F1 2021

[Guest]

I'm paying for it today but that was an awesome weekend of racing - Ricciardo finally looked comfortable in the McLaren, drove a great sprint race on Saturday night to qualify on the front row for the main race and drove a faultless race after nailing Verstappen at the start. From there he had enough pace to hold Verstappen at bay during the first stint and McLaren nailed Dan's pitstop whereas the normally incredibly Red Bull had a shocker with Max's pitstop, putting him on the backfoot.

Mercedes also stuffed up Hamilton's pitstop and he's lucky he wasn't killed after Max's car ended up driving over Lewis' Halo system. Bottas at one stage looked likely to ruin McLaren's chances of winning as he was absolutely flying but he killed his medium tyres before the end.

Well deserved victory for Ricciardo, he drove brilliantly all weekend and to sweeten the deal young Oscar Piastri extended his lead in the F2 championship by also taking out his first feature race win for the year.

 

[Tim Sheens]

I'm paying for it today but that was an awesome weekend of racing - Ricciardo finally looked comfortable in the McLaren, drove a great sprint race on Saturday night to qualify on the front row for the main race and drove a faultless race after nailing Verstappen at the start. From there he had enough pace to hold Verstappen at bay during the first stint and McLaren nailed Dan's pitstop whereas the normally incredibly Red Bull had a shocker with Max's pitstop, putting him on the backfoot.

Mercedes also stuffed up Hamilton's pitstop and he's lucky he wasn't killed after Max's car ended up driving over Lewis' Halo system. Bottas at one stage looked likely to ruin McLaren's chances of winning as he was absolutely flying but he killed his medium tyres before the end.

Well deserved victory for Ricciardo, he drove brilliantly all weekend and to sweeten the deal young Oscar Piastri extended his lead in the F2 championship by also taking out his first feature race win for the year.

Yeah, cracked open a few as the race unfolded and watching too much of the post race to catch an interview. Great result for both Daniel and McLaren. Nailed that which he needed to over the weekend and particularly the start, so should be onwards and upwards from here.

Piastri wise, two pole positions in a row with a few race meetings to go, but if he holds on to win the title he won't be able to go around in F2 for another year and looking like there are no openings in F1 next year. His closest rivals have been in the category 2 or 3 years in the case of Zhou, whose Chinese backing is expected to get him the other Alfa seat alongside Bottas.

With Ocon being French and having re-signed for 3 years, looking like Oscar as an Alpine junior might have to hang around as a test, reserve and simulator driver in 2022.

 

[Guest]

I'm paying for it today but that was an awesome weekend of racing - Ricciardo finally looked comfortable in the McLaren, drove a great sprint race on Saturday night to qualify on the front row for the main race and drove a faultless race after nailing Verstappen at the start. From there he had enough pace to hold Verstappen at bay during the first stint and McLaren nailed Dan's pitstop whereas the normally incredibly Red Bull had a shocker with Max's pitstop, putting him on the backfoot.

Mercedes also stuffed up Hamilton's pitstop and he's lucky he wasn't killed after Max's car ended up driving over Lewis' Halo system. Bottas at one stage looked likely to ruin McLaren's chances of winning as he was absolutely flying but he killed his medium tyres before the end.

Well deserved victory for Ricciardo, he drove brilliantly all weekend and to sweeten the deal young Oscar Piastri extended his lead in the F2 championship by also taking out his first feature race win for the year.

Yeah, cracked open a few as the race unfolded and watching too much of the post race to catch an interview. Great result for both Daniel and McLaren. Should be onwards and upwards from here.

Piastri wise, two pole positions in a row with a few race meetings to go, but if he holds on to win the title he won't be able to go around in F2 for another year and looking like there are no openings in F1 next year. His closest rivals have been in the category 2 or 3 years in the case of Zhou, whose Chinese backing is expected to get him the other Alfa seat alongside Bottas.

With Ocon being French and having re-signed for 3 years, looking like Oscar as an Alpine junior might have to hang around as a test, reserve and simulator driver in 2022.

Yeah it's a tough situation for Oscar right now - I think people have underestimated him which they may regret. He's ultra consistent, rarely makes mistakes and can bang in purple sectors when he needs to. He's at long odds to get a seat at Alfa, although they have come out and said they will wait until the end of the month before potentially making a call on their final seat - that should at least give Oscar one more chance to impress at Sochi if he continues on his current trajectory.

