2021 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 26 - 28

[astracrazy]

According to Helmut Marko, Max wasn't using full power as a precaution because of the problem with diff. So it remains to be seen if RedBull and Mercedes are actually close or does RedBull have more in hand.

At that point I lost interest.

[Shrieker]

What if Max just followed both Lewis’ pitstops? He would be much closer and the guy in front.

Maybe struggle with tyre wear, but so would Hamilton.

He would just eat his tires chasing in Hamilton's wake. Also, put a strain on his PU as well. That's why they went long to create a tire offset. They must've thought chasing and passing with tires in similar shape would be difficult.

[Sieper]

Yes, the offset was needed. And even with the offset, it was only just 0.5 second per lap when he finally caught Lewis after Lewis’ lock up in turn 10.

[214270]

According to Helmut Marko, Max wasn't using full power as a precaution because of the problem with diff. So it remains to be seen if RedBull and Mercedes are actually close or does RedBull have more in hand.

And Mercedes was having derate issues with their engine.

I'm yet to see any clipping problems for mercedes, it's just more mercedes supposedly being underdog bull that we've become accustomed to from Wolf. Honda goes the other way and pumps themselves up whenever they can and this misleads everyday fan easily, especially when everyone that's not super merc hardcore fan want someone else to win.

Mclaren was easily the fastest car on the straights and hamilton regularly had more top speed than verstappen trough the race. That's with red bull running spoon wing.

If you look at when VER was hunting down HAM, HAMs rear lights were coming on a fraction before VER throughout the lap; that was my general observation.

Now maybe that’s just the strategy, but it looked to me like Merc needed to harvest more vs the Honda.

[dans79]

According to Helmut Marko, Max wasn't using full power as a precaution because of the problem with diff. So it remains to be seen if RedBull and Mercedes are actually close or does RedBull have more in hand.

At that point I lost interest.

yep! For two reasons one he's a propaganda machine, and two he hardly ever really knows what he's talking about when it comes to technical matters.

[Juzh]

And Mercedes was having derate issues with their engine.

I'm yet to see any clipping problems for mercedes, it's just more mercedes supposedly being underdog bull that we've become accustomed to from Wolf. Honda goes the other way and pumps themselves up whenever they can and this misleads everyday fan easily, especially when everyone that's not super merc hardcore fan want someone else to win.

Mclaren was easily the fastest car on the straights and hamilton regularly had more top speed than verstappen trough the race. That's with red bull running spoon wing.

If you look at when VER was hunting down HAM, HAMs rear lights were coming on a fraction before VER throughout the lap; that was my general observation.

Now maybe that’s just the strategy, but it looked to me like Merc needed to harvest more vs the Honda.

That's just perception because he's ahead on track and so he obviously starts harvesting earlier. Verstappen had multiple calls to pitwall about his battery being empty and that he was clipping at some stages. He then switched to less deployment so he would not run out of charge. TBH these things happen all the time so it's very hard to judge, but so far I've not seen anything that would suggest mercedes has any kind of problems with performance on their PU.

[SiLo]

I'm yet to see any clipping problems for mercedes, it's just more mercedes supposedly being underdog bull that we've become accustomed to from Wolf. Honda goes the other way and pumps themselves up whenever they can and this misleads everyday fan easily, especially when everyone that's not super merc hardcore fan want someone else to win.

Mclaren was easily the fastest car on the straights and hamilton regularly had more top speed than verstappen trough the race. That's with red bull running spoon wing.

If you look at when VER was hunting down HAM, HAMs rear lights were coming on a fraction before VER throughout the lap; that was my general observation.

Now maybe that’s just the strategy, but it looked to me like Merc needed to harvest more vs the Honda.

That's just perception because he's ahead on track and so he obviously starts harvesting earlier. Verstappen had multiple calls to pitwall about his battery being empty and that he was clipping at some stages. He then switched to less deployment so he would not run out of charge. TBH these things happen all the time so it's very hard to judge, but so far I've not seen anything that would suggest mercedes has any kind of problems with performance on their PU.

I believe Merc said they are trying to fix a derating issue as well with the current power unit, so might have been that affecting them.

