Formula 1 - 2021 Season

[Bludd]

It's not a decision he should be making, there had already been enough evidence for them to make the call and the rain was getting worse.

I get that no driver in the lead wants to give up that position, but the teams have access to all this information and expertise you shouldn't be going to the driver to make the call.

totally agree and this is a real learning moment

remember when kimi was leading at the nurburgring and his wheel started vibrating?

 

[Pete]

Decent Nico Rosberg interview of Jenson Button. I found it on YouTube but apparently it’s also a podcast, #20. The most interresting bit was at ~24:15, when Jenson compares his cornering style to Lewis’. He said Lewis would hit the brakes hard then bleed off while adding throttle, modulating his steering inputs to make the corner. Jenson would be more cautious on corner entry, modulating brake and throttle, while trying to mininize steering inputs.

His older interviews with Toto and Ricciardo were also worthwhile.

Edit: Also, why is everyone saying Red Bull is still favored for Mexico? Wasn’t that a Renault engine advantage at altitude?

 

[Bludd]

good race, very tense

heroic defensive driving by danny ric when attacked by sainz and then bottas came at sainz and sainz held bottas for a long time

and the crowds! so many people, very good (scary?) to see. hope they were vaccinated

 

[Deleted member 2197]

Did Honda sell their F1 engine manufacturing unit to Red Bull last year? Or did they decided to stick it out and continue providing engines?

 

[Bludd]

Did Honda sell their F1 engine manufacturing unit to Red Bull last year? Or did they decided to stick it out and continue providing engines?

this is their last year, red bull is going to be making their own engines based on honda designs and has hired honda staff i believe

 

[Lightman]

this is their last year, red bull is going to be making their own engines based on honda designs and has hired honda staff i believe

Not quite, as next year Honda will still manufacture and build engines for RedBull in Japan, but they will be called RedBull engines. Plan to move manufacturing to UK is set for 2023.

 

[entity279]

Energy drinks and high performance engines.. almost as little synergy as that time Pepsi was a world class naval power

 

[Rurouni]

I have a feeling that although currently RB Honda deal for 2022 is for Honda to still supply engine to RB with Honda not involved in the marketing, this arrangement will continue until the new engine regulation. I doubt they can easily reproduce the engine. RB probably could make some parts and maintenance, but not the whole engine + ers. And remember that the facility that RB built for their own engine is likely to be unused when new engine regs come into place with rumor that they are likely to partner with one of the new engine manufacturer.

Basically my guess is that Honda will keep making engine for RB. Because of the engine freeze, Honda doesn't have to do R&D anymore and simply supplying engine for RB. The new RB facility is mainly for maintenance.

 

[Pete]

Quali was surprising, but I can’t tell who’s playing tricks on who. If Merc have the top speed advantage, you’d think they’d want to be just behind at the start.

 

[Pete]

Who’s ready for a sprint race?

Hamilton puts it on pole by quite a bit, maybe thanks to a new engine (for which he’ll take a five place grid penalty for the race). But now he’s being investigated for an illegally-wide DRS-open gap. Sounds open and shut. If Merc can repair the current (impounded for the night) wing, he’d start from the back of the sprint grid. If they have to change the wing, he starts from pit lane. The stewards hearing has been postponed until the morning. Apparently Verstappen touched Hamilton’s car after quali, while it was in parc fermé, which is another potential infraction.

https://the-race.com/formula-1/hamilton-hearing-adjourned-as-stewards-await-more-evidence/
https://the-race.com/formula-1/verstappen-gets-stewards-summons-over-parc-ferme-breach/

 

[Globalisateur]

I mean Hamilton is still at least top 2 (with Verstappen) but recently he was not very good at qualif, sometimes even behind his teammate and now suddenly he goes half a second faster than Bottas?

I'd say it makes sense to have a great top speed as it would be very handy to overtake here (from P5 or so).

 

[Pete]

Lewis may have just had the better Q3 run (along with a new engine, which RB estimates is worth 0.2s, and whatever his DRS slot is contributing). Both Max and Bottas weren’t happy with their last runs.

Mark Hughes with the usual deep analysis of quali: https://the-race.com/formula-1/mark-hughes-hamiltons-domination-not-just-down-to-new-engine/

It seemed a track temperature of just 25-degrees and cooling was enough to expose a trait in the Red Bull seen throughout the season. Its front axle cannot be aerodynamically loaded up as heavily as that of the Mercedes, so its fronts slide more and in certain conditions, particularly in low track temperatures, this overheats the tyre surface.

Where the Red Bull scores over the Mercedes is in rear grip, which becomes more important in higher track temperatures. The Red Bull can usually keep its rear tyres cool better than the Mercedes, but that wasn’t a requirement around a chilly Interlagos. It may however be a very important requirement on Sunday.

More, from an incredibly informative reply of his in the comments section:

The Red Bull cannot load up the front as quickly and aggressively as the Mercedes but has more downforce than the Mercedes at the rear. If the tyres are in their happy operating temperature, the two cars work fine, albeit slightly differently, with Merc gaining on entry, Red Bull gaining mid-corner. But on a cold day that lack of response from the front of the Red Bull is exaggerated and the front tyres tend to scrub across the track surface (with that powerful rear not helping) and overheat the tread, while the core remains cold.

And more on the Merc and RB rear wings: https://the-race.com/formula-1/has-verstappen-parc-ferme-breach-impacted-hamilton-hearing/

 

[Pete]

Lewis to start sprint from back, still has the five place grid penalty for the race. Max fined $50k for a bad touch. Most importantly:

If Verstappen scores at least five points more than Hamilton this weekend, the Dutchman will be able to finish second behind the seven-time champion at all three remaining races and still win his first world title.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/59276919

 

[zed]

$50k for Inappropriate touching, Does his name now go on a register of molesters?

 

[nutball]

$50k for Inappropriate touching, Does his name now go on a register of molesters?

He's a fin toucher. Keep an eye on that guy, that sort of behaviour can escalate.

 

[Freemantle]

Might as well go and sit in a rivals car if you're only going to get a pathetic 50K fine.

 

[Pete]

Wow. This season. The number of exciting races is incredible.

If they actually start policing track limits next year, would Max’s “defense” have been a slam dunk penalty, or just the first of four warnings for running off track?

 

[Bludd]

yeah that was a good race. hamilton was inexorable

tsunoda did a takuma sato-light move on stroll which was interesting. lots of carbon fibre flying off strolls car during the race

 

[pascal]

Good race.
Hope to see more like that.

 

[Davros]

hamilton was inexorable

I had to look that up on dictionary.com