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The 2021 F1 Season.

Looks like in the hands of Lewis at least, the Mercedes can properly challenge the Red Bull. I was surprised that Lewis was able to keep the pace with Max in the first stint with a damaged front wing. That could’ve been avoided as Max was in front & Lewis should’ve let him have it and come back at him later. A shame that slow stop dropped him into the pack of cars that saw him go off line and off track. A rare mistake from Lewis.

A good drive from Max despite coming close to binning it on that restart. Those conditions must’ve been really tricky today.

Norris has had a real step weekend. A small mistake in qualifying but other than that, he’s been brilliant. Getting the team to move Danny aside and then disappearing to the road to 3rd place was a real statement drive. Fully deserved his driver of the day award.

The title fight is looking good.

Good post, I would just add that I think Max has genuinely got Lewis rattled. Lewis of the last few years would not have hung it out on the outside at the start, he'd have just let it go and come back at him later... I think he knows Max is top drawer and wants to try and exert his 'authority' over him a sthe seven time champion. Thought Max was epic today, one tiny mistake and other than that flawless and very very fast. It's going to be a heck of a title battle. Agree about Danny Ric too, a proper team player and probably the nicest guy in F1. All in all a thoroughly entertaining afternoon.
 
I doubt that anyone really knows how the damage to Lewis' front wing affected his performance. The data from the onboard sensors has a large enough uncertainty that the trackside aero performance engineer would not be able to comment (unless it was a large drop-off). They would not have measured that specific config in the wind tunnel and so would not have wind tunnel data for this. An experienced aerodynamicist should be able to make an estimate of performance loss, but that would also have a wide variance.

That leaves Lewis to provide a subjective view as to loss of performance, which is very difficult as he will relate his performance to those around him, in very varying conditions.

Having said all that, it was another great drive by Lewis, whether the wing damage was causing him significant problems or none at all.

And a great drive by VER, who was very strong throughout.

BOT had another bad drive in the midfield.
 
I know BOT got his finger out after the crash, but unless he starts putting some performances in, he won't be driving for Mercedes next year. Compared to HAM today, his performance was very poor.

HAM showed today why he is so strong despite a few mistakes. I particularly liked his reverse out of the gravel trap!
 
All in all, it looks as if the last season on these rules is going to be a humdinger. IanW always said that Honda get there by their circuitous route, and Honda power + Adrian Newey + Max Verstappen in his present form is going to make sure that any further Hamilton/Mercedes championship is going to be hard-earned.

P.S. Speaking of incredibly talented people, it was nice seeing, an hour previously, Marc Marquez back on a MotoGP bike. Even after a long layoff, not being fully fit and racing on a track on which he has never previously raced, he did OK.
 
Good post, I would just add that I think Max has genuinely got Lewis rattled. Lewis of the last few years would not have hung it out on the outside at the start, he'd have just let it go and come back at him later... I think he knows Max is top drawer and wants to try and exert his 'authority' over him a sthe seven time champion. Thought Max was epic today, one tiny mistake and other than that flawless and very very fast. It's going to be a heck of a title battle. Agree about Danny Ric too, a proper team player and probably the nicest guy in F1. All in all a thoroughly entertaining afternoon.

I doubt Lewis is rattled, he’s raised his levels enough to challenge a faster car and top line driver. That move was never going to stick but he didn’t want to show Max any weakness either. It was just one of those ‘elbows out moments’ and Max’s were sharper than Lewis’ this time.

A poor weekend for his team mate Bottas. Mercedes will need more from him if they want to win another constructors title. Perez qualified well but like Bottas had poor race and that collision with Russel won’t have done his confidence any good. Still don’t know who was at fault for that one but it was big accident. Just glad both were ok.
 
Still don’t know who was at fault for that one but it was big accident. Just glad both were ok.

Marc Surer, who's one of the commentators for Swiss TV, thought that Russell had room to get through, but went out too far, lost control on the grass and took out Bottas.
 
IT looked like it was RUS fault as he went onto the grass and spun into Bot who gave him plenty of room .The behaviour afterwards was not acceptable , especially tapping Bot on the helmet and in later interviews still accused Bot of causing the crash which was not the case .It was an ill judged move in the first place and a mercedes was always going to beat a williams
 
Hi,

Think the incident with Bottas and Russell was down to Russell trying to overtake in a part of the track where Bottas was maybe not in a position to give way, or not, and the outcome was a large incident.

Looking at the first lap incident between Lewis and Max, Lewis was in a similar position, he did not want to give way and the outcome was smaller, however they both could have been taken out.

