2020 Portuguese Grand Prix - Portimão, October 23 - 25

[Sieper]

34s gap to Verstappen.

Wow.

Verstappen only 9sec gap to Bottas in a Mercedes.

Wow.

Is that going to be RB's official slogan for 2021?

You do know they gambled on the red tire. Even Ferrari hoped to steal P3 away due to that. It was suboptimal but perhaps worth a shot on this track where they had little data on. Max already said on Friday he knew how late it was and usually is right in his estimation.

[ferkan]

Bottas is a joke, burning his tires now everytime in the first rounds.
Put Leclerc or Max next to Hamilton, only that way he can prove he is so great. Now it’s just cruising in history longest dominant car against shitty teammates.

The irony of your post is that leclerc and max have no reference to claim that they are even worthy of cleaning Hamilton's shoes. Yet you think Lewis needs to be proven. Hamilton doesnt have to prove anything at this level. It is Max and Leclerc who need to convince f1 fans that they even can drive within 5 tenths of Hamilton.
I dont think you are watcing F1 long enough to appreciate the drivers' acheivemts.
Max nor Leclerc knows what it is to fight for a champipnship muchless to have to worry about a team mate fighting them all season while fighting another team at the front every weekend for 20 weekends. Those two still a riding with training wheels at the moment, as talented as they are.
Bottas again i feel is grossly underestimated in terms of talent and speed. He is driving against an unbeatable driver who is enlightened. If Bottas leaves Mercedes now to redbull or ferrari he will wipe the floor with max or leclec in qualifying. maybe the race. There is a reason why mercedes keeps giving him contracts and its not because he sucks enough to let let lewis win. Mercedes would love to find a driver to beat lewis.

5 tenths, really now? I mean Max qualified 0.15s and Leclerc 0.4s behind in considerably worse cars (that Ferrari is missing 0.6-1s in engine alone.

[Sieper]

Bottas is a joke, burning his tires now everytime in the first rounds.
Put Leclerc or Max next to Hamilton, only that way he can prove he is so great. Now it’s just cruising in history longest dominant car against shitty teammates.

The irony of your post is that leclerc and max have no reference to claim that they are even worthy of cleaning Hamilton's shoes. Yet you think Lewis needs to be proven. Hamilton doesnt have to prove anything at this level. It is Max and Leclerc who need to convince f1 fans that they even can drive within 5 tenths of Hamilton.
I dont think you are watcing F1 long enough to appreciate the drivers' acheivemts.
Max nor Leclerc knows what it is to fight for a champipnship muchless to have to worry about a team mate fighting them all season while fighting another team at the front every weekend for 20 weekends. Those two still a riding with training wheels at the moment, as talented as they are.
Bottas again i feel is grossly underestimated in terms of talent and speed. He is driving against an unbeatable driver who is enlightened. If Bottas leaves Mercedes now to redbull or ferrari he will wipe the floor with max or leclec in qualifying. maybe the race. There is a reason why mercedes keeps giving him contracts and its not because he sucks enough to let let lewis win. Mercedes would love to find a driver to beat lewis.

5 tenths, really now? I mean Max qualified 0.15s and Leclerc 0.4s behind in considerably worse cars (that Ferrari is missing 0.6-1s in engine alone.

When a guy comes with “not worth to clean his shoes” or things like that it tells you the mindset the post was written in. Best not to reply as you will only trigger more of said interaction. The only real reason to hit so hard at other drivers but the one you admire most can come from one place only.

[zeph]

The first few laps were crazy fun but then the track rubbered in and it was back to business as usual.

I wonder where Perez would have finished had it not been for that kerfuffle with Verstappen.

[dans79]

]
When a guy comes with “not worth to clean his shoes” or things like that it tells you the mindset the post was written in. Best not to reply as you will only trigger more of said interaction. The only real reason to hit so hard at other drivers but the one you admire most can come from one place only.

Oh come on now, I've seen similar stuff from you in the past so get off your moral high horse....

[LM10]

The irony of your post is that leclerc and max have no reference to claim that they are even worthy of cleaning Hamilton's shoes. Yet you think Lewis needs to be proven. Hamilton doesnt have to prove anything at this level. It is Max and Leclerc who need to convince f1 fans that they even can drive within 5 tenths of Hamilton.
I dont think you are watcing F1 long enough to appreciate the drivers' acheivemts.
Max nor Leclerc knows what it is to fight for a champipnship muchless to have to worry about a team mate fighting them all season while fighting another team at the front every weekend for 20 weekends. Those two still a riding with training wheels at the moment, as talented as they are.
Bottas again i feel is grossly underestimated in terms of talent and speed. He is driving against an unbeatable driver who is enlightened. If Bottas leaves Mercedes now to redbull or ferrari he will wipe the floor with max or leclec in qualifying. maybe the race. There is a reason why mercedes keeps giving him contracts and its not because he sucks enough to let let lewis win. Mercedes would love to find a driver to beat lewis.

