When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Feel bad for Norris, it was his race. McLaren messed up the rain tire call
Happy for LH to reach 100 wins! and of course he doubted the MB rain tire call
Max and Carlos also drove great
McLaren pit wall sounded like they wanted inters, Lando said no. The team should've ordered him to come in at least to cover off Hamilton. Leclerc was another one that thought slicks would work.
I thought I'd heard that a team can't order a pit stop. That the driver has to request/initiate it. Some technicality in the rules.
?
The team can order a pit stop and routinely they do, they just can't do it on the formation lap. The teams can't advise on burn outs and any driver aids during the formation lap.
Possibly the best Russian GP since its inception.
Super bummed for Lando. He had a free stop to go to inters. Those last few laps were excellent. Was glad to see VB make some leaps with the switch to inters & the chaos at the end.
Something I learned from this article is all the teams get the same weather forecasting service
Since 2017 that job has been taken by Meteo France, which provides the same data and information to teams, FOM and the FIA.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was clear that his team made its call to pit Lewis Hamilton for inters based on exactly the same weather information as other teams.
"It's Meteo France, the official FIA weather channel," he said. "It is what everybody has available."
So it wasn't that McLaren's weather forecast was wrong.
^^ I was aware of that so-called universal weather casting service available to the teams, however, I always wondered if the teams didn't have personnel at varying distances out around the track advising on changing weather. Lando screwed the pooch on that one as it was his call to stay out which obviously was wrong.
The grip deteriorated quick quickly as the rain came. When Lando made the call to stay out, it was still reasonable to be on slicks, but it quickly became undrivable (as seen) where the rain was falling.
Ans Sochi is a relatively compact track. not like Spa, where you can get varying weather throughout the lap with how large the whole complex is.
Well, it drizzled, Lando thought he could handle it on slicks (as did LH) then it started raining harder, a lot harder. That second wave is what did Lando in.
FWIW, Adrian Newey's autobiography is online for free, either read it online or download the pdf (Google Play imported it with no error's)
Most of the book covers several of the very famous cars he's designed (Williams, FW14, FW16, FW18, Red Bull...).
Recommended if you're into Newey and the technical side.
Lance Stroll will retain P11 at the Russian Grand Prix despite receiving a 10-second penalty for contact with Pierre Gasly.
As the rain began to fall at the Sochi Autodrom, conditions became treacherous and Stroll was one of many to find out as he went off and rejoined the track.
In doing so though he collided with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, and despite the stewards factoring in the conditions and Stroll’s ageing tyres, they still determined that a penalty was needed.
Stroll does in fact remain in P11 though after its application, but the two penalty points also added to his total takes him to eight for the 12-month period – just four away from a race ban.
“The stewards heard from the driver of Car 18 (Lance Stroll), the driver of Car 10 (Pierre Gasly) and team representatives, reviewed the video evidence and determined that the driver of Car 18 was wholly to blame for the collision with Car 10 at Turn 8,” the stewards declared.
“Although noting the evidence of the driver of Car 18 that the conditions were extremely slippery, especially as he was on old hard tyres, the stewards determined that it was still the responsibility of the driver to ensure that having left the track due to those very same conditions, he drove appropriately taking them into account when he re-joined and turned into the next corner, considering there were two other cars in close proximity.”
There was also contact for Stroll with his own team-mate Sebastian Vettel in a dramatic final stretch to the chequered flag.
“It was tricky, a shame we didn’t pick up points today,” Stroll told reporters in the paddock.
Speaking to the Aston Martin website he added: “It is a real shame that the change in weather cost us a strong chance of a good result and plenty of points.
“In hindsight, stopping one lap earlier for intermediates could have changed our race, but it is always hard to judge when the conditions are evolving.
“I made the call for us to stay out and try to make it to the end, so it is down to me. It is even more disappointing considering we made a great start and got up to fourth in what was a really enjoyable battle in the first few corners.
“We made the undercut on George [Russell] later on, which worked out nicely, but the second stint on the hard tyre was made more challenging by the DRS train of cars ahead, which always hurts the tyres, and then it rained.
