Formula 1 2021 - General Discussion Thread (Read 1st post rules)

Lots of rumours and stories, but until it's officially announced I'll believe nothing.

It'd be great to see though. At this stage we know Bottas has no more than a 1% chance of beating Hamilton over a season. Fingers crossed that Russel can properly challenge him.

My guess is whoever wrote this post, didn't watch the race...

Loads of people made a big deal out of in in the race thread. A "slap in the face" to fans and so on.

Like I said, i don't think it was the main problem, it was just a very visible symptom of the whole thing. The main problem is that a race didn't take place and the second problem is that, for business reasons, points were awarded. The podium procession was just an offshoot of those problems.

Well, I don't claim to be an expert. So I don't really know what else can be said about it that hasn't already been said. It's unfortunate that the race didn't happen but I'll just dry my tears and wait for the next race at the weekend.

It's just a rumour, though it's been widely reported. It was also widely reported that he'd be announced for Mercedes back in Silverstone and that never happened so I'll wait for something official.

Maybe look at swapping France and Belgium over. The closer you can get the Belgian Grand Prix to the June 21st solstice the less likely you'll be washed out and the more daylight you can play with if it is inclement.

Meanwhile Paul Ricard is in the south of France so the weather tends to stay more pleasant longer into the Autumn and even if it rains, it stands to reason that a test track with artificial sprinklers would have good drainage and those wide run offs with the abrasive tarmac should prevent any serious shunts from causing any traumatic injury.

A double hit on Mercedes-Benz by Sauber 🤔 and possibly the first transfer from Formula E to F1.

The red bull/ alpha tauri situation is interesting, perez is extended till 2022, surely if gasly keeps going the way he is they'll have to look at him to come in for perez for 2023?

Tsunoda is hardly pulling up any trees (of course its his rookie season) but another year like that season in 2022 I think he may lose his seat, could potentially be two Alpha tauri seats going for 2023 if albon would want to wait that long.

Yeah Albon could take that chance, but ocon took a chance like that and ended up out if the sport for a year. According to Joe Saward, Ocon signed with Alpine a few weeks ago precisely because he knew Bottas would be coming on the market and if he wasn't careful he would end up without a drive again. The moral of the story is that one bird in the hand...

Albon might gladly take a seat at Williams. One year out is bad enough, 2 years out could be fatal and there's no guarantee he would even get a drive in 2023.

Joe saward is talking about the albon-williams connection. He said that last week Latifi had an uncertain covid test and Williams sounded out Albon over anyone else to replace him. Latifi was fine so it didn't come to anything.

But he reckons Albon is a good fit for Williams as they want a decent driver who is young and can stay around for a long time as the team improves from their new money.

He said Albon isn't the only good option for them but that's where the connection was made.

This should be a fun lap for the drivers.

That's a bit of a relief. Was a great racer but had a career of two halves. Clinging on by reputation for the last few years.

Now everyone can reflect on the good things he did as a driver instead of eagerly anticipating his retirement.

I wonder if Alfa will keep Gio. I presume not.

Liked having Kimi in F1 but the last year or 2 haven't been great. Great career all the same, probably should have had more than 1 championship.

Definitely should have had more than one championship if the Maclarens and there Merc engines had not let him down so much in the early 00s when he was with Mclaren.

Delighted he is retiring do. He was at nothing this late in his career in a midfield team. I always liked him but his time has come and gone. He had some good times and some great races but it's time for someone new to come in now.

That tight Turn 1 could see some chaos at the start — reminds me of Spa.

As a reserve driver, maybe. Kubica will depart as well, I presume.

Wasn't into F1 (unfortunately) when Kimi was peak but obviously his time at this level has been on the wane since I got into it, this year has had a particularly bad few couple of incidents (rear ending his team mate and crashing into vettel)

Did I hear alfa don't have to have a ferrari junior in one of their seats from next season? Or am I imagining things? Either way would they be too arsed if giovenazzi loses his seat next year? I mean sainz and leclerc are gonna be there for a few years to go and I think they may prefer a certain German driver with a certain second name to come in instead of gio in a few years time if they're looking for a new driver.

How could a Sauber look like Hybrid from Mercedes Benz and Red Bull since neither of them teams existed in F1 in the early 00s? Mercedes just supplied engines to Mclaren that was it. Sauber are older than both them teams.

Kimi really should have won the WDC with Mclaren Mercedes and if the cars had of been more reliable he probably would have.

Yeah they had red bull sponsorship and one year they had Mercedes stars all over the rear of the car like Mercedes has had in recent years.

Thinking of the Williams seat when George moves to Merc (imminently), would the Merc team still have influence on that vacated Williams seat? And I'm thinking that perhaps Nick DeVries being a Merc driver could jump into it easily.

Albon is a good contender too but doesn't have any direct ties with the Williams team. He'd bring his RB knowledge and simulator skills, and I'd think would be of benefit.

Yeah and gasley is a good case for comparison. I don't think gasley was miles better than Albon and Albon was probably going to win in Brazil until Hamilton crashed into him. That would have set a very different baseline if he had won a race.

I think if RB don't rate Albon then it's probably fair that they also don't rate Gasley, but I think neither is miles behind Perez and we've seen thst Gasley has great potential and probably lots more potential tial than Perez has. But perez is a pretty safe pair of hands for right now. I wonder if RB will keep an option on Albon or of they'll just cut him loose.

^ Have you tried the official Mercedes F1 shop?