2021 United States Grand Prix - Austin, Oct 22 - 24

[Mogster]

agree, very (below) average performance by Max and exquisite driving by Lewis. If just felling short of the mark. And glad we are on topic (US GP) again and back to normal!

It was very clear Max was going to win this and I was an idiot for sitting there on the edge of the seat all race long.

Verstappen’s driving was faultless.

However I don’t think we ever saw the real performance available to Verstappen. RBR had plenty in hand. The Sky team were whipped into a frenzy but unless Max’s tyres had fallen off the cliff Hamilton never looked like overtaking. He could barely hold on in DRS range on tyres that were 10 laps fresher.

[Wouter]

agree, very (below) average performance by Max and exquisite driving by Lewis. If just felling short of the mark. And glad we are on topic (US GP) again and back to normal!

It was very clear Max was going to win this and I was an idiot for sitting there on the edge of the seat all race long.

However I don’t think we ever saw the real performance available to Verstappen. RBR had plenty in hand.

Is that so? I do not think so. The RB16B was fast on the yellow tyre, but on the white tyre, the car didn't go so well,
unlike the W12, which had it exactly the other way around.
This is what father Jos had to say about it afterwards. If RBR had plenty in hand, his father wouldn't have been so nervous,
because he would have known that Max could have gone even faster.

"It was a very strong race. It's exciting anyway, because it's about something now. And that he keeps his head so cool and knows how to put the tires in such a window when he needs to use them... Look, he already analyzes the race in the car very well.
When he made that second stop, he knew: in the end it will be exciting. Then I have to get tires. And then you see that he is still going hard in those last laps.
That is also Max's strength: he not only drives those laps, but he thinks much further ahead. "

[Jos during the match] "Then I'm very nervous. I think I ran away ten times. It all took me way too long, haha.
Because you just want him to finish it. But if there's one thing I have faith in, it's in Max. This is a great win."

"I think ten laps before the end everyone thought it would be critical. You see Hamilton coming in, but Max knows: he is pushing.
And he also knows how those tires work. If they get to a certain temperature, you will lose grip. You saw that too.
And when he comes close to Max, it also becomes difficult to overtake. But, he has it all under control very well."

[Sieper]

A lot of people were doubting who would win. If they are honoust. Now we are just rewriting history and saying we all knew the outcome. In my years of watching F1 I have learned quite a lot about the realities of racing (and I still have a mountain to climb) but the only small time buffer and the 8 laps advantage truly (please trust me when I say this) had me believe Lewis would prevail. My friend sitting next to me was more like “let’s see” but I was convinced Lewis would win it. Wrongly so. Another learning experience.

Oh yea edit, this is not a snide about Lewis, he did everything right and was incredibly fast (like he always is when he needs to).

[Big Tea]

agree, very (below) average performance by Max and exquisite driving by Lewis. If just felling short of the mark. And glad we are on topic (US GP) again and back to normal!

It was very clear Max was going to win this and I was an idiot for sitting there on the edge of the seat all race long.

Verstappen’s driving was faultless.

However I don’t think we ever saw the real performance available to Verstappen. RBR had plenty in hand. The Sky team were whipped into a frenzy but unless Max’s tyres had fallen off the cliff Hamilton never looked like overtaking. He could barely hold on in DRS range on tyres that were 10 laps fresher.

If Max had used 'all the performance' it is quite likely he would not have had the little extra tyre rubber left for the last 3 laps. (Was it?) Prost used to say, win in the slowest time needed. Save the car or even keep a bit in hand in case of a small off. I think he (they) judged it just about perfectly.

[PlatinumZealot]

A lot of people were doubting who would win. If they are honoust. Now we are just rewriting history and saying we all knew the outcome. In my years of watching F1 I have learned quite a lot about the realities of racing (and I still have a mountain to climb) but the only small time buffer and the 8 laps advantage truly (please trust me when I say this) had me believe Lewis would prevail. My friend sitting next to me was more like “let’s see” but I was convinced Lewis would win it. Wrongly so. Another learning experience.

Oh yea edit, this is not a snide about Lewis, he did everything right and was incredibly fast (like he always is when he needs to).

I have been a good reader of races after years of watching. And never once did i feel that Mercedes had a chance after P3 and even more so the first few laps.

The Mercedes just doesn't get chased down in their DRS AT ALL. The car is a clean air specialist. It is supposed to scamper away into the distance in clean air. Once Max called Lewis sliding the tyres in the first few laps I knew it was dusted.

The only chance was for Lewis to undercut Max and pray that the RedBull sucked on the hards. But that strategy was moot because Sergio was the blocker.

