2021 Formula One British Grand Prix

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British Grand Prix 2021 Alfa Romeo Sauber Formula 1.jpg

How do you think the 2021 British Grand Prix will play out? Will Toto Wolff’s prediction come true?

  • Yes, Mercedes will be able to compete with Red Bull

    Votes: 125 49.0%

  • No, Red Bull’s domination will continue

    Votes: 126 49.4%

  • Other, let us know in the comments below

    Votes: 4 1.6%
  • Total voters
    255
How do you follow up the 2020 British Grand Prix, where the winner finished with only 3 working tires? A new qualifying system for 2021 and a second-place team expecting a sizable victory just might do it.

Formula One is back in action this weekend, taking on the Silverstone circuit for the 2021 British Grand Prix. Max Verstappen currently holds an impressive 32-point advantage over reigning champion Lewis Hamilton in the drivers' standings, while their respective teams rank in the same order with a 44-point gap.

Hamilton will look to gain back some ground in the standings after failing to get a podium finish at the Austrian Grand Prix on the fourth of July. This is Hamilton’s home race, and seven of his record 98 wins have come at this circuit. Hamilton’s recent dominance at the British GP includes winning six of the last seven races here, with his worst finish since 2014 being a second place in 2018.

Max Verstappen is favored to upset that dominance this weekend, amid his strongest season ever. Verstappen enters the weekend on a three-race win streak and has taken a podium in every race except Azerbaijan, a race he was leading before a tire failure.

Toto Wolff says that he expects his Mercedes team to take a 1-2 victory with a 30 second margin at Silverstone. Mercedes finds themselves trailing behind Red Bull so far this season, but Wolff believes that recent upgrades to their W12 car will put them ahead of their rivals.

Sprint Qualifying​

Fans can also expect some extra racing this weekend. Breaking from the usual FP1 > FP2 > FP3 > Qualifying > Race format, Formula One will introduce Sprint Qualifying this weekend.

There are two sessions scheduled for Friday: Free Practice 1 and Qualifying (Q1, Q2 and Q3). This qualifying session is to determine the grid order for the Sprint Race on Saturday. Free Practice 2 will happen in advance of the Sprint Qualifying, then the drivers will take to the track for a 100-kilometer race session to determine the starting grid for Sunday’s race. In addition to grid positions, the drivers and teams will also be vying for up to three championship points from the sprint race.

Verstappen in elite form​

With 14 races remaining on the calendar, Mercedes and Hamilton can still catch Verstappen and Red Bull, but there is a growing sense that if the momentum is to shift, it needs to happen soon. Max has been in elite form behind the wheel of his RB16B this year. The last two races at Austria’s Red Bull Ring had Verstappen taking both pole position and the race win.

Moving down the standings, 46 points behind Verstappen and Hamilton is Sergio Perez of Red Bull, who is the only driver other than the top two to score a victory this season. Perez has been overshadowed by his teammate this year, but his 104 championship points has helped elevate Red Bull well above Mercedes in the constructors' standings.

Norris aims for another strong show​

Further back in the field, Lando Norris hopes to continue his excellent season for McLaren with another strong showing, after having finished an impressive third last time out in Austria. Norris currently sits fourth in the drivers' standings, ahead of Valterri Bottas in his Mercedes. Bottas finished ahead of his teammate in the second race in Austria, but his inconsistent performance has led many to speculate about his future at Mercedes.

Norris’ teammate Daniel Ricciardo has had a less than stellar season so far. He has yet to break into the top five so far this year, and at the Styrian Grand Prix three weeks ago he finished a disappointing 13th.

Norris has proven that McLaren has the pace to beat all but Mercedes and Red Bull, so hopefully Ricciardo can find his groove with the MCL35M and start improving his results.

Ferrari​

The talented Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz find themselves just two points apart after nine races. Leclerc holds a slight edge in points, but Sainz has posted the only Ferrari podium this season with his third-place finish in Monaco.

There is a midfield fight for fifth place in the constructors' championship, with AlphaTauri just four points ahead of Aston Martin. Behind them is Alpine with 32 points scored so far. And rounding out the field are Alfa Romeo, Williams, and Haas, with two Alfa Romeo 10th place finishes accounting for the only points between the three teams.
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About author
Mike Smith
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

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Comments

Sasha Jednak
theguy69 said:
Thanks, gotta say now that I've seen all the replays. It should not have been a penalty. I came to this conclusion after watching the f1 highlights video. Replay of incident is at 1:19. I played it at 0.25x. After watching them again and again these are the conclusions I came to.

1. Hamilton did not leave a cars width or almost a cras width to the apex of the corner as most ppl seem to be claiming( also you want to avoid running on the kerbs on the first lap with low pressure)
2. Verstappens trajectory before the crash was towards the apex i.e. he assumed Hamilton would back out. I personally dont think he intended to leave any space at all so even if ham would've been closer to the apex there would've still been contact.(I feel this because of the positioning of verstappens car before the contact)
3. The penalty was given on the basis of the outcome rather than the action. If they would've made contact and neither of them had crashed there would've been no penalty but the seriousness of the crash(for which verstappen is partly to blame) caused them to give a penalty to hamilton.

