Official 2021 Portugal Grand Prix Thread **SPOILERS**
Discussion
Round 3 of what is shaping up to be a cracking season and we're on to Portugal. We can assume another Max v Lewis shootout I think, but pressure will be on Perez and Bottas to get closer to the front. Vettel really needs to beat Stroll, Russell needs to stop wasting opportunity.
My money’s on a Red Bull 1-2.
Date(s): Friday 30 April - Sunday 2 May 2021.
UK Broadcast Timings (and local time)
All sessions are live on Sky F1; Channel 4 showing highlights of Race and Qualifying:
Live timing for all sessions available here:
https://www.formula1.com/en/f1-live.html
Lap times, PU component use, technical reports and Stewards' decisions for the weekend will appear here:
https://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-one-world-c...
Weather forecast:
https://weather.com/en-GB/weather/today/l/37.14,-8...
Tyre options:
Teams have two hard, three mediums and eight soft sets available per driver for each weekend.
2020 race result:
2020 race highlights:
https://youtu.be/nQ8du5ysxTI
My money’s on a Red Bull 1-2.
Date(s): Friday 30 April - Sunday 2 May 2021.
UK Broadcast Timings (and local time)
All sessions are live on Sky F1; Channel 4 showing highlights of Race and Qualifying:
Live timing for all sessions available here:
https://www.formula1.com/en/f1-live.html
Lap times, PU component use, technical reports and Stewards' decisions for the weekend will appear here:
https://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-one-world-c...
Weather forecast:
https://weather.com/en-GB/weather/today/l/37.14,-8...
Tyre options:
Teams have two hard, three mediums and eight soft sets available per driver for each weekend.
2020 race result:
2020 race highlights:
https://youtu.be/nQ8du5ysxTI
Edited by Piginapoke on Friday 23 April 05:41
Not sure if this got mentioned in amongst all the Bottas/Russell frothing on the Imola thread, but AM now completely happy with aero change regulations (or at least how they were arrived at):
https://the-race.com/formula-1/aston-martin-now-pr...
Someone have a quiet word behind the scenes and say "stop whining like giant babies and get on with it like everyone else"?
https://the-race.com/formula-1/aston-martin-now-pr...
Someone have a quiet word behind the scenes and say "stop whining like giant babies and get on with it like everyone else"?
They probably told him:
Look Lawrence. Last year we let you copy the Mercedes without saying anything about it (15 points or whatever is was) and you managed to score a podium and even win a race which you couldn’t have done with your own concept. So how about you stfu and get on with it?
Look Lawrence. Last year we let you copy the Mercedes without saying anything about it (15 points or whatever is was) and you managed to score a podium and even win a race which you couldn’t have done with your own concept. So how about you stfu and get on with it?
suffolk009 said:
Will Max end the day ahead of Lewis in the championship? I think it's unlikely.
Yes, he should. The qualifying pace is primordial to many tracks as cars struggle to follow each others and the Redbull is around 0.4-0.6 quicker than the Mercedes in qualification so if Max don't end up the season ahead... Something has gone wrong. TheDeuce said:
Glad you're finally enjoy F1 again 
Good to be back at Portimao, and whoever wins, the racing is set to be excellent once again.
The circuits introduced last year have made a big difference for me. I can live with the underwhelming cars but I do love a bit of greenery, some trees and hills in the background, a bit of uppy downy stuff and not too excessive run off areas the size of Wales.Good to be back at Portimao, and whoever wins, the racing is set to be excellent once again.
All in all, last year and this year (so far) has reinvigorated my interest. And there does seem to be a bit of a fight developing between Mercedes and Red Bull.
M5-911 said:
suffolk009 said:
Will Max end the day ahead of Lewis in the championship? I think it's unlikely.
Yes, he should. The qualifying pace is primordial to many tracks as cars struggle to follow each others and the Redbull is around 0.4-0.6 quicker than the Mercedes in qualification so if Max don't end up the season ahead... Something has gone wrong. I'm sure red bull had their own issues too.. but I'm also sure the difference isn't as huge as over half a second.
TheDeuce said:
Six tenths quicker than the Merc...? That was said last week ahead of quali and it turned out that even with issues switching the tyres on, the Merc was quicker.
I'm sure red bull had their own issues too.. but I'm also sure the difference isn't as huge as over half a second.
