F1 2021 - Russian GP - 24-26th September

[MUFC]

Oh slicks.

[MUFC]

If Lewis gets a bad start or gets stuck behind Sainz and Russell. Norris could win this.

Russell to prove a point and take out Lewis

[Tommy]

Watched Fortuna instead of F1. 

Coming back to NOR - SAI - RUS was a bit unexpected. 

[RandoEFC+]

I mean, that's some way for Q3 to turn out for Lewis after he was talking about understanding how difficult it was for Max and all the pressure going for your first title. Max was a pretty big idiot in Monza but it remains the case that Lewis has made more clearcut mistakes this year. Verstappen's "he doesn't know anything about me" response was even worse and made him look like a petulant teenager. It's why I'm not that much of a fan of drivers shit-talking each other in the media. About 1 time in 100 you'll get in someone's head. The rest of the time you just risk making yourself look an arse when it's you who makes the next mistake.

Still, a decent start from 4th and he should be able to win the race anyway. I can't see Russell putting up a huge fight even if he wants to and while Norris and Sainz certainly will fight for the win, they'll need a big gap over Hamilton to fend him off, and I can only see them getting it if the likes of Ricciardo and Alonso can get past Hamilton on the first lap. Verstappen is realistically hoping for Russell and Alonso to get involved at the front so he can aim for about 4th behind Lewis, Lando, Carlos.

[RandoEFC+]

I didn't see any of the coverage, was there any talk of further problems for Hamilton after qualifying? Looked like minor damage on the pit lane incident and on the spin afterwards.

[Eco]

25 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

I didn't see any of the coverage, was there any talk of further problems for Hamilton after qualifying? Looked like minor damage on the pit lane incident and on the spin afterwards.

Nothing I heard of. The Sky commentators were worried that his wall hit might have caused some suspension issues, but then he went out on cold slicks and spun as he wasn't able get his tires warmed up. 

No doubt Hamilton had an interesting start to his weekend. Hit a crew member, hit the wall, and spun out on his last lap. 

Tomorrow might be very interesting. 

[Tommy]

19 minutes ago, Eco said:

 

No doubt Hamilton had an interesting start to his weekend. Hit a crew member, hit the wall, and spun out on his last lap. 

 

Crumbling under the pressure from the Dutch Lion! 

[Eco]

I'm not sure who else there was to blame? People are applauding Hamilton for taking responsibility for this, but damn, there was no one near him and he just lost focus for a split second. 

Just goes to show how you can't lose any focus when driving these cars. Even the best can screw up if he just blinks at the wrong time and isn't fully focused. 

Overall, I think this will make tomorrow very interesting, but I would be surprised if he didn't win tomorrow's race. 

[Eco]

This is so great to watch. Happy for Lando getting his first ever pole. 

 

[Tommy]

 

[MUFC]

15 hours ago, RandoEFC said:

I didn't see any of the coverage, was there any talk of further problems for Hamilton after qualifying? Looked like minor damage on the pit lane incident and on the spin afterwards.

Was a strange qualifying which you had to watch from start to finish in order to fully appreciate it. Was almost like watching an predictable movie with an end twist which catches you cold. Throughout qualifying Lewis had everything under control, oh Nudge. The last 5 minutes o3 Q3 is where things really got going, oh Eco.

Williams started a panic style stampede when they decided to try the soft/slick tires. Everybody followed suit which you had to do really because if it proved right you're buggered, oh Tommy. On the way to the pits Lewis hit the barrier at the start of the pit lane. Initially it looked like he wasn't going to come back out, they were thinking maybe there might be suspension damage. But they changed his tires and front wing, oRandoEFC.

2 things screwed Mercedes up here. First of all Bottas had to wait for Lewis to have his tires and wing changed. This was the deciding factor for the final run in qualy and the reason Lewis span and Bottas was slow. The slicks required 2 warm up laps in order to generate heat and be effected. Because Lewis crashed and Bottas had to wait. They only did one warm up lap which cost them dear, oh MUFC.

This is the reason LEwis span as he had no heat in his tires. Initially it looked like the slicks wouldn't work. But Sainz put in a middle purple sector. From here on you new Mercedes were in trouble for not getting 2 warm up laps in, oh Joshua.

[MUFC]

Mercedes tactical decision to give Bottas a new power unit? He'll start 17th, is it to block Max?

[MUFC]

Bottas starting 17th is really hit and miss. He quite often has bad starts and loses up to 5 places before the first turn. 

[RandoEFC+]

 

[Stan]

Norris on pole

Was out all day and only just seen how the race will start! Incredible. 

[Tommy]

Yuki was scared of Pierre. 

https://streamable.com/twet2y

[RandoEFC+]

 

[Eco]

[Eco]

Great start some Carlos. 

[Eco]

Max clears Bottas a bit too easily. 

[Eco]

Max up to 12th, passing Gasly and Leclerc

[Eco]

Lando overtakes Sainz to lead the GP

[Stan]

When will Hamilton pit?

[RandoEFC+]

This has not gone well for Mercedes. 

[Eco]

1 minute ago, RandoEFC said:

This has not gone well for Mercedes. 

And has been about perfect for McLaren