Formula One
I know one swallow does not a summer make but, from yesterday's qualifying, it appears that it could all be a whole lot closer this year. Sad to see that Williams are still languishing as Tail End Charlie.
Comments
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It will be interesting to see how the year develops. Sometimes the first race can throw up surprising performances that don't get carried forward to the rest of the season. Being biased towards Red Bull I am hoping they are going to do well this year.
David
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Definitely a nail-biter. I'm sort of torn. Whilst I'd prefer close racing rather than a procession, I'm rather hoping that LH can make it eight and it would be a shame if he missed it in what may be his final year in F1. I still recall his rookie year when he missed getting his first championship by one point.
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Can agree fully with that!
Back in 2007 my Dad was excited at the prospects for this new Mc Claren driver and, whilst on holiday in Italy, I bought him a Lewis Hamilton baseball cap.
He loved it but sadly did not see the season succumbing to cancer, so if for no other reason would like to see Lewis get his 8th title-but it would be nice to see him work a bit more to get it!
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It was a nail biting race. Shame that Max didn't win. I think the Race Director has really got to make the rules clear from the start of the race rather than half way through!!! The top four teams seem to now have sound pairings of drivers which will make the season more interesting. It could make the constructors championship closer?
David
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Bit of a demolition derby yesterday.
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Always makes it a bit more interesting though!!! With the proviso that only pride gets hurt!
Good to see Max win the race lets hope it remains as close through the season. All we need is for Perez to be scoring decent points as it seems both top teams are relying on their number one drivers.
David
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Hi
So, only 3 races in, who else thinks the writing's on the wall for Valteri?
JK
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His performance does lack consistency and he does lack that magic something that Lewis always manages to find somehow.
However, if Lewis makes it eight this season,It's not beyond the realms of possibility to see him moving on to other things and would Mercedes want to appoint two new drivers for next year?
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Reading the press this morning it's rumoured that Russell will be in Bottas' seat during this season so they'll only need one new driver next season. Don't forget next year with the new rule changes it will be new for everyone.
JK
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The only problem with that is that Mercedes only want a support driver for Lewis at the moment. I am not sure George Russell would be willing to play that game so Bottas might be safer than you think? It really does depend on what Lewis decides to do if he wins his eight Drivers Championship. Perhaps for a year George would put up with it? It does seem that Red Ball are going to push Mercedes hard this year for the title so it's important to have both drivers scoring maximum points. It looks as if Perez has growing confidence in the Red Bull so there is a scenario where Lewis could win the Driver Championship and Red Bull the Team Championship, now that would be interesting. I bet Perez is laughing his socks off having been replaced at Aston Martin with a former world champion who is struggling to score points.
David
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Can't see Mercedes tolerating Bottas's performance too long, he was 124 points down on Hamilton last year and is already 37 points down this year in the same car. If Mr Wolff wasn't his management he might not have been with Mercedes this year.
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Whist it was inevitable, it shows what a talent LH has in achieving 100 poles. He'll outnumber London plumbers soon.
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Another super performance by Team Hamilton, but not helped by his team mate. I do wonder what would have happened to Bottas had his delaying tactics resulted in a victory for Red Bull!
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The delay was very marginal and the benefit Lewis had from the new tyres was unlikely to have lessened his chance of winning. The Bottas delay at best was only two or three corners and I am sure he would argue that he wanted to choose where Lewis overtook him. Feel sorry of Max as this is not the first race this year where an early safety car has impacted on the outcome of his race and denied him of a possible win.
David
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The delay caused by Bottas was about 1 second, and in the end made no difference to the outcome. The fact that Bottas didn't let Lewis pass and made him do a full overtake move was a bit naughty. I wonder what the recriminations would be if they had collided due to Bottas's petulance.
I can't feel sorry for Max. What goes around comes around. He's caused enough safety cars in his career, but again i don't think it affected the result. Mercedes and Hamilton made sure they had options for the race strategy which in the end proved to be the difference.
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A bold move to go for the late tyre change, nonetheless. The need to be lapping a second faster for twenty plus laps made it something of a nail-biter.
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The strategists predicted a last lap battle, Lewis got it done with 6 laps to go. I don't think anyone else on the grid has that much hunger. Was a nailbiter though!
The good news that Lewis will more than likely stay with Merc next year and the fact that Valteri continues to underperform makes it more likely to me that Russell's seat is secured
JK
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Good win for Max today. Good to be back at Monaco, apart from Silverstone it's the only other Grand Prix I have been to.
David
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Perhaps yesterday's GP in Baku illustrated why Red Bull decided on Sergio Perez as a partner to Max Verstappen as he wasn't going to be intimidated by the likes of Lewis Hamilton? I quite like the Baku circuit as its got both long straights and narrow twisty bits. Clearly a problem with tyres which Pirelli will have to sort. Poor old Bottas seems to have lost his mojo since the pit lane incident in the last GP?
David
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From yesterday's qualifying it is clear that the Silver Arrows dominance is no longer there.
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Plus also a few duff strategy calls of late? It does seem that Red Bull have become more competitive and with Perez on the podium for the second race running it could be an interesting championship.
David
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Tough call for one or two stops though. Carving through back markers has its own hazards. It was just the last few laps that it became evident that Lewis wasn't going to hold on to the lead.
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And a pretty minor punishment as well for such a serious incident. Max was struggling a bit as he got out of the crashed car. Personally I think it was a deliberate act. There was no way he was fully "alongside" Max, if he was how come his front left went into the rear right of Max's car?
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If you watched the slow mo he was halfway alongside on the approach to the corner but he was off the racing line which Max had. I gather H was at fault because he would never have made the apex of the bend and he had plenty of room on his inside to move over. Agree it was not a harsh enough penalty. I wonder what would have happened if Le Clerc had kept his line like Max?
peedee
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Yeah, not good.
I've always been a staunch LH supporter (met him and had a chat at Goodwood in 2009) but I've got to say that was a pretty desperate launch on the inside of Copse (the fastest corner on the 2021 calendar). Drivers cornering at 160 mph+ know and respect that corner. It would never end well whoever made that move. Leclerc backed out for his own safety I think, knowing what happened earlier. Doesn't bode well for the sport at all. The end celebrations all looked good for the fans but for me it marred the weekend
JK
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Well i have a different opinion. I think Lewis had every right to attempt an overtake move, as far as I am aware there are no corners on any circuit where overtaking is against the rule and regulations. Yes Lewis had a little room on the inside but Verstappen had more than 2 car widths on the outside and could have easily avoided colliding with Lewis.
I watched the race on Sky Sports and after the race they showed several clips of other races where Verstappen made overly aggressive overtaking manoeuvres and Lewis backed out to avoid a collision. This time Lewis held is ground and refused to back out just as Verstappen did. A lot of people, including Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso thought the penalty was unnecessary and that it was a racing incident, and they are far more qualified than anybody commenting on here.
I have a lot of respect for Christian Horner, but i think he let himself down badly with his comments after the race, lets hope the comments were made in the “heat of the moment” and he will have calmed down by the next race.
My concern is that Verstappen will revert to his old racing ways and be reckless in the next few races causing more collisions, lets hope he sees sense and drives respectfully.
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