Who will be 2021 World Champion?

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Who will be the 2021 Formula 1 World Champion?

Poll ended at 3 years ago

Hamilton
22
81%
Bottas
1
4%
Verstappen
3
11%
Perez
1
4%
Vettel
0
No votes
Leclerc
0
No votes
Sainz
0
No votes
Alonso
0
No votes
Someone else
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 27

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#31

Post by PTRACER »

Bottom post of the previous page:

Aty wrote: 3 years ago Yes, I do I agree that Hamilton can drive a car made for him better than Bottas does. No need to fight that point.

Why people vote for him overwhelmingly over other drivers? Beats me, but I suspect too much of social Dopamine might have something to do with it. People look for safe harbour among their peers.

I din't vote. It will take a few races before I stick my head, thinking loud - it's over for this year.
You will find this forum unique in that we are a group of people who actually seldom agree with each other, we just don't get personal about it and so there is no need for sheep mentality. In this case I think we have all seen Hamilton win so many in a row it is hard to see anyone wrestling the title from him again until 2022.

Sure, the car is made around Hamilton, but it is not made around Russell. He jumped in and categorically beat Bottas in Bahrain having never driven the Mercedes all season (not sure if he did in pre-season testing?).
MonteCristo wrote: 3 years ago
erwin greven wrote: 3 years ago When you have a great car, you have to have the talent to get the maximum out of the car. Look at Bottas. Good driver, but not capable to get the maximum out of the car. Just finishing a few points above Max Verstappen who has a lesser car.
Sure. But if Bottas had a worse teammate, he'd be WDC.
I would be interested to know, if you delete all of Hamilton's results in 2020, would Bottas have still finished ahead of Max? Both had 2 wins, 11 podiums and Max had one extra fastest lap.
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#32

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Aty wrote: 3 years ago Yes, I do I agree that Hamilton can drive a car made for him better than Bottas does. No need to fight that point.

Why people vote for him overwhelmingly over other drivers? Beats me, but I suspect too much of social Dopamine might have something to do with it. People look for safe harbour among their peers.

I din't vote. It will take a few races before I stick my head, thinking loud - it's over for this year.
If you are suggesting cars are built to suit one driver more than the other I totally agree. Is the Merc built for Hamilton. Is the Red Bull made for Max? Was last year's Ferrari built around Leclerc more than Vettel? I have no doubt, and to me it aint rocket science they do that. With Ferrari Leclerc is the future and Vettel isnt. With chassis changes limited going into this year it made sense. As it does for Max, Lewis and all the fvoured drivers.

We saw Albon last year struggle with a car that initially Max found difficult, but as the season progressed the car was developed to suit Max more than Albon.

It isnt a new thing and as you mentioned Kimi suffered when Alonso came in.

Whereas the cars can be trimmed to suit different styles more, but the better engineers are obviously assigned to the lead / favoured driver. A team is clearly going to divert resources to the side of the garage where the results are likely to come from.

Im no fan of Hamilton, but I have to say he is the cream of the crop.... he is in a team he has driven for for many years, he and his engineers have developed an intimate working relationship, and the benefits are what we see.. It stands to reason the better driver in the best car is going to come out on top.

Bottom line is, being a #2 is a tough gig.

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#33

Post by Aty »

Declaring someone winner so soon and admitting that forthcoming racing season is just more of the same what we had for a while would deprive me from hope, that someone unexpectedly might come from behind and turn world upside down. It is just sliver of hope, but that's all what I have right now. The grid is tightening up, and in my estimation there are no less than 5 drivers with equipment capable to chisel some points of the car #44. Hamilton will face probably toughest competition yet since 2013, which up to now was almost non-existent. One thing more; there are some drivers who are hungry to stand on the top spot. I am not convinced that Hamilton is one of them, at least not that hungry, and that could make all the difference.
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#34

Post by Ruslan »

The sliver of hope is the guy who voted for Perez.
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#35

Post by MonteCristo »

Ruslan wrote: 3 years ago The sliver of hope is the guy who voted for Perez.
There's got to be some kind of cat/earthquake/alcohol explanation to that vote :tongue:.
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#36

Post by Aty »

