Lewis Hamilton has taken his 100th victory in today's Russian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen ended up in second place, taking full advantage of the last-minute rain that turned everything around. Carlos Sainz completes the podium in third place.
It just goes to show how much these cars struggle when following each other. Hamilton was miles quicker than the McLarens today but got stuck behind them once he got in the 1-1.5 second window. It’ll be interesting to see if the same thing happens with next years regulations
He wasn't miles quicker though. That's why Norris has fastest lap.
Once ricciardo pitted Hamilton set the fastest lap and was then lapping at a similar pace on much older tyres, after the stops Hamilton was gaining on lando at nearly a second per lap at one point. So yes I’d say he was miles quicker than the McLarens right up until he was about a second behind them.
Yes, and once HAM caught up to Norris, Norris got into the stage where he did not have to lift & coast anymore and that's when ho got fastest lap. Norris was just managing tyres until HAM caught up. Ofcourse Merc was faster, but not miles faster.
They weren't illegal... else they would've been banned before. But now everything went back to manual and causes a lot of more trouble for the teams and drivers. Yes there have been unsafe releases, but no mayor accidents so why stop/ban the automated sequences?
Because the FIA have a great record of banning illegal practices promptly don’t they .
They have a great track record of making things illegal halfway a season that weren't illegal before
Funny, because bendy wings and automated pit stops have been illegal for decades, the problem is the FIA don’t clamp down fast enough on teams trying to bypass the regulations and when they do clamp down they do it in the middle of the season rather than waiting until the end.
Lando got too greedy.
I would have liked to see him on inters fight Lewis for the win.
He is showing a pattern of greediness. Did so in Spa when he had his big crash and did so today.
Good rain driver, but what makes you great is knowing how much to bite off before you choke.
Not more greedy than a young Max or Lewis were. It is all about driving more mature, but keep the fresh pace in future.
Exactly. And I can’t blame him at all for chancing his arm to try and grab that elusive first win. The majority of people who are following Hamilton and Verstappen take race wins as a formality or an expectation. It’s easy to forget they are once or never in a lifetime for the vast majority of drivers. I really hope plenty come for Lando, but with rule changes for 22 and Ferrari, RBR and Ferrari having their drivers set for now, he may never get another chance like that. As soon as Hamilton pitted before him the win was gone, unless he risked it all by staying out.
Fundamentally disagree. Lando was quite able to put in the fast laps when it mattered. Yes maybe on average he was a couple of tenths slower per lap, but absolutely no way that was 1-1.5s. He had the ability to push when needed.
Gutted but they’ll bounce back (I hope). Someone needs to get a bit better in the garage to check the weather radar. Seems most teams spotted the increased rain. On top of that, the radio message to lando was wishy washy. Pretty much leaving it to him. Shame he didn’t come in (even a lap too late). Would have secured second place that way
I didn’t say Hamilton was 1-1.5 seconds quicker per lap. He was at one point around 8 tenths quicker though.
Fair enough! I indeed misread your post.
But the point stands that NOR was able to post the fastest lap, with a decent amount of laps into that stint (pre inter chaos)
I suspect had Hamilton got past he may well have posted the fastest lap, but who knows.
People need to stop treating Lando like a baby. Had Ocon folded in Hungary he would've been put under the ground.
Otherwise, hats off to Lewis. At his best, there's not many who could've replicated that performance.
Max could count this as being just as good as win. He was helped by the rain but you need to capitalize and he did.
Great race by Sainz, and Leclerc(at least until the last few laps). I think Ferrari is going to surprise people with that new PU. Leclerc had enough pace to stay close to Max.
Last edited by JPower on 26 Sep 2021, 17:52, edited 1 time in total.
Because the FIA have a great record of banning illegal practices promptly don’t they .
They have a great track record of making things illegal halfway a season that weren't illegal before
Funny, because bendy wings and automated pit stops have been illegal for decades, the problem is the FIA don’t clamp down fast enough on teams trying to bypass the regulations and when they do clamp down they do it in the middle of the season rather than waiting until the end.
Not necessarily within the way the rules were written. If they wanted these things to be illegal, they should write rules that make it so, quantitatively, instead of leaving huge grey areas and room for interpretation (especially if the literal interpretation, e.g. of bendy wings are illegal, is not physically possible).
It's infuriating to see all those slow stops since the new (Mercedes) rules for "safety" reasons.