A reserve driver role with Alpine next year might be the best option for him though as I don't think Alonso will go beyond 2022, and the same might also be true for Vettel at Aston Martin.

 

[Bones]

I'm paying for it today but that was an awesome weekend of racing - Ricciardo finally looked comfortable in the McLaren, drove a great sprint race on Saturday night to qualify on the front row for the main race and drove a faultless race after nailing Verstappen at the start. From there he had enough pace to hold Verstappen at bay during the first stint and McLaren nailed Dan's pitstop whereas the normally incredibly Red Bull had a shocker with Max's pitstop, putting him on the backfoot.

Mercedes also stuffed up Hamilton's pitstop and he's lucky he wasn't killed after Max's car ended up driving over Lewis' Halo system. Bottas at one stage looked likely to ruin McLaren's chances of winning as he was absolutely flying but he killed his medium tyres before the end.

Well deserved victory for Ricciardo, he drove brilliantly all weekend and to sweeten the deal young Oscar Piastri extended his lead in the F2 championship by also taking out his first feature race win for the year.

Yeah, cracked open a few as the race unfolded and watching too much of the post race to catch an interview. Great result for both Daniel and McLaren. Should be onwards and upwards from here.

Piastri wise, two pole positions in a row with a few race meetings to go, but if he holds on to win the title he won't be able to go around in F2 for another year and looking like there are no openings in F1 next year. His closest rivals have been in the category 2 or 3 years in the case of Zhou, whose Chinese backing is expected to get him the other Alfa seat alongside Bottas.

With Ocon being French and having re-signed for 3 years, looking like Oscar as an Alpine junior might have to hang around as a test, reserve and simulator driver in 2022.

Yeah it's a tough situation for Oscar right now - I think people have underestimated him which they may regret. He's ultra consistent, rarely makes mistakes and can bang in purple sectors when he needs to. He's at long odds to get a seat at Alfa, although they have come out and said they will wait until the end of the month before potentially making a call on their final seat - that should at least give Oscar one more chance to impress at Sochi if he continues on his current trajectory.

A reserve driver role with Alpine next year might be the best option for him though as I don't think Alonso will go beyond 2022, and the same might also be true for Vettel at Aston Martin.

Being a reserve driver probably isn’t the worst thing in the world at the moment. The last 2 seasons quiet a few drivers have missed races with COVID around and that will likely continue next year.

The obvious path for him is to take over from Alonso after next year. Renault won’t want to lose Piastri and if they don’t give him a drive someone else will.

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

Stayed away from this thread and off socials so I could watch this with my son tonight. Great drive by Danny Ric. Still a bit low on pace I think as he couldn't pull away from Max or Lando but he didn't need to work too hard at the end with Verstappen and Hamilton out. Credit to Bottas. Started 19th and finished 3rd. Amazing drive.

On the accident, amazing that Mercedes and RBH both stuffed up their pit stops. Neither ballsed up their pits and that accident doesn't happen. Pretty disgraceful that Verstappen pumped the accelerator on top on Hamilton and then didn't even check to see he was OK.

 

[happy_tiger]

Stayed away from this thread and off socials so I could watch this with my son tonight. Great drive by Danny Ric. Still a bit low on pace I think as he couldn't pull away from Max or Lando but he didn't need to work too hard at the end with Verstappen and Hamilton out. Credit to Bottas. Started 19th and finished 3rd. Amazing drive.

On the accident, amazing that Mercedes and RBH both stuffed up their pit stops. Neither ballsed up their pits and that accident doesn't happen. Pretty disgraceful that Verstappen pumped the accelerator on top on Hamilton and then didn't even check to see he was OK.

Yeah ....it was almost in Verstappen's interest for the crash to occur

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

Stayed away from this thread and off socials so I could watch this with my son tonight. Great drive by Danny Ric. Still a bit low on pace I think as he couldn't pull away from Max or Lando but he didn't need to work too hard at the end with Verstappen and Hamilton out. Credit to Bottas. Started 19th and finished 3rd. Amazing drive.

