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Thread: 2021 Spanish Grand Prix: Post Race Analysis

  1. #1
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    2021 Spanish Grand Prix: Post Race Analysis

    Unfortunately the Spanish GP around the Circuit de Catalunya has become a boring race. Not sure what genius thought reprofiling turn 10 to be a sweeping entry was a good idea as it completely destroyed any chance of overtaking in that area. I am not sure a single pass was even made going into turn 10. Nevertheless there was a battle for the win which probably wasn't as close as we wanted to believe, and the battle for 10th was great, except we barely got to see it unfold.

    Mercedes had the faster car by quite some margin. Despite a challenge from Verstappen, Mercedes are now headed in the direction of another dominant season. Great strategy from Mercedes managed to claim a deserving win for Lewis. Bottas as expected had a chance to put his car in there in Turn 1, but chose to back out to ensure he didn't challenge Hamilton and got overtaken by a hungry Charles Leclerc. It was interesting later when given the team orders to not hold up Hamilton on a different strategy, he went ahead and held him up for half a lap. It's looking more and more like this will be the last season at Mercedes for Bottas.

    Red Bull who are generally good with strategy and pitstops just dropped the ball a little bit. Who knows if it really made much of a difference as the faster car always has more options over the course of a race. Max did what he could, but 2nd was probably what he deserved. Perez recovered nicely given how hard it is to pass at this track.

    Ferrari had a solid day. Their mid field battle against McLaren is very exciting and Ferrari, who brought some decent upgrades, look to be ahead on pace and currently the 3rd best team. Charles Leclerc had a brilliant race. His opening stint keeping Bottas behind was fantastic and earned the 4th place on pace. Sainz played his part by finishing ahead of the second McLaren.

    McLaren were again strong in the race. Daniel Ricciardo had a great come back drive as he's been getting beaten by Lando pretty much all season. Today he really stepped up his game with a 5th place finish and seemingly always ahead of Norris.

    Alpine was a disappointment as mentioned on the broadcast. Perhaps they put their efforts into qualifying as they knew passing would be difficult. Whatever the reason, their race pace was pretty poor. Ocon was lucky to score points. I would expect a similar performance in Monaco where qualifying is paramount.

    AlphaTauri really fought for that point. All season they have qualified well, and then dropped back with not much to show for it in the race. This weekend was the opposite. Dropping as far back as dead last, Gasly was able to claw his way back up to 10th. Deserving of some credit to say the least.

    Aston Martin performed exactly as expected. Unlike Mercedes, they can't seem to come to grips with the 2021 low rake car. Lance Stroll tried his best to get a point or two, but I think just ran out of talent. Though enough speed to again finish ahead of his 4 time world champion teammate.

    At Alfa Romeo, Kimi Raikkonen was one of the drivers of the race in my eyes. Started on Medium tires, kept it clean and was there fighting with Aston Martin in the end. 12th place is a good result for Kimi. A very strange situation happened on Giovinazzi's pitstop. Apparently a tire valve issue meant the one tire had deflated and it cost him over 30 seconds, fortunately it was during a safety car period.

    Williams had a very up and down race. They could barely keep up with Haas at the beginning of the race, they were chewing through tires, then next thing you know they are less than 0.5 seconds off of a points position. A few laps later and they have dropped back down to 15th or so. The car seems to be very sensitive to wind and traffic.

    Haas always at the back, but let's give a hand to Schumacher for his opening laps performance. The kid was a stud in F2 in terms of gaining positions on lap 1 and today made some moves in the big boy league. He fought with a slow car as long as he could, but unfortunately the Haas can only do so much and he finished where he should, second to last, ahead of his teammate.

    Driver of the Day: Charles Leclerc. Sure some may say it is Lewis or Max, but I think Leclerc far exceeded what was expected. It wasn't dodgy defending that kept him in 4th, it was his outright speed.

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    It was encouraging whether it was due to the better grip on this track or true innovations, Ferrari seemed to improve their tyre wear issues from Portimao.

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    Quote Originally Posted by SS454 View Post
    Unfortunately the Spanish GP around the Circuit de Catalunya has become a boring race. Not sure what genius thought reprofiling turn 10 to be a sweeping entry was a good idea as it completely destroyed any chance of overtaking in that area. I am not sure a single pass was even made going into turn 10. Nevertheless there was a battle for the win which probably wasn't as close as we wanted to believe, and the battle for 10th was great, except we barely got to see it unfold.

