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2021 Formula 1 Season

hans611

hans611

Lost
torga said:
I'm not so sure about this -- I'll wait to see how Spain and Monaco shake out.
Most of the drivers complained about the grip levels at Portimao -- compared it to ice skating. Max was certainly the loudest voice there. And in spite of that, Max had track position ahead of Hamilton. Max made a mistake coming out of a corner and Hamilton was able to capitalize on that due to his experience. I don't think Portimao proved that Merc have the better car -- it proved that they have the more consistent driver. Hamilton didn't even pull away from Max at all. Max finished ~29s behind Hamilton because RBR pulled him in for a fastest lap attempt, not due to the Merc's prowess.
We'll see how things shake out on tracks where everyone is comfortable and feels like they can do their best.
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The problem with that track was the wind primarily... you couldn't get comfortable and set consistent fast times....
Hamilton had the fastest lap of all during qualy, 1:17.968 ... he set in in Q2, no one got below 1:18 after that..... Valteri's Q2 was 1:18.458 and his pole time was only 1:18.348, slightly better...
The time Max had that got deleted was 1:18.209... almost 3/10th slower... this is very short track too....

And that was an uneasy Hamilton in qualifying, he took it conservative, he could have done much better... He was on his way to <1:17.899 but to sell the championship fight a bit, he knows its better to just blame the car a little, say how close Red Bull is and take care of his car..... He is an old wise fox now, he knows he could have easily put a time half a second better than Valtteri's if he was really comfortable.... The Merc is a still not quite dialed down, there is no denying.

When I saw that I knew it didn't look good for RB, even with their much more mature car... what I didn't realize was how bad the trap speed deficit was on the straights.... Max was a sitting duck, he never attempted anything bc it was futile.... specially when passing on turn 1 was so easy.... block on the inside, smooth sailing for overtaking car... stay on the outside, overtaking car just dives to the inside and pushes you out...

The Mercedes will always have the faster car on the straights, it will be the same in every race more or less... the only pro of the Red Bull with more downforce, its kinder to its tires... so they can play with that a lot more and Red Bull is very experimental with their strategy... if they pull it off it will be magical, trust me I am rooting for them.
 
It's Sam

It's Sam

Go Kart Champion
hans611 said:
The Mercedes will always have the faster car on the straights, it will be the same in every race more or less... the only pro of the Red Bull with more downforce, its kinder to its tires... so they can play with that a lot more and Red Bull is very experimental with their strategy... if they pull it off it will be magical, trust me I am rooting for them.
Click to expand...

Yeah I've thought a lot about this. Mercedes still has the straight line advantage for sure, but, I think Red Bull is definitely still farther ahead in terms of aerodynamics. I mean, Checo put something like 52 laps on mediums. I think he and Max still have a little bit more time to get used to the car. I'm excited to see how they do in Spain this weekend.

Regardless of what the actual case might be, I'm really glad both teams are relatively evenly matched this season. I'm kind of rooting for everyone at this point.
 
hans611

hans611

Lost
It's Sam said:
I'm kind of rooting for everyone at this point.
Click to expand...

The battle for 3rd best is gonna be great.. Mclaren, Alpine and Ferrari... hopefully Aston can claw back some performance this season and do something there too.... The Alpha Tauri is looking good too... but yeah, no car is too far back, other than the HAAS... even the Williams is sort of drivable... just a bit unpredictable, Russel qualifying 11th was not a fluke last week... it was just during the race the windy conditions didn't allow him to get comfortable and work the car like he usually does... but its a huge improvement, just in time for the regulations to change....
 
torga

torga

Autocross Champion
It's Sam said:
Yeah I've thought a lot about this. Mercedes still has the straight line advantage for sure, but, I think Red Bull is definitely still farther ahead in terms of aerodynamics. I mean, Checo put something like 52 laps on mediums. I think he and Max still have a little bit more time to get used to the car. I'm excited to see how they do in Spain this weekend.

Regardless of what the actual case might be, I'm really glad both teams are relatively evenly matched this season. I'm kind of rooting for everyone at this point.
Click to expand...
Man I remember seeing him pit on Sunday and loudly yelling, "what the FUCK, that's his first stop, are you kidding meE????" 52laps on mediums, that's insane.
 
torga

torga

Autocross Champion
hans611 said:
The problem with that track was the wind primarily... you couldn't get comfortable and set consistent fast times....
Hamilton had the fastest lap of all during qualy, 1:17.968 ... he set in in Q2, no one got below 1:18 after that..... Valteri's Q2 was 1:18.458 and his pole time was only 1:18.348, slightly better...
The time Max had that got deleted was 1:18.209... almost 3/10th slower... this is very short track too....

And that was an uneasy Hamilton in qualifying, he took it conservative, he could have done much better... He was on his way to <1:17.899 but to sell the championship fight a bit, he knows its better to just blame the car a little, say how close Red Bull is and take care of his car..... He is an old wise fox now, he knows he could have easily put a time half a second better than Valtteri's if he was really comfortable.... The Merc is a still not quite dialed down, there is no denying.

When I saw that I knew it didn't look good for RB, even with their much more mature car... what I didn't realize was how bad the trap speed deficit was on the straights.... Max was a sitting duck, he never attempted anything bc it was futile.... specially when passing on turn 1 was so easy.... block on the inside, smooth sailing for overtaking car... stay on the outside, overtaking car just dives to the inside and pushes you out...

The Mercedes will always have the faster car on the straights, it will be the same in every race more or less... the only pro of the Red Bull with more downforce, its kinder to its tires... so they can play with that a lot more and Red Bull is very experimental with their strategy... if they pull it off it will be magical, trust me I am rooting for them.
Click to expand...
All fair points. Sounds like Merc might have the advantage on power tracks, but RBR might murk a Merc on tracks like Monaco. That high rake, high downforce setup is no joke. Straight line trap speeds are generally and Merc's favor, but I think I remember seeing that RBR had higher mid-corner trap speeds.
 
It's Sam

It's Sam

Go Kart Champion
1ashchuckton said:
I'm looking for Mazespin to start ramming others off the track ala Crashtor.
Click to expand...

I mean I'm still rooting for Mazepin to keep making boring races entertaining.

Charles might disagree after this morning though:

0wpzul536ox61.jpg
 
torga

torga

Autocross Champion
1ashchuckton

1ashchuckton

Autocross Champion
Great MB strategy brought them a win. That & a great driver. I felt sorry for Max seems his team needs to get on the ball more.
 
hans611

hans611

Lost
The Red Bulls aren't properly lighting up the softer compounds and getting the improvement in delta a Merc or etc does...
Hopefully they can squeeze a bit more out of that RB16b.. but the Merc is for sure the faster car, there was no RB strategy that was getting them out of that one...

They had to pit early to block an undercut..... That pass lol = https://streamable.com/hu8h4f

Also it would be nice if the 2nd Red Bull can finally get up to speed and give Max some breathing room instead of having to race the Mercs 2v1

edit: These guys do the best journalism for F1, only problem (?) is its in German ... if you can tolerate google translate, etc... its not bad... Chrome auto translates for me:

https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de...t-gp-spanien-taktik-racepace-mercedes-besser/
 
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1ashchuckton

1ashchuckton

Autocross Champion
Yes I read about that in another place. Seems like MB should have had their engineers sign a non compete clause in their contracts. Pretty smart on RB racings part.
 
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