Formula 1 BWT Grosser Preis Der Steiermark 2021Formula 1 

  • Thread starter Jimlaad43
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Here are the updated qualifying averages:

Verstappen + 0.172
Hamilton + 0.232
Bottas + 0.362
Leclerc + 0.526
Perez + 0.637
Norris + 0.637
Sainz + 0.645
Gasly + 0.711
Ricciardo + 1.099
Alonso + 1.271
Ocon + 1.276
Stroll + 1.281
Tsunoda + 1.297
Vettel + 1.395
Giovinazzi + 1.463
Russell + 1.489
Raikkonen + 1.922
Latifi + 2.131
Schumacher + 2.467
Mazepin + 2.902
 
I'm impressed with Alonso putting that Alpine in Q3. Here I was, thinking he was "past it", but will have to hold my judgement on that
 
shoemaker
Hoping for a thunderstorm with lots of offs, ballsy moves in the wet, safety cars and restarts that drags the race on all afternoon.
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So what we'll likely get is a hot, bone dry, fairly mundane race of strategy followed by an intense downpour as the drivers pull into parc ferme. It's the F1 way.
 
NotThePrez
P14 for Danny Ric, Russell misses out on Q3 by 8 thousandths. 😞
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I’m always impressed by how much performance Russell can squeeze out of the Williams. At the same time I’m sad to see him being stuck (for now) in that 💩box and struggling to get one measly point.

Edit : Three place grid penalty for Tsunoda and Russell is now starting from P10. Does he got to keep the free tyre choice still since he technically never got out of Q2?
 
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The camera that shows the cars coming out of, I think turn 6, really does show how ****ing fast these cars can turn. Incredible.
 
The fact that RB can run a skinnier wing and still be so good in the corners shows how well sorted their car is. If they are able to get away with this trade off in the remaining races then that definitely limits the amount of races Mercedes will be able to bounce back on.

As you can see from Max's pole lap, the driveability and traction is insane. Meanwhile the Mercs are moving around a lot if you compare them at the downhill right hander of turn 5.

I've been wondering if any of it is down to the Honda engine and how it delivers the power because the Alpha Tauri also looks really good in that department too.
 
Finally we have some very good battles also in the front.
Long time ago Mercedes team had to face real competition. Now it is there and they are under pressure with dito responses. And also RBR does the same the other way around
May the best one win, hopefully on track!

For now probably we - as neutral as possible - viewers are the real winners.

Looking forward to race
 
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It’s interesting that Perez starts on the softs, I was surprised to see so many drivers go with the mediums in q2. I don’t remember any major complaints about tire deg.

Edit: Btw, I think the team boss battle is almost as interesting as the wdc battle. It’s one of the reasons why I love F1.
 
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Adam41
The fact that RB can run a skinnier wing and still be so good in the corners shows how well sorted their car is. If they are able to get away with this trade off in the remaining races then that definitely limits the amount of races Mercedes will be able to bounce back on.

As you can see from Max's pole lap, the driveability and traction is insane. Meanwhile the Mercs are moving around a lot if you compare them at the downhill right hander of turn 5.

I've been wondering if any of it is down to the Honda engine and how it delivers the power because the Alpha Tauri also looks really good in that department too.
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Adrian Newey really knows his stuff when it comes to aerodynamics. Mercedes are good in all areas, but their real strength has been in outright power and the delivery of that power. The Red Bulls that Vettel drove to his four championships were noticeably down on power compared to McLaren and Ferrari, but made up for that by being glued to the track in the corners. The exhaust-blown diffuser RB7 was near enough a ground effect car. You can see onboards of Vettel and Webber going flat out through turn 8 at Istanbul and near flat out through the Esses at Suzuka like there's nothing to it. Vettel span a lot at Ferrari because he liked a really stable, planted rear end, and the hybrid cars are possibly too powerful for their own good.
 
MXH
I’m always impressed by how much performance Russell can squeeze out of the Williams. At the same time I’m sad to see him being stuck (for now) in that 💩box and struggling to get one measly point.

