F1 Racing

[Hal...]

Well, that was interesting.

Lewis drives better at Silverstone than just about anywhere, doesn't he? He beat Max by only 0.075. That's a difference of 0.133 mph or Lewis crossing the finish line 16.8 ft ahead of Max, essentially one car length. And given how initially the first four spots were Mercedes - Red Bull - Mercedes - RB, it appears Mercedes is back on equal footing. At least, for this race. Someone pointed out, however, that perhaps with only one FP session prior to qualifying, it hindered RB finding the perfect setup. Max did complain about under steer. I suspect, tho, that the way Mercedes and Lewis have been qualifying and racing, he may have just pulled out the perfect lap. Of course, Silverstone is a different kind of track compared to all the previous ones, so maybe it just suits Mercedes better than Red Bull.

Who knows?

Checo had a lap deleted, which dropped him a spot and promoted Leclerc up one. However, Leclerc's time was half a second slower than Bottas' and only 0.069 faster than Norris', so that 4th grid spot doesn't mean much, afaic.

Norris qualified well, again, but Danny Ric is right there, too, with a nearly identical lap time, going only 0.002 seconds slower. If you want to know how close that is, if Norris & Ric started their lap at the same time, Norris would've crossed the finish line 5.3 inches ahead of Ric!

Loved Russell qualifying as well as he did and loved the fans' reaction to it, as well. After seeing his onboard camera during his qualifying lap, it appears the Williams is getting better. Not to take anything away from ol' George. It looked like he drove a perfect lap. If he's still in a Williams next year, there is something seriously wrong with F1. Hell, I thought he should be with a better team this season!

And I have to admit, it was good seeing Vettel in Q3 again. He, btw, beat Alonso by only 0.066 seconds. I also have to admit that when driver lineups were announced last year, I thought Vettel ousting Perez and Alonso coming back to race for Alpine were folly. But so far both are showing their teammates up. Vettel is 16 pts ahead of Stroll and Alonso is 8 pts ahead of Ocon. I guess the old guys know what they're doing.

[Hal...]

I almost forgot. Do any of you guys ever use ESPN to check the broadcast schedule for F1 events? I do because I generally don't record the races.

Anyway, when you first go to their website (https://www.espn.com/watch/schedule/_/type/live), it lists all sporting events that are "Live Now". But there's also a link for "Upcoming". You can also click the drop down menu to the right of that which reads "All Sports", change it to "Auto Racing", and voilà. Easy peasy.

I don't know if any of you have ever used their schedule in the past (last year or before), but for some stupid-ass reason when you clicked on Auto Racing they didn't list F1 events. I emailed them about that and got it fixed.

You're welcome.

BTW, coverage for the Sprint Qualifying begins at 11:23am Eastern (8:23am Pacific, 4:23pm GMT, 6:23pm Moscow Standard, and 12:53am Australian Central Standard Time).

[Duncan Glenday]

Well, that was interesting.

Lewis drives better at Silverstone than just about anywhere, doesn't he? He beat Max by only 0.075. That's a difference of 0.133 mph or Lewis crossing the finish line 16.8 ft ahead of Max, essentially one car length. And given how initially the first four spots were Mercedes - Red Bull - Mercedes - RB, it appears Mercedes is back on equal footing. At least, for this race. Someone pointed out, however, that perhaps with only one FP session prior to qualifying, it hindered RB finding the perfect setup. Max did complain about under steer. I suspect, tho, that the way Mercedes and Lewis have been qualifying and racing, he may have just pulled out the perfect lap. Of course, Silverstone is a different kind of track compared to all the previous ones, so maybe it just suits Mercedes better than Red Bull.

Who knows?

Checo had a lap deleted, which dropped him a spot and promoted Leclerc up one. However, Leclerc's time was half a second slower than Bottas' and only 0.069 faster than Norris', so that 4th grid spot doesn't mean much, afaic.

