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

[MKlaus]

if the season goes like this, max would very well settle down and stop saying, "anybody on the grid can win in those merc cars". because right now, despite having faster car, he isn't doing the job. he would now understand the pressure of expectations that can bog a driver down. being in a situation of fighting for title can induce a lot of mistakes. like marko said, what lewis has over max, is loads of experience and consistency of getting the job done at the front. not many on the grid can claim to have that. hope max can show he is a great talent and can get the job done.

[TimW]

Did you notice Hamilton's time? 1-1-44-1-1
Funny numbers for #44 on his 99th pole.

It would have been better if 44 shared the front row with 55, tip make 99, but 55 is only 11th and instead he shares the front row with 11

[godlameroso]

If anything, I think today shows that the Red Bull isn't the dominant car some people were claiming it was at the beginning of the season.

It is dominant. Max and Perez both made mistakes that would have put both on Pole. Also both had very limited practice. I still expdct redbull to be much faster in the race.

No, you're making my point for me!

If the car was as dominant as so many here claimed just a few weeks ago, they would have beaten Lewis regardless of the mistakes.

Helmet himself said Max's mistake cost him 0.2. so he would have been on pole by a little over a tenth without the mistake. That is hardly the sign of a dominant car.

He made a huge mistake in sector 3 as well, messing up on the exit of the final corner which cost him another .2 he should have had .4 on Hamilton with no mistakes. Still, he has to deliver when it counts or potential is meaningless. We'll see what happens in the race, I have a feeling it'll be hard for Hamilton to keep his position. If Perez undercuts him, he'll come out behind him when he pits, if he covers off Perez he loses track position to Verstappen. Also RBR has an excellent pit crew, Mercedes may lose some time on the pit stop. So Hamilton will have to be mm perfect as well as the team, all race long if he's going to hang on to the lead.

[nevill3]

The beauty of this season is that even if Lewis has a great start from pole he is not automatically going to drive off into the sunset for the win. Also if Max or Sergio get ahead at the start Lewis could stil lhang on in there and grab a victory, it is not a foregone conclusion and that is what every true fan of F1 has been craving for.

[MKlaus]

I'm more excited for this race to start than any that I can recall from recent memory...

Calling it :

Perez
Hamilton
Verstappen

I'd love to see Perez take the win, but I think this a little premature: the tire strategy may well turn out to be a disadvantage.

lewis generally gets good starts. even with an average start, he would hold the inside line and the track narrows towards turn 1. if anything, max might also come alongside to perez, also on the inside like he did last year. this is a one stopper and pitting at the right time is the key. a safety car can make things interesting.

[nimoraca]

It is dominant. Max and Perez both made mistakes that would have put both on Pole. Also both had very limited practice. I still expdct redbull to be much faster in the race.

No, you're making my point for me!

If the car was as dominant as so many here claimed just a few weeks ago, they would have beaten Lewis regardless of the mistakes.

Helmet himself said Max's mistake cost him 0.2. so he would have been on pole by a little over a tenth without the mistake. That is hardly the sign of a dominant car.

He made a huge mistake in sector 3 as well, messing up on the exit of the final corner which cost him another .2 he should have had .4 on Hamilton with no mistakes. Still, he has to deliver when it counts or potential is meaningless. We'll see what happens in the race, I have a feeling it'll be hard for Hamilton to keep his position. If Perez undercuts him, he'll come out behind him when he pits, if he covers off Perez he loses track position to Verstappen. Also RBR has an excellent pit crew, Mercedes may lose some time on the pit stop. So Hamilton will have to be mm perfect as well as the team, all race long if he's going to hang on to the lead.

There is no obvious mistake of Max in the final corner (at least it is not obvious from the onboard). He was just slower than Lewis there. Also, the mistake in turn 3 does not look as if it was worth more than 0.05-0.1s,( compared to Perez. Some of the Red Bull fans here are trying so hard to make it look like Red Bull still had massive advantage when its completely obvious that they didn't (at least against Hamilton). Race pace looked very similar on Friday between Hamilton and Red Bulls but we only got to see a handful of race sim laps so we do not really have enough info on the tire deg between them. I think who ever takes care of their tires better will win tomorow.

