So many highlights and talking points.

1st start of the race. Everyone got around surprisingly ok. Mike's incident was eerily similar to Leclerc's at turn 22 I believe it was. Sudden loss of rear downforce on the transition and became a projectile towards the barriers. Wind?

In between the pit stop shenanigans. Bottas sort of slowed down a bit during the safety car to wind up Max a bit. I mean he was far enough back of Hamilton that a double stack would have worked anyways. Even at the start, Hamilton was slowing down and leave Max hanging to wind him up. Think Mercedes have a clear playbook on how to play mind games with Max. His one glaring weakness is his mental game. He is easily rattled and agitated. 

1st restart. Hamilton got a very clean getaway and passed Max cleanly. Max being Max, aka a brat, didn't like that one bit. he let go of the brakes and lurched forward again to try and go around the outside, knowing there is a run off there. Hamilton is picture perfect right on the proper racing line through turn 1 and turn 2. At the speed Max was going mid corner at turn 1, he has zero hope of making the apex to turn 2 to 'take' the 'inside' line. He had decided way back then his line was either going into Hamilton or the run off. And instead of rejoining like every other car to the outside by the wall, he just straight lined it directly into Hamilton, cause Hamilton to back off and Ocon took the lead during this chaos. 

Well that was a clear violation of the regulations so he was going to give back the position to Hamilton by the order of the Race Director. Pretty clear cut there. Weird that Massi was 'consulting' with Red Bull instead of informing them. Oh well, if you are Red Bull you get special treatment. What's even more weird is that at first they were asked do they accept P2, and with some clarifications, 'bartering', they have settled on Max going into P3 behind Hamilton who in thrun is behind Ocon. 

Perez had a tussled with Leclerc. Can't really fault either. Leclerc got a wall on one side and Perez on the other. Perez however thought he had cleared Leclerc and moved towards the inside wall. He was wrong, he hasn't and contact is made. In a way this is some what a racing incident. Could Leclerc have backed off? Sure. Just as Perez could have  moved a bit farther to the right, he is cleared on that side anyways. 

I wouldn't blame Mazepin for the secondary collision. He couldn't have seen Perez's car on the left side and all he can see is just Russell's rear wing. He wouldn't' have expected Russell to slow down. Looks dangerous, but at least it isn't the stationary collision like the one during the F2 start. Poor Haas team, their miserable season just keep on going.

Once again red flag. 2nd restart. Red Bull gambled and put mediums on Max, it's borderline, 33 racing laps to go. Worth a gamble to get a better start off P3, on the clean side no less. With the way things are going at the time, SC, VSC, or even another red flag are all on the table to help them stretch the mileage on the mediums. 

The gamble paid off. Max had a very good start and found room on the inside of turn 1 to do his torpedo move. Squeezing Hamilton to the outside who also have Ocon turning in also. Hamilton and Ocon made contact but miraculously the front wing stayed intact. 3 cars into room for 1 car never really works out. Ocon had no choice but to take the escape road, in the process he gained back the spot he lost to Max. He duly gave it back immediately. That's a gentleman racer there. 

Had some racing done. Well not really  A few cars have contacts and littered the track with debris. Kimi and Vettel. Poor Vettel can't catch a break. No idea why Kimi decided to stay on the gas for so long, but Kimi does what Kimi does. 

During those time that they were racing, the slow/medium speed cornering advantage of the RB is on full display. from turn 4 all the way to turn 10, Max can pull out almost 0.5 second advantage. But the Mercedes claw it all back, and then some, in sector 2 and 3. It was great to watch the wrestling match there. it's amazing how well the Mercedes is planted for the fast sections even on hards. 

Another point of note. VSC. The delta is suppose to be -40%. But it would seems Hamilton found a way to stay within -40% yet gain on Max. Chalk it up to experience. The old foxes, him, Vettel, Alonso, always have some tricks up their sleeves. 

Fast forward to lap 36/37. Hamilton got a great run out of turn 27 and with DRS. Max did his usual thing weaving around, but not as obvious as was in Brazil. He only went right, left, then a little bit right but stayed left, keeping the inside line. It was pretty obvious what he would do next. His signature move, barrelling into turn 1, either straight line the corner to keep his place or crash into Hamilton to take him out. He almost succeeded. And Hamilton by now knows Max enough to fully expect such a thing, you bet he was looking at his left mirror the whole time. There is no other way to say it, at the speed he was doing at the apex of turn 1, he has no chance of making the apex for turn 2 or even staying on the track. Another slam dunk offence and immediately he was ordered to give the place back. The rest of that part is in the full FIA details in the earlier post. 

Max can say whatever he wants, but data from his car doesn't lie. a 2.4g braking event? And not even moving over to one side or another?  Like a spoiled brat, he really doesn't want to give up anything to anyone. Hamilton isn't without fault, he could have pulled out a bit earlier to avoid a collision. 

Now did Mercedes knew before hand that Max will try crashing into Hamilton and built him a super strong front wing? Like seriously, that end place took A LOT of abuse. Contact with Ocon and then Max's rear tires. Yet structurally it is still sound. Amazing. And Hamilton can still put down quick laps to stay with Max.

