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

[Tizz]

I wonder, will Redbull take engine penalties for Verstappen in Spa to minimise the risk he has to take one at Zandvoort?

I personally think it is more likely in Italy. I do not see RB win there anyway so maybe it hurts less.

[Just_a_fan]

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 ?

Bad memory? Button won on points compared to Hamilton at their stint together.
Hamilton is a very good driver, but all his wdc are against weaker drivers in clearly best car on the grid. That is how i will remember him.

So since when did the points collected over several years become the metric used to rate drivers? Fairly sure the championship is an annual event.

[Tvetovnato]

Different down-force levels it seems. Check the top speeds at Kemmel straight.
Hamilton 310, George 302 kph and quite early too.

Hamilton's crazy wide line at la source is interesting. It seems If he had went for the Apex he would have had the pole..
Not sure why he didn't go for the Apex.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vHBtRpzDUc

If you look at Hamilton's front left, he locks it up slightly, so it was not intentional. Shovlin comfirmed they are running more of a dry setup also, which is not helping the stopping power in the wet. He lost a shot at pole in T1 and T18 according to Bonnington on the radio. With this in mind, if we will have changable conditions tomorrow, I think we will have a great race with the RB having the edge in wet, and Merc having the edge if it dries up.

Really really hope we have Hamilton and Verstappen 1-2 up to Les Combes (or the other way around of course).

[Tizz]

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.

This. 100% agree.

In fact, I fear the mega tow Lewis will get from Russell (with his big wing) and Max as well, I expect him in P1 after turn 5. Russell will go out of the way for Hamilton.

Ofcourse, a start is a start, anything can happen, but this is a real scenario now.

Lewis will be on the inside if I'm not mistaken and Russel and Ricciardo on the outisde. On the outside you will be obviously able to take the corner at higher speed. It will be very easy for Hammi to overcook it and understeer into one of the other cars.

[Tizz]

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?

That is rather hypocritical having ridiculed Max for only being 0.3 s ahead of a Williams, isn't it ?

[hollus]

Which was obviously tongue in cheek

[PlatinumZealot]

It's still an amazing effort by the Mercedes drivers to even keep their low downforce cars on the track. They were locking front tyres like crazy. They will be rockets if a dry line appears tomorrow.

The RedBulls are hard to classify. They run a spoon wing yes but the downforce they generate from the floor is immense.

The only straw to cling to is that the RedBull seemed to have some balance issues in the dry.

The Williams obviously gambled on higher downforce settings. If George can be anything higher than fith after lap two I will be genuinely impressed.

[Tizz]

I was rather disappointed. I loved Russell coming in second. They definitely deserve something to celebrate at Williams. But I hoped the Ferrari's would be much closer and Ocon too. A pity that Lando crashed. I'm glad all the Heidfelds, Massa's and Barichello's finally disappeared. And that McLaren is almost back. There is so much more to see...

[Mogster]

Just a great season so far.

[Viper2789]

Just caught up on 10 pages of reading and 50% was just fanboy trolling. Guys, stop it. Please can we concentrate on the actual event?

All of this fanboying is driving people away from the forum...

[ringo]

No matter what the setups are, Mercedes behind Williams is an utter shame for it's drivers. Anyone trying to use that is clutching at straw. Regardless of what happens tomorrow, it's not going to change that fact.

Hulkenberg did this in a williams in 2010.
I dont see why there is such a suprise. Williams on brand new tyres and clearly a setup that warms the tyres very well. Even Latifi was going very well in Q1. Right behind George. Great performance but nothing out of this world really. The car was running very well, just as hulk's was in Brazil when he snatched pole for Williams.

[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 ?

Bad memory? Button won on points compared to Hamilton at their stint together.
Hamilton is a very good driver, but all his wdc are against weaker drivers in clearly best car on the grid. That is how i will remember him.

Why do points count across 3 seasons ?? there's no logic in that. Its like saying if Max won this season by 10 points, it means nothing because he lost last season by 133 points and in 2019 he lost by 135 points. So for Max to beat Lewis this year with your logic, Max must beat Lewis by 268 points!!

So NO ! not a bad memory. Lewis out qualified Jenson 44 times, Jenson only 14. Lewis out raced Jenson 32 vs 26 times. SO no, you seem to be the one with a clouded memory.

[Mogster]

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

Bad memory? Button won on points compared to Hamilton at their stint together.
Hamilton is a very good driver, but all his wdc are against weaker drivers in clearly best car on the grid. That is how i will remember him.

Why do points count across 3 seasons ?? there's no logic in that. Its like saying if Max won this season by 10 points, it means nothing because he lost last season by 133 points and in 2019 he lost by 135 points. So for Max to beat Lewis this year with your logic, Max must beat Lewis by 268 points!!

So NO ! not a bad memory. Lewis out qualified Jenson 44 times, Jenson only 14. Lewis out raced Jenson 32 vs 26 times. SO no, you seem to be the one with a clouded memory.

It’s called clutching at straws

The bottom line is that Hamilton has had stronger teammates than any other multi WDC and has beaten them all by any normal or even reasonable metric.

[Starkblood80]

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

Bad memory? Button won on points compared to Hamilton at their stint together.
Hamilton is a very good driver, but all his wdc are against weaker drivers in clearly best car on the grid. That is how i will remember him.

So since when did the points collected over several years become the metric used to rate drivers? Fairly sure the championship is an annual event.

Hamiltons detractors will always zone in on any metric which can be used to delegitimise his achievements while simultaneously ignoring everything else to the contrary

[214270]

Soo many were unhappy with the conditions, Masi is incompetent.