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Something is amiss with Stroll's absence from the last race and negative Covid tests, only for him to reveal that he's now in isolation after testing positive.
Either the tests that Stroll took returned a false negative, or the issue has been "managed" by the team. If the former, then we need to understand why. If the latter, it's massively irresponsible and Racing Point should be sanctioned for putting team members at risk. That's now two RP drivers who've tested positive, something is amiss.
Agreed - I'd suggest he wasn't stuck on the khazi at all, he was just self-isolating as the team are aware of how it will look now both of the drivers have (or haven't) had it
Their official story has a Dom Cummings sound to it....
confirmed Grosjean out
confirmed Grosjean out
In other news, all F1 teams announced they are to slash personnel involved in repairing broken bodywork...
so maybe perez to haas with mazepin, and hulk to rb?
Actually, I read that story after I posted the headline. It says that Perez will probably go to Williams to replace Russell (obviously money is the big consideration because Russell seems to have impressed everyone).
Haas will want someone experienced to develop the car, so Hulkenberg is the obvious candidate, but he may be too expensive. Russell is an obvious choice to join Merc in the future, but would be nice to see him get a Haas seat if Williams do dump him.
confirmed Grosjean out
Surely K-Mag is on a shoogly peg too.
Has anyone got a list of open driver seats for next year?
ooh
Russell won't go to Haas...he's a Mercedes man.
Russell won’t go to Haas…he’s a Mercedes man.
So is/was Ocon.
It says that Perez will probably go to Williams to replace Russell (obviously money is the big consideration because Russell seems to have impressed everyone).
Something tells me Williams will want to hold on to Russell as they can start to build the team around him for the 2022 regs. Surely replacing Latifi with Perez would be the more logical choice. Don't forget they've just been taken over so investing in the future is the priority as getting further up the standings would be a better boost to finances than taking a pay-driver over talent.
Surely replacing Latifi with Perez would be the more logical choice.
I had the same reaction - that Russell is an important asset. Thing is, Perez would bring solid financial backing and is a pretty decent driver and has a lot of experience developing cars on a shoestring budget. Latifi also brings money. When you think about it, Russell has no experience of developing a car into something competitive (not his fault, obviously) and will probably be off to join Merc in a few years so Williams might as well go with Perez and his money.
Three F1 writers I've seen today seem to think it'll be Mazepin (for his money) and Mick Schumacher at Haas....can't be live they'd really want two newbies with no car development experience
Grosjean's continued F1 career has been one of life's enduring mysteries to me. Magnussen less so, but would be surprised if Haas put two rookies in next year's car.
Three F1 writers I’ve seen today seem to think it’ll be Mazepin (for his money) and Mick Schumacher at Haas
Wouldn't be at all surprised to see Mazepin at Haas, he has a rich father. I would however, be amazed to see Schumacher alongside in the other Haas, as a Ferrari junior it would make much more strategic sense to put Mick alongside Kimi at Alfa.
Something tells me Williams will want to hold on to Russell as they can start to build the team around him for the 2022 regs. Surely replacing Latifi with Perez would be the more logical choice.
Williams ditching Russell would be hugely unjust. There simply isn't anywhere else for Russell to go aside from Haas, or a reserve driver role at Merc. Just ask Pascal Wehrlein how that turned out for him.
The fact that Williams are considering dumping Russell suggests that the new owners are just interested in an asset strip/money grab programme with a view to selling on quickly.
Grosjean’s continued F1 career has been one of life’s enduring mysteries
He’s very fast - when his brain is engaged.
Mazepin (for his money)
If they wanted money, surely they’d just get some sort of sponsor who’d promise piles of cash in return for a nice logo on the car? A sort of “get Rich quick” plan 🙂
He’s very fast – when his brain is engaged.
Undoubtedly. However there are more consistent drivers on the grid and when Grosjean does have a bout of the yips he ends up doing something dangerous, stupid or dangerously stupid.
