2021 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa-Francorchamps, Aug 27 - 29

[taperoo2k]

“Of course”, now everybody just have to stop and enjoy..

Everybody is already enjoying that finally we can witness that Hamilton is just a mediocre driver who had a starship enterprise under him, past couple of years.

Nothing wrong with that, btw- he took full advantage, as he should have.

I'm not a Lewis fan, but he IS the GOAT.

There is no such thing as the greatest of all time. It's meaningless. One can't compare drivers from different generations.

But if one must insist on a GOAT, it's obviously Fangio. His numbers eclipse everyone's.

Lewis is perhaps the greatest racing driver of his generation, as I'd say Alonso is for his. Same with Schumacher and so on. If you want to go down the GOAT road then I'd say it would be between Fangio, Jim Clark and Senna. But that's my personal view and I doubt many would agree with it.
Max, Russell and Lewis all produced some brilliant laps in some very difficult conditions. If it's a full wet race, then I'd not be surprised if Russell manages to pull off a shock win.

I just hope Lando hasn't broken his elbow, as that could see him out for a bit. They really should have red flagged the session sooner.

[djones]

George always does well in qualifying, only to fall away in the race. Very much like Bottas in that respect. I think he will be lucky to finish in the top 10 tomorrow, even if it rains.

Did anybody see the top speeds? I was wondering if Mercedes has gone for a slightly lower downforce setup with the expectation of it being a bit dryer in the race.

[Hammerfist]

Imagine Max never winning 1 WDC in his career once George gets to Merc.

I would love for George to come to Merc.. But Williams needs him and Mercedes needs Bottas. I see George coming in 2023 and Lewis retiring in 2024.

If Mercedes don't sign him, RB will pay him 10-15M just to buy out any Mercedes contract he has & sign him on a 2-3 year deal. And then you have Ricciardo's deal expiring in 2023 & Sainz in 2022. There is no-way Russel stays on till 2023.

It will be a crime & no1 would take a Mercedes junior driver-ship if after 3 years of him doing this good & Bottas screwing up time & again & getting his a** handed to him be Lewis for 5 years, that Bottas is chosen.

Besides Mercedes need him. Hamilton is past it. There is a reason he was voted 7-8th in the recent public vote ratings. He has made too many mistakes time & again & has been atleast 3rd best behind Max & Lando. Mercedes need a credible top guy to challenge in 2022 & Russel should be their man guy & now a past it Hamilton !

What mistake did Hamilton make this weekend so far? Max is the one that put it in the wall so far and possibly damaged an engine or gear box. There is nothing that suggest that Hamilton is past it. He is still at the top of his game, which is partly why he is still leading this championship. Both championship contenders have made mistakes this year. Max's mistakes just seem to have cost him less so far. When the whole season has concluded then we will get a more accurate picture of who made the most mistakes. Just stop that dumb rhetoric already.

As far as Russell to Redbull, the only way I see Redbull hierarchy picking Russell is if Max is going to Mercedes. They are not going to put one of the fastest qualifiers on the grid and one of the most promising young talents in the other seat. If you don't get that then you don't understand the team dynamics at Redbull. Max is not meant to be challenged in the second seat, it is meant to be supporting him in winning the WDC.

[Jolle]

Good job by ocon by the way, showing again he’s the future of Alpine/Renault.

[Ryar]

He is still at the top of his game, which is partly why he is still leading this championship.

People have short memory.

[Mchamilton]

Max is … ahead of Russell in a Williams.

Correct, Max is ahead of everybody.

The true story is Hamilton behind a Williams.

Imagine driving the fastest car and obky being 3/10ths ahead of a williams, toss driver clearly..

[FrukostScones]

Great Result by RUS, despite the difficulties regarding the treacherous conditions. Good to see no one was hurt too badly, inclunding yesterday W's.

[Just_a_fan]

Redbull is doing the cleaver thing of putting all their resources on Verstappen in his prime, that’s the only sensible thing to do.

It is their MO, after all. Worked with Seb, will work with Max.

[NathanOlder]

Congrats to Max. Well done sir.
Russell was epic. Put that boy in the factory Merc next year and finally Hammy would have a legit team mate and would get his arse handed to him. Great job Russell. Wow. So impressed.

Surely Alonso, Button and Rosberg are legit ? Or you saying they all suck ?

[ispano6]

Cor, I hate Max! Would have loved to see George on pole today.

Max is only 3 tenths ahead of Russell in a Williams. Not so good really when you consider it's normally 2 seconds in the dry.
Russell made everyone else on the grid look very silly there

Same can be said for a guy that didn't do too well in previous years is suddenly vying for the title because, surprise surprise, the car is top drawer.

