Andrew P Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 Looks like the times are tight in FP1. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocor Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 4 hours ago, RedgateModels said: Hamilton goes all psychological on Verstappen, has he had coaching from Rosberg? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/56765731 Is this going to be a rerun of the Prost/Senna rivalry of 30 years ago?. If so which of the two is Max?. Perhaps after biding his time this last six years neither. Maybe he will end up being compared to Nigel Mansell in 1992. At the seasons end, Lewis's Bahrain win getting compared to Senna's 1992 Monaco victory. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted April 16, 2021 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 16, 2021 (edited) Verstappen has a broken driveshaft after only 5 laps of FP2, and now Leclerc has hit the wall and red flagged. Mercs are looking steadier and faster. Bottas fastest again. Session over. Gasly third fastest. Edited April 16, 2021 by Oldddudders 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 Tomorrow should be interesting, Gasley could be the dark horse for top 5 in Quali. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 First time I can remember BOTH sessions ending with a Red Flag. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocor Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 41 minutes ago, Oldddudders said: Verstappen has a broken driveshaft after only 5 laps of FP2, and now Leclerc has hit the wall and red flagged. Mercs are looking steadier and faster. Bottas fastest again. Session over. Gasly third fastest. As long as Max does not break anything penalty related on his car, at least he won't be relegated to a position further back on the grid come the race. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 Team radio problems contributed to collision between Perez and Ocon 2021 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix Posted on 16th April 2021, 12:31 | Written by Elliot Wood Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez have been cleared of responsibility for the collision between the pair which caused first practice for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix to be red flagged. https://www.racefans.net/2021/04/16/team-radio-problems-contributed-to-collision-between-perez-and-ocon/ 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete the Elaner Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 2 hours ago, Oldddudders said: Verstappen has a broken driveshaft after only 5 laps of FP2, and now Leclerc has hit the wall and red flagged. Mercs are looking steadier and faster. Bottas fastest again. Session over. Gasly third fastest. Bottas fastest, Hamilton 2nd for both sessions. This is different to Sakhir. Pre-season testing & Practise/Qualy for the 1st race were at the same track & the RBs looked fast, particularly in Verstappen's hands. It will be interesting to see if they were particularly well suited to the Sakhir track suited them or if they were plain faster. Or maybe the Mercs have used the time since Bahrain to catch up? They stated that they 'learned a few useful things' from the practise sessions. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocor Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 2 minutes ago, Andrew P said: Team radio problems contributed to collision between Perez and Ocon 2021 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix Posted on 16th April 2021, 12:31 | Written by Elliot Wood Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez have been cleared of responsibility for the collision between the pair which caused first practice for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix to be red flagged. https://www.racefans.net/2021/04/16/team-radio-problems-contributed-to-collision-between-perez-and-ocon/ It seems as though they are finding it a difficult habit to break. 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Hroth Posted April 16, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 16, 2021 3 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said: Or maybe the Mercs have used the time since Bahrain to catch up? They stated that they 'learned a few useful things' from the practise sessions. Best practice is a proper race to settle things down! And hasn't Hamilton always used "practice" to (re)gain track familiarity before letting the cat out of the bag in P3 and Qualifying? Whatever, it should be a good race on Sunday! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 (edited) Aston Martin could sue FIA over rule changes - Szafnauer https://www.gpfans.com/en/articles/63812/aston-martin-could-sue-fia-over-rule-changes-szafnauer/?fbclid=IwAR1YhndErepNwLWOlGVQ-b8_ciU83vIlKGL5q_DsmFqHxPCQNduqUEzYbOM Edited April 16, 2021 by Andrew P 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 Aston Martin slated as "naive" by Red Bull over rule change threat https://www.gpfans.com/en/articles/63811/aston-martin-slated-as-quot-naive-quot-by-red-bull-over-rule-change-threat/?fbclid=IwAR0JbDjDB2RD8FvPcMF2p1r8viKCkNn4cvdYamrF1mrUtdy2ujY2ltIkDBU 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete the Elaner Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 3 minutes ago, Andrew P said: Aston Martin slated as "naive" by Red Bull over rule change threat https://www.gpfans.com/en/articles/63811/aston-martin-slated-as-quot-naive-quot-by-red-bull-over-rule-change-threat/?fbclid=IwAR0JbDjDB2RD8FvPcMF2p1r8viKCkNn4cvdYamrF1mrUtdy2ujY2ltIkDBU On the surface of it, I don't see what Szafnauer is complaining about. Technical design rules change most years & if these were published fairly early on (as it appears) then I don't see the issue. Things are not always what they seem in public though. Regarding Horner, when RB were winning in 2010-2013, I felt his was a little smug & I believed that he would start whinging when they were no longer the top team. Now his team are no.2, I don't think this is the case. I find his public comments quite reasonable. