2021 - Race 15 Russia [Sochi]

[truefan72]

RBR proved once again they don't care about that 2nd seat. In the critical last few laps, while they initially left the decision to the drivers, they quickly switched and told max to box, plus they gave him way more information. all they did with Perez was ask him what he thought and then left him to his own. SMH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K_igOGk3WE

[Fortitude]

Video
WATCH: Onboard for Verstappen's dramatic final laps in Sochi as he goes from P7 to P2
27 September 2021

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...41dFjJLCO.html


Valtteri Bottas mocks Mercedes as he's accused of 'gifting' Max Verstappen at Russian GP

Valtteri Bottas finished fifth in Russia after a mixed weekend for the Mercedes driver and will leave the constructor at the end of the season.
By Fraser Watson
21:28, Mon, Sep 27, 2021 | UPDATED: 22:49, Mon, Sep 27, 2021

Valtteri Bottas has taken a humorous swipe at his own Mercedes team after an erratic weekend at the Russian Grand Prix. Bottas, 32, eventually finished fifth in Sochi despite having to start at the back of the grid for using his fifth engine of the season.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-a...rcedes-f1-news


Toto Wolff orders Valtteri Bottas to step on it in tense Russian Grand Prix message

Valtteri Bottas was dropped down to the back of the grid for an engine change.
By Stuart Ballard
14:11, Sun, Sep 26, 2021 | UPDATED: 14:33, Sun, Sep 26, 2021

Mercedes team principal was clearly not happy with Valtteri Bottas' effort in the closing stages of the Russian Grand Prix. Bottas was dropped down to 17th on the grid for Sunday's race after Mercedes decided to change elements in the Finn's power unit.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-a...ian-Grand-Prix


MAX VERSTAPPEN
Horner praises Verstappen: He made a great call
28th Sept 2021, ‎17‎:‎45

Max Verstappen worked his way up to a surprise second place in the final rain-affected laps of the Russian Grand Prix. According to Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner, the result was all down to the Dutchman's tyre call.

https://racingnews365.com/horner-pra...s-was-his-call


F1 title favorite Max Verstappen produced a stunning drive to go from 20th to 2nd, but the race was so chaotic no one seems to have noticed
Sam Cooper
2021-09-27T11:50:55Z

https://www.insider.com/max-verstapp...le-race-2021-9

[airshifter]

Without a doubt the best GP we have seen at Sochi, and the rain surely spiced things up at the end.

I have to say though, the tow at this track just kind of takes it over the top. Between that and the DRS zones, we end up with multiple DRS trains running around the track, and the front drivers are still dictating pace. I really wish there was more for real passing opportunities here.

Sucks for Lando, but then again Ricciardo's race got screwed by a pit stop, as well as impacting Perez quite a bit. There was a Merc source saying that until they told him Max pitted, Lewis was wanting to stay out as well as Lando. At that point the title thoughts kicked in an he agreed to stop even if it meant giving up a possible win in order to cover Max. As it turned out, a very good decision.

That rain changed so quick that it really caught a lot of cars in a bad position on track.

The strategy calls were interesting even before the rain came, and some of them played out much differently than seemed expected.


Bottas... yeah. I have to wonder if that was him giving Merc the middle finger myself. There just didn't seem to be any attempt to defend at all.

Other than him, it seemed that everyone did a great job defending against faster cars this year. Track position was the driving force through most of the race.

[airshifter]

Everyone hear Toto giving "encouragement" to Lewis , saying he could win ?

Was that encouragement , or was the OK to win because Max was close enough to keep that championship close enough ?

Does Lewis really need that encouragement when he'd won 99 times before ?

There's that smell again .

Come on Baggy. I know you are staying in conspiracy corner, but there is little chance you win 100 GP's without a non driver telling you that it can be done, right?

I'm digging the conspiracy corner, even if I don't see it myself.

We hear (Toto encouraging Lewis to push for the win)

You hear (Toto telling Lewis Max is near the front, release the hounds!)


But just a thought... have you covered the angle that maybe Toto is being paid off my RB, and Max will win the title by a point?

[F1nKS]

RBR proved once again they don't care about that 2nd seat. In the critical last few laps, while they initially left the decision to the drivers, they quickly switched and told max to box, plus they gave him way more information. all they did with Perez was ask him what he thought and then left him to his own. SMH

There was no favoritism it was just a lack of decisiveness on the RBR pit wall. RBR wrongly left the decision up to both drivers. Max realized he had had to pit sooner than Perez. When Max said he thought they should pit, the pit wall only confirmed the intention to Max and too pit lane that they would be pitting.

Perez was confused about what to do. There were several times he just didn't respond to the pit wall at all and they ultimately left the decision up to Perez - he didn't make the decision to pit until it was too late for his race.

RBR and Mcclaren pit wall were not decisive and it cost them. Their respective pit walls had the big picture of rain that was coming in and how things were degrading on track and should have been like Mercedes and been decisive and told their drivers to pit. But they didn't.

We saw with Hamilton he almost screwed it all up by ignoring the pit wall the first time, but he finally took their advice the second time. Had he not - Max might have won the race.

Max got lucky with the rain. He was only gonna have ok results (e.g. 7th) until the rain came, and that allowed him to minimize the points lost. Max was going to lose 11 points to Hamilton, but in the end it was only 7 after the rain result.

[denkimi]

It's always easy in hindsight. Weather predictions are not an exact science. You never know how wet it's going to be and how much time you're going to lose untill it's actually there.

It could have stopped raining and norris could have made it on slicks, someone could have crashed and brought the safety car out.

Inters were the safe option, but half the grid was wrong so it wasn't that obvious as we see it now.

[Bagwan]

Come on Baggy. I know you are staying in conspiracy corner, but there is little chance you win 100 GP's without a non driver telling you that it can be done, right?

I'm digging the conspiracy corner, even if I don't see it myself.

We hear (Toto encouraging Lewis to push for the win)

You hear (Toto telling Lewis Max is near the front, release the hounds!)


But just a thought... have you covered the angle that maybe Toto is being paid off my RB, and Max will win the title by a point?

Now you're talking about bags of scandal there , Air , and I'm only running with bags of sand .
Slow down a bit .

That's all they are doing .

[airshifter]

Now you're talking about bags of scandal there , Air , and I'm only running with bags of sand .
Slow down a bit .

That's all they are doing .

Though I thought they would come on strong, they haven't. So you may be correct.

Just when are they going to release said bags?

[Bagwan]

Though I thought they would come on strong, they haven't. So you may be correct.

Just when are they going to release said bags?

Well , that's the tricky part .
They'll keep it close , maybe within a 10 point range , until at least the last 3 races .
It'll depend on just how many bags they feel they have on board .

The closer the better , as this is the end of an era .

[Bagwan]

You see , Shifter , some might see this as a drag , knowing they are sandbagging , because it's a manipulation of the championship , itself .

But , the bagwan sees it as an extra layer of intrigue .

Will folks catch on because of the high level of fumbling from the carbon fiber kings , or will they buy the fact that the bulls are sooooooo strong that they mistakenly hit the "magic" button every time they are sooooo close because they are sooooooooo nervous ?
If it does happen to be true ,and the fans do figure it out , I'm not sure how the public will take it .
Without ample spin , it could hurt the sport , itself , and certainly Merc .

And , of course , in this "tortoise vs hare" scenario , will they , in the end , lose the race(championship) because of the very same hubris ?

So , whether you sit here with the bagwan in the corner or not , it's turned into a great season so far , don't you think ?