Emilia Romagna Grand Prix (Indianapolis) | April 16-18, 2021

It seems a bit harsh on Lando Norris; if things had gone differently, Max Verstappen would have likely just finished fourth. Regardless, Lewis Hamilton is expected to take that spot routinely tomorrow. The Japanese driver once again demonstrated top-tier driving skills, while Nikita Mazepin, at least unlike him, didn't wreck his car, which is a win in itself.

Moving over to Aston Martin might actually end up being a career blessing for Sergio Perez 😁

Just a casual stroll for Sebastian Vettel 😬

Yeah, and Esteban Ocon. ☕

Alright, alright, smart guys. 😳 On average, how much time does a driver actually need to adjust when they switch teams? 😳

bluepuma9 said:Stroll slapping Sebastian Vettel 😬

Today everyone just decided to slap the refs and that useless Mass, who’s probably out there practicing his discipline by clearing laps with a machine gun right now...

As for Aston Martin and Sebastian Vettel, I'm happy enough. Qualifying wasn't exactly stellar...
but they look noticeably better and closer to the pack than they did in Bahrain.
If Vettel actually gets a decent start like last race, we might be looking at a really solid beginning.
😁

If it rains tomorrow, please don't tell me Max might overcook it. He gets so aggressive when he wants something that he might make a silly mistake, just like what happened in Turkey last year.
For Red Bull, the priority is getting a clean start. If Max manages to jump ahead slightly, there’s really no need to take unnecessary risks and hunt down Sergio Perez, unless his launch is so good that he's already ahead before they even hit the first turn.
I have nothing against Max, but it’s been quite a while since he’s actually gone wheel-to-wheel with his teammate right from the start of a race.

graniteharbor502 said:Rain is expected tomorrow 🙂

And yet, as usual, it won't rain. I fully expect we will see more dark clouds on the screen tomorrow than we will see from someone like Antonio Giovinazzi. 😁

By that logic, one can only assume the Red Bull retaining wall will step up to do its job and take out Lewis Hamilton tomorrow. At this point, I could probably double his lap time, provided he doesn't somehow drop three or four seconds after just a few laps.

Drew Bennett68 said:Everyone else seems to have leveled up—except for Lujo.

I guess everyone will evolve eventually—well, maybe except for a few certain forum members...

Tomorrow I'll be tuning in—mostly just to witness the Red Bull civil war... Full support for Sergio Perez!!!

Drew Bennett68 said:Everyone else actually evolved—unlike Lujo.

Everyone... except Lujo is the one writing history (and still doing it)... the rest will be forgotten before we know it. 😍

Red Bull really should have two drivers at the front to actually challenge Mercedes strategically. Considering Valtteri Bottas just finished eighth while they grabbed second and third (on different tire compounds), they could realistically take down Lewis easily tomorrow. The issue is that Sergio Perez tends to get caught up in his own thing; he isn't exactly the ultimate team player, and he likely still harbors those world championship ambitions he was talking about back in 2013 when he joined McLaren—though we all remember how intense his battles with Jenson Button were that season. All in all, I’m genuinely curious to see if that showdown between them actually happens tomorrow.

I've been checking the forecasts, and it looks like we're in for some pretty calm weather tomorrow. At worst, we might just see some clouds rolling in.

Raymond Anderson4 said:Checking the forecast—looks like we're looking at smooth sailing tomorrow, or at most, just some clouds.

Man, if they could just standardize the strategies, we might actually get an interesting, tight race. I’m genuinely curious to see how Lujo, Max Verstappen, and Valtteri Bottas handle starting out on mediums. 😈

https://www.formula1.com/en/video/20...a_Romagna.html

Regarding this:
Red Bull Racing is significantly faster through high-speed corners, and maybe even a bit quicker in the mediums.
In the slow corners, they're pretty much on par with Mercedes.
As for traction out of those slower turns, Red Bull seems to have the edge in some, while Mercedes holds its own in others. It's hard to say for sure.
During those stretches hitting 280 or 290+ km/h, Mercedes shows better acceleration at those speeds, leaving Red Bull trailing behind.

The areas where Red Bull Racing really pulls ahead are those high-speed corners, which is definitely where they're making their margin right now. However, Red Bull needs to start pulling away more decisively. They're already neck-and-neck with Mercedes in certain segments, and considering we're only at the second race of the season, that’s not a great sign for Red Bull.

So... what’s the consensus among our resident forum experts regarding Sebastian Vettel? Is Ferrari pulling some kind of remote sabotage on the Aston Martin car number 5? And is Carlos Sainz actually outperforming Charles Leclerc? (Right now, there's currently a large gap in pace between Charles Leclerc / Carlos Sainz in qualifying)👍

copperdrifter26 said:I find myself wondering... what do our resident forum experts have to say regarding Sebastian Vettel? Is it possible that Ferrari is remotely sabotaging the Aston Martin car number 5? Or perhaps Carlos Sainz is somehow undermining Charles Leclerc? (There is currently a large gap in pace between Charles Leclerc / Carlos Sainz during qualifying)👍

You haven't even seen two full races of the season completed, yet you are already jumping to wild conspiracy theories about tampering with equipment. If we are talking about true underperformance, there are drivers far less efficient than Carlos Sainz who fell even further behind their teammates during this qualifying session.

copperdrifter26 said:So... what's the verdict from the armchair experts regarding Sebastian Vettel? Is Ferrari remotely sabotaging the Aston Martin car number 5? Is Carlos Sainz just hunting down Charles? (Currently a large gap in pace between Charles Leclerc / Carlos Sainz)👍

They're saying Mass and his crew absolutely butchered qualifying by playing games with track limits...
They screwed over a huge chunk of the drivers by canceling lap times. It totally kills their rhythm because once that happens, the driver has to go out and pull an ultra-conservative second lap just to have any kind of decent time at all.

It’s pure stupidity squared—letting Luja and the gang clearly use the run-off areas for over 50% of the race in Bahrain to gain an advantage, and then suddenly enforcing strict rules at the next race where anyone who goes off loses time anyway or ends up in the gravel or a wall. They're just enforcing "strictness" now to justify their existence and hide the fact they looked like total idiots last race. 🙄

No matter how you look at it, we're finally seeing just how much Charles is lacking...
He never used to pull this kind of amateurish stuff. He had his moments of being questionable, sure, but nothing even close to this level...

Sector 1 23.762

Sector 1 23.798

Max Verstappen claims he lost his pole position advantage in the first sector, but looking at the data, his first sector in the second lap was actually a bit slower than the first. It’s funny to me because he didn't even mention the final sector, where he actually lost significantly more time compared to his first lap.
Honestly, I think Max Verstappen was just feeling a bit envious and was desperately trying to claw back that lead.

Sergio Perez put in a phenomenal lap; he absolutely crushed the first sector.

Anyone got any good recommendations for a stream?

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