24 replies to this topic

[ANF]

Best driver:
Worst driver:
Best team:
Worst team:
Best overtake:
Worst overtake:
Best moment:
Worst moment:

And the race in a sentence:

[Disgrace]

Pretty good race for the era, but I think there is something to be said for the spectacle of a good circuit. Despite being a good race, it remained a dull watch.

[Topsu]

8/10 Good race, about as good as this track allows?

 

Best driver: Verstappen
Worst driver: No clear blunders I think
Best team: Red Bull
Worst team: Mercedes, how many races can they go ignoring clear signs from other teams' strategies?
Best overtake: Norris on Alonso
Worst overtake: Perez on Bottas, amateur defending from Valtteri
Best moment: The chase of the last 20 laps, culminating in the overtake
Worst moment: The anthems

And the race in a sentence: When not even Hamilton can save Mercedes.

[GunnarN7]

Best driver: Verstappen 
Worst driver: Tsunoda, Ocon
Best team: Red Bull
Worst team: Ferrari
Best overtake: Verstappen on Bottas, Alonso on Leclerc at the start
Worst overtake: it's not a 'bad' overtake but I expected more of a fight from Lewis against Max
Best moment: the strategic game
Worst moment: most overtakes were too DRS-assisted, but what can you do at least there were no fast drivers stuck in traffic

And the race in a sentence: Paul Ricard is underappreciated, it provides decent racing and has a nice layout (as in corners because it does look really ugly but I don't care about that)

Edited by GunnarN7, 20 June 2021 - 15:33.

[greenman]

Best driver: Max, honourable mentions to Lewis, Mclarens, Fernando, ...
Worst driver: Meh nobody really did anything too bad
Best team: Mclaren for consolidating P3 in the championship
Worst team: Ferrari, second race in a row with terrible race pace
Best overtake: Maybe Lando's opportunistic move on Alonso
Best moment: just the realization that it is going to come down to the last few laps. And if it was this close between the two teams, that we really might see this for the rest of the year.
Worst moment: nothing particular, although seeing Ferrari's pace was a bit baffling.

And the race in a (few) sentence(s): 9/10, I think this is about as good as you could have it with these cars and on this circuit. Similar like Catalunya, but closer and with a more uncertain outcome - probably because the cars were closer in speed compared to back then. I think a too many people are ******* on Merc for their strategy. Sure, they should have pit Lewis first in the first stop - but the gaps before the pitstops were about the same between Lewis and Max, and Max and Bottas, and Red Bull did the same (pit one lap after Bottas). 

 

And on the second stop - I thought Red Bull pitted Max quite early, but they had to, otherwise Mercedes would do it. From there on, Mercedes have to stay out, and Bottas, while he is understandably pissed off, was "sacrificed", because that was the best chance for Mercedes to win the race. I mean, if he doesn't outbrake himself, and keeps Max behind for one more lap, that might have been enough. Or just one rogue backmarker, or an inopportune yellow flag, and Max stays behind. Hindsight is 20/20 etc etc. This was a close race!

[Laster]

Best driver: Verstappen pole and win despite Merc looking quicker on race pace.

Worst driver: Tsunoda had a bad qualifying session, but by race end he was closer to his teammate than Leclerc or Ocon was to theirs. So one of those three maybe?

Best team: Mclaren maximised their points, Aston Martin made the best strategy call.

Worst team: Ferrari, what happened to their pace during the race it just disappeared.

Best overtake: Norris move on Alonso stuck out.

Worst overtake: Verstappen on Bottas, just poor defence by Bottas, no need to go so deep on the brakes he made it easy for Verstappen.

Best moment: Seeing Verstappen stop and having a divergence in strategy that led to a lat battle for the win.

Worst moment: “Rain! It’s gonna rain! I assure you it will rain! Oh it just missed the circuit, oops!” As ever F1 weather predictions when it comes to rain is utterly worthless.

And the race in a sentence: Surprisingly good for Paul Ricard, aided by high wear on the tyres.

[renzmann]

Best driver: Verstappen. Don't know what happened at the start, but otherwise that was a perfect weekend.
Worst driver: Tsunoda. He shouldn't allow Gasly to be so much better for so long.
Best team: Red Bull. Fantastic strategy calls.
Worst team: Haas. Amateurism all over the place.
Best overtake: Norris on Alonso.
Worst overtake: Verstappen on Bottas.
Best moment: Verstappen's second pit stop. I would have never called that one.
Worst moment: Mazepin leaving no room for Schumacher.

And the race in a sentence: Bottas yelled at his team.