Edit : Three place grid penalty for Tsunoda and Russell is now starting from P10. Does he got to keep the free tyre choice still since he technically never got out of Q2?
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I think that Williams tweaks their car way more to quali so Russell and in his way even Latifi can at least shine a bit on the F1 weekend. They are massively slower in the race and if not careful even the very bad Haas cars are quicker and at least for Nic a big problem sometimes. Pretty sure it will be the same tomorrow and they are quickly back at the end (in front of or in the mix with MSC and MAZ) of the field. Not sure that this is the right approach. Even in the seasons they were dead last and way more off the pace they eventually snitched a point or a better finish closer to Top10 when others struggled. That just doesn't seem to be the case anymore. And we had some of these chances. (Even in these cases when they can fight for sth Russell is binning it but that is another topic)
 
BrainsBush
Officially not confirmed but it was said he and the team tried a new kind of launch system when leaving the pit. He drove away in 2nd gear and suddenly the throttle increased too progressive.
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Didn't Mercedes learn not to do these tests in unsafe areas.
I remember Hamilton done a launch to warm up tires outside of pit lane where it was not safe to do so and got hit with a penalty.
 
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This qualifying/practice was like watching Red Bull back when Vettel was driving for them. The car is heaps better looking in almost every single area on the track compared to the Mercedes. People who think they're on par aren't watching the same footage or coverage I'm seeing.

What's amusing is that in the past when Mercedes had a poor performance it used to be pretty reasonable to expect them to pull some magic strategy out of their ass and come away with a better result than expected. This year has been a relative crap show for Mercedes strategy - screwing it up whenever possible. My favourite races over the past several years are when Mercedes would pull something bizarre and make it work...or would cock it up and rely on Hamilton to just beat the odds and somehow storm to a podium from absolutely disaster. We're seeing neither this year.

It was nice though to hear one of the commentators (Davidson or Diresta) admitting that F1 is not much about racing currently but strategy - which is 100% accurate. That being the case, if Mercedes continues to goof and Red Bull have such an overwhelming car - it's fair to assume Max will run away with the championship. I think it's already Max's championship to lose.
 
Sadly no rain for the race today, hopefully its still interesting though. It seems temperature and weather could be defining the championship this year, with the front runners having such a narrow tyre/aero operating windows.
 
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I don't mind it being dry today if it's wet next weekend, cause otherwise we get the same race twice.
 
PeterJB
I don't mind it being dry today if it's wet next weekend, cause otherwise we get the same race twice.
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Well both races last year were dry but the Styrian race was average while the Austrian was really good. Although Austria being the first race of the season probably had a lot to do with that.
 
Samus
Well both races last year were dry but the Styrian race was average while the Austrian was really good. Although Austria being the first race of the season probably had a lot to do with that.
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Styria had wet qualifying which was enough to shake things up.
 
wish Merc the best of luck salvaging what they can this weekend. Its ironic how Mercedes used to be good on medium/high speed tracks and yet Red Bull is finally beating them at their own game. Monaco and Azerbaijan isn't Mercedes' strength, however even in France they weren't any better. Just hope to see a clean race between the teams, and maybe even see Norris sneaking up into the podium.
 
toastet
I think that Williams tweaks their car way more to quali so Russell and in his way even Latifi can at least shine a bit on the F1 weekend. They are massively slower in the race and if not careful even the very bad Haas cars are quicker and at least for Nic a big problem sometimes. Pretty sure it will be the same tomorrow and they are quickly back at the end (in front of or in the mix with MSC and MAZ) of the field. Not sure that this is the right approach. Even in the seasons they were dead last and way more off the pace they eventually snitched a point or a better finish closer to Top10 when others struggled. That just doesn't seem to be the case anymore. And we had some of these chances. (Even in these cases when they can fight for sth Russell is binning it but that is another topic)
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Yeah, that’s definitely been the trend for quite some time now, sadly. As much as I’d love to see Williams in the points, I suspect he’ll be handed the L fairly quickly and end up battling with the Haas’ and Alfas. I’m all for getting proven wrong by ”Mr. Saturday” though.
 
I think they are going to struggle on the mediums at the start. Just seen on Sky that Pirelli thinks the soft-hard strat is the best, this just might be Perez's race.
 
Chuckled at Martin walking around the cars and Red Bull’s mechanics basically saying, “Sorry, you haven’t unlocked this part of the car yet”.
 
Samus
Trusting Pirelli on tyres? Bold call.
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Well if the soft is no good in the race today then the teams will have a really fun time next weekend when Pirelli brings the softest compounds they have.
 
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