2021 Formula 1 Grand Prix De Monaco

[Exar Kun]

Politics aside, it's not uncommon that causing a red flag deletes your fastest time. They do it in V8s and there's no complaints about the rule there.

I'm not a Lewis fan boy but to say they asked him to push and he didn't is a bit silly. Of course he pushed - why wouldn't he? The guy knows how to put in a quick lap. The strategy was flawed. No one's hard tyres came up to temp on the outlap. No way Mercedes could have known that of course as they were first to pull the pin. They also couldn't have known just how much the leaders were saving their tyres - especially since Bottas was a bit useless and unable to keep up with Max at that point. Moaning about the situation isn't going to help of course but I guess at that point when you know you're just going to spend the rest of the race staring at someone else's gearbox you've got nothing else to do.

The Mercedes may not suit Monaco that well but Bottas was able to put together a single lap. If Lewis was as far in front of Bottas as he normally is then he should have been able to put it on the front row and control things.

[norbs]

Yep. Didn't see him calling for it when Rosberg screwed Hamilton's lap a few years back. Also Leclerc genuinely crashed rather than conveniently parking.

I think as soon as Hamilton lost position to Gasly and Vettel he lost interest massively. But he was never going to do a lot better than that all weekend. The merc doesn't suit Monaco that well.

I don't know Kev, Bottas seemed to be getting it around ok.

But I agree, once he threw the toys out of the pram, it was over. I expect he will be all fired up next round.

[Exar Kun]

It'll be interesting to see how the season plays out as Lewis traditionally has a tremendous back half to the season but then again, Red Bull are usually coming on strong then too, having typically been slow out of the blocks. Fingers crossed it goes down to the wire.

Lewis and Max are clearly the top 2 drivers in F1 so it's great to see them battling up front.

[norbs]

Anyone else worried Ricciardo has missed the boat? The WC boat I mean?

Being lapped by your team mate cant be good for confidence.

[VTRacing]

Anyone else worried Ricciardo has missed the boat? The WC boat I mean?

Being lapped by your team mate cant be good for confidence.

I wouldn't say the being lapped thing is too big of a deal, he was stuck behind Raikkonen etc. for the race, plus it's a short lap. He wouldn't have been lapped in free air. His pace on the medium was shit, but on the hard tyre he was matching the leaders (for what it's worth).

But, I think it's pretty clear that the chances for Ricciardo to win the WC are very slim. The only way I can see it happening is for the '22 McLaren to do a Brawn GP and steal a march on the opposition, and then he has to beat Norris (which could prove to be very tough).

There is always that question mark with him, that he couldn't stay with Max when Max clicked into another gear in 2018. And this new generation of Verstappen, Leclerc, Norris, Russell (and maybe adding Sainz, surprisingly) are all stupidly fast.

[w00dsy]

Apparently he set the 4th fastest lap.

[Duke]

Much like MW, I don't see any Australian winning the F1 DWC unless they are the only one able to do so in thier team or their team has 2 Aussie drivers... #sadfact

I mean let's face it, the sponsor dollars don't come from the southern hemisphere. So snowballs chance they'll let a non-euro driver win it unless it's the last choice.

So F1 & Loowis can sprout all they like about diversity & inclusion. But only as long as you come from a certain continent.

[Duke]

Oh & that race was the most boring I can remerber. The field spread was also not your typical Monaco race for some reason.

But it's sure spiced up the DWC, be more the sweeter when Loowis wins his record 8th title.

[w00dsy]

Only 1 exciting thing happened (Vettel and Gasley racing up the hill side by side) and they cut away from it so we could watch Stroll fuck up a kerb.

[Exar Kun]

Dan's not an adaptable driver. He was a gun in the narrow-body cars but when 2017 hit he just couldn't extract the maximum from those. Started to come good at Renault when I guess the car development was influenced by his preferences but into a new car again and he can't drive it to its potential.

[norbs]

Hilarious

[norbs]

Watch the mechanic on the right front. Something is wrong there. He get s literally twisted across the ground by the gun.



Toto blaming Bottas for stopping early seems like BS to me. Im tipping Bottas wont be there next year.

My other question for the weekend. WTF was S Williams doing cutting into the winners interview? Well, why was she even asked?

[DarrenM]

Toto blaming Bottas for stopping early seems like BS to me. Im tipping Bottas wont be there next year.

Seems pretty close to his marks

[Duke]

Hilarious

I get his frustration, why ask him to save the soft tyres to then stop him first...?
Expecting to pull a miracle out lap on the mediums surely wasn't what they expected of him given he wasn't able to switch them on at any point of the weekend. So for me the strategist seemed to have farked up with this one but would be good to know why they made that call as there must have been some rationale behind it.

As for blaming Bo77as, what a cop out & beat down for him. He would be better off leaving Merc even if it means he may never get another win.
But I do have a bet with my son that when he releases his biography that he will confirm his contract was as a No.2 driver. As Merc didn't want another Loowis vs Rosberg situation to deal with.

As for the poor wheel nut... fark'n hell!!!

[durbster]

Toto blaming Bottas for stopping early seems like BS to me. Im tipping Bottas wont be there next year.

Definitely getting those vibes from this year. Him not letting Hamilton past in Spain and the idea even entering Toto's head to put any blame on Bottas for this is all pointing that way.

My other question for the weekend. WTF was S Williams doing cutting into the winners interview? Well, why was she even asked?

Yeah that was all very awkward and I'm not sure she was expecting it. She's a pro though, and I thought did a good job of answering if she'd enjoyed what was a bloody awful race.

[Big Kev]

I think she just happened to be standing there and really wasn't expecting DC to call her over. She clearly knew absolutely zero about F1

Interesting to see that Hamilton is now saying something needs to be done to make Monaco more interesting. Didn't seem to be a problem with it when he was winning or getting podiums. But as soon as he's 7th, BAM! Monaco is crap and needs to change!

[durbster]

Hamilton said that on the Wednesday before the race so I don't think it was sour grapes:
https://www.racefans.net/2021/05/19/mon ... -hamilton/

[Big Kev]

Ah. I owe him an apology then...... nah whatever

[KNAPPO]

Toto blaming Bottas for stopping early seems like BS to me. Im tipping Bottas wont be there next year.

Seems pretty close to his marks

Fronts are lined up but going by the rears, the wheelbase is longer than the box marks for the rear mechanics...

[durbster]

Fronts are lined up but going by the rears, the wheelbase is longer than the box marks for the rear mechanics...

The wheelbase is also Bottas' fault.

Meanwhile, that right front wheel:

[Big Kev]

That's probably a camera fisheye parallax thing. I can't imagine Merc have the lines that far off.

[pixelboy]

I blame the ratchet man for powering it up before it was in properly. Went in spinning and destroyed the teeth.

I bet his name was Bottas also.

[norbs]

[Big Kev]

Ted Kravitz was saying that McLaren and Ferrari have a nut which can be hit with a hammer and it splits in half if that situation arises. I'm surprised that's not an issue with wheel to wheel bumps or tapping the wall at a street circuit but maybe you have to whack it in the right place.

[Duke]

Some really honest analysis on the events of last weekend by Merc.