2021 Italian Grand Prix - Monza, Sep 10 - 12

[Mr.S]

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.

I would like to see Hamilton & Verstappen on the podium every race alternating wins & the showdown going to the final race even though it is high time for a new champion after 7 years of Mercedes dominance.

Nothing like an old horse showing the young guns how to do it - But a double Mclaren podium is also amazing ! Assuming DRS train doesn't happen & we see some tyre degradation, tomorrow should be fun (I hope !)

[RZS10]

The sprint really ist just a preview of what an absolute borefest we can expect tomorrow so i wouldn't keep my hopes up.

[Schuttelberg]

Hamilton can easily win the race tomorrow as well. He goes long on the first stint in clean air and he can easily choose 1/2 stops because of the Mercedes superiority on this track.

[Chuckjr]

Not surprised at Ham start he’s always been a piss poor starter. But this bungle has really done him in. He should be walking with an easy win but that start really has thrown a monkey wrench into the plans. Plus, he’s again starting on the dirty side.

Did Merc really have to change Bottas engine? Because wow, that’s turned out to be yet another team decision fail. Who runs strategy at Merc? Maybe it’s time for a change. That person needs to be better prepared for this, and make better decisions. Like why start a piss poor starter like Ham on mediums? I mean come on man. Everyone knows he sucks at starting. Plus Lewis is far past his prime, so they need to plan to do more to compensate for his inability to pass well anymore. We’ve already seen him run Max off the road to win a race.

The back end of Hams car also seems very out of sorts (esp. lap 14). The Macca just pulled away off the corners. The heli views of this was impressive.

The speed of Macca down the straights is amazing.

[ArcticWolfie]

Not sure if either Bottas and Verstappen "floored" it, but didn't expect them to be this close to each other. Will be a very interesting race tomorrow, glad RBR didn't opt for the engine swap this race, can barely overtake.

[Gillian]

Hamilton can easily win the race tomorrow as well. He goes long on the first stint in clean air and he can easily choose 1/2 stops because of the Mercedes superiority on this track.

That will depend on how long he stays behind the McLarens.... Mercedes has more pace but you could see today how fast that gap opens up between Verstappen and McLaren after a few laps.

So if they stay in order after the start and first few laps, Hamilton has to clear the McLarens or hope they do a short first stint (which I don't expect at all).

Ofcourse a safety car or red flag would help a lot.

[Mr.S]

Hamilton can easily win the race tomorrow as well. He goes long on the first stint in clean air and he can easily choose 1/2 stops because of the Mercedes superiority on this track.

That will depend on how long he stays behind the McLarens.... Mercedes has more pace but you could see today how fast that gap opens up between Verstappen and McLaren after a few laps.

So if they stay in order after the start and first few laps, Hamilton has to clear the McLarens or hope they do a short first stint (which I don't expect at all).

Ofcourse a safety car or red flag would help a lot.

Very true. RB is like Mercedes here. Normally you would expect RB to edge Mercedes in qualifying but Mercedes to have superior race pace by a tenth or 2. While RB here is slower than Mercedes, their race pace is a low better than qualifying. They are like probably a couple of tenths behind in race pace but 4-5 tenths down on qualifyig.

Also Max really got a 12s gap on Ricciardo in a 18 lap sprint out of which a couple of laps got wasted behind the safety car. That is atleast half a second on the Mclarens or 3-4 tenths atleast. You can argue Mclarens had the soft & the tyre went off but Max was up 8-9s within 10-12 laps (including 2 behind the SC) If Lewis goes long in the 1st stint, Max will build a 10-15s cushion easily.

LH has to overtake atleast Norris on the start or in 1st couple of laps & Ricciardo by Lap 4-5 @ max so that by Lap 9-10 he is behind Max's gearbox (Assuming the Mclarens don't overtake Max). Running long will be a blunder. LH needs go to P2 by Lap 10-12 atleast to have a good chance of winning (assuming no SC or Red Flag !)

