F1 2021 Round 14: Monza

It’s not possible to steer when your in the air! At the point that pic was taken I think his front wheels were already airbourne…. He could have spun the wheel in loop de loops it wouldn’t make a lick of difference.

Shame Rosberg wasn’t with Sky this weekend.

Put it this way, and this is just how I see it! Take your pic and roll it back a few frames… where is max to go? Go right and he’s into Lewis, go left and he’s into the same sausages he hits anyway and still gets launched…. My view is it was a reaching incident and a 3 place penalty says to me that the FIA need to be seen to do something! RB we’re going to be doing the engine change in Sochi anyway so the pen doesn’t really have an impact and everyone walks away happy.

Some people think Verstappen should have pressed the invisibility button so Hamilton could drive through him happily.

Yeah I think Ted said something along those lines earlier today, was asking why couldn’t they have been normal kerb’s! (Or is it curb?!? We’ll never know)

They put in the sausage kerb because the normal kerbs were being completely ignored and having no effect.

Both Red Bull drivers were too stubborn for their own good when it came to chicanes this weekend. I think they will still be happy enough though having increased the gap in the drivers championship at a track where Mercedes should have been stronger.

Bottas will help will win Mercedes win the constructors the way things are going. It would not surprise me if he actually won the next race in Russia.

Another points finish for Williams and Russell too. Hardly got a mention. Good to see the team improving this year.

Well you said that that onboard would be the key reason for the stewards to give the penalty. He was still coming out of T1 at that stage. A couple of frames later he had left lock on, as I showed in my stills. Here's the clip.

Delighted for the Honey badger to finally get another win, hopefully many more to come.

For Bottas credit where it's due he drove brilliantly all weekend. Like a man fighting to keep his drive, only problem is it came the weekend after he lost his drive so it must be bitter sweet.

As for the crash I'm all for Max winning this year but cant see how people think Hamilton is at fault.

It looked like a racing incident and thankfully Hamilton came away uninjured but ultimately it was Max bouncing off the kerb that caused the collision that took them both out of the race so a penalty is justified.

What a race. Delighted for both Mclaren and Daniel Riciarrdo. No one could have seen that coming. As for Hamilton and Max I would say it was a racing incident but thankfully no one hurt and Max still in the lead of the championship. Still hoping he wins the WDC this year.

Valltari Bottas drove good too. Hope he can keep that form up and carry it on into next year.

Costly day and a bad weekend for Alpha Tauri.

Could I ask, what happened with the ATs?

Lewis cut him off immediately when he exited the pit so max couldn’t move right! At no point in the move could he move right! That ended with him hitting a sausage and bouncing into Lewis! I’m not blaming Lewis for it but Max could literally not do anything to avoid it

It takes a really twisted and partisan worldview to think people who want to see fair racing are toxic.

He turned McLaren around. Ousted Eric boullier, replaced him with Andreas Seidl. Returned to Mercedes engine, got sponsorship onboard.... If you need an example how leadership can turn a failing team around, it's him.

As they've been the two incidents that have been pivotal and ultimately may be what decide the championship, it's worth taking an objective and fact based view of the Silverstone and Monza crashes, removing the specifics of who the drivers involved were.

On a superficial level there are some similarities, with the driver in second has been on the inside and the two cars have collided, and in both cases the car in second was deemed at fault by stewards. But that's where the similarities end if you start looking at it objectively.

Was the second car alongside?

Silverstone: No, he only managed to clip the car ahead with his front wheel against the other car's rear

Monza: Yes, it was contact between rear wheel and rear wheel

Did the lead driver leave room?

Silverstone: Yes, the lead car left about 2-3 car widths to the apex, ensuring the second car had tons of room if he drove cleanly and stayed on the racing line

Monza: No, the lead car turned in on top of the second car, leaving less than a car's width between himself and the sausage kerbs, basically guaranteeing a crash

Would the second driver have made the corner without crashing if the lead driver wasn't there?

Silverstone: The telemetry suggests no, the second car carried far more apex speed than any other lap and would not have made the corner if the lead car wasn't there to crash into

Monza: Yes, the second car slowed down appropriately and would have made the corner had the lead car not turned into them

Was it a genuine overtaking chance?

Silverstone: No. While it is possible, albeit very rare, to overtake into copse, it only works if you're already substantially alongside before the turn. Sticking a single wheel in mid-corner has zero chance of working unless the other driver goes off circuit

Monza: Yes, that chicane is one of the main overtaking spots on the circuit, and the second driver had a particularly strong chance given that he was carrying more momentum and had warmed up tyres, versus his opponent who had just come out of the pits

Was it dangerous?

Silverstone: Extremely. It's one of the highest speed corners on the calendar and putting a wheel in there pretty much guarantees the other driver is taking a trip to the hospital.

Monza: Low speed rubber on rubber contact is normally innocuous, though by a complete fluke the cars ended up in a configuration that could have been dangerous without the halo

What did the "perpetrator" gain?

Silverstone: A net 32 points in the race, as the sprint showed he wasn't going to be able to overtake after the first lap. Additionally the destruction of the opponents car guarantees a future engine change penalty, probably leading to another 10-20 net points, and the millions in damage means the opposition car has less budget cap room for developments, which is hard to quantify but it ultimately means the opposition has a slower car with fewer developments for the rest of the year.

Monza: Pretty much nothing. He had been comfortably ahead before a botched pitstop and with warmed up tyres would have had more opportunities to get back ahead later in the lap. The two of them were almost certainly finishing 3rd and 4th, which is a 3 point difference, but it's unclear in what order.

What did the penalty cost?

Silverstone: Nothing. A 10 second penalty with only the Ferraris left for competition was always a guaranteed victory.

Monza: Time will tell. Given that the driver has won every race he hasn't been taken out of since May, it's reasonable to assume he would have won in Sochi. With the grid penalty on a track where overtaking is very difficult, a win is almost out of the question. We're probably looking at a most likely net loss of 14 points if he gets up to 2nd, though with engine penalties etc who knows.