Will Posted May 21, 2021 Author Posted May 21, 2021 Yeah that would be awesome if they can, especially if on race day they are not as strong and we get some super interesting tactics coming out of the whole field. The season's first shock winner coming up?
Mandalore Posted May 23, 2021 Posted May 23, 2021 A shame about Leclerc, but the end result definitely made things more interesting. First time that Verstappen has led a world championship.
Nicktendo Posted May 23, 2021 Posted May 23, 2021 Despite the lack of overtaking, this was a nice race. Solid 6 or 7 for me. Not spectacular but there was some intrigue at least. Pleased with the result and the impact it has on the championship. Great to see Sainz and Norris on the podium. Good race from Perez after a poor Q. Excellent pit stop strategy and race management from Aston Martin, gained a lot of points today. Solid job by Gasly staying ahead of HAM. Good race from Ocon to get in the points. Nice to see GIO in the points despite the weak strategy, he's getting the measure of Kimi now. I've liked him since GP2 and hope he sticks around next year. Hamilton was shit today. Disappointed in his attitude to be honest. Both on the radio and after the race when he was slagging the team off on Dutch TV. "I have nothing to learn, but for sure the team do". What happened to win together - lose together? Bottas was seriously unlucky today, had the measure of HAM all weekend. Great win by Max, controlled from the front. Leclerc was also unlucky, but that's the price you pay for overdoing it. Baku is one of my favourite tracks, hope it throws up a good race in 2 weeks time. I managed to get there in 2019, but unfortunately it wasn't a classic. Hope we'll get a lot of action next month.
BowserBasher Posted June 2, 2021 Posted June 2, 2021 Baku this weekend. Usually a good race with lots of overtakes and drama. Usually a few bumps too. Will be nice after the last choo choo train of a race.
Emerald Emblem Posted June 5, 2021 Posted June 5, 2021 That turn 15 proving to be a hand full. Could see a pile up on the opening lap potentially.
Emerald Emblem Posted June 6, 2021 Posted June 6, 2021 (edited) Oh boy that was some race, Verstappen, in total control after the first pit stops, looked nailed on to win, only for a rear tyre failure to take him out of the race, Hamilton when up to second takes the lead off the restart of that crash and outbrakes himself to the back of the pack. Whoever predicted a top 3 of Perez, Vettel, Gasly, hope you put money on it. Good for the championship that Max's tyre failure hasn't potentially decided the season. Very sporting of Lewis despite saying in the restart build up to remember the championship is "a marathon and not a sprint", to do that. lol Edited June 6, 2021 by Emerald Emblem
Nicktendo Posted June 6, 2021 Posted June 6, 2021 Doing a standing start with 2 laps to go is beyond stupid. It's supposed to be a sport, not a lottery. Pirelli have a lot to answer for after this, absolutely embarrassing for them. As much as I enjoyed the final couple of laps, it's clear F1 is bending over backwards to become more American with every year.
Will Posted June 6, 2021 Author Posted June 6, 2021 You’d think it would be something like if the red flag is before 50% distance then it’s a standing start and if after then do a safety car start. Still, I guess the rules are the rules and everyone is aware of them when they start the race. I don’t really see what Pirelli have to answer for though. Two punctures in tyres coming towards the end of their life is just part of the risk of the sport. It’s not against the rules to run a more conservative strategy. Great race and I’m super happy with the result. The cars seem really close at the moment so we should be in for a very exciting summer run. With Perez finding some form and Bottas seeming to be incapable of driving at the moment it’s going to be very tricky for Lewis to keep up the challenge. Hopefully he does though, the last thing I want to see is Max running off with things.
