F1 2021 Season

BIGbadBOO4

New Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2010
Messages
1,144
Location
Manchester
I understand it, with the budget cap, if they get next year wrong they could behind for years.

Frustrating as the title is there to be won this year, but the changes have hurt Merc.
Changes were brought is specifically to hurt Mercedes.
Red bull have a better package this year, are making right decisions and also have a clear number 1 that they favour. Todays call to bring in bottas to undertake Ver and leave Ham out was pure madness. Especially, as Le clerc showed power of undercut.
 

Tiber

Full Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2014
Messages
10,231
Bottas loves an excuse. Not getting the 2 stop probably made his weekend. If it wasn't for the mean team he would have won as usual
 

Leg-End

Full Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2004
Messages
19,542
Which would have degraded Max’s tyres even more in the dirty air. So he gets to Lewis on the last lap with his tyres worn even more…it would have been very close.
Exactly, Bottas just couldn’t do the job (again). You could write a list as long as your arm on his weak defence since he’s been in the Merc, it used to be Lewis just owning him but now others are close you can see it. What’s worse? Bottas is a whinge bag that hates being the wingman despite his talent level only being good enough for that.

Merc will gain nothing keeping Bottas in there, the guy won’t play ball, he knows he’s gone after this season and he’s the type that would rather look after himself than play the team game after all those years of it, his head is gone basically. Russell 12th in a shit box Williams, why wait? Get the next two out of the way (of which Red Bull will walk) and make the tough call, earn the money Toto.
 

Adam-Utd

Part of first caf team to complete Destiny raid
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Messages
39,954
What a race!

So impressed with Mclaren today, they got it completely right for once.

This season has been the best for a long time.
 

ChaddyP

Full Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Messages
13,852
Location
Jamaica
Bottas loves an excuse. Not getting the 2 stop probably made his weekend. If it wasn't for the mean team he would have won as usual
what i dont understand is why is Bottas complaining about one stop when he himself was passed by someone doing a one stop :lol:
 

Mickeza

still gets no respect
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
Messages
13,978
Location
Deepthroating information to Howard Nurse.
Exactly, Bottas just couldn’t do the job (again). You could write a list as long as your arm on his weak defence since he’s been in the Merc, it used to be Lewis just owning him but now others are close you can see it. What’s worse? Bottas is a whinge bag that hates being the wingman despite his talent level only being good enough for that.
When Lewis asked if Verstappen would catch him and they said it depends on Bottas holding him up I burst out laughing to be honest :lol:
 

hobbers

Full Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2013
Messages
27,359
Lewis 7 times WC , Bottas ZERO
.....? And?

Maybe you should try and dial down the raging fangirlism a bit and actually make sure you understand posts before you reply to them. Read my post and the post I quoted again.
 

hobbers

Full Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2013
Messages
27,359
Tyres were even older by the time Max got Hamilton, Bottas made an error and probably could have stayed ahead at least one more lap.
Yeh but it's not his fault Mercedes fecked up on his and Lewis' strategies twice in one race.

Not splitting their strategies and not responding to Max's second stop is what cost them. Not Bottas being easy to pass. The team failed both their drivers not the other way around.
 

Leg-End

Full Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2004
Messages
19,542
Yeh but it's not his fault Mercedes fecked up on his and Lewis' strategies twice in one race.

Not splitting their strategies and not responding to Max's second stop is what cost them. Not Bottas being easy to pass. The team failed both their drivers not the other way around.
No of course not, this one is fully on Mercedes. As soon as Max stopped again they couldn’t react to that though else they are behind anyway, they had to go first for the undercut to work.

The race was lost at the first stop, Bottas couldn’t undercut Max which is fine but to leave Hamilton out there an extra lap was criminal stuff.
 

V.O.

Last Man Standing finalist 2019/20
Joined
Jan 12, 2019
Messages
7,847
any one know why merc didnt pit bottas for the fastest lap?
They had the pitcrew out to do it - I think they held off on it because there was a steward investigation into Perez, so they wanted to keep Bottas close to him in case there was a time penalty that would let him back into 3rd.
 

Cheimoon

Made of cheese
Scout
Joined
Jun 22, 2020
Messages
14,327
Location
Canada
Supports
no-one in particular
So what happened to Leclerc today? He ended up well behind Sainz even. Given Sainz's position, I suppose Ferrari had a general issue, but normally Leclerc is better than Sainz.
 

Leg-End

Full Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2004
Messages
19,542
So what happened to Leclerc today? He ended up well behind Sainz even. Given Sainz's position, I suppose Ferrari had a general issue, but normally Leclerc is better than Sainz.
Ferrari race pace was nowhere, plus they stopped too early.
 

Adam-Utd

Part of first caf team to complete Destiny raid
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Messages
39,954
So what happened to Leclerc today? He ended up well behind Sainz even. Given Sainz's position, I suppose Ferrari had a general issue, but normally Leclerc is better than Sainz.
Poor setup on the car. He complained about understeer even in qualy, just wrecked the tyres.
 