Now this is just my opinion. I may be wrong. Would like to hear more view points(but only if you've watched the replay)
Click to expand...
Did you also check video from Sky/Chandhok? There you have both onboards and it can clear some things. :thumbsup:
1) Looking at highlights video and Sky onboards, I have to strongly disagree with #1 as at that speed Hamilton will not take white line on apex (which Leclerc takes just behind them) not to mention the curb. It looks like that what you are calling apex is start of inside curb, which is last time in corner that Lewis is anywhere near to the "apex" and that is only because his line was so tight that he was there going straight.
2) Going faster on inside line of super fast corner, with high fuel and cold tyres means that you will most probably exit the corner out of track. And only thing that slowed down Hamilton enough and he barely kept it on OUTSIDE curb was Max's rear wheel. As for Max, in onboard you can see that he steers in, sees Lewis and opens a bit to leave what looks like even 2 car width room. But it is not enough as 15 year F1 experience driver has overcooked it heavily.
3) If penalty is for outcome, why did few years ago Kimi got 10sec in Silverstone when his "victim" Hamilton managed to continue the race... ;)
I am not saying it is 100% Hamilton, but for me it is at least 90% for sure. Only thing that Max did wrong is that he left 2 car width on inside, while being ahead all the time, instead of waving direct competitor through. I mean when you think about it it was very dangerous move, leaving space for car on inside instead of waving through. :D

For whole forum, just curious, except Baku 2017 what were Max's incidents where he sent people "flying"? Just want to check those, to see if anything he could have learned before this situation yesterday.
 
A
ears said:
Are you talking about a computer game here?

So respected ex-F1 driver and commentator is wrong and you, computer game player, are right, because you like your own opinion better than you like his?
Click to expand...
The quality of an opinion does not depend on who is talking. Rule #0. I've seen F1 drivers talking bullshit everywhere, everyday.
 
LeSunTzu
Sasha Jednak said:
Did you also check video from Sky/Chandhok? There you have both onboards and it can clear some things. :thumbsup:
1) Looking at highlights video and Sky onboards, I have to strongly disagree with #1 as at that speed Hamilton will not take white line on apex (which Leclerc takes just behind them) not to mention the curb. It looks like that what you are calling apex is start of inside curb, which is last time in corner that Lewis is anywhere near to the "apex" and that is only because his line was so tight that he was there going straight.
2) Going faster on inside line of super fast corner, with high fuel and cold tyres means that you will most probably exit the corner out of track. And only thing that slowed down Hamilton enough and he barely kept it on OUTSIDE curb was Max's rear wheel. As for Max, in onboard you can see that he steers in, sees Lewis and opens a bit to leave what looks like even 2 car width room. But it is not enough as 15 year F1 experience driver has overcooked it heavily.
3) If penalty is for outcome, why did few years ago Kimi got 10sec in Silverstone when his "victim" Hamilton managed to continue the race... ;)
I am not saying it is 100% Hamilton, but for me it is at least 90% for sure. Only thing that Max did wrong is that he left 2 car width on inside, while being ahead all the time, instead of waving direct competitor through. I mean when you think about it it was very dangerous move, leaving space for car on inside instead of waving through. :D

For whole forum, just curious, except Baku 2017 what were Max's incidents where he sent people "flying"? Just want to check those, to see if anything he could have learned before this situation yesterday.
Click to expand...
He crashed badly into Grosjean at Monaco, divedbombed into Raikkonen at Spa's first corner in 2017 (I think). But I don't see any point in this. Verstappen is known for his very agressive defense, not for overtaking mistakes.
 
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muzikant
LeSunTzu said:
He crashed badly into Grosjean at Monaco, divedbombed into Raikkonen at Spa's first corner in 2017 (I think). But I don't see any point in this. Verstappen is known for his very agressive defense, not for overtaking mistakes.
Click to expand...
So two crashes in 2015 Grosjean Monaco.. rookie vault
The raik9nen crash is a start sandwitch and it came from 2016
 
Paul Glover
I really don't understand why people are getting so worked up here, the message from each team suits their own narrative. Here is a good tweet which demonstrates that rather nicely.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1417071395973050371

No team or driver is an angel.

Some of the posts on this thread remind me of the Xbox vs Playstation fanboy spats, lets remain calm and reasonable and have a debate. A debate (just in case you don't know) is where you are open to someone else's point of view.
 
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Sasha Jednak
LeSunTzu said:
He crashed badly into Grosjean at Monaco, divedbombed into Raikkonen at Spa's first corner in 2017 (I think). But I don't see any point in this. Verstappen is known for his very agressive defense, not for overtaking mistakes.
Click to expand...
Thanks, this is just for me personally as I forgot most of F1 things that happened in last 8 years.
 
zwiss
Paul Glover said:
I really don't understand why people are getting so worked up here, the message from each team suits their own narrative. Here is a good tweet which demonstrates that rather nicely.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1417071395973050371

No team or driver is an angel.

Some of the posts on this thread remind me of the Xbox vs Playstation fanboy spats, lets remain calm and reasonable and have a debate. A debate (just in case you don't know) is where you are open to someone else's point of view.
Click to expand...
He didn't put 'a wheel in', he was alongside!!!
Christian is talking rubbish here. Of course the move was 'on'.
This is alongside, NOT 'putting his wheel in':
Max just doesn't know when to retreat.
...apparently neither do we in this forum :p
hv.jpg
Clip0002.jpg
 
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