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted April 16, 2021 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 16, 2021 We all know the entire pitlane, and most fans, wanted the playing field levelled a tad, so Lewis and Merc didn't milk every race. Their records since 2014 are frankly silly, making the rest look like soapbox-racers by comparison, which is hardly fair, but statistical fact. So looking very hard at the 2020 Merc - and allegedly copycat Racing Point - gave the puppeteers (Ross Brawn) a good idea where to concentrate the 2021 rule changes. I fear Szafnauer is gonna be made to look churlish and not a little stupid. Not least because Merc have taken it on the chin and worked to optimise the car to the new regs. Isn't that what engineers do - take a problem and find a solution? 2 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted April 16, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 16, 2021 17 minutes ago, Oldddudders said: Not least because Merc have taken it on the chin and worked to optimise the car to the new regs. Isn't that what engineers do - take a problem and find a solution? And as they’ve proved from testing to Bahrain they seem to thrive on it. They made a big jump then and no doubt have been at full speed since hence Bottas leading the timings on two admittedly short sessions. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete the Elaner Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 2 hours ago, PaulRhB said: And as they’ve proved from testing to Bahrain they seem to thrive on it. They made a big jump then and no doubt have been at full speed since hence Bottas leading the timings on two admittedly short sessions. Is Bahrain a typical track though? Merc have never looked quite on top of their game in pre-season practise. I remember running with a RB employee after 2019 pre-season practise & he told me that Ferrari looked impressive in pre-season, definitely the team to beat (& those inside the sport definitely seem to have more information). Race 1 & Bottas led Hamilton home with Ferrari very off the pace. They then failed to win a race until later in the season. That was the season when they suddenly became winners before an undisclosed "technical agreement" relegated them back to being the 3rd best team. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted April 16, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 16, 2021 33 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said: s Bahrain a typical track though? Maybe not but the difference in handling between test and race was relatively dramatic Mercedes have focused on sorting problems over blaming people for mistakes, as Toto has said several times and admits is hard work. I think this is where it shows in keeping people long term and having a lot of people very experienced in the set up to share ideas. It doesn’t need to be much but as we found with Olympic sports the aggregate of all these little wins makes the difference 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted April 17, 2021 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 17, 2021 10 hours ago, PaulRhB said: Mercedes have focused on sorting problems over blaming people for mistakes, as Toto has said several times and admits is hard work. I think this is where it shows in keeping people long term and having a lot of people very experienced in the set up to share ideas. It doesn’t need to be much but as we found with Olympic sports the aggregate of all these little wins makes the difference Mercedes make changes on a planned basis. James Allison stepping aside into a new role has clearly been planned for quite some time. Merc have hung on to the same drivers, even though one under-performs the other by some margin a lot of the time. Contrast that with the impatience at Red Bull where drivers get demoted mid-season. So it is no surprise that Merc, having found the car to be a bit of a pig in testing, have been able to adjust things to be more competitive - a team that functions like a team. 2 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 28 minutes ago, Oldddudders said: Mercedes make changes on a planned basis. James Allison stepping aside into a new role has clearly been planned for quite some time. Merc have hung on to the same drivers, even though one under-performs the other by some margin a lot of the time. Contrast that with the impatience at Red Bull where drivers get demoted mid-season. So it is no surprise that Merc, having found the car to be a bit of a pig in testing, have been able to adjust things to be more competitive - a team that functions like a team. There is no i, in Team, and as Lewis reminds people after every win or lose, its the TEAM that has put the package together. 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted April 17, 2021 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 17, 2021 FP3 is off to a slow start, despite only being an hour. The track is cooler. Of the first 13 laps completed - only Kimi and the Haas pair have been out - 5 were deleted for track limits infringements. Schumacher is told he has had his lap deleted and responds, "OK". Mazepin is told the same and asks if the team has checked the video! This boy is not good for F1. 3 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted April 17, 2021 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted April 17, 2021 Quali has not been exactly as per the script. Well worth watching. 1 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Collier Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 Those darn track limits Lando........ Worrying for Mercedes that Bottas normally has a good start to the season before tailing off but this year has started the tailing off rather early 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieB Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 5 hours ago, Gareth Collier said: Those darn track limits Lando........ Yep, all that shouting at the TV gone to waste! Still, he continues to improve and isn’t at all phased by having Danny R as teammate. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Jol Wilkinson Posted April 17, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 17, 2021 (edited) Been watching the C4 coverage of the Imola GP. Where did they find that pit lane reporter and the interviewer of the top three at the end? TV coverage is definitely on the downward slope. Gutted for Lando. Edited April 17, 2021 by Jol Wilkinson 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted April 17, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 17, 2021 Things mixing up nicely again Mick S came across well in the interview too although DC was rather measured in his praise 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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