2021 F1 challenge discussion thread: R1: Bahrain 28 March

We need to have a loony thread as it's the first race of the season.

Kimi to win the title.
Hamilton to leave mid-season, mourning the passing of his dog.
Ferrari to focus on one driver, the wrong one.
Lando to get his first win and pole at Monaco.
Haas taken over by Vladimir Putin.
Davide Brivio of Alpine to be wired up to a heart monitor at the French GP (MotoGP fans will get that)

Agreed: testing told us next to fuck all other than that the Alfa doesn't break down with Kimi at the wheel! (three race distances in a day or something).

I'm backing some strong races from McLaren with that Merc engine in it: Woking knows how to build a car and Merc know how to build an engine. That they're my most local team has no bearing on the matter......

Ferrari look to have a decent car but (a) is it decent enough and (b) can they get on with being a race team as opposed to the party political football of Fiat Group?

I really am looking forward to seeing Brivio on the pit wall, in interviews etc. Hopefully Alonso can get enough out of the car to give us a reason to see Davide interviewed often enough.

All the other teams are just colours filling my screen.

All race the drivers had been going over track limits at turn 4 and getting away with it only for race control to change their mind and the tell Max to give the lead back to Hamilton when he went over the line during his overtake. Given that Lewis went over the line on numerous occasions in order to get the undercut that got him the lead in the first place Max must be absolutely fuming!

Max actually gained a place off track which is somewhat different to Hamilton exceeding the limits on his own lap after lap. Race Direction was very clear about the difference of gaining a place outside track limits and running off track with no net gain. Hamilton's off track limit excursions were simply that it was allowed outside of Qualifying as far as lap time was concerned, ergo if the Qualifying laps had been set with all four wheels to the left of the kerb the time would not stand but in the race it was not deemed critical in terms of lap time running.

Gaining a place or a "lasting advantage overall" (e.g. avoiding an overtake) whilst exceeding track limits is in direct contravention of the sporting regulations and the Race Director will advise the team to give the place back or else suffer a post-race penalty. Max could've tried to run up a 10s advantage in three laps and take the likely penalty but RBR told him that was not the best thing to do. In reality if he had waited one more lap he would've been close enough to pass cleanly on the main straight and hold position. As it was Max's impatience and Lewis' guile resulted in yet another Mercedes win.

Lando was superb and consistent. It's still on for that Monaco win for him - that is a huge British GP driver goal. The red cars looked better than last year too, but not quite at the sharpest end.

Monaco has many corners with the perfect solution for track limits infringements......

It is a nonsense, I agree. If you can't keep the car within the track either you or the car are not as good as you thought you were. 120mm high 90^o right angle kerbs would be a good answer but I think we'd end up with someone's gran driving carefully being capable of winning the race as all the current crop of drivers would have shredded their supply of tyres before the race commenced.

It was a fantastic Grand Prix. The battle at the front was fascinating, the mid-field battles were equally as absorbing. It was a tale of two rookies, at opposing ends of the spectrum. Tsunoda looked composed yet feisty when he needed to be. He said afterwards that he looked up to Alonso when younger, the right guy to look up to!

You then had Mazepin. Undoubtedly the car doesn’t help, it mostly hasn’t been developed from last year, and it was already a backmarker last year. Schumacher doesn’t look great in the car either. But Mazepin’s spins and crashes looked like someone who just couldn’t get to grips with the complexity and demands of an F1 car.

I thought Hamilton was mega. He won with the slower car. It all started with that initial undercut at the first pitstops. That allowed Mercedes to have the high ground on track position. But their pace on the hard compound was not great. Mercedes pitted again early to see off an undercut, but that put Hamilton in a vulnerable position with older tyres towards the end. Hamilton was managing the gap well towards the end, as Verstappen drew closer the pace advantage neutralised to be an extent. Verstappen had to start using up his tyres to catch Hamilton; it then became a great contest. I think tyre management is one of few areas where Hamilton has the upper hand on Verstappen. Either pushing or conserving. I think another is absorbing pressure. Hamilton flinched once, running wide at turn 10. It was fantastic human-ability, because Verstappen held all the cards in the closing laps – faster car on much better tyres. What was most impressive about Hamilton’s driving is that he only defended when he needed to. That is something that drivers tend to do, go overly defensive and find themselves overtaken by overreacting. I think back to Fisichella against Raikkonen at Suzuka. It left Raikkonen in a perfect position by Fisichella taking such a tight line into the chicane. Hamilton only blocked once into turn one once. It was the only time he needed to. That was despite Verstappen drawing very close with DRS on several occasions along the pit straight. Hamilton in the heat of battle is definitely one of the best.

Bahrain has never been the best Mercedes circuit since 2014. Ferrari was quicker in 2017 and 2018 and won, the 2019 race would have been by Ferrari too if technical gremlins hadn’t spoilt a fantastic performance on the day by Leclerc. Bahrain is a circuit with more roll time, and where traction is at a premium. The mechanical grip of the Red Bull is clear to see; Verstappen was using a lot more kerb than Hamilton and could turn tighter to the apex. The Red Bull was so much faster in the middle-sector. I do wonder how that translates to the more flowing circuits, having such a pointy nose might be trickier at places like Silverstone and Spa where you aren’t using the kerbs to help the car turn. Potentially, every weekend the result will vary according to the circuit, which would be fantastic for F1.

It was great to see the Alfa more competitive, allowing Raikkonen to get involved in a fantastic midfield battle with Alonso and Vettel. Alonso was fantastic, he struggled in practice but improved in qualifying to reach Q3 and he raced like he never went away. Hopefully Alpine can equip Alonso with something more competitive, because he could compete towards the front of the grid in my view. His midfield heroics are great, but he needs a car that allows him to be contending for wins and podiums, not mere points.

Driving for a new team has not energized Vettel like people thought it might. I don’t think his relative drop in form has got anything to do with his crash at Hockenheim whilst leading. Fundamentally, his driving style doesn’t agree with the hybrid cars, and he just isn’t as good as Verstappen, Hamilton or Alonso in combat. It’s not about whether he can race or not, it isn’t as black and white as that. But when it comes to attacking and defending, he isn’t quite there against the very best. The situation with Ocon was just ridiculous, that shouldn’t be happening with a driver of his experience and caliber.

Hmmm...re: Norris. Ricciardo has a big personality and all that but Lando has a longer team and car relationship already so that will play out interestingly over the season.

I also think George in a Merc (or any front end of the grid car) is a better prospect than Max, and not just because he's English. He seems to be more level headed, less sense of entitlement to be at the sharp end and as a result able to deal with the downsides in a cooler manner. Max is probably the better racing driver, however, so if we're lucky we could have a repeat of the Senna / Prost scenario where opposing mindsets battle one another in a season or twos time.

George Russell is indeed a great prospect. If it wasnt for the issues during the race, he would have won the Sakir GP with ease. The fact he did so well in a car he didn't actually fit into because it was built for someone a foot shorter made it even more impressive. Give him a car he's comfortable in that can offer the performance to match his talent and youd have an epic combination.

Fingers crossed for that.

^^^^^^

Brilliant.

TBF he's showed he can win in lower formla so he can't be all bad at the driving game however I have it on good authority that he is a complete arse so hopefully not far. 

All depends on how far his Dad wants to reach into his pockets but do see him owning the team by year end.