Fast forward a few more laps. Max still haven't given back the spot as ordered. Finally on lap 42, he begrudgingly gave it up, only to immediately re-pass Hamilton. The stewards didn't like that cheeky move one bit. Hammer came down for a 5 second penalty. 

Now the finished. Think Max had a brain dead moment after being notified about the 5 second penalty. He yielded the spot to Hamilton, again just before turn 27. His public excuse was that his tires have gone off already. But they haven't yet. Knowing Max, even if his tires have gone off, he wouldn't' have let Hamilton by THAT easily. He also got the radio message about him doesn't need to give up the spot. 

But Max was clearly dejected by then. His will was gone, his fight was gone after the 5 second penalty. And his tires did went off not long after. 

And 'the move' during the pass. Hamilton was clearly giving the same medicine back to Max for what he did at Brazil. But Hamilton at least stayed within the white line, unlike Max. Massi got on the radio right away about his cheeky move. But he can't really do anything since the FIA considered such a thing a non issue back in Brazil. So all he can do is just a warning. As if Hamilton will have another chance to do the same thing for the next few laps. 

In the end, FIA finally came down on Max's behaviour after almost the whole season. But also in a way that didn't affect the results. Max got a total of 15 seconds of token penalty but he had a 20+ second lead to 3rd place. 

Do we even want to mention the podium behaviour? Some would called that sore loser. Others will use the word childish. Many more will have even worse words. 

Now Max's bratty behaviour is on full display today. There is no one at RB to mentor him. Not his dad, not Horner, of course not Marko. What Max really needs is an experienced champion to guide him. He can't act like a entitled spoiled brat on track all the time. At some point he needs to grow up. and be responsible for his actions. 

What is sad is that Max will not see himself did anything wrong today on track. His mentality will be why is he getting penalized. Why is he the 'victim'. He doesn't get it. He feels he is entitled to every inch of real estate on track that he desires. He is Max Verstappen, if he wants a corner another driver needs to give it up for him. If he doesn't get his way, he WILL do anything and everything to protect his spot. He is a danger to others on the grid. 

Something more worthy of a mention. With the 3 penalty points he picked up today, Max tied for 2nd most with his teammate Perez. Tsunoda tops the chart with 8 as he picked up another 2 today. Dubious thing for Red Bull's drivers to be leading for 2021. For comparison, Hamilton only picked up 2 points from the Silverstone incident. 

A really long post. Now it gets slightly longer.

Leclerc and Sainz racing hard against each other. I am beginning to wonder if Leclerc's time at Ferrari will be ending soon. Who on grid might make him and offer when his contract is up? He is only signed to 2024, while he wishes for an extension to go to 2026.Sainz has a shorter one, only goes to 2022. Would Ferrari be tempted to keep Sainz instead? Regardless, they look set to lock up 3rd in the constructor championship.

Giovinazzi had a decent drive earlier but faded back down to 9.

Norris. Hmm. Err. He was down in the bottom half for most of the race but at least clawed it back to 10th to get a point. Ricciardo on the other hand had a good showing here. He gave Bottas quite a bit of trouble before Bottas finally got him.

Ocon put up a very good fight. But in the end, his Alpine just isn't a Red Bull or a Mercedes. At least his Alpine team is almost a lock for 5th place. 

One final thought. How the heck did Hamilton managed to drive SO FAST with a damaged front wing?!?!?!?!?! he must have lost some front downforce for sure. he literally used up all his racing experiences to manage this race. 

Guessing one more thought still. Yes there are 2 red flags, 3 starts, and like a million VSC or SC or whatever. But this is a genuinely EXCITING race to watch! Who isn't on the edge of their seat trying to find out what will happen next? Who isn't wondering if Max's gearbox will hold up fro the whole race? Who isn't wondering after Hamilton's front wing is damaged, can he last to the end? Or that Max's rear tire could be cut and have a blow out? Or that ANOTHER incident will bunch up the field again? Or worse, the race be red flagged towards the end and whoever is leading will win by default? Max and Hamilton pulled out a big lead over the rest of the pack. It was a race pitted between two of the fastest drivers, two most talented drivers, but one is a proven dirty driver and the other is a clean one, will the clean one prevail or the dirty one wins? Hamilton says it best. What goes around comes around. Over the course of a season everything evens out. It does sucks for Max that everything came back to haunt him in ONE race. Like EVERYTHING went against him it seems. No wonder he left the podium. It could have been his clinching race. But not to be. Yet.

Now we onto Abu Dhabi. Winner takes all basically. Well not quite. If Max takes out Hamilton he wins be default on tie breaker. The temptation is even greater for him to do a Prost now. But I really wanted to see a FAIR fight between the two of them next weekend. Like racing clean. By the book clean. I am wishing for FIA to throw the book at both of them. There will not be what ifs, whatabouts, he did that he did this kind of thing. ENFORCED the existing rulebook. A penalty is a penalty is a penalty. Start throwing 5 seconds, 10 seconds, drive through, stop and go penalties or even the dreaded DQ exclusion. You went beyond 10 car length on safety car? That's a penalty. You went over the track limit? That's a penalty. You weave on the straights? That's a penalty. You did illegal launch on pit lane? That's a penalty. 

 

 

 

 


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