[Unf]

Easy win for Max tomorrow - says Lewis Hamilton. Such a weak mentality from winning machine... O_O

[ringo]

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

I am not so sure. If we looked at the Gasly incident. Max ran the Mclaren off the road and that was the cause.
Those Mclarens will again run right up on Max at the start. So the race can go any direction.

Lewis can still win the race from P-4 if they run an alternate strategy and get out of the dirty air from the mclarens.
What i fear is that P4 exposes the driver to turn 1 accidents.

He botched the start, but that happens to everyone. The sprint race was quite disappointing though. Very boring.
Hopefully heavy fuel running changes that.

[Gillian]

Blaming Verstappen for the Gasly crash lol.

Not sure if the McLarens are starting on soft tomorrow and if not that will weaken their start in comparison to today. Also on heavy fuel I think the gap between the McLaren and Red Bull is a little bigger. So if Verstappen has a good start like today I don't really see Riciardo trying anything.

Also the points made about Verstappen and Hamilton having a lot to loose and the McLaren boys not... I think Riciardo will find it more valuable to keep Norris behind and bag a podium than to risk it all on a divebomb into turn 1. I am not seeing that happen unless Verstappen has an abysmal start (but then be would just cruise by).

And on the remarks about Hamilton mentality... Sure he is not as strong mentally as Verstappen, imo ofcourse, but I can't blame him for being disappointed today. Anyone honest about it should be able to relate. He knows he messed up and just found out how hard it is to do better tomorrow. This was a weekend to build a gap but it's looking bad at the moment.

[Ryar]

Mistakes have gallored this year from Lewis. Past 7 years, even when there were massive blunders, a Mercedes would sleep walk the entire field to finish second at a minimum. What was missing was competition and pressure, which forces so many errors on a driver that we are witnessing now. Imagine George next to Lewis next year and if there are more than 2 teams with level performance. If the blame is going for dirty side of the track for that bungled start, then he is going to start tomorrow once again on the dirty side.

[renault rs26]

Easy win for Max tomorrow - says Lewis Hamilton. Such a weak mentality from winning machine... O_O

He isn't talking what he is thinking, classic Hamilton/Mercedes tactics.

[Unf]

Mistakes have gallored this year from Lewis. Past 7 years, even when there were massive blunders, a Mercedes would sleep walk the entire field to finish second at a minimum. What was missing was competition and pressure, which forces so many errors on a driver that we are witnessing now. Imagine George next to Lewis next year and if there are more than 2 teams with level performance.

Excatly. Lot of pro journalist (ofc not British ones) pointed that Hamilton is super fast and super consistent as long... as he has no opponent. And from 2016 he hadn't. This year - a lot of mistakes, not only from Lewis but Mercedes overall. Coincidence? No. It's RBR and Max.

[grubschumi13]

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.

Cannot agree more Mr. Lewis said both teams have thrown away lots of points this season but Max in Baku, Silverstone and Hungary were not his fault. Lewis on the other hand has thrown away too many from mistakes in a quicker car.

[ringo]

Not surprised at Ham start he’s always been a piss poor starter. But this bungle has really done him in. He should be walking with an easy win but that start really has thrown a monkey wrench into the plans. Plus, he’s again starting on the dirty side.

Did Merc really have to change Bottas engine? Because wow, that’s turned out to be yet another team decision fail. Who runs strategy at Merc? Maybe it’s time for a change. That person needs to be better prepared for this, and make better decisions. Like why start a piss poor starter like Ham on mediums? I mean come on man. Everyone knows he sucks at starting. Plus Lewis is far past his prime, so they need to plan to do more to compensate for his inability to pass well anymore. We’ve already seen him run Max off the road to win a race.

The back end of Hams car also seems very out of sorts (esp. lap 14). The Macca just pulled away off the corners. The heli views of this was impressive.

The speed of Macca down the straights is amazing.

Be calm and lets see what happens on Sunday.