F1 2021

[Gaspode]

Alonso to drive for most of the season with 2 metal plates in his jaw after breaking it in a cycling accident ?

[Sith Happens]

Seems so strange with lack of news, didn't even realise testing was on now. 

Looking forward to see how mick Schumacher gets on.

 

[ziggyram59]

Really excited the opening Grand Prix tomorrow, Verstappen got to be favourite to win tomorrow, Hamilton 2nd then I have a sneaky feeling one of the Mclaren cars will be in the top 5. 

[ziggyram59]

Come on where's all the F1 fans? 

[RadioactiveWaste]

F1 half fan I guess, i started drifting off when they brought in DRS and we had red bull the merc dominance.

Drive to survive on netflix has lured me back in.

MotoGP also starting this weekend.

Edited March 27, 2021 by RadioactiveWaste

[RadioactiveWaste]

Ocon, Latifi, VETTEL, Mickie Schumacher and Marzipan out in Q1.

Haas bad, disappointing on Aston, Alpine, pretty OK for Williams getting Russell into Q2.

 

[RadioactiveWaste]

Perez, Geovinazzi, Tsunoda, Kimi, Russell out in Q2.

Looks a duff move from red bull to send Perez back out on medium tyres for his second run. Fernando in Q3.

Both ferarri, both Merc, both McLarens, one for Alpha Tauri, Alpine, Aston Martin and red bull.

 

[RadioactiveWaste]

1. Max V-rbr

2. Lewis-merc

3. Bottas-merc

4. Leclerc-ferarri

5. Gasly-alpha T

6. Danny R-McLaren

7. Norris-McLaren

8. Sainz-Ferarri

9. Alonso-Alpine

10. Stroll-Aston Martin.

Fun fun fun ready for tomorrow.

[JoetheRam]

Seems like Red Bull has a slight aero advantage to the Mercedes and the Honda power unit seems to have reached parity - as demonstrated by AlphaTauri's strong pace.

Going to be interesting how the development war plans out. Feel like Red Bull might have the advantage there given the design of the Mercedes might prove a bit more limiting.

Think Hamilton v Verstappen for the title will be decided as much by their team mates performances - at Merc suitable tracks can Bottas relegate Verstappen to a 3rd place, likewise can Perez do the same to Hamilton at the RBR favourable tracks?

McLaren's pace is really encouraging and seem to be best of the rest, with a great driver pairing (expecting some fireworks between them two though) but that midfield is so tight a stellar qualifying could be all important so Le Clerc's one lap pace could be a thorn in their side this year. Hopefully they can land a few podiums.

Could be a cracker of a year.

[RadioactiveWaste]

So I was interested last night and thought I'd see what teams all used to be before reaching their current form:

McClaren, Ferarri, Williams and Haas are all the team they've always been.

Red Bull were the Stewart team of Jackie Stewart (Jaguar in between).

Aston Martin were the Jordan team (Force India and Racing Point).

Alpha Tauri were Minardi  (Torro Rosso in between).

Alpine are what was once Bennetton (Renault for many years).

Alpha Romeo were Sauber (one of the midfield teams I liked).

Merc were the Honda team once upon a time (via Brawn GP).

 

[Gaspode]

Wow - what a great race!!!!

[Zag zig]

4 hours ago, Gaspode said:

Wow - what a great race!!!!

Won on strategy and a bit of luck.

Forgetting Brit bias, just wish Russell was in a decent car, his fastest lap shows what he can do against probably superior middle order teams. His tussles in F2 against Norris show how combative he is, well before his jaunt in the Merc last year. Really hope he can pick up a few points this year, Lady Luck owes him some.

[Gaspode]

10 hours ago, Zag zig said:

Won on strategy and a bit of luck.

Forgetting Brit bias, just wish Russell was in a decent car, his fastest lap shows what he can do against probably superior middle order teams. His tussles in F2 against Norris show how combative he is, well before his jaunt in the Merc last year. Really hope he can pick up a few points this year, Lady Luck owes him some.

think you're being a bit unfair on Hamilton - there was also a pretty large amount of skill involved in holding Max off for the last few laps. If it had been Bottas in the same situation, I'm pretty sure Max would have taken the victory....

[Duracell]

Hamilton won fair and square, and Verstappen, to his credit, hasn't said any different. The FIA said before the weekend that they wouldn't be monitoring track limits at T4, so why anyone would expect Hamilton to valiantly go slower on that corner on purpose is beyond me. It's an unproven theory, but with Verstappen's early differential issues, it's possible the reason he stopped taking that line (and he did stop, because he had been doing it all weekend before) was to prevent that issue getting worse.

The grey area comes from the FIA saying they would enforce track limits for overtaking. It seems oxymoronic to say you can use that piece of tarmac to gain lap time, but not to gain a place. That confusion isn't any of the drivers' fault.

