F1 2021 Round 14: Monza

Is Zak Brown the biggest hype man in the paddock.

On both the radio calls to both drivers all you could hear in the background was Zak whooping and yeahing

He must be great for morale in the team

What a race. Delighted for both Mclaren and Daniel Riciarrdo. No one could have seen that coming. As for Hamilton and Max I would say it was a racing incident but thankfully no one hurt and Max still in the lead of the championship. Still hoping he wins the WDC this year.

Valltari Bottas drove good too. Hope he can keep that form up and carry it on into next year.

Costly day and a bad weekend for Alpha Tauri.

Could I ask, what happened with the ATs?

Lewis cut him off immediately when he exited the pit so max couldn’t move right! At no point in the move could he move right! That ended with him hitting a sausage and bouncing into Lewis! I’m not blaming Lewis for it but Max could literally not do anything to avoid it

It takes a really twisted and partisan worldview to think people who want to see fair racing are toxic.

He turned McLaren around. Ousted Eric boullier, replaced him with Andreas Seidl. Returned to Mercedes engine, got sponsorship onboard.... If you need an example how leadership can turn a failing team around, it's him.

As they've been the two incidents that have been pivotal and ultimately may be what decide the championship, it's worth taking an objective and fact based view of the Silverstone and Monza crashes, removing the specifics of who the drivers involved were.

On a superficial level there are some similarities, with the driver in second has been on the inside and the two cars have collided, and in both cases the car in second was deemed at fault by stewards. But that's where the similarities end if you start looking at it objectively.

Was the second car alongside?

Silverstone: No, he only managed to clip the car ahead with his front wheel against the other car's rear

Monza: Yes, it was contact between rear wheel and rear wheel

Did the lead driver leave room?

Silverstone: Yes, the lead car left about 2-3 car widths to the apex, ensuring the second car had tons of room if he drove cleanly and stayed on the racing line

Monza: No, the lead car turned in on top of the second car, leaving less than a car's width between himself and the sausage kerbs, basically guaranteeing a crash

Would the second driver have made the corner without crashing if the lead driver wasn't there?

Silverstone: The telemetry suggests no, the second car carried far more apex speed than any other lap and would not have made the corner if the lead car wasn't there to crash into

Monza: Yes, the second car slowed down appropriately and would have made the corner had the lead car not turned into them

Was it a genuine overtaking chance?

Silverstone: No. While it is possible, albeit very rare, to overtake into copse, it only works if you're already substantially alongside before the turn. Sticking a single wheel in mid-corner has zero chance of working unless the other driver goes off circuit

Monza: Yes, that chicane is one of the main overtaking spots on the circuit, and the second driver had a particularly strong chance given that he was carrying more momentum and had warmed up tyres, versus his opponent who had just come out of the pits

Was it dangerous?

Silverstone: Extremely. It's one of the highest speed corners on the calendar and putting a wheel in there pretty much guarantees the other driver is taking a trip to the hospital.

Monza: Low speed rubber on rubber contact is normally innocuous, though by a complete fluke the cars ended up in a configuration that could have been dangerous without the halo

What did the "perpetrator" gain?

Silverstone: A net 32 points in the race, as the sprint showed he wasn't going to be able to overtake after the first lap. Additionally the destruction of the opponents car guarantees a future engine change penalty, probably leading to another 10-20 net points, and the millions in damage means the opposition car has less budget cap room for developments, which is hard to quantify but it ultimately means the opposition has a slower car with fewer developments for the rest of the year.

Monza: Pretty much nothing. He had been comfortably ahead before a botched pitstop and with warmed up tyres would have had more opportunities to get back ahead later in the lap. The two of them were almost certainly finishing 3rd and 4th, which is a 3 point difference, but it's unclear in what order.

What did the penalty cost?

Silverstone: Nothing. A 10 second penalty with only the Ferraris left for competition was always a guaranteed victory.

Monza: Time will tell. Given that the driver has won every race he hasn't been taken out of since May, it's reasonable to assume he would have won in Sochi. With the grid penalty on a track where overtaking is very difficult, a win is almost out of the question. We're probably looking at a most likely net loss of 14 points if he gets up to 2nd, though with engine penalties etc who knows.

Not really sure put I think Yuki Tsunodo did not even start.

No idea what happened to Pierre Gaslys car but he just retired it I think. Its like neither of them started at all. Must have had engine problems.

Seeing Russell inhelmet camera I wonder why people don't crash more often

You have a very distorted view of reality. I wont argue with you anymore since all the points I would make have already been said and even the stewards have made there decision. For you to continue to blame Lewis for this incident even after Christian and Max saying it was a racing incident is insane. Anyways you really should just go watch UFC or something since you prefer fanboying over actually appreciating that this is the most exciting season of F1 in years.

Alonso has chipped in with his thoughts

His view basically mirrors mine, I guess some of the fanatics on this thread will be saying he should go watch UFC as he knows nothing about F1 🙄

Confirmation bias if anything. Stewards have given their decision, and punishment has been meted out to Verstappen who was decided to have predominantly caused the incident. No one in the F1 community (bar Fernando here) has attributed blame to Hamilton, aside from your soapboxing about it of course.

Racing incident at least, Verstappen to blame at the very worst (according to the stewards). Just take it on the chin for your favourite driver, 3 place grid drop isn't the worst penalty. Isn't even consistent with most of their other decisions these days, but take the good with the bad.