In the round-up: Ferrari team principal said the team has the best line-up in F1 following the arrival of Carlos Sainz Jnr alongside Charles Leclerc this year.
In brief
Binotto “very happy” with Ferrari’s latest line-up
Speaking after Ferrari moved up to third place in the constructors championship last weekend, Binotto said he was “very happy” with the team’s new pairing for this year.“I’m very happy for many reasons,” he said. “The first I think we’ve got the best line-up of the entire pit lane. The second because we know Charles is a fantastic driver, very talented, but is still continuously improving and I’m pretty happy with that. He’s got great opportunities as well for a win season. The first was in Monaco but for the reasons we know it didn’t happen.
“And on the other side I think that Carlos is integrating very well. He is improving race by race, he is a great benchmark for Charles as well, pushing him as well when conditions are more difficult.”
Speaking on Sunday before Sebastian Vettel’s disqualification was announced – which moved Sainz onto 83 points – Binotto said he was satisfied with the job his drivers have done in maximising their points haul.
“I think that 80 points each is showing how important it is to have two good drivers scoring points for the constructors. I’m very happy with that and looking really forward because I’m pretty sure that those two guys will give us great satisfaction.”
Spa bars non-European spectators
Fans from outside Europe who bought tickets to the Belgian Grand Prix face disappointment as they will not be allowed to attend the race due to new Covid-19 restrictions.
Ticketholders were contacted recently to be advised of the new arrangements.
“The Belgian government has authorised the holding of the Belgian Grand Prix 2021 with the possibility of hosting up to 75,000 spectators per day,” said the promoters in a statement. “However, hosting spectators within the circuit grounds will be conditional on the presentation of a ‘Covid Safe Ticket’ upon arrival on the site.
“If you are coming from outside the EU, Switzerland, or UK, you will not be allowed to access the Formula 1 Rolex Belgian Grand Prix 2021.”
Those attending will be required to provide proof of their Covid test and/or vaccination status. Full details for racegoers are available on the Belgian Grand Prix website.
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Ciao @ValeYellow46, it’s been wonderful watching you perform on race tracks around the world for all these years and it was also fantastic to share days like this together. Thanks for all the great moments you have given us and best of luck for whatever you do next! #GrazieVale pic.twitter.com/HEI53ZYwRv
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) August 5, 2021
In F1 perception is reality so it is a surprise that a team that represents a car manufacturer thinks it’s a good idea to test a driver as unpromising as Mahaveer Raghunathan. Perhaps it balances the books, but from a perception point of view, it’s a plane crash.
— Joe Saward (@joesaward) August 5, 2021
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Set-ups at new tracks are more science than guesswork in 2021 (IndyCar)
"'Hugely important,' said first-year IndyCar driver Romain Grosjean of the HPD simulator. 'It’s helped me learn the tracks, set up the car and understand what it takes to go fast, and to get there quickly.'"
Piastri assisted Alpine to F1 victory (Auto Action)
"Not so much me, but some of the other parts of my group are crediting me with some of the victory, I’ll take it of course, a tiny part was me, if anything."
‘I like to take a step back’ – Sargeant set to shut off from racing over the summer break (source)
"We missed all of free practice with a mechanical issue, so to go into qualifying and get a top eight result was pretty impressive, both by myself and the team. I was pretty proud of that."
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Comment of the day
Would reinstating gravel traps at Spa’s Raidillon corner be a change for the better?
For safety reasons, decades ago the gravel traps were removed in this corner. Before their removal these gravel traps launched cars into the air and the barriers, see Villeneuve’s crash as an example.
Now these gravel traps will return – simply for monetary reasons. Spa wants to host motorcycle races and these need gravel traps. And yes, many fans and even drivers want gravel traps back too – to punish drivers for making a mistake.
These are not the changes Ilott called for, but these are the changes we are getting.
@Uzsjgb
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pastaman (@)
6th August 2021, 0:07
At the beginning of the season I said Norris/Riccardo was the best pairing, now I agree with Binotto.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
6th August 2021, 0:41
Norris/Riccardo were the best line up on paper for this season. Factually, however, it’s arguably between Leclerc/Sainz and Alonso/Ocon. Ferrari and Alpine both have the driver pairings with clearly the smallest points difference in the WDC between them for any of the teams with more than 10 points in the WCC.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
6th August 2021, 1:13
Leclerc could have earned an extra 40 to 50 points though.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
6th August 2021, 2:12
Yes, in Monaco our petite mustache threw it away and in Hungary became a bowling piece according to his own words.
