FORMULA 1 VTB RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX 2021 - Sochi...RACE...▄▀▄▀▄▀ SPOILERS▄▀▄▀▄▀

when Alonso passed him, that was an eye-opener. I think it was a tire-graining issue though as I can’t imagine the Alpine is the equal of the Red Bull with low-downforce.

 

The thing here is that Lec & Max cut through the field like a butter knife starting from same situation as Bottas. Valtteri just can't overtake anyone if stuck in midfield, that part is on him.

 

Alonso was pretty mighty today.

 

What a great race...bit of a boring lul in the middle but when the rain came, wow!

Great result for Max, 2nd in a Merc stronghold, was the best he could've realistically hoped for if he didn't have penalties, so now with a fresh engine...very good!

Felt so bad for Norris, what a drive he had. Took the gamble upon himself, **** happens. The moment Lewis went into the pit it was game over for him, he was out of options...he couldn't have pitted as he would've thrown away the win, yes a podium he'd have but might as well gamble at that point. He's not in the title fight so it's glory or nothing at the point! Hope he takes it on the chin.

Perez drove a pretty decent race in the end, think it went a bit pear-shaped with the rain and timing of his stop though.

Leclerc drove a great race, shame his gamble didn't pay off either. Sainz, fantastic podium! Ferrari messed the strategy at that point so a podium is a great present!

Mercedes...well your little play to block Max with Bottas didn't pay off. Doing!

 

Gives me hopes our next year engine will be at least on par with Mercedes and Honda.
They were right to gamble with Charles.

 

I don’t think they can do that with Russell, actually. Make no mistake…he is the heir-apparent. Hamilton is in his twilight years, and I would imagine his two-year contract is the max of his time as a driver. I don’t think you want to disillusion the guy you want to become your top gun (at some point).

 

Congrats to the Centurion!

Nice job by Sainz and I'm thrilled about lucky Max getting second.

For once Sochi was a very good race.

 

Yep, totally went wrong on setup and strategy there. The rain helped Max out a lot. The DRS is very effective here so it makes sense to go high downforce to get close, and then DRS by. Low downforce uses the tyres a lot harder...Both Red Bulls where quite bad on the tyres today. Not sure what the thinking was there. In the end it doesn't matter as the rain helped out anyways, but the strategy should've been a higher risk one: The rain washed away any rubber anyways so deg will be higher, grip lower. Med-hard-med would've been the right call I think.

 

What a waste of a talent!
Nevertheless people in the know are perfectly aware what kind of fantastic driver he is.

 

Yep. Not in a title fight? Take the gamble. A lot more difficult choice for Lewis and Max.

 

No thats a fuction of the car overall. LH was stuck as well early on. The car is not one to make good progress in dirty air. This track is a bit harder to pass on than it appears. Max was not on for the podium until rain. There is a limit in DRS train with similar powered cars. We saw that today clearly.

 

Yeah, seemed the team panicked and changed too early to cover Stroll (really?) but maybe the graining was very bad. Carlos lost over 2 sec. in one lap after he was passed.

Seems to me Bottas didn’t really play the game and in fact looked to be pretty accommodating to Max. Good on him.

 

I think Charles saw the chance to be a hero and tame the wet condition without a stop. Like with Norris, I can appreciate the will to master the rain, but that gamble didn’t pay off, I guess you can say that fortunately for Hamilton he trusted his team more than his own valor….otherwise he would have ended with a similar fate and Max would have extended his lead in an unlikely scenario.

The guys up front were playing high-stakes “chicken”…only Carlos and Lewis made the right decision

 

They have stated they will guide George to prevent another Rosberg situation. Its equal until its not. Toto has stressed this. They will 'guide' him. Its theeeee story next year. How well will George do early on. New car as well. Its wide open.

 

No question.
But Mclaren were truly sheepish fops. Imagine someone telling The Captain or Ron Dennis, “shut up” after they said point blank, You’re going to lose if you don’t pit. BOX”.

 

After sainz was passed they should've boxed him immediately after that...Ferrari caught napping and boxed him a lap later, when the gap was over 3.5 seconds already. It was painfully obvious how strong the undercut was at that point already, had Ferrari boxed Sainz straight away, they might have forced Lando the next lap. If he didn't, he certainly wasn't going to box after gaining 3.5 seconds in just over a lap anyway...what a bizarre strategy that was!

Yeah, bottas really wasn't very interested at that point. And I certainly don't blame him. To be constantly shat on by the team for that long, and only to be used as a pawn here...**** them. Like someone else wrote earlier in the thread, kept him on a leash 1 year contracts...if he's dedicated number 2 at least give him a proper contract and don't **** him over at every given moment. He was so damn happy when he signed for Alfa. Good on him.

 

Big take-away here is that Max pretty much got a free engine change to make up for the one damaged at Silverstone when HAM took him out.

 

I think they will need to ‘feel’ their way through as LH’s eventual drop-off won’t be a linear thing. But they will try to make it a transitional thing versus pitting them agains each other, is my guess.

it won’t a be a Rosberg situation because you have one guy wrapping up a career while the other is just shifting his into a higher gear.

 

i.e. Play the team lap dog until we tell you otherwise.
I hope he gets to choose the lube at least.

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So...Lando opening up 2 seconds on Hamilton before his stop for inters?

Max ripping from 7th to 2nd? Hamilton was not impressive in the wet there, he just didn't crash....unlike in quali

 

Sainz has been my surprise of the season. Absolute standout. Not saying he's the greatest, just surprised how close he really is.

 

Heartbreaker!

Rain came at the worst possible time in that race.

They should have pitted Charles 5 or 6 laps earlier. I think they were betting on rain, forcing everyone in.
But they waited until they dumped Charles back out of the points. He made up good ground, but when the rain came, they left him out to slide.
Ferrari almost seems allergic to being in points paying spots.

Had the rain not increased so fast, Norris might have made the right call. But a green track, old hard tires, and sudden heavy rain took it all away. Deserved better.

Luck counts as much as skill -- both good and bad luck.