Official 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix **SPOILERS**

[parabolica]

Teddy Lop said:

hmm, not taking any responsibility for the actual crash though, is he?

I played it through several times last night, bottas certainly moves to the right but I couldn't make out the jink - although that's on a shiddy sky box and not a racing drivers perceptions... In his defence George isn't really given to making things up and hysterical outbursts, is he?

In all fairness the move was probably optimistic, but with bottas floundering anyway and with a window of opportunity while he struggled furthermore on the cold tyres Russel probably saw the move as something needed seizing. Its not like he gets too many chances to show his capability, he'd have looked an utter hero if he'd pulled it off.

Well the stewards deemed it a racing incident so 50/50, so he doesn't really need to take responsibility. I still think it's more 60/40 on him, just because he was the overtaker and Bottas didn't do anything unjust (moving to take the dry line is perfectly reasonable imo).

I reckon on the previous laps as he was getting closer and closer to Bottas he saw a perfect opportunity to impress Toto and cement the drive for 2022 and was committed to it no matter what; shame for all it ended the way it did.

[anonymous-user]

Good post above, I have to be honest the current crop of F2 graduates leave a lot to the imagination, if these guys were the championship contenders, the rest of F2 must be very poor. We’ve seen more errors from Mick, Mazepin and Tsunoda across all sessions in the first 2 GPS than most other graduates in recent years haven’t we?

[Teddy Lop]

talksthetorque said:

And congratulations to Nikita Mazepin on completing his first F1 race. As has been said many many times, to finish last, first you have to finish.

has he finished yet? He wasn't going fast enough to catch anything to hit, latifi had to crash into him on his behalf.

Schumacher was making him look ridiculous, even the shoddy on screen timing showed it.

[talksthetorque]

Well done Toto.
When, in the near future (I hope) you need George to be an utterly ruthless bd to get you your 12th WCC in a row - and George ends up winning the WDC, but you end up second to McLaren by less than 7 points, I hope George reminds you about your 'Renault Clio Cup" chat.

I like Toto - and he has been the best in the game, but I feel he is now starting to like the sound of his own voice a bit too much. Like a lot of Austrians, Great commercial guys, crap comedians.
I don't think the culture of owning up to your errors is so easy to implement when the team is not dominant and there are new cost caps floating around.

[kiseca]

talksthetorque said:

And congratulations to Nikita Mazepin on completing his first F1 race. As has been said many many times, to finish last, first you have to finish.

[anonymous-user]

I bet George Russell fking hates Imola. Assuming there is one, might as well get on with drafting his 2022 apology.

[Derek Smith]

eps said:

Lando drove such a great final stint on the soft tyres - I thought he'd be toast and end up 5th or so.

Thank goodness someone else thought that way.

I agree with the rest of your excellent post as well.

[talksthetorque]

RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:

I bet George Russell fking hates Imola. Assuming there is one, might as well get on with drafting his 2022 apology.

Have you not heard, Miami is the new Imola.

It was cringeworthy to hear all the drivers saying how they're really looking forward to driving round a totally deviod of character stadium car park, whilst waiting to drive round the wistfully historic undulating track set in the Italian foothills.
You could almost hear the contempt in their voices.

Now, if they manage to make an utter barnstormer of a track ,tune in here as I completely contradict myself in 12 month's time

[Sandpit Steve]

JonChalk said:

An apology from Russell;

https://twitter.com/georgerussell63/status/1384183...

The right thing to say, even if it sounds written by the team’s PR after a long chat with Toto and whoever runs Williams these days.

He’s still young, and will learn from his mistakes, he has a great future in the sport and is a good contender for a championship-potential drive in the next year or two - if he can show the bosses he’s the finished article.

If the two cars had been the other way around, Bottas would have likely waited another lap to make the move, taking a good look at the conditions in his first lap with DRS enabled on the dry tyres. We all know the Finn isn’the world’s best driver, but he consistently gets big points for the team and messes up the strategy for their rivals.

Interesting comments upthread on how someone like Senna would have dealt with the current rules on passing and defending - yet another reason why it’s pretty much impossible to compare drivers from different eras. Brundle has made his views known on pretty much everyone in the last 40 years, and has consistently said that they were all men of their time.

[talksthetorque]

swisstoni said:

Fair enough. There are plenty who wouldn’t have bothered to apologise, including the race winner.

Personally I think champs have to have a strong element of Git in them. And George showed that he has that ‘quality’ yesterday.
That makes him the full package imho.

I'm not sure that you MUST have "Git" in you, if you're better.( it's a long shot but hear me out)
Personally I feel Lewis does not have Git, he just happens to be better at most things F1 than evereyone else. Or maybe he just PR's his way out of looking like a Git and I've fallen for it
Nico had to get the git out to beat him, but long term everyone knows Nico Gitted him out of a WDC and respect is due, Nico has owned up to this.
]
If you're not "just faster than everyone else", then I agree, get your Git on to win.
If Max can heed all the "de-gitting" lessons that Lewis is showing him, then we might be about to see yet another legacy being laid down.
But I hope that Max, Charles, George, Lando, et al go full git for the entertainment value

[swisstoni]

I think Lewis is able to deploy the ‘dark arts’ if he has to. But being a genius has normally meant that he hasn’t had to resort to that.

