[Antilochos]

Just watched the qualifying. Very enjoyable.

Verstappen being on pole is no surprise. Obvious he even had more if he did a better job in the last run. Still good enough for pole.

Norris, well fantastic. I said it before that the McLaren this year is clearly the third car (what are you doing Ricciardo?). Very fast and maybe even faster than Mercedes on a one lap, but race pace they still are far behind the top two teams. Tyre degradation will be a issue for them during race and I can't image Norris keeping one Red Bull and two Mercedes behind him. If he manage P4, he has done maximum.

Perez, good to see him on P3. Huge for Red Bull's fight in both championships. A 1-2 for Red Bull tomorrow. He is doing his job and deserves a seat for next year already if you ask me.

Both Mercedes drivers. Well, I think we don't get any accusations towards Red Bull this time since a Mercedes engine is P2. Or did McLaren got a illegal engine update...? Anyway, they both should get P3 and P4 tomorrow.

Alpha Tauri's both with good results. Gasly talking about other teams is silly. The guy is very good, but there is no better seat available for him to go to. Should be grateful and build that team around him. Alpha Tauri could be right behind McLaren and Ferrari.

Russell. If I have to make a top 3 right now of drivers, he would be in there. What a great performance. If he doesn't get Bottas seat next year, he takes Ricciardo's seat at McLaren (I have a feeling he beats Norris after half a year). Would love to see him in a top car and fighter top drivers. That kid is one of the best, future top like Verstappen and Leclerc.

Ferrari's. Something tells me they put all their money on strategy. Normally not their best card, but with one practice last weekend I think those guys will end right behind Norris (I think Mercedes and Red Bull being in front of Norris at the end).

For the rest; the old guns. Vettel and Alonso doing good (great to see the old Alonso doing his thing), only being in each others way... Raikkonen seems done.

[PapaofGags]

Bottas, Sainz summoned by Austrian GP stewards over Q2 incident.

Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz have been summoned to the stewards for driving unnecessarily slowly in qualifying for Formula 1's Austrian Grand Prix, after backing up other cars at the final corners.


Congrats to Max.  

He seemed "Irked" after his pole lap, he said he was "not impressed giving Norris a tow" he also said there was more in the car so was a little disappointed.... made me wonder what he could have done.

All hail Lando!!! in front of both Mercedes & a Red Bull, very impressive drive once again.  

Both AlphaTauri boys also nailed it.


Right I'm off to watch 2nd half of the Lions.  

[Monster Hesh]

Great qually, McLaren so damn close to pole, so close. Heres hopoing they fight this race, and not let Merc and Redbull through so concentrate on the midfield battle. They did that last race for reasons I couldn't see, after Norris had let those through he maintained their pace. Through maybe they could see the race pace Ferrari had, and actually played it very weel to ensure they finished ahead last race. Could be a repeat as Ferrari again have great race pace to get back upto McLaren.

Williams get their Q3, great to see.

[PaddyB]

Just heard the results of quali. Not got access to Sky at present as helping to move my son out of the house and also doing some poorly relative stuff.
That's my way of saying sorry for not being in the chat today.
Anyway, WTF, I'm away for one days quali and Lando gets P2. How does that happen?
Hoping to be back home in time for the live race and chat tomorrow.
I'll be interested to see if luck was a major player in the P2 and why DRicc seems to be even further behind his junior partner.

[PapaofGags]

Enjoy the race peoples.     

Drizzle as we speak, 40% chance of rain for the race, according to McLaren.    

[NeilP]

As a Hamilton and Mercedes fan it saddens me to say this is the race that basically breaks their back, certainly for the drivers championship. The constructors I believe will still be a fight. The penalty on Norris was a complete joke and then compounded every other incident in the race. Lets get the painful (for me) part out of the way. Max was supreme, untouchable basically doing a Hamilton. The Red Bull is streets ahead of the Mercedes but also Verstappen is streets ahead of all the drivers with Hamilton barely hanging on to his tail. It is his Championship to lose now for sure.

The race itself once one removes the front runners was decent enough. Some good (and not so good) overtaking. Alonso and Russell racing at the end was very entertaining that boy is awesome, something Alonso himself says about George.

Great to see McLaren up front it really makes me wonder about the move to Honda and what a disaster it was. Surely they should have stayed with Mercedes it has been such a fruitful relationship in the past and once again its looking pretty good right now.

Ferrari doing a lot better in the race then in qualifying, both drivers I feel doing really well. Sainz is really growing into that car and he and Leclerc would be a formidable pairing in a better car. This leads me on to the next point.

I wonder how many teams have basically either given up or are not putting much effort into this years car. I think pretty much all of them. The only one maybe is Red Bull who I think have seized the opportunity to dominate. That may or maybe not be right. That also leads me onto my next point.

I get Mercedes performance their car was completely compromised by the regulation changes between seasons. It comes over as being a bad sport I guess to complain but it sets a horrible precedent for the future. This is further supported by the tinkering with the pit stop rules which is clearly aimed at Red Bull. We are seeing the classic American 'we must level the playing field for the sport to be good' mantra in action. As a guy living in the USA let me tell you this is THE model in all American sports. Excellence is punished and mediocrity rewarded. Its a strange concept and one I totally loathe. Its all about money of course and in America that means advertising revenue and increasingly gambling.

