2021 Austrian Grand Prix - Spielberg, July 02 - 04

[grubschumi13]

Well they’ve *lost* 1s of performance (minimum) at every track compared to last year with every vital component of the car frozen except for aero surfaces and 2 tokens, with the only changes being floor/rear brake ducts/diffuser.

Mercedes said themselves they welcome competition, so they must be pleased to have some teams to chase!

It becomes up to Hamilton and Bottas to hook it up on maximum attack, in the style of Norris.

Well said. This is what a little competition looks like. It is such an easy statement to make when you are 0.6 to 1 second ahead. They said they want more competition, let's see how much they like it.

[Ryar]

No DAS which was very important to get heat in their tires. Maybe especially with low rake.plus, especially early season. No single lap ice settings that were impossible to police.

It ain’t DAS.

It ain’t the quali modes. Those were lost halfway through the season.

And the Merc-powered McLaren was fine today.

Both Aston and Merc have lost the most performance of the top teams from last year. And Allison already confirmed it was “hellishly” difficult to find any aero gains after those changes.

It’s that simple. Why look for any other reasons? It doesn’t minimize the fact that after the changes, RBR’s concept finally paid off.

Why sweep them off the table? We were comparing Merc to Merc last season and here they still had both these things last year. Imho that was worth the largest part of the second of pace they lost.

That's a very good point.

[TimW]

Mercedes just accepted they could not win in dry conditions. So they put on more downforce and hope for a wet race. Easy 3rd & 4rd if its dry, 'easy' 1st & ??? If its wet.

It is not 1st if it rains but easy 1st? Why easy ? Because if it is not easy not achievable right ?

Withmore downforce they should have an advantage in the rain, so my uneducated expectation is that Hamilton will be decisively faster than Verstappen (and everybody else) if it rains.

Edit: and the and the quotation marks because it is never easy in the rain.

[Sieper]

Well they’ve *lost* 1s of performance (minimum) at every track compared to last year with every vital component of the car frozen except for aero surfaces and 2 tokens, with the only changes being floor/rear brake ducts/diffuser.

Mercedes said themselves they welcome competition, so they must be pleased to have some teams to chase!

It becomes up to Hamilton and Bottas to hook it up on maximum attack, in the style of Norris.

A few fans of a certain team are really enjoying the Merc schadenfreude this year. No need to veil it. Just let it out.

I think (speaking for myself) I have been very withholding with dishing out “schadenfreude”, by the way, not a single point in this weekend is given yet. Nor is this years battle over, imho still very far from it. But let me tell you, as a Max fan, the abuse received on this very forum has been quite painful. Now you see how hard to swallow that can be. It would be best to all keep a handle on it. I am sure when Lewis still prevails (even tomorrow he can be in the lead in the WDC) a world of hurt is coming, and I know by who too.

[zibby43]

No DAS which was very important to get heat in their tires. Maybe especially with low rake.plus, especially early season. No single lap ice settings that were impossible to police.

It ain’t DAS.

It ain’t the quali modes. Those were lost halfway through the season.

And the Merc-powered McLaren was fine today.

Both Aston and Merc have lost the most performance of the top teams from last year. And Allison already confirmed it was “hellishly” difficult to find any aero gains after those changes.

It’s that simple. Why look for any other reasons? It doesn’t minimize the fact that after the changes, RBR’s concept finally paid off.

Why sweep them off the table? We were comparing Merc to Merc last season and here they still had both these things last year. Imho that was worth the largest part of the second of pace they lost.

I dunno, maybe because they were on pole by nearly a second in Monza, the week the qualifying modes were banned?

They didn’t even use DAS every race last season. Even on weekends it was installed.

Again. The rule change hurt them massively. But that doesn’t minimize what RBR have achieved.

[zibby43]

Mercedes just accepted they could not win in dry conditions. So they put on more downforce and hope for a wet race. Easy 3rd & 4rd if its dry, 'easy' 1st & ??? If its wet.

It is not 1st if it rains but easy 1st? Why easy ? Because if it is not easy not achievable right ?

Withmore downforce they should have an advantage in the rain, so my uneducated expectation is that Hamilton will be decisively faster than Verstappen (and everybody else) if it rains.

Problem is, no rain is forecast now.

[Sieper]

It ain’t DAS.

It ain’t the quali modes. Those were lost halfway through the season.

And the Merc-powered McLaren was fine today.