Perez (Checo) seems to be chronically underrated. He might have only outside chance to win WDC, but what do I know, and he - in my book - deserves respect as a serious contender. After all, he didn't get where he is by being a slouch. My expectations aren't high about his term, but I am ready to be pleasantly surprised. He has done so already last year, despite being considered by certain people as "spend force".
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#37

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Aty wrote: 3 years ago Perez (Checo) seems to be chronically underrated. He might have only outside chance to win WDC, but what do I know, and he - in my book - deserves respect as a serious contender. After all, he didn't get where he is by being a slouch. My expectations aren't high about his term, but I am ready to be pleasantly surprised. He has done so already last year, despite being considered by certain people as "spend force".
I always thought he was a bit of a loose cannon in his early career, but now he has developed into a solid and consistent points winner who will always be there or thereabouts and is likely to bring the car home in one piece. His tyre management is superb, and I have become quite a fan of his.

I just hope he can take it to Max and hopefully beat him as often as not. Im not holding my breath but it would be nice. I was happy for Checo to get a drive to keep him in F1 after being shafted for Vettel by Racing Point/AM. Hopefully he will regularly beat Vettel in his old ride.

(BTW it was not me that voted Perez for WDC.) :haha:

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#38

Post by PTRACER »

Aty wrote: 3 years ago Perez (Checo) seems to be chronically underrated. He might have only outside chance to win WDC, but what do I know, and he - in my book - deserves respect as a serious contender. After all, he didn't get where he is by being a slouch. My expectations aren't high about his term, but I am ready to be pleasantly surprised. He has done so already last year, despite being considered by certain people as "spend force".
I remember posting at the start of Checo's career that he would only be in F1 for a year or two and that would be the last we would see of him. How wrong I was. I rate him much more highly now.

That said, his win last year was a bit of a fluke and probably sealed his deal with RBR more than any other performance in his career and I will be interested to see how he performs against Max. And I would still put my money on Max to be the faster driver (even if he is reckless at times).
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#39

Post by Aty »

Perez will have RB to his disposal; a car which is honed to perfection. I think this will be first time Perez will have a car which others fear.

Will that be actually fair fight with AM, a car full of "borrowed" sub-systems, and thoughts?

BTW, to clear optics, I didn't vote at all. I do not want to squash my hopes that Mick will win his WDC in his first year with Haas.
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#40

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Aty wrote: 3 years ago
BTW, to clear optics, I didn't vote at all. I do not want to squash my hopes that Mick will win his WDC in his first year with Haas.
I rate Tsunoda best of the rookies, regardless of what car he is in. Schumacher I have to say has never really impressed me, and I believe his surname has got him into F1 more than talent.
Im looking at Yuki to surprise a few.... including Gasly once he has got some miles under his belt.

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#41

Post by erwin greven »

Agreed, Tsunoda is the one for me to look at. Doing his job and being fast.
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#42

Post by Aty »

I heard Yuki is good, so I look forward to watch his F1 related development. (First year honeymoon, so to speak). Mick the same in my column. Yuki is in good place to start, whereas Mick - not that much.

It's open chapter for me, which hasn't been written yet.

Mick has to get out as far as possible, and as fast as possible from Mr. Binotto. They have Leclerc, and there is no place there for another Schumacher. But then, I am bias towards Germany and Japan, so I wish both drivers well.
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#43

Post by Ruslan »

MonteCristo wrote: 3 years ago
Ruslan wrote: 3 years ago The sliver of hope is the guy who voted for Perez.
There's got to be some kind of cat/earthquake/alcohol explanation to that vote :tongue:.
I liked it. Got more votes than Bottas.
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#44

Post by Ruslan »

Aty wrote: 3 years ago Perez (Checo) seems to be chronically underrated.
Agree entirely.
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#45

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Everso Biggyballies wrote: 3 years ago
I rate Tsunoda best of the rookies, regardless of what car he is in. Schumacher I have to say has never really impressed me, and I believe his surname has got him into F1 more than talent.
Im looking at Yuki to surprise a few.... including Gasly once he has got some miles under his belt.
Aty wrote: 3 years ago I heard Yuki is good, so I look forward to watch his F1 related development. (First year honeymoon, so to speak). Mick the same in my column. Yuki is in good place to start, whereas Mick - not that much.
Mark Hughes at Motorsport Mag rates him as well, and has tipped him to spring a few surprises. He wrote about why he rates him and what Yuki has done to get to where he is so quickly (Other than being a Japanese driver favoured by Honda and having impressed Marko. In fact so much so it seems Marko has him pencilled in already for the currently Perez seat this year, alongside Max for 2022.).

