F1 2021 – spoilers here

Two left rear blowouts in the race – lucky neither driver injured. Pirelli seem to have got their new softer hard compound wrong.

Well, I’m a Hamilton fan but in the interest of racing if that’s a manufacturer failure I feel for Max there.

Red bull radio message does make it apear it wasn’t a wear problem.

They were showing tyre wear on the graphic before the blow out – Hamilton had loads left, and the Merc is designed to be gentle on its tyres, so it might not be so much that pirelli have got the compound wrong, but that some teams have designed cars that work the tyres too hard.

but that some teams have designed cars that work the tyres too hard.

Baku’s not massively hard on tyres, what happens when we get to Paul Ricard or Silverstone?

That was a hilarious radio message, “mclaren bitching about Alpine not slowing under yellows, race director replies **** off your all guilty” (paraphrasing slightly).

how brave will lewis be ? seems not at all 😉

He won’t. He’s a championship to go for, his rival is getting no points.

Never thought I’d say this, but I hope Vettel, and his new set of soft tyres, wins.

Well shit.

lost his brakes

He won’t. He’s a championship to go for, his rival is getting no points

Not sure Hamilton agreed with your assertion!

What has he done….

Ffs Lewis.

Perez ordered to stop the car, I wonder what’s wrong with it.

What a race!!

Ffs Lewis.

TBF I think those brakes were cooked! Vettal on the podium, brilliant drive today, and Gasly!

Never thought I’d be cheering for vettel. 🤣

Sounds like it wasnt just Hamilton outbraking himself, wrong mode for the restart essentially.

Amazing race. nice to see to podium places. I think it was an accidental nudge of the brake magic switch by Hamilton but nevertheless a mistake. Class driving by the top 3. Where was Bottas?

What a fun race a shame Ferrari did not get a podium.

I didn’t think it was a great race, tyre failures caused “exiting” incidents that masked another poor track.

I am also a bit confused about this magic button that disables the braking system, am I the only one who thinks that could be a rather serous safety issue.

I am also a bit confused about this magic button that disables the braking system

Doesn’t disable the brakes, just moves the balance all the way forward

Where was Bottas?

On the phone to Williams inquiring about a job opening for next year.

I am also a bit confused about this magic button that disables the braking system

Apparently adjusts the balance forward for tyre warm-up purposes. Exactly the kind of mistake we’ve come to expect from Vettel racing under pressure.

The radio chat even straight away, Hamilton apologised and his engineer told him not to sweat it. No recriminations, soul searching or blame game. Mercedes seam to have the confidence and belief to reset before the next race that other teams don’t.

thols2

Apparently adjusts the balance forward for tyre warm-up purposes. Exactly the kind of mistake we’ve come to expect from Vettel racing under pressure.

Sounded like he’d just knocked the button by accident rather than an error of judgement. Must admit I’m quite enjoying seeing merc/ham under some pressure.

I’m pretty sure Billy Monger let out a scream when Hamilton went off!

His brakes were smoking heavily on the restart.

There was smoke coming out of quite a few of the brakes of the cars on the restart, it was quite weird I don’t recall ever having seen that before.

Hamilton said it himself; he accidentally his “Brake Magic” which overrides current balance and moves 75% of brake bias to the front. Hence, as he hit he brakes for the first corner they slammed on much harder up front than expected causing the lock up.

Where was Bottas?

Up the road ahead of Lewis at the end. But yes, a bit of a shocker. Again.

Just watched on C4. If Verstappen had gone left (like Stroll) that crash would’ve been massive. I also wouldn’t be surprised if debris gets blamed as he says, Silverstone will be very telling after what happened last year

IIRC the hard compound tyres on Stroll & Verstappen’s cars had a projected 40 lap lifespan, yet we saw two sudden failures on the fastest part of the circuit at 30 and 32 laps respectively. One of Hamilton’s tyres had a 5cm cut in the surface.

Verstappen has already suggested that Pirelli will blame ‘debris’, not tyre failure.

It’s unacceptable, sooner or later someone is going to get hurt. We need another tyre manufacturer in F1.

One of Hamilton’s tyres had a 5cm cut in the surface.

Verstappen has already suggested that Pirelli will blame ‘debris’, not tyre failure.

Hamilton’s tyre had a cut that did not puncture it. Stroll and Verstappen had punctures on the left-rear tyres on the same part of the circuit that Pirelli say were probably caused by running over debris. The right-rear tyre is apparently the most highly loaded on that circuit so Pirelli seem to have the evidence in their favour.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.pirelli-say-debris-likely-cause-of-stroll-and-verstappen-crashes-as-they.5eqBGzjXm1ZqptO6YTz3Kq.html

That’s not to say that Pirelli don’t need to improve, but having another manufacturer won’t make any difference if the failures are caused by debris.

Notwithstanding the issues yesterday and whether or not it was debris, Pirelli quite regularly get a kicking for the tyre durability etc., yet were they not asked to make them that way to make the racing more “exciting”?

Pirelli quite regularly get a kicking for the tyre durability etc., yet were they not asked to make them that way to make the racing more “exciting”?

Exactly. Nobody could figure out how to make it possible for cars to pass on track more easily so they tried to do it through tyre management and strategy. Teams were running really low pressures and doing things like running tyres on the opposite side of the car to improve performance, but that caused tyre failures. Pirelli set minimum pressures and camber to address the tyre failures, but then teams complained about losing performance. I really don’t know why any tyre company would want the contract – it doesn’t matter what they do, they will only ever get criticism from the teams and drivers.

yet were they not asked to make them that way to make the racing more “exciting”?

Certainly exciting in the way that dropping an electric heater into a bath might be exciting for the bather.

Pirelli are on the receiving end of criticism over the performance of their WRC tyres too Mads Ostberg berates Pirelli tyres, is fined.

It’s clear that Verstappen’s comments are indicative of his confidence in Pirelli, certainly Pirelli themselves appeared to be on the back foot at Baku having mandated an increase in tyre pressure and certain limits on camber etc.

After Verstappen’s crash on the Sky commentary, one of the commentary team suggested that many (if not most) of the drivers didn’t like the way the tyres performed.

It’s lose-lose for Pirelli. If the race goes as planned nobody mentions them. Any problems and it’s instantly a Pirelli tyre fault.

Anyway IIRC didn’t they want to change the construction to be stronger this year and the teams rejected the change?

Anyway IIRC didn’t they want to change the construction to be stronger this year and the teams rejected the change?

That does ring a bell, EDIT: found it, it was last season “The prototype 2020 spec – which was designed to reduce tyre degradation, provide a wider working range of temperature and lower overheating in dirty air – had made its race weekend debut during free practice in Austin, but earned largely negative reviews from the drivers who had sampled it”.

If you want the tyres tougher then they’re going to end up heavier, which will start effecting all sorts of things. No way the teams would be happy with the F1 equivalent of Schwalbe Marathons.

Lets not also forget that F1 cars are absolute fatties compared to pre-hybrid (pre-KERS) days. More downforce + more weight, indeed

I really don’t know why any tyre company would want the contract