Things ... Good things / Bad things 2021 Azerbaijhan GP

cider_and_toast

Exulted Lord High Moderator of the Apex
Staff Member
Valued Member
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?
 
Good

Gasly on podium the car is good enough for him to show Red Bull they were wrong to drop him

Perez a win for a Red Bull No 2

Vettel

Bad

Pirelli blow outs

Norris penalty

Mercedes - where did it go wrong

Bottas - does he know that he is already out.. his driving seems to show he is mentally gone

Ferrari - a missed opportunity for a podium
 
Last edited:
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.
always makes me chuckle this paragraph every weekend LOL
 
Good - Hamilton competed for a potential win on a bad weekend for Mercedes and on what is considered by Mark Hughes to be one of their strongest weekend for RB so far.
 
From Bad to Sad.: Bottas, bad tyres, and Hamilton’s finger problem.
Good : The last two laps , the Perez win,
 
Good
Vettel, i said on race day that he been on downward spiral ever since that day. fell apart in 2018, outclassed by leclerc in 2019 bar turkey invisible in 2020. then underwhelming 1st 4 races. 2 13th's & 2 15th's. but monaco was fantastic & today he was brilliant preserved the tyres couldve gone much longer & then some brilliant overtakes. you wonder know is he back

Alonso impressive in finishing 6th it was under the radar, he struggled in the race but very opportunist in that mad final couple of laps

Perez i was 1 of biggest supporters, that was i would say a faultless drive something red bull have looked for since riccardio. it was faultless, always shadowing verstappen. outstanding 1st lap to jump from 7th to 4th, got past leclerc when needed to & then put the laps in to jump Hamilton. then held him off. very impressive

Bad
Pirelli in 2013 when they were having these problems yes it annoying but also sympathy because they were new & cant possibly be up to bridgestone levels straight away. but now how on earth do we still have tyre failures 8 years later & 11 years in we still cant race in heavy rain without cars aquaplaning. i would be seriously be chatting to another manufacturer like a michelin

Bottas well there is not much to be said that hasnt already been said. it well known on here that i wouldve dumped him in 2018 for a hulkenburg/riccardio then, i thought it was unacceptable in a car that hamilton won 11 races in that bottas came 5th the only driver of the big 6 to not win a race. today he was just nowhere & again in wheel to wheel combat he cant overtake. he always goes backwards.
 
Back
Top Bottom