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

[MKlaus]

what would be mercedes without the brilliance of hamilton? mercedes looks respectable this year because of him otherwise max would be leading this championship by a country mile. when he is gone, there aren't many who can get that respect to mercedes and that would start a downward spiral. lando is no hamilton to replace such a big void. as much as george needs mercedes, they desperately need another talented driver. with bottas and lando, they would be another mclaren.

[xwz]

regarding the penalty given to Räikkönen - it seems different rules applied, which possibly contradicted each other
i - Kimi could have "retaken his position", as long as doing so prior to the first Safety Car line
ii - but he was not allowed to "overtake" other cars after the Safety Car's lights were out

my first thought - is it undisputedly clear whether or not "to pass a car to retake one's position" counts as "to overtake"? (in my german mother tonge "to overtake" has a slightly more specific meaning than i.e."to pass", so passing a car to retake ones position would not necessarily have to count as "overtaking")

Second thought - the team asked for clarification from the Race Director, didn't get an answer because of time constraints - but wouldn't it be "FIA's duty during a race, to, at any time, inform and provide guidance to teams throughout the race, if requested to do so, by a team"?

In this light, FIA would have neglected responisibilities as well - maybe Alfa could appeal the penalty for a mistake that only happened "in a situation of unresponsive behavior of the governing body, when the team reached out to them in a key phase of the race, to seek the correct way forward."

[PlatinumZealot]

It wasn't all luck for Hamilton today. He did get pushed out of track by Max in the second corner. I'm not saying it was unfair or against the rules but Hamilton certainly wasn't lucky there (with the damage he sustained). Then when lapping George, George left him only the wet part of the track approaching the corner, with Lewis being on slicks. That was unlucky as well. By the rules, the driver being lapped must ensure that he does not hold off a faster car, which he certainly did there. Finally, Max was lucky as hell with that "almost" spin at the race restart.
On a different note, the pace Lewis had today in dry(ing) conditions looked much better than what the Bulls had. The fact that he managed the fastest lap of the race even though he had to fight through the filed (using up the tires) speaks volumes. Red Bulls time might be ticking away.

Very balanced view my friend!

[e30ernest]

His car moves right relative to the track.

There have been several incidents at Mid Ohio (US) that are the result of a kink like that. If you play it right you hold straight and it has the effect of your car crossing the track. Road America as well, approaching Canada Corner from The Kink.

It actually helps the “dirtiness” of what Valteri does as he doesn’t have to flick the wheel to get the same effect.

“I held my wheel straight, what are you talking about?” Is generally the argument the driver makes.

It can’t be under estimated how much DRS changes the closing speeds, especially since they extended it. You never see closing speeds like that within the same class. Yes, these guys are use to it, but these are the outcomes that are really only possible to this extreme because of it.

Alex Yoong is part of the after race commentary team here in Asia and he said that Valteri did exactly that. He said any racing driver will try to squeeze out the guy passing on the outside, but they wouldn't make it so obvious as moving to the right. He said he would just have to open up his steering a bit more than normal, or straighten his wheel out to open up the car's line just enough to avoid blame.

I think Bottas did exactly that.

Again, I am not saying it is 100% his fault, but he has his share of the blame too IMO.

[PlatinumZealot]

I feel really sorry for Vettel these days. If he's not having bad luck, then he's having no luck at all.

Hamilton on the other hand is the luckiest driver to ever live. Every time he makes a mistake there's a safety car or red flag to help him climb back through the slower cars.

This is the luckiest driver.

Frane Selak (born June 14, 1929) is a Croatian man who is known for his luck and is often addressed as the world's most unlucky luckiest man.
Brushes with death

Selak's near death experiences began in January 1962 when he was riding a train through a cold, rainy canyon and the train flew off the tracks and crashed in a river. An unknown person pulled Selak to safety, while 17 other passengers drowned. Selak suffered a broken arm and hypothermia. The next year, during his first and only plane ride, he was blown out of a malfunctioning plane door and landed in a haystack; the plane crashed, killing 19 people. Three years after that, in 1966, a bus that he was riding in skidded off the road and into a river, drowning four passengers. Selak swam to shore with a few cuts and bruises.

