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A quick turnaround at the start and a tense battle for the lead earned Lewis Hamilton victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen was aggressive and eventually finished second, ahead of Mercedes' Bottas.
Over when getting pole position in consecutive races?. At the "Red Bull" tracks?. If anything Ham is my favorite. Especially in the Arabian Peninsula races. Abu Dhabi should be an easy win.
Abu Dhabi is a 50-50 track, maybe Hamilton 60-40. Saudi is the easiest track for Hamilton & Mercedes. If Max wins tomorrow, he will likely go to Saudi with 30+ point lead & would need only 3rd places in the last 3 races to get the championship (even if it is by a point or so !)
60% chance of a safety car, and 9 in the last 5 races if memory serves!
Safety car or a red flag could negate all of that. All to play for still….Mr.S wrote: ↑13 Nov 2021, 22:32People are under-estimating RBs . RB is 5-6 tenths head of Ferrari & RB both in race pace. With Hamilton & Ferrari/Mclaren the gap is 8-9 tenths, with Lewis & Max the gap is 2-3 tenths @ best. It is much easier to carve your way in empty tanks with a 1s pace differential with DRS with colder temperatures & no tyre deg than it is to with full fuel tanks when you are behind a car losing time in dirty air & your car is only 2-3 tenths quicker.
By the time, Lewis will catch up to Max, Max will be 10-15s (unless Hamilton jumps 4-5 places in Lap 1). At 3 tenths & a 15s gap, it will take him 50 laps to catch up to Max.
Let us see - Lots of factors here - Surface Temperature, Tyre Degradation, Full Fuel Tanks, Start & 1st couple of laps. What was heartening for RB is that Max & Bottas were evenly matched for pace & Max was already 2-3s behind after the 1st couple of laps - Thereafter both were roughly equal on pace in empty tanks - RB could have done a lot better in the sprint but the situation isn't as bad as people are reacting !
They are still ahead in the constructor's mate.Tvetovnato wrote: ↑13 Nov 2021, 22:28It’s just incredibly annoying that when Merc actually have good pace, something happens, like a penalty or some other hick up. Destroys the championship fight. Would not be surprised if there will be a tangle and a DNF tomorrow just to add to the misery.
No way, from lap 3 onwards it will be easy pickings. There is no one to defend against the Merc straightline pace in that midfield, maybe only Norris and Ocon, and Ocon won't even defend because he will be looking to be fighting with Gasly and Vettel as that is his race. Hamilton starting 10th will be in 5th by end of lap 5 just watch, then it will be them vs Verstappen. Perez and Sainz are not a threat.Mr.S wrote: ↑13 Nov 2021, 22:32People are under-estimating RBs . RB is 5-6 tenths head of Ferrari & RB both in race pace. With Hamilton & Ferrari/Mclaren the gap is 8-9 tenths, with Lewis & Max the gap is 2-3 tenths @ best. It is much easier to carve your way in empty tanks with a 1s pace differential with DRS with colder temperatures & no tyre deg than it is to with full fuel tanks when you are behind a car losing time in dirty air & your car is only 2-3 tenths quicker.
By the time, Lewis will catch up to Max, Max will be 10-15s (unless Hamilton jumps 4-5 places in Lap 1). At 3 tenths & a 15s gap, it will take him 50 laps to catch up to Max.
Let us see - Lots of factors here - Surface Temperature, Tyre Degradation, Full Fuel Tanks, Start & 1st couple of laps. What was heartening for RB is that Max & Bottas were evenly matched for pace & Max was already 2-3s behind after the 1st couple of laps - Thereafter both were roughly equal on pace in empty tanks - RB could have done a lot better in the sprint but the situation isn't as bad as people are reacting !
I dunno how true this is - Baku (Verstappen's tyre blows up in a dominant win sort of race) - Silverstone (Gets taken out & gets 0 points while leading) - Hungary (in P2, gets taken out, gets 1 point). No1 has had this sort of bad luck in 3 races with the championship rival being very lucky except Raikkonen in 2005 where the Mclaren was the quickest car with the most horrible reliability !Tvetovnato wrote: ↑13 Nov 2021, 22:28It’s just incredibly annoying that when Merc actually have good pace, something happens, like a penalty or some other hick up. Destroys the championship fight. Would not be surprised if there will be a tangle and a DNF tomorrow just to add to the misery.
Abu Dhabi should be easy for Merc, the corners have been rounded out and the straights are long there. A hallmark of Merc this 2nd of half of the season as been the speed in the 2nd half of the straight, clearly the straight-line aero is immaculate to an extent not seen since Ferrari 2019 perhaps.Mr.S wrote: ↑13 Nov 2021, 22:34Abu Dhabi is a 50-50 track, maybe Hamilton 60-40. Saudi is the easiest track for Hamilton & Mercedes. If Max wins tomorrow, he will likely go to Saudi with 30+ point lead & would need only 3rd places in the last 3 races to get the championship (even if it is by a point or so !)
Even in that case Max will be 10-12s ahead atleast. Max will be 5-6s ahead of Position No. 5-6 by Lap 5-6, probably & then Lewis have to go through Norris-Sainz-Perez again on full fuel tanks this time.politburo wrote: ↑13 Nov 2021, 22:37They are still ahead in the constructor's mate.Tvetovnato wrote: ↑13 Nov 2021, 22:28It’s just incredibly annoying that when Merc actually have good pace, something happens, like a penalty or some other hick up. Destroys the championship fight. Would not be surprised if there will be a tangle and a DNF tomorrow just to add to the misery.No way, from lap 3 onwards it will be easy pickings. There is no one to defend against the Merc straightline pace in that midfield, maybe only Norris and Ocon, and Ocon won't even defend because he will be looking to be fighting with Gasly and Vettel as that is his race. Hamilton starting 10th will be in 5th by end of lap 5 just watch, then it will be them vs Verstappen. Perez and Sainz are not a threat.Mr.S wrote: ↑13 Nov 2021, 22:32People are under-estimating RBs . RB is 5-6 tenths head of Ferrari & RB both in race pace. With Hamilton & Ferrari/Mclaren the gap is 8-9 tenths, with Lewis & Max the gap is 2-3 tenths @ best. It is much easier to carve your way in empty tanks with a 1s pace differential with DRS with colder temperatures & no tyre deg than it is to with full fuel tanks when you are behind a car losing time in dirty air & your car is only 2-3 tenths quicker.
By the time, Lewis will catch up to Max, Max will be 10-15s (unless Hamilton jumps 4-5 places in Lap 1). At 3 tenths & a 15s gap, it will take him 50 laps to catch up to Max.
Let us see - Lots of factors here - Surface Temperature, Tyre Degradation, Full Fuel Tanks, Start & 1st couple of laps. What was heartening for RB is that Max & Bottas were evenly matched for pace & Max was already 2-3s behind after the 1st couple of laps - Thereafter both were roughly equal on pace in empty tanks - RB could have done a lot better in the sprint but the situation isn't as bad as people are reacting !
Over as in Max being able to finish 3rd behind the Mercs for the remaining races and still be WDC.
