2021 Styrian Grand Prix - Spielberg, June 25 - 27

[siskue2005]

Internet forums and social media are getting tiresome as hell. May be, it's my age.

Lewis and Max have had on balance pretty much equal cars and chances on the face of it. It is impossible for the highest ranking engineer of both teams to even ascertain if their rivals are faster/slower because of so many human elements involved in a sport dictated by tiny margins and details.

At this present time, Max is deservedly ahead because he has made lesser race ending errors compared to Lewis but we have only done 7 races. There's a whole heap of throttle peddling and brake pushing to do before we judge either of them. A bloke has won 7 championships against a very talented grid. You just don't fluke into that sort of stuff. Instead of enjoying the best championship since 2012, there is continuous tirades of which car is better and what not when it's so close that nobody can really fairly judge what is going on.

May be, let's just enjoy this fight?

Not sure what season you’ve been watching, but it has become abundantly clear over the past month that RB just has a marginally better car/package in every area over Merc, bar perhaps tyre preservation (and even then the gap has narrowed tremendously since).

That’s not to take away from Max, but this is the new reality.

Yes true, and Max has been great in extracting every bit from it

[101FlyingDutchman]

My subjective opinion is that Merc have an equal or just a tiny bit slower car. But this changes over a full race stint. remember the first few races RB where nowhere near the Merc. Even in France the Merc had a decent “clean air” race pace advantage but it doesn’t mean much when stuck behind another car that’s close to their performance level.

Imho I still think Merc has the better car, but it’s a diva with a narrow operating window. When they get it right, it’s still the car of the field. “Just”

What RB has shown is that they get the car close to the performance ceiling on every track and without major drama. It has really helped them due development that they can run a skinner rear wing yet still have decent race tyre wear and when in front it’s v hard to overtake.
Couple that with a driver who is literally driving the wheels of the thing and is able to use the platform underneath him “all the time”.

Great season. Let’s just enjoy it and stop the bickering

[WaikeCU]

Internet forums and social media are getting tiresome as hell. May be, it's my age.

Lewis and Max have had on balance pretty much equal cars and chances on the face of it. It is impossible for the highest ranking engineer of both teams to even ascertain if their rivals are faster/slower because of so many human elements involved in a sport dictated by tiny margins and details.

At this present time, Max is deservedly ahead because he has made lesser race ending errors compared to Lewis but we have only done 7 races. There's a whole heap of throttle peddling and brake pushing to do before we judge either of them. A bloke has won 7 championships against a very talented grid. You just don't fluke into that sort of stuff. Instead of enjoying the best championship since 2012, there is continuous tirades of which car is better and what not when it's so close that nobody can really fairly judge what is going on.

May be, let's just enjoy this fight?

Cancel culture everywhere these days. It's incredible.

[Wouter]

[mclaren111]

Internet forums and social media are getting tiresome as hell. May be, it's my age.

Lewis and Max have had on balance pretty much equal cars and chances on the face of it. It is impossible for the highest ranking engineer of both teams to even ascertain if their rivals are faster/slower because of so many human elements involved in a sport dictated by tiny margins and details.

At this present time, Max is deservedly ahead because he has made lesser race ending errors compared to Lewis but we have only done 7 races. There's a whole heap of throttle peddling and brake pushing to do before we judge either of them. A bloke has won 7 championships against a very talented grid. You just don't fluke into that sort of stuff. Instead of enjoying the best championship since 2012, there is continuous tirades of which car is better and what not when it's so close that nobody can really fairly judge what is going on.

May be, let's just enjoy this fight?

Cancel culture everywhere these days. It's incredible.

Amen... Sooo Tired of it...

[Pyrone89]

My subjective opinion is that Merc have an equal or just a tiny bit slower car. But this changes over a full race stint. remember the first few races RB where nowhere near the Merc. Even in France the Merc had a decent “clean air” race pace advantage but it doesn’t mean much when stuck behind another car that’s close to their performance level.

Imho I still think Merc has the better car, but it’s a diva with a narrow operating window. When they get it right, it’s still the car of the field. “Just”

What RB has shown is that they get the car close to the performance ceiling on every track and without major drama. It has really helped them due development that they can run a skinner rear wing yet still have decent race tyre wear and when in front it’s v hard to overtake.
Couple that with a driver who is literally driving the wheels of the thing and is able to use the platform underneath him “all the time”.

Great season. Let’s just enjoy it and stop the bickering

This. Mercedes is still the best car on race pace on most tracks.

[siskue2005]

My subjective opinion is that Merc have an equal or just a tiny bit slower car. But this changes over a full race stint. remember the first few races RB where nowhere near the Merc. Even in France the Merc had a decent “clean air” race pace advantage but it doesn’t mean much when stuck behind another car that’s close to their performance level.

