F1 2021

[MrCurry]

Who might shine in a wet quali? second Norris pole in a row? That would be a brave prediction, so yeah, let’s do that!

The Williams seems to go well in the wet too, top ten grid position for Russell?

For my last stunning prediction, I’m gonna guess Lewis won’t start from a top ten position this time (Could get caught out on that if someone in top ten gets a grid drop penalty!)

 

[Limejuice]

And... the first red flag of the weekend.

Russell aquaplanes into the gravel, and beaches it.

 

[MrCurry]

And... the first red flag of the weekend.

Russell aquaplanes into the gravel, and beaches it.

Yikes! Not looking promising for my daft predictions. McLarens P14&15 and both Williams dead last in FP3

 

[1%er]

Free Practice 3 Results ​

It was a wet third free practice at Istanbul Park. The session got off to a slow start, but eventually many drivers took to the track with the intermediate tyres. In the end, Pierre Gasly was the fastest man of the session, followed by Max Verstappen on P2. The gap between Gasly and Verstappen was 0.164 seconds. The Dutchman was on the inside for a long time and only drove a few laps in the end. It seems Red Bull Racing were quickly satisfied with their set-up in the rain. Sergio Perez is also doing well and finishes behind his teammate on P3. Mercedes were present a lot during the session. Valtteri Bottas finished in ninth place, while Lewis Hamilton can be found at the bottom of the grid on P18. Other than that, Ferrari are in good shape in fourth and fifth spots. Will qualifying also be driven on a wet track?

RESULTS (3)
Pos	Driver	Nat.	Team	Time
1	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1m30.447s
2	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing	1m30.611s
3	Sergio Perez	MEX	Red Bull Racing	1m30.684s
4	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	1m31.262s
5	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	1m31.543s
6	Fernando Alonso	CHI	Alpine F1 Team	1m31.545s
7	Kimi Raikkonen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen	1m31.572s
8	Yuki Tsunoda	JPN	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1m31.981s
9	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1m31.996s
10	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Alpine F1 Team	1m32.089s
11	Antonio Giovinazzi	GBR	Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen	1m32.097s
12	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	1m32.111s
13	Mick Schumacher	GER	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1m32.228s
14	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	1m32.270s
15	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1m32.314s
16	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	1m33.348s
17	Nikita Mazepin	RUS	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1m33.425s
18	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1m33.636s
19	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	1m35.681s
20	George Russell	ISR	Williams Racing	No Time Set

 

[1%er]

Bottas reportedly loses fresh Mercedes engine ​

Valtteri Bottas has reportedly lost the fourth engine from his pool for this season, after Mercedes uncovered problems with the unit back at their engine headquarters in Brixworth. Bottas introduced a fourth power unit at last month's Italian Grand Prix, triggering an engine grid penalty as just three units are permitted for the season. Using that engine for the Monza race, it was removed early during the Russian Grand Prix weekend as Mercedes opted to fit another fresh unit to Bottas' car in Sochi. This triggered yet another grid penalty. There were whispers that this was a tactical move to put Bottas further back and try to hamper Max Verstappen's recovery from his own engine grid penalty, but this doesn't appear to have any validity to it, if the latest reports are to be believed.
Germany's Auto Motor und Sport report that Mercedes took Bottas' engine, as well as their entire stock of current power units, back to Brixworth for extensive analysis. Following this investigation, Bottas' power unit from Monza was ruled out from use in a race again, having completed just one Grand Prix distance.

The issues are believed to be linked to the Internal Combustion Engine itself, the part of the power unit that Hamilton has replaced for this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix. He will serve a 10-place grid penalty as a result. The other hybrid parts are understood to not be a concern in terms of reliability, although it's meant some extra work back at base to prepare Hamilton's power unit for this weekend, as it's particularly unusual to mix used ancillaries with a completely new engine. "This is a job that you only want to do in the factory because it is so complex," Auto Motor und Sport quote a Mercedes engineer as saying. "We have only mixed components from different drive units on the track once in the past seven years." When approached for comment Mercedes elected to neither confirm nor deny the story, instead declining to comment. For reference, Mercedes did confirm a prior engine issue for Lewis Hamilton at Zandvoort, when approached for comment.

 

[1%er]

Looks likely we'll have some rain during qualifying

 

[MrCurry]

Looks likely we'll have some rain during qualifying

As long as they don’t red flag it…

 

[MrCurry]

Rain roulette!!

 

[Badgers]

The rain is coming #turkishrevenge

 

[Badgers]

Max spinning

How long before he kills another driver??

 

[Badgers]

Sorry 1%er

Not only do I not have the big telly on but my laptop has stopped charging

This is my set up for the weekend...

 

[Ax^]

rain in 3 minutes tense stuff

 

[Ax^]

all over the place

 

[MrCurry]

all over the place

Yes, really exciting and that was only Q1. Bring back Bernie and his sprinklers

 

[Ax^]

ah it more then tiptoeing around and getting my heat into the tyres and brakes

 

[1%er]

Sorry 1%er

Not only do I not have the big telly on but my laptop has stopped charging

This is my set up for the weekend...

Sorry to hear that
But at least you can watch

 

[Ax^]

this is nuts again

 

[Ax^]

nvrmind

 

[1%er]

Looks like Lewis will have his work cut out for him tomorrow and if Bottas get pole I can't see him holding up the rest of the pack for long

 

[1%er]

Interesting that Mercedes went with the mediums like everyone else, Lewis is going to have to really push those tyres to get through the pack, no long runs on the hard tyres during FP so I guess he is going to have to do it all on track not by strategy

 

[Ax^]

you tit Russell

 

[Badgers]

 

[1%er]

Lewis has got the speed, now "all he needs to do" is a bit of overtaking. Could be an interesting end to the race tomorrow.

Get in there Lewis!!!!

 

[1%er]

Lewis is in pole for PR that's for sure, he is always ready to big-up the crowd

 

[Limejuice]

Both Hammy and Botty ahead of Max suggests the Mercedes has picked up a bit of pace this weekend.

That means we should get some tasty driving tomorrow, with Botty getting his elbows out and Hammy pouncing under DRS.

I wouldn't bet against Hammy providing the lunch money.

 

[Limejuice]

Hammy's "pole" is all the more impressive considering the high amount of rear wing he selected. Far more than Botty or Max.

#IpaidattentiontoTedKravitz

 

[MrCurry]

Was this not meant to be one of the tracks which would favour Red Bull? If the mercs have the legs on them here, does that have any significance for the closing stage of the championship? I mean has the pendulum swung back towards Mercedes now?

 

[Ax^]

hmm am i watching on a delay

 

[MrCurry]

hmm am i watching on a delay

Oops!

 

[1%er]

That means we should get some tasty driving tomorrow, with Botty getting his elbows out and Hammy pouncing under DRS.

Bottas has a massive part to play tomorrow, he really needs to keep Max behind him while forcing Max to push hard to make a mistake. I think the result tomorrow will depend on how long Bottas can keep Max behind