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

I too have to agree with the Red Bull seat, and not just with any teammates of Verstappen, Kvyat beforehand, where the cycle goes "Oh he's doing great in Alpha Tauri, Toro Rosso, Force India, Racing Point etc, he'll be mighty in the Red Bull", "Not a bad start, he'll be up alongside Max/Daniel in no time" "Great result, this should be his turning point" "Oh dear he's slipping away, perhaps he'll be replaced next year" and so on. I said earlier that there is no driver in any category of motorsport capable of constantly keeping Lewis Hamilton on the 3rd step of the podium or lower and I stand by that.

The collision at Monza was Lewis's fault too. Considering all the mistakes Hamilton has made this year not finishing at Baku, going of onto the gravel in another race his crash with Verstappen in Monza and the few mistakes he made in Russia it is a miracle he is not further down the drivers standings this year than he is. If Bottas had of been having a good year this year or even Perez they both could have been ahead of Hamilton.

I think they were both racing incidents, Max more at fault in Monza, Hamilton more at fault in Silverstone, neither of which merited a penalty. Like you said, in both incidents, both drivers had the opportunities to bail.

Anyway, I think that has been done to death and some 'fans' should stick to the fiction section on netflix.

Ah, perez has never shown himself to be a top tier driver. He's been alright in midfield teams in the past, but that's it. His quali is very poor and is a massive achilles heel and he would need to be mega fast to compensate for that big a deficit every week. And the reality is he is better on tyres than most, but he's bang average overall. He'll be delighted he performed so well at the start of the season and got a new contract. If he was performing as he has in the second hall of the season, he was much less likely to get another contract.

This last weekend was a good performance so we'll see of it was a blip or a the last several races where he performed poorly was a blip.

I'd have bottas over Perez. But Red Bull chose not to take him. They have their reasons including the fact that Perez did well in the first half of the season and Bottas struggled, but those positions have pretty much reversed in the second half of the season. Plus RB are disinclined to use non-RB drivers and they were predisposed to sticking with one non-RB driver rather than going for a second one which would reflect even worse on the RB driver academy.

The choices for him were either RB, who chose not to employ him, and the other teams without settled driver lineups were Haas, Alfa and Williams. That's why he ended up at the Alfa.

Stroll struggling more this year suggests the same.

The pink Mercedes probably lost ground as the season went on. It was definitely the second fastest at the start of the season. It was probably only about as fast as the mclarens and ferrari at ferrari at end.

F1 needs a final race showdown, with Max to win. I haven't seen a full race for quite a while, only highlights. But from what I've seen, Max is a likeable guy, and a great driver.

Just as an experiment, could they put them all in the same car, and see what the outcome would be. Just 1 race

What I want to see, just for fun, is a 5 lap race between Lewis in the Mercedes-Benz safety car vs Sebastian Vettel in the Aston Martin Safety Car.

Not if you put them all in a Haas lol. That would be fun but might be a bit slower than we are used to. Still it would be interesting to see how many could make it to the finish in the Haas. One thing is for sure there would be plenty of spins lol.

PlanetF1: Adrian Newey couldn't work after bike crash, found set-up issues upon return.

I hadn't heard about this until now. Its unfortunate as it seems Mercedes has turned things around and gotten the upper hand in the last while. Maybe this is a big part of the reason why that happened.

I wonder who Mercedes will get to replace them and be there supplier? Bound to have an effect on the teams running next year while they iron out all the issues and get used to whatever new oil supplier they get if it does happen.

Red Bull would have taken Bottas had he been a free agent at the end of last season. He has always had admirers at Red Bull, particularly Horner. They were not going to lose face by restoring Gasly so Perez was really the only option available. It's clear both Bottas and Gasly are better drivers than Perez, certainly more consistent.

Doesn't look like a massive gap between the two of them.

For the pink Mercedes was always a difficult year as Daddy Strolls investment will take time to show effect.

This day 12 years ago was a Sunday and it was the day that this happened?

It was his turn and hopefully at the end of this season another page will be turned and we will have another new WDC Champion in Max. I think having Max on the grid as a WDC champion next year will make it all the more exciting alongside Lewis and Alonso and it will still be the same as this year seen as Kimi is retiring.

Lawrence Stroll seems determined to turn that team into a winning outfit though. He said as much in the podcast interview he did on the F1 YouTube channel. With all the money he’s pouring into it and the new facility they are building it seems he’s prepared to play the long game. At the moment though he has one ageing driver who appears long past his best and his son who has improved but just never looks fast in the same way that the likes of Russell or Norris do. Realistically if Lance’s seat is guaranteed it’s going to hold them back, even if he continues to improve.