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

[dans79]

And there's no sense in trying to say Merc had the faster car, Max never was challenged by Hamilton after lap one. Max drove fast enough to win the race, and the 21 sec delta would have been much larger had there been no red flag causing accident. Max, Red Bull and Honda were the class of the field no matter how you try and spin it!

keep repeating this if it makes you feel good.

[RZS10]

One thing that doesn't lie is data, right?

Max was very consistent doing 1:17 high to 1:18 low in the last 18 laps with an average laptime of 1:18.013

He could only improve to a 1:17.524 and repeated the same laptime with 1:17.526 after a slower cooldown lap of 1:18.261

That was the best he could do and it's clear that he went for the fastest lap twice.

Lewis' fastest lap of the race was a 1:16.702 which was 0.822s faster.

[matt_b]

And there's no sense in trying to say Merc had the faster car, Max never was challenged by Hamilton after lap one. Max drove fast enough to win the race, and the 21 sec delta would have been much larger had there been no red flag causing accident. Max, Red Bull and Honda were the class of the field no matter how you try and spin it!

keep repeating this if it makes you feel good.

They're not feeling good hence the delusional post to begin with. Mercedes were the class of the field on race pace and the massive improvement from testing has a lot of people rattled.

[PlatinumZealot]

So, you can have an off, wreck your front wing, sit for half a minute, yet get back on track, pit, replace your front nose/wing and still finish 2nd. Hamilton's car isn't that fast. The rules are broken. This was a mess of a race. It's nice to see a Honda victory.

Those rules are made to keep the race exciting, but also keep things safe, so no they are not broken.

Two rules at play here. The first is the blue flags rule, which helped Max passed backmarkers when HAM was cutting into him like hunting knife. But also hurt HAM because he had to navigate off line - his mistake in not going slower - onto a damp patch which lead to his spin.

The second rule at play are unlapping rules. I remember this rules came as a result of Singapore and other races where it i hard to pass without causeing huge pile ups. And also it allows backmarkers to come back into play for points. So that one is a safety and entertainment.

Why are you mad all of sudden? These rules have been around for nearly ten years now?

[MattWellsyWells]

It was. My mistake.

Actually, LEC had some sort of radio issue and hadn’t been told it was a rolling start. That’s partly why he didn’t gun it when VER went off and why VER pulled a big gap from start.

I can't believe he didn't know it was a rolling start. The gap was only 6 tenths at the line. If he wasn't aware, it would have taken far longer to work that out and get on the power to go. No way was Charles unaware of the rolling start. You don't follow a car so close through Rivazza when you think it will be a standing start.

Presumably he saw the green flag/light and reacted to that? Does anyone know if they have to wait for the green flag on a rolling start or is it the same as a safety car restart? Only saw the highlights so I'm a bit unsure of what actually happened.

[cooken]

Some clowns on here just now realizing that sometimes (most times?) racing isn't "fair". It has always been this way.

[tangodjango]

And there's no sense in trying to say Merc had the faster car, Max never was challenged by Hamilton after lap one. Max drove fast enough to win the race, and the 21 sec delta would have been much larger had there been no red flag causing accident. Max, Red Bull and Honda were the class of the field no matter how you try and spin it!

keep repeating this if it makes you feel good.

They're not feeling good hence the delusional post to begin with. Mercedes were the class of the field on race pace and the massive improvement from testing has a lot of people rattled.

Yup I agree. It's a shame Lewis got over eager with the back markers otherwise he would have walked all over Max. Max is no Senna/Schumacher/Hamilton though he is a great driver and a big talent.

[Jolle]

One thing that doesn't lie is data, right?

Max was very consistent doing 1:17 high to 1:18 low in the last 18 laps with an average laptime of 1:18.013

He could only improve to a 1:17.524 and repeated the same laptime with 1:17.526 after a slower cooldown lap of 1:18.261

That was the best he could do and it's clear that he went for the fastest lap twice.

Lewis' fastest lap of the race was a 1:16.702 which was 0.822s faster.

Looks like (at the moment) Hamilton/Mercedes have the upper hand in tire management over Verstappen/RedBull. This is how he won the first race and how he was driving the second. It was tempting to over ask the inters on the first stint, but he kept his cool and slowly let the tires come his way. Bit like how he won Turkey last year.

