F1 2021 Season

Looking at race pace sim in FP2, I think Max could quite comfortably run away with this. The only hope for Merc is that the drop in pace in sector 3 was due to getting the tyres in the right window vs raw grip between the two. If it’s the former, then on race day it shouldn’t have the same impact.

One surprising thing is the straight line speed of RB. They’ve run a small wing. Which on softs which have more grip, might be manageable. Merc have to hope that on the harder compounds, they have a big speed advantage where the lack of tyre grip is amplified by the lower downforce set up which RB are running to have pace on the straights.

It’s definitely looking in RBs favour, but never know.
 
hobbers said:
Maybe you should make a Max vs Lewis fanboy thread for next season and you two can keep all of your ranting in there. Keep the F1 thread for F1 fans.
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:lol::lol::lol:

Yet more projection, you could probably put a PowerPoint presentation on the moon!
 
Looks like 2 stops for Max and 1 stop for Lewis then?
 
rpitroda said:
Looking at race pace sim in FP2, I think Max could quite comfortably run away with this. The only hope for Merc is that the drop in pace in sector 3 was due to getting the tyres in the right window vs raw grip between the two. If it’s the former, then on race day it shouldn’t have the same impact.

One surprising thing is the straight line speed of RB. They’ve run a small wing. Which on softs which have more grip, might be manageable. Merc have to hope that on the harder compounds, they have a big speed advantage where the lack of tyre grip is amplified by the lower downforce set up which RB are running to have pace on the straights.

It’s definitely looking in RBs favour, but never know.
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It does look like this is Max's to lose, Red Bull are much craftier as a team and they seem to have the speed advantage here too.

The only question is about whether the softs can hold up, Lewis needs to hope that they can't.
 
The Hilton said:
It does look like this is Max's to lose, Red Bull are much craftier as a team and they seem to have the speed advantage here too.

The only question is about whether the softs can hold up, Lewis needs to hope that they can't.
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Yeah, throughout the year Red Bull have simply been more astute in terms of strategy and tactics. Don’t think the tow made a big difference today, but throughout the season it’s usually felt like Merc are strategically off the pace.

The split strategy does make it interesting. If Max stays ahead of Lewis at the start, he could pull away on that softer tyre early doors. The challenge for RB is that they almost need to commit to a direction right at the start. Either Max pushes and they commit to a 2 stop, in which case he can build the gap. Or they go for trying for a 1 stop and in that case he might not pull away to preserve the tyres. There is a fair bit of risk in both cases though.
 
The Dutch media hype, nay, indoctrination to make us love Max is reaching insane levels. I'm bombarded from all sides by it at work, in traffic, in the fecking supermarkt, everywhere. Most of my friends have fallen for it and bought Zandvoort tickets for nearly 700 euro's a piece. It's madness.
 
Before today (and the past 3 races) my head says Merc will win.

Anything can happen this season and I would still love Merc to lose for Max & Honda to get a win after Merc’s ridiculous dominance.

It has turned sour though, I’d love for them both to ram into each other and both get disqualified from the championship.

I’m already looking forward to next year with the new regs and a few other drivers involved.
 
KirkDuyt said:
The Dutch media hype, nay, indoctrination to make us love Max is reaching insane levels. I'm bombarded from all sides by it at work, in traffic, in the fecking supermarkt, everywhere. Most of my friends have fallen for it and bought Zandvoort tickets for nearly 700 euro's a piece. It's madness.
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:lol: Aye, it's insane. I've even spoken to some old posh lady friends of my mother, the type who are married to a former professor or doctor and normally only care about art and classical music concerts, who've been completely riled up and excited about this F1 season.

I guess that's what you get when your national football team sucks big time for almost a decade, and the only other 'sport' you're good at as a nation is schaatsen. Luckily everything closes at 17:00 hr because of lockdown and it's freezing cold outside, because Max might not win it tomorrow, and in a normal world I could definitely see all these 50 year old bald guys with beer bellies wearing Red Bull shirts as casual clothing going ballistic if he'd lose.
 
rpitroda said:
Looking at race pace sim in FP2, I think Max could quite comfortably run away with this. The only hope for Merc is that the drop in pace in sector 3 was due to getting the tyres in the right window vs raw grip between the two. If it’s the former, then on race day it shouldn’t have the same impact.