[dans79]

Some of the Red Bull fans here are trying so hard to make it look like Red Bull still had massive advantage when its completely obvious that they didn't (at least against Hamilton).

I concur! It kind of makes it look like they don't have faith in Max's ability!

[zeph]

I'm more excited for this race to start than any that I can recall from recent memory...

Calling it :

Perez
Hamilton
Verstappen

I'd love to see Perez take the win, but I think this a little premature: the tire strategy may well turn out to be a disadvantage.

lewis generally gets good starts. even with an average start, he would hold the inside line and the track narrows towards turn 1. if anything, max might also come alongside to perez, also on the inside like he did last year. this is a one stopper and pitting at the right time is the key. a safety car can make things interesting.

I was thinking more along the lines of Hamilton and Verstappen putting on the soft tires later in the race on lower fuel may be a better choice. But we'll see tomorrow, I have a feeling it's gonna be interesting.

[cooken]

It is dominant. Max and Perez both made mistakes that would have put both on Pole. Also both had very limited practice. I still expdct redbull to be much faster in the race.

No, you're making my point for me!

If the car was as dominant as so many here claimed just a few weeks ago, they would have beaten Lewis regardless of the mistakes.

Helmet himself said Max's mistake cost him 0.2. so he would have been on pole by a little over a tenth without the mistake. That is hardly the sign of a dominant car.

He made a huge mistake in sector 3 as well, messing up on the exit of the final corner which cost him another .2 he should have had .4 on Hamilton with no mistakes. Still, he has to deliver when it counts or potential is meaningless. We'll see what happens in the race, I have a feeling it'll be hard for Hamilton to keep his position. If Perez undercuts him, he'll come out behind him when he pits, if he covers off Perez he loses track position to Verstappen. Also RBR has an excellent pit crew, Mercedes may lose some time on the pit stop. So Hamilton will have to be mm perfect as well as the team, all race long if he's going to hang on to the lead.

Perez is on soft vs Hamilton on medium. I don't see there being any kind of direct undercut potential there since Perez will have to pit earlier and likely come out into traffic, whereas Hamilton can go longer in cleaner air. If anything Max holds the most undercut potential.

[proteus]

It is dominant. Max and Perez both made mistakes that would have put both on Pole. Also both had very limited practice. I still expdct redbull to be much faster in the race.

No, you're making my point for me!

If the car was as dominant as so many here claimed just a few weeks ago, they would have beaten Lewis regardless of the mistakes.

Helmet himself said Max's mistake cost him 0.2. so he would have been on pole by a little over a tenth without the mistake. That is hardly the sign of a dominant car.

He made a huge mistake in sector 3 as well, messing up on the exit of the final corner which cost him another .2 he should have had .4 on Hamilton with no mistakes. Still, he has to deliver when it counts or potential is meaningless. We'll see what happens in the race, I have a feeling it'll be hard for Hamilton to keep his position. If Perez undercuts him, he'll come out behind him when he pits, if he covers off Perez he loses track position to Verstappen. Also RBR has an excellent pit crew, Mercedes may lose some time on the pit stop. So Hamilton will have to be mm perfect as well as the team, all race long if he's going to hang on to the lead.

Mercedes simply downplayed their game as they used to do it with Ferrari. Probably lowered engine setups, to keep wear and tear under control and they will jet again cruise towards another championship, while RedBull with Honda went all in and they are allready suffering from malfunctions right at the start of the season... I dont doubt that RedBull guys will claim few wins in this season, but i am pretty sure Lewis and Mercedes will lock titles confortably quite a few races before the end of the season....And ofcourse we will be hearing how hard and difficult it was, how handicaped they were and etc...and i have to admit i am affected by boredomefest which we are watching for last 7 seasons, so i am overly harsh about it and sarcastic.