[Leithen]

swisstoni said:

I think Lewis is able to deploy the ‘dark arts’ if he has to. But being a genius has normally meant that he hasn’t had to resort to that.

Older, wiser and quite possibly at the peak of his powers. Shaping up to be a great contest throughout the year with him vs the next generation. Let’s hope neither team gets a big tech advantage. Too much to hope for McLaren and Ferrari to join the party, but two going hammer and tongs is enough.

[CoolHands]

Sandpit Steve said:

JonChalk said:

An apology from Russell;

https://twitter.com/georgerussell63/status/1384183...

The right thing to say, even if it sounds written by the team’s PR after a long chat with Toto and whoever runs Williams these days.

He’s still young, and will learn from his mistakes, he has a great future in the sport and is a good contender for a championship-potential drive in the next year or two - if he can show the bosses he’s the finished article.

If the two cars had been the other way around, Bottas would have likely waited another lap to make the move, taking a good look at the conditions in his first lap with DRS enabled on the dry tyres. We all know the Finn isn’the world’s best driver, but he consistently gets big points for the team and messes up the strategy for their rivals.

Interesting comments upthread on how someone like Senna would have dealt with the current rules on passing and defending - yet another reason why it’s pretty much impossible to compare drivers from different eras. Brundle has made his views known on pretty much everyone in the last 40 years, and has consistently said that they were all men of their time.

He hasn’t learnt nothing that post (his) is bullst. He fked up an optimistic overtake and kicked off about it. He doesn’t accept that; as DC pointed out that is the bigger worry.

[RB Will]

Seen over the last few pages chat about the drivers who have swapped teams still learning the cars. Is it really the case or are they just not as good as the established team mate?

GR shows you can car swap and hammer the resident driver or like Hamilton as rookie taking Alonso down a peg.
Do the cars really differ that much and take that long to adjust to?

Are there any examples of new drivers coming to a team, being a bit off the pace then by mid season matching or beating the resident driver having got used to the car?

[Jonstar]

Leithen said:

Wolff would have been perfectly happy if Russell had overtaken Bottas without incident. He failed, Wolff is pissed off. Wolff will have also had an immediate view of Bottas's steering telemetry. He clearly thinks that he didn't do anything egregious.

Worse is Russell's response after the event. Adrenaline can explain some of it. But by the time he is in Parc Ferme talking to reporters, he ought to have wound his neck back in. That probably has been more of a black mark with Wolff than the accident itself.

Well said! Russell's comes across as extremely arrogant sometimes, far more so than people who have achieved far more, such as Lewis et al.

[Fundoreen]

RB Will said:

Seen over the last few pages chat about the drivers who have swapped teams still learning the cars. Is it really the case or are they just not as good as the established team mate?

GR shows you can car swap and hammer the resident driver or like Hamilton as rookie taking Alonso down a peg.
Do the cars really differ that much and take that long to adjust to?

Are there any examples of new drivers coming to a team, being a bit off the pace then by mid season matching or beating the resident driver having got used to the car?

Well you just mentioned Alonso so I guess him. Lewis did unlimited testing in the mclaren cars beforehand.

[anonymous-user]

RB Will said:

Seen over the last few pages chat about the drivers who have swapped teams still learning the cars. Is it really the case or are they just not as good as the established team mate?

GR shows you can car swap and hammer the resident driver or like Hamilton as rookie taking Alonso down a peg.
Do the cars really differ that much and take that long to adjust to?

Are there any examples of new drivers coming to a team, being a bit off the pace then by mid season matching or beating the resident driver having got used to the car?

Driving a current F1 (or any top end prototype) car is as much about being a software geek as it is about driving skill. The car systems take some time to learn, some are better at that than others. When you are looking for 10ths, or even 100ths, that matters.

[Teddy Lop]

RB Will said:

Seen over the last few pages chat about the drivers who have swapped teams still learning the cars. Is it really the case or are they just not as good as the established team mate?

GR shows you can car swap and hammer the resident driver or like Hamilton as rookie taking Alonso down a peg.
Do the cars really differ that much and take that long to adjust to?

Are there any examples of new drivers coming to a team, being a bit off the pace then by mid season matching or beating the resident driver having got used to the car?

hadn't George driven the merc and was reserve/spare/somehow affiliated driver or wotnot?

I guess there's a learning curve in setting up a different car and the team understanding each other etc especially with hardly any testing now, but you think most of the slog could be done in the sim.

[Gary C]

jsf said:

Driving a current F1 (or any top end prototype) car is as much about being a software geek as it is about driving skill. The car systems take some time to learn, some are better at that than others. When you are looking for 10ths, or even 100ths, that matters.

You dont need to know the software to operate it.

I can't imagine Lewis reading lines and lines of code

[Deesee]

ajprice said:

George Russell Twitter https://twitter.com/GeorgeRussell63/status/1384183...

Director of the GPDA, that statement is one day too late, as was throwing the toys out the pram (I've heard the un-edited team radio), I suspect he may will miss a race as a sanction, let alone trying to blame the FIA/race control for 'allowing' him to use DRS in the 'overtake' to the stewards. He would have been no where near the Merc without it..