[masa90]

Best driver: Verstappen
Worst driver: Mazepin. Drove his teammate of the track and then lost so much time over the race.
Best team: Red Bull
Worst team: Haas or Alfa Romeo
Best overtake: Some without Drs. So Norris?
Worst overtake: All these cringey add ons f1 has seemingly fell in love it.
Best moment: Tight battles all over the track.
Worst moment: Seeing hateful stuff on this forum about drivers.

And the race in a sentence: Much better than anticipiated.

[Ramon69]

Best driver: Verstappen 
Worst driver: Mazepin - is there no way of firing this guy???
Best team: Red Bull
Worst team: Ferrari
Best overtake: I enjoyed Norris on Alonso the most! It came as a surprise!
Worst overtake:
Best moment: Last laps with Max chasing the Mercs!
Worst moment: Max leaving the track at the start!

[domhnall]

Best driver: Hamilton, what more could he have done today?
Worst driver: None
Best team: McLaren, blew their rivals away.
Worst team: None
Best overtake: Norris on Alonso
Worst overtake: None
Best moment: Laps leading up to the pit stops. Love those races where you're second guessing what everyone is going to do
Worst moment: Lack of rain

And the race in a gif:

 

[Mat13]

Best driver: Norris, and welcome to F1 Daniel Ricciardo.

Worst driver: Bottas?

Best team: McLaren- good strategy, and wait for it- TWO good pit stops!

Worst team: The Mercedes strategy lot.

Best overtake: Norris on Alonso.

Worst overtake: Verstappen on Hamilton- massive anticlimax.

Best moment: Realising McLaren has two drivers again.

Worst moment: none stand out actually.

The race in a sentence: France was good! Actually, good and had racing, with overtakes and everything. 8/10

[eibyyz]

Worst driver: Mazepin - is there no way of firing this guy???
 

 

he's driving like his daddy's bankrolling the team.  Wait...

[messy]

9/10 - brilliant. A properly tense wheel to wheel, head to head race between the two best drivers of the moment, won by the younger man on a day where the old legend did everything he’s done in past glory days to win - he was crafty, clever, managed to keep the pace up on old tyres, everything we’ve come to expect Lewis to throw at winning a race. Only this time he didn’t and it was taken in brilliant fashion by Max. Was that THE definining image of the guard changing? Either way, I loved it. That was easily the best race on this circuit (but still bring back Magny Cours)

Best driver - Lando Norris was brilliant, as he has been repeatedly this year.
Worst driver - nobody was terrible, but I have been disappointed with Tsunoda on balance so far.
Best team - McLaren got it all right. If their car was half a second a lap quicker they’d be hard to beat, but it isn’t.
Worst team - Ferrari really didn’t turn up this weekend.
Best overtake - Norris’ on Fernando was a thing of beauty.
Worst overtake - not Max’s fault, but his pass on Bottas was a mess because Valtteri really screwed up his defence.
Best moment - Max sweeping past Lewis into the lead.
Worst moment - nothing really, it was pretty good.

[fastlegs]

Really enjoyed watching Max's comeback for the win! Great race!

[Lucky13]

Best driver: Norris
Worst driver: Bottas - for lack of other options
Best team: RedBull
Worst team: Ferrari
Best overtake: Norris on Alonso
Worst overtake: Gasley on Norris
Best moment: Max switching back to the medium
Worst moment: David Crofts commentary throughout

And the race in a sentence: Adrenaline fuelled, high speed chess.

[HighwayStar]

I give the race 9/10, easily the best grand prix of the modern era at Paul Ricard and produced a superb race-long battle involving all four drivers from the top four teams, with a late overtake for the race victory and plenty of racing up and down the field.

 

Best driver: Max Verstappen, superb qualifying yesterday and although he made a mistake at the first corner he did well to stay ahead of Bottas (with the undercut proving so powerful today) and hold off the Mercedes drivers mid-race before. Plenty of previous late charges have run out of steam near the end of the race so getting past Hamilton was the crowning moment of another strong weekend for him.
Worst driver: Tsunoda's weekend was the biggest disappointment for me with a costly mistake in qualifying and relatively little progress in the race, especially with Gasly scoring another solid points finish.
Best team: McLaren, with no issues for Mercedes or Red Bull 5th and 6th was the best possible result available to them so they get everything they realistically could from the weekend. Also seemed to cope better with the tyre situation than most other teams, helped by choosing what turned out to be the better strategy for Norris.
Worst team: Ferrari, to fail to score any points from their starting positions was a major disappointment and they seemed to have serious issues with tyre wear beyond those experienced by the other teams. Easy to forget that Leclerc and Sainz were in strong positions at the beginning of the second stint because they fell away so badly afterwards.
Best overtake: Norris passing Alonso was a joy to watch, Lando at his opportunistic best and further evidence of his burgeoning talent.
Worst overtake: Verstappen on Bottas, not because of Verstappen but because of Bottas misjudging his braking point, which made the resulting pass easy and helped Mercedes lose the race. It reminded me in spirit rather than detail of Fisichella's attempts to fend off Raikkonen at Suzuka in 2005.
Best moment: Hamilton somehow managing to extend his lead over Verstappen on worn tyres, indicating that he would not lose the race win so easily if he could help it.
Worst moment: Mazepin forcing Mick Schumacher off the track in the early stages, echoing their late race confrontation in Baku.