In 1970, his car caught fire as he was driving and he managed to escape before the fuel tank blew up. Three years later, in another driving incident, the engine of his car was doused with hot oil from a malfunctioning fuel pump, causing flames to shoot through the air vents. Selak's hair was completely singed in this incident, but he was otherwise unharmed. In 1995, he was struck by a bus in Zagreb, but sustained only minor injuries. In 1996 he eluded a head-on collision with a United Nations truck on a mountain curve by swerving into a guardrail, which gave way under the force. Two days after his 73rd birthday, Selak won €900000 (US$1,110,000) (£702,920) in the lottery.At the time of his win, he also married for the fifth time.While he purchased two houses and a boat with his winnings, in 2010 being generous he decided to give most of the remaining money away to relatives and friends after deciding to live a frugal lifestyle.

[xwz]

It wasn't all luck for Hamilton today. He did get pushed out of track by Max in the second corner. I'm not saying it was unfair or against the rules but Hamilton certainly wasn't lucky there (with the damage he sustained).

If you look at his wild ride over the yellow bumps in slow motion, I think Hamilton was kind of lucky to not sustain more damage to the underbody, or even the suspension from this incident.

Then when lapping George, George left him only the wet part of the track approaching the corner, with Lewis being on slicks. That was unlucky as well. By the rules, the driver being lapped must ensure that he does not hold off a faster car, which he certainly did there.

That's definitely not true, check the view from above - Russell moves to the outside and into the wet, Hamilton loses it with his loaded wheels right on the dry line.


I would nevertheless still call it a remarkable overall performance by Lewis - not without mistake, certainly not without luck, but showing skill, calm and competitiveness as well.

Lauda once said - "I don't belive in good or bad luck - you'll have either maybe three times in a row, then it will turn around again.
...And if drivers to be always lucky and others always unlucky should still exist, I'd simply hire a lucky one."

[dans79]

Then when lapping George, George left him only the wet part of the track approaching the corner, with Lewis being on slicks. That was unlucky as well. By the rules, the driver being lapped must ensure that he does not hold off a faster car, which he certainly did there.

That's definitely not true, check the view from above - Russel moves to the outside and into the wet, Hamilton loses it with his loaded wheels right on the dry line.

What he's referring to imo, is that George stayed on the dry racing line in the breaking zone. The drivers are well into the braking zone at the beginning of that clip.

Basically George stayed on the dry racing line in the braking zone, and then after coming off the brakes he took a wide trajectory through the turn. That means Lewis had to go into the wet inside part of the track to break.

Usually, cars being laped are the ones to go offline to let the leaders through. Lewis however not wanting to lose too much time to traffic was overzealous and tried to go up the inside.

If I had to guess, by the time that video clip starts Lewis already knows he's taking a trip through the gravel.

[xwz]

Then when lapping George, George left him only the wet part of the track approaching the corner, with Lewis being on slicks. That was unlucky as well. By the rules, the driver being lapped must ensure that he does not hold off a faster car, which he certainly did there.

That's definitely not true, check the view from above - Russel moves to the outside and into the wet, Hamilton loses it with his loaded wheels right on the dry line.

What he's referring to imo, is that George stayed on the dry racing line in the breaking zone. The drivers are well into the braking zone at the beginning of that clip.

Basically George stayed on the dry racing line in the braking zone, and then after coming off the brakes he took a wide trajectory through the turn. That means Lewis had to go into the wet inside part of the track to break.

Usually, cars being laped are the ones to go offline to let the leaders through. Lewis however not wanting to lose too much time to traffic was overzealous and tried to go up the inside.

If I had to guess, by the time that video clip starts Lewis already knows he's taking a trip through the gravel.

Lewis had (mis)calculated to break in the wet - the very moment he left the dry line behind George into the wet on the left, he already knew what he was in for - simply because the dry line is to the utmost right on this part of the track. George is unable to move any further to the right - he's over the white line almost touching the grass already. As soon as possible he then vacates the dry line for Lewis, no way to do this earlier.

