Motorsports Formula 1 Discussion

RIGHT! Isle of Man is sheer nuts.

Fairly uneventful Monaco GP, but let's talk Bottas...

 

I'm not his biggest fan because I think he seriously underperforms in that car on Sundays, but he's got horrendous luck - equal and opposite to Hamilton's good luck.

Agree on BOT that the guy has no luck at all. MB brought back down to earth this race. I’m gutted by LEC retirement. Glad for podium though - nice.

Bottas 2nd retirement in 4 races. Hamilton hasn't had a DNF in 50+ races. That says it all right there. The man is incredibly lucky in all circumstances. Shame for Bottas as I thought he could've given Verstappen a legit challenge for the lead but Sainz drove a solid race. Would've been fun to see Leclerc mix it up with the top 3 too, but he only has himself to blame.

So....what about Monaco LEC? I've finally found time to watch the DVR and see what all the fuss was about in Quali and of course, race day. *smh* I cannot say much other than happy for the new-look podium finishers. Sainz rising. MB slipping?

 

Baku - my DVR didn't record properly but I watched a 10-min recap. Holy smoke! LEC with another pole but just didn' t have early race pace to fend off challengers. Charging at the end but just fell short.

 

What happened to STR and VER? Straight-line crashes seem to indicate a mechanical failure? I have not been able to find any reporting yet to indicate what went wrong. Something letting go at 200 mph has to be scary, IDC how experienced you might be that is a rare event.

 

I'm glad for Ferrari's increased performance. MB's slip ups. VET rising a bit. McLaren in the hunt too. Entertaining season.

Hey man, yeah that Leclerc issue in Monaco was really odd. Ferrari spent hours pouring over the gearbox but I find it strange they never bothered to check the drive shaft? And as it turns out it was the driveshaft on the left hand side that was affected after the accident. Costly oversight but that's typical Ferrari for you...

 

Leclerc ended up where he should've been (P4, but P5 if Hamilton hadn't retired). His pole lap was with a huge tow which gained him maybe 0.4-0.5s so it wasn't a true measure of his pace. Stroll and Verstappen's crashes, Pirelli claims was due to debris. Really? Debris that just so happens to affect the left rear tire on both cars, at the same point of the track? They're surely covering their ass. I'm pretty sure it was due to the rear tires getting heavily worn and failing, which is going to raise a lot of questions by the teams/drivers, considering they were running them within the 40-lap limit and tire pressures mandated by Pirelli. So this looks really bad on them. I'm just glad it didn't end up in a serious injury. Fastest part of the track. Cars whizzing by a 200+ mph. And you've got a stupid pit wall that sticks out into the track.

 

Yeah Mercedes have a horrific weekend and the team and drivers have no one else to blame but themselves.

 

I think it's going to be a season long battle between Ferrari and McLaren for that best-of-the-rest spot. Looking real close, and that's even with Ricciardo struggling.

 

Was great to see Vettel with an awesome P2. He had strong pace all race and deserved the driver of the day.

On a lighter note, thought you guys would get a chuckle out of Mark Webber's reaction to the restart :D

 

 

^:lol:

 

I loved the old TV crew but this new group has grown on me.

Circuit Paul Ricard -like it? I’ve gone full circle with this track. Following the conclusion of yesterday’s race I like it again. Tire degradation was meaningful. The two DRS zones made things interesting. VER with an impressive charge to the checkered flag! MB is certainly getting their money’s worth from RB after commenting for years that they want competition. BOT must want to strangle someone. They clearly left him on the vine too long in hopes that he would be a ‘blocker’ for HAM. I don’t fully understand the chassis swap. They said it was planned? I wonder.

 

Ferrari disappoints again.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.tech-tuesday-ferrari-were-always-likely-to-struggle-at-paul-ricard-and-heres.450ud1rrKv0GsaFGwC14jy.html

 

Graining of the tyres happens when the tyre’s tread temperature is mismatched with that of its core. If the core cannot be brought into its operating temperature and remains rigid and inelastic, it cannot generate the bending forces that contribute to its ‘mechanical’ grip.

Verstappen takes pole for the #StryianGP! [emoji1038]

 

Top ten:

 

1. Verstappen

2. Bottas

3. Hamilton

4. Norris

5. Perez

6. Gasly

7. Leclerc

8. Tsunoda

9. Alonso

10. Stroll

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.breaking-bottas-handed-three-place-grid-drop-and-penalty-points-for.5t4zHtuj4Z8pRjt7PFC6nn.html

 

I see people are piling on Kimi and how he should retire but BOT is not helping his case for a MB seat next season. I say give RUS the seat and let him challenge HAM for team #1. It’s a huge task - HAM is very good - but BOT has proven to be unreliable. And not just with his tire issues. Just not getting it done. How do you see it?

