Grand Prix 2021 British Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Better late then never!

There is a Formula One Grand Prix this weekend. Now, let's take a step back and look at that sentence. We use some words without thinking about what they mean so why is it Formula One? My apologies if this seems a bit patronising but the Formula bit refers to the design specification for the car and engine around which the teams must design their car. It's One, because it is supposed to be the pinnacle of motor sport, the fastest, the toughest test of car and driver. And for this you win a grand prize, and although other races use the term Grand Prix, this is the only series which (I believe) is allowed to use the term.

So why am I going on about this? Well, this weekend the powers that run Formula One Grand Prix racing have given up trying to actually create a competitive race series and have decided that it is better that this series can be made more exciting by trying to get the drivers to crash in to one another in a "Sprint Race" on Saturday rather than than allowing the fastest car and driver combination to start from the front of the grid as has been the norm in virtually all forms of motor sport since people started racing cars.

I know motor racing is contrived and there is no such thing as "pure" motor sport, but there are a few norms which I believe should not be messed with, and the idea of a qualifying session which often pushes the driver to, and sometimes beyond, the limit is one. How that session works, what groups of cars go out when, whether drivers get one lap or one hundred I don't mind. I do object to trying to gerrymander the starting grid by running what I'm sure the power brokers in F1 hope will be a destruction derby to replace a qualifying session.

That's my two pence worth. I may be wrong, it may be a great success, it might be very exciting, I have no idea. I am really not that excited about the prospect of this experiment.

Anyway, here's the revised running order for this race:

Friday
14:30 to 15:30 F1 practice
18:00 to 19:00 Qualifying Session (for the sprint race)

Saturday
12:00 to 13:00 F1 Practice (yup, after the qualifying session)
16:30 to 17:00 Sprint "Qualifying"

Sunday
15:00 to 17:00 F1 race

So there you go. I shall rant about the 2022 car design elsewhere.

 

[Johnny Carwash]

Christian Horner suffering a bit of amnesia from earlier on in the year..

 

[F1Brits_90]

i havent finished the race. ive only just got to restart after the red flag but its so big. ive got to make exception

well the inevitable happened. we always knew they were going to crash into each other at some point. i dont want to blame anyone too much because 1st of all this rivalry is what we all waited for & tune into watch to see the future superstar take on 7x world champion.

i think both drivers have a bit of fault there. Hamilton was going to be a tough task with tightening of copse. but he had the inside & more than enough right to the corner. as he was alongside

Verstappen like i said with incidents in Austria when you choose to go around the outside that risk you take. for me verstappen expected hamilton to pull out like he has all season, like he did at brooklands & he was never going to back down in front of home crowd after disappointment of yesterday. he took the corner a bit too tight by a matter of inches. tiny margins are costly

for me it was 1 of those things. its the old adage of immovable object v unstoppable force. just like prost & senna. but as i said at that this is what we tune in for to see the rivals go at it wheel to wheel. but hopefully not wheel on wheel

 

[Brogan]

Verstappen was too hot headed and should have played the long game.

Hamilton had the run on him and he should have let him past, then Verstappen could have just breezed past on the straight using the superior speed the next lap.

 

[Splash]

It's a big blow psychologically for Verstappen.

Next time he and Hamilton are in a similar position, the red mist will descend and he is going to be over-aggressive. If he comes off worse then he will have no-one to blame but himself. If he takes out Hamilton then there will be accusations that it was deliberate.

He seems to have forgotten his previous history of causing numerous crashes.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Almost a carbon copy of Mansell's head down charge to the win in 87.

Feel a bit sorry for Charles but when Hamilton hit the sweet spot his pace was phenomenal compared to the Ferrari.

Had to chuckle when the Ferrari pit wall told Charlie he was good at 1.31.7's and Lewis then starts banging in 1.29s.

Apparently Ferrari didn't have anything in hand after all.

As for Max v Lewis into Copse. Something and nothing.

 

[cider_and_toast]

I'd rather listen to Freddie Kruger use his blade glove to play God Save the Queen on a blackboard than listen to the utter drivel spouted by Ted Kravitz

 

[olegg]

It was difficult to expect the heads of Red Bull be polite, if they did not differ in it before.
And the fact is that Hamilton did not make a steering wheel movement in the direction of Verstappen in the turn,
but Verstappen at the time of impact made a steering wheel movement in the direction of Hamilton

 

[F1Brits_90]

Verstappen was too hot headed and should have played the long game.

