Official 2021 French Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***
Discussion
Leithen said:
vaud said:
jsf said:
majordad said:
Do you know I think it won’t be Russel that replaces Bottas.
Do you enjoy being wrong? 
Who else is in the young driver programme? I guess they still have an informal connection with Ocon.
I still think Schumacher will end up there, possibly alongside Russell. I doubt Ferrari will have a seat available for 4-5 years.
95 fiesta si said:
Murghee said:
Maybe only me but id rather have the race calender of 2020 than have tracks like monaco and this track. So dull.
Bring back the 2020 tracks with a few extra
today's race far from dull though ?Bring back the 2020 tracks with a few extra
Was a brilliant race love it when one driver is going flar out chasing another driver.
Merc really messed up no fastest lap that point could be the difference..but guess they thought bottas wont even be able to do that right..he was pathetic when defending max had he held him for even a lap lewis would have won.
Atleast this way it should give merc a kick up the backside and sort the strategy out. Still many many races to go luckily for us.
Murghee said:
Commented before i got watch the race...was in hospital as misses was giving birth so couldnt watch it live
How inconsiderate! (Congrats, new daddy!).Had Bottas even tried to hold Max up then he may not quite have made it to Lewis in time.
As for Ocon, he's contracted to Mercedes. So, I suppose they can recall him if their need and cheque book is big enough.
Blib said:
How inconsiderate! (Congrats, new daddy!).
Had Bottas even tried to hold Max up then he may not quite have made it to Lewis in time.
As for Ocon, he's contracted to Mercedes. So, I suppose they can recall him if their need and cheque book is big enough.
Given Boattas previous in getting annoyed at the team and helping Max, it wouldn't surprise me if he made it easy on purpose. Had Bottas even tried to hold Max up then he may not quite have made it to Lewis in time.
As for Ocon, he's contracted to Mercedes. So, I suppose they can recall him if their need and cheque book is big enough.
Blib said:
As for Ocon, he's contracted to Mercedes. So, I suppose they can recall him if their need and cheque book is big enough.
Possibly, but Mercedes are his management company rather than "their" driver - a slight nuance:https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/mercedes-f1-team...
A nail nibbling race, really enjoyed it.
General impressions from me, the thrashing trying to get past Verstappen clearly hurt Hamilton's tyres, but what I didn't understand was why Bottas was staying so close in the dirty air behind Hamilton but clearly not going to overtake, just seemed like he was pointlessly ruining his tyres, he could have dropped back 4 seconds or so and sat in clean air managing the tyres to then be strong at the end.
Perez had deliberately sat in clean air the entire race to nurse his tyres properly for the 1 stop, was surprising Merc didn't pick up on what Perez was doing, I think that split of strategy worked really well for Red Bull.
I hope the season stays like this (ideally RB to pull further ahead) as then we can see how good Toto is at pulling the team together. In the C4 interview I think he said 30% of their workforce has never lost a championship
I think it's very easy to wax lyrical about what a great working environment you have and how everyone is honest and open about mistakes etc. when you're comfortably pissing off into the distance whatever you do. Now that the pressure is on it's good to see some actual stress appearing.
Someone pointed out we'd had 36 decent races in a row, basically that's how long it'd been since we were last at Paul Ricard. Well now even Paul Ricard is exciting, so it's definitely time to completely change the regulations
General impressions from me, the thrashing trying to get past Verstappen clearly hurt Hamilton's tyres, but what I didn't understand was why Bottas was staying so close in the dirty air behind Hamilton but clearly not going to overtake, just seemed like he was pointlessly ruining his tyres, he could have dropped back 4 seconds or so and sat in clean air managing the tyres to then be strong at the end.
Perez had deliberately sat in clean air the entire race to nurse his tyres properly for the 1 stop, was surprising Merc didn't pick up on what Perez was doing, I think that split of strategy worked really well for Red Bull.
I hope the season stays like this (ideally RB to pull further ahead) as then we can see how good Toto is at pulling the team together. In the C4 interview I think he said 30% of their workforce has never lost a championship
I think it's very easy to wax lyrical about what a great working environment you have and how everyone is honest and open about mistakes etc. when you're comfortably pissing off into the distance whatever you do. Now that the pressure is on it's good to see some actual stress appearing.Someone pointed out we'd had 36 decent races in a row, basically that's how long it'd been since we were last at Paul Ricard. Well now even Paul Ricard is exciting, so it's definitely time to completely change the regulations
paulguitar said:
Piginapoke said:
Just seen it, that was the drive if a WDC from Max. Didn’t panic after the first corner, clinical pace and kept the tyres alive after that and made the strategy work. 10/10
Solid race from Max after a schoolboy error at the start. Even better race by Hamilton, who had no business at all being in contention really.Max was leading by a country mile, in spite of having the fastest car, almost throwing it away at the first corner and 95% of his win being as a result of a team strategy call.
