2021 Dutch Grand Prix - Zandvoort Sept 3 - 5

[JordanMugen]

Or it's just built in the direction which is fastest? It's not like Benetton for instance deliberately made a car that was hard to drive, they just made the fastest car they could. It's not up to them to reinvent the wheel so Verstappen Snr, Herbert, Alesi or Berger could drive it better. Same goes for Red Bull.

think about it though... had the car been more balanced towards other drivers other than max it probably wouldve had compromises that would slow the cars overall pace down. max has been with the team since 2016 as markos prodigy so development since then was always going to be centered around him. they wont admit it, but max is their #1 driver like schumacher at ferrari hands down.

It is obvious hat the car is designed to suit his driving style. They are putting all their eggs in one basket. This is the first year that this philosophy seems to have worked but it ain’t over yet. Redbull’s resurgence had a lot to do with the curveball Mercedes got thrown with this years floor regulations. For me merc is still the superior constructor and next year it will be obvious once again. If verstappen doesnt win the wdc this year he may not be able to win one ever again with Redbull.

Maybe. This is the first year with hybrid turbos that Red Bull have had close to the same power level as Mercedes. If Mercedes had supplied Red Bull with power units say from 2016, then the comparison of chassis quality of Merc vs RB would be easier to make. With different power levels, it is harder to compare the relative quality of the chassis/aero.

[xaero]

think about it though... had the car been more balanced towards other drivers other than max it probably wouldve had compromises that would slow the cars overall pace down. max has been with the team since 2016 as markos prodigy so development since then was always going to be centered around him. they wont admit it, but max is their #1 driver like schumacher at ferrari hands down.

It is obvious hat the car is designed to suit his driving style. They are putting all their eggs in one basket. This is the first year that this philosophy seems to have worked but it ain’t over yet. Redbull’s resurgence had a lot to do with the curveball Mercedes got thrown with this years floor regulations. For me merc is still the superior constructor and next year it will be obvious once again. If verstappen doesnt win the wdc this year he may not be able to win one ever again with Redbull.

Maybe. This is the first year with hybrid turbos that Red Bull have had close to the same power level as Mercedes. If Mercedes had supplied Red Bull with power units say from 2016, then the comparison of chassis quality of Merc vs RB would be easier to make. With different power levels, it is harder to compare the relative quality of the chassis/aero.

What about the last minute chassis handicap that Merc got?

[Marty_Y]

So tomorrow Max needs to gap Bottas by a pitstop otherwise he finds himself behind him and a rolling road block, on a track where A, passing is very hard. B, the only real passing spot is where the Merc has an advantage over RedBull. Max may be on pole, but Merc certainly have a strong hand for tomorrow.

On paper I'd be inclined to agree with you, but in practice I fear this is Bottas we're talking about (he's no Alonso and normally gets overtaken easily imo) and if he is on older tyres after Max has just pitted for fresh rubber I think Max will fly past him.

The only positive to hang on to is it may be possible to retain the constructors lead if both Mercedes's finish well and Perez doesn't make too much progress

[Augustus]

Do we have any historic data for expected lap-times and pit strategies?

There is F1Stats.

[ringo]

This season has been Max vs Mercedes. Really he is putting that RBR where it does not belong.

surreee!!!
You just fail to aknowledge the reality.

Anyways.... great effort by Latifi. It was a good showing. He may well just make George a little less heroic by end of season.
Its hard to see less than 50% casualties in tomorrow's race. The track doesnt give the drivere much rest.
Hamilton really pushed hard to get that lap.
He can win on tyre deg or good ole pressure.

[Ryar]

It is obvious hat the car is designed to suit his driving style. They are putting all their eggs in one basket. This is the first year that this philosophy seems to have worked but it ain’t over yet. Redbull’s resurgence had a lot to do with the curveball Mercedes got thrown with this years floor regulations. For me merc is still the superior constructor and next year it will be obvious once again. If verstappen doesnt win the wdc this year he may not be able to win one ever again with Redbull.