Both Aston and Merc have lost the most performance of the top teams from last year. And Allison already confirmed it was “hellishly” difficult to find any aero gains after those changes.

It’s that simple. Why look for any other reasons? It doesn’t minimize the fact that after the changes, RBR’s concept finally paid off.

Why sweep them off the table? We were comparing Merc to Merc last season and here they still had both these things last year. Imho that was worth the largest part of the second of pace they lost.

I dunno, maybe because they were on pole by nearly a second in Monza, the week the qualifying modes were banned?

They didn’t even use DAS every race last season. Even on weekends it was installed.

Again. The rule change hurt them massively. But that doesn’t minimize what RBR have achieved.

Agreed, I am just saying it all plays a role. If I am even correct or by how much is debatable. But finally RBR is truely in the mix. I have been waiting for this for years.

Even last year when I expressed some hope after Silverstone, it was more or less “disallowed” by some forum members. They were right for me not to have hope, but nonetheless, it is not nice to experience.

[ringo]

Mercedes just accepted they could not win in dry conditions. So they put on more downforce and hope for a wet race. Easy 3rd & 4rd if its dry, 'easy' 1st & ??? If its wet.

It is not 1st if it rains but easy 1st? Why easy ? Because if it is not easy not achievable right ?

Withmore downforce they should have an advantage in the rain, so my uneducated expectation is that Hamilton will be decisively faster than Verstappen (and everybody else) if it rains.

Edit: and the and the quotation marks because it is never easy in the rain.

You cannot make such a conclusion. They do not have a rain setup. Hamilton is just hoping for rain to level the playing field.
The redbull still has more downforce than them anyway so rain wont give mercedes an advantage.
Mercedes were not gambling on rain. Their greatest hope was a setup that gave them better tyre deg than redbull.

All the same, i am hoping for rain tomorrow, not at the start but before the first stint is over.

[PlatinumZealot]

What i am worried about is this track is a short one. Gaps should be closer here.

It doesn't bode well for the future.

[TimW]

It is not 1st if it rains but easy 1st? Why easy ? Because if it is not easy not achievable right ?

Withmore downforce they should have an advantage in the rain, so my uneducated expectation is that Hamilton will be decisively faster than Verstappen (and everybody else) if it rains.

Edit: and the and the quotation marks because it is never easy in the rain.

You cannot make such a conclusion. They do not have a rain setup. Hamilton is just hoping for rain to level the playing field.
The redbull still has more downforce than them anyway so rain wont give mercedes an advantage.
Mercedes were not gambling on rain. Their greatest hope was a setup that gave them better tyre deg than redbull.

All the same, i am hoping for rain tomorrow, not at the start but before the first stint is over.

Thanks for educating me.

[Ryar]

Mercedes just accepted they could not win in dry conditions. So they put on more downforce and hope for a wet race. Easy 3rd & 4rd if its dry, 'easy' 1st & ??? If its wet.

It is not 1st if it rains but easy 1st? Why easy ? Because if it is not easy not achievable right ?

Withmore downforce they should have an advantage in the rain, so my uneducated expectation is that Hamilton will be decisively faster than Verstappen (and everybody else) if it rains.

Edit: and the and the quotation marks because it is never easy in the rain.

Last time there was a wet race this year, one Mercedes was beached, but got lucky due to red flag and the other was competing with the Williams. This car is not the same as the old cars of Mercedes that had tons of downforce and might even be handful with the track lacking high energy corners to heat up the tyres. Nevertheless, it would be very interesting if it rains.

[Pyrone89]

It is not 1st if it rains but easy 1st? Why easy ? Because if it is not easy not achievable right ?

Withmore downforce they should have an advantage in the rain, so my uneducated expectation is that Hamilton will be decisively faster than Verstappen (and everybody else) if it rains.

Problem is, no rain is forecast now.

Seeing how F1’s weather forecast always seems opposite to what happens, this mean it will be the biggest rainfall Spielberg has ever seen

[Wouter]

TOMORROW :



FRONT ROW :

[atanatizante]

Norris and Russell

I second that!

Hope they didn't set up their car more towards the qualy just to prove a point

[RZS10]

Could anyone with F1TV please check out the queue in Q2 which led to Vettel blocking Alonso?
Bottas and Sainz are being investigated/invited to the stewards but judging by the footage from the driver tracker a few other drivers seemingly behaved similarly - the incident was noted as 15:39 so that should have been from that situation.