French GP Result

pauldyson1uk

Full Member
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
55,216
Location
Wythenshawe watching Crappy Fims
RankDriverNumberTeamGridPitsFastest LapRace TimePointsPts
1Max Verstappen33Red Bull12fastest overall lap 1:36.4041:27:25.7726
2Lewis Hamilton44Mercedes211:37.4102.904 behind18
3Sergio Perez11Red Bull411:36.6938.811 behind15
4Valtteri Bottas77Mercedes311:36.96014.618 behind12
5Lando Norris4McLaren811:37.4251:04.032 behind10
6Daniel Ricciardo3McLaren1011:38.3241:15.857 behind8
7Pierre Gasly10AlphaTauri611:38.1031:16.596 behind6
8Fernando Alonso14Alpine911:37.6461:17.695 behind4
9Sebastian Vettel5Aston Martin1211:37.1381:19.666 behind2
10Lance Stroll18Aston Martin1911:37.8281:31.946 behind1
11Carlos Sainz Jnr55Ferrari511:38.9311:39.337 behind0
12George Russell63Williams1411:38.3141 lap behind0
13Yuki Tsunoda22AlphaTauri2011:38.9801 lap behind0
14Esteban Ocon31Alpine1111:38.6451 lap behind0
15Antonio Giovinazzi99Alfa Romeo1311:38.7021 lap behind0
16Charles Leclerc16Ferrari721:37.6811 lap behind0
17Kimi Raikkonen7Alfa Romeo1711:37.9921 lap behind0
18Nicholas Latifi6Williams1611:38.3131 lap behind0
19Mick Schumacher47Haas1511:38.8471 lap behind0
20Nikita Mazepin9Haas1811:39.3171 lap behind0
 

hobbers

Full Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2013
Messages
27,359
So what happened to Leclerc today? He ended up well behind Sainz even. Given Sainz's position, I suppose Ferrari had a general issue, but normally Leclerc is better than Sainz.
The new tyre pressure regs mean Ferrari destroy their tyres faster than any other car on track.
 

pauldyson1uk

Full Member
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
55,216
Location
Wythenshawe watching Crappy Fims
Yeh but it's not his fault Mercedes fecked up on his and Lewis' strategies twice in one race.

Not splitting their strategies and not responding to Max's second stop is what cost them. Not Bottas being easy to pass. The team failed both their drivers not the other way around.
Fully agree with this , said at the time , why did Mercedes not see the undercut and how much time it gave ?
The second Max pitted for the second time , Lewis should have been boxed immediately, the first mistake was enough to cost them the race, both together were suicidal.
Not the first time already this season Mercedes strategy has got it wrong.
 

Balljy

Full Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2016
Messages
3,303
Fully agree with this , said at the time , why did Mercedes not see the undercut and how much time it gave ?
The second Max pitted for the second time , Lewis should have been boxed immediately, the first mistake was enough to cost them the race, both together were suicidal.
Not the first time already this season Mercedes strategy has got it wrong.
The first pit was a huge mistake. Everybody was gaining 2.5 seconds from the undercut and Mercedes decided to leave Hamilton out for a second lap. That was a stupid decision which left me shouting when he didn't get brought in.

The second pit was a more difficult decision. Red Bull had already covered themselves on that by leaving Perez out with tyres that were 9 laps younger than everybody else at the front. If Hamilton had followed Verstappen they would have lost the undercut time again and then have to get past Perez as well as Verstappen.
 

senorgregster

Last Newbie Standing
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Messages
10,343
Location
Anywhere but Liverpool
Max win shows he'll be top tier. Mistake at the start costs him his lead yet kept his head down and wins with a fantastic 3rd stint. Other drivers melt. Bottas probably should have held him up for 1 more lap but then you see Hamilton couldn't keep him behind either. Hamilton got every millisecond out of the car as always. Think the previous race and the restart is going to be the difference. From certain second to 0pts. Very expensive 18pt loss there.
 

pauldyson1uk

Full Member
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
55,216
Location
Wythenshawe watching Crappy Fims
Max win shows he'll be top tier. Mistake at the start costs him his lead yet kept his head down and wins with a fantastic 3rd stint. Other drivers melt. Bottas probably should have held him up for 1 more lap but then you see Hamilton couldn't keep him behind either. Hamilton got every millisecond out of the car as always. Think the previous race and the restart is going to be the difference. From certain second to 0pts. Very expensive 18pt loss there.
I think it will also.
 

gormless

Full Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2008
Messages
8,529
Location
comfortable and settled in my rut
What did you want him to do? It looked poor at the time, but Max flew past Lewis too. They were sitting ducks.
Not outbreaking himself would be a start.

They were sitting ducks, but this is symptomatic of a larger problem. He’s been poor for ages, and now that there is a competitive Red Bull, they can’t get away with it anymore. Whilst he hasn’t been brilliant, Red Bull are reaping the benefits of having a decent number 2 in Perez. If it was Albon in Baku, Hamilton only has to hold off Vettel and likely doesn’t make the mistake with the breaks.
I’m just bitter that we’ve been denied a title fight since Rosberg left because there is a poor driver in the number 2 car.
 

BIGbadBOO4

New Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2010
Messages
1,144
Location
Manchester
Merc need to make the right call here, bring in Russell tell him he is too support Hamilton as Bottas has zero interest.