2021 Race 7 - French Grand Prix

[Nitrodaze]

Surprising that Max managed to keep pole. I think Merc still have the race pace overall, and will be easier on the tires. But with this track being harder to pass on, it might come down to who gets the better starts. Setup has RB a bit quicker on the straight line stuff, which might make it hard for Merc to get by on the straights. It might also give Sergio a shot if anyone fumbles in front of him.

Good to see the Mclaren's and Ferrari's staying in the top fight. And well done by Alonso and Gasly as well.

I'm not one on conspiracy theories myself. I simply think RB clawed closer to Merc, and has the chance to win at times. All the teams knew about the rules changes, and Merc has had a massive budget in past years. That alone might have hurt them, but like any era of F1 sooner or later the top teams are challenged.


I don't know where the get the data, and assume it's based on fastest sectors and such, but the one graphic showed that overall Max is driving more consistently than Lewis and getting a larger percentage of the most out of the car. And really that would be no shock... RB have had to fight harder to try to get the car up the grid, and as such Merc drivers have been able to rely on car pace more.


Either way, it looks like the battle may stay close for now. And more than anything, that makes it worth watching even on the usually boring circuits such as this one. I want the championship battles to be just that... battles. The teams seem really tight, and I hope it stays this way for a while, hopefully the entire season.

Sorry buddy, it is not a conspiracy theory. When we do the Math and analyse relative progression from the last three seasons, it is not hard to see that Redbull has jumped a massive step ahead this season. Clearly well off the normal trajectory of their progression curve. And the progress is not because they have come up with a better chassis than they had last season. Remember, the chassis was frozen last season. So they are effectively racing the 2020 cars. Also, it is inconceivable to say that Honda has suddenly closed the gap of the performance of their engine to that of Mercedes.

The only reason Redbull is closer to the Mercedes [chassis that won the 2020 season btw], is because the regulation clearly compromised the Mercedes chassis. It is not because Redbull has suddenly become better than Mercedes. But simply because the regulations favour their particular chassis. In this circumstance, the win of the championship would not hold the same level of reverence as a normal championship win. Certainly not as highly as we would consider the Renault defeat of Ferrari in Alonso's hands in 2005/6. Or even the Brawn title win that made Jenson Button a driver world champion. On both of those occasions, the teams [Renault, Brawn] worked their arse off finding a way to get the edge to get ahead of the entire grid.

What we are watching now is like being given the exam questions and answers ahead of the exam date. The racing is great l admit but there is an ethical flaw with it. How they can call this a proper challenge is proposterous to say the least. It looks and feels fixed. Which l think ought to be illegal.