#medium lando norris era

[formulaonedirection]

hey batter batter hey batter batter swing ⚾️

[f1]

2023 F1 Belgian GP RACE analysis by Peter Windsor

Several were the intrigues before the start of the Belgian GP; as it turned out, though, it was just another Max Verstappen Masterclass. In this video, Peter Windsor highlights the heart of Max's race - the section of the Spa circuit in which he was able to establish huge margins even when he was driving conservatively - and looks also at what happened to his nearest opposition. Max's Red Bull team-mate, Sergio Perez, started ahead of the World Champion on the grid but could do nothing about him as the race unfolded. Ferrari finished third (with Charles Leclerc) and Mercedes fourth (with Lewis Hamilton) but it was a disappointing day for McLaren-Mercedes, with Oscar Piastri's race ending at the first corner and Lando Norris, who strangely started on medium-compound Pirellis, having to recover from a lowly P16 to finish P7. Significant race stats courtesy of Aleš Norskŷ: 20th pole position for Charles Leclerc 175th start for Max Verstappen 50th Top Ten for Lance Stroll www.GPfactsandnumbers.com With thanks to Jetcraft, the world's largest buyer and seller of executive jets: https://jetcraft.com And to pitbox.io. Say goodbye to pitlane guesswork and hello to a new era of precision and efficiency. Pitbox.io provides the tools you need to optimize your performance and maximize your chances of victory: https://pitbox.io Images: Pirelli, Oracle Red Bull, AMG Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Alpine, Aston Martin and Alpha Tauri Follow Peter on Twitter @peterdwindsor We support the Race Against Dementia: https://raceagainstdementia.com #STANDWITHUKRAINE via Peter Windsor https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPwy2q7BNjdLYu1kM_OEJVw

[meaningofmotorsport]

Portuguese Grand Prix Review

Once again, we got a race full of overtaking, with the DRS zones being the right length this year, leading to many close moments into Turn 1. However, it was tyre warm up which was so crucial in the race, and helped to shape how the race would finish!

The headlines may say that Lewis won comfortably, but there is so much more to the race than that, this was a race he really fought for, although he did have the fastest car! He may have let Max through at the restart, due to being distracted, yet he was able to put pressure on him, pass him, and then chase after his teammate, who sadly could not keep the pace up from Saturday. It was probably best not to pit Hamilton for the fastest lap, as whilst he has lost out on what could be a crucial point, it could have gone so wrong! His second win of the year does put him safely up front in the title race, however the threat from Red Bull is still clear, and he will need to keep on top form to hold them back! You do have to feel for Bottas slightly, he is trying his best, but he just can’t match the two drivers, who are easily up there as greats of this era!

They may not have had the fastest car in the race, however when you look at the progression from 2020, where Mercedes were dominant here, the improvements are clear to see! Obviously, they would have wanted to win, but as we head to circuits later in the year where the gap last year was more marginal, they could be fastest! Verstappen did all he could in the race, made the most of the restart, yet a small mistake as he tried to stay with Bottas, let Hamilton get a run on him, and he couldn’t fight back from there. The undercut on Bottas worked brilliantly, as would have the pitstop for fastest lap, but once again this weekend, he couldn’t keep it on the track! Considering their lack of straight line speed, Perez had an incredible race, as holding off those behind on both the start and restart was impossible on mediums, and with Lando’s Mercedes engine, he didn’t have much chance. Once he did get past though, he matched the leaders for pace, and only lost time when they undercut him, whilst he stayed out hoping for a Safety Car, and to hold up Lewis, otherwise it was really solid, and should build confidence in the car for him!

Yet again, Norris maximised his race, even when he was left out on mediums for so long, which teams like Ferrari really struggled on. I must say he was lucky though, to not be told to give the position back to Checo after the restart, as he went wide out of Turn 4, which you can argue allowed him to carry more speed and pass the Red Bull, but it didn’t matter much in the end. He really is one of the best drivers this year, close to Lewis and Max, given their mistakes! Ricciardo probably did all he could today, grabbing some points for the team, as he grows with them, and settles into the car. At this point, and I hope I don’t jinx them, it would be a disaster almost, if they didn’t finish third in the constructors!

It was a race of two halves for Leclerc, as on the mediums he couldn’t make much progress, and stayed near the bottom of the top 10. We were surprised that he pitted so early, but now looking back it was smart, as he was instantly gaining on his teammate, and then kept Lando under pressure for the rest of the race, adding to the team’s points tally. It was the same story for Sainz, with the halves switched around. However, because the second stint was longer, it really hurt him, and he dropped out of the top 10. This if anything speaks more as to how good Norris drove, to keep the tyres under him, especially as Carlos was chasing him early on! Nevertheless, Ferrari should be pleased with the pace, as attention has already turned for them to 2022!

