The F1 thread

goldtop

That incident: https://streamable.com/zo111f

Hmmm... no investigation by the stewards = no post-race appeal by Mercedes, IIRC. So it's too late for any punishment anyway. Curiously (of course, of course), the stewards decided not to wait and view MV's forward-facing camera.

However, LH (who hasn't yet seen the video) is being magnanimous about it: https://www.racefans.net/2021/11/14/verstappen-fight-was-what-a-championship-battle-should-look-like-hamilton/

"In the heat of the moment – I don’t really know. I think I was ahead initially and then I think he held his ground and then we both ran out of road. Well, I think he was running out of road, so then I obviously had to avoid to go out of road. But I don’t think too too much of it, and I’d obviously have to watch the replay. But I mean, it’s hard battling. I wouldn’t expect anything less, really. We didn’t touch wheels, which is good."

Fretwired

Emiel said:

Hamilton was close to half a second faster than Verstappen in the end. Bottas should have gotten second place.

It is not that simple - Mercedes builds a car that suits Hamilton and Red Bull builds a car that suits Verstappen. Most of the technical effort will go into supporting the lead drivers. Bottas and Perez will play second fiddle. Hamilton and Verstappen are in a class of their own - neither Bottas nor Perez are in the same league as Hamilton or Verstappen.

Simonh

Max continues to drive like max and get away with it. Great drive from Lewis in both races to get his best result from the weekend.

stickyfiddle

Interesting suggestions on Ham’s new engine from twitter. Essentially because they know it only has to do 2,500km (instead of the usual 7,000) they’re razzing the shit out of it with the management and turbo pressure. 

Of course the cost was a 5-place penalty for yesterday’s race that Lewis still won easily. If true then RB don’t stand a chance

https://mobile.twitter.com/fiagirly/status/1459880620184772620

Emiel

stickyfiddle said:

Interesting suggestions on Ham’s new engine from twitter. Essentially because they know it only has to do 2,500km (instead of the usual 7,000) they’re razzing the shit out of it with the management and turbo pressure. 

Of course the cost was a 5-place penalty for yesterday’s race that Lewis still won easily. If true then RB don’t stand a chance

https://mobile.twitter.com/fiagirly/status/1459880620184772620

If I'm not mistaken, Hamilton was truly gaining half a second on the straights, even without DRS, so there might be some truth in that. 

Let's hope the fight will go down the wire. The next two races will be on circuits they have never raced before, which will only make it more interesting!

chillidoggy

A great race win by Hamster but I sat there watching and wondering why was he SO much faster?

Championship not over by a long chalk, just what we need!

TimmyO

I still don’t think he will, but I do want Hamilton to win.

But I don’t want the weeks of arsey articles re Horner’s complaining that it would result in. 

skullfunkerry

I don’t want it all sorted in the courtroom after either, if Red Bull go ahead and protest the legality of the Merc like lots of people are speculating at the moment.

Cracking drive from Lewis yesterday, he deserves the title based on this weekend alone I reckon! Max clearly doesn’t care about the rules; that comment of “tell them hi” when he was warned about the black and white flag shows what he thinks.

menamestom

Great race, really good weekend.  I'm on and off with F1 but there has been some great races this season.  Not to tempt irony but hopefully next seasons changes to make it more exciting don't reverse the current trend.  

Anyway on to the next G.P.

I wonder if Red Bull will be forced into an engine change themselves, they said before the Brazil race it wasn't an option they were considering but following what Hamilton achieved yesterday and his surge in pace, surely they are in a difficult position now? MV's engine was changed in Russia so it's 5 GP old, can it be competitive for its 6th 7th and 8th ?  I know there are many other factors but the final circuits don't favour either car heavily (so I read, although perhaps Saudi Arabia favours the lower drag Mercedes), so could this engine change by Mercedes be the difference?

Should they take the hit and use the 14 point buffer to have a 2 GP showdown, or protect the points and give the engine the chance to complete 8 GP's?  I guess this depends on data they will be looking at now, but it must be concerning looking in the rear view mirror at a driver that's just completed the race of his life in a car with a new engine.  

chillidoggy

I love all the drama and slanging matches, and it's all part of the show, as far as I'm concerned. Sometimes the off-track action is better than the on-track snooze-fest.

"Real Housewives of Formula 1"

Boromedic

Horner knows his legality appeal will likely fail, that's why he hasn't submitted it. Blokes a penis and a stain on the sport, I never liked him back in Red Bulls heyday and I like him less now. Can't face being beaten and is trying to find any trick he can to win, it's disingenuous and also unsportsmanlike. 

Max fits right in with his attitude to, they are a match made in heaven. I hope his Honda engine explodes at the next race and Lewis takes the title as a result. Currently Red Bull and Max are doing their level best to look like they don't deserve the title even though the car and some of Max's drives warrant it. 

Teetonetal

menamestom said:

Great race, really good weekend.  I'm on and off with F1 but there has been some great races this season.  Not to tempt irony but hopefully next seasons changes to make it more exciting don't reverse the current trend.  