On the accident, amazing that Mercedes and RBH both stuffed up their pit stops. Neither ballsed up their pits and that accident doesn't happen. Pretty disgraceful that Verstappen pumped the accelerator on top on Hamilton and then didn't even check to see he was OK.

Yeah ....it was almost in Verstappen's interest for the crash to occur

Max is an arrogant tosser, but I don't think he seeks to take them both out of the race. He just expects everyone to yield for him. Lewis won into the first corner of the chicane, Max was never in front, he should have taken the escape road or yield but decides to turn back into Hamilton. Hamilton even takes the second corner wide because he's realised that Max hasn't yielded. When Horner isn't carrying on like a rolled gold idiot you know that even he believes that Max caused that.

I hate the comparisons about Max and Senna. Senna blurred the edges of sportsmanship and aggression but he always checked to see if a fellow driver was OK.

He wouldn't pump the accelerator on top of another driver either.

 

[Guest]

Stayed away from this thread and off socials so I could watch this with my son tonight. Great drive by Danny Ric. Still a bit low on pace I think as he couldn't pull away from Max or Lando but he didn't need to work too hard at the end with Verstappen and Hamilton out. Credit to Bottas. Started 19th and finished 3rd. Amazing drive.

On the accident, amazing that Mercedes and RBH both stuffed up their pit stops. Neither ballsed up their pits and that accident doesn't happen. Pretty disgraceful that Verstappen pumped the accelerator on top on Hamilton and then didn't even check to see he was OK.

Yeah it was a good race and even better drive from Dan. He said himself after the race that he didn't have mega pace on high fuel, and I'm sure if either Max or Lewis were in front, they would have opened a gap due their cars superior race pace. Having said that, the McLaren is VERY quick in a straight line and the Red Bull carries more drag, so the DRS effect down the main straight is not as strong. The Merc doesn't seem as good in dirty air either and up against their own engine, they couldn't get past either.

Very surprised that both RB and Merc stuffed their pitstops - Verstappen had already spat the dummy after that and he's so arrrogant you could just see he and Lewis were going to collide into turn 1 and 2. He's a grub of a human for not checking to see if Lewis was ok. Just like his old man who is an arrrogant twat and typical of many dutch people unfortunately.

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

Stayed away from this thread and off socials so I could watch this with my son tonight. Great drive by Danny Ric. Still a bit low on pace I think as he couldn't pull away from Max or Lando but he didn't need to work too hard at the end with Verstappen and Hamilton out. Credit to Bottas. Started 19th and finished 3rd. Amazing drive.

On the accident, amazing that Mercedes and RBH both stuffed up their pit stops. Neither ballsed up their pits and that accident doesn't happen. Pretty disgraceful that Verstappen pumped the accelerator on top on Hamilton and then didn't even check to see he was OK.

Yeah it was a good race and even better drive from Dan. He said himself after the race that he didn't have mega pace on high fuel, and I'm sure if either Max or Lewis were in front, they would have opened a gap due their cars superior race pace. Having said that, the McLaren is VERY quick in a straight line and the Red Bull carries more drag, so the DRS effect down the main straight is not as strong. The Merc doesn't seem as good in dirty air either and up against their own engine, they couldn't get past either.

Very surprised that both RB and Merc stuffed their pitstops - Verstappen had already spat the dummy after that and he's so arrrogant you could just see he and Lewis were going to collide into turn 1 and 2. He's a grub of a human for not checking to see if Lewis was ok. Just like his old man who is an arrrogant twat and typical of many dutch people unfortunately.

Bottas was doing well on the fresh mediums but they were pretty degraded at the back by the end of the race.

You're right in that Max was fuming about the pitstop, he's hardly a pleasant human when all things are going well and that tipped him over the edge. Pretty sure I remember during the race when the team were on the radio to him and he more or less told them to shut up and let him race.

Definitely one of those sliding doors moments. RBH made a meal of Max's stop and if Mercedes gave Lewis his standard 2.5 pit he would have been in front of Lando.

 

[happy_tiger]

Stayed away from this thread and off socials so I could watch this with my son tonight. Great drive by Danny Ric. Still a bit low on pace I think as he couldn't pull away from Max or Lando but he didn't need to work too hard at the end with Verstappen and Hamilton out. Credit to Bottas. Started 19th and finished 3rd. Amazing drive.