Nicktendo Posted June 6, 2021 Posted June 6, 2021 (edited) They said the hard tyres would last 40 laps. Stroll's lasted 30 and Verstappen's 35. Verstappen would have been on lap 39 at the finish line, hardly pushing the limits in terms of risky strategy. It's not acceptable to have tyres exploding at 320 km/h, especially when the only reason they're made like this is to "spice up the show". The whole sport should be ashamed. They've done so much for driver safety, but only when it doesn't ruin the spectacle. As I said, it's done entirely to appease the fans of American sports who need constant action. I appreciate that not many people want to watch a race with no overtaking or drama, but when a driver gets t-boned at 200 miles per hour, those at the top won't get any sympathy from me. And what about Hamilton? Robbed of a hard-fought second place and the championship lead because of an unnecessary lottery. Of course, the race highlights wouldn't look as good on YouTube if it had ended under a safety car, gotta get those likes and comments. Great show. Very happy with the podium, but an embarrassing excuse for a sport. Edited June 6, 2021 by Nicktendo
BowserBasher Posted June 6, 2021 Posted June 6, 2021 36 minutes ago, Will said: I don’t really see what Pirelli have to answer for though. Two punctures in tyres coming towards the end of their life is just part of the risk of the sport. It’s not against the rules to run a more conservative strategy. I’m so glad someone else has this view. The three compounds this weekend were the three softest Pirelli has, the number of laps is a guide to how many they can do and I doubt they can take into account all the factors in a race. I don’t see this as Pirelli’s fault, plus it was only two tyres that went which were over 30 laps old and must have been at their limit. Teams are so sure that all races are one stoppers now and it seems the only thing to make any difference is the tyres. So make them last shorter, but have that uncertainty so teams can risk a one stopper, but don’t blame Pirelli when it fails unless it fails on more than 10 cars. Other than that it was a great race weekend, Mercedes looked out of it in FP and seemed to do a good job getting Lewis as high as he was in quali, which in itself was something else. The race looked to settle a bit in the middle there before Stroll had his crash,a fan then it all went off int he second half. Shame for Max and Lewis. Both out with different issues. Lewis apparently hit the break balance button/switch when he as Perez where righting into the first corner after the restart otherwise it looked like he could have taken the lead there. Never a fan of Seb, but great drive to finish on the podium too. All around a great weekend of racing.
Will Posted June 7, 2021 Author Posted June 7, 2021 14 hours ago, Nicktendo said: They said the hard tyres would last 40 laps. Stroll's lasted 30 and Verstappen's 35. Verstappen would have been on lap 39 at the finish line, hardly pushing the limits in terms of risky strategy. If you ask me that’s getting pretty close to the limit. 75% and 88% of the recommended use isn’t exactly playing it safe. Given that it only happened to two cars and Max had clearly been pushing his tyres pretty hard going for those fastest laps I’m not sure you totally blame Pirelli for it. 14 hours ago, Nicktendo said: It's not acceptable to have tyres exploding at 320 km/h, especially when the only reason they're made like this is to "spice up the show". The whole sport should be ashamed. They've done so much for driver safety, but only when it doesn't ruin the spectacle. As I said, it's done entirely to appease the fans of American sports who need constant action. I appreciate that not many people want to watch a race with no overtaking or drama, but when a driver gets t-boned at 200 miles per hour, those at the top won't get any sympathy from me. So what do you propose instead? Go back 15 years, have no tyre changes and make it so each set needs to last a 300% race distance? The current formula is one which has tyre changing so I don’t see how you get around this without either changing that rule or else making it a total mockery. The sport is super safe now, but at the end of the day it’s still racing concept cars around a track at 200mph, there will always be some danger. 14 hours ago, Nicktendo said: And what about Hamilton? Robbed of a hard-fought second place and the championship lead because of an unnecessary lottery. Of course, the race highlights wouldn't look as good on YouTube if it had ended under a safety car, gotta get those likes and comments. Great show. Very happy with the podium, but an embarrassing excuse for a sport. Was he robbed? He was racing under the same rules as everyone else and just fucked it up at a key moment. I agree that doing the standing start is more for the show than the sport but even doing a SC restart people that have worked up gaps will be disadvantaged by it.
