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It’s Mazepin’s off-track behaviour that invites criticism
After his lame apology for being a ****, he did say he wants to be judged by his results on track. Seems fair to me.
Here's a summary of Mazepin's *y behaviour.
https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/k4snkn/nikita_mazepin_and_his_problematic_behaviour_a/
I hadn't heard about this one before, Jesus, what a *.
I enjoyed this analysis of Mercedes strategy. I realised how everything had to come perfectly together to get this to work with no margins for error.
And I don't hate Vettel but I did s**** at his performances this weekend. He has always been a fast driver - he based his reputation on getting pole in a fast car and then vanishing out of DRS range. Admittedly Hamilton does the same but he does seem to have the racers head on.
Look at Vettel throwing away victory in Canaada 2011 under pressure from Button who had been from the back of the field TWICE to get there.
Spin tracker!... 🙂
http://mazesp.in/?fbclid=IwAR0y4rAC558RgzdikvYMa6vBXVswkxIbweUNMWO8HsnkVfv65lpsBlEv5zc
I think it was an okay race. I really hope there is a season long battle for the top spot rather than hoping Hamilton slips up and someone catches.
I feel sorry for Vettel. He seems a shadow of his former self. Even the tone of his voice in interviews is very muted.
I know this was a race at night but I found it hard to tell the difference between some cars from the front, like the Alfa Tauri and the Aston head on.
Chew
The new floor regs favour the teams who developed high rake cars.
The Red Bull has always followed the high rake route, whereas the Mercedes followed the low rake route.The rake is built into the suspension design, so with the freeze in the mechanical regulations from last year anyone running a Merc engine will be tied into the suspension mounting points, hence AM are going to struggle this year.
I wonder if the change was made specifically with an eye to close the gap from the other teams to Mercedes.
I don't think that was the intent, but it's been a nice side-effect.
The reduction in downforce was requested by Pirelli who where concerned that their tyres couldn't cope with increased forces if left unchecked. After all, these cars shouldn't even be racing this season.
I wonder if the change was made specifically with an eye to close the gap from the other teams to Mercedes.
I think it was because downforce has increased over the last few years and the tyres weren't able to handle the loads. The idea was to try and put this year's cars back to where they were at the beginning of last year. However, just cutting a chunk out of the floor is probably going to affect the most highly developed car the most. Merc ran a longer wheelbase with less rake and got their downforce from the larger floor area, so reducing the floor area seems to have had a bigger effect on them. I don't think it was deliberately designed to target them, it just turned out that way.
the-muffin-man
The reduction in downforce was requested by Pirelli who where concerned that their tyres couldn’t cope with increased forces if left unchecked. After all, these cars shouldn’t even be racing this season.
Absolutely but what I mean is that there are a million ways to cut everybody's downforce e.g. cutting the size of the rear wing or number of front wing elements. I wondered if specifically reducing D/F in this specific way might have been chosen for that reason.
Anyway nice result in closing the field, bit of a shame for Vettel lol.
I don't think anybody really knew how it would affect the high-rake versus low-rake cars. One theory was that it would make it harder for the high-rake cars to stabilize the vortices that seal the underfloor. That would have benefitted Merc and hurt Red Bull. It turned out the opposite. I don't think it was specifically to target Merc. Whatever the case, the two cars are close enough that I expect each team to be ahead on some circuits and behind on others. That will make for a great season if it holds for the entire year. I have a feeling that Merc are going to make some big steps forward in the next couple of months though now that they understand their car better.
The thing with Vettel is he’s a very fast driver but not really a racer.
I don’t think he’s won a race from outside the top 3 on the grid?
If you disregard his 4 championship years, and rated him on the other years, would you put him in the same group as Hamilton, Alonso, Verstappen, Leclerc?
It’ll be embarrassing if he’s beaten by Stroll this year.
Chew
Free MemberThe thing with Vettel is he’s a very fast driver but not really a racer.