I think that his occasional moments of brilliance are several years behind him.
If they wanted money, surely they’d just get some sort of sponsor who’d promise piles of cash in return for a nice logo on the car? A sort of “get Rich quick” plan 🙂
Underrated post.
So Williams are refusing to confirm Russell and Latifi, and Hamilton is in no rush to re-sign with Mercedes.
So what odds will I get on Hamilton jumping to Red Bull for a laugh to put Max in his place!? And then Russell to Mercedes?
🤔🤔
Lewis vs Max at Redbull?
F1 is run by money, not loyalty or promises.
With frozen regs, I think Lewis would be crazy to go anywhere else next year. He might want to keep his options open post 2021 though.
Hamilton isn't going anywhere. They haven't hammered out the details of the contract, but that's just details, not whether each party is looking at alternatives. Merc don't want to lose Hamilton and Hamilton doesn't want to lose them. He's already massively wealthy and they don't mind paying him zillions for the marketing stuff, so it's just about sorting out the details. Absolutely 100% chance Hamilton will be lining up in a Merc next year.
crashstappen at it again!
Just watched the incident on YouTube. Max behaving as though everyone should just jump out of his way as usual. Not a fan of Stroll whatsoever but it was obvious Lance was going for another lap in the way he still had the throttle wide open and DRS open too, Max should have backed out of it.
Undoubtedly. However there are more consistent drivers on the grid and when Grosjean does have a bout of the yips he ends up doing something dangerous, stupid or dangerously stupid.
I think that his occasional moments of brilliance are several years behind him.
Undoubtedly.
yeah wipe another car out and it's hey ho, god forbid you practice start in the wrong ****ing place.
I'd say Lewis is wondering what length of contract to commit to. On the one hand, 3 years at £20m+ per year, but on the other hand, another 3 years of F1 with all it entails in terms of life on hold, etc. Then with the uncertainties of 2022 and Toto...
He'll achieve almost everything possible in F1 by the end of the year, should he really wait another 1, 2, 3 years to start doing all the things HE want's to do?
should he really wait another 1, 2, 3 years to start doing all the things HE want’s to do?
Well we all know he is pretty awesome in a car. But what else...?
But his music? Gonna be brave putting it out there, I know his inudstry music mates like it but we haven't seen anything yet.
I cant talk about fashion but crikey some of his outfits are full on Fresh Prince in my eyes, which is why I dont talk about it. Much.
He has his e-extreme thing (as does Rosberg) but outside racing what is there he cant do at the moment that is his thing?
Take a private flight in Space-X Dragon. His contract won’t allow it. Compete in Moto GP - his contract won’t allow it. I’d imagine there’s a substantial amount more than just these few examples.
Also, Lewis hasn’t had a serious relationship since Nicole and that was one of his worst years. Each slice of real life exacts a toll and each sacrifice of real life exacts a similar cut in the other direction.
Verstappen's driving is one thing, and he seems to have got away with this latest episode, but I wouldn't be surprised if the FIA don't also look into his radio communications.
Quote report by autosport (it was bleeped out on the live coverage so I only heard some of it at the time...):
Is this f*** guy blind? What the f is wrong with him? Jesus Christ. What a ******. I have damage. What a mongol. I swear."
...
Asked about his choice of words that people may have taken offence to, Verstappen replied: "Not my problem."
pole number 97 for lewis!
Yep, a very sketchy session but he kept his powder dry and did a third run. Bottas must be gutted.
It was a great last lap on Medium tires, McLaren done really well also.
I kind of wish we had some way of knowing whether Leclerc is performing astronomically well this year, or whether Vettel is just plumbing new levels of mediocrity. It’s a shame that the latter is so plausible that it’s hard to even notice how well Leclerc is doing.
It’s also a shame that Verstappen still conducts himself so badly. A rare talent for sure, but (like Schumacher, IMO, though his unpleasantness was manifested in his driving whereas Verstappen’s lies elsewhere) hard to respect or support.
