A good first race, IMO.
Good on Tsunoda to score points on debut.

Interesting factoid at the start, 50% of the grid are race winners in F1.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Vettel just needs to stay out of trouble and beat Stroll tomorrow. Anything better is a bonus. The car can't be that bad if Stroll was top 10 and you'd expect Vettel to have a few more tenths in hand or it will be a long (and last) season. Without the yellows he'd probably have been in Q3 at least as the track was getting quicker.
Red Bull still lacks a second car to help split up the Merc's. Now there are others that have enough speed to make the timing of the first stop more complex. That may work for or against Max tomorrow.
Hope the Ferrari's and McLaren's have good race pace too keep the heat on.
Red Bull Jr. team performing well. If they can improve any they will be a real threat at some point.
The Haas cars were expected to be at the back but the mad Russian needs to not cause so many yellow flags or he'll get old real quick. This isn't racing kindergarten and there are other rich fathers who's kids act a lot more responsibly in all ways.

Well, that didn’t happen for Vettel.

Boob grabber is on his way to racing immortality.

quote:

Originally posted by .38supersig:
Looks like Boob Dude is only good for 2 1/2 turns.

To be fair, Mick went off later in the race too, but didn’t go into the wall and managed to keep going.

Welp, looks like this season is going to be a replay of the last several seasons.

The Driver’s Champion is dead, long live the Driver’s Champion.

**spoiler**



Kinda disgusted, I wasn't glued to the screen but I did watch. Did I see this right? Max passes, gives the position back because he exceeded track limits. The announcers wondered if Hammy had forced him off. More importantly, a few moments before, Max couldn't pull off the pass because Hammy looked to make two defensive moves. If that's what I saw, I'd assume Max would be extra cautious on a next pass attempt.
Something didn't seem fully kosher there at the end.

Merc apparently sandbagging in testing and practice yet again. Or maybe they're just geniuses who always find the fixes they need, huh? Eff F1.

Mercedes fully understands how and where the money comes from. They can’t blow out the competition from Test Day #1. They have to give the appearance of weakness. They will work the first several races such that it looks like a competition, but they will steadily build a lead. Then mid-search it’ll be miraculous that Red Bull or Ferrari will close the gap, but never really that close. Sir Chinstrap will win the DC with at least four to six races to go.

I’m enjoying the midfield racing. Norris has some serious skills and is still developing, Leclerc did great, Gasly and Tsunoda are going to be fun. Daniel Riciardo will get in the mix as will Carlos Sainz. Curious what happens with Perez, obviously he can drive but what in heck happened to his car on the warm up?

quote:

Originally posted by FlyingScot:
. Curious what happens with Perez, obviously he can drive but what in heck happened to his car on the warm up?

I would guess he accidentally hit a switch, judging by the simple drive through to the end of pitlane.
If they had a concern like the electronics or steering wheel controls I think they would have stopped at the garage for a quick plug in or wheel change.
Maybe they will give an update at some point.

I thought it was a good race overall. Max had the bit between his teeth, and had Louie sweating. Chinstrap does NOT want Max in a Merc!! Compared to last season, the Ferraris actually came to race, and did fairly well for the first race. The rookies all had their hands full, and didn't do all that bad for their first "Big Boy" race. I didn't get up and leave during the race. All of the teams have a lot of work to do before the next race.

Now that we have that crappy track in the desert out of the way and a few weeks have passed, who adjusts best?
Mercedes must know now where they need to improve.
Red Bull needs to continue refine their car to keep an advantage but also get Perez much closer to the front to start with.
The mid-pack? Now that we are back to more traditional tracks and conditions, things will change somewhat. Will McLaren move closer to the front, Ferrari, Red Bull2? Will Renault get their car in the mix on pace?
Vettel needs to start to show something like the old days although the tire strategy and starting at the back didn't help his cause.
Can the mad Russian make a lap of qualifying without spinning or hitting something or someone?

