F1 2021 Season Spoiler Filled Race Talk

I wonder if we should shut down the Slack F1 channel and move it all here or vice versa. I feel weird saying essentially the exact same thing to a bunch of the same people. Anyway....

Meanwhile we also have an off topic thread on the GWJ Destiny Discord server of all places (mostly because we started just incidentally talking about F1 while playing the game, so we started a dedicated channel for it).

I'd argue there's maybe a place for a transient conversational thread or two in addition to the forum topic, but maybe consolidating that to a single service/server might be good?

Is there a reason the racing league is using Slack instead of the main GWJ Discord server? I'm sure we could ask the mods of the main Discord server to let us either create a dedicated channel, or a thread under the exiting racing or sports channels.

Unsurprisingly the people in the racing league are fans of pretty much anything that goes fast and has an engine, so we have channels for a lot of racing series. It started off just as General/League/Rules and grew overtime. There are a few in the Slack now that don't take part in the league, try as we might.

Yeah, no, once better drivers than me got in there and I couldn't pull off race wins anymore, I was out.

Monza is using the spring race weekend format, so here's your only practice session before qualifying (which goes live in less than two hours here):

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Mercedes is definitely looking stronger than they have in a few races, but it's still anyone's game, especially given the absurd power of the tow (and the resulting absurd nature of qualifying traffic) at Monza. If you've got the ability to watch today, don't miss it!

Let's f*cking go Bottas! Let's f*cking go McLaren!

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Bottas will sadly be starting the full race on Sunday with engine replacement penalties, but he gets pride and a chance to score a few points (or at least deny them to Red Bull) in the sprint tomorrow.

I repeat. Does Haas suck that much, or does Mazepin suck that much? Or both?

Both. They are running last years car with no upgrades. They wouldn't be showing up if they didn't have to.

Well, Bottas had a nice clean race and held it in front to pick up the extra points, even though he'll start from the back due to engine penalties.

Meanwhile, Hamilton had a horrible start and got caught behind the McLarens, giving Verstappen a clean run to the front of the grid for tomorrow. Hamilton might have had a tire advantage to work with towards the end of the race since he was on mediums and the McLarens were won softs, but Gasly had a super bad luck accident that caused a safety car for a few laps, which might have given the McLarens enough extra life on their tires to survive the sprint.

Great day for them both though, and Ricciardo will be starting on the front row alongside Max, so that should be quite fun!

IMAGE(https://i.redd.it/63demqct2wm71.png)

zeroKFE wrote:

Great day for them both though, and Ricciardo will be starting on the front row alongside Max, so that should be quite fun!

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Hell f*cking yes McLaren.

I really hope they nail their car for next year, because I could use a lot more of that in my life.

NSMike wrote:

Smirking Finn

I put like eight minutes of work into that in photshop.

I put in another eight minutes.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/MrT2klb.png)

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Friday practice at Socci:

IMAGE(https://i.redd.it/g6egf0mk8fp71.jpg)
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FP1 was looking very much like a flashback to the last seven years rather than reflecting the competitive landscape of this year, so shocker of all shockers, in FP2 Max moved onto a new engine accepting the grid penalties (effectively nullifying the penalty after the Monza incident in the process).

The forecast is calling for heavy rain tomorrow though, so potentially it's anyone's game in qualifying.

IMAGE(https://i.redd.it/l385n34hgnp71.jpg)

Wild one! Rough day at the office for Hamilton and Mercedes, but what a result for the top three as a result!

Stay weird for the rest of the season F1, I'm begging you.

That was quite weird. Until the result.

Great race until lap 49. Such a disappointment. I lost 2 podiums. As the drivers like to say, "I'm gutted".

So gutted for Lando, but that's got to be the most exciting Russian Grand Prix ever, right?

zeroKFE wrote:

So gutted for Lando, but that's got to be the most exciting Russian Grand Prix ever, right?

Easily, yes, but it was a very low bar to beat. Amazing what a bit of moisture can do to even the dullest of tracks.

So gutted for Lando, a bit of inexperience and desperation for the first win clouding his judgment at the end there. Verstappen must be very pleased with 2nd after starting at the back, and now he has a decent engine to get to the end of the season with, barring any more 52G hits into a barrier...

Friday practice at Istanbul Park is complete.

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Seems like they actually got the track surface sorted out well this time. Mercedes was looking good, although Hamilton will be be taking a new engine this weekend so he'll be starting near the back at least (although at least Sainz and maybe also one or both Astons will also be taking engine penalties, so maybe not all the way at the back). Meanwhile Red Bull seemed to be having a lot of struggles dialing in the balance of the car, so anything could happen with their relative performance for the rest of the weekend.

That said, there's a decent chance of rain at the very least for tomorrow which might complicate matters for them. Potentially a wet quail session, so be sure to watch if you can!

HAM only took a new ICE and not the whole PU so it's only a 10 spot drop.

Mr Bismarck wrote:

HAM only took a new ICE and not the whole PU so it's only a 10 spot drop.

Oh, interesting -- I missed that part. They were talking about 19th or 20th during the practice commentary, but maybe that was before the specifics were clarified.

IMAGE(https://i.redd.it/w00cc81tcfs71.jpg)

Fun session, with only the good kind of drama.

Hamilton, of course, will be taking that engine penalty and starting P11, setting up the potential for some good fun tomorrow too.

Holy sh*t Lewis.

No kidding. What a weekend!

Mr Bismarck wrote:

Frank Williams has died.

Sad. A legend. It feels like when you think about Team Principals, Frank Williams (with Ron Dennis) marks a sea change as people who succeeded in F1 through people management skills and team building. I don’t think you have modern F1 without Frank’s total commitment that teams must be constructors not customers.