Poll: French Grand Prix 2021, Paul Ricard - Race 7/23

Rate the French Grand Prix 2021 out of ten

  • Total voters
    77
  • Poll closed .
I don't get Mercedes and their decisions today. They've shown many times before that it's possible to chase down the leader with fresher tyres and pass them but for some reason they decided to stick with a one stopper. I don't know if they were worried about rain (despite there only being a 5% chance during the race apparently) but as soon as Verstappen pitted they should have pitted at least one of their drivers to split the strategy. And as soon as Max got past Bottas he should have pitted the very next lap to try and get fastest lap. They didn't do that either and Max nicked a point there too. That point could end up being very important come the end of the season. Mercedes dropped the ball big time.
 
MissChief said:
I don't get Mercedes and their decisions today. They've shown many times before that it's possible to chase down the leader with fresher tyres and pass them but for some reason they decided to stick with a one stopper. I don't know if they were worried about rain (despite there only being a 5% chance during the race apparently) but as soon as Verstappen pitted they should have pitted at least one of their drivers to split the strategy. And as soon as Max got past Bottas he should have pitted the very next lap to try and get fastest lap. They didn't do that either and Max nicked a point there too. That point could end up being very important come the end of the season. Mercedes dropped the ball big time.
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Their strategy and pitstop are all over the place. Redbull are really tidy in those areas. The only variable I see swaying the championship is the reliability concerns of the Honda power unit but for all we know Merc might be the unreliable PU this year :D.
 
RBR were lucky that the early gusty winds dropped as their decision to take a lot of wing off the cars this weekend made them very unstable early on.

Another solid performance from Perez. RBR might just have found the wingman they’ve wanted for Max for the last 2-3 years.

Would’ve paid good money to have been a fly on the wall in the Merc de-brief given today’s strategy failure.
 
Really enjoyed that race.

Mercedes completely messed up.
Not for not pitting first. But for not reacting with at least one driver.

But red bull took a massive risk pitting verstappen. That could have gone either way. I'm glad they got rewarded for it. As it would have been dull otherwise.
I wonder if the forums would be slating red bull for 'giving away an obvious lead' if it didn't work out. Just as they are slating Mercedes now

Really, I'm glad rbr are doing well. They deserve it. They've brought in perez who's doing exactly what they need. He's a better bottas.
While Mercedes have kept bottas too long and are getting punished now.

I'm disappointed with alpine signing Ocon for 3 years. I don't think he's 3 year calibre. I think he was flattered by alonso not doing well. As he wasn't great last year. Think it's a mistake by alpine. Great for ocon.
I thought that before this weekend. He's a bit lucky I think.
 
I went a 7 for that race, but thought about an 8. It was good to see a driver having to push his car for nearly a whole race. Mercedes did Hamilton/Bottas no favours and once the tyres were gone, they were helpless. Nothing either driver could have realistically done.
Decent from Perez, and the McLarens looked pretty fast. Alonso kept it going too, which I always like to see.
Expected far far worse from this track!
 
Enjoyed the race.

Merc dropped the ball.
They should have listened to Hamilton and Bottas.

But the TV producer has to go.
He\she missed way to many overtakes.
And we never saw Russell's awesome driving.
 
deuse said:
Enjoyed the race.

Merc dropped the ball.
They should have listened to Hamilton and Bottas.

But the TV producer has to go.
He\she missed way to many overtakes.
And we never saw Russell's awesome driving.
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I was just about to comment on the TV director.

We watched the leaders follow each other and missed all the good passes.

I still haven't found out what happened to George at the start. (Not checked YouTube yet).


Bottas isn't happy at Merc anymore. I think he'll look to leave (if they don't drop him).

As a championship, this is shaping up to be a good one. Would love to see Max win a title.
 
Good race throughout, so good to see RBR up there consistently with Merc and putting them under pressure, be interesting to see how they react/recover. If Bottas had dropped back early in that second stint, saved his tyres was able to keep Verstappen behind for another lap and take some more edge out of those tyres it would have been a thrilling last lap, but alas he's not up to the job. Wonder if Merc will consider the move if the results continue going against them as the constructors is obviously most important to them and he's not delivering against Perez now that he has settled in. Norris seemed to have a cracking race, but we literally saw some cuts of some passes and that was it apart from the top 3/4.
 
As I posted on FB, at one point did Paul Di Resta seriously just say "two of the best drivers we've ever seen will come together at the end of this grand Prix"? Sorry, how many world titles has Verstappen won? Muppet. The amount of talking up of Verstappen is unbelievable right now, he hasn't even won anything yet!

I'm glad to see a better championship contender this year (even though he acts like an entitled whingebag) but I SO want Hamilton to win his 8th just to cement the fact he is the greatest driver ever - which some people still have a hard time accepting..
 
Probably the first race this season where I'd say Bottas was pretty much on par with Hamilton; I'm not sure what Mercedes expected him to do to block Verstappen with tyres that basically were gone; Lewis didn't exactly do anymore to defend against Max.
 
chrismscotland said:
Probably the first race this season where I'd say Bottas was pretty much on par with Hamilton; I'm not sure what Mercedes expected him to do to block Verstappen with tyres that basically were gone; Lewis didn't exactly do anymore to defend against Max.
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And they still didn’t pit Bottas to try and go for fastest lap either, despite there being a 55 second gap. Crazy.
 
If you were listening to Wolfe he said they thought that Perez would be getting a 5 secs penalty. Hindsight proved that to be a wrong decision but in the heat of the race this is what happens.
Yes, Lewis should retire and make way for a younger driver :-)
 
The reason Perez didn't get a penalty or instruction to return the position for his pass on Bottas:

The Stewards reviewed video evidence, positioning and timing data. The Stewards determined that Perez had fully completed the pass on Bottas by the time he left the track at Turn 10. This made the fact that he left the track subsequently as a standard “track limits” question. The Stewards determined that Perez lost sufficient ground in the following turn that he could not be deemed to have “gained a lasting advantage.” The Stewards take no further action.
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Can see why Mercedes were hopeful of Perez getting a penalty for leaving the track. He did leave the track but in the stewards opinion, not in a manner that contributed to his pass on Bottas.
 
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