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F1: 2021/22 Season

i do wonder with the spending cap (alleged) if one of the american car makers might not take a stab at it. If I had to guess I'd say Ford. Although Chevy is pretty big in Europe with teh Lemans Series and their GTLM Corvettes. $175 million isn't chump change but it's not going to kill them either.
 
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First Practice session of 2021!

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It’s comical how bad Alonso is at making team decisions.

I’m clearly intrigued. The regs clearly bit Racing Point and Merc. Mclaren is downplaying their pace...but it sure looks legit. Verstappen and Norris on the front row...could that actually happen!???
 
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It’s comical how bad Alonso is at making team decisions.

I’m clearly intrigued. The regs clearly bit Racing Point and Merc. Mclaren is downplaying their pace...but it sure looks legit. Verstappen and Norris on the front row...could that actually happen!???

I'm not going to place McLaren ahead of Merc just yet. I'm surprised though that Norris seems to have so much pace on Riccardo.
 
I'm not going to place McLaren ahead of Merc just yet. I'm surprised though that Norris seems to have so much pace on Riccardo.
A bit of technical news on the McLaren engine switch:




The one to watch this season is Yuki Tsunoda. One driver on the grid born after 2000, probably grew up learning to drive via PlayStation .... and drives like one.
 
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Yuki looks fast. Honda maybe pulled out too soon. Man I hope this season delivers. We’ll find out tomorrow.
 
Yuki looks fast. Honda maybe pulled out too soon. Man I hope this season delivers. We’ll find out tomorrow.
Yuki has an advantage. He is all of 5ft 2.

RB has the high ground at the start. The new bargeboard change has affected the low rake teams and especially Mercedes more. But one can't underestimate zee chermans in terms of engineering and determination in fixing the associated problems.
 
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I'm not going to place McLaren ahead of Merc just yet. I'm surprised though that Norris seems to have so much pace on Riccardo.
3rd year in the car. But it’s fast. Riccardo will find the pace soon
 
We’ll know more after qualifying if Merc is holding out. I suspect they aren’t but you never know. The fun part is 16 cars within one second of each other. There is going to be some serious racing this year.
 
We’ll know more after qualifying if Merc is holding out. I suspect they aren’t but you never know. The fun part is 16 cars within one second of each other. There is going to be some serious racing this year.
This is the key point out of Bahrain regardless of the result.

The constructor's race will be interesting -- Checo will really help RB and conversely, all the bravado of Bottas about toughening himself up for this season etc -- artic training or something like that -- the pressure is seriously on him if he can help, compete against Checo for the total constructor's championship.

If he fails, then I see Russell being called up next season. Bottas is great as a team-mate in terms of team harmony ala avoiding Nico/Lewis fights. But if Mercedes fails this season, they will sacrifice that.
 
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Free Practice 3 results. Interesting that Sainz has outpaced Leclerc the last two sessions.

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Free Practice 3 results. Interesting that Sainz has outpaced Leclerc the last two sessions.

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1. Alonso has been disappointing so far. Maybe it will take him a few races for him to get into his groove.

2. Alpha Tauri will be the dark horse to top the middle pack.

3. Think the driver's championship (Max v Lewis) won't be half as interesting as the constructors.
 
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Intriguing so far. I’m afraid Max suffered too much damage for pole. You could see bits falling off.
 
Wow, Max blows their doors off!

Clearly regarding Red Bull #2, it’s not a driver problem...rather a team culture problem. Guess Danny Ric saw it coming...makes more and more sense with each passing year why he left. And how about Alonso? Hasn’t missed a beat.
 
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Sainz is a massive upgrade from Seb. It will help Ferrari tremendously in the points. I just don’t know what happened to Seb. It’s sad to watch.
 
Wow, Max blows their doors off!

Clearly regarding Red Bull #2, it’s not a driver problem...rather a team culture problem. Guess Danny Ric saw it coming...makes more and more sense with each passing year why he left. And how about Alonso? Hasn’t missed a beat.
Alonso must feel like he’s had to drag shitty cars spots and spots ahead of where they should be for years now.

Red Bull is the Max Verstappen car. Period. And he like the car on the edge at all times. Race should be interesting. Merc looked faster on the mediums and both will start the race on them.
 
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Alonso must feel like he’s had to drag shitty cars spots and spots ahead of where they should be for years now.

Red Bull is the Max Verstappen car. Period. And he like the car on the edge at all times. Race should be interesting. Merc looked faster on the mediums and both will start the race on them.
Max could usually keep up in race pace last year. Just couldn’t get past Lewis in the races and always started behind. Be interesting tomorrow. Max has a history of poor starts. I figure those 2 will drop Bottas and he’ll drive a lonely race in 3rd all day.
 
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Max could usually keep up in race pace last year. Just couldn’t get past Lewis in the races and always started behind. Be interesting tomorrow. Max has a history of poor starts. I figure those 2 will drop Bottas and he’ll drive a lonely race in 3rd all day.

