Topic: Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM..... - page 414. (Read 144111 times)

Maybe he was too excited that he fell. I think he can come back after his first podium in Germany. But maybe this will be difficult. But let's see later, whether he is able to penetrate the top 10 even though he started at the back.

Old age rossi's form doesn't seem to be able to match his wishes, the homely Assen looks unlikely to be friendly to him this time around. I wonder with the Vinales today he was in front, was he able to get on the podium today? if it is, then it's a surprise.

Marquez crash again, he only good in Germany.

But,  I hear he was fine, he will be starting in the race in the last position.

Today, we can see the duel Yamaha monster in Grids 1 and 2 on Circuit Assen. Maverick has creates a new record in Assen on last minutes 1' 31,814". But can he beat Quartararo?

I am not entirely sure if Bottas will be fired at the middle of the season and this doesn't change that result. Mercedes could have Bottas be out of top ten in all the remainder of the games and if it means that they could just put all the blame on bottas every single time and just have a scapegoat until next year when there will be a decent amount of changes in the cars once again, then it means we are talking about something that is going to benefit them.

If they end up putting George in right now at the middle of the season that would mean they are going to upset George for half a season for no good reason at all, not like dude is making any points right now neither. Let him get ready one more season, let Bottas be scapegoat and get yelled at and upset all season, and then when the season ends we know 100% bottas is out of mercedes anyway.

I think this race is already over from now because Max will dominate it from start to finish and I'm also counting on Perez to get on 2nd or 3rd place in order to increase the championship points for the team.

Mercedes are under big pressure now and I'm sure that at some point they will even the car with Rebull's but it might be too late to catch them regarding points and to be honest, Max really deserves a championship after all this years.

Qualify time.

Mercedes is complaining about the latest Honda increasing power in their engine while the progress should be frozen

1   Max Verstappen   NED   Red Bull Racing   1m04.489s   1m04.433s   1m03.841s
2   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m04.537s   1m04.443s   1m04.035s
3   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m04.672s   1m04.512s   1m04.067s
4   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m04.584s   1m04.298s   1m04.120s
5   Sergio Perez   MEX   Red Bull Racing   1m04.638s   1m04.197s   1m04.168s
6   Pierre Gasly   FRA   Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda   1m04.765s   1m04.429s   1m04.236s
7   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow   1m04.745s   1m04.646s   1m04.472s
8   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda   1m04.608s   1m04.631s   1m04.514s
9   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Alpine F1 Team   1m04.971s   1m04.582s   1m04.574s
10   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team   1m04.821s   1m04.663s   1m04.708s
11   George Russell   GBR   Williams Racing   1m05.033s   1m04.671s   
12   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow   1m04.859s   1m04.800s   
13   Daniel Ricciardo   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m05.142s   1m04.808s   
14   Sebastian Vettel   GER   Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team   1m05.051s   1m04.875s   
15   Antonio Giovinazzi   ITA   Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen   1m05.092s   1m04.913s   
16   Nicholas Latifi   CAN   Williams Racing   1m05.175s       
17   Esteban Ocon   FRA   Alpine F1 Team   1m05.217s       
18   Kimi Raikkonen   FIN   Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen   1m05.429s       
19   Mick Schumacher   GER   Uralkali Haas F1 Team   1m06.041s       
20   Nikita Mazepin   RUS   Uralkali Haas F1 Team   1m06.192s       

Source: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/981919/1/f1-2021-styrian-grand-prix-full-qualifying-results

so its going to be back  to back poles for Verstappen he will be joined by his rival Hamilton in first row after Bottas finishing 2nd in Q3 but the three-place grid penalty he got from yesterday spin in Pitlane.
So Verstappen  will be looking to emulate what he did in the french GP getting pole Position and winning it. it will be feasible since his car was the quickest in the track.
Its true that one of the ferraris were out of top 10 as Leclerc finished 7th while Sainz was 12th but Vettel only managed to get to Q2 only finishing at 14th.
His time in Q1 was not that impressive.

Taking some Vettel points finish at 1.90 before quali.  I feel like one of the Ferraris, maybe even both, drop and he fills the slot at top 10 of the grid...

Edit:  Rain coming.  This could get interesting.

Edit:  I don’t feel too good about my bet now.  Lol.

