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Thread: F1 Season: 2021

  1. #1
    The R in F.A.R.T RevolverRob's Avatar
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    F1 Season: 2021

    We're three races in.

    Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton's dominance continues already. I'm not surprised, personally, I sort of assume that Hamilton is chasing a championship this year to take the all time record for number of championships. I wonder (and kind of suspect) that he will retire after that.

    Portugal Grand Prix yesterday was an uneventful race overall, in my opinion.

    Things I liked: Checo leading a good portion of the race. Seeing Mick Schumacher make a late overtake of Latifi was great. The HAAS cars are obviously absolute dogs compared to every one, but Schumacher still drove it hard and seeing him fight was great. It's great to see a Schumacher in F1 again and I think in 3-5 years we'll see him on the podium at least a few times.

    Things I didn't like: Red Bull's strategy with Checo and Verstappen. Knowing the Honda doesn't quite have the pace of the Mercs, Portugal is a track where Red Bull can win, because there are a lot of slower overtaking zones. I don't understand why they didn't pit Checo around lap 48 when he had about 6-8 seconds on Hamilton, Verstappen, and about 24 on Bottas. Yes, he would have come out in fourth (which he did anyways), but he would have had fresh tires and been only 2-4 seconds behind Bottas giving him plenty of race to run Bottas down and and fight for third.

    This was very poor strategy on the part of Red Bull. I continually think Red Bull has been snatching defeat from the jaws of victory the last couple of seasons. It's frustrating to me, because Red Bull continues to favor Verstappen and it was clear to me the strategy was designed to give Verstappen a podium, not help Perez make it. But they could have had 2 and 3 and potentially the fastest lap.

    Bottas taking poll and then blowing it perfect example of why I dislike him. He's so hit and miss and his attitude about it. He clearly has a chip on his shoulder from being second fiddle to Hamilton, I get it, but get over it.

    RR's F1 Speculation/Dreams: I really hope that when Hamilton retires, Leclerc comes over to Mercedes and Bottas goes to Ferrari. I'd like to see if Bottas has what it takes to compete in a car that isn't so dominant. At Ferrari he could be the absolute top dog, but I suspect will still be a middling tier driver. Charles Leclerc on the other hand...is going to win at least one if not 3 or more titles once Hamilton retires, I suspect they'll all be in Mercedes cars.

    What are your thoughts on the season thus far and the future?

  2. #2
    Chasing the Horizon RJ's Avatar
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    Jan 2014
    I’m normally heavily engaged with F1 but just don’t have the time / interest this season. MBZ dominance doesn’t surprise me.

    I’d be interested in where McLaren is on the grid these days, but that’s about it.

    I got an email about tickets for the USGP in Austin last week at midnight. Being curious what grandstand Tx go for these days, I clicked through over coffee (roughly 6am) and was astonished to see they were absolutely sold out the entire weekend.

  3. #3
    Charles signed a 5 year deal at Ferrari so that is a ways off. I think Bottas is done after this year with Russell taking his seat. Merc will take the title this year but hopefully Red Bull keeps it interesting. Agree they are screwing up and probably already missed a chance to build a lead while Merc struggled in the first few races and are in trouble as the Merc juggernaut rolls.

    I’m impressed by Norris this year bur worth watching if Danny Ric can turn it up as he gets his footing more secured.

    I can’t wait for next year when the new cars come out and see where teams fall and will likely shake up drivers in a big way.

  4. #4
    The R in F.A.R.T RevolverRob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RJ View Post
    I’m normally heavily engaged with F1 but just don’t have the time / interest this season. MBZ dominance doesn’t surprise me.

    I’d be interested in where McLaren is on the grid these days, but that’s about it.

    I got an email about tickets for the USGP in Austin last week at midnight. Being curious what grandstand Tx go for these days, I clicked through over coffee (roughly 6am) and was astonished to see they were absolutely sold out the entire weekend.
    Lando Norris finished 5th in a McLaren yesterday. He had a great race and is in the points chase in third currently with 37 points (five ahead of Bottas).