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
The mid-pack? Now that we are back to more traditional tracks and conditions, things will change somewhat. Will McLaren move closer to the front, Ferrari, Red Bull2? Will Renault get their car in the mix on pace?

The surprise of the mid-pack has been the pace of Alpha Tauri...their 2 drivers are great complements to each other. I expected more from McLaren, but I also know that all the teams with new drivers are still in the "getting comfortable" phase.

quote:

Vettel needs to start to show something like the old days although the tire strategy and starting at the back didn't help his cause.

Aston Martin seems to have been the most affected by the reduction of downforce...looks like Merc at least has a handle on it

I'm just glad to see the traditional European tracks again instead of all of those Tilke designs.

I say this as a fan of McLaren...but they are setup for a late season fade. They could not develop the areo, suspension, etc. as they used all their tokens. They have a stronger engine and have been very clever with diffuser and no doubt other aspects of the car...but overhead for development is a concern. Lando handled the Ferrari fairly well and Gasly took himself out of contention...going forward this year, I think we see Alpha and Ferrari top McLaren ultimately...but we will see. That Honda engine seems to be a winner.

I agree with some statements that Seidl is the best Team Principal in paddock...though Toto and Christian might have some thing to say about that. McLaren is now a very well run team, and they will be in the running and win as the better team vs. the better car - like last year with Racing Point.

Front runners? We will see but I put my money on Red Bull, a poor bet agains Mercedes but I have little faith in V. Bottas.

Heck of drive from quite a few drivers - those up front earned it. Some very poor drives from a number of others overall a great race in changeable conditions, no spoilers for that that have not watched. Going to be an interesting season - was just going to catch the start and then get working in the yard...ended up watching live all the way through and wasting a couple of hours.

Not overly exciting for the first half or so, gutted at the big incident, but I'm a bit biased. Weekend to forget.
I'm on lap 34, so still a bit to go

All I’ll say is that it was 100% Russell’s fault, but he’s on his way to being a Mercedes driver. It’s someone else’s fault!

Yep. He also saved Lewis from dropping even further and giving him a red flag for Mercedes to fix any damage he received. But I will give Chinstrap credit for driving from 9th to 2nd.

About the only thing screwing up Perez is Perez himself. He's screwed up two weeks in a row when he could done some serious damage in the points with Max. On the other hand, Vettel still can't brewery Lance Stroll. Spent the entire day out of the Top 10 while Alonso snagged 10th in a car he doesn't trust. Lawrence Stroll is selling the Mont Tremblant circuit in Canada to help pay for the team with that has been Vettel when he could have saved a ton of money either putting Alonso in the seat or keeping Checo and get that sweet Carlos Slim TelMex money.

Speaking of losers, MazeSpin hard another spin and finished 1 min 9 sec behind his teammate Mick Schumacher. Alex Albon was fired for doing far better. At least Lance Stroll showed potential and wasn't that far behind his Williams teammate. Are we losing odds for when his daddy buys Haas?

quote:

Originally posted by Dwill104:
All I’ll say is that it was 100% Russell’s fault, but he’s on his way to being a Mercedes driver. It’s someone else’s fault!

When asked who was at fault, Toto said 50/50, maybe 60/40 but he couldn't say which one. Judging by Russell's anger on the radio and his post race comments, I put it on Bottas. GR overtook with DRS and a slipstream, a lot faster and Bottas did move right.

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:

quote:

Originally posted by Dwill104:
All I’ll say is that it was 100% Russell’s fault, but he’s on his way to being a Mercedes driver. It’s someone else’s fault!

When asked who was at fault, Toto said 50/50, maybe 60/40 but he couldn't say which one. Judging by Russell's anger on the radio and his post race comments, I put it on Bottas. GR overtook with DRS and a slipstream, a lot faster and Bottas did move right.

The problem with what Bottas did is he first moved left, then right, but too late. At the speed differential, Russell already had his LF wheel ahead of Bottas RR and in the damp part of the track, Russell had no real options.
In a strange way, this made Mercedes race. Bottas was nowhere anyway and it put Hamilton back in the hunt.