He really needs to be third. Given how close it is at the front between Verstappen and Hamilton, both teams absolutely need their second drivers to step up and qualify and then race close to the front, to give them a tactical advantage over their opponents. The Bottas penalty here gives Red Bull a great chance to put pressure on Mercedes... Even if Hamilton qualifies in pole, and leads from pole in the race, if he has two Red Bulls right behind him going into the first round of pit-stops, but no support driver of his own, then Red Bull would have the advantage.

Bottas did only what the team said , nothing more,  nothing less ...but it's still a shady spot on him because they point him to do that dangerous driving style but in the end it was all for improving timings.

What do you think about Perez today ? Does he has a change for 3rd spot in qualifiers ?

I have criticised bottas in the past because he is too far away from Hamilton too often, but what happened in the last race in France and how it was reported was too much and too harsh in my opinion. It must be very frustrating for Bottas if the team tactics and also the tactics for his own race are only about Hamilton finishing ahead of Verstappen and he is practically only supposed to serve as a buffer. Apparently, both Bottas and Hamilton had already expressed concerns the morning before the race about whether a one-stop strategy was the right one. The difference is, that Hamiltons race engineer apologized to him after the race, while Bottas race engineer seemed pretty angry at bottas. So definitely double standards there.

We have a fresh new, The Russian Gp will change location in 2 years.

Source: https://twitter.com/F1/status/1408707397766504448

It is really not about the driver at that point. I get it, if you are in Red Bull or Mercedes, then its about the driver, that wasn't even a thing for a while but this season its closer. However when you are driving a williams? You can bring Max and Hamilton together and they would barely make it to top 10 in races, probably not in many of them. So Bottas with another driver like let's say Mick would not be easy deal for them (mick was just an example).

I would say that it is really not that easy to bring these type of names there, Bottas will probably go towards a top 5 team, I would say ferrari is out of question but let's see what McLaren is planning, he could be great seeing how Lando could use some help, he is bringing that team to top places all by himself right now, a good help like Bottas would make them clear top three above everyone else.

I haven't followed the P2.
Do we know if it was a driver mistake or not?

Did they warp up his tire or nothing at all? With cold tire is like driving on ice.

Well it was a team decision as far as I read on the news because Mercedes was looking for a way faster pit lane exit in a superior gear but this cost them a lot so don't blame Bottas as he just followed team orders. With RedBull dominating again and with Mercedes looking for mini tricks like this Pit exit, I think we can assume they are kinda in red alert situation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_uQAWZ82z4
Bottas spinning in pit lane. I think now I saw everything...
Actually, I feel sorry for him. He looks so desperate that now he is doing such ridiculous mistakes. Now only question remaining, whether he will stay in Mercedes until end of season or he will by replaced by Russel soon?

^  Hamilton is putting his team in a tough spot if he wants Bottas.  Merc seems to not want Bottas, Bottas also seem to not want to be at Merc anymore.  Either way it’s a win win for Williams if Russell stays or if  Bottas leaves. 

And it’s nice to see both Aston Martin cars in the top 10 at FP2.  Let’s see if they can carry the pace at FP3 then quali...

The latest I heard is that Hamilton is currently in negotiations for a new contract, and that he prefers Bottas as a partner. But we will see I suppose, as Mercedes haven't yet made a decision on the second driver. They really need two individuals who work well together as a team, if they're going to seriously challenge Red Bull this season.

Today a heavy crash of Marc Marquez, seems at first glance not to be injured, but is difficult to assess with his current not 100% fitness.

https://youtu.be/4AXb3-Pt6Yk

Hard to assess if he got hurt again.

Bottas already got a 3 penalty for mistake did in the box.




Source: https://twitter.com/Gianludale27/status/1408458793030201364


Not a great way to start the weekend, Russell it's coming for ya.

Mercedes has studied its mistakes and they are going to hit hard in Austria after three consecutive defeats against Red Bull in the Formula One World Championship.

The Red Bull Ring is home to the Honda-powered Red Bull team, but Mercedes won two races there last year, with seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas victorious.
Rumors surfacing that Bottas days with the team seem numbered, especially since George Russell had performed well in a Mercedes car when he was loaned from Williams, while Hamilton was absent last year due to an infection with the Corona virus.

And it came to speculation that Bottas could be replaced by the team before the end of the current season. Mercedes could be crazy enough to do that if they fail again in Austria.