[maxxer]

If you look at when VER was hunting down HAM, HAMs rear lights were coming on a fraction before VER throughout the lap; that was my general observation.

Now maybe that’s just the strategy, but it looked to me like Merc needed to harvest more vs the Honda.

That's just perception because he's ahead on track and so he obviously starts harvesting earlier. Verstappen had multiple calls to pitwall about his battery being empty and that he was clipping at some stages. He then switched to less deployment so he would not run out of charge. TBH these things happen all the time so it's very hard to judge, but so far I've not seen anything that would suggest mercedes has any kind of problems with performance on their PU.

I believe Merc said they are trying to fix a derating issue as well with the current power unit, so might have been that affecting them.

Maybe nice time to stop babysitting the drivers again and let them figure it out themselves

[SiLo]

That's just perception because he's ahead on track and so he obviously starts harvesting earlier. Verstappen had multiple calls to pitwall about his battery being empty and that he was clipping at some stages. He then switched to less deployment so he would not run out of charge. TBH these things happen all the time so it's very hard to judge, but so far I've not seen anything that would suggest mercedes has any kind of problems with performance on their PU.

I believe Merc said they are trying to fix a derating issue as well with the current power unit, so might have been that affecting them.

Maybe nice time to stop babysitting the drivers again and let them figure it out themselves

When I say a derating issue I mean from a powerunit design perspective, not a driver pressed the wrong button perspective.

[PlatinumZealot]

Seb is over. Binotto dishing out the insults.

I felt last year was the best time for him to retire.

He can go on, but what honour is there next to Lance Stroll? Will an extra win make a difference? Will a strong finishing performance make a difference?

I am not sure.

[nokivasara]

He would have ended up behind if he pitted the next lap, because the undercut was too strong, and then there would be no fight, as both would be on tires with the same life.

I think it would have been interesting to see. I don´t see RB's theoretical superiority on long runs so maybe Lewis would be able to hold Max.

About the incident, I see extrange how Max looked slower after he let Lewis go through. I was sure he had a problem but It seems I was wrong. Still, I consider it a weird thing as he was clearly faster before the overtake. He should have been able to attack Lewis again but he couldn´t do it.

We could see he had a slight stepping out at the back just after, might well be that his tyres overheated a bit, and when that happens, they lose out quite a bit.

I'd imagine he lost focus for a while too, he seemed to pick up the pace after a while.

[El Scorchio]

Seb is over. Binotto dishing out the insults.

I felt last year was the best time for him to retire.

He can go on, but what honour is there next to Lance Stroll? Will an extra win make a difference? Will a strong finishing performance make a difference?

I am not sure.

I agree- he has nothing to gain and everything to lose. He's not winning a title or coming close in that car.
No matter how he does against Stroll, people will say he should have done more.
He surely doesn't need the money.

Maybe he's doing it just for the love of racing? (I guess the money really doesn't hurt though.)

[pantherxxx]

"F1 race director Michael Masi has disputed the fact that there was any uncertainty over the Turn 4 situation though – as he said it was clear to drivers that the FIA would only intervene if someone was gaining a clear advantage from it."

Hamilton did gain a clear advantage for going wide for 29 laps, and there's video proof of it. Verstappen should have won the race if the rules were applied!

[NathanOlder]

"F1 race director Michael Masi has disputed the fact that there was any uncertainty over the Turn 4 situation though – as he said it was clear to drivers that the FIA would only intervene if someone was gaining a clear advantage from it."

Hamilton did gain a clear advantage for going wide for 29 laps, and there's video proof of it. Verstappen should have won the race if the rules were applied!

You act like Lewis was the only driver doing it.

[pantherxxx]

"F1 race director Michael Masi has disputed the fact that there was any uncertainty over the Turn 4 situation though – as he said it was clear to drivers that the FIA would only intervene if someone was gaining a clear advantage from it."

Hamilton did gain a clear advantage for going wide for 29 laps, and there's video proof of it. Verstappen should have won the race if the rules were applied!

You act like Lewis was the only driver doing it.

That's not a valid argument. Verstappen didn't do it throughout the race. Only once after he passed Hamilton, which was not even deliberate, while Hamilton gained 0.2 sec advantage/lap for at least 29 laps. Perfect example of a double standard.