Imho I still think Merc has the better car, but it’s a diva with a narrow operating window. When they get it right, it’s still the car of the field. “Just”

What RB has shown is that they get the car close to the performance ceiling on every track and without major drama. It has really helped them due development that they can run a skinner rear wing yet still have decent race tyre wear and when in front it’s v hard to overtake.
Couple that with a driver who is literally driving the wheels of the thing and is able to use the platform underneath him “all the time”.

Great season. Let’s just enjoy it and stop the bickering

This. Mercedes is still the best car on race pace on most tracks.

You have convinced me with your comment

[mkay]

My subjective opinion is that Merc have an equal or just a tiny bit slower car. But this changes over a full race stint. remember the first few races RB where nowhere near the Merc. Even in France the Merc had a decent “clean air” race pace advantage but it doesn’t mean much when stuck behind another car that’s close to their performance level.

Imho I still think Merc has the better car, but it’s a diva with a narrow operating window. When they get it right, it’s still the car of the field. “Just”

What RB has shown is that they get the car close to the performance ceiling on every track and without major drama. It has really helped them due development that they can run a skinner rear wing yet still have decent race tyre wear and when in front it’s v hard to overtake.
Couple that with a driver who is literally driving the wheels of the thing and is able to use the platform underneath him “all the time”.

Great season. Let’s just enjoy it and stop the bickering

This. Mercedes is still the best car on race pace on most tracks.

Race pace is meaningless if Merc doesn’t have track position (worse over 1 lap), subpar pit stops or strategy. Besides, we’re talking at best a tenth or so difference - this is a rounding error in terms of delta required to pass in these regs.

[ferrarifire]

How is the weather near the circuit? Raining ?

[Pyrone89]

My subjective opinion is that Merc have an equal or just a tiny bit slower car. But this changes over a full race stint. remember the first few races RB where nowhere near the Merc. Even in France the Merc had a decent “clean air” race pace advantage but it doesn’t mean much when stuck behind another car that’s close to their performance level.

Imho I still think Merc has the better car, but it’s a diva with a narrow operating window. When they get it right, it’s still the car of the field. “Just”

What RB has shown is that they get the car close to the performance ceiling on every track and without major drama. It has really helped them due development that they can run a skinner rear wing yet still have decent race tyre wear and when in front it’s v hard to overtake.
Couple that with a driver who is literally driving the wheels of the thing and is able to use the platform underneath him “all the time”.

Great season. Let’s just enjoy it and stop the bickering

This. Mercedes is still the best car on race pace on most tracks.

You have convinced me with your comment

Just watch France, same gap in wuali, Merc faster in race pace but beaten on strategy

[Pyrone89]

My subjective opinion is that Merc have an equal or just a tiny bit slower car. But this changes over a full race stint. remember the first few races RB where nowhere near the Merc. Even in France the Merc had a decent “clean air” race pace advantage but it doesn’t mean much when stuck behind another car that’s close to their performance level.

Imho I still think Merc has the better car, but it’s a diva with a narrow operating window. When they get it right, it’s still the car of the field. “Just”

What RB has shown is that they get the car close to the performance ceiling on every track and without major drama. It has really helped them due development that they can run a skinner rear wing yet still have decent race tyre wear and when in front it’s v hard to overtake.
Couple that with a driver who is literally driving the wheels of the thing and is able to use the platform underneath him “all the time”.

Great season. Let’s just enjoy it and stop the bickering

This. Mercedes is still the best car on race pace on most tracks.

Race pace is meaningless if Merc doesn’t have track position (worse over 1 lap), subpar pit stops or strategy. Besides, we’re talking at best a tenth or so difference - this is a rounding error in terms of delta required to pass in these regs.

Seen Spain, Portimao and France races?

[Mr.S]

BTW apart from this Max-Lewis thing, let us also acknowledge Norris, Russel etc. George freaking Russel was 3.5 tenths behind RB in Q2. That is incredible. Even if you take 4.5 or 5.5 tenths due to Soft/Medium difference he was 8-9 tenths behind @ best even on equal tires. That is amazing compared to the pace of the Williams. Incredible performance by him !

And Norris also. 0.279 down on Max is incredible. He was less than 1 tenth down on both Mercedes. Amazing job ! Gasly too has been very very consistent ! He has really destroyed Marko's project Tsunoda. Great to see Alonso coming into rhythm & in Q3 ! Alpine has had decent race pace in non-street circuits especially with harder tyres !

Rain would mix everything up & would be fun! We haven't had a good race with rain spells so far !

Destroyed Tsunoda? He's a kid in his first year... Gasly is doing well and Tsunoda is simply learning. A lot of people acknowledge his potential and I expect to see good improvement from him this season.

Tsunoda was hyped as the greatest talent in many years etc. He has been destroyed till date. I think he has been out-qualified nearly every single race except 1 probably. Mazepin & Tsunoda have probably similar qualifying record. Only Pay-Driver Latifi has a worse record. This is not to say that he is quick or he isn't quick. Everyone is quick or can be quick in flashes. Gasly has also completely beaten him comprehensively in the race. Gasly has 37 points to Tsunoda's 8.

