The official Formula One and General Motorsport thread for the 2021 season! Season finale live on Sky & Ch4 Dec 12th 1pm

[Captain Kinopio]

The other thing I would say is Lewis is being too cautious in one on ones. I think any other year when it's not so close, he would have had Perez in that battle. If he had got that done he could have tried to chase down Verstappen after pitting.

Baku and Monza aside, I think it's these hesitations and his other mistakes that will end up costing him the championship.

[Imrahil]

Can't say I've detected hesitations/too much caution at all in Hamilton's driving myself. There were a lot of issues today with dry/wet lines and how the tyres were working in the corners. Although he got along side Perez he just couldn't get the acceleration down enough to get the best line through the next corner, so Perez stayed ahead.

Mistakes are another matter - he has made a couple which have effected his points total.

[Return_of_the_STAR]

What was the reason Hamilton seemed so slow after his pit stop? Why was gasly catching so quickly?

[Imrahil]

That was just the graining phase. In the last lap or two he was back up to full speed.

[Errkal]

What was the reason Hamilton seemed so slow after his pit stop? Why was gasly catching so quickly?

It wasn't quite wet enough for the tires, but not dry enough for slicks, so there is a graining phase that has to be pushed through to get the tires to play ball.

[LewisD]

Lewis' tyres



Ocons tyres! check out that front offside tyre!

[Vermilion]

Looking at the state of those tyres, i'm surprised no one had a full on failure during the race.

[Victor Mildew]

I'm amazed they let them run that long. There should be a mandatory change to a fresh set after a set amount on inters/wet tyres, say 30 laps maximum or something like that.

[Errkal]

There isn't any carcas showing so I don't see the issue.

Aren't they basically slicks with extra tred on top so you can go longer as you have like twice the amount of compound where the blocks are so they wear to be a slick giving you ridiculous run time.

[Victor Mildew]

There isn't any carcas showing so I don't see the issue.

Aren't they basically slicks with extra tred on top so you can go longer as you have like twice the amount of compound where the blocks are so they wear to be a slick giving you ridiculous run time.

2nd tyre up from the bottom, those two white lines are the carcass.

[Errkal]

There isn't any carcas showing so I don't see the issue.

Aren't they basically slicks with extra tred on top so you can go longer as you have like twice the amount of compound where the blocks are so they wear to be a slick giving you ridiculous run time.

2nd tyre up from the bottom, those two white lines are the carcass.

Oh yeah!

30 wouldbe too low I think, don't really like the idea of forcing out stops as it would kill a lot of on track action in favour of safer strategy based over taking.

[captain red dog]

I think the error was on Hamilton in retrospect seeing those tyres. He would have been better off pitting just after Perez and having a chance at taking him on the road. I feel he would have had the pace.

By pitting so late, he lost any chance of recovering positions and due to the graining issues it left him on the defensive.

I think the difference between the Ferrari/Schumacher era and the Mercedes/Hamilton era is that Schumacher always seemed to have a much better overview of where the field was, and trusted the tactics even if it left him behind with work to do. Doesn't help really that Merc got a bit mysterious with tactics when he had the inter-team battle with Rosberg. I don't think Hamilton has ever really trusted them tactically after that.

[Robbo-92]

Ocon was very lucky not to have his front right tire fail on him, quite a flat spot on that tyre, pitting Hamilton, in hindsight was the best option, better to get 10 points rather than 0.

[Vermilion]

pitting Hamilton, in hindsight was the best option, better to get 10 points rather than 0.

Yeah, as much as Lewis protested, it wasn't worth the risk of a blowout and subsequent DNF.

[Victor Mildew]

People calling Perez 'Checo' is possibly the most cringe inducing thing on F1 social media.

[Memento Mori]

People calling Perez 'Checo' is possibly the most cringe inducing thing on F1 social media.

Apparently that's what he wants to be called, he doesn't like the name Sergio. I agree though that's weird for people who don't know him to do that.

[Imrahil]

Horner stirring the pot again:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/58870237

[floydfreak]

End of the road for the Adelaide Street Circuit

The Adelaide 500 was cancelled in October 2020 and the circuit has remained dormant since. Grandstands and barriers were put up for auction in April 2021
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-22/ ... /100086964

Adelaide 500 pit building put up for sale
https://www.speedcafe.com/2021/10/06/ad ... -for-sale/

Adelaide councillor wants historic circuit torn up
https://www.speedcafe.com/2021/10/10/ad ... t-torn-up/

As a track i have always prefered it too Melbourne V8 Supercars has had some great races there be a sad loss to lose the track permentally

[LewisD]

[Robbo-92]

I reckon if Vettel had stuck it out about 10 more laps and put the softs on rather then the mediums it might have been a fair bit better