One surprising thing is the straight line speed of RB. They’ve run a small wing. Which on softs which have more grip, might be manageable. Merc have to hope that on the harder compounds, they have a big speed advantage where the lack of tyre grip is amplified by the lower downforce set up which RB are running to have pace on the straights.

It’s definitely looking in RBs favour, but never know.
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Completely agree with this. Red Bull race pace was looking very solid.

I have the impression that Red Bull setup was tailored towards race pace rather than qualifying, hence the low drag profile. So it’s quite surprising that Max got pole by such a large margin. Just a mega lap from Max and great strategy by Red Bull with the tow. I think Mercedes will be scratching their heads about how a car that was 4tenths faster finished 4tenths behind.

A lot still in the balance tomorrow, should be a scintillating race and you can never count out Lewis. If there’s anyone who can pull it out the bag when the cards are stacked against them it’s him.
 
I have a sneaky suspicion RB always intended on running the soft to start the race, despite what they say. They did a lot of race sim on the soft which is quite unusual.
 
Great strategy from RB in q3, however I'd rather be in Mercedes position of being on the Mediums and being able to do a one stop. Longest pitlane of the season as well.
 
Just feel like Max has got it. Track position. Pace for pace he can match the Merc.
 
Nah I think this is Lewis'. Better flexibility on strategy starting on the harder tyre. More consistent driver.
 
I’m very much in the camp they always intended starting on the soft - mainly because they expected Lewis to be faster than he was - but ruining a set of mediums to do it makes no sense. They could have just sent Max out on softs at the end to “cover” track conditions improving which happens most weeks.
 
Mickeza said:
I’m very much in the camp they always intended starting on the soft - mainly because they expected Lewis to be faster than he was - but ruining a set of mediums to do it makes no sense. They could have just sent Max out on softs at the end to “cover” track conditions improving which happens most weeks.
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I thought merc might have split strategies and sent botas out in softs

Gonna be interesting to see if they pace bottas to ensure he's going to be a mobile chicane for max when he pits

Also the red bull is fairly good on its tyres... could max pull off a one stop?


If they do go a 2 stop starting in softs and can see max having to pass bottas... whilst Lewis goes full hammertime ... and then at the end possibly fresher tyres on the merc
 
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RB didnt intend to start both cars on soft. Max said that himself. He flat spotted his only set of mediums in q2 and forced RB to go to softs. Perez was due to start on softs as a split strategy.

You definitely want to be on the Mediums for this race as traditionally the one stop has been the fastest strategy.
 
sun_tzu said:
I thought merc might have split strategies and sent botas out in softs

Gonna be interesting to see if they pace bottas to ensure he's going to be a mobile chicane for max when he pits

Also the red bull is fairly good on its tyres... could max pull off a one stop?

Looks possible from this
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...-the-saudi-arabian.OLJj6fLMDonxNxu1f2aQS.html

If they do go a 2 stop starting in softs and can see max having to pass bottas... whilst Lewis goes full hammertime ... and then at the end possibly fresher tyres on the merc
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Yeah cos Bottas has done so well this season in slowing Max ?

Done more for Max than Perez has.
 
dinostar77 said:
RB didnt intend to start both cars on soft. Max said that himself. He flat spotted his only set of mediums in q2 and forced RB to go to softs. Perez was due to start on softs as a split strategy.

You definitely want to be on the Mediums for this race as traditionally the one stop has been the fastest strategy.
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I agree. It's definitely looking like 2 stopper for Verstappen. The softs wont last long (10-15 laps at most?) while Hamilton will play the long game with the mediums then go hard tyres until the end. Verstappen also doesn't have a fresh set of mediums to use now.
 
I thought Lewis had the red soft tyres on in q3? Could have sworn I saw them on his car unless I'm going mad
 
Honestly the whole weekend it looked like the Mercs were way faster than the Red Bulls untill Max all of a sudden pulled off a mega lap in Q3 which somehow shuffled the cards a bit. Still, I thinks this is Hamilton's to lose. He was faster all weekend and the races before. His car is obviously quicker. He starts on the mediums so can go long. I expect him to win.
 
