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Formula 1 Discussion


Morphinity 2.0

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The Formula 1 2021 season is almost upon us. Pre-season testing has completed in Bahrain, where the first race will be held in roughly 2 weeks time. What's going on with Merc? The car that looked almost on rails last year seems to be a wild beast to tame. Have regulations changes finally sunk Merc's hopes for a strong start? Red Bull looks fast! McLaren looks fast! Ferrari looks shit! This should be a very interesting couple of weeks to see if Merc can figure out their issues. I'm very excited.

 

Plus we've got Drive to Survive starting up again this week - it's a good time to be a Formula 1 fan!

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Thx for starting the thread it’s almost “Lights Out” and away we go. I’m getting psyched too.

 

RB appear to have it dialed in right now and the fight up top should be fun. But with which teams? MB has a few gremlins lurking in the gearbox that they must have an army of engineers working on to fix. Still, the car sounds ‘twitchy’ and might take a bit to sort. I want to see BOT deliver the goods. He talks about preparation. Let’s see it.

 

MB challenges gives McLaren an opportunity- others as well - and might make Bahrain the start of a new world order. (Doubt that happens.) I’m curious about the Williams strategy to just drive the wheels off with no further development. They found new $$$ that seems to be ok with looking towards 2022.

 

My beloved Ferrari team is so perplexing. Sainz doing a nice job and LEC was rushing up top for a little while. I keep reading quotes about how “straight line speed” is good. What’s the translation? Car can’t turn? Ugh another season of smh. ?

 

Netflix series is great and we’ll be watching. The entire premise and execution of that program is great for fans. What sport let’s you peek behind the curtain so regularly? It’s fun and eye-opening.

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I watched most of pre-season testing and Red Bull look fantastic. I think they'll have their best start to the season in the hybrid era. Hopefully they can steal a few wins before Mercedes inevitably get their car sorted out. McLaren look pretty strong too and will probably be best of the rest, with Alpine, Ferrari and Aston Martin battling it out in the mid-pack. Alpha Tauri is going to be a real surprise this season I think, especially watch this kid Tsunoda, he looks extremely fast.

 

I believe Haas like Williams have said they won't upgrade their car at all in 2021 which is both good and bad. Good for Schumi jr. not having to worry about learning an evolving car and giving him more time to get used to things and hopefully making a step up in 2022 with the new rules. Ultimately though he really needs to outperform the car this year and consistently beat his team mate, which I hope he does.

 

So is it going to be Bottas v3.0 or v4.0 this season? The guy says every year he's going to take a different approach and apply his learnings and may take a few early wins but then rapidly fade off compared to Hamilton. I just don't think he has the mental strength and consistency to beat him over the course of a season and be a legit title contender.

 

Can't wait for March 28th and some real racing finally though!

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I might have misspoken about Williams not developing the car...I think it was HAAS that came out with that. You make a great point about the pressure on Shumi though, excellent actually. BOT? I figured after he had his divorce in the rearview mirror that he would have been solid. Maybe Russell is the guy to join HAM for a better rivalry? Overall, I'm quite happy the season is here and the calendar is chock full too.
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In a side note, I guess Mazepin will be competing this year as a neutral competitor after the WADA banning Russian athletes from competing under the Motherland flag lol Too bad the entire Haas car/team wear is draped in the Russian flag though.
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A huge relief to see Mercedes not destroying the field to start the season! Hopefully they don't wake up in the race and everyone but it's great to see Red Bull have a performance edge, and the midfield teams aren't too far back either, which should make for some awesome racing fingers crossed. Red Bull and Honda have definitely made a big step up in the off-season. It's too bad the medium tires didn't work out for Perez, because his pace on the soft tires would've put him right behind Verstappen, which is really impressive performance by the Red Bull.
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What a fantastic first race! It seems we have some great competition this season. I don't really get all the controversy with the track limits debacle. Turn 4 was not going to be monitored for track limits, that was changed during the race, and then Verstappen went WAY off track in his pass on Hamilton. You never can exceed track limits when you pass, regardless of the how stewards are calling the rest of the race. Verstappen very plainly had to give the place back and he never got the pace back. I'm not sure if he wore down his tires too much catching Hamilton, but it was clear his car wasn't the same post-pass.