And the race in a sentence: Great battle between the top two teams with both interesting strategy and close racing, bodes well for the coming races.

[FLB]

Best driver: Verstappen. Quite the recovery   
Worst driver: Bottas. Oh my.
Best team: Red Bull.
Worst team: La Scuderia Ferrari...   
Best overtake: Verstappen on Bottas. *The* race-defining moment.
Worst overtake: Nothing too bad. No blunders.
Best moment: Understanding the race would not be decided until the very last laps   
Worst moment: Thinking the race was over after the first corner.

And the race in a sentence:  Sooooooo much, much, much, much better than the previous French Grand-Prix in 2019.

Edited by FLB, 20 June 2021 - 20:14.

[HeadFirst]

Best driver: Perez, Stroll ... two drivers who know how to make a given strategy work. Lots of others too.
Worst driver: 
Best team: Red Bull ... a winning strategy and great pit stops
Worst team: Mercedes ... snatching victory from the jaws of defeat
Best overtake: Alonso on Leclerc (early), Grosjean on Rossi (ooops wrong race)   
Worst overtake:
Best moment: Many, but I'll say watching Norris throughout (yes I know that's not a moment)
Worst moment: No fight from Lewis at the end (tires).

And the race in a sentence: Very enjoyable, although those stupid lines made my head spin at times (onboards).  

[Gambelli]

Best driver: There was no absolute best driver as Verstappen's mistake made life a bit harder than it had to be, Norris had a poor 1st lap, so maybe I might give it to Ricciardo showed up at the races finally!

Worst driver: was anyone bad?  I don't think so
Best team: Red Bull - they were pretty much perfect today, as were McLaren
Worst team: Again, none, Ferrari's Sunday performance was horrid but it doesn't mean they did bad as a team
Best overtake: Verstappen on Hamilton, Norris on Alonso was good too
Worst overtake: None really
Best moment: Verstappen for the win
Worst moment: Verstappen going off at turn 1 and looking like he ruined what was going to be a great race.

 

And the race in a sentence:  I couldn't ask for much more from a dry F1 race, an certainly not from Paul Ricard, this race will be remembered for a while

Edited by Gambelli, 21 June 2021 - 02:03.

[tourister46a]

Best driver: Hamilton for being generally flawless. Can't vote for Verstappen due to the clear error in turn 1

Worst driver: None that comes to mind
Best team: Red Bull
Worst team: Mercedes for losing Hamilton's lead, though it was fine margins
Best overtake: Nothing comes to mind
Worst overtake: Norris on Ricciardo
Best moment: Verstappen taking the lead after his outlap
Worst moment: Verstappen losing it in lap 1 turn 1

And the race in a sentence: A tense battle all the way to the finish but not many memorable wheel to wheel moments outside the top 4. 7/10

[NewMrMe]

Best driver: Verstappen
Worst driver: Bottas
Best team: Red Bull
Worst team: Mercedes for losing the race on strategy
Best overtake: Norris on Alonso at Le Beausset
Worst overtake: Can't think of any bad ones.
Best moment: The race not being decide until the last couple of laps.
Worst moment: The trophies

And the race in a sentence: Best F1 race of the year so far.

[Laptom]

And the race in a sentence: A tense battle all the way to the finish but not many memorable wheel to wheel moments outside the top 4. 7/10

Are you sure? I saw some good battles behind the top 4.

[Casey]

Ricciardo and Norris 

 

 

And the race in a sentence: A tense battle all the way to the finish but not many memorable wheel to wheel moments outside the top 4. 7/10

What !

Ricciardo and Norris ....

[shure]

hard for me to give a full judgement as my daughter took me out for a late Father's Day lunch(!), so missed most of it, but from reading everything it sounds like a pretty decent race.

 

From the limited overtakes I did see, the McLaren tandem on Alonso looked pretty good, as did Seb's, and the fact the race wasn't won until right at the very end is always good from an entertainment perspective!

[Sterzo]

hard for me to give a full judgement as my daughter took me out for a late Father's Day lunch(!), so missed most of it,  perspective!

And I missed parts of the highlights having to keep opening the biscuit tin and making more coffee. I wonder if our commitment levels are the reason we aren't Mercedes team-mates? Can't be any other reason.