Funny that, eh.

See anything you haters want to use is equally applicable to your boy too. So how about everyone stops with the silliness and just enjoys watching drivers battling with conditions that can cause accidents on the public roads at much lower speeds?

Imagine driving the fastest car and obky being 3/10ths ahead of a williams, toss driver clearly..

... same could be said about Hamster and his top drawer car right? Bottas and Ham have been close in qualifying for the most part, a 1-2 with Bottas having several poles. This goes to show how dominant the car is. Then take Max and his poles compared to his teammates - not nearly the 1-2 count as the Mercedes. For the past 7 seasons, Mercedes had the best car and both were able to extract and use it's full potential. Where as with RB, only Max has been able to really extract out the potential, which goes to show that the car isn't as dominant as some of you Max haters would like people to believe.

In conditions such as today's Q3, clearly it's not due to the best car that the pole is earned. Of course it's the driver's confidence in his machinery as prepared by the team. So let's not belittle the driver and say best car, as that is plain hogwash. But thanks for the compliment, Red Bull best car, Honda best PU, with our ace Max Verstappen the best combination. Really, it's thanks to them that this season is turning out to be the best season of the hybrid era. This despite the fact that Max has had 3 DNFs in which he was either in 1st or 2nd position when taken out.

[darkpino]

Anyone thinking Russel made everyone looking silly didn’t see the barndoor Williams was using as rear wing. Don’t get me wrong: nothing wrong with it and I was really rooting for him to take pole today but if it’s dry tomorrow he’ll be nowhere. Which is fine: Williams should go for the small successes as winning on race day is far fetched at this moment

[Wouter]

[godlameroso]

The real thing happens tomorrow, these last two days have just been dress rehearsal and bragging rights. Tomorrow it will be about being flexible and adaptable to the conditions. Whoever reads things right will win regardless of the start, the goal is to keep things clean, Spidey sense x500.

[PlatinumZealot]

Imagine Max never winning 1 WDC in his career once George gets to Merc.

I would love for George to come to Merc.. But Williams needs him and Mercedes needs Bottas. I see George coming in 2023 and Lewis retiring in 2024.

If Mercedes don't sign him, RB will pay him 10-15M just to buy out any Mercedes contract he has & sign him on a 2-3 year deal. And then you have Ricciardo's deal expiring in 2023 & Sainz in 2022. There is no-way Russel stays on till 2023.

It will be a crime & no1 would take a Mercedes junior driver-ship if after 3 years of him doing this good & Bottas screwing up time & again & getting his a** handed to him be Lewis for 5 years, that Bottas is chosen.

Besides Mercedes need him. Hamilton is past it. There is a reason he was voted 7-8th in the recent public vote ratings. He has made too many mistakes time & again & has been atleast 3rd best behind Max & Lando. Mercedes need a credible top guy to challenge in 2022 & Russel should be their man guy & now a past it Hamilton !

For developing the car in these new regulations, Williams will do everything to keep George, and Mercedes will do everything to keep Bottas. How Mercedes will compensate George is by giving as many listed parts to Williams as much as possible. The result is George has a car that can fight for points on regular basis, and his race craft can be assessed in a more relevant way. For now, Bottas is still doing the perfect job.

[jknights]

Max is only 3 tenths ahead of Russell in a Williams. Not so good really when you consider it's normally 2 seconds in the dry.

Russell made everyone else on the grid look very silly there, including Max.

Utter bullshit. Every serious fan knows that Russell is a fantastic driver, and they gambled full on a rain set-up. That is why he beat Hamilton (who can’t afford that gamble) and even came close to Max. In the dry tomorrow (which it likely won’t be) he will get eaten alive.

It's always kinda silly when people just leave out all circumstances and possible reasons for the difference in performance, isn't it?

Merc (probably both) are on a rather low-ish DF setup, at least for those conditions (as said by Lewis in the post quali interview), dunno about Max who also had the potential benefit of being a bit further back on track (RIC getting 4th was indicative for track improvement) - additionally neither WDC contender would risk more than necessary whilst Russell in the (probably wet set up having) Williams could risk it all, which is what Norris tried but overdid.

This obviously doesn't take anything away from his performance, which was one of those great drivers we don't see too often.

However any blanket statements about any driver being good/bad/better/worse are misplaced imho and the race tomorrow will show which set up choice was right or whether anyone really went for a 'full wet' one.

Finally some decent analysis of the real situation rather than Max/Lewis fanboy childish reactions!

Tomorrow is the race day.
If it is dry then Max will waltz away to the finish, depending on the weather and Lewis will follow. If there is mixed weather then it will make for a better race.

Let us wait and see who wins.