 

Ugh. Ferrari saying they are using these two races in Austria as ‘tire tests’ to sort out their problem.

VER with a decisive home win. MB just not fast enough. LEC with an awesome drive following that first lap wing issue. Much of this race was a parade with some good midfield battles throughout. Looking forward to next year’s cars adding more passing opportunities…I hope.

Who will join HAM at M-B? BOT or RUS?

Tough to say. But I think Mercedes will end up going with Russell. Especially now that Hamilton has re-signed for 2 more years. And they're being beaten by Red Bull in the constructor's standings. I imagine they'll want Russell to learn alongside Hamilton before he retires and also help them close the gap to Red Bull.

I agree Karan but I have a hard time seeing BOT at Williams.

Well that was an eventful first lap...yikes.

Unreal as it played out on the TV. Glad VER was able to walk away. Sad to hear HAM the subject of racial tirades. All that said…it didn’t have to happen. Not at Copse, not on that lap. Testosterone got the upper hand and IDK - should HAM have backed out of it? I think so. You?

 

 

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I can't comment on the racist comments as I haven't seen them but sounds like a repeat of what happened after the Euro 2020. These idiots will unfortunately always exist in the world and never need an excuse to spout their nonsense.

 

I posted this on another forum but Hamilton tried to go around the outside of Verstappen in the sprint race and it failed. During the first lap of the main race you could see how desperate he was to get around Verstappen. Maybe the pressure of the championship. Maybe the irritation of being overtaken on track by Verstappen several times this year got to him. Yes he should've eased off the gas a little bit and taken a tighter line, because I'm sure an experienced driver like him would've known in that moment that entering Copse that far inside and at that high of a speed, would've put him on a collision course with Verstappen...

 

But there was something different about Hamilton on lap 1. Even though Verstappen left the narrowest of margins on the side that most other drivers wouldn't have gone for, you could tell that Hamilton was fully intent on outmuscling Verstappen this time no matter what. I'm not saying he tried to take him out on purpose. But it's almost like he decided that he simply wasn't going to let Verstappen get the better of him this time. Maybe he wanted to send a message for the rest of the championship to make Verstappen think twice about trying to defend in the future?

 

Take the Leclerc overtake for example. Very similar situation but this time he went into Copse with a much lower entry speed, hit the apex and didn't swing wide into Leclerc (who ended up going off track anyway). Perfectly executed with zero risk to either driver.

 

I don't know but I think this will be turning point in the Verstappen vs. Hamilton rivalry going forward as it just went to a whole other level...

Agree Karan that HAM wasn't having it anymore. Desperation? I'm not sure that is the correct word but HAM seemed overly determined to make something happen on the first lap. Agree too that I don't think he intended to take VER out on purpose. HAM is better than that as a racer and while frustrated, I think he really enjoys the racing challenge.

 

VER? Hmmmm, that's a whole different cat. I don't think that VER will change his aggressive style one RPM. Huge shunt be damned, he will always put a wheel where the other guy has to back off or risk disaster. Not that I think he did anything wrong going into Copse corner just that if you are racing against him, understand that VER drives elbows out all of the time.

 

Imagine just for a moment, both of them on the same team and over the radio you hear, "Team orders, let him through..." THAT would be worth paying for the F1 app just to hear the uncensored reply. LOL The remainder of this season is going to be entertaining.

Thanks to BOT, this race became infinitely exciting. OCO with a fun drive keeping VET back in second place. ALO had a great day and showed his elbows-out experience keeping HAM at bay...that was fun to watch. HAM with a serious charge through the field to 3rd...damn! Summer break ensues.

What? No silly this silly season? [emoji848]

 

 

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Spa…Rain, rain go away… that was a cluster-F ending if there ever was one. Unreal for F1 and all the fans who sat there. No chance of having a ‘next-day’ Indy 500 delay race?

 

 

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Spa…Rain, rain go away… that was a cluster-F ending if there ever was one. Unreal for F1 and all the fans who sat there. No chance of having a ‘next-day’ Indy 500 delay race?

 

 

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Yeah, pretty ridiculous what went down on Sunday. I can't believe the rules allow for that - needs a change for sure. Outside of the rules, I would imagine teams don't support Monday races because there's another race week at Zandvoort this week and that's a really tight turnaround.

Yeah, the logistics of moving the circus was too much for such a tight turnaround.