Formula One 2021.

[Cleoriff]

So the new season will start in March and Australia was planned as usual to be the opening track. Now it looks set to be cancelled. (March 21st)

I have heard via someone who lives in Australia that although Covid related, nothing to do with that per se. More due to the fact, they are not prepared to run it without spectators. It's a street circuit and they make millions from the fans and ticket prices.

I'm inclined to agree with that. The Covid Bubble teams have put in place seemed to work well, 3 drivers out of 20 catching a mild dose and 3 team staff...

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/formula-1-season-opener-in-australia-set-for-postponement/4935595... 

It means that the Bahrain Grand Prix scheduled for 28 March now looks poised to become the 2021 season opener.

[Cleoriff]

Actually @jonsie it WAS a bore. France is normally the worse on the calendar but last week was far more exciting. At least the lead changed twice. This was a race where Max lead from start to finish.

Nothing Lewis could do, lap by lap you saw his time to Max getting bigger and bigger. I mean come on, for Verstappen to finish 38 seconds ahead of Max was just like the days when Lewis was doing the same last year.

The most exciting time was when Lewis pitted 2 laps before the end to take the fastest lap from Perez.

There was very little action midfield.

Poor Russell got himself into 8th place, came in for a pitstop and they had to retire the car (no idea why)

Horner called it a masterclass.

It wasn't a masterclass, not when he was fighting no one for the lead. He drove well and handled his tyres well but so did everyone else. No-one else had the speed.

No doubt it will be more of the same at the same venue next week.

[Anonymous]

It was a very uneventful race, Verstappen had it covered from start to finish, he had a quarter of a second in his pocket all weekend (Same as the last race) And I reckon he could have found more if he needed it.

That's 4 races on the trot that Mercedes have not won, longest since 2014. Redbull have got both hands on the Trophy imo.

Also, the worrying thing for F1 in general is the huge gap from Redbull/Mercedes to the other teams at this race, if it wasn't for the ludicrous pitting for fastest lap and 1 point (Wow!) by Perez and then Hamilton the first 4 would have lapped every other driver. Hamilton pitting for fastest lap to get just one extra point was a very risky call by Mercedes imo(Look what happened to Bottas at Monaco) If something had gone wrong and Hamilton had lost all 18 points, then that would have definitely been championship over.   

[Cleoriff]

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@Anonymous wrote:

It was a very uneventful race, Verstappen had it covered from start to finish, he had a quarter of a second in his pocket all weekend (Same as the last race) And I reckon he could have found more if he needed it.

That's 4 races on the trot that Mercedes have not won, longest since 2014. Redbull have got both hands on the Trophy imo.

Also, the worrying thing for F1 in general is the huge gap from Redbull/Mercedes to the other teams at this race, if it wasn't for the ludicrous pitting for fastest lap and 1 point (Wow!) by Perez and then Hamilton the first 4 would have lapped every other driver. Hamilton pitting for fastest lap to get just one extra point was a very risky call by Mercedes imo(Look what happened to Bottas at Monaco) If something had gone wrong and Hamilton had lost all 18 points, then that would have definitely been championship over.   

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Not sure it was all that risky @Anonymous ....did you see how far behind Bottas was in relation to Lewis? I know what you mean though, after the disaster with Bottas's pit stop , I hold my breath every time the two Merc drivers pull into the pits.

What concerns me is the lack of pace of the Merc's. When have you ever seen a competitor have a 38 second advantage over a Mercedes? I know Lewis stopped for a second time for fastest lap, prior to that stop Max was 25 seconds ahead of them. Ridiculous.

I think RBR have brought upgrades despite Horneyspice denying it. There is no way RBR has suddenly found that level of speed.

Mercedes need to the same if they have any chance of taking Red Bull on.

PS Lewis was 40 points behind Vettel in 2017...and guess who won the championship? It wasnt Vettel

[Anonymous]

@Cleoriff Yeah I get your point about there not being much risk in Hamilton's pit for fastest lap, but It's one point extra vs losing a possible 18, think of it this way: If you stopped 18 times from second place to get fastest lap, it only has to go wrong once in 18 races to make you worse off overall if you get a dnf, and what if Verstappen developed a problem and Hamilton missed out on taking the win? It's all about percentages and anything for just one point is poor odds imo. Plus it makes a bit of a joke of the fastest lap, it's just not genuine anymore.

Two or three more wins and Verstappen only has to finish second for the rest of the season to be Champion...

I hope there is rain or something this weekend, because otherwise it's just going to be the same again.

[Cleoriff]

As my PC has packed up, I've pinched my husbands to do the P1 results from the 2nd race in Austria. All looking good for Mercedes NOT

[jonsie]

Pl;ease rain..........

[Cleoriff]

P2. That's better Lewis.....

[jonsie]

Must have turned the knob up....

[Anonymous]

That's no way to talk about Bottas

[Cleoriff]

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@Anonymous wrote:
That's no way to talk about Bottas

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