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Post by olderguysrule on May 10, 2021 3:54:52 GMT -8
^ People like to say that Vettel can't win a championship unless he has a dominant car like during the RB years. I'm becoming convinced that it's Red Bull who lack the depth to win unless they have a dominant car. ^^ I agree. So far this year, and in the race yesterday the merc and the bull at the front were pretty close to each other. The merc brain trust saved a set of new mediums for the race to give em a 2nd strategy. They used it and won the race. Actually I'm rather surprised. For most of the past 8 years merc didn't have to out think a rival to win a race. |
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Post by pushtopass on May 10, 2021 4:00:50 GMT -8
One thing that puzzled me about Max pulling in for his pit stop early. He was pulling up behind a Haas (Schumacher, I believe) just before the pit straight and would have had DRS down that straight making it even less likely the situation a lap later would be any worse. I was puzzled when he pulled off at that moment and even more so when it became clear that he had opted to pit earlier than his team had expected. Any thoughts?
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Post by thirddegree on May 10, 2021 6:17:44 GMT -8
That did not go well for Fernando. Dammit. The long game isn't Alpine's strong point, especially in fred's case. Should'a done a two stop. Agreed, what's crazy is that with certain circuits it's become more advantageous to qualify 11th, 12th or 13th than to qualify 9th or 10th, due to tyre choice. You nail the strategy and the boys in front of you on Saturday have no shot on Sunday. |
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Post by wilmywood8455 on May 10, 2021 7:15:14 GMT -8
One thing that puzzled me about Max pulling in for his pit stop early. He was pulling up behind a Haas (Schumacher, I believe) just before the pit straight and would have had DRS down that straight making it even less likely the situation a lap later would be any worse. I was puzzled when he pulled off at that moment and even more so when it became clear that he had opted to pit earlier than his team had expected. Any thoughts? All things considered, sounds like unforced error Max. |
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Post by Pistola on May 10, 2021 8:20:12 GMT -8
One thing that puzzled me about Max pulling in for his pit stop early. He was pulling up behind a Haas (Schumacher, I believe) just before the pit straight and would have had DRS down that straight making it even less likely the situation a lap later would be any worse. I was puzzled when he pulled off at that moment and even more so when it became clear that he had opted to pit earlier than his team had expected. Any thoughts? Pundits are saying the Red Bull eats it's tires a little quicker than the Mercs and apparently when the softs go off it's not gradual, it's off the cliff in terms of lap time. Max put himself in that situation when he and Lewis gapped the field so early. |
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Post by pushtopass on May 10, 2021 9:13:48 GMT -8
One thing that puzzled me about Max pulling in for his pit stop early. He was pulling up behind a Haas (Schumacher, I believe) just before the pit straight and would have had DRS down that straight making it even less likely the situation a lap later would be any worse. I was puzzled when he pulled off at that moment and even more so when it became clear that he had opted to pit earlier than his team had expected. Any thoughts? Pundits are saying the Red Bull eats it's tires a little quicker than the Mercs and apparently when the softs go off it's not gradual, it's off the cliff in terms of lap time. Max put himself in that situation when he and Lewis gapped the field so early. True but no way was Lewis going to get past Max that next lap given that Max had DRS down the pit straight. The gap one lap later would have been about the same (though I don't recall if he was in danger of being released behind traffic if he'd have lost a second on the next lap). Just seemed odd given that the car ahead was NOT going to impede him and would actually help him. |
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Post by pushtopass on May 10, 2021 9:17:24 GMT -8
And another thing; I cannot believe that Bottas admitted he did not see Leclerc coming up on the outside of turn 3. Seriously? I would expect better situational awareness. At one time I had high hopes for Bottas and he's not bad, but he has clearly topped out. He does not have a Rosberg-style effort in him.
