Formula 1 Discussion - And favourite driver?

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You could not invent a driver more suited to the demands of RB and it is a shame Perez isn't their #1 driver, cause he deserves a title. He's this generation's Massa/Barrichello.
In years to come, Checo will probably be in the list of Top 10 F1 drivers that never won a WDC. I wish this wasn't the case, as he is WDC material. But Max...

I think Merc will rebound. But if the RedBull team can keep up the strong performance and what is even more important if Perez can keep up with his recent success then I see a Verstappen title coming our way. That would be great the old Hybrid era ending with another car as champion and not 8 years Silver in a row.
Even if Mercedes rebounds, they're still going to have a hard time trying to win the 2021 Constructor's Championship. The thing is that RB is participating in F1 as a team.

Unless the FIA decides to roll over and offer to take Toto and Hambone roughly from behind, Max would have to be the 2021 WDC favourite. Max can drive, the RB16B is a great car and Checo is a strong team player as seen in the last two Grands Prix.

It would be great if either Mick or Russell could pick up those elusive points for their team. They're both standing out against their (par driver) teammates and in those cars that's all you can do.
Mick deserves better. I can still see him joining AR once Kimi retires as a stepping stone to Ferrari. I know Ferrari isn't that great rn, but there's family history there and I'm sure Ferrari knows it.

Hamilton lost to Bottas but Bottas gets 3 places added. So we have Verstappen. Hamilton, Norris, Perez, Bottas, Gasly. Three Red Bulls, two Mercedes and one Mclaren. Here is hoping Norris overtakes Hamilton at the start and makes his life hard
Lando is more likely to be picked off by Checo than Hambone is by Lando, even though I'd love to see Lando on the podium again.
 
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Norris is just destroying Ricciardo in that car. Got to feel for Ricciardo, I think he was under the impression he would be the team leader over there.
 
I don't know if Ricciardo is or ever was WDC material skillwise, but he's such a likeable guy that on merit of that alone, he deserves the title.
If there was a World Drivers Likability Championship, Danny Ric would be (at least) 7 times World Champion.

As for WDC potential, I don't think Danny Ric is ruthless enough. Being a prick isn't really something Aussies usually excel at. The last Aussie F1 WDC, Alan Jones in 1980, could be quite cunty when he put his mind to it.
 
Every driver is happy to be on the podium, but Ricciardo seems especially ecstatic and him being such a likeable guy, you can't help but celebrate with him. And him doing the shoey is just hilarious every time.
Like, the best podiums last year were Perez' long overdue victory, Ricciardo's bet-winning podiums and Vettel's confidence-boosting podium.

Also:
Lando: "Daniel should not have done that."
Also Lando: "In his position, I would have done the same."
Also also Lando: "I don't want to complain about it."
Lando, one final time: "So here I am complaining about it."

okay I guess . . .

Some interesting stuff, especially in the second part of the video:
Schumacher has to sit in his car in a somewhat kinked position, which most likely doesn't interfere with his ability to drive the car a lot, but it is kinda interesting that he's been performing so well while sitting in a mildly uncomfortable way.
Bottas says his outburst in France has no impact on his chances to get a contract for next year. I concur, the choice most likely was already made (or the requirements to extend his contract have been set). But a team ignoring input from their drivers is never a good sign. Vettel's entire last season was him being forced to do strategies that did not do him any favors, we see that now to a smaller degree with Bottas. I don't know how much of a leg he had to stand on when saying the French GP was a two-stopper or how ardent he was about defending that point (hindsight is 20/20 after all and maybe he was just spitballing the idea without much confidence before the race)... but assuming Bottas indeed insisted that the race needs two stops and Merc just not listening would bode badly for the Finn and his chances next season.

I really wonder where he'll end up in case Merc does not extend his contract.
 
W Series had their first race of the season - their second 'real world' season, having started in 2019 - at Austria yesterday after the F1 qualifying, and I rather enjoyed the race.
Jamie Chadwick, defending champion, got turned in T1 early on by Jessica Hawkins which dropped her back to 15th of 18 from around 4th, a late race safety car due to a car stopped between 3 and 4 left a 5 minute + a lap sprint, so about four minutes, and for most of the half hour race regardless there would be a few pairs of cars two wide.

I think it's also really cool to point out that I think W Series got the best calendar of all the F1 support series in terms of taking that slot of the one formula series in support: Styria, Austria, Britain, Hungary, Belgium, Netherlands, America, and Mexico. To me, Hungaroring is the weakest of those tracks, but in those F3 cars it'll still be banging to watch. Yes, they're not going to countries where the status quo may be upset by their presence, which is a bit of a shame I feel, however equally I don't especially like the tracks there anyway - good tracks, and good politics, must be a correlation there surely.