On the accident, amazing that Mercedes and RBH both stuffed up their pit stops. Neither ballsed up their pits and that accident doesn't happen. Pretty disgraceful that Verstappen pumped the accelerator on top on Hamilton and then didn't even check to see he was OK.

Yeah ....it was almost in Verstappen's interest for the crash to occur

Max is an arrogant tosser, but I don't think he seeks to take them both out of the race. He just expects everyone to yield for him. Lewis won into the first corner of the chicane, Max was never in front, he should have taken the escape road or yield but decides to turn back into Hamilton. Hamilton even takes the second corner wide because he's realised that Max hasn't yielded. When Horner isn't carrying on like a rolled gold idiot you know that even he believes that Max caused that.

I hate the comparisons about Max and Senna. Senna blurred the edges of sportsmanship and aggression but he always checked to see if a fellow driver was OK.

He wouldn't pump the accelerator on top of another driver either.

I wonder if he knew exactly where Hamilton was .....

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

Hamilton once again shows why he's a seven time champion. Poor Norris choked big time.

Danny drove a smart race. Could have had a podium if his pit went to plan.

 

[Tiger5150]

Hamilton once again shows why he's a seven time champion. Poor Norris choked big time.

Danny drove a smart race. Could have had a podium if his pit went to plan.

Lando will learn a valuable lesson from this. His "Shut up" call to his pit wall was very immature and inexperienced. Having said that his pit wall should have demanded he come in.

 

[Spartan117]

Not a Lando fan, but I really felt for him.

Ps. Listening to the Lakeside drive F1 podcast.

Give it a go

 

[Cultured_Bogan]

Hamilton once again shows why he's a seven time champion. Poor Norris choked big time.

Danny drove a smart race. Could have had a podium if his pit went to plan.

Lando will learn a valuable lesson from this. His "Shut up" call to his pit wall was very immature and inexperienced. Having said that his pit wall should have demanded he come in.

Yeah it was. I think he thought it was going to pass over. Based on the post race telecast it didn't seem like McLaren knew it was going to get heavier but I highly doubt that, there's a weatherman on the pit wall. I think Seidl was trying to protect him from the criticism when he made that comment. He'll learn from it.

 

[Guest]

Hamilton once again shows why he's a seven time champion. Poor Norris choked big time.

Danny drove a smart race. Could have had a podium if his pit went to plan.

I wouldn't say Norris choked, he made a bad call not to come in earlier for inters, but he wasn't the only one as drivers like Leclerc and Perez also stayed out and paid the penalty. Up until then he drove a brilliant race and looked in control. It was a hard call to make initially as it only started drizzling on one part of the track, but it certainly got heavier quickly and spread more broadly across the track which caught him out big time. McLaren should have been more assertive which they later admitted after the race.

Agree with Ricciardo, he clearly didn't have the same pace as Lando as his Friday practice was hampered by engine issues, and sector 3 with the 90 degree corners hurt him as he still hasn't got on top of his braking issues in slow sections. He did very well to hold Hamilton at bay and also did a good job later on with Perez before he eventually got him as Dan's tyres went off. He made the call better than most to switch tyres and was justly rewarded.

F3 and F2 were great to watch too. Jack Doohan had to fight tooth and nail all the way to win the final F3 race of the season and secure 2nd in the championship. He'll move up to F2 next season and hopefully his Red Bull backing can get him into a decent car...perhaps a seat at Prema if Oscar Piastri continues to dominate and win as he looked absolutely flawless to take his second F2 feature race in a row after Monza. I'm spewing he's going to miss out on an F1 seat next year as he's clearly more talented than the 'paid' drivers in F1. It looks likely that he'll be Alpine's reserve and test driver next year and should get his opportunity in 2023 if Alonso hangs up the helmet at the end of next year.

 

[Tim Sheens]

Hamilton once again shows why he's a seven time champion. Poor Norris choked big time.

Danny drove a smart race. Could have had a podium if his pit went to plan.

I wouldn't say Norris choked, he made a bad call not to come in earlier for inters, but he wasn't the only one as drivers like Leclerc and Perez also stayed out and paid the penalty. Up until then he drove a brilliant race and looked in control. It was a hard call to make initially as it only started drizzling on one part of the track, but it certainly got heavier quickly and spread more broadly across the track which caught him out big time. McLaren should have been more assertive which they later admitted after the race.

