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

[politburo]

Just saw the replay of Mazepin blocking Perez.



Wow.

The guy finished 1 minute behind Schumacher(before the penalty), it's embarassing.
Russel-Latifi, Leclerc vs Ericsson wasn't this one sided.

Cut the guy some slack - he pitted twice, and intentionally so on the instruction of the race engineer, to try the C3 and to avoid blue flags. I was actually watching onboard and the guy was lapping the same pace as both Mick and Latifi on the C1 before pitting again, he also visibly took the edge off in the first sector as he had 2 track limits warnings, but his S2 and S3 times are quite comparable to his teammates'. He also did realise his mistake after the blue flags debacle and moved out of the way eventually. He was told there were blue flags before, but not sure how proximal Perez was so he took the inside of T3, then moved out of the way into T4, and immediately acknowledged the mistake over the radio.

Oh and by the way Leclerc won 81% of Sauber's points that 2018 season as a rookie. Russell has never been out-qualified by Latifi, 19 races and still running. It is quite a strange comparison to the Haas F1 Team's situation, where both drivers are rookies, in their 3rd race. If the season was to end now (which it won't) then all these things would have some finality to them, the embarrassment would be cut and dry for all to marvel at and ridicule. However, the season is still in progress, there is always some unpredictability and the drivers will gain more experience and find their true pace - some take longer than others. Towards the end of the season is when judgments should be made.

[Shrieker]

True he would have lost time, but he could have at least had Max on his outside and then run him off the road. Like Lewis did to Max on lap 11 at turn 3 I think it was?

Yeah I think Max would've overtaken him clean on the outside, making him look like a fool, provided Valtteri could actually stop the car and not barge straight into him Think he was done for as soon as he slid off at T3 and lost all momentum coming out.

[siskue2005]

Honestly, My respect for Nico’s championship win increases with each passing year

indeed

[maxxer]

Just saw the replay of Mazepin blocking Perez.



Wow.

The guy finished 1 minute behind Schumacher(before the penalty), it's embarassing.
Russel-Latifi, Leclerc vs Ericsson wasn't this one sided.

Cut the guy some slack - he pitted twice, and intentionally so on the instruction of the race engineer, to try the C3 and to avoid blue flags. I was actually watching onboard and the guy was lapping the same pace as both Mick and Latifi on the C1 before pitting again, he also visibly took the edge off in the first sector as he had 2 track limits warnings, but his S2 and S3 times are quite comparable to his teammates'. He also did realise his mistake after the blue flags debacle and moved out of the way eventually. He was told there were blue flags before, but not sure how proximal Perez was so he took the inside of T3, then moved out of the way into T4, and immediately acknowledged the mistake over the radio.

Oh and by the way Leclerc won 81% of Sauber's points that 2018 season as a rookie. Russell has never been out-qualified by Latifi, 19 races and still running. It is quite a strange comparison to the Haas F1 Team's situation, where both drivers are rookies, in their 3rd race. If the season was to end now (which it won't) then all these things would have some finality to them, the embarrassment would be cut and dry for all to marvel at and ridicule. However, the season is still in progress, there is always some unpredictability and the drivers will gain more experience and find their true pace - some take longer than others. Towards the end of the season is when judgments should be made.

Guy was last anyway could have investigated after the race and fine the team they should have been coaching him wonder what happened on team radio

[El Scorchio]

Dont forget to add that Max said he struggled with the final 2 corners to get the power down, and that the DRS zone was a large amount shorter this year. Everyone had much more difficulty passing today. Its not all about Mercedes finding more power.

If you can get great drive out of the corner before the main straight, then you’re going to be in a fine place both attacking and defending.

To add, I don’t think the Mercedes is faster or better per se. I think it was just better on the part of the track where it really mattered today.

I would say both Mercedes and Hamilton were very quick this weekend.

We’ll soon see what the data bears out from this race, but judging from the results and the eye test, the car looks substantially better and more balanced than the one we saw in Bahrain. And this is despite the fact that Portimao is a tricky, low-grip surface.

It remains close enough where attention to detail in every session matters, so we should continue to be in for a good season.

Totally. They have made some really good strides since Bahrain. It’s really exciting to have two teams so close in performance. I think and hope it’ll swing one way then the other. Everyone will be earning their money this season.

[Jolle]

Is it just me or did Ferrari do some “2020 Vettel” tactics on Sainz. With a normal strategy he could have finished in front of Leclerc.

[Sieper]

Ofcourse. Leclerc is their man. Sainz will have to make it very hard on Ferrari not to do that. But, leclerc started on yellows Ofcourse. So there is that and that was on merit.

I think Leclerc is slightly faster than Carlos, and Carlos is fast too.

[dans79]

Horner is being a little ridiculous about the track limits, I mean he had written verification of what the limits were well in advance of the race what more does he need.

https://www.racefans.net/2021/05/02/red ... -with-fia/

“But for track limits that we didn’t see anybody else have the penalty that Max did today,” said Horner. “He would have achieved that lap.”

However Masi pointed out that drivers had been consulted about the revised definition of track limits at turn 14, which was announced on Saturday morning. He said Verstappen’s penalty was issued “as per the event notes.”
“Following a review of what happened on Friday in particular, turn 14 was being used far more,” Masi explained. “It wasn’t an issue in 2020 but became one in 2021. So as a result I gave all the drivers the latitude to use the red and white kerb at that corner in a similar manner to turn five.

“However they were told that if they gained a lasting advantage out of each of those – [by] overtaking a car, [being] faster in a mini sector, whatever it may have been – that it will be looked at.”

Verstappen’s line through the corner was a clear violation, said Masi. “Having looked at it post-race, it’s very clear that Max was… off the track [and] that he was faster in that mini-sector than anyone and as a result got the fastest lap of the race, which is a world championship point.”

