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

[grubschumi13]

Well its a much better season than we have had in a long time. Perez needs to get up to speed sooner. Bottas has played a role in the title fight twice now and Perez is yet to show up.

[cplchanb]

I have a feeling they did this in at least one if not both the previous races too. It must just be personal preference.

I was thinking it's because Mercedes are keeping fewer parts in inventory (budget cap), and most of his car was destroyed in imola.

IIRC the rear wing was intact from the crash so I dont think it was a factor this weekend.

[El Scorchio]

Just saw the replay of Mazepin blocking Perez.



Wow.

[Restomaniac]

I think he and his side of the garage is still skewing their set-up towards qualifying in the hops of getting in-front of Lewis. Then he pays for that all race long with deg.

If that’s true then a gap of only 0.007sec is really poor.

History shows lewis is the better qualifier of the two, so he has a delta to make up, but he also can't go off the deep end with the skew either. we are talking fine margins here.

I get that but I also agree he was a fair bit off on race pace. If that much race pace loss only gains him such a tiny amount then he (as we knew) is in trouble.

[NathanOlder]

He was, but he couldn’t live with the top three today. He forced himself into playing that part. Fair enough from the team, if they thought he could either benefit from a safety car or hold up Hamilton at all.

It’s interesting actually, whilst the race strategy failed for PER they did manage to pit PER for fastest lap, which triggered BOT to pit for fastest, which ultimately gave VER the chance to pit for fastest. First time I’ve noticed strategy being deployed for fastest.

Yeah, that was a lovely little sub plot! I guess both teams know how crucial even one point could be at the end of the season.

I found it odd that Merc pitted that lap and not 1 lap later. If they waited 1 more lap, then RedBull couldn't pit Max at all.

[Restomaniac]

Just saw the replay of Mazepin blocking Perez.



Wow.

Yep that’s why I said they should get him off the track!!

[Artur Craft]

No need to discuss endlessly, argue or name call, because quite frankly, the facts don’t support your opinion.

what "fact"? Winning, with difficulty, while driving the most dominant car for 8 years means nothing. HAM only drove super fast cars throughout all of his career(except for the first half of 2009).

All of his numbers are pretty modest considering the machinery he´s had.

[Restomaniac]

It’s interesting actually, whilst the race strategy failed for PER they did manage to pit PER for fastest lap, which triggered BOT to pit for fastest, which ultimately gave VER the chance to pit for fastest. First time I’ve noticed strategy being deployed for fastest.

Yeah, that was a lovely little sub plot! I guess both teams know how crucial even one point could be at the end of the season.

I found it odd that Merc pitted that lap and not 1 lap later. If they waited 1 more lap, then RedBull couldn't pit Max at all.

Or 1 lap earlier so they both could.

[El Scorchio]

It’s interesting actually, whilst the race strategy failed for PER they did manage to pit PER for fastest lap, which triggered BOT to pit for fastest, which ultimately gave VER the chance to pit for fastest. First time I’ve noticed strategy being deployed for fastest.

Yeah, that was a lovely little sub plot! I guess both teams know how crucial even one point could be at the end of the season.

I found it odd that Merc pitted that lap and not 1 lap later. If they waited 1 more lap, then RedBull couldn't pit Max at all.

Great point. The strategy guys would probably like that call back.

[Artur Craft]

Just saw the replay of Mazepin blocking Perez.
Wow.

wtf? Didn´t you see it live? It was shown on the main feed. I guess you follow the race from onboard channels?

[NathanOlder]

Yeah, that was a lovely little sub plot! I guess both teams know how crucial even one point could be at the end of the season.

An's lewis would have done it as well, if he had had enough laps left.

That’s the point though, Redbull played it well and didn’t allow sufficient time for HAM to respond.

Not at all, Mercedes should have stopped Bottas 1 lap later. then Max wouldn't have been able to stop at all. Mercedes just messed up. Its not like Bottas pit a lap after Perez did. they had the luxury of pitting Bottas when they liked after Perez fell more than 25s back.

[mistrx]

"my tyres are shot". "it was a tough race". can't bear this BS for 8th year in a row

[El Scorchio]

Just saw the replay of Mazepin blocking Perez.



Wow.

Yep that’s why I said they should get him off the track!!

Too right. He really needs to take a step forward, especially as Schumacher seems to be doing a nice job so far.

[Mattchu]

They said it wasn`t a "good race" or something similar...I completely disagree, I found that a great race to watch, intriguing, little tactical battles going on up and down the grid, overtaking wasn`t stupidly easy but was possible even on similar tyres. It isn`t all just about manufactured overtakes!

The team cheerleaders, Di Resta and Rosberg, The amount of blah, blah, that comes out of them {especially Di Resta} could probably take a hot air balloon up to maximum altitude!

The cream rose to the top, Hamilton and Verstappen showed they are dandruff shampoo ahead of the rest...Good race by Alpine, they look to have found some pace. Norris looking like a top level driver as well.

p.s. Also liked the fastest lap interchange between Lewis and Bono, "well we can always give it a go" ... "Nah, you`re alright".

[El Scorchio]

Just saw the replay of Mazepin blocking Perez.
Wow.

wtf? Didn´t you see it live? It was shown on the main feed. I guess you follow the race from onboard channels?

If you must know, I went to the toilet.