So what is the difference between that first lap incident and the Bottas/Russell incident, surely it is two drivers not wanting to give way to another, just one outcome was slight, the other major.

I think Russell does seem to being made the bad guy, however as he said, this was for points and these guys don't seem to like to hold back.

Here is what the BBC thinks.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/56793494

Be interesting if @IanW has any views on this.

Am sure I will be in the minority over this :D

Cheers

John
 
It was an ill judged move in the first place and a mercedes was always going to beat a williams

No it was not ill judged in the first place, it was the place where all the overtakes occurred under DRS and with a good tow. The execution from both was ill judged; both were at fault to a degree and plenty has and will be said about by what percentage. BOT was not looking properly and RUS overreacted to his perception of BOT crowding him over and the damp track did the rest.

The finger from BOT when RUS approached him was ill judged as was the tap on the helmet by RUS, I can forgive both as they would both be high on adrenalin and emotion. RUS comments afterwards are probably ill judged as well. I am sure we will hear apologies later but isn't this what we want to see? Drivers not behaving like robots spouting platitudes and corporate lines but speaking from the heart?

If I was Toto, I would be asking more questions about why BOT was in the position of being overtaken by RUS in the first place.
 
I think the attempt to overtake by RUS on BOT took place just in front of or on the kink in the straight and so BOT would naturally have drifted a little bit towards the right at this point anyway. Throw in a little bit more to defend his position and I think that's why RUS might have seen the full change in direction as him being pushed towards the grass. If some of Bottas' change in direction was down to his aiming for the racing line beyond the kink (his car was in front) then I think Russell has to accept that Bottas had the right to dictate how much track he was afforded to complete the overtake seeing as they were coming into/though a 'corner'. I can't remember for sure but I think that could be part of it.

The antecedent to all this is that Russell has raced against Bottas in like-for-like cars and probably thinks Bottas is easy meat, so he's probably more inclined to be bolder against him than say Hamilton or Verstappen. Either way, it's great to see some determined racing from Russell and I can't wait to see how he gets on once he's in a competitive Merc.
 
Whoever was at fault for that incident isn't clear but the tap on the helmet from Russell was ill judged.

Nevermind Bottas showed him the finger, but could have had some head trauma, only to have another driver "tap" him on the helmet.

Great dignity would have given them huge kudos, if they were checking each others well being.
 
Hi,

Think the incident with Bottas and Russell was down to Russell trying to overtake in a part of the track where Bottas was maybe not in a position to give way, or not, and the outcome was a large incident.

Looking at the first lap incident between Lewis and Max, Lewis was in a similar position, he did not want to give way and the outcome was smaller, however they both could have been taken out.

So what is the difference between that first lap incident and the Bottas/Russell incident, surely it is two drivers not wanting to give way to another, just one outcome was slight, the other major.

I think Russell does seem to being made the bad guy, however as he said, this was for points and these guys don't seem to like to hold back.

Here is what the BBC thinks.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/56793494

Be interesting if @IanW has any views on this.

Am sure I will be in the minority over this :D

Cheers

John

I think that RUS had the space to keep the car on the track and that he made a mistake by moving onto the low grip wet area. Once there and keeping 100% throttle, a spin was the only likely outcome.

RUS should have waited for a better opportunity as at that point the racing line was dry, and going off line was only going to cause big problems for any driver.

RUS has a lot of potential but needs to learn more about how to drive these cars in differing conditions and how to react when things don't go his way.

There are a few articles now which suggest that RUS understands that BOT was probably not at fault, so that is good to see.
 
The execution from both was ill judged; both were at fault to a degree and plenty has and will be said about by what percentage. BOT was not looking properly and RUS overreacted to his perception of BOT crowding him over and the damp track did the rest.

I saw it that way given the available footage yesterday. RUS's reaction was jerky in damp conditions and he possibly took some of the grass, then wam. A few years under his belt and his reaction would have been different I feel. You'd hope his post accident tantrum would too.
 
Until we know what what going on in each driver's mind, and therefore what each driver’s intention was, none of us can really say, and I very much doubt either would own up to bad intentions.

Thankfully everyone can move on.
 
I am glad he has changed his attitude and apologised .I am sure Toto gave him a good talking to afterwards as he will not have been pleased with the repair bill either
 
I am glad he has changed his attitude and apologised .I am sure Toto gave him a good talking to afterwards as he will not have been pleased with the repair bill either

Lucky boy if you ask me, that talking to could have easily been "Hasta La Vista, Baby" in a very convincing Terminator voice :)
 


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