F1 2021 Season

Leg-End

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I do agree that Adrian at Red Bull is such a huge thing I'm surprised its not talked about more, this guy has bags of experience of ground effect cars and he's probably been sitting at his drawing board for 2 years working on something whilst the rest of the equally capable team worked on the 2020/21 cars. Let's be honest the regulation changes this year swung massively toward Red Bull and were aimed at taking away Mercedes advantage, with Merc seemingly not that bothered about winning at all costs it's lead to a big chance for Red Bull/Max.

It feels like Max's year and it won't be his last title either. Max will win the WDC and Mercedes will probably win the WCC just because Perez blows hot and cold and lately mostly cold.

Next year is big for the sport, if we get to the mid way point with one team dominating then it's going to piss off fans again.
 

Adam-Utd

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Agree with you, Max could be well ahead.
I have said it before, but I think Mercedes have given up on the season, maybe it the rule changes, the high rake thing, I am not sure.
Maybe they have something big planned for next season, something to blow the others out of the water, only time will tell.
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I don’t think they’ve given up, but clearly the technical rules this year have limited their car. they’ve been handed a handicap that they literally cannot change or improve, so the RB design will always be better for certain tracks.

Monza will be a lot closer + actually allow some overtaking attempts. at points hamilton was catching max but whenever you get within a few seconds the dirty air made it almost impossible.
 

Dan_F

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I do agree that Adrian at Red Bull is such a huge thing I'm surprised its not talked about more, this guy has bags of experience of ground effect cars and he's probably been sitting at his drawing board for 2 years working on something whilst the rest of the equally capable team worked on the 2020/21 cars. Let's be honest the regulation changes this year swung massively toward Red Bull and were aimed at taking away Mercedes advantage, with Merc seemingly not that bothered about winning at all costs it's lead to a big chance for Red Bull/Max.

It feels like Max's year and it won't be his last title either. Max will win the WDC and Mercedes will probably win the WCC just because Perez blows hot and cold and lately mostly cold.

Next year is big for the sport, if we get to the mid way point with one team dominating then it's going to piss off fans again.
Agree with this. I didn’t watch as much through the Vettel/Red bull years as I did before or since. It’s easier to justify watching when, even if the race isn’t great, there’s a good chance your guy will win.

I can absolutely see myself switching to watching race replays/highlights mostly if it’s not just uncompetitive, but lacking excitement.
 

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I was hoping Mick Schumacher would move to a better car. Very keen what he is capable of.
Some media reported Nyck de Vries (Mercedes) would take Giovinazzi's seat, with Albon (Red Bull) taking the Williams seat of Russell.

Ferrari would be the ones losing out, since Giovinazzi is in their academy.
You'd think Ferrari would want to put Schumacher at Alfa Romeo if Giovinazzi is moved to third driver.
Callum Ilott is currently sitting outside of F1, having finished 2nd in F2 previously.
 

RDCR07

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Some media reported Nyck de Vries (Mercedes) would take Giovinazzi's seat, with Albon (Red Bull) taking the Williams seat of Russell.

Ferrari would be the ones losing out, since Giovinazzi is in their academy.
You'd think Ferrari would want to put Schumacher at Alfa Romeo if Giovinazzi is moved to third driver.
Callum Ilott is currently sitting outside of F1, having finished 2nd in F2 previously.
I thought De Vries was competing with Albion for Russell’s seat at Williams cause he is a Merc driver and Merc supplies Williams with their engine. De Vries won’t go to Alfa cause Ferrari supplies it’s engine so they will have a preference of Ferrari driver going to Alfa Romeo.
 

Leg-End

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I would much rather see De Vries get the seat ahead of Albon. He's a good age, Formula E champion, F2 Champion, he's worth a look in F1 and deserves a shot.

Red Bull have 4 seats in F1, if they can't find Albon a seat that's their problem, but Albon had a big chance and didn't take it. Not saying he isn't deserving of a seat but he could carve a nice career out of DTM/Le Mans series if he went that route.
 

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I think it'll be Bottas & De Vries at Alfa and Albon & Latifi at Williams for 2022.
 

Uniquim

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I thought De Vries was competing with Albion for Russell’s seat at Williams cause he is a Merc driver and Merc supplies Williams with their engine. De Vries won’t go to Alfa cause Ferrari supplies it’s engine so they will have a preference of Ferrari driver going to Alfa Romeo.
Yeah, that's what I thought too, but there were a bunch of articles about it a week or so ago.
But then again there are also reports of Albon > Alfa Romeo, De Vries > Williams, which would make more sense.
But then Toto Wolff urging Red Bull to release Albon to have him at Williams wouldn't make sense, if Latifi is staying at Williams.
At least not if Mercedes wants to place De Vries somewhere.

