F1 2021 Season

The difference between this race and the last one was the team got on the radio to Lewis and told him there was more rain coming in the previous race. The change in conditions meant Hamilton would have pitted anyway given that information.

Here there was no change in conditions rather than a slow drying of the track and it could be argued that Hamilton was on the best tyres for that - there was no new information
 
Why are people comparing it to last week. Mercedes didn’t tell Lewis to come in today because of the threat of rain.

When the team says there is more rain, you listen. They have more information.
 
Championship gap will only increase from here with the races coming up. Still thing the rain arriving in Sochi was what sewed the title up for Max.
 
Dan_F said:
Why are people comparing it to last week. Mercedes didn’t tell Lewis to come in today because of the threat of rain.

When the team says there is more rain, you listen. They have more information.
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They must have had a reason to pit him. Cant imagine they just thought feck it, lets do it for banter.
I remember just before he pitted the commentators did say there was a black cloud coming over the start / finish line. Maybe that swayed them
 
Igor Drefljak said:
They must have had a reason to pit him. Cant imagine they just thought feck it, lets do it for banter.
I remember just before he pitted the commentators did say there was a black cloud coming over the start / finish line. Maybe that swayed them
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Except they didn’t tell him that. They instead accidentally gave him the impression that he wasn’t going to lose any places by making the stop (seemingly from his very relaxed initial reaction and then his fury after seeing where he came out).
 
Get in there Max! With 3 races which are favorable to Red Bull to go he should seal the championship this season. Just hope for no tricks from Hamilton or Merc to try run Max out of one of the races.
 
Igor Drefljak said:
They must have had a reason to pit him. Cant imagine they just thought feck it, lets do it for banter.
I remember just before he pitted the commentators did say there was a black cloud coming over the start / finish line. Maybe that swayed them
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Also he was losing time on Perez behind him who had just come in (and everyone else with new tires). I'm thinking the mistake was using his talent to drive old tires in the first place instead of pitting with everyone else and using it to be faster. He really should have come in around the time Max did but it's always easier with hindsight. If rain had come the last 10 laps and all were forced to wets it would have been a different story.
 
Jerch said:
Get in there Max! With 3 races which are favorable to Red Bull to go he should seal the championship this season. Just hope for no tricks from Hamilton or Merc to try run Max out of one of the races.
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Honestly.... this isn't dodgems.
 
senorgregster said:
How much was Hamilton losing per lap when they brought him in? Seemed 1 sec at most? Weird decisions today.
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Need to see the lap by lap but he was 14 seconds clear of Perez and wasn’t losing time when he came in.
 
These last 2 races have worked out beautifully for Max. Perfect timing for him and bad decision making by everyone else last race to grab 2nd from nowhere. Today, Lewis then Merc making poor decisions. Plenty of surprises yet but Max favorite.
 
Really bad decision to bring Lewis is. At worst he would’ve been taken by Perez if he’d stayed out and even that’s not a foregone conclusion. Very few we’re getting past late in the race.

Max big favourite for the title now.

This thread has some horrendous posts in it.
 
Doracle said:
Need to see the lap by lap but he was 14 seconds clear of Perez and wasn’t losing time when he came in.
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I thought the gap was down to about 10s by the time he came in. Chances are Perez would’ve closed in on him. But it’s not a given. Lewis would’ve got at least 4th had he not pitted. Bad call
 
Igor Drefljak said:
They must have had a reason to pit him. Cant imagine they just thought feck it, lets do it for banter.
I remember just before he pitted the commentators did say there was a black cloud coming over the start / finish line. Maybe that swayed them
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They don’t just look out the window, they have radars to predict the rain and there was no suggestion that was in their thinking.

Others seem to think not, but I think he’d have been overtaken by Perez regardless at the pace he was going before the pit, let alone after another 10 laps of deg. I thought he was 11 seconds ahead and losing a second a lap. I genuinely don’t think they thought the graining period would hurt him like it did.

I guess the next is race is going to be a huge indication of whether Mercedes have jumped forward in pace. If not, you’ve got to question taking the penalty this week and not on one of the RB favoured tracks.
 
