Topic: Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM..... - page 347. (Read 144208 times)

The second hour is done, with Redbull Hiding themself.

They were very fast on race paste.

2021 F1 Russian Grand Prix - FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (2)
Pos   Driver   Nat.   Team   Time
1   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m33.593s
2   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m33.637s
3   Pierre Gasly   FRA   Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda   1m33.845s
4   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m34.154s
5   Esteban Ocon   FRA   Alpine F1 Team   1m34.402s
6   Max Verstappen   NED   Red Bull Racing   1m34.621s
7   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow   1m34.678s
8   Fernando Alonso   CHI   Alpine F1 Team   1m34.762s
9   Sebastian Vettel   GER   Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team   1m34.837s
10   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow   1m34.925s
11   Sergio Perez   MEX   Red Bull Racing   1m34.938s
12   Kimi Raikkonen   FIN   Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen   1m35.052s
13   George Russell   ISR   Williams Racing   1m35.094s
14   Antonio Giovinazzi   GBR   Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen   1m35.178s
15   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team   1m35.334s
16   Nicholas Latifi   CAN   Williams Racing   1m35.411s
17   Daniel Ricciardo   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m35.630s
18   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda   1m35.934s
19   Nikita Mazepin   RUS   Uralkali Haas F1 Team   1m36.099s
20   Mick Schumacher   GER   Uralkali Haas F1 Team   1m36.230s

Source: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/988198/1/f1-2021-russian-grand-prix-free-practice-results-2

Interesting question. I'm not going to google it, but this has to be someone who normally starts quite far back on the grid, but has acquired quite a lot of championship points. I'm going to go with Norris or maybe even Alonso, with Perez as a long shot because he always seems to start way back considering he's in a Red Bull. Actually, Ricciardo might be a possibility, too. But now I have mentioned almost half the grid!

I'd not consider Vettel, because I don't think he can overtake, similar to Bottas.


Okay, final decision: Norris.

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Edit... I've just googled it and found the answer

Did you see how fast Hamilton was in the Mercedes in Saudi Arabia?  It was really fast.  Lol.  And here’s the thing, yeah the betting market shows Hamilton isn’t such a huge favorite.  That’s because there’s a lot more variables to consider since there are 20 cars in the grid.  But make it a head to head race with just Hamilton and Redbull how would you line that race?  I’d say Hamilton would be at most 1.25.

Some people claim that Verstappen would try to cause Hamilton to crash also. But I'm not waiting for such thing to happen and it shouldn't happen absolutely. Then even if Verstappen wins the title, this season will be remembered as a huge disappointment for F1 fans. And Verstappen would be against really serious hate by people. So it is better for him to have a clean race as much as possible.

This could be the last order from Mercedes to Bottas: Shoot Max out in the first corner....
I hope that we didn't see something like that too but nothing is impossible.

I also think that Hamilton is the big favorite now, because the Mercedes is just a few tenth of a second faster at the moment than the Red Bull it seems. Since they have changed the engine of Hamilton's car back in Mexico Verstappen has no chance to keep up with him, especially during the race. In the qualifying it is a little bit closer but even there Verstappen has to produce absolute perfect laps to have a chance against mercedes. You just need to lock at the other drivers of Mercedes and Red Bull. Bottas has not much struggle to keep up with Hamilton, which clearly shows that Hamilton has not even to risk a lot to produce fast times, while Perez is like half a second behind Verstappen in the Qualifyings.

I hope that we don't see any collision between Verstappen and Hamilton in this race. It would be a big disappointment for all of us and the drivers too. I'm also aware that there may not be a very fair fight between them. They are both aggressive drivers when they want to. Actually, Verstappen is like that literally all the time.    We should be ready for very exciting incidents. But none of them should end up with a DNF for any of them.

If ever a collision happens I highly doubt it would be either from Verstappen or Hamilton.  And I mean this at the start of the race.  What could happen tho is something like how Bottas took out Red Bull and was it Norris?  I forgot but yeah...  Something like that.

And some action is moving the line on Verstappen to win at qualification.  It’s currently at 2.25 right now, down from 2.50 just two days ago.

Anyway some trivia...  Which driver has the most over takes this season? 

@coinlocket$  Firstly, thank you for sharing the results of FP1. Just as I expected, Verstappen had a solid start to the event by ending at the first position. And there is a significant gap with Hamilton as it seems. But we know Hamilton. He starts like this but after that he just starts performing really huge. We will most probably see this scenario as of the qualifying session.

1st Hour gone and it is the same story, Mercedes Redbull on the top.

