Formula 1 - 2021 Season

Yeah that is pretty interesting, was Bottas using that wing when he got pole?

Although it really shouldn't come as a surprise if the seven time world champ who is the teams leading point scorer gets the nod on upgrades, if that is indeed the case... again given that Bottas was quicker on Saturday.

 

can bottas do a rosberg? doesnt look like it

rbr has to step up and max needs to stop making mistakes at crucial moments

 

Pretty good article on Lewis at Wired.com: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/lewis-hamilton

The most interesting bit, at least to me:

Bonus: Gary Anderson on The-Race’s podcast answering Qs (in Youtube video form).

 

Grosjeans F1 career is over at least for now, but looks like he's getting to fill one of his dreams of driving Mercedes F1 one day.

 

yeah hope they allow him to wring its neck

mazepin prepared to get into f1 by privately testing a lot in older merc f1s, dont think that was very smart getting used to a much superior car

 

Driver of the Day 2021 | Formula 1®

Mazepin on 4? For blocking HAM?

 

If blocking Hamilton got votes I would think Bottas would have made the list.

 

Lewis was faster that 'You' today, no matter who was trying to block him.
It's amazing to watch how he can drive on the limit for so long while taking care of the tires.
Just to be clear, he is not my fav. driver, but I appreciate his skill and determination when in the car.

In general, so so race, showing that at least one Merc is still a car to beat. RedBull has to find another 0.3s or Mclaren 0.8 and we have a fight

 

yeah hamilton just creaming everyone
bottas cant hang in the same car

 

I think if Max did the 2nd stop instead of Ham, Max could've won it. Ham probably can keep the tyres alive longer, but I don't think it would be enough to go to the end . The problem with that strategy is that Merc has Bottas which was not fast enough to live with Ham and Max, but close enough that RB need to consider his existence when deciding the strategy. This is where RB desperately needs a 2nd car that is close enough to the front, so they can have a bit more options with their strategy.

Edit: I just read that RB didn't have a new set of medium, so it is almost impossible to do 2 stop at that point. At the very least they need to stretch the stint to where they can fit the soft. So for RB to make 2 stint work would need Ham to commit to a single stop (or at least hope that Ham also do soft-med-soft) and preferably have a 2nd car to make life difficult for Ham if he decided to stop. RB can't rely on Bot alone to make life difficult for Ham.

 

I don't think Merc had a new set either. But Hamilton didn't seem to have much problems hanging around 1 second behind Verstappen from the end of the first stint onward so I don't think it would have mattered much what RBR did. Verstappen probably did all he could realistically do by passing Hamilton at the start and staying in front at the restart.

Lets hope they can find a bit more speed because its much more fun to watch another car have at least half a chance at winning rather than Hamilton just cruising to another victory.

I do hope the 2022 rules bunch up the field. If you look at the constructors F1 is basically divided in 4 different categories. Mercedes and RBR with most points, Mclaren and Ferrari with half the points, Alpine and Alpha Tauri with a quarter of the points of Mclaren and Ferrari and whatever is left.

 

Actually after reading it carefully, RB actually only had 1 set of usable medium for the race while Merc keeping their options open by having another set of usable medium. Whether that medium set is a used set or not I'm not sure.

 

Peter Windsor thought that Hamilton’s car was flatter (less roll) through the corners than Max’s, and he attributed that to Hamilton “squaring” the car more (stopping in a straight line and turning in more sharply, his fabled braking/tire magic). Having just heard Gary Anderson’s quick summary of low vs high rake*, I wonder if that’s just the Merc being more stiffly sprung to accomodate their rear diffuser aero (too much suspension travel affecting the air seal around the rear brake ducts, etc) and therefore not rolling as much or merely Max being as nice as possible to his poor tires. I’m sure Windsor knows the difference between driver and car, but it’s an interesting coincidence.

Here’s a great video showing the Red Bull rear wing flex everyone’s talking about. (Let’s all cast our minds back to when Red Bull’s front wings similarly passed the static tests but flexed at speed.)

* The Race F1 Podcast, April 4th: Why Mercedes is stuck with its 2021 rake problem. Aero info starts at 4:25, but the whole thing is incredibly informative (e.g., high rake by design induces understeer in high speed corners [preferable to oversteer there] because the center of pressure moves rearward at speed). Plus it has Mark Hughes!

 

Kimberly.

 

This Season is so good, the manufactures are so close (reletively speaking given the last 20+ years) & the driver's are so thirsty.....

 

The drivers are thirsty? Look one post up!

Ferrari 1-2 in FP2, four tenths clear of Lewis and Max. The latter two will definitely hit 1:11.7 (I believe Max kept
hitting traffic in S3 and Lewis was very squirrelly in one of his fast runs), but it’s cool to see someone else fighting for pole.

Mick parking the car on track brought out the red flag, so no practice starts for anyone. Not sure how much that can spice up the start, given they’ve had FP1 and should have FP3.

Tsunoda hit a barrier and ended his session very early, which was a surprise to everyone. I’m expecting great(ly entertaining) things (read: lunges) from him in the race.

Martin Brundle got an in-SANE trackside viewpoint, T15 I think. Check early in the Sky P2 coverage, the first time they throw to him. This might be it, but it’s not viewable in the US (try the ESPN app): https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/12311983/brundle-trackside-turn-15

Edit: McLaren’s one-off Gulf livery looks fantastic: https://the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-to-race-iconic-gulf-f1-livery-in-monaco/

Also, Ricciardo has a decent track guide on YouTube. Nico Rosberg has probably done a good one, too.

Corner names (3min video by F1).

 

Absorbing qualifying, even though there were only two shots that really showed the speed (Gasly thru a S2 chicane) and finesse (Verstappen getting as close to an outside wall as possible on corner exit) required. The session started cloudy and remained so until Q3, which probably affected everyone’s tires (though Brundle didn’t mention track temp or tires at all, IIRC, save for Alpine’s Budowsky[sic] saying Ocon only managed one lap with the tires in the window). Worth a watch, maybe moreso than tomorrow’s race. I won’t spoil it except to say the grid is interesting.

 

Everyone loves a parade.

 

As close as possible? You hit the walls several times during perfect lap in Monaco