Maybe. This is the first year with hybrid turbos that Red Bull have had close to the same power level as Mercedes. If Mercedes had supplied Red Bull with power units say from 2016, then the comparison of chassis quality of Merc vs RB would be easier to make. With different power levels, it is harder to compare the relative quality of the chassis/aero.

What about the last minute chassis handicap that Merc got?

Rules are same for everyone.

[Ryar]

This season has been Max vs Mercedes. Really he is putting that RBR where it does not belong.

surreee!!!
You just fail to aknowledge the reality.

Anyways.... great effort by Latifi. It was a good showing. He may well just make George a little less heroic by end of season.
Its hard to see less than 50% casualties in tomorrow's race. The track doesnt give the drivere much rest.
Hamilton really pushed hard to get that lap.
He can win on tyre deg or good ole pressure.

How many points does Latifi has and how many podiums?

[Bill]

lewis lost three tenth in the first 2 sectors to max but recovered all of that on last sector that doesnt look normal to me i will like to know what merc are doing with their pu that agitated Honda to look for clarification from fia.something to do with how they cool their pu its on the "grey side".yes max had drs issues but that doesn't explain everything.merc should be ahead of Max if u look how they went in hungary.

[Just_a_fan]

That is probably the biggest issue with trying to compare the cars that are close. For all we know the Red Bulls pace could be closer to Perez and Max could be pulling it further.

No. The pace is somewhere just a bit above what Max got. You can't go faster than the car is capable of going. Thus the faster of the driving pair is closer to the car's best pace.

[F1NAC]

SO neither HAAS will be penalised for impeding Vettel. Wow

[Hammerfist]

think about it though... had the car been more balanced towards other drivers other than max it probably wouldve had compromises that would slow the cars overall pace down. max has been with the team since 2016 as markos prodigy so development since then was always going to be centered around him. they wont admit it, but max is their #1 driver like schumacher at ferrari hands down.

It is obvious hat the car is designed to suit his driving style. They are putting all their eggs in one basket. This is the first year that this philosophy seems to have worked but it ain’t over yet. Redbull’s resurgence had a lot to do with the curveball Mercedes got thrown with this years floor regulations. For me merc is still the superior constructor and next year it will be obvious once again. If verstappen doesnt win the wdc this year he may not be able to win one ever again with Redbull.

Maybe. This is the first year with hybrid turbos that Red Bull have had close to the same power level as Mercedes. If Mercedes had supplied Red Bull with power units say from 2016, then the comparison of chassis quality of Merc vs RB would be easier to make. With different power levels, it is harder to compare the relative quality of the chassis/aero.

[InsaneX_Badger]

Thanks. That little mistake almost cost him pole. Hmm. I still feel his car is set up on the nose. Heavily loaded front wing. Definitely a qually biased set up and one that should give him blistering outlaps but at the expense of outright tyre life. Will be interesting tomorrow for sure.

So far, everything points to Incidents filled circus tomorrow. Pit stops would come free.

I expect zero actual pit stops in the race.

Just 3 free tyre changes during red-flag periods...

This actually isn't a bad guess

[MtthsMlw]

SO neither HAAS will be penalised for impeding Vettel. Wow

The FIA statement reads like a bad joke especially after what happened in Austria this year

[DChemTech]

lewis lost three tenth in the first 2 sectors to max but recovered all of that on last sector that doesnt look normal to me i will like to know what merc are doing with their pu that agitated Honda to look for clarification from fia.something to do with how they cool their pu its on the "grey side".yes max had drs issues but that doesn't explain everything.merc should be ahead of Max if u look how they went in hungary.

Nah, without the drs and shortshift issue, max would have had an extra 2 to 3 tenths. They were faster here.

[zeph]

The modifications to the track are nuts, what with the banked turns and all. It use to be a more or less straight line from turn 8 to turn 13 back in the day. Exciting stuff.