2021 Race 8 - Styrian Grand Prix

[Nitrodaze]

If you have any doubt, this race has shown quite clearly that the Redbull cars are considerably faster than the Mercedes. Roles reversed. Like Redbull in the last few seasons, Mercedes is finding they have just enough speed to stay with the Redbull BUT NOT ENOUGH TO REALLY FIGHT WITH THEM.

Verstappen won it like we have seen Hamilton do it so many time in the past. Fast, controlled and expertly executed. I think Mercedes are facing the prospect of losing this season's titles and they can not seem to be able to do anything about it. I think Redbull shall win the triple header and the writing would be clearly on the wall for Mercedes and Hamilton.

[Zico]

If you have any doubt, this race has shown quite clearly that the Redbull cars are considerably faster than the Mercedes. Roles reversed. Like Redbull in the last few seasons, Mercedes is finding they have just enough speed to stay with the Redbull BUT NOT ENOUGH TO REALLY FIGHT WITH THEM.

Verstappen won it like we have seen Hamilton do it so many time in the past. Fast, controlled and expertly executed. I think Mercedes are facing the prospect of losing this season's titles and they can not seem to be able to do anything about it. I think Redbull shall win the triple header and the writing would be clearly on the wall for Mercedes and Hamilton.

They could do something about it if they really wanted to.. but at the expense of developing next years car.
Listening to 5 live sports earlier, Palmer said that Wolf had stated that they would not be changing their resource percentage currently working on the 22 car.
Seems unlikely that they would effectively write off this season at this early stage so they probably have something fairly substantial in the development pipeline which will bring things back towards Merc.

I also wonder if we might see Russell in the Merc sooner than later..

[Nitrodaze]

They could do something about it if they really wanted to.. but at the expense of developing next years car.
Listening to 5 live sports earlier, Palmer said that Wolf had stated that they would not be changing their resource percentage currently working on the 22 car.
Seems unlikely that they would effectively write off this season at this early stage so they probably have something fairly substantial in the development pipeline which will bring things back towards Merc.

I also wonder if we might see Russell in the Merc sooner than later..

I would guess putting next season's car in jeopardy is out of the question. I was looking forward to a proper wheel to wheel battle between Hamilton and Verstappen, but the Redbull was too fast for such a battle to take place. It was a comfortable win after all for Verstappen.

[Zico]

I would guess putting next season's car in jeopardy is out of the question. I was looking forward to a proper wheel to wheel battle between Hamilton and Verstappen, but the Redbull was too fast for such a battle to take place. It was a comfortable win after all for Verstappen.

Todays RBR dominance was quite clear for the first time in so many years but we still have a load of races to go, this is just a snapshot of the current status quo which I still expect to see it ebb and flow over the remainder of the season. I wouldn't be writing Merc off just yet.

Wolff in his interview after the end of the race was quite clear that this season is definately not over yet... and I believe that too.


https://youtu.be/xxjQHhQbaOs

[Fortitude]

FORMULA 1 BWT GROSSER PREIS DER STEIERMARK 2021 - RACE RESULT

https://www.formula1.com/en/results....ce-result.html

[Nitrodaze]

Todays RBR dominance was quite clear for the first time in so many years but we still have a load of races to go, this is just a snapshot of the current status quo which I still expect to see it ebb and flow over the remainder of the season. I wouldn't be writing Merc off just yet.

Wolff in his interview after the end of the race was quite clear that this season is definately not over yet... and I believe that too.


https://youtu.be/xxjQHhQbaOs

I think that is good to hear. We all want a good wheel to wheel fight for the championship. That is not what we have at the moment. The media is trying to talk it up but the reality is we have a switch at the top with the real racing happening in the midfield. But l think Mercedes is beginning to have a mountain to climb.

[F1nKS]

If you have any doubt, this race has shown quite clearly that the Redbull cars are considerably faster than the Mercedes. Roles reversed. Like Redbull in the last few seasons, Mercedes is finding they have just enough speed to stay with the Redbull BUT NOT ENOUGH TO REALLY FIGHT WITH THEM.

Verstappen won it like we have seen Hamilton do it so many time in the past. Fast, controlled and expertly executed. I think Mercedes are facing the prospect of losing this season's titles and they can not seem to be able to do anything about it. I think Redbull shall win the triple header and the writing would be clearly on the wall for Mercedes and Hamilton.

Long ways to go in the season. Never be to high in your highs or to low in the lows. There will be some circuits that support Red Bull and some that support Mercedes.

Had Mercedes not had the driver error (Hamilton and Bottas) in the two previous races or the strategy error in France things would feel much different. Red Bull is on a nice run, but after next week some Mercedes tracks coming up.

[Bagwan]

From the conspiracy corner comes the thought that this fits perfectly with the theory .
Max isn't too far away from Lewis still , and Valterie coming second keeps the Mercs close in the manufacturer standings .

Everyone , including all you guys and gals are thinking Red Bull has the edge now .
That sounds like the perfect set-up for an epic comeback for Lewis and the team .

Lewis smiled a number of times in the interviews , whilst talking about how fast the bulls were . That's not like him .


I know you cats don't want to hear it , but I think Merc is that confident that they can play with the others .

[Zico]

From the conspiracy corner comes the thought that this fits perfectly with the theory .
Max isn't too far away from Lewis still , and Valterie coming second keeps the Mercs close in the manufacturer standings .

Everyone , including all you guys and gals are thinking Red Bull has the edge now .
That sounds like the perfect set-up for an epic comeback for Lewis and the team .

Lewis smiled a number of times in the interviews , whilst talking about how fast the bulls were . That's not like him .


I know you cats don't want to hear it , but I think Merc is that confident that they can play with the others .

I always love a good conspiracy theory Baggie but if this one still stems from Lewis's 1 second faster lap and new lap record at Monaco.. while it was definitely a stunning lap, he had just pitted for fresh rubber unlike the rest of the front runners who stayed out iirc.
I'm not saying I think Merc wont catch them but just maybe its not the game you seem to think it is?

[F1nKS]

Winners

1. Verstappen - a Hamilton-esche finish, made it look easy.

2. Sainz - made a great push to finish 6 and ahead of Leclerc after starting 12th.

3. Ferrari double finish in the points cuts the Mclaren gap.

Losers

1. Ocon - Latifi is beating him in qualifying and he can't even sniff the points while his partner has come alive. All this after signing his contract extension.

2. Gasly - Primed with a good qualifying effort and ready to build on his reputation but disaster struck on Lap 1 - it wasn't his fault that Leclerc punctured him, but in the end those facts will be forgotten and it will just be seen as another DNF by a midfield team with a midfield driver.

3. Russell - he looked poised to capture his first points for Williams and then some reliability issue rear it head and then "poof" he was retired.