 

Vettel continues to make boneheaded mistakes. His qualifying performance wasn't his fault, but driving into the back of someone who just passed you is pretty sad.

 

Mazepin is fucking trash and I hope he doesn't hurt anyone with his atrocious driving. He's in way over his head. The Haas is clearly a shit box, but he's got absolutely zero skill to handle it.

 

Yuki getting a point in his first race is great! Nice race from the kid.

 

Finally, Perez is again afflicted with poor reliability. I don't know what that was all about, but good drive from him to P5.

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To be fair, in all my decades of watching racing, I have not seen track limits being varied between sessions. I don't know what the FIA were thinking changing the rules like that and then expecting inconsistency from the drivers. Hamilton went wide at that corner all race look taking maybe 0.2-0.3s per lap advantage until he was warned.

 

Secondly, take a look at the replay of Verstappen's pass. Hamilton had covered the inside leaving Verstappen no where to go. At least Verstappen had the presence of mind to leave enough space to avoid a crash. Plus in my opinion he already had the nose of his car ahead going into the corner and should've been allowed to keep the pass.

 

But in hindsight, Verstappen was right in questioning Red Bull why they asked him to give it back. He should've held on to the position and taken the 5 second penalty, as he could've easily pulled ahead.

Also in hindsight, I don't know why he gave up the position at the start of the back straight. Terrible timing. If he had waited until T13, made Hamilton pass him offline thereby dirtying his tires, he could've followed him through the DRS detection point and overtaken him again on the straight. Don't get me wrong, Hamilton put up a good fight all race, but just like Bahrain in 2019 when Leclerc had engine issues, this is yet another race where he gets gifted the win.

 

As for why Verstappen couldn't re-pass him, that's pretty straightforward. He locked up and went wide which probably took his tires out of the temperature range and with them already being worn it's hard to get it back into the optimum window. Plus I think he was simply out of ERS juice. He must have used a lot of battery to close up to Hamilton and then wasn't able to recharge it in time to have another go. You could tell this as he was running out of rev's in top gear on the straights.

 

Yeah Vettel had a pretty horror first weekend for Aston Martin didn't he. Unfortunate to run into the yellow flags in qualifying as he was on track to match Stroll. But the collision with Ocon was very clumsy and completely on him. Let's hope he can bounce back in the next race as he's going to be under a lot of pressure.

 

That Haas car is so bad yikes. I was watching Schumacher's onboard for most of the race and man is that car a handful. He was putting way more steering input than everyone else. Having said that I agree that Mazepin is a huge liability and I'm genuinely worried he's a ticking timebomb before he causes a major collision. Solid first race for Schumacher though. He was able to match Latifi, Russell, Ocon and Giovinazzi laptimes on similar tires which is pretty good for his first race, apart from that first lap spin.

 

Perez was definitely my driver of the race too. Had he started where he qualified I think he could've taken Vanilla Bottas for P3, who continues to float around in that Mercedes.

 

Honorable mentions to the other 2 guys joining new teams for a very solid first race: Ricciardo and Sainz.

 

The midfield looks very juicy with McLaren and Ferrari being much closer than I expected. Alpine and Aston Martin (Racing Point) seem to have regressed from last year which is too bad otherwise it could be a 4-way battle for 3rd place. But it's still very early days with a record 23-race calendar, and I can't wait for the action to come.

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Everything you guys said - *thumbs*. I mised watching because I had my own race today; Two round-trips into Manhattan from my home an hour north. Just finished on DVR.

 

If this is what this season is going to be about then we are in for super battles. VER and RB off to a great start even without the win. Holy smoke! HAM wanted competition and he’s getting it. Vanilla Bottas I agree but that pit stop. Oy -vey 10.9 seconds. He cannot catch a break.

 

VET is a time-bomb too. Turns into the racing line, loses downforce and breaking, crushes the car then whines. I thought he had thicker skin. #crybaby

 

Juicy battles - yes!

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To be fair, in all my decades of watching racing, I have not seen track limits being varied between sessions. I don't know what the FIA were thinking changing the rules like that and then expecting inconsistency from the drivers. Hamilton went wide at that corner all race look taking maybe 0.2-0.3s per lap advantage until he was warned.

