F1 2021 – spoilers here

I thought the London GP was the sort of story that Bernie rolled out during the winter to keep F1 in the news – it’s been talked about for years but has never come to pass.

There was talk one year of it going around Trafalgar Square and up The Mall – the papers had lots of glossy CGI pics of what it could look like. However they never printed any pics of what it could look like if a car ended up buried in Admiralty Arch.

There was also something about all the manhole covers needing to be massively strengthened / bolted down to avoid being sucked into the underside of the car.

There was also something about all the manhole covers needing to be massively strengthened / bolted down to avoid being sucked into the underside of the car.

yup, thats an issue even at proper circuits. Probably even more from next year with the increase in under car generated downforce

I thought the London GP was the sort of story that Bernie rolled out during the winter to keep F1 in the news – it’s been talked about for years but has never come to pass.

Yup, or when he was negotiating a new contract with Silverstone.

A street gp in London would be as pointless and farcical as Monaco. Still it we’ll probably suit the money men which is all that counts

Hamilton taking a 5 place penalty…new IC unit

Ooft! Not looking good for Hamilton then.

But there are worse track to take a grid penalty than Brazil.

If, and its a big “if”, he has a pace advantage he could make that back up fairly easily.

Maybe Bottas could get on Pole and hold up Verstappen

😀 😀 😀

Only kidding

Maybe Bottas could get on Pole and hold up Verstappen

One of those is far more likely than the other…

So, does the grid penalty only apply for the sprint race?

I suspect not….

markgraylish
Free Member

So, does the grid penalty only apply for the sprint race?

I suspect not….

I think Jolyon or the one who sounds exactly like him said it applies on the race start

Nope, otherwise there’d be tactical swaps all over the place

No. Proper qualifying decides the sprint start then that result decides the proper start with penalties applied then.
Anyone else find the sprint thing rather pointless? Apart from spoiling Checo’s qualifying it has had no noticeable effect on anything and the two we’ve had so far have been rather dull.

The sprint format was introduced to try to add a focus to each day of the F1 weekend, and to hopefully shake up the grid for the race. While it’s made Friday afternoons more important its made Saturday mornings pretty pointless and the sprint races haven’t delivered much of note.

I believe that although the sprint event format is being retained next year there will likely be some changes – possibly more points available to make it worth fighting for places, possibly keeping quali places from Friday for the main race. All to be discussed after this weekends event, let’s hope they come up with something worthwhile!

Fwiw I’ve seen at least 5 quali methods in F1 – 60mins free for all, single lap quali, Bernies awful time based knockout, sprint races and the current 3 stage knockout which is still my favourite.

I used to hate the current format compared to the free for all. Now I like it. the sprint race seems pointless to me and adds nothing. Yet.

60mins and 12 laps will always have a place in my heart……….. but when it was bad it was really, really bad

Remind me what the time based knockout was?

Enjoy

What a lap 😮

Oh yeah…that really was shit (not the lap, the elimination qualy format)

Ooo, possible technical infringement on Hamilton’s rear wing…

pic.twitter.com/OnoUlLwi3f

— Matthew Somerfield ??????Ⓕ① (@SomersF1) November 12, 2021

If he gets done for that he’s pretty stuffed for tomorrow. The wing would have to be changed but, regardless of what they do with his qualifying time, the cars are in parc ferme so he’d have to start from the pit lane

Read something earlier regarding Paul Monaghan and Adrian Newey going to the stewards before qualifying regarding the Merc wing flexing too much at speed.

Watched a clip of Max filmed from the stands comparing the RB rear wing to the Merc rear wing using the four fingered tape measure method.

So now Verstappen is facing possible penalty for touching Hamilton’s car. He was obviously following deliberate instructions on what to do, it wasn’t just a casual thing. Merc will be arguing that the complaint against them is invalid because Max messed with their car. This is gonna make a great Drive to Survive subplot.

This is gonna make a great Drive to Survive subplot

Except Max isn’t cooperating with Drive to Survive….he doesn’t like it

I’m still pinning my hopes on the whole series being based on Haas

Merc will be arguing that the complaint against them is invalid because Max messed with their car.

Did Max touch the Merc before or after it got measured for rear wing compliance? I imagine if it was the former there’s a potential allegation of tampering which is a very serious offence.

Although the easy answer is simply to say that Merc won’t face any penalty for possibly having a non-compliant wing and Max won’t face any penalty for possibly tampering and could both teams please mind their own business.

Did Max touch the Merc before or after it got measured for rear wing compliance?

As far as I can tell, he got straight out of his car, played with his own rear wing, then went over to Hamilton’s car and did the same. He didn’t touch any other cars. The fact that only Hamilton’s car is affected suggests to me that it’s probably just a set-up mistake or a faulty/damaged part. If it was a design problem, surely both cars would have been affected.

Merc have obviously messed up with Hamilton’s car and Red Bull obviously told Max what to do after qualifying. Not really the drivers’ faults. Assuming that the fault with Hamilton’s wing didn’t give a major advantage, I’m hoping that both teams get fined and qualifying positions are retained for the sake of the racing.

Momento em que o Verstapen checa a asa do Hamilton #Hamilton #SaoPauloGP #F1naBand #f1 pic.twitter.com/54bdc5F3w1

— Adriano Soares Pinto (@adrianosoaresp) November 13, 2021

I didn’t realise drivers weren’t allowed to touch another drivers car, but it makes sense.

The clip above is a lot clearer than the one I watched, does Max actually touch the car though?

It could be that Hamilton is running a different spec of rear wing to Bottas and only his car is affected?

From what I can gather, any penalties will apply to the sprint race and not Sunday.

Dunno if this will work, but a clip of Hamilton’s car failing the test:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CWNBmZ_jtsH/?utm_medium=copy_link

Surely DRS operation will be an open and shut case.

😜

Surely DRS operation will be an open and shut case.

Open and shut and open and shut and open and ….

Verstappen's rear wing was also "quite open" at the end of the straight on his final lap: ? #F1pl #EchaPadoku pic.twitter.com/dwliIPMabh

— Daniel Biały (@f1talks) November 12, 2021

Wouldn’t want to be the people making the decision…it could decide the championship right there

Verstappen fined €50,000!

50k for touching a car in parc ferme. Be interested to see what punishment an illegal rear wing results in.

That’s one expensive finger tickle! 🤣🤣

Decision on Hamilton should really have been made by now, taking far too long. DRS is either illegal or had broken. Can’t see why there’s any grey area.

Did anyone else see Red Bull just happen to be testing their rear wing as the cameras peered into their garage during testing?

Only for the gauge to be pushed through the wing.

50k for touching a car in parc ferme. Be interested to see what punishment an illegal rear wing results in.

If they backdate it, Vettel could be bankrupt.

£50k Loose change to a millionaire.

Hamilton starts from the back

That’s the championship decided then….

Wonder if they bought any more engines with them this weekend? May as well chuck another one in now and all the other gubbins as well as he’ll be pretty much starting last in main race now too! 😀