It was interesting, but not in a way that makes good TV. Tyre management and waiting for your rival to make a mistake isn't compelling viewing. I thought Norris did very well -again Alonso & Ricciardo did well to recover from poor qualifying. Now off to Barcelona.

 

Checo came in a nice 4th but was nowhere near the top 3. Lewis did Lewis things and showed why he's so good. Mazepin did Mazepin things but finally got a penalty point on his license while being like a minute behind 18th place.

 

Mazepin gets a 3 place grid penalty & another point on his license for blocking Norris in Q1. This guy...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.es...lised-blocking-norris-qualifying?platform=amp

 

Yeah, that’s a major penalty. He goes from last to last +3.

 

At least Mazespin didn't spin out during qualifying this time.

 

Red Bull needs to hire Ross Braun to run their strategy. They gave this one to Mercedes.

 

Red Bull, asleep at the switch. They need to slug a couple of Red Bull's before next race to keep their energy and alertness levels up.

 

I bet Red Bull makes a pretty good vacuum cleaner.

 

Red Bull's strategy has been lacking for years. Although, VER pitting early on his own and PER being too far back didn't help either.

 

RB really needs the 2nd car for strategy protection. For as much crap as Bottas gets, at least he's still in P3 preventing RB from doing whatever they want strategy wise assisting Lewis in getting wins while he picks up 3rd place finishes. Perez is still just accumulating points without really providing any cover for Max.

 

Bottas gets a hard time for doing a tough job. Perez has been given a lot of praise and respect, now he is in the same position as Bottas will people revise their opinions of both drivers?

 

I can see why Perez gets some slack since he's only been with the team for 4 races while Bottas has been with the team for 5 years. Bottas is getting shit because he's not as good as Lewis or even Nico Rosberg but then Mercedes doesn't need him to be.

 

I think Bottas is better then Nico. Remember Hamilton was super unfocused back then got frustrated and made stupid mistakes. Today’s Lewis is a much better driver then the Lewis that raced with Nico.

not to mention all the baggage between him and Nico going back to childhood, and Nico’s refusal to defend against Lewis… these all shaped Lewis in a way that made him what he was then and what he is today. A driver still at the top of his game. A machine, he doesn’t need to bully other drivers on the track like Schumacher did, Lewis wears people down by not making mistakes and thinking way ahead of even his own strategists. He has not made any complaints in the past 4 years. The old one complained every race even when he was in the lead…

 

Well Lewis always complains about his tires being shot before dropping some fast laps but I agree with you that post 2016 Lewis has been a machine. He mentally broke Nico from 2014-2016, Vettel in 2017-2019, and now looks like he mentally broke Bottas.

I really don't think Mercedes wants to throw Russell next to Lewis and watch him get mentally destroyed by Lewis. Russell is still making driving mistakes. Do those same mistakes against Lewis and he destroys you.

 

I've never understood why the general public is so hard on Bottas. He's an awesome #2 driver to have on the team. He's capable of taking the win on the days where Lewis has mechanical problems and he seems to get along with him well enough to do as he's told when the team orders come down from Toto. Much different dynamic than the Hamilton x Rossberg lineup.

When you have 2 alphas on the same team there is naturally going to be some friction as they battle for supremacy.

I was kind of hoping that Checo would have had a few stonger finishes under his belt by this point in the season. I hope RB give him some time to get settled and don't start the mid season demotion rumors like they do with every other driver.

 

Bendy wings are back.
https://apple.news/AZWHhtt6eSIKFQeJtrL0uOg

 

Looks like the final chicane at Barcelona may disappear in future F1 races

https://www.racefans.net/2021/05/10/fia-looking-at-removing-catalunyas-chicane-for-future-f1-races/

 

This should have been McLaren’s livery from the get-go. A special one off livery for Monaco

 

Looks great, I really hope Lando will get some more wins

 

I think it is because Gulf is not a major sponsor. A better Tomorrow aka British American Tobacco is not allowed to advertise at Monaco just like MIssion Winnow is not allowed, and that is where the darker blue came from. The Orange is traditional Mclaren Mango. Hence they had to stop that sponsor for one race and went with something cool that ties in with history and a minor sponser.