[dans79]

Perez is on soft vs Hamilton on medium. I don't see there being any kind of direct undercut potential there since Perez will have to pit earlier and likely come out into traffic, whereas Hamilton can go longer in cleaner air. If anything Max holds the most undercut potential.

Unless there are safety cars or other irregularities I can't see Perez winning tomorrow. As you said, he's on the softs which don't last that long.

If he wants to one stop, he has to baby them, and then switch to hards and baby them as well.

If he two stops, he'll have a lot of overtaking to do on a track that doesn't make it easy.

[JPower]

Outside of Checo, its clear the new drivers are not at 100%. Nowhere close IMO.

Might be another 2-3 races before they’re dialed in. Really crazy how different these cars must be from one another.

[godlameroso]

No, you're making my point for me!

If the car was as dominant as so many here claimed just a few weeks ago, they would have beaten Lewis regardless of the mistakes.

Helmet himself said Max's mistake cost him 0.2. so he would have been on pole by a little over a tenth without the mistake. That is hardly the sign of a dominant car.

He made a huge mistake in sector 3 as well, messing up on the exit of the final corner which cost him another .2 he should have had .4 on Hamilton with no mistakes. Still, he has to deliver when it counts or potential is meaningless. We'll see what happens in the race, I have a feeling it'll be hard for Hamilton to keep his position. If Perez undercuts him, he'll come out behind him when he pits, if he covers off Perez he loses track position to Verstappen. Also RBR has an excellent pit crew, Mercedes may lose some time on the pit stop. So Hamilton will have to be mm perfect as well as the team, all race long if he's going to hang on to the lead.

Perez is on soft vs Hamilton on medium. I don't see there being any kind of direct undercut potential there since Perez will have to pit earlier and likely come out into traffic, whereas Hamilton can go longer in cleaner air. If anything Max holds the most undercut potential.

The only one on medium tires is Bottas, what you're saying doesn't make sense. Everyone not in a Red Bull or Mercedes is on softs in the top 10. Thus everyone behind Perez will pit roughly at a similar time. Unless Perez makes a very early stop there's little chance he's going to come out in traffic. After 15-17 laps he should be able to pull a 27 second gap over 11th place.

If not the pace difference on new tires will let him pass. From there unless Hamilton pits he will get undercut by Perez. Or Perez can pressure Hamilton while Verstappen hangs back and saves his tires.

[Zynerji]

I'd love to see Perez take the win, but I think this a little premature: the tire strategy may well turn out to be a disadvantage.

lewis generally gets good starts. even with an average start, he would hold the inside line and the track narrows towards turn 1. if anything, max might also come alongside to perez, also on the inside like he did last year. this is a one stopper and pitting at the right time is the key. a safety car can make things interesting.

I was thinking more along the lines of Hamilton and Verstappen putting on the soft tires later in the race on lower fuel may be a better choice. But we'll see tomorrow, I have a feeling it's gonna be interesting.

I used to agree with that logic, but it hasn't worked since ppl started trying in 2011...

[dans79]

The only one on medium tires is Bottas, what you're saying doesn't make sense. Everyone not in a Red Bull or Mercedes is on softs in the top 10. Thus everyone behind Perez will pit roughly at a similar time. Unless Perez makes a very early stop there's little chance he's going to come out in traffic. After 15-17 laps he should be able to pull a 27 second gap over 11th place.

And you're ignoring the fact that someone will probably go long gambling on a safety car or virtually safety car (just like last year). Not to mention if he pits that early he probably has to 2 stop or really baby the hards, while Lewis, Max, & Bottas will all be shooting for a 1 stop.

If not the pace difference on new tires will let him pass. From there unless Hamilton pits he will get undercut by Perez. Or Perez can pressure Hamilton while Verstappen hangs back and saves his tires.

Did you watch the race last year? It only had a handful overtakes even with the safety car that put people on tires of different compounds and ages. Unless you are a good second a lap faster than the person in front, you aren't getting past even with drs.