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  1. #11
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    Vottas has once again shown he's not up to the task.

    As long as the mercedes was faster by a huge margin it didn't matter much, but it seems redbull will be very close this year.

  2. #12
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    The general perspective was Portimao and Barcelona would give us a clear indication of how dominant the Redbull car was relative to Mercedes. If the Redbull was able to beat Mercedes on their favorite tracks, then we can all run off to the bookies and place our bets on Redbull winning the 2021 Constructors and driver championships. Hamilton overtook both Bottas and Verstappen in both races to claim both victories. The initial response was to say the Redbull is not as fast as we are led to believe. The W12 may actually be the fastest car on the grid.

    Hamilton seems to think otherwise. He thinks the Redbulls are making mistakes which Mercedes is capitalizing on. One thing is clear, Redbull is scratching their heads trying to work out how Mercedes are beating them even when the wins seem available and attainable. And Verstappen has done the hard work of claiming track position and on his way to a famous win. You could argue that Redbull is struggling under the pressure of fighting Mercedes and are making mistakes. Going for a one-stop strategy at Barcelona could easily be said to be a strategic mistake with hindsight. The truth of the matter is, Mercedes has recovered the aero package to be on level pecking with the fierce Redbull. Redbull does not have it all their way and must work harder for their wins.

    With Mercedes already this close already, with four races into the season, Redbull now has a mountainous battle to win one of the championships on the table. That said, Redbull is close enough to cause an upset by the end of the season, but they have to get their act together and realize they are fighting the best team in F1 history. It is still very much 50:50 at this stage of the season, but Mercedes may begin to pull away on the development front as they properly understand better how to put the awesome power of their new engine onto the track. When they do that, it would be game over for Redbull.
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  3. #13
    Senior Member Jag_Warrior's Avatar
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    What I’m seeing by the results thus far is that the Red Bull pitwall is behind Mercedes when it come to quick thinking, and Lewis has developed into a driver who knows how to pressure an opponent (Verstappen in this case) on the tire wear front, while preserving his own tires. This used to be Lewis’ weakness. Now it’s his strength.

    Looks like Mercedes has closed the gap they had to Red Bull. So I’m thinking that if both develop equally for the balance of the season… advantage Merc. As for Verstappen, I think that he’s obviously VERY fast and can win races. But I still have my doubts that he’s matured to the point that he can win a championship against a driver as complete as Hamilton. But, we’ll see. This is continuing to be an exciting season. I’m having to re-watch races to figure out just how in the world Lewis and Merc are pulling out these (unlikely) victories.
    "Every generation's memory is exactly as long as its own experience." --John Kenneth Galbraith

  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nitrodaze View Post
    The general perspective was Portimao and Barcelona would give us a clear indication of how dominant the Redbull car was relative to Mercedes. If the Redbull was able to beat Mercedes on their favorite tracks, then we can all run off to the bookies and place our bets on Redbull winning the 2021 Constructors and driver championships. Hamilton overtook both Bottas and Verstappen in both races to claim both victories. The initial response was to say the Redbull is not as fast as we are led to believe. The W12 may actually be the fastest car on the grid.

    Hamilton seems to think otherwise. He thinks the Redbulls are making mistakes which Mercedes is capitalizing on. One thing is clear, Redbull is scratching their heads trying to work out how Mercedes are beating them even when the wins seem available and attainable. And Verstappen has done the hard work of claiming track position and on his way to a famous win. You could argue that Redbull is struggling under the pressure of fighting Mercedes and are making mistakes. Going for a one-stop strategy at Barcelona could easily be said to be a strategic mistake with hindsight. The truth of the matter is, Mercedes has recovered the aero package to be on level pecking with the fierce Redbull. Redbull does not have it all their way and must work harder for their wins.

    With Mercedes already this close already, with four races into the season, Redbull now has a mountainous battle to win one of the championships on the table. That said, Redbull is close enough to cause an upset by the end of the season, but they have to get their act together and realize they are fighting the best team in F1 history. It is still very much 50:50 at this stage of the season, but Mercedes may begin to pull away on the development front as they properly understand better how to put the awesome power of their new engine onto the track. When they do that, it would be game over for Redbull.

    While Red Bull are close enough to grab the odd pole on Saturdays, it looks to me, the casual onlooker, that Merc simply have superior race pace in Lewis's hands, for whatever reason, on Sundays, that RB don't seem to have an answer to.
    I'm sure Red Bull will know exactly where they are lacking vs Merc but seeing how quickly Merc solved their initial issues, I have big doubts that Red Bull will be able to reverse that disadvantage.

    You have to take your hat off to Merc (and Lewis) for being able to remain the ones to beat this season... what a truly phenomenal team. 👏

  5. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jag_Warrior View Post
    What I’m seeing by the results thus far is that the Red Bull pitwall is behind Mercedes when it come to quick thinking, and Lewis has developed into a driver who knows how to pressure an opponent (Verstappen in this case) on the tire wear front, while preserving his own tires. This used to be Lewis’ weakness. Now it’s his strength.

