2021 Formula One Season: Championship Decider Abu Dhabi - Verstappen Wins in a Controversial Race! 🏆 🍾

[Bradesmaen]

Arguably the reason it never happened is because RBR undercut him, at which point his only hope was to hope his existing set of tyres would get him to the finish line.

Why they never pitted Bottas, on the other hand, is something known only to Mercedes.

Identical to Spain, just reversed teams.

 

[Black_White]

Reckon RBR dodged a bullet with their strategy - It is being compared with Mercedes successful strategy earlier in the season BUT the big difference is that Mercedes were second on track, so had nothing to lose with the gamble, whereas RBR were leading the race - Anyway, there is little to choose between Merceded and RBR - Finally, it appeared that Bottas pace was equal to Hamilton's, except Mercedes gave him a questionable tyre strategy.

I’m fascinated by the supposed fact that Bottas and Hamilton swapped chassis, at Hamilton’s insistence because he believed Bottas had the better vehicle.
At several stages of the race Bottas was much faster than Hamilton. So the chassis wasn’t the problem.
Again, Mercedes appear to have made sure Hamilton was favoured.
I can see ruptures slowly appearing in the Mercedes camp. Will the review of the race reveal the unpalatable truth?
We live in interesting times.

 

[Black_White]

The question is more for me why didn't Bottas pit after Perez got him, put on a set of Softs and get the fastest lap taking a point off Max.

This was covered in the notebook show after the race.
Mercedes believed that Perez would run out of tyres and Bottas was still a chance for the podium.
Horrible strategy in the end. Gave the opponent an extra point that they could have prevented.
Which summed up their day really.

 

[yaco55]

I thought RBR beat them 3x with the tyre strategy:

1. Under-cutting Hamilton with Verstappen's first pit stop.
2. Putting Perez on strategy 2 (long stint on mediums at the start).
3. Two-stopping Verstappen.

Strategy one and 2 worked brilliantly - Strategy three was risky but was successful.

 

[Not Important]

Different tyre strategies. Dan was faster when they had equal rubber under them, at the start of the race, but Norris was given the better tyre strategy by the team.

We saw 4 tyre strategies in play last night, 2 of which were clearly more successful than the others.

1. Medium (short) - Hard
This is the strategy used by Mercedes, and most of the drivers in the mid-pack. It asked too much of the hard compound tyres, with the result that these drivers were all mown down late in the race, by drivers using the better strategies.

2. Medium (long) - Hard
This is the strategy used by Perez & Norris (and possibly a few others). They gave up pace to the leaders early, but gained it back with interest towards the end of the race, when those on strategy #1 ran out of rubber. Perez probably would have caught Hamilton, giving Red Bull a 1/2 finish, if the race had gone for one more lap.

3. Hard (long) - Medium
This is the strategy used by the Aston Martin drivers (Vettel & Stroll). The strategy wasn't available to drivers who started P1-10 on the grid, as they had to start on the Medium compound used to get themselves into Q3. The strategy worked reasonably well, putting them high in the top-10 before their pit stops. Both drivers finished in the top-10, having started outside of it - so I have to give this strategy a pass mark, but it wasn't as good as strategies 1 & 4.

4. Medium (short) - Hard - Medium (long)
Verstappen was the main driver on this strategy, and it paid off big time. I was wondering if the mediums would last 20 laps, but the increased rubber & decreased fuel loads allowed the tyre to last better than expected. He won the race, going away from Hamilton in the last 2 laps. This was probably the ideal strategy for the track conditions last night.

thanks for that but didn't lando pass daniel when daniel was on fresh tyres?

 

[Vader]

thanks for that but didn't lando pass daniel when daniel was on fresh tyres?

No.

Daniel overtook Lando into the first corner. Lando tried to get him back on lap 2, but Dan didn't give him room and he ended up going down the escape route (and whinging on the radio).

Lando didn't get in front of Dan until Dan pitted for tyres, and again later when Dan's tyres were aging.

 

[Not Important]

No.

Daniel overtook Lando into the first corner. Lando tried to get him back on lap 2, but Dan didn't give him room and he ended up going down the escape route (and whinging on the radio).

Lando didn't get in front of Dan until Dan pitted for tyres, and again later when Dan's tyres were aging.

remember the first interaction when lando whinged. thought he later passed him before lando had a tyre change. i'll take your word for it.

apparently daniel spent some time before the race trying to get a handle on the car. was a bit better this time but think lando has his measure.

 

[Vader]

remember the first interaction when lando whinged. thought he later passed him before lando had a tyre change. i'll take your word for it.

apparently daniel spent some time before the race trying to get a handle on the car. was a bit better this time but think lando has his measure.