1   Max Verstappen   NED   Red Bull Racing   1m25.009s
2   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m25.205s
3   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m25.355s
4   Sergio Perez   MEX   Red Bull Racing   1m25.363s
5   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda   1m25.378s
6   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Alpine F1 Team   1m25.625s
7   Pierre Gasly   FRA   Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda   1m25.822s
8   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow   1m25.846s
9   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow   1m25.886s
10   Sebastian Vettel   GER   Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team   1m26.007s
11   Esteban Ocon   FRA   Alpine F1 Team   1m26.025s
12   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m26.123s
13   Kimi Raikkonen   FIN   Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen   1m26.189s
14   Antonio Giovinazzi   ITA   Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen   1m26.409s
15   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team   1m26.608s
16   Daniel Ricciardo   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m26.678s
17   Jack Aitken   GBR   Williams Racing   1m27.481s
18   Nicholas Latifi   CAN   Williams Racing   1m27.487s
19   Mick Schumacher   GER   Uralkali Haas F1 Team   1m27.698s
20   Nikita Mazepin   RUS   Uralkali Haas F1 Team   1m28.305s

Source: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/994426/1/f1-2021-abu-dhabi-grand-prix-free-practice-results-1

FP1 is nearly starting and I'm too excited already! We are going to have some ideas after these practice sessions about which of Verstappen and Hamilton would be closer to a victory. But even the qualifying session might be misleading for us. Because this race is going to be determining the champion. Each driver would like to save their real power for the big race.

I would really like to see the first practice session from the last race weekend in Abu Dhabi but unfortunately I have to work this friday at the office...
So please guys keep me informed about the session

I hope that Max Verstappen don't go for cheap tricks like crashing into Lewis Hamilton. Then, what is the meaning of this whole season. Developing a tactic doesn't mean this. You should just earn the title by racing smart. I don't expect him to race timidly of course and I'd never want such thing from him. But it would be much better if we see both of these drivers making it to the end of the race.

Yep. I've posted several times on here about the possibility, too. But the authorities are well aware of the situation, particularly after they had to penalise Max on two separate occasions in the last race. Masi has issued a warning that they are prepared to deduct points as a punishment for a deliberate crash... so for him to actually state this explicitly, then it's definitely something that the officials believe is a very real possibility.

The question is, even with the warnings, if Max sees Lewis going past him, will his emotions take charge anyway?

I believe there’s a vibe among F1 followers which says Max will try and crash into Hamilton to win the title, and I too have a bad feeling about this. Furthermore I hope Red Bull don’t mess their car next year, because Max is an excellent driver and with the right car he’ll win races with ease, but then again if Mercedes further improve their car then Hamilton will have the advantage.

Yes, the change of technical regulations should have a very strong impact on the fight and the placement of teams next season. It should be no secret to anyone that by the middle of the season, all teams had practically stopped working to improve the technical characteristics of their cars with the transfer of all resources and efforts and resources to the development of cars for the next year. Only Red Bull and Mercedes continued to improve their cars until the very end this year, and if in the middle of the season it seemed that Red Bull did it much better, then by the end of the season we can safely say that Mercedes not only caught up with Red Bull, but also came out ahead.

I'm excited and unhappy at the same time now. I'm excited because the final race on Abu Dhabi track is going to determine who is going to be the champion of the 2021 F1 season. And I'm unhappy because the season is coming to an end now and we aren't going to be seeing the brand new season for months. Anyway, we are going to watch a big rivalry between the top drivers who are both deserving to win the championship. I can't pick one for now but I would be happy for both of them. Because it is a special race for each of them. It would be Verstappen's 1st title and Hamilton's 8th title which would be a new record.

I know that everyone is focused on Veestappen and Hamilton battle, but I want to mention Kimi Raikkonen. Upcoming race will be last in his long and memorable career. His debut was so long time ago back in 2001. One of last old school drivers in F1. Here is his best career moments:
https://youtu.be/2GJ9udIoGh8
I never been fan of Raikkonen, but you simply can't hate him. Amazing win in 2007 championship. Man of few words. Remember these epic team radios like "Leave me alone" or "where is my gloves and steering wheel:
 https://youtu.be/UJQzEAlZ57k
And I think this season isn't bad for him. After all, he is 3rd in standings with most overtakes with not that much competetive Alfa Romeo.

I believe that there is a good case to be made for Hamilton to win this race and the championship as we all know. We have seen how dominant he could be when he faces no problems or very little problems but we have seen him do AMAZING things when there is a problem. This is why we joke about how he cries about his tires being "gone" and then setting a fastest lap, if you put him at the first place then he will finish first, if you put him at 20th he may still finish first, but if you put him at 7th, things change a little bit more in that case, obviously depending on the situation of the car but that plays mindtricks on him for some reason.

I am hoping that we see Hamilton and Max at pole this afternoon, doesn't matter which one is first and which one is second, I just want to see them side by side and starting at pole so that we could see craziness during the full race and do not put anyone between them.

I have a big respect for both drivers. They both deserve this point now and I won't be surprised when any of them reach title. However, I want Verstappen to win this title very much. Because it will be his first title ever in this competition. In the last years, Red Bull hasn't ever been this close to Mercedes in terms of engine power especially. Verstappen has one of his biggest chances in his career now. But if Hamilton reaches the title, I'll applaud him too of course.