FrenchGP 2021 Pre-Race Thread

Last time around it was a bit processional with that chicane. Something tells me that it's good that I'll be on holiday this weekend
and will miss the race.

 

No sandbags....RBR is the better car for street circuits, Merc for traditional courses. Red Bull did some damage with Monaco, but Baku was a huge miss with Verstappen not finishing. Even though Hamilton ended out of the points also, Red Bull needed Max to pick up as many points as possible in the two races where Merc were at a disadvantage. That said, there are so many twists and turns to a season that I don't imagine something that happened in May will be the biggest determinant of the Championship winner

 

I'll watch the start and presumably nod off a bit.

+1 The pirelli tyre failure cost Verstappen/RBR a very costly 11 points. Still, Red Bull Ring coming up after france and Red Bull tends to be good there.

The very nature of Paul Ricard puts this firmly in Mercedes hands. The hot temperatures helping them as well. Lets see what happens.

 

Is it me or does this whole Hamilton Merc / Verstappen RB war feel contrived to bolster viewing figures & create some form of excitement only to see the Merc romp home across the finish line. The only ones getting hot under the collar are the F1 journalists, I guess they have a good reason to try and excite the situation.

 

+1 The pirelli tyre failure cost Verstappen/RBR a very costly 11 points. Still, Red Bull Ring coming up after france and Red Bull tends to be good there.

I hope the sticker isn't the only upgrade to the new power unit.

 

As F1 journo's have done plenty of times in the last few seasons.

My opinion remains that the Mercedes is the faster car all things considered. RBR (with Max) at least is challenging during the quali, but over a race distance it misses out. Even at street circuits the Ferrari is the better car of the two, though the much wider track and long straights didn't help the Ferrari for much at Baku, where over a race distance the Red Bull became stronger.

Mercedes clearly isn't the underdog (despite their beliefs), but with Max in the Red Bull they do have a clear challenger. With singapore cancelled RBR have allegedly switched focus to upgrading the cars behavior in medium and high speed cornering.

So far we haven't seen Red Bull being a clear favourite anywhere (Monaco being more of an anomaly due to it's very one-trick-ponery nature), whereas we have seen Mercedes being the clear favourite at Spain and Portugal, the long, high speed corners clearly suiting the Mercedes very well.

 

I must've missed something, but exhaust is now part of limited to exchange parts? How many do they get? And why exactly....

 

I just can't get my head round it. It's not as if it's such an expensive component... FWIW back in the V8 era I know a set of inconel exhaust manifolds (so both sides) was around £10k, this was cost to the 4 teams this company supplied!

 

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Look better without the fluorescent green..

 

GOAT

 

Any branding remotely connected to nicotine is banned in France.

Hopefully a new chassis will be a good placebo for ValBot...

Lewis and his ridiculous outfits...next thing you know he will wear one of the ludicrous high fashion Ferrari outfits from sunday's fashion show at the factory;-)

 

Gender-fluid fashion.

 

+1, and as Lewis has demonstrated, fluorescent green is not a good look regardless of on a car on on shoes.

 

Article 23.3 of the 2021 sporting regulations, it was sneaked in under the radar. 8 per season.

Brought in to stop teams developing more power and increase competition.......yep i know what you are going to say!

 

Where are all the lovely pictures of the teams arriving and setting up?

Senor Gonzales, por favor!