[Official] Italian Grand Prix 2021: Grand Prix Weekend Thread

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by E.B

This qualifying malarkey now setting the grid for a Sprint race for me makes it quite an anti-climatic session. Its just seems superfluous to me. Its just not right. I dont really know why I stayed up to 3:30am to watch it tbh. I wont next time. Ill just skip it and get some sleep. I cant believe I am the only one who thinks that way....

You aren't the only one who thinks this way.
Id agree with you and I did no stay up to watch it in the early hours of Saturday morning. Nor will I get up to watch the qualifying race.
as far as the points are concerned Id prefer the winner of qualifying got 1 point or 3, 2, 1, points if you award the points for qualifying, and the qualifying race winner gets 1 point.

Do I think the whole thing is a joke?
Yes.

[tux]

Gonna be so farcical later on when Bottas has to let Hamilton win for the championship points, infact its really, really awful that Bottas was the fastest in the "qualifying" session but it means nothing because whatever happens this afternoon hes starting last.

[Greem]

Nasty frontal crash for Sainz in FP2. Ferrari tell Masi that he's been checked but will be checked again in an hour.

His head went a long way forward

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by tux

Gonna be so farcical later on when Bottas has to let Hamilton win for the championship points, infact its really, really awful that Bottas was the fastest in the "qualifying" session but it means nothing because whatever happens this afternoon hes starting last.

Yeah, the rulemakers didn’t think of this when they came up with sprint racing. This is the 2nd biggest farce this season, after the Spa non race

[Greem]

The only reason they "came up" with the sprint format was because of the constant moaning from a loud sector of the fanbase that they were leaving F1 because it was boring, because "the young" want shorter races due to their alleged short attention span, etc etc. and sponsors/advertisers wanted their newer eyeballs on the content.

In large part they are the very same people now whinging that it's rubbish. That's farcical in itself.

You can please some of the people some of the time...

(Note: the biggest farce in all of this is the money)

[chillibowl]

agreed Greem.

just saw the Sainz crash.

he seems to be taking a beating these days.

when these are the risks, then not sure how any of this can be a farce.

[bjohnsonsmith]

A terrible start for Hamilton. Gasly goes off at Curva Grande and it's an FCY.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Back to green flag and a good restart from Bottas.

[marcel82]

Did Brundle just say they don't brake into Para-Alboreto?

seems brave.

[Adam43]

I didn’t catch that, but they do brake into there.

Well that worked out well for Max.

[bjohnsonsmith]

So Max gets pole and is now 5 points clear of Hamilton. Great to see Danny Ric on the front row.


I just wonder if this was the right time for Bottas to take the grid penalty? Lewis has his work cut out for tomorrow.

[Beau2]

Well Mercedes/Hamilton just completely messed up any car advantage they had.

[Anyopenroad]

Originally Posted by Beau2

Well Mercedes/Hamilton just completely messed up any car advantage they had.

Both Hamilton and Mercedes are making too many mistakes to be considered serious contenders right now. It’s a genuinely tight and competitive title race and those are usually won by whoever messes up the least. That is by far Verstapoen and Red Bull at the moment. It’s actually making it easier for me to accept that my preferred driver and team are not going to win. They don’t deserve to.

[BTCC frog]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

I just wonder if this was the right time for Bottas to take the grid penalty? Lewis has his work cut out for tomorrow.

Totally agree with this. It seemed like a bad decision even before he took pole. Bottas usually finishes third in the races, but it seemed like at Monza he would be able to take second and take points away from Verstappen. It is also a difficult track to pass on, so it is not as though he will have a better chance than normal of fighting back. Perhaps they had no option but to do it now, but that seems unlikely to me.

[BTCC frog]

Originally Posted by Anyopenroad

Both Hamilton and Mercedes are making too many mistakes to be considered serious contenders right now. It’s a genuinely tight and competitive title race and those are usually won by whoever messes up the least. That is by far Verstapoen and Red Bull at the moment. It’s actually making it easier for me to accept that my preferred driver and team are not going to win. They don’t deserve to.

Definitely agree with this as well. Red Bull have generally had the faster car, Verstappen has been by far the better driver, and Mercedes have made more mistakes than Red Bull. It is mainly down to good luck that Hamilton is so close to Verstappen in the championship, and it is Max and Red Bull who deserve it most.

[marcel82]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

So Max gets pole and is now 5 points clear of Hamilton. Great to see Danny Ric on the front row.


I just wonder if this was the right time for Bottas to take the grid penalty? Lewis has his work cut out for tomorrow.

they had planned on him taking away points from Verstappen in sprint qualifying, and not being in the way of Hamilton in the race.

that plan didn't age well.

[Adam43]

They had to do it at some point. Never going to be ideal. The decision was probably sound, but it didn’t work out.

[gert]

Originally Posted by marcel82

they had planned on him taking away points from Verstappen in sprint qualifying, and not being in the way of Hamilton in the race.

that plan didn't age well.

It worked wonders.

He prevented Verstappen from taking 3 points and they made sure he won't be anywhere near Hamilton.

So, what exactly went wrong?

[gert]

Usually when Bottas makes a start like that and is left with a car that seems to really hate being in dirty air, we are reminded how rubbish he really is.
(Not only here, but also on Channel 4's coverage)


I am still waiting to find out how rubbish his teammate was today.

[gert]

That sprint "race" really sucked. Apart from the first 3 turns, nothing happened.
I seem to have missed the "plenty of action" that Ross Brawn saw.
Maybe Channel 4 just forgot to boadcast that and they just focussed on the boring parts instead?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by gert

That sprint "race" reallty sucked. Apart from the first 3 turns, nothing happened.
I seem to have missed the "plenty of action" that Ross Brawn saw.
Maybe Channel 4 just forgot to boadcast that and they just focussed on the boring parts?

I watched it live and I was hoping something was going happen but it never did, apart from the FCY.

[bathurst77]

I enjoyed it
As far aas im concerned the more racing i ssee on a weekend the happier i am
As they said, otherwise it would have just been an hours fp3.


All those who said i would be a farce coz bottas will just let lewis win... well that didnt happen. Danny ric on front row
George fiinally outqualified by latifi


all in all there was enough of interest

[S griffin]

Bottas drives his heart out to start at the back, although he at least he gets 3 points for his efforts. Max is looking good, but great to see the McLarens up there. The Honey Badger is back to his best which is great to see. I've always said form is temporary, class is permanent. Lewis is really looking on the back foot atm.

What about Giovinazzi, great effort to get into the top 10. As for Gasly, what a difference 12 months makes!

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

I watched it live and I was hoping something was going happen but it never did, apart from the FCY.

Silverstone sprint was OK but now the engineers have analysed it , realised what to do , all fundamentally do the same and hey presto dullness in the way of F1. Only rain seems to liven things up on a regular basis - presumably because the Engineers don’t have days to think about it!

[chillibowl]

I thought there was enough variation in tire choice yesterday to hopefully effect todays race.

We will see though.