Just goes to prove teams were using illegal automated systems though
They weren't illegal... else they would've been banned before. But now everything went back to manual and causes a lot of more trouble for the teams and drivers. Yes there have been unsafe releases, but no mayor accidents so why stop/ban the automated sequences?
why wait for a major accident before changing something??
GoLandoGo
Lewis v2.0
King George has arrived.
New found love for GT racing with Assetto Corsa Competizione on PS5 & PC
Just goes to prove teams were using illegal automated systems though
They weren't illegal... else they would've been banned before. But now everything went back to manual and causes a lot of more trouble for the teams and drivers. Yes there have been unsafe releases, but no mayor accidents so why stop/ban the automated sequences?
why wait for a major accident before changing something??
Steiner said it was a preemptive safety thing at the time when asked about it. Seems like people did think it was an accident waiting to happen.
I wish people would stop trying to find conspiracy in everything that’s done.
Lewis being 1-1.5sec quicker per lap at some point than Lando while Lando had the healthy lead doesn't mean Merc was really that much quicker, what it does mean is that Lando was managing his car, they drive to target lap times and conserve everything while monitoring gap to others, Lewis catching Lando near the end at around 0.2-0.3sec per lap was fine by McLaren, Lando was going quick enough so that he would have to defend hard maybe couple times (had there been no rain), and Lewis really didn't get any looks even when he got into the DRS (and subsequently fell back out of DRS again), which is all fine for the leader, he also knows Lewis won't take big risks considering he is running for championship
I'm not saying McLaren had the same pace as Merc, they didn't, they simply tried to conserve everything for the defense in the final 5 laps or so, had Lando tried to keep the gap at 10sec, he might have failed to do so anyway AND ran out of tires and be completely helpless in last couple laps
meaning - the equation is a lot more complex that some here make it out to be, the means of achieving the win over a quicker car aren't as simple as straight lap time comparison with little context
People need to stop treating Lando like a baby. Had Ocon folded in Hungary he would've been put under the ground.
Otherwise, hats off to Lewis. At his best, there's not many who could've replicated that performance.
Max could count this as being just as good as win. He was helped by the rain but you need to capitalize and he did.
Great race by Sainz, and Leclerc(at least until the last few laps). I think Ferrari is going to surprise people with that new PU. Leclerc had enough pace to stay close to Max.
They will be closer again. For sure. But the few laps Max finally had in free air he was much, much faster than Leclerc behind him. Max got very unlucky with traffic today, and the rear wing choice was a tad too much as well (in hindsight).
They have a great track record of making things illegal halfway a season that weren't illegal before
Funny, because bendy wings and automated pit stops have been illegal for decades, the problem is the FIA don’t clamp down fast enough on teams trying to bypass the regulations and when they do clamp down they do it in the middle of the season rather than waiting until the end.
Not necessarily within the way the rules were written. If they wanted these things to be illegal, they should write rules that make it so, quantitatively, instead of leaving huge grey areas and room for interpretation (especially if the literal interpretation, e.g. of bendy wings are illegal, is not physically possible).
There’s a huge difference between exploiting grey areas and deliberately designing components to circumnavigate tests designed to implement the regulations. Anyway, we’re getting off topic and I really would hate to be the reason a moderator has high blood pressure today.
It's infuriating to see all those slow stops since the new (Mercedes) rules for "safety" reasons.
Just goes to prove teams were using illegal automated systems though
It also seems these automated systems were making pit stops a formality almost. I like that the change has made human factors more important in pit stops again. It’s an element of unpredictability also.
They're having issues with system not with changing tires, it can be annoying.
Just goes to prove teams were using illegal automated systems though
It also seems these automated systems were making pit stops a formality almost. I like that the change has made human factors more important in pit stops again. It’s an element of unpredictability also.
They're having issues with system not with changing tires, it can be annoying.
Which again proves teams were too reliant on automation. The delay the FIA have introduced shouldn’t really be a factor considering it is less than human reaction time.
It also seems these automated systems were making pit stops a formality almost. I like that the change has made human factors more important in pit stops again. It’s an element of unpredictability also.
They're having issues with system not with changing tires, it can be annoying.
Which again proves teams were too reliant on automation. The delay the FIA have introduced shouldn’t really be a factor considering it is less than human reaction time.
They have got to press buttons now, you would be amazed how big a factor that is considering a human is operating it. Before it was just press the air button and the sensor would change and determine the torque settings, now the person in question needs to press *on*, then switch and press *off*. And in that marginal time the brains tend to be slow of forget certain steps.
Tbh an accident is more likely now, because now the mechanic has to determine if the torque settings have been met.
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for "safety" reasons.
???