Listening to Toto sounds like he would have ended behind Gasly if he didn't pit. If that's the case, Hamilton making the original call to stay out was the only error.
 
sewey89 said:
I thought the gap was down to about 10s by the time he came in. Chances are Perez would’ve closed in on him. But it’s not a given. Lewis would’ve got at least 4th had he not pitted. Bad call
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Maybe his tyres would've completely gone. Enormous risk of not finishing vs taking 10+ points.
 
FreakyJim said:
Maybe his tyres would've completely gone. Enormous risk of not finishing vs taking 10+ points.
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That’s true. No way of really knowing what would’ve happened but Lewis gave the impression that he felt ok and didn’t want to come in
 
should have pitted him earlier, or not bothered at all.

Ocon managed to finish on the same set of tyres, I think Ham would have been fine also.

Clearly Merc played the over cautious hand and better to be safer than sorry. Yet again hindsight is a wonderful thing.

It seems Mercedes completely ignored the graining phase which seemed odd, everybody who pitted suffered the same thing.
 
senorgregster said:
Listening to Toto sounds like he would have ended behind Gasly if he didn't pit. If that's the case, Hamilton making the original call to stay out was the only error.
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An error which the team didn't contest that much.
Anyway. It is over now and he lives to fight another day/race.
 
Adam-Utd said:
should have pitted him earlier, or not bothered at all.

Ocon managed to finish on the same set of tyres, I think Ham would have been fine also.

Clearly Merc played the over cautious hand and better to be safer than sorry. Yet again hindsight is a wonderful thing.

It seems Mercedes completely ignored the graining phase which seemed odd, everybody who pitted suffered the same thing.
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Ocon lost 25s to Stroll and 15s to Giovanazzi in 9 laps. So i seriously doubt it.
 
We'll never know but I think it was the wrong call by Mercedes. Then again he might have got a puncture and a DNF.

It's all going Max's way, lewis needs Max's luck.to change.
 
Jerch said:
Get in there Max! With 3 races which are favorable to Red Bull to go he should seal the championship this season. Just hope for no tricks from Hamilton or Merc to try run Max out of one of the races.
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Are we allowing children on this forum?
 
dinostar77 said:
We'll never know but I think it was the wrong call by Mercedes. Then again he might have got a puncture and a DNF.

It's all going Max's way, lewis needs Max's luck.to change.
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I think with 6 points (and lets be honest the majority of that came from the spa farce) anything is still possible

With the upgraded pu I certainly think Hamilton is going to be capable of taking the fight to max

It does seem with ocon making through on one set that it must have been an option for Lewis but one the team felt sub optimal
 
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dinostar77 said:
We'll never know but I think it was the wrong call by Mercedes. Then again he might have got a puncture and a DNF.

It's all going Max's way, lewis needs Max's luck.to change.
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It wasn't luck that he wasted so much time behind Tsunoda and that he couldn't get past Perez. Merc had by far the fastest car, as evidenced by easy victory from Bottas. Lewis can blame himself.
 
Hamilton would have finished 5th anyway if he hadnt pitted when he did and there was greater risk for tire failure. The mistake was to not pit him earlier, it wasn't to pit him later on. Ocon was losing 7 seconds per lap by the end on those worn out tires
 
Adam-Utd said:
should have pitted him earlier, or not bothered at all.

Ocon managed to finish on the same set of tyres, I think Ham would have been fine also.

Clearly Merc played the over cautious hand and better to be safer than sorry. Yet again hindsight is a wonderful thing.

It seems Mercedes completely ignored the graining phase which seemed odd, everybody who pitted suffered the same thing.
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Ocon fell off an absolute cliff at the end and hadn't put nearly as much stress on his tyres as Lewis had done via overtaking. The mistake was Lewis overruling his team on the earlier call to pit. If he'd stayed on the same tyres he's probably still P5 but the risk of a puncture and DNF is astronomically higher. Can't blame the team for living to fight another day.
 
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