Could end up with Piastri winning Formula Renault, F3 and F2 in consecutive seasons and not landing a F1 seat. Alpine is already confirmed for 2022.
Think another season of experience in F2 would be good for him, but looks like it could end up with none of the top-runners in F2 landing a place on the grid.
 

Jippy

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What agenda?
Good race or not, Lewis said Max was lucky.... On more than one occasion
I think people make too much of these off the cuff comments during an intense race. I'm sure you've regularly called someone a spawny fecker or the like when you're playing them at some game. It's just a reaction but for some reason people it's Lewis completely disregarding Max's talent, when we know they both have loads of respect for each other.
 

F-Red

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Latifi has a contract for 2022, so a second seat at Williams isn't available. I also wouldn't underestimate the influence of George Russell on recommending one of his closest friends as his replacement.
 

Cheimoon

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I think people make too much of these off the cuff comments during an intense race. I'm sure you've regularly called someone a spawny fecker or the like when you're playing them at some game. It's just a reaction but for some reason people it's Lewis completely disregarding Max's talent, when we know they both have loads of respect for each other.
Exactly. It's stuff racers say in the heat of the moment while they're fully focused on their driving and really aren't reflecting deeply on stuff.
 

dinostar77

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No chance albon gets the williams drive unless he cuts his ties with RB. De Vries will get that seat i think. God knows who will partner Bottas at Alfa.
 

United Hobbit

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Glad to see Russell will hopefully be getting the Mercedes seat next year. I'm surprised Red Bull renewed Perez, he's very hit and miss in that he's poor in qualifying but can usually do quite well in the race. Until this season, Bottas was typically getting at least a 3rd place, had he done that this season I think they'd have kept him

Would like to see Schumacher in a better car, does he have any ties re sponsorship etc or could any team sign him up?

Theres a program on Alonso, Fernando, on Amazon prime, just watched part of one episode so far but it looks interesting

The Schumi one will be a tear jerker
 

ZIDANE

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I fear Toto interfering may have lost Albon the drive at Williams.

Would like to see Schumacher in a better car, does he have any ties re sponsorship etc or could any team sign him up?
He's a Ferrari driver hence the Haas drive as they buy most of their car from Ferrari. He'll continue for a few years then replace Sainz at Ferrari and drive alongside Leclerc - or at least that's the plan according to Binotto and if he's good enough. I expect Haas to be a lot better next year.
 

Jippy

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Glad to see Russell will hopefully be getting the Mercedes seat next year. I'm surprised Red Bull renewed Perez, he's very hit and miss in that he's poor in qualifying but can usually do quite well in the race. Until this season, Bottas was typically getting at least a 3rd place, had he done that this season I think they'd have kept him

Would like to see Schumacher in a better car, does he have any ties re sponsorship etc or could any team sign him up?

Theres a program on Alonso, Fernando, on Amazon prime, just watched part of one episode so far but it looks interesting

The Schumi one will be a tear jerker
I've got mixed thoughts about watching that. I doubt they'll give too much away about his current condition, but I'm sure it would be very sad to see that and what his wife has been through.
 

mariachi-19

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I fear Toto interfering may have lost Albon the drive at Williams.



He's a Ferrari driver hence the Haas drive as they buy most of their car from Ferrari. He'll continue for a few years then replace Sainz at Ferrari and drive alongside Leclerc - or at least that's the plan according to Binotto and if he's good enough. I expect Haas to be a lot better next year.
The other thing being Alfa is rumoured to be running Merc engine next year which is bizarre considering Alfa is owned by Ferrari…

I wouldn’t be surprised if Haas is rebranded to Alfa Romeo Hass as Ferrari have taken a larger input into Haas technical engineering as of last year.
 

elmo

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The other thing being Alfa is rumoured to be running Merc engine next year which is bizarre considering Alfa is owned by Ferrari…

I wouldn’t be surprised if Haas is rebranded to Alfa Romeo Hass as Ferrari have taken a larger input into Haas technical engineering as of last year.
Haas naming rights is already sold to Mazepin senior's company, no chance Haas gets renamed to anything else until Mazepin Jr is out of F1.
 

United Hobbit

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I've got mixed thoughts about watching that. I doubt they'll give too much away about his current condition, but I'm sure it would be very sad to see that and what his wife has been through.
Agreed about the mixed thoughts, if it's just covering his racing career I can probably cope, but if it's talking to his family about memories of him etc I don't think I will be able to watch it. I presume like you say, it won't update too much about his current condition, I'd imagine as there haven't been too many updates, he's still "alive" in the weakest sense of the word.
I think it would be less upsetting if he'd had a big racing crash it's the fact he survived all those years when safety wasn't what it is now, only to suffer in my opinion a fate worse than death, while enjoying his retirement.