    Mercedes had the faster car by quite some margin. Despite a challenge from Verstappen, Mercedes are now headed in the direction of another dominant season. Great strategy from Mercedes managed to claim a deserving win for Lewis. Bottas as expected had a chance to put his car in there in Turn 1, but chose to back out to ensure he didn't challenge Hamilton and got overtaken by a hungry Charles Leclerc. It was interesting later when given the team orders to not hold up Hamilton on a different strategy, he went ahead and held him up for half a lap. It's looking more and more like this will be the last season at Mercedes for Bottas.

    Red Bull who are generally good with strategy and pitstops just dropped the ball a little bit. Who knows if it really made much of a difference as the faster car always has more options over the course of a race. Max did what he could, but 2nd was probably what he deserved. Perez recovered nicely given how hard it is to pass at this track.

    Ferrari had a solid day. Their mid field battle against McLaren is very exciting and Ferrari, who brought some decent upgrades, look to be ahead on pace and currently the 3rd best team. Charles Leclerc had a brilliant race. His opening stint keeping Bottas behind was fantastic and earned the 4th place on pace. Sainz played his part by finishing ahead of the second McLaren.

    McLaren were again strong in the race. Daniel Ricciardo had a great come back drive as he's been getting beaten by Lando pretty much all season. Today he really stepped up his game with a 5th place finish and seemingly always ahead of Norris.

    Alpine was a disappointment as mentioned on the broadcast. Perhaps they put their efforts into qualifying as they knew passing would be difficult. Whatever the reason, their race pace was pretty poor. Ocon was lucky to score points. I would expect a similar performance in Monaco where qualifying is paramount.

    AlphaTauri really fought for that point. All season they have qualified well, and then dropped back with not much to show for it in the race. This weekend was the opposite. Dropping as far back as dead last, Gasly was able to claw his way back up to 10th. Deserving of some credit to say the least.

    Aston Martin performed exactly as expected. Unlike Mercedes, they can't seem to come to grips with the 2021 low rake car. Lance Stroll tried his best to get a point or two, but I think just ran out of talent. Though enough speed to again finish ahead of his 4 time world champion teammate.

    At Alfa Romeo, Kimi Raikkonen was one of the drivers of the race in my eyes. Started on Medium tires, kept it clean and was there fighting with Aston Martin in the end. 12th place is a good result for Kimi. A very strange situation happened on Giovinazzi's pitstop. Apparently a tire valve issue meant the one tire had deflated and it cost him over 30 seconds, fortunately it was during a safety car period.

    Williams had a very up and down race. They could barely keep up with Haas at the beginning of the race, they were chewing through tires, then next thing you know they are less than 0.5 seconds off of a points position. A few laps later and they have dropped back down to 15th or so. The car seems to be very sensitive to wind and traffic.

    Haas always at the back, but let's give a hand to Schumacher for his opening laps performance. The kid was a stud in F2 in terms of gaining positions on lap 1 and today made some moves in the big boy league. He fought with a slow car as long as he could, but unfortunately the Haas can only do so much and he finished where he should, second to last, ahead of his teammate.

    Driver of the Day: Charles Leclerc. Sure some may say it is Lewis or Max, but I think Leclerc far exceeded what was expected. It wasn't dodgy defending that kept him in 4th, it was his outright speed.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzXdXvH0s_o

    I found this interesting analysis on the 200 - 320 KPH comparison of each factory team.

    I hope it adds to the thread.

    Cheers!

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    That graphics shows that we re still lacking horse power.

    We can assume both Mercedes and Redbull raced with more downforce settings and yet we barely match their max speed.

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    Quote Originally Posted by JacKy View Post
    That graphics shows that we re still lacking horse power.

    We can assume both Mercedes and Redbull raced with more downforce settings and yet we barely match their max speed.
    Honestly, I wouldn't mind losing out this year.
    I would rather have an extremely strong machine next year which has the capability of evolution.
    Thus giving us a strong standing from 2021 to 2025.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Toothlessrage* View Post
    Honestly, I wouldn't mind losing out this year.
    I would rather have an extremely strong machine next year which has the capability of evolution.
    Thus giving us a strong standing from 2021 to 2025.
    Lets hope next year we have equal engine if not better than others

    Otherwise we’ll be on the back foot for 3 years.

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    Quote Originally Posted by JacKy View Post
    That graphics shows that we re still lacking horse power.

