2021 French Grand Prix - Le Castellet, June 18 - 20

[zibby43]

Faster? Not sure about that. They had a bunch of drag on the car so Hamilton seemed closee in the twisty parts but otherwise I think the cars were about even, but giving the edge to redbull for one lap pace / outlap pace. It was Red bull's race to lose at the end of the day.

Well, Shovlin and I both respectfully disagree.

RB may have had the top speed advantage, but I think Merc had a bit of margin plus good degradation.

Not as much margin as in Barcelona. But still, margin.

Fully agree. I think RBR will be searching for ways to carry just that bit more rearwing (and thus also front wing) for the next races.

RBR are out-performing Merc in every operational capacity right now. They’ve upgraded the car at virtually every race, too.

Merc have had 2 upgrades; the last one being changing one fin on the floor in Imola. Not going to cut it this year.

[Sieper]

Why did they ran flowvis on the diffusor in FP1, do you know?

[seense]

Even Toto saying Merc had the edge on race pace. So I don't know why people here are pretending Lewis nearly won with a slower car.

Interesting what Toto said about bottas triggering the 1st pitstops. It was all bottass fault.

[Zynerji]

Even Toto saying Merc had the edge on race pace. So I don't know why people here are pretending Lewis nearly won with a slower car.

Interesting what Toto said about bottas triggering the 1st pitstops. It was all bottass fault.

It helps them blame something else when he doesn't win.

[Edax]

I don't understand how Valtteri ran out of tires, and Lewis was able to nurse his dispite pushing super hard while being in dirty air.

One word: skill.

Exactly. This happens every stint on every tire with every set-up. Bottas runs out, Lewis still has them. Bottas is a good qualifier but a mediocre racer. I expect Russell to be much closer to Hamilton.

Speaking of which. 12th in a race where everyone finishes is not a bad result by any measure. Doesn’t yield any points, but still, to outdrive one Ferrari and keep up with the other in a Williams counts.

I guess that when tire degradation can cost up to 3 s/lap it doesn’t matter that much whether your car is a few tenths slower.

[214270]

I must admit I still don’t understand why nothing came of the RBs going off track. VER didn’t make the first corner and PER appeared to complete the move off track. Not trying to be a Merc homer here, but both are questionable stewards decisions.

[ringo]

Even Toto saying Merc had the edge on race pace. So I don't know why people here are pretending Lewis nearly won with a slower car.

Interesting what Toto said about bottas triggering the 1st pitstops. It was all bottass fault.

The lap times say otherwise. Merc was expected to be the faster car. It wasnt.
If merc have the fastest car we see Hamiltoj disappearing into the distance and overtaking decisively if someone's in the way.
It's not out of the realm of possibility that Hamilton somehow has the skill and experience to stick on Max's gearbox. It's not a sin if HAM is the skiller driver, you know?

[LM10]

I must admit I still don’t understand why nothing came of the RBs going off track. VER didn’t make the first corner and PER appeared to complete the move off track. Not trying to be a Merc homer here, but both are questionable stewards decisions.

What kind of an advantage did Max get by not making the first corner and thus should have been penalized?

As for Perez, he already was clearly ahead of Bottas when he moved off track.

[RZS10]

It doesn't matter if he gained an advantage or lost out ... the race director's notes clearly stated that anyone not making the corner would have to go through the bollards, he did not, and it wasn't even that he got pushed out whilst fighting for position, he just did not make the corner - so he should have made that little detour which surely would have cost him further positions (many, probably), he did not do so and only lost one place which kept him in contention for the win.

He did not even bother with pretending to go for the bollards in order to claim that he wouldn't have made it at that angle and speed, just got back on track the fastest way possible.

So Masi's own notes aren't even worth as much as the paper they're (not) printed on ... would the penalty of going through the bollards fit the crime of making a mistake? Probably not, but of course he got away with it.