 

Secondly, take a look at the replay of Verstappen's pass. Hamilton had covered the inside leaving Verstappen no where to go. At least Verstappen had the presence of mind to leave enough space to avoid a crash. Plus in my opinion he already had the nose of his car ahead going into the corner and should've been allowed to keep the pass.

 

But in hindsight, Verstappen was right in questioning Red Bull why they asked him to give it back. He should've held on to the position and taken the 5 second penalty, as he could've easily pulled ahead.

Also in hindsight, I don't know why he gave up the position at the start of the back straight. Terrible timing. If he had waited until T13, made Hamilton pass him offline thereby dirtying his tires, he could've followed him through the DRS detection point and overtaken him again on the straight. Don't get me wrong, Hamilton put up a good fight all race, but just like Bahrain in 2019 when Leclerc had engine issues, this is yet another race where he gets gifted the win.

 

As for why Verstappen couldn't re-pass him, that's pretty straightforward. He locked up and went wide which probably took his tires out of the temperature range and with them already being worn it's hard to get it back into the optimum window. Plus I think he was simply out of ERS juice. He must have used a lot of battery to close up to Hamilton and then wasn't able to recharge it in time to have another go. You could tell this as he was running out of rev's in top gear on the straights.

 

Yeah Vettel had a pretty horror first weekend for Aston Martin didn't he. Unfortunate to run into the yellow flags in qualifying as he was on track to match Stroll. But the collision with Ocon was very clumsy and completely on him. Let's hope he can bounce back in the next race as he's going to be under a lot of pressure.

 

That Haas car is so bad yikes. I was watching Schumacher's onboard for most of the race and man is that car a handful. He was putting way more steering input than everyone else. Having said that I agree that Mazepin is a huge liability and I'm genuinely worried he's a ticking timebomb before he causes a major collision. Solid first race for Schumacher though. He was able to match Latifi, Russell, Ocon and Giovinazzi laptimes on similar tires which is pretty good for his first race, apart from that first lap spin.

 

Perez was definitely my driver of the race too. Had he started where he qualified I think he could've taken Vanilla Bottas for P3, who continues to float around in that Mercedes.

 

Honorable mentions to the other 2 guys joining new teams for a very solid first race: Ricciardo and Sainz.

 

The midfield looks very juicy with McLaren and Ferrari being much closer than I expected. Alpine and Aston Martin (Racing Point) seem to have regressed from last year which is too bad otherwise it could be a 4-way battle for 3rd place. But it's still very early days with a record 23-race calendar, and I can't wait for the action to come.

 

Yeah, good explanation. Hamilton was also harvesting in the couple of laps prior to the attempted pass. So he probably had a little more juice.

 

Bottas is a total non-factor, but he's also got horrendous luck. His 10 second pit stop did not help his cause whatsoever. Given the gap between him and Max, it wouldn't have mattered, but he's been taken completely out of the race by bad luck more times than I can think of.

 

Agree on Sainz and Ricciardo. Good first races for their new teams. That McLaren could potentially win some races if things fall the right way. I'm very impressed with how they developed that car.

 

One thing that worries me with RBR is the reliability. We saw Perez have his issue at the start and Max was complaining about something "weird" with the throttle at the start of the race. Hopefully they can challenge Mercedes consistently and don't fade into 2nd or 3rd because they can't get a handle on reliability.

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Yeah it's kind of crazy how the 2nd Mercedes and Red Bull car seem to have all the bad luck. The Mercedes botched pitstop is somewhat understandable as it was the first race of the season and the guys may not have been in game shape yet. But Perez was such a freak incident. I can't remember the last time a car's electronics just shutdown on the formation lap. Speaking of freak incidents, Alonso's race was ended due to a damn sandwich wrapper getting lodged in his brake duct.

 

Agree with your point about questionable Red Bull reliability. Even though the chassis + Verstappen have proven to have the raw speed, we all know how bullet proof Mercedes is especially on Hamilton's side. I really want to see Verstappen take the championship this year but worry that reliability issues may just gift enough points to Hamilton over the course of the season. Time will tell...