“It became very slippery out there and I did not see Sebastian alongside me. We will learn from today and move on to Turkey in a few weeks’ time.”
Ironic thing is that although the rain helped Hamilton get his win, it helped Verstappen even more in the championship battle. If the rain didn't come, Hamilton would have finished 2nd and Verstappen 7th, which is a 12 point difference. After it rained, Hamilton finished 1st and Verstappen 2nd, which is only a 5 point difference.
So from the big picture, Hamilton and Wolff probably regrets that it rained.
Having not been used for F1 since 2011, Istanbul Park was resurfaced in 2020 as part of the preparations for the sport's return.
However, the work was completed only a couple of weeks before the race. Drivers struggled for grip on the new surface with Pirelli's hardest dry compounds as they could keep temperature in their tyres.
The Italian company said it would have made softer compound choices had it known in time that the resurfacing was underway.
The problem was further exacerbated by the heavy rain that hit both qualifying and race itself, making conditions even trickier for the drivers.
FIA race director Michael Masi recently informed the F1 teams that as part of a package of updates "the entire track surface has been treated to increase the grip level," a change that comes on top of the usual ageing of the new surface.
The extra grip will create an extra challenge for the teams as the data they gathered last year will now be less relevant.
"We do regularly each season send updates to the teams about any circuit changes for upcoming events," said Masi. "Be they be barriers, fences, gates, whatever. It may be areas of resurfacing.
"So yes, the surface in Turkey has been effectively water-blasted, would probably be the best way to put it, which is a regular treatment that happens.
"We have seen that regularly used in Singapore as an example, where the public roads that are used they resurface those quite regularly because of the movement. That is what has happened there, along with a few other changes."
Asked if the circuit had got it wrong in 2020, Masi added: "I think it was just matter of timing last year, I think we said that at the time. It was just literally a matter of timing, and they have rectified that accordingly."
After last year's race, F1 managing director Ross Brawn insisted that the lack of grip had been a good challenge for the drivers.
"I appreciate drivers were not happy with overall grip levels," he said. "But it was a consequence of the late decision to race there as the calendar was revised to respond to COVID-19.
"I think drivers sometimes need to remember it's a competition of who crosses the line first, so while grip levels weren't high, it was the same for everyone.
"Some drivers got their head down and came to terms with it, others found it a distraction.
"Having a challenging surface as we had this weekend was no bad thing. It showed a driver's talent to the max. I don't think grip levels are a measure of the level of competition you will have."
I bought a model of the 3G TL (have owned an 04 and still own an 08 TL-S) from these guys earlier this summer and it is nicely detailed. Of course I wound up on their mailing list and got an email today for
$219.95 ETA Apr 2022 1/18 Red Bull Racing Honda RB16B No.33 Red Bull Racing Winner Dutch GP 2021 Max Verstappen With Pit Board
$219.95 ETA Apr 2022 1/18 McLaren MCL35M No.3 McLaren Winner Italian GP 2021 Daniel Ricciardo With Pit Board
Please note the ETA for either is April next year.
There's a cyber conference in DC today that my brother (and his Staffordshire Bull Terrier) is at and managed to see their F1 car (probably a show car) and get some time on their demo simulator (which is definitely not the simulator their drivers use). He said it was alot of fun to drive.
I bought a model of the 3G TL (have owned an 04 and still own an 08 TL-S) from these guys earlier this summer and it is nicely detailed. Of course I wound up on their mailing list and got an email today for
Please note the ETA for either is April next year.
There's a cyber conference in DC today that my brother (and his Staffordshire Bull Terrier) is at and managed to see their F1 car (probably a show car) and get some time on their demo simulator (which is definitely not the simulator their drivers use). He said it was alot of fun to drive.
Nice. But I think Chief has a better rig than that.
Friend of mine was at 2018 24 Hours Of Daytona, he was roaming the paddocks looking for Alonso (whom was rarely seen outside the car) but came across his teammate Norris and got a selfie.
Said he was nice to chat with. not pretentious or attitude. He's been to a quite a few F1 races but said Daytona is the best place to casually meet drivers (he met JPM, Rahal, Dixon..... ).