When I said that Alpine looked good in practice, I was doubtful that it would translate into anything when it mattered, for qualifying or the race. However, I was proved wrong, as one car reached Q3, and both were storming through the field at the end of the race, especially Alonso. This was very much needed, after they struggled to get many points up until now, only helped by other people’s penalties! Their pace turnaround is a mystery to the paddock, but apparently good straight-line speed helped, which could be useful down the line. Once again though it is Ocon on top in the team, which I am sure Fernando is not used to!

Alpha Tauri were struggling all weekend, obviously the unusual conditions here did not suit their car, which after all the preseason hype, has not really delivered on the potential it has. It will come for them though I am sure! Tsunoda, after starting the year really well does seem to be struggling a bit, which can’t be surprising, given his lack of experience! Gasly did well to get some points, but 5 points does not show the pace they have!

With a more normal race, compared to the chaos at Imola, Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo did not have much of a chance of scoring points! Although for Giovinazzi to beat both Astons’, really shows the gains they have made, as well as the step back for the Silverstone based team. Vettel is getting used to the car now seemingly, and apparently with updates coming, there could be light at the end of the tunnel for them! Kimi’s mistake of crashing into Antonio was clumsy, although with the complexity of the modern steering wheels, you can’t blame him much!

The ‘peaky’ car at Williams was not seeing many heights on Sunday, as Russell said it was horrible in dirty air, which caused him to drop like a stone in the early part of the race, from his amazing starting spot! So, it was a tough day for the team, however with the form they showed at Imola, there is at least hope of points this year! Haas should be pleased with the pace that Mick showed, as he held on to the pack pretty well, and was able to pass Latifi late on in the race. He is doing so well currently in that car, and given how he usually struggles in the first year in a new series, we could see even better things in the future!

This weekend has shown that Mercedes are not as bad as they claimed to be this year, and it will be all about making the most of opportunities that come each team’s way, as a couple of points could be crucial come Abu Dhabi! This means that points for fastest lap and sprint races, cannot be underestimated, in the longest season in F1 history!

-M

[freenewstoday]

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/03/12/mercedes-struggle-at-first-f1-test-day/

Mercedes struggle at first F1 test day

Testing was made more difficult by a sandstorm at Sakhir

Mercedes had a difficult start to three days of Formula 1 testing in Bahrain.

Lewis Hamilton and team-mate Valtteri Bottas ended the day 10th and 17th fastest and managed the lowest number of laps in the field.

Mercedes had problems with reliability and the handling of the car.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fastest, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and new Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz.

Conditions were difficult all day, with strong winds and a sandstorm making the track slippery throughout.

The worst period was at the start of the afternoon session, when the track was so dirty that cars were throwing up plumes of sand as they circulated the lap.

But conditions improved later in the day and drivers were able to improve their times.

What went wrong at Mercedes?

World Champions Mercedes’ day started badly when Bottas suffered a gearbox problem after just one lap.

Mercedes decided to change the gearbox and investigate the problem later, but that cost the Finn nearly all his first day’s running and he managed only a further five laps before handing over to Hamilton for the afternoon.

Team principal Toto Wolff said: “It wasn’t a good start because we had a gearbox issue that came out of nowhere that we haven’t yet been able to identify and understand.”

When Hamilton went out at the start of the afternoon session, conditions were at their worst, the Sakhir track enveloped in a sand cloud and conditions on track treacherous, the cars throwing up plumes of sand.

Hamilton found the car’s balance to be poor and returned to the pits for set-up changes.

When he returned to the track, the team concentrated on long runs with high fuel loads and used only the hard ‘C2’ tyres while others explored the faster and grippier C3s and C4s.

Still the car did not look comfortable, though, with Hamilton clearly struggling for grip and having a number of ‘moments’ where he struggled to keep control, ran wide or locked a wheel.

Despite their problems, Mercedes remain strong favourites for the season ahead, having won seven consecutive title doubles since the start of F1’s turbo hybrid engine era in 2014.

Who looked good?

Headline testing times are notoriously misleading as it is impossible to know the specification in which teams are running their cars and fuel loads and engine modes can make significant differences to performance.

Nevertheless, Red Bull’s pre-season got off to a good start as Verstappen displayed strong pace on both the C2 and C3 tyres, well clear of the rest of the field on both compounds.

The Dutchman, who had a spin at Turn Two early in the day, set his fastest time on the C3 tyre and ended the day 0.4secs clear of any other driver, and more than a second quicker than the second fastest driver on the medium tyre.

McLaren also had a strong day as Lando Norris and new signing Daniel Ricciardo had their first real experience of the Mercedes engine to which the team have switched this season.

Ricciardo was fastest of all in the morning session, while Norris was second fastest in the later running, just over 0.2secs slower than Verstappen.

Team principal Andreas Seidl said: “It worked out fine.

“From the Mercedes side, there was no issue. It was also very important that Daniel got his first taste of McLaren in full anger. He has invested a lot of energy to ensure he was ready.

“So far so good. We still have a lot of work to do but I am confident we will be ready for the first race.”

Esteban Ocon’s Alpine was third fastest, using the softer C4 tyre for his best lap for what was formerly the Renault team.