Since I cannot quickly find the full race posted on YT, I'll just state that the results are spoilered below, in the UK the race was on Channel 4 and I know it is available to be watched through there, I'm too lazy to look for elsewhere, please do give it a go - it's good shit it were.
1Alice Powell [GB]
2Sarah Moore [GB]
3Fabienne Wohlwend [LI]
4Belen Garcia [ES]
5Miki Koyama [JP]
6Jamie Chadwick [GB]
7Nerea Marti [ES]
8Irina Sirdorkova [RU]
9Gosia Rdest [PL]
10Ayla Agren [NO]
11Bruna Tomaselli [BR]
12Beitske Visser [NL]
13Emma Kimilainen [FI]
14Sabré Cook [US]
15Abbie Eaton [GB]
16Jessica Hawkins [GB]
17Vicky Piria [IT]
DNFMarta Garcia [ES]
 
1Alice Powell [GB]
2Sarah Moore [GB]
3Fabienne Wohlwend [LI]
4Belen Garcia [ES]
5Miki Koyama [JP]
6Jamie Chadwick [GB]
7Nerea Marti [ES]
8Irina Sirdorkova [RU]
9Gosia Rdest [PL]
10Ayla Agren [NO]
11Bruna Tomaselli [BR]
12Beitske Visser [NL]
13Emma Kimilainen [FI]
14Sabré Cook [US]
15Abbie Eaton [GB]
16Jessica Hawkins [GB]
17Vicky Piria [IT]
DNFMarta Garcia [ES]
I didn't know Abbie Eaton was racing in the W Series. She was great on The Grand Tour, and she can drive. Will have to check the W Series out.
 
RE: W Series, I could only find a French replay yesterday but watched that. There was one point where 5 or 6 were coming out of the final turn quite stacked up. As was said, it was an entertaining race in various ways. If anyone wants the link, I will dig it up.

Soooo, very hot for race day (53C track temp currently). See what that does with the tires. With the way qualifying played out yesterday, it could be a tight battle throughout the field unless a team or two got their race start horribly wrong, or likewise spot-on.

Let's hope for a wild one!

Fucking Gasly! smh
 
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Fucking Gasly! smh
Race incident with Leclerc, got his tyre slashed and couldn't steer in the next corner. Really unfortunate.

Edit:
Dunno, this race is a bit more boring than the last. But Verstappen is leading, so that's a plus. Wonder if the hard tyres will hold up to the end, Bottas has some bad blistering on his right rear afaik.

Edit2: Quite a race from Leclerc and Perez move against Bottas almost worked. Just one more lap, and he would have gotten him.
 
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Perez move against Bottas almost worked. Just one more lap, and he would have gotten him.
I'm disappointed that Checo couldn't quite catch Bottas in the end, but the strategy was sound (albeit a lap late as suggested). TBH I'm more disappointed that Hambone got fastest lap, but I guess he had the luxury of asking for fresh rubber so he could go balls out on the final lap. RB is still inching ahead of M-B in the Constructor's Championship, so that's something.

I can't be too disappointed about Bottas being on the podium, especially given that M-B will still manage to find a way to make him feel like shit for his performance this weekend, and I feel sorry for the guy.
 
I can't be too disappointed about Bottas being on the podium, especially given that Mercedes will still manage to find a way to make him feel like shit and I feel sorry for the guy.
My hunch: "If Bottas had been closer to Hamilton on the grid to support him during the race, we would have been flexible enough with out strategy to make Hamilton win."
 
I kinda hope we'll get rain next weekend... having two consecutive races on the same track isn't bad, but it's nice to shake up things by alternative track layouts (like Sakhir/Bahrain) or by different race conditions.

But, then again, if all things stay the same, we can at least see how things change with drivers now having a better understanding how the track and the memories from this race fresh in their memory.

Yep. Bottas has spent more time this season under the bus than he has in the cockpit.
Well, who else is there to blame? Hamilton? Nah, that would be wacist.

Edit:
Watching the highlight reel, a lot of stuff actually happened.

Gasly and his collision with Leclerc, which was just unfrotunate and forced Gasly to retire. Leclerc had a great recovery drive though. Leclerc's overtake on Räikkonen was superbly done, he held back a little in one corner, so he will get DRS once more the next straight.
Russel being forced to retire was a shame, he did so well before.
Perez might have been able to make it to the podium, if his pitstop had been quicker.
Räikkonen had a pretty good race, his hard->medium strategy paid off.

It's just a shame Vettel did not get further ahead, I guess the track just doesn't favor AM, given that Stroll didn't do that much better.

It's quite remarkable that not a single driver used the supposedly best strategy that Pirelli suggested (ie: reds and mediums).
 
