Official 2021 Portugal Grand Prix Thread **SPOILERS**

[Tyre Smoke]

Who is the black guy with the rasta hat?

[TheDeuce]

WickerBill said:

TheDeuce said:

WickerBill said:

TheDeuce said:

WickerBill said:

TheDeuce said:

Or.. Merc would have to be insane to finish the race further ahead than required. There was so much tactical thinking that went in to how the gap was managed.

Your theory falls down when looking at the start and middle of the race...theres no way Mercedes would have let max keep THAT close with the risk of an undercut or safety car

If they stretched out a lead they would have had to pit first, and they could have stretched out enough lead to pit safely. By keeping him within dirty air they killed his tyres - albeit whilst gambling he wouldn't be able to actually pass bottas.

Again though, it doesn’t stack up....why risk the chance that Bottas could, and did get beat by Max. They just handed Max several points if that was the plan....

Because there was no risk free strategy. What I believe is that overall it would have been a greater risk to have both mercs stretch out a more commanding lead as that would have increased their tyre wear.

Safety car etc was possible but unknown. What was a certainty was that Max's tyres would give in sooner than either Merc drivers with him stuck in dirty air.

What I find quite interesting is that that was even a possible strategy for the mercs, I don't understand why max wasn't able to attempt to pass bottas, I would have thought he'd have that level of pace with drs, but apparently not.

I agree there’s never a risk free strategy, but keeping your competitor within DRS zone, with a 2 second undercut on a circuit where mistakes happen easily due to the weather conditions seems to be pretty high risk.

Again your theory doesn’t stack up, but I doubt il change your mind so let’s leave it at that....I have better things to be doing on a Sunday afternoon

I'd rather have my mind changed than win an argument for the sake of winning - which is why I'm airing my thoughts on a public forum in the first place.

Let's ignore my theory and look at yours. If Merc weren't deliberately backing up in to max, why did Lewis not drive off in to the sunset? He had no shortage of pace passing max in the first place so he plainly could have pulled out to at least a pit window if bono advised as much. Something/someone lead to him passing max and then going nowhere. If my theory is wrong, what is yours?

Edited by TheDeuce on Sunday 2nd May 18:05

[SpudLink]

Tyre Smoke said:

Who is the black guy with the rasta hat?

Benjamin Zephaniah. Well known poet.

[ChocolateFrog]

SmoothCriminal said:

I know driver of the day is always a joke.

When was the last time Hamilton won it?

[Mr Pointy]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

SpudLink said:

jsf said:

farm said:

I thought it was Lewis thinking of pushing with the hards he was on

Indeed, he had pace in hand but called it correctly that it wasn't worth the risk to try.

Ah, so the call was to go for FL on his current tyres? I misunderstood the radio message.

Me too!

Don't forget the radio messages are broadcast delayed so we don't know which lap Hamilton was on when they discussed it - although it was after Verstappen had pitted.

[Jasandjules]

Unusual to see Lewis mugged once let alone twice. I am dying to know if Bottas did that deliberately or whether it was just a stroke of luck he floored it just as Lewis started a jink...

And amazing to think Lando is third in the Drivers' championship (I guess it is fair on Bottas to say he was taken out last race so is down on where he should be)

Mazepin - did someone let him bring his road car by mistake or what? Is that how slow he has to go to not spin?

And once more some cracking scraps all the way down the field, Ocon, Alonso getting racy too.

I see Kimi was looking at his settings when he crashed so that at least explains what was otherwise a rookie mistake....

[Jonny_]

ChocolateFrog said:

SmoothCriminal said:

I know driver of the day is always a joke.

When was the last time Hamilton won it?

I always feel that it's based around exceeding expectations, hence Lewis rarely tops the poll.

Perez seems an odd choice though. He had an OK race, but nothing spectacular. Didn't gain any positions, didn't do anything particularly surprising or impressive.

Norris, or Ricciardo, or Schumacher would all have been more deserving candidates, IMO.

[ChocolateFrog]

Jonny_ said:

ChocolateFrog said:

SmoothCriminal said:

I know driver of the day is always a joke.

When was the last time Hamilton won it?

I always feel that it's based around exceeding expectations, hence Lewis rarely tops the poll.

Perez seems an odd choice though. He had an OK race, but nothing spectacular. Didn't gain any positions, didn't do anything particularly surprising or impressive.

Norris, or Ricciardo, or Schumacher would all have been more deserving candidates, IMO.

It's 100% a popularity contest.

It needs scrapping or rethinking, just let Brundle award it.

[SmoothCriminal]

ChocolateFrog said:

SmoothCriminal said:

I know driver of the day is always a joke.

When was the last time Hamilton won it?

According to f1 wiki Britian 2020 but he doesn't win it much.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

Mr Pointy said:

LaurasOtherHalf said:

SpudLink said:

jsf said:

farm said:

I thought it was Lewis thinking of pushing with the hards he was on

Indeed, he had pace in hand but called it correctly that it wasn't worth the risk to try.

