2021 Russian Grand Prix - Sochi, Sep 24 - 26

[dans79]

Poor qualy and start from Hamilton, still wins the race because Mercedes is so fast.

Lol, more like skill and determination under pressure.

[Juzh]

Oh I’m not doubting that at all. Mad luck. But they pitted on the correct lap.

Such mad luck has gained Verstappen whole 4 points!!!! Because if it doesn't rain Hamilton finishes P2 instead of P1. Meanwhile hamilton throws away 35 point swing advantage in Baku.

+poor box for Ricciardo gave Hamilton chance to fight for win.

Yes, and that. Without slow pitstop Hamilton is stuck behind him and Norris is cruising in free air. Talk about MAD luck.

[jz11]

Didn’t you hear him shouting “No!” like a little kid after having been told to pit for Inters?

we don't know how old that message was, might have been 1-2 laps before it was played and at that time it was 50/50, the whole situation was very much a casino, had he committed to pits it could easily have been Lewis staying out and rain going away - thus throwing the win away

in fact, the swap to inters made few get very lucky, look at Bottas, from like 15th to 5th with no effort from him basically... and Verstappen, from "hopeless" 7th to 2nd

As a driver you can trust your engineer who pretty reliably can tell you if rain is going to get heavier in the next laps or not. He’s been told not only once, but a few times to pit.

I agree if the timing of those radio messages was synced to current lap, but they are know to shuffle them around to suit the action on track, as I said - he might have refused to switch to inters few laps earlier, and once Lewis switched and was 18sec behind him - it was basically a choice of trying to tough it out or lose, and of course you try to when you're in the lead, could have easily been a yellow flag and safety car situation there...

it is a much more difficult choice to pit from the lead than from 2nd, when Lewis had 50 or so sec interval behind him - switching to inters changes absolutely nothing for him, but for Lando it could be handing Lewis the win on silver platter

hence, despite the apparent error by them, Lando is still my driver of the day, because he did everything right 99,99% and deserved the first win

[PlatinumZealot]

Very good win for Hamilton, and Mercedes, they read the conditions to perfection. Gutted for Norris, he could have won this one. This is almost the best possible outcome for Verstappen, I knew things would work out for him. P2 is a great result and a bit lucky.

Hamilton leads by 2 points, hopefully the Turkish GP happens, Verstappen needs a win now to balance it out.

Lando was quite rude to his team, though. This is a big reminder to him that drivers don't win by themselves!
It was very sad seeing him struggle out there indeed.

[Shrieker]

That was nail biting lmao, I love it.

Congrats to Hamilton for his 100th win in F1 ! What an achievement...

He would've preferred in hindsight tho, for the rain not to arrive, and pull a bigger points gap on Max. But you can't control these things, and I that's why he won't be losing sleep over it.

[Restomaniac]

we don't know how old that message was, might have been 1-2 laps before it was played and at that time it was 50/50, the whole situation was very much a casino, had he committed to pits it could easily have been Lewis staying out and rain going away - thus throwing the win away

in fact, the swap to inters made few get very lucky, look at Bottas, from like 15th to 5th with no effort from him basically... and Verstappen, from "hopeless" 7th to 2nd

As a driver you can trust your engineer who pretty reliably can tell you if rain is going to get heavier in the next laps or not. He’s been told not only once, but a few times to pit.

I agree if the timing of those radio messages was synced to current lap, but they are know to shuffle them around to suit the action on track, as I said - he might have refused to switch to inters few laps earlier, and once Lewis switched and was 18sec behind him - it was basically a choice of trying to tough it out or lose, and of course you try to when you're in the lead, could have easily been a yellow flag and safety car situation there...

it is a much more difficult choice to pit from the lead than from 2nd, when Lewis had 50 or so sec interval behind him - switching to inters changes absolutely nothing for him, but for Lando it could be handing Lewis the win on silver platter

hence, despite the apparent error by them, Lando is still my driver of the day, because he did everything right 99,99% and deserved the first win

Which is where an old head needed to be straight with him ‘Lando you WON’T finish on these tyres’.

[El Scorchio]

Whether he can be forgiven or not is a totally different story and not what I was referring to. Restomaniac suggested that Norris has been let down, which simply isn’t true.

Fair. He wasn’t let down, but I think to pick on him for an excitable response under the circumstances isn’t so fair. We see all the drivers getting snappy with their engineers on the radio all the time.

Yea, I don’t know what was going on between Leclerc’s engineer and himself, but considering Sainz was one of the firsts to pit for Inters and Leclerc on the other hand the last one, I’m sure he as well did the opposite to what his engineer told him.

It’s interesting isn’t it. I guess the driver is the one in the car so has the final call. Let’s be honest, they were so far ahead of third that it looked like they could probably stay out, but it just got a lot heavier all of a sudden. Add in that Norris would have been desperate for his first ever win so that gamble was way more worth it than for Hamilton who was assured at least of second after he pitted, knowing everyone behind was also on inters.

Different I guess being Hamilton is looking at the championship and Norris just for the race win.

I just feel absolutely sick for the poor bloke. He’s done everything right this season so far, including beating Ricciardo hands down, yet missing out on all the glory when they finally got that win. I am sure there are great days ahead for him though.