If he is a generation talent, then compare him to other people's 1st seasons. Hamilton - tied with double world champion Alonso. Leclerc (if he is), 39 to 9 points to his team-mate. MSC beat 3 time Champ Nelson Piquet in qualy in his 1st 2 race & in 1 race. Pique a 3 time Champion was dropped. That 4 races in 1991. Beat Brundle in 1992. Alonso - Beat his team-mate in Minardi so that they had to drop him mid-season. Verstappen 49 points to Sainz 18 points. All started way better.

And then when Marko sends him to Italy, he gives weird comments that at this rate he will be a body builder with so many gym sessions. He probably was called 1 or 2 season early. Should have stayed 1 year in F2 & 1 year as test driver probably. But generational talents even while raw/immature show more glimpse. Everyone is fast. In 5 years there will be 7-8 new amazing quick drivers coming through F3 & F2. My point is vs expectations & hype by Marko, Tsunoda has not done well & Gasly has been remarkably consistent ! You can have a different opinion. I see him being dropped next season for Albon & him being deployed as a test driver !

[El Scorchio]

BTW apart from this Max-Lewis thing, let us also acknowledge Norris, Russel etc. George freaking Russel was 3.5 tenths behind RB in Q2. That is incredible. Even if you take 4.5 or 5.5 tenths due to Soft/Medium difference he was 8-9 tenths behind @ best even on equal tires. That is amazing compared to the pace of the Williams. Incredible performance by him !

And Norris also. 0.279 down on Max is incredible. He was less than 1 tenth down on both Mercedes. Amazing job ! Gasly too has been very very consistent ! He has really destroyed Marko's project Tsunoda. Great to see Alonso coming into rhythm & in Q3 ! Alpine has had decent race pace in non-street circuits especially with harder tyres !

Rain would mix everything up & would be fun! We haven't had a good race with rain spells so far !

Destroyed Tsunoda? He's a kid in his first year... Gasly is doing well and Tsunoda is simply learning. A lot of people acknowledge his potential and I expect to see good improvement from him this season.

Tsunoda was hyped as the greatest talent in many years etc. He has been destroyed till date. I think he has been out-qualified nearly every single race except 1 probably. Mazepin & Tsunoda have probably similar qualifying record. Only Pay-Driver Latifi has a worse record. This is not to say that he is quick or he isn't quick. Everyone is quick or can be quick in flashes. Gasly has also completely beaten him comprehensively in the race. Gasly has 37 points to Tsunoda's 8.

If he is a generation talent, then compare him to other people's 1st seasons. Hamilton - tied with double world champion Alonso. Leclerc (if he is), 39 to 9 points to his team-mate. MSC beat 3 time Champ Nelson Piquet in qualy in his 1st 2 race & in 1 race. Pique a 3 time Champion was dropped. That 4 races in 1991. Beat Brundle in 1992. Alonso - Beat his team-mate in Minardi so that they had to drop him mid-season. Verstappen 49 points to Sainz 18 points. All started way better.

And then when Marko sends him to Italy, he gives weird comments that at this rate he will be a body builder with so many gym sessions. He probably was called 1 or 2 season early. Should have stayed 1 year in F2 & 1 year as test driver probably. But generational talents even while raw/immature show more glimpse. Everyone is fast. In 5 years there will be 7-8 new amazing quick drivers coming through F3 & F2. My point is vs expectations & hype by Marko, Tsunoda has not done well & Gasly has been remarkably consistent ! You can have a different opinion. I see him being dropped next season for Albon & him being deployed as a test driver !

Agree. There is talent there but I think it’s a year or two too soon for him. There’s a certain immaturity that seems to be evident by what Franz Tost is having to do with him both physically and mentally, along with a couple of outbursts etc.

Maybe they are just going with short term pain for long term gain and accepting he has a fair way to go. He will be learning a lot ‘on the job’, but they will need to show a level of patience they are not necessarily famed for.

[Mogster]

I do have some sympathy with the lack of on track time kids get these days. Earlier eras if a driver had a confirmed seat for the following years he’d have 1000s of miles of testing before season testing. Now they might get a few hundred. But then there’s unlimited sim time and more race weekends.

I feel anyone that doesn’t appear totally out of their depth should get 2 years in the sport to develop. Then after that it’s up to the teams to decide if they want them.

[atanatizante]

1. Why HAM looked at the floor`s edge after the qualy?
2. Will NOR have a clear advantage soon at the start knowing he`s gonna start on the clean side of the track but most of all being on the soft tyre and having the best top speed?
3. BOT was running HAM setup for qualy and there are some rumours about he`ll gonna play the second field and working mainly on qualy and experimental setup (HAM will work mainly on race setup) on the second part of the season. Thus he will get another year contract extension and will help HAM and Merc to win both championships ...