FORMULA 1 EMIRATES GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE 2021 - Le Castellet.....RACE...... ▄▀▄▀▄▀ SPOILERS▄▀▄▀▄▀

Next year is our year !!
LOL
Sorry for this bad joke but yesterday’s race was too painful to watch..

 

So this race definitely confirms last year's issue for Ferrari was the awful driver that Vettel is.
Now that they got rid of him, they are really shining - or did I miss something?

 

I am not a Seb basher but Leclerc and Sainz are drivers on the ascent; Seb is not.

 

I suggested before this race that, as I hate the track and as good weather was forecast here in Devon, I would take the boat out and catch up on highlights.
I forgot that I also has a sea food dinner booked at a coastal restaurant.
So all I caught was the last 10 minutes on C4 highlights.
Good call by me.
Congratulations to RBR and Honda. Even then, watching somebody with good tires passing somebody with ****ed tires is not the best 10 minutes I have ever spent.
As for Ferrari, it’s going to be a long year, again. So much is now staked on delivering a good car next year. If the team doesn’t deliver that the **** will hit the fan in perhaps a bigger way than it ever has in our history.
All kinds of clocks are ticking.

 

He wasn't going to keep third place, regardless. Sergio was on a 1-stopper and I tend to doubt Bottas would have caught and passed him. The Red Bull is better in cooler conditions and as the track began to green up, their handling came alive.

All of the "if's" and "buts" seem to ignore that Hamilton would have come out behind Max if he pitted and Bottas would have been behind Perez. I don't think either would have been able to change the order of things. Hamilton was correct when he (begrudgingly) admitted that Max would have sailed off into the sunset if not for the lap one error. Red Bull is the stronger package...they've led 287 laps this season vs 141 for Merc. Sergio is becoming the wingman that Max has needed and they have Merc on the back foot. Not saying it's all over, but RBR is in a very good position and they are gaining momentum. Merc are making uncharacteristic mistakes in 3-straight races now (Horner mentioned that prior to France). The car has speed, certainly, to equal the Red Bull, but it has a narrow handling window that relies on the right temperature and track configuration to maximize success. Red Bull is more versatile, so I think it will be very tough for Merc with both of those guys driving well now.

I expect Red Bull to win both rounds at Austria. I could be wrong (I often am) but Sector 2 will once again favor the Bulls, while they're giving up nothing now in the straight lines. The only thing that could alter the races is if it's unusually hot on either weekend. (if the Styrian GP was today-Weds, Merc would have a chance).

 

I keep saying this should be Verstappen and Red Bull year.

Mercedes has been rattled this time.

 

I agree. I know the RBR/Max fans are trying not to get ahead of themselves and get caught up in the hype (I get it...keep cool when trying to kill the witch), but the reality is that Red Bull have the package to do it this year. Merc has not recovered from the floor cutout changes, making the car a bit temperamental. I know it's still a long season and there are a lot of points to be gained, but I think RBR has looked like 'the team' since testing and have only looked stronger as the season progresses.

 

Lewis saying max would sail off into the distance was false...we saw how hard both had to fight when Max was ahead and on Hard tyres. The merc is superb on the mediums they started on, and this also proved still true.

Had Merc pitted Bottas around lap 29-31 Bottas should've easily finished ahead of Perez, he would actually have threatened Lewis as well, and Red Bull may not even have been able to do a 2 stop.

It does appear that Red Bull has made a jump forward now in comparison to Spain. I had a look at the Data again for Austria and was surprised how poorly red bull qualifies there, in relation to the wins they scored there in the past. I do think that Red Bull will have a strong package there however and should win the race, im more confident in that one than Paul Ricard, that's for sure!

The difference between the teams is marginal. Perez doing very well allows Max flexibility with strategy, which cost them dearly in the last few years.