Balue (@balue)
6th August 2021, 7:13
@peartree That’s right plus Sainz got lucky with his 3rd place points haul in Hungary starting from 15th from where one normally don’t even get a point for example. The gap is in reality not far off Norris-Ricciardo when adjusted, and Norris is really knocking it in a difficult car, probably better than Leclerc atm. But to be fair, Bottas has also had some bad luck like Monaco for example, and Hamilton good like Imola and even Silverstone so the gap there is not as wide as it might seem. Difficult to say, but of the no. 2 drivers, I think I would still hire Ricciardo. He doesn’t do silly things and knows how to clinch it when opportunity arises.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
6th August 2021, 10:11
Many also say Sainz got lucky in Imola as he did nearly spin and actually went of track twice there. Was helped somewhat by the chaos in the race to recover to 5th. Then there was Spain where he finished out of the points and Baku where he locked up. And While I think Leclerc has overall been better than Sainz, both have made quite a few errors this season. I find it pretty hard to decide which team has had the best performing drivers over the whole season. I certainly wouldn’t say Sainz or Leclerc have been consistent. But that said, I can’t easily think of a team that clearly has done better.
TFLB (@tflb)
6th August 2021, 12:01
@balue the gap is nothing like Norris/Ricciardo, come on. Sainz has made some errors, so has Leclerc, but bar a consistent Sainz weakness at the final push in qualifying, they’ve been pretty even.
Ricciardo, on the other hand, has rarely been anywhere near Norris, either in qualifying or race pace. Plus he’s had some crashes and errors.
On the whole this year has been a difficult one for drivers who moved teams – on that basis I’d say Sainz is doing very well.
Balue (@balue)
6th August 2021, 14:21
@tflb The gap between Norris and Ricciardo is 63, and Leclerc would not be far off that without the bad luck for him and good luck for Sainz. Factor in that the McLaren is very difficult to drive and their previous history, and I still think Ricciardo is a better driver than Sainz. When was the last time you saw Ricciardo crash out of Q2 for example? Would you seriously have Sainz over Ricciardo in your team?
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
6th August 2021, 14:57
@thegianthogweed
They were really consistent only in alternating good or even brilliant performances (Leclerc’s case) with notable mistakes, some of them very costly. It left the impression of a smoothy sailing campaign on some (for Binotto its a given) but looking into that more accurately it didn’t happen quite like that.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
6th August 2021, 15:08
@balue
Azerbaijan quali and that’s it. It proves that Ricciardo is more realiable than Sainz, in fact. But the worrisome thing about Ricciardo lately has been the gap in qualifying that he has been enduring behind Norris. Sometimes way bigger than how much Sainz is trailing Leclerc. That’s one of the reasons of him having scored less points than Sainz, he was far behind more often to make it up in the race. Said that, a well ajusted Ricciardo is probably preferred to Sainz.
TFLB (@tflb)
6th August 2021, 17:40
@balue The last time Ricciardo crashed in Q2? A few races ago in Baku… And I’m not talking about points gaps, points can lie. I’m talking about speed gaps. Sainz is almost as quick as Leclerc in qualifying (but more inconsistent) and as quick or quicker in races. Ricciardo is half a second or more down on Norris most weekends.
Yes, I would take Sainz over Ricciardo any day – would have before this season as well. Also, I’m not sure exactly how you think Leclerc should be 60 points ahead… perhaps he should have had some more in Hungary, but I can’t think of another occasion this year where he’s lost out due to misfortune. (Monaco was totally his own fault)
Balue (@balue)
6th August 2021, 20:55
@rodewulf @tflb Baku indeed. Forgot about that. I stand corrected.