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It's just a shame Vettel did not get further ahead, I guess the track just doesn't favor AM, given that Stroll didn't do that much better.
I heard that Vettel build a setup that was more fit for a rain race. That would explain why Stroll defeated him so clearly. And Ferrari was far better then last race. Probably because the track is less demanding to the front tyres which is a weakness of the current Ferrari. The times of Leclerc were close to that what the leading cars could do.
 
I heard that Vettel build a setup that was more fit for a rain race.
All the more reason to hope for a rain race next week lol
Vettel's race this time was somewhat unremarkable, no particularly good moves (like his overtake against Ocon last race) but also nothing bad... I hoped that the other cars might need to pit again in the end and that the AMs might be able to stay out, to make up some places, but no luck with that.
I really hope AM will continue their upwards trend and be in striking distance of regular podiums next season.
And Ferrari was far better then last race.
Absolutely. Ferrari seems to be good at accelerating out of slow corners and up hills but lacks topspeed on long straights so the twisting track of the Styrian GP is right up their alley.
But even so, Leclerc was on fire this race. A great recovery race and a testament to his abilities as a driver.
 
It's quite remarkable that not a single driver used the supposedly best strategy that Pirelli suggested (ie: reds and mediums).
Just a reminder too that the tyres for next weekend will be one step softer. So, the hard will be what was the medium today. Will that produce two stops across the field? Will they try and got through Q2 using Hards? That will also be interesting to see how the lower step range will change the racing.
 
I kinda hope we'll get rain next weekend... having two consecutive races on the same track isn't bad, but it's nice to shake up things by alternative track layouts (like Sakhir/Bahrain) or by different race conditions.
I know it's not quite the same, but two races in a row at the same track reminds me of the Australian Supercars series. Most rounds have at least two races over a weekend.

Hopefully Styrian throws a curve ball to the mix (such as a massive downpour) and spices the next race up a bit.

Gasly and his collision with Leclerc, which was just unfrotunate and forced Gasly to retire. Leclerc had a great recovery drive though. Leclerc's overtake on Räikkonen was superbly done, he held back a little in one corner, so he will get DRS once more the next straight.
Sucks to be Gasly for landing on the wrong side of a racing incident, but fair play to Leclerc for his recovery. Sainz also put in a decent peformance. In context, it was a pretty good weekend for Ferrari.

Russel being forced to retire was a shame, he did so well before.
That was tragic. He did really well to hustle that Williams up to 8th, especially given the extreme heat that eventually cooked it.

Perez might have been able to make it to the podium, if his pitstop had been quicker.
So many "what ifs" with Checo, but at least RB gained a little more breathing space in the Constructors' Championship. M-B is still a threat on paper, but it all depends on Bottas' morale and we all know how good M-B is at boosting that.

Räikkonen had a pretty good race, his hard->medium strategy paid off.
It always fills me with joy when Kimi has a good race. I wonder how many more years he has left in him before he decides he's had enough of this hobby?

It's just a shame Vettel did not get further ahead, I guess the track just doesn't favor AM, given that Stroll didn't do that much better.
Seb and Stroll the Younger did well to hold their own. wtf I like Stroll now

Meanwhile, Masi only went and pissed on Max's bonfire immediately after the race. Maybe he had to do this as a pre-emptive strike before M-B complained about Hambone's hurt fee-fees? [ original | archive ]

Verstappen’s post-race burn-out celebration “will not be tolerated” again​

2021 Styrian Grand Prix​

27th June 2021, 19:59 | Written by Dieter Rencken and Keith Collantine

The post-race burnout Max Verstappen performed after the Styrian Grand Prix will not be allowed in future, the FIA’s race director Michael Masi has confirmed.

The Red Bull driver slowed to a stop on the pit straight as he finished the race and spun his rear wheels, performing a burn-out in front of his team.

However Masi took a dim view of the act and contacted Verstappen’s team “as soon as it happened” to warn them he must not do it again.

“It was not an ideal situation, which is why I spoke to the team immediately and told them accordingly that something that would not be tolerated in future,” said Masi.

Formula 1’s sporting regulations state drivers are permitted to celebrate after taking the chequered flag. Article 43.3 states: “the winning driver […] may perform an act of celebration before reaching parc fermé, provided any such act […] is performed safely and does not endanger other drivers or any officials.”

Masi may point to a previous incident at the Red Bull Ring as an example of how slowing at the finishing line can be dangerous.
In 2015 Nicholas Latifi ploughed into the stationary car of Roberto Merhi at the end of a Formula Renault 3.5 series race at the same circuit. Merhi, who was suspected to have slowed down in order to lay rubber at his grid position for the following race, was thrown out of the race weekend.
 
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