Lando has had Dan's measure in almost all races so far this year, though the tyre strategy difference makes it hard to tell who was better in the French GP. This was Dan's best race since joining McLaren, so hopefully it's an indicator of good things to come from him.

 

[skam85]

Lando has had Dan's measure in almost all races so far this year, though the tyre strategy difference makes it hard to tell who was better in the French GP. This was Dan's best race since joining McLaren, so hopefully it's an indicator of good things to come from him.

Dan's starting to get some confidence in that car now.
Lando's finished top five in 6/7 races so far so two strong McLarens would be absolutely fantastic to see.

 

[Skull Face]

Lando has had Dan's measure in almost all races so far this year, though the tyre strategy difference makes it hard to tell who was better in the French GP. This was Dan's best race since joining McLaren, so hopefully it's an indicator of good things to come from him.

Street Circuits and tracks like Imola & Portimao have been why it has taken him so long to get a handle on the car, when you are struggling for confidence in the car low grip circuits or ones you haven't raced much only highlight it further.

The next 5 are comparatively much easier and we will see him match or even beating norris over the next little stretch.

 

[DamoESP]

Vettle mentoring Schumacher is the best thing

 

[DamoESP]

LOL FIA stepping in to help MERC again under the guise of "safety"

FIA to force F1 teams to slow down their pit stops

The FIA is to introduce new rules forcing F1 teams to slow down their rapid, two-second tyre changes during races.

www.racefans.net

RaceFans understands the latest rules change has come about as a result of questions raised by some teams over the speed with which Red Bull, among others, have completed certain pit stops this year.

What a joke.

 

[drd23]

May as well enforce a mandatory minimum stop time of 3 secs then if you're going to punish teams for doing something so well that it causes troubles for other teams when they try to copy

 

[Black_White]

May as well enforce a mandatory minimum stop time of 3 secs then if you're going to punish teams for doing something so well that it causes troubles for other teams when they try to copy

Just make it 10 seconds for all stops.
Can adjust wings, change noses, change tyres, driver can go to the toilet…..
So much for pushing the boundaries of technical and human achievement.

 

[BIRDBRAIN]

I really don't understand this, teams have always tried to do pitstops as fast as humanly possible, that's the whole point of a race, to be the fastest.

 

[Skull Face]

LOL FIA stepping in to help MERC again under the guise of "safety"

FIA to force F1 teams to slow down their pit stops

The FIA is to introduce new rules forcing F1 teams to slow down their rapid, two-second tyre changes during races.

www.racefans.net

What a joke.

I don't see how the rule change will help close the gap though, if it is just about when you finish putting the new boot on you have to wait until its tight to signal ready the fastest team still wins.

Surely red bull aren't winning based on putting their hands up early, if anyone is doing that its the bottom teams trying to keep up.

 

[BIRDBRAIN]

If there was actually a problem cars would be driving out with 3 wheels attached and they aren't LMAO.

 

[drd23]

Surely red bull aren't winning based on putting their hands up early, if anyone is doing that its the bottom teams trying to keep up.

I think Mercedes are alleging that they are - that they put their hands up based on the time it usually takes and not whether the nut is actually fully secure

 

[BIRDBRAIN]

I think Mercedes are alleging that they are - that they put their hands up based on the time it usually takes and not whether the nut is actually fully secure

Mercedes allege a lot of things and usually they aren't innocent themselves ie/ flexing wings.

 

[Skull Face]

I think Mercedes are alleging that they are - that they put their hands up based on the time it usually takes and not whether the nut is actually fully secure

Can't remember the last botched red bull stop, i reckon this increases the gap between them and everyone else not shrinking it

 

[drd23]

Can't remember the last botched red bull stop, i reckon this increases the gap between them and everyone else not shrinking it

This was actually being debated in the comments of the linked article when I read it earlier and I think the answer is that RBR last released a car without all 4 wheels secured in 2010.

As for whether it increases the gap between teams or not comes down to whether teams were relying on timing/sensors (as is alleged against RBR) rather than feeling that wheel nuts are actually on

 

[andrewmillman]

This was actually being debated in the comments of the linked article when I read it earlier and I think the answer is that RBR last released a car without all 4 wheels secured in 2010.

As for whether it increases the gap between teams or not comes down to whether teams were relying on timing/sensors (as is alleged against RBR) rather than feeling that wheel nuts are actually on

Didn't they release mark webber with a loose tyre at Germany 2013?

 

[Black_White]

 

[Rustin Cohle]

Bottas

 

[drd23]

WTF was that?!?!?!