2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Jeddah, Dec 03 - 05

[the poster below]

This shouldn't mean much of anything, but - is the wall that Verstappen hit one of the walls people were suggesting could be a 'wall of champions' like in Montreal?

[politburo]

2 safety cars in 7 laps in F2. All incidents on main straight. That T1 reminds so much of T1 in Monza, only with slight elevation change and not so acute in mid-corner. It will be chaos there tomorrow guarantee. Especially with aggressive drivers like Stroll and Sainz starting much further back than one'd conventionally expect.

[PlatinumZealot]

Oh Max!! If only he'd backed out of it.

That's a broken drives haft at least, based on what we've seen before I'd be gobsmacked if that's not a gearbox. Wouldn't surprise me if they change it anyway - 5 place penalty is better than potential DNF (think LeClerc in Monaco - Ferrari could take the risk of course).

That would have been the lap of the season, let alone the weekend if he'd have completed it.

Broken rear suspension, broken steering, broken rear right driveshaft at least. Gearbox maybe not so much.

You saw the driveshaft flailing around? Yup, that is not good for the CV joints or the bearings. IMO it's better to change that gearbox than to have a mechanical DNF tomorrow. Besides as said earlier, the other other RedBull's should wave Max past back into an easy P4 or P3.

No Idea how the RB's race pace is, but I felt Max sacrificed most of it to be fast in Q.

[Restomaniac]

If you look at Mexico, anything could happen. Max could be leading by the end of lap 1 so I don't know why the Red Bull fans are acting like the championship is over.

Is it permitted to swap to another gearbox he has in his pool without penalty? Presuming he has another one.

You can use an old box for practice but have to use the new race box for race/qualifying.

[214270]

[cplchanb]

great...so they redeemed a bit of their dignity back...

[zibby43]

Smart decision for RB. Time they start putting their focus back on the track.

Merc’s performance suffered when they focused too much on politics earlier this season.

[GerryTT]

If Verstappen finishes fourth and wins Abu Dhabi with Hamilton taking only 1 fastest lap point in the last two races, Verstappen still is champion. So take the gearbox penalty and go for fourth and let’s have a real final in Abu Dhabi.

[Dee]

If you look at Mexico, anything could happen. Max could be leading by the end of lap 1 so I don't know why the Red Bull fans are acting like the championship is over.

Is it permitted to swap to another gearbox he has in his pool without penalty? Presuming he has another one.

Yes, of course anything could happen. Even Hamilton could retire tomorrow.

But the thing is, it seems that RB did really everything they could to snatch pole, even sacrificing race pace (by a lot actually). So, the fact that he didn't get pole, on its own, is a problem. The fact that Bottas is in front of him, is a problem. And the fact that he could possibly take a new gearbox and 5-place drop, is even worse (and no, he cannot change gearbox tomorrow without penalty).

So, it's not the end of the world, as he looks set for a podium finish, but he has two Mercedes in front of him and that's certainly a problem.

I'm not certain that Bottas will finish that race with that engine 2moro, problems during qualy and a high speed race to go

[Big Tea]

If Verstappen finishes fourth and wins Abu Dhabi with Hamilton taking only 1 fastest lap point in the last two races, Verstappen still is champion. So take the gearbox penalty and go for fourth and let’s have a real final in Abu Dhabi.

A DNF can cost them 26 points

[siskue2005]

If Max change his gearbox and starts 8th he only has to overtake 2 cars to get back to 3rd.

Perez, Gasly and Tsunoda will all let him past.

So it's better they take it rather than risk a DNF

[bonjon1979]

Will Bottas be penalised for his clash with Kimi earlier in qualifying, Max could still start P2

They were both on a slow lap I think

[DChemTech]

great...so they redeemed a bit of their dignity back...

That seems to be a pretty poor decision.
It was 100% clear that there was a yellow flag light blinking when Lewis was passing. As a driver, you do not know if it's there by accident, or because something really happened - but for safety you should assume the latter.
If the signals were inconsistent between different channels, that's no excuse - it was no excuse for Max either last time.

[the poster below]

If Max change his gearbox and starts 8th he only has to overtake 2 cars to get back to 3rd.

Perez, Gasly and Tsunoda will all let him past.

So it's better they take it rather than risk a DNF

Yes and I think Verstappen would naturally back himself to make the overtakes quickly like last time anyway. I think they might delay announcing anything to reduce contingency planning time for Mercedes.

[mzivtins]

great...so they redeemed a bit of their dignity back...

That seems to be a pretty poor decision.
It was 100% clear that there was a yellow flag light blinking when Lewis was passing. As a driver, you do not know if it's there by accident, or because something really happened - but for safety you should assume the latter.
If the signals were inconsistent between different channels, that's no excuse - it was no excuse for Max either last time.

Have you read what the stewards have said? About the light being on for less than one second and no information was past to the drivers dash as it was not a flag situation, simply an error.

The facts they describe are really good and you can see why red bull aren't going to bother