[Kashi053]

For all who has little or no interest in F1, please do watch "Drive to Survive" in Netflix. I and some of my friends are live example how we became big fan of F1 after this series. For others who regularly follow F1, its a must watch

[KPR]

For sure this season is going to be amazing for RBR fans. Checo can bring more points to RB than Albon for sure. But what happened to Dark Green Mercedes? Didn't look promising at all as Pink did last season! Of course it is only first race of the season let's wait for more to come.

[ecenandu]

What a wonderful race, loved the battle between Hamilton and Max. This race reminded me of 2012 US GP, which was even close between Hamilton and Vettel. This is exactly what F1 wanted, hoping for more close racing between the top two teams.

What a joke Mr MazeSPIN is turning out to be, guys, we have Mr Maldanado V2.0.

[clementw]

That was an exciting race. Very curious about the lack of pace in the Haas cars. Considering that the works cars were fast and much better than 2020 and even Alpha Romeo had good performance with Kimi showing some traces of his past, the way Haas cars behaved was curious. Mazepin looks way out of his depth here and may have taken few others out with him. Was disappointed to see Alonso retire but with early signs may see more of the lovely blue car in the days ahead. Checo comes up with blistering laps each time he is pushed to the wall and will soon be hunting down Max among others.

It is going to be an exciting year with very little splitting the front runners and the mid field, will not be surprised if the podiums have orange, scarlet, blue and even green more regularly.

[AJITHAAA]

That 'Leave it to me Bono' was an epic statement.

[mnram]

What a start to the 2021 Season....One of the most exhilarating races in recent times..there were battles all over the entire field..

Looking forward to :
1. Max vs Ham Driver Championship battle
2. Merc vs RBR constructors battle
3. McLaren vs Ferrari for the 3rd place in Constructors
4. Pace of the Alpha Tauri. Expecting to throw in some big surprises
5. Fight for the 3rd in the Driver championship - Norris vs Leclerc vs Sainz vs Ricciardo vs Perez vs Bottas - Too early to predict the potential contenders

I hope that Aston Martin finds some pace and gives a proper fight in the mid fields. I really wish SEB could get some podiums this year.

Cheers to F1 2021!!

[Torquefreak]

What a race! Definitely missed this in the offseason.
Max deserved the win, seeing how well he raced with the problems he had with the car in the beginning. At least we’ll hopefully see an actual “contention” for the driver’s championship this year .
I’m more excited about what Tsunoda is bringing to the table for Alpha Tauri, getting a points finish on chia F1 debut! Can’t wait to see more of the guy on the track.
What are your thoughts about the midfield situation as of now? McLaren P3 anyone?

[prasanna.vps]

Good race, wonderful defense by Lewis, but Max essentially gave the win away, I thought he was a touch impatient.

I feel its high time we get re-fueling back into F1, this allows for some interesting strategies, given the tyres are now same for everyone. Imagine how safety cars and fueling strategies will throw open possibilities. God, I miss the old days!

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by GTO

I also like how Max / Red Bull had the maturity to immediately let Hamilton through after that overtaking move.

No question of maturity GTO, Horner categorically told Max it was a Race Control directive to allow Hamilton through because Max had all four wheels outside the white line when he overtook Hamilton. If Red Bull/Max would not have heeded the directive you can imagine the penalty for such an infraction.

In fact Max wanted to go ahead with the overtake and mentioned he would have made up the 5 seconds. That would have been really stupid as the penalty for not heeding a directive would have been really heavy.

Cheers

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

No question of maturity GTO, Horner categorically told Max it was a Race Control directive to allow Hamilton through because Max had all four wheels outside the white line when he overtook Hamilton. If Red Bull/Max would not have heeded the directive you can imagine the penalty for such an infraction.



Cheers

That's correct. However, the sporting bit, or rather, wary reaction was how within a handful of corners, without even the commentators having had a chance to discuss the incident, he let Hamilton through.

[CptSlow]

Damn! the race was heart-stopping! This could very well be the season fans have been wishing for. There were good mid-field battles in previous seasons but we haven't had such close fight for P1 in a long time, so refreshing to see. Perez also drove beautifully to finish 5th after pit-lane start which gives the hope that finally Red Bull would be able to attack Mercedes with both their drivers, unlike the previous seasons.

[reddyboi]

The race was too good!

We definitely have to appreciate Redbull and Max for tackling the Mercedes 2 vs 1 strategy and the constant undercutting!

If there wasn't the tyre changing issue with Bottas in the second pitstop, the race would have been even more exciting with Bottas defending/putting pressure on Max

And I feel that if Max didn't overtake Hamilton from the outside and waited for another lap, it would have easily been his win!

Nevertheless, the season is going to be amazing!

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by mayankk

That's correct. However, the sporting bit, or rather, wary reaction was how within a handful of corners, without even the commentators having had a chance to discuss the incident, he let Hamilton through.

Nothing sporting or wary at all Mayankk, when Race Control calls, the team obeys, pretty straightforward. Commentators are just commentators not rule makers, they can only offer opinions or interpretations of the rules nothing else.

In fact Race Control did Red Bull a favour by letting them know immediately rather than allowing the race to go on and then taking the victory away from Max for breaking the white line rule with a penalty which may have cost him second place also.

Red Bull/Christian Horner didn’t do anything except what a team/boss should have done under the circumstances.

Cheers

[ZenMaster]

Originally Posted by shibujp

Verstappen was tested and found wanting. But if this is the sign of things to come it's going to be a mega season. However I found the mid-field battles to be quite less action packed than last year.

Drive on,
Shibu

I think that's because the broadcasting didn't focus too much on them at the right times.

There was quite a good scremable throughout the race between the guys from 6th to 11th. Carlos, Alonso, Tsunoda and Vettel was good action.

But yeah , the top of the midfield didn't see much action.
But I think once Sainz,Perez and Ricciardo gets their qualifying and starts proper and gets into the groove, it will definitely become intense.

[BrakingBad]

Mod note: Post edited. Dotty post, please avoid... typing... like this... Thanks!


Awesome Race! Both Lewis and Max drove on the limits and gave a gripping end. Also another solid comeback drive from Perez, deserved the "driver of the Race" 100% [

Originally Posted by Cyborg

In fact Max wanted to go ahead with the overtake and mentioned he would have made up the 5 seconds. That would have been really stupid as the penalty for not heeding a directive would have been really heavy.

Cheers

Yes, What's bothering me is the mindset of Max. Even after the race director and team telling him that he has broken the rule (which he is also aware of) he saying he would have overcome the penalty/punishment of 5 seconds, shows the desperation. He made a minor error in the following lap / next one to blow away the possibility of overtake. I am reminded of 2018 Monaco where he became impatient and blown away the chance to win and Daniel Ricciardo won.

Wait till Perez outperform him, (hopefully) Dr.Marco and Horner will have very tough time. Mercedes will also be hoping for the same.

Bottas' race was compromised in the pitstop fiasco. Poor fellow. But he is becoming longer in Mercedes' tooth. I am longing to see how George Russell does against Lewis.