It's another drive from Hamilton which further proves his legendary status. Bahrain this year and Turkey last season are two Grand Prix where he found a way to win without the fastest car, putting an embarrassing distance on his highly competent teammate. Consider those races with his 2019 title, where he won with the second (and by the end of the season, third) fastest car, and it ends any argument that he only wins because he has the best car. 

[RadioactiveWaste]

Just caught up with the c4 highlights this morning.

I was particually pleased with the competetiveness of the racing through the field. Alonso until he retired was having a good day, Perez did a good recovery job, Leclerc had a good race against the McLarens.

The track limits thing baffled me as well, not so much the pass during the race (soon as I saw it i knew he'd have to give it up) but the whole is it or isn't a limit. You could forgive the stewards i they said that's the limit, but used a bit of discression if there was a racing incident in the first few laps (someone goes wide to avoid contact being let away with it for example).

Anyway, enjoyed the race and looking forward to the next one.

And if anyone likes MotoGP but doesn't have BT, highlights are on ITV4 tonight.

[Duracell]

1 hour ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

Just caught up with the c4 highlights this morning.

I was particually pleased with the competetiveness of the racing through the field. Alonso until he retired was having a good day, Perez did a good recovery job, Leclerc had a good race against the McLarens.

The track limits thing baffled me as well, not so much the pass during the race (soon as I saw it i knew he'd have to give it up) but the whole is it or isn't a limit. You could forgive the stewards i they said that's the limit, but used a bit of discression if there was a racing incident in the first few laps (someone goes wide to avoid contact being let away with it for example).

Anyway, enjoyed the race and looking forward to the next one.

And if anyone likes MotoGP but doesn't have BT, highlights are on ITV4 tonight.

MotoGP selling the rights to BT Sport at a time when F1 went into a period of single-team dominance was a huge act of self-sabotage. I'm not really a fan - more the attention I give to Derby and auto racing that prohibits me from getting into it further - but it's relentlessly exciting. It could have been the one top-level form of motorsport left on terrestrial television. 

[AndyinLiverpool]

I noticed that when Sky were advertising upcoming sporting attractions, they showed various clips of people scoring goals, hitting and generally being successful. Except for F1, where they showed lots of crashes. Is this what people watch it for? The hope that one or more people are so brazenly bad at it that they wreck their equipment as well as themselves and others?

[RadioactiveWaste]

1 hour ago, Duracell said:

MotoGP selling the rights to BT Sport at a time when F1 went into a period of single-team dominance was a huge act of self-sabotage. I'm not really a fan - more the attention I give to Derby and auto racing that prohibits me from getting into it further - but it's relentlessly exciting. It could have been the one top-level form of motorsport left on terrestrial television. 

Yeah, it's a real shame, but the rights owners are gonna milk it I suppose. I'm also under the impression the UK isn't one of MotoGP's real target markets (a british rider who was likely to win things might help), it's maddly popular in Spain (they have 4 races there for a reason) and quite a few Asian countries. There's also always been a bit more of a tradiation of production bike racing in the UK (i.e. suerbikes, isle of man etc).

51 minutes ago, AndyinLiverpool said:

I noticed that when Sky were advertising upcoming sporting attractions, they showed various clips of people scoring goals, hitting and generally being successful. Except for F1, where they showed lots of crashes. Is this what people watch it for? The hope that one or more people are so brazenly bad at it that they wreck their equipment as well as themselves and others?

I guess they count the crashes as "drama" and it is Sky, so selling to the lowest common denominator is part of the marketing. F1 fans appreciate the tech, the stategy, the quality of driving, the sub-plots, etc etc but all those things don't really make it on the advertising montage I guess.

[RadioactiveWaste]

Back on topic:

Merc - good weekend, Lewis is the GOAT.

Red Bull - slightly dissapointing considering they had the quickest car

McLaren - Best of the rest for now

Ferarri - massive step forward from them, very good weekend

Alpine - great to have Alonso back in the sport, how much more could he have won if he haddn't made such duff team moves? But overall, a bit poor this weekend.

Alpha Tauri - dissapointing to only get 1 points finish, they had seriously quick car.

Aston Martin - Vettel is going to have get to grips with the car. Stroll did pretty well to be fair. Copying merc isn't all that brilliant if the FIA are bringing in regulations to slow merc down.

Alpha Romeo - Did OK, no more no less

Williams - Russell is a good driver and the car is not horrifically off the pace. Hopefully they get some points on the board.

Haas - Car is horrifcally off the pace and Marzipan can't drive it anyway. They were so good when they started up a few years ago. What happened?

 

[JoetheRam]

Was a fantastic opener. I don't have Sky so avoided the result for 4 or 5 hours and watched on C4. Glad I did - was a great race.

One of Hamilton's best victories I think. Max may well rue that one getting away at the end of the season.

I know they had the best car, but Perez impressed me getting back up to 5th after starting from the pit lane. He's definitely an upgrade on Albon/Kvyat/Gasly and should be useful when it comes to the strategy calls that might define the season.

Some great racing throughout the field too. Hopefully stays close throughout the season.