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Post by wilmywood8455 on May 10, 2021 10:11:47 GMT -8
And another thing; I cannot believe that Bottas admitted he did not see Leclerc coming up on the outside of turn 3. Seriously? I would expect better situational awareness. At one time I had high hopes for Bottas and he's not bad, but he has clearly topped out. He does not have a Rosberg-style effort in him. Yes, not even close, IMO. |
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Post by Pistola on May 10, 2021 10:23:03 GMT -8
Pundits are saying the Red Bull eats it's tires a little quicker than the Mercs and apparently when the softs go off it's not gradual, it's off the cliff in terms of lap time. Max put himself in that situation when he and Lewis gapped the field so early. True but no way was Lewis going to get past Max that next lap given that Max had DRS down the pit straight. The gap one lap later would have been about the same (though I don't recall if he was in danger of being released behind traffic if he'd have lost a second on the next lap). Just seemed odd given that the car ahead was NOT going to impede him and would actually help him. If Max felt the tires were gone that's all there is to it. Even an 18 wheeler draft on the straight wouldn't have helped him on the rest of the lap. Red Bull was going to bring him in on the next lap anyway. Did he make a mistake, no. Red Bull made the mistake by judging it to be a one stop race when the winning strategy was 2 stops. When he stopped all he had to choose from was a set of new mediums and a set of worn softs. He knew he was done. If Max had had 2 new sets of mediums we're looking at a different race. |
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Post by mmi16 on May 10, 2021 11:47:25 GMT -8
And another thing; I cannot believe that Bottas admitted he did not see Leclerc coming up on the outside of turn 3. Seriously? I would expect better situational awareness. At one time I had high hopes for Bottas and he's not bad, but he has clearly topped out. He does not have a Rosberg-style effort in him. Bottas is a better #2 for MB than Perez has been for RB. Perez is light years better than Albon was last year. |
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Post by pushtopass on May 10, 2021 11:57:15 GMT -8
I was prepared to give Checo one more race but something that Danny Ric said this weekend made me re-think that. He was discussing how he has been struggling coming to grips with the car but that driving at Barcelona where they have done SOOO many laps due to testing allowed him to make rapid progress since he had internal benchmarks. But Checo did not make the same progress, though he should have. But I think the world of Max's sheer speed and doubt really anyone could keep up.
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jmjgt
Member
Posts: 3,311
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Post by jmjgt on May 10, 2021 12:59:12 GMT -8
And another thing; I cannot believe that Bottas admitted he did not see Leclerc coming up on the outside of turn 3. Seriously? I would expect better situational awareness. At one time I had high hopes for Bottas and he's not bad, but he has clearly topped out. He does not have a Rosberg-style effort in him. Bottas is a better #2 for MB than Perez has been for RB. Perez is light years better than Albon was last year. Checo's lack of qualifying pace is what's hurting him most because the top two no longer have a huge gap on the mid field. Ferrari, McLaren and yes even Alpine are now close enough cover the .4-5 sec gap Albon used to be behind Max on a good day. Perez has a .3 gap to play with at best. |
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Post by mikey on May 10, 2021 15:23:10 GMT -8
Bottas is a better #2 for MB than Perez has been for RB. Perez is light years better than Albon was last year. Checo's lack of qualifying pace is what's hurting him most because the top two no longer have a huge gap on the mid field. Ferrari, McLaren and yes even Alpine are now close enough cover the .4-5 sec gap Albon used to be behind Max on a good day. Perez has a .3 gap to play with at best. I hope this will be less and less of a problem as he becomes more and more comfortable with how the car works. Max is constantly making changes on the steering wheel when we see the onboards but I think Checo is a bit behind in anticipating those changes and getting the most out of the car. |
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Post by kingfisher on May 10, 2021 22:55:29 GMT -8
Bottas is a better #2 for MB than Perez has been for RB. Perez is light years better than Albon was last year. Checo's lack of qualifying pace is what's hurting him most because the top two no longer have a huge gap on the mid field. Ferrari, McLaren and yes even Alpine are now close enough cover the .4-5 sec gap Albon used to be behind Max on a good day. Perez has a .3 gap to play with at best. Hardly matters when no one can keep pace with Lewis and Max in the race. Perez will either learn the car and match their pace or never will. Has never had a teammate that could so seriously put himself in the shade consistently, and that may well affect his psychological state for the duration. As goes the rest, despite an increase in performance (Ferrari especially), they're all light years behind when the laps unfold. Just another 2-horse race year  And BTW, Lewis has no reason to pack it in. He's at the height of his abilities, no messy marriage commitment or anything else to interfere, and a bulletproof team and car to support his soaring efforts. Max & Red Bull are petitioning for season detention passes to Lewis & Merc's 'woodshed'. |
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Post by Pistola on May 11, 2021 8:23:28 GMT -8
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Post by pushtopass on May 11, 2021 9:00:02 GMT -8
Compared to his previous outings, he was awesome in Spain! I don't think he spun, ran into or impeded anyone all day! Sure he was nearly a lap behind his teammate but those voters like to look at the positive aspects! :-) |
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Korean cable TV is lousy. no more NASCAR nor NHRA
Jul 12, 2024 22:05:14 GMT -8
Korean cable TV is lousy. no more NASCAR nor NHRA
Jul 12, 2024 22:05:14 GMT -8