Good on Red Bull running their own race, it didn't quite work out here but that sure was close.
Good on Red Bull running their own race, it didn't quite work out here but that sure was close.
In reply to adam525i (Forum Supporter) :
I do wonder if Max could have pulled out the 5 seconds that he would have been penalized.... We will never know.
I didn't sit down for the last 10 laps-that was incredible!! You guys wanted a close race, you got it. Great drives down the order, too. Yuki got points in 1st race, Perez made a great recovery from all the troubles with the Red Bull, solid drive from Norris but Vettel really had a bad day
Max was so far off the track there wasn't any question. And I think his tires fell off the cliff at that point. But man, Lewis drove his pants off to get that speed at the end on tires that were well finished.
alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to adam525i (Forum Supporter) :
I do wonder if Max could have pulled out the 5 seconds that he would have been penalized.... We will never know.
That's a dick way to win a race, though. I'm glad it didn't happen.
Man that was good race. Hamilton is just something else!
Side note it's weird seeing vettel in green
Keith Tanner said:alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to adam525i (Forum Supporter) :
I do wonder if Max could have pulled out the 5 seconds that he would have been penalized.... We will never know.
That's a dick way to win a race, though. I'm glad it didn't happen.
Agreed. "The penalty is worth paying, so I'll just break the rules" definitely falls outside of sportsmanship, IMHO.
Also, they seemed to indicate that race control had told them to give the position back. Refusing to follow those instructions isn't a 5 second penalty, the last time I remember it happening was in 94 and they gave Schumacher a black flag and a 3 race ban.
Well, done by Sir Lewis! Experience really paid off there, that's why they pay him the big bucks.
I thought Max had it covered after the first few starts. Then I thought Lewis had it covered gaining the lead. Then I though Max had it covered when Lewis came for the second stop so early. Then I thought Lewis was treating his tires nicely, and would manage it to the end. Then I thought the drs was so powerful that Max would have it.
And so on.
What a race.
This is going to be a great season and I hope Bottas and Perez can get closer and provide even more excitement
And Norris. He was a monster at the start and ended up 4th. Watching the two McLarens side by side at the beginning was great. He and Danny are looking like a really strong pairing. I think Sainz is going to justify his seat nicely as well.
Excellent race, it's so good to see McLaren up front again, Norris did great. I wish Danny had been up a couple more spots, but all in all, a great result. Excellent drive from Perez, too. Had Max been a tad more patient he would have won, but you take your chance when you see it, so no criticism. Lewis was the master of his tires and managed to hold Max off by making no mistakes, a super drive. What a great start to the season, I hope to see many more battles between Lewis and Max this year. And this new guy Tsunoda can wheel a race car, certainly put Mick and the other guy to shame (although he certainly had a much better car, it must be said).
L'il Mikey did the same twitch as the new Russian, there just wasn't a wall where he stopped. Haas might be a bit unstable...
I hope the new Russian has a big stack of rubles behind him.
I wonder how much time Mercedes saved by exceeding track limits for all those laps before Max did it once and was shut down immediately.
SnowMongoose said:I wonder how much time Mercedes saved by exceeding track limits for all those laps before Max did it once and was shut down immediately.
I don't understand why the FIA continues to bungle this. I saw this article 2 days ago and figured along the same lines as Hamilton -- Different track limits rules for qualifying and race.
However during the race drivers have been told “the track limits at the exit of turn four will not be monitored with regard to setting a lap time, as the defining limits are the artificial grass and the gravel trap in that location.”
So they were told the track limits at T4 wouldn't be enforced... sort of. But they were also told --
“In all cases during the race, drivers are reminded of the provisions of Article 27.3 of the Sporting Regulations,” it adds. This rule states: “drivers must make every reasonable effort to use the track at all times and may not leave the track without a justifiable reason”.
Clear as mud, right?
SnowMongoose said:I wonder how much time Mercedes saved by exceeding track limits for all those laps before Max did it once and was shut down immediately.
If you were watching, Max was way outside the lines on T4 over and over again before both he and Lewis were told to knock it off. I think the commentators even mentioned it. It was okay for everyone until it wasn't, and then it wasn't okay for anyone anymore. By the time Max blew T4 in the pass attempt, it was not okay and he knew it. I think he was pretty much out of tire and there just wasn't enough grip for that move.