Anyway on to the next G.P.

I wonder if Red Bull will be forced into an engine change themselves, they said before the Brazil race it wasn't an option they were considering but following what Hamilton achieved yesterday and his surge in pace, surely they are in a difficult position now? MV's engine was changed in Russia so it's 5 GP old, can it be competitive for its 6th 7th and 8th ?  I know there are many other factors but the final circuits don't favour either car heavily (so I read, although perhaps Saudi Arabia favours the lower drag Mercedes), so could this engine change by Mercedes be the difference?

Should they take the hit and use the 14 point buffer to have a 2 GP showdown, or protect the points and give the engine the chance to complete 8 GP's?  I guess this depends on data they will be looking at now, but it must be concerning looking in the rear view mirror at a driver that's just completed the race of his life in a car with a new engine.  

I wonder what the risk is, of Max's RB engine failing in one of the last races? 

danishbacon

As a Brazilian Hamilton’s drive and subsequent victory lap with the Brazilian flag had me in tears. 

Interlagos is a magnificent circuit and also the setting of Senna’s 91 win where he only had 6th gear available during the last seven laps. There’s an air of triumphalism to this weekend. 

There was a comment somewhere on twitter, that Lewis had to overtake every single driver on the grid this weekend and only one of them drove him off the track. Lewis was pretty diplomatic about it afterwards, chalking it down to hard racing. I think his clean comeback was a big statement. 

stickyfiddle

danishbacon said:

There was a comment somewhere on twitter, that Lewis had to overtake every single driver on the grid this weekend and only one of them drove him off the track. Lewis was pretty diplomatic about it afterwards, chalking it down to hard racing. I think his clean comeback was a big statement. 

Big wis

Simonh

chillidoggy said:

A great race win by Hamster but I sat there watching and wondering why was he SO much faster?

Championship not over by a long chalk, just what we need!

apparently usually an engine has to last around 7500kms, the new unit they put in for this weekend only has to cover 2500km before the end of the season so they can run it much hotter without fear of failure.

Fretwired

stickyfiddle said:

Interesting suggestions on Ham’s new engine from twitter. Essentially because they know it only has to do 2,500km (instead of the usual 7,000) they’re razzing the shit out of it with the management and turbo pressure. 

Of course the cost was a 5-place penalty for yesterday’s race that Lewis still won easily. If true then RB don’t stand a chance

https://mobile.twitter.com/fiagirly/status/1459880620184772620

Interesting. I doubt it is just the engine though - RB and Horner are fixated with the new Mercedes rear wing.  According to Wolff the rear wing on Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes failed a post-qualifying inspection by just 0.2 of a millimetre.

Fretwired

A report from Autocar has claimed that Audi has secured an entry into Formula 1 by striking a deal to buy out the entire McLaren Group.

wtf .... Horner will be moaning even more ... :-)

I didn't think this would really happen.

https://jaunenglish.com/2021/11/15/audi-buys-mclaren-group-to-secure-formula-1-entry/

stickyfiddle

I kinda hope Audi haven't bought McLaren, though I'm in favour of job security for everyone who works there. 

Between this (if true) and the Andretti/Sauber thing It does largely suggest that we'll never get a new team under the current structure as buying an existing one via a heavily-leveraged structure is always going to be much muc better value.

skullfunkerry

Fretwired said:

stickyfiddle said:

Interesting suggestions on Ham’s new engine from twitter. Essentially because they know it only has to do 2,500km (instead of the usual 7,000) they’re razzing the shit out of it with the management and turbo pressure. 

Of course the cost was a 5-place penalty for yesterday’s race that Lewis still won easily. If true then RB don’t stand a chance

https://mobile.twitter.com/fiagirly/status/1459880620184772620

Interesting. I doubt it is just the engine though - RB and Horner are fixated with the new Mercedes rear wing.  According to Wolff the rear wing on Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes failed a post-qualifying inspection by just 0.2 of a millimetre.

And it was broken, it wasn't an attempt to cheat. It does feel a bit like they had it in for Merc this weekend; apparently Red Bull were allowed to make three changes to their rear wing in parc ferme. Toto was fuming, unsurprisingly 

Fretwired

stickyfiddle said:

I kinda hope Audi haven't bought McLaren, though I'm in favour of job security for everyone who works there. 

Between this (if true) and the Andretti/Sauber thing It does largely suggest that we'll never get a new team under the current structure as buying an existing one via a heavily-leveraged structure is always going to be much muc better value.

I'd prefer McLaren to be owned by a car manufacturer rather than a bunch of Saudi investors. Could be good news for the road cars as well - access to VW Group technology and money.

Starting a team from scratch would be hard these days. Mclaren is a well-run team with experienced employees and an excellent UK-based factory.  I wonder what brand name they will use? Audi or Porsche?

I wonder how this will affect Red Bull? Would they want Audi engines if they are only a customer? And two large German car manufacturers will give Horner sleepless nights.