Apologies for the small delay in posting this ever so popular thread but we here at Good things / Bad things central have taken days to count the number of fan letters we've received in support of this regular thread. The answer, is none but we waited patiently for any to come hence the delay.
As ever, we'll look at the good things and bad things we take away from this race weekend.
Good Things:
Sebastian Vettel - Well, well, well, as the man said looking at three water holes in the ground, who would have throught that the first name on our list of good things would be Seb Vettel but there we are. Without a doubt, it was his best race for some time. pushed hard, pulled off a few good overtakes, managed his tyres and landed a well deserved 2nd place. Who knows if this was a one off or if this shows that Vettel has now got to grips with his car and will push on with further strong finishes? It was good to watch though.
Sergio Perez - Hats off to Sergio. His saturday could have been better but he fought his way through and ran well in second and was ready to step up the minute his team mate's tyre blew. This is what RBR have lacked in a championship push for the last couple of years. A number two good enough to bring home some decent points when things don't go so well for their number one. No one seriously thinks Sergio will be a world champion but right now RBR are looking much stronger when it comes to wrestling that Constructors Championship away from Mercedes. They need Sergio to keep doing this and, with Max coming down to the podium at the end of the race, it seems like there's a decent dynamic in the team which can only help unlike.......
Bad Things:
Valtteri Bottas - Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. After 6 races in 2020 Bottas sat 3rd in the championship with 2 poles, 1 win and was just six points behind Verstappen. He was over 40 points ahead of LeClerc in 4th. Flash forward a year and after 6 races he's currently 6th in the Championship, over 20 points from third and now over 60 points behind Verstappen. He's fallen behind Lando Norris and Charles LeClerc. This weekend he wasn't even at the races. Mercedes need him to step up quickly or they are looking at an RBR Championship.
Mercedes - It would be easy to single out Lewis Hamilton's rush of blood at the restart however, his team had a poor weekend all round and he got swept up in the mix. Placing the car on the front row was a great achievement but that was pretty much it. RBR were simply the better of the two teams this weekend and I would imagine that Merc will be going back to base and will be having a serious look at their operations. The cracks are all there to be seen. In France they need to display their bouncebackability otherwise the cracks, and the gap to Red Bull will grow ever wider.
Now over to you guys.... thoughts?
As ever, we'll look at the good things and bad things we take away from this race weekend.
Good Things:
Sebastian Vettel - Well, well, well, as the man said looking at three water holes in the ground, who would have throught that the first name on our list of good things would be Seb Vettel but there we are. Without a doubt, it was his best race for some time. pushed hard, pulled off a few good overtakes, managed his tyres and landed a well deserved 2nd place. Who knows if this was a one off or if this shows that Vettel has now got to grips with his car and will push on with further strong finishes? It was good to watch though.
Sergio Perez - Hats off to Sergio. His saturday could have been better but he fought his way through and ran well in second and was ready to step up the minute his team mate's tyre blew. This is what RBR have lacked in a championship push for the last couple of years. A number two good enough to bring home some decent points when things don't go so well for their number one. No one seriously thinks Sergio will be a world champion but right now RBR are looking much stronger when it comes to wrestling that Constructors Championship away from Mercedes. They need Sergio to keep doing this and, with Max coming down to the podium at the end of the race, it seems like there's a decent dynamic in the team which can only help unlike.......
Bad Things:
Valtteri Bottas - Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. After 6 races in 2020 Bottas sat 3rd in the championship with 2 poles, 1 win and was just six points behind Verstappen. He was over 40 points ahead of LeClerc in 4th. Flash forward a year and after 6 races he's currently 6th in the Championship, over 20 points from third and now over 60 points behind Verstappen. He's fallen behind Lando Norris and Charles LeClerc. This weekend he wasn't even at the races. Mercedes need him to step up quickly or they are looking at an RBR Championship.
Mercedes - It would be easy to single out Lewis Hamilton's rush of blood at the restart however, his team had a poor weekend all round and he got swept up in the mix. Placing the car on the front row was a great achievement but that was pretty much it. RBR were simply the better of the two teams this weekend and I would imagine that Merc will be going back to base and will be having a serious look at their operations. The cracks are all there to be seen. In France they need to display their bouncebackability otherwise the cracks, and the gap to Red Bull will grow ever wider.
Now over to you guys.... thoughts?
