Poll: Portugese Grand Prix 2021, Portimao - Race 3/23

[Yaayuh!]

That’s what Horner said in the post race interviews.

They have a white line that defines the track. It isn’t hard to say stick 2 wheels over the line to use kerbs and such is OK but stick all 4 wheels over the white line and it’s off track.

None of this you can’t run wide .... well you can at corner 4 and 15 as long as the moon is it’s third quarter and the wind is between 3 and 5 mph but only while in an easterly direction.

Absolutely. Something that Brundle says every other race too. Use the white lines to define, simple.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Good to see Perez up near the front.

He’s doing what they wanted Albon to do: be a couple of tenths behind Max on Saturday, not go backwards at the start, get maximum points each race while giving them more strategy options.

Perez’s tyre whisperer ability is an added bonus.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Absolutely. Something that Brundle says every other race too. Use the white lines to define, simple.

Go back to real grass and gravel on the far side of the white line. Would probably required every Tilke designed track to be bulldozed, but that wouldn’t be a bad thing.

 

[Thomas. PLease.]

I suspect the last few races have been a real eye opener for max as to how big the challenge is going to be. It’s easy to forget the skilled drivers Hamilton has beaten and with each teammate he’s gotten better and better.

RB better hope that upcoming tracks and hotter weather will suit them more. It may be irrelevant if Mercedes continue to extra performance at this pace.

There’s also an unknown as to how hard merc and rb are pushing their machinery and what the cost will be at the end of the season. It’s an interesting one, no doubt about that. I hope it doesn’t get decided by a car breaking down.
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I agree with Rosberg

I thought that as well. Verstappen seems just too laid back. Wants to just let his driving do the talking but in reality makes far too many fairly basic errors. Needs to be ruthlessly efficient if he's to stand a chance.

 

[RoboCod]

I think it's fair to say that no one will better Hamilton on track. Everyone is just playing the waiting game of his retirement day.

 

[Quartz]

Verstappen seems just too laid back.

Really? I don't get that impression. Rather, I get the impression he's not averse to breaking the rules.

 

[pastymuncher]

I am really getting fed up with this track limits nonsense now. Either enforce it at every part of the track instead of selective corners and changing their minds part way through the weekend (as they did yet again this weekend) or just let them get on with it. Surely in this age of technology it would be possible to have sensors embedded in the track and the car to detect when they are exceeding the track limits? They could get a couple of warnings and then a penalty such as a power reduction down the next straight taking it out of the stewards hands altogether. They could fit three led's in the car such as a amber for the first warning, flashing amber for the second and red for the third. Alternatively get rid of these ridiculous massive concrete run offs and go back to deep gravel.

 

[Steampunk]

The gravel run off areas were replaced because of safety and continuing the race. They didn't want cars skipping across the gravel into the barriers, or digging in and rolling, and then having to stop the race to clear the track and dig out cars. They also wanted cars to be able to continue racing if they made a mistake and went wide, in order to keep the spectacle going. This was why all those tarmac areas were introduced in the first place.

Drivers of course have figured out how to gain advantages from this and continue to push the limits. It's the stewards inability to consistently police and punish track limit infractions that are the problem.

 

[mmj_uk]

Did the stewards even look into Verstappen when he was over the pit limit line with his wheels still at full lock trying to slow down?

Dull race all in all DRS just made everyone a sitting duck and you had the same plastic overtakes every lap, tyre compounds didn't seem to make any difference either.

 

[Mr Jack]

I'm surprised to see this race garnering a decent score in the poll. I thought it was a solidly dull race, well down on the average of races over the last couple of years, with the action limited to a few interactions at the front. To each their own, I guess.

I guess the upside is that there was genuine racing for the lead. Max did well to jump Lewis at the restart, and Lewis fought back strongly to pass Max and Bottas for the lead. I'm hoping these battles for the lead will be the norm this season. I can't help feeling that Red Bull messed up the strategy with Pérez, not just in terms of his own race but in terms of the battle with Mercedes. I'm surprised they didn't bring him in a few laps earlier than planned in order to try and force Mercedes into going early as well to cover off an undercut from Pérez. It's also interesting to consider what would have happened if Max hadn't made that mistake in Quali. With Bottas holding up Hamilton through the early part of the race and clear air in front of him, could Max have built a sufficient gap over Hamilton to have taken the race? I think so, and it's these kind of errors that may well end up costing him the season.

Pérez was better than last race, and after recovering from a poor start, I thought he showed decent pace. He just needs to tighten up his act a bit and then he'll be able to play the strong second driver role than Red Bull need from him this season. He's already clearly performing above the level of Albon and Gasly. Bottas, meanwhile, fell short of the mark again and, had Red Bull not so thoroughly compromised Pérez's race I think he'd have ended up getting passed for that 3rd place.

