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

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etusch
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Re: 2021 United States Grand Prix - Austin, Oct 22 - 24

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ringo wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 23:04
If Max got the better start at lap 1 he would have been gone into the distance.

Lewis made it a good race. Max also raced very well, putting full trust into his car and driving without any errors.

Perez had issues with his drink so it would have been nice to see him pushing without that issue.

Great racing from Ferrari and Mclaren. I liked that battle.
That's the point. =D> =D>

Mattyw
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Re: 2021 United States Grand Prix - Austin, Oct 22 - 24

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P1 in Mexico and its an entire race lead isn't it? Had to see a way back for Ham - presumably with another engine pen to come

Mattyw
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Re: 2021 United States Grand Prix - Austin, Oct 22 - 24

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darkpino wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 23:06
ringo wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 23:04
If Max got the better start at lap 1 he would have been gone into the distance.

Lewis made it a good race. Max also raced very well, putting full trust into his car and driving without any errors.

Perez had issues with his drink so it would have been nice to see him pushing without that issue.

Great racing from Ferrari and Mclaren. I liked that battle.
I agree, the Mercedes doesn’t work in dirty air, it never did. If Max was P1 after T1 he would have run into the distance I think
Yep!

Bill_Kar
Bill_Kar
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Re: 2021 United States Grand Prix - Austin, Oct 22 - 24

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Yeah, I think we can say now, with some confidence, that Max has pretty much got the championship in his bag.

COTA was supposed to be Mercedes territory and Red Bull turned up faster. After the dreadful (for Mercedes) Mexico/Brazil sequence, bar any misfortunes, Max will be above or about the 25 points mark. He can only trail Hamilton from there and it will be enough.

Great drive from both of them, fascinating stuff nonetheless!

Just_a_fan
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Re: 2021 United States Grand Prix - Austin, Oct 22 - 24

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pantherxxx wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 22:59
Super Max! Mercedes was way faster on the harder tyres, but Verstappen managed to pull out something incredible in the last few laps.
Max was managing his tyres to ensure he got good drive out of T11 and T20 on to the two straights. From T1 to T11 is twisty and it's difficult to get close so you can be a bit slower there and not be at risk on the straight after T11 IF you get good drive from T11. Likewise the section before T20 prevents the following driver from getting close and so allows a good drive off the last corner to defend against the following car.

The cars are closely matched with the pace between them being only a few tenths one way or the other depending on circumstances. That is not enough to allow an easy run at the lead car.

Both drove superbly today - look how far they were ahead of the rest. In a league of their own all race.
If you are more fortunate than others, build a larger table not a taller fence.

darkpino
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Re: 2021 United States Grand Prix - Austin, Oct 22 - 24

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Bill_Kar wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 23:09
Yeah, I think we can say now, with some confidence, that Max has pretty much got the championship in his bag.

COTA was supposed to be Mercedes territory and Red Bull turned up faster. After the dreadful (for Mercedes) Mexico/Brazil sequence, bar any misfortunes, Max will be above or about the 25 points mark. He can only trail Hamilton from there and it will be enough.

Great drive from both of them, fascinating stuff nonetheless!
Way too early ti say that imo. With the bumps CotA was again a special track which is totally different than most other tracks.

Im still not so sure about Brazil and Mexico as normally Mercedes has already won the championship by then so can easily let off and go into idle mode with their equipment

Just_a_fan
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Re: 2021 United States Grand Prix - Austin, Oct 22 - 24

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ringo wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 23:04
If Max got the better start at lap 1 he would have been gone into the distance.

Lewis made it a good race. Max also raced very well, putting full trust into his car and driving without any errors.
Agreed. If Max had led out of T1 on the first lap, he'd have driven away from Lewis. The fact that he stayed so close for several laps shows that the car had pace to spare.
If you are more fortunate than others, build a larger table not a taller fence.