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Yeah it's kind of crazy how the 2nd Mercedes and Red Bull car seem to have all the bad luck. The Mercedes botched pitstop is somewhat understandable as it was the first race of the season and the guys may not have been in game shape yet. But Perez was such a freak incident. I can't remember the last time a car's electronics just shutdown on the formation lap. Speaking of freak incidents, Alonso's race was ended due to a damn sandwich wrapper getting lodged in his brake duct.

 

Agree with your point about questionable Red Bull reliability. Even though the chassis + Verstappen have proven to have the raw speed, we all know how bullet proof Mercedes is especially on Hamilton's side. I really want to see Verstappen take the championship this year but worry that reliability issues may just gift enough points to Hamilton over the course of the season. Time will tell...

 

Oh is that what that was? Damn, that really sucks. He was running fairly well too.

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ALO showed good pace and had a more than respectable return to F1. Damn wrapper...

 

McLaren is poised to do damage if they can maintain pace. LEC and SAI had 'good' races but what of that Ferrari straight-line speed we kept hearing about? Seem like LEC was falling backwards after the first few laps where he appeared to be able to challenge for position - especially early on BOT, but then? The boys finished P6&8 but a minute back!!! That is not good enough. I'm hoping they find more from that motor.

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Ferrari were claiming they made a big step-up in engine performance over the winter but doesn't look like it was as significant as they were claiming. Alfa Romeo and Haas both looked relatively timid in race trim too. Ferrari aren't as bad as last year but I'm not so sure they'll be able to regularly compete with McLaren, and probably mix it up along with the likes of Alpine and Aston Martin as the 4th best team.
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Yes they definitely have made a big improvement from that garbage chassis they rolled out in the start of 2020.

 

Leclerc's one lap pace has always been impressive, but I'm curious to see over the course of this season how the points between him and Sainz stack up. I think it'll be a lot closer than many are predicting. I rate Sainz's race craft a touch higher than Leclerc. So once he gets up to speed in Ferrari, I think he's going to be putting a lot of pressure on Leclerc in the races...

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^Im good with that. LEC needs good competition within the team.

 

What’s up with VET? Is he losing his mind? He’s making poor decisions these past couple of years while mixing in some real sour grapes. Not everything is a result of bad luck. I thought he was mentally tougher than he’s proven himself to be. Sad because when he was brilliant he was a real force to contend with. Ferrari’s troubles seems to have melted his mettle.

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I think the 2017 Championship failure really broke him. You saw his form start to slip from 2018 on. This article on the 2018 Championship failure breaks it down pretty well:

 

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/11515185/f1-2018-where-did-it-go-wrong-for-sebastian-vettel-and-ferrari

 

Particularly, this image is pretty damning:

 

vhBUa8N.png

 

Frankly, I think he's just lost a step and it's depressing to see.

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Yeah Vettel was in a league of his own in his Red Bull days particularly in 2011 and 2013. There were a few mistakes under pressure in 2010 and 2012 but he still got the job done when it mattered.

 

Then when he joined Ferrari, he was still pretty quick in 2015 in a subpar car and pulled out some remarkable wins.

 

In 2017, he finally looked like he was back to his old self and I still believe he would've taken the title if the Ferrari didn't keep breaking down at key points. But you're right, after that it's just been downhill hasn't it? He still had flashes of brilliance in 2018 but far too many errors for an experienced championship winning driver. I think Germany 2018 was the straw which broke the camel's back. I'm no psychic but it feels like he's never psychologically recovered from that. On top of that he's been riddled with a lot of bad luck, but you know what they say about good drivers making their own luck.

 

His steep fall from grace is sad to see as he's a great guy, super intelligent and genuinely loves the sport. But he's not the first athlete to peak young and decline sharply and he won't be the last.

 

I have to admit it's especially sad for me to see because I have a soft spot for Vettel going back to 2008. The Italian Grand Prix was my first time seeing F1 in person and also coincided with Vettel's first win. I was in the grandstand across the podium and was lucky enough to snap this photo, which I later got him to autograph in 2017, also in Monza.

 

IMG-6104.jpg

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That is fucking sick.

 

Also, I agree, the 2018 German GP was bad for him. That probably was the straw that broke the camel's back. I also think the 2019 Canadian GP was really bad for his psyche, even though he did win in Singapore later that season in what might end up being his last win.

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