Belgium News Race (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) Aug 27-29, 2021

wiredseal7 said:Some "mastermind" cost Sergio Perez his spot in Q3:
"Unfortunately, on my last lap, I was blocked by Lewis Hamilton on my timed lap and that meant I had to start the lap within a second of him. As a result, i lost too much time"

After Max Verstappen went off track during Practice 2 yesterday, Facebook was already flooded with jokes about how Christian Horner and Helmut Marko will probably try to blame Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes for that too. 😁

I honestly couldn't wrap my head around Vettel back during his Red Bull Racing days, but nowadays, he’s become one of my absolute favorite drivers. He’s just such a grounded individual with an incredible depth of knowledge, both on the track and off.
Once he finally hangs up his helmet, I can't imagine anyone being a better successor to Warwick :-)

graniteharbor502 said:Perez just had the bad luck of coming in a second and a half behind Hamilton on that final lap. It's not like Hamilton was blocking him.

Yeah, it was legit—his official Facebook page. My internet has been acting up, so I'm only just finding the quote now:
We had the pace to fight for a much better result. We chose the wrong strategy. At first I thought that Hamilton had blocked me, but it wasn’t that way, he had every right to do it. We were wrong, but we will be back tomorrow

vividwalker13 said:I honestly couldn't wrap my head around Vettel back during his Red Bull Racing days, but now? He’s become one of my absolute favorites. The guy is just incredibly grounded, and his technical knowledge—both on the track and off—is massive.
When he finally hangs up the helmet, I can't imagine anyone being a better successor to Warwick :-) sam here.

I'm right there with you.

The guy is genuinely sincere and actually funny, which is a rare combination to find these days.

wiredseal7 said:Russell might grab pole in that dumpster fire, but Max nailed that lap perfectly...

Williams was anything but a dumpster fire yesterday...
Actually, the car looked solid, clearly on a full wet setup, which Nicholas Latifi proved... plus, the Williams strategists were brilliant compared to the rest of the grid. 🙏
They were so "brilliant" that Russell ended up being the only one on fresh intermediates while everyone else was stuck.
Seriously, their timing was spot on, it was insane, while the rest of the teams were just totally lost...

No clue if they actually realized how clueless the Ferrari fans were. 🤣
Those Ferrari fans told Leclerc to pit just because he made it to Q3. 🤣
The guy could have easily squeezed out another lap before those guys behind him wiped him out.
Strategists are top-tier, clearly. 🙏

Raymond Anderson4 said:Congrats Russell. Killer lap.
Kudos to Ricciardo too, even if he's nowhere near the front.
Max had a solid run, but if it starts raining, someone’s going to snatch him out in Turn 1. To make it through that first corner unscathed, he's gonna need a perfect start. Honestly, I don't even trust Russell; he's always riding that thin line between a brilliant drive and a total wreck or a stupid mistake.

Russell put in a great lap, but Ricciardo really dropped the ball.
Based on what we saw, McLaren had a car capable of a 1-2 in qualifying. They would've cruised to pole without a doubt if Lando hadn't crashed.

stormybadger8 said:I don't know if you guys caught how much Ferrari messed up 🤣
Those Ferrari fans told Leclerc to pit just because he made it into Q3. 🤣 I mean, the guy could've easily squeezed out one more lap, and then those guys behind him would've just wiped him out.
Total geniuses, those tacticians.
🙏

They did that on purpose, I bet. They’re expecting total chaos at Turn 1, so they figure it's better to just hang back until things settle down. 😛

vividwalker13 said:I honestly couldn't wrap my head around Vettel back in his Red Bull Racing days, but now? He’s easily one of my favorites—just a guy who knows his stuff, both on the track and off.
When he finally hangs up the helmet, I can't imagine anyone better suited to step into Warwick :-) sam here's shoes.

It’s like someone read my mind. I want him to have some kind of role in Formula 1 even after he stops driving.

Seb puts it perfectly: it was time for the red flag. Then you have Lando Norris noting the widespread aquaplaning during the formation lap, and just seconds later, chaos unfolds at Eau Rouge.