Norris qualified well, again, but Danny Ric is right there, too, with a nearly identical lap time, going only 0.002 seconds slower. If you want to know how close that is, if Norris & Ric started their lap at the same time, Norris would've crossed the finish line 5.3 inches ahead of Ric!

Loved Russell qualifying as well as he did and loved the fans' reaction to it, as well. After seeing his onboard camera during his qualifying lap, it appears the Williams is getting better. Not to take anything away from ol' George. It looked like he drove a perfect lap. If he's still in a Williams next year, there is something seriously wrong with F1. Hell, I thought he should be with a better team this season!

And I have to admit, it was good seeing Vettel in Q3 again. He, btw, beat Alonso by only 0.066 seconds. I also have to admit that when driver lineups were announced last year, I thought Vettel ousting Perez and Alonso coming back to race for Alpine were folly. But so far both are showing their teammates up. Vettel is 16 pts ahead of Stroll and Alonso is 8 pts ahead of Ocon. I guess the old guys know what they're doing.

All good observations, that I saw as well.

I really hope Ricciardo is back on form, and this isn't just a flash in the pan.

Great to see Norris continue to do well, and Russell is clearly a star of the future. Comparing his performance with Latifi's is amusing.

Interesting to see that the 2 Ferrari drivers have been very closely matched through most of the season.

Alonso took a while to get back into the thick of it, but he's outclassed Ocon in the last 4 races (including this one - so far.)

Raikkonen seems to be washed up, and Vettel seems to be making a come-back.

I would not be surprised to see replacements in 2022 for Riakkonen, Giovanazzi, Tsunoda, Latifi, Mazepin, and Schumacher.

Well ... Latifi and Mazepin will still be there because of their Daddys' check books, and they might keep Schumacher because there's an emotional pull...

[NogbadTheBad]

Very good win for Hamilton. Looked like a racing incident with the Verstappen crash. Guess they had to give him a penalty. Looked like neither were going to back out. Glad Verstappen is OK. The "disrespect " comment is too funny. Like he'd have backed out in the same situation.

[DrGoon]

Very good win for Hamilton. Looked like a racing incident with the Verstappen crash. Guess they had to give him a penalty. Looked like neither were going to back out. Glad Verstappen is OK. The "disrespect " comment is too funny. Like he'd have backed out in the same situation.

Racing incident, and I don't think they should be giving time penalties for that. The sport is enough of a procession without penalizing drivers for committing to hard racing. Hamilton has ceded to Verstappen's aggressive lines the last half a dozen times before this and was presumably expected to again. Turns out the old man still has some race left in him, kid. Maybe leave enough room the next time you open the door on the inside to get the better line through the corner. To be fair to Max - he did adjust his steering when he realized Lewis wasn't going to be cowed. It was just too late. Really nasty spin and side impact though, I do hope he's as well as early indications suggest.

Great effort by Leclerc - just impossible to keep Hamilton at bay once he started having the mapping problems. But that Ferrari looks dangerous now - nothing else can match it for tyre conservation. McLaren are going to have a hell of a job trying to hold on to third place. The two young Brits are great, Norris was unlucky in the pits or he'd likely have made the podium again, but Russell needs to improve his standing starts. Also Alonso appears to have lost nothing other than a first class car. Quite a few moments of brilliance from him again this weekend.

[Hal...]

Fucking Bottas. He should be disqualified for the next race.

[NogbadTheBad]

Utterly weird seeing Hamilton on his own for the restart, Bottas will probably have grid place penalty for the next race.

[Hal...]

Yeah, they announced he'd get a 5 spot grid penalty. Which is what Stroll got for taking out Leclerc. The difference being Bottas damaged Norris' and Perez's car badly enough they couldn't continue and also severely damaged Max's car, knocking him out of contention for a podium finish. I've always felt there should be stiffer penalties if a driver causes a collision and puts a car out of a race. And tack on more penalties if more than one car is involved. And if it puts you beyond position 20, you get suspended for the next race. It's like getting two yellow cards in soccer, which equals a red.