 

Yes there's a lot of truth in that, RBR fans don't want to get ahead of themselves. Looking as ''the team'' however, given the last decade of F1, is a strong statement. A fairer statement would be is ''legitimate challengers'', rather than the powered-by-luck Ferrari challenged a few years ago where a couple of good early races from Ferrari vs poor races from Mercedes skewed the outlook of the championship somewhat. Mercedes is far from slow, and only in 2 races has Perez been an actual factor for them to consider (not strategy wise). Whatever upgrade RBR made since spain, they've done a great job on it, and Toto's complaining to the FIA about the wings has backfired, it seems.

 

Superb analysis!

 

I think the differences come down to a) grip (Red Bull is more predictable) and b) ability to get the tires up to temp. Speed-wise, the teams are pretty much even. The Merc just has a much narrower window to optimal performance than RBR. They deserve credit for building a worthy contender. It started last year and continued through winter testing.

I don’t think Valtierri would have passed Perez simply because VB hasn’t been great at chasing anyone down and then passing them. Had he pitted twice, Hamilton would have also. Then Checo would have really had an interesting hand to play as spoiler.

 

True, in the last few races or so last year Horner said they found something they wish they did a few years prior (I think he said that after Abu Dhabi). The RBR does fire it's tyres up very quickly, but does use them harder.

At this moment there isn't a sole dominant car in the championship, that's for sure.

 

Mercedes doesn't have the totally dominent package this year. But they will not give up and they have the resources to fight back tenaciously. Hopefully RB will not make the mistake that Ferrari has...thinking the early victories predict how the season will end.

 

Mercedes doesn't have the fastest car in qualifying but they still have the best pace. They are losing because of team errors, red bull outsmarted them with their strategy, driver errors, Bottas collapse under perez minimal pressure and Hamilton on the last laps when he was 5 seconds ahead of max went wide and also took to much kerb cutting the advantage to just over 3 seconds, if he didn't make that mistake he would have won the race.

Hamilton has the most talent of his generation but becomes nervous under pressure, he commit a lot of unforced errors. These last years he didn't have any but now the old brain freeze of his youth are starting to happen again.

Leclerc is also very fast but commits a lot of unforced errors, lets hope he can remove them once he is on his prime.

 

Don't agree, Carlos is not near Seb on a good day..unfortunately, Seb's good days seem to be oer by mid 2018!!! BUt he's a solid driver and fast enough to back Charles, i confess he's doing better than i expected, and the relationship between both look to be good, problem will be the toilet paper spanish press always poisoning the air..

 

Don't think Charles amkes many mistakes, quite the oposite...i don't see qualy crashes as mistakes, it's just pushing beyond the limit, none of that prevented him from making pole, rather helped him to find the real limits, just likie Gilles did, thats one of the things i like about Charles, during therace or q3 he barely puts a foot wrong!

 

Dont forget they lost DAS as well.

That RB wing still flexed a lot from my point of view, same with the Merc front wing.

 

The FIA specifically took Max's car for tests and everthing passed with flying colours...even with the new tests . Rear wing flex was noticably less, the few times they showed the wing anyways.

 

The team vibe within Red Bull is pretty damn good. Very harmonious. At Baku after Max was let out of the medical station he made it to the podium in time and was celebrating with Perez and the team.

 

It would pass, another 50kg is nothing compared to the load on the wing at 180mph. If you look at the rear camera shot it didnt flex untill it got on the main straight. Possible load is at least 2000kg+ not 150kg!
I dont think the FIA have any real enthusiasm to reign in the flexing, it is adding to the show from a MERC / RB POV

Tony

 

Why the FIA rejected calls to ditch Paul Ricard sausage kerbs
By: Jonathan Noble
Jun 22, 2021, 8:51 AM
Formula 1's new feature of offering snapshots of radio messages between teams on the pitwall and race control has been a fascinating addition for fans.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/why-the-fia-rejected-calls-to-ditch-paul-ricard-sausage-kerbs/6596579/

Toto Wolff's complaint about Nikita Mazepin in Spain, and Red Bull team manager Jonathan Wheatley's call to red flag the race in Baku, delivered the type of behind-the-scenes team emotion that has previously been hidden.

