2021 Styrian Grand Prix - Spielberg, June 25 - 27

[Sevach]

Perez being on different tires gives some interesting tactical choices for RBR, 2 stops being plan A seems the most reasonable to me.
He may end up in front of Verstappen and Hamilton after the first stop if he pits early and end up being used as a buffer.

[Pyrone89]

So can we saw that with this short track, with 3 straights and just 6 real corners, RB with their higher top speed is gaining some 2,5 tenths and that`s something bigger than those 3,5 tenths they were gaining at Paul Ricard ...

It has 7 real corners, at least the way I count it. Being this minimalist is why drivers are generally close to each other, Ricciardo apart.

What wouldn't I give to anyone who's willing to get on Di Resta's nerves?

I don´t follow Sky´s broadcast. When I watch F1, I do with my local channel(just for the images) on mute. But, the impression I get is that people tend to loath Di Resta because, if I understood correctly, he´s the only one on the Sky team who is not aboard the Hamilton hype train. I remember many years ago when I saw a few bits from UK´s Sky how Crofty, Brundle, Herbert.... are all hyping everything Hamilton does and when the result is not good enough they immediately start saying other drivers´ cars are better and etc....

Is that it, is PDR hated just because he doesn´t conform to the LH cult or is there more to it?

True. DiResta is not part of the cult.

With regards to Sky: no problem to be biased for your own citizens. However the FOM made it a problem by choosing Sky as the interviewers and commentator for the global feed. They should have a neutral team for that.

[Artur Craft]

3 hundredths of a second is not "lack of speed"

You missed one key word: "relative". Implying that I wasn´t saying he was slow, I implied he was not as quick as he usually is, versus Bottas.

For instance, normally, LH is much faster than VB on Spa but on Austria that is not the case, in fact, Bottas has been pretty much always slightly quicker, hence LH´s relative lack of speed

[Sieper]

There are some tracks where Valterri is relatively closer, this is one of them.

Did he actually outqualify Lewis today or does that not count? Because of the penalty.

Come to think of it, it does mean no painful moment in having to ask Valterri to move over (should that otherwise have been needed).

[Artur Craft]

No I think PDR is very well respected, he really knows his stuff, has a natural talent & speaks the truth. Something we like, as you are correct, most of the British commentary team are slight biased towards Lewis… but what do you expect, they are British after all

I see you are being ironic. But I have no idea about PDR´s quality as a commentator, as I don´t follow Sky. Maybe he says lot´s of nonsense and that´s why people don´t like him but I usually see people "calling him out" for being alledgely jealous or bitter about LH. To reach a conclusion I would need to watch their broadcasting a few times but I suspect it´s just what I said before.

[ringo]

This is not one of LH best tracks for qualifying. He will just go for a race setup.
I was not surprised Bottas went quicker, even though that was helped by tyre prep.
How can Mercedes win tomorrow?

Perez can fight for the win. From what i remember with this track, tyre deg is not a big deal for redbull. Perez will overtake un the first stint and also run as long as the other guys on the medium.
I do think mercedes will 1 stop. Bottas just needs to keep his nose clean to prevent the pit crew from calling him in too early. Norris caj also influence the strategy too but i suspect he is going long as well.

[Zynerji]

With Yuki's penalty dropping him from 8 to 11,, and promoting George from 11 to 10, what happens to the tyre choices?

Does Yuki get new rubber and George now have to use his Q2 tyres?

[Pyrone89]

With Yuki's penalty dropping him from 8 to 11,, and promoting George from 11 to 10, what happens to the tyre choices?

Does Yuki get new rubber and George now have to use his Q2 tyres?

No, if you go to Q3 qualifying session you have to start on Q2 tyres regardless of later penalties

[Sieper]

George keeps free choice, yuki still has to use his used set.

[Hoffman900]

This is not one of LH best tracks for qualifying. He will just go for a race setup.

Lewis has been trending this way in his career in general. A younger, faster Lewis, was trying to emulate his racing hero, Ayrton Senna, but as he has gotten older, and likely slowed down just a hair, he now races like an Alain Prost.