The rumour is that due to Ferrari’s lack of downforce, the rear end of the car is less stable than Vettel likes, making it hard for him to drive it at or even close to the limit. Ferrari apparently cant do too much about this without sacrificing straight line speed. What they have been able to do is make the car very front positive with little impact on drag. This means the front tyres are starting to work well, but the rears can still be a problem. Leclerc seems to be able to drive this setup and get the rears working. Seb can’t. As ferrari cant get the current car to seb’s liking and have it be competitive, they're moving further toward front positive for leclerc.
Bez
Verstappen for me after his comments today has convinced me even more that he is not World Champion material, I cant think of a company who would want to be associated with those comments he did not even apologize.
Vettel being refreshingly candid about not being able to deal with the characteristics of the car.
Vettel: Leclerc in a "different class" after another Q2 exit
I remember Mark Webber saying that he felt he could beat Vettel in an old-school style car that rewarded carrying speed through fast corners, but Vettel really knew how to make the blown diffuser work. Vettel could get the car rotated and hit the gas early, with confidence that the rear end would stick due to the exhaust gas blowing meaning that more throttle = more rear downforce. When they introduced the turbos and Ricciardo moved up to Red Bull, they lost exhaust gas blowing and Vettel looked lost because Ricciardo was much more used to cars with less downforce. Now that Leclerc is the chosen one at Ferrari, there's no incentive to design a car around Vettel's preferences. Quite remarkable that he did look like a deserving multiple champion when the car worked in a very specific way but looks like a clown now that he has to adapt to a more conventional car.
Sadly, Verstappen continues to come across as a spoilt, entitled brat. He should know he has to apologise. His team should kick his arse, but instead Horner just says it's down to his passion.
hols2
Free MemberVettel being refreshingly candid about not being able to deal with the characteristics of the car.
Vettel: Leclerc in a “different class” after another Q2 exit
I remember Mark Webber saying that he felt he could beat Vettel in an old-school style car that rewarded carrying speed through fast corners,
I think he's right, I remember there was a rule change mid season that made the blown diffusers much less effective and for a few races he was suddenly beating Seb, until RB worked out another way to make the downforce.
Regarding Max's comments, the mong thing is over the line however I think vettel answers this point quite nicely:
Yes, Verstappen really comes across badly. I was actually starting to like him a bit because it seemed like he'd matured a lot and wasn't just driving other people off the road like his early days. He's clearly a massively talented driver, but now he seems to be back to the spoilt bratty stuff again.
Loving this 🙂
Amazing start to a race!
I really hope those dark looking clouds deliver a downpour. Haven’t had some proper wet weather racing for a little while now.
Re. Max’s crash in practice.. the lad is an absolute bell end of the very highest order. I was watching that session and the way I see it, Stroll came past on a fast lap and Max’s ego immediately kicked in and he chased him. You could see it plain as day. As soon as stroll passed him he just booted it straight away.. then it was just a matter of time. Little **** tosspot that he is.
Jesus, this has been fun.
too good!
Wow Hamilton what a drive really enjoyed todays race unfortunate for Sainz did not work out, glad I have been able to see history made today.
What can I say about Verstappen he is getting to be a bit of a joke and consistently gets away with not getting penalty's. Hopefully Lewis will stay at least another 3 years he will be a big loss to the sport I am hoping Leclerc and Sainz get the right car in the next few years or move to Mercedes when either Bottas or Hamilton leaves.
From Grand Prix Diary on Twitter:
"Lewis also said how good it was to have his dog Roscoe there. Valtteri isn’t allowed to have a dog at a race track as he can’t hold onto a lead."
😂
That race was great fun! What a track, the camera normally flattens all the elevation out, so it must look epic in real life 😎
How long can RB persist with Albon, he has been so poor. They dropped Gasly far faster and now he is flying.
