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I suspect it may not have been that much. I think the new (well, not really 'new' new any more) owners actually understand  how social media and audiences work, rather than being some senile twat like Bernie who just wants to add some zeroes to his latest Rolex contract rather than expanding the reach of F1.

It sounds like they've had an appreciable difference in audience numbers that they're attributing to the Netflix boom, so it may be that they've given them access in exchange for drumming up those new viewers. It doesn't really cost F1 anything to have the Netflix guys cruising around at the end of the day. Think the teams have realised that it's good PR for them too, unless you're Williams where they'll film you for the season then use about 3 clips of Claire Williams before she left...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Anyone think Mercedes kinda dropped the ball bringing in bottas at the end? Seemed inevitable that verstappen would do the same and be faster.

 

edit: just saw max got his time deleted. Still, not the greatest tactics ever?

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On 02/05/2021 at 7:42 PM, manuel said:

Anyone think Mercedes kinda dropped the ball bringing in bottas at the end? Seemed inevitable that verstappen would do the same and be faster.

 

edit: just saw max got his time deleted. Still, not the greatest tactics ever?

Indeedy. They admit in this video that they should have done it a lap later: 

Red Bull complaining about track limit enforcement after the fact too - Helmut Marko claiming they lost a win, pole and fastest lap because of track limits. They arguably did 'lose' those because of the track limits violations, but those came up because their driver violated track limits. It's not hard to work out. He overtook Hamilton while he technically wasn't on the track. He slid outside of track limits in qualifying. He drove outside of track limits on his go at fastest lap.

I'm not in an F1 team, but even I knew that they were enforcing turn 14 (and 15) track limits at Portimao, and when Max was having his tilt at fastest lap I saw that he went beyond the red and white curb and called it immediately that he'd lose the time because of that. If I'm just a random dickhead and I know that, how can a person paid millions to drive an F1 car not be aware of that? I'd be pretty embarrassed about that and wouldn't really want to draw attention to it, rather than saying I was just totally oblivious to it and didn't know it was happening. I guess Red Bull culture is to never take responsibility for anything, so it does follow that pattern.

I do hope Max gets a crack at the title as he is a great driver, but that attitude at Red Bull is preeeeetty toxic. A slight contrast to how Mercedes appear to be happy to hold their hands up and accept when they've got something wrong, e.g. that video up there.

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Meh - I was pretty happy merc won - I think I dislike max/Redbull more than I do merc/Hamilton (just). And he overtook on track ***.

Is it just me or did merc hand verstappen fastest lap (or a very good shot at it) again? As soon as they pitted bottas they handed max a free stop if he got overtaken. They nailed Hamilton’s strategy to win but bottas is just dead weight at the moment - he nearly took Hamilton out by not moving over and can’t get anywhere near fastest laps. If it were my team Russell would be in now. 

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17 hours ago, manuel said:

As soon as they pitted bottas they handed max a free stop if he got overtaken.

Yeah, know what you mean. Was an odd choice. Giving them the benefit of the doubt I guess Max's pace might have dropped off faster than they were expecting and Hamilton passed earlier than expected, so they didn't assume he'd get a chance to come in?

I suppose they might have assumed that Bottas could actually do a fast lap too. Unfortunately they forgot to factor in how average Bottas is being this year. If he hadn't got that pole the other week when everyone blew their second Q3 runs, he'd have very little to show for this year. I can't see them going full Red Bull and dropping him mid-year, but he's not delivering at the moment. If Red Bull had a capable second driver Bottas would be under some serious pressure, but luckily for him there's not really anyone threatening too much.

I read that he said that he didn't give Hamilton an 'easy' pass because he didn't want to lose too much time as he needed to get a pit window in front of Leclerc, but I think it's safe to say it was probably also frustration. He didn't have to run Hamilton that tight into turn 10. He's saying he's frustrated with team orders, but the only real way to not be a victim of them is to not be ridiculously far behind your team mate...

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Trouble is for bottas now is he is so far behind, and so clearly slower that if he doesn’t follow team orders and let Hamilton through (because it’s gonna be close this year) Mercedes won’t really have any choice but to ditch him mid season. It could get mighty awkward at merc this year if bottas happens to find some pace at a couple of races. 

put Russell in and just say “this year if Hamilton is a place behind you you have to let him past.”

 

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In other news - considering how inept Mazepin has been at every race (and in most sessions) so far, does make me wonder if Haas will have enough spare parts to actually get him to the starting grid. Suspect he's going to be getting pretty familiar with the barriers.

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22 hours ago, Rusevelt said:

Unlikely to happen if Hamilton gets a new 2022 contract sorted before the F1 Summer Break. 

https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/57039920

Depending on the terms of the contract, Lewis, would obviously pick Valtteri as his 2022 teammate over Russell.

 

Not sure I would if I were Lewis. By the time Russell is up to pace and experience, and can win races Hamilton will be out front. Russell would take team orders and would maybe be more likely to take points off the opposition. 

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Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how that pans out. Kind of have a feeling that if Russell hadn't binned it under the safety car last year and then "taken out" Bottas at Imola that he'd definitely be the favourite for 2022, but it sounds like Toto's not fully on board with him at the moment. That said, with how well George did with barely any notice before jumping in Lewis' car last year, if he had a pre-season to get used to the Mercedes he'd be a proper force. With the Williams being a bit all over the place it does make me wonder how much that's affecting the mistakes he's been making.

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Bit of a surprise grid for Monaco GP.

Leclerc, Verstappen, Bottas, Sainz, Norris, Gasly, Hamilton. 

Hopefully Ferrari can repair the damage to Leclerc's car after he clipped the barrier and ended Q3 session.

 

Edited by Rusevelt
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