A total of 18 laps times were deleted during the race for infringements at turns one, four and 14, in addition to others earlier in the weekend.

[JordanMugen]

medium-soft is a no brainer. unless big safety car drama happens early on.
this is one area mercedes is outsmarting red bull. they are getting their tyre strategy spot on and red bull is at sea.

Hmm, Red Bull used the hards anyway.

Verstappen was close but not did not have enough to defeat Hamilton.

[Restomaniac]

Horner is being a little ridiculous about the track limits, I mean he had written verification of what the limits were well in advance of the race what more does he need.

https://www.racefans.net/2021/05/02/red ... -with-fia/

“But for track limits that we didn’t see anybody else have the penalty that Max did today,” said Horner. “He would have achieved that lap.”

However Masi pointed out that drivers had been consulted about the revised definition of track limits at turn 14, which was announced on Saturday morning. He said Verstappen’s penalty was issued “as per the event notes.”
“Following a review of what happened on Friday in particular, turn 14 was being used far more,” Masi explained. “It wasn’t an issue in 2020 but became one in 2021. So as a result I gave all the drivers the latitude to use the red and white kerb at that corner in a similar manner to turn five.

“However they were told that if they gained a lasting advantage out of each of those – [by] overtaking a car, [being] faster in a mini sector, whatever it may have been – that it will be looked at.”

Verstappen’s line through the corner was a clear violation, said Masi. “Having looked at it post-race, it’s very clear that Max was… off the track [and] that he was faster in that mini-sector than anyone and as a result got the fastest lap of the race, which is a world championship point.”

A total of 18 laps times were deleted during the race for infringements at turns one, four and 14, in addition to others earlier in the weekend.

Like I said earlier it seems Verstappen just isn’t paying attention in briefings. Either that or RedBull aren’t passing messages to him. Either way this is on RedBull AGAIN.

[e30ernest]

Horner is being a little ridiculous about the track limits, I mean he had written verification of what the limits were well in advance of the race what more does he need.

https://www.racefans.net/2021/05/02/red ... -with-fia/

“But for track limits that we didn’t see anybody else have the penalty that Max did today,” said Horner. “He would have achieved that lap.”

However Masi pointed out that drivers had been consulted about the revised definition of track limits at turn 14, which was announced on Saturday morning. He said Verstappen’s penalty was issued “as per the event notes.”
“Following a review of what happened on Friday in particular, turn 14 was being used far more,” Masi explained. “It wasn’t an issue in 2020 but became one in 2021. So as a result I gave all the drivers the latitude to use the red and white kerb at that corner in a similar manner to turn five.

“However they were told that if they gained a lasting advantage out of each of those – [by] overtaking a car, [being] faster in a mini sector, whatever it may have been – that it will be looked at.”

Verstappen’s line through the corner was a clear violation, said Masi. “Having looked at it post-race, it’s very clear that Max was… off the track [and] that he was faster in that mini-sector than anyone and as a result got the fastest lap of the race, which is a world championship point.”

A total of 18 laps times were deleted during the race for infringements at turns one, four and 14, in addition to others earlier in the weekend.

Like I said earlier it seems Verstappen just isn’t paying attention in briefings. Either that or RedBull aren’t passing messages to him. Either way this is on RedBull AGAIN.

He reminds me of one of my classmates. Very smart, he's actually a genius, so he was always bored in class. Once in a while, he'd fail a test only because he was too bored to listen to the instructions.

It was a fun race. Most of the predictions that Bottas would go backwards came true. I feel bad for Bottas.

It looks like the pressure is starting to mount on Max, which is surprising because it is still very early in the season. The way he looks, speaks or his overall body language reminds me of Rosberg in 2014-15.

Good races down the grid as well. I was working last night during the race so I was not able to pay close attention to the entire race. Looking forward to Barcelona now to see what Merc and RBR will bring to the table.

[214270]

Apparently MAZ got DoD. The powers-that-be must’ve nixed that and put PER instead. Kinda defeats the purpose of a fan vote, if you’re not gonna bother to respect the results, no?

The entire thing is dumb if you ask me.

[zeph]

The first twenty laps were exciting, it fizzled out a little after that. You just knew Hamilton wasn’t gonna take Verstappen’s overtake humiliation twice in a row, no sir. He made the difference today.

It kind of sucks I’m happy with crumbs for Alonso. 4 points, I’ll take it.

[PlatinumZealot]

Does anyone know any news about the Merc PU, there has been some rumours about something they changed since Imola, as being quite controversial, and everyone in the paddock knowing about it.

I mean, something is definitely different, you don’t go from being 0.4 down to being unable to be passed with DRS, within 3 GP’s.

Doing a little calculation it seemed the follwing driver had to be within 0.5 seconds to have a good chance of DRS. The three times the top cars made passes they were all in the gearbox of the car in front coming near the top of the hill so its not about engine power it was about getting on that gearbox before the last corner.

[Hoffman900]

Does anyone know any news about the Merc PU, there has been some rumours about something they changed since Imola, as being quite controversial, and everyone in the paddock knowing about it.

I mean, something is definitely different, you don’t go from being 0.4 down to being unable to be passed with DRS, within 3 GP’s.

Doing a little calculation it seemd the follwing driver had to be within 0.5 seconds to havd a good chance of DRS. The three times the top cars made passes they were all in the gearbox of the car in front coming near the top of the hill so its not about engine power yet. It was about getting on that gearbox before the last corner.

Exactly. As I said earlier, one of the oldest idioms in racing is that the corner leading onto the longest straight is the most important.

Everyone always whines about horsepower, but there is more to it.