F1 2021 (5 Viewers)

All these new tracks are shite

All these new tracks rely on tyre wear rather than genuine overtaking. Rather than playing with the cars all the time how about sorting the tracks out

Saddlebrains said:

Qatar added to the calendar then. Track looks shit, dont think there will be much overtaking.

Also another race to add to the engines. Think that means now Lewis will have to take a 4th engine without question.

However, also feel this could force Max into a 5th engine to ensure he sees the season through without a mechanical DNF.

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Losail's not been bad for bike racing, but yes I doubt there's going to be many overtaking opportunities, lots of long radius corners is never a good sign.

Ten year deal, which inevitably means Losail for this year then another of Herman Tilke's MASTERPIECE (can you just sense the sarcasm pulsing through that!?) Street circuits. Hope not, got too many as it is.

Why is there such an obsession with street circuits these days, anyway? is it a cost thing? An American thing because Indycars race on street circuits a lot?

Saddlebrains said:

Best one since early noughties for me is Bahrain

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Turkey wasn't too bad. Malaysia could be OK, especially when the weather decided to dump it's load. Bahrain has always had something about it, but it's gone next level since it moved to a night race.

Someone needs to chin Mazepin, he's such a tosser.

That Hamilton Perez was a bit special

What on earth have they put slicks on Vettel's car for!?

Paul Anthony said:

What on earth have they put slicks on Vettel's car for!?

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Backfired badly didn't it!?

Frostie said:

Backfired badly didn't it!?

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Couldn't have gone much worse!

Lol Hamilton the crybaby strikes again. But hey he's British so booooooo max haha

Well done verstappen today! Manners don't cost a thing

covcity4life said:

Lol Hamilton the crybaby strikes again. But hey he's British so booooooo max haha

Well done verstappen today! Manners don't cost a thing

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Well done Verstappen?? He did nothing today, Lewis was rightly annoyed he could have achieved a well deserved 3rd if not for that poor decision to bring him in

Corrado said:

Well done Verstappen?? He did nothing today, Lewis was rightly annoyed he could have achieved a well deserved 3rd if not for that poor decision to bring him in

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tbf probably the right decision. The wrong one was leaving him out.

And yes he did whinge somewhat, but not like Verstappen's a saint in that respect!

Anyway, well done Bottas.

The Gasley Pen is one of the most ridiculous steward decision in a long time.

First lap, Poor weather, No where to go.

Yet normally they bang on and tell us about how the first lap they treat things differently.

Corrado said:

Well done Verstappen?? He did nothing today, Lewis was rightly annoyed he could have achieved a well deserved 3rd if not for that poor decision to bring him in

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Lewis would not of got 3rd. Perez would have got him. He might have had 4th at a push.

He also could have had a tyre failure. Ocons looked awful after the race as has started to delaminate.

Tyre failure & DNF would have been catastrophic for Hamilton's title chances, they made the sensible call. In hindsight, they should have overruled Lewis on the first call.




This was Ocon's tyres after.
He was lapping 5+ seconds a lap slower than the rest by the end.

ICE number 6 for Bottas this weekend. Mercedes must be absolutely hammering the maximum out of their engines, which would explain where they're getting so much speed from. Can see Hamilton needing one more soon.

Saddlebrains said:

Something doesnt sit right with me.

And before anyone says its because i shag Max...

How, in the last year of this rule set, and with every teams focus on 2022 for a long-time now, have Mercedes managed to bang an extra 30/40 horsepower out of that engine since Silverstone?

Ferrari did this in 2019, out of nowhere had an engine that started pissing all over everyone and that was deemed to be illegal. Doesnt add up to me

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Thing is we'll never know what truly went on with the Ferrari oil burning thing, because neither they or the FIA will ever admit to it! Although the suspicion was, I recall, more about where the Ferrari was suddenly gaining it's speed, which tended to kick in half way down straights, and theoretically with the regulations around ERS deployment and strict limits about oil burning and how much ERS you can deploy both in terms of kilowatts and usage per lap, that shouldn't have been possible. From memory, anyway. A lot has happened since then!

With Mercedes, my hunch is they're probably running them at higher power modes than they were earlier in the season. Hence why they're getting through them at such a rate.

Also some people with an eye for technical details far superior to my own believe they've found a better way to stall the rear diffuser ( which all teams do, it's just that Mercedes have found a better way of doing it) which may also account for a higher straight line speed.

Saddlebrains said:

I see what you're saying and it makes sense. Im just hoping we still get a fight until the last 10 laps at Abu Dhabi.

If Mercedes really have turned it up to 11 then they'll go pop soon surely?

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No guarantee it won't go bang at some point, but given Mercedes spend a lot of time looking at computer data, they've probably got it all worked out in advance on how to avoid it.

I really hope it doesn't go bang, myself. This title fight going all the way to the the wire would be the best thing to happen to the sport in a good few years.

Saddlebrains said:

Who else is looking forward to turn 1?

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You just know neither of them are going to give an inch.

1st corner is probably the only chance Hamilton has. I can't see past quite a dull race this evening. Maybe its the late start but I'm struggling to muster up the interest for this one.

Late start is perfect for me, hangover has worn off so I should make it through the whole race without passing out

SkyBlueSoul said:

Late start is perfect for me, hangover has worn off so I should make it through the whole race without passing out

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I was thinking exactly the same. Been annoyed and hungover all day but buzzing for this now.

That seems like it's a bit of a nowhere strategy from Mercedes.

Next 5 laps pivotal. Can Hamilton make these tyres last and can he keep within 5 or 6 seconds when he's made his stop. It might get interesting...

No idea what tyres Merc have left but could they extend this stint to the extent that they could pit for mediums?

Great race this.

Brilliant by Max. That was class