[Phil]

I agree with Toto, it’s 60/40 Russell /Bottas. Tbh Russell had a huge speed advantage due to DRS and Bottas should have left a bit more room due to the conditions.

Russell would have been stupid not to go for the pass, he’s a racing driver.

But if Bottas left more room, would he been in the wet?

Bingo. We have a winner.

(Imagine Bottas doing exactly that and then spinning into Russel at high speed in such a scenario... people would be calling for his head with the pitch forks out and ready)

[Sieper]

Max had a 6 second lead on Lewis after the inters to slick pitstop. He lost over 4 seconds of them clearing those 4 backmarkers. Lewis down to 2 seconds when he hit the first of the bunch, Russell. Russell went out of his way, even a wheel on the white line, to let Hamilton pass without loosing as much time as they had just cost Max but ironically, that was what did not help, Lewis went on the damp with a tad too much speed and lost the car. Without the red flag (hi Russell and Bottas) he would have been out of the points.

Max was the patient one here, costing him 4 valuable seconds, whilst Lewis was over eager. The other way around you would have all called it a rookie mistake.

Max is no Lewis, Schumacher or Senna. He is Max. But thanks for mentioning those names and Max. And I agree, a big talent like these names once were too.

[santos]

At the start, and after the first SC, Max left room for Hamilton in the exact same place. Russel was going for it. I don't think he did nothing wrong. But in first place, Bottas and Toto should think about this weekend. How a Mercedes is struggling to keep ahead of a Williams.

[Sieper]

One thing that doesn't lie is data, right?

Max was very consistent doing 1:17 high to 1:18 low in the last 18 laps with an average laptime of 1:18.013

He could only improve to a 1:17.524 and repeated the same laptime with 1:17.526 after a slower cooldown lap of 1:18.261

That was the best he could do and it's clear that he went for the fastest lap twice.

Lewis' fastest lap of the race was a 1:16.702 which was 0.822s faster.

Looks like (at the moment) Hamilton/Mercedes have the upper hand in tire management over Verstappen/RedBull. This is how he won the first race and how he was driving the second. It was tempting to over ask the inters on the first stint, but he kept his cool and slowly let the tires come his way. Bit like how he won Turkey last year.

This time around it was Max being patient (and loosing very valuable 4 seconds clearing the backmarkers) whilst Hamilton slided off being too impatient to overtake. Turkey reversed and only due to the opportune red flag could Hamilton still score any points here.

[Phil]

At the start, and after the first SC, Max left room for Hamilton in the exact same place. Russel was going for it. I don't think he did nothing wrong. But in first place, Bottas and Toto should think about this weekend. How a Mercedes is struggling to keep ahead of a Williams.

At the start, there wasn't a dry line and the inters were actually inters. The dry line was a result of half a race of racing.

[Sieper]

Yup, I feel it is unfair to say Bottas failed to make progress. Sure he is not as good as Hamilton in the wet but if overtaking was possible at all on a wet track it is only when the whole width is equally wet that you stand Any change. Once there is a dry line and you have To overtake on the wet part how is that going to work out, it would be a master feat. Russell got nowhere close to making it stick, it was almost impossible imho.

[Jolle]

One thing that doesn't lie is data, right?

Max was very consistent doing 1:17 high to 1:18 low in the last 18 laps with an average laptime of 1:18.013

He could only improve to a 1:17.524 and repeated the same laptime with 1:17.526 after a slower cooldown lap of 1:18.261

That was the best he could do and it's clear that he went for the fastest lap twice.

Lewis' fastest lap of the race was a 1:16.702 which was 0.822s faster.

Looks like (at the moment) Hamilton/Mercedes have the upper hand in tire management over Verstappen/RedBull. This is how he won the first race and how he was driving the second. It was tempting to over ask the inters on the first stint, but he kept his cool and slowly let the tires come his way. Bit like how he won Turkey last year.

This time around it was Max being patient (and loosing very valuable 4 seconds clearing the backmarkers) whilst Hamilton slided off being too impatient to overtake. Turkey reversed and only due to the opportune red flag could Hamilton still score any points here.

I think the sliding off wasn’t so much of impatient, more an error in judgment (bit like Germany). I meant the laps leading up to that point. Hamilton didn’t worry about the gap getting to 6-ish seconds quite quickly, waiting until his tires started to work and then slowly wheeled Verstappen in.