Heyyyyy alpine won! What a fun race!!!!!!!!

AWESOME to see Davide Brivio win with a formula one team. I’m sure he is loving it! Now if he would only consider going back to MotoGP & Suzuki to help them win another championship that would be awesome.

And Seb has been disqualified and loses P2…

quote:

Originally posted by JDHunz:
And Seb has been disqualified and loses P2…

Wow! I had to go and look up the news. That is really too bad.

quote:

Originally posted by JDHunz:
And Seb has been disqualified and loses P2…

Making sure Hammy increases his points lead over Max. Bottas getting a 5 place grid penalty for taking one Red Bull completely out and destroying an engine, and damaging the other so he could only eek out a single point seems pretty light.

In the span of two races, Mercedes has taken out two Red Bull cars, destroyed two of their engines, destroyed at least one Red Bull chassis, and Hammy comes in first and second. Seems legit.

We’ll have to see if the DQ stands but it’s a sour note to an interesting race.
Great job by both Ocon and Alonso.

Please explain Merc's decision not to pit Lew Lew for slicks. On paper there wasn't a car left in the field that was close to Merc but did they think they could just walk through the field, even at Hungaroring? Of course they almost did but still....

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
Please explain Merc's decision not to pit Lew Lew for slicks.

As this layperson understands it, Merc cannot talk to Lew on the formation lap, so Lew has to make the decision on his own. It's also very risky to make the call from the front. If Lew dives in and no one else follows, he goes from 1st to last. It's much less risky to make the move from mid-field and much less risky if the driver in front of you heads in first.

I guess bowling for Red Bulls is a thing now.

quote:

Originally posted by holdem:

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
Please explain Merc's decision not to pit Lew Lew for slicks.

As this layperson understands it, Merc cannot talk to Lew on the formation lap, so Lew has to make the decision on his own. It's also very risky to make the call from the front. If Lew dives in and no one else follows, he goes from 1st to last. It's much less risky to make the move from mid-field and much less risky if the driver in front of you heads in first.

Correct, radio silence on the formation lap. Driver has to make the call to box & hope the team can respond quickly.

Bummer that Russell had to give the places back. Guess you can't overtake in the pits on a formation lap?

A great race, apart from the Lap 1, turn 1 drama.
Hope AM area able to win the appeal, Seb drove a great fight against Ocon.

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/...ng-restart-/6640677/

Wolff Stands by Decision to not Pit Hamilton Before F1 Restart

Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff believes it was "100% the right decision" for Lewis Hamilton to take the standing restart in Hungary and not pit for slick tyres.

Luke Smith Aug 1, 2021, 12:45 PM

Rain showers in the lead up to lights out meant the entire field started the race on intermediate tyres, but the track dried out under the red flag thrown following the clashes at Turn 1.

While the field left the pitlane on intermediates, the track dried out so quickly that 14 of the 15 cars came immediately into the pits to take on a set of slick tyres.

It resulted in a bizarre situation where Hamilton was left alone on the grid for the standing restart as the lights went out. Hamilton then pitted at the end of the lap for slicks, causing him to drop to last place.

Mercedes F1 boss Wolff joked that it was "a bit lonely" for Hamilton on the grid, but explained that it was the right call as he would have dropped back a few places anyway due to the train of cars passing through the pitlane.

"I think [it was] 100% the right decision, and I stand by it," Wolff said. "At the end, you need to make the call out there and judge whether it's dry enough or not. I thought that within one lap, it couldn't possibly dry up like it did, and at the end, you have to take it on the chin that it was the wrong outcome.

"But the decision was right. We calculated that he would have come out sixth with the train of cars going into the pits. Now you are more clever, but it is what it is."

While Hamilton was able to recover to third place, he could not maximise a difficult day for title rival Max Verstappen, who only finished 10th after his car was damaged at Turn 1.

Esteban Ocon and Sebastian Vettel had sat second and third behind Hamilton under the red flag, and finished the race first and second after leading the cars into the pit lane to take slicks.

Wolff denied that the call could be deemed an error by Mercedes, stressing that he stood "100%" by the decision and that Hamilton could have won the race regardless, had he not lost so much time behind Fernando Alonso.

"We could have won today," Wolff said. "We lost a lot of time behind Fernando, and that made Esteban win the race, and that is good."

While teams are not allowed to tell drivers to come into the pits for tyres on the formation lap - seen with Antonio Giovinazzi's own decision to gamble before the first lights out - they can do so for a standing restart.

