[Official] Driver of the Grand Prix: British Grand Prix 2021

[Adam43]

They were great pictures and I want to vote for him, but the heavy right foot let’s him down.

[E.B]

Leclerc for me by a margin.

Nothing against Lewis although I was a little grieved that Lewis was able to rectify his damage under the red flag as per the rules. The red flag 'parc ferme' rules' suck in F1. My thoughts are in a red flag cars should not be able to be fixed u.... that should have to wait until the green flag as per other series.
Kudos to Lando and Danny Ric.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by E.B

Leclerc for me by a margin.

Nothing against Lewis although I was a little grieved that Lewis was able to rectify his damage under the red flag as per the rules. The red flag 'parc ferme' rules' suck in F1. My thoughts are in a red flag cars should not be able to be fixed u.... that should have to wait until the green flag as per other series.
Kudos to Lando and Danny Ric.

I see where you're coming from with regard to the 'free repair time' but I think that's allowed on the grounds of safety. If (for example) the car had a gash in the left rear tyre as a result of the contact that caused it to puncture as he turned into Copse on the first lap after the re-start, there would have been another big off and race stoppage.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

I see where you're coming from with regard to the 'free repair time' but I think that's allowed on the grounds of safety. If (for example) the car had a gash in the left rear tyre as a result of the contact that caused it to puncture as he turned into Copse on the first lap after the re-start, there would have been another big off and race stoppage.

See crm's post in the other thread for what is and isn't permitted.....

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Danny Ric, what an improvement. A couple of tweaks and he'll be up there.

Yeah, only 14 secs behind his teammate, who would have been even further ahead but for a botched pit stop!

[Skam85]

Yes, better get Pat O'Ward into that seat ASAP.

[Aysedasi]

I think Dan is doing enough to show that he's beginning to get to grips with the car at last.

[S griffin]

It's his best finish so far with McLaren. Just needs to find a bit more speed now

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by peebee2

Yeah, only 14 secs behind his teammate, who would have been even further ahead but for a botched pit stop!

5th is still his best result of the season, so far.

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by Skam85

Yes, better get Pat O'Ward into that seat ASAP.

You can be flippant but if you think Brown is happy paying millions for a star driver to be destroyed by the junior you might end up being disappointed.

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by peebee2

You can be flippant but if you think Brown is happy paying millions for a star driver to be destroyed by the junior you might end up being disappointed.

Yes, I'm sure that Zak Brown is utterly devastated and wakes up every morning regretting his decision of hiring Ricciardo after *checks notes* 9 races.

Your O'Ward suggestion is and always will be ridiculous.

[john ruston]

What I notice is that the majority of crowds at GP ( and Festival of Speed) seem to be completely different from the big historic races .
Pity that there is not a larger crossover.
As far as the LH/MV thing it’s concerned the BS machine is going into overdrive
Mr Horner is the hired hand of a couple of Austrians and playing their tune which is reasonable from his perspective with Merc lot absorbing the punches
Will possibly get out of hand at Zandvoort when Netflix/fanboys really go to town
Only winner Liberty and they can claw some of money back they have to Bernie

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by Skam85

Yes, I'm sure that Zak Brown is utterly devastated and wakes up every morning regretting his decision of hiring Ricciardo after *checks notes* 9 races.

Your O'Ward suggestion is and always will be ridiculous.

Really? And who now manages/controls/owns both Lando and Pato?

And you think having your ass handed to you nine times running isn’t bad for a highly-experienced, top-drawer-paid pilot?

It’s a bizarre world some people see!

[Anyopenroad]

Originally Posted by john ruston

What I notice is that the majority of crowds at GP (and Festival of Speed) seem to be completely different from the big historic races.

I have chatted several times to people sitting around me at the British GP. That’s not a large sample ofc, but not one went to any other motorsport event all year. They considered themselves F1 fans, not motorsport fans. One such group (in 2018) was a family of 6 whose tickets alone would have cost ~£3000. They sometimes watched BTCC, they had heard of Le Mans, but they watched every single F1 GP and were at Silverstone for the 8th year in the last 10.

