2021 Portuguese Grand Prix - Portimão, Apr 30 - May 02

[mkay]

There was lots of traffic so laptimes weren't clean but in clean air HAM was consistently losing 2 tenths in S1 and S2 to VER.

[dans79]

VER seems to have the upper hand on the mediums. He's the only one lapping consistently sub/low 1:23s.

Bottas was as well based on some of the times I have down on my notepad (1:23.311, 1:23.129). we will have to wait for the official timing sheet to see what was going on.

as the commentators hinted at earlier, Merc might be contemplating a medium then soft one stopper.

[mkay]

VER seems to have the upper hand on the mediums. He's the only one lapping consistently sub/low 1:23s.

Bottas was as well based on some of the times I have down on my notepad (1:23.311, 1:23.129). we will have to wait for the official timing sheet to see what was going on.

as the commentators hinted at earlier, Merc might be contemplating a medium then soft one stopper.

VER had many laps sub 1:23s, including his very final lap.

I highly doubt that M/S is a possible; first Merc's pace on mediums just isn't looking great (unless they were fuelled to the brim) and the soft doesn't seem to last very long based on HAM's extended lapping.

[Zynerji]

After Paddy Lowe's interview and sandbagging stories on The Grid podcast, I have ZERO faith in the sob-story news that comes out of Mercedes.

Once again, their PR mouthpieces/fans have people believing they are NOT the fastest, even when they top the timesheets/pole positions/points...

[dans79]

VER had many laps sub 1:23s, including his very final lap.

That's why I said we need to wait for the official timing sheets. the f1 tv data feed is garbage, as you only get a few seconds to see the current lap time. If you are watching an in car feed or anything else, you will miss it.

[mkay]

VER had many laps sub 1:23s, including his very final lap.

That's why I said we need to wait for the official timing sheets. the f1 tv data feed is garbage, as you only get a few seconds to see the current lap time. If you are watching an in car feed or anything else, you will miss it.

I was following on live timing app. HAM was consistently 2 tenths off VER in S1, and 3-4 tenths off in S2 towards the end of the stint, and another tenth or two in S3.

HAM's S2 in particular was even slower than the likes of McLaren and Ferrari at the very end.

[Hoffman900]

After Paddy Lowe's interview and sandbagging stories on The Grid podcast, I have ZERO faith in the sob-story news that comes out of Mercedes.

Once again, their PR mouthpieces/fans have people believing they are NOT the fastest, even when they top the timesheets/pole positions/points...

They all do this, from amateurs to F1.

[El Scorchio]

After Paddy Lowe's interview and sandbagging stories on The Grid podcast, I have ZERO faith in the sob-story news that comes out of Mercedes.

Once again, their PR mouthpieces/fans have people believing they are NOT the fastest, even when they top the timesheets/pole positions/points...

If they were sandbagging at all they’d make sure they were only doing it enough to still win- as Lowe also said. Topping practice is meaningless and Hamilton only had a pole last time because Verstappen messed up his Q3 lap.

[El Scorchio]

Perez was out with aero testing equipment, must have been for the new parts, no?

New floor, yes. I doubt they would put the aero rakes on the old spec.

I wonder if they just got it wrong and said Verstappen when they meant Perez.

[Hoffman900]

After Paddy Lowe's interview and sandbagging stories on The Grid podcast, I have ZERO faith in the sob-story news that comes out of Mercedes.

Once again, their PR mouthpieces/fans have people believing they are NOT the fastest, even when they top the timesheets/pole positions/points...

If they were sandbagging at all they’d make sure they were only doing it enough to still win- as Lowe also said. Topping practice is meaningless and Hamilton only had a pole last time because Verstappen messed up his Q3 lap.

The powertrains have to make 9 races, plus some qualifying races. I’m surprised some of these teams run as much as they do at all in practice. They most certainly are not going all in power wise.

[djones]

After Paddy Lowe's interview and sandbagging stories on The Grid podcast, I have ZERO faith in the sob-story news that comes out of Mercedes.

Once again, their PR mouthpieces/fans have people believing they are NOT the fastest, even when they top the timesheets/pole positions/points...

If they were sandbagging at all they’d make sure they were only doing it enough to still win- as Lowe also said. Topping practice is meaningless and Hamilton only had a pole last time because Verstappen messed up his Q3 lap.

The powertrains have to make 9 races, plus some qualifying races. I’m surprised some of these teams run as much as they do at all in practice. They most certainly are not going all in power wise.

I know this is off topic. But it still amazes me we don't see strategic engine changes. Run the engines higher in qualifying (and therefore race) and accept you will need 2 extra engines in the season. Surely the penalties will be outweighed by the overall increased performance over the season.

[Hoffman900]

If they were sandbagging at all they’d make sure they were only doing it enough to still win- as Lowe also said. Topping practice is meaningless and Hamilton only had a pole last time because Verstappen messed up his Q3 lap.

The powertrains have to make 9 races, plus some qualifying races. I’m surprised some of these teams run as much as they do at all in practice. They most certainly are not going all in power wise.

I know this is off topic. But it still amazes me we don't see strategic engine changes. Run the engines higher in qualifying (and therefore race) and accept you will need 2 extra engines in the season. Surely the penalties will be outweighed by the overall increased performance over the season.

I've thought about that as well, but if it made sense they would do it.

I think there is something to be said for using the "B Teams" to experiment with some of the reliability aspects (ie: Williams, AT, Haas, etc.). Obviously they aren't going to let those guys blow up the engines in the name of collecting data, but there is useful information they could collect.

[mkay]

Looking good for Red Bull and Ferrari. Mercedes' got a lot of wood to chop on setup to get the mediums working.

VER's average drops to 23.1 if you remove the two 24s lap.

[El Scorchio]

After Paddy Lowe's interview and sandbagging stories on The Grid podcast, I have ZERO faith in the sob-story news that comes out of Mercedes.

Once again, their PR mouthpieces/fans have people believing they are NOT the fastest, even when they top the timesheets/pole positions/points...

If they were sandbagging at all they’d make sure they were only doing it enough to still win- as Lowe also said. Topping practice is meaningless and Hamilton only had a pole last time because Verstappen messed up his Q3 lap.

The powertrains have to make 9 races, plus some qualifying races. I’m surprised some of these teams run as much as they do at all in practice. They most certainly are not going all in power wise.

Of course- but running engines to last for reliability reasons as all the teams must do is very different to sandbagging.

[zibby43]

Looking good for Red Bull and Ferrari. Mercedes' got a lot of wood to chop on setup to get the mediums working.

VER's average drops to 23.1 if you remove the two 24s lap.

https://i.gyazo.com/54f7eeba38bb966c85d ... a4f055.png

I think Merc looks like the fastest on race pace on both compounds.