They were not able to work out a deal with Merc or Ferrari last time, so maybe they need to bury the hatchet & go back to Renault. Question is will Verstappen use his contract out clause if he thinks the Renault is not competitive.
Even if - BIG IF - Merc are willing to supply to such a competitor as RB, I’m not convinced Merc are fully committed long term, new engines in 2022 & then again in 2026, how does that fit with Merc engine development, thinking about IC engines for road use not having much future.
Its so bad. Merc had a second advantage already. Honda was going to be the only challenge. I think f1 is finished. Hamilton will have 1000 wins and be up there with Jesus and God himself.
It’s p.p.per.persisting down at Nurburgring
And with no change in the conditions & visibility so poor it prevents the medi-copter flying, its no practice & good night for Friday.
FP3 is scheduled for 12:00 local time tomorrow & conditions are expected to be better.
So a busy 1 hour trying to fit in some quali-sim laps & tyre prep & I suspect a lot of educated guesswork on long run race setups
All rather boring sorry to say
Most excitement was Max’s near miss at the Safety Car restart.
Big congrats to Lewis on #91 & matching Schumi’s race wins, nice touch with the Shumi helmet.
Shame Valtteri DNF
Good to see the Honey Badger on the podium, tattoo any one ???
Good chunk (Hulk) of team points for the Pink Mercs
Yes indeed, a bit of over pumped adrenaline trying something a bit unnecessary. Stroll looked like he was not aware Max was there, so has to accept a bit of it.
I see it as 60/40
I read the stewards have ‘had words’ & judged that they both could have contributed something to avoid the accident.
Rumours about Albon on a final warning, & RB (CH) might be looking outside the RB driver pool & that the Hulk might be of interest.
That’s added to the Haas team replacing both drivers for 2021 & the expected new line up might include … ???
Then add Perez might be taking Russel’s seat at Williams
Interesting times
Well, that 97th pole took some working for! Perhaps it may help put paid to the endless carping from some about it’s only the car that gives LH his superiority? Bottas drove really well, but was ultimately out thought by Hamilton. The margins seem to be decreasing all the time, but his ability to adapt is almost uncanny.
Indeed, that LH pole was strategy at its best, the mediums don’t get to optimum quickly but they stay good for longer. I’m just surprised the VB team didn’t try it, at least it gives him a second crack at it if the first lap goes wrong.
I expect the medium tyres slow to get optimum may well come into play at the start today; assuming Lewis gets a good start, he’s got Max right behind on softs & his tyres will be up & working a lot quicker than the Mercs mediums. Also Lewis’s mediums are a few laps older than the other medium runners, that might add other problems.
Second question is can Valtteri starting on the dirty side of the track hold off Max ?
Yes, but although just a few laps old, he did run extra laps with them than is normal in Q2.
The starting tyres for all cars from P1 to P10 are those selected in Q2. This specific Q2 run is normally the out run/warm up lap, one qualifying & return to pits, Lewis did an extra quali lap with a recharge lap in between. I don’t expect any problems, but if he pushes them too hard before they’re up to optimum fighting off Max … ??
