Formula 1 Heineken Gran Premio D’italia 2021Formula 1 

  • Thread starter Jimlaad43
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I've been a McLaren fan since I was a 5/6 year old cheering on Mika Haikkinen, and with Danny Ric being my favourite current driver and Lando my next, today could not have been more perfect. 9 long years of waiting for a win finally ended (ironically the same length of time my favourite football/soccer team Arsenal, went without winning a trophy).

Good to see Lewis get out of that crash safely.
 
Steward's decision below. Honestly, I thought Hamilton should've gotten a similar penalty at Silverstone. But I'm glad the stewards are stepping up and making a decision rather than calling it a racing incident. This title fight has resulted in several crashes where the drivers are lucky to avoid serious injury. We don't need more of them.

“Car 44 was exiting the pits. Car 33 was on the main straight. At the 50m board before Turn 1, Car 44 was significantly ahead of Car 33.
“Car 33 braked late and started to move alongside Car 44, although at no point in the sequence does Car 33 get any further forward than just behind the front wheel of Car 44.

“During the hearing the driver of Car 33 asserted that the cause of the incident was the driver of Car 44 opening the steering after Turn 1 and “squeezing” him to the apex of turn 2.
“The driver of Car 44 asserted that the driver of Car 33 attempted to pass very late and should have given up the corner either by backing off sooner, or by turning left behind the kerb.
“The Stewards observed on CCTV footage that the driver of Car 44 was driving an avoiding line, although his position caused Car 33 to go onto the kerb. But further, the Stewards observed that Car 33 was not at all alongside Car 44 until significantly into the entry into Turn 1.
“In the opinion of the Stewards, this manoeuvre was attempted too late for the driver of Car 33 to have “the right to racing room”.
“While Car 44 could have steered further from the kerb to avoid the incident, the Stewards determined that his position was reasonable and therefore find that the driver of Car 33 was predominantly to blame for the incident.
“In coming to the penalty the Stewards emphasise that they have only considered the incident itself and not the consequences thereof.”

 
Something else I should mention, I really don't like this trend from FOM of "glamorising" the dangerous side of F1. They keep showing replay after replay after replay of these incidents in recent years, on this occasion showed the slo-mo of HAM with a wheel on his head three whole times.

Sure, I know that if the worst happens they wouldn't do that on any incident where there is injury or worse, but it just feels like they're doing too much of "HEY, LOOK AT THIS AMAZING CRASH, ISN'T IT AMAZING! LOOK HOW CLOSE TO HIS HEAD IT WAS! THIS IS F1" for my liking. Combine that with their desire to see as many standing starts as possible because they know crashes and incidents are far more likely then and I really don't like the way they're going.
Daniel Riccardo complained about this last year when grosjean had his accident.
 
Steward's decision below. Honestly, I thought Hamilton should've gotten a similar penalty at Silverstone. But I'm glad the stewards are stepping up and making a decision rather than calling it a racing incident. This title fight has resulted in several crashes where the drivers are lucky to avoid serious injury. We don't need more of them.

“Car 44 was exiting the pits. Car 33 was on the main straight. At the 50m board before Turn 1, Car 44 was significantly ahead of Car 33.
“Car 33 braked late and started to move alongside Car 44, although at no point in the sequence does Car 33 get any further forward than just behind the front wheel of Car 44.

“During the hearing the driver of Car 33 asserted that the cause of the incident was the driver of Car 44 opening the steering after Turn 1 and “squeezing” him to the apex of turn 2.
“The driver of Car 44 asserted that the driver of Car 33 attempted to pass very late and should have given up the corner either by backing off sooner, or by turning left behind the kerb.
“The Stewards observed on CCTV footage that the driver of Car 44 was driving an avoiding line, although his position caused Car 33 to go onto the kerb. But further, the Stewards observed that Car 33 was not at all alongside Car 44 until significantly into the entry into Turn 1.
“In the opinion of the Stewards, this manoeuvre was attempted too late for the driver of Car 33 to have “the right to racing room”.
“While Car 44 could have steered further from the kerb to avoid the incident, the Stewards determined that his position was reasonable and therefore find that the driver of Car 33 was predominantly to blame for the incident.
“In coming to the penalty the Stewards emphasise that they have only considered the incident itself and not the consequences thereof.”

Odd there is no mention of the sausage kerbs which contributed to the issue.
Guess they dont want to admit the track is unsafe.
 
Sausage kerbs are fine, they are there to give a good reason for people not to run too far off track and thats exactly what they did. The alternative is Paul Ricard where the corners are just painted on

A bit surprised about the stewards decision there, he was entitled to go for it
 
Sausage kerbs are fine, they are there to give a good reason for people not to run too far off track and thats exactly what they did. The alternative is Paul Ricard where the corners are just painted on

A bit surprised about the stewards decision there, he was entitled to go for it
But run wide, get pushed off, understeer get thrown in the air.
The FIA should've learnt after this issue.
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If Monza had Paul Ricard type corners, Both Lewis and Max would've been still in the race.
Max would've had to concede the advantage and a little more to prevent the ire of the stewards and tried again.
 
Parabolica is too fast for those kerbs so unfortunately we are stuck with drivers running off track unless they bring back gravel so they spear into the wall if they don't respect the track limits.

If Monza had Paul Ricard type corners, Both Lewis and Max would've been still in the race.

Why would you want that? It was an exciting incident. These incidents make F1 spectacular. Having every corner result in the attacking driver bailing up an escape road and then hearing the driver appealing to the stewards is to me very dull and sanitised.
 
