Bahrain Grand Prix (Outer Loop) | December 4-6, 2020

I’m 99% sure it’s going to be Stoffel Vandoorne. He’s wrapping up his final day of Formula E testing at Ricardo Tormo today before heading out to Bahrain. As for Hulk, that feels like nothing more than wishful thinking to me.

Besides Vandoorne, who serves as the test driver for Mercedes, Esteban Gutierrez is an option, though he lacks a superlicense—he mostly sticks to simulator work and promotional drives.

But check this out...▼

Back in 2016, Fernando Alonso got injured in Australia, and Vandoorne stepped in for him at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Then Lewis Hamilton caught COVID-19, and once again, Vandoorne was the one called up for Sakhir.

It seems Vandoorne just steps in whenever things go sideways for the big names.😁

Anyway, it honestly feels surreal that we won't see these two drivers competing in Sakhir.▼



Wishing them both a really speedy recovery.

For crying out loud, pass me a Budweiser!

mellowtiger83 said:You haven't noticed that George Russell would probably win easily even if he were wearing smaller shoes? He'd do it on his first outing in that car, and quite convincingly too—not that they'd let him lose in a Mercedes-Benz.

Forget Hamilton. Honestly, I've moved far beyond him.

Russell would absolutely crush him.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

He’s got a real shot at it—he just needs 8 more titles and 96 wins to get there... fingers crossed!

🤣

swifttiger75 said:I’m genuinely curious to see how this race plays out.

1. Walter is carrying way too much weight on his shoulders
2. George Russell has a massive opportunity here
3. Max Verstappen is just pure chaos
4. The rest of the grid? We already know how messy things get

Honestly... I’m expecting some Monza-style madness at the finish

1. Perez
2. Ricciardo
3. Gasly

🎉

Hey, someone drop a decent link before we start... if you please. 🍿

Not exactly surgical precision, but in the spirit of the race... yeah, probably. ☕

Just to add a little flavor to things... let's go with:

Esteban Gutierrez

darkmarlin16 said:For crying out loud, pass me a Budweiser!

I mean, seriously, why on earth would you watch a stream—completely ad-free—instead of those trashy TV shows? Like, what are you even thinking?

ruggedhawk20 said:Exactly. Russell was lapping Valtteri Bottas like he was driving a Marussia.

🤣🤣

James Harris34 said:Mercedes messed up because they went for a double stack and struggled to find their rhythm with a new driver on the roster. They made similar blunders back at the German Grand Prix in 2018, and we saw it pop up a few times this year too, especially during the races in Italy and Russia.
It's obvious that if George Russell were in this car, he’d probably take the win along with most of the rest of the grid. But you have to actually develop a car to this level through years of grueling work—it's always a mix of driver talent and team execution—and once you've done that, reaping the rewards becomes much easier.

Except, there aren't even many people left who actually built this Mercedes machine...
We're talking about Brawn, Rosberg, and Schumacher...

Lewis and Toto stepped into an already well-oiled machine with a pretty advanced car...
Sure, they pushed it one step further and kept it at that level for years, which creates this illusion of a "struggle"—if not against anyone else, then certainly against Bottas, who is clearly struggling hard...

Because let's be real, Russell isn't some alien living several levels above Hamilton. He didn't just jump into a car he can barely fit in and slap Bottas around without any prep...

God knows how good Lujo really is, but it's certain that Bottas is basically a walking coma.
In fact, Lewis could probably lap him by a full circuit every race, or two laps ahead of the competition if Toto actually let him...
But he never will, because Toto knows perfectly well that if they show that kind of dominance, the FIA will just rewrite the rules to nerf their wings...

If Hulk actually grabbed a podium at this stage of his career, it’d be just like Goran Ivanišević pulling off that miracle run at Wimbledon in 2001.

Classic move, keeping Vettel out in the pits way longer than necessary...

mellowtiger83 said:You haven't noticed that George Russell would probably win easily even if he were wearing smaller shoes? He'd do it on his first outing in that car, and quite convincingly too—not that they'd let him lose in a Mercedes-Benz.

Forget Hamilton. Honestly, I've moved far beyond him.

Russell would absolutely crush him.

Look, I don't want to go overboard here, but putting Hamilton in a car like that would honestly be on a whole different level. That said, Russell really proved just how dominant that machine actually is. He absolutely left Valtteri Bottas in the dust out there. Honestly, if Ferrari hadn't decided to completely mess up their driver's race with those pit stops at the Mecca, I'm pretty sure he would have cruised to a win.

I mean, I honestly think even the folks over at Ferrari were probably caught off guard by that one. It feels like they might have sent their congratulations afterward, but you could tell they were still a bit stunned by how everything played out. Maybe they just weren't expecting it, I guess. 😁.

Kenneth Cruz67 said:But where on earth were they? What was actually going on with them? Were they even the ones driving this thing? 😬

I guess by "good race," you just mean they didn't completely mess everything up, right? 🤔

They squeezed every bit of life out of that car, just like they have every single time over the last five years.

Based on what I've been seeing on Facebook and in the comments sections of various news sites, most people seem to be rooting for either Hulkenberg or George Russell.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Mercedes pulled a massive PR stunt like that.

I feel like Lando Norris just seems to be sliding backward with every passing season and every single race, so I guess they really ought to consider dropping him and bringing Sergio Pérez back into the seat instead.

Russell wouldn't have caught up to Perez even if he tried.

William Gomez5 said:Crofty says

- Russell will probably get the DQ because he used up one extra set of tires (mostly because they put him on Bottas's)

- Charles gets a Charles Three Place grid penalty for next week

So maybe there won't be any points for Russell? The guy is cursed—just the polar opposite of Hamilton.
Or maybe he slides by since they fixed the mistake during the same SC.

I'm hoping they swap out Hamster next time too; he earned it, driving like he was actually Hamilton behind the wheel.

I honestly doubt the rules even allow for Russell. If they do, though—well, that would certainly be something to watch.

Kenneth Cruz67 said:I feel like Lando Norris just seems to be sliding backward with every passing season and every single race, so I guess they really ought to consider dropping him and bringing Sergio Pérez back into the seat instead.

From season to season? Man, give me a break! This is only his second year in the seat and he’s actually driving way better than last time around. Plus, if you look at the stats, he’s outperforming his teammate in pretty much every major category.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but I’ve always found Sergio Perez to be a bit off-putting, maybe just because of that restless way he fidgets whenever he talks, so I guess I'm just incredibly relieved that we finally don't have to deal with that guy anymore👍

stormybadger8 said:Except, there aren't even many people left who actually built this Mercedes machine...
We're talking about Brawn, Rosberg, and Schumacher...

Lewis and Toto stepped into an already well-oiled machine with a pretty advanced car...
Sure, they pushed it one step further and kept it at that level for years, which creates this illusion of a "struggle"—if not against anyone else, then certainly against Bottas, who is clearly struggling hard...

Because let's be real, Russell isn't some alien living several levels above Hamilton. He didn't just jump into a car he can barely fit in and slap Bottas around without any prep...

God knows how good Lujo really is, but it's certain that Bottas is basically a walking coma.
In fact, Lewis could probably lap him by a full circuit every race, or two laps ahead of the competition if Toto actually let him...
But he never will, because Toto knows perfectly well that if they show that kind of dominance, the FIA will just rewrite the rules to nerf their wings...

is this ever going to end...