@tflb
It was just bad luck about the other driveshaft, and if it was anybody’s fault, it was the team’s for not changing both driveshafts as a precautionary measure.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
6th August 2021, 21:58
@balue
Except for the crash that settled pole for him, which ultimately put him in that situation in first place knowing that he drives for the formely giant messed-up Scuderia, yeah it wasn’t his fault. But at least he could say “Grazzie ragazzi” with his team later watching Sainz over there in second place for the podium ceremony.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
6th August 2021, 22:09
@tflb
I doubt so. Crashes aside Leclerc has outqualified Sainz 8-3 this season. He doesn’t take half a second or many tenths from Leclerc as often as Ricciardo is trailing Norris but he still has been a weak qualifier overall. Both Sainz and Ricciardo partially make it up for the race but they’re still behind their teammates in performance, despite Ricciardo being even more behind, sadly.
TFLB (@tflb)
6th August 2021, 23:31
@rodewulf That is what I meant by more inconsistent… Sainz doesn’t often put his best lap together when it matters in Q3, but fundamentally the pace is there, often to be seen in Q2 or practice- he just can’t deliver it as often as he should when it matters.
He’s looked stronger than Leclerc on long runs and tyre management this year, in my view.
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
6th August 2021, 9:22
@rodewulf not only on paper, Norris is arguably exceeding expectation and filling his part, but Ric sub par might indeed compensate for that.
/sarcasm font
Now that we know Alpine has a race winning car, it shows Occon and Alonso are not exploiting it to its full potential
/font off
Sarcasm aside, I think it’s a difficult pair to rank and they are flattered by having a decent car, which is not quite at the top of the midfield (for what we know). It’s easier for them to improve from their starting position and coming through a tight field than for McLaren and Ferrari that have sparse field around or are defending more often than not the leading midfield position.
Bottas and Perez haven’t shown enough to defend Merc and RedBull claim for best line up.
Can’t really decide between McLaren and Ferrari as they have different balance but if I had to pick I would go for Ferrari for the reason that given the right circumstance either of their driver can capitalize on the opportunity while McLaren is racing with one proper stallion only. Can change for the second half of the season.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
10th August 2021, 6:17
@jeanrien
At the same time they can be swallowed up by the tight midfield more easily and end up in some lowly position from 13th to 17th even with relatively small mistakes or some sub par performances. It hardly can happen to McLaren or Ferrari drivers as they’re usually with a significant buffer zone ahead in the upper midfield. And still, sometimes they can even challenge Mercs and RBRs despite those two teams’ dominance this season, as we had a McLaren or Ferrari driver beating at least two of the top cars in six races already, so more often than not one of them could go for big points, at least 3rd place usually. I think it more than levels out the difference on position mobility between McLaren/Ferrari and Alpine/AlphaTauri/Aston Martin through the midfield.
Todfod (@todfod)
6th August 2021, 9:17
@pastaman
Agree. I thought Norris and Ricciardo would be the best lineup on the grid as well.. but Dan seems to have dropped the ball this season.
Id say right now the strongest line up is Leclerc – Sainz followed by Max – Perez, then Lewis – Bottas, and a tie between the Alpine and Mclaren drivers.
Next year though.. I reckon a Hamilton – Russell line up will be the strongest pairing on the grid.
jff
6th August 2021, 10:54
We don’t know who will be driving next to Verstappen though.
Sundays Russels hasn’t really shone yet.
On current (Sunday) performance a Verstappen-Gasly pairing I rate higher than HAM-RUS.
TFLB (@tflb)
6th August 2021, 12:02
Unpopular opinion perhaps, but I think Gasly has underperformed badly on Sundays this year. That car is properly quick, as his qualifying results show.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
6th August 2021, 15:16
@tflb Strategy mistakes aside, he has been solid but not overall spectacular on Sundays. Gasly has been nominated one of the Star Performers in this site despite not deserving too much more than one time already.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
6th August 2021, 15:44
@todfod
For Red Bull and especially Mercedes to be there you must be considering the strongest line-ups in scoring points if anyhting but not in performance relative to their machinery. Hamilton has been going from brilliant to erratic or even disheartened when a truly bad situation appears in front of him (like Leclerc but without the last part) and Bottas is in free fall, not much more than barely competitive. That doesn’t look like a strong line-up to me at all, and Red Bull’s isn’t so much ahead either mostly because of the current fragile form of Perez.
