2021 Italian Grand Prix - Monza, Sep 10 - 12

[falonso81]

Well, assuming Lewis can not get past the McLaren's tomorrow, Max will cruise to an easy win and pull a 17 or 18pt lead in the championship.

[101FlyingDutchman]

It will be an easy Verstappen win tomorrow. Hamilton will maybe get through the Mclarens through pit stops and that's it.

I don’t think it’ll be an easy win AT ALL. Last chapter of this Monza GP hasn’t been written. All of you lot are amazing clairvoyants. Maybe start a business?

The Merc in clear air has 0.5s on virtually all the cars when it needs pushing. Plenty can be done with strategy. Turn 1 will be chaos again tomorrow. Plenty of opportunity for fortune to totally swing

[Juzh]

We didn’t even need a DRS train to make overtaking impossible. Hamilton with open DRS gained 0.1 on the S/F straight, with Norris having no DRS

Couple of factors played into this. Mclaren is the worst car to be stuck behind on this track as they've got mega straight line speed and are not that bad in corners either. On top of that Norris was sitting at 2.5-3s gap behind Ricciardo, further increasing his top speed. And then there's low downforce wings negating DRS effect for everyone, so it's easy to get stuck in such situations.

If one of the mclarens jumps verstappen at the start I don't see how he can overtake them on track.

[Zynerji]

It will be an easy Verstappen win tomorrow. Hamilton will maybe get through the Mclarens through pit stops and that's it.

I don’t think it’ll be an easy win AT ALL. Last chapter of this Monza GP hasn’t been written. All of you lot are amazing clairvoyants. Maybe start a business?

The Merc in clear air has 0.5s on virtually all the cars when it needs pushing. Plenty can be done with strategy. Turn 1 will be chaos again tomorrow. Plenty of opportunity for fortune to totally swing

I agree. By lap 2, however, it is going to be a slow, boring, tyre preservation exercize...

[Juzh]

No Red Bull will be competitive at Sochi and Merc will be competitive at Turkey, Abu Dhabi and COTA

Mercedes & RB will be competitive everywhere. Sochi should be a Mercedes advantage easily, atleast on par with Monza. Anyways I could be wrong - But I would bet on Monza & Sochi as Mercedes' 2 best races in H2 !

The reason Merc has a pace advantage over Red Bull is due to the kerb riding here. Merc is the class of the field in that department and Red Bull's front end is sprung too stiff which it needs for it's aero map. Sochi isn't about riding kerbs except 16&17

Where'd you get that? I believe it's actually the other way around, at least it was in previous races (i wasn't checking that hard recently). Mercedes had almost zero roll whereas red bull has quite a lot, and this was partly attributed to aid them on traction.
I mean, yes, mercedes is faster on kerbs, I just dont think it's because they're more softly sprung.

[Spacepace]

Dirty side definitely part of it.

But Norris was behind Lewis .. on the same side. It was just a botched start, --- happens.
Insane the drs didn't do much (or at least enough) on the straights, McL is a more than decent car outhere. But then again, Ric was already around 15s behind Bot and Ves after 18laps.

Dirty side definitely part of it. I will say Mercedes hasn't been the best at starts particularly when they matter. But I know that won't change in that team as it has too many people to point the finger at so no one will be at fault. Mercedes looking like McLaren of the '00-'13

[Ryar]

Christian Horner pointed out after the sprint that, Mercedes is losing steam by the middle of the straight and going in derate mode, which also why Lewis was unable to get any closer to Lando. He said if that is an issue for Mercedes, they can hold off a Mercedes if at all one gets behind Max.

[Mezger]

Not easy starting 4th tomorrow for Lewis if there's any first corner shenanigans. He'll need eyes in the back of his head as well.

[Spacepace]

Christian Horner pointed out after the sprint that, Mercedes is losing steam by the middle of the straight and going in derate mode, which also why Lewis was unable to get any closer to Lando. He said if that is an issue for Mercedes, they can hold off a Mercedes if at all one gets behind Max.

Yeah that's interesting. I wonder if that's adjustable or if that's part of the engine mapping. If it's the latter would probably mean Merc were expecting to lead

[pantherxxx]

It will be an easy Verstappen win tomorrow. Hamilton will maybe get through the Mclarens through pit stops and that's it.

I don’t think it’ll be an easy win AT ALL. Last chapter of this Monza GP hasn’t been written. All of you lot are amazing clairvoyants. Maybe start a business?

