SS454
18th April 2021, 19:55
Max Verstappen deserved the win, but he nearly threw it away. Coming to the green as the SC ended, puts the car in the grass. That small mistake nearly cost him the win, but also would have meant Hamilton likely would have won. Sergio Perez once again shows that he is overrated. He was way too cautious at the start of the race and still made mistakes in the opening laps. Then in prime condition to battle for a podium he spins out on his own, and then couldn't even recover into the points. I'd say the disappointment of the day.
Lewis Hamilton. Once again F1's ridiculous rules and procedures benefit him after his own failures. A mistake all on his own puts him a lap down with a broken wing, race ruined. Thankfully his own teammate and future Merc driver Russell crash on the same lap bringing out a red flag. This allows the LH to gain his lap back and the team to pretty much make his car brand new. Suddenly his car is 3 seconds faster than anyone except Max. No other car could make passes, not even Bottas. Lewis was blowing by the fastest cars like they were in a lower class. 335 kph vs 300ish. Even pushing to the max in traffic, Lewis didn't burn through his tires? It just doesn't make sense.
Bottas, I feel he is mentally broken and thus his performance was very poor. I do not blame him for the wreck with Russell. I'll talk about this later.
Lando Norris, well deserved 3rd place. Arguably driver of the race. Ricciardo had good track position but never had the pace to move forward.
Ferrari had a great race and a great result. In the wet the car appeared to be quick difficult to drive with mistakes by both drivers. I thought Leclerc on mediums would have a significant tire advantage over Lando for the last 5-8 laps of the race, but oddly that didn't happen. I think we must remember that Ferrari is not as fast as Mclaren, so its fair to say the car just wasn't fast enough. Sainz made way too many mistakes and is fortunate to finish 5th.
Lance Stroll's best performances come in wet races and again he performed quite well with a car that had a bunch of software gremlins. Job well done. On the other hand, Vettel showed another rotten performance. He used to relish these conditions, but was no where all day. However his penalty was a bit unfair, which I'll speak of later.
AlphaTauri once again wasn't very good in the race. It's difficult to say how much is down to pace, and how much is down to driver or team error. I found it strange that the team chose to start both cars on full wets, and never alter either of their plans once it was apparent that it was the wrong tire.
AlfaRomeo. Nice to see Kimi get some points. Old school track with difficult conditions, Kimi's right at home.
The Alpine cars just don't seem be have the pace. It seems it doesn't take much for that car to go from decent to bad really quickly. Slightly disappointed with Alonso's performance. Usually the great drivers rise to the top in the more challenging conditions... not today.
Haas, well both cars finished which is a small success. Both drivers were put on the wrong tires to start, maybe a safe play because it wouldn't matter much. Mick had a decent start but threw it away quickly, again it wouldn't make much of a difference. Both drivers spun, both drivers were slow, both drivers were last to finish.
What is with George Russell failing to get points? Another prime spot for rare points, and he gets in a bad wreck that throws it away. Despite his view, I think he is partially to blame. As for Latifi, it was 100% his fault for his wreck. So a huge fail for the drivers when the car looked unusually quick, relative to their normal pace.
Few more things:
Vettel's penalty. The stewards issue his penalty immediately AFTER he made his first stop. Was it always supposed to be a 10 second stop and go? Should it not have been just a 10 second time penalty to be served at the pitstop in which they should have given that penalty on the formation lap? It really didn't seem fair to Vettel.
Bottas/Russell crash. Both feel it was the other's fault, I saw it completely as a racing incident. Sure Bottas moved slightly right, but that is normal when going through the left hand sweeping "corner". Russell had enough room, but appeared a bit spooked and put his car to the edge which dropped a right rear tire on wet grass and the crash ensued. The real failures of that crash are the medical staff. That was a HUGE impact and not a single medical person went to help either driver. Was I the only one to notice Bottas taking a long time sitting in the car? Usually that is a bad sign after a wreck. After getting himself out of the car without help, he moved his way behind the fence, visually in discomfort, and still no medical aid. I really think F1 is so stuck up they refuse to look at other motorsports. Nascar and Indycar have incredible first aid response and it is embarrassing F1 doesn't even consider it.
F1 Red Flag procedure is a joke. I can't get it through my head how F1 allows teams to make changes to the car during a red flag. They should not be allowed to touch the car at all, with the exception of a tire change IF, and only IF the track conditions have changed enough to support it. Instead teams put on whatever tires they want, make repairs, and even change the setup. Plus the fact they let lapped cars get back on the lead lap. Hamilton was set to be at the back of the pack, and yet gets to restart 9th in a car that seemed to be better than it was at the beginning of the race.
