2021 Turkish Grand Prix - Istanbul Park, Oct 08 - 10

[max_speed]

Barring any accidents. Hamilton will have to pass perez and alonso. Any given day perez is more difficult to pass than Bottas and Alonso is in legends league ( on same tyre age and he is also looking handy), if verstappen manage to pass bottas at start, game over for merc.

[search]

What tyres do the drivers have available for the race?

I guess we need to wait for the official file from Pirelli, as no one (but the FIA) knows which dry tires they returned after FP3. Going by the Qualifying attempts though, it looks likely that Red Bull as well as Mercedes & Leclerc kept two sets of new Hards.

[Fulcrum]

Hamilton will probably clear most of the drivers by, or immediately after, the first round of pit stops. Alonso won't repeat Hungary. DRS is too powerful here, and he is driving to maximise points. Defending against a demonstrably faster car will just nuke his race pace.

Mercedes, but particularly Hamilton, were significantly quicker during long runs on Friday; and Hamilton has that fresh engine.

I can see Bottas leading Verstappen, with Hamilton some distance behind, but catching, with 10-15 laps remaining.

Guess what happens next.

Or there could be rain, or many other things (e.g. Hamilton out at turn 1).

[Shrieker]

Any chance for ham to podium is rain honestly. Too difficult in the dry.

[zibby43]

I said Merc would be fast here based on the performance from last year.

Several people said last year didn’t matter. But the trend continues - the circuits Merc were very strong at last year, they’re strong again this year. Particularly since the Silverstone upgrade.

Did Merc run the new FW today?

[zibby43]

Any chance for ham to podium is rain honestly. Too difficult in the dry.

His goal is to still win the race, per his interview. If he’s that optimistic, I’m not counting him out for a podium.

[AeroDynamic]

Post Qualifying press conference

[Big Tea]

Lewis is not winning this unless he overtakes 4-5 guys in the opening lap. The cars infront (Mclaren-Alpha Tauri) are 0.5-0.7s slower than RB on full tanks. Lewis has to overtake so many guys & run behind so many guys. Not to forget Perez & Gasly both. By the time he catches up to Max, Max should be 25-30s ahead. This changes if he has a blistering opening couple of laps & manages to go to P6-P7 types in the 1st 2 laps.

There is more chance of Max pressurizing Bottas & Gasly-Perez are high enough to hold Hamilton. Also, the following car will lose a couple of tenths here & there in the dirty air. There are many fast corners where the chasing car will lose. If Max can go past Bottas in the 1st 2 laps, he can hold him up. And we know RB had better race pace than qualifying in Monza & Russia (Since Silverstone new tyres). And Bottas is not as good in the race than qualifying.

The problem for Max is not Bottas but Leclerc. Leclerc is also a young prodigy in the league of Max & Ferrari have made up a few tenths with the engine upgrade & Charles is good in starts as well & now has the race pace to hang on to Max (Maybe 2 tenths behind like RB is to Mercedes - But that can all evaporate in the dirty air). Hopefully, Max goes past Bottas otherwise Leclerc will put him under pressure.

Hamilton can go to P4-P5, maybe even a podium in a dry race. If it wet all bets are off. Mercedes has the pace to make up grid positions !

I suspect if he wins the damage will be done in the pits. They may even have a wet start, or a tyre swap needed early on, otherwise I see him going long or short and ending up with good free air or having a car with 5 laps newer rubber.

[NL_Fer]

Any advantage in race pace is gone as long Hamilton is behind other. His only change to win, is if Valterri can keep Max behind the whole race and maybe a late SC to everybody closer. This again should be an exciting race.

[Big Tea]

Any advantage in race pace is gone as long Hamilton is behind other. His only change to win, is if Valterri can keep Max behind the whole race and maybe a late SC to everybody closer. This again should be an exciting race.

Aaand we have seen Bottas do this so often we know what the probability of that is, dont we

If Bottas runs his own race and stays in front though it may still help not only stop Max building a gap but having to time the tyre stop

[PlatinumZealot]

What tyres do the drivers have available for the race?

I guess we need to wait for the official file from Pirelli, as no one (but the FIA) knows which dry tires they returned after FP3. Going by the Qualifying attempts though, it looks likely that Red Bull as well as Mercedes & Leclerc kept two sets of new Hards.

One of the RedBulls had a flatspotted medium set and one had a muddy one from going off track. Mild damage actually, and the team will scrape the tyre surface back to true, but that little extra wear could be decisive.

Mercedes though seem to have no issues. Running on rails in the trouble turns 1, 9 and the final turn combination. Just a matter off Valterri scampering off into the distance and Lewis being prudent with his passes. If Max, Perez or even Charles wins tomorrow, I will be seriously impressed.

[nevill3]

Leclerc said they were running less wing today and so things were difficult but it should be an advantage tomorrow, what was his top speed down the back straight??

[214270]

Does this still count as a pole lap for Lewis?

Oddly, I don’t think it does.

He did all the signing of the tyre shenanigans associated with pole, no? Surely, it’s counted as a quali pole but doesn’t get credited as starting the race in first place/pole position.

I don’t understand the logic here but I guess I was wrong.

[AeroDynamic]

Was he miles ahead of Sainz and DR3? I thought sainz was close, and DR3 stayed ahead until he left RB and his engine started to pop every other race

[Artur Craft]

So people troll and gets their comments removed and that's it? Go back go trolling and no other consequences?
Every race weekend there are users who only seem to want to wind up other users.

I´m here since 2010, that´s far longer than most around here. In the old days I used to chat with Steven from time to time and know he´s not the kind of guy, at all, that resembles the typical poster that this forum has had in the last years.

F1technical used to be a very rational place to debate anything in F1, even drivers related discussions, but somehow, it became/turned into a sanctuary for Hamilton fanboys and now anyone who doesn´t subscribe to these irrational narratives about Hamilton, suddenly is called a "troll".

At least I hope Steven is making some revenue to cover the costs of the site, through the google ads. I, at least, whitelisted this site on my adblocker.