    Looks like Mercedes has closed the gap they had to Red Bull. So I’m thinking that if both develop equally for the balance of the season… advantage Merc. As for Verstappen, I think that he’s obviously VERY fast and can win races. But I still have my doubts that he’s matured to the point that he can win a championship against a driver as complete as Hamilton. But, we’ll see. This is continuing to be an exciting season. I’m having to re-watch races to figure out just how in the world Lewis and Merc are pulling out these (unlikely) victories.
    At this point, it is all on a knife edge. Mercedes have the achillis heel of having the worst pitcrew in the paddock. They royally messed up Russell's chances of victory at Bahrain last season and they have repeated the same thing at Monaco. The Mercedes strategist has been better this season but somehow he/she completely got it wrong at Monaco as well. It is interesting to note that Hamilton insisted they go a different way with strategy but was ignored. There are flaws in the normally bulletproof operation of Mercedes and Redbull can smell blood.

    It might look unlikely that Redbull can beat Mercedes and Hamilton over a full season, but with these sorts of operational imperfections, coupled with coping with the challenges of making the car work at various tracks with the setback brought about by the 2021 regulations, there is a growing possibility that they could lose out to Redbull.
    Last edited by Nitrodaze; 26th May 2021 at 13:16.
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  6. #16
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    Mercedes got it so wrong in so many ways in Monaco that one of the little men on my shoulder is wondering if your victory in the end looks better if your opponent looks stronger .

  7. #17
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    "Didn't Lewis get the fastest lap point ?", the little man said .
    "How much faster was it than anyone else ?", was his next question .

    "But , nobody would purposely throw the Monaco GP , would they ? That would be crazy , wouldn't it ?" , I said .

  8. #18
    Senior Member F1nKS's Avatar
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    Hamilton is actually off to one of his best starts, and he usually only get stronger as the season goes along. The present results is providing nice drama and giving all the talking heads something to talk about.

    The results show that Max can be in the mix for 1 lap, but Red Bull tires degrade faster than Mercedes. So unless Perez starts challenging Bottas during qualifying and give RB the ability to challenge Mercedes tactically, Mercedes will ultimately have the upper hand in most races.

    Now there is rumor being floated by Russian f1 media person that the decision to replace Bottas for next year has been made. Bottas will switch seats with Russell for next year. If that is true, maybe Bottas doesn't care about team orders and start racing for himself and shakes things up (or maybe folds) and it become 2 Red Bulls playing with Hamilton.

    But if I was going to put $20 bet down, it would be on Hamilton to win it again.

  9. #19
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    After watching the race over again, it is quite clear, the Mercedes operation during the race at Baku was well below that of Redbull. It dearly cost the drivers valuable time due to sub-standard pitstops. Admittedly, the timing with Gasly delayinmg the release of Hamilton had something to do with ther ineffective undercut. The Mercedes pitcrew are now glaringly the weakest link in the Mercedes operation.

    The car seemed competitive in Hamilton's hands but Bottas clearly struggled with it. Apparently, he went a different path with his setup from Hamilton. I suppose their driving styles are different. Whatever the case, Mercedes are not looking like winners at the moment. But these bad forms simply highlights how the 2021 regulation has penalized Mercedes and empowered Redbull. And these weaknesses show up at twisty street circuits such as Monaco and Baku. They would regroup and come back strong at the next five races where the strengths of the car would be available to their drivers. But Redbull would not make it easy and would exploit Bottas' poor form this season.

    France would be an interesting race as well. As the Mercedes that was dominant there in the past, is not the one racing there in a few weeks time. But it would not be so easy for Redbull either.
    Last edited by Nitrodaze; 7th June 2021 at 20:34.
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  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nitrodaze View Post
    After watching the race over again, it is quite clear, the Mercedes operation during the race at Baku was well below that of Redbull. It dearly cost the drivers valuable time due to sub-standard pitstops. Admittedly, the timing with Gasly delayinmg the release of Hamilton had something to do with ther ineffective undercut. The Mercedes pitcrew are now glaringly the weakest link in the Mercedes operation.

    The car seemed competitive in Hamilton's hands but Bottas clearly struggled with it. Apparently, he went a different path with his setup from Hamilton. I suppose their driving styles are different. Whatever the case, Mercedes are not looking like winners at the moment. But these bad forms simply highlights how the 2021 regulation has penalized Mercedes and empowered Redbull. And these weaknesses show up at twisty street circuits such as Monaco and Baku. They would regroup and come back strong at the next five races where the strengths of the car would be available to their drivers. But Redbull would not make it easy and would exploit Bottas' poor form this season.

    France would be an interesting race as well. As the Mercedes that was dominant there in the past, is not the one racing there in a few weeks time. But it would not be so easy for Redbull either.


    For me they were just unlucky with on timing with the release with Gasly, I can't blame the pit crew for that one.

    I think things are going to improve a lot for Merc now that two of the unsuited street circuits are out of the way.
    Maybe its just the extended Merc dominance that has brainwashed me into thinking this way... but I'm still expecting Lewis to take the WDC this season.
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