Hopefully someone will watch it and be able to give a brief overview of the content
 

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Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda will remain with AlphaTauri for the 2022 season.

"Consistency and stability are crucial heading into the new era of F1," said Red Bull's sister outfit as they confirmed their young line-up amid a bumper week of driver moves in the sport.

Gasly has driven for the team, formerly known as Toro Rosso, for five seasons - albeit with a brief spell as Max Verstappen's team-mate at Red Bull in between - while Tsunoda joined AlphaTauri as an F1 rookie this year.

Gasly, a shock F1 race winner a year ago in Monza, had hoped for a re-promotion to Red Bull, who opted to retain Sergio Perez. The Frenchman, enjoying another sparkling season, will instead lead AlphaTauri into F1's new regulations, with the team hoping for more from Tsunoda next year.

"I am confident there's more to come and this is why we are excited to have him with us for another season," said team boss Franz Tost on Gasly. "Furthermore, he is using his experience in F1 to help Yuki with his development."

Despite a strong start to his debut season, Tsunoda has scored only 18 points to Gasly's 66 and has been out-qualified in every round.

Tost added: "This year we have seen that the positive relationship between the two, made of a competitiveness on-track and a friendship off-track, has proven effective for the team.

"Yuki has joined the team as a rookie and is continuing to learn every day, the feedback from the engineers shows that he is absorbing all the information given to him and improving.

"As a rookie, Yuki is only at the beginning of this journey, so it's good that he can continue what we've started together. It's great for us to be securing our driver line-up so early in the season, so we can now focus on the rest of 2021, where we're in a tough fight in the midfield pack."
 

The Hilton

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Glad to see Russell will hopefully be getting the Mercedes seat next year. I'm surprised Red Bull renewed Perez, he's very hit and miss in that he's poor in qualifying but can usually do quite well in the race. Until this season, Bottas was typically getting at least a 3rd place, had he done that this season I think they'd have kept him

Would like to see Schumacher in a better car, does he have any ties re sponsorship etc or could any team sign him up?

Theres a program on Alonso, Fernando, on Amazon prime, just watched part of one episode so far but it looks interesting

The Schumi one will be a tear jerker
I'm not remotely surprised, given that he's orders of magnitude better than the last couple of second drivers they've had.

Gotta remember that the RB second seat can be a pretty toxic one. They're very clear about how the driver is Max's wingman and the car is basically his personal one, so you've gotta get used to that to. Given the struggles other drivers have had, and the wingman role he's got there, Perez has done a good job.
 

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Delighted for him. Bottas leaving was well overdue. I'll be very excited to see what George Russell can do in the Mercedes going forward.
 

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Glad George has got his shot. I like Bottas, think he’s a little underrated and has done a pretty good #2 job over the years, but it was definitely time to shake things up.

It might just be George’s luck that he moves to Merc and they’re not competitive next year though :lol:

With all 4 Red Bull seats sorted now, it’ll be interesting to see if the release Albon to take the Williams spot or not. They really should, if they want the best for his career. But if they’re just after intel on the Merc power unit then I’ve got no doubt he’ll be kept as a reserve driver & we’ll probably see De Vries in that seat.
 

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Glad George has got his shot. I like Bottas, think he’s a little underrated and has done a pretty good #2 job over the years, but it was definitely time to shake things up.

It might just be George’s luck that he moves to Merc and they’re not competitive next year though :lol:

With all 4 Red Bull seats sorted now, it’ll be interesting to see if the release Albon to take the Williams spot or not. They really should, if they want the best for his career. But if they’re just after intel on the Merc power unit then I’ve got no doubt he’ll be kept as a reserve driver & we’ll probably see De Vries in that seat.
I dont mind Bottas, I have been a bit harsh on him over the years, but he has been a decent No2 , done what he has had to do most of the time.
Its a pity he was around when Lewis was at his peak, I think he could've had 2 or maybe 3 WC.
 

RobinLFC

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Wonder how the internal relation between Russell and Hamilton will be if / once Russell starts to get better results than Lewis. Don't think Hamilton is ready yet to be someone's #2 (but also don't really know whether Russell will immediately be as good as him as from next year either).
 

Uniquim

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Least surprising news in a while! Going to be very interesting to see how he does at Mercedes. He's such a precise driver.
Hamilton v Russell is going to be a interesting matchup too. Considering what Russell have been able to do with a Williams, you get the feeling he'll be a bigger challenge to Hamilton than Bottas have been recently.
 

SilentWitness

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Wonder how the internal relation between Russell and Hamilton will be if / once Russell starts to get better results than Lewis. Don't think Hamilton is ready yet to be someone's #2 (but also don't really know whether Russell will immediately be as good as him as from next year either).
I can't see Hamilton being a #2. He has the ego where he would want to go out at the top.