Keith Tanner said:SnowMongoose said:I wonder how much time Mercedes saved by exceeding track limits for all those laps before Max did it once and was shut down immediately.
If you were watching, Max was way outside the lines on T4 over and over again before both he and Lewis were told to knock it off. I think the commentators even mentioned it. It was okay for everyone until it wasn't, and then it wasn't okay for anyone anymore. By the time Max blew T4 in the pass attempt, it was not okay and he knew it. I think he was pretty much out of tire and there just wasn't enough grip for that move.
There is also a huge difference between going outside track limits on your own and going outside track limits in order to pass someone.
In my karting days, we had big cones out to mark the corners and inevitably, somebody would punt one off the track and from that point onward, almost everybody cut the corner until a steward replaced the cone or the race ended. Sometimes I would come upon a backmarker who was still racing like the cone was there but the podium winners never did, they took every advantage on every lap and that's why they were on the podium.
Looking back at the pass- it was really interesting timing. Had Max not quite cleared Lewis where he drove off, he would have an real argument that he was forced off the track, but since he was clear, he could not use that excuse. As I saw the replay, a meter of the pass was the difference between driving off the track and being "forced off".
If everyone remembers the Albon-Hamilton accident in Austria last season, this was the same thing, except Max was clear. Lewis gave him no extra space for the corner.
Lewis was kind of lucky that Max had such a great run going into turn 4.
A side story that I was not aware of until after the race- Aston Martin was pretty critical of Sergo Perez's driving style, when compared to Vettel. The result that Seb drove questionably, and blamed Ocon for changing lanes (????) which caused him to run into him; on the other hand, Perez stared on the pit lane, stormed through traffic to finish 5th. I don't want to hate Aston Martin, but there's some history with Racing Point.
WRT Aston, and them complaining about the rake issue- the one constant between last and this year is Lance Stroll, and other than him getting flipped, he was in the same relative place on the track. Lawerence has built a team that is easy to not like at all.
OTOH, Perez's drive was pretty awesome. Good for him and Red Bull.
BTW, did anyone notice that had Bottas not had a pit problem, he would have been pretty darned close to Verstappen after the Red Bull pit? Had Perez not had that sut down problem, and Bottas not the pit problem- the ending would have been even more epic.
I'd like to know if the teams figured something out about switching on the hards - that second set seemed to work much better on the Mercs than the first. Maybe they have a sharp drop in performance and then level off again, that would explain the yo-yo between Max and Lewis.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Tire pressure change. A half psi can be the difference between perfect and too cold/too hot. They probably looked at the temps from the first stint and made an air pressure change.
Keith Tanner said:SnowMongoose said:I wonder how much time Mercedes saved by exceeding track limits for all those laps before Max did it once and was shut down immediately.
If you were watching, Max was way outside the lines on T4 over and over again before both he and Lewis were told to knock it off. I think the commentators even mentioned it. It was okay for everyone until it wasn't, and then it wasn't okay for anyone anymore. By the time Max blew T4 in the pass attempt, it was not okay and he knew it. I think he was pretty much out of tire and there just wasn't enough grip for that move.
Hamilton was the first to use it and continued to do so. Red Bull complained, started to do the same, stewards said nothing to worry about until Verstappen used it to overtake.....
In reply to DirtyBird222 :
I'll have to rewatch. I saw Max out in the runoff long before Lewis was told to stop.
Track limits on Tilke tracks are a pain. One of the nice things about the 2020 season was the use of so many old tracks where track limits were self-enforcing.
In reply to DirtyBird222 :
Track limits are not a big deal in the race until they are- like when you make a pass outside of the limits. Which has always been bad.
Also, some of the drivers in the post race interviews were asked about track limits- and all of them said that they were told going wide in turn 4 was ok. But I don't see that applying during a pass.
Anybody else catch Tsunoda's pass on Stroll for 9th? Impressive stuff!
Looks like Perez has what it takes for RB to bring the constructors fight to Merc. McLaren looked impressive! Ferrari managed to not be half bad, either. Alonso was scrappy but reminiscent of his McHonda days... Poor Gasly, that's his best track and one mistake cost him guaranteed points.
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