Official 2021 Portugal Grand Prix Thread **SPOILERS**

[Exige77]

Ilot looking very good for his first F1 weekend outing.

He also spoke very well.

I hope we will see more of him in the future.

[95 fiesta si]

Mercs look to have an edge this weekend, I guess true pace will come out tomorrow.

Perez needs to pick his game up, his good and I like him but the 2nd Redbull seat is not a place you want to underperform in.

[kambites]

95 fiesta si said:

Mercs look to have an edge this weekend, I guess true pace will come out tomorrow.

Either this track suits the Mercedes more or their upgrades are working. I know you can't read much into free practice but this is the first time this season I've felt the Mercedes looked the faster car.

[Jasandjules]

stemll said:

In his (limited) defence, there is someone stood there in Aston Martin gear. Yes, there were a lot more of them outside his own garage. Seem to recall Hamilton doing something similar when he moved to Mercedes and Bottas did it too when Haas were all in black in the brief Rich Energy days.

It is easily done. As he said "it was going to happen at some stage!"

[TheDeuce]

kambites said:

95 fiesta si said:

Mercs look to have an edge this weekend, I guess true pace will come out tomorrow.

Either this track suits the Mercedes more or their upgrades are working. I know you can't read much into free practice but this is the first time this season I've felt the Mercedes looked the faster car.

Upgrades or corrective works...

I thought in Bahrain the mercs looked very stable once the troublesome tyres were finally up to temp. Today despite it being cooler they seemed to have less issues heating them up. If they have indeed got top of their tyre woes then red bull are very much on the back foot in terms of WCC simply because Perez just isn't consistently close enough to Max..

In WDC terms however, whilst I'd still favour Lewis and Merc it looks very close.

[carinaman]

95 fiesta si said:

Mercs look to have an edge this weekend, I guess true pace will come out tomorrow.

Perez needs to pick his game up, his good and I like him but the 2nd Redbull seat is not a place you want to underperform in.

He was 3rd in FP1.

[TheDeuce]

carinaman said:

95 fiesta si said:

Mercs look to have an edge this weekend, I guess true pace will come out tomorrow.

Perez needs to pick his game up, his good and I like him but the 2nd Redbull seat is not a place you want to underperform in.

He was 3rd in FP1.

No one did anything representative in FP1 really.

Maybe mazepin...

[kambites]

TheDeuce said:

No one did anything representative in FP1 really.

Maybe mazepin...

How did Perez's long run pace look compared to Max? I haven't seen all the times.

[resolve10]

TheDeuce said:

If they have indeed got top of their tyre woes then red bull are very much on the back foot in terms of WCC simply because Perez just isn't consistently close enough to Max..

He outqualified him last time out. Strange comment based off two races!

[carinaman]

[TheDeuce]

resolve10 said:

TheDeuce said:

If they have indeed got top of their tyre woes then red bull are very much on the back foot in terms of WCC simply because Perez just isn't consistently close enough to Max..

He outqualified him last time out. Strange comment based off two races!

Not strange at all. Max made a mistake in quali which was easy to identify and he would have been substantially quicker without it.

Obviously 'on the day' that time Perez was quicker... But I did use the word 'consistently' for a reason

[carinaman]

I thought tyre whisperer Perez was almost metronomic in his race pace?

[TheDeuce]

carinaman said:

I thought tyre whisperer Perez was almost metronomic in his race pace?

Yep. Consistently not close enough to Max thus far.

Not to say he won't get there.

[carinaman]

At Imola was it just Max that pulled away in second on the dry line, or do we know if Perez pulled away in second too?

[Durzel]

TheDeuce said:

carinaman said:

I guess it's not so bad if they can replace Mazespin without losing the money.

They can't. The current money is coming from his dad so...

Although if mazepin (who just now fell off the track again) can't stop embarrassing himself I can't imagine his dad indefinitely paying his way. I'm sure his dad isn't a complete idiot.

If his Dad is sufficiently rich then it's basically like he's paying for him to go go-karting of a weekend.

Why would he care how well he's doing, if he's enjoying himself (or more likely - the trappings) ?

[hunter 66]

Just showbiz , Lewis and Merc will run away again and all respect to them , they are simply an epic package but this is also entertainment and if we do not have the "maybe " factor many would not bother .

[TheDeuce]

Durzel said:

TheDeuce said:

carinaman said:

I guess it's not so bad if they can replace Mazespin without losing the money.

They can't. The current money is coming from his dad so...

Although if mazepin (who just now fell off the track again) can't stop embarrassing himself I can't imagine his dad indefinitely paying his way. I'm sure his dad isn't a complete idiot.

If his Dad is sufficiently rich then it's basically like he's paying for him to go go-karting of a weekend.

Why would he care how well he's doing, if he's enjoying himself (or more likely - the trappings) ?

Yes he can... but you have to balance that analogy with the fact that normally paying for your son to go karting doesn't result in the entire internet observing and laughing at him. I imagine at some point paying for that privilege might grow tiresome.

[paulguitar]

hunter 66 said:

Just showbiz , Lewis and Merc will run away again and all respect to them , they are simply an epic package but this is also entertainment and if we do not have the "maybe " factor many would not bother .

It's only Friday, it's possible it could all shake out quite differently tomorrow and Sunday.

[TheDeuce]

paulguitar said:

hunter 66 said:

Just showbiz , Lewis and Merc will run away again and all respect to them , they are simply an epic package but this is also entertainment and if we do not have the "maybe " factor many would not bother .

It's only Friday, it's possible it could all shake out quite differently tomorrow and Sunday.

I think the RB and Merc are undeniably close and pretty much any session could go one way or the other - some will be affected by luck and circumstance to a far greater extent than the performance delta between the two.

But I just can't shake the feeling that over the course of a (very long) season, Merc will deliver the best overall package and tip the balance. Lewis is so faultless most of the time, the Mercedes so reliable, Bottas generally tucked up just behind Lewis in quali.. It's a hell of a package to beat.

[WantSagaris]

Wouldn't bet against a similar scenario as we saw with Ferrari in 17-18, where Merc up it in the latter half of the season having kept some in reserve.