    I wonder if they had a more limited number of tickets this year? I think that race has been sold out every year.

    I, personally, find Circuit of the Americas to be a track that isn't conducive to watching a race on. I've been there to see Pirelli World Challenge and MotoGP...it's a poorly laid out track that is too large. The way they constructed elevation changes there creates a lot of blind viewing areas, where you can only see small portions of the track at once. Compared to say, Laguna Seca where on the hill adjacent to the Corkscrew you can see a good 3/4 of the track (basically everything except the back straight up to the Corkscrew). As a result COTA's experience is lacking.

    That all said, turns 15-16 at COTA are downhill lefts leading into a decent straight, with 16 being a hairpin. The whole section is off camber, with a peaking hill right at the apex of 15 where it sort of abruptly drops away from you down to your left (similar to the top of the Corkscrew), but then breaks even harder into a flat left hairpin of about 100-110º, but the track and your momentum is trying to carry you right. And I watched about 10 or 15 Moto2 and Moto3 riders dump their bikes right there. Because they would lock up coming over the crest of the hill and be carrying way too much speed. Tough corner for a motorcycle, a car does better, because it has a tighter cornering radius and can cut the apex allowing a longer braking zone. That's a good piece of track there, but unfortunately you really can't see much else besides those two corners and about 3/4s of the straight away.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by RevolverRob View Post
    Things I didn't like: Red Bull's strategy with Checo and Verstappen. Knowing the Honda doesn't quite have the pace of the Mercs, Portugal is a track where Red Bull can win, because there are a lot of slower overtaking zones. I don't understand why they didn't pit Checo around lap 48 when he had about 6-8 seconds on Hamilton, Verstappen, and about 24 on Bottas. Yes, he would have come out in fourth (which he did anyways), but he would have had fresh tires and been only 2-4 seconds behind Bottas giving him plenty of race to run Bottas down and and fight for third.

    This was very poor strategy on the part of Red Bull. I continually think Red Bull has been snatching defeat from the jaws of victory the last couple of seasons. It's frustrating to me, because Red Bull continues to favor Verstappen and it was clear to me the strategy was designed to give Verstappen a podium, not help Perez make it. But they could have had 2 and 3 and potentially the fastest lap.
    Checo has been my favorite driver for a long time, so I was happy and also sad when he got the Red Bull ride. Red Bull has, since Seb was there, a history of treating their two driver like shit. Their strategy will always be "ve must let ze golden boy win" and "oh yeah shit we have two cars uhhhh"

  6. #6
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    My brother has been watching it for a few years now and got me into watching a few races. I noticed “F1: Drive to Survive” on Netflix and I was instantly hooked! I managed to work through all three seasons in a few weeks. It is funny now watching the races because I feel like I know every driver and team.

    I found it interesting how quickly drivers switched teams and how close in skill all of the drivers are... the Mercedes machines are just that good.

  7. #7
    Should Red Bull have pitted Verstappen? Did he not have a set of mediums to use?

    Been a Riccardo and Norris fan, so for them to end up on the same team is pretty cool.

    I am a MotoGP guy as well, but F1 has been much more interesting these last 2 years.

    Have a retired coworker buy a wheel/pedals and we are comparing F1 laptimes prior to each race weekend. Using F1 2020 and PC2.

  8. #8
    Chasing the Horizon RJ's Avatar
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    Jan 2014
    For sale: Set of Pirelli F1 Race tires (some slight damage on one).

    Contact: Christian Horner, Baku Racetrack




    Wow, interesting race today in Azerbaijan, especially for the failures of the left rear tires on two cars (Stroll, and Verstappen, who was leading the race for Red Bull.)

  9. #9
    My sister and her husband have paddock passes for the race in Monza this year.

    So freaking jealous.

  10. #10
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    Mar 2011
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    It'll be a miracle if Mazepin makes it through the season without putting someone in the hospital.

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