5 tenths, really now? I mean Max qualified 0.15s and Leclerc 0.4s behind in considerably worse cars (that Ferrari is missing 0.6-1s in engine alone.

When a guy comes with “not worth to clean his shoes” or things like that it tells you the mindset the post was written in. Best not to reply as you will only trigger more of said interaction. The only real reason to hit so hard at other drivers but the one you admire most can come from one place only.

My thoughts exactly. "Not worth to clean his shoes" - it can not get any dumber than that.

[Jolle]

Impressive feat for sure, but i would like someone to step up and challenge him. It would make him even greater, cause cruising to the title every year, takes something away from the achievement.

They try.... but one of his many strengths is that he just crushes any hopes of other drivers. Just look at Bottas the past few weekends. You can have a perfect weekend and you just know that he will come at you in that last lap in Q3 or worse, in the race. Rosberg had to retire because he couldn't do it another year and I'm pretty sure that Hamilton's relentlessness is partly to blame for the mentally drained Vettel at the moment.

He hits you when you think you have a chance....

Rosberg did achieve his hope and dream though. Lewis is the better driver but Nico was close enough that one technical failure sealed the deal. I don’t think he really had to leave, he chose to. The rivalry with Lewis just one of the factors in that. There is more to making F1 tough than just the pressure of your teammate.

Rosberg mentioned it a couple of times that that season drained him. When you’re competing against Hamilton you have no rest and always looking over your shoulder “when is he coming”, even when you’re doing your perfect weekend.

For Rosberg it wasn’t just the four years at Mercedes, he has Hamilton around him like that since karting, this was the first time in 15 years or so that he was able to beat him over a season.

[Sieper]

]
When a guy comes with “not worth to clean his shoes” or things like that it tells you the mindset the post was written in. Best not to reply as you will only trigger more of said interaction. The only real reason to hit so hard at other drivers but the one you admire most can come from one place only.

Oh come on now, I've seen similar stuff from you in the past so get off your moral high horse....

I don’t think I ever said such a thing about top tier drivers? But in any case, if I did at that point the mindset I was then making that in was likely the same don’t you think, so the point is still valid.

[zibby43]

Verstappen only 9sec gap to Bottas in a Mercedes.

Wow.

Is that going to be RB's official slogan for 2021?

You do know they gambled on the red tire. Even Ferrari hoped to steal P3 away due to that. It was suboptimal but perhaps worth a shot on this track where they had little data on. Max already said on Friday he knew how late it was and usually is right in his estimation.

Just some friendly banter.

I actually think Red Bull's strategy to be on a fresh set of Mediums for the meat of the race was a good one. Merc's race pace was just excellent today.

From the perspective of a RB fan, who do you guys want to see in that 2nd seat for 2021? With Mercedes having had the opportunity to switch resources to '21 early, on top of their overhauled intake design next year (which is supposed to be a big step), I anticipate the W12 being a beast.

I expect Honda to make a good step on the PU as well. That said, RB have been relatively untroubled from behind for most of the year, and that is starting to change. It'll be doubly difficult to take the fight to Merc with resurgent Ferraris in the hands of Sainz and LEC without a second car hovering closer to Verstappen.

I do wonder what Gasly did to ruffle feathers at RB, as he would be a no-brainer choice with the incredible season he is having at AT. The AT car, particularly in Gasly's hands, has been a consistent weapon this year.

[NathanOlder]

I think the point people have made or are making is that quite often some users are claiming Hamilton needs a better team mate to prove himself. When in fact its the likes of Max, Charles ect who are the ones who need to prove themselves. Lewis has done his talking on track for 14yrs now. Beating Alonso, Button and Rosberg along the way, yet he still has to prove himself

[miguelalvesreis]

One of those drives that will stick on memory for long!!

Enviado do meu SM-T820 através do Tapatalk

[Big Tea]

Is that going to be RB's official slogan for 2021?

You do know they gambled on the red tire. Even Ferrari hoped to steal P3 away due to that. It was suboptimal but perhaps worth a shot on this track where they had little data on. Max already said on Friday he knew how late it was and usually is right in his estimation.

Just some friendly banter.

I actually think Red Bull's strategy to be on a fresh set of Mediums for the meat of the race was a good one. Merc's race pace was just excellent today.

From the perspective of a RB fan, who do you guys want to see in that 2nd seat for 2021? With Mercedes having had the opportunity to switch resources to '21 early, on top of their overhauled intake design next year (which is supposed to be a big step), I anticipate the W12 being a beast.

I expect Honda to make a good step on the PU as well. That said, RB have been relatively untroubled from behind for most of the year, and that is starting to change. It'll be doubly difficult to take the fight to Merc with resurgent Ferraris in the hands of Sainz and LEC without a second car hovering closer to Verstappen.