Thought it might interest a few here so.....
Why Yuki Tsunoda is set to surprise F1 this season

AlphaTauri’s new signing Yuki Tsunoda, less than half the age of Kimi Räikkönen, is the first person born in the new millennium to make it to F1 driver.

He’s remarkable beyond just that fact though. He has prevailed effortlessly within the ruthlessly competitive junior Red Bull programme. A Honda discovery from its Suzuka racing school, he’s enjoyed an astonishingly quick rise from nowhere and been instantly fast in everything he’s tried.

As a successful karter in Japan, as soon as he reached the required 16 years-old he entered Honda’s annual competition at Suzuka to discover the next generation of talent. The top two drivers in the trial would be awarded Honda backing in F4.

He finished a disappointed third. But running the on-track competition was Satoru Nakajima, Japanese racing legend and one-time F1 team-mate of Ayrton Senna. Given that this was Tsunoda’s first time in any sort of car, Nakajima reasoned that his pace actually warranted an extra prize.

“Those drivers [who were quicker] were more experienced than me and already driving in Formula 4,” Tsunoda later recalled. “Satoru Nakajima recommended that Honda sign me as well, although not initially as an official full junior driver, yet.” He then won the Japanese F4 championship.

Honda transferred him to European F3 for 2019 and introduced him to Helmut Marko, who put him on the Red Bull programme after a stunning test at the Hungaroring. Despite knowing none of the tracks, he won a race. His first podium came at Spa the day after the fatal accident of his friend Anthonie Hubert in the F2 race.

His first victory came the following weekend at Monza. Marko was said to have been particularly impressed by the way he was able to focus out the emotion from the catastrophe. There was something a little different about this guy.

Maybe that convinced the tough taskmaster Marko that despite the lack of experience, Tsunoda was ready for F2 when a second title assault season in F3 seemed more appropriate. ‘Top five in the championship’ Marko told him was the minimum required to get an F1 superlicence. ‘Outside the top five and you’ll probably be back racing in Japan.’

Tsunoda didn’t believe that he need worry unduly about that. “If you’re a good driver you don’t need two years in F2,” he later recalled, citing the examples of George Russell, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc.

Once he’d found his feet he was probably the quickest guy there. Discount those early races as got up to speed and he’d have won the title. As it was, his dominant performance in the Abu Dhabi sprint race helped secure him third.

From there it was straight into the AlphaTauri for the young driver test in the days following the grand prix weekend. He’d had some previous experience in a 2018 Toro Rosso to get his neck muscles prepared but even so his handling of the F1 car was confident in the extreme, and even if his feedback was felt to be a little binary, there was no certainly no holding back in how he expressed it.

There’s a buzz about him. His tiny size (he weighs 54kg) makes for an impression that he’s younger even than his 18 years, yet he oozes confidence in his own ability to drive a car at the limit. Controlled aggression is probably the best way to summarise his style and there have been very few incidents to date.

“He may struggle a little at first,” says AlphaTauri’s team boss Franz Tost. “But I think he’ll be very competitive within a few races… He understands the technique of the car and he is very strong in fighting duels… If you tell Yuki something, he immediately knows what to do. He is also very good with the brakes and has a good feel for fast turns in particular. If we have a good car I’m sure he can surprise us.”

Marko is said even to be earmarking him for a possible seat alongside Max Verstappen in the senior team for ’22 – before Sergio Perez has even had his first race there. Maybe that really would be too much, too soon. But who knows? It wouldn’t be the first time Tsunoda had confounded expectations.
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/arti ... season-mph


Big expectations and the Red Bull junior programme dont historically go hand in hand.... is he the next Vettel, Max or Danny Ric, the three RB juniors that have made the grade? Or will he become another RB Junior casualty and get tossed aside onto the RBR Junior scrap pile? I hope not. Time will tell.

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#46

Post by Kai-Star »

Gone for Max for hope more than anything. As long as there's some kind of ontrack fighting and not a cakewalk then I'll be happy.
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