F1 2021 – spoilers here

Racing incident, but more Bottas fault for me. Road kinks left, bottas keeps a straight line while Russell is alongside leaving him with nowhere to go. Dick move.

Stupid position to put yourself in thought for Russell.

Great race over all, really loved it. What a season so far!

Coulthard pretty adamant it was Russell’s fault and he needs to put his hand up as well

Going over and giving the other drivers helmet a slap was childish.
I can understand the adrenaline but that isn’t looking great

Russell’s clearly a fan of Nelson Piquet…

grahamt1980
Full Member

Going over and giving the other drivers helmet a slap was childish.
I can understand the adrenaline but that isn’t looking great

Meh, wasn’t like he punched him in the face. Valtteri flipped him the bird, George gave him a tap.

Not saying it was going to damage him.
Was just stupid.
Yes am aware of a number of issues after crashes, there is an amount of comedy though in people wearing crash helmets throwing punches.
Not going to do a lot

Great race, love it when the rain come into play it mixes things up nicely. Racing incident with Bottas/Russell but the Williams had room IMO

Loved the smile on Lewis’ face at the interview. He clearly enjoyed the recovery. Taking two seconds off Max on a lap on less degraded tyres too. Driver of the day by some margin.

retro83
Free Member
Racing incident, but more Bottas fault for me. Road kinks left, bottas keeps a straight line while Russell is alongside leaving him with nowhere to go. Dick move.

Stupid position to put yourself in thought for Russell.

The racing line is to the right and Bottas was moving toward it. It looks to me like both Bottas and Russel were caught out by the overspeed the Williams had on the Mercedes. Bottas saw him coming but reacted a bit late to move to cover the racing line, Russel by this point wasn’t expecting him to move and then had to react quickly to Bottas’ move and so his maneuver was exaggerated by the late change of direction and the closing speed. These combined placed his right wheels onto the grass/wetline which then spun him into Bottas.

While Bottas is right in that he left him space, Russel is also right in that his defence was late in relation to the closing speed which i doubt either of them expected.

I read it a little differently. First time I saw it was from Russell’s onboard and you can see why he had to react the way he did. But I suspect actually Bottas didn’t see him, or rather wasn’t aware the move was on, until he jinked to the left, by which time Russell had already had to react to the closing gap due to the way the track has a bend in it and the racing line moves across there. It was just unlucky timing regarding the point where the move happened. Valtteri’s “the move made no sense” comment doesn’t really wash because plenty of people made the same move stick. For me, a racing incident, and the strong reactions are understandable but the dust will settle.

What a race though… it had it all! And great to see Norris doing such a great job; every year he’s come out of the blocks better than the last and he really made that strategy call to Ricciardo look justified, which is a big deal.

In fact, stellar drives from the top three or four—everyone else looked decidedly second-division by comparison.

I think Bottas jinked slightly to the right (whilst already drifting right following the racing line) as Russel got close and that startled him and he over-compensated, put a wheel on the grass then lost control. Just a racing incident really

I like Toto’s summary: “It’s all a bit Renault Clio Cup…”

Happy to help @MercedesAMGF1, just fill in the empty spaces, we’ll pay the entry fees ? https://t.co/URyJLzrZia pic.twitter.com/apaQZua7WQ

— Renault Clio Series (@RenaultSeries) April 18, 2021

In TOCA 2 the Clip cup was by far the most fun.

I’m starting to get to the point where dc is getting too biased to be worth listening to. His complaining about Perez penalty for overtaking being the safety car was a joke. The team should have told him to get Back to the right place. Clearly self inflicted but not according to dc the RB employee

My question around the Bottas Russell incident is what on Earth was Bottas doing to be racing Russel who is in one of the worst cars on the grid? Bottas should have been half a lap up the road with the red bulls, mclarens and his team mate, not floundering at the back.

Bottas had just had a pit stop and as is typical of the Mercedes, it seems to take a lap or two to get the tyres to properly switch on, hence why they were racing at that point.

Whilst it was indeed a great drive by Lewis let’s not forget his recovery was aided by the red flag. Without that he would probably have finished no higher than, erm, 3rd.

not floundering at the back

the back was much further back, what with Schuey Jr a minute down relative to the next car up the road, and Massivespin another half lap down (until he spun and was down even more).

fighting over 9+10 is very much mid field though, and not where one expects either a Merc or a Williams, albeit for different reasons

Massivespin

That could stick…

My question around the Bottas Russell incident is what on Earth was Bottas doing to be racing Russel who is in one of the worst cars on the grid?

The Merc has a narrow operating window for tyre temperature, it takes a while to get them up to temperature when it’s cold. Bottas has often had difficulty with that in cold conditions. At the beginning of the race, Hamilton struggled a bit too until the tyres warmed up, then he started closing on Verstappen. On top of that, it was wet at the start and the field got a bit mixed up.

The Bottas/Russell thing was just a racing incident. I think Russell should have been a bit more cautious, but it’s just one of those things that happen.

Norris looking really good so far. Hopefully Ricciardo will get up to speed fairly quickly. The McLaren/Ferrari fight for third and fourth is looking promising. Alpha Tauri must be pretty disappointed, they seem to have a fast car but just keep making silly mistakes.

