Official 2021 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

[rscott]

Roofless Toothless said:

jsf said:

While flags are meaningless here, no driver is backing off when they see them.

Forgive me if I am wrong jsf, but a white flag is an information flag. I don’t know if it carries an instruction with it, like a yellow does. (I’m an ex flag marshal myself, so forgive me if I am wrong ..)

I do see what you are getting at, though, and I was thinking about this myself. What else can they do, wave a yellow? For a car that is on track, and moving, albeit slowly?

Didn't they say there weren't any white flags out for Hamilton until after Mazepin encountered him?

[Dingu]

TheDeuce said:

Dingu said:

shirt said:

Quite. Imagine the outrage here if Monaco were to be newly introduced to the calendar.

I mentioned it earlier but Spa wouldn’t be there either. If we are this worried about safety that needs removing from the calendar.

This is on a different level

It isn’t though is it. Eau Rouge regularly sees big incidents and has seen deaths in recent memory.

There are plenty of reasons to not race is Saudi Arabia but the track being whole worlds more dangerous isn’t one which holds up.

F2 don’t seem to have badly injured or killed anyone yet.

[anonymous-user]

Roofless Toothless said:

jsf said:

While flags are meaningless here, no driver is backing off when they see them.

Forgive me if I am wrong jsf, but a white flag is an information flag. I don’t know if it carries an instruction with it, like a yellow does. (I’m an ex flag marshal myself, so forgive me if I am wrong ..)

I do see what you are getting at, though, and I was thinking about this myself. What else can they do, wave a yellow? For a car that is on track, and moving, albeit slowly?

It's for information to let a driver know a slow car is on track in front of them. It's useless here and seems to be almost constantly on. No driver is taking any notice of it, they are staying pinned and simply hoping the other car wont be found to be in the way when they appear in view.

[TheDeuce]

Dingu said:

TheDeuce said:

Dingu said:

shirt said:

Quite. Imagine the outrage here if Monaco were to be newly introduced to the calendar.

I mentioned it earlier but Spa wouldn’t be there either. If we are this worried about safety that needs removing from the calendar.

This is on a different level

It isn’t though is it. Eau Rouge regularly sees big incidents and has seen deaths in recent memory.

There are plenty of reasons to not race is Saudi Arabia but the track being whole worlds more dangerous isn’t one which holds up.

F2 don’t seem to have badly injured or killed anyone yet.

There are multiple areas of blind track here though, and it's narrow so less opportunity in many places to go wide etc. As for F2, they're a little slower! That effectively gives them more time to react.

We've already had multiple close calls. It will only get worse under the pressure to qualify.

I suppose if I'm wrong we'll know very soon..

[anonymous-user]

rscott said:

Didn't they say there weren't any white flags out for Hamilton until after Mazepin encountered him?

Correct, not that it would have made any difference.

[Dingu]

TheDeuce said:

Dingu said:

TheDeuce said:

Dingu said:

shirt said:

Quite. Imagine the outrage here if Monaco were to be newly introduced to the calendar.

I mentioned it earlier but Spa wouldn’t be there either. If we are this worried about safety that needs removing from the calendar.

This is on a different level

It isn’t though is it. Eau Rouge regularly sees big incidents and has seen deaths in recent memory.

There are plenty of reasons to not race is Saudi Arabia but the track being whole worlds more dangerous isn’t one which holds up.

F2 don’t seem to have badly injured or killed anyone yet.

There are multiple areas of blind track here though, and it's narrow so less opportunity in many places to go wide etc. As for F2, they're a little slower! That effectively gives them more time to react.

We've already had multiple close calls. It will only get worse under the pressure to qualify.

I suppose if I'm wrong we'll know very soon..

Obviously I hope you are wrong in a nice way!

It’s down to the drivers, teams, race director to manage the situation. This is allegedly the pinnacle of motorsport.
So yes they will have to penalise anything like the Hamilton incidents, any lack of respect for flags but it isn’t the only track visited with blind parts of the track. I also agree they should be setting min times for all mini sectors as then the main worry is a crash where the car is back in the track, but it would be extremely unlucky to see that collected and we accept that at other tracks.

Imagine how boring a whole season of Barcelona, France and that sort of track would be.

[M5-911]

Looks like Hamilton is on for a grid penalty.

[InfamousK]

Posted by WTF1 just now after FP3.

[PD9]

That was good, pleasing to see Max at the top of the board after FP3. Hopefully the same Top 5 tomorrow. Bottas not looking too sharp around here which is surprising. Could this be the race where Merc loose another chunk of ground on the WCC to RBR? Hi

Watching the F2 race, unsure what the better starting position will be going into T1.

[DanielSan]

InfamousK said:

Posted by WTF1 just now after FP3.

5 places isn't it?

[Dingu]

DanielSan said:

InfamousK said:

Posted by WTF1 just now after FP3.

5 places isn't it?

Unlikely in FP3

Next post corrects this one

Edited by Dingu on Saturday 4th December 16:02

[kambites]

Dingu said:

Unlikely in FP3

Should still be penalised if he did ignore them IMO. The flags are (or should be) sacrosanct.

I guess since it wasn't in a competitive session they could opt for super licence points.

[Dingu]

kambites said:

Dingu said:

Unlikely in FP3

Should still be penalised if he did ignore them IMO. The flags are (or should be) sacrosanct.

Whoops. Didn’t see the yellow flag part. Agree it should be penalised if true and yeah 5 places. Was still thinking about impeding.

[Hungrymc]

They really can’t take chances with flags here (more than in many places)

[JonChalk]

Dingu said:

kambites said:

Dingu said:

Unlikely in FP3

Should still be penalised if he did ignore them IMO. The flags are (or should be) sacrosanct.

Whoops. Didn’t see the yellow flag part. Agree it should be penalised if true and yeah 5 places. Was still thinking about impeding.

Been summoned for impeding as well now.

[TheDeuce]

I didn't see and don't recall any mention of double yellows

Although I was drinking and decorating a Christmas tree at the time ...

[TheDeuce]

Dingu said:

Obviously I hope you are wrong in a nice way!

It’s down to the drivers, teams, race director to manage the situation. This is allegedly the pinnacle of motorsport.
So yes they will have to penalise anything like the Hamilton incidents, any lack of respect for flags but it isn’t the only track visited with blind parts of the track. I also agree they should be setting min times for all mini sectors as then the main worry is a crash where the car is back in the track, but it would be extremely unlucky to see that collected and we accept that at other tracks.

Imagine how boring a whole season of Barcelona, France and that sort of track would be.

I'm not saying it should all be as safe as possible Paul Ricard style... Just that imo this circuit is breaching the limits of what is reasonable. Largely because the race director for whatever reason refuses to do the obvious.

[Adrian W]

If they dish out penalties it proves that this track isn’t fit for purpose, if someone does die in the race do the FIA get done for manslaughter

[Petrus1983]

Just has to be a grid penalty unfortunately for Lewis. Max had a five-place grid penalty in Qatar for ignoring double waved yellows. And IMO ignoring double waved yellows is far worse than a funny wing etc.

[Jonny_]

This isn't looking good for Lewis. Has anyone seen the flag incident?

Will be a stter if it results in a grid penalty and effectively hands the championship to Verstappen. Doesn't look to be much scope for overtaking here, grid position will be all-important for the race.