But the insight hit a new peak during Friday practice at the French Grand Prix when both Mercedes and Red Bull urged F1 race director Michael Masi to change sausage kerbs that were in place at the exit of Turn 2.


That was because a number of drivers had crunched across them over the course of the day, and the damage to front wings and other carbon fibre bits was ramping up.

First to complain was Mercedes sporting director Ron Meadows, who pointed out the excessive financial penalty his team was facing because of the kerbs.

"Those yellow rumble strips on the exit of two have done an awful lot of damage to our car," he messaged to Masi. "They're just too aggressive."

Masi was quick to reply.: "They are the 50mm ones that we normally have in a lot of places Ron."

Meadows then responded: "All I'm telling you is our car is rooted because we went over them and we can't say 'Well, you shouldn't go there' because that's tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage by going three-foot too wide."

Without a moment's hesitation, Masi came back: "It's a bit more than three foot but I'll have a look. Thank you."

In the afternoon session, it was Red Bull's Wheatley who took to the radio to ask for a rethink about the kerbs after Verstappen had run wide at one point – losing some of his front wing that the team wanted back.

"It's been interesting watching the cars going through turn two and thinking about those yellow kerbs on the exit there," said Wheatley.

"We've just done a shed-load of damage to our car and I'm pretty sure Max didn't end up there on purpose. It just seems to be such a huge penalty for a minor indiscretion on the drivers' part. I was wondering whether you would consider, I don't know, removing half of them."

Masi swiftly replied that the kerbs were not a new addition and had been there in 2019 without any complaints.

Wheatley added: "We know that these cars use different areas and, if you look now on these long runs, they're not going anywhere near them. As I say, it just seems the penalty for going wide, which could be a timing loop, is about £100,000."

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Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B

Photo by: Drew Gibson / Motorsport Images

But Masi bought the conversation to a close with: "I think I've heard a number of team principals and drivers ask for physical limits Jonathan as well….I'll have a look at it all this evening."

Masi's reply was almost certainly in direct reference to comments from a number of senior figures, including Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, demanding that early season track limits controversies could have avoided by the addition of walls or gravel traps.

But, true to his word to the teams, Masi did go down and inspect the kerbs on Friday night to see if there was any need to remove them.

In the end, he elected not to take them away. And sure enough, the lessons learned from the car damage on Friday meant that drivers steered well clear of them for the rest of the weekend.

Reflecting on why he took the decision to keep them, Masi said that the fact the kerbs were well outside track limits, plus a recent push for more physical deterrents, were key to his call.

"There are probably a number of elements there," explained Masi.

"One was those kerbs were in place last time we were here in 2019. And secondly, they were over two metres from the edge of the track, so you had to be completely off the track to actually come in contact with them.

"But they were reviewed on Friday night following the discussion at the drivers' meeting. I went and physically went to look at them at Turn 2, as much to satisfy myself that everything was correct.

"But more importantly, as we've heard on a number of occasions, particularly this year, they want physical limits and that is very clearly a physical limit.

"Having come off two street circuits at Baku and Monaco, it is quite clear there are physical limits there and it was the same in this circumstance. And, to be fair, during the race there were no issues at all."

F1 has almost certainly not had its final controversy over track limits, but Masi standing firm on the Paul Ricard kerbs shows he's willing to commit to what he feels is best even if not all teams like it.

 

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/981399/1/ferrari-can-t-solve-f1-tyre-woes-until-next-season-binotto

Not looking good for this season then.

I hate red bull, horner and Marko. But you have to give it to them they perform under pressure. Even Mercedes seems to crack under pressure, I wish we had their mentality. Their pit crew is also amazing.

 

Indeed, woulda coulda shoulda::

Had Hamilton gone farther on this first set,
Had Perez pitted earlier,
Had Max not blown turn 1,
Had Merc not blow the strategy,
Had Hamilton not pushed so hard early in his hards,
All sorts of things were "up in the air" strategy wise as they rounded ½ way.

It was an interesting race from a strategy point of view, but only about 10 of the laps were actually interesting viewing.