F1 2021 Round 14: Monza

Bottas will do exactly what he is told to do.

I can definitely see Mercedes struggle to control Bottas as easily as before to be honest. Whatever about giving up a fastest lap point, if asked to give up a win or podium I think Bottas will tell them to shove it

Not like he's going to a merc customer team. I'd like to see this be the start of Bottas reshaping his career and garner some more fans.

No way Bottas is going to disobey team orders, the only way he gets a win this season while running 1 2 is if the championship is over and Lewis or Mercedes gifts him one.

Any pity i had for him this year went out the window after listening to his team radio.

In Silverstone after the crash he came on the radio to say it was a racing incident and there should be no penalty, in Zandvoort he said his tyres were ok to do another few laps purely so he could stay out and try hold up Verstappen.

He showed no backbone the last few years so doubtful he'll grow one in the next few months.

Max getting a good start today on the clean side might hopefully mix things up a bit but cant see him staying ahead such is Mercedes speed with drs.

Being a professional is one thing. But when you've already handed in your notice and your employer is consistently instructing you to do things that are both detrimental to yourself and that most objective external observers see as quite morally dubious, you may think twice about carrying out those orders. That said, Bottas has shown zero backbone in his career to date so there's no real indication that he'll start now.

Missed qualifying yesterday evening but know the results and obviously the sprint race grid shows how it went. Anyway this should be good stuff.

Well this was eventful from the start.

He did and then had Lando norris up his inside and as was pointed out he wasn’t sure what to do.

Well bottas can run his own race because of Lewis getting an awful start.

Looking good for Max. Lewis can't seem to get close enough to these McClarens.

With Bottas starting from the back tomorrow it would mean pole, and unless the McClaren tyres drop off soon he could have a two car buffer.

So Perez is under investigation for not giving the place back soon enough.

Lewis will have a sleepless night tonight.

That is a huge gap that Bottas and Max have made over the 18 laps of this race.

He certainly doesn't need another start like today, and starts on the same side of the track.

Redbull with a good day, but might have hoped Perez might have made a few places.

Well, Red Bull couldn't have asked for much more! Pole tomorrow and Hamilton stuck behind two pretty quick McLarens. Delighted for Ricardo

He didn't try at all as he didn't need to. He knew he'd be on pole as long as he stayed in second behind Bottas.

Ricciardo starting on the front row just puts a smile on your face, hopefully he has the pace to keep it that end of the field for the race. Hamilton will obviously have his work cut out for him tomorrow, you'd imagine by the time he in theory gets past the mclarens max should have built up a decent lead.

hamilton is expected to take an engine penalty at some point?

Would the RB strategy be to try take the engine penalty at the same weekend as Hamilton? It looks like even on a track suited to merc they can still stay within touching distance so it wouldn't make sense to me to pick a certain track to take it.

Its Monza, doesnt strike me as good opportunity for a spring race. DRS is not effective so low overtaking.

They all get free tyre choice for the start tomorrow. Normal rules apply after that re using 2 compounds. It seems most will go for a 1 stop race with hards and mediums or hards and softs if they're feeling particularly adventurous and they think they can manage the tyres through the race. Presuming most will start on the softer compound that they intend to run.

Really surprised with Hamilton’s start but makes for a fantastic race tomorrow. Him versus the McLarens will be interesting early on. I expect the story of the race will be can he get by them, and can he do it quick enough to put a challenge into Max.

But I wouldn’t rule out a McLaren win either, they’ve looked great this weekend. Already can’t wait!

Is nerves getting the best of Lewis now he's being challenged at the front consistently? It's been too easy for him for years, but now, little negatives such as a poor start are really emphasised when the other cars around him are decent challengers.

And it seems that the Merc isn't as dominant on the Monza circuit when running out of battery at the end of each lap. It's such a power track, that trying to regen for one lap will leave you far behind the driver in front on the next lap.

He'll have a tough race on Sunday, but suspect a bit of luck with pitstops and safety cars, with help team strategy will get him up a few spots.

It seemed pretty clear that Hamilton was faster than Lando, but he couldn't get past the mclaren with a Mercedes engine. The safety car helped the mclarens to preserve preserve their soft tyres. Softs were a gamble and it paid off. On the same tyre I'd expect Hamilton to have gotten past one or both of the mclarens. He can use strategy in the race and they'll probably all start on the mediums, so I'd expect him to get up to second after the pit stop.

Passing max with with Honda might be easier than passing the mclaren with a Mercedes engine. But catching and passing max might be too much to ask after being held up and passing the mclarens.