the rest of the season.

Well, Got my assignment for Austin. My team will have intervention driver's left turn 11 to about a quarter of the way up the back stretch. 

It's pretty surreal to be there for F1 as it's one of the few spots where there is not a full catch fence there and just a very low Armco. It's one of the few spots on the track like that and you are 6-8' off the race surface.  They are going 120-140 MPH by the time they reach there. I've been there before on the first year of the hybrid era. 

Can't wait to get trackside again. 

I think the Mercedes reliability issues this year are pointing towards them turning the volume up a wee bit.  They have been reliable as bricks up til this year, but I guess they needed to wind them a bit tighter to stay ahead of the Hondas.

Streetwiseguy said:

I think the Mercedes reliability issues this year are pointing towards them turning the volume up a wee bit.  They have been reliable as bricks up til this year, but I guess they needed to wind them a bit tighter to stay ahead of the Hondas.

 

Red Bull has been making noise about how the Mercs are suddenly so fast down the straights but the FIA say they are legal. No doubt this comes at a cost to reliability. Still, the Championship is likely going to go to Max and Red Bull

loosecannon said:

Streetwiseguy said:

I think the Mercedes reliability issues this year are pointing towards them turning the volume up a wee bit.  They have been reliable as bricks up til this year, but I guess they needed to wind them a bit tighter to stay ahead of the Hondas.

 

Red Bull has been making noise about how the Mercs are suddenly so fast down the straights but the FIA say they are legal. No doubt this comes at a cost to reliability. Still, the Championship is likely going to go to Max and Red Bull

I hope you're wrong, I want my guy to get another one. 

I used to be a Red Bull fan until the way they treated Webber. 

In reply to z31maniac :

I hope I'm wrong, too-I'm a card carrying Lewis fan but I feel the momentum is on Max's side, he's making fewer mistakes than Merc and Lewis. That was really hard for me to say out loud, I feel that Lewis has made fewer driving mistakes than any other WDC in history but this has been an off year for him. I don't believe this is a sign of Lewis being over the hill or anything, he;s had other off years as well and bounces back

I'm not pro or anti Lewis, but I used to be anti Max.  Max, while still doing a few bone headed things, has definitely matured as a driver over the last 18 months.  I do think that possibly at the ripe old age of 36 Lewis may have lost that last thousandth of a second, but his still at or near the top of his game.  For the first time in a long time we've got two top level drivers at the top of their game in two equally matched cars.  One week the Merc has the upper hand, the next track Red Bull has the upper hand.  It makes for great suspense.  When was the last time the lead of the championship swapped back and forth so often?  I don't care who wins the championship in the end, the good thing is we've got the best, closest inter team fight at the pointy end of the field in years and whoever wins will thoroughly deserve it.  

In reply to Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) :

It's been an interesting season and I'm hoping the championship goes to the last round. 

Ironically the races that have been the best are the ones were Hamilton and Verstappen haven't won. 

I'm having a hard time imagining that Max doesn't win a championship, and it surely could be this year.  However, we really don't know what next year brings.  All new chassis, using the old engines which are pretty darn even now.

A year from now, we could be talking about how lucky Albon was to go to Williams at exactly the right time, and how Lewis seems to have lost the plot, and Max is trying to get into Latiifi's seat for next year...

Unlikely, but remember when Lewis left for Mercedes ten years ago.

alfadriver said:

Advan046 said:

 

Fascinating race. I was happy that Perez got another podium and the title fight is still on. Given what I saw I think MB will be stronger than RB at Austin and Mexico City. But this season keeps on giving us crazy time races!

It will be interesting if your latter thought comes true, given how RB has really done well at altitude.

The outcome that was most surprising to me was that Mercedes had a pretty significant pace advantage over Red Bull for qualifying.  If that is because Merc has really figured out their car (as the talking heads speculated), they have a pretty significant tool for the rest of the season.

Well one point that has become clear that I didn't understand until a few races ago:

Engines will be essentially frozen from 2022 to 2025!

So every team is trying to be open to the idea of taking penalties for engines, (EVEN MB AND RBR!) just to pull ahead any engine improvements before the end of the season. So the Honda, MB, and Ferrari updates are as much for winning this year as they are for getting ready for that next freeze.

While I agree RBR has been strong in Mexico this year the aero battle has been very very interesting with the RBR seeming unable to get enough front downforce to allow them to use the highest downforce rear wing. If they do they have a car that is too out of balance. So they have had to use less rear wing to find the right balance. If they bring some updates for Mexico to fix that issue, then yes they will be likely the favorites.  As far as Austin goes, it just seems to be a track that Hamilton just goes fast on. 

Didn't fully finish my thought. 

So I think the reason that Bottas took an engine penalty in Sochi was to put a full race test on a bunch of engine upgrades so the team knew that it was worth a penalty to change Hamilton's engine in Turkey.

For those going to Austin. Please give Sabre Cook some attention. She is a W Series driver and just has not had a good season.

Pump her up so maybe our USA driver will get some points in the double header there!!!

In reply to bmw88rider :

See you there.  I am TSP Light at turn 11. Are you from Mobile, AL?

No. Omaha, NE now. Was in Austin for many years. Worked 7 out of the 9 GP's there over the years. 

Lead intervention Marshal for 11B so inter ring road. 

Picture from the station there in 2014. 

Saw the 2022 schedule is set. I have my visa for Azerbaijan already and condo booked for Miami. Looks like I'll get 3 grand prix in next year. 

bmw88rider said:

No. Omaha, NE now. Was in Austin for many years. Worked 7 out of the 9 GP's there over the years. 

Lead intervention Marshal for 11B so inter ring road. 

Picture from the station there in 2014. 

Saw the 2022 schedule is set. I have my visa for Azerbaijan already and condo booked for Miami. Looks like I'll get 3 grand prix in next year. 

I'll wave from across the track...

Yeah, I looking at Miami too.  Wonder if there will be motor home parking.