Nicktendo Posted June 7, 2021 Posted June 7, 2021 40 minutes ago, Will said: If you ask me that’s getting pretty close to the limit. 75% and 88% of the recommended use isn’t exactly playing it safe. Given that it only happened to two cars and Max had clearly been pushing his tyres pretty hard going for those fastest laps I’m not sure you totally blame Pirelli for it. So what do you propose instead? Go back 15 years, have no tyre changes and make it so each set needs to last a 300% race distance? The current formula is one which has tyre changing so I don’t see how you get around this without either changing that rule or else making it a total mockery. The sport is super safe now, but at the end of the day it’s still racing concept cars around a track at 200mph, there will always be some danger. Was he robbed? He was racing under the same rules as everyone else and just fucked it up at a key moment. I agree that doing the standing start is more for the show than the sport but even doing a SC restart people that have worked up gaps will be disadvantaged by it. No, having tyres that explode is unnecessary danger. I blame Pirelli and the rule makers entirely for it. The sport has spent 10 years talking more about the tyres than anything else. Each car is built to the best spec possible but the tyres are designed to be shit. I'm all for degrading tyres, but they shouldn't explode and delaminate at 300kph. It is utter stupidity. And ALL the teams were running the same strategy, plus we had 5 laps behind the safety car, so there's no way they were on the limit. You can still have a mandated pit stop and the two compound rule without the garbage tyres. If you bought something that was designed to last 5 years and it conked out after less than 4, you'd want your money back. So please spare me the excuses. It is unacceptable. What happened to Kimi in China 2012 when he went for a very risky long strategy (way over the mandated tyre length) and was losing 6-7 seconds a lap on very old tyres that had "fallen off the cliff" would be fine. He was in 4th and fell back out of the points in 2 laps. Though I suppose that doesn't have quite the same appeal to TV viewers as a huge crash. You've proven my point in your final sentence - everything for the show at the expense of sporting integrity. Same with these tyres. 49 laps of hard work thrown out the window for the show. I don't even like Hamilton, but he was done over in this race. A rolling start would have been much fairer with two laps to go. They could have had a VSC with the cars going through the pits if they had (rightly) wanted to keep the gaps. The least interesting option, but one that doesn't drastically alter the race result with 95% of the race done. There's a reason drivers are still classified rather than DNF'd if they finish 90% of the race distance. I'm not going to pretend F1 is less interesting than it used to be, because it isn't, it's still extremely fun to watch, but after decades of bad financial decisions and declining viewership, the sport's ideals are now slowly being eroded to chase millennials and YouTube likes and comments at the expense of sporting integrity and history. F1 is a unique form of motorsport that is very, very different from US variants. Watching them plunder it into the ground and try to remould it as "action every second" for the modern ADHD audience with dumb rules like the tyres, DRS and a new-found fetish for red flags and standing starts is just sad.
Aperson Posted July 18, 2021 Posted July 18, 2021 So, what did we think of Sprint Qualifying? Personally I thought it was pretty good though th current regulations may have inhibited its ability to truly mix up the grid. The real acid test will come from the resulting grid for the full race and I felt like towards the end a lot of drivers just accepted the position they were in for tomorrow.
Will Posted July 18, 2021 Author Posted July 18, 2021 Yeah I think doing something a bit different is good and if it can allow different cars/setups to shine then I’m all for it. I feel like the way they’ve done it just makes the race a bit longer with a planned red flag and agree that everyone just let it be as they got to the end. Given they have two direct feeder series following them around I don’t really get why they don’t test with those and then introduce what works to F1. The sprint race formats in those series work well and I don’t really get why they didn’t go for something like that. If they don’t want to “dilute” the perception of the race why not just run a sprint championship as an entirely different thing and make it so that teams have to alternate their lineups in them to get younger drivers some proper racing experience? I reckon something like that would be a great addition to the weekend.
BowserBasher Posted July 18, 2021 Posted July 18, 2021 The new format has potential with some minor tweaks. More points down the line are needed. Maybe top 5 or 8 instead of just three. And as I’ve said in the discord chat the F2 had a reverse grid, should they do the same in F1? Maybe top 6 reverse for the main race. Would really mix things up. The race today was great though. Max and Lewis were destined to have something like that happen after yesterday’s close first lap too. It seemed the penalty was possibly harsh, and it seemed that it was split on no penalty or penalty between what I heard through Sky commentators. Personally I felt it should have gone as a racing incident. Especially when Lewis made the same move again, TWICE, on other drivers who both left that bit of room. So Max could have done the same. Man Horner is still being a jerk after the race too. Still insinuating that it was all Lewis’ fault and that he shouldn’t have tried the pass up the inside. He’s just being bitter and it’s showing. He needs to grow up, his driver got beat, made a mistake and Lewis was the better driver out there.
