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

Hi,

yes I ordered from here in the past.

Nightmare to deal with, eventually received a refund after lots of issues.

Thinking about Spa, it might be helpful if the cars were fitted with one red light at the rear in such conditions.

In fact they now have three rear lights, as well as the central one they've had for decades there's now lights in the trailing edges of the rear wing.

Albon confirmed for Williams next year, which means that Bottas is likely to go to Alfa Romeo

Nevermind, was a fake account

Sounds like Merc want Nyck de Vries in William, and will try block Albon, so that leaves Alfa for him.

I am glad I am not relying on Channel 4 anymore so. Of course there schedule could change during the week it has happened before. Be interesting to see if it does.

It is all new next year though, so I don't think the rate of improvement this year will be a factor.

I don't think that follows. He hasn't had a top tier teammate since Ric. Albon and Gasley as rookies and Perez is only alright and he's in a run of poor performance. Nobody is seriously suggesting any of those are top tier. Gasley has improved since leaving RB so that would be interesting to see him back in the RB to see if he could challenge Max. But he's still probably not top tier.

Max isn't beating the likes of Leclerc and Norris, he's beating Perez and he should beat a decent midfielder like Perez.

I really hope it does for Bottas what Seb's move to Aston Martin did for him

How has f1 turned into that Toto, Red Bull and Ferrari have literally control over who gets on the grid and where

The second Alfa seat is still up for grabs. If they stay with the Alfa branding then they're more likely to try to sell the seat to Ferrari and stay with Gio. There was talk of them switching to Mercedes and then they'd probably want a Mercedes driver in that seat. But that seemed unlikely. Most likely scenario is status quo, I'd say.

Yeah I don't disagree with that. He's on great form and he's doing a great job. I disagreed that beating Perez like a rented mule again next year would mean Max is the best ever (that was said in the post i responded to) I don't like to compare drivers form different eras or get into discussions of who is the greatest. But anyone could agree that Max is in the elite group of drivers on this grid (probably only himself and Hamilton with some drivers liek Leclerc, Noris close behind).

Albon and Gasley were rookies though. That has to be kept in mind. And Gasley has improved since being dropped by RB which i think shows he was promoted too early. Perez is grand, his early season form was much better than the last few races and his quali times have gone form bad to worse. He's having about the right level of performance for him. Inconsistent and usually miles off a top driver like max. I doubt we'll ever see max with a top teammate. If you have max (and are paying his wages) then you're backing him to win the championship so you hire a second driver like a Perez or a Bottas as Mercedes have done. Bottas is much better at keeping in touch with the leaders than Perez has been of late. But they've both been picked because they're ok, not bad but not too good either.

It used to be just Bernie who told everyone who to sign and when.

I wish they were only allowed do these drivers swaps in the off season. The amount of ink and audio time that has been wasted on questions about Bottas and Russell has sweet f all to do with this season . That's next year's news and all the fake drama and dragging it out . I was waiting for then to do rock paper scissors at a driver's press conference to end it .

It least it's half over but they won't shut up about it after either .

Gasly and Tsunoda have been confirmed at AT for next year.

Gasly kept warm for a top seat and Tsunoda make or break

I'm guessing Alpine would like Gasly to replace alonso in 2023 (I'm assuming he's retiring then) but isn't the word that him and Ocon don't get on too well? Two French drivers for a French team and all that.

Vettels contract is up then too at Aston if they want a new driver but they're about as competitive as alpha tauri at the moment so not sure if he'd go for that.

Personally I think red bull would be insane not to give him a second go replacing perez in 2023 if gasly keeps up this form between now and then?

I think mclaren and Mercedes would definitely consider him too if ricciardo dosnt get going by then or if Hamilton calls it a day. Think there will be quite a bit of movement in the next couple years driver wise.

Who's this Russell guy, never heard of him :p

Part of me would be surprised if they need to send such a message. They had him over a barrel during the contract negotiations. He might be an explicit no.2 in his contract until Hamilton retires.

O they might go with the Ferrari model when they had Vettel and Leclerc. Vettel was the default no.1 at the start but when Leclerc proved he is faster they switched to an equal footing. Naturally that would lead to the driver who drops from no.1 to equal status to feel aggrieved and we saw how Vettel fell apart under that circumstance. SO it would be interesting to see how Hamilton reacts if George is genuinely competitive.

George has great Quali pace in the Williams and it appears to be a strong part of his game, and Hamilton isn't particularly strong in quali compared to his race pace. So George might have the upper hand on Lewis in quali at least. So Mercedes would have to decide how to handle things if George is starting races in front of Hamilton.

Stroll is going no where. Latifi is probably also sticking around. Second seat at Williams and Alfa Romeo are up for grabs.

I'd agree with that except to say that Haas is so terrible this year because they have not developed the car this year. They have put all their effort into next year's car. So next year might be a decent improvement. And Williams has improved as this year has gone on but there isn't the same continuity into next year because of the new 2022 regulations. So Haas might get a bump in performance next year. But it might be temporary as their model isn't really about developing their own parts, it's much more about buying Ferrari parts. So their fortunes are tied to Ferrari.

If Haas shows up next year and is still at the back then they should consider selling and letting someone else have a go.