[Official] Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix 2021: Grand Prix Weekend Thread - Round 2 of 23

[crmalcolm]

Red Flag

[bjohnsonsmith]

Verstappen nearly bins it. Great restart by Norris.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Max, great drive from Norris and a superb recovery from Hamilton.

[bathurst77]

why were the lapped cars allowed to unlap before restart?

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by bathurst77

why were the lapped cars allowed to unlap before restart?

It’s been the rules for a few years now.

Ultimately it is because fans whinged and whinged that F1 is too boring so they introduced this.

But seen it a few times now.

[BTCC frog]

An excellent race today, although Lewis Hamilton was extraordinarily lucky! Great to see Lando Norris on the podium, but I'm not sure what was wrong with Ricciardo; really dominated by his younger teammate. Disappointing from the Alpha Tauri strategists as well. Pierre Gasly should be on 20+ points, but due to his error in Bahrain and the strategy error today, he is only on four.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Adam43

It’s been the rules for a few years now.

Ultimately it is because fans whinged and whinged that F1 is too boring so they introduced this.

But seen it a few times now.

I'm guessing it only permits a single lap to be recovered?

[BTCC frog]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

I'm guessing it only permits a single lap to be recovered?

Yes, because the two Haas drivers were still a lap down after the restart.

[ascarracinguk]

Originally Posted by BTCC frog

An excellent race today, although Lewis Hamilton was extraordinarily lucky! Great to see Lando Norris on the podium, but I'm not sure what was wrong with Ricciardo; really dominated by his younger teammate. Disappointing from the Alpha Tauri strategists as well. Pierre Gasly should be on 20+ points, but due to his error in Bahrain and the strategy error today, he is only on four.

Lucky?

If you call a red flag lucky then fair enough but overtaking his was from 9th to 2nd had nothing to do with luck.

Great drive by Norris, great recovery by Lewis, great drive by max.....who was extrodinarily lucky on the restart :-)

All around an exciting race, fun result, shaping up nicely for the championship!

[Adam43]

A lot of drivers made similar mistakes today. Many of them lucky, including Lewis and Max.

Lewis luckily didn't lose that lap. Max luckily didn't lose a place or be at the back. Those were lucky and talented. And they lead the championship.

[steve nielsen]

Originally Posted by ascarracinguk

Lucky?

If you call a red flag lucky then fair enough but overtaking his was from 9th to 2nd had nothing to do with luck.

Great drive by Norris, great recovery by Lewis, great drive by max.....who was extrodinarily lucky on the restart :-)

All around an exciting race, fun result, shaping up nicely for the championship!

If it was not for that red flag he would have been a lap down, so YES, that was lucky for Hamilton

he would have never gotten near the podium without that red flag

[tux]

Social media seems to think that the Bottas/Russell incident was a huge crash but to me it wasn't that big, spectacular yes but not that bad of an accident. For me i thought it was a racing incident, you can say that Bottas was moving to the right but Russell still had space.

[ascarracinguk]

Originally Posted by steve nielsen

If it was not for that red flag he would have been a lap down, so YES, that was lucky for Hamilton

he would have never gotten near the podium without that red flag

It was unlucky he caught Russell in a place he had to overtake offline

It was lucky that max only half spun and Leclerc chose not to overtake him on the restart when Max was off track

What’s not lucky is overtaking 8 cars to keep your championship lead.

Luck works both ways, eh?!.....unless you’re going to claim it was skilful driving that got max on the grass?

[Wims]

Perez overtaking under yellow flag after driving off the track was just bizarre

[steve_r]

2 great races. This could be a great season.

Big crash. Did Russell flinch because he thought Bottas was moving over on him? Russell was having a great race until that point.

Slight shame that another straight Verstappen / Hamilton fight was lost. Great recovery by Hamilton. That's the sort of thing that Schumacher seemed to do. Even when he crashed and all looked lost, he often seemed to somehow get a good result somehow.

Perez had a stinker. Bottas the same.

If that is McLarens genuine pace, then I rekon they could get plenty more podiums this season.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by steve_r

2 great races. This could be a great season.

Big crash. Did Russell flinch because he thought Bottas was moving over on him? Russell was having a great race until that point.

Slight shame that another straight Verstappen / Hamilton fight was lost. Great recovery by Hamilton. That's the sort of thing that Schumacher seemed to do. Even when he crashed and all looked lost, he often seemed to somehow get a good result somehow.

Perez had a stinker. Bottas the same.

If that is McLarens genuine pace, then I rekon they could get plenty more podiums this season.

It seemed like his right rear tyre went over the white line.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by tux

Social media seems to think that the Bottas/Russell incident was a huge crash but to me it wasn't that big, spectacular yes but not that bad of an accident. For me i thought it was a racing incident, you can say that Bottas was moving to the right but Russell still had space.

I confess I thought that too and didn't see it as clear cut as Coulthard on the C4 highlights, as at the crucial moment, Valteri was well over into the middle of the track but it looked to me as though George overreacted, put a wheel off and was then a passenger....

[TrapezeArtist]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

I confess I thought that too and didn't see it as clear cut as Coulthard on the C4 highlights, as at the crucial moment, Valteri was well over into the middle of the track but it looked to me as though George overreacted, put a wheel off and was then a passenger....