Otherwise for me, this race was a race of how can Max lose it, than Lewis win it. I admit had some hope when the Toro Rossos and Alpines were having suspensions issues. I was wonderig... Hey! The RedBull gearbox is the same right? Right?! Apperently they are not exactly the same setups! Haha. So.. Then I was hoping for the backmarkers to help out the situation... And that didn't do enough.. Max got DRS off a couple of them and held his composure. Not one foot wrong. I don't consider starts driver skill. So not one foot wrong in my book.

Anyway. I don't know how you guys viewed it, but it was not a race to be won. I felt Max had things undercontrol keeping Lewis out of DRS. He never had to defend a lunge at any point in the races. (as what we normally see with tyre offsets).

[Andres125sx]

On current F1 none wins with 30 seconds advantage, even if he has the pace to, for two reasons. First the PU need to last several GPs so it would be stupid to push it harder than necessary, they will always use the most conservative/less powerful PU setting that allows to keep the lead.

And second because if you make your rival think he has a chance to win, he will push hard, and maybe he´ll make some mistake and loose some important points, while if the leader is 20 seconds ahead the chaser also secures his second position

[Jolle]

On current F1 none wins with 30 seconds advantage, even if he has the pace to, for two reasons. First the PU need to last several GPs so it would be stupid to push it harder than necessary, they will always use the most conservative/less powerful PU setting that allows to keep the lead.

And second because if you make your rival think he has a chance to win, he will push hard, and maybe he´ll make some mistake and loose some important points, while if the leader is 20 seconds ahead the chaser also secures his second position

by the way, even if ICE's only have to last one GP, it's very unlikely and risky to keep pushing while you have a comfortable lead. If ICE's would be designed for one race only, they would be "end of life" at the end of every GP and the likelihood of blowing your engine for push laps at the end of a GP would increase dramatically.

[Andres125sx]

Indeed Jolle

[TimW]

Can you really preserve your engine nowadays with only one engine mode? Throttle application is pretty much on off, it's not like they do 95% throttle.

Anyway, don't believe the media that Max had plenty at hand. He was truly nervous about Schumacher for a reason.
Lewis just did not really have a tire advantage. Yes, his tires were 10 laps younger, but he pushed those 18 laps, while Verstappen had nurtured his tires for all those laps. On his second stint Max also pushed, and his tires were gone after...18 laps.
Toto reacted after the race that red bull was much faster on mediums, and that on hard it was even, maybe a slight edge to Mercedes. Only later they started taking the underdog role again.
If Max was truly much faster, he would have kept a 0.5 second margin to DRS range. Way to risky otherwise.

[Mogster]

Pushing too hard trashes the tyres also. Not a Pirelli hater but everyone is pushing to the limit of the tyres, thermal deg of the tyres is mostly the limiting factor.

Max was pushing just as much he needed to to stay in front while not overheating the tyres. Pushing to the limit, whatever that was, would have killed the tyres in a few laps.

[etusch]

On current F1 none wins with 30 seconds advantage, even if he has the pace to, for two reasons. First the PU need to last several GPs so it would be stupid to push it harder than necessary, they will always use the most conservative/less powerful PU setting that allows to keep the lead.

And second because if you make your rival think he has a chance to win, he will push hard, and maybe he´ll make some mistake and loose some important points, while if the leader is 20 seconds ahead the chaser also secures his second position

Because of how race went Ham always pushed hard. We will see how much life he spent from his Pu.

[Gillian]

Can you really preserve your engine nowadays with only one engine mode? Throttle application is pretty much on off, it's not like they do 95% throttle.

Anyway, don't believe the media that Max had plenty at hand. He was truly nervous about Schumacher for a reason.
Lewis just did not really have a tire advantage. Yes, his tires were 10 laps younger, but he pushed those 18 laps, while Verstappen had nurtured his tires for all those laps. On his second stint Max also pushed, and his tires were gone after...18 laps.
Toto reacted after the race that red bull was much faster on mediums, and that on hard it was even, maybe a slight edge to Mercedes. Only later they started taking the underdog role again.
If Max was truly much faster, he would have kept a 0.5 second margin to DRS range. Way to risky otherwise.

Exactly. Max would have won with a 5 - 10 second lead at the very least if he had that much more pace like some suggest.

[ringo]

He had more pace. He was responding to lewis' lap times on the last stint. That said enough.
If he was going all out like Lewis was then he would have been caught at a steady rate, which did not happen.
Lewis reputation was probably more of the reason for nervousness rather than Max not having any more pace. Redbull did not know how much longer Lewis could maintain his pace as he is hard to read. So they made sure Max kept back something in reserve for those last 3 laps. It was a mistake for lewis pit wall to even mention that they will catch him with 3 laps to go.
All redbull did is plug that into their computer and andjust their pace accordingly.

[TimW]

https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files ... is_v01.pdf

[Wouter]

He had more pace. He was responding to lewis' lap times on the last stint. That said enough.

https://en.mclarenf-1.com/2021/gp/s8128 ... s/821-482/