That could stick…

Maybe they should print it on the back end of that Haas, then—they need all the stickiness they can get there.

That could stick…

More than his tyres do.

Talking of penalties, what happened with Vettel?
Yes, I understand what the penalty was for and why he got it but why did it take them 25 laps to announce this? It should have been obvious the instant the five minute warning was given and everyone informed of it before the race even started, I’m not a Vettel fan but that was ridiculous.

I only found out the other day that Vettel won the 4 championships and comfortably beat his teammate up until his first child was born and has neither won a championship or really beaten his teammate (I don’t think Kimi was really trying) since.

Possibly just coincidence, but being a father does change you mentally.

I’m wondering if his heart’s really in it, whether he thinks it is or not.

So a potential Merc driver causes a crash that brings out a red flag enabling Merc to regain 2nd place.

Anyone remember Nelson Piquet Jr 🙂

He could do that without taking the other one off!

Bottas has often had difficulty with that in cold conditions. At the beginning of the race, Hamilton struggled a bit too until the tyres warmed up, then he started closing on Verstappen

i understand that but that doesn’t explain why Hamilton is fighting for the win and Bottas struggling to get in the points. It’s the same car and tyres. It just makes Bottas look very second rate and not capable of even being a decent second driver in a championship battle.

I only found out the other day that Vettel won the 4 championships and comfortably beat his teammate up until his first child was born and has neither won a championship or really beaten his teammate (I don’t think Kimi was really trying) since.

Possibly just coincidence, but being a father does change you mentally.

I’m wondering if his heart’s really in it, whether he thinks it is or not.

All due to respect to Mark Webber, he’s a good driver, but not a world beater. He’d even say so much himself. The Red Bull’s him and Vettel were equipped with at the time were immensely quick and he got incredibly lucky in 2010 and 2012. I didn’t exactly respect Alonso at the time, but in my mind, the titles from those years are his, especially so 2012 when he pulled together one of the best seasons I’ve ever seen, only to be robbed by Grosjean deciding he wanted to be a Torpedo at Spa and then getting wiped out by Raikkonen at Suzuka. Worth remembering that in 2013 as well, after Pirelli went back to the 2012 tyre after the Hungarian grand prix after the Silverstone failures that year, Red Bull gained massively from that and everyone else who was closer at the time fell back.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s a decent driver, but his career has been littered with mistakes, crashes and blame gaming. The quality drivers really shine through out their career. Alonso has been on it since the start, so has Lewis (2011 personal life shambles of a year aside), add the old guard of Senna, Prost and Lauda to the list. The newer, younger generation, Leclerc, Verstappen et al. have made mistakes, but not with the frequency and consequence of Seb. Pressure him and he’ll buckle.

In those title years, Red Bull built the cars to qualify at the front, run at full chat from pole, build a gap and cruise to the finish. When that didn’t happen and he was made to work and scrap, he made mistakes, just like he does now. When push comes to shove, to me he’s just not of the same calibre of others and the titles are not reflective of his overall level at all. Just my opinion of course!

i understand that but that doesn’t explain why Hamilton is fighting for the win and Bottas struggling to get in the points. It’s the same car and tyres. It just makes Bottas look very second rate and not capable of even being a decent second driver in a championship battle.

I think you answered your own question….

George Russell apologises for Valtteri Bottas crash in Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/56809267

Seems he’s remembered who his paymasters are.

Firmly put in his place by Toto.

I suspect his apology was penned by their PR team and he was told in no uncertain terms to sign it.

doesn’t explain why Hamilton is fighting for the win and Bottas struggling to get in the points. It’s the same car and tyres. It just makes Bottas look very second rate and not capable of even being a decent second driver in a championship battle.

Hamilton has solid claim to be one of the all-time greats, he seems to be able to adapt to difficult cars. So do Verstappen and Leclerc. The current tyres are difficult to manage and the Merc seems to be slow to get them to temperature. Bottas, Vettel, Gasly, and Perez are all very good drivers, but they got shown up by teammates who are simply exceptional at driving difficult cars on the limit. Merc have the data on Bottas and know how fast he is and why he has problems and they seem to think he’s a very good driver, even if he’s not quite at Hamilton’s level. Jury’s still out on Perez, but if Verstappen keeps up his current form, it’s hard to see Perez beating him without a big helping of luck.

Interesting seeing Ricciardo and Alonso struggling to adapt to new cars. Both those guys are very good drivers so I think that just shows how difficult those cars are to set up and drive on the limit.

Hamilton has solid claim to be one of the all-time greats, he seems to be able to adapt to difficult cars. So do Verstappen and Leclerc.

As with many other situations in the past, you want to know how good the car is? Look at the 2nd driver rather than the 1st. AM are likely using it as evidence in their rake arguement too

SOmebody’s made a sim run of the new miami track, looks quite good. I didn’t realise it was to be run anti-clockwise

And the track layout for reference

The concrete bridges over/around the track are a bit alarming.

The great Ayrton Senna once said if you see a gap and don’t go for it you’re not a racing driver. Could you imagine Verstappen apologising no chance. Racing accident get on with it.

“If you no longer go for a gap which exists, you are no longer a racing driver”
“If you go for a gap which no longer exists you are Pastor Maldonado”

THe monaco historic gp is on this weekend.

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