Lewis Hamilton. Once again F1's ridiculous rules and procedures benefit him after his own failures. A mistake all on his own puts him a lap down with a broken wing, race ruined. Thankfully his own teammate and future Merc driver Russell crash on the same lap bringing out a red flag. This allows the LH to gain his lap back and the team to pretty much make his car brand new. Suddenly his car is 3 seconds faster than anyone except Max. No other car could make passes, not even Bottas. Lewis was blowing by the fastest cars like they were in a lower class. 335 kph vs 300ish. Even pushing to the max in traffic, Lewis didn't burn through his tires? It just doesn't make sense.
Bottas, I feel he is mentally broken and thus his performance was very poor. I do not blame him for the wreck with Russell. I'll talk about this later.
Lando Norris, well deserved 3rd place. Arguably driver of the race. Ricciardo had good track position but never had the pace to move forward.
Ferrari had a great race and a great result. In the wet the car appeared to be quick difficult to drive with mistakes by both drivers. I thought Leclerc on mediums would have a significant tire advantage over Lando for the last 5-8 laps of the race, but oddly that didn't happen. I think we must remember that Ferrari is not as fast as Mclaren, so its fair to say the car just wasn't fast enough. Sainz made way too many mistakes and is fortunate to finish 5th.
Lance Stroll's best performances come in wet races and again he performed quite well with a car that had a bunch of software gremlins. Job well done. On the other hand, Vettel showed another rotten performance. He used to relish these conditions, but was no where all day. However his penalty was a bit unfair, which I'll speak of later.
AlphaTauri once again wasn't very good in the race. It's difficult to say how much is down to pace, and how much is down to driver or team error. I found it strange that the team chose to start both cars on full wets, and never alter either of their plans once it was apparent that it was the wrong tire.
AlfaRomeo. Nice to see Kimi get some points. Old school track with difficult conditions, Kimi's right at home.
The Alpine cars just don't seem be have the pace. It seems it doesn't take much for that car to go from decent to bad really quickly. Slightly disappointed with Alonso's performance. Usually the great drivers rise to the top in the more challenging conditions... not today.
Haas, well both cars finished which is a small success. Both drivers were put on the wrong tires to start, maybe a safe play because it wouldn't matter much. Mick had a decent start but threw it away quickly, again it wouldn't make much of a difference. Both drivers spun, both drivers were slow, both drivers were last to finish.
What is with George Russell failing to get points? Another prime spot for rare points, and he gets in a bad wreck that throws it away. Despite his view, I think he is partially to blame. As for Latifi, it was 100% his fault for his wreck. So a huge fail for the drivers when the car looked unusually quick, relative to their normal pace.
Few more things:
Vettel's penalty. The stewards issue his penalty immediately AFTER he made his first stop. Was it always supposed to be a 10 second stop and go? Should it not have been just a 10 second time penalty to be served at the pitstop in which they should have given that penalty on the formation lap? It really didn't seem fair to Vettel.
Bottas/Russell crash. Both feel it was the other's fault, I saw it completely as a racing incident. Sure Bottas moved slightly right, but that is normal when going through the left hand sweeping "corner". Russell had enough room, but appeared a bit spooked and put his car to the edge which dropped a right rear tire on wet grass and the crash ensued. The real failures of that crash are the medical staff. That was a HUGE impact and not a single medical person went to help either driver. Was I the only one to notice Bottas taking a long time sitting in the car? Usually that is a bad sign after a wreck. After getting himself out of the car without help, he moved his way behind the fence, visually in discomfort, and still no medical aid. I really think F1 is so stuck up they refuse to look at other motorsports. Nascar and Indycar have incredible first aid response and it is embarrassing F1 doesn't even consider it.
F1 Red Flag procedure is a joke. I can't get it through my head how F1 allows teams to make changes to the car during a red flag. They should not be allowed to touch the car at all, with the exception of a tire change IF, and only IF the track conditions have changed enough to support it. Instead teams put on whatever tires they want, make repairs, and even change the setup. Plus the fact they let lapped cars get back on the lead lap. Hamilton was set to be at the back of the pack, and yet gets to restart 9th in a car that seemed to be better than it was at the beginning of the race.