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Parabolica is too fast for those kerbs so unfortunately we are stuck with drivers running off track unless they bring back gravel so they spear into the wall if they don't respect the track limits.

They could put a more abrasive surface on the road so the tires are shredded.
 
So, I 100% need a still image of the moment where Lando is pouring champagne in Danny's other shoe and Valtteri is looking on with a face of pure dread. :lol:
 
OOOOOOOOHHHH DANIEL RIIIIICCIAAAAARDO

OOOOOOOOHHHH DANIEL RIIIIICCIAAAAARDO

What a race. What a drive. Monza produces yet another brilliant result!
Pretty good day for Aussie drivers with Oscar Piastri winning the F2 feature race beforehand. 🇦🇺

Hopefully Ricciardo can continue this kind of form the rest of the season.
 
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But run wide, get pushed off, understeer get thrown in the air.
The FIA should've learnt after this issue.
View attachment 1079922


If Monza had Paul Ricard type corners, Both Lewis and Max would've been still in the race.
Max would've had to concede the advantage and a little more to prevent the ire of the stewards and tried again.
It was stupid of them to put a sausage kerb at Parabolica. Having them on the inside of a slow chicane like Rettifilo is fine as they are there to prevent corner cutting. They are designed to keep you away. Max ignored this and decided to drive over it. The resulting crash was down to Max's decision.
 
That's the problem right there. Max has to learn that sometimes he has to concede. The sausage kerb is innocent on this occasion as the correct course of action was to go inside it. Max's line meant that contact was inevitable and he had no hope of making the left turn even if Lewis wasn't there.
I think this is the issue that could end up costing Max the championship. He needs to remember that he has the faster car, so he doesn't need to smash through every half-open door for fear that this is his one shot at the win.
 
Either way, it's clear that god inventing the halo was a good thing.

"I feel very fortunate today," said Hamilton. "Thank God for the halo which saved me, and saved my neck."

The Briton added: "I am so grateful I am still here. I feel incredibly blessed that someone was watching over me today.
 
I wonder if this might trigger a redesign of the halo, maybe just to raise the height a bit now that we know wheels can still impact the driver's head from above.
 
Not sure since the "holes" under the halo are in a specific size to prevent debris above size xy. So the halo itself would get thicker and heavier.
 
The only way you could do it is to make the top part thicker and taller, raising the upper profile. Everything could stay the same - mounting points, lower holes and overall shape. Alternatively, the Indycar Aeroscreen is a better option - higher and more enclosed.
 
Would be a great shame if Piastri doesnt get a drive. Already much better on paper than dead weights Tsunoda and Mazepin who lack the temperament for F1
 
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Alternatively, the Indycar Aeroscreen is a better option - higher and more enclosed.
Only issue with the Aeroscreen is if we get another Grosjean Type crash.
If it is higher and more enclosed it could be more of a firebox trapping the driver.
But hopefully the lessons learnt from the Grosjean Crash will help make things safer so this doesn't happen again.
 
I am still buzzing, it will last all week and beyond.

What to say? Such a long wait. So fitting, to me, that it was Danny - there's the Ricciardo we signed. Lando, yours is coming, keep it up.

Long, long seasons in the past, but now?
Now we can fight.
 
Only issue with the Aeroscreen is if we get another Grosjean Type crash.
If it is higher and more enclosed it could be more of a firebox trapping the driver.
But hopefully the lessons learnt from the Grosjean Crash will help make things safer so this doesn't happen again.
There is that, of course, but it's not like a driver can climb out of the front of a halo at the moment, so the same might apply if ever a driver was trapped again. I think the difference which applies between F1 and Indycar which avoids this is that the latter nearly always races on circuits which have concrete barriers lined by SAFER barriers - there's less chance of spearing through the barrier and trapping the driver than in F1. They don't have to be right at the track edge, but look at Laguna Seca, Road America, Mid-Ohio, etc. Maybe in the future, F1 circuits should be looking to replace the Armco barriers with concrete instead?
 
Anyone else thinking that if Bottas continues to drive like his, he could be the darkest of horses for the championship? He's famously strong at Sochi, Verstappen is most likely starting from the back, Perez will be too busy being useless and if the McLarens are in play with Hamilton he could win that one. Just needs a few more collisions with Lewis and Max.
 
Bottas does need Ham and Ver to come together quite a lot to get back into this fight. He's only just passed Norris in the championship, and we're heading towards the end of the season when Red Bull typically get stronger. Once Ham and Ver are back 1 and 2, they'll leave everyone in their dust again.
 
Anyone else thinking that if Bottas continues to drive like his, he could be the darkest of horses for the championship? He's famously strong at Sochi, Verstappen is most likely starting from the back, Perez will be too busy being useless and if the McLarens are in play with Hamilton he could win that one. Just needs a few more collisions with Lewis and Max.

If he dares to show that he has iron marbles I'll be rooting for him.
 
Bottas is trailing Verstappen by 85 points. So if he collects nothing but podiums from here on in and Max and Lewis manage to take each other out repeatedly he has an outside chance at a title.

His performance this season makes it look very unlikely though...
 
Red Bull will have to speak to Max now.
It's clear that the party line from Merc and Hamilton is that they aren't going to be backing down in these fights any more.
They will have to focus on Qualy so as to avoid these battles. And if they find themselves in a battle for Max to use his racing intelligence more. 2 times now Max's inability to back out has caused him to DNF and damage that Christian has to stump up for.
Max is in real danger of loosing his championship lead if he carries on.
 
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