F1 - 2021

[MiniDave]

And Perez passing cars where they said no one could pass - and he did it again and again!

Heck of a race...a real nailbiter.....I love how Lewis was complaining about his tires almost from the time they put them on, then went out and set fastest lap shortly after that!

[BruceK]

It's a full-on Finn replacement! 

Bottas will join Alfa Romeo next year taking Kimi's old seat.

[MiniDave]

That and Russell going to Mercedes are the worst kept "secrets" in F1..... ::)

[MiniDave]

So, all the dominoes are falling into place......once Kimi announced his retirement Valterri could announce he was going to Alfa in Kimi's place, then George could announce he was going to Mercedes.....

Now there are only a few places left open to finish up. Red Bull is set with Max and Checo for next season, the Hamster is signed thru 2023.

All that's left are the open seats at Williams and maybe Giovanazzi's seat. Alex Albon will probably be signed by Williams almost immediately and LaFiFi will stay on.

Hass, Alpine, McLaren, Ferrari are all staying with their drivers......Nyck is slated for the other seat at Alfa, but we'll see if that happens....

The one interesting thing that's happening is Michael Andretti trying to buy an F1 team, Haas says theirs is not for sale, so that leaves Alfa or Williams.....OR....maybe McLaren?

[Brit_in_TX]

So Albon and Latifi are confirmed at Williams next year.  Random fact, in my late teens and early/mid 20s I worked a race mechanic in the British and European karting championships. I worked with Alex Albon for 2 races in 2006 or 2007.

Motorsport.com had an article that Vettel is not confirmed next year at Aston Martin https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/vettel-not-worried-about-aston-martin-f1-future-expects-news-soon/6663292/.  I am not sure if Stroll is confirmed, but I doubt Daddy Stroll will give him the boot.

The other seat left is with Bottas at Alfa Romeo, but probably depends on how free they are on who they choose.  I am sure a Ferrari Academy driver (Callum Ilott has tested for them this year), but then Mercedes are keen to get another junior on the grid so may finance Nick de Vries, he is the Formula E World Champion and managed to beat Verstappen to the record of the first Dutch car world champion. 

[MiniDave]

I'm betting on the Chinese guy and his $30million going to Alfa in place of Giovanazzi.....

I don't think Aston wants to get rid of Vettel, and I thought sure he had a 2 year contract, which will take him thru next season?

[BruceK]

I'm really enjoying these short sprint races - they provide a tasty little appetizer on Saturday for the main course on Sunday.

Plus, qually appears a day earlier with the sprints.   So, action on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.   77.gif

[BruceK]

So Albon and Latifi are confirmed at Williams next year.  Random fact, in my late teens and early/mid 20s I worked a race mechanic in the British and European karting championships. I worked with Alex Albon for 2 races in 2006 or 2007.

Very cool. Alex looks kind of like a kid now - back then must looked like a toddler.

[MiniDave]

Boy, the Haminator did not do well in the sprint race, and Bottas is kinda giving the finger to Mercedes, isn't he?

He should enjoy it, as next season he may be back in the mid pack again.....too bad about the engine penalty for this race, but it shows what a fresh new engine can do far a racecar......

Giovanazzi held off Perez.....that was a surprise.

[MiniDave]

Monza - another corker of a race! With yet another surprise winner.....

This season has finally delivered what we've been waiting for - enough parity across enough teams that every weekend has become a raffle to see who's got the winning ticket!

Fun stuff

Bought-Ass was going great guns, it looked to me like he could have possibly won it from last place, but about 10 laps from the end he seemed to fade.....

Of course, anytime the two top protagonists take each other out, it opens things up for some new players.

I'll save the results till later, but it's worth watching!

[BruceK]

After he successfully pulled out in front of Max on the first lap I told my wife that I predict that we are going to see a Shoe-y in about 52 laps!

What a great race! 

[gr8kornholio]

Yay for Ricky Bobby!!   So max was on hamsters hood so how was he scored behind him?  Lol, not like it mattered since both were out of the points.

[MiniDave]

The crash is full of controversy, some say it was Max's fault, some say the Hamster who was just coming out of the pits and not up to speed cut in front of Max who was doing 220 mph....

My opinion is the Hamster got away with it in England and thought he could do it again.

On the other hand, there's a reason some call him Crashstappen

[gr8kornholio]

It was in second turn of the chicane.  The pit/track speed had nothing to do with it.  Hamster pretty much squeezed max to the point that his only option to not crash would have been to cut the corner and as seen several times in the race, give up the position.  So pretty sure that's what hamster was thinking.  Force him to cut the corner and get the position for free, unfortunately he forgot he was dealing with crashtappen and he wasn't having it.  Good thing of all of it was they were both out so nothing gained nothing lost. 

