2021 Austrian Grand Prix - Spielberg, July 02 - 04

[zibby43]

The moment the Merc doesn’t have a 2 second advantage, Lewis becomes the punter he’s always been. The Merc has hidden that reality for years now, and thank god F1 finally has competitive sharp end.

2017 and 2018 calling to refute your made-up narrative.

That concludes this call.

Ring ring. What’s that? 2014, 2015, and 2016 calling, where Lewis had a WDC-winning teammate he beat to 2 of the 3 titles those years. Also without a 2-sec advantage.

But those 5 years don’t count as competition.

Conclusion of call 2.

[JPBD1990]

Ferrari should start on hards. Am I correct in thinking they are last weeks mediums, and therefore the same tyres they started on last week? That’d give them a huge strategic advantage over particularly those on softs, but also those on hards - and particularly given their strong and consistent race pace (if it unfolds the same as last week).

My crystal ball prediction: Charles or Carlos will lead this race at some point. I’d peg them both to have a top 6 finish. Lando is the real question mark though. Can he be faster in race trim than he was last week?

Imo verstappen has this one in the bag.

[Hammerfist]

We had that for years. Now we have (possibly) 2 races with a dominant win by someone else. Tomorrow hasn’t even started yet. It is just qualy. Rest of the season is still very much on.

With limited development and budget cap, the second half of this year is likely going to mirror 2013.

We have two races at the same venue. Second hasn’t even started yet. Lewis might still win it. But even if Max wins it, there are still many more races to go, there have already been some were Mercedes were clearly the fastest. Who is to say how it will go. I am now confident it will be a battle but I am totally not confident the battle is over.

The problem is that the Redbull since it left France is a much improved car that was already competing with the Merc. First of all only a green track at Paul Ricard prevented us from seeing what was clear; Redbull was faster in race trim too. Hamilton tried to hang on, but as soon as the track rubbered in, the Redbull was able to gap the Merc and slip out of undercut range, then Max pitted, reeled Hamilton back in and passed him. Then in the span of two weekends we have seen now Checo being able to outqualify both Mercedes. The trend is clear, Redbull getting better, Merc stagnating. The Redbull was faster than the merc on every sector this weekend. Only an admittedly not so perfect lap by Max prevented the gap from being about 0.4sec. That is a huge gap on such a short track with really not many corners. If Merc fails to improve, which is highly likely, Max will put 0.5sec+ on the Merc at Silverstone. I think this is where we are headed, unfortunately for this championship.

[TimW]

https://www.zamg.ac.at/cms/de/wetter/we ... nachmittag

Chance of rain has increased

[mclaren113]

https://www.zamg.ac.at/cms/de/wetter/we ... nachmittag

Chance of rain has increased

We said we don't want to jinx it lol
It'll rain all day except during the race as always

[TimW]

https://www.zamg.ac.at/cms/de/wetter/we ... nachmittag

Chance of rain has increased

We said we don't want to jinx it lol
It'll rain all day except during the race as always

This morning there were still raindrops at the cloud symbol near Spielberg, but 7:42, one minute after my post, they updated it... jinxed you said?

[sosic2121]

That Mclaren was really fast. Wonder what Toto has to say about that PU

how many tenths they have lost on straights because that engine has a trick

[sosic2121]

The problem is that the Redbull since it left France is a much improved car that was already competing with the Merc. First of all only a green track at Paul Ricard prevented us from seeing what was clear; Redbull was faster in race trim too. Hamilton tried to hang on, but as soon as the track rubbered in, the Redbull was able to gap the Merc and slip out of undercut range, then Max pitted, reeled Hamilton back in and passed him. Then in the span of two weekends we have seen now Checo being able to outqualify both Mercedes. The trend is clear, Redbull getting better, Merc stagnating. The Redbull was faster than the merc on every sector this weekend. Only an admittedly not so perfect lap by Max prevented the gap from being about 0.4sec. That is a huge gap on such a short track with really not many corners. If Merc fails to improve, which is highly likely, Max will put 0.5sec+ on the Merc at Silverstone. I think this is where we are headed, unfortunately for this championship.