Considering that no line-up this season ever looked close to perfection, we have two of them that despite both drivers making noticeable mistakes on a regular basis (Ferrari) or having had some underwhelming stints along the way (Alpine), I think they’ve made more overall with what they have. Leclerc is making a more solid season than Hamilton when adjusted to machinery and Sainz is certainly doing better than Bottas, whilst Alonso is enjoying a brand new peak form (in some aspects even further improved in comparision to Alonso of old) and Ocon is clearly showing he can take a high profile fight as well. More consistent performances from the Alpine pairing together (what we just really saw in the British and Hungarian GPs) and they can emerge as the outright best performing duo of the current field.
carbon_fibre (@carbon_fibre)
6th August 2021, 0:23
Binotto is 100% correct. Perez and Ricciardo have been underwhelming and Bottas is possibly having his worst year. The Ferrari duo is number 1. With Ocon back in form, Alpine could have the second best pair.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
6th August 2021, 14:48
If that was bottas’ worst year I’d hire him if I were the red bull management, he’s miles better than perez on average, he only lacks those flashes of brilliance like baku, but on balance I’d take bottas.
Balue (@balue)
13th August 2021, 15:07
@esploratore1 Yes Bottas would be a scoop for Red Bull, which is why – according to rumour – Wolff is trying to get him installed at Alfa Romeo. And Bottas being Bottas, will dutifully go there without taking Marko’s calls.
JohnH (@johnrkh)
6th August 2021, 0:59
At the end of the last season I said Ricciardo/Norris. But now as a team pairing for consistency Ferrari are ahead of McLaren and RB.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
6th August 2021, 1:12
Cars could skip or “launch” on radillion’s gravel, the current solution does exactly the same though, especially with lmp cars, it is a radillion thing
where it matters gravel is always better than tarmac.
If you run wide, or have a simple spin then tarmac is superior only because you were not crashing in the first place, you are just going off track. On tarmac you can brake effectively however any time a car has lost control, crashed or failed, tarmac won’t slow you down that much. gravel slows down regardless of the situation. The main benefit, imo is that gravel does not spit crashed cars out into the path of other cars, and the other cars won’t look at the runoff as an escape from crashed cars.
Balue (@balue)
6th August 2021, 7:20
@peartree Not sure gravel slows done more than tarmac, but good point about tarmac runoffs attracting more avoiding traffic. Although apart from Radillon, I can’t think where it come into play.
IMO, something that would help is that the wall is more absorbing and don’t spit cars out. Maybe a thinner tyre wall but a space behind it.
kuvemar
6th August 2021, 9:13
Eddie Irvine has been proposing gravel traps with a 5 % incline since the mid-90s but apparently nobody ever took his suggestions into consideration.
Jere (@jerejj)
6th August 2021, 9:29
@balue Tarmac indeed slows down cars more effectively than gravel. Almost twice better as per Charlie Whiting’s words in late-2017.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
6th August 2021, 23:39
@balue You are not sure? Of course tarmac is slows down more than gravel, that is why cars are always off track…to drive faster.
When it comes to play apart from radillion? Almost anywhere, some chicanes, especially on starts when cars take into the tarmac runoff trying to avoid contact.
I agree that tyre barriers are not the best, f1 have been skimping on tecpros, with tyres you either get a bounce or a car stuck underneath.
dot_com (@dot_com)
6th August 2021, 2:22
I’d have to agree with binotto. They do have the best line up at the moment – I would love to see them up there with the Merc/Red Bull fight.
drmouse (@drmouse)
6th August 2021, 10:26
For that, Ferrari need to provide them with a car capable of winning championships.
Sumedh
6th August 2021, 3:25
On current form, yes, Ferrari are right.
But it is only a matter of time before Ricciardo and Perez hit their stride and Mercedes replace Bottas with Russell.
Then it would easily be the that the top 4 teams have the top 4 driver pairings.