I don’t think he’s won a race from outside the top 3 on the grid?
Can#t think of any.
He did come back from 18th to 4th in canada a few years back
eta
The thing with Vettel is he’s a very fast driver but not really a racer.
Yes, he reminds me of Damon Hill, who was very fast but never seemed quite at the same level of the very top guys when it came to wheel-to-wheel racing. He was fast enough that he would easily have won multiple championships if things had gone slightly differently, but his final season at Jordan was just embarrassing.
thols2
Yes, he reminds me of Damon Hill, who was very fast but never seemed quite at the same level of the very top guys when it came to wheel-to-wheel racing. He was fast enough that he would easily have won multiple championships if things had gone slightly differently, but his final season at Jordan was just embarrassing.
Agree, and Bottas IMO
If Hamilton gets punted to the back it wouldn't be a surprise to see him on the podium. If it were Bottas I'd expect him to end up 8th.
I bet Redbull are pretty happy to have Perez in the second car and not Albon after yesterday's race! Had that happened to Albon at the start I don't think he would have even made it into the top 10.
Looking at the delta from last year to this year, the Redbull is about 0.5s a lap slower, whereas everyone else is about 1.5-2.3seconds slower. Given how much more planted the Red Bull appears, I think Albon might’ve actually done alright. They recon a 1.5 second over speed is what’s required to pass.
Albon’s had a few decent recovery drives in his time; his issue was more about constantly being so far back from Max that he couldn’t be used strategically and couldn’t keep that car in the top four where it belonged.
Perez is one the absolute masters of recovery drives, though. Just a shame that tyre strategy, yellow flags and a power cut meant that was what he had to do again this time.
Perez & Ocon have had a prang in FP1.
he's finding the limits 😀
I hope Netflix are with the Haas team this weekend.
Klunk
Free Memberhe’s finding the limits 😀
of Gunther's patience i imagine
I hope Netflix are with the Haas team this weekend.
I'm pretty sure they could pick any weekend. Monaco's going to be particularly unforgiving 😀
obviously the car is a pig, but that's ****ing embarassing 😁
If only Mazepin can be persuaded not to allow his off-track shenanigans screw up everyone else's weekends...
*checks notes* Schumacher has only spun once so far in the same car, during Bahrain's race and managed to keep it going to the finish.
What happened with Perez and Ocon?
But following a hearing with the drivers immediately after the session, the stewards announced neither would face any further action - with the fact that technical issues throughout FP1 meant communications between drivers and their teams was limited a mitigating factor.
In their ruling the stewards said: "Ocon slowed before Turn 5 in order to let Perez by, as well as moving entirely to the inside of the turn. Perez was on a fast lap. The two cars reached the apex at the same time, and just barely touched wheels.
"In the end, both drivers agreed in the hearing that it was an unfortunate miscommunication of timing between them, not helped by the fact that both drivers had limited or no communications with their teams at the time. Both drivers agreed that neither was at fault."
have merc unleashed the Kraken ?
the spin doctor is out on track...
that looks a bit more than a software issue (Verstappen) ....
Leclercs binned it!
the mercs look well planted.
Really hope it’s just a temporary glitch for Max. Really want to see him taking the fight to Lewis as I don’t think anyone else can.
How’s finger boy doing?
Oh no too well again. 😆
drive shaft for verstappen.
drive shaft for verstappen.
Good, should be a simple fix.
How’s finger boy doing?
Oh no too well again. 😆
I'm starting to feel quite sad for him now! 🙂
have merc unleashed the Kraken ?
Yeah, was just wondering the same thing.
Aston are sort of threatening legal action if they don't get the rules changed 😀
Aston are sort of threatening legal action if they don’t get the rules changed 😀
Trying not to laugh.
Failing.
Aston will have to get their crack designers tracers on the job. Surely with their expertise they can find a way out of this! 🤣🤣
that's one smashed alpha....