2021 - Race 20 Qatar

[Nitrodaze]

At least it shows they are not 'on the take' as you put it... unless they are open to the highest bidder on a race by race basis.




Anyone know why Bottas got a 3 place and Max a 5 place penalty?

The jury is still out on this one.

[Bagwan]

I can see Mercedes and Hamilton's triumph irks you so. You will get over it :-)

You wanna know who's going to win , Dazey ?

[F1nKS]

What a turn of events? Very late penalty, with 90 minutes to go for the race start.

This wasn't a "late penalty". Mercedes and Red Bull both knew it was coming last night. All the pundits called it correctly - Bottas would get a 3 place drop and Max a 5.

This really puts a dent in Verstappen's title bid and deprives us of a Hamilton vs Vertsppen fight at the start.

Nothing changed from qualifying. Max was never going to beat Hamilton on this track. Mercedes car was head and shoulders above everybody.

If anything the penalty hurt Mercedes because if Bottas from 3rd could have gotten by Verstappen, Mercedes could have maximized their weekend. In the end, it was RBR that minimized Hamilton's win.

The season really comes down to Jeddah.

Will this somehow be a RBR or Mercedes circuit?

Will Mercedes continue with Grid Dominating pace that they struggled with all season but now have found?

[Zico]

You wanna know who's going to win , Dazey ?

Shhh.. don't tell us, I'm enjoying this racing competition delusion thing. Merc are cutting it a bit fine though, don't you think?

[truefan72]

I mean they had no choice in this case, but to hand out the penalties.
Not doing so, or pretending like they don't have the data wasn't going to cut it.

[F1nKS]

Shhh.. don't tell us, I'm enjoying this racing competition delusion thing. Merc are cutting it a bit fine though, don't you think?

I think Mercedes turned it up a little too much too quickly. They broke the delusion and now people are starting to ask questions.

[F1nKS]

I mean they had no choice in this case, but to hand out the penalties.
Not doing so, or pretending like they don't have the data wasn't going to cut it.

I don't think that is even a question. It was a weird situation with the FIA system not actually fully functioning correctly - and they probably should investigate themselves why their safety systems failed.

But in the end, if you see a car on the side of the track you know there should be a "yellow" flag and you should act accordingly.

[Tazio]

Hail Geezer

[The Black Knight]

Max Verstappen said he was not surprised to be handed a grid penalty at the Qatar Grand Prix as he "never gets presents" from F1's race stewards.

Erm, Brazil?

What an insufferable moron.

[airshifter]

Well Horner finally put his foot in his mouth enough to warrant making some apologies. I hope he enjoys the Stewards Program training in February..... at least he did volunteer for it after his comments.

https://twitter.com/CroftyF1/status/...tappen-penalty

However, in defense of that boneheaded move.... they do need to try to make sure drivers are getting clear and not mixed signals. In the case of Max, a slam dunk penalty either way IMHO, as the flashing white and flags were visible. In the case of Sainz and Bottas, no light, and that marshal's stand and the flag didn't really show any clear flag waving either. And as the stand was located really right where Gasly was on track, it almost seemed to indicate that there was a hazard beyond Gasly, and that is what some of them appeared to respond to. Had there been a previous yellow and the next back marshal's stand I'm not sure, but I haven't seen any video of it if there was.

At the very minimum, they should made sure the marshal and flag locations are easy to spot for the drivers, if that is what they expect them to use as the primary hazard visual.



As for the race, nothing unexpected other than some making that one stop strategy work. Perez did his thing early and it looked like Bottas was in trouble but that switched as the race progressed. Great management by Alonso to get himself back on the podium. I was shocked that among the frontrunners that two stopped that nobody even made an attempt to go to the red tires. They lasted almost as well as the yellows, and might have given some pace. I'm not sure it it was lack of tires or just data showing them slower.

Merc seemed to have their head in the proper strategy today, and I'll guess that Lewis isn't as upset with the tire strategy after what happened with Bottas. But Merc seem to make decent calls until things get tight either way. RB had enough pace to steal back the fast lap, even though the extra late stop didn't give them a lap on the reds. Even with the cars they are driving, Lewis and Max have made it clear how much stronger they are vs the others on the teams. Those were massive gaps.



All of this is playing into Bagwan's earlier predictions, but I think the secret us out now. It seems some of the Merc sandbags are leaking and creating a lot of excess sand and dust on the track.

As for the track, seems a challenge to drive and fun to watch, but really no passing opportunity except for the first turn. And without any visual references, sometimes hard to figure out where drivers were on track when they switched cameras.


Great to see such a tight season. I'd be willing to bet a lot of resources are being poured into the cars for the last races. The fat lady still has no need to warm up, as she probably won't sing at the next race.