Hammerfist wrote: ↑04 Jul 2021, 07:21
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.