Formula 1 2021 - General Discussion Thread (Read 1st post rules)

There's no way Hamilton has "lost his head" that's nonsense. Long covid could definitely slow him down though. Hopefully that doesn't happen and the crashing stops and we get a good battle. RB are potentially in a spot now with engines and the cost cap though. The engine in Perez's car has to be replaced now and do we know the condition of the engine in Max's car after Silverstone?

Bottas will land on the podium again.

Hamilton hasn’t lost anything IMO, but when he’s desperate to get by he can be overly aggressive and make mistakes (seen with Albon, Russell & Verstappen most recently).

While watching Alonsos awesome defence against him yesterday I thought there was a good probability of a crash, I could see Hamilton leaving a wheel in to nudge Alonso out of the way if it went on much longer.

Lando Norris with some serious shade towards Bottas there.

Race bans would be a bit over the top but starting from the pit lane might be more appropriate than 5 place penalties.

Funnily enough it was Max who was the closest to causing an accident overtaking when he was desperate to pass Schumacher.

9 times out of 10 he gets a puncture with that kind of contact, he was very lucky to get away with it but those are the margins these guys work off of. A split second here, a millimetre there and the race can be gone

Wasn't Grosjean banned for the consequences of his crash at Spa? Was it not deemed worse due to him taking out 2 championship contenders at the time?

JV suggests Valtteri Bottas to Aston, Lance Stroll to Mercedes | PlanetF1

Gob on a stick, Jacque Villeneuve, is at it again. Is there anything he wouldn't say for a headline?

He's suggesting Stroll and Bottas switch places next year instead of bringing in Russell. Sounds good for Bottas to go to AM, but why on earth would Mercedes want Stroll over Bottas? Not much in it between them. Bottas would usually be much more consistent than Stroll but both are in shyte form this year.

I want some of what JV is smoking please. Stroll in a Mercedes is never going to happen. I'm an Aston fan and it's pretty clear, Stroll isn't absolutely rubbish, but he's not great either. He is very inconsistent. For what it's worth, Bottas is quick but I think he's lost his bottle/mojo whatever it may be

Form comes and goes. Bottas has been very consistent in general and his quali pace is still generally good. He's had some bad luck this year (running second in Monaco until the wheel nut failed, for example) but not so much bad luck to explain the dip in race pace. Id still take Bottas over Stroll, but there isn't loads between them.

It's just JV talking nonsense. The Stroll senior-Toto business connections make it slightly more plausible, but the fact that Stroll is average at best and below average with his poor form at the moment, means it's just guff.

Same could be said about boards recently.

I really think the whole notion of a brand wanting a driver from their home nation is overblown.

Teams, generally, hire on the basis of money & talent. Being from the same country as the brand is a happy accident. See: Haas, Aston Martin etc. Yuki wasn't brought in to AT because he's Japanese - he's a youngster who happens to have both Red Bull and Honda backing. Same again with Ocon - he wasn't hired by Renault because he's French - he's a talented driver.

Alpine have a Chinese driver on their books, and have done for sometime, and he's nowhere near that car. Several young US drivers have come on the scene, but they stay Stateside in Indycar since it's not worth their career to trundle at the back in a Haas when they can fight for wins in Indycar (see: Herta). Haas may be an anomaly in this discussion as while they are American, they're not in the sport to sell cars.

The only team I would entertain the thought of their having an English driver being important to them is Williams, given how strong English that team is and in its heritage. Heck, didn't Sir Frank used to have a portrait of Margaret Thatcher in his office!

I wasn't following the sport for SCH's return, but to characterise it as "useless" seems odd to me. Surely them having a 7 time world champ, statistically the GOAT at that time on their team immensely raised the profile of the marque's team in the sport. Just because he's German doesn't mean he's soley of interest in Germany - he is world famous.