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Formula 1 2021


Oldddudders
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28 minutes ago, Andrew P said:

I think the next 3 Races will be critical to his future with the Team and maybe in F1, full stop.

On today's showing, he appears to have been seriously demotivated by what happened in Monaco, with that being exacerbated by the attempt to shift the blame onto him. 

 

Problem for both MB and Lewis is that I think Valtteri's had enough of being Lewis's wing man, which has amounted to much more than him just being a No.2 driver as we previously understood it. I can't see any of the obvious candidates to replace him being willing to assume that role. 

 

The dominant position of Mercedes seems to be crumbling much faster than I anticipated. If Valtteri jumps or is pushed mid-season, Lewis will have to work harder for podiums, let alone wins, and Toto will have to manage a very different team dynamic.

 

My guess is that, if Lewis isn't champion at the end of the season, he'll retire, and MB will no longer need Valtteri anyway. I wonder where that scenario stands on Merc's balance-of-probabilities flip chart?

 

John

 

 

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Judging from today, I think we may have seen the last of the "one stop" strategy among the fastest teams this season. I think they will all view their tyres with a healthy degree of scepticism from here on in.

Do not agree, until the tyres are examined damage due to debris can not be ruled out. Pirelli 'may' got it wrong today, but it does not mean there is a fundamental problem with the tyres. F1 teams do not do scepticism they work on data and the team strategies will still be what ever is the quickest way to finish the race.

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36 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

 

The dominant position of Mercedes seems to be crumbling much faster than I anticipated. If Valtteri jumps or is pushed mid-season, Lewis will have to work harder for podiums, let alone wins, and Toto will have to manage a very different team dynamic.

 

 

Don't be too hasty to judge.

The last 2 races were known to be weak circuits for them & they still have not worked out how best to set up the car yet.

There is also the issue of the flexi rear wings. Mercedes tried one themselves in P1 & P2 at Baku & it didn't work on their car, so it may not be a component which can simply be switched out to make the car faster. Will the RB work as well with a re-designed component to meet the new test?

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46 minutes ago, kipford said:

Do not agree, until the tyres are examined damage due to debris can not be ruled out. Pirelli 'may' got it wrong today, but it does not mean there is a fundamental problem with the tyres. F1 teams do not do scepticism they work on data and the team strategies will still be what ever is the quickest way to finish the race.

 

Pirelli are already suggesting the cause may have been debris as the failures were on the left tyre and at Azerbaijan it's the right tyres which get the most wear. They also found a cut on one of Lewis's tyres: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/motorsports/pirelli-suspect-cause-of-cut-found-on-hamiltons-tyre/ar-AAKLlUi?li=BBoPWjQ

 

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6 minutes ago, Jonboy said:

Was the Red Bull radio call for a red flag altruism or trying to protect Perez?

Probably hoping the Race would end to safeguard Perez's Engine as it was in trouble.

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11 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

My guess is that, if Lewis isn't champion at the end of the season, he'll retire,

 

I recon the reverse of that, if Lewis doesn't win the championship he'll come back next year, if he does, he'll retire.

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1 minute ago, Hobby said:

 

I recon the reverse of that, if Lewis doesn't win the championship he'll come back next year, if he does, he'll retire.

I suspect that would hinge on how well Lewis thinks his next car is likely to stack up against the opposition.

 

More than one of them seems to be "getting there" quite early this year, whilst his own car seems to have become a bit of a handful. That needs to be sorted out sooner rather than later as it may also explain, at least in part, why his team-mate isn't currently providing the level of support Lewis is accustomed to.

 

Win or lose this season; if Lewis concludes that his 2022 car won't put him in with a shout for another championship (i.e. it might be no better than the third quickest on the grid), and he ends up with real competition in the other Merc, I think he might go off and pursue his other interests. 

 

John

 

 

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I think nul points for either of the championship leaders was a good result, as it keeps things boiling, and closes the gap behind them a little. Imagine if going into the final race of the season they still had only 4 points margin - F1 would be very well-watched!

 

The new Vettel deserved his points, and Gasly still impresses, while Tsunoda seems to have calmed down and is getting the results we expected after his blockbusting Bahrain test drives. Ferrari rather fell away on race-day, which was a pity, but they have clearly got some of their package right. Now Mazepin is even irritating his placid team-mate - but when daddy bankrolls the team, then..... 

 

Pirelli are on the back foot and grasping at straws. I hope we get a full and final explanation. Two drivers might have been seriously injured in previous decades when cars were less protective.

 

And, given how even the mighty, among others, had hit the wall in FP and Quali, am I right that no-one really did that in the race? Remarkable. 

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13 hours ago, Jonboy said:

Was the Red Bull radio call for a red flag altruism or trying to protect Perez?

