2021 Bahrain Grand Prix Race Thread

Check out this onboard footage from the Red Bull Racing car. He lost traction and had to make a pretty significant correction, which is exactly why he drifted wide at Turn 4. If he hadn't dealt with that, he would have nailed the corner and likely pulled off a move on Lewis Hamilton right then and there.

Jason Campbell70 said:Just like what happened in Turkey last year.
Same players, same outcome.
A smarter driver in a slower car > a less intelligent driver in a faster car.

Here’s another one who seems to be struggling with basic concepts.
🙄 😁

Maybe stop with the grandstanding and the misuse of terms that clearly confuse you. It honestly has nothing to do with intelligence; Max was strictly undone by his own emotions here. He just let his head get too hot and couldn't control his own adrenaline.

That's really the whole story.

We're expecting him to be a bit more composed at Indianapolis 🍿

It was already a total blowout

Did he overtake him by being too fast and forcing his way off the track? Come on, think about it—if you consider that okay, what does that say about the future of overtaking in Formula 1? Everyone would just charge ahead and dive off the track at higher speeds to clear an opponent. It doesn't work that way. You have to stay within the track limits. I honestly don't get why that's such a hard concept to grasp.

Richard Walker38 said:I don't particularly care for him because he plays it too safe off-track, but honestly, my respect for him shot up after that race.

I can't remember the last time I saw someone in Formula 1 actually beaming—just grinning from ear to ear—simply because they got to have a real scrap out there on the asphalt. He’s a genuine athlete and a racer through and through.

Exactly. He spends all his time complaining about how things aren't going his way—mostly just grumbling because he hasn't beaten a real contender lately. But the guy is a driver; he grew up doing this, and it's clearly just in his DNA. And that look on his face when he flew past that General Motors V10 last year? That was the reaction of a true motorsports fanatic.

When is the next race 🎉

P. S. It's wonderful to quote all this stuff 🎉

shadowmarlin22 said:Exactly. He spends the whole time complaining about how things aren't going his way, mostly because he’s bitter about not facing any real competition. I mean, the guy is a legitimate racer.

I guess everyone just wants what they can't have. It's nothing impressive; it's just basic human nature, really.😁

When you spend most of your career locked inside an absolutely superior car, of course it starts feeling incredibly boring.

Geez, I don't get why you guys are so impressed.

😁

cosmicridge5 said:Everyone wants what they can't have—it’s just basic human nature, nothing impressive about it.😁

When you spend most of your career locked in an uber-superior car, of course things start feeling incredibly boring.

Geez, I don't get what you guys are even marveling at.

😁

Most wins. Most pole positions. Most titles (sharing them with Schumacher, if we're being technical). Plus, he's a driver without any of the ego seen in Schumacher, Senna, or those other legends—just a ridiculously clean driver.

Enough said for anyone with half a brain.☕

cosmicridge5 said:When you spend most of your career

🤦

Honestly, this subforum is pretty much devoid of sane people. It’s just a constant stream of fanboys and haters talking total nonsense.

Btw, word is Alonso's withdrawal was actually triggered by some mechanic's sandwich wrapper 🤣. Absolutely bizarre.

Richard Walker38 said:🤦

There aren't many sane people left on this subforum, I guess.

I suppose we can all agree on that.😍😁

shadowmarlin22 said:Plus, he’s a driver who lacks the dirty tricks of Schumacher, Senna, or any of those other legends—he's actually insanely clean.

Except for when he runs wide for 29 laps just to keep his lead over the guy behind him.🤣

Raymond Anderson4 said:I don't trust H&M. Helmut always has excuses ready for missed opportunities.

Onboard footage showed him switching the engine to mode 10 during those first 10 laps. We can't say for sure if it made a massive difference, but it doesn't seem crazy that cutting power could help with the issues he mentioned—like if the rear tires were spinning too much.

When I said "normal people," I meant folks who actually look at things realistically. Most of the posts here are just straight-up teenage-level whining. Look, I don't even like Hamilton for other reasons, but claiming he spent the MAJORITY of his career in the best car is pure idiocy. He’s had a 14-year career, and only in the last two seasons was he truly dominant to the point where he could basically stroll through most of the year. Back in his early days at McLaren, sure, the car was good, but it wasn't untouchable—he was out there fighting hard with Alonso and Kimi. After that, McLaren just turned into a total wreck. During his first three years at Mercedes-Benz, the team was still building up, and he was constantly battling Rosberg. Once Rosberg left in 2017, he finished 40 points ahead of Vettel, mostly because Vettel had two DNFs in the second half of the season. Honestly, Vettel shot himself in the foot during that season and the one after, essentially handing the title over to Hamilton.

Yeah, 2019 and 2020 were boring because he had zero competition, but saying he had a superior car for the VAST majority of his career is just plain stupid.

analogpilot16 said:Yeah, he overtook him by being too fast and having to go off track. Just think about it—if you think that’s okay, what happens to future overtakes in Formula 1? Everyone would just charge at someone and then dive off the track at higher speeds to pass them. It doesn't work like that. You have to stay within the track limits. I don't get why that's so hard to grasp...

Well, then Hamilton should've been penalized for going off track 29 times to gain that 6-second advantage. If we're being fair...

