2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix - Imola, Apr 16 - 18

[_cerber1]

[El Scorchio]

Who seems on top here? Perez is a long way back, but the huge missing factor is Verstappen. It's hard to judge without him. I very much doubt there's that small a gap from the front to Gasly, though.

Looks like Merc it targeting getting through fp2 and starting on the mediums.

The car also looks like it might have been heavy for the soft runs given they appeared to be taking fuel out of Lewis's car after the run.

I thought they looked really heavy on those soft runs as well, and the similar times suggested it. So they set their fastest time on mediums and everyone else was on softs?

[grubschumi13]

How exciting would it be if Ferrari got up in the mix to make it a three team fight. they are looking good. Mercs look like the best car so far but Ferrari seem close. RBR not so sure how good they look. Perez not close at all to the Mercs.

[HungarianRacer]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EzGX4RPXIAI ... =4096x4096

Aston Martin slowest in Sector 3, ouch.... But also, how?!

[LM10]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EzGX4RPXIAI ... =4096x4096

Aston Martin slowest in Sector 3, ouch.... But also, how?!

Their car more or less is the one of another team. It must be harder adapting to rule changes and working on a concept which they’ve not invented and have known only for one year.

[grubschumi13]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EzGX4RPXIAI ... =4096x4096

Aston Martin slowest in Sector 3, ouch.... But also, how?!

Indeed, their car even looks slow. Not sure what to make of it. Low rake theory, yet Mercedes is still there in the hunt and won a race. Really do think there is some incompetence or a lack of technical expertise going on. Seems they messed up what was a fast car from last year.

They seem even worse than they would have been had they gone their own route in 2020 with their own car instead of a W10 copy they did not really understand.

[Scorpaguy]

Merc (Ham and Bot) look a bit clear of the rest...RB may not be as close this track (although both had limited running). The rest of the field was as usual...with maybe AT punching above their weight. Aston..."whoops...cannot wait until '22". Latifi...that guy needs to start a Maz fan club. Fred...not looking promising either.

[RZS10]

On what basis are the stewards deleting laptimes? External cameras? Onboard? ... There was no mention of loops so it must be visual only ...

This, according to them, is worthy of deletion - i guess they are correct but i can see how we might get some discussions should times by certain drivers (not) be deleted ... especially since the onboard doesn't tell you whether the rear tyre might still have been on track.

btw: were the rules changed after Monza 2019? Is it literal contact of the tyre patch with the white line or the "well if you look from above maybe" they came up with on the fly back then

[DarthPlagueisTheVise]

[El Scorchio]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EzGX4RPXIAI ... =4096x4096

Aston Martin slowest in Sector 3, ouch.... But also, how?!

Indeed, their car even looks slow. Not sure what to make of it. Low rake theory, yet Mercedes is still there in the hunt and won a race. Really do think there is some incompetence or a lack of technical expertise going on. Seems they messed up what was a fast car from last year.

They seem even worse than they would have been had they gone their own route in 2020 with their own car instead of a W10 copy they did not really understand.

Hindsight is always 20/20 though. These reg changes were not on the horizon when they made their decision to go in that design direction back in 2019, which I believe was in order to help them concentrate on 2022 (or 2021 as it was then) more?

[f1316]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EzGX4RPXIAI ... =4096x4096

I was going to say that Ferrari - more specifically Leclerc - look pretty darn fast so far (albeit, as the crash may have shown) a little bit closer to the limit than, say, Mercedes. Kinda surprised to see this though.

Let's hope they are genuinely in the mix, although I suspect we'll see Mercedes up front with the main question whether Max can regain lost time. It does appear as if Ferrari and Alpha Tauri are decidedly ahead of the rest of the 'midfield' though, and seemingly also faster than the RB of Perez (although I wouldn't be surprised if he gets up to speed, especially in the race itself).

[SiLo]

Similar to Bahrain - I expect the Mercs to jump a lot from practice once they turn the engine up and take fuel out.

[godlameroso]

Looks like the trend continues, it is extremely close in race pace at the front between Merc and RBR. Checo is about .4 seconds off the pace, probably on Gasly's pace. Ferrari is as strong as I imagined them to be. They have very good pace, enough for a podium on merit around here. Verstappen is still got the fastest package, he just needs to put it together.

Down the field there are cars that have good long run pace but sluggish quali pace which will make the race very interesting.

The weather will be consistent for the rest of the weekend.

[RZS10]

Likely route?

[NathanOlder]

https://i.imgur.com/OBupfHW.png
Likely route?

Its mad that he broke down, meters from the pit lane. How was it not a 30second trip back.