2020 Sakhir Grand Prix - Sakhir, Dec 04 - 06

[sosic2121]

Oh boy, the PR machinery is on now. The guy isn't even racing this weekend.

He's probably designing new space shuttle, while saving hungry children in Africa...

[LM10]

Everyone talking about Russell, but what about Leclerc? He definitely was the real deal today. How on earth did he put that Ferrari on P4 on this track? I was lost for words, sublime performance.

He ran less DF compared to Vettel, looks like that worked out. He can cope with that while Vettel couldn't, see his performance in FP2 where he tried that set up.
Besides that he's a great driver, putting his car where it probably shouldn't be that often.

Didn't know he was running less DF, that's a nice info. Explains Vettel's struggle in FP2 now, as you said.

Leclerc is no doubt a great driver, on top of him having the ability to adapt to different set ups but also to less DF in general.

[siskue2005]

Everyone talking about Russell, but what about Leclerc? He definitely was the real deal today. How on earth did he put that Ferrari on P4 on this track? I was lost for words, sublime performance.

He ran less DF compared to Vettel, looks like that worked out. He can cope with that while Vettel couldn't, see his performance in FP2 where he tried that set up.
Besides that he's a great driver, putting his car where it probably shouldn't be that often.

Didn't know he was running less DF, that's a nice info. Explains Vettel's struggle in FP2 now, as you said.

Leclerc is no doubt a great driver, on top of him having the ability to adapt to different set ups but also to less DF in general.

True

[Unc1eM0nty]

Oh boy, the PR machinery is on now. The guy isn't even racing this weekend.

He's probably designing new space shuttle, while saving hungry children in Africa...

You failed to mention curing both cancer and coronavirus

[ferkan]

What I want to know is why everyone focuses on Bottas as a #2 . . .

. . . when Albon is getting wiped off the face of the earth by Verstappen every weekend.

Put Lewis in the #2 RB and maybe Verstappen is getting his teeth kicked in every weekend.

We simply don’t know because Albon is the worst driver on the grid.

Merc has to be sending a bottle of champagne to RBR thanking them for keeping Albon next year.

One thing people forget is, how driveable W11 is and how difficult RB16 is. When W08 was a diva, Bottas struggled on days it misbehaved. Similar trend continued with W09, to lesser extent. So if Bottas was put in that RB16, he would struggle as much or maybe more. Gasly who is doing so well in AT now after a similar time in RB15 tells the story.
Who knows, if Albon drives W11, he might do better than Bottas. We would never know.

No way Albon is quicker in the W11. The Red Bull has been much improved in terms of stability the second half of the season. It's not like Albon is a few hundredths off. He's an eternity away.

Russell may end being the most talented out of the Verstappen and LEC trio. And that's saying something.

And Bottas still covered him off.

Today has confirmed a few things: 1) Lewis is the fastest on the grid; 2) Bottas' pure quali pace is outstanding; 3) Russell is the future at Mercedes.

Red Bull/Ferrari better end up building monster cars in 2022.

I see Russell being 0.02s behind Bottas has somehow been spun to "GR might be better then Leclerc and Max. Given that Bottas is so close to him, yet he covered him off, Bottas must be magnificant. Lewis really is greatest."

Sorry to say, not many hold that POV after todays quali. People are wtfing how is Russel anywhere close to Bottas, a guy who has spent hundreds of hours in this years car and simulator, as well as last 4 seasons in Merc team, just to be matched by guy that sat in seat that is way to tight for him for first time yesterday.

Bottas pure quali pace is not THAT outstanding. His quali pace vs Massa was on average half of that of Alonso, which means he is no where near Max and Leclerc in all probability. Just look where Albon (12th) and Vettel (13th) are.

[ringo]

That's how Lewis tricks people. He makes you think he's just a really good qualifier when in fact his real advantage is elsewhere!

I think he can be much faster in q3 but compromises the car for the race to the point he is just about able to stay ahead of Bottas. He may have realized this after facing button and also in 2014, 2015 when he used to leave rosberg for dead in the races. I suspect his strength like Alonso is race pace, but if required both can be devasting for qualifying. They they whatever gives them the best result.
Anyhow, i want to see fireworks between George and Max. I feel he may just make max look average. And poor albon isnt there to help.

[zibby43]

Max has 2 undeniable attributes - he’s undoubtedly the fiercest competitor on the grid (tied with Lewis), and he’s also undoubtedly the most honest.

[nzjrs]

Such a good answer by max!

[PlatinumZealot]

Max has 2 undeniable attributes - he’s undoubtedly the fiercest competitor on the grid (tied with Lewis), and he’s also undoubtedly the most honest.

https://twitter.com/sophwebsterxx/statu ... 12674?s=21

Expected better from dieter renken. Such a basic question.

[nzjrs]

Max has 2 undeniable attributes - he’s undoubtedly the fiercest competitor on the grid (tied with Lewis), and he’s also undoubtedly the most honest.

https://twitter.com/sophwebsterxx/statu ... 12674?s=21

Expected better from dieter renken. Such a basic question.

The key to journalism is not to ask a question that you know the answer to but to ask a question you want everyone else to experience the answer of. All journalism is activism these days.

(and Max was correct IMO - many things can be true at once)

[Phil]

It’s nice to see everyone jumping around the small difference between Bottas and Russel, but are forgetting that they are ultimately comparing Russels second and improved run with Bottas’s first. Apart from that one run, Bottas was consistently quicker than George during the entire session when it mattered, beating him in every single run.

Meanwhile, George’s replacement (who had zero f1 time up to that point) at Williams pretty much beat Latifi until the rather substantial mistake on the very last corner. Tells us how good Latifi is.

Russel is good. But again, this track was never going to say much. A more technical track would be more telling.

[LHamilton]

For me, Russell did a pretty reasonable session. I said that =<0.1 is probably where you expect him to be due to the nature of the circuit and the amount of testing time he's had in a similar car etc. A bit scrappy lap from Bottas made it possibly closer than it should've been. But also Russell had a bit of tight squeeze in the car.

Overall I'd say with the amount of Russell hype, I expected him to beat him if that hype were to be justified. Didn't happend. So for me, the hype took a bit of a knock. However, only one quali session. More time to "redeem" that. So can't really make a fair judgement.

Albon doesn't make it easier for Red Bull to keep him when he qualifies like that. Let's see how he gets on tomorrow scrapping in the midfield. Won't be easy I don't think.

Star of the session was Leclerc. Really good effort.

With how the F2 race turned out, I wouldn't put it pass if we saw some Mazepin-light moves from Perez tomorrow. He has a tendency to move a bit late which we saw in Portimao for instance. And with some straights, there could be close actions between drivers.

[Mchamilton]

Russel said in the interview where bottas was beating him, turn 1 and 2, turn 1 especially, he even said over the radio that he couldn't get the car to rotate in turn 1. He said the Mercedes has to be driven completely different to the Williams. So to get that close to bottas shows his class. We're talking about the guy that one Gp3 as a rookie and f2 as a rookie. You simply can't deny his class. If he gets in the car in Abu Dhabi I expect him to beat Bottas.

[ENGINE TUNER]

Everyone talking about Russell, but what about Leclerc? He definitely was the real deal today. How on earth did he put that Ferrari on P4 on this track? I was lost for words, sublime performance.

LEC had a great tow on all 3 straights I believe. He was at the perfect distance behind VER his entire lap.

[Big Tea]

Russel had to ask on the radio how to shut the car down. Lol. Not a bad effort considering how long he had (and how long he is)