2021 Mexican Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Nov 05 - 07

[JPower]

For Sergio to be so close to him, it was obvious that the RBR had the superior car...

Well he's right, isn't he? Sure, not very nicely put but that's racing drivers for you. All of them are walking, talking egos.

I mean, yeah, but could have just let the man enjoy his home race podium without being so un-sportsmanlike.

It wasn't a dig so I don't see what the big deal is.

[LionKing]

Perez should have answered to Lewis that if he hadn't underperformed in quali, then maybe he could have won the race...

[Sieper]

It wasn’t a dig, but it was shifting the perspective. He wasn’t beat by Max, his car was not worthy. The car that put both him and Valterri in front of Max at the start.

[dans79]

Perez should have answered to Lewis that if he hadn't underperformed in quali, then maybe he could have won the race...

He for sure wouldn't have braked early and given Max the ideal racing line!

[Zynerji]

It wasn't a dig.

Some people just live to take shots at Hamilton, and others are desperate to make it sound like Max has not advantages, so if he does win, it will all be because of him and nothing to do with the car!

Which is exactly what they say about Hamilton, even tho he has driven the championship winning car for the last 7 seasons...

[Sieper]

I think that should Max win this year, yes it is mostly on him. He finally has the car to do so. It is not him and Perez in P1 and P2 and deciding amongst themselves who will take the WDC like it has been for several years with Mercedes.

[Zynerji]

I think that should Max win this year, yes it is mostly on him. He finally has the car to do so. It is not him and Perez in P1 and P2 and deciding amongst themselves who will take the WDC like it has been for several years with Mercedes.

The true tale. Right here.

[atanatizante]

I have a gut feeling that Merc, knowing they have no chance to win this race, just did a gamble on race strategy, opting for a higher top speed which could give them both the front row (achieved!) and a hold of positions in the race, bearing in mind how difficult it is to overtake here ...

[Alvareth]

Pretty sure Bottas wasn't worried about the slot which may or may not appear between himself and Hamilton for Verstappen to slide in through. That's ridiculous. Maybe it would have been enough of a slot, maybe not.

If Verstappen ended up switching on the dirty inside, he would have had to brake earlier and worry about running across Perez.

What exactly are you arguing? That there was no way Merc could have handlded the run to T1 any better?

The point is Bottas didn't defend the outside line. If he had, Max would have had to slow down.
Instead, we got this gargantuan gap.

https://i.ibb.co/sjLX7V0/SI202111070640 ... 8d9a45.jpg

In hindsight, they could've. With what they probably planned (ie a Ferrari style boxing in), not really, and by the time Bottas took notice of this Verstappen was already swinging out to come alongside and he would've copped a penalty for blocking him off.

Even if Verstappen had braked earlier, he would've been on the inside line going into turn 1, which again with one eye towards CotA was likely not Merc's desired scenario. The braking performance gap between RB and Merc at the start was so huge that Verstappen likely would've ended up winning those corners anyway even on the inside line.

Absolutely. The guys blaming Bottas miss three things:
- He did not know how quick Hams start was and could not see him in the mirror.
- Ver did not brake later just because of the line. He was later on the brake, because Merc had issues into turn 1 all weekend and Ham has a bad history with T1 here. Both Mercs were early on the brake.
- You do not give up the inside line for T1. Never ever. Protect the outside line...what bullshit is this. With Ver on the inside at least one or both Mercs would have ended on the grass. Ver would have squeezed Ham for sure.

Exactly nailing the problem Bottas was confronted with.... He was occupied with giving Hamilton a slip stream, but Hamilton was too fast... So he missed him in the mirrors. He then looked to the left to find Verstappen, but he was already there. So all he could do was stay on his line and brake early to give Hamilton the inside line. Bad enough Verstappen sailed by with late braking on the racing line. He didn't expect Verstappen to make the corner, because his reference point is the Mercedes: bad in the corners. Ricciardo got caught off guard with the early braking of Bottas and hit the tail of Bottas. Exactly the reason why the officials didn't further investigate the incident. And remember that Bottas has to process all this information in 4-5 seconds: Impossible.

The main problem: Mercedes should have let Bottas race and let him go straight away to the racing line instead of let him try to be tactical. We all have seen on Q3 what happened when Tsunoda tried to get out of the way. The dirt dust he created screwed Perez and the incident escalated to Verstappen his run.

[Marty_Y]

I think that should Max win this year, yes it is mostly on him. He finally has the car to do so. It is not him and Perez in P1 and P2 and deciding amongst themselves who will take the WDC like it has been for several years with Mercedes.

You are constantly peddling your false narrative that Lewis has had no real competition, apart from last year he had healthy competition from Ferrari.

[Zynerji]

I think that should Max win this year, yes it is mostly on him. He finally has the car to do so. It is not him and Perez in P1 and P2 and deciding amongst themselves who will take the WDC like it has been for several years with Mercedes.

You are constantly peddling your false narrative that Lewis has had no real competition, apart from last year he had healthy competition from Ferrari.

Ferrari was trash last year, and extra-legal the year before.

The only competition Lewis has really had was 2016.

[Zynerji]

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2021/11/ ... -at-perez/

Apparently I wasn't the only one that caught this!

[Marty_Y]

I think that should Max win this year, yes it is mostly on him. He finally has the car to do so. It is not him and Perez in P1 and P2 and deciding amongst themselves who will take the WDC like it has been for several years with Mercedes.

You are constantly peddling your false narrative that Lewis has had no real competition, apart from last year he had healthy competition from Ferrari.

Ferrari was trash last year, and extra-legal the year before.

The only competition Lewis has really had was 2016.

I did say apart from last year, and Mercedes didn't know if Ferrari were bending the rules in 2019, they still had to beat them.
I think you're being very disrespectful to Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari who until last year put up a good and fair (in terms of drivers behaviour) challenge.

[Just_a_fan]

I think that should Max win this year, yes it is mostly on him. He finally has the car to do so. It is not him and Perez in P1 and P2 and deciding amongst themselves who will take the WDC like it has been for several years with Mercedes.

The true tale. Right here.

Also known as "having no competition" or "being dedicated number 1 driver". Having the car makes life easier, having the car and a team mate that you know isn't allowed to race you makes life even easier again.

Oh, look, Mercedes didn't do that. Red Bull did.

True tale.

[Just_a_fan]

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2021/11/ ... -at-perez/

Apparently I wasn't the only one that caught this!

And this clarification helps to put it in to context.

“My comment was simply that following another car in Mexico is the hardest thing due to the low drag we all have.

“That’s why there is very little overtaking. However, he was able to follow so closely which highlights just how much more downforce they were able to carry. Big up Checo for keeping it clean.”