If you check the lap times, you will see that Hamilton slowed down, probably to protect the tires. Later he was able to do 37s again, and would probably win the race if he hadn't lost the car and left the track with around 5 laps to go.
After that he lost the pace and that "gave" a victory to Max.
While RB is clearly faster car on this track, it doesn't mean it won't be business as usual on the next track.
Also, Singapore being dropped surly favores Mercedes.

[ismail1991]

Mercedes last race tried to get close to redbull in quali which meant they dont have superior tire deg as usual. I think this race they are back to their race setup, they will be a bigger threat for the race.

[jz11]

my personal opinion, which probably has already been said by someone else on this forum, is that RB sensed that this might be the year and simply put most of its resources into this years car, Mercedes - probably the exact opposite, and may have simply given up on this one to focus on dominating years to come, Lewis signing for 2 more years might also be an indicator of this, he probably has couple more championship trophies he wants to add to his collection

[101FlyingDutchman]

Still showing a light rain shower or two over the circuit during the race. If anything it may be moderate rain towards the end of the race. Very much similar to last weekend

[Sieper]

With limited development and budget cap, the second half of this year is likely going to mirror 2013.

We have two races at the same venue. Second hasn’t even started yet. Lewis might still win it. But even if Max wins it, there are still many more races to go, there have already been some were Mercedes were clearly the fastest. Who is to say how it will go. I am now confident it will be a battle but I am totally not confident the battle is over.

The problem is that the Redbull since it left France is a much improved car that was already competing with the Merc. First of all only a green track at Paul Ricard prevented us from seeing what was clear; Redbull was faster in race trim too. Hamilton tried to hang on, but as soon as the track rubbered in, the Redbull was able to gap the Merc and slip out of undercut range, then Max pitted, reeled Hamilton back in and passed him. Then in the span of two weekends we have seen now Checo being able to outqualify both Mercedes. The trend is clear, Redbull getting better, Merc stagnating. The Redbull was faster than the merc on every sector this weekend. Only an admittedly not so perfect lap by Max prevented the gap from being about 0.4sec. That is a huge gap on such a short track with really not many corners. If Merc fails to improve, which is highly likely, Max will put 0.5sec+ on the Merc at Silverstone. I think this is where we are headed, unfortunately for this championship.

Perez (and Norris) both did a great lap (especially Norris) but they also had a nice tow, I think worth 2 tenths. That means still only Max is ahead if Mercedes get their operations together. I am not expecting Max to put any gap on Mercedes (yet). In Portimao only Max tried to put in a fastest lap and even when going outside the tracklimits he just had it by 0.1 second (and Ofcourse it then got stricken). There will be more tracks that suit Mercedes better still to come.

[Sevach]

I wonder what will be Norris behaviour in this race, last time he (under some prodding from the team no doubt) decided to suddenly allow Perez and Bottas through, so what is he gonna do this time?

[Capharol]

The problem is that the Redbull since it left France is a much improved car that was already competing with the Merc. First of all only a green track at Paul Ricard prevented us from seeing what was clear; Redbull was faster in race trim too. Hamilton tried to hang on, but as soon as the track rubbered in, the Redbull was able to gap the Merc and slip out of undercut range, then Max pitted, reeled Hamilton back in and passed him. Then in the span of two weekends we have seen now Checo being able to outqualify both Mercedes. The trend is clear, Redbull getting better, Merc stagnating. The Redbull was faster than the merc on every sector this weekend. Only an admittedly not so perfect lap by Max prevented the gap from being about 0.4sec. That is a huge gap on such a short track with really not many corners. If Merc fails to improve, which is highly likely, Max will put 0.5sec+ on the Merc at Silverstone. I think this is where we are headed, unfortunately for this championship.

If you check the lap times, you will see that Hamilton slowed down, probably to protect the tires. Later he was able to do 37s again, and would probably win the race if he hadn't lost the car and left the track with around 5 laps to go.
After that he lost the pace and that "gave" a victory to Max.
While RB is clearly faster car on this track, it doesn't mean it won't be business as usual on the next track.
Also, Singapore being dropped surly favores Mercedes.

and you don't consider Max would have been able to react as it would have been needed.
most ppl think only 2 dimensional .... "if A does this, he would have..." instead of "if A does this, B could/would react, then A or B would have.. "

[TimW]

Paul Ricard pace has been discussed in the French GP thread, the Styrian GP thread, and now again in the Austrian GP thread? Please agree to disagree