Great to see Hamilton take the outright record with a race like that. Bottas must be wondering what he has to do to beat him.
Also much impressed with Scott Dixon's sixth Indycar title. He always comes across as a very unassuming guy who is just incredibly consistent and seems to avoid getting into silly stuff. He wins a lot of races, but even when he has a bad day, he seems to be able to drag his car into scoring points. In F1, his results would put him up there with the very elite drivers.
Another awesome race! Chuffed for Lewis on breaking the record, but hoping a few things this year force improvement in other areas. The different tracks this year have been sensational and hopefully will make the bosses realise there is another way to generate venue than just charging the worlds richest all the money to host a race at a boring circuit like Sochi or Abu Dhabi.
Second is the ridiculous situation with pay drivers vs actual talent/skill/pace. The fact Russell, Perez & to an extent Hulkenberg can be without drives yet the likes of Stroll and Latifi are already on the grid, with Mazepin set to them is just a joke. You even have to question whether Vettel will be able to do a better job than Perez at Racing Point. It's insane. Take Stroll's daddy out of the equation and no one in any kind of mind, right or otherwise, would take Stroll over Perez, or christ even worse take Mazepin as Haas look likely too.
Lance Stroll has hardly covered himself with glory of late, yesterday's mistake was amateurish and indicative of a driver not on top of his game. Unfortunately, he ruined Norris's race as well as his own.
Can't help feeling sorry for Albon. Twelve months ago he was a breath of fresh air, but like Gasly he cannot make that tricky Red Bull work for him.
To be fair, Stroll is a decent driver, but keeping him and dumping Perez is unfair. I understand Racing Point's reason for signing Vettel, they aim to become a top team, so signing a multiple champion is a statement of that intent, but his driving has been so lackluster that I can't help but think they are making a mistake. Gonna be a bit embarrassing for him if Stroll beats him.
Technically, Perez is a pay driver too, but Williams dropping Russell for him would not be so surprising. Perez brings money and a lot of experience, so he's more valuable than Russell, who is not going to be there long term anyway. Latifi brings money, which Williams desperately need, so having one experienced driver and one pay driver makes sense.
It's hard to see Red Bull keeping Albon, I think everyone wanted him to succeed, but he just doesn't seem to quite have what it takes to perform at the top level. Hopefully the rumours that they are considering taking an outside driver are true - would be great to see Hulkenberg, Perez, or Russell in that car. Also, Ocon just hasn't looked impressive this year, so there's always a chance that one of those three could find themselves alongside Alonso in 2022.
Can we have a race at Portimao every year, what a brilliant track.
Who can take the fight to Lewis? He is utterly imperious. The best driver, in the best car, in the best form.
Unless they start deciding races by fastest pit stop Lewis looks untouchable.
Pay drivers?
There's always been pay drivers in F1, Perez himself is essentially a pay driver. But its a while since we have has one as obvious as Lance "My daddy owns the team" Stroll
I was pretty impressed with Lewis' drive. He was really on the back foot at the start (apparently after a massive tankslapper we didn't see on the broadcast).
After that though he just stayed calm, let the tyres get up to temperature then absolutely rinsed Bottas, and finished 30s up the road and took fastest lap as well.
This is worth a watch
This is worth a watch
https://streamable.com/o2513i/blockquote >
Kimi is great, life in the old dog yet! What's even more impressive is he was actually rubbish off the line he actually lost a place at the start, then made up TEN places on the first lap.
Yep, I watched that this morning, that was an amazing first lap.
It was an astonishing 1st lap! Thanks for sharing the on-board from Kimi's car. It looks like a computer game, the way he dusts off half the grid in 1 lap! Brilliant.
He made a lot of drivers look like amateurs there. Oh and I agree it's a fabulous circuit.
How did he do that?
“ 🤷🏻♂️ bwoah, I did some overtake”
"Leave me alone I know what I'm doing". Yes, looks like you do.
