F1 2021 – spoilers here

😀

Who wants to start hasMazepincrashedtoday.com then?

Mazepin has spun again! He’s completely out of his depth in F1 – wonder whether his father will pull the plug on his seat if he doesn’t become competitive soon?

Mazepin has spun again!

He crashed out on the 3rd corner of Lap 1. It was the other Haas that spun in the same spot.

Car problem?

why are they expecting Lewis to do anything foolish this early in the season ?

No – team problem. They’ve followed the money and Gene Haas seemingly has zero interest in F1 now.

merc motor looks like it’s got a lot of grunt

God this is great.

Great to see McLaren doing well and getting the better of Ferrari .

Does Verstappen and redbull have the mentality to deal with setbacks? Lewis and Merceddes have demonstrated over the past few years if 1 or 2 races don’t go to plan, they trust each other to just go again the next race.

loving vettel, sainz and alonso scrapping. imagine mazespin doing all that without touching the other cars, great racing

think Lewis has gone into doing “just enough” mode.

Botas also closing up.

This is a cracking race!!

Botas also closing up.

Messed up pit stop has put paid to that.

This is a cracking race!!

Indeed, best F1 for many a year.

verstappen going to go for softs ?

nope

Se Vettel back to form blaming everyone else for his mistakes. Ocon was in the right!

Indeed, best F1 for many a year.

nah, its an interesting “chess match” for strategy, but the front runners havn’t been wheel to wheel for much of the race.

Vettel **** up and blaming his victim, carrying on his Ferrari form.

end game of this chess match looking interesting though…..

Can Max manage to not crash into Lewis?

Brilliant last few laps.

wow wow wow!!!! simply the best

**** yeah!!!!

I am a bit disappointed that the “track limits” rule made him give the place back, when Lewis had been off track there for half the race. It just doesn’t sit right to me.

Hamilton showing who’s the best! Older tyres but still held him off!

Lewis had been off track there for half the race.

Did he pass somebody off the track? If you do that, you are required to give the place back.

Mega, mega race!!! 🏎🏎🏁🏁

There’s a difference between track limits when lapping alone and finishing an overtake off the track.

As Brundle just said, the rule is you don’t don’t gain an advantage by leaving the track, he was doing so and it allowed him to be quicker in that corner, he gained an advantage and that is against the rules.

This isn’t an anti Hamilton rant, I am much happier for Hamilton to win, but that isn’t fair to me.

when Lewis had been off track there for half the race. It just doesn’t sit right to me.

They were taking in the commentary about “lasting advantage” it will be interesting to see if RB were told, or acted ahead of the race stewards in anticipation of being told. Does anyone know?

Nice drive from Checo too – Albon could not have done that.

That, was awesome!

Both drivers told about track limits earlier in the race, its all fair. Lewis showing why he’s 7 x World Champ, Bottas showing why he’s always second fiddle.

And this was a weak track for Mercedes, the season may will be on fire from here on…

But lets not forget the action down the order, great racing with the petulant Vettel doing what he does when his patience is tested, and Mazipam getting everything he deserves.

MSP – the fault lies with the stewards – the drivers will do anything for an advantage until told not too.

Great race! There was a radio message from RB to Max telling him to go off there as Merc were, then a couple of laps later race control told Merc to stop it – despite the fact that the pre-event notes said it was only being penalised in free practice and qualifying.

I suspect the sideways dig at Merc came back to bite RB in the end.

Verstappen classy as ever “why did you make me give it back, I could have pulled 5 seconds”

Just watching the footage of Mazespin, he’s offline, sees Schumacher scooting off to his right and tries to bury the throttle on cool tyres. You’d have thought that he’d have figured that one out after Friday and Saturday’s incidents.

Have to feel for Verstappen, losing the lead after pitting from the front. Ferrari’s season isn’t going to be the write off that most of us were anticipating, they’re genuine contenders for third. Classy fourth place for Norris and points for Tsunoda on his debut too.

I’ll bet that Ricciardo isn’t having any second thoughts about leaving Alpine.

the fault lies with the stewards

I agree, but the rules are the rules, the stewards notes are just a reminder, they don’t change the laws of the game. I think that RB told Verstappen over the radio so that the stewards would take a look at merc, ironic that they themselves then suffered for it.

It will be interesting to see how RB react, will it be hissy fits all round, or will they do a merc and just be confident they can get the points back over the next races.

Posted at 17:0317:03
Team radio – Red Bull to Verstappen
Red Bull: “Max, Lewis and Valtteri are using the exit at Turn Four. Feel free to do this until we are told not to.”

Verstappen: “Yeah how is that legal, man? The whole weekend we couldn’t do it!”

Posted at 17:1217:12
Team radio – Mercedes to Hamilton
Mercedes: ‘Lewis, we are getting warnings about track limits at Turn Four, so just tidy that up.”

Hamilton: “There was no track limits?!”

Mercedes: “Yeah copy that Lewis but we’re getting the messages from race control.”

Hamilton: “I’ve been doing the same thing all race. Xxxx”

Mercedes: “Yeah, they’re getting a bit bumpy about it now.”

think lewis was right a few more laps on the mediums in the middle stint would have made his job a bit easier.