That’s the way I saw it too. Valtteri was gradually moving right, but he didn’t jerk as George alleged. George allowed room for Valtteri’s continuing drift but put a wheel on the wet grass. After that it was inevitable. So the accident was a bit 50-50 (well, 60-40) but George rather disgraced himself with his reaction.

It was definitely a big accident, but made to look even worse because the Mercury hit a couple of polystyrene signs.

[TrapezeArtist]

Nikita Marzipan distinguished himself by having an accident that wasn’t his fault. Is this a first?

[TrapezeArtist]

No-one else seems to have picked up on Hamilton’s off. He stopped the car before the barrier. Then drove forward and broke his wing. If he had pulled the reversing move first time he could have got back on track without any damage, and then wouldn’t have needed the red flag to give him the chance to get back on terms.

[ascarracinguk]

Originally Posted by TrapezeArtist

No-one else seems to have picked up on Hamilton’s off. He stopped the car before the barrier. Then drove forward and broke his wing. If he had pulled the reversing move first time he could have got back on track without any damage, and then wouldn’t have needed the red flag to give him the chance to get back on terms.

He stated in post race interviews that he was struggling to get reverse hence trying to go forward first

[Tourer]

Really enjoyed that race, only downside to me is that it showed again that allowing lapped drivers to get a lap back under red flag conditions isn't a good sporting outcome. Yep, the rules allow it but there is a definite downside.

All of them would have had wild moments grip wise and a fair few ended up off track (fully or partially) as a result.

The Bottas / Russell shunt was huge and very sobering given where it happened - so very pleased to see them both get out of their cars.

For sure there isn't much at all between the two main teams and both Ferrari and McLaren were close to them on race pace - is shaping up to be a good year!

Finally, I agree with others that Lewis was very lucky today - but the rules allowed him to be lucky with getting his lost lap back under red flag - don't think it should be allowed personally that a driver's significant race-losing mistake is mitigated by getting a lap back like that but them's the rules.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by steve nielsen

If it was not for that red flag he would have been a lap down, so YES, that was lucky for Hamilton

he would have never gotten near the podium without that red flag

Hamilton... great drive? Yes. Lucky? Absolutely. Actions beyond his control prevented the likely outcome of his situation from being as bad as it should have been. I call that luck. Sometimes you are the bug, sometimes the windshield.

Originally Posted by steve_r

2 great races. This could be a great season.

Yep. Small sample size, but it is looking very promising.

Originally Posted by steve_r

Big crash. Did Russell flinch because he thought Bottas was moving over on him? Russell was having a great race until that point.

My thoughts on that. First, like most these things happen in a blink of an eye. So while we can watch the replay in slow motion multiple times to form an opinion and then act as judge, jury and executioner. I tend to think this was mostly a racing incident.

Bottas was clearly trying to protect and push Russell to the right. A key thing here is that only Bottas knew how far he would push Russell. I think he intended to push him, but for Bottas to remain on the dry line. Russell (rightly so IMHO) didn't back out because it almost worked. But as he moved right to mirror Bottas he was off the dry line. Just a fraction after Bottas stopped moving right, Russell kept going going right (reaction time is key here) and just as he tried to straighten up (or maybe couldn't as maybe the grip wasn't all there in the damp) his right rear touched the grass under acceleration. At that point he was just along for the ride. It "almost" worked.

Bottas defended heavily and put Russell in a tough/risky position. Enough so that he put himself at risk. And he paid the price. Russell didn't lift and kept his foot in it. Which is also a risk. And he paid the price. Regardless, I think Russell was right for going for it.

At the end of the day. A Williams was making a legitimate passing attempt on a Mercedes. I wish we were talking more about that. Kudos to Russell and Williams. I feel bad for Bottas. I just can't see him remaining given his inconsistent performance. Has Mercedes commented yet on why Bottas stunk it up today? Car issue?

Originally Posted by steve_r

Perez had a stinker. Bottas the same.

I felt bad for Perez. Felt he was over driving the car.

Originally Posted by steve_r

If that is McLarens genuine pace, then I rekon they could get plenty more podiums this season.

I think this is great for the sport that we are seeing this level of competitiveness from more than just one or two teams. And kudos to Lando for a great weekend and in particular race drive.

Richard

[2 litre Touring Car Star]

I can't fathom anyone even remotely blaming Bottas for the crash. Russell driving like he was on a dry track as wide as the Burke Lakefront Airport.

Originally Posted by ascarracinguk

It was unlucky he caught Russell in a place he had to overtake offline

No, he didn't have to overtake. It was a misjudgment, which is a driver error.

Like Damon Hill in 93, but at a time where F1 circuits were less forgiving, and rules weren't so lax as to negate driver errors.

[ascarracinguk]

Originally Posted by 2 litre Touring Car Star

I can't fathom anyone even remotely blaming Bottas for the crash. Russell driving like he was on a dry track as wide as the Burke Lakefront Airport.



No, he didn't have to overtake. It was a misjudgment, which is a driver error.

Like Damon Hill in 93, but at a time where F1 circuits were less forgiving, and rules weren't so lax as to negate driver errors.

If you listen to Russell’s post race interview he states that he backed off at that point to let Hamilton through thinking he was doing him a favour.