Gentlemen, take Sebastian Vettel's advice next time—and perhaps more often.

I’m expecting a wild race. I just hope there aren't any messy incidents this time and we get a clean start.

After all, how is Mercedes-Benz supposed to defend themselves once the accusations start flying from Red Bull?

The qualifying driver was clearly Sebastian Vettel; it wasn't Russell or Max Verstappen. Vettel owns those qualifying sessions. Besides, Russell has a car setup specifically for rain, so I wasn't particularly surprised by his performance.

Regarding Norris's comment—if you actually realize what the track conditions are like, why on earth are you driving flat out through Eau Rouge? He got lucky; things could have ended much worse.

Eau Rouge

swiftmaker12, if you're reading this, give me some inside info on how the track conditions are looking. 🙂

Raymond Anderson4 said:swiftmaker12, if you're reading this, give me some inside info on the track conditions. 🙂

I'm just getting ready to head out of the Media room and onto the track—trying to snag a decent spot at turn one so I can catch all the action during the start.

This damn rain hasn't let up since 7 AM...
the forecast is calling for an 80-90% chance of rain all day until 11 PM... haven't checked past that.

Will we actually get a clean start this time, or are we looking at a repeat of that mess at the beginning of Q3?

Bradley King said:Let’s not be naive here. When it comes to pure driving skill and talent, Vettel is maybe just slightly above average, and that’s about it. Back in his Red Bull days, you couldn't even imagine him acting like this because he was chasing expensive titles and cared way too much about public opinion. Now that he’s mostly watching championships on TV, he’s decided to fix his PR and try to win over the crowds. All the rainbow colors, buying random junk... it's just a show for the masses (the naive ones) trying to follow in the footsteps of influencers who actually know something about racing.

The truth is, during his era at Ferrari, there were two seasons where the car was actually good enough to win a title, and he completely blew both of them with rookie mistakes. As for Ferrari, the team was basically mourning the fact that they had Vettel instead of Alonso in the cockpit during those years. A lot of people were saying, "Damn, when we had Alonso, we didn't have the car—now that we have the car, we don't have Alonso."

Regarding those Red Bull championship years, the common consensus in the paddock is that Adrian Newey built such an incredible car for Red Bull that you could have put anyone in the seat and they would have been champion. They didn't just have a car in the garage; they had a freaking rocket ship.

Exactly, spot on.

James Harris34 said:Exactly. Spot on.

Are you seriously talking down to the hardworking citizens? 🙂

vividlynx68 said:Are we looking at a normal start, or is it going to be more of that mess we saw at the beginning of Q3 yesterday?

If there's a real risk of aquaplaning or heavy rain, they'll probably just line them up under the Safety Car until enough water gets cleared off the track.

Bradley King said:Are you making fun of honest people? 🙂

No, I'm actually with you on this one. It’s pretty funny how this "worst F1 driver" claims the Williams Racing car was amazing yesterday and suggests Russell’s result wasn't due to his skill. Yet, he'll never admit that back during Monza 2008, the AlphaTauri was one of the fastest cars on track, or that Sébastien Bourdais actually clocked the third-fastest lap of the day.

If Russell were actually driving for Mercedes-Benz and pulling off championships, we would have known about it way before the season even kicked off. What a joke of a driver 🙏

James Harris34 said:Nah, I’m with you. It’s funny how this "worst NFL player" claims Williams was actually a beast yesterday and suggests Russell didn't deserve that result. Yet, he’ll never admit that back during Monza 2008, Torro Rosso was easily one of the fastest cars out there—not to mention Bourdais putting down the third-fastest lap of the day.

Doctors always say it's impossible to be objective when you're head over heels for someone... 😁

Look, Russell pulled off whatever he did yesterday. I have no clue how he managed it, but he did, and honestly, hats off to him.

I’m definitely pulling for a start from the SC position—probably the first time I've actually felt that way in my life. I really don't want to see half the grid scattered into the gravel after the very first turn. Instead, let's just get a real, gritty, high-stakes race in the rain—plenty of action, minimal red flags, and hopefully as few SC periods as possible.