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Spacepace
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Re: 2021 United States Grand Prix - Austin, Oct 22 - 24

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Brazil and Mexico are all about traction out of the corners and Red Bull are the class of the field in that regard. Hamilton needed this race just to keep it close until Arabian races

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Tizz
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Re: 2021 United States Grand Prix - Austin, Oct 22 - 24

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Just_a_fan wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 23:10
Both drove superbly today - look how far they were ahead of the rest. In a league of their own all race.
+1 It is far from over. Toto seems to grow grumpier for every race now... :D

LM10
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Re: 2021 United States Grand Prix - Austin, Oct 22 - 24

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etusch wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 23:05
pantherxxx wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 22:59
Super Max! Mercedes was way faster on the harder tyres, but Verstappen managed to pull out something incredible in the last few laps.
I don't know how but merc's tyre life is so long. Even in this condition they stayed long to have tyre advantage. So it is not "way faster". Faster is also questionable. But even if merc were faster, there is a young man who knows how to drive, how to save tires and how to win. And at the end this is what matters.
The key name is James Allison.

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etusch
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Re: 2021 United States Grand Prix - Austin, Oct 22 - 24

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LM10 wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 23:29
etusch wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 23:05

I don't know how but merc's tyre life is so long. Even in this condition they stayed long to have tyre advantage. So it is not "way faster". Faster is also questionable. But even if merc were faster, there is a young man who knows how to drive, how to save tires and how to win. And at the end this is what matters.
The key name is James Allison.
There are other possibilities I would prefer to choose.

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JordanMugen
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Re: 2021 United States Grand Prix - Austin, Oct 22 - 24

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Bill_Kar wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 23:09
COTA was supposed to be Mercedes territory and Red Bull turned up faster.
Mercedes' handling was detuned for some reason, they might still be faster elsewhere. :|

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west52keep64
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Re: 2021 United States Grand Prix - Austin, Oct 22 - 24

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JordanMugen wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 23:32
Mercedes' handling was detuned for some reason, they might still be faster elsewhere. :|
I am not sure why everything thinks the Mercedes is faster? The narrative seems to be that the Mercedes is faster, but at every race there is some reason why it can't be faster. It's getting tiresome. The Red Bull was clearly 3 tenths quicker this weekend, just look at the gap in qualifying, and look at the start of the race on equal tyres.

This media narrative of a dominant Mercedes with The Device™ needs to stop. Give the Red Bull team some credit, they've done a stellar job this year.

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JordanMugen
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Joined: 17 Oct 2018, 13:36

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

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west52keep64 wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 23:36
JordanMugen wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 23:32
Mercedes' handling was detuned for some reason, they might still be faster elsewhere. :|
I am not sure why everything thinks the Mercedes is faster? The narrative seems to be that the Mercedes is faster, but at every race there is some reason why it can't be faster. It's getting tiresome. The Red Bull was clearly 3 tenths quicker this weekend, just look at the gap in qualifying, and look at the start of the race on equal tyres.
For the avoidance of doubt "elsewhere", meaning at some other place, and "everywhere else" are different terms!

I would be glad for the Red Bull to be easily faster or dominant everywhere. But, unfortunately, for the most part it does not seem to be case, and when the Red Bull was dominant (e.g., Baku) Verstappen lost the 25 points. IIRC Austria 2 and perhaps Monaco were the only other races where the Red Bull was clearly dominant. As you saw in COTA, that wasn't a dominant 25 second win by Verstappen.

Red Bull have rarely been able to win races cruising and IMHO it would be foolish for Red Bull to not be concerned about Mercedes potentially being faster, be it slightly or by a lot, at one or more upcoming circuits. :|

A run of five dominant Red Bull victories from pole would be great, but that seems far from a certainty!
Last edited by JordanMugen on 24 Oct 2021, 23:53, edited 8 times in total.

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Spacepace
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Re: 2021 United States Grand Prix - Austin, Oct 22 - 24

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west52keep64 wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 23:36
JordanMugen wrote:
24 Oct 2021, 23:32
Mercedes' handling was detuned for some reason, they might still be faster elsewhere. :|
I am not sure why everything thinks the Mercedes is faster? The narrative seems to be that the Mercedes is faster, but at every race there is some reason why it can't be faster. It's getting tiresome. The Red Bull was clearly 3 tenths quicker this weekend, just look at the gap in qualifying, and look at the start of the race on equal tyres.

This media narrative of a dominant Mercedes with The Device™ needs to stop. Give the Red Bull team some credit, they've done a stellar job this year.
Mercedes did go with higher ride height to deal with bumps in the esses. Mercedes looked like --- out turn 1 and 11. I would think that would have to do with that compromise. I'm sure if Mercedes hadn't gone with that compromise in set up they would have been within hundredths of each other.

But I agree for the most part Red Bull has been more consistent