The F1 thread

sweepy

TimmyO said:

sweepy said:

stickyfiddle said:

Bottas trying too hard as George goes quickest with similar issues. He’ll be very happy with that and rightly so. 

Of course this will only add to the “It’s just the car!” cries...

Or, just how fragile Bottas is mentally ? 

compared to the top 0.000001% of mentally tough high performers on the planet you mean? Aye the mans's such a snowflake... 

I was trying to say that he is overdriving and behaving exactly the same way Alonso did when Hamilton started to make him look a bit silly 

skunkwerx

fretmeister said:

skunkwerx said:

Well if Gr can get in a Merc and go fastest then.. evidence the car you’re in outweighs driver skill or at the very least contributes moreso. 

Else why has Gr been bottom of the grid with Williams. 

No doubt Hamiltons a skilled driver, they all are.. but George Russel is pretty green compared to the top dogs no? For that much difference in FP1?! 

It's practice. It's not even qualifying, let alone a race.

Of course the car is important. But if the drivers were closer in skill then Bottas would have had half the Merc wins over the last couple of years. And he hasn't. Even when he's been on pole.

Yeah guess so. Race distance is a lot different.

stickyfiddle

And George top in P2 too... 

not_the_dj

George top of FP2 as well ;-)

stickyfiddle

It’S jUsT THe cARrrRrr!!!!

stickyfiddle

“Not a great session” says George... 

fretmeister

TBF is Bottas kept it within the track limits he would have been quickest.

But not by a lot!

thumpingrug

George did very well.  I suspect Bottas was on a much heavier fuel load in preparation for the race.  Qualy will show the real pace.

boogieman

Russell has said he’ll struggle in the race, with the heavier fuel load and all the other cars round him. Bottas for the win, unless Max pushes him into errors.  

Russell really is a talent though, churning out times like that with a bodged up seat in a car built to fit someone 5” smaller and wearing a size too small boots. Go George! 

chillidoggy

Whatever else, it's an impressive performance by George.

Has Hamilton got a contract for next year?............................

stickyfiddle

Great stuff in the F2 feature race. Mazepin pushing a little too aggressively for my liking but some great racing overall. 

Just goes to show it’s not about lap times - what’s important is cars being able to race hard following closely and swapping places corner after corner. 

Roll on 2022

stickyfiddle

Good quali. George should be very happy with that. And an epic lap from Leclerc - he’ll probably go backwards tomorrow but shows he’s definitely still got it

not_the_dj

Drag race to turn 1. Bring it on. 

skullfunkerry

not_the_dj said:

Drag race to turn 1. Bring it on. 

Bottas has made some terrible starts this year... George could be in the lead by turn 1

skunkwerx

skullfunkerry said:

not_the_dj said:

Drag race to turn 1. Bring it on. 

Bottas has made some terrible starts this year... George could be in the lead by turn 1

I reckon Max might pip both of them! 

I’m thinking Bottas wont get away well, like you say he’s made some bad starts, and will be under stress to beat George, and George will be nervy because he wants to get away ahead of Bottas.. 

Though I do wonder how racy Merc will let them be.. 

Cols

Loved the way Leclerc hopped out of the car after his qualifying lap and went to sit on the pit wall, as if to say “It’s not going to get any better than that”.

thumpingrug

Cols said:

Loved the way Leclerc hopped out of the car after his qualifying lap and went to sit on the pit wall, as if to say “It’s not going to get any better than that”.

Whilst that looked somewhat cool, it was more to do with how many tyres he had already used up.

chillidoggy

A superb performance by Russell!

Max's starts haven't always been stellar this year, and GR is on the dirty side of the track. I reckon it's gonna be interesting down into the first corner.

And Leclerc's lap was astonishing. I thought DC's comment of "Remove the corners and Vetttel's fine" was hilarious!

stickyfiddle

Very dusty and windy in Bahrain today, so that'll make things harder. 

F2 race just starting - should be a good one with Ilot needing to win and needing Schumacher to barely score

fretmeister

Norris starting last.
PU change.