Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM.....

[Saint-loup]

The Sakhir GP is now over, the winner is an outsider  

Winner : Sergio Perez 1:31:15.114
Racing Point
   
2. Esteban Ocon +10.518
Renault
      
3. Lance Stroll +11.869
Racing Point

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[dre1982]

The one who had this podium roch is a rich men.

Mercedes screwed up big today. That costs Russell the win for sure.

[LTU_btc]

Wow, what a race. So pitty for Russel, he was so close to win, but Mercedes messed up in worst possible way. Double pit stop wasn't good idea, even if everything would have worked as Mercedes planned, because Bottas would waste too much time behind Russel in pits. At least he got first career points, but obviously he expected for much more.
First career win for Perez, he should be thankful for Mercedes today. But Checo did amazing job today - he was last after accident in first lap.
Another terrible race for Bottas, he had no chances against Russel and lost many positions after safety car. He should be happy that he have contract for next year.
Also, first career podium for Ocon.

[boltz]

We can all agree that the real winner today is Russel. Bottas is not a Mercedes driver and he should consider himself to re-invent or something because his future in F1 is no longer stable at all. I mean all the finns had the same bad luck like him ...Hakinnen in McLaren , Kimi in McLaren and now Bottas... . The only difference is that Hakkinen and Kimi somehow managed to win a title when Bottas can not shy in the best car on the grid.

Perez deserved to win since 2010 and should've had a lot of victories since now but finally he achieved it. Ocon? A driver of speculations who always pulls something out of nothing.

[Cnut237]

Perez deserved to win since 2010 and should've had a lot of victories since now but finally he achieved it.

I feel bad for Russell, but yes Perez deserved a victory at some point. Can't believe he is currently still without a drive for next season.

The one who had this podium roch is a rich men.

There were some huge odds on Russell winning this - obviously we didn't know at the time that he'd end up driving a Mercedes, but he was 3,000-1 for the win before Hamilton got sidelined. Crazy if you managed to put a bet on at those odds, and awful to then see him dominate the race and lose it in the way he did.

Bottas is not a Mercedes driver

Bottas had one job today: do better than Russell. He failed. It's not a great look for him at all, and should bring his future into question. One factor in his favour is that he is a good team player and willing to play second to Hamilton... and given how easily Mercedes win the constructors' title, they can afford a second driver who lets Hamilton perform at his best.

[Saint-loup]

Yes George Russel is the revelation of this race, he is the new F1 prodigy. He's going to have a big career, mark my words.

[coinlocket$]

Yes George Russel is the revelation of this race, he is the new F1 prodigy. He's going to have a big career, mark my words.

Well... maybe for the mass but for long F1 fans is not a revelation at all...

Mass doesn't know his past... he has been financially assisted by Mercedes since he was a boy.

He won F3 Mondial in his first year.
He won F2 Mondial in his first year.

He did 1 year in Williams and then he has been called (last year) from Toto Wolff to Mercedes to replace Bottas but Claire Williams said no because she needed him to sell the propriety...

If she said yes instead Russell this year was already an F1 driver in Mercedes over Bottas.

[marioantonini]

i can't believe what mercedes did today, without hamilton they are totally mad. It already made no sense to make that pit stop with the safety car, they could continue (and Hamilton certainly wouldn't have).
Bottas humiliated by Russel, mercedes should seriously think about not racing next year and taking Russel.

I hope the redbull also think about taking perez for next year, it would be a crime not to let him drive and keep albon

[coinlocket$]

i can't believe what mercedes did today, without hamilton they are totally mad. It already made no sense to make that pit stop with the safety car, they could continue (and Hamilton certainly wouldn't have).
Bottas humiliated by Russel, mercedes should seriously think about not racing next year and taking Russel.

I hope the redbull also think about taking perez for next year, it would be a crime not to let him drive and keep albon

As said in the post above you, they tried the last year but the owner of Williams said no. It's like a football player, if they have a contract they can't do whatever they want.
About Perez, I never liked him. My vision about him is a fast driver but without the quality in overtakes, I can be wrong for sure.

And I don't like this kind of driver.

Leclerc got 3 positions of penalty in the last GP so for sure he can't do the pole position, well... Oh, wait.

[Koal-84]

What the hell are going on with Mercedes at the pit stop? This confusion cost Russell the victory i think... But also Russell have the next race a chance to win i don't think Hamilton still driveing this years...

[swogerino]

What the hell are going on with Mercedes at the pit stop? This confusion cost Russell the victory i think... But also Russell have the next race a chance to win i don't think Hamilton still driveing this years...

I think the best answer to this is the official statement from Mercedes boss Toto Wolf.He said it was a colossal f*ck up tonight.He also said it was a fairy tale who didn’t work for Russell tonight but it will work out eventually and a new star is born.

[sempak]

What a disappointment for Verstappen. This will feel like a severe humiliation. Also typical and characteristic that he again found it necessary to blame LeClerc here.
It is typical that he always ends up in such situations.

[dre1982]

What a disappointment for Verstappen. This will feel like a severe humiliation. Also typical and characteristic that he again found it necessary to blame LeClerc here.
It is typical that he always ends up in such situations.