He much earlier might have moved the other way, i.e. to the inside - but not any more after Lewis himself made this move.

So Lewis knew beforehand that the dry line would't be available to him in the braking zone.

You can watch it here.

[PlatinumZealot]

The recovery back onto track masterfully handled. I can't remember when I last saw an F1 car reverse like that.

[e30ernest]

The recovery back onto track masterfully handled. I can't remember when I last saw an F1 car reverse like that.

Either Lewis had the great presence of mind to back the car up like that after he snuffed it up by driving into the barrier, or the team coached him well to do that. I think it is the latter in this case since there is no way for him to see behind him, and the team would have told him when and where he can reverse.

[xwz]

The recovery back onto track masterfully handled. I can't remember when I last saw an F1 car reverse like that.

Reversing onto a live racetrack? I also don't remember such a case. Technically skillful but safetywise? I'm not sure.

[langedweil]

I feel really sorry for Vettel these days. If he's not having bad luck, then he's having no luck at all.

Hamilton on the other hand is the luckiest driver to ever live. Every time he makes a mistake there's a safety car or red flag to help him climb back through the slower cars.

This is the luckiest driver.

Frane Selak (born June 14, 1929) is a Croatian man who is known for his luck and is often addressed as the world's most unlucky luckiest man.
Brushes with death

Selak's near death experiences began in January 1962 when he was riding a train through a cold, rainy canyon and the train flew off the tracks and crashed in a river. An unknown person pulled Selak to safety, while 17 other passengers drowned. Selak suffered a broken arm and hypothermia. The next year, during his first and only plane ride, he was blown out of a malfunctioning plane door and landed in a haystack; the plane crashed, killing 19 people. Three years after that, in 1966, a bus that he was riding in skidded off the road and into a river, drowning four passengers. Selak swam to shore with a few cuts and bruises.

In 1970, his car caught fire as he was driving and he managed to escape before the fuel tank blew up. Three years later, in another driving incident, the engine of his car was doused with hot oil from a malfunctioning fuel pump, causing flames to shoot through the air vents. Selak's hair was completely singed in this incident, but he was otherwise unharmed. In 1995, he was struck by a bus in Zagreb, but sustained only minor injuries. In 1996 he eluded a head-on collision with a United Nations truck on a mountain curve by swerving into a guardrail, which gave way under the force. Two days after his 73rd birthday, Selak won €900000 (US$1,110,000) (£702,920) in the lottery.At the time of his win, he also married for the fifth time.While he purchased two houses and a boat with his winnings, in 2010 being generous he decided to give most of the remaining money away to relatives and friends after deciding to live a frugal lifestyle.

He a pretty wild ride in them 91 years ..
Falling into a haystack from a plane is pretty insane

[e30ernest]

The recovery back onto track masterfully handled. I can't remember when I last saw an F1 car reverse like that.

Reversing onto a live racetrack? I also don't remember such a case. Technically skillful but safetywise? I'm not sure.

He was probably told by the team when it was safe to do so (given he cannot see behind him in any meaningful way). It's also probably why it took him that long before reversing out (he had to wait for the all clear signal).

[JordanMugen]

5) George also needs to realize there are no guarantees in racing. He might be a Mercedes F1 driver in the waiting, but he can easily mess that up for himself. Until he has a contract to be in that car, Toto will always have leverage on him. Toto has leverage too in that other drivers certainly want that seat. He has the pick of the litter if he plays his cards right. George has more to lose than Toto, and Toto is much better at playing the political game as well.

Strongly disagree. Red Bull will gladly sign up Russell if Perez doesn't start to put results together. Russell is clearly an ace. Mercedes' loss to let the protege head off to Red Bull Racing...

[proteus]

The recovery back onto track masterfully handled. I can't remember when I last saw an F1 car reverse like that.

Especially after quite some time of searching for a reverse gear.

Red flag was the true saviour for his result.