You missed the narrative where Leclerc jumps Bottas. ;)
 
Max could usually keep up in race pace last year. Just couldn’t get past Lewis in the races and always started behind. Be interesting tomorrow. Max has a history of poor starts. I figure those 2 will drop Bottas and he’ll drive a lonely race in 3rd all day.

Merc sooner or later will figure it out and add some pace. The question is can Red Bull find even more?

A car manufacturer used to say, 'win on Sunday and sell on Monday.'

If Red Bull was to win, it will be ' win on Sundays, and drink on mondays'?

Can't see how Mercedes will allow that to happen.
 
Just had a very funny, moving piece on Murray Walker on Grand Prix Sunday.
 
Red Bull lost the race because of the clumsy call on the first pit stop. It was dumb to keep Max out for a long first run. He would’ve been on the medium and even if he came out right behind Lewis he would’ve passed easily.
 
Red Bull lost the race because of the clumsy call on the first pit stop. It was dumb to keep Max out for a long first run. He would’ve been on the medium and even if he came out right behind Lewis he would’ve passed easily.
Yeah but Mercedes brought Lewis in wayyyy too early on the second stint. Regardless more of this please. All season.
 
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There is a Schumi v Mika vibe about the race, start of the season. This could be the best season in ages.

Just for some perspective on talent, that’s Lewis 15th consecutive season with at least a race win. Unreal, I hope he drives for many more years because he’s box office.

But going forward i fancy Red Bull to win constructor this year, their pit crews are just miles ahead from Merc's in action and i just fancy Perez over Bottas, wheel to wheel Perez might just edge it over Bottas.
 
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There is a Schumi v Mika vibe about the race, start of the season. This could be the best season in ages.

Just for some perspective on talent, that’s Lewis 15th consecutive season with at least a race win. Unreal, I hope he drives for many more years because he’s box office.

But going forward i fancy Red Bull to win constructor this year, their pit crews are just miles ahead from Merc's in action and i just fancy Perez over Bottas, wheel to wheel Perez might just edge it over Bottas.
I worry about reliability for Red Bull. Same shit different year with Perez pre race. They gotta clean that up. Man this is going to be fun though. Even Lewis looked like he was jacked up after the race.
 
I worry about reliability for Red Bull. Same shit different year with Perez pre race. They gotta clean that up. Man this is going to be fun though. Even Lewis looked like he was jacked up after the race.

It felt like a Jaws movie, you knew it was coming.
But Lewis not the GOAT for nothing, you'll still get the doubters though.

Btw. Tsunada should've been in the conversation for Driver of the Day?

He was 9th in his debut with only 2 cars not finishing is serious going. Picking off former world champions for shits and giggles.
For a while, he managed to hunt down and take Stroll in a proper battle over the last 10 laps.
 
It felt like a Jaws movie, you knew it was coming.
But Lewis not the GOAT for nothing, you'll still get the doubters though.

Btw. Tsunada should've been in the conversation for Driver of the Day?

He was 9th in his debut with only 2 cars not finishing is serious going. Picking off former world champions for shits and giggles.
For a while, he managed to hunt down and take Stroll in a proper battle over the last 10 laps.
It’s early and Gasly had some bad luck. But the 3rd place battle might just be something to watch all year. Tsunoda looks like the real deal. Gasly is a low key stud. Norris looks really good. Sainz is a clear upgrade over Vettel and Ferrari looks way more competitive. Hell driver of the day should probably have been Hamilton or Perez. Hamilton went 28 laps on that last stint and held off verstappen on tires 10 laps younger. GOAT
 
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It’s early and Gasly had some bad luck. But the 3rd place battle might just be something to watch all year. Tsunoda looks like the real deal. Gasly is a low key stud. Norris looks really good. Sainz is a clear upgrade over Vettel and Ferrari looks way more competitive. Hell driver of the day should probably have been Hamilton or Perez. Hamilton went 28 laps on that last stint and held off verstappen on tires 10 laps younger. GOAT
This season might just revitalise Lewis and keep him on his peak for another couple of seasons.

Then after I am not 100% Max has it all his way.

He had all the advantages going in but his impatience or over-aggressiveness caused him the victory yesterday. Something that he still has not worked out of his system yet or maybe never.

And with a bunch of young high potentials coming up -- from Russell to Le Clerc to maybe the Tsunodas of the world... he may not have a big window.
 
Boys I think we’ve got a championship race on our hands. Can’t wait to watch the onboard of Lewis plowing back from 9th to 2nd after the restart.
 
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Boys I think we’ve got a championship race on our hands. Can’t wait to watch the onboard of Lewis plowing back from 9th to 2nd after the restart.
Lewis seems more emotionally invested in it to. He was really upset with himself on that mistake. It's rejuvenated him.
 
Lewis is at another level this year. He was clearly cruising the last few years when Bottas was his main competition.
How about Bottas and George. Toto completely threw George under the bus saying he shouldn’t even been passing a Merc. George suggested Bottas swerved right because it was him! Crazy.
 
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