2021 Russian Grand Prix - Sochi, Sep 24 - 26

[ringo]

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.

It's the same for everyone so I do not mind. The more human dependency the better for racing as a team.

[zeph]

What a way to lose the race, the wrong call, but great race by Norris nonetheless. Seeing McLaren and Ferrari battle it out for P1/2 brought out the nostalgia.

100 wins for Hamilton, wtf. He's not impressed me much this season, but somehow he just keeps bagging them.

[renault rs26]

All this regarding pit stop "systems" and "automated systems"?

WHAT!!! Are you telling me Ferrari used to have a "system" ???

No Ferrari had issues with removing wheels, Mclaren and Red Bull mechanics perfectly swap wheels, only forgot to press a button.

[langedweil]

What.a.nice.race ...
Things swung around almost by the lap. Sorry for Lando, but he'll bounce, a wdc contender given a proper car.
Decent race in the end for Ham, as it didn't look very splendid the first 25laps.
Good for Max to have the timing and the pitstop spot on today.
This certainly is one hell of a season .. finally !

[Starkblood80]

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.

It's the same for everyone so I do not mind. The more human dependency the better for racing as a team.

Agreed, now the pitstops have a more human element they have become more unpredictable, Verstappens and Hamilton’s slow stops in Monza created drama. Today Ricciardos slow stop allowed Hamilton to get the jump on him.

[PlatinumZealot]

I'm kindly asking for the driver's engine usage for the season. Thanks.

[piast9]

What a finish to a race! Was it the first time the Russian GP was not a boring event?

Anyway, I am gutted for Norris. I've reviewed the last few laps from the onboard camera and I think the team has played it wrong. Norris was not told to pit for inters. His "NO!" was the response to a kind asking for his opinion on pitting. Norris was quite fast on slicks and judging from his performance in relation to those on inters around him I'd not pit as well. He was racing a lapped HAAS I think. On the dry parts he was way faster and was losing a bit on the wet. But shouldn't the team have the bigger picture and tell him to pit? They saw the rain coming on the radar.

BTW, do the teams use rain spotters around the track? They know where the wind is blowing. Maybe in Sochi it was a bit more complicated because of the sea but you can hire a boat for two hours if you are a F1 team.

[Manoah2u]

Well, i'm gonna go out and be critical here and say Norris lost -deservingly.
Yes, he did a great race but - and i'm aware few will agree to my view here - Norris has far too much ego, which is what cost him dearly today. I hope he'll learn from this today as in the end, he has given himself a big humble cake to eat.

The lesson Norris should take today is that it doesn't matter how good you drive all the race, it's how you finish the race.
Reading changing conditions is hard, but in the end you also have to understand that it's a teamsport, and not just about 'you'.

Norris far too many tried to shush his team in certain messages that actually were important.
When the team said he must come in to boldly go 'NO!' was just plain foolish, and he got served an extremely hard aftermath, which not only cost him, but the team valuable points.

his own stubbornness cost the TEAM important points and his own win in the end.

It was gonna be tricky to stay ahead of Hamilton even without the rain, so when the rain came in he should've taken his gain with it. had he pitted immediately, he would have not had any issue with pit entry issues, and would most likely still have finished ahead of Hamilton, but no doubt guaranteed 2nd.

Let me be clear: I think Norris is a very very talented driver and he is super fast. But i've seen some 'ego' traits - let's call it unhealthy overconfidence - which hamper progress. Today was an example. If he would have been humble enough to go with the team, he would have, again, been p2 PERHAPS even p1 still.

Hero to zero in a single lap.

Anyway, Max had a decent result but the rain got him super lucky there, wow. But let's be honest, it's good to see him get lucky after getting unlucky in other situations - like Baku.
Bottas needs a firm slap at the back of his head.
What on earth was Stroll doing.

The only person i was gutted for was Carlos Sainz.
He drove absolutely fantastic, i'm glad he finished P3 in the end though.

Anyway, interesting result. now off to turkey!

[Tizz]

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.

They messed up with the first stop and went from p2 all the way down and were stuck in traffic for half the race. Team expected a top 5 finish max and then they just copied the top teams when the rain came and lucked into a podium.

As Mercedes showed (once again), it's also the teams job to over rule driver's calls if they don't have all the information. What better example do you need than the guys and girls who have just won the gp?

As Robert Doornbos explained on dutch tv, the switch to slicks is the drivers call. The switch to inters/wet is the teams call as you as a driver simply don't have the overall picture on track, the forecast or actions by other teams.

[Tizz]

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.

Well, usually they are conspiracies as total competition seems to be the name of the game.
As for the wheelguns, it was rather that Mercedes got smashed in the pitstops almost every race. In that case you have two options: you analyse your procedures and practice more which costs money or you get it banned which is cheaper and eat into your opponents budget as well. Wolf admitted that it was he that got the ball rolling.

[DChemTech]

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.

It's the same for everyone so I do not mind. The more human dependency the better for racing as a team.

Agreed, now the pitstops have a more human element they have become more unpredictable, Verstappens and Hamilton’s slow stops in Monza created drama. Today Ricciardos slow stop allowed Hamilton to get the jump on him.