The Merc in clear air has 0.5s on virtually all the cars when it needs pushing. Plenty can be done with strategy. Turn 1 will be chaos again tomorrow. Plenty of opportunity for fortune to totally swing

If he can't pass the two Mclarens which he couldn't in 18 laps, then Verstappen will have an enough big lead to win the race. It's an easy Verstappen win.

[Zynerji]

Mercedes & RB will be competitive everywhere. Sochi should be a Mercedes advantage easily, atleast on par with Monza. Anyways I could be wrong - But I would bet on Monza & Sochi as Mercedes' 2 best races in H2 !

The reason Merc has a pace advantage over Red Bull is due to the kerb riding here. Merc is the class of the field in that department and Red Bull's front end is sprung too stiff which it needs for it's aero map. Sochi isn't about riding kerbs except 16&17

Where'd you get that? I believe it's actually the other way around, at least it was in previous races (i wasn't checking that hard recently). Mercedes had almost zero roll whereas red bull has quite a lot, and this was partly attributed to aid them on traction.
I mean, yes, mercedes is faster on kerbs, I just dont think it's because they're more softly sprung.

The best Kerb riding car i've ever seen in Monza is Alonso's 2006 Renault... It just HANDLED the asymmetric jolts like they weren't even there... (I'm wondering if that was the TMD now tho...)

[Hoffman900]

Do we have trap speeds of Valtteri vs Lewis from that session?

Would be telling if Lewis, with DRS and a draft, was about equal to Valtteri who was in open air.

[Spacepace]

Mercedes & RB will be competitive everywhere. Sochi should be a Mercedes advantage easily, atleast on par with Monza. Anyways I could be wrong - But I would bet on Monza & Sochi as Mercedes' 2 best races in H2 !

The reason Merc has a pace advantage over Red Bull is due to the kerb riding here. Merc is the class of the field in that department and Red Bull's front end is sprung too stiff which it needs for it's aero map. Sochi isn't about riding kerbs except 16&17

Where'd you get that? I believe it's actually the other way around, at least it was in previous races (i wasn't checking that hard recently). Mercedes had almost zero roll whereas red bull has quite a lot, and this was partly attributed to aid them on traction.
I mean, yes, mercedes is faster on kerbs, I just dont think it's because they're more softly sprung.

From my eyes it looks to be sprung stiff vertically on the front with some play in the rear and I agree a lot of lateral roll

[PlatinumZealot]

Lewis is past it. That was a blunder. Absolute blunder. Now he will start 4th behind Max, Ricciardo & Norris. If he finishes even P2 or P3 behind Max, it will be a disaster. This was Mercedes' race & they have a car which is atleast 2 tenths quicker on race pace & atleast 3-4 tenths quicker on qualifying pace.

If Verstappen gets 25 to 18 for Hamilton & +2 for Sprint Race then Max gets 9 points for Monza when he should have been down 10 to 12. RB will be competitive in Mexico, Brazil, Saudi, Abu Dhabhi Turkey & possibly US. Mercedes have a decisive advantage in Monza & Sochi. LH should be getting 20 points over Max in these races. So in the next 7 races, if Max won say 4 & Lewis 3, then also Lewis had a good chance. This championship will be decided by under 15-20 points.

This was a super costly blunder & a disaster.

Don't worry your head as the race hasn't even started yet. I smell another swashbuckling LH44 classico coming up, we haven't had one of those in a while. He's an old dog yes, making a few mistakes here and there, but in the race it's not always about who is the swiftest. It's about who plays the right moves with a little sprinkling from lady luck.

[Zynerji]

The reason Merc has a pace advantage over Red Bull is due to the kerb riding here. Merc is the class of the field in that department and Red Bull's front end is sprung too stiff which it needs for it's aero map. Sochi isn't about riding kerbs except 16&17

Where'd you get that? I believe it's actually the other way around, at least it was in previous races (i wasn't checking that hard recently). Mercedes had almost zero roll whereas red bull has quite a lot, and this was partly attributed to aid them on traction.
I mean, yes, mercedes is faster on kerbs, I just dont think it's because they're more softly sprung.

From my eyes it looks to be sprung stiff vertically on the front with some play in the rear and I agree a lot of lateral roll

I would expect stiff front corner springs and front 3rd spring, with soft rear corners and a stiff rear 3rd spring. That would keep the pitch of the floor steady, but allow the rear to roll-steer out of the corners.