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The 2021 F1 Season.

If Norris had come in for tires he wouldn't have regained the lead, looks to me like the gamble to stay out was his only chance to win.

Yup, probably not but he would have secured 2nd easily and had a shot at fighting HAM for the win on the same tyres rather than the rather ignominious spin and finishing in 7th. He is still learning and his team should probably have been more decisive and told him to come in, they have the experience and the data as Ian mentioned.

This was a tricky situation for sure and he still come out pretty well with his overall weekend but if he wants to win championships in the future, days like these are what make champions, look at HAM and VER, neither looked on for the 1-2 at this race but here we are.
 
Pleased for HAM, but sad for NOR. What many folks miss when criticising these decisions - and all leading teams have messed up a few - it is so hard to make the right call when in the lead as you don't want to throw the race away, it was not that long ago that the switch to inters did not work at the wet end of a race. His time will come.

Yesterday wasn't even really down to that, it was simply down to a large slice of luck. If when Hamilton switched to inters the rain hadn't come down harder we'd all be 'laughing' at Mercedes. Lando did nothing wrong other than gamble on the weather and he lost out to the weather gods. Sad, but he is a star in the making so lots of good times to come I suspect.

I don't know if you remember the Hockenheim race in 2000. The track was sort of half wet and half dry and it was right on the cusp of inters versus slicks. Hakkinen put inters on and yet Barrichello stayed on slicks. Half the lap was dry, half was wet... it was balanced on a knife edge as if the weather had got any wetter Hakkinen would have won yet it didn't and Barrichello secured his first (and very popular) victory. I was sort of thinking and hoping that the end of the race yesterday could have been like that but the rain worsened and inters became the only tyre that would work. It would be great to have a race like that Hockenheim one again... one of those I will never forget.
 
If Hamilton (and Merc) can cut out the mistakes then it will go to the wire I feel, but I am just not sure they can as Max and RB are applying the necessary pressure to force the errors, a by-product of Merc having probably had it a little too easy in the last few seasons.

It will be interesting to see if getting the 100th win out of the way settles him down a bit. I did feel he was getting a bit twitchy about that, understandably so, it's an enormous milestone.
 
Yeah, I reckon getting that milestone out of the way will free him up to race without that weighing on his mind. It's now just him and his car and the team versus the other best driver on the grid and his car and team as opposed to racing the history books as well. Whether it's enough to eek out enough extra performance (like 1% extra) to win the title is another matter.
 
It will be interesting to see if getting the 100th win out of the way settles him down a bit. I did feel he was getting a bit twitchy about that, understandably so, it's an enormous milestone.
Interesting how times change. I remember the joy when Jim Clark broke Fangio's previous record of 24 wins. Sadly that 25th was to be his last. Then wee Jackie broke that with 27 wins, and, as the number of Grands Prix per annum went up, so did the number of wins - Mansell on 31, Alonso on 32, Senna on 41, Prost on 51, Vettel on 53, and finally Schumacher on a seemingly unreachable 91. However, Fangio's winning percentage, 46%, is probably out of reach.
 
Fangio's winning percentage, 46%, is probably out of reach.

He does not have the best %, a certain Lee Wallard has a 50% winning ratio of F1 races having entered two races and winning one of them. (Indy 500 to save you looking it up when it was part of the World Championship).
 
He does not have the best %, a certain Lee Wallard has a 50% winning ratio of F1 races having entered two races and winning one of them. (Indy 500 to save you looking it up when it was part of the World Championship).
Yes, I knew that Indy was part of the World Championship in the 1950s, but, given the disparity, I think we can safely ignore Mr. Wallard.

ft99LeeWallarddriver1statIndya-vi.jpg

Jew-wan who???
 
I don't really buy the long Covid thing, he was as sharp as a nail for the first few races (bar the off in the wet, but that can happen to anybody) and it's only when Max has started to be able to apply intense pressure he has started to exhibit 'weaknesses'. I'm a massive Lewis fan, but I do think he is not on top of his game right now for whatever reasons and it's a shame.
Maybe having Max hit him on the head with his car has afffected his game...
 
Lando was very hungary for the win and he decided to go "all in" by not switching tyres and I can understand that as this may have been his best chance to win a GP this year .In hindsight probably the wrong call but everyone remembers the winner not the second placed man !
 
There is a MacLaren
He does not have the best %, a certain Lee Wallard has a 50% winning ratio of F1 races having entered two races and winning one of them. (Indy 500 to save you looking it up when it was part of the World Championship).

It can be argued that Indy 500 wasn't Formula 1, F1 is a regulation that the World Championship is run under. In the olden days there where F1 races that wasn't in the WC and, a couple of years in the 50's the WC was run under F2 regulations. Plus Indy 500 then.

Just nitpicking.
 
I don't know if you remember the Hockenheim race in 2000. The track was sort of half wet and half dry and it was right on the cusp of inters versus slicks. Hakkinen put inters on and yet Barrichello stayed on slicks. Half the lap was dry, half was wet... it was balanced on a knife edge as if the weather had got any wetter Hakkinen would have won yet it didn't and Barrichello secured his first (and very popular) victory. I was sort of thinking and hoping that the end of the race yesterday could have been like that but the rain worsened and inters became the only tyre that would work. It would be great to have a race like that Hockenheim one again... one of those I will never forget.

Seems Ross in the same thought path as me :D

Sochi drama reminded Brawn of 2000 German GP
 
Seems Ross in the same thought path as me :D

Sochi drama reminded Brawn of 2000 German GP
Ross did strategy based on experience. Arriving at Honda F1 was an eye opener for him as to what was possible, and at that point Honda F1 were only nearer the front than the back of the gird in terms of strategic capability (McLaren were the best and Ferrari were weak at that time).

With the improved weather radar and predictive tools available to teams, they should be able to reduce the number of mistakes made in changing weather conditions.

Sochi was difficult because the rain did not move that quickly and it is a long lap, thereby making the choice of when to pit more difficult than at most wet races (cost of missing a pit window is much larger than usual). The competitor sector times, along with the forecast of heavier rain moving across the track, would have shown McLaren that it was time to pit. But they only asked Lando if he wanted to be on Inters (normal procedure, which needed to be over ridden in this case).
 
It can be argued that Indy 500 wasn't Formula 1, F1 is a regulation that the World Championship is run under. In the olden days there where F1 races that wasn't in the WC and, a couple of years in the 50's the WC was run under F2 regulations. Plus Indy 500 then.

Just nitpicking.


I like a bit of nitpicking ;)
 

Bizarre.

Max didn't try to land on top of the Spitfire though...but I kinda wish the Spitty opened up on that Red Bull and left some damage. Horner would be on the blower to North Korea straight away to get some nukes.
 
A new circuit in Qatar added to this years race calendar to leave 7 races remaining.

A very twisty circuit, with one good long straight. Will it suit Red Bull or Mercedes more?

10 year deal from 2023, missing next year due to the World Cup.
 
My guess is that it'll an RB circuit. Twisty = RB and long straight too as Honda now have better deployment than Merc.
 
I reckon it will mostly be a "We are not a regressive authoritarian theocracy" circuit.

How can they just add an extra round to the Championship? That's a bit odd, no?
 
My guess is that it'll an RB circuit. Twisty = RB and long straight too as Honda now have better deployment than Merc.

Yes, I thought the twisty Qatar circuit will suit the Red Bull better. I expect Horner and Marko were canvassing for such!

How can they just add an extra round to the Championship? That's a bit odd, no?

Qatar is the replacement round for the cancelled Australian Grand Prix. There will be 22 rounds this year. The rules now allow up to 25.
 


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