tomorrow is max's to lose

 

having sainz temporarily on pole was exciting to see too

Am looking forward to this, interesting battle at the front and the mid-field seems really tight, thought it was a shame Tsunoda didn't manage to make it higher on the grid after his Q1 performance but he looks good and the car strong.

No way Nikita Mazepin has spun more times than corners raced. :rofl: :rofl:

Another year of highlights for me on Channel 4, please let me know fellow F1 fans if it is worth watching the highlights or not thanks :)

Another year of highlights for me on Channel 4, please let me know fellow F1 fans if it is worth watching the highlights or not thanks :)

laps 50+ were kinda juicy but the rest unforgettable

Well worth watching.

 

Tactically interesting but an early error plays out in a major way.

Last 12 laps or so are cracking stuff.

 

 

Bottas remains the unluckiest driver on the grid.

I was hoping to watch but Sky have stolen the rights off RTL and despite the fact that you’re supposed to be able to watch SkyGo immediately once they send your customer number, Sky *still* have not sent the number and so I missed it 😔 but Alonso retired through debris in the brake duct. I blame Mazepin. For both Nandos retirement and Sky Deutschlands incompetence

what happened in the end with Verstappen & Hamilton? bizarre ending!

Well that was some season opener, glad we didn't get a repeat of Canada 2019 or Belgium 2008 with a penalty deciding the race. Shame for Max, :(. The midfield is very exciting indeed.

what happened in the end with Verstappen & Hamilton? bizarre ending!

Verstappen had to give the position back as he had four wheels off when passing Hamilton.

Verstappen had to give the position back as he had four wheels off when passing Hamilton.

wonder what would've happened if they let him have the 6 second penalty instead like he insisted....

wonder what would've happened if they let him have the 6 second penalty instead like he insisted....

He may have got the win, but it probably would have been Hamilton winning. Depending how much of a gap Max pulled out.

He may have got the win, but it probably would have been Hamilton winning. Depending how much of a gap Max pulled out.

plus I guess it would've felt like a false win in many peoples eyes. I'm glad he recognised the error straight away, but I just wish he'd have let hamilton pass at a better spot for him to keep pace

Edited March 28, 20214 yr by jakewild

Here’s hoping Max can push this all season. He deserves at least one title

 

Some good performances from Norris and Tsunoda stand out. So disappointing to see another error from Vettel - especially after he showed some good skills with his battle with Alonso

so it was an error from Verstappen then? (error number 45978524397813452978)

he could have easily waited 3 minutes and go for a clean easier pass, which was obviously 100% gonna happen and had an easy win...

Great fight between Sir Lewis & Max, more of that to come please! Definitely ironic that RB were complaining about the Mercs running wide at turn 4 all race then that very thing ultimately costs Max the win. I too thought he was a bit too premature to let Lewis back past but not complaining of course. Love to see Hamilton winning in NOT the fastest car :D would be good to see Max win the next race though to really wet everyone's appetite for the rest of the season. But Merc always seem to have the upper hand on strategy.

 

Lando having another great first race of the season. Surprised just how dominant he was over Danny this weekend though of course the latter has just joined the team.

 

What an embarrassing performance from Vettel. Nowhere to hide now he's out of Ferrari. Had to laugh at him blaming Ocon for their collision!

 

Shame the next race is a 3 weeks away, too long!

reading now the Italian papers they give Hamilton a 10

while they rate both Vettel and Marzepin with a well-deserved 0 :)

I really thought Vettel couldn't do worst than last year but he actually did

reading now the Italian papers they give Hamilton a 10

while they rate both Vettel and Marzepin with a well-deserved 0 :)

I really thought Vettel couldn't do worst than last year but he actually did

 

I think 0 is a bit harsh for Vettel - he showed flashes of fight in him, especially with old tyres. He really needs to beat Stroll though. As much as Stroll can put in the odd good performance, he will never be regarded as a force

That was a good opening race, really happy to see it actually being a fight and I thought it was one of Lewis' best drives. I was surprised that Verstappen didn't manage to overtake him again in the last few laps but hopefully it's still a great sign that it won't be the Mercedes dominance that we've become used to.

 

Thought that Norris drove excellently too, pulled off some key overtakes early on with great class to get himself ahead of the chasing midfield.

The more I think about the race the more infuriating I find the stewards decision making. Even though it was Red Bull's error by not pitting Verstappen quickly enough after Hamilton, there's still a faint bad smell around the application of track limits. According to Leclerc the drivers were informed in the morning that they were expected to obey the track limit on Turn 4 and their lap times would be deleted but they would not be otherwise penalised. And according to race director Michael Masi every driver bar one - Lewis Hamilton - obeyed this instruction. Technically not breaking a rule but gaining a 0.2 second profit over every other driver per lap. Hamilton did this for 29 laps and the stewards only started to look into it once Red Bull publicly told Verstappen to do the same. After which the stewards told all drivers again to remain within limits.

 

An extra 0.2 seconds per lap across 29 laps gave Hamilton 6 seconds over Verstappen which effectively denied Vertsappen more of an opportunity to pass come the race finale. Given that it looks like the Merc still has superior straight line speed over the Red Bull it was a crucial advantage that may have cost Verstappen the win, perhaps more than their poor response to the undercut.

 

I'm not suggesting Hamilton cheated or the stewards were biased in any way but Lewis was allowed to stretch the rules beyond their intended limit for far too long.