2021 Austrian Grand Prix - Spielberg, July 02 - 04

[Mansell89]

I’d have thought we’d see a lot of 11th place onward on hard tyres to start today but much media and paddock chat yesterday was about being on “brand new” mediums.

Surely you’d want the medium tyre on your lighter fuel later on in the race? Unless people are two stopping?

[Wouter]

[pantherxxx]

The track temperature will be colder today. Which team will gain from it, Red Bull or Mercedes?

[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.

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.. "

React to what?
He reacted to Hamilton in DRS zone by crying over the radio that he can't keep driving like that, and at the end of the race gap even widened slightly before Hamilton left the track.

[Big Tea]

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?

Its about points not prestige. I'm sure he would love to be seen fighting off top names and looking good, but I think (especially for his age) he is mature enough to balance points in his pocket against looking good.
If he was seat hunting, yes I think he would have to make a show of it, but he is secure in the team he wants to be in, so its results at the end of the year he needs. (it would be nice to see though )

[Capharol]

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.. "

React to what?
He reacted to Hamilton in DRS zone by crying over the radio that he can't keep driving like that, and at the end of the race gap even widened slightly before Hamilton left the track.

he didnt cry, he stated a fact, and HAM already left a gap before he made the mistake ....
but indeed lets agree to disagree.....

on to race at hand, where the first couple of laps will be determining where everybody might end up.
and when it becomes a 2 stopper Lando has a disadvantage over Verstappen due to the compounds he has left.
Hamilton will finish 2nd or 3rd IMO

[Hammerfist]

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?

Its about points not prestige. I'm sure he would love to be seen fighting off top names and looking good, but I think (especially for his age) he is mature enough to balance points in his pocket against looking good.
If he was seat hunting, yes I think he would have to make a show of it, but he is secure in the team he wants to be in, so its results at the end of the year he needs. (it would be nice to see though )

If Norris believes he has a chance at the win or a podium I think he will fight hard. The reason he let those guys back last weekend is because he did not want to ruin his tires and compromise his race with the rest of the midfield. The podium was never in the cards as Checo was always going to jump him through the pits anyway. But it will be different today, he will be very difficult to pass for either Checo or Lewis.

[e30ernest]

I wonder how aggressive Perez' defense will be on turn 1 if Hamilton tries to pass. I'd imagine RB might tell Perez to defend hard knowing that Hamilton has more to lose than Perez would.

Norris can go both ways. He can go back to what he did last week (not fight the front runners to save tires). However, I do think Norris can also be very aggressive in turn 1 for the same reason as Perez'. If he makes it in front of Max at turn 1, he has a good chance holding that lead for a while given how good the straight line speed is on that McLaren. He will also know that Max may not defend as hard given the importance of the WDC points.

If Norris makes a pass on Max and Hamilton passes Perez, I think this race might get pretty exciting.

[NathanOlder]

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?

Its about points not prestige. I'm sure he would love to be seen fighting off top names and looking good, but I think (especially for his age) he is mature enough to balance points in his pocket against looking good.
If he was seat hunting, yes I think he would have to make a show of it, but he is secure in the team he wants to be in, so its results at the end of the year he needs. (it would be nice to see though )

If Norris believes he has a chance at the win or a podium I think he will fight hard. The reason he let those guys back last weekend is because he did not want to ruin his tires and compromise his race with the rest of the midfield. The podium was never in the cards as Checo was always going to jump him through the pits anyway. But it will be different today, he will be very difficult to pass for either Checo or Lewis.

No chance at all for a Norris win, Mclaren lose almost a second a lap on sundays. Top 3,

Max
Sergio
Lewis

Lando wont have a look at max, even if he gets a good run up to turn 3, they are too friendly with each other off track that Lando wont risk losing Max any points.

[atanatizante]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E5cTIm0XMAE ... name=small

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E5cTOe0XIAE ... name=small

So VER, HAM and BOT will try to do an M-H race and it`ll be interesting to see what strategy PER will have ...

From the strategy panel provided by Pirelli, I think it`d have been nice to see what an M-M-S strategy could do and maybe Perez would show us today ...

[NathanOlder]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E5cTIm0XMAE ... name=small

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E5cTOe0XIAE ... name=small

So VER, HAM and BOT will try to do an M-H race and it`ll be interesting to see what strategy PER will have ...

From the strategy panel provided by Pirelli, I think it`d have been nice to see what an M-M-S strategy could do and maybe Perez would show us today ...

All depends on the first lap, if both RedBulls get away ahead of both Mercedes, then there's no need for Segio to try anything different.

[atanatizante]

So, VER just lost 0.243 sec from last year and HAM a whooping 1.065 sec due to DF loss ... q.e.d.!

[Spacepace]

Looks like a great day at the A1 ring. Wish I was there This seriously looks like pre-covid. Only other live event I had seen like this recently was the Indianapolis 500

[godlameroso]

This is the most METAL national anthem ever! THANK YOU Red Bull!

[Justthatek]

That was awful!