Forgive me for digressing. Let me get back on track (pun intended). Brilliant performance from Red Bull, I am not convinced with Perez. Yes he makes a great number two which in fairness is really what Red Bull wanted ala Bottas with Mercedes. However he is not a leading candidate or even in the discussion for a World Championship. Good, not great. I think many drivers in the current field would be at least as good and probably better than him in that Red Bull.

There needs to be a lot of turnover in the driver line ups for next year too at least from an ability and entertainment perspective. Haas could be on the endangered species list. Ferrari need to move Schumacher over to Alfa Romeo. Mazepin clearly is only there for the money his family bring he has nothing to offer. Alfa need to drop both drivers its time to move on for them. What on earth were Renault thinking signing Ocon for 3 years? A disasterous move in my book. Neither Tsunoda or Gasly belong at Alpha Tauri but for different reasons. Tsunoda is simply not good enough Gasly is too good. In an ideal world Gasly would be back at Red Bull because now he has the knowledge and experience to be there. I highly doubt that will happen. Finally the move pretty much all F1 fans want to see is Bottas out and Russell in. We have spoken about this at length no need to repeat myself.

On the positive side (for me at least) its good to see a new team at the top even if it is one I dislike and its great to see some close racing behind. 2022 is going to be a lottery for sure but I have to say I would be somewhat shocked to see anyone from the midfield moving into the top few teams. Ferrari I expect to be back its long overdue but I still see Red Bull and Mercedes being 1, 2 in some order with McLaren and Ferrari a little behind. We shall see.

The real bad news today was Englands cricket match was rained off with them in a very dominating position. Something I know you will all be sad to hear.

I wish you all well

[PapaofGags]

Lando Norris '' Champagne Not Sweat '' To George Russell After Austria GP - Austria 2021 - YouTube  (9s)

^^^ George & Lando.   

Not often I agree with Horner but "today Max didn't put a foot wrong"

Cake walk for Max & Red Bull today, class, they are now very hard to beat.      

Lando my DOTD, he seems to get better every race, racing the Mercedes boys & beating Lewis, fantastic podium.

Someone should have a word with Derek Warwick, thought all the penalty's were racing incidents, I thought the lads were allowed to race....

Lewis holds the steering wheel in his hands so no one to blame for his car damage but himself, as a fan I'm gutted he is so far behind Max & Red Bull, bottom line Mercedes & Lewis need to do a better job.

"If" Max wins at Silverstone I fear its all over bar the shouting.

Gutted for George but have no doubt his time will come.

Thought Lewis & Fernando showed some class with their kind words for Lando & George, nice to see the Champions saying nice things about the young guns.

Now to fill up the fridge with meat & beer for Silverstone.  

[NeilP]

Now to fill up the fridge with meat & beer for Silverstone.

... Not forgeting baking those special Flapjacks either ehh?

Nice post.

[PaddyB]

The real bad news today was Englands cricket match was rained off with them in a very dominating position. Something I know you will all be sad to hear.

Thank goodness we thrashed Sri Lanka in the Tennis then Neil......

Good post!

[Antilochos]

Surprisingly a very enjoyable race.

Verstappen, what to say? The kid is the very best right now. You can say what you want, I think he is better than Hamilton and all others. Flawless.

Bottas, good race. The guy deserves credit here. He was the teamplayer for not attacking Hamilton until he got the green light. Made a good case for Mercedes keeping him another year.

Norris. Great driving all weekend. The kid is a great driver. Still I keep wondering what we would have if Saintz was in that other McLaren. Think the car is better than we all give it and Saintz beat Norris last year.
Ridiculous time penalty. The penalties today were crazy. There was a lot of racing and that is what we want. Norris did nothing wrong defending against Perez. Like he said himself; should've been P2.

Hamilton has made mistakes in almost every race this year, especially the last bunch of races. Like today he should have got P2 if he not damaged his car by going wide. There were the multi champion would have the edge over the challenger, it is the other way around. Seems like Verstappen is focussed, very self-assured and very, very fast. Hamilton seems to be cracking with those mistakes, talking about the Red Bull wing, engine, etc.
I still believe Mercedes is the best team and have one of the best drivers. Yet Red Bull with Verstappen seem to have their number now. Wonder how Silverstone play out.

Perez just messed up today. First the stupid attack on Norris. He should have waited his moment and cruise past him later on. Then, collecting two time penalties for something Norris before already got a penalty (with him!) really makes me wonder what the hell Perez was thinking today. Like Neil said; the guy is good but not great. Although I think Perez is better than Bottas, he surely is not in the same league as Verstappen, Leclerc or Russell.

Ferrari did good. Great driving from both drivers.

Ricciardo, still not there yet despite the points.

Gasly, great drive again. Other than his teammate making the same mistake twice...

Alonso, I am enjoying his driving lately. He seems to find his way in the car. Will show how overrated Ocon is.

And then Russell. One of the best out there. Felt bad he missed out on the points. He must get a better car next year. If not because he deserves it, but the fans deserve it as well!