[Aysedasi]

From my personal experience at the FOS - and I got to speak with a lot of people there during my four days of stewarding, there was very little motorsport knowledge in evidence from the people watching. One chap who was waiting for his son to return from the rally stage stood with me for about an hour. It would be fair to say that he knew virtually nothing. I was pointing out to him cars as they came up the hill which were worth watching. He nearly wet himself when the Beast of Turin went past. (Mind you, it put a huge smile on my face every time it did!).

Not just the public either. Our grandstand supervisor had no interest at all in motorsport. He said he did it as he was a 'people watcher'. One of the other stewards on the stand actually said to me, 'That Mark Webber, he's a Formula 1 driver, isn't he?' - in all seriousness.

[Anyopenroad]

At FoS there seems to be a broad pattern of car people going on Sat and families on Sun. Neither tend to be motorsport fans - it’s the supercars and F1 that get by far the greatest attention - but the former at least have a reason to be there. I’ve often been bemused at how many families seem to have absolutely no clue what’s going on. FoS isn’t cheap or that easy to get to so they must have made the effort for some reason but it’s often not obvious what that is!

We’re waaaaaaay off topic here now though

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Anyopenroad

We’re waaaaaaay off topic here now though

Well, both Lando and Danny drove one of Senna's McLarens up the hill, so they could at least qualify for the DOTR poll....

[S griffin]

Great job by Russell on Friday and Saturday, just a shame he got that harsh penalty for what was a racing incident, if that phrase even exists anymore. Dropped back a bit on Sunday, but yet again got the most out of his car

[AndreasDavour]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

How about Vettel? After the race he was spotted helping the clean up crew litter picking. It’s truely appalling how the British public just drop their litter where they stand for someone else to deal with. London was a rubbish dump after the Football and Silverstone was the same. Go to an event in Japan or South Korea and everybody takes their litter home….

I've said it before and might as well say it again, among the current crop of F1 drivers, Sebastian is the first (and maybe only) one I'd love to sit down and chat over a beer with. He seems to be a genuinely decent bloke.

[Adam43]

I’m with that. I’d like to buy the beer too.

Although if the night went on a long time it would be Kimi’s fault.

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Great job by Russell on Friday and Saturday, just a shame he got that harsh penalty for what was a racing incident, if that phrase even exists anymore. Dropped back a bit on Sunday, but yet again got the most out of his car

Harsh penalty? Really?

Russell is great on one lap, qualifying and driving round by himself. 8/10 or even 9/10. Racing though is more like 3/10 at best.

One of the problems is NOT getting the most out of his car on a Sunday. Finishing a small number of seconds ahead of Latifi is damning.

[john ruston]

George Russel seemed a pretty good race driver when in Merc.
Pleased his lack of race craft had been pointed out to me !
This should be shared to Alonso as obviously he needs guidance when he gives his opinion on drivers ability
May be something to do with Williams being effectively broke for last five years and nothing of a sustainable nature has been spent on car.
That’s the way life is
Williams has a budget that is at most 20% of the lead teams so you would not expect them to have an effective vehicle.

[S griffin]

Exactly, the Williams doesn't seem great over a race distance, yet he's hanging in there and has just missed out on a points on a few occasions. And finishing a few seconds above Latifi is damning? Oh please! Such ridiculous high standards some people have

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by john ruston

George Russel seemed a pretty good race driver when in.

Good point John. It was good, until he ran off the line and picked up a puncture.

Fans concentrate on the good stuff. Team Principals take more note of such unforced errors as, unfortunately, George shows us time and time again, including last weekend. Even a ‘racing incident’ carries responsibility, or lack of it. Hopefully he’s just trying too hard and can grow out of it.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by peebee2

Fans concentrate on the good stuff.

Don’t worry, there are plenty of people who concentrate on the bad stuff.