2021 British Grand Prix - Silverstone, July 16 - 18

[Mogster]

I was wondering the same thing.

Ever since Masi has been the race director they have been really selective with which rules they follow. I mean, the guy has to explain his motives regarding something every single weekend.

Rules are being selectively picked to aid the forced excitement.

As for the sprint race. Boy, was it cringe. The whole thing is so incredibly forced. And then the interviews afterwards.

The sprint race has seriously taken away the joy that I would normally feel from a race weekend.

I was prepared to give it a go but the whole palaver feels unsatisfying. After the usual first lap hubbub I started to wish I was watching standard qualifying, Hamilton’s poor start and Alonso’s first lap antics were the only realinterest. Qualy on Friday evening just felt odd, almost meaningless.

As for the name FOM seem to be struggling with “stage one” and “stage two” seem ideal, like in NASCAR. I’m sure we’ll have “stage three” and even “stage four” when Liberty decide a couple of enforced red flags on a Sunday will make things so much more exciting…

Yeah, the biggest thing is that qualy is now not (to me) the gut wrenching excitement it was anymore. I am now more Kimi about it. There is also another aspect, for the midfield it is more fair. Everybody has equal chance to qualify where they qualify, and yes, they then still have to race for it and especially in the midfield a lot can happen, but then they all have the same tire, free choice. Otherwise nr 11 12 and 13 etc. Have an unfair advantage over 7 8 and 9 who have to be in slightly used tires that are less optimal compound usually.

Yes, qualifying has been diminished hugely. The thing is I’d rather have watched regular qualy than the boring 17 lap “race” we had.

I think a lot of the positive response Brawn is referring to is from the “anyone but Mercedes” crowd, for whom any race Mercedes doesn’t win becomes the… best race eva…

[nevill3]

Russell given three place grid penalty

[nevill3]

First lap racing incident in my opinion and a little harsh by the stewards

[proteus]

Aren't you allowed to change direction only once on the straight

Max was weaving when Hamilton was close by. That's a clear infringement.

I was wondering the same thing.

Ever since Masi has been the race director they have been really selective with which rules they follow. I mean, the guy has to explain his motives regarding something every single weekend.

Rules are being selectively picked to aid the forced excitement.

As for the sprint race. Boy, was it cringe. The whole thing is so incredibly forced. And then the interviews afterwards.

The sprint race has seriously taken away the joy that I would normally feel from a race weekend.

Weaving to break tow is allowed, weaving to block is not, and not under breaking.

Not really. Remember the Hamilton/Petrov and many more cases from the past, where drivers were warned not to do that anymore. Max was not as big of a problem than Alonso was. He weaved against 3 drivers for several laps, while Masi was aparently snoozing in his office.

[proteus]

Russell given three place grid penalty

The greatest story of yesterdays qualifying is demoted....this guy really, really cant catch a break...

[Unf]

Russell - one of the best quali guy, one of the worst first 1-2 lapper...
He really need to start on the front, to be not involved on some actions.

[TimW]

I was wondering the same thing.

Ever since Masi has been the race director they have been really selective with which rules they follow. I mean, the guy has to explain his motives regarding something every single weekend.

Rules are being selectively picked to aid the forced excitement.

As for the sprint race. Boy, was it cringe. The whole thing is so incredibly forced. And then the interviews afterwards.

The sprint race has seriously taken away the joy that I would normally feel from a race weekend.

Weaving to break tow is allowed, weaving to block is not, and not under breaking.

Not really. Remember the Hamilton/Petrov and many more cases from the past, where drivers were warned not to do that anymore. Max was not as big of a problem than Alonso was. He weaved against 3 drivers for several laps, while Masi was aparently snoozing in his office.

You could be right. I personally did not see a problem with it, e.g. Riciardo was just following him to stay in the tow. It was nothing like what Verstappen was doing in 2016/17.

[proteus]

Weaving to break tow is allowed, weaving to block is not, and not under breaking.

