106 replies to this topic

[PlayboyRacer]

This goes both ways. Is he judged too harshly when the car started being poor or is he judged too nicely when the car was competitive?

Perhaps a comparison with Ricciardo might answer this to a degree. Was Daniel closer to Lando in the second half of 2021, compared to the first half? I don't think DR improved significantly through the year (Monza was a total outlier) so perhaps - if he was closer - that was more down to Lando's form dropping off to a degree?

[ARTGP]

This goes both ways. Is he judged too harshly when the car started being poor or is he judged too nicely when the car was competitive?

 

Did the car start being poor, or did Ferrari bolt on 30-40bhp out of nowhere with their ERS upgrade....while around the same time, the Mercedes customer PU power level was cutback for reliability reasons. 

 

I don't feel Lando's form declined. He qualified P3 in the last round in a Mclaren...

Edited by ARTGP, 04 January 2022 - 22:31.

[PlayboyRacer]

I don't feel Lando's form declined. He qualified P3 in the last round in a Mclaren...

That's a bit like saying Ferrari weren't inferior to McLaren in the first half of 2021... because they outperformed them at Monaco.

It's fine if you don't agree of course. So long as you're looking at a large sample of qualifying sessions and races.

[William Hunt]

words fail me how many (including the team bosses) put Sainz ahead of Leclerc

 

I agree: Leclerc was clearly the quicker driver of the two and he could have won at Monaco & Silverstone. Exactly at Monaco, where Leclerc didn't start from his pole position, Sainz scored his high point of the season: the championship tables would have looked very different if Leclerc had actually been able to start here: he probably would have won then. Sainz was very consistent but imho never showed the blinding speed that Leclerc is capable of producing. 

Edited by William Hunt, 05 January 2022 - 00:43.

[PlayboyRacer]

I agree: Leclerc was clearly the quicker driver of the two and he could have won at Monaco & Silverstone. Exactly at Monaco, where Leclerc didn't start from his pole position, Sainz scored his high point of the season: the championship tables would have looked very different if Leclerc had actually been able to start here: he probably would have won then. Sainz was very consistent but imho never showed the blinding speed that Leclerc is capable of producing.

And before someone inevitably jumps in, on Monaco it's more than fair enough to say Leclerc cost himself starting on pole position because of his qualifying crash.

However the crash didn't stop him *starting* the race. That was solely down to Ferrari themselves. If they repair the car and take a penalty, Leclerc still would have finished well, a good helping of points if not a podium.

Silverstone he deserved a win. That was a brilliant drive, a brilliant weekend actually.

[ARTGP]

That's a bit like saying Ferrari weren't inferior to McLaren in the first half of 2021... because they outperformed them at Monaco.

It's fine if you don't agree of course. So long as you're looking at a large sample of qualifying sessions and races.

 

Except I don't agree with the former opinion. Ferrari really were inferior the first half. Not enough engine power. Jekyll and Hyde Chassis. Monaco and Baku qualy were massive outliers relative to Mclaren. 

 

Russia - pole

Turkey - **** qualy, but Ricciardo knocked out in Q1 as well so safe to say the Mclaren didn't like this circuit.

US - now this was probably a low point. Still, only beaten by Ferrari with the PU upgrade on both cars (+30bhp), and his teammate by a hair who had a fresh PU the race before.

Mexico - Grid penalty, starts from back of grid....

Brazil - not bad in qualy/sprint race. Only beaten by revamped Ferrari PU and qualy special AT (absolutely dreadful race pace), then misjudgment (hero to zero) ruined his race on lap 1 with Sainz.

Qatar - outqualified both Ferraris. Puncture ruined his race.

Saudi Arabia - Qualy P7, outpaces 1 Ferrari. Red flag ruins his race.

Abu Dhabi - Qualy P4, Puncture in race

 

The only legitimate "bad form" I saw from him was possibly USA and Mexico. In both he really had no business being behind Ricciardo but one thing to keep in mind Ric had a fresh Merc PU4 compared to Norris who had 5 or so races on his PU3. Perhaps a bit of a slump because of the Turkey loss, or we were just observing the Merc PU degradation. 

 

Then the last 4 races for Norris were untimely with lots of bad luck and PU issues being nursed. Hard to say what is decline, vs Merc PU degradation, vs Ferrari PU magic, and plenty of race ruining incidents as well. It was really hard to shine under those circumstances. 

Edited by ARTGP, 05 January 2022 - 01:40.

[F1Frog]

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