Well it was obvious Leclerc's fault. He also got a grid penalty for that.

Verstappen is this year less more aggresive in such situations but he just got the bad luck.

[Koal-84]

What the hell are going on with Mercedes at the pit stop? This confusion cost Russell the victory i think... But also Russell have the next race a chance to win i don't think Hamilton still driveing this years...

I think the best answer to this is the official statement from Mercedes boss Toto Wolf.He said it was a colossal f*ck up tonight.He also said it was a fairy tale who didn’t work for Russell tonight but it will work out eventually and a new star is born.

Yes, that's a truth answer Form him. Also Mercedes become for the pit stop fault a penalty about 20.000€, also the team and not the driver.

https://www.motorsport-total.com/formel-1/news/kommissare-gnaedig-20000-euro-strafe-fuer-mercedes-nach-boxenpanne-20120620

But for Bottas looks not good after the next years...

[tokeweed]

Yes George Russel is the revelation of this race, he is the new F1 prodigy. He's going to have a big career, mark my words.

Well... maybe for the mass but for long F1 fans is not a revelation at all...

Mass doesn't know his past... he has been financially assisted by Mercedes since he was a boy.

He won F3 Mondial in his first year.
He won F2 Mondial in his first year.

He did 1 year in Williams and then he has been called (last year) from Toto Wolff to Mercedes to replace Bottas but Claire Williams said no because she needed him to sell the propriety...

If she said yes instead Russell this year was already an F1 driver in Mercedes over Bottas.

What's his current contract situation with the Williams family out of that team?  I think Merc should get him asap while he's still a hot commodity.  It's gonna be good for the sport next season for sure.  Some Merc haters were rooting for him to win it.  

[jaberwock]

To anyone watching, we knew that Russel was the winner of this race, there were no racers that could have challenged him, and if there was just a single person that might have, they took him out on the first lap so there were no racers that could have won. He asserted his dominance very early in the race and only ended up not winning because his pit crew screwed up and team was basically not behind him at all.

Hamilton usually gets asked to box probably 10 times before he actually goes there, dude continued to race with nearly no tire at all once and still didn't box because it was going into last lap, and boxing before one lap made no sense. I think Russell will do better in near future, and if Mercedes actually acts smarts and pairs him and Hamilton soon without Bottas, we may actually have ourselves a great race between Hamilton versus Russel.

[coinlocket$]

What's his current contract situation with the Williams family out of that team?  I think Merc should get him asap while he's still a hot commodity.  It's gonna be good for the sport next season for sure.  Some Merc haters were rooting for him to win it.  

Don't know but they give Bottas one more year.

It's like on football if they want to fire Bottas (we can know if he has some clauses) they need to pay 1 year for salaries+taxes.

Not easy to do next year with Covid and Salary cap.

[Naida_BR]

I can't really understand why so many people are obsessed to see Russell in Mercedes now. No one can deny that Russell is a great driver with a lot of talented but what makes him better that Bottas?
Most of you forget that teams have 2 drivers - the one that tries to win the championship title and the second that helps him accomplish this goal. This is not going to happen if Mercedes has Hamilton and Russell because Russell is going to win due to his excitement.
Bottas is doing his job greatly on Mercedes -all those seasons - and the only way that Russell is going to have chances of joining Mercedes will be if Hamilton announces his retirement...

[coinlocket$]

Russell being good with Mercedes is a problem for Hamilton too.

Remember he has not renewed his contract yet and from rumors he wants around 40m/€.

Until now Mercedes was considering this option but now... Do they really want to pay 40m/year to Hamilton when they can pay 5m/€ to Russell?

Let's see how the situation evolves.

[Cnut237]

Most of you forget that teams have 2 drivers - the one that tries to win the championship title and the second that helps him accomplish this goal.

Yes, definitely. I'm always trying to make this point, too. The aim at Mercedes is to a) win the constructors' championship, and b) win the drivers' championship.
Compare Bottas with Rosberg. Rosberg was the faster driver, and more willing and able to fight with Hamilton. Bottas is the better team player.
Bottas is good enough, and the chances of him and Hamilton going wheel to wheel and both crashing out of a race is far far less than it was with Ham/Rosberg.
Bottas is the perfect teammate.
The only time this changes is if Merc dominance drops and they are in a genuine fight for the championship. If say Hamilton is still winning races, but Red Bull are coming 2nd and 3rd each time and threatening for the constructors' title, that's when it's time to consider replacing Bottas.

Bottas is doing his job greatly on Mercedes -all those seasons - and the only way that Russell is going to have chances of joining Mercedes will be if Hamilton announces his retirement...

Having said the above, we haven't considered other drivers' personalities. If Russell is faster than Bottas and crucially is also not going to be a Rosberg 2.0 and have conflict with Hamilton, then Russell replacing Bottas becomes a real option. Ultimately Mercedes will know Russell's personality and have a decent understanding of whether this is viable. But we need to remember that brute speed is not the only factor to consider. In a sport where there are two drivers per team, personality is key.

Edit to fix rogue apostrophe!