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

[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.

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

Healthy. I’d say it was rather unhealthy, even to Ferrari as it turned out. And it is you rowing the boat upstream as Ferrari was never really there. Leclerc has 2 wins in his career so far. Vettel lost his seat to leclerc, that’s how competitive they were.

[Gillian]

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.

Healthy. I’d say it was rather unhealthy, even to Ferrari as it turned out. And it is you rowing the boat upstream as Ferrari was never really there. Leclerc has 2 wins in his career so far. Vettel lost his seat to leclerc, that’s how competitive they were.

And you did say "several years". 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2020 are complete Mercedes domination. 2017, 2018 and 2019 can be debated. Takes a very neutral fan to say anything about those seasons. I'd say 4 out of 7 seasons driving a dominant car is indeed several seasons without competition.

[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.

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.

A tale Allright

Bottas, if ever a number 2 was hired and treated like that it is him. When they blamed him for Monaco pit stop en plein publique I thought we saw the bottom of it. Next year, then Mercedes really has two top drivers. I think they are forced into that now with the pressure from redbull plus George is the future, Lewis still is the ace imho on top of his game but it is time for Russell now to step up to the main team. Next year Russell will still need to support Hamilton (unless he starts with an explosion of wins) but the years after that Mercedes will have two great drivers going for their own success. I rate Russell even above Rosberg.

[Mogster]

The images do make it look bad… Personally I tend to think Bottas was racing Lewis rather than the Red Bulls.

[Sieper]

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

Healthy. I’d say it was rather unhealthy, even to Ferrari as it turned out. And it is you rowing the boat upstream as Ferrari was never really there. Leclerc has 2 wins in his career so far. Vettel lost his seat to leclerc, that’s how competitive they were.

And you did say "several years". 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2020 are complete Mercedes domination. 2017, 2018 and 2019 can be debated. Takes a very neutral fan to say anything about those seasons. I'd say 4 out of 7 seasons driving a dominant car is indeed several seasons without competition.

Plus, I rate Lewis much higher than Sebastian. Seb is fast and good, but lacks sometimes sense of reality in a situation, whilst Lewis always knows exactly how to play the game. Rosberg saw that spot on imho.

[dans79]

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.

That's not even close to correct.

watch the start video.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/vide ... 96527.html

by 2 seconds Lewis was well alongside Bottas.

Max was tucked up behind Bottas till 8 seconds into the video, that's more than enough time to check your mirrors and slowey move over to ensure a car behind doesn't get by unless they want to take to the grass!

He didn't even attempt to pinch Max, all he did was ensure both himself and Lewis had crap lines into turn 1!

[Sieper]

Bottas is in tough situations not always very aware of his surroundings or limits. Or do we think he was in Hungary? I really don’t think so. Here he could have been very aggresive on Max, but it didn’t transpire. I do think checo would have taken the inside line, Mexico is easily 3 cars wide on the straight.

[nacho]

Why would Bottas let anyone thru on purpose, it makes no sense, he'll let Hamilton thru if ordered. I think he just made a mistake in not positioning the car so Verstappen couldn't pass on the left or the right, then braked early to let Lewis pass on the inside.

He should have positioned the car better in the straight and even if he didn't he should have brake so deep into the corner that Verstappen could not have been able to pass.

[Gillian]

Healthy. I’d say it was rather unhealthy, even to Ferrari as it turned out. And it is you rowing the boat upstream as Ferrari was never really there. Leclerc has 2 wins in his career so far. Vettel lost his seat to leclerc, that’s how competitive they were.

And you did say "several years". 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2020 are complete Mercedes domination. 2017, 2018 and 2019 can be debated. Takes a very neutral fan to say anything about those seasons. I'd say 4 out of 7 seasons driving a dominant car is indeed several seasons without competition.

Plus, I rate Lewis much higher than Sebastian. Seb is fast and good, but lacks sometimes sense of reality in a situation, whilst Lewis always knows exactly how to play the game. Rosberg saw that spot on imho.

Fully agree.

[dans79]

Bottas is in tough situations not always very aware of his surroundings or limits. Or do we think he was in Hungary? I really don’t think so. Here he could have been very aggresive on Max, but it didn’t transpire. I do think checo would have taken the inside line, Mexico is easily 3 cars wide on the straight.

Bottass just seems to be getting worse by the day when it comes to wheel to wheel racing.

Imo, what he should have done, was as soon has he realized Lewis was along side, he should have slowly moved to the left to ensure less than a cars with of track was between him and the grass. Then all Lewis needs to do is ensure their is less than a cars with between himself and Bottas. That would have allowed the Mercs to basically block the entire track until well into the braking zone when it widens.

