Formula One

[pete]

Oscar piatri more likely 

[drdoom]

Oddly, I thought, one of the cars competing in the Porsche Supercup at Austria was emblazoned with Dellorto sponsorship. Had thought Dellorto somewhat arcane and marginal in the present day aftermarket.

[PhilT]

On the subject of the porpoising...we have of course been here before.

I think Mercedes should contact Clive Chapman...

 Lotus Type 88 - Lotus Cars Media Site

[pete]

Mercedes have admitted they gave Lewis a faster car than Russell at Austria due to a lack of Soares after the two crashed in qualifying. Seems strange they preferred Hamilton over Russell considering that Russell was ahead in the points and had out qualified his team mate 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

2 hours ago, pete said:

Mercedes have admitted they gave Lewis a faster car than Russell at Austria due to a lack of Soares

I didn’t know he was so important.

[Chillidoggy]

Easier than putting up with him moaning?

[mg4lotus]

The team partnering of Hamilton and Russell reminds me of the partnering of Hamilton and Button.

[exeterjeep]

Ferrari manage to mess things up again. Better than expected for Merc. With GR jumping the RB at the re-start and hanging on for 3rd.

[Chillidoggy]

A flawless drive by Max,  but I’m very disappointed we didn’t get the chance to see him and Leclerc battling it out until the end because of his cock-up. Encouraging performance from the Mercs, though.

[C8RKH]

And yet when Lewis would win like that through a flawless drive (often from P2 into the lead on lap 1) a lot of people on here cried how "boring" it was etc.

However, what the current situation does show is that F1 IS a team sport - to win consistently you need a top driver, a top car, a top team (factory, engineers, strategists) and if any one of those three things is not on song you end up like LeClerc.

I'm really surprised to that yet again no praise for Hamiltons drive given he fended off a clearly faster car in Perez. Personally, I think Lewis has "woken" up and Russell must be thinking hmmm after recent performances.

Also, a lot of respect for Toto when he strongly told Russell "you cannot do that" when Russell was whinging re his move on Perez. Great, firm, leadership.

[Chillidoggy]

I also think it's boring when there's one car disappearing down the road like yesterday, because, as I said, it robs the fans of seeing the top guys slugging it out on the track. And sadly, Max's win also means that unless Ferrari gets its act together, or Merc improves its car, the championship race could become another predetermined yawn-fest - again, not one I want to see. I like it when it goes down to the wire, that's excitement.

Despite the strong results, I'm not convinced Mercs are out of the woods just yet, so it'll be interesting to see what happens in Hungary.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Max had it relatively easy. I don’t think he had to overtake anyone for position. LeClerc drove into the tyres and, after Verstappen’s pit stop, Norris went wide and let him straight through. The Ferrari strategy and communications were hilarious though!

[exeterjeep]

Just now, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

he Ferrari strategy and communications were hilarious though!

yes,  plan b, plan a , oh and how about plan d.  At least it adds a small amount to the entertainment.  They needed a plan F - Finish the race without messing up.

[C8RKH]

As I've daid before, I've worked for Italians sadly. Yesterdays fiasco brought back many memories lol...

[electro_boy]

Ahh what frustrating race with Charles making a mistake, it could have been fun watching him and Max battling it out.

I think Charles has a chink in his amour in that he lets the pressure get to him and make mistakes.  I think he had some breathing room, Max was right on his tail but he hadn't made any moves yet, so I think there was scope for the pressure on Charles to get higher still.

Fantastic to see Merc having some good race pace and @C8RKH I think you are right Lewis has woken up and seemed more racey and up for it this weekend.  I cannot wait till the flexible floor restrictions are bought in and see if this helps Merc be back on terms with Red Bull and Ferrari.

Think Danny Riccardo also got a kick up the back side and stayed roughly competitive with Lando rather than being a lap behind so hopefully he can keep that up and stay in the team.   The Channel 4 interview with the Mclaren boss didn't fill me with confidence for Danny, when asked what's your stance on Riccardo, is he safe in the team? He replied with "There are no changes planned at the moment. We have a contract with Riccardo till the end of the season".  Reading between the lines, to me that says if it wasn't for legal reasons we would have put in another driver by now.

[exeterjeep]

23 hours ago, electro_boy said:

Ahh what frustrating race with Charles making a mistake

I see he has admitted it was his mistake, but didn't here try to blame the throttle at first - the tv coverage was starting to refer back to the problems he had in the previous race.

See Winger Horner is back on his normal form 

Christian Horner has demanded the FIA investigate Virtual Safety Car restarts after George Russell secured a podium at the French Grand Prix. The Red Bull boss revealed Perez did not get the correct VSC data in his car, used to tell a driver to slow down or speed up.

[electro_boy]

As much as I like taking a mick out of Karen Horner, I think he might actually have a valid point for once.

On the C4 highlights coverage looked like something funny was going on as the Perez / Russell gap looked to be constantly getting bigger and smaller etc ... So there was something weird going on.

Shame the same fault didn't happen to Max's car.  😄

[exeterjeep]

At one point the VSC seemed to end and then come back on, and then off again, it seemed a bit confusing. If GR had jumped the VSC ending he would have been penalised - rightly.

Surely CH can't complain about any errors by the FIA/race control.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

To me it just looked like one of those opportunist moments from GR. Sometimes they come off, sometimes they don’t. I just think he reacted faster than Perez to the VSC ending and got the jump on him. Whether that was comms related or not, I don’t know. We’re only talking about a split second decision. Perez could have just glanced in his mirrors at the very moment the message was relayed, for example. Maybe Horner should look at RB’s own restart procedures first, before blaming the FIA?

[Chillidoggy]

Maybe he already has.

[Rambo]

1 hour ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

 Whether that was comms related or not, I don’t know. 

Maybe George got the comms from the FIA and Sergio got his comms from Lotus 🤣

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Haha, yes in that case he’d still be driving around in his 2021 Williams!

[exeterjeep]

See Seb is on the retirement path.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/62330316

[yeller77]

Wonder if it'd be different if he'd had a more competitive car to campaign, but sounds as if his thoughts were elsewhere. Always a bit sad to see a champion bow out, even if past their prime.

[jep]

6 hours ago, exeterjeep said:

See Seb is on the retirement path.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/62330316

I think we all know he retired in 2020 but has hung around the office (on full pay). 

Justin