The 2021 Season

[Matt]

I kind of agree. There was some good racing, but it doesn't feel like much more happens than in the typical F1 race. If the announcers were able to keep up with strategies, that might help, but they're not on-site and they don't have the production value to do it. Actually seeing prerace segments with drivers, and having interview translation, helps a lot though. You get some feel for who you're watching. For example, Nojiri immediately complaining about blue flags in his postrace interview. Come on man.

They're short races and they come on around midnight here though, so I'll keep watching them.

[Chrill]

I don't see many teams developing the 2021 cars all too heavily this season, with new 2022 regs upcoming. So, these news about AlphaTauri pushing a big step for Spain could promote them to 3rd fastest. Or maybe they already are there or thereabouts, Gasly qualified P5 in Bahrain after all.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alphatauri-should-have-nice-step-forward-by-spain/5987719/

[Chrill]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alpine-wont-let-alonso-ocon-rivalry-get-out-of-hand/6148094/

You need two (almost) equally strong drivers for that to happen. Don't worry, Alain, Alonso ran circles around Ocon in his very first race back and is likely to get better as the season progresses and he warms to the car.

[Penfold]

Honestly, what was Prosty thinking....

[Chrill]

https://www.autoweek.com/racing/formula-1/a36094972/f1-canadian-gp-jeopardy-turkey-in-the-wings/

We might lose Canada again, due to COVID. Turkey lined up as replacement.

With the farcical conditions in Turkey last year, I'd much prefer a return to Mugello. Not to mention Germany (Hock and Nürb would both do). There's also Buddh in India, as well as Sepang Malaysia.

If we look at the tracks currently able to host F1 but not scheduled to, in Europe alone we find:

Iberia:
Estoril, Portugal
Jerez, Spain
Ricardo Tomo (Valencia), Spain
MotorLand Aragon, Spain

Central and Southern Europe:
Mugello, Italy
Magny-Cours, France (yup, it maintains FIA's top grade which is required for F1)
Hockenheim, Germany
Nürburgring, Germany

Northern and Eastern Europe:
Kymi Ring, Finland
Igora Drive, Russia
Moscow Raceway, Russia

Why not go pay Kymi Ring a visit? Finland will not have F1 drivers for much longer, and it would be nice for Kimi and Valtteri to get a one-off home Grand Prix:

[Penfold]

That Kimi track would be great to see, or another visit to Mugello... think India is unlikely given the surge in Covid right now.

[Chrill]

The Kymi Ring is clearly 2-wheel friendly, would perhaps not produce a great spectacle as such but as a one-off it would be neat.

I do hope F1 learns from these last two seasons, and start rotating their schedules more. I'm definitely not opposed to circuits signing group deals where they rotate between 4-5 different circuits every year.

For example, let's have a race rotating between Mugello, Imola, Portimao, and maybe Estoril and Jerez. So these circuits would feature once every 4-5 years.

[Penfold]

Well, that was entertaining.  Hope Lewis thanks Russell for bringing out the red flags, and also Bottas for being so far down the field that he was fighting a Williams.

[Chrill]

Before the race even started, we had:

Alonso in the wall
Stroll on fire
Vettel in the pits

And then the race itself kept that up. Mixed weather racing is good.

[Penfold]

Time for Liberty to press on with Bernie's sprinkler idea!

[Chrill]

Hot take on this season:

If Mercedes and Red Bull are this close at both Bahrain and Imola, two fairly different tracks, we can expect there to be a closely fought championship battle. So much so that the winner may be the one most willing to sacrifice the 2022 project.

In other words:

Could a Red Bull-Mercedes battle in 2021 pave the way for a new championship contender such as McLaren, Ferrari, etc. in 2022?

[Matt]

Depends what development is like. Mercedes and Ferrari were basically even for the first half of... 2018? Whatever season that was. Then Mercedes just dominated after summer break.

It's hard to predict what teams will do about development this season. With Hamilton's future unknown, I don't see Mercedes wasting this year. But with how unexpected this season is, I can't see Red Bull wasting it either. But they both have so many resources, I think they can work on both 2021 and 2022 cars effectively.

[Chrill]

This is true, but the aerodynamic restrictions have been introduced where the leading teams have less time than the others. Mercedes and Red Bull may have the resources, but they don't have the time to develop two cars simultaneously.

[Chrill]

Ilott joins Alfa Romeo as their official reserve driver:
https://www.racefans.net/2021/04/27/alfa-romeos-new-reserve-driver-ilott-to-run-in-friday-practice/

He will stand in when Kubica misses races due to the Pole racing in the European Le Mans series. Ilott will take part in FP1 for Alfa Romeo in Portugal, taking over the car driven by Giovinazzi.

I guess the Italian will have to step up, or risk losing his 2022 seat. Unless this means Kimi has decided to retire, in which case a Giovinazzi-Ilott pairing for 2022 is possible.

[Chrill]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/canadian-gp-cancelled-turkish-gp/6494667/

Turkey replaces Canada again, taking up the same slot.

I see most fans are thrilled. I for one am not. I like the Canadian GP very much, and the 2020 Turkish GP was an absolute disgrace. Hoping for a better showing this year from the Turks.