The Official 2021 F1 thread....

Bottas was having a $h!t weekend, and took it out on his (soon to be) replacement by doing just enough to put Russell onto the wet grass.
At least George had the good grace to apologise for his poor reaction to being spooked at 330 km/h - Vallerri hasn't (yet), and I don't expect hat he will.
 
The incident between Bottas and Russell has been judged by several pros in slowmotion. They agreed that it was not a fault by anybody, even Toto Wolff said it's maybe 40:60 but he doesn't know who is more guilty.

Bottas had a sh*tty weekend and at that time of race was a little bit slower due to new dry tyres on the wet. Russell was a little bit overambitious. Nobody risks a crash at 330 km/h for Hamiltion to get a 2nd chance (too much conspiracy in this arguement). A few rounds later Bottas would have overtaken Russell again. So it was not really necessary for Russell to take the hammer out.
- Bottas went very slowly to the right but left Russell enough space.
- Russell missjudged the gab between them and went too far to the right, so he turned into Bottas.
- There was no need for Russell to move that far to the right side.
- In fact, there was no need to showoff for Russell.

Toto Wolff was very angry after the race and mentioned that Russell was a little bit selfish, not thinking of MERC as a team while Williams gets MERC engines. Russell is the hottest candidate for a MERC cockpit next to Hamilton in 2022. Not sure about it now. The MERC is now a piece of junk and sets MERC back in developing costs as there is a budget cap of 175 millions per team this year.

The little fight was a good reminder of the Piquet/Salazar box fight. :) Nobody would have known that Salazar ever has been in F1 but with shooting out Piquet he's now immortal. :D
 
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From the replays I think Russel did not need to put a tire on the grass and could have stayed on the tarmac...
 
Lewis is a true racer and deserving Champ. Max gets plenty of PR, but he’s never lead the world championship and until he does he might be another early Kimi. Lots of potential but at least Kim didn’t always have a good car at McLaren, but once in a Ferrari he pulled one out.
 
Well we are seeing what make a 7 times WC and Master at his game. Merc seem to have get a handle on their chassis, based on the last couple of races.

Frankly, RB was not that fast on this circuit, perhaps in Spain we'll see a faster RB...The Ferrari seem to be going backwards.

Bram
 
This season is going to be a chess match. Merc has certainly improved their car. Ferrari is still bad. Racing point really lost their way due to the new aero rules, and lacks the ability like Merc to recover. Vettel showed some speed before falling down the order.
 
Last race was a sleeping pill par excellence for the fans or a poker round without seeing the cards or the faces of the players. Pretty annoying are HAM radio messages of 'my tires are shot' while driving a fastest lap a few moments later...
I hope Spain will be more like the first two races.
 
RB knows how good his tires are, they are monitored every lap. The only ones who will be confused are the spectators.
 
So true....He has been doin this all his racing career...as a matter of Fact all the Top and team use these type of techniques.

The Radio messages are not for the simple minded fans to understand!

Bram
 
I found it curious that at turn 1 the best passing was done on the outside or late turn in....and despite that everyone seemed to instinctively block twords the inside going in...
 
I found it curious that at turn 1 the best passing was done on the outside or late turn in....and despite that everyone seemed to instinctively block twords the inside going in...

I would suspect the combination of drs and speed entering created a bit of a dammed if you do situation. If the leading car didn’t protect the inside line, the passing car would zoom underneath. But it did make the tighter turn from the inside line slowed cornering speed relative to the wide line. Almost a NASCAR conundrum.
 
there would have been more carnage if the outside line was being blocked...for the reason you surmised...
 
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