Obviously Bottas should have gone the long way when he missed corner 4 which would have cost him the position to Checo, but at least Masi was consistent in ignoring his very own rules there.

[214270]

I must admit I still don’t understand why nothing came of the RBs going off track. VER didn’t make the first corner and PER appeared to complete the move off track. Not trying to be a Merc homer here, but both are questionable stewards decisions.

What kind of an advantage did Max get by not making the first corner and thus should have been penalized?

As for Perez, he already was clearly ahead of Bottas when he moved off track.

The angle I saw of the PER move looked to me like the sweep to the right was needed to complete the manoeuvre.

And like RZS10 mention there is no detail other than what’s in the race directors notes for Turn 1. Therefore, the “he completed the first half of the corner” explanation I heard is nonsense & completely made up. I despise stewarding like this

[RZS10]

The exact wording in the official document is the following:

"Any driver who fails to negotiate Turn 2 by using the track, and who passes completely to the
right of the first fluorescent yellow bollard on the apex of the corner, must keep completely to
the right of the fluorescent yellow bollard and re-join the track by driving through the two arrays
of blocks in the run off by passing to the right of the first and to the left of the second. See
Image 1."

This is image 1:


This is Max getting away with a clear infraction of the rules laid out above.


This is the point where he should have slowed down and gone for the bollards, instead he kept the foot in and only lost one position.

Roughly the same moment onboard, bollards very blurry on the right


Masi chose to ignore the rules in favour of "the show" and there is absolutely no room to argue that Max did not get away with a clear breach, he did.

[seense]

Even Toto saying Merc had the edge on race pace. So I don't know why people here are pretending Lewis nearly won with a slower car.

Interesting what Toto said about bottas triggering the 1st pitstops. It was all bottass fault.

The lap times say otherwise. Merc was expected to be the faster car. It wasnt.
If merc have the fastest car we see Hamiltoj disappearing into the distance and overtaking decisively if someone's in the way.
It's not out of the realm of possibility that Hamilton somehow has the skill and experience to stick on Max's gearbox. It's not a sin if HAM is the skiller driver, you know?

Merc/HAM was faster than VER/RB today. It's ridiculous to put that on car only or driver only. Both cars and both drivers are great.

[Scorpaguy]

I think many, Toto included, thought this to be a Merc track. However, things seemed quite even between the top 4. Strategy won this...kudos to Max for the drive, CH for the calls, and Checo for his tyre mgmt. Even when Arri and Big Red were pushing Merc a few years back, it was clear the Merc was the better package. As of now, things seem pretty even, RB may have the advantage as Toto has never been in this position before...and cannot solve the issues by throwing green at it.

[MtthsMlw]

The exact wording in the official document is the following:

"Any driver who fails to negotiate Turn 2 by using the track, and who passes completely to the
right of the first fluorescent yellow bollard on the apex of the corner, must keep completely to
the right of the fluorescent yellow bollard and re-join the track by driving through the two arrays
of blocks in the run off by passing to the right of the first and to the left of the second. See
Image 1."

This is image 1:
https://i.imgur.com/nQRQs8n.png

This is Max getting away with a clear infraction of the rules laid out above.
https://i.imgur.com/KUmSpAQ.png

This is the point where he should have slowed down and gone for the bollards, instead he kept the foot in and only lost one position.
https://i.imgur.com/nQlR96x.png
Roughly the same moment onboard, bollards very blurry on the right
https://i.imgur.com/07IY7HY.png

Masi chose to ignore the rules in favour of "the show" and there is absolutely no room to argue that he did not get away with a clear breach, he did.

Check out section 22.5 of the Event Notes
https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files ... on%203.pdf

[RZS10]

What about it?
Nothing in 22.5 removes the necessity to go around the bollards since he wasn't forced off track.
He leaves the track>has to go around the bollards>it get's counted, three times off track and around the bollards is a flag, fourth time is a report.

It's the same as the red bollard after 1/2 in Spain or those in Russia, just a bit harsher.