Alpine is a good pairing, but need some more consistency to call it a top pairing.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
6th August 2021, 4:04
Sumedh
Yeah, this season we had a significant unbalance in many of the driver pairings for the teams, some pretty shocking, notably Ricciardo v. Norris. The one whose relative performance went more smoothly was Ferrari’s indeed, despite the fact that Leclerc could have amassed a greater tally of points if not for some big opportunities squandered or taken away from him. As for the Alpine drivers, like I mentioned before, they’re poised to make more nice things together as it felt a great sync between them last race. Both Alonso and Ocon lacked consistency at some point of the season, but Fernando’s rupture between quali and race performances are truly well behind him now, he has been driving like old Fernando (despite feeling anew to some extent in his overall attitude as a driver) since plenty of GPs already and as for Esteban his struggles were more recent but he seems to have bounced back from it as well. For the time being, it’s arguable that Ferrari and Alpine have the best line-ups of the grid by some margin, as the rest seem to have a situation in which it’s clearly more skewed towards one of each pair of drivers, maybe with the exception of Alfa Romeo, for it isn’t quite clear who has been the best driver there.
jff
6th August 2021, 20:59
Then how much time do you suggest we give Perez?
The same as they gave Gasly?
It’s certainly not the lack of experience holding him back.
Broccoliface
6th August 2021, 3:38
Hang on, I thought we blamed the disappearance of a lot of gravel traps on the fact motorbike racing DIDNT like gravel (eg the outside of parabolica etc), now they’re the reason it’s coming back?
anon
6th August 2021, 20:55
Broccoliface, there is a caveat with the use of gravel traps at Spa for motorcycle racing – the maximum rating that the circuit would have in that configuration would be FIM’s Grade C status.
That means the circuit would only be licenced for the FIM World Endurance Motorcycle Championship, Moto3 and MotoE – it wouldn’t be allowed to hold an event for the higher powered categories (i.e. Superbikes and MotoGP).
Mayrton
6th August 2021, 7:39
Despite not being impressed with Sainz, he still is a relatively strong if not strongest nr 2 driver, so Binotti might be right. Charles is not top notch yet but has potential once he gets his temper under control when in the car. McLaren had the best line up on paper, but not materialising yet.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
6th August 2021, 14:58
I think leclerc is every bit as good as verstappen, just makes a bit more mistakes in virtue of being less experienced, should become like verstappen soon I think.
Mayrton
6th August 2021, 20:36
Yes, Prost starring Charles, Mansell starring George, Senna starring Max.
Broke1984 (@broke1984)
6th August 2021, 7:58
Binotto has a fair point although it’s not one I would have agreed with had he said it before the seasons start, Sainz I always feel has been underrated. Norris is driving well but Sainz had been the stronger driver, on a personal level as I favour McLaren over all the teams bar Williams I want Ricciardo to come good as I feel McLaren would be well ahead in the constructors of Sainz was still there. I notice people say some teams have the best line up “on paper”, in theory thats still Mercedes based on historic results with their current line up, that’s purely academic though as Bottas has clearly lost the plot this year.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
6th August 2021, 15:03
I disagree that on paper mercedes would have a better line up than red bull, I rated perez higher than bottas and verstappen has now taken hamilton’s place as best current driver, so would be surely red bull, but obviously perez has been underperforming even compared to bottas.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
6th August 2021, 16:04
@broke1984
Best line up on paper for what? Simply score points or do the most with the machinery they have? Clearly we’re here trying to discuss the second topic mentioned, not the first.
Broke1984 (@broke1984)
6th August 2021, 19:51
@esploratore1 @rodewulf
You misunderstand me my friends. When I say on paper I literally mean that, historical results, points, 1,2’s and championship standings. On a personal level I find other lineups more exciting though I truely believe people are too dismissive of Hamilton
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
6th August 2021, 20:46
@broke1984
Ah, then that’s all right. On paper we meant the expected performance they could bring for the team. The measure you were referring to I knew for as the best line up on standings/points or results, so only a clarification needed. :)
MacLeod (@macleod)
6th August 2021, 7:59
What is Joe talking about Did they (other people) not say that Mahaveer Raghunathan was a very good driver ala Lewis and Max?
Ju88sy (@)
6th August 2021, 12:34
@macleod Not if you take a look at his racing record, last major series was F2 in 2019 and that didn’t even reach the heady heights of mediocre!
MacLeod (@macleod)
6th August 2021, 12:41
Ah i already saw the second entry and now i remember him complety trash driver we don’t need those drivers! So it’s money which gave him that practice….
Gmacz
6th August 2021, 8:45
More ridiculous micro rules around the Spa GP. Who makes this nonsense up – so from UK or Switzerland you’re apparently dangerous but not just across the border.