Ah, so the call was to go for FL on his current tyres? I misunderstood the radio message.

Me too!

Don't forget the radio messages are broadcast delayed so we don't know which lap Hamilton was on when they discussed it - although it was after Verstappen had pitted.

If Verstappen pitted on lap 64 of 65 I think we've got a pretty good guess

[WickerBill]

TheDeuce said:

I'd rather have my mind changed than win an argument for the sake of winning - which is why I'm airing my thoughts on a public forum in the first place.

Let's ignore my theory and look at yours. If Merc weren't deliberately backing up in to max, why did Lewis not drive off in to the sunset? He had no shortage of pace passing max in the first place so he plainly could have pulled out to at least a pit window if bono advised as much. Something/someone lead to him passing max and then going nowhere. If my theory is wrong, what is yours?

Edited by TheDeuce on Sunday 2nd May 18:05

Simple, he didn’t have that much pace over the red bull.

He managed to get past max with DRS after max made a mistake. Before that he was JUST keeping up.

He couldn’t drive off into the distance because the Mercedes doesn’t have much pace advantage over the red bull....that’s clear to see

[TheDeuce]

WickerBill said:

TheDeuce said:

I'd rather have my mind changed than win an argument for the sake of winning - which is why I'm airing my thoughts on a public forum in the first place.

Let's ignore my theory and look at yours. If Merc weren't deliberately backing up in to max, why did Lewis not drive off in to the sunset? He had no shortage of pace passing max in the first place so he plainly could have pulled out to at least a pit window if bono advised as much. Something/someone lead to him passing max and then going nowhere. If my theory is wrong, what is yours?

Edited by TheDeuce on Sunday 2nd May 18:05

Simple, he didn’t have that much pace over the red bull.

He managed to get past max with DRS after max made a mistake. Before that he was JUST keeping up.

He couldn’t drive off into the distance because the Mercedes doesn’t have much pace advantage over the red bull....that’s clear to see

But surely in clear air Lewis should have been able to pull away ahead of bottas if he so desired - but he did not.

I really think Merc are dealing with the RB threat this season by managing their drivers to force RB to react, and lose out. If we're to believe that the RB actually is the superior car, what else can Merc do?

[Hazmat1]

Is there a small side bar after the WC is awarded stating the pace margin of each car?

Or is it a flat points mean prizes thing?

Seems to be a bit of confusion with some posters thinking it matters

[vulture1]

Well 3 races in I said to myself i'd give seb 3 before making my own personal decision. Safe to say aston running a mildly updated 2 year old merc is now hurting them but he isnt where he needs to be.

Bottas. his mission is to beat Perez every race thats it now

Perez i never had any doubts just a bit unlucky the first 2 races. His job is to beat Bottas and Lewis at a merc weak track

Alonso not sure yet

Riccardo. Oh dear needs a midfield beating few 5th places to prove it against Lando.

[TheDeuce]

Hazmat1 said:

Is there a small side bar after the WC is awarded stating the pace margin of each car?

Or is it a flat points mean prizes thing?

Seems to be a bit of confusion with some posters thinking it matters

It matters in terms of discussing and predicting a teams chances.

[moffspeed]

Great to see Mick Schumacher in his tussle with Latifi.

Very similar to his performance in lower formulae, methodically and calmly learns the ropes whilst upping his pace all the time.

OK the Haas will be even further off the back of the pack as the season develops but I wouldn’t bet against him picking up a point or two in a chaotic/wet race sometime this season.

[WickerBill]

TheDeuce said:

But surely in clear air Lewis should have been able to pull away ahead of bottas if he so desired - but he did not.

I really think Merc are dealing with the RB threat this season by managing their drivers to force RB to react, and lose out. If we're to believe that the RB actually is the superior car, what else can Merc do?

They’re not doing a very good job then

Only just won Bahrain

Nightmare in Imola

Lost points in Portugal

[LaurasOtherHalf]

Anyway, who has the template for the thread in next week’s race?

[TheDeuce]

WickerBill said:

TheDeuce said:

But surely in clear air Lewis should have been able to pull away ahead of bottas if he so desired - but he did not.

I really think Merc are dealing with the RB threat this season by managing their drivers to force RB to react, and lose out. If we're to believe that the RB actually is the superior car, what else can Merc do?

They’re not doing a very good job then

Only just won Bahrain

Nightmare in Imola

Lost points in Portugal

They're leading both titles. That's an excellent job when the cars are so close. They absolutely will fall along the way and have shocking days. It's a campaign, some fights will be lost.

Edited by TheDeuce on Sunday 2nd May 19:07

[anonymous-user]

I reckon this year is a tyre formula and who's fastest is going to change track to track, session to session, pitstop to pitstop.

Mercedes have surprised me how they've got on top of the car so quickly without any testing and Hamilton really showed his class today. That pass on Bottas was ballsy and precise and he measured his pace perfectly.