Richard Walker38 said:I had honestly assumed I was dealing with people who write with a sense of reality and can look at situations objectively. Instead, most of these posts feel like they were written by teenagers. While I don't particularly care for Hamilton for various other reasons, claiming that he spent the MAJORITY of his career in the best car is sheer idiocy. We are talking about a fourteen-year career, and during the last two seasons, he was dominant in the sense that he essentially strolled through most of the season. Before that, during his early years at McLaren, the car was good, certainly, but it wasn't superior; he was actively battling Alonso and Kimi. Later on, the McLaren car just became an absolute wreck. During those first three years at Mercedes-Benz, the team was still building up, and he was constantly fighting Rosberg. After Rosberg left in 2017, he finished forty points ahead of Vettel, mostly because Vettel suffered two retirements in the second half of the season—and frankly, in that season and the one following, Vettel basically shot himself in the foot several times and handed the title over to Hamilton.

While 2019 and 2020 were true periods of boredom where he lacked any real competition, to suggest that he possessed a superior car for the bulk of his entire career is nothing short of foolishness.

Can you name even one other driver in the history of Formula 1 who sat in a car that won seven consecutive Constructor's Championships over a seven-year span?

Richard Walker38 said:I thought I was dealing with people who actually write realistically and look at things objectively... instead, most of these posts are just straight-up teenage levels of nonsense. Look, I don't like Hamilton for other reasons, but claiming he spent the MAJORITY of his career in the best car is just pure idiocy. We're talking about a 14-year career—for the last two seasons, sure, he basically strolled through because the car was so dominant. But before that? Back in those early McLaren years, the car was good, but definitely not superior—he was actively fighting Alonso and Kimi. Then McLaren eventually turned into a total wreck. During his first three years at Mercedes-Benz, the team was still building up, and he was constantly battling Rosberg. After Rosberg left, he had a 40-point lead over Vettel in 2017 only because Vettel had two DNFs in the second half of the season—plus, in that season and the one after, Vettel basically shot himself in the foot a few times and handed the title to Hamilton.

Sure, 2019 and 2020 were a bore because there was zero competition, but saying he had a superior car for the MAJORITY of his career is just idiotic.

Hamilton debuted in 2007

From 2007 to 2013—that's 7 years where he didn't have a dominant car.

From 2014 (since the start of the hybrid era) to 2020, he sat in a dominant car. That's also 7 years.

And now, in those 7 years, he took 6 titles with a dominant car. Everyone just fixates on that and nothing else...

Over the last two seasons, that car has been absolutely dominant, even if it did show some weak spots here and there. It wasn't even close to this level of dominance in previous years. Plus, they’ve got a solid second driver who consistently grabs points, which really helps them pull ahead in the Constructors' Championship.

Richard Walker38 said:Over the last two seasons, that car has been dominant, even if it did show some weaknesses here and there. In previous years, it wasn't nearly as overwhelming, largely because they benefit from having such a strong second driver who consistently delivers solid results, helping them rack up those points for the Constructors' Championship.

Good grief... 🙂
Are you suggesting that 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 were somehow mediocre years for Mercedes-Benz?
I mean, Toto certainly complained about how close Alfa Romeo came to catching them... I suppose there's a logic to it... 🙂

Richard Walker38 said:Sure, 2019 and 2020 were a breeze, he had zero competition, but claiming he had a superior car for MOST of his career is pure idiocy.

If Hamilton didn't have the best cars looking at his whole career, then who did?😍

Look, maybe he didn't have an absolute monster of a car for all 14 seasons, but he definitely had a top-tier machine every single year that was capable of hitting the podium, at the very least...
And for the vast majority of those 14 seasons, he had a car built to win titles.
Given his insane marketing pull and raw talent, it would be pretty stupid if he wasn't in those seats...

Technically, the only real outliers were 2009 and 2013 when he actually lacked a title contender, but even then, it's a stretch...
In every other season, with slightly better driving, smarter pit wall calls, and mechanics who weren't constantly breaking stuff—basically, fewer bizarre failures—he could’ve grabbed more titles...

As for the hybrid era years? It's almost laughable to even bring up, because we're talking about the most dominant outfit in history.
There isn't even another team you can compare them to.
It was quite literally the perfect marriage of driver, chassis, engine, and crew. 🙏

Honestly, I don't know what's more delusional in this fanboy nonsense. 🤣
Punching out nonsense like saying Germany hasn't been dominant in this hybrid era... 😍
Or rambling on about how anyone in that German car would've been winning titles left and right...
Hard to say which is more brainless...

Just look at this race as an example...
Okay, he didn't stroll to victory, and he didn't even have the fastest car.
But still, Germany was dominant compared to Red Bull Racing.
They absolutely crushed them tactically and intellectually, regardless of the fact that Red Bull Racing had a slightly faster car.
The team won that race, primarily the crew, and then Hamilton...
And they did it against Red Bull Racing, who have lightning-fast mechanics in the pits and are tactical heavyweights themselves, unlike those amateurs in red...

So how many overtakes did Perez actually pull off?
And more importantly, did anyone even manage to get past him?

Tsunoda passed Vettel three whole times 😁

But hey, they only seemed to have something to say when he went past Alons, apparently he's the only one who knows who he's actually outperforming.

Kid's gonna be a total star, just watch.🙂

analogpilot16 said:Yeah, he overtook him by being too fast and having to go off-track. Just think about it—if you consider this okay, what would future overtakes in Formula 1 even look like? Everyone would just charge ahead and dive off the track at higher speeds to pass their rival. It can't work like that. You have to stay within the track limits. I don't get why that's such a hard concept to grasp.

It's just because he has to eat his own words—hard to admit things sometimes...