Slow corners, traction advantage, I think it goes to RBR. Those cars do get the power down quickly...never go backwards at the starts.
I am truly sad tonight to see Max and Charles wasted their best years as drivers while for the past 4 years a driver like Bottas is unable to represent any threat to Hamilton in this fantastic Mercedes.
Everyone wants Ham's seat. It will go to either Max or Chuck. Likely Max. If Max went to MB and MB's new car is as good as the old one, it will be the Schumi days all over again. Max has the same capability of freaky speed that Schumi used to have.
Bottas is Barrichello or Massa by another name. Or Mark Webber. He is there to secure the WCC and that he does. He is NOT supposed to challenge for the WDC.
Nice drive by Max, Mercedes is still the far superior car, and much better pit wall strategy time and time again. We have been conned again by Toto about the Mercedes pace. Bottas defines mediocrity. Leclerc was awesome again and really hoping the big changes next year help him get the Ferrari he truly deserves to take the fight to Mercedes and Red Bull. I think Crofty is so terrible and biased I might even be missing Leigh Diffey, who is he related to that allows him to still be tormenting viewers with his inane drivel?
Everything is said : . @Max33Verstappen getting asked how he could avoid such a situation like today, which was similar to 2019 Hungary: "Just need a faster car. Then you don‘t find yourself in that situation."
This talk about Red Bull's second driver being treated like a second-class citizen reminds me of Jim Clark's days at Lotus, when the exact same thing was said about their number-two driver!
A master class from MB. Meanwhile, back in the midfield, a good drive by Charles and a competent performance by Ferrari. Nothing to open the champagne about. But, a lot better than last year.
It amuses me that for some of you whoever is HAM's team mate is 'not a top 10 driver' whereas VER's team mate is simply outclassed by Max's genius ;-> It's clear that VER and HAM are the class of the field, both substantially quicker than their teamates and very closely matched in the 2021 cars. Both are driving better than they ever have. LEC is clearly very talented and NOR shows potential, but neither quite have the car to show if they are really a match for HAM and VER. Should be an interesting season.
I would rate all three higher than Bottas. Where has Bottas shown that he is on the same level as Massa in 2008?
What is clear is that the Mercedes is 1 step ahead of the red bull and max is one step ahea dof Elton, wich kinda compensate things...I'm also convinced Charles is faster than both of them.
Ah We forgot this poor Russell who weekend after weekend produces breathtaking performances with his williams but who had the misfortune to indirectly overshadow Lewis last year in Bahrain..
Glad i don't watch it live anymore. Watched the start, then FF to 10, 30, 50, 62. Even my wife could tell me the finish before the start. 17 sec lead for Ham. This is NOT racing.
Max maybe would have been better off not passing HAM at the start and so RB would not have the psychological block of initiating a 2-stop because as leader you don’t want to give up the lead. Anyway good race, stayed interesting almost to the end. Good race by Ferrari—pretty much confirmed 3rd best car, which is what was expected for and best we could hope for. Would love to know how many times in the past couple years VET and RAI finished 12/13 or 13/14 or vice versa. It’s uncanny and unfortunately a reflection of their current performance.
I’m convinced Merc was playing games at the pre-season testing so to give RB a sniff of potential success and divert attention, even a little, from 2022. On the other hand, Bottas is not an automatic 2nd or lucky winner when something happens to HAM, so maybe Merc have lost some relative competitiveness to RBR as also evidenced by their performance on Saturday.