[NogbadTheBad]

Very nice to see the Ocon / Vettel duel and the Hamilton / Alonso battle. Great drive by Hamilton given the hole he started in.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

I guess this is why they keep Bottas on Merc. Certainly can't get a second number one to take out your rivals like this.

[NogbadTheBad]

Pretty clever how he went through Norris to get at Verstappen and maintain deniability

[NogbadTheBad]

And Vettel disqualified for not having 1 liter of fuel at the end of the race.

[Duncan Glenday]

WEIRD race all round!

DQ-ing Vettel is bloody unfair. For things like that, and unsafe releases, a penalty should be leveraged on the team, not on the driver - who was guilty of nothing.

Yes, I know it doesn't work that way - win as a team / lose as a team, and it's supposed to be about the constructors ... but I stand by my position

[SteveSly]

WEIRD race all round!

DQ-ing Vettel is bloody unfair. For things like that, and unsafe releases, a penalty should be leveraged on the team, not on the driver - who was guilty of nothing.

Yes, I know it doesn't work that way - win as a team / lose as a team, and it's supposed to be about the constructors ... but I stand by my position

I watched the race today and yea it was pretty crazy. One thing I am unclear on is what is an "Unsafe release"? That is not a term I am familiar with in U.S. racing.

[Sunlight Caller]

^ This is a release from a pit stop, where the driver is let go by the pit crew and it is too close to another car entering the pits. This happened yesterday and caused a pit lane collision.

It was a crazy race yesterday, and surprising that Mercedes once again messed up on a strategy call at the start. Lewis would have won by a distance without that tyre error, but it made for some interesting racing thereafter. Alonso really won that one for his team though, holding Lewis back for some ten laps (it seemed that long at least) with some high speed obstructive manoeuvres, all in the spirit of the game though. Whatever your views of Lewis, he again demonstrated his racer instincts and skills.

[Duncan Glenday]

^ This is a release from a pit stop, where the driver is let go by the pit crew and it is too close to another car entering the pits. This happened yesterday and caused a pit lane collision.

It was a crazy race yesterday, and surprising that Mercedes once again messed up on a strategy call at the start. Lewis would have won by a distance without that tyre error, but it made for some interesting racing thereafter. Alonso really won that one for his team though, holding Lewis back for some ten laps (it seemed that long at least) with some high speed obstructive manoeuvres, all in the spirit of the game though. Whatever your views of Lewis, he again demonstrated his racer instincts and skills.

I've never understood the hate that Hamilton gets.

My wife and I were fans from the beginning - initially, because of his attitude in interviews.

Post-race interviews of the race winners:
- Every other driver : I did this, I did that, I, I, I...
- Hamilton : Thanks to the team, love the fans, congratulations to (whoever else did well in the race)...

[SteveSly]

^ This is a release from a pit stop, where the driver is let go by the pit crew and it is too close to another car entering the pits. This happened yesterday and caused a pit lane collision.

It was a crazy race yesterday, and surprising that Mercedes once again messed up on a strategy call at the start. Lewis would have won by a distance without that tyre error, but it made for some interesting racing thereafter. Alonso really won that one for his team though, holding Lewis back for some ten laps (it seemed that long at least) with some high speed obstructive manoeuvres, all in the spirit of the game though. Whatever your views of Lewis, he again demonstrated his racer instincts and skills.

Ah, ok that makes sense. Thanks!

[NogbadTheBad]

I've never understood the hate that Hamilton gets.

My wife and I were fans from the beginning - initially, because of his attitude in interviews.

Post-race interviews of the race winners:
- Every other driver : I did this, I did that, I, I, I...
- Hamilton : Thanks to the team, love the fans, congratulations to (whoever else did well in the race)...

