J-Roderton
Member
Good to see Leclerc up there.
Didn't Bottas say he's finally going to beat Lewis this year?If this qualy session is anything to go by, it looks like McLaren, Ferrari and Alpha Tauri have all made significant gains this year, they've closed the gap to Red Bull and Mercedes.
Tempted to make bets that Gasly is going to beat Butt-ass in the standings by the end of the year.
Several spins in practices, two spins in both qualifying attempts, and spin in third turn of the first lap. Great start of the season, Nikita!
Max was faster, but he was alone. Perez though was very good. Its bad luck that his car didn't start. Otherwise he did a terrific job. He could've done something about the undercut stategy if he had no issues at the start.
As for Lewis, he constantly cheated at the corner and got away with. Max essentially did the same once when he overtook but he would've gotten 5 seconds for sure. This is odd.
On the flip side, Red Bull showed better pace than Mercedes. They're closing in. Hamilton had to fight,and would've lost the race if Max didn't go outside.
I mean I understand what RBR are trying to do. They want 2 drivers capable of fighting for top positions (even if Max will always be the one on top). Both Gasly and Albon were struggling to overtake people, likely due to the fact that the car didn't suit them. It's not a coincidence that Gasly started driving brilliantly back at Toro Rosso / Alpha Tauri and that RBR don't want to give him a second chance. Picking Checo is a different tactic. We'll see after a few races if it was a good one. Making his way from the back to P5 was definitely a good achievement and he deserved the driver of the race award.Oooooh glad to be here folks.
Was a good first race. Wanted Max to stick the overtake on Hamilton. Red Bull really ballsed up not reacting to the undercut. This will be a good kick up the arse for them.
Have to say while I was disappointed RB didnt give Albon longer, Perez had another blinder. Up to P5 from pit lane is no fucking joke.
I'm a McLaren fan - but I have to say I was a little disappointed with Danny Ric's race. Lando put some manners on him.
Gutted for Gasly.
Lots of really good threads started after yesterday. Why do we need to wait three weeks for Imola?
Stroll is a saint compared to Mazepin. Probably Mazepin has some talent, but he's too impatient for F1, he's more suited for touring cars championship. But we'll see, I'd wait 3-4 races until writing him off completely.Mazespin - I can't even. Anytime someone gives Stroll shit for having daddy money, he just needs to point to Mazepin. Least Stroll did well in jnr formulas and he has been reasonable on track if unremarkable, but Mazespin, I've never seen someone exact a race so fast by their own volition.
Yeah, rookie mistake, but he's a 4 times world champion! And immediately after crash he's starting to whine about Ocon changing trajectory under braking. No, Seb, sorry, but you should've learned from your former teammate Leclerc how to say honest "I'm stupid" after fucking shit up like this.Vettel - I like the guy but mate....just awful. It's kind of getting sad now.
I mean I understand what RBR are trying to do. They want 2 drivers capable of fighting for top positions (even if Max will always be the one on top). Both Gasly and Albon were struggling to overtake people, likely due to the fact that the car didn't suit them. It's not a coincidence that Gasly started driving brilliantly back at Toro Rosso / Alpha Tauri and that RBR don't want to give him a second chance. Picking Checo is a different tactic. We'll see after a few races if it was a good one. Making his way from the back to P5 was definitely a good achievement and he deserved the driver of the race award.
This feels like a long 3 weeks between the races.
I haven't seen Drive to Survive yet but this still had a chuckle out of me:
And now we'll have a boring ass Imola parade. I hope I'm wrong, but I hate this track, it's narrow and boring. And I will always remember Senna fatal crash here. I've stopped watching F1 for couple of years after it.A long wait after a great first race. Normally we lead of with a boring ass Australia parade. We would have already had the Chinese GP, but it got postponed for some reason.
Should be an exciting qualifying and race as grid position is key here, but they've increased the length of the DRS on the main straight, so lets how we go
I don't know your definition of exciting race, but if grid position is key here because the track is shit and does not have places to overtake, it's the opposite of "exciting" for me. Max suggested to add second DRS zone, because drivers lose many time behind leading car in the last two corners, and DRS does not compensate it much. I hope they will do something next year because this track returns in the calendar for several years at least. For information, we had just six overtakes here last year.
Again, I hope this year will be different and we'll have plenty of overtakes and exciting strategic battles in Sunday, but reality will be cruel and the race will be boring as hell. Also, looks like both Mercedes have found the pace, and that does not add to my excitement.
Yeah, here I agree with you, close midfield provides interesting qualy.My excitement is from the fact the midfield seems to be closer than last year so qualy sets the precedent of getting a perfect lap in, plus F1 is back so win win. I'm not a fan of DRS as its assisted overtake, but given the width of the cars it isn't exactly easy to overtake.