F1 2021 – spoilers here

I tend to watch the highlights show on Monday mornings. With Virgin, our Tivo box allows us to FFWD fast and when we hit play it restarts at a few seconds before the bit that was playing. So after the first couple of laps I hit FFWD and keep my eyes glued to the top left corner. Whenever it says “Replay” I take that as an instruction to hit play which means I get to see just the interesting bits and it takes about 10 minutes.
I’m hooked on the BBC audio commentaries of qualifying and the race, though.

With NowTV can you going a live stream late and get it to return to the start?

I don’t believe so, no (happy to be told I’m wrong!)

I’m hooked on the BBC audio commentaries of qualifying and the race, though

Agree…I think it’s way better than either TV options (even if I can’t tell the two main presenters apart!!

I don’t believe so, no (happy to be told I’m wrong!)

Thanks, think the only app I’ve ever seen doing it is iPlayer so probably right

Ah poo – Sir Frank Williams RIP

Not without his flaws, but who is? One of the last great privateers of F1, and even though the family are no longer involved I hope his name makes it back to the sharp end of the grid one day.

Growing up watching F1 in the 80’s with my dad Frank was as much a part as of it as The Chain, Marlboro livery and Mansell’s moustache. RIP Frank

RIP Frank – one of the great personalities of F1 and as an underdog frequently dominated larger and better funded teams, and managed some of the greatest drivers the sport has ever known.

Really sad to hear. I never met him but living in Wantage and Didcot I knew many people who did and they all sang his praises.

Williams have always been ‘my’ team. Don’t know why I started with them, but I’ve always followed them. I would have loved them to be back at the pointy end one last time before Sir Frank passed.

R.I.P.

Have you noticed how the best racing drivers are all named after Scottish towns?

Lewis Hamilton

Stirling Moss

Eddie Irvine

Ayr Toon Centre

You forgot about Niki Lauder

And (Bridge of) Allen Prost

Good point

Just found Ayrton Senna Road, but it’s in Reading

Danny Hulme
Johnny Dumfries

Jackie Stewart(on)
James Hunt(ly)

And I see Bettyhill is both a place, and wife and mother to F1 champions (two separate people).

Emerson Footdee-paldi

Johnny Dumfries

Aka the Earl of Dumfries, so actually properly named after the place.

BTW anyone bovvered about Lando moving to Monaco? At least he’s openly admitting it’s for financial reasons rather than making up some baloney about it being a good base for European races or whatever

BTW anyone bovvered about Lando moving to Monaco?

Couldn’t care less. IMO we should still be in the EU and able to move and live freely anywhere in Europe.

Nope, don’t care where drivers live. Slight jealousy aside

BTW anyone bovvered about Lando moving to Monaco?

I often wonder how they manage to do stuff there.
Things like being in the factory with the engineers and designers or testing (or using the sim nowadays),that must be a pain when you are several hundred miles from your team’s base. I suspect the job is a lot more than just show up at racetrack, drive car, go home.

If you take into account the amount of tax he would have paid in the last few years while living in the UK he’s most likely paid more then than you or I would pay in a lifetime.

I often wonder how they manage to do stuff there.
Things like being in the factory with the engineers and designers or testing (or using the sim nowadays),that must be a pain when you are several hundred miles from your team’s base. I suspect the job is a lot more than just show up at racetrack, drive car, go home.

They’re allowed up to 90 days in the UK per year, plenty of time to do sim work and factory visits. They train like hell away from races but that can be done anywhere really. Don’t forget that a lot of their year is taken up by race weekends, travelling and testing. ISTR an interview with Eddie Irvine saying while he officially lived in Monaco he only actually spent a few weeks there a year, just enough to claim it as his residence. Of course he timed it to be when the weather was good, as anyone else would!

Couldn’t care less. IMO we should still be in the EU and able to move and live freely anywhere in Europe.

Apart from Monaco not being in the EU….

Can’t blame Lando, I’d do the same as him in that position.
For 23 weeks of the year they will be away racing, add in the 90 day rule here, sponsor visits and like Irvine he’ll spend little time in Monaco…

Do we have any thoughts on how the coming weekend may unfold?

I won’t be surprised if MV takes LH out, and after Karen goes crying to the stewards it’s a racing incident.