ArjenIsM3 said:
Honestly the whole weekend it looked like the Mercs were way faster than the Red Bulls untill Max all of a sudden pulled off a mega lap in Q3 which somehow shuffled the cards a bit. Still, I thinks this is Hamilton's to lose. He was faster all weekend and the races before. His car is obviously quicker. He starts on the mediums so can go long. I expect him to win.
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I was not expecting that Q3, RB pulled off a cracking job, all credit to them.
Think Max flat spotting his mediums in Q2 , could be his downfall, despite what Horner says, I dont think he wanted to start on the softs.
Earlier I was 50/50, but thinking about it and Max starting of softs, I have swayed 55/45 towards Lewis, I cant see Max getting a pit on front and rumours are he will pit twice and Lewis only once.
Long stint on his mediums and then end the race on softs.
This is all new for Max and his temperament has been under question the past few races, he need to hold it together, where has this is old hat for Lewis, he has been here before and won.
It should be a cracking race.
 
Some things of interest. Max was mighty in Saudi quali and nowhere near in the race. How punchy will Norris get at the start? Lewis can lean on his tyres a little more in the first stint. Can RB do a 1 stop? If everything goes to plan Lewis will end up catching max up with fresher tyres.
 
ArjenIsM3 said:
Honestly the whole weekend it looked like the Mercs were way faster than the Red Bulls untill Max all of a sudden pulled off a mega lap in Q3 which somehow shuffled the cards a bit. Still, I thinks this is Hamilton's to lose. He was faster all weekend and the races before. His car is obviously quicker. He starts on the mediums so can go long. I expect him to win.
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The practice times were pretty misleading - when RB were doing race simulations they looked as quick as Mercedes.

They've definitely set the car up well, both Max and Checo were fast in qualifying (although best performance has to go to Norris, he's been driver of the year for me).

If Max was on mediums there wouldn't be much question if who wins, but now a lot depends on how well the softs hold up. It isn't anyone's to lose, but I'd suggest it's advantage Max just for having pole.
 
slyadams said:
Some things of interest. Max was mighty in Saudi quali and nowhere near in the race. How punchy will Norris get at the start? Lewis can lean on his tyres a little more in the first stint. Can RB do a 1 stop? If everything goes to plan Lewis will end up catching max up with fresher tyres.
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Yeah interesting points. I think that’s why there is so many variables at play tomorrow! Both of them look really confident. They are at the top of their game and should be a cracker!
 
Assuming no safety car how on earth does Max 1 stop? Aren't C5s (softs for race) a maximum of 20 laps, more like 15? That leaves 38-43 laps on C4s (medium) which is also a stretch. Perhaps needs C3s (hards) for the 2nd stint? Not convinced Lewis can go medium then soft either. Perhaps medium and hard for lewis?
 
As long as Max has track position its never going to be easy.
 
was a great lap by max, he nailed the 3rd sector which made all the difference.

interesting down the straight he was actually quicker than hamilton.

it’s clear their plan is get in the lead and be fast enough that he’s not easy to overtake on the straights - we shall see if that’s possible.

Lewis is the king of making his tyres last so he will go long on his first stint to make sure he has tyres to attack max late on.

I’m not sure red bull will go to a 2 stop, unless he absolutely bolts it on the first stint and pulls a huge gap he won’t want to be put back into traffic which could hold him up big time.

It really is going to be tight, something as simple as a bad pit stop could cost either of them.
 
Tom Van Persie said:
I agree. It's definitely looking like 2 stopper for Verstappen. The softs wont last long (10-15 laps at most?) while Hamilton will play the long game with the mediums then go hard tyres until the end. Verstappen also doesn't have a fresh set of mediums to use now.
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Sorry, missed this and then posted something similar. This looks right to me. Safety car could change everything though.
 
I’m actually nervous for tomorrow. Only started watching F1 this season after binging DTS in april. This is more exciting for me than even important United games.

I just don’t hope Max wins. He’s so narcissistic, incredibly deluded and always pushes the rules and tries to cheat. Doesn’t help that Horner is almost as bad. Been a thrilling season but seeing Max win would be seriously off-putting for my F1 interest, don’t really fancy sports where the best or most deserving sportsman/team doesn’t win.
 
Macern said:
I’m actually nervous for tomorrow. Only started watching F1 this season after binging DTS in april. This is more exciting for me than even important United games.

I just don’t hope Max wins. He’s so narcissistic, incredibly deluded and always pushes the rules and tries to cheat. Doesn’t help that Horner is almost as bad. Been a thrilling season but seeing Max win would be seriously off-putting for my F1 interest, don’t really fancy sports where the best or most deserving sportsman/team doesn’t win.
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It's all relative. I don't like Max, but after so many seasons of Mercedes and Hamilton, I'd take anybody over them. The sport will change completely next year regardless due to the new rules, so I wouldn't walk away regardless of the result.
 
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