Open Wheel Racing 2021, anyone there to watch?

[Spartanforlife4]

FIA may have some inconsistent rulings when it comes to penalties, but at least they're on the ball when it comes to throwing out yellows and safety cars. NASCAR just let a car sit on the back stretch for half a lap so they could get to the last lap to throw the caution in OT and end it instead of going to a third overtime restart. If that happens any other time during the race they throw it instantly.

[MichVandal]

Got it. That’s exactly like Senna/Prost, but I don’t well, I think Senna disregarded the agreement and that cemented the end of that relationship between drivers.

One more thing- this was a team call for Lando to cover off Hamilton, it wasn't meant to pass Piastri. And then they held Oscar out a really long time instead of one lap to "cover" Norris. So on top of the start pass, none of those calls were meant to make a pass, they were to preserve their position.

Sure, Oscar made some errors, but Lando has done that in the past, too. If the "covering Hamilton" move was a try to pass Oscar, then it would be a fair pass.

[MichVandal]

Man, Max was insane on the radio, today. The team came up with a decent plan for Max to be the fastest car at the end, but he whined about it the entire time. And then complained that he had to actually pass cars on merit. Nice that his team stood up to him.

[MichVandal]

It's too bad for Oscar that his first F1 win ended like that. Real let down for how happy he should be.

[Russell Jaslow]

I'll respond with one post instead of replying to a bunch.

1) Team orders are team orders. They've been in F1 forever. And Norris knows that Piastri is good enough that if the team decides to back him all out, Norris is screwed. That's why he finally backed off. Like the engineer said, he proved his point. Now, do the agreed upon team thing.
2) This was none of the drivers' fault. So, I'm not upset with either one nor begrudge the way Piastri won his first race. The team screwed up. McLaren keeps tripping over their own dicks with their strategy.
3) Saying they were covering Hamilton was ridiculous. Norris came out five seconds ahead. How much more time could he possibly have lost if he ran one more lap (if they pitted Piastri first)? A second? Two seconds at most? Even if they totally botched it, the McLaren was way faster than Red Bull, so seeing Max having trouble passing Hamilton should not have been in the equation. Any McLaren was going to zip by Hamilton especially when you consider it would have had newer tires than Hamilton. See my previous statement on McLaren strategy...
4) I was shocked, though thoroughly enjoyed, how GP b*tchslapped Verstappen. He essentially called him childish in front of the world. The only thing I can think of is how is Jos going to react...? (Well, that and whether Max will ever learn.)

[MichVandal]

Quite the race today at Spa. Mercedes kind of came out of nowhere to almost dominate the race (almost since Piastri was faster at the end, but could not do anything about it). Brilliant mid race call by George, and great driving to not let Lewis to get close enough to drive by him in the DRS zones.

[Spartanforlife4]

Incredible performance by Russell. Seemed a forgone conclusion Hamilton would pass him. That start by Hamilton was great as well, getting past and then blocking an attempt by Perez. Hindsight says maybe Hamilton could have stayed out longer on other tires, but with the way he struggled in dirty air at the end the math may not have worked trying to pass others in the field.

[MichVandal]

So much for all that hard work by George- he gets a DQ for underweight. https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...gOl1LgplIkGG5D

[Russell Jaslow]

So much for all that hard work by George- he gets a DQ for underweight. https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...gOl1LgplIkGG5D

Mercedes has a LOT or explaining to do.

But that doesn't take away from an extremely entertaining race and a brilliant drive by Russell. What makes the later even more impressive is Russell was the first to pit amongst the front runners. So, to change the strategy midstream, he had to do that on tires that were a 1,000 years old. Amazing.

[Spartanforlife4]

It sounds like when they took out some of the upgrades they may not have put on ballasts to make up for the weight.

[Russell Jaslow]

It sounds like when they took out some of the upgrades they may not have put on ballasts to make up for the weight.

That's one heck of a screwup then. And why wasn't Hamilton's car equally affected (did they have different upgrades, which is possible)?

[MichVandal]

Just saw an interesting theory that the one stop change might be a factor- since they could be lighter than expected at the end. Nobody figured that was possible, so they may have run less weight figuring that they wouldn’t have tires that worn.

Unless it’s all of the weight difference, maybe. If it was a contributor, then the car was just less underweight.

Sucks bad for Mercedes and George. Brave move that nobody had winning the race.

[MichVandal]

Sainz to Williams https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...6D7H2akmtW9uXe

Good sign for Williams, really bad sign for Audi, and just keeps questions flying for RBR.

[Spartanforlife4]

That's one heck of a screwup then. And why wasn't Hamilton's car equally affected (did they have different upgrades, which is possible)?

Are there two different mechanic teams that work on each car? Maybe they forgot on George’s?

Looking back I think Toto knew. At first I thought he was disappointed Hamilton couldn’t get another win after essentially leading the “net race” post to post, but if he realized they were screwed it makes sense at his subdued reaction.

[Spartanforlife4]

Also, Horner says they will be discussing Checo’s future today. I’d say there’s a good chance RB has a new #2 coming out of the break.