I wonder if there is a stat on most overtakes in a single lap, surely Kimi's has to be up there.
What a track, the camera normally flattens all the elevation out, so it must look epic in real life
Yep it's pretty cool. I was there for a classic car event at the end of last October and it's very nice.
It was actually built to host F1 Grand Prix, but Bernie stopped that happening, so it's hardly been used - it's great that it's now got its big break.
Especially as my mate has a villa just 30 mins away - we were going to go if Portugal hadn't been on the CV naughty step.
Great road riding also - we did 60 miles the day before (1st Nov) in 25c.... As I'd not been on a bike for nearly 12 months, and I only had my thermal bibs, it almost killed me!
The Algarve is lovely so i was happy when they announced they were going. Bikes are going in a few weeks too...
The circuit is great though. The type of tarmac and tyre temp issues allowed great racing as they could follow.
Lewis rinsed them but no driver of the day. I think people are misguided if they think it's simply because of the car. He's been a prodigious talent since he started.
re. Perez and pay drivers. Perez is a journeyman. He's had a good season but would the sport be worse off without him? The Stroll's, Perez's and LAtifi's have always existed. The majority of the grid would have spent hundreds of thousands/millions to get to F1 so it's no different that people pay for seats in F1 as that funds the teams. It's a wealthy sport.
What would be crap is if Perez ends up in Williams leaving Russell (F2 World Champ) without a drive.
Perez is a journeyman.
No, he seems to be widely regarded as a pretty decent driver, excellent at scoring points on Sunday, not quite as good at qualifying.
thols2
No, he seems to be widely regarded as a pretty decent driver, excellent at scoring points on Sunday, not quite as good at qualifying.
Looking at the result vs teammates (bold are seasons he beat his teammate), I think he's roughly the same as Hulkenberg over a season. Very good but not great.
2012 10th / kobayashi 12th
2013 11th / button 9th
2014 10th / hulk 9th
2015 10th / hulk 11th
2016 7th / hulk 9th
2017 7th / ocon 8th
2018 8th / ocon 12th
2019 10th / stroll 15th
It was actually built to host F1 Grand Prix, but Bernie stopped that happening, so it’s hardly been used – it’s great that it’s now got its big break.
See also Valencia, looked like it was a great track down by the sea. Bernie is not well regarded in the city to this day.
I reckon that it'll be Gasly and Albon at Alpha Tauri next year, hopefully Albon also shine there and we'll see a renaissance of his obvious form there. Kvyat is largely done IMHO, I don't think that he'll be in F1 next year.
Either the Red Bull is a very tricky car that's so difficult to drive that only Verstappen can master it, or Verstappen prefers a loose, tail happy car a la Schumacher that very few drivers can master with confidence. The contenders for the second Red Bull are obviously Perez, Hulkenberg or Russell, all have their relative strengths and weaknesses and all have shone this year. Russell's comments earlier in the year that the RB16 is "making a fool out of Albon" won't have endeared him to Horner and will likely go against him.
I reckon that it’ll be Gasly and Albon at Alpha Tauri next year
No, I think they've decided that neither of them quite have what it takes to compete right at the top. They need to bring on their own young drivers so that Japanese guy is more likely IMO. If he turns out good, they'll have someone to potentially team with Verstappen. Keeping both Gasly and Albon means that they'll never have someone to step up if Verstappen leaves.
So my guess is Hulkenberg or Perez for a year or two to see if proven drivers can get more out of the Red Bull, then a new driver from their young driver program if they find someone good. They need someone like Ricciardo to push Verstappen hard and maximize constructors points, Albon and Gasly don't seem to be at that level so there's not point having two of them around.
apparently Verstappen is pushing to have Hulkenburg as his teammate next year
Twodogs
Full Memberapparently Verstappen is pushing to have Hulkenburg as his teammate next year
It would make sense, he's a known quantity and he has a reputation for giving good feedback for developing the car.
and he speaks dutch 🙂