And Lance Stroll went fourth quickest late in the day for Aston Martin, formerly known as Racing Point. His new team-mate Sebastian Vettel ran in the hotter conditions of the morning session and ended the day 13th fastest.

Mick Schumacher was another to suffer with reliability problems, a hydraulic issue in the morning restricting the son of seven-time champion Michael to just 15 laps.

FASTEST TIMES, 2021 PRE-SEASON TESTING, DAY ONE, SAKHIR, BAHRAIN

1 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:30.674 ***

2 Lando Norris (GB) McLaren 1:30.889 ***

3 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Alpine 1:31.146 ****

4 Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin 1:31.782 +

5 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Ferrari 1:32.869 ***

6 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Alfa Romeo 1:31.945 ***

7 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) McLaren 1:32.203 ***

8 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Alpha Tauri 1:32.231 ***

9 Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) Alpha Tauri 1:32.727 **

10 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Mercedes 1:32.912 **

11 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1:33.242 ***

12 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo 1:33.320 **

13 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Aston Martin 1:33.742 ***

14 Roy Nissany (Isr) Williams 1:34.789 ***

15 Nikita Mazepin (Rus) Haas 1:34.798 ***

16 Mick Schumacher (Ger) Haas 1:36.127 **

17 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes 1:36.850 **

Key: ** = C2 (hard) tyre; *** = C3 (medium) tyre; + = C3 development tyre

Source

[formulaonedirection]

bawdy ody ody ody

[formulaonedirection]

Lando’s lost his girlfriend, his live-in boyfriend, his team-mate, and his team boss. No wonder he’s unhinged. Sending him positive vibes for a great Christmas and a killer 2023.

SDLFKJSLDKFJSALK LMFAO. New beginnings for our Lando in 2023. He's gonna be the senior driver of his team! Single and ready to mingle! He's gonna drink COFFEE. He's gonna have FACIAL HAIR!! Medium Lando Norris era is upon us and we should all get ready.

[formulaonedirection]

if you could stage an intervention for “medium” lando norris what is the first thing you would tackle

Like I said I would not stage an intervention for MEDIUM Lando Norris because I personally think it's funny to see him wear really bad outfits and "flirt" with girls. I want him to get worse actually. I'm thinking popped collars? Double popped collar?? I hope he starts white boy rapping soon. I really see that for him in this era 🥰

[f1]

Hamilton 'would have won' British GP without Safety Car says Wolff as he expects 'difficult' Austrian weekend

Had the Safety Car not come out on Lap 39 of the British Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton would have sealed his ninth win at Silverstone on Sunday – that is the belief held by his Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff, who lamented the team’s struggles with warming up the soft tyre, which ultimately caused Hamilton settle for third place. After making it past Lando Norris on Lap 5, Hamilton, now in free air, was the fastest man on track as he closed in on Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc at the front. And after both Ferrari drivers came into the pit lane to change their tyres, the seven-time world champion went on to lead his first laps in a race since the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. TECH TUESDAY: Analysing Red Bull's radical updates for the British Grand Prix Later on, a late Safety Car allowed Hamilton to switch to the soft tyre as he attempted to regain the lead, but a slow restart allowed Sergio Perez to overtake the Mercedes driver, while Sainz pulled away to win the race. Speaking after the race, Wolff was encouraged by his team’s ability to battle with the Ferrari drivers and Perez in the Red Bull, but rued their loss of “momentum” at the restart. “Very pleased [with the performance], the car had some performance today and we were in there to win the race and that’s very encouraging,” said Wolff. “I think we probably lost a little bit of momentum after the restart, but we had almost no bouncing which was encouraging, and the pace was good on the hards and on the medium, just on the softs we were not able to really get the grip that we would have wished at the end. “I think without the Safety Car he would have probably won the race. And at the end it was just Perez was there and Sainz just went. It’s okay – the most encouraging, like I said before, is that we had a car that was able to race.” 2022 British Grand Prix: Hamilton celebrates ‘good points’ with P3 at Silverstone Mercedes brought a string of upgrades to Silverstone, with our data showing that they were now more of a match for the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull. So when asked what the goals for his team were for the rest of the season, Wolff replied: “I think we just want to, on our own, win races. That would be great, and be there fighting with them. That would be a target, so we have a car that we can develop for next year also.” Mercedes now head to the Red Bull Ring for the Austrian Grand Prix, which they have won just once in the last four years (not including the Styrian Grand Prix also previously held at the Red Bull Ring). And Wolff does not expect their W13 car to be as strong in Austria as it could be in France the race after. READ MORE: Ross Brawn on the ‘fabulous racing’ at Silverstone, his relief after Zhou’s crash & why we’re truly entering a new era of F1 “I think Austria was always a little bit difficult,” said Wolff. “There are three corners that we don’t like, three and four with a warp. But high speed should be good there and Paul Richard should be a good one, but we have to sort out the car generally.” Mercedes head to the Austrian Grand Prix third in the constructors’ championship, 61 points behind Ferrari in second. via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com