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After an entertaining race we move on to Portugal.
Last years race was pretty good in many ways but dominated by the big bad Mercedes team. Hamilton on pole was passed early by Bottas, Verstappen and the race was even led by Sainz in a McLaren for a brief period but he made back the places and went on to win with some ease.
I have high hopes for this race, really only one obvious overtaking spot which is the home straight, almost too easy with DRS which is immensely powerful here. I honestly think McLaren can join Red Bull and Mercedes for the podium battle. They went pretty well last year and with a Mercedes engine in them should be even better this time around.
I fully expect to see Mercedes power on full show here and we will get to see just how close the Honda engine is on that home straight.
Max vs Lewis for the WDC is absolutely on this year and for this fan it will interesting to see how Max handles the pressure. I have to think Bottas is under huge pressure from here on in. His grip on that second Mercedes seat was weakened considerably by that last race and not because of the crash with Russell. I like others am somewhat shocked at how much better Lando is that Danny Ricc right now. I thought that would be closer than it is. Maybe a few more races will see that change.
The future of F1 is in good hands driver wise. Verstappen, Norris, Russell and LeClerc all have potential to win the WDC in the right car (whatever that may be).
Expecting a much closer race this time around, it will be interesting to see what driver and indeed team comes off the better
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(20-04-2021, 05:25 PM)NeilP Wrote: After an entertaining race we move on to Portugal.
Last years race was pretty good in many ways but dominated by the big bad Mercedes team. Hamilton on pole was passed early by Bottas, Verstappen and the race was even led by Sainz in a McLaren for a brief period but he made back the places and went on to win with some ease.
I have high hopes for this race, really only one obvious overtaking spot which is the home straight, almost too easy with DRS which is immensely powerful here. I honestly think McLaren can join Red Bull and Mercedes for the podium battle. They went pretty well last year and with a Mercedes engine in them should be even better this time around.
I fully expect to see Mercedes power on full show here and we will get to see just how close the Honda engine is on that home straight.
Max vs Lewis for the WDC is absolutely on this year and for this fan it will interesting to see how Max handles the pressure. I have to think Bottas is under huge pressure from here on in. His grip on that second Mercedes seat was weakened considerably by that last race and not because of the crash with Russell. I like others am somewhat shocked at how much better Lando is that Danny Ricc right now. I thought that would be closer than it is. Maybe a few more races will see that change.
The future of F1 is in good hands driver wise. Verstappen, Norris, Russell and LeClerc all have potential to win the WDC in the right car (whatever that may be).
Expecting a much closer race this time around, it will be interesting to see what driver and indeed team comes off the better
Indeed a promising track. Looking forward to it.
McLaren is the third team I think, but if Perez and Bottas get their focus right (think a dry race and both will do good enough), I don't think they stand that much of a change.
Mercedes seems still the faster car and they have done their homework on tyre degradation it seems. But Red Bull surely is up there and Hamilton - Verstappen is a great battle to have this year. Hope it stays like the last two races, while Bottas and Perez join in (at least with strategy, don't see them in the same league as Hamilton and Verstappen).
With those young drivers you mention I would add Saintz as well. He seemed faster than Norris last year. Spreading these guys out over the top teams and we have great battles to come!
Got to have a 27B-6.
(This post was last modified: 20-04-2021, 06:54 PM by
Antilochos.)
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Surface was terrible last year. Hopefully that won't be as bad this year. The track itself has a nice layout though.
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Ferrari test driver Callum Ilott will drive for Alfa Romeo in FP1 in Portugal
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A second DRS zone has been added for this weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix. It is located on the straight between Turn 4 and the Turn 5 hairpin. The DRS zone on the start/finish straight also starts 120 metres later than it did last year.
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(27-04-2021, 03:09 PM)forzaferrari Wrote: A second DRS zone has been added for this weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix. It is located on the straight between Turn 4 and the Turn 5 hairpin. The DRS zone on the start/finish straight also starts 120 metres later than it did last year.
Which is exactly what Martin Brundle said on commentary last year!
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"When a man holds you round the throat, I don't think he has come to apologise"
Ayrton Senna on Nigel Mansell, SPA 1987.
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F1 teams came together on Thursday at Portimão to pay tribute to Haas team member Martin Shepherd (25) who passed away two weeks ago.
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(29-04-2021, 04:05 PM)forzaferrari Wrote: F1 teams came together on Thursday at Portimão to pay tribute to Haas team member Martin Shepherd (25) who passed away two weeks ago.
RIP.
I had to google the background as I didn't know the story. Very sad. We all know motorcycling is a dangerous game. Thoughts and best wishes to his surviving family.
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Watching FP2 and the cars are all pretty close together again. Most have completed their quali sims and Hamilton is P1 by a tenth or so. Could be a bad omen as he doesn't have a habit of topping practice sessions these days!
VB was good here (over a lap) last year, and he's generally looked good on the medium and hard, but he seems a bit out of touch on the soft tyre.
Ferrari look like they may have made a step Forza. Carlos is right up there and Charlie only a tenth or so back. They look decent on track too.