Official 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix **SPOILERS**
Discussion
Muzzer79 said:
If George hadn't gone for 9th when it was a possibility, I'd have lost a bit of respect for him.
Easy to say in hindsight that he should have stuck with 10th but, as was quite famously said once, the day you don't go for a gap is the day you're not a racing driver.....
I think if George had gone for 9th, skewered Bottas and apologised profusely, then he would still have a lot of people’s respect.Easy to say in hindsight that he should have stuck with 10th but, as was quite famously said once, the day you don't go for a gap is the day you're not a racing driver.....
Lewis proved that it was likely to difficult to impossible. He needed to perhaps wait another couple of laps to shine as the lead Mercedes driver.
Max was once like this, things were never his fault - he has now matured. George seemed better than that.
rdjohn said:
I think if George had gone for 9th, skewered Bottas and apologised profusely, then he would still have a lot of people’s respect.
Lewis proved that it was likely to difficult to impossible. He needed to perhaps wait another couple of laps to shine as the lead Mercedes driver.
Max was once like this, things were never his fault - he has now matured. George seemed better than that.
It'll go into his memory bank. Lewis proved that it was likely to difficult to impossible. He needed to perhaps wait another couple of laps to shine as the lead Mercedes driver.
Max was once like this, things were never his fault - he has now matured. George seemed better than that.
Damp track.
Curve.
Single Car Dry Line.
Caution.
HighwayStar said:
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.
This... Wolff wasn’t saying he shouldn’t challenge the Merc, just unwise to attempt the overtake where he did. 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.
As he pulled out to overtake the track turns slightly to the left, his view would have been of a narrowing track relative to Bottas’s car.
Toto pointed out before the season started that it was one race in the Merc, George needed to show, race craft, decision making etc..
he crashed all on his lonesome at last years race. He got it wrong yesterday. What if he was coming through the field in a Merc yesterday and tried to pull the same move in that spot. He’s on a learning curve and he had a big lesson.
George did mess up but I get what he was trying to do, all those years running around track on his own will make anyone over reach when a rare opportunity presents itself, also quite nice to see some fire in his belly in the aftermath, he was getting too nice and media cloned, top racers have self belief regardless of reality.
VladD said:
Hungrymc said:
Where does the idea that VB "jinked" come from?
I know the commentators were speculating this. I don't know if they had lost track of where this was on circuit, but the normal line would take VB all the way to the right hand edge, he certainly didn't go that far right. In fact the only jink I think I saw was VB going left when it all started going wrong? I think the stewards have determined that there was no movement from VB as well?
No issue with George making that attempt. It was risky, to commit to a top speed pass, into a naturally reducing gap, going onto the wet part of the track, round the outside of a kink with DRS wide open... Fair play for having a go, but he dropped the car, it happens, particularly in the wet... No need to try and blame anyone else.
To be fair to George, lots of DRS passes were made on that bit of track and in most cases the driver being overtaken, in cases where the speed dfferential was so great that the pass was inevitable, kept left and didn't squeeze right. I think Valtteri was surprised by George being there, his sudden jink left would suggest to me that he was, and was just taking the racing line not realising he had a car coming past him on the right. I think George was initially expecting Valtteri to keep left and then had to react when Valtteri kept moving right.I know the commentators were speculating this. I don't know if they had lost track of where this was on circuit, but the normal line would take VB all the way to the right hand edge, he certainly didn't go that far right. In fact the only jink I think I saw was VB going left when it all started going wrong? I think the stewards have determined that there was no movement from VB as well?
No issue with George making that attempt. It was risky, to commit to a top speed pass, into a naturally reducing gap, going onto the wet part of the track, round the outside of a kink with DRS wide open... Fair play for having a go, but he dropped the car, it happens, particularly in the wet... No need to try and blame anyone else.
I think George was so angry because he felt Valtteri defended a position which was 99% lost when there were still damp areas on the track.
Edited by VladD on Monday 19th April 14:56
angrymoby said:
RB Will said:
I complained when he was doing it to Rosberg all the time and was informed by PH it was fair racing and Rosberg's fault for being there.