[dxpetrov]

This is not one of LH best tracks for qualifying. He will just go for a race setup.
I was not surprised Bottas went quicker, even though that was helped by tyre prep.
How can Mercedes win tomorrow?

Perez can fight for the win. From what i remember with this track, tyre deg is not a big deal for redbull. Perez will overtake un the first stint and also run as long as the other guys on the medium.
I do think mercedes will 1 stop. Bottas just needs to keep his nose clean to prevent the pit crew from calling him in too early. Norris caj also influence the strategy too but i suspect he is going long as well.

People somehow keep dreaming that Perez would be allowed to win over Max, now that Max is clearly in the charge for the title and it's all that close with Mercs. Not. Gonna. Happen.

[Hoffman900]

This is not one of LH best tracks for qualifying. He will just go for a race setup.
I was not surprised Bottas went quicker, even though that was helped by tyre prep.
How can Mercedes win tomorrow?

Perez can fight for the win. From what i remember with this track, tyre deg is not a big deal for redbull. Perez will overtake un the first stint and also run as long as the other guys on the medium.
I do think mercedes will 1 stop. Bottas just needs to keep his nose clean to prevent the pit crew from calling him in too early. Norris caj also influence the strategy too but i suspect he is going long as well.

People somehow keep dreaming that Perez would be allowed to win over Max, now that Max is clearly in the charge for the title and it's all that close with Mercs. Not. Gonna. Happen.

This. Sergio’s role is to fend of the Mercs and sweep up Constructor’s points when Max has an issue.

[grubschumi13]

Mercedes is the fastest car no doubt this weekend. Mercedes 2 and 3 RBR 1 and 5. Max is making that RBR look competitive. What a driver.

Max is almost always putting RB where it doesn´t quite belong, isn´t he?!

LH, on the other hand, again being outqualified by Bottas on a dry Spielberg QLF. I can only remember him beating Bottas on the wet QLF last year. Not a good record at all. One of Hamilton´s biggest strengths, probably his biggest, is abnormal ability under braking and this track has very few of that which might explain his relative lack of speed

RBR average quali is 3 while Merc is 2.5 so Merc is on ave the better car. Max is an outlier putting it in pole. Gasly, Albon and now Perez are showing this car is not then best.

All this underdog talk by Hamilton to me sounds like he is getting his excuses in early or trying to set up and make it look like he stole a pole he had no right being on.

[Pyrone89]

Mercedes is the fastest car no doubt this weekend. Mercedes 2 and 3 RBR 1 and 5. Max is making that RBR look competitive. What a driver.

Max is almost always putting RB where it doesn´t quite belong, isn´t he?!

LH, on the other hand, again being outqualified by Bottas on a dry Spielberg QLF. I can only remember him beating Bottas on the wet QLF last year. Not a good record at all. One of Hamilton´s biggest strengths, probably his biggest, is abnormal ability under braking and this track has very few of that which might explain his relative lack of speed

RBR average quali is 3 while Merc is 2.5 so Merc is on ave the better car. Max is an outlier putting it in pole. Gasly, Albon and now Perez are showing this car is not then best.

All this underdog talk by Hamilton to me sounds like he is getting his excuses in early or trying to set up and make it look like he stole a pole he had no right being on.

Indeed, I call it ‘underdog theatre’

[101FlyingDutchman]

What is all this talk about “setting the car up for the race” nonsense whenever someone doesn’t qualify p1? Do you think anyone compromises the race by intentionally going for a setup that favours quali only? There are rare track examples where that works (Monaco for instance) but this Spielberg track is renowned for overtaking opportunities. So you’d be totally mad by going for pure outright pole pace and totally sacrificing race pace. It’s inane to think that is what’s happening here.

BOT seemed to think there was a bit more time in the car which would have made it very close anyway. HAM has never been stellar around here and it shows. BOT however was lucky that HAM found a setup that they could copy for quali that brought the pace back to the car.