I think he quite enjoys the Dutch fans booing him. He's had so much success it's not surprising he's become the cartoon villain. I find his post race interviews very cookie cutter bland it's all about the team stuff but he's had to be interviewed post race so often its hardly surprising.

I did like that when he got the chance to think about he he said there was nothing wrong with Alonso's driving and that he drove fantastically well.

From BBC article:-
Hamilton complained on the radio a couple of times about what he saw as over-zealous defending, but admitted afterwards: "Now, looking back on it, it was amazing. It really, really was fantastic.

"It's a really difficult circuit to overtake on in general, and to follow particularly in that last sector, but great, great wheel-to-wheel battles.

"He probably is one of the hardest drivers - but fair. [Although] I'd say today was maybe a little bit on the limit."

Ocon interrupted: "He has to do that to keep you behind!"

To which Hamilton replied: "Yeah, I totally get it and I would do the same for my team."

[Duncan Glenday]

I think he quite enjoys the Dutch fans booing him. He's had so much success it's not surprising he's become the cartoon villain...

Few people remember that Schumacher was pretty UNpopular when he was constantly willing everything.

Today, he's canonized.

[NogbadTheBad]

Few people remember that Schumacher was pretty UNpopular when he was constantly willing everything.

Today, he's canonized.

Senna was the same.

[Hal...]

I've never understood the hate that Hamilton gets.

My wife and I were fans from the beginning - initially, because of his attitude in interviews.

Post-race interviews of the race winners:
- Every other driver : I did this, I did that, I, I, I...
- Hamilton : Thanks to the team, love the fans, congratulations to (whoever else did well in the race)...

I'm sorry to say, Duncan, but I think you're exaggerating. I hear drivers all the time say "we" and both see and/or hear them congratulate others who've won or, at the very least, acknowledge the other(s) were the better driver/team that day. And I've also heard Lewis do the same thing (not congratulate but just acknowledge). It's true, however, I haven't kept tabs of every comment made by every driver but most have, from what I've seen, taken responsibility for their screw-ups but then use "we" for both successes and mistakes, even when it's been the team that screwed up and not the driver.

And as an example, Vettel waited to congratulate Ocon on his victory, including giving him a hug, and then said in his interview how he pushed hard but Ocon "stayed on track" and then said, "well deserved for him to celebrate his first victory". He also complimented him again near the end of his interview.

As for Ocon, he came off to me as quite humble.

[Sunlight Caller]

I’ve always liked Lewis too, and he gets a bad press from time to time, but that comes with the multi-championship and multi-million contract territory. It is a shame that it all kicked off between him and Max, they were inevitably going to come together sooner or later, and rivalry is great, but respect without animosity would be preferable. I think Christian Horner stokes up the fire there too, and I don’t find him a particularly likeable character in all of this.

Lewis was great at the weekend when he sided with Seb after the race on the wearing of the pride t-shirt issue too.

[SteveSly]

Few people remember that Schumacher was pretty UNpopular when he was constantly willing everything.

Today, he's canonized.

I think that happens in most forms of racing. I am big into World Of Outlaw Sprint car racing. There is a guy named Donny Schatz who dominated the championship several years in a row. All of a sudden everyone hated him. All he did to piss people off was win all the time.

[Just Eric]

I think we were robbed of a Max v. Hamiton race yesterday, but gifted with a nearly new podium. Bottas driving like an idiot impacted 5 racers and only got 5 grid spots? That does not seem like much. I wonder if his performance yesterday will weigh in on the Mercedes decision for 2022. I sent in my application, but haven't heard back yet. I was even careful to indicate I could drive a manual transmission and sometimes touch 100 mph late at night on the freeway.

[Duncan Glenday]

...I sent in my application, but haven't heard back yet. I was even careful to indicate I could drive a manual transmission and sometimes touch 100 mph late at night on the freeway.

If everyone in PE signs a petition, I think it will convince Toto. I'll start a thread.