BTW anyone bovvered about Lando moving to Monaco? At least he’s openly admitting it’s for financial reasons rather than making up some baloney about it being a good base for European races or whatever

It’s legal so it comes down purely to morals and it slightly grates on me that the people who can pay uk tax and still bank millions and live a very luxurious lifestyle instead bugger off and pay as little tax as possible as soon as they can.

Specifically to Lando it’s also in bad taste after doing his “thank you key workers” schtick a few races back.

Anyway. Got that off my chest finally! On with the racing

I won’t be surprised if MV takes LH out,

I think a lot of people are expecting this, myself included!

It would be an incredibly unsatisfying way to end what has otherwise been an amazing season

Do we have any thoughts on how the coming weekend may unfold?

In my head… Redbull are quick and Max take the front row, but have rear wing problems again and lash it together after Q3 with no penalty, much to totos annoyance. From the start Max builds a 10s lead then just after his first stop his rear wing flap fails catastrophically causing him to retire (unhurt) and both mercs pit under the safety car to give them a 1-2 finish. Horner blames Renault, Pirelli and Merc for the rear wing failure.

It’s legal so it comes down purely to morals and it slightly grates on me that the people who can pay uk tax and still bank millions and live a very luxurious lifestyle instead bugger off and pay as little tax as possible as soon as they can.

I would absolutely get the heck put of this country and minimise the sheckles I contribute to this government’s coffers if I could.

You need serious money to own property in Monaco. Just read that £1million will get approx 15m2.
Don’t mind as long as they no longer refer to him as British driver, (in the same way that I hate Connery and Connelly being referred to as Scottish, they’re not they’re settled yanks who came from Scotland, to seem less of a dick I also believe that migrants to UK be referred to as British and not Syrian or whatever, do your bit here and you’re one of us)

Do we have any thoughts on how the coming weekend may unfold?

Horner and Wolff will spend the weekend sniping and moaning at each other. The track will turn out to favour one team over the other based on how hard the front or rear tyres are loaded. Depending on which team that is, either Hamilton or Verstappen will dominate. The question is whether their teammate finishes second or not. If Hamilton wins with Bottas second, that would make him a slight favourite for the championship. If Verstappen wins with Perez second, that would make him a strong favourite. If I had to put money on it, I’d bet that Hamilton wins with Verstappen second.

BTW anyone bovvered about Lando moving to Monaco?

Well, if foreigners moving to the U.K., taking jobs, and pushing up housing costs is bad then surely a Brit moving overseas and taking his money with him must be a good thing.

Apart from Monaco not being in the EU….

Hey don’t go wrecking my point with simple things like facts.

BTW anyone bovvered about Lando moving to Monaco?

Uk is a shit show at the moment, lets face it we’d all move there if we could.

Do we have any thoughts on how the coming weekend may unfold?

Fast circuit with a long straight suggests rear wings might be in the spotlight again.

Obviously it’s nonetheless tough to predict, and I wonder if front tyre stresses may again play a role, but I’d put a few quid on us going to Abu Dhabi with Lewis either one or two points behind Max in the championship. The pressure is on Hamilton and he has one simple objective, which is to win the race. That’s when he’s at his best, and the car seems to be coming on song, so even if he’s off the pace in Q1 I’d back him for pole and a lights-to-flag win unless something wild happens. Valtteri’s brief will be to make sure that Max doesn’t get a late pit window to make it a two point gap with fastest lap, though whether he can fulfil it is another matter entirely…

As for the rest of the field, who knows and who cares! 😂

Is there a rule about how far you have to stay behind the car in front during a safety car?
Just thinking, say the order is LH, VB, MV, SP when the safety car comes in. LH goes for it straight away, but then VB dithers about for ages and crosses the line (and only once he does that can MV attempt an overtake) say 10 seconds after LH, who is long gone by then. I’ve never really seen this done.

Is there a rule about how far you have to stay behind the car in front during a safety car?

Yeah there is a rule for this very reason.

Yeah you can’t bimble. Can’t remember the rules but there have been issues in the past

You have to stay within 10 car lengths of the car in front during a safety car

You have to stay within 10 car lengths of the car in front during a safety car

So, whats the penalty for failing to do so, I wonder…..? They’d be hard-pressed to penalize LH for something VB does in Andrew’s scenario…

(Could you imagine the epic whinging from Red Bull!)

I’m absolutely confident Mercedes won’t stoop to that. This isn’t Flav we’re talking about.

Good question! I’ve never seen a penalty applied, but I have seen some drivers pushing their luck on occasion