F1

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
Leclerc takes his second pole position in seven days for the Italian GP, Mercedes (Hamilton) 2nd and Botass 3 rd
 

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Ferrari quicker on the fast tracks so Lewis will have his hands full tomorrow. Vettel seems slower than Leclerc now as a matter of course. I wonder what the future holds for him?
 

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
Ferrari quicker on the fast tracks so Lewis will have his hands full tomorrow. Vettel seems slower than Leclerc now as a matter of course. I wonder what the future holds for him?
Pretty sure Lecerc will hold the No 1 seat at Ferrari now, Still fancy Hamilton to take the win in the Italian GP
 

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
As I thought, Ferrari had too much straight line speed for the Mercs. As the comms said when Lewis was battling for the lead, he had just enough oomph to stay in touch but not enough to get by. But even had he passed Leclerc he wouldn't have had enough speed to stay there as the Ferrari would have gobbled him up on the fast straights using DRS. Interesting race though and it seems as though Vettel's time at the top is coming to an end. Making far too many mistakes these days and just hasn't got the speed to keep up with Leclerc.
 

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
A win for Leclerc, but not without a little controversy, Leclerc's driving lead to him receiving a black & white flag for blocking Hamilton, a black & white flag is the equivilent to a yellow card. Belgium & Italy were the only two chances remaining for Ferrari to take max. points, From now on it will probably revert back to a Mercedes 1/2.
As for Vettel, pretty sure he'll lose his seat at the end of the season with Ferrari, Leclercs results just adding more pressure on him,he now has three to beat rather than the customary Mercedes pair.
 

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Verstappen with a good win today. Mercedes totally cocked up their strategy particularly with their choice of tyres and stops and, as one commentator said, almost pitted Hamilton off the podium. Had he not already been World Champion I guess Hamilton would have had plenty to say about it.
 

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Saw later that Hamilton was penalised for a collision and demoted off the podium anyway. Took full responsibility for the incident but probably wouldn't have got involved in a collision if he hadn't been trying so hard - a predicament he'd been placed in by the mistakes of his team. Mercedes often drop clangers with their strategy and other teams have closed the gap on performance, so much so that they might struggle to retain their crown next season. Could be good for the sport.
 

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
F1 kicks off again this weekend, with the possibility due to more development time of some teams finding that extra half second. Also the battle closing between Max V. and Hamilton, with Red Bull & Mercedes having to be at their best.
 

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
Looking forward to seeing the rest of the season. It's going to be brutal out there.
Yes, little to choose between the drivers, maybe the question is who has peeked the greater in their development, I think Mercedes has given it all they've got, whilst Red Bull keep finding that little bit more here and there. Strategy will also play a big part, as you say, I think its going to be interesting.
 

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
Max Verstappen Red Bull takes pole for the Belgian GP.in a very wet qualifying session.
George Russell ran him a very close time, missing out by just 0.321 seconds in his Williams,
For me that means the car rather than the driver gained pole, with Red Bull being quicker down that long straight easily having the upper hand on the Williams for those fractions of a second.
If it rains tomorrow it's going to be an interesting race, with car setup playing a crucial part.
Hamilton will have to up his game for this one, wet circuit racing never been his forte, If it's wet he may well sit back in the hope the front two may fake each other out. Don't think he'd want to be in the mix.
 

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
To be honest I've always thought, and read/heard, that Hamilton is one of the best wet track drivers around. Was out-gunned today though.
 

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
Todays F1 Belgian GP turned out to be a fiasco, IMO the obligatory 2 laps were run purely to qualify it as a race, therefor to avoid the repayment of fans entry fee.
Over the weekend, again IMO George Russell is the only driver worthy of the points, due to his remarkable qualifying position, he really has picked up Williams by the bootlaces.
 

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
Mercedes and Hamilton are going to have to run a near perfect series of races to recapture the lead in the driver's championship. Russell drove an excellent qualifier.
 

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
Mercedes and Hamilton are going to have to run a near perfect series of races to recapture the lead in the driver's championship. Russell drove an excellent qualifier.
Not sure Hamilton would welcome Russell as a team mate, the possibility of him stealing his thunder.
 

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
Max continues to stretch the lead in the standings. The ease with which the Red Bull car opens a lead in the early laps doesn’t auger well for Mercedes and Hamilton. Either Hamilton has lost his edge, or the Mercedes shop has / is producing and inferior car, or both … or Max and Red Bull have found an extra gear. But it’s not just Max, Perez is also able to work his car through the pack from deep starting positions. Today he started in the pit lane yet sill finished 8th, indicating that the Red Bull team with a Honda power plant is superior to Mercedes.

Bottas continues to be anemic and twists in the breeze awaiting his fate for next season.
 
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