[Brit_in_TX]

I thought it was 50/50 in terms of blame.  I have watched it a few times and if Verstappen had not been flicked into Hamilton by the kerb they would have made it around the corner with a bit of contact, but nothing race ending. 

However, Crashtappen is pretty apt name for him, he does seem to have an attitude that he will pass or crash.  Most of the time that strategy works as the majority of the drivers are not really racing him for the championship or even the race win.  However, Hamilton knows the championship is going to decided on a few points so is going to defend anytime he is around him.  Also Hamilton backed out of a move earlier in the race when Verstappen did not give him room. 

To quote Fangio "to finish first, first you must finish".

[Brit_in_TX]

Aston Martin have confirmed Vettel and Stroll for next year.

I'm betting on the Chinese guy and his $30million going to Alfa in place of Giovanazzi.....

Dave looks like your odds are shortening https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/guanyu-zhou-favourite-alfa-romeo-2022/6667750/

[MiniDave]

Yeah, funny how a $30 mil check can affect their thinking......  ::) ;D

[jedduh01]

F1 Related = Netflix reciently published a documentary on Schumacher. reads like its a good watch... In my que.

[tsumini]

Saw Shumacher win the 2001 Australian Gran Prix in Albert Park Melbourne . General Admission walking around circuit mostly in the back straight. My first in person F1 race attendance. Also the MINI debut with Aussie celebrities racing identical cars. Also Mark Weber's first F1 Race for Minardi.

[MiniDave]

The sticking point for Zhou going to Alfa might be that he wants a 2 year deal and Alfa are only offering one.

[MiniDave]

Vasseur says the 30 million Euros number is "bullshit", in fact the quote is "The numbers you give, it is pure speculation and bullshit."

That sounds like either it's 29 million or way more - to me.

However, it does look like they want to promote their own junior driver Theo Pourchaire in 2023, which could be why they only want to give the Chinese guy a 1 year deal.

[MiniDave]

Sochi.....

Nothing like a little rain to screw things up......and I mean that in the fun way!

so rain before qually started, but it stopped during Q1, and by Q3 the track was mostly dry and the fastest runners were on slicks. Mercedes left it too late for both their drivers, Bought-ass couldn't get his tires up to temp in time to set a fast lap and will start 7th. The Hamster hit the wall coming into the pits and damaged his front end, they changed the wing and got him out in time for one more banzai lap but by then other teams had already done their recharge/warm up lap and were going for it so the best he could do was 4th, based on his earlier banker lap.

So, that left a big hole at the front as the track was rapidly improving, Russel took 5 seconds out of his previous best to finish 3rd (right in front of his new teammate for next season!  ;D )

Sainz thought he had his first ever pole in F1 in the Ferrari, but at the very end Norris pipped him for HIS first pole in F1 in the McLaren.

After last weeks 1-2, McLaren have to be feeling pretty good about this season and ready to challenge for the championships next year - except all the rules changed and now everyone will be starting from scratch again - sort of.

So, could this be Norris' week to win one at last? Could be fun - cause it's supposed to rain buckets tomorrow!

[MiniDave]

Well, as predicted......if you want to make an F1 race interesting, just add rain. In this case it waited almost to the end of the race before the heavens opened up.....

So the end was not what I thought it would be, one team's radar was better than some of the others and their strategy worked. One driver thought he could stay out and win it with only a few laps to go but slick tires and a wet greasy track just don't work.

One thing interesting to me - what the heck is going on with the pit stops? Seems like every race now there are several extremely slow stops.....I wonder if (shades of Bernie) they're manipulating the green light to shake up the race order?

If that isn't it, then some drivers must be really frustrated by seeing their race disappear and all the careful strategies go out the window.

[pbraun]

There should be unexpected rain at every race - would for sure make it more interesting.

[Brit_in_TX]

One thing interesting to me - what the heck is going on with the pit stops? Seems like every race now there are several extremely slow stops.....I wonder if (shades of Bernie) they're manipulating the green light to shake up the race order?

There was a rule change for Belgium, were the systems were no longer allowed to anticipate success.  So there has been a procedure change which some of the teams are struggling with.  The wheel guns do some sort of automatic check, but the operator has to press a button at the right time to confirm they finished tightening the nut (previously they could just hold it down and the gun would complete the checks).  If they press it to early the gun does not give a "check mark" that once all 4 have completed signals the jack operators they can drop the car.  The wheel gun operator then has to re apply the gun to the nut to get the automatic checks to be completed.