Not really. Remember the Hamilton/Petrov and many more cases from the past, where drivers were warned not to do that anymore. Max was not as big of a problem than Alonso was. He weaved against 3 drivers for several laps, while Masi was aparently snoozing in his office.

You could be right. I personally did not see a problem with it, e.g. Riciardo was just following him to stay in the tow. It was nothing like what Verstappen was doing in 2016/17.

Yes, changing direction under braking is even bigger ofense, not to mention dirty.

It is supposed to be an unwritten rule, but i remember lively how Hamilton was told he is not allowed to do it in China 2010. Sainz also did something similar last year and he got a warning to stop it. What really surprised me how long it took that Alonso got the message, since he did it for several laps against Norris, than Ricciardo and after that he still done it against Vettel. I dont have a problem if everybody is allowed to do it, but till now a thing like this was not allowed. Masi needs to get his act together.

[wesley123]

Aren't you allowed to change direction only once on the straight

Max was weaving when Hamilton was close by. That's a clear infringement.

I was wondering the same thing.

Ever since Masi has been the race director they have been really selective with which rules they follow. I mean, the guy has to explain his motives regarding something every single weekend.

Rules are being selectively picked to aid the forced excitement.

As for the sprint race. Boy, was it cringe. The whole thing is so incredibly forced. And then the interviews afterwards.

The sprint race has seriously taken away the joy that I would normally feel from a race weekend.

Weaving to break tow is allowed, weaving to block is not, and not under breaking.

Correct. imo in both cases, the attacking driver was too close to be speaking of breaking a tow.

[TimW]

I think the warning for Alonso was for moving under breaking?

[Mogster]

The Indycar rule disallowing reaction to the movement of a following car seems increasingly sensible. It enables overtaking if the following car is clearly faster also.

[godlameroso]

It's so close between the two that the race will be decided at the start, and the second stop. Unless Bottas spoils the party I can't see it playing out any other way.

Verstappen has the pace to keep Hamilton beyond DRS, and the rears are really good, so it's down to who can keep the fronts going. The front tire doesn't see anywhere near as much energy as the front left, and I fear that the same situation will happen there as in Baku because the tire is hard and not a lot of sustained high speed left hand corners. They're all slow or require trail braking. A two stop is almost but guaranteed, I fear only Hamilton could pull off a one stop but it's too risky to try in my opinion.

The only way I could see someone getting the right load into the tire is with a strange delayed turn in style, where you delay the turn in for something like turn 2 so you're forced to use excessive slip angle to make the corner.

The ol' Alonso induce understeer by oversteering technique of 2005-6.

[Big Tea]

Engine maps are fixed so it changes battery deployment.

I guess Hamilton wanted to go from "stable" battery to a plan that gradually decreased it's level, it was just a few laps from the end after all.

Anyway, awkward to have a race that barely gives points and the winner doesn't feel like celebrating.
Any of the things that happened here would be better saved for sunday.

I know a lot of people here think of Max as arrogant. And I can sometimes see what they mean, but, I think he is a lot like his mother and I truly believe he was trying not to rub it in today. It isn’t very classy in someone else’s home.

I do not consider Max arrogant, he says what he thinks, which is what we want. He occasionally phrases things too 'stark' but English is not his first language, so what do we expect. I do not recall him ever saying anything incorrect, jus bluntly sometimes.

[Sieper]

First lap racing incident in my opinion and a little harsh by the stewards

I think they can give it, should perhaps. But what I find unfair is that Alonso pounced on him and because he gave (very good spatial awareness) the room that went well. Otherwise it would have been a penalty for alonso. But no penalty now. His own moment was light, I agree. But imho just a tad over the limit and Sainz did not resolve it for him like he did for Alonso.

Bonus grid penalty remove points for preventing an accident? Is that a stupid idea? Yes. But still. Something feels not right here.

[Chuckjr]

Max putting the screws to the cracking paper champion. Excellent start and race pace in definitely a slower car. Max is amazing. The qualifying format sucked ass.