FORMULA 1 OOREDOO QATAR GRAND PRIX 2021 - Lusail - Qualifying. ▄▀▄▀▄▀ SPOILERS▄▀▄▀▄▀

Not surprising to hear Leclerc's car had damage, losing 0.800-0.900 to teammate without driving errors (he even said he pushed the car to the absolute limit) would be absolutely insane. Hopefully they are able to change the chassis in time, if not it's a pitlane start. I wonder if Ferrari has a spare engine of the new spec, would make sense to put new PU too if it's a pitlane start. Charles' has some hunting to do tomorrow.

 

So.... Mercedes Benz is officially off the "sandbagging mode" for the rest of the season, correct?

 

Fixed it for you

 

You are correct, but we have to remember that they are one in the same. LH44 has ONLY driven MB-engined cars all his F1 career.

 

Looking at Hamilton’s gap of almost half second in the last two races, definitely the motor change made a difference and Mercedes has made big gains. However it’s not half second, more like 2 and half tenths which is still massive. The other 2 tenths is Hamitlon just out driving everyone else. Pressure is getting Max, which is understandable(It can be his first WDC) and Hamilton has been in spot many times and is good at managing the stress. Hamilton is flying!

 

https://streamable.com/ojxzfj

Compilation of supposed violations

very much a mixed bag

 

You realize Hamilton sandbagging means he was going slower than he could the races before. So Mercedes lost races because of him not performing while the car was actually much faster.

 

Max is above the law.

 

I didn't want to believe it, but there was a worry that Mercedes would suddenly find a boat load of pace at the end of the season and dominate the final races to win the championship. One conspiracy theory being that there was a secret handshake agreement between the FIA and Mercedes to keep the championship close because F1's audience has plummeted during Mercedes dominance. It was seen in Imola that when Hamilton got put on his backfoot and had to fight back through traffic, the car would suddenly be unlocked and the straightline speed would make passing a breeze and the car was 1-2 seconds faster than anyone. Of course we saw the same thing in Brazil. Mercedes of course were smart, because Red Bull legitimately has a great chassis that makes tons of downforce, so Mercedes goes to the FIA and has Red Bull's "legal" flexy wing banned by having the testing procedures changed ahead of the race it would prove most beneficial (Baku). But why stop there? Red Bull's lightning fast and consistent pitstops was something Mercedes could not match, so they got the pitstop procedure changed mid season too! Very strange that the FIA decided to make mid season changes like that, yet Mercedes was allowed to run DAS in 2020 and stated early on that it would be banned in 2021. It was unusual to see Toto Wolff so calm as Red Bull started to take charge of the season, saying he was enjoying the fight and that Mercedes were not going to bring anymore upgrades to the car this season. All lies. That trick collapsible rear suspension was a pretty big upgrade if you ask me.

I hate "conspiracy theories", but I believe I am extremely analytical and I see what I see. Am I wrong, or is the season playing out as I just stated and sadly just as I predicted?

 

The pit stop fiasco was an absoult dick move by the FIA. And yes Hams car has a rear suspension device.

But I seriously doubt Benz and F1 have a hand shake.

 

As for qualifying.

No surprise Mercedes was fast. Just before Hamilton's last lap I said to myself how he's about to find half a second. Sure enough he did. I do believe he is good enough to find that bit extra, but it also seems like he has a Hamilton mode in the car.

I don't know what Horner is talking about saying Mercedes' straightline speed is under control. During the lap comparo between HAM and VER, Hamilton had nearly a full car length advantage at the start/finish line going into the hot laps. Verstappen was able to actually claw that back and was ahead after the first few corners, but as the track opened up, especially through the high speed, flat out sections, the Mercedes extended the lead again.

On the flip side, there was a lot of footage of Hamilton's rear wing and saw nothing moving. In fact I didn't even see the suspension collapse as we did in previous races. Could it be because the FIA are doing more inspections? Maybe. I tend to believe it's because the track is a higher speed version of Hungary which requires nearly maximum downforce and with 280 kph cornering speeds, they can't have the suspension collapse or the rear wing flex as it would drop downforce in places they do not want. If I am correct about that, it's alarming how fast the Mercedes-Lewis is, and a lot of their straightline speed is definitely still down to raw horsepower.

Red Bull I suppose you could say are struggling, which seems to be backed by Perez's abysmal performance. This is bad news because it more accurately represents general pace of the RBR. I tend to say that Perez just under performed once again, which sucks because it appeared he finally started to come to grips with the Red Bull chassis.

Ferrari do not look all that great in cooler conditions. It appears those conditions may favor McLaren. Sainz put in a great effort and should be applauded. Leclerc, not so much. Despite his talents, he still makes a lot of mistakes. Constantly he is one of the drivers that has a lot of laps deleted for track limits, and that hurt him in quali. News have come out they found a crack in his chassis. Do I believe that is why he was so far off the pace? No, can't say I believe it. Let's hope that it was the reason, or at the very least gets Leclerc's mind better for the race. I think the mental game is Leclerc's weak point. He certainly has enough talent that he can or should out-perform Sainz any given weekend.

Gasly again was mighty quick, but so was Tsunoda. His dramatic tire/wing failure could be a preview of things that could happen during the race. Other cars had chassis damage from the curbs and Horner saying that the loads on the tires are the highest in history over the course of a lap could make things interesting.

Alonso was the star of qualifying IMO. What a lap in a car that is typically fighting to get into Q3.

Let's see if penalties come from the yellow flag. With the brutal inconsistencies of the Stewards, I wouldn't be surprised to see 3 different decisions based on how popular each driver is.

 

Ok dude...you don't believe a broken chassis affects a car? There are some hilarious takes here, but this is up there. I guess if Charles had more "mental game", he could magically repair his chassis on the track with only his mental powers.

