Grand Prix thread Formula 1 Emirates Grand Prix De France 2021

Good race, excellent ending, exactly the kind of race we want to see.
Disappointed not to see Stroll up for the DotD, started on the back row and got a point in a race no one retired in.

 

The thing is, had they have put Bottas on a two at the right time, they could have scuppered RBRs strat completely.

 

He sounds surprisingly sanguine about it.

 

lol, he probably told them to get ****ed when they asked him if he wanted to go for a pit-stop and fastest lap

 

Bottas could have won the race for Lewis but he messed up really.

 

Don't think there was a whole lot he could do tbh. Max was always going to fly by him. Even without the little screw up, he was toast.

 

And the award for most awful trophy goes to....

 

They doing the 12inch cut of the national anthem?

 

Whelp...good race after what seemed like it was going to be dull as dishwater.

Merc really need to get on top of their strats, otherwise RBR are going to take them to the cleaners. They really should be capitalizing at places like this.

 

They said it was in case Perez received a penalty for his Bottas overtake. No idea why it was even looked at.

 

You are right. For the whole of the hybrid era Merc didn't need strat so now they do their skills are lacking. That plus Merc being very reluctant to split strat, for some reason they don't like it.

 

Indy at Road America coming up if yer all thirsty for some more racing.

 

Whoever is in charge of race strategy at Mercedes has seriously ****ed up so far this year. Heads should roll. They have the best car, the best driver pairing yet theu keep gifting Red Bull points due to bad strategy calls.

 

It made sense not to split strategies when your only opposition was yourself. Having everything decided by the first corner and running in formation to the flag made sense. Now though, it's just trying to fight with a hand tied behind your back. Red Bull have a clear #1 and will put Perez on whatever strategy will maximise Max's result. When it became apparent today that the second pit stop was viable, Perez wasn't in the picture and it was two Mercedes vs Bottas. They should absolutely have pitted one of their drivers really early, even if only to put them on fresh hard's, and forced Max's hand. They played the strategy passively, and in a way that was fair to both drivers, and it cost them.

I don't think Bottas did his long-term future at Merc any favours today. The undercut was really powerful today, but Bottas couldn't make it work to pass Verstappen - and Merc's decision to try it arguably cost Hamilton the lead mid-race. Whilst he was never going to keep Max behind him long term, if he'd held him up even for one lap it might have won Hamilton the race. Instead, he proves again that he can't handle close racing and made a mistake at the earliest possible opportunity.

 

Certainly game on in the Championship fights isn’t it. Really strong result for Red Bull at this circuit.

In the best of the rest, a strong race day for both McLarens and Ricciardo looked happier here this weekend for sure. Awful for Ferrari- we’re they just chewing tyres again?

Alpine looked quick at different times but again- are they burning their tyres?

On we go!

 

They rarely have to think on their feet, and when they do need to, they seem to get it wrong more times than not. It's definitely a weakness in the team.