    We can assume both Mercedes and Redbull raced with more downforce settings and yet we barely match their max speed.
    If that's the case, the tyre management was very good under the low downforce setting. And it will be interesting to see how we fare in Monaco.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cavallino View Post
    If that's the case, the tyre management was very good under the low downforce setting. And it will be interesting to see how we fare in Monaco.
    In Monaco we have a chance to have a strong showing.
    But, I have a feeling the low-rake machines will be strong there.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Toothlessrage* View Post
    In Monaco we have a chance to have a strong showing.
    But, I have a feeling the low-rake machines will be strong there.
    The only low rake car that can actually go fast is the Mercedes. Aston Martin would be lucky to steal away a point or two.
    "I've always believed that you should never, ever give up and you should always keep fighting even when there's only a slightest chance." - Michael Schumacher

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    Quote Originally Posted by Toothlessrage* View Post
    In Monaco we have a chance to have a strong showing.
    But, I have a feeling the low-rake machines will be strong there.
    Have you even seen a weekend at Monaco during this turbo hybrid era?????

    Redbull has been strong at Monaco....even beating Mercedes....due their high rake, high downforce setup and short WB. Get pole at Monaco and P1 gets you an 80% chance of winning the race.
    It's not how start but how you finish.

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    3rd place is a podium place. Let Charles own that podium place for the rest of the season and Ferrari fans will not have to keep saying "Next Year!" And... any slip up between the front row cars and Ferrari moves up. I'm really glad to know Charles wants his seat right to retirement. The right tire choices and fast pits and we already have the driver!! 2021 is NOT without Ferrari in the mix!!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by jgonzalesm6 View Post
    Have you even seen a weekend at Monaco during this turbo hybrid era?????

    Redbull has been strong at Monaco....even beating Mercedes....due their high rake, high downforce setup and short WB. Get pole at Monaco and P1 gets you an 80% chance of winning the race.
    Hey, Dr. Phil! How're you?

    I know that Red Bull has always been strong at Monaco.
    I also know that Mercedes has a record of 4 to RBR's 1 at Monaco.

    I never said that it was concrete proof that the low-rake machines would be quick, just a hunch.
    Apart from Mercedes and the McMerc's, the only other low-rake machine is the AMR.
    The AMR will be lucky to score anything in Monaco given their drivers and the machine.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Toothlessrage* View Post
    Hey, Dr. Phil! How're you?

    I know that Red Bull has always been strong at Monaco.
    I also know that Mercedes has a record of 4 to RBR's 1 at Monaco.

    I never said that it was concrete proof that the low-rake machines would be quick, just a hunch.
    Apart from Mercedes and the McMerc's, the only other low-rake machine is the AMR.
    The AMR will be lucky to score anything in Monaco given their drivers and the machine.
    I'm good. Thanks for asking. What's with the Dr. Phill conotation??

    Yep, 4 Mercedes to 1 RedBull. 2016 coulda-shoulda-woulda been RedBull's year at Monaco but they effed up Ricciardo's pitstop costing him his P1 position. Also, all those years powered by a Renault PU.

    RedBull should get P1 this year with the Honda PU.
    It's not how start but how you finish.

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    Max has never been on the podium in Monaco. I'm not sure how he feels about this street circuit.

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    Quote Originally Posted by jgonzalesm6 View Post
    I'm good. Thanks for asking. What's with the Dr. Phill conotation??

    Yep, 4 Mercedes to 1 RedBull. 2016 coulda-shoulda-woulda been RedBull's year at Monaco but they effed up Ricciardo's pitstop costing him his P1 position. Also, all those years powered by a Renault PU.

    RedBull should get P1 this year with the Honda PU.
    I don't know about P1 for Max because his record at Monaco is average at best.
    But, surprises are a thing so..

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    I think Max will be up there, and if he tries a move like he did in Spain or Imola, things may end worse.

    Although, Max has to get some wins and show an upper hand in the championship, because as things stand right now, if I'm Lewis, there's no reason not to let Max have the position and save the car.

    I said this in 2018 too, we were close to putting Lewis down in the championship ( and we would have it wasn't for Max's crashes costing me 35 points that year before we even got to European races)

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    Max can't blow it if he DNFs and lewis wins see you next year max that is what I believe and by the way charles comes 2nd and carlos 3rd how good would that be.Alright then charles wins and that makes it fantastic.Seriously the pressure is on max a little more than lewis and the rest of the drivers.

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    This year has everything about breaking traditions for some reason, Verstappen not winning after Kvyat got fired, Verstappen winning at Italy and Hamilton winning the first race of the season. I hope this also includes Leclerc won't be unlucky/aggressive in Monaco this year.

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