& yet here you are, NOT complaining when Verstappen does the exactly the same thing& fwiw there was nothing wrong with Max's move as far i can tell, hard but fair elbows out 'racing' (& not tiddlywinks)
RB Will said:
angrymoby said:
RB Will said:
I complained when he was doing it to Rosberg all the time and was informed by PH it was fair racing and Rosberg's fault for being there.
& yet here you are, NOT complaining when Verstappen does the exactly the same thing& fwiw there was nothing wrong with Max's move as far i can tell, hard but fair elbows out 'racing' (& not tiddlywinks)
JonChalk said:
Toto wrote that for him didn't he 
SmoothCriminal said:
Looks like all those years he (wasted at the back 3 seconds off the pace) used at Williams to improve his race craft worked a treat goes to overtake and panics when the car next to him moves for the line of the track.
That's what it looked like to me. I can't imagine Verstappen getting spooked by another car supposedly jinking his way as he squeezed past.I must say too, despite me not being Hamiltons biggest fan, he does drive the pants off that car and get results where he really shouldn't, gifted a free lap or not.
swisstoni said:
Hamilton reminded me of something out of Terminator when his car appeared to be dead but then he slowly extricated himself jerkily from the barrier, back on to the track and came storming back in the race.
I half expected him to get a penalty for reversing onto the track 
glazbagun said:
It's not broken, it's a safety car- they're always a roll of the dice. Usually the one common result is whoever (usually Lewis) is blasting off into the distance gets their 30 second lead chopped down and has to do it all over again on worn tires. Drivers compensate these days by managing their lead in case this happens. Sometimes you win a free pit stop, sometimes you lose out.
You're whinging because it was Lewis this time. This happens to the lower grid all the time.
some of our contributors must follow the sport in a more simplistic way that even I'd imagined if the SC/race stoppage unlapping rules have just woken them up.You're whinging because it was Lewis this time. This happens to the lower grid all the time.
JonChalk 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.
Hungrymc said:
RB Will said:
angrymoby said:
RB Will said:
I complained when he was doing it to Rosberg all the time and was informed by PH it was fair racing and Rosberg's fault for being there.
& yet here you are, NOT complaining when Verstappen does the exactly the same thing& fwiw there was nothing wrong with Max's move as far i can tell, hard but fair elbows out 'racing' (& not tiddlywinks)
A bit different but the same 2 senses of self-entitlement to occupy the same bit of tarmac are in play here.
I thought at first Bottas had "twitched" the wheel, from George's in car cam view - probably as he looked in the mirror and went "f
k me it's not a good day when I'm being overtaken by a Williams".I've not seen Bottas's IN CAR footage, (or telemetry) only the front wing cam view on his car.
I feel this may be on a USB stick in Toto's safe by now, but if anyone can provide a link....
Summary from me is this:
Hats of to Max for running this show. We didn't see much of him on the TV, which generally means utter dominance.
Well done to Lewis (and - for the sake of E.JIM - the bloke who made the rules on restarts that were designed to help Lewis precisely in this situation,but were probably introduced in about 2011) for his recovery drive.
Awesome drive from Lando - i think there's more to come, he was saying the 2021 McLaren is very different and he's still getting used to it, good call on the tyres from the team too
Good to see Ferrari up there too.
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.
Great quote from Gunther as well - basically saying the 2018 Meredes he was practicing in is too good and this is the reason for Mazepin's poor start because he's not used to a crap car
Part of me is wondering if Haas are contracted to buy the Ferrari (Year-1) car and this is why they are utterly utterly sh*te so far. (see also Aston Martin - oh...hang on...
) I'm sure Mick Schumacher is wondering what he has done to deserve this, especially compared to Tsunoda, his F2 rival who finished 2 places behind him in F2. MIght be lonely as well. Not going to be socialising with your team mate are you, and the only compatriot on the grid used to race against your dad.
I heard his race engineer talking to him after he spun and did wonder if he's up to it yet, as he was being spoken to like a child nearing on tears.
He's in a difficult situation, everyone knows his team mate should be hammered by at least a second a lap throughout the year, which he was acheiving yesterday there or thereabouts in what everyone acknowledges is a terrible car
ajprice 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.
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