This is such BS by Toto. While he’s right that because of everyone coming into the pit lane at the same time, Hammy might not have gotten out first because he might have been held until there was a gap in the train of cars, it would hardly have been worse that what actually happened, which was Hamilton came out dead last when he pitted after the first racing lap. Also, as noted, the team can’t radio the cars on the formation lap to tell them to pit, which means the drivers have to decide on their own, based on the conditions they find on the formation lap. It wasn’t Merc’s decision, it was Hammy’s, and he choose differently that every other driver out there. Just Toto refusing to criticize Hammy and say he made a bad choice, by saying it was the teams’s choice, and it was the right choice anyway.

looks like Aston Martin is going to appeal - I hope they prevail and Chinstrap loses the 18 points

F1 still appears to be heavily stage managed in favor of Chinstrap

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
looks like Aston Martin is going to appeal - I hope they prevail and Chinstrap loses the 18 points

F1 still appears to be heavily stage managed in favor of Chinstrap

I’d be very surprised if they win. It’s a technical regulation that all teams have to follow. Either there is 1 liter left in the car, or there isn’t. AM can say whatever they want about what data they have from the fuel flow meters, but the ultimate decider is what’s actually left. If the other teams can get it right, why can’t AM?

Even if the appeal works, Hammy still gets 15 points, which is enough to keep the lead in the championship.

quote:

Originally posted by Dwill104:
It’s a technical regulation that all teams have to follow. Either there is 1 liter left in the car, or there isn’t. AM can say whatever they want about what data they have from the fuel flow meters, but the ultimate decider is what’s actually left.

That is what AM is arguing, that there is actually another 1.5lt of fuel in the car, they just weren't able to get it out due to a failed (they're claiming damaged during the race) "lift pump" inside the fuel cell.

Another interpretation I've read is that it doesn't matter how much fuel is left in the car. The rule is that you have to provide it to be tested.

Alonso was a huge thorn in Lew-Lew's side.....I loved it!!! He had a good enough car, and mucho experience to help his team out. This is the Alonso of old!!

quote:

Originally posted by Dwill104:

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
looks like Aston Martin is going to appeal - I hope they prevail and Chinstrap loses the 18 points

F1 still appears to be heavily stage managed in favor of Chinstrap

I’d be very surprised if they win. It’s a technical regulation that all teams have to follow. Either there is 1 liter left in the car, or there isn’t. AM can say whatever they want about what data they have from the fuel flow meters, but the ultimate decider is what’s actually left. If the other teams can get it right, why can’t AM?

Even if the appeal works, Hammy still gets 15 points, which is enough to keep the lead in the championship.

IIRC, one of the Williams (GR?) stopped on track on the in lap as well. Hope they don't lose those points too.

That was fun watching "Old Man" Alonzo be a real life Michael Delaney. McQueen would've been proud.

Great to see Alpine on top as of result of Alonzo's cagey, very veteran actions, Aston Martin (for now) second. Even if they lose their appeal, anyone who watched that race knows who the rightful second place finisher should be. Boo hoo Benz; that's what happens when you go from first to last because of a wrong choice at a very passing-unfriendly circuit. And Red Bull? Maybe win the front row next time so y'all can better break clear of any potential carnage when an idiot gets off the grid with a REAL CRAPPY START then gets to overcompensating for that Real Crappy Start then immediately brain farts and forgets to hit the brakes when he's supposed to because he still can't get over himself for his Real Crappy Start. Especially when there's this George Russell bloke who's supposedly waiting in the wings.

It was a fun race to watch. Lotsa 'citement and intrigue, this one was.

After Bottas bowling balled the start, I'll admit to not being glued to the screen the rest of the race. Maybe there was further talk about this, I dunno.

After Silverstone, RB could only be so sure as to Max's PU after his huge Sivlerstone shunt, testing and examination being limited with FIA anti-tampering seals in use.

How much confidence did RB have in quali, were things dialed down a hair? With position being everything at Hungary, was Max hamstrung from the getgo? If so, more fallout from Hammy's crap at Silverstone.

OTOH some speculate Merc may have regained their speed advantage, the rest of the year could truly suck.

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
After Bottas bowling balled the start

Bwhahahahahaha! OMG, that description made me laugh so hard. Perfect analogy.

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
After Bottas bowling balled the start, I'll admit to not being glued to the screen the rest of the race. Maybe there was further talk about this, I dunno.

After Silverstone, RB could only be so sure as to Max's PU after his huge Sivlerstone shunt, testing and examination being limited with FIA anti-tampering seals in use.

How much confidence did RB have in quali, were things dialed down a hair? With position being everything at Hungary, was Max hamstrung from the getgo? If so, more fallout from Hammy's crap at Silverstone.

OTOH some speculate Merc may have regained their speed advantage, the rest of the year could truly suck.

After running the engine last weekend in practice they discovered some things that seemed suspect and had replaced the engine with their last "free" change before the race. That engine had also been checked between Silverstone and Hungary back at the factory.
The suspect engine was returned again to Japan for further tests to see if it can be used again later in the season.
Either way, since we are only half way through the season, it sounds like Honda and Ferrari engine cars will be taking some penalties later this year.