Cr€p made up by civil service officials with no basis in facts or reasoning.
And when is the paddock going to get real and remove those ugly and pointless masks? They’re just extending the fear vibe.
The only studies that show any negligible benefit un wearing one are based on specific surgical masks worn during surgical procedures, these other useless rags are in fact dangerous to the wearer, full of bacteria and excess CO2.But don’t take my word for it, check with the WHO.
David (@nvherman)
6th August 2021, 9:39
@gmacz
That’s not what the rules state though: it says
So in other words, if you’re from the EU, Switzerland or UK, you are allowed to access. But not if you’re from anywhere else
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
6th August 2021, 10:21
Ah the ambiguity of English. It could be interpreted either way. In the context I think they’re excluding all three from attending.
jff
6th August 2021, 11:10
Good point, @tommy-c.
And furthermore the way we are probably expected to read it (“if you come from outside: the EU; Switzerland; or, the UK”) means everybody due to the ill-chosen word ‘or’ in there ;)
Of course reading it the other way (“if you come from: ‘outside the EU’; Switzerland; or, the UK” it would be a double-up for some as Switzerland and the UK are still/again ‘outside the EU’.
Multiplying two negatives makes a positive; not sure if that works the same with access approval :P
anonymouscoward (@anonymouscoward)
6th August 2021, 20:32
@tommy-c and others, The site goes on to explain that
Non-essential travels from the United Kingdom are authorized only for completely vaccinated people, and a PCR test is required on the first day upon arrival. PCR tests will be available around the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit (from Wednesday to Sunday), provided that registration has been made following a link that will be communicated on Spa Grand Prix website at a later date.
I’ve also been in comms with them to confirm and we’re allowed in (am from the UK)
drmouse (@drmouse)
6th August 2021, 10:37
The masks reduce the chances of transmission. This has been shown by several studies, and the FUD spread by many that masks are useless, or even dangerous, is unhelpful at best.
I doubt many teams would want to remove them yet, as they would lead to a greater chance of team members catching the virus and being unable to take part.
jff
6th August 2021, 11:20
Indeed, and furthermore Gmacz asked us to check the WHO.
WHO even explicitly debunked some of the nonsense he claims in their ‘Mythbusters’ page ;)
S
6th August 2021, 10:38
You got it.
William Stuart (@williamstuart)
6th August 2021, 10:59
Embarrassing comment all around.
ian dearing
6th August 2021, 8:49
If they did say he was up with Max and Lewis they must have been joking. He has had more penalty points than race points.
erikje
6th August 2021, 11:30
Then he was probably “up with Lewis” then.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
6th August 2021, 16:23
I think given the fact that there’s that much of people indulging Lewis constantly and so deeply, all that has been happening is partially forgivable and he’s actually not that much entitled and spoiled as the impression he left this season when taking it in perspective. About Max, when we ask his rival’s fans why they think he is actually the undeservedly entitled one (and anything we criticise about Lewis they immediately try to redirect to Max), we get no answer. It’s just unenlightened disgust for the “Mad Max”.
Dave
6th August 2021, 9:35
Valentino: A Legend.
racer69 (@matthewstephens)
6th August 2021, 9:43
I disagree, having the best number 2 doesn’t mean you automatically have the strongest duo. Sainz may be slightly better than Bottas, but Hamilton is further ahead of Leclerc. Equal cars for all and Mercedes would win both championships due to Hamilton.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
6th August 2021, 15:07
I don’t think so, verstappen is better than hamilton currently and leclerc would probably take less risks on a title contending car, I think he takes risks cause he knows it’s not a car that can challenge often.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
6th August 2021, 16:27
And Hamilton would be far behind this season given the mistakes from which he recoved for having a top car. Those costly mistakes that many of their fans never mention and make a ton of efforts to forget.
CashNotClass (@cashnotclass)
6th August 2021, 17:26
Hamilton isn’t ahead of Leclerc by much, if he is at all this year. While it’s true that Leclerc has given up a potential Monaco win, and arguably one in Silverstone as well, Hamilton also didn’t do much to defend his win in France and gave up a win in Azerbaijan. Neither has had a strong season, and both can do better based on their performance in previous seasons.