Emerald Emblem Posted July 18, 2021 Posted July 18, 2021 Let me start by saying that I'm glad Max is okay. That was a lot like the 90's, two highly talented drivers fighting wheel to wheel and refusing to concede an inch to the other and it resulted in quite the crash at the end. I thought racing incident on initial viewing, both could have made more effort to avoid the crash but Max came off worse and I think the opinions of Horner, Red Bull and Max himself were expected. I think this all could have been avoided potentially with bigger wing mirrors because at the size they are now, they offer no peripheral vision so there is no way Max knows that Hamilton hasn't quite given up the move when he turns in, as they are now they are an aero part and don't function like they are intended.
Emerald Emblem Posted August 1, 2021 Posted August 1, 2021 (edited) Take a bow our 111th different race winner, Esteban Ocon! What an awesome drive, constantly under pressure from the 4 time world champion Seb Vettel but drove it almost flawlessly. That race was absolutely nuts in the beginning, not only the carnage at the first corner, but the standing restart only Lewis Hamilton took as the circuit dried so fast that everyone else pitted for slick tyres meaning he had to pit after that first restart lap and drop to dead last. Fernando showing he's still got it, what a team player keeping Lewis behind for so long that he wasn't able to take the win in the much faster car at that point of the race. Great double points finish for Williams as well, but George again outscored by his team mate, Mr Saturday but his teammate still scored more points than him. A few weekends ago we thought Max was going to walk this championship, but now into the Summer Break Hamilton and Mercedes are back ahead in both championships. Still really close and long may it continue. EDIT: Breaking news that Seb may lose his second place after they couldn't take an adequate sample amount of fuel from the car after the race. Would be so gutting if he does lose it. Edited August 1, 2021 by Emerald Emblem
Mandalore Posted August 1, 2021 Posted August 1, 2021 I was following the live updates on the BBC, definitely sounds like the most exciting race of the season. It's been a really rough season for Bottas, I wonder if he will still be racing for Mercedes next season?
Emerald Emblem Posted August 1, 2021 Posted August 1, 2021 It's been confirmed that Seb has been DQ'd from the race for failing to provide a big enough fuel sample. Which means Hamilton inherits second place and extends his championship lead to 8 points whilst Sainz is now classified as 3rd.
BowserBasher Posted August 29, 2021 Posted August 29, 2021 Wacky racing today. Torrential rain has stopped racing and they are still hoping to get an hours racing in. Shame as the grid was so mixed up we could have had a great race.
Aperson Posted September 13, 2021 Posted September 13, 2021 Tell you what, in both races that have followed Sprint Races this season both Hamilton and Verstappen have crashed into each other. Coincidence? For pure entertainment spectacle I suspect that might lead to Sprint being adopted full time.
BowserBasher Posted September 13, 2021 Posted September 13, 2021 (edited) And renamed the “HamVerGonnaCrash” race. 😆 Great race weekend though. Fantastic for McLaren and Dannny Ric, lando raced perfectly too. Bottas did great to come from the back for the podium. Max has a 3 place grid penalty for the next race, but everyone is saying he’ll just take the new engine and be starting from the back anyway. (Which in my view defeats the purpose of the 3 place one) they shouldn’t be stacked. Especially where one pushes him to the back anyway. Should have to take them separately. Edited September 13, 2021 by BowserBasher
Will Posted September 13, 2021 Author Posted September 13, 2021 Supper happy to see Ricciardo take the win, would love it if they can continue their upward trend next year and mount a serious title challenge. I think with the sprint races they still have some work to do on the format, but I do like there being something important each day of the weekend. At the moment it’s some weird thing that is not quite qualifying and not quite the race. Hopefully they can work out how to make it it’s own nice thing and I reckon it will be a welcome addition to the weekend.
BowserBasher Posted December 5, 2021 Posted December 5, 2021 Anyone still watching? What a crazy race today. Say what you want about the track and racing in Saudi Arabia but that was exciting. After 21races and so much drama it literally comes down to the last races and it’s winner take all. No if one finishes 1st the other has to finish 4th. It’s whoever is in front of the other wins.
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