Having seen him pull over after the end of the finish line you could think that however I do recall that the team rep said about the reason to red flag was to change tyres. Arguably like when DR won in Canada it would have suited Red Bull to just lap behind the SC car until they ran out of laps as the car would be less stressed so less liklihood of breaking down and no risk of Hamilton overtaking.... That said they may have secretly been hoping that the FIA say, "Great idea, we won't bother with the last 2 laps though". 

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I think you can easily read into Red Bull's radio message to the FIA many ways. 

 

It kind of feels silly that the tyre's should just let go like this. Pirelli have had many of these instances throughout their time as supplier to F1.

 

They've just taken over as Tyre supplier to the WRC too and in Rally Sardinia over the weekend many Drivers suffered delaminations. Not something they had whilst Michelin were supplying the tyers. Theirs seemed bullit proof and the only punctures came from issues with the wheel rims.

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8 minutes ago, LNERandBR said:

I think you can easily read into Red Bull's radio message to the FIA many ways. 

 

It kind of feels silly that the tyre's should just let go like this. Pirelli have had many of these instances throughout their time as supplier to F1.

 

They've just taken over as Tyre supplier to the WRC too and in Rally Sardinia over the weekend many Drivers suffered delaminations. Not something they had whilst Michelin were supplying the tyers. Theirs seemed bullit proof and the only punctures came from issues with the wheel rims.

 

There is almost certainly a lot more to this than Pirelli tyres being poor. Pirelli provide what FIA want. Their tyres used to go 'off the cliff' & lsot 3-4 seconds per lap when they were worn. FIA wanted this changed, so Pirelli changed it. Few outside of F1 really know what is being asked from Pirelli & how closely their tyres meet this.

 

Michelin were not without their issues. Do you remember Indianapolis 2005 where Michelin had an issue with tyres failing during practise, then all 14 Michelin-tyred cars retired after the parade lap, leaving the 6 Bridgestone-tyred cars to race? Again, there was more to it than Michelin simply being sub-standard.

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3 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

I think nul points for either of the championship leaders was a good result, as it keeps things boiling, and closes the gap behind them a little. Imagine if going into the final race of the season they still had only 4 points margin - F1 would be very well-watched!

 

The new Vettel deserved his points, and Gasly still impresses, while Tsunoda seems to have calmed down and is getting the results we expected after his blockbusting Bahrain test drives. Ferrari rather fell away on race-day, which was a pity, but they have clearly got some of their package right. Now Mazepin is even irritating his placid team-mate - but when daddy bankrolls the team, then..... 

 

Pirelli are on the back foot and grasping at straws. I hope we get a full and final explanation. Two drivers might have been seriously injured in previous decades when cars were less protective.

 

And, given how even the mighty, among others, had hit the wall in FP and Quali, am I right that no-one really did that in the race? Remarkable. 

I know I sound like a broken record, but how must George Russell feel to see new boy Toshido getting good points in such a short time in F1 and GR is still propping up the table. He was close to getting pasts Bottas at one stage on Sunday.

As for Haas / Unicralican / Marzipan or whatever, the Old man won't like Micks comment about his Son, so may say; he is not aloud to complain on air again.

 

The Vet has had two good weekends on tight street circuits, but I will be interested to see if he fairs as well in France and Austria.

 

Gasley is GOOD, which has surprised me, I have to admit.

 

As for Pirelli, they will have to get it right for Silverstone, and I bet a lot of Teams will now look at 2 Stop Strategies more often.

 

I agree fully that Max and Lewis scoring no points each was a right and fair result, despite me wanting a LH win. 

 

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7 minutes ago, steve1 said:

Surely there must be a council somewhere needing a bin lorry driver who could give Marzipan a job and stop him from clogging up the grid?

 

steve


I think they do require some level of driving competence so alas no.

 

Unless of course Daddy Putinbucks donates a wad of cash to boost the council budget each year.

 

Darius

 

 

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It’s simple while dad bankrolls the team he’ll be there, Stroll was considered as such for several years and even Perez!

Things can change ;)

I think he’s more likely to get a steady procession of one race bans the rate he’s acquiring points. 

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For some inexplicable reason I have developed a liking for the AlphaTauri team. Perhaps it's the colour scheme. I was glad to see them do well in Baku.

 

Mind you, can't see me ever buying any of the company's clobber at their prices...

 

steve

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On 06/06/2021 at 20:29, Pete the Elaner said:

Allowing all cars to put on soft tyres (as per red flag rules) took away any advantage from those who managed their tyres well for the proper race distance.

 

It did, but when RB requested it, I think the safety of all the drivers was forefront in their minds.

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1 hour ago, steve1 said:

For some inexplicable reason I have developed a liking for the AlphaTauri team. Perhaps it's the colour scheme. I was glad to see them do well in Baku.

 

Mind you, can't see me ever buying any of the company's clobber at their prices...

 

steve

 

I have a similar predicament with Ferrari, McLaren and Aston Martin.....

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