Down the order, I was surprised both by Sainz's pace through the first part of the race and his dramatic drop off later on. I guess it was poor tyre management that did for him, but that was hardly Leclerc's strength last year so it sees strange to see him so far behind even on a different tyre strategy. With Norris excelling in the McLaren again, Ferrari are going to have a tough fight to hold 3rd place in the WCC. Ricciardo recovered strongly through the race, but it's strange to see him so far behind Norris; he needs to improve quickly if he's going to salvage his reputation.

Ocon and Alonso in the points was nice to see. Ocon seems to have taken a significant step forward this season, and although Alpine seem to have gone in the opposite direction, they didn't seem awful this race. Hopefully we'll see more of them as the season goes on. AlphaTauri don't seem as feisty as in the opening two races, and Tsunoda was an anonymous nowhere all race, only saved from utter ignominy by the sheer awfulness of the Haas and Williams; I can't help feeling that another year in F2 would have served him better than his rapid promotion to F1, he still has a lot to learn. Russell fell back quickly from Quali in the windier conditions, and Mick developed impressive pace as the race went leaving Mazepin for dust and even getting past Latifi. Good work.

Aston continued to struggle, with Vettel drifting backwards from his strong Qualifying, whilst Stroll's heroic stint on the softs didn't garner any real rewards by race's end. I didn't hear any radio about it, but I got the impression both place swaps between the Aston's were orchestrated. Letting the faster Stroll have a crack at passing Giovinazzi and then swapping back when he couldn't get past.

 

[Quartz]

Did you listen to the commentary on R5L? Palmer was trying to be Murray Walker.

 

[KiNgPiN83]

Why is it a case of no one wanting to pay for it? Surely it's just a case of enforcing the existing rule of not going all 4 wheels off track, but on every corner.

I meant more from the point of view of forcing them to stay in the lines by virtue of sausage kerbs etc. So basically taking the choice away from them.

 

[Armageus]

I meant more from the point of view of forcing them to stay in the lines by virtue of sausage kerbs etc. So basically taking the choice away from them.

Blanket 5 second penalty for anyone deliberately going 4 wheels off any part of the track and it will stop immediately

 

[CaptainRAVE]

I’m most surprised that at top level motorsport RB/max don’t seem to be aware/remember the FIA notes on track limit enforcement where as Hamilton/Mercedes are right on the limit of what’s allowed.

 

[WorTortle]

Biggest surprise for me was Mazepin being 1 minute down on his teammate. Utterly awful driving to be that bad.

 

[Mr Jack]

Biggest surprise for me was Mazepin being 1 minute down on his teammate. Utterly awful driving to be that bad.

I expected him to be bad, but I've been surprised at how bad. Everyone was talking about how Mick took time to get up to speed in a new formula and it'd take him a while but it's Mazepin who has been utterly miserable. You look at his record before F1 and, yeah, it ain't great but he did win races and get poles in both GP3 (four in 2018, actually the most of any driver, although he finished behind Hubert in the standings) and F2. You don't expect him to go from that to 1s behind a fellow rookie.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Biggest surprise for me was Mazepin being 1 minute down on his teammate. Utterly awful driving to be that bad.

Indeed, really poor. Just shows that it’s not as easy to drive these cars as some people would make out.

 

[godinman]

Blanket 5 second penalty for anyone deliberately going 4 wheels off any part of the track and it will stop immediately

That's too difficult to enforce, you'd have to decide if it was just pushing too hard or trying to gain an advantage.

It should either be sausage kerbs and don't worry about potential damage to cars or I'm quite liking the idea of automatic power limiting every time 4 wheels leave the track, it could be made safer by having it only come in to effect on drs straights.

 

[Thomas. PLease.]

Really? I don't get that impression. Rather, I get the impression he's not averse to breaking the rules.

Perhaps laid back isn't the right description, it's like he's too flippant and 'oh well', for example the fastest lap thing.

I expected him to be bad, but I've been surprised at how bad. Everyone was talking about how Mick took time to get up to speed in a new formula and it'd take him a while but it's Mazepin who has been utterly miserable. You look at his record before F1 and, yeah, it ain't great but he did win races and get poles in both GP3 (four in 2018, actually the most of any driver, although he finished behind Hubert in the standings) and F2. You don't expect him to go from that to 1s behind a fellow rookie.

Almost as bad as Riccardo? It's obviously a very tricky car. I'm sure he'll improve.

 

[Armageus]

That's too difficult to enforce, you'd have to decide if it was just pushing too hard or trying to gain an advantage.

I don't think it would be - the very threat of a penalty would be enough of a deterrent, in the same way gravel used to be a deterrent