Without the mistakes of both drivers, Redbull were well ahead in qualification and I would say, Verstapen would have been a good 0.5 clear without the off he had.I'm sure red bull had their own issues too.. but I'm also sure the difference isn't as huge as over half a second.
Mercedes reckon Redbull are 0.6behind in qualification.
M5-911 said:
TheDeuce said:
Six tenths quicker than the Merc...? That was said last week ahead of quali and it turned out that even with issues switching the tyres on, the Merc was quicker.
I'm sure red bull had their own issues too.. but I'm also sure the difference isn't as huge as over half a second.
Without the mistakes of both drivers, Redbull were well ahead in qualification and I would say, Verstapen would have been a good 0.5 clear without the off he had.I'm sure red bull had their own issues too.. but I'm also sure the difference isn't as huge as over half a second.
Mercedes reckon Redbull are 0.6behind in qualification.
We'd need to see a smooth quali session with no issues to really judge the deficit, but I very much doubt it's as much as six tenths either way. Certainly not as an average through the season - granted some circuits will favour one car over the other.
TheDeuce said:
Red bull were only ahead initially (at least by so much) because neither Merc was able to get sufficient temps in to their tyres. Eventually Lewis managed it, just.
We'd need to see a smooth quali session with no issues to really judge the deficit, but I very much doubt it's as much as six tenths either way. Certainly not as an average through the season - granted some circuits will favour one car over the other.
I think the RB has the faster qualifying lap in it, but it’s close enough that the driver can make the difference as we saw at Imola, when LH was the one driver with a clean lap. We'd need to see a smooth quali session with no issues to really judge the deficit, but I very much doubt it's as much as six tenths either way. Certainly not as an average through the season - granted some circuits will favour one car over the other.
The Mercedes is the faster car in the race, but without the innovative DAS this year is again struggling with getting heat into the tyres in cold conditions. Once he got the tyres warmed up after the red flag, Lewis was in a class of his own. He both benefitted and was denied a chance to challenge for the win, by Norris having to be careful with the tyres and letting Max run up the road.
It’s great to see a genuine title race between two different cars this season, let’s hope it keeps up for most of the year.
TheDeuce said:
We'd need to see a smooth quali session with no issues to really judge the deficit, but I very much doubt it's as much as six tenths either way. Certainly not as an average through the season - granted some circuits will favour one car over the other.
I'm sure Redbull are faster in qualifying overall at the moment (barring driver error), but by nothing like six tenths. It's much less clear which car is faster over the course of a race but there seems to be little enough in it that it will vary from track to track. Last race should have seen A Redbull front row lockout if the drivers hadn't screwed up their final laps but there was clearly little between the cars in the race. I think Redbull have had stronger race pace both weekends so far, but not by much.
Edited by kambites on Saturday 24th April 15:06
I haven’t heard anything about drivetrain damage for either Bottas or Russell. If Bottas has to replace a gearbox and therefore take a grid penalty, it could leave Hamilton against both Red Bulls for the second race in a row.
I was going to say a grid penalty won’t make much difference to George, but that’s not really true now.
I was going to say a grid penalty won’t make much difference to George, but that’s not really true now.
SpudLink said:
I haven’t heard anything about drivetrain damage for either Bottas or Russell. If Bottas has to replace a gearbox and therefore take a grid penalty, it could leave Hamilton against both Red Bulls for the second race in a row.
I was going to say a grid penalty won’t make much difference to George, but that’s not really true now.
Damaged beyond repair has been reported on many sites - the tub may also be irrecoverable.I was going to say a grid penalty won’t make much difference to George, but that’s not really true now.
They can swap now without penalty effectively - it will really bite later in the year, when they exceed the allowed limit.
SpudLink said:
I haven’t heard anything about drivetrain damage for either Bottas or Russell. If Bottas has to replace a gearbox and therefore take a grid penalty, it could leave Hamilton against both Red Bulls for the second race in a row.
I was going to say a grid penalty won’t make much difference to George, but that’s not really true now.
Mercedes said they were looking carefully at parts back at the factory, the assumption there being that they’re worried about the PU components, and the chassis in the context of a spending limit they know they’re hard up against. Laying up another chassis might mean they need to furlough aerodynamicists working on the ‘22 car. I was going to say a grid penalty won’t make much difference to George, but that’s not really true now.
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