Agree with Ricciardo, he clearly didn't have the same pace as Lando as his Friday practice was hampered by engine issues, and sector 3 with the 90 degree corners hurt him as he still hasn't got on top of his braking issues in slow sections. He did very well to hold Hamilton at bay and also did a good job later on with Perez before he eventually got him as Dan's tyres went off. He made the call better than most to switch tyres and was justly rewarded.

F3 and F2 were great to watch too. Jack Doohan had to fight tooth and nail all the way to win the final F3 race of the season and secure 2nd in the championship. He'll move up to F2 next season and hopefully his Red Bull backing can get him into a decent car...perhaps a seat at Prema if Oscar Piastri continues to dominate and win as he looked absolutely flawless to take his second F2 feature race in a row after Monza. I'm spewing he's going to miss out on an F1 seat next year as he's clearly more talented than the 'paid' drivers in F1. It looks likely that he'll be Alpine's reserve and test driver next year and should get his opportunity in 2023 if Alonso hangs up the helmet at the end of next year.

Yeah, as I also expressed the other week, it is still looking almost certain that Piastri is going to be sitting out of a seat next season. Unless of course if they change the eligibility of the champion to go around again. Such a shame too, as his past consistency has been added to with blistering pace of late in qualifying as the season has progressed.

If Alfa didn't have their academy youngster in Pourchaire who is also really good coming through, they would probably take Oscar instead of the still likely Zhou. The team reportedly prefer to only sign him for a single season and as money talks he wants a 2 year deal, but so does ability and hopefully it prevails on this occasion.

As for Ricciardo, was yelling at the TV on Sunday night for him to pit the lap earlier after Alonso had already gotten past him and he was about half a minute ahead of RUS, RAI and BOT. Then disappointed further as he then fell down the order on the timing section as he lost heat in his hard tyres to fall behind the guys closing on the softer compound and especially so when only a handful of seconds in front of Bottas just after Daniel returned from the pits.

Not certain as I haven't looked back on it, but was thinking at the time that he would have jumped the few in front at the time had he pitted then and certainly all except Norris and Hamilton, though now pretty sure he would have been on the second step.

 

[Sunset Highway]

Formula One commentator Murray Walker has died aged 97.

https://au.motorsport.com/f1/news/formula-1-commentary-icon-murray-walker-dies-aged-97/5714736/

He WAS Formula 1. he will be greatly missed. I still remember the vision and his brilliant commentary of Nigel Mansell's tyre blowout at the 86 Australian Grand Prix. All Nigel had to do was finish in the top 4 on the day to be World Champion. RIP

Unless you’re horribly mistaken……….

 

[Sunset Highway]

I think Dan’s been on a pretty steep improvement curve! I hope he keeps it up.
His one lap pace is a bit ordinary but he definitely still has the race craft.

 

[Coastie_Tiger]

Hamilton once again shows why he's a seven time champion. Poor Norris choked big time.

Danny drove a smart race. Could have had a podium if his pit went to plan.

Lando lost his head big time you could tell the pit wall should have overruled him. Look at Ricciardo, Hamilton and Sainz all kept thier heads made the right call. Even more impressively looks as though Ricciardo made the call without much help from the pit wall could have been 3rd if he pitted a lap earlier.

Id say the blame for him not winning is 70% down to the pit wall and 30% down to his inexperience. How Mercedes and others can see the weather and McLaren couldnt is beyond me.

 

[Tim Sheens]

Hamilton once again shows why he's a seven time champion. Poor Norris choked big time.

Danny drove a smart race. Could have had a podium if his pit went to plan.

Lando lost his head big time you could tell the pit wall should have overruled him. Look at Ricciardo, Hamilton and Sainz all kept thier heads made the right call. Even more impressively looks as though Ricciardo made the call without much help from the pit wall could have been 3rd if he pitted a lap earlier.

Id say the blame for him not winning is 70% down to the pit wall and 30% down to his inexperience. How Mercedes and others can see the weather and McLaren couldnt is beyond me.

Seidl has been great for McLaren, but after Norris told his engineer to "shut up!" and a lap or so later when asked to put on intermediates yelled "NO", it was time for Andreas who was on the pit wall to step in.