That would have put all the pressure on Max and Checo. Max has to decide if he wants to risk getting on the grass to go around the outside, or get pinched Singapore style if he decides to go between them. Checo has to decide between the marbles and also getting pinched Singapore style.Not to mention needing to worry about getting attacked from behind themselves.

[Zynerji]

Bottas is in tough situations not always very aware of his surroundings or limits. Or do we think he was in Hungary? I really don’t think so. Here he could have been very aggresive on Max, but it didn’t transpire. I do think checo would have taken the inside line, Mexico is easily 3 cars wide on the straight.

Bottass just seems to be getting worse by the day when it comes to wheel to wheel racing.

Imo, what he should have done, was as soon has he realized Lewis was along side, he should have slowly moved to the left to ensure less than a cars with of track was between him and the grass. Then all Lewis needs to do is ensure their is less than a cars with between himself and Bottas. That would have allowed the Mercs to basically block the entire track until well into the braking zone when it widens.

That would have put all the pressure on Max and Checo. Max has to decide if he wants to risk getting on the grass to go around the outside, or get pinched Singapore style if he decides to go between them. Checo has to decide between the marbles and also getting pinched Singapore style.Not to mention needing to worry about getting attacked from behind themselves.

As they say hindsight is always 20/20...

[Sieper]

Bottas is in tough situations not always very aware of his surroundings or limits. Or do we think he was in Hungary? I really don’t think so. Here he could have been very aggresive on Max, but it didn’t transpire. I do think checo would have taken the inside line, Mexico is easily 3 cars wide on the straight.

Bottass just seems to be getting worse by the day when it comes to wheel to wheel racing.

Imo, what he should have done, was as soon has he realized Lewis was along side, he should have slowly moved to the left to ensure less than a cars with of track was between him and the grass. Then all Lewis needs to do is ensure their is less than a cars with between himself and Bottas. That would have allowed the Mercs to basically block the entire track until well into the braking zone when it widens.

That would have put all the pressure on Max and Checo. Max has to decide if he wants to risk getting on the grass to go around the outside, or get pinched Singapore style if he decides to go between them. Checo has to decide between the marbles and also getting pinched Singapore style.Not to mention needing to worry about getting attacked from behind themselves.

Yes, I am sure they had a game plan, it didn’t work out though. Bottas seemed to be wanting to go for his own win, he literally said post race he thought Max would not make it. And as we have read here in this topic, he is no number 2 so had all the right from pole to do so I myself did not expect Max to jump that far left, neither did Bottas. I think a lot of people were surprised when it happened where Max turned out to be.

Singapore was very poor racing imho, seb got the blame (and he was squeezing a bit too much). Max did not pull out there but Kimi went off track to overtake and then simply returned where there was no room, I saw him as the main “don’t care what happens” guy there.

In fact the Ferrari move here on Hamilton a few years back was a penalty too if you ask me. “All the time you gotta leave the room”

[dans79]

Bottas is in tough situations not always very aware of his surroundings or limits. Or do we think he was in Hungary? I really don’t think so. Here he could have been very aggresive on Max, but it didn’t transpire. I do think checo would have taken the inside line, Mexico is easily 3 cars wide on the straight.

Bottass just seems to be getting worse by the day when it comes to wheel to wheel racing.

Imo, what he should have done, was as soon has he realized Lewis was along side, he should have slowly moved to the left to ensure less than a cars with of track was between him and the grass. Then all Lewis needs to do is ensure their is less than a cars with between himself and Bottas. That would have allowed the Mercs to basically block the entire track until well into the braking zone when it widens.

That would have put all the pressure on Max and Checo. Max has to decide if he wants to risk getting on the grass to go around the outside, or get pinched Singapore style if he decides to go between them. Checo has to decide between the marbles and also getting pinched Singapore style.Not to mention needing to worry about getting attacked from behind themselves.

As they say hindsight is always 20/20...

lol, Multiple seconds isn't hindsight, it's Bottas showing he can't think on the fly in tactical situations.

[Tizz]

It all depends on the message that Bottas is trying to send, isn’t it?

[codetower]

Or maybe Bottas doen’t give a Sh*t anymore and he’s just racing for himself at this point. In my opinion he was racing both Verstappen AND Hamilton. And (naturally) was outraced by both.

In my view, Mercedes is at fault here for relying on Bottas to play the team game. They either should buy him out and bring in a reserve driver for the last few races, or just not rely on him for strategy. There’s only so much you are going to sacrifice for an ex-employer after you’ve been sacked.