 

Never read such BS… this is not JFK’s assassination here…
Jeez ppl.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Sure I do. I just don't think it's why he was 9 tenths off of Sainz pace, which could be like 1-1.2 seconds off his own capabilities. We don't even know how big the crack was. I personally doubt it was a crack so severe that it was causing the chassis to separate under load or somehow disrupt the aero that badly. I remember Mercedes talking about how sometimes a driver just doesn't "feel it" with a chassis, and even though the chassis will be thoroughly inspected and checks out to be 100% normal, a chassis swap can suddenly bring the performance back to that particular driver.

 

It's far fetched right?

But has anything I said that happened during this season not happened? And do Mercedes now appear to be set up to dominate the final 3 races?

 

his times today were faster than yesterday. I think Max and Lewis can crank it up higher when they need to.

 

LH specified he was up late with his engineer team to sort his car and apply changes.

Bottas had turn 1 issues and stated his tires not in the proper window.
Also Perez stated tires put on by RedBull might have caused his issues.
Both in the press addressing tires as their issue affecting qualy.

 

when they were scoping out the last 5 races, the belief was that RBR would take Mexico and Brazil and Merc would have the advantage at the last 3 races. Brazil seems to be the surprise, but owed to the changed engine.

 

Brazil was major surprise to all and certainly RedBull lol. I think a distinct combination of weather, tires, motor and aero together in almost a unbelievable storm of F1 perfection was working for Mercedes. Bottas as well not just LH. Remarkable.

 

Pinnacle of Motorsport - leaves drivers confused on simply passing another car lol. Well done Masi/FIA and Liberty!

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/hamilton-f1-racing-rules-not-clear-after-fia-briefing-post-brazil-clash/6802878/

Hamilton: F1 racing rules "not clear" after FIA briefing post-Brazil clash
By: Alex Kalinauckas
Nov 20, 2021, 11:54 AM
Lewis Hamilton says Formula 1’s racing rules are still “not clear” despite the drivers having lengthy discussions with the FIA following Max Verstappen’s controversial defence against him in Brazil.
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But Verstappen disagrees, saying that after the drivers’ briefing in Qatar ahead of this weekend’s inaugural F1 race at the Losail track, which is understood to have lasted over an hour, that the situation “was in the end pretty clear”.

After the Sao Paulo event stewards ruled that Mercedes’ request for a right of review into the decision that meant Verstappen’s initial defence at Interlagos’ Turn 4 did not to be fully investigated, the F1 pack held long talks with race director Michael Masi on Friday night in the usual drivers’ briefing slot – held as a video conference due to F1’s COVID-19 requirements.

Verstappen said the briefing consisted of drivers “sharing their opinions and then the FIA explaining their process of thought behind it”, but F1’s two leading drivers were left split on the matter in their comments following qualifying in Qatar on Saturday evening.

After Hamilton had claimed pole by a massive 0.563s over Verstappen, he was asked if it was now clear what defensive driving was acceptable following the Qatar drivers’ briefing, to which he replied: “No.

“It's not clear. Every driver, I think, expect for Max, was asking about just for clarity.

“Most drivers were asking for clarity, but it wasn't very clear.

“So, yeah - it's still not clear what the limits of the track are. It's clearly not the white line any more, so when overtaking. So we just go for it and...

“We just ask for consistency. So, if it's the same as the last race then that should be the same for all of us in those scenarios and then its fine.”

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Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, battles with Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images

Verstappen, who answered before Hamilton, said: “Everyone is different, right? And everyone has their own way of racing and defending and overtaking, and of course it's very hard for the FIA as well to get everyone on the same line.

“Of course, they decide, but every driver has a different opinion and then I think yesterday it was all about sharing their opinions and then the FIA explaining their process of thought behind it.

“So, I think we came a long way and it was a very long briefing. So, yeah, I think it was in the end pretty clear.”

Hamilton later stated that should he engage in a wheel-to-wheel fight in Sunday’s race then he would approach any such situation understanding “that what happened in the last race is OK”.

But he then said the drivers had been informed that different stewards could rule differently if the same scenario that occurred in Brazil were to play out again.

“It's not clear, as I said,” Hamilton continued.

“They said it's going to be different with different stewards.

“If we had the same ones as last week, this week it is one way - so we'll see.”

Valtteri Bottas, who finished third in Qatar qualifying behind the two title contenders, said of the racing rules confusion: “I mean it is clear in that way that if it's a similar incident [as] in Brazil then that's OK.

“But obviously it's always a fine line, but also the consistency that's the key and for us to know exactly [what is allowed].

“I don't think we got really an explanation like what we actually can do or not.

“So, I mean every overtake, every defending is different, so I'm sure they try to do the best job giving the best penalties or no penalties.

“I don't think it really changes anything, we'll obviously go for it and at least we know that's what Lewis and Max ended up having in Brazil that that is OK. That's a good thing to know.”

 

I wonder if Hamilton asked what would happen if Max takes him out and goes on to win the race. Will Max only get a 5-second penalty like Hamilton did at Silverstone and get to keep his win if he wins by over 5 seconds to the 2nd place finisher?

 

I agree with him. Masi and crew have woefully inept in ruling consistency. Most of the drivers feel they don’t know the limits around passing

 

Is it fair to ponder that all of this has been, allegedly, orchestrated by MB and LH44 [With alleged assistance from the FIA/Liberty]. So the races "lost" were part of the bigger picture of this season's narrative.

 

Mercedes wasn't running the fresh engine from Interlagos. Hamilton was running an older one. Look at the top speeds. Hamilton was simply on it today.

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Both Max and Lewis drove very well in quali. Both much faster than their teammates.