Binotto’s praise is understandable – he is after all the man who pushed for this combination within the team – but it’s not saying much when Bottas and Hamilton are both having an unimpressive season, Pérez is still way behind Verstappen, Ricciardo’s is continuing to struggle.
Arguably, the only pairing that is performing as expected is Alonso/Ocon. Ocon did have some lackluster races, but form after changing chassis has more or less proven that the issue that held him back for a few races was related to a fault in his car.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
6th August 2021, 20:34
@cashnotclass Not to take any credit from Ocon due the solution he found for his car after underperforming, probably the psychological part of himself after changing chassis had a huge role in his form recovery. I think that after extending the contract with Alpine and having two weekends a little off his previous level (at Baku and France, his home race) he probably had, deep down on him, something similar to imposter syndrome that caused him a huge dent in performance for the Austrian races. I think Alpine also deserves credit as a team to help him rebuild his confidence so well.
F1oSaurus (@)
6th August 2021, 10:12
No they don’t.
Besides, lets be real, with that car advantage as “best of the rest” they should be much further ahead than they are now.
Of course it’s hard to know if Leclerc hadn’t crashed in Monaco Q3 whether Ferrari had performed any better overall. Or similarly, if Sainz hadn’t crashed in Baku Q3.
Sainz has been poor though. That he got P3 in Hungary should really read that he only got P3 and never really seemed bothered trying to do any better.
Of course he was held up by Latifi and Tsunoda which cost him a lot of time, but seriously, he was held up by Tsunoda and Latifi who ended the race up about a full lap behind him. He didn’t bother at all trying to get passed them.
erikje
6th August 2021, 11:32
Your vision on reality always is surprising.
I know in your dimension things are different but the amount of rubbish you produce is staggering.
F1oSaurus (@)
7th August 2021, 18:11
Lol, of all people to say that. Joke.
Even Sainz confirms he’s still performing poorly though. So yeah.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
6th August 2021, 17:15
Despite the race in Hungary featuring a reasonable number of overtakes due to some special factors, remember it’s one of the hardest tracks to pass. Not that it’s virtually impossible without a mistake of the car ahead, like Monaco, but still very hard if there’s not a big time delta bewteen the attacking and the defending drivers. Hamilton had the benefit of that and could do many overtakes, Sainz didn’t have it (although I may agree that he probably should have done more especially when defending against the charging Merc in the final laps), and Alonso even less, that’s why he got nearly universal acclaim for his defensive display despite not managing to hold position until the end (too much to ask from the lowly midfield Alpine against a Mercedes with fresher medium tyres).
F1oSaurus (@)
7th August 2021, 18:16
@rodewulf Besides the devastatingly poor qualifying result clearly, Sainz was only interested in keeping P3. He never showed any drive to actually go for P2 or P1. While he was driving a car a clear level up from Vettel and Ocon. It was embarrassing.
Sure he’s complaining that he’s not comfortable in the car, but come on, he’s had half a season by now.
TFLB (@tflb)
6th August 2021, 12:07
I thought before the season that Ferrari looked very strong driver-wise – never bought all the ‘Sainz is awful’ stuff that certain commenters on here spout. I predicted it would be close, with Leclerc winning the qualifying battle but Sainz edging the points – not wrong yet…
Hopefully they can finally produce a good car next year.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
6th August 2021, 15:09
Yes, I read some comments like this before the season and I thought: maybe they’re right, because sainz didn’t get chances to go up against top drivers often and wasn’t too far from verstappen in his first season, I’m surprised by how close he’s been to leclerc, even if leclerc threw away some chances.
F1oSaurus (@)
7th August 2021, 18:20
@tflb Well Leclerc was unlucky that Ferrari didn’t repair his car properly for Monaco and again in Hungary. That warps the points hugely in favor of Sainz.
TFLB (@tflb)
7th August 2021, 22:33
@f1osaurus It was entirely Leclerc’s fault for crashing in Monaco. If I recall correctly the team couldn’t have fixed the issue without a gearbox penalty anyway, so he would have started behind Sainz regardless. And probably finished there too – Sainz looked quicker all weekend until the first run in Q3, and besides, overtaking ain’t easy there.
Yes, Hungary was unlucky for Leclerc.