Lewis wasn't even in the top 3, in spite of being in the 'poorer' Merc chassis, having a slower car, watching his team make an absolute Horlicks of the strategy, and still managing to take the battle to the penultimate lap.
Frimley111R said:
Good race yesterday but still depressing how the 'best of the rest' was over 50 seconds behind P4.
Hasn't it always been like this though?Given that the top 2 teams are really competitive, and that the following 3 teams are really competitive, it actually makes for really exciting racing.
Sure, you're not going into a weekend where any one of 10 people could win, but F1 has never really been like that.
ch37 said:
TheDeuce said:
2021 season is excellent and exciting despite Paul Ricard 
Monaco (the actual race, not the weekend as a whole) is likely to be the only poor one all season at this rate.
Got a couple of new circuits this year too. Zandvoort looks like it should be a lot of fun. Not so sure about Saudi.. although in fairness any new circuit normally throws up some drama as the teams adjust to it.
ch37 said:
Another impressive points haul from Norris, comfortably 5th in the drivers championship and is looking like the driver typically most likely to grab podiums if anything happens to the usual top 4 during a race.
....
Norris is 4th in the Championship 25 points ahead of Bottas, not 5th. He's showing superb consistency and is the only driver to have scored points in every race of the season. He's raised his game again this season and is not only staking a claim for No. 1 driver in McLaren, but also for one of the Mercedes seats in the future IMHO. ....
Thinking logically, Norris would make a better teammate to Hamilton than Russell when competing against the current Red Bull pairing. One fast No. 1 driver with a consistent scoring teammate. Norris to Merc and Russell to McLaren until Hamilton steps away leaving a Norris / Russell pairing at Mercedes
C70R said:
The Sky Driver of the Day poll really made me laugh, and highlighted where fans' loyalty lies.
Max was leading by a country mile, in spite of having the fastest car, almost throwing it away at the first corner and 95% of his win being as a result of a team strategy call.
Lewis wasn't even in the top 3, in spite of being in the 'poorer' Merc chassis, having a slower car, watching his team make an absolute Horlicks of the strategy, and still managing to take the battle to the penultimate lap.
Are you new to the Internet/social media? Max was leading by a country mile, in spite of having the fastest car, almost throwing it away at the first corner and 95% of his win being as a result of a team strategy call.
Lewis wasn't even in the top 3, in spite of being in the 'poorer' Merc chassis, having a slower car, watching his team make an absolute Horlicks of the strategy, and still managing to take the battle to the penultimate lap.
DanielSan said:
C70R said:
The Sky Driver of the Day poll really made me laugh, and highlighted where fans' loyalty lies.
Max was leading by a country mile, in spite of having the fastest car, almost throwing it away at the first corner and 95% of his win being as a result of a team strategy call.
Lewis wasn't even in the top 3, in spite of being in the 'poorer' Merc chassis, having a slower car, watching his team make an absolute Horlicks of the strategy, and still managing to take the battle to the penultimate lap.
Are you new to the Internet/social media? Max was leading by a country mile, in spite of having the fastest car, almost throwing it away at the first corner and 95% of his win being as a result of a team strategy call.
Lewis wasn't even in the top 3, in spite of being in the 'poorer' Merc chassis, having a slower car, watching his team make an absolute Horlicks of the strategy, and still managing to take the battle to the penultimate lap.
Is it a Twitter poll?
C70R said:
The Sky Driver of the Day poll really made me laugh, and highlighted where fans' loyalty lies.
Max was leading by a country mile, in spite of having the fastest car, almost throwing it away at the first corner and 95% of his win being as a result of a team strategy call.
Lewis wasn't even in the top 3, in spite of being in the 'poorer' Merc chassis, having a slower car, watching his team make an absolute Horlicks of the strategy, and still managing to take the battle to the penultimate lap.
I had the same thought when Max was drive of the day before he'd even passed Lewis for the lead again. Max was leading by a country mile, in spite of having the fastest car, almost throwing it away at the first corner and 95% of his win being as a result of a team strategy call.
Lewis wasn't even in the top 3, in spite of being in the 'poorer' Merc chassis, having a slower car, watching his team make an absolute Horlicks of the strategy, and still managing to take the battle to the penultimate lap.
Finlandese said:
Horner is refering to leaving Lewis out for two laps after Bottas started the pit stops for the leading group. Bottas stopped on lap 17, Verstappen on 18 and Hamilton on 19. Verstappen was a bit over three seconds behind Hamilton when he pitted to cover for Bottas and did not expect to undercut Hamilton. But he did, despite 0,1 sec faster pit stop for Hamilton.
Ah, my mistake. I remembered during the race having loads of time to say "they've done a Barcelona again" so believed Horner was referring to two laps from Verstappen's stop. That makes Verstappen's out lap even more impressive then. Although as someone noted Hamilton somehow lost half a second in the pitlane - what did he do, stop for a drive through coffee? Edited by Finlandese on Sunday 20th June 23:06
Edited by Finlandese on Sunday 20th June 23:06
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