I thought the point was to make things safer. More drama doesnt exactly fit that bill.

[AriaanGert]

Well, i'm gonna go out and be critical here and say Norris lost -deservingly.
Yes, he did a great race but - and i'm aware few will agree to my view here - Norris has far too much ego, which is what cost him dearly today. I hope he'll learn from this today as in the end, he has given himself a big humble cake to eat.

The lesson Norris should take today is that it doesn't matter how good you drive all the race, it's how you finish the race.
Reading changing conditions is hard, but in the end you also have to understand that it's a teamsport, and not just about 'you'.

Norris far too many tried to shush his team in certain messages that actually were important.
When the team said he must come in to boldly go 'NO!' was just plain foolish, and he got served an extremely hard aftermath, which not only cost him, but the team valuable points.

his own stubbornness cost the TEAM important points and his own win in the end.

It was gonna be tricky to stay ahead of Hamilton even without the rain, so when the rain came in he should've taken his gain with it. had he pitted immediately, he would have not had any issue with pit entry issues, and would most likely still have finished ahead of Hamilton, but no doubt guaranteed 2nd.

Let me be clear: I think Norris is a very very talented driver and he is super fast. But i've seen some 'ego' traits - let's call it unhealthy overconfidence - which hamper progress. Today was an example. If he would have been humble enough to go with the team, he would have, again, been p2 PERHAPS even p1 still.

Hero to zero in a single lap.

Anyway, Max had a decent result but the rain got him super lucky there, wow. But let's be honest, it's good to see him get lucky after getting unlucky in other situations - like Baku.
Bottas needs a firm slap at the back of his head.
What on earth was Stroll doing.

The only person i was gutted for was Carlos Sainz.
He drove absolutely fantastic, i'm glad he finished P3 in the end though.

Anyway, interesting result. now off to turkey!

I think you're right. I hope he'll learn. I didn't think about preserving 2nd, because his pitsstop would be free against the rest (not Hamilton).
As you put it, it was a choice: maybe P1 or nothing against sure P2 and maybe P1. Sounds easy, but not for a racer.

I imagined that Hamilton would have stayed out if Norris would have gone in. But I read that Merc was racing Verstappen en would have followed anyway.

[basti313]

Well, i'm gonna go out and be critical here and say Norris lost -deservingly.
Yes, he did a great race but - and i'm aware few will agree to my view here - Norris has far too much ego, which is what cost him dearly today. I hope he'll learn from this today as in the end, he has given himself a big humble cake to eat.

The lesson Norris should take today is that it doesn't matter how good you drive all the race, it's how you finish the race.
Reading changing conditions is hard, but in the end you also have to understand that it's a teamsport, and not just about 'you'.

Norris far too many tried to shush his team in certain messages that actually were important.
When the team said he must come in to boldly go 'NO!' was just plain foolish, and he got served an extremely hard aftermath, which not only cost him, but the team valuable points.

his own stubbornness cost the TEAM important points and his own win in the end.

It was gonna be tricky to stay ahead of Hamilton even without the rain, so when the rain came in he should've taken his gain with it. had he pitted immediately, he would have not had any issue with pit entry issues, and would most likely still have finished ahead of Hamilton, but no doubt guaranteed 2nd.

Let me be clear: I think Norris is a very very talented driver and he is super fast. But i've seen some 'ego' traits - let's call it unhealthy overconfidence - which hamper progress. Today was an example. If he would have been humble enough to go with the team, he would have, again, been p2 PERHAPS even p1 still.

Hero to zero in a single lap.

Anyway, Max had a decent result but the rain got him super lucky there, wow. But let's be honest, it's good to see him get lucky after getting unlucky in other situations - like Baku.
Bottas needs a firm slap at the back of his head.
What on earth was Stroll doing.

The only person i was gutted for was Carlos Sainz.
He drove absolutely fantastic, i'm glad he finished P3 in the end though.

Anyway, interesting result. now off to turkey!

I think you're right. I hope he'll learn. I didn't think about preserving 2nd, because his pitsstop would be free against the rest (not Hamilton).
As you put it, it was a choice: maybe P1 or nothing against sure P2 and maybe P1. Sounds easy, but not for a racer.

I imagined that Hamilton would have stayed out if Norris would have gone in. But I read that Merc was racing Verstappen en would have followed anyway.

Well, that is the big question. Merc did all race a "opposite to" strategy in the pit stops. I would say, that Ham would have stayed out with Lando going in. That would have ended the WDC chances.

[214270]

Pretty much everyone was undecided; ALO and VET quite composed albeit making the wrong call. You can also understand why GAS was pissed, AlphaTauri were very poor.

[e30ernest]

I imagined that Hamilton would have stayed out if Norris would have gone in. But I read that Merc was racing Verstappen en would have followed anyway.

He would have likely pitted as well. The team already knew the rain was coming harder and they already have ample data from other runners how much time can be gained on inters vs slicks. I don't think it was ever an option to stay out for Hamilton.