***The Official 2021 Formula 1 season thread***

[janfar]

http://www.vipbox.nu/motorsports/95559/ ... nline.html

[janfar]

Looks like a damp start... Weather showing no rain yet but it's still early. Still a question of who's going to use wets or slicks

[kamakazi]

Inters baby...

[janfar]

Round and round they go

[kamakazi]

I feel this year will be a bit boring... The weather in the Chinese GP is what made it exciting

[worksux101]

^agreed bar maybe a few exciting maneuvres...twas nice to see vettel push it today and not settle...

Seems merc have the best setup over short stints and laps, but ferrari have the better race pace and tyres well figured out...should be an interesting season

[kamakazi]

Not so sure about the tyres figured out... Their calculations said that Kimi would be challenging for third place and all thought that the tyres would last to the end

[worksux101]

They tried to push with kimi...still a learning curve but theyre definitely ahead of the others on race setup...if not for the vsc pitstop, vettel wouldve prolly won again.
I fear theyre relegting kimi to a backup too quickly though..shades of massa and ruben, but kimi isnt the type to stay quiet (clearly lol)

[janfar]

There will be alot of good maneuvers this year I think. Just look at Vettel overtakes on Verstappen and Kimi, or Perez on Alonso.

Bahrain with the certainty of dry conditions may end up to be boring unless Vettel can out pace Ham in the Qualifications.

Red bull seems to be catching up as well, at least to challenge Kimi and Bottas in the #3 and 4 runners in the race.

[kamakazi]

Vettel didn't really fight to overtake verstappen though... Cause at that point verstappen was out of Tyre and out braked himself.

The move on Kimi however... Lot more risk involved.

You calling all the wrong overtakes from the race man...Perez on Alonso... really... McLaren are struggling at the moment.

The overtake that was worth watching over is when Perez got past the Williams and the Toro Rosso earlier in the race around turns 1-3

[NR8]

You all think Kimi still has the fight in him? Or wants to? Kinda feels like he's just collecting paycheques at this point.

[worksux101]

I think he's just upset at having to play second fiddle to vettel...or anyone for that matter...in his mind his teammate should never be faster than him...ferrari have publicly criticised him so let's see what happens

[worksux101]

Vettel didn't really fight to overtake verstappen though... Cause at that point verstappen was out of Tyre and out braked himself.

The move on Kimi however... Lot more risk involved.

You calling all the wrong overtakes from the race man...Perez on Alonso... really... McLaren are struggling at the moment.

The overtake that was worth watching over is when Perez got past the Williams and the Toro Rosso earlier in the race around turns 1-3

I'm sure he meant vettel on ricciardo.

Point about Verstappen's tyres though - RBR are tearing through them insanely quickly...theyre close to the pace bar that

[janfar]

Bottas on pole in Bahrain... Nice lap but he only got it due to Hams bad second sector.

Mercs had Ferrari's number this time.

[NR8]

Exciting race IMO. Interested to hear y'all thoughts on Hamilton's pitlane situation.

[janfar]

He screwed himself basically. He is supposed to pull up behind Bottas as in done in any pit stacking situation.

Enjoyed that race. Would have been epic had Ham didn't have to stand for 5 second on his stop.

Great scrapping between Alonso, Kvyat and Palmer. Pity what happened Alonso in the end. He was very angry during his radio messages with the pit wall.

Vettel and Ferrari deserved that win.

[NR8]

From what I've seen so far, I think strategy is going to be key between Ferrari and Mercedes this season.

[worksux101]

Mercs had Ferrari's number this time.

thought so as well until i heard vettel's radio comment after his last q3 lap when he said he was happy enough with his previous...reiterated what i said earlier about ferrari having the race pace and vettel being well aware of that...they're happy enough to let merc run away in quali.

Even without the penalty, i dont think hami wouldve caught vettel...the ferrari was cruising and couldve prolly upped the pace if threatened. The bigger question is how bottas must be feeling cause hami was meant to give back the spot if he couldnt catch the ferrari...took him all of 3 races in a new car to outqualify him so that's something to look forward to.

Also, at what point do you think ferrari is gona be knocking on alonso's door? Kimi is falling short and if it affects the constructors' title i'd expect them to look elsewhere.

[janfar]

I think Bottas playing humble puppy as he's new to the team. He plays the role of second driver very well and Ham knows it.

[16 cycles]

Kimi doing OK for last few races...Sensing frustration that his team seems slow to react when other teams take an aggressive strategy..

[teems1]

I think Bottas playing humble puppy as he's new to the team. He plays the role of second driver very well and Ham knows it.

He fell way too far behind Sebastian in the first stint making the win much harder for the Mercs.

Lewis with the 5s penalty didn't help his cause either, but I doubt Rosberg would have allowed Sebastian to pull away so easily.

[janfar]

Remember Bottas was suffering from oversteer around the 40th lap. If he didn't maintain he may not even be on the podium.

[janfar]

Oooohhhh... Ferrari takes 1-2 at Sochi. They're on top of the game now. Hami in 4th behind Bottas. Gonna be an interesting race tomorrow.

[worksux101]

Definitely..happy for kimi especially

[handsomeRob2837]

https://youtu.be/zPYyGTf-UXU
Dunno what to say about McLaren/Honda...

[kamakazi]

Good start for Mercedes.... Bottas in the lead... Only 17 cars left in the race

[kamakazi]

Congrats to bottas for his first win in F1.... And also in his 4th race with Mercedes.

[kamakazi]

Monaco.... Kimi on pole
And Alonso doing the Indy 500

[janfar]

Should be a good race today. Vettel is going to be all over Kimi. And don't rule out Bottas and the RB's either to take it on strategy.

[kamakazi]

Have never been so entertained by oval racing as I was today... Good job by Alonso... Unfortunately his Honda engine gave up with about 25 laps to go.
Honda let the side down again .
His was the third Honda engine to call it a day before race finish