I thought Max had his first legit shot of the season at pole today. He lost a lot of time in the last sector in Q3. Regardless, I'm excited to watch a F1 race at Nurburgring tomorrow.

Let's see how Bottas can screw up pole! lol I kid...

Kidding or not, both Bottas and Max have had trouble losing position in Lap 1 the last couple of years.

Quiet thread today

Touching moment at end of the race. To celebrate Lewis Hamilton winning 91st race to tie Schumacher, his son Mick came out and presented Hamilton with one of Schumacher's crash helmets. Lewis was visibly moved.

Glad to see Riccardo on the podium this week.

Does Alex Albon remind anyone else if Cole Trickle? Lots of talent but can't manage his tires or pace himself at all.

It was nice to Ricciardo finish P3. Seemed like the Red Bull and Mercedes pit crews were excited for him as well as Renault. Or maybe they were just celebrating because their guys were on the podium too.

So does anyone think Cyril will make good on the bet and get tattooed?

So happy to see Lewis equal the record and can't wait to see him break it. Glad for Ricciardo and Hulk but feel bad for Albon; he seems broken.

If I were Red Bull I'd sit Albon for the rest of the season and then drop him down to Alpha Tauri for next year to compete against Gasly. I'd give Hulk the seat next to Max for the rest of this season to see if he can handle a top level drive and if he can't bring in Perez for next year.

I'm done feeling sorry for Albon. He just isn't performing. And that whining he did on the radio during the race was about as pathetic as could be.

Someone else needs that seat. Hulk, Perez, Gasly, etc.

I could give him a break last year, being 5 tenths off of Max, but he hasn't gotten any closer, and it's hurting RB's chance to fight Mercedes. One year later with little to no improvement, and he's getting more slack than Gasly did. Ridiculous.

The RB car is clearly a very 'snappy' car, as evidenced by Albon's spins in practice. RB says they just introduced an upgrade to the internals to help with that, and the cars seemed more planted last weekend.

Absolutely with you, Albon has no more excuses. Of course the Alpha Tauri's are going to race him hard. Duh, lol.

News today is RB is threatening to withdraw both of their teams if there isn't an engine freeze which will allow them to take control of and continue using the Honda.

Breaking News this morning

Wow. So Haas is going with with two new drivers. I wonder if they are going with brand new drivers.

Interesting on Haas. My initial reaction is this is probably positive the way they have performed but maybe Magnussen and Grosjean were good enough and holding it together from a complete collapse?

Hulk and Perez?

'03ag said:

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Hulk and Perez?

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Lots of smoke around Mick Schumacher

...although I think he is in line for Alfa

Ilott and Perez is my guess.

If they don't get Perez they are insane, he's a darn good driver. I would take him and pair him with one of the young kids. I don't think Hulk is anything more than a solid lower middle tier/high bottom tier F1 driver, so I would take the potential upside of a kid. Either way, it can't be worse than the mess they have now.

It's exciting that two spares are making room.

"All of that means the timing is perfect to bring in a rookie, and one who brings money at that."

"With the likes of Nikita Mazepin believed to be a frontrunner for a seat the 21-year-old bringing significant money from Russia as well as two wins in Formula 2 so far this year there will always be question marks about teams choosing money over talent."

The article-

https://racer.com/2020/10/22/medland-why-haass-2021-changes-are-really-all-about-2022/

Two penalties for Stroll and the race isn't even half over. The first one was just pure dumbassery.

Louis passes Michael, that was inevitable.
Another miserable result for team Haas.

cap-n-jack said:

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Louis passes Michael, that was inevitable.
Another miserable result for team Haas.

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Not to take anything away from Hamilton, but the expansion of the seasons from 16 to 20+ races certainly helped expedite his record.

Just from listening to the pre-race show, it sounds like Redbull pretty much told Albon he was done. The commentators made it sound like the ultimatum to him was 4th or better the next 2 races or his seat will go to someone else.

Vernada said:

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Just from listening to the pre-race show, it sounds like Redbull pretty much told Albon he was done. The commentators made it sound like the ultimatum to him was 4th or better the next 2 races or his seat will go to someone else.

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They told him he needs to make a claim on the seat in the 'next two races', which included yesterday's race. Instead, he got lapped by Max.

Fanz Tost, Alpha Tauri principal, has said their driver lineup for next year isn't finished either.

I think Red Bull very badly wants Albon to work out, in part to some of the Thai sponsorship he brought both teams. (MOOSE Craft Hotdogs is one such sponsor).

numetalbizkitaggie said:

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Vernada said:

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Just from listening to the pre-race show, it sounds like Redbull pretty much told Albon he was done. The commentators made it sound like the ultimatum to him was 4th or better the next 2 races or his seat will go to someone else.

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They told him he needs to make a claim on the seat in the 'next two races', which included yesterday's race. Instead, he got lapped by Max.

Fanz Tost, Alpha Tauri principal, has said their driver lineup for next year isn't finished either.

I think Red Bull very badly wants Albon to work out, in part to some of the Thai sponsorship he brought both teams. (MOOSE Craft Hotdogs is one such sponsor).

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Also because Red Bull was invented in Thailand.

Pretty cool for F1 to be back at Imola this weekend for a race. Happy to see Valtteri squeeze by Lewis for pole for a change. Also glad to see Pierre on the second row next to Max especially with how dismissive Horner has been regarding his accomplishments this year.

All kinds of bad luck for folks not named Hamilton today.

Vernada said:

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All kinds of bad luck for folks not named Hamilton today.

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Either that or Hamilton has Jedi powers

Right. And I should have said something about Ricciardo having a podium dropped in his lap.

Looks like I'll be missing the Turkey Grand Prix - it has a 410 start time... just don't think I'll be able to swing that one.