I do wonder what Gasly did to ruffle feathers at RB, as he would be a no-brainer choice with the incredible season he is having at AT. The AT car, particularly in Gasly's hands, has been a consistent weapon this year.

From a Red Bull perspective, Gasly is better staying where he is and being joined by Albon.

Even this year, Red Bull is on 226, the closest competitor RP, is on 126 and Merc have already finished.

AT is on 77 Ferrari on 90, Renault on 120, Mclaren 124 and RP 126. The other 3 are just not in it.

Moving Daniil Kvyat to the boss team is just going to pick up points they don't really need, and be a test mule for Max, as Albon seems to be and a combo of Gasly and Albon so AT could easily get then up the sharp end by the end of the season.

Not only that, but they (and we) could see them head to head in identical cars that seem set up well as Gasly is nailing it

[Shrieker]

92 wins - we’ve witnessed history being written today. No matter if you hate or love Lewis, but you need to realize that we will tell people in future that we’ve watched that one driver breaking the record of most wins which probably will never be broken again or at least not in many, many years to come.

Another driver I particularly want to name due to his extraordinary performances lately is Leclerc obviously. I’m almost lost for words for what he’s shown recently. Bright future - the best part of that (for me) being that he’s at Ferrari.

I think Ferrari have restored their car to a respectable level, but Vettel is being kept in the dark. There's just no way how they were somewhat close last year with Lec, but this year they're worlds apart. It just can't only be because of what's going on inside Seb's head. I call bvllsh!t.

[Sieper]

Is that going to be RB's official slogan for 2021?

You do know they gambled on the red tire. Even Ferrari hoped to steal P3 away due to that. It was suboptimal but perhaps worth a shot on this track where they had little data on. Max already said on Friday he knew how late it was and usually is right in his estimation.

Just some friendly banter.

I actually think Red Bull's strategy to be on a fresh set of Mediums for the meat of the race was a good one. Merc's race pace was just excellent today.

From the perspective of a RB fan, who do you guys want to see in that 2nd seat for 2021? With Mercedes having had the opportunity to switch resources to '21 early, on top of their overhauled intake design next year (which is supposed to be a big step), I anticipate the W12 being a beast.

I expect Honda to make a good step on the PU as well. That said, RB have been relatively untroubled from behind for most of the year, and that is starting to change. It'll be doubly difficult to take the fight to Merc with resurgent Ferraris in the hands of Sainz and LEC without a second car hovering closer to Verstappen.

I do wonder what Gasly did to ruffle feathers at RB, as he would be a no-brainer choice with the incredible season he is having at AT. The AT car, particularly in Gasly's hands, has been a consistent weapon this year.

Gasly has improved this year, but I see no major differences with last year. Qualy pace was OK last year as is this year, overtaking skills have improved a bit but I still see him lagging a bit when compared to the top tiers. I think a second stint at redbull would be likely similar to the first one. For me he never had to go. That was the roring masses. If he does not go and replace Ocon at Renault it would be good to see him joined with Tsunoda. Tsunoda seems fast and skilled too. But that would mean next to Kvyat Albon would be out of a seat as well. I expected Albon to be a bit closer, I thought highly of him. Again, I am not out for him being replaced, but likely he will. The 2 names are Perez and Hulkenberg. From those 2 I prefer Hulkenberg. Perez for me is too much looking at only himself. Too Alfa. Ricciardo was always sensible when it came to desperate fights. Norris is very fast, skilled and also like Ricciardo able to look out for the others. That would be a good pairing as well. But he of course is fine where he is.

[Jolle]

92 wins - we’ve witnessed history being written today. No matter if you hate or love Lewis, but you need to realize that we will tell people in future that we’ve watched that one driver breaking the record of most wins which probably will never be broken again or at least not in many, many years to come.

Another driver I particularly want to name due to his extraordinary performances lately is Leclerc obviously. I’m almost lost for words for what he’s shown recently. Bright future - the best part of that (for me) being that he’s at Ferrari.

I think Ferrari have restored their car to a respectable level, but Vettel is being kept in the dark. There's just no way how they were somewhat close last year with Lec, but this year they're worlds apart. It just can't only be because of what's going on inside Seb's head. I call bvllsh!t.

Why can’t it be? The midfield is close and these cars work in a very small window. As we’ve seen at the start of 2019, leclec is fast, especially over one lap. So he already has a tenth or so on Vettel from that. F1 cars need a kind of super human awareness of your mind to get 100%. As we’ve seen in the past, if a driver doesn’t have 100% confidence, he looses a few tenths. Ad those up, and you have the gap.
You could go and look at the previous years at Ferrari, especially his time with Räikkönen. Lots of races where Vettel was clear ahead (his normal advantage over Kimi) and suddenly... the gap was gone for a few races. Same thing.
Leclerc is young, brutal... nothing is going to damage his confidence just yet.