If we’re playing the ‘bad luck’ card – how about a duff strategy by Ferrari (which they admitted to) costing Sainz a top 5 in Portugal, and a slow pitstop costing him 4th at Silverstone? Or even Tsunoda crashing in front of him in Baku quali… or Leclerc doing the same in Monaco. It opens a large can of worms if you play that card.
F1oSaurus (@)
8th August 2021, 8:10
@tflb Sure it was his fault, but Ferrari repaired the car … and in fact they didn’t.
It’s not the bad luck card, its the Leclerc is clearly the better driver but it’s simply not yet reflecting in the scores card to think that even though missing potentially 50 points they are still on even points. Besides, the car is quite a league above the third tier of cars so they will, mostly finish closely together anyway.
The point is, you need to learn to look a bit deeper than just looking at points.
TFLB (@tflb)
8th August 2021, 19:38
@f1osaurus I was going to say exactly the same thing to you about looking deeper… However, I’m aware you’ve always been a vocal Sainz critic. My impression this year is that Sainz and Leclerc are very evenly-matched (from what I’ve read most F1 insiders are of that view as well), with Leclerc a bit ahead when it comes to Q3. Anyway, I’m not sure at all where you get the 50 points figure from. Let’s guess that he didn’t crash in Monaco, and Verstappen and Sainz both beat him in quali, as they may have done… Perhaps 15 points? As for Hungary – well, given what happened later on it’s very hard to predict where he would have ended up. So if one discounts Sainz’s 15 points instead – that’s 30 points. If one looks at the bad luck for Sainz mentioned about, that’s 14 points, so that puts Leclerc ahead by a few points. About fair I’d say.
If one wants to put things in another light… Ricciardo and Perez have had a hard time swapping teams, which arguably makes Sainz look better?
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
6th August 2021, 12:11
As @Uzsjgb points out in COTD gravel was removed from some of these corners for a very valid reason & at the time a lot of research was done into the positives & negatives of various styles of runoff & the drivers of the time were part of that process via the GPDA.
It wasn’t simply done because they wanted to remove the challenge of a circuit/corner or because they liked the look of tarmac runoffs, It was done based off research of not just the FIA but other governing bodies & deciding what type of runoff is better suited to each part of track is something that is looked at very closely.
Looking at Eau Rouge/Raidillon they removed the gravel as it tended to be rather ineffective. Most of the time due to the speed & how cars get light over the top of the hill cars simply skipped across the top of it or dug in & flipped.
And i’ve said before that the analysis of Luciano Burti’s Blanchmont crash in 2001 suggested that had that been tarmac the impact speed would have been lower & the angle better as as soon as the car hit the gravel it ripped the suspension arm out with took away the steering & brakes. With tarmac he’d have still had a huge accident but he’d have maintained the ability to slow down & may well have maintained enough control with the little steering he still had after losing the font wing to hit the wall at a slightly better angle that wouldn’t have ended his F1 career.
That is why Blanchmont runoff was switched to tarmac for the following year.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
7th August 2021, 10:42
@gt-racer Tarmac runoff works if you can brake though Burti had a front wing stuck beneath his front wheels anyway. The severity of the crash did not end his career, 2 very costly crashes possibly did end his career.
The real solution would have been extending the runoff and use tecpro barriers
Simon Lacey (@bootlace)
6th August 2021, 14:07
On a reductive basis, Ferrari being so close to McLaren with what has potentially been the slightly better car, suggest McLaren have possibly the slightly better pairing even though Ricciardo has clearly been underperforming. Obviously there are other factors at play, team strategy/performance, no-fault or limited fault incidents, etc.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
6th August 2021, 17:01
I think Ferrari had a better car than McLaren in just a few weekends (at Spain, Monaco and Britain). For the rest they were pretty even or McLaren significantly ahead.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
6th August 2021, 14:46
Not as long as Binotto stays there… What do you think, Seb? :-)
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
6th August 2021, 15:10
Probably agree with binotto atm, but things can change quickly if perez gets back to a decent level, or ricciardo (norris has been superb), or if russell goes to mercedes, although I believe that’s not very likely.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
7th August 2021, 14:37
In terms of points, though, the Hamilton/Bottas would be a serious match for Leclerc/Sainz.
Willem Cecchi (@)
7th August 2021, 18:06
What happened to ‘We Race As One’.
“Spa bars non-European spectators”