Hamilton had the run on him and he should have let him past, then Verstappen could have just breezed past on the straight using the superior speed the next lap.

agreed it reminded me of vettel in 2018 at times

sometimes you have to live to fight another day. it wasnt a 1 lap race, try to do something in other 51 laps if not. think of the championship & take your 27pt lead into hungary. guaranteed lead into the summer break. as i said, im glad they dont this is what we tune in for to see the rivals go at it wheel to wheel.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Karun Chandhok (I could listen to him all day, Sky please bin Ted Burbbleshitz and replace him with Karun) showed the battle in great detail on the Skypad.

He showed how the difference between Hamilton v Verstappen and Hamilton v LeClerc came down to the run into the corner not the actual corner itself.

Verstappen squeezing Hamilton before opening back out to take the racing line in to Copse compromised Hamilton's line in to the corner resulting in Hamilton understeering into the corner and missing the apex.

LeClerc stayed further to the left meaning Hamilton had a cleaner turn into the corner. LeClerc would have still come out ahead but dropped it on the exit.

 

[F1Brits_90]

i do feel i have to mention about ted, how the weekend always a bit disapointment with out his notebook, i have to mention this as the only member of ted kravitz fan club on here

 

[F1Brits_90]

looking at this picture im quite surprised, despite seeing it to death. how much verstappen was on the inside line. he was trying to take a normal line despite hamilton up side of him

 

[sobriety]

Hamilton has bailed out of contact with Verstappen twice this season already, I'm relieved to see that he's found his inner Senna. We might have a season on.

 

[racecub]

Just back from Silverstone. that was amazing. One of the best races I’ve seen LEWIS do. Was on the edge of my seat, literally, standing on it! Back row at village. It was breathtaking.
I thought the first lap contact was more Max’s fault but would have called it racing incident. That they punished Hamilton made the win sweeter.
Disappointed in Max’s comments, he’s a hard racer, he knows the score.He’s rattled.

Fantastic weekend. Hot weather, blindingly hot and incredible racing... which apparently the stewards don’t like.

 

[Brogan]

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff made reference after the race to the stewards' overtaking guidelines, which he said allowed Hamilton to make the move.

These are not distributed publicly, but they have been seen by BBC Sport. They contain images of two cars on entry to a corner, and illustrate when a driver trying to pass has the right to claim it.

They state that if the driver on the inside has "a significant overlap" then "the corner is yours provided you make the corner cleanly". In the image in this illustration, the overtaking car is not even as far alongside as Hamilton was as they turned into Copse on Sunday.

British Grand Prix: 'A seismic moment that will become a defining part of F1 history'

The British Grand Prix was a seismic moment in the 2021 title battle, featuring an incident that will become a defining part of the sport's history, writes Andrew Benson.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Johnny Carwash]

All I could think of when Christian Horner was ranting about Lewis Hamilton was this.

 

[Il_leone]

Lewis Hamilton receives online racist abuse after British GP win

Lewis Hamilton receives online racist abuse following dramatic British GP win on Sunday; Formula 1, the FIA and Mercedes condemn the abuse and call for action to be taken against those responsible; seven-time Formula 1 world champion is a high-profile voice in the fight against racism

www.skysports.com

Disappointed to hear this but inevitable...I am waiting for the Red Bull response to this especially Verstappen whether or not they are going to take advantage of it or not?

 

[Il_leone]

To sum up Red Bull and Verstappen

 

[F1Brits_90]

All I could think of when Christian Horner was ranting about Lewis Hamilton was this.
View attachment 14701

No, no... when you do that with drivers, like he said about Red Bull, & when you do things like that about a man like Max Verstappen, I've kept really quiet, but I'll tell you something, Lewis went down in my estimation when he did that,

We have not resorted to that, but I'll tell you, you can tell Toto now if you're watching it, we're still fighting for this title, and he's got to go to Hungary and get something, &... &... I'll tell you, honestly, I will love it if we beat them, love it!

 

[F1Brits_90]

Just back from Silverstone. that was amazing. One of the best races I’ve seen LEWIS do. Was on the edge of my seat, literally, standing on it! Back row at village. It was breathtaking.

i was very impressed i didnt think he could chase down leclerc & overtake in the 9 laps. that was a incredible final stint. i cant say as its before my mind but it felt very mansell like in 87

 

[FB]

This is what Sebastian Vettel was doing on Sunday evening after the race.