[Manfer]

Didnt HAM also deny the call for inters at first? Both wanted to stay out and I also thought they could make it the 3 laps. But in once case the team over ruled and that's the difference between a good team and a wcc team. Look at Ferrari. Strategy "F" again on the first stop and then Carlos took the job of telling the team what to do. Just like Vettel always had to.

The only broadcast message we heard was Carlos telling the team that the tires would be needed since he was seeing the rain was coming. In conditions like this, it’s the drivers call to switch the tires. Norris, Leclerc, Alonso --- it up. We did not hear Leclerc radio to say anything about the decision process. Making stupid statements about a team’s strategy when they got it on point for one of their drivers is pretty naive to say the least.

[jz11]

As a driver you can trust your engineer who pretty reliably can tell you if rain is going to get heavier in the next laps or not. He’s been told not only once, but a few times to pit.

I agree if the timing of those radio messages was synced to current lap, but they are know to shuffle them around to suit the action on track, as I said - he might have refused to switch to inters few laps earlier, and once Lewis switched and was 18sec behind him - it was basically a choice of trying to tough it out or lose, and of course you try to when you're in the lead, could have easily been a yellow flag and safety car situation there...

it is a much more difficult choice to pit from the lead than from 2nd, when Lewis had 50 or so sec interval behind him - switching to inters changes absolutely nothing for him, but for Lando it could be handing Lewis the win on silver platter

hence, despite the apparent error by them, Lando is still my driver of the day, because he did everything right 99,99% and deserved the first win

Which is where an old head needed to be straight with him ‘Lando you WON’T finish on these tyres’.

"old heads" also delayed Lewis in Q3 to switch to slicks, and look how that turned out

[El Scorchio]

Poor Lando is basically in tears talking to Sky.

[dans79]

That was nail biting lmao, I love it.

Congrats to Hamilton for his 100th win in F1 ! What an achievement... He would've preferred in hindsight tho, for the rain not to arrive, and pull a bigger points gap on Max. But you can't control these things, and I that's why he won't be losing sleep over this.

Given his comments in the post race interviews, comma it seems like number 100 was weighing on his mind a lot more than you would think it would. Maybe he will have a little revival analogy has the monkey off his back.

[Restomaniac]

I agree if the timing of those radio messages was synced to current lap, but they are know to shuffle them around to suit the action on track, as I said - he might have refused to switch to inters few laps earlier, and once Lewis switched and was 18sec behind him - it was basically a choice of trying to tough it out or lose, and of course you try to when you're in the lead, could have easily been a yellow flag and safety car situation there...

it is a much more difficult choice to pit from the lead than from 2nd, when Lewis had 50 or so sec interval behind him - switching to inters changes absolutely nothing for him, but for Lando it could be handing Lewis the win on silver platter

hence, despite the apparent error by them, Lando is still my driver of the day, because he did everything right 99,99% and deserved the first win

Which is where an old head needed to be straight with him ‘Lando you WON’T finish on these tyres’.

"old heads" also delayed Lewis in Q3 to switch to slicks, and look how that turned out

Hamilton qualified 4th so it was obviously touch and go or he would have been further back plus he has years on the clock. Norris is still finding his way.

[El Scorchio]

we don't know how old that message was, might have been 1-2 laps before it was played and at that time it was 50/50, the whole situation was very much a casino, had he committed to pits it could easily have been Lewis staying out and rain going away - thus throwing the win away

in fact, the swap to inters made few get very lucky, look at Bottas, from like 15th to 5th with no effort from him basically... and Verstappen, from "hopeless" 7th to 2nd

As a driver you can trust your engineer who pretty reliably can tell you if rain is going to get heavier in the next laps or not. He’s been told not only once, but a few times to pit.

I agree if the timing of those radio messages was synced to current lap, but they are know to shuffle them around to suit the action on track, as I said - he might have refused to switch to inters few laps earlier, and once Lewis switched and was 18sec behind him - it was basically a choice of trying to tough it out or lose, and of course you try to when you're in the lead, could have easily been a yellow flag and safety car situation there...

it is a much more difficult choice to pit from the lead than from 2nd, when Lewis had 50 or so sec interval behind him - switching to inters changes absolutely nothing for him, but for Lando it could be handing Lewis the win on silver platter

hence, despite the apparent error by them, Lando is still my driver of the day, because he did everything right 99,99% and deserved the first win

100% driver of the day. The weather forced him into an impossible position. Because he was the one after the race win.

[Juzh]

If you've got f1tv pro go and watch leclerc/alondo/perez battle just after rain starts to fall. No one wants to pit and they overtake each other time and time again probably 10 times in span of 2-3 laps. Most epic stuff I've seen probably since brazil 2012.

[ispano6]

Top job from Max to go last to 2nd and having two upgraded PU specs for the rest of the season. Should be able to full send the rest of the races so long as he isn't taken out again. Lewis probably will need to take a new PU and if he doesn't